{"id":"01KG8AKXYCZ6ZRKXSZS8YG4BBB","cid":"bafkreicxboln5xl6sl7pexhuimgta6xleywyrj5wptswza3g2gc2ugh7pi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4492,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":4426,"text":"CHAPTER XXIV.\r\nHE BEGINS TO HOP ABOUT IN THE RIGGING LIKE A SAINT JAGO’S MONKEY\r\n\r\n\r\nBut we have not got to Liverpool yet; though, as there is little more\r\nto be said concerning the passage out, the Highlander may as well make\r\nsail and get there as soon as possible. The brief interval will perhaps\r\nbe profitably employed in relating what progress I made in learning the\r\nduties of a sailor.\r\n\r\nAfter my heroic feat in loosing the main-skysail, the mate entertained\r\ngood hopes of my becoming a rare mariner. In the fullness of his heart,\r\nhe ordered me to turn over the superintendence of the chicken-coop to\r\nthe Lancashire boy; which I did, very willingly. After that, I took\r\ncare to show the utmost alacrity in running aloft, which by this time\r\nbecame mere fun for me; and nothing delighted me more than to sit on\r\none of the topsail-yards, for hours together, helping Max or the\r\nGreenlander as they worked at the rigging.\r\n\r\nAt sea, the sailors are continually engaged in _“parcelling,”\r\n“serving,”_ and in a thousand ways ornamenting and repairing the\r\nnumberless shrouds and stays; mending sails, or turning one side of the\r\ndeck into a rope-walk, where they manufacture a clumsy sort of twine,\r\ncalled _spun-yarn._ This is spun with a winch; and many an hour the\r\nLancashire boy had to play the part of an engine, and contribute the\r\nmotive power. For material, they use odds and ends of old rigging\r\ncalled _“junk,”_ the yarns of which are picked to pieces, and then\r\ntwisted into new combinations, something as most books are\r\nmanufactured. This “junk” is bought at the junk shops along the\r\nwharves; outlandish looking dens, generally subterranean, full of old\r\niron, old shrouds, spars, rusty blocks, and superannuated tackles; and\r\nkept by villainous looking old men, in tarred trowsers, and with yellow\r\nbeards like oakum. They look like wreckers; and the scattered goods\r\nthey expose for sale, involuntarily remind one of the sea-beach,\r\ncovered with keels and cordage, swept ashore in a gale.\r\n\r\nYes, I was now as nimble as a monkey in the rigging, and at the cry of\r\n_“tumble up there, my hearties, and take in sail,” I_ was among the\r\nfirst ground-and-lofty tumblers, that sprang aloft at the word.\r\n\r\nBut the first time we reefed top-sails of a dark night, and I found\r\nmyself hanging over the yard with eleven others, the ship plunging and\r\nrearing like a mad horse, till I felt like being jerked off the spar;\r\nthen, indeed, I thought of a feather-bed at home, and hung on with\r\ntooth and nail; with no chance for snoring. But a few repetitions, soon\r\nmade me used to it; and before long, I tied my reef-point as quickly\r\nand expertly as the best of them; never making what they call a\r\n_“granny-knot,”_ and slipt down on deck by the bare stays, instead of\r\nthe shrouds. It is surprising, how soon a boy overcomes his timidity\r\nabout going aloft. For my own part, my nerves became as steady as the\r\nearth’s diameter, and I felt as fearless on the royal yard, as Sam\r\nPatch on the cliff of Niagara. To my amazement, also, I found, that\r\nrunning up the rigging at sea, especially during a squall, was much\r\neasier than while lying in port. For as you always go up on the\r\nwindward side, and the ship leans over, it makes more of a _stairs_ of\r\nthe rigging; whereas, in harbor, it is almost straight up and down.\r\n\r\nBesides, the pitching and rolling only imparts a pleasant sort of\r\nvitality to the vessel; so that the difference in being aloft in a ship\r\nat sea, and a ship in harbor, is pretty much the same, as riding a real\r\nlive horse and a wooden one. And even if the live charger should pitch\r\nyou over his head, _that_ would be much more satisfactory, than an\r\ninglorious fall from the other.\r\n\r\nI took great delight in furling the top-gallant sails and royals in a\r\nhard blow; which duty required two hands on the yard.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQS2NQ7HM5PPY20XMP4F","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXY33MKWQPNRF7JGKX2T","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.428Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.705Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}