56 The Devil and Daniel Webster

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........
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  _
"Small?" said the stranger. "Oh, I see what you mean. Why,
they vary." He measured Jabez Stone with his eyes, and his
teeth showed. "Don't worry, Mr. Stone," he said. "You'll go   _
with a very good grade. I wouldn't trust you outside the
collecting box. Now, a man like Dan'l Webster, of course
------ well, we'd have to build a special box for him, and   _
even at that, I imagine the wingspread would astonish you.
But, in your case, as I was saying ------"
  _
"Put that handkerchief away!" said Jabez Stone, and he began
to beg and to pray. But the best he could get at the end was a
three years' extension, with conditions.
........
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  _
But till you make a bargain like that, you've got no idea of
how fast four years can run. By the last months of those
years, Jabez Stone's known all over the state and there's talk   _
of running him for governor ----- and it's dust and ashes in
his mouth. For every day, when he gets up, he thinks, "There's
one more night gone," and every night when he lies down, he   _
thinks of the black pocketbook and the soul of Miser Stevens,
and it makes him sick at heart. Till, finally, he can't bear
it any longer, and, in the last days of the the last year, he   _
hitches up his horse and drives off to see Dan'l Webster. For
Dan'l was born in New Hampshire, only a few miles from Cross
Corners, and it's well known that he has a particular soft   _
spot for old neighbors.
........
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  _
It was early in the morning when he got to Marshfield, but
Dan'l was up already, talking Latin to the farmhands and
wrestling with the ram, Goliath, and trying out a new trotter   _
and working up speeches to make against John C. Calhoun. But
when he heard a New Hampshireman had come to see him, he
dropped everything else he was doing, for that was Dan'l's   _
way. He gave Jabez Stone a breakfast that five men couldn't
eat, went into the living history of every man and woman in
Cross Corners, and finally asked him how he could serve him.   _

Jabez Stone allowed that is was a kind of mortgage case.
........
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  _
"Well, I haven't pleaded a mortgage case in a long time, and I
don't generally plead now, except before the Supreme Court,"
said Dan'l, "but if I can, I'll help you."   _

"Then I've got hope for the first time in ten years," siad
Jabez Stone, and told him the details.   _

Dan'l walked up and down as he listened, hands behind his
back, now and then asking a question, now and then plunging   _
his eyes at the floor, as if they'd bore through it like
gimlets. When Jabez Stone had finished, Dan'l puffed out his
cheeks and blew. Then he turned to Jabez Stone and a smile   _
broke over his face like the sunrise over Monadncock.
........
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  _
"You've certainly given yourself the devil's own row to hoe,
Neighbor Stone," he said, "but I'll take your case."
  _
"You'll take it?" said Jabez Stone, hardly daring to believe.

"Yes," said Dan'l Webster. "I've got about seventy-five other   _
things to do and the Missouri Compromise to straighten out,
but I'll take your case. For if two New Hampshiremen aren't a
match for the devil, we might as well give the country back to   _
the Indians."
........
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  _
Well, most men wouldn't have asked for better company than
Dan'l Webster and a jug. But with every tick of the clock
Jabez Stone got sadder and sadder. His eyes roved round, and   _
though he sampled the jug you could see he couldn't taste it.
Finally, on the stroke of 11:30 he reached over and grabbed
Dan'l Webster by the arm.   _

"Mr. Webster, Mr. Webster!" he said, and his voice was shaking
with fear and a desperate courage. "For heaven's sake, Mr.   _
Webster, harness your horses and get away from this place
while you can!"
........
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  _
Well, most men wouldn't have asked for better company than
Dan'l Webster and a jug. But with every tick of the clock
Jabez Stone got sadder and sadder. His eyes roved round, and   _
though he sampled the jug you could see he couldn't taste it.
Finally, on the stroke of 11:30 he reached over and grabbed
Dan'l Webster by the arm.   _

"Mr. Webster, Mr. Webster!" he said, and his voice was shaking
with fear and a desperate courage. "For heaven's sake, Mr.   _
Webster, harness your horses and get away from this place
while you can!"
........
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  _
"You've brought me a long way, neighbor, to tell me you don't
like my company," said Dan'l Webster, quite peaceable, pulling
at the jug.   _

"Miserable wretch that I am!" groaned Jabez Stone. "I've
brought you a devilish way, and now I see my folly. Let him   _
take me if he wills. I don't hanker after it, I must say, but
I can stand it. But you're the Union's stay and New
Hampshire's pride! He mustn't get you, Mr. Webster! He mustn't   _
get you!"

