I protested my innocence of these things.  I saw that under the mask of these half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.

“But what takes thee a-whaling?  I want to know that before I think of shipping ye.”

“Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is.  I want to see the world.”

“Want to see what whaling is, eh?  Have ye clapped eye on Captain Ahab?”

“Who is Captain Ahab, sir?”

“Aye, aye, I thought so.  Captain Ahab is the Captain of this ship.”

“I am mistaken then.  I thought I was speaking to the Captain himself.”

“Thou art speaking to Captain Peleg—­that’s who ye are speaking to, young man.  It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew.  We are part owners and agents.  But as I was going to say, if thou wantest to know what whaling is, as thou tellest ye do, I can put ye in a way of finding it out before ye bind yourself to it, past backing out.  Clap eye on Captain Ahab, young man, and thou wilt find that he has only one leg.”

“What do you mean, sir?  Was the other one lost by a whale?”

“Lost by a whale!  Young man, come nearer to me:  it was devoured, chewed up, crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty that ever chipped a boat!—­ah, ah!”

I was a little alarmed by his energy, perhaps also a little touched at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation, but said as calmly as I could, “What you say is no doubt true enough, sir; but how could I know there was any peculiar ferocity in that particular whale, though indeed I might have inferred as much from the simple fact of the accident.”

“Look ye now, young man, thy lungs are a sort of soft, d’ye see; thou dost not talk shark a bit.  Sure, ye’ve been to sea before now; sure of that?”

“Sir,” said I, “I thought I told you that I had been four voyages in the merchant-”

“Hard down out of that!  Mind what I said about the marchant service—­ don’t aggravate me—­I won’t have it.  But let us understand each other.  I have given thee a hint about what whaling is! do ye yet feel inclined for it?”

“I do, sir.”

“Very good.  Now, art thou the man to pitch a harpoon down a live whale’s throat, and then jump after it?  Answer, quick!”

“I am, sir, if it should be positively indispensable to do so; not to be got rid of, that is; which I don’t take to be the fact.”

“Good again.  Now then, thou not only wantest to go a-whaling, to find out by experience what whaling is, but ye also want to go in order to see the world?  Was not that what ye said?  I thought so.  Well then, just step forward there, and take a peep over the weather bow, and then back to me and tell me what ye see there.”