Flat obedience to thy own flat commands, this is all thou breathest. Aye, and say'st the men have vow'd thy vow; say'st all of us are Ahabs. Great God forbid! — But is there no other way? no lawful way? — Make him a prisoner to be taken home? What! hope to wrest this old man's living power from his own living hands? Only a fool would try it. Say he were pinioned even; knotted all over with ropes and hawsers; chained down to ring-bolts on this cabin floor; he would be more hideous than a caged tiger, then. I could not endure the sight; could not possibly fly his howlings; all comfort, sleep itself, inestimable reason would leave me on the long intolerable voyage. What, then, remains? The land is hundreds of leagues away, and locked Japan the nearest. I stand alone here upon an open sea, with two oceans and a whole continent between me and law. — Aye, aye, 'tis so. — Is heaven a murderer when its lightning strikes a would-be murderer in his bed, tindering sheets and skin together? — And would I be a murderer, then, if" — and slowly, stealthily, and half sideways looking, he placed the loaded musket's end against the door.

决无二话地服从你那决无二话的命令，这就是你所要求的一切。是呀，而且咬定大家都已经立过了誓；咬定要我们大家都做亚哈。决没有这回事！——不过，难道就没有旁的办法吗？没有合法的方法吗？——不可把他关起来，把他当做一个囚犯给带回家去吗？怎么！想打这老头的手里活活剥夺他的权力嘛？这只有傻瓜才敢去试。甚至就是把他背绑起来；用大小绳索把他浑身都箍住扎牢；用铰链给锁起来，扔在这个舱室的地板上；他还是比关在笼里的老虎还更可怕。我受不了这光景；任怎样都得听到他的咆哮声；在这么漫长难挨的航程上，我将是不得太平，无法安眠，心绪缭乱了。那么，又该怎么办呢。这里离开陆地又有好几百里，最毗近的地方嘛，却是闭关自守的日本。我孤零零地呆在辽阔的海洋上，在我和法律间却拦着两个大洋和整整一个大陆——。唉，唉，真是——。如果上天的雷电把一个杀人未遂犯给击死在他的床铺上，把床单和皮肤都烧在一起'难道上天就是杀人犯吗？——那么，如果——我会是个杀人犯嘛"——他迟缓地、偷偷地侧身望着，把那支装着火药的枪尖抵在门上。