"CAPTAIN AHAB" "After, when it was all over, the smell of coffee opened my eyes." "The sister-in-law was there with a coffee pot." ""Are you going to keep the boy?"" "I asked her." "She didn't reply." "A kid without lying beneath a man was a godsend for her." "With the years, you think you'd forget but you don't." "Out hunting one day," "I set my gun down and thought:" ""That lad's mine." So I went to the village." "Ahab was no longer an infant." "And I liked that." "He left with me." "She cried." "Chapter I The father." "Is the girth tight?" "Yes, Dad." "It was too loose last time." "What's wrong?" "Why are you so glum?" "It's hunting..." "I'd like to go too." "No!" "No means no." "Didn't your aunt tell you?" "She did." "She should have drummed it into you!" "Instead of teaching you to read." " You can read, can't you?" " Yes." "That's good." "I'm proud that you can read." "My old man never taught me a thing!" "Certainly not how to read!" "Not much use though to hunt a stag." "If you never take me..." "I'll never learn!" "You'll go hunting one day!" "You'd only be in my way." "Try to understand, son." "You're just a kid." "I'm a man!" "You'll be a man when I say." "When I say!" "But I like hunting!" "Cut it out, will you?" "You're spoiling it for me!" "Want me to belt you one?" "Three days is long." "So that's it..." "You're afraid of spending three days alone." "You know what, Ahab?" "You're worse than a woman!" "It's me." "Open up." "Hello, son." "Isn't your father in?" "He's out hunting." " Will he be back tonight?" " I don't know." "He left yesterday but I don't know when he'll be back." "That's a nuisance." "We had business to see to." "Tell me, is that the Holy Bible?" "It must have been your mother's." "My mother's?" "Yes." "She loved the great books." "She was very pious." "But she enjoyed life too." "This Bible was once your grandfather's." "Imagine that." "And you're reading it now!" "I'm a hunter." "Like my father." "And hunters have no time to read!" "What were you doing with that book then?" "If you're here for whisky, I can give it to you." "Whisky?" "Not at all." "Don't bother yourself." "Still, if it saves me coming back, perhaps it's easier." "I think this is it." "Well, thank you." ""A man fired an arrow at random"" "and smote the King of Israel through his armour." "A cry spread over the battlefield." "Each cried to his town, "King Ahab is dead!"" "They returned to the palace and placed the king in his tomb." "His clothes were washed in the River Samaria." "The pure water from the mountains became tinged with red." "A prostitute from the city undressed" ""and bathed in the water reddened by the royal blood."" "She appeared on the road." "She came up the track." "I thought to myself that girls in trousers were a rare sight around here." "She had her hands in her pockets." "That's the way she was." "She was on her way home from the factory." "I was there." "I gave her a drink." "I came back the next day." "And she drank again." "The day after that too." "Louise." "Then she came to the cabin, to our place." "That meant something." "She was there." "Ahab and I watched her with her plate." "In her Sunday best, she was eating game." "Yeah, there were three of us at the table." "We were a family." "That day, something moved through the air." "And it stuck in our minds." "It was... something like hope." "That was tough, pal." "The reward is worth it." "Don't you think it's beautiful?" "Let's go." "A strong wind blew from the east and the rain started falling." "I found a shelter." "Hunting is over for the day." "The lantern stands on a rock." "I look at the flame and I ask myself..." ""What has that fellow come here for?"" "To paint mountains, the villagers say." "But I don'!" "Believe that." "I don't believe it." "There's a man around you." "I can tell." "Don't try to understand, I can't explain." "You.' my Q m y I11 an!" "Get lost!" "What's wrong?" "Look at the state you're in!" "Flushed cheeks, a sweaty brow, between your thighs too maybe!" "You're only like that when you make love." "I ran all the way here from home." "When?" " When what?" " When did you leave home?" "Around midday." "I went to the village this morning." "You weren't at home!" "Well?" "Damn woman, I believed in you!" "You'll tell me if it takes all night!" "I don't mind spending the night with you." "Don't hit