n the
corner, filling up a cup.

"My God! Jake,--you don't mean to tell me you are back to that stuff?"

"Yep! I ain't preachin' tee-total any more after this."

My heart sank within me. This,--after all his fighting.

I remonstrated with him all I could.

"But, man alive!" I said, "this is the early morning. Are you crazy?
You never drank in the mornings before. Wait till night time. Give
yourself a chance to get pulled together. You'll be feeling different
after a while.

"Think! What will Rita say? What will Miss Grant think? How will you
be able to face Mr. Auld? They all know of the good fight you have
been putting up.

"Jake,--Jake,--for shame! Throw the stuff out at the door."

Jake only shook his head more firmly.

"It ain't no good preachin', George, or gettin' sore,--for I've quit
tryin'.

"What'n the hell's the good, anyway. The more you fight, the rawer a
deal you get in the finish. Forget it! I'm drinkin' now whenever I'm
good and ready; any old time at all and as much as I want,--and more."

I could do no more for him. It was Jake for it.

I stopped the southbound _Cloochman_ that afternoon and put Jake's
letters aboard. Two days later, two clerks from the Commercial Bank
and a young lawyer from Dow, Cross & Sneddon's came into Golden
Crescent in a launch. I took them over to Jake Meaghan's. I
introduced them, then busied myself outside while the necessary
formalities were gone through, for I did not wish to be in any way
connected with Jake's settlements. At last, however, the old fellow
came to the door.

"George,--I guess you'd better take care o' them for me. That's my
bank receipt. That's my death warrant," he grinned, "I mean my will.
You're better'n me at lookin' after papers."

We carried the brass-bound trunk to the launch and waved it a fond
farewell, without tears or regrets.

For two weeks, morning, noon and night, Jake indulged in a horror of a
drinking bout.

The very thought of that orgy still sets my blood running cold.

We pleaded, we threatened; but of no avail. The minister even closeted
himself with Jake for a whole afternoon without making the slightest
impression on him.

It was always the same old remark:

"I've boozed for ten years and it ain't hurt me, so I guess I can booze
some more."

And the strange feature of it was that the more he drank the more sober
he seemed to become. He did his work as well as ever. His eyes
retained