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Apparatus Notes
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CHAPTER 24 A Rival Magician
[begin page 272]
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CHAPTER 24
 A Rival Magician

My influence in the Valley of Holiness was something prodigious, now. It seemed worthwhile to try to turn it to some valuable account. The thought came to me the next morning, and was suggested by my seeing one of my knights who was in the soap line come riding in. According to history, the monks of this place two centuries before, had been worldly minded enough to want to wash. It might be that there was a leaven of this unrighteousness still. remaining. So I sounded a Brother:

“Wouldn’t you like a bath?”

He shuddered at the thought—the thought of the peril of it to the well—but he said with feeling:

“One needs not to ask that of a poor body who has not known that blessed refreshment sith that he was a boy. Would God I might wash me! but it may not be, fair sir, tempt me not; it is forbidden.”

And then he sighed in such a sorrowful way that I was resolved he [begin page 273] should have at least one layer of his real estate removed, if it sized up my whole influence and bankrupted the pile. So I went to the Abbot and asked for a permit for this Brother. He blenched at the idea—I don’t mean that you could see him blench, for of course you couldn’t see it without you scraped him, and I didn’t care enough about it to scrape him, but I knew the blench was there, just the same, and within a book-cover’salteration in the MS thickness of the surface, too—blenched and trembled. He said:

“Ah, son, ask aught else thou wilt, and it is thine, and freely granted out of a grateful heart—but this, oh, this! Would you drive away the blessed water again?”

“No, Father, I will not drive it away. I have mysterious knowledge which teaches me that there was an error that other time when it was thought the institutingrejected substantive of the bath banished the fountain.” A large interest began to show up in the old man’s face. “My knowledge informs me that the bath was innocent of that misfortune, which was caused by quite another sort of sin.”

“These are brave words—but—but right welcome, if they be true.”

“They are true, indeed. Let me build the bath again, Father. Let me build it again, and the fountain shall flow forever.”

“You promise this?—you promise it? Say the word—say you promise it!”

“I do promise it.”

“Then will I have the first bath myself! Go—get ye to your work. Tarry not, tarry not, but go.”

I and my boys were at work, straight off. The ruins of the old bath were there yet, in the basement of the monastery, not a stone missing. They had been left just so, all these life-times, and avoided with a pious fear, as things accursed. In two days we had it all done and the water in—a spacious pool of clear pure water that a body could swim in. It was running water, too. It came in, and went out, through the ancient pipes. The old Abbot keptalteration in the MS his word and was the first to try it. He went down black and shaky,alteration in the MS leaving the whole black community above troubled and worried and full of bodings; but he came back white and joyful, and the game was made! another triumph scored.emendation alteration in the MS

It was a good campaign that we made in that Valley of Holiness, and I was very well satisfied, and ready to move on, now, but I struck a disappointment. I caught a heavy cold, and it started up an old lurking rheumatism of mine. Of course the rheumatism hunted up [begin page 274] my weakest place and locatedalteration in the MS itself there. This was the place where the Abbot put his arms about me and mashed me, what time he was movedalteration in the MS to testify his gratitude to me with an embrace.textual note alteration in the MS

Whentextual note alteration in the MS at last I got out, I was a shadow. But everybody was full of attentions and kindnesses, and these brought cheer back into my life and were the right medicine to help a convalescent swiftly up toward health and strength again; so I gained fast.alteration in the MS

“sandy was worn out with nursing.”

Sandy was worn out with nursing, so I made up my mind to turn out and go a cruise alone, leaving her at the nunnery to rest up.alteration in the MS My idea was to disguise myself as a freeman of peasant degree and wander through the country a week or two on foot. This would give me a chance to eat and lodge with the lowliest and poorest class of free citizens on equal terms. There was no other way to inform myself perfectly of their every-day life and the operation of the laws upon it. If I went among them as a gentleman, there would be restraints and [begin page 275] conventionalitiesalteration in the MS which would shut me out from their private joys and troubles, and I should get no further than the shellalteration in the MS rejected substantive textual note alteration in the MS.

