海底兩萬里 第422期 第26章 大頭鯨和長須鯨(1)
DURING THE NIGHT of March 13-14, the Nautilus resumed its southward heading.
在8月13日至14日夜間，諾第留斯號航行的方向還是往南。
Once it was abreast of Cape Horn, I thought it would strike west of the cape, make for Pacific seas, and complete its tour of the world.
我想在合恩角的緯度上，它要把船頭移轉(zhuǎn)向西，這樣就可以再到太平洋，完成它的世界周游。
It did nothing of the sort and kept moving toward the southernmost regions.
實際它并不這樣做，仍然繼續(xù)向南極地區(qū)駛?cè)ァ?/p>
So where was it bound? The pole? That was insanity.
那么，它要到哪里去呢？到南極去嗎？那真是瘋了。
I was beginning to think that the captain's recklessness more than justified Ned Land's worst fears.
我開始想，船長的大膽狂妄很足以證明尼德·蘭的顧慮同恐懼是合理的。
For a good while the Canadian had said nothing more to me about his escape plans.
幾天以來，加拿大人不跟我談他的逃走計劃。
He had become less sociable, almost sullen.
他變成不愛說話，差不多完全沉默了。
I could see how heavily this protracted imprisonment was weighing on him.
我看出這種無限期延長的囚禁使得他很難受。
I could feel the anger building in him.
我感到他心中所累積的憤怒是怎樣強烈。
Whenever he encountered the captain, his eyes would flicker with dark fire, and I was in constant dread that his natural vehemence would cause him to do something rash.
當(dāng)他碰見船長的時候，他的眼睛燃起陰沉可怕的火光，我時常害怕他那暴烈天性可能使他走極端。
That day, March 14, he and Conseil managed to find me in my stateroom. I asked them the purpose of their visit.
3月14日這一天，康塞爾和他到我房中來找我，我問他們來看我的理由。
To put a simple question to you, sir, the Canadian answered me.
先生，加拿大人口答我，我只有一個問題向您提出來。
Go on, Ned.
您說吧，尼德。
How many men do you think are on board the Nautilus?
您想，諾第留斯號船上一共有多少人？
I'm unable to say, my friend.
我說不上來，我的朋友。
It seems to me, Ned Land went on, that it wouldn't take much of a crew to run a ship like this one.
我覺得，尼德·蘭立即說，這船的駕駛并不需要很多的人員。
Correct, I replied. Under existing conditions some ten men at the most should be enough to operate it.
是的，我回答，在目前的情況中，大約至多有十個人就足以駕駛了。
All right, the Canadian said, then why should there be any more than that?
那么，加拿大人說，為什么可能有這么多的人呢？
Why? I answered.
為什么？我立即說。
