Moby Dick; Or, The Whale
Page 47
CHAPTER 46
Surmises
Though, consumed with the hot fire of his purpose, Ahab in all histhoughts and actions ever had in view the ultimate capture of Moby Dick;though he seemed ready to sacrifice all mortal interests to thatone passion; nevertheless it may have been that he was by natureand long habituation far too wedded to a fiery whaleman's ways,altogether to abandon the collateral prosecution of the voyage.Or at least if this were otherwise, there were not wanting othermotives much more influential with him. It would be refiningtoo much, perhaps, even considering his monomania, to hint that hisvindictiveness towards the White Whale might have possibly extendeditself in some degree to all sperm whales, and that the more monstershe slew by so much the more he multiplied the chances that eachsubsequently encountered whale would prove to be the hated one he hunted.But if such an hypothesis be indeed exceptionable, there were stilladditional considerations which, though not so strictly accordingwith the wildness of his ruling passion, yet were by no meansincapable of swaying him.
To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools usedin the shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order.He knew, for example, that however magnetic his ascendency in somerespects was over Starbuck, yet that ascendency did not coverthe complete spiritual man any more than mere corporeal superiorityinvolves intellectual mastership; for to the purely spiritual,the intellectual but stand in a sort of corporeal relation.Starbuck's body and Starbuck's coerced will were Ahab's, so long as Ahabkept his magnet at Starbuck's brain; still he knew that for all thisthe chief mate, in his soul, abhorred his captain's quest, and could he,would joyfully disintegrate himself from it, or even frustrate it.It might be that a long interval would elapse ere the White Whalewas seen. During that long interval Starbuck would ever be apt to fallinto open relapses of rebellion against his captain's leadership,unless some ordinary, prudential, circumstantial influences were broughtto bear upon him. Not only that, but the subtle insanity of Ahabrespecting Moby Dick was noways more significantly manifested than in hissuperlative sense and shrewdness in foreseeing that, for the present,the hunt should in some way be stripped of that strange imaginativeimpiousness which naturally invested it; that the full terror of thevoyage must be kept withdrawn into the obscure background (for few men'scourage is proof against protracted meditation unrelieved by action);that when they stood their long night watches, his officers and men musthave some nearer things to think of than Moby Dick. For however eagerlyand impetuously the savage crew had hailed the announcement of his quest;yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable--they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness--and when retained for any object remote and blank in the pursuit,however promissory of life and passion in the end, it is above all thingsrequisite that temporary interests and employments should interveneand hold them healthily suspended for the final dash.
Nor was Ahab unmindful of another thing. In times of strong emotionmankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent.The permanent constitutional condition of the manufactured man,thought Ahab, is sordidness. Granting that the White Whale fullyincites the hearts of this my savage crew, and playing roundtheir savageness even breeds a certain generous knight-errantismin them, still, while for the love of it they give chase to Moby Dick,they must also have food for their more common, daily appetites.For even the high lifted and chivalric Crusaders of old timeswere not content to traverse two thousand miles of land to fightfor their holy sepulchre, without committing burglaries,picking pockets, and gaining other pious perquisites by the way.Had they been strictly held to their one final and romantic object--that final and romantic object, too many would have turnedfrom in disgust. I will not strip these men, thought Ahab,of all hopes of cash--aye, cash. They may scorn cash now;but let some months go by, and no perspective promise of it to them,and then this same quiescent cash all at once mutinying in them,this same cash would soon cashier Ahab.
Nor was there wanting still another precautionary motive morerelated to Ahab personally. Having impulsively, it is probable,and perhaps somewhat prematurely revealed the prime but privatepurpose of the Pequod's voyage, Ahab was now entirely conscious that,in so doing, he had indirectly laid himself open to the unanswerablecharge of usurpation; and with perfect impunity, both moral and legal,his crew if so disposed, and to that end competent, could refuse allfurther obedience to him, and even violently wrest from him the command.From even the barely hinted imputation of usurpation, and the possibleconsequences of such a suppressed impression gaining ground,Ahab must of course have been most anxious to protect himself.That protection could only consist in his own predominating brainand heart and hand, backed by a heedful, closely calculating attentionto every minute atmospheric influence which it was possible for hiscrew to be subjected to.
For all these reasons then, and others perhaps too analytic to be verballydeveloped here, Ahab plainly saw that he must still in a good degreecontinue true to the natural, nominal purpose of the Pequod's voyage;observe all customary usages; and not only that, but force himselfto evince all his well known passionate interest in the general pursuitof his profession.
Be all this as it may, his voice was now often heardhailing the three mastheads and admonishing them to keepa bright look-out, and not omit reporting even a porpoise.This vigilance was not long without reward.