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CONVERSIONS BETWEEN U.S. CUSTOMARY UNITS AND SI UNITS

Times conversion factor

U.S. Customary unit Equals SI unit
Accurate Practical

Acceleration (linear)
foot per second squared ft/s2 0.3048* 0.305 meter per second squared m/s2
inch per second squared in./s2 0.0254* 0.0254 meter per second squared m/s2
Area
circular mil cmil 0.0005067 0.0005 square millimeter mm2
square foot ft2 0.09290304* 0.0929 square meter m2
square inch in.2 645.16* 645 square millimeter mm2
Density (mass)
slug per cubic foot slug/ft3 515.379 515 kilogram per cubic meter kg/m3
Density (weight)
pound per cubic foot lb/ft3 157.087 157 newton per cubic meter N/m3
pound per cubic inch lb/in.3 271.447 271 kilonewton per cubic
meter kN/m3
Energy; work
foot-pound ft-lb 1.35582 1.36 joule (Nm) J
inch-pound in.-lb 0.112985 0.113 joule J
kilowatt-hour kWh 3.6* 3.6 megajoule MJ
British thermal unit Btu 1055.06 1055 joule J
Force
pound lb 4.44822 4.45 newton (kgm/s2) N
kip (1000 pounds) k 4.44822 4.45 kilonewton kN
Force per unit length
pound per foot lb/ft 14.5939 14.6 newton per meter N/m
pound per inch lb/in. 175.127 175 newton per meter N/m
kip per foot k/ft 14.5939 14.6 kilonewton per meter kN/m
kip per inch k/in. 175.127 175 kilonewton per meter kN/m
Length
foot ft 0.3048* 0.305 meter m
inch in. 25.4* 25.4 millimeter mm
mile mi 1.609344* 1.61 kilometer km
Mass
slug lb-s2/ft 14.5939 14.6 kilogram kg
Moment of a force; torque
pound-foot lb-ft 1.35582 1.36 newton meter N·m
pound-inch lb-in. 0.112985 0.113 newton meter N·m
kip-foot k-ft 1.35582 1.36 kilonewton meter kN·m
kip-inch k-in. 0.112985 0.113 kilonewton meter kN·m

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CONVERSIONS BETWEEN U.S. CUSTOMARY UNITS AND SI UNITS (Continued)

Times conversion factor

U.S. Customary unit Equals SI unit
Accurate Practical

Moment of inertia (area)

inch to fourth power in.4 416,231 416,000 millimeter to fourth
power mm4
inch to fourth power in.4 0.416231  106 0.416  106 meter to fourth power m4
Moment of inertia (mass)
slug foot squared slug-ft2 1.35582 1.36 kilogram meter squared kg·m2
Power
foot-pound per second ft-lb/s 1.35582 1.36 watt (J/s or N·m/s) W
foot-pound per minute ft-lb/min 0.0225970 0.0226 watt W
horsepower (550 ft-lb/s) hp 745.701 746 watt W
Pressure; stress
pound per square foot psf 47.8803 47.9 pascal (N/m2) Pa
pound per square inch psi 6894.76 6890 pascal Pa
kip per square foot ksf 47.8803 47.9 kilopascal kPa
kip per square inch ksi 6.89476 6.89 megapascal MPa
Section modulus
inch to third power in.3 16,387.1 16,400 millimeter to third power mm3
inch to third power in.3 16.3871  106 16.4  106 meter to third power m3
Velocity (linear)
foot per second ft/s 0.3048* 0.305 meter per second m/s
inch per second in./s 0.0254* 0.0254 meter per second m/s
mile per hour mph 0.44704* 0.447 meter per second m/s
mile per hour mph 1.609344* 1.61 kilometer per hour km/h
Volume
cubic foot ft3 0.0283168 0.0283 cubic meter m3
cubic inch in.3 16.3871  106 16.4  106 cubic meter m3
cubic inch in.3 16.3871 16.4 cubic centimeter (cc) cm3
gallon (231 in.3) gal. 3.78541 3.79 liter L
gallon (231 in.3) gal. 0.00378541 0.00379 cubic meter m3
*An asterisk denotes an exact conversion factor
Note: To convert from SI units to USCS units, divide by the conversion factor

