{"id":"01KG6GMMTPM0VCEDBFKDD3MCVR","cid":"bafkreiameia3ol53szcgmqlnmlps34r6bvrx76rfcl44mi7klt4n64ju2a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2529,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 22","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2466,"text":"poop-deck. Aft, and on either side, was a small state-room--the one room\r\ntemporarily a jail, and the other a dead-house--and a yet smaller\r\ncompartment leaving a space between, expanding forward into a goodly\r\noblong of length coinciding with the ship’s beam. A skylight of moderate\r\ndimensions was overhead, and at each end of the oblong space were two\r\nsashed port-hole windows easily convertible back into embrasures for\r\nshort carronades.\r\n\r\nAll being quickly in readiness, Billy Budd was arraigned, Captain Vere\r\nnecessarily appearing as the sole witness in the case, and as such\r\ntemporarily sinking his rank, though singularly maintaining it in a\r\nmatter apparently trivial, namely, that he testified from the ship’s\r\nweather-side, with that object having caused the court to sit on the\r\nlee-side. Concisely he narrated all that had led up to the catastrophe,\r\nomitting nothing in Claggart’s accusation, and deposing as to the manner\r\nin which the prisoner had received it. At this testimony the three\r\nofficers glanced with no little surprise at Billy Budd, the last man\r\nthey would have suspected, either of mutinous design alleged by\r\nClaggart, or of the undeniable deed he himself had done. The first\r\nlieutenant taking judicial primary, and turning toward the prisoner,\r\nsaid, ‘Captain Vere has spoken. Is it or is it not as Captain Vere\r\nsays?’ In response came syllables not so much impeded in the utterance\r\nas might have been anticipated. They were these:--\r\n\r\n‘Captain Vere tells the truth. It is just as Captain Vere says, but it\r\nis not as the master-at-arms said. I have eaten the King’s bread, and I\r\nam true to the King.’\r\n\r\n‘I believe you, my man,’ said the witness, his voice indicating a\r\nsuppressed emotion not otherwise betrayed.\r\n\r\n‘God will bless you for that, your honour!’ not without stammering, said\r\nBilly, and all but broke down. But immediately was recalled to\r\nself-control by another question, to which with the same emotional\r\ndifficulty of utterance he said, ‘No, there was no malice between us. I\r\nnever bore malice against the master-at-arms. I am sorry that he is\r\ndead. I did not mean to kill him. Could I have used my tongue I would\r\nnot have struck him. But he foully lied to my face, and in the presence\r\nof my captain, and I had to say something, and I could only say it with\r\na blow. God help me!’\r\n\r\nIn the impulsive above-board manner of the frank one the court saw\r\nconfirmed all that was implied in words that just previously had\r\nperplexed them coming as they did from the testifier to the tragedy, and\r\npromptly following Billy’s impassioned disclaimer of mutinous\r\nintent--Captain Vere’s words, ‘I believe you, my man.’\r\n\r\nNext, it was asked of him whether he knew of or suspected aught\r\nsavouring of incipient trouble (meaning mutiny, though the explicit term\r\nwas avoided) going on in any section of the ship’s company.\r\n\r\nThe reply lingered. This was naturally imputed by the court to the same\r\nvocal embarrassment which had retarded or obstructed previous answers.\r\nBut in main it was otherwise here; the question immediately recalling to\r\nBilly’s mind the interview with the afterguardsman in the fore-chains.\r\nBut an innate repugnance to playing a part at all approaching that of an\r\ninformer against one’s own shipmates--the same erring sense of\r\nuninstructed 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","title":"Chunk 22"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMM50JBMKMDKF0WKT9RWD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTPH5NJASWNEHKG2HS6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:06.454Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:14.567Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}