place was utterly foul. The stench of tobacco smoke
blending with the fumes of liquor left it nauseating. In the farthest
corner of the room, just beside one of the windows, a group of four
men were playing draw poker, and with these were Kate's two hired men,
Nick Devereux, with his vulture head and long lean neck, and Pete
Clancy, the half-breed, whose cadaverous cheeks and furtive eye marked
him out as a man of desperate purpose.

At another table Kid Blaney was amusing himself with a pack of cards,
betting on the turn-up with the well-known badman, Stormy Longton. For
the rest there was a group of citizens lounging against the bar, still
discussing with the proprietor the possibilities of the newly created
situation. These were the postmaster, Allan Dy, and Billy Unguin, the
dry-goods man, and the patriarch church robber known as Holy Dick. The
only other occupant of the bar was Charlie Bryant.

He had come there earlier in the evening for no other purpose than to
hear how the town was taking the arrival of the police, and to glean,
if possible, any news of the contemplated movements of Stanley Fyles.
This had been his purpose, and for some time he had resisted all other
temptation. Nor, apart from his weakness, was he without considerable
added temptation. Dirty O'Brien displayed a marked geniality toward
him the moment he came in, and, by every consummate art of which he
was master, sought to break through the man's resolve.

Charlie fell. Of course he fell, as in the end O'Brien knew he would.
And, once having fallen, he lingered on and on, drinking all that came
his way with that insatiable craving, which, once indulged, never left
him a moment's peace.

Now, silent, resentful, but only partially under the influence of
liquor, he was sitting upon the edge of the wooden coal box which
stood against the wall at the end of the counter. His legs were
outspread along the top of its side, and his back was resting against
the counter itself. His eyes were bright with that peculiar luster
inspired by a brain artificially stimulated. They were slightly
puffed, but otherwise his boyish features bore no sign of his
libations. One peculiarity, however, suggested a change in him. The
womanish delicacy of his lips had somehow gone, and now they protruded
sensually as he sucked at a cheap cigarette.

Although these were only slight changes in Charlie's appearance, they
nevertheless possessed a strangely brutalizing effect