Prev | Current Page 109 | Next

Harte, Bret, 1836-1902

"Drift from Two Shores"

I'll get it
up for ye."
"But, Captain Dick, I'm an outcast, shamed, disgraced--"
"Two on them pills taken now, and two in the morning," continued
the captain, gravely, rolling a bolus in his fingers, "will bring
yer head to the wind again. Yer fallin' to leeward all the time,
and ye want to brace up."
"But, Captain," continued the agonized man, again clutching the
sinewy arms of his host, and forcing his livid face and fixed eyes
within a few inches of Captain Dick's, "hear me! You must and
shall hear me. I've been in jail--do you hear?--in jail, like a
common felon. I've been sent to the asylum, like a demented
pauper. I've--"
"Two now, and two in the morning," continued the captain, quietly
releasing one hand only to place two enormous pills in the mouth of
the excited Catron, "thar now--a drink o' whisky--thar, that'll do--
just enough to take the taste out of yer mouth, wash it down, and
belay it, so to speak. And how are the mills running, gin'rally,
over at the Bar?"
"Captain Dick, hear me--if you ARE my friend, for God's sake hear
me! An hour ago I should have been a dead man--"
"They say that Sam Bolin hez sold out of the Excelsior--"
"Captain Dick! Listen, for God's sake; I have suffered--"
But Captain Dick was engaged in critically examining his man.


Pages:
97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121