Here be it known, that though these wild fishermen do not, as a general thing, and according to the great military maxim, make the enemy defray the current expenses of the war (at least before realizing the proceeds of the voyage), yet now and then you find some of these Nantucketers who have a genuine relish for that particular part of the Sperm Whale designated by Stubb; comprising the tapering extremity of the body.
其實(shí),一般說(shuō)來(lái),這些粗獷的捕魚(yú)人雖然并不根據(jù)那個(gè)偉大的軍事準(zhǔn)則,向他的敵人要求清償戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)雜費(fèi)(至少在航程的結(jié)果還未清理前),然而,人們卻不時(shí)地會(huì)在這些南塔開(kāi)特人中,看到有些人對(duì)于斯塔布所指定的抹香鯨那個(gè)特別部位頗具真正的興趣;包括大鯨的細(xì)小的器官在內(nèi)。
About midnight that steak was cut and cooked; and lighted by two lanterns of sperm oil, Stubb stoutly stood up to his spermaceti supper at the capstan-head, as if that capstan were a sideboard. Nor was Stubb the only banqueter on whale's flesh that night. Mingling their mumblings with his own mastications, thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness. The few sleepers below in their bunks were often startled by the sharp slapping of their tails against the hull, within a few inches of the sleepers' hearts. Peering over the side you could just see them (as before you heard them) wallowing in the sullen, black waters, and turning over on their backs as they scooped out huge globular pieces of the whale of the bigness of a human head. This particular feat of the shark seems all but miraculous.
約莫午夜時(shí)分,鯨排已經(jīng)割好煮出來(lái)了;于是,在兩盞抹香鯨油的燈籠的映照下,斯塔布就挺胸疊肚地站在絞盤(pán)旁邊吃起他那抹香鯨的晚餐,仿佛那只絞盤(pán)就是一只餐具架。那天晚上,大嘗鯨肉筵席的,可不光是斯塔布一個(gè)人。跟斯塔布自己的咀嚼聲交混在一起的,還有成千上萬(wàn)的鯊魚(yú)的囁嚅聲,它們都緊圍著這條死鯨,在巴嗒巴嗒地飽嘗它的肥肉。幾個(gè)睡在艙里床鋪上的人,時(shí)常被它們的尾巴敲擊著船身的刺耳的啪啪聲驚醒,因?yàn)楦糸_(kāi)睡覺(jué)的人們的心胸不過(guò)是幾英寸之遙。如果靠船舷瞧一瞧,就可以看到它們(在沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到它們那聲音之前)正在那陰森、漆黑的水里翻滾。它們把身子仰天一翻,就剜出了一塊跟人頭一般大小的鯨肉。鯊魚(yú)這種特具的技巧,似乎很是不可思議。