5
Temperature Conversion Formulas T(°C)   [T(°F)  32]  T(K)  273.15
9
5
T(K)   [T(°F)  32]  273.15  T(°C)  273.15
9
9 9
T(°F)   T(°C)  32   T(K)  459.67
5 5

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 Traffic and
Highway
Engineering
ENHANCED Fif th Edition
SI Edition

Nicholas J. Garber
Lester A. Hoel
University of Virginia

Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States

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 Traffic and Highway Engineering, © 2020, 2015, 2009 Cengage Learning, Inc.
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 This book is dedicated to our wives,
Ada and Unni
and to our daughters,
Alison, Elaine, and Valerie
and
Julie, Lisa, and Sonja
With appreciation for the support, help, and encouragement that we received
during the years that were devoted to writing this textbook.

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 Contents

P a r t 1    j   Introduction          1
1 The Profession of Transportation    3
Importance of Transportation      3
Transportation History      6
Transportation Employment      15
Summary      21
Problems      22
References      23

2 Transportation Systems and Organizations    25

Developing a Transportation System      26
Modes of Transportation      30
Transportation Organizations      44
Summary      48
Problems      48
References      50

P a r t 2 j Traffic Operations          51
3 Characteristics of the Driver, the Pedestrian,
the Bicyclist, the Vehicle, and the Road     53
Driver Characteristics      54
Perception-Reaction Process      57
Older Drivers’ Characteristics      58

vii

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 viii Contents

Pedestrian Characteristics      58
Bicyclists and Bicycles Characteristics      59
Vehicle Characteristics      60
Road Characteristics      84
Summary      87
Problems      88
References      91

4 Traffic Engineering Studies 93

Spot Speed Studies      94
Volume Studies      100
Methods for Conducting Spot Speed and Volume Studies       101
Presentation and Analysis of Spot Speed Data       108
Types of Volume Counts and Analysis of Volume Data       118
Travel Time and Delay Studies      129
Parking Studies      133
Summary      144
Problems      145
References      150

5 Highway Safety    151
Issues Involved in Transportation Safety      152
Strategic Highway Safety Plans      155
Performance Measures      185
Computational Procedures for Safety Effectiveness
Evaluation Methods      210
Crash Patterns      218
Effectiveness of Safety Design Features      223
Safety Effectiveness of Some Commonly
Used Highway Design Features      225
Safety Effects of Pedestrian Facilities      233
Safety Effects of Traffic Calming Strategies      236
Safety Impact of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)       247
Summary      248
Problems      249
References      251

6 Fundamental Principles of Traffic Flow     253

Traffic Flow Elements      254
Flow-Density Relationships      258
Shock Waves in Traffic Streams      273
Gap and Gap Acceptance      285
Introduction to Queuing Theory      291
Summary      300
Problems      300

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 Contents ix

7 Intersection Design    307
Types of at-Grade Intersections      309
Design Principles for at-Grade Intersections      315
Design of Railroad Grade Crossings      356
Summary      362
Problems      363
References      366

8 Intersection Control    367
General Concepts of Traffic Control      370
Conflict Points at Intersections      370
Types of Intersection Control      371
Signal Timing for Different Color Indications      388
Freeway Ramps      438
Evaluation and Optimization of Intersection Timing Plans       443
Summary      444
Problems      444
References      447

9 Capacity and Level of Service for Highway Segments     449

Freeways      450
Multilane Highways      467
Two-Lane Highways      474
Summary      495
Problems      495
Reference      498
Appendix: Tables      499

10 Capacity and Level of Service at Signalized Intersections     517

Definitions of Some Common Terms      518
Analysis Levels and Performance Measures for Level of Service at
Signalized Intersections      521
Level of Service Criteria at Signalized Intersections       521
Methodology of Operational Analysis
for the Automobile Mode      530
Computation of Pedestrian and Bicycle Factors (  flpb, frpb) for Right- and
Left-Turn Movements from One-Way Streets      544
Computation of Pedestrians and Bicycles Factor (  flpb), for Protected or
Protected-Permitted Left-Turn Movements on Two-Way Streets      547
Determination of Lane Group Adjusted Saturation Flow Rate       548
Lane Group Capacity      554
Level of Service Computation for Pedestrian Mode       556
Level of Service for Bicycle Mode      564
Quick Estimation Method (Qem)      566
Field Determination of Saturation Flow      578