One morning I was out on a long walk to get up muscle for my trip and had climbed the ridge which bordered the northern extremity ofalteration in the MS the valley, when I came upon an artificial opening in the face of a low precipice, and recognized it by its location as a hermitage which had often been pointed out to me from a distance, as the den of a hermitemendation of high renown for dirt and austerityemendation textual note. I knew he had lately been offered a situation in the Great Sahara, where lions and sandflies made the hermit life peculiarly attractive and difficult, and had gone to Africa to take possession, so I thought I would look in and see how the atmosphere of this den agreed with its reputation.

My surprise was great: the place was newly swept and scoured.alteration in the MS Then there was another surprise. Back in the gloom of the cavern I heard the clink of a little bell, and then this exclamation:

Hello, Central! Is this you, Camelot? - - - Behold, thou mayst glad thy heart, an thou hast faith to believe the wonderful when that it cometh in unexpected guise and maketh itself manifest in impossible places—here standeth in the flesh his mightiness The Boss, and with thine own ears shall ye hear him speak!”

Now what a radical reversal of things this was; what a jumbling together of extravagant incongruities; what a fantastic conjunction of oppositesemendation and irreconcileables—the home of the bogusalteration in the MS miracle become the home of a real one, the den of a medieval hermit turned into a telephone office!

The telephone clerk stepped into the light, and I recognized one of my young fellows. I said:

“How long has this office been established here, Ulfius?”

“But since midnight, fair Sir Boss, an it please you.alteration in the MS We saw many lights in the valley, and so judged it well to make a station, for that where so many lights be,alteration in the MS needs must they indicate a town of goodly size.”

“Quite right. Itemendation isn’t a town, in the customary sense, butemendation alteration in the MS it’s a good stand, anyway. Do you know where you are?”

“Of that have Irejected substantive had no time to make inquiry; for whenas my comradeship moved hence upon their labors, leaving me in charge, I got me to neededalteration in the MS rest, purposing to inquire when I waked, and report the place’s name to Camelot for record.”

[begin page 276]

“Well, this is the Valley of Holiness.”

It didn’t take; I mean, he didn’t start at the name, as I had supposed he would. He merely said—

“I will so report it.”

“Why, the surrounding regions are filled with the noise of late wonders that have happened here! You didn’t hear of them?”

“Ah, ye will remember, we move by night, and avoid speech with all. We learn naught but that we get by telephonerejected substantive, from Camelot.”

“Why they alteration in the MS know all about this thing. Haven’t they told you anything about the great miracle of the restoration of a holy fountain?”

“Oh, that? Indeed yes. But the name of this valleyalteration in the MS doth woundily differ from the name of that alteration in the MS one; indeed to differ wider were not pos—”

“What was that name, then?”

“The Valley of Hellishness.”alteration in the MS

That explains it. Confound a telephone, anyway. It is the very demon for conveying similarities of sound that are miracles of divergence from similarity of sense. But no matter, you know the name of the place now. Call up Camelot.”

He did it, and had Clarence sent for. It was good to hear my boy’s voice again. It was like being home. After some affectionate interchanges, and some account of my late illness,alteration in the MS I said:

“What is new?”alteration in the MS

“The king and queen and many of the court do start even in this hour, to go to your valleyemendation to pay pious homage to the waters ye have restored and cleanse themselves of sin, and see the place where the infernal spirit spouted true hell-flames to the clouds—analteration in the MS ye listen sharply ye may hear me wink and hear me likewise smile a smile, sith ’twas I that made selection of those flames from out our stock and sent them by your order.”

“Does the king know the wayalteration in the MS to this place?”

“The king?—no, nor to any other in his realms, mayhap; but the lads that holpalteration in the MS you with your miracle will be his guiderejected substantive and lead the way,alteration in the MS and appoint the places for rests at noons,alteration in the MS and sleepsalteration in the MS at night.”

“This will bring them here—when?”alteration in the MS

Mid-afternoon, or later,alteration in the MS the third day.”

