{"id":"01KG6GMM4WCBSWHY2090FZ0R4Z","cid":"bafkreifqgrnp76rsd2ptfvodzydwheilqxukeys57nw5igigqtf7t5jctq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2021,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 13","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":1966,"text":"Claggart’s presence, and saw the doffed cap held in deferential\r\nexpectancy. Here be it said that Captain Vere’s personal knowledge of\r\nthis petty officer had only begun at the time of the ship’s last sailing\r\nfrom home, Claggart then for the first, in transfer from a ship detained\r\nfor repairs, supplying on board the _Indomitable_[3] the place of a\r\nprevious master-at-arms disabled and ashore.\r\n\r\nNo sooner did the commander observe who it was that now so deferentially\r\nstood awaiting his notice, than a peculiar expression came over his\r\nface. It was not unlike that which uncontrollably will flit across the\r\ncountenance of one at unawares encountering a person who though known to\r\nhim indeed has hardly been long enough known for thorough knowledge, but\r\nsomething in whose aspect nevertheless now for the first provokes a\r\nvaguely repellent distaste. But coming to a stand, and resuming much of\r\nhis wonted official manner, save that a sort of impatience lurked in the\r\nintonation of the opening word, he said, ‘Well, what is it,\r\nmaster-at-arms?’\r\n\r\nWith the air of a subordinate grieved at the necessity of being a\r\nmessenger of ill-tidings, and while conscientiously determined to be\r\nfrank, yet equally resolved upon shunning overstatement, Claggart at\r\nthis invitation, or rather summons to disburthen, spoke up. What he\r\nsaid, conveyed in the language of no uneducated man, was to the effect\r\nfollowing, if not altogether in these words, namely: That during the\r\nchase and preparations for the possible encounter he had seen enough to\r\nconvince him that at least one sailor aboard was a dangerous character\r\nin a ship mustering some who not only had taken a guilty part in the\r\nlate serious trouble, but others also who, like the man in question, had\r\nentered His Majesty’s service under another form than enlistment.\r\n\r\nAt this point Captain Vere with some impatience interrupted him:\r\n\r\n‘Be direct, man; say impressed men.’\r\n\r\nClaggart made a gesture of subservience and proceeded. Quite lately he\r\n(Claggart) had begun to suspect that some sort of movement prompted by\r\nthe sailor in question was covertly going on, but he had not thought\r\nhimself warranted in reporting the suspicion so long as it remained\r\nindistinct. But from what he had that afternoon observed in the man\r\nreferred to, the suspicion of something clandestine going on had\r\nadvanced to a point less removed from certainty. He deeply felt, he\r\nadded, the serious responsibility assumed in making a report involving\r\nsuch possible consequences to the individual mainly concerned, besides\r\ntending to augment those natural anxieties which every naval commander\r\nmust feel in view of extraordinary outbreaks so recent as those which,\r\nhe sorrowfully said it, it needed not to name.\r\n\r\nNow at the first broaching of the matter Captain Vere, taken by\r\nsurprise, could not wholly dissemble his disquietude, but as Claggart\r\nwent on, the former’s aspect changed into restiveness under something in\r\nthe testifier’s manner in giving his testimony. However, he refrained\r\nfrom interrupting him. And Claggart, continuing, concluded with this:\r\n\r\n‘God forbid, your honour, that the _Indomitable’s_[4] should be the\r\nexperience of the----’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 13"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMM4YB3CKEEYK4Y3PVMWH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMM4Y92W406TSZJWWY9HX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:05.756Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:14.434Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}