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 x Contents

Summary      581
Problems      581
References      582

P a r t 3 j Transportation Planning          583
11 The Transportation Planning Process    585
Basic Elements of Transportation Planning      586
Transportation Planning Institutions      595
Urban Transportation Planning      599
Forecasting Travel      606
Summary      622
Problems      623
References      624

12 Forecasting Travel Demand    627

Demand Forecasting Approaches      628
Trip Generation      629
Trip Distribution      638
Mode Choice      648
Traffic Assignment      662
Other Methods for Forecasting Demand      673
Estimating Freight Demand      677
Traffic Impact Studies      678
Summary      685
Problems      685
References      692

13 Evaluating Transportation Alternatives    693

Basic Issues in Evaluation      693
Evaluation Based on Economic Criteria      697
Evaluation Based on Multiple Criteria      708
Summary      721
Problems      722
References      727

P a r t 4 j Location, Geometrics, and Drainage          729

14 Highway Surveys and Location    731
Principles of Highway Location      731
Highway Survey Methods      738
Highway Earthwork and Final Plans      759
Summary      767
Problems      769
References      770

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 Contents xi

15 Geometric Design of Highway Facilities     773

Factors Influencing Highway Design      774
Design of the Alignment      790
Special Facilities for Heavy Vehicles on Steep Grades       822
Bicycle Facilities      824
Parking Facilities      828
Computer Use in Geometric Design      831
Summary      832
Problems      833
References      836

16 Highway Drainage    837
Surface Drainage      838
Highway Drainage Structures      839
Sediment and Erosion Control      841
Hydrologic Considerations      842
Unit Hydrographs      855
Hydraulic Design of Highway Drainage Structures      856
Subsurface Drainage      895
Summary      913
Problems      913
References      915
Additional Reading      916

P a r t 5 j Materials and Pavements          917

17 Soil Engineering for Highway Design     919
Soil Characteristics      919
Basic Engineering Properties of Soils      923
Classification of Soils for Highway Use      931
Soil Surveys for Highway Construction      941
Soil Compaction      946
Special Soil Tests for Pavement Design      955
Frost Action in Soils      958
Summary      959
Problems      960
References      964

18 Bituminous Materials    965
Sources of Asphalt      966
Description and Uses of Bituminous Binders      968
Properties of Asphalt Materials      971
Tests for Asphalt Materials      974
Asphalt Mixtures      989
Superpave Systems      1010

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 xii Contents

Summary      1037
Problems      1037
References      1040

19 Design of Flexible Highway Pavements     1041

Structural Components of a Flexible Pavement      1042
Soil Stabilization      1043
General Principles of Flexible Pavement Design      1050
Summary      1086
Problems      1086
References      1089

20 Design of Rigid Pavements    1091

Materials Used in Rigid Pavements      1092
Joints in Concrete Pavements      1097
Types of Rigid Highway Pavements      1099
Pumping of Rigid Pavements      1099
Stresses in Rigid Pavements      1100
Thickness Design of Rigid Pavements      1108
Summary      1172
Problems      1172
References      1174

21 Pavement Management    1177
Problems of Highway Rehabilitation      1177
Methods for Determining Roadway Condition      1180
Pavement Condition Prediction      1194
Pavement Rehabilitation      1202
Pavement Rehabilitation Programming      1203
GIS and Pavement Management      1213
Summary      1214
Problems      1214
References      1216

Appendixes    1219

Index    1245

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Exploring the Variety of Random
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of A book of
martyrs
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
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Title: A book of martyrs

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF

MARTYRS ***
 THE IVORY SERIES

Each, 16mo, gilt top, 75 cents

AMOS JUDD. By J. A. Mitchell

Editor of “Life”

