"Ship, ahoy! Hast seen the White Whale?"
So cried Ahab, once
more hailing a ship showing English colors, bearing down under the
stern. Trumpet to mouth, the old man was standing in his hoisted
quarter-deck, his ivory leg plainly revealed to the stranger captain,
who was carelessly reclining in his own boat's bow. He was a
darkly-tanned, burly, goodnatured, fine-looking man, of sixty or
thereabouts, dressed in a spacious roundabout, that hung round him in
festoons of blue pilot-cloth; and one empty arm of his jacket streamed
behind him like the broidered arm of a huzzar's surcoat.
"Hast seen the White Whale!"
"See
you this?" and withdrawing it from the folds that had hidden it, he
held up a white arm of sperm whale bone, terminating in a wooden head
like a mallet.
"Man my boat!" cried Ahab, impetuously, and tossing about the oars near him- "Stand by to lower!"
In
less than a minute, without quitting his little craft, he and his crew
were dropped to the water, and were soon alongside of the stranger. But
here a curious difficulty presented itself. In the excitement of the
moment, Ahab had forgotton that since the loss of his leg he had never
once stepped on board of any vessel at sea but his own, and then it was
always by an ingenious and very handy mechanical contrivance peculiar to
the Pequod, and a thing not to be rigged and shipped in any other
vessel at a moment's warning. Now, it is no very easy matter for
anybody- except those who are almost hourly used to it, like whalemen-
to clamber up a ship's side from a boat on the open sea; for the great
swells now lift the boat high up towards the bulwarks, and then
instantaneously drop it half way down to the kelson. So, deprived of one
leg, and the strange ship of course being altogether unsupplied with
the kindly invention, Ahab now found himself abjectly reduced to a
clumsy landsman again; hopelessly eyeing the uncertain changeful height
he could hardly hopte to attain.
It has before been hinted,
perhaps, that every little untoward circumstance that befell him, and
which indirectly sprang from his luckless mishap, almost invariably
irritated or exasperated Ahab. And in the present instance, all this was
heightened by the sight of the two officers of the strange ship,
leaning over the side, by the perpendicular ladder of nailed cleets
there, and swinging towards him a pair of tastefully-ornamented
man-ropes; for at first they did not seem to bethink them that a
one-legged man must be too much of a cripple to use their sea
bannisters. But this awkwardness only lasted a minute, because the
strange captain, observing at a glance how affairs stood, cried out, "I
see, I see!- avast heaving there! Jump, boys, and swing over the
cutting-tackle."
As good luck would have it, they had had a whale
alongside a day or two previous, and the great tackles were still aloft,
and the massive curved blubber-hook, now clean and dry, was still
attached to the end. This was quickly lowered to Ahab, who at once
comprehending it all, slid his solitary thigh into the curve of the hook
(it was like sitting in the fluke of an anchor, or the crotch of an
apple tree), and then giving the word, held himself fast, and at the
same time also helped to hoist his own weight, by pulling hand-over-hand
upon one of the running parts of the tackle. Soon he was carefully
swung inside the high bulwarks, and gently landed upon the capstan head.
With his ivory arm frankly thrust forth in welcome, the other captain
advanced, and Ahab, putting out his ivory leg, and crossing the ivory
arm (like two sword-fish blades) cried out in his walrus way, "Aye, aye,
hearty! let us shake bones together!- an arm and a leg!- an arm that
never can shrink, d'ye see; and a leg that never can run. Where did'st
thou see the White Whale?- how long ago?"
"The White Whale," said
the Englishman, pointing his ivory arm towards the East, and taking a
rueful sight along it, as if it had been a telescope; "there I saw him,
on the Line, last season."
"And he took that arm off, did he?"
asked Ahab, now sliding down from the capstan, and resting on the
Englishman's shoulder, as he did so.
"Aye, he was the cause of it, at least; and that leg, too?"
"Spin me the yarn," said Ahab; "how was it?"
"It
was the first time in my life that I ever cruised on the Line," began
the Englishman. "I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time. Well,
one day we lowered for a pod of four or five whales, and my boat
fastened to one of them; a regular circus horse he was, too, that went
milling and milling round so that my boat's crew could only trim dish,
by sitting all their sterns on the outer gunwale. Presently up breaches
from the bottom of the sea a bouncing great whale, with a milky-white
head and hump, all crows' feet and wrinkles."
"It was he, it was he!" cried Ahab, suddenly letting out his suspended breath.
"And harpoons sticking in near his starboad fin."
"Aye, aye- they were mine- my irons," cried Ahab, exultingly- "but on!"
"Give
me a chance, then," said the Englishman, good-humoredly. "Well, this
old great-grandfather, with the white head and hump, runs all afoam into
the pod, and goes to snapping furiously at my fast-line!
"Aye, I see!- wanted to part it; free the fast-fish- an old trick- I know him."
