And right in among those sharks was Queequeg; who often pushed
them aside with his floundering feet. A thing altogether
incredible were it not that attracted by such prey as a dead whale,
the otherwise miscellaneously carnivorous shark will seldom
touch a man.
Nevertheless, it may well be believed that since they have
such a ravenous finger in the pie, it is deemed but wise
to look sharp to them. Accordingly, besides the monkey-rope,
with which I now and then jerked the poor fellow from too
close a vicinity to the maw of what seemed a peculiarly
ferocious shark--he was provided with still another protection.
Suspended over the side in one of the stages, Tashtego and Daggoo
continually flourished over his head a couple of keen whale-spades,
wherewith they slaughtered as many sharks as they could reach.
This procedure of theirs, to be sure, was very disinterested
and benevolent of them. They meant Queequeg's best happiness,
I admit; but in their hasty zeal to befriend him, and from
the circumstance that both he and the sharks were at times half
hidden by the blood-muddled water, those indiscreet spades
of theirs would come nearer amputating a leg than a tall.
But poor Queequeg, I suppose, straining and gasping there
with that great iron hook--poor Queequeg, I suppose, only prayed
to his Yojo, and gave up his life into the hands of his gods.
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