{"id":"01KG8AK7ZFENKR0MKJZ6HM1BTT","cid":"bafkreiantxeehgbhz2ylk6y2x432elgou4pblw5qkdici4bgpk5tgm4bry","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6926,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.725Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":6876,"text":"their covert, Moredock and his men dimly descried the gang of Cains in\r\nthe red dusk of evening, paddling over to a jungled island in\r\nmid-stream, there the more securely to lodge; for Moredock's retributive\r\nspirit in the wilderness spoke ever to their trepidations now, like the\r\nvoice calling through the garden. Waiting until dead of night, the\r\nwhites swam the river, towing after them a raft laden with their arms.\r\nOn landing, Moredock cut the fastenings of the enemy's canoes, and\r\nturned them, with his own raft, adrift; resolved that there should be\r\nneither escape for the Indians, nor safety, except in victory, for the\r\nwhites. Victorious the whites were; but three of the Indians saved\r\nthemselves by taking to the stream. Moredock's band lost not a man.\r\n\r\n\"'Three of the murderers survived. He knew their names and persons. In\r\nthe course of three years each successively fell by his own hand. All\r\nwere now dead. But this did not suffice. He made no avowal, but to kill\r\nIndians had become his passion. As an athlete, he had few equals; as a\r\nshot, none; in single combat, not to be beaten. Master of that\r\nwoodland-cunning enabling the adept to subsist where the tyro would\r\nperish, and expert in all those arts by which an enemy is pursued for\r\nweeks, perhaps months, without once suspecting it, he kept to the\r\nforest. The solitary Indian that met him, died. When a murder was\r\ndescried, he would either secretly pursue their track for some chance to\r\nstrike at least one blow; or if, while thus engaged, he himself was\r\ndiscovered, he would elude them by superior skill.\r\n\r\n\"'Many years he spent thus; and though after a time he was, in a degree,\r\nrestored to the ordinary life of the region and period, yet it is\r\nbelieved that John Moredock never let pass an opportunity of quenching\r\nan Indian. Sins of commission in that kind may have been his, but none\r\nof omission.\r\n\r\n\"'It were to err to suppose,' the judge would say, 'that this gentleman\r\nwas naturally ferocious, or peculiarly possessed of those qualities,\r\nwhich, unhelped by provocation of events, tend to withdraw man from\r\nsocial life. On the contrary, Moredock was an example of something\r\napparently self-contradicting, certainly curious, but, at the same time,\r\nundeniable: namely, that nearly all Indian-haters have at bottom loving\r\nhearts; at any rate, hearts, if anything, more generous than the\r\naverage. Certain it is, that, to the degree in which he mingled in the\r\nlife of the settlements, Moredock showed himself not without humane\r\nfeelings. No cold husband or colder father, he; and, though often and\r\nlong away from his household, bore its needs in mind, and provided for\r\nthem. He could be very convivial; told a good story (though never of his\r\nmore private exploits), and sung a capital song. Hospitable, not\r\nbackward to help a neighbor; by report, benevolent, as retributive, in\r\nsecret; while, in a general manner, though sometimes grave--as is not\r\nunusual with men of his complexion, a sultry and tragical brown--yet\r\nwith nobody, Indians excepted, otherwise than courteous in a manly\r\nfashion; a moccasined gentleman, admired and loved. In fact, no one more\r\npopular, as an incident to follow may prove.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJM4YHSXFH86FXQKACGRA","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK7Z8FQGDYT1CHX7VBW14","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK7ZFQ0XHNW1D3XRSZN71","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.935Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:11.738Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}