THAT GREAT LEVIATHAN. 



39 



William Botch, and I then beheld a sight that 

 stirred my soul from truck to keelson and knocked 

 my youthful emotions galley-end wise. For the 

 Rotch had a monstrous whale, just taken, tethered 

 alongside. 



There he lay, a bit ingloriously, to be sure, for 

 he was riding belly uppermost and tail foremost ; 

 but I felt like a Titan when I looked at him. 

 That was the prey I had gone a-seeking. I was a 

 lighter of dragons and worse. Oh, what more 

 heroic opportunity is offered to man or boy than 

 to join battle with such a monster as that? So 

 thought I (turning sea-green the while with envy 

 of yonder lucky crew) and longed, with inexpres- 

 sible heart-hunger, for our own first whale-fight. 

 Moreover, I wished myself at that moment a 

 blood-thirsty pirate ; for, ethical considerations 

 aside, it would have been a gratifying relief to 

 my feelings had we boarded that ship, like 

 " gentlemen of fortune," bowie-knifed her gallant 

 crew, and stolen that whale away. 



We kept company with the Rotch all night, and 

 we "gammed" — that is to say, we exchanged 

 visits back and forth, and enjoyed a general 

 fo'c'sle pow-wow for'ard while the officers made 

 merry in the cabins ; and particularly merry they 

 were that evening, too, for the old man's brother 



