Not P but Moby-Dick (60)

[David Morris]

range verb (POSITION)

*to **position** people or things together, especially in rows*: The crowd
ranged itself along the route of the procession. The troops were ranged in
front of the commanding officer.

“they took a mortal start forwards
slantingly ranged up on the German’s quarter”

*They very forcefully leaned forward together in a line on the German’s
side of the boat.*

“all four boats were diagonically in the whale’s immediate wake”

*All four boats also lined up facing diagonally in the wake *

On Sat, Jan 27, 2024 at 2:52 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 81:
>
> With a shout, they took a mortal start forwards, and slantingly ranged up
> on the German’s quarter.  An instant more, and all four boats were
> diagonically in the whale’s immediate wake, while stretching from them, on
> both sides, was the foaming swell that he made.
>
> Here, do "slantingly" and "diagonically"(=diagonally) refer to the relative
> position of the boats, or is it something else? What exactly is the picture
> here?
> --
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>