{"id":"01KG8AKJYZ6V825CEJVRR183NS","cid":"bafkreid6snothifwqalstpc6y7osv4umvnk7odifl4eqlxaihxkv3cu2qm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3899,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":3830,"text":"responded to, he ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind,\r\nfollowed by one officer, while the other, for a useless bravado,\r\nhoisted the colors at the stern.\r\n\r\nBut Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting\r\nemotions. He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel.\r\n\r\n“Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!”\r\ncried the furious captain.\r\n\r\nBut Israel did not stir.\r\n\r\nMeantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried\r\nlowering of her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the\r\nmisty sea, united to conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had\r\nalmost gained full headway ere an oblique shot, directed by mere\r\nchance, struck her stern, tearing the upcurved head of the tiller in\r\nthe hands of the cabin-boy, and killing him with the splinters. Running\r\nto the stump, the captain huzzaed, and steered the reeling ship on.\r\nForced now to hoist back the boat ere giving chase, the stranger was\r\ndropped rapidly astern.\r\n\r\nAll this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their\r\nexertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using\r\npersonal violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but\r\nsay to himself, “These fellows are as brave as they are brutal.”\r\n\r\nSoon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all\r\nsail in chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue,\r\nbellowed after them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter,\r\nbut without materially damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately\r\nupholding them. Several of her less important stays were sundered,\r\nhowever, whose loose tarry ends lashed the air like scorpions. It\r\nseemed not improbable that, owing to her superior sailing, the keen\r\ncutter would yet get clear.\r\n\r\nAt this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held\r\nthe splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, “I\r\nam an enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself.”\r\n\r\n“Help here, lads, help,” roared the captain, “a traitor, a traitor!”\r\n\r\nThe words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for\r\never. With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel\r\nsmote him over the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen\r\nbackwards over a teetering chair. By this time the two officers were\r\nhurrying aft. Ere meeting them midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast\r\noff the two principal halyards, thus letting the large sails all in a\r\ntumble of canvass to the deck. Next moment one of the officers was at\r\nthe helm, to prevent the cutter from capsizing by being without a\r\nsteersman in such an emergency. The other officer and Israel\r\ninterlocked. The battle was in the midst of the chaos of blowing\r\ncanvass. Caught in a rent of the sail, the officer slipped and fell\r\nnear the sharp iron edge of the hatchway. As he fell he caught Israel\r\nby the most terrible part in which mortality can be grappled. Insane\r\nwith pain, Israel dashed his adversary’s skull against the sharp iron.\r\nThe officer’s hold relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel made for the\r\nhelmsman, who as yet knew not the issue of the late tussle. He caught\r\nhim round the loins, bedding his fingers like grisly claws into his\r\nflesh, and hugging him to his heart. The man’s ghost, caught like a\r\nbroken cork in a gurgling bottle’s neck, gasped with the embrace.\r\nLoosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him against the\r\nbulwarks. That instant another report was heard, followed by the savage\r\nhail—“You down sail at last, do ye? I’m a good mind to sink ye for your\r\nscurvy trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!”\r\n\r\nWith a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while\r\nwith the other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off\r\nbefore the wind.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK6WF0BH8CHYVVBPVRKDM","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKJZ64X3H3657154JN7DY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.183Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.853Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}