Moreover, when the four boats were lowered, the mate's got the start;
and none howled more fiercely with delight than did Steelkilt,
as he strained at his oar. After a stiff pull, their harpooneer
got fast, and, spear in hand, Radney sprang to the bow.
He was always a furious man, it seems, in a boat. And now his
bandaged cry was, to beach him on the whale's topmost back.
Nothing loath, his bowsman hauled him up and up, through a blinding
foam that blent two whitenesses together; till of a sudden the boat
struck as against a sunken ledge, and keeling over, spilled out the
standing mate. That instant, as he fell on the whale's slippery back,
the boat righted, and was dashed aside by the swell, while Radney
was tossed over into the sea, on the other flank of the whale.
He struck out through the spray, and, for an instant, was dimly seen
through that veil, wildly seeking to remove himself from the eye
of Moby Dick. But the whale rushed round in a sudden maelstrom;
seized the swimmer between his jaws; and rearing high up with him,
plunged headlong again, and went down.
"Meantime, at the first tap of the boat's bottom, the Lakeman
had slackened the line, so as to drop astern from the whirlpool;
calmly looking on, he thought his own thoughts.
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