When the three mates cross their spears in front of Ahab and he grasps them with his left hand, he has his pinkie outside the left-most spear, his ring finger between the left spear and center, and his middle and index fingers between the center and right-most spears. When the angle changes, suddenly his index finger is on the right side of the right-most spear, separated from the middle finger. As the camera angles change, his index finger jumps back and forth from being inside the space between the right and center spears to outside of it.