{"id":"01KF7FPP0GSPVH5DY9AX4R51AN","cid":"bafkreidcpilrwmih2ehm3hsxs77survu5j2ch5sm3czkeatjanewhivjqa","type":"chapter","properties":{"end_line":20866,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:16.580Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chapter 132","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":20808,"text":"Fired by the cry which seemed simultaneously taken up by the three\r\nlook-outs, the men on deck rushed to the rigging to behold the famous\r\nwhale they had so long been pursuing. Ahab had now gained his final\r\nperch, some feet above the other look-outs, Tashtego standing just\r\nbeneath him on the cap of the top-gallant-mast, so that the Indian’s\r\nhead was almost on a level with Ahab’s heel. From this height the whale\r\nwas now seen some mile or so ahead, at every roll of the sea revealing\r\nhis high sparkling hump, and regularly jetting his silent spout into\r\nthe air. To the credulous mariners it seemed the same silent spout they\r\nhad so long ago beheld in the moonlit Atlantic and Indian Oceans.\r\n\r\n“And did none of ye see it before?” cried Ahab, hailing the perched men\r\nall around him.\r\n\r\n“I saw him almost that same instant, sir, that Captain Ahab did, and I\r\ncried out,” said Tashtego.\r\n\r\n“Not the same instant; not the same—no, the doubloon is mine, Fate\r\nreserved the doubloon for me. _I_ only; none of ye could have raised\r\nthe White Whale first. There she blows!—there she blows!—there she\r\nblows! There again!—there again!” he cried, in long-drawn, lingering,\r\nmethodic tones, attuned to the gradual prolongings of the whale’s\r\nvisible jets. “He’s going to sound! In stunsails! Down\r\ntop-gallant-sails! Stand by three boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay\r\non board, and keep the ship. Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So;\r\nsteady, man, steady! There go flukes! No, no; only black water! All\r\nready the boats there? Stand by, stand by! Lower me, Mr. Starbuck;\r\nlower, lower,—quick, quicker!” and he slid through the air to the deck.\r\n\r\n“He is heading straight to leeward, sir,” cried Stubb, “right away from\r\nus; cannot have seen the ship yet.”\r\n\r\n“Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm!—brace up!\r\nShiver her!—shiver her!—So; well that! Boats, boats!”\r\n\r\nSoon all the boats but Starbuck’s were dropped; all the boat-sails\r\nset—all the paddles plying; with rippling swiftness, shooting to\r\nleeward; and Ahab heading the onset. A pale, death-glimmer lit up\r\nFedallah’s sunken eyes; a hideous motion gnawed his mouth.\r\n\r\nLike noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea;\r\nbut only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the ocean grew\r\nstill more smooth; seemed drawing a carpet over its waves; seemed a\r\nnoon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the breathless hunter\r\ncame so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzling\r\nhump was distinctly visible, sliding along the sea as if an isolated\r\nthing, and continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy,\r\ngreenish foam. He saw the vast, involved wrinkles of the slightly\r\nprojecting head beyond. Before it, far out on the soft Turkish-rugged\r\nwaters, went the glistening white shadow from his broad, milky\r\nforehead, a musical rippling playfully accompanying the shade; and\r\nbehind, the blue waters interchangeably flowed over into the moving\r\nvalley of his steady wake; and on either hand bright bubbles arose and\r\ndanced by his side. But these were broken again by the light toes of\r\nhundreds of gay fowl softly feathering the sea, alternate with their\r\nfitful flight; and like to some flag-staff rising from the painted hull\r\nof an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance projected\r\nfrom the white whale’s back; and at intervals one of the cloud of\r\nsoft-toed fowls hovering, and to and fro skimming like a canopy over\r","title":"Chapter 132"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPKDT5SHSH1ZQV6ABHQCA","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"book","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KESYJX0Z6XE0HWTS5N3SDG0B","peer_label":"The Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:17.325Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:17.325Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}