me!" "Don't hit me!" "Stop it!" "Louise..." "You're all I have." "You're all I have." "What's wrong?" "What's that stupid look for?" "I like you, madam." "Will Adams..." "The bottles are empty." "Off you go, kid." "Go to the village and get us fresh supplies." "I'd rather stay here." "Go the village, I said!" "See the Pole." "The one near the tracks." "He's cheap." "The people by the tracks..." "Aren't they all Chinese?" "Chinese or Polish, same difference." "Off you go." "Go on, bring us back crates of it." " Off you go." " Move it!" "He'll be gone an hour." "An hour's a long time." "Will Adams," "I'll gladly do something for you but... it has to be our secret." "I'll keep your secret." "I'd like to show you the Holy Spirit." "The Holy Spirit?" "Look..." "Dear God!" "It's beautiful..." "Where have you been?" "Out walking." "You like walking now?" "That's new." "Come here." "You reek of cheap wine." "Where is she?" "Who?" "I'm not stupid." "Where is she?" "I don't know." "I never hit anyone before." "Don't make me start with you!" "Well?" "She's with the painter." "With that horrible man." "I never thought you'd be in my arms one day." "What's that there?" "He hits me." "The bastard!" "I'll beat him up." "You're skinny." "He'll kill you." "Comfort me instead." "I hear someone..." "Louise..." "Glad to see you." "I want a word." "So you hit women, do you?" "That's not right." "You bastard!" "Stop!" "Cover yourself up." "Hello, father." "Still no news of Will Adams?" "How could I have news?" "I hear he didn't just paint mountains." "He was a musician too." "The accordion, wasn't it?" "Yes." "You like the accordion?" "I have to say goodbye to the boy." "Hurry." "I'm taking him to the stagecoach." "Louise." "I've come to say goodbye." "I can't say goodbye to you." "I want to stay with you." "With me?" "Yes." "I want to live with you, madam." "That's not possible." "It is." "It's always possible." "If you want something, you can make it happen." "Not always the way you want." "I'm sorry." "Look." "I've brought you this." "My name's marked inside it." "That way, I'll always be with you." "Do you like it?" "Ahab!" "You have to go." "The stagecoach won't wait." "At the top end of the bed," "I lean over the right corner and lift the mattress right up." "I slip the sheet under it, swiftly and surely." "Now that one comer has been fixed," "I can spread the whole sheet out without any further ado and determinedly run my hand over it to erase the last few stubborn creases." "I add a blanket." "After that," "I stand and gaze at the bed, neat and clean," "ready to welcome the orphan child." "Put your things away." "I'll call you for dinner." "I won't force you to speak." "Besides, your life with your father doesn't interest me." "You've been gripping something ever since you arrived." "Would you please be kind enough to open your hand?" "I'm talking to you, child!" "Will you please show me what is in your hand?" "No." "Eat." "That wild girl's locket had no place in my nephews hand." "Ahab couldn't bear me confiscating that item." "He made me pay for it daily with fresh mischief." "But that would soon change." "A few years earlier, I had already torn out a few pages of my Bible:" "those lines in which women like Judith or Esther had sewed the glory of our Lord with the abject parts of their bodies." "Simply reading their names could make me blush." "Today, I feel like them, with a duty to give myself to a man." "HeflfY" "The ladies of the circle are unanimous:" "a fine upbringing, exceptional intelligence, courtesy and elegance..." "The man is apparently faultless." "My aunt will be here soon, sir." "Very good." "So you're Ahab." "You're just as I imagined you." "Tiny." "Go on." "Take it." "Clear off now." "On this Sabbath day, when he comes to call," "I know what he is here for." "I am afraid." "But, deep inside, something like a burning heat perturbs me." "Henfy..." "Rose..." "Rose, I take you as my wife, for better or worse, for richer or poorer," "in sickness or in health, until death do us part," "I plight my troth." "Henfy," "I take you as my husband, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and obey you until death do us part," "I plight my troth." "Rose Elisabeth and Henry Michael," "I now declare you bound by holy matrimony." "You may kiss, my children." "I never tire of feeling my knees bend on