companions offered.
"I reckon this is the room which that hound of a landlord, Rakes,
allowed he'd fix up for our poker club--the club that Dan Simmons and
me got up, with a few other sports. It was to be a slap-up affair, right
under the roof, where there was no chance of the police raiding us. But
the cur weakened when the Vigilants started out to make war on any game
a gen'leman might hev that wasn't in their gummy-bag, salt pork trade.
Well, it's gettin' a long time between drinks, gen'lemen, ain't it?" He
looked round him significantly.
Only the thought of the woman and her children in the next room, and
the shame that he believed she was enduring, enabled Breeze to keep his
temper or even a show of civility.
"I'm afraid," he said quietly, "that you'll find very little here to
remind you of the club--not even the whiskey; for I use the room only as
a bedroom, and as I am a workingman, and come in late and go out early,
I have never found it available for hospitality, even to my intimate
friends. I am very glad, however, that the little leisure I have had in
it has enabled me to make the floor less lonely for your children."
Mr. Bodine got up with an affected yawn, turned an embarrassed yet
darkening eye on Breeze, and lunged unsteadily to the door. "And as I
only happened in to do the reg'lar thing between high-toned gen'lemen,
I reckon we kin say 'Quits.'" He gave a coarse laugh, said "So long,"
nodded, stumbled into the passage, and thence into the other room.
His companion watched him pass out with a relieved yet protecting air,
and then, closing the door softly, drew nearer to Breeze, and said in
husky confidence,--
"Ye ain't seein' him at his best, mister! He's bin drinkin' too much,
and this yer news has upset him."
"What news?" asked Breeze.
"This yer suicide o' Irish Jack!"
"Was he his friend?"
"Friend?" ejaculated the man, horrified at the mere suggestion. "Not
much! Why, Irish Jack was the only man that could hev hung Jim! Now he's
dead, in course the Vigilants ain't got no proof agin Jim. Jim wants to
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