|
Table of Contents
Chapter 16
THE SHIP
In bed we concocted our
plans for the morrow. But to my surprise and no small concern, Queequeg now
gave me to understand, that he had been diligently consulting Yojo --the name
of his black little god --and Yojo had told him two or three times over, and
strongly insisted upon it everyway, that instead of our going together among
the whaling-fleet in harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of
this, I say, Yojo earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should
rest wholly with me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order
to do so, had already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I,
Ishmael, should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had
turned out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for
the present irrespective of Queequeg. I have forgotten to mention that, in
many things, Queequeg placed great confidence in the excellence of Yojo's
judgment and surprising forecast of things; and cherished Yojo with
considerable esteem, as a rather good sort of god, who perhaps meant well
enough upon the whole, but in all cases did not succeed in his benevolent
designs. Now, this plan of Queequeg's, or rather Yojo's, touching the
selection of our craft; I did not like that plan at all. I had not a little
relied on Queequeg's sagacity to point out the whaler best fitted to carry us
and our fortunes securely. But as all my remonstrances produced no effect upon
Queequeg, I was obliged to acquiesce; and accordingly prepared to set about
this business with a determined rushing sort of energy and vigor, that should
quickly settle that trifling little affair. Next morning early, leaving
Queequeg shut up with Yojo in our little bedroom --for it seemed that it was
some sort of Lent or Ramadan, or day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer with
Queequeg and Yojo that ..
2 day; how it was I never
could find out, for, though I applied myself to it several times, I never
could master his liturgies and XXXIX Articles --leaving Queequeg, then,
fasting on his tomahawk pipe, and Yojo warming himself at his sacrificial fire
of shavings, I sallied out among the shipping. After much prolonged sauntering
and many random inquiries, I learnt that there were three ships up for
three-years' voyages --The Devil-Dam the Tit-bit, and the pequod. devil- dam,
i do not know the origin of; tit-bit is obvious; Pequod, you will no doubt
remember, was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians, now
extinct as the ancient Medes. I peered and pryed about the Devil-Dam; from
her, hopped over to the Tit-bit; and, finally, going on board the Pequod,
looked around her for a moment, and then decided that this was the very ship
for us. You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day, for aught I know;
--squared-toed luggers; mountainous Japanese junks; butter-box galliots, and
what not; but take my word for it, you never saw such a rare old craft as this
same rare old Pequod. She was a ship of the old school, rather small if
anything; with an old fashioned claw-footed look about her. Long seasoned and
weather-stained in the typhoons and calms of all four oceans, her old hull's
complexion was darkened like a French grenadier's, who has alike fought in
Egypt and Siberia. Her venerable bows looked bearded. Her masts--cut somewhere
on the coast of Japan, where her original ones were lost overboard in a gale
--her masts stood stiffly up like the spines of the three old kings of
Cologne. Her ancient decks were worn and wrinkled, like the pilgrim-worshipped
flag-stone in Canterbury Cathedral where Beckett bled. But to all these her
old antiquities, were added new and marvellous features, pertaining to the
wild business that for more than half a century she had followed. Old Captain
Peleg, many years her chief-mate, before he commanded another vessel of his
own, and now a retired seaman, and one of the principal owners of the Pequod,
--this old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her
original grotesqueness, and inlaid it, all over, with a quaintness both of
material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake's carved
buckler or bedstead. She was ..
3 apparelled like any
barbaric Ethiopian emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory.
She was a thing of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in
the chased bones of her enemies. All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were
garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm
whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons to.
Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly travelled
over sheaves of sea-ivory. Scorning a turnstile wheel at her reverend helm,
she sported there a tiller; and that tiller was in one mass, curiously carved
from the long narrow lower jaw of her hereditary foe. The helmsman who steered
by that tiller in a tempest, felt like the Tartar, when he holds back his
fiery steed by clutching its jaw. A noble craft, but somehow a most
melancholy! All noble things are touched with that. Now when I looked about
the quarter-deck, for some one having authority, in order to propose myself as
a candidate for the voyage, at first I saw nobody; but I could not well
overlook a strange sort of tent, or rather wigwam, pitched a little behind the
main-mast. It seemed only a temporary erection used in port. It was of a
conical shape, some ten feet high; consisting of the long, huge slabs of
limber black bone taken from the middle and highest part of the jaws of the
right-whale. Planted with their broad ends on the deck, a circle of these
slabs laced together, mutually sloped towards each other, and at the apex
united in a tufted point, where the loose hairy fibres waved to and fro like a
top-knot on some old Pottowotamie Sachem's head. A triangular opening faced
towards the bows of the ship, so that the insider commanded a complete view
forward. And half concealed in this queer tenement, I at length found one who
by his aspect seemed to have authority; and who, it being noon, and the ship's
work suspended, was now enjoying respite from the burden of command. He was
seated on an old-fashioned oaken chair, wriggling all over with curious
carving; and the bottom of which was formed of a stout interlacing of the same
elastic stuff of which the wigwam was constructed. There was nothing so very
particular, perhaps, about the ..
