diff --git a/lib/eventsource.dart b/lib/eventsource.dart
index 54bbef2..2869755 100644
--- a/lib/eventsource.dart
+++ b/lib/eventsource.dart
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class EventSource extends Stream<Event> {
   // interface attributes
 
   final Uri url;
-  final String authToken;
+  String authToken = "";
 
   EventSourceReadyState get readyState => _readyState;
 
@@ -61,12 +61,14 @@ class EventSource extends Stream<Event> {
     url = url is Uri ? url : Uri.parse(url);
     client = client ?? new http.Client();
     lastEventId = lastEventId ?? "";
-    EventSource es = new EventSource._internal(url, client, lastEventId);
+    EventSource es =
+        new EventSource._internal(url, client, lastEventId, authToken);
     await es._start();
     return es;
   }
 
-  EventSource._internal(this.url, this.client, this._lastEventId) {
+  EventSource._internal(
+      this.url, this.client, this._lastEventId, this.authToken) {
     _decoder = new EventSourceDecoder(retryIndicator: _updateRetryDelay);
   }