{"id":"01KG8AP3WQVTM28H6CTHBCWM59","cid":"bafkreidk4ibvvm27fbhj34bnmn3vykom2ivu6ns6vjg3qmmccxxgkp2cxq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":17926,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.774Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":17879,"text":"obvious deduction. To trail the genealogies of these high mortal\r\nmiseries, carries us at last among the sourceless primogenitures of the\r\ngods; so that, in the face of all the glad, hay-making suns, and soft\r\ncymballing, round harvest-moons, we must needs give in to this: that\r\nthe gods themselves are not for ever glad. The ineffaceable, sad\r\nbirth-mark in the brow of man, is but the stamp of sorrow in the\r\nsigners.\r\n\r\nUnwittingly here a secret has been divulged, which perhaps might more\r\nproperly, in set way, have been disclosed before. With many other\r\nparticulars concerning Ahab, always had it remained a mystery to some,\r\nwhy it was, that for a certain period, both before and after the\r\nsailing of the Pequod, he had hidden himself away with such\r\nGrand-Lama-like exclusiveness; and, for that one interval, sought\r\nspeechless refuge, as it were, among the marble senate of the dead.\r\nCaptain Peleg’s bruited reason for this thing appeared by no means\r\nadequate; though, indeed, as touching all Ahab’s deeper part, every\r\nrevelation partook more of significant darkness than of explanatory\r\nlight. But, in the end, it all came out; this one matter did, at least.\r\nThat direful mishap was at the bottom of his temporary recluseness. And\r\nnot only this, but to that ever-contracting, dropping circle ashore,\r\nwho, for any reason, possessed the privilege of a less banned approach\r\nto him; to that timid circle the above hinted casualty—remaining, as it\r\ndid, moodily unaccounted for by Ahab—invested itself with terrors, not\r\nentirely underived from the land of spirits and of wails. So that,\r\nthrough their zeal for him, they had all conspired, so far as in them\r\nlay, to muffle up the knowledge of this thing from others; and hence it\r\nwas, that not till a considerable interval had elapsed, did it\r\ntranspire upon the Pequod’s decks.\r\n\r\nBut be all this as it may; let the unseen, ambiguous synod in the air,\r\nor the vindictive princes and potentates of fire, have to do or not\r\nwith earthly Ahab, yet, in this present matter of his leg, he took\r\nplain practical procedures;—he called the carpenter.\r\n\r\nAnd when that functionary appeared before him, he bade him without\r\ndelay set about making a new leg, and directed the mates to see him\r\nsupplied with all the studs and joists of jaw-ivory (Sperm Whale) which\r\nhad thus far been accumulated on the voyage, in order that a careful\r\nselection of the stoutest, clearest-grained stuff might be secured.\r\nThis done, the carpenter received orders to have the leg completed that\r\nnight; and to provide all the fittings for it, independent of those\r\npertaining to the distrusted one in use. Moreover, the ship’s forge was\r\nordered to be hoisted out of its temporary idleness in the hold; and,\r\nto accelerate the affair, the blacksmith was commanded to proceed at\r\nonce to the forging of whatever iron contrivances might be needed.\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AMATKT365D6MYKBMPFY1W","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP3WXFTTE6E099CY9RAWJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:32.055Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:55.281Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}