-¡Bogad! -ordenó Ahab.
Los botes avanzaron, dispuestos al ataque.
Pero enloquecido por los hierros del día anterior, que le corroían, Moby Dick atacó de frente, dando coletazos entre los botes. De nuevo los separó haciendo caer al agua arpones y lanzas de los botes de los dos oficiales y deshaciendo la parte superior de sus proas, pero dejando el bote de Ahab casi intacto.
Mientras Daggoo y Queequeg tapaban las planchas que habían sufrido mayor tensión, y mientras la ballena, alejándose de ellos, se volvió y enseñó todo un costado al pasar de nuevo a su lado, se alzó un grito. Sujeto al redondeado lomo del cetáceo, envuelto en las espiras en que la ballena se había enredado durante la pasada noche, se vio el cuerpo medio destrozado del parsi, su ropa hecha tiras, sus dilatados ojos clavados de lleno en Ahab.
-¡Engañado! ¡Engañado! - exclamó el capitán, respirando profundamente-. ¡Sí, parsi! ¡Vuelvo a verte! Sí; tú vas delante; y ésta, "ésta" es entonces la carroza fúnebre de que me hablaste; pero te emplazo a que cumplas todo lo que prometiste. ¿Dónde está la segunda carroza? ¡Vamos, muchachos! ¡Al barco! Estos botes son inútiles ya. Arregladlos a tiempo si podéis volver a mi lado. Si no, Ahab se basta para morir. ¡Vamos! Y vosotros, acordaos de una cosa -agregó dirigiéndose a sus tripulantes-: al primero que intente saltar de este bote, le clavo el arpón. Vosotros no sois hombres independientes ya. Sois mis brazos y mis piernas. Por consiguiente, me obedeceréis. ¿Dónde está la ballena? ¿Ha vuelto a bucear?
Pero miraba demasiado cerca del bote, porque Moby Dick estaba nadando otra vez, alejándose de ellos y casi había pasado el barco.
-¡Oh, Ahab! -exclamó Starbuck-, ¡aún no es demasiado tarde, a pesar de ser el tercer día, para desistir! ¡Mira! ¡Moby Dick no te busca! Eres tú, quien comete la locura de buscarle. [...] ¡Esa ballena blanca y esta negra obsession!
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[...] Suddenly, the water around him began to stir in concentric circles and seemed to swell. There was a trepidating noise, and then everyone held their breath as an enormous form emerged obliquely from the water, full of ropes, harpoons, and spears. Wrapped in a thin veil of mist, it was seen for a moment in the air, iridescent by the incidence of the sun's rays on the sprayed water. At once he sank again. When the waters were crushed, they rose for a moment like gigantic fountains, falling like rain again, leaving the frothy surface like milk freshly milked around the marble trunk of the whale.
-Bad! ordered Ahab.
The boats advanced, ready to attack.
But maddened by the irons of the previous day, which corroded him, Moby Dick attacked head-on, giving blows among the boats. Again he separated them by dropping harpoons and spears into the water of the boats of the two officers and undoing the top of their bows, but leaving the boat of Ahab almost intact.
While Daggoo and Queequeg covered the plates that had suffered the most tension, and while the whale, moving away from them, turned and showed a whole side when passing again to his side, a cry arose. Subject to the rounded back of the cetacean, wrapped in the turns in which the whale had become entangled last night, was the half-torn body of the Parsi, his clothes made strips, his eyes dilated fully in Ahab.
-Cheated! Cheated! - exclaimed the captain, breathing deeply. Yes, Parsi! See you again! Yes; you go ahead; and this, "this" is then the funeral hearse of which you spoke to me; but I summon you to fulfill all that you promised. Where is the second float? Let's go guys! To the boat! These boats are useless already. Fix them in time if you can come back to my side. If not, Ahab is enough to die. Let's go! And you, remember one thing, "he added, addressing his crew:" The first one to try to jump out of this boat, I nail the harpoon. You are not independent men anymore. You are my arms and my legs. Therefore, you will obey me. Where is the whale? Have you gone back to diving?
But he was looking too close to the boat, because Moby Dick was swimming again, walking away from them and the boat had almost passed.
-Oh, Ahab! exclaimed Starbuck, "it's not too late, despite being the third day, to give up!" Look! Moby Dick does not look for you! It is you who commits the madness of seeking him. [...] That white whale and this black obsession!
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[...] Suddenly, the water around him began to stir in concentric circles and seemed to swell. There was a trepidating noise, and then everyone held their breath as an enormous form emerged obliquely from the water, full of ropes, harpoons, and spears. Wrapped in a thin veil of mist, it was seen for a moment in the air, iridescent by the incidence of the sun's rays on the sprayed water. At once he sank again. When the waters were crushed, they rose for a moment like gigantic fountains, falling like rain again, leaving the frothy surface like milk freshly milked around the marble trunk of the whale.
-Bad! ordered Ahab.
The boats advanced, ready to attack.
But maddened by the irons of the previous day, which corroded him, Moby Dick attacked head-on, giving blows among the boats. Again he separated them by dropping harpoons and spears into the water of the boats of the two officers and undoing the top of their bows, but leaving the boat of Ahab almost intact.
While Daggoo and Queequeg covered the plates that had suffered the most tension, and while the whale, moving away from them, turned and showed a whole side when passing again to his side, a cry arose. Subject to the rounded back of the cetacean, wrapped in the turns in which the whale had become entangled last night, was the half-torn body of the Parsi, his clothes made strips, his eyes dilated fully in Ahab.
-Cheated! Cheated! - exclaimed the captain, breathing deeply. Yes, Parsi! See you again! Yes; you go ahead; and this, "this" is then the funeral hearse of which you spoke to me; but I summon you to fulfill all that you promised. Where is the second float? Let's go guys! To the boat! These boats are useless already. Fix them in time if you can come back to my side. If not, Ahab is enough to die. Let's go! And you, remember one thing, "he added, addressing his crew:" The first one to try to jump out of this boat, I nail the harpoon. You are not independent men anymore. You are my arms and my legs. Therefore, you will obey me. Where is the whale? Have you gone back to diving?
But he was looking too close to the boat, because Moby Dick was swimming again, walking away from them and the boat had almost passed.
-Oh, Ahab! exclaimed Starbuck, "it's not too late, despite being the third day, to give up!" Look! Moby Dick does not look for you! It is you who commits the madness of seeking him. [...] That white whale and this black obsession!
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