LX

silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being brought into actual play⁠—this is a thing which carries more of true terror than any other aspect of this dangerous affair. But why say more? > All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whaleboat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your