{"id":"01KG8AKBZ8J82E5Q1GTRMMW5SX","cid":"bafkreibu5a3ccfghm3m5lgssz4yjuvgl35uivvx7p3qjdbji52oj4e2lru","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4056,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":3960,"text":"word, taking up the child, who had followed him, went with a rocking\r\npace out of the cabin.\r\n\r\n\"Regardless of decency, and lost to humanity!\" exclaimed the\r\nherb-doctor, with much ado recovering himself. Then, after a pause,\r\nduring which he examined his bruise, not omitting to apply externally a\r\nlittle of his specific, and with some success, as it would seem, plained\r\nto himself:\r\n\r\n\"No, no, I won't seek redress; innocence is my redress. But,\" turning\r\nupon them all, \"if that man's wrathful blow provokes me to no wrath,\r\nshould his evil distrust arouse you to distrust? I do devoutly hope,\"\r\nproudly raising voice and arm, \"for the honor of humanity--hope that,\r\ndespite this coward assault, the Samaritan Pain Dissuader stands\r\nunshaken in the confidence of all who hear me!\"\r\n\r\nBut, injured as he was, and patient under it, too, somehow his case\r\nexcited as little compassion as his oratory now did enthusiasm. Still,\r\npathetic to the last, he continued his appeals, notwithstanding the\r\nfrigid regard of the company, till, suddenly interrupting himself, as\r\nif in reply to a quick summons from without, he said hurriedly, \"I come,\r\nI come,\" and so, with every token of precipitate dispatch, out of the\r\ncabin the herb-doctor went.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XVIII.\r\n\r\nINQUEST INTO THE TRUE CHARACTER OF THE HERB-DOCTOR.\r\n\r\n\r\n\"Sha'n't see that fellow again in a hurry,\" remarked an auburn-haired\r\ngentleman, to his neighbor with a hook-nose. \"Never knew an operator so\r\ncompletely unmasked.\"\r\n\r\n\"But do you think it the fair thing to unmask an operator that way?\"\r\n\r\n\"Fair? It is right.\"\r\n\r\n\"Supposing that at high 'change on the Paris Bourse, Asmodeus should\r\nlounge in, distributing hand-bills, revealing the true thoughts and\r\ndesigns of all the operators present--would that be the fair thing in\r\nAsmodeus? Or, as Hamlet says, were it 'to consider the thing too\r\ncuriously?'\"\r\n\r\n\"We won't go into that. But since you admit the fellow to be a\r\nknave----\"\r\n\r\n\"I don't admit it. Or, if I did, I take it back. Shouldn't wonder if,\r\nafter all, he is no knave at all, or, but little of one. What can you\r\nprove against him?\"\r\n\r\n\"I can prove that he makes dupes.\"\r\n\r\n\"Many held in honor do the same; and many, not wholly knaves, do it\r\ntoo.\"\r\n\r\n\"How about that last?\"\r\n\r\n\"He is not wholly at heart a knave, I fancy, among whose dupes is\r\nhimself. Did you not see our quack friend apply to himself his own\r\nquackery? A fanatic quack; essentially a fool, though effectively a\r\nknave.\"\r\n\r\nBending over, and looking down between his knees on the floor, the\r\nauburn-haired gentleman meditatively scribbled there awhile with his\r\ncane, then, glancing up, said:\r\n\r\n\"I can't conceive how you, in anyway, can hold him a fool. How he\r\ntalked--so glib, so pat, so well.\"\r\n\r\n\"A smart fool always talks well; takes a smart fool to be tonguey.\"\r\n\r\nIn much the same strain the discussion continued--the hook-nosed\r\ngentleman talking at large and excellently, with a view of demonstrating\r\nthat a smart fool always talks just so. Ere long he talked to such\r\npurpose as almost to convince.\r\n\r\nPresently, back came the person of whom the auburn-haired gentleman had\r\npredicted that he would not return. Conspicuous in the door-way he\r\nstood, saying, in a clear voice, \"Is the agent of the Seminole Widow and\r\nOrphan Asylum within here?\"\r\n\r\nNo one replied.\r\n\r\n\"Is there within here any agent or any member of any charitable\r\ninstitution whatever?\"\r\n\r\nNo one seemed competent to answer, or, no one thought it worth while\r\nto.\r\n\r\n\"If there be within here any such person, I have in my hand two dollars\r\nfor him.\"\r\n\r\nSome interest was manifested.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFVZYVM98TXA69BQQT4","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKB8PDH3D6DAE1SFSXEXD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKBZ8TCFK64M0P2XFVXXD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:02.024Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.098Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}