But a sudden, terrific,
downward jerking of the boat, quickly brought his knife to the line.
He cut it; and the whale was free. But, at some distance,
Moby Dick rose again, with some tatters of Radney's red
woollen shirt, caught in the teeth that had destroyed him.
All four boats gave chase again; but the whale eluded them,
and finally wholly disappeared.
"In good time, the Town-Ho reached her port--a savage, solitary place--
where no civilized creature resided. There, headed by the Lakeman,
all but five or six of the foremastmen deliberately deserted among
the palms; eventually, as it turned out, seizing a large double
war-canoe of the savages, and setting sail for some other harbor.
"The ship's company being reduced to but a handful, the captain called
upon the Islanders to assist him in the laborious business of heaving
down the ship to stop the leak. But to such unresting vigilance over
their dangerous allies was this small band of whites necessitated,
both by night and by day, and so extreme was the hard work they underwent,
that upon the vessel being ready again for sea, they were in such
a weakened condition that the captain durst not put off with them
in so heavy a vessel.
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