Chapter 59 54． The story of "The Whale Out"

Sea routes are just like roads on land, and there are many intersections, that is, forks, and the Cape of Good Hope we just passed is one of them. These intersections are main traffic routes, so they are most likely to run into other ships. Our "Pequode" met another whaling ship on its way home shortly after meeting the "Albatross". That ship has a very interesting name, called "The Big Whale Comes Out". The "whale comes out" was originally the cry of some early whaling ship's masthead lookouts after seeing the whale, and now it somehow became the name of the whaler's ship.

The sailors on this ship did not come from all over the world like other whaling ships, but almost all of them were Polynesians. We had a party with them as usual. In the party, the sailors of that ship told us about Moby Dick, and they had experienced it themselves, and of course it was extremely reliable. That story fascinated us deeply. Originally, our understanding of the white whale was very vague, because none of us had ever seen a white whale, and even the legends we heard were not first-hand. This story, with its complete plot and rich details, makes our understanding of Moby Dick much clearer.

This is a very tragic story. Originally, this was what the three white sailors on the ship whispered to us at the party, and only our sailors knew about it, and it never reached the ears of Captain Ahab and the first mates. . You know, the core part of this story, even on the "Whale Out" is also a secret, but it is in the hands of the white sailors who tell us, even their own captains don't know it. ! However, on the third night after we had heard the story, Tustego revealed some of it in his own dream. After he woke up, everyone who heard his sleep talk couldn't let him go, so he had to tell other contents one by one.

Everyone who heard the story had to keep the story a secret, it was said first, so until now the story has not been passed behind the mainmast. But I want to tell it to you here, so that it will last forever. Let us sit in a circle as if in an inn. Well, the story begins: Two years ago the whaling ship "The Whale Out" from Nantucket was cruising a few days west of Lima, and was planning to go north of the equator. One morning, when more water was drawn out of the bilge than usual, as the old custom was, the sailors wondered if the bilge had been punctured by the swordfish. But the captain didn't think so, but imagined that there must be some good luck waiting for him.

So he not only let his ship stay in this sea area, but also didn't think the leak was so dangerous, he just asked the sailors to pump water every once in a while. Their boat cruised on. However, after a long time, the captain's good luck did not come, but the ship's loopholes became bigger and bigger. The captain began to panic, and ordered to sail to the nearest port to repair the ship. In fact, this is not a big deal, the water pump on the boat is good, and the water is pumped from the bilge every day, so even if the leak is doubled, there is no need to worry about the boat sinking in the middle.

But at this moment, due to the discord among the crew, the "big whale came out" was in trouble. The first mate, Latai, is one of the shareholders of the ship. He is usually very arrogant and arrogant, and he is not very popular among the sailors. At this time, he began to frown tightly, showing anxiety. La Tai is not a coward, nor is he a person who looks forward and backward. On the contrary, he is the kind of person who is fearless but has little brains. All his displeasure now was because he feared for the fate of the ship in which he had his share. He started to speak harshly to everyone, which caused dissatisfaction among many crew members.

Skido is one of them. Skidow's hometown is Buffalo, near the Great Lakes in the north, but he was born on the sea and grew up on the beaches of Nantucket. He was big and strong, he was the leader of a group of sailors, and he was appointed as the squad leader of a group of sailors. He had some of the Nantucketer's kindness, but more of it was irascible, pugnacious, narrow-minded, and vengeful. Although he hadn't had an attack because of anything, but now under the face of the first mate Ratai, he began to get angry. On this day, Skido and his companions were pumping water as usual.

While smoking, they were talking and joking, very happy. At this time, Ratai's first mate came over with an unhappy expression on his face. Skido saw the first mate, and saw his disappointing look, and he also became angry. He pretended not to see the first officer, and then joked with his companions about the first officer. "I said, boys, this hole looks like a wine drain, let us have a taste in a glass, and then fill a bottle and take it home." "Let me tell you, this boat looks like it's not going to be saved. If that's the case, the chief mate's money will be useless. At most, he can cut off a part of the hull that belongs to him and drag it home!"

"Actually, the swordfish on the bottom of the sea have only just started, and now they are vigorously hacking at the bottom of the boat!" "If I were the first mate, I would have jumped down and driven those guys away! How can I let them ruin my ship like this." "It seems that the first mate is a no-brainer. Although he is very beautiful, I heard that he bought mirrors with the rest of his money. Do you know that?" Latai heard Skido's jokes on him, but he couldn't get angry about it, so he had to find another excuse. "What's the matter with you, are you blind? Didn't you see that the pump has stopped? Hurry up and pump."

