CAREN. You think I'm going to tuck on a few extras just because he's a swell. [_Yelling._] Don't I keep telling you 'til there's not a breath left in my body, that there ain't no class here? [_The helper reënters and hears the last words. He stands breathless._] Tramp or gentleman, they're all alike. Now get that into your head and let it grow. HELPER [_has been stammering trying to speak_]. I oughtn't to tell. They'd kill me if they knew. It's to be kept a secret, but.... CAREN. What's the matter? HELPER. Number thirteen.... [_Stammering._] He ... he.... CAREN. Well, what about him? HELPER. He ain't a loafer. He ain't a tramp. He ain't even a gentleman. He.... CAREN. Who is he? Quick! HELPER. Our.... [_Exultantly._] Our King! CAREN [_open-mouthed, aghast_]. Our ... King! KRAIG [_laughing triumphantly_]. Ha ... ha ... ha ... ha--HERE! [_He clasps his hands together._] CAREN [_excited_]. Are you mad, Boy, mad? Our King! Oh! [_Kraig laughs. Both men stare at him horrified._] HELPER [_to Caren_]. Ain't you got a flag or something ... some little mark of respect to cover his nibs? CAREN [_to Kraig_]. Run upstairs and get that big silk flag that.... [_as Kraig does not move_]. Go. KRAIG [_immovable, abruptly ceasing to laugh_]. No. CAREN [_threateningly_]. What do you mean? No? KRAIG [_hysterically_]. This is one place in the world where all are treated fair. Dreams don't count. POWER don't count. There's no rich, no poor.... CAREN. Shut up and get that flag. KRAIG. You're going to cover him ... but she.... Oh! [_Both men disappear behind the curtains, cringing and bowing to people within. Caren, with his back to the curtains, does not realize that he is alone._] Even death can't level. No ... not even death. [_For a second he stares ahead of him piercingly into space, standing taut and rigid. Then commences to laugh in pure hysteria as_ [_The Curtain Slowly Falls._] A DEATH IN FEVER FLAT A PLAY BY GEORGE W. CRONYN Copyright, 1919, by Shadowland. Copyright, 1920, by George W. Cronyn. All rights reserved. Reprinted from _Shadowland_, a magazine, by permission of the publishers and the author. The professional and amateur stage rights of this play are strictly reserved by the author. Applications for permission to produce this play should be made to Frank Shay, Care Stewart & Kidd Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. SCENE: _In the great Far West, i. e., far from the "Movie" West_. CHARACTERS HANK [_proprietor of the Good Hope Roadhouse_]. LON PURDY [_about whom the play is concerned_]. MIZPAH [_his wife, called "Padie"_]. THE STAGE DRIVER. THE GHOST OF HARVEY MACE. THE GHOST OF THE OTHER MAN. THE TIME _is the present, about 11 P. M._ This is not a Bret Harte play, nor is it designed for W. S. Hart. And it should be performed with none of that customary and specious braggadoccio of western plays. A DEATH IN FEVER FLAT A PLAY BY GEORGE W. CRONYN