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On each side of the quarter - deck there was a small hole in the wooden floor . Ahab put the end of his ivory leg into one of these holes , and he stood there , very still . He stared ahead at the sea , and he did not say a word . He did not look at anybody . There was a terrible sadness in his face , and a hard will too . After that he came up on deck more often . Sometimes he sat on a stool , and sometimes he walked up and down for hours , even at night . The sound of his ivory leg on the wooden deck was loud and hard . Tap , tap , tap . The men who were sleeping below could hear it through the boards . One night Stubb went up to him . He spoke in his usual cheerful way . “ Captain , the men below can’t sleep . Could you put something soft over the end of your leg ? ” Ahab turned on him with fire in his eyes . “ Am I a cannon ball , Stubb , that you want to wrap me in rags ? ” he shouted . “ Go down , dog , to your kennel ! ” Stubb was so surprised that he could not answer . He walked away and shook his head . “ I don’t know whether to be angry or to pray for him , ” he said to himself . “ He’s a very strange old man . ” Another evening Ahab sat on the deck and smoked his pipe . He smoked for a long time in silence . Then he took the pipe out of his mouth and looked at it . “ This pipe once gave me peace , ” he said quietly . “ It gives me no peace now . What business have I with a pipe ? ” And he threw it far out into the sea . VIII . The Gold Coin One afternoon Ahab called all the men to the back of the ship . We all came and stood together in front of him . For a while he walked up and down in silence . Then he stopped and looked at us . “ What do you do when you see a whale , men ? ” he shouted . “ We shout out that we have seen him ! ” answered twenty voices . “ Good ! ” cried Ahab . “ And what do you do next , men ? ” “ We lower the boats and go after him ! ” “ And what do you sing out as you row , men ? ” “ A dead whale or a broken boat ! ” With every answer , Ahab looked happier and wilder . Then he held up a large , bright gold coin in the sun . “ Do you see this gold coin ? It is worth sixteen dollars . Mr Starbuck , bring me that heavy hammer . ” Ahab took the hammer and walked to the main mast . A mast is one of the tall wooden poles in the middle of a ship that hold up the sails . He held the gold coin against the wood . “ Listen to me , all of you ! ” he said in a high , strong voice . “ There is a white whale with a wrinkled forehead and a crooked jaw . He has three holes in the right side of his tail . The first man who sees that white whale will get this gold coin ! ”
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