4 appearance of the
elderly man I saw; he was brown and brawny, like most old seamen, and heavily
rolled up in blue pilot-cloth, cut in the Quaker style; only there was a fine
and almost microscopic net-work of the minutest wrinkles interlacing round his
eyes, which must have arisen from his continual sailings in many hard gales,
and always looking to windward; --for this causes the muscles about the eyes
to become pursed together. Such eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl. Is
this the Captain of the Pequod? said I, advancing to the door of the tent.
Supposing it be the Captain of the Pequod, what dost thou want of him? he
demanded. I was thinking of shipping. Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou are no
Nantucketer --ever been in a stove boat? No, Sir, I never have. Dost know
nothing at all about whaling, I dare say --eh? Nothing, Sir; but I have no
doubt I shall soon learn. I've been several voyages in the merchant service,
and I think that-- Merchant service be damned. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost
see that leg? --I'll take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest
of the marchant service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose now ye
feel considerable proud of having served in those marchant ships. But flukes!
man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh? --it looks a little suspicious,
don't it, eh? --Hast not been a pirate, hast thou? --Didst not rob thy last
Captain, didst thou? --Dost not think of murdering the officers when thou
gettest to sea? I protested my innocence of these things. I saw that under the
mask of these half humorous inuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated
Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather
distrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.
But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of shipping
ye. Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world. Want to
see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab? ..
5 Who is Captain Ahab,
sir? Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship. I am
mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself. Thou art
speaking to Captain Peleg --that's who ye are speaking to, young man. It
belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted out for the voyage,
and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We are part owners and
agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to know what whaling is, as
thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of finding it out before ye bind
yourself to it, past backing out. Clap eye on Captain Ahab, young man, and
thou wilt find that he has only one leg. What do you mean, sir? Was the other
one lost by a whale? Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was
devoured, chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped
a boat! --ah, ah! I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little
touched at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly
as I could, What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know
there was any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I
might have inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident. Look ye now,
young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d'ye see; thou dost not talk shark a
bit. Sure, ye've been to sea before now; sure of that? Sir, said I, I thought
I told you that I had been four voyages in the merchant-- Hard down out of
that! Mind what I said about the marchant service --don't aggravate me --I
won't have it. But let us understand each other. I have given thee a hint
about what whaling is; do ye yet feel inclined for it? I do, sir. Very good.
Now, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a live whale's throat, and then
jump after it? Answer, quick! I am, sir, if it should be positively
indispensable to do so; not to be got rid of, that is; which I don't take to
be the fact. Good again. Now then, thou not only wantest to go a-whaling, to
find out by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to ..
6 go in order to see the
world? Was not that what ye said? I thought so. Well then, just step forward
there, and take a peep over the weather-bow, and then back to me and tell me
what ye see there. For a moment I stood a little puzzled by this curious
request, not knowing exactly how to take it, whether humorously or in earnest.
But concentrating all his crow's feet into one scowl, Captain Peleg started me
on the errand. Going forward and glancing over the weather bow, I perceived
that the ship swinging to her anchor with the flood-tide, was now obliquely
pointing towards the open ocean. The prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly
monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see. Well,
what's the report? said Peleg when I came back; what did ye see? Not much, I
replied -- nothing but water; considerable horizon though, and there's a
squall coming up, I think. Well, what dost thou think then of seeing the
world? Do ye wish to go round Cape Horn to see any more of it, eh? Can't ye
see the world where you stand? I was a little staggered, but go a-whaling I
must, and I would; and the Pequod was as good a ship as any --I thought the
best -- and all this I now repeated to Peleg. Seeing me so determined, he
expressed his willingness to ship me. And thou mayest as well sign the papers
right off, he added -- come along with ye. And so saying, he led the way below
deck into the cabin. seated on the transom was what seemed to me a most
uncommon and surprising figure. It turned out to be Captain Bildad, who along
with Captain Peleg was one of the largest owners of the vessel; the other
shares, as is sometimes the case in these ports, being held by a crowd of old
annuitants; widows, fatherless children, and chancery wards; each owning about
the value of a timber head, or a foot of plank, or a nail or two in the ship.
