- end_line
- 1254
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T03:48:16.150Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1226
- text
- ‘_Jemmy Legs!_’ ejaculated Billy, his welkin eyes expanding; ‘what for?
Why, he calls me _the sweet and pleasant young fellow_, they tell me.’
‘Does he so?’ grinned the grizzled one; then said, ‘Ay, Baby lad, a
sweet voice has _Jemmy Legs_.’
‘No, not always. But to me he has. I seldom pass him but there comes a
pleasant word.’
‘And that’s because he’s down upon you, Baby Budd.’
Such reiteration, along with the manner of it, incomprehensible to a
novice, disturbed Billy almost as much as the mystery for which he had
sought explanation. Something less unpleasingly oracular he tried to
extract; but the old sea-Chiron, thinking perhaps that for the nonce he
had sufficiently instructed his young Achilles, pursed his lips,
gathered all his wrinkles together, and would commit himself to nothing
further.
Years, and these experiences which befall certain shrewder men
subordinated life-long to the will of superiors, all this had developed
in the Dansker the pithy guarded cynicism that was his leading
characteristic.
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- title
- Chunk 3