the cushion and my forearms rest on the wood." "My body gives itself up." "I breathe at last." "Lam alone with You, oh Lord." "In the living room, the blows rain down but, kneeling before You, I no longer hear them." "Even so, the child promised us today," ""No, I won't go with the Brixton boys."" ""No, I'm not a hoodlum."" "You're small enough to slip inside." "Open the door and we'll load up." "Dear God, have mercy on Ahab." "You have seen him set off along a bad path." "The trap has closed on him." "The alert has sounded." "Don't move!" "What were you thinking?" "That you could help yourself?" "Guttersnipe!" "You know where the cane is?" "You know where it is?" "Bring it here." "Bring it!" "Get undressed." "I'm not afraid." "Get undressed!" "Everything!" "Turn round!" "Oh Lord, it is not easy to escape You." "And if this child's light does not lead him to You, may his darkness lead him there." "Hey, mister!" "Who's this Jim Larsson?" "He's killed more than one." "There's never been a bloodier fellow." "He doesn't scare me!" "You're not scared?" "They found an old lady in a ditch this morning." "Yes, a lady." "You understand me, son?" "Her belly torn open." "May she rest in peace." "A demon, believe me." "You want a word of advice?" "Stay right there, safe behind your fence." "It's Jim Larsson!" "Help!" "Ahab?" "It's Jim Larsson!" "Help!" "He's not in his room!" "My God, what's happening?" "Ahab?" "Rose!" "He has kidnapped him." "Perhaps he has even abused him." "After smashing his skull?" "Please!" "I spent so much time with him." "I taught him so much." "You must forget him now." "Despite being an Ahab, he strove to be a good boy." "A flower doesn't grow on a dung heap." "About the clothes, you really think..." "Keeping such relics is a bad idea." "The minister is right, Rose." "There's another thing." "When he arrived," "I confiscated a locket engraved with a woman's name." "His mother's?" "No." "That girl's." "That Louise." "Perhaps he had stolen it from her." "I put it in this box." "It's empty" "It's empty!" "I wish I could have led that child out of the night he was trapped in." "But Ahab turned away, blind to the hand held out to him." "Henry is a wise man." "I should have listened to him." ""Why cling to a child that isn't even yours?"" "he would often ask me." ""Think of yourself instead!"" "I think now that my husband is right." "In this life, you have to think of yourself, not other people." "He was four foot seven, give or take an inch or three." "Strongly built, he'd come straight at you, his shoulders slightly hunched, his head forward, his dark eyes like a bull ready to charge." "Although he was only 10, the little man never showed a shred of weakness." "Yet for all those back in the Vermont hills," "Ahab had met a cruel end at the hands of a highwayman." "He had planned it all." "At the cabin, he found a meagre haul:" "bullets but no rifle, a pipe and some dried-up tobacco, a jug with a drop of whisky, a rope, his mother's old Bible." "All that would be enough at first, he thought." "The first day, there were no mosquitoes." "Ahab let his boat drift along following the whims of the current." "The following days were just as carefree." "It was as if the whole world belonged to him." ""Free," he said to himself." ""I'm a free man!"" "You there!" "Freeze!" "Where did you spring from?" "That's my boat and my things." "Put them back!" " Can't we talk this over?" " I don't talk." "Freeze!" " I'm freezing!" " Freeze!" "Meet a friend of mine." "The King of England." "Captain!" "I'm not a captain!" "Isn't this your ship?" "It's my boat." "So you're a captain!" "Let's be friends..." "I told you..." "Freeze!" "You're a nervous one!" "I know who you are." "You're Jim Larsson." "I saw you on a poster." "What's the reward?" "800 dollars." "800!" "Not bad." "It changes by the day." "I can see you coming." "You want to line your pockets by turning Jim in." "I'm not like that." "So you shouldn't refuse our hospitality." "We're thirsty." "You can wet our whistles and we can feed you." "Look, we can't go on!" "Perhaps we can have ourselves a little picnic?" "The bread, highness, to show him we're honest." "Come on!" "The bread!" " Here, peasant, eat!" " Dig in." "Go on." "Go on, eat!" "In what miserable land do you starve like that?" "Hungry, hmm?" "Tell me, where are you sailing to in your