id
stringlengths 16
16
| text
stringlengths 151
2.3k
| word_count
int64 30
60
| source
stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|---|
twg_000012934500
|
months at a stretch, and town looks mighty good to them. The music sounds awful nice, and the women, well, they look just like angels. The boys are all right, but they've got that mad craving for the sight of a woman a man gets after he's been off out in the Wild, and these women have got the captivation
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934501
|
of men down to a fine art. Once one of them gets to looking at you with eyes that eat right into you, and soft white hands, and pretty coaxing ways, well, it's mighty hard to hold back. A man's a fool to come near these places if he's got a poke--'cept, like me, he knows the ropes and he's
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934502
|
right onto himself." The Youth said this with quite a complacent air. He went on: "These girls work on a percentage basis. You'll notice every time you buy them a drink the waiter gives them a check. That means that when the night's over they cash in and get twenty-five per cent, of the money you've spent on them. That's
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934503
|
how they're so keen on ordering fresh bottles. Sometimes they'll say a bottle's gone flat before it's empty, and have you order another. Or else they'll pour half of it into the cuspidor when you're not looking. Then, when you get too full to notice the difference, they'll run in ginger ale on you. Or else they'll get you ordering
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934504
|
by the case, and have half a dozen dummy bottles in it. Oh, there's all kinds of schemes these box rustlers are on to. When you pay for a drink you toss over your poke, and they take the price out. Do you think they're particular to a quarter ounce or so? No, sir! and you always get the short
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934505
|
end of it. It's a bad game to go up against." The Youth looked at me as though proud of his superior sophistication. The floor was cleared. Girls were now coming from behind the stage, preening themselves and chaffing with the crowd. The orchestra struck up some jubilant ragtime that set the heart dancing and the heels tapping in tune.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934506
|
Brighter than ever seemed the lights; more dazzling the white and gilt of the walls. Some of the girls were balancing lightly to a waltz rhythm. There was a witching grace in their movements, and the Youth watched them intently. He looked down at his feet clad in old moccasins. "Gee, I'd like just to have one spin," he said;
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934507
|
"just one before I leave the darned old country for good. I was always crazy about dancing. I'd ride thirty miles to attend a dance back home." His eyes grew very wistful. Suddenly the music stopped and the floor-master came forward. He was a tall, dark man with a rich and vibrant baritone voice. "That's the best spieler in the
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934508
|
Yukon," said the Youth. "Come on, boys," boomed the spieler. "Look alive there. Don't keep the ladies waiting. Take your hands out of your pockets and get in the game. Just going to begin, a dreamy waltz or a nice juicy two-step, whichever you prefer. Hey, professor, strike up that waltz!" Once more the music swelled out. "How's that, boys?
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934509
|
Doesn't that make your feet like feathers? Come on, boys! Here you are for the nice, glossy floor and the nice, flossy girls. Here you are! Here you are! That's right, select your partners! Swing your honeys! Hurry up there! Just a-goin' to begin. What's the matter with you fellows? Wake up! a dance won't break you. Come on! don't
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934510
|
be a cheap skate. The girls are fine, fit and fairy-like, the music's swell and the floor's elegant. Come on, boys!" There was a compelling power in his voice, and already a number of couples were waltzing round. The women were exquisite in their grace and springy lightness. They talked as they danced, gazing with languishing eyes and siren smiles
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934511
|
at the man of the moment. Some of them, who had not got partners, were picking out individuals from the crowd and coaxing them to come forward. A drunken fellow staggered onto the floor and grabbed a girl. She was young, dainty and pretty, but she showed no repugnance for him. Round and round he cavorted, singing and whooping, a
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934512
|
wild, weird object; when, suddenly, he tripped and fell, bringing her down with him. The crowd roared; but the girl good-naturedly picked him up, and led him off to the bar. A man in a greasy canvas suit with mucklucks on his feet had gone onto the floor. His hair was long and matted, his beard wild and rank. He
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934513
|
was dancing vehemently, and there was the glitter of wild excitement in his eyes. He looked as if he had not bathed for years, but again I could see no repulsion in the face of the handsome brunette with whom he was waltzing. Dance after dance they had together, locked in each other's arms. "That's a 'live one,'" said the
