upon his face,
as if some one had shot a couple of marbles at him, which had stuck to
him for life. His complexion bore a close resemblance to the outside of
a huckleberry-pudding. His teeth, which were unusually long, projected
backward, as if they had taken a start to grow down his throat. This
last peculiarity was, undoubtedly, one cause of a remarkable singularity
of speech, which seriously impaired his natural facility of
conversation. Some idiosyncrasy of disposition, probably, had also
something to do with this lingual embarrassment, but certain it is, that
Mr. Edward Bobber never answered one question until he was asked
another, to which last he would give the reply intended for query number
one. Whether his mental faculties needed always a second-interrogative
punching up, or whether the fangs projecting downward retained one
answer until displaced by another, Wagstaff and his friends were unable
to decide; but they truly believe that an inquiry propounded to Edward
Bobber, aforesaid, would have remained unanswered until doomsday, unless
a second question followed the first.

A transcript of a conversation between him and the Clerk of the Court
reads as follows:

"_Clerk._--Where were you born?

"The prisoner removed his solitary orb from its guardianship, over his
left shirt sleeve, rolled it slowly round until it commanded a fair view
of the questioner, but said nothing. The clerk, nothing daunted,
continued:

"'How long have you been in this country?'

"The face assumed a look of intelligence, and answer No. 1 came out.

"_Edward._--Broome County.

"_Clerk._--How old are you?

"_Edward._--Two years.

"_Clerk._--How long have you been drunk?"

"_Edward._--Thirty-four years, seven months, and nine days.

"_Clerk._--Where did you get your liquor?

"_Edward_ (rolling his eye toward the Judge).--Been on a spree four
days.

"_Judge_ (very indignant).--Did you say I've been on a spree?

"_Edward._--Old Mother Bidwell's, down in Mott street.

"_Clerk._--Do you mean hereafter to treat this Court respectfully?

"_Edward._--No, sir; I hope not.

"_Officer with red hair._--If you ain't crazy, I'm a jack-ass.

"_Edward._--Yes, sir, of course.

"The excited Judge here commenced making out his commitment, but the
Clerk, who began to see the fun, thought best to ask him a few more
questions first, and accordingly inquired of Bobber what he traded in,
as he seemed to own a sloop. The prisoner, who h