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CHAPTER 13 The End

On the morning of the third day the sun shone in the blue sky and the ocean shone in the sunlight. The Pequod sailed well. It was the most beautiful day, but the saddest day.

“On the third day he’ll come,” Captain Ahab said again and again.

He sat high up in the sails and watched. He looked better now. He looked strong again.

After forty years on the ocean Captain Ahab understood whales well. “Why don’t we see him? Ah! We’re going too fast,” he said. “Moby Dick has our harpoons and ropes in him. He can’t swim fast. Turn around. We’ll go back for him.”

“Look at Captain Ahab. He’s running to his death,” said Starbuck sadly.

“There he is!” shouted Captain Ahab after two hours.

And there was Moby Dick.

Starbuck spoke quietly. “How are you, Mary? How’s our boy?”

Why did he speak to his wife? Did he know’ something? Was this the end?

Captain Ahab thought only of Moby Dick. He shouted happily at the whale: “You and I had to meet. We had to fight. Now is our time!”

Captain Ahab climbed down from the sails. He couldn’t walk without his whalebone leg, so Starbuck helped him.

“Will you watch our ship when I fight Moby Dick?” Captain Ahab asked Starbuck.

“Captain, don’t go,” said Starbuck.

“Take my hand,” said Captain Ahab. “Can we be friends now —at the end?”

“Oh, Captain!” Starbuck cried.

We only had one whaling boat now, so many men had to stay on the ship. Queequeg stayed, but I had to go on the boat with Captain Ahab and the other men.

“Be careful, my friend,” Queequeg said to me.

When our boat went down to the water, we saw young Pip’s face in the window of Captain Ahab’s room. His eyes were large and sad. He shouted to Captain Ahab, “Please don’t go! Please don’t leave me!”

We sat in our boat all day. The men didn’t speak. Captain Ahab didn’t speak. We watched and waited.

Then the water began to move.

“It’s time,” said Captain Ahab. “Get ready for the greatest fight of your lives.”

Moby Dick came to the top of the water. Then he slowly swam to our boat. He swam near us for some minutes. Then, suddenly, he turned his body around and hit the boat hard. It broke and water started to come in. We got down on the floor of the boat and tried to stop the water.

Then Captain Ahab suddenly cried. “Aghhhh!”

In front of us was Fedallah! We could see our ropes around Moby Dick’s body and Fedallah’s dead body was in the ropes. One of Fedallah’s arms was free. It went up and down when the whale swam past us. His eyes were open and water came out of his mouth.

We stood up. We wanted to run away, but we were in the boat.

“Sit DOWN!” Captain Ahab shouted at us. “Don’t leave this boat or I’ll throw a harpoon at you! ROW!”

Captain Ahab tried to stand up in the boat, but he couldn’t with only one leg. “Give me a harpoon!” he said angrily.

Moby Dick slowed down again and waited. Did this animal think? Did it plan?

Captain Ahab spoke again. “Row near him. Don’t speak. Don’t make a sound.’’

When we went near, the whale sent up showers of water. The water rained down on us. We couldn’t see, but we were very near. I put out my hand and felt his cold body!

Captain Ahab threw his harpoon. The whale moved when it hit his body. It hurt him. He was angry. He turned and hit the boat again. I fell into the water. Our sails were up and the wind carried the boat away. I shouted, but the boat couldn’t stop. They had to leave me there in the water.

The boat sailed fast. The water came in and the men tried to stop it. Captain Ahab’s eyes were on the ocean. He didn’t see Moby Dick come again.

Flask suddenly shouted, “The ship! Moby Dick’s going to hit the Pequod\”

“Row! Help the ship!” shouted Captain Ahab.

The men rowed as quickly as they could. I saw Queequeg on the Pequod. He was at the top of the sails. I saw the other men too. When they saw Moby Dick, they ran away. Some of them jumped from the ship, but Queequeg didn’t move. He stayed there and watched the whale.

Moby Dick hit the Pequod. The noise was very loud. Then everything went quiet. Water ran through the ship.

I could hear Starbuck. He shouted at Captain Ahab, “You did this to us. Captain Ahab! God help us!”

Then I saw Daggoo and Stubb. Stubb took off his coat and shoes so he could swim.

Moby Dick didn’t swim away. He waited. Then he swam between the Pequod and the whaling boat. The men in the boat looked at Captain Ahab. He looked old and tired, but his head was high. He spoke to the men.

“The Pequotfs going down,” lie said. “It’s the best ship in this ocean and I’m not with my ship. That’s very sad. A good captain has to be with his ship at the end. ‘Then Captain Ahab’s face was suddenly angry. He slowly brought his harpoon up. When he talked to the white whale, his face was the face of the Devil.

“You can kill me, but you CANNOT WIN!”

He threw the harpoon hard and fast. It hit Moby Dick below his small black eye. The whale turned and swam fast. He pulled the small boat behind him at the end of the harpoon rope. The men fell down in the boat.

Captain Ahab took out his knife and tried to cut the rope. But before he could cut it, the rope went around his body. It pulled him up and out of the boat! One minute he was there— the next minute he wasn’t. There was no shout—no cry—not one word.

Suddenly the rope broke. Moby Dick was free and the boat stopped moving. The men sat for a minute with open mouths. Then some of them jumped into the ocean. They swam around the boat and tried to find Captain Ahab. But they couldn’t see him and after some time they climbed back into the boat.

Then I heard a shout: “The ship!”

I looked around and saw the Pequod. There was only one sail above the water now. Queequeg was at the top of the sail and his harpoon was in his hand. He put his hand up high.

The Pequod went down. I saw my friend Queequeg one last time before the ship went under the water.

When a ship goes down, it takes the water with it. The water pulled the whaling boat with all the men under the water. And it pulled me nearer.

“Queequeg, am I going to meet you? Am I going to die with you?” I asked.

But then the ocean was quiet.

Suddenly something came up under me and hit me. Was it

Moby Dick again? Was it a shark? No. It was Quecqueg’s coffin! My dear friend helped me one last time! The coffin came to the top of the water and I climbed onto it.

♦

I stayed on Queequeg’s coffin for two days and two nights. I was in the middle of the ocean with only the sky above me and water around me. My mouth was very dry and my face and arms were red from the sun. The nights were as cold as winter. Why didn’t the sharks eat me? Why didn’t the strong winds come and throw me into the ocean? Why didn’t Moby Dick kill me?

Then I saw it—one small sail at the end of the world. It slowly came nearer and after some hours I could see the ship. The men on the ship saw me in the water and shouted at their captain. They were excited. They were happy!

When the ship came nearer. I understood. It was the Rachel. The men started to pull me out of the water and saw their mistake. I wasn’t their captain’s son. But they were very kind to me. They gave me food and water, and a bed.

♦

I often think about my time on the Pequod. We fought with Moby Dick, and Captain Ahab’s men died. They died because one man hated a whale. At the same time the men on the Rachel looked for a boy. They looked for a boy because one man loved his son. And after their hard work and their hopes they found only me.

So I lived. I can tell you my story. And Moby Dick lives. He is out there now.