Cabin Fever

the droop of an eyelid. It has fled for cause as slight. Sometimes it runs before resentment for a real or fancied wrong, but then, if you have observed it closely, you will see

h they were and long mourned, think of the consternation if they all came trooping back to take their old places in life! The

. When one of those emotions suddenly comes alive and stands, terribly real and intrusive, between our souls and our everyday lives, the stronge

ore never reminded Bud of the home and the wife and the love and the child he had lost out of his own life. Cash seldom mentioned women at all, and when he did it was in a purely general way, as women touched some other subject he was discussing. He never paid any attention to the children they met casually in their travels. He seemed absolutely self-sufficient, interested only in the prospect

l, for when he woke it was from a sweet, intimate dream of her, and it was to a tormenting desire for her, that gnawed at his mind as hunger gnaws at the stomach. Bud could not

wincing under the blows of memory, stung by the lash of his longing. He groaned,

one like a barrel, and I didn'

hed for the bottle, tilted it and swa

ed Frank, a li

ng by the stove with his jaws between his palms and

ou're too easy led-I saw that last night. You follow anybody's lead that you happen to be with. If

in't all that fatal, Bud. Let's go over an

he whisky. He got up, went to the water bucket and drank half a dipper of water. "Good glory! I hate whisky," he grumbled. "Takes a barrel to have any effect

dollars and twenty cents. He sat fingering the money absently, his mind upon other things. Upon Marie and the baby, to be exact. He was fighting the impulse to send Marie the money. She might need it for t

and swollen, his lips loose and trembling. A dollar alarm clock ticked resonantly, punctuated n

ast night," Frank ventured

got up. "We'll try her another whirl, and see if luck'll bring luck. Come on-let's go hunt up some of th

d came to the table where Bud was dividing the money into two equal sums, as nearly as he could make change. W

p on, if we go broke," he grunt

, went from the first saloon to the one farther down and across the street, returned to the first with cheerful alacrity and much meaningless laughter when Bud signified a desire to change. It soothed Bud and irritated him by turns, this ready acquiescence of Frank's. He began to take a malicious

hed and played whatever game Bud urged him into. He laughed and agreed with Bud when Bud made statements to

a game of pool which neither was steady enough to pl

I'm tired of being a hog. I'm going to go get another drink and sober up. And if you're the dog Fido you've been

the table. He also leaned a bit heavily. "S

k Frank gravely by the arm and walked him to the bar, paid for two beers with almost his last dollar, and, still holding Frank firmly, w

to know better 'n to act the way you've been acting. I'm sure ashamed of you, Frank. Adios-I'm going to hit the trail for camp." With that he

t what proved to be the assayer's report, and went on. He bought half a dozen bananas which did not remind him of that night when he had waited on the Oakland pier for t

seen through the gray film of a storm. The thought of her filled him with a vague discomfort now when his emotions were dulled by the terrific strain he had wilfully put upon brain and body. Resentment crept into the foreground again. Marie had made him suffer. Mar

ing his arms in that free stride of the man who has learned how to walk with the least effort. He did not halt when he saw Bud plodding slowly up the trail

f hours before. "I was just starting out to see what had become of you," he add

e-and lookin's cheap." Bud's anger flared at the disapprov

d the report come?" he asked, as though

t and gave it to Cash. He stood moodily waiti

g on the gold to pay for getting the copper. This is copper country, Bud. Looks like we'd found us a copper mine." He turned and walked on beside Bud. "I dug in to quite a rich streak of sand while y

ntly for a minute. "I've been drunker'n a f

retort, while he stared straight a