"From everything," gasped Catron, "from the men that are hounding
me, from my family, from my friends, but most of all--from, from--
myself!"

He had, in turn, grasped Captain Dick, and forced him frenziedly
against the wall. The captain released himself, and, taking the
hands of his excited visitor, said slowly,--

"Ye wan some blue mass--suthin' to unload your liver. I'll get it
up for ye."

"But, Captain Dick, I'm an outcast, shamed, disgraced--"

"Two on them pills taken now, and two in the morning," continued
the captain, gravely, rolling a bolus in his fingers, "will bring
yer head to the wind again. Yer fallin' to leeward all the time,
and ye want to brace up."

"But, Captain," continued the agonized man, again clutching the
sinewy arms of his host, and forcing his livid face and fixed eyes
within a few inches of Captain Dick's, "hear me! You must and
shall hear me. I've been in jail--do you hear?--in jail, like a
common felon. I've been sent to the asylum, like a demented
pauper. I've--"

"Two now, and two in the morning," continued the captain, quietly
releasing one hand only to place two enormous pills in the mouth of
the excited Catron, "thar now--a drink o' whisky--thar, that'll do--
just enough to take the taste out of yer mouth, wash it down, and