{"id":"01KJNXJQVR8BFQ3910CZVD2Z7B","cid":"bafkreid3gnvnevyizh4afkrgyt2rnk242zgirmmn5tdka2e2bvogsg3z2y","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":235894,"char_start":227897,"chunk_index":32,"chunk_total":178,"estimated_tokens":2000,"source_file_key":"moby-dick","text":"but with what intent I could not for the life of me imagine. This\r\ncircumstance, coupled with his ambiguous, half-hinting, half-revealing,\r\nshrouded sort of talk, now begat in me all kinds of vague wonderments\r\nand half-apprehensions, and all connected with the Pequod; and Captain\r\nAhab; and the leg he had lost; and the Cape Horn fit; and the silver\r\ncalabash; and what Captain Peleg had said of him, when I left the ship\r\nthe day previous; and the prediction of the squaw Tistig; and the\r\nvoyage we had bound ourselves to sail; and a hundred other shadowy\r\nthings.\r\n\r\nI was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really\r\ndogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg,\r\nand on that side of it retraced our steps. But Elijah passed on,\r\nwithout seeming to notice us. This relieved me; and once more, and\r\nfinally as it seemed to me, I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 20. All Astir.\r\n\r\nA day or two passed, and there was great activity aboard the Pequod.\r\nNot only were the old sails being mended, but new sails were coming on\r\nboard, and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging; in short, everything\r\nbetokened that the ship’s preparations were hurrying to a close.\r\nCaptain Peleg seldom or never went ashore, but sat in his wigwam\r\nkeeping a sharp look-out upon the hands: Bildad did all the purchasing\r\nand providing at the stores; and the men employed in the hold and on\r\nthe rigging were working till long after night-fall.\r\n\r\nOn the day following Queequeg’s signing the articles, word was given at\r\nall the inns where the ship’s company were stopping, that their chests\r\nmust be on board before night, for there was no telling how soon the\r\nvessel might be sailing. So Queequeg and I got down our traps,\r\nresolving, however, to sleep ashore till the last. But it seems they\r\nalways give very long notice in these cases, and the ship did not sail\r\nfor several days. But no wonder; there was a good deal to be done, and\r\nthere is no telling how many things to be thought of, before the Pequod\r\nwas fully equipped.\r\n\r\nEvery one knows what a multitude of things—beds, sauce-pans, knives and\r\nforks, shovels and tongs, napkins, nut-crackers, and what not, are\r\nindispensable to the business of housekeeping. Just so with whaling,\r\nwhich necessitates a three-years’ housekeeping upon the wide ocean, far\r\nfrom all grocers, costermongers, doctors, bakers, and bankers. And\r\nthough this also holds true of merchant vessels, yet not by any means\r\nto the same extent as with whalemen. For besides the great length of\r\nthe whaling voyage, the numerous articles peculiar to the prosecution\r\nof the fishery, and the impossibility of replacing them at the remote\r\nharbors usually frequented, it must be remembered, that of all ships,\r\nwhaling vessels are the most exposed to accidents of all kinds, and\r\nespecially to the destruction and loss of the very things upon which\r\nthe success of the voyage most depends. Hence, the spare boats, spare\r\nspars, and spare lines and harpoons, and spare everythings, almost, but\r\na spare Captain and duplicate ship.\r\n\r\nAt the period of our arrival at the Island, the heaviest storage of the\r\nPequod had been almost completed; comprising her beef, bread, water,\r\nfuel, and iron hoops and staves. But, as before hinted, for some time\r\nthere was a continual fetching and carrying on board of divers odds and\r\nends of things, both large and small.\r\n\r\nChief among those who did this fetching and carrying was Captain\r\nBildad’s sister, a lean old lady of a most determined and indefatigable\r\nspirit, but withal very kindhearted, who seemed resolved that, if _she_\r\ncould help it, nothing should be found wanting in the Pequod, after\r\nonce fairly getting to sea. At one time she would come on board with a\r\njar of pickles for the steward’s pantry; another time with a bunch of\r\nquills for the chief mate’s desk, where he kept his log; a third time\r\nwith a roll of flannel for the small of some one’s rheumatic back.\r\nNever did any woman better deserve her name, which was Charity—Aunt\r\nCharity, as everybody called her. And like a sister of charity did this\r\ncharitable Aunt Charity bustle about hither and thither, ready to turn\r\nher hand and heart to anything that promised to yield safety, comfort,\r\nand consolation to all on board a ship in which her beloved brother\r\nBildad was concerned, and in which she herself owned a score or two of\r\nwell-saved dollars.\r\n\r\nBut it was startling to see this excellent hearted Quakeress coming on\r\nboard, as she did the last day, with a long oil-ladle in one hand, and\r\na still longer whaling lance in the other. Nor was Bildad himself nor\r\nCaptain Peleg at all backward. As for Bildad, he carried about with him\r\na long list of the articles needed, and at every fresh arrival, down\r\nwent his mark opposite that article upon the paper. Every once in a\r\nwhile Peleg came hobbling out of his whalebone den, roaring at the men\r\ndown the hatchways, roaring up to the riggers at the mast-head, and\r\nthen concluded by roaring back into his wigwam.