Chapter 29: Enter Ahab

Ere long from his first visit in the air, he withdrew into his cabin. But after that morning, he was every day visible to the crew. As the sky grew less gloomy, indeed began to grow a little genial. More than once did he put forth the faint blossom of a look which in any other man would have soon flowered out in a smile. The warmly cool, clear, ringing perfumed overflowing days were as crystal goblets of persian sherbert heaped up, flaked up with rose water.