ountered slipped along so furtively
and with such white faces. In the midst of our civilization, down in our
slums and labor-ghettos, we had bred a race of barbarians, of savages;
and now, in the time of our calamity, they turned upon us like the wild
beasts they were and destroyed us. And they destroyed themselves as
well.

[Illustration: Now in the time of calamity they turned on us 108]

"They inflamed themselves with strong drink and committed a thousand
atrocities, quarreling and killing one another in the general madness.
One group of workingmen I saw, of the better sort, who had banded
together, and, with their women and children in their midst, the sick
and aged in litters and being carried, and with a number of horses
pulling a truck-load of provisions, they were fighting their way out
of the city. They made a fine spectacle as they came down the street
through the drifting smoke, though they nearly shot me when I first
appeared in their path. As they went by, one of their leaders shouted
out to me in apologetic explanation. He said they were killing the
robbers and looters on sight, and that they had thus banded together as
the only-means by which to escape the prowlers.

"It was here that I saw for the first time what I was soon to see so
often. One of the marching men had suddenly shown the unmistakable mark
of the plague. Immediately those about him drew away, and he, without
a remonstrance, stepped out of his place to let them pass on. A woman,
most probably his wife, attempted to follow him. She was leading a
little boy by the hand. But the husband commanded her sternly to go on,
while others laid hands on her and restrained her from following him.
This I saw, and I saw the man also, with his scarlet blaze of face, step
into a doorway on the opposite side of the street. I heard the report of
his pistol, and saw him sink lifeless to the ground.

"After being turned aside twice again by advancing fires, I succeeded in
getting through to the university. On the edge of the campus I came
upon a party of university folk who were going in the direction of the
Chemistry Building. They were all family men, and their families were
with them, including the nurses and the servants. Professor Badminton
greeted me, I had difficulty in recognizing him. Somewhere he had gone
through flames, and his beard was singed off. About his head was a
bloody bandage, and his clothes were filthy.

[Illustration: He told me he h