"How
it was exactly," continued the one-armed commander, "I do not know; but
in biting the line, it got foul of his teeth, caught there somehow; but
we didn't know it then; so that when we afterwards pulled on the line,
bounce we came plump on to his hump! instead of the other whale's; that
went off to windward, all fluking. Seeing how matters stood, and what a
noble great whale it was- the noblest and biggest I ever saw, sir, in my
life- I resolved to capture him, spite of the boiling rage he seemed to
be in. And thinking the hap-hazard line would get loose, or the tooth
it was tangled to might draw (for I have a devil of a boat's crew for a
pull on a whale-line); seeing all this, I say, I jumped into my first
mate's boat- Mr. Mounttop's here (by the way, Captain- Mounttop;
Mounttop- the captain);- as I was saying, I jumped into Mounttop's boat,
which, d'ye see, was gunwale and gunwale with mine, then; and snatching
the first harpoon, let this old great-grandfather have it. But, Lord,
look you, sir- hearts and souls alive, man- the next instant, in a jiff,
I was blind as a bat- both eyes out- all befogged and bedeadened with
black foam- the whale's tail looming straight up out of it,
perpendicular in the air, like a marble steeple. No use sterning all,
then; but as I was groping at midday, with a blinding sun, all
crown-jewels; as I was groping, I say, after the second iron, to toss it
overboard- down comes the tail like a Lima tower, cutting my boat in
two, leaving each half in splinters; and, flukes first, the white hump
backed through the wreck, as though it was all chips. We all struck out.
To escape his terrible flailings, I seized hold of my harpoon-pole
sticking in him, and for a moment clung to that like a sucking fish. But
a combing sea dashed me off, and at the same instant, the fish, taking
one good dart forwards, went down like a flash; and the barb of that
cursed second iron towing along near me caught me here" (clapping his
hand just below his shoulder); "yes, caught me just here, I say, and
bore me down to Hell's flames, I was thinking; when, when, all of a
sudden, thank the good God, the barb ript its way along the flesh- clear
along the whole length of my arm- came out nigh my wrist, and up I
floated;- and that gentleman there will tell you the rest (by the way,
captain- Dr. Bunger, ship's surgeon: Bunger, my lad,- the captain). Now,
Bunger boy, spin your part of the yarn."
The professional
gentleman thus familiarly pointed out, had been all the time standing
near them, with nothing specific visible, to denote his gentlemanly rank
on board. His face was an exceedingly round but sober one; he was
dressed in a faded blue woolen frock or shirt, and patched trowsers; and
had thus far been dividing his attention between a marlingspike he held
in one hand, and a pill-box held in the other, occasionally casting a
critical glance at the ivory limbs of the two crippled captains. But, at
his superior's introduction of him to Ahab, he politely bowed, and
straightway went on to do his captain's bidding.
"It was a shocking bad wound," began the whale-surgeon; "and, taking my advice, Captain Boomer here, stood our old Sammy-"
"Samuel Enderby is the name of my ship," interrupted the one-armed captain, addressing Ahab; "go on, boy."
"Stood
our old Sammy off to the northward, to get out of the blazing hot
weather there on the Line. But it was no use- I did all I could; sat up
with him nights; was very severe with him in the matter of diet-"
"Oh,
very severe!" chimed in the patient himself; then suddenly altering his
voice, "Drinking hot rum toddies with me every night, till he couldn't
see to put on the bandages; and sending me to bed, half seas over, about
three o'clock in the morning. Oh, ye stars! he sat up with me indeed,
and was very severe in my diet. Oh! a great watcher, and very
dietetically severe, is Dr. Bunger. (Bunger, you dog, laugh out! why
don't ye? You know you're a precious jolly rascal.) But, heave ahead,
boy, I'd rather be killed by you than kept alive by any other man."
"My
captain, you must have ere this perceived, respected sir"- said the
imperturbable godly-looking Bunger, slightly bowing to Ahab- "is apt to
be facetious at times; he spins us many clever things of that sort. But I
may as well say- en passant, as the French remark- that I myself- that
is to say, Jack Bunger, late of the reverend clergy- am a strict total
abstinence man; I never drink-"
"Water!" cried the captain; "he
never drinks it; it's a sort of fits to him; fresh water throws him into
the hydrophobia; but go on- go on with the arm story."
"Yes, I
may as well," said the surgeon, coolly. "I was about observing, sir,
before Captain Boomer's facetious interruption, that spite of my best
and severest endeavors, the wound kept getting worse and worse; the
truth was, sir, it was as ugly gaping wound as surgeon ever saw; more
than two feet and several inches long. I measured it with the lead line.
In short, it grew black; I knew what was threatened, and off it came.
But I had no hand in shipping that ivory arm there; that thing is
against all rule"- pointing at it with the marlingspike- "that is the
captain's work, not mine; he ordered the carpenter to make it; he had
that club-hammer there put to the end, to knock some one's brains out
with, I suppose, as he tried mine once. He flies into diabolical
passions sometimes. Do ye see this dent, sir"- removing his hat, and
brushing aside his hair, and exposing a bowl-like cavity in his skull,
but which bore not the slightest scarry trace, or any token of ever
having been a wound- "Well, the captain there will tell you how that
came there; he knows."
