The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1915-03-20
'IheScarlet.
Plague
BY JACK LONDON

BY JACK LONDON
"And yet It was all useless. Tho
next morning the first one of us wsS
smitten with the plague little nurse
girl In the family Of Professor Stout
Il was no time for weakened. senti-
mental policies. On the chance that
she might be the only one, we thrust
her forth from the building and com
manded her to be gone. She went awax
her hands and crying pitifully. We
felt like brutes. bot what were we
to do? There we're four hundred Of
M, and individuals had to be sacri-
need.
"In one of the laboratories three
families had domiciled themselves,
and that afternoon we found among
them no less than four corpses and
seven cases of the plague in all its
different stages.
"Then it was that the horror began.
Leaving the dead lie, we forced the
living ones to segregate themselves
In another room. The plague began
to break out among the rest of US.
and as fast as the symptoms appeared,
we sent the stricken ones to these seq
regated rooms. We compelled them
to walk there by themselves, sc as
to avoid laying hands on them. 1t
was heartrending. But still the
plague ragged among us. and room at
ter room was filed with the dead and
dying. And so we who were yet clean
retreated TO the next floor, and to the
next, before this sea Of the dead, that,
room by room and floor by floor. in
undated the building.
The place became charnel house,
and in the middle of the night the sur.
vivors fed forth, taking nothing with
them except arms and ammunition and
"a heavy store of timed foods. We
camped on the opposite side 81 the
campus from the providers, and, while
some stood guard. others Of us volun-
teered to scout into the city In quest
Of horses, motor cars, carts and wag.
Ions, or anything that would carry out
provisions and enable us to emulate
the banded workingmen / had seen
fighting their way out to the open
country.
II was one of these scouts, and
Doctor Hoyle. remembering that his
motor Car had been left behind in his
home garage, told me to look for It.
We secuted in pairs, and Dombey, q
young undergraduate, accompanied
me. We had to cross half q mile of
the residence portion of the city to
get to Doctor Hoyle's home. Here the
buildings stood apart, in the midst
OF trees and grassy lawns, and here
the fires had played freaks. burning
whole blocks. skipping blocks, and Oft
en- skipping a single house In block.
And here, too, the providers were still
at their work We carried our. auto
matte pistols openly in our hands, and
looked desperate enough, forsooth. to
keep them from attacking US. But At
Doctor Hoyle's. house the thing. hap
pened. Untouched by IRE. even as we
came to It the smoke and flames burst
forth. 4s
The miscreant who had set fire to
Il staggered down the steps and out
along the driveway. Sticking out Of
his coat pockets were bottles Of wills
~, and he was very drunk My
flrst impulse was to shoot him, and
] have never ceased regretting that
did not Staggering and maundering
to himself, with bloodshot eyes and
raw and bleeding slash down one side
OF his bewhiskered face, he was alto
gether the most nauseating specimen
of degradation and Nth had ever
encountered. did not shoot him, and
he leaned against q tree on the lawn
TO let us 60 by. Il. was the most alb
solute, want6n act. Just az we were
opposite him, he suddenly drew. q pis-
tol and shot Dombey through the head.
The next instant l shot him. But Il
was too late. Dombey expired with
out . groan, Immediately. doubt II
he ever knew what had happened to
him.
Leaving the two corpses, I hurried
on past the burning house to the gar.
age. and there found Doctor Hoyle's
motor car. The tanks were filled with
gasoline. and It was ready for use.
And Il was In this car that threaded
the streets Of the ruined city and came
back to the survivors on the campus.
The other scouts returned, but none
had been 50 fortunate. Professor Fair
mead had found Shetland pony, but
the poor creature, tied in q stable
and abandoned fdf days, was 20 weak
from want Of food and water that Il
could carry no burden at all. Some
OF the men were for turning It loose,
but insisted that we ahould lead Il
along with M, 80 that II We got out Of
food. We would have It to eat
There were forty-seven Of us when
We started. many being women and |
children. The president Of the facul |
II, an old man to begin with. and now |
broken BY the awful hap
y1o0f0nm ~ fhn vxosx $3.50 ~nS< A. A.