“Anything else in the way of news?”alteration in the MS

[begin page 277]

“The king hath begun the raising of the standing army ye suggested to him; one regiment is complete and officered.”

“The mischief! I wanted a main hand in that, myself.alteration in the MS There is only one body of men in the kingdom that are fitted to officer a regular army.”alteration in the MS

“Yes—and now ye will marvel to know there’s not so much as one West Pointer in that regiment.”alteration in the MS

“What are you talking about? Are you in earnest?”

“It is truly as I have said.”

“Why, this makes me uneasy. Who were chosen, and what was the method? Competitive examination?emendation

“Indeed I know naught of the method. I but know this—these officers be all of noble family, and are born—what is it you call it?—alteration in the MS chuckleheadsemendation.”

“There’s something wrong, Clarence.”

“Comfort yourself, then; for two candidates for a lieutenancy do travel hence with the king—young nobles both—and if you but wait where you are you will hear them questioned.rejected substantive textual note

“That is news to the purpose. I will get one West Pointer in, anyway. Mount a man and send him to that school with a message; let him kill horses, if necessary, but he must be there before sunset to-nightemendation and say—”

“There is no need. I have laid a ground wire to the school. Prithee let me connect you with it.”

It sounded good! In this atmosphere of telephones and lightning communication with distant regions, I was breathing the breath of life again after long suffocation.alteration in the MS I realized, then, what a creepy, dull, [begin page 278] inanimate horror this land had been to me all these years, and how I had been in suchalteration in the MS a stifled condition of mind as to havealteration in the MS grown used to it almost beyond the power to notice it.

I gave my order to the superintendentemendation of the Academy personally.alteration in the MS I also asked him to bring me some paper and a fountainemendation pen, and a box or so of safety matches. I was getting tired of doing without these conveniences. I could have them, now, as I wasn’t going to wear armor any more at present, and therefore could get at my pockets.

When I got back to the monastery, I found a thing of interest going on. The Abbot and his monks were assembled in the great hall, observing with childish wonder and faith the performances of a newalteration in the MS magician, a freshalteration in the MS arrival. His dress was the extreme of the fantastic; as showy and foolish as the sort of thing an Indian medicine-man wears. He was mowing, and mumbling, and gesticulating, and drawing mystical figures in the air and on the floor,—the regular thing, you know. He was a celebrity from Asia—so he said, and that was enough. That sort of evidence was as good as gold, and passed current everywhere.

How easy and cheap it was, to be a great magician on this fellow’s terms. His specialty was to tell you what any individual on the face of the globe was doing at the momentalteration in the MS; and what he had done at any time in the past, and what he would do at any time in the future. He asked if any would like to know what the Emperor of the East was doing now? The sparkling eyes and the delighted rubbing of hands made eloquent answer—this reverend crowd would like to know what that monarch was at, just at this moment. The fraud went through some more mummery, and then made grave announcement:

“The high and mighty Emperor of the East doth at this moment put money in the palm of a holy begging friar—one, two, three pieces, and they be all of silver.”

A buzz of admiring exclamations broke out, all around:

“It is marvelous!” “Wonderful!” “What study, what labor, to have acquired a so amazing power as this!”

Would they like to know what the Supreme Lord of Inde was doing? Yes. He told them what the Supreme Lord of Inde was doing. Then he told them what the Sultan of Egypt was at; also what the King of the Remote Seas was about. And so-on and so-onemendation; and with each new marvel the astonishment at hisalteration in the MS accuracy rose higher and higher. They thought he must surely strike an uncertain place some time; but no, [begin page 279] he never had to hesitate, he always knew, and always with unerring precision. I saw that if this thing went on I should lose my supremacy, this fellow would capture my following, I should be left out in the cold. I must put a cog in his wheel, and do it right away, too. I said:

“If I might ask, I should very greatly like to know whatalteration in the MS a certain person is doing.”

“Speak, and freely. I will tell you.”

“It will be difficult—perhaps impossible.”

