A coil of new tow-line was then unwound, and some fathoms
of it taken to the windlass, and stretched to a great tension.
Pressing his foot upon it, till the rope hummed like a harp-string,
then eagerly bending over it, and seeing no strandings, Ahab exclaimed,
"Good! and now for the seizings."
At one extremity the rope was unstranded, and the separate spread
yarns were all braided and woven round the socket of the harpoon;
the pole was then driven hard up into the socket; from the lower
end the rope was traced halfway along the pole's length,
and firmly secured so, with inter-twistings of twine.
This done, pole, iron, and rope--like the Three Fates--
remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with the weapon;
the sound of his ivory leg, and the sound of the hickory pole,
both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered
his cabin, a light, unnatural, half-bantering, yet most piteous
sound was heard. Oh! Pip, thy wretched laugh, thy idle
but unresting eye; all thy strange mummeries not unmeaningly
blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy ship,
and mocked it!
CHAPTER 114
The Gilder
Penetrating further and further into the heart of the Japanese
cruising ground the Pequod was soon all astir in the fishery.
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