THE WHITE WHALE 255 
Upon this, the seamen rushed to the yardarms, as in swarming-time 
the bees rush to the boughs. Bareheaded in the sultry sun, Ahab stood 
on the bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in readiness to 
wave his orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance in the direction 
indicated aloft by the outstretched motionless arm of Daggoo. 
Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had 
gradually, worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect 
the ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the particular 
whale he pursued ; however this was, or whether his eagerness betrayed 
him — whichever way it might have been — no sooner did he distinctly 
perceive the white mass, than with a quick intensity he instantly gave 
orders for lowering. 
The four boats were soon on the water; Ahab’s in advance, and all 
swiftly pulling towards their prey. Soon it went down, and while, 
with oars suspended, we were awaiting its reappearance, lo ! in the 
same spot where it sank, once more it slowly rose. Almost forgetting 
for the moment all thoughts of Moby Dick, we now gazed at the most 
wondrous phenomenon which the secret seas have hitherto revealed to 
mankind. A vast pulpy mass, furlongs in length and breadth, of a 
glancing cream-colour, lay floating on the water, innumerable long 
arms radiating from its centre, and curling and twisting like a nest 
of anacondas, as if blindly to clutch at any hapless object within reach. 
No perceptible face or front did it have ; no conceivable token of either 
sensation or instinct ; but undulated there on the billows, an unearthly, 
formless, chance-like apparition of life. 
As with a low sucking sound it slowly disappeared again, Starbuck, 
still gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice 
exclaimed — “ Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, 
than to have seen thee, thou white ghost !” 
“What was it, sir ?” said Flask. 
“The great live squid, which, they say, few whale ships ever beheld, 
and returned to their ports to tell of it.” 
But Ahab said nothing; turning, his boat, he sailed back to the 
vessel ; the rest as silently following. 
Whatever superstitions the Sperm whalemen in general have con- 
nected with the sight of this object, certain it is, that a glimpse of it 
