{"id":"01KG8AKV31SQRNJREFYN39T670","cid":"bafkreihfkp2ki7ao4dvbopdrfiicbh5ahob2ujfg4phyxcd2nbl4oy5bmy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2716,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":2649,"text":"CHAPTER XIV.\r\nHE CONTEMPLATES MAKING A SOCIAL CALL ON THE CAPTAIN IN HIS CABIN\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat reminded me most forcibly of my ignominious condition, was the\r\nwidely altered manner of the captain toward me.\r\n\r\nI had thought him a fine, funny gentleman, full of mirth and good\r\nhumor, and good will to seamen, and one who could not fail to\r\nappreciate the difference between me and the rude sailors among whom I\r\nwas thrown. Indeed, I had made no doubt that he would in some special\r\nmanner take me under his protection, and prove a kind friend and\r\nbenefactor to me; as I had heard that some sea-captains are fathers to\r\ntheir crew; and so they are; but such fathers as Solomon’s precepts\r\ntend to make—severe and chastising fathers, fathers whose sense of duty\r\novercomes the sense of love, and who every day, in some sort, play the\r\npart of Brutus, who ordered his son away to execution, as I have read\r\nin our old family Plutarch.\r\n\r\nYes, I thought that Captain Riga, for Riga was his name, would be\r\nattentive and considerate to me, and strive to cheer me up, and comfort\r\nme in my lonesomeness. I did not even deem it at all impossible that he\r\nwould invite me down into the cabin of a pleasant night, to ask me\r\nquestions concerning my parents, and prospects in life; besides\r\nobtaining from me some anecdotes touching my great-uncle, the\r\nillustrious senator; or give me a slate and pencil, and teach me\r\nproblems in navigation; or perhaps engage me at a game of chess. I even\r\nthought he might invite me to dinner on a sunny Sunday, and help me\r\nplentifully to the nice cabin fare, as knowing how distasteful the salt\r\nbeef and pork, and hard biscuit of the forecastle must at first be to a\r\nboy like me, who had always lived ashore, and at home.\r\n\r\nAnd I could not help regarding him with peculiar emotions, almost of\r\ntenderness and love, as the last visible link in the chain of\r\nassociations which bound me to my home. For, while yet in port, I had\r\nseen him and Mr. Jones, my brother’s friend, standing together and\r\nconversing; so that from the captain to my brother there was but one\r\nintermediate step; and my brother and mother and sisters were one.\r\n\r\nAnd this reminds me how often I used to pass by the places on deck,\r\nwhere I remembered Mr. Jones had stood when we first visited the ship\r\nlying at the wharf; and how I tried to convince myself that it was\r\nindeed true, that he had stood there, though now the ship was so far\r\naway on the wide Atlantic Ocean, and he perhaps was walking down\r\nWall-street, or sitting reading the newspaper in his counting room,\r\nwhile poor I was so differently employed.\r\n\r\nWhen two or three days had passed without the captain’s speaking to me\r\nin any way, or sending word into the forecastle that he wished me to\r\ndrop into the cabin to pay my respects. I began to think whether I\r\nshould not make the first advances, and whether indeed he did not\r\nexpect it of me, since I was but a boy, and he a man; and perhaps that\r\nmight have been the reason why he had not spoken to me yet, deeming it\r\nmore proper and respectful for me to address him first. I thought he\r\nmight be offended, too, especially if he were a proud man, with tender\r\nfeelings. So one evening, a little before sundown, in the second\r\ndog-watch, when there was no more work to be done, I concluded to call\r\nand see him.\r\n\r\nAfter drawing a bucket of water, and having a good washing, to get off\r\nsome of the chicken-coop stains, I went down into the forecastle to\r\ndress myself as neatly as I could. I put on a white shirt in place of\r\nmy red one, and got into a pair of cloth trowsers instead of my duck\r\nones, and put on my new pumps, and then carefully brushing my\r\nshooting-jacket, I put that on over all, so that upon the whole, I made\r\nquite a genteel figure, at least for a forecastle, though I would not\r\nhave looked so well in a drawing-room.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ105NJ4VNQHMP9JFRMJ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKV31KVC1C1CCBEGC5782","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.505Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.189Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}