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1It is noon; and Dough-Boy, the steward, thrusting his pale loaf-of-bread face from the cabin-scuttle, announces dinner
2to his lord and master; who, sitting in the lee quarter-boat, has just been taking an observation of the sun; and is now
3mutely reckoning the latitude on the smooth, medallion-shaped tablet, reserved for that daily purpose on the upper part
4of his ivory leg. From his complete inattention to the tidings, you would think that moody Ahab had not heard his
5menial. But presently, catching hold of the mizen shrouds, he swings himself to the deck, and in an even, unexhilarated
6voice, saying, "Dinner, Mr. Starbuck," disappears into the cabin. When the last echo of his sultan's step has died away,
7and Starbuck, the first Emir, has every reason to suppose that he is seated, then Starbuck rouses from his quietude,
8takes a few turns along the planks, and, after a grave peep into the binnacle, says, with some touch of pleasantness,
9"Dinner, Mr. Stubb," and descends the scuttle. The second Emir lounges about the rigging awhile, and then slightly
10shaking the main brace, to see whether it will be all right with that important rope, he likewise takes up the old
11burden, and with a rapid "Dinner, Mr. Flask," follows after his predecessors. But the third Emir, now seeing himself all
12alone on the quarter-deck, seems to feel relieved from some curious restraint; for, tipping all sorts of knowing winks
13in all sorts of directions, and kicking off his shoes, he strikes into a sharp but noiseless squall of a hornpipe right
14over the Grand Turk's head; and then, by a dexterous sleight, pitching his cap up into the mizentop for a shelf, he goes
15down rollicking so far at least as he remains visible from the deck, reversing all other processions, by bringing up the
16rear with music. But ere stepping into the cabin doorway below, he pauses, ships a new face altogether, and, then,
17independent, hilarious little Flask enters King Ahab's presence, in the character of Abjectus, or the Slave. It is not
18the least among the strange things bred by the intense artificialness of sea-usages, that while in the open air of the
19deck some officers will, upon provocation, bear themselves boldly and defyingly enough towards their commander; yet, ten
20to one, let those very officers the next moment go down to their customary dinner in that same commander's cabin, and
21straightway their inoffensive, not to say deprecatory and humble air towards him, as he sits at the head of the table;
22this is marvellous, sometimes most comical. Wherefore this difference? A problem? Perhaps not. To have been Belshazzar,
23King of Babylon; and to have been Belshazzar, not haughtily but courteously, therein certainly must have been some touch
24of mundane grandeur. But he who in the rightly regal and intelligent spirit presides over his own private dinner-table
25of invited guests, that man's unchallenged power and dominion of individual influence for the time; that man's royalty
26of state transcends Belshazzar's, for Belshazzar was not the greatest. Who has but once dined his friends, has tasted
27what it is to be Cæsar. It is a witchery of social czarship which there is no withstanding. Now, if to this
28consideration you superadd the official supremacy of a ship-master, then, by inference, you will derive the cause of
29that peculiarity of sea-life just mentioned. Over his ivory-inlaid table, Ahab presided like a mute, maned sea-lion on
30the white coral beach, surrounded by his warlike but still deferential cubs. In his own proper turn, each officer waited
31to be served. They were as little children before Ahab; and yet, in Ahab, there seemed not to lurk the smallest social
32arrogance. With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man's knife, as he carved the chief dish before
33him. I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment with the slightest observation, even upon
34so neutral a topic as the weather. No! And when reaching out his knife and fork, between which the slice of beef was
35locked, Ahab thereby motioned Starbuck's plate towards him, the mate received his meat as though receiving alms; and cut
36it tenderly; and a little started if, perchance, the knife grazed against the plate; and chewed it noiselessly; and
37swallowed it, not without circumspection. For, like the Coronation banquet at Frankfort, where the German Emperor
38profoundly dines with the seven Imperial Electors, so these cabin meals were somehow solemn meals, eaten in awful
39silence; and yet at table old Ahab forbade not conversation; only he himself was dumb. What a relief it was to choking
40Stubb, when a rat made a sudden racket in the hold below. And poor little Flask, he was the youngest son, and little boy
41of this weary family party. His were the shinbones of the saline beef; his would have been the drumsticks. For Flask to
42have presumed to help himself, this must have seemed to him tantamount to larceny in the first degree. Had he helped
43himself at that table, doubtless, never more would he have been able to hold his head up in this honest world;
44nevertheless, strange to say, Ahab never forbade him. And had Flask helped himself, the chances were Ahab had never so
45much as noticed it. Least of all, did Flask presume to help himself to butter. Whether he thought the owners of the ship
46denied it to him, on account of its clotting his clear, sunny complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so long a voyage
47in such marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and therefore was not for him, a subaltern; however it was, Flask,
48alas! was a butterless man! Another thing. Flask was the last person down at the dinner, and Flask is the first man up.
49Consider! For hereby Flask's dinner was badly jammed in point of time. Starbuck and Stubb both had the start of him; and
50yet they also have the privilege of lounging in the rear. If Stubb even, who is but a peg higher than Flask, happens to
51have but a small appetite, and soon shows symptoms of concluding his repast, then Flask must bestir himself, he will not
52get more than three mouthfuls that day; for it is against holy usage for Stubb to precede Flask to the deck. Therefore
53it was that Flask once admitted in private, that ever since he had arisen to the dignity of an officer, from that moment
54he had never known what it was to be otherwise than hungry, more or less. For what he ate did not so much relieve his
55hunger, as keep it immortal in him. Peace and satisfaction, thought Flask, have for ever departed from my stomach. I am
56an officer; but, how I wish I could fish a bit of old-fashioned beef in the forecastle, as I used to when I was before
57the mast. There's the fruits of promotion now; there's the vanity of glory: there's the insanity of life! Besides, if it
58were so that any mere sailor of the Pequod had a grudge against Flask in Flask's official capacity, all that sailor had
59to do, in order to obtain ample vengeance, was to go aft at dinner-time, and get a peep at Flask through the cabin
60sky-light, sitting silly and dumfoundered before awful Ahab. Now, Ahab and his three mates formed what may be called the
61first table in the Pequod's cabin. After their departure, taking place in inverted order to their arrival, the canvas
62cloth was cleared, or rather was restored to some hurried order by the pallid steward. And then the three harpooneers
63were bidden to the feast, they being its residuary legatees. They made a sort of temporary servants' hall of the high
64and mighty cabin.
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