{"id":"01KJNXJQV7FZVN5GYF1KJEYWCJ","cid":"bafkreibcyu5ldvlk7gllrdkezhktbhidxszsnnwuxk2ka6eldh3fo44dg4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":193253,"char_start":185433,"chunk_index":26,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":1955,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"veriest of all trifles—Captain Bildad had not only been originally\r\neducated according to the strictest sect of Nantucket Quakerism, but\r\nall his subsequent ocean life, and the sight of many unclad, lovely\r\nisland creatures, round the Horn—all that had not moved this native\r\nborn Quaker one single jot, had not so much as altered one angle of his\r\nvest. Still, for all this immutableness, was there some lack of common\r\nconsistency about worthy Captain Bildad. Though refusing, from\r\nconscientious scruples, to bear arms against land invaders, yet himself\r\nhad illimitably invaded the Atlantic and Pacific; and though a sworn\r\nfoe to human bloodshed, yet had he in his straight-bodied coat, spilled\r\ntuns upon tuns of leviathan gore. How now in the contemplative evening\r\nof his days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the\r\nreminiscence, I do not know; but it did not seem to concern him much,\r\nand very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible\r\nconclusion that a man’s religion is one thing, and this practical world\r\nquite another. This world pays dividends. Rising from a little\r\ncabin-boy in short clothes of the drabbest drab, to a harpooneer in a\r\nbroad shad-bellied waistcoat; from that becoming boat-header,\r\nchief-mate, and captain, and finally a ship owner; Bildad, as I hinted\r\nbefore, had concluded his adventurous career by wholly retiring from\r\nactive life at the goodly age of sixty, and dedicating his remaining\r\ndays to the quiet receiving of his well-earned income.\r\n\r\nNow, Bildad, I am sorry to say, had the reputation of being an\r\nincorrigible old hunks, and in his sea-going days, a bitter, hard\r\ntask-master. They told me in Nantucket, though it certainly seems a\r\ncurious story, that when he sailed the old Categut whaleman, his crew,\r\nupon arriving home, were mostly all carried ashore to the hospital,\r\nsore exhausted and worn out. For a pious man, especially for a Quaker,\r\nhe was certainly rather hard-hearted, to say the least. He never used\r\nto swear, though, at his men, they said; but somehow he got an\r\ninordinate quantity of cruel, unmitigated hard work out of them. When\r\nBildad was a chief-mate, to have his drab-coloured eye intently looking\r\nat you, made you feel completely nervous, till you could clutch\r\nsomething—a hammer or a marling-spike, and go to work like mad, at\r\nsomething or other, never mind what. Indolence and idleness perished\r\nbefore him. His own person was the exact embodiment of his utilitarian\r\ncharacter. On his long, gaunt body, he carried no spare flesh, no\r\nsuperfluous beard, his chin having a soft, economical nap to it, like\r\nthe worn nap of his broad-brimmed hat.\r\n\r\nSuch, then, was the person that I saw seated on the transom when I\r\nfollowed Captain Peleg down into the cabin. The space between the decks\r\nwas small; and there, bolt-upright, sat old Bildad, who always sat so,\r\nand never leaned, and this to save his coat tails. His broad-brim was\r\nplaced beside him; his legs were stiffly crossed; his drab vesture was\r\nbuttoned up to his chin; and spectacles on nose, he seemed absorbed in\r\nreading from a ponderous volume.\r\n\r\n“Bildad,” cried Captain Peleg, “at it again, Bildad, eh? Ye have been\r\nstudying those Scriptures, now, for the last thirty years, to my\r\ncertain knowledge. How far ye got, Bildad?”\r\n\r\nAs if long habituated to such profane talk from his old shipmate,\r\nBildad, without noticing his present irreverence, quietly looked up,\r\nand seeing me, glanced again inquiringly towards Peleg.\r\n\r\n“He says he’s our man, Bildad,” said Peleg, “he wants to ship.”\r\n\r\n“Dost thee?” said Bildad, in a hollow tone, and turning round to me.\r\n\r\n“I _dost_,” said I unconsciously, he was so intense a Quaker.\r\n\r\n“What do ye think of him, Bildad?” said Peleg.\r\n\r\n“He’ll do,” said Bildad, eyeing me, and then went on spelling away at\r\nhis book in a mumbling tone quite audible.\r\n\r\nI thought him the queerest old Quaker I ever saw, especially as Peleg,\r\nhis friend and old shipmate, seemed such a blusterer. But I said\r\nnothing, only looking round me sharply. Peleg now threw open a chest,\r\nand drawing forth the ship’s articles, placed pen and ink before him,\r\nand seated himself at a little table. I began to think it was high time\r\nto settle with myself at what terms I would be willing to engage for\r\nthe voyage. I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid\r\nno wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares\r\nof the profits called _lays_, and that these lays were proportioned to\r\nthe degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the\r\nship’s company. I was also aware that being a green hand at whaling, my\r\nown lay would not be very large; but considering that I was used to the\r\nsea, could steer a ship, splice a rope, and all that, I made no doubt\r\nthat from all I had heard I should be offered at least the 275th\r\nlay—that is, the 275th part of the clear net proceeds of the voyage,\r\nwhatever that might eventually amount to. And though the 275th lay was\r\nwhat they call a rather _long lay_, yet it was better than nothing; and\r\nif we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I\r\nwould wear out on it, not to speak of my three years’ beef and board,\r\nfor which I would not have to pay one stiver.