People in Nantucket invest their money in whaling vessels, the same way that
you do yours in approved state stocks bringing in good interest. Now, Bildad,
like Peleg, and indeed many other Nantucketers, ..
7 was a Quaker, the
island having been originally settled by that sect; and to this day its
inhabitants in general retain in an uncommon measure the peculiarities of the
Quaker, only variously and anomalously modified by things altogether alien and
heterogeneous. For some of these same Quakers are the most sanguinary of all
sailors and whale-hunters. They are fighting Quakers; they are Quakers with a
vengeance. So that there are instances among them of men, who, named with
Scripture names --a singularly common fashion on the island --and in childhood
naturally imbibing the stately dramatic thee and thou of the Quaker idiom;
still, from the audacious, daring, and boundless adventure of their subsequent
lives, strangely blend with these unoutgrown peculiarities, a thousand bold
dashes of character, not unworthy a Scandinavian sea-king, or a poetical Pagan
Roman. And when these things unite in a man of greatly superior natural force,
with a globular brain and a ponderous heart; who has also by the stillness and
seclusion of many long night-watches in the remotest waters, and beneath
constellations never seen here at the north, been led to think untraditionally
and independently; receiving all nature's sweet or savage impressions fresh
from her own virgin voluntary and confiding breast, and thereby chiefly, but
with some help from accidental advantages, to learn a bold and nervous lofty
language --that man makes one in a whole nation's census --a mighty pageant
creature, formed for noble tragedies. Nor will it at all detract from him,
dramatically regarded, if either by birth or other circumstances, he have what
seems a half wilful overruling morbidness at the bottom of his nature. For all
men tragically great are made so through a certain morbidness. Be sure of
this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease. But, as yet we
have not to do with such an one, but with quite another; and still a man, who,
if indeed peculiar, it only results again from another phase of the Quaker,
modified by individual circumstances. Like Captain Peleg, Captain Bildad was a
well-to-do, retired whaleman. But unlike Captain Peleg --who cared not a rush
for what are called serious things, and indeed deemed those selfsame serious
things the veriest of all trifles --Captain Bildad ..
8 had not only been
originally educated according to the strictest sect of Nantucket Quakerism,
but all his subsequent ocean life, and the sight of many unclad, lovely island
creatures, round the Horn --all that had not moved this native born Quaker one
single jot, had not so much as altered one angle of his vest. Still, for all
this immutableness, was there some lack of common consistency about worthy
Captain Bildad. Though refusing, from conscientious scruples, to bear arms
against land invaders, yet himself had illimitably invaded the Atlantic and
Pacific; and though a sworn foe to human bloodshed, yet had he in his
straight-bodied coat, spilled tuns upon tuns of leviathan gore. How now in the
contemplative evening of his days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in
the reminiscence, I do not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and
very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that
a man's religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another. This
world pays dividends. Rising from a little cabin-boy in short clothes of the
drabbest drab, to a harpooneer in a broad shad-bellied waistcoat; from that
becoming boat-header, chief-mate, and captain, and finally a ship-owner;
Bildad, as I hinted before, had concluded his adventurous career by wholly
retiring from active life at the goodly age of sixty, and dedicating his
remaining days to the quiet receiving of his well-earned income. Now Bildad, I
am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an incorrigible old hunks, and in
his sea-going days, a bitter, hard task-master. They told me in Nantucket,
though it certainly seems a curious story, that when he sailed the old Categut
whaleman, his crew, upon arriving home, were mostly all carried ashore to the
hospital, sore exhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especially for a
Quaker, he was certainly rather hard-hearted to say the least. He never used
to swear, though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an inordinate
quantity of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them. When Bildad was a
chief-mate, to have his drab-colored eye intently looking at you, made you
feel completely nervous, till you could clutch something --a hammer or a
marling-spike, and go to work like mad, at something or other, never mind
what. Indolence and ..
9 idleness perished from
before him. His own person was the exact embodiment of his utilitarian
character. On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no superfluous
beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like the worn nap of his
broad-brimmed hat. Such, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom
when I followed Captain Peleg down into the cabin. The space between the decks
was small; and there, bolt-upright, sat old Bildad, who always sat so, and
never leaned, and this to save his coat tails. His broad-brim was placed
beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was buttoned up to
his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in reading from a
ponderous volume. Bildad, cried Captain Peleg, at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye
have been studying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my
certain knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad? As if long habituated to such
profane talk from his old shipmate, Bildad, without noticing his present
irreverence, quietly looked up, and seeing me, glanced again inquiringly
towards Peleg. He says he's our man, Bildad, said Peleg, he wants to ship.