boat?" "To the Promised Land." "Really?" "It exists?" "And what's that dukedom's name?" "Oh, you know..." "God, you overdid that a bit." " You think so?" " Look, he's a goner." "Dump him in the boat." "Lord, grant him eternal rest, in light and in peace." "Amen." "The Lord guided that boat down the Connecticut River... before washing it up in the bay." "An unfamiliar sound reached his ears." "It was like a murmur." "It was like the sound of the wind in the trees." "Yet it wasn't that." "There was something around him that he didn't know." "He wanted to haul himself out to see what it was but he never found the energy to do it." "I reckon it's time I introduced myself." "My name... is Mulligan." "As a boy, I dreamt of travelling to wild lands and of sharing my faith with their inhabitants." "For the trappers of Lake Ontario," "I held, every Sunday, my first masses in a wooden hut." "When the railroad arrived, preaching in a wagon," "I followed the railroaders in their hard task." "Today, in a parish swept by the Atlantic winds," "I pray for the men of the sea." "I found this boy, father." "Found him?" "At the river's mouth." "In a boat washed up there." "What do you mean?" "He had a Bible on him." "An old Bible." "Maybe that's why I thought of you." "The poor child." "Let's go back." "Louise..." "Calm down..." "You have a fever." "You're raving." "Don't be afraid." "What's your name?" "My name's Ahab and I'm travelling in my boat." "You have to stay here." "Try to rest." "They robbed me." "Several days ago." "You have a few things left." "This old Bible." "With your blood... your blood on these holy pages." "Sam found this Bible lying open in your hands." "It was my mother's." "Where are your parents?" "They're dead." "You know, when I washed your shirt," "I found this locket with a name engraved inside it." "You spoke that name several times these last few days." "It was my mother's." "She gave it to me on her deathbed." "I had stitched it inside my shirt." "They didn't get it." "I was smart there, wasn't I, sir?" "The weeks convalescing at the presbytery did him good." "The child was entranced by the water that invaded the countryside all around." ""That's the ocean, my boy," I told him." ""And, following God, that's what all men obey. "" "I am Ahab!" "Ahab was won over." "He never spoke of moving on again." "At the Lord's side, he would follow a different path now." "We're listening, my child." ""Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah."" "And Jonah spent three days and three nights in its belly." "Then Jonah prayed unto his God from the fish's belly and said:" "I cry unto the Lord from my affliction." "Out of the belly of death, I cry for help." "Thou cast me into the depths of the seas and the flood encompassed me." "And so I said to myself," ""I am cast out of Thy sight."" "They've all gone." "I'm proud of you, Ahab." "You don't know it but, listening to you read," "I understood." "Since you arrived, I've been wondering and now I understand." "Something burns in your heart." "It's a pretty word and it is known as faith." "Each clay, Ahab got up at dawn to go fishing with Sam." "In the afternoons, I trained him for religious college but he grew closer to the ocean with each passing day." "Sam told him tales of sailors, of struggles against whales, of maritime adventures..." "He would return to the presbytery entranced." "I let Ahab make the most of this." "That was my mistake." "Ahab, my boy, read this psalm for us." "Ahab, read this psalm!" "Read for Mrs Slotter, please." "It's over." "I'm sorry'?" "I said it's over!" "I'll never read in church again, sir." "Take this Bible, please." "Read this psalm." "Father?" "Yes, forgive me." ""Do not hide your face on the day of my distress..."" "Ahab never read in church again." "He had decided to learn the seaman's craft." "I had to resign myself to seeing him leave for Nantucket." "The Bible and his mother's locket were the only things he took with him." "Inside the naval academy, the years passed by." "Rising from the rank of cabin boy to that of harpooner, he was promoted to crew leader, then second-in-command and finally captain." "The ship-owners considered him the bloodiest and fiercest of captains who ever hunted the whale." "This arrogant figure became a hero, a living legend, a crowned king..." "Sam and I never saw Ahab again." "The