"You make only vague charges."
"There are many things," said Pike, coming to the point now with great
boldness, "but I shall name only one. Buck Badger is a drunkard."
Fairfax Lee seemed astonished, and the frown on his face deepened.
"He is the worst type of drunkard. Not a man who drinks steadily, but
one of those who indulge now and then in crazy, drunken debauches. For
weeks, even months, he may not touch a drop of liquor. Then he will go
on a spree. You can verify this, I am sure, by inquiries carefully made
among the students. More than once he has been known to be on a drunk.
He was drunk when he went aboard the excursion steamer, _Crested Foam_,
when she was burned in the bay."
"What?"
"It is true, Mr. Lee, every word of it. Your daughter and a good many
others think he was drugged by the boat-keeper, Barney Lynn, and lured
on the steamer for the purpose of robbery. But when he met Lynn he was
already raving blind drunk, and Lynn merely took advantage of his
helpless condition. You can know that this is true if you will call or
send a man to the saloon of Joe Connelly. He went to Connelly's that
night--or rather, the evening before--filled himself up on the vilest
decoctions, and went out from there as drunk as a fool. He has been
there before many times.
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