Passer le texte de l’article
CHAPTER 126 . The Life - Buoy . Steering now south - eastward by Ahab’s levelled steel , and her progress solely determined by Ahab’s level log and line ; the Pequod held on her path towards the Equator . Making so long a passage through such unfrequented waters , descrying no ships , and ere long , sideways impelled by unvarying trade winds , over waves monotonously mild ; all these seemed the strange calm things preluding some riotous and desperate scene . At last , when the ship drew near to the outskirts , as it were , of the Equatorial fishing - ground , and in the deep darkness that goes before the dawn , was sailing by a cluster of rocky islets ; the watch — then headed by Flask — was startled by a cry so plaintively wild and unearthly — like half - articulated wailings of the ghosts of all Herod’s murdered Innocents — that one and all , they started from their reveries , and for the space of some moments stood , or sat , or leaned all transfixedly listening , like the carved Roman slave , while that wild cry remained within hearing . The Christian or civilized part of the crew said it was mermaids , and shuddered ; but the pagan harpooneers remained unappalled . Yet the grey Manxman — the oldest mariner of all — declared that the wild thrilling sounds that were heard , were the voices of newly drowned men in the sea . Below in his hammock , Ahab did not hear of this till grey dawn , when he came to the deck ; it was then recounted to him by Flask , not unaccompanied with hinted dark meanings . He hollowly laughed , and thus explained the wonder . Those rocky islands the ship had passed were the resort of great numbers of seals , and some young seals that had lost their dams , or some dams that had lost their cubs , must have risen nigh the ship and kept company with her , crying and sobbing with their human sort of wail . But this only the more affected some of them , because most mariners cherish a very superstitious feeling about seals , arising not only from their peculiar tones when in distress , but also from the human look of their round heads and semi - intelligent faces , seen peeringly uprising from the water alongside . In the sea , under certain circumstances , seals have more than once been mistaken for men . But the bodings of the crew were destined to receive a most plausible confirmation in the fate of one of their number that morning . At sun - rise this man went from his hammock to his mast - head at the fore ; and whether it was that he was not yet half waked from his sleep ( for sailors sometimes go aloft in a transition state ) , whether it was thus with the man , there is now no telling ; but , be that as it may , he had not been long at his perch , when a cry was heard — a cry and a rushing — and looking up , they saw a falling phantom in the air ; and looking down , a little tossed heap of white bubbles in the blue of the sea .
Précédent Page 391 sur 430 Page 391 sur 430 Suivant Continuez à lire avec les traductions Créez un compte gratuit : 7 jours de Pro, puis 20 traductions de mots par jour ou une formule payante.
