{"id":"01KG8AME6Y33ZK7R0ECC22MCKW","cid":"bafkreidi5tdj2erygt3uj4nc5m5pesitub64ov7bp23uzt6p3dkzsziqfu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7270,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":7216,"text":"tried to _lasso_ him in dark corners. And now he was adrift among them,\r\nunder notorious circumstances of superlative villainy, at last dragged\r\nto light; and yet he blandly smiled, politely offered his cigar-holder\r\nto a perfect stranger, and laughed and chatted to right and left, as if\r\nspringy, buoyant, and elastic, with an angelic conscience, and sure of\r\nkind friends wherever he went, both in this life and the life to come.\r\n\r\nWhile he was lying ironed in the “brig,” gangs of the men were\r\nsometimes overheard whispering about the terrible reception they would\r\ngive him when he should be set at large. Nevertheless, when liberated,\r\nthey seemed confounded by his erect and cordial assurance, his\r\ngentlemanly sociability and fearless companionableness. From being an\r\nimplacable policeman, vigilant, cruel, and remorseless in his office,\r\nhowever polished in his phrases, he was now become a disinterested,\r\nsauntering man of leisure, winking at all improprieties, and ready to\r\nlaugh and make merry with any one. Still, at first, the men gave him a\r\nwide berth, and returned scowls for his smiles; but who can forever\r\nresist the very Devil himself, when he comes in the guise of a\r\ngentleman, free, fine, and frank? Though Goethe’s pious Margaret hates\r\nthe Devil in his horns and harpooner’s tail, yet she smiles and nods to\r\nthe engaging fiend in the persuasive, _winning_, oily, wholly harmless\r\nMephistopheles. But, however it was, I, for one, regarded this\r\nmaster-at-arms with mixed feelings of detestation, pity, admiration,\r\nand something opposed to enmity. I could not but abominate him when I\r\nthought of his conduct; but I pitied the continual gnawing which, under\r\nall his deftly-donned disguises, I saw lying at the bottom of his soul.\r\nI admired his heroism in sustaining himself so well under such\r\nreverses. And when I thought how arbitrary the _Articles of War_ are in\r\ndefining a man-of-war villain; how much undetected guilt might be\r\nsheltered by the aristocratic awning of our quarter-deck; how many\r\nflorid pursers, ornaments of the ward-room, had been legally protected\r\nin defrauding _the people_, I could not but say to myself, Well, after\r\nall, though this man is a most wicked one indeed, yet is he even more\r\nluckless than depraved.\r\n\r\nBesides, a studied observation of Bland convinced me that he was an\r\norganic and irreclaimable scoundrel, who did wicked deeds as the cattle\r\nbrowse the herbage, because wicked deeds seemed the legitimate\r\noperation of his whole infernal organisation. Phrenologically, he was\r\nwithout a soul. Is it to be wondered at, that the devils are\r\nirreligious? What, then, thought I, who is to blame in this matter? For\r\none, I will not take the Day of Judgment upon me by authoritatively\r\npronouncing upon the essential criminality of any man-of-war’s-man; and\r\nChristianity has taught me that, at the last day, man-of-war’s-men will\r\nnot be judged by the _Articles of War_, nor by the _United States\r\nStatutes at Large_, but by immutable laws, ineffably beyond the\r\ncomprehension of the honourable Board of Commodores and Navy\r\nCommissioners. But though I will stand by even a man-of-war thief, and\r\ndefend him from being seized up at the gangway, if I can—remembering\r\nthat my Saviour once hung between two thieves, promising one\r\nlife-eternal—yet I would not, after the plain conviction of a villain,\r\nagain let him entirely loose to prey upon honest seamen, fore and aft\r\nall three decks. But this did Captain Claret; and though the thing may\r\nnot perhaps be credited, nevertheless, here it shall be recorded.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS32V8KWVR1XVNNS595G","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AME6YTFDS3JECCDPE039G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AME6YQBCBY7PMTGMR9BRT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.086Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:48.584Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}