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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strength of the Strong, by Jack London
+(#12 in our series by Jack London)
+
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
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+
+Title: The Strength of the Strong
+
+Author: Jack London
+
+Release Date: October, 1997  [EBook #1075]
+[This file was first posted on October 17, 1997]
+[Most recently updated: June 28, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE STRENGTH OF THE STRONG ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+The Strength of the Strong
+
+
+
+
+Contents:
+
+The Strength of the Strong
+South of the Slot
+The Unparalleled Invasion
+The Enemy of All the World
+The Dream of Debs
+The Sea-Farmer
+Samuel
+
+
+
+THE STRENGTH OF THE STRONG
+
+
+
+"Parables don't lie, but liars will parable."--Lip-King.
+
+
+Old Long-Beard paused in his narrative, licked his greasy fingers,
+and wiped them on his naked sides where his one piece of ragged
+bearskin failed to cover him.  Crouched around him, on their hams,
+were three young men, his grandsons, Deer-Runner, Yellow-Head, and
+Afraid-of-the-Dark.  In appearance they were much the same.  Skins
+of wild animals partly covered them.  They were lean and meagre of
+build, narrow-hipped and crooked-legged, and at the same time deep-
+chested, with heavy arms and enormous hands.  There was much hair
+on their chests and shoulders, and on the outsides of their arms
+and legs.  Their heads were matted with uncut hair, long locks of
+which often strayed before their eyes, beady and black and
+glittering like the eyes of birds.  They were narrow between the
+eyes and broad between the cheeks, while their lower jaws were
+projecting and massive.
+
+It was a night of clear starlight, and below them, stretching away
+remotely, lay range on range of forest-covered hills.  In the
+distance the heavens were red from the glow of a volcano.  At their
+backs yawned the black mouth of a cave, out of which, from time to
+time, blew draughty gusts of wind.  Immediately in front of them
+blazed a fire.  At one side, partly devoured, lay the carcass of a
+bear, with about it, at a respectable distance, several large dogs,
+shaggy and wolf-like.  Beside each man lay his bow and arrows and a
+huge club.  In the cave-mouth a number of rude spears leaned
+against the rock.
+
+"So that was how we moved from the cave to the tree," old Long-
+Beard spoke up.
+
+They laughed boisterously, like big children, at recollection of a
+previous story his words called up.  Long-Beard laughed, too, the
+five-inch bodkin of bone, thrust midway through the cartilage of
+his nose, leaping and dancing and adding to his ferocious
+appearance.  He did not exactly say the words recorded, but he made
+animal-like sounds with his mouth that meant the same thing.
+
+"And that is the first I remember of the Sea Valley," Long-Beard
+went on.  "We were a very foolish crowd.  We did not know the
+secret of strength.  For, behold, each family lived by itself, and
+took care of itself.  There were thirty families, but we got no
+strength from one another.  We were in fear of each other all the
+time.  No one ever paid visits.  In the top of our tree we built a
+grass house, and on the platform outside was a pile of rocks, which
+were for the heads of any that might chance to try to visit us.
+Also, we had our spears and arrows.  We never walked under the
+trees of the other families, either.  My brother did, once, under
+old Boo-oogh's tree, and he got his head broken and that was the
+end of him.
+
+"Old Boo-oogh was very strong.  It was said he could pull a grown
+man's head right off.  I never heard of him doing it, because no
+man would give him a chance.  Father wouldn't.  One day, when
+father was down on the beach, Boo-oogh took after mother.  She
+couldn't run fast, for the day before she had got her leg clawed by
+a bear when she was up on the mountain gathering berries.  So Boo-
+oogh caught her and carried her up into his tree.  Father never got
+her back.  He was afraid.  Old Boo-oogh made faces at him.
+
+"But father did not mind.  Strong-Arm was another strong man.  He
+was one of the best fishermen.  But one day, climbing after sea-
+gull eggs, he had a fall from the cliff.  He was never strong after
+that.  He coughed a great deal, and his shoulders drew near to each
+other.  So father took Strong-Arm's wife.  When he came around and
+coughed under our tree, father laughed at him and threw rocks at
+him.  It was our way in those days.  We did not know how to add
+strength together and become strong."
+
+"Would a brother take a brother's wife?" Deer-Runner demanded.
+
+"Yes, if he had gone to live in another tree by himself."
+
+"But we do not do such things now," Afraid-of-the-Dark objected.
+
+"It is because I have taught your fathers better."  Long-Beard
+thrust his hairy paw into the bear meat and drew out a handful of
+suet, which he sucked with a meditative air.  Again he wiped his
+hands on his naked sides and went on.  "What I am telling you
+happened in the long ago, before we knew any better."
+
+"You must have been fools not to know better," was Deer-Runner's
+comment, Yellow-Head grunting approval.
+
+"So we were, but we became bigger fools, as you shall see.  Still,
+we did learn better, and this was the way of it.  We Fish-Eaters
+had not learned to add our strength until our strength was the
+strength of all of us.  But the Meat-Eaters, who lived across the
+divide in the Big Valley, stood together, hunted together, fished
+together, and fought together.  One day they came into our valley.
+Each family of us got into its own cave and tree.  There were only
+ten Meat-Eaters, but they fought together, and we fought, each
+family by itself."
+
+Long-Beard counted long and perplexedly on his fingers.
+
+"There were sixty men of us," was what he managed to say with
+fingers and lips combined.  "And we were very strong, only we did
+not know it.  So we watched the ten men attack Boo-oogh's tree.  He
+made a good fight, but he had no chance.  We looked on.  When some
+of the Meat-Eaters tried to climb the tree, Boo-oogh had to show
+himself in order to drop stones on their heads, whereupon the other
+Meat-Eaters, who were waiting for that very thing, shot him full of
+arrows.  And that was the end of Boo-oogh.
+
+"Next, the Meat-Eaters got One-Eye and his family in his cave.
+They built a fire in the mouth and smoked him out, like we smoked
+out the bear there to-day.  Then they went after Six-Fingers, up
+his tree, and, while they were killing him and his grown son, the
+rest of us ran away.  They caught some of our women, and killed two
+old men who could not run fast and several children.  The women
+they carried away with them to the Big Valley.
+
+"After that the rest of us crept back, and, somehow, perhaps
+because we were in fear and felt the need for one another, we
+talked the thing over.  It was our first council--our first real
+council.  And in that council we formed our first tribe.  For we
+had learned the lesson.  Of the ten Meat-Eaters, each man had had
+the strength of ten, for the ten had fought as one man.  They had
+added their strength together.  But of the thirty families and the
+sixty men of us, we had had the strength of but one man, for each
+had fought alone.
+
+"It was a great talk we had, and it was hard talk, for we did not
+have the words then as now with which to talk.  The Bug made some
+of the words long afterward, and so did others of us make words
+from time to time.  But in the end we agreed to add our strength
+together and to be as one man when the Meat-Eaters came over the
+divide to steal our women.  And that was the tribe.
+
+"We set two men on the divide, one for the day and one for the
+night, to watch if the Meat-Eaters came.  These were the eyes of
+the tribe.  Then, also, day and night, there were to be ten men
+awake with their clubs and spears and arrows in their hands, ready
+to fight.  Before, when a man went after fish, or clams, or gull-
+eggs, he carried his weapons with him, and half the time he was
+getting food and half the time watching for fear some other man
+would get him.  Now that was all changed.  The men went out without
+their weapons and spent all their time getting food.  Likewise,
+when the women went into the mountains after roots and berries,
+five of the ten men went with them to guard them.  While all the
+time, day and night, the eyes of the tribe watched from the top of
+the divide.
+
+"But troubles came.  As usual, it was about the women.  Men without
+wives wanted other men's wives, and there was much fighting between
+men, and now and again one got his head smashed or a spear through
+his body.  While one of the watchers was on top of the divide,
+another man stole his wife, and he came down to fight.  Then the
+other watcher was in fear that some one would take his wife, and he
+came down likewise.  Also, there was trouble among the ten men who
+carried always their weapons, and they fought five against five,
+till some ran away down the coast and the others ran after them.
+
+"So it was that the tribe was left without eyes or guards.  We had
+not the strength of sixty.  We had no strength at all.  So we held
+a council and made our first laws.  I was but a cub at the time,
+but I remember.  We said that, in order to be strong, we must not
+fight one another, and we made a law that when a man killed another
+him would the tribe kill.  We made another law that whoso stole
+another man's wife him would the tribe kill.  We said that whatever
+man had too great strength, and by that strength hurt his brothers
+in the tribe, him would we kill that his strength might hurt no
+more.  For, if we let his strength hurt, the brothers would become
+afraid and the tribe would fall apart, and we would be as weak as
+when the Meat-Eaters first came upon us and killed Boo-oogh.
+
+"Knuckle-Bone was a strong man, a very strong man, and he knew not
+law.  He knew only his own strength, and in the fullness thereof he
+went forth and took the wife of Three-Clams.  Three-Clams tried to
+fight, but Knuckle-Bone clubbed out his brains.  Yet had Knuckle-
+Bone forgotten that all the men of us had added our strength to
+keep the law among us, and him we killed, at the foot of his tree,
+and hung his body on a branch as a warning that the law was
+stronger than any man.  For we were the law, all of us, and no man
+was greater than the law.
+
+"Then there were other troubles, for know, O Deer-Runner, and
+Yellow-Head, and Afraid-of-the-Dark, that it is not easy to make a
+tribe.  There were many things, little things, that it was a great
+trouble to call all the men together to have a council about.  We
+were having councils morning, noon, and night, and in the middle of
+the night.  We could find little time to go out and get food,
+because of the councils, for there was always some little thing to
+be settled, such as naming two new watchers to take the place of
+the old ones on the hill, or naming how much food should fall to
+the share of the men who kept their weapons always in their hands
+and got no food for themselves.
+
+"We stood in need of a chief man to do these things, who would be
+the voice of the council, and who would account to the council for
+the things he did.  So we named Fith-Fith the chief man.  He was a
+strong man, too, and very cunning, and when he was angry he made
+noises just like that, fith-fith, like a wild-cat.
+
+"The ten men who guarded the tribe were set to work making a wall
+of stones across the narrow part of the valley.  The women and
+large children helped, as did other men, until the wall was strong.
+After that, all the families came down out of their caves and trees
+and built grass houses behind the shelter of the wall.  These
+houses were large and much better than the caves and trees, and
+everybody had a better time of it because the men had added their
+strength together and become a tribe.  Because of the wall and the
+guards and the watchers, there was more time to hunt and fish and
+pick roots and berries; there was more food, and better food, and
+no one went hungry.  And Three-Legs, so named because his legs had
+been smashed when a boy and who walked with a stick--Three-Legs got
+the seed of the wild corn and planted it in the ground in the
+valley near his house.  Also, he tried planting fat roots and other
+things he found in the mountain valleys.
+
+"Because of the safety in the Sea Valley, which was because of the
+wall and the watchers and the guards, and because there was food in
+plenty for all without having to fight for it, many families came
+in from the coast valleys on both sides and from the high back
+mountains where they had lived more like wild animals than men.
+And it was not long before the Sea Valley filled up, and in it were
+countless families.  But, before this happened, the land, which had
+been free to all and belonged to all, was divided up.  Three-Legs
+began it when he planted corn.  But most of us did not care about
+the land.  We thought the marking of the boundaries with fences of
+stone was a foolishness.  We had plenty to eat, and what more did
+we want?  I remember that my father and I built stone fences for
+Three-Legs and were given corn in return.
+
+"So only a few got all the land, and Three-Legs got most of it.
+Also, others that had taken land gave it to the few that held on,
+being paid in return with corn and fat roots, and bear-skins, and
+fishes which the farmers got from the fishermen in exchange for
+corn.  And, the first thing we knew, all the land was gone.
+
+"It was about this time that Fith-Fith died and Dog-Tooth, his son,
+was made chief.  He demanded to be made chief anyway, because his
+father had been chief before him.  Also, he looked upon himself as
+a greater chief than his father.  He was a good chief at first, and
+worked hard, so that the council had less and less to do.  Then
+arose a new voice in the Sea Valley.  It was Twisted-Lip.  We had
+never thought much of him, until he began to talk with the spirits
+of the dead.  Later we called him Big-Fat, because he ate over-
+much, and did no work, and grew round and large.  One day Big-Fat
+told us that the secrets of the dead were his, and that he was the
+voice of God.  He became great friends with Dog-Tooth, who
+commanded that we should build Big-Fat a grass house.  And Big-Fat
+put taboos all around this house and kept God inside.
+
+"More and more Dog-Tooth became greater than the council, and when
+the council grumbled and said it would name a new chief, Big-Fat
+spoke with the voice of God and said no.  Also, Three-Legs and the
+others who held the land stood behind Dog-Tooth.  Moreover, the
+strongest man in the council was Sea-Lion, and him the land-owners
+gave land to secretly, along with many bearskins and baskets of
+corn.  So Sea-Lion said that Big-Fat's voice was truly the voice of
+God and must be obeyed.  And soon afterward Sea-Lion was named the
+voice of Dog-Tooth and did most of his talking for him.
+
+"Then there was Little-Belly, a little man, so thin in the middle
+that he looked as if he had never had enough to eat.  Inside the
+mouth of the river, after the sand-bar had combed the strength of
+the breakers, he built a big fish-trap.  No man had ever seen or
+dreamed a fish-trap before.  He worked weeks on it, with his son
+and his wife, while the rest of us laughed at their labours.  But,
+when it was done, the first day he caught more fish in it than
+could the whole tribe in a week, whereat there was great rejoicing.
+There was only one other place in the river for a fish-trap, but,
+when my father and I and a dozen other men started to make a very
+large trap, the guards came from the big grass-house we had built
+for Dog-Tooth.  And the guards poked us with their spears and told
+us begone, because Little-Belly was going to build a trap there
+himself on the word of Sea-Lion, who was the voice of Dog-Tooth.
+
+"There was much grumbling, and my father called a council.  But,
+when he rose to speak, him the Sea-Lion thrust through the throat
+with a spear and he died.  And Dog-Tooth and Little-Belly, and
+Three-Legs and all that held land said it was good.  And Big-Fat
+said it was the will of God.  And after that all men were afraid to
+stand up in the council, and there was no more council.
+
+"Another man, Pig-Jaw, began to keep goats.  He had heard about it
+as among the Meat-Eaters, and it was not long before he had many
+flocks.  Other men, who had no land and no fish-traps, and who else
+would have gone hungry, were glad to work for Pig-Jaw, caring for
+his goats, guarding them from wild dogs and tigers, and driving
+them to the feeding pastures in the mountains.  In return, Pig-Jaw
+gave them goat-meat to eat and goat-skins to wear, and sometimes
+they traded the goat-meat for fish and corn and fat roots.
+
+"It was this time that money came to be.  Sea-Lion was the man who
+first thought of it, and he talked it over with Dog-Tooth and Big-
+Fat.  You see, these three were the ones that got a share of
+everything in the Sea Valley.  One basket out of every three of
+corn was theirs, one fish out of every three, one goat out of every
+three.  In return, they fed the guards and the watchers, and kept
+the rest for themselves.  Sometimes, when a big haul of fish was
+made they did not know what to do with all their share.  So Sea-
+Lion set the women to making money out of shell--little round
+pieces, with a hole in each one, and all made smooth and fine.
+These were strung on strings, and the strings were called money.
+
+"Each string was of the value of thirty fish, or forty fish, but
+the women, who made a string a day, were given two fish each.  The
+fish came out of the shares of Dog-Tooth, Big-Fat, and Sea-Lion,
+which they three did not eat.  So all the money belonged to them.
+Then they told Three-Legs and the other land-owners that they would
+take their share of corn and roots in money, Little-Belly that they
+would take their share of fish in money, Pig-Jaw that they would
+take their share of goats and cheese in money.  Thus, a man who had
+nothing, worked for one who had, and was paid in money.  With this
+money he bought corn, and fish, and meat, and cheese.  And Three-
+Legs and all owners of things paid Dog-Tooth and Sea-Lion and Big-
+Fat their share in money.  And they paid the guards and watchers in
+money, and the guards and watchers bought their food with the
+money.  And, because money was cheap, Dog-Tooth made many more men
+into guards.  And, because money was cheap to make, a number of men
+began to make money out of shell themselves.  But the guards stuck
+spears in them and shot them full of arrows, because they were
+trying to break up the tribe.  It was bad to break up the tribe,
+for then the Meat-Eaters would come over the divide and kill them
+all.
+
+"Big-Fat was the voice of God, but he took Broken-Rib and made him
+into a priest, so that he became the voice of Big-Fat and did most
+of his talking for him.  And both had other men to be servants to
+them.  So, also, did Little-Belly and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw have
+other men to lie in the sun about their grass houses and carry
+messages for them and give commands.  And more and more were men
+taken away from work, so that those that were left worked harder
+than ever before.  It seemed that men desired to do no work and
+strove to seek out other ways whereby men should work for them.
+Crooked-Eyes found such a way.  He made the first fire-brew out of
+corn.  And thereafter he worked no more, for he talked secretly
+with Dog-Tooth and Big-Fat and the other masters, and it was agreed
+that he should be the only one to make fire-brew.  But Crooked-Eyes
+did no work himself.  Men made the brew for him, and he paid them
+in money.  Then he sold the fire-brew for money, and all men
+bought.  And many strings of money did he give Dog-Tooth and Sea-
+Lion and all of them.
+
+"Big-Fat and Broken-Rib stood by Dog-Tooth when he took his second
+wife, and his third wife.  They said Dog-Tooth was different from
+other men and second only to God that Big-Fat kept in his taboo
+house, and Dog-Tooth said so, too, and wanted to know who were they
+to grumble about how many wives he took.  Dog-Tooth had a big canoe
+made, and, many more men he took from work, who did nothing and lay
+in the sun, save only when Dog-Tooth went in the canoe, when they
+paddled for him.  And he made Tiger-Face head man over all the
+guards, so that Tiger-Face became his right arm, and when he did
+not like a man Tiger-Face killed that man for him.  And Tiger-Face,
+also, made another man to be his right arm, and to give commands,
+and to kill for him.
+
+"But this was the strange thing:  as the days went by we who were
+left worked harder and harder, and yet did we get less and less to
+eat."
+
+"But what of the goats and the corn and the fat roots and the fish-
+trap?" spoke up Afraid-of-the-Dark, "what of all this?  Was there
+not more food to be gained by man's work?"
+
+"It is so," Long-Beard agreed.  "Three men on the fish-trap got
+more fish than the whole tribe before there was a fish-trap.  But
+have I not said we were fools?  The more food we were able to get,
+the less food did we have to eat."
+
+"But was it not plain that the many men who did not work ate it all
+up?" Yellow-Head demanded.
+
+Long-Beard nodded his head sadly.
+
+"Dog-Tooth's dogs were stuffed with meat, and the men who lay in
+the sun and did no work were rolling in fat, and, at the same time,
+there were little children crying themselves to sleep with hunger
+biting them with every wail."
+
+Deer-Runner was spurred by the recital of famine to tear out a
+chunk of bear-meat and broil it on a stick over the coals.  This he
+devoured with smacking lips, while Long-Beard went on:
+
+"When we grumbled Big-Fat arose, and with the voice of God said
+that God had chosen the wise men to own the land and the goats and
+the fish-trap, and the fire-brew, and that without these wise men
+we would all be animals, as in the days when we lived in trees.
+
+"And there arose one who became a singer of songs for the king.
+Him they called the Bug, because he was small and ungainly of face
+and limb and excelled not in work or deed.  He loved the fattest
+marrow bones, the choicest fish, the milk warm from the goats, the
+first corn that was ripe, and the snug place by the fire.  And
+thus, becoming singer of songs to the king, he found a way to do
+nothing and be fat.  And when the people grumbled more and more,
+and some threw stones at the king's grass house, the Bug sang a
+song of how good it was to be a Fish-Eater.  In his song he told
+that the Fish-Eaters were the chosen of God and the finest men God
+had made.  He sang of the Meat-Eaters as pigs and crows, and sang
+how fine and good it was for the Fish-Eaters to fight and die doing
+God's work, which was the killing of Meat-Eaters.  The words of his
+song were like fire in us, and we clamoured to be led against the
+Meat-Eaters.  And we forgot that we were hungry, and why we had
+grumbled, and were glad to be led by Tiger-Face over the divide,
+where we killed many Meat-Eaters and were content.
+
+"But things were no better in the Sea Valley.  The only way to get
+food was to work for Three-Legs or Little-Belly or Pig-Jaw; for
+there was no land that a man might plant with corn for himself.
+And often there were more men than Three-Legs and the others had
+work for.  So these men went hungry, and so did their wives and
+children and their old mothers.  Tiger-Face said they could become
+guards if they wanted to, and many of them did, and thereafter they
+did no work except to poke spears in the men who did work and who
+grumbled at feeding so many idlers.
+
+"And when we grumbled, ever the Bug sang new songs.  He said that
+Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and the rest were strong men, and that that
+was why they had so much.  He said that we should be glad to have
+strong men with us, else would we perish of our own worthlessness
+and the Meat-Eaters.  Therefore, we should be glad to let such
+strong men have all they could lay hands on.  And Big-Fat and Pig-
+Jaw and Tiger-Face and all the rest said it was true.
+
+"'All right,' said Long-Fang, 'then will I, too, be a strong man.'
+And he got himself corn, and began to make fire-brew and sell it
+for strings of money.  And, when Crooked-Eyes complained, Long-Fang
+said that he was himself a strong man, and that if Crooked-Eyes
+made any more noise he would bash his brains out for him.  Whereat
+Crooked-Eyes was afraid and went and talked with Three-Legs and
+Pig-Jaw.  And all three went and talked to Dog-Tooth.  And Dog-
+Tooth spoke to Sea-Lion, and Sea-Lion sent a runner with a message
+to Tiger-Face.  And Tiger-Face sent his guards, who burned Long-
+Fang's house along with the fire-brew he had made.  Also, they
+killed him and all his family.  And Big-Fat said it was good, and
+the Bug sang another song about how good it was to observe the law,
+and what a fine land the Sea Valley was, and how every man who
+loved the Sea Valley should go forth and kill the bad Meat-Eaters.
+And again his song was as fire to us, and we forgot to grumble.
+
+"It was very strange.  When Little-Belly caught too many fish, so
+that it took a great many to sell for a little money, he threw many
+of the fish back into the sea, so that more money would be paid for
+what was left.  And Three-Legs often let many large fields lie idle
+so as to get more money for his corn.  And the women, making so
+much money out of shell that much money was needed to buy with,
+Dog-Tooth stopped the making of money.  And the women had no work,
+so they took the places of the men.  I worked on the fish-trap,
+getting a string of money every five days.  But my sister now did
+my work, getting a string of money for every ten days.  The women
+worked cheaper, and there was less food, and Tiger-Face said we
+should become guards.  Only I could not become a guard because I
+was lame of one leg and Tiger-Face would not have me.  And there
+were many like me.  We were broken men and only fit to beg for work
+or to take care of the babies while the women worked."
+
+Yellow-Head, too, was made hungry by the recital and broiled a
+piece of bear-meat on the coals.
+
+"But why didn't you rise up, all of you, and kill Three-Legs and
+Pig-Jaw and Big-Fat and the rest and get enough to eat?" Afraid-in-
+the-Dark demanded.
+
+"Because we could not understand," Long-Beard answered.  "There was
+too much to think about, and, also, there were the guards sticking
+spears into us, and Big-Fat talking about God, and the Bug singing
+new songs.  And when any man did think right, and said so, Tiger-
+Face and the guards got him, and he was tied out to the rocks at
+low tide so that the rising waters drowned him.
+
+"It was a strange thing--the money.  It was like the Bug's songs.
+It seemed all right, but it wasn't, and we were slow to understand.
+Dog-Tooth began to gather the money in.  He put it in a big pile,
+in a grass house, with guards to watch it day and night.  And the
+more money he piled in the house the dearer money became, so that a
+man worked a longer time for a string of money than before.  Then,
+too, there was always talk of war with the Meat-Eaters, and Dog-
+Tooth and Tiger-Face filled many houses with corn, and dried fish,
+and smoked goat-meat, and cheese.  And with the food, piled there
+in mountains the people had not enough to eat.  But what did it
+matter?  Whenever the people grumbled too loudly the Bug sang a new
+song, and Big-Fat said it was God's word that we should kill Meat-
+Eaters, and Tiger-Face led us over the divide to kill and be
+killed.  I was not good enough to be a guard and lie fat in the
+sun, but, when we made war, Tiger-Face was glad to take me along.
+And when we had eaten, all the food stored in the houses we stopped
+fighting and went back to work to pile up more food."
+
+"Then were you all crazy," commented Deer-Runner.
+
+"Then were we indeed all crazy," Long-Beard agreed.  "It was
+strange, all of it.  There was Split-Nose.  He said everything was
+wrong.  He said it was true that we grew strong by adding our
+strength together.  And he said that, when we first formed the
+tribe, it was right that the men whose strength hurt the tribe
+should be shorn of their strength--men who bashed their brothers'
+heads and stole their brothers' wives.  And now, he said, the tribe
+was not getting stronger, but was getting weaker, because there
+were men with another kind of strength that were hurting the tribe-
+-men who had the strength of the land, like Three-Legs; who had the
+strength of the fish-trap, like Little-Belly; who had the strength
+of all the goat-meat, like Pig-Jaw.  The thing to do, Split-Nose
+said, was to shear these men of their evil strength; to make them
+go to work, all of them, and to let no man eat who did not work.
+
+"And the Bug sang another song about men like Split-Nose, who
+wanted to go back, and live in trees.
+
+"Yet Split-Nose said no; that he did not want to go back, but
+ahead; that they grew strong only as they added their strength
+together; and that, if the Fish-Eaters would add their strength to
+the Meat-Eaters, there would be no more fighting and no more
+watchers and no more guards, and that, with all men working, there
+would be so much food that each man would have to work not more
+than two hours a day.
+
+"Then the Bug sang again, and he sang that Split-Nose was lazy, and
+he sang also the 'Song of the Bees.'  It was a strange song, and
+those who listened were made mad, as from the drinking of strong
+fire-brew.  The song was of a swarm of bees, and of a robber wasp
+who had come in to live with the bees and who was stealing all
+their honey.  The wasp was lazy and told them there was no need to
+work; also, he told them to make friends with the bears, who were
+not honey-stealers but only very good friends.  And the Bug sang in
+crooked words, so that those who listened knew that the swarm was
+the Sea Valley tribe, that the bears were the Meat-Eaters, and that
+the lazy wasp was Split-Nose.  And when the Bug sang that the bees
+listened to the wasp till the swarm was near to perishing, the
+people growled and snarled, and when the Bug sang that at last the
+good bees arose and stung the wasp to death, the people picked up
+stones from the ground and stoned Split-Nose to death till there
+was naught to be seen of him but the heap of stones they had flung
+on top of him.  And there were many poor people who worked long and
+hard and had not enough to eat that helped throw the stones on
+Split-Nose.
+
+"And, after the death of Split-Nose, there was but one other man
+that dared rise up and speak his mind, and that man was Hair-Face.
+'Where is the strength of the strong?' he asked.  'We are the
+strong, all of us, and we are stronger than Dog-Tooth and Tiger-
+Face and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and all the rest who do nothing and
+eat much and weaken us by the hurt of their strength which is bad
+strength.  Men who are slaves are not strong.  If the man who first
+found the virtue and use of fire had used his strength we would
+have been his slaves, as we are the slaves to-day of Little-Belly,
+who found the virtue and use of the fish-trap; and of the men who
+found the virtue and use of the land, and the goats, and the fire-
+brew.  Before, we lived in trees, my brothers, and no man was safe.
+But we fight no more with one another.  We have added our strength
+together.  Then let us fight no more with the Meat-Eaters.  Let us
+add our strength and their strength together.  Then will we be
+indeed strong.  And then we will go out together, the Fish-Eaters
+and the Meat-Eaters, and we will kill the tigers and the lions and
+the wolves and the wild dogs, and we will pasture our goats on all
+the hill-sides and plant our corn and fat roots in all the high
+mountain valleys.  In that day we will be so strong that all the
+wild animals will flee before us and perish.  And nothing will
+withstand us, for the strength of each man will be the strength of
+all men in the world.'
+
+"So said Hair-Face, and they killed him, because, they said, he was
+a wild man and wanted to go back and live in a tree.  It was very
+strange.  Whenever a man arose and wanted to go forward all those
+that stood still said he went backward and should be killed.  And
+the poor people helped stone him, and were fools.  We were all
+fools, except those who were fat and did no work.  The fools were
+called wise, and the wise were stoned.  Men who worked did not get
+enough to eat, and the men who did not work ate too much.
+
+"And the tribe went on losing strength.  The children were weak and
+sickly.  And, because we ate not enough, strange sicknesses came
+among us and we died like flies.  And then the Meat-Eaters came
+upon us.  We had followed Tiger-Face too often over the divide and
+killed them.  And now they came to repay in blood.  We were too
+weak and sick to man the big wall.  And they killed us, all of us,
+except some of the women, which they took away with them.  The Bug
+and I escaped, and I hid in the wildest places, and became a hunter
+of meat and went hungry no more.  I stole a wife from the Meat-
+Eaters, and went to live in the caves of the high mountains where
+they could not find me.  And we had three sons, and each son stole
+a wife from the Meat-Eaters.  And the rest you know, for are you
+not the sons of my sons?"
+
+"But the Bug?" queried Deer-Runner.  "What became of him?"
+
+"He went to live with the Meat-Eaters and to be a singer of songs
+to the king.  He is an old man now, but he sings the same old
+songs; and, when a man rises up to go forward, he sings that that
+man is walking backward to live in a tree."
+
+Long-Beard dipped into the bear-carcass and sucked with toothless
+gums at a fist of suet.
+
+"Some day," he said, wiping his hands on his sides, "all the fools
+will be dead and then all live men will go forward.  The strength
+of the strong will be theirs, and they will add their strength
+together, so that, of all the men in the world, not one will fight
+with another.  There will be no guards nor watchers on the walls.
+And all the hunting animals will be killed, and, as Hair-Face said,
+all the hill-sides will be pastured with goats and all the high
+mountain valleys will be planted with corn and fat roots.  And all
+men will be brothers, and no man will lie idle in the sun and be
+fed by his fellows.  And all that will come to pass in the time
+when the fools are dead, and when there will be no more singers to
+stand still and sing the 'Song of the Bees.'  Bees are not men."
+
+
+
+SOUTH OF THE SLOT
+
+
+
+Old San Francisco, which is the San Francisco of only the other
+day, the day before the Earthquake, was divided midway by the Slot.
+The Slot was an iron crack that ran along the centre of Market
+Street, and from the Slot arose the burr of the ceaseless, endless
+cable that was hitched at will to the cars it dragged up and down.
+In truth, there were two slots, but in the quick grammar of the
+West time was saved by calling them, and much more that they stood
+for, "The Slot."  North of the Slot were the theatres, hotels, and
+shopping district, the banks and the staid, respectable business
+houses.  South of the Slot were the factories, slums, laundries,
+machine-shops, boiler works, and the abodes of the working class.
+
+The Slot was the metaphor that expressed the class cleavage of
+Society, and no man crossed this metaphor, back and forth, more
+successfully than Freddie Drummond.  He made a practice of living
+in both worlds, and in both worlds he lived signally well.  Freddie
+Drummond was a professor in the Sociology Department of the
+University of California, and it was as a professor of sociology
+that he first crossed over the Slot, lived for six mouths in the
+great labour-ghetto, and wrote The Unskilled Labourer--a book that
+was hailed everywhere as an able contribution to the literature of
+progress, and as a splendid reply to the literature of discontent.
+Politically and economically it was nothing if not orthodox.
+Presidents of great railway systems bought whole editions of it to
+give to their employees.  The Manufacturers' Association alone
+distributed fifty thousand copies of it.  In a way, it was almost
+as immoral as the far-famed and notorious Message to Garcia, while
+in its pernicious preachment of thrift and content it ran Mr. Wiggs
+of the Cabbage Patch a close second.
+
+At first, Freddie Drummond found it monstrously difficult to get
+along among the working people.  He was not used to their ways, and
+they certainly were not used to his.  They were suspicious.  He had
+no antecedents.  He could talk of no previous jobs.  His hands were
+soft.  His extraordinary politeness was ominous.  His first idea of
+the role he would play was that of a free and independent American
+who chose to work with his hands and no explanations given.  But it
+wouldn't do, as he quickly discovered.  At the beginning they
+accepted him, very provisionally, as a freak.  A little later, as
+he began to know his way about better, he insensibly drifted into
+the role that would work--namely, he was a man who had seen better
+days, very much better days, but who was down on his luck, though,
+to be sure, only temporarily.
+
+He learned many things, and generalized much and often erroneously,
+all of which can be found in the pages of The Unskilled Labourer.
+He saved himself, however, after the sane and conservative manner
+of his kind, by labelling his generalizations as "tentative."  One
+of his first experiences was in the great Wilmax Cannery, where he
+was put on piece-work making small packing cases.  A box factory
+supplied the parts, and all Freddie Drummond had to do was to fit
+the parts into a form and drive in the wire nails with a light
+hammer.
+
+It was not skilled labour, but it was piece-work.  The ordinary
+labourers in the cannery got a dollar and a half per day.  Freddie
+Drummond found the other men on the same job with him jogging along
+and earning a dollar and seventy-five cents a day.  By the third
+day he was able to earn the same.  But he was ambitious.  He did
+not care to jog along and, being unusually able and fit, on the
+fourth day earned two dollars.
+
+The next day, having keyed himself up to an exhausting high-
+tension, he earned two dollars and a half.  His fellow workers
+favoured him with scowls and black looks, and made remarks,
+slangily witty and which he did not understand, about sucking up to
+the boss and pace-making and holding her down, when the rains set
+in.  He was astonished at their malingering on piece-work,
+generalized about the inherent laziness of the unskilled labourer,
+and proceeded next day to hammer out three dollars' worth of boxes.
+
+And that night, coming out of the cannery, he was interviewed by
+his fellow workmen, who were very angry and incoherently slangy.
+He failed to comprehend the motive behind their action.  The action
+itself was strenuous.  When he refused to ease down his pace and
+bleated about freedom of contract, independent Americanism, and the
+dignity of toil, they proceeded to spoil his pace-making ability.
+It was a fierce battle, for Drummond was a large man and an
+athlete, but the crowd finally jumped on his ribs, walked on his
+face, and stamped on his fingers, so that it was only after lying
+in bed for a week that he was able to get up and look for another
+job.  All of which is duly narrated in that first book of his, in
+the chapter entitled "The Tyranny of Labour."
+
+A little later, in another department of the Wilmax Cannery,
+lumping as a fruit-distributor among the women, he essayed to carry
+two boxes of fruit at a time, and was promptly reproached by the
+other fruit-lumpers.  It was palpable malingering; but he was
+there, he decided, not to change conditions, but to observe.  So he
+lumped one box thereafter, and so well did he study the art of
+shirking that he wrote a special chapter on it, with the last
+several paragraphs devoted to tentative generalizations.
+
+In those six months he worked at many jobs and developed into a
+very good imitation of a genuine worker.  He was a natural
+linguist, and he kept notebooks, making a scientific study of the
+workers' slang or argot, until he could talk quite intelligibly.
+This language also enabled him more intimately to follow their
+mental processes, and thereby to gather much data for a projected
+chapter in some future book which he planned to entitle Synthesis
+of Working-Class Psychology.
+
+Before he arose to the surface from that first plunge into the
+underworld he discovered that he was a good actor and demonstrated
+the plasticity of his nature.  He was himself astonished at his own
+fluidity.  Once having mastered the language and conquered numerous
+fastidious qualms, he found that he could flow into any nook of
+working-class life and fit it so snugly as to feel comfortably at
+home.  As he said, in the preface to his second book, The Toiler,
+he endeavoured really to know the working people, and the only
+possible way to achieve this was to work beside them, eat their
+food, sleep in their beds, be amused with their amusements, think
+their thoughts, and feel their feeling.
+
+He was not a deep thinker.  He had no faith in new theories.  All
+his norms and criteria were conventional.  His Thesis on the French
+Revolution was noteworthy in college annals, not merely for its
+painstaking and voluminous accuracy, but for the fact that it was
+the dryest, deadest, most formal, and most orthodox screed ever
+written on the subject.  He was a very reserved man, and his
+natural inhibition was large in quantity and steel-like in quality.
+He had but few friends.  He was too undemonstrative, too frigid.
+He had no vices, nor had any one ever discovered any temptations.
+Tobacco he detested, beer he abhorred, and he was never known to
+drink anything stronger than an occasional light wine at dinner.
+
+When a freshman he had been baptized "Ice-Box" by his warmer-
+blooded fellows.  As a member of the faculty he was known as "Cold-
+Storage."  He had but one grief, and that was "Freddie."  He had
+earned it when he played full-back in the 'Varsity eleven, and his
+formal soul had never succeeded in living it down.  "Freddie" he
+would ever be, except officially, and through nightmare vistas he
+looked into a future when his world would speak of him as "Old
+Freddie."
+
+For he was very young to be a doctor of sociology, only twenty-
+seven, and he looked younger.  In appearance and atmosphere he was
+a strapping big college man, smooth-faced and easy-mannered, clean
+and simple and wholesome, with a known record of being a splendid
+athlete and an implied vast possession of cold culture of the
+inhibited sort.  He never talked shop out of class and committee
+rooms, except later on, when his books showered him with
+distasteful public notice and he yielded to the extent of reading
+occasional papers before certain literary and economic societies.
+
+He did everything right--too right; and in dress and comportment
+was inevitably correct.  Not that he was a dandy.  Far from it.  He
+was a college man, in dress and carriage as like as a pea to the
+type that of late years is being so generously turned out of our
+institutions of higher learning.  His handshake was satisfyingly
+strong and stiff.  His blue eyes were coldly blue and convincingly
+sincere.  His voice, firm and masculine, clean and crisp of
+enunciation, was pleasant to the ear.  The one drawback to Freddie
+Drummond was his inhibition.  He never unbent.  In his football
+days, the higher the tension of the game, the cooler he grew.  He
+was noted as a boxer, but he was regarded as an automaton, with the
+inhuman precision of a machine judging distance and timing blows,
+guarding, blocking, and stalling.  He was rarely punished himself,
+while he rarely punished an opponent.  He was too clever and too
+controlled to permit himself to put a pound more weight into a
+punch than he intended.  With him it was a matter of exercise.  It
+kept him fit.
+
+As time went by, Freddie Drummond found himself more frequently
+crossing the Slot and losing himself in South of Market.  His
+summer and winter holidays were spent there, and, whether it was a
+week or a week-end, he found the time spent there to be valuable
+and enjoyable.  And there was so much material to be gathered.  His
+third book, Mass and Master, became a text-book in the American
+universities; and almost before he knew it, he was at work on a
+fourth one, The Fallacy of the Inefficient.
+
+Somewhere in his make-up there was a strange twist or quirk.
+Perhaps it was a recoil from his environment and training, or from
+the tempered seed of his ancestors, who had been book-men
+generation preceding generation; but at any rate, he found
+enjoyment in being down in the working-class world.  In his own
+world he was "Cold-Storage," but down below he was "Big" Bill
+Totts, who could drink and smoke, and slang and fight, and be an
+all-round favourite.  Everybody liked Bill, and more than one
+working girl made love to him.  At first he had been merely a good
+actor, but as time went on, simulation became second nature.  He no
+longer played a part, and he loved sausages, sausages and bacon,
+than which, in his own proper sphere, there was nothing more
+loathsome in the way of food.
+
+From doing the thing for the need's sake, he came to doing the
+thing for the thing's sake.  He found himself regretting as the
+time drew near for him to go back to his lecture-room and his
+inhibition.  And he often found himself waiting with anticipation
+for the dreamy time to pass when he could cross the Slot and cut
+loose and play the devil.  He was not wicked, but as "Big" Bill
+Totts he did a myriad things that Freddie Drummond would never have
+been permitted to do.  Moreover, Freddie Drummond never would have
+wanted to do them.  That was the strangest part of his discovery.
+Freddie Drummond and Bill Totts were two totally different
+creatures.  The desires and tastes and impulses of each ran counter
+to the other's.  Bill Totts could shirk at a job with clear
+conscience, while Freddie Drummond condemned shirking as vicious,
+criminal, and un-American, and devoted whole chapters to
+condemnation of the vice.  Freddie Drummond did not care for
+dancing, but Bill Totts never missed the nights at the various
+dancing clubs, such as The Magnolia, The Western Star, and The
+Elite; while he won a massive silver cup, standing thirty inches
+high, for being the best-sustained character at the Butchers and
+Meat Workers' annual grand masked ball.  And Bill Totts liked the
+girls and the girls liked him, while Freddie Drummond enjoyed
+playing the ascetic in this particular, was open in his opposition
+to equal suffrage, and cynically bitter in his secret condemnation
+of coeducation.
+
+Freddie Drummond changed his manners with his dress, and without
+effort.  When he entered the obscure little room used for his
+transformation scenes, he carried himself just a bit too stiffly.
+He was too erect, his shoulders were an inch too far back, while
+his face was grave, almost harsh, and practically expressionless.
+But when he emerged in Bill Totts' clothes he was another creature.
+Bill Totts did not slouch, but somehow his whole form limbered up
+and became graceful.  The very sound of the voice was changed, and
+the laugh was loud and hearty, while loose speech and an occasional
+oath were as a matter of course on his lips.  Also, Bill Totts was
+a trifle inclined to late hours, and at times, in saloons, to be
+good-naturedly bellicose with other workmen.  Then, too, at Sunday
+picnics or when coming home from the show, either arm betrayed a
+practised familiarity in stealing around girls' waists, while he
+displayed a wit keen and delightful in the flirtatious badinage
+that was expected of a good fellow in his class.
+
+So thoroughly was Bill Totts himself, so thoroughly a workman, a
+genuine denizen of South of the Slot, that he was as class-
+conscious as the average of his kind, and his hatred for a scab
+even exceeded that of the average loyal union man.  During the
+Water Front Strike, Freddie Drummond was somehow able to stand
+apart from the unique combination, and, coldly critical, watch Bill
+Totts hilariously slug scab longshoremen.  For Bill Totts was a
+dues-paying member of the Longshoremen Union and had a right to be
+indignant with the usurpers of his job.  "Big" Bill Totts was so
+very big, and so very able, that it was "Big" Bill to the front
+when trouble was brewing.  From acting outraged feelings, Freddie
+Drummond, in the role of his other self, came to experience genuine
+outrage, and it was only when he returned to the classic atmosphere
+of the university that he was able, sanely and conservatively, to
+generalize upon his underworld experiences and put them down on
+paper as a trained sociologist should.  That Bill Totts lacked the
+perspective to raise him above class-consciousness Freddie Drummond
+clearly saw.  But Bill Totts could not see it.  When he saw a scab
+taking his job away, he saw red at the same time, and little else
+did he see.  It was Freddie Drummond, irreproachably clothed and
+comported, seated at his study desk or facing his class in
+Sociology 17, who saw Bill Totts, and all around Bill Totts, and
+all around the whole scab and union-labour problem and its relation
+to the economic welfare of the United States in the struggle for
+the world market.  Bill Totts really wasn't able to see beyond the
+next meal and the prize-fight the following night at the Gaiety
+Athletic Club.
+
+It was while gathering material for Women and Work that Freddie
+received his first warning of the danger he was in.  He was too
+successful at living in both worlds.  This strange dualism he had
+developed was after all very unstable, and, as he sat in his study
+and meditated, he saw that it could not endure.  It was really a
+transition stage, and if he persisted he saw that he would
+inevitably have to drop one world or the other.  He could not
+continue in both.  And as he looked at the row of volumes that
+graced the upper shelf of his revolving book-case, his volumes,
+beginning with his Thesis and ending with Women and Work, he
+decided that that was the world he would hold to and stick by.
+Bill Totts had served his purpose, but he had become a too
+dangerous accomplice.  Bill Totts would have to cease.
+
+Freddie Drummond's fright was due to Mary Condon, President of the
+International Glove Workers' Union No. 974.  He had seen her,
+first, from the spectators' gallery, at the annual convention of
+the Northwest Federation of Labour, and he had seen her through
+Bill Totts' eyes, and that individual had been most favourably
+impressed by her.  She was not Freddie Drummond's sort at all.
+What if she were a royal-bodied woman, graceful and sinewy as a
+panther, with amazing black eyes that could fill with fire or
+laughter-love, as the mood might dictate?  He detested women with a
+too exuberant vitality and a lack of . . . well, of inhibition.
+Freddie Drummond accepted the doctrine of evolution because it was
+quite universally accepted by college men, and he flatly believed
+that man had climbed up the ladder of life out of the weltering
+muck and mess of lower and monstrous organic things.  But he was a
+trifle ashamed of this genealogy, and preferred not to think of it.
+Wherefore, probably, he practised his iron inhibition and preached
+it to others, and preferred women of his own type, who could shake
+free of this bestial and regrettable ancestral line and by
+discipline and control emphasize the wideness of the gulf that
+separated them from what their dim forbears had been.
+
+Bill Totts had none of these considerations.  He had liked Mary
+Condon from the moment his eyes first rested on her in the
+convention hall, and he had made it a point, then and there, to
+find out who she was.  The next time he met her, and quite by
+accident, was when he was driving an express waggon for Pat
+Morrissey.  It was in a lodging-house in Mission Street, where he
+had been called to take a trunk into storage.  The landlady's
+daughter had called him and led him to the little bedroom, the
+occupant of which, a glove-maker, had just been removed to
+hospital.  But Bill did not know this.  He stooped, up-ended the
+trunk, which was a large one, got it on his shoulder, and struggled
+to his feet with his back toward the open door.  At that moment he
+heard a woman's voice.
+
+"Belong to the union?" was the question asked.
+
+"Aw, what's it to you?" he retorted.  "Run along now, an' git outa
+my way.  I wanta turn round."
+
+The next he know, big as he was, he was whirled half around and
+sent reeling backward, the trunk overbalancing him, till he fetched
+up with a crash against the wall.  He started to swear, but at the
+same instant found himself looking into Mary Condon's flashing,
+angry eyes.
+
+"Of course I b'long to the union," he said.  "I was only kiddin'
+you."
+
+"Where's your card?" she demanded in businesslike tones.
+
+"In my pocket.  But I can't git it out now.  This trunk's too damn
+heavy.  Come on down to the waggon an' I'll show it to you."
+
+"Put that trunk down," was the command.
+
+"What for?  I got a card, I'm tellin' you."
+
+"Put it down, that's all.  No scab's going to handle that trunk.
+You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you big coward, scabbing on
+honest men.  Why don't you join the union and be a man?"
+
+Mary Condon's colour had left her face, and it was apparent that
+she was in a rage.
+
+"To think of a big man like you turning traitor to his class.  I
+suppose you're aching to join the militia for a chance to shoot
+down union drivers the next strike.  You may belong to the militia
+already, for that matter.  You're the sort--"
+
+"Hold on, now, that's too much!"  Bill dropped the trunk to the
+floor with a bang, straightened up, and thrust his hand into his
+inside coat pocket.  "I told you I was only kiddin'.  There, look
+at that."
+
+It was a union card properly enough.
+
+"All right, take it along," Mary Condon said.  "And the next time
+don't kid."
+
+Her face relaxed as she noticed the ease with which he got the big
+trunk to his shoulder, and her eyes glowed as they glanced over the
+graceful massiveness of the man.  But Bill did not see that.  He
+was too busy with the trunk.
+
+The next time he saw Mary Condon was during the Laundry Strike.
+The Laundry Workers, but recently organized, were green at the
+business, and had petitioned Mary Condon to engineer the strike.
+Freddie Drummond had had an inkling of what was coming, and had
+sent Bill Totts to join the union and investigate.  Bill's job was
+in the wash-room, and the men had been called out first, that
+morning, in order to stiffen the courage of the girls; and Bill
+chanced to be near the door to the mangle-room when Mary Condon
+started to enter.  The superintendent, who was both large and
+stout, barred her way.  He wasn't going to have his girls called
+out, and he'd teach her a lesson to mind her own business.  And as
+Mary tried to squeeze past him he thrust her back with a fat hand
+on her shoulder.  She glanced around and saw Bill.
+
+"Here you, Mr. Totts," she called.  "Lend a hand.  I want to get
+in."
+
+Bill experienced a startle of warm surprise.  She had remembered
+his name from his union card.  The next moment the superintendent
+had been plucked from the doorway raving about rights under the
+law, and the girls were deserting their machines.  During the rest
+of that short and successful strike, Bill constituted himself Mary
+Condon's henchman and messenger, and when it was over returned to
+the University to be Freddie Drummond and to wonder what Bill Totts
+could see in such a woman.
+
+Freddie Drummond was entirely safe, but Bill had fallen in love.
+There was no getting away from the fact of it, and it was this fact
+that had given Freddie Drummond his warning.  Well, he had done his
+work, and his adventures could cease.  There was no need for him to
+cross the Slot again.  All but the last three chapters of his
+latest, Labour Tactics and Strategy, was finished, and he had
+sufficient material on hand adequately to supply those chapters.
+
+Another conclusion he arrived at, was that in order to sheet-anchor
+himself as Freddie Drummond, closer ties and relations in his own
+social nook were necessary.  It was time that he was married,
+anyway, and he was fully aware that if Freddie Drummond didn't get
+married, Bill Totts assuredly would, and the complications were too
+awful to contemplate.  And so, enters Catherine Van Vorst.  She was
+a college woman herself, and her father, the one wealthy member of
+the faculty, was the head of the Philosophy Department as well.  It
+would be a wise marriage from every standpoint, Freddie Drummond
+concluded when the engagement was consummated and announced.  In
+appearance cold and reserved, aristocratic and wholesomely
+conservative, Catherine Van Vorst, though warm in her way,
+possessed an inhibition equal to Drummond's.
+
+All seemed well with him, but Freddie Drummond could not quite
+shake off the call of the underworld, the lure of the free and
+open, of the unhampered, irresponsible life South of the Slot.  As
+the time of his marriage approached, he felt that he had indeed
+sowed wild oats, and he felt, moreover, what a good thing it would
+be if he could have but one wild fling more, play the good fellow
+and the wastrel one last time, ere he settled down to grey lecture-
+rooms and sober matrimony.  And, further to tempt him, the very
+last chapter of Labour Tactics and Strategy remained unwritten for
+lack of a trifle more of essential data which he had neglected to
+gather.
+
+So Freddie Drummond went down for the last time as Bill Totts, got
+his data, and, unfortunately, encountered Mary Condon.  Once more
+installed in his study, it was not a pleasant thing to look back
+upon.  It made his warning doubly imperative.  Bill Totts had
+behaved abominably.  Not only had he met Mary Condon at the Central
+Labour Council, but he had stopped at a chop-house with her, on the
+way home, and treated her to oysters.  And before they parted at
+her door, his arms had been about her, and he had kissed her on the
+lips and kissed her repeatedly.  And her last words in his ear,
+words uttered softly with a catchy sob in the throat that was
+nothing more nor less than a love cry, were "Bill . . . dear, dear
+Bill."
+
+Freddie Drummond shuddered at the recollection.  He saw the pit
+yawning for him.  He was not by nature a polygamist, and he was
+appalled at the possibilities of the situation.  It would have to
+be put an end to, and it would end in one only of two ways:  either
+he must become wholly Bill Totts and be married to Mary Condon, or
+he must remain wholly Freddie Drummond and be married to Catherine
+Van Vorst.  Otherwise, his conduct would be beneath contempt and
+horrible.
+
+In the several months that followed, San Francisco was torn with
+labour strife.  The unions and the employers' associations had
+locked horns with a determination that looked as if they intended
+to settle the matter, one way or the other, for all time.  But
+Freddie Drummond corrected proofs, lectured classes, and did not
+budge.  He devoted himself to Catherine Van Vorst, and day by day
+found more to respect and admire in her--nay, even to love in her.
+The Street Car Strike tempted him, but not so severely as he would
+have expected; and the great Meat Strike came on and left him cold.
+The ghost of Bill Totts had been successfully laid, and Freddie
+Drummond with rejuvenescent zeal tackled a brochure, long-planned,
+on the topic of "diminishing returns."
+
+The wedding was two weeks off, when, one afternoon, in San
+Francisco, Catherine Van Vorst picked him up and whisked him away
+to see a Boys' Club, recently instituted by the settlement workers
+in whom she was interested.  It was her brother's machine, but they
+were alone with the exception of the chauffeur.  At the junction
+with Kearny Street, Market and Geary Streets intersect like the
+sides of a sharp-angled letter "V."  They, in the auto, were coming
+down Market with the intention of negotiating the sharp apex and
+going up Geary.  But they did not know what was coming down Geary,
+timed by fate to meet them at the apex.  While aware from the
+papers that the Meat Strike was on and that it was an exceedingly
+bitter one, all thought of it at that moment was farthest from
+Freddie Drummond's mind.  Was he not seated beside Catherine?  And
+besides, he was carefully expositing to her his views on settlement
+work--views that Bill Totts' adventures had played a part in
+formulating.
+
+Coming down Geary Street were six meat waggons.  Beside each scab
+driver sat a policeman.  Front and rear, and along each side of
+this procession, marched a protecting escort of one hundred police.
+Behind the police rearguard, at a respectful distance, was an
+orderly but vociferous mob, several blocks in length, that
+congested the street from sidewalk to sidewalk.  The Beef Trust was
+making an effort to supply the hotels, and, incidentally, to begin
+the breaking of the strike.  The St. Francis had already been
+supplied, at a cost of many broken windows and broken heads, and
+the expedition was marching to the relief of the Palace Hotel.
+
+All unwitting, Drummond sat beside Catherine, talking settlement
+work, as the auto, honking methodically and dodging traffic, swung
+in a wide curve to get around the apex.  A big coal waggon, loaded
+with lump coal and drawn by four huge horses, just debouching from
+Kearny Street as though to turn down Market, blocked their way.
+The driver of the waggon seemed undecided, and the chauffeur,
+running slow but disregarding some shouted warning from the
+crossing policemen, swerved the auto to the left, violating the
+traffic rules, in order to pass in front of the waggon.
+
+At that moment Freddie Drummond discontinued his conversation.  Nor
+did he resume it again, for the situation was developing with the
+rapidity of a transformation scene.  He heard the roar of the mob
+at the rear, and caught a glimpse of the helmeted police and the
+lurching meat waggons.  At the same moment, laying on his whip, and
+standing up to his task, the coal driver rushed horses and waggon
+squarely in front of the advancing procession, pulled the horses up
+sharply, and put on the big brake.  Then he made his lines fast to
+the brake-handle and sat down with the air of one who had stopped
+to stay.  The auto had been brought to a stop, too, by his big
+panting leaders which had jammed against it.
+
+Before the chauffeur could back clear, an old Irishman, driving a
+rickety express waggon and lashing his one horse to a gallop, had
+locked wheels with the auto.  Drummond recognized both horse and
+waggon, for he had driven them often himself.  The Irishman was Pat
+Morrissey.  On the other side a brewery waggon was locking with the
+coal waggon, and an east-bound Kearny Street car, wildly clanging
+its gong, the motorman shouting defiance at the crossing policeman,
+was dashing forward to complete the blockade.  And waggon after
+waggon was locking and blocking and adding to the confusion.  The
+meat waggons halted.  The police were trapped.  The roar at the
+rear increased as the mob came on to the attack, while the vanguard
+of the police charged the obstructing waggons.
+
+"We're in for it," Drummond remarked coolly to Catherine.
+
+"Yes," she nodded, with equal coolness.  "What savages they are."
+
+His admiration for her doubled on itself.  She was indeed his sort.
+He would have been satisfied with her even if she had screamed, and
+clung to him, but this--this was magnificent.  She sat in that
+storm centre as calmly as if it had been no more than a block of
+carriages at the opera.
+
+The police were struggling to clear a passage.  The driver of the
+coal waggon, a big man in shirt sleeves, lighted a pipe and sat
+smoking.  He glanced down complacently at a captain of police who
+was raving and cursing at him, and his only acknowledgment was a
+shrug of the shoulders.  From the rear arose the rat-rat-tat of
+clubs on heads and a pandemonium of cursing, yelling, and shouting.
+A violent accession of noise proclaimed that the mob had broken
+through and was dragging a scab from a waggon.  The police captain
+reinforced from his vanguard, and the mob at the rear was repelled.
+Meanwhile, window after window in the high office building on the
+right had been opened, and the class-conscious clerks were raining
+a shower of office furniture down on the heads of police and scabs.
+Waste-baskets, ink-bottles, paper-weights, type-writers--anything
+and everything that came to hand was filling the air.
+
+A policeman, under orders from his captain, clambered to the lofty
+seat of the coal waggon to arrest the driver.  And the driver,
+rising leisurely and peacefully to meet him, suddenly crumpled him
+in his arms and threw him down on top of the captain.  The driver
+was a young giant, and when he climbed on his load and poised a
+lump of coal in both hands, a policeman, who was just scaling the
+waggon from the side, let go and dropped back to earth.  The
+captain ordered half-a-dozen of his men to take the waggon.  The
+teamster, scrambling over the load from side to side, beat them
+down with huge lumps of coal.
+
+The crowd on the sidewalks and the teamsters on the locked waggons
+roared encouragement and their own delight.  The motorman, smashing
+helmets with his controller bar, was beaten into insensibility and
+dragged from his platform.  The captain of police, beside himself
+at the repulse of his men, led the next assault on the coal waggon.
+A score of police were swarming up the tall-sided fortress.  But
+the teamster multiplied himself.  At times there were six or eight
+policemen rolling on the pavement and under the waggon.  Engaged in
+repulsing an attack on the rear end of his fortress, the teamster
+turned about to see the captain just in the act of stepping on to
+the seat from the front end.  He was still in the air and in most
+unstable equilibrium, when the teamster hurled a thirty-pound lump
+of coal.  It caught the captain fairly on the chest, and he went
+over backward, striking on a wheeler's back, tumbling on to the
+ground, and jamming against the rear wheel of the auto.
+
+Catherine thought he was dead, but he picked himself up and charged
+back.  She reached out her gloved hand and patted the flank of the
+snorting, quivering horse.  But Drummond did not notice the action.
+He had eyes for nothing save the battle of the coal waggon, while
+somewhere in his complicated psychology, one Bill Totts was heaving
+and straining in an effort to come to life.  Drummond believed in
+law and order and the maintenance of the established, but this
+riotous savage within him would have none of it.  Then, if ever,
+did Freddie Drummond call upon his iron inhibition to save him.
+But it is written that the house divided against itself must fall.
+And Freddie Drummond found that he had divided all the will and
+force of him with Bill Totts, and between them the entity that
+constituted the pair of them was being wrenched in twain.
+
+Freddie Drummond sat in the auto, quite composed, alongside
+Catherine Van Vorst; but looking out of Freddie Drummond's eyes was
+Bill Totts, and somewhere behind those eyes, battling for the
+control of their mutual body, were Freddie Drummond the sane and
+conservative sociologist, and Bill Totts, the class-conscious and
+bellicose union working man.  It was Bill Totts, looking out of
+those eyes, who saw the inevitable end of the battle on the coal
+waggon.  He saw a policeman gain the top of the load, a second, and
+a third.  They lurched clumsily on the loose footing, but their
+long riot-clubs were out and swinging.  One blow caught the
+teamster on the head.  A second he dodged, receiving it on the
+shoulder.  For him the game was plainly up.  He dashed in suddenly,
+clutched two policemen in his arms, and hurled himself a prisoner
+to the pavement, his hold never relaxing on his two captors.
+
+Catherine Van Vorst was sick and faint at sight of the blood and
+brutal fighting.  But her qualms were vanquished by the sensational
+and most unexpected happening that followed.  The man beside her
+emitted an unearthly and uncultured yell and rose to his feet.  She
+saw him spring over the front seat, leap to the broad rump of the
+wheeler, and from there gain the waggon.  His onslaught was like a
+whirlwind.  Before the bewildered officer on the load could guess
+the errand of this conventionally clad but excited-seeming
+gentleman, he was the recipient of a punch that arched him back
+through the air to the pavement.  A kick in the face led an
+ascending policeman to follow his example.  A rush of three more
+gained the top and locked with Bill Totts in a gigantic clinch,
+during which his scalp was opened up by a club, and coat, vest, and
+half his starched shirt were torn from him.  But the three
+policemen were flung far and wide, and Bill Totts, raining down
+lumps of coal, held the fort.
+
+The captain led gallantly to the attack, but was bowled over by a
+chunk of coal that burst on his head in black baptism.  The need of
+the police was to break the blockade in front before the mob could
+break in at the rear, and Bill Totts' need was to hold the waggon
+till the mob did break through.  So the battle of the coal went on.
+
+The crowd had recognized its champion.  "Big" Bill, as usual, had
+come to the front, and Catherine Van Vorst was bewildered by the
+cries of "Bill!  O you Bill!" that arose on every hand.  Pat
+Morrissey, on his waggon seat, was jumping and screaming in an
+ecstasy, "Eat 'em, Bill!  Eat 'em!  Eat 'em alive!"  From the
+sidewalk she heard a woman's voice cry out, "Look out, Bill--front
+end!"  Bill took the warning and with well-directed coal cleared
+the front end of the waggon of assailants.  Catherine Van Vorst
+turned her head and saw on the curb of the sidewalk a woman with
+vivid colouring and flashing black eyes who was staring with all
+her soul at the man who had been Freddie Drummond a few minutes
+before.
+
+The windows of the office building became vociferous with applause.
+A fresh shower of office chairs and filing cabinets descended.  The
+mob had broken through on one side the line of waggons, and was
+advancing, each segregated policeman the centre of a fighting
+group.  The scabs were torn from their seats, the traces of the
+horses cut, and the frightened animals put in flight.  Many
+policemen crawled under the coal waggon for safety, while the loose
+horses, with here and there a policeman on their backs or
+struggling at their heads to hold them, surged across the sidewalk
+opposite the jam and broke into Market Street.
+
+Catherine Van Vorst heard the woman's voice calling in warning.
+She was back on the curb again, and crying out--
+
+"Beat it, Bill!  Now's your time!  Beat it!"
+
+The police for the moment had been swept away.  Bill Totts leaped
+to the pavement and made his way to the woman on the sidewalk.
+Catherine Van Vorst saw her throw her arms around him and kiss him
+on the lips; and Catherine Van Vorst watched him curiously as he
+went on down the sidewalk, one arm around the woman, both talking
+and laughing, and he with a volubility and abandon she could never
+have dreamed possible.
+
+The police were back again and clearing the jam while waiting for
+reinforcements and new drivers and horses.  The mob had done its
+work and was scattering, and Catherine Van Vorst, still watching,
+could see the man she had known as Freddie Drummond.  He towered a
+head above the crowd.  His arm was still about the woman.  And she
+in the motor-car, watching, saw the pair cross Market Street, cross
+the Slot, and disappear down Third Street into the labour ghetto.
+
+
+In the years that followed no more lectures were given in the
+University of California by one Freddie Drummond, and no more books
+on economics and the labour question appeared over the name of
+Frederick A. Drummond.  On the other hand there arose a new labour
+leader, William Totts by name.  He it was who married Mary Condon,
+President of the International Glove Workers' Union No. 974; and he
+it was who called the notorious Cooks and Waiters' Strike, which,
+before its successful termination, brought out with it scores of
+other unions, among which, of the more remotely allied, were the
+Chicken Pickers and the Undertakers.
+
+
+
+THE UNPARALLELED INVASION
+
+
+
+It was in the year 1976 that the trouble between the world and
+China reached its culmination.  It was because of this that the
+celebration of the Second Centennial of American Liberty was
+deferred.  Many other plans of the nations of the earth were
+twisted and tangled and postponed for the same reason.  The world
+awoke rather abruptly to its danger; but for over seventy years,
+unperceived, affairs had been shaping toward this very end.
