{"id":"01KFNR89QZRXAWBA0FVPET64E4","cid":"bafkreidvvs6f7dlkc35zo5k744dpsafmeudab5jeshxqtcolgb7nhgv4rm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":16142,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.770Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":16085,"text":"line coming against his chest, he breasted it overboard with him, so as\r\nto become entangled in it, when at last plumping into the water. That\r\ninstant the stricken whale started on a fierce run, the line swiftly\r\nstraightened; and presto! poor Pip came all foaming up to the chocks of\r\nthe boat, remorselessly dragged there by the line, which had taken\r\nseveral turns around his chest and neck.\r\n\r\nTashtego stood in the bows. He was full of the fire of the hunt. He\r\nhated Pip for a poltroon. Snatching the boat-knife from its sheath, he\r\nsuspended its sharp edge over the line, and turning towards Stubb,\r\nexclaimed interrogatively, “Cut?” Meantime Pip’s blue, choked face\r\nplainly looked, Do, for God’s sake! All passed in a flash. In less than\r\nhalf a minute, this entire thing happened.\r\n\r\n“Damn him, cut!” roared Stubb; and so the whale was lost and Pip was\r\nsaved.\r\n\r\nSo soon as he recovered himself, the poor little negro was assailed by\r\nyells and execrations from the crew. Tranquilly permitting these\r\nirregular cursings to evaporate, Stubb then in a plain, business-like,\r\nbut still half humorous manner, cursed Pip officially; and that done,\r\nunofficially gave him much wholesome advice. The substance was, Never\r\njump from a boat, Pip, except—but all the rest was indefinite, as the\r\nsoundest advice ever is. Now, in general, _Stick to the boat_, is your\r\ntrue motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when _Leap from\r\nthe boat_, is still better. Moreover, as if perceiving at last that if\r\nhe should give undiluted conscientious advice to Pip, he would be\r\nleaving him too wide a margin to jump in for the future; Stubb suddenly\r\ndropped all advice, and concluded with a peremptory command, “Stick to\r\nthe boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I won’t pick you up if you jump; mind\r\nthat. We can’t afford to lose whales by the likes of you; a whale would\r\nsell for thirty times what you would, Pip, in Alabama. Bear that in\r\nmind, and don’t jump any more.” Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted,\r\nthat though man loved his fellow, yet man is a money-making animal,\r\nwhich propensity too often interferes with his benevolence.\r\n\r\nBut we are all in the hands of the Gods; and Pip jumped again. It was\r\nunder very similar circumstances to the first performance; but this\r\ntime he did not breast out the line; and hence, when the whale started\r\nto run, Pip was left behind on the sea, like a hurried traveller’s\r\ntrunk. Alas! Stubb was but too true to his word. It was a beautiful,\r\nbounteous, blue day; the spangled sea calm and cool, and flatly\r\nstretching away, all round, to the horizon, like gold-beater’s skin\r\nhammered out to the extremest. Bobbing up and down in that sea, Pip’s\r\nebon head showed like a head of cloves. No boat-knife was lifted when\r\nhe fell so rapidly astern. Stubb’s inexorable back was turned upon him;\r\nand the whale was winged. In three minutes, a whole mile of shoreless\r\nocean was between Pip and Stubb. Out from the centre of the sea, poor\r\nPip turned his crisp, curling, black head to the sun, another lonely\r\ncastaway, though the loftiest and the brightest.\r\n\r\nNow, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the\r\npractised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore. But the awful\r\nlonesomeness is intolerable. The intense concentration of self in the\r\nmiddle of such a heartless immensity, my God! who can tell it? Mark,\r\nhow when sailors in a dead calm bathe in the open sea—mark how closely\r\nthey hug their ship and only coast along her sides.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84F9V753K1RB4Z4DYEA9","peer_label":"Ambergris","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84F9V753K1RB4Z4DYEA9","peer_label":"Ambergris","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":"01KFNR89SDY1A6845GHQDK7XJ2","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89MAKMNZC9EHW87XG6D3","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.242Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.825Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}