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warn j^i by <jack London Authop Or m1ke Call Or The Wild* hWh/te Fang* "MAPr/uliDfHfrc Illustpations By Dearborn Htivni (Copyright. I9P>. by th? New York Herald Company.) (Copyright. 1910. by the Ma.-Miiian Company. And In the end. when eariy summer was on, everything began to tuend. Cnme a day when DayMgbt did the un? precedented He left the office an hour eat Her then usual, and for the reecon that for ihn Amt time since the panic there was not an item or rori waiting to be done. He dropped into begin s private office, bet?re leaving, for a chat and as he stood up to go, he said? * 'Heg: i) we're sll hunkadory. W"'re nulling out of the financial pawns top In flee shape, and we ll get out with? out learing one uuredeemed pledge behind. The worst Is over, and the end Is In sight Just tight rein for a couple more weeks. Just a bit of s pinch or a flurry or so now and than, and we can let go and spit on our hsnda" For once he varied his programme. Instead of going directly to his hotel, he started on s round of the bars and cafes drinking a cocktail here and a cocktail there, and two or three when hn encountered men he knew. It was after an hour or so of this that he dropped Into the bar of the Parthenon for one last drink before going to din? ner. By this time all his being was pleasantly warm? d by the alcohol, snd ho wns tn the most genial and best of spirits At the corner of the bar sev? eral young men were up to the old trick o' resting their elbows and at? tempting to force each other's hands down One broad shouldered young giant aerer removed his elbow, but gat down every hand that came against him. Daylight was Interested. It's Sloe son.' the barkeeper told him. In answer to his Query. "He's nan heavy hammer thrower at the U. "We're Pulling Out of the Financial Pawnshop in Pins Shape." C Broke all records this year and tau? world's record on top of It. He's 1 a husk/ all right sll right." Daylight nodded and went over to him placing his own arm tn opposi? tion "I'd like to go you a flutter, son, on that proposition." he said. The young man laughed and locked hands with him; and to Daylight's as ton la h men t It was his own hand that was forced down on the bar. ? "Hold on," he muttered. "Just one aanrs flutter. I reckon I wasn't just nnady that time." Again the hands locked. It happen? ed quickly. The offensive attack of lkajrttght's muscles slipped Instantly hsto defence, snd. resisting vainly, his hand was forced over and down. Day? light waa daaed. It had be<n no trick. The skill was equal, or, if anything, the superior skill had been his. Strength sheer strength, had done It. 'He called Tor Hie drinks, anil,'still dsssd snd pondering, held up his own arm and looked at it as st some new strange thing He did not know this arm. I' certainly was not the arm he had cajrt.'d around with him sll the years. The obi arm** Why. it would hare been play to turn down that young husky's. But this arm- he con? tinuant to look at It with such dubious psarpleilty as to bring a roar of laugh tar from the young men. This laughter aroused him. He Joined In It at first, and then his face slowly grew grave He leaned to ward the hammer thrower "flua," he said, "let me whlsi>er a as erst Get out of here and quit drinking ggfl begin, The young fellow flashed angrily, but Daylight held steadily on. "You llMt-n to your <lnd. and Krl him nsy a few. I'm a young man mv self, on y I ain't l/t me fell you. several years ngo for me to turn your hand do An w > !d hnv.- !><?? n III asttting assault and battery on a kin dergnrt* i Blossen lookeI his Incredulity, while the IgSMSPl grlnm-d and clustered around IhiylUI I ? ' it **8on. I ain't given to I reaching. Thla Is the flr?' I t ic I e\< gggag to the) penitent form, and yon put me there yourself ! rd I've s.. n ? few In my time, snd I ain't fa tid' mx so ?lue? City Council cannot afford to ?a you can notice it. But let me tell you right now that I'm worth the devil j alone knows how many millions, and that I d sure give it all, right here on J the her, to turn down your hand. : Which means I'd give the whole shoot- I lng match Just to be back where I was before I quit sleeping under the stars j and come into the hen-coops of cities to drink cocktails and lift up my feet and ride. Son. that's what's the matter with me, and that's the way I feel! about It. The game ain't worth the candle. Tou juat take care of your self, and roll my adVice over once in a while. Good night." He turned and lurched out of the ( piece, the moral effect of his utter? ance largely spoiled by the fact that he was so patently full while he ut- I tered it. Still In a dazo, Daylight made to hin j hotel, accomplished his dinner, and prepared for bed. "The damned young whippersnap per!" he muttered. "Put my hand; down easy as you please. My hand!" He held up the offending member and regarded It with stupid wouvV-. ! The hand that had never been beau n! j The hand that had made the Ciiv u j City giants wince! And a kid tic I j college, with a laugh on his face, had put it down?twice! Dede was right. He was not the same man. The situ."