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?
船中嵌板就在這個怕人的景象下閉起來了,可是客廳中的燈光並沒有亮,桔第留斯號內部完全是黑暗和沉默。它在深百英呎下的水底,特別迅速地離開這個淒慘場所。它到哪裡去呢?向北呢?向南呢?這個人做了這件可怕的報復後,逃到哪裡去呢?
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,尼德和康塞爾兩人默不作聲地在艙房裡面。我對於尼摩船长發生一種極端厭惡的心情。雖然他從別人方面可能受過很大的痛苦,但他沒有權利來作這樣殘酷的報復。雖然他沒有使我做他的同謀,可是他讓我做了他復仇的見證人!這已經太過分
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.
十一點,電光又亮了。我到客廳裡面,廳裡沒有人。我看一下廳裡的各種器械。諾第留斯號以每小時二十五海里的快速度向北方駛去,有時在海面上,有時在三十英呎深水下。
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.
從地圖上的記錄來看,我看出我們在英吉利海峽口上走過,航行方向是以無比的快速度把我們帶到北極海中去。
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,我們已經走過大西洋海面二百里。陰影遮來,黑暗侵到海上,直至月亮東昇。
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,受惡夢的侵擾。殘酷毀滅的可怕場面在我腦子裡面陸續重演。
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!
自這一天起,誰能說諾第留斯號在這北大西洋海水中要帶我們到哪裡去呢?老是那飛快的速度!老是在極北濛霧中間!它要走近斯勃齊堡的尖角;走近紐藏伯爾的懸崖嗎?它要駛過那些神秘的海。白海,喀拉海,鄂畢灣,李亞洛夫群島,以及亞洲沿海沒有人到過的邊岸嗎?這樣度過的時間,我簡直不可能估計。時間在船上的大鐘上是停止了。好像黑夜和白天跟在兩極地方那樣,不按照它們經常的規律來進行。我感到自己被帶迸埃德加-波的過度想象可以隨意活動的那個奇異領域中了。每時每刻,我都像怪異的戈登.賓①那樣,等着看見“那個蒙面人,他的身材比居住在任何陸地上的人都高大得多,斜身投入那保護北極周圍的大瀑布中去!”
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——但我或者搞錯了~一我估量諾第留斯號這次冒險的奔跑延長到十五天或二十天之久,如果沒有結束這次海底旅行的大災禍發生,我不知道要拉長到什麼時候。尼摩船長,沒法提了。他的副手,也一樣。船上的人員一個也看不見。諾第留斯號不停地在水底行駛。當它浮上水而來調換空氣的時候,嵌板總是機械地動作着:打開了又關閉。在地圖上也不再記方位了。我根本不知道我門是在什
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.
我又要說,加拿大人忍無可忍,忍到最後關頭了,他也不出來,康塞爾想使他說句話也不可能,同時害怕他神經忽然錯亂,在怕人的思鄉病狀下,他可能要尋短見。因此,康塞爾時時刻刻忠實小心地看守住他。
You can appreciate that under these conditions, our situation had become untenable.
人們瞭解到,在這種情況下,我們的處境不可能再維持下去。
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一天我可說不上來——清早我迷糊地昏睡着,那是苦惱和病態的昏睡。當我醒來,我看見尼德-蘭俯身向着我,我聽到他低聲對我說:
"We're going to escape!"
“我們逃!”
I sat up.
我站起來問:
"When?" I asked.
“我們什麼時候逃?”
"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?"
“就在夜間。諾第留斯號像是任何管理和監督也沒有了。船上好像完全陷于麻木昏沉的狀態。先生,您能準備好嗎?”
"Yes. Where are we?"
“能,我們現在在什麼地方?”
"In sight of land. I saw it through the mists just this morning, twenty miles to the east."
“在可以望見陸地的地方。我今天早上在濃霧中間,東”方二十海里,看見那些陸地。”
"What land is it?"
“那是些什麼陸地呢?”
"I've no idea, but whatever it is, there we'll take refuge."
“那可不知道,不管是什麼陸地,我們逃到那邊去就是。”
"Yes, Ned! We'll escape tonight even if the sea swallows us up!"
“對!尼德。對,我們今晚逃,就是大海吞沒了我們也不管!”
"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."
“海很洶湧,風很猛烈,但在諾第留斯號的那只輕便小艇中只要劃二十海里,那不能使我駭怕。我沒有被船上人員發覺,暗中又弄到一些糧食和好幾瓶飲水。”
"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“拿大人又說,“如果我被發覺,我一定反抗,我要人把我殺死。”
"Then we'll die together, Ned my friend."
“我們死在一起,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.
我不顧一切,決心逃走。加拿大人出去了。我到了平台上面,我簡直站不住,不可能受那一陣一陣波浪的襲擊。天空陰暗,快有風暴,但是,既然有陸地在濃霧中,那就是逃走。現在我們一天、一時、一刻都不能白丟。
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 . . . !
