A Bosom Friend — Moby-Dick

Ishmael walks back to the Spouter-Inn after church and finds Queequeg alone by the fire. Queequeg is carving the nose of his small wooden god, Yojo, and humming to himself. He puts the idol away and picks up a big book. He counts the pages in groups of fifty. Each time he hits fifty, he stops, looks around, and whistles in surprise. Then he starts counting from one again, as if fifty is the biggest number he knows.

Ishmael watches from across the room. Queequeg looks rough and covered in tattoos, but Ishmael begins to see something honest and brave in his face. The man sits calm and quiet, far from home, and does not seem to need anyone's approval. Outside, the storm roars. Inside, the fire burns low. Ishmael feels his guarded mood soften. Polite Christians have been friendly but empty, so he decides to try friendship with this man others call a heathen.

He moves his bench closer. They agree to sleep in the same bed again. They look at the book together while Ishmael tries to explain printing and pictures. They pass a pipe back and forth until the last cold feeling between them melts. Queequeg presses his forehead to Ishmael's, hugs him around the waist, and says they are married in his people's words: bosom friends who would die for each other.

After supper they go to their room. Queequeg gives Ishmael a preserved head as a gift. He takes out thirty silver dollars, splits them evenly, and will not let Ishmael give his share back. Then Queequeg begins his evening prayers to Yojo. Ishmael was raised in a strict church and worries about joining a prayer to a wooden idol. He thinks it through: worship means treating your neighbor the way you want to be treated, and Queequeg is his neighbor. He helps light the fire, bows before the idol, kisses its nose, and goes to bed with a clear mind. The two lie awake talking like an old couple on their first night as real friends.