Evening star., 1918-04-14

VI ber1ngeneSS. And, though No WdS. nOt
one Of those in whom fancy breeds read
!iy, he thought he understood how new
born child must feel in Its strange. new
environment. He felt q strange sense OF
having Just been born, Of having been
pushed into . cold. wide world. He did
not know what to do. where to go He
had . moody, childish longing to talk to
some one-any one. II he knew where
Swanson was-.
He felt sense of enuity at the people
hurrying past. Every one seemed to
be going to his own place.
He had longed for his freedon-and
now he did not know what to do with It.
1t was looser garment than imprfson-
mont. The latter fitted too snugly for
comfort. It irked. compressed till 1t pain
ed. But the other fell away from one, let
ting the Icy wind Of loneliness Zap at bare
limbs.
- gray before him a. the prison walls
had lately stood. It was a jungle Of un-
known evils.
Before his conviction-the 1ast-he had
vicious young chap who regarded the
law a. something to be teased and made
sport of-like monkey in cage; some
thing to jump from, with q shout OF laugh
ter, when 1t reached a paw forward and
esa conSietion Vi aio s'fhi had sobsred him. The
monkey had turned into huge orang-
outang that wrenched bars aside and
cruelty mauled him. Now. after eight
years and seven months Of prison. the
law appeared to him as a great. crouch
ing beast Of prey waiting for him
waiting with grim patience in the
Jungle of the future.
nfty.esnts.a1s,shsDup @ en- Fam i @ hotel. % He took %
fifty-cent room; And as he went
not whether he would meet Swanson,
Jennings, Murphy. Hogan. Judge Pick
ha
waiting beast-but how soon he would
meet them.
,well-he met. in time. every ono Of
them, Just as he knew that he would
Had he not met them all rules OF
fate and fiction would have been trans
gressed.
He met Jerry Hogan first. Hogan
was leaning against the bar Of the
early the next morning In quest Of free
lunch and social Intercourse. At first
sight slimmy did not recognize him.
Then a discomforting stirring of mem
ory warned him that he was looking
on an ancient enemy.
And then he distrusted memory. But
Il was Hogan. There were the bull
Jaws. tho plain clothes and the whis-
wouldn't have been insimidated by the
sight Of Hogan.
Hogan was weeping. Over. the bull
white terror in many an evil-doer. drip
ped big tears. maudlin tears. The rea-
son Of Hogan's grief? A stony-hearted
bartender had refused to trust him for
a glass Of whisky.
think we're running? A municipal
fountain Of booze7''
Hogan turned to the nearest man, q
brown-mustached mechanic. and tried
to lean on his bosom while he bewailed
fhaFa a fime-
Ties dippy now wit de stuff." the
bartender contemptuously flung
athwart this fearful wall. 'tHe had the
nerve to come in hero the other night
and see pink spiders on his hands!'
Say. there was time" sniveled Ho-
gan. when you'd been glad to have me
patronise your place. Once I'd "a clean
ed out your whole joint and you'd
Well that time amt now" impa-
tiently. Run along"
Hogan clung to the ebrown-mustached ed
mechanic, who tried to shake him Off
SAY, do you know who I amused to
be. meant" pathetically. Say. used
to be Hogan of the force! Say, you've
heard Of me. amt you? The Hogan,
y'knowl Say, there wasn't a man on
the force could hold candle to me-
Tho brown-mustached man winked
over the maudlin head. But the bar
fact" with the respectful accent due to
vanished greatness. Hes telling the
truth. He used to be one of the crack
plain clothes men. But he's drunk him
self out of his job. And he's drinking
himself into potter's field"
Say" bitterly demanded Hogan of
all present. Say. don't you fellows
think a mans wife ought to stand by
him? Say. now. amt that wife's duty?
Say. amt 1t the truth that a good wife
can reform man II she's only patient
and keeps at 1t long enough"
His wife left him after he threw
her downstairs the third time" the bar
tender explained, soto voce. Shed
supported him two years"
Shaken away by the brown-mustach-
cd man. Hogan again leaned on the bar
and cried broken-heartedly over it.
We'll, that's what's the matter with me
II my wife had had patience and stuck
to me and been a tower Of strength. like
a wife ought to be-"
go outside and tell It," advised the
bartender. decisively.
But 1t was Sllmmy who went first. He
did not look back. He was particular
not to look back at maudlin, broken.
weeping. sodden, weak-oh, pitifully
weak-old Hogan, never more to be
feared by lawbreaker or consulted by
1awmaker. Soon Slimmy met Murphy.
Slimmy was lettering on a corner,
hands idle-which posture has been
handed down from time immemorfal as
an urgent invitation to Satan to ap-
proach and make those hands busy,
This. hovever, happened to be Eatan's 3
day OF. Or elss the internal old Ton