“My art knoweth not that word. The more difficult it is, the more certainly will I reveal it to you.”

You see, I was working up the interest. It was getting pretty high, too; you could see that by the craning necks all around, and the half-suspended breathing. So now I climaxed it:

“If you make no mistake—if you tell me truly what I want to know—I will give you two hundred silver pennies.”

“The fortune is mine! I will tell you what you wouldemendation know.”

“Then tell me what I amemendation doing with my right hand.”

“Ah-h!” There was a general gasp of surprise. It had not occurred to anybody in the crowd—that simple trick of inquiring about somebody who wasn’t ten thousand miles away. The magician was hit hard; it was an emergency that had never happened in his experience before, and it corked him; he didn’t know how to meet it. He looked stunned, confused; he couldn’t say a word. “Come,” I said, “what are you waiting for? Is it possible you canalteration in the MS answer up, right off, and tell what anybody on the other side of the earth is doing, and yet can’t tell what a person is doing who isn’t three yards from you? Persons behind me know what I amemendation doing with my right hand—they will endorse you if you tell correctly.” He was still dumb. “Very well, I’ll tell you why you don’t speak up and tell; it is because you don’t know. You a magician! Good friends, this tramp is a mere fraud and liar.”

This distressed the monks, and terrified them. They were not used to hearing these awful beings called names, and they did not know what might be the consequence. There was a dead silence, now; superstitious bodings were in every mind. The magician began to pull his wits together, and when he presentlyalteration in the MS smiled an easy, nonchalant smile, it spreadalteration in the MS a mighty relief around; for it indicated that his mood was not destructive. He said:

“It hath struck me speechless, the frivolity of this person’s speech. [begin page 280] Let all know, if perchance there be any whoalteration in the MS know it not, that enchanters of my degree deign not to concern themselves with the doings of any but kings, princes, emperors,alteration in the MS them thatalteration in the MS be born in the purple, and them only. Had ye asked me what Arthur the great king is doing it were another matter, and I had told ye; but the doings of a subject interest me not.”

“Oh, I misunderstood you. I thought you said ‘anybody,’ and so I supposed ‘anybody’ included—well, anybody; that is, everybody.”

“It doth—anybody that is of lofty birth; and the better if he be royal.”

“That, it meseemeth, might well be,” said the Abbot, who saw his opportunity to smooth things and avert disaster, “for it were not likely that so wonderful a gift as this would be conferred for the revelation of the concerns of lesser beings than such as be born near to the summits of greatness. Our Arthur the king—”

“Would you know of him?” broke in the enchanter.

“Most gladly, yea and gratefully.”

Everybody was full of awe and interest again, right away, the incorrigible idiots. They watched the incantations absorbingly, and looked at me with a “There, now, what can you say to that?” air, when the announcement came:

“The king is weary with the chase, and lieth in his palace these two hours sleeping a dreamless sleep.”

“God’s benison upon him!” said the Abbot and crossed himself; “may that sleep be to the refreshment of his body and his soul.”

“And so it might be, if he were sleeping,” I said, “but the king is not sleeping, the king rides.”

Here was trouble again—a conflict of authority. Nobody knew which of us to believe; I still had some reputation left. The magician’s scorn was stirred, and he said:

“Lo, I have seen many wonderful soothsayersalteration in the MS and prophets and magicians in my life-days, but none before that could sit idle and see to the heart of things with never an incantationalteration in the MS to help.”

“You have lived in the woods, and lost much by it. I use incantations myself, asalteration in the MS this good brotherhood are aware—but only on occasions of moment.”

When it comes to sarcasming, I reckon I know how to keep my end up. That jab made this fellow squirm. The Abbot inquired after the queenalteration in the MS and the court and got this information:

[begin page 281]

“They be all on sleep, being overcome by fatigue, like as to the king.”

I said:

“That is merely another lie. Half of them are about their amusements, the queen and the other half are not sleeping, they ride. Now perhaps you can spread yourself a little, and tell us where the king and queen and all that are this moment riding with them are going?”

the false prophet going to meet the king.

