As for myself, I could not tolerate more than a few tastes of the loathsome pottage, which I managed to consume only by washing each separate spoonful down with a mouthful of the decanted beverage. This latter proved to be a very passable, indeed quite exceptional, Amontillado sherry.

Stimulated by the bracing effects of this fluid, I commenced—at Asher’s prompting—to recount the ostensible reason for our visit, setting forth a story which Crockett and I had devised during our journey from the city. According to this tale, Crockett—as part of his campaign against the political machinations of President Jackson—was taking advantage of his current tour to secure the financial support of the most prominent and well-to-do citizens in each of the cities that he was visiting.

“But am I not correct in believing, Colonel Crockett, that you yourself are a protégé and onetime comrade-in-arms of our glorious leader?” The bitterly ironical tone with which Asher pronounced the latter phrase made his own political sympathies sufficiently clear.

“True enough,” said the frontiersman, tearing off a portion of the rodent-gnawed loaf and using it to mop up the vestiges of soup that clung to the inner surfaces of his bowl. “But me an’ Ol’ Hick’ry have come to a parting o’ the ways. I still admire the man and am proud to have fought alongside him. But it now appears that I am expected to bow to his policies, no matter at what cost to my conscience. And that just ain’t my style. Nossir—Davy Crockett ain’t the kind to sneeze when another man takes snuff”

“A commendable sentiment,” said Asher. “But I am afraid, Colonel Crockett, that if you have travelled out here in the hope that I might offer some pecuniary support for your campaign, you have made the journey in vain.” Letting his spoon fall into his emptied bowl with a clatter, Asher shut his eyes and passed one trembling hand over his brow, as though afflicted with a sudden headache. “Do you imagine, sir, that I live in such straitened—such hellish—circumstances by choice?” After a brief pause, he opened his eyes again and gazed at Crockett with a look of surpassing bitterness. “However prominent the Asher name remains, the fortune upon which its reputation was founded exists no more!”