When God Laughs

the ropes unaided, and leaped heavily to the floor, following on their heels as they forced a passage for him down the crowded centre aisle. Leaving the dressing-room for the street, in the entrance to the hall, some young fellow spoke to him.

“W’y didn’t yuh go in an’ get ’im when yuh ’ad ’im?” the young fellow asked.

“Aw, go to hell!” said Tom King, and passed down the steps to the sidewalk.

The doors of the public-house at the corner were swinging wide, and he saw the lights and the smiling barmaids, heard the many voices discussing the fight and the prosperous chink of money on the bar. Somebody called to him to have a drink. He hesitated perceptibly, then refused and went on his way.

He had not a copper in his pocket, and the two-mile walk home seemed very long. He was certainly getting old. Crossing the Domain, he sat down suddenly on a bench, unnerved by the thought of the missus sitting up for him, waiting to learn the outcome of the fight. That was harder than any knockout, and it seemed almost impossible to face.

He felt weak and sore, and the pain of his smashed knuckles warned him that, even if he could find a job at navvy work, it would be a week before he could grip a pick handle or a shovel. The hunger palpitation at the pit of the stomach was sickening. His wretchedness overwhelmed him, and into his eyes came an unwonted moisture. He covered his face with his hands, and, as he cried, he remembered Stowsher Bill and how he had served him that night in the long ago. Poor old Stowsher Bill! He could understand now why Bill had cried in the dressing-room.

Endnotes

1. The Tract of the Quiet Way. ↩

Colophon

When God Laughs
was published in 1911 by
Jack London.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
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Sami Siddiqui and Matt Brady,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2001 by
Les Bowler and David Widger
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at
Google Books.

The cover page is adapted from
On a Lee Shore,
a painting completed in 1900 by
Winslow Homer.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
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