THE WHITE WHALE W 
lifting his eyes; and then went on mumbling — “for where your treas- 
ure is, there will your heart be also.” 
“I am going to put him down for the three hundredth,” said Peleg, 
“do ye hear that, Bildad! The three hundredth lay, I say.” 
Bildad laid down his book, and turning solemnly towards him said, 
“Captain Peleg, thou hast a generous heart; but thou must consider the 
duty thou owest to the other owners of this ship — widows and orphans, 
many of them — and that if we too abundantly reward the labours of 
this young man, we may be taking the bread from those widows and 
those orphans. The seven hundred and seventy-seventh lay, Captain 
Peleg.” 
“Thou, Bildad!” roared Peleg, starting up and clattering about 
the cabin. “Blast ye, Captain Bildad, if I had followed thy advice 
in these matters, I would afore now had a conscience to lug about 
that would be heavy enough to founder the largest ship that ever sailed 
round Cape Horn.” 
“Captain Peleg,” said Bildad steadily, “thy conscience may be 
drawing ten inches of water, or ten fathoms, I can’t tell; but as thou 
art still an impenitent man, Captain Peleg, I greatly fear lest thy 
conscience be but a leaky one; and will in the end sink thee founder- 
ing down to the fiery pit, Captain Peleg.” 
“Fiery pit! fiery pit! ye insult me, man; past all natural bearing, 
ye insult me. It’s an all-fired outrage to tell any human creature 
that he’s bound to hell. Flukes and flames! Bildad, say that again 
to me, and start my soul-bolts, but I’ll — I’ll — yes, I’ll swallow a live 
goat with all his hair and horns on. Out of the cabin, ye canting, 
drab-coloured son of a wooden gun — a straight wake with ye !” 
As he thundered out this he made a rush at Bildad, but with a 
marvellous oblique, sliding celerity, Bildad for that time eluded him. 
Alarmed at this terrible outburst between the two principal and 
responsible owners of the ship, and feeling half a mind to give up 
all idea of sailing in a vessel so questionably owned and temporarily 
commanded, I stepped aside from the door to give egress to Bildad, 
who I made no doubt, was all eagerness to vanish from before the 
awakened wrath of Peleg. But to my astonishment, he sat down again 
on the transom very quietly, and seemed to have not the slightest 
