Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1911-12-15
CHAPTER XVIII.
Such STUFF as Dreams.
Copyright 1910.

ouSH obuU do bTCdInos
Dan was In his room at the hotel.
He woke and. then slept again. Moth
ing seemed strange to him-nothing
seemed real It was three o'clock in
the morning, the rumble of Paris was
dull; it did not disturb him, for he
seemed without the body and 10 have
grown giantlike, and to fill the room.
He had a sense of suffocation and the
need to break through the windows
and TO escape into ether.
The entrance of Poniotowsky's two
friends was part with the unreal
naturalness. One was a Roumanian,
the other a Frenchman-both spoke
fluent English. Dan, his eyes fixed on
the foreign faces, only half saw them;
they blurred, their. voices were small
and far away. Finally he said:
"All right, all right, | can shoot
we'll enough; this kind of thing isn't
our custom, you know-Id as soon kill
him one way as another, as a matter
Of fact No, | don't know a darned
soul here" There was a confab in,
comprehensive to Dan. Its all one
to me, gentlemen" he said. I'D rath-.
er not drag in my friends. Fix 1t up
to suit yourselves"
He wanted them to go-to be alone
to stretch his arms, to rid himself
Of the burden of sense and be free.
And after they had left, he remained
In hts window till dawn. 1t came soon,
midsummer dawn, singularly tender
morning in his heart. His mind
worked with great rapidity. He had
made his will in the States. He
wished he could have left everything
to Lefty Lane, but If, as Ruggles said,
he was a pauper? Perhaps 1t wasn't
a lie after all. Dan had written and
telegraphed Ruggles asking for the
solemn truth, and also telling him
where he was and asking the older
man to come over. II Ruggles proved
he was poor, why, some of his bur-
den was gone. His money had been
burden. he knew it now. He might
have no use for money the next day.
What good could it do him in a fix
like this? He was to meet Ponio-
towsky at five o'clock in place whose
name he couldn't recall He had seen
1t advertised, though; people went
there for lunch.
They were to shoot at twenty-five
paces-he might be a Rockefeller or
beggar for all the good his money
could do him in a pinch like this.
His father wouldn't approve, the
old man wouldn't approve, but he had
sent him here to learn the ways Of
the old world, A Pickering smile
crossed his beautiful, set face. His les
sons hadn't done him much good; he
would like to have seen good old Cor
don Galorey again; he loved him-he
had no use for Ruggles, no use-it
had been all his fault His mind
reached out to his father, and the old
mans words came dining back:
Buy the things that stay above
ground, my boy" What were those
things? He had thought they were
passion-he had thought they were
love, and he had put all on one won.
an, She couldn't stand by him, now
that he was poor.
The spasm in his heart was so sharp
that he made low sound in his throat
and leaned against the casing of the
window He must see her, touch her
once more.
The fellows Poniotowsky's seconds
had chosen to be Dams representatives
came in to FIX him up" They were
in frock coats and carried their silk
hats and their gloves. He could haze
laughed at them. Then they made
him think of undertakers. and his
blood orew cold. He handled the re.
vclyors with care and interest.