我回到客廳中,既怕碰見又想碰見尼摩船長,既要又不要看見他。我可以跟他說什麼活呢?我可能隱藏住他使我心中發生的那種自然而然的厭惡嗎!不能!那麼看不見他,不跟他面面相對是好些!忘記了他是好些!本來也只能這樣!
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.
我在諾第留斯號船上過的最後這一天是多麼長!我一個人單獨在那裡。尼德-蘭和康塞爾躲開我,不跟我說話,怕泄露我們的計劃。
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.
六點,進晚餐,但我並不餓。我雖不想吃,但我勉強吃些,不願意把自己弄得沒有氣力。
At 6:30 Ned Land entered my stateroom. He told me:
六點半,尼德,蘭走進我房中來,他對我說:
"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."
“我們只到出發的時候才能再見了。十點,月亮還沒有上來。我們乘黑暗中逃走。您到小艇那邊來。康塞爾和我,我們在那邊等候您。”
The Canadian left without giving me time to answer him.
加拿大人說完了就走,連回答他的時間也不給我。
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.
我要確定一下諾第留斯號所走的方向。我到客廳中去。我們是在深五十米的地方,船以驚人的速度向東北偏北方駛去。
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.
我最後看一下堆在這陳列室中自然的奇珍異寶,藝術的寶庫,最後看一下有一天要跟親手收集它們的人一齊消滅在海底的,那無比的珍貴收藏。我想在我心中把我的十分深刻的印象最後一次固定下來。我就這樣過了一小時,在光輝的天花板發出的電光照耀下,把玻璃櫃中那些輝煌燦爛的珍寶重看了一遍。然後我回房中來。
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,我穿了海中穿的結實衣服。我弄齊了我的筆記,把筆記緊密珍重地帶在身上。我的心跳得很厲害。我不能抑制我的脈搏。當然,我的心緒,我的激動,可以被尼摩船長的眼睛看出來。
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!
他這時候幹什麼呢?我到他房門口細聽一下。我聽到有腳步聲。尼摩船長在裡面。他並沒有睡下。聽到他的每一動作,我覺得他就要走出來,質問我為什麼要逃走!我感到有連續不斷的警報聲。我的想象又把這些警報聲擴大起來。這種感覺十分難受,使得我心中想,到船長房中去,跟他當面,用手勢和眼光向他挑戰,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.
這簡直是瘋狂的想法。很運氣,我抑制住自己,我躺在床上,讓我身體的激動平息下來。我的神經安靜了一些,但我的腦子受了過度的刺激,在迅速的記憶中,我重又看見我在諾第留斯號船上度過的整個生活,自我脫離了林肯號以來所碰到的:或快樂或痛苦的所有意外事件:海底打獵,多列斯海峽,巴布亞島的土人,坐礁擱淺,珊瑚墓地,蘇伊士海底地道,桑多林島,克里特的潛水人:維哥灣,大西洋洲,冰山。南極,被困在冰層中,跟章魚戰鬥,大西洋暖流的風暴。復仇號,以及那把船跟船員一起撞沉的可怕場面!……所有這些事件都湧現在我眼前,好像那些背後的佈景,在舞台底層,一幕一幕地揭開,這時候,尼摩船長在這離奇古怪的環境中間顯得異常巨大。他的形象集中起來,現出超人的典型。他並不是我的同類人,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!
時間是丸點半。我雙手緊緊按住我的腦袋,防止它不要炸裂。我閉起我的眼睛。我不願意思想。還要等半個鐘頭:半個鐘頭的惡夢可能使我變成瘋子!
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.
這時候,我聽到大風琴的隱約聲音,那是一種不可形容的憂愁樂聲,是一個要斬斷自己對人世關係的人的真正哀歌。我五官並用,全神注意地細聽,差不多呼吸都停止了,像尼摩船長~樣,精神充全沉浸在把他帶到人世之外的音樂迷醉中。
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!
一會兒,一個突然的思想使我十分害怕起來;尼摩船長已離開了他的房間,他正在我逃走時一定要經過的客廳裡面。我要在廳中最後一次碰見他。他要看見我,他或者要跟我說話!他的一下手勢可能使我驚獃不能動彈,他只要說一句話就可能把我鎖在他的船上!
Even so, ten o'clock was about to strike. It was time to leave my stateroom and rejoin my companions.
然而十點就要響了。離開我的房間,跟我的同伴們相會的時候到了。
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!
沒有絲毫可以猶疑的了,就是尼摩船長站在我面前也不能倒退了。我小心把房門打開,可是我覺得在擰動門鈕的時候,門發出怕人的聲音。或者這聲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.
我沿著諾第留斯號的黑暗過道,一步一步摸索着前進,走一步停一下,抑制住心上的跳動。
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.
