Reedle Откройте в мобильном приложении
Понятно
Понятно
Для того чтобы воспользоваться закладками, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Отмена
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Отмена
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
Отмена
751
It
is
noon
;
and
Dough-Boy
,
the
steward
,
thrusting
his
pale
loaf-of-bread
face
from
the
cabin-scuttle
,
announces
dinner
to
his
lord
and
master
who
,
sitting
in
the
lee
quarter-boat
,
has
just
been
taking
an
observation
of
the
sun
;
and
is
now
mutely
reckoning
the
latitude
on
the
smooth
,
medallion-shaped
tablet
,
reserved
for
that
daily
purpose
on
the
upper
part
of
his
ivory
leg
.
From
his
complete
inattention
to
the
tidings
,
you
would
think
that
moody
Ahab
had
not
heard
his
menial
.
But
presently
,
catching
hold
of
the
mizen
shrouds
,
he
swings
himself
to
the
deck
,
and
in
an
even
,
unexhilarated
voice
,
saying
,
"
Dinner
,
Mr.
Starbuck
,
"
disappears
into
the
cabin
.
752
When
the
last
echo
of
his
sultan
's
step
has
died
away
,
and
Starbuck
,
the
first
Emir
,
has
every
reason
to
suppose
that
he
is
seated
,
then
Starbuck
rouses
from
his
quietude
,
takes
a
few
turns
along
the
planks
,
and
,
after
a
grave
peep
into
the
binnacle
,
says
,
with
some
touch
of
pleasantness
,
"
Dinner
,
Mr.
Stubb
,
"
and
descends
the
scuttle
.
The
second
Emir
lounges
about
the
rigging
awhile
,
and
then
slightly
shaking
the
main
brace
,
to
see
whether
it
will
be
all
right
with
that
important
rope
,
he
likewise
takes
up
the
old
burden
,
and
with
a
rapid
"
Dinner
,
Mr.
Flask
,
"
follows
after
his
predecessors
.
753
But
the
third
Emir
,
now
seeing
himself
all
alone
on
the
quarter-deck
,
seems
to
feel
relieved
from
some
curious
restraint
;
for
,
tipping
all
sorts
of
knowing
winks
in
all
sorts
of
directions
,
and
kicking
off
his
shoes
,
he
strikes
into
a
sharp
but
noiseless
squall
of
a
hornpipe
right
over
the
Grand
Turk
's
head
;
and
then
,
by
a
dexterous
sleight
,
pitching
his
cap
up
into
the
mizentop
for
a
shelf
,
he
goes
down
rollicking
so
far
at
least
as
he
remains
visible
from
the
deck
,
reversing
all
other
processions
,
by
bringing
up
the
rear
with
music
.
But
ere
stepping
into
the
cabin
doorway
below
,
he
pauses
,
ships
a
new
face
altogether
,
and
,
then
,
independent
,
hilarious
little
Flask
enters
King
Ahab
's
presence
,
in
the
character
of
Abjectus
,
or
the
Slave
.
Отключить рекламу
754
It
is
not
the
least
among
the
strange
things
bred
by
the
intense
artificialness
of
sea-usages
,
that
while
in
the
open
air
of
the
deck
some
officers
will
,
upon
provocation
,
bear
themselves
boldly
and
defyingly
enough
towards
their
commander
;
yet
,
ten
to
one
,
let
those
very
officers
the
next
moment
go
down
to
their
customary
dinner
in
that
same
commander
's
cabin
,
and
straightway
their
inoffensive
,
not
to
say
deprecatory
and
humble
air
towards
him
,
as
he
sits
at
the
head
of
the
table
;
this
is
marvellous
,
sometimes
most
comical
.
Wherefore
this
difference
?
A
problem
?
Perhaps
not
.
To
have
been
Belshazzar
,
King
of
Babylon
;
and
to
have
been
Belshazzar
,
not
haughtily
but
courteously
,
therein
certainly
must
have
been
some
touch
of
mundane
grandeur
.
755
But
he
who
in
the
rightly
regal
and
intelligent
spirit
presides
over
his
own
private
dinner-table
of
invited
guests
,
that
man
's
unchallenged
power
and
dominion
of
individual
influence
for
the
time
;
that
man
's
royalty
of
state
transcends
Belshazzar
's
,
for
Belshazzar
was
not
the
greatest
.
Who
has
but
once
dined
his
friends
,
has
tasted
what
it
is
to
be
Caesar
.
It
is
a
witchery
of
social
czarship
which
there
is
no
withstanding
.
Now
,
if
to
this
consideration
you
super-add
the
official
supremacy
of
a
ship-master
,
then
,
by
inference
,
you
will
derive
the
cause
of
that
peculiarity
of
sea-life
just
mentioned
.
756
Over
his
ivory-inlaid
table
,
Ahab
presided
like
a
mute
,
maned
sea-lion
on
the
white
coral
beach
,
surrounded
by
his
war-like
but
still
deferential
cubs
.
In
his
own
proper
turn
,
each
officer
waited
to
be
served
.
They
were
as
little
children
before
Ahab
;
and
yet
,
in
Ahab
,
there
seemed
not
to
lurk
the
smallest
social
arrogance
.