Latai cursed. "Okay, Mr. First Mate." Skidow answered on behalf of the group, and then they worked hard, out of breath. The water was drained, and Skido's sailors, flushed with exhaustion, went to the winch and sat down to rest. But the fire in Latai's heart didn't go out. He looked at Skido, walked over, and gave an order to stir up trouble. He asked Skiddo to clean up the deck. Skido is furious, you know, this job is done by the last sailor on board, and he himself is the squad leader, and he can't even do such a job as pumping water, and now the mate asked him to do this It's just an insult to him, It was no different than spitting in his face.

Everyone present knew that the first officer was insulting him. He looked angrily into the malicious eyes of the first mate, and said nothing. He endured it for a long time, and it was not easy for a grumpy Mi Sai. After a while, he said calmly that it was not his job, so he quit. After hearing this, Ratai pointed at Skido and began to curse. After scolding for a while, Ratai felt puzzled, so he simply picked up a large wooden hammer used by a carpenter, and rushed to Skido with it held up. Skido still endured tenaciously, remained motionless, and only looked up at La Tai with contempt. Latai's hammer shook before Skido's eyes. Skido couldn't take it any longer and jumped up to fight. He ran around the winch, Ratay after him, hammer in hand. After going around like this for a while, Skido finally stopped giving in. He warned the first officer not to do this again, otherwise he would not be polite. "If you let the hammer touch me, I'll beat you to death, and I don't care if you're a first mate or not." But the mate's hammer had almost touched his teeth. Skido couldn't take it anymore and fought back. His hard punch to Ratay's jaw was no less than the big wooden hammer. Immediately, Ratai fell down, bleeding from his mouth. At this moment, several other first mates and javeliners rushed up, surrounded Skido, and brought him to the deck. Skido's friends didn't do it either, they rushed up and wrestled with the senior crew members, trying to snatch Skido out. As a result, a large group formed on the deck, and it became a mess. The stout captain, with a whaling gun, was jumping up and down outside the crowd, urging his officers not to let Skiddow go and get him to the quarterdeck, and poking the crowd with his gun. , wanting to single out Skido. But these senior crew members were no match for the sailors at all, and after a while, those sailors successfully withdrew to their own forecastle. They rolled three or four vats in a row, and they themselves stood behind, defending against the attack of their opponents. "Come out quickly, you robbers." The captain took the two guns he had just brought from the waiter, and shouted to the sailors. Skido jumped on the barrel and strode on, not caring a bit if the captain's gun went off. He said that if the captain really beat himself to death, the sailors on the whole ship would riot. Fearing this too, the captain restrained himself, but ordered them to hurry to work. Skido is talking about conditions: "If we do as you order, you must promise not to retaliate against us." The captain is still tyrannical: "I'll let you go back. I won't promise you anything. If you stop working at this time, don't you want to sink the ship?" "Then let it sink, we don't care, and we won't go back unless we agree to our conditions." Skido said firmly, and his words elicited cheers from his companions. The captain still refused. Skido still stalked proudly on the barrel, saying as he went: "I said a long time ago, don't mess with us, we are not easy to mess with, besides, it's not our fault at all, you should understand." "Get back to work!" the captain growled. "Unless you're serious about us." Skido wouldn't budge. "Go back!" the captain growled. Skido looked at the furious captain: "We won't fight you unless you do it first. Of course, if you agree to our conditions, maybe nothing will happen." "Well then, I won't punish you, but you'll all have to go down to your forecastle and I'll lock you up." The captain played tricks. "Shall we go?" Skido asked everyone. Most people don't advocate going, only a few people say they can go. Finally, everyone obeyed Skido and entered the forecastle. As soon as the sailors entered, the captain and his men jumped over the obstacles, rushed to the hatch, pulled up the cover, tightly covered the exit, and pressed it with their hands. When the waiter had obeyed and brought a large brass lock, the captain locked the hatch. Before it was locked, the captain also said something into it. A total of ten people headed by Skido were locked inside. The two dozen or so sailors left on deck were neutral. Skido and the others were suppressed in this way. All night the officers guarded the locked hatch lest they should escape. But the night passed without incident. The rest of the sailors were still pumping, and the pumps rang day and night. The ten people who led the rebellion led by Skido were locked in the forecastle by the captain. After the sun came out, the captain went to the hatch and knocked on the deck to let the prisoners come up and do their work. But the people below yelled and rejected him. So the captain had a few pieces of hard bread thrown down for them, and some water, and went away. Three days in a row passed, and it was the same. On the morning of the fourth day, the captain still came for his routine questioning. This time, the bilge didn't refuse immediately, but quarreled in disorder for a while. After a