Chapter 101 96．ghost

On the vast sea, when a ship passes by your field of vision, if you are an experienced sailor, you can tell at a glance whether the ship is a whaler or not. For whalers have their distinguishing features. The first is the dinghy they hang over the side of the ship. The second is what I want to tell you in this chapter-the question of oil refining. On a whaling ship, no matter how you say it, the refinery is a colossal thing, occupying a large area and the most prominent position on the entire whaling ship. Besides, no other facility can compare with it. The refinery is usually located between the foremast and the mainmast.

This place is the most spacious place in the whole ship. Our refinery is ten feet wide, eight feet long, and five feet high, about the size of a brick kiln on land. In fact, the refinery is basically an entire brick kiln on land moved to a whaling ship. Like the brick kilns on land, the refinery is also made of bricks and mortar, which is very heavy but also very strong. Being a product of brick and mortar and being on board a ship, no foundations could be laid, so the refinery had to be fastened firmly to the deck by other means. Usually, a lot of large bent irons are used to firmly hoop the four sides of the refinery, and then these bent irons are tightly connected to the deck.

Like a cabin, the refinery also has a hatch. Climb to the top of the refinery and lift the hatch cover, and you can have a condescending view of the entire face of the refinery. The first is a pair of amazingly large oil refining pots, which are so bright that they can shine on people. Each cauldron has the capacity of several large barrels, and it is really the largest pot we have ever seen in our lives. When not in use, the pot was brushed clean, and then polished like silver with talcum powder and yellow sand. In this way, it is not used for many years, and it will never rust. Cleaning these two big iron pans is time-consuming and labor-intensive. We often wipe while chatting, which makes us feel better.

During the night watch, very sleepy sailors often sneak down, curl up in the cauldron, half squat and half lie down, and take a nap. At that time, this cauldron was their paradise. Now let us look at the two oven doors, which are made of the strongest iron plates, like the two doors of a prison. If the flames in the stove were allowed to rush out onto the deck, it would be more terrifying than prisoners running out of the prison. Also for the above-mentioned safety considerations, the bottom of the oil refining room is separated by a layer, which serves as the isolation layer between the bottom of the stove and the deck, and a shallow water reservoir is installed in the middle.

The water reservoir has a pipe connected to the outside, in order to refill the cold water when the water in the water reservoir continues to evaporate. There is no special chimney outside the entire stove, but it stretches out from the back wall. The first time we smelted whale oil in the pair of cauldrons was about nine o'clock in the evening after Stubb had first killed a giant sperm whale. That time, it was Stubb who oversaw the refinery. "Quick, everyone, get ready and open the stove." Stubb commanded everyone methodically with various passwords. When everyone had made all the preparations, Stubb began to give orders:

"Alright, light the fire!" The fireman heard the order to light the fuel in the stove. All of a sudden, there was a sea of ​​flames in the stove. Everyone rejoiced, you know, lighting the stove means that whale oil will be refined after a while. This is the dream of all those who go out to sea to hunt whales. If it is not for this, what are you doing at sea? In fact, ignition is a very easy task. Long before Stubb's order the hearth had been stuffed with carpenter's shavings, and it only needed a spark to blaze. Once the stove is ignited, no additional fuel is needed.

Because with the refining of whale oil, the fuel for refining whale oil is also produced. This is the leftover piles of leftovers after whale blubber is refined into oil, which is actually oil residue. Because the oil residue also contains a certain amount of oil, there is nothing better than this as a good fuel. The oil residue was continuously thrown into the stove, the whale oil was continuously refined, new fuel was continuously supplied, and the fire in the stove was raging. Poor whale, man kills you for your oil, and that's not the cruelest thing. The cruelest thing is that people use your body to extract the essence of your life.

Regardless of the grease on the stove or the oil residue under the stove, it all comes from your huge body that was once alive! Are you setting yourself on fire? Why are you doing this? Is it for martyrdom?Or world-weary? No, not at all, I clearly heard your cry coming from the fire, you are being burned at the stake by human beings! It's a pity that the whale, which is so wonderful to human beings, can't absorb the suffocating and disgusting smoke it emits by itself. If that's the case, this animal's cultivation is perfect. I thought so, cursing myself for being mean.

