206 
MOBY DICK; OR 
A short rushing sound leaped out of the boat; it was the darted 
iron of Queequeg. Then all in one welded commotion came an in- 
visible push from astern, while forward the boat seemed striking on 
a ledge; the sail collapsed and exploded; a gush of scalding vapour 
shot up near by; something rolled and tumbled like an earthquake 
beneath us. The whole crew were half suffocated as they were tossed 
helter-skelter into the white curdling cream of the squall. Squall, 
whale, and harpoon had all blended together; and the whale, merely 
grazed by the iron, escaped. 
Though completely swamped, the boat was nearly unharmed. Swim- 
ming round it we picked up the floating oars, and lashing them across 
the gunwale, tumbled back to our places. There we sat up to our 
knees in the sea, the water covering every rib and plank, so that 
to our downward gazing eyes the suspended craft seemed a coral 
boat grown up to us from the bottom of the ocean. 
The wind increased to a howl; the waves dashed their bucklers 
together; the whole squall roared, forked, and crackled around us 
like a white fire upon the prairie, in which, unconsumed, we were 
burning; immortal in these jaws of death! In vain we hailed the 
other boats; as well roar to the live coals down the chimney of a 
flaming furnace as hail those boats in that storm. Meanwhile the 
driving scud, rack, and mist, grew darker with the shadows of night; 
no sign, of the ship could be seen. The rising sea forbade all attempts 
to bale out the boat. The oars were useless as propellers, performing 
now the office of life-preservers. So, cutting the lashing of the water- 
proof match-keg, after many failures Starbuck contrived to ignite 
the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif pole, handed 
it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. There, 
then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that 
almighty forlornness. There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a 
man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair. 
Wet, drenched through, and shivering cold, despairing of ship or 
boat, we lifted up our eyes as the dawn came on. The mist still 
spread over the sea, the empty lantern lay crushed in the bottom of 
the boat. Suddenly Queequeg started to his feet, hollowing his hand 
to his ear. We all heard a faint creaking, as of ropes and yards hitherto 
