Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-29
CHAPTER XVII-Continued.

CHAPTER XVII.-Continued.
Bill Willing opened the door as If he
We're at home. as, indeed, he was, for
"the Bat had been his headquarters,
more or less. for years. He sometimes
paid in advance for a week. or weeks, at
a time. and then the same bed and locker
were scrupulously reserved for him; but
he had been a little irregular lately, ow-
ing to his many promiscuous charities.
Come in, do he said. hospital ably. and
Loveland obeyed. to find himself stand
ing directly at the foot OF long, diInly
lit stairway, the steps of which were
protected from the wear and tear or time
and boots by strips OF iron.
At the top was a closed door, and this
open, IIoveland was plunged into the life
and movement Of the Bat Hotel, appro-
priately named for it's night activities.
Behind grating. which formed small
room, stood the proprietor or manager
of the establishment, ready to accept
payment. allot beds, inscribe the names
of new clients in a book, and deal out
keys or lockers or cubicles. This tiny
office was cut out OF a long, narrow
room. in which fifty or sixty men were
sitting, glancins over the newspapers or
writing a last letter before they went to
bed. They were grouped at one of sew
eral long tables that ran down the length
of the room, or assembled round a huge
iron stove, whose fat body was almost
red hot The crude white light of un-
shaded electric lamps exaggerated the hol-
lows in tired faces and brought out
kind Of tragic family likeness among
them, different as were the types and
features-the likeness born Of the same
kind of hardships endured without hope
of anything better in the world.
There were two windows at front and
back of the long room. but they were
closed. save, perhaps. for furtive crack
at the top, and the heated atmosphere
was charged with the smell OF cheap to-
bacco (for the men were allowed to
smoke though not to drink, in the Bat
HoteD badly aired clothing and hot hui
mainly. AS Bill easily leaned his elbows
on a narrow shelf in front of the of1ce
grating explaining his errand to the
in the park again, half drowned in per-
fumed, moony vapor: but it was too late.
He was Gin for 1t" now. he said to him
SELF as Bill. with a certain pride. an
room. "a bed for mine he went on.
pleasantly. I'D be glad OF 81. it It's
free. 1 always sleep mighty well in 81"
Eighty-one was engaged, but Bill got
another number to which ne was &C
customed, and then his friends name
was asked.
Anything you like, up to Edward Sew
enth or down to ]. Smith," whispered Mr..
Willing. as he moved away that Love
land might take his place at the grating.
Loveland hesitated for an instant, and
then gave the name Of P. Gordon. one
to which he had a right, among many
others.
AS Bill was competent to play host, they
were given their keys and allowed to md
their own way to their quarters. Love-
Bills cheaper lodging was higher up:
At the top of another fight OF ron
bound Istairs was row OF cublclee.
boarded in half way up to the ceiling. and
protected above by thick wire netting,
lest some nimble night prowler. moved oy
curiosity or less fanciful motive, should
be minded to enter his neighbor's DWELL
ing in spite of lock and key.
The cubicles were not numerous, Tor
such accommodation de luxe was beyond
the means, beyond even the ambition OF
a hundred out of the hundred and sixty
men whom the Bat Hotel sheltered each
night The row 0called 18th avenue
by those who could not afford to sleep
there) was partitioned Off from long
room the size Of the reading room below;
but here. instead of tables and benches
running along the walls. were beds, many
beds, placed at small. irregular dis
tances from each other. A faint light re-
vealed them. and the straight dark
shapes Of the lockers shared, half and
half, by the sleepers whom Loveland
could dinly see hunched up under their
gray blankets.
Some men slept in their clothes for
warmth, though the room was not cold
Here and there q hat or cap made
black blot on a thin, fiattened pillow. and
the turned-up collar Of an overcoat ap-
peared above a tightly wrapped blanket.
At the back dark doorways led to the
washroom and a few YEARLY dropping
figures fitted to and fro silently as the
bat which lent its name to their lodging.
Save for their dragging footsteps. which
scarcely sounded on the cement floor,
damp with disinfectant, there was no
sound in the big dormitory, unless an &C.
casional snore or word blurted out in
sleep.
Bill unlocked the door of Loveland's
cubicle for him. This is pretty COM
plete. amt it?" he asked. in a whisper
which respected the slumber Of others.
THE beds are good enough for mine; but
these rooms are fit for lord
1t was a much humbled lord who shut
himself up in the boosted magnificence
of No. 15 there finding himself possessed
of a narrow hospital bedspread with a
gray blanket strongly scented with car
bolic, and just space enough in the case !
to undress il he chose. But for reasons
which seemed good to him he did not
choose.
Having hidden Bill good night" with |
out saying a word in disparagement Of |
the Bat Hotel (moved by new unselfish- |
ness which would not for the world have |
hurt his friends fee!ings), Loveland took |
off collar, necktie and shoes. to roll him |
self up in the disinfected blanket. The !
bed was not more than three or four |
inches too short for his tall body, and |
though the mattress and pillow were as
fiat as stale jokes and hard as poverty
Val fell asleep.
Sleeping. dreams came to him. more
real in seeming than any happenings of !
the strange, nightmare day just passed. |
They were OF storms at sea, of fighting
in South Africa: and when q light, per-
sistent tapping at the thin door w-enched
him awake he thought he was being
called for a night sortie.