egg rolls over the table." "I simply let it slip from my hand to take more flour and it set off on its odd journey." "I watch it." "It's going to touch the bottle, perhaps break against it." "No." "It manages to slip by without a problem but, just when the coast seems clear, it strikes the edge of a plate." "Unable to control its path, it turns on itself as it approaches the table's edge." "It is close to the drop." "It can't avoid it, it is going to fall." "I see it vanish all of a sudden." "The table is empty." "The dog, curious about things that fa}!" "From a table, has come over." "The animal is delighted to find something edible and laps it up greedily." "Before its feast is over, it suddenly abandons its find." "It goes over to the door and barks." "I look out of the window." "There's a man lying on the ground in the back yard." "This is a captain's cap, ma'am." "We thought he'd hit the bottle too hard but we were totally wrong." "The fellow has been cut." "MY God!" "He's missing a leg." "What do we do, ma'am?" "Run and fetch Dr Hogganbeck." "They say Dr Hogganbeck left Europe after his daughter's death." "But, deep clown, no one really knows." "He lives away from others near Hummock Point." "Having arrived just recently, he has earned the islanders' respect." "A rare thing for a foreigner!" "Madam is waiting." "This way, doctor." "No doubt about it, ma'am." "He's Captain Ahab." "The ocean, the very thing that I still refuse to look at, lowering my eyes each time Pm down at the harbour, cursing its very existence, should I thank it one day?" "The ocean that took my husband and that has just set down at my door another man." "I'll do all I can to help him." "Do you know, ma'am," "I doubt that he'll ever be able to return to the sea one day." "Well, he won't return to it." "They're from Waltham's in Boston." "It's obvious." "How can you tell?" "Look at this stitch." "No other firm works like that." "You'll take good care of them." " Ma'am!" " Yes, Joseph." "The sailor's awake, ma'am." "He asked for water." " Then he said nothing more." " I'm coming." "It's a pleasure to talk to you at last." "Do you know who I am?" "Who doesn't know in Nantucket?" "You are Ahab." "Captain of a whaling ship." "What do they say about me?" "What filthy rumours have spread?" "They say Captain Ahab fled his ship following a whale hunt." "In shame." "Dishonoured after a fight lost against a monstrous white creature." "Fatally wounded." "No one knows if you're still alive." "A ghost for some, haunting the docks of the harbour by night." "There's a lot of idle talk in Nantucket." "We boil the sheets in the next room." "This room is warm." "Where am I?" "In my laundry." "Along with the doctor treating you, Dr Hogganbeck," "I have decided to keep your presence here a secret." "I don't know if we were right to." "Your silence honours you." "But I shouldn't be here." "Leave me!" "Your leg is bleeding again." "Don't move." "Don't move!" "Don't be absurd." "This wound passes through your body." "Once you're better, you can leave..." "Sail the seas..." "Hunt..." "You can do what you like." "After all, I don't care." "But, for now, please lie down." "Excuse me." "You know, during your long sleep, I took care of you." "I tended to you," "I bandaged you," "I washed you..." "Seeing you leave in such a rush seems inconceivable to me." "You can stay here as long as you deem necessary." "You couldn't be more secluded." "My workers will be discreet." "No one will come to see you apart from the doctor." "Please, do not reject this hand held out to you!" "Until I recover my strength." "Thank you." "Pass your hand through." "There." "You'll look good." "I haven't worn civilian clothes for a while." "You know, not everyone in Nantucket wears such fancy suits." "My husband had them sent from New York." " It suits you." " I'm like other men now." "I'll stitch it up." "You have to, don't you?" "You've never spoken about that terrible hunting season." "An accident, Anna, like hundreds of others in the history of whaling." "That's all." "Moby Dick..." "They say so many things about it." "It's whiter than a shroud, they say." "Who told you about it?" "Dr Hogganbeck." "Let's forget that." "Please." "That's in the past." "Now, another life is beginning." "Captain Ahab is dead." "Long live the gentleman Ahab!" "Something distances me from