- ! tlon would bear more serious looking into than he had ever given it. But I this was not the time. In the morn? ing, after a good sleep, he would give . it consideration. CHAPTER XIX. Daylight awoke with the familiar parched mouth and Up8 and throat, took a long drink of water from the : pitcher beside his bed, and gathered up the train of thought where he had . left it the night before. He reviewed the easement of the financial strain. Things were mending st last. While the going was still rough, the greatest dangers were already past His mind moved on to the Incident st the corner of the bar of tbe Par? thenon, when the young athlete had turned his hand down. He was no longer stunned by the event, but he was shocked snd grieved, as only a strong man can be, st this passing of his strength. He had alwaya looked upon thla atrength of his as perman? ent, and here, for years, it had been steadily oozing from him. As he had dlsgnoeed it. he hsd come in from un? der the stars to roost in the coops of cities He had almost forgotten how to walk. He had lifted up his feet and been Helen around in automo? biles, cabs and carriages, and electric cars. He bad not exercised, and he had dry-rotted his muscles with alco? hol And was it worth it? What did afl his money mean aTfer all? Deue j was right. It could buy him no more ' than one bed at a time, and at the same time it had made him the abject est of slaves. It tied him fast. Which was better? he asked himself. All this was Dedc's own thought. It was what she had meant when she prnyed he would go broke. He held up hl3 offending right arm. It wasn't the same old arm. Of course she could not love that arm and that body as she had loved the streng, clean arm and body of years befrre. He didn't like that arm and l>ody himself. A young whlppersm:oper had been able to take liberties with It. It had gone back on him. He sat up suddenly. No. he had gone back cn it! He had gone back on himself He had gone back on Dede. She was right, a thou? sand times right, and she had sense enough to know it. sense enough to refuse to marry a money-slave with a whisky-rotted carcass. He got out of bed and looked at himself in the long mirror on tho wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty. Tho old-time lean cheeks wee gone. These were heavy, seeming to hang down I y their own weight. 11" looked for the lines of cruelty Hedo had spoken of. and he found them, and be found the harshness In the eyes as well, the eyes that were middy now after all the cocktails of tne night before, and of the months and years before. Ho looked at the clearly defined pouches tvi it vh..''.ed under his eyes, and they ihOCked hlgg, He rolled Up the sleeve of his pajamsi No wonder the ham meMh rower bad put bli bind down. Those weren't muscles, A rising tide of fat bad submerged then. He stripped off the pa jama coat. Again b? WSJ -hocked, this time bv the bulk of Ms body, B wiis n't pretty, The legg stomach had become a paunch. The rigid muscles of chest and shoul? ders and abdomen had broken down Into rolls of flesh And this v as age Then there drifted gerneg the field of vision of bis mind's e\e the old men ho had encountered at Glen Kilon, ' coining up the hillside through the ! fires of sunset, white-headed and white bearded, rig dy lour. In hll bind the pall of foaming milk and In his face all the warm glow and content of tho passing summer day That bad been age "Yet slrre, eighty four, and ih i n Liberty Street, perhaps the A -nryer than most." he could hear the old man say. Next he remembered Ferguson, the j little man who had scuttled into the road like a rabbit, the one-time man? aging editor of a great newspaper, | who was content to live In the chapar- ! ral along with his spring of mountain water and his hand-reared and manl- i cured fruit trees. Ferguson had solved 0 problem. A weakling and an alco? holic, he had run away from the doc? tors' and the