Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-12

I n ' "
helped, but Gerry stood by. powerless to
move. He had recognized Alan. the man
| he had sworn to break II ever he met him.
! Somebody else had broken Alan terribly,
| pitilessly. Gerry's eyes shrank from the
sight 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 fshed and
swan, and once had fought, What a
| little fury Alan had been in that boys
| battlel
! II had not been Tough; to n finish. On
one impulse they had stopped and looked
at each other ana turned away ashamed
10 shake hands
| L!eber. once heavy. norid and clumsy.
was transformed He worked quickly
| with sure hands. The BODY lay stripped
on the settle. Under IL 81 II lay the ham
mock and dusty blankets The pillows
and board had been tossed on the floor
Lieher examined his patient minutcly
| without haste. Tho spleen was fright
fully dstended and pushed out across the
abdomen. He could feel its hard. unyield-
/ ing margins. The feet were swollen The
face was yellow with the sickly gray
yellow OF nodded straw Coma had set ln
Lieber dragged great medicine chest
out from his room. With alcohol he rap
idly washed out the dust-nlled nostrils
OF the stricken man and bathed the face
and then the limbs and body. Then he
took out a hypoderm.c syringe and a
graduated glass. In the glass he dis
solved powder and with steady hands
added measured drops Of a liquid of faint
amber hue.
Gerry found his tongue "what Is It?"
he asked.
"Quinine and arsenic" said Leber
shortly
Gerry.
Lieber glanced at him. at will prob
ably kill him."
Then why-why?" protested Gerry.
great desire TO protect what was left of
Alan had come over him.
WHY said Lieber dryly, "T'll tell
you. MIR. Lansing. Because It Is less cow
nrdly TO Kill n man than to let him die"
lie mixed the solution in the syringe
and then. Erasping Aian's thin arm. he
pressed it until the veins came out In
n swelling network. "llold his arm like
that, he commanded Kemp Kcmp
clutched the arm. The bones seemed to
pend TO the grip. Iieber chose n swollen
vein and pierced it with the needle. He
forced the dose into the blood. There"
ne said, with smile to Gerry, that's
WHATS known as an intravenous admin
lstration of qunlne and arsenic. If an
other paroNysm hits him he's done for.
but we'll know all about that in Is hours
time"
He went into the house and brought
out clean sheets, soft wooden blankets
Pillows ana pillow slips. Kemp had never
sen seen. SuGh lnen; Gerry had almost for
gotten the feel of it, Gerry came to life.
with one hand under Alan's shoulders,
ana another under his hips he lifted him
US thoush he were an empty shell, while
Kemp and Lieher drew out the dust
Caked blankets and hammock and spread
HrSt II cane mat over the settle and then
olanket and. on top of that n sheet
Inc touch of Alan's dry, cracking slln
seemed to Gerry to be burning his houds
IL Is as though there were fire in him
he said to Lieber
Lleber looked at his patient with an
ail-seelng eye. He paused before cover
ing him up. That's it, he said .,rbcro.s
ire in him-the worst kind-and he's been
playing with 1t, just tickling it with stoIc
qulnlne His eye ran rapidly over tho
thin body. II said the dose / gave him
would probably kill him. but I've changed
my nina. I'm betting the other w1v
now | really look at him.
Ihere's no flesh on him, but he doesn't
look ike a skeleton. Why? Because of !
the sinews and bones of him-thev're |
perfect LOOK at the way the sinews hold !
ms neck and the way the neck carries |
tne me slneWs. Look at the fiat bulge of his |
rios and the breadth of his shoulders over
the hips, That means heart and lungs !
ana NitaIs' That mans been n fighter, |
and unless I'm a bigger fool than I was /
yesterday. he's fighter yet"
Cover him up, for Gods sake" said
Gerry. S"'u
Lieber dropped the sheet and went off
TO the Kitchen. Gerry and Kemp covered
the stripped body an tucked many
blankets over it. Lieber came back and
took on half the blankets. "Iustn't fire
him with weight" he explained. "If he's
going to sweat he'll sweat all right Ma
fever-is the tiredcst
disease in the world. When they get Too
tired to breathe. that's the end" He tool;
hold of Alan's wrist. ITO feel his pulse,
you'd say he was dead now"
Bout time he was startin'," remark
ed Kemp with his eyes toward the de-
clning sun.
Gerry's first impulse was to saw he
would stay, but he suddenly remembered
Margarita. How far away from life she
seemed! Alan and Margarita could NOT
crowd into one day or even into one
Horld-it was against the order of things,
But facts do not stand on the order of
heir coming, they simply come and
against the protest of mans will they
present his fate; against the cry of the
roubled and displaced soul they voice the
'ternal jy suis, j'y reste of inanimate
hings. One cannot go around fact
)ne must either break ones head against
or swallow II and let it take its course
through the mental gorge
CONTINUED MONDAY.