Two days chased; twice stove to splinters; thy very leg once
more snatched from under thee; thy evil shadow gone--all good
angels mobbing thee with warnings:--what more wouldst thou have?--
Shall we keep chasing this murderous fish till he swamps the last man?
Shall we be dragged by him to the bottom of the sea?
Shall we be towed by him to the infernal world? Oh, oh,--
Impiety and blasphemy to hunt him more!"
"Starbuck, of late I've felt strangely moved to thee; ever since
that hour we both saw--thou know'st what, in one another's eyes.
But in this matter of the whale, be the front of thy face
to me as the palm of this hand--a lipless, unfeatured blank.
Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed.
'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a billion years before this
ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates' lieutenant; I act under orders.
Look thou, underling! that thou obeyest mine.--Stand round men, men.
Ye see an old man cut down to the stump; leaning on a shivered lance;
propped up on a lonely foot. 'Tis Ahab--his body's part;
but Ahab's soul's a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs.
I feel strained, half-stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates
in a gale; and I may look so.
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