The Whales, a Nantucketer He Knew, Sailed in Pursuit of the Missing Boat

Three of the stranger's boats were engaged with a shoal of whales, which had led them some four or five miles from the ship. While they were yet in swift chase to windward, the white hump and head of moby dick had suddenly loomed up out of the water not very far away. After a keen sail before the wind, this fourth boat, the swiftest keeled of all, seemed to have succeeded in fastening at least as well as the man at the masthead could tell anything about it. In the distance, he saw the diminished dotted boat and a swift gleam of bubbling white water, and after that, nothing more. Whence it was concluded