海底兩萬里 第494期 第31章 章魚(1)

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Chapter 18 The Devilfish

第十八章 章魚

For some days the Nautilus kept veering away from the American coast. It obviously didn't want to frequent the waves of the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea. Yet there was no shortage of water under its keel, since the average depth of these seas is 1,800 meters; but these waterways, strewn with islands and plowed by steamers, probably didn't agree with Captain Nemo.

幾天來，“鸚鵡螺號”船只總是一直避開美洲海岸，它顯然不愿意出沒在墨西哥灣或安第列斯海海面的水波上。然而，既然這一帶的海水的平均深度有1800米，那就并不是因為這一帶的海水淺得淹不到它船的龍骨而使它卻步；而可能是這一帶海域布滿島嶼，又有汽輪來往，這對尼摩船長不適合。

On April 16 we raised Martinique and Guadalupe from a distance of about thirty miles. For one instant I could see their lofty peaks.

4月16日，我們望到了在30海里遠處的馬提尼克島和加得魯島。有一陣子我還望見了島上的高峰。

The Canadian was quite disheartened, having counted on putting his plans into execution in the gulf, either by reaching shore or by pulling alongside one of the many boats plying a coastal trade from one island to another. An escape attempt would have been quite feasible, assuming Ned Land managed to seize the skiff without the captain's knowledge. But in midocean it was unthinkable.

加拿大人本來指意在墨西哥灣實施他的逃跑計劃，他打算或是逃到一塊陸地上，或是爬上眾多在兩個島嶼之間沿海航行的船只中的一艘，但此時他非常地沮喪。如果在墨西哥灣，尼德·蘭能趁尼摩船長不備奪取那只小艇，那逃跑計劃是可以實現(xiàn)的。但現(xiàn)在在海洋里，他就想都不用想了。

The Canadian, Conseil, and I had a pretty long conversation on this subject. For six months we had been prisoners aboard the Nautilus. We had fared 17,000 leagues, and as Ned Land put it, there was no end in sight. So he made me a proposition I hadn't anticipated. We were to ask Captain Nemo this question straight out: didthe captain mean to keep us on board his vessel permanently?

我、加拿大人和康塞爾對這個問題已經(jīng)談論了很久。六個月來，我們一直是“鸚鵡螺號”船上的囚徒。而且我們已經(jīng)走了17000里，就像尼德·蘭說的，沒有任何理由不結(jié)束這一切。于是他向我提出一個我意料不到的請求。那就是明確地向尼摩船長挑明這個問題：船長他想把我們永遠留在他的船上嗎？