ustice,' says I, shaking my fist at him--'do ye take this
salt-water citizen for a fool?'

"'Take him away, Mr. Stubble--lock him up!--lock him up!' says the
justice, and here I am, locked up, hard up, hoping. I'd been tied up
about three weeks when the justice looked in one day, and after
inquiring for me, and saying, 'good morning, Jack,' and seeming a little
by the head: 'about this affair of yourn, Jack,' says he, 'now, if
you'll mind your eye when you get out--my trouble's worth ten
dollars--and pay me, I'll discharge you, and charge the costs to the
State.'

"'Charge the cost to the State!' says I. 'Do you take Spunyarn for a
marine?' At this he hauled his wind, and stood out."

"You have had a hearing before the Grand Jury, have you not?" inquires
Tom, evincing a deep interest in the story of his old friend.

"Not I. This South Carolina justice is a hard old craft to sail in. The
Grand Jury only looks in once every six months, and then looks out
again, without inquiring who's here. And just before the time it comes
round, I'm shuffled out, and just after it has left, I'm shuffled in
again--fees charged to the State! That's it. So here I am, a fee-making
machine, bobbing in and out of jail to suit the conveniences of Mister
Justice. I don't say this with any ill will--I don't." Having concluded
his story, the old sailor follows his visitors to the prison gate, takes
an affectionate leave of Tom Swiggs, and returns to join his companions.
On the following day, Tom intercedes with Mr. Snivel, for it is he who
thus harvests fees of the State by retaining the old sailor in prison,
and procures his release. And here, in Mr. Snivel, you have an
instrument of that debased magistracy which triumphs over the weak, that
sits in ignorance and indolence, that invests the hypocritical designer
with a power almost absolute, that keeps justice muzzled on her
throne--the natural offspring of that demon-making institution that
scruples not to brunt the intellect of millions, while dragging a pall
of sloth over the land.

CHAPTER XXX.

CONTAINING VARIOUS THINGS APPERTAINING TO THIS HISTORY.

Maria McArthur having, by her womanly sympathy, awakened the generous
impulses of Tom Swiggs, he is resolved they shall have a new channel for
their action. Her kindness touched his heart; her solicitude for his
welfare gained his affections, and a recognition of that love she so
long and silently cherished for him, is the natur