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- 2563
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:26.981Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 2500
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- difficulty of utterance he said, ‘No, there was no malice between us. I
never bore malice against the master-at-arms. I am sorry that he is
dead. I did not mean to kill him. Could I have used my tongue I would
not have struck him. But he foully lied to my face, and in the presence
of my captain, and I had to say something, and I could only say it with
a blow. God help me!’
In the impulsive above-board manner of the frank one the court saw
confirmed all that was implied in words that just previously had
perplexed them coming as they did from the testifier to the tragedy, and
promptly following Billy’s impassioned disclaimer of mutinous
intent--Captain Vere’s words, ‘I believe you, my man.’
Next, it was asked of him whether he knew of or suspected aught
savouring of incipient trouble (meaning mutiny, though the explicit term
was avoided) going on in any section of the ship’s company.
The reply lingered. This was naturally imputed by the court to the same
vocal embarrassment which had retarded or obstructed previous answers.
But in main it was otherwise here; the question immediately recalling to
Billy’s mind the interview with the afterguardsman in the fore-chains.
But an innate repugnance to playing a part at all approaching that of an
informer against one’s own shipmates--the same erring sense of
uninstructed honour which had stood in the way of his reporting the
matter at the time, though as a loyal man-of-war’s man it was incumbent
on him, and failure so to do it charged against him and proven, would
have subjected him to the heaviest of penalties. This, with the blind
feeling now his, that nothing really was being hatched, prevailed with
him. When the answer came it was a negative.
‘One question more,’ said the officer of marines now first speaking, and
with a troubled earnestness. ‘You tell us that what the master-at-arms
said against you was a lie. Now why should he have so lied, so
maliciously lied, since you declare there was no malice between you?’
At that question, unintentionally touching on a spiritual sphere, wholly
obscure to Billy’s thoughts, he was nonplussed, evincing a confusion
indeed that some observers, such as can be imagined, would have
construed into involuntary evidence of hidden guilt. Nevertheless he
strove some way to answer, but all at once relinquished the vain
endeavour, at the same time turning an appealing glance towards Captain
Vere, as deeming him his best helper and friend. Captain Vere, who had
been seated for a time, rose to his feet, addressing the interrogator.
‘The question you put to him comes naturally enough. But how can he
rightly answer it, or anybody else? unless indeed it be he who lies
within there,’ designating the compartment where lay the corpse. ‘But
the prone one there will not rise to our summons. In effect though, as
it seems to me, the point you make is hardly material. Quite aside from
any conceivable motive actuating the master-at-arms, and irrespective of
the provocation of the blow, a martial court must needs in the present
case confine its attention to the blow’s consequence, which consequence
is to be deemed not otherwise than as the striker’s deed!’
This utterance, the full significance of which it was not at all likely
that Billy took in, nevertheless caused him to turn a wistful,
interrogative look toward the speaker, a look in its dumb expressiveness
not unlike that which a dog of generous breed might turn upon his
master, seeking in his face some elucidation of a previous gesture
ambiguous to the canine intelligence. Nor was the same utterance without
marked effect upon the three officers, more especially the soldier.
Couched in it seemed to them a meaning unanticipated, involving a
prejudgment on the speaker’s part. It served to augment a mental
disturbance previously evident enough.
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- Chunk 6