Chapter 23 18.Scraper Hogg and Hedge Hogg

When Queequeg and I stepped aboard the Pequod, Captain Farrar was coming out of the cabin. Seeing me lead a savage with a javelin into his boat, he bellowed in a rough voice, saying that no savage was allowed in his boat unless he had papers. "What do you mean, Captain?" I asked. "He meant quite plainly that the man had to show proof that he had been educated, boy." Captain Bildad answered the question.He turned to Queequeg again: "Have you any connection with the Church of Christ?" "He's a member of the First Congregational Church," I said quickly.

"What, the First Congregational Church! The church where De Dorono Lai Coleman is a deacon?" While speaking, Bildad took out his spectacles, wiped them with a large yellow handkerchief, put them on carefully, walked up to Queequeg, and looked at them carefully. "How long has he been a parishioner? Not long, I suppose!" He asked me this. "No, no, he was baptized! Otherwise his face wouldn't be so pale!" said Captain Farrar. The paleness of Queequeg's face from a day's fast became the basis for their judgment. "Honestly, boy, how long has he been a member of Dedronomi Coleman's church? I go every Sunday and never see him?"

Facing Bildad's aggressive howls, I said calmly, "I don't know what Deacon Dedoronomi Coleman is. I only know that this Mr. Queequeg was born into the First Congregational Church." member, and a deacon himself!" "Young man, are you kidding? Tell me again, which sect's deacon is he?" "Which sect? The ancient Catholic sect! You, me, and Captain Peleg, and Queequeg to that sect to which we each belong!" "The most adored Axiom Church in the world, none of us should have doubts about it! Only the sick minds stay away from this great faith; we should all join hands in this great faith!"

"Well, boy, you shouldn't be a sailor, you should be a priest! I never heard a better sermon than this! I'm afraid not even Deacon Dedoronomi, or even God Maple, can compare with you Woolen cloth!" "Okay, let's get on board, don't care what kind of certificate is not, let's ask that Shoge or whatever to get on board!" "Well, what a javelin! It's made of good steel! The man who makes such a javelin can't be wrong. I said scratch Hogg or something. Have you ever done it on a whaler? Ever seen a whale?" Queequeg paid no heed to Captain Farrar, who, with his head bowed, jumped onto the bulwark and from the bulwark into a whaleboat hanging over the ship's side, and bent his knees and held his javelin flat:

"Captain, have you seen that drop of oil in the sea? That's the eye of a whale, look out!" Saying this, his javelin flew with a whoosh, past Bildad's sombrero, and plunged into the sea. The drop of oil disappeared immediately. "See, if it's a whale's eye, it's over for this big fish." said Queequeg nonchalantly, as he drew the javelin back by the rope. "Oh, my God! Quick, Bildad, get the ship's contract!" Captain Peleg yelled, and turned to look for Bildad, but he was already scared by the javelin snapping and hid in the hatch. "I said, Bildad, we want this Hedghog, no, no, Shog, no, no, whatever!"

"Hege, do you hear me, I'll give you one-ninety percent of the debt!" "Well, such a small account split is unprecedented in the hands of Nantucket's javelins!" We strode into the cabin. My heart rejoices that Queequeg and I are now part of the ship. Farrar took out the contract and said to me, "That Scratcher can't write, can he? I said Scratcher, damn it, signed or stamped?" Queequeg had experienced such a situation long ago, and he was not at all stage frightened. He took a pen and drew the same symbol as the one tattooed on his arm on the position indicated to him in the contract.

Captain Bildad watched Queequeg's every move from the sidelines from the beginning to the end. Finally, he stood up, walked up to Queequeg step by step, and took out a book from his wide pocket, which was inscribed "The end is coming, or do not delay." He put the book into Queequeg's hands, looked him eagerly in the eyes, and said, "I must do my duty for you, little devil, because I I am the major shareholder of this ship, and I have the obligation and right to care about the souls of the sailors on this ship! I solemnly beg you, give up your previous beliefs, stop being a heretic, stop being a slave to the devil, and take advantage of the punishment from heaven It hasn't come yet, so come back! Get out of the sea of ​​suffering, my child!"

Bildad's accent was mixed with sailor's accent, native dialect and words from the "Bible", which seemed a bit harsh. "Come on, Bildad, stop talking, and stop spoiling our fine javeliner!" Captain Peleg evidently had his own opinion, and he went on: "It's not good for a javeliner to be pious, he'll lose his guts! And a javeliner without guts is worthless." "Remember that boy Nat Swain, he was one of the best javeliners in the place then, but since he heard the sermons he's gone! His soul can't take cruelty anymore, and he's terrified at the sight of a whale He's afraid, he's afraid that if something happens to the ship and the ship sinks, everyone will be ruined!"

"Paleg, Peleg! Stop talking blasphemous nonsense, I'm afraid you know the fear of death better than anyone else!" Bildad waved his arms and began to fight back loudly. "Is it worthy of your own conscience to speak like this? Last time in the Sea of ​​Japan, all three masts were blown into the sea by the typhoon. Didn't you think of death and doom?" "Enough, Bildad! The ship was sinking, the ship was sinking. Who had time to think about death and doom?" "Think about it, three masts that have fallen into the sea kept hitting the side of the ship, making a sound like thunder! The sea is pouring down on our heads like a torrential rain. Who can think of death and doom?"

"Captain Ahab and I not only did not want to die, but have been thinking about life, how to live! How to save everyone's life!" "We must quickly erect the emergency mast, we must quickly sail the ship to the nearest port, and we must save the lives of everyone on board... This is what we were thinking at the time!" Bildad obviously didn't know what to say for a moment. He buttoned up his coat, walked back and forth on the deck, occasionally stopped betting, and stared nonchalantly at the sailors mending sails on the middle deck for a while. , then lowered his head and picked up a rag or a piece of rope.

His work was useful, otherwise those things might have been wasted.