while, four people rushed out of the rice and told the captain that they could go to work. Facing the people who surrendered and came up, the captain suddenly felt a sense of victory. "Who could bear the stale air inside, the hunger, the fear of possible punishment?" thought the captain triumphantly. He stressed his terms to Skido in the bilge again, much more rigidly. Skido at the bilge was in a fit of anger, and pushed him back unceremoniously. On the morning of the fifth day, three more people broke free and ran out, so there were only three people left inside. "It's better to come out and work honestly, okay?" The captain taunted Skido inside, and locked the exit again with a lock. At this time, Skido was almost mad with anger because of the betrayal of his companions and the sarcasm of the captain. His two companions looked at him, and they were united until now. Finally, Skido proposed: To-morrow morning, when the captain came to make fun of them again, they would rush out with their meat-chopping knives, straight to the stern, and kill anyone they saw, and if they could get it, kill the whole ship. take it all down. His two partners did not object to his proposal, and agreed. They vowed to do so, and all scrambled to be the first to go. Skido insisted that he go first, and neither of the other two could hold him back. So they began to devise a trick in their minds that was completely opposite to the troubles that followed, and that was: Surrender early for forgiveness. At night, Skito dozed off. His two companions quickly tied him up and gagged him. After that, his two companions screamed loudly. Suspecting a murder, the captain arrived at the hatch in a few minutes with fully armed men. They opened the lock and hatch, and Skido's last two companions pushed Skido out, who was bound. The two men uncovered Skido's conspiracy and asked the captain for a reward. However, the captain ignored their flattery at all, but asked someone to tie them up too. The three men were tied side by side to the jib rigging, like three pieces of flesh, until daybreak. "These scoundrels don't even care about the eagles that eat the dead." The captain scolded bitterly. After daylight, the captain summoned all the people here. He separated those who had troubled themselves from those who hadn't, and said to those who had troubled first: "Originally, I wanted to whip you all up, because that's the only way to be fair, but since you surrendered in time, I also forgive you." Then, the captain scolded these people, and then let them go. The captain turned his head and faced the three of Skido. "As for you, I think you should chop them up first, and then send them to the cauldron for refining." The captain took his whip, and began to whip Skiddo's last two companions hard. After a while of whipping, those two people couldn't even curse. "I twisted my wrists, but I still can't spare you, come here, take the stuff out of Skido's mouth, and see what else he has to say?" commanded the captain, aiming the targets below at Skydor. Someone took what was stuffed in Skidow's mouth. "I want to say, if you're going to hit me, then I'm going to kill you." Skido said firmly. "You still dare to scare me." The captain raised his whip to beat him. "I advise you not to fight." Skido said calmly. "I just want to fight." The captain's whip is about to fall. At this time, Skito said something, only the captain could hear. Surprisingly, after hearing these words, the captain backed away in fright, paced back and forth on the deck for two steps, and then threw the whip away. "Go as you please, I won't fight anymore, let them let you down." So someone came to untie Skido. At this time, their hands were held down, and it turned out to be the first mate Ratai. The first mate had been lying on the sling since he received Skido's punch, and just heard the noise. His mouth moved, and no one could hear what he said, but everyone guessed that he must be unwilling to let Skido go. He picked up the whip. "You coward!" Skido scolded him. Ratai ignored it and still raised his whip. Skido said a few more words. Oddly enough, the first mate Rathy was as deflated as the captain. After hesitating for a while, he ordered Skido to be released, and not only that, but the two men were also released. All of them went back to work at their posts. The incident appeared to subside and calm was restored on board. The water pump was still beeping. And calm is superficial, and a bigger conspiracy is brewing. Except for the two guys who betrayed Skido at the last moment, they didn't dare to be with other sailors anymore, but almost all the other sailors fell to Skido. Skido made an agreement with them to be patient and wait for the ship to dock, and then they would desert collectively. Before that, they never made a sound even if they found a big whale. So although the ship was still sailing and sending out watchmen, it was no longer possible to catch a big whale again. But the captain still had hope, and so did the first mate. In addition to instructing the sailors to do as said above, Skido also made careful arrangements for how to take revenge on his sworn enemy. After experiencing so many things, that brainless first mate, Ratai, didn't increase his vigilance at all. Instead, he ignored the captain's reminder and took up the night shift as usual. That night, the first mate, Latai, was sitting on the side of the ship on the quarter deck, leaning back with his arms under his head, leaning against the dinghy hanging overboard, dozing off. It was an old habit of his, and his