The Glenwood post., 1916-06-17

and pointed westward Win his chin.
Eeber stood up and looked. A pillar
Of dust was coming across the desert
He could see men riding and some
thing else. He took his field glasses
from peg and looked again. "Fu-
neral, or sick man, he said and sat
down to walt. Kemp started whiting
to keep himself awake. Since the hour
Of Lieber's confession he had hardly
spoken. .---s-.-..- q-.---s------
When the cavalcade came within
easy view Gerry stood up and watched.
He could not hide his curiosity like
Lieber and Kemp. In front Of the
horses came four men bearing a sag
ging hammock on a pole. They were
running In quick, springy steps that
made the hammock sway gently from
side to side. The pace they kept up
under the burden was marvellous.
They were followed closely by eight
horsemen. At the first signs of falter-
ing among the bearers, four of the
riders would throw themselves OF
their ponies and run under the pole.
The change of relay was made without
a stop, without pause. The freed
ponies stood with hanging heads and
straddled legs. Even from distance
one could see that the burdened men
had run the wiry little beasts of their
feet. They were all in, but the men
were still erect-keen. With final
squirt the cortege drew up before the
NJ c%o
dying?" he asked.
Master, we do not know" an
swered the Oldest of the men, their
leader.
"Fever or smallpox" asked Lieber.
''Fever."
With a look of relief Lieber went
down the steps to the hammock. A sheet
had been thrown over the pole to keep
OF the worst of the sun. He pulled
1t of. A ghastly sight met his eyes,
but he did not shrink. Bring him up
here," he said, springing up the steps
and sweeping saddle harness and
some old magazines of a great raw
hide settle on the veranda.
They laid the sick man on the settle
and Lieber started to strip him with
gentle, deft hands. Kemp strobe for
ward and helped but Gerry stood by,
powerless to move. he had recognized
Alan, the man he had sworn to break
If ever he met him. Somebody else
had broken Alan, terribly. pitilessly.
Gerry's eyes shrank from the sight. A
lump came into his throat. Alan was
dead. Alan with whom he had wan
dered barefoot through those quiet
lanes of home, with whom he had
fished and swum. and once had
fought. What little fury Alan had
been in that boys battle' 1t had not
been fought to a finish. On one i'm
pulse they had stopped and looked at
each other and turned away, ashamed
to shake hands.
Lieber, once heavy, norid and clum-
sy, was transformed. He worked
quickly, with sure hands. The body
lay stripped on the settle. Under It
still lay the hammock and dusty blan-
kets. The pillows and board had
been tossed on the floor. Lfeber ex-
amined his patient minutely, without
haste The spleen was frightfully dis
tended and pushed out across tho alb
domen. He could feel It's hard. un-
yielding margins. The feet were swol-
len. The face was yellow with the
sickly gray-yellow Of nodded straw.
Coma had set In. .r.s.
Lieber dragged a great medicine
chest out from his room. With alcohol
he rapidly washed out the dust-filled
+. nostrils of the stricken man and
bathed his face and then the limbs and
body. Then he took out a hypodermlc
syringe and graduated glass. In the
glass he dissolved powder and with
steady hands added measured drops
of liquid of faint amber hue.
I Gerry found his tongue. what IL
itT he asked. f- - = 9 a.
shortly.
"Arsenic1 Isn't that dangerous ~
said Gerry. N
Lieber glanced at him. att will prob
ably kill him."
"Then why-why-" protested Ger
~. A great desire to protect what
was left Of Alan had come over him.
"Why?" said Lieber dryly, an tell
you, Mr.. Lansing. Because it is less
cowardly to kill a man than to let
him die"
He mixed the solution in the syringe
and then, grasping Alan's arm, he
pressed it until the veins came out In
swelling network. Hold his arm like
that" he commanded Kemp. Kemp
clutched the arm. The bones seemed
to bend to the grip. Lieber chose a
swollen vein and pierced 1t with the
needle. He forced the dose Into the
blood. "There," he said with smile
to Gerry, that's what's known As an
intravenous administration Of Quinine
and arsenic: II another paroxysm
hits him he's done for, but we'll know
all about that in forty-eight hours