Dost thee? said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me. I dost,
said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker. What do ye think of him,
Bildad? said Peleg. He'll do, said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on
spelling away at his book in a mumbling tone quite audible. I thought him the
queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg, his friend and old
shipmate, seemed such a blusterer. But I said nothing, only looking round me
sharply. Peleg now threw open a chest, and drawing forth the ship's articles,
placed pen and ink before him, and seated himself at a little table. I began
to think it was high time to settle with myself at what terms I would be
willing to engage for the voyage. I was already aware that in the whaling
business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received
certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were
proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties
of the ship's company. ..
10 I was also aware that
being a green hand at whaling, my own lay would not be very large; but
considering that I was used to the sea, could steer a ship, splice a rope, and
all that, I made no doubt that from all I had heard I should be offered at
least the 275th lay --that is, the 275th part of the clear nett proceeds of
the voyage, whatever that might eventually amount to. And though the 275th lay
was what they call a rather long lay, yet it was better than nothing; and if
we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I would wear
out on it, not to speak of my three years' beef and board, for which I would
not have to pay one stiver. It might be thought that this was a poor way to
accumulate a princely fortune --and so it was, a very poor way indeed. But I
am one of those that never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite
content if the world is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at
this grim sign of the Thunder Cloud. Upon the whole, I thought that the 275th
lay would be about the fair thing, but would not have been surprised had I
been offered the 200th, considering I was of a broad-shouldered make. But one
thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about receiving a
generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard something of both
Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad; how that they being the
principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore the other and more
inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the whole management of the
ship's affairs to these two. And I did not know but what the stingy old Bildad
might have a mighty deal to say about shipping hands, especially as I now
found him on board the Pequod, quite at home there in the cabin, and reading
his Bible as if at his own fireside. Now while Peleg was vainly trying to mend
a pen with his jack-knife, old Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering
that he was such an interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded
us, but went on mumbling to himself out of his book, Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth-- Well, Captain Bildad, interrupted Peleg,
what d'ye say, what lay shall we give this young man? ..
11 Thou knowest best, was
the sepulchral reply, the seven hundred and seventy-seventh wouldn't be too
much, would it? -- "where moth and rust do corrupt, but lay--" Lay,
indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and seventy-seventh!
Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one, shall not lay up many
lays here below, where moth and rust do corrupt. It was an exceedingly long
lay that, indeed; and though from the magnitude of the figure it might at
first deceive a landsman, yet the slightest consideration will show that
though seven hundred and seventy-seven is a pretty large number, yet, when you
come to make a teenth of it, you will then see, I say, that the seven hundred
and seventy-seventh part of a farthing is a good deal less than seven hundred
and seventy-seven gold doubloons; and so I thought at the time. Why, blast
your eyes, Bildad, cried Peleg, Thou dost not want to swindle this young man!
he must have more than that. Seven hundred and seventy-seventh, again said
Bildad, without lifting his eyes; and then went on mumbling -- for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. I am going to put him down for the
three hundredth, said Peleg, do ye hear that, Bildad! The three hundredth lay,
I say. Bildad laid down his book, and turning solemnly towards him said,
Captain Peleg, thou hast a generous heart; but thou must consider the duty
thou owest to the other owners of this ship-- widows and orphans, many of them
--and that if we too abundantly reward the labors of this young man, we may be
taking the bread from those widows and those orphans. The seven hundred and
seventy-seventh lay, Captain Peleg. Thou Bildad! roared Peleg, starting up and
clattering about the cabin. Blast ye, Captain Bildad, if I had followed thy
advice in these matters, I would afore now had a conscience to lug about that
would be heavy enough to founder the largest ship that ever sailed round Cape
Horn. Captain Peleg, said Bildad steadily, thy conscience may be drawing ten
inches of water, or ten fathoms, i can't tell; but as thou art still an
impenitent man, captain Peleg, I greatly fear lest thy conscience be but a
leaky one; and will in the end sink thee foundering down to the fiery pit,
Captain Peleg. ..
12 Fiery pit! fiery pit!
ye insult me, man; past all natural bearing, ye insult me. It's an all-fired
outrage to tell any human creature that he's bound to hell. Flukes and flames!
