{"id":"01KG8AKVTXV02J99E3J954G9E1","cid":"bafkreigpy2byck5ffwlwjyz4ohxphgrgzetcifqfllosxr33wcbyl5ot2i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3165,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":3097,"text":"frightened me to hear it; it seemed so much like a spirit, at such a\r\nlofty and solitary height.\r\n\r\nThough there was a pretty smooth sea, and little wind; yet, at this\r\nextreme elevation, the ship’s motion was very great; so that when the\r\nship rolled one way, I felt something as a fly must feel, walking the\r\nceiling; and when it rolled the other way, I felt as if I was hanging\r\nalong a slanting pine-tree.\r\n\r\nBut presently I heard a distant, hoarse noise from below; and though I\r\ncould not make out any thing intelligible, I knew it was the mate\r\nhurrying me. So in a nervous, trembling desperation, I went to casting\r\noff the _gaskets,_ or lines tying up the sail; and when all was ready,\r\nsung out as I had been told, to _“hoist away!”_ And hoist they did, and\r\nme too along with the yard and sail; for I had no time to get off, they\r\nwere so unexpectedly quick about it. It seemed like magic; there I was,\r\ngoing up higher and higher; the yard rising under me, as if it were\r\nalive, and no soul in sight. Without knowing it at the time, I was in a\r\ngood deal of danger, but it was so dark that I could not see well\r\nenough to feel afraid—at least on that account; though I felt\r\nfrightened enough in a promiscuous way. I only held on hard, and made\r\ngood the saying of old sailors, that the last person to fall overboard\r\nfrom the rigging is a landsman, because he grips the ropes so fiercely;\r\nwhereas old tars are less careful, and sometimes pay the penalty.\r\n\r\nAfter this feat, I got down rapidly on deck, and received something\r\nlike a compliment from Max the Dutchman.\r\n\r\nThis man was perhaps the best natured man among the crew; at any rate,\r\nhe treated me better than the rest did; and for that reason he deserves\r\nsome mention.\r\n\r\nMax was an old bachelor of a sailor, very precise about his wardrobe,\r\nand prided himself greatly upon his seamanship, and entertained some\r\nstraight-laced, old-fashioned notions about the duties of boys at sea.\r\nHis hair, whiskers, and cheeks were of a fiery red; and as he wore a\r\nred shirt, he was altogether the most combustible looking man I ever\r\nsaw.\r\n\r\nNor did his appearance belie him; for his temper was very inflammable;\r\nand at a word, he would explode in a shower of hard words and\r\nimprecations. It was Max that several times set on foot those\r\nconspiracies against Jackson, which I have spoken of before; but he\r\nended by paying him a grumbling homage, full of resentful reservations.\r\n\r\nMax sometimes manifested some little interest in my welfare; and often\r\ndiscoursed concerning the sorry figure I would cut in my tatters when\r\nwe got to Liverpool, and the discredit it would bring on the American\r\nMerchant Service; for like all European seamen in American ships, Max\r\nprided himself not a little upon his naturalization as a Yankee, and if\r\nhe could, would have been very glad to have passed himself off for a\r\nborn native.\r\n\r\nBut notwithstanding his grief at the prospect of my reflecting\r\ndiscredit upon his adopted country, he never offered to better my\r\nwardrobe, by loaning me any thing from his own well-stored chest. Like\r\nmany other well-wishers, he contented him with sympathy. Max also\r\nbetrayed some anxiety to know whether I knew how to dance; lest, when\r\nthe ship’s company went ashore, I should disgrace them by exposing my\r\nawkwardness in some of the sailor saloons. But I relieved his anxiety\r\non that head.\r\n\r\nHe was a great scold, and fault-finder, and often took me to task about\r\nmy short-comings; but herein, he was not alone; for every one had a\r\nfinger, or a thumb, and sometimes both hands, in my unfortunate pie.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ1DWBBK9RCB78EZ3R5B","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVTVQT8970ZKD0F0Z1CE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.269Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.682Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}