{"id":"01KG8AKSV4W8BD6M59VTQ7EY36","cid":"bafkreibykw36zvizscwbmgof5joezw7mik32ygqc3aql4pjg6gvogr3lnm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1474,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":1422,"text":"him a marvelous being, infinitely purer and greater than I was, who\r\ncould not by any possibility do wrong, or say an untruth. Yet now, how\r\ncould I credit it, that he, my own father, whom I so well remembered;\r\nhad ever sailed out of these Narrows, and sailed right through the sky\r\nand water line, and gone to England, and France, Liverpool, and\r\nMarseilles. It was too wonderful to believe.\r\n\r\nNow, on the right hand side of the Narrows as you go out, the land is\r\nquite high; and on the top of a fine cliff is a great castle or fort,\r\nall in ruins, and with the trees growing round it. It was built by\r\nGovernor Tompkins in the time of the last war with England, but was\r\nnever used, I believe, and so they left it to decay. I had visited the\r\nplace once when we lived in New York, as long ago almost as I could\r\nremember, with my father, and an uncle of mine, an old sea-captain,\r\nwith white hair, who used to sail to a place called Archangel in\r\nRussia, and who used to tell me that he was with Captain Langsdorff,\r\nwhen Captain Langsdorff crossed over by land from the sea of Okotsk in\r\nAsia to St. Petersburgh, drawn by large dogs in a sled. I mention this\r\nof my uncle, because he was the very first sea-captain I had ever seen,\r\nand his white hair and fine handsome florid face made so strong an\r\nimpression upon me, that I have never forgotten him, though I only saw\r\nhim during this one visit of his to New York, for he was lost in the\r\nWhite Sea some years after.\r\n\r\nBut I meant to speak about the fort. It was a beautiful place, as I\r\nremembered it, and very wonderful and romantic, too, as it appeared to\r\nme, when I went there with my uncle. On the side away from the water\r\nwas a green grove of trees, very thick and shady; and through this\r\ngrove, in a sort of twilight you came to an arch in the wall of the\r\nfort, dark as night; and going in, you groped about in long vaults,\r\ntwisting and turning on every side, till at last you caught a peep of\r\ngreen grass and sunlight, and all at once came out in an open space in\r\nthe middle of the castle. And there you would see cows quietly grazing,\r\nor ruminating under the shade of young trees, and perhaps a calf\r\nfrisking about, and trying to catch its own tail; and sheep clambering\r\namong the mossy ruins, and cropping the little tufts of grass sprouting\r\nout of the sides of the embrasures for cannon. And once I saw a black\r\ngoat with a long beard, and crumpled horns, standing with his forefeet\r\nlifted high up on the topmost parapet, and looking to sea, as if he\r\nwere watching for a ship that was bringing over his cousin. I can see\r\nhim even now, and though I have changed since then, the black goat\r\nlooks just the same as ever; and so I suppose he would, if I live to be\r\nas old as Methusaleh, and have as great a memory as he must have had.\r\nYes, the fort was a beautiful, quiet, charming spot. I should like to\r\nbuild a little cottage in the middle of it, and live there all my life.\r\nIt was noon-day when I was there, in the month of June, and there was\r\nlittle wind to stir the trees, and every thing looked as if it was\r\nwaiting for something, and the sky overhead was blue as my mother’s\r\neye, and I was so glad and happy then. But I must not think of those\r\ndelightful days, before my father became a bankrupt, and died, and we\r\nremoved from the city; for when I think of those days, something rises\r\nup in my throat and almost strangles me.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNGW6WF5ZHDAHFHEMEZM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSV4WBRK3WDMMQ26517Y","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSV07FZJYZTJKQQW4STT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.228Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.669Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}