Louisiana Lou

t the cow-puncher, who was merely a gawky, loud-mouthed and uncouth importation from a Middle Western farm, broken to ride after a fashion, to rope and brand when ne

ore a wide-brimmed hat, the wear of which had resulted in certain picturesque sags that De Launay considered extremely artistic. His boots were small and fairly new, and not over adorned with ornament

wished to return as far as possible in spirit to the days of nineteen years ago. To his befuddled mind, the first step was to dress the part. He was groping after h

il the fellow went to his quarters for the night, and then break in and steal his clothes. A better plan suggested itself; to ply him with drink until unconscious and then drag him somewhere and strip him. This also did not seem practical. Then he thought of induc

w's clothes. The cow-puncher was almost as drunk as De Launay and showed it much more. He was also belligerent, which De Launay never was

s! Say, feller, wh

wering laborer, who was leaning agai

sissy eyebrow on 'is lip, would youse? Dey's a coupla

laughter were not safe to challenge. There were too many of them. De Launay stood alone and,

t before I take a wallop at

shave, bo," suggested

if he don't 126 git outa here," growled

t seemed that he must have that hat, that waistcoat and those boots at any cost. The o

t of pantry behind the main billiard parlor on the ground floor. The stairway was steep and dark, and the

uence of the liquor. There were some things he wanted and they continually ran through his mind in jumbled sequence. There was a pair of high heels, then there was a sort of vision of limitless, abandoned plain covered with yellowing grass and black sage clumps, and surmounted with a b

gher. One of them even kicked him in passing. He merely looked up, dully took in the figure and sank his head again on his arms. Inside, newcomers advi

departure. He waved a debonair and inclusive farewell to all those about him, teetered a bit on his high heels, stra

r and opened it. Holding the edge, he eased himself around it and, balancing on the outer side, clo

r De Launay and fell over his

ty pounds of cow-puncher sprawling in his lap and clinging about his neck. Hi

Launay pulled off his hat and substituted his own on the rumpled locks of the young man. He then sw

eld the cowboy during this process by throwing one leg over him, around his ne

there was a difficulty which he finally adjusted by rising, grasping the man by the neck again-i

k them off. Then he started to pull on the boots. But the noi

the late guests that they gave him a moment of respite. 129 He had time to get off of the c

his prize without a fight. He smote the first man with a straight jab that shook all his teeth. The next one he

d have amazed any one capable of noting it. But they were too many for him. He was shoved from the step, crowded back, stumbling downward, losing his balance, struggling gam

l was dark and obscure, but at the bottom was a narrow space where the battle waged wildly. De Launay managed to get to his hands

and not being able to find out-the outraged cowboy had thrust himself before a hostile fist in the start of the encounter and now lay unconscious at the to

een legs and making a more or less undamaged progress to the door, while his enemies battered one another. He had almost reached it, an

this country of range and sheriffs? What had they to do with the West? They stood

t into the big room and clear 131 to the sidewalk. The man resisted, swinging his mace, but he found De Launay a cold, inhumanly accurate and swift antagonist, whom it was di

De Launay could avoid a club in the hands of the man in front of him but that wielded by the man behind was another matter. It fell on his

Murphy. The others were more or less confused in their ideas. Johnny was chiefly anxious that the police should remove the prisoner and refrain from any close inquiry into the premises, so he merely stated that the fel

ated before a police sergeant for drunkenness, assault and battery, mayhem, inciting a riot, and resisting an off

tonously throwing him from side to side and against a mast to which he clung. Right in front of the raft, floating in the air above the waves, drifted a slender, veiled figure, and through the veil sparkled a pair of eyes which were bottomle

grew more and more distinct as the raft gyrated more crazily. Raft, desert, waves and sky became confused, haz

himself lying on his bunk in a cell, while Solange stood before hi

the floor and sat up on the edge of the bed. He tried to stand,

p," said Sol

ll right now, ma'am. You got half an hour. If

e serious?" a

hard case. But a fine and six months

de a derisive, threatening motion and, grinn

ater on a stand and he seized it, almost draining it as

the bed and stood aside. Solange stood like a st

id. Words and tone burned him like fire. 134 He said noth

and, stooping, felt the sharp throb of his half-fractured skull. His weakened nerves reacte

hey have hurt you?"

ok hold of h

" he answered, gruffl

at lurked there, searching his scarred soul to its depths, and finding it evil. He was in no condition to meet her, half drugged wi

e might have read in them something of despair, something of sullenness, somethin

e was. In incisive French she rebaptized him a coward, a 135 beast, a low and disgusting t

at least, men who had courage and command of themselves or had striven for it. She contrasted them with his own weakness and supineness and degradation. Then, her voice softening subtly, she shifted the picture to what he had been, to his days

made him see his own courage, which he had; his ability, which he also had; and, what it had not, great pride, noble impulses, legitimate

that one might 136 even gauge the depths from which you rose by the length and swiftne

d at the floor

pect of a légionna

e medaille militaire, the grand cross of the legion, who won a colonelcy in Champagne, a brigade at Verdun, a division at the Chemin des Dames, a

nutes. Solange sat on the bed, one knee crossed over the other and her chin rest

er for nineteen years; have made it the work of my life, in fact. I know nothing else-except, perhaps, a little of a passing, obsolete trade of this fading West you see 137 around you. I had hoped to win-had won, I thought, place and distinction in that profession. You know what

who can use me unless it be some petty state which needs mercenaries. I have

need is an object?" she said, r

uld I work, otherwise? I know nothing of trade, and ther

thropy-

ist, but a soldier. As for service-I served

ge; a f

ove that is said to mitigate that relation,

then rose from the bunk. She

stir you," she said. "Still, you may find

o trou

e asked abruptly. He lo

ot serv

hich I do not like. I wish your s

ill serve you-in any w

e veil, her mouth curvi

ear, serve me effectively by being thrown into jail for months. I

expect to find the mine and t

ss. Somehow, I feel that I shall succeed, at least in some measure, but the same premonit

doubtfully. "Still-from Morgan

ned upon him with an effec

y a minute, his throbbing head making mental action difficult. "I see n

nd bag, shivering a littl

possess. As for the mine, there seems to be only one hope, which is, to retrace as cl

put it in his pocket. Solang

ded, "I must get