volunteered to go across to the store with him. He left the
tavern, with one of the two walking on either side of him. He was
glad to be in the center of the trio; for, as the night air
struck him, he became unaccountably dizzy. His friends' willing
arms were a grand support to his wavering legs.

On the unlighted threshold of the tavern Link stumbled heavily
over something--something that had been lying there and that
sprang eagerly toward him as he debouched from the doorway. The
reason he stumbled over it was that the creature, which had
bounded so rapturously toward him, had come to a sharp halt at
noting his condition. Thus, Ferris stumbled over it; and would
have fallen but for the aid of his friends.

The single village street was pitch black. Not a light was to be
seen. This puzzled Link; who had no means of knowing that the
time was close on midnight. He started toward the store. At least
that was the direction he planned to take. But when, at the end
of five minutes, he found he was outside the village and on a
narrow road that bordered the lake, he saw his friends had
mistaken the way. He stopped abruptly and told them so.

One of them laughed; as if Link had said something funny. The
other did something quickly with one foot and one arm. Ferris's
legs went from under him. The jar of his fall shook from him a
fraction of his drunkenness, and it gave him enough sense to
realize that the man who had laughed was trying to unfasten the
pinned inner pocket of the fallen man's vest.

Now for years that pocket had been the secret repository of Link