Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

海底二万里

   CHAPTER 22

   第二部 第二十二章

   The Last Words of Captain Nemo

   尼摩船长的最后几句话

   THE PANELS CLOSED over this frightful view, but the lights didn't go on in the lounge. Inside the Nautilus all was gloom and silence. It left this place of devastation with prodigious speed, 100 feet beneath the waters. Where was it going? North or south? Where would the man flee after this horrible act of revenge?

   船中嵌板就在这个怕人的景象下闭起来了,可是客厅中的灯光并没有亮,桔第留斯号内部完全是黑暗和沉默。它在深百英尺下的水底,特别迅速地离开这个凄惨场所。它到哪里去呢?向北呢?向南呢?这个人做了这件可怕的报复后,逃到哪里去呢?

   I reentered my stateroom, where Ned and Conseil were waiting silently. Captain Nemo filled me with insurmountable horror. Whatever he had once suffered at the hands of humanity, he had no right to mete out such punishment. He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least an eyewitness to his vengeance! Even this was intolerable.

   我回到我的房中,尼德和康塞尔两人默不作声地在舱房里面。我对于尼摩船长发生一种极端厌恶的心情。虽然他从别人方面可能受过很大的痛苦,但他没有权利来作这样残酷的报复。虽然他没有使我做他的同谋,可是他让我做了他复仇的见证人!这已经太过分

   At eleven o'clock the electric lights came back on. I went into the lounge. It was deserted. I consulted the various instruments. The Nautilus was fleeing northward at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour, sometimes on the surface of the sea, sometimes thirty feet beneath it.

   十一点,电光又亮了。我到客厅里面,厅里没有人。我看一下厅里的各种器械。诺第留斯号以每小时二十五海里的快速度向北方驶去,有时在海面上,有时在三十英尺深水下。

   After our position had been marked on the chart, I saw that we were passing into the mouth of the English Channel, that our heading would take us to the northernmost seas with incomparable speed.

   从地图上的记录来看,我看出我们在英吉利海峡口上走过,航行方向是以无比的快速度把我们带到北极海中去。

   I could barely glimpse the swift passing of longnose sharks, hammerhead sharks, spotted dogfish that frequent these waters, big eagle rays, swarms of seahorse looking like knights on a chessboard, eels quivering like fireworks serpents, armies of crab that fled obliquely by crossing their pincers over their carapaces, finally schools of porpoise that held contests of speed with the Nautilus. But by this point observing, studying, and classifying were out of the question.

   By evening we had cleared 200 leagues up the Atlantic. Shadows gathered and gloom overran the sea until the moon came up.

   晚上,我们已经走过大西洋海面二百里。陰影遮来,黑暗侵到海上,直至月亮东升。

   I repaired to my stateroom. I couldn't sleep. I was assaulted by nightmares. That horrible scene of destruction kept repeating in my mind's eye.

   我回到房中。我睡不着,受恶梦的侵扰。残酷毁灭的可怕场面在我脑子里面陆续重演。

   From that day forward, who knows where the Nautilus took us in the north Atlantic basin? Always at incalculable speed! Always amid the High Arctic mists! Did it call at the capes of Spitzbergen or the shores of Novaya Zemlya? Did it visit such uncharted seas as the White Sea, the Kara Sea, the Gulf of Ob, the Lyakhov Islands, or those unknown beaches on the Siberian coast? I'm unable to say. I lost track of the passing hours. Time was in abeyance on the ship's clocks. As happens in the polar regions, it seemed that night and day no longer followed their normal sequence. I felt myself being drawn into that strange domain where the overwrought imagination of Edgar Allan Poe was at home. Like his fabled Arthur Gordon Pym, I expected any moment to see that "shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men," thrown across the cataract that protects the outskirts of the pole!

   自这一天起,谁能说诺第留斯号在这北大西洋海水中要带我们到哪里去呢?老是那飞快的速度!老是在极北蒙雾中间!它要走近斯勃齐堡的尖角;走近纽藏伯尔的悬崖吗?它要驶过那些神秘的海。白海,喀拉海,鄂毕湾,李亚洛夫群岛,以及亚洲沿海没有人到过的边岸吗?这样度过的时间,我简直不可能估计。时间在船上的大钟上是停止了。好像黑夜和白天跟在两极地方那样,不按照它们经常的规律来进行。我感到自己被带迸埃德加-波的过度想象可以随意活动的那个奇异领域中了。每时每刻,我都像怪异的戈登.宾①那样,等着看见“那个蒙面人,他的身材比居住在任何陆地上的人都高大得多,斜身投入那保护北极周围的大瀑布中去!”