\r\n\r\nIt might be thought that this was a poor way to accumulate a princely\r\nfortune—and so it was, a very poor way indeed. But I am one of those\r\nthat never take on about princely fortunes, and am quite content if the\r\nworld is ready to board and lodge me, while I am putting up at this\r\ngrim sign of the Thunder Cloud. Upon the whole, I thought that the\r\n275th lay would be about the fair thing, but would not have been\r\nsurprised had I been offered the 200th, considering I was of a\r\nbroad-shouldered make.\r\n\r\nBut one thing, nevertheless, that made me a little distrustful about\r\nreceiving a generous share of the profits was this: Ashore, I had heard\r\nsomething of both Captain Peleg and his unaccountable old crony Bildad;\r\nhow that they being the principal proprietors of the Pequod, therefore\r\nthe other and more inconsiderable and scattered owners, left nearly the\r\nwhole management of the ship’s affairs to these two. And I did not know\r\nbut what the stingy old Bildad might have a mighty deal to say about\r\nshipping hands, especially as I now found him on board the Pequod,\r\nquite at home there in the cabin, and reading his Bible as if at his\r\nown fireside. Now while Peleg was vainly trying to mend a pen with his\r\njack-knife, old Bildad, to my no small surprise, considering that he\r\nwas such an interested party in these proceedings; Bildad never heeded\r\nus, but went on mumbling to himself out of his book, “_Lay_ not up for\r\nyourselves treasures upon earth, where moth—”\r\n\r\n“Well, Captain Bildad,” interrupted Peleg, “what d’ye say, what lay\r\nshall we give this young man?”\r\n\r\n“Thou knowest best,” was the sepulchral reply, “the seven hundred and\r\nseventy-seventh wouldn’t be too much, would it?—‘where moth and rust do\r\ncorrupt, but _lay_—’”\r\n\r\n_Lay_, indeed, thought I, and such a lay! the seven hundred and\r\nseventy-seventh! Well, old Bildad, you are determined that I, for one,\r\nshall not _lay_ up many _lays_ here below, where moth and rust do\r\ncorrupt. It was an exceedingly _long lay_ that, indeed; and though from\r\nthe magnitude of the figure it might at first deceive a landsman, yet\r\nthe slightest consideration will show that though seven hundred and\r\nseventy-seven is a pretty large number, yet, when you come to make a\r\n_teenth_ of it, you will then see, I say, that the seven hundred and\r\nseventy-seventh part of a farthing is a good deal less than seven\r\nhundred and seventy-seven gold doubloons; and so I thought at the time.\r\n\r\n“Why, blast your eyes, Bildad,” cried Peleg, “thou dost not want to\r\nswindle this young man!"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJNXMDQG9WEV31NH20Y2EVZX","peer_label":"captain bildad","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMCV8J37JHVK8J8PY15EG","peer_label":"captain peleg","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKSZYY4PZZGTPZ89W34AF","peer_label":"narrator","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKW3Z6GAC3QZ1MZC1PX63","peer_label":"pequod","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"whaling_ship","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM0JB8X434MFAF01T0KJY","peer_label":"bible","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"book","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMY18Y4STZ600PW5F7YYS","peer_label":"pacific ocean","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"geographic_feature","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN7SNM5B41FFR8DSZ6S74","peer_label":"nantucket quakerism","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_sect","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNDVBD5YMKFEXTMSYGM4V","peer_label":"ships articles","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN7F7PSE9HAJZM2R97P82","peer_label":"leviathan gore","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN91FJZ9PQ62D8B7N3CG7","peer_label":"atlantic ocean","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"geographic_feature","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN9353W7TK1WNVQJQ5FP1","peer_label":"categut whaleman","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"whaling_ship","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFH242CQAFDG3WX9FVKE","peer_label":"275th lay","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"lay_share","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN9Z6DQMEBVVCD0Q8VK7S","peer_label":"lays","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"payment_system","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFZVKPX00RH99WSNRJWW","peer_label":"777th lay","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"lay_share","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:07:25.889Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:15.623Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:07:45.256Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}