{"id":"01KG8AKXAJ412Y8V41KAC9HRYK","cid":"bafkreigmouuk45rqbfcwmnhz53ux6m4dnqrfdsjlp3x5ottpkobv2ahcv4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10653,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":10578,"text":"volumes of Smollett’s novels, which had been found in the chest of a\r\nsailor, who some time previous had died on the island.\r\n\r\nAmelia!—Peregrine!—you hero of rogues, Count Fathom!—what a debt do we\r\nowe you!\r\n\r\nI know not whether it was the reading of these romances, or the want of\r\nsome sentimental pastime, which led the doctor, about this period, to\r\nlay siege to the heart of the little Loo.\r\n\r\nNow, as I have said before, the daughter of Po-Po was most cruelly\r\nreserved, and never deigned to notice us. Frequently I addressed her\r\nwith a long face and an air of the profoundest and most distant\r\nrespect—but in vain; she wouldn’t even turn up her pretty olive nose.\r\nAh! it’s quite plain, thought I; she knows very well what graceless\r\ndogs sailors are, and won’t have anything to do with us.\r\n\r\nBut thus thought not my comrade. Bent he was upon firing the cold\r\nglitter of Loo’s passionless eyes.\r\n\r\nHe opened the campaign with admirable tact: making cautious approaches,\r\nand content, for three days, with ogling the nymph for about five\r\nminutes after every meal. On the fourth day, he asked her a question;\r\non the fifth, she dropped a nut of ointment, and he picked it up and\r\ngave it to her; on the sixth, he went over and sat down within three\r\nyards of the couch where she lay; and, on the memorable morn of the\r\nseventh, he proceeded to open his batteries in form.\r\n\r\nThe damsel was reclining on the ferns; one hand supporting her cheek,\r\nand the other listlessly turning over the leaves of a Tahitian Bible.\r\nThe doctor approached.\r\n\r\nNow the chief disadvantage under which he laboured was his almost\r\ncomplete ignorance of the love vocabulary of the island. But French\r\ncounts, they say, make love delightfully in broken English; and what\r\nhindered the doctor from doing the same in dulcet Tahitian. So at it he\r\nwent.\r\n\r\n“Ah!” said he, smiling bewitchingly, “oee mickonaree; oee ready\r\nBiblee?”\r\n\r\nNo answer; not even a look.\r\n\r\n“Ah I matai! very goody ready Biblee mickonaree.”\r\n\r\nLoo, without stirring, began reading, in a low tone, to herself.\r\n\r\n“Mickonaree Biblee ready goody maitai,” once more observed the doctor,\r\ningeniously transposing his words for the third time.\r\n\r\nBut all to no purpose; Loo gave no sign.\r\n\r\nHe paused, despairingly; but it would never do to give up; so he threw\r\nhimself at full length beside her, and audaciously commenced turning\r\nover the leaves.\r\n\r\nLoo gave a start, just one little start, barely perceptible, and then,\r\nfumbling something in her hand, lay perfectly motionless; the doctor\r\nrather frightened at his own temerity, and knowing not what to do next.\r\nAt last, he placed one arm cautiously about her waist; almost in the\r\nsame instant he bounded to his feet, with a cry; the little witch had\r\npierced him with a thorn. But there she lay, just as quietly as ever,\r\nturning over the leaves, and reading to herself.\r\n\r\nMy long friend raised the siege incontinently, and made a disorderly\r\nretreat to the place where I reclined, looking on.\r\n\r\nI am pretty sure that Loo must have related this occurrence to her\r\nfather, who came in shortly afterward; for he looked queerly at the\r\ndoctor. But he said nothing; and, in ten minutes, was quite as affable\r\nas ever. As for Loo, there was not the slightest change in her; and the\r\ndoctor, of course, for ever afterwards held his peace.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNJBVQN60JP52BFDZV22","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXANCM0HTJTBCPZ1RK3H","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.794Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.645Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}