im so drunk that he could talk. Toward
the end of the dinner Ellis was successful. All at once the Dummy got
upon his feet, his eyes were glazed with drunkenness, he swayed about in
an irregular circle, holding up, now by the table, now by the
chair-back, and now by the wall behind him. He was very angry,
exasperated beyond control by Ellis' raillery and abuse. He forgot
himself and uttered a series of peculiar cries very faint and shrill,
like the sounds of a voice heard through a telephone when some
imperfection of transmission prevents one from distinguishing the words.
His mouth was wide open and his tongue rolled about in an absurd way
between his teeth. Now and then one could catch a word or two. Ellis
went into spasms of laughter, holding his sides, gasping for breath.
Vandover could not help being amused, and the two laughed at the Dummy's
stammering rage until their breath was spent. Throughout the rest of the
evening the Dummy recommenced from time to time, rising unsteadily to
his feet, shaking his fists, pouring out a stream of little ineffectual
birdlike twitterings, trying to give Ellis abuse for abuse, trying to
talk long after it had ceased to amuse the other two. Ellis had been
drinking for nearly six hours, without the liquor producing the
slightest effect upon him; long since, the Dummy was hopelessly drunk;
and now Vandover, who had been drinking upon an empty stomach, began to
grow very noisy and boisterous. Little by little Ellis himself commenced
to lose his self-control. By and by he and Vandover began to sing, each
independent of the other, very hoarse and loud. The Dummy joined them,
making a hideous and lamentable noise which so affected Ellis that he
pretended to howl at it like a little dog overcome by mournful music.
But suddenly Ellis had an idea, crying out thickly, between two
hiccoughs:

"Hey, there, Van, do your dog-act for us! Go on! Bark for us!"

By this time Vandover was very nearly out of his head, his drunkenness
finishing what his nervousness had begun. The attack was fast
approaching culmination; strange and unnatural fancies began to come and
go in his brain.

"Go on, Van!" urged Ellis, his eyes heavy with alcohol. "Go on, do your
dog-act!"

All at once it was as though an angry dog were snarling and barking over
a bone there under the table about their feet. Ellis roared with
laughter, but suddenly he himself was drunk. All the afternoon he had
kept himself in hand; now