{"id":"01KG8AKYGVY5C3E6CW4WA9EZZ6","cid":"bafkreihfnctcbwklku757vucusekjgtztf47zabh4eqcexjegd23owha64","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10771,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":10707,"text":"CHAPTER LIV.\r\nSOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND _PIG-TAIL_\r\n\r\n\r\nIt has been mentioned how advantageously my shipmates disposed of their\r\ntobacco in Liverpool; but it is to be related how those nefarious\r\ncommercial speculations of theirs reduced them to sad extremities in\r\nthe end.\r\n\r\nTrue to their improvident character, and seduced by the high prices\r\npaid for the weed in England, they had there sold off by far the\r\ngreater portion of what tobacco they had; even inducing the mate to\r\nsurrender the portion he had secured under lock and key by command of\r\nthe Custom-house officers. So that when the crew were about two weeks\r\nout, on the homeward-bound passage, it became sorrowfully evident that\r\ntobacco was at a premium.\r\n\r\nNow, one of the favorite pursuits of sailors during a dogwatch below at\r\nsea is cards; and though they do not understand whist, cribbage, and\r\ngames of that kidney, yet they are adepts at what is called\r\n_“High-low-Jack-and-the-game,”_ which name, indeed, has a Jackish and\r\nnautical flavor. Their stakes are generally so many plugs of tobacco,\r\nwhich, like rouleaux of guineas, are piled on their chests when they\r\nplay. Judge, then, the wicked zest with which the Highlander’s crew now\r\nshuffled and dealt the pack; and how the interest curiously and\r\ninvertedly increased, as the stakes necessarily became less and less;\r\nand finally resolved themselves into _“chaws.”_\r\n\r\nSo absorbed, at last, did they become at this business, that some of\r\nthem, after being hard at work during a nightwatch on deck, would rob\r\nthemselves of rest below, in order to have a brush at the cards. And as\r\nit is very difficult sleeping in the presence of gamblers; especially\r\nif they chance to be sailors, whose conversation at all times is apt to\r\nbe boisterous; these fellows would often be driven out of the\r\nforecastle by those who desired to rest. They were obliged to repair on\r\ndeck, and make a card-table of it; and invariably, in such cases, there\r\nwas a great deal of contention, a great many ungentlemanly charges of\r\nnigging and cheating; and, now and then, a few parenthetical blows were\r\nexchanged.\r\n\r\nBut this was not so much to be wondered at, seeing they could see but\r\nvery little, being provided with no light but that of a midnight sky;\r\nand the cards, from long wear and rough usage, having become\r\nexceedingly torn and tarry, so much so, that several members of the\r\nfour suits might have seceded from their respective clans, and formed\r\ninto a fifth tribe, under the name of _“Tar-spots.”_\r\n\r\nEvery day the tobacco grew scarcer and scarcer; till at last it became\r\nnecessary to adopt the greatest possible economy in its use. The\r\nmodicum constituting an ordinary _“chaw,”_ was made to last a whole\r\nday; and at night, permission being had from the cook, this self-same\r\n_“chaw”_ was placed in the oven of the stove, and there dried; so as to\r\ndo duty in a pipe.\r\n\r\nIn the end not a plug was to be had; and deprived of a solace and a\r\nstimulus, on which sailors so much rely while at sea, the crew became\r\nabsent, moody, and sadly tormented with the hypos. They were something\r\nlike opium-smokers, suddenly cut off from their drug. They would sit on\r\ntheir chests, forlorn and moping; with a steadfast sadness, eying the\r\nforecastle lamp, at which they had lighted so many a pleasant pipe.\r\nWith touching eloquence they recalled those happier evenings—the time\r\nof smoke and vapor; when, after a whole day’s delectable _“chawing,”_\r\nthey beguiled themselves with their genial, and most companionable\r\npuffs.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT56X170QDPVSWQMHVCD","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVDG94HDT1WWNKX3R0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.019Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.255Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}