Moby Dick

[Old Thunder]

"And now the time of tide has come; the ship casts off her cables; and from the deserted wharf the uncheered ship for Tarshish, all careening, glides to sea.

 

[Old Thunder]

"That ship, my friends, was the first of recorded smugglers! the contraband was Jonah.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But the sea rebels; he will not bear the wicked burden.

 

[Old Thunder]

"A dreadful storm comes on, the ship is like to break.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But now when the boatswain calls all hands to lighten her; when boxes, bales, and jars are clattering overboard; when the wind is shrieking, and the men are yelling, and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah's head; in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep.

 

[Old Thunder]

"He sees no black sky and raging sea, feels not the reeling timbers, and little hears he or heeds he the far rush of the mighty whale, which even now with open mouth is cleaving the seas after him.

 

[Old Thunder]

"Aye, shipmates, Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship -- a berth in the cabin as I have taken it, and was fast asleep.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But the frightened master comes to him, and shrieks in his dead ear, 'What meanest thou, O sleeper! arise!'

 

[Old Thunder]

"Startled from his lethargy by that direful cry, Jonah staggers to his feet, and stumbling to the deck, grasps a shroud, to look out upon the sea.

 

[Old Thunder]

"But at that moment he is sprung upon by a panther billow leaping over the bulwarks.