Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-06-18
! T h e Spoi1e rs|
! By REX E. BEACH.
By REX E. BEACH.

into the room SO that he fell Imply
upon his face, then stood watching
him Finally. Mcnamara passed out
of the watchers vision, returning with
a water-bucket. With his foot he roll
ed the unconscious wretch upon his
back, then drenched him. Replacing
the pail, he seated himself, lit cigar,
and watched the return of life into his
victim. He made no move, even to
drag him from the pool in which he
lay.
Strive groaned and shuddered,
twisted to his side, and at last sat up
weakly. In his eyes there was now a
great terror, while in place Of his
| drunkenness was only fear and faint
ness-abject fear of the great bulk
that sat and smoked and stared at him
SO flshily He felt uncertainty Of his
throat, and groaned again.
why did you do that?" he whisper
ed; but the other made no sign. He
tried to rise, but his knees relaxed;
he staggered and fell. At last he gain
ed his feet and made for the door;
then, when his hand was on the
knob, McNamar spoke through his
teeth without removing his cigar.
Don't ever talk about her again.
She is going to marry me-"
| When he was alone he looked cur
iously up at the ceiling over his head.
'The rats are thick in this shack" he
unused. Seems to me heard whole
swarm of them"
A few moments later figure crept
through the hole in the roof of the
house next door and thence down into
the street A block ahead was the
slow-moving form of Attorney Struve.
Had stranger met them both he
would not have known which Of the
two had felt at his throat the clutch
of stranger, for each was drawn
and haggard and swayed as he went.
Glenister unconsciously turned to-
wards his cabin, but at leaving the
lighted streets the thought Of Its dark
ness and silence made him shudder.
Not now! He could not bear that still
ness and the company of his thought.
He dared not be alone. Dextry would
be downtown, undoubtedly, and he,
too, must get into the light and tur-
moil. He licked his lips and found
that they we're cracked and dry.
At rare intervals during the past
year he had staggered In from a long
march where. for hours, he had waged
a bitter war with cold and hunger,
his limbs clumsy with fatigue, his
garments wet and stiff, his mind slack
and sullen. At such extreme seasons
he had felt consuming thirst, thirst
which burned and scorched until his
very bones cried out feverishly Not
a thirst for water, not thirst which
Il nof n chr hyyf q CO 400
/ yearning of his whole exhausted sys-
tenn for some stimulant, for some
coursing fiery fluid that would burn
and strange. A thirst for whisky
/ for brandy! Remembering these oc-
come charitable to such unfortunates
as were too weak to withstand similar
temptations.
Now with a shock he caught himself
in the grip of thirst as insistent as
though the cold bore down and the
WEAKNESS of endless heavy miles wrap.
ped him about. 1t was no foolish
wish to drown his thoughts nor TO
Danish the grief that preyed upon him,
but only thirst! Thirst!-a crying,
trembling, physical lust to quench the
1 fires that burned inside. He remem-
bered that it had been more than a
year since he had tasted whiskey Now
the. fever of the past few hours had
parched his every tissue.
4 AS he elbowed in through the crowd
at the Northern, those next him made
room at, the bar, for they recognized
the hunger that peers thus from mems
faces. Their manner recalled Clients
/ ter to his senses, and he wrenchnd
himself away. This was not some
solitary, snow.banked road-house. He
would not stand and soak himself,
shoulder to shoulder with stevedores
and longshoremen. This was some.
bthing to be done in secret. He had
no pride in it. The man on his right
raised a glass, and the young man
strangled madness to tear it from
his. hands. Instead, he hurried back
to the theatre and up to box, where
he drew the curtains.
i Whiskey!" he said, thickly, to the
waiter. Bring it to me fast Don't
your hear? Whiskey!"
!. Across the theatre Cherry Malotte
had see.i him enter and jerk the cur
tains together She arose and went
to him, entering without ceremony
Il What's the matter, boy:" she ques
toned
"Ah! I am glad you came. Tall,
to me-"
Thank you for your few well.
chosen remarks" she laughed. "why
don't you ask me to spring some good
original jokes? You look like the
finish to a six-day eo-as-you-please
What's up?''
She talked to him for a moment I'M
til the waiter entered; then, when she
saw what he bore, she snatched the
glass from the tray and poured the
whiskey on the floor. Glenister was
on his feet and had her by the wrist
What do you mean?" he said
roughly.
Its whiskey, boy she cried, "and
you don't drink
"Of course it's whiskey. Bring me
another" he shouted at the attendant
4 Whats the matter?" Cherry Insist
ed. Il never saw you act so. You
know you don't drink. / won't let you
It's booZe-bOoZe I tell Won AT for