260 
MOBY DICK; OR 
for, indeed, the calm is but the wrapper and envelope of the storm; 
and contains it in itself, as the seemingly harmless rifle holds the 
fatal powder, and the ball, and the explosion; so the graceful repose 
of the line, as it silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being 
brought into actual play — this is a thing which carries more of true 
terror than any other aspect of this dangerous affair. But why say 
more? All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with 
halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, 
sudden turn of death, that mortals realise the silent, subtle, ever- 
present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated 
in the whale boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of 
terror than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, 
and not a harpoon, by your side. 
CHAPTER LX 
STUBB KILLS A WHALE 
If to Starbuck the apparition of the squid was a thing of portents, 
to Queequeg it was quite a different object. 
“When you see him ’quid,” said the savage, honing his harpoon in 
the bow of his hoisted boat, “then you quick see him ’parm whale.” 
The next day was exceedingly still and sultry, and with nothing 
special to engage them, the Pequod’s crew could hardly resist the spell 
of sleep induced by such a vacant sea. For this part of the Indian 
Ocean through which we then were voyaging is not what whalemen 
call a lively ground; that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises, 
dolphins, flying-fish, and other vivacious denizens of more stirring 
waters, than those off the Rio de la Plata, or the inshore ground off 
Peru. 
It was my turn to stand at the foremast head ; and with my shoulders 
leaning against the slackened royal shrouds, to and fro I idly swayed 
in what seemed an enchanted air. Ho resolution could withstand it; 
in that dreamy mood losing all consciousness, at last my soul went 
out of my body; though my body still continued to sway as a pendu- 
lum will, long after the power which first moved it is withdrawn. 
