Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb — Moby-Dick

The Pequod has left the ice behind and sails through warm, beautiful tropic weather. The lovely days and nights work on Ahab's mind, especially in the quiet evenings when memory feels sharp and clear.

Old sea captains often stay awake at night and walk the deck. Ahab does this too. In fact, he now lives on deck so much that going down to his cabin feels like going into a grave.

At night the ship grows quiet. Sailors drop ropes softly so they will not wake sleeping mates. Usually Ahab also stays off the quarter-deck at night. His ivory leg would thunder on the planks only six inches above the men below. Their dreams would turn to sharks.

But one night his mood is too heavy for that kindness. He paces heavily from the back of the ship to the main mast. Stubb, the second mate, comes up from below.

Stubb speaks carefully and with humor. He hints that if the captain wants to walk the deck, maybe the ivory heel could be muffled with a ball of tow fiber.

Ahab explodes. He asks if Stubb thinks he is a cannon-ball to be stuffed with padding. Then he orders Stubb below like a dog going to its kennel.

Stubb says he does not like being spoken to that way. Ahab gets angrier and calls him a donkey and a mule. He threatens to clear the world of Stubb. Stubb backs away and goes below.

Alone, Stubb talks to himself in a long comic spiral. He wonders whether to hit back or pray for Ahab. He has never prayed before.

He hears from the steward that Ahab barely sleeps. His hammock is always rumpled. His pillow feels hot, as if a baked brick had lain on it. The steward also suspects Ahab goes to the after hold every night for some secret reason.

Stubb decides not to think too much. He jokes that his eleventh commandment is think not, and his twelfth is sleep when you can. He will wait for daylight before he judges the captain again.