{"id":"01KFNR89KXR5AM4SMNEBPX0KMX","cid":"bafkreibarfvpalmqqyomuj6ksik2t3dnwsspqaa3ojwxz4gglbzgdvanma","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":13956,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.749Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 12","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":13895,"text":"Fiercely, but evenly incited by the taunts of the German, the Pequod’s\r\nthree boats now began ranging almost abreast; and, so disposed,\r\nmomentarily neared him. In that fine, loose, chivalrous attitude of the\r\nheadsman when drawing near to his prey, the three mates stood up\r\nproudly, occasionally backing the after oarsman with an exhilarating\r\ncry of, “There she slides, now! Hurrah for the white-ash breeze! Down\r\nwith the Yarman! Sail over him!”\r\n\r\nBut so decided an original start had Derick had, that spite of all\r\ntheir gallantry, he would have proved the victor in this race, had not\r\na righteous judgment descended upon him in a crab which caught the\r\nblade of his midship oarsman. While this clumsy lubber was striving to\r\nfree his white-ash, and while, in consequence, Derick’s boat was nigh\r\nto capsizing, and he thundering away at his men in a mighty rage;—that\r\nwas a good time for Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask. With a shout, they took\r\na mortal start forwards, and slantingly ranged up on the German’s\r\nquarter. An instant more, and all four boats were diagonically in the\r\nwhale’s immediate wake, while stretching from them, on both sides, was\r\nthe foaming swell that he made.\r\n\r\nIt was a terrific, most pitiable, and maddening sight. The whale was\r\nnow going head out, and sending his spout before him in a continual\r\ntormented jet; while his one poor fin beat his side in an agony of\r\nfright. Now to this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering\r\nflight, and still at every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank\r\nin the sea, or sideways rolled towards the sky his one beating fin. So\r\nhave I seen a bird with clipped wing making affrighted broken circles\r\nin the air, vainly striving to escape the piratical hawks. But the bird\r\nhas a voice, and with plaintive cries will make known her fear; but the\r\nfear of this vast dumb brute of the sea, was chained up and enchanted\r\nin him; he had no voice, save that choking respiration through his\r\nspiracle, and this made the sight of him unspeakably pitiable; while\r\nstill, in his amazing bulk, portcullis jaw, and omnipotent tail, there\r\nwas enough to appal the stoutest man who so pitied.\r\n\r\nSeeing now that but a very few moments more would give the Pequod’s\r\nboats the advantage, and rather than be thus foiled of his game, Derick\r\nchose to hazard what to him must have seemed a most unusually long\r\ndart, ere the last chance would for ever escape.\r\n\r\nBut no sooner did his harpooneer stand up for the stroke, than all\r\nthree tigers—Queequeg, Tashtego, Daggoo—instinctively sprang to their\r\nfeet, and standing in a diagonal row, simultaneously pointed their\r\nbarbs; and darted over the head of the German harpooneer, their three\r\nNantucket irons entered the whale. Blinding vapors of foam and\r\nwhite-fire! The three boats, in the first fury of the whale’s headlong\r\nrush, bumped the German’s aside with such force, that both Derick and\r\nhis baffled harpooneer were spilled out, and sailed over by the three\r\nflying keels.\r\n\r\n“Don’t be afraid, my butter-boxes,” cried Stubb, casting a passing\r\nglance upon them as he shot by; “ye’ll be picked up presently—all\r\nright—I saw some sharks astern—St. Bernard’s dogs, you know—relieve\r\ndistressed travellers. Hurrah! this is the way to sail now. Every keel\r\na sunbeam! Hurrah!—Here we go like three tin kettles at the tail of a\r\nmad cougar! This puts me in mind of fastening to an elephant in a\r\ntilbury on a plain—makes the wheel-spokes fly, boys, when you fasten to\r\nhim that way; and there’s danger of being pitched out too, when you\r\nstrike a hill. Hurrah! this is the way a fellow feels when he’s going\r\nto Davy Jones—all a rush down an endless inclined plane! Hurrah! this\r\nwhale carries the everlasting mail!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 12"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","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":"01KFNR89MGXNM5A7DXKM1ZPPMK","peer_label":"Chunk 13","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89M575510CNY0Y2NXW46","peer_label":"Chunk 11","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.221Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.708Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}