+
+The year 1904 logically marks the beginning of the development
+that, seventy years later, was to bring consternation to the whole
+world.  The Japanese-Russian War took place in 1904, and the
+historians of the time gravely noted it down that that event marked
+the entrance of Japan into the comity of nations.  What it really
+did mark was the awakening of China.  This awakening, long
+expected, had finally been given up.  The Western nations had tried
+to arouse China, and they had failed.  Out of their native optimism
+and race-egotism they had therefore concluded that the task was
+impossible, that China would never awaken.
+
+What they had failed to take into account was this:  that between
+them and China was no common psychological speech.  Their thought-
+processes were radically dissimilar.  There was no intimate
+vocabulary.  The Western mind penetrated the Chinese mind but a
+short distance when it found itself in a fathomless maze.  The
+Chinese mind penetrated the Western mind an equally short distance
+when it fetched up against a blank, incomprehensible wall.  It was
+all a matter of language.  There was no way to communicate Western
+ideas to the Chinese mind.  China remained asleep.  The material
+achievement and progress of the West was a closed book to her; nor
+could the West open the book.  Back and deep down on the tie-ribs
+of consciousness, in the mind, say, of the English-speaking race,
+was a capacity to thrill to short, Saxon words; back and deep down
+on the tie-ribs of consciousness of the Chinese mind was a capacity
+to thrill to its own hieroglyphics; but the Chinese mind could not
+thrill to short, Saxon words; nor could the English-speaking mind
+thrill to hieroglyphics.  The fabrics of their minds were woven
+from totally different stuffs.  They were mental aliens.  And so it
+was that Western material achievement and progress made no dent on
+the rounded sleep of China.
+
+Came Japan and her victory over Russia in 1904.  Now the Japanese
+race was the freak and paradox among Eastern peoples.  In some
+strange way Japan was receptive to all the West had to offer.
+Japan swiftly assimilated the Western ideas, and digested them, and
+so capably applied them that she suddenly burst forth, full-
+panoplied, a world-power.  There is no explaining this peculiar
+openness of Japan to the alien culture of the West.  As well might
+be explained any biological sport in the animal kingdom.
+
+Having decisively thrashed the great Russian Empire, Japan promptly
+set about dreaming a colossal dream of empire for herself.  Korea
+she had made into a granary and a colony; treaty privileges and
+vulpine diplomacy gave her the monopoly of Manchuria.  But Japan
+was not satisfied.  She turned her eyes upon China.  There lay a
+vast territory, and in that territory were the hugest deposits in
+the world of iron and coal--the backbone of industrial
+civilization.  Given natural resources, the other great factor in
+industry is labour.  In that territory was a population of
+400,000,000 souls--one quarter of the then total population of the
+earth.  Furthermore, the Chinese were excellent workers, while
+their fatalistic philosophy (or religion) and their stolid nervous
+organization constituted them splendid soldiers--if they were
+properly managed.  Needless to say, Japan was prepared to furnish
+that management.
+
+But best of all, from the standpoint of Japan, the Chinese was a
+kindred race.  The baffling enigma of the Chinese character to the
+West was no baffling enigma to the Japanese.  The Japanese
+understood as we could never school ourselves or hope to
+understand.  Their mental processes were the same.  The Japanese
+thought with the same thought-symbols as did the Chinese, and they
+thought in the same peculiar grooves.  Into the Chinese mind the
+Japanese went on where we were balked by the obstacle of
+incomprehension.  They took the turning which we could not
+perceive, twisted around the obstacle, and were out of sight in the
+ramifications of the Chinese mind where we could not follow.  They
+were brothers.  Long ago one had borrowed the other's written
+language, and, untold generations before that, they had diverged
+from the common Mongol stock.  There had been changes,
+differentiations brought about by diverse conditions and infusions
+of other blood; but down at the bottom of their beings, twisted
+into the fibres of them, was a heritage in common, a sameness in
+kind that time had not obliterated.
+
+And so Japan took upon herself the management of China.  In the
+years immediately following the war with Russia, her agents swarmed
+over the Chinese Empire.  A thousand miles beyond the last mission
+station toiled her engineers and spies, clad as coolies, under the
+guise of itinerant merchants or proselytizing Buddhist priests,
+noting down the horse-power of every waterfall, the likely sites
+for factories, the heights of mountains and passes, the strategic
+advantages and weaknesses, the wealth of the farming valleys, the
+number of bullocks in a district or the number of labourers that
+could be collected by forced levies.  Never was there such a
+census, and it could have been taken by no other people than the
+dogged, patient, patriotic Japanese.
+
+But in a short time secrecy was thrown to the winds.  Japan's
+officers reorganized the Chinese army; her drill sergeants made the
+mediaeval warriors over into twentieth century soldiers, accustomed
+to all the modern machinery of war and with a higher average of
+marksmanship than the soldiers of any Western nation.  The
+engineers of Japan deepened and widened the intricate system of
+canals, built factories and foundries, netted the empire with
+telegraphs and telephones, and inaugurated the era of railroad-
+building.  It was these same protagonists of machine-civilization
+that discovered the great oil deposits of Chunsan, the iron
+mountains of Whang-Sing, the copper ranges of Chinchi, and they
+sank the gas wells of Wow-Wee, that most marvellous reservoir of
+natural gas in all the world.
+
+In China's councils of empire were the Japanese emissaries.  In the
+ears of the statesmen whispered the Japanese statesmen.  The
+political reconstruction of the Empire was due to them.  They
+evicted the scholar class, which was violently reactionary, and put
+into office progressive officials.  And in every town and city of
+the Empire newspapers were started.  Of course, Japanese editors
+ran the policy of these papers, which policy they got direct from
+Tokio.  It was these papers that educated and made progressive the
+great mass of the population.
+
+China was at last awake.  Where the West had failed, Japan
+succeeded.  She had transmuted Western culture and achievement into
+terms that were intelligible to the Chinese understanding.  Japan
+herself, when she so suddenly awakened, had astounded the world.
+But at the time she was only forty millions strong.  China's
+awakening, with her four hundred millions and the scientific
+advance of the world, was frightfully astounding.  She was the
+colossus of the nations, and swiftly her voice was heard in no
+uncertain tones in the affairs and councils of the nations.  Japan
+egged her on, and the proud Western peoples listened with
+respectful ears.
+
+China's swift and remarkable rise was due, perhaps more than to
+anything else, to the superlative quality of her labour.  The
+Chinese was the perfect type of industry.  He had always been that.
+For sheer ability to work no worker in the world could compare with
+him.  Work was the breath of his nostrils.  It was to him what
+wandering and fighting in far lands and spiritual adventure had
+been to other peoples.  Liberty, to him, epitomized itself in
+access to the means of toil.  To till the soil and labour
+interminably was all he asked of life and the powers that be.  And
+the awakening of China had given its vast population not merely
+free and unlimited access to the means of toil, but access to the
+highest and most scientific machine-means of toil.
+
+China rejuvenescent!  It was but a step to China rampant.  She
+discovered a new pride in herself and a will of her own.  She began
+to chafe under the guidance of Japan, but she did not chafe long.
+On Japan's advice, in the beginning, she had expelled from the
+Empire all Western missionaries, engineers, drill sergeants,
+merchants, and teachers.  She now began to expel the similar
+representatives of Japan.  The latter's advisory statesmen were
+showered with honours and decorations, and sent home.  The West had
+awakened Japan, and, as Japan had then requited the West, Japan was
+not requited by China.  Japan was thanked for her kindly aid and
+flung out bag and baggage by her gigantic protege.  The Western
+nations chuckled.  Japan's rainbow dream had gone glimmering.  She
+grew angry.  China laughed at her.  The blood and the swords of the
+Samurai would out, and Japan rashly went to war.  This occurred in
+1922, and in seven bloody months Manchuria, Korea, and Formosa were
+taken away from her and she was hurled back, bankrupt, to stifle in
+her tiny, crowded islands.  Exit Japan from the world drama.
+Thereafter she devoted herself to art, and her task became to
+please the world greatly with her creations of wonder and beauty.
+
+Contrary to expectation, China did not prove warlike.  She had no
+Napoleonic dream, and was content to devote herself to the arts of
+peace.  After a time of disquiet, the idea was accepted that China
+was to be feared, not in war, but in commerce.  It will be seen
+that the real danger was not apprehended.  China went on
+consummating her machine-civilization.  Instead of a large standing
+army, she developed an immensely larger and splendidly efficient
+militia.  Her navy was so small that it was the laughing stock of
+the world; nor did she attempt to strengthen her navy.  The treaty
+ports of the world were never entered by her visiting battleships.
+
+The real danger lay in the fecundity of her loins, and it was in
+1970 that the first cry of alarm was raised.  For some time all
+territories adjacent to China had been grumbling at Chinese
+immigration; but now it suddenly came home to the world that
+China's population was 500,000,000.  She had increased by a hundred
+millions since her awakening.  Burchaldter called attention to the
+fact that there were more Chinese in existence than white-skinned
+people.  He performed a simple sum in arithmetic.  He added
+together the populations of the United States, Canada, New Zealand,
+Australia, South Africa, England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria,
+European Russia, and all Scandinavia.  The result was 495,000,000.
+And the population of China overtopped this tremendous total by
+5,000,000.  Burchaldter's figures went round the world, and the
+world shivered.
+
+For many centuries China's population had been constant.  Her
+territory had been saturated with population; that is to say, her
+territory, with the primitive method of production, had supported
+the maximum limit of population.  But when she awoke and
+inaugurated the machine-civilization, her productive power had been
+enormously increased.  Thus, on the same territory, she was able to
+support a far larger population.  At once the birth rate began to
+rise and the death rate to fall.  Before, when population pressed
+against the means of subsistence, the excess population had been
+swept away by famine.  But now, thanks to the machine-civilization,
+China's means of subsistence had been enormously extended, and
+there were no famines; her population followed on the heels of the
+increase in the means of subsistence.
+
+During this time of transition and development of power, China had
+entertained no dreams of conquest.  The Chinese was not an imperial
+race.  It was industrious, thrifty, and peace-loving.  War was
+looked upon as an unpleasant but necessary task that at times must
+be performed.  And so, while the Western races had squabbled and
+fought, and world-adventured against one another, China had calmly
+gone on working at her machines and growing.  Now she was spilling
+over the boundaries of her Empire--that was all, just spilling over
+into the adjacent territories with all the certainty and terrifying
+slow momentum of a glacier.
+
+Following upon the alarm raised by Burchaldter's figures, in 1970
+France made a long-threatened stand.  French Indo-China had been
+overrun, filled up, by Chinese immigrants.  France called a halt.
+The Chinese wave flowed on.  France assembled a force of a hundred
+thousand on the boundary between her unfortunate colony and China,
+and China sent down an army of militia-soldiers a million strong.
+Behind came the wives and sons and daughters and relatives, with
+their personal household luggage, in a second army.  The French
+force was brushed aside like a fly.  The Chinese militia-soldiers,
+along with their families, over five millions all told, coolly took
+possession of French Indo-China and settled down to stay for a few
+thousand years.
+
+Outraged France was in arms.  She hurled fleet after fleet against
+the coast of China, and nearly bankrupted herself by the effort.
+China had no navy.  She withdrew like a turtle into her shell.  For
+a year the French fleets blockaded the coast and bombarded exposed
+towns and villages.  China did not mind.  She did not depend upon
+the rest of the world for anything.  She calmly kept out of range
+of the French guns and went on working.  France wept and wailed,
+wrung her impotent hands and appealed to the dumfounded nations.
+Then she landed a punitive expedition to march to Peking.  It was
+two hundred and fifty thousand strong, and it was the flower of
+France.  It landed without opposition and marched into the
+interior.  And that was the last ever seen of it.  The line of
+communication was snapped on the second day.  Not a survivor came
+back to tell what had happened.  It had been swallowed up in
+China's cavernous maw, that was all.
+
+In the five years that followed, China's expansion, in all land
+directions, went on apace.  Siam was made part of the Empire, and,
+in spite of all that England could do, Burma and the Malay
+Peninsula were overrun; while all along the long south boundary of
+Siberia, Russia was pressed severely by China's advancing hordes.
+The process was simple.  First came the Chinese immigration (or,
+rather, it was already there, having come there slowly and
+insidiously during the previous years).  Next came the clash of
+arms and the brushing away of all opposition by a monster army of
+militia-soldiers, followed by their families and household baggage.
+And finally came their settling down as colonists in the conquered
+territory.  Never was there so strange and effective a method of
+world conquest.
+
+Napal and Bhutan were overrun, and the whole northern boundary of
+India pressed against by this fearful tide of life.  To the west,
+Bokhara, and, even to the south and west, Afghanistan, were
+swallowed up.  Persia, Turkestan, and all Central Asia felt the
+pressure of the flood.  It was at this time that Burchaldter
+revised his figures.  He had been mistaken.  China's population
+must be seven hundred millions, eight hundred millions, nobody knew
+how many millions, but at any rate it would soon be a billion.
+There were two Chinese for every white-skinned human in the world,
+Burchaldter announced, and the world trembled.  China's increase
+must have begun immediately, in 1904.  It was remembered that since
+that date there had not been a single famine.  At 5,000,000 a year
+increase, her total increase in the intervening seventy years must
+be 350,000,000.  But who was to know?  It might be more.  Who was
+to know anything of this strange new menace of the twentieth
+century--China, old China, rejuvenescent, fruitful, and militant!
+
+The Convention of 1975 was called at Philadelphia.  All the Western
+nations, and some few of the Eastern, were represented.  Nothing
+was accomplished.  There was talk of all countries putting bounties
+on children to increase the birth rate, but it was laughed to scorn
+by the arithmeticians, who pointed out that China was too far in
+the lead in that direction.  No feasible way of coping with China
+was suggested.  China was appealed to and threatened by the United
+Powers, and that was all the Convention of Philadelphia came to;
+and the Convention and the Powers were laughed at by China.  Li
+Tang Fwung, the power behind the Dragon Throne, deigned to reply.
+
+"What does China care for the comity of nations?" said Li Tang
+Fwung.  "We are the most ancient, honourable, and royal of races.
+We have our own destiny to accomplish.  It is unpleasant that our
+destiny does not tally with the destiny of the rest of the world,
+but what would you?  You have talked windily about the royal races
+and the heritage of the earth, and we can only reply that that
+remains to be seen.  You cannot invade us.  Never mind about your
+navies.  Don't shout.  We know our navy is small.  You see we use
+it for police purposes.  We do not care for the sea.  Our strength
+is in our population, which will soon be a billion.  Thanks to you,
+we are equipped with all modern war-machinery.  Send your navies.
+We will not notice them.  Send your punitive expeditions, but first
+remember France.  To land half a million soldiers on our shores
+would strain the resources of any of you.  And our thousand
+millions would swallow them down in a mouthful.  Send a million;
+send five millions, and we will swallow them down just as readily.
+Pouf!  A mere nothing, a meagre morsel.  Destroy, as you have
+threatened, you United States, the ten million coolies we have
+forced upon your shores--why, the amount scarcely equals half of
+our excess birth rate for a year."
+
+So spoke Li Tang Fwung.  The world was nonplussed, helpless,
+terrified.  Truly had he spoken.  There was no combating China's
+amazing birth rate.  If her population was a billion, and was
+increasing twenty millions a year, in twenty-five years it would be
+a billion and a half--equal to the total population of the world in
+1904.  And nothing could be done.  There was no way to dam up the
+over-spilling monstrous flood of life.  War was futile.  China
+laughed at a blockade of her coasts.  She welcomed invasion.  In
+her capacious maw was room for all the hosts of earth that could be
+hurled at her.  And in the meantime her flood of yellow life poured
+out and on over Asia.  China laughed and read in their magazines
+the learned lucubrations of the distracted Western scholars.
+
+But there was one scholar China failed to reckon on--Jacobus
+Laningdale.  Not that he was a scholar, except in the widest sense.
+Primarily, Jacobus Laningdale was a scientist, and, up to that
+time, a very obscure scientist, a professor employed in the
+laboratories of the Health Office of New York City.  Jacobus
+Laningdale's head was very like any other head, but in that head
+was evolved an idea.  Also, in that head was the wisdom to keep
+that idea secret.  He did not write an article for the magazines.
+Instead, he asked for a vacation.  On September 19, 1975, he
+arrived in Washington.  It was evening, but he proceeded straight
+to the White House, for he had already arranged an audience with
+the President.  He was closeted with President Moyer for three
+hours.  What passed between them was not learned by the rest of the
+world until long after; in fact, at that time the world was not
+interested in Jacobus Laningdale.  Next day the President called in
+his Cabinet.  Jacobus Laningdale was present.  The proceedings were
+kept secret.  But that very afternoon Rufus Cowdery, Secretary of
+State, left Washington, and early the following morning sailed for
+England.  The secret that he carried began to spread, but it spread
+only among the heads of Governments.  Possibly half-a-dozen men in
+a nation were entrusted with the idea that had formed in Jacobus
+Laningdale's head.  Following the spread of the secret, sprang up
+great activity in all the dockyards, arsenals, and navy-yards.  The
+people of France and Austria became suspicious, but so sincere were
+their Governments' calls for confidence that they acquiesced in the
+unknown project that was afoot.
+
+This was the time of the Great Truce.  All countries pledged
+themselves solemnly not to go to war with any other country.  The
+first definite action was the gradual mobilization of the armies of
+Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  Then began
+the eastward movement.  All railroads into Asia were glutted with
+troop trains.  China was the objective, that was all that was
+known.  A little later began the great sea movement.  Expeditions
+of warships were launched from all countries.  Fleet followed
+fleet, and all proceeded to the coast of China.  The nations
+cleaned out their navy-yards.  They sent their revenue cutters and
+dispatch boots and lighthouse tenders, and they sent their last
+antiquated cruisers and battleships.  Not content with this, they
+impressed the merchant marine.  The statistics show that 58,640
+merchant steamers, equipped with searchlights and rapid-fire guns,
+were despatched by the various nations to China.
+
+And China smiled and waited.  On her land side, along her
+boundaries, were millions of the warriors of Europe.  She mobilized
+five times as many millions of her militia and awaited the
+invasion.  On her sea coasts she did the same.  But China was
+puzzled.  After all this enormous preparation, there was no
+invasion.  She could not understand.  Along the great Siberian
+frontier all was quiet.  Along her coasts the towns and villages
+were not even shelled.  Never, in the history of the world, had
+there been so mighty a gathering of war fleets.  The fleets of all
+the world were there, and day and night millions of tons of
+battleships ploughed the brine of her coasts, and nothing happened.
+Nothing was attempted.  Did they think to make her emerge from her
+shell?  China smiled.  Did they think to tire her out, or starve
+her out?  China smiled again.
+
+But on May 1, 1976, had the reader been in the imperial city of
+Peking, with its then population of eleven millions, he would have
+witnessed a curious sight.  He would have seen the streets filled
+with the chattering yellow populace, every queued head tilted back,
+every slant eye turned skyward.  And high up in the blue he would
+have beheld a tiny dot of black, which, because of its orderly
+evolutions, he would have identified as an airship.  From this
+airship, as it curved its flight back and forth over the city, fell
+missiles--strange, harmless missiles, tubes of fragile glass that
+shattered into thousands of fragments on the streets and house-
+tops.  But there was nothing deadly about these tubes of glass.
+Nothing happened.  There were no explosions.  It is true, three
+Chinese were killed by the tubes dropping on their heads from so
+enormous a height; but what were three Chinese against an excess
+birth rate of twenty millions?  One tube struck perpendicularly in
+a fish-pond in a garden and was not broken.  It was dragged ashore
+by the master of the house.  He did not dare to open it, but,
+accompanied by his friends, and surrounded by an ever-increasing
+crowd, he carried the mysterious tube to the magistrate of the
+district.  The latter was a brave man.  With all eyes upon him, he
+shattered the tube with a blow from his brass-bowled pipe.  Nothing
+happened.  Of those who were very near, one or two thought they saw
+some mosquitoes fly out.  That was all.  The crowd set up a great
+laugh and dispersed.
+
+As Peking was bombarded by glass tubes, so was all China.  The tiny
+airships, dispatched from the warships, contained but two men each,
+and over all cities, towns, and villages they wheeled and curved,
+one man directing the ship, the other man throwing over the glass
+tubes.
+
+Had the reader again been in Peking, six weeks later, he would have
+looked in vain for the eleven million inhabitants.  Some few of
+them he would have found, a few hundred thousand, perhaps, their
+carcasses festering in the houses and in the deserted streets, and
+piled high on the abandoned death-waggons.  But for the rest he
+would have had to seek along the highways and byways of the Empire.
+And not all would he have found fleeing from plague-stricken
+Peking, for behind them, by hundreds of thousands of unburied
+corpses by the wayside, he could have marked their flight.  And as
+it was with Peking, so it was with all the cities, towns, and
+villages of the Empire.  The plague smote them all.  Nor was it one
+plague, nor two plagues; it was a score of plagues.  Every virulent
+form of infectious death stalked through the land.  Too late the
+Chinese government apprehended the meaning of the colossal
+preparations, the marshalling of the world-hosts, the flights of
+the tin airships, and the rain of the tubes of glass.  The
+proclamations of the government were vain.  They could not stop the
+eleven million plague-stricken wretches, fleeing from the one city
+of Peking to spread disease through all the land.  The physicians
+and health officers died at their posts; and death, the all-
+conqueror, rode over the decrees of the Emperor and Li Tang Fwung.
+It rode over them as well, for Li Tang Fwung died in the second
+week, and the Emperor, hidden away in the Summer Palace, died in
+the fourth week.
+
+Had there been one plague, China might have coped with it.  But
+from a score of plagues no creature was immune.  The man who
+escaped smallpox went down before scarlet fever.  The man who was
+immune to yellow fever was carried away by cholera; and if he were
+immune to that, too, the Black Death, which was the bubonic plague,
+swept him away.  For it was these bacteria, and germs, and
+microbes, and bacilli, cultured in the laboratories of the West,
+that had come down upon China in the rain of glass.
+
+All organization vanished.  The government crumbled away.  Decrees
+and proclamations were useless when the men who made them and
+signed them one moment were dead the next.  Nor could the maddened
+millions, spurred on to flight by death, pause to heed anything.
+They fled from the cities to infect the country, and wherever they
+fled they carried the plagues with them.  The hot summer was on--
+Jacobus Laningdale had selected the time shrewdly--and the plague
+festered everywhere.  Much is conjectured of what occurred, and
+much has been learned from the stories of the few survivors.  The
+wretched creatures stormed across the Empire in many-millioned
+flight.  The vast armies China had collected on her frontiers
+melted away.  The farms were ravaged for food, and no more crops
+were planted, while the crops already in were left unattended and
+never came to harvest.  The most remarkable thing, perhaps, was the
+flights.  Many millions engaged in them, charging to the bounds of
+the Empire to be met and turned back by the gigantic armies of the
+West.  The slaughter of the mad hosts on the boundaries was
+stupendous.  Time and again the guarding line was drawn back twenty
+or thirty miles to escape the contagion of the multitudinous dead.
+
+Once the plague broke through and seized upon the German and
+Austrian soldiers who were guarding the borders of Turkestan.
+Preparations had been made for such a happening, and though sixty
+thousand soldiers of Europe were carried off, the international
+corps of physicians isolated the contagion and dammed it back.  It
+was during this struggle that it was suggested that a new plague-
+germ had originated, that in some way or other a sort of
+hybridization between plague-germs had taken place, producing a new
+and frightfully virulent germ.  First suspected by Vomberg, who
+became infected with it and died, it was later isolated and studied
+by Stevens, Hazenfelt, Norman, and Landers.
+
+Such was the unparalleled invasion of China.  For that billion of
+people there was no hope.  Pent in their vast and festering
+charnel-house, all organization and cohesion lost, they could do
+naught but die.  They could not escape.  As they were flung back
+from their land frontiers, so were they flung back from the sea.
+Seventy-five thousand vessels patrolled the coasts.  By day their
+smoking funnels dimmed the sea-rim, and by night their flashing
+searchlights ploughed the dark and harrowed it for the tiniest
+escaping junk.  The attempts of the immense fleets of junks were
+pitiful.  Not one ever got by the guarding sea-hounds.  Modern war-
+machinery held back the disorganized mass of China, while the
+plagues did the work.
+
+But old War was made a thing of laughter.  Naught remained to him
+but patrol duty.  China had laughed at war, and war she was
+getting, but it was ultra-modern war, twentieth century war, the
+war of the scientist and the laboratory, the war of Jacobus
+Laningdale.  Hundred-ton guns were toys compared with the micro-
+organic projectiles hurled from the laboratories, the messengers of
+death, the destroying angels that stalked through the empire of a
+billion souls.
+
+During all the summer and fall of 1976 China was an inferno.  There
+was no eluding the microscopic projectiles that sought out the
+remotest hiding-places.  The hundreds of millions of dead remained
+unburied and the germs multiplied themselves, and, toward the last,
+millions died daily of starvation.  Besides, starvation weakened
+the victims and destroyed their natural defences against the
+plagues.  Cannibalism, murder, and madness reigned.  And so
+perished China.
+
+Not until the following February, in the coldest weather, were the
+first expeditions made.  These expeditions were small, composed of
+scientists and bodies of troops; but they entered China from every
+side.  In spite of the most elaborate precautions against
+infection, numbers of soldiers and a few of the physicians were
+stricken.  But the exploration went bravely on.  They found China
+devastated, a howling wilderness through which wandered bands of
+wild dogs and desperate bandits who had survived.  All survivors
+were put to death wherever found.  And then began the great task,
+the sanitation of China.  Five years and hundreds of millions of
+treasure were consumed, and then the world moved in--not in zones,
+as was the idea of Baron Albrecht, but heterogeneously, according
+to the democratic American programme.  It was a vast and happy
+intermingling of nationalities that settled down in China in 1982
+and the years that followed--a tremendous and successful experiment
+in cross-fertilization.  We know to-day the splendid mechanical,
+intellectual, and art output that followed.
+
+It was in 1987, the Great Truce having been dissolved, that the
+ancient quarrel between France and Germany over Alsace-Lorraine
+recrudesced.  The war-cloud grew dark and threatening in April, and
+on April 17 the Convention of Copenhagen was called.  The
+representatives of the nations of the world, being present, all
+nations solemnly pledged themselves never to use against one
+another the laboratory methods of warfare they had employed in the
+invasion of China.
+
+--Excerpt from Walt Mervin's "Certain Essays in History."
+
+
+
+THE ENEMY OF ALL THE WORLD
+
+
+
+It was Silas Bannerman who finally ran down that scientific wizard
+and arch-enemy of mankind, Emil Gluck.  Gluck's confession, before
+he went to the electric chair, threw much light upon the series of
+mysterious events, many apparently unrelated, that so perturbed the
+world between the years 1933 and 1941.  It was not until that
+remarkable document was made public that the world dreamed of there
+being any connection between the assassination of the King and
+Queen of Portugal and the murders of the New York City police
+officers.  While the deeds of Emil Gluck were all that was
+abominable, we cannot but feel, to a certain extent, pity for the
+unfortunate, malformed, and maltreated genius.  This side of his
+story has never been told before, and from his confession and from
+the great mass of evidence and the documents and records of the
+time we are able to construct a fairly accurate portrait of him,
+and to discern the factors and pressures that moulded him into the
+human monster he became and that drove him onward and downward
+along the fearful path he trod.
+
+Emil Gluck was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1895.  His father,
+Josephus Gluck, was a special policeman and night watchman, who, in
+the year 1900, died suddenly of pneumonia.  The mother, a pretty,
+fragile creature, who, before her marriage, had been a milliner,
+grieved herself to death over the loss of her husband.  This
+sensitiveness of the mother was the heritage that in the boy became
+morbid and horrible.
+
+In 1901, the boy, Emil, then six years of age, went to live with
+his aunt, Mrs. Ann Bartell.  She was his mother's sister, but in
+her breast was no kindly feeling for the sensitive, shrinking boy.
+Ann Bartell was a vain, shallow, and heartless woman.  Also, she
+was cursed with poverty and burdened with a husband who was a lazy,
+erratic ne'er-do-well.  Young Emil Gluck was not wanted, and Ann
+Bartell could be trusted to impress this fact sufficiently upon
+him.  As an illustration of the treatment he received in that
+early, formative period, the following instance is given.
+
+When he had been living in the Bartell home a little more than a
+year, he broke his leg.  He sustained the injury through playing on
+the forbidden roof--as all boys have done and will continue to do
+to the end of time.  The leg was broken in two places between the
+knee and thigh.  Emil, helped by his frightened playmates, managed
+to drag himself to the front sidewalk, where he fainted.  The
+children of the neighbourhood were afraid of the hard-featured
+shrew who presided over the Bartell house; but, summoning their
+resolution, they rang the bell and told Ann Bartell of the
+accident.  She did not even look at the little lad who lay stricken
+on the sidewalk, but slammed the door and went back to her wash-
+tub.  The time passed.  A drizzle came on, and Emil Gluck, out of
+his faint, lay sobbing in the rain.  The leg should have been set
+immediately.  As it was, the inflammation rose rapidly and made a
+nasty case of it.  At the end of two hours, the indignant women of
+the neighbourhood protested to Ann Bartell.  This time she came out
+and looked at the lad.  Also she kicked him in the side as he lay
+helpless at her feet, and she hysterically disowned him.  He was
+not her child, she said, and recommended that the ambulance be
+called to take him to the city receiving hospital.  Then she went
+back into the house.
+
+It was a woman, Elizabeth Shepstone, who came along, learned the
+situation, and had the boy placed on a shutter.  It was she who
+called the doctor, and who, brushing aside Ann Bartell, had the boy
+carried into the house.  When the doctor arrived, Ann Bartell
+promptly warned him that she would not pay him for his services.
+For two months the little Emil lay in bed, the first month on his
+back without once being turned over; and he lay neglected and
+alone, save for the occasional visits of the unremunerated and
+over-worked physician.  He had no toys, nothing with which to
+beguile the long and tedious hours.  No kind word was spoken to
+him, no soothing hand laid upon his brow, no single touch or act of
+loving tenderness--naught but the reproaches and harshness of Ann
+Bartell, and the continually reiterated information that he was not
+wanted.  And it can well be understood, in such environment, how
+there was generated in the lonely, neglected boy much of the
+bitterness and hostility for his kind that later was to express
+itself in deeds so frightful as to terrify the world.
+
+It would seem strange that, from the hands of Ann Bartell, Emil
+Gluck should have received a college education; but the explanation
+is simple.  Her ne'er-do-well husband, deserting her, made a strike
+in the Nevada goldfields, and returned to her a many-times
+millionaire.  Ann Bartell hated the boy, and immediately she sent
+him to the Farristown Academy, a hundred miles away.  Shy and
+sensitive, a lonely and misunderstood little soul, he was more
+lonely than ever at Farristown.  He never came home, at vacation,
+and holidays, as the other boys did.  Instead, he wandered about
+the deserted buildings and grounds, befriended and misunderstood by
+the servants and gardeners, reading much, it is remembered,
+spending his days in the fields or before the fire-place with his
+nose poked always in the pages of some book.  It was at this time
+that he over-used his eyes and was compelled to take up the wearing
+of glasses, which same were so prominent in the photographs of him
+published in the newspapers in 1941.
+
+He was a remarkable student.  Application such as his would have
+taken him far; but he did not need application.  A glance at a text
+meant mastery for him.  The result was that he did an immense
+amount of collateral reading and acquired more in half a year than
+did the average student in half-a-dozen years.  In 1909, barely
+fourteen years of age, he was ready--"more than ready" the
+headmaster of the academy said--to enter Yale or Harvard.  His
+juvenility prevented him from entering those universities, and so,
+in 1909, we find him a freshman at historic Bowdoin College.  In
+1913 he graduated with highest honours, and immediately afterward
+followed Professor Bradlough to Berkeley, California.  The one
+friend that Emil Gluck discovered in all his life was Professor
+Bradlough.  The latter's weak lungs had led him to exchange Maine
+for California, the removal being facilitated by the offer of a
+professorship in the State University.  Throughout the year 1914,
+Emil Gluck resided in Berkeley and took special scientific courses.
+Toward the end of that year two deaths changed his prospects and
+his relations with life.  The death of Professor Bradlough took
+from him the one friend he was ever to know, and the death of Ann
+Bartell left him penniless.  Hating the unfortunate lad to the
+last, she cut him off with one hundred dollars.
+
+The following year, at twenty years of age, Emil Gluck was enrolled
+as an instructor of chemistry in the University of California.
+Here the years passed quietly; he faithfully performed the drudgery
+that brought him his salary, and, a student always, he took half-a-
+dozen degrees.  He was, among other things, a Doctor of Sociology,
+of Philosophy, and of Science, though he was known to the world, in
+later days, only as Professor Gluck.
+
+He was twenty-seven years old when he first sprang into prominence
+in the newspapers through the publication of his book, Sex and
+Progress.  The book remains to-day a milestone in the history and
+philosophy of marriage.  It is a heavy tome of over seven hundred
+pages, painfully careful and accurate, and startlingly original.
+It was a book for scientists, and not one calculated to make a
+stir.  But Gluck, in the last chapter, using barely three lines for
+it, mentioned the hypothetical desirability of trial marriages.  At
+once the newspapers seized these three lines, "played them up
+yellow," as the slang was in those days, and set the whole world
+laughing at Emil Gluck, the bespectacled young professor of twenty-
+seven.  Photographers snapped him, he was besieged by reporters,
+women's clubs throughout the land passed resolutions condemning him
+and his immoral theories; and on the floor of the California
+Assembly, while discussing the state appropriation to the
+University, a motion demanding the expulsion of Gluck was made
+under threat of withholding the appropriation--of course, none of
+his persecutors had read the book; the twisted newspaper version of
+only three lines of it was enough for them.  Here began Emil
+Gluck's hatred for newspaper men.  By them his serious and
+intrinsically valuable work of six years had been made a laughing-
+stock and a notoriety.  To his dying day, and to their everlasting
+regret, he never forgave them.
+
+It was the newspapers that were responsible for the next disaster
+that befell him.  For the five years following the publication of
+his book he had remained silent, and silence for a lonely man is
+not good.  One can conjecture sympathetically the awful solitude of
+Emil Gluck in that populous University; for he was without friends
+and without sympathy.  His only recourse was books, and he went on
+reading and studying enormously.  But in 1927 he accepted an
+invitation to appear before the Human Interest Society of
+Emeryville.  He did not trust himself to speak, and as we write we
+have before us a copy of his learned paper.  It is sober,
+scholarly, and scientific, and, it must also be added,
+conservative.  But in one place he dealt with, and I quote his
+words, "the industrial and social revolution that is taking place
+in society."  A reporter present seized upon the word "revolution,"
+divorced it from the text, and wrote a garbled account that made
+Emil Gluck appear an anarchist.  At once, "Professor Gluck,
+anarchist," flamed over the wires and was appropriately "featured"
+in all the newspapers in the land.
+
+He had attempted to reply to the previous newspaper attack, but now
+he remained silent.  Bitterness had already corroded his soul.  The
+University faculty appealed to him to defend himself, but he
+sullenly declined, even refusing to enter in defence a copy of his
+paper to save himself from expulsion.  He refused to resign, and
+was discharged from the University faculty.  It must be added that
+political pressure had been put upon the University Regents and the
+President.
+
+Persecuted, maligned, and misunderstood, the forlorn and lonely man
+made no attempt at retaliation.  All his life he had been sinned
+against, and all his life he had sinned against no one.  But his
+cup of bitterness was not yet full to overflowing.  Having lost his
+position, and being without any income, he had to find work.  His
+first place was at the Union Iron Works, in San Francisco, where he
+proved a most able draughtsman.  It was here that he obtained his
+firsthand knowledge of battleships and their construction.  But the
+reporters discovered him and featured him in his new vocation.  He
+immediately resigned and found another place; but after the
+reporters had driven him away from half-a-dozen positions, he
+steeled himself to brazen out the newspaper persecution.  This
+occurred when he started his electroplating establishment--in
+Oakland, on Telegraph Avenue.  It was a small shop, employing three
+men and two boys.  Gluck himself worked long hours.  Night after
+night, as Policeman Carew testified on the stand, he did not leave
+the shop till one and two in the morning.  It was during this
+period that he perfected the improved ignition device for gas-
+engines, the royalties from which ultimately made him wealthy.
+
+He started his electroplating establishment early in the spring of
+1928, and it was in the same year that he formed the disastrous
+love attachment for Irene Tackley.  Now it is not to be imagined
+that an extraordinary creature such as Emil Gluck could be any
+other than an extraordinary lover.  In addition to his genius, his
+loneliness, and his morbidness, it must be taken into consideration
+that he knew nothing about women.  Whatever tides of desire flooded
+his being, he was unschooled in the conventional expression of
+them; while his excessive timidity was bound to make his love-
+making unusual.  Irene Tackley was a rather pretty young woman, but
+shallow and light-headed.  At the time she worked in a small candy
+store across the street from Gluck's shop.  He used to come in and
+drink ice-cream sodas and lemon-squashes, and stare at her.  It
+seems the girl did not care for him, and merely played with him.
+He was "queer," she said; and at another time she called him a
+crank when describing how he sat at the counter and peered at her
+through his spectacles, blushing and stammering when she took
+notice of him, and often leaving the shop in precipitate confusion.
+
+Gluck made her the most amazing presents--a silver tea-service, a
+diamond ring, a set of furs, opera-glasses, a ponderous History of
+the World in many volumes, and a motor-cycle all silver-plated in
+his own shop.  Enters now the girl's lover, putting his foot down,
+showing great anger, compelling her to return Gluck's strange
+assortment of presents.  This man, William Sherbourne, was a gross
+and stolid creature, a heavy-jawed man of the working class who had
+become a successful building-contractor in a small way.  Gluck did
+not understand.  He tried to get an explanation, attempting to
+speak with the girl when she went home from work in the evening.
+She complained to Sherbourne, and one night he gave Gluck a
+beating.  It was a very severe beating, for it is on the records of
+the Red Cross Emergency Hospital that Gluck was treated there that
+night and was unable to leave the hospital for a week.
+
+Still Gluck did not understand.  He continued to seek an
+explanation from the girl.  In fear of Sherbourne, he applied to
+the Chief of Police for permission to carry a revolver, which
+permission was refused, the newspapers as usual playing it up
+sensationally.  Then came the murder of Irene Tackley, six days
+before her contemplated marriage with Sherbourne.  It was on a
+Saturday night.  She had worked late in the candy store, departing
+after eleven o'clock with her week's wages in her purse.  She rode
+on a San Pablo Avenue surface car to Thirty-fourth Street, where
+she alighted and started to walk the three blocks to her home.
+That was the last seen of her alive.  Next morning she was found,
+strangled, in a vacant lot.
+
+Emil Gluck was immediately arrested.  Nothing that he could do
+could save him.  He was convicted, not merely on circumstantial
+evidence, but on evidence "cooked up" by the Oakland police.  There
+is no discussion but that a large portion of the evidence was
+manufactured.  The testimony of Captain Shehan was the sheerest
+perjury, it being proved long afterward that on the night in
+question he had not only not been in the vicinity of the murder,
+but that he had been out of the city in a resort on the San Leandro
+Road.  The unfortunate Gluck received life imprisonment in San
+Quentin, while the newspapers and the public held that it was a
+miscarriage of justice--that the death penalty should have been
+visited upon him.
+
+Gluck entered San Quentin prison on April 17, 1929.  He was then
+thirty-four years of age.  And for three years and a half, much of
+the time in solitary confinement, he was left to meditate upon the
+injustice of man.  It was during that period that his bitterness
+corroded home and he became a hater of all his kind.  Three other
+things he did during the same period:  he wrote his famous
+treatise, Human Morals, his remarkable brochure, The Criminal Sane,
+and he worked out his awful and monstrous scheme of revenge.  It
+was an episode that had occurred in his electroplating
+establishment that suggested to him his unique weapon of revenge.
+As stated in his confession, he worked every detail out
+theoretically during his imprisonment, and was able, on his
+release, immediately to embark on his career of vengeance.
+
+His release was sensational.  Also it was miserably and criminally
+delayed by the soulless legal red tape then in vogue.  On the night
+of February 1, 1932, Tim Haswell, a hold-up man, was shot during an
+attempted robbery by a citizen of Piedmont Heights.  Tim Haswell
+lingered three days, during which time he not only confessed to the
+murder of Irene Tackley, but furnished conclusive proofs of the
+same.  Bert Danniker, a convict dying of consumption in Folsom
+Prison, was implicated as accessory, and his confession followed.
+It is inconceivable to us of to-day--the bungling, dilatory
+processes of justice a generation ago.  Emil Gluck was proved in
+February to be an innocent man, yet he was not released until the
+following October.  For eight months, a greatly wronged man, he was
+compelled to undergo his unmerited punishment.  This was not
+conducive to sweetness and light, and we can well imagine how he
+ate his soul with bitterness during those dreary eight months.
+
+He came back to the world in the fall of 1932, as usual a "feature"
+topic in all the newspapers.  The papers, instead of expressing
+heartfelt regret, continued their old sensational persecution.  One
+paper did more--the San Francisco Intelligencer.  John Hartwell,
+its editor, elaborated an ingenious theory that got around the
+confessions of the two criminals and went to show that Gluck was
+responsible, after all, for the murder of Irene Tackley.  Hartwell
+died.  And Sherbourne died too, while Policeman Phillipps was shot
+in the leg and discharged from the Oakland police force.
+
+The murder of Hartwell was long a mystery.  He was alone in his
+editorial office at the time.  The reports of the revolver were
+heard by the office boy, who rushed in to find Hartwell expiring in
+his chair.  What puzzled the police was the fact, not merely that
+he had been shot with his own revolver, but that the revolver had
+been exploded in the drawer of his desk.  The bullets had torn
+through the front of the drawer and entered his body.  The police
+scouted the theory of suicide, murder was dismissed as absurd, and
+the blame was thrown upon the Eureka Smokeless Cartridge Company.
+Spontaneous explosion was the police explanation, and the chemists
+of the cartridge company were well bullied at the inquest.  But
+what the police did not know was that across the street, in the
+Mercer Building, Room 633, rented by Emil Gluck, had been occupied
+by Emil Gluck at the very moment Hartwell's revolver so
+mysteriously exploded.
+
+At the time, no connection was made between Hartwell's death and
+the death of William Sherbourne.  Sherbourne had continued to live
+in the home he had built for Irene Tackley, and one morning in
+January, 1933, he was found dead.  Suicide was the verdict of the
+coroner's inquest, for he had been shot by his own revolver.  The
+curious thing that happened that night was the shooting of
+Policeman Phillipps on the sidewalk in front of Sherbourne's house.
+The policeman crawled to a police telephone on the corner and rang
+up for an ambulance.  He claimed that some one had shot him from
+behind in the leg.  The leg in question was so badly shattered by
+three '38 calibre bullets that amputation was necessary.  But when
+the police discovered that the damage had been done by his own
+revolver, a great laugh went up, and he was charged with having
+been drunk.  In spite of his denial of having touched a drop, and
+of his persistent assertion that the revolver had been in his hip
+pocket and that he had not laid a finger to it, he was discharged
+from the force.  Emil Gluck's confession, six years later, cleared
+the unfortunate policeman of disgrace, and he is alive to-day and
+in good health, the recipient of a handsome pension from the city.
+
+Emil Gluck, having disposed of his immediate enemies, now sought a
+wider field, though his enmity for newspaper men and for the police
+remained always active.  The royalties on his ignition device for
+gasolene-engines had mounted up while he lay in prison, and year by
+year the earning power of his invention increased.  He was
+independent, able to travel wherever he willed over the earth and
+to glut his monstrous appetite for revenge.  He had become a
+monomaniac and an anarchist--not a philosophic anarchist, merely,
+but a violent anarchist.  Perhaps the word is misused, and he is
+better described as a nihilist, or an annihilist.  It is known that
+he affiliated with none of the groups of terrorists.  He operated
+wholly alone, but he created a thousandfold more terror and
+achieved a thousandfold more destruction than all the terrorist
+groups added together.
+
+He signalized his departure from California by blowing up Fort
+Mason.  In his confession he spoke of it as a little experiment--he
+was merely trying his hand.  For eight years he wandered over the
+earth, a mysterious terror, destroying property to the tune of
+hundreds of millions of dollars, and destroying countless lives.
+One good result of his awful deeds was the destruction he wrought
+among the terrorists themselves.  Every time he did anything the
+terrorists in the vicinity were gathered in by the police dragnet,
+and many of them were executed.  Seventeen were executed at Rome
+alone, following the assassination of the Italian King.
+
+Perhaps the most world-amazing achievement of his was the
+assassination of the King and Queen of Portugal.  It was their
+wedding day.  All possible precautions had been taken against the
+terrorists, and the way from the cathedral, through Lisbon's
+streets, was double-banked with troops, while a squad of two
+hundred mounted troopers surrounded the carriage.  Suddenly the
+amazing thing happened.  The automatic rifles of the troopers began
+to go off, as well as the rifles, in the immediate vicinity, of the
+double-banked infantry.  In the excitement the muzzles of the
+exploding rifles were turned in all directions.  The slaughter was
+terrible--horses, troops, spectators, and the King and Queen, were
+riddled with bullets.  To complicate the affair, in different parts
+of the crowd behind the foot-soldiers, two terrorists had bombs
+explode on their persons.  These bombs they had intended to throw
+if they got the opportunity.  But who was to know this?  The
+frightful havoc wrought by the bursting bombs but added to the
+confusion; it was considered part of the general attack.
+
+One puzzling thing that could not be explained away was the conduct
+of the troopers with their exploding rifles.  It seemed impossible
+that they should be in the plot, yet there were the hundreds their
+flying bullets had slain, including the King and Queen.  On the
+other hand, more baffling than ever was the fact that seventy per
+cent. of the troopers themselves had been killed or wounded.  Some
+explained this on the ground that the loyal foot-soldiers,
+witnessing the attack on the royal carriage, had opened fire on the
+traitors.  Yet not one bit of evidence to verify this could be
+drawn from the survivors, though many were put to the torture.
+They contended stubbornly that they had not discharged their rifles
+at all, but that their rifles had discharged themselves.  They were
+laughed at by the chemists, who held that, while it was just barely
+probable that a single cartridge, charged with the new smokeless
+powder, might spontaneously explode, it was beyond all probability
+and possibility for all the cartridges in a given area, so charged,
+spontaneously to explode.  And so, in the end, no explanation of
+the amazing occurrence was reached.  The general opinion of the
+rest of the world was that the whole affair was a blind panic of
+the feverish Latins, precipitated, it was true, by the bursting of
+two terrorist bombs; and in this connection was recalled the
+laughable encounter of long years before between the Russian fleet
+and the English fishing boats.
+
+And Emil Gluck chuckled and went his way.  He knew.  But how was
+the world to know?  He had stumbled upon the secret in his old
+electroplating shop on Telegraph Avenue in the city of Oakland.  It
+happened, at that time, that a wireless telegraph station was
+established by the Thurston Power Company close to his shop.  In a
+short time his electroplating vat was put out of order.  The vat-
+wiring had many bad joints, and, on investigation, Gluck discovered
+minute welds at the joints in the wiring.  These, by lowering the
+resistance, had caused an excessive current to pass through the
+solution, "boiling" it and spoiling the work.  But what had caused
+the welds? was the question in Gluck's mind.  His reasoning was
+simple.  Before the establishment of the wireless station, the vat
+had worked well.  Not until after the establishment of the wireless
+station had the vat been ruined.  Therefore the wireless station
+had been the cause.  But how?  He quickly answered the question.
+If an electric discharge was capable of operating a coherer across
+three thousand miles of ocean, then, certainly, the electric
+discharges from the wireless station four hundred feet away could
+produce coherer effects on the bad joints in the vat-wiring.
+
+Gluck thought no more about it at the time.  He merely re-wired his
+vat and went on electroplating.  But afterwards, in prison, he
+remembered the incident, and like a flash there came into his mind
+the full significance of it.  He saw in it the silent, secret
+weapon with which to revenge himself on the world.  His great
+discovery, which died with him, was control over the direction and
+scope of the electric discharge.  At the time, this was the
+unsolved problem of wireless telegraphy--as it still is to-day--but
+Emil Gluck, in his prison cell, mastered it.  And, when he was
+released, he applied it.  It was fairly simple, given the directing
+power that was his, to introduce a spark into the powder-magazines
+of a fort, a battleship, or a revolver.  And not alone could he
+thus explode powder at a distance, but he could ignite
+conflagrations.  The great Boston fire was started by him--quite by
+accident, however, as he stated in his confession, adding that it
+was a pleasing accident and that he had never had any reason to
+regret it.
+
+It was Emil Gluck that caused the terrible German-American War,
+with the loss of 800,000 lives and the consumption of almost
+incalculable treasure.  It will be remembered that in 1939, because
+of the Pickard incident, strained relations existed between the two
+countries.  Germany, though aggrieved, was not anxious for war,
+and, as a peace token, sent the Crown Prince and seven battleships
+on a friendly visit to the United States.  On the night of February
+15, the seven warships lay at anchor in the Hudson opposite New
+York City.  And on that night Emil Gluck, alone, with all his
+apparatus on board, was out in a launch.  This launch, it was
+afterwards proved, was bought by him from the Ross Turner Company,
+while much of the apparatus he used that night had been purchased
+from the Columbia Electric Works.  But this was not known at the
+time.  All that was known was that the seven battleships blew up,
+one after another, at regular four-minute intervals.  Ninety per
+cent. of the crews and officers, along with the Crown Prince,
+perished.  Many years before, the American battleship Maine had
+been blown up in the harbour of Havana, and war with Spain had
+immediately followed--though there has always existed a reasonable
+doubt as to whether the explosion was due to conspiracy or
+accident.  But accident could not explain the blowing up of the
+seven battleships on the Hudson at four-minute intervals.  Germany
+believed that it had been done by a submarine, and immediately
+declared war.  It was six months after Gluck's confession that she
+returned the Philippines and Hawaii to the United States.
+
+In the meanwhile Emil Gluck, the malevolent wizard and arch-hater,
+travelled his whirlwind path of destruction.  He left no traces.
+Scientifically thorough, he always cleaned up after himself.  His
+method was to rent a room or a house, and secretly to install his
+apparatus--which apparatus, by the way, he so perfected and
+simplified that it occupied little space.  After he had
+accomplished his purpose he carefully removed the apparatus.  He
+bade fair to live out a long life of horrible crime.
+
+The epidemic of shooting of New York City policemen was a
+remarkable affair.  It became one of the horror mysteries of the
+time.  In two short weeks over a hundred policemen were shot in the
+legs by their own revolvers.  Inspector Jones did not solve the
+mystery, but it was his idea that finally outwitted Gluck.  On his
+recommendation the policemen ceased carrying revolvers, and no more
+accidental shootings occurred.
+
+It was in the early spring of 1940 that Gluck destroyed the Mare
+Island navy-yard.  From a room in Vallejo he sent his electric
+discharges across the Vallejo Straits to Mare Island.  He first
+played his flashes on the battleship Maryland.  She lay at the dock
+of one of the mine-magazines.  On her forward deck, on a huge
+temporary platform of timbers, were disposed over a hundred mines.
+These mines were for the defence of the Golden Gate.  Any one of
+these mines was capable of destroying a dozen battleships, and
+there were over a hundred mines.  The destruction was terrific, but
+it was only Gluck's overture.  He played his flashes down the Mare
+Island shore, blowing up five torpedo boats, the torpedo station,
+and the great magazine at the eastern end of the island.  Returning
+westward again, and scooping in occasional isolated magazines on
+the high ground back from the shore, he blew up three cruisers and
+the battleships Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Florida--the
+latter had just gone into dry-dock, and the magnificent dry-dock
+was destroyed along with her.
+
+It was a frightful catastrophe, and a shiver of horror passed
+through the land.  But it was nothing to what was to follow.  In
+the late fall of that year Emil Gluck made a clean sweep of the
+Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida.  Nothing escaped.  Forts,
+mines, coast defences of all sorts, torpedo stations, magazines--
+everything went up.  Three months afterward, in midwinter, he smote
+the north shore of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Greece in
+the same stupefying manner.  A wail went up from the nations.  It
+was clear that human agency was behind all this destruction, and it
+was equally clear, through Emil Gluck's impartiality, that the
+destruction was not the work of any particular nation.  One thing
+was patent, namely, that whoever was the human behind it all, that
+human was a menace to the world.  No nation was safe.  There was no
+defence against this unknown and all-powerful foe.  Warfare was
+futile--nay, not merely futile but itself the very essence of the
+peril.  For a twelve-month the manufacture of powder ceased, and
+all soldiers and sailors were withdrawn from all fortifications and
+war vessels.  And even a world-disarmament was seriously considered
+at the Convention of the Powers, held at The Hague at that time.
+
+And then Silas Bannerman, a secret service agent of the United
+States, leaped into world-fame by arresting Emil Gluck.  At first
+Bannerman was laughed at, but he had prepared his case well, and in
+a few weeks the most sceptical were convinced of Emil Gluck's
+guilt.  The one thing, however, that Silas Bannerman never
+succeeded in explaining, even to his own satisfaction, was how
+first he came to connect Gluck with the atrocious crimes.  It is
+true, Bannerman was in Vallejo, on secret government business, at
+the time of the destruction of Mare Island; and it is true that on
+the streets of Vallejo Emil Gluck was pointed out to him as a queer
+crank; but no impression was made at the time.  It was not until
+afterward, when on a vacation in the Rocky Mountains and when
+reading the first published reports of the destruction along the
+Atlantic Coast, that suddenly Bannerman thought of Emil Gluck.  And
+on the instant there flashed into his mind the connection between
+Gluck and the destruction.  It was only an hypothesis, but it was
+sufficient.  The great thing was the conception of the hypothesis,
+in itself an act of unconscious cerebration--a thing as
+unaccountable as the flashing, for instance, into Newton's mind of
+the principle of gravitation.
+
+The rest was easy.  Where was Gluck at the time of the destruction
+along the Atlantic sea-board? was the question that formed in
+Bannerman's mind.  By his own request he was put upon the case.  In
+no time he ascertained that Gluck had himself been up and down the
+Atlantic Coast in the late fall of 1940.  Also he ascertained that
+Gluck had been in New York City during the epidemic of the shooting
+of police officers.  Where was Gluck now? was Bannerman's next
+query.  And, as if in answer, came the wholesale destruction along
+the Mediterranean.  Gluck had sailed for Europe a month before--
+Bannerman knew that.  It was not necessary for Bannerman to go to
+Europe.  By means of cable messages and the co-operation of the
+European secret services, he traced Gluck's course along the
+Mediterranean and found that in every instance it coincided with
+the blowing up of coast defences and ships.  Also, he learned that
+Gluck had just sailed on the Green Star liner Plutonic for the
+United States.
+
+The case was complete in Bannerman's mind, though in the interval
+of waiting he worked up the details.  In this he was ably assisted
+by George Brown, an operator employed by the Wood's System of
+Wireless Telegraphy.  When the Plutonic arrived off Sandy Hook she
+was boarded by Bannerman from a Government tug, and Emil Gluck was
+made a prisoner.  The trial and the confession followed.  In the
+confession Gluck professed regret only for one thing, namely, that
+he had taken his time.  As he said, had he dreamed that he was ever
+to be discovered he would have worked more rapidly and accomplished
+a thousand times the destruction he did.  His secret died with him,
+though it is now known that the French Government managed to get
+access to him and offered him a billion francs for his invention
+wherewith he was able to direct and closely to confine electric
+discharges.  "What!" was Gluck's reply--"to sell to you that which
+would enable you to enslave and maltreat suffering Humanity?"  And
+though the war departments of the nations have continued to
+experiment in their secret laboratories, they have so far failed to
+light upon the slightest trace of the secret.  Emil Gluck was
+executed on December 4, 1941, and so died, at the age of forty-six,
+one of the world's most unfortunate geniuses, a man of tremendous
+intellect, but whose mighty powers, instead of making toward good,
+were so twisted and warped that he became the most amazing of
+criminals.
+
+--Culled from Mr. A. G. Burnside's "Eccentricitics of Crime," by
+kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Holiday and Whitsund.
+
+
+
+THE DREAM OF DEBS
+
+
+
+I awoke fully an hour before my customary time.  This in itself was
+remarkable, and I lay very wide awake, pondering over it.
+Something was the matter, something was wrong--I knew not what.  I
+was oppressed by a premonition of something terrible that had
+happened or was about to happen.  But what was it?  I strove to
+orient myself.  I remembered that at the time of the Great
+Earthquake of 1906 many claimed they awakened some moments before
+the first shock and that during these moments they experienced
+strange feelings of dread.  Was San Francisco again to be visited
+by earthquake?
+
+I lay for a full minute, numbly expectant, but there occurred no
+reeling of walls nor shock and grind of falling masonry.  All was
+quiet.  That was it!  The silence!  No wonder I had been perturbed.
+The hum of the great live city was strangely absent.  The surface
+cars passed along my street, at that time of day, on an average of
+one every three minutes; but in the ten succeeding minutes not a
+car passed.  Perhaps it was a street-railway strike, was my
+thought; or perhaps there had been an accident and the power was
+shut off.  But no, the silence was too profound.  I heard no jar
+and rattle of waggon wheels, nor stamp of iron-shod hoofs straining
+up the steep cobble-stones.
+
+Pressing the push-button beside my bed, I strove to hear the sound
+of the bell, though I well knew it was impossible for the sound to
+rise three stories to me even if the bell did ring.  It rang all
+right, for a few minutes later Brown entered with the tray and
+morning paper.  Though his features were impassive as ever, I noted
+a startled, apprehensive light in his eyes.  I noted, also, that
+there was no cream on the tray.
+
+"The Creamery did not deliver this morning," he explained; "nor did
+the bakery."
+
+I glanced again at the tray.  There were no fresh French rolls--
+only slices of stale graham bread from yesterday, the most
+detestable of bread so far as I was concerned.
+
+"Nothing was delivered this morning, sir," Brown started to explain
+apologetically; but I interrupted him.
+
+"The paper?"
+
+"Yes, sir, it was delivered, but it was the only thing, and it is
+the last time, too.  There won't be any paper to-morrow.  The paper
+says so.  Can I send out and get you some condensed milk?"
+
+I shook my head, accepted the coffee black, and spread open the
+paper.  The headlines explained everything--explained too much, in
+fact, for the lengths of pessimism to which the journal went were
+ridiculous.  A general strike, it said, had been called all over
+the United States; and most foreboding anxieties were expressed
+concerning the provisioning of the great cities.
+
+I read on hastily, skimming much and remembering much of labour
+troubles in the past.  For a generation the general strike had been
+the dream of organized labour, which dream had arisen originally in
+the mind of Debs, one of the great labour leaders of thirty years
+before.  I recollected that in my young college-settlement days I
+had even written an article on the subject for one of the magazines
+and that I had entitled it "The Dream of Debs."  And I must confess
+that I had treated the idea very cavalierly and academically as a
+dream and nothing more.  Time and the world had rolled on, Gompers
+was gone, the American Federation of Labour was gone, and gone was
+Debs with all his wild revolutionary ideas; but the dream had
+persisted, and here it was at last realized in fact.  But I
+laughed, as I read, at the journal's gloomy outlook.  I knew
+better.  I had seen organized labour worsted in too many conflicts.
+It would be a matter only of days when the thing would be settled.
+This was a national strike, and it wouldn't take the Government
+long to break it.
+
+I threw the paper down and proceeded to dress.  It would certainly
+be interesting to be out in the streets of San Francisco when not a
+wheel was turning and the whole city was taking an enforced
+vacation.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," Brown said, as he handed me my cigar-
+case, "but Mr. Harmmed has asked to see you before you go out."
+
+"Send him in right away," I answered.
+
+Harmmed was the butler.  When he entered I could see he was
+labouring under controlled excitement.  He came at once to the
+point.
+
+"What shall I do, sir?  There will be needed provisions, and the
+delivery drivers are on strike.  And the electricity is shut off--I
+guess they're on strike, too."
+
+"Are the shops open?" I asked.
+
+"Only the small ones, sir.  The retail clerks are out, and the big
+ones can't open; but the owners and their families are running the
+little ones themselves."
+
+"Then take the machine," I said, "and go the rounds and make your
+purchases.  Buy plenty of everything you need or may need.  Get a
+box of candles--no, get half-a-dozen boxes.  And, when you're done,
+tell Harrison to bring the machine around to the club for me--not
+later than eleven."
+
+Harmmed shook his head gravely.  "Mr. Harrison has struck along
+with the Chauffeurs' Union, and I don't know how to run the machine
+myself."
+
+"Oh, ho, he has, has he?" said.  "Well, when next Mister Harrison
+happens around you tell him that he can look elsewhere for a
+position."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You don't happen to belong to a Butlers' Union, do you, Harmmed?"
+
+"No, sir," was the answer.  "And even if I did I'd not desert my
+employer in a crisis like this.  No, sir, I would--"
+
+"All right, thank you," I said.  "Now you get ready to accompany
+me.  I'll run the machine myself, and we'll lay in a stock of
+provisions to stand a siege."
+
+It was a beautiful first of May, even as May days go.  The sky was
+cloudless, there was no wind, and the air was warm--almost balmy.
+Many autos were out, but the owners were driving them themselves.
+The streets were crowded but quiet.  The working class, dressed in
+its Sunday best, was out taking the air and observing the effects
+of the strike.  It was all so unusual, and withal so peaceful, that
+I found myself enjoying it.  My nerves were tingling with mild
+excitement.  It was a sort of placid adventure.  I passed Miss
+Chickering.  She was at the helm of her little runabout.  She swung
+around and came after me, catching me at the corner.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Corf!"' she hailed.  "Do you know where I can buy candles?
+I've been to a dozen shops, and they're all sold out.  It's
+dreadfully awful, isn't it?"
+
+But her sparkling eyes gave the lie to her words.  Like the rest of
+us, she was enjoying it hugely.  Quite an adventure it was, getting
+those candles.  It was not until we went across the city and down
+into the working-class quarter south of Market Street that we found
+small corner groceries that had not yet sold out.  Miss Chickering
+thought one box was sufficient, but I persuaded her into taking
+four.  My car was large, and I laid in a dozen boxes.  There was no
+telling what delays might arise in the settlement of the strike.
+Also, I filled the car with sacks of flour, baking-powder, tinned
+goods, and all the ordinary necessaries of life suggested by
+Harmmed, who fussed around and clucked over the purchases like an
+anxious old hen.
+
+The remarkable thing, that first day of the strike, was that no one
+really apprehended anything serious.  The announcement of organized
+labour in the morning papers that it was prepared to stay out a
+month or three months was laughed at.  And yet that very first day
+we might have guessed as much from the fact that the working class
+took practically no part in the great rush to buy provisions.  Of
+course not.  For weeks and months, craftily and secretly, the whole
+working class had been laying in private stocks of provisions.
+That was why we were permitted to go down and buy out the little
+groceries in the working-class neighbourhoods.
+
+It was not until I arrived at the club that afternoon that I began
+to feel the first alarm.  Everything was in confusion.  There were
+no olives for the cocktails, and the service was by hitches and
+jerks.  Most of the men were angry, and all were worried.  A babel
+of voices greeted me as I entered.  General Folsom, nursing his
+capacious paunch in a window-seat in the smoking-room was defending
+himself against half-a-dozen excited gentlemen who were demanding
+that he should do something.
+
+"What can I do more than I have done?" he was saying.  "There are
+no orders from Washington.  If you gentlemen will get a wire
+through I'll do anything I am commanded to do.  But I don't see
+what can be done.  The first thing I did this morning, as soon as I
+learned of the strike, was to order in the troops from the
+Presidio--three thousand of them.  They're guarding the banks, the
+Mint, the post office, and all the public buildings.  There is no
+disorder whatever.  The strikers are keeping the peace perfectly.
+You can't expect me to shoot them down as they walk along the
+streets with wives and children all in their best bib and tucker."