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934514
|
Youth. "He's just come in from Dominion with a hundred ounces, and it won't last him over the night. Amber, there, will get it all. She won't let the other girls go near. He's her game." Between dances the men promenaded to the bar and treated their companions to a drink. In the same free, trusting way they threw over
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934515
|
their pokes to the bartender and had the price weighed out. The dances were very short, and the drinks very frequent. Madder and madder grew the merriment. The air was hot; the odour of patchouli mingled with the stench of stale garments and the reek of alcohol. Men dripping with sweat whirled round in wild gyrations. Some of them danced
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934516
|
beautifully; some merely shuffled over the floor. It did not make any difference to the girls. They were superbly muscular and used to the dragging efforts of novices. After a visit to the bar back they came once more, licking their lips, and fell to with fresh energy. There was no need to beg the crowd now. A wave of
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934517
|
excitement seemed to have swept over them. They clamoured to get a dance. The "live one" whooped and pranced on his wild career, while Amber steered him calmly through the mazes of the waltz. Touch-the-button-Nell was talking to a tall fair-moustached man whom I recognised as a black-jack booster. Suddenly she left him and came over to us. She went
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934518
|
up to the Youth. She had discarded her blond wig, and her pretty brown hair parted in the middle and rippled behind her ears. Her large violet-blue eyes had a devouring look that would stir the pulse of a saint. She accosted the Youth with a smile of particular witchery. "Say, kid, won't you come and have a two-step with
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934519
|
me? I've been looking at you for the last half-hour and wishing you'd ask me." The Youth had advised me: "If any of them asks you, tell them to go to the devil;" but now he looked at her and his boyish face flushed. "Nothing doing," he said stoutly. "Oh, come now," she pleaded; "honest to goodness, kid, I've turned
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934520
|
down the other fellow for you. You won't refuse me, will you? Come on; just one, sweetheart." She was holding the lapels of his coat and dragging him gently forward. I could see him biting his lip in embarrassment. "No, thanks, I'm sorry," he stammered. "I don't know how to dance. Besides, I've got no money." She grew more coaxing.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934521
|
"Never mind about the coin, honey. Come on, have one on me. Don't turn me down, I've taken such a notion to you. Come on now; just one turn." I watched his face. His eyes clouded with emotion, and I knew the psychology of it. He was thinking: "Just one--surely it wouldn't hurt. Surely I'm man enough to trust myself,
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934522
|
to know when to quit. Oh, lordy, wouldn't it be sweet just to get my arm round a woman's waist once more! The sight of them's honey to me; surely it wouldn't matter. One round and I'll shake her and go home." The hesitation was fatal. By an irresistible magnetism the Youth was drawn to this woman whose business it
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934523
|
ever was to lure and beguile. By her siren strength she conquered him as she had conquered many another, and as she led him off there was a look of triumph on her face. Poor Youth! At the end of the dance he did not go home, nor did he "shake" her. He had another and another and another. The
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934524
|
excitement began to paint his cheeks, the drink to stoke wild fires in his eyes. As I stood deserted I tried to attract him, to get him back; but he no longer heeded me. "I don't see the Madonna to-night," said a little, dark individual in spectacles. Somehow he looked to me like a newspaper man "chasing" copy. "No," said
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934525
|
one of the girls; "she ain't workin'. She's sick; she don't take very kindly to the business, somehow. Don't seem to get broke in easy. She's funny, poor kid." Carelessly they went on to talk of other things, while I stood there gasping, staring, sick at heart. All my vinous joy was gone, leaving me a haggard, weary wretch of
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934526
|
a man, disenchanted and miserable to the verge of--what? I shuddered. The lights seemed to have gone blurred and dim. The hall was tawdry, cheap and vulgar. The women, who but a moment before had seemed creatures of grace and charm, were now nothing more than painted, posturing harridans, their seductive smiles the leers of shameless sin. And this was
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934527
|
a Dawson dance-hall, the trump card in the nightly game of despoliation. Dance-halls, saloons, gambling-dens, brothels, the heart of the town was a cancer, a hive of iniquity. Here had flocked the most rapacious of gamblers, the most beautiful and unscrupulous women on the Pacific slope. Here in the gold-born city they waited for their prey, the Man with the
