NPPF- Preliminary- Title, II

[Bandwraith at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/8/03 1:16:21 PM, calbert at hslboxmaster.com writes:

<< "And I'm tremblin'..........."


oh, wait, that was St. Vitus......never mind.... >>

Aye, and tremble we should, mates, for he who would possess the
flame must extinguish and be extinguished by it. To possess and
to be possessed- to burn- the flame of life strutting and fretting,
but always self-consuming...

    Ahab's harpoon, the one forged at Perth's fire, remained 
    firmly lashed in its conspicuous crotch, so that it projected 
    beyond his whale-boat's bow; but the sea that had stove its 
    bottom had caused the loose leather sheath to drop off; and 
    from the keen steel barb there now came a levelled flame of
    pale, forked fire. As the silent harpoon burned there like a 
    serpent's tongue, Starbuck grasped Ahab by the arm - "God, 
    God is against thee, old man; forbear! t'is an ill voyage! ill begun, 
    ill continued; let me square the yards, while we may, old man, 
    and make a fair wind of it homewards, to go on a better voyage 
    than this." 

    Overhearing Starbuck, the panic-stricken crew instantly ran to 
    the braces - though not a sail was left aloft. For the moment all 
    the aghast mate's thoughts seemed theirs; they raised a half 
    mutinous cry. But dashing the rattling lightning links to the deck, 
    and snatching the burning harpoon, Ahab waved it like a torch among 
    them; swearing to transfix with it the first sailor that but cast 
    loose a rope's end. Petrified by his aspect, and still more shrinking 
    from the fiery dart that he held, the men fell back in dismay, and 
    Ahab again spoke: - 

    "All your oaths to hunt the White Whale are as binding as mine; and 
    heart, soul, and body, lungs and life, old Ahab is bound. And that ye 
    may know to what tune this heart beats; look ye here; thus I blow out 
    the last fear!" And with one blast of his breath he extinguished the    
flame. 

(Moby Dick, Ch. cxix, "The Candles," p. 501)

http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/moby/moby_119.html     

respectfully