Chapter 93.00: CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud.

**
CHAPTER 91. The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud.
**

“In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan,
insufferable fetor denying not inquiry.” Sir T. Browne, V. E.

It was a week or two after the last whaling scene recounted, and when we
were slowly sailing over a sleepy, vapory, mid-day sea, that the many
noses on the Pequod’s deck proved more vigilant discoverers than the three
pairs of eyes aloft. A peculiar and not very pleasant smell was smelt in
the sea.

“I will bet something now,” said Stubb, “that somewhere hereabouts are
some of those drugged whales we tickled the other day. I thought they
would keel up before long.”

Presently, the vapors in advance slid aside; and there in the distance
lay a ship, whose furled sails betokened that some sort of whale must be
alongside. As we glided nearer, the stranger showed French colours from
his peak; and by the eddying cloud of vulture sea-fowl that circled, and
hovered, and swooped around him, it was plain that the whale alongside
must be what the fishermen call a blasted whale, that is, a whale that has
died unmolested on the sea, and so floated an unappropriated corpse. It
may well be conceived, what an unsavory odor such a mass must exhale;
worse than an Assyrian city in the plague, when the living are incompetent
to bury the departed. So intolerable indeed is it regarded by some, that
no cupidity could persuade them to moor alongside of it. Yet are there
those who will still do it; notwithstanding the fact that the oil obtained
from such subjects is of a very inferior quality, and by no means of the
nature of attar-of-rose.

Coming still nearer with the expiring breeze, we saw that the Frenchman
had a second whale alongside; and this second whale seemed even more of a
nosegay than the first. In truth, it turned out to be one of those
problematical whales that seem to dry up and die with a sort of prodigious
dyspepsia, or indigestion; leaving their defunct bodies almost entirely
bankrupt of anything like oil. Nevertheless, in the proper place we shall
see that no knowing fisherman will ever turn up his nose at such a whale
as this, however much he may shun blasted whales in general.

The Pequod had now swept so nigh to the stranger, that Stubb vowed he
recognised his cutting spade-pole entangled in the lines that were knotted
round the tail of one of these whales.

“There’s a pretty fellow, now,” he banteringly laughed, standing in the
ship’s bows, “there’s a jackal for ye! I well know that these Crappoes of
Frenchmen are but poor devils in the fishery; sometimes lowering their
boats for breakers, mistaking them for Sperm Whale spouts; yes, and
sometimes sailing from their port with their hold full of boxes of tallow
candles, and cases of snuffers, foreseeing that all the oil they will get
won’t be enough to dip the Captain’s wick into; aye, we all know these
things; but look ye, here’s a Crappo that is content with our leavings,
the drugged whale there, I mean; aye, and is content too with scraping the
dry bones of that other precious fish he has there. Poor devil! I say,
pass round a hat, some one, and let’s make him a present of a little oil
for dear charity’s sake. For what oil he’ll get from that drugged whale
there, wouldn’t be fit to burn in a jail; no, not in a condemned cell. And
as for the other whale, why, I’ll agree to get more oil by chopping up and
trying out these three masts of ours, than he’ll get from that bundle of
bones; though, now that I think of it, it may contain something worth a
good deal more than oil; yes, ambergris. I wonder now if our old man has
thought of that. It’s worth trying. Yes, I’m for it;” and so saying he
started for the quarter-deck.

By this time the faint air had become a complete calm; so that whether or
no, the Pequod was now fairly entrapped in the smell, with no hope of
escaping except by its breezing up again. Issuing from the cabin, Stubb
now called his boat’s crew, and pulled off for the stranger. Drawing
across her bow, he perceived that in accordance with the fanciful French
taste, the upper part of her stem-piece was carved in the likeness of a
huge drooping stalk, was painted green, and for thorns had copper spikes
projecting from it here and there; the whole terminating in a symmetrical
folded bulb of a bright red colour. Upon her head boards, in large gilt
letters, he read “Bouton de Rose,”—Rose-button, or Rose-bud; and
this was the romantic name of this aromatic ship.

Though Stubb did not understand the Bouton part of the inscription, yet
the word _rose_, and the bulbous figure-head put together, sufficiently
explained the whole to him.

“A wooden rose-bud, eh?” he cried with his hand to his nose, “that will do
very well; but how like all creation it smells!”

