{"id":"01KG6GMMTS9VGSRE639649WMNW","cid":"bafkreicakwbehi3lrrxjqbajjxq2gbn52fihm5mr6p54lx7ytg6tke7s4m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2888,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 29","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":2829,"text":"The first to encounter Captain Vere in the act of leaving the\r\ncompartment was the senior lieutenant. The face he beheld, for the\r\nmoment one expressive of the agony of the strong, was to that officer,\r\nthough a man of fifty, a startling revelation. That the condemned one\r\nsuffered less than he who mainly had effected the condemnation, was\r\napparently indicated by the former’s exclamation in the scene soon\r\nperforce to be touched upon.\r\n\r\nOf a series of incidents within a brief term rapidly following each\r\nother, the adequate narration may take up a term less brief, especially\r\nif explanation or comment here and there seem requisite to the better\r\nunderstanding of such incidents. Between the entrance into the cabin of\r\nhim who never left it alive, and him who when he did leave it left it as\r\none condemned to die; between this and the closeted interview just\r\ngiven, less than an hour and a half had elapsed. It was an interval long\r\nenough, however, to awaken speculations among no few of the ship’s\r\ncompany as to what it was that could be detaining in the cabin the\r\nmaster-at-arms and the sailor, for it was rumoured that both of them had\r\nbeen seen to enter it, and neither of them had been seen to emerge. This\r\nrumour had got abroad upon the gun-decks and in the tops; the people of\r\na great warship being in one respect like villagers, taking microscopic\r\nnote of every untoward movement or non-movement going on. When therefore\r\nin weather not at all tempestuous all hands were called in the second\r\ndog-watch, a summons under such circumstances not usual in those hours,\r\nthe crew were not wholly unprepared for some announcement extraordinary,\r\none having connection, too, with the continued absence of the two men\r\nfrom their wonted haunts.\r\n\r\nThere was a moderate sea at the time; and the moon newly risen, and near\r\nto being at its full, silvered the white spar-deck wherever not blotted\r\nby the clear-cut shadows horizontally thrown of fixtures and moving men.\r\nOn either side the quarter-deck the marine guard under arms was drawn\r\nup; and Captain Vere, standing in his place surrounded by all the\r\nward-room officers, addressed his men. In so doing his manner showed\r\nneither more nor less than that properly pertaining to his supreme\r\nposition aboard his own ship. In clear terms and concise he told them\r\nwhat had taken place in the cabin; that the master-at-arms was dead;\r\nthat he who had killed him had been already tried by a summary court and\r\ncondemned to death; and that the execution would take place in the early\r\nmorning watch. The word _mutiny_ was not named in what he said. He\r\nrefrained, too, from making the occasion an opportunity for any\r\npreachment as to the maintenance of discipline, thinking, perhaps, that\r\nunder existing circumstances in the Navy the consequence of violating\r\ndiscipline should be made to speak for itself.\r\n\r\nTheir captain’s announcement was listened to by the throng of standing\r\nsailors in a dumbness like that of a seated congregation of believers in\r\nHell listening to their clergyman’s announcement of his Calvinistic\r\ntext.[5]\r\n\r\nAt the close, however, a confused murmur went up. It began to wax all\r\nbut instantly, then at a sign, was pierced and suppressed by shrill\r\nwhistles of the boatswain and his mates piping, ‘Down one watch.’[6]\r\n\r\nTo be prepared for burial Claggart’s body was delivered to certain petty\r\nofficers of his mess. And here, not to clog the sequel with lateral\r\nmatters, it may be added that at a suitable hour, the master-at-arms was\r\ncommitted to the sea with every funeral honour properly belonging to his\r\nnaval grade.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 29"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK8EG5N9JTTBYRRP0CTKZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTSXV3YTNBVRCQQG1MP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMMTSMJJ1PPYXYDJWWD38","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:06.457Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:15.166Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}