"I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! Let me
hear thy hammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine;
thou uncracked keel; and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck,
and haughty helm, and Pole-pointed prow,--death--glorious ship! must
ye then perish, and without me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride
of meanest shipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life!
Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief.
Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows
of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber of my death!
Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale;
to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee;
for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins
and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine,
let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied
to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!"
The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward;
with igniting velocity the line ran through the grooves;--ran foul.
Ahab stooped to clear it; he did clear it; but the flying turn caught him
round the neck, and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim,
he was shot out of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone.
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