 told him if Gabriel
was sent from the ship, not a man of them would remain. He was therefore forced
to relinquish his plan. Nor would they permit Gabriel to be any way maltreated,
say or do what he would; so that it came to pass that Gabriel had the complete
freedom of the ship. The consequence of all this was, that the archangel cared
little or nothing for the captain and mates; and since the epidemic had broken
out, he carried a higher hand than ever; declaring that the plague, as he called
it, was at his sole command; nor should it be stayed but according to his good
pleasure. The sailors, mostly poor devils, cringed, and some of them fawned
before him; in obedience to his instructions, sometimes rendering him personal
homage, as to a god. Such things may seem incredible; but, however wondrous,
they are true. Nor is the history of fanatics half so striking in respect to the
measureless self-deception of the fanatic himself, as his measureless power of
deceiving and bedevilling so many others. But it is time to return to the
Pequod.
    »I fear not thy epidemic, man,« said Ahab from the bulwarks, to Captain
Mayhew, who stood in the boat's stern; »come on board.«
    But now Gabriel started to his feet.
    »Think, think of the fevers, yellow and bilious! Beware of the horrible
plague!«
    »Gabriel, Gabriel!« cried Captain Mayhew; »thou must either -« But that
instant a headlong wave shot the boat far ahead, and its seethings drowned all
speech.
    »Hast thou seen the White Whale?« demanded Ahab, when the boat drifted back.
    »Think, think of thy whale-boat, stoven and sunk! Beware of the horrible
tail!«
    »I tell thee again, Gabriel, that -« But again the boat tore ahead as if
dragged by fiends. Nothing was said for some moments, while a succession of
riotous waves rolled by, which by one of those occasional caprices of the seas
were tumbling, not heaving it. Meantime, the hoisted sperm whale's head jogged
about very violently, and Gabriel was seen eyeing it with rather more
apprehensiveness than his archangel nature seemed to warrant.
    When this interlude was over, Captain Mayhew began a dark story concerning
Moby-Dick; not, however, without frequent interruptions from Gabriel, whenever
his name was mentioned, and the crazy sea that seemed leagued with him.
    It seemed that the Jeroboam had not long left home, when upon speaking a