   I estimate--but perhaps I'm mistaken--that the Nautilus's haphazard course continued for fifteen or twenty days, and I'm not sure how long this would have gone on without the catastrophe that ended our voyage. As for Captain Nemo, he was no longer in the picture. As for his chief officer, the same applied. Not one crewman was visible for a single instant. The Nautilus cruised beneath the waters almost continuously. When it rose briefly to the surface to renew our air, the hatches opened and closed as if automated. No more positions were reported on the world map. I didn't know where we were.

   我估量——但我或者搞错了~一我估量诺第留斯号这次冒险的奔跑延长到十五天或二十天之久,如果没有结束这次海底旅行的大灾祸发生,我不知道要拉长到什么时候。尼摩船长,没法提了。他的副手,也一样。船上的人员一个也看不见。诺第留斯号不停地在水底行驶。当它浮上水而来调换空气的时候,嵌板总是机械地动作着:打开了又关闭。在地图上也不再记方位了。我根本不知道我门是在什

   I'll also mention that the Canadian, at the end of his strength and patience, made no further appearances. Conseil couldn't coax a single word out of him and feared that, in a fit of delirium while under the sway of a ghastly homesickness, Ned would kill himself. So he kept a devoted watch on his friend every instant.

   我又要说,加拿大人忍无可忍,忍到最后关头了,他也不出来,康塞尔想使他说句话也不可能,同时害怕他神经忽然错乱,在怕人的思乡病状下,他可能要寻短见。因此,康塞尔时时刻刻忠实小心地看守住他。

   You can appreciate that under these conditions, our situation had become untenable.

   人们了解到,在这种情况下,我们的处境不可能再维持下去。

   One morning--whose date I'm unable to specify--I was slumbering near the first hours of daylight, a painful, sickly slumber. Waking up, I saw Ned Land leaning over me, and I heard him tell me in a low voice:

   一天早上——卿j一天我可说不上来——清早我迷糊地昏睡着,那是苦恼和病态的昏睡。当我醒来,我看见尼德-兰俯身向着我,我听到他低声对我说:

   "We're going to escape!"

   “我们逃!”

   I sat up.

   我站起来问:

   "When?" I asked.

   “我们什么时候逃?”

   "Tonight. There doesn't seem to be any supervision left on the Nautilus. You'd think a total daze was reigning on board. Will you be ready, sir?"

   “就在夜间。诺第留斯号像是任何管理和监督也没有了。船上好像完全陷于麻木昏沉的状态。先生,您能准备好吗?”

   "Yes. Where are we?"

   “能,我们现在在什么地方?”

   "In sight of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning, twenty miles to the east."

   “在可以望见陆地的地方。我今天早上在浓雾中间,东”方二十海里,看见那些陆地。”

   "What land is it?"

   “那是些什么陆地呢?”

   "I've no idea, but whatever it is, there we'll take refuge."

   “那可不知道,不管是什么陆地,我们逃到那边去就是。”

   "Yes, Ned! We'll escape tonight even if the sea swallows us up!"

   “对!尼德。对,我们今晚逃,就是大海吞没了我们也不管!”

   "The sea's rough, the wind's blowing hard, but a twenty-mile run in the Nautilus's nimble longboat doesn't scare me. Unknown to the crew, I've stowed some food and flasks of water inside."

   “海很汹涌,风很猛烈,但在诺第留斯号的那只轻便小艇中只要划二十海里,那不能使我骇怕。我没有被船上人员发觉,暗中又弄到一些粮食和好几瓶饮水。”

   "I'm with you."

   “我一定跟您逃。”

   "What's more," the Canadian added, "if they catch me, I'll defend myself, I'll fight to the death."

   ‘此外“拿大人又说,“如果我被发觉,我一定反抗,我要人把我杀死。”

   "Then we'll die together, Ned my friend."

