{"id":"01KFNR89MSSP0HNFKN54JPY12T","cid":"bafkreicgl5aakbo5cqqb66aiqva6o2assubdqru2w3oosfykrhgxkn34li","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":15255,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.764Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 39","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":15191,"text":"cutting-spade, to which is attached a rope for hauling it back again. A\r\nwhale wounded (as we afterwards learned) in this part, but not\r\neffectually, as it seemed, had broken away from the boat, carrying\r\nalong with him half of the harpoon line; and in the extraordinary agony\r\nof the wound, he was now dashing among the revolving circles like the\r\nlone mounted desperado Arnold, at the battle of Saratoga, carrying\r\ndismay wherever he went.\r\n\r\nBut agonizing as was the wound of this whale, and an appalling\r\nspectacle enough, any way; yet the peculiar horror with which he seemed\r\nto inspire the rest of the herd, was owing to a cause which at first\r\nthe intervening distance obscured from us. But at length we perceived\r\nthat by one of the unimaginable accidents of the fishery, this whale\r\nhad become entangled in the harpoon-line that he towed; he had also run\r\naway with the cutting-spade in him; and while the free end of the rope\r\nattached to that weapon, had permanently caught in the coils of the\r\nharpoon-line round his tail, the cutting-spade itself had worked loose\r\nfrom his flesh. So that tormented to madness, he was now churning\r\nthrough the water, violently flailing with his flexible tail, and\r\ntossing the keen spade about him, wounding and murdering his own\r\ncomrades.\r\n\r\nThis terrific object seemed to recall the whole herd from their\r\nstationary fright. First, the whales forming the margin of our lake\r\nbegan to crowd a little, and tumble against each other, as if lifted by\r\nhalf spent billows from afar; then the lake itself began faintly to\r\nheave and swell; the submarine bridal-chambers and nurseries vanished;\r\nin more and more contracting orbits the whales in the more central\r\ncircles began to swim in thickening clusters. Yes, the long calm was\r\ndeparting. A low advancing hum was soon heard; and then like to the\r\ntumultuous masses of block-ice when the great river Hudson breaks up in\r\nSpring, the entire host of whales came tumbling upon their inner\r\ncentre, as if to pile themselves up in one common mountain. Instantly\r\nStarbuck and Queequeg changed places; Starbuck taking the stern.\r\n\r\n“Oars! Oars!” he intensely whispered, seizing the helm—“gripe your\r\noars, and clutch your souls, now! My God, men, stand by! Shove him off,\r\nyou Queequeg—the whale there!—prick him!—hit him! Stand up—stand up,\r\nand stay so! Spring, men—pull, men; never mind their backs—scrape\r\nthem!—scrape away!”\r\n\r\nThe boat was now all but jammed between two vast black bulks, leaving a\r\nnarrow Dardanelles between their long lengths. But by desperate\r\nendeavor we at last shot into a temporary opening; then giving way\r\nrapidly, and at the same time earnestly watching for another outlet.\r\nAfter many similar hair-breadth escapes, we at last swiftly glided into\r\nwhat had just been one of the outer circles, but now crossed by random\r\nwhales, all violently making for one centre. This lucky salvation was\r\ncheaply purchased by the loss of Queequeg’s hat, who, while standing in\r\nthe bows to prick the fugitive whales, had his hat taken clean from his\r\nhead by the air-eddy made by the sudden tossing of a pair of broad\r\nflukes close by.\r\n\r\nRiotous and disordered as the universal commotion now was, it soon\r\nresolved itself into what seemed a systematic movement; for having\r\nclumped together at last in one dense body, they then renewed their\r\nonward flight with augmented fleetness. Further pursuit was useless;\r\nbut the boats still lingered in their wake to pick up what drugged\r\nwhales might be dropped astern, and likewise to secure one which Flask\r\nhad killed and waifed. The waif is a pennoned pole, two or three of\r\nwhich are carried by every boat; and which, when additional game is at\r\nhand, are inserted upright into the floating body of a dead whale, both\r\nto mark its place on the sea, and also as token of prior possession,\r\nshould the boats of any other ship draw near.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 39"},"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":"01KFNR89M32BNY7VZT8GH2D1G7","peer_label":"Chunk 40","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89KYBN7T18CQSDQAQJG6","peer_label":"Chunk 38","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.077Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.641Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}