partner Skido had long mastered it. "I'll take him to his grave there, and the guy doesn't feel a thing. Dead thing." Skido had planned everything and was waiting to implement it. However, an unexpected thing happened, and Skido failed to realize his evil revenge plan. It was Moby Dick who stopped his doomed act. It was getting brighter this morning, but the sun hadn't come out yet. Moby Dick appeared. At this time, when everyone was busy washing the deck, a fool from Africa forgot Skido's instigation and yelled loudly. "Here comes the whale! Here comes the whale! Goodness, look how white he is, it must be Moby Dick!" "My God, how big is it, and why does it have a name?" A sailor was also attracted, leaned over to the side and yelled loudly. When these two guys called out, everyone was alarmed, and everyone rushed over together. "My God, this thing is so scary!" "Why is it called Moby Dick?" "Let me take a breath and tell you guys, I see some reactions from this guy." "Give it something to drink, I think something is wrong with it." They yelled at one another, forgetting the unhappiness on board that had lasted for several days. At this time, everyone on board, from the captain to the first mate, was alarmed. Their spirits were aroused, and they forgot the legend about the evil whale, and became anxious to catch the famous white whale. After a while of busy work, the four boats were launched. After a nervous row, they approached Moby Dick. Ratai stood at the bow of the boat with a javelin in his hand. He had forgotten the pain on his jaw and became extremely brave. Skido, rowing behind the skiff, stared at Ratai, his enemy, while shouting orders loudly and excitedly. After a while, Moby Dick was hit by them and tied up. Ratai stood at the bow, yelling, and let the boat approach the back of the whale. Just as the boat passed through the white foam and approached the back of the whale, it seemed to hit something like a reef below, and it capsized all of a sudden. The first mate, Latai, was thrown out and landed right on the back of the whale. The boat tossed a few times and turned over again. But the first officer was thrown into the sea because he couldn't stand on the slippery back of the whale, and distanced himself from the boat. Ratay tossed about in the water, trying to avoid the sight of the whale and Moby Dick. But Moby Dick wouldn't let him go. Moby Dick turned around quickly, rushed towards the first officer with his mouth open, and had him in his mouth in the blink of an eye. Then Moby Dick popped his head up, then plunged down again, and dived below. Skido has been watching all this with cold eyes, looking for an opportunity to make a move. When the whale plunged down and the skiff was taut, he quickly took his knife and cut the whale-line. Moby Dick was let go and left with the first mate in his mouth. When the boat saw it float again, the first mate was gone, and only his rags were still hanging from Moby Dick's mouth. The four boats pursued, but Moby Dick was gone. After the catastrophe, their ship finally docked in a small port. It was a very remote island, and the island was full of savage-like residents. According to the agreement, Skido and the others ran away collectively as soon as the ship docked. Now all that remains of the ship is the captain, officers and a few sailors. The captain had to ask the people on the island for help to turn the big ship over for repairs. At the same time, in order to prevent the people on the island from attacking them, they had to be on guard day and night. The boat was repaired, but everyone was exhausted. The captain didn't dare to go to sea rashly, so he moored his ship as far away from the coast as possible, and set up two cannons on the bow, and prepared his muskets to guard against the harassment of the islanders. Afterwards, the captain, with one man, sailed to Tahiti, five hundred miles away, in his own best boat, in order to hire some men back. At the beginning of the fourth day, the captain encountered a big canoe. He wanted to avoid it, but the big canoe rushed straight up. Looking closer, it was Skido and the others. It turned out that after they entered the jungle, they snatched a war canoe from the locals and were going to sail to another larger port. At this time, Skido, who rushed over, asked the captain to stop, saying that if he didn't stop, he would be thrown into the sea. The captain drew out his gun and pointed it at Skido. Skido didn't care at all. "What do you want to do?" The captain asked Skido. "What are you going to do?" Skido asked the captain back. "I'm going to Tahiti to hire some men." The captain replied. "Let me go to your boat. I'll take nothing." As Skido said, he swam over into the water and boarded the captain's boat at once. Skido faced the captain and said with a sneer: "Now do as I say, and park your boat on a small island over there for six days, and don't move." "Okay, I swear." The captain wisely agreed. Skido watched the captain's boat approach a small island, tied the boat to a coconut tree, and then commanded his own canoe to set off. Afterwards, they arrived in Tahiti, where they successfully found new errands, boarded two French ships, and followed them to France. Ten days after they left Tahiti, the captain's boat arrived. He originally wanted to punish Skido and the others with the law, but now he failed. After the story was finished, Skido didn't know where he was now. The captain was still cruising in the sea, and Latai's widow had dreams about the white whale every day. Finally, I swear, this story is true.