.. < chapter xx 15  ALL ASTIR >


     A day or two passed, and there was great

activity aboard the pequod.  not only were the old sails being mended, but

new sails were coming on board, and bolts of canvas, and coils of rigging;

in short, everything betokened that the ship's preparations were hurrying to a

close.  Captain Peleg seldom or never went ashore, but sat in his wigwam

keeping a sharp look-out upon the hands: Bildad did all the purchasing and

providing at the stores; and the men employed in the hold and on the rigging

were working till long after night-fall.  On the day following Queequeg's

signing the articles, word was given at all the inns where the ship's company

were stopping, that their chests must be on board before night, for there

was no telling how soon the vessel might be sailing.  So Queequeg and I got

down our traps, resolving, however, to sleep ashore till the last.  But it

seems they always give very long notice in these cases, and the ship did not

sail for several days.  But no wonder; there was a good deal to be done, and

there

.. <p 95 >

is no telling how many things to be thought of, before the Pequod was fully

equipped.  Every one knows what a multitude of things --beds, sauce-pans,

knives and forks, shovels and tongs, napkins, nut-crackers, and what not, are

indispensable to the business of housekeeping.  Just so with whaling, which

necessitates a three-years' housekeeping upon the wide ocean, far from all

grocers, costermongers, doctors, bakers, and bankers.  And though this also

holds true of merchant vessels, yet not by any means to the same extent as

with whalemen.  For besides the great length of the whaling voyage, the

numerous articles peculiar to the prosecution of the fishery, and the

impossibility of replacing them at the remote harbors usually frequented, it

must be remembered, that of all ships, whaling vessels are the most exposed

to accidents of all kinds, and especially to the destruction and loss of the

very things upon which the success of the voyage most depends.  Hence, the

spare boats, spare spars, and spare lines and harpoons, and spare everythings,

almost, but a spare captain and duplicate ship.  At the period of our arrival

at the Island, the heaviest storage of the Pequod had been almost completed;

comprising her beef, bread, water, fuel, and iron hoops and staves.  But, as

before hinted, for some time there was a continual fetching and carrying on

board of divers odds and ends of things, both large and small.  Chief among

those who did this fetching and carrying was Captain Bildad's sister, a lean

old lady of a most determined and indefatigable spirit, but withal very

kindhearted, who seemed resolved that, if she could help it, nothing should

be found wanting in the Pequod, after once fairly getting to sea.  At one time

she would come on board with a jar of pickles for the steward's pantry;

another time with a bunch of quills for the chief mate's desk, where he kept

his log; a third time with a roll of flannel for the small of some one's

rheumatic back.  Never did any woman better deserve her name, which was

Charity --Aunt Charity, as everybody called her.  And like a sister of

charity did this charitable Aunt Charity bustle about hither and thither,

ready to turn her hand and heart to anything that promised to yield safety,

comfort, and consolation to all on board

.. <p 96 >

a ship in which her beloved brother Bildad was concerned, and in which she

herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars.  But it was startling to

see this excellent hearted Quakeress coming on board, as she did the last

day, with a long oil-ladle in one hand, and a still longer whaling lance in

the other.  Nor was Bildad himself nor Captain Peleg at all backward.  As for

Bildad, he carried about with him a long list of the articles needed, and at

every fresh arrival, down went his mark opposite that article upon the paper.


     Every once and a while Peleg came hobbling out of his whalebone den, roaring

at the men down the hatchways, roaring up to the riggers at the mast-head,

and then concluded by roaring back into his wigwam.  During these days of

preparation, Queequeg and I often visited the craft, and as often I asked

about Captain Ahab, and how he was, and when he was going to come on board

his ship.  To these questions they would answer, that he was getting better

and better, and was expected aboard every day; meantime, the two Captains,

Peleg and Bildad, could attend to everything necessary to fit the vessel for

the voyage.  If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen

very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to

so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the

absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea.

But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be

already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his

suspicions even from himself.  And much this way it was with me.  I said

nothing, and tried to think nothing.  At last it was given out that some time

next day the ship would certainly sail.  So next morning, Queequeg and I took

a very early start.

.. <p 97 >