CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Second Day's Chase

The next day, we heard the cry come again from the top of the mast, "There she blows—she blows!—She blows!—right ahead!"

"Yes, of course!" cried Stubb. "That whale can't escape! Blow on and split your spout, O Whale. The mad devil himself is after you! Ahab is going to stop your blood, like a guard shuts his gate at night!"

By now the excitement of hunting Moby Dick was felt among all the crew. Whatever fears or worries they felt before were no longer, gone in their growing respect for Ahab. Now there were thirty men working as one man toward the old captain's deadly goal.

Ahab raised himself high on the mast to have a better look. No sooner did he arrive than a terrible cry was heard from the men on deck. Moby Dick was rapidly swimming toward the ship! We could see him jumping in and out of the ocean, tossing his entire body out of the water and high into the air. This was Moby Dick's signal for fighting us!

"Swim to the sun for your last time, Moby Dick!" cried Ahab. "Your time to die has come! I stand ready with my harpoon! Quick, the boats—stand by!"

Ahab came down from his perch and onto the deck. "Lower her into the ocean!" he cried as soon as he had jumped into his boat.

Moby Dick was now heading straight toward the three whaleboats. It seemed like he would be the first to attack.

This time Ahab decided to go straight for the White Whale's forehead, because a whale can see better from the side than from the front. But before they could reach him, Moby Dick came toward them at a terrible speed. He opened his jaws and splashed his tail, rushing among the boats. Even though there were irons darting into him from every boat, he continued to swim so that he crossed and tangled the lines. Soon, all harpoon lines were caught together.

With the Whale among all the caught lines, harpoons, and lances, there was only one thing for Ahab to do—cut his line loose. As he was doing so, the White Whale made a sudden rush toward Ahab's boat. Because of the lines, Moby Dick pulled the boats of Stubb and Flask towards him, causing them to crash into each other. All of the men in those boats fell into the sea. Then the whale went back under the sea and disappeared in a whirlpool.

The men worriedly swam in the water, with Flask going up and down like an empty bottle, trying to hold his legs up in case the horrible jaws of the whale were under him. Stubb continued to call out to be taken up, even though none of the other boats wanted to go near where Moby Dick had disappeared.

Ahab was about to go into the whirlpool to rescue them when his boat suddenly shot up from the sea into the air. It looked as if invisible lines were pulling it up to the sky. From underwater, Moby Dick had hit his broad forehead against the bottom of Ahab's boat. This made it spin over and over in the air. It landed upside down and Ahab and his men swam from under it.

This satisfied Moby Dick. He started to swim quickly away from the boats, still dragging those tangled lines behind him.

The Pequod sailed quickly to the rescue and sent a boat for those crewmen in the water, their oars, and their harpoons. Ahab was found holding onto his boat's broken half. Luckily, no one had died and there were only a few injuries.

Back on the deck of the Pequod, Ahab had to hang onto Starbuck's shoulder. He had lost his ivory leg and now only had a short sharp stick for a leg.

"I am untouched!" he cried. "Give me that lance for a cane so I can walk. Then gather the men together."

Ahab looked among the gathered crew for one man—Fedallah. But the Manillan was nowhere to be found!

"Sir," said Stubb. "I saw him caught among the tangles of your line. I think he got dragged under when the whale went under the water."

"My line! My line? Gone? Oh no—That is a sign of death—my death!" cried Ahab. "Quick! Collect all irons and harpoons now. If I have to circle this world ten times, or even go straight through it, I will kill Moby Dick!"

"Please!" cried Starbuck. "You will never get him, old man. No more of this madness! You have chased him for two days, and for two days our boats have been broken to bits. You've even lost your own ivory leg and the life of one of your crew! These are enough warnings. Do you want to chase this whale until each of us is lying at the bottom of the sea?"

"I have no choice," replied Ahab mysteriously. "It's said that drowning things always come up twice to the surface before dying. Then they rise the third time only to sink forever. So it will be with Moby Dick. He's been for two days. Tomorrow will be the third and his last—he'll rise once more only to spout his last!"

Then Ahab said to himself, "Fedallah had said he would die before me. But he said I would see him once again before I was to die. That's quite a mystery to explain, but I'll solve it."

(end of section)