Ahab's Adventure's In Wonderland; or The Rabbit

Chapter Forty

Gabriel was not long gone when we sighted a white rabbit in the distance. When Starbuck called out, we all tittered with excitement, none more so than Ahab, but has the long-eared, hoary figure approached, it soon became clear that this was not Moby Dick, but a younger, cuter rabbit. This rabbit trotted slowly towards us, looking anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and we heard it muttering to itself 'The Duchess! The Duchess! Oh my dear paws! Oh my fur and whiskers! She'll get me executed, as sure as ferrets are ferrets! Where CAN HE have dropped them, I wonder?' Ahab guessed in a moment that it was looking for the fan and the pair of white kid gloves, and he sullenly stared at us we good-naturedly began hunting about for them. They were nowhere to be seen--everything seemed to have changed since our swim in the pool, and the great hall, with the glass table and the little door, had vanished completely.

Very soon the Rabbit noticed Ahab, as we went hunting about, and called out to him in an angry tone, 'Why, Arthur, what ARE you doing out here? Run home this moment, and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, now!'

Ahab was very much perturbed and was about to make what I assume would have been a very angry retort, when a sly smile spread across his face. In a moment, Ahab limped off in the direction the rabbit pointed to, without trying to explain the mistake it had made.

'He took me for his servant,' he said to no one in particular as he ran. 'How surprised he'll be when he finds out who I am! But I'd better take him the fan and gloves--that is, if I can find them. He'll be sure to lead me to my prey.' As he said this, he came upon a neat little house, on the door of which was a bright brass plate with the name 'M. Dick' engraved upon it. He went in without knocking, and hurried upstairs, in great fear lest he should meet the real Arthur, and be turned out of the house before he had found the fan and gloves.

'How queer it seems,' Ahab said, 'to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Starbuck will be sending me on messages next!' And he began fancying the sort of thing that would happen: ''Captain Ahab! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!' 'Coming in a minute, nurse! But I've got to see that the mouse doesn't get out.' Only I don't think,' Ahab went on, 'that they'd let Starbuck back on the farm if he began ordering people about like that!'

By this time we had found our way into a tidy little room with a table in the window, and on it (as Ahab had hoped) a fan and two or three pairs of tiny white kid gloves: he took up the fan and a pair of the gloves, and was just going to leave the room, when his eye fell upon a little bottle that stood near the looking-glass. There was no label this time with the words 'DRINK ME,' but nevertheless he uncorked it and put it to his lips before any of us could intervene.

'I know SOMETHING interesting is sure to happen,' he said by way of explanation, 'whenever I eat or drink anything; so I'll just see what this bottle does. I do hope it'll make me grow large again, for really I'm quite tired of being such a tiny little thing!'

It did so indeed, and much sooner than he had expected: before he had drunk half the bottle, he found his head pressing against the ceiling, and had to stoop to save his neck from being broken. he hastily put down the bottle, saying to himself 'That's quite enough--I hope I shan't

grow any more--As it is, I can't get out at the door--I do wish I hadn't drunk quite so much!'

Alas! it was too late to wish that! Ahab went on growing, and growing, and very soon had to kneel down on the floor: in another minute there was not even room for this, and he tried the effect of lying down with one elbow against the door while Franklin and Starbuck and I scrambled outside. Still he went on growing, and, as a last resource, he put one arm out of the window, and one foot up the chimney, and said to himself 'Now I can do no more, whatever happens. What WILL become of me?'