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934528
|
Poke. Back there in the silent Wild, with pain and bloody sweat, he toiled for them. Sooner or later must he come within reach of their talons to be fleeced, flouted and despoiled. It was an organised system of sharpers, thugs, harpies, and birds of prey of every kind. It was a blot on the map. It was a great
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934529
|
whirlpool, and the eddy of it encircled the furthest outpost of the golden valley. It was a vortex of destruction, of ruin and shame. And here was I, hovering on its brink, likely to be soon sucked down into its depths. I pressed my way to the door, and stood there staring and swaying, but whether with wine or weakness
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934530
|
I knew not. In the vociferous and flamboyant street I could hear the raucous voices of the spielers, the jigging tunes of the orchestras, the click of ivory balls, the popping of corks, the hoarse, animal laughter of men, the shrill, inane giggles of women. Day and night the game went on without abatement, the game of despoliation. And I
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934531
|
was on the verge of the vortex. Memories of Glengyle, the laughing of the silver-scaled sea, the tawny fisher-lads with their honest eyes, the herring glittering like jewels in the brown nets, the women with their round health-hued cheeks and motherly eyes. Oh, Home, with your peace and rest and content, can you not save me from this? And as
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934532
|
I stood there wretchedly a timid little hand touched my arm. It is odd how people who have been parted a weary while, yet who have thought of each other constantly, will often meet with as little show of feeling as if they had but yesterday bid good-bye. I looked at her and she at me, and I don't think
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934533
|
either of us betrayed any emotion. Yet must we both have been infinitely moved. She was changed, desperately, pitifully changed. All the old sweetness was there, that pathetic sweetness which had made the miners call her the Madonna; but alas, forever gone from her was the fragrant flower of girlhood. Her pallor was excessive, and the softness had vanished out
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934534
|
of her face, leaving there only lines of suffering. Sorrow had kindled in her grey eyes a spiritual lustre, a shining, tearless brightness. Ah me, sad, sad, indeed, was the change in her! So she looked at me, a long and level look in which I could see neither love nor hate. The bright, grey eyes were clear and steady,
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934535
|
and the pinched and pitiful lips did not quiver. And as I gazed on her I felt that nothing ever would be the same again. Love could no more be the radiant spirit of old, the prompter of impassioned words, the painter of bewitching scenes. Never again could we feel the world recede from us as we poised on bright
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934536
|
wings of fancy; never again compare our joy with that of the heaven-born; never again welcome that pure ideal that comes to youth alone, and that pitifully dies in the disenchantment of graver days. We could sacrifice all things for each other; joy and grieve for each other; live and die for each other,--but the Hope, the Dream, the exaltation
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934537
|
of love's dawn, the peerless white glory of it--had gone from us forever and forever. Her lips moved: "How you have changed!" "Yes, Berna, I have been ill. But you, you too have changed." "Yes," she said very slowly. "I have been--dead." There was no faltering in her voice, never a throb of pathos. It was like the voice of
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934538
|
one who has given up all hope, the voice of one who has arisen from the grave. In that cold mask of a face I could see no glimmer of the old-time joy, the joy of the season when wild roses were aglow. We both were silent, two pitifully cold beings, while about us the howling bedlam of pleasure-plotters surged
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934539
|
and seethed. "Come upstairs where we can talk," said she. So we sat down in one of the boxes, while a great freezing shadow seemed to fall and wrap us around. It was so strange, this silence between us. We were like two pale ghosts meeting in the misty gulfs beyond the grave. "And why did you not come?" she
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934540
|
asked. "Come--I tried to come." "But you did not." Her tone was measured, her face averted. "I would have sold my soul to come. I was ill, desperately ill, nigh to death. I was in the hospital. For two weeks I was delirious, raving of you, trying to get to you, making myself a hundred times worse because of you.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934541
|
But what could I do? No man could have been more helpless. I was out of my mind, weak as a child, fighting for my life. That was why I did not come." When I began to speak she started. As I went on she drew a quick, choking breath. Then she listened ever so intently, and when I had
