Hurrah! this is the way to sail now. Every keel a sunbeam! Hurrah!—Here we go like three tin kettles at the tail of a mad cougar! This puts me in mind of fastening to an elephant in a tilbury on a plain— makes the wheelspokes fly, boys, when you fasten to him that way; and there's danger of being pitched out too, when you strike a hill. Hurrah! this is the way a fellow feels when he's going to Davy Jones—all a rush down an endless inclined plane! Hurrah! this whale carries the everlasting mail!"

乌拉！这才是我们要驶的航路。每条小艇都是钱！乌拉！——我们真象拖在一只疯豹尾巴上的三只铁锅子！这倒叫我想起了在平原上坐着一只大象拖的双轮马车来——伙伴们，你一把大象缚上去的时候，那轮盘就吱吱响地飞驶出去了；不过，到你下山的时候，却有给摔出去的危险。乌拉！这就是人们去见海神时的感觉——七慌八忙地顺着一个无止的斜坡滚了下去！乌拉！这条鲸带的是万世不易的信件！"

But the monster's run was a brief one. Giving a sudden gasp, he tumultuously sounded. With a grating rush, the three lines flew round the loggerheads with such a force as to gouge deep grooves in them; while so fearful were the harpooneers that this rapid sounding would soon exhaust the lines, that using all their dexterous might, they caught repeated smoking turns with the rope to hold on; till at last—owing to the perpendicular strain from the lead-lined chocks of the boats, whence the three ropes went straight down into the blue—the gunwales of the bows were almost even with the water, while the three sterns tilted high in the air. And the whale soon ceasing to sound, for some time they remained in that attitude, fearful of expending more line, though the position was a little ticklish. But though boats have been taken down and lost in this way,

可是，这只巨兽过一会就停止了奔跑。它突然喘了一阵气后，便狂乱地沉到海底去。嘎嘎作响地一阵慌乱，三根捕鲸索就飞快地绕在卷绳索的圆柱上，劲道足得象是要把这三根圆柱给刻下了沟痕似的，可是教标枪手们担心的是，这样迅速地放下绳索，一下子就会撒光，因此他们使用全副熟练的道行，大家轮番抓住绳子；最后——由于三根绳索直放下了海里，加上小艇上的链条定盘向下垂直的牵引力，——艇头的舷边差不多已跟水面相平了，而艇梢都对空高高翘起。这时，那条鲸立刻停止向下潜，于是这三只小艇就这样的停住了一会，虽然这种姿势多少有点难耐，但是，他们都不敢再把绳索撒下去。这样做法，尽管会连小艇本身也给扯了下去，完了蛋，