They drank nothing but whiskey. As they ran in the side door
they were surprised to see the lights of a carriage standing at the edge
of the banquette, and the driver begged for shelter for his team, saying
some gentlemen had gone inside. The bar-keeper opened a gate, and the
driver put his horses under a shed in a paved court in the rear, then
came in for a drink. Meantime, said the bar-keeper, whose name was
Bonelli, three gentlemen who were laughing over their escape from the
storm had ordered wine and gone into a private room, Doyle with them.
The only one he knew was Monsieur Lascelles, though he had seen one of
the others frequently as he rode by, and knew him to be an officer
before Mr. Doyle slapped him on the back and hailed him as "Sammy, old
buck!" or something like that. Mr. Doyle had been drinking, and the
gentleman whispered to him not to intrude just then, and evidently
wanted to get rid of him, but Mr. Lascelles, who had ordered the wine,
demanded to be introduced, and would take no denial, and invited Mr.
Doyle to join them, and ordered more wine. And then Bonelli saw that
Lascelles himself was excited by drink,--the first time he had ever
noticed it in the year he had known him. The third gentleman he had
never seen before, and could only say he was dark and sallow and did not
talk, except to urge the driver to make haste,--they must go on; but he
spoke in a low tone with Mr. Lascelles as they went to the room, and
presently the rain seemed to let up a little, though it blew hard, and
the driver went out and looked around and then returned to the private
room where the gentlemen were having their wine, and there was some
angry talk, and he came out in a few minutes very mad; said he wouldn't
be hired to drive that party any farther, or any other party, for that
matter; that no carriage could go down the levee; and then he got out
his team and drove back to town; and then Bonelli could hear sounds of
altercation in the room, and Mr. Doyle's voice, very angry, and the
strange gentleman came out, and one of the men who'd been waiting said
he had a cab, if that would answer, and he'd fetch it right off, and by
the time he got back it was raining hard again, and he took his cab in
under the shed where the carriage had been, and a couple of soldiers
from the barracks then came in, wet and cold, and begged for a drink,
and Bonelli knew one of them, called Dawson, and trusted him, as he
often had done before. W