رویای کاپیتان اهب

CHAPTER 9 Captain Ahab’s Dream

We sailed into the Pacific Ocean and the whaling was good. One day we killed four whales. We couldn’t cut the fat off four whales in one day, so we had to watch them that night.

We put the small boats into the water near the dead whales. I was in Captain Ahab’s boat. We put harpoons into the whales’ bodies. Then we put lights on the end of the harpoons so we could see sharks in the water.

“Shark! Shark!” men shouted from the different boats.

Sometimes only three or four came. Sometimes a lot of sharks came at the same time. They were fast and quiet. Suddenly they were there—by our boats! Their ugly mouths opened and they showed their teeth. We fought them and they went away. But they always came back again. Sometimes they stayed away for hours. In those quiet times Captain Ahab and his men slept. But Fedallah didn’t sleep—he watched for sharks.

Suddenly Captain Ahab woke up and sat up in the boat. His eyes were big and wild. He was afraid!

“I had the dream again!” he said to Fedallah. “I died! I felt it! And I saw my coffin!”

“You will not have a coffin, “said Fedallah.”! Told you this. You know this.”

“So am I going to die on the ocean?” Captain Ahab asked. “Will I die on this trip? Will I die before I kill the white whale?”

Fedallah’s black eyes looked at Captain Ahab. He spoke quietly to him. “Only a rope can kill you.”

“A rope? But how? What do you mean? Ah! Then I’ll die when I go home! They’ll put a rope around me and kill me there! Am I right?”

Fedallah spoke again. “A rope will kill you. But I will go first. I will show you the way. You will follow me to the next world.”

“But when? When will this happen, Fedallah? And where?” asked Captain Ahab.

“I cannot say. I will die first. And you will follow me.”

I listened carefully to the two men. Now I understood! Fedallah was important to Captain Ahab because he could see the future! The whalers were right! This strange man knew about Captain Ahab’s death—and Captain Ahab could only die after Fedallah died.

Fedallah suddenly looked at me. Could he understand my thoughts? I quickly closed my eyes.

The next day, on the Peqttod, Captain Ahab threw his maps into the ocean. “You don’t help me!” he shouted. “Can you find the white whale? Do I see him in front of me now? I’ll find him without you!”

Some of the men saw this. Their mouths were open and their eyes were large.

I looked at Starbuck. His face was white.

“How can a ship sail without maps?” he said. “Only a crazy man throws his maps away.”

The men were afraid and that night in their beds they talked about Captain Ahab. “What’s he doing? This is very dangerous. Bad things will happen now.”

Then it came—the wind. One minute the ocean was quiet. Suddenly the ship was on top of a mountain of water—then down again. Up and down. Up and down. We couldn’t stand. This wind took our sails down. Some of the sails hit our little whaling boats. We couldn’t think. We couldn’t move. Our ship danced on the wild ocean.

Captain Ahab shouted at the sky. “Are you trying to kill me? You can’t! I’ll fight you!”

Starbuck shouted at Captain Ahab, “Cod wants us to turn back! Look around you! Look at the boats! Look at our ship!”

Captain Ahab ran and got his harpoon. “No man will turn this ship around. I’ll put this harpoon through that man! We’ll follow Moby Dick! He lives here—in this ocean. He took my leg from me here. Now I’ll find him and I’ll finish our fight. He took my life and now I’ll take his!”

After many hours the wind stopped. Starbuck went to Captain Ahab’s room. He looked very angry. I wanted Starbuck to be our captain. I followed him and watched.

He opened Captain Ahab’s door quietly. The Captain was asleep at his table. There were no maps there now, but there was a gun on the table. Starbuck slowly and carefully took the gun. He stood with it in his hand and looked at Captain Ahab.

“What can I do?” he asked quietly. “I can kill him. Then we can go home to our families.” He stood for a minute before he spoke again. “Or I can leave him. Then he’ll kill everyone on this ship. We’ll die a long, long way from home.”

I wanted Starbuck to kill Captain Ahab.

After some time Starbucks hand fell. He couldn’t do it. He put the gun on the table and quietly left Captain Ahab’s room.

♦

The next morning we heard strange noises. What were they? Were they the sounds of animals or fish? Was it the wind? Were they the calls of dead sailors?

It was Pip. He jumped up and down. “It’s me!” he cried. “I’m in the ocean! You forgot me! Help me!”

Captain Ahab went to the boy. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You’re with me. Nothing will hurt you.”

“Look at that,” said Stubb. “Two crazy people on a crazy ship. What will happen next?”