the sea." "At times, I wonder if I was ever really a sailor." "You were, well and truly!" "I've never been a daughter of the sea." "Isn't everyone on Nantucket?" "I'm from the mainland." "My mother came from a big farm near Springfield." "Before Father moved his laundry," "I spent most of my childhood in the countryside around the town." "No, the child of the sea is you." "I'm more a daughter of the woods." "A daughter of the woods..." "Anna." "They're always there, on the lookout." "They're waiting." "They're ready." "All watching out for Ahab's return." "Waiting for him to sign up for a new fishing season." "I know it." "Sailors, ship-owners, backers..." "All those people in the harbour hoping that he will board again, shout orders, and sink his harpoon into the whales' flesh." "Him, the man whose head touched the sky," "who loved to lean out over the water, whose hands took hold of the Leviathan." "Do they even realize that he is a wounded giant now?" "Yes, this time, he won't return." "He won't give them what they want." "Spread the word around the island of Nantucket." "From now on, Ahab is mine." "The door was open, carpenter." "Open..." "I heard about you in the harbour." "I'm here about my leg." "This piece of wood should do the job of keeping a man like me upright." "You're not answering?" "For you," "I have something else." "Are you afraid?" "It's just a sperm whale bone." "I know it's a sperm whale bone." "An old blind male, coldly slaughtered in the Timor Sea." "Leave that." "And get to work on this wood!" "Worker!" "Do you know who I am?" "I've never forgotten your name." "But you, sir, do you still know your name?" "You're Ahab." "Do you still know what your rank is?" "You're a captain." "And, for Captain Ahab, a sperm whale bone leg is what's needed." "Trust me." "The Lord gave me these hands to make this bone your own flesh and blood." "Neither Hogganbeck nor I ever imagined such a thing." "And yet," "I had to resign myself to see the man I love wear that bone day and night." "Is that you?" "Is that you?" "Is that you?" "Are you talking to me?" "My leg is bleeding again." "My God..." "It was far too soon to have this artificial limb fitted." "Such outdated methods." "It's my leg, doctor." "It must have cut into your flesh." " Let me have a look." " Don't touch Ahab!" "There's clear risk of infection, sir." "I'm not bleeding anymore." " Am I still bleeding?" " No." "Good evening, doctor." "Please, Anna, put the light out." "How do you feel?" "Befien" "I'd like to sleep." "Just sleep." "Three long days of silence before learning where the man I love is hiding." "But it is too late." "Too late." "Oh, Ahab, you who abandon me for the highs seas, do you even know what will become of me?" "I'll soon be like those rocks that the coast wind batters each day." "My face will be like those stones, like that granite mass." "I can tell that my mouth will open and demand food." "But something will come from inside to reject it all." "That will make me throw up." "It will come from inside, from my belly." "I know it." "I shall need to close the doors of the house." "Then, I shall lie down on my bed and my gaze will drift off forever into the heavenly vault that my bedroom ceiling will have become." "I, Isaac Walter Starbuck, second-in-command on the whaler the Pequod, will I ever see my family again?" "A man has managed to drape a huge shroud over our ship." "The survivors of this fateful journey, a seaman and myself, are now struggling against death." "It's the dreariest fight imaginable." "It unfolds in an impalpable dinginess with only this horribly dark water beneath our feet, nothing around us, no onlookers, no cheers, no fame..." "Nothing." "On Nantucket, a few months back, sailors and harpooners came to the harbour drawn by our queer old Pequod." "Pequod!" "It was a ship of the old kind, those pre-war vessels that brought glory to our fleets." "It was early summer when the Pequod left dear old Nantucket Island." "Captain?" "Didn't you hear his cries?" "What cries?" "The lookout's." "A whole school..." "Sperm whales!" "A female among them?" "A female?" "No doubt." "No doubt." "Look!" "Close that!" "Close it!" "Thank you." "I think this is a good day to meet your crew." "God has placed these whales on our path." "Seeing their captain for the first hunt will be quite a novelty." "A white