IA. A Love Story. By Q

[Arthur T. Quiller-Couch]

THE SUICIDE CLUB

By Robert Louis Stevenson

IRRALIE’S BUSHRANGER
By E. W. Hornung

A MASTER SPIRIT
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A BOOK OF MARTYRS
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A BOOK OF MARTYRS
When first they mixed the Clay of Man and clothed
His Spirit in the Robe of Perfect Beauty,
For Forty Mornings did an evil Cloud
Rain Sorrows over him from Head to Foot;
And when the Forty Mornings passed to Night,
There came one Morning-Shower—one Morning-Shower
Of Joy—to Forty of the Rain of Sorrow!
And though the better Fortune came at last
To seal the Work, yet every Wise Man knows
Such Consummation never can be here!

From the Persian of Jàmi.

A BOOK OF MARTYRS
BY
CORNELIA ATWOOD PRATT

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

NEW YORK, 1896
 Copyright, 1896, by
Charles Scribner’s Sons

TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOK BINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
 NOTE
Of the stories in this volume, “Witherle’s Freedom” and “Serene’s
Religious Experience” were first published in The Century Magazine;
“A Consuming Fire,” “Hardesty’s Cowardice” and “The Honor of a
Gentleman” in Harper’s Weekly; “At the End of the World” in The
Independent. Thanks are due the publishers of these periodicals for
permission to reprint the stories here.
 CONTENTS
PAGE
Witherle’s Freedom, 1
Serene’s Religious Experience; an Inland Story, 19
An Instance of Chivalry, 45
A Consuming Fire, 71
An Unearned Reward, 89
Hardesty’s Cowardice, 111
“The Honor of a Gentleman,” 131
Rivals, 153
At the End of the World, 165
 WITHERLE’S FREEDOM
His little world was blankly astonished when Witherle dropped out
of it. His disappearance was as his life had been, neat, methodical,
well-arranged; but why did he go at all?
He had lived through thirty-seven years of a discreetly conducted
existence with apparent satisfaction; he had been in the ministry for
fifteen years; he had been married nearly as long; he was in no sort
of difficulty, theological, financial, or marital; he possessed the favor
of his superiors in the church, the confidence of his wife, and he had
recently come into a small fortune bequeathed him by a great-aunt.
Every one regarded him as very “comfortably fixed”—for a minister.
Of all the above-enumerated blessings he had divested himself
methodically, as a man folds up and lays aside worn garments. He
resigned his charge, he transferred his property to his wife, and
wrote her a farewell note in which he said, in a light-hearted way
which she mistook for incoherence, that she would never see him
again. These things done, he dropped out of the sight of men as
completely as a stone fallen into a pond.
His friends speculated and investigated, curiously, eagerly,
fearfully, but to no purpose. What was the motive? Where had he
gone? Had he committed suicide? Was he insane? The elders of the
church employed a detective, and the friends of his wife took up the
search, but Witherle was not found. He had left as little trace
whereby he could be followed as a meteor leaves when it rushes
across the sky.
Presently, of course, interest in the event subsided; the church got
a new minister; Witherle’s wife went back to her own people; the
world appeared to forget. But there was a man of Witherle’s
congregation named Lowndes who still meditated the unsolved
problem at odd moments. He was a practical man of affairs, with the
psychological instinct, and he found the question of why people do
the things that they do perennially interesting. Humanity from any
point of view is a touching spectacle; from a business standpoint it is
infinitely droll. Personally Lowndes was one of the wholesome
natures for whom there are more certainties than uncertainties in life,
and he felt for Witherle the protecting friendliness that a strong man
sometimes has for one less strong. He advised him as to his
investments on week-days, and listened patiently Sunday after
Sunday, as the lesser man expounded the mysteries of creation and
the ways of the Creator, sustained by the reflection that Witherle was
better than his sermons. He did not consider him an interesting man,
but he believed him to be a good one. When Witherle was no longer
at hand, Lowndes counselled and planned for his wife, and
otherwise made himself as useful as the circumstances would
permit. He felt sorry for Witherle’s wife, a nervous woman to whom
had come as sharp an upheaval of life as death itself could have
