ce of
the temporary railway terminus, it had been hastily and flimsily
constructed, so it could be transported elsewhere at a moment's notice.
Every creak of a bed echoed from wall to wall. The thin partitions often
failed to reach the ceiling by a foot or two, and the slightest noise
aroused the entire floor. And there was noise of every conceivable kind,
in plenty, from the blare of a band at the Pioneer Dance Hall opposite,
to the energetic cursing of the cook in the rear. A discordant din of
voices surged up from the street below--laughter, shouts, the shrieks of
women, a rattle of dice, an occasional pistol shot, and the continuous
yelling of industrious "barkers." There was no safety anywhere. An
exploding revolver in No. 47 was quite likely to disturb the peaceful
slumbers of the innocent occupant of No. 15, and every sound of quarrel
in the thronged bar-room below caused the lodger to curl up in momentary
expectation of a stray bullet coursing toward him through the floor.
With this to trouble him, he could lie there and hear everything
that occurred within and without. Every creak, stamp, and snore was
faithfully reported; every curse, blow, snarl reechoed to his ears.
Inside was hell; outside was Sheridan.

Wearied, and half dead, as Keith was, sleep was simply impossible.
He heard heavy feet tramping up and down the hall; once a drunken man
endeavored vainly to open his door; not far away there was a scuffle,
and the sound of a body falling down stairs. In some distant apartment a
fellow was struggling to draw off his tight boots, skipping about on one
foot amid much profanity. That the boot conquered was evident when
the man crawled into the creaking bed, announcing defiantly, "If the
landlord wants them boots off, let him come an' pull 'em off."
Across the hall was a rattle of chips, and the voices of several men,
occasionally raised in anger. Now and then they would stamp on the floor
as an order for liquid refreshments from below. From somewhere beyond,
the long-drawn melancholy howl of a distressed dog greeted the rising
moon.

Out from all this pandemonium Keith began to unconsciously detect
the sound of voices talking in the room to his left. In the lull of
obstructing sound a few words reached him through the slight open space
between wall and ceiling.

"Hell, Bill, what's the use goin' out again when we haven't the price?"

"Oh, we might find Bart somewhere, and he'd stake us. I guess I know
eno