With
one
mind
,
their
intent
eyes
all
fastened
upon
the
old
man
's
knife
,
as
he
carved
the
chief
dish
before
him
.
I
do
not
suppose
that
for
the
world
they
would
have
profaned
that
moment
with
the
slightest
observation
,
even
upon
so
neutral
a
topic
as
the
weather
.
No
!
And
when
reaching
out
his
knife
and
fork
,
between
which
the
slice
of
beef
was
locked
,
Ahab
thereby
motioned
Starbuck
's
plate
towards
him
,
the
mate
received
his
meat
as
though
receiving
alms
;
and
cut
it
tenderly
;
and
a
little
started
if
,
perchance
,
the
knife
grazed
against
the
plate
;
and
chewed
it
noiselessly
;
and
swallowed
it
,
not
without
circumspection
.
757
For
,
like
the
Coronation
banquet
at
Frankfort
,
where
the
German
Emperor
profoundly
dines
with
the
seven
imperial
electors
,
so
these
cabin
meals
were
somehow
solemn
meals
,
eaten
in
awful
silence
;
and
yet
at
table
old
Ahab
forbade
not
conversation
;
only
he
himself
was
dumb
.
What
a
relief
it
was
to
choking
Stubb
,
when
a
rat
made
a
sudden
racket
in
the
hold
below
.
And
poor
little
Flask
,
he
was
the
youngest
son
,
and
little
boy
of
this
weary
family
party
.
His
were
the
shin-bones
of
the
saline
beef
;
his
would
have
been
the
drumsticks
.
For
Flask
to
have
presumed
to
help
himself
,
this
must
have
seemed
to
him
tantamount
to
larceny
in
the
first
degree
.
Had
he
helped
himself
at
the
table
,
doubtless
,
never
more
would
he
have
been
able
to
hold
his
head
up
in
this
honest
world
;
nevertheless
,
strange
to
say
,
Ahab
never
forbade
him
.
And
had
Flask
helped
himself
,
the
chances
were
Ahab
had
never
so
much
as
noticed
it
.
Least
of
all
,
did
Flask
presume
to
help
himself
to
butter
.
Whether
he
thought
the
owners
of
the
ship
denied
it
to
him
,
on
account
of
its
clotting
his
clear
,
sunny
complexion
;
or
whether
he
deemed
that
,
on
so
long
a
voyage
in
such
marketless
waters
,
butter
was
at
a
premium
,
and
therefore
was
not
for
him
,
a
subaltern
;
however
it
was
,
Flask
,
alas
!
was
a
butterless
man
!
Отключить рекламу
758
Another
thing
.
Flask
was
the
last
person
down
at
the
dinner
,
and
Flask
is
the
first
man
up
.
Consider
!
For
hereby
Flask
's
dinner
was
badly
jammed
in
point
of
time
.
Starbuck
and
Stubb
both
had
the
start
of
him
;
and
yet
they
also
have
the
privilege
of
lounging
in
the
rear
.
759
If
Stubb
even
,
who
is
but
a
peg
higher
than
Flask
,
happens
to
have
but
a
small
appetite
,
and
soon
shows
symptoms
of
concluding
his
repast
,
then
Flask
must
bestir
himself
,
he
will
not
get
more
than
three
mouthfuls
that
day
;
for
it
is
against
holy
usage
for
Stubb
to
precede
Flask
to
the
deck
.
Therefore
it
was
that
Flask
once
admitted
in
private
,
that
ever
since
he
had
arisen
to
the
dignity
of
an
officer
,
from
that
moment
he
had
never
known
what
it
was
to
be
otherwise
than
hungry
,
more
or
less
.
For
what
he
ate
did
not
so
much
relieve
his
hunger
,
as
keep
it
immortal
in
him
.
Peace
and
satisfaction
,
thought
Flask
,
have
for
ever
departed
from
my
stomach
.
I
am
an
officer
;
but
,
how
I
wish
I
could
fish
a
bit
of
old-fashioned
beef
in
the
fore-castle
,
as
I
used
to
when
I
was
before
the
mast
.
There
's
the
fruit
of
promotion
now
;
there
's
the
vanity
of
glory
:
there
's
the
insanity
of
life
!
Besides
,
if
it
were
so
that
any
mere
sailor
of
the
Pequod
had
a
grudge
against
Flask
in
Flask
's
official
capacity
,
all
that
sailor
had
to
do
,
in
order
to
obtain
ample
vengeance
,
was
to
go
aft
at
dinnertime
,
and
get
a
peep
at
Flask
through
the
cabin
sky-light
,
sitting
silly
and
dumfoundered
before
awful
Ahab
.
760
Now
,
Ahab
and
his
three
mates
formed
what
may
be
called
the
first
table
in
the
Pequod
's
cabin
.
After
their
departure
,
taking
place
in
inverted
order
to
their
arrival
,
the
canvas
cloth
was
cleared
,
or
rather
was
restored
to
some
hurried
order
by
the
pallid
steward
.
And
then
the
three
harpooneers
were
bidden
to
the
feast
,
they
being
its
residuary
legatees
.