* * * * *
At about six the next morning Pete Holloway woke up. He opened his eyes, groaned deeply, and closed them again.
"How are you feeling, Pete?" said I.
Pete groaned again, for memory of all that had passed came to him. With a tremendous effort he said--
"I'm dyin'!"
And he looked it.
In Miss Parkinson's bower, Jimmie Barker was saying faintly: "Kiss me good-bye, Edna; the hour has come!"
Shortly before, Mamie had whispered to Dan: "Darling, can you forgive me?" And he had replied fervently: "Mame, if Jack Rice kin make you happy, you take him."
Greiffenhagen had tried to administer more medicine. The boys refused to touch it. Pete expressed the feelings of the others when he muttered: "I ain't goin' to cross the Jordan drunk!"
It seemed to me that the three men were sinking. Mrs. Greiffenhagen, an impassioned pessimist, was of opinion that they couldn't last another hour!