Chapter 24 19.Elijah

"Ha, shipmates, are you sailors on that ship?" Just as Queequeg and I left the Pequod and walked onto the pier, someone suddenly asked us this question. I stopped and looked at this man attentively: he was dressed very dirty and pointed in the direction of the "Pequode". "Did you become a sailor on that ship?" "Did you mean the Pequod?" I bought time to observe his patched trousers, the black cloth-like white scarf around his neck, and the smallpox on his face like a raging wave. "Yes, that's the boat." "Yes, just signed the contract."

"Put your soul on it too?" "what?" "Ah yes, maybe you don't have a soul! It doesn't matter, as far as I know, many people don't have a soul. Here again, I wish them all the best! The soul is the fifth wheel of a carriage!" "What are you talking about? My shipmate!" I'm really a little baffled. "Ah, he has made up the shortfall!" The stranger said this again like a spell, emphasizing on the word "he". "Queequeg, let's go, this fellow must have escaped from somewhere, talking nonsense!" "Don't go! Shipmate, you're right, you haven't seen Old Lei Gong yet, have you?"

"What old Lei Gong?" I'm almost sure he's crazy. "Captain Ahab." "Who? Captain Ahab!" "That's right, that's what people called him in Old Water's hands. You haven't seen him yet, have you?" "No, I heard that he is ill, maybe he will recover soon?" "It's almost done! Hahaha!" The stranger laughed wantonly. "If he recovers, my left arm will recover too!" "You know him?" "What did they not tell you about him?" "Nothing, just that he's a good man, a good boatman, and a good whaler."

"It's true, it's true, but, but when he gives an order, you will jump up! He takes a step, growls; roars, takes a step, and you, you have to step back step by step !" "In the eyes of others, Captain Ahab is such a person, but you don't know that he once lay like a dead man for three days at Cape Horn." "Of course, you don't even know the story of him spitting into the silver gourd, and the story of the leg he lost on the last voyage. You don't know that, do you? Yes, no one told you, all Not many people in Nantucket know about it." "However, many people know about that leg. A big whale ate his leg!"

"My friend, what do you mean by all this? Is there something wrong with your head? We know all about Captain Ahab's loss of a leg, as you have just said." "Clear? Really? Very clear!" "yes." This beggar-like man stared at the Pequod, pondered for a while, waved his hand, and said: "You're on board, signed, and sailors on that ship, haven't you?" "Of course the contract has to be signed. Should it be signed? What should be done should be done. Of course, nothing will happen if it is done." "It's settled, you guys are going to go on a long voyage with him, anyway, someone has to go to sea!"

"Well, good luck to you! May the heaven, which is holy to say the least, bless you! Sorry to waste your time." "That's enough. Please say what you want to say directly! It's a bit deceitful to say such nonsense!" I say it bluntly. "Oh, very well said, and that's the way I like it best when people talk. People like you are what he needs most! Well, good-bye, shipmates!" "Oh, by the way, after you get on the ship, please tell me that I have decided not to be their sailor!" "Ha, I said shipmate, you can't fool us with this trick, anyone can pretend to be mysterious!"

"Well, good luck to you!" "Good luck! Come on, Queequeg, and get away from this half-lunatic!" "However, I still want to ask, what is your last name?" "Elijah." "Elijah!" I repeated silently, and left the beggar-like old sailor with Queequeg.We both agreed that he was nothing more than a liar who hadn't gotten his way! Speaking of which, I turned my head subconsciously, and suddenly found that he was actually following us!I didn't tell Queequeg what I had discovered, and you went on with your words. We turned a corner, and he followed us. He was undoubtedly following us!But what is he going to do?I could not understand.

The evasive words, the Pequod, Captain Ahab and his lost leg, the contract we signed... I turned these over and over in my mind, but I still couldn't figure it out. In order to determine whether this Elijah was really following us, I took Queequeg to the side of the road and looked at him coming up behind. But he walked past us like no one else was there, as if he didn't see us at all.