The Chase i. First Day

[ISHMAEL, spoken]
We chased him for three days

[PIP]
First day

[ALL]
First day

[DAGGOO & TASHTEGO, spoken]
There she blows— there she blows! Captain!
(sung)
A hump like a snow hill
It is Moby Dick!

[AHAB]
And did none of ye see it before me?

[TASHTEGO]
Aye, Captain

[AHAB, spoken]
No! Not at the same instant— the doubloon is mine!
But now whoever kills him gets the gold. And if it is me, then ten times its sum shall be divided among ye!

[PIP, spoken]
The doubloon! The navel! Old Ahab stole the prize for himself! He’s a scarecrow alright. Crish! Crash! There goes the jib-stay! Man, white man! Whale, white whale!

[AHAB]
Starbuck, you stay on board— watch the ship. Watch over Pip. This unholy[?] hazard shall not be thine. Now lower, lower me— quick, quick, quicker!

[STUBB & CREW]
Pull, pull, pull, my God! Boys [?] on the white whale!

[STUBB’S CREW]
Aye, aye, aye, Mr. Stubb!

[AHAB]
Cursed whale!

[PIP, spoken]
It’s too big, Captain, too big!

[AHAB]
Hated whale!

[DAGGOO]
Ahab’s boat is stove

[ALL]
And the whale escapes

[FEDALLAH]
O Captain, my old Captain, fallen flat-faced on the water
The ocean won’t sustain your madness much longer

[ALL]
One boat stove
No iron hold[?]

[FEDALLAH]
’Tis an omen, and an ill one

[AHAB, spoken]
Omen? No! If the gods think to speak to man, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, and give an old wives’ darkling hint. No— we chase him! We chase him!