er the river into the fog, muttered to himself,
"I can't even make a success of dying, it seems."

Again, he regarded the empty bottle in his hand with studied interest.
Then, tossing the bottle into the river, he looked up, once more, to the
girl on the bank above.

"Listen, sister!" he said, nervously. "Is there any place around here
where I can buy a drink? I need something rather badly. Where am I,
anyway?"

"You-all are at Auntie Sue's place," said Judy; "an' there sure ain't no
chance for you-all ter git ary licker here. Where'd you-all come from,
anyhow? How'd you-all git here 'thout no oars ner paddle ner nothin'?
Where was you-all aimin' ter go?"

"Your questions, my good girl, are immaterial and irrelevant,"
returned the man in the boat. "The all-important matter before us for
consideration is,--how can I get a drink? I MUST have a drink, I tell
you!" He held up his hands, and they were shaking as if with palsy. "And
I must have it damned quick!"

"You-all sure do talk some powerful big words," said Judy, with critical
interest. "You-all sure must be some eddecated. Auntie Sue, now, she
talks--"

The man interrupted her: "Who is 'Auntie Sue'?"

"I don't know," Judy returned; "she's just Auntie Sue--that's all I
know. She sure is--"

Again the man interrupted: "I think it would be well for me to
interview this worthy aunt of yours." And then, while he raised himself,
unsteadily, to his feet, he continued, in a muttering undertone: "You
don't seem to appreciate the situation. If I don't get some sort of
liquor soon, things are bound to happen."

He attempted to step from the boat to the shore; but the instability of
the light, flat-bottomed skiff, together with his own unsteady weakness,
combined to land him half in the water and half on the muddy bank where
he struggled helplessly, and, in his weakened condition, would have
slipped wholly into the river had not Judy rushed down the rude steps to
his assistance.

With a strength surprising in one of her apparent weakness, the mountain
girl caught the stranger under his shoulders and literally dragged
him from the water. When she had further helped him to his feet, Judy
surveyed the wretched object of her beneficence with amused and curious
interest.

The man, with his unkempt hair, unshaven, haggard face, bloodshot eyes,
and slovenly dishevelled dress, had appeared repulsive enough while in
the boat; but, now, as he stood dripping with water and c