Moby-Dick Chapter 39: First Night-Watch Summary

This chapter is Stubb’s soliloquy.
Stubb is alone, mending a brace.
He’s decided to react to this whole situation with a good hearty laugh.
It’s all predestined anyway, he thinks, and so the wise thing to do is just to be merry as long as he can.
He feels a little better because now Ahab has mastered Starbuck the way Stubb himself got mastered earlier.