The San Francisco call., 1910-12-18

"A man can always use money But
you-don't you think
Arnold's hand went to Fred's in the
dark. The assemblyrnan felt the
crinikle of bills crushed in his fingers
He backed off, coughing weakly to hide
his confusion. Il gotta go to Unc
Pops. Yes. sir-U0c' Pops. Gods
sake, Hanl-Unc' Pops"
rhe hriber followed him a few steps
in the deserted street. 1.-TWO hundred
and Atty he whispered and two-ffty
more comings Fred
.Sure-sure." nurmured the legisla-
tor. laughing foolishly ITS getting
late. amt 1T? Sure-sure."
Arnold watched him go hurriedly up
the hill. His friend was strangely bent
and old, 1t appeared, or it may have
been the flicker of ihe arc lights on him.
The other man lit a cigarette and saun-
tered 1eisurely down town. Il got him."
he iiaurmured Alphabetically. But what
chance did he have? It's like a wolf
pack hunting-what chance did he
have? The whole town was on his
baek-the wolf town. What chance did
he have7"
And the fancy of himself leading a
pack of gray wolves. htnting down a
wounded deer. dragging it in the snow.
throttling it as its struggles weakened.
moodily fascinated him. Then a trouble
grew on him that he could view the
matter SO Alphabetically. But he dulled
this: Why should he be sorry? It's
wolf eat wolf in this game-every man
for himself. Freds of age. he knows
where he's going"
Yet the memory of his big bluff
friend, uncertain. feeling, this way and
that for help. dumbly hurt, and then
dragged down by the gray wolves of
the city, haunted Arnold Il led
them he murmured I'm the outlaw
but l Joined the pack to pull Fred
down" He was revolving the matter,
still impersonallv. viewing his other
self from afar. when newsboy thrust
sporting extra of paper In his hand:
"Winner'n Narcissusi Extraw he
caroled.
s.Eleven hundred to the good" mur-
INJURED Arnold. but his winning gave
him no pleasure He was surfeited
with the track, sleepless with i'll
reclxoned nights Ferreri had told him
and he knew tonight that drinking
had failed to drive the pricking devils
from this BRAIN 'I ought to get
away a week or two. he mused; and
his fancies went back to the brown,
sun beaten ranges along the Tuolumne.
where he had been boy, and then the
green. steaming jungles of Mindanao
and Samar. where he and Larry CAL
fioun had been bunkies. He wondered
now with a singular melancholy senti-
inent, of their peace. And then the
north rose. the giant redwoods SPAN
Ming rocky gorges sunless and still.
Above the trails led to the brushy
ridges and piney slopes. the country
up back, where once for four weeks
he had been happy, it seemed; where
he had been able to make a simple
country girl smile, and watch her eye
brighten at his coming
"But I didn't love her." he murmured
slowly. That's dead in me. It's good
the little girl found it Quits better
so-much better!''
But the stinging imps bothered his
head, and going to the Oriental he
had three drinks. Then, because the
place was quiet and he could not toll
crate silence any longer, he went TO the
street, seeking something to make him
forget.
Grant avenue was emptying itself at
$3.50; the impossible street of takers
and proclainlers of revolutions and mil
lenniuIils was losing its motley life, but
over one last dissolving group came the
spIendor OF woman's voice.
Again he saw her, the black robe
sWaying, the astonishing appeal of the
serene face under the torch, the light
bronziflg the huddled men before her.
A n1ordant desire to bait her further
came, for tonight his soul seemed dead
rolling in its abyss. He had had a note
from her weeks ago. inclosing a check
for s165. she had been forced to accept
his statement of the amount lost. He
had seen her twice since on her ros-
trufn, giving her little thought After
all, she was but a superior faker OF this
town of takers, Unreal. Rofnanesuue
impossible, she was but one of Sar
Franeisco's downtown figures that de-
fed placing. watching her. he drew
sense of WEAKNESS from .her utter
ance; saw it. too, in the impassive
men who listened He was below he,
stand when she looked down at the
conclusion. a color touched her cheeks
Ia moments confusion at his speech
'How's the harvest? l take it they
reject your pearls?'
Wise. hopeless faces-souls impo-
tent, asleep. It's hard town. isn't to
She gathered her robe to go, while Z
negro removed the stand, and with Z