{"id":"01KG8AKRMZDN69VKNT29JY0BCV","cid":"bafkreibtwsskmpmjtngsygbxyigcbvrn6ss7vfr52yyons7vzgrw4gufju","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11730,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.846Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":11655,"text":"CHAPTER LIX.\r\nTHE LAST END OF JACKSON\r\n\r\n\r\n“Off Cape Cod!” said the steward, coming forward from the quarter-deck,\r\nwhere the captain had just been taking his noon observation; sweeping\r\nthe vast horizon with his quadrant, like a dandy circumnavigating the\r\ndress-circle of an amphitheater with his glass.\r\n\r\n_Off Cape Cod!_ and in the shore-bloom that came to us— even from that\r\ndesert of sand-hillocks—methought I could almost distinguish the\r\nfragrance of the rose-bush my sisters and I had planted, in our far\r\ninland garden at home. Delicious odors are those of our mother Earth;\r\nwhich like a flower-pot set with a thousand shrubs, greets the eager\r\nvoyager from afar.\r\n\r\nThe breeze was stiff, and so drove us along that we turned over two\r\nbroad, blue furrows from our bows, as we plowed the watery prairie. By\r\nnight it was a reef-topsail-breeze; but so impatient was the captain to\r\nmake his port before a shift of wind overtook us, that even yet we\r\ncarried a main-topgallant-sail, though the light mast sprung like a\r\nswitch.\r\n\r\nIn the second dog-watch, however, the breeze became such, that at last\r\nthe order was given to douse the top-gallant-sail, and clap a reef into\r\nall three top-sails.\r\n\r\nWhile the men were settling away the halyards on deck, and before they\r\nhad begun to haul out the reef-tackles, to the surprise of several,\r\nJackson came up from the forecastle, and, for the first time in four\r\nweeks or more, took hold of a rope.\r\n\r\nLike most seamen, who during the greater part of a voyage, have been\r\noff duty from sickness, he was, perhaps, desirous, just previous to\r\nentering port, of reminding the captain of his existence, and also that\r\nhe expected his wages; but, alas! his wages proved the wages of sin.\r\n\r\nAt no time could he better signalize his disposition to work, than upon\r\nan occasion like the present; which generally attracts every soul on\r\ndeck, from the captain to the child in the steerage.\r\n\r\nHis aspect was damp and death-like; the blue hollows of his eyes were\r\nlike vaults full of snakes; and issuing so unexpectedly from his dark\r\ntomb in the forecastle, he looked like a man raised from the dead.\r\n\r\nBefore the sailors had made fast the reef-tackle, Jackson was tottering\r\nup the rigging; thus getting the start of them, and securing his place\r\nat the extreme weather-end of the topsail-yard—which in reefing is\r\naccounted the post of honor. For it was one of the characteristics of\r\nthis man, that though when on duty he would shy away from mere dull\r\nwork in a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed the van, and\r\nwould yield it to none; and this, perhaps, was one cause of his\r\nunbounded dominion over the men.\r\n\r\nSoon, we were all strung along the main-topsail-yard; the ship rearing\r\nand plunging under us, like a runaway steed; each man gripping his\r\nreef-point, and sideways leaning, dragging the sail over toward\r\nJackson, whose business it was to confine the reef corner to the yard.\r\n\r\nHis hat and shoes were off; and he rode the yard-arm end, leaning\r\nbackward to the gale, and pulling at the earing-rope, like a bridle. At\r\nall times, this is a moment of frantic exertion with sailors, whose\r\nspirits seem then to partake of the commotion of the elements, as they\r\nhang in the gale, between heaven and earth; and _then_ it is, too, that\r\nthey are the most profane.\r\n\r\n“Haul out to windward!” coughed Jackson, with a blasphemous cry, and he\r\nthrew himself back with a violent strain upon the bridle in his hand.\r\nBut the wild words were hardly out of his mouth, when his hands dropped\r\nto his side, and the bellying sail was spattered with a torrent of\r\nblood from his lungs.\r\n\r\nAs the man next him stretched out his arm to save, Jackson fell\r\nheadlong from the yard, and with a long seethe, plunged like a diver\r\ninto the sea.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT5SRPW14S6DGTHHTCCW","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRN18S4QVZ16C0Z9KNWQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.007Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.074Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}