{"id":"01KFNR8B8QCXS23MVRMWVS4JY3","cid":"bafkreiazc4xzv5rquu4zmhuumejayjnx66oblakvvx6v4qfd5abvwicyia","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":19854,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.411Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":19779,"text":"“Men,” said he, steadily turning upon the crew, as the mate handed him\r\nthe things he had demanded, “my men, the thunder turned old Ahab’s\r\nneedles; but out of this bit of steel Ahab can make one of his own,\r\nthat will point as true as any.”\r\n\r\nAbashed glances of servile wonder were exchanged by the sailors, as\r\nthis was said; and with fascinated eyes they awaited whatever magic\r\nmight follow. But Starbuck looked away.\r\n\r\nWith a blow from the top-maul Ahab knocked off the steel head of the\r\nlance, and then handing to the mate the long iron rod remaining, bade\r\nhim hold it upright, without its touching the deck. Then, with the\r\nmaul, after repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod, he\r\nplaced the blunted needle endwise on the top of it, and less strongly\r\nhammered that, several times, the mate still holding the rod as before.\r\nThen going through some small strange motions with it—whether\r\nindispensable to the magnetizing of the steel, or merely intended to\r\naugment the awe of the crew, is uncertain—he called for linen thread;\r\nand moving to the binnacle, slipped out the two reversed needles there,\r\nand horizontally suspended the sail-needle by its middle, over one of\r\nthe compass-cards. At first, the steel went round and round, quivering\r\nand vibrating at either end; but at last it settled to its place, when\r\nAhab, who had been intently watching for this result, stepped frankly\r\nback from the binnacle, and pointing his stretched arm towards it,\r\nexclaimed,—“Look ye, for yourselves, if Ahab be not lord of the level\r\nloadstone! The sun is East, and that compass swears it!”\r\n\r\nOne after another they peered in, for nothing but their own eyes could\r\npersuade such ignorance as theirs, and one after another they slunk\r\naway.\r\n\r\nIn his fiery eyes of scorn and triumph, you then saw Ahab in all his\r\nfatal pride.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 125. The Log and Line.\r\n\r\nWhile now the fated Pequod had been so long afloat this voyage, the log\r\nand line had but very seldom been in use. Owing to a confident reliance\r\nupon other means of determining the vessel’s place, some merchantmen,\r\nand many whalemen, especially when cruising, wholly neglect to heave\r\nthe log; though at the same time, and frequently more for form’s sake\r\nthan anything else, regularly putting down upon the customary slate the\r\ncourse steered by the ship, as well as the presumed average rate of\r\nprogression every hour. It had been thus with the Pequod. The wooden\r\nreel and angular log attached hung, long untouched, just beneath the\r\nrailing of the after bulwarks. Rains and spray had damped it; sun and\r\nwind had warped it; all the elements had combined to rot a thing that\r\nhung so idly. But heedless of all this, his mood seized Ahab, as he\r\nhappened to glance upon the reel, not many hours after the magnet\r\nscene, and he remembered how his quadrant was no more, and recalled his\r\nfrantic oath about the level log and line. The ship was sailing\r\nplungingly; astern the billows rolled in riots.\r\n\r\n“Forward, there! Heave the log!”\r\n\r\nTwo seamen came. The golden-hued Tahitian and the grizzly Manxman.\r\n“Take the reel, one of ye, I’ll heave.”\r\n\r\nThey went towards the extreme stern, on the ship’s lee side, where the\r\ndeck, with the oblique energy of the wind, was now almost dipping into\r\nthe creamy, sidelong-rushing sea.\r\n\r\nThe Manxman took the reel, and holding it high up, by the projecting\r\nhandle-ends of the spindle, round which the spool of line revolved, so\r\nstood with the angular log hanging downwards, till Ahab advanced to\r\nhim.\r\n\r\nAhab stood before him, and was lightly unwinding some thirty or forty\r\nturns to form a preliminary hand-coil to toss overboard, when the old\r\nManxman, who was intently eyeing both him and the line, made bold to\r\nspeak.\r\n\r\n“Sir, I mistrust it; this line looks far gone, long heat and wet have\r\nspoiled it.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR85HB8J447E0DZTW7DRQ6","peer_label":"125","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR85HB8J447E0DZTW7DRQ6","peer_label":"125","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":"01KFNR8B66G8B4199FG7CDM2CF","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8BB7BT9F8HN96TGS3ZC4","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:07.008Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:18.920Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}