{"id":"01KG8AM4JXBMBAYZGVDZ8TD51T","cid":"bafkreihs2uufl7oo6j7p2muk6iozn7yfdq742jcbcltfptc5t3k632u2um","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1991,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":1930,"text":"CHAPTER SIX\r\n\r\nA SPECIMEN OF NAUTICAL ORATORY--CRITICISMS OF THE SAILORS--THE STARBOARD\r\nWATCH ARE GIVEN A HOLIDAY--THE ESCAPE TO THE MOUNTAINS\r\n\r\n\r\nEarly the next morning the starboard watch were mustered upon the\r\nquarter-deck, and our worthy captain, standing in the cabin gangway,\r\nharangued us as follows:--\r\n\r\n‘Now, men, as we are just off a six months’ cruise, and have got through\r\nmost all our work in port here, I suppose you want to go ashore. Well, I\r\nmean to give your watch liberty today, so you may get ready as soon all\r\nyou please, and go; but understand this, I am going to give you liberty\r\nbecause I suppose you would growl like so many old quarter gunners if I\r\ndidn’t; at the same time, if you’ll take my advice, every mother’s son\r\nof you will stay aboard and keep out of the way of the bloody cannibals\r\naltogether. Ten to one, men, if you go ashore, you will get into some\r\ninfernal row, and that will be the end of you; for if those tattooed\r\nscoundrels get you a little ways back into their valleys, they’ll nab\r\nyou--that you may be certain of. Plenty of white men have gone ashore\r\nhere and never been seen any more. There was the old Dido, she put in\r\nhere about two years ago, and sent one watch off on liberty; they never\r\nwere heard of again for a week--the natives swore they didn’t know where\r\nthey were--and only three of them ever got back to the ship again, and\r\none with his face damaged for life, for the cursed heathens tattooed a\r\nbroad patch clean across his figure-head. But it will be no use talking\r\nto you, for go you will, that I see plainly; so all I have to say is,\r\nthat you need not blame me if the islanders make a meal of you. You may\r\nstand some chance of escaping them though, if you keep close about the\r\nFrench encampment,--and are back to the ship again before sunset. Keep\r\nthat much in your mind, if you forget all the rest I’ve been saying to\r\nyou. There, go forward: bear a hand and rig yourselves, and stand by for\r\na call. At two bells the boat will be manned to take you off, and the\r\nLord have mercy on you!’\r\n\r\nVarious were the emotions depicted upon the countenances of the\r\nstarboard watch whilst listening to this address; but on its conclusion\r\nthere was a general move towards the forecastle, and we soon were\r\nall busily engaged in getting ready for the holiday so auspiciously\r\nannounced by the skipper. During these preparations his harangue was\r\ncommented upon in no very measured terms; and one of the party, after\r\ndenouncing him as a lying old son of a seacook who begrudged a fellow a\r\nfew hours’ liberty, exclaimed with an oath, ‘But you don’t bounce me out\r\nof my liberty, old chap, for all your yarns; for I would go ashore if\r\nevery pebble on the beach was a live coal, and every stick a gridiron,\r\nand the cannibals stood ready to broil me on landing.’\r\n\r\nThe spirit of this sentiment was responded to by all hands, and we\r\nresolved that in spite of the captain’s croakings we would make a\r\nglorious day of it.\r\n\r\nBut Toby and I had our own game to play, and we availed ourselves of\r\nthe confusion which always reigns among a ship’s company preparatory to\r\ngoing ashore, to confer together and complete our arrangements. As our\r\nobject was to effect as rapid a flight as possible to the mountains, we\r\ndetermined not to encumber ourselves with any superfluous apparel; and\r\naccordingly, while the rest were rigging themselves out with some idea\r\nof making a display, we were content to put on new stout duck trousers,\r\nserviceable pumps, and heavy Havre-frocks, which with a Payta hat\r\ncompleted our equipment.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPECYBC7XNGC94A2ZX51","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4K1TM7ZZPF9RRY8JYYD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.229Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.075Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}