female in the middle of the school, yes or no?" "No." "No such thing." "Then hunt without me." "The men will be disappointed." "The joy of the hunt will make them forget Ahab." "Only for a while." "My mind is made up." "Do not mention it again." "Are there many of them?" "It's a fine school." "Go, Starbuck." "Go and launch the boats." "Make the oil flow while you still can." "You have my blessing." "We'll make you proud, captain." "And then the singing fell silent." "For us sailors, the hunting season was under way at last." "But it was not true." "In the secrecy of Captain Ahab's sick soul, a great white ghost was swimming, as huge as a snowy hill." "You hear me, men?" "Watch every patch of this foaming water!" "And find me the most evil whale of them all!" "Moby Dick..." "Yes, Moby Dick!" "The one that lost me my mast!" "The one I owe this stump that I lean on to." "That's what you came on board for." "To hunt this white bastard around the world until it rolls belly up!" "For Moby Dick and no other whale." "You heard me clearly?" "No other whale." "Captain..." "Yes, Mr Starbuck?" "The quest for Moby Dick isn't our only goal." "It will be." "The white whale has signed its death warrant or I'm not Ahab." "We attack every school of whales we find." "Those are the owners' orders." "Should Ahab be swayed by the desires of mere merchants?" "Turning a hunt from its goals is contrary to maritime rules." "What are you talking about?" "I'd strike the heavens if they tried to stop me." "So two humble ship-owners from Nantucket..." "What is it?" "Are you averse to work?" "I've never given up a hunt, sir." "Very good." "Give me that mallet, sailor." "Men!" "Look!" "You see this piece of Spanish gold?" "It's worth sixteen dollars." "Here, boy, nail it to the mast!" "The man who spots Moby Dick, the man who finds that son of a bitch will have a chest full of coins like this!" "Boys, people think I'm mad." "Even Starbuck believes that." "Well, he's wrong." "I simply have an appointment with the damned white beast." "And that appointment, boys, is something I won't miss." "It's calling to me." "And I'm going to join it." "The Pequod, the crew," "Ahab..." "I feel as if I'm trying to relate a dream to you now." "A mixture of absurdity, fear and confusion." "One night, I thought I was losing my mind." "I had to search, find something..." "Know..." "At the back of his desk, he had hidden an old, bloodstained Bible." "A locket lay between two pages." ""Louise"." "His wife, no doubt." "Who's there?" "Return to the deck!" "Get out of here!" "It's Starbuck, sir." "The breeze is mild tonight." "Isn't it, sir?" "You know, it was on a day almost as mild as this one that I struck my first whale, Mr Starbuck." "I didn't know you had been a harpooner." "It was a long time ago." "What are you doing here?" "I was looking for some charts." "We won't need them anymore." "The sextant neither." "In the middle of the Pacific?" "We'd be lost without it." "It isn't far now." "I've picked up its scent." "A scent... of copper... and soil." "Yes, that's it." "Damp soil." "Like the smell of the woods." "Can you smell it?" "Your leg, sir..." "Yes, that's my blood." "Let me help you!" "It's nothing." "It's a sign." "The bastard isn't far away." "I told you so." "The next day, the premonition came true." "Moby Dick lit up the ocean's surface with its hideous whiteness." "We meet again." "You son of a bitch." "You brought me down but now!" "Am standing again." "Listen to me." "I am Ahab and I am heading towards you." "Look at me, you whale, filled with hatred," "I come to spit my last breath at you." "The iron's in him!" "Raise your oars!" "The iron's in him!" "Wait for my signal!" "Sit down, captain!" "Sit down!" "Captain, let go of the rope!" "When it was all over, we wanted to return to the Pequod but it had vanished." "We were orphans." "No one dared to utter the name of the beast that sank our ship." "And no one mentioned the man who led us to this disaster." "Ahab had obtained what he wanted." "As if sinking into a deep sleep, he let himself be carried off on a strange and silent journey." "It was like travelling back to the beginning of the world when the tall trees were kings." "In the shelter of that forest, he could close his eyes at last and find the peace he had looked for." "Freely inspired by Herman Melville's novel "Moby Dick""