{"id":"01KG8AM0FSWHSG8YWGJD3NJP8C","cid":"bafkreie5xl2rtzyqi5i4n4wn3kvqougytw67syxojkhevqtdzwiqw3khsu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4489,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.535Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":4420,"text":"CHAPTER XXXIX.\r\nThey Fall In With Strangers\r\n\r\n\r\nAfter quitting the Parki, we had much calm weather, varied by light\r\nbreezes. And sailing smoothly over a sea, so recently one sheet of\r\nfoam, I could not avoid bethinking me, how fortunate it was, that the\r\ngale had overtaken us in the brigantine, and not in the Chamois. For\r\ndeservedly high as the whale-shallop ranks as a sea boat; still, in a\r\nsevere storm, the larger your craft the greater your sense of security.\r\nWherefore, the thousand reckless souls tenanting a line-of- battle ship\r\nscoff at the most awful hurricanes; though, in reality, they may be\r\nless safe in their wooden-walled Troy, than those who contend with the\r\ngale in a clipper.\r\n\r\nBut not only did I congratulate myself upon salvation from the past,\r\nbut upon the prospect for the future. For storms happening so seldom in\r\nthese seas, one just blown over is almost a sure guarantee of very many\r\nweeks’ calm weather to come.\r\n\r\nNow sun followed sun; and no land. And at length it almost seemed as if\r\nwe must have sailed past the remotest presumable westerly limit of the\r\nchain of islands we sought; a lurking suspicion which I sedulously kept\r\nto myself However, I could not but nourish a latent faith that all\r\nwould yet be well.\r\n\r\nOn the ninth day my forebodings were over. In the gray of the dawn,\r\nperched upon the peak of our sail, a noddy was seen fast asleep. This\r\nfreak was true to the nature of that curious fowl, whose name is\r\nsignificant of its drowsiness. Its plumage was snow-white, its bill and\r\nlegs blood-red; the latter looking like little pantalettes. In a sly\r\nattempt at catching the bird, Samoa captured three tail- feathers; the\r\nalarmed creature flying away with a scream, and leaving its quills in\r\nhis hand.\r\n\r\nSailing on, we gradually broke in upon immense low-sailing flights of\r\nother aquatic fowls, mostly of those species which are seldom found far\r\nfrom land: terns, frigate-birds, mollymeaux, reef-pigeons, boobies,\r\ngulls, and the like. They darkened the air; their wings making overhead\r\nan incessant rustling like the simultaneous turning over of ten\r\nthousand leaves. The smaller sort skimmed the sea like pebbles sent\r\nskipping from the shore. Over these, flew myriads of birds of broader\r\nwing. While high above all, soared in air the daring “Diver,” or\r\nsea-kite, the power of whose vision is truly wonderful. It perceives\r\nthe little flying-fish in the water, at a height which can not be less\r\nthan four hundred feet. Spirally wheeling and screaming as it goes, the\r\nsea-kite, bill foremost, darts downward, swoops into the water, and for\r\na moment altogether disappearing, emerges at last; its prey firmly\r\ntrussed in its claws. But bearing it aloft, the bold bandit is quickly\r\nassailed by other birds of prey, that strive to wrest from him his\r\nbooty. And snatched from his talons, you see the fish falling through\r\nthe air, till again caught up in the very act of descent, by the\r\nfleetest of its pursuers.\r\n\r\nLeaving these sights astern, we presently picked up the slimy husk of a\r\ncocoanut, all over green barnacles. And shortly after, passed two or\r\nthree limbs of trees, and the solitary trunk of a palm; which, upon\r\nsailing nearer, seemed but very recently started on its endless voyage.\r\nAs noon came on; the dark purple land-haze, which had been dimly\r\ndescried resting upon the western horizon, was very nearly obscured.\r\nNevertheless, behind that dim drapery we doubted not bright boughs were\r\nwaving.\r\n\r\nWe were now in high spirits. Samoa between times humming to himself\r\nsome heathenish ditty, and Jarl ten times more intent on his silence\r\nthan ever; yet his eye full of expectation and gazing broad off from\r\nour bow. Of a sudden, shading his face with his hand, he gazed fixedly\r\nfor an instant, and then springing to his feet, uttered the long-drawn\r\nsound—“Sail ho!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9JV4FB7X55DNGV9GJK","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM0FD0NWWR84AEPWDG9NG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.033Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.539Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}