{"id":"01KG8AKAH80YW8KQ1ASNMZ3WYW","cid":"bafkreidv3cunvymk7krt7hwydj77bucq3hbps4btmgkbg3lyb4buh5rxy4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3259,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":3189,"text":"CHAPTER XV.\r\n\r\nAN OLD MISER, UPON SUITABLE REPRESENTATIONS, IS PREVAILED UPON TO\r\nVENTURE AN INVESTMENT.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe merchant having withdrawn, the other remained seated alone for a\r\ntime, with the air of one who, after having conversed with some\r\nexcellent man, carefully ponders what fell from him, however\r\nintellectually inferior it may be, that none of the profit may be lost;\r\nhappy if from any honest word he has heard he can derive some hint,\r\nwhich, besides confirming him in the theory of virtue, may, likewise,\r\nserve for a finger-post to virtuous action.\r\n\r\nEre long his eye brightened, as if some such hint was now caught. He\r\nrises, book in hand, quits the cabin, and enters upon a sort of\r\ncorridor, narrow and dim, a by-way to a retreat less ornate and cheery\r\nthan the former; in short, the emigrants' quarters; but which, owing to\r\nthe present trip being a down-river one, will doubtless be found\r\ncomparatively tenantless. Owing to obstructions against the side\r\nwindows, the whole place is dim and dusky; very much so, for the most\r\npart; yet, by starts, haggardly lit here and there by narrow, capricious\r\nsky-lights in the cornices. But there would seem no special need for\r\nlight, the place being designed more to pass the night in, than the day;\r\nin brief, a pine barrens dormitory, of knotty pine bunks, without\r\nbedding. As with the nests in the geometrical towns of the associate\r\npenguin and pelican, these bunks were disposed with Philadelphian\r\nregularity, but, like the cradle of the oriole, they were pendulous,\r\nand, moreover, were, so to speak, three-story cradles; the description\r\nof one of which will suffice for all.\r\n\r\nFour ropes, secured to the ceiling, passed downwards through auger-holes\r\nbored in the corners of three rough planks, which at equal distances\r\nrested on knots vertically tied in the ropes, the lowermost plank but an\r\ninch or two from the floor, the whole affair resembling, on a large\r\nscale, rope book-shelves; only, instead of hanging firmly against a\r\nwall, they swayed to and fro at the least suggestion of motion, but were\r\nmore especially lively upon the provocation of a green emigrant\r\nsprawling into one, and trying to lay himself out there, when the\r\ncradling would be such as almost to toss him back whence he came. In\r\nconsequence, one less inexperienced, essaying repose on the uppermost\r\nshelf, was liable to serious disturbance, should a raw beginner select a\r\nshelf beneath. Sometimes a throng of poor emigrants, coming at night in\r\na sudden rain to occupy these oriole nests, would--through ignorance of\r\ntheir peculiarity--bring about such a rocking uproar of carpentry,\r\njoining to it such an uproar of exclamations, that it seemed as if some\r\nluckless ship, with all its crew, was being dashed to pieces among the\r\nrocks. They were beds devised by some sardonic foe of poor travelers,\r\nto deprive them of that tranquility which should precede, as well as\r\naccompany, slumber.--Procrustean beds, on whose hard grain humble worth\r\nand honesty writhed, still invoking repose, while but torment responded.\r\nAh, did any one make such a bunk for himself, instead of having it made\r\nfor him, it might be just, but how cruel, to say, You must lie on it!\r\n\r\nBut, purgatory as the place would appear, the stranger advances into it:\r\nand, like Orpheus in his gay descent to Tartarus, lightly hums to\r\nhimself an opera snatch.\r\n\r\nSuddenly there is a rustling, then a creaking, one of the cradles swings\r\nout from a murky nook, a sort of wasted penguin-flipper is\r\nsupplicatingly put forth, while a wail like that of Dives is\r\nheard:--\"Water, water!\"\r\n\r\nIt was the miser of whom the merchant had spoken.\r\n\r\nSwift as a sister-of-charity, the stranger hovers over him:--\r\n\r\n\"My poor, poor sir, what can I do for you?\"\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh--water!\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFF88V28K6MV6GXX63Q","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAHTCSGGJGBJ1DNQNM6N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.552Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:08.326Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}