manded sufficient
respect for himself to prevent the laughter which his appearance and
remarks might otherwise have encouraged. With his assistance the
proprietors of the "Whole Family" proceeded with the descriptions of the
gun and the Bible. They had finished and Colonel Hazard had arisen to go
when Bates himself entered. He was unsteady on his feet, and paused for
a moment to regard the Colonel with drunken scorn. Then he made a motion
toward a chair, lurched heavily, barely saved himself by grasping the
table, and stood swaying like an inverted pendulum. The Colonel
hesitated for an instant, then with a deft motion he pushed a chair
behind the oscillating figure.

"Allow me, Mr. Bates. Good evening, gentlemen." And with a stately bow
he passed out just as the helpless Bates sank into the chair thus
thoughtfully provided by his enemy, and was saved. Once in the chair, he
partially recovered and found speech.

"No r'spect f'r that chap!" he said thickly, shaking his head, "no
r'spect wh'tever. He's 'n old stuff--'at's w'at he is--no r'spect
wh'tever."

"Oh, come, Bates, brace up! If it hadn't been for the Colonel you'd have
been on the floor! Brace up, now; we want to talk business!"

Perner spoke sharply, and it had the effect of bringing the solicitor
partly to his senses. The proprietors of the "Whole Family" had been
indulgent heretofore--even submissive; he could not afford to disturb
these conditions--not yet. Barrifield and Van Dorn also regarded him
severely. Livingstone, disgusted, walked over to the window and looked
down on the street.

"We have been getting up our ads," continued Perner, "and we want them
placed right away. We've left the selection of the places to you, but if
you're going to attend to it you've got to brace up and answer some
questions. What we want to know is whether this advertising is going to
pay us--pay right away, I mean--so enough returns will come in to cover
the investment as soon as it's out."

The effect of this on Bates was certainly remarkable. By the time Perner
had finished speaking, except for a slightly heavy look in his eyes and
a trifling uncertainty as to consonants, you could hardly have told he
had been drinking.

"Gen'lemen," he said with great conviction, "there is no question about
it. I've been in the adve'tising business ten years, an' I know what I'm
talkin' about. You've got a beautiful paper, gen'lemen, beautiful. I sat
up t'll one o'clock las' night