The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-03-18

came to life. With one hand under
Alan's shoulder and another under his
hips, he lifted him as though he were
an empty shell, while Kemp and Lie
Der drew out the dust-caked blankets
and hammock and spread first cane
mat over the settle and then a blanket
and, on top of that, sheet. The touch
of Alan's dry, cracking skin seemed
to Gerry to be burning his hands. ut
is as though there were fire in him."
he said to Lieber.
Lieber looked at his patient with an
all-seeing eye. He paused before COW
ertng him up. That's It," he said
''There's fire in him-the worst kind
and he's been playing with 1t, just
tickling It with stale quinine." His
eye ran rapidly over the thin body. II
said the dose gave him would prob.
ably kill him, but I've changed my
mind. I'm betting the other way, now
I really look at him. There's no flesh
on him, but he doesn't look like skel.
eton. Why7 Because Of the sinews
and bones Of him-they're perfect
Look at the way the sinews hold his
neck and the way the neck carries the
sinews. Look at the Eat bulge Of his
ribs and the breadth Of his shoulders
over the hips. That means heart and
lungs and vitals. That mans been q
fighter, and unless I'm bigger fool
than was yesterday he's fighter
yet"
"Cover him up, for Gods sake" said
Gerry.
Lieber dropped the sheet and went
of to the kitchen. Gerry and Kemp
covered the stripped body and tucked
many blankets over it. Lieber came
back and took of half the blankets
Mustn't tire him with weight" he ex-
planned. III he's going to sweat, he'll
sweat all right. Malarla-mallgnant
fever-is the tiredest disease in the
world. When they get too tired to
breathe, that's the end" He took hold
of Alan's wrist. ITO feel his pulse.
you'd say be was dead now"
"'Bout time we was startin'," 70.
marked Kemp with his eyes toward
the declining sun.
Gerry's first impulse was to say he
would stay, but he suddenly remem.
bered Margarita. How far away from
life she seemed! Alan and MarRarita
could not crowd into one day or even
into one world-it was against the or.
der Of things. But facts do not stand
on the order Of their coming. they sim.
ply come. and against the protest of
mans will they present his fate;
against the cry of the troubled and
displaced soul they voice the eternal
~ suis. ~ reste of inanimate things
One cannot 60 around q fact. Ona
must either break ones head against
1t or swallow it and let 1t take it,
course through the mental gorge.
Gerry longed to stay BY Alan's side
and through his returning conscious
ness. as through a magnifying glass
gaze upon the world he had foresworr
the heritage he had abandoned. Blu
the fact Of Margarita and her boy
suddenly declared itself-demandet
digestion-and Gerry turned his bacl
on Alan. He mounted, and with til
silent Kemp reversed the drive the,
had made together months before.
Lieber did not go with them. Whe
he had seen them of, he busted him
self giving orders for the tidying VI
OF the veranda, the feeding Of Alan
convoy, beast and man, and the prepa
ration Of room for the self-invite,
guest. From the pile Of dusty pillow
servant was picking up, fell board
Lieber glanced down at It, Word
were cut roughly but clearly into it
surface. They spoke to him. The.
held bis eyes. He stopped laboriousl.
and picked up the board. He took
into his private room, propped 1t VI
against some books on the table an
sat before it with his face droppe,
In his hands. To his closed eyes til
words seemed no longer carved Il
wood. Against the inward darkness
of his brain they shone out in point
Of light. He could not shut them Out
"Qui de nous ma pas eu sa terri
promise, son Jour d'extase, ct 81 fin e.
exil?"
| At shutdown Lieber came out to hi
patient. He had him moved, settl
and all, into a room whose window
opened upon the veranda. Lieber 81
beside him and nursed him through til
long, hot night. To the dizziness O
his hand had been added tenderness
and into his face new determinatiol
had cOme-a resolve to win Alan
battle for him whatever the odds.
Gerry did not sleep that night. II
lay on the little extra bed he had mad
upon his sons arrival and, proppin
himself on his elbow, gazed aroun,
him. The moon shone through grea
cracks in the warped shutters an
filled the room with a glow that, as hi
eyes dilated, became a revealing light
In one corner was m iron wash stan
with its vessels of coarse enamele'
metal, a recent purchase. In anothe
corner stood grotesque clothes-rach
1t looked like a young pine with irree
s,1nR ~,