"What a hell of a night," Roswell said.
* * * * * * * * * *
Just more evidence of the subtext in the previous line. Roswell describes the actions of the night as "a hell of a night" meaning it was crazy and exciting. But this can also be literal in that Roswell escaped from Hell, an insane asylum where he was held prisoner for his sins and which was, as they escaped, covered in flames.
Back in Whiskey Hill, they made a beeline for Morty Vicker's Saloon.
* * * * * * * * * *
Aside from the reiteration that Roswell and Merle spend much of their time drinking in various saloons around Whiskey Hill in Cleveland, I don't get much more from this sentence. My poor attempt at research turned up nothing on a Morty Vicker of Cleveland in the 1880s. So I guess I'll just have to pick apart his name for some clues?
Morty is short for either Morton or Mortimer. Let's go with Mortimer because it has a more interesting meaning: dead (or still) water. The name Vicker probably references "vicar", a priest in the Church of England. Could Pynchon just be having a bit of sly fun on a name equating one of the local saloons to a church, since all the discussion of Æther has revolved around talk of faith and God? Morty Vicker can be thought of as Priest Dead Water, the dead water being a reference to alcohol (with "Whiskey Hill" being a bit of help toward that interpretation?). Merle and Roswell have fled chaos, fire, and damnation to spiritual safety, to their church and its member with whom they spend most of their time.