brought about, without the comfort of the reflection that the Lord had
taken away.
Fate, who sometimes delivers the ball to those who are ready to
play, decreed that, in May, about a year after Witherle’s
disappearance, Lowndes should be summoned from the
Pennsylvania village where he lived to one of the cities of an
adjoining State. His business took him along the dingy river-front of
the town. Crossing a bridge one evening toward sunset, he stopped
idly to note the shifting iridescent tints that converted the river for the
hour into a heavenly water-way between the two purgatorial banks
lined with warehouses and elevators black with the inexpressibly
mussy and depressing blackness of the soot of soft coal. His glance
fell upon a coal-barge being loaded at the nearest wharf. He leaned
over the rail, wondering why the lines of the figure of one of the
workmen looked familiar to him. The man seemed to be shovelling
coal with a peculiar zest. As this is a species of toil not usually
performed for the love of it, his manner naturally attracted attention.
While Lowndes still stood there pondering the problematical
familiarity of his back, the man turned. Lowndes clutched the rail. “By
Jove!” he said, excitedly, for he saw that the features were the
features of Witherle. Their expression was exultant and illuminated
beyond anything ever vouch-safed to that plodding gospeller. Moving
along the bridge to a point just above the barge, he took out his
watch and looked at it. It was nearly six o’clock.
The next fifteen minutes were exciting ones for Lowndes. His mind
was in a tumult. It is no light matter to make one’s self the arbiter of
another man’s destiny; and he knew enough of Witherle to feel sure
that the man’s future was in his hands. He looked down at him
dubiously, his strong hands still clutching the rail tensely. For a
minute he felt that he must move on without making his presence
known, but even as he resolved, the clocks and whistles clamorously
announced the hour.
When the men quitted their work, the man whom Lowndes’s eyes
were following came up the stairs that led to the bridge. As he
passed, Lowndes laid a hand lightly on his shoulder.
“How are you, Witherle?” he said.
The man stared at him blankly a second, recoiled, and his face
turned livid as he shook off the friendly hand. The other men had
passed on, and they were alone on the bridge.
“I’m a free man,” said Witherle, loudly, throwing back his
shoulders. “Before God, I’m a free man for the first time in my life.
What do you want with me?”
“Don’t rave,” said Lowndes, sharply. “I sha’n’t hurt you. You
couldn’t expect me to pass you without speaking, could you?”
“Then you weren’t looking for me?” asked Witherle, abjectly.
“I have business on hand.” Lowndes spoke impatiently, for he did
not enjoy seeing his old friend cower. “I am here for the Diamond Oil
Co. I was crossing the bridge just now, when I saw a man down
there shovelling coal as if he liked it; and I delayed to look, and saw
it was you. So I waited for you. That is all there is of it. You needn’t
stop if you don’t wish.”
Witherle drew a deep breath. “My nerves aren’t what they were,”
he said, apologetically. “It played the mischief with them to—” He left
the sentence hanging in the air.
 “If you weren’t going to like the results, you needn’t have gone,”
observed Lowndes, in an impartial tone. “Nobody has been exactly
able to see the reasons for your departure. You left the folks at home
a good deal stirred up.”
“What do they say about me there?”
Lowndes hesitated. “Most of them say you were crazy. Your wife
has gone back to her people.”
“Ah!”
Lowndes looked at the man with a sudden impulse of pity. He was
leaning against the rail, breathing heavily. His face was white
beneath the soot, but in his eyes still flamed that incomprehensible
ecstasy. He was inebriate with the subtle stimulus of some
transcendent thought. But what thought? And what had brought him
here? This creature, with his sensitive mouth, his idealist’s eyes, his
scholar’s hands, black and hardened now but still clearly
recognizable, was at least more out of place among the coal-heavers
than he had been in the pulpit. Lowndes felt mightily upon him the
desire to shepherd this man back to some more sheltered fold. The
highways of existence were not for his feet; not for his lips the “Song
of the Open Road.” He did not resist the desire to say, meditatively:
“You have no children——”
“God in His mercy be praised for that one blessing!” Witherle