+
+"I'd like to know what's happening on Wall Street," I heard Jimmy
+Wombold say as I passed along.  I could imagine his anxiety, for I
+knew that he was deep in the big Consolidated-Western deal.
+
+"Say, Corf," Atkinson bustled up to me, "is your machine running?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, "but what's the matter with your own?"
+
+"Broken down, and the garages are all closed.  And my wife's
+somewhere around Truckee, I think, stalled on the overland.  Can't
+get a wire to her for love or money.  She should have arrived this
+evening.  She may be starving.  Lend me your machine."
+
+"Can't get it across the bay," Halstead spoke up.  "The ferries
+aren't running.  But I tell you what you can do.  There's
+Rollinson--oh, Rollinson, come here a moment.  Atkinson wants to
+get a machine across the bay.  His wife is stuck on the overland at
+Truckee.  Can't you bring the Lurlette across from Tiburon and
+carry the machine over for him?"
+
+The Lurlette was a two-hundred-ton, ocean-going schooner-yacht.
+
+Rollinson shook his head.  "You couldn't get a longshoreman to land
+the machine on board, even if I could get the Lurlette over, which
+I can't, for the crew are members of the Coast Seamen's Union, and
+they're on strike along with the rest."
+
+"But my wife may be starving," I could hear Atkinson wailing as I
+moved on.
+
+At the other end of the smoking-room I ran into a group of men
+bunched excitedly and angrily around Bertie Messener.  And Bertie
+was stirring them up and prodding them in his cool, cynical way.
+Bertie didn't care about the strike.  He didn't care much about
+anything.  He was blase--at least in all the clean things of life;
+the nasty things had no attraction for him.  He was worth twenty
+millions, all of it in safe investments, and he had never done a
+tap of productive work in his life--inherited it all from his
+father and two uncles.  He had been everywhere, seen everything,
+and done everything but get married, and this last in the face of
+the grim and determined attack of a few hundred ambitious mammas.
+For years he had been the greatest catch, and as yet he had avoided
+being caught.  He was disgracefully eligible.  On top of his wealth
+he was young, handsome, and, as I said before, clean.  He was a
+great athlete, a young blond god that did everything perfectly and
+admirably with the solitary exception of matrimony.  And he didn't
+care about anything, had no ambitions, no passions, no desire to do
+the very things he did so much better than other men.
+
+"This is sedition!" one man in the group was crying.  Another
+called it revolt and revolution, and another called it anarchy.
+
+"I can't see it," Bertie said.  "I have been out in the streets all
+morning.  Perfect order reigns.  I never saw a more law-abiding
+populace.  There's no use calling it names.  It's not any of those
+things.  It's just what it claims to be, a general strike, and it's
+your turn to play, gentlemen."
+
+"And we'll play all right!" cried Garfield, one of the traction
+millionaires.  "We'll show this dirt where its place is--the
+beasts!  Wait till the Government takes a hand."
+
+"But where is the Government?" Bertie interposed.  "It might as
+well be at the bottom of the sea so far as you're concerned.  You
+don't know what's happening at Washington.  You don't know whether
+you've got a Government or not."
+
+"Don't you worry about that," Garfield blurted out.
+
+"I assure you I'm not worrying," Bertie smiled languidly.  "But it
+seems to me it's what you fellows are doing.  Look in the glass,
+Garfield."
+
+Garfield did not look, but had he looked he would have seen a very
+excited gentleman with rumpled, iron-grey hair, a flushed face,
+mouth sullen and vindictive, and eyes wildly gleaming.
+
+"It's not right, I tell you," little Hanover said; and from his
+tone I was sure that he had already said it a number of times.
+
+"Now that's going too far, Hanover," Bertie replied.  "You fellows
+make me tired.  You're all open-shop men.  You've eroded my
+eardrums with your endless gabble for the open shop and the right
+of a man to work.  You've harangued along those lines for years.
+Labour is doing nothing wrong in going out on this general strike.
+It is violating no law of God nor man.  Don't you talk, Hanover.
+You've been ringing the changes too long on the God-given right to
+work . . . or not to work; you can't escape the corollary.  It's a
+dirty little sordid scrap, that's all the whole thing is.  You've
+got labour down and gouged it, and now labour's got you down and is
+gouging you, that's all, and you're squealing."
+
+Every man in the group broke out in indignant denials that labour
+had ever been gouged.
+
+"No, sir!" Garfield was shouting.  "We've done the best for labour.
+Instead of gouging it, we've given it a chance to live.  We've made
+work for it.  Where would labour be if it hadn't been for us?"
+
+"A whole lot better off," Bertie sneered.  "You've got labour down
+and gouged it every time you got a chance, and you went out of your
+way to make chances."
+
+"No!  No!" were the cries.
+
+"There was the teamsters' strike, right here in San Francisco,"
+Bertie went on imperturbably.  "The Employers' Association
+precipitated that strike.  You know that.  And you know I know it,
+too, for I've sat in these very rooms and heard the inside talk and
+news of the fight.  First you precipitated the strike, then you
+bought the Mayor and the Chief of Police and broke the strike.  A
+pretty spectacle, you philanthropists getting the teamsters down
+and gouging them.
+
+"Hold on, I'm not through with you.  It's only last year that the
+labour ticket of Colorado elected a governor.  He was never seated.
+You know why.  You know how your brother philanthropists and
+capitalists of Colorado worked it.  It was a case of getting labour
+down and gouging it.  You kept the president of the South-western
+Amalgamated Association of Miners in jail for three years on
+trumped-up murder charges, and with him out of the way you broke up
+the association.  That was gouging labour, you'll admit.  The third
+time the graduated income tax was declared unconstitutional was a
+gouge.  So was the eight-hour Bill you killed in the last Congress.
+
+"And of all unmitigated immoral gouges, your destruction of the
+closed-shop principle was the limit.  You know how it was done. You
+bought out Farburg, the last president of the old American
+Federation of Labour.  He was your creature--or the creature of all
+the trusts and employers' associations, which is the same thing.
+You precipitated the big closed-shop strike.  Farburg betrayed that
+strike.  You won, and the old American Federation of Labour
+crumbled to pieces.  You follows destroyed it, and by so doing
+undid yourselves; for right on top of it began the organization of
+the I.L.W.--the biggest and solidest organization of labour the
+United States has ever seen, and you are responsible for its
+existence and for the present general strike.  You smashed all the
+old federations and drove labour into the I.L.W., and the I.L.W.
+called the general strike--still fighting for the closed shop.  And
+then you have the effrontery to stand here face to face and tell me
+that you never got labour down and gouged it.  Bah!"
+
+This time there were no denials.  Garfield broke out in self-
+defence--
+
+"We've done nothing we were not compelled to do, if we were to
+win."
+
+"I'm not saying anything about that," Bertie answered.  "What I am
+complaining about is your squealing now that you're getting a taste
+of your own medicine.  How many strikes have you won by starving
+labour into submission?  Well, labour's worked out a scheme whereby
+to starve you into submission.  It wants the closed shop, and, if
+it can get it by starving you, why, starve you shall."
+
+"I notice that you have profited in the past by those very labour
+gouges you mention," insinuated Brentwood, one of the wiliest and
+most astute of our corporation lawyers.  "The receiver is as bad as
+the thief," he sneered.  "You had no hand in the gouging, but you
+took your whack out of the gouge."
+
+"That is quite beside the question, Brentwood," Bertie drawled.
+"You're as bad as Hanover, intruding the moral element.  I haven't
+said that anything is right or wrong.  It's all a rotten game, I
+know; and my sole kick is that you fellows are squealing now that
+you're down and labour's taking a gouge out of you.  Of course I've
+taken the profits from the gouging and, thanks to you, gentlemen,
+without having personally to do the dirty work.  You did that for
+me--oh, believe me, not because I am more virtuous than you, but
+because my good father and his various brothers left me a lot of
+money with which to pay for the dirty work."
+
+"If you mean to insinuate--" Brentwood began hotly.
+
+"Hold on, don't get all-ruffled up," Bertie interposed insolently.
+"There's no use in playing hypocrites in this thieves' den.  The
+high and lofty is all right for the newspapers, boys' clubs, and
+Sunday schools--that's part of the game; but for heaven's sake
+don't let's play it on one another.  You know, and you know that I
+know just what jobbery was done in the building trades' strike last
+fall, who put up the money, who did the work, and who profited by
+it."  (Brentwood flushed darkly.)  "But we are all tarred with the
+same brush, and the best thing for us to do is to leave morality
+out of it.  Again I repeat, play the game, play it to the last
+finish, but for goodness' sake don't squeal when you get hurt."
+
+When I left the group Bertie was off on a new tack tormenting them
+with the more serious aspects of the situation, pointing out the
+shortage of supplies that was already making itself felt, and
+asking them what they were going to do about it.  A little later I
+met him in the cloak-room, leaving, and gave him a lift home in my
+machine.
+
+"It's a great stroke, this general strike," he said, as we bowled
+along through the crowded but orderly streets.  "It's a smashing
+body-blow.  Labour caught us napping and struck at our weakest
+place, the stomach.  I'm going to get out of San Francisco, Corf.
+Take my advice and get out, too.  Head for the country, anywhere.
+You'll have more chance.  Buy up a stock of supplies and get into a
+tent or a cabin somewhere.  Soon there'll be nothing but starvation
+in this city for such as we."
+
+How correct Bertie Messener was I never dreamed.  I decided that he
+was an alarmist.  As for myself, I was content to remain and watch
+the fun.  After I dropped him, instead of going directly home, I
+went on in a hunt for more food.  To my surprise, I learned that
+the small groceries where I had bought in the morning were sold
+out.  I extended my search to the Potrero, and by good luck managed
+to pick up another box of candles, two sacks of wheat flour, ten
+pounds of graham flour (which would do for the servants), a case of
+tinned corn, and two cases of tinned tomatoes.  It did look as
+though there was going to be at least a temporary food shortage,
+and I hugged myself over the goodly stock of provisions I had laid
+in.
+
+The next morning I had my coffee in bed as usual, and, more than
+the cream, I missed the daily paper.  It was this absence of
+knowledge of what was going on in the world that I found the chief
+hardship.  Down at the club there was little news.  Rider had
+crossed from Oakland in his launch, and Halstead had been down to
+San Jose and back in his machine.  They reported the same
+conditions in those places as in San Francisco.  Everything was
+tied up by the strike.  All grocery stocks had been bought out by
+the upper classes.  And perfect order reigned.  But what was
+happening over the rest of the country--in Chicago?  New York?
+Washington?  Most probably the same things that were happening with
+us, we concluded; but the fact that we did not know with absolute
+surety was irritating.
+
+General Folsom had a bit of news.  An attempt had been made to
+place army telegraphers in the telegraph offices, but the wires had
+been cut in every direction.  This was, so far, the one unlawful
+act committed by labour, and that it was a concerted act he was
+fully convinced.  He had communicated by wireless with the army
+post at Benicia, the telegraph lines were even then being patrolled
+by soldiers all the way to Sacramento.  Once, for one short
+instant, they had got the Sacramento call, then the wires,
+somewhere, were cut again.  General Folsom reasoned that similar
+attempts to open communication were being made by the authorities
+all the way across the continent, but he was non-committal as to
+whether or not he thought the attempt would succeed.  What worried
+him was the wire-cutting; he could not but believe that it was an
+important part of the deep-laid labour conspiracy.  Also, he
+regretted that the Government had not long since established its
+projected chain of wireless stations.
+
+The days came and went, and for a while it was a humdrum time.
+Nothing happened.  The edge of excitement had become blunted.  The
+streets were not so crowded.  The working class did not come uptown
+any more to see how we were taking the strike.  And there were not
+so many automobiles running around.  The repair-shops and garages
+were closed, and whenever a machine broke down it went out of
+commission.  The clutch on mine broke, and neither love nor money
+could get it repaired.  Like the rest, I was now walking.  San
+Francisco lay dead, and we did not know what was happening over the
+rest of the country.  But from the very fact that we did not know
+we could conclude only that the rest of the country lay as dead as
+San Francisco.  From time to time the city was placarded with the
+proclamations of organized labour--these had been printed months
+before, and evidenced how thoroughly the I.L.W. had prepared for
+the strike.  Every detail had been worked out long in advance.  No
+violence had occurred as yet, with the exception of the shooting of
+a few wire-cutters by the soldiers, but the people of the slums
+were starving and growing ominously restless.
+
+The business men, the millionaires, and the professional class held
+meetings and passed resolutions, but there was no way of making the
+proclamations public.  They could not even get them printed.  One
+result of these meetings, however, was that General Folsom was
+persuaded into taking military possession of the wholesale houses
+and of all the flour, grain, and food warehouses.  It was high
+time, for suffering was becoming acute in the homes of the rich,
+and bread-lines were necessary.  I knew that my servants were
+beginning to draw long faces, and it was amazing--the hole they
+made in my stock of provisions.  In fact, as I afterward surmised,
+each servant was stealing from me and secreting a private stock of
+provisions for himself.
+
+But with the formation of the bread-lines came new troubles.  There
+was only so much of a food reserve in San Francisco, and at the
+best it could not last long.  Organized labour, we knew, had its
+private supplies; nevertheless, the whole working class joined the
+bread-lines.  As a result, the provisions General Folsom had taken
+possession of diminished with perilous rapidity.  How were the
+soldiers to distinguish between a shabby middle-class man, a member
+of the I.L.W., or a slum dweller?  The first and the last had to be
+fed, but the soldiers did not know all the I.L.W. men in the city,
+much less the wives and sons and daughters of the I.L.W. men.  The
+employers helping, a few of the known union men were flung out of
+the bread-lines; but that amounted to nothing.  To make matters
+worse, the Government tugs that had been hauling food from the army
+depots on Mare Island to Angel Island found no more food to haul.
+The soldiers now received their rations from the confiscated
+provisions, and they received them first.
+
+The beginning of the end was in sight.  Violence was beginning to
+show its face.  Law and order were passing away, and passing away,
+I must confess, among the slum people and the upper classes.
+Organized labour still maintained perfect order.  It could well
+afford to--it had plenty to eat.  I remember the afternoon at the
+club when I caught Halstead and Brentwood whispering in a corner.
+They took me in on the venture.  Brentwood's machine was still in
+running order, and they were going out cow-stealing.  Halstead had
+a long butcher knife and a cleaver.  We went out to the outskirts
+of the city.  Here and there were cows grazing, but always they
+were guarded by their owners.  We pursued our quest, following
+along the fringe of the city to the east, and on the hills near
+Hunter's Point we came upon a cow guarded by a little girl.  There
+was also a young calf with the cow.  We wasted no time on
+preliminaries.  The little girl ran away screaming, while we
+slaughtered the cow.  I omit the details, for they are not nice--we
+were unaccustomed to such work, and we bungled it.
+
+But in the midst of it, working with the haste of fear, we heard
+cries, and we saw a number of men running toward us.  We abandoned
+the spoils and took to our heels.  To our surprise we were not
+pursued.  Looking back, we saw the men hurriedly cutting up the
+cow.  They had been on the same lay as ourselves.  We argued that
+there was plenty for all, and ran back.  The scene that followed
+beggars description.  We fought and squabbled over the division
+like savages.  Brentwood, I remember, was a perfect brute, snarling
+and snapping and threatening that murder would be done if we did
+not get our proper share.
+
+And we were getting our share when there occurred a new irruption
+on the scene.  This time it was the dreaded peace officers of the
+I.L.W.  The little girl had brought them.  They were armed with
+whips and clubs, and there were a score of them.  The little girl
+danced up and down in anger, the tears streaming down her cheeks,
+crying:  "Give it to 'em!  Give it to 'em!  That guy with the
+specs--he did it!  Mash his face for him!  Mash his face!"  That
+guy with the specs was I, and I got my face mashed, too, though I
+had the presence of mind to take off my glasses at the first.  My!
+but we did receive a trouncing as we scattered in all directions.
+Brentwood, Halstead, and I fled away for the machine.  Brentwood's
+nose was bleeding, while Halstead's cheek was cut across with the
+scarlet slash of a black-snake whip.
+
+And, lo, when the pursuit ceased and we had gained the machine,
+there, hiding behind it, was the frightened calf.  Brentwood warned
+us to be cautious, and crept up on it like a wolf or tiger.  Knife
+and cleaver had been left behind, but Brentwood still had his
+hands, and over and over on the ground he rolled with the poor
+little calf as he throttled it.  We threw the carcass into the
+machine, covered it over with a robe, and started for home.  But
+our misfortunes had only begun.  We blew out a tyre.  There was no
+way of fixing it, and twilight was coming on.  We abandoned the
+machine, Brentwood pulling and staggering along in advance, the
+calf, covered by the robe, slung across his shoulders.  We took
+turn about carrying that calf, and it nearly killed us.  Also, we
+lost our way.  And then, after hours of wandering and toil, we
+encountered a gang of hoodlums.  They were not I.L.W. men, and I
+guess they were as hungry as we.  At any rate, they got the calf
+and we got the thrashing.  Brentwood raged like a madman the rest
+of the way home, and he looked like one, with his torn clothes,
+swollen nose, and blackened eyes.
+
+There wasn't any more cow-stealing after that.  General Folsom sent
+his troopers out and confiscated all the cows, and his troopers,
+aided by the militia, ate most of the meat.  General Folsom was not
+to be blamed; it was his duty to maintain law and order, and he
+maintained it by means of the soldiers, wherefore he was compelled
+to feed them first of all.
+
+It was about this time that the great panic occurred.  The wealthy
+classes precipitated the flight, and then the slum people caught
+the contagion and stampeded wildly out of the city.  General Folsom
+was pleased.  It was estimated that at least 200,000 had deserted
+San Francisco, and by that much was his food problem solved.  Well
+do I remember that day.  In the morning I had eaten a crust of
+bread.  Half of the afternoon I had stood in the bread-line; and
+after dark I returned home, tired and miserable, carrying a quart
+of rice and a slice of bacon.  Brown met me at the door.  His face
+was worn and terrified.  All the servants had fled, he informed me.
+He alone remained.  I was touched by his faithfulness and, when I
+learned that he had eaten nothing all day, I divided my food with
+him.  We cooked half the rice and half the bacon, sharing it
+equally and reserving the other half for morning.  I went to bed
+with my hunger, and tossed restlessly all night.  In the morning I
+found Brown had deserted me, and, greater misfortune still, he had
+stolen what remained of the rice and bacon.
+
+It was a gloomy handful of men that came together at the club that
+morning.  There was no service at all.  The last servant was gone.
+I noticed, too, that the silver was gone, and I learned where it
+had gone.  The servants had not taken it, for the reason, I
+presume, that the club members got to it first.  Their method of
+disposing of it was simple.  Down south of Market Street, in the
+dwellings of the I.L.W., the housewives had given square meals in
+exchange for it.  I went back to my house.  Yes, my silver was
+gone--all but a massive pitcher.  This I wrapped up and carried
+down south of Market Street.
+
+I felt better after the meal, and returned to the club to learn if
+there was anything new in the situation.  Hanover, Collins, and
+Dakon were just leaving.  There was no one inside, they told me,
+and they invited me to come along with them.  They were leaving the
+city, they said, on Dakon's horses, and there was a spare one for
+me. Dakon had four magnificent carriage horses that he wanted to
+save, and General Folsom had given him the tip that next morning
+all the horses that remained in the city were to be confiscated for
+food.  There were not many horses left, for tens of thousands of
+them had been turned loose into the country when the hay and grain
+gave out during the first days.  Birdall, I remember, who had great
+draying interests, had turned loose three hundred dray horses.  At
+an average value of five hundred dollars, this had amounted to
+$150,000.  He had hoped, at first, to recover most of the horses
+after the strike was over, but in the end he never recovered one of
+them.  They were all eaten by the people that fled from San
+Francisco.  For that matter, the killing of the army mules and
+horses for food had already begun.
+
+Fortunately for Dakon, he had had a plentiful supply of hay and
+grain stored in his stable.  We managed to raise four saddles, and
+we found the animals in good condition and spirited, withal unused
+to being ridden.  I remembered the San Francisco of the great
+earthquake as we rode through the streets, but this San Francisco
+was vastly more pitiable.  No cataclysm of nature had caused this,
+but, rather, the tyranny of the labour unions.  We rode down past
+Union Square and through the theatre, hotel, and shopping
+districts.  The streets were deserted.  Here and there stood
+automobiles, abandoned where they had broken down or when the
+gasolene had given out.  There was no sign of life, save for the
+occasional policemen and the soldiers guarding the banks and public
+buildings.  Once we came upon an I.L.W. man pasting up the latest
+proclamation.  We stopped to read.  "We have maintained an orderly
+strike," it ran; "and we shall maintain order to the end.  The end
+will come when our demands are satisfied, and our demands will be
+satisfied when we have starved our employers into submission, as we
+ourselves in the past have often been starved into submission."
+
+"Messener's very words," Collins said.  "And I, for one, am ready
+to submit, only they won't give me a chance to submit.  I haven't
+had a full meal in an age.  I wonder what horse-meat tastes like?"
+
+We stopped to read another proclamation:  "When we think our
+employers are ready to submit we shall open up the telegraphs and
+place the employers' associations of the United States in
+communication.  But only messages relating to peace terms shall be
+permitted over the wires."
+
+We rode on, crossed Market Street, and a little later were passing
+through the working-class district.  Here the streets were not
+deserted.  Leaning over the gates or standing in groups were the
+I.L.W. men.  Happy, well-fed children were playing games, and stout
+housewives sat on the front steps gossiping.  One and all cast
+amused glances at us.  Little children ran after us, crying:  "Hey,
+mister, ain't you hungry?"  And one woman, nursing a child at her
+breast, called to Dakon:  "Say, Fatty, I'll give you a meal for
+your skate--ham and potatoes, currant jelly, white bread, canned
+butter, and two cups of coffee."
+
+"Have you noticed, the last few days," Hanover remarked to me,
+"that there's not been a stray dog in the streets?"
+
+I had noticed, but I had not thought about it before.  It was high
+time to leave the unfortunate city.  We at last managed to connect
+with the San Bruno Road, along which we headed south.  I had a
+country place near Menlo, and it was our objective.  But soon we
+began to discover that the country was worse off and far more
+dangerous than the city.  There the soldiers and the I.L.W. kept
+order; but the country had been turned over to anarchy.  Two
+hundred thousand people had fled from San Francisco, and we had
+countless evidences that their flight had been like that of an army
+of locusts.
+
+They had swept everything clean.  There had been robbery and
+fighting.  Here and there we passed bodies by the roadside and saw
+the blackened ruins of farm-houses.  The fences were down, and the
+crops had been trampled by the feet of a multitude.  All the
+vegetable patches had been rooted up by the famished hordes.  All
+the chickens and farm animals had been slaughtered.  This was true
+of all the main roads that led out of San Francisco.  Here and
+there, away from the roads, farmers had held their own with
+shotguns and revolvers, and were still holding their own.  They
+warned us away and refused to parley with us.  And all the
+destruction and violence had been done by the slum-dwellers and the
+upper classes.  The I.L.W. men, with plentiful food supplies,
+remained quietly in their homes in the cities.
+
+Early in the ride we received concrete proof of how desperate was
+the situation.  To the right of us we heard cries and rifle-shots.
+Bullets whistled dangerously near.  There was a crashing in the
+underbrush; then a magnificent black truck-horse broke across the
+road in front of us and was gone.  We had barely time to notice
+that he was bleeding and lame.  He was followed by three soldiers.
+The chase went on among the trees on the left.  We could hear the
+soldiers calling to one another.  A fourth soldier limped out upon
+the road from the right, sat down on a boulder, and mopped the
+sweat from his face.
+
+"Militia," Dakon whispered.  "Deserters."
+
+The man grinned up at us and asked for a match.  In reply to
+Dakon's "What's the word?" he informed us that the militiamen were
+deserting.  "No grub," he explained.  "They're feedin' it all to
+the regulars."  We also learned from him that the military
+prisoners had been released from Alcatraz Island because they could
+no longer be fed.
+
+I shall never forget the next sight we encountered.  We came upon
+it abruptly around a turn of the road.  Overhead arched the trees.
+The sunshine was filtering down through the branches.  Butterflies
+were fluttering by, and from the fields came the song of larks.
+And there it stood, a powerful touring car.  About it and in it lay
+a number of corpses.  It told its own tale.  Its occupants, fleeing
+from the city, had been attacked and dragged down by a gang of slum
+dwellers--hoodlums.  The thing had occurred within twenty-four
+hours.  Freshly opened meat and fruit tins explained the reason for
+the attack.  Dakon examined the bodies.
+
+"I thought so," he reported.  "I've ridden in that car.  It was
+Perriton--the whole family.  We've got to watch out for ourselves
+from now on."
+
+"But we have no food with which to invite attack," I objected.
+
+Dakon pointed to the horse I rode, and I understood.
+
+Early in the day Dakon's horse had cast a shoe.  The delicate hoof
+had split, and by noon the animal was limping.  Dakon refused to
+ride it farther, and refused to desert it.  So, on his
+solicitation, we went on.  He would lead the horse and join us at
+my place.  That was the last we saw of him; nor did we ever learn
+his end.
+
+By one o'clock we arrived at the town of Menlo, or, rather, at the
+site of Menlo, for it was in ruins.  Corpses lay everywhere.  The
+business part of the town, as well as part of the residences, had
+been gutted by fire.  Here and there a residence still held out;
+but there was no getting near them.  When we approached too closely
+we were fired upon.  We met a woman who was poking about in the
+smoking ruins of her cottage.  The first attack, she told us had
+been on the stores, and as she talked we could picture that raging,
+roaring, hungry mob flinging itself on the handful of townspeople.
+Millionaires and paupers had fought side by side for the food, and
+then fought with one another after they got it.  The town of Palo
+Alto and Stanford University had been sacked in similar fashion, we
+learned.  Ahead of us lay a desolate, wasted land; and we thought
+we were wise in turning off to my place.  It lay three miles to the
+west, snuggling among the first rolling swells of the foothills.
+
+But as we rode along we saw that the devastation was not confined
+to the main roads.  The van of the flight had kept to the roads,
+sacking the small towns as it went; while those that followed had
+scattered out and swept the whole countryside like a great broom.
+My place was built of concrete, masonry, and tiles, and so had
+escaped being burned, but it was gutted clean.  We found the
+gardener's body in the windmill, littered around with empty shot-
+gun shells.  He had put up a good fight.  But no trace could we
+find of the two Italian labourers, nor of the house-keeper and her
+husband.  Not a live thing remained.  The calves, the colts, all
+the fancy poultry and thoroughbred stock, everything, was gone.
+The kitchen and the fireplaces, where the mob had cooked, were a
+mess, while many camp-fires outside bore witness to the large
+number that had fed and spent the night.  What they had not eaten
+they had carried away.  There was not a bite for us.
+
+We spent the rest of the night vainly waiting for Dakon, and in the
+morning, with our revolvers, fought off half-a-dozen marauders.
+Then we killed one of Dakon's horses, hiding for the future what
+meat we did not immediately eat.  In the afternoon Collins went out
+for a walk, but failed to return.  This was the last straw to
+Hanover.  He was for flight there and then, and I had great
+difficulty in persuading him to wait for daylight.  As for myself,
+I was convinced that the end of the general strike was near, and I
+was resolved to return to San Francisco.  So, in the morning, we
+parted company, Hanover heading south, fifty pounds of horse-meat
+strapped to his saddle, while I, similarly loaded, headed north.
+Little Hanover pulled through all right, and to the end of his life
+he will persist, I know, in boring everybody with the narrative of
+his subsequent adventures.
+
+I got as far as Belmont, on the main road back, when I was robbed
+of my horse-meat by three militiamen.  There was no change in the
+situation, they said, except that it was going from bad to worse.
+The I.L.W. had plenty of provisions hidden away and could last out
+for months.  I managed to get as far as Baden, when my horse was
+taken away from me by a dozen men.  Two of them were San Francisco
+policemen, and the remainder were regular soldiers.  This was
+ominous.  The situation was certainly extreme when the regulars
+were beginning to desert.  When I continued my way on foot, they
+already had the fire started, and the last of Dakon's horses lay
+slaughtered on the ground.
+
+As luck would have it, I sprained my ankle, and succeeded in
+getting no farther than South San Francisco.  I lay there that
+night in an out-house, shivering with the cold and at the same time
+burning with fever.  Two days I lay there, too sick to move, and on
+the third, reeling and giddy, supporting myself on an extemporized
+crutch, I tottered on toward San Francisco.  I was weak as well,
+for it was the third day since food had passed my lips.  It was a
+day of nightmare and torment.  As in a dream I passed hundreds of
+regular soldiers drifting along in the opposite direction, and many
+policemen, with their families, organized in large groups for
+mutual protection.
+
+As I entered the city I remembered the workman's house at which I
+had traded the silver pitcher, and in that direction my hunger
+drove me.  Twilight was falling when I came to the place.  I passed
+around by the alleyway and crawled up the black steps, on which I
+collapsed.  I managed to reach out with the crutch and knock on the
+door.  Then I must have fainted, for I came to in the kitchen, my
+face wet with water, and whisky being poured down my throat.  I
+choked and spluttered and tried to talk.  I began saying something
+about not having any more silver pitchers, but that I would make it
+up to them afterward if they would only give me something to eat.
+But the housewife interrupted me.
+
+"Why, you poor man," she said, "haven't you heard?  The strike was
+called off this afternoon.  Of course we'll give you something to
+eat."
+
+She bustled around, opening a tin of breakfast bacon and preparing
+to fry it.
+
+"Let me have some now, please," I begged; and I ate the raw bacon
+on a slice of bread, while her husband explained that the demands
+of the I.L.W. had been granted.  The wires had been opened up in
+the early afternoon, and everywhere the employers' associations had
+given in.  There hadn't been any employers left in San Francisco,
+but General Folsom had spoken for them.  The trains and steamers
+would start running in the morning, and so would everything else
+just as soon as system could be established.
+
+And that was the end of the general strike.  I never want to see
+another one.  It was worse than a war.  A general strike is a cruel
+and immoral thing, and the brain of man should be capable of
+running industry in a more rational way.  Harrison is still my
+chauffeur.  It was part of the conditions of the I.L.W. that all of
+its members should be reinstated in their old positions.  Brown
+never came back, but the rest of the servants are with me.  I
+hadn't the heart to discharge them--poor creatures, they were
+pretty hard-pressed when they deserted with the food and silver.
+And now I can't discharge them.  They have all been unionized by
+the I.L.W.  The tyranny of organized labour is getting beyond human
+endurance.  Something must be done.
+
+
+
+THE SEA-FARMER
+
+
+
+"That wull be the doctor's launch," said Captain MacElrath.
+
+The pilot grunted, while the skipper swept on with his glass from
+the launch to the strip of beach and to Kingston beyond, and then
+slowly across the entrance to Howth Head on the northern side.
+
+"The tide's right, and we'll have you docked in two hours," the
+pilot vouchsafed, with an effort at cheeriness.  "Ring's End Basin,
+is it?"
+
+This time the skipper grunted.
+
+"A dirty Dublin day."
+
+Again the skipper grunted.  He was weary with the night of wind in
+the Irish Channel behind him, the unbroken hours of which he had
+spent on the bridge.  And he was weary with all the voyage behind
+him--two years and four months between home port and home port,
+eight hundred and fifty days by his log.
+
+"Proper wunter weather," he answered, after a silence.  "The town
+is undistinct.  Ut wull be rainun' guid an' hearty for the day."
+
+Captain MacElrath was a small man, just comfortably able to peep
+over the canvas dodger of the bridge.  The pilot and third officer
+loomed above him, as did the man at the wheel, a bulky German,
+deserted from a warship, whom he had signed on in Rangoon.  But his
+lack of inches made Captain MacElrath a no less able man.  At least
+so the Company reckoned, and so would he have reckoned could he
+have had access to the carefully and minutely compiled record of
+him filed away in the office archives.  But the Company had never
+given him a hint of its faith in him.  It was not the way of the
+Company, for the Company went on the principle of never allowing an
+employee to think himself indispensable or even exceedingly useful;
+wherefore, while quick to censure, it never praised.  What was
+Captain MacElrath, anyway, save a skipper, one skipper of the
+eighty-odd skippers that commanded the Company's eighty-odd
+freighters on all the highways and byways of the sea?
+
+Beneath them, on the main deck, two Chinese stokers were carrying
+breakfast for'ard across the rusty iron plates that told their own
+grim story of weight and wash of sea.  A sailor was taking down the
+life-line that stretched from the forecastle, past the hatches and
+cargo-winches, to the bridge-deck ladder.
+
+"A rough voyage," suggested the pilot.
+
+"Aye, she was fair smokin' ot times, but not thot I minded thot so
+much as the lossin' of time.  I hate like onythun' tull loss time."
+
+So saying, Captain MacElrath turned and glanced aft, aloft and
+alow, and the pilot, following his gaze, saw the mute but
+convincing explanation of that loss of time.  The smoke-stack,
+buff-coloured underneath, was white with salt, while the whistle-
+pipe glittered crystalline in the random sunlight that broke for
+the instant through a cloud-rift.  The port lifeboat was missing,
+its iron davits, twisted and wrenched, testifying to the mightiness
+of the blow that had been struck the old Tryapsic.  The starboard
+davits were also empty.  The shattered wreck of the lifeboat they
+had held lay on the fiddley beside the smashed engine-room
+skylight, which was covered by a tarpaulin.  Below, to star-board,
+on the bridge deck, the pilot saw the crushed mess-room door,
+roughly bulkheaded against the pounding seas.  Abreast of it, on
+the smokestack guys, and being taken down by the bos'n and a
+sailor, hung the huge square of rope netting which had failed to
+break those seas of their force.
+
+"Twice afore I mentioned thot door tull the owners," said Captain
+MacElrath.  "But they said ut would do.  There was bug seas thot
+time.  They was uncreditable bug.  And thot buggest one dud the
+domage.  Ut fair carried away the door an' laid ut flat on the mess
+table an' smashed out the chief's room.  He was a but sore about
+ut."
+
+"It must 'a' been a big un," the pilot remarked sympathetically.
+
+"Aye, ut was thot.  Thungs was lively for a but.  Ut finished the
+mate.  He was on the brudge wuth me, an' I told hum tull take a
+look tull the wedges o' number one hatch.  She was takin' watter
+freely an' I was no sure o' number one.  I dudna like the look o'
+ut, an' I was fuggerin' maybe tull heave to tull the marn, when she
+took ut over abaft the brudge.  My word, she was a bug one.  We got
+a but of ut ourselves on the brudge.  I dudna miss the mate ot the
+first, what o' routin' out Chips an' bulkheadun' thot door an'
+stretchun' the tarpaulin over the sky-light.  Then he was nowhere
+to be found.  The men ot the wheel said as he seen hum goin' down
+the lodder just afore she hut us.  We looked for'ard, we looked
+tull hus room, aye looked tull the engine-room, an' we looked along
+aft on the lower deck, and there he was, on both sides the cover to
+the steam-pipe runnun' tull the after-wunches."
+
+The pilot ejaculated an oath of amazement and horror.
+
+"Aye," the skipper went on wearily, "an' on both sides the steam-
+pipe uz well.  I tell ye he was in two pieces, splut clean uz a
+herrin'.  The sea must a-caught hum on the upper brudge deck,
+carried hum clean across the fiddley, an' banged hum head-on tull
+the pipe cover.  It sheered through hum like so much butter, down
+atween the eyes, an' along the middle of hum, so that one leg an'
+arm was fast tull the one piece of hum, an' one leg an' arm fast
+tull the other piece of hum.  I tull ye ut was fair grewsome.  We
+putt hum together an' rolled hum in canvas uz we pulled hum out."
+
+The pilot swore again.
+
+"Oh, ut wasna onythun' tull greet about," Captain MacElrath assured
+him.  "'Twas a guid ruddance.  He was no a sailor, thot mate-
+fellow.  He was only fut for a pugsty, an' a dom puir apology for
+thot same."
+
+It is said that there are three kinds of Irish--Catholic,
+Protestant, and North-of-Ireland--and that the North-of-Ireland
+Irishman is a transplanted Scotchman.  Captain MacElrath was a
+North-of-Ireland man, and, talking for much of the world like a
+Scotchman, nothing aroused his ire quicker than being mistaken for
+a Scotchman.  Irish he stoutly was, and Irish he stoutly abided,
+though it was with a faint lip-lift of scorn that he mentioned mere
+South-of-Ireland men, or even Orange-men.  Himself he was
+Presbyterian, while in his own community five men were all that
+ever mustered at a meeting in the Orange Men's Hall.  His community
+was the Island McGill, where seven thousand of his kind lived in
+such amity and sobriety that in the whole island there was but one
+policeman and never a public-house at all.
+
+Captain MacElrath did not like the sea, and had never liked it.  He
+wrung his livelihood from it, and that was all the sea was, the
+place where he worked, as the mill, the shop, and the counting-
+house were the places where other men worked.  Romance never sang
+to him her siren song, and Adventure had never shouted in his
+sluggish blood.  He lacked imagination.  The wonders of the deep
+were without significance to him.  Tornadoes, hurricanes,
+waterspouts, and tidal waves were so many obstacles to the way of a
+ship on the sea and of a master on the bridge--they were that to
+him, and nothing more.  He had seen, and yet not seen, the many
+marvels and wonders of far lands.  Under his eyelids burned the
+brazen glories of the tropic seas, or ached the bitter gales of the
+North Atlantic or far South Pacific; but his memory of them was of
+mess-room doors stove in, of decks awash and hatches threatened, of
+undue coal consumption, of long passages, and of fresh paint-work
+spoiled by unexpected squalls of rain.
+
+"I know my buzz'ness," was the way he often put it, and beyond his
+business was all that he did not know, all that he had seen with
+the mortal eyes of him and yet that he never dreamed existed.  That
+he knew his business his owners were convinced, or at forty he
+would not have held command of the Tryapsic, three thousand tons
+net register, with a cargo capacity of nine thousand tons and
+valued at fifty-thousand pounds.
+
+He had taken up seafaring through no love of it, but because it had
+been his destiny, because he had been the second son of his father
+instead of the first.  Island McGill was only so large, and the
+land could support but a certain definite proportion of those that
+dwelt upon it.  The balance, and a large balance it was, was driven
+to the sea to seek its bread.  It had been so for generations.  The
+eldest sons took the farms from their fathers; to the other sons
+remained the sea and its salt-ploughing.  So it was that Donald
+MacElrath, farmer's son and farm-boy himself, had shifted from the
+soil he loved to the sea he hated and which it was his destiny to
+farm.  And farmed it he had, for twenty years, shrewd, cool-headed,
+sober, industrious, and thrifty, rising from ship's boy and
+forecastle hand to mate and master of sailing-ships and thence into
+steam, second officer, first, and master, from small command to
+larger, and at last to the bridge of the old Tryapsic--old, to be
+sure, but worth her fifty thousand pounds and still able to bear up
+in all seas, and weather her nine thousand tons of freight.
+
+From the bridge of the Tryapsic, the high place he had gained in
+the competition of men, he stared at Dublin harbour opening out, at
+the town obscured by the dark sky of the dreary wind-driven day,
+and at the tangled tracery of spars and rigging of the harbour
+shipping.  Back from twice around the world he was, and from
+interminable junketings up and down on far stretches, home-coming
+to the wife he had not seen in eight-and-twenty months, and to the
+child he had never seen and that was already walking and talking.
+He saw the watch below of stokers and trimmers bobbing out of the
+forecastle doors like rabbits from a warren and making their way
+aft over the rusty deck to the mustering of the port doctor.  They
+were Chinese, with expressionless, Sphinx-like faces, and they
+walked in peculiar shambling fashion, dragging their feet as if the
+clumsy brogans were too heavy for their lean shanks.
+
+He saw them and he did not see them, as he passed his hand beneath
+his visored cap and scratched reflectively his mop of sandy hair.
+For the scene before him was but the background in his brain for
+the vision of peace that was his--a vision that was his often
+during long nights on the bridge when the old Tryapsic wallowed on
+the vexed ocean floor, her decks awash, her rigging thrumming in
+the gale gusts or snow squalls or driving tropic rain.  And the
+vision he saw was of farm and farm-house and straw-thatched
+outbuildings, of children playing in the sun, and the good wife at
+the door, of lowing kine, and clucking fowls, and the stamp of
+horses in the stable, of his father's farm next to him, with,
+beyond, the woodless, rolling land and the hedged fields, neat and
+orderly, extending to the crest of the smooth, soft hills.  It was
+his vision and his dream, his Romance and Adventure, the goal of
+all his effort, the high reward for the salt-ploughing and the
+long, long furrows he ran up and down the whole world around in his
+farming of the sea.
+
+In simple taste and homely inclination this much-travelled map was
+more simple and homely than the veriest yokel.  Seventy-one years
+his father was, and had never slept a night out of his own bed in
+his own house on Island McGill.  That was the life ideal, so
+Captain MacElrath considered, and he was prone to marvel that any
+man, not under compulsion, should leave a farm to go to sea.  To
+this much-travelled man the whole world was as familiar as the
+village to the cobbler sitting in his shop.  To Captain MacElrath
+the world was a village.  In his mind's eye he saw its streets a
+thousand leagues long, aye, and longer; turnings that doubled
+earth's stormiest headlands or were the way to quiet inland ponds;
+cross-roads, taken one way, that led to flower-lands and summer
+seas, and that led the other way to bitter, ceaseless gales and the
+perilous bergs of the great west wind drift.  And the cities,
+bright with lights, were as shops on these long streets--shops
+where business was transacted, where bunkers were replenished,
+cargoes taken or shifted, and orders received from the owners in
+London town to go elsewhere and beyond, ever along the long sea-
+lanes, seeking new cargoes here, carrying new cargoes there,
+running freights wherever shillings and pence beckoned and
+underwriters did not forbid.  But it was all a weariness to
+contemplate, and, save that he wrung from it his bread, it was
+without profit under the sun.
+
+The last good-bye to the wife had been at Cardiff, twenty-eight
+months before, when he sailed for Valparaiso with coals--nine
+thousand tons and down to his marks.  From Valparaiso he had gone
+to Australia, light, a matter of six thousand miles on end with a
+stormy passage and running short of bunker coal.  Coals again to
+Oregon, seven thousand miles, and nigh as many more with general
+cargo for Japan and China.  Thence to Java, loading sugar for
+Marseilles, and back along the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, and
+on to Baltimore, down to her marks with crome ore, buffeted by
+hurricanes, short again of bunker coal and calling at Bermuda to
+replenish.  Then a time charter, Norfolk, Virginia, loading
+mysterious contraband coal and sailing for South Africa under
+orders of the mysterious German supercargo put on board by the
+charterers.  On to Madagascar, steaming four knots by the
+supercargo's orders, and the suspicion forming that the Russian
+fleet might want the coal.  Confusion and delays, long waits at
+sea, international complications, the whole world excited over the
+old Tryapsic and her cargo of contraband, and then on to Japan and
+the naval port of Sassebo.  Back to Australia, another time charter
+and general merchandise picked up at Sydney, Melbourne, and
+Adelaide, and carried on to Mauritius, Lourenco Marques, Durban,
+Algoa Bay, and Cape Town.  To Ceylon for orders, and from Ceylon to
+Rangoon to load rice for Rio Janeiro.  Thence to Buenos Aires and
+loading maize for the United Kingdom or the Continent, stopping at
+St. Vincent, to receive orders to proceed to Dublin.  Two years and
+four months, eight hundred and fifty days by the log, steaming up
+and down the thousand-league-long sea-lanes and back again to
+Dublin town.  And he was well aweary.
+
+A little tug had laid hold of the Tryapsic, and with clang and
+clatter and shouted command, with engines half-ahead, slow-speed,
+or half-astern, the battered old sea-tramp was nudged and nosed and
+shouldered through the dock-gates into Ring's End Basin.  Lines
+were flung ashore, fore and aft, and a 'midship spring got out.
+Already a small group of the happy shore-staying folk had clustered
+on the dock.
+
+"Ring off," Captain MacElrath commanded in his slow thick voice;
+and the third officer worked the lever of the engine-room
+telegraph.
+
+"Gangway out!" called the second officer; and when this was
+accomplished, "That will do."
+
+It was the last task of all, gangway out.  "That will do" was the
+dismissal.  The voyage was ended, and the crew shambled eagerly
+forward across the rusty decks to where their sea-bags were packed
+and ready for the shore.  The taste of the land was strong in the
+men's mouths, and strong it was in the skipper's mouth as he
+muttered a gruff good day to the departing pilot, and himself went
+down to his cabin.  Up the gangway were trooping the customs
+officers, the surveyor, the agent's clerk, and the stevedores.
+Quick work disposed of these and cleared his cabin, the agent
+waiting to take him to the office.
+
+"Dud ye send word tull the wife?" had been his greeting to the
+clerk.
+
+"Yes, a telegram, as soon as you were reported."
+
+"She'll likely be comin' down on the marnin' train," the skipper
+had soliloquized, and gone inside to change his clothes and wash.
+
+He took a last glance about the room and at two photographs on the
+wall, one of the wife the other of an infant--the child he had
+never seen.  He stepped out into the cabin, with its panelled walls
+of cedar and maple, and with its long table that seated ten, and at
+which he had eaten by himself through all the weary time.  No
+laughter and clatter and wordy argument of the mess-room had been
+his.  He had eaten silently, almost morosely, his silence emulated
+by the noiseless Asiatic who had served him.  It came to him
+suddenly, the overwhelming realization of the loneliness of those
+two years and more.  All his vexations and anxieties had been his
+own.  He had shared them with no one.  His two young officers were
+too young and flighty, the mate too stupid.  There was no
+consulting with them.  One tenant had shared the cabin with him,
+that tenant his responsibility.  They had dined and supped
+together, walked the bridge together, and together they had bedded.
+
+"Och!" he muttered to that grim companion, "I'm quit of you, an'
+wull quit . . . for a wee."
+
+Ashore he passed the last of the seamen with their bags, and, at
+the agent's, with the usual delays, put through his ship business.
+When asked out by them to drink he took milk and soda.
+
+"I am no teetotaler," he explained; "but for the life o' me I canna
+bide beer or whusky."
+
+In the early afternoon, when he finished paying off his crew, he
+hurried to the private office where he had been told his wife was
+waiting.
+
+His eyes were for her first, though the temptation was great to
+have more than a hurried glimpse of the child in the chair beside
+her.  He held her off from him after the long embrace, and looked
+into her face long and steadily, drinking in every feature of it
+and wondering that he could mark no changes of time.  A warm man,
+his wife thought him, though had the opinion of his officers been
+asked it would have been:  a harsh man and a bitter one.
+
+"Wull, Annie, how is ut wi' ye?" he queried, and drew her to him
+again.
+
+And again he held her away from him, this wife of ten years and of
+whom he knew so little.  She was almost a stranger--more a stranger
+than his Chinese steward, and certainly far more a stranger than
+his own officers whom he had seen every day, day and day, for eight
+hundred and fifty days.  Married ten years, and in that time he had
+been with her nine weeks--scarcely a honeymoon.  Each time home had
+been a getting acquainted again with her.  It was the fate of the
+men who went out to the salt-ploughing.  Little they knew of their
+wives and less of their children.  There was his chief engineer--
+old, near-sighted MacPherson--who told the story of returning home
+to be locked out of his house by his four-year kiddie that never
+had laid eyes on him before.
+
+"An' thus 'ull be the loddie," the skipper said, reaching out a
+hesitant hand to the child's cheek.
+
+But the boy drew away from him, sheltering against the mother's
+side.
+
+"Och!" she cried, "and he doesna know his own father."
+
+"Nor I hum.  Heaven knows I could no a-picked hum out of a crowd,
+though he'll be havin' your nose I'm thunkun'."
+
+"An' your own eyes, Donald.  Look ut them.  He's your own father,
+laddie.  Kiss hum like the little mon ye are."
+
+But the child drew closer to her, his expression of fear and
+distrust growing stronger, and when the father attempted to take
+him in his arms he threatened to cry.
+
+The skipper straightened up, and to conceal the pang at his heart
+he drew out his watch and looked at it.
+
+"Ut's time to go, Annie," he said.  "Thot train 'ull be startun'."
+
+He was silent on the train at first, divided between watching the
+wife with the child going to sleep in her arms and looking out of
+the window at the tilled fields and green unforested hills vague
+and indistinct in the driving drizzle that had set in.  They had
+the compartment to themselves.  When the boy slept she laid him out
+on the seat and wrapped him warmly.  And when the health of
+relatives and friends had been inquired after, and the gossip of
+Island McGill narrated, along with the weather and the price of
+land and crops, there was little left to talk about save
+themselves, and Captain MacElrath took up the tale brought home for
+the good wife from all his world's-end wandering.  But it was not a
+tale of marvels he told, nor of beautiful flower-lands nor
+mysterious Eastern cities.
+
+"What like is Java?" she asked once.
+
+"Full o' fever.  Half the crew down wuth ut an' luttle work.  Ut
+was quinine an' quinine the whole blessed time.  Each marnun' 'twas
+quinine an' gin for all hands on an empty stomach.  An' they who
+was no sick made ut out to be hovun' ut bad uz the rest."
+
+Another time she asked about Newcastle.
+
+"Coals an' coal-dust--thot's all.  No a nice sutty.  I lost two
+Chinks there, stokers the both of them.  An' the owners paid a fine
+tull the Government of a hundred pounds each for them.  'We regret
+tull note,' they wrut me--I got the letter tull Oregon--'We regret
+tull note the loss o' two Chinese members o' yer crew ot Newcastle,
+an' we recommend greater carefulness un the future.'  Greater
+carefulness!  And I could no a-been more careful.  The Chinks hod
+forty-five pounds each comun' tull them in wages, an' I was no a-
+thunkun' they 'ud run.
+
+"But thot's their way--'we regret tull note,' 'we beg tull advise,'
+'we recommend,' 'we canna understand'--an' the like o' thot.
+Domned cargo tank!  An' they would thunk I could drive her like a
+Lucania, an' wi'out burnun' coals.  There was thot propeller.  I
+was after them a guid while for ut.  The old one was iron, thuck on
+the edges, an' we couldna make our speed.  An' the new one was
+bronze--nine hundred pounds ut cost, an' then wantun' their returns
+out o' ut, an' me wuth a bod passage an' lossin' time every day.
+'We regret tull note your long passage from Voloparaiso tull Sydney
+wuth an average daily run o' only one hundred an' suxty-seven.  We
+hod expected better results wuth the new propeller.  You should a-
+made an average daily run o' two hundred and suxteen.'
+
+"An' me on a wunter passage, blowin' a luvin' gale half the time,
+wuth hurricane force in atweenwhiles, an' hove to sux days, wuth
+engines stopped an' bunker coal runnun' short, an' me wuth a mate
+thot stupid he could no pass a shup's light ot night wi'out callun'
+me tull the brudge.  I wrut an' told 'em so.  An' then:  'Our
+nautical adviser suggests you kept too far south,' an' 'We are
+lookun' for better results from thot propeller.'  Nautical
+adviser!--shore pilot!  Ut was the regular latitude for a wunter
+passage from Voloparaiso tull Sydney.
+
+"An' when I come un tull Auckland short o' coal, after lettun' her
+druft sux days wuth the fires out tull save the coal, an' wuth only
+twenty tons in my bunkers, I was thunkun' o' the lossin' o' time
+an' the expense, an' tull save the owners I took her un an' out
+wi'out pilotage.  Pilotage was no compulsory.  An' un Yokohama, who
+should I meet but Captun Robinson o' the Dyapsic.  We got a-talkun'
+about ports an' places down Australia-way, an' first thing he says:
+'Speakun' o' Auckland--of course, Captun, you was never un
+Auckland?'  'Yus,' I says, 'I was un there very recent.'  'Oh, ho,'
+he says, very angry-like, 'so you was the smart Aleck thot fetched
+me thot letter from the owners:  "We note item of fufteen pounds
+for pilotage ot Auckland.  A shup o' ours was un tull Auckland
+recently an' uncurred no such charge.  We beg tull advise you thot
+we conseeder thus pilotage an onnecessary expense which should no
+be uncurred un the future.'"
+
+"But dud they say a word tull me for the fufteen pounds I saved
+tull them?  No a word.  They send a letter tull Captun Robinson for
+no savun' them the fufteen pounds, an' tull me:  'We note item of
+two guineas doctor's fee at Auckland for crew.  Please explain thus
+onusual expunditure.'  Ut was two o' the Chinks.  I was thunkun'
+they hod beri-beri, an' thot was the why o' sendun' for the doctor.
+I buried the two of them ot sea not a week after.  But ut was:
+'Please explain thus onusual expunditure,' an' tull Captun
+Robinson, 'We beg tull advise you thot we conseeder thus pilotage
+an onnecessary expense.'
+
+"Dudna I cable them from Newcastle, tellun' them the old tank was
+thot foul she needed dry-dock?  Seven months out o' drydock, an'
+the West Coast the quickest place for foulun' un the world.  But
+freights was up, an' they hod a charter o' coals for Portland.  The
+Arrata, one o' the Woor Line, left port the same day uz us, bound
+for Portland, an' the old Tryapsic makun' sux knots, seven ot the
+best.  An' ut was ot Comox, takun' un bunker coal, I got the letter
+from the owners.  The boss humself hod signed ut, an' ot the bottom
+he wrut un hus own bond:  'The Arrata beat you by four an' a half
+days.  Am dusappointed.'  Dusappointed!  When I had cabled them
+from Newcastle.  When she drydocked ot Portland, there was whuskers
+on her a foot long, barnacles the size o' me fust, oysters like
+young sauce plates.  Ut took them two days afterward tull clean the
+dock o' shells an' muck.
+
+"An' there was the motter o' them fire-bars ot Newcastle.  The firm
+ashore made them heavier than the engineer's speecifications, an'
+then forgot tull charge for the dufference.  Ot the last moment,
+wuth me ashore gettun' me clearance, they come wuth the bill:
+'Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds.'  They'd been tull the shup
+an' MacPherson hod O.K.'d ut.  I said ut was strange an' would no
+pay.  'Then you are dootun' the chief engineer,' says they.  'I'm
+no dootun',' says I, 'but I canna see my way tull sign.  Come wuth
+me tull the shup.  The launch wull cost ye naught an' ut 'ull brung
+ye back.  An' we wull see what MacPherson says.'
+
+"But they would no come.  Ot Portland I got the bill un a letter.
+I took no notice.  Ot Hong-Kong I got a letter from the owners.
+The bill hod been sent tull them.  I wrut them from Java
+explainun'.  At Marseilles the owners wrut me:  'Tull extra work un
+engine-room, sux pounds.  The engineer has O.K.'d ut, an' you have
+no O.K.'d ut.  Are you dootun' the engineer's honesty?'  I wrut an'
+told them I was no dootun' his honesty; thot the bill was for extra
+weight o' fire-bars; an' thot ut was O.K.  Dud they pay ut?  They
+no dud.  They must unvestigate.  An' some clerk un the office took
+sick, an' the bill was lost.  An' there was more letters.  I got
+letters from the owners an' the firm--'Tull error on fire-bars, sux
+pounds'--ot Baltimore, ot Delagoa Bay, ot Moji, ot Rangoon, ot Rio,
+an' ot Montevuddio.  Ut uz no settled yut.  I tell ye, Annie, the
+owners are hard tull please."
+
+He communed with himself for a moment, and then muttered
+indignantly:  "Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds."
+
+"Hov ye heard of Jamie?" his wife asked in the pause.
+
+Captain MacElrath shook his head.
+
+"He was washed off the poop wuth three seamen."
+
+"Whereabouts?"
+
+"Off the Horn.  'Twas on the Thornsby."
+
+"They would be runnun' homeward bound?"
+
+"Aye," she nodded.  "We only got the word three days gone.  His
+wife is greetin' like tull die."
+
+"A good lod, Jamie," he commented, "but a stiff one ot carryun' on.
+I mind me when we was mates together un the Abion.  An' so Jamie's
+gone."
+
+Again a pause fell, to be broken by the wife.
+
+"An' ye will no a-heard o' the Bankshire?  MacDougall lost her in
+Magellan Straits.  'Twas only yesterday ut was in the paper."
+
+"A cruel place, them Magellan Straits," he said.  "Dudna thot
+domned mate-fellow nigh putt me ashore twice on the one passage
+through?  He was a eediot, a lunatuc.  I wouldna have hum on the
+brudge a munut.  Comun' tull Narrow Reach, thuck weather, wuth snow
+squalls, me un the chart-room, dudna I guv hum the changed course?
+'South-east-by-east,' I told hum.  'South-east-by-east, sir,' says
+he.  Fufteen munuts after I comes on tull the brudge.  'Funny,'
+says thot mate-fellow, 'I'm no rememberun' ony islands un the mouth
+o' Narrow Reach.  I took one look ot the islands an' yells, 'Putt
+your wheel hard a-starboard,' tull the mon ot the wheel.  An' ye
+should a-seen the old Tryapsic turnun' the sharpest circle she ever
+turned.  I waited for the snow tull clear, an' there was Narrow
+Reach, nice uz ye please, tull the east'ard an' the islands un the
+mouth o' False Bay tull the south'ard.  'What course was ye
+steerun'?' I says tull the mon ot the wheel.  'South-by-east, sir,'
+says he.  I looked tull the mate-fellow.  What could I say?  I was
+thot wroth I could a-kult hum.  Four points dufference.  Five
+munuts more an' the old Tryapsic would a-been funushed.
+
+"An' was ut no the same when we cleared the Straits tull the
+east'ard?  Four hours would a-seen us guid an' clear.  I was forty
+hours then on the brudge.  I guv the mate his course, an' the
+bearun' o' the Askthar Light astern.  'Don't let her bear more tull
+the north'ard than west-by-north,' I said tull hum, 'an' ye wull be
+all right.'  An' I went below an' turned un.  But I couldna sleep
+for worryun'.  After forty hours on the brudge, what was four hours
+more? I thought.  An' for them four hours wull ye be lettun' the
+mate loss her on ye?  'No,' I says to myself.  An' wuth thot I got
+up, hod a wash an' a cup o' coffee, an' went tull the brudge.  I
+took one look ot the bearun' o' Askthar Light.  'Twas nor'west-by-
+west, and the old Tryapsic down on the shoals.  He was a eediot,
+thot mate-fellow.  Ye could look overside an' see the duscoloration
+of the watter.  'Twas a close call for the old Tryapsic I'm tellun'
+ye.  Twice un thirty hours he'd a-hod her ashore uf ut hod no been
+for me."
+
+Captain MacElrath fell to gazing at the sleeping child with mild
+wonder in his small blue eyes, and his wife sought to divert him
+from his woes.
+
+"Ye remember Jummy MacCaul?" she asked.  "Ye went tull school wuth
+hus two boys.  Old Jummy MacCaul thot hoz the farm beyond Doctor
+Haythorn's place."
+
+"Oh, aye, an' what o' hum?  Uz he dead?"
+
+"No, but he was after askun' your father, when he sailed last time
+for Voloparaiso, uf ye'd been there afore.  An' when your father
+says no, then Jummy says, 'An' how wull he be knowun a' tull find
+hus way?'  An' with thot your father says:  'Verry sumple ut uz,
+Jummy.  Supposun' you was goin' tull the mainland tull a mon who
+luved un Belfast.  Belfast uz a bug sutty, Jummy, an' how would ye
+be findun' your way?'  'By way o' me tongue,' says Jummy; 'I'd be
+askun' the folk I met.'  'I told ye ut was sumple,' says your
+father.  'Ut's the very same way my Donald finds the road tull
+Voloparaiso.  He asks every shup he meets upon the sea tull ot last
+he meets wuth a shup thot's been tull Voloparaiso, an' the captun
+o' thot shup tells hum the way.'  An' Jummy scratches hus head an'
+says he understands an' thot ut's a very sumple motter after all."
+
+The skipper chuckled at the joke, and his tired blue eyes were
+merry for the moment.
+
+"He was a thun chap, thot mate-fellow, oz thun oz you an' me putt
+together," he remarked after a time, a slight twinkle in his eye of
+appreciation of the bull.  But the twinkle quickly disappeared and
+the blue eyes took on a bleak and wintry look.  "What dud he do ot
+Voloparaiso but land sux hundred fathom o' chain cable an' take
+never a receipt from the lighter-mon.  I was gettun' my clearance
+ot the time.  When we got tull sea, I found he hod no receipt for
+the cable.
+
+"'An' ye no took a receipt for ut?' says I.
+
+"'No,' says he.  'Wasna ut goin' direct tull the agents?'
+
+"'How long ha' ye been goin' tull sea,' says I, 'not tull be
+knowin' the mate's duty uz tull deluver no cargo wuthout receipt
+for same?  An' on the West Coast ot thot.  What's tull stop the
+lighter-mon from stealun' a few lengths o' ut?'
+
+"An' ut come out uz I said.  Sux hundred hundred went over the
+side, but four hundred an' ninety-five was all the agents received.
+The lighter-mon swore ut was all he received from the mate--four
+hundred an' ninety-five fathom.  I got a letter from the owners ot
+Portland.  They no blamed the mate for ut, but me, an' me ashore ot
+the time on shup's buzz'ness.  I could no be in the two places ot
+the one time.  An' the letters from the owners an' the agents uz
+still comun' tull me.
+
+"Thot mate-fellow was no a proper sailor, an' no a mon tull work
+for owners.  Dudna he want tull break me wuth the Board of Trade
+for bein' below my marks?  He said as much tull the bos'n.  An' he
+told me tull my face homeward bound thot I'd been half an inch
+under my marks.  'Twas at Portland, loadun' cargo un fresh watter
+an' goin' tull Comox tull load bunker coal un salt watter.  I tell
+ye, Annie, ut takes close fuggerin', an' I WAS half an inch under
+the load-line when the bunker coal was un.  But I'm no tellun' any
+other body but you.  An' thot mate-fellow untendun' tull report me
+tull the Board o' Trade, only for thot he saw fut tull be sliced un
+two pieces on the steam-pipe cover.
+
+"He was a fool.  After loadun' ot Portland I hod tull take on suxty
+tons o' coal tull last me tull Comox.  The charges for lighterun'
+was heavy, an' no room ot the coal dock.  A French barque was lyin'
+alongside the dock an' I spoke tull the captun, askun' hum what he
+would charge when work for the day was done, tull haul clear for a
+couple o' hours an' let me un.  'Twenty dollars,' said he.  Ut was
+savun' money on lighters tull the owner, an' I gave ut tull hum.
+An' thot night, after dark, I hauled un an' took on the coal.  Then
+I started tull go out un the stream an' drop anchor--under me own
+steam, of course.
+
+"We hod tull go out stern first, an' somethun' went wrong wuth the
+reversun' gear.  Old MacPherson said he could work ut by hond, but
+very slow ot thot.  An' I said 'All right.'  We started.  The pilot
+was on board.  The tide was ebbun' stuffly, an' right abreast an' a
+but below was a shup lyin' wuth a lighter on each side.  I saw the
+shup's ridun' lights, but never a light on the lighters.  Ut was
+close quarters to shuft a bug vessel onder steam, wuth MacPherson
+workun' the reversun' gear by hond.  We hod to come close down upon
+the shup afore I could go ahead an' clear o' the shups on the dock-
+ends.  An' we struck the lighter stern-on, just uz I rung tull
+MacPherson half ahead.
+
+"'What was thot?' says the pilot, when we struck the lighter.
+
+"'I dunna know,' says I, 'an' I'm wonderun'.'
+
+"The pilot was no keen, ye see, tull hus job.  I went on tull a
+guid place an' dropped anchor, an' ut would all a-been well but for
+thot domned eediot mate.
+
+"'We smashed thot lighter,' says he, comun' up the lodder tull the
+brudge--an' the pilot stondun' there wuth his ears cocked tull
+hear.
+
+"'What lighter?' says I.
+
+"'Thot lighter alongside the shup,' says the mate.