chicken-coop of a city, nrd soaked up health like a thirsty j sponge. He sat down suddenly on the . ted. startled by the greatness of the Idea that had come to him. He did ' not sit long. His mind, working in its ' customary way, like a steel trap, can? vassed the idea in all its bearings. It was big?bigger than anything he had faced before. And he faced it square? ly, picked it up in his two hands and turned it over and around and looked at it. The simplicity of it delighted him. He chuckled over it, reached his deolsion, and began to dress. Midway in the dressing he stopped in order to i use the telephone. Dede was the first he called up. "Don't come to the office this morn- : ing." he said. "I'm coming out to see j you for a moment." He called up others. He ordered his motor-car. To Jones he gave in? structions for the forwarding of Bob and Wolf to Olen Ellen. Hegan he surprised by asking him to look up the deed of the Glen Ellen ranch and make out a new one in Dede Mason's name. "Who?" Hegan demanded, j "Dede Mason," Daylight replied im- j perturbably?"the 'phone must be in- | distinct this morning. D-e-d-e M-a-s-on. Got it?" Half an hour later he was flying out to Berkeley. And for the first time j the big red car halted directly before j the house. Dede offered to receive j him in the parlor, but ho shook his head and nodded toward her rooms. j "In there," he said. "No other place 1 would suit." As the door closed, his arms wont out and around her. Then he stood with his hands on her shoulders and looking down into her face. "Dede, if I tell you, flat and straight, that I'm going up to live on that ranch i at Glen Ellen, that I ain't taking a i cent with me, that I'm going to 1 scratch for every bite I eat, and that I ain't going to play ary a card at the business game again, will you come along with me?" She gave a glad little cry, and he [ nestled her In closely. But the next ! moment she had thrust herself out from him to the old position at arm's length. "How is this possible? How can you leave your business? Has any? thing happened?" "No, nothing's happened yet, but It's ; going to, blame quick. I've taken ' your preaching to heart, and I've j come to the penitent form. I've taken my last drink. You're marrying a j whisky-soak, but your husband won't be that He's going to grow into an? other man so quick you won't know him. A counle of months from now, ; up Iher'e In Olen "Ellen, you'll wake up some morning aud find you've got a perfect stranger In the house with you, and you'll have to get Introduced to ! him all over again. You'll say, 'I'm Mrs. j Harnhu, who are you?* And I'll say, 'I'm Elam Harnlsh's younger brother. I've Just arrived from Alaska to at? tend the funeral.' 'What funeral?' you'll say. And I'll say, 'Why the fu? neral of that good-for-nothing, gam? bling, whisky drinking Burning Day- j light -the man that died of fatty de- j generation of the heart from sitting ! in night and day at the business game.' *Tes, ma'am.' I'll say, 'he's sure a gone 'coon, but I've come to take his place and make you happy. And now, ; ma'am, if you'll allow me, I'll Just me- j ander down to the pasture and milk the cow while you're getting break- j fast.'" j "Hut you haven't answered my ques? tions." she reproached him, as she j emerged, rosy and radiant, from the embrace that had accompanied the culmination of his narrative. "Now just what do you want to know?" he asked. "I want to know how all this Is pos? sible? I low you are able to leave your business at a time like this? | What you meant by saying that some? thing was going to happen quickly?" . "Let's go and get married." he urged, all the whimsicality of his utterance duplicated in his eyes. "I've been work- j ing like forty horses ever since this blamed panic set in, and all the time j some of those ideas you'd given me were getting ready to sprout. Well, they sprouted this morning, that's all. j I knew I wanted to ride in the hills with you just about, thirty million times more than I wanted to go to the office. And I knew nil the time it was Impossible. And why? Because Of the office. The office wouldn't let me. And then i made np my mind that 1 was to the dividing of the ways. One S/ay led to the office. The other way led to Berkeley. And I took the Berkeley road. I'm never going to I t t loot In the office again. That's all gone, finished, over and done with, and I'm letting It slide clean to smash and then lOme I'm wiping the slate Clean. I'm letting it all go smash. When them thirty million dollars i '"<?! up to my