THE WHITE WHALE 145 
“Sing out for him!” was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of 
clubbed voices. 
“Good!” cried Ahab, with a wild approval in bis tones; observing 
the hearty animation into which his unexpected question had so mag- 
netically thrown them. 
“And what do ye next, men ?” 
“Lower away, and after him !” 
“And what tune is it ye pull to, men V 9 
“A dead whale or a stove boat !” 
More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving grew the 
countenance of the old man at every shout ; while the mariners began 
to gaze curiously at each other, as if marvelling how it was that they 
themselves became so excited at such seemingly purposeless questions. 
But, they were all eagerness again, as Ahab, now half revolving in 
his pivot-hole, with one hand reaching high up a shroud, and tightly, 
almost convulsively grasping it, addressed them thus — 
“All ye mastheaders have before now heard me give orders about 
a white whale. Look ye ! d’ye see this Spanish ounce of gold ?” — hold- 
ing up a broad bright coin to the sun — “it is a sixteen dollar piece, 
men. D’ye see it ? Mr. Starbuck, hand me yon top-maul.” 
While the mate was getting the hammer, Ahab, without speaking, 
was slowly rubbing the gold piece against the skirts of his jacket, as 
if to heighten its lustre, and without using any words was meanwhile 
lowly humming to himself, producing a sound so strangely muffled and 
inarticulate that it seemed the mechanical humming of the wheels of 
his vitality in him. 
Receiving the top-maul from Starbuck, he advanced towards the 
mainmast with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold 
with the other, and with a high raised voice exclaiming: “Whosoever 
of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a 
crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale, with 
three holes punctured in his starboard fluke — look ye, whosoever of ye 
raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my 
boys !” 
“Huzza ! huzza !” cried the seamen, as with swinging tarpaulins they 
hailed the act of nailing the gold to the mast. 
