“ ‘Let me remove my hat. Now, venerable priest, further into the light, and hold the Holy Book before me that I may touch it.
“ ‘So help me Heaven, and on my honor the story I have told ye, gentlemen, is in substance and its great items, true. I know it to be true; it happened on this ball; I trod the ship; I knew the crew; I have seen and talked with Steelkilt since the death of Radney.’ ”