The Spouter-Inn — Moby-Dick

Ishmael walks into the Spouter-Inn through a low hallway that feels like an old ship. A huge oil painting hangs on the wall, so smoked and dirty you can barely tell what it shows. After staring a long time, it looks like a whale jumping at a broken ship in a storm. The walls are covered with clubs, harpoons, and whale bones. The bar is built inside a whale's jaw. The owner, Peter Coffin, sells cheap gin in glasses that look full but hold less than they seem.

The inn is full. Coffin says Ishmael can share a bed with a harpooner who is out selling preserved heads from New Zealand. Ishmael agrees because the night is bitter cold and he has nowhere else to go.

Supper is freezing with no fire, just dumplings and hot tea. A wild crew from the Grampus bursts in after three years at sea, ice in their beards, and drinks at the bar. A tall quiet sailor named Bulkington slips away from the noise. Later Ishmael's fear of sharing a bed comes back. He tries to sleep on a wooden bench while Coffin planes it and grins. Cold drafts and a narrow plank defeat him. He demands plain answers about the harpooner who sells heads on a Saturday night.

Coffin explains the heads are preserved curios, not proof of madness. The harpooner pays his rent on time. Coffin leads Ishmael upstairs to a huge shared bed in a small cold room. A harpoon stands by the bed. Ishmael tries on the harpooner's shaggy poncho, takes it off fast, undresses, and gets into bed first.

Queequeg comes in at last with a preserved head and a tomahawk. He is tattooed from head to foot. He worships a small wooden idol at the sooty fireplace, then jumps into bed with the hatchet in his teeth when Ishmael cannot speak. Ishmael screams for Coffin. Queequeg growls in the dark until the landlord names him.

Then everything changes. Queequeg is calm, clean, and polite. He puts away the tomahawk, stops smoking, and rolls to one side to make room. Ishmael sees that fear grew because he did not know the man. He decides he would rather sleep with a sober man from another culture than a drunk Christian sailor at the bar. He sleeps better than he has in his life. His friendship with Queequeg begins.