e glasses of beer. Several men were already there, and others came
in, whom he knew, and all wanted to hear about Emerson Mead's round-up
and to congratulate him on its success. He drank mint juleps with two,
straight whisky with two others, a cocktail with another, and ended
with more beer. He walked up the street to the hotel, and as he talked
with the landlord he could feel the liquors he had so recklessly mixed
beginning to bite into his blood and raise little commotions in remote
corners of his brain. A pleasant-faced young Mexican came into the
office, and the landlord asked him how his patient was. The young man
replied in broken English that the man was a little better but very
sad, and that he wished to find some one to stay with him a few
minutes while he went out on an errand.

Nick Ellhorn's heart was warmed and expansive and he promptly
volunteered to sit with the invalid and entertain him for an hour,
and with effusive thanks the Mexican nurse conducted the tall Texan to
the sick-room. White, gaunt and weak, the invalid lay in his bed and
looked with eyes of envy and admiration at the tall, firm, well-knit
frame, the big muscles and the tanned face of his companion. By that
time Nick began to be conscious of a high, swift tide in his veins,
and through his dancing brain came the conviction that he must hold a
steady hand on himself and be very serious. He sat up stiff and
straight in his chair by the bedside, and his demeanor was grave and
solemn. When the sick man spoke of his health and strength, Nick
replied with admonishing seriousness:

"I'd be just such a lookin' thing as you are if I stayed indoors like
you do. You can't expect to be worth a whoop in hell if you stay in
the house and in bed all the time. I'll steal you away from here so
that coyote of a Mexican can't get hold of you again, and I'll take
you out to Emerson Mead's ranch and put you on a horse and make you
ride after the cattle, and sure and you'll be a well man before you
know it."

The invalid appeared apprehensive, and, feeling himself weakened by
the fear lest something untoward might happen, he asked Ellhorn to
give him a drink of brandy from a flask which stood on the mantel.
Nick poured the measured dose into a glass, smelt of it, and looked
frowningly at the sick man.

"Do you-all mean to say that you drink this stuff, as sick as you are?
You can have it if you insist, but I tell you you'll be dead by
sundown if you drink