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1As if too long lurking behind the headlands, till the Pequod should fairly have entered the straits, these rascally
2Asiatics were now in hot pursuit, to make up for their over-cautious delay. But when the swift Pequod, with a fresh
3leading wind, was herself in hot chase; how very kind of these tawny philanthropists to assist in speeding her on to her
4own chosen pursuit,--mere riding-whips and rowels to her, that they were. As with glass under arm, Ahab to-and-fro paced
5the deck; in his forward turn beholding the monsters he chased, and in the after one the bloodthirsty pirates chasing
6him; some such fancy as the above seemed his. And when he glanced upon the green walls of the watery defile in which the
7ship was then sailing, and bethought him that through that gate lay the route to his vengeance, and beheld, how that
8through that same gate he was now both chasing and being chased to his deadly end; and not only that, but a herd of
9remorseless wild pirates and inhuman atheistical devils were infernally cheering him on with their curses;--when all
10these conceits had passed through his brain, Ahab's brow was left gaunt and ribbed, like the black sand beach after some
11stormy tide has been gnawing it, without being able to drag the firm thing from its place. But thoughts like these
12troubled very few of the reckless crew; and when, after steadily dropping and dropping the pirates astern, the Pequod at
13last shot by the vivid green Cockatoo Point on the Sumatra side, emerging at last upon the broad waters beyond; then,
14the harpooneers seemed more to grieve that the swift whales had been gaining upon the ship, than to rejoice that the
15ship had so victoriously gained upon the Malays. But still driving on in the wake of the whales, at length they seemed
16abating their speed; gradually the ship neared them; and the wind now dying away, word was passed to spring to the
17boats. But no sooner did the herd, by some presumed wonderful instinct of the Sperm Whale, become notified of the three
18keels that were after them,--though as yet a mile in their rear,--than they rallied again, and forming in close ranks
19and battalions, so that their spouts all looked like flashing lines of stacked bayonets, moved on with redoubled
20velocity. Stripped to our shirts and drawers, we sprang to the white-ash, and after several hours' pulling were almost
21disposed to renounce the chase, when a general pausing commotion among the whales gave animating token that they were
22now at last under the influence of that strange perplexity of inert irresolution, which, when the fishermen perceive it
23in the whale, they say he is gallied. The compact martial columns in which they had been hitherto rapidly and steadily
24swimming, were now broken up in one measureless rout; and like King Porus' elephants in the Indian battle with
25Alexander, they seemed going mad with consternation. In all directions expanding in vast irregular circles, and
26aimlessly swimming hither and thither, by their short thick spoutings, they plainly betrayed their distraction of panic.
27This was still more strangely evinced by those of their number, who, completely paralysed as it were, helplessly floated
28like water-logged dismantled ships on the sea. Had these Leviathans been but a flock of simple sheep, pursued over the
29pasture by three fierce wolves, they could not possibly have evinced such excessive dismay. But this occasional timidity
30is characteristic of almost all herding creatures. Though banding together in tens of thousands, the lion-maned
31buffaloes of the West have fled before a solitary horseman. Witness, too, all human beings, how when herded together in
32the sheepfold of a theatre's pit, they will, at the slightest alarm of fire, rush helter-skelter for the outlets,
33crowding, trampling, jamming, and remorselessly dashing each other to death. Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at
34the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone
35by the madness of men. Though many of the whales, as has been said, were in violent motion, yet it is to be observed
36that as a whole the herd neither advanced nor retreated, but collectively remained in one place. As is customary in
37those cases, the boats at once separated, each making for some one lone whale on the outskirts of the shoal. In about
38three minutes' time, Queequeg's harpoon was flung; the stricken fish darted blinding spray in our faces, and then
39running away with us like light, steered straight for the heart of the herd. Though such a movement on the part of the
40whale struck under such circumstances, is in no wise unprecedented; and indeed is almost always more or less
41anticipated; yet does it present one of the more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. For as the swift monster drags
42you deeper and deeper into the frantic shoal, you bid adieu to circumspect life and only exist in a delirious throb. As,
43blind and deaf, the whale plunged forward, as if by sheer power of speed to rid himself of the iron leech that had
44fastened to him; as we thus tore a white gash in the sea, on all sides menaced as we flew, by the crazed creatures to
45and fro rushing about us; our beset boat was like a ship mobbed by ice-isles in a tempest, and striving to steer through
46their complicated channels and straits, knowing not at what moment it may be locked in and crushed. But not a bit
47daunted, Queequeg steered us manfully; now sheering off from this monster directly across our route in advance; now
48edging away from that, whose colossal flukes were suspended overhead, while all the time, Starbuck stood up in the bows,
49lance in hand, pricking out of our way whatever whales he could reach by short darts, for there was no time to make long
50ones. Nor were the oarsmen quite idle, though their wonted duty was now altogether dispensed with. They chiefly attended
51to the shouting part of the business. "Out of the way, Commodore!" cried one, to a great dromedary that of a sudden rose
52bodily to the surface, and for an instant threatened to swamp us. "Hard down with your tail, there!" cried a second to
53another, which, close to our gunwale, seemed calmly cooling himself with his own fan-like extremity. All whaleboats
54carry certain curious contrivances, originally invented by the Nantucket Indians, called druggs. Two thick squares of
55wood of equal size are stoutly clenched together, so that they cross each other's grain at right angles; a line of
56considerable length is then attached to the middle of this block, and the other end of the line being looped, it can in
57a moment be fastened to a harpoon. It is chiefly among gallied whales that this drugg is used. For then, more whales are
58close round you than you can possibly chase at one time. But sperm whales are not every day encountered; while you may,
59then, you must kill all you can. And if you cannot kill them all at once, you must wing them, so that they can be
60afterwards killed at your leisure. Hence it is, that at times like these the drugg, comes into requisition. Our boat was
61furnished with three of them. The first and second were successfully darted, and we saw the whales staggeringly running
62off, fettered by the enormous sidelong resistance of the towing drugg. They were cramped like malefactors with the chain
63and ball. But upon flinging the third, in the act of tossing overboard the clumsy wooden block, it caught under one of
64the seats of the boat, and in an instant tore it out and carried it away, dropping the oarsman in the boat's bottom as
65the seat slid from under him. On both sides the sea came in at the wounded planks, but we stuffed two or three drawers
66and shirts in, and so stopped the leaks for the time.
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