{"id":"01KG8AM5XW9KCN676VN832W4S0","cid":"bafkreih6tgu7po2lafkbnuygqojoewk6ycmahs7ujpbbw7jr7f6vjlldui","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1682,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":1633,"text":"make of this, said nothing. Then the other: ‘We are not the only\r\nimpressed ones, Billy. There’s a gang of us. Couldn’t you--help--at a\r\npinch?’\r\n\r\n‘What do you mean?’ demanded Billy, here shaking off his drouse.\r\n\r\n‘Hist, hist!’ the hurried whisper now growing husky; ‘see here,’ and the\r\nman held up two small objects faintly twinkling in the night light;\r\n‘see, they are yours, Billy, if you’ll only----’\r\n\r\nBut Billy broke in, and in his resentful eagerness to deliver himself,\r\nhis vocal infirmity somewhat intruded. ‘D-D-Damme, I don’t know what you\r\nare d-driving at, or what you mean, but you had better g-g-go where you\r\nbelong!’ For the moment the fellow, as confounded, did not stir; and\r\nBilly, springing to his feet, said, ‘If you d-don’t start, I’ll\r\nt-t-t-oss you back over the r-rail!’ There was no mistaking this, and\r\nthe mysterious emissary decamped, disappearing in the direction of the\r\nmainmast in the shadow of the booms.\r\n\r\n‘Hallo, what’s the matter?’ here came growling from a forecastleman\r\nawakened from his deck-doze by Billy’s raised voice. And as the\r\nforetopman reappeared, and was recognised by him, ‘Ah, _Beauty_,\r\nis it you? Well, something must have been the matter, for you\r\nst-st-stuttered.’\r\n\r\n‘Oh,’ rejoined Billy, now mastering the impediment; ‘I found an\r\nafterguardsman in our part of the ship here, and I bid him be off where\r\nhe belongs.’\r\n\r\n‘And is that all you did about it, foretopman?’ gruffly demanded\r\nanother, an irascible old fellow of brick-coloured visage and hair, and\r\nwho was known to his associate forecastlemen as _Red Pepper_. ‘Such\r\nsneaks I should like to marry to the gunner’s daughter!’ by that\r\nexpression meaning that he would like to subject them to disciplinary\r\ncastigation over a gun.\r\n\r\nHowever, Billy’s rendering of the matter satisfactorily accounted to\r\nthese inquirers for the brief commotion, since of all the sections of a\r\nship’s company the forecastlemen, veterans for the most part, and\r\nbigoted in their sea-prejudices, are the most jealous in resenting\r\nterritorial encroachments, especially on the part of any of the\r\nafterguard, of whom they have but a sorry opinion, chiefly landsmen,\r\nnever going aloft except to reef or furl the mainsail, and in no wise\r\ncompetent to handle a marling-spike or turn in a _dead-eye_, say.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJV0E4S3TF7G8K9TNHSBB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5XYX58G3QQNE0GEJHA2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.604Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.816Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}