‘the white whale—the white whale!’ was the cry from captain, mates, and harpooneers, who, undeterred by fearful rumours, were all anxious to capture so famous and precious a fish; while the dogged crew eyed askance, and with curses, the appalling beauty of the vast milky mass, that lit up by a horizontal spangling sun, shifted and glistened like a living opal in the blue morning sea. gentlemen, a strange fatality pervades the whole career of these events, as if verily mapped out before the world itself was charted. the mutineer was the bowsman of the mate, and when fast to a fish, it was his duty to sit next him, while radney stood up with his lance in the prow, and haul in or slacken the line, at the word of command. moreover, when the four boats were lowered, the mate’s got the start; and none howled more fiercely with delight than did steelkilt, as he strained at his oar. after a stiff pull, their harpooneer got fast, and, spear in hand, radney sprang to the bow. he was always a furious man, it seems, in a boat.