Meaning: Thinking before making a decision
Depiction: Aboard the Samuel Enderby, Ahab crosses his ivory leg with Captain Boomer's ivory arm in greeting.
Text: Chapter 100, Leg and Arm
With his ivory arm frankly thrust forth in welcome, the other captain advanced, and Ahab, putting out his ivory leg, and crossing the ivory arm (like two sword-fish blades) cried out in his walrus way, “Aye, aye, hearty! let us shake bones together!—an arm and a leg!—an arm that never can shrink, d’ye see; and a leg that never can run."
Comments: The crossed arms of the RWS card made me immediately think of the two captains crossing their ivory appendages (like blades, as Melville says). The choice here is either Captain Boomer's decision to move on after his injury, or Ahab's decision to obsessively pursue the cause of his.
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