{"id":"01KG6GMS0DDWPNWCY9BQ85N6M1","cid":"bafkreic4fm6s6kpw7t3lllyximoyrflyxcix5vun4wkz7sw7xunm74zxee","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5045,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":4969,"text":"day tantalising the wretched shanty with the sight of all the beauty,\r\nrank, fashion, health, trunks, silver and gold, dry-goods and groceries,\r\nbrides and grooms, happy wives and husbands, flying by the lonely\r\ndoor--no time to stop--flash! here they are--and there they go!--out of\r\nsight at both ends--as if that part of the world were only made to fly\r\nover, and not to settle upon. And this was about all the shanty saw of\r\nwhat people call ‘life.’\r\n\r\nThough puzzled somewhat, yet I knew the general direction where the\r\nshanty lay, and on I trudged. As I advanced, I was surprised to hear the\r\nmysterious cock crow with more and more distinctness. Is it possible,\r\nthought I, that any gentleman owning a Shanghai can dwell in such a\r\nlonesome, dreary region? Louder and louder, nigher and nigher, sounded\r\nthe glorious and defiant clarion. Though somehow I may be out of the\r\ntrack to my wood-sawyer’s, I said to myself, yet, thank Heaven, I seem\r\nto be on the way toward that extraordinary cock. I was delighted with\r\nthis auspicious accident. On I journeyed; while at intervals the crow\r\nsounded most invitingly, and jocundly, and superbly; and the last crow\r\nwas ever nigher than the former one. At last, emerging from a thicket of\r\nelders, straight before me I saw the most resplendent creature that ever\r\nblessed the sight of man.\r\n\r\nA cock, more like a golden eagle than a cock. A cock, more like a\r\nfield-marshal than a cock. A cock, more like Lord Nelson with all his\r\nglittering arms on, standing on the _Vanguard’s_ quarter-deck going into\r\nbattle, than a cock. A cock, more like the Emperor Charlemagne in his\r\nrobes at Aix-la-Chapelle, than a cock.\r\n\r\nSuch a cock!\r\n\r\nHe was of a haughty size, stood haughtily on his haughty legs. His\r\ncolours were red, gold, and white. The red was on his crest alone, which\r\nwas a mighty and symmetric crest, like unto Hector’s helmet, as\r\ndelineated on antique shields. His plumage was snowy, traced with gold.\r\nHe walked in front of the shanty, like a peer of the realm; his crest\r\nlifted, his chest heaved out, his embroidered trappings flashing in the\r\nlight. His pace was wonderful. He looked like some noble foreigner. He\r\nlooked like some Oriental king in some magnificent Italian opera.\r\n\r\nMerrymusk advanced from the door.\r\n\r\n‘Pray, is not that the Signor Beneventano?’\r\n\r\n‘Sir!’\r\n\r\n‘That’s the cock,’ said I, a little embarrassed. The truth was, my\r\nenthusiasm had betrayed me into a rather silly inadvertence. I had made\r\na somewhat learned sort of allusion in the presence of an unlearned man.\r\nConsequently, upon discovering it by his honest stare, I felt foolish;\r\nbut carried it off by declaring that _this was the cock_.\r\n\r\nNow, during the preceding autumn I had been to the city, and had chanced\r\nto be present at a performance of the Italian Opera. In that opera\r\nfigured in some royal character a certain Signor Beneventano--a man of a\r\ntall, imposing person, clad in rich raiment, like to plumage, and with a\r\nmost remarkable, majestic, scornful stride. The Signor Beneventano\r\nseemed on the point of tumbling over backward with exceeding\r\nhaughtiness. And, for all the world, the proud pace of the cock seemed\r\nthe very stage-pace of the Signor Beneventano.\r\n\r\nHark! Suddenly the cock paused, lifted his head still higher, ruffled\r\nhis plumes, seemed inspired, and sent forth a lusty crow. October\r\nMountain echoed it; other mountains sent it back; still others rebounded\r\nit; it overran the country round. Now I plainly perceived how it was I\r\nhad chanced to hear the gladdening sound on my distant hill.\r\n\r\n‘Good heavens! do you own the cock? Is that cock yours?’\r\n\r\n‘Is it my cock!’ said Merrymusk, looking slyly gleeful out of the corner\r\nof his long, solemn face.\r\n\r\n‘Where did you get it?’\r\n\r\n‘It chipped the shell here. I raised it.’\r\n\r\n‘You?’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK910Q5DQ0F8Y8A2E4V1N","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMS08F1GWVT8KMS32PF1N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMSJJ1KW11Y2YH2J5821A","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:10.733Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:16.933Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}