{"id":"01KG8AKVZ99A850V652R5SFJJ7","cid":"bafkreib3i4jdxp5jkrzfrycjfq5yyzcxdauxwigx647lpenlblz2vngqqm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3422,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.023Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","start_line":3357,"text":"proclaimed as by mounted kings-at-arms, and escorted as by a Caffre\r\nguard of honor, Captain Delano, assuming a good-humored, off-handed\r\nair, continued to advance; now and then saying a blithe word to the\r\nnegroes, and his eye curiously surveying the white faces, here and\r\nthere sparsely mixed in with the blacks, like stray white pawns\r\nventurously involved in the ranks of the chess-men opposed.\r\n\r\nWhile thinking which of them to select for his purpose, he chanced to\r\nobserve a sailor seated on the deck engaged in tarring the strap of a\r\nlarge block, a circle of blacks squatted round him inquisitively eying\r\nthe process.\r\n\r\nThe mean employment of the man was in contrast with something superior\r\nin his figure. His hand, black with continually thrusting it into the\r\ntar-pot held for him by a negro, seemed not naturally allied to his\r\nface, a face which would have been a very fine one but for its\r\nhaggardness. Whether this haggardness had aught to do with criminality,\r\ncould not be determined; since, as intense heat and cold, though\r\nunlike, produce like sensations, so innocence and guilt, when, through\r\ncasual association with mental pain, stamping any visible impress, use\r\none seal—a hacked one.\r\n\r\nNot again that this reflection occurred to Captain Delano at the time,\r\ncharitable man as he was. Rather another idea. Because observing so\r\nsingular a haggardness combined with a dark eye, averted as in trouble\r\nand shame, and then again recalling Don Benito’s confessed ill opinion\r\nof his crew, insensibly he was operated upon by certain general notions\r\nwhich, while disconnecting pain and abashment from virtue, invariably\r\nlink them with vice.\r\n\r\nIf, indeed, there be any wickedness on board this ship, thought Captain\r\nDelano, be sure that man there has fouled his hand in it, even as now\r\nhe fouls it in the pitch. I don’t like to accost him. I will speak to\r\nthis other, this old Jack here on the windlass.\r\n\r\nHe advanced to an old Barcelona tar, in ragged red breeches and dirty\r\nnight-cap, cheeks trenched and bronzed, whiskers dense as thorn hedges.\r\nSeated between two sleepy-looking Africans, this mariner, like his\r\nyounger shipmate, was employed upon some rigging—splicing a cable—the\r\nsleepy-looking blacks performing the inferior function of holding the\r\nouter parts of the ropes for him.\r\n\r\nUpon Captain Delano’s approach, the man at once hung his head below its\r\nprevious level; the one necessary for business. It appeared as if he\r\ndesired to be thought absorbed, with more than common fidelity, in his\r\ntask. Being addressed, he glanced up, but with what seemed a furtive,\r\ndiffident air, which sat strangely enough on his weather-beaten visage,\r\nmuch as if a grizzly bear, instead of growling and biting, should\r\nsimper and cast sheep’s eyes. He was asked several questions concerning\r\nthe voyage—questions purposely referring to several particulars in Don\r\nBenito’s narrative, not previously corroborated by those impulsive\r\ncries greeting the visitor on first coming on board. The questions were\r\nbriefly answered, confirming all that remained to be confirmed of the\r\nstory. The negroes about the windlass joined in with the old sailor;\r\nbut, as they became talkative, he by degrees became mute, and at length\r\nquite glum, seemed morosely unwilling to answer more questions, and\r\nyet, all the while, this ursine air was somehow mixed with his sheepish\r\none.\r\n\r\nDespairing of getting into unembarrassed talk with such a centaur,\r\nCaptain Delano, after glancing round for a more promising countenance,\r\nbut seeing none, spoke pleasantly to the blacks to make way for him;\r\nand so, amid various grins and grimaces, returned to the poop, feeling\r\na little strange at first, he could hardly tell why, but upon the whole\r\nwith regained confidence in Benito Cereno.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK2X9P0E5X4X6Z77F9M13","peer_type":"intro","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVZ95NNJRQZHECTPHPTM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVZ6X5ABG1CBX8ET5C4T","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.409Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.072Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}