With bent head and half-slouched hat he continued to pace,
unmindful of the wondering whispering among the men; till Stubb
cautiously whispered to Flask, that Ahab must have summoned
them there for the purpose of witnessing a pedestrian feat.
But this did not last long. Vehemently pausing, he cried:--
"What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?"
"Sing out for him!" was the impulsive rejoinder from a score
of clubbed voices.
"Good!" cried Ahab, with a wild approval in his tones;
observing the hearty animation into which his unexpected question
had so magnetically thrown them.
"And what do ye next, men?"
"Lower away, and after him!"
"And what tune is it ye pull to, men?"
"A dead whale or a stove boat!"
More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving,
grew the countenance of the old man at every shout;
while the mariners began to gaze curiously at each other,
as if marvelling how it was that they themselves became so excited
at such seemingly purposeless questions.
But, they were all eagerness again, as Ahab, now half-revolving in his
pivot-hole, with one hand reaching high up a shroud, and tightly,
almost convulsively grasping it, addressed them thus:--
"All ye mast-headers have before now heard me give orders about a
white whale.
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