Corkey is seized with a paroxysm of tobacco strangling, ending with a
sneeze that is a public event. He is again black in the face, but he
has been polite.

The uninitiated express their astonishment at a sneeze so mighty, and
enter the inn. The women of the dining-room come peeping into the
bar-room, But the captain explains:

"That sneeze carried Corkey to Congress. I've heern tell how he'd be
in the middle of a speech and some smart Aleck would do something to
raise the laugh on the gentleman. Corkey would get to strangling and
then would end with a sneeze that would carry the house. It's great!"

"That's what it is!" says Mr. Bodine.

"Gentlemen, my father had it. It's no laughing matter. God sakes, how
that does shake a man!"

But Corkey has not only done the polite act. He has relieved his mind.
He is no longer in danger of being worked off.

"I wouldn't be likely to do up my man if I introduced him to everybody."

Yet the opportunity to murder Lockwin, as a theoretical proposition,
dwells with Corkey, now that he is clearly innocent.

"I might have given him a false name. He'd a had to stand it, because
he don't like this business nohow. Everything was favorable. Have we
time for a drink, cap'n?" The last sentence aloud.