The Monkey Rope
IN the tumultuous business of cuttingin and attending to a whale, there is much running backwards and forwards among, the crew. Now hands are wanted here, and then again hands are wanted there. There is no staving in any one place; for at one and the same time everything has to be done everywhere. It is much the same with him who endeavors the description of the scene. We must now retrace our way a little. It was mentioned that upon first breaking ground in the whale's back, the blubber hook was inserted into the original hole there cut by the spades of the mates. But how did so clumsy and weighty a mass as that same hook get fixed in that hole It was inserted there by my particular friend Queequeg, whose duty it was, as harpooner, to descend upon the monster's back for the special purpose referred to. But in very many cases, circumstances require that the harpooner shall remain on the whale till the whole flensing or stripping operation is concluded. The whale, be it observed, lies almost entirely submerged, excepting the immediate parts operated upon.
2 So down there, some ten feet below the level of the deck, the poor harpooner flounders about, half on the whale and half in the water, as the vast mass revolves like a treadmill beneath him. On the occasion in question, Queequeg figured in the Highland costumea shirt and socksin which to my eyes, at least, he appeared to uncommon advantage; and no one had a better chance to observe him, as will presently be seen. Being the savage's bowman, that is, the person who pulled the bowoar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hardscrabble scramble upon the dead whale's back. You have seen Italian organ boys holding a dancing ape by a long cord. just so, from the ship's steep side, did I hold Qucvqueg down there in the sea, by what is technically called in the fishery a monkey rope, attached to a strong strip of canvas belted round his waist. It was a humorously perilous business for both of us. For, before we proceed further, it must be said that the monkey rope was fast at both ends; fast to Quecqueg's broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, &n both usage and honour demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down in his wake. So, then, an elongated Siamese ligature united us. Queequeg was my own inseparable twin. brother; nor could I any way get rid of the dangerous liabilities which the hempen bond entailed. So strongly and metaphysically did I conceive of my situation then, that while earnestly watching his motions, I seemed distinctly to perceive that my own individuality was now merged in a joint stock company of two; that my free will had received a mortal wound; and that another's mistake or misfortune might plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death. Therefore, I saw that here was a sort of interregnum in Providence; for its evenhanded equity never could have sanctioned so gross an injustice. And yet still further pondering while I jerked him now and then from between the whale and the ship, which would threaten to jam him still further pondering, I say, I saw that this situation of mine was the precise situation of every mortal that breathes; only, in most cases, he, one way or other, has this Siamese connection with a plurality of other mortals.
3 If your banker breaks, you snap; if your apothecary by mistake sends you poison in your pills, you die. True, you may say that, by exceeding caution, you may possibly escape these and the multitudinous other evil chances of life. But handle Queequeg's monkey rope heedfully as I would, sometimes he jerked it so, that I came very near sliding overboard. Nor could I possibly forget that, do what I would, I only had the management of one end of it.* I have hinted that I would often jerk poor Queequeg from between the whale and the ship where he would occasionally fall, from the incessant rolling and swaying of both. But this was not the only jamming jeopardy he was exposed to. Unapplied by the massacre made upon them during the night, the sharks now freshly, and more keenly allured by the before pent blood which began to flow from the cacoethes rabid creatures swarmed round it like bees in a beehive. And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed them aside with his floundering feet. A thing altogether incredible were it not that, attracted by such prey as a dead whale, the otherwise miscellaneously carnivorous shark will seldom touch a man. Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have such a ravenous finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise to look sharp to them. Accordingly, besides the monkey rope, with which I now and then jerked the The monkey rope is found in all whalers; but it was only in the Pequod that the monkey and his holder were ever tied together. This improvement upon the original usage was introduced by no less a man than Stubb, in order to afford the imperiled harpooner the strongest possible guarantee for the faithfulness and vigilance of his monkey rope holder. Poor fellow from too close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a peculiarly ferocious shark he was provided with still another protection. Suspended over the side in one of the stages, Tashtego and dragoon continually flourished over his head a couple of keen whale spades, wherewith they slaughtered as many sharks as they could reach. This procedure of theirs, to be sure, was very disinterested and benevolent of them. They meant Queequeg's best happiness, I admit; but in their hasty zeal to befriend him, and from the circumstance that both he and the sharks were at times half hidden by the blood mudded water, those indiscreet spades of theirs would come nearer amputating a leg than a tail. But poor Qucequeg, I suppose strainlia, I supping and gasping there with that great iron hook poor Queequeg pose only prayed to his Yojo, and gave up his life into the hands of his gods. "Well, well, my dear comrade and twin brother," thought 1, as I drew in and then slacked off the rope to every swell of the sea" what matters it, after all Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in this whaling world That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad," But courage! there is good cheer in store for you, Queequeg. For now, as with blue lips and bloodshot eyes the exhausted savage at last climbs up the chains and stands all dripping and involuntarily trembling over the side; the steward advances, and with a benevolent, consolatory glance hands him what Some hot Cognac No! hands him, ye gods! hands him a cup of tepid ginger and water!
4 "Ginger Do I smell ginger" suspiciously asked Stubb, coming near. "Yes, this must be ginger," peering into the as yet untested cup. Then standing as if incredulous for a while, he calmly walked towards the astonished steward slowly saying, "Ginger ginger and will you have the goodness to tell me, Mr. Dough Boy, where lies the virtue of ginger Ginger is ginger the sort of fuel you use, Dough Boy, to kindle a fire in this shivering cannibal Ginger! what the devil is ginger sea coal firewood lucifer matches tinder gunpowder what the devil is ginger, I say, that you offer this cup to our poor Queequeg here "There is some sneaking Temperance Society movement about this business," he suddenly added, now approaching Starbuck, who had just come from forward. "Will you look at that kannakin sir: smell of it, if you please." Then watching the mate's countenance, he added: "The steward, Mr. Starbuck, bad the face to offer that calomel and jalap to queequeg there, this instant off the whale. Is the steward an apothecary, sir and may 1 ask whether this is the sort of bellows by which he blows back the breath into a half drowned man" "I trust not," said Starbuck; "it is poor stuff enough." "Aye, aye, steward," cried Stubb, " we'll teach you to drug a harpooner none of your apothecary's medicine here; you want to poison us, do ye You have got out insurances on our lives and want to murder us all, and pocket the proceeds, do ye" "It was not me," cried Dough Boy, "it was Aunt Charity that brought the ginger on board; and bade me never give the harpooners any spirits, but only this ginger jub so she called it." "Ginger jub! you gingerly rascal! take that! and run along with ye to the lockers, and get something better. I hope I do no wrong, Mr. Starbuck. It is the captain's ordersgrog for the harpooner on a whale." "Enough," replied Starbuck, "only don't hit him again, but" "Oh, I never hurt when I hit, except when I hit a whale or something of that sort; and this fellow's a weasel. What were you about saying, sir" "Only this: go down with him and get what thou wan test thyself." When Stubb reappeared, he came with a dark flask in one hand and a sort of tea caddy in the other. The first contained strong spirits, and was handed to Queequeg; the second was Aunt Charity's gift, and that was freely given to the waves.