For several days after leaving Nantucket, no one sees Captain Ahab on deck. The three mates run the watches and seem to be in charge. But sometimes sudden orders come from the cabin. Everyone knows Ahab is really the boss, even though he stays hidden.
Ishmael keeps looking aft for the captain. He feels nervous, and Elijah's strange warnings keep coming back to his mind. Still, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask look like strong, capable officers. That helps calm his fear a little.
The ship left on Christmas and sailed south, leaving bitter winter weather behind. One grey morning, Ishmael climbs to the deck for his watch and looks toward the back of the ship.
Reality moves faster than his fear. Captain Ahab is standing on the quarter-deck.
He looks powerful and hard, like a bronze statue. A pale scar runs down one side of his face and neck, like lightning striking a tree but not killing it. No one knows for sure how he got the mark. Sailors tell different stories about it.
Ahab also has a white ivory leg, made from a sperm whale's jaw. An old Indian sailor says Ahab lost his real leg near Japan and simply got a new one at sea.
Ahab stands with his ivory leg fixed in a hole bored in the deck. One arm holds a rope. He stares straight ahead past the ship's bow without speaking. His officers can tell he is watching them with a troubled, painful authority.
Ishmael says Ahab looks like a man carrying a crucifixion in his face. He has the dignity of someone living with deep grief and power at the same time.
After that first appearance, Ahab goes back to his cabin. Then he comes on deck more often. He stands in the pivot hole, sits on an ivory stool, or walks heavily across the deck.
On this part of the voyage, the ship is only traveling, not hunting whales yet. The mates handle most of the work. Ahab seems almost unnecessary, like another mast.
As the weather grows warmer and brighter, even Ahab softens a little. More than once he almost smiles.
