The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-07-26
THE CASE OF MR.IUCRAFp
A NOVEL.
" WALTER BEsANT AND JAMES RICE
CHApTER VT

BF AA0 IA IClClyt uSl1S I'LL Ia, "a In. SdIO
as | reeled and caught at q chair fol
support. Il wonder / never thought OF
this before. It is quite a new pleasure
to watch the effects of my own drink
on another mans brain. l shall write
Q book about you. I shall call it The
Young Christian Deterred;.or Leaves
from Luke Lucraft's Wicked Life. Ho.
ma! a no! / saw the account in the
Morning Post. Heigh, height" He
nearly choked as he recalled the cir
cumstance. "The magistrate admon-
lshing the wicked drllnkard. Ho, no!
IL is like a farce. Stand up, sir, stand
up! He can't stand up. Can you sing?
Can You dance? He could not even
dance a hornpipe. Do you feel a little
thickness in your speech? Would you
be able to explain to the worthy magis-
trate the circumstances, quite beyond
your w control, which brought you
into that painful position in which you
stood? It is the strangest situation
that was ever put upon any stage.
There's nothing like it In fiction. Moth
Ing. Sir Walter Scott never invented
anything half SO rich. Ho, no, no. he
is really getting drunk already. What
q poor creature it isl"
He paused for Il moment and then
went on.
"Boule-de-neige, coffee: brandy in 1t
plenty of brandy and a glass OF cura-
Goa afterward. A large glass. sir! I'll
have a night of it. Your health, Luke
Lucraft, in this coffee; and you had
better take care of it, or I'll pack you
Off with noyeau punch. Pleasant times
Won ara hOVinOs ln1S NiirJ,f hove I>oo,,
worse, you know. You might have
been starving. What? Don't fall
against the table in that way. Take
care OF the furniture! It cost a great
deal more money than you are worth.
So, sit down on the floor while l tell
you about your predecessors, dead and
gone, poor fellows.
Let me see, the first was William
Saunders, a poor devil of a clerk Of
mine. He disgraced himself in chapel
one weekday prayer-meeting, but
Boule-de-neige found him out and
brought him back. He took to praying
and crying. One day he died in ST..
Bartholomew hospital of delirium ire
mems. He lasted about six months.
The next was Hans Hansen, q
Dane. He only lasted about three
weeks, because he became melancholy
directly he found he could no longer
taste brandy. I was disappointed
with Hansen, and when he jumped off
London bridge into the Thames one
night, his appetite having quite gone
l was really very sorry on account Of
Inc temporary Inconvenience it put me
to; and l determined to be very care
full in his successor. / remember I i had
q good deal of trouble to find one.
However, at last l got a third man,
q stout Cumberland chap, son of a
statesman. You poor, puny little stroll
ing actor, I suppose that you will hard
~ believe that | once took four-and-
twenty tumblers of Scotch whisky and
water without affecting that brave fel-
lows appetite one bit. He used to take
1T out in swearing; and really he was
almost too often in trouble with the
magistrates. He eve clearly under
stood that his safety lay in being home
early in the evening. Once he nearly
killed Mr.. Crackett in his own office.
Poor Crackett! that eminent Christian
lawyer; / should never have forgiven
myself had anything happened to the
worthy Crackett. Well! he went, too;
at least, after a good tough twelve
month. It was my own fault, and I
ought not to grumble. That noyeau
punch was strong enough to kill the
devil"
"Cluck," said Boule-de-neige.
''Then we came to Tom Kirby. None
Of them looked SO well or promised so
much; none Of them broke down so
easily. A whining fellow, too. a cry-
ing, sobbing, appealing rogue, who
wanted to get off his bargain. How
ever, de mortuis-Your health, Luke
Lucraft. Halo! hold up
81 tell you what / mean to do after
you are worked off, Luke Lucraft. l
mean to have a brace of fellows, I
shall go down to the London docks, or
else to the railway stations, and find a
couple OF trusty young porters. They
are the sort of men to have. Fine,
strong, %well-set-up ~rascals. Men with
muscles like rigging ropes don't
clutch ut the chairs, L%ucraft-if Won
can't sit up you may lie down. shall
make them come here-give them a
blowout of steakI wasted a splendid
dinner on you--and then I shall make
them sign. NT
.sThe great thing, then, will be to
have the appetites of two men; twice
asSmuch to eat and twice as much to
drink. I never thought Of that before.
sAnd then to bring both of the
rogues up here of an evening and
make them watch me eat; watch them
gradually lolling and Keeling about till
they tumble over each other, 20 Sc
cretly and hear them curse meme,
their benefactor-Ho! no! / think
shall not be long over you, Luke Lu.
craft. Hallo! keep your drunken legs
away from the table. Boule-de-neige,
roll this drunken log into the street"