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“ There she blows ! there ! there ! there ! she blows ! she blows ! ” “ Where - away ? ” “ On the lee - beam , about two miles off ! a school of them ! ” Instantly all was commotion . The Sperm Whale blows as a clock ticks , with the same undeviating and reliable uniformity . And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from other tribes of his genus . “ There go flukes ! ” was now the cry from Tashtego ; and the whales disappeared . “ Quick , steward ! ” cried Ahab . “ Time ! time ! ” Dough - Boy hurried below , glanced at the watch , and reported the exact minute to Ahab . The ship was now kept away from the wind , and she went gently rolling before it . Tashtego reporting that the whales had gone down heading to leeward , we confidently looked to see them again directly in advance of our bows . For that singular craft at times evinced by the Sperm Whale when , sounding with his head in one direction , he nevertheless , while concealed beneath the surface , mills round , and swiftly swims off in the opposite quarter — this deceitfulness of his could not now be in action ; for there was no reason to suppose that the fish seen by Tashtego had been in any way alarmed , or indeed knew at all of our vicinity . One of the men selected for shipkeepers — that is , those not appointed to the boats , by this time relieved the Indian at the main - mast head . The sailors at the fore and mizzen had come down ; the line tubs were fixed in their places ; the cranes were thrust out ; the mainyard was backed , and the three boats swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs . Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews with one hand clung to the rail , while one foot was expectantly poised on the gunwale . So look the long line of man - of - war’s men about to throw themselves on board an enemy’s ship . But at this critical instant a sudden exclamation was heard that took every eye from the whale . With a start all glared at dark Ahab , who was surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of air . CHAPTER 48 . The First Lowering . The phantoms , for so they then seemed , were flitting on the other side of the deck , and , with a noiseless celerity , were casting loose the tackles and bands of the boat which swung there . This boat had always been deemed one of the spare boats , though technically called the captain’s , on account of its hanging from the starboard quarter . The figure that now stood by its bows was tall and swart , with one white tooth evilly protruding from its steel - like lips . A rumpled Chinese jacket of black cotton funereally invested him , with wide black trowsers of the same dark stuff . But strangely crowning this ebonness was a glistening white plaited turban , the living hair braided and coiled round and round upon his head . Less swart in aspect , the companions of this figure were of that vivid , tiger - yellow complexion peculiar to some of the aboriginal natives of the Manillas ; — a race notorious for a certain diabolism of subtilty , and by some honest white mariners supposed to be the paid spies and secret confidential agents on the water of the devil , their lord , whose counting - room they suppose to be elsewhere .
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