Branded

Pl

d the possibility of stumbling upon any of the places where I had hitherto sought work; though

king about the prospects in the region through which we were passing. I was told that there were swamp lands in th

outpaced for the moment only to make room for another. The first man I tackled was t

upward: "On yer way, Misther Counter-hopper; 'tis wor-rkin'

rd. Finally I landed a job as a stacker in a lumberyard; and now I found another of the day-laborer difficulties lying in wait for me. At the time of my commitment for trial I was in good physical condition. But the three years in prison had made

ingly when he gave me my ti

the stacking," he commented; "that's a man

. "I can't take a

can't

ason in a sin

hey? What wa

I had pleaded the miscarriage of justice so many times, only

know as I think any worse of you for sp

to earn an h

ands. Say, boy; I sort o' like your looks, and I'm goin' to give you a boost. They're needin' a log-scaler in the sawmil

hanced to get a glimpse of a short, heavy-set man talking to a bunch of my fellow laborers. Before I could cross the mill yard to identify the stranger he turned and walked quickly away; but the s

and when the envelopes had been giv

, one way or the other, what you've been or where you hall from. You do your work well, and that's all I ask

on five months earlier was breaking down. The relentless pressure was doing its work, and I began to ask myself how lon

ome neighborhood. But with the lumber company's money in my pocket I boarded a train for the State metropolis. At the end of the

in any fashion, as I was afterward led to believe. That the hired traducer would follow and find me I made no doubt; but by this time I was becoming so inured to this pecul

own against the trained muscles of seasoned roustabouts, porters and freight-handlers. Worse still, the physical deterrent grew by what it fed upon-or by the lack of feeding.

cided nearly with my own. The meeting was wholly by chance. I was crossing one of the city bridges at night, pointing for one of the river warehouses where I hoped

this intimacy, which I had striven to hold at arm's length, I had come to know the forger as a criminal of the most dangerous breed; a man of parts and of some education, but wholly lac

s here!" was his greeting

ustaches since his release; he was well-dressed, erect and alert, and was smoking a cigar th

to say at last, shivering in the cold

ntily. "I'm collecting a little on the old deb

debt?"

nd world owes every man: three square

ll four," I agreed, setting my jaw

he countered. And then: "What's the matter? Ju

" I ad

me a qui

ng, if you're game for it. Let's hu

he outdoor blast and chill, and it reeked like a sty. Kellow kicked out a chair for me and drew up one for himself on the opposite side o

he asked, when th

nd," I said; and then, in an apology for which I instantly despise

lf, and after the waiter was gon

your belt. You're a fool, Weyburn. I know what you've been doing, just as well as if you'd told me the whole story.

I was falling upon it like a famished wolf. I hadn't a penny in my pocket

t a gulp and stood the empty g

pose-handing in your name and numb

here was nothing else t

o beat the parole game! Look at me: I'm here, ain't I? And the warden knows all about it, does he? Not on your life! Every four weeks he gets a letter from

se letters for you

town does the rest. Bimeby, when I've collected enough of

d you and br

won't. This old world is plenty good

d yet; and I don't want to

e me the sne

racked the bank or didn't. You may think you can live square and live the prison-smell down

e blunt facts were concerned. Every failure I had made in the six weary months confirmed it. There was little room in the world of the well-behaved for the man who was honest enough-or f

t belie

ay as well have the game. The world is dead easy, if you take it on its blind side; easy l

onored swindle-the gold-brick game-and he needed a confederate. The fish was almost as good as landed, and with a little coaching I could step in and clinch the robbery. Kellow proposed to stake me for the clot

r sink no lower than the flesh-and-blood medium through which they find their expression. The six months of hardship and humiliation which had brought me to a pass at which I could eat a saloon luncheon at the expense of a thief were pushing me over the brink. Kello

you're on your way home to New York, we'll say, from your mine in Colorado. You're stopping at the Marlboro

hat you a

otel. Then, to-morrow morning bright and early you can hit the ready-made tailors and blossom out right as the honest miner spending some of his money for the glad rags. I'm at the Ma

me; it stood for food and decent clothing and a bath-but chiefly for food. Slowly I took it up and finge

of that miserable doggery, drinking whiskey sours alone and smoking his high-priced cigars. But I do know

train at the Springville station. But though Whitley's sturdy faith in me came to do its part, it was another and much longer leap of memory that made me hesitate and draw back; a flash carrying me back to my school-days in Glendale ... to a certain afternoon when a plai

eemed so out of place teaching in a Glendale school, had dropped out of my life years before. But the fact remained, and at the memory, Kellow's bribe, gripped pocket-deep in my hand, burnt me like a coal of

eeling of the nerves and muscles to make one more stroke before he drowns, persisted. Footsore and half-frozen, I tramped the dozen squares to the great hotel in the business district. The night clerk sized me up for prec

uest had left a few sheets of the hotel paper and an envelope. Without a written word to go with it,

when I had seen the thing done, and had verified the number of the b

r for the remainder of the night, a cab drove up and a man, muffled to the ears in a fur-lined overcoat, got out. He was apparently an arrival from one of the night trains; wh

er. I was so busy envying him the possession of that warm, fur-lined coat that I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing, bu

small enough to serve the cab-paying purpose. Obviously there was not, and with a grunt of impatience he searched again, this time unearthing a handful of silver. Dropping the proper coin into the cabman's outstretched hand, he turned and d

named me for what I was at the moment-a half-starved, half-frozen, despair-hounded thief. When I had made sure that there was no policeman in sight I examined my prize by the light of a crossing electric. The black

otel, though not without terrible foot-draggings, you may be sure. And as I went, many-tongued temptation clamored riotously for a hearing: the man had so much-he would never miss this carelessly spilt driblet; I had no means of identifying him, and with

unter. For the second time that night I sought speech with the bediamonded chief lackey, and got it grudgingly. No; no one had registered within the past few minutes, and no

hand-bags; they were brought in by one of the bell-bo

th the contemptuous lip-curl that I had encountered too often not to recognize it at sight: "Who are you, anyway?-a

horities and the law, living the life of a hunted animal and coming at last to the choice between starvation and a delibera

and there had been but one instant of hesitation. This had come in a frenzied burst of red rage when I remembered that, when all was said, I owed this last downward step, as well as all that had gone before, to two old men who ... I stopped

nd station and framed my reply to the ticket agent's curt question, "Where to?" when I thrust my money through his wicket. Be that as it may, a short half-hour later I had boarded a through westbound train and wa