“They sleep now, as I said; but on the morrow they will ride, for they go a journey toward the sea.”

“And where will they be dayrejected substantive after to-morrow at vespers?”

“Far to the north of Camelot, and half their journey will be done.”

“That is another lie, by the space of a hundred and fifty miles. Their journey will not be merely half done, it will be all done, and they will be here, in this valley.”

That was a noble shot! It set the Abbot and the monks in a whirl of excitement, and it rocked the enchanter to his base. I followed the thing right up:

“If the king does not arrive, I will have myself ridden on a rail; if he does I will ride you on a rail instead.”emendation

[begin page 282]

Next day I went up to the telephone office and found that the king had passed through two towns that were on the line. I spotted his progress on the succeeding day in the same way. I kept these matters to myself. The third day’s reports showed that if he kept up his gait he would arrive by four in the afternoon. There was still no sign anywhere of interest in his coming; therealteration in the MS seemed to be no preparations making to receive him in state, a strange thing, truly. Only one thing could explain this: that other magician had been cutting under me, sure. This was true. I asked a friend of mine, a monk, about it, and he said, yes, the magician had tried some further enchantments, and found out that the court had concluded to make no journey at all, but stay at home. Think of that! Observe how much a reputation was worth in such a country. These people had seen me do the very showiest bit of magicalteration in the MS in history, and the only one within their memory that had a positive value, and yet here they were, ready to take up with an adventurer who could offer no evidence of his powers but his mere unproven word.

However, it was not good politics to let the king come without any fuss and feathers at all, so I went down and drummed upemendation a procession of pilgrims and smoked out a batch of hermitsemendation and started them out at two o’clock to meet him. And that was the sort of state he arrived in. The Abbot was helpless with rage and humiliation when I brought him out on a balcony and showed him the head of the state marching in and never a monk on hand to offer him welcome, and no stir of life or clang of joy-bell to glad his spirit. He took one look and then flew to rouse out his forces. The next minute the bells were dinning furiously, and the various buildings were vomiting monks and nunsemendation, who went swarming in a rush toward the coming procession; and with them went that magician—and he was on a rail, too, by the Abbot’s order; and his reputation was in the mud, and mine was in the sky again. Yes, a man can keep his trade-mark current in such a country, but he can’t sit aroundemendation and do it; he has got to be on deck and attending to business, right along.

Editorial Emendations CHAPTER 24 A Rival Magician
  scored. (A)  ●  scored. Within four days we had turned all those sable nuns and monks and foundlings into white people, and were running short of soap. I seldom overlook a detail that may come good. I foresaw that this bathwater—after use—was going to be worth money, as a fertilizer,1 and so I had fenced a patch of sand back of the monastery for a kitchen garden, and had hoed it and seeded it2 and run irrigating troughs to it from the discharge pipes. In three days that patch had six inches of the richest soil on it I ever saw in my life, and on the fifth day the vegetables began to jump out of the ground; as much as a foot at a jump, in some cases; so that the garden had the strange and thrilling aspect of a convention of kangaroos at play.3 The prospect of the money that was in this thing fired me so, that I fenced a few more acres, and organized some kidnapping parties and went down in the night and captured nearly all the hermits and marched them in and washed them. Out of that one wash I got several acres of the very best land in the kingdom. I sold my crops at a good figure; I sold both farms at a hundred and fifty times what the sand lots were worth before I went into the business; and besides all this, I taught the whole community, in this way,4 that there were more ways of praising God with dirt than by wearing it. Moreover, we established there5 one of the largest and faithfulest markets for our soap that the books of our factory were ever able to show. (MS) 
  a hermit (A)  ●  that celebrated hermit (MS) 
  of high . . . austerity (A)  ●  whose hospitality had laid out the polecat (MS) 
  opposites (A)  ●  opposities (MS) 
  It (A)  ●  If it (MS) 
  but (A)  ●  not in  (MS) 
  valley (I-C)  ●  Valley (MS) 
  Competitive examination? (A)  ●  not in  (MS) 
  chuckleheads (A)  ●  chuckle-  |  heads (MS) 
  to-night (A)  ●  to-  |  night (MS) 
  superintendent (A)  ●  superintendant (MS) 
  fountain (A)  ●  stylographic (MS) 
  so-on and so-on (I-C)  ●  so on and so on (MS) 
  what you would (A)  ●  what would (MS) 
  I am (A)  ●  I’m (MS) 
  I am (A)  ●  I’m (MS) 
  instead.” (A)  ●  instead.”  |  chapter break  (MS) 
  drummed up (A)  ●  turned out (MS) 
  and smoked . . . hermits (A)  ●  not in  (MS) 
  monks and nuns (A)  ●  monks, nuns and foundlings (MS) 
  around (A)  ●  still (MS) 
Rejected Substantives CHAPTER 24 A Rival Magician
  instituting (MS)  ●  institution (A,E) 
  the shell (MS)  ●  the outside shell (A,E) 
  have I (MS)  ●  I have (A,E) 
  by telephone (MS)  ●  by the telephone (A,E) 
  guide (MS,A)  ●  guides (E) 
  questioned. (MS,A)  ●  questioned. Do but note the— (E) 
  be day (MS)  ●  be the day (A,E) 
Alterations in the Manuscript CHAPTER 24 A Rival Magician
 book-cover’s] ‘cover’s’ interlined above canceled ‘back’s’.
 kept] written over wiped-out ‘wa’.
 shaky,] followed by canceled ‘for it was a’.
 

