Riotous and disordered as the universal commotion now was,
it soon resolved itself into what seemed a systematic movement;
for having clumped together at last in one dense body,
they then renewed their onward flight with augmented fleetness.
Further pursuit was useless; but the boats still lingered in their
wake to pick up what drugged whales might be dropped astern,
and likewise to secure one which Flask had killed and waited.
The waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of which are carried
by every boat; and which, when additional game is at hand,
are inserted upright into the floating body of a dead whale,
both to mark its place on the sea, and also as token of
prior possession, should the boats of any other ship draw near.
The result of this lowering was somewhat illustrative of that
sagacious saying in the Fishery,--the more whales the less fish.
Of all the drugged whales only one was captured.
The rest contrived to escape for the time, but only to be taken,
as will hereafter be seen, by some other craft than the Pequod.
CHAPTER 88
Schools and Schoolmasters
The previous chapter gave account of an immense body or herd
of Sperm Whales, and there was also then given the probable
cause inducing those vast aggregations.
Pages:
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641