65 
THE WHITE WHALE 
to say, if thou wantest to know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, 
I can put ye in a way of finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, 
past backing out. Clap eye on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou 
wilt find that he has only one leg.” 
“What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?” 
“Lost by a whale ! Young man, come nearer to me : it was de- 
voured, chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever 
chipped a boat! — ah, ah!” 
I was a little alarmed about his energy, perhaps also a little touched 
at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly 
as I could, “What you say is no doubt true enough, sir ; hut how could 
I know there was any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, 
though indeed I might have inferred as much from the simple fact 
of the accident.” 
“Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d’ye see; 
thou dost not talk shark a bit. Sure , ye’ve been to sea before now; 
sure of that?” 
“Sir,” said I, “I thought I told you that I had been four voyages 
in the merchant ” 
“Hard down out of that ! Mind what I said about the marchant 
service — don’t aggravate me — I won’t have it. But let us understand 
each other. I have given thee a hint about what whaling is; do ye 
yet feel inclined for it?” 
“I do, sir.” 
“Very good. How, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a 
live whale’s throat, and then jump after it ? Answer, quick !” 
“I am, sir, if it should be positively indispensable to do so ; not to be 
got rid of, that is; which I don’t take to he the fact.” 
“Good again. How then, thou not only wantest to go a- whaling, 
to find out by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to go in 
order to see the world? Was not that what ye said? I thought so. 
Well then, just step forward there, and take a peep over the weather- 
bow, and then back to me and tell me what ye see there.” 
Lor a moment I stood a little puzzled by this curious request, not 
knowing exactly how to take it, whether humorously or in earnest. 
But concentrating all his crow’s feet into one scowl, Captain Peleg 
started me on the errand. 
