Chapter 78 Cistern and Buckets
第七十八章 水槽和水桶
Nimble as a cat, Tashtego mounts aloft; and without altering his erect posture, runs straight out upon the overhanging mainyard-arm, to the part where it exactly projects over the hoisted Tun. He has carried with him a light tackle called a whip, consisting of only two parts, travelling through a single-sheaved block. Securing this block, so that it hangs down from the yard-arm, he swings one end of the rope, till it is caught and firmly held by a hand on the deck. Then, hand-over-hand, down the other part, the Indian drops through the air, till dexterously he lands on the summit of the head. There—still high elevated above the rest of the company, to whom he vivaciously cries— he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower. A short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in. By the time this cautious search is over, a stout ironbound bucket, precisely like a well-bucket, has been attached to one end of the whip; while the other end, being stretched across the deck, is there held by two or three alert hands.
塔斯蒂哥轻捷如猫地往上爬去，身体仍然非常笔挺，直爬上那向外撑出的大桅桁臂，到了桁臂吊着大桶的突出的地方。他随身带有一只只有两样零件，靠一种小辘轳转动的小滑车。他把这只小滑车缚在桁臂下面，于是把绳子的一头一甩，由甲板上一个水手把它抓牢。接着，这个印第安人就双手互换地、顺着桁臂的另一端从空中落下来，熟练地降落在那只鲸头的头顶。他在那地方——高高在上地耸立在众人头顶，对大家兴高采烈地叫喊——有如土耳其寺院里的报时者，在塔顶上通知善男信女去做祷告。下边的人递给他一支锐利的短柄铲子，他就谨慎地找个适当的位置，着手打开那只大桶。他在做这事情的时候，十分小心在意，有如一个在什么古屋探宝的人，细心察看墙壁，看看黄金究竟埋在哪儿。等到这番小心的探索工作告个段落，人们便把一只跟吊水桶一模一样的、箍着铁圈的结实的桶子缚在小滑车的一端，两三个机警的水手则拉住小滑车另一端那根伸到甲板上的绳索。
