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.
When all preliminaries were over and Peleg had got everything ready
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?
But at this question, 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:--
Quohog.
his X mark.
Meanwhile Captain Bildad sat earnestly and steadfastly eyeing Queequeg,
and at last rising solemnly and fumbling in the huge pockets
of his broadskirted 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.
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