y not? it was only proper to spoil the
Egyptians--and, after detailing fully his plans, Munro left him. Bunce
gave himself but little time and less trouble for reflection. The
prospects of fortune which the landlord had magnified to his vision,
were quite too enticing to be easily resisted by one whose _morale_ was
not of a sort to hold its ground against his habitual cupidity and
newly-awakened ambition; and having provided everything, as agreed upon,
necessary for the accommodation of the jailer and his assistant, Bunce
sallied forth for the more important purpose of getting his company.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

SACK AND SUGAR.

The task of getting the desired guests, as Munro had assured him, was by
no means difficult, and our pedler was not long in reporting progress.
Tongs, a confirmed toper, was easily persuaded to anything that
guarantied hard drinking. He luxuriated in the very idea of a debauch.
Brooks, his brother-in-law, was a somewhat better and less pregnable
person; but he was a widower, had been a good deal with Tongs, and, what
with the accustomed loneliness of the office which he held, and the
gloomy dwelling in which it required he should live, he found it not
such an easy matter to resist the temptation of social enjoyment, and
all the pleasant associations of that good-fellowship, which Bunce had
taken care to depict before the minds of both parties. The attractions
of Bunce himself, by-the-way, tended, not less than the whiskey and
cigars, to persuade the jailer, and to neutralize most of the existing
prejudices current among those around him against his tribe. He had
travelled much, and was no random observer. He had seen a great deal, as
well of human nature as of places; could tell a good story, in good
spirit; and was endowed with a dry, sneaking humor, that came out
unawares upon his hearers, and made them laugh frequently in spite of
themselves.

Bunce had been now sufficiently long in the village to enable those
about him to come at a knowledge of his parts; and his accomplishments,
in the several respects referred to, were by this time generally well
understood. The inducement was sufficiently strong with the jailer; and,
at length, having secured the main entrance of the jail carefully, he
strapped the key to a leathern girdle, which he wore about him, lodging
it in the breast-pocket of his coat, where he conceived it perfectly
safe, he prepared to go along with his worthy brother-in-l