The mysterious dark-of-night attempt by the afterguardsman to ensnare him in an implied mutiny deeply disturbs Billy, but he refrains from reporting the incident. Later, as he is sitting on deck with the old Dansker, Billy tells his confidant the principal details without disclosing that the crewman is in the afterguard. The Dansker repeats his earlier charge that Jemmy Legs (Claggart) is down on Billy. When Billy then wonders what Claggart has to do with this traitorous afterguardsman, the Dansker, perceiving the connection between the incident and Claggart, retorts that the traitor is just a “cat’s-paw,” or pawn.
Billy, guileless and unsuspecting, is disinclined to attribute these peculiar incidents to Claggart. While the master-at-arms acts strangely at times, still he often greets Billy pleasantly enough. And the incidents involving his bag and hammock have ceased. When messmates of Claggart stare suspiciously at Billy, he is unaware of the implications. Billy fails to discern, through Claggart’s calm surface behavior, his smoldering internal malevolence—a sinister portent of disaster.
