{"id":"01KF7FPTF5H895DHPQHAKKNXQ9","cid":"bafkreidqkqoy5tckopkw3k775k2wfqllzeo7gxgtxmvm57uj3fpdyo6riu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":18131,"extracted_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:21.445Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 0","source_file":"01KESYVB66H8YEVTN88DWE9W8D","start_line":18051,"text":"CHAPTER 108. Ahab and the Carpenter.\r\n\r\nThe Deck—First Night Watch.\r\n\r\n(_Carpenter standing before his vice-bench, and by the light of two\r\nlanterns busily filing the ivory joist for the leg, which joist is\r\nfirmly fixed in the vice. Slabs of ivory, leather straps, pads, screws,\r\nand various tools of all sorts lying about the bench. Forward, the red\r\nflame of the forge is seen, where the blacksmith is at work._)\r\n\r\nDrat the file, and drat the bone! That is hard which should be soft,\r\nand that is soft which should be hard. So we go, who file old jaws and\r\nshinbones. Let’s try another. Aye, now, this works better (_sneezes_).\r\nHalloa, this bone dust is (_sneezes_)—why it’s (_sneezes_)—yes it’s\r\n(_sneezes_)—bless my soul, it won’t let me speak! This is what an old\r\nfellow gets now for working in dead lumber. Saw a live tree, and you\r\ndon’t get this dust; amputate a live bone, and you don’t get it\r\n(_sneezes_). Come, come, you old Smut, there, bear a hand, and let’s\r\nhave that ferule and buckle-screw; I’ll be ready for them presently.\r\nLucky now (_sneezes_) there’s no knee-joint to make; that might puzzle\r\na little; but a mere shinbone—why it’s easy as making hop-poles; only I\r\nshould like to put a good finish on. Time, time; if I but only had the\r\ntime, I could turn him out as neat a leg now as ever (_sneezes_)\r\nscraped to a lady in a parlor. Those buckskin legs and calves of legs\r\nI’ve seen in shop windows wouldn’t compare at all. They soak water,\r\nthey do; and of course get rheumatic, and have to be doctored\r\n(_sneezes_) with washes and lotions, just like live legs. There; before\r\nI saw it off, now, I must call his old Mogulship, and see whether the\r\nlength will be all right; too short, if anything, I guess. Ha! that’s\r\nthe heel; we are in luck; here he comes, or it’s somebody else, that’s\r\ncertain.\r\n\r\nAHAB (_advancing_). (_During the ensuing scene, the carpenter continues\r\nsneezing at times._)\r\n\r\nWell, manmaker!\r\n\r\nJust in time, sir. If the captain pleases, I will now mark the length.\r\nLet me measure, sir.\r\n\r\nMeasured for a leg! good. Well, it’s not the first time. About it!\r\nThere; keep thy finger on it. This is a cogent vice thou hast here,\r\ncarpenter; let me feel its grip once. So, so; it does pinch some.\r\n\r\nOh, sir, it will break bones—beware, beware!\r\n\r\nNo fear; I like a good grip; I like to feel something in this slippery\r\nworld that can hold, man. What’s Prometheus about there?—the\r\nblacksmith, I mean—what’s he about?\r\n\r\nHe must be forging the buckle-screw, sir, now.\r\n\r\nRight. It’s a partnership; he supplies the muscle part. He makes a\r\nfierce red flame there!\r\n\r\nAye, sir; he must have the white heat for this kind of fine work.\r\n\r\nUm-m. So he must. I do deem it now a most meaning thing, that that old\r\nGreek, Prometheus, who made men, they say, should have been a\r\nblacksmith, and animated them with fire; for what’s made in fire must\r\nproperly belong to fire; and so hell’s probable. How the soot flies!\r\nThis must be the remainder the Greek made the Africans of. Carpenter,\r\nwhen he’s through with that buckle, tell him to forge a pair of steel\r\nshoulder-blades; there’s a pedlar aboard with a crushing pack.\r\n\r\nSir?\r\n\r\nHold; while Prometheus is about it, I’ll order a complete man after a\r\ndesirable pattern. Imprimis, fifty feet high in his socks; then, chest\r\nmodelled after the Thames Tunnel; then, legs with roots to ’em, to stay\r\nin one place; then, arms three feet through the wrist; no heart at all,\r\nbrass forehead, and about a quarter of an acre of fine brains; and let\r\nme see—shall I order eyes to see outwards? No, but put a sky-light on\r\ntop of his head to illuminate inwards. There, take the order, and away.\r\n\r\nNow, what’s he speaking about, and who’s he speaking to, I should like\r\nto know? Shall I keep standing here? (_aside_).\r\n\r\n’Tis but indifferent architecture to make a blind dome; here’s one. No,\r\nno, no; I must have a lantern.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 0"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KF7FPNZN34MN5QVT66D5R48T","peer_label":"Ahab and the Carpenter","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KF7FPNZN34MN5QVT66D5R48T","peer_label":"Ahab and the Carpenter","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":"01KF7FPTF05182EBAHT6WDA4DE","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-18T02:42:21.960Z","ts":"2026-01-18T02:42:28.927Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KF7FCDA7SCSJ6A30TDPDSJQV"}}