CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Fedallah's Saying Comes True

The next morning was calm. Ahab had placed his crew on every mast of the ship to serve as daylight look-outs.

He had a wooden leg quickly made to replace his lost ivory one. Ahab was again raised up to the mast. Finally, after an hour of searching the sea, he saw the spout. Three cries of "There she blows!" went up from the top of the masts.

"Forehead to forehead I meet you this third time, Moby Dick!" called Ahab. Then, he spoke to the top of the mast lovingly, saying, "Good-bye, top of the mast, I'm going down to the ocean. Watch that whale while I'm down there. We'll talk tomorrow night, after the White Whale is lying on the bottom of the sea!"

As Ahab was being lowered, Fedallah's mystery came back to him. He whispered to himself, "Fedallah said he would die before I did, but he also said I would see him again. But where and how? We're too far away from where he sank. No, Fedallah, maybe you were right about dying, but you were wrong about Ahab!"

Ahab, preparing to climb into his boat, turned to Starbuck and said, "Shake hands with me, man. I am old, very old."

Starbuck's eyes filled with tears and he begged, "Oh, my captain, do not go! A brave man weeps and begs you."

"Lower my boat!" cried Ahab, shaking Starbuck's arm from him.

The boats had not gone far when a signal from the top of the mast told Ahab that the whale had gone down below again.

Ahab cried, "Move on, move on! I'm not afraid. I'll be waiting for Moby Dick when he rises. Oh, Fedallah, you were wrong. No coffin or no hearse for me—remember, only a rope can kill me! Ha! Ha!"

Suddenly the waters around the boats started to move in broad circles. We could all hear a low sound like thunder. Everyone held their breaths in the silence. Then, suddenly, ropes, harpoons and lances shot up from the sea with the mighty whale himself.

Moby Dick, angry from the previous day's chase, came straight toward the boats. He hit his tail against the sides of the boats.

As the whale turned and quickly swam by them again, a cry came out of the crews. There, tied to the whale's back, among the tangled ropes, was the half-torn body of Fedallah! His dead opened eyes were turned upon old Ahab!

Ahab dropped his harpoon and took in a long breath. "So what you said was true, Fedallah," he whispered. "I do see you again after your death. And what you said about your hearse was right too—it's not from human hands because it is Moby Dick! But where is my hearse?" Ahab looked at his restless crew.

"Sit down, men!" he cried. "If you try to jump from this boat I'm in, I'll harpoon you. You are my crew; you are my arms and my legs, and so you will obey me. Now where did Moby Dick go?"

Moby Dick was swimming away from the boats at top speed out to sea. Ahab gave the order to follow. As he passed the Pequod, Starbuck called down to him from the deck.

"Ahab, it is not too late to turn back. Look! Moby Dick is not after you. It is you, you, that is madly after him!"

But Ahab ordered his boat to continue to follow the whale. He could see Tashtego, Queequeg, and Dag-goo climbing to the top of three masts. He saw the oarsmen fixing the two damaged boats which were at the Pequod's side. He could even see from the ship's windows Stubb and Flask busily gathering new irons and lances below deck.

But Ahab's oarsmen had other trouble besides the White Whale. Sharks had gathered around his boat and were biting at the oars.

"Don't pay any attention to them," cried Ahab. "Row on!"

"But, sir, the oars are growing smaller and smaller with their bites."

"They will last long enough to catch Moby Dick. Row on! Are these sharks expecting to feast on the whale or old Ahab?"

The crew was unable to see anything as they neared the White Whale. The mist from his spout made it almost impossible to see. Then Ahab caught sight of Moby Dick's side. He bent his body back and with both arms, threw his special iron and his hate into the hated Moby Dick!

The White Whale twisted and rolled, hitting his side against the small boat. It turned partly over. Three of Ahab's crew were tossed into the sea, but Ahab hung on and managed to stay inside the boat.

Then the whale sped off into the sea. Ahab yelled to the men to make sure that the line connected to Moby Dick was held. But the line wasn't strong enough, and it broke in two in the empty air!

As Moby Dick turned, he saw the back of the Pe-quod. Maybe because he thought the ship was the cause of all his trouble and pain, he swam toward its approaching front with his jaws open, ready to strike.

"The whale! The ship!" cried the frightened crew.

"The ship, the ship! Move, move, O sea! Row on, my men! Will you not save my ship?" shouted Ahab wildly.

The men on board the Pequod started to shout and pray—their scared eyes on the White Whale that was rushing straight toward them.

"Oh, Ahab!" cried Starbuck. "Look at what has happened because of your work. The whale comes for us! My God please stand by me now. That laughing whale wants to eat us all!"

In revenge, Moby Dick's white forehead smashed the ship's back end. The men fell flat on their faces from the crash and then started to scream as huge streams of water began pouring in through the break.

"The second hearse! The Pequod is the second hearse made from American wood!" cried Ahab from his boat. "Yes, those were Fedallah's words—a hearse made from American wood."

As if happy with his act of revenge, the whale turned away from the sinking ship and dove under water again. It came quietly up a few feet away from Ahab's boat. He lay there, unmoving, for a time.

"O Pequod, my death ship. Must you die and sink without me? Am I cut off from a captain's wish—to die with my ship? How lonely is my death after such a lonely life! I look towards you, you all—destroying whale. You still have not beat me! To the last I shall fight you! In hate I shall take my last breath at you! Break me to pieces while I chase you, tied to you, damned whale! Thus I give up the spear!" cried Ahab.

With all the power left in him, Ahab threw the harpoon. It hit and stuck into Moby Dick, but the whale moved so quickly that the harpoon's line was tangled. Ahab bent down to untangle it, and the rope caught him around the neck. He flew out of the boat, pulled out by the rope. Before the crew knew what was happening, he was gone—killed by a rope!

The crewmen stood still for an instant, as if in a dream. Then, turning toward the ship, they asked, "The ship? Great God, where is the Pequod?"

Through the darkness they saw the Pequod sinking into the sea, the harpooners still hanging onto her high masts. Then a whirlpool of water grabbed hold of the ship and spun it around and around until all its crew, every oar, every lance pole, every floating piece of the Pequod—everything was carried to the bottom of the ocean.

And the great White Whale swam away.

And the sea rolled on the same as it had been rolling for five thousand years ... 

(end of section)