He  dreamed  that  he,  too,  was  dining  out.  Laughter
and  merry-making  were  on  every  side.  The  dishes  ol
steaming  viands  were  grotesque  in  bulk.  There  were
mountains  of  fruit  and  torrents  of  wine.  Strange  peop.e
of  no  identity  spoke  in  senseless  vaporings  that  passed
for  side-splitting  wit,  and  friends  whom  he  had  not  seen
since  childhood  appeared  in  ludicrously  altered  forms  and
announced  impossible  events.  Every  one  ate  like  a  Cos
sack.  One  of  the  party,  champing  like  a  boar,  pushed
him  angrily,  and  when  he,  eating  like  the  rest,  would
have  turned  fiercely  on  the  aggressor,  he  awoke.
A  man  standing  over  him  struck  him  smartly  with  his
foot.
"  Get  up  out  o'  this !    Get  up !  get  up !  "

The  sleeper  bounded  to  his  feet.  The  man  who  had
waked  him  grasped  him  by  the  lapel  of  his  coat.
"  What  do  you  mean?  "  exclaimed  the  awakened  man,
throwing  the  other  off  violently.
"  I'll  show  you ! "  replied  the  other,  returning  with  a
rush ;  but  he  was  thrown  off  again,  this  time  with  a  blow
of  the  fist.
"  You  scoundrel ! "  cried  the  penniless  man,  in  a  rage ;
"  if  you  touch  me  again  I'll  kill  you !  "

They  leaped  together.  The  one  who  had  proposed  to
show  what  he  meant  was  knocked  flat  upon  the  stones.
The  crowd  that  had  run  into  the  porch  made  room  for  him
to  fall.  A  leather  helmet  rolled  from  his  head,  and  the
silver  crescent  of  the  police  flashed  on  his  breast.  The
police  were  not  uniformed  in  those  days.