   “我们死在一起,尼德朋友。”

   My mind was made up. The Canadian left me. I went out on the platform, where I could barely stand upright against the jolts of the billows. The skies were threatening, but land lay inside those dense mists, and we had to escape. Not a single day, or even a single hour, could we afford to lose.

   我不顾一切,决心逃走。加拿大人出去了。我到了平台上面,我简直站不住,不可能受那一阵一阵波浪的袭击。天空陰暗,快有风暴,但是,既然有陆地在浓雾中,那就是逃走。现在我们一天、一时、一刻都不能白丢。

   I returned to the lounge, dreading yet desiring an encounter with Captain Nemo, wanting yet not wanting to see him. What would I say to him? How could I hide the involuntary horror he inspired in me? No! It was best not to meet him face to face! Best to try and forget him! And yet . . . !

   我回到客厅中,既怕碰见又想碰见尼摩船长,既要又不要看见他。我可以跟他说什么活呢?我可能隐藏住他使我心中发生的那种自然而然的厌恶吗!不能!那么看不见他,不跟他面面相对是好些!忘记了他是好些!本来也只能这样!

   How long that day seemed, the last I would spend aboard the Nautilus! I was left to myself. Ned Land and Conseil avoided speaking to me, afraid they would give themselves away.

   我在诺第留斯号船上过的最后这一天是多么长!我一个人单独在那里。尼德-兰和康塞尔躲开我,不跟我说话,怕泄露我们的计划。

   At six o'clock I ate supper, but I had no appetite. Despite my revulsion, I forced it down, wanting to keep my strength up.

   六点,进晚餐,但我并不饿。我虽不想吃,但我勉强吃些,不愿意把自己弄得没有气力。

   At 6:30 Ned Land entered my stateroom. He told me:

   六点半,尼德,兰走进我房中来,他对我说:

   "We won't see each other again before we go. At ten o'clock the moon won't be up yet. We'll take advantage of the darkness. Come to the skiff. Conseil and I will be inside waiting for you."

   “我们只到出发的时候才能再见了。十点,月亮还没有上来。我们乘黑暗中逃走。您到小艇那边来。康塞尔和我,我们在那边等候您。”

   The Canadian left without giving me time to answer him.

   加拿大人说完了就走,连回答他的时间也不给我。

   I wanted to verify the Nautilus's heading. I made my way to the lounge. We were racing north-northeast with frightful speed, fifty meters down.

   我要确定一下诺第留斯号所走的方向。我到客厅中去。我们是在深五十米的地方,船以惊人的速度向东北偏北方驶去。

   I took one last look at the natural wonders and artistic treasures amassed in the museum, this unrivaled collection doomed to perish someday in the depths of the seas, together with its curator. I wanted to establish one supreme impression in my mind. I stayed there an hour, basking in the aura of the ceiling lights, passing in review the treasures shining in their glass cases. Then I returned to my stateroom.

   我最后看一下堆在这陈列室中自然的奇珍异宝,艺术的宝库,最后看一下有一天要跟亲手收集它们的人一齐消灭在海底的,那无比的珍贵收藏。我想在我心中把我的十分深刻的印象最后一次固定下来。我就这样过了一小时,在光辉的天花板发出的电光照耀下,把玻璃柜中那些辉煌灿烂的珍宝重看了一遍。然后我回房中来。

   There I dressed in sturdy seafaring clothes. I gathered my notes and packed them tenderly about my person. My heart was pounding mightily. I couldn't curb its pulsations. My anxiety and agitation would certainly have given me away if Captain Nemo had seen me.

   到了房中,我穿了海中穿的结实衣服。我弄齐了我的笔记,把笔记紧密珍重地带在身上。我的心跳得很厉害。我不能抑制我的脉搏。当然,我的心绪,我的激动,可以被尼摩船长的眼睛看出来。

   What was he doing just then? I listened at the door to his stateroom. I heard the sound of footsteps. Captain Nemo was inside. He hadn't gone to bed. With his every movement I imagined he would appear and ask me why I wanted to escape! I felt in a perpetual state of alarm. My imagination magnified this sensation. The feeling became so acute, I wondered whether it wouldn't be better to enter the captain's stateroom, dare him face to face, brave it out with word and deed!