scored.] followed by a passage which was revised in the MS then canceled in a later stage. See emendations for the text of the deleted passage, in which the position of each of the following revisions is indicated by a superior number.

1.   as a fertilizer,] interlined.
2.   and had . . . seeded it] interlined.
3.   cases; so . . . play.] the semicolon mended from a period; ‘so . . . play.’ added on the verso of the MS page with instructions to turn over.
4.   way,] followed by canceled ‘how to’.
5.   there] written over wiped-out ‘in tha’.
 located] written over wiped-out ‘settled’.
 moved] written over wiped-out ‘grat’.
 embrace.] followed by canceled ‘The’. This cancellation ends an MS page numbered ‘482’, at the bottom of which Mark Twain wrote ‘(RUN to 484.)’. Discarded page 483, now in , reads: ‘rheumatism spread me out on my back in torment, and as soon as the Abbot heard of it he sent down to the hermit camp for the most renowned leech in Christendom. This was a hermit named Marinel. He was said to know more about medicine than any man alive, and that in the scientific compounding of drugs he had no equal above ground or below it. I had my doubts, and grave ones, too, but I was glad to have him come, for I judged that if he couldn’t cure me of pain he could probably introduce variety into it, and that would break the monotony and so be a sort of relief.’; ‘so’ following ‘monotony and’ is interlined; see textual note.
 When] follows the canceled heading ‘Chap.’ centered one-third of the way down the MS page.
 

fast.] followed by canceled ‘Everybody was proud of Marinel and his wonderful cure, and you could hear his praises everywhere. His reputation was even more prodigious now than it had been before. And to not a child of them all did it occur to wonder why I, the most extraordinary magician in the world, couldn’t cure himself of a common distemper, but must send for a’. This cancellation ends a page numbered ‘1,’ at the top of which Mark Twain wrote, ‘From this page, skip to page 6.’ The omitted pages 2 through 5 are in and their text is given below. The superior numbers refer to revisions made before Mark Twain deleted the pages from the MS. Those revisions are listed following the passage, which reads:

‘doctor.