+
+"'I dudna see no lighter,' says I, and wuth thot I steps on hus fut
+guid an' hard.
+
+"After the pilot was gone I says tull the mate:  'Uf you dunna know
+onythun', old mon, for Heaven's sake keep your mouth shut.'
+
+"'But ye dud smash thot lighter, dudn't ye?' says he.
+
+"'Uf we dud,' says I, 'ut's no your buzz'ness tull be tellun' the
+pilot--though, mind ye, I'm no admuttun' there was ony lighter.'
+
+"An' next marnun', just uz I'm after dressun', the steward says, 'A
+mon tull see ye, sir.'  'Fetch hum un,' says I.  An' un he come.
+'Sut down,' says I.  An' he sot down.
+
+"He was the owner of the lighter, an' when he hod told hus story, I
+says, 'I dudna see ony lighter.'
+
+"'What, mon?' says he.  'No see a two-hundred-ton lighter, bug oz a
+house, alongside thot shup?'
+
+"'I was goin' by the shup's lights,' says I, 'an' I dudna touch the
+shup, thot I know.'
+
+"'But ye dud touch the lighter,' says he.  'Ye smashed her.
+There's a thousand dollars' domage done, an' I'll see ye pay for
+ut.'
+
+'Look here, muster,' says I, 'when I'm shuftun' a shup ot night I
+follow the law, an' the law dustunctly says I must regulate me
+actions by the lights o' the shuppun'.  Your lighter never hod no
+ridun' light, nor dud I look for ony lighter wuthout lights tull
+show ut.'
+
+"'The mate says--' he beguns.
+
+"'Domn the mate,' says I.  'Dud your lighter hov a ridun' light?'
+
+"'No, ut dud not,' says he, 'but ut was a clear night wuth the moon
+a-showun'.'
+
+"'Ye seem tull know your buzz'ness,' says I.  'But let me tell ye
+thot I know my buzz'ness uz well, an' thot I'm no a-lookun' for
+lighters wuthout lights.  Uf ye thunk ye hov a case, go ahead.  The
+steward will show ye out.  Guid day.'
+
+"An' thot was the end o' ut.  But ut wull show ye what a puir
+fellow thot mate was.  I call ut a blessun' for all masters thot he
+was sliced un two on thot steam-pipe cover.  He had a pull un the
+office an' thot was the why he was kept on."
+
+"The Wekley farm wull soon be for sale, so the agents be tellun'
+me," his wife remarked, slyly watching what effect her announcement
+would have upon him.
+
+His eyes flashed eagerly on the instant, and he straightened up as
+might a man about to engage in some agreeable task.  It was the
+farm of his vision, adjoining his father's, and her own people
+farmed not a mile away.
+
+"We wull be buyun' ut," he said, "though we wull be no tellun' a
+soul of ut ontul ut's bought an' the money paid down.  I've savun'
+consuderable these days, though pickun's uz no what they used to
+be, an' we hov a tidy nest-egg laid by.  I wull see the father an'
+hove the money ready tull hus hond, so uf I'm ot sea he can buy
+whenever the land offers."
+
+He rubbed the frosted moisture from the inside of the window and
+peered out at the pouring rain, through which he could discern
+nothing.
+
+"When I was a young men I used tull be afeard thot the owners would
+guv me the sack.  Stull afeard I am of the sack.  But once thot
+farm is mine I wull no be afeard ony longer.  Ut's a puir job thus
+sea-farmun'.  Me managin' un all seas an' weather an' perils o' the
+deep a shup worth fufty thousand pounds, wuth cargoes ot times
+worth fufty thousand more--a hundred thousand pounds, half a
+million dollars uz the Yankees say, an' me wuth all the
+responsubility gettun' a screw o' twenty pounds a month.  What mon
+ashore, managin' a buz'ness worth a hundred thousand pounds wull be
+gettun' uz small a screw uz twenty pounds?  An' wuth such masters
+uz a captun serves--the owners, the underwriters, an' the Board o'
+Trade, all pullun' an wantun' dufferent thungs--the owners wantun'
+quick passages an' domn the rusk, the underwriters wantun' safe
+passages an' domn the delay, an' the Board o' Trade wantun'
+cautious passages an' caution always meanun' delay.  Three
+dufferent masters, an' all three able an' wullun' to break ye uf ye
+don't serve their dufferent wushes."
+
+He felt the train slackening speed, and peered again through the
+misty window.  He stood up, buttoned his overcoat, turned up the
+collar, and awkwardly gathered the child, still asleep, in his
+arms.
+
+"I wull see the father," he said, "an' hov the money ready tull hus
+hond so uf I'm ot sea when the land offers he wull no muss the
+chance tull buy.  An' then the owners can guv me the sack uz soon
+uz they like.  Ut will be all night un, an' I wull be wuth you,
+Annie, an' the sea can go tull hell."
+
+Happiness was in both their faces at the prospect, and for a moment
+both saw the same vision of peace.  Annie leaned toward him, and as
+the train stopped they kissed each other across the sleeping child.
+
+
+
+SAMUEL
+
+
+
+Margaret Henan would have been a striking figure under any
+circumstances, but never more so than when I first chanced upon
+her, a sack of grain of fully a hundredweight on her shoulder, as
+she walked with sure though tottering stride from the cart-tail to
+the stable, pausing for an instant to gather strength at the foot
+of the steep steps that led to the grain-bin.  There were four of
+these steps, and she went up them, a step at a time, slowly,
+unwaveringly, and with so dogged certitude that it never entered my
+mind that her strength could fail her and let that hundred-weight
+sack fall from the lean and withered frame that wellnigh doubled
+under it.  For she was patently an old woman, and it was her age
+that made me linger by the cart and watch.
+
+Six times she went between the cart and the stable, each time with
+a full sack on her back, and beyond passing the time of day with me
+she took no notice of my presence.  Then, the cart empty, she
+fumbled for matches and lighted a short clay pipe, pressing down
+the burning surface of the tobacco with a calloused and apparently
+nerveless thumb.  The hands were noteworthy.  They were large-
+knuckled, sinewy and malformed by labour, rimed with callouses, the
+nails blunt and broken, and with here and there cuts and bruises,
+healed and healing, such as are common to the hands of hard-working
+men.  On the back were huge, upstanding veins, eloquent of age and
+toil.  Looking at them, it was hard to believe that they were the
+hands of the woman who had once been the belle of Island McGill.
+This last, of course, I learned later.  At the time I knew neither
+her history nor her identity.
+
+She wore heavy man's brogans.  Her legs were stockingless, and I
+had noticed when she walked that her bare feet were thrust into the
+crinkly, iron-like shoes that sloshed about her lean ankles at
+every step.  Her figure, shapeless and waistless, was garbed in a
+rough man's shirt and in a ragged flannel petticoat that had once
+been red.  But it was her face, wrinkled, withered and weather-
+beaten, surrounded by an aureole of unkempt and straggling wisps of
+greyish hair, that caught and held me.  Neither drifted hair nor
+serried wrinkles could hide the splendid dome of a forehead, high
+and broad without verging in the slightest on the abnormal.
+
+The sunken cheeks and pinched nose told little of the quality of
+the life that flickered behind those clear blue eyes of hers.
+Despite the minutiae of wrinkle-work that somehow failed to weazen
+them, her eyes were clear as a girl's--clear, out-looking, and far-
+seeing, and with an open and unblinking steadfastness of gaze that
+was disconcerting.  The remarkable thing was the distance between
+them.  It is a lucky man or woman who has the width of an eye
+between, but with Margaret Henan the width between her eyes was
+fully that of an eye and a half.  Yet so symmetrically moulded was
+her face that this remarkable feature produced no uncanny effect,
+and, for that matter, would have escaped the casual observer's
+notice.  The mouth, shapeless and toothless, with down-turned
+corners and lips dry and parchment-like, nevertheless lacked the
+muscular slackness so usual with age.  The lips might have been
+those of a mummy, save for that impression of rigid firmness they
+gave.  Not that they were atrophied.  On the contrary, they seemed
+tense and set with a muscular and spiritual determination.  There,
+and in the eyes, was the secret of the certitude with which she
+carried the heavy sacks up the steep steps, with never a false step
+or overbalance, and emptied them in the grain-bin.
+
+"You are an old woman to be working like this," I ventured.
+
+She looked at me with that strange, unblinking gaze, and she
+thought and spoke with the slow deliberateness that characterized
+everything about her, as if well aware of an eternity that was hers
+and in which there was no need for haste.  Again I was impressed by
+the enormous certitude of her.  In this eternity that seemed so
+indubitably hers, there was time and to spare for safe-footing and
+stable equilibrium--for certitude, in short.  No more in her
+spiritual life than in carrying the hundredweights of grain was
+there a possibility of a misstep or an overbalancing.  The feeling
+produced in me was uncanny.  Here was a human soul that, save for
+the most glimmering of contacts, was beyond the humanness of me.
+And the more I learned of Margaret Henan in the weeks that followed
+the more mysteriously remote she became.  She was as alien as a
+far-journeyer from some other star, and no hint could she nor all
+the countryside give me of what forms of living, what heats of
+feeling, or rules of philosophic contemplation actuated her in all
+that she had been and was.
+
+"I wull be suvunty-two come Guid Friday a fortnight," she said in
+reply to my question.
+
+"But you are an old woman to be doing this man's work, and a strong
+man's work at that," I insisted.
+
+Again she seemed to immerse herself in that atmosphere of
+contemplative eternity, and so strangely did it affect me that I
+should not have been surprised to have awaked a century or so later
+and found her just beginning to enunciate her reply--
+
+"The work hoz tull be done, an' I am beholden tull no one."
+
+"But have you no children, no family, relations?"
+
+"Oh, aye, a-plenty o' them, but they no see fut tull be helpun'
+me."
+
+She drew out her pipe for a moment, then added, with a nod of her
+head toward the house, "I luv' wuth meself."
+
+I glanced at the house, straw-thatched and commodious, at the large
+stable, and at the large array of fields I knew must belong with
+the place.
+
+"It is a big bit of land for you to farm by yourself."
+
+"Oh, aye, a bug but, suvunty acres.  Ut kept me old mon buzzy,
+along wuth a son an' a hired mon, tull say naught o' extra honds un
+the harvest an' a maid-servant un the house."
+
+She clambered into the cart, gathered the reins in her hands, and
+quizzed me with her keen, shrewd eyes.
+
+"Belike ye hail from over the watter--Ameruky, I'm meanun'?"
+
+"Yes, I'm a Yankee," I answered.
+
+"Ye wull no be findun' mony Island McGill folk stoppun' un
+Ameruky?"
+
+"No; I don't remember ever meeting one, in the States."
+
+She nodded her head.
+
+"They are home-luvun' bodies, though I wull no be sayin' they are
+no fair-travelled.  Yet they come home ot the last, them oz are no
+lost ot sea or kult by fevers an' such-like un foreign parts."
+
+"Then your sons will have gone to sea and come home again?" I
+queried.
+
+"Oh, aye, all savun' Samuel oz was drownded."
+
+At the mention of Samuel I could have sworn to a strange light in
+her eyes, and it seemed to me, as by some telepathic flash, that I
+divined in her a tremendous wistfulness, an immense yearning.  It
+seemed to me that here was the key to her inscrutableness, the clue
+that if followed properly would make all her strangeness plain.  It
+came to me that here was a contact and that for the moment I was
+glimpsing into the soul of her.  The question was tickling on my
+tongue, but she forestalled me.
+
+She tchk'd to the horse, and with a "Guid day tull you, sir," drove
+off.
+
+
+A simple, homely people are the folk of Island McGill, and I doubt
+if a more sober, thrifty, and industrious folk is to be found in
+all the world.  Meeting them abroad--and to meet them abroad one
+must meet them on the sea, for a hybrid sea-faring and farmer breed
+are they--one would never take them to be Irish.  Irish they claim
+to be, speaking of the North of Ireland with pride and sneering at
+their Scottish brothers; yet Scotch they undoubtedly are,
+transplanted Scotch of long ago, it is true, but none the less
+Scotch, with a thousand traits, to say nothing of their tricks of
+speech and woolly utterance, which nothing less than their Scotch
+clannishness could have preserved to this late day.
+
+A narrow loch, scarcely half a mile wide, separates Island McGill
+from the mainland of Ireland; and, once across this loch, one finds
+himself in an entirely different country.  The Scotch impression is
+strong, and the people, to commence with, are Presbyterians.  When
+it is considered that there is no public-house in all the island
+and that seven thousand souls dwell therein, some idea may be
+gained of the temperateness of the community.  Wedded to old ways,
+public opinion and the ministers are powerful influences, while
+fathers and mothers are revered and obeyed as in few other places
+in this modern world.  Courting lasts never later than ten at
+night, and no girl walks out with her young man without her
+parents' knowledge and consent.
+
+The young men go down to the sea and sow their wild oats in the
+wicked ports, returning periodically, between voyages, to live the
+old intensive morality, to court till ten o'clock, to sit under the
+minister each Sunday, and to listen at home to the same stern
+precepts that the elders preached to them from the time they were
+laddies.  Much they learned of women in the ends of the earth,
+these seafaring sons, yet a canny wisdom was theirs and they never
+brought wives home with them.  The one solitary exception to this
+had been the schoolmaster, who had been guilty of bringing a wife
+from half a mile the other side of the loch.  For this he had never
+been forgiven, and he rested under a cloud for the remainder of his
+days.  At his death the wife went back across the loch to her own
+people, and the blot on the escutcheon of Island McGill was erased.
+In the end the sailor-men married girls of their own homeland and
+settled down to become exemplars of all the virtues for which the
+island was noted.
+
+Island McGill was without a history.  She boasted none of the
+events that go to make history.  There had never been any wearing
+of the green, any Fenian conspiracies, any land disturbances.
+There had been but one eviction, and that purely technical--a test
+case, and on advice of the tenant's lawyer.  So Island McGill was
+without annals.  History had passed her by.   She paid her taxes,
+acknowledged her crowned rulers, and left the world alone; all she
+asked in return was that the world should leave her alone.  The
+world was composed of two parts--Island McGill and the rest of it.
+And whatever was not Island McGill was outlandish and barbarian;
+and well she knew, for did not her seafaring sons bring home report
+of that world and its ungodly ways?
+
+
+It was from the skipper of a Glasgow tramp, as passenger from
+Colombo to Rangoon, that I had first learned of the existence of
+Island McGill; and it was from him that I had carried the letter
+that gave me entrance to the house of Mrs. Ross, widow of a master
+mariner, with a daughter living with her and with two sons, master
+mariners themselves and out upon the sea.  Mrs. Ross did not take
+in boarders, and it was Captain Ross's letter alone that had
+enabled me to get from her bed and board.  In the evening, after my
+encounter with Margaret Henan, I questioned Mrs. Ross, and I knew
+on the instant that I had in truth stumbled upon mystery.
+
+Like all Island McGill folk, as I was soon to discover, Mrs. Ross
+was at first averse to discussing Margaret Henan at all.  Yet it
+was from her I learned that evening that Margaret Henan had once
+been one of the island belles.  Herself the daughter of a well-to-
+do farmer, she had married Thomas Henan, equally well-to-do.
+Beyond the usual housewife's tasks she had never been accustomed to
+work.  Unlike many of the island women, she had never lent a hand
+in the fields.
+
+"But what of her children?" I asked.
+
+"Two o' the sons, Jamie an' Timothy uz married an' be goun' tull
+sea.  Thot bug house close tull the post office uz Jamie's.  The
+daughters thot ha' no married be luvun' wuth them as dud marry.
+An' the rest be dead."
+
+"The Samuels," Clara interpolated, with what I suspected was a
+giggle.
+
+She was Mrs. Ross's daughter, a strapping young woman with handsome
+features and remarkably handsome black eyes.
+
+"'Tuz naught to be smuckerun' ot," her mother reproved her.
+
+"The Samuels?" I intervened.  "I don't understand."
+
+"Her four sons thot died."
+
+"And were they all named Samuel?"
+
+"Aye."
+
+"Strange," I commented in the lagging silence.
+
+"Very strange," Mrs. Ross affirmed, proceeding stolidly with the
+knitting of the woollen singlet on her knees--one of the countless
+under-garments that she interminably knitted for her skipper sons.
+
+"And it was only the Samuels that died?" I queried, in further
+attempt.
+
+"The others luved," was the answer.  "A fine fomuly--no finer on
+the island.  No better lods ever sailed out of Island McGill.  The
+munuster held them up oz models tull pottern after.  Nor was ever a
+whusper breathed again' the girls."
+
+"But why is she left alone now in her old age?" I persisted.  "Why
+don't her own flesh and blood look after her?  Why does she live
+alone?  Don't they ever go to see her or care for her?"
+
+"Never a one un twenty years an' more now.  She fetched ut on tull
+herself.  She drove them from the house just oz she drove old Tom
+Henan, thot was her husband, tull hus death."
+
+"Drink?" I ventured.
+
+Mrs. Ross shook her head scornfully, as if drink was a weakness
+beneath the weakest of Island McGill.
+
+A long pause followed, during which Mrs. Ross knitted stolidly on,
+only nodding permission when Clara's young man, mate on one of the
+Shire Line sailing ships, came to walk out with her.  I studied the
+half-dozen ostrich eggs, hanging in the corner against the wall
+like a cluster of some monstrous fruit.  On each shell were painted
+precipitous and impossible seas through which full-rigged ships
+foamed with a lack of perspective only equalled by their sharp
+technical perfection.  On the mantelpiece stood two large pearl
+shells, obviously a pair, intricately carved by the patient hands
+of New Caledonian convicts.  In the centre of the mantel was a
+stuffed bird-of-paradise, while about the room were scattered
+gorgeous shells from the southern seas, delicate sprays of coral
+sprouting from barnacled pi-pi shells and cased in glass, assegais
+from South Africa, stone axes from New Guinea, huge Alaskan
+tobacco-pouches beaded with heraldic totem designs, a boomerang
+from Australia, divers ships in glass bottles, a cannibal kai-kai
+bowl from the Marquesas, and fragile cabinets from China and the
+Indies and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and precious woods.
+
+I gazed at this varied trove brought home by sailor sons, and
+pondered the mystery of Margaret Henan, who had driven her husband
+to his death and been forsaken by all her kin.  It was not the
+drink.  Then what was it?--some shocking cruelty? some amazing
+infidelity? or some fearful, old-world peasant-crime?
+
+I broached my theories, but to all Mrs. Ross shook her head.
+
+"Ut was no thot," she said.  "Margaret was a guid wife an' a guid
+mother, an' I doubt she would harm a fly.  She brought up her
+fomuly God-fearin' an' decent-minded.  Her trouble was thot she
+took lunatic--turned eediot."
+
+Mrs. Ross tapped significantly on her forehead to indicate a state
+of addlement.
+
+"But I talked with her this afternoon," I objected, "and I found
+her a sensible woman--remarkably bright for one of her years."
+
+"Aye, an' I'm grantun' all thot you say," she went on calmly.  "But
+I am no referrun' tull thot.  I am referrun' tull her wucked-headed
+an' vucious stubbornness.  No more stubborn woman ever luv'd than
+Margaret Henan.  Ut was all on account o' Samuel, which was the
+name o' her youngest an' they do say her favourut brother--hum oz
+died by hus own hond all through the munuster's mustake un no
+registerun' the new church ot Dublin.  Ut was a lesson thot the
+name was musfortunate, but she would no take ut, an' there was talk
+when she called her first child Samuel--hum thot died o' the croup.
+An' wuth thot what does she do but call the next one Samuel, an'
+hum only three when he fell un tull the tub o' hot watter an' was
+plain cooked tull death.  Ut all come, I tell you, o' her wucked-
+headed an' foolush stubbornness.  For a Samuel she must hov; an' ut
+was the death of the four of her sons.  After the first, dudna her
+own mother go down un the dirt tull her feet, a-beggun' an'
+pleadun' wuth her no tull name her next one Samuel?  But she was no
+tull be turned from her purpose.  Margaret Henan was always set on
+her ways, an' never more so thon on thot name Samuel.
+
+"She was fair lunatuc on Samuel.  Dudna her neighbours' an' all
+kuth an' kun savun' them thot luv'd un the house wuth her, get up
+an' walk out ot the christenun' of the second--hum thot was cooked?
+Thot they dud, an' ot the very moment the munuster asked what would
+the bairn's name be.  'Samuel,' says she; an' wuth thot they got up
+an' walked out an' left the house.  An' ot the door dudna her Aunt
+Fannie, her mother's suster, turn an' say loud for all tull hear:
+'What for wull she be wantun' tull murder the wee thing?'  The
+munuster heard fine, an' dudna like ut, but, oz he told my Larry
+afterward, what could he do?  Ut was the woman's wush, an' there
+was no law again' a mother callun' her child accordun' tull her
+wush.
+
+"An' then was there no the third Samuel?  An' when he was lost ot
+sea off the Cape, dudna she break all laws o' nature tull hov a
+fourth?  She was forty-seven, I'm tellun' ye, an' she hod a child
+ot forty-seven.  Thunk on ut!  Ot forty-seven!  Ut was fair
+scand'lous."
+
+
+From Clara, next morning, I got the tale of Margaret Henan's
+favourite brother; and from here and there, in the week that
+followed, I pieced together the tragedy of Margaret Henan.  Samuel
+Dundee had been the youngest of Margaret's four brothers, and, as
+Clara told me, she had well-nigh worshipped him.  He was going to
+sea at the time, skipper of one of the sailing ships of the Bank
+Line, when he married Agnes Hewitt.  She was described as a slender
+wisp of a girl, delicately featured and with a nervous organization
+of the supersensitive order.  Theirs had been the first marriage in
+the "new" church, and after a two-weeks' honeymoon Samuel had
+kissed his bride good-bye and sailed in command of the Loughbank, a
+big four-masted barque.
+
+And it was because of the "new" church that the minister's blunder
+occurred.  Nor was it the blunder of the minister alone, as one of
+the elders later explained; for it was equally the blunder of the
+whole Presbytery of Coughleen, which included fifteen churches on
+Island McGill and the mainland.  The old church, beyond repair, had
+been torn down and the new one built on the original foundation.
+Looking upon the foundation-stones as similar to a ship's keel, it
+never entered the minister's nor the Presbytery's head that the new
+church was legally any other than the old church.
+
+"An' three couples was married the first week un the new church,"
+Clara said.  "First of all, Samuel Dundee an' Agnes Hewitt; the
+next day Albert Mahan an' Minnie Duncan; an' by the week-end Eddie
+Troy and Flo Mackintosh--all sailor-men, an' un sux weeks' time the
+last of them back tull their ships an' awa', an' no one o' them
+dreamin' of the wuckedness they'd been ot."
+
+The Imp of the Perverse must have chuckled at the situation.  All
+things favoured.  The marriages had taken place in the first week
+of May, and it was not till three months later that the minister,
+as required by law, made his quarterly report to the civil
+authorities in Dublin.  Promptly came back the announcement that
+his church had no legal existence, not being registered according
+to the law's demands.  This was overcome by prompt registration;
+but the marriages were not to be so easily remedied.  The three
+sailor husbands were away, and their wives, in short, were not
+their wives.
+
+"But the munuster was no for alarmin' the bodies," said Clara.  "He
+kept hus council an' bided hus time, waitun' for the lods tull be
+back from sea.  Oz luck would have ut, he was away across the
+island tull a christenun' when Albert Mahan arrives home
+onexpected, hus shup just docked ot Dublin.  Ut's nine o'clock ot
+night when the munuster, un hus sluppers an' dressun'-gown, gets
+the news.  Up he jumps an' calls for horse an' saddle, an' awa' he
+goes like the wund for Albert Mahan's.  Albert uz just goun' tull
+bed an' hoz one shoe off when the munuster arrives.
+
+"'Come wuth me, the pair o' ye,' says he, breathless-like.  'What
+for, an' me dead weary an' goun' tull bed?' says Albert.  'Yull be
+lawful married,' says the munuster.  Albert looks black an' says,
+'Now, munuster, ye wull be jokun',' but tull humself, oz I've heard
+hum tell mony a time, he uz wonderun' thot the munuster should a-
+took tull whusky ot hus time o' life.
+
+"'We be no married?' says Minnie.  He shook his head.  'An' I om no
+Mussus Mahan?'  'No,' says he, 'ye are no Mussus Mahan.  Ye are
+plain Muss Duncan.'  'But ye married 'us yoursel',' says she.  'I
+dud an' I dudna,' says he.  An' wuth thot he tells them the whole
+upshot, an' Albert puts on hus shoe, an' they go wuth the munuster
+an' are married proper an' lawful, an' oz Albert Mahan says
+afterward mony's the time, ''Tus no every mon thot hoz two weddun'
+nights on Island McGill.'"
+
+Six months later Eddie Troy came home and was promptly remarried.
+But Samuel Dundee was away on a three-years' voyage and his ship
+fell overdue.  Further to complicate the situation, a baby boy,
+past two years old, was waiting for him in the arms of his wife.
+The months passed, and the wife grew thin with worrying.  "Ut's no
+meself I'm thunkun' on," she is reported to have said many times,
+"but ut's the puir fatherless bairn.  Uf aught happened tull Samuel
+where wull the bairn stond?"
+
+Lloyd's posted the Loughbank as missing, and the owners ceased the
+monthly remittance of Samuel's half-pay to his wife.  It was the
+question of the child's legitimacy that preyed on her mind, and,
+when all hope of Samuel's return was abandoned, she drowned herself
+and the child in the loch.  And here enters the greater tragedy.
+The Loughbank was not lost.  By a series of sea disasters and
+delays too interminable to relate, she had made one of those long,
+unsighted passages such as occur once or twice in half a century.
+How the Imp must have held both his sides!  Back from the sea came
+Samuel, and when they broke the news to him something else broke
+somewhere in his heart or head.  Next morning they found him where
+he had tried to kill himself across the grave of his wife and
+child.  Never in the history of Island McGill was there so fearful
+a death-bed.  He spat in the minister's face and reviled him, and
+died blaspheming so terribly that those that tended on him did so
+with averted gaze and trembling hands.
+
+And, in the face of all this, Margaret Henan named her first child
+Samuel.
+
+
+How account for the woman's stubbornness?  Or was it a morbid
+obsession that demanded a child of hers should be named Samuel?
+Her third child was a girl, named after herself, and the fourth was
+a boy again.  Despite the strokes of fate that had already bereft
+her, and despite the loss of friends and relatives, she persisted
+in her resolve to name the child after her brother.  She was
+shunned at church by those who had grown up with her.  Her mother,
+after a final appeal, left her house with the warning that if the
+child were so named she would never speak to her again.  And though
+the old lady lived thirty-odd years longer she kept her word.  The
+minister agreed to christen the child any name but Samuel, and
+every other minister on Island McGill refused to christen it by the
+name she had chosen.  There was talk on the part of Margaret Henan
+of going to law at the time, but in the end she carried the child
+to Belfast and there had it christened Samuel.
+
+And then nothing happened.  The whole island was confuted.  The boy
+grew and prospered.  The schoolmaster never ceased averring that it
+was the brightest lad he had ever seen.  Samuel had a splendid
+constitution, a tremendous grip on life.  To everybody's amazement
+he escaped the usual run of childish afflictions.  Measles,
+whooping-cough and mumps knew him not.  He was armour-clad against
+germs, immune to all disease.  Headaches and earaches were things
+unknown.  "Never so much oz a boil or a pumple," as one of the old
+bodies told me, ever marred his healthy skin.  He broke school
+records in scholarship and athletics, and whipped every boy of his
+size or years on Island McGill.
+
+It was a triumph for Margaret Henan.  This paragon was hers, and it
+bore the cherished name.  With the one exception of her mother,
+friends and relatives drifted back and acknowledged that they had
+been mistaken; though there were old crones who still abided by
+their opinion and who shook their heads ominously over their cups
+of tea.  The boy was too wonderful to last.  There was no escaping
+the curse of the name his mother had wickedly laid upon him.  The
+young generation joined Margaret Henan in laughing at them, but the
+old crones continued to shake their heads.
+
+Other children followed.  Margaret Henan's fifth was a boy, whom
+she called Jamie, and in rapid succession followed three girls,
+Alice, Sara, and Nora, the boy Timothy, and two more girls,
+Florence and Katie.  Katie was the last and eleventh, and Margaret
+Henan, at thirty-five, ceased from her exertions.  She had done
+well by Island McGill and the Queen.  Nine healthy children were
+hers.  All prospered.  It seemed her ill-luck had shot its bolt
+with the deaths of her first two.  Nine lived, and one of them was
+named Samuel.
+
+Jamie elected to follow the sea, though it was not so much a matter
+of election as compulsion, for the eldest sons on Island McGill
+remained on the land, while all other sons went to the salt-
+ploughing.  Timothy followed Jamie, and by the time the latter had
+got his first command, a steamer in the Bay trade out of Cardiff,
+Timothy was mate of a big sailing ship.  Samuel, however, did not
+take kindly to the soil.  The farmer's life had no attraction for
+him.  His brothers went to sea, not out of desire, but because it
+was the only way for them to gain their bread; and he, who had no
+need to go, envied them when, returned from far voyages, they sat
+by the kitchen fire, and told their bold tales of the wonderlands
+beyond the sea-rim.
+
+Samuel became a teacher, much to his father's disgust, and even
+took extra certificates, going to Belfast for his examinations.
+When the old master retired, Samuel took over his school.
+Secretly, however, he studied navigation, and it was Margaret's
+delight when he sat by the kitchen fire, and, despite their
+master's tickets, tangled up his brothers in the theoretics of
+their profession.  Tom Henan alone was outraged when Samuel, school
+teacher, gentleman, and heir to the Henan farm, shipped to sea
+before the mast.  Margaret had an abiding faith in her son's star,
+and whatever he did she was sure was for the best.  Like everything
+else connected with his glorious personality, there had never been
+known so swift a rise as in the case of Samuel.  Barely with two
+years' sea experience before the mast, he was taken from the
+forecastle and made a provisional second mate.  This occurred in a
+fever port on the West Coast, and the committee of skippers that
+examined him agreed that he knew more of the science of navigation
+than they had remembered or forgotten.  Two years later he sailed
+from Liverpool, mate of the Starry Grace, with both master's and
+extra-master's tickets in his possession.  And then it happened--
+the thing the old crones had been shaking their heads over for
+years.
+
+It was told me by Gavin McNab, bos'n of the Starry Grace at the
+time, himself an Island McGill man.
+
+"Wull do I remember ut," he said.  "We was runnin' our Eastun'
+down, an' makun' heavy weather of ut.  Oz fine a sailor-mon oz ever
+walked was Samuel Henan.  I remember the look of hum wull thot last
+marnun', a-watch-un' them bug seas curlun' up astern, an' a-
+watchun' the old girl an' seeun' how she took them--the skupper
+down below an' drunkun' for days.  Ut was ot seven thot Henan
+brought her up on tull the wund, not darun' tull run longer on thot
+fearful sea.  Ot eight, after havun' breakfast, he turns un, an' a
+half hour after up comes the skupper, bleary-eyed an' shaky an'
+holdun' on tull the companion.  Ut was fair smokun', I om tellun'
+ye, an' there he stood, blunkun' an' noddun' an' talkun' tull
+humsel'.  'Keep off,' says he ot last tull the mon ot the wheel.
+'My God!' says the second mate, standun' beside hum.  The skupper
+never looks tull hum ot all, but keeps on mutterun" an' jabberun'
+tull humsel'.  All of a suddent-like he straightens up an' throws
+hus head back, an' says:  'Put your wheel over, me mon--now domn
+ye!  Are ye deef thot ye'll no be hearun' me?'
+
+"Ut was a drunken mon's luck, for the Starry Grace wore off afore
+thot God-Almighty gale wuthout shuppun' a bucket o' watter, the
+second mate shoutun' orders an' the crew jumpun' like mod.  An'
+wuth thot the skupper nods contented-like tull humself an' goes
+below after more whusky.  Ut was plain murder o' the lives o' all
+of us, for ut was no the time for the buggest shup afloat tull be
+runnun'.  Run?  Never hov I seen the like!  Ut was beyond all
+thunkun', an' me goun' tull sea, boy an' men, for forty year.  I
+tell you ut was fair awesome.
+
+"The face o' the second mate was white oz death, an' he stood ut
+alone for half an hour, when ut was too much for hum an' he went
+below an' called Samuel an' the third.  Aye, a fine sailor-mon thot
+Samuel, but ut was too much for hum.  He looked an' studied, and
+looked an' studied, but he could no see hus way.  He durst na heave
+tull.  She would ha' been sweeput o' all honds an' stucks an'
+everythung afore she could a-fetched up.  There was naught tull do
+but keep on runnun'.  An' uf ut worsened we were lost ony way, for
+soon or late that overtakun' sea was sure tull sweep us clear over
+poop an' all.
+
+"Dud I say ut was a God-Almighty gale?  Ut was worse nor thot.  The
+devil himself must ha' hod a hond un the brewun' o' ut, ut was thot
+fearsome.  I ha' looked on some sights, but I om no carun' tull
+look on the like o' thot again.  No mon dared tull be un hus bunk.
+No, nor no mon on the decks.  All honds of us stood on top the
+house an' held on an' watched.  The three mates was on the poop,
+with two men ot the wheel, an' the only mon below was thot whusky-
+blighted captain snorun' drunk.
+
+"An' then I see ut comun', a mile away, risun' above all the waves
+like an island un the sea--the buggest wave ever I looked upon.
+The three mates stood tulgether an' watched ut comun', a-prayun'
+like we thot she would no break un passun' us.  But ut was no tull
+be.  Ot the last, when she rose up like a mountain, curlun' above
+the stern an' blottun' out the sky, the mates scattered, the second
+an' third runnun' for the mizzen-shrouds an' climbun' up, but the
+first runnun' tull the wheel tull lend a hond.  He was a brave men,
+thot Samuel Henan.  He run straight un tull the face o' thot father
+o' all waves, no thunkun' on humself but thunkun' only o' the shup.
+The two men was lashed tull the wheel, but he would be ready tull
+hond un the case they was kult.  An' then she took ut.  We on the
+house could no see the poop for the thousand tons o' watter thot
+hod hut ut.  Thot wave cleaned them out, took everythung along wuth
+ut--the two mates, climbun' up the mizzen-ruggun', Samuel Henan
+runnun' tull the wheel, the two men ot the wheel, aye, an' the
+wheel utself.  We never saw aught o' them, for she broached tull
+what o' the wheel goun', an' two men o' us was drownded off the
+house, no tull mention the carpenter thot we pucked up ot the break
+o' the poop wuth every bone o' hus body broke tull he was like so
+much jelly."
+
+And here enters the marvel of it, the miraculous wonder of that
+woman's heroic spirit.  Margaret Henan was forty-seven when the
+news came home of the loss of Samuel; and it was not long after
+that the unbelievable rumour went around Island McGill.  I say
+unbelievable.  Island McGill would not believe.  Doctor Hall pooh-
+pooh'd it.  Everybody laughed at it as a good joke.  They traced
+back the gossip to Sara Dack, servant to the Henans', and who alone
+lived with Margaret and her husband.  But Sara Dack persisted in
+her assertion and was called a low-mouthed liar.  One or two dared
+question Tom Henan himself, but beyond black looks and curses for
+their presumption they elicited nothing from him.
+
+The rumour died down, and the island fell to discussing in all its
+ramifications the loss of the Grenoble in the China seas, with all
+her officers and half her crew born and married on Island McGill.
+But the rumour would not stay down.  Sara Dack was louder in her
+assertions, the looks Tom Henan cast about him were blacker than
+ever, and Dr. Hall, after a visit to the Henan house, no longer
+pooh-pooh'd.  Then Island McGill sat up, and there was a tremendous
+wagging of tongues.  It was unnatural and ungodly.  The like had
+never been heard.  And when, as time passed, the truth of Sara
+Dack's utterances was manifest, the island folk decided, like the
+bos'n of the Starry Grace, that only the devil could have had a
+hand in so untoward a happening.  And the infatuated woman, so Sara
+Dack reported, insisted that it would be a boy.  "Eleven bairns ha'
+I borne," she said; "sux o' them lossies an' five o' them loddies.
+An' sunce there be balance un all thungs, so wull there be balance
+wuth me.  Sux o' one an' half a dozen o' the other--there uz the
+balance, an' oz sure oz the sun rises un the marnun', thot sure
+wull ut be a boy."
+
+And boy it was, and a prodigy.  Dr. Hall raved about its
+unblemished perfection and massive strength, and wrote a brochure
+on it for the Dublin Medical Society as the most interesting case
+of the sort in his long career.  When Sara Dack gave the babe's
+unbelievable weight, Island McGill refused to believe and once
+again called her liar.  But when Doctor Hall attested that he had
+himself weighed it and seen it tip that very notch, Island McGill
+held its breath and accepted whatever report Sara Dack made of the
+infant's progress or appetite.  And once again Margaret Henan
+carried a babe to Belfast and had it christened Samuel.
+
+
+"Oz good oz gold ut was," said Sara Dack to me.
+
+Sara, at the time I met her, was a buxom, phlegmatic spinster of
+sixty, equipped with an experience so tragic and unusual that
+though her tongue ran on for decades its output would still be of
+imperishable interest to her cronies.
+
+"Oz good oz good," said Sara Dack.  "Ut never fretted.  Sut ut down
+un the sun by the hour an' never a sound ut would make oz long oz
+ut was no hungered!  An' thot strong!  The grup o' uts honds was
+like a mon's.  I mind me, when ut was but hours old, ut grupped me
+so mighty thot I fetched a scream I was thot frightened.  Ut was
+the punk o' health.  Ut slept an' ate, an' grew.  Ut never
+bothered.  Never a night's sleep ut lost tull no one, nor ever a
+munut's, an' thot wuth cuttin' uts teeth an' all.  An' Margaret
+would dandle ut on her knee an' ask was there ever so fine a loddie
+un the three Kungdoms.
+
+"The way ut grew!  Ut was un keepun' wuth the way ut ate.  Ot a
+year ut was the size o' a bairn of two.  Ut was slow tull walk an'
+talk.  Exceptun' for gurgly noises un uts throat an' for creepun'
+on all fours, ut dudna monage much un the walkun' an' talkun' line.
+But thot was tull be expected from the way ut grew.  Ut all went
+tull growun' strong an' healthy.  An' even old Tom Henan cheered up
+ot the might of ut an' said was there ever the like o' ut un the
+three Kungdoms.  Ut was Doctor Hall thot first suspicioned, I mind
+me well, though ut was luttle I dreamt what he was up tull ot the
+time.  I seehum holdun' thungs' un fronto' luttle Sammy's eyes, an'
+a-makun' noises, loud an' soft, an' far an' near, un luttle Sammy's
+ears.  An' then I see Doctor Hall go away, wrunklun' hus eyebrows
+an' shakun' hus head like the bairn was ailun'.  But he was no
+ailun', oz I could swear tull, me a-seeun' hum eat an' grow.  But
+Doctor Hall no said a word tull Margaret an' I was no for guessun'
+the why he was sore puzzled.
+
+"I mind me when luttle Sammy first spoke.  He was two years old an'
+the size of a child o five, though he could no monage the walkun'
+yet but went around on all fours, happy an' contented-like an'
+makun' no trouble oz long oz he was fed promptly, which was onusual
+often.  I was hangun' the wash on the line ot the time when out he
+comes, on all fours, hus bug head waggun' tull an' fro an' blunkun'
+un the sun.  An' then, suddent, he talked.  I was thot took a-back
+I near died o' fright, an' fine I knew ut then, the shakun' o'
+Doctor Hall's head.  Talked?  Never a bairn on Island McGill talked
+so loud an' tull such purpose.  There was no mustakun' ut.  I stood
+there all tremblun' an' shakun'.  Little Sammy was brayun'.  I tell
+you, sir, he was brayun' like an ass--just like thot,--loud an'
+long an' cheerful tull ut seemed hus lungs ud crack.
+
+"He was a eediot--a great, awful, monster eediot.  Ut was after he
+talked thot Doctor Hall told Margaret, but she would no believe.
+Ut would all come right, she said.  Ut was growun' too fast for
+aught else.  Guv ut time, said she, an' we would see.  But old Tom
+Henan knew, an' he never held up hus head again.  He could no abide
+the thung, an' would no brung humsel' tull touch ut, though I om no
+denyun' he was fair fascinated by ut.  Mony the time, I see hum
+watchun' of ut around a corner, lookun' ot ut tull hus eyes fair
+bulged wuth the horror; an' when ut brayed old Tom ud stuck hus
+fungers tull hus ears an' look thot miserable I could a-puttied
+hum.
+
+"An' bray ut could!  Ut was the only thung ut could do besides eat
+an' grow.  Whenever ut was hungry ut brayed, an' there was no
+stoppun' ut save wuth food.  An' always of a marnun', when first ut
+crawled tull the kutchen-door an' blunked out ot the sun, ut
+brayed.  An' ut was brayun' that brought about uts end.
+
+"I mind me well.  Ut was three years old an' oz bug oz a led o'
+ten.  Old Tom hed been goun' from bed tull worse, ploughun' up an'
+down the fields an' talkun' an' mutterun' tull humself.  On the
+marnun' o' the day I mind me, he was suttun' on the bench outside
+the kutchen, a-futtun' the handle tull a puck-axe.  Unbeknown, the
+monster eediot crawled tull the door an' brayed after hus fashion
+ot the sun.  I see old Tom start up an' look.  An' there was the
+monster eediot, waggun' uts bug head an' blunkun' an' brayun' like
+the great bug ass ut was.  Ut was too much for Tom.  Somethun' went
+wrong wuth hum suddent-like.  He jumped tull hus feet an' fetched
+the puck-handle down on the monster eediot's head.  An' he hut ut
+again an' again like ut was a mod dog an' hum afeard o' ut.  An' he
+went straight tull the stable an' hung humsel' tull a rafter.  An'
+I was no for stoppun' on after such-like, an' I went tull stay
+along wuth me suster thot was married tull John Martin an'
+comfortable-off."
+
+
+I sat on the bench by the kitchen door and regarded Margaret Henan,
+while with her callous thumb she pressed down the live fire of her
+pipe and gazed out across the twilight-sombred fields.  It was the
+very bench Tom Henan had sat upon that last sanguinary day of life.
+And Margaret sat in the doorway where the monster, blinking at the
+sun, had so often wagged its head and brayed.  We had been talking
+for an hour, she with that slow certitude of eternity that so
+befitted her; and, for the life of me, I could lay no finger on the
+motives that ran through the tangled warp and woof of her.  Was she
+a martyr to Truth?  Did she have it in her to worship at so
+abstract a shrine?  Had she conceived Abstract Truth to be the one
+high goal of human endeavour on that day of long ago when she named
+her first-born Samuel?  Or was hers the stubborn obstinacy of the
+ox? the fixity of purpose of the balky horse? the stolidity of the
+self-willed peasant-mind?  Was it whim or fancy?--the one streak of
+lunacy in what was otherwise an eminently rational mind?  Or,
+reverting, was hers the spirit of a Bruno?  Was she convinced of
+the intellectual rightness of the stand she had taken?  Was hers a
+steady, enlightened opposition to superstition? or--and a subtler
+thought--was she mastered by some vaster, profounder superstition,
+a fetish-worship of which the Alpha and the Omega was the cryptic
+SAMUEL?
+
+"Wull ye be tellun' me," she said, "thot uf the second Samuel hod
+been named Larry thot he would no hov fell un the hot watter an'
+drownded?  Atween you an' me, sir, an' ye are untellugent-lookun'
+tull the eye, would the name hov made ut onyways dufferent?  Would
+the washun' no be done thot day uf he hod been Larry or Michael?
+Would hot watter no be hot, an' would hot watter no burn uf he hod
+hod ony other name but Samuel?"
+
+I acknowledged the justice of her contention, and she went on.
+
+"Do a wee but of a name change the plans o' God?  Do the world run
+by hut or muss, an' be God a weak, shully-shallyun' creature thot
+ud alter the fate an' destiny o' thungs because the worm Margaret
+Henan seen fut tull name her bairn Samuel?  There be my son Jamie.
+He wull no sign a Rooshan-Funn un hus crew because o' believun'
+thot Rooshan-Funns do be monajun' the wunds an' hov the makun' o'
+bod weather.  Wull you be thunkun' so?  Wull you be thunkun' thot
+God thot makes the wunds tull blow wull bend Hus head from on high
+tull lussen tull the word o' a greasy Rooshan-Funn un some dirty
+shup's fo'c'sle?"
+
+I said no, certainly not; but she was not to be set aside from
+pressing home the point of her argument.
+
+"Then wull you be thunkun' thot God thot directs the stars un their
+courses, an' tull whose mighty foot the world uz but a footstool,
+wull you be thunkun' thot He wull take a spite again' Margaret
+Henan an' send a bug wave off the Cape tull wash her son un tull
+eternity, all because she was for namun' hum Samuel?"
+
+"But why Samuel?" I asked.
+
+"An' thot I dinna know.  I wantud ut so."
+
+"But WHY did you want it so?"
+
+"An' uz ut me thot would be answerun' a such-like question?  Be
+there ony mon luvun' or dead thot can answer?  Who can tell the WHY
+o' like?  My Jamie was fair daft on buttermilk, he would drunk ut
+tull, oz he said humself, hus back teeth was awash.  But my Tumothy
+could no abide buttermilk.  I like tull lussen tull the thunder
+growlun' an' roarun', an' rampajun'.  My Katie could no abide the
+noise of ut, but must scream an' flutter an' go runnun' for the
+mudmost o' a feather-bed.  Never yet hov I heard the answer tull
+the WHY o' like, God alone hoz thot answer.  You an' me be mortal
+an' we canna know.  Enough for us tull know what we like an' what
+we duslike.  I LIKE--thot uz the first word an' the last.  An'
+behind thot like no men can go an' find the WHY o' ut.  I LIKE
+Samuel, an' I like ut well.  Ut uz a sweet name, an' there be a
+rollun' wonder un the sound o' ut thot passes onderstandun'."
+
+The twilight deepened, and in the silence I gazed upon that
+splendid dome of a forehead which time could not mar, at the width
+between the eyes, and at the eyes themselves--clear, out-looking,
+and wide-seeing.  She rose to her feet with an air of dismissing
+me, saying--
+
+"Ut wull be a dark walk home, an' there wull be more thon a
+sprunkle o' wet un the sky."
+
+"Have you any regrets, Margaret Henan?" I asked, suddenly and
+without forethought.
+
+She studied me a moment.
+
+"Aye, thot I no ha' borne another son."
+
+"And you would . . .?" I faltered.
+
+"Aye, thot I would," she answered.  "Ut would ha' been hus name."
+
+I went down the dark road between the hawthorn hedges puzzling over
+the why of like, repeating SAMUEL to myself and aloud and listening
+to the rolling wonder in its sound that had charmed her soul and
+led her life in tragic places.  SAMUEL!  There was a rolling wonder
+in the sound.  Aye, there was!
