Queequeg patted their foreheads; Starbuck scratched their backs along with his lance; however fearful of the results, for the time refrained from darting it. And nonetheless in the distracted distance we beheld the tumults of the outer concentric circles, and noticed successive pods of whales, eight or ten in each, swiftly going spherical and round, like multiplied spans of horses in a ring; and so intently shoulder to shoulder, that a Titanic circus-rider would possibly simply have over-arched the center ones, and so have gone round on their backs. In all directions increasing in vast irregular circles, and aimlessly swimming hither and thither, by their short thick spoutings, they plainly betrayed their distraction of panic. Now, inclusive of the occasional extensive intervals between the revolving outer circles, and inclusive of the spaces between the assorted pods in any one of those circles, your complete space at this juncture, embraced by the whole multitude, should have contained no less than two or three sq. miles. Two thick squares of wooden of equal dimension are stoutly clenched together, in order that they cross every other’s grain at proper angles; a line of appreciable length is then hooked up to the middle of this block, and the opposite finish of the road being looped, it will possibly in a second be fastened to a harpoon.
And when he glanced upon the green walls of the watery defile in which the ship was then sailing, and bethought him that by that gate lay the route to his vengeance, and beheld, how that by way of that very same gate he was now both chasing and being chased to his deadly finish; and never solely that, however a herd of remorseless wild pirates and inhuman atheistical devils had been infernally cheering him on with their curses;-when all these conceits had handed by means of his mind, Ahab’s brow was left gaunt and ribbed, like the black sand seashore after some stormy tide has been gnawing it, without having the ability to drag the agency thing from its place. Though lots of the whales, as has been said, have been in violent movement, but it’s to be observed that as a whole the herd neither advanced nor retreated, however collectively remained in a single place. For, suspended in those watery vaults, floated the forms of the nursing mothers of the whales, and those who by their monumental girth appeared shortly to change into mothers. One of these little infants, that from sure queer tokens appeared hardly a day outdated, might have measured some fourteen ft in size, and some six ft in girth.
He was a little bit frisky; although as yet his body seemed scarce but recovered from that irksome place it had so currently occupied in the maternal reticule; where, tail to head, and all prepared for the ultimate spring, the unborn whale lies bent like a Tartar’s bow. In this central expanse the sea offered that easy satin-like floor, known as a sleek, produced by the refined moisture thrown off by the whale in his more quiet moods. Owing to the density of the crowd of reposing whales, more instantly surrounding the embayed axis of the herd, no possible chance of escape was at present afforded us. Though such a movement on the a part of the whale struck beneath such circumstances, is in no wise unprecedented; and certainly is sort of always more or less anticipated; yet does it present one of many more perilous vicissitudes of the fishery. It involves current moment awareness and paying attention in a non-judgmental means. I point out this circumstance, because, as if the cows and calves had been purposely locked up on this innermost fold; and as if the extensive extent of the herd had hitherto prevented them from learning the precise trigger of its stopping; or, possibly, being so young, unsophisticated, and every approach innocent and inexperienced; nonetheless it may have been, these smaller whales-every now and then visiting our becalmed boat from the margin of the lake-evinced a wondrous fearlessness and confidence, or else a still becharmed panic which it was unattainable to not marvel at.