\r\n\r\nDuring these days of preparation, Queequeg and I often visited the\r\ncraft, and as often I asked about Captain Ahab, and how he was, and\r\nwhen he was going to come on board his ship. To these questions they\r\nwould answer, that he was getting better and better, and was expected\r\naboard every day; meantime, the two captains, Peleg and Bildad, could\r\nattend to everything necessary to fit the vessel for the voyage. If I\r\nhad been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly\r\nin my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so\r\nlong a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the\r\nabsolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open\r\nsea. But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he\r\nbe already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up\r\nhis suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me. I\r\nsaid nothing, and tried to think nothing.\r\n\r\nAt last it was given out that some time next day the ship would\r\ncertainly sail. So next morning, Queequeg and I took a very early\r\nstart.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER 21. Going Aboard.\r\n\r\nIt was nearly six o’clock, but only grey imperfect misty dawn, when we\r\ndrew nigh the wharf.\r\n\r\n“There are some sailors running ahead there, if I see right,” said I to\r\nQueequeg, “it can’t be shadows; she’s off by sunrise, I guess; come\r\non!”\r\n\r\n“Avast!” cried a voice, whose owner at the same time coming close\r\nbehind us, laid a hand upon both our shoulders, and then insinuating\r\nhimself between us, stood stooping forward a little, in the uncertain\r\ntwilight, strangely peering from Queequeg to me. It was Elijah.\r\n\r\n“Going aboard?”\r\n\r\n“Hands off, will you,” said I.\r\n\r\n“Lookee here,” said Queequeg, shaking himself, “go ’way!”\r\n\r\n“Ain’t going aboard, then?”\r\n\r\n“Yes, we are,” said I, “but what business is that of yours? Do you\r\nknow, Mr. Elijah, that I consider you a little impertinent?”\r\n\r\n“No, no, no; I wasn’t aware of that,” said Elijah, slowly and\r\nwonderingly looking from me to Queequeg, with the most unaccountable\r\nglances.\r\n\r\n“Elijah,” said I, “you will oblige my friend and me by withdrawing. We\r\nare going to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and would prefer not to be\r\ndetained.”\r\n\r\n“Ye be, be ye? Coming back afore breakfast?”\r\n\r\n“He’s cracked, Queequeg,” said I, “come on.”\r\n\r\n“Holloa!” cried stationary Elijah, hailing us when we had removed a few\r\npaces.\r\n\r\n“Never mind him,” said I, “Queequeg, come on.”\r\n\r\nBut he stole up to us again, and suddenly clapping his hand on my\r\nshoulder, said—“Did ye see anything looking like men going towards that\r\nship a while ago?”\r\n\r\nStruck by this plain matter-of-fact question, I answered, saying, “Yes,\r\nI thought I did see four or five men; but it was too dim to be sure.”\r\n\r\n“Very dim, very dim,” said Elijah. “Morning to ye.”\r\n\r\nOnce more we quitted him; but once more he came softly after us; and\r\ntouching my shoulder again, "},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJNXEDHZCC8DR4EPSQD0QP4P","peer_label":"moby-dick","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJNXECF9R1EZKS5Z7J8A8ZSB","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJNXMCV8J37JHVK8J8PY15EG","peer_label":"captain peleg","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKZBGV5QSFPD19S2BQF68","peer_label":"captain ahab","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM7XRYP82EP8VTSG0825D","peer_label":"squaw tistig","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM77FXHT55A2F4G04WB1N","peer_label":"silver calabash","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"object","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKW3Z6GAC3QZ1MZC1PX63","peer_label":"pequod","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"whaling_ship","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKXNA6Q7NV244AJQKVXKZ","peer_label":"queequeg","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKZS3F241A0K454CA5ZZ8","peer_label":"elijah","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXM0KAVM1XQ5P2RXRFTSHJ","peer_label":"bildad","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXMT7X3H644A0BKW9ZRPEH","peer_label":"whaling","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"industry","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXKYSYE2013WYH67YVH3RW","peer_label":"pacific ocean","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"body_of_water","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN8KRQVW45RNRM092SZZK","peer_label":"cape horn fit","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"medical_event","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN90NZD85FK2648CG84GW","peer_label":"chapter 20","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFAT9H3EB4RBP75EHQ3F","peer_label":"oil-ladle","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"tool","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXN8PYBJF3B35BCJ79KGX4","peer_label":"aunt charity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFAVTT62A0JCKFFSYBXQ","peer_label":"whalebone den","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"location","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFP5JW96AHG9PPJZ2HQG","peer_label":"whaling vessels","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ship_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXQ0R314EBZQFN8M0E0KSF","peer_label":"chapter 21","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document_section","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFASRDSGFMQPTV2RV9PN","peer_label":"whaling lance","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"weapon","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXR4KX4TEEZBBDNAAJVY8H","peer_label":"indian ocean","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"body_of_water","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXRG80D8RF0MVJAWYHE5PS","peer_label":"wharf","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"location","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}},{"peer":"01KJNXNFATJ6ZGCH9BCBDXHDXB","peer_label":"pequods voyage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T00:08:07.165Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T00:01:15.640Z","ts":"2026-03-02T00:08:09.007Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}