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934542
|
finished a great change came over her. Her eyes stared glassily, her head dropped, her hands clutched at the chair, she seemed nigh to fainting. When she spoke her voice was like a whisper. "And they lied to me. They told me you were too eager gold-getting to think of me; that you were in love with some other woman
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934543
|
out there; that you cared no more for me. They lied to me. Well, it's too late now." She laughed, and the once tuneful voice was harsh and grating. Still were her eyes blank with misery. Again and again she murmured: "Too late, too late." Quietly I sat and watched her, yet in my heart was a vast storm of
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934544
|
agony. I longed to comfort her, to kiss that face so white and worn and weariful, to bring tears to those hopeless eyes. There seemed to grow in me a greater hunger for the girl than ever before, a longing to bring joy to her again, to make her forget. What did it all matter? She was still my love.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934545
|
I yearned for her. We both had suffered, both been through the furnace. Surely from it would come the love that passeth understanding. We would rear no lily walls, but out of our pain would we build an abiding place that would outlast the tomb. "Berna," I said, "it is not too late." There was a desperate bitterness in her
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934546
|
face. "Yes, yes, it is. You do not understand. You--it's all right for you, you are blameless; but I----" "You too are blameless, dear. We have both been miserably duped. Never mind, Berna, we will forget all. I love you, Oh how much I never can tell you, girl! Come, let us forget and go away and be happy." It
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934547
|
seemed as if my every word was like a stab to her. The sweet face was tragically wretched. "Oh no," she answered, "it can never be. You think it can, but it can't. You could not forget. I could not forget. We would both be thinking; always, always torturing each other. To you the thought would be like a knife
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934548
|
thrust, and the more you loved me the deeper would pierce its blade. And I, too, can you not realise how fearfully I would look at you, always knowing you were thinking of THAT, and what an agony it would be to me to watch your agony? Our home would be a haunted one, a place of ghosts. Never again
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934549
|
can there be joy between you and me. It's too late, too late!" She was choking back the sobs now, but still the tears did not come. "Berna," I said gently, "I think I could forget. Please give me a chance to prove it. Other men have forgotten. I know it was not your fault. I know that spiritually you
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934550
|
are the same pure girl you were before. You are an angel, dear; my angel." "No, I was not to blame. When you failed to come I grew desperate. When I wrote you and still you failed to come I was almost distracted. Night and day he was persecuting me. The others gave me no peace. If ever a poor
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934551
|
girl was hounded to dishonour I was. Yet I had made up my mind to die rather than yield. Oh, it's too horrible." She shuddered. "Never mind, dear, don't tell me about it." "When I awoke to life sick, sick for many days, I wanted to die, but I could not. There seemed to be nothing for it but to
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934552
|
stay on there. I was so weak, so ill, so indifferent to everything that it did not seem to matter. That was where I made my mistake. I should have killed myself. Oh, there's something in us all that makes us cling to life in spite of shame! But I would never let him come near me again. You believe
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934553
|
me, don't you?" "I believe you." "And though, when he went away, I've gone into this life, there's never been any one else. I've danced with them, laughed with them, but that's all. You believe me?" "Yes, dear." "Thank God for that! And now we must say good-bye." "_Good-bye?_" "I said--good-bye. I would not spoil your life. You know how
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934554
|
proud I am, how sensitive. I would not give you such as I. Once I would have given myself to you gladly, but now--please go away." "Impossible." "No, the other is impossible. You don't know what these things mean to a woman. Leave me, please." "Leave you--to what?" "To death, ruin--I don't know what. If I'm strong enough I will
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934555
|
die. If I am weak I will sink in the mire. Oh, and I am only a girl too, a young girl!" "Berna, will you marry me?" "No! No! No!" "Berna, I will never leave you. Here I tell you frankly, plainly, I don't know whether or not you still love me--you haven't said a word to show it--but I
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934556
|
know I love you, and I will love you as long as life lasts. I will never leave you. Listen to me, dear: let us go away, far, far away. You will forget, I will forget. It will never be the same, but perhaps it will be better, greater than before. Come with me, O my love! Have pity on
