240 The Chase 



" Haul in — haul in ! " cried Stubb to the bows- 

 man ; and, facing round towards the whale, all 

 hands began pulling the boat up to him, while yet 

 the boat was being towed on. Soon ranging up 

 by his flank, Stubb, firmly planting his knee in the 

 clumsy cleat, darted dart after dart into the flying 

 fish ; at the word of command, the boat alternately 

 steering out of the way of the whale's horrible 

 wallow, and then ranging up for another fling. 



The red tide now poured from all sides of the 

 monster like brooks down a hill. His tormented 

 body rolled not in brine but in blood, which 

 bubbled and seethed for furlongs behind in their 

 wake. The slanting sun played upon this crimson 

 pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every 

 face, so that they all glowed to each other like red 

 men. And all the while, jet after jet of white 

 smoke was agonizingly shot from the spiracle of 

 the whale, and vehement pufF after pufF from the 

 mouth of the excited headsman ; as at every dart, 

 hauling in upon his crooked lance (by the line 

 attached to it), Stubb straightened it again and 

 again, by a few rapid blows against the gunwale, 

 then again and again sent it into the whale. 



" Pull up — pull up ! " he now cried to the bow- 

 man, as the waning whale relaxed in his wrath, 

 "Pull up ! — close to ! " and the boat ranged along 

 the fish's flank. When, reaching far over the bow, 

 Stubb slowly churned his long sharp lance into 

 the fish, and kept it there, carefully churning and 

 churning. . . . And now it is struck ; for, starting 

 from his trance into that unspeakable thing called 

 his " flurry," the monster horribly wallowed in his 

 blood, over-wrapped himself in impenetrable, mad, 

 boiling spray, so that the imperilled craft, instantly 

 dropping astern, had much ado blindly to struggle 



