CHAPTER TEN Moby Dick!
CHAPTER TEN
Moby Dick!
It was the night of the beautiful day and Ahab was on deck sniffing the sea air, trying to catch the smell of a whale. Suddenly his eyes glowed like fire and he cried, "I'm going up to the masthead! I smell the white whale!" The crew pulled him up in a kind of basket to the masthead, and then we heard a cry.
"There she blows! There she blows! A hump like a snowy hill! It's Moby Dick! The coin is mine! It was fate! None of you could see him, only I! " Ahab had seen the white whale before anyone else and the gold coin was his.
"But I saw him almost at the same instant that Captain Ahab did, and I cried out!" said Tashtego.
"None of you saw it when I saw it - no, the gold coin is mine - Moby Dick is mine!" cried Ahab. "Lower me quickly, Mr Starbuck! Lower three boats, and lower mine too, Mr Starbuck! " I stared at the sea and couldn't believe what was happening. As the whale rose we could all see every wrinkle on his huge, white forehead, his crooked jaw, his mouth, and every twisted harpoon on his milk-white back.
"Ishmael," called Starbuck, "help us lower the boats. " We lowered the boats and we were in the water for the biggest hunt of our lives. Ahab was in his boat with his personal harpooner Fedallah and his crew of Filipinos.
A flock of sea gulls flew over the white giant as he swam joyfully in the green-blue sea. Was this gentle giant the killer of so many men? Perhaps he sensed the approaching danger because he suddenly disappeared deep into the sea.
"He's sounded!" I shouted Ahab excitedly. "But he'll come back and when he does, I'll be ready for him! " We all waited. The sea looked like glass and nothing moved. An hour passed and there was still no sign of the white whale. We continued waiting but nothing happened. Ahab leaned over his boat and stared into the depths of the sea, and I did the same. I was sure we had lost the white giant because I could see nothing but blackness.
But Ahab saw something - a small white spot deep in the water. He continued staring at it and the white spot grew bigger - a huge, frightening shape was coming up from the depth of the ocean. It rose directly under Ahab's boat. We saw the huge mouth coming out of the sea like an open tomb! Moby Dick suddenly broke the surface of the water and Ahab's boat was thrown into the air. Ahab lost his harpoon and he and his men were thrown from the boat. Moby Dick began swimming around the broken boat, as if he were playing an evil game. Ahab was cursing his enemy with the worst possible language, as his peg leg pulled him down under water.
Stubb's boat reached Ahab in time and he jumped in and rescued Ahab. He pulled his exhausted captain on board his boat. Our boat took on some of the other crew members, while the others swam back to the ship.
On the second day we continued hunting Moby Dick, day and night - never stopping.
"There she blows!" was Ahab's cry from the masthead. It was the white whale.
The boats were lowered and, when the men were close to the white giant, they threw their harpoons into him with all their strength and anger. Moby Dick fought fiercely, moving about violently in the water and making the harpoon ropes cross. Before the ropes could be cut free, he attacked the boats of Stubb and Flask, which crashed together violently. The crews were thrown into the sea. Ahab's boat tried to rescue the men but Moby Dick smashed his white head against the bottom of Ahab's boat. The boat turned over and Ahab and his men struggled out from under it. The great white whale seemed satisfied with the destruction he had caused and swam off.
The Pequod sent a boat to rescue the crew and pick up the bent harpoons and broken oars. Fedallah had disappeared and many men were hurt. Ahab's peg leg was broken and only one sharp piece was left. "No bones broken, I hope, sir?" said Stubb, worried.
"Even with broken bones, old Ahab is ready to fight the whale!" the captain cried. "No white whale, no man, no devil can touch old Ahab. Get the other boats ready, Mr Starbuck. I'll circle the world ten times, yes, and in the end I will kill him! " The sun set and through the long hours of the night everyone was working on the new boats and the new harpoons, while the ship's carpenter was making Ahab a new leg. The morning of the third day was beautiful and calm. Ahab was up in the masthead again, but there was no sign of Moby Dick.
Suddenly we heard Ahab's voice, "There she blows!" On the horizon a white iceberg rose out of the sea - it was Moby Dick.
My legs felt weak with fear, but the rest of me was alive with excitement. On Starbuck's face there was nothing but fear of what would happen. I could see the whale moving about violently in the water. He seemed to be warning us to stay away, but we did not stay away. Ahab was ready to hunt the white whale.
"Oh, Captain," cried Starbuck, "it's not too late to go back, even now on the third day. Moby Dick doesn't want you. You want him! " "Lower the boat!" was Ahab's command. When his boat got close to the white whale, we saw a terrible sight: Fedellah's dead body tied to Moby Dick's side with the ropes of his own harpoon! When Ahab saw him, the harpoon dropped from his hand.
"Fedallah!" he cried. "I can see you again and you have gone before me. Where's the whale? Has he gone down again? " Moby Dick moved forward with all his strength.
"I will turn my body from the sun," Ahab shouted. "I will give myself to you. You may destroy everything, but you will not conquer me. I will kill you with my hate. " Ahab grabbed his harpoon and threw it into Moby Dick's white flesh with all his anger. But the rope that held the harpoon to the boat caught Ahab's neck. And as Moby Dick swam forward at great speed, the rope pulled Ahab out of the boat in an instant. Ahab was gone.
Suddenly I cried out in panic. Moby Dick was swimming towards the Pequod! He wanted to destroy it with all his blind anger, and he did. He smashed into the ship's side and the crew were sent to their deaths. Within seconds the Peqoud began to sink. But the white whale had not finished his work of destruction. The whale attacked the sinking ship again.
Ahab and the Pequod went down to the great depths of the sea together. The waves rolled by as they had always done.
Epilogue
The drama's done. I, Ishmael, was the only person who survived the last voyage of the Pequod. After the ship had sunk Queequeg's coffin came to the surface, and it floated. I swam to the coffin and held on to it for a day and a night. It saved my life.
The sharks and the sea birds did not bother me. On the second day I saw a ship sailing towards me. It was the Rachel, whose captain was looking for his lost son and found me instead.
- THE END -
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