The first uprising momentum of the whale--modifying its direction
as he struck the surface--involuntarily launched him along it,
to a little distance from the centre of the destruction he had made;
and with his back to it, he now lay for a moment slowly feeling
with his flukes from side to side; and whenever a stray oar,
bit of plank, the least chip or crumb of the boats touched his skin,
his tail swiftly drew back, and came sideways smiting the sea.
But soon, as if satisfied that his work for that time was done,
he pushed his pleated forehead through the ocean, and trailing
after him the intertangled lines, continued his leeward way
at a traveller's methodic pace.
As before, the attentive ship having descried the whole fight,
again came bearing down to the rescue, and dropping a boat,
picked up the floating mariners, tubs, oars, and whatever else
could be caught at, and safely landed them on her decks.
Some sprained shoulders, wrists, and ankles; livid contusions;
wrenched harpoons and lances; inextricable intricacies of rope;
shattered oars and planks; all these were there; but no
fatal or even serious ill seemed to have befallen any one.
As with Fedallah the day before, so Ahab was now found grimly clinging
to his boat's broken half, which afforded a comparatively easy float;
nor did it so exhaust him as the previous day's mishap.
Pages:
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895