fact- and said i couldn't go out with you in the hills today, 1 Knew the time had come for me to put my foot down. Ami I'm putting W down. I've got you, and my strength to work for you, and that little ranch In Bonoma. That's all I want and '.hat s ail I'm going to save out, along With Bob and Wolf, a stilt case and a hundred and forty hair bridles. All the la st goes, and good rldd I ? ? ? H'i that much Junk." A knock t the dt or Interrupted Mm, and be was loft to stare d illghi edly at the Ci itiched Vi BUS and on around the room at Dede's dainty > * Board of Health w'H supply a small sessions, while she answered the tele? phone. "It is Mr. Hegan," she said, on re? turning. "He is holding the lino. He says it is important." Daylight shook his head and smiled. "Please tell Mr. Hegan to hang up. I'm done with the office and I don't want to hear anything about any? thing." A minute Inter she was back again. "He refuses to hang up. He told me to tell you that Unwin is in the ofiice now, waiting to see you, and Harrison, too. Mr. Hegan said that Grimshaw and Hodgkins are in trouble. That it looks as if they are going to break. And he said something about ?rotection." It was startling Information. Both Unwin and Harrison represented big His Arms Went Out and Around Her. banking corporations, and Daylight knew that if the house of Grimshaw and Hodgkins went it would precipi? tate a number of failures and start a flurry of serious dimensions. But Day? light smiled, and shook his head. He caught her by the hand and drew , her to him. | "You let Hegan hang on to that lino till he's tired. We can't be wasting g second on him on a day like this." | "But I know something of the fight you have been making," Dede con? tended. "If you atop now, all the work you have done, everything, will be de? stroyed. You have no right to do it You can't do it." Daylight was obdurate. He shook his head and smiled tantalizingly. "Nothing will be destroyed, Dede, nothing. You don't understand this business same. It's done on paper. All 1 stana* T?F is paper. Tve goTTho paper for thousands of acres of land. All right. Burn up the paper, and burn me along with it. The land re? mains, don't it? Nothing is going to be lost?not one pile out of the docks, not one railroad spike, not one ounce "Use a Different Tone of Voice, or You'll Be Heading for a Hospital." of steam out of the gauge of a ferry? boat. The cars will go on running, whether I hold the paper or somebody else boldl it." By this time Hegan had arrived in an automobile. The honk of it came in through the open window, and they saw it stop alongside the big red ma? chine. In the car wero Unwin and Harrison, while Jones sat with the chauffeur. "I'll tee Hegan," Daylight told Dede. "There's no need for the rest. They can wait in the machine." "Is he drunk?" Hegan whispered to i Dede at the door. She shook her head and showed him In. "Good morning, Larry." was Day? light's greeting. "Sit down and rest your feet. You sure s< em to be in a flutter." "I am," the little irishman snapped back. "Grimshaw and Hodgkins are ?tdng to : ma:-h if something isn't done quick. Why didn't you conic to the office? What are you going to do about it?" "Nothing" Daylight drawled lazily. "Except lei them smash. I guess. I've had no dealings with Grimshaw and Hodgkins. l don't owe them anything Besides, I'm going to smash myself. Look hero. Larry, you know me, You know when 1 make up my mind I mean it. Well. I've sure made up my mind. I'm tired of the erhole game. I'm letting go of it as fa8l as I can, and a smash is the quickest way to let go, All you've gol to do Is lo protect yourself and all our friends. Now you listen to me whllo I tell you what to do Everything i< In good shape to do it. Nobody musl gel hurt. Every? body that stood by me must come through without damage. All the back amount of dlslnfectanl for occasional wages ana salaries must be paid pron? to. All the money I've switched away from the water company, the street cars, and the ferries must be switched back. And you won't get hurt your? self none. Every company you got stock in will come through?" "What have you done to him?" He? gan snarled at Dede. "Hold on there, Larry." For the first time Daylight's voice was sharp, while all the old lines of cruelty in his face itood forth. "Miss Mason is go? ing to he my wife, and while I don't mind your triking to her all you want, you've got to use a different tone of voice or you'll he heading for a hos? pital, which will sure he an urox- I pected sort of smash. And let