long, for he had heerd I'd got back and done unusual well. He was glad
to welcome me, and asked what I'd have and the treat was on him for old
friendship's sake.

"There didn't happen to be anybody else in the place at the time, for
it was early in the evening. I walked up to the bar and leaned on it
familiar like, and asked Pete if he didn't think he'd made enough money
in ruining other folks to quit the bus'ness. He showed he didn't know
what I meant by the strange question. I then said I'd stopped the
foolery for good, and give him my opinion of him as the worst wretch in
town. He had sot out the whiskey bottle on the bar and shoved out the
cork with his thumb and forefinger. I 'spose that was to let me get a
whiff of the stuff. I got it. I reached out my hand, pushed the cork
back in the bottle, and then grabbing it by the neck brought it down on
the bar with a bang that broke it into a dozen pieces and sent the
whiskey flying about the room.

"When Pete seed what I was up to he made a swipe at me, remarking
several swear words at the same time, but I landed him one under the
ear that sent him back so hard aginst the bottles behind him that he
bounced forward agin, and I grabbed him.

"He made just the sort of club I wanted. You see I had him by the
shoulders and I could swing his heels free and easy like. Wal, I used
him that way. For the next ten or fifteen minutes the only music in
that place was the panting of Pete and the crash and smash of bottles.
The fumes of the stuff filled the room like the mist you sometimes see
rising from a kenyon in the mountains. When I got through I don't
believe there was a whole bottle left, and as I stepped about the floor
I splashed in whiskey, just as we do when the Mississippi overflows the
streets. I tossed Pete over into one corner, and, not seeing any more
blessed work to do, passed out the door. I met two friends on their way
for a drink. When they said good evening I remarked off-hand that
they'd find plenty of whiskey inside without asking for it, and went on
to my home.

"I expected Pete would make a row about what I'd done and I would be
catched in the biggest kind of a row, but there ain't much law in St.
Louis just now, on account of the change from Spanish rule to French
and then to American. Besides, Pete hasn't got many friends, and I
reckon he knew he wouldn't get much sympathy. He rigged up his place
after awhile and laid in a new stock of p'ison, but it'll