Moby Dick

[Old Thunder]

"Thou wast, wast thou? I see thou art no Nantucketer -- ever been in a stove boat?"

 

[Old Thunder]

"No, sir, I never have."

 

[Old Thunder]

"Dost know nothing at all about whaling, I dare say -- eh?"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Nothing, sir; but I have no doubt I shall soon learn. I've been several voyages in the merchant service, and I think that---"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Marchant service be ******. Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that leg? -- I'll take that leg away from thy stern, if ever thou talkest of the marchant service to me again. Marchant service indeed! I suppose now ye feel considerable proud of having served in those marchant ships. But flukes! man, what makes thee want to go a whaling, eh? -- it looks a little suspicious, don't it, eh? -- Hast not been a pirate, hast thou? -- Didst not rob thy last Captain, dist thou? -- Dost not think of murdering the officers when thou gettest to sea?"

 

[Old Thunder]

I protested my innocence of these things.

 

[Old Thunder]

I saw that under the mask of these half humorous inuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But what takes thee a-whaling? I want to know that before I think of shipping ye."

 

[Old Thunder]

"Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world."

 

[Old Thunder]

"Want to see what whaling is, eh? Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?"