{"id":"01KG8AKWFZNQJ86TK7FD8A60P3","cid":"bafkreic6a6gxa3wwnnsrw2m5vkcdzm43tt7tadpzren2hqgydsmpoyjima","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8719,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":8650,"text":"him a home on board till the day previous to the sailing of the ship;\r\nand during the interval, he could not honor any drafts upon the\r\nstrength of his wages.\r\n\r\nHowever, glad enough to conclude the agreement upon any terms at all,\r\nmy young blade of Bury expressed his satisfaction; and full of\r\nadmiration at so urbane and gentlemanly a sea-captain, he came forward\r\nto receive my congratulations.\r\n\r\n“Harry,” said I, “be not deceived by the fascinating Riga—that gay\r\nLothario of all inexperienced, sea-going youths, from the capital or\r\nthe country; he has a Janus-face, Harry; and you will not know him when\r\nhe gets you out of sight of land, and mouths his cast-off coats and\r\nbrowsers. For _then_ he is another personage altogether, and adjusts\r\nhis character to the shabbiness of his integuments. No more condolings\r\nand sympathy then; no more blarney; he will hold you a little better\r\nthan his boots, and would no more think of addressing you than of\r\ninvoking wooden Donald, the figure-head on our bows.”\r\n\r\nAnd I further admonished my friend concerning our crew, particularly of\r\nthe diabolical Jackson, and warned him to be cautious and wary. I told\r\nhim, that unless he was somewhat accustomed to the rigging, and could\r\nfurl a royal in a squall, he would be sure to subject himself to a sort\r\nof treatment from the sailors, in the last degree ignominious to any\r\nmortal who had ever crossed his legs under mahogany.\r\n\r\nAnd I played the inquisitor, in cross-questioning Harry respecting the\r\nprecise degree in which he was a practical sailor;—whether he had a\r\ngiddy head; whether his arms could bear the weight of his body;\r\nwhether, with but one hand on a shroud, a hundred feet aloft in a\r\ntempest, he felt he could look right to windward and beard it.\r\n\r\nTo all this, and much more, Harry rejoined with the most off-hand and\r\nconfident air; saying that in his _“guinea-pig”_ days, he had often\r\nclimbed the masts and handled the sails in a gentlemanly and amateur\r\nway; so he made no doubt that he would very soon prove an expert\r\ntumbler in the Highlander’s rigging.\r\n\r\nHis levity of manner, and sanguine assurance, coupled with the constant\r\nsight of his most unseamanlike person—more suited to the Queen’s\r\ndrawing-room than a ship’s forecastle-bred many misgivings in my mind.\r\nBut after all, every one in this world has his own fate intrusted to\r\nhimself; and though we may warn, and forewarn, and give sage advice,\r\nand indulge in many apprehensions touching our friends; yet our\r\nfriends, for the most part, will _“gang their ain gate;”_ and the most\r\nwe can do is, to hope for the best. Still, I suggested to Harry,\r\nwhether he had not best cross the sea as a steerage passenger, since he\r\ncould procure enough money for that; but no, he was bent upon going as\r\na sailor.\r\n\r\nI now had a comrade in my afternoon strolls, and Sunday excursions; and\r\nas Harry was a generous fellow, he shared with me his purse and his\r\nheart. He sold off several more of his fine vests and browsers, his\r\nsilver-keyed flute and enameled guitar; and a portion of the money thus\r\nfurnished was pleasantly spent in refreshing ourselves at the road-side\r\ninns in the vicinity of the town.\r\n\r\nReclining side by side in some agreeable nook, we exchanged our\r\nexperiences of the past. Harry enlarged upon the fascinations of a\r\nLondon life; described the curricle he used to drive in Hyde Park; gave\r\nme the measurement of Madame Vestris’ ankle; alluded to his first\r\nintroduction at a club to the madcap Marquis of Waterford; told over\r\nthe sums he had lost upon the turf on a Derby day; and made various but\r\nenigmatical allusions to a certain Lady Georgiana Theresa, the noble\r\ndaughter of an anonymous earl.\r\n\r\nEven in conversation, Harry was a prodigal; squandering his\r\naristocratic narrations with a careless hand; and, perhaps, sometimes\r\nspending funds of reminiscences not his own.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9Y3P2G15TJFFMCY4EB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWFZQVW5H4E9XT6X5GTH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWFZ7SD127KCWPMVEKT9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.943Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.295Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}