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934557
|
me, Berna, have pity. Marry me. Be my wife." She merely shook her head, sitting there cold as a stone. "Then," I said, "if you call yourself dishonoured, I too will become dishonoured. If you choose to sink in the mire, I too will sink. We will go down together, you and I. Oh, I would rather sink with you,
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934558
|
dear, than rise with the angels. You have chosen--well, I too have chosen. We stand on the edge of the vortex, now will we plunge down. You will see me steep myself in shame, then when I am a hundred shades blacker than you can ever hope to be, my angel, you will stoop and pity me. Oh, I don't
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934559
|
care any more. I've played the fool too long; now I'll play the devil, and you'll stand by and watch me. Sometimes it's nice to make those we love suffer, isn't it? I would break my arm to make you feel sorry for me. But now you'll see me in the vortex. We'll go down together, dear. Hand in hand
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934560
|
hell-ward we'll go down, we'll go down." She was looking at me in a frightened way. A madness seemed to have gotten into me. "Berna, you're on the dance-halls. You're at the mercy of the vilest wretch that's got an ounce of gold in his filthy poke. They can buy you as they buy white flesh everywhere on earth. You
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934561
|
must dance with them, drink with them, go away with them. Berna, I can buy you. Come, dance with me, drink with me. We'll live, live. We'll eat, drink and be merry. On with the dance! Oh, for the joy of life! Since you'll not be my love you'll be my light-of-love. Come, Berna, come!" I paused. With her head
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934562
|
lying on the cushioned edge of the box she was crying. The plush was streaky with her tears. "Will you come?" I asked again. She did not move. "Then," said I, "there are others, and I have money, lots of it. I can buy them. I am going down into the vortex. Look on and watch me." I left her
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934563
|
crying. It is with shame I write the following pages. Would I could blot them out of my life. To this day there must be many who remember my meteoric career in the firmament of fast life. It did not last long, but in less than a week I managed to squander a small fortune. Those were the days when
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934564
|
Dawson might fitly have been called the dissolute. It was the rgime of the dance-hall girl, and the taint of the tenderloin was over the town. So far there were few decent women to be seen on the streets. Respectable homes were being established, but even there social evils were discussed with an astonishing frankness and indifference. In the best
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934565
|
society men were welcomed who were known to be living in open infamy. A general callousness to social corruption prevailed. For Dawson was at this time the Mecca of the gambler and the courtesan. Of its population probably two-thirds began their day when most people finished it. It was only towards nightfall that the town completely roused up, that the
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934566
|
fever of pleasure providing began. Nearly every one seemed to be affected by the spirit of degeneracy. On the faces of many of the business men could be seen the stamp of the pace they were going. Cases in Court had to be adjourned because of the debauches of lawyers. Bank tellers stepped into their cages sleepless from all-night orgies.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934567
|
Government officials lived openly with wanton women. High and low were attainted by the corruption. In those days of headstrong excitement, of sudden fortune, of money to be had almost for the picking up, when the gold-camp was a reservoir into which poured by a thousand channels the treasure of the valley, few were those among the men who kept
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934568
|
a steady head, whose private records were pure and blameless. No town of its size has ever broken up more homes. Men in the intoxication of fast-won wealth in that far-away land gave way to excesses of every kind. Fathers of families paraded the streets arm in arm with demi-mondaines. To be seen talking to a loose woman was unworthy
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934569
|
of comment, not to have a mistress was not to be in the swim. Words cannot express the infinite and general degradation. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate it. That teeming town at the mouth of the Klondike set a pace in libertinism that has never been equalled. I would divide its population into three classes: the sporting fraternity, whose
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934570
|
business it was to despoil and betray; the business men, drawn more or less into the vortex of dissipation; the miners from the creeks, the Man with the Poke, here to-day, gone, to-morrow, and of them all the most worthy of respect. He was the prop and mainstay of the town. It was like a vast trap set to catch