me tell you one other thing. This-all is my doing. She says I'm crazy, too." Dede stepped forward where she confronted the two men. "Wait." she said. "I want to say | something. Elam, if you do this in? sane thing. I won't marry you. I refuse to marry you." Hegan. in spite of his misery, gave her a quick, grateful look. "I'll take my chance on that," Day-! light said. "And now. Larry, you'd batter be going. I'll be at the hotel in a Mttle while, and since I'm not go !ng to step into the office again, bring all parers to sign and the rest over to my rooms. And you can get me on ! the 'phone there any time. This smash is going through. Savvee? I'm quit ar.d done." He turned to Dede as soon as He? gan was gone, and took her by tho hand. "And now. little woman, you needn't come to the office any more. Consider yourself discharged." "I'd cry, if I thought it would do any good " she threatened. j "In which case I reckon I'd have to hold you in my arms some move and sort of soothe you down," he threaten? ed back. As he stood at the top of the steps, leaving, she said: ? "You needn't send those men. There will be no packing, because I am not going to marry you." "I'm not a bit scared," he answered, and went down the steps. CHAPTER XX. Three days later, Daylight rode to Berkeley in his red car. It was for the last time, for on the morrow the big machine passed into another's pos? session. It had been a strenuous three days, for his smash had been the big? gest the panic had precipitated In Cal? ifornia. The papers had been filled with it, and a great cry of indignation had gone up from the very men who later found that Daylight had fully protected their Interests. It was these facts, coming slowly to light, that gave rise to the widely repeated charge that Daylight had gone in? sane. It was the unanimous conviction among business men that no sane man could possibly behave in such fashion. On the other hand, neither his prolonged steady drinking nor his affair with Dede became public, so the only conclusion attainable was that the wild financier from Alaska had gone lunatic. And Daylight had grinned and confirmed the suspicion by refusing to see the reporter. He halted the automobile before Dede's door, and met her with his same rush? ing tactics, enclosing her in his arms before a word could be uttered. "I've done it," he announced. "You've seen the newspapers, of course. I'm plumb cleaned out, and I've just called around to find out what day you feel like starting for Glen Ellen. It'll hsve to be soon, for it's real expensive living In Oakland these days. My board at the hotel is only paid to the end of the week, and I can't afford to stay on after that And beginning with tomorrow I've got to use the street cars, and they sure eat up the nickels." He paused, and waited, and looked at her. Indecision and trouble showed on her face. Then the smile he knew so well ^egan to grow on her lips and in her eyes, until she threw back her head and laughed in the old forthright boyish way. "When are those men coming to pack for me?" she asked. And again she laughed and simu? lated a vain attempt to escape his bear-like arms. "Dear Elam," she whispered; "dear Elam." And of herself, for the first time, she kissed him. "Now. I've got an idea." Daylight said. "We're running away from cit? ies, and you have no kith nor kin, so' it don't seem exactly right that we should start off by getting married in j B city. So here's the idea: I'll run up to the ranch and get things in shape around the house and give the caretaker his walking-papers. You follow me in a couple of days, coming on the morning train. I'll have the preacher fixed and waiting. And here's another idea. You bring your riding t >gs in a suit case. And as soon as the ceremony'g over, you can go to the hotel and change. Then out you come, atul you find me waiting with a couple of boreee. and we'll ride over the landscape so as you can see the prettiest parts of the ranch the first thing. And she's sure pretty, that . ranch. And now that it's settled, I'll be waiting for you at the morning ' tratB day after tomorrow." Dede bluehed as she epoke. "You are such a hurricane." "Well, ma'am," he drawled, "1 sure hate to burn daylight. And you and l I ave bt rned a heap of daylight. We've been scandalously extravagant. We j mi . ' have been married years ago.'" Two daya later, Dnyllghl stood \\:iit I fng outside tit.' littl ? Glen Ellen ho; 1. I Th? ceremonj was over, and he had |< t Dede to go Inside and change I Into her rldlng-habll while he brought