"Queequeg," said I, "come along, you shall be my lawyer,
executor, and legatee."
It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering
at their last wills and testaments, but there are no people
in the world more fond of that diversion. This was the fourth
time in my nautical life that I had done the same thing.
After the ceremony was concluded upon the present occasion,
I felt all the easier; a stone was rolled away from my heart.
Besides, all the days I should now live would be as good as the days
that Lazarus lived after his resurrection; a supplementary
clean gain of so many months or weeks as the case may be.
I survived myself; my death and burial were locked up in my chest.
I looked round me tranquilly and contentedly, like a quiet
ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the bars of a
snug family vault.
Now then, thought I, unconsciously rolling up the sleeves of my frock,
here goes for a cool, collected dive at death and destruction,
and the devil fetch the hindmost.
CHAPTER 50
Ahab's Boat and Crew. Fedallah
"Who would have thought it, Flask!" cried Stubb;
"if I had but one leg you would not catch me in a boat,
unless maybe to stop the plug-hole with my timber toe.
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