At last, when the ship drew near to the outskirts, as it were, of the Equatorial fishing-ground, and in the deep darkness that goes before the dawn, was sailing by a cluster of rocky islets; the watch — then headed by Flask — was startled by a cry so plaintively wild and unearthly — like half-articulated wailings of the ghosts of all Herod's murdered Innocents — that one and all, they started from their reveries, and for the space of some moments stood, or sat, or leaned all transfixed by listening, like the carved Roman slave, while that wild cry remained within hearing. The Christian or civilized part of the crew said it was mermaids, and shuddered; but the pagan harpooneers remained unappalled. Yet the grey Manxman — the oldest mariner of all — declared that the wild thrilling sounds that were heard, were the voices of newly drowned men in the sea.
最后，當這艘船好象逐漸駛近赤道漁場的外圈，在黎明前的一片漆黑中，駛過一群巖石重疊的島嶼時，值班的人——當時是弗拉斯克領的班——被一陣非常哀怨凄厲，令人毛骨悚然的狂叫聲嚇了一跳——那叫聲，就象是被赫羅德（赫羅德——《圣經》上的猶太王，以殘暴著稱。）所謀殺了的冤魂的半清不楚的哀哭聲——弄得大家都從迷迷糊糊的夢鄉里給嚇醒了，有好一陣子，他們都象雕刻的羅馬奴隸一般，有的站著、有的坐著、有的靠著，全部呆若木雞地側耳傾聽，那陣狂叫聲則仍隱約可聞。那些基督徒，也就是開化點的水手們都說那是人魚，不禁渾身打起戰來；可是那些異教徒的標槍手卻仍神色不變。不過，那個滿頭白發的人島人——船上年紀最大的水手——卻說剛才所聽到的這種叫人心驚肉跳的狂叫聲，是剛掉進海里的人的叫聲。
Below in his hammock, Ahab did not hear of this till grey dawn, when he came to the deck; it was then recounted to him by Flask, not unaccompanied with hinted dark meanings. He hollowly laughed, and thus explained the wonder.
亞哈睡在吊鋪里，一點也沒聽到這叫聲，直等到天蒙蒙亮，他走上甲板的時候，這才由弗拉斯克講給他聽，弗拉斯克不免添上一點意義含混的暗示。亞哈空洞地哈哈一笑，就此把這奇象給打發了。
Those rocky islands the ship had passed were the resort of great numbers of seals, and some young seals that had lost their dams, or some dams that had lost their cubs, must have risen nigh the ship and kept company with her, crying and sobbing with their human sort of wail.
這艘船所經過的那些巖石重疊的島嶼，都是大批海豹出沒之處，有些失掉了母親的小海豹，或者是失掉了愛子的母海豹，總要在船只附近出現，緊跟著船只，一路嗚咽，哭叫，就象人的哀哭聲一樣，
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