{"id":"01KG6YHA8HDMMZ06KGCP22V3AM","cid":"bafkreicsd5n5tmj2fwzhllkv263x4tixdmmnfwe7eypcbdlk25gurvy4ye","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2273,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":2214,"text":"the far matin light from her cabin streamed equivocally enough; much\r\nlike the sun—by this time hemisphered on the rim of the horizon, and,\r\napparently, in company with the strange ship entering the harbor—which,\r\nwimpled by the same low, creeping clouds, showed not unlike a Lima\r\nintriguante’s one sinister eye peering across the Plaza from the Indian\r\nloop-hole of her dusk _saya-y-manta._\r\n\r\nIt might have been but a deception of the vapors, but, the longer the\r\nstranger was watched the more singular appeared her manoeuvres. Ere\r\nlong it seemed hard to decide whether she meant to come in or no—what\r\nshe wanted, or what she was about. The wind, which had breezed up a\r\nlittle during the night, was now extremely light and baffling, which\r\nthe more increased the apparent uncertainty of her movements.\r\nSurmising, at last, that it might be a ship in distress, Captain Delano\r\nordered his whale-boat to be dropped, and, much to the wary opposition\r\nof his mate, prepared to board her, and, at the least, pilot her in. On\r\nthe night previous, a fishing-party of the seamen had gone a long\r\ndistance to some detached rocks out of sight from the sealer, and, an\r\nhour or two before daybreak, had returned, having met with no small\r\nsuccess. Presuming that the stranger might have been long off\r\nsoundings, the good captain put several baskets of the fish, for\r\npresents, into his boat, and so pulled away. From her continuing too\r\nnear the sunken reef, deeming her in danger, calling to his men, he\r\nmade all haste to apprise those on board of their situation. But, some\r\ntime ere the boat came up, the wind, light though it was, having\r\nshifted, had headed the vessel off, as well as partly broken the vapors\r\nfrom about her.\r\n\r\nUpon gaining a less remote view, the ship, when made signally visible\r\non the verge of the leaden-hued swells, with the shreds of fog here and\r\nthere raggedly furring her, appeared like a white-washed monastery\r\nafter a thunder-storm, seen perched upon some dun cliff among the\r\nPyrenees. But it was no purely fanciful resemblance which now, for a\r\nmoment, almost led Captain Delano to think that nothing less than a\r\nship-load of monks was before him. Peering over the bulwarks were what\r\nreally seemed, in the hazy distance, throngs of dark cowls; while,\r\nfitfully revealed through the open port-holes, other dark moving\r\nfigures were dimly descried, as of Black Friars pacing the cloisters.\r\n\r\nUpon a still nigher approach, this appearance was modified, and the\r\ntrue character of the vessel was plain—a Spanish merchantman of the\r\nfirst class, carrying negro slaves, amongst other valuable freight,\r\nfrom one colonial port to another. A very large, and, in its time, a\r\nvery fine vessel, such as in those days were at intervals encountered\r\nalong that main; sometimes superseded Acapulco treasure-ships, or\r\nretired frigates of the Spanish king’s navy, which, like superannuated\r\nItalian palaces, still, under a decline of masters, preserved signs of\r\nformer state.\r\n\r\nAs the whale-boat drew more and more nigh, the cause of the peculiar\r\npipe-clayed aspect of the stranger was seen in the slovenly neglect\r\npervading her. The spars, ropes, and great part of the bulwarks, looked\r\nwoolly, from long unacquaintance with the scraper, tar, and the brush.\r\nHer keel seemed laid, her ribs put together, and she launched, from\r\nEzekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones.\r\n\r\nIn the present business in which she was engaged, the ship’s general\r\nmodel and rig appeared to have undergone no material change from their\r\noriginal warlike and Froissart pattern. However, no guns were seen.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7Z3K8B6BYJGR83VQN5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHA8H1W60WFY3MKC9Y6CX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHA8MCD4WMYEEASJM0S5C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:57.393Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:03.573Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}