The Log and Line

The mate repeatedly smited the upper end of this iron rod. Then with them all, he placed the blunted needle endwise on the top of it. And less strongly hammered that several times. At first, the steel went round and round, quivering and vibrating at either end. But at last it settled to its place. When ahab, who had been intently watching for this result, exclaimed, look ye for yourselves. One after another, they peered in. For nothing but their own eyes could persuade such ignorance as theirs. The sun is east, and that compass swears it. In his fiery eyes of scorn and triumph, you then saw ahab in