Dan'l Webster looked at the distracted man, all gray and   _
shaking in the firelight, and laid a hand on his shoulder.
........
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  _
"I'm obliged to you, Neighbor Stone," he said gently. "It's
kindly thought of. But there's a jug on the table and a case
in hand. And I never left a jug or a case half finished in my   _
life."

And just at that moment there was a sharp rap on the door.   _

"Ah," said Dan'l Webster, very coolly, "I thought your clock
was a trifle slow, Neighbor Stone." He stepped to the door and   _
opened it. "Come in!" he said.
........
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  _
The stranger came in --- very dark and tall he looked in the
firelight. He was carrying a box under his arm ---- a black,
japanned box with little air holes in the lid. At the sight of   _
the box, Jabez Stone gave a low cry and shrank into a corner
of the room.
  _
"Mr. Webster, I presume," said the stranger, very polite, but
with his eyes glowing like a fox's deep in the woods.
  _
"Attorney of record for Jabez Stone," he said Dan'l Webster,
but his eyes were glowing too. "Might I ask your name?"
........
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  _
"I've gone by a good many," said the stranger carelessly.
"Perhaps Scratch will do for the evening. I'm often called
that in these regions."   _

Then he sat down at the table and poured himself a drink from
the jug. The liquor was cold in the jug, but it came steaming   _
into the glass.

"And now," said the stranger, smiling and showing his teeth,   _
"I shall call upon you, as a law-abiding citizen, to assist me
in taking possession of my property."
........
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  _
Well, with that the argument began ---- and it went hot and
heavy. At first, Jabez Stone had a flicker of hope, but when
he saw Dan'l Webster being forced back at point after point,   _
he just scrunched in his corner, with his eyes on that
japanned box. For there wasn't any doubt as to the deed or the
signature --- that was the worst of it. Dan'l Webster twisted   _
and turned and thumped his fist on the table, but he couldn't
get away from that. He offered to compromise the case; the
stranger wouldn't hear of it. He pointed out the property had   _
increased in value, and state senators ought to be worth more;
the stranger stuck to the letter of the law. He was a great
lawyer, Dan'l Webster, but we know who's the King of Lawyers,   _
as the Good Book tells us, and it seemed as if, for the first
time, Dan'l Webster had met his match.
........
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  _
Finally, the stranger yawned a little. "Your spirited efforts
on behalf of your client do you credit, Mr. Webster," he said,
"but if you have no more arguments to adduce, I'm rather   _
pressed for time" ----- and Jabez Stone shuddered.

Dan'l Webster's brow looked dark as a thundercloud.   _

"Pressed or not, you shall not have this man!" he thundered.
"Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may   _
be forced into the service of a foreign prince. We fought
England for that in '12 and we'll fight all hell for it
again!"
........
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  _
"Foreign?" said the stranger. "And who call me a foreigner?"

"Well, I never yet heard of the dev----of your claiming   _
American citizenship," said Dan'l Webster with surprise.

"And who with better right?" said the stranger, with one of   _
his terrible smiles. "When the first wrong was done to the
first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for
the Congo, I stood on her deck. Am I not in your books and   _
stories and beliefs, from the first settlements on? Am I not
spoken of, still, in every church in New England? 'Tis true
the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a   _
Northerner, but I am neither. I am merely an honest American
like yourself ---- and of the best descent --- for, to tell
the truth, Mr. Webster, though I don't like to boast of it, my   _
name is older in this country than yours."