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Now , the first time Ahab was perched aloft ; ere he had been there ten minutes ; one of those red - billed savage sea - hawks which so often fly incommodiously close round the manned mast - heads of whalemen in these latitudes ; one of these birds came wheeling and screaming round his head in a maze of untrackably swift circlings . Then it darted a thousand feet straight up into the air ; then spiralized downwards , and went eddying again round his head . But with his gaze fixed upon the dim and distant horizon , Ahab seemed not to mark this wild bird ; nor , indeed , would any one else have marked it much , it being no uncommon circumstance ; only now almost the least heedful eye seemed to see some sort of cunning meaning in almost every sight . “ Your hat , your hat , sir ! ” suddenly cried the Sicilian seaman , who being posted at the mizen - mast - head , stood directly behind Ahab , though somewhat lower than his level , and with a deep gulf of air dividing them . But already the sable wing was before the old man’s eyes ; the long hooked bill at his head : with a scream , the black hawk darted away with his prize . An eagle flew thrice round Tarquin’s head , removing his cap to replace it , and thereupon Tanaquil , his wife , declared that Tarquin would be king of Rome . But only by the replacing of the cap was that omen accounted good . Ahab’s hat was never restored ; the wild hawk flew on and on with it ; far in advance of the prow : and at last disappeared ; while from the point of that disappearance , a minute black spot was dimly discerned , falling from that vast height into the sea . CHAPTER 131 . The Pequod Meets The Delight . The intense Pequod sailed on ; the rolling waves and days went by ; the life - buoy - coffin still lightly swung ; and another ship , most miserably misnamed the Delight , was descried . As she drew nigh , all eyes were fixed upon her broad beams , called shears , which , in some whaling - ships , cross the quarter - deck at the height of eight or nine feet ; serving to carry the spare , unrigged , or disabled boats . Upon the stranger’s shears were beheld the shattered , white ribs , and some few splintered planks , of what had once been a whale - boat ; but you now saw through this wreck , as plainly as you see through the peeled , half - unhinged , and bleaching skeleton of a horse . “ Hast seen the White Whale ? ” “ Look ! ” replied the hollow - cheeked captain from his taffrail ; and with his trumpet he pointed to the wreck . “ Hast killed him ? ” “ The harpoon is not yet forged that ever will do that , ” answered the other , sadly glancing upon a rounded hammock on the deck , whose gathered sides some noiseless sailors were busy in sewing together . “ Not forged ! ” and snatching Perth’s levelled iron from the crotch , Ahab held it out , exclaiming — “ Look ye , Nantucketer ; here in this hand I hold his death ! Tempered in blood , and tempered by lightning are these barbs ; and I swear to temper them triply in that hot place behind the fin , where the White Whale most feels his accursed life ! ”
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