"Listen to me, Abe," he said, a little thickly. "All this talk of yours don't hold water--no, nor spirit either," he laughed. "Say, I'm goin' to get married, and so I know."
Quite how he knew didn't seem clear; but he paused for the impression. Abe whistled interestedly and edged nearer, turning his ear so as not to miss what the youngster had to say.
"A-ah!" Will prolonged the exclamation knowingly, and waited for the man to guess.
"You wus allus sweet on Eve Marsham--you and Jim Thorpe."
Will suddenly ceased to smile. He drank his whiskey at a gulp and banged his glass on the counter.
"By G----!" he exclaimed harshly, while Abe wondered at his changed tone. "Yes, it's Eve--Eve Marsham; and I'm going to marry her--not Jim. D'you git that? By heaven!--yes. Here, Rocket----!" He lurched round on the bar. "Here, you old Sky-Rocket, get drinks, quick! For everybody! I'll pay! See, here's the wad," and he slammed a thick roll of bills on the counter. "I've got money, sure, and I'm--hic--goin' to burn it. Boys," he cried, swinging about and facing the tables, supporting himself against the bar, "you'll drink with me. Si--Silas here'll take your orders, an' serve you. You, too, Abe, ole pal."
Jim looked up from his cards the moment Will addressed the room, and now he watched him swaying against the bar. The light in his dark eyes was peculiar. He seemed to be speculating, and his thoughts were uneasy. Will yawned drunkenly. Peter Blunt, from across the room, was watching Jim, and moved abruptly clear of the tables, but not ostentatiously so.
Will's eyes watched Silas passing round the drinks. He was smiling in the futile manner of a drunken man, and his fingers were clutching nervously at the moulded edge of the bar. Rocket came back and handed him and Abe their whiskey. The former promptly clutched his glass and raised it aloft, spilling the neat spirit as he did so. Then, with drunken solemnity, he called for order.
"Boys," he cried, "you'll--you'll drink a to--toast. Sure you will. Every one of you'll drink it. My fu--sher wife, Eve--Eve Marsham. Jim Th--Thorpe thought he'd best--me, but----"
A table was suddenly sent flying in the crowd. A man's figure leaped out from behind the stove and rushed up to the speaker. It was Jim Thorpe. His eyes were blazing, and a demon of fury glared out upon the drunken man.