Now in order to hold direct communication with the people on deck, he had
to pull round the bows to the starboard side, and thus come close to the
blasted whale; and so talk over it.

Arrived then at this spot, with one hand still to his nose, he bawled—“Bouton-de-Rose,
ahoy! Are there any of you Bouton-de-Roses that speak English?”

“Yes,” rejoined a Guernsey-man from the bulwarks, who turned out to be the
chief-mate.

“Well, then, my Bouton-de-Rose-bud, have you seen the White Whale?”

“_What_ whale?”

“The White Whale—a Sperm Whale—Moby Dick, have ye seen him?

“Never heard of such a whale. Cachalot Blanche! White Whale—no.”

“Very good, then; good bye now, and I’ll call again in a minute.”

Then rapidly pulling back towards the Pequod, and seeing Ahab leaning over
the quarter-deck rail awaiting his report, he moulded his two hands into a
trumpet and shouted—“No, Sir! No!” Upon which Ahab retired, and
Stubb returned to the Frenchman.

He now perceived that the Guernsey-man, who had just got into the chains,
and was using a cutting-spade, had slung his nose in a sort of bag.

“What’s the matter with your nose, there?” said Stubb. “Broke it?”

“I wish it was broken, or that I didn’t have any nose at all!” answered
the Guernsey-man, who did not seem to relish the job he was at very much.
“But what are you holding yours for?”

“Oh, nothing! It’s a wax nose; I have to hold it on. Fine day, ain’t it?
Air rather gardenny, I should say; throw us a bunch of posies, will ye,
Bouton-de-Rose?”

“What in the devil’s name do you want here?” roared the Guernseyman,
flying into a sudden passion.

“Oh! Keep cool—cool? Yes, that’s the word! Why don’t you pack those
whales in ice while you’re working at ’em? But joking aside, though; do
you know, Rose-bud, that it’s all nonsense trying to get any oil out of
such whales? As for that dried up one, there, he hasn’t a gill in his
whole carcase.”

“I know that well enough; but, d’ye see, the Captain here won’t believe
it; this is his first voyage; he was a Cologne manufacturer before. But
come aboard, and mayhap he’ll believe you, if he won’t me; and so I’ll get
out of this dirty scrape.”

“Anything to oblige ye, my sweet and pleasant fellow,” rejoined Stubb, and
with that he soon mounted to the deck. There a queer scene presented
itself. The sailors, in tasselled caps of red worsted, were getting the
heavy tackles in readiness for the whales. But they worked rather slow and
talked very fast, and seemed in anything but a good humor. All their noses
upwardly projected from their faces like so many jib-booms. Now and then
pairs of them would drop their work, and run up to the mast-head to get
some fresh air. Some thinking they would catch the plague, dipped oakum in
coal-tar, and at intervals held it to their nostrils. Others having broken
the stems of their pipes almost short off at the bowl, were vigorously
puffing tobacco-smoke, so that it constantly filled their olfactories.

Stubb was struck by a shower of outcries and anathemas proceeding from the
Captain’s round-house abaft; and looking in that direction saw a fiery
face thrust from behind the door, which was held ajar from within. This
was the tormented surgeon, who, after in vain remonstrating against the
proceedings of the day, had betaken himself to the Captain’s round-house
(_cabinet_ he called it) to avoid the pest; but still, could not help
yelling out his entreaties and indignations at times.

Marking all this, Stubb argued well for his scheme, and turning to the
Guernsey-man had a little chat with him, during which the stranger mate
expressed his detestation of his Captain as a conceited ignoramus, who had
brought them all into so unsavory and unprofitable a pickle. Sounding him
carefully, Stubb further perceived that the Guernsey-man had not the
slightest suspicion concerning the ambergris. He therefore held his peace
on that head, but otherwise was quite frank and confidential with him, so
that the two quickly concocted a little plan for both circumventing and
satirizing the Captain, without his at all dreaming of distrusting their
sincerity. According to this little plan of theirs, the Guernsey-man,
under cover of an interpreter’s office, was to tell the Captain what he
pleased, but as coming from Stubb; and as for Stubb, he was to utter any
nonsense that should come uppermost in him during the interview.

