{"id":"01KF7FPRD4R89FF91X43XBR7YS","cid":"bafkreibac32z73flime4vom3vlnlgsj463taexdvxqrsvtigsw5qnaqigq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10475,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:19.380Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 13","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":10397,"text":"whale eluded them, and finally wholly disappeared.\r\n\r\n“In good time, the Town-Ho reached her port—a savage, solitary\r\nplace—where no civilized creature resided. There, headed by the\r\nLakeman, all but five or six of the foremastmen deliberately deserted\r\namong the palms; eventually, as it turned out, seizing a large double\r\nwar-canoe of the savages, and setting sail for some other harbor.\r\n\r\n“The ship’s company being reduced to but a handful, the captain called\r\nupon the Islanders to assist him in the laborious business of heaving\r\ndown the ship to stop the leak. But to such unresting vigilance over\r\ntheir dangerous allies was this small band of whites necessitated, both\r\nby night and by day, and so extreme was the hard work they underwent,\r\nthat upon the vessel being ready again for sea, they were in such a\r\nweakened condition that the captain durst not put off with them in so\r\nheavy a vessel. After taking counsel with his officers, he anchored the\r\nship as far off shore as possible; loaded and ran out his two cannon\r\nfrom the bows; stacked his muskets on the poop; and warning the\r\nIslanders not to approach the ship at their peril, took one man with\r\nhim, and setting the sail of his best whale-boat, steered straight\r\nbefore the wind for Tahiti, five hundred miles distant, to procure a\r\nreinforcement to his crew.\r\n\r\n“On the fourth day of the sail, a large canoe was descried, which\r\nseemed to have touched at a low isle of corals. He steered away from\r\nit; but the savage craft bore down on him; and soon the voice of\r\nSteelkilt hailed him to heave to, or he would run him under water. The\r\ncaptain presented a pistol. With one foot on each prow of the yoked\r\nwar-canoes, the Lakeman laughed him to scorn; assuring him that if the\r\npistol so much as clicked in the lock, he would bury him in bubbles and\r\nfoam.\r\n\r\n“‘What do you want of me?’ cried the captain.\r\n\r\n“‘Where are you bound? and for what are you bound?’ demanded Steelkilt;\r\n‘no lies.’\r\n\r\n“‘I am bound to Tahiti for more men.’\r\n\r\n“‘Very good. Let me board you a moment—I come in peace.’ With that he\r\nleaped from the canoe, swam to the boat; and climbing the gunwale,\r\nstood face to face with the captain.\r\n\r\n“‘Cross your arms, sir; throw back your head. Now, repeat after me. As\r\nsoon as Steelkilt leaves me, I swear to beach this boat on yonder\r\nisland, and remain there six days. If I do not, may lightnings strike\r\nme!’\r\n\r\n“‘A pretty scholar,’ laughed the Lakeman. ‘Adios, Senor!’ and leaping\r\ninto the sea, he swam back to his comrades.\r\n\r\n“Watching the boat till it was fairly beached, and drawn up to the\r\nroots of the cocoa-nut trees, Steelkilt made sail again, and in due\r\ntime arrived at Tahiti, his own place of destination. There, luck\r\nbefriended him; two ships were about to sail for France, and were\r\nprovidentially in want of precisely that number of men which the sailor\r\nheaded. They embarked; and so for ever got the start of their former\r\ncaptain, had he been at all minded to work them legal retribution.\r\n\r\n“Some ten days after the French ships sailed, the whale-boat arrived,\r\nand the captain was forced to enlist some of the more civilized\r\nTahitians, who had been somewhat used to the sea. Chartering a small\r\nnative schooner, he returned with them to his vessel; and finding all\r\nright there, again resumed his cruisings.\r\n\r\n“Where Steelkilt now is, gentlemen, none know; but upon the island of\r\nNantucket, the widow of Radney still turns to the sea which refuses to\r\ngive up its dead; still in dreams sees the awful white whale that\r\ndestroyed him.  * * * *\r\n\r\n“‘Are you through?’ said Don Sebastian, quietly.\r\n\r\n“‘I am, Don.’\r\n\r\n“‘Then I entreat you, tell me if to the best of your own convictions,\r\nthis your story is in substance really true? It is so passing\r\nwonderful! Did you get it from an unquestionable source? Bear with me\r\nif I seem to press.’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 13"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPMHMMNHQQ2G370BRT20S","peer_label":"Chapter 54","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPMHMMNHQQ2G370BRT20S","peer_label":"Chapter 54","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"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"},{"peer":"01KF7FPRDNAZGKFG5MDPBS6T76","peer_label":"Chunk 14","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPRC6HTVBSD861HM3S5HC","peer_label":"Chunk 12","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:19.750Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:27.888Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}