"Befooled, befooled!"--drawing in a long lean breath--"Aye, Parsee! I
see thee again.--Aye, and thou goest before; and this, THIS then is the
hearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last letter of
thy word. Where is the second hearse? Away, mates, to the ship! those
boats are useless now; repair them if ye can in time, and return to
me; if not, Ahab is enough to die--Down, men! the first thing that but
offers to jump from this boat I stand in, that thing I harpoon. Ye are
not other men, but my arms and my legs; and so obey me.--Where's the
whale? gone down again?"
But he looked too nigh the boat; for as if bent upon escaping with the
corpse he bore, and as if the particular place of the last encounter had
been but a stage in his leeward voyage, Moby Dick was now again steadily
swimming forward; and had almost passed the ship,--which thus far had
been sailing in the contrary direction to him, though for the present
her headway had been stopped. He seemed swimming with his utmost
velocity, and now only intent upon pursuing his own straight path in the
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