   他这时候干什么呢?我到他房门口细听一下。我听到有脚步声。尼摩船长在里面。他并没有睡下。听到他的每一动作,我觉得他就要走出来,质问我为什么要逃走!我感到有连续不断的警报声。我的想象又把这些警报声扩大起来。这种感觉十分难受,使得我心中想,到船长房中去,跟他当面,用手势和眼光向他挑战,或者倒好些!

   It was an insane idea. Fortunately I controlled myself and stretched out on the bed to soothe my bodily agitation. My nerves calmed a little, but with my brain so aroused, I did a swift review of my whole existence aboard the Nautilus, every pleasant or unpleasant incident that had crossed my path since I went overboard from the Abraham Lincoln: the underwater hunting trip, the Torres Strait, our running aground, the savages of Papua, the coral cemetery, the Suez passageway, the island of Santorini, the Cretan diver, the Bay of Vigo, Atlantis, the Ice Bank, the South Pole, our imprisonment in the ice, the battle with the devilfish, the storm in the Gulf Stream, the Avenger, and that horrible scene of the vessel sinking with its crew . . . ! All these events passed before my eyes like backdrops unrolling upstage in a theater. In this strange setting Captain Nemo then grew fantastically. His features were accentuated, taking on superhuman proportions. He was no longer my equal, he was the Man of the Waters, the Spirit of the Seas.

   这简直是疯狂的想法。很运气,我抑制住自己,我躺在床上,让我身体的激动平息下来。我的神经安静了一些,但我的脑子受了过度的刺激,在迅速的记忆中,我重又看见我在诺第留斯号船上度过的整个生活,自我脱离了林肯号以来所碰到的:或快乐或痛苦的所有意外事件:海底打猎,多列斯海峡,巴布亚岛的土人,坐礁搁浅,珊瑚墓地,苏伊士海底地道,桑多林岛,克里特的潜水人:维哥湾,大西洋洲,冰山。南极,被困在冰层中,跟章鱼战斗,大西洋暖流的风暴。复仇号,以及那把船跟船员一起撞沉的可怕场面!……所有这些事件都涌现在我眼前,好像那些背后的布景,在舞台底层,一幕一幕地揭开,这时候,尼摩船长在这离奇古怪的环境中间显得异常巨大。他的形象集中起来,现出超人的典型。他并不是我的同类人,他是水中人,是海中神。

   By then it was 9:30. I held my head in both hands to keep it from bursting. I closed my eyes. I no longer wanted to think. A half hour still to wait! A half hour of nightmares that could drive me insane!

   时间是丸点半。我双手紧紧按住我的脑袋,防止它不要炸裂。我闭起我的眼睛。我不愿意思想。还要等半个钟头:半个钟头的恶梦可能使我变成疯子!

   Just then I heard indistinct chords from the organ, melancholy harmonies from some undefinable hymn, actual pleadings from a soul trying to sever its earthly ties. I listened with all my senses at once, barely breathing, immersed like Captain Nemo in this musical trance that was drawing him beyond the bounds of this world.

   这时候,我听到大风琴的隐约声音,那是一种不可形容的忧愁乐声,是一个要斩断自己对人世关系的人的真正哀歌。我五官并用,全神注意地细听,差不多呼吸都停止了,像尼摩船长~样,精神充全沉浸在把他带到人世之外的音乐迷醉中。

   Then a sudden thought terrified me. Captain Nemo had left his stateroom. He was in the same lounge I had to cross in order to escape. There I would encounter him one last time. He would see me, perhaps speak to me! One gesture from him could obliterate me, a single word shackle me to his vessel!

   一会儿,一个突然的思想使我十分害怕起来;尼摩船长已离开了他的房间,他正在我逃走时一定要经过的客厅里面。我要在厅中最后一次碰见他。他要看见我,他或者要跟我说话!他的一下手势可能使我惊呆不能动弹,他只要说一句话就可能把我锁在他的船上!

   Even so, ten o'clock was about to strike. It was time to leave my stateroom and rejoin my companions.

   然而十点就要响了。离开我的房间,跟我的同伴们相会的时候到了。

   I dared not hesitate, even if Captain Nemo stood before me. I opened the door cautiously, but as it swung on its hinges, it seemed to make a frightful noise. This noise existed, perhaps, only in my imagination!

