{"id":"01KG6GMKH9V0EZYVGYBGBR7FPR","cid":"bafkreic2hebzxfodrgv4lkin4gk2fm6npzkfprpeszfzpi44klsfobhrqq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1730,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 8","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":1660,"text":"he belongs.’\r\n\r\n‘And is that all you did about it, foretopman?’ gruffly demanded\r\nanother, an irascible old fellow of brick-coloured visage and hair, and\r\nwho was known to his associate forecastlemen as _Red Pepper_. ‘Such\r\nsneaks I should like to marry to the gunner’s daughter!’ by that\r\nexpression meaning that he would like to subject them to disciplinary\r\ncastigation over a gun.\r\n\r\nHowever, Billy’s rendering of the matter satisfactorily accounted to\r\nthese inquirers for the brief commotion, since of all the sections of a\r\nship’s company the forecastlemen, veterans for the most part, and\r\nbigoted in their sea-prejudices, are the most jealous in resenting\r\nterritorial encroachments, especially on the part of any of the\r\nafterguard, of whom they have but a sorry opinion, chiefly landsmen,\r\nnever going aloft except to reef or furl the mainsail, and in no wise\r\ncompetent to handle a marling-spike or turn in a _dead-eye_, say.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n                                  XIII\r\n\r\n\r\nThis incident sorely puzzled Billy Budd. It was an entirely new\r\nexperience; the first time in his life that he had ever been personally\r\napproached in underhand intriguing fashion. Prior to this encounter he\r\nhad known nothing of the afterguardsman, the two men being stationed\r\nwide apart, one forward and aloft during his watch, the other on deck\r\nand aft.\r\n\r\nWhat could it mean? And could they really be guineas, those two\r\nglittering objects the interloper had held up to his (Billy’s) eyes?\r\nWhere could the fellow get guineas? Why, even buttons, spare buttons,\r\nare not so plentiful at sea. The more he turned the matter over, the\r\nmore he was nonplussed, and made uneasy and discomforted. In his\r\ndisgustful recoil from an overture which though he but ill comprehended\r\nhe instinctively knew must involve evil of some sort, Billy Budd was\r\nlike a young horse fresh from the pasture suddenly inhaling a vile whiff\r\nfrom some chemical factory, and by repeated snortings tries to get it\r\nout of his nostrils and lungs. This frame of mind barred all desire of\r\nholding further parley with the fellow, even were it but for the purpose\r\nof gaining some enlightenment as to his design in approaching him. And\r\nyet he was not without natural curiosity to see how such a visitor in\r\nthe dark would look in broad day.\r\n\r\nHe espied him the following afternoon in his first dog-watch below, one\r\nof the smokers on that forward part of the upper gun-deck allotted to\r\nthe pipe. He recognised him by his general cut and build, more than by\r\nhis round freckled face and glassy eyes of pale blue veiled with lashes\r\nall but white. And yet Billy was a bit uncertain whether indeed it were\r\nhe--yonder chap about his own age, chatting and laughing in free-hearted\r\nway, leaning against a gun; a genial young fellow enough to look at, and\r\nsomething of a rattle-brain, to all appearance. Rather chubby, too, for\r\na sailor, even an afterguardsman. In short, the last man in the world,\r\none would think, to be overburthened with thoughts, especially those\r\nperilous thoughts that must needs belong to a conspirator in any serious\r\nproject, or even to the underling of such a conspirator.\r\n\r\nAlthough Billy was not aware of it, the fellow with a sidelong watchful\r\nglance had perceived Billy first, and then noting that Billy was looking\r\nat him, thereupon nodded a familiar sort of friendly recognition as to\r\nan old acquaintance, without interrupting the talk he was engaged in\r\nwith the group of smokers. A day or two afterwards, chancing in the\r\nevening promenade on a gun-deck to pass Billy, he offered a flying word\r\nof good-fellowship, as it were, which by its unexpectedness, and\r\nequivocalness under the circumstances, so embarrassed Billy, that he\r\nknew not how to respond to it, and let it go unnoticed.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 8"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMKH6NN3PMSYF6YYAZ4W3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMKH9QJPZKAQRTJD7W0R9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:05.129Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:13.890Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}