28 
MOBY DICK; OR 
entire strangers to them — and duelled them dead without winking ; and 
yet, here they sat at a social breakfast-table — all of the same calling, 
all of kindred tastes — looking round as sheepishly at each other as 
though they had never been out of sight of some sheepfold among the 
Green Mountains. A curious sight; these bashful bears, these timid 
warrior whalemen! 
But as for Queequeg — why, Queequeg sat there among them — at the 
head of the table, too, it so chanced; as cool as an icicle. To be sure 
I cannot say much for his breeding. His greatest admirer could not 
have cordially justified his bringing his harpoon in to breakfast with 
him, and using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table 
with it, to the imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the 
beefsteaks towards him. But that was certainly very coolly done by 
him, and every one knows that in most people’s estimation, to do any- 
thing coolly is to do it genteelly. 
We will not speak ^ of all Queequeg’ s peculiarities here; how he 
eschewed coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to 
beefsteaks, done rare. Enough, that when breakfast was over he with- 
drew like the rest into the public room, lighted his tomahawk-pipe, 
and was sitting there quietly digesting and smoking with his insepara- 
ble hat on, when I sallied out for a stroll. 
CHAPTER VI 
THE STREET 
If I had been astonished at first catching a glimpse of so outlandish 
an individual as Queequeg circulating among the polite society of a 
civilized town, that astonishment soon departed upon taking my first 
daylight stroll through the streets of Hew Bedford. 
In thoroughfares nigh the docks, any considerable seaport will fre- 
quently offer to view the queerest-looking nondescripts from foreign 
parts. Even in Broadway and Chestnut Streets, Mediterranean mari- 
ners will sometimes jostle the affrighted ladies. Regent Street is not 
unknown to Lascars and Malays ; and at Bombay, in the Apollo Green, 
live Yankees have often scared the natives. But Hew Bedford beats 
