THE WHITE WHALE 455 
ship’s elevated quarter-deck, so that the whole rejoicing drama was 
full before him, and seemed merely contrived for his own individual di- 
version. 
And Ahab, he too was standing on his quarter-deck, shaggy and 
black,, with a stubborn gloom ; and as the two ships crossed each other’s 
wakes — one all jubilations for things passed, the other all forebodings 
as to things to come— -their two captains in themselves impersonated 
the whole striking contrast of the scene. 
“Come aboard, come aboard !” cried the gay Bachelor's commander, 
lifting a glass and a bottle in the air. 
“Hast seen the White Whale ?” gritted Ahab in reply. 
“Ho; only heard of him; but don’t believe in him at all,” said the 
other good-humouredly. “Come aboard !” 
“Thou art too damned jolly. Sail on. Hast lost any men?” 
“Hot enough to speak of — two islanders, that’s all; — but come 
aboard, old hearty, come along. I’ll soon take that black from your 
brow. Come along, will ye (merry’s the play) ; a full ship and home- 
ward-bound.” 
“How wondrous familiar is a fool !” muttered Ahab ; then aloud, 
“Thou art a full ship and homeward bound, thou say’st; well, then, 
call me an empty ship, and outward-bound. So go thy ways, and I 
will mine. Forward there! Set all sail, and keep her to the wind!” 
And thus, while the one ship went cheerily before the breeze, the 
other stubbornly fought against it ; and so the two vessels parted ; the 
crew of the Pequod looking with grave, lingering glances towards the 
receding Bachelor ; but the Bachelor's men never heeding their gaze 
for the lively revelry they were in. And as Ahab, leaning over the 
taffrail, eyed the homeward-bound craft he took from his pocket a small 
vial of sand, and then looking from the ship to the vial, seemed thereby 
bringing two remote associations together, for that vial was filled 
with Hantucket soundings. 
CHAPTER CXV 
THE DYING WHALE 
Hot seldom in this life, when, on the right side, fortune’s favourites 