muttered. But Lowndes went on as if he did not hear:
“But you might think of your wife.”
“I have thought of her—too much. I thought about everything too
much. I am tired of thinking,” said Witherle. “I wonder if you
understand?”
“Not in the least.”
Witherle looked about him restlessly. “Come where we can talk—
down there on that pile of boards. I think I’d like to talk. It is very
simple when once you understand it.”
 He led the way to the opposite end of the bridge, and down an
embankment to a lumber-pile at the water’s edge. Up the river the
May sun had gone down in splendor, leaving the water crimson-
stained. Witherle sat down where he could look along the river-
reaches.
“Hold on a minute, Witherle. Don’t talk to me unless you are sure
you want to.”
“That’s all right. There’s nothing much to tell. I don’t seem to mind
your understanding.”
Witherle was silent a minute.
“It is very simple,” he said again. “This is the way I think about it.
Either you do the things you want to do in this world or else you
don’t. I had never done what I wanted until I left home. I didn’t mean
to hurt anybody by coming away in that style, and I don’t think that I
did. I’d rather not be selfish, but life got so dull. I couldn’t stand it. I
had to have a change. I had to come. The things you have to do you
do. There was a Frenchman once who committed suicide and left a
note that said: ‘Tired of this eternal buttoning and unbuttoning.’ I
know how he felt. I don’t know how other men manage to live.
Perhaps their work means more to them than mine had come to
mean to me. It was just dull, that was all, and I had to come.”
Lowndes stared. Truly it was delightfully simple. “Why, man, you
can’t chuck your responsibilities overboard like that. Your wife——”
“When I was twenty-one,” interrupted Witherle, “I was in love. The
girl married somebody else. Before I met my wife she had cared for
a man who married another woman. You see how it was. We were
going to save the pieces together. As a business arrangement that
sort of thing is all right. I haven’t a word to say against it. She is a
good woman, and we got on as well as most people, only life was
not ecstasy to either of us. Can’t you see us tied together, snaking
our way along through existence as if it were some gray desert, and
we crawling on and on over the sand, always with our faces bent to
it, and nothing showing itself in our way but the white bones of the
men and women who had travelled along there before us—grinning
skulls mostly? Can’t you see it?”
Looking up, he caught an expression in Lowndes’s eyes the
meaning of which he suspected. “Oh, you needn’t be afraid,” he
added, hastily, “that this is insanity. It’s only imagination. That’s the
way I felt. And my work was only another long desert to be toiled
through—with the Sphinx at the end. I wasn’t a successful preacher,
and you know it. I hadn’t any grip on men. I hadn’t any grip on myself
—or God. I couldn’t see any use or any meaning or any joy in it. The
whole thing choked me. I wanted a simpler, more elemental life. I
wanted to go up and down the earth and try new forms of living, new
ways of doing things, new people. Life—that was what I wanted; to
feel the pulse of the world throb under my touch, to be in the stir, to
be doing something. I was always haunted by the conviction that life
was tremendous if only you once got at it. I couldn’t get at it where I
was. I was rotting away. So when that money was left me it came
like a godsend. I knew my wife could live on that, and I didn’t think
she’d miss me much, so I just came off.”
“And you like it?”
The man’s eyes flamed. “Like it? It’s great! It’s the only thing there
is. I’ve been from Maine to California this year. I wintered in a
Michigan lumber-camp—that was hell. I was a boat-hand on the
Columbia last summer—that was heaven. I worked in a coal-mine
two months—a scab workman, you understand. And now I’m at this.
I tell you, it is fine to get rid of cudgelling your brains for ideas that
aren’t there, and of pretending to teach people something you don’t
know, and take to working with your hands nine hours a day and
sleeping like a log all night. I hadn’t slept for months, you know.
These people tell me about themselves. I’m seeing what life is like.
I’m getting down to the foundations. I’ve learned more about
humanity in the last six months than I ever knew in all my life. I
believe I’ve learned more about religion. I’m getting hold of things.
It’s like getting out on the open sea after that desert I was talking
