duties of the day on an absinth cocktail. He said further
that since he had arrived on the isthmus he had heard only of Aintree's
misconduct, that soon the War Department would hear of it, that Aintree
would lose his commission, would break the backbone of a splendid
career.

"It's a friend talking," continued Haldane, "and you know it! It's
because I am your friend that I've risked losing your friendship! And,
whether you like it or not, it's the truth. You're going down-hill,
going fast, going like a motor-bus running away, and unless you put on
the brakes you'll smash!"

Aintree was not even annoyed.

"That's good advice for the right man," he granted, "but why waste it
on me? I can do things other men can't. I can stop drinking this
minute, and it will mean so little to me that I won't know I've
stopped."

"Then stop," said Haldane.

"Why?" demanded Aintree. "I like it. Why should I stop anything I
like? Because a lot of old women are gossiping? Because old men who
can't drink green mint without dancing turkey-trots think I'm going to
the devil because I can drink whiskey? I'm not afraid of whiskey," he
laughed tolerantly. "It amuses me, that's all it does to me; it amuses
me." He pulled back the coat of his pajamas and showed his giant chest
and shoulder. With his fist he struck his bare flesh and it glowed
instantly a healthy, splendid pink.

"See that!" commanded Aintree. "If there's a man on the isthmus in any
better physical shape than I am, I'll--" He interrupted himself to
begin again eagerly. "I'll make you a sporting proposition," he
announced "I'll fight any man on the isthmus ten rounds--no matter who
he is, a wop laborer, shovel man, Barbadian nigger, marine,
anybody--and if he can knock me out I'll stop drinking. You see," he
explained patiently, "I'm no mollycoddle or jelly-fish. I can afford a
headache. And besides, it's my own head. If I don't give anybody else
a headache, I don't see that it's anybody else's damned business."

"But you do," retorted Haldane steadily. "You're giving your own men
worse than a headache, you're setting them a rotten example, you're
giving the Thirty-third a bad name-"

Aintree vaulted off his cot and shook his fist at his friend. "You
can't say that to me," he cried.

"I do say it," protested Haldane. "When you were in Manila your men
were models; here they're unshaven, sloppy, undisciplined. They look
like bell-hops. And it's your fault.