70 MOBY DICK; OR 
thought that the 275th lay would he about the fair thing, but would 
not have been surprised had I been offered the 200th, considering I 
was of a broad-shouldered make. 
But one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about 
receiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had 
heard something of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony 
Bildad; how that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod , 
therefore the other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left 
nearly the whole management of the ship’s affairs to these two. And 
I did not know but what the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty 
deal to say about shipping hands, especially as I now found him on 
board the Pequod , quite at home there in the cabin, and reading his 
Bible as if at his own fireside. Now while Peleg was vainly trying 
to mend a pen with his jack-knife, old Bildad, to my no small sur- 
prise, considering that he was such an interested party in these pro- 
ceedings; Bildad never heeded us, but went on mumbling to himself 
out of his book. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moth ” 
“Well, Captain Bildad,” interrupted Peleg, “what d’ye say, what 
lay shall we give this young man ?” 
“Thou knowest best,” was the sepulchral reply, “the seven hundred 
and seventy-seventh wouldn’t be too much, would it ? — ‘where moth and 
rust do corrupt, but lay ’ ” 
Lay, indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and 
seventy-seventh ! Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one, 
shall not lay up many lays here below, where moth and rust do corrupt. 
It was an exceedingly long lay that, indeed ; and though from the mag- 
nitude of the figure it might at first deceive a landsman, yet the slight- 
est consideration will show that though seven hundred and seventy- 
seven is a pretty large number, yet, when you come to make a teenth 
of it, you will then see, I say, that the seven hundred and seventy- 
seventh part of a farthing is a good deal less than seven hundred and 
seventy-seven gold doubloons ; and so I thought at the time. 
“Why, blast your eyes, Bildad,” cried Peleg, “thou dost not want 
to swindle this young man! he must have more than that.” 
“Seven hundred and seventy-seven,” again said Bildad, without 