+
+
+
+
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+<title>The Strength of the Strong</title>
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+<h2>
+<a href="#startoftext">The Strength of the Strong, by Jack London</a>
+</h2>
+<pre>
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strength of the Strong, by Jack London
+(#12 in our series by Jack London)
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Strength of the Strong
+
+Author: Jack London
+
+Release Date: October, 1997  [EBook #1075]
+[This file was first posted on October 17, 1997]
+[Most recently updated: June 28, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+</pre>
+<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p>
+<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<h1>The Strength of the Strong</h1>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Contents:</p>
+<p>The Strength of the Strong<br />South of the Slot<br />The Unparalleled
+Invasion<br />The Enemy of All the World<br />The Dream of Debs<br />The
+Sea-Farmer<br />Samuel</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>THE STRENGTH OF THE STRONG</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Parables don&rsquo;t lie, but liars will parable.&rdquo;&mdash;Lip-King.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>Old Long-Beard paused in his narrative, licked his greasy fingers,
+and wiped them on his naked sides where his one piece of ragged bearskin
+failed to cover him.&nbsp; Crouched around him, on their hams, were
+three young men, his grandsons, Deer-Runner, Yellow-Head, and Afraid-of-the-Dark.&nbsp;
+In appearance they were much the same.&nbsp; Skins of wild animals partly
+covered them.&nbsp; They were lean and meagre of build, narrow-hipped
+and crooked-legged, and at the same time deep-chested, with heavy arms
+and enormous hands.&nbsp; There was much hair on their chests and shoulders,
+and on the outsides of their arms and legs.&nbsp; Their heads were matted
+with uncut hair, long locks of which often strayed before their eyes,
+beady and black and glittering like the eyes of birds.&nbsp; They were
+narrow between the eyes and broad between the cheeks, while their lower
+jaws were projecting and massive.</p>
+<p>It was a night of clear starlight, and below them, stretching away
+remotely, lay range on range of forest-covered hills.&nbsp; In the distance
+the heavens were red from the glow of a volcano.&nbsp; At their backs
+yawned the black mouth of a cave, out of which, from time to time, blew
+draughty gusts of wind.&nbsp; Immediately in front of them blazed a
+fire.&nbsp; At one side, partly devoured, lay the carcass of a bear,
+with about it, at a respectable distance, several large dogs, shaggy
+and wolf-like.&nbsp; Beside each man lay his bow and arrows and a huge
+club.&nbsp; In the cave-mouth a number of rude spears leaned against
+the rock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So that was how we moved from the cave to the tree,&rdquo;
+old Long-Beard spoke up.</p>
+<p>They laughed boisterously, like big children, at recollection of
+a previous story his words called up.&nbsp; Long-Beard laughed, too,
+the five-inch bodkin of bone, thrust midway through the cartilage of
+his nose, leaping and dancing and adding to his ferocious appearance.&nbsp;
+He did not exactly say the words recorded, but he made animal-like sounds
+with his mouth that meant the same thing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And that is the first I remember of the Sea Valley,&rdquo;
+Long-Beard went on.&nbsp; &ldquo;We were a very foolish crowd.&nbsp;
+We did not know the secret of strength.&nbsp; For, behold, each family
+lived by itself, and took care of itself.&nbsp; There were thirty families,
+but we got no strength from one another.&nbsp; We were in fear of each
+other all the time.&nbsp; No one ever paid visits.&nbsp; In the top
+of our tree we built a grass house, and on the platform outside was
+a pile of rocks, which were for the heads of any that might chance to
+try to visit us.&nbsp; Also, we had our spears and arrows.&nbsp; We
+never walked under the trees of the other families, either.&nbsp; My
+brother did, once, under old Boo-oogh&rsquo;s tree, and he got his head
+broken and that was the end of him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Old Boo-oogh was very strong.&nbsp; It was said he could pull
+a grown man&rsquo;s head right off.&nbsp; I never heard of him doing
+it, because no man would give him a chance.&nbsp; Father wouldn&rsquo;t.&nbsp;
+One day, when father was down on the beach, Boo-oogh took after mother.&nbsp;
+She couldn&rsquo;t run fast, for the day before she had got her leg
+clawed by a bear when she was up on the mountain gathering berries.&nbsp;
+So Boo-oogh caught her and carried her up into his tree.&nbsp; Father
+never got her back.&nbsp; He was afraid.&nbsp; Old Boo-oogh made faces
+at him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But father did not mind.&nbsp; Strong-Arm was another strong
+man.&nbsp; He was one of the best fishermen.&nbsp; But one day, climbing
+after sea-gull eggs, he had a fall from the cliff.&nbsp; He was never
+strong after that.&nbsp; He coughed a great deal, and his shoulders
+drew near to each other.&nbsp; So father took Strong-Arm&rsquo;s wife.&nbsp;
+When he came around and coughed under our tree, father laughed at him
+and threw rocks at him.&nbsp; It was our way in those days.&nbsp; We
+did not know how to add strength together and become strong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Would a brother take a brother&rsquo;s wife?&rdquo; Deer-Runner
+demanded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, if he had gone to live in another tree by himself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But we do not do such things now,&rdquo; Afraid-of-the-Dark
+objected.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is because I have taught your fathers better.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Long-Beard thrust his hairy paw into the bear meat and drew out a handful
+of suet, which he sucked with a meditative air.&nbsp; Again he wiped
+his hands on his naked sides and went on.&nbsp; &ldquo;What I am telling
+you happened in the long ago, before we knew any better.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must have been fools not to know better,&rdquo; was Deer-Runner&rsquo;s
+comment, Yellow-Head grunting approval.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So we were, but we became bigger fools, as you shall see.&nbsp;
+Still, we did learn better, and this was the way of it.&nbsp; We Fish-Eaters
+had not learned to add our strength until our strength was the strength
+of all of us.&nbsp; But the Meat-Eaters, who lived across the divide
+in the Big Valley, stood together, hunted together, fished together,
+and fought together.&nbsp; One day they came into our valley.&nbsp;
+Each family of us got into its own cave and tree.&nbsp; There were only
+ten Meat-Eaters, but they fought together, and we fought, each family
+by itself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Long-Beard counted long and perplexedly on his fingers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There were sixty men of us,&rdquo; was what he managed to
+say with fingers and lips combined.&nbsp; &ldquo;And we were very strong,
+only we did not know it.&nbsp; So we watched the ten men attack Boo-oogh&rsquo;s
+tree.&nbsp; He made a good fight, but he had no chance.&nbsp; We looked
+on.&nbsp; When some of the Meat-Eaters tried to climb the tree, Boo-oogh
+had to show himself in order to drop stones on their heads, whereupon
+the other Meat-Eaters, who were waiting for that very thing, shot him
+full of arrows.&nbsp; And that was the end of Boo-oogh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Next, the Meat-Eaters got One-Eye and his family in his cave.&nbsp;
+They built a fire in the mouth and smoked him out, like we smoked out
+the bear there to-day.&nbsp; Then they went after Six-Fingers, up his
+tree, and, while they were killing him and his grown son, the rest of
+us ran away.&nbsp; They caught some of our women, and killed two old
+men who could not run fast and several children.&nbsp; The women they
+carried away with them to the Big Valley.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;After that the rest of us crept back, and, somehow, perhaps
+because we were in fear and felt the need for one another, we talked
+the thing over.&nbsp; It was our first council&mdash;our first real
+council.&nbsp; And in that council we formed our first tribe.&nbsp;
+For we had learned the lesson.&nbsp; Of the ten Meat-Eaters, each man
+had had the strength of ten, for the ten had fought as one man.&nbsp;
+They had added their strength together.&nbsp; But of the thirty families
+and the sixty men of us, we had had the strength of but one man, for
+each had fought alone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a great talk we had, and it was hard talk, for we did
+not have the words then as now with which to talk.&nbsp; The Bug made
+some of the words long afterward, and so did others of us make words
+from time to time.&nbsp; But in the end we agreed to add our strength
+together and to be as one man when the Meat-Eaters came over the divide
+to steal our women.&nbsp; And that was the tribe.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We set two men on the divide, one for the day and one for
+the night, to watch if the Meat-Eaters came.&nbsp; These were the eyes
+of the tribe.&nbsp; Then, also, day and night, there were to be ten
+men awake with their clubs and spears and arrows in their hands, ready
+to fight.&nbsp; Before, when a man went after fish, or clams, or gull-eggs,
+he carried his weapons with him, and half the time he was getting food
+and half the time watching for fear some other man would get him.&nbsp;
+Now that was all changed.&nbsp; The men went out without their weapons
+and spent all their time getting food.&nbsp; Likewise, when the women
+went into the mountains after roots and berries, five of the ten men
+went with them to guard them.&nbsp; While all the time, day and night,
+the eyes of the tribe watched from the top of the divide.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But troubles came.&nbsp; As usual, it was about the women.&nbsp;
+Men without wives wanted other men&rsquo;s wives, and there was much
+fighting between men, and now and again one got his head smashed or
+a spear through his body.&nbsp; While one of the watchers was on top
+of the divide, another man stole his wife, and he came down to fight.&nbsp;
+Then the other watcher was in fear that some one would take his wife,
+and he came down likewise.&nbsp; Also, there was trouble among the ten
+men who carried always their weapons, and they fought five against five,
+till some ran away down the coast and the others ran after them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it was that the tribe was left without eyes or guards.&nbsp;
+We had not the strength of sixty.&nbsp; We had no strength at all.&nbsp;
+So we held a council and made our first laws.&nbsp; I was but a cub
+at the time, but I remember.&nbsp; We said that, in order to be strong,
+we must not fight one another, and we made a law that when a man killed
+another him would the tribe kill.&nbsp; We made another law that whoso
+stole another man&rsquo;s wife him would the tribe kill.&nbsp; We said
+that whatever man had too great strength, and by that strength hurt
+his brothers in the tribe, him would we kill that his strength might
+hurt no more.&nbsp; For, if we let his strength hurt, the brothers would
+become afraid and the tribe would fall apart, and we would be as weak
+as when the Meat-Eaters first came upon us and killed Boo-oogh.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Knuckle-Bone was a strong man, a very strong man, and he knew
+not law.&nbsp; He knew only his own strength, and in the fullness thereof
+he went forth and took the wife of Three-Clams.&nbsp; Three-Clams tried
+to fight, but Knuckle-Bone clubbed out his brains.&nbsp; Yet had Knuckle-Bone
+forgotten that all the men of us had added our strength to keep the
+law among us, and him we killed, at the foot of his tree, and hung his
+body on a branch as a warning that the law was stronger than any man.&nbsp;
+For we were the law, all of us, and no man was greater than the law.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then there were other troubles, for know, O Deer-Runner, and
+Yellow-Head, and Afraid-of-the-Dark, that it is not easy to make a tribe.&nbsp;
+There were many things, little things, that it was a great trouble to
+call all the men together to have a council about.&nbsp; We were having
+councils morning, noon, and night, and in the middle of the night.&nbsp;
+We could find little time to go out and get food, because of the councils,
+for there was always some little thing to be settled, such as naming
+two new watchers to take the place of the old ones on the hill, or naming
+how much food should fall to the share of the men who kept their weapons
+always in their hands and got no food for themselves.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We stood in need of a chief man to do these things, who would
+be the voice of the council, and who would account to the council for
+the things he did.&nbsp; So we named Fith-Fith the chief man.&nbsp;
+He was a strong man, too, and very cunning, and when he was angry he
+made noises just like that, <i>fith-fith</i>, like a wild-cat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The ten men who guarded the tribe were set to work making
+a wall of stones across the narrow part of the valley.&nbsp; The women
+and large children helped, as did other men, until the wall was strong.&nbsp;
+After that, all the families came down out of their caves and trees
+and built grass houses behind the shelter of the wall.&nbsp; These houses
+were large and much better than the caves and trees, and everybody had
+a better time of it because the men had added their strength together
+and become a tribe.&nbsp; Because of the wall and the guards and the
+watchers, there was more time to hunt and fish and pick roots and berries;
+there was more food, and better food, and no one went hungry.&nbsp;
+And Three-Legs, so named because his legs had been smashed when a boy
+and who walked with a stick&mdash;Three-Legs got the seed of the wild
+corn and planted it in the ground in the valley near his house.&nbsp;
+Also, he tried planting fat roots and other things he found in the mountain
+valleys.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because of the safety in the Sea Valley, which was because
+of the wall and the watchers and the guards, and because there was food
+in plenty for all without having to fight for it, many families came
+in from the coast valleys on both sides and from the high back mountains
+where they had lived more like wild animals than men.&nbsp; And it was
+not long before the Sea Valley filled up, and in it were countless families.&nbsp;
+But, before this happened, the land, which had been free to all and
+belonged to all, was divided up.&nbsp; Three-Legs began it when he planted
+corn.&nbsp; But most of us did not care about the land.&nbsp; We thought
+the marking of the boundaries with fences of stone was a foolishness.&nbsp;
+We had plenty to eat, and what more did we want?&nbsp; I remember that
+my father and I built stone fences for Three-Legs and were given corn
+in return.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So only a few got all the land, and Three-Legs got most of
+it.&nbsp; Also, others that had taken land gave it to the few that held
+on, being paid in return with corn and fat roots, and bear-skins, and
+fishes which the farmers got from the fishermen in exchange for corn.&nbsp;
+And, the first thing we knew, all the land was gone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was about this time that Fith-Fith died and Dog-Tooth,
+his son, was made chief.&nbsp; He demanded to be made chief anyway,
+because his father had been chief before him.&nbsp; Also, he looked
+upon himself as a greater chief than his father.&nbsp; He was a good
+chief at first, and worked hard, so that the council had less and less
+to do.&nbsp; Then arose a new voice in the Sea Valley.&nbsp; It was
+Twisted-Lip.&nbsp; We had never thought much of him, until he began
+to talk with the spirits of the dead.&nbsp; Later we called him Big-Fat,
+because he ate over-much, and did no work, and grew round and large.&nbsp;
+One day Big-Fat told us that the secrets of the dead were his, and that
+he was the voice of God.&nbsp; He became great friends with Dog-Tooth,
+who commanded that we should build Big-Fat a grass house.&nbsp; And
+Big-Fat put taboos all around this house and kept God inside.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;More and more Dog-Tooth became greater than the council, and
+when the council grumbled and said it would name a new chief, Big-Fat
+spoke with the voice of God and said no.&nbsp; Also, Three-Legs and
+the others who held the land stood behind Dog-Tooth.&nbsp; Moreover,
+the strongest man in the council was Sea-Lion, and him the land-owners
+gave land to secretly, along with many bearskins and baskets of corn.&nbsp;
+So Sea-Lion said that Big-Fat&rsquo;s voice was truly the voice of God
+and must be obeyed.&nbsp; And soon afterward Sea-Lion was named the
+voice of Dog-Tooth and did most of his talking for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then there was Little-Belly, a little man, so thin in the
+middle that he looked as if he had never had enough to eat.&nbsp; Inside
+the mouth of the river, after the sand-bar had combed the strength of
+the breakers, he built a big fish-trap.&nbsp; No man had ever seen or
+dreamed a fish-trap before.&nbsp; He worked weeks on it, with his son
+and his wife, while the rest of us laughed at their labours.&nbsp; But,
+when it was done, the first day he caught more fish in it than could
+the whole tribe in a week, whereat there was great rejoicing.&nbsp;
+There was only one other place in the river for a fish-trap, but, when
+my father and I and a dozen other men started to make a very large trap,
+the guards came from the big grass-house we had built for Dog-Tooth.&nbsp;
+And the guards poked us with their spears and told us begone, because
+Little-Belly was going to build a trap there himself on the word of
+Sea-Lion, who was the voice of Dog-Tooth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There was much grumbling, and my father called a council.&nbsp;
+But, when he rose to speak, him the Sea-Lion thrust through the throat
+with a spear and he died.&nbsp; And Dog-Tooth and Little-Belly, and
+Three-Legs and all that held land said it was good.&nbsp; And Big-Fat
+said it was the will of God.&nbsp; And after that all men were afraid
+to stand up in the council, and there was no more council.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Another man, Pig-Jaw, began to keep goats.&nbsp; He had heard
+about it as among the Meat-Eaters, and it was not long before he had
+many flocks.&nbsp; Other men, who had no land and no fish-traps, and
+who else would have gone hungry, were glad to work for Pig-Jaw, caring
+for his goats, guarding them from wild dogs and tigers, and driving
+them to the feeding pastures in the mountains.&nbsp; In return, Pig-Jaw
+gave them goat-meat to eat and goat-skins to wear, and sometimes they
+traded the goat-meat for fish and corn and fat roots.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was this time that money came to be.&nbsp; Sea-Lion was
+the man who first thought of it, and he talked it over with Dog-Tooth
+and Big-Fat.&nbsp; You see, these three were the ones that got a share
+of everything in the Sea Valley.&nbsp; One basket out of every three
+of corn was theirs, one fish out of every three, one goat out of every
+three.&nbsp; In return, they fed the guards and the watchers, and kept
+the rest for themselves.&nbsp; Sometimes, when a big haul of fish was
+made they did not know what to do with all their share.&nbsp; So Sea-Lion
+set the women to making money out of shell&mdash;little round pieces,
+with a hole in each one, and all made smooth and fine.&nbsp; These were
+strung on strings, and the strings were called money.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Each string was of the value of thirty fish, or forty fish,
+but the women, who made a string a day, were given two fish each.&nbsp;
+The fish came out of the shares of Dog-Tooth, Big-Fat, and Sea-Lion,
+which they three did not eat.&nbsp; So all the money belonged to them.&nbsp;
+Then they told Three-Legs and the other land-owners that they would
+take their share of corn and roots in money, Little-Belly that they
+would take their share of fish in money, Pig-Jaw that they would take
+their share of goats and cheese in money.&nbsp; Thus, a man who had
+nothing, worked for one who had, and was paid in money.&nbsp; With this
+money he bought corn, and fish, and meat, and cheese.&nbsp; And Three-Legs
+and all owners of things paid Dog-Tooth and Sea-Lion and Big-Fat their
+share in money.&nbsp; And they paid the guards and watchers in money,
+and the guards and watchers bought their food with the money.&nbsp;
+And, because money was cheap, Dog-Tooth made many more men into guards.&nbsp;
+And, because money was cheap to make, a number of men began to make
+money out of shell themselves.&nbsp; But the guards stuck spears in
+them and shot them full of arrows, because they were trying to break
+up the tribe.&nbsp; It was bad to break up the tribe, for then the Meat-Eaters
+would come over the divide and kill them all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Big-Fat was the voice of God, but he took Broken-Rib and made
+him into a priest, so that he became the voice of Big-Fat and did most
+of his talking for him.&nbsp; And both had other men to be servants
+to them.&nbsp; So, also, did Little-Belly and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw
+have other men to lie in the sun about their grass houses and carry
+messages for them and give commands.&nbsp; And more and more were men
+taken away from work, so that those that were left worked harder than
+ever before.&nbsp; It seemed that men desired to do no work and strove
+to seek out other ways whereby men should work for them.&nbsp; Crooked-Eyes
+found such a way.&nbsp; He made the first fire-brew out of corn.&nbsp;
+And thereafter he worked no more, for he talked secretly with Dog-Tooth
+and Big-Fat and the other masters, and it was agreed that he should
+be the only one to make fire-brew.&nbsp; But Crooked-Eyes did no work
+himself.&nbsp; Men made the brew for him, and he paid them in money.&nbsp;
+Then he sold the fire-brew for money, and all men bought.&nbsp; And
+many strings of money did he give Dog-Tooth and Sea-Lion and all of
+them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Big-Fat and Broken-Rib stood by Dog-Tooth when he took his
+second wife, and his third wife.&nbsp; They said Dog-Tooth was different
+from other men and second only to God that Big-Fat kept in his taboo
+house, and Dog-Tooth said so, too, and wanted to know who were they
+to grumble about how many wives he took.&nbsp; Dog-Tooth had a big canoe
+made, and, many more men he took from work, who did nothing and lay
+in the sun, save only when Dog-Tooth went in the canoe, when they paddled
+for him.&nbsp; And he made Tiger-Face head man over all the guards,
+so that Tiger-Face became his right arm, and when he did not like a
+man Tiger-Face killed that man for him.&nbsp; And Tiger-Face, also,
+made another man to be his right arm, and to give commands, and to kill
+for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But this was the strange thing: as the days went by we who
+were left worked harder and harder, and yet did we get less and less
+to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But what of the goats and the corn and the fat roots and the
+fish-trap?&rdquo; spoke up Afraid-of-the-Dark, &ldquo;what of all this?&nbsp;
+Was there not more food to be gained by man&rsquo;s work?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is so,&rdquo; Long-Beard agreed.&nbsp; &ldquo;Three men
+on the fish-trap got more fish than the whole tribe before there was
+a fish-trap.&nbsp; But have I not said we were fools?&nbsp; The more
+food we were able to get, the less food did we have to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But was it not plain that the many men who did not work ate
+it all up?&rdquo; Yellow-Head demanded.</p>
+<p>Long-Beard nodded his head sadly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dog-Tooth&rsquo;s dogs were stuffed with meat, and the men
+who lay in the sun and did no work were rolling in fat, and, at the
+same time, there were little children crying themselves to sleep with
+hunger biting them with every wail.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Deer-Runner was spurred by the recital of famine to tear out a chunk
+of bear-meat and broil it on a stick over the coals.&nbsp; This he devoured
+with smacking lips, while Long-Beard went on:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When we grumbled Big-Fat arose, and with the voice of God
+said that God had chosen the wise men to own the land and the goats
+and the fish-trap, and the fire-brew, and that without these wise men
+we would all be animals, as in the days when we lived in trees.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And there arose one who became a singer of songs for the king.&nbsp;
+Him they called the Bug, because he was small and ungainly of face and
+limb and excelled not in work or deed.&nbsp; He loved the fattest marrow
+bones, the choicest fish, the milk warm from the goats, the first corn
+that was ripe, and the snug place by the fire.&nbsp; And thus, becoming
+singer of songs to the king, he found a way to do nothing and be fat.&nbsp;
+And when the people grumbled more and more, and some threw stones at
+the king&rsquo;s grass house, the Bug sang a song of how good it was
+to be a Fish-Eater.&nbsp; In his song he told that the Fish-Eaters were
+the chosen of God and the finest men God had made.&nbsp; He sang of
+the Meat-Eaters as pigs and crows, and sang how fine and good it was
+for the Fish-Eaters to fight and die doing God&rsquo;s work, which was
+the killing of Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; The words of his song were like fire
+in us, and we clamoured to be led against the Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; And
+we forgot that we were hungry, and why we had grumbled, and were glad
+to be led by Tiger-Face over the divide, where we killed many Meat-Eaters
+and were content.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But things were no better in the Sea Valley.&nbsp; The only
+way to get food was to work for Three-Legs or Little-Belly or Pig-Jaw;
+for there was no land that a man might plant with corn for himself.&nbsp;
+And often there were more men than Three-Legs and the others had work
+for.&nbsp; So these men went hungry, and so did their wives and children
+and their old mothers.&nbsp; Tiger-Face said they could become guards
+if they wanted to, and many of them did, and thereafter they did no
+work except to poke spears in the men who did work and who grumbled
+at feeding so many idlers.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And when we grumbled, ever the Bug sang new songs.&nbsp; He
+said that Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and the rest were strong men, and that
+that was why they had so much.&nbsp; He said that we should be glad
+to have strong men with us, else would we perish of our own worthlessness
+and the Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; Therefore, we should be glad to let such
+strong men have all they could lay hands on.&nbsp; And Big-Fat and Pig-Jaw
+and Tiger-Face and all the rest said it was true.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;All right,&rsquo; said Long-Fang, &lsquo;then will
+I, too, be a strong man.&rsquo;&nbsp; And he got himself corn, and began
+to make fire-brew and sell it for strings of money.&nbsp; And, when
+Crooked-Eyes complained, Long-Fang said that he was himself a strong
+man, and that if Crooked-Eyes made any more noise he would bash his
+brains out for him.&nbsp; Whereat Crooked-Eyes was afraid and went and
+talked with Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw.&nbsp; And all three went and talked
+to Dog-Tooth.&nbsp; And Dog-Tooth spoke to Sea-Lion, and Sea-Lion sent
+a runner with a message to Tiger-Face.&nbsp; And Tiger-Face sent his
+guards, who burned Long-Fang&rsquo;s house along with the fire-brew
+he had made.&nbsp; Also, they killed him and all his family.&nbsp; And
+Big-Fat said it was good, and the Bug sang another song about how good
+it was to observe the law, and what a fine land the Sea Valley was,
+and how every man who loved the Sea Valley should go forth and kill
+the bad Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; And again his song was as fire to us, and
+we forgot to grumble.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was very strange.&nbsp; When Little-Belly caught too many
+fish, so that it took a great many to sell for a little money, he threw
+many of the fish back into the sea, so that more money would be paid
+for what was left.&nbsp; And Three-Legs often let many large fields
+lie idle so as to get more money for his corn.&nbsp; And the women,
+making so much money out of shell that much money was needed to buy
+with, Dog-Tooth stopped the making of money.&nbsp; And the women had
+no work, so they took the places of the men.&nbsp; I worked on the fish-trap,
+getting a string of money every five days.&nbsp; But my sister now did
+my work, getting a string of money for every ten days.&nbsp; The women
+worked cheaper, and there was less food, and Tiger-Face said we should
+become guards.&nbsp; Only I could not become a guard because I was lame
+of one leg and Tiger-Face would not have me.&nbsp; And there were many
+like me.&nbsp; We were broken men and only fit to beg for work or to
+take care of the babies while the women worked.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Yellow-Head, too, was made hungry by the recital and broiled a piece
+of bear-meat on the coals.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But why didn&rsquo;t you rise up, all of you, and kill Three-Legs
+and Pig-Jaw and Big-Fat and the rest and get enough to eat?&rdquo; Afraid-in-the-Dark
+demanded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because we could not understand,&rdquo; Long-Beard answered.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;There was too much to think about, and, also, there were the
+guards sticking spears into us, and Big-Fat talking about God, and the
+Bug singing new songs.&nbsp; And when any man did think right, and said
+so, Tiger-Face and the guards got him, and he was tied out to the rocks
+at low tide so that the rising waters drowned him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was a strange thing&mdash;the money.&nbsp; It was like
+the Bug&rsquo;s songs.&nbsp; It seemed all right, but it wasn&rsquo;t,
+and we were slow to understand.&nbsp; Dog-Tooth began to gather the
+money in.&nbsp; He put it in a big pile, in a grass house, with guards
+to watch it day and night.&nbsp; And the more money he piled in the
+house the dearer money became, so that a man worked a longer time for
+a string of money than before.&nbsp; Then, too, there was always talk
+of war with the Meat-Eaters, and Dog-Tooth and Tiger-Face filled many
+houses with corn, and dried fish, and smoked goat-meat, and cheese.&nbsp;
+And with the food, piled there in mountains the people had not enough
+to eat.&nbsp; But what did it matter?&nbsp; Whenever the people grumbled
+too loudly the Bug sang a new song, and Big-Fat said it was God&rsquo;s
+word that we should kill Meat-Eaters, and Tiger-Face led us over the
+divide to kill and be killed.&nbsp; I was not good enough to be a guard
+and lie fat in the sun, but, when we made war, Tiger-Face was glad to
+take me along.&nbsp; And when we had eaten, all the food stored in the
+houses we stopped fighting and went back to work to pile up more food.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then were you all crazy,&rdquo; commented Deer-Runner.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then were we indeed all crazy,&rdquo; Long-Beard agreed.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It was strange, all of it.&nbsp; There was Split-Nose.&nbsp;
+He said everything was wrong.&nbsp; He said it was true that we grew
+strong by adding our strength together.&nbsp; And he said that, when
+we first formed the tribe, it was right that the men whose strength
+hurt the tribe should be shorn of their strength&mdash;men who bashed
+their brothers&rsquo; heads and stole their brothers&rsquo; wives.&nbsp;
+And now, he said, the tribe was not getting stronger, but was getting
+weaker, because there were men with another kind of strength that were
+hurting the tribe&mdash;men who had the strength of the land, like Three-Legs;
+who had the strength of the fish-trap, like Little-Belly; who had the
+strength of all the goat-meat, like Pig-Jaw.&nbsp; The thing to do,
+Split-Nose said, was to shear these men of their evil strength; to make
+them go to work, all of them, and to let no man eat who did not work.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And the Bug sang another song about men like Split-Nose, who
+wanted to go back, and live in trees.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yet Split-Nose said no; that he did not want to go back, but
+ahead; that they grew strong only as they added their strength together;
+and that, if the Fish-Eaters would add their strength to the Meat-Eaters,
+there would be no more fighting and no more watchers and no more guards,
+and that, with all men working, there would be so much food that each
+man would have to work not more than two hours a day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then the Bug sang again, and he sang that Split-Nose was lazy,
+and he sang also the &lsquo;Song of the Bees.&rsquo;&nbsp; It was a
+strange song, and those who listened were made mad, as from the drinking
+of strong fire-brew.&nbsp; The song was of a swarm of bees, and of a
+robber wasp who had come in to live with the bees and who was stealing
+all their honey.&nbsp; The wasp was lazy and told them there was no
+need to work; also, he told them to make friends with the bears, who
+were not honey-stealers but only very good friends.&nbsp; And the Bug
+sang in crooked words, so that those who listened knew that the swarm
+was the Sea Valley tribe, that the bears were the Meat-Eaters, and that
+the lazy wasp was Split-Nose.&nbsp; And when the Bug sang that the bees
+listened to the wasp till the swarm was near to perishing, the people
+growled and snarled, and when the Bug sang that at last the good bees
+arose and stung the wasp to death, the people picked up stones from
+the ground and stoned Split-Nose to death till there was naught to be
+seen of him but the heap of stones they had flung on top of him.&nbsp;
+And there were many poor people who worked long and hard and had not
+enough to eat that helped throw the stones on Split-Nose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And, after the death of Split-Nose, there was but one other
+man that dared rise up and speak his mind, and that man was Hair-Face.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Where is the strength of the strong?&rsquo; he asked.&nbsp; &lsquo;We
+are the strong, all of us, and we are stronger than Dog-Tooth and Tiger-Face
+and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and all the rest who do nothing and eat much
+and weaken us by the hurt of their strength which is bad strength.&nbsp;
+Men who are slaves are not strong.&nbsp; If the man who first found
+the virtue and use of fire had used his strength we would have been
+his slaves, as we are the slaves to-day of Little-Belly, who found the
+virtue and use of the fish-trap; and of the men who found the virtue
+and use of the land, and the goats, and the fire-brew.&nbsp; Before,
+we lived in trees, my brothers, and no man was safe.&nbsp; But we fight
+no more with one another.&nbsp; We have added our strength together.&nbsp;
+Then let us fight no more with the Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; Let us add our
+strength and their strength together.&nbsp; Then will we be indeed strong.&nbsp;
+And then we will go out together, the Fish-Eaters and the Meat-Eaters,
+and we will kill the tigers and the lions and the wolves and the wild
+dogs, and we will pasture our goats on all the hill-sides and plant
+our corn and fat roots in all the high mountain valleys.&nbsp; In that
+day we will be so strong that all the wild animals will flee before
+us and perish.&nbsp; And nothing will withstand us, for the strength
+of each man will be the strength of all men in the world.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So said Hair-Face, and they killed him, because, they said,
+he was a wild man and wanted to go back and live in a tree.&nbsp; It
+was very strange.&nbsp; Whenever a man arose and wanted to go forward
+all those that stood still said he went backward and should be killed.&nbsp;
+And the poor people helped stone him, and were fools.&nbsp; We were
+all fools, except those who were fat and did no work.&nbsp; The fools
+were called wise, and the wise were stoned.&nbsp; Men who worked did
+not get enough to eat, and the men who did not work ate too much.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And the tribe went on losing strength.&nbsp; The children
+were weak and sickly.&nbsp; And, because we ate not enough, strange
+sicknesses came among us and we died like flies.&nbsp; And then the
+Meat-Eaters came upon us.&nbsp; We had followed Tiger-Face too often
+over the divide and killed them.&nbsp; And now they came to repay in
+blood.&nbsp; We were too weak and sick to man the big wall.&nbsp; And
+they killed us, all of us, except some of the women, which they took
+away with them.&nbsp; The Bug and I escaped, and I hid in the wildest
+places, and became a hunter of meat and went hungry no more.&nbsp; I
+stole a wife from the Meat-Eaters, and went to live in the caves of
+the high mountains where they could not find me.&nbsp; And we had three
+sons, and each son stole a wife from the Meat-Eaters.&nbsp; And the
+rest you know, for are you not the sons of my sons?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But the Bug?&rdquo; queried Deer-Runner.&nbsp; &ldquo;What
+became of him?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He went to live with the Meat-Eaters and to be a singer of
+songs to the king.&nbsp; He is an old man now, but he sings the same
+old songs; and, when a man rises up to go forward, he sings that that
+man is walking backward to live in a tree.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Long-Beard dipped into the bear-carcass and sucked with toothless
+gums at a fist of suet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Some day,&rdquo; he said, wiping his hands on his sides, &ldquo;all
+the fools will be dead and then all live men will go forward.&nbsp;
+The strength of the strong will be theirs, and they will add their strength
+together, so that, of all the men in the world, not one will fight with
+another.&nbsp; There will be no guards nor watchers on the walls.&nbsp;
+And all the hunting animals will be killed, and, as Hair-Face said,
+all the hill-sides will be pastured with goats and all the high mountain
+valleys will be planted with corn and fat roots.&nbsp; And all men will
+be brothers, and no man will lie idle in the sun and be fed by his fellows.&nbsp;
+And all that will come to pass in the time when the fools are dead,
+and when there will be no more singers to stand still and sing the &lsquo;Song
+of the Bees.&rsquo;&nbsp; Bees are not men.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>SOUTH OF THE SLOT</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Old San Francisco, which is the San Francisco of only the other day,
+the day before the Earthquake, was divided midway by the Slot.&nbsp;
+The Slot was an iron crack that ran along the centre of Market Street,
+and from the Slot arose the burr of the ceaseless, endless cable that
+was hitched at will to the cars it dragged up and down.&nbsp; In truth,
+there were two slots, but in the quick grammar of the West time was
+saved by calling them, and much more that they stood for, &ldquo;The
+Slot.&rdquo;&nbsp; North of the Slot were the theatres, hotels, and
+shopping district, the banks and the staid, respectable business houses.&nbsp;
+South of the Slot were the factories, slums, laundries, machine-shops,
+boiler works, and the abodes of the working class.</p>
+<p>The Slot was the metaphor that expressed the class cleavage of Society,
+and no man crossed this metaphor, back and forth, more successfully
+than Freddie Drummond.&nbsp; He made a practice of living in both worlds,
+and in both worlds he lived signally well.&nbsp; Freddie Drummond was
+a professor in the Sociology Department of the University of California,
+and it was as a professor of sociology that he first crossed over the
+Slot, lived for six mouths in the great labour-ghetto, and wrote <i>The
+Unskilled Labourer&mdash;</i>a book that was hailed everywhere as an
+able contribution to the literature of progress, and as a splendid reply
+to the literature of discontent.&nbsp; Politically and economically
+it was nothing if not orthodox.&nbsp; Presidents of great railway systems
+bought whole editions of it to give to their employees.&nbsp; The Manufacturers&rsquo;
+Association alone distributed fifty thousand copies of it.&nbsp; In
+a way, it was almost as immoral as the far-famed and notorious <i>Message
+to Garcia</i>, while in its pernicious preachment of thrift and content
+it ran <i>Mr. Wiggs of the Cabbage</i> <i>Patch</i> a close second.</p>
+<p>At first, Freddie Drummond found it monstrously difficult to get
+along among the working people.&nbsp; He was not used to their ways,
+and they certainly were not used to his.&nbsp; They were suspicious.&nbsp;
+He had no antecedents.&nbsp; He could talk of no previous jobs.&nbsp;
+His hands were soft.&nbsp; His extraordinary politeness was ominous.&nbsp;
+His first idea of the r&ocirc;le he would play was that of a free and
+independent American who chose to work with his hands and no explanations
+given.&nbsp; But it wouldn&rsquo;t do, as he quickly discovered.&nbsp;
+At the beginning they accepted him, very provisionally, as a freak.&nbsp;
+A little later, as he began to know his way about better, he insensibly
+drifted into the r&ocirc;le that would work&mdash;namely, he was a man
+who had seen better days, very much better days, but who was down on
+his luck, though, to be sure, only temporarily.</p>
+<p>He learned many things, and generalized much and often erroneously,
+all of which can be found in the pages of <i>The Unskilled Labourer</i>.&nbsp;
+He saved himself, however, after the sane and conservative manner of
+his kind, by labelling his generalizations as &ldquo;tentative.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+One of his first experiences was in the great Wilmax Cannery, where
+he was put on piece-work making small packing cases.&nbsp; A box factory
+supplied the parts, and all Freddie Drummond had to do was to fit the
+parts into a form and drive in the wire nails with a light hammer.</p>
+<p>It was not skilled labour, but it was piece-work.&nbsp; The ordinary
+labourers in the cannery got a dollar and a half per day.&nbsp; Freddie
+Drummond found the other men on the same job with him jogging along
+and earning a dollar and seventy-five cents a day.&nbsp; By the third
+day he was able to earn the same.&nbsp; But he was ambitious.&nbsp;
+He did not care to jog along and, being unusually able and fit, on the
+fourth day earned two dollars.</p>
+<p>The next day, having keyed himself up to an exhausting high-tension,
+he earned two dollars and a half.&nbsp; His fellow workers favoured
+him with scowls and black looks, and made remarks, slangily witty and
+which he did not understand, about sucking up to the boss and pace-making
+and holding her down, when the rains set in.&nbsp; He was astonished
+at their malingering on piece-work, generalized about the inherent laziness
+of the unskilled labourer, and proceeded next day to hammer out three
+dollars&rsquo; worth of boxes.</p>
+<p>And that night, coming out of the cannery, he was interviewed by
+his fellow workmen, who were very angry and incoherently slangy.&nbsp;
+He failed to comprehend the motive behind their action.&nbsp; The action
+itself was strenuous.&nbsp; When he refused to ease down his pace and
+bleated about freedom of contract, independent Americanism, and the
+dignity of toil, they proceeded to spoil his pace-making ability.&nbsp;
+It was a fierce battle, for Drummond was a large man and an athlete,
+but the crowd finally jumped on his ribs, walked on his face, and stamped
+on his fingers, so that it was only after lying in bed for a week that
+he was able to get up and look for another job.&nbsp; All of which is
+duly narrated in that first book of his, in the chapter entitled &ldquo;The
+Tyranny of Labour.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A little later, in another department of the Wilmax Cannery, lumping
+as a fruit-distributor among the women, he essayed to carry two boxes
+of fruit at a time, and was promptly reproached by the other fruit-lumpers.&nbsp;
+It was palpable malingering; but he was there, he decided, not to change
+conditions, but to observe.&nbsp; So he lumped one box thereafter, and
+so well did he study the art of shirking that he wrote a special chapter
+on it, with the last several paragraphs devoted to tentative generalizations.</p>
+<p>In those six months he worked at many jobs and developed into a very
+good imitation of a genuine worker.&nbsp; He was a natural linguist,
+and he kept notebooks, making a scientific study of the workers&rsquo;
+slang or argot, until he could talk quite intelligibly.&nbsp; This language
+also enabled him more intimately to follow their mental processes, and
+thereby to gather much data for a projected chapter in some future book
+which he planned to entitle <i>Synthesis of Working</i>-<i>Class Psychology.</i></p>
+<p>Before he arose to the surface from that first plunge into the underworld
+he discovered that he was a good actor and demonstrated the plasticity
+of his nature.&nbsp; He was himself astonished at his own fluidity.&nbsp;
+Once having mastered the language and conquered numerous fastidious
+qualms, he found that he could flow into any nook of working-class life
+and fit it so snugly as to feel comfortably at home.&nbsp; As he said,
+in the preface to his second book, <i>The Toiler</i>, he endeavoured
+really to know the working people, and the only possible way to achieve
+this was to work beside them, eat their food, sleep in their beds, be
+amused with their amusements, think their thoughts, and feel their feeling.</p>
+<p>He was not a deep thinker.&nbsp; He had no faith in new theories.&nbsp;
+All his norms and criteria were conventional.&nbsp; His Thesis on the
+French Revolution was noteworthy in college annals, not merely for its
+painstaking and voluminous accuracy, but for the fact that it was the
+dryest, deadest, most formal, and most orthodox screed ever written
+on the subject.&nbsp; He was a very reserved man, and his natural inhibition
+was large in quantity and steel-like in quality.&nbsp; He had but few
+friends.&nbsp; He was too undemonstrative, too frigid.&nbsp; He had
+no vices, nor had any one ever discovered any temptations.&nbsp; Tobacco
+he detested, beer he abhorred, and he was never known to drink anything
+stronger than an occasional light wine at dinner.</p>
+<p>When a freshman he had been baptized &ldquo;Ice-Box&rdquo; by his
+warmer-blooded fellows.&nbsp; As a member of the faculty he was known
+as &ldquo;Cold-Storage.&rdquo;&nbsp; He had but one grief, and that
+was &ldquo;Freddie.&rdquo;&nbsp; He had earned it when he played full-back
+in the &lsquo;Varsity eleven, and his formal soul had never succeeded
+in living it down.&nbsp; &ldquo;Freddie&rdquo; he would ever be, except
+officially, and through nightmare vistas he looked into a future when
+his world would speak of him as &ldquo;Old Freddie.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>For he was very young to be a doctor of sociology, only twenty-seven,
+and he looked younger.&nbsp; In appearance and atmosphere he was a strapping
+big college man, smooth-faced and easy-mannered, clean and simple and
+wholesome, with a known record of being a splendid athlete and an implied
+vast possession of cold culture of the inhibited sort.&nbsp; He never
+talked shop out of class and committee rooms, except later on, when
+his books showered him with distasteful public notice and he yielded
+to the extent of reading occasional papers before certain literary and
+economic societies.</p>
+<p>He did everything right&mdash;too right; and in dress and comportment
+was inevitably correct.&nbsp; Not that he was a dandy.&nbsp; Far from
+it.&nbsp; He was a college man, in dress and carriage as like as a pea
+to the type that of late years is being so generously turned out of
+our institutions of higher learning.&nbsp; His handshake was satisfyingly
+strong and stiff.&nbsp; His blue eyes were coldly blue and convincingly
+sincere.&nbsp; His voice, firm and masculine, clean and crisp of enunciation,
+was pleasant to the ear.&nbsp; The one drawback to Freddie Drummond
+was his inhibition.&nbsp; He never unbent.&nbsp; In his football days,
+the higher the tension of the game, the cooler he grew.&nbsp; He was
+noted as a boxer, but he was regarded as an automaton, with the inhuman
+precision of a machine judging distance and timing blows, guarding,
+blocking, and stalling.&nbsp; He was rarely punished himself, while
+he rarely punished an opponent.&nbsp; He was too clever and too controlled
+to permit himself to put a pound more weight into a punch than he intended.&nbsp;
+With him it was a matter of exercise.&nbsp; It kept him fit.</p>
+<p>As time went by, Freddie Drummond found himself more frequently crossing
+the Slot and losing himself in South of Market.&nbsp; His summer and
+winter holidays were spent there, and, whether it was a week or a week-end,
+he found the time spent there to be valuable and enjoyable.&nbsp; And
+there was so much material to be gathered.&nbsp; His third book, <i>Mass
+and Master</i>, became a text-book in the American universities; and
+almost before he knew it, he was at work on a fourth one, <i>The Fallacy
+of the Inefficient</i>.</p>
+<p>Somewhere in his make-up there was a strange twist or quirk.&nbsp;
+Perhaps it was a recoil from his environment and training, or from the
+tempered seed of his ancestors, who had been book-men generation preceding
+generation; but at any rate, he found enjoyment in being down in the
+working-class world.&nbsp; In his own world he was &ldquo;Cold-Storage,&rdquo;
+but down below he was &ldquo;Big&rdquo; Bill Totts, who could drink
+and smoke, and slang and fight, and be an all-round favourite.&nbsp;
+Everybody liked Bill, and more than one working girl made love to him.&nbsp;
+At first he had been merely a good actor, but as time went on, simulation
+became second nature.&nbsp; He no longer played a part, and he loved
+sausages, sausages and bacon, than which, in his own proper sphere,
+there was nothing more loathsome in the way of food.</p>
+<p>From doing the thing for the need&rsquo;s sake, he came to doing
+the thing for the thing&rsquo;s sake.&nbsp; He found himself regretting
+as the time drew near for him to go back to his lecture-room and his
+inhibition.&nbsp; And he often found himself waiting with anticipation
+for the dreamy time to pass when he could cross the Slot and cut loose
+and play the devil.&nbsp; He was not wicked, but as &ldquo;Big&rdquo;
+Bill Totts he did a myriad things that Freddie Drummond would never
+have been permitted to do.&nbsp; Moreover, Freddie Drummond never would
+have wanted to do them.&nbsp; That was the strangest part of his discovery.&nbsp;
+Freddie Drummond and Bill Totts were two totally different creatures.&nbsp;
+The desires and tastes and impulses of each ran counter to the other&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
+Bill Totts could shirk at a job with clear conscience, while Freddie
+Drummond condemned shirking as vicious, criminal, and un-American, and
+devoted whole chapters to condemnation of the vice.&nbsp; Freddie Drummond
+did not care for dancing, but Bill Totts never missed the nights at
+the various dancing clubs, such as The Magnolia, The Western Star, and
+The Elite; while he won a massive silver cup, standing thirty inches
+high, for being the best-sustained character at the Butchers and Meat
+Workers&rsquo; annual grand masked ball.&nbsp; And Bill Totts liked
+the girls and the girls liked him, while Freddie Drummond enjoyed playing
+the ascetic in this particular, was open in his opposition to equal
+suffrage, and cynically bitter in his secret condemnation of coeducation.</p>
+<p>Freddie Drummond changed his manners with his dress, and without
+effort.&nbsp; When he entered the obscure little room used for his transformation
+scenes, he carried himself just a bit too stiffly.&nbsp; He was too
+erect, his shoulders were an inch too far back, while his face was grave,
+almost harsh, and practically expressionless.&nbsp; But when he emerged
+in Bill Totts&rsquo; clothes he was another creature.&nbsp; Bill Totts
+did not slouch, but somehow his whole form limbered up and became graceful.&nbsp;
+The very sound of the voice was changed, and the laugh was loud and
+hearty, while loose speech and an occasional oath were as a matter of
+course on his lips.&nbsp; Also, Bill Totts was a trifle inclined to
+late hours, and at times, in saloons, to be good-naturedly bellicose
+with other workmen.&nbsp; Then, too, at Sunday picnics or when coming
+home from the show, either arm betrayed a practised familiarity in stealing
+around girls&rsquo; waists, while he displayed a wit keen and delightful
+in the flirtatious badinage that was expected of a good fellow in his
+class.</p>
+<p>So thoroughly was Bill Totts himself, so thoroughly a workman, a
+genuine denizen of South of the Slot, that he was as class-conscious
+as the average of his kind, and his hatred for a scab even exceeded
+that of the average loyal union man.&nbsp; During the Water Front Strike,
+Freddie Drummond was somehow able to stand apart from the unique combination,
+and, coldly critical, watch Bill Totts hilariously slug scab longshoremen.&nbsp;
+For Bill Totts was a dues-paying member of the Longshoremen Union and
+had a right to be indignant with the usurpers of his job.&nbsp; &ldquo;Big&rdquo;
+Bill Totts was so very big, and so very able, that it was &ldquo;Big&rdquo;
+Bill to the front when trouble was brewing.&nbsp; From acting outraged
+feelings, Freddie Drummond, in the r&ocirc;le of his other self, came
+to experience genuine outrage, and it was only when he returned to the
+classic atmosphere of the university that he was able, sanely and conservatively,
+to generalize upon his underworld experiences and put them down on paper
+as a trained sociologist should.&nbsp; That Bill Totts lacked the perspective
+to raise him above class-consciousness Freddie Drummond clearly saw.&nbsp;
+But Bill Totts could not see it.&nbsp; When he saw a scab taking his
+job away, he saw red at the same time, and little else did he see.&nbsp;
+It was Freddie Drummond, irreproachably clothed and comported, seated
+at his study desk or facing his class in <i>Sociology</i> 17, who saw
+Bill Totts, and all around Bill Totts, and all around the whole scab
+and union-labour problem and its relation to the economic welfare of
+the United States in the struggle for the world market.&nbsp; Bill Totts
+really wasn&rsquo;t able to see beyond the next meal and the prize-fight
+the following night at the Gaiety Athletic Club.</p>
+<p>It was while gathering material for <i>Women and Work</i> that Freddie
+received his first warning of the danger he was in.&nbsp; He was too
+successful at living in both worlds.&nbsp; This strange dualism he had
+developed was after all very unstable, and, as he sat in his study and
+meditated, he saw that it could not endure.&nbsp; It was really a transition
+stage, and if he persisted he saw that he would inevitably have to drop
+one world or the other.&nbsp; He could not continue in both.&nbsp; And
+as he looked at the row of volumes that graced the upper shelf of his
+revolving book-case, his volumes, beginning with his Thesis and ending
+with <i>Women and Work</i>, he decided that that was the world he would
+hold to and stick by.&nbsp; Bill Totts had served his purpose, but he
+had become a too dangerous accomplice.&nbsp; Bill Totts would have to
+cease.</p>
+<p>Freddie Drummond&rsquo;s fright was due to Mary Condon, President
+of the International Glove Workers&rsquo; Union No. 974.&nbsp; He had
+seen her, first, from the spectators&rsquo; gallery, at the annual convention
+of the Northwest Federation of Labour, and he had seen her through Bill
+Totts&rsquo; eyes, and that individual had been most favourably impressed
+by her.&nbsp; She was not Freddie Drummond&rsquo;s sort at all.&nbsp;
+What if she were a royal-bodied woman, graceful and sinewy as a panther,
+with amazing black eyes that could fill with fire or laughter-love,
+as the mood might dictate?&nbsp; He detested women with a too exuberant
+vitality and a lack of . . . well, of inhibition.&nbsp; Freddie Drummond
+accepted the doctrine of evolution because it was quite universally
+accepted by college men, and he flatly believed that man had climbed
+up the ladder of life out of the weltering muck and mess of lower and
+monstrous organic things.&nbsp; But he was a trifle ashamed of this
+genealogy, and preferred not to think of it.&nbsp; Wherefore, probably,
+he practised his iron inhibition and preached it to others, and preferred
+women of his own type, who could shake free of this bestial and regrettable
+ancestral line and by discipline and control emphasize the wideness
+of the gulf that separated them from what their dim forbears had been.</p>
+<p>Bill Totts had none of these considerations.&nbsp; He had liked Mary
+Condon from the moment his eyes first rested on her in the convention
+hall, and he had made it a point, then and there, to find out who she
+was.&nbsp; The next time he met her, and quite by accident, was when
+he was driving an express waggon for Pat Morrissey.&nbsp; It was in
+a lodging-house in Mission Street, where he had been called to take
+a trunk into storage.&nbsp; The landlady&rsquo;s daughter had called
+him and led him to the little bedroom, the occupant of which, a glove-maker,
+had just been removed to hospital.&nbsp; But Bill did not know this.&nbsp;
+He stooped, up-ended the trunk, which was a large one, got it on his
+shoulder, and struggled to his feet with his back toward the open door.&nbsp;
+At that moment he heard a woman&rsquo;s voice.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Belong to the union?&rdquo; was the question asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aw, what&rsquo;s it to you?&rdquo; he retorted.&nbsp; &ldquo;Run
+along now, an&rsquo; git outa my way.&nbsp; I wanta turn round.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The next he know, big as he was, he was whirled half around and sent
+reeling backward, the trunk overbalancing him, till he fetched up with
+a crash against the wall.&nbsp; He started to swear, but at the same
+instant found himself looking into Mary Condon&rsquo;s flashing, angry
+eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I b&rsquo;long to the union,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;I was only kiddin&rsquo; you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s your card?&rdquo; she demanded in businesslike
+tones.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In my pocket.&nbsp; But I can&rsquo;t git it out now.&nbsp;
+This trunk&rsquo;s too damn heavy.&nbsp; Come on down to the waggon
+an&rsquo; I&rsquo;ll show it to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Put that trunk down,&rdquo; was the command.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What for?&nbsp; I got a card, I&rsquo;m tellin&rsquo; you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Put it down, that&rsquo;s all.&nbsp; No scab&rsquo;s going
+to handle that trunk.&nbsp; You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you
+big coward, scabbing on honest men.&nbsp; Why don&rsquo;t you join the
+union and be a man?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mary Condon&rsquo;s colour had left her face, and it was apparent
+that she was in a rage.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To think of a big man like you turning traitor to his class.&nbsp;
+I suppose you&rsquo;re aching to join the militia for a chance to shoot
+down union drivers the next strike.&nbsp; You may belong to the militia
+already, for that matter.&nbsp; You&rsquo;re the sort&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold on, now, that&rsquo;s too much!&rdquo;&nbsp; Bill dropped
+the trunk to the floor with a bang, straightened up, and thrust his
+hand into his inside coat pocket.&nbsp; &ldquo;I told you I was only
+kiddin&rsquo;.&nbsp; There, look at that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a union card properly enough.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right, take it along,&rdquo; Mary Condon said.&nbsp; &ldquo;And
+the next time don&rsquo;t kid.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her face relaxed as she noticed the ease with which he got the big
+trunk to his shoulder, and her eyes glowed as they glanced over the
+graceful massiveness of the man.&nbsp; But Bill did not see that.&nbsp;
+He was too busy with the trunk.</p>
+<p>The next time he saw Mary Condon was during the Laundry Strike.&nbsp;
+The Laundry Workers, but recently organized, were green at the business,
+and had petitioned Mary Condon to engineer the strike.&nbsp; Freddie
+Drummond had had an inkling of what was coming, and had sent Bill Totts
+to join the union and investigate.&nbsp; Bill&rsquo;s job was in the
+wash-room, and the men had been called out first, that morning, in order
+to stiffen the courage of the girls; and Bill chanced to be near the
+door to the mangle-room when Mary Condon started to enter.&nbsp; The
+superintendent, who was both large and stout, barred her way.&nbsp;
+He wasn&rsquo;t going to have his girls called out, and he&rsquo;d teach
+her a lesson to mind her own business.&nbsp; And as Mary tried to squeeze
+past him he thrust her back with a fat hand on her shoulder.&nbsp; She
+glanced around and saw Bill.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Here you, Mr. Totts,&rdquo; she called.&nbsp; &ldquo;Lend
+a hand.&nbsp; I want to get in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Bill experienced a startle of warm surprise.&nbsp; She had remembered
+his name from his union card.&nbsp; The next moment the superintendent
+had been plucked from the doorway raving about rights under the law,
+and the girls were deserting their machines.&nbsp; During the rest of
+that short and successful strike, Bill constituted himself Mary Condon&rsquo;s
+henchman and messenger, and when it was over returned to the University
+to be Freddie Drummond and to wonder what Bill Totts could see in such
+a woman.</p>
+<p>Freddie Drummond was entirely safe, but Bill had fallen in love.&nbsp;
+There was no getting away from the fact of it, and it was this fact
+that had given Freddie Drummond his warning.&nbsp; Well, he had done
+his work, and his adventures could cease.&nbsp; There was no need for
+him to cross the Slot again.&nbsp; All but the last three chapters of
+his latest, <i>Labour Tactics and Strategy</i>, was finished, and he
+had sufficient material on hand adequately to supply those chapters.</p>
+<p>Another conclusion he arrived at, was that in order to sheet-anchor
+himself as Freddie Drummond, closer ties and relations in his own social
+nook were necessary.&nbsp; It was time that he was married, anyway,
+and he was fully aware that if Freddie Drummond didn&rsquo;t get married,
+Bill Totts assuredly would, and the complications were too awful to
+contemplate.&nbsp; And so, enters Catherine Van Vorst.&nbsp; She was
+a college woman herself, and her father, the one wealthy member of the
+faculty, was the head of the Philosophy Department as well.&nbsp; It
+would be a wise marriage from every standpoint, Freddie Drummond concluded
+when the engagement was consummated and announced.&nbsp; In appearance
+cold and reserved, aristocratic and wholesomely conservative, Catherine
+Van Vorst, though warm in her way, possessed an inhibition equal to
+Drummond&rsquo;s.</p>
+<p>All seemed well with him, but Freddie Drummond could not quite shake
+off the call of the underworld, the lure of the free and open, of the
+unhampered, irresponsible life South of the Slot.&nbsp; As the time
+of his marriage approached, he felt that he had indeed sowed wild oats,
+and he felt, moreover, what a good thing it would be if he could have
+but one wild fling more, play the good fellow and the wastrel one last
+time, ere he settled down to grey lecture-rooms and sober matrimony.&nbsp;
+And, further to tempt him, the very last chapter of <i>Labour Tactics
+and Strategy</i> remained unwritten for lack of a trifle more of essential
+data which he had neglected to gather.</p>
+<p>So Freddie Drummond went down for the last time as Bill Totts, got
+his data, and, unfortunately, encountered Mary Condon.&nbsp; Once more
+installed in his study, it was not a pleasant thing to look back upon.&nbsp;
+It made his warning doubly imperative.&nbsp; Bill Totts had behaved
+abominably.&nbsp; Not only had he met Mary Condon at the Central Labour
+Council, but he had stopped at a chop-house with her, on the way home,
+and treated her to oysters.&nbsp; And before they parted at her door,
+his arms had been about her, and he had kissed her on the lips and kissed
+her repeatedly.&nbsp; And her last words in his ear, words uttered softly
+with a catchy sob in the throat that was nothing more nor less than
+a love cry, were &ldquo;Bill . . . dear, dear Bill.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Freddie Drummond shuddered at the recollection.&nbsp; He saw the
+pit yawning for him.&nbsp; He was not by nature a polygamist, and he
+was appalled at the possibilities of the situation.&nbsp; It would have
+to be put an end to, and it would end in one only of two ways: either
+he must become wholly Bill Totts and be married to Mary Condon, or he
+must remain wholly Freddie Drummond and be married to Catherine Van
+Vorst.&nbsp; Otherwise, his conduct would be beneath contempt and horrible.</p>
+<p>In the several months that followed, San Francisco was torn with
+labour strife.&nbsp; The unions and the employers&rsquo; associations
+had locked horns with a determination that looked as if they intended
+to settle the matter, one way or the other, for all time.&nbsp; But
+Freddie Drummond corrected proofs, lectured classes, and did not budge.&nbsp;
+He devoted himself to Catherine Van Vorst, and day by day found more
+to respect and admire in her&mdash;nay, even to love in her.&nbsp; The
+Street Car Strike tempted him, but not so severely as he would have
+expected; and the great Meat Strike came on and left him cold.&nbsp;
+The ghost of Bill Totts had been successfully laid, and Freddie Drummond
+with rejuvenescent zeal tackled a brochure, long-planned, on the topic
+of &ldquo;diminishing returns.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The wedding was two weeks off, when, one afternoon, in San Francisco,
+Catherine Van Vorst picked him up and whisked him away to see a Boys&rsquo;
+Club, recently instituted by the settlement workers in whom she was
+interested.&nbsp; It was her brother&rsquo;s machine, but they were
+alone with the exception of the chauffeur.&nbsp; At the junction with
+Kearny Street, Market and Geary Streets intersect like the sides of
+a sharp-angled letter &ldquo;V.&rdquo;&nbsp; They, in the auto, were
+coming down Market with the intention of negotiating the sharp apex
+and going up Geary.&nbsp; But they did not know what was coming down
+Geary, timed by fate to meet them at the apex.&nbsp; While aware from
+the papers that the Meat Strike was on and that it was an exceedingly
+bitter one, all thought of it at that moment was farthest from Freddie
+Drummond&rsquo;s mind.&nbsp; Was he not seated beside Catherine?&nbsp;
+And besides, he was carefully expositing to her his views on settlement
+work&mdash;views that Bill Totts&rsquo; adventures had played a part
+in formulating.</p>
+<p>Coming down Geary Street were six meat waggons.&nbsp; Beside each
+scab driver sat a policeman.&nbsp; Front and rear, and along each side
+of this procession, marched a protecting escort of one hundred police.&nbsp;
+Behind the police rearguard, at a respectful distance, was an orderly
+but vociferous mob, several blocks in length, that congested the street
+from sidewalk to sidewalk.&nbsp; The Beef Trust was making an effort
+to supply the hotels, and, incidentally, to begin the breaking of the
+strike.&nbsp; The St. Francis had already been supplied, at a cost of
+many broken windows and broken heads, and the expedition was marching
+to the relief of the Palace Hotel.</p>
+<p>All unwitting, Drummond sat beside Catherine, talking settlement
+work, as the auto, honking methodically and dodging traffic, swung in
+a wide curve to get around the apex.&nbsp; A big coal waggon, loaded
+with lump coal and drawn by four huge horses, just debouching from Kearny
+Street as though to turn down Market, blocked their way.&nbsp; The driver
+of the waggon seemed undecided, and the chauffeur, running slow but
+disregarding some shouted warning from the crossing policemen, swerved
+the auto to the left, violating the traffic rules, in order to pass
+in front of the waggon.</p>
+<p>At that moment Freddie Drummond discontinued his conversation.&nbsp;
+Nor did he resume it again, for the situation was developing with the
+rapidity of a transformation scene.&nbsp; He heard the roar of the mob
+at the rear, and caught a glimpse of the helmeted police and the lurching
+meat waggons.&nbsp; At the same moment, laying on his whip, and standing
+up to his task, the coal driver rushed horses and waggon squarely in
+front of the advancing procession, pulled the horses up sharply, and
+put on the big brake.&nbsp; Then he made his lines fast to the brake-handle
+and sat down with the air of one who had stopped to stay.&nbsp; The
+auto had been brought to a stop, too, by his big panting leaders which
+had jammed against it.</p>
+<p>Before the chauffeur could back clear, an old Irishman, driving a
+rickety express waggon and lashing his one horse to a gallop, had locked
+wheels with the auto.&nbsp; Drummond recognized both horse and waggon,
+for he had driven them often himself.&nbsp; The Irishman was Pat Morrissey.&nbsp;
+On the other side a brewery waggon was locking with the coal waggon,
+and an east-bound Kearny Street car, wildly clanging its gong, the motorman
+shouting defiance at the crossing policeman, was dashing forward to
+complete the blockade.&nbsp; And waggon after waggon was locking and
+blocking and adding to the confusion.&nbsp; The meat waggons halted.&nbsp;
+The police were trapped.&nbsp; The roar at the rear increased as the
+mob came on to the attack, while the vanguard of the police charged
+the obstructing waggons.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in for it,&rdquo; Drummond remarked coolly to
+Catherine.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she nodded, with equal coolness.&nbsp; &ldquo;What
+savages they are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His admiration for her doubled on itself.&nbsp; She was indeed his
+sort.&nbsp; He would have been satisfied with her even if she had screamed,
+and clung to him, but this&mdash;this was magnificent.&nbsp; She sat
+in that storm centre as calmly as if it had been no more than a block
+of carriages at the opera.</p>
+<p>The police were struggling to clear a passage.&nbsp; The driver of
+the coal waggon, a big man in shirt sleeves, lighted a pipe and sat
+smoking.&nbsp; He glanced down complacently at a captain of police who
+was raving and cursing at him, and his only acknowledgment was a shrug
+of the shoulders.&nbsp; From the rear arose the rat-rat-tat of clubs
+on heads and a pandemonium of cursing, yelling, and shouting.&nbsp;
+A violent accession of noise proclaimed that the mob had broken through
+and was dragging a scab from a waggon.&nbsp; The police captain reinforced
+from his vanguard, and the mob at the rear was repelled.&nbsp; Meanwhile,
+window after window in the high office building on the right had been
+opened, and the class-conscious clerks were raining a shower of office
+furniture down on the heads of police and scabs.&nbsp; Waste-baskets,
+ink-bottles, paper-weights, type-writers&mdash;anything and everything
+that came to hand was filling the air.</p>
+<p>A policeman, under orders from his captain, clambered to the lofty
+seat of the coal waggon to arrest the driver.&nbsp; And the driver,
+rising leisurely and peacefully to meet him, suddenly crumpled him in
+his arms and threw him down on top of the captain.&nbsp; The driver
+was a young giant, and when he climbed on his load and poised a lump
+of coal in both hands, a policeman, who was just scaling the waggon
+from the side, let go and dropped back to earth.&nbsp; The captain ordered
+half-a-dozen of his men to take the waggon.&nbsp; The teamster, scrambling
+over the load from side to side, beat them down with huge lumps of coal.</p>
+<p>The crowd on the sidewalks and the teamsters on the locked waggons
+roared encouragement and their own delight.&nbsp; The motorman, smashing
+helmets with his controller bar, was beaten into insensibility and dragged
+from his platform.&nbsp; The captain of police, beside himself at the
+repulse of his men, led the next assault on the coal waggon.&nbsp; A
+score of police were swarming up the tall-sided fortress.&nbsp; But
+the teamster multiplied himself.&nbsp; At times there were six or eight
+policemen rolling on the pavement and under the waggon.&nbsp; Engaged
+in repulsing an attack on the rear end of his fortress, the teamster
+turned about to see the captain just in the act of stepping on to the
+seat from the front end.&nbsp; He was still in the air and in most unstable
+equilibrium, when the teamster hurled a thirty-pound lump of coal.&nbsp;
+It caught the captain fairly on the chest, and he went over backward,
+striking on a wheeler&rsquo;s back, tumbling on to the ground, and jamming
+against the rear wheel of the auto.</p>
+<p>Catherine thought he was dead, but he picked himself up and charged
+back.&nbsp; She reached out her gloved hand and patted the flank of
+the snorting, quivering horse.&nbsp; But Drummond did not notice the
+action.&nbsp; He had eyes for nothing save the battle of the coal waggon,
+while somewhere in his complicated psychology, one Bill Totts was heaving
+and straining in an effort to come to life.&nbsp; Drummond believed
+in law and order and the maintenance of the established, but this riotous
+savage within him would have none of it.&nbsp; Then, if ever, did Freddie
+Drummond call upon his iron inhibition to save him.&nbsp; But it is
+written that the house divided against itself must fall.&nbsp; And Freddie
+Drummond found that he had divided all the will and force of him with
+Bill Totts, and between them the entity that constituted the pair of
+them was being wrenched in twain.</p>
+<p>Freddie Drummond sat in the auto, quite composed, alongside Catherine
+Van Vorst; but looking out of Freddie Drummond&rsquo;s eyes was Bill
+Totts, and somewhere behind those eyes, battling for the control of
+their mutual body, were Freddie Drummond the sane and conservative sociologist,
+and Bill Totts, the class-conscious and bellicose union working man.&nbsp;
+It was Bill Totts, looking out of those eyes, who saw the inevitable
+end of the battle on the coal waggon.&nbsp; He saw a policeman gain
+the top of the load, a second, and a third.&nbsp; They lurched clumsily
+on the loose footing, but their long riot-clubs were out and swinging.&nbsp;
+One blow caught the teamster on the head.&nbsp; A second he dodged,
+receiving it on the shoulder.&nbsp; For him the game was plainly up.&nbsp;
+He dashed in suddenly, clutched two policemen in his arms, and hurled
+himself a prisoner to the pavement, his hold never relaxing on his two
+captors.</p>
+<p>Catherine Van Vorst was sick and faint at sight of the blood and
+brutal fighting.&nbsp; But her qualms were vanquished by the sensational
+and most unexpected happening that followed.&nbsp; The man beside her
+emitted an unearthly and uncultured yell and rose to his feet.&nbsp;
+She saw him spring over the front seat, leap to the broad rump of the
+wheeler, and from there gain the waggon.&nbsp; His onslaught was like
+a whirlwind.&nbsp; Before the bewildered officer on the load could guess
+the errand of this conventionally clad but excited-seeming gentleman,
+he was the recipient of a punch that arched him back through the air
+to the pavement.&nbsp; A kick in the face led an ascending policeman
+to follow his example.&nbsp; A rush of three more gained the top and
+locked with Bill Totts in a gigantic clinch, during which his scalp
+was opened up by a club, and coat, vest, and half his starched shirt
+were torn from him.&nbsp; But the three policemen were flung far and
+wide, and Bill Totts, raining down lumps of coal, held the fort.</p>
+<p>The captain led gallantly to the attack, but was bowled over by a
+chunk of coal that burst on his head in black baptism.&nbsp; The need
+of the police was to break the blockade in front before the mob could
+break in at the rear, and Bill Totts&rsquo; need was to hold the waggon
+till the mob did break through.&nbsp; So the battle of the coal went
+on.</p>
+<p>The crowd had recognized its champion.&nbsp; &ldquo;Big&rdquo; Bill,
+as usual, had come to the front, and Catherine Van Vorst was bewildered
+by the cries of &ldquo;Bill!&nbsp; O you Bill!&rdquo; that arose on
+every hand.&nbsp; Pat Morrissey, on his waggon seat, was jumping and
+screaming in an ecstasy, &ldquo;Eat &rsquo;em, Bill!&nbsp; Eat &rsquo;em!&nbsp;
+Eat &rsquo;em alive!&rdquo;&nbsp; From the sidewalk she heard a woman&rsquo;s
+voice cry out, &ldquo;Look out, Bill&mdash;front end!&rdquo;&nbsp; Bill
+took the warning and with well-directed coal cleared the front end of
+the waggon of assailants.&nbsp; Catherine Van Vorst turned her head
+and saw on the curb of the sidewalk a woman with vivid colouring and
+flashing black eyes who was staring with all her soul at the man who
+had been Freddie Drummond a few minutes before.</p>
+<p>The windows of the office building became vociferous with applause.&nbsp;
+A fresh shower of office chairs and filing cabinets descended.&nbsp;
+The mob had broken through on one side the line of waggons, and was
+advancing, each segregated policeman the centre of a fighting group.&nbsp;
+The scabs were torn from their seats, the traces of the horses cut,
+and the frightened animals put in flight.&nbsp; Many policemen crawled
+under the coal waggon for safety, while the loose horses, with here
+and there a policeman on their backs or struggling at their heads to
+hold them, surged across the sidewalk opposite the jam and broke into
+Market Street.</p>
+<p>Catherine Van Vorst heard the woman&rsquo;s voice calling in warning.&nbsp;
+She was back on the curb again, and crying out&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Beat it, Bill!&nbsp; Now&rsquo;s your time!&nbsp; Beat it!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The police for the moment had been swept away.&nbsp; Bill Totts leaped
+to the pavement and made his way to the woman on the sidewalk.&nbsp;
+Catherine Van Vorst saw her throw her arms around him and kiss him on
+the lips; and Catherine Van Vorst watched him curiously as he went on
+down the sidewalk, one arm around the woman, both talking and laughing,
+and he with a volubility and abandon she could never have dreamed possible.</p>
+<p>The police were back again and clearing the jam while waiting for
+reinforcements and new drivers and horses.&nbsp; The mob had done its
+work and was scattering, and Catherine Van Vorst, still watching, could
+see the man she had known as Freddie Drummond.&nbsp; He towered a head
+above the crowd.&nbsp; His arm was still about the woman.&nbsp; And
+she in the motor-car, watching, saw the pair cross Market Street, cross
+the Slot, and disappear down Third Street into the labour ghetto.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>In the years that followed no more lectures were given in the University
+of California by one Freddie Drummond, and no more books on economics
+and the labour question appeared over the name of Frederick A. Drummond.&nbsp;
+On the other hand there arose a new labour leader, William Totts by
+name.&nbsp; He it was who married Mary Condon, President of the International
+Glove Workers&rsquo; Union No. 974; and he it was who called the notorious
+Cooks and Waiters&rsquo; Strike, which, before its successful termination,
+brought out with it scores of other unions, among which, of the more
+remotely allied, were the Chicken Pickers and the Undertakers.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>THE UNPARALLELED INVASION</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>It was in the year 1976 that the trouble between the world and China
+reached its culmination.&nbsp; It was because of this that the celebration
+of the Second Centennial of American Liberty was deferred.&nbsp; Many
+other plans of the nations of the earth were twisted and tangled and
+postponed for the same reason.&nbsp; The world awoke rather abruptly
+to its danger; but for over seventy years, unperceived, affairs had
+been shaping toward this very end.</p>
+<p>The year 1904 logically marks the beginning of the development that,
+seventy years later, was to bring consternation to the whole world.&nbsp;
+The Japanese-Russian War took place in 1904, and the historians of the
+time gravely noted it down that that event marked the entrance of Japan
+into the comity of nations.&nbsp; What it really did mark was the awakening
+of China.&nbsp; This awakening, long expected, had finally been given
+up.&nbsp; The Western nations had tried to arouse China, and they had
+failed.&nbsp; Out of their native optimism and race-egotism they had
+therefore concluded that the task was impossible, that China would never
+awaken.</p>
+<p>What they had failed to take into account was this: <i>that between
+them and China was no common psychological speech</i>.&nbsp; Their thought-processes
+were radically dissimilar.&nbsp; There was no intimate vocabulary.&nbsp;
+The Western mind penetrated the Chinese mind but a short distance when
+it found itself in a fathomless maze.&nbsp; The Chinese mind penetrated
+the Western mind an equally short distance when it fetched up against
+a blank, incomprehensible wall.&nbsp; It was all a matter of language.&nbsp;
+There was no way to communicate Western ideas to the Chinese mind.&nbsp;
+China remained asleep.&nbsp; The material achievement and progress of
+the West was a closed book to her; nor could the West open the book.&nbsp;
+Back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness, in the mind, say,
+of the English-speaking race, was a capacity to thrill to short, Saxon
+words; back and deep down on the tie-ribs of consciousness of the Chinese
+mind was a capacity to thrill to its own hieroglyphics; but the Chinese
+mind could not thrill to short, Saxon words; nor could the English-speaking
+mind thrill to hieroglyphics.&nbsp; The fabrics of their minds were
+woven from totally different stuffs.&nbsp; They were mental aliens.&nbsp;
+And so it was that Western material achievement and progress made no
+dent on the rounded sleep of China.</p>
+<p>Came Japan and her victory over Russia in 1904.&nbsp; Now the Japanese
+race was the freak and paradox among Eastern peoples.&nbsp; In some
+strange way Japan was receptive to all the West had to offer.&nbsp;
+Japan swiftly assimilated the Western ideas, and digested them, and
+so capably applied them that she suddenly burst forth, full-panoplied,
+a world-power.&nbsp; There is no explaining this peculiar openness of
+Japan to the alien culture of the West.&nbsp; As well might be explained
+any biological sport in the animal kingdom.</p>
+<p>Having decisively thrashed the great Russian Empire, Japan promptly
+set about dreaming a colossal dream of empire for herself.&nbsp; Korea
+she had made into a granary and a colony; treaty privileges and vulpine
+diplomacy gave her the monopoly of Manchuria.&nbsp; But Japan was not
+satisfied.&nbsp; She turned her eyes upon China.&nbsp; There lay a vast
+territory, and in that territory were the hugest deposits in the world
+of iron and coal&mdash;the backbone of industrial civilization.&nbsp;
+Given natural resources, the other great factor in industry is labour.&nbsp;
+In that territory was a population of 400,000,000 souls&mdash;one quarter
+of the then total population of the earth.&nbsp; Furthermore, the Chinese
+were excellent workers, while their fatalistic philosophy (or religion)
+and their stolid nervous organization constituted them splendid soldiers&mdash;if
+they were properly managed.&nbsp; Needless to say, Japan was prepared
+to furnish that management.</p>
+<p>But best of all, from the standpoint of Japan, the Chinese was a
+kindred race.&nbsp; The baffling enigma of the Chinese character to
+the West was no baffling enigma to the Japanese.&nbsp; The Japanese
+understood as we could never school ourselves or hope to understand.&nbsp;
