{"id":"01KG8AJHQ7SYE6M4CYQKXSKRKK","cid":"bafkreihz3mqw5f5uaddhbgzu5ytiwesknysd6qzvr2dz6rcnarpsvrtj4i","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XXIV.\nOUTBREAK OF THE CREW\n\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas](arke:01KG8AJ7VM7B8YZ2568YF8PQ5J) by Herman Melville. It describes an outbreak of the crew against Bembo, a character referred to as \"the Mowree,\" and the intervention of Jermin, the mate, to save him. The chapter spans lines 3229-3319 of the source file [omoo.txt](arke:01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ).\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is part of [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows [CHAPTER XXIII. THE SECOND NIGHT OFF PAPEETEE](arke:01KG8AJHQ73FX1CD9D18EPP4J3) and precedes [CHAPTER XXV. JERMIN ENCOUNTERS AN OLD SHIPMATE](arke:01KG8AJHQ7K1CPKY0BSA8EQ3RV) in the novel's narrative.\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter depicts the crew's attempt to attack Bembo, fueled by his perceived betrayal. The crew, having learned of Bembo's intentions, seeks to harm him, but Jermin intervenes, preventing the crew from throwing Bembo overboard. Jermin confronts the sailors, protecting Bembo and ultimately locking him in the cabin scuttle. The chapter concludes with the narrator's assessment of Bembo's motives and Jermin's role in preventing a murder.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:11.676Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XXIV.","end_line":3319,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:33.380Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XXIV.\nOUTBREAK OF THE CREW","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":3229,"text":"CHAPTER XXIV.\r\nOUTBREAK OF THE CREW\r\n\r\n\r\nThe purpose of Bembo had been made known to the men generally by the\r\nwatch; and now that our salvation was certain, by an instinctive\r\nimpulse they raised a cry, and rushed toward him.\r\n\r\nJust before liberated by Dunk and the steward, he was standing doggedly\r\nby the mizzen-mast; and, as the infuriated sailors came on, his\r\nbloodshot eye rolled, and his sheath-knife glittered over his head.\r\n\r\n“Down with him!” “Strike him down!” “Hang him at the main-yard!” such\r\nwere the shouts now raised. But he stood unmoved, and, for a single\r\ninstant, they absolutely faltered.\r\n\r\n“Cowards!” cried Salem, and he flung himself upon him. The steel\r\ndescended like a ray of light; but did no harm; for the sailor’s heart\r\nwas beating against the Mowree’s before he was aware.\r\n\r\nThey both fell to the deck, when the knife was instantly seized, and\r\nBembo secured.\r\n\r\n“For’ard! for’ard with him!” was again the cry; “give him a sea-toss!”\r\n“Overboard with him!” and he was dragged along the deck, struggling and\r\nfighting with tooth and nail.\r\n\r\nAll this uproar immediately over the mate’s head at last roused him\r\nfrom his drunken nap, and he came staggering on deck.\r\n\r\n“What’s this?” he shouted, running right in among them.\r\n\r\n“It’s the Mowree, zur; they are going to murder him, zur,” here sobbed\r\npoor Rope Yarn, crawling close up to him.\r\n\r\n“Avast! avast!” roared Jermin, making a spring toward Bembo, and\r\ndashing two or three of the sailors aside. At this moment the wretch\r\nwas partly flung over the bulwarks, which shook with his frantic\r\nstruggles. In vain the doctor and others tried to save him: the men\r\nlistened to nothing.\r\n\r\n“Murder and mutiny, by the salt sea!” shouted the mate; and dashing his\r\narms right and left, he planted his iron hand upon the Mowree’s\r\nshoulder.\r\n\r\n“There are two of us now; and as you serve him, you serve me,” he\r\ncried, turning fiercely round.\r\n\r\n“Over with them together, then,” exclaimed the carpenter, springing\r\nforward; but the rest fell back before the courageous front of Jermin,\r\nand, with the speed of thought, Bembo, unharmed, stood upon deck.\r\n\r\n“Aft with ye!” cried his deliverer; and he pushed him right among the\r\nmen, taking care to follow him up close. Giving the sailors no time to\r\nrecover, he pushed the Mowree before him, till they came to the cabin\r\nscuttle, when he drew the slide over him, and stood still. Throughout,\r\nBembo never spoke one word.\r\n\r\n“Now for’ard where ye belong!” cried the mate, addressing the seamen,\r\nwho by this time, rallying again, had no idea of losing their victim.\r\n\r\n“The Mowree! the Mowree!” they shouted.\r\n\r\nHere the doctor, in answer to the mate’s repeated questions, stepped\r\nforward, and related what Bembo had been doing; a matter which the mate\r\nbut dimly understood from the violent threatenings he had been hearing.\r\n\r\nFor a moment he seemed to waver; but at last, turning the key of the\r\npadlock of the slide, he breathed through his set teeth—“Ye can’t have\r\nhim; I’ll hand him over to the consul; so for’ard with ye, I say: when\r\nthere’s any drowning to be done, I’ll pass the word; so away with ye,\r\nye blood-thirsty pirates.”\r\n\r\nIt was to no purpose that they begged or threatened: Jermin, although\r\nby no means sober, stood his ground manfully, and before long they\r\ndispersed, soon to forget everything that had happened.\r\n\r\nThough we had no opportunity to hear him confess it, Bembo’s intention\r\nto destroy us was beyond all question. His only motive could have been\r\na desire to revenge the contumely heaped upon him the night previous,\r\noperating upon a heart irreclaimably savage, and at no time fraternally\r\ndisposed toward the crew.\r\n\r\nDuring the whole of this scene the doctor did his best to save him. But\r\nwell knowing that all I could do would have been equally useless, I\r\nmaintained my place at the wheel. Indeed, no one but Jermin could have\r\nprevented this murder.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XXIV.\nOUTBREAK OF THE CREW"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ7VM7B8YZ2568YF8PQ5J","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJHQ73FX1CD9D18EPP4J3","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJHQ7K1CPKY0BSA8EQ3RV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.143Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:12.839Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}