And the Abraham Lincoln's stempost hadn't even cut the suspected waters of the Pacific.

其实，林肯号的船头这时还没有沾上太平洋的海水呢。

Eight o'clock had just struck. Huge clouds covered the moon's disk, then in its first quarter. The sea undulated placidly beneath the frigate's stempost.

船上正敲八点钟。一片片的乌云掩盖了上弦的新月。大海波纹在船后面平静地舒展着。

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。