F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 37
fool, a wanderer in search of his own distress."
The kind-hearted sailor seats his pupil upon a board bench, and
proceeds down stairs, where, with the bribe of a glass of whiskey,
he induces the negro cook to prepare for Tom a bowl of coffee and a
biscuit. In truth, we must confess, that Spunyarn was so exceedingly
liberal of his friendship that he would at times appropriate to
himself the personal effects of his neighbors. But we must do him
justice by saying that this was only when a friend in need claimed
his attention. And this generous propensity he the more frequently
exercised upon the effects-whiskey, cold ham, crackers and cheese-
of the vote-cribber, whom he regards as a sort of cold-hearted
land-lubber, whose political friends outside were not what they
should be. If the vote-cribber's aristocratic friends (and South
Carolina politicians were much given to dignity and bad whiskey)
sent him luxuries that tantalized the appetites of poverty-oppressed
debtors, and poor prisoners starving on a pound of bread a-day,
Spunyarn held this a legitimate plea for holding in utter contempt
the right to such gifts. And what was more singular of this man was,
that he always knew the latitude and longitude of the vote-cribber's
bottle, and what amount of water was necessary to keep up the gauge
he had reduced in supplying his flask.
And now that Tom's almost hopeless condition presents a warrantable
excuse, (the vote-cribber has this moment passed into the cell to
take a cursory glance at Tom,) Spunyarn slips nimbly into the
vote-cribber's cell, withdraws a brick from the old chimney, and
seizing the black neck of a blacker bottle, drags it forth, holds it
in the shadow of the doorway, squints exultingly at the contents,
shrugs his stalwart shoulders, and empties a third of the liquid,
which he replaces with water from a bucket near by, into his
tin-topped flask. This done, he ingeniously replaces the bottle,
slides the flask suspiciously into his bosom, saying, "It'll taste
just as strong to a vote-cribber," and seeks that greasy potentate,