   没有丝毫可以犹疑的了,就是尼摩船长站在我面前也不能倒退了。我小心把房门打开,可是我觉得在拧动门钮的时候,门发出怕人的声音。或者这声音只可能是存在我的想象中!

   I crept forward through the Nautilus's dark gangways, pausing after each step to curb the pounding of my heart.

   我沿着诺第留斯号的黑暗过道,一步一步摸索着前进,走一步停一下,抑制住心上的跳动。

   I arrived at the corner door of the lounge. I opened it gently. The lounge was plunged in profound darkness. Chords from the organ were reverberating faintly. Captain Nemo was there. He didn't see me. Even in broad daylight I doubt that he would have noticed me, so completely was he immersed in his trance.

   我走到客厅屋角上的门。我轻轻地打开它。厅里面完全黑暗。大风琴的声音微弱响着。尼摩船长在那里。他没有看见我。我想,就是在明亮的灯光下,他恐怕也看不见我,因为他神游天外,他完全被吸引在梦幻的乐声里。

   I inched over the carpet, avoiding the tiniest bump whose noise might give me away. It took me five minutes to reach the door at the far end, which led into the library.

   我在地毯上慢慢挪动,十分小心不和任何东西相碰,以免发出声响。我费了五分钟才走到客厅那边通到图书室的门。

   I was about to open it when a gasp from Captain Nemo nailed me to the spot. I realized that he was standing up. I even got a glimpse of him because some rays of light from the library had filtered into the lounge. He was coming toward me, arms crossed, silent, not walking but gliding like a ghost. His chest was heaving, swelling with sobs. And I heard him murmur these words, the last of his to reach my ears:

   我正要开门的时候,尼摩船长的一声叹息把我钉在那里不能动。我懂得他是站起来了。我甚至于看到他的身影,因为有些亮着的图书室中的灯光一直射到客厅中来。他向我这边走来,两手交叉着,一声不响,说是走过来,不如说是溜过来,像幽灵那样。他的被压住的胸部由于他怞咽的哭泣而鼓胀起来。我听到他声音很低地说出下面这几句话——这个传到我耳中来的最后几句话:

   "O almighty God! Enough! Enough!"

   “全能的上帝!够了!够了!”

   Was it a vow of repentance that had just escaped from this man's conscience . . . ?

   这就是从这个人良心里面发出来的悔恨的自白吗?……

   Frantic, I rushed into the library. I climbed the central companionway, and going along the upper gangway, I arrived at the skiff. I went through the opening that had already given access to my two companions.

   我简直心神昏乱了,跑出图书室中。我上了中央楼梯,沿着上层的过道前行,我到了小艇边。我从开着的孔走人艇中,我的两个同伴已经在这里边。

   "Let's go, let's go!" I exclaimed.

   “我们走!我们走!”我喊道。

   "Right away!" the Canadian replied.

   “马上走!”加拿大人回答。

   First, Ned Land closed and bolted the opening cut into the Nautilus's sheet iron, using the monkey wrench he had with him. After likewise closing the opening in the skiff, the Canadian began to unscrew the nuts still bolting us to the underwater boat.

   在诺第留斯号船身钢板上开的孔本来是关闭的,尼德-兰有一把钳子,把螺钉紧紧地上好。小艇上的孔也是关起来的,加拿大人开始弄松那仍然把我们扣在这只潜水船上的螺钉。

   Suddenly a noise from the ship's interior became audible. Voices were answering each other hurriedly. What was it? Had they spotted our escape? I felt Ned Land sliding a dagger into my hand.

   突然船内发出声响。好些人声急急地互相答应。发生了什么事?是人们发觉了我们逃走吗?我觉得尼德-兰拿一把短刀放在我手中。

   "Yes," I muttered, "we know how to die!"

   “对!”我低声说,“我们并不怕死!”

   The Canadian paused in his work. But one word twenty times repeated, one dreadful word, told me the reason for the agitation spreading aboard the Nautilus. We weren't the cause of the crew's concern.

   加拿大人停止了他的松钉工作。我们听到一句话,重复说了许多次,一句很可怕的话,给我说明诺第留斯号船上处处发生蚤扰激动的原因。船上人员发觉到的对象并不是我们!

   "Maelstrom! Maelstrom!" they were shouting.

