On the second day in the boat it was discovered by a
chance word that they had a common acquaintance in 'Frisco: and he
wasn't much of a friend either. I never heard his name right and
full, and I doubt if they knew it. They called him Uncle Tibe, and I
gathered from their earlier conversations that he was a Jewish dealer
in marine stores and a money-lender; of mature years; and afflicted
with a chronic and most Christian thirst, which he alleviated by
methods derived from the earliest patriarchs of his race. Of these
his favourite was to attach himself to some young seaman with money
in his pocket and, having insinuated concurrently the undoubted
truths that he possessed great wealth but was averse to spending it
(even on Scotch 'smokes'), to insinuate further that the victim had
to an extraordinary degree crept into the affections of a childless
old man,--yea, might hope indeed, by attentions which in practice
worked out to ordering whisky and adding 'Make it two,' to inherit
his real and personal estate.
"Silly as you like!--But the discovery that each had been hoaxed by
Uncle Tibe, and the comparison of their foolish experiences, with
reported tales of the dupes yet more heavily befooled and bled,
caught and bound these men in fellowship.
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