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CHAPTER 11 The Fight Begins

Some days later Captain Ahab and Starbuck stood and watched for whales.

Captain Ahab spoke sadly to Starbuck. “What kind of life do I have?” he said. “Forty years of hard work, little sleep, little money. I married my dear wife and the next day Heft on a whaling ship for three years! I feel old, Starbuck, old and tired. I think of my family. My young son is sleeping now.”

“My son is sleeping too,” answered Starbuck. “Why don’t we go home and see our boys. Captain?”

Then, suddenly Captain Ahab’s face changed. “Wait! Moby Dick is near—very very near. I can feel him!”

The hope left Starbuck’s face, and it turned sad again. He walked slowly away from Captain Ahab and went back to work.

♦

Captain Ahab was right. Moby Dick was very near.

“White whale! White whale!” the Captain shouted the next morning.

And there he was—the largest and most dangerous animal in the ocean. But at this minute he was beautiful. When he came up out of the water, his great white body shone in the morning sun. Birds followed him and flew above him.

Captain Ahab’s face shone too. He was a child again—happy and excited. “Get the boats, men! Move!” he shouted.

We didn’t have many boats after the strong winds. Captain Ahab and his men climbed into the first boat.

Captain Ahab spoke to Starbuck before he left. “Stay here,” he said. “Then you can see your wife and child again.”

Now we were in the boats. Moby Dick came up out of the water again. He was a huge, white mountain! There were harpoons in his body from his many fights with whalers. When he hit the ocean again, water showered down on us.

Then he swam down into the dark water and the ocean was quiet. Where was he?

We sat for hours in our boats and waited.

Suddenly Tashtego shouted, “The birds! Look!”

The birds were above us, so Moby Dick was near. We looked into the water.

Something was down there. It came nearer. It got bigger … and bigger…

Then he was there—the huge white whale. He came up tinder Captain Ahab’s boat! His mouth opened. I could see his teeth!

He closed his mouth on Captain Ahab’s boat and took it out ot the water!

Fcdallah and his men jumped into the ocean. Captain Ahab didn’t jump. He stayed in the boat and shouted at Moby Dick. He tried to fight him, but he couldn’t. His harpoon was in the ocean now and he couldn’t move easily with his whalebone leg.

Then the boat broke and fell into the ocean. But Moby Dick didn’t swim away. He started to swim around Captain Ahab and his boat. He began slowly. Then he swam faster and faster. We couldn’t get near him in the other boats. We couldn’t help Captain Ahab.

“That whale is playing with him!” said Stubb.

The birds flew around and around in the sky above Moby Dick.

“Get the whale! Bring the Pequod’.” shouted Captain Ahab.

The noise from the ocean and the birds was very loud. Could anybody on the Pequod hear him? But the Peqiiod’s sails went up. It turned and started to sail to the white whale.

We watched from our boats. “It’s going to hit Moby Dick!” we shouted.

But suddenly Moby Dick went down into the water again. The water stopped moving. The ocean was quiet.

Moby Dick didn’t come back. The whalers on the Pequod pulled Captain Ahab and his men out of the water. Captain Ahab’s men were really afraid now! They shouted and cried. But Fedallah didn’t speak. He walked away and looked out at the ocean. How did he feel? His cold black eyes showed nothing.

Captain Ahab went to his room and got the gold.

“This gold is mine now!” he shouted to the whalers. “I saw Moby Dick first! But I’ll give it away! We will kill Moby Dick. The only question is: when? Who will see the white devil first on that day? That man will get this gold!”

Starbuck shouted at Captain Ahab: “Didn’t you learn anything today? Are you really crazy? You have to stop! Don’t go after that whale again!”

“Ha!” Captain Ahab answered. “Today was nothing! You are nothing. I’m going to finish this! I’ll stop when the white devil is dead—with my harpoon in his white devil’s body!”