我走到客廳屋角上的門。我輕輕地打開它。廳裡面完全黑暗。大風琴的聲音微弱響着。尼摩船長在那裡。他沒有看見我。我想,就是在明亮的燈光下,他恐怕也看不見我,因為他神遊天外,他完全被吸引在夢幻的樂聲裡。
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.
我在地毯上慢慢挪動,十分小心不和任何東西相碰,以免發出聲響。我費了五分鐘才走到客廳那邊通到圖書室的門。
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:
我正要開門的時候,尼摩船長的一聲嘆息把我釘在那裡不能動。我懂得他是站起來了。我甚至于看到他的身影,因為有些亮着的圖書室中的燈光一直射到客廳中來。他向我這邊走來,兩手交叉着,一聲不響,說是走過來,不如說是溜過來,像幽靈那樣。他的被壓住的胸部由於他怞咽的哭泣而鼓脹起來。我聽到他聲音很低地說出下面這幾句話——這個傳到我耳中來的最後幾句話:
"O almighty God! Enough! Enough!"
“全能的上帝!夠了!夠了!”
Was it a vow of repentance that had just escaped from this man's conscience . . . ?
這就是從這個人良心裡面發出來的悔恨的自白嗎?……
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.
我簡直心神昏亂了,跑出圖書室中。我上了中央樓梯,沿著上層的過道前行,我到了小艇邊。我從開着的孔走人艇中,我的兩個同伴已經在這裏邊。
"Let's go, let's go!" I exclaimed.
“我們走!我們走!”我喊道。
"Right away!" the Canadian replied.
“馬上走!”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.
在諾第留斯號船身鋼板上開的孔本來是關閉的,尼德-蘭有一把鉗子,把螺釘緊緊地上好。小艇上的孔也是關起來的,加拿大人開始弄鬆那仍然把我們扣在這只潛水船上的螺釘。
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.
突然船內發出聲響。好些人聲急急地互相答應。發生了什麼事?是人們發覺了我們逃走嗎?我覺得尼德-蘭拿一把短刀放在我手中。
"Yes," I muttered, "we know how to die!"
“對!”我低聲說,“我們並不怕死!”
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釘工作。我們聽到一句話,重複說了許多次,一句很可怕的話,給我說明諾第留斯號船上處處發生蚤擾激動的原因。船上人員發覺到的對象並不是我們!
"Maelstrom! Maelstrom!" they were shouting.
“北冰洋大風暴!北冰洋大風暴!”他們大聲喊。
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?
北冰洋大風暴!可能有一個更可怕的名字在更可怕的情形中傳到我們耳朵中來嗎?那麼我們是走在挪威沿岸一帶的危險海中了。諾第留斯號在我們的小艇要離開它的時候,就要被捲人這深淵中嗎?
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.
人們知道,當潮漲的時候,夾在費羅哀群島和羅夫丹群島中間的海水,奔騰澎湃,洶湧無比。它們形成翻滾沸騰的漩渦,從沒有船隻駛進去能夠脫險出來。滔天大浪從四面八方衝到那裡,形成了很恰當地被稱為“海洋肚臍眼”的無底的深淵,它的吸引力一直伸張到十五公里遠。在深淵周圍,不但船隻,而且鯨魚,而且北極地帶的白熊,都不能例外,一齊被吸進去。
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!
就是在這無底深淵附近,諾第留斯號——或無意或有意一被它的船長駛進來了,它迅速地被捲入,路線作螺旋形,愈前進,螺旋形的半徑也愈縮小。小艇還附在它身上,也跟它一樣,被驚人無比的速度帶走。我感到它飛奔前去。我這時體會到的,是接着過于延長的渦捲動作而來的那種顛簸的盤旋迴繞。我們是在極端的駭怕中,是在最高度的恐怖中,血液循環停止了,神經作用停頓了,全身流滿像臨死時候所出的冷汗!在我們的脆弱小艇周圍的是多麼叫怕的聲音!幾海里內連續迴響不絶的是多麼厲害的吼叫!那些海水濺在海底下面的尖利岩石上所發出的是多麼怕人的喧閙!在這些岩石上,就是最堅固的物體也粉碎了,照挪威成語說的,就是大樹幹也毀損為“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!
多麼危險怕人的處境!我們極端駭怕地一任海波擺動。諾第留斯號像一個人一樣自衛着。它的鋼鐵肌肉嘎嘎作響。它有時候挺起,我們也跟它一齊豎起!
"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,”尼德說,“並且把螺絲釘再上緊起來。緊緊靠着諾第留斯號,我們或者還可以保全……!”
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.
他沒有說完他的話,嘎嘎的聲音就發出來了。螺絲釘落下,小艇脫離它的巢窩,像投石機發出的一塊石頭,飛擲入大漩渦中。
My head struck against an iron timber, and with this violent shock I lost consciousness.
我的腦袋碰在一根鐵條上,受了這次猛烈的衝撞,我立即失去了知覺。