pipe-light

[flop]

In Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher" someone says: "Between friends these little accommodations ought to fly like pipe-lights".
I can't find the word "pipe-light" in any dictionary: can anybody help me find a definition?
Thank you!
flop

 

[mgarizona]

OED: "a strip of paper folded or twisted for lighting a pipe"

I assume the sense is that pipe-lights burn easily, as friends should be able to accomodate one another easily.

Fly is I think used simply in the sense of "to go quickly"

 

[se16teddy]

I wonder if a pipe light is something like this? If so, the pipe light might proverbially pass very quickly (fly) from one friend to another, because if it had a metal handle it would be too hot to hold long - the author of the article refers to this problem.
I guess the 'accommodations' are financial arrangements (including the passing of large amounts of money from one to another.)

 

[. 1]

If the pipe-light is a thin piece of paper then a pipe-light that has been burned becomes so light and insubstantial that it will float in the air between the friends as if it is nothing and then fade away as the fine ash disburses.

.,,

 

[mgarizona]

If the pipe-light is a thin piece of paper then a pipe-light that has been burned becomes so light and insubstantial that it will float in the air between the friends as if it is nothing and then fade away as the fine ash disburses.

.,,

That's lovely.