+Their mental processes were the same.&nbsp; The Japanese thought with
+the same thought-symbols as did the Chinese, and they thought in the
+same peculiar grooves.&nbsp; Into the Chinese mind the Japanese went
+on where we were balked by the obstacle of incomprehension.&nbsp; They
+took the turning which we could not perceive, twisted around the obstacle,
+and were out of sight in the ramifications of the Chinese mind where
+we could not follow.&nbsp; They were brothers.&nbsp; Long ago one had
+borrowed the other&rsquo;s written language, and, untold generations
+before that, they had diverged from the common Mongol stock.&nbsp; There
+had been changes, differentiations brought about by diverse conditions
+and infusions of other blood; but down at the bottom of their beings,
+twisted into the fibres of them, was a heritage in common, a sameness
+in kind that time had not obliterated.</p>
+<p>And so Japan took upon herself the management of China.&nbsp; In
+the years immediately following the war with Russia, her agents swarmed
+over the Chinese Empire.&nbsp; A thousand miles beyond the last mission
+station toiled her engineers and spies, clad as coolies, under the guise
+of itinerant merchants or proselytizing Buddhist priests, noting down
+the horse-power of every waterfall, the likely sites for factories,
+the heights of mountains and passes, the strategic advantages and weaknesses,
+the wealth of the farming valleys, the number of bullocks in a district
+or the number of labourers that could be collected by forced levies.&nbsp;
+Never was there such a census, and it could have been taken by no other
+people than the dogged, patient, patriotic Japanese.</p>
+<p>But in a short time secrecy was thrown to the winds.&nbsp; Japan&rsquo;s
+officers reorganized the Chinese army; her drill sergeants made the
+mediaeval warriors over into twentieth century soldiers, accustomed
+to all the modern machinery of war and with a higher average of marksmanship
+than the soldiers of any Western nation.&nbsp; The engineers of Japan
+deepened and widened the intricate system of canals, built factories
+and foundries, netted the empire with telegraphs and telephones, and
+inaugurated the era of railroad-building.&nbsp; It was these same protagonists
+of machine-civilization that discovered the great oil deposits of Chunsan,
+the iron mountains of Whang-Sing, the copper ranges of Chinchi, and
+they sank the gas wells of Wow-Wee, that most marvellous reservoir of
+natural gas in all the world.</p>
+<p>In China&rsquo;s councils of empire were the Japanese emissaries.&nbsp;
+In the ears of the statesmen whispered the Japanese statesmen.&nbsp;
+The political reconstruction of the Empire was due to them.&nbsp; They
+evicted the scholar class, which was violently reactionary, and put
+into office progressive officials.&nbsp; And in every town and city
+of the Empire newspapers were started.&nbsp; Of course, Japanese editors
+ran the policy of these papers, which policy they got direct from Tokio.&nbsp;
+It was these papers that educated and made progressive the great mass
+of the population.</p>
+<p>China was at last awake.&nbsp; Where the West had failed, Japan succeeded.&nbsp;
+She had transmuted Western culture and achievement into terms that were
+intelligible to the Chinese understanding.&nbsp; Japan herself, when
+she so suddenly awakened, had astounded the world.&nbsp; But at the
+time she was only forty millions strong.&nbsp; China&rsquo;s awakening,
+with her four hundred millions and the scientific advance of the world,
+was frightfully astounding.&nbsp; She was the colossus of the nations,
+and swiftly her voice was heard in no uncertain tones in the affairs
+and councils of the nations.&nbsp; Japan egged her on, and the proud
+Western peoples listened with respectful ears.</p>
+<p>China&rsquo;s swift and remarkable rise was due, perhaps more than
+to anything else, to the superlative quality of her labour.&nbsp; The
+Chinese was the perfect type of industry.&nbsp; He had always been that.&nbsp;
+For sheer ability to work no worker in the world could compare with
+him.&nbsp; Work was the breath of his nostrils.&nbsp; It was to him
+what wandering and fighting in far lands and spiritual adventure had
+been to other peoples.&nbsp; Liberty, to him, epitomized itself in access
+to the means of toil.&nbsp; To till the soil and labour interminably
+was all he asked of life and the powers that be.&nbsp; And the awakening
+of China had given its vast population not merely free and unlimited
+access to the means of toil, but access to the highest and most scientific
+machine-means of toil.</p>
+<p>China rejuvenescent!&nbsp; It was but a step to China rampant.&nbsp;
+She discovered a new pride in herself and a will of her own.&nbsp; She
+began to chafe under the guidance of Japan, but she did not chafe long.&nbsp;
+On Japan&rsquo;s advice, in the beginning, she had expelled from the
+Empire all Western missionaries, engineers, drill sergeants, merchants,
+and teachers.&nbsp; She now began to expel the similar representatives
+of Japan.&nbsp; The latter&rsquo;s advisory statesmen were showered
+with honours and decorations, and sent home.&nbsp; The West had awakened
+Japan, and, as Japan had then requited the West, Japan was not requited
+by China.&nbsp; Japan was thanked for her kindly aid and flung out bag
+and baggage by her gigantic prot&eacute;g&eacute;.&nbsp; The Western
+nations chuckled.&nbsp; Japan&rsquo;s rainbow dream had gone glimmering.&nbsp;
+She grew angry.&nbsp; China laughed at her.&nbsp; The blood and the
+swords of the Samurai would out, and Japan rashly went to war.&nbsp;
+This occurred in 1922, and in seven bloody months Manchuria, Korea,
+and Formosa were taken away from her and she was hurled back, bankrupt,
+to stifle in her tiny, crowded islands.&nbsp; Exit Japan from the world
+drama.&nbsp; Thereafter she devoted herself to art, and her task became
+to please the world greatly with her creations of wonder and beauty.</p>
+<p>Contrary to expectation, China did not prove warlike.&nbsp; She had
+no Napoleonic dream, and was content to devote herself to the arts of
+peace.&nbsp; After a time of disquiet, the idea was accepted that China
+was to be feared, not in war, but in commerce.&nbsp; It will be seen
+that the real danger was not apprehended.&nbsp; China went on consummating
+her machine-civilization.&nbsp; Instead of a large standing army, she
+developed an immensely larger and splendidly efficient militia.&nbsp;
+Her navy was so small that it was the laughing stock of the world; nor
+did she attempt to strengthen her navy.&nbsp; The treaty ports of the
+world were never entered by her visiting battleships.</p>
+<p>The real danger lay in the fecundity of her loins, and it was in
+1970 that the first cry of alarm was raised.&nbsp; For some time all
+territories adjacent to China had been grumbling at Chinese immigration;
+but now it suddenly came home to the world that China&rsquo;s population
+was 500,000,000.&nbsp; She had increased by a hundred millions since
+her awakening.&nbsp; Burchaldter called attention to the fact that there
+were more Chinese in existence than white-skinned people.&nbsp; He performed
+a simple sum in arithmetic.&nbsp; He added together the populations
+of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa,
+England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, European Russia, and all Scandinavia.&nbsp;
+The result was 495,000,000.&nbsp; And the population of China overtopped
+this tremendous total by 5,000,000.&nbsp; Burchaldter&rsquo;s figures
+went round the world, and the world shivered.</p>
+<p>For many centuries China&rsquo;s population had been constant.&nbsp;
+Her territory had been saturated with population; that is to say, her
+territory, with the primitive method of production, had supported the
+maximum limit of population.&nbsp; But when she awoke and inaugurated
+the machine-civilization, her productive power had been enormously increased.&nbsp;
+Thus, on the same territory, she was able to support a far larger population.&nbsp;
+At once the birth rate began to rise and the death rate to fall.&nbsp;
+Before, when population pressed against the means of subsistence, the
+excess population had been swept away by famine.&nbsp; But now, thanks
+to the machine-civilization, China&rsquo;s means of subsistence had
+been enormously extended, and there were no famines; her population
+followed on the heels of the increase in the means of subsistence.</p>
+<p>During this time of transition and development of power, China had
+entertained no dreams of conquest.&nbsp; The Chinese was not an imperial
+race.&nbsp; It was industrious, thrifty, and peace-loving.&nbsp; War
+was looked upon as an unpleasant but necessary task that at times must
+be performed.&nbsp; And so, while the Western races had squabbled and
+fought, and world-adventured against one another, China had calmly gone
+on working at her machines and growing.&nbsp; Now she was spilling over
+the boundaries of her Empire&mdash;that was all, just spilling over
+into the adjacent territories with all the certainty and terrifying
+slow momentum of a glacier.</p>
+<p>Following upon the alarm raised by Burchaldter&rsquo;s figures, in
+1970 France made a long-threatened stand.&nbsp; French Indo-China had
+been overrun, filled up, by Chinese immigrants.&nbsp; France called
+a halt.&nbsp; The Chinese wave flowed on.&nbsp; France assembled a force
+of a hundred thousand on the boundary between her unfortunate colony
+and China, and China sent down an army of militia-soldiers a million
+strong.&nbsp; Behind came the wives and sons and daughters and relatives,
+with their personal household luggage, in a second army.&nbsp; The French
+force was brushed aside like a fly.&nbsp; The Chinese militia-soldiers,
+along with their families, over five millions all told, coolly took
+possession of French Indo-China and settled down to stay for a few thousand
+years.</p>
+<p>Outraged France was in arms.&nbsp; She hurled fleet after fleet against
+the coast of China, and nearly bankrupted herself by the effort.&nbsp;
+China had no navy.&nbsp; She withdrew like a turtle into her shell.&nbsp;
+For a year the French fleets blockaded the coast and bombarded exposed
+towns and villages.&nbsp; China did not mind.&nbsp; She did not depend
+upon the rest of the world for anything.&nbsp; She calmly kept out of
+range of the French guns and went on working.&nbsp; France wept and
+wailed, wrung her impotent hands and appealed to the dumfounded nations.&nbsp;
+Then she landed a punitive expedition to march to Peking.&nbsp; It was
+two hundred and fifty thousand strong, and it was the flower of France.&nbsp;
+It landed without opposition and marched into the interior.&nbsp; And
+that was the last ever seen of it.&nbsp; The line of communication was
+snapped on the second day.&nbsp; Not a survivor came back to tell what
+had happened.&nbsp; It had been swallowed up in China&rsquo;s cavernous
+maw, that was all.</p>
+<p>In the five years that followed, China&rsquo;s expansion, in all
+land directions, went on apace.&nbsp; Siam was made part of the Empire,
+and, in spite of all that England could do, Burma and the Malay Peninsula
+were overrun; while all along the long south boundary of Siberia, Russia
+was pressed severely by China&rsquo;s advancing hordes.&nbsp; The process
+was simple.&nbsp; First came the Chinese immigration (or, rather, it
+was already there, having come there slowly and insidiously during the
+previous years).&nbsp; Next came the clash of arms and the brushing
+away of all opposition by a monster army of militia-soldiers, followed
+by their families and household baggage.&nbsp; And finally came their
+settling down as colonists in the conquered territory.&nbsp; Never was
+there so strange and effective a method of world conquest.</p>
+<p>Napal and Bhutan were overrun, and the whole northern boundary of
+India pressed against by this fearful tide of life.&nbsp; To the west,
+Bokhara, and, even to the south and west, Afghanistan, were swallowed
+up.&nbsp; Persia, Turkestan, and all Central Asia felt the pressure
+of the flood.&nbsp; It was at this time that Burchaldter revised his
+figures.&nbsp; He had been mistaken.&nbsp; China&rsquo;s population
+must be seven hundred millions, eight hundred millions, nobody knew
+how many millions, but at any rate it would soon be a billion.&nbsp;
+There were two Chinese for every white-skinned human in the world, Burchaldter
+announced, and the world trembled.&nbsp; China&rsquo;s increase must
+have begun immediately, in 1904.&nbsp; It was remembered that since
+that date there had not been a single famine.&nbsp; At 5,000,000 a year
+increase, her total increase in the intervening seventy years must be
+350,000,000.&nbsp; But who was to know?&nbsp; It might be more.&nbsp;
+Who was to know anything of this strange new menace of the twentieth
+century&mdash;China, old China, rejuvenescent, fruitful, and militant!</p>
+<p>The Convention of 1975 was called at Philadelphia.&nbsp; All the
+Western nations, and some few of the Eastern, were represented.&nbsp;
+Nothing was accomplished.&nbsp; There was talk of all countries putting
+bounties on children to increase the birth rate, but it was laughed
+to scorn by the arithmeticians, who pointed out that China was too far
+in the lead in that direction.&nbsp; No feasible way of coping with
+China was suggested.&nbsp; China was appealed to and threatened by the
+United Powers, and that was all the Convention of Philadelphia came
+to; and the Convention and the Powers were laughed at by China.&nbsp;
+Li Tang Fwung, the power behind the Dragon Throne, deigned to reply.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What does China care for the comity of nations?&rdquo; said
+Li Tang Fwung.&nbsp; &ldquo;We are the most ancient, honourable, and
+royal of races.&nbsp; We have our own destiny to accomplish.&nbsp; It
+is unpleasant that our destiny does not tally with the destiny of the
+rest of the world, but what would you?&nbsp; You have talked windily
+about the royal races and the heritage of the earth, and we can only
+reply that that remains to be seen.&nbsp; You cannot invade us.&nbsp;
+Never mind about your navies.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t shout.&nbsp; We know
+our navy is small.&nbsp; You see we use it for police purposes.&nbsp;
+We do not care for the sea.&nbsp; Our strength is in our population,
+which will soon be a billion.&nbsp; Thanks to you, we are equipped with
+all modern war-machinery.&nbsp; Send your navies.&nbsp; We will not
+notice them.&nbsp; Send your punitive expeditions, but first remember
+France.&nbsp; To land half a million soldiers on our shores would strain
+the resources of any of you.&nbsp; And our thousand millions would swallow
+them down in a mouthful.&nbsp; Send a million; send five millions, and
+we will swallow them down just as readily.&nbsp; Pouf!&nbsp; A mere
+nothing, a meagre morsel.&nbsp; Destroy, as you have threatened, you
+United States, the ten million coolies we have forced upon your shores&mdash;why,
+the amount scarcely equals half of our excess birth rate for a year.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So spoke Li Tang Fwung.&nbsp; The world was nonplussed, helpless,
+terrified.&nbsp; Truly had he spoken.&nbsp; There was no combating China&rsquo;s
+amazing birth rate.&nbsp; If her population was a billion, and was increasing
+twenty millions a year, in twenty-five years it would be a billion and
+a half&mdash;equal to the total population of the world in 1904.&nbsp;
+And nothing could be done.&nbsp; There was no way to dam up the over-spilling
+monstrous flood of life.&nbsp; War was futile.&nbsp; China laughed at
+a blockade of her coasts.&nbsp; She welcomed invasion.&nbsp; In her
+capacious maw was room for all the hosts of earth that could be hurled
+at her.&nbsp; And in the meantime her flood of yellow life poured out
+and on over Asia.&nbsp; China laughed and read in their magazines the
+learned lucubrations of the distracted Western scholars.</p>
+<p>But there was one scholar China failed to reckon on&mdash;Jacobus
+Laningdale.&nbsp; Not that he was a scholar, except in the widest sense.&nbsp;
+Primarily, Jacobus Laningdale was a scientist, and, up to that time,
+a very obscure scientist, a professor employed in the laboratories of
+the Health Office of New York City.&nbsp; Jacobus Laningdale&rsquo;s
+head was very like any other head, but in that head was evolved an idea.&nbsp;
+Also, in that head was the wisdom to keep that idea secret.&nbsp; He
+did not write an article for the magazines.&nbsp; Instead, he asked
+for a vacation.&nbsp; On September 19, 1975, he arrived in Washington.&nbsp;
+It was evening, but he proceeded straight to the White House, for he
+had already arranged an audience with the President.&nbsp; He was closeted
+with President Moyer for three hours.&nbsp; What passed between them
+was not learned by the rest of the world until long after; in fact,
+at that time the world was not interested in Jacobus Laningdale.&nbsp;
+Next day the President called in his Cabinet.&nbsp; Jacobus Laningdale
+was present.&nbsp; The proceedings were kept secret.&nbsp; But that
+very afternoon Rufus Cowdery, Secretary of State, left Washington, and
+early the following morning sailed for England.&nbsp; The secret that
+he carried began to spread, but it spread only among the heads of Governments.&nbsp;
+Possibly half-a-dozen men in a nation were entrusted with the idea that
+had formed in Jacobus Laningdale&rsquo;s head.&nbsp; Following the spread
+of the secret, sprang up great activity in all the dockyards, arsenals,
+and navy-yards.&nbsp; The people of France and Austria became suspicious,
+but so sincere were their Governments&rsquo; calls for confidence that
+they acquiesced in the unknown project that was afoot.</p>
+<p>This was the time of the Great Truce.&nbsp; All countries pledged
+themselves solemnly not to go to war with any other country.&nbsp; The
+first definite action was the gradual mobilization of the armies of
+Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.&nbsp; Then began
+the eastward movement.&nbsp; All railroads into Asia were glutted with
+troop trains.&nbsp; China was the objective, that was all that was known.&nbsp;
+A little later began the great sea movement.&nbsp; Expeditions of warships
+were launched from all countries.&nbsp; Fleet followed fleet, and all
+proceeded to the coast of China.&nbsp; The nations cleaned out their
+navy-yards.&nbsp; They sent their revenue cutters and dispatch boots
+and lighthouse tenders, and they sent their last antiquated cruisers
+and battleships.&nbsp; Not content with this, they impressed the merchant
+marine.&nbsp; The statistics show that 58,640 merchant steamers, equipped
+with searchlights and rapid-fire guns, were despatched by the various
+nations to China.</p>
+<p>And China smiled and waited.&nbsp; On her land side, along her boundaries,
+were millions of the warriors of Europe.&nbsp; She mobilized five times
+as many millions of her militia and awaited the invasion.&nbsp; On her
+sea coasts she did the same.&nbsp; But China was puzzled.&nbsp; After
+all this enormous preparation, there was no invasion.&nbsp; She could
+not understand.&nbsp; Along the great Siberian frontier all was quiet.&nbsp;
+Along her coasts the towns and villages were not even shelled.&nbsp;
+Never, in the history of the world, had there been so mighty a gathering
+of war fleets.&nbsp; The fleets of all the world were there, and day
+and night millions of tons of battleships ploughed the brine of her
+coasts, and nothing happened.&nbsp; Nothing was attempted.&nbsp; Did
+they think to make her emerge from her shell?&nbsp; China smiled.&nbsp;
+Did they think to tire her out, or starve her out?&nbsp; China smiled
+again.</p>
+<p>But on May 1, 1976, had the reader been in the imperial city of Peking,
+with its then population of eleven millions, he would have witnessed
+a curious sight.&nbsp; He would have seen the streets filled with the
+chattering yellow populace, every queued head tilted back, every slant
+eye turned skyward.&nbsp; And high up in the blue he would have beheld
+a tiny dot of black, which, because of its orderly evolutions, he would
+have identified as an airship.&nbsp; From this airship, as it curved
+its flight back and forth over the city, fell missiles&mdash;strange,
+harmless missiles, tubes of fragile glass that shattered into thousands
+of fragments on the streets and house-tops.&nbsp; But there was nothing
+deadly about these tubes of glass.&nbsp; Nothing happened.&nbsp; There
+were no explosions.&nbsp; It is true, three Chinese were killed by the
+tubes dropping on their heads from so enormous a height; but what were
+three Chinese against an excess birth rate of twenty millions?&nbsp;
+One tube struck perpendicularly in a fish-pond in a garden and was not
+broken.&nbsp; It was dragged ashore by the master of the house.&nbsp;
+He did not dare to open it, but, accompanied by his friends, and surrounded
+by an ever-increasing crowd, he carried the mysterious tube to the magistrate
+of the district.&nbsp; The latter was a brave man.&nbsp; With all eyes
+upon him, he shattered the tube with a blow from his brass-bowled pipe.&nbsp;
+Nothing happened.&nbsp; Of those who were very near, one or two thought
+they saw some mosquitoes fly out.&nbsp; That was all.&nbsp; The crowd
+set up a great laugh and dispersed.</p>
+<p>As Peking was bombarded by glass tubes, so was all China.&nbsp; The
+tiny airships, dispatched from the warships, contained but two men each,
+and over all cities, towns, and villages they wheeled and curved, one
+man directing the ship, the other man throwing over the glass tubes.</p>
+<p>Had the reader again been in Peking, six weeks later, he would have
+looked in vain for the eleven million inhabitants.&nbsp; Some few of
+them he would have found, a few hundred thousand, perhaps, their carcasses
+festering in the houses and in the deserted streets, and piled high
+on the abandoned death-waggons.&nbsp; But for the rest he would have
+had to seek along the highways and byways of the Empire.&nbsp; And not
+all would he have found fleeing from plague-stricken Peking, for behind
+them, by hundreds of thousands of unburied corpses by the wayside, he
+could have marked their flight.&nbsp; And as it was with Peking, so
+it was with all the cities, towns, and villages of the Empire.&nbsp;
+The plague smote them all.&nbsp; Nor was it one plague, nor two plagues;
+it was a score of plagues.&nbsp; Every virulent form of infectious death
+stalked through the land.&nbsp; Too late the Chinese government apprehended
+the meaning of the colossal preparations, the marshalling of the world-hosts,
+the flights of the tin airships, and the rain of the tubes of glass.&nbsp;
+The proclamations of the government were vain.&nbsp; They could not
+stop the eleven million plague-stricken wretches, fleeing from the one
+city of Peking to spread disease through all the land.&nbsp; The physicians
+and health officers died at their posts; and death, the all-conqueror,
+rode over the decrees of the Emperor and Li Tang Fwung.&nbsp; It rode
+over them as well, for Li Tang Fwung died in the second week, and the
+Emperor, hidden away in the Summer Palace, died in the fourth week.</p>
+<p>Had there been one plague, China might have coped with it.&nbsp;
+But from a score of plagues no creature was immune.&nbsp; The man who
+escaped smallpox went down before scarlet fever.&nbsp; The man who was
+immune to yellow fever was carried away by cholera; and if he were immune
+to that, too, the Black Death, which was the bubonic plague, swept him
+away.&nbsp; For it was these bacteria, and germs, and microbes, and
+bacilli, cultured in the laboratories of the West, that had come down
+upon China in the rain of glass.</p>
+<p>All organization vanished.&nbsp; The government crumbled away.&nbsp;
+Decrees and proclamations were useless when the men who made them and
+signed them one moment were dead the next.&nbsp; Nor could the maddened
+millions, spurred on to flight by death, pause to heed anything.&nbsp;
+They fled from the cities to infect the country, and wherever they fled
+they carried the plagues with them.&nbsp; The hot summer was on&mdash;Jacobus
+Laningdale had selected the time shrewdly&mdash;and the plague festered
+everywhere.&nbsp; Much is conjectured of what occurred, and much has
+been learned from the stories of the few survivors.&nbsp; The wretched
+creatures stormed across the Empire in many-millioned flight.&nbsp;
+The vast armies China had collected on her frontiers melted away.&nbsp;
+The farms were ravaged for food, and no more crops were planted, while
+the crops already in were left unattended and never came to harvest.&nbsp;
+The most remarkable thing, perhaps, was the flights.&nbsp; Many millions
+engaged in them, charging to the bounds of the Empire to be met and
+turned back by the gigantic armies of the West.&nbsp; The slaughter
+of the mad hosts on the boundaries was stupendous.&nbsp; Time and again
+the guarding line was drawn back twenty or thirty miles to escape the
+contagion of the multitudinous dead.</p>
+<p>Once the plague broke through and seized upon the German and Austrian
+soldiers who were guarding the borders of Turkestan.&nbsp; Preparations
+had been made for such a happening, and though sixty thousand soldiers
+of Europe were carried off, the international corps of physicians isolated
+the contagion and dammed it back.&nbsp; It was during this struggle
+that it was suggested that a new plague-germ had originated, that in
+some way or other a sort of hybridization between plague-germs had taken
+place, producing a new and frightfully virulent germ.&nbsp; First suspected
+by Vomberg, who became infected with it and died, it was later isolated
+and studied by Stevens, Hazenfelt, Norman, and Landers.</p>
+<p>Such was the unparalleled invasion of China.&nbsp; For that billion
+of people there was no hope.&nbsp; Pent in their vast and festering
+charnel-house, all organization and cohesion lost, they could do naught
+but die.&nbsp; They could not escape.&nbsp; As they were flung back
+from their land frontiers, so were they flung back from the sea.&nbsp;
+Seventy-five thousand vessels patrolled the coasts.&nbsp; By day their
+smoking funnels dimmed the sea-rim, and by night their flashing searchlights
+ploughed the dark and harrowed it for the tiniest escaping junk.&nbsp;
+The attempts of the immense fleets of junks were pitiful.&nbsp; Not
+one ever got by the guarding sea-hounds.&nbsp; Modern war-machinery
+held back the disorganized mass of China, while the plagues did the
+work.</p>
+<p>But old War was made a thing of laughter.&nbsp; Naught remained to
+him but patrol duty.&nbsp; China had laughed at war, and war she was
+getting, but it was ultra-modern war, twentieth century war, the war
+of the scientist and the laboratory, the war of Jacobus Laningdale.&nbsp;
+Hundred-ton guns were toys compared with the micro-organic projectiles
+hurled from the laboratories, the messengers of death, the destroying
+angels that stalked through the empire of a billion souls.</p>
+<p>During all the summer and fall of 1976 China was an inferno.&nbsp;
+There was no eluding the microscopic projectiles that sought out the
+remotest hiding-places.&nbsp; The hundreds of millions of dead remained
+unburied and the germs multiplied themselves, and, toward the last,
+millions died daily of starvation.&nbsp; Besides, starvation weakened
+the victims and destroyed their natural defences against the plagues.&nbsp;
+Cannibalism, murder, and madness reigned.&nbsp; And so perished China.</p>
+<p>Not until the following February, in the coldest weather, were the
+first expeditions made.&nbsp; These expeditions were small, composed
+of scientists and bodies of troops; but they entered China from every
+side.&nbsp; In spite of the most elaborate precautions against infection,
+numbers of soldiers and a few of the physicians were stricken.&nbsp;
+But the exploration went bravely on.&nbsp; They found China devastated,
+a howling wilderness through which wandered bands of wild dogs and desperate
+bandits who had survived.&nbsp; All survivors were put to death wherever
+found.&nbsp; And then began the great task, the sanitation of China.&nbsp;
+Five years and hundreds of millions of treasure were consumed, and then
+the world moved in&mdash;not in zones, as was the idea of Baron Albrecht,
+but heterogeneously, according to the democratic American programme.&nbsp;
+It was a vast and happy intermingling of nationalities that settled
+down in China in 1982 and the years that followed&mdash;a tremendous
+and successful experiment in cross-fertilization.&nbsp; We know to-day
+the splendid mechanical, intellectual, and art output that followed.</p>
+<p>It was in 1987, the Great Truce having been dissolved, that the ancient
+quarrel between France and Germany over Alsace-Lorraine recrudesced.&nbsp;
+The war-cloud grew dark and threatening in April, and on April 17 the
+Convention of Copenhagen was called.&nbsp; The representatives of the
+nations of the world, being present, all nations solemnly pledged themselves
+never to use against one another the laboratory methods of warfare they
+had employed in the invasion of China.</p>
+<p>&mdash;Excerpt from Walt Mervin&rsquo;s &ldquo;<i>Certain Essays
+in History</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>THE ENEMY OF ALL THE WORLD</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>It was Silas Bannerman who finally ran down that scientific wizard
+and arch-enemy of mankind, Emil Gluck.&nbsp; Gluck&rsquo;s confession,
+before he went to the electric chair, threw much light upon the series
+of mysterious events, many apparently unrelated, that so perturbed the
+world between the years 1933 and 1941.&nbsp; It was not until that remarkable
+document was made public that the world dreamed of there being any connection
+between the assassination of the King and Queen of Portugal and the
+murders of the New York City police officers.&nbsp; While the deeds
+of Emil Gluck were all that was abominable, we cannot but feel, to a
+certain extent, pity for the unfortunate, malformed, and maltreated
+genius.&nbsp; This side of his story has never been told before, and
+from his confession and from the great mass of evidence and the documents
+and records of the time we are able to construct a fairly accurate portrait
+of him, and to discern the factors and pressures that moulded him into
+the human monster he became and that drove him onward and downward along
+the fearful path he trod.</p>
+<p>Emil Gluck was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1895.&nbsp; His father,
+Josephus Gluck, was a special policeman and night watchman, who, in
+the year 1900, died suddenly of pneumonia.&nbsp; The mother, a pretty,
+fragile creature, who, before her marriage, had been a milliner, grieved
+herself to death over the loss of her husband.&nbsp; This sensitiveness
+of the mother was the heritage that in the boy became morbid and horrible.</p>
+<p>In 1901, the boy, Emil, then six years of age, went to live with
+his aunt, Mrs. Ann Bartell.&nbsp; She was his mother&rsquo;s sister,
+but in her breast was no kindly feeling for the sensitive, shrinking
+boy.&nbsp; Ann Bartell was a vain, shallow, and heartless woman.&nbsp;
+Also, she was cursed with poverty and burdened with a husband who was
+a lazy, erratic ne&rsquo;er-do-well.&nbsp; Young Emil Gluck was not
+wanted, and Ann Bartell could be trusted to impress this fact sufficiently
+upon him.&nbsp; As an illustration of the treatment he received in that
+early, formative period, the following instance is given.</p>
+<p>When he had been living in the Bartell home a little more than a
+year, he broke his leg.&nbsp; He sustained the injury through playing
+on the forbidden roof&mdash;as all boys have done and will continue
+to do to the end of time.&nbsp; The leg was broken in two places between
+the knee and thigh.&nbsp; Emil, helped by his frightened playmates,
+managed to drag himself to the front sidewalk, where he fainted.&nbsp;
+The children of the neighbourhood were afraid of the hard-featured shrew
+who presided over the Bartell house; but, summoning their resolution,
+they rang the bell and told Ann Bartell of the accident.&nbsp; She did
+not even look at the little lad who lay stricken on the sidewalk, but
+slammed the door and went back to her wash-tub.&nbsp; The time passed.&nbsp;
+A drizzle came on, and Emil Gluck, out of his faint, lay sobbing in
+the rain.&nbsp; The leg should have been set immediately.&nbsp; As it
+was, the inflammation rose rapidly and made a nasty case of it.&nbsp;
+At the end of two hours, the indignant women of the neighbourhood protested
+to Ann Bartell.&nbsp; This time she came out and looked at the lad.&nbsp;
+Also she kicked him in the side as he lay helpless at her feet, and
+she hysterically disowned him.&nbsp; He was not her child, she said,
+and recommended that the ambulance be called to take him to the city
+receiving hospital.&nbsp; Then she went back into the house.</p>
+<p>It was a woman, Elizabeth Shepstone, who came along, learned the
+situation, and had the boy placed on a shutter.&nbsp; It was she who
+called the doctor, and who, brushing aside Ann Bartell, had the boy
+carried into the house.&nbsp; When the doctor arrived, Ann Bartell promptly
+warned him that she would not pay him for his services.&nbsp; For two
+months the little Emil lay in bed, the first month on his back without
+once being turned over; and he lay neglected and alone, save for the
+occasional visits of the unremunerated and over-worked physician.&nbsp;
+He had no toys, nothing with which to beguile the long and tedious hours.&nbsp;
+No kind word was spoken to him, no soothing hand laid upon his brow,
+no single touch or act of loving tenderness&mdash;naught but the reproaches
+and harshness of Ann Bartell, and the continually reiterated information
+that he was not wanted.&nbsp; And it can well be understood, in such
+environment, how there was generated in the lonely, neglected boy much
+of the bitterness and hostility for his kind that later was to express
+itself in deeds so frightful as to terrify the world.</p>
+<p>It would seem strange that, from the hands of Ann Bartell, Emil Gluck
+should have received a college education; but the explanation is simple.&nbsp;
+Her ne&rsquo;er-do-well husband, deserting her, made a strike in the
+Nevada goldfields, and returned to her a many-times millionaire.&nbsp;
+Ann Bartell hated the boy, and immediately she sent him to the Farristown
+Academy, a hundred miles away.&nbsp; Shy and sensitive, a lonely and
+misunderstood little soul, he was more lonely than ever at Farristown.&nbsp;
+He never came home, at vacation, and holidays, as the other boys did.&nbsp;
+Instead, he wandered about the deserted buildings and grounds, befriended
+and misunderstood by the servants and gardeners, reading much, it is
+remembered, spending his days in the fields or before the fire-place
+with his nose poked always in the pages of some book.&nbsp; It was at
+this time that he over-used his eyes and was compelled to take up the
+wearing of glasses, which same were so prominent in the photographs
+of him published in the newspapers in 1941.</p>
+<p>He was a remarkable student.&nbsp; Application such as his would
+have taken him far; but he did not need application.&nbsp; A glance
+at a text meant mastery for him.&nbsp; The result was that he did an
+immense amount of collateral reading and acquired more in half a year
+than did the average student in half-a-dozen years.&nbsp; In 1909, barely
+fourteen years of age, he was ready&mdash;&ldquo;more than ready&rdquo;
+the headmaster of the academy said&mdash;to enter Yale or Harvard.&nbsp;
+His juvenility prevented him from entering those universities, and so,
+in 1909, we find him a freshman at historic Bowdoin College.&nbsp; In
+1913 he graduated with highest honours, and immediately afterward followed
+Professor Bradlough to Berkeley, California.&nbsp; The one friend that
+Emil Gluck discovered in all his life was Professor Bradlough.&nbsp;
+The latter&rsquo;s weak lungs had led him to exchange Maine for California,
+the removal being facilitated by the offer of a professorship in the
+State University.&nbsp; Throughout the year 1914, Emil Gluck resided
+in Berkeley and took special scientific courses.&nbsp; Toward the end
+of that year two deaths changed his prospects and his relations with
+life.&nbsp; The death of Professor Bradlough took from him the one friend
+he was ever to know, and the death of Ann Bartell left him penniless.&nbsp;
+Hating the unfortunate lad to the last, she cut him off with one hundred
+dollars.</p>
+<p>The following year, at twenty years of age, Emil Gluck was enrolled
+as an instructor of chemistry in the University of California.&nbsp;
+Here the years passed quietly; he faithfully performed the drudgery
+that brought him his salary, and, a student always, he took half-a-dozen
+degrees.&nbsp; He was, among other things, a Doctor of Sociology, of
+Philosophy, and of Science, though he was known to the world, in later
+days, only as Professor Gluck.</p>
+<p>He was twenty-seven years old when he first sprang into prominence
+in the newspapers through the publication of his book, <i>Sex and Progress</i>.&nbsp;
+The book remains to-day a milestone in the history and philosophy of
+marriage.&nbsp; It is a heavy tome of over seven hundred pages, painfully
+careful and accurate, and startlingly original.&nbsp; It was a book
+for scientists, and not one calculated to make a stir.&nbsp; But Gluck,
+in the last chapter, using barely three lines for it, mentioned the
+hypothetical desirability of trial marriages.&nbsp; At once the newspapers
+seized these three lines, &ldquo;played them up yellow,&rdquo; as the
+slang was in those days, and set the whole world laughing at Emil Gluck,
+the bespectacled young professor of twenty-seven.&nbsp; Photographers
+snapped him, he was besieged by reporters, women&rsquo;s clubs throughout
+the land passed resolutions condemning him and his immoral theories;
+and on the floor of the California Assembly, while discussing the state
+appropriation to the University, a motion demanding the expulsion of
+Gluck was made under threat of withholding the appropriation&mdash;of
+course, none of his persecutors had read the book; the twisted newspaper
+version of only three lines of it was enough for them.&nbsp; Here began
+Emil Gluck&rsquo;s hatred for newspaper men.&nbsp; By them his serious
+and intrinsically valuable work of six years had been made a laughing-stock
+and a notoriety.&nbsp; To his dying day, and to their everlasting regret,
+he never forgave them.</p>
+<p>It was the newspapers that were responsible for the next disaster
+that befell him.&nbsp; For the five years following the publication
+of his book he had remained silent, and silence for a lonely man is
+not good.&nbsp; One can conjecture sympathetically the awful solitude
+of Emil Gluck in that populous University; for he was without friends
+and without sympathy.&nbsp; His only recourse was books, and he went
+on reading and studying enormously.&nbsp; But in 1927 he accepted an
+invitation to appear before the Human Interest Society of Emeryville.&nbsp;
+He did not trust himself to speak, and as we write we have before us
+a copy of his learned paper.&nbsp; It is sober, scholarly, and scientific,
+and, it must also be added, conservative.&nbsp; But in one place he
+dealt with, and I quote his words, &ldquo;the industrial and social
+revolution that is taking place in society.&rdquo;&nbsp; A reporter
+present seized upon the word &ldquo;revolution,&rdquo; divorced it from
+the text, and wrote a garbled account that made Emil Gluck appear an
+anarchist.&nbsp; At once, &ldquo;Professor Gluck, anarchist,&rdquo;
+flamed over the wires and was appropriately &ldquo;featured&rdquo; in
+all the newspapers in the land.</p>
+<p>He had attempted to reply to the previous newspaper attack, but now
+he remained silent.&nbsp; Bitterness had already corroded his soul.&nbsp;
+The University faculty appealed to him to defend himself, but he sullenly
+declined, even refusing to enter in defence a copy of his paper to save
+himself from expulsion.&nbsp; He refused to resign, and was discharged
+from the University faculty.&nbsp; It must be added that political pressure
+had been put upon the University Regents and the President.</p>
+<p>Persecuted, maligned, and misunderstood, the forlorn and lonely man
+made no attempt at retaliation.&nbsp; All his life he had been sinned
+against, and all his life he had sinned against no one.&nbsp; But his
+cup of bitterness was not yet full to overflowing.&nbsp; Having lost
+his position, and being without any income, he had to find work.&nbsp;
+His first place was at the Union Iron Works, in San Francisco, where
+he proved a most able draughtsman.&nbsp; It was here that he obtained
+his firsthand knowledge of battleships and their construction.&nbsp;
+But the reporters discovered him and featured him in his new vocation.&nbsp;
+He immediately resigned and found another place; but after the reporters
+had driven him away from half-a-dozen positions, he steeled himself
+to brazen out the newspaper persecution.&nbsp; This occurred when he
+started his electroplating establishment&mdash;in Oakland, on Telegraph
+Avenue.&nbsp; It was a small shop, employing three men and two boys.&nbsp;
+Gluck himself worked long hours.&nbsp; Night after night, as Policeman
+Carew testified on the stand, he did not leave the shop till one and
+two in the morning.&nbsp; It was during this period that he perfected
+the improved ignition device for gas-engines, the royalties from which
+ultimately made him wealthy.</p>
+<p>He started his electroplating establishment early in the spring of
+1928, and it was in the same year that he formed the disastrous love
+attachment for Irene Tackley.&nbsp; Now it is not to be imagined that
+an extraordinary creature such as Emil Gluck could be any other than
+an extraordinary lover.&nbsp; In addition to his genius, his loneliness,
+and his morbidness, it must be taken into consideration that he knew
+nothing about women.&nbsp; Whatever tides of desire flooded his being,
+he was unschooled in the conventional expression of them; while his
+excessive timidity was bound to make his love-making unusual.&nbsp;
+Irene Tackley was a rather pretty young woman, but shallow and light-headed.&nbsp;
+At the time she worked in a small candy store across the street from
+Gluck&rsquo;s shop.&nbsp; He used to come in and drink ice-cream sodas
+and lemon-squashes, and stare at her.&nbsp; It seems the girl did not
+care for him, and merely played with him.&nbsp; He was &ldquo;queer,&rdquo;
+she said; and at another time she called him a crank when describing
+how he sat at the counter and peered at her through his spectacles,
+blushing and stammering when she took notice of him, and often leaving
+the shop in precipitate confusion.</p>
+<p>Gluck made her the most amazing presents&mdash;a silver tea-service,
+a diamond ring, a set of furs, opera-glasses, a ponderous <i>History
+of the World</i> in many volumes, and a motor-cycle all silver-plated
+in his own shop.&nbsp; Enters now the girl&rsquo;s lover, putting his
+foot down, showing great anger, compelling her to return Gluck&rsquo;s
+strange assortment of presents.&nbsp; This man, William Sherbourne,
+was a gross and stolid creature, a heavy-jawed man of the working class
+who had become a successful building-contractor in a small way.&nbsp;
+Gluck did not understand.&nbsp; He tried to get an explanation, attempting
+to speak with the girl when she went home from work in the evening.&nbsp;
+She complained to Sherbourne, and one night he gave Gluck a beating.&nbsp;
+It was a very severe beating, for it is on the records of the Red Cross
+Emergency Hospital that Gluck was treated there that night and was unable
+to leave the hospital for a week.</p>
+<p>Still Gluck did not understand.&nbsp; He continued to seek an explanation
+from the girl.&nbsp; In fear of Sherbourne, he applied to the Chief
+of Police for permission to carry a revolver, which permission was refused,
+the newspapers as usual playing it up sensationally.&nbsp; Then came
+the murder of Irene Tackley, six days before her contemplated marriage
+with Sherbourne.&nbsp; It was on a Saturday night.&nbsp; She had worked
+late in the candy store, departing after eleven o&rsquo;clock with her
+week&rsquo;s wages in her purse.&nbsp; She rode on a San Pablo Avenue
+surface car to Thirty-fourth Street, where she alighted and started
+to walk the three blocks to her home.&nbsp; That was the last seen of
+her alive.&nbsp; Next morning she was found, strangled, in a vacant
+lot.</p>
+<p>Emil Gluck was immediately arrested.&nbsp; Nothing that he could
+do could save him.&nbsp; He was convicted, not merely on circumstantial
+evidence, but on evidence &ldquo;cooked up&rdquo; by the Oakland police.&nbsp;
+There is no discussion but that a large portion of the evidence was
+manufactured.&nbsp; The testimony of Captain Shehan was the sheerest
+perjury, it being proved long afterward that on the night in question
+he had not only not been in the vicinity of the murder, but that he
+had been out of the city in a resort on the San Leandro Road.&nbsp;
+The unfortunate Gluck received life imprisonment in San Quentin, while
+the newspapers and the public held that it was a miscarriage of justice&mdash;that
+the death penalty should have been visited upon him.</p>
+<p>Gluck entered San Quentin prison on April 17, 1929.&nbsp; He was
+then thirty-four years of age.&nbsp; And for three years and a half,
+much of the time in solitary confinement, he was left to meditate upon
+the injustice of man.&nbsp; It was during that period that his bitterness
+corroded home and he became a hater of all his kind.&nbsp; Three other
+things he did during the same period: he wrote his famous treatise,
+<i>Human Morals</i>, his remarkable brochure, <i>The Criminal Sane</i>,
+and he worked out his awful and monstrous scheme of revenge.&nbsp; It
+was an episode that had occurred in his electroplating establishment
+that suggested to him his unique weapon of revenge.&nbsp; As stated
+in his confession, he worked every detail out theoretically during his
+imprisonment, and was able, on his release, immediately to embark on
+his career of vengeance.</p>
+<p>His release was sensational.&nbsp; Also it was miserably and criminally
+delayed by the soulless legal red tape then in vogue.&nbsp; On the night
+of February 1, 1932, Tim Haswell, a hold-up man, was shot during an
+attempted robbery by a citizen of Piedmont Heights.&nbsp; Tim Haswell
+lingered three days, during which time he not only confessed to the
+murder of Irene Tackley, but furnished conclusive proofs of the same.&nbsp;
+Bert Danniker, a convict dying of consumption in Folsom Prison, was
+implicated as accessory, and his confession followed.&nbsp; It is inconceivable
+to us of to-day&mdash;the bungling, dilatory processes of justice a
+generation ago.&nbsp; Emil Gluck was proved in February to be an innocent
+man, yet he was not released until the following October.&nbsp; For
+eight months, a greatly wronged man, he was compelled to undergo his
+unmerited punishment.&nbsp; This was not conducive to sweetness and
+light, and we can well imagine how he ate his soul with bitterness during
+those dreary eight months.</p>
+<p>He came back to the world in the fall of 1932, as usual a &ldquo;feature&rdquo;
+topic in all the newspapers.&nbsp; The papers, instead of expressing
+heartfelt regret, continued their old sensational persecution.&nbsp;
+One paper did more&mdash;the <i>San Francisco Intelligencer</i>.&nbsp;
+John Hartwell, its editor, elaborated an ingenious theory that got around
+the confessions of the two criminals and went to show that Gluck was
+responsible, after all, for the murder of Irene Tackley.&nbsp; Hartwell
+died.&nbsp; And Sherbourne died too, while Policeman Phillipps was shot
+in the leg and discharged from the Oakland police force.</p>
+<p>The murder of Hartwell was long a mystery.&nbsp; He was alone in
+his editorial office at the time.&nbsp; The reports of the revolver
+were heard by the office boy, who rushed in to find Hartwell expiring
+in his chair.&nbsp; What puzzled the police was the fact, not merely
+that he had been shot with his own revolver, but that the revolver had
+been exploded in the drawer of his desk.&nbsp; The bullets had torn
+through the front of the drawer and entered his body.&nbsp; The police
+scouted the theory of suicide, murder was dismissed as absurd, and the
+blame was thrown upon the Eureka Smokeless Cartridge Company.&nbsp;
+Spontaneous explosion was the police explanation, and the chemists of
+the cartridge company were well bullied at the inquest.&nbsp; But what
+the police did not know was that across the street, in the Mercer Building,
+Room 633, rented by Emil Gluck, had been occupied by Emil Gluck at the
+very moment Hartwell&rsquo;s revolver so mysteriously exploded.</p>
+<p>At the time, no connection was made between Hartwell&rsquo;s death
+and the death of William Sherbourne.&nbsp; Sherbourne had continued
+to live in the home he had built for Irene Tackley, and one morning
+in January, 1933, he was found dead.&nbsp; Suicide was the verdict of
+the coroner&rsquo;s inquest, for he had been shot by his own revolver.&nbsp;
+The curious thing that happened that night was the shooting of Policeman
+Phillipps on the sidewalk in front of Sherbourne&rsquo;s house.&nbsp;
+The policeman crawled to a police telephone on the corner and rang up
+for an ambulance.&nbsp; He claimed that some one had shot him from behind
+in the leg.&nbsp; The leg in question was so badly shattered by three
+&rsquo;38 calibre bullets that amputation was necessary.&nbsp; But when
+the police discovered that the damage had been done by his own revolver,
+a great laugh went up, and he was charged with having been drunk.&nbsp;
+In spite of his denial of having touched a drop, and of his persistent
+assertion that the revolver had been in his hip pocket and that he had
+not laid a finger to it, he was discharged from the force.&nbsp; Emil
+Gluck&rsquo;s confession, six years later, cleared the unfortunate policeman
+of disgrace, and he is alive to-day and in good health, the recipient
+of a handsome pension from the city.</p>
+<p>Emil Gluck, having disposed of his immediate enemies, now sought
+a wider field, though his enmity for newspaper men and for the police
+remained always active.&nbsp; The royalties on his ignition device for
+gasolene-engines had mounted up while he lay in prison, and year by
+year the earning power of his invention increased.&nbsp; He was independent,
+able to travel wherever he willed over the earth and to glut his monstrous
+appetite for revenge.&nbsp; He had become a monomaniac and an anarchist&mdash;not
+a philosophic anarchist, merely, but a violent anarchist.&nbsp; Perhaps
+the word is misused, and he is better described as a nihilist, or an
+annihilist.&nbsp; It is known that he affiliated with none of the groups
+of terrorists.&nbsp; He operated wholly alone, but he created a thousandfold
+more terror and achieved a thousandfold more destruction than all the
+terrorist groups added together.</p>
+<p>He signalized his departure from California by blowing up Fort Mason.&nbsp;
+In his confession he spoke of it as a little experiment&mdash;he was
+merely trying his hand.&nbsp; For eight years he wandered over the earth,
+a mysterious terror, destroying property to the tune of hundreds of
+millions of dollars, and destroying countless lives.&nbsp; One good
+result of his awful deeds was the destruction he wrought among the terrorists
+themselves.&nbsp; Every time he did anything the terrorists in the vicinity
+were gathered in by the police dragnet, and many of them were executed.&nbsp;
+Seventeen were executed at Rome alone, following the assassination of
+the Italian King.</p>
+<p>Perhaps the most world-amazing achievement of his was the assassination
+of the King and Queen of Portugal.&nbsp; It was their wedding day.&nbsp;
+All possible precautions had been taken against the terrorists, and
+the way from the cathedral, through Lisbon&rsquo;s streets, was double-banked
+with troops, while a squad of two hundred mounted troopers surrounded
+the carriage.&nbsp; Suddenly the amazing thing happened.&nbsp; The automatic
+rifles of the troopers began to go off, as well as the rifles, in the
+immediate vicinity, of the double-banked infantry.&nbsp; In the excitement
+the muzzles of the exploding rifles were turned in all directions.&nbsp;
+The slaughter was terrible&mdash;horses, troops, spectators, and the
+King and Queen, were riddled with bullets.&nbsp; To complicate the affair,
+in different parts of the crowd behind the foot-soldiers, two terrorists
+had bombs explode on their persons.&nbsp; These bombs they had intended
+to throw if they got the opportunity.&nbsp; But who was to know this?&nbsp;
+The frightful havoc wrought by the bursting bombs but added to the confusion;
+it was considered part of the general attack.</p>
+<p>One puzzling thing that could not be explained away was the conduct
+of the troopers with their exploding rifles.&nbsp; It seemed impossible
+that they should be in the plot, yet there were the hundreds their flying
+bullets had slain, including the King and Queen.&nbsp; On the other
+hand, more baffling than ever was the fact that seventy per cent. of
+the troopers themselves had been killed or wounded.&nbsp; Some explained
+this on the ground that the loyal foot-soldiers, witnessing the attack
+on the royal carriage, had opened fire on the traitors.&nbsp; Yet not
+one bit of evidence to verify this could be drawn from the survivors,
+though many were put to the torture.&nbsp; They contended stubbornly
+that they had not discharged their rifles at all, but that their rifles
+had discharged themselves.&nbsp; They were laughed at by the chemists,
+who held that, while it was just barely probable that a single cartridge,
+charged with the new smokeless powder, might spontaneously explode,
+it was beyond all probability and possibility for all the cartridges
+in a given area, so charged, spontaneously to explode.&nbsp; And so,
+in the end, no explanation of the amazing occurrence was reached.&nbsp;
+The general opinion of the rest of the world was that the whole affair
+was a blind panic of the feverish Latins, precipitated, it was true,
+by the bursting of two terrorist bombs; and in this connection was recalled
+the laughable encounter of long years before between the Russian fleet
+and the English fishing boats.</p>
+<p>And Emil Gluck chuckled and went his way.&nbsp; He knew.&nbsp; But
+how was the world to know?&nbsp; He had stumbled upon the secret in
+his old electroplating shop on Telegraph Avenue in the city of Oakland.&nbsp;
+It happened, at that time, that a wireless telegraph station was established
+by the Thurston Power Company close to his shop.&nbsp; In a short time
+his electroplating vat was put out of order.&nbsp; The vat-wiring had
+many bad joints, and, on investigation, Gluck discovered minute welds
+at the joints in the wiring.&nbsp; These, by lowering the resistance,
+had caused an excessive current to pass through the solution, &ldquo;boiling&rdquo;
+it and spoiling the work.&nbsp; But what had caused the welds? was the
+question in Gluck&rsquo;s mind.&nbsp; His reasoning was simple.&nbsp;
+Before the establishment of the wireless station, the vat had worked
+well.&nbsp; Not until after the establishment of the wireless station
+had the vat been ruined.&nbsp; Therefore the wireless station had been
+the cause.&nbsp; But how?&nbsp; He quickly answered the question.&nbsp;
+If an electric discharge was capable of operating a coherer across three
+thousand miles of ocean, then, certainly, the electric discharges from
+the wireless station four hundred feet away could produce coherer effects
+on the bad joints in the vat-wiring.</p>
+<p>Gluck thought no more about it at the time.&nbsp; He merely re-wired
+his vat and went on electroplating.&nbsp; But afterwards, in prison,
+he remembered the incident, and like a flash there came into his mind
+the full significance of it.&nbsp; He saw in it the silent, secret weapon
+with which to revenge himself on the world.&nbsp; His great discovery,
+which died with him, was control over the direction and scope of the
+electric discharge.&nbsp; At the time, this was the unsolved problem
+of wireless telegraphy&mdash;as it still is to-day&mdash;but Emil Gluck,
+in his prison cell, mastered it.&nbsp; And, when he was released, he
+applied it.&nbsp; It was fairly simple, given the directing power that
+was his, to introduce a spark into the powder-magazines of a fort, a
+battleship, or a revolver.&nbsp; And not alone could he thus explode
+powder at a distance, but he could ignite conflagrations.&nbsp; The
+great Boston fire was started by him&mdash;quite by accident, however,
+as he stated in his confession, adding that it was a pleasing accident
+and that he had never had any reason to regret it.</p>
+<p>It was Emil Gluck that caused the terrible German-American War, with
+the loss of 800,000 lives and the consumption of almost incalculable
+treasure.&nbsp; It will be remembered that in 1939, because of the Pickard
+incident, strained relations existed between the two countries.&nbsp;
+Germany, though aggrieved, was not anxious for war, and, as a peace
+token, sent the Crown Prince and seven battleships on a friendly visit
+to the United States.&nbsp; On the night of February 15, the seven warships
+lay at anchor in the Hudson opposite New York City.&nbsp; And on that
+night Emil Gluck, alone, with all his apparatus on board, was out in
+a launch.&nbsp; This launch, it was afterwards proved, was bought by
+him from the Ross Turner Company, while much of the apparatus he used
+that night had been purchased from the Columbia Electric Works.&nbsp;
+But this was not known at the time.&nbsp; All that was known was that
+the seven battleships blew up, one after another, at regular four-minute
+intervals.&nbsp; Ninety per cent. of the crews and officers, along with
+the Crown Prince, perished.&nbsp; Many years before, the American battleship
+<i>Maine</i> had been blown up in the harbour of Havana, and war with
+Spain had immediately followed&mdash;though there has always existed
+a reasonable doubt as to whether the explosion was due to conspiracy
+or accident.&nbsp; But accident could not explain the blowing up of
+the seven battleships on the Hudson at four-minute intervals.&nbsp;
+Germany believed that it had been done by a submarine, and immediately
+declared war.&nbsp; It was six months after Gluck&rsquo;s confession
+that she returned the Philippines and Hawaii to the United States.</p>
+<p>In the meanwhile Emil Gluck, the malevolent wizard and arch-hater,
+travelled his whirlwind path of destruction.&nbsp; He left no traces.&nbsp;
+Scientifically thorough, he always cleaned up after himself.&nbsp; His
+method was to rent a room or a house, and secretly to install his apparatus&mdash;which
+apparatus, by the way, he so perfected and simplified that it occupied
+little space.&nbsp; After he had accomplished his purpose he carefully
+removed the apparatus.&nbsp; He bade fair to live out a long life of
+horrible crime.</p>
+<p>The epidemic of shooting of New York City policemen was a remarkable
+affair.&nbsp; It became one of the horror mysteries of the time.&nbsp;
+In two short weeks over a hundred policemen were shot in the legs by
+their own revolvers.&nbsp; Inspector Jones did not solve the mystery,
+but it was his idea that finally outwitted Gluck.&nbsp; On his recommendation
+the policemen ceased carrying revolvers, and no more accidental shootings
+occurred.</p>
+<p>It was in the early spring of 1940 that Gluck destroyed the Mare
+Island navy-yard.&nbsp; From a room in Vallejo he sent his electric
+discharges across the Vallejo Straits to Mare Island.&nbsp; He first
+played his flashes on the battleship <i>Maryland</i>.&nbsp; She lay
+at the dock of one of the mine-magazines.&nbsp; On her forward deck,
+on a huge temporary platform of timbers, were disposed over a hundred
+mines.&nbsp; These mines were for the defence of the Golden Gate.&nbsp;
+Any one of these mines was capable of destroying a dozen battleships,
+and there were over a hundred mines.&nbsp; The destruction was terrific,
+but it was only Gluck&rsquo;s overture.&nbsp; He played his flashes
+down the Mare Island shore, blowing up five torpedo boats, the torpedo
+station, and the great magazine at the eastern end of the island.&nbsp;
+Returning westward again, and scooping in occasional isolated magazines
+on the high ground back from the shore, he blew up three cruisers and
+the battleships <i>Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire</i>, and <i>Florida</i>&mdash;the
+latter had just gone into dry-dock, and the magnificent dry-dock was
+destroyed along with her.</p>
+<p>It was a frightful catastrophe, and a shiver of horror passed through
+the land.&nbsp; But it was nothing to what was to follow.&nbsp; In the
+late fall of that year Emil Gluck made a clean sweep of the Atlantic
+seaboard from Maine to Florida.&nbsp; Nothing escaped.&nbsp; Forts,
+mines, coast defences of all sorts, torpedo stations, magazines&mdash;everything
+went up.&nbsp; Three months afterward, in midwinter, he smote the north
+shore of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Greece in the same stupefying
+manner.&nbsp; A wail went up from the nations.&nbsp; It was clear that
+human agency was behind all this destruction, and it was equally clear,
+through Emil Gluck&rsquo;s impartiality, that the destruction was not
+the work of any particular nation.&nbsp; One thing was patent, namely,
+that whoever was the human behind it all, that human was a menace to
+the world.&nbsp; No nation was safe.&nbsp; There was no defence against
+this unknown and all-powerful foe.&nbsp; Warfare was futile&mdash;nay,
+not merely futile but itself the very essence of the peril.&nbsp; For
+a twelve-month the manufacture of powder ceased, and all soldiers and
+sailors were withdrawn from all fortifications and war vessels.&nbsp;
+And even a world-disarmament was seriously considered at the Convention
+of the Powers, held at The Hague at that time.</p>
+<p>And then Silas Bannerman, a secret service agent of the United States,
+leaped into world-fame by arresting Emil Gluck.&nbsp; At first Bannerman
+was laughed at, but he had prepared his case well, and in a few weeks
+the most sceptical were convinced of Emil Gluck&rsquo;s guilt.&nbsp;
+The one thing, however, that Silas Bannerman never succeeded in explaining,
+even to his own satisfaction, was how first he came to connect Gluck
+with the atrocious crimes.&nbsp; It is true, Bannerman was in Vallejo,
+on secret government business, at the time of the destruction of Mare
+Island; and it is true that on the streets of Vallejo Emil Gluck was
+pointed out to him as a queer crank; but no impression was made at the
+time.&nbsp; It was not until afterward, when on a vacation in the Rocky
+Mountains and when reading the first published reports of the destruction
+along the Atlantic Coast, that suddenly Bannerman thought of Emil Gluck.&nbsp;
+And on the instant there flashed into his mind the connection between
+Gluck and the destruction.&nbsp; It was only an hypothesis, but it was
+sufficient.&nbsp; The great thing was the conception of the hypothesis,
+in itself an act of unconscious cerebration&mdash;a thing as unaccountable
+as the flashing, for instance, into Newton&rsquo;s mind of the principle
+of gravitation.</p>
+<p>The rest was easy.&nbsp; Where was Gluck at the time of the destruction
+along the Atlantic sea-board? was the question that formed in Bannerman&rsquo;s
+mind.&nbsp; By his own request he was put upon the case.&nbsp; In no
+time he ascertained that Gluck had himself been up and down the Atlantic
+Coast in the late fall of 1940.&nbsp; Also he ascertained that Gluck
+had been in New York City during the epidemic of the shooting of police
+officers.&nbsp; Where was Gluck now? was Bannerman&rsquo;s next query.&nbsp;
+And, as if in answer, came the wholesale destruction along the Mediterranean.&nbsp;
+Gluck had sailed for Europe a month before&mdash;Bannerman knew that.&nbsp;
+It was not necessary for Bannerman to go to Europe.&nbsp; By means of
+cable messages and the co-operation of the European secret services,
+he traced Gluck&rsquo;s course along the Mediterranean and found that
+in every instance it coincided with the blowing up of coast defences
+and ships.&nbsp; Also, he learned that Gluck had just sailed on the
+Green Star liner <i>Plutonic</i> for the United States.</p>
+<p>The case was complete in Bannerman&rsquo;s mind, though in the interval
+of waiting he worked up the details.&nbsp; In this he was ably assisted
+by George Brown, an operator employed by the Wood&rsquo;s System of
+Wireless Telegraphy.&nbsp; When the <i>Plutonic</i> arrived off Sandy
+Hook she was boarded by Bannerman from a Government tug, and Emil Gluck
+was made a prisoner.&nbsp; The trial and the confession followed.&nbsp;
+In the confession Gluck professed regret only for one thing, namely,
+that he had taken his time.&nbsp; As he said, had he dreamed that he
+was ever to be discovered he would have worked more rapidly and accomplished
+a thousand times the destruction he did.&nbsp; His secret died with
+him, though it is now known that the French Government managed to get
+access to him and offered him a billion francs for his invention wherewith
+he was able to direct and closely to confine electric discharges.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; was Gluck&rsquo;s reply&mdash;&ldquo;to sell to
+you that which would enable you to enslave and maltreat suffering Humanity?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+And though the war departments of the nations have continued to experiment
+in their secret laboratories, they have so far failed to light upon
+the slightest trace of the secret.&nbsp; Emil Gluck was executed on
+December 4, 1941, and so died, at the age of forty-six, one of the world&rsquo;s
+most unfortunate geniuses, a man of tremendous intellect, but whose
+mighty powers, instead of making toward good, were so twisted and warped
+that he became the most amazing of criminals.</p>
+<p>&mdash;Culled from Mr. A. G. Burnside&rsquo;s &ldquo;Eccentricitics
+of Crime,&rdquo; by kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Holiday
+and Whitsund.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>THE DREAM OF DEBS</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>I awoke fully an hour before my customary time.&nbsp; This in itself
+was remarkable, and I lay very wide awake, pondering over it.&nbsp;
+Something was the matter, something was wrong&mdash;I knew not what.&nbsp;
+I was oppressed by a premonition of something terrible that had happened
+or was about to happen.&nbsp; But what was it?&nbsp; I strove to orient
+myself.&nbsp; I remembered that at the time of the Great Earthquake
+of 1906 many claimed they awakened some moments before the first shock
+and that during these moments they experienced strange feelings of dread.&nbsp;
+Was San Francisco again to be visited by earthquake?</p>
+<p>I lay for a full minute, numbly expectant, but there occurred no
+reeling of walls nor shock and grind of falling masonry.&nbsp; All was
+quiet.&nbsp; That was it!&nbsp; The silence!&nbsp; No wonder I had been
+perturbed.&nbsp; The hum of the great live city was strangely absent.&nbsp;
+The surface cars passed along my street, at that time of day, on an
+average of one every three minutes; but in the ten succeeding minutes
+not a car passed.&nbsp; Perhaps it was a street-railway strike, was
+my thought; or perhaps there had been an accident and the power was
+shut off.&nbsp; But no, the silence was too profound.&nbsp; I heard
+no jar and rattle of waggon wheels, nor stamp of iron-shod hoofs straining
+up the steep cobble-stones.</p>
+<p>Pressing the push-button beside my bed, I strove to hear the sound
+of the bell, though I well knew it was impossible for the sound to rise
+three stories to me even if the bell did ring.&nbsp; It rang all right,
+for a few minutes later Brown entered with the tray and morning paper.&nbsp;
+Though his features were impassive as ever, I noted a startled, apprehensive
+light in his eyes.&nbsp; I noted, also, that there was no cream on the
+tray.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Creamery did not deliver this morning,&rdquo; he explained;
+&ldquo;nor did the bakery.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I glanced again at the tray.&nbsp; There were no fresh French rolls&mdash;only
+slices of stale graham bread from yesterday, the most detestable of
+bread so far as I was concerned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing was delivered this morning, sir,&rdquo; Brown started
+to explain apologetically; but I interrupted him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The paper?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, it was delivered, but it was the only thing, and
+it is the last time, too.&nbsp; There won&rsquo;t be any paper to-morrow.&nbsp;
+The paper says so.&nbsp; Can I send out and get you some condensed milk?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I shook my head, accepted the coffee black, and spread open the paper.&nbsp;
+The headlines explained everything&mdash;explained too much, in fact,
+for the lengths of pessimism to which the journal went were ridiculous.&nbsp;
+A general strike, it said, had been called all over the United States;
+and most foreboding anxieties were expressed concerning the provisioning
+of the great cities.</p>
+<p>I read on hastily, skimming much and remembering much of labour troubles
+in the past.&nbsp; For a generation the general strike had been the
+dream of organized labour, which dream had arisen originally in the
+mind of Debs, one of the great labour leaders of thirty years before.&nbsp;
+I recollected that in my young college-settlement days I had even written
+an article on the subject for one of the magazines and that I had entitled
+it &ldquo;The Dream of Debs.&rdquo;&nbsp; And I must confess that I
+had treated the idea very cavalierly and academically as a dream and
+nothing more.&nbsp; Time and the world had rolled on, Gompers was gone,
+the American Federation of Labour was gone, and gone was Debs with all
+his wild revolutionary ideas; but the dream had persisted, and here
+it was at last realized in fact.&nbsp; But I laughed, as I read, at
+the journal&rsquo;s gloomy outlook.&nbsp; I knew better.&nbsp; I had
+seen organized labour worsted in too many conflicts.&nbsp; It would
+be a matter only of days when the thing would be settled.&nbsp; This
+was a national strike, and it wouldn&rsquo;t take the Government long
+to break it.</p>
+<p>I threw the paper down and proceeded to dress.&nbsp; It would certainly
+be interesting to be out in the streets of San Francisco when not a
+wheel was turning and the whole city was taking an enforced vacation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon, sir,&rdquo; Brown said, as he handed me
+my cigar-case, &ldquo;but Mr. Harmmed has asked to see you before you
+go out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Send him in right away,&rdquo; I answered.</p>
+<p>Harmmed was the butler.&nbsp; When he entered I could see he was
+labouring under controlled excitement.&nbsp; He came at once to the
+point.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What shall I do, sir?&nbsp; There will be needed provisions,
+and the delivery drivers are on strike.&nbsp; And the electricity is
+shut off&mdash;I guess they&rsquo;re on strike, too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are the shops open?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Only the small ones, sir.&nbsp; The retail clerks are out,
+and the big ones can&rsquo;t open; but the owners and their families
+are running the little ones themselves.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then take the machine,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and go the rounds
+and make your purchases.&nbsp; Buy plenty of everything you need or
+may need.&nbsp; Get a box of candles&mdash;no, get half-a-dozen boxes.&nbsp;
+And, when you&rsquo;re done, tell Harrison to bring the machine around
+to the club for me&mdash;not later than eleven.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Harmmed shook his head gravely.&nbsp; &ldquo;Mr. Harrison has struck
+along with the Chauffeurs&rsquo; Union, and I don&rsquo;t know how to
+run the machine myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, ho, he has, has he?&rdquo; said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Well, when
+next Mister Harrison happens around you tell him that he can look elsewhere
+for a position.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t happen to belong to a Butlers&rsquo; Union,
+do you, Harmmed?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; was the answer.&nbsp; &ldquo;And even if I
+did I&rsquo;d not desert my employer in a crisis like this.&nbsp; No,
+sir, I would&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right, thank you,&rdquo; I said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now you
+get ready to accompany me.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll run the machine myself,
+and we&rsquo;ll lay in a stock of provisions to stand a siege.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a beautiful first of May, even as May days go.&nbsp; The sky
+was cloudless, there was no wind, and the air was warm&mdash;almost
+balmy.&nbsp; Many autos were out, but the owners were driving them themselves.&nbsp;
+The streets were crowded but quiet.&nbsp; The working class, dressed
+in its Sunday best, was out taking the air and observing the effects
+of the strike.&nbsp; It was all so unusual, and withal so peaceful,
+that I found myself enjoying it.&nbsp; My nerves were tingling with
+mild excitement.&nbsp; It was a sort of placid adventure.&nbsp; I passed
+Miss Chickering.&nbsp; She was at the helm of her little runabout.&nbsp;
+She swung around and came after me, catching me at the corner.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Mr. Corf!&rdquo;&rsquo; she hailed.&nbsp; &ldquo;Do you
+know where I can buy candles?&nbsp; I&rsquo;ve been to a dozen shops,
+and they&rsquo;re all sold out.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s dreadfully awful, isn&rsquo;t
+it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But her sparkling eyes gave the lie to her words.&nbsp; Like the
+rest of us, she was enjoying it hugely.&nbsp; Quite an adventure it
+was, getting those candles.&nbsp; It was not until we went across the
+city and down into the working-class quarter south of Market Street
+that we found small corner groceries that had not yet sold out.&nbsp;
+Miss Chickering thought one box was sufficient, but I persuaded her
+into taking four.&nbsp; My car was large, and I laid in a dozen boxes.&nbsp;
+There was no telling what delays might arise in the settlement of the
+strike.&nbsp; Also, I filled the car with sacks of flour, baking-powder,
+tinned goods, and all the ordinary necessaries of life suggested by
+Harmmed, who fussed around and clucked over the purchases like an anxious
+old hen.</p>
+<p>The remarkable thing, that first day of the strike, was that no one
+really apprehended anything serious.&nbsp; The announcement of organized
+labour in the morning papers that it was prepared to stay out a month
+or three months was laughed at.&nbsp; And yet that very first day we
+might have guessed as much from the fact that the working class took
+practically no part in the great rush to buy provisions.&nbsp; Of course
+not.&nbsp; For weeks and months, craftily and secretly, the whole working
+class had been laying in private stocks of provisions.&nbsp; That was
+why we were permitted to go down and buy out the little groceries in
+the working-class neighbourhoods.</p>
+<p>It was not until I arrived at the club that afternoon that I began
+to feel the first alarm.&nbsp; Everything was in confusion.&nbsp; There
+were no olives for the cocktails, and the service was by hitches and
+jerks.&nbsp; Most of the men were angry, and all were worried.&nbsp;
+A babel of voices greeted me as I entered.&nbsp; General Folsom, nursing
+his capacious paunch in a window-seat in the smoking-room was defending
+himself against half-a-dozen excited gentlemen who were demanding that
+he should do something.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What can I do more than I have done?&rdquo; he was saying.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;There are no orders from Washington.&nbsp; If you gentlemen will
+get a wire through I&rsquo;ll do anything I am commanded to do.&nbsp;
+But I don&rsquo;t see what can be done.&nbsp; The first thing I did
+this morning, as soon as I learned of the strike, was to order in the
+troops from the Presidio&mdash;three thousand of them.&nbsp; They&rsquo;re
+guarding the banks, the Mint, the post office, and all the public buildings.&nbsp;
+There is no disorder whatever.&nbsp; The strikers are keeping the peace
+perfectly.&nbsp; You can&rsquo;t expect me to shoot them down as they
+walk along the streets with wives and children all in their best bib
+and tucker.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to know what&rsquo;s happening on Wall Street,&rdquo;
+I heard Jimmy Wombold say as I passed along.&nbsp; I could imagine his
+anxiety, for I knew that he was deep in the big Consolidated-Western
+deal.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Say, Corf,&rdquo; Atkinson bustled up to me, &ldquo;is your
+machine running?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but what&rsquo;s the matter
+with your own?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Broken down, and the garages are all closed.&nbsp; And my
+wife&rsquo;s somewhere around Truckee, I think, stalled on the overland.&nbsp;
+Can&rsquo;t get a wire to her for love or money.&nbsp; She should have
+arrived this evening.&nbsp; She may be starving.&nbsp; Lend me your
+machine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t get it across the bay,&rdquo; Halstead spoke up.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;The ferries aren&rsquo;t running.&nbsp; But I tell you what you
+can do.&nbsp; There&rsquo;s Rollinson&mdash;oh, Rollinson, come here
+a moment.&nbsp; Atkinson wants to get a machine across the bay.&nbsp;
+His wife is stuck on the overland at Truckee.&nbsp; Can&rsquo;t you
+bring the <i>Lurlette</i> across from Tiburon and carry the machine
+over for him?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The <i>Lurlette</i> was a two-hundred-ton, ocean-going schooner-yacht.</p>
+<p>Rollinson shook his head.&nbsp; &ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t get a longshoreman
+to land the machine on board, even if I could get the <i>Lurlette</i>
+over, which I can&rsquo;t, for the crew are members of the Coast Seamen&rsquo;s
+Union, and they&rsquo;re on strike along with the rest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But my wife may be starving,&rdquo; I could hear Atkinson
+wailing as I moved on.</p>
+<p>At the other end of the smoking-room I ran into a group of men bunched
+excitedly and angrily around Bertie Messener.&nbsp; And Bertie was stirring
+them up and prodding them in his cool, cynical way.&nbsp; Bertie didn&rsquo;t
+care about the strike.&nbsp; He didn&rsquo;t care much about anything.&nbsp;
+He was blas&eacute;&mdash;at least in all the clean things of life;
+the nasty things had no attraction for him.&nbsp; He was worth twenty
+millions, all of it in safe investments, and he had never done a tap
+of productive work in his life&mdash;inherited it all from his father
+and two uncles.&nbsp; He had been everywhere, seen everything, and done
+everything but get married, and this last in the face of the grim and
+determined attack of a few hundred ambitious mammas.&nbsp; For years
+he had been the greatest catch, and as yet he had avoided being caught.&nbsp;
+He was disgracefully eligible.&nbsp; On top of his wealth he was young,
+handsome, and, as I said before, clean.&nbsp; He was a great athlete,
+a young blond god that did everything perfectly and admirably with the
+solitary exception of matrimony.&nbsp; And he didn&rsquo;t care about
+anything, had no ambitions, no passions, no desire to do the very things
+he did so much better than other men.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This is sedition!&rdquo; one man in the group was crying.&nbsp;
+Another called it revolt and revolution, and another called it anarchy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see it,&rdquo; Bertie said.&nbsp; &ldquo;I have
+been out in the streets all morning.&nbsp; Perfect order reigns.&nbsp;
+I never saw a more law-abiding populace.&nbsp; There&rsquo;s no use
+calling it names.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s not any of those things.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s
+just what it claims to be, a general strike, and it&rsquo;s your turn
+to play, gentlemen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And we&rsquo;ll play all right!&rdquo; cried Garfield, one
+of the traction millionaires.&nbsp; &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll show this dirt
+where its place is&mdash;the beasts!&nbsp; Wait till the Government
+takes a hand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But where is the Government?&rdquo; Bertie interposed.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It might as well be at the bottom of the sea so far as you&rsquo;re
+concerned.&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s happening at Washington.&nbsp;
+You don&rsquo;t know whether you&rsquo;ve got a Government or not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you worry about that,&rdquo; Garfield blurted
+out.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I assure you I&rsquo;m not worrying,&rdquo; Bertie smiled
+languidly.&nbsp; &ldquo;But it seems to me it&rsquo;s what you fellows
+are doing.&nbsp; Look in the glass, Garfield.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Garfield did not look, but had he looked he would have seen a very
+excited gentleman with rumpled, iron-grey hair, a flushed face, mouth
+sullen and vindictive, and eyes wildly gleaming.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not right, I tell you,&rdquo; little Hanover said;
+and from his tone I was sure that he had already said it a number of
+times.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now that&rsquo;s going too far, Hanover,&rdquo; Bertie replied.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;You fellows make me tired.&nbsp; You&rsquo;re all open-shop men.&nbsp;
+You&rsquo;ve eroded my eardrums with your endless gabble for the open
+shop and the right of a man to work.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ve harangued along
+those lines for years.&nbsp; Labour is doing nothing wrong in going
+out on this general strike.&nbsp; It is violating no law of God nor
+man.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t you talk, Hanover.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ve been ringing
+the changes too long on the God-given right to work . . . or not to
+work; you can&rsquo;t escape the corollary.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s a dirty
+little sordid scrap, that&rsquo;s all the whole thing is.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ve
+got labour down and gouged it, and now labour&rsquo;s got you down and
+is gouging you, that&rsquo;s all, and you&rsquo;re squealing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Every man in the group broke out in indignant denials that labour
+had ever been gouged.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, sir!&rdquo; Garfield was shouting.&nbsp; &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve
+done the best for labour.&nbsp; Instead of gouging it, we&rsquo;ve given
+it a chance to live.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ve made work for it.&nbsp; Where
+would labour be if it hadn&rsquo;t been for us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A whole lot better off,&rdquo; Bertie sneered.&nbsp; &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve
+got labour down and gouged it every time you got a chance, and you went
+out of your way to make chances.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No!&nbsp; No!&rdquo; were the cries.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There was the teamsters&rsquo; strike, right here in San Francisco,&rdquo;
+Bertie went on imperturbably.&nbsp; &ldquo;The Employers&rsquo; Association
+precipitated that strike.&nbsp; You know that.&nbsp; And you know I
+know it, too, for I&rsquo;ve sat in these very rooms and heard the inside
+talk and news of the fight.&nbsp; First you precipitated the strike,
+then you bought the Mayor and the Chief of Police and broke the strike.&nbsp;
+A pretty spectacle, you philanthropists getting the teamsters down and
+gouging them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold on, I&rsquo;m not through with you.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s
+only last year that the labour ticket of Colorado elected a governor.&nbsp;
+He was never seated.&nbsp; You know why.&nbsp; You know how your brother
+philanthropists and capitalists of Colorado worked it.&nbsp; It was
+a case of getting labour down and gouging it.&nbsp; You kept the president
+of the South-western Amalgamated Association of Miners in jail for three
+years on trumped-up murder charges, and with him out of the way you
+broke up the association.&nbsp; That was gouging labour, you&rsquo;ll
+admit.&nbsp; The third time the graduated income tax was declared unconstitutional
+was a gouge.&nbsp; So was the eight-hour Bill you killed in the last
+Congress.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And of all unmitigated immoral gouges, your destruction of
+the closed-shop principle was the limit.&nbsp; You know how it was done.
