Chapter XXVII

Poor Jurgis was now an outcast and a tramp once
more. He was crippled -- he was as literally crippled as
any wild animal which has lost its claws, or been torn out
of its shell. He had been shorn, at one cut, of all those
mysterious weapons whereby he had been able to make a
living easily and to escape the consequences of his actions.
He could no longer command a job when he wanted it;
he could no longer steal with impunity -- he must take
his chances with the common herd. Nay worse, he dared
not mingle with the herd -- he must hide by himself, for
he was one marked out for destruction. His old com~
panions would betray him, for the sake of the influence
they would gain thereby; and he would be made to suffer,
not merely for the offense he had committed, but for
others which would be laid at his door, just as had been
done for some poor devil on the occasion of that assault
upon the "country customer" by him and Duane.

And also he labored under another handicap now. He
had acquired new standards of living, which were not
easily to be altered. When he had been out of work be~
fore, he had been content if he could sleep in a doorway
or under a truck out of the rain, and if he could get fifteen
cents a day for saloon lunches. But now he desired all
sorts of other things, and suffered because he had to do
without them. He must have a drink now and then, a
drink for its own sake, and apart from the food that came
with it. The craving for it was strong enough to master
every other consideration -- he would have it, though it
were his last nickel and he had to starve the balance of
the day in consequence.

[[335]]

p334 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p335w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p336

v?