{"id":"01KG8AMETE8NRCY2RCXG708FGC","cid":"bafkreie7gqucgbkxdfcnbkp2dlekdixwh4xdxkycvwjjqh65sctsngedee","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14075,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":14013,"text":"“You, boatswain’s mate,” cried the Captain, “you are favouring that\r\nman! Lay on soundly, sir, or I’ll have your own _cat_ laid soundly on\r\nyou.”\r\n\r\nOne, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,\r\ntwelve lashes were laid on the back of that heroic old man. He only\r\nbowed over his head, and stood as the Dying Gladiator lies.\r\n\r\n“Cut him down,” said the Captain.\r\n\r\n“And now go and cut your own throat,” hoarsely whispered an old\r\nsheet-anchor-man, a mess-mate of Ushant’s.\r\n\r\nWhen the master-at-arms advanced with the prisoner’s shirt, Ushant\r\nwaved him off with the dignified air of a Brahim, saying, “Do you\r\nthink, master-at-arms, that I am hurt? I will put on my own garment. I\r\nam never the worse for it, man; and ’tis no dishonour when he who would\r\ndishonour you, only dishonours himself.”\r\n\r\n“What says he?” cried the Captain; “what says that tarry old\r\nphilosopher with the smoking back? Tell it to me, sir, if you dare!\r\nSentry, take that man back to the brig. Stop! John Ushant, you have\r\nbeen Captain of the Forecastle; I break you. And now you go into the\r\nbrig, there to remain till you consent to have that beard taken off.”\r\n\r\n“My beard is my own,” said the old man, quietly. “Sentry, I am ready.”\r\n\r\nAnd back he went into durance between the guns; but after lying some\r\nfour or five days in irons, an order came to remove them; but he was\r\nstill kept confined.\r\n\r\nBooks were allowed him, and he spent much time in reading. But he also\r\nspent many hours in braiding his beard, and interweaving with it strips\r\nof red bunting, as if he desired to dress out and adorn the thing which\r\nhad triumphed over all opposition.\r\n\r\nHe remained a prisoner till we arrived in America; but the very moment\r\nhe heard the chain rattle out of the hawse-hole, and the ship swing to\r\nher anchor, he started to his feet, dashed the sentry aside, and\r\ngaining the deck, exclaimed, “At home, with my beard!”\r\n\r\nHis term of service having some months previous expired, and the ship\r\nbeing now in harbour, he was beyond the reach of naval law, and the\r\nofficers durst not molest him. But without unduly availing himself of\r\nthese circumstances, the old man merely got his bag and hammock\r\ntogether, hired a boat, and throwing himself into the stern, was rowed\r\nashore, amid the unsuppressible cheers of all hands. It was a glorious\r\nconquest over the Conqueror himself, as well worthy to be celebrated as\r\nthe Battle of the Nile.\r\n\r\nThough, as I afterward learned, Ushant was earnestly entreated to put\r\nthe case into some lawyer’s hands, he firmly declined, saying, “I have\r\nwon the battle, my friends, and I do not care for the prize-money.” But\r\neven had he complied with these entreaties, from precedents in similar\r\ncases, it is almost certain that not a sou’s worth of satisfaction\r\nwould have been received.\r\n\r\nI know not in what frigate you sail now, old Ushant; but Heaven protect\r\nyour storied old beard, in whatever Typhoon it may blow. And if ever it\r\nmust be shorn, old man, may it fare like the royal beard of Henry I.,\r\nof England, and be clipped by the right reverend hand of some\r\nArchbishop of Sees.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0PNEYE6BW3F0KX999","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMETMMKH9AYSAZPAS2Z9J","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFD6RHF4472YQEQMSPV8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.710Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:55.283Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}