I had just begun to breathe again when the man pulled off his hat He was bald with only a small knot of hair twisted up on his forehead The skin of his bald head glowed purplish Finally he turned to face me in the glow of the candle I thought for a moment that the man had been badly beaten because his face was so marked Then I realized the marks were tattoos If he had not been standing between me and the door I would have run I considered climbing out the window as the harpooner undressed for bed Suddenly he lurched toward the bed with his tomahawk in hand Speak he demanded Are you a devil here to kill me in the night I’ll kill you first Help I shrieked Landlord Save me Who are you the harpooner demanded again waving the tomahawk around At that moment the landlord burst into the room I scrambled from the bed and ran to him 9
Don’t be afraid he said Queequeg here wouldn’t hurt you Look at him I shouted He threatened me with that tomahawk What if he made those shrunken heads and wanted mine next This brought a roar of laughter from the landlord That’s a pipe he said Queequeg likes a bit of a smoke before bed is all He turned to Queequeg He’s rented half the bed you understand You came in too late for me to warn you I understand Queequeg said I straightened Well tell him to stash his tomahawk or pipe or whatever I don’t want a man smoking in bed with me Queequeg agreed I bade the landlord good night climbed in bed and tumbled into a restful sleep 10
chapter 2 Breakfast When I awoke the next morning I found Queequeg had rolled over in the night and lay with his long arm across me I tried to push his arm away but he hugged me tighter in his sleep I called out Queequeg He answered with a snore That was really quite enough I thrashed about His grip tightened around my neck Queequeg I squeaked drumming my heels against the bed Finally he drew back and sat suddenly upright shaking himself awake He stared at me rubbed his eyes and looked again Then he jumped out of bed Speaking in short sentences he let me know that he would dress quickly and leave me to do the same 11