By this time their destined victim appeared from his cabin. He was a small
and dark, but rather delicate looking man for a sea-captain, with large
whiskers and moustache, however; and wore a red cotton velvet vest with
watch-seals at his side. To this gentleman, Stubb was now politely
introduced by the Guernsey-man, who at once ostentatiously put on the
aspect of interpreting between them.

“What shall I say to him first?” said he.

“Why,” said Stubb, eyeing the velvet vest and the watch and seals, “you
may as well begin by telling him that he looks a sort of babyish to me,
though I don’t pretend to be a judge.”

“He says, Monsieur,” said the Guernsey-man, in French, turning to his
captain, “that only yesterday his ship spoke a vessel, whose captain and
chief-mate, with six sailors, had all died of a fever caught from a
blasted whale they had brought alongside.”

Upon this the captain started, and eagerly desired to know more.

“What now?” said the Guernsey-man to Stubb.

“Why, since he takes it so easy, tell him that now I have eyed him
carefully, I’m quite certain that he’s no more fit to command a whale-ship
than a St. Jago monkey. In fact, tell him from me he’s a baboon.”

“He vows and declares, Monsieur, that the other whale, the dried one, is
far more deadly than the blasted one; in fine, Monsieur, he conjures us,
as we value our lives, to cut loose from these fish.”

Instantly the captain ran forward, and in a loud voice commanded his crew
to desist from hoisting the cutting-tackles, and at once cast loose the
cables and chains confining the whales to the ship.

“What now?” said the Guernsey-man, when the Captain had returned to them.

“Why, let me see; yes, you may as well tell him now that—that—in
fact, tell him I’ve diddled him, and (aside to himself) perhaps somebody
else.”

“He says, Monsieur, that he’s very happy to have been of any service to
us.”

Hearing this, the captain vowed that they were the grateful parties
(meaning himself and mate) and concluded by inviting Stubb down into his
cabin to drink a bottle of Bordeaux.

“He wants you to take a glass of wine with him,” said the interpreter.

“Thank him heartily; but tell him it’s against my principles to drink with
the man I’ve diddled. In fact, tell him I must go.”

“He says, Monsieur, that his principles won’t admit of his drinking; but
that if Monsieur wants to live another day to drink, then Monsieur had
best drop all four boats, and pull the ship away from these whales, for
it’s so calm they won’t drift.”

By this time Stubb was over the side, and getting into his boat, hailed
the Guernsey-man to this effect,—that having a long tow-line in his
boat, he would do what he could to help them, by pulling out the lighter
whale of the two from the ship’s side. While the Frenchman’s boats, then,
were engaged in towing the ship one way, Stubb benevolently towed away at
his whale the other way, ostentatiously slacking out a most unusually long
tow-line.

Presently a breeze sprang up; Stubb feigned to cast off from the whale;
hoisting his boats, the Frenchman soon increased his distance, while the
Pequod slid in between him and Stubb’s whale. Whereupon Stubb quickly
pulled to the floating body, and hailing the Pequod to give notice of his
intentions, at once proceeded to reap the fruit of his unrighteous
cunning. Seizing his sharp boat-spade, he commenced an excavation in the
body, a little behind the side fin. You would almost have thought he was
digging a cellar there in the sea; and when at length his spade struck
against the gaunt ribs, it was like turning up old Roman tiles and pottery
buried in fat English loam. His boat’s crew were all in high excitement,
eagerly helping their chief, and looking as anxious as gold-hunters.

And all the time numberless fowls were diving, and ducking, and screaming,
and yelling, and fighting around them. Stubb was beginning to look
disappointed, especially as the horrible nosegay increased, when suddenly
from out the very heart of this plague, there stole a faint stream of
perfume, which flowed through the tide of bad smells without being
absorbed by it, as one river will flow into and then along with another,
without at all blending with it for a time.

“I have it, I have it,” cried Stubb, with delight, striking something in
the subterranean regions, “a purse! A purse!”

Dropping his spade, he thrust both hands in, and drew out handfuls of
something that looked like ripe Windsor soap, or rich mottled old cheese;
very unctuous and savory withal. You might easily dent it with your thumb;
it is of a hue between yellow and ash colour. And this, good friends, is
ambergris, worth a gold guinea an ounce to any druggist. Some six handfuls
were obtained; but more was unavoidably lost in the sea, and still more,
perhaps, might have been secured were it not for impatient Ahab’s loud
command to Stubb to desist, and come on board, else the ship would bid
them good bye.