In the middle of the night, the oil refining work reached its climax. The Pequod had set sail, and the wind was picking up. The sea is getting darker. But the fire in the stove became more and more vigorous, and even became a little crazy. Tongues of flame kept coming out of the chimney, like a crazy ghost, stretching out his head to look at the vast sea. From time to time, the surface of the sea is reflected red, like an unpredictable face. The "Pequode" is like an ancient warship, carrying flames, using flames as its own sails, and rushing forward. The whole ship was reflected in fiery red, shining on the sea, like the ambition of an ancient Greek warrior.

I don't know who they are going to burn with their own flames, maybe they and themselves will be destroyed by this flame. Will this be the terrible end of the Pequod? If the top hatch of the refinery is opened, the refinery will actually become a big furnace. The fire-buddies hold thick iron fork handles in their hands, or stand by the fire, or wander around the stove, the iron fork handle dangling in the air. These people all looked smoky, their faces turned brown, and their eyes were full of smoke and fire. Only the teeth are still white, but in such an environment and atmosphere, they look terrifying.

At this time, all the plumbers seemed to be by accident. They stirred the fire for a moment, and tongues of flame rushed out of the door and toward their feet, while clouds of smoke billowed out, enveloping them in black clouds. After a while they stretched out their forks again, turning over lumps of blubber in the frying pan. The fat clumps hissed, steamed and rolled in the big oil pan, like the soul of a whale in agony. The whale oil in the oil pan was boiling. Every jolt of the boat made it surge like a sea wave, and every time it almost gushed rice, almost splashing it on the hideous faces of the firemen surrounding it. But the firemen don't care. While they were busy with the work in their hands, they talked happily and eloquently. At this time, there are always only two topics for them, that is, two experiences, one is the experience with women, and the other is the experience of terror. While they let the flames flicker around them, they were intoxicated by their experience. They couldn't stop laughing, the laughter was as crazy and restless as the flames in the stove. The sea breeze kept howling, and the sea water kept churning. The "Pequode" advanced firmly in the darkness, without the slightest bit of flinching. It carried the fire and the incinerator of the big whale, as if it was holding a grand cremation ceremony, and kept rushing towards the depths of darkness. Perhaps, this is Captain Ahab. I have been at the helm for hours without a sound. The "Pequode" advanced on the sea under my guidance. I listened to the jokes coming from the oil refining room. Although I didn't see those gangsters, I felt their madness. I can see the fire-lit faces of these people flashing through my mind, and I feel that they are just a bunch of ghosts. Ever since, my mind was full of phantoms of ghosts. Steering the helm at midnight, I was prone to doze off, but now I was surrounded by these ghosts, so I fell into a drowsiness. While I was taking a short nap, a strange and terrifying hallucination occurred. I woke up in a panic and found that I didn't know where I was. What's worse, I clearly felt that a catastrophe was imminent in my consciousness. My ears heard the wind blowing the sails out of tune, I whimpered unceasingly, stretched my hands forward, and the rudder that was in my hand disappeared. I suspected it was a nightmare, so I shook my head vigorously, put my fingers on my eyelids, and stretched them open. I was a little more sober, but there was still nothing in front of my eyes. What about the compass?What about the compass that guides the entire ship to survive? God, I can't find them! I was suddenly startled and broke out in cold sweat, and I was at a loss, as if the end was coming soon. Just when I couldn't do anything but pray to heaven, something hit me in the lower back. Now I understand, it's the tiller! God!I turned back and grabbed the tiller with a snap and held the rudder. This turned the corner. It turned out that when I was confused, I unknowingly turned around, originally facing the front, but then facing the stern of the boat, no wonder it caused a false alarm. My heart beat unceasingly, thanks to turning around in time, I escaped this fatal illusion. Otherwise, if the headwind blows the boat up, it is very likely that the boat will capsize, and then everything will be over. Maybe it's the phantoms of the pyrotechnics that make me so, these goddamn inhumans. Maybe it's the blubber fire that makes me so, this ghostly image lit by human beings. Don't believe the flames lit for humans, they can only play tricks in the dark. As soon as the sun came out, they were finished. Only the sun is the lamp that can really illuminate your heart. Believe it!