Moby Dick

the rush should come.  But to this their leader as fiercely objected,
reserving that priority for himself; particularly as his two comrades
would not yield, the one to the other, in the matter; and both of them
could not be first, for the ladder would but admit one man at a time.
And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out.

"Upon hearing the frantic project of their leader, each in his own
separate soul had suddenly lighted, it would seem, upon the same
piece of treachery, namely:  to be the foremost in breaking out,
in order to be the first of the three, though the last of the ten,
to surrender; and thereby secure whatever small chance of pardon
such conduct might merit.  But when Steelkilt made known his
determination still to lead them to the last, they in some way,
by some subtle chemistry of villany, mixed their before secret
treacheries together; and when their leader fell into a doze,
verbally opened their souls to each other in three sentences;
and bound the sleeper with cords, and gagged him with cords;
and shrieked out for the Captain at midnight.

"Thinking murder at hand, and smelling in the dark for the blood,
he and all his armed mates and harpooneers rushed for the forecastle.
In a few minutes the scuttle was opened, and, bound hand and foot,
the still struggling ringleader was shoved up into the air
by his perfidious allies, who at once claimed the honor
of securing a man who had been fully ripe for murder.
But all these were collared, and dragged along the deck like
dead cattle; and, side by side, were seized up into the mizzen rigging,
like three quarters of meat, and there they hung till morning.
'Damn ye,' cried the Captain, pacing to and fro before them,
'the vultures would not touch ye, ye villains!'

"At sunrise he summoned all hands; and separating those who had rebelled
from those who had taken no part in the mutiny, he told the former
that he had a good mind to flog them all round--thought, upon the while,
he would do so--he ought to--justice demanded it; but for the present,
considering their timely surrender, he would let them go with a reprimand,
which he accordingly administered in the vernacular.

"'But as for you, ye carrion rogues,' turning to the three men
in the rigging--'for you, I mean to mince ye up for the try-pots;'
and, seizing a rope, he applied it with all his might to the backs
of the two traitors, till they yelled no more, but lifelessly hung
their heads sideways, as the two crucified thieves are drawn.

"'My wrist is sprained with ye!' he cried, at last; 'but there is still
rope enough left for you, my fine bantam, that wouldn't give up.
Take that gag from his mouth, and let us hear what he can
say for himself.'

"For a moment the exhausted mutineer made a tremulous motion
of his cramped jaws, and then painfully twisting round his head,
said in a sort of hiss, 'What I say is this--and mind it well---
if you flog me, I murder you!'

"'Say ye so? then see how ye frighten me'--and the Captain drew
off with the rope to strike.

"'Best not,' hissed the Lakeman.

"'But I must,'--and the rope was once more drawn back for the stroke.

"Steelkilt here hissed out something, inaudible to all but
the Captain; who, to the amazement of all hands, started back,
paced the deck rapidly two or three times, and then suddenly
throwing down his rope, said, 'I won't do it--let him go--
cut him down:  d'ye hear?'

But as the junior mates were hurrying to execute the order, a pale man,
with a bandaged head, arrested them--Radney the chief mate.
Ever since the blow, he had lain in his berth; but that morning,
hearing the tumult on the deck, he had crept out, and thus far
had watched the whole scene.  Such was the state of his mouth,
that he could hardly speak; but mumbling something about his
being willing and able to do what the captain dared not attempt,
he snatched the rope and advanced to his pinioned foe.

"'You are a coward!' hissed the Lakeman.

"'So I am, but take that.'  The mate was in the very act
of striking, when another hiss stayed his uplifted arm.
He paused:  and then pausing no more, made good his word,
spite of Steelkilt's threat, whatever that might have been.
The three men were then cut down, all hands were turned to,
and, sullenly worked by the moody seamen, the iron pumps
clanged as before.

"Just after dark that day, when one watch had retired below,
a clamor was heard in the forecastle; and the two trembling traitors
running up, besieged the cabin door, saying they durst not consort
with the crew.  Entreaties, cuffs, and kicks could not drive them back,
so at their own instance they were put down in the ship's run
for salvation.  Still, no sign of mutiny reappeared among the rest.
On the contrary, it seemed, that mainly at Steelkilt's instigation,
they had resolved to maintain the strictest peacefulness, obey all orders
to the last, and, when the ship reached port, desert her in a body.
But in order to insure the speediest end to the voyage, they all
agreed to another thing--namely, not to sing out for whales,
in case any should be discovered.  For, spite of her leak,
and spite of all her other perils, the Town-Ho still maintained her
mast-heads, and her captain was just as willing to lower for a fish