{"id":"01KFNR86ZRWY35Y4H5HW9BHFAY","cid":"bafkreiazdol6fidrdxdxmqoamhl3yfu72cpdsv6dbl3quuecfwsgey5oca","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3611,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:01.914Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":3543,"text":"and never leaned, and this to save his coat tails. His broad-brim was\r\nplaced beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was\r\nbuttoned up to his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in\r\nreading from a ponderous volume.\r\n\r\n“Bildad,” cried Captain Peleg, “at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye have been\r\nstudying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my\r\ncertain knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad?”\r\n\r\nAs if long habituated to such profane talk from his old shipmate,\r\nBildad, without noticing his present irreverence, quietly looked up,\r\nand seeing me, glanced again inquiringly towards Peleg.\r\n\r\n“He says he’s our man, Bildad,” said Peleg, “he wants to ship.”\r\n\r\n“Dost thee?” said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me.\r\n\r\n“I _dost_,” said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker.\r\n\r\n“What do ye think of him, Bildad?” said Peleg.\r\n\r\n“He’ll do,” said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at\r\nhis book in a mumbling tone quite audible.\r\n\r\nI thought him the queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg,\r\nhis friend and old shipmate, seemed such a blusterer. But I said\r\nnothing, only looking round me sharply. Peleg now threw open a chest,\r\nand drawing forth the ship’s articles, placed pen and ink before him,\r\nand seated himself at a little table. I began to think it was high time\r\nto settle with myself at what terms I would be willing to engage for\r\nthe voyage. I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid\r\nno wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares\r\nof the profits called _lays_, and that these lays were proportioned to\r\nthe degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the\r\nship’s company. I was also aware that being a green hand at whaling, my\r\nown lay would not be very large; but considering that I was used to the\r\nsea, could steer a ship, splice a rope, and all that, I made no doubt\r\nthat from all I had heard I should be offered at least the 275th\r\nlay—that is, the 275th part of the clear net proceeds of the voyage,\r\nwhatever that might eventually amount to. And though the 275th lay was\r\nwhat they call a rather _long lay_, yet it was better than nothing; and\r\nif we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I\r\nwould wear out on it, not to speak of my three years’ beef and board,\r\nfor which I would not have to pay one stiver.\r\n\r\nIt might be thought that this was a poor way to accumulate a princely\r\nfortune—and so it was, a very poor way indeed. But I am one of those\r\nthat never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite content if the\r\nworld is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at this\r\ngrim sign of the Thunder Cloud. Upon the whole, I thought that the\r\n275th lay would be about the fair thing, but would not have been\r\nsurprised had I been offered the 200th, considering I was of a\r\nbroad-shouldered make.\r\n\r\nBut one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about\r\nreceiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard\r\nsomething of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad;\r\nhow that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore\r\nthe other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the\r\nwhole management of the ship’s affairs to these two. And I did not know\r\nbut what the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty deal to say about\r\nshipping hands, especially as I now found him on board the Pequod,\r\nquite at home there in the cabin, and reading his Bible as if at his\r\nown fireside. Now while Peleg was vainly trying to mend a pen with his\r\njack-knife, old Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering that he\r\nwas such an interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded\r\nus, but went on mumbling to himself out of his book, “_Lay_ not up for\r\nyourselves treasures upon earth, where moth—”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR847Z5PK5KBJXR1EFBJCD","peer_label":"16","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR847Z5PK5KBJXR1EFBJCD","peer_label":"16","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR86TCAAJW44S5ESCTEA7Q","peer_label":"Chunk 7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR871CZ4WJ7BAXFQGF3G9M","peer_label":"Chunk 5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:02.497Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:14.981Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}