Bildad, say that again to me, and start my soul-bolts, but I'll--I'll--yes,
I'll swallow a live goat with all his hair and horns on. Out of the cabin, ye
canting, drab-colored son of a wooden gun --a straight wake with ye! As he
thundered out this he made a rush at Bildad, but with a marvellous oblique,
sliding celerity, Bildad for that time eluded him. Alarmed at this terrible
outburst between the two principal and responsible owners of the ship, and
feeling half a mind to give up all idea of sailing in a vessel so questionably
owned and temporarily commanded, I stepped aside from the door to give egress
to Bildad, who, I made no doubt, was all eagerness to vanish from before the
awakened wrath of Peleg. But to my astonishment, he sat down again on the
transom very quietly, and seemed to have not the slightest intention of
withdrawing. He seemed quite used to impenitent Peleg and his ways. As for
Peleg, after letting off his rage as he had, there seemed no more left in him,
and he, too, sat down like a lamb, though he twitched a little as if still
nervously agitated. Whew! he whistled at last -- the squall's gone off to
leeward, I think. Bildad, thou used to be good at sharpening a lance, mend
that pen, will ye. My jack-knife here needs the grindstone. That's he; thank
ye, Bildad. Now then, my young man, Ishmael's thy name, didn't ye say? Well
then, down ye go here, Ishmael, for the three hundredth lay. Captain Peleg,
said I, I have a friend with me who wants to ship too --shall I bring him down
to-morrow? To be sure, said peleg. fetch him along, and we'll look at him.
What lay does he want? groaned Bildad, glancing up from the book in which he
had again been burying himself. Oh! never thee mind about that, Bildad, said
Peleg. Has he ever whaled it any? turning to me. Killed more whales than I can
count, Captain Peleg. Well, bring him along then. ..
13 And, after signing the
papers, off I went; nothing doubting but that I had done a good morning's
work, and that the Pequod was the identical ship that Yojo had provided to
carry Queequeg and me round the Cape. But I had not proceeded far, when I
began to bethink me that the captain with whom I was to sail yet remained
unseen by me; though, indeed, in many cases, a whale-ship will be completely
fitted out, and receive all her crew on board, ere the captain makes himself
visible by arriving to take command; for sometimes these voyages are so
prolonged, and the shore intervals at home so exceedingly brief, that if the
captain have a family, or any absorbing concernment of that sort, he does not
trouble himself much about his ship in port, but leaves her to the owners till
all is ready for sea. However, it is always as well to have a look at him
before irrevocably committing yourself into his hands. Turning back I accosted
Captain Peleg, inquiring where Captain Ahab was to be found. And what dost
thou want of Captain Ahab? It's all right enough; thou art shipped. Yes, but I
should like to see him. But I don't think thou wilt be able to at present. I
don't know exactly what's the matter with him; but he keeps close inside the
house; a sort of sick, and yet he don't look so. In fact, he ain't sick; but
no, he isn't well either. Any how, young man, he won't always see me, so I
don't suppose he will thee. He's a queer man, Captain Ahab --so some think
--but a good one. Oh, thou'lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. he's a
grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when he
does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's above the
common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals; been used to
deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier stranger foes
than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our
isle! Oh! he ain't Captain Bildad; no, and he ain't Captain Peleg; he's Ahab,
boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king! And a very vile one.
When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood? ..
14 Come hither to me
--hither, hither, said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost
startled me. Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it
anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself. 'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of
his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And
yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove
prophetic. And, perhaps, other fools like her may tell thee the same. I wish
to warn thee. It's a lie. I know Captain Ahab well; I've sailed with him as
mate years ago; I know what he is--a good man --not a pious, good man, like
Bildad, but a swearing good man --something like me --only there's a good deal
more of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly; and I know that on
the passage home, he was a little out of his mind for a spell; but it was the
sharp shooting pains in his bleeding stump that brought that about, as any one
might see. I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that
accursed whale, he's been a kind of moody --desperate moody, and savage
sometimes; but that will all pass off. And once for all, let me tell thee and
assure thee, young man, it's better to sail with a moody good captain than a
laughing bad one. So good-bye to thee --and wrong not Captain Ahab, because he
happens to have a wicked name. Besides, my boy, he has a wife --not three
voyages wedded --a sweet, resigned girl. Think of that; by that sweet girl
that old man has a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm
in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!
As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been incidentally
revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain wild vagueness of
painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the time, I felt a sympathy and a
sorrow for him, but for I don't know what, unless it was the cruel loss of his
leg. And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that sort of awe, which I
cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know what it was. But I
felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him; though I felt impatience at
what seemed like mystery in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then.
However, my thoughts were at length carried in other directions, so that for
the present dark Ahab slipped my mind. ..
|
