{"id":"01KG8AKT60E8GDZBS50AKB36HS","cid":"bafkreifc6nh7ucbyq2q66keyogtkyinu4h4ofnuwlb7j4nyxgxbqhkpo2a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1305,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":1243,"text":"cluster of islands, where we were going to refit, abounding with\r\ndelicious fruits, and peopled by a race almost wholly unsophisticated\r\nby intercourse with strangers.\r\n\r\nIn order, perhaps, to guard against the possibility of anyone finding\r\nout the precise latitude and longitude of the spot we were going to,\r\nJermin never revealed to us the ship’s place at noon, though such is\r\nthe custom aboard of most vessels.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, he was very assiduous in his attention to the invalids.\r\nDoctor Long Ghost having given up the keys of the medicine-chest, they\r\nwere handed over to him; and, as physician, he discharged his duties to\r\nthe satisfaction of all. Pills and powders, in most cases, were thrown\r\nto the fish, and in place thereof, the contents of a mysterious little\r\nquarter cask were produced, diluted with water from the “butt.” His\r\ndraughts were mixed on the capstan, in cocoa-nut shells marked with the\r\npatients’ names. Like shore doctors, he did not eschew his own\r\nmedicines, for his professional calls in the forecastle were sometimes\r\nmade when he was comfortably tipsy: nor did he omit keeping his\r\ninvalids in good-humour, spinning his yarns to them, by the hour,\r\nwhenever he went to see them.\r\n\r\nOwing to my lameness, from which I soon began to recover, I did no\r\nactive duty, except standing an occasional “trick” at the helm. It was\r\nin the forecastle chiefly, that I spent my time, in company with the\r\nLong Doctor, who was at great pains to make himself agreeable. His\r\nbooks, though sadly torn and tattered, were an invaluable resource. I\r\nread them through again and again, including a learned treatise on the\r\nyellow fever. In addition to these, he had an old file of Sydney\r\npapers, and I soon became intimately acquainted with the localities of\r\nall the advertising tradesmen there. In particular, the rhetorical\r\nflourishes of Stubbs, the real-estate auctioneer, diverted me\r\nexceedingly, and I set him down as no other than a pupil of Robins the\r\nLondoner.\r\n\r\nAside from the pleasure of his society, my intimacy with Long Ghost was\r\nof great service to me in other respects. His disgrace in the cabin\r\nonly confirmed the good-will of the democracy in the forecastle; and\r\nthey not only treated him in the most friendly manner, but looked up to\r\nhim with the utmost deference, besides laughing heartily at all his\r\njokes. As his chosen associate, this feeling for him extended to me,\r\nand gradually we came to be regarded in the light of distinguished\r\nguests. At meal-times we were always first served, and otherwise were\r\ntreated with much respect.\r\n\r\nAmong other devices to kill time, during the frequent calms, Long Ghost\r\nhit upon the game of chess. With a jack-knife, we carved the pieces\r\nquite tastefully out of bits of wood, and our board was the middle of a\r\nchest-lid, chalked into squares, which, in playing, we straddled at\r\neither end. Having no other suitable way of distinguishing the sets, I\r\nmarked mine by tying round them little scarfs of black silk, torn from\r\nan old neck-handkerchief. Putting them in mourning this way, the doctor\r\nsaid, was quite appropriate, seeing that they had reason to feel sad\r\nthree games out of four. Of chess, the men never could make head nor\r\ntail; indeed, their wonder rose to such a pitch that they at last\r\nregarded the mysterious movements of the game with something more than\r\nperplexity; and after puzzling over them through several long\r\nengagements, they came to the conclusion that we must be a couple of\r\nnecromancers.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJG7BF5TQY7F5YHS0Y1DK","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT60CAG2KNPV8FAS1K3X","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.576Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.468Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}