“Aye, sir, thou wilt have it so.”

“Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, Starbuck!”

“Truth, sir: saddest truth.”

“Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of the flood;⁠—and I feel now like a billow that’s all one crested comb, Starbuck. I am old;⁠—shake hands with me, man.”

Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck’s tears the glue.

“Oh, my captain, my captain!⁠—noble heart⁠—go not⁠—go not!⁠—see, it’s a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!”

“Lower away!”⁠—cried Ahab, tossing the mate’s arm from him. “Stand by the crew!”

In an instant the boat was pulling round close under the stern.