the horses, lie held them now. Bob no i Mi.b, snd in the shadow of the application as an abatement of the \vaterlng-trough Wolf lay and looked? on. Already two days of ardent Cali? fornia sun and touched with new fires the ancient bronze in Daylight's face. But warmer still was the glow that came into his cheeks and burned in his i yes as he saw Dede coming out the door. riding-whip in hand, clad in the familiar corduroy skirt and leg? gings of the old Piedmont days. There V/ai warmth and glow in her own face as she answered his gaze and glanced on past him to the horses. Then she ?aw Mab. But her gaze leaped back tq the nir.n. "Oh, Elam!" she breathed. ? * * * * * ? a Many persons, themselves city-bred, and city reared, have fled to the soil and succeeded in winning great happiness. In such cases they have succeeded only by going through a process of savage disil? lusionment. But with Dede and Day? light it was different. They had both been born on the soil, and they knew its naked simp'ieities and rawer ways. They were like two persons, after far wandering, who had merely come home again. There was less of the unexpected in their dealings with na? ture, while theirs was all the delight of reminiscence. What might appear sordid and squalid to the fastidiously reared, was to them eminently whole? some and natural. The commerce of nature was to them no unknown and untried trade. They made fewer mis? takes. They already knew, and It was a joy to remember what they had for? gotten. And another thing they learned was that it was easier for one who h?i gorged at the flesh-pots to content himself with the meagreneas of a cru::t, than for one who has known only the crust. Not that their life was meagre. It was that they found keene" delights and deeper satisfac? tions In little things. DnyligbT. who had played the game in its U . I "Dear Elam/' She Whispered, "Dear Elam." and most fantastic aspects, found that here, on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain, it was still the same old game. Man had still work to perform, forces to combat, obstacles to over? come. When he experimented in a small way at raising a few pigeons for market, he found no less zest in calculating in squabs than formerly when he had "culated in millions. Achievement was no less achleve j ment, while the process of it seemed more rational and received the sanc? tion of his reason. The domestic cat that had gone wild and that preyed on his pigeons, he found, by the comparative stand? ard, to be of no less paramount mei ace than a Charles Klinkner in tha field of finance, trying to raid him for several millions. The hawks and weasels and 'coons were so many Dowsetts, Lettons. and Guggenham mers that struck at him secretly. The sea of wild vegetation that tossed its surf against the boundaries of all his clearings and that sometimes crept in and flooded in a single week was no mean enemy to contend with and sub? due. His fat-soiled vegetable-garden in the nook of hills that failed of its Lest was a problem of engrossing im? portance, and when he had solved it by putting in draintile. the joy of the achievement was ever with him. He never worked in it and found the soil unpacked and tractable without ex? periencing the thrill of accomplish? ment. Ther? was the matter of the plumb? ing. He was enabled to purchase the materials through a lucky sale of a number of his hair bridles. The work he did himself, though more than once be was forced to call in Dede to hold tight with a pipe-wrench. And in the end, when the bath-tub and the sta? tionary tubs were Installed and in working cider, he could scarcely tear himself away from the contemplation of what his hands had wrought. The Rrsl evening, missing him, Dede sought and found him. lamp in hand. taring with silent glee at the tubs. He nil bed his hand over their smooth wooden lips and laughed aloud, and was as shame-faced as any boy when she caught him thus secretly exulting in own prowess It was thts edventUTO in wood-work? ing ami plumbing that brought about the building of the little workshop, where he slowly gathered a collection of lov< ?' tools and he. who la the ?Sd days, oul of his millions, could purchase immediately whatever ha ghl de Ire, learned the new Joy of the poi < i lion that follows apon rigid conom: and desire long delayed. Ha ed hret months before daring; the \ mce of a Yankee screw-drlr^ . ' ' glee in the marvelous ?' le n ? as so keen that D< <!?> co <i.?.' forthright a great Idea, For I she I IVed her egjptnouej. stagnant water nuisance