long, rambling frame building, which was gayly painted and brightly
illuminated. Men and women of all ages were entering and leaving the
place, and crowds of people were gathered about the entrance. Above the
noise of the clinking of glasses and the loud orders of the waiters,
could be heard the sounds of music, and a general confusion of voices
that bespoke a large assembly.

The detective had frequently heard of the character of a dance-house in
the far west, and here was an opportunity to view one in full blast.
Elbowing their way through the crowd, Manning and his companion soon
found themselves in a large, brilliantly lighted room, almost entirely
bereft of furniture. At one end was a raised platform, on which were
seated the orchestra, consisting of a piano, sadly out of tune, a
cracked violin, and a cornet which effectually drowned out the music of
the other two instruments. Around the sides of the room were ranged rows
of tables and wooden chairs, which were occupied by men and women, all
busily occupied in disposing of the villainous liquids which were
dispensed to them by so-called pretty waiter girls, who had evidently
long since become strangers to modesty and morality. The band was
playing a waltz, and the floor was filled with a motley gathering of
both sexes, who were whirling about the room, with the greatest
abandonment, dancing madly to the harsh and discordant music. The scene
was a perfect pandemonium, while boisterous laughter and loud curses
mingled with and intensified the general excitement and confusion. Both
the men and women were drinking freely, and some of them were in a wild
state of intoxication, while others had long since passed the stage of
excitement and were now dozing stupidly in the corners of the room.

Manning and his companion stood for some time gazing at the scenes
around them. The detective's mind was busy with somber meditations upon
the human degradation that was here presented. Here were women, many of
them still youthful and with marks of beauty still remaining, in spite
of their life of dissipation. Their eyes were flashing under the
influence of intoxication, and from their pretty lips were issuing
blasphemies which made him shudder. Old women, with a long record of
shame and immorality behind them, and with their bold faces covered with
cosmetics to hide the ravages of time. Rough men, with their flannel
shirts and their trousers tucked into their high, mud-covered boot