   “北冰洋大风暴!北冰洋大风暴!”他们大声喊。

   The Maelstrom! Could a more frightening name have rung in our ears under more frightening circumstances? Were we lying in the dangerous waterways off the Norwegian coast? Was the Nautilus being dragged into this whirlpool just as the skiff was about to detach from its plating?

   北冰洋大风暴!可能有一个更可怕的名字在更可怕的情形中传到我们耳朵中来吗?那么我们是走在挪威沿岸一带的危险海中了。诺第留斯号在我们的小艇要离开它的时候,就要被卷人这深渊中吗?

   As you know, at the turn of the tide, the waters confined between the Faroe and Lofoten Islands rush out with irresistible violence. They form a vortex from which no ship has ever been able to escape. Monstrous waves race together from every point of the horizon. They form a whirlpool aptly called "the ocean's navel," whose attracting power extends a distance of fifteen kilometers. It can suck down not only ships but whales, and even polar bears from the northernmost regions.

   人们知道,当潮涨的时候,夹在费罗哀群岛和罗夫丹群岛中间的海水,奔腾澎湃,汹涌无比。它们形成翻滚沸腾的漩涡,从没有船只驶进去能够脱险出来。滔天大浪从四面八方冲到那里,形成了很恰当地被称为“海洋肚脐眼”的无底的深渊,它的吸引力一直伸张到十五公里远。在深渊周围,不但船只,而且鲸鱼,而且北极地带的白熊,都不能例外,一齐被吸进去。

   This was where the Nautilus had been sent accidentally-- or perhaps deliberately--by its captain. It was sweeping around in a spiral whose radius kept growing smaller and smaller. The skiff, still attached to the ship's plating, was likewise carried around at dizzying speed. I could feel us whirling. I was experiencing that accompanying nausea that follows such continuous spinning motions. We were in dread, in the last stages of sheer horror, our blood frozen in our veins, our nerves numb, drenched in cold sweat as if from the throes of dying! And what a noise around our frail skiff! What roars echoing from several miles away! What crashes from the waters breaking against sharp rocks on the seafloor, where the hardest objects are smashed, where tree trunks are worn down and worked into "a shaggy fur," as Norwegians express it!

   就是在这无底深渊附近,诺第留斯号——或无意或有意一被它的船长驶进来了,它迅速地被卷入,路线作螺旋形,愈前进,螺旋形的半径也愈缩小。小艇还附在它身上,也跟它一样,被惊人无比的速度带走。我感到它飞奔前去。我这时体会到的,是接着过于延长的涡卷动作而来的那种颠簸的盘旋回绕。我们是在极端的骇怕中,是在最高度的恐怖中,血液循环停止了,神经作用停顿了,全身流满像临死时候所出的冷汗!在我们的脆弱小艇周围的是多么叫怕的声音!几海里内连续回响不绝的是多么厉害的吼叫!那些海水溅在海底下面的尖利岩石上所发出的是多么怕人的喧闹!在这些岩石上,就是最坚固的物体也粉碎了,照挪威成语说的,就是大树干也毁损为“茸茸毛皮”了!

   What a predicament! We were rocking frightfully. The Nautilus defended itself like a human being. Its steel muscles were cracking. Sometimes it stood on end, the three of us along with it!

   多么危险怕人的处境!我们极端骇怕地一任海波摆动。诺第留斯号像一个人一样自卫着。它的钢铁肌肉嘎嘎作响。它有时候挺起,我们也跟它一齐竖起!

   "We've got to hold on tight," Ned said, "and screw the nuts down again! If we can stay attached to the Nautilus, we can still make it . . . !"

   “要全力支持,”尼德说,“并且把螺丝钉再上紧起来。紧紧靠着诺第留斯号,我们或者还可以保全……!”

   He hadn't finished speaking when a cracking sound occurred. The nuts gave way, and ripped out of its socket, the skiff was hurled like a stone from a sling into the midst of the vortex.

   他没有说完他的话,嘎嘎的声音就发出来了。螺丝钉落下,小艇脱离它的巢窝,像投石机发出的一块石头,飞掷入大漩涡中。

   My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock I lost consciousness.

   我的脑袋碰在一根铁条上,受了这次猛烈的冲撞,我立即失去了知觉。