{"id":"01KFNR8CGRVZ1205K3NYYSTCN5","cid":"bafkreig6csqwaiuuzgudj6fdqv3d5ijlvi7lstdjtzjhbbowaiyshfmd2i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":21848,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:07.810Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":21777,"text":"been tossed into the sea. As it was, three of the oarsmen—who foreknew\r\nnot the precise instant of the dart, and were therefore unprepared for\r\nits effects—these were flung out; but so fell, that, in an instant two\r\nof them clutched the gunwale again, and rising to its level on a\r\ncombing wave, hurled themselves bodily inboard again; the third man\r\nhelplessly dropping astern, but still afloat and swimming.\r\n\r\nAlmost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated,\r\ninstantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering\r\nsea. But when Ahab cried out to the steersman to take new turns with\r\nthe line, and hold it so; and commanded the crew to turn round on their\r\nseats, and tow the boat up to the mark; the moment the treacherous line\r\nfelt that double strain and tug, it snapped in the empty air!\r\n\r\n“What breaks in me? Some sinew cracks!—’tis whole again; oars! oars!\r\nBurst in upon him!”\r\n\r\nHearing the tremendous rush of the sea-crashing boat, the whale wheeled\r\nround to present his blank forehead at bay; but in that evolution,\r\ncatching sight of the nearing black hull of the ship; seemingly seeing\r\nin it the source of all his persecutions; bethinking it—it may be—a\r\nlarger and nobler foe; of a sudden, he bore down upon its advancing\r\nprow, smiting his jaws amid fiery showers of foam.\r\n\r\nAhab staggered; his hand smote his forehead. “I grow blind; hands!\r\nstretch out before me that I may yet grope my way. Is’t night?”\r\n\r\n“The whale! The ship!” cried the cringing oarsmen.\r\n\r\n“Oars! oars! Slope downwards to thy depths, O sea, that ere it be for\r\never too late, Ahab may slide this last, last time upon his mark! I\r\nsee: the ship! the ship! Dash on, my men! Will ye not save my ship?”\r\n\r\nBut as the oarsmen violently forced their boat through the\r\nsledge-hammering seas, the before whale-smitten bow-ends of two planks\r\nburst through, and in an instant almost, the temporarily disabled boat\r\nlay nearly level with the waves; its half-wading, splashing crew,\r\ntrying hard to stop the gap and bale out the pouring water.\r\n\r\nMeantime, for that one beholding instant, Tashtego’s mast-head hammer\r\nremained suspended in his hand; and the red flag, half-wrapping him as\r\nwith a plaid, then streamed itself straight out from him, as his own\r\nforward-flowing heart; while Starbuck and Stubb, standing upon the\r\nbowsprit beneath, caught sight of the down-coming monster just as soon\r\nas he.\r\n\r\n“The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of\r\nair, now hug me close! Let not Starbuck die, if die he must, in a\r\nwoman’s fainting fit. Up helm, I say—ye fools, the jaw! the jaw! Is\r\nthis the end of all my bursting prayers? all my life-long fidelities?\r\nOh, Ahab, Ahab, lo, thy work. Steady! helmsman, steady. Nay, nay! Up\r\nhelm again! He turns to meet us! Oh, his unappeasable brow drives on\r\ntowards one, whose duty tells him he cannot depart. My God, stand by me\r\nnow!”\r\n\r\n“Stand not by me, but stand under me, whoever you are that will now\r\nhelp Stubb; for Stubb, too, sticks here. I grin at thee, thou grinning\r\nwhale! Who ever helped Stubb, or kept Stubb awake, but Stubb’s own\r\nunwinking eye? And now poor Stubb goes to bed upon a mattrass that is\r\nall too soft; would it were stuffed with brushwood! I grin at thee,\r\nthou grinning whale! Look ye, sun, moon, and stars! I call ye assassins\r\nof as good a fellow as ever spouted up his ghost. For all that, I would\r\nyet ring glasses with ye, would ye but hand the cup! Oh, oh! oh, oh!\r\nthou grinning whale, but there’ll be plenty of gulping soon! Why fly ye\r\nnot, O Ahab! For me, off shoes and jacket to it; let Stubb die in his\r\ndrawers! A most mouldy and over salted death, though;—cherries!\r\ncherries! cherries! Oh, Flask, for one red cherry ere we die!”\r\n\r\n“Cherries? I only wish that we were where they grow. Oh, Stubb, I hope\r\nmy poor mother’s drawn my part-pay ere this; if not, few coppers will\r\nnow come to her, for the voyage is up.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR85GMZ5CEWAKR35G2W28B","peer_label":"135","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR85GMZ5CEWAKR35G2W28B","peer_label":"135","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":"01KFNR8CGEWY66GMTNX72GZDTG","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR8B5NYVY20VSKN52PG6R1","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:08.309Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:19.076Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}