{"id":"01KF7FPSDD9GXED672CR6QQACW","cid":"bafkreicvzaa5fn7cpxyz3v637r4y73nhrkpwxgzr7i3uxagjqlaal6hplu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15036,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.406Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":14979,"text":"ship neared them; and the wind now dying away, word was passed to\r\nspring to the boats. But no sooner did the herd, by some presumed\r\nwonderful instinct of the Sperm Whale, become notified of the three\r\nkeels that were after them,—though as yet a mile in their rear,—than\r\nthey rallied again, and forming in close ranks and battalions, so that\r\ntheir spouts all looked like flashing lines of stacked bayonets, moved\r\non with redoubled velocity.\r\n\r\nStripped to our shirts and drawers, we sprang to the white-ash, and\r\nafter several hours’ pulling were almost disposed to renounce the\r\nchase, when a general pausing commotion among the whales gave animating\r\ntoken that they were now at last under the influence of that strange\r\nperplexity of inert irresolution, which, when the fishermen perceive it\r\nin the whale, they say he is gallied. The compact martial columns in\r\nwhich they had been hitherto rapidly and steadily swimming, were now\r\nbroken up in one measureless rout; and like King Porus’ elephants in\r\nthe Indian battle with Alexander, they seemed going mad with\r\nconsternation. In all directions expanding in vast irregular circles,\r\nand aimlessly swimming hither and thither, by their short thick\r\nspoutings, they plainly betrayed their distraction of panic. This was\r\nstill more strangely evinced by those of their number, who, completely\r\nparalysed as it were, helplessly floated like water-logged dismantled\r\nships on the sea. Had these Leviathans been but a flock of simple\r\nsheep, pursued over the pasture by three fierce wolves, they could not\r\npossibly have evinced such excessive dismay. But this occasional\r\ntimidity is characteristic of almost all herding creatures. Though\r\nbanding together in tens of thousands, the lion-maned buffaloes of the\r\nWest have fled before a solitary horseman. Witness, too, all human\r\nbeings, how when herded together in the sheepfold of a theatre’s pit,\r\nthey will, at the slightest alarm of fire, rush helter-skelter for the\r\noutlets, crowding, trampling, jamming, and remorselessly dashing each\r\nother to death. Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the\r\nstrangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts\r\nof the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.\r\n\r\nThough many of the whales, as has been said, were in violent motion,\r\nyet it is to be observed that as a whole the herd neither advanced nor\r\nretreated, but collectively remained in one place. As is customary in\r\nthose cases, the boats at once separated, each making for some one lone\r\nwhale on the outskirts of the shoal. In about three minutes’ time,\r\nQueequeg’s harpoon was flung; the stricken fish darted blinding spray\r\nin our faces, and then running away with us like light, steered\r\nstraight for the heart of the herd. Though such a movement on the part\r\nof the whale struck under such circumstances, is in no wise\r\nunprecedented; and indeed is almost always more or less anticipated;\r\nyet does it present one of the more perilous vicissitudes of the\r\nfishery. For as the swift monster drags you deeper and deeper into the\r\nfrantic shoal, you bid adieu to circumspect life and only exist in a\r\ndelirious throb.\r\n\r\nAs, blind and deaf, the whale plunged forward, as if by sheer power of\r\nspeed to rid himself of the iron leech that had fastened to him; as we\r\nthus tore a white gash in the sea, on all sides menaced as we flew, by\r\nthe crazed creatures to and fro rushing about us; our beset boat was\r\nlike a ship mobbed by ice-isles in a tempest, and striving to steer\r\nthrough their complicated channels and straits, knowing not at what\r\nmoment it may be locked in and crushed.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPMFSMJT6NVJR448ANF6Z","peer_label":"Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish","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":"01KF7FPSDHEM1S675WSQ5W9ZJB","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KF7FPSB23QEJ9M85SRCZ5210","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:20.804Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:28.912Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}