{"id":"01KG6YHAXABDWM909V7TH73HJG","cid":"bafkreigaelcnajc4atzqjuktwpdqynodj5pnaf4tmkfiw4jdtugwoxfaq4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2601,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":2542,"text":"be given by the captain. Yet at first the visitor was loth to ask it,\r\nunwilling to provoke some distant rebuff. But plucking up courage, he\r\nat last accosted Don Benito, renewing the expression of his benevolent\r\ninterest, adding, that did he (Captain Delano) but know the particulars\r\nof the ship’s misfortunes, he would, perhaps, be better able in the end\r\nto relieve them. Would Don Benito favor him with the whole story.\r\n\r\nDon Benito faltered; then, like some somnambulist suddenly interfered\r\nwith, vacantly stared at his visitor, and ended by looking down on the\r\ndeck. He maintained this posture so long, that Captain Delano, almost\r\nequally disconcerted, and involuntarily almost as rude, turned suddenly\r\nfrom him, walking forward to accost one of the Spanish seamen for the\r\ndesired information. But he had hardly gone five paces, when, with a\r\nsort of eagerness, Don Benito invited him back, regretting his\r\nmomentary absence of mind, and professing readiness to gratify him.\r\n\r\nWhile most part of the story was being given, the two captains stood on\r\nthe after part of the main-deck, a privileged spot, no one being near\r\nbut the servant.\r\n\r\n“It is now a hundred and ninety days,” began the Spaniard, in his husky\r\nwhisper, “that this ship, well officered and well manned, with several\r\ncabin passengers—some fifty Spaniards in all—sailed from Buenos Ayres\r\nbound to Lima, with a general cargo, hardware, Paraguay tea and the\r\nlike—and,” pointing forward, “that parcel of negroes, now not more than\r\na hundred and fifty, as you see, but then numbering over three hundred\r\nsouls. Off Cape Horn we had heavy gales. In one moment, by night, three\r\nof my best officers, with fifteen sailors, were lost, with the\r\nmain-yard; the spar snapping under them in the slings, as they sought,\r\nwith heavers, to beat down the icy sail. To lighten the hull, the\r\nheavier sacks of mata were thrown into the sea, with most of the\r\nwater-pipes lashed on deck at the time. And this last necessity it was,\r\ncombined with the prolonged detections afterwards experienced, which\r\neventually brought about our chief causes of suffering. When—”\r\n\r\nHere there was a sudden fainting attack of his cough, brought on, no\r\ndoubt, by his mental distress. His servant sustained him, and drawing a\r\ncordial from his pocket placed it to his lips. He a little revived. But\r\nunwilling to leave him unsupported while yet imperfectly restored, the\r\nblack with one arm still encircled his master, at the same time keeping\r\nhis eye fixed on his face, as if to watch for the first sign of\r\ncomplete restoration, or relapse, as the event might prove.\r\n\r\nThe Spaniard proceeded, but brokenly and obscurely, as one in a dream.\r\n\r\n—“Oh, my God! rather than pass through what I have, with joy I would\r\nhave hailed the most terrible gales; but—”\r\n\r\nHis cough returned and with increased violence; this subsiding; with\r\nreddened lips and closed eyes he fell heavily against his supporter.\r\n\r\n“His mind wanders. He was thinking of the plague that followed the\r\ngales,” plaintively sighed the servant; “my poor, poor master!”\r\nwringing one hand, and with the other wiping the mouth. “But be\r\npatient, Señor,” again turning to Captain Delano, “these fits do not\r\nlast long; master will soon be himself.”\r\n\r\nDon Benito reviving, went on; but as this portion of the story was very\r\nbrokenly delivered, the substance only will here be set down.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7Z3K8B6BYJGR83VQN5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHAXAFZD4BBZRZ32AWM55","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHAXCGZEQWWRDF5JMRHNA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:58.058Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:03.893Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}