midnight
Born of earth , yet suckled by the sea ; though hill and valley mothered me , ye billows are my foster-brothers ! '' The Whale Watch The four whales slain that evening had died wide apart ; one , far to windward ; one less distant , to leeward ; one ahead ; one astern . These last three were brought alongside ere nightfall ; but the windward one could not be reached till morning ; and the boat that had killed it lay by its side all night ; and that boat was Ahab 's . The waif-pole was thrust upright into the dead whale 's spout-hole ; and the lantern hanging from its top , cast a troubled flickering glare upon the black , glossy back , and far out upon the midnight waves , which gently chafed the whale 's broad flank , like soft surf upon a beach . Ahab and all his boat 's crew seemed asleep but the Parsee ; who crouching in the bow , sat watching the sharks , that spectrally played round the whale , and tapped the light cedar planks with their tails . A sound like the moaning in squadrons over Asphaltites of unforgiven ghosts of Gomorrah , ran shuddering through the air . Started from his slumbers , Ahab , face to face , saw the Parsee ; and hooped round by the gloom of the night they seemed the last men in a flooded world .