"No, I don't," said the captain, "but his
mother did; he was born with it. Oh, you solemn rogue, you- you Bunger!
was there ever such another Bunger in the watery world? Bunger, when you
die, you ought to die in pickle, you dog; you should be preserved to
future ages, you rascal."
"What became of the White Whale?" now
cried Ahab, who thus far had been impatiently listening to this byeplay
between the two Englishmen.
"Oh!" cried the one-armed captain,
"oh, yes! Well; after he sounded, we didn't see him again for some time;
in fact, as I before hinted, I didn't then know what whale it was that
had served me such a trick, till some time afterwards, when coming back
to the Line, we heard about Moby Dick- as some call him- and then I knew
it was he."
"Did'st thou cross his wake again?"
"Twice."
"But could not fasten?"
"Didn't
want to try to; ain't one limb enough? What should I do without this
other arm? And I'm thinking Moby Dick doesn't bite so much as he
swallows."
"Well, then," interrupted Bunger, "give him your left
arm for bait to get the right. Do you know, gentlemen"- very gravely and
mathematically bowing to each Captain in succession- "Do you know,
gentlemen, that the digestive organs of the whale are so inscrutably
constructed by Divine Providence, that it is quite impossible for him to
completely digest even a man's arm? And he knows it too. So that what
you take for the White Whale's malice is only his awkwardness. For he
never means to swallow a single limb; he only thinks to terrify by
feints. But sometimes he is like the old juggling fellow, formerly a
patient of mine in Ceylon, that making believe swallow jack-knives, once
upon a time let one drop into him in good earnest, and there it stayed
for a twelvemonth or more; when I gave him an emetic, and he heaved it
up in small tacks, d'ye see? No possible way for him to digest that
jack-knife, and fully incorporate it into his general bodily system.
Yes, Captain Boomer, if you are quick enough about it, and have a mind
to pawn one arm for the sake of the privilege of giving decent burial to
the other, why, in that case the arm is yours; only let the whale have
another chance at you shortly, that's all."
"No, thank you,
Bunger," said the English Captain, "he's welcome to the arm he has,
since I can't help it, and didn't know him then; but not to another one.
No more White Whales for me; I've lowered for him once, and that has
satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I know that;
and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, he's
best let alone; don't you think so, Captain?"- glancing at the ivory
leg.
"He is. But he will still be hunted, for all that. What is
best let alone, that accursed thing is not always what least allures.
He's all a magnet! How long since thou sawist him last? Which way
heading?"
"Bless my soul, and curse the foul fiend's," cried
Bunger, stoopingly walking round Ahab, and like a dog, strangely
snuffing; "this man's blood- bring the thermometer!- it's at the boiling
point!- his pulse makes these planks beat!- sir!"- taking a lancet from
his pocket, and drawing near to Ahab's arm.
"Avast!" roared Ahab, dashing him against the bulwarks- "Man the boat! Which way heading?"
"Good
God!" cried the English Captain, to whom the question was put. "What's
the matter? He was heading east, I think.- Is your Captain crazy?"
whispering Fedallah.
But Fedallah, putting a finger on his lip,
slid over the bulwarks to take the boat's steering oar, and Ahab,
swinging the cutting-tackle towards him commanded the ship's sailors to
stand by to lower.
In a moment he was standing in the boat's
stern, and the Manilla men were springing to their oars. In vain the
English Captain hailed him. With back to the stranger ship, and face set
like a flint to his own, Ahab stood upright till alongside of the
Pequod.
Ahab finally gets a lead on the White Whale from another whaling ship. And he's also warned to forget his obsession. Turn away. Keep himself and his crew safe. Of course, Ahab is having none of it. He rows back to the Pequod, more determined than ever to find and kill Moby Dick.
Greetings from Calumet. It's been a long day of working, driving, and rehearsing. Now, I'm sitting on my bed, Family Guy playing on the TV in the background. Trying to put together some coherent thoughts. In the past two days, I've gotten about four hours of sleep per night. I'm beat, but still I feel it necessary to write this blog post.
I'm not quite as monomaniacal as Ahab. In fact, I almost didn't write this post. However, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I hadn't published a few words this evening. I think we all have a little Ahab in us somewhere.
I want to talk about a person in my life who is more than a little like Ahab. This person has control issues that make the captain of the Pequod look like Shirley Temple. "Steve" is absolutely miserable. He's depressed, angry, unhappy with his living situation. The only thing that makes Steve happy is making other people unhappy.
Steve has mental health issues. However, he refuses to really do anything to help himself. He goes to a psychiatrist, but isn't truthful with this doctor. He medicates himself with pills and alcohol to alleviate his problems, but, of course, this doesn't work. Like Ahab, Steve is simply driven by his control issues. Doesn't listen to anybody else. Lies to himself. Surrounds himself with people who enable his behaviors.
That is my wisdom for this evening. I'm a happier person than Steve because I realize that I can't control every aspect of my life. I love my wife and kids. I try to be a good father and husband every day. Sometimes I fail. I accept that. But I always do my best.
Saint Marty is thankful tonight for playing Marco Polo with his kids in the hotel swimming pool.
