{"id":"01KG8AM9VPSDKMSX9JJ4EVATTA","cid":"bafkreigdqdpkeahnhig6zyo4fl7fr2iv45jfrnzs5ikk6ceg5zxjfhrxtq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5013,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 29","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":4942,"text":"the cow died during an accouchement, and he could not afford to buy\r\nanother. Still, his family never suffered for lack of food. He worked\r\nhard and brought it to them.\r\n\r\nNow, as I said before, having long previously sawed my wood, this\r\nMerrymusk came for his pay.\r\n\r\n‘My friend,’ said I, ‘do you know of any gentleman hereabouts who owns\r\nan extraordinary cock?’\r\n\r\nThe twinkle glittered quite plain in the wood-sawyer’s eye.\r\n\r\n‘I know of no _gentleman_,’ he replied, ‘who has what might well be\r\ncalled an extraordinary cock.’\r\n\r\nOh, thought I, this Merrymusk is not the man to enlighten me. I am\r\nafraid I shall never discover this extraordinary cock.\r\n\r\nNot having the full change to pay Merrymusk, I gave him his due, as nigh\r\nas I could make it, and told him that in a day or two I would take a\r\nwalk and visit his place, and hand him the remainder. Accordingly one\r\nfine morning I sallied forth upon the errand. I had much ado finding the\r\nbest road to the shanty. No one seemed to know where it was exactly. It\r\nlay in a very lonely part of the country, a densely-wooded mountain on\r\none side (which I call October Mountain, on account of its bannered\r\naspect in that month), and a thicketed swamp on the other, the railroad\r\ncutting the swamp. Straight as a die the railroad cut it; many times a\r\nday tantalising the wretched shanty with the sight of all the beauty,\r\nrank, fashion, health, trunks, silver and gold, dry-goods and groceries,\r\nbrides and grooms, happy wives and husbands, flying by the lonely\r\ndoor--no time to stop--flash! here they are--and there they go!--out of\r\nsight at both ends--as if that part of the world were only made to fly\r\nover, and not to settle upon. And this was about all the shanty saw of\r\nwhat people call ‘life.’\r\n\r\nThough puzzled somewhat, yet I knew the general direction where the\r\nshanty lay, and on I trudged. As I advanced, I was surprised to hear the\r\nmysterious cock crow with more and more distinctness. Is it possible,\r\nthought I, that any gentleman owning a Shanghai can dwell in such a\r\nlonesome, dreary region? Louder and louder, nigher and nigher, sounded\r\nthe glorious and defiant clarion. Though somehow I may be out of the\r\ntrack to my wood-sawyer’s, I said to myself, yet, thank Heaven, I seem\r\nto be on the way toward that extraordinary cock. I was delighted with\r\nthis auspicious accident. On I journeyed; while at intervals the crow\r\nsounded most invitingly, and jocundly, and superbly; and the last crow\r\nwas ever nigher than the former one. At last, emerging from a thicket of\r\nelders, straight before me I saw the most resplendent creature that ever\r\nblessed the sight of man.\r\n\r\nA cock, more like a golden eagle than a cock. A cock, more like a\r\nfield-marshal than a cock. A cock, more like Lord Nelson with all his\r\nglittering arms on, standing on the _Vanguard’s_ quarter-deck going into\r\nbattle, than a cock. A cock, more like the Emperor Charlemagne in his\r\nrobes at Aix-la-Chapelle, than a cock.\r\n\r\nSuch a cock!\r\n\r\nHe was of a haughty size, stood haughtily on his haughty legs. His\r\ncolours were red, gold, and white. The red was on his crest alone, which\r\nwas a mighty and symmetric crest, like unto Hector’s helmet, as\r\ndelineated on antique shields. His plumage was snowy, traced with gold.\r\nHe walked in front of the shanty, like a peer of the realm; his crest\r\nlifted, his chest heaved out, his embroidered trappings flashing in the\r\nlight. His pace was wonderful. He looked like some noble foreigner. He\r\nlooked like some Oriental king in some magnificent Italian opera.\r\n\r\nMerrymusk advanced from the door.\r\n\r\n‘Pray, is not that the Signor Beneventano?’\r\n\r\n‘Sir!’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 29"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVQAZF49HK19VVYQ1DXW","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM9VPNQQRXKKFCHQ4FR35","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM9VRT0PMB83NRDTGM6A6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.630Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.637Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}