"
"And he took that arm off, did he?" asked Ahab, now sliding
down from the capstan, and resting on the Englishman's shoulder,
as he did so.
"Aye, he was the cause of it, at least; and that leg, too?"
"Spin me the yarn," said Ahab; "how was it?"
"It was the first time in my life that I ever cruised on the Line,"
began the Englishman. "I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time.
Well, one day we lowered for a pod of four or five whales, and my
boat fastened to one of them; a regular circus horse he was, too,
that went milling and milling round so that my boat's crew could
only trim dish, by sitting all their sterns on the outer gunwale.
Presently up breaches from the bottom of the sea a bouncing great whale,
with a milky-white head and hump, all crows' feet and wrinkles."
"It was he, it was he!" cried Ahab, suddenly letting out
his suspended breath.
"And harpoons sticking in near his starboard fin. Aye, aye--
they were mine--my irons," cried Ahab, exultingly--"but on!"
"Give me a chance, then," said the Englishman, good-humoredly. "Well,
this old great-grandfather, with the white head and hump, runs all afoam
into the pod, and goes to snapping furiously at my fast-line!
"Aye, I see!--wanted to part it; free the fast-fish--an old trick--
I know him.
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