Page:Harold Macgrath--The girl in his house.djvu/43

 dreadful pipes and saying never a word! Two women, now—

"Say, Jim, that pipe of yours is a bird."

"Calabash I made myself."

"Well, when you bury it invite me to the funeral."

"Is it strong?"

"Strong? Wow! It would kill a bull elephant quicker than an express bullet. But finish her up and give us the dope about Durston's grille."

Armitage leaned forward and knocked the "dottle" from his pipe. "When I found that clipping I became full of flame. On the way down from Maingkwan to Mandalay there was a torch in my heart. But, somehow, when I reached Naples I could feel the fire dying down. I hated myself, but I could not escape the feeling. When I stepped off the ship to-day I knew that I had done a sensible thing in surrendering to a mad, shameless impulse. I came very near throwing away my whole life for something that had ceased to exist or had never existed. Folks, I'm absolutely cured."

"Going to quit wandering?"