When that wicked king was slain, the dogs,
did they not lick his blood?"
"Come hither to me--hither, hither," said Peleg,
with a significance in his eye that almost startled me.
"Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say
it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself .'Twas a foolish,
ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when
he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig,
at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic.
And, perhaps, other fools like her may tell thee the same.
I wish to warn thee. It's a lie. I know Captain Ahab well;
I've sailed with him as mate years ago; I know what he is--
a good man--not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but a swearing
good man--something like me--only there's a good deal more
of him. Aye, aye, I know that he was never very jolly;
and I know that on the passage home he was a little out of his
mind for a spell; but it was the sharp shooting pains in his
bleeding stump that brought that about, as any one might see.
I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage
by that accursed whale, he's been a kind of moody--
desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off.
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