The Englishman put out his ivory arm in welcome and Ahab crossed his ivory leg with the ivory arm.
“Aye, aye,” said Ahab, “Let us shake bones together! – an arm and a leg! – and arm that will never become smaller and a leg that can never run! Where did you see the White Whale? –how long ago?”
“The White Whale,” said the Englishman, pointing his ivory arm towards the East, “There is where I saw him, on the Line, last season.”
“And he took that arm off, did he?” asked Ahab. “Aye, he was the cause of it and that leg too?” said the Englishman pointing to Ahab’s ivory leg. “Tell the story,” said Ahab, “How was it?”
“It was the first time in my life that I ever navigated on the Line,” began the Englishman. “I was ignorant of the White Whale at that time. Well, one day e went after a group of four or five whales. My boat hit one of these whales with the harpoon, and the whale went racing around and around. At this point, up from the bottom of the sea came a great whale with a milky-white head.”
