{"id":"01KG8AM8K0BTXC7X72MHK0ASCZ","cid":"bafkreic2nabq7kx5qg7c6kn77vh7q22psyu4ewh77oktzzuo5ny3ofq4ku","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3638,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":3584,"text":"powerful head, and shaggy. An iron-gray beard broad as a commodore’s\r\npennant, and about the mouth indelibly streaked with the moodily\r\ndribbled tobacco juice of all his cruises. In his day watch-below\r\nsilently couched by himself on the gun-deck in a bay between black\r\ncannon, he might have suggested an image of the Great Grizzly of the\r\nCalifornia Sierras, his coat the worse for wear, grim in his last den\r\nawaiting the last hour.\r\n\r\nIn his shore moorings--hard by the waters, not very far from the\r\ndocks--what with his all-night-in and easier lot in every particular,\r\nwith choice of associates when he desired them, which was not always,\r\nhappily he lost most of his gruffness as the old mastiff of the mainmast\r\nexposed to all weathers and with salt-horse for his diet. A stranger\r\naccosting him sunning himself upon some old spar on the strand, and\r\nkindly saluting him there, would receive no surly response, and if more\r\nthan mere salutation was exchanged, would probably go away with the\r\nimpression that he had been talking with an interesting oddity, a salt\r\nphilosopher, not lacking in a sort of grim common-sense.\r\n\r\nAfter being ashore for a period, a singularity in his habits was\r\nremarked. At times, but only when he might think himself quite alone, he\r\nwould roll aside the bosom of his darned Guernsey frock and steadfastly\r\ncontemplate something on his body. If by chance discovered in this, he\r\nwould quickly conceal all and growl his resentment.\r\n\r\nThis peculiarity awakening the curiosity of certain idle observers,\r\nlodgers under the same roof with him, and none caring to be so bold as\r\nto question him as to the reason of it, or to ask what it was on his\r\nbody, a drug was enlisted as a means of finding out the secret. In\r\nprudent quantities it was slyly slipped into his huge bowl of tea at\r\nsupper. Next morning a certain old-clothes-man whispered to his gossips\r\nthe result of his sorry intrusion overnight.\r\n\r\nDrawing them into a corner, and looking around furtively, ‘Listen,’ said\r\nhe, and told them an eerie story, following it up with shuddering\r\nconjectures, vague enough, but dear to the superstitious and ignorant\r\nmind. What he had really discovered was this: a crucifix in indigo and\r\nvermilion tattooed on the chest and on the side of the heart. Slanting\r\nacross the crucifix and paling the pigment there ran a whitish scar,\r\nlong and thin, such as might ensue from the slash of a cutlass\r\nimperfectly parried or dodged. The cross of the Passion is often\r\ntattooed upon the sailor, upon the forearm generally, sometimes, though\r\nbut rarely, on the trunk. As for the scar, the old mastman had in\r\nlegitimate naval service known what it was to repel boarders and not\r\nwithout receiving a sabre mark from them. It may be. The gossips of the\r\nlodging, however, took another view of the discovery, and at last\r\nreported to the landlady that the old sailor was a sort of _man forbid_,\r\na man branded by the Evil Spirit, and it would be well to get rid of\r\nhim, lest the charm in the horse-shoe nailed over the house-door should\r\nbe fatally counteracted and be naught. The good woman, however, was a\r\nsensible lady with no belief in the horse-shoe, though she tolerated it,\r\nand as the old mastman was regular in his weekly dues, and never made\r\nnoise or gave trouble, she turned a deaf ear to all solicitations\r\nagainst him.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVQAZF49HK19VVYQ1DXW","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8K4RBB9KT7EMTH2HEPB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8K0B2DNQGXVE9FTQZ8P","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.328Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.018Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}