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1If to Starbuck the apparition of the Squid was a thing of portents, to Queequeg it was quite a different object. "When
2you see him 'quid," said the savage, honing his harpoon in the bow of his hoisted boat, "then you quick see him 'parm
3whale." The next day was exceedingly still and sultry, and with nothing special to engage them, the Pequod's crew could
4hardly resist the spell of sleep induced by such a vacant sea. For this part of the Indian Ocean through which we then
5were voyaging is not what whalemen call a lively ground; that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises, dolphins,
6flying-fish, and other vivacious denizens of more stirring waters, than those off the Rio de la Plata, or the in-shore
7ground off Peru. It was my turn to stand at the foremast-head; and with my shoulders leaning against the slackened royal
8shrouds, to and fro I idly swayed in what seemed an enchanted air. No resolution could withstand it; in that dreamy mood
9losing all consciousness, at last my soul went out of my body; though my body still continued to sway as a pendulum
10will, long after the power which first moved it is withdrawn. Ere forgetfulness altogether came over me, I had noticed
11that the seamen at the main and mizzen-mast-heads were already drowsy. So that at last all three of us lifelessly swung
12from the spars, and for every swing that we made there was a nod from below from the slumbering helmsman. The waves,
13too, nodded their indolent crests; and across the wide trance of the sea, east nodded to west, and the sun over all.
14Suddenly bubbles seemed bursting beneath my closed eyes; like vices my hands grasped the shrouds; some invisible,
15gracious agency preserved me; with a shock I came back to life. And lo! close under our lee, not forty fathoms off, a
16gigantic Sperm Whale lay rolling in the water like the capsized hull of a frigate, his broad, glossy back, of an
17Ethiopian hue, glistening in the sun's rays like a mirror. But lazily undulating in the trough of the sea, and ever and
18anon tranquilly spouting his vapory jet, the whale looked like a portly burgher smoking his pipe of a warm afternoon.
19But that pipe, poor whale, was thy last. As if struck by some enchanter's wand, the sleepy ship and every sleeper in it
20all at once started into wakefulness; and more than a score of voices from all parts of the vessel, simultaneously with
21the three notes from aloft, shouted forth the accustomed cry, as the great fish slowly and regularly spouted the
22sparkling brine into the air. "Clear away the boats! Luff!" cried Ahab. And obeying his own order, he dashed the helm
23down before the helmsman could handle the spokes. The sudden exclamations of the crew must have alarmed the whale; and
24ere the boats were down, majestically turning, he swam away to the leeward, but with such a steady tranquillity, and
25making so few ripples as he swam, that thinking after all he might not as yet be alarmed, Ahab gave orders that not an
26oar should be used, and no man must speak but in whispers. So seated like Ontario Indians on the gunwales of the boats,
27we swiftly but silently paddled along; the calm not admitting of the noiseless sails being set. Presently, as we thus
28glided in chase, the monster perpendicularly flitted his tail forty feet into the air, and then sank out of sight like a
29tower swallowed up. "There go flukes!" was the cry, an announcement immediately followed by Stubb's producing his match
30and igniting his pipe, for now a respite was granted. After the full interval of his sounding had elapsed, the whale
31rose again, and being now in advance of the smoker's boat, and much nearer to it than to any of the others, Stubb
32counted upon the honor of the capture. It was obvious, now, that the whale had at length become aware of his pursuers.
33All silence of cautiousness was therefore no longer of use. Paddles were dropped, and oars came loudly into play. And
34still puffing at his pipe, Stubb cheered on his crew to the assault. Yes, a mighty change had come over the fish. All
35alive to his jeopardy, he was going "head out"; that part obliquely projecting from the mad yeast which he brewed. *It
36will be seen in some other place of what a very light substance the entire interior of the sperm whale's enormous head
37consists. Though apparently the most massive, it is by far the most buoyant part about him. So that with ease he
38elevates it in the air, and invariably does so when going at his utmost speed. Besides, such is the breadth of the upper
39part of the front of his head, and such the tapering cut-water formation of the lower part, that by obliquely elevating
40his head, he thereby may be said to transform himself from a bluff-bowed sluggish galliot into a sharppointed New York
41pilot-boat. "Start her, start her, my men! Don't hurry yourselves; take plenty of time--but start her; start her like
42thunder-claps, that's all," cried Stubb, spluttering out the smoke as he spoke. "Start her, now; give 'em the long and
43strong stroke, Tashtego. Start her, Tash, my boy--start her, all; but keep cool, keep cool--cucumbers is the word--easy,
44easy--only start her like grim death and grinning devils, and raise the buried dead perpendicular out of their graves,
45boys--that's all. Start her!" "Woo-hoo! Wa-hee!" screamed the Gay-Header in reply, raising some old war-whoop to the
46skies; as every oarsman in the strained boat involuntarily bounced forward with the one tremendous leading stroke which
47the eager Indian gave. But his wild screams were answered by others quite as wild. "Kee-hee! Kee-hee!" yelled Daggoo,
48straining forwards and backwards on his seat, like a pacing tiger in his cage. "Ka-la! Koo-loo!" howled Queequeg, as if
49smacking his lips over a mouthful of Grenadier's steak. And thus with oars and yells the keels cut the sea. Meanwhile,
50Stubb retaining his place in the van, still encouraged his men to the onset, all the while puffing the smoke from his
51mouth. Like desperadoes they tugged and they strained, till the welcome cry was heard--"Stand up, Tashtego!--give it to
52him!" The harpoon was hurled. "Stern all!" The oarsmen backed water; the same moment something went hot and hissing
53along every one of their wrists. It was the magical line. An instant before, Stubb had swiftly caught two additional
54turns with it round the loggerhead, whence, by reason of its increased rapid circlings, a hempen blue smoke now jetted
55up and mingled with the steady fumes from his pipe. As the line passed round and round the loggerhead; so also, just
56before reaching that point, it blisteringly passed through and through both of Stubb's hands, from which the
57hand-cloths, or squares of quilted canvas sometimes worn at these times, had accidentally dropped. It was like holding
58an enemy's sharp two-edged sword by the blade, and that enemy all the time striving to wrest it out of your clutch. "Wet
59the line! wet the line!" cried Stubb to the tub oarsman (him seated by the tub) who, snatching off his hat, dashed
60sea-water into it. More turns were taken, so that the line began holding its place. The boat now flew through the
61boiling water like a shark all fins. Stubb and Tashtego here changed places--stem for stern--a staggering business truly
62in that rocking commotion. *Partly to show the indispensableness of this act, it may here be stated, that, in the old
63Dutch fishery, a mop was used to dash the running line with water; in many other ships, a wooden piggin, or bailer, is
64set apart for that purpose. Your hat, however, is the most convenient. From the vibrating line extending the entire
65length of the upper part of the boat, and from its now being more tight than a harpstring, you would have thought the
66craft had two keels--one cleaving the water, the other the air--as the boat churned on through both opposing elements at
67once. A continual cascade played at the bows; a ceaseless whirling eddy in her wake; and, at the slightest motion from
68within, even but of a little finger, the vibrating, cracking craft canted over her spasmodic gunwale into the sea. Thus
69they rushed; each man with might and main clinging to his seat, to prevent being tossed to the foam; and the tall form
70of Tashtego at the steering oar crouching almost double, in order to bring down his centre of gravity. Whole Atlantics
71and Pacifics seemed passed as they shot on their way, till at length the whale somewhat slackened his flight.
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