about—don’t you see? And it all tastes so good to me!” He dropped
his head into his hands, exhausted by the flood of words he had
poured rapidly out.
 Lowndes hesitated long before he spoke. He was reflecting that
Witherle’s exaltation was pathological—he was drunk with the air of
the open road.
“Poor little devil!” he thought. “One might let alone a man who
finds ecstasy in being a coal-heaver; but it won’t do.”
“Life is big,” he admitted, slowly; “it’s tremendous, if you like; it’s all
you say—but it isn’t for you. Don’t you see it is too late? We’re all of
us under bonds to keep the world’s peace and finish the contracts
we undertake. You’re out of bounds now. You have got to come
back.”
Witherle stared at him blankly. “You say that? After what I’ve told
you? Why, there’s nothing to go back for. And here—there is
everything! What harm am I doing, I’d like to know? Who is hurt?
What claims has that life on me? Confound you!” his wrath rising
fiercely, “how dare you talk like that to me? Why isn’t life for me as
well as for you?”
This Witherle was a man he did not know. Lowndes felt a little
heart-sick, but only the more convinced that he must make his point.
“If you didn’t feel that you were out of bounds, why were you afraid
of me when I came along?”
The thrust told. Witherle was silent. Lowndes went on: “Bread isn’t
as interesting as champagne, I know, but there is more in it, in the
long run. However, that’s neither here nor there—if a man has a right
to his champagne. But you haven’t. You are mistaken about your
wife. She was all broken up. I don’t pretend to say she was
desperately fond of you. I don’t know anything about that. But,
anyhow, she had made for herself a kind of life of which you were
the centre, and it was all the life she had. You had no right to break it
to pieces getting what you wanted. That’s a brutal thing for a man to
do. She looked very miserable, when I saw her. You’ve got to go
back.”
Witherle turned his head from side to side restlessly, as a sick man
turns on the pillow.
 “How can I go back?” he cried, keenly protesting. “Don’t you see
it’s impossible? I’ve burned my ships.”
“That’s easy enough. You went off in a fit of double consciousness,
or temporary insanity, or something like that, and I found you down
here. It will be easy enough to reinstate you. I’ll see to that.”
“That would be a lie,” said Witherle, resolutely.
Lowndes stared at him curiously, reflecting upon the
fastidiousness with which men pick and choose their offenses
against righteousness, embracing one joyously and rejecting another
with scorn.
“Yes; so it would. But I have offered to do the lying for you, and
you are off your head, you know.”
“How?” demanded Witherle, sharply.
“Any man is off his head who can’t take life as it comes, the bad
and the good, and bear up under it. Suicide is insanity. You tried to
commit suicide in the cowardliest way, by getting rid of your
responsibilities and saving your worthless breath. Old man, it won’t
do. You say you’ve learned something about religion and humanity—
come back and tell us about it.”
Witherle listened to his sentence in silence. His long lower lip
trembled.
“Anything more?” he demanded.
“That’s all. It won’t do.”
The man dropped his head into his hands and sat absolutely still.
Lowndes watched the river growing grayer and grayer, and listened
to the lapping of the water against the lumber, remembering that one
of the poets had said it was a risky business tampering with souls,
and matter enough to save one’s own. The reflection made him feel
a little faint. What if Witherle had a right to that life in spite of
everything—that life for which he had given all?
Witherle lifted his head at last. “You are sure my wife was broken
up over it?” he demanded, despairingly.
 “Sure.”
Witherle cast one longing glance across the darkening river to the
black outlines of the barge. There, ah, even there, the breath of life
was sweet upon his lips, and toil was good, and existence was worth
while.
“I thought no soul in the world had a claim on me. Curse duty! The
life of a rat in a cage!” he cried. “Oh, Lord, I haven’t the head nor the
heart for it!”
The words were bitter, but his voice broke with compliance. He
rose to his feet and stretched out his arms with a fierce gesture, then
dropped them heavily by his side.
“Come on,” he said.
Lowndes, watching him with that curious, heart-sickening
sympathy growing upon him, was aware that he had seen the end of
a soul’s revolt. Rightly or wrongly, Witherle’s freedom was over.