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MOBY DICK; OR 
missioned to cruise for them at all, and though she had passed numbers 
of them near the Crozetts without lowering a boat; yet now that a 
Sperm Whale had been brought alongside and beheaded, to the sur- 
prise of all, the announcement was made that a Right Whale should be 
captured that day, if opportunity offered. 
Nor was this long wanting. Tall spouts were seen to leeward; and 
two boats, Stubb’s and Flask’s, were detached in pursuit. Pulling 
farther and farther away, they at last became almost invisible to the men 
at the masthead. But suddenly in the distance, they saw a great heap 
of tumultuous white water, and soon after news came from aloft that 
one or both 'the boats must be fast. 
An interval passed and the boats were in plain sight, in the act of 
being dragged right towards the ship by the towing whale. So close 
did the monster come to the hull, that at first it seemed as if he 
meant it malice; but suddenly going down in a maelstrom, within 
three rods of the planks, he wholly disappeared from view, as if 
diving under the keel. “Cut, cut!” was the cry from the ship to 
the boats, which, for one instant, seemed on the point of being brought 
with a deadly dash against the vessel’s side. But having plenty of 
line yet in the tubs, and the whale not sounding very rapidly, they 
paid out abundance of rope, and at the same time pulled with all 
their might so as to get ahead of the ship. For a few minutes the 
struggle was intensely critical; for while they still slacked out the 
tightened line in one direction, and still plied their oars in another, 
the contending strain threatened to take them under. But it was 
only a few feet advance they sought to gain. And thjey stuck to it 
till they did gain it; when instantly, a swift tremor was felt run- 
ning like lightning along the keel, as the strained line, scraping be- 
neath the ship, suddenly rose to view under her bows, snapping and 
quivering; and so flinging off its drippings, that the drops fell like 
bits of broken glass on the water, while the whale beyond also rose to 
sight, and once more the boats were free to fly. But the fagged 
whale abated his speed, and blindly altering his course, went round 
the stem of the ship towing the two boats after him, so that they per- 
formed a complete circuit. 
Meantime, they hauled more and more upon their lines, till close 
