I'll let you assess the degree of anger consuming our impatient Ned Land. He hurled at the hapless animal the most potent swearwords in the English language.

人们可以想象到，这个时候，性急的尼德·兰被激怒到了什么程度。他对这条不幸的海马发出英语中最有力量的咒骂。

For my part, I was simply distressed to see this dugong outwit our every scheme.

在我个人，我只是因为海马把我们所有的计谋部弄失败，心中有些不高兴罢了。

We chased it unflaggingly for a full hour, and I'd begun to think it would prove too difficult to capture, when the animal got the untimely idea of taking revenge on us, a notion it would soon have cause to regret.

我们在一个钟头内，不停地追赶它，我正在想，捕捉它：恐怕是很不容易了，但这个东西忽然起了不良的报复念头。

It wheeled on the skiff, to assault us in its turn.

这是它要后悔的呢！它回过身来，攻击小艇。

This maneuver did not escape the Canadian.

海马的这种行径逃不过加拿大人的眼光。

Watch out! he said.

小心！他说。

The coxswain pronounced a few words in his bizarre language, and no doubt he alerted his men to keep on their guard.

小艇艇长说了几句他的奇怪语言，当然是他通知水手们，大家要小心警戒。

Arriving within twenty feet of the skiff, the dugong stopped, sharply sniffing the air with its huge nostrils, pierced not at the tip of its muzzle but on its topside.

海马到了离小艇二十英尺的水面上停住，它那不在嘴尖端，而在嘴上部敞开的大鼻孔，突然吸着空气。

Then it gathered itself and sprang at us.

然后，鼓起气力，向我们扑来。

The skiff couldn't avoid the collision. Half overturned, it shipped a ton or two of water that we had to bail out.

小艇不可能躲开它的冲撞，艇身翻倒了一半，海水跑进艇中有一两吨之多。

But thanks to our skillful coxswain, we were fouled on the bias rather than broadside, so we didn't capsize.

这水必须排出去。由于艇长的机灵，艇身只是斜面的而不是正面的受到海马攻击，所以没被憧翻沉没。

Clinging to the stempost, Ned Land thrust his harpoon again and again into the gigantic animal, which imbedded its teeth in our gunwale and lifted the longboat out of the water as a lion would lift a deer.

尼德兰紧靠在小艇前头，把鱼叉向巨大的动物刺去，这东西牙齿咬住小艇的边缘，把小艇顶出水面，像狮子咬小鹿那样。

We were thrown on top of each other, and I have no idea how the venture would have ended had not the Canadian, still thirsting for the beast's blood, finally pierced it to the heart.

我们都被撞翻，彼此身子压着，如果不是那狠命地跟海马战斗的加拿大人把叉打中了动物的心脏，我真不知道这次的冒险打猎将怎样结束呢。

I heard its teeth grind on sheet iron, and the dugong disappeared, taking our harpoon along with it.

我听到牙齿在小艇铁板上的喳喳声响，海马沉没不见了，把叉带走了。

But the barrel soon popped up on the surface, and a few moments later the animal's body appeared and rolled over on its back.

但不久小木桶浮上水面来，一会儿，海马的躯体现出，脊背翻过来了。

Our skiff rejoined it, took it in tow, and headed to the Nautilus.

小艇划向前去，把它拖在后面，向诺第留斯号划去。