The context seems to imply that Soldier Boy is claiming that his dam was
not an Arabian (alkali =~ desert?).
Beyond that maybe this is something along the lines of the "solitary
oesphagus" /swallow pun?
Leslie


On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 3:51 PM Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> In A MARK TWAIN LEXICON, edited by Ramsay and Emerson (1963), they give
> “alkali-spider” an AB1 designation which indicates “Mark Twain is the sole
> authority for a word or meaning that is not found in OXFORD at all ...” p.
> xii. They go on to state that the word “Alkali” itself in OEDS 1907 refers
> to “One who lives in or frequents an alkali region.”
>
> A further search of historical newspaper databases did not turn up any
> other stories, writers, or editors using the phrase.
>
> Barb
>