Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-01-31
CHAPTER XXXII
In thn SiIanan ne pIonIr N;o


They wanted to wait for him, those
two stricken women in the gallery,
to take him home with them, for in
their hearts was no resentment, only
pity. But Tommy Tinkle would not
let them. He sent word to Billy that
he had them in charge, and took
them home, and said what consoling
things he could. 1t was not much of
lapse, it was more excitement than
anything else, Billy would have him
all right in the morning, such things
were to be expected, and wasn't it a
stunning speech that Billy made!
Yes, such things were to be expect
ed, and that was the awful tragedy of
it. Again the spectral shadow claim
ed its firm seat in the blue eyes and
the dark gray, and the Stuart women
took up the allotment nature had
made for them.
Billy telephoned them shortly after
they reached home. Hal was resting
quite comfortably now. He had not
drunk very much. He had slipped at
his champagne without knowing it,
and then he had taken some of the
brandy, and of course, with the taste
of that on his tongue, he did not
quite realize what he was doing. He'd
be fine in the morning, and after
all, it was more the excitement than
anything else.
But Billy knew better. Halls first
act, when they had left him alone
for a moment to prepare his bed and
his medicine, had been to rouse from
a seeming lethargy and snatch the
decanter! Burke came back in time
to seize it from him; but already he
had swallowed the equal of a tumbler-
full, and, laughing with a gurgle in
his throat, he let them put him to bed.
Almost as soon as he laid his head
on the pillow, he dropped into a pro-
found stupor.
IT'S a damn shame - beg your
pardon, sir - after the fight he's
made" This was Burke, and he help
ed Billy off with his coat and vest.
81 think I'll sit up and watch him.
II expect you'd better" decided
Billy, and he put Halls hands under
the covers. The window had been
opened, and it was rather cold in the
blue room. call me if he's any
trouble"
So Billy, heavy hearted, went to
bed, and Burke made himself COM
Portable in robe and slippers, and
put another log on the fire in the big
lounging-room and sat with pipe and
paper. Mr. Stuart slept very we'll, in
deed. Burke went in to look at him
about twice an hour, and once, by ac-
cldent, he dropped a metal tray with
terrific clang; but there was no
waking the man. Burke went back
and sat on the big leather couch, and
looked into the fire, and thought on
the Widow Maloney with particular
satisfaction; for he had carefully
concealed from her that in two weeks
he would be sailing over the seas
and far away, with Mr.. Billy and his
pretty bride. Otherwise the deter
mined Nora might marry him. Two
more weeks! Pretty little Miss Tavy,
God bless her, would make a beau
tiful bride; two more weeks and the
royal princess, she was a sweet-mind-
ed lady, God bless her, would move
into the new house, and Harrison
Stuart would come into his own
again; and might he always be happy,
and prosperous - and safe! So
pleasantly musing, Burke nodded his
head lower and lower, and fell into
the dead sleep of them who sit up
late O. nights.
That numb carcass which was Bow
Wow stirred uneasily. Something was
wrong. There is no resisting the ulti-
mate command of the body. When
1t is born, mind and soul spring
into existence. When it has reached
its time to die, the mind and the soul
have no say in the matter; so, in this
life, the body is always supreme. 1t
demands to be fed, to have it's thirst
quenched, to lie in slothful slumber;
and If it be refused these things, it
Gusts mind and soul.
The body of Bow-Wow commanded
his mind to awaken; and it did;
awakened to it's full stength, to its
full intellectual capacity. to the full
measure of it's understanding; and
all those mental powers were COM
prised in one muttered word, which
broke huskily upon the silence of
black night:
Whisky"