“I’m a preacher, sir,” replied Joslin, “or I was to have been—till to-night.”
The barkeeper laughed shortly. “Well, I believe you’d fight fair,” said he. And then quickly, “Say, I’ll take a chance with you! I’ll leave you here to-night. I believe you’re up against it. You can drink yourself crazy, or steal all the stock if you like. Or you can do as you say—stay here until I come back in the morning.”
Joslin looked at him, still swaying slightly, his hands upon the polished wood, steadying himself.
“To some men I’d say, ‘Take a drink and pull together,’ but with you I won’t,” said the proprietor. “Fight it out. It’s a man’s game, friend. By morning you’ll know whether you’re going up or down.”
“And you’ll accept that risk with a stranger?” said Joslin.
“You’ve got the risk—this night will have bigger chances in it for you than for me! Two or three drinks and I might find you on the floor in the morning. None at all, and I may find you sitting there. Risk’s yours, not mine. If that’s the way you want it——
“Well, fly to it, friend,” he concluded, chuckling grimly. “Don’t ask it again—I don’t know what I might do.”
“No,” said Joslin, “I shall never have another night like this. Let me sit here and read to-night. I will thank you al-_ways_.”
“You’re a mountain man,” said the saloon-keeper suddenly, noticing the accent on the last syllable.
“They’re hardy, and sometimes they can keep away from liquor. Well, luck to you.”
He pulled down the apron screening the shelves of bottles, and coming around the end of the bar stood for a moment looking at his visitor. Joslin was sitting now at the table, the glass of liquor close at hand.
“If you’re going to read,” said he, “you’ll have to have a light—I’ll leave this one burning for you.” A moment later he had passed out of his own door, which he left unlocked. Joslin felt for him a strange kinship, so that greater loneliness fell on him when he had left.
The reek of liquor was still in the air, the sawdust itself was redolent of it. But none of this now stirred the blood of David Joslin. Two or three times he raised the half-full glass in front of him level with his eye—and placed it back again untasted on the table. At last, quietly, pale, he took from his coat pocket a heavy volume, which often he had carried there.