2o6 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



side of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the 

 rail, while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale. So 

 look the long line of man-of-war's men about to throw themselves on 

 board an enemy's ship . . . 



"Lower away then; d'ye hear?" shouting across the deck. "Lower 

 away there, I say.'* 



The men sprang over the rail; the sheaves whirled round in the 

 blocks; with a wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, 

 with a dexterous, off-hand daring, unknown in any other vocation, 

 the sailors, goat-like, leaped down the rolling ship's side into the tossed 

 boats below . . . 



. . . "Pull, pull, my fine hearts alive; pull, my children; pull, my 

 little ones," drawlingly and soothingly sighed Stubb to his crew, some 

 of whom still showed signs of uneasiness. "Why don't you break your 

 backbones, my boys?'* . . . "So, so; there you are now; that's the 

 stroke for a thousand pounds; that's the stroke to sweep the stakes! 

 Hurrah for the gold cup of sperm oil, my heroes! Three cheers, 

 men ... all hearts alive! Easy, easy; don't be in a hurry . . . 

 don't be in a hurry. Why don't you snap your oars, you rascals? 

 Bite something, you dogs! So, so, so then; . . . softly, softly! 

 That's it . . . that's it! long and strong. Give way there, give way! 

 The devil fetch ye, ye ragamuffin rapscallions; ye are all asleep. 

 Stop snoring, ye sleepers, and pull. Pull, will ye? pull, can't ye? 

 pull, won't ye? Why in the name of gudgeons and ginger-cakes 

 don't ye pull? . . . pull and break something! pull, and start your 

 eyes out! Here!" whipping out the sharp knife from his girdle; 

 "Every mother's son of ye draw his knife, and pull with the blade 

 between his teeth. That's it . . . that's it. Now ye do something; 

 that looks like it, my steel-bits. Start her . . . start her, my silver 

 spoons! Start her, marling-spikes ! " . . . 



Meanwhile, all the boats tore on. The repeated specific allusions 

 of Flask to "that whale," as he called the fictitious monster which 

 he declared to be incessantly tantalising his boat's bow with his tail — 

 these allusions of his were at times so vivid and lifelike, that they 

 would cause some one or two of his men to snatch a fearful look over 

 the shoulder. But this was against all rule ; for the oarsmen must put 

 out their eyes, and ram a skewer through their necks; usage pronounc- 

 ing that they must have no organs but ears, and no limbs but arms, in 

 these critical moments. 



It was a sight full of quick wonder and awe! The vast swells of 

 the omnipotent sea; the surging, hollow roar they made, as they rolled 

 along the eight gunwales, like gigantic bowls in a boundless bowling- 

 green; the brief suspended agony of the boat, as it would tip for an in- 

 stant on the knife-like edge of the sharper waves, that almost seemed 

 threatening to cut it in two; the sudden profound dip into the watery 

 glens and hollows j the keen spurrings and goadings to gain the top 



