{"id":"01KG6YHBKD5TAVXZCTRPVR8D8P","cid":"bafkreieih6xhztufkqlbg5da3jx5pjt3wxjent3qac6eet236mjejlemna","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2995,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 15","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":2923,"text":"Here he paused; his hand to his head, as if there were a swimming\r\nthere, or a sudden bewilderment of memory had come over him; but\r\nmeeting his servant’s kindly glance seemed reassured, and proceeded:—\r\n\r\n“I could not scourge such a form. But I told him he must ask my pardon.\r\nAs yet he has not. At my command, every two hours he stands before me.”\r\n\r\n“And how long has this been?”\r\n\r\n“Some sixty days.”\r\n\r\n“And obedient in all else? And respectful?”\r\n\r\n“Yes.”\r\n\r\n“Upon my conscience, then,” exclaimed Captain Delano, impulsively, “he\r\nhas a royal spirit in him, this fellow.”\r\n\r\n“He may have some right to it,” bitterly returned Don Benito, “he says\r\nhe was king in his own land.”\r\n\r\n“Yes,” said the servant, entering a word, “those slits in Atufal’s ears\r\nonce held wedges of gold; but poor Babo here, in his own land, was only\r\na poor slave; a black man’s slave was Babo, who now is the white’s.”\r\n\r\nSomewhat annoyed by these conversational familiarities, Captain Delano\r\nturned curiously upon the attendant, then glanced inquiringly at his\r\nmaster; but, as if long wonted to these little informalities, neither\r\nmaster nor man seemed to understand him.\r\n\r\n“What, pray, was Atufal’s offense, Don Benito?” asked Captain Delano;\r\n“if it was not something very serious, take a fool’s advice, and, in\r\nview of his general docility, as well as in some natural respect for\r\nhis spirit, remit him his penalty.”\r\n\r\n“No, no, master never will do that,” here murmured the servant to\r\nhimself, “proud Atufal must first ask master’s pardon. The slave there\r\ncarries the padlock, but master here carries the key.”\r\n\r\nHis attention thus directed, Captain Delano now noticed for the first,\r\nthat, suspended by a slender silken cord, from Don Benito’s neck, hung\r\na key. At once, from the servant’s muttered syllables, divining the\r\nkey’s purpose, he smiled, and said:—“So, Don Benito—padlock and\r\nkey—significant symbols, truly.”\r\n\r\nBiting his lip, Don Benito faltered.\r\n\r\nThough the remark of Captain Delano, a man of such native simplicity as\r\nto be incapable of satire or irony, had been dropped in playful\r\nallusion to the Spaniard’s singularly evidenced lordship over the\r\nblack; yet the hypochondriac seemed some way to have taken it as a\r\nmalicious reflection upon his confessed inability thus far to break\r\ndown, at least, on a verbal summons, the entrenched will of the slave.\r\nDeploring this supposed misconception, yet despairing of correcting it,\r\nCaptain Delano shifted the subject; but finding his companion more than\r\never withdrawn, as if still sourly digesting the lees of the presumed\r\naffront above-mentioned, by-and-by Captain Delano likewise became less\r\ntalkative, oppressed, against his own will, by what seemed the secret\r\nvindictiveness of the morbidly sensitive Spaniard. But the good sailor,\r\nhimself of a quite contrary disposition, refrained, on his part, alike\r\nfrom the appearance as from the feeling of resentment, and if silent,\r\nwas only so from contagion.\r\n\r\nPresently the Spaniard, assisted by his servant somewhat discourteously\r\ncrossed over from his guest; a procedure which, sensibly enough, might\r\nhave been allowed to pass for idle caprice of ill-humor, had not master\r\nand man, lingering round the corner of the elevated skylight, began\r\nwhispering together in low voices. This was unpleasing. And more; the\r\nmoody air of the Spaniard, which at times had not been without a sort\r\nof valetudinarian stateliness, now seemed anything but dignified; while\r\nthe menial familiarity of the servant lost its original charm of\r\nsimple-hearted attachment.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 15"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7Z3K8B6BYJGR83VQN5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHBKD99GQKM0JF2GH6CMV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHBKD9BM0P7N7YZS6EWXP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:58.765Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:04.033Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}