CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Strange Signs for the Future

There was an old ironworker named Perth on board the Pequod, and Ahab went to see him one day about a special job. The captain brought with him a sack of nails from the shoes of racing horses and asked the ironworker to melt them down. This was for an especially strong harpoon iron.

When it was time for Perth to give the sharp barb, or point, its final heating, he went to find a barrel of water. This was done so that the iron would be tempered, or harden. But Ahab had a different idea in mind.

"No water for that," said Ahab. "I want it to be a true weapon of death. It must be done in human blood!" He turned to the three persons. "Tashtego, Queequeg, Daggoo," he asked, "will you give me your blood?"

The three men agreed, and their skin was cut. Soon the iron point of the White Whale's harpoon was tempered—in human blood!

Later that night, Ahab had a nightmare. He quickly went up on deck to find Fedallah. Fedallah was on watch. Ahab told him about his dream. In the dream, he saw himself in a hearse, which is a carriage that carries the dead.

Fedallah looked at him in the dim moving light of the lantern. "I have already told you about the way you will die. Don't you remember? I told you that there would not be either a hearse or a coffin."

"But people who die at sea do not have hearses," said Ahab.

"Aye, but I also told you that before you die, you must see two hearses on the sea," Fedallah reminded him. "The first hearse will not be made by the hands of humans, and the second hearse will be made of wood that is from America."

"That would be a strange thing to see out here on the ocean," said Ahab. "But you also told me about yourself. What was it again?"

"That I'm to die before you, so that I can guide you into the other world."

"But you also said that after you die, you would again appear to me, to guide me, right? I guess that your sight of the future means that I will be able to kill Moby Dick."

"Here is another thing for certain, captain," said the Indian mysteriously. "Only a rope can kill you."

"The only way to die from a rope is from hanging. But that can never be out here in the ocean." Ahab laughed, jokingly. "Therefore, I'm going to live forever."

We were nearing the equator, the line that divides the northern and southern hemispheres of this world. It was there that Ahab hoped to see Moby Dick. We started to hear strange cries not of this earth, like the cries of ghosts. These sounds were coming from some islands which we were sailing past. The civilized, or Christian, part of the crew said it was mermaids, or half-fish, half-human creatures, and they shook with fear. The non-Christian harpooners just remained calm. But the oldest sailor on the ship, a man from the Isle of Man, off the coast of England, had a different story. According to him, what we were hearing was the cries of sailors who had just drowned at sea.

Later Flask told Ahab about the strange sounds. The old man laughed. "I know all about those sounds," he said. "Those are the cries of mother seals that have lost their babies or the cries of baby seals that have lost their mothers."

This explanation didn't help the crew to feel better. Most sailors have strange old beliefs about seals. This is because a seal's troubled cries sound like a human's. Also, seals have round heads and their half-intelligent faces look somewhat like the heads and faces of humans. Thus, the cries were seen as an evil sign for the future, and the men were expecting something bad to happen soon.

Sure enough, the worst did happen. One day, one of the sailors climbed the main mast to look out for the White Whale. He was very sleepy and he fell down into the sea. We threw a wooden life saver into the water to help him, for he couldn't swim. But water had gotten into the wooden life saver before, which had made the wood shrink. So, it didn't float and the poor sailor drowned in the sea.

It seemed like the unlucky sign had come true. But the old sailor from the Isle of Man disagreed. He said that the bad thing had not happened yet and was still to come.

Because of all the dangers on the sea, we needed to find another life saver. But we couldn't find any wood on board that was light enough in weight. Then Queequeg pointed to his coffin. He said the fine, hard wood could work if they were to nail the lid on tightly so that no water could get in. The officers thought this idea was strange at first, but finally they agreed. The Pequod's life saver now would be a coffin.

The next day, a very large ship, the Rachel, came heading toward us. Many men were sitting on her beams and poles.

"Have you seen the White Whale?" came Ahab's voice.

"Aye, we saw him yesterday. Now we have a question—have you seen a single whaleboat by itself? We've lost one of ours," said the captain of the Rachel.

Ahab didn't bother to answer the question because he was so excited to hear that Moby Dick had been seen. He made ready to go aboard the ship but the Rachel's captain got to our ship first instead.

The captain of the Rachel arrived and answered Ahab's eager questions.

"We sent four boats after that White Whale. The fastest of our boats fastened to him with a harpoon. Suddenly, both the boat and the whale disappeared. We all figured that the wounded whale was running with his hunters. However, we searched all through the night and haven't been able to find our missing boat."

The captain continued, even though Ahab seemed to have lost interest. "I want to ask you to join us in our rescue search. If we start to sail in lines, then we can find my missing men, and ... " He stopped for a moment, and then said, "You see, my own son is among them."

The Rachel's captain saw the cold expression on Ahab's face. "Please, for God's own sake, man, I am begging you," he cried. "Let me use your ship. I'll gladly pay."

"We have to help him find the boy!" cried Stubb.

There were cries of approval for Stubb's idea from the other men on board.

But the old sailor from the Isle of Man raised his hand and said, "The boy drowned with the rest of the sailors in the boat last night," he said. "We heard their spirits on that island, didn't we?"

The captain of the Rachel seemed to lose all hope. But Ahab ignored the poor man and coldly said, "I will not do it. You see, we are losing time right now just even talking to you. Good-bye and God bless you, man."

The captain of the Rachel couldn't believe that Ahab could be so unfeeling.

Then Ahab turned to Starbuck and ordered, "Mr Starbuck, have these strangers set off in three minutes and let the ship sail as before."

(end of section)