exaggeratin'," he said. "Garminy
ain't big enough for a river the loike o' this. An' I'll leave it to
me intilligint-lookin' fri'nd here."

Colonel Pepper, thus appealed to, blushed, looked embarrassed,
coughed, and then replied that he thought Germany was quite large
enough for such a river.

"Did ye study gographie?" questioned the Irishman with fine scorn.

Colonel Pepper retired within himself.

The unsteady and excitable fellow had been crowded to the rear by his
comrades, who evidently wished to lessen, in some degree, the
possibilities of a fight.

"Phwat's in thim rivers ye're spoutin' about?" asked one.

"Vater, ov course."

"Me wooden-shoed fri'nd, ye mane beer--beer."

"You insolt me, you red-headed----"

"Was that Dutchman addressin' of me?" demanded the half-drunken
Irishman, trying to push by his friends.

"It'd be a foiner river if it wasn't yaller," said a peacemaker,
holding his comrade.

In the slight scuffle which ensued one of the men unintentionally
jostled the German. His pipe fell to the ground. He bent to recover
it.

Through Colonel Pepper's whole being shot the lightning of his strange
impulse, a tingling tremor ran over him; a thousand giants lifted and
swung his arm. He fought to check it, but in vain. With his blood
bursting, with his strength expending itself in one irresistible
effort, with his soul expanding in fiendish, unholy glee he brought
his powerful hand down upon the bending German.

There was a great shout of laughter.

The German fell forward at length and knocked a man off the levee
wall. Then the laughter changed to excited shouts.

The wall was steep but not perfectly perpendicular. Several men made
frantic grabs at the sliding figure; they failed, however, to catch
it. Then the man turned over and rolled into the river with a great
splash. Cries of horror followed his disappearance in the muddy water,
and when, an instant later, his head bobbed up yells filled the air.

No one had time to help him. He tried ineffectually to reach the
levee; then the current whirled him away. The crowd caught a glimpse
of a white despairing face, which rose on the crest of a muddy wave,
and then was lost.

In the excitement of the moment the Colonel hurried from the spot.
Horror possessed him; he felt no less than a murderer. Again he walked
and walked. Retribution had overtaken him. The accursed habit that had
disgraced him for twenty years had wrought its punishment.