‘I kept quiet, but I had my private opinion of the celebrated quack,1 and some private resentments to satisfy. When I was at length strong again, I began to turn over a project or two in my mind. I wanted to damage Marinel and the other hermits, in one way or another, but I wanted to do good at the same time. To gratify a resentment could have no value in my eyes, unless it could be turned to account in the reforming and improving of this nation. At last I hit upon the satisfactory thing.2 I determined to convert the hermits. Now there are various ways of doing missionary work;3 persuasion is a good way, and also the best way,4 but it is slow; to convert a nation by that5 method would take—well, nobody knows how long, because it has never been done, and so there are no sufficient data to cipher6 from. It has been tried in Turkey with quite promising results;7 quite an impression has been made upon China,8 too, and Africa,9 and some other vast populations; but while all this is encouraging, the fact remains that the swiftest missionary of all is force. Charlemagne did not persuade, and he was an effective missionary. When he was ready to convert a nation he gave it twenty-four hours in which to experience a change of heart; then he slaughtered such as had failed to accomplish the change, and baptised the rest. France was converted in that way; and England, mainly; and the same with the rest. Mahomet knew the power of the sword as a swift and comprehensive allayer of prejudice.10

‘So I thought I would employ force, for once—but only on the hermits; and only on them because nothing else would ever answer, with their sort. I went down to the camp and delivered the verdict. I said to Marinel:

‘ “I have made up my mind to hang you—and privately, between us, you know you deserve it. But I wish to give even you a chance: it is, hang or be a Presbyterian.”

‘ “Alack, these be hard terms. And what is a Presbyterian?”

‘I described that austere career, and also the week-day and Sunday gait and style and manner and conversation of the bluest of the blue, in detail. To my gratification he took to the idea with a child’s enthusiasm. He said it was the toughest life there is, and that that was what he was after. And he saw, too, that it was going to be the most picturesque thing in the camp. So I gave him the accolade, and sent his measure off to Camelot for the clothes.11

‘I made a Free Will Baptist out of the man on the column,12 under a threat to degrade him from his pillar and put the Presbyterian up there if he made any trouble. Other hermits I changed to13 Methodists, Quakers, Campbellites, Episcopalians, and so on. This was a good day’s work. It put the Protestant cause into powerful hands that would spread it far and wide; for the main hermit-custom14 came from great distances. These Protestant hermits would accumulate church property, by and by, and then I would tax it. Where everybody helps to support the State, the burden is heavy to nobody.’

