Nor did they lose much hereby; in the cabin was no companionship;
socially, Ahab was inaccessible. Though nominally included
in the census of Christendom, he was still an alien to it.
He lived in the world, as the last of the Grisly Bears lived
in settled Missouri. And as when Spring and Summer had departed,
that wild Logan of the woods, burying himself in the hollow of a tree,
lived out the winter there, sucking his own paws; so, in his inclement,
howling old age, Ahab's soul, shut up in the caved trunk of his body,
there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom!
CHAPTER 35
The Mast-Head
It was during the more pleasant weather, that in due rotation
with the other seamen my first mast-head came round.
In most American whalemen the mast-heads are manned
almost simultaneously with the vessel's leaving her port;
even though she may have fifteen thousand miles, and more,
to sail ere reaching her proper cruising ground. And if,
after a three, four, or five years' voyage she is drawing nigh
home with anything empty in her--say, an empty vial even--
then, her mast-heads are kept manned to the last! and not till
her skysail-poles sail in among the spires of the port, does she
altogether relinquish the hope of capturing one whale more.
Pages:
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263