scene. A blur
appeared in the doorway. In the nightmare of his intoxication he
welcomed the change. Why didn't some one say something or do
something? And the figure that had appeared, why should it pause and
speak to one of the men at the bar, and not come at once to him. They
were laughing. He grew silently furious. Why should they laugh and
talk and keep him waiting? He knew who had come in. Of course he
knew! Did Fadeaway think to hide himself behind the man at the bar?
Then Fadeaway should not wear chaps with silver conchas that glittered
and gleamed as he shifted his leg and turned his back. "Said he was my
friend," mumbled Corliss. "My friend! Huh!" Was it a friend that
would leave him sitting there, alone?

He rose and lurched to the bar. Some one steadied him as he swayed.
He stiffened and struck the man in the face. He felt himself jerked
backward and the shock cleared his vision. Opposite him two men held
Fadeaway, whose mouth was bleeding. The puncher was struggling to get
at his gun.

Corliss laughed. "Got you that time, you thief!"

"He's crazy drunk," said one of the men. "Don't get het up, Fade. He
ain't packin' a gun."

Fadeaway cursed and wiped the blood from his mouth. He was playing his
part well. Accident had helped him. To all intents and purposes they
were open enemies.

Still, he was afraid Corliss would talk, so he laughed and extended his
hand. "Shake, Billy. I guess you didn't know what you were doin'. I
was tryin' to keep you from fallin'."

Corliss stared at the other with unwinking eyes.

Fadeaway laughed and turned toward the bar. "Ought to hand him one,
but he's all in now, I reckon. That's what a fella gets for mixin' up
with kids. Set 'em up, Joe."

Left to himself Corliss stared about stupidly. Then he started for the
doorway.

As he passed Fadeaway, the latter turned and seized his arm. "Come on
up and forget it, Billy. You and me's friends, ain't we?"

The cowboy, by sheer force of his personality, dominated the now
repentant Corliss, whose stubbornness had given way to tearful
retraction and reiterated apology. Of course they were friends!

They drank and Fadeaway noticed the other's increasing pallor. "Jest
about one more and he'll take a sleep," soliloquized the cowboy. "In
the mornin' 's when I ketch him, raw, sore, and ready for anything."

One of the cowboys helped Corliss to his room at the Palace. Later
Fadeaway entered th