Curiosity was leaving me.

What did it matter what lay on the other side of the world?
Men and women, without doubt, very much like the men and women I knew; marrying and giving in marriage and all the petty run of petty human concerns; and drinks, too.
But the other side of the world was a long way to go for a drink.

I had but to step to the corner and get all I wanted at Joe Vigy's.

Johnny Heinhold still ran the Last Chance.

And there were saloons on all the corners and between the corners.
The whispers from the back of life were growing dim as my mind and body soddened.