海底兩萬(wàn)里 第30期 第3章 隨您先生的便(8)
I left Conseil to the proper stowing of our luggage and climbed on deck to watch the preparations for getting under way.
我留下康塞爾安頓我們的箱子，獨(dú)自一個(gè)人上了甲板，觀看準(zhǔn)備開(kāi)船的操作。
Just then Commander Farragut was giving orders to cast off the last moorings holding the Abraham Lincoln to its Brooklyn pier.
這時(shí)候，法拉古艦長(zhǎng)正要人解開(kāi)布洛克林碼頭纜柱上拴住林肯號(hào)的最后幾根鐵索。
And so if I'd been delayed by a quarter of an hour or even less, the frigate would have gone without me,
看來(lái)如果我遲到一刻鐘，半刻鐘，船就會(huì)開(kāi)走，
and I would have missed out on this unearthly, extraordinary, and inconceivable expedition, whose true story might well meet with some skepticism.
我也就不能參加這次出奇的、神秘的、難以相信的遠(yuǎn)征了。
But Commander Farragut didn't want to waste a single day, or even a single hour, in making for those seas where the animal had just been sighted.
這次遠(yuǎn)征的經(jīng)過(guò)，雖然是真實(shí)記錄，將來(lái)可能還會(huì)有人懷疑的。法拉古艦長(zhǎng)不愿意耽擱一天甚至一小時(shí)，他要趕快把船開(kāi)到那個(gè)動(dòng)物所在的海中。
He summoned his engineer.
他把船上的工程師叫來(lái)了。
"Are we up to pressure?" he asked the man.
“蒸汽燒足了嗎?”艦長(zhǎng)問(wèn)他。
"Aye, sir," the engineer replied.
“燒足了，艦長(zhǎng)。”工程師答。
"Go ahead, then!" Commander Farragut called.
“開(kāi)船!”法拉古艦長(zhǎng)喊。
At this order, which was relayed to the engine by means of a compressed-air device, the mechanics activated the start-up wheel.
開(kāi)船的命令通過(guò)話筒傳到機(jī)器房，輪機(jī)人員接到命令，立即讓機(jī)輪轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)起來(lái)。
Steam rushed whistling into the gaping valves. Long horizontal pistonsgroaned and pushed the tie rods of the drive shaft.
蒸汽涌入半開(kāi)的機(jī)關(guān)中;發(fā)出呼呼的嘯聲。一排排橫列的活塞發(fā)出格格的聲響，推動(dòng)機(jī)軸的杠桿。
The blades of the propeller churned the waves with increasing speed, and the Abraham Lincoln moved out majestically amid a spectator-laden escort of some 100 ferries and tenders.
推進(jìn)器的輪翼不斷加大速率，攪動(dòng)海水，于是林肯號(hào)在上百只滿載觀眾前來(lái)送別的渡輪和汽艇的行列中，莊嚴(yán)地向前行駛著。
