"But I don't think thou wilt be able to at present. Idon't know exactly what's the matter with him; buthe keeps close inside the house; a sort of sick, andyet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick; but no, heisn't well either. Any how, young man, he won'talways see me, so I don't suppose he will thee. He'sa queer man, Captain Ahab-so some think-but agood one. Oh, thou'lt like him well enough; no fear,no fear. He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man,Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when hedoes speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, beforewarned; Ahab's above the common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals;been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foesthan whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain'tCaptain Bildad; no, and he ain't Captain Peleg; he's Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest,was a crowned king!"

"不过,我认为你现在要见他是办不到的。我也不很清楚他是怎么一回事;但是,他一直是足不出户;也许生病,可又不很象生病。事实上,他不是生病;不过,不,他身体可也不很好。总之,小伙子,他跟我也不常见面,因此,我认为他也不会见你。他是个怪人,亚哈船长...有人这么看法...不过,他却是个好人。啊,你一定会很喜欢他;别担心,别担心。亚哈船长么,他是个伟大的,不敬神却又象神似的人物;他不多说话;不过,等到他一开口,那你就得好好听他。要记住,我事先警告你;亚哈是跟普通人不同的;亚哈曾经进过许多大学堂,也到过好些吃人生番的地方;他一向习惯于比海浪还更深奥的奇迹;他那支激烈的鱼枪曾经打中比大鲸还要有力与奇特的仇敌。他的鱼枪呵!说起敏捷和准确来,真是我们岛上数一数二的啊,他不是比勒达船长;不,他也不是法勒船长;他就是亚哈,朋友;那个古代的亚哈,你知道,是一个君王呀!"

"And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?"

"而且是个十恶不赦的人。当那个邪恶的王给刺死了的时候,狗可不是都去舔他的血么?"

"Come hither to me-hither, hither," said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost startledme. "Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahabdid not name himself.Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who diedwhen he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that thename would somehow prove prophetic.

"到这边来....这边,这边,"法勒说道,眼睛闪出一股意味深长的神色,简直要把我给吓呆了。"记住,小伙子;这些话可千万别在裴廓德号上说。也别在随便什么地方乱说。亚哈船长这个名字并不是他自己取的。这是他那个痴痴呆呆的守寡母亲的愚蠢无知的怪念头。她在他只有十二个月的时候就死了。然而这个该黑特老太婆蒂斯蒂克,却说这名字总会证明是有预见性的。