ould pledge yourselves to refrain from unbecoming
language in the hearing of my little girl, for you cannot help being
her instructors, no matter how much you may wish it were otherwise.
But you are magnifying the matter. I am sure every man of you will
strive just as hard, without being incited thereto by the fear of
punishment. I would beg to suggest----"

He paused, for, looking at Wade Ruggles, he saw it was useless to go
further. Bidwell would have been glad to receive leniency, but his
partner in crime was immovable, and it would not do to punish one and
allow the other to go free. Dawson was wise enough to accept the
situation promptly.

"You have heard the penalties suggested for the offences of the two
gentlemen accused. All who favor such punishment will show it by
raising their right hands."

Every man in the room, except the chairman, voted in the affirmative.

"It isn't worth while to put the negative. The accused have heard the
verdict, which is that Mr. Bidwell shall not drink a drop of anything
except water or coffee for a period of four days, dating from this
moment, while Mr. Ruggles is to undergo the same penalty for a period
of one week."

"That's right," growled Bidwell; "for he drank about half of what was
in the bottle only a few minutes ago."

"And you would have drunk it all," retorted Ruggles, "if you'd knowed
what was coming."

CHAPTER V

A HUNDRED FOLD

All this may seem a trifling matter to the reader who does not
understand the real punishment suffered by these two men, who, like
all the rest of their companions, had been accustomed to the use of
ardent spirits for many years. There was no deprivation which they
could not have borne with less distress, but their great consolation
was that both knew the penalty was fully deserved, and they would not
have complained had it been made more severe.

"I tell you," said Bidwell, at the end of the fourth day, when he had
celebrated his release from purgatory, "it pays, Ruggles."

"What pays?"

"The reward you git for all this. At the end of a week you'll have a
thirst that you wouldn't take a thousand dollars fur."

"But the week isn't much more'n half gone and I'd sell my thirst
mighty cheap now."

"Don't you do it! Hold fast to it."

"That's what I'm doing, 'cause I can't help myself. Howsumever it's
the thirst that's holding fast to me."

"That's the beauty of it; it'll git stronger and stronger, and then
it's so b