Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of the whale's insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim, — though he could still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that; helpless Ahab's head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock might burst. From the boat's fragmentary stern, Fedallah incuriously and mildly eyed him; the clinging crew, at the other drifting end, could not succor him; more than enough was it for them to look to themselves. For so revolvingly appalling was the White Whale's aspect, and so planetarily swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that he seemed horizontally swooping upon them. And though the other boats, unharmed, still hovered hard by; still they dared not pull into the eddy to strike, lest that should be the signal for the instant destruction of the jeopardized castaways, Ahab and all; nor in that case could they themselves hope to escape. With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the direful zone, whose centre had now become the old man's head.
这时，亚哈在那咄咄迫人的鲸尾所搅起的泡沫中，差不多快给闷死了，更兼他是个残废者，无法游水——不过即使在这样急激的涡流中，他的身子还是浮着；人们看到亚哈那只无法可想的头，好象只颠来簸去的气泡，只消稍微震动就会爆炸。费达拉在小艇的残梢上，漠不关心而静静地望着他；那些紧扳着另一片漂来泛去的船板的水手，无法来救他，因为他们实在自顾不暇。这条白鲸的样子，身子转来转去，如此吓人，它的圈子越兜越小，象流星一般迅疾，好象要直扑到他们身上来。虽然其它小艇都一无损伤，仍在近旁徘徊；然而，他们都不敢冲到那涡流里去打它，生怕这样一来，就会立时招来这群身处险境的遇难者，包括亚哈和大家在内的毁灭。而且那样一来，他们就毫无生还的希望了。于是，他们只好眼巴巴地待在那个可怕的地带的外圈，这会儿，那个老人的脑袋就是那个地带的圆心。
Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship's mast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her! — "Sail on the" — but that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a towering crest, he shouted, — "Sail on the whale! — Drive him off!"
当时，所有这般情况，大船的桅顶上打一开始就都看到了；船上的人调平了帆桁后，就往现场直驶过来；这时已驶近得听到亚哈在水里招呼他们了！——"驶到"——可是，就在这时，莫比－迪克哗啦的激起一阵海浪，直冲向他，暂时把他淹没了。不过，等他重新从浪涛里挣了出来，恰好一冒就冒在高高的浪峰上，于是他嚷道，"驶到大鲸这边来！把它赶开！"