{"id":"01KG8AM79KB2BFBJEZ95HE0VJC","cid":"bafkreicaj2uvx2slzcmt6rxh4kxbmc37k5zpl43lwffeqnocmraywooumq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2563,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":2500,"text":"difficulty of utterance he said, ‘No, there was no malice between us. I\r\nnever bore malice against the master-at-arms. I am sorry that he is\r\ndead. I did not mean to kill him. Could I have used my tongue I would\r\nnot have struck him. But he foully lied to my face, and in the presence\r\nof my captain, and I had to say something, and I could only say it with\r\na blow. God help me!’\r\n\r\nIn the impulsive above-board manner of the frank one the court saw\r\nconfirmed all that was implied in words that just previously had\r\nperplexed them coming as they did from the testifier to the tragedy, and\r\npromptly following Billy’s impassioned disclaimer of mutinous\r\nintent--Captain Vere’s words, ‘I believe you, my man.’\r\n\r\nNext, it was asked of him whether he knew of or suspected aught\r\nsavouring of incipient trouble (meaning mutiny, though the explicit term\r\nwas avoided) going on in any section of the ship’s company.\r\n\r\nThe reply lingered. This was naturally imputed by the court to the same\r\nvocal embarrassment which had retarded or obstructed previous answers.\r\nBut in main it was otherwise here; the question immediately recalling to\r\nBilly’s mind the interview with the afterguardsman in the fore-chains.\r\nBut an innate repugnance to playing a part at all approaching that of an\r\ninformer against one’s own shipmates--the same erring sense of\r\nuninstructed honour which had stood in the way of his reporting the\r\nmatter at the time, though as a loyal man-of-war’s man it was incumbent\r\non him, and failure so to do it charged against him and proven, would\r\nhave subjected him to the heaviest of penalties. This, with the blind\r\nfeeling now his, that nothing really was being hatched, prevailed with\r\nhim. When the answer came it was a negative.\r\n\r\n‘One question more,’ said the officer of marines now first speaking, and\r\nwith a troubled earnestness. ‘You tell us that what the master-at-arms\r\nsaid against you was a lie. Now why should he have so lied, so\r\nmaliciously lied, since you declare there was no malice between you?’\r\n\r\nAt that question, unintentionally touching on a spiritual sphere, wholly\r\nobscure to Billy’s thoughts, he was nonplussed, evincing a confusion\r\nindeed that some observers, such as can be imagined, would have\r\nconstrued into involuntary evidence of hidden guilt. Nevertheless he\r\nstrove some way to answer, but all at once relinquished the vain\r\nendeavour, at the same time turning an appealing glance towards Captain\r\nVere, as deeming him his best helper and friend. Captain Vere, who had\r\nbeen seated for a time, rose to his feet, addressing the interrogator.\r\n‘The question you put to him comes naturally enough. But how can he\r\nrightly answer it, or anybody else? unless indeed it be he who lies\r\nwithin there,’ designating the compartment where lay the corpse. ‘But\r\nthe prone one there will not rise to our summons. In effect though, as\r\nit seems to me, the point you make is hardly material. Quite aside from\r\nany conceivable motive actuating the master-at-arms, and irrespective of\r\nthe provocation of the blow, a martial court must needs in the present\r\ncase confine its attention to the blow’s consequence, which consequence\r\nis to be deemed not otherwise than as the striker’s deed!’\r\n\r\nThis utterance, the full significance of which it was not at all likely\r\nthat Billy took in, nevertheless caused him to turn a wistful,\r\ninterrogative look toward the speaker, a look in its dumb expressiveness\r\nnot unlike that which a dog of generous breed might turn upon his\r\nmaster, seeking in his face some elucidation of a previous gesture\r\nambiguous to the canine intelligence. Nor was the same utterance without\r\nmarked effect upon the three officers, more especially the soldier.\r\nCouched in it seemed to them a meaning unanticipated, involving a\r\nprejudgment on the speaker’s part. It served to augment a mental\r\ndisturbance previously evident enough.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJV0GJ6SDZS7Z24MESH84","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM79HJ6C80C9219B2658N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM79JEYCFP56Z2RATFCDT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.003Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.777Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}