+You bought out Farburg, the last president of the old American Federation
+of Labour.&nbsp; He was your creature&mdash;or the creature of all the
+trusts and employers&rsquo; associations, which is the same thing.&nbsp;
+You precipitated the big closed-shop strike.&nbsp; Farburg betrayed
+that strike.&nbsp; You won, and the old American Federation of Labour
+crumbled to pieces.&nbsp; You follows destroyed it, and by so doing
+undid yourselves; for right on top of it began the organization of the
+I.L.W.&mdash;the biggest and solidest organization of labour the United
+States has ever seen, and you are responsible for its existence and
+for the present general strike.&nbsp; You smashed all the old federations
+and drove labour into the I.L.W., and the I.L.W. called the general
+strike&mdash;still fighting for the closed shop.&nbsp; And then you
+have the effrontery to stand here face to face and tell me that you
+never got labour down and gouged it.&nbsp; Bah!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This time there were no denials.&nbsp; Garfield broke out in self-defence&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done nothing we were not compelled to do, if we
+were to win.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying anything about that,&rdquo; Bertie answered.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;What I am complaining about is your squealing now that you&rsquo;re
+getting a taste of your own medicine.&nbsp; How many strikes have you
+won by starving labour into submission?&nbsp; Well, labour&rsquo;s worked
+out a scheme whereby to starve you into submission.&nbsp; It wants the
+closed shop, and, if it can get it by starving you, why, starve you
+shall.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I notice that you have profited in the past by those very
+labour gouges you mention,&rdquo; insinuated Brentwood, one of the wiliest
+and most astute of our corporation lawyers.&nbsp; &ldquo;The receiver
+is as bad as the thief,&rdquo; he sneered.&nbsp; &ldquo;You had no hand
+in the gouging, but you took your whack out of the gouge.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is quite beside the question, Brentwood,&rdquo; Bertie
+drawled.&nbsp; &ldquo;You&rsquo;re as bad as Hanover, intruding the
+moral element.&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t said that anything is right or
+wrong.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s all a rotten game, I know; and my sole kick
+is that you fellows are squealing now that you&rsquo;re down and labour&rsquo;s
+taking a gouge out of you.&nbsp; Of course I&rsquo;ve taken the profits
+from the gouging and, thanks to you, gentlemen, without having personally
+to do the dirty work.&nbsp; You did that for me&mdash;oh, believe me,
+not because I am more virtuous than you, but because my good father
+and his various brothers left me a lot of money with which to pay for
+the dirty work.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you mean to insinuate&mdash;&rdquo; Brentwood began hotly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold on, don&rsquo;t get all-ruffled up,&rdquo; Bertie interposed
+insolently.&nbsp; &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no use in playing hypocrites
+in this thieves&rsquo; den.&nbsp; The high and lofty is all right for
+the newspapers, boys&rsquo; clubs, and Sunday schools&mdash;that&rsquo;s
+part of the game; but for heaven&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t let&rsquo;s
+play it on one another.&nbsp; You know, and you know that I know just
+what jobbery was done in the building trades&rsquo; strike last fall,
+who put up the money, who did the work, and who profited by it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+(Brentwood flushed darkly.)&nbsp; &ldquo;But we are all tarred with
+the same brush, and the best thing for us to do is to leave morality
+out of it.&nbsp; Again I repeat, play the game, play it to the last
+finish, but for goodness&rsquo; sake don&rsquo;t squeal when you get
+hurt.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>When I left the group Bertie was off on a new tack tormenting them
+with the more serious aspects of the situation, pointing out the shortage
+of supplies that was already making itself felt, and asking them what
+they were going to do about it.&nbsp; A little later I met him in the
+cloak-room, leaving, and gave him a lift home in my machine.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great stroke, this general strike,&rdquo; he
+said, as we bowled along through the crowded but orderly streets.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a smashing body-blow.&nbsp; Labour caught us napping
+and struck at our weakest place, the stomach.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m going
+to get out of San Francisco, Corf.&nbsp; Take my advice and get out,
+too.&nbsp; Head for the country, anywhere.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ll have more
+chance.&nbsp; Buy up a stock of supplies and get into a tent or a cabin
+somewhere.&nbsp; Soon there&rsquo;ll be nothing but starvation in this
+city for such as we.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>How correct Bertie Messener was I never dreamed.&nbsp; I decided
+that he was an alarmist.&nbsp; As for myself, I was content to remain
+and watch the fun.&nbsp; After I dropped him, instead of going directly
+home, I went on in a hunt for more food.&nbsp; To my surprise, I learned
+that the small groceries where I had bought in the morning were sold
+out.&nbsp; I extended my search to the Potrero, and by good luck managed
+to pick up another box of candles, two sacks of wheat flour, ten pounds
+of graham flour (which would do for the servants), a case of tinned
+corn, and two cases of tinned tomatoes.&nbsp; It did look as though
+there was going to be at least a temporary food shortage, and I hugged
+myself over the goodly stock of provisions I had laid in.</p>
+<p>The next morning I had my coffee in bed as usual, and, more than
+the cream, I missed the daily paper.&nbsp; It was this absence of knowledge
+of what was going on in the world that I found the chief hardship.&nbsp;
+Down at the club there was little news.&nbsp; Rider had crossed from
+Oakland in his launch, and Halstead had been down to San Jose and back
+in his machine.&nbsp; They reported the same conditions in those places
+as in San Francisco.&nbsp; Everything was tied up by the strike.&nbsp;
+All grocery stocks had been bought out by the upper classes.&nbsp; And
+perfect order reigned.&nbsp; But what was happening over the rest of
+the country&mdash;in Chicago?&nbsp; New York?&nbsp; Washington?&nbsp;
+Most probably the same things that were happening with us, we concluded;
+but the fact that we did not know with absolute surety was irritating.</p>
+<p>General Folsom had a bit of news.&nbsp; An attempt had been made
+to place army telegraphers in the telegraph offices, but the wires had
+been cut in every direction.&nbsp; This was, so far, the one unlawful
+act committed by labour, and that it was a concerted act he was fully
+convinced.&nbsp; He had communicated by wireless with the army post
+at Benicia, the telegraph lines were even then being patrolled by soldiers
+all the way to Sacramento.&nbsp; Once, for one short instant, they had
+got the Sacramento call, then the wires, somewhere, were cut again.&nbsp;
+General Folsom reasoned that similar attempts to open communication
+were being made by the authorities all the way across the continent,
+but he was non-committal as to whether or not he thought the attempt
+would succeed.&nbsp; What worried him was the wire-cutting; he could
+not but believe that it was an important part of the deep-laid labour
+conspiracy.&nbsp; Also, he regretted that the Government had not long
+since established its projected chain of wireless stations.</p>
+<p>The days came and went, and for a while it was a humdrum time.&nbsp;
+Nothing happened.&nbsp; The edge of excitement had become blunted.&nbsp;
+The streets were not so crowded.&nbsp; The working class did not come
+uptown any more to see how we were taking the strike.&nbsp; And there
+were not so many automobiles running around.&nbsp; The repair-shops
+and garages were closed, and whenever a machine broke down it went out
+of commission.&nbsp; The clutch on mine broke, and neither love nor
+money could get it repaired.&nbsp; Like the rest, I was now walking.&nbsp;
+San Francisco lay dead, and we did not know what was happening over
+the rest of the country.&nbsp; But from the very fact that we did not
+know we could conclude only that the rest of the country lay as dead
+as San Francisco.&nbsp; From time to time the city was placarded with
+the proclamations of organized labour&mdash;these had been printed months
+before, and evidenced how thoroughly the I.L.W. had prepared for the
+strike.&nbsp; Every detail had been worked out long in advance.&nbsp;
+No violence had occurred as yet, with the exception of the shooting
+of a few wire-cutters by the soldiers, but the people of the slums were
+starving and growing ominously restless.</p>
+<p>The business men, the millionaires, and the professional class held
+meetings and passed resolutions, but there was no way of making the
+proclamations public.&nbsp; They could not even get them printed.&nbsp;
+One result of these meetings, however, was that General Folsom was persuaded
+into taking military possession of the wholesale houses and of all the
+flour, grain, and food warehouses.&nbsp; It was high time, for suffering
+was becoming acute in the homes of the rich, and bread-lines were necessary.&nbsp;
+I knew that my servants were beginning to draw long faces, and it was
+amazing&mdash;the hole they made in my stock of provisions.&nbsp; In
+fact, as I afterward surmised, each servant was stealing from me and
+secreting a private stock of provisions for himself.</p>
+<p>But with the formation of the bread-lines came new troubles.&nbsp;
+There was only so much of a food reserve in San Francisco, and at the
+best it could not last long.&nbsp; Organized labour, we knew, had its
+private supplies; nevertheless, the whole working class joined the bread-lines.&nbsp;
+As a result, the provisions General Folsom had taken possession of diminished
+with perilous rapidity.&nbsp; How were the soldiers to distinguish between
+a shabby middle-class man, a member of the I.L.W., or a slum dweller?&nbsp;
+The first and the last had to be fed, but the soldiers did not know
+all the I.L.W. men in the city, much less the wives and sons and daughters
+of the I.L.W. men.&nbsp; The employers helping, a few of the known union
+men were flung out of the bread-lines; but that amounted to nothing.&nbsp;
+To make matters worse, the Government tugs that had been hauling food
+from the army depots on Mare Island to Angel Island found no more food
+to haul.&nbsp; The soldiers now received their rations from the confiscated
+provisions, and they received them first.</p>
+<p>The beginning of the end was in sight.&nbsp; Violence was beginning
+to show its face.&nbsp; Law and order were passing away, and passing
+away, I must confess, among the slum people and the upper classes.&nbsp;
+Organized labour still maintained perfect order.&nbsp; It could well
+afford to&mdash;it had plenty to eat.&nbsp; I remember the afternoon
+at the club when I caught Halstead and Brentwood whispering in a corner.&nbsp;
+They took me in on the venture.&nbsp; Brentwood&rsquo;s machine was
+still in running order, and they were going out cow-stealing.&nbsp;
+Halstead had a long butcher knife and a cleaver.&nbsp; We went out to
+the outskirts of the city.&nbsp; Here and there were cows grazing, but
+always they were guarded by their owners.&nbsp; We pursued our quest,
+following along the fringe of the city to the east, and on the hills
+near Hunter&rsquo;s Point we came upon a cow guarded by a little girl.&nbsp;
+There was also a young calf with the cow.&nbsp; We wasted no time on
+preliminaries.&nbsp; The little girl ran away screaming, while we slaughtered
+the cow.&nbsp; I omit the details, for they are not nice&mdash;we were
+unaccustomed to such work, and we bungled it.</p>
+<p>But in the midst of it, working with the haste of fear, we heard
+cries, and we saw a number of men running toward us.&nbsp; We abandoned
+the spoils and took to our heels.&nbsp; To our surprise we were not
+pursued.&nbsp; Looking back, we saw the men hurriedly cutting up the
+cow.&nbsp; They had been on the same lay as ourselves.&nbsp; We argued
+that there was plenty for all, and ran back.&nbsp; The scene that followed
+beggars description.&nbsp; We fought and squabbled over the division
+like savages.&nbsp; Brentwood, I remember, was a perfect brute, snarling
+and snapping and threatening that murder would be done if we did not
+get our proper share.</p>
+<p>And we were getting our share when there occurred a new irruption
+on the scene.&nbsp; This time it was the dreaded peace officers of the
+I.L.W.&nbsp; The little girl had brought them.&nbsp; They were armed
+with whips and clubs, and there were a score of them.&nbsp; The little
+girl danced up and down in anger, the tears streaming down her cheeks,
+crying: &ldquo;Give it to &rsquo;em!&nbsp; Give it to &rsquo;em!&nbsp;
+That guy with the specs&mdash;he did it!&nbsp; Mash his face for him!&nbsp;
+Mash his face!&rdquo;&nbsp; That guy with the specs was I, and I got
+my face mashed, too, though I had the presence of mind to take off my
+glasses at the first.&nbsp; My! but we did receive a trouncing as we
+scattered in all directions.&nbsp; Brentwood, Halstead, and I fled away
+for the machine.&nbsp; Brentwood&rsquo;s nose was bleeding, while Halstead&rsquo;s
+cheek was cut across with the scarlet slash of a black-snake whip.</p>
+<p>And, lo, when the pursuit ceased and we had gained the machine, there,
+hiding behind it, was the frightened calf.&nbsp; Brentwood warned us
+to be cautious, and crept up on it like a wolf or tiger.&nbsp; Knife
+and cleaver had been left behind, but Brentwood still had his hands,
+and over and over on the ground he rolled with the poor little calf
+as he throttled it.&nbsp; We threw the carcass into the machine, covered
+it over with a robe, and started for home.&nbsp; But our misfortunes
+had only begun.&nbsp; We blew out a tyre.&nbsp; There was no way of
+fixing it, and twilight was coming on.&nbsp; We abandoned the machine,
+Brentwood pulling and staggering along in advance, the calf, covered
+by the robe, slung across his shoulders.&nbsp; We took turn about carrying
+that calf, and it nearly killed us.&nbsp; Also, we lost our way.&nbsp;
+And then, after hours of wandering and toil, we encountered a gang of
+hoodlums.&nbsp; They were not I.L.W. men, and I guess they were as hungry
+as we.&nbsp; At any rate, they got the calf and we got the thrashing.&nbsp;
+Brentwood raged like a madman the rest of the way home, and he looked
+like one, with his torn clothes, swollen nose, and blackened eyes.</p>
+<p>There wasn&rsquo;t any more cow-stealing after that.&nbsp; General
+Folsom sent his troopers out and confiscated all the cows, and his troopers,
+aided by the militia, ate most of the meat.&nbsp; General Folsom was
+not to be blamed; it was his duty to maintain law and order, and he
+maintained it by means of the soldiers, wherefore he was compelled to
+feed them first of all.</p>
+<p>It was about this time that the great panic occurred.&nbsp; The wealthy
+classes precipitated the flight, and then the slum people caught the
+contagion and stampeded wildly out of the city.&nbsp; General Folsom
+was pleased.&nbsp; It was estimated that at least 200,000 had deserted
+San Francisco, and by that much was his food problem solved.&nbsp; Well
+do I remember that day.&nbsp; In the morning I had eaten a crust of
+bread.&nbsp; Half of the afternoon I had stood in the bread-line; and
+after dark I returned home, tired and miserable, carrying a quart of
+rice and a slice of bacon.&nbsp; Brown met me at the door.&nbsp; His
+face was worn and terrified.&nbsp; All the servants had fled, he informed
+me.&nbsp; He alone remained.&nbsp; I was touched by his faithfulness
+and, when I learned that he had eaten nothing all day, I divided my
+food with him.&nbsp; We cooked half the rice and half the bacon, sharing
+it equally and reserving the other half for morning.&nbsp; I went to
+bed with my hunger, and tossed restlessly all night.&nbsp; In the morning
+I found Brown had deserted me, and, greater misfortune still, he had
+stolen what remained of the rice and bacon.</p>
+<p>It was a gloomy handful of men that came together at the club that
+morning.&nbsp; There was no service at all.&nbsp; The last servant was
+gone.&nbsp; I noticed, too, that the silver was gone, and I learned
+where it had gone.&nbsp; The servants had not taken it, for the reason,
+I presume, that the club members got to it first.&nbsp; Their method
+of disposing of it was simple.&nbsp; Down south of Market Street, in
+the dwellings of the I.L.W., the housewives had given square meals in
+exchange for it.&nbsp; I went back to my house.&nbsp; Yes, my silver
+was gone&mdash;all but a massive pitcher.&nbsp; This I wrapped up and
+carried down south of Market Street.</p>
+<p>I felt better after the meal, and returned to the club to learn if
+there was anything new in the situation.&nbsp; Hanover, Collins, and
+Dakon were just leaving.&nbsp; There was no one inside, they told me,
+and they invited me to come along with them.&nbsp; They were leaving
+the city, they said, on Dakon&rsquo;s horses, and there was a spare
+one for me. Dakon had four magnificent carriage horses that he wanted
+to save, and General Folsom had given him the tip that next morning
+all the horses that remained in the city were to be confiscated for
+food.&nbsp; There were not many horses left, for tens of thousands of
+them had been turned loose into the country when the hay and grain gave
+out during the first days.&nbsp; Birdall, I remember, who had great
+draying interests, had turned loose three hundred dray horses.&nbsp;
+At an average value of five hundred dollars, this had amounted to $150,000.&nbsp;
+He had hoped, at first, to recover most of the horses after the strike
+was over, but in the end he never recovered one of them.&nbsp; They
+were all eaten by the people that fled from San Francisco.&nbsp; For
+that matter, the killing of the army mules and horses for food had already
+begun.</p>
+<p>Fortunately for Dakon, he had had a plentiful supply of hay and grain
+stored in his stable.&nbsp; We managed to raise four saddles, and we
+found the animals in good condition and spirited, withal unused to being
+ridden.&nbsp; I remembered the San Francisco of the great earthquake
+as we rode through the streets, but this San Francisco was vastly more
+pitiable.&nbsp; No cataclysm of nature had caused this, but, rather,
+the tyranny of the labour unions.&nbsp; We rode down past Union Square
+and through the theatre, hotel, and shopping districts.&nbsp; The streets
+were deserted.&nbsp; Here and there stood automobiles, abandoned where
+they had broken down or when the gasolene had given out.&nbsp; There
+was no sign of life, save for the occasional policemen and the soldiers
+guarding the banks and public buildings.&nbsp; Once we came upon an
+I.L.W. man pasting up the latest proclamation.&nbsp; We stopped to read.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;We have maintained an orderly strike,&rdquo; it ran; &ldquo;and
+we shall maintain order to the end.&nbsp; The end will come when our
+demands are satisfied, and our demands will be satisfied when we have
+starved our employers into submission, as we ourselves in the past have
+often been starved into submission.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Messener&rsquo;s very words,&rdquo; Collins said.&nbsp; &ldquo;And
+I, for one, am ready to submit, only they won&rsquo;t give me a chance
+to submit.&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t had a full meal in an age.&nbsp; I
+wonder what horse-meat tastes like?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>We stopped to read another proclamation: &ldquo;When we think our
+employers are ready to submit we shall open up the telegraphs and place
+the employers&rsquo; associations of the United States in communication.&nbsp;
+But only messages relating to peace terms shall be permitted over the
+wires.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>We rode on, crossed Market Street, and a little later were passing
+through the working-class district.&nbsp; Here the streets were not
+deserted.&nbsp; Leaning over the gates or standing in groups were the
+I.L.W. men.&nbsp; Happy, well-fed children were playing games, and stout
+housewives sat on the front steps gossiping.&nbsp; One and all cast
+amused glances at us.&nbsp; Little children ran after us, crying: &ldquo;Hey,
+mister, ain&rsquo;t you hungry?&rdquo;&nbsp; And one woman, nursing
+a child at her breast, called to Dakon: &ldquo;Say, Fatty, I&rsquo;ll
+give you a meal for your skate&mdash;ham and potatoes, currant jelly,
+white bread, canned butter, and two cups of coffee.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you noticed, the last few days,&rdquo; Hanover remarked
+to me, &ldquo;that there&rsquo;s not been a stray dog in the streets?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I had noticed, but I had not thought about it before.&nbsp; It was
+high time to leave the unfortunate city.&nbsp; We at last managed to
+connect with the San Bruno Road, along which we headed south.&nbsp;
+I had a country place near Menlo, and it was our objective.&nbsp; But
+soon we began to discover that the country was worse off and far more
+dangerous than the city.&nbsp; There the soldiers and the I.L.W. kept
+order; but the country had been turned over to anarchy.&nbsp; Two hundred
+thousand people had fled from San Francisco, and we had countless evidences
+that their flight had been like that of an army of locusts.</p>
+<p>They had swept everything clean.&nbsp; There had been robbery and
+fighting.&nbsp; Here and there we passed bodies by the roadside and
+saw the blackened ruins of farm-houses.&nbsp; The fences were down,
+and the crops had been trampled by the feet of a multitude.&nbsp; All
+the vegetable patches had been rooted up by the famished hordes.&nbsp;
+All the chickens and farm animals had been slaughtered.&nbsp; This was
+true of all the main roads that led out of San Francisco.&nbsp; Here
+and there, away from the roads, farmers had held their own with shotguns
+and revolvers, and were still holding their own.&nbsp; They warned us
+away and refused to parley with us.&nbsp; And all the destruction and
+violence had been done by the slum-dwellers and the upper classes.&nbsp;
+The I.L.W. men, with plentiful food supplies, remained quietly in their
+homes in the cities.</p>
+<p>Early in the ride we received concrete proof of how desperate was
+the situation.&nbsp; To the right of us we heard cries and rifle-shots.&nbsp;
+Bullets whistled dangerously near.&nbsp; There was a crashing in the
+underbrush; then a magnificent black truck-horse broke across the road
+in front of us and was gone.&nbsp; We had barely time to notice that
+he was bleeding and lame.&nbsp; He was followed by three soldiers.&nbsp;
+The chase went on among the trees on the left.&nbsp; We could hear the
+soldiers calling to one another.&nbsp; A fourth soldier limped out upon
+the road from the right, sat down on a boulder, and mopped the sweat
+from his face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Militia,&rdquo; Dakon whispered.&nbsp; &ldquo;Deserters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The man grinned up at us and asked for a match.&nbsp; In reply to
+Dakon&rsquo;s &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the word?&rdquo; he informed us that
+the militiamen were deserting.&nbsp; &ldquo;No grub,&rdquo; he explained.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;They&rsquo;re feedin&rsquo; it all to the regulars.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+We also learned from him that the military prisoners had been released
+from Alcatraz Island because they could no longer be fed.</p>
+<p>I shall never forget the next sight we encountered.&nbsp; We came
+upon it abruptly around a turn of the road.&nbsp; Overhead arched the
+trees.&nbsp; The sunshine was filtering down through the branches.&nbsp;
+Butterflies were fluttering by, and from the fields came the song of
+larks.&nbsp; And there it stood, a powerful touring car.&nbsp; About
+it and in it lay a number of corpses.&nbsp; It told its own tale.&nbsp;
+Its occupants, fleeing from the city, had been attacked and dragged
+down by a gang of slum dwellers&mdash;hoodlums.&nbsp; The thing had
+occurred within twenty-four hours.&nbsp; Freshly opened meat and fruit
+tins explained the reason for the attack.&nbsp; Dakon examined the bodies.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought so,&rdquo; he reported.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve
+ridden in that car.&nbsp; It was Perriton&mdash;the whole family.&nbsp;
+We&rsquo;ve got to watch out for ourselves from now on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But we have no food with which to invite attack,&rdquo; I
+objected.</p>
+<p>Dakon pointed to the horse I rode, and I understood.</p>
+<p>Early in the day Dakon&rsquo;s horse had cast a shoe.&nbsp; The delicate
+hoof had split, and by noon the animal was limping.&nbsp; Dakon refused
+to ride it farther, and refused to desert it.&nbsp; So, on his solicitation,
+we went on.&nbsp; He would lead the horse and join us at my place.&nbsp;
+That was the last we saw of him; nor did we ever learn his end.</p>
+<p>By one o&rsquo;clock we arrived at the town of Menlo, or, rather,
+at the site of Menlo, for it was in ruins.&nbsp; Corpses lay everywhere.&nbsp;
+The business part of the town, as well as part of the residences, had
+been gutted by fire.&nbsp; Here and there a residence still held out;
+but there was no getting near them.&nbsp; When we approached too closely
+we were fired upon.&nbsp; We met a woman who was poking about in the
+smoking ruins of her cottage.&nbsp; The first attack, she told us had
+been on the stores, and as she talked we could picture that raging,
+roaring, hungry mob flinging itself on the handful of townspeople.&nbsp;
+Millionaires and paupers had fought side by side for the food, and then
+fought with one another after they got it.&nbsp; The town of Palo Alto
+and Stanford University had been sacked in similar fashion, we learned.&nbsp;
+Ahead of us lay a desolate, wasted land; and we thought we were wise
+in turning off to my place.&nbsp; It lay three miles to the west, snuggling
+among the first rolling swells of the foothills.</p>
+<p>But as we rode along we saw that the devastation was not confined
+to the main roads.&nbsp; The van of the flight had kept to the roads,
+sacking the small towns as it went; while those that followed had scattered
+out and swept the whole countryside like a great broom.&nbsp; My place
+was built of concrete, masonry, and tiles, and so had escaped being
+burned, but it was gutted clean.&nbsp; We found the gardener&rsquo;s
+body in the windmill, littered around with empty shot-gun shells.&nbsp;
+He had put up a good fight.&nbsp; But no trace could we find of the
+two Italian labourers, nor of the house-keeper and her husband.&nbsp;
+Not a live thing remained.&nbsp; The calves, the colts, all the fancy
+poultry and thoroughbred stock, everything, was gone.&nbsp; The kitchen
+and the fireplaces, where the mob had cooked, were a mess, while many
+camp-fires outside bore witness to the large number that had fed and
+spent the night.&nbsp; What they had not eaten they had carried away.&nbsp;
+There was not a bite for us.</p>
+<p>We spent the rest of the night vainly waiting for Dakon, and in the
+morning, with our revolvers, fought off half-a-dozen marauders.&nbsp;
+Then we killed one of Dakon&rsquo;s horses, hiding for the future what
+meat we did not immediately eat.&nbsp; In the afternoon Collins went
+out for a walk, but failed to return.&nbsp; This was the last straw
+to Hanover.&nbsp; He was for flight there and then, and I had great
+difficulty in persuading him to wait for daylight.&nbsp; As for myself,
+I was convinced that the end of the general strike was near, and I was
+resolved to return to San Francisco.&nbsp; So, in the morning, we parted
+company, Hanover heading south, fifty pounds of horse-meat strapped
+to his saddle, while I, similarly loaded, headed north.&nbsp; Little
+Hanover pulled through all right, and to the end of his life he will
+persist, I know, in boring everybody with the narrative of his subsequent
+adventures.</p>
+<p>I got as far as Belmont, on the main road back, when I was robbed
+of my horse-meat by three militiamen.&nbsp; There was no change in the
+situation, they said, except that it was going from bad to worse.&nbsp;
+The I.L.W. had plenty of provisions hidden away and could last out for
+months.&nbsp; I managed to get as far as Baden, when my horse was taken
+away from me by a dozen men.&nbsp; Two of them were San Francisco policemen,
+and the remainder were regular soldiers.&nbsp; This was ominous.&nbsp;
+The situation was certainly extreme when the regulars were beginning
+to desert.&nbsp; When I continued my way on foot, they already had the
+fire started, and the last of Dakon&rsquo;s horses lay slaughtered on
+the ground.</p>
+<p>As luck would have it, I sprained my ankle, and succeeded in getting
+no farther than South San Francisco.&nbsp; I lay there that night in
+an out-house, shivering with the cold and at the same time burning with
+fever.&nbsp; Two days I lay there, too sick to move, and on the third,
+reeling and giddy, supporting myself on an extemporized crutch, I tottered
+on toward San Francisco.&nbsp; I was weak as well, for it was the third
+day since food had passed my lips.&nbsp; It was a day of nightmare and
+torment.&nbsp; As in a dream I passed hundreds of regular soldiers drifting
+along in the opposite direction, and many policemen, with their families,
+organized in large groups for mutual protection.</p>
+<p>As I entered the city I remembered the workman&rsquo;s house at which
+I had traded the silver pitcher, and in that direction my hunger drove
+me.&nbsp; Twilight was falling when I came to the place.&nbsp; I passed
+around by the alleyway and crawled up the black steps, on which I collapsed.&nbsp;
+I managed to reach out with the crutch and knock on the door.&nbsp;
+Then I must have fainted, for I came to in the kitchen, my face wet
+with water, and whisky being poured down my throat.&nbsp; I choked and
+spluttered and tried to talk.&nbsp; I began saying something about not
+having any more silver pitchers, but that I would make it up to them
+afterward if they would only give me something to eat.&nbsp; But the
+housewife interrupted me.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, you poor man,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;haven&rsquo;t you
+heard?&nbsp; The strike was called off this afternoon.&nbsp; Of course
+we&rsquo;ll give you something to eat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She bustled around, opening a tin of breakfast bacon and preparing
+to fry it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me have some now, please,&rdquo; I begged; and I ate the
+raw bacon on a slice of bread, while her husband explained that the
+demands of the I.L.W. had been granted.&nbsp; The wires had been opened
+up in the early afternoon, and everywhere the employers&rsquo; associations
+had given in.&nbsp; There hadn&rsquo;t been any employers left in San
+Francisco, but General Folsom had spoken for them.&nbsp; The trains
+and steamers would start running in the morning, and so would everything
+else just as soon as system could be established.</p>
+<p>And that was the end of the general strike.&nbsp; I never want to
+see another one.&nbsp; It was worse than a war.&nbsp; A general strike
+is a cruel and immoral thing, and the brain of man should be capable
+of running industry in a more rational way.&nbsp; Harrison is still
+my chauffeur.&nbsp; It was part of the conditions of the I.L.W. that
+all of its members should be reinstated in their old positions.&nbsp;
+Brown never came back, but the rest of the servants are with me.&nbsp;
+I hadn&rsquo;t the heart to discharge them&mdash;poor creatures, they
+were pretty hard-pressed when they deserted with the food and silver.&nbsp;
+And now I can&rsquo;t discharge them.&nbsp; They have all been unionized
+by the I.L.W.&nbsp; The tyranny of organized labour is getting beyond
+human endurance.&nbsp; Something must be done.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>THE SEA-FARMER</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;That wull be the doctor&rsquo;s launch,&rdquo; said Captain
+MacElrath.</p>
+<p>The pilot grunted, while the skipper swept on with his glass from
+the launch to the strip of beach and to Kingston beyond, and then slowly
+across the entrance to Howth Head on the northern side.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The tide&rsquo;s right, and we&rsquo;ll have you docked in
+two hours,&rdquo; the pilot vouchsafed, with an effort at cheeriness.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Ring&rsquo;s End Basin, is it?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This time the skipper grunted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A dirty Dublin day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Again the skipper grunted.&nbsp; He was weary with the night of wind
+in the Irish Channel behind him, the unbroken hours of which he had
+spent on the bridge.&nbsp; And he was weary with all the voyage behind
+him&mdash;two years and four months between home port and home port,
+eight hundred and fifty days by his log.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Proper wunter weather,&rdquo; he answered, after a silence.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;The town is undistinct.&nbsp; Ut wull be rainun&rsquo; guid an&rsquo;
+hearty for the day.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Captain MacElrath was a small man, just comfortably able to peep
+over the canvas dodger of the bridge.&nbsp; The pilot and third officer
+loomed above him, as did the man at the wheel, a bulky German, deserted
+from a warship, whom he had signed on in Rangoon.&nbsp; But his lack
+of inches made Captain MacElrath a no less able man.&nbsp; At least
+so the Company reckoned, and so would he have reckoned could he have
+had access to the carefully and minutely compiled record of him filed
+away in the office archives.&nbsp; But the Company had never given him
+a hint of its faith in him.&nbsp; It was not the way of the Company,
+for the Company went on the principle of never allowing an employee
+to think himself indispensable or even exceedingly useful; wherefore,
+while quick to censure, it never praised.&nbsp; What was Captain MacElrath,
+anyway, save a skipper, one skipper of the eighty-odd skippers that
+commanded the Company&rsquo;s eighty-odd freighters on all the highways
+and byways of the sea?</p>
+<p>Beneath them, on the main deck, two Chinese stokers were carrying
+breakfast for&rsquo;ard across the rusty iron plates that told their
+own grim story of weight and wash of sea.&nbsp; A sailor was taking
+down the life-line that stretched from the forecastle, past the hatches
+and cargo-winches, to the bridge-deck ladder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A rough voyage,&rdquo; suggested the pilot.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, she was fair smokin&rsquo; ot times, but not thot I minded
+thot so much as the lossin&rsquo; of time.&nbsp; I hate like onythun&rsquo;
+tull loss time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So saying, Captain MacElrath turned and glanced aft, aloft and alow,
+and the pilot, following his gaze, saw the mute but convincing explanation
+of that loss of time.&nbsp; The smoke-stack, buff-coloured underneath,
+was white with salt, while the whistle-pipe glittered crystalline in
+the random sunlight that broke for the instant through a cloud-rift.&nbsp;
+The port lifeboat was missing, its iron davits, twisted and wrenched,
+testifying to the mightiness of the blow that had been struck the old
+<i>Tryapsic</i>.&nbsp; The starboard davits were also empty.&nbsp; The
+shattered wreck of the lifeboat they had held lay on the fiddley beside
+the smashed engine-room skylight, which was covered by a tarpaulin.&nbsp;
+Below, to star-board, on the bridge deck, the pilot saw the crushed
+mess-room door, roughly bulkheaded against the pounding seas.&nbsp;
+Abreast of it, on the smokestack guys, and being taken down by the bos&rsquo;n
+and a sailor, hung the huge square of rope netting which had failed
+to break those seas of their force.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Twice afore I mentioned thot door tull the owners,&rdquo;
+said Captain MacElrath.&nbsp; &ldquo;But they said ut would do.&nbsp;
+There was bug seas thot time.&nbsp; They was uncreditable bug.&nbsp;
+And thot buggest one dud the domage.&nbsp; Ut fair carried away the
+door an&rsquo; laid ut flat on the mess table an&rsquo; smashed out
+the chief&rsquo;s room.&nbsp; He was a but sore about ut.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It must &rsquo;a&rsquo; been a big un,&rdquo; the pilot remarked
+sympathetically.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, ut was thot.&nbsp; Thungs was lively for a but.&nbsp;
+Ut finished the mate.&nbsp; He was on the brudge wuth me, an&rsquo;
+I told hum tull take a look tull the wedges o&rsquo; number one hatch.&nbsp;
+She was takin&rsquo; watter freely an&rsquo; I was no sure o&rsquo;
+number one.&nbsp; I dudna like the look o&rsquo; ut, an&rsquo; I was
+fuggerin&rsquo; maybe tull heave to tull the marn, when she took ut
+over abaft the brudge.&nbsp; My word, she was a bug one.&nbsp; We got
+a but of ut ourselves on the brudge.&nbsp; I dudna miss the mate ot
+the first, what o&rsquo; routin&rsquo; out Chips an&rsquo; bulkheadun&rsquo;
+thot door an&rsquo; stretchun&rsquo; the tarpaulin over the sky-light.&nbsp;
+Then he was nowhere to be found.&nbsp; The men ot the wheel said as
+he seen hum goin&rsquo; down the lodder just afore she hut us.&nbsp;
+We looked for&rsquo;ard, we looked tull hus room, aye looked tull the
+engine-room, an&rsquo; we looked along aft on the lower deck, and there
+he was, on both sides the cover to the steam-pipe runnun&rsquo; tull
+the after-wunches.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The pilot ejaculated an oath of amazement and horror.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye,&rdquo; the skipper went on wearily, &ldquo;an&rsquo;
+on both sides the steam-pipe uz well.&nbsp; I tell ye he was in two
+pieces, splut clean uz a herrin&rsquo;.&nbsp; The sea must a-caught
+hum on the upper brudge deck, carried hum clean across the fiddley,
+an&rsquo; banged hum head-on tull the pipe cover.&nbsp; It sheered through
+hum like so much butter, down atween the eyes, an&rsquo; along the middle
+of hum, so that one leg an&rsquo; arm was fast tull the one piece of
+hum, an&rsquo; one leg an&rsquo; arm fast tull the other piece of hum.&nbsp;
+I tull ye ut was fair grewsome.&nbsp; We putt hum together an&rsquo;
+rolled hum in canvas uz we pulled hum out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The pilot swore again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, ut wasna onythun&rsquo; tull greet about,&rdquo; Captain
+MacElrath assured him.&nbsp; &ldquo;&rsquo;Twas a guid ruddance.&nbsp;
+He was no a sailor, thot mate-fellow.&nbsp; He was only fut for a pugsty,
+an&rsquo; a dom puir apology for thot same.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It is said that there are three kinds of Irish&mdash;Catholic, Protestant,
+and North-of-Ireland&mdash;and that the North-of-Ireland Irishman is
+a transplanted Scotchman.&nbsp; Captain MacElrath was a North-of-Ireland
+man, and, talking for much of the world like a Scotchman, nothing aroused
+his ire quicker than being mistaken for a Scotchman.&nbsp; Irish he
+stoutly was, and Irish he stoutly abided, though it was with a faint
+lip-lift of scorn that he mentioned mere South-of-Ireland men, or even
+Orange-men.&nbsp; Himself he was Presbyterian, while in his own community
+five men were all that ever mustered at a meeting in the Orange Men&rsquo;s
+Hall.&nbsp; His community was the Island McGill, where seven thousand
+of his kind lived in such amity and sobriety that in the whole island
+there was but one policeman and never a public-house at all.</p>
+<p>Captain MacElrath did not like the sea, and had never liked it.&nbsp;
+He wrung his livelihood from it, and that was all the sea was, the place
+where he worked, as the mill, the shop, and the counting-house were
+the places where other men worked.&nbsp; Romance never sang to him her
+siren song, and Adventure had never shouted in his sluggish blood.&nbsp;
+He lacked imagination.&nbsp; The wonders of the deep were without significance
+to him.&nbsp; Tornadoes, hurricanes, waterspouts, and tidal waves were
+so many obstacles to the way of a ship on the sea and of a master on
+the bridge&mdash;they were that to him, and nothing more.&nbsp; He had
+seen, and yet not seen, the many marvels and wonders of far lands.&nbsp;
+Under his eyelids burned the brazen glories of the tropic seas, or ached
+the bitter gales of the North Atlantic or far South Pacific; but his
+memory of them was of mess-room doors stove in, of decks awash and hatches
+threatened, of undue coal consumption, of long passages, and of fresh
+paint-work spoiled by unexpected squalls of rain.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know my buzz&rsquo;ness,&rdquo; was the way he often put
+it, and beyond his business was all that he did not know, all that he
+had seen with the mortal eyes of him and yet that he never dreamed existed.&nbsp;
+That he knew his business his owners were convinced, or at forty he
+would not have held command of the <i>Tryapsic</i>, three thousand tons
+net register, with a cargo capacity of nine thousand tons and valued
+at fifty-thousand pounds.</p>
+<p>He had taken up seafaring through no love of it, but because it had
+been his destiny, because he had been the second son of his father instead
+of the first.&nbsp; Island McGill was only so large, and the land could
+support but a certain definite proportion of those that dwelt upon it.&nbsp;
+The balance, and a large balance it was, was driven to the sea to seek
+its bread.&nbsp; It had been so for generations.&nbsp; The eldest sons
+took the farms from their fathers; to the other sons remained the sea
+and its salt-ploughing.&nbsp; So it was that Donald MacElrath, farmer&rsquo;s
+son and farm-boy himself, had shifted from the soil he loved to the
+sea he hated and which it was his destiny to farm.&nbsp; And farmed
+it he had, for twenty years, shrewd, cool-headed, sober, industrious,
+and thrifty, rising from ship&rsquo;s boy and forecastle hand to mate
+and master of sailing-ships and thence into steam, second officer, first,
+and master, from small command to larger, and at last to the bridge
+of the old <i>Tryapsic</i>&mdash;old, to be sure, but worth her fifty
+thousand pounds and still able to bear up in all seas, and weather her
+nine thousand tons of freight.</p>
+<p>From the bridge of the <i>Tryapsic</i>, the high place he had gained
+in the competition of men, he stared at Dublin harbour opening out,
+at the town obscured by the dark sky of the dreary wind-driven day,
+and at the tangled tracery of spars and rigging of the harbour shipping.&nbsp;
+Back from twice around the world he was, and from interminable junketings
+up and down on far stretches, home-coming to the wife he had not seen
+in eight-and-twenty months, and to the child he had never seen and that
+was already walking and talking.&nbsp; He saw the watch below of stokers
+and trimmers bobbing out of the forecastle doors like rabbits from a
+warren and making their way aft over the rusty deck to the mustering
+of the port doctor.&nbsp; They were Chinese, with expressionless, Sphinx-like
+faces, and they walked in peculiar shambling fashion, dragging their
+feet as if the clumsy brogans were too heavy for their lean shanks.</p>
+<p>He saw them and he did not see them, as he passed his hand beneath
+his visored cap and scratched reflectively his mop of sandy hair.&nbsp;
+For the scene before him was but the background in his brain for the
+vision of peace that was his&mdash;a vision that was his often during
+long nights on the bridge when the old <i>Tryapsic</i> wallowed on the
+vexed ocean floor, her decks awash, her rigging thrumming in the gale
+gusts or snow squalls or driving tropic rain.&nbsp; And the vision he
+saw was of farm and farm-house and straw-thatched outbuildings, of children
+playing in the sun, and the good wife at the door, of lowing kine, and
+clucking fowls, and the stamp of horses in the stable, of his father&rsquo;s
+farm next to him, with, beyond, the woodless, rolling land and the hedged
+fields, neat and orderly, extending to the crest of the smooth, soft
+hills.&nbsp; It was his vision and his dream, his Romance and Adventure,
+the goal of all his effort, the high reward for the salt-ploughing and
+the long, long furrows he ran up and down the whole world around in
+his farming of the sea.</p>
+<p>In simple taste and homely inclination this much-travelled map was
+more simple and homely than the veriest yokel.&nbsp; Seventy-one years
+his father was, and had never slept a night out of his own bed in his
+own house on Island McGill.&nbsp; That was the life ideal, so Captain
+MacElrath considered, and he was prone to marvel that any man, not under
+compulsion, should leave a farm to go to sea.&nbsp; To this much-travelled
+man the whole world was as familiar as the village to the cobbler sitting
+in his shop.&nbsp; To Captain MacElrath the world was a village.&nbsp;
+In his mind&rsquo;s eye he saw its streets a thousand leagues long,
+aye, and longer; turnings that doubled earth&rsquo;s stormiest headlands
+or were the way to quiet inland ponds; cross-roads, taken one way, that
+led to flower-lands and summer seas, and that led the other way to bitter,
+ceaseless gales and the perilous bergs of the great west wind drift.&nbsp;
+And the cities, bright with lights, were as shops on these long streets&mdash;shops
+where business was transacted, where bunkers were replenished, cargoes
+taken or shifted, and orders received from the owners in London town
+to go elsewhere and beyond, ever along the long sea-lanes, seeking new
+cargoes here, carrying new cargoes there, running freights wherever
+shillings and pence beckoned and underwriters did not forbid.&nbsp;
+But it was all a weariness to contemplate, and, save that he wrung from
+it his bread, it was without profit under the sun.</p>
+<p>The last good-bye to the wife had been at Cardiff, twenty-eight months
+before, when he sailed for Valparaiso with coals&mdash;nine thousand
+tons and down to his marks.&nbsp; From Valparaiso he had gone to Australia,
+light, a matter of six thousand miles on end with a stormy passage and
+running short of bunker coal.&nbsp; Coals again to Oregon, seven thousand
+miles, and nigh as many more with general cargo for Japan and China.&nbsp;
+Thence to Java, loading sugar for Marseilles, and back along the Mediterranean
+to the Black Sea, and on to Baltimore, down to her marks with crome
+ore, buffeted by hurricanes, short again of bunker coal and calling
+at Bermuda to replenish.&nbsp; Then a time charter, Norfolk, Virginia,
+loading mysterious contraband coal and sailing for South Africa under
+orders of the mysterious German supercargo put on board by the charterers.&nbsp;
+On to Madagascar, steaming four knots by the supercargo&rsquo;s orders,
+and the suspicion forming that the Russian fleet might want the coal.&nbsp;
+Confusion and delays, long waits at sea, international complications,
+the whole world excited over the old <i>Tryapsic</i> and her cargo of
+contraband, and then on to Japan and the naval port of Sassebo.&nbsp;
+Back to Australia, another time charter and general merchandise picked
+up at Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, and carried on to Mauritius,
+Louren&ccedil;o Marques, Durban, Algoa Bay, and Cape Town.&nbsp; To
+Ceylon for orders, and from Ceylon to Rangoon to load rice for Rio Janeiro.&nbsp;
+Thence to Buenos Aires and loading maize for the United Kingdom or the
+Continent, stopping at St. Vincent, to receive orders to proceed to
+Dublin.&nbsp; Two years and four months, eight hundred and fifty days
+by the log, steaming up and down the thousand-league-long sea-lanes
+and back again to Dublin town.&nbsp; And he was well aweary.</p>
+<p>A little tug had laid hold of the <i>Tryapsic</i>, and with clang
+and clatter and shouted command, with engines half-ahead, slow-speed,
+or half-astern, the battered old sea-tramp was nudged and nosed and
+shouldered through the dock-gates into Ring&rsquo;s End Basin.&nbsp;
+Lines were flung ashore, fore and aft, and a &rsquo;midship spring got
+out.&nbsp; Already a small group of the happy shore-staying folk had
+clustered on the dock.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ring off,&rdquo; Captain MacElrath commanded in his slow thick
+voice; and the third officer worked the lever of the engine-room telegraph.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Gangway out!&rdquo; called the second officer; and when this
+was accomplished, &ldquo;That will do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was the last task of all, gangway out.&nbsp; &ldquo;That will
+do&rdquo; was the dismissal.&nbsp; The voyage was ended, and the crew
+shambled eagerly forward across the rusty decks to where their sea-bags
+were packed and ready for the shore.&nbsp; The taste of the land was
+strong in the men&rsquo;s mouths, and strong it was in the skipper&rsquo;s
+mouth as he muttered a gruff good day to the departing pilot, and himself
+went down to his cabin.&nbsp; Up the gangway were trooping the customs
+officers, the surveyor, the agent&rsquo;s clerk, and the stevedores.&nbsp;
+Quick work disposed of these and cleared his cabin, the agent waiting
+to take him to the office.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dud ye send word tull the wife?&rdquo; had been his greeting
+to the clerk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, a telegram, as soon as you were reported.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;ll likely be comin&rsquo; down on the marnin&rsquo;
+train,&rdquo; the skipper had soliloquized, and gone inside to change
+his clothes and wash.</p>
+<p>He took a last glance about the room and at two photographs on the
+wall, one of the wife the other of an infant&mdash;the child he had
+never seen.&nbsp; He stepped out into the cabin, with its panelled walls
+of cedar and maple, and with its long table that seated ten, and at
+which he had eaten by himself through all the weary time.&nbsp; No laughter
+and clatter and wordy argument of the mess-room had been his.&nbsp;
+He had eaten silently, almost morosely, his silence emulated by the
+noiseless Asiatic who had served him.&nbsp; It came to him suddenly,
+the overwhelming realization of the loneliness of those two years and
+more.&nbsp; All his vexations and anxieties had been his own.&nbsp;
+He had shared them with no one.&nbsp; His two young officers were too
+young and flighty, the mate too stupid.&nbsp; There was no consulting
+with them.&nbsp; One tenant had shared the cabin with him, that tenant
+his responsibility.&nbsp; They had dined and supped together, walked
+the bridge together, and together they had bedded.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Och!&rdquo; he muttered to that grim companion, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+quit of you, an&rsquo; wull quit . . . for a wee.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ashore he passed the last of the seamen with their bags, and, at
+the agent&rsquo;s, with the usual delays, put through his ship business.&nbsp;
+When asked out by them to drink he took milk and soda.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am no teetotaler,&rdquo; he explained; &ldquo;but for the
+life o&rsquo; me I canna bide beer or whusky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In the early afternoon, when he finished paying off his crew, he
+hurried to the private office where he had been told his wife was waiting.</p>
+<p>His eyes were for her first, though the temptation was great to have
+more than a hurried glimpse of the child in the chair beside her.&nbsp;
+He held her off from him after the long embrace, and looked into her
+face long and steadily, drinking in every feature of it and wondering
+that he could mark no changes of time.&nbsp; A warm man, his wife thought
+him, though had the opinion of his officers been asked it would have
+been: a harsh man and a bitter one.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wull, Annie, how is ut wi&rsquo; ye?&rdquo; he queried, and
+drew her to him again.</p>
+<p>And again he held her away from him, this wife of ten years and of
+whom he knew so little.&nbsp; She was almost a stranger&mdash;more a
+stranger than his Chinese steward, and certainly far more a stranger
+than his own officers whom he had seen every day, day and day, for eight
+hundred and fifty days.&nbsp; Married ten years, and in that time he
+had been with her nine weeks&mdash;scarcely a honeymoon.&nbsp; Each
+time home had been a getting acquainted again with her.&nbsp; It was
+the fate of the men who went out to the salt-ploughing.&nbsp; Little
+they knew of their wives and less of their children.&nbsp; There was
+his chief engineer&mdash;old, near-sighted MacPherson&mdash;who told
+the story of returning home to be locked out of his house by his four-year
+kiddie that never had laid eyes on him before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; thus &rsquo;ull be the loddie,&rdquo; the skipper
+said, reaching out a hesitant hand to the child&rsquo;s cheek.</p>
+<p>But the boy drew away from him, sheltering against the mother&rsquo;s
+side.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Och!&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;and he doesna know his own father.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nor I hum.&nbsp; Heaven knows I could no a-picked hum out
+of a crowd, though he&rsquo;ll be havin&rsquo; your nose I&rsquo;m thunkun&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; your own eyes, Donald.&nbsp; Look ut them.&nbsp;
+He&rsquo;s your own father, laddie.&nbsp; Kiss hum like the little mon
+ye are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>But the child drew closer to her, his expression of fear and distrust
+growing stronger, and when the father attempted to take him in his arms
+he threatened to cry.</p>
+<p>The skipper straightened up, and to conceal the pang at his heart
+he drew out his watch and looked at it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ut&rsquo;s time to go, Annie,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Thot
+train &rsquo;ull be startun&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was silent on the train at first, divided between watching the
+wife with the child going to sleep in her arms and looking out of the
+window at the tilled fields and green unforested hills vague and indistinct
+in the driving drizzle that had set in.&nbsp; They had the compartment
+to themselves.&nbsp; When the boy slept she laid him out on the seat
+and wrapped him warmly.&nbsp; And when the health of relatives and friends
+had been inquired after, and the gossip of Island McGill narrated, along
+with the weather and the price of land and crops, there was little left
+to talk about save themselves, and Captain MacElrath took up the tale
+brought home for the good wife from all his world&rsquo;s-end wandering.&nbsp;
+But it was not a tale of marvels he told, nor of beautiful flower-lands
+nor mysterious Eastern cities.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What like is Java?&rdquo; she asked once.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Full o&rsquo; fever.&nbsp; Half the crew down wuth ut an&rsquo;
+luttle work.&nbsp; Ut was quinine an&rsquo; quinine the whole blessed
+time.&nbsp; Each marnun&rsquo; &rsquo;twas quinine an&rsquo; gin for
+all hands on an empty stomach.&nbsp; An&rsquo; they who was no sick
+made ut out to be hovun&rsquo; ut bad uz the rest.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Another time she asked about Newcastle.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Coals an&rsquo; coal-dust&mdash;thot&rsquo;s all.&nbsp; No
+a nice sutty.&nbsp; I lost two Chinks there, stokers the both of them.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; the owners paid a fine tull the Government of a hundred pounds
+each for them.&nbsp; &lsquo;We regret tull note,&rsquo; they wrut me&mdash;I
+got the letter tull Oregon&mdash;&lsquo;We regret tull note the loss
+o&rsquo; two Chinese members o&rsquo; yer crew ot Newcastle, an&rsquo;
+we recommend greater carefulness un the future.&rsquo;&nbsp; Greater
+carefulness!&nbsp; And I could no a-been more careful.&nbsp; The Chinks
+hod forty-five pounds each comun&rsquo; tull them in wages, an&rsquo;
+I was no a-thunkun&rsquo; they &rsquo;ud run.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But thot&rsquo;s their way&mdash;&lsquo;we regret tull note,&rsquo;
+&lsquo;we beg tull advise,&rsquo; &lsquo;we recommend,&rsquo; &lsquo;we
+canna understand&rsquo;&mdash;an&rsquo; the like o&rsquo; thot.&nbsp;
+Domned cargo tank!&nbsp; An&rsquo; they would thunk I could drive her
+like a <i>Lucania</i>, an&rsquo; wi&rsquo;out burnun&rsquo; coals.&nbsp;
+There was thot propeller.&nbsp; I was after them a guid while for ut.&nbsp;
+The old one was iron, thuck on the edges, an&rsquo; we couldna make
+our speed.&nbsp; An&rsquo; the new one was bronze&mdash;nine hundred
+pounds ut cost, an&rsquo; then wantun&rsquo; their returns out o&rsquo;
+ut, an&rsquo; me wuth a bod passage an&rsquo; lossin&rsquo; time every
+day.&nbsp; &lsquo;We regret tull note your long passage from Voloparaiso
+tull Sydney wuth an average daily run o&rsquo; only one hundred an&rsquo;
+suxty-seven.&nbsp; We hod expected better results wuth the new propeller.&nbsp;
+You should a-made an average daily run o&rsquo; two hundred and suxteen.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; me on a wunter passage, blowin&rsquo; a luvin&rsquo;
+gale half the time, wuth hurricane force in atweenwhiles, an&rsquo;
+hove to sux days, wuth engines stopped an&rsquo; bunker coal runnun&rsquo;
+short, an&rsquo; me wuth a mate thot stupid he could no pass a shup&rsquo;s
+light ot night wi&rsquo;out callun&rsquo; me tull the brudge.&nbsp;
+I wrut an&rsquo; told &rsquo;em so.&nbsp; An&rsquo; then: &lsquo;Our
+nautical adviser suggests you kept too far south,&rsquo; an&rsquo; &lsquo;We
+are lookun&rsquo; for better results from thot propeller.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+Nautical adviser!&mdash;shore pilot!&nbsp; Ut was the regular latitude
+for a wunter passage from Voloparaiso tull Sydney.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; when I come un tull Auckland short o&rsquo; coal,
+after lettun&rsquo; her druft sux days wuth the fires out tull save
+the coal, an&rsquo; wuth only twenty tons in my bunkers, I was thunkun&rsquo;
+o&rsquo; the lossin&rsquo; o&rsquo; time an&rsquo; the expense, an&rsquo;
+tull save the owners I took her un an&rsquo; out wi&rsquo;out pilotage.&nbsp;
+Pilotage was no compulsory.&nbsp; An&rsquo; un Yokohama, who should
+I meet but Captun Robinson o&rsquo; the <i>Dyapsic</i>.&nbsp; We got
+a-talkun&rsquo; about ports an&rsquo; places down Australia-way, an&rsquo;
+first thing he says: &lsquo;Speakun&rsquo; o&rsquo; Auckland&mdash;of
+course, Captun, you was never un Auckland?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Yus,&rsquo;
+I says, &lsquo;I was un there very recent.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Oh, ho,&rsquo;
+he says, very angry-like, &lsquo;so you was the smart Aleck thot fetched
+me thot letter from the owners: &ldquo;We note item of fufteen pounds
+for pilotage ot Auckland.&nbsp; A shup o&rsquo; ours was un tull Auckland
+recently an&rsquo; uncurred no such charge.&nbsp; We beg tull advise
+you thot we conseeder thus pilotage an onnecessary expense which should
+no be uncurred un the future.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But dud they say a word tull me for the fufteen pounds I saved
+tull them?&nbsp; No a word.&nbsp; They send a letter tull Captun Robinson
+for no savun&rsquo; them the fufteen pounds, an&rsquo; tull me: &lsquo;We
+note item of two guineas doctor&rsquo;s fee at Auckland for crew.&nbsp;
+Please explain thus onusual expunditure.&rsquo;&nbsp; Ut was two o&rsquo;
+the Chinks.&nbsp; I was thunkun&rsquo; they hod beri-beri, an&rsquo;
+thot was the why o&rsquo; sendun&rsquo; for the doctor.&nbsp; I buried
+the two of them ot sea not a week after.&nbsp; But ut was: &lsquo;Please
+explain thus onusual expunditure,&rsquo; an&rsquo; tull Captun Robinson,
+&lsquo;We beg tull advise you thot we conseeder thus pilotage an onnecessary
+expense.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dudna I cable them from Newcastle, tellun&rsquo; them the
+old tank was thot foul she needed dry-dock?&nbsp; Seven months out o&rsquo;
+drydock, an&rsquo; the West Coast the quickest place for foulun&rsquo;
+un the world.&nbsp; But freights was up, an&rsquo; they hod a charter
+o&rsquo; coals for Portland.&nbsp; The <i>Arrata</i>, one o&rsquo; the
+Woor Line, left port the same day uz us, bound for Portland, an&rsquo;
+the old <i>Tryapsic</i> makun&rsquo; sux knots, seven ot the best.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; ut was ot Comox, takun&rsquo; un bunker coal, I got the letter
+from the owners.&nbsp; The boss humself hod signed ut, an&rsquo; ot
+the bottom he wrut un hus own bond: &lsquo;The <i>Arrata</i> beat you
+by four an&rsquo; a half days.&nbsp; Am dusappointed.&rsquo;&nbsp; Dusappointed!&nbsp;
+When I had cabled them from Newcastle.&nbsp; When she drydocked ot Portland,
+there was whuskers on her a foot long, barnacles the size o&rsquo; me
+fust, oysters like young sauce plates.&nbsp; Ut took them two days afterward
+tull clean the dock o&rsquo; shells an&rsquo; muck.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; there was the motter o&rsquo; them fire-bars ot
+Newcastle.&nbsp; The firm ashore made them heavier than the engineer&rsquo;s
+speecifications, an&rsquo; then forgot tull charge for the dufference.&nbsp;
+Ot the last moment, wuth me ashore gettun&rsquo; me clearance, they
+come wuth the bill: &lsquo;Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+They&rsquo;d been tull the shup an&rsquo; MacPherson hod O.K.&rsquo;d
