another thing. flask was the last person down at the dinner, and flask is the first man up. consider! for hereby flask’s dinner was badly jammed in point of time. starbuck and stubb both had the start of him; and yet they also have the privilege of lounging in the rear. if stubb even, who is but a peg higher than flask, happens to have but a small appetite, and soon shows symptoms of concluding his repast, then flask must bestir himself, he will not get more than three mouthfuls that day; for it is against holy usage for stubb to precede flask to the deck. therefore it was that flask once admitted in private, that ever since he had arisen to the dignity of an officer, from that moment he had never known what it was to be otherwise than hungry, more or less.