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 is no telling how many things to be thought of, before the pequod was fully equipped.