Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-11-21
BURNING
aSgDAY'i'LlGHT
BUICK
A1sAor of !" TIE Cal of the Wiza"
"WAIe Rang, Martin
Eden" etc.
Illustrations By Dearborn Melvil
Illustrations By Dearborn Melviu
CHAPTER XIX.

parched mouth and lips and throat
took long drink OF water trom Tue
pitcher beside his bed, and gatnereo
I'D the train OF thought Where ne nau
left it the night before. He reviewed
the easement of the financial strain.
Things were mending at last. While
the going was still rough. the greatest
dangers were already past.
His mind moved on to the incident
at the corner of the bar of the Par
thenou. when the young athlete had
turned his hand down. He was no
longer stunned by the event, but he
was shocked and grieved, as only q
strong man can be, at this passing Oh
his strength. He had always looked
upon this strength of his as perman-
emit, and here, for years, it had been
steadily oozing from him. AS he had
diagnosed it. he had come in from IN
der the stars to roost in the coops OF
cities. He had almost forgotten how
to walk. He had lifted up his feet
and been ridden around in automo-
biles, cabs and carriages, and electric
cars. He had not exercised, and he
had dry-rotted his muscles with alco-
hol. And was it worth it? What did
all his money mean after all? Dede
was right. 1t could buy him no more
than one bed at time, and at the
same time it had made him the abject-
est of slaves. 1t tied him fast. Which
was better? he asked himself. All
this was Dede's own thought. 1t was
what she had meant when she prayed
he would go broke. He held up his
offending right arm. 1t wasn't the
same old arm. Of course she could
not love that arm and that body as
she had loved the strong clean arm
and body of years before. He didn't
like that arm and body himself. A
young whippersnapper had been able
to take liberties with it. 1t had gone
back on him. He sat up suddenly.
No, he had gone back on it! He had
gone back on himself. He had gone
back on Dede. She was right. thou
sand times right. and she had sense
enough to know it. sense enough to
refuse to marry a money-slaVe with
whisky-rotted carcass.
He got out Of bed and looked at
himself in the long mirror on the
wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty. Inc
old-time lean cheeks were gone. These
were heavy. seeming TO hang down by
their cwn weight. Hc looked for the
lines of cruelty Dede had spoken OF,
and he found them. and he found the
harshness in the eyes as we'll, the
eyes that we're muddy now after all
the cocktails OF the night before, and
ri the months and years before. He
looked at the clearly defined pouches
that showed under his eyes. and they
shocked him. He rolled up the sleeve
of his pajamas. No wonder the nam
had put his hand down.
Those weren't muscles. \ rising tide
OF Fat had submerged them. He
atr!pped off the paiama coat. Again
he was shocked. this time by the bulk
Of his body 1t wasn't pretty. me
lean stomach had become pauncn.
The rigid muscles of chest and Shout
ders and abdomen had broken down
into rolls OF flesh. And this was age.
Then there drifted across the field OF
vision Of his minds eye the old man
he had encountered at Glen Ellen,
coming up the hillside through the
fires of sunset, white-headed ana
white-bearded, eighty-four, in his hand
the pail of foaming milk and in his
face all the warm glow and content
Of the passing summer day. That mad
been age. eyes stree, eighty-four. ana
spryer than most" he could hear the
old man say.
Next he remembered Ferguson, the
little man who had scuttled into the
road like a rabbit, the one-time man
aging editor of a great newspaper.
who was content to live in the chapar-
raj along with his spring Of mountain
water and his hand.reared and mani
cured fruit trees. Ferguson had solved
q DIOUlGW. - "ScA11AG oAo az @~N~~
holic, he had run away from the doc
tors and the chicken.coop of a city
and soaked up health Ike thirsty
sponge. He sat down suddenly on the
bed, startled by the greatness OF the
idea that had come to him. He dla
not sit long. His mind. working In It's
customary way, like steel trap, can
vassed the idea in all its bearings. II
was bfg--bigger than anything he had
faced before. And he faced 1t square.
ly. picked it up in his two hands ana
turned it over and around and looked
at it. The simplicity OF It delighted
him. He chuckled over it. reached MS
decision, and began to dress. Midway
in the dressing ne stopped in order to
use the telephone.
Dede was The first be called UP.
Don't come % the ostice this morn
lug" he said I'm coming out to SEQ
you Tor moment"
He called Up others he ordered
bis riotor-car. To Jones ne gave in
struct!ons for the forwarding OF Bob
and Wolf to Glen Ellen. Hogan he
surprised BY asking him TO look up
the deed Of the Glen Ellen ranch aud
,nolo ~. :, wow ono in Dsde NasnD's