This is Moby Dick Chapter 18: His Mark (summary)
Vocabulary Words found in this chapter: Moby Dick Chapter 18: His Mark (Vocabulary Words)
Previous Chapter: Chapter 17: The Ramadan (summary)
Queegqueg and Ishmael arrived and met Captain Peleg at the Pequod. He said that he’ll only accept Queegqueg, if he shows him some signed papers. Later, Captain Bildad asked Queegqueg if he was converted to any Christian church. Ishmael replied yes, he’s converted to the First Congregational Church.1the “Deacon Deuteronomy Coleman’s Church,” Peleg and Bildad thought.
Bildad can’t believe that Queegqueg’s a converted Christian, so he took a good long, careful look at Queegqueg. He guesses that Queegqueg’s just a new member of the church. Peleg added that he hasn’t been baptised right either, because it would have washed that devil’s blue off Queegqueg’s face.
Next, Bildad asked if he’s a regular member of the church because he never saw him going there. All that Ishmael knows is that Queegqueg is a born member of the First Congregational Church. Bildad told Ishmael to explain what he meant. Finding himself hardly pushed, Ishmael explained that all humans came from one mother, and that all came from one true church.
The amazed Captain Peleg told him that he should become a missionary, instead of a forehand, because even Father Mapple couldn’t beat what he said. Peleg said to never mind the papers. Then, he asked Quohog2Peleg calls Queegqueg like this., and asked if he had stricken a whale with his harpoon before.
Queegqueg jumped upon the bulwarks, supposed the small drop of tar at a distance as a whale’s eye, and darted it with his harpoon out of sight. Peleg rushed to Bildad, saying that Quohog should be on their ship, and then declared that Hedgehog3Peleg calls Queegqueg like this, too. or Quohog should have a 90th lay.
Soon, Peleg got the papers ready for Queegqueg’s signature. Queegqueg took the paper from him and copied a mark from his arm’s tattoo like this:
Meanwhile, Captain Bildad steadfastly eyed Queegqueg, approached him, and gave him some tracts entitled: ‘The Latter Day Coming,’ and ‘No Time to Lose.’ Then he frankly told Queegqueg that he fears the safety of the crew because of him. In other words, he obliged Queegqueg to stop his Paganism to become a Christian.
Peleg told Bildad not to spoil their harpooner, and to stop turning him into a pious coward like Nat Swaine. In that case, Bildad asked Peleg if he hadn’t thought of Death and Judgement when a typhoon back in Japan attacked them.
In reply, Peleg said that he and Ahab did not think of death. But rather, they thought of saving their crew’s lives from that typhoon. To this, Bildad said no more.
This is Moby Dick Chapter 18: His Mark (summary)