{"id":"01KG6GMMTPH5NJASWNEHKG2HS6","cid":"bafkreia7wqmfid2un5hwvuzaamtfsbku3yatgtle2anz53w37knigl3iim","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2584,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 23","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2523,"text":"uninstructed honour which had stood in the way of his reporting the\r\nmatter at the time, though as a loyal man-of-war’s man it was incumbent\r\non him, and failure so to do it charged against him and proven, would\r\nhave subjected him to the heaviest of penalties. This, with the blind\r\nfeeling now his, that nothing really was being hatched, prevailed with\r\nhim. When the answer came it was a negative.\r\n\r\n‘One question more,’ said the officer of marines now first speaking, and\r\nwith a troubled earnestness. ‘You tell us that what the master-at-arms\r\nsaid against you was a lie. Now why should he have so lied, so\r\nmaliciously lied, since you declare there was no malice between you?’\r\n\r\nAt that question, unintentionally touching on a spiritual sphere, wholly\r\nobscure to Billy’s thoughts, he was nonplussed, evincing a confusion\r\nindeed that some observers, such as can be imagined, would have\r\nconstrued into involuntary evidence of hidden guilt. Nevertheless he\r\nstrove some way to answer, but all at once relinquished the vain\r\nendeavour, at the same time turning an appealing glance towards Captain\r\nVere, as deeming him his best helper and friend. Captain Vere, who had\r\nbeen seated for a time, rose to his feet, addressing the interrogator.\r\n‘The question you put to him comes naturally enough. But how can he\r\nrightly answer it, or anybody else? unless indeed it be he who lies\r\nwithin there,’ designating the compartment where lay the corpse. ‘But\r\nthe prone one there will not rise to our summons. In effect though, as\r\nit seems to me, the point you make is hardly material. Quite aside from\r\nany conceivable motive actuating the master-at-arms, and irrespective of\r\nthe provocation of the blow, a martial court must needs in the present\r\ncase confine its attention to the blow’s consequence, which consequence\r\nis to be deemed not otherwise than as the striker’s deed!’\r\n\r\nThis utterance, the full significance of which it was not at all likely\r\nthat Billy took in, nevertheless caused him to turn a wistful,\r\ninterrogative look toward the speaker, a look in its dumb expressiveness\r\nnot unlike that which a dog of generous breed might turn upon his\r\nmaster, seeking in his face some elucidation of a previous gesture\r\nambiguous to the canine intelligence. Nor was the same utterance without\r\nmarked effect upon the three officers, more especially the soldier.\r\nCouched in it seemed to them a meaning unanticipated, involving a\r\nprejudgment on the speaker’s part. It served to augment a mental\r\ndisturbance previously evident enough.\r\n\r\nThe soldier once more spoke, in a tone of suggestive dubiety addressing\r\nat once his associates and Captain Vere: ‘Nobody is present--none of the\r\nship’s company, I mean, who might shed lateral light, if any is to be\r\nhad, upon what remains mysterious in this matter.’\r\n\r\n‘That is thoughtfully put,’ said Captain Vere; ‘I see your drift. Ay,\r\nthere is a mystery; but to use a Scriptural phrase, it is “a mystery of\r\niniquity,” a matter for psychological theologians to discuss. But what\r\nhas a military court to do with it? Not to add that for us, any possible\r\ninvestigation of it is cut off by the lasting tongue-tie of--him--in\r\nyonder,’ again designating the mortuary state-room. ‘The prisoner’s\r\ndeed. With that alone we have to do.’\r\n\r\nTo this, and particularly the closing reiteration, the marine soldier,\r\nknowing not how aptly to reply, sadly abstained from saying aught. The\r\nfirst lieutenant, who at the outset had not unnaturally assumed primacy\r\nin the court, now over-rulingly instructed by a glance from Captain\r\nVere, a glance more effective than words, resumed that primacy. Turning\r\nto the prisoner: ‘Budd,’ he said, and scarce in equable tones, ‘Budd, if\r\nyou have aught further to say for yourself, say it now.’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 23"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTPM0VCEDBFKDD3MCVR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTMX822YDYRH3K3HHD1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:06.454Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:14.657Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}