bottle, he passed it across to him.

The other took it, and looked at the label. It was a well-known
brand of rye whiskey. And as he looked he seemed to gather warmth
and enthusiasm. It was as though the sight of the whiskey were
irresistible to him.

"Rye," he cried. "The juice for oiling the devil's joints." And his
lips seemed to smack over the words.

Jim was watching. He didn't understand. Peter's offer to go with him
to hell was staggering, and---- But the other went on in his own mildly
enthusiastic way.

"We'll start right here. I'll get two glasses. We'll drink this up,
and then we'll get some more at the saloon, and--we'll paint the town
red." He rose and fetched two glasses from a cupboard and set them on
the table. Then he took his sheath knife from his belt, and, with a
skilful tap, knocked the neck off the bottle.

"No water," he said. "The stuff'll act quicker. We want it to get
right up into our heads quick. We want the mad whirl of the devil's
dance; we----"

"But why should you----!"

"Tut, man! Your gait's good enough for me. There's room for more fools
than one in hell. Here! Here's your medicine."

He rose and passed a glass across to Jim, while the other he held
aloft.

"Here, boy," he cried, smiling down into Jim's face "Here, I'll give
you a toast." The stormy light in the ranchman's eyes had died out,
and in them there lurked a question that had something like fear in
it. But his glass was not raised, and Peter urged him. "A toast, lad
huyk your glass right up, and we'll drink it standing."

Jim rose obediently but slowly to his feet, and his glass was lifted
half-heartedly. There was no responsive enthusiasm in him now; it had
gone utterly. Peter's voice suddenly filled the room with a mocking
laugh, and his toast rang out in tones of sarcasm the more biting for
their very mildness.

"The devil's abroad. Here's to the devil, because there's no God and
the devil reigns. Nothing we see in the world is the work of anybody
but the devil. The soil that yields us the good grain, the grass that
feeds our stock, the warm, beneficent sun that ripens all the world,
the beautiful flowers, the magnificent forests, the great hills, the
seas, the rivers, the rain; everything in life. All the beautiful
world, that thrills with a perfect life, that rolls its way through
aeons of time held in space by a power that nothing can shake. All the
myriads of worlds and universes we see shining in the l