+ut.&nbsp; I said ut was strange an&rsquo; would no pay.&nbsp; &lsquo;Then
+you are dootun&rsquo; the chief engineer,&rsquo; says they.&nbsp; &lsquo;I&rsquo;m
+no dootun&rsquo;,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;but I canna see my way tull
+sign.&nbsp; Come wuth me tull the shup.&nbsp; The launch wull cost ye
+naught an&rsquo; ut &rsquo;ull brung ye back.&nbsp; An&rsquo; we wull
+see what MacPherson says.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But they would no come.&nbsp; Ot Portland I got the bill un
+a letter.&nbsp; I took no notice.&nbsp; Ot Hong-Kong I got a letter
+from the owners.&nbsp; The bill hod been sent tull them.&nbsp; I wrut
+them from Java explainun&rsquo;.&nbsp; At Marseilles the owners wrut
+me: &lsquo;Tull extra work un engine-room, sux pounds.&nbsp; The engineer
+has O.K.&rsquo;d ut, an&rsquo; you have no O.K.&rsquo;d ut.&nbsp; Are
+you dootun&rsquo; the engineer&rsquo;s honesty?&rsquo;&nbsp; I wrut
+an&rsquo; told them I was no dootun&rsquo; his honesty; thot the bill
+was for extra weight o&rsquo; fire-bars; an&rsquo; thot ut was O.K.&nbsp;
+Dud they pay ut?&nbsp; They no dud.&nbsp; They must unvestigate.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; some clerk un the office took sick, an&rsquo; the bill was
+lost.&nbsp; An&rsquo; there was more letters.&nbsp; I got letters from
+the owners an&rsquo; the firm&mdash;&lsquo;Tull error on fire-bars,
+sux pounds&rsquo;&mdash;ot Baltimore, ot Delagoa Bay, ot Moji, ot Rangoon,
+ot Rio, an&rsquo; ot Montevuddio.&nbsp; Ut uz no settled yut.&nbsp;
+I tell ye, Annie, the owners are hard tull please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He communed with himself for a moment, and then muttered indignantly:
+&ldquo;Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hov ye heard of Jamie?&rdquo; his wife asked in the pause.</p>
+<p>Captain MacElrath shook his head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He was washed off the poop wuth three seamen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whereabouts?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Off the Horn.&nbsp; &rsquo;Twas on the <i>Thornsby</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They would be runnun&rsquo; homeward bound?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye,&rdquo; she nodded.&nbsp; &ldquo;We only got the word
+three days gone.&nbsp; His wife is greetin&rsquo; like tull die.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A good lod, Jamie,&rdquo; he commented, &ldquo;but a stiff
+one ot carryun&rsquo; on.&nbsp; I mind me when we was mates together
+un the <i>Abion</i>.&nbsp; An&rsquo; so Jamie&rsquo;s gone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Again a pause fell, to be broken by the wife.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; ye will no a-heard o&rsquo; the <i>Bankshire</i>?&nbsp;
+MacDougall lost her in Magellan Straits.&nbsp; &rsquo;Twas only yesterday
+ut was in the paper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A cruel place, them Magellan Straits,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Dudna thot domned mate-fellow nigh putt me ashore twice on the
+one passage through?&nbsp; He was a eediot, a lunatuc.&nbsp; I wouldna
+have hum on the brudge a munut.&nbsp; Comun&rsquo; tull Narrow Reach,
+thuck weather, wuth snow squalls, me un the chart-room, dudna I guv
+hum the changed course?&nbsp; &lsquo;South-east-by-east,&rsquo; I told
+hum.&nbsp; &lsquo;South-east-by-east, sir,&rsquo; says he.&nbsp; Fufteen
+munuts after I comes on tull the brudge.&nbsp; &lsquo;Funny,&rsquo;
+says thot mate-fellow, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m no rememberun&rsquo; ony islands
+un the mouth o&rsquo; Narrow Reach.&nbsp; I took one look ot the islands
+an&rsquo; yells, &lsquo;Putt your wheel hard a-starboard,&rsquo; tull
+the mon ot the wheel.&nbsp; An&rsquo; ye should a-seen the old <i>Tryapsic</i>
+turnun&rsquo; the sharpest circle she ever turned.&nbsp; I waited for
+the snow tull clear, an&rsquo; there was Narrow Reach, nice uz ye please,
+tull the east&rsquo;ard an&rsquo; the islands un the mouth o&rsquo;
+False Bay tull the south&rsquo;ard.&nbsp; &lsquo;What course was ye
+steerun&rsquo;?&rsquo; I says tull the mon ot the wheel.&nbsp; &lsquo;South-by-east,
+sir,&rsquo; says he.&nbsp; I looked tull the mate-fellow.&nbsp; What
+could I say?&nbsp; I was thot wroth I could a-kult hum.&nbsp; Four points
+dufference.&nbsp; Five munuts more an&rsquo; the old <i>Tryapsic</i>
+would a-been funushed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; was ut no the same when we cleared the Straits tull
+the east&rsquo;ard?&nbsp; Four hours would a-seen us guid an&rsquo;
+clear.&nbsp; I was forty hours then on the brudge.&nbsp; I guv the mate
+his course, an&rsquo; the bearun&rsquo; o&rsquo; the Askthar Light astern.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Don&rsquo;t let her bear more tull the north&rsquo;ard than west-by-north,&rsquo;
+I said tull hum, &rsquo;an&rsquo; ye wull be all right.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; I went below an&rsquo; turned un.&nbsp; But I couldna sleep
+for worryun&rsquo;.&nbsp; After forty hours on the brudge, what was
+four hours more? I thought.&nbsp; An&rsquo; for them four hours wull
+ye be lettun&rsquo; the mate loss her on ye?&nbsp; &lsquo;No,&rsquo;
+I says to myself.&nbsp; An&rsquo; wuth thot I got up, hod a wash an&rsquo;
+a cup o&rsquo; coffee, an&rsquo; went tull the brudge.&nbsp; I took
+one look ot the bearun&rsquo; o&rsquo; Askthar Light.&nbsp; &rsquo;Twas
+nor&rsquo;west-by-west, and the old <i>Tryapsic</i> down on the shoals.&nbsp;
+He was a eediot, thot mate-fellow.&nbsp; Ye could look overside an&rsquo;
+see the duscoloration of the watter.&nbsp; &rsquo;Twas a close call
+for the old <i>Tryapsic</i> I&rsquo;m tellun&rsquo; ye.&nbsp; Twice
+un thirty hours he&rsquo;d a-hod her ashore uf ut hod no been for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Captain MacElrath fell to gazing at the sleeping child with mild
+wonder in his small blue eyes, and his wife sought to divert him from
+his woes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ye remember Jummy MacCaul?&rdquo; she asked.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ye
+went tull school wuth hus two boys.&nbsp; Old Jummy MacCaul thot hoz
+the farm beyond Doctor Haythorn&rsquo;s place.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, aye, an&rsquo; what o&rsquo; hum?&nbsp; Uz he dead?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, but he was after askun&rsquo; your father, when he sailed
+last time for Voloparaiso, uf ye&rsquo;d been there afore.&nbsp; An&rsquo;
+when your father says no, then Jummy says, &lsquo;An&rsquo; how wull
+he be knowun a&rsquo; tull find hus way?&rsquo;&nbsp; An&rsquo; with
+thot your father says: &lsquo;Verry sumple ut uz, Jummy.&nbsp; Supposun&rsquo;
+you was goin&rsquo; tull the mainland tull a mon who luved un Belfast.&nbsp;
+Belfast uz a bug sutty, Jummy, an&rsquo; how would ye be findun&rsquo;
+your way?&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;By way o&rsquo; me tongue,&rsquo; says
+Jummy; &lsquo;I&rsquo;d be askun&rsquo; the folk I met.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;I told ye ut was sumple,&rsquo; says your father.&nbsp; &lsquo;Ut&rsquo;s
+the very same way my Donald finds the road tull Voloparaiso.&nbsp; He
+asks every shup he meets upon the sea tull ot last he meets wuth a shup
+thot&rsquo;s been tull Voloparaiso, an&rsquo; the captun o&rsquo; thot
+shup tells hum the way.&rsquo;&nbsp; An&rsquo; Jummy scratches hus head
+an&rsquo; says he understands an&rsquo; thot ut&rsquo;s a very sumple
+motter after all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The skipper chuckled at the joke, and his tired blue eyes were merry
+for the moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He was a thun chap, thot mate-fellow, oz thun oz you an&rsquo;
+me putt together,&rdquo; he remarked after a time, a slight twinkle
+in his eye of appreciation of the bull.&nbsp; But the twinkle quickly
+disappeared and the blue eyes took on a bleak and wintry look.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;What dud he do ot Voloparaiso but land sux hundred fathom o&rsquo;
+chain cable an&rsquo; take never a receipt from the lighter-mon.&nbsp;
+I was gettun&rsquo; my clearance ot the time.&nbsp; When we got tull
+sea, I found he hod no receipt for the cable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;An&rsquo; ye no took a receipt for ut?&rsquo; says
+I.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;No,&rsquo; says he.&nbsp; &lsquo;Wasna ut goin&rsquo;
+direct tull the agents?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;How long ha&rsquo; ye been goin&rsquo; tull sea,&rsquo;
+says I, &lsquo;not tull be knowin&rsquo; the mate&rsquo;s duty uz tull
+deluver no cargo wuthout receipt for same?&nbsp; An&rsquo; on the West
+Coast ot thot.&nbsp; What&rsquo;s tull stop the lighter-mon from stealun&rsquo;
+a few lengths o&rsquo; ut?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; ut come out uz I said.&nbsp; Sux hundred hundred
+went over the side, but four hundred an&rsquo; ninety-five was all the
+agents received.&nbsp; The lighter-mon swore ut was all he received
+from the mate&mdash;four hundred an&rsquo; ninety-five fathom.&nbsp;
+I got a letter from the owners ot Portland.&nbsp; They no blamed the
+mate for ut, but me, an&rsquo; me ashore ot the time on shup&rsquo;s
+buzz&rsquo;ness.&nbsp; I could no be in the two places ot the one time.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; the letters from the owners an&rsquo; the agents uz still
+comun&rsquo; tull me.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thot mate-fellow was no a proper sailor, an&rsquo; no a mon
+tull work for owners.&nbsp; Dudna he want tull break me wuth the Board
+of Trade for bein&rsquo; below my marks?&nbsp; He said as much tull
+the bos&rsquo;n.&nbsp; An&rsquo; he told me tull my face homeward bound
+thot I&rsquo;d been half an inch under my marks.&nbsp; &rsquo;Twas at
+Portland, loadun&rsquo; cargo un fresh watter an&rsquo; goin&rsquo;
+tull Comox tull load bunker coal un salt watter.&nbsp; I tell ye, Annie,
+ut takes close fuggerin&rsquo;, an&rsquo; I <i>was</i> half an inch
+under the load-line when the bunker coal was un.&nbsp; But I&rsquo;m
+no tellun&rsquo; any other body but you.&nbsp; An&rsquo; thot mate-fellow
+untendun&rsquo; tull report me tull the Board o&rsquo; Trade, only for
+thot he saw fut tull be sliced un two pieces on the steam-pipe cover.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He was a fool.&nbsp; After loadun&rsquo; ot Portland I hod
+tull take on suxty tons o&rsquo; coal tull last me tull Comox.&nbsp;
+The charges for lighterun&rsquo; was heavy, an&rsquo; no room ot the
+coal dock.&nbsp; A French barque was lyin&rsquo; alongside the dock
+an&rsquo; I spoke tull the captun, askun&rsquo; hum what he would charge
+when work for the day was done, tull haul clear for a couple o&rsquo;
+hours an&rsquo; let me un.&nbsp; &lsquo;Twenty dollars,&rsquo; said
+he.&nbsp; Ut was savun&rsquo; money on lighters tull the owner, an&rsquo;
+I gave ut tull hum.&nbsp; An&rsquo; thot night, after dark, I hauled
+un an&rsquo; took on the coal.&nbsp; Then I started tull go out un the
+stream an&rsquo; drop anchor&mdash;under me own steam, of course.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We hod tull go out stern first, an&rsquo; somethun&rsquo;
+went wrong wuth the reversun&rsquo; gear.&nbsp; Old MacPherson said
+he could work ut by hond, but very slow ot thot.&nbsp; An&rsquo; I said
+&lsquo;All right.&rsquo;&nbsp; We started.&nbsp; The pilot was on board.&nbsp;
+The tide was ebbun&rsquo; stuffly, an&rsquo; right abreast an&rsquo;
+a but below was a shup lyin&rsquo; wuth a lighter on each side.&nbsp;
+I saw the shup&rsquo;s ridun&rsquo; lights, but never a light on the
+lighters.&nbsp; Ut was close quarters to shuft a bug vessel onder steam,
+wuth MacPherson workun&rsquo; the reversun&rsquo; gear by hond.&nbsp;
+We hod to come close down upon the shup afore I could go ahead an&rsquo;
+clear o&rsquo; the shups on the dock-ends.&nbsp; An&rsquo; we struck
+the lighter stern-on, just uz I rung tull MacPherson half ahead.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;What was thot?&rsquo; says the pilot, when we struck
+the lighter.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I dunna know,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;an&rsquo; I&rsquo;m
+wonderun&rsquo;.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The pilot was no keen, ye see, tull hus job.&nbsp; I went
+on tull a guid place an&rsquo; dropped anchor, an&rsquo; ut would all
+a-been well but for thot domned eediot mate.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;We smashed thot lighter,&rsquo; says he, comun&rsquo;
+up the lodder tull the brudge&mdash;an&rsquo; the pilot stondun&rsquo;
+there wuth his ears cocked tull hear.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;What lighter?&rsquo; says I.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Thot lighter alongside the shup,&rsquo; says the mate.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I dudna see no lighter,&rsquo; says I, and wuth thot
+I steps on hus fut guid an&rsquo; hard.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;After the pilot was gone I says tull the mate: &lsquo;Uf you
+dunna know onythun&rsquo;, old mon, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake keep your
+mouth shut.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;But ye dud smash thot lighter, dudn&rsquo;t ye?&rsquo;
+says he.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Uf we dud,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;ut&rsquo;s no your
+buzz&rsquo;ness tull be tellun&rsquo; the pilot&mdash;though, mind ye,
+I&rsquo;m no admuttun&rsquo; there was ony lighter.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; next marnun&rsquo;, just uz I&rsquo;m after dressun&rsquo;,
+the steward says, &lsquo;A mon tull see ye, sir.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Fetch
+hum un,&rsquo; says I.&nbsp; An&rsquo; un he come.&nbsp; &lsquo;Sut
+down,&rsquo; says I.&nbsp; An&rsquo; he sot down.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He was the owner of the lighter, an&rsquo; when he hod told
+hus story, I says, &lsquo;I dudna see ony lighter.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;What, mon?&rsquo; says he.&nbsp; &lsquo;No see a two-hundred-ton
+lighter, bug oz a house, alongside thot shup?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I was goin&rsquo; by the shup&rsquo;s lights,&rsquo;
+says I, &lsquo;an&rsquo; I dudna touch the shup, thot I know.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;But ye dud touch the lighter,&rsquo; says he.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Ye smashed her.&nbsp; There&rsquo;s a thousand dollars&rsquo;
+domage done, an&rsquo; I&rsquo;ll see ye pay for ut.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;Look here, muster,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;when I&rsquo;m shuftun&rsquo;
+a shup ot night I follow the law, an&rsquo; the law dustunctly says
+I must regulate me actions by the lights o&rsquo; the shuppun&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+Your lighter never hod no ridun&rsquo; light, nor dud I look for ony
+lighter wuthout lights tull show ut.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;The mate says&mdash;&rsquo; he beguns.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Domn the mate,&rsquo; says I.&nbsp; &lsquo;Dud your
+lighter hov a ridun&rsquo; light?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;No, ut dud not,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;but ut was a
+clear night wuth the moon a-showun&rsquo;.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Ye seem tull know your buzz&rsquo;ness,&rsquo; says
+I.&nbsp; &lsquo;But let me tell ye thot I know my buzz&rsquo;ness uz
+well, an&rsquo; thot I&rsquo;m no a-lookun&rsquo; for lighters wuthout
+lights.&nbsp; Uf ye thunk ye hov a case, go ahead.&nbsp; The steward
+will show ye out.&nbsp; Guid day.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; thot was the end o&rsquo; ut.&nbsp; But ut wull
+show ye what a puir fellow thot mate was.&nbsp; I call ut a blessun&rsquo;
+for all masters thot he was sliced un two on thot steam-pipe cover.&nbsp;
+He had a pull un the office an&rsquo; thot was the why he was kept on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Wekley farm wull soon be for sale, so the agents be tellun&rsquo;
+me,&rdquo; his wife remarked, slyly watching what effect her announcement
+would have upon him.</p>
+<p>His eyes flashed eagerly on the instant, and he straightened up as
+might a man about to engage in some agreeable task.&nbsp; It was the
+farm of his vision, adjoining his father&rsquo;s, and her own people
+farmed not a mile away.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We wull be buyun&rsquo; ut,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;though
+we wull be no tellun&rsquo; a soul of ut ontul ut&rsquo;s bought an&rsquo;
+the money paid down.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ve savun&rsquo; consuderable these
+days, though pickun&rsquo;s uz no what they used to be, an&rsquo; we
+hov a tidy nest-egg laid by.&nbsp; I wull see the father an&rsquo; hove
+the money ready tull hus hond, so uf I&rsquo;m ot sea he can buy whenever
+the land offers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He rubbed the frosted moisture from the inside of the window and
+peered out at the pouring rain, through which he could discern nothing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;When I was a young men I used tull be afeard thot the owners
+would guv me the sack.&nbsp; Stull afeard I am of the sack.&nbsp; But
+once thot farm is mine I wull no be afeard ony longer.&nbsp; Ut&rsquo;s
+a puir job thus sea-farmun&rsquo;.&nbsp; Me managin&rsquo; un all seas
+an&rsquo; weather an&rsquo; perils o&rsquo; the deep a shup worth fufty
+thousand pounds, wuth cargoes ot times worth fufty thousand more&mdash;a
+hundred thousand pounds, half a million dollars uz the Yankees say,
+an&rsquo; me wuth all the responsubility gettun&rsquo; a screw o&rsquo;
+twenty pounds a month.&nbsp; What mon ashore, managin&rsquo; a buz&rsquo;ness
+worth a hundred thousand pounds wull be gettun&rsquo; uz small a screw
+uz twenty pounds?&nbsp; An&rsquo; wuth such masters uz a captun serves&mdash;the
+owners, the underwriters, an&rsquo; the Board o&rsquo; Trade, all pullun&rsquo;
+an wantun&rsquo; dufferent thungs&mdash;the owners wantun&rsquo; quick
+passages an&rsquo; domn the rusk, the underwriters wantun&rsquo; safe
+passages an&rsquo; domn the delay, an&rsquo; the Board o&rsquo; Trade
+wantun&rsquo; cautious passages an&rsquo; caution always meanun&rsquo;
+delay.&nbsp; Three dufferent masters, an&rsquo; all three able an&rsquo;
+wullun&rsquo; to break ye uf ye don&rsquo;t serve their dufferent wushes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt the train slackening speed, and peered again through the
+misty window.&nbsp; He stood up, buttoned his overcoat, turned up the
+collar, and awkwardly gathered the child, still asleep, in his arms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wull see the father,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;an&rsquo; hov
+the money ready tull hus hond so uf I&rsquo;m ot sea when the land offers
+he wull no muss the chance tull buy.&nbsp; An&rsquo; then the owners
+can guv me the sack uz soon uz they like.&nbsp; Ut will be all night
+un, an&rsquo; I wull be wuth you, Annie, an&rsquo; the sea can go tull
+hell.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Happiness was in both their faces at the prospect, and for a moment
+both saw the same vision of peace.&nbsp; Annie leaned toward him, and
+as the train stopped they kissed each other across the sleeping child.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>SAMUEL</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Margaret Henan would have been a striking figure under any circumstances,
+but never more so than when I first chanced upon her, a sack of grain
+of fully a hundredweight on her shoulder, as she walked with sure though
+tottering stride from the cart-tail to the stable, pausing for an instant
+to gather strength at the foot of the steep steps that led to the grain-bin.&nbsp;
+There were four of these steps, and she went up them, a step at a time,
+slowly, unwaveringly, and with so dogged certitude that it never entered
+my mind that her strength could fail her and let that hundred-weight
+sack fall from the lean and withered frame that wellnigh doubled under
+it.&nbsp; For she was patently an old woman, and it was her age that
+made me linger by the cart and watch.</p>
+<p>Six times she went between the cart and the stable, each time with
+a full sack on her back, and beyond passing the time of day with me
+she took no notice of my presence.&nbsp; Then, the cart empty, she fumbled
+for matches and lighted a short clay pipe, pressing down the burning
+surface of the tobacco with a calloused and apparently nerveless thumb.&nbsp;
+The hands were noteworthy.&nbsp; They were large-knuckled, sinewy and
+malformed by labour, rimed with callouses, the nails blunt and broken,
+and with here and there cuts and bruises, healed and healing, such as
+are common to the hands of hard-working men.&nbsp; On the back were
+huge, upstanding veins, eloquent of age and toil.&nbsp; Looking at them,
+it was hard to believe that they were the hands of the woman who had
+once been the belle of Island McGill.&nbsp; This last, of course, I
+learned later.&nbsp; At the time I knew neither her history nor her
+identity.</p>
+<p>She wore heavy man&rsquo;s brogans.&nbsp; Her legs were stockingless,
+and I had noticed when she walked that her bare feet were thrust into
+the crinkly, iron-like shoes that sloshed about her lean ankles at every
+step.&nbsp; Her figure, shapeless and waistless, was garbed in a rough
+man&rsquo;s shirt and in a ragged flannel petticoat that had once been
+red.&nbsp; But it was her face, wrinkled, withered and weather-beaten,
+surrounded by an aureole of unkempt and straggling wisps of greyish
+hair, that caught and held me.&nbsp; Neither drifted hair nor serried
+wrinkles could hide the splendid dome of a forehead, high and broad
+without verging in the slightest on the abnormal.</p>
+<p>The sunken cheeks and pinched nose told little of the quality of
+the life that flickered behind those clear blue eyes of hers.&nbsp;
+Despite the minutiae of wrinkle-work that somehow failed to weazen them,
+her eyes were clear as a girl&rsquo;s&mdash;clear, out-looking, and
+far-seeing, and with an open and unblinking steadfastness of gaze that
+was disconcerting.&nbsp; The remarkable thing was the distance between
+them.&nbsp; It is a lucky man or woman who has the width of an eye between,
+but with Margaret Henan the width between her eyes was fully that of
+an eye and a half.&nbsp; Yet so symmetrically moulded was her face that
+this remarkable feature produced no uncanny effect, and, for that matter,
+would have escaped the casual observer&rsquo;s notice.&nbsp; The mouth,
+shapeless and toothless, with down-turned corners and lips dry and parchment-like,
+nevertheless lacked the muscular slackness so usual with age.&nbsp;
+The lips might have been those of a mummy, save for that impression
+of rigid firmness they gave.&nbsp; Not that they were atrophied.&nbsp;
+On the contrary, they seemed tense and set with a muscular and spiritual
+determination.&nbsp; There, and in the eyes, was the secret of the certitude
+with which she carried the heavy sacks up the steep steps, with never
+a false step or overbalance, and emptied them in the grain-bin.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are an old woman to be working like this,&rdquo; I ventured.</p>
+<p>She looked at me with that strange, unblinking gaze, and she thought
+and spoke with the slow deliberateness that characterized everything
+about her, as if well aware of an eternity that was hers and in which
+there was no need for haste.&nbsp; Again I was impressed by the enormous
+certitude of her.&nbsp; In this eternity that seemed so indubitably
+hers, there was time and to spare for safe-footing and stable equilibrium&mdash;for
+certitude, in short.&nbsp; No more in her spiritual life than in carrying
+the hundredweights of grain was there a possibility of a misstep or
+an overbalancing.&nbsp; The feeling produced in me was uncanny.&nbsp;
+Here was a human soul that, save for the most glimmering of contacts,
+was beyond the humanness of me.&nbsp; And the more I learned of Margaret
+Henan in the weeks that followed the more mysteriously remote she became.&nbsp;
+She was as alien as a far-journeyer from some other star, and no hint
+could she nor all the countryside give me of what forms of living, what
+heats of feeling, or rules of philosophic contemplation actuated her
+in all that she had been and was.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wull be suvunty-two come Guid Friday a fortnight,&rdquo;
+she said in reply to my question.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you are an old woman to be doing this man&rsquo;s work,
+and a strong man&rsquo;s work at that,&rdquo; I insisted.</p>
+<p>Again she seemed to immerse herself in that atmosphere of contemplative
+eternity, and so strangely did it affect me that I should not have been
+surprised to have awaked a century or so later and found her just beginning
+to enunciate her reply&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The work hoz tull be done, an&rsquo; I am beholden tull no
+one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But have you no children, no family, relations?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, aye, a-plenty o&rsquo; them, but they no see fut tull
+be helpun&rsquo; me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She drew out her pipe for a moment, then added, with a nod of her
+head toward the house, &ldquo;I luv&rsquo; wuth meself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I glanced at the house, straw-thatched and commodious, at the large
+stable, and at the large array of fields I knew must belong with the
+place.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is a big bit of land for you to farm by yourself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, aye, a bug but, suvunty acres.&nbsp; Ut kept me old mon
+buzzy, along wuth a son an&rsquo; a hired mon, tull say naught o&rsquo;
+extra honds un the harvest an&rsquo; a maid-servant un the house.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She clambered into the cart, gathered the reins in her hands, and
+quizzed me with her keen, shrewd eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Belike ye hail from over the watter&mdash;Ameruky, I&rsquo;m
+meanun&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;m a Yankee,&rdquo; I answered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ye wull no be findun&rsquo; mony Island McGill folk stoppun&rsquo;
+un Ameruky?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; I don&rsquo;t remember ever meeting one, in the States.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She nodded her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They are home-luvun&rsquo; bodies, though I wull no be sayin&rsquo;
+they are no fair-travelled.&nbsp; Yet they come home ot the last, them
+oz are no lost ot sea or kult by fevers an&rsquo; such-like un foreign
+parts.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then your sons will have gone to sea and come home again?&rdquo;
+I queried.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, aye, all savun&rsquo; Samuel oz was drownded.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>At the mention of Samuel I could have sworn to a strange light in
+her eyes, and it seemed to me, as by some telepathic flash, that I divined
+in her a tremendous wistfulness, an immense yearning.&nbsp; It seemed
+to me that here was the key to her inscrutableness, the clue that if
+followed properly would make all her strangeness plain.&nbsp; It came
+to me that here was a contact and that for the moment I was glimpsing
+into the soul of her.&nbsp; The question was tickling on my tongue,
+but she forestalled me.</p>
+<p>She <i>tchk&rsquo;d</i> to the horse, and with a &ldquo;Guid day
+tull you, sir,&rdquo; drove off.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>A simple, homely people are the folk of Island McGill, and I doubt
+if a more sober, thrifty, and industrious folk is to be found in all
+the world.&nbsp; Meeting them abroad&mdash;and to meet them abroad one
+must meet them on the sea, for a hybrid sea-faring and farmer breed
+are they&mdash;one would never take them to be Irish.&nbsp; Irish they
+claim to be, speaking of the North of Ireland with pride and sneering
+at their Scottish brothers; yet Scotch they undoubtedly are, transplanted
+Scotch of long ago, it is true, but none the less Scotch, with a thousand
+traits, to say nothing of their tricks of speech and woolly utterance,
+which nothing less than their Scotch clannishness could have preserved
+to this late day.</p>
+<p>A narrow loch, scarcely half a mile wide, separates Island McGill
+from the mainland of Ireland; and, once across this loch, one finds
+himself in an entirely different country.&nbsp; The Scotch impression
+is strong, and the people, to commence with, are Presbyterians.&nbsp;
+When it is considered that there is no public-house in all the island
+and that seven thousand souls dwell therein, some idea may be gained
+of the temperateness of the community.&nbsp; Wedded to old ways, public
+opinion and the ministers are powerful influences, while fathers and
+mothers are revered and obeyed as in few other places in this modern
+world.&nbsp; Courting lasts never later than ten at night, and no girl
+walks out with her young man without her parents&rsquo; knowledge and
+consent.</p>
+<p>The young men go down to the sea and sow their wild oats in the wicked
+ports, returning periodically, between voyages, to live the old intensive
+morality, to court till ten o&rsquo;clock, to sit under the minister
+each Sunday, and to listen at home to the same stern precepts that the
+elders preached to them from the time they were laddies.&nbsp; Much
+they learned of women in the ends of the earth, these seafaring sons,
+yet a canny wisdom was theirs and they never brought wives home with
+them.&nbsp; The one solitary exception to this had been the schoolmaster,
+who had been guilty of bringing a wife from half a mile the other side
+of the loch.&nbsp; For this he had never been forgiven, and he rested
+under a cloud for the remainder of his days.&nbsp; At his death the
+wife went back across the loch to her own people, and the blot on the
+escutcheon of Island McGill was erased.&nbsp; In the end the sailor-men
+married girls of their own homeland and settled down to become exemplars
+of all the virtues for which the island was noted.</p>
+<p>Island McGill was without a history.&nbsp; She boasted none of the
+events that go to make history.&nbsp; There had never been any wearing
+of the green, any Fenian conspiracies, any land disturbances.&nbsp;
+There had been but one eviction, and that purely technical&mdash;a test
+case, and on advice of the tenant&rsquo;s lawyer.&nbsp; So Island McGill
+was without annals.&nbsp; History had passed her by.&nbsp;  She paid
+her taxes, acknowledged her crowned rulers, and left the world alone;
+all she asked in return was that the world should leave her alone.&nbsp;
+The world was composed of two parts&mdash;Island McGill and the rest
+of it.&nbsp; And whatever was not Island McGill was outlandish and barbarian;
+and well she knew, for did not her seafaring sons bring home report
+of that world and its ungodly ways?</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>It was from the skipper of a Glasgow tramp, as passenger from Colombo
+to Rangoon, that I had first learned of the existence of Island McGill;
+and it was from him that I had carried the letter that gave me entrance
+to the house of Mrs. Ross, widow of a master mariner, with a daughter
+living with her and with two sons, master mariners themselves and out
+upon the sea.&nbsp; Mrs. Ross did not take in boarders, and it was Captain
+Ross&rsquo;s letter alone that had enabled me to get from her bed and
+board.&nbsp; In the evening, after my encounter with Margaret Henan,
+I questioned Mrs. Ross, and I knew on the instant that I had in truth
+stumbled upon mystery.</p>
+<p>Like all Island McGill folk, as I was soon to discover, Mrs. Ross
+was at first averse to discussing Margaret Henan at all.&nbsp; Yet it
+was from her I learned that evening that Margaret Henan had once been
+one of the island belles.&nbsp; Herself the daughter of a well-to-do
+farmer, she had married Thomas Henan, equally well-to-do.&nbsp; Beyond
+the usual housewife&rsquo;s tasks she had never been accustomed to work.&nbsp;
+Unlike many of the island women, she had never lent a hand in the fields.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But what of her children?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Two o&rsquo; the sons, Jamie an&rsquo; Timothy uz married
+an&rsquo; be goun&rsquo; tull sea.&nbsp; Thot bug house close tull the
+post office uz Jamie&rsquo;s.&nbsp; The daughters thot ha&rsquo; no
+married be luvun&rsquo; wuth them as dud marry.&nbsp; An&rsquo; the
+rest be dead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Samuels,&rdquo; Clara interpolated, with what I suspected
+was a giggle.</p>
+<p>She was Mrs. Ross&rsquo;s daughter, a strapping young woman with
+handsome features and remarkably handsome black eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tuz naught to be smuckerun&rsquo; ot,&rdquo; her mother
+reproved her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Samuels?&rdquo; I intervened.&nbsp; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+understand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Her four sons thot died.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And were they all named Samuel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Strange,&rdquo; I commented in the lagging silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very strange,&rdquo; Mrs. Ross affirmed, proceeding stolidly
+with the knitting of the woollen singlet on her knees&mdash;one of the
+countless under-garments that she interminably knitted for her skipper
+sons.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And it was only the Samuels that died?&rdquo; I queried, in
+further attempt.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The others luved,&rdquo; was the answer.&nbsp; &ldquo;A fine
+fomuly&mdash;no finer on the island.&nbsp; No better lods ever sailed
+out of Island McGill.&nbsp; The munuster held them up oz models tull
+pottern after.&nbsp; Nor was ever a whusper breathed again&rsquo; the
+girls.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But why is she left alone now in her old age?&rdquo; I persisted.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t her own flesh and blood look after her?&nbsp;
+Why does she live alone?&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t they ever go to see her or
+care for her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never a one un twenty years an&rsquo; more now.&nbsp; She
+fetched ut on tull herself.&nbsp; She drove them from the house just
+oz she drove old Tom Henan, thot was her husband, tull hus death.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Drink?&rdquo; I ventured.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Ross shook her head scornfully, as if drink was a weakness beneath
+the weakest of Island McGill.</p>
+<p>A long pause followed, during which Mrs. Ross knitted stolidly on,
+only nodding permission when Clara&rsquo;s young man, mate on one of
+the Shire Line sailing ships, came to walk out with her.&nbsp; I studied
+the half-dozen ostrich eggs, hanging in the corner against the wall
+like a cluster of some monstrous fruit.&nbsp; On each shell were painted
+precipitous and impossible seas through which full-rigged ships foamed
+with a lack of perspective only equalled by their sharp technical perfection.&nbsp;
+On the mantelpiece stood two large pearl shells, obviously a pair, intricately
+carved by the patient hands of New Caledonian convicts.&nbsp; In the
+centre of the mantel was a stuffed bird-of-paradise, while about the
+room were scattered gorgeous shells from the southern seas, delicate
+sprays of coral sprouting from barnacled <i>pi-pi</i> shells and cased
+in glass, assegais from South Africa, stone axes from New Guinea, huge
+Alaskan tobacco-pouches beaded with heraldic totem designs, a boomerang
+from Australia, divers ships in glass bottles, a cannibal <i>kai-kai</i>
+bowl from the Marquesas, and fragile cabinets from China and the Indies
+and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and precious woods.</p>
+<p>I gazed at this varied trove brought home by sailor sons, and pondered
+the mystery of Margaret Henan, who had driven her husband to his death
+and been forsaken by all her kin.&nbsp; It was not the drink.&nbsp;
+Then what was it?&mdash;some shocking cruelty? some amazing infidelity?
+or some fearful, old-world peasant-crime?</p>
+<p>I broached my theories, but to all Mrs. Ross shook her head.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ut was no thot,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Margaret was
+a guid wife an&rsquo; a guid mother, an&rsquo; I doubt she would harm
+a fly.&nbsp; She brought up her fomuly God-fearin&rsquo; an&rsquo; decent-minded.&nbsp;
+Her trouble was thot she took lunatic&mdash;turned eediot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Ross tapped significantly on her forehead to indicate a state
+of addlement.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I talked with her this afternoon,&rdquo; I objected, &ldquo;and
+I found her a sensible woman&mdash;remarkably bright for one of her
+years.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, an&rsquo; I&rsquo;m grantun&rsquo; all thot you say,&rdquo;
+she went on calmly.&nbsp; &ldquo;But I am no referrun&rsquo; tull thot.&nbsp;
+I am referrun&rsquo; tull her wucked-headed an&rsquo; vucious stubbornness.&nbsp;
+No more stubborn woman ever luv&rsquo;d than Margaret Henan.&nbsp; Ut
+was all on account o&rsquo; Samuel, which was the name o&rsquo; her
+youngest an&rsquo; they do say her favourut brother&mdash;hum oz died
+by hus own hond all through the munuster&rsquo;s mustake un no registerun&rsquo;
+the new church ot Dublin.&nbsp; Ut was a lesson thot the name was musfortunate,
+but she would no take ut, an&rsquo; there was talk when she called her
+first child Samuel&mdash;hum thot died o&rsquo; the croup.&nbsp; An&rsquo;
+wuth thot what does she do but call the next one Samuel, an&rsquo; hum
+only three when he fell un tull the tub o&rsquo; hot watter an&rsquo;
+was plain cooked tull death.&nbsp; Ut all come, I tell you, o&rsquo;
+her wucked-headed an&rsquo; foolush stubbornness.&nbsp; For a Samuel
+she must hov; an&rsquo; ut was the death of the four of her sons.&nbsp;
+After the first, dudna her own mother go down un the dirt tull her feet,
+a-beggun&rsquo; an&rsquo; pleadun&rsquo; wuth her no tull name her next
+one Samuel?&nbsp; But she was no tull be turned from her purpose.&nbsp;
+Margaret Henan was always set on her ways, an&rsquo; never more so thon
+on thot name Samuel.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She was fair lunatuc on Samuel.&nbsp; Dudna her neighbours&rsquo;
+an&rsquo; all kuth an&rsquo; kun savun&rsquo; them thot luv&rsquo;d
+un the house wuth her, get up an&rsquo; walk out ot the christenun&rsquo;
+of the second&mdash;hum thot was cooked?&nbsp; Thot they dud, an&rsquo;
+ot the very moment the munuster asked what would the bairn&rsquo;s name
+be.&nbsp; &lsquo;Samuel,&rsquo; says she; an&rsquo; wuth thot they got
+up an&rsquo; walked out an&rsquo; left the house.&nbsp; An&rsquo; ot
+the door dudna her Aunt Fannie, her mother&rsquo;s suster, turn an&rsquo;
+say loud for all tull hear: &lsquo;What for wull she be wantun&rsquo;
+tull murder the wee thing?&rsquo;&nbsp; The munuster heard fine, an&rsquo;
+dudna like ut, but, oz he told my Larry afterward, what could he do?&nbsp;
+Ut was the woman&rsquo;s wush, an&rsquo; there was no law again&rsquo;
+a mother callun&rsquo; her child accordun&rsquo; tull her wush.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; then was there no the third Samuel?&nbsp; An&rsquo;
+when he was lost ot sea off the Cape, dudna she break all laws o&rsquo;
+nature tull hov a fourth?&nbsp; She was forty-seven, I&rsquo;m tellun&rsquo;
+ye, an&rsquo; she hod a child ot forty-seven.&nbsp; Thunk on ut!&nbsp;
+Ot forty-seven!&nbsp; Ut was fair scand&rsquo;lous.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>From Clara, next morning, I got the tale of Margaret Henan&rsquo;s
+favourite brother; and from here and there, in the week that followed,
+I pieced together the tragedy of Margaret Henan.&nbsp; Samuel Dundee
+had been the youngest of Margaret&rsquo;s four brothers, and, as Clara
+told me, she had well-nigh worshipped him.&nbsp; He was going to sea
+at the time, skipper of one of the sailing ships of the Bank Line, when
+he married Agnes Hewitt.&nbsp; She was described as a slender wisp of
+a girl, delicately featured and with a nervous organization of the supersensitive
+order.&nbsp; Theirs had been the first marriage in the &ldquo;new&rdquo;
+church, and after a two-weeks&rsquo; honeymoon Samuel had kissed his
+bride good-bye and sailed in command of the <i>Loughbank</i>, a big
+four-masted barque.</p>
+<p>And it was because of the &ldquo;new&rdquo; church that the minister&rsquo;s
+blunder occurred.&nbsp; Nor was it the blunder of the minister alone,
+as one of the elders later explained; for it was equally the blunder
+of the whole Presbytery of Coughleen, which included fifteen churches
+on Island McGill and the mainland.&nbsp; The old church, beyond repair,
+had been torn down and the new one built on the original foundation.&nbsp;
+Looking upon the foundation-stones as similar to a ship&rsquo;s keel,
+it never entered the minister&rsquo;s nor the Presbytery&rsquo;s head
+that the new church was legally any other than the old church.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; three couples was married the first week un the
+new church,&rdquo; Clara said.&nbsp; &ldquo;First of all, Samuel Dundee
+an&rsquo; Agnes Hewitt; the next day Albert Mahan an&rsquo; Minnie Duncan;
+an&rsquo; by the week-end Eddie Troy and Flo Mackintosh&mdash;all sailor-men,
+an&rsquo; un sux weeks&rsquo; time the last of them back tull their
+ships an&rsquo; awa&rsquo;, an&rsquo; no one o&rsquo; them dreamin&rsquo;
+of the wuckedness they&rsquo;d been ot.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Imp of the Perverse must have chuckled at the situation.&nbsp;
+All things favoured.&nbsp; The marriages had taken place in the first
+week of May, and it was not till three months later that the minister,
+as required by law, made his quarterly report to the civil authorities
+in Dublin.&nbsp; Promptly came back the announcement that his church
+had no legal existence, not being registered according to the law&rsquo;s
+demands.&nbsp; This was overcome by prompt registration; but the marriages
+were not to be so easily remedied.&nbsp; The three sailor husbands were
+away, and their wives, in short, were not their wives.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But the munuster was no for alarmin&rsquo; the bodies,&rdquo;
+said Clara.&nbsp; &ldquo;He kept hus council an&rsquo; bided hus time,
+waitun&rsquo; for the lods tull be back from sea.&nbsp; Oz luck would
+have ut, he was away across the island tull a christenun&rsquo; when
+Albert Mahan arrives home onexpected, hus shup just docked ot Dublin.&nbsp;
+Ut&rsquo;s nine o&rsquo;clock ot night when the munuster, un hus sluppers
+an&rsquo; dressun&rsquo;-gown, gets the news.&nbsp; Up he jumps an&rsquo;
+calls for horse an&rsquo; saddle, an&rsquo; awa&rsquo; he goes like
+the wund for Albert Mahan&rsquo;s.&nbsp; Albert uz just goun&rsquo;
+tull bed an&rsquo; hoz one shoe off when the munuster arrives.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Come wuth me, the pair o&rsquo; ye,&rsquo; says he,
+breathless-like.&nbsp; &lsquo;What for, an&rsquo; me dead weary an&rsquo;
+goun&rsquo; tull bed?&rsquo; says Albert.&nbsp; &lsquo;Yull be lawful
+married,&rsquo; says the munuster.&nbsp; Albert looks black an&rsquo;
+says, &lsquo;Now, munuster, ye wull be jokun&rsquo;,&rsquo; but tull
+humself, oz I&rsquo;ve heard hum tell mony a time, he uz wonderun&rsquo;
+thot the munuster should a-took tull whusky ot hus time o&rsquo; life.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;We be no married?&rsquo; says Minnie.&nbsp; He shook
+his head.&nbsp; &lsquo;An&rsquo; I om no Mussus Mahan?&rsquo;&nbsp;
+&lsquo;No,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;ye are no Mussus Mahan.&nbsp; Ye are
+plain Muss Duncan.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;But ye married &rsquo;us yoursel&rsquo;,&rsquo;
+says she.&nbsp; &lsquo;I dud an&rsquo; I dudna,&rsquo; says he.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; wuth thot he tells them the whole upshot, an&rsquo; Albert
+puts on hus shoe, an&rsquo; they go wuth the munuster an&rsquo; are
+married proper an&rsquo; lawful, an&rsquo; oz Albert Mahan says afterward
+mony&rsquo;s the time, &lsquo;&rsquo;Tus no every mon thot hoz two weddun&rsquo;
+nights on Island McGill.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Six months later Eddie Troy came home and was promptly remarried.&nbsp;
+But Samuel Dundee was away on a three-years&rsquo; voyage and his ship
+fell overdue.&nbsp; Further to complicate the situation, a baby boy,
+past two years old, was waiting for him in the arms of his wife.&nbsp;
+The months passed, and the wife grew thin with worrying.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ut&rsquo;s
+no meself I&rsquo;m thunkun&rsquo; on,&rdquo; she is reported to have
+said many times, &ldquo;but ut&rsquo;s the puir fatherless bairn.&nbsp;
+Uf aught happened tull Samuel where wull the bairn stond?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Lloyd&rsquo;s posted the <i>Loughbank</i> as missing, and the owners
+ceased the monthly remittance of Samuel&rsquo;s half-pay to his wife.&nbsp;
+It was the question of the child&rsquo;s legitimacy that preyed on her
+mind, and, when all hope of Samuel&rsquo;s return was abandoned, she
+drowned herself and the child in the loch.&nbsp; And here enters the
+greater tragedy.&nbsp; The <i>Loughbank</i> was not lost.&nbsp; By a
+series of sea disasters and delays too interminable to relate, she had
+made one of those long, unsighted passages such as occur once or twice
+in half a century.&nbsp; How the Imp must have held both his sides!&nbsp;
+Back from the sea came Samuel, and when they broke the news to him something
+else broke somewhere in his heart or head.&nbsp; Next morning they found
+him where he had tried to kill himself across the grave of his wife
+and child.&nbsp; Never in the history of Island McGill was there so
+fearful a death-bed.&nbsp; He spat in the minister&rsquo;s face and
+reviled him, and died blaspheming so terribly that those that tended
+on him did so with averted gaze and trembling hands.</p>
+<p>And, in the face of all this, Margaret Henan named her first child
+Samuel.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>How account for the woman&rsquo;s stubbornness?&nbsp; Or was it a
+morbid obsession that demanded a child of hers should be named Samuel?&nbsp;
+Her third child was a girl, named after herself, and the fourth was
+a boy again.&nbsp; Despite the strokes of fate that had already bereft
+her, and despite the loss of friends and relatives, she persisted in
+her resolve to name the child after her brother.&nbsp; She was shunned
+at church by those who had grown up with her.&nbsp; Her mother, after
+a final appeal, left her house with the warning that if the child were
+so named she would never speak to her again.&nbsp; And though the old
+lady lived thirty-odd years longer she kept her word.&nbsp; The minister
+agreed to christen the child any name but Samuel, and every other minister
+on Island McGill refused to christen it by the name she had chosen.&nbsp;
+There was talk on the part of Margaret Henan of going to law at the
+time, but in the end she carried the child to Belfast and there had
+it christened Samuel.</p>
+<p>And then nothing happened.&nbsp; The whole island was confuted.&nbsp;
+The boy grew and prospered.&nbsp; The schoolmaster never ceased averring
+that it was the brightest lad he had ever seen.&nbsp; Samuel had a splendid
+constitution, a tremendous grip on life.&nbsp; To everybody&rsquo;s
+amazement he escaped the usual run of childish afflictions.&nbsp; Measles,
+whooping-cough and mumps knew him not.&nbsp; He was armour-clad against
+germs, immune to all disease.&nbsp; Headaches and earaches were things
+unknown.&nbsp; &ldquo;Never so much oz a boil or a pumple,&rdquo; as
+one of the old bodies told me, ever marred his healthy skin.&nbsp; He
+broke school records in scholarship and athletics, and whipped every
+boy of his size or years on Island McGill.</p>
+<p>It was a triumph for Margaret Henan.&nbsp; This paragon was hers,
+and it bore the cherished name.&nbsp; With the one exception of her
+mother, friends and relatives drifted back and acknowledged that they
+had been mistaken; though there were old crones who still abided by
+their opinion and who shook their heads ominously over their cups of
+tea.&nbsp; The boy was too wonderful to last.&nbsp; There was no escaping
+the curse of the name his mother had wickedly laid upon him.&nbsp; The
+young generation joined Margaret Henan in laughing at them, but the
+old crones continued to shake their heads.</p>
+<p>Other children followed.&nbsp; Margaret Henan&rsquo;s fifth was a
+boy, whom she called Jamie, and in rapid succession followed three girls,
+Alice, Sara, and Nora, the boy Timothy, and two more girls, Florence
+and Katie.&nbsp; Katie was the last and eleventh, and Margaret Henan,
+at thirty-five, ceased from her exertions.&nbsp; She had done well by
+Island McGill and the Queen.&nbsp; Nine healthy children were hers.&nbsp;
+All prospered.&nbsp; It seemed her ill-luck had shot its bolt with the
+deaths of her first two.&nbsp; Nine lived, and one of them was named
+Samuel.</p>
+<p>Jamie elected to follow the sea, though it was not so much a matter
+of election as compulsion, for the eldest sons on Island McGill remained
+on the land, while all other sons went to the salt-ploughing.&nbsp;
+Timothy followed Jamie, and by the time the latter had got his first
+command, a steamer in the Bay trade out of Cardiff, Timothy was mate
+of a big sailing ship.&nbsp; Samuel, however, did not take kindly to
+the soil.&nbsp; The farmer&rsquo;s life had no attraction for him.&nbsp;
+His brothers went to sea, not out of desire, but because it was the
+only way for them to gain their bread; and he, who had no need to go,
+envied them when, returned from far voyages, they sat by the kitchen
+fire, and told their bold tales of the wonderlands beyond the sea-rim.</p>
+<p>Samuel became a teacher, much to his father&rsquo;s disgust, and
+even took extra certificates, going to Belfast for his examinations.&nbsp;
+When the old master retired, Samuel took over his school.&nbsp; Secretly,
+however, he studied navigation, and it was Margaret&rsquo;s delight
+when he sat by the kitchen fire, and, despite their master&rsquo;s tickets,
+tangled up his brothers in the theoretics of their profession.&nbsp;
+Tom Henan alone was outraged when Samuel, school teacher, gentleman,
+and heir to the Henan farm, shipped to sea before the mast.&nbsp; Margaret
+had an abiding faith in her son&rsquo;s star, and whatever he did she
+was sure was for the best.&nbsp; Like everything else connected with
+his glorious personality, there had never been known so swift a rise
+as in the case of Samuel.&nbsp; Barely with two years&rsquo; sea experience
+before the mast, he was taken from the forecastle and made a provisional
+second mate.&nbsp; This occurred in a fever port on the West Coast,
+and the committee of skippers that examined him agreed that he knew
+more of the science of navigation than they had remembered or forgotten.&nbsp;
+Two years later he sailed from Liverpool, mate of the <i>Starry Grace</i>,
+with both master&rsquo;s and extra-master&rsquo;s tickets in his possession.&nbsp;
+And then it happened&mdash;the thing the old crones had been shaking
+their heads over for years.</p>
+<p>It was told me by Gavin McNab, bos&rsquo;n of the <i>Starry Grace</i>
+at the time, himself an Island McGill man.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wull do I remember ut,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;We was
+runnin&rsquo; our Eastun&rsquo; down, an&rsquo; makun&rsquo; heavy weather
+of ut.&nbsp; Oz fine a sailor-mon oz ever walked was Samuel Henan.&nbsp;
+I remember the look of hum wull thot last marnun&rsquo;, a-watch-un&rsquo;
+them bug seas curlun&rsquo; up astern, an&rsquo; a-watchun&rsquo; the
+old girl an&rsquo; seeun&rsquo; how she took them&mdash;the skupper
+down below an&rsquo; drunkun&rsquo; for days.&nbsp; Ut was ot seven
+thot Henan brought her up on tull the wund, not darun&rsquo; tull run
+longer on thot fearful sea.&nbsp; Ot eight, after havun&rsquo; breakfast,
+he turns un, an&rsquo; a half hour after up comes the skupper, bleary-eyed
+an&rsquo; shaky an&rsquo; holdun&rsquo; on tull the companion.&nbsp;
+Ut was fair smokun&rsquo;, I om tellun&rsquo; ye, an&rsquo; there he
+stood, blunkun&rsquo; an&rsquo; noddun&rsquo; an&rsquo; talkun&rsquo;
+tull humsel&rsquo;.&nbsp; &lsquo;Keep off,&rsquo; says he ot last tull
+the mon ot the wheel.&nbsp; &lsquo;My God!&rsquo; says the second mate,
+standun&rsquo; beside hum.&nbsp; The skupper never looks tull hum ot
+all, but keeps on mutterun&rdquo; an&rsquo; jabberun&rsquo; tull humsel&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+All of a suddent-like he straightens up an&rsquo; throws hus head back,
+an&rsquo; says: &lsquo;Put your wheel over, me mon&mdash;now domn ye!&nbsp;
+Are ye deef thot ye&rsquo;ll no be hearun&rsquo; me?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ut was a drunken mon&rsquo;s luck, for the <i>Starry Grace</i>
+wore off afore thot God-Almighty gale wuthout shuppun&rsquo; a bucket
+o&rsquo; watter, the second mate shoutun&rsquo; orders an&rsquo; the
+crew jumpun&rsquo; like mod.&nbsp; An&rsquo; wuth thot the skupper nods
+contented-like tull humself an&rsquo; goes below after more whusky.&nbsp;
+Ut was plain murder o&rsquo; the lives o&rsquo; all of us, for ut was
+no the time for the buggest shup afloat tull be runnun&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+Run?&nbsp; Never hov I seen the like!&nbsp; Ut was beyond all thunkun&rsquo;,
+an&rsquo; me goun&rsquo; tull sea, boy an&rsquo; men, for forty year.&nbsp;
+I tell you ut was fair awesome.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The face o&rsquo; the second mate was white oz death, an&rsquo;
+he stood ut alone for half an hour, when ut was too much for hum an&rsquo;
+he went below an&rsquo; called Samuel an&rsquo; the third.&nbsp; Aye,
+a fine sailor-mon thot Samuel, but ut was too much for hum.&nbsp; He
+looked an&rsquo; studied, and looked an&rsquo; studied, but he could
+no see hus way.&nbsp; He durst na heave tull.&nbsp; She would ha&rsquo;
+been sweeput o&rsquo; all honds an&rsquo; stucks an&rsquo; everythung
+afore she could a-fetched up.&nbsp; There was naught tull do but keep
+on runnun&rsquo;.&nbsp; An&rsquo; uf ut worsened we were lost ony way,
+for soon or late that overtakun&rsquo; sea was sure tull sweep us clear
+over poop an&rsquo; all.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dud I say ut was a God-Almighty gale?&nbsp; Ut was worse nor
+thot.&nbsp; The devil himself must ha&rsquo; hod a hond un the brewun&rsquo;
+o&rsquo; ut, ut was thot fearsome.&nbsp; I ha&rsquo; looked on some
+sights, but I om no carun&rsquo; tull look on the like o&rsquo; thot
+again.&nbsp; No mon dared tull be un hus bunk.&nbsp; No, nor no mon
+on the decks.&nbsp; All honds of us stood on top the house an&rsquo;
+held on an&rsquo; watched.&nbsp; The three mates was on the poop, with
+two men ot the wheel, an&rsquo; the only mon below was thot whusky-blighted
+captain snorun&rsquo; drunk.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; then I see ut comun&rsquo;, a mile away, risun&rsquo;
+above all the waves like an island un the sea&mdash;the buggest wave
+ever I looked upon.&nbsp; The three mates stood tulgether an&rsquo;
+watched ut comun&rsquo;, a-prayun&rsquo; like we thot she would no break
+un passun&rsquo; us.&nbsp; But ut was no tull be.&nbsp; Ot the last,
+when she rose up like a mountain, curlun&rsquo; above the stern an&rsquo;
+blottun&rsquo; out the sky, the mates scattered, the second an&rsquo;
+third runnun&rsquo; for the mizzen-shrouds an&rsquo; climbun&rsquo;
+up, but the first runnun&rsquo; tull the wheel tull lend a hond.&nbsp;
+He was a brave men, thot Samuel Henan.&nbsp; He run straight un tull
+the face o&rsquo; thot father o&rsquo; all waves, no thunkun&rsquo;
+on humself but thunkun&rsquo; only o&rsquo; the shup.&nbsp; The two
+men was lashed tull the wheel, but he would be ready tull hond un the
+case they was kult.&nbsp; An&rsquo; then she took ut.&nbsp; We on the
+house could no see the poop for the thousand tons o&rsquo; watter thot
+hod hut ut.&nbsp; Thot wave cleaned them out, took everythung along
+wuth ut&mdash;the two mates, climbun&rsquo; up the mizzen-ruggun&rsquo;,
+Samuel Henan runnun&rsquo; tull the wheel, the two men ot the wheel,
+aye, an&rsquo; the wheel utself.&nbsp; We never saw aught o&rsquo; them,
+for she broached tull what o&rsquo; the wheel goun&rsquo;, an&rsquo;
+two men o&rsquo; us was drownded off the house, no tull mention the
+carpenter thot we pucked up ot the break o&rsquo; the poop wuth every
+bone o&rsquo; hus body broke tull he was like so much jelly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And here enters the marvel of it, the miraculous wonder of that woman&rsquo;s
+heroic spirit.&nbsp; Margaret Henan was forty-seven when the news came
+home of the loss of Samuel; and it was not long after that the unbelievable
+rumour went around Island McGill.&nbsp; I say unbelievable.&nbsp; Island
+McGill would not believe.&nbsp; Doctor Hall pooh-pooh&rsquo;d it.&nbsp;
+Everybody laughed at it as a good joke.&nbsp; They traced back the gossip
+to Sara Dack, servant to the Henans&rsquo;, and who alone lived with
+Margaret and her husband.&nbsp; But Sara Dack persisted in her assertion
+and was called a low-mouthed liar.&nbsp; One or two dared question Tom
+Henan himself, but beyond black looks and curses for their presumption
+they elicited nothing from him.</p>
+<p>The rumour died down, and the island fell to discussing in all its
+ramifications the loss of the <i>Grenoble</i> in the China seas, with
+all her officers and half her crew born and married on Island McGill.&nbsp;
+But the rumour would not stay down.&nbsp; Sara Dack was louder in her
+assertions, the looks Tom Henan cast about him were blacker than ever,
+and Dr. Hall, after a visit to the Henan house, no longer pooh-pooh&rsquo;d.&nbsp;
+Then Island McGill sat up, and there was a tremendous wagging of tongues.&nbsp;
+It was unnatural and ungodly.&nbsp; The like had never been heard.&nbsp;
+And when, as time passed, the truth of Sara Dack&rsquo;s utterances
+was manifest, the island folk decided, like the bos&rsquo;n of the <i>Starry
+Grace</i>, that only the devil could have had a hand in so untoward
+a happening.&nbsp; And the infatuated woman, so Sara Dack reported,
+insisted that it would be a boy.&nbsp; &ldquo;Eleven bairns ha&rsquo;
+I borne,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;sux o&rsquo; them lossies an&rsquo;
+five o&rsquo; them loddies.&nbsp; An&rsquo; sunce there be balance un
+all thungs, so wull there be balance wuth me.&nbsp; Sux o&rsquo; one
+an&rsquo; half a dozen o&rsquo; the other&mdash;there uz the balance,
+an&rsquo; oz sure oz the sun rises un the marnun&rsquo;, thot sure wull
+ut be a boy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>And boy it was, and a prodigy.&nbsp; Dr. Hall raved about its unblemished
+perfection and massive strength, and wrote a brochure on it for the
+Dublin Medical Society as the most interesting case of the sort in his
+long career.&nbsp; When Sara Dack gave the babe&rsquo;s unbelievable
+weight, Island McGill refused to believe and once again called her liar.&nbsp;
+But when Doctor Hall attested that he had himself weighed it and seen
+it tip that very notch, Island McGill held its breath and accepted whatever
+report Sara Dack made of the infant&rsquo;s progress or appetite.&nbsp;
+And once again Margaret Henan carried a babe to Belfast and had it christened
+Samuel.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Oz good oz gold ut was,&rdquo; said Sara Dack to me.</p>
+<p>Sara, at the time I met her, was a buxom, phlegmatic spinster of
+sixty, equipped with an experience so tragic and unusual that though
+her tongue ran on for decades its output would still be of imperishable
+interest to her cronies.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oz good oz good,&rdquo; said Sara Dack.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ut never
+fretted.&nbsp; Sut ut down un the sun by the hour an&rsquo; never a
+sound ut would make oz long oz ut was no hungered!&nbsp; An&rsquo; thot
+strong!&nbsp; The grup o&rsquo; uts honds was like a mon&rsquo;s.&nbsp;
+I mind me, when ut was but hours old, ut grupped me so mighty thot I
+fetched a scream I was thot frightened.&nbsp; Ut was the punk o&rsquo;
+health.&nbsp; Ut slept an&rsquo; ate, an&rsquo; grew.&nbsp; Ut never
+bothered.&nbsp; Never a night&rsquo;s sleep ut lost tull no one, nor
+ever a munut&rsquo;s, an&rsquo; thot wuth cuttin&rsquo; uts teeth an&rsquo;
+all.&nbsp; An&rsquo; Margaret would dandle ut on her knee an&rsquo;
+ask was there ever so fine a loddie un the three Kungdoms.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The way ut grew!&nbsp; Ut was un keepun&rsquo; wuth the way
+ut ate.&nbsp; Ot a year ut was the size o&rsquo; a bairn of two.&nbsp;
+Ut was slow tull walk an&rsquo; talk.&nbsp; Exceptun&rsquo; for gurgly
+noises un uts throat an&rsquo; for creepun&rsquo; on all fours, ut dudna
+monage much un the walkun&rsquo; an&rsquo; talkun&rsquo; line.&nbsp;
+But thot was tull be expected from the way ut grew.&nbsp; Ut all went
+tull growun&rsquo; strong an&rsquo; healthy.&nbsp; An&rsquo; even old
+Tom Henan cheered up ot the might of ut an&rsquo