{"id":"01KFNR888HP0FS7GAB8M938P9H","cid":"bafkreihnp7734m4ilaahgn3gxkta46wlgw236qlzadqkq7p6oy3avmvgsu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6297,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.415Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":6259,"text":"helped himself, the chances were Ahab had never so much as noticed it.\r\nLeast of all, did Flask presume to help himself to butter. Whether he\r\nthought the owners of the ship denied it to him, on account of its\r\nclotting his clear, sunny complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so\r\nlong a voyage in such marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and\r\ntherefore was not for him, a subaltern; however it was, Flask, alas!\r\nwas a butterless man!\r\n\r\nAnother thing. Flask was the last person down at the dinner, and Flask\r\nis the first man up. Consider! For hereby Flask’s dinner was badly\r\njammed in point of time. Starbuck and Stubb both had the start of him;\r\nand yet they also have the privilege of lounging in the rear. If Stubb\r\neven, who is but a peg higher than Flask, happens to have but a small\r\nappetite, and soon shows symptoms of concluding his repast, then Flask\r\nmust bestir himself, he will not get more than three mouthfuls that\r\nday; for it is against holy usage for Stubb to precede Flask to the\r\ndeck. Therefore it was that Flask once admitted in private, that ever\r\nsince he had arisen to the dignity of an officer, from that moment he\r\nhad never known what it was to be otherwise than hungry, more or less.\r\nFor what he ate did not so much relieve his hunger, as keep it immortal\r\nin him. Peace and satisfaction, thought Flask, have for ever departed\r\nfrom my stomach. I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fish a bit of\r\nold-fashioned beef in the forecastle, as I used to when I was before\r\nthe mast. There’s the fruits of promotion now; there’s the vanity of\r\nglory: there’s the insanity of life! Besides, if it were so that any\r\nmere sailor of the Pequod had a grudge against Flask in Flask’s\r\nofficial capacity, all that sailor had to do, in order to obtain ample\r\nvengeance, was to go aft at dinner-time, and get a peep at Flask\r\nthrough the cabin sky-light, sitting silly and dumfoundered before\r\nawful Ahab.\r\n\r\nNow, Ahab and his three mates formed what may be called the first table\r\nin the Pequod’s cabin. After their departure, taking place in inverted\r\norder to their arrival, the canvas cloth was cleared, or rather was\r\nrestored to some hurried order by the pallid steward. And then the\r\nthree harpooneers were bidden to the feast, they being its residuary\r\nlegatees. They made a sort of temporary servants’ hall of the high and\r\nmighty cabin.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR849HCCG5EHQ8V8KC06MB","peer_label":"34","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR849HCCG5EHQ8V8KC06MB","peer_label":"34","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":"01KFNR88BNMG1SJ2WM8X3A4SR7","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8881E7G9XREJZD7EXYF3","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.896Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.502Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}