{"id":"01KG8AM6HM2WNC99JYYXS2JMKF","cid":"bafkreibnmxgeyds6re3ctskiaph7wjeycaapg2popef5j2xxfdydfhd2mu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2207,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":2130,"text":"then for the moment stood ruminating. The mood he evinced,\r\nClaggart--himself for the time liberated from the other’s\r\nscrutiny--steadily regarded with a look difficult to render--a look\r\ncurious of the operation of his tactics, a look such as might have been\r\nthat of the spokesman of the envious children of Jacob deceptively\r\nimposing upon the troubled patriarch the blood-dyed coat of young\r\nJoseph.\r\n\r\nThough something exceptional in the moral quality of Captain Vere made\r\nhim, in earnest encounter with a fellow-man, a veritable touchstone of\r\nthat man’s essential nature, yet now as to Claggart and what was really\r\ngoing on in him, his feeling partook less of intuitional conviction than\r\nof strong suspicion clogged by strange dubieties. The perplexity he\r\nevinced proceeded less from aught touching the man informed against--as\r\nClaggart doubtless opined--than from considerations how best to act in\r\nregard to the informer. At first, indeed, he was naturally for summoning\r\nthat substantiation of his allegations which Claggart said was at hand.\r\nBut such a proceeding would result in the matter at once getting abroad,\r\nwhich in the present stage of it, he thought, might undesirably affect\r\nthe ship’s company. If Claggart was a false witness--that closed the\r\naffair. And therefore, before trying the accusation, he would first\r\npractically test the accuser; and he thought this could be done in a\r\nquiet undemonstrative way.\r\n\r\nThe measure he determined upon involved a shifting of the scene, a\r\ntransfer to a place less exposed to observation than the broad\r\nquarter-deck. For although the few gun-room officers there at the time\r\nhad, in due observance of naval etiquette, withdrawn to leeward the\r\nmoment Captain Vere had begun his promenade on the deck’s weather-side;\r\nand though during the colloquy with Claggart they of course ventured not\r\nto diminish the distance; and though throughout the interview Captain\r\nVere’s voice was far from high, and Claggart’s silvery and low; and the\r\nwind in the cordage and the wash of the sea helped the more to put them\r\nbeyond ear-shot; nevertheless, the interview’s continuance already had\r\nattracted observation from some topmen aloft, and other sailors in the\r\nwaist or farther forward.\r\n\r\nHaving determined upon his measures, Captain Vere forthwith took action.\r\nAbruptly turning to Claggart he asked, ‘Master-at-arms, is it now Budd’s\r\nwatch aloft?’\r\n\r\n‘No, your honour.’\r\n\r\nWhereupon, ‘Mr. Wilkes,’ summoning the nearest midshipman, ‘tell Albert\r\nto come to me.’ Albert was the captain’s hammock-boy, a sort of\r\nsea-valet, in whose discretion and fidelity his master had much\r\nconfidence. The lad appeared. ‘You know Budd, the foretopman?’\r\n\r\n‘I do, sir.’\r\n\r\n‘Go find him. It is his watch off. Manage to tell him out of ear-shot\r\nthat he is wanted aft. Contrive it that he speaks to nobody. Keep him in\r\ntalk yourself. And not till you get well aft here, not till then, let\r\nhim know that the place where he is wanted is my cabin. You understand?\r\nGo. Master-at-arms, show yourself on the decks below, and when you think\r\nit time for Albert to be coming with his man, stand by quietly to follow\r\nthe sailor in.’\r\n\r\n-----\r\n\r\nFootnote 2:\r\n\r\n  In Melville’s MS. the vessel is on these occasions given the name\r\n  _Bellipotent_. See also pp. 64, 66, 109, 110.\r\n\r\nFootnote 3:\r\n\r\n  Cf. p. 63 note.\r\n\r\nFootnote 4:\r\n\r\n  Cf. p. 63 note.\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJV0ATQQNG3ADWCA313A3","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6HQRSDB7R6PRANCB98H","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.236Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.555Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}