1.   quack] follows canceled ‘leech’.
2.   thing.] the period mended from a comma; followed by canceled ‘and so I went and had a priv’.
3.   work] ‘k’ written over ‘d’.
4.   and . . . best way,] interlined.
5.   that] written over what appears to be wiped-out ‘the’.
6.   cipher] written over wiped-out ‘g’.
7.   results;] the semicolon added; followed by canceled ‘—two hundred converts in thirty-seven years;’.
8.   China] follows canceled ‘the selvedge-edge of’.
9.   and Africa,] interlined.
10.   allayer of prejudice.] added following canceled ‘persuader.’
11.   clothes.] the period mended from a comma; followed by canceled ‘and also got up a sign for him: “Rev. Dr. Marinel, D.D., LL.D., Presbyterian Hermit—the Only Original—all others are Counterfeits.” ’
12.   of . . . column,] interlined following canceled ‘of Brother Stylites,’; ‘Brother’ interlined above canceled ‘Brer’.
13.   changed to] interlined following canceled ‘started in business as’.
14.   hermit-custom] the hyphen added in pencil.
 up.] added; the original period preceding inadvertently left standing.
 conventionalities] ‘alities’ added.
 the] originally ‘their’; ‘ir’ wiped out.
 shell] follows ‘outside’ canceled in pencil with three light diagonal lines; see textual note.
 the northern extremity of] interlined.
 was newly . . . scoured.] interlined in pencil above canceled ‘was clean and sweet, and the walls and floor were gleaming with stainless whitewash.’
 home of the bogus] follows canceled ‘banishment’.
 midnight, fair . . . you.] originally ‘midnight.’; the comma added on the line and ‘fair . . . you.’ interlined; two periods inadvertently left standing.
 be,] interlined in pencil above a canceled comma.
 It] the MS reads ‘If it’ which is written over wiped-out ‘Do y’; emended.
 needed] terminal ‘d’ written over wiped-out ‘st’.
  they] ‘they’ underlined in pencil.
 valley] interlined without a caret above canceled ‘place’.
  that] ‘that’ underlined in pencil.
 Hellishness.”] interlined above canceled ‘Godlessness.” ’
 and . . . illness,] interlined without a caret following ‘interchanges’ and above ‘I said:’.
 new?”] followed by canceled ‘ “Something that shall please thee, I ween. The new Paper mill’s started.” “Good. Everything in its proper turn: when paper for newspapers is going to be needed, that is the time to start that kind of a mill’; ‘The new’ interlined; the colon after ‘turn’ mended from a period; ‘when’ written over wiped-out ‘When’.
 an] written over a wiped-out ampersand.
 the way] ‘the’ originally ‘they’; ‘y’ wiped out.
 holp] written over wiped-out ‘hel’.
 way,] the comma written over a period; followed by canceled opening quotation marks.
 noons,] the comma added in pencil.
 sleeps] terminal ‘s’ added in pencil.
 here—] the dash interlined in pencil.
 Mid-afternoon, or later,] the commas added in pencil.
 news?”] followed by canceled ‘ “The king hath weighed your project of a standing army’.
 myself.] followed by ‘However, no harm is done. By my plan of competitive examinations it is sure to be officered the way I want it.’ canceled in pencil.
 are . . . regular army.”] added in pencil following canceled ‘can answer the questions.” ’; ‘regular’ follows canceled ‘standing’.
 regiment.”] the period added and the quotation marks written over a wiped-out exclamation point.
 it?—] the question mark apparently added.
 suffocation.] followed by canceled ‘death.’ which follows canceled interlined ‘and’; the period added.
 such] written over wiped-out ‘so s’.
 have] written over ‘g’.
 personally.] followed by canceled ‘and then bade’; the period written over a comma.
 new] written over what appears to be ‘s’.
 a fresh] ‘a’ written over wiped-out ‘w’.
 the moment] ‘the’ interlined above canceled ‘any’.
 his] interlined in pencil without a caret following canceled ‘this fellow’s’.
 what] interlined in pencil; see emendations.
 can] followed by ‘t’ interlined in pencil without a caret, then canceled.
 presently] interlined in pencil.
 spread] written over wiped-out ‘mi’.
 who] interlined above canceled ‘that’.
 emperors,] the comma mended from a period; followed by canceled closing quotation marks and by canceled ‘The Abbot was about to speak, but I asked him to say nothing, for I judged’.
 them that] ‘them’ written over wiped-out ‘that’.
 soothsayers] written over wiped-out ‘medd’.
 incantation] originally ‘incantations’; the ‘s’ canceled.
 as] written over an ampersand.
 queen] followed by a canceled comma.
 there] written over wiped-out ‘n’ or ‘w’.
 

bit of magic] interlined above canceled ‘miracle’.

Textual Notes CHAPTER 24 A Rival Magician
 embrace.] Manuscript I ends here, on page 482. At the bottom of the page Mark Twain wrote “(RUN to 484.)” Before he discarded page 483 of MS I, which originally followed at this point (see the alterations list), he wrote in pencil and canceled in ink: “Vacancy left here for a whole Chapter. Sandy worn out with nursing—wouldn’t let Monk or any but one lovely Sister help.”
 When] Manuscript II begins here on a page numbered “1” in the right corner and “484” in the left corner.
 the shell] Mark Twain wrote “the outside shell” and later drew three light diagonal lines in pencil through “outside.” These lines are so faint that the typist apparently interpreted them as only tentative, and indeed they may be. But Mark Twain had probably noticed the redundancy of “outside shell” and was planning some change. Essentially, the crux is like an alternative reading that an editor must resolve even though the author left no clear and final clue to his preference.
 of high . . . austerity] See the textual note at 259.28.
 questioned.] Followed in the first English edition by “Do but note the——,” which was presumably an addition Mark Twain made in the typescript and then repealed in the American proof, but not before a copy had been dispatched to England.