{"id":"01KG8AKRZ8W074P325C5M4QSHN","cid":"bafkreidxqovdzykbez3khavltey3yse5j67yjwkgm7wmwzank36yascw2a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":587,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":519,"text":"CHAPTER IV.\r\nA SCENE IN THE FORECASTLE\r\n\r\n\r\nI had scarcely been aboard of the ship twenty-four hours, when a\r\ncircumstance occurred, which, although noways picturesque, is so\r\nsignificant of the state of affairs that I cannot forbear relating it.\r\n\r\nIn the first place, however, it must be known, that among the crew was\r\na man so excessively ugly, that he went by the ironical appellation of\r\n“Beauty.” He was the ship’s carpenter; and for that reason was\r\nsometimes known by his nautical cognomen of “Chips.” There was no\r\nabsolute deformity about the man; he was symmetrically ugly. But ill\r\nfavoured as he was in person, Beauty was none the less ugly in temper;\r\nbut no one could blame him; his countenance had soured his heart. Now\r\nJermin and Beauty were always at swords’ points. The truth was, the\r\nlatter was the only man in the ship whom the mate had never decidedly\r\ngot the better of; and hence the grudge he bore him. As for Beauty, he\r\nprided himself upon talking up to the mate, as we shall soon see.\r\n\r\nToward evening there was something to be done on deck, and the\r\ncarpenter who belonged to the watch was missing. “Where’s that skulk,\r\nChips?” shouted Jermin down the forecastle scuttle.\r\n\r\n“Taking his ease, d’ye see, down here on a chest, if you want to know,”\r\nreplied that worthy himself, quietly withdrawing his pipe from his\r\nmouth. This insolence flung the fiery little mate into a mighty rage;\r\nbut Beauty said nothing, puffing away with all the tranquillity\r\nimaginable. Here it must be remembered that, never mind what may be the\r\nprovocation, no prudent officer ever dreams of entering a ship’s\r\nforecastle on a hostile visit. If he wants to see anybody who happens\r\nto be there, and refuses to come up, why he must wait patiently until\r\nthe sailor is willing. The reason is this. The place is very dark: and\r\nnothing is easier than to knock one descending on the head, before he\r\nknows where he is, and a very long while before he ever finds out who\r\ndid it.\r\n\r\nNobody knew this better than Jermin, and so he contented himself with\r\nlooking down the scuttle and storming. At last Beauty made some cool\r\nobservation which set him half wild.\r\n\r\n“Tumble on deck,” he then bellowed—“come, up with you, or I’ll jump\r\ndown and make you.” The carpenter begged him to go about it at once.\r\n\r\nNo sooner said than done: prudence forgotten, Jermin was there; and by\r\na sort of instinct, had his man by the throat before he could well see\r\nhim. One of the men now made a rush at him, but the rest dragged him\r\noff, protesting that they should have fair play.\r\n\r\n“Now come on deck,” shouted the mate, struggling like a good fellow to\r\nhold the carpenter fast.\r\n\r\n“Take me there,” was the dogged answer, and Beauty wriggled about in\r\nthe nervous grasp of the other like a couple of yards of\r\nboa-constrictor.\r\n\r\nHis assailant now undertook to make him up into a compact bundle, the\r\nmore easily to transport him. While thus occupied, Beauty got his arms\r\nloose, and threw him over backward. But Jermin quickly recovered\r\nhimself, when for a time they had it every way, dragging each other\r\nabout, bumping their heads against the projecting beams, and returning\r\neach other’s blows the first favourable opportunity that offered.\r\nUnfortunately, Jermin at last slipped and fell; his foe seating himself\r\non his chest, and keeping him down. Now this was one of those\r\nsituations in which the voice of counsel, or reproof, comes with\r\npeculiar unction. Nor did Beauty let the opportunity slip. But the mate\r\nsaid nothing in reply, only foaming at the mouth and struggling to\r\nrise.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJG70041RSNAQ01ZKRJCH","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRZ8ST0KB43SDBCZEGY3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.336Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:22.598Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}