{"id":"01KG8AMETEDTDM1MCR1GAJ2AR5","cid":"bafkreihavf63hpg5ztceco6m2buo2psiqxhgxdr5as6u6l245jd32p4dsa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":13851,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.278Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":13798,"text":"your tyranny—by this manly beard, I swear, it was barbarous!\r\n\r\nMy noble captain, Jack Chase, was indignant. Not even all the special\r\nfavours he had received from Captain Claret, and the plenary pardon\r\nextended to him for his desertion into the Peruvian service, could\r\nrestrain the expression of his feelings. But in his cooler moments,\r\nJack was a wise man; he at last deemed it but wisdom to succumb.\r\n\r\nWhen he went to the barber he almost drew tears from his eyes. Seating\r\nhimself mournfully on the match-tub, he looked sideways, and said to\r\nthe barber, who was _slithering_ his sheep-shears in readiness to\r\nbegin: “My friend, I trust your scissors are consecrated. Let them not\r\ntouch this beard if they have yet to be dipped in holy water; beards\r\nare sacred things, barber. Have you no feeling for beards, my friend?\r\nthink of it;” and mournfully he laid his deep-dyed, russet cheek upon\r\nhis hand. “Two summers have gone by since my chin has been reaped. I\r\nwas in Coquimbo then, on the Spanish Main; and when the husband-man was\r\nsowing his Autumnal grain on the Vega, I started this blessed beard;\r\nand when the vine-dressers were trimming their vines in the vineyards,\r\nI first trimmed it to the sound of a flute. Ah! barber, have you no\r\nheart? This beard has been caressed by the snow-white hand of the\r\nlovely Tomasita of Tombez—the Castilian belle of all lower Peru. Think\r\nof _that_, barber! I have worn it as an officer on the quarter-deck of\r\na Peruvian man-of-war. I have sported it at brilliant fandangoes in\r\nLima. I have been alow and aloft with it at sea. Yea, barber! it has\r\nstreamed like an Admiral’s pennant at the mast-head of this same\r\ngallant frigate, the Neversink! Oh! barber, barber! it stabs me to the\r\nheart.—Talk not of hauling down your ensigns and standards when\r\nvanquished—what is _that_, barber! to striking the flag that Nature\r\nherself has nailed to the mast!”\r\n\r\nHere noble Jack’s feelings overcame him: he dropped from the animated\r\nattitude into which his enthusiasm had momentarily transported him; his\r\nproud head sunk upon his chest, and his long, sad beard almost grazed\r\nthe deck.\r\n\r\n“Ay! trail your beards in grief and dishonour, oh crew of the\r\nNeversink!” sighed Jack. “Barber, come closer—now, tell me, my friend,\r\nhave you obtained absolution for this deed you are about to commit? You\r\nhave not? Then, barber, I will absolve you; your hands shall be washed\r\nof this sin; it is not you, but another; and though you are about to\r\nshear off my manhood, yet, barber, I freely forgive you; kneel, kneel,\r\nbarber! that I may bless you, in token that I cherish no malice!”\r\n\r\nSo when this barber, who was the only tender-hearted one of his tribe,\r\nhad kneeled, been absolved, and then blessed, Jack gave up his beard\r\ninto his hands, and the barber, clipping it off with a sigh, held it\r\nhigh aloft, and, parodying the style of the boatswain’s mates, cried\r\naloud, “D’ye hear, fore and aft? This is the beard of our matchless\r\nJack Chase, the noble captain of this frigate’s main-top!”\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJVX0DG3QG3ASDM4V0FBS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMETE9E439DPCDMM092Z6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.710Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:55.141Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}