CHAPTER FIVE

"A Death Wish for Moby Dick!"

Our ship was moving southward and we started to come upon warmer weather. Now Captain Ahab came on deck more often. He would either stand with his leg resting in the hole or sit on a stool that was fixed the same way to the deck. Sometimes he'd walk the deck, leaning to one side from lack of balance. At night, the restless pounding of his leg upon the wooden deck would keep us all awake.

One day Stubb half-jokingly asked Captain Ahab if he would cover the ivory leg with cloth the next night that he felt like walking on deck. Ahab quickly turned to him.

"Go below deck, you dog!" he shouted.

Stubb was too shocked to say anything for a moment. "I'm not used to being spoken to in that manner, sir. I do not like it, sir," he said.

"Then I'll ten times call you a donkey. Be gone, you fool, or I'll clear the world of you!" Ahab walked toward him like he was going to throw him below deck himself.

Stubb quickly walked away. He said to us as he walked by, "I don't know whether to hit him or pray for him. Is he mad? Why is it he stays in bed only three hours at night? Even then his servant says that he doesn't sleep. The servant also says the Captain's pillow is as hot as a brick that's been in an oven, like he's a fever. Something must be on his mind to trouble him so. Our Captain's full of mysteries, he is."

One morning after breakfast we all heard Ahab's steady step as usual. However, when we came on deck, it looked like the marks made by his ivory leg were deeper than usual, as if his nervous steps that morning were being pushed down by his worries even more. His forehead, too, was lined, as if that one constant thought had formed upon his forehead.

All day long he continued to walk the deck. Then, near the end of the day when the sun was setting, he stopped by the bulwarks and asked for Starbuck. He commanded him to gather everyone at the back of the ship. The mate was surprised at this strange order.

Ahab continued walking when we arrived. He didn't pay any attention to our curious whisperings. Finally, not turning around to see us, he cried out, "What do you do when you see a whale, men?"

"Cry out for him!" came the answer.

"Good!" he replied, turning around to us. "And what do you do next, men?"

"Lower the whaling boats and chase after him!"

"And what song do you sing as you row after him, men?"

"A Dead Whale or a Stove Boat!"

Ahab's face became happier and he looked at us with more approval with every answer. Then he took out a round bright coin and told us to bring him a hammer.

"Look here. This coin is a Spanish ounce of gold. Whoever is the first to sight a white-headed whale that has a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw ... whoever first sights such a white-headed whale that has three holes in his side ... whoever of you sees this white whale, then he shall have this gold ounce!

"Hurrah, hurrah!" the crew shouted as Ahab nailed the gold coin to the ship's mast.

"It's a white whale," continued Ahab. "Look out especially for white water. If you see even a bubble of white water, cry out."

During Ahab's speech Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg had been looking on with greater interest and more surprise than the rest of us. When they heard Ahab mention the wrinkled brow and crooked jaw of a white whale, they jumped together as if in shock. They looked as if they were trying to remember a past event.

"Captain Ahab," said Tashtego softly, "are you speaking of the white whale called Moby Dick?"

"Yes. Have you seen this whale, Tash?"

"Does he move his tail from side to side before he goes under the water?" asked Tashtego.

"And does he spout water very high and is he very fast, Captain Ahab?" asked Daggoo.

"He has two, maybe three, iron harpoons in his side too, Captain," cried Queequeg. "All twisted, like this." Queequeg circled his hand round and round his side. "Like so ... "

"Yes, shaped just like a spiral!" cried Ahab. "Yes, Queequeg, the harpoons are all twisted in his side. Yes, Daggoo, his spout of water is mighty high. Yes, Tashtego, he moves his tail from side to side ... he does this before going under the water. Death and devils! Men, it is Moby Dick you have seen—Moby Dick, Moby Dick!

"Captain Ahab," said Starbuck, "was it Moby Dick that bit off your leg?"

"Yes, curse that White Whale! He gave me this dead stump that I must stand on. I've promised I'll chase him round the Cape of Good Hope and round Cape Horn and round the flames of Hell before I give up. And this is why I've signed you men aboard my ship—to chase that White Whale over all sides of the earth until he coughs black blood and rolls over! What do you say about this, men? Are you all brave enough to join hands with me on this journey now?"

"Yes, yes!" shouted the harpooners and seamen in agreement.

"God bless you, men," Ahab half-cried, half-shouted. "Servant, go below and bring some wine for these men." Then Ahab saw that Starbuck was standing silently to the side. He went up to him and asked, "Starbuck, tell me why you look so down. Won't you join us in hunting Moby Dick?"

"I can hunt after Moby Dick and his crooked jaw, even hunt the jaws of Death too, if it is part of the whaling business we follow. But I came aboard this ship to hunt whales, not to help my captain take revenge!

Starbuck seemed to be alone in not agreeing with the captain, but as first mate he would not fight against his captain's orders. "God save me! God save us all!" he whispered softly.

When the servant returned with the wine, Ahab ordered a big silver-drinking cup to be filled with wine. "Drink and pass it along to each man!" he cried. Then he handed it to the nearest seaman. "Take big drinks, men. It's as hot as the Devil's feet ... Well done! The cup's almost finished. Servant, refill the cup!"

Next, he called for the three mates to gather around him. "Put your lances together in a cross so that I may again do a noble custom of my fisherman fathers," he said, holding the three irons at their crossed center. He looked deeply from Starbuck to Stubb and from Stubb to Flask. It seemed that he was trying to fire their hearts with his own fiery hatred. The mates all had to look away from his strong, magical eyes.

"Put down your lances." Then Ahab turned to Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo. "And now, my three brave harpooners, take away the poles from your weapons, men."

Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo took off the iron tips of their harpoons and turned them upside down. There was an empty space on the bottom of each iron tip.

Ahab filled these like they were wine cups. Then he ordered, "Drink, you harpooners. Drink and promise on your soul—Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!"

(end of section)