{"id":"01KG8AME7AW8316BXVT4T70KKB","cid":"bafkreibi6vxfpu2ewwschhhxblkz2blhs74tsys6cbxx47ji3uwdqparia","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12809,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":12734,"text":"CHAPTER LXXVIII.\r\nDISMAL TIMES IN THE MESS.\r\n\r\n\r\nIt was on the first day of the long, hot calm which we had on the\r\nEquator, that a mess-mate of mine, by the name of Shenly, who had been\r\nfor some weeks complaining, at length went on the sick-list.\r\n\r\nAn old gunner’s mate of the mess—Priming, the man with the hare-lip,\r\nwho, true to his tribe, was charged to the muzzle with bile, and,\r\nmoreover, rammed home on top of it a wad of sailor superstition—this\r\ngunner’s mate indulged in some gloomy and savage remarks—strangely\r\ntinged with genuine feeling and grief—at the announcement of the\r\nsickness of Shenly, coming as it did not long after the almost fatal\r\naccident befalling poor Baldy, captain of the mizzen-top, another\r\nmess-mate of ours, and the dreadful fate of the amputated fore-top-man\r\nwhom we buried in Rio, also our mess-mate.\r\n\r\nWe were cross-legged seated at dinner, between the guns, when the sad\r\nnews concerning Shenly was first communicated.\r\n\r\n“I know’d it, I know’d it,” said Priming, through his nose. “Blast ye,\r\nI told ye so; poor fellow! But dam’me, I know’d it. This comes of\r\nhaving _thirteen_ in the mess. I hope he arn’t dangerous, men? Poor\r\nShenly! But, blast it, it warn’t till White-Jacket there comed into the\r\nmess that these here things began. I don’t believe there’ll be more nor\r\nthree of us left by the time we strike soundings, men. But how is he\r\nnow? Have you been down to see him, any on ye? Damn you, you Jonah! I\r\ndon’t see how you can sleep in your hammock, knowing as you do that by\r\nmaking an odd number in the mess you have been the death of one poor\r\nfellow, and ruined Baldy for life, and here’s poor Shenly keeled up.\r\nBlast you, and your jacket, say I.”\r\n\r\n“My dear mess-mate,” I cried, “don’t blast me any more, for Heaven’s\r\nsale. Blast my jacket you may, and I’ll join you in _that;_ but don’t\r\nblast _me;_ for if you do, I shouldn’t wonder if I myself was the next\r\nman to keel up.”\r\n\r\n“Gunner’s mate!” said Jack Chase, helping himself to a slice of beef,\r\nand sandwiching it between two large biscuits—“Gunner’s mate!\r\nWhite-Jacket there is my particular friend, and I would take it as a\r\nparticular favour if you would _knock off_ blasting him. It’s in bad\r\ntaste, rude, and unworthy a gentleman.”\r\n\r\n“Take your back away from that ’ere gun-carriage, will ye now, Jack\r\nChase?” cried Priming, in reply, just then Jack happening to lean up\r\nagainst it. “Must I be all the time cleaning after you fellows? Blast\r\nye! I spent an hour on that ’ere gun-carriage this very mornin’. But it\r\nall comes of White-Jacket there. If it warn’t for having one too many,\r\nthere wouldn’t be any crowding and jamming in the mess. I’m blessed if\r\nwe ar’n’t about chock a’ block here! Move further up there, I’m sitting\r\non my leg!”\r\n\r\n“For God’s sake, gunner’s mate,” cried I, “if it will content you, I\r\nand my jacket will leave the mess.”\r\n\r\n“I wish you would, and be —— to you!” he replied.\r\n\r\n“And if he does, you will mess alone, gunner’s mate,” said Jack Chase.\r\n\r\n“That you will,” cried all.\r\n\r\n“And I wish to the Lord you’d let me!” growled Priming, irritably\r\nrubbing his head with the handle of his sheath-knife.\r\n\r\n“You are an old bear, gunner’s mate,” said Jack Chase.\r\n\r\n“I am an old Turk,” he replied, drawing the flat blade of his knife\r\nbetween his teeth, thereby producing a whetting, grating sound.\r\n\r\n“Let him alone, let him alone, men,” said Jack Chase. “Only keep off\r\nthe tail of a rattlesnake, and he’ll not rattle.”\r\n\r\n“Look out he don’t bite, though,” said Priming, snapping his teeth; and\r\nwith that he rolled off, growling as he went.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVA03P960ECS3SK45FPQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AME7AD0NZW76AMJF3G9KT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.098Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.736Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}