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MOBY DICK; OR 
and some of them fawned before him ; in obedience to his instructions, 
sometimes rendering him personal homage, as to a god. Such things 
may seem incredible; but, however wondrous, they are true. Nor 
is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to the measureless 
self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless power of 
deceiving and bedevilling so many others. But it was time to return 
to the Pequod. 
“I fear not thy epidemic, man,” said Ahab from the bulwarks, to 
Captain Mayhew, who stood in the boat’s stern; “come on board.” 
But now Gabriel started to his feet. 
“Think, think of the fevers, yellow and bilious ! Beware of the 
horrible plague!” 
“Gabriel, Gabriel !” cried Captain Mayhew ; “thou must either ” 
But that instant a headlong wave shot the boat far ahead, and its 
seethings drowned all speech. 
“Hast thou seen the White Whale?” demanded Ahab, when the 
boat drifted back. 
“Think, think of thy whale boat, stoven and sunk! Beware of 
the horrible tail!” 
“I tell thee again, Gabriel, that ” But again the boat tore ahead 
as if dragged by fiends. Nothing was said for some moments, while 
a succession of riotous waves rolled by, which by one of those occa- 
sional caprices of the seas were tumbling, not heaving it. Meantime, 
the hoisted sperm whale’s head jogged about very violently, and 
Gabriel was seen eyeing it with rather more apprehensiveness than 
his self-styled archangel nature seemed to warrant. 
When this interlude was over, Captain Mayhew began a dark story 
concerning Moby Dick; not, however, without frequent interruptions 
from Gabriel, whenever his name was mentioned, and the crazy sea 
that seemed leagued with him. 
It seemed that the Jeroboam had not long left home, when upon 
speaking a whale ship, her people were reliably apprised of the ex- 
istence of Moby Dick, and the havoc he had made. Greedily suck- 
ing in this intelligence, Gabriel solemnly warned the captain 
against attacking the White Whale, in case the monster should be seen ; 
in his gibbering insanity, pronouncing the White Whale to be no less 
