imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVLGgLvbSiXqsEsZ5jeOY5AOLHr8UBoiDgqxmU-4I3j2dnziuWoLWrJupIjn4BQDTEvwCgeTWZJswB6R4hVRjW3LOq3gnd9DfTNRjmaWTn3wVJ4lA4uKx_4n1zZoTUkpAoHNkpw_wxHVO-/s1600/tablets2.jpg"
/>
sort of way, jumped upon the bulwarks, from thence into the bows of one of
the whale-boats hanging to the side; and then bracing his left knee, and
poising his harpoon, cried out in some such way as this:—
"Cap'ain, you see him small drop tar on water dere? You
see him? well, spose him one whale eye, well, den!" and taking sharp aim
at it, he darted the iron right over old Bildad's broad brim, clean across
the ship's decks, and struck the glistening tar spot out of sight.
"Now," said Queequeg, quietly hauling in the line,
"spos-ee him whale-e eye; why, dad whale dead."
vicinity of the flying harpoon, had retreated towards the cabin gangway.
"Quick, I say, you Bildad, and get the ship's papers. We must have
Hedgehog there, I mean Quohog, in one of our boats. Look ye, Quohog, we'll
give ye the ninetieth lay, and that's more than ever was given a
harpooneer yet out of Nantucket."
So down we went
into the cabin, and to my great joy Queequeg was soon enrolled among the
same ship's company to which I myself belonged.
for signing, he turned to me and said, "I guess, Quohog there don't know
how to write, does he? I say, Quohog, blast ye! dost thou sign thy name or
make thy mark?"
margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">
imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;">
height="320" width="320"
/>
J
Queequeg, who had twice or thrice before taken part in similar ceremonies,
looked no ways abashed; but taking the offered pen, copied upon the paper,
in the proper place, an exact counterpart of a queer round figure which
was tattooed upon his arm; so that through Captain Peleg's obstinate
mistake touching his appellative, it stood something like this:—
Meanwhile Captain Bildad
sat earnestly and steadfastly eyeing Queequeg, and at last rising solemnly
and fumbling in the huge pockets of his broad-skirted drab coat, took out
a bundle of tracts, and selecting one entitled "The Latter Day Coming; or
No Time to Lose," placed it in Queequeg's hands, and then grasping them
and the book with both his, looked earnestly into his eyes, and said, "Son
of darkness, I must do my duty by thee; I am part owner of this ship, and
feel concerned for the souls of all its crew; if thou still clingest to
thy Pagan ways, which I sadly fear, I beseech thee, remain not for aye a
Belial bondsman. Spurn the idol Bell, and the hideous dragon; turn from
the wrath to come; mind thine eye, I say; oh! goodness gracious! steer
clear of the fiery pit!"
Something of the salt sea
yet lingered in old Bildad's language, heterogeneously mixed with
Scriptural and domestic phrases.
imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em;
margin-left: 1em;">
height="213" width="320" />