Queequeg in His Coffin — Moby-Dick

The crew keeps breaking out the hold to find the oil leak. They dig deeper and deeper into ancient casks and cargo. The decks pile up and the hollow ship reels like a top-heavy bottle. At the same time Queequeg gets a terrible fever. He had been working in the damp, slimy hold like a lizard at the bottom of a well. Now he wastes away in his hammock near death. His cheekbones sharpen but his eyes grow soft and round, full of a strange calm.

The crew gives him up for dead. Queequeg asks for something special. He wants a dark Nantucket coffin-canoe like the ones whalemen use when they die, not a tossed hammock for the sharks. The carpenter measures him with chalk marks and builds the box from old Lackaday planks. When it is done Queequeg has them bring it to his hammock. He puts his harpoon iron, a paddle, biscuits, water, earth, and his little god Yojo inside. He lies in the coffin, has the lid placed over him, and murmurs Rarmai, meaning it will do, it is easy.

Pip sobs at his side with a tambourine and begs Queequeg to find him in the Antilles. Starbuck listens and hears something holy in Pip's broken speech. Then Queequeg surprises everyone. He remembers a small duty he still owes ashore and decides he cannot die yet. He says a man who makes up his mind to live cannot be killed by mere sickness. He gains strength fast, leaps up fit for a fight, and uses the coffin as a sea-chest. He carves the lid with figures like his tattoo. Ahab turns away and curses the gods for tantalizing him.