{"id":"01KG8AKCVANG974VZX54DGWFYS","cid":"bafkreiecdka5nhz7cfbafzylovqbbktgroaqfic4woif3ca5jp57o46iyi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10993,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":10940,"text":"son--careful man--told me at starting this morning, this very morning.\r\nSomething about seeing to--something before I got into my berth. What\r\ncould it be? Something for safety. Oh, my poor old memory!\"\r\n\r\n\"Let me give a little guess, sir. Life-preserver?\"\r\n\r\n\"So it was. He told me not to omit seeing I had a life-preserver in my\r\nstate-room; said the boat supplied them, too. But where are they? I\r\ndon't see any. What are they like?\"\r\n\r\n\"They are something like this, sir, I believe,\" lifting a brown stool\r\nwith a curved tin compartment underneath; \"yes, this, I think, is a\r\nlife-preserver, sir; and a very good one, I should say, though I don't\r\npretend to know much about such things, never using them myself.\"\r\n\r\n\"Why, indeed, now! Who would have thought it? _that_ a life-preserver?\r\nThat's the very stool I was sitting on, ain't it?\"\r\n\r\n\"It is. And that shows that one's life is looked out for, when he ain't\r\nlooking out for it himself. In fact, any of these stools here will float\r\nyou, sir, should the boat hit a snag, and go down in the dark. But,\r\nsince you want one in your room, pray take this one,\" handing it to him.\r\n\"I think I can recommend this one; the tin part,\" rapping it with his\r\nknuckles, \"seems so perfect--sounds so very hollow.\"\r\n\r\n\"Sure it's _quite_ perfect, though?\" Then, anxiously putting on his\r\nspectacles, he scrutinized it pretty closely--\"well soldered? quite\r\ntight?\"\r\n\r\n\"I should say so, sir; though, indeed, as I said, I never use this sort\r\nof thing, myself. Still, I think that in case of a wreck, barring\r\nsharp-pointed timbers, you could have confidence in that stool for a\r\nspecial providence.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then, good-night, good-night; and Providence have both of us in its\r\ngood keeping.\"\r\n\r\n\"Be sure it will,\" eying the old man with sympathy, as for the moment he\r\nstood, money-belt in hand, and life-preserver under arm, \"be sure it\r\nwill, sir, since in Providence, as in man, you and I equally put trust.\r\nBut, bless me, we are being left in the dark here. Pah! what a smell,\r\ntoo.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah, my way now,\" cried the old man, peering before him, \"where lies my\r\nway to my state-room?\"\r\n\r\n\"I have indifferent eyes, and will show you; but, first, for the good of\r\nall lungs, let me extinguish this lamp.\"\r\n\r\nThe next moment, the waning light expired, and with it the waning flames\r\nof the horned altar, and the waning halo round the robed man's brow;\r\nwhile in the darkness which ensued, the cosmopolitan kindly led the old\r\nman away. Something further may follow of this Masquerade.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWTERPN2J92AFP8QXB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKC4VZ5P11J83JPY4MNXB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKCVHK22XPGR68MN04DMZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:02.922Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.954Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}