Moby Dick

[Old Thunder]

"Who is Captain Ahab, sir?"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Aye, aye, I thought so. Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship."

 

[Old Thunder]

"I am mistaken then. I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself."

 

[Old Thunder]

"Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg* -- that's who ye are speaking to, young man. It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We are part owners and agents. But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out. Clap eye on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one leg."

*He and Bildad, principal owners of Pequod, speak in Melville's version of a Quaker dialect.

 

[Old Thunder]

"What do you mean, sir? Was the other one lost by a whale?"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Lost by a whale! Young man, come nearer to me: it was devoured, chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat! -- ah, ah!"

 

[Old Thunder]

I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little touched at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly as I could, "What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know there was any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I might have inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident."

 

[Old Thunder]

"Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d'ye see; thou dost not talk shark a bit. Sure, ye've been to sea before now; sure of that?"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Sir," said I, "I thought I told you that I had been four voyages in the merchant---"

 

[Old Thunder]

"Hard down out of that! Mind what I said about the marchant service -- don't aggravate me -- I won't have it. But let us understand each other. I have given thee a hint about what whaling is; do ye yet feel inclined for it?"