{"id":"01KG6GMNZS2JBHSHZ6Z52T1JB0","cid":"bafkreicv7venttvzem6xukxvla5t4k7vvkqzl6j5decufkexjxoyz3cgki","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3616,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":3574,"text":"brow showed like October’s tawny moon revealed in crescent above an\r\nominous cloud. Along with his moody ways, was it this uncanny physical\r\naspect, the result of a mere chance, was it this, and this alone, that\r\nhad suggested the germ of the rumour among certain afterguardsmen that\r\nin earlier life he had been a bucanier of the Keys and the Gulf, one of\r\nLafitte’s murderous crew? Certain it is, he had once served on a\r\nletter-of-marque.\r\n\r\nIn stature, though bowed somewhat in the shoulders, akin to the champion\r\nof Gath. Hands heavy and hard; short nails like withered horn. A\r\npowerful head, and shaggy. An iron-gray beard broad as a commodore’s\r\npennant, and about the mouth indelibly streaked with the moodily\r\ndribbled tobacco juice of all his cruises. In his day watch-below\r\nsilently couched by himself on the gun-deck in a bay between black\r\ncannon, he might have suggested an image of the Great Grizzly of the\r\nCalifornia Sierras, his coat the worse for wear, grim in his last den\r\nawaiting the last hour.\r\n\r\nIn his shore moorings--hard by the waters, not very far from the\r\ndocks--what with his all-night-in and easier lot in every particular,\r\nwith choice of associates when he desired them, which was not always,\r\nhappily he lost most of his gruffness as the old mastiff of the mainmast\r\nexposed to all weathers and with salt-horse for his diet. A stranger\r\naccosting him sunning himself upon some old spar on the strand, and\r\nkindly saluting him there, would receive no surly response, and if more\r\nthan mere salutation was exchanged, would probably go away with the\r\nimpression that he had been talking with an interesting oddity, a salt\r\nphilosopher, not lacking in a sort of grim common-sense.\r\n\r\nAfter being ashore for a period, a singularity in his habits was\r\nremarked. At times, but only when he might think himself quite alone, he\r\nwould roll aside the bosom of his darned Guernsey frock and steadfastly\r\ncontemplate something on his body. If by chance discovered in this, he\r\nwould quickly conceal all and growl his resentment.\r\n\r\nThis peculiarity awakening the curiosity of certain idle observers,\r\nlodgers under the same roof with him, and none caring to be so bold as\r\nto question him as to the reason of it, or to ask what it was on his\r\nbody, a drug was enlisted as a means of finding out the secret. In\r\nprudent quantities it was slyly slipped into his huge bowl of tea at\r\nsupper. Next morning a certain old-clothes-man whispered to his gossips\r\nthe result of his sorry intrusion overnight.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GKXWD1MR0KN2F4BADD7HE","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMNCKD828D6P0AE8YXGMF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMNZSYM57X4S2QE3GG4MG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:07.641Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:15.718Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}