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934571
|
him. He would "blow in" brimming with health and high spirits; for a time he would "get into the game;" sooner or later he would cut loose and "hit the high places"; then, at last, beggared and broken, he would crawl back in shame and sorrow to the claim. O, that grey city! could it ever tell its woes and
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934572
|
sorrows the great, white stars above would melt into compassionate tears. Ah well, to the devil with all moralising! A short life and a merry one. Switch on the lights! Ring up the curtain! On with the play! * * * * * In the casino a crowd is gathering round the roulette wheel. Three-deep they stand. A woman rushes
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934573
|
out from the dance-hall and pushes her way through the throng. She is very young, very fair and redundant of life. A man jostles her. From frank blue eyes she flashes a look at him, and from lips sweet as those of a child there comes the remonstrance: "Curse you; take care." The men make way for her, and she
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934574
|
throws a poke of dust on the red. "A hundred dollars out of that," she says. The coupier nods; the wheel spins round; she loses. "Give me another two hundred in chips," she cries eagerly. The dealer hands them to her, and puts her poke in a drawer. Again and again she plays, placing chips here and there round the
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934575
|
table. Sometimes she wins, sometimes she loses. At last she has quite a pile of chips before her. She laughs gleefully. "I guess I'll cash in now," she says. "That's good enough for to-night." The man hands her back her poke, writes out a cheque for her winnings, and off she goes like a happy child. "Who's that?" I ask.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934576
|
"That? that's Blossom. She's a 'bute,' she is. Want a knockdown? Come on round to the dance-hall." * * * * * Once more I see the Youth. He is nearing the end of his tether. He borrows a few hundred dollars from me. "One more night," he says with a bitter grin, "and the hog goes back to wallow
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934577
|
in the mire. They've got you going too-- Oh, Lord, it's a great game! Ha! ha!" He goes off unsteadily; then from out of the luminous mists there appears the Jam-wagon. In a pained way he looks at me. "Here, chuck it, old man," he says; "come home to my cabin and straighten up." "All right," I answer; "just one
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934578
|
drink more." One more means still one more. Poor old Jam-wagon! It's the blind leading the blind. Mosher haunts me with his gleaming bald head and his rat-like eyes. He is living with the little ninety-five-pound woman, the one with the mop of hair. Oh, it is a hades of a life I am steeped in! I drink and I
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934579
|
drink. It seems to me I am always drinking. Rarely do I eat. I am one of half a dozen spectacular "live ones." All the camp is talking of us, but it seems to me I lead the bunch in the race to ruin. I wonder what Berna thinks of it all. Was there ever such a sensitive creature? Where
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934580
|
did she get that obstinate pride? Child of misfortune! She minded me of a delicate china cup that gets mixed in with the coarse crockery of a hash joint. Remonstrantly the Prodigal speeds to town. "Are you crazy?" he cries. "I don't mind you making an ass of yourself, but lushing around all that coin the way you're doing--it's wicked;
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934581
|
it makes me sick. Come home at once." "I won't," I say. "What if I am crazy? Isn't it my money? I've never sown my wild oats yet. I'm trying to catch up, that's all. When the money's done I'll quit. I'm having the time of my life. Don't come spoiling it with your precepts. What a lot of fun
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934582
|
I've missed by being good. Come along; 'listen to the last word of human philosophy--have a drink.'" He goes away shaking his head. There's no fear of him ever breaking loose. He, with his smile of sunshine, would make misfortune pay. He is a rolling stone that gathers no moss, but manages to glue itself to greenbacks at every turn.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934583
|
* * * * * I am in a box at the Palace Grand. The place is packed with rowdy men and ribald women. I am at the zenith of my shame. Right and left I am buying wine. Like vultures at a feast they bunch into the box. Like carrion flies they buzz around me. That is what I
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934584
|
feel myself to be--carrion. How I loathe myself! but I think of Berna, and the thought goads me to fresh excesses. I will go on till flesh and blood can stand it no longer, till I drop in my tracks. I realise that somehow I must make her pity me, must awake in her that guardian angel which exists in
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934585
|
every woman. Only in that way can I break down the barrier of her pride and arouse the love latent in her heart. There are half a dozen girls in the box, a bevy of beauties, and I buy a case of wine for each, over a thousand dollars' worth. Screaming with laughter they toss it in bottles down to
