The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-04-22
JAMES ALDEN'S INITIATION

!.
-sottles OF various sizes and colors, not
.unting the pill boxes on his dresser,
met his gaze as he entered the bathroom
70 take his daily plunge in tepid water
Afterward he shivered, grinned lugub-
riously as he selected the proper before
breakfast medicine, and went out to a
bachelor meal with little zest for the pat
ented foods lined up beside his plate
1t was work-incessant hard work
and -recklessness in the treatment of a
none too robust body that had landed
him at the top of his profession-the law
and wrecked him physically.
So Alden came down on his back at last.
To Jack Whitwell, who shared his quar-
tiers, he announced with mock gravity,
when the doctor left: My physician says
It's continuous fever, probably malarial in
origin. I'm TO keep quiet Indefinitely,
avoid solid food, and await developments
1t may turn out to be pneumonia, or
merely malaria that I'll get over in
month or two Cheerful. eh?" Then he
winked and chuckled. go get me the
middle-sized blue bottle with the fluffy
dope, Jack-that's good chap" He ruff
fed his thin hair puffed his checks to
but a spasm of pain caught him, and he
rolled over on the couch to gurgle pro-
faney in the pillows as his knees came
up oonvulsiveIy.
Il know what's be a good thing for
you you apothecary subject volunteered
Waitwell. Alden turned his head to bring
mo view one inquiring eye.
This simple exercise" Whitwell threw
sside his coat, revealing a pair of solid
arsm square shoulders, and full chest to
cump vigor in his six-foot frame This
way," He swung back and forth power
fully, the chandelier. swaying as he
iunged.
~" Alden questioned, then groaned.
You big horse," he wetn on, IF I'd been
raised on ranch. mothered by a cyclone
and was half-brOther to wolf had been
fed on prickly pears and the uncooked
flesh of the bison, I'd be thrashing around
like that, too. But as it is-being the
proud produce of three generations of
college professors. and brother 10 a writer
of poetry and a painter of pictures, with
enlargement Of the brain and careless
ness of construction as to legs-I suffer.
oh, Jerusalem, how I suffer- Alden
toric. but fell back pallid and grinning.
Whe nthe doctor came again Jack Whit
well spoke TO him after this fashion: You
order Alden out TO Colorado. Tell him it's
ingrowing consumption or some such
thing. You fix up the talk and send him
out for a year They'll hold his place
downtown-be glad to have him go-and
Ill go out on a short vacation and take
Alden. My uncivilized brother has a
ranch out there. I'll turn the invalid
over to Joe Whitwen, Sugar Loaf Noun
tain, Colorado. where horses. pure air,
beans, baconT fix him o. X. See?"
The doctor caught the idea. Jack Whit |
well went downtown and resigned AID /
ems position in the big law Office for /
him. Then he STROBE up Broadway to a /
railroad Office. bought two long strips of |
ticket, ordered a cab for seven o'clock |
nast morning, and went back to spend a !
long evening with Alden. describing the /
glories of the west and reading choice |
bits of Wister and Garland-"bully chaps |
that know their business as he de-
clared.
You're to get UP at six tomorrow. in
stead. of eight" said Whtwell. as he
and packed him off to bed.
II am?' Alden questioned There was
q suspicious rising infection in his voice.
Z You arer' Whitwel came over to lay
a friendly big hand on the others Shout
der Didn't DR. Mcl<im put you in my /
charger" Alden smiled. Didn't he?'
'Whitwell insisted
"Why, certainly, Jack; you've been aw-
fully good to me, but what's the game?"
Never mind I'll call you at a quar-
ter to six Good night
Next morning Whitwell said briefly that
the two were off to Colora 40 at half-past
seven. Alden grumbled little-at Jack,
and then at the food, but packed a bag,
under instructions, with a few old clothes
and some western fiction. On the way to
the ferry Alden spoke to Whitwell:
Jack you're all right I'd never have
done it, We're going right out amongst
'em-the cowboys | mean--where they do
all those western stunts in such nom
chalant way" There was some real en-
thusiasms in Alden's tone.
For six months or a year only" an
swered Whitwell. Its just little ten
derfoot jaunt You can so as, cook to the
j. w ~ L !
horse rustler. We get up at four o'clock
You build bread to feed a dozen hungry,
irreverent hyenas that call themselves
cowboys. and do a Jig or two to amuse
'em Wen just touch the fringes of the
life. you know"
..Oh. yes, I Anow," Alden crowded his
eyeglasses dow non his thin nose and
looked at the big hulk beside him in the
cab. Jack. YOU won't let EN- make me
dance-with my crooked lessl I wasn't
trained to it. old man. Can't / do some
thing more in my liner
Cant tell JOEL fix You up with some
job You rest for n week or two with
some beans. Then ~, can't help doing
something useful.
With every mile westward Aldens spir-
ifs rose. Whitwell was a fine chap. he
thought: and six years of breathless hust-
ling. off straining every nerve and fibre,
of success bought with reckless spending
OF brai nand energy. with never a days
vacation. put man in the humor to en-
Joy the big fellows breezy company. His
eyes danced al his first sight of prairie
dog village in western Kansas.
Quite unlike centaur in action Alden
rode with Peter James Morrison. faml-
iarly known as "Pejay.'' to the hill pas
ture. Joe Whitwell had found the blond
young man harder 10 dispose of than he
had anticipated from his optimistic broth
er's description. Alden would not ride the
ambling old gray that had |
been known To carry woman and three
children from La Junta to Sugar Greek
He selected ''Schoomarm." a trim sor-