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“ Men , ” said he , steadily turning upon the crew , as the mate handed him the things he had demanded , “ my men , the thunder turned old Ahab’s needles ; but out of this bit of steel Ahab can make one of his own , that will point as true as any . ” Abashed glances of servile wonder were exchanged by the sailors , as this was said ; and with fascinated eyes they awaited whatever magic might follow . But Starbuck looked away . With a blow from the top - maul Ahab knocked off the steel head of the lance , and then handing to the mate the long iron rod remaining , bade him hold it upright , without its touching the deck . Then , with the maul , after repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod , he placed the blunted needle endwise on the top of it , and less strongly hammered that , several times , the mate still holding the rod as before . Then going through some small strange motions with it — whether indispensable to the magnetizing of the steel , or merely intended to augment the awe of the crew , is uncertain — he called for linen thread ; and moving to the binnacle , slipped out the two reversed needles there , and horizontally suspended the sail - needle by its middle , over one of the compass - cards . At first , the steel went round and round , quivering and vibrating at either end ; but at last it settled to its place , when Ahab , who had been intently watching for this result , stepped frankly back from the binnacle , and pointing his stretched arm towards it , exclaimed , — “ Look ye , for yourselves , if Ahab be not lord of the level loadstone ! The sun is East , and that compass swears it ! ” One after another they peered in , for nothing but their own eyes could persuade such ignorance as theirs , and one after another they slunk away . In his fiery eyes of scorn and triumph , you then saw Ahab in all his fatal pride . CHAPTER 125 . The Log and Line . While now the fated Pequod had been so long afloat this voyage , the log and line had but very seldom been in use . Owing to a confident reliance upon other means of determining the vessel’s place , some merchantmen , and many whalemen , especially when cruising , wholly neglect to heave the log ; though at the same time , and frequently more for form’s sake than anything else , regularly putting down upon the customary slate the course steered by the ship , as well as the presumed average rate of progression every hour . It had been thus with the Pequod . The wooden reel and angular log attached hung , long untouched , just beneath the railing of the after bulwarks . Rains and spray had damped it ; sun and wind had warped it ; all the elements had combined to rot a thing that hung so idly . But heedless of all this , his mood seized Ahab , as he happened to glance upon the reel , not many hours after the magnet scene , and he remembered how his quadrant was no more , and recalled his frantic oath about the level log and line . The ship was sailing plungingly ; astern the billows rolled in riots .
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