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934586
|
their friends in the audience. It is a scene of riotous excitement. The audience roars, the girls shriek, the orchestra tries to make itself heard. Madder and madder grows the merriment. The fierce fever of it scorches in my veins. I am mad to spend, to throw away money, to outdo all others in bitter, reckless prodigality. I fling twenty-dollar
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934587
|
gold pieces to the singers. I open bottle after bottle of wine. The girls are spraying the crowd with it, the floor of the box swims with it. I drop my pencil signing a tab, and when I look down it is floating in a pool of champagne. Then comes the last. The dance has begun. Men in fur caps,
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934588
|
mackinaw coats and mucklucks are waltzing with women clad in Paris gowns and sparkling with jewels. The floor is thronged. I have a large, hundred-ounce poke of dust, and I unloose the thong. Suddenly with a mad shout I scatter its contents round the hall. Like a shower of golden rain it falls on men and women alike. See how
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934589
|
they grovel for it, the brutes, the vampires! How they fight and grab and sprawl over it! How they shriek and howl and curse! It is like an arena of wild beasts; it is pandemonium. Oh, how I despise them! My gorge rises, but--to the end, to the end. I must play my part. * * * * * Always
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934590
|
amid that lurid carnival of sin floats the figure of Blossom, Blossom with her child-face of dazzling fairness, her china-blue eyes, her round, smooth cheeks. How different from the pinched pallid face of Berna! Poor, poor Berna! I never see her, but amid all the saturnalia she haunts me. The thought of her is agony, agony. I cannot bear to
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934591
|
think of her. I know she watches me. If she would only stoop and save me now! Or have I not fallen low enough? What a faith I have in that deep mother-love of hers that will redeem me in the end. I must go deeper yet. Faster and faster must I swirl into the vortex. Oh, these women, how
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934592
|
in my heart I loathe them! I laugh with them, I quaff with them, I let them rob me; but that's all. * * * * * In all that fierce madness of debauch, thank God, I retained my honour. They beguiled me, they tried to lure me into their rooms; but at the moment I went to enter I
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934593
|
recoiled. It was as if an invisible arm stretched across the doorway and barred me out. And Blossom, she, too, tried so hard to lure me, and because I resisted it inflamed her. Half angel, half devil was Blossom, a girl in years, but woefully wise, a soft siren when pleased, a she-devil when roused. She made me her special
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934594
|
quarry. She fought for me. She drove off all the other girls. We talked together, we drank together, we "played the tables" together, but nothing more. She would coax me with the prettiest gestures, and cajole me with the sweetest endearments; then, when I steadfastly resisted her, she would fly into a fury and flout me with the foulness of
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934595
|
the stews. She was beautiful, but born to be bad. No power on heaven or earth could have saved her. Yet in her badness she was frank, natural and untroubled as a child. It was in one of the corridors of the dance-hall in the early hours of the morning. The place was deserted, strewed with dbris of the night's
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934596
|
debauch. The air was fetid, and from the gambling-hall down below arose the shouts of the players. We were up there, Blossom and I. I was in a strange state of mind, a state bordering on frenzy. Not much longer, I felt, could I keep up this pace. Something had to happen, and that soon. She put her arms around
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934597
|
me. I could feel her cheek pressed to mine. I could see her bosom rise and fall. "Come," she said. She led me towards her room. No longer was I able to resist. My foot was on the threshold and I was almost over when---- "Telegram, sir." It was a messenger. Confusedly I took the flimsy envelope and tore it
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934598
|
open. Blankly I stared at the line of type. I stared like a man in a dream. I was sober enough now. "Ain't you coming?" said Blossom, putting her arms round me. "No," I said hoarsely, "leave me, please leave me. Oh, my God!" Her face changed, became vindictive, the face of a fury. "Curse you!" she hissed, gnashing her
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
twg_000012934599
|
teeth. "Oh, I knew. It's that other, that white-faced doll you care for. Look at me! Am I not better than her? And you scorn me. Oh, I hate you. I'll get even with you and her. Curse you, curse you----" She snatched up an empty wine bottle. Swinging it by the neck she struck me square on the forehead.
| 60
|
gutenberg
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.