{"id":"01KG8AJVBQBH4JSE0BTJZRSEAK","cid":"bafkreidpscbx4evjmbbdvyf7kwm7vx5aiqz4wi43qyg56eepktlwuj7otm","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER LXIX.\nAfter A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed\n\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN) by Herman Melville. The chapter, titled \"CHAPTER LXIX. After A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed,\" describes a night at sea where the protagonists are becalmed and face potential threats. It is extracted from the file [mardi_vol2.txt](arke:01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9).\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It follows [CHAPTER LXVIII. King Media Dreams](arke:01KG8AJVBQHHASYX4CP4YTQPQH) and precedes [CHAPTER LXX. They Land At Hooloomooloo](arke:01KG8AJVZ99STEZQP1V4GQ7HH8) in the novel's sequence.\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter recounts a period of time passing as the characters sail from island to island, exploring empires and valleys. One evening, they launch their canoes from a wild strand. As night falls and the wind dies, they are becalmed. While the others sleep, a watcher spots an assassin who plunges into the lagoon, dropping his stiletto. Two figures in a shallop retrieve the assassin. Another canoe appears, bearing Hautia's flag, and sirens wave plants, including the \"Midnight Tremmella,\" offering grapes. The night passes slowly, and with the sunrise, sadness fades.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:00.931Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER LXIX.","end_line":9591,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.723Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER LXIX.\nAfter A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":9516,"text":"CHAPTER LXIX.\r\nAfter A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed\r\n\r\n\r\nNow suns rose, and set; moons grew, and waned; till, at last, the star\r\nthat erewhile heralded the dawn, presaged the eve; to us, sad token!—\r\nwhile deep within the deepest heart of Mardi’s circle, we sailed from\r\nsea to sea; and isle to isle; and group to group;—vast empires\r\nexplored, and inland valleys, to their utmost heads; and for every ray\r\nin heaven, beheld a king.\r\n\r\nNeedless to recount all that then befell; what tribes and caravans we\r\nsaw; what vast horizons; boundless plains: and sierras, in their every\r\nintervale, a nation nestling.\r\n\r\nEnough that still we roamed.\r\n\r\nIt was evening; and as the red sun, magnified, launched into the wave,\r\nonce more, from a wild strand, we launched our three canoes.\r\n\r\nSoon, from her clouds, hooded Night, like a nun from a convent, drew\r\nnigh. Rustled her train, yet no spangles were there. But high on her\r\nbrow, still shone her pale crescent; haloed by bandelets—violet, red,\r\nand yellow. So looked the lone watcher through her rainbow-iris; so\r\nsad, the night without stars.\r\n\r\nThe winds were laid; the lagoon, still, as a prairie of an August noon.\r\n\r\n“Let us dream out the calm,” said Media. “One of ye paddlers, watch: Ho\r\ncompanions! who’s for Cathay?”\r\n\r\nSleep reigned throughout the canoes, sleeping upon the waters. But\r\nnearer and nearer, low-creeping along, came mists and vapors, a\r\nthousand; spotted with twinklings of Will-o-Wisps from neighboring\r\nshores. Dusky leopards, stealing on by crouches, those vapors seemed.\r\n\r\nHours silently passed. When startled by a cry, Taji sprang to his feet;\r\nagainst which something rattled; then, a quick splash! and a dark form\r\nbounded into the lagoon.\r\n\r\nThe dozing watcher had called aloud; and, about to stab, the assassin,\r\ndropping his stiletto, plunged.\r\n\r\nPeering hard through those treacherous mists, two figures in a shallop,\r\nwere espied; dragging another, dripping, from the brine.\r\n\r\n“Foiled again, and foiled forever. No foe’s corpse was I.”\r\n\r\nAs we gazed, in the gloom quickly vanished the shallop; ere ours could\r\nbe reversed to pursue.\r\n\r\nThen, from the opposite mists, glided a second canoe; and beneath the\r\nIris round the moon, shone now another:—Hautia’s flowery flag!\r\n\r\nVain to wave the sirens off; so still they came.\r\n\r\nOne waved a plant of sickly silver-green.\r\n\r\n“The Midnight Tremmella!” cried Yoomy; “the falling-star of flowers!—\r\nStill I come, when least foreseen; then flee.”\r\n\r\nThe second waved a hemlock top, the spike just tapering its final\r\npoint. The third, a convolvulus, half closed. “The end draws nigh, and\r\nall thy hopes are waning.” Then they proffered grapes.\r\n\r\nBut once more waved off, silently they vanished.\r\n\r\nAgain the buried barb tore, at my soul; again Yillah was invoked, but\r\nHautia made reply.\r\n\r\nSlowly wore out the night. But when uprose the sun, fled clouds, and\r\nfled sadness.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER LXIX.\nAfter A Long Interval, By Night They Are Becalmed"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ8ZNB03D0FWFP362WQEN","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJVBQHHASYX4CP4YTQPQH","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJVZ99STEZQP1V4GQ7HH8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:45.015Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:01.624Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}