{"id":"01KFNR8BC6VX1TEDH3RFNHN0TB","cid":"bafkreifjzequ5qfgv2pvmjruaohufvbq2khot3xkc4e7h4ldyt2ubfn7dy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":17142,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.396Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":17067,"text":"that club-hammer there put to the end, to knock some one’s brains out\r\nwith, I suppose, as he tried mine once. He flies into diabolical\r\npassions sometimes. Do ye see this dent, sir”—removing his hat, and\r\nbrushing aside his hair, and exposing a bowl-like cavity in his skull,\r\nbut which bore not the slightest scarry trace, or any token of ever\r\nhaving been a wound—“Well, the captain there will tell you how that\r\ncame here; he knows.”\r\n\r\n“No, I don’t,” said the captain, “but his mother did; he was born with\r\nit. Oh, you solemn rogue, you—you Bunger! was there ever such another\r\nBunger in the watery world? Bunger, when you die, you ought to die in\r\npickle, you dog; you should be preserved to future ages, you rascal.”\r\n\r\n“What became of the White Whale?” now cried Ahab, who thus far had been\r\nimpatiently listening to this by-play between the two Englishmen.\r\n\r\n“Oh!” cried the one-armed captain, “oh, yes! Well; after he sounded, we\r\ndidn’t see him again for some time; in fact, as I before hinted, I\r\ndidn’t then know what whale it was that had served me such a trick,\r\ntill some time afterwards, when coming back to the Line, we heard about\r\nMoby Dick—as some call him—and then I knew it was he.”\r\n\r\n“Did’st thou cross his wake again?”\r\n\r\n“Twice.”\r\n\r\n“But could not fasten?”\r\n\r\n“Didn’t want to try to: ain’t one limb enough? What should I do without\r\nthis other arm? And I’m thinking Moby Dick doesn’t bite so much as he\r\nswallows.”\r\n\r\n“Well, then,” interrupted Bunger, “give him your left arm for bait to\r\nget the right. Do you know, gentlemen”—very gravely and mathematically\r\nbowing to each Captain in succession—“Do you know, gentlemen, that the\r\ndigestive organs of the whale are so inscrutably constructed by Divine\r\nProvidence, that it is quite impossible for him to completely digest\r\neven a man’s arm? And he knows it too. So that what you take for the\r\nWhite Whale’s malice is only his awkwardness. For he never means to\r\nswallow a single limb; he only thinks to terrify by feints. But\r\nsometimes he is like the old juggling fellow, formerly a patient of\r\nmine in Ceylon, that making believe swallow jack-knives, once upon a\r\ntime let one drop into him in good earnest, and there it stayed for a\r\ntwelvemonth or more; when I gave him an emetic, and he heaved it up in\r\nsmall tacks, d’ye see. No possible way for him to digest that\r\njack-knife, and fully incorporate it into his general bodily system.\r\nYes, Captain Boomer, if you are quick enough about it, and have a mind\r\nto pawn one arm for the sake of the privilege of giving decent burial\r\nto the other, why in that case the arm is yours; only let the whale\r\nhave another chance at you shortly, that’s all.”\r\n\r\n“No, thank ye, Bunger,” said the English Captain, “he’s welcome to the\r\narm he has, since I can’t help it, and didn’t know him then; but not to\r\nanother one. No more White Whales for me; I’ve lowered for him once,\r\nand that has satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I\r\nknow that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark\r\nye, he’s best let alone; don’t you think so, Captain?”—glancing at the\r\nivory leg.\r\n\r\n“He is. But he will still be hunted, for all that. What is best let\r\nalone, that accursed thing is not always what least allures. He’s all a\r\nmagnet! How long since thou saw’st him last? Which way heading?”\r\n\r\n“Bless my soul, and curse the foul fiend’s,” cried Bunger, stoopingly\r\nwalking round Ahab, and like a dog, strangely snuffing; “this man’s\r\nblood—bring the thermometer!—it’s at the boiling point!—his pulse makes\r\nthese planks beat!—sir!”—taking a lancet from his pocket, and drawing\r\nnear to Ahab’s arm.\r\n\r\n“Avast!” roared Ahab, dashing him against the bulwarks—“Man the boat!\r\nWhich way heading?”\r\n\r\n“Good God!” cried the English Captain, to whom the question was put.\r\n“What’s the matter? He was heading east, I think.—Is your Captain\r\ncrazy?” whispering Fedallah.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR849R93YVRZV44VYTQ6VY","peer_label":"The Doubloon","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR849R93YVRZV44VYTQ6VY","peer_label":"The Doubloon","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":"01KFNR8BBT3ZZATNPY0CJ8VBK7","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8BCA9YBZED6J914NNDZ4","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:06.997Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.639Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}