He never said a word. I left
him standing there as if petrified--his friend and pal talking to him
like that, his pal that sang with him, and joked with him!
"I went home and swore that never again would I have anything to do
with a Christian. I had forgotten for the moment all the little
kindnesses he had done and how after I had been on a drunk he had been
at my bedside, how he had spoken words of cheer and comfort and said,
'Dan, old man, cheer up. Some day you are going to cut out drink'; and I
want to say right now that I have not drank in over twelve years. I'd
forgotten all that. I only thought of how I might hang the best fellow
on this earth. I came to myself ten minutes after I left him, but the
work had been done, and I made up my mind I'd never see or speak to him
again. I'd go back to my old life of gambling and cheating, and I did.
"Five months passed. I had not seen Ranney in all that time. I was
playing poker one night, the 16th of September, 1899, with no more
thought of Dave than if he had never lived. It was in the old ---- ----
Hotel on Water Street, a little before eight in the evening. My partner
and I were having a pretty easy time stealing the other men's
money--some call it cheating--when my thoughts turned to my old
Christian pal Ranney.
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