of friendship. Jean eyed the outstretched hand. Then he looked at
the rum, and the insidious odour filled his nostrils. The temptation was
too great, as Victor knew it would be, for him. He thrust one great hand
into the trader's and the two men shook; then he took the drink and
gulped it down.

The armistice was declared, and Victor, in imagination, already saw the
treasure his.

Now the pannikin passed round merrily. The room reeked with the pungent
odour of the spirit and all was apparently harmonious. Victor resigned
his post as dispenser of liquor to Ambrose, and began his series of
stock entertainments. He drank as little as possible himself, though he
could not openly shirk his drink, and he always kept one eye upon Jean
to see that he was well supplied; and so the time slipped by.

After the first taste Jean became a different man; he laughed and jested
in his slow, coarse fashion, and, with him, all seemed good-fellowship.
Pierre and Ambrose soon began to get drunk and Victor's voice, as he
sang, was mostly drowned by the rolling tones of these hoary-headed old
sinners as they droned out the choruses of his songs.

Now, as the merriment waxed, Victor was able to shirk his drink
deliberately. Jean seemed insatiable, and soon his great body swayed in
a most drunken fashion, and he clung to his seat as if fearing to trust
his legs. He joined in every chorus and never lost an opportunity of
addressing Victor in terms of deepest friendliness. And in every pause
in the noise he seized upon the chance to burst out into some wild ditty
of his own. Victor watched with cat-like vigilance, and what he saw
pleased him mightily. Jean was drunk. And he would see to it that before
he had done the giant would be hopelessly so.

Evening came on. Ambrose was the first to collapse. The others laughed
and left him to his deep dreamless slumber upon the floor. Victor was
wearied of it all, but he knew he must see the game out. Jean's eyelids
were drooping heavily, and he, too, seemed on the verge of collapse.
Only old Pierre, hardened to the ways of his life, flagged not. Suddenly
the Frenchman saw Jean's head droop forward. In a moment he was on his
unsteady legs and filling a pannikin to the brim. He laughed as he drew
Victor's attention, and the latter nodded approval. Then he put it to
the giant's lips. The big man supped a little of it, then, his head
falling further forward, he upset the pannikin, and the contents poured