{"id":"01KG8AP9343VY6JPPHQ0C0V2W9","cid":"bafkreigdr2hn7gkeuvnf2ovyzl43q7ux5clgqgits4ployyjo3ldhg7nhy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":16956,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.771Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":16898,"text":"perpendicular ladder of nailed cleets there, and swinging towards him a\r\npair of tastefully-ornamented man-ropes; for at first they did not seem\r\nto bethink them that a one-legged man must be too much of a cripple to\r\nuse their sea bannisters. But this awkwardness only lasted a minute,\r\nbecause the strange captain, observing at a glance how affairs stood,\r\ncried out, “I see, I see!—avast heaving there! Jump, boys, and swing\r\nover the cutting-tackle.”\r\n\r\nAs good luck would have it, they had had a whale alongside a day or two\r\nprevious, and the great tackles were still aloft, and the massive\r\ncurved blubber-hook, now clean and dry, was still attached to the end.\r\nThis was quickly lowered to Ahab, who at once comprehending it all,\r\nslid his solitary thigh into the curve of the hook (it was like sitting\r\nin the fluke of an anchor, or the crotch of an apple tree), and then\r\ngiving the word, held himself fast, and at the same time also helped to\r\nhoist his own weight, by pulling hand-over-hand upon one of the running\r\nparts of the tackle. Soon he was carefully swung inside the high\r\nbulwarks, and gently landed upon the capstan head. With his ivory arm\r\nfrankly thrust forth in welcome, the other captain advanced, and Ahab,\r\nputting out his ivory leg, and crossing the ivory arm (like two\r\nsword-fish blades) cried out in his walrus way, “Aye, aye, hearty! let\r\nus shake bones together!—an arm and a leg!—an arm that never can\r\nshrink, d’ye see; and a leg that never can run. Where did’st thou see\r\nthe White Whale?—how long ago?”\r\n\r\n“The White Whale,” said the Englishman, pointing his ivory arm towards\r\nthe East, and taking a rueful sight along it, as if it had been a\r\ntelescope; “there I saw him, on the Line, last season.”\r\n\r\n“And he took that arm off, did he?” asked Ahab, now sliding down from\r\nthe capstan, and resting on the Englishman’s shoulder, as he did so.\r\n\r\n“Aye, he was the cause of it, at least; and that leg, too?”\r\n\r\n“Spin me the yarn,” said Ahab; “how was it?”\r\n\r\n“It was the first time in my life that I ever cruised on the Line,”\r\nbegan the Englishman. “I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time.\r\nWell, one day we lowered for a pod of four or five whales, and my boat\r\nfastened to one of them; a regular circus horse he was, too, that went\r\nmilling and milling round so, that my boat’s crew could only trim dish,\r\nby sitting all their sterns on the outer gunwale. Presently up breaches\r\nfrom the bottom of the sea a bouncing great whale, with a milky-white\r\nhead and hump, all crows’ feet and wrinkles.”\r\n\r\n“It was he, it was he!” cried Ahab, suddenly letting out his suspended\r\nbreath.\r\n\r\n“And harpoons sticking in near his starboard fin.”\r\n\r\n“Aye, aye—they were mine—_my_ irons,” cried Ahab, exultingly—“but on!”\r\n\r\n“Give me a chance, then,” said the Englishman, good-humoredly. “Well,\r\nthis old great-grandfather, with the white head and hump, runs all\r\nafoam into the pod, and goes to snapping furiously at my fast-line!\r\n\r\n“Aye, I see!—wanted to part it; free the fast-fish—an old trick—I know\r\nhim.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AMA8Z3SXF809T8S42QJDB","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP9345MK91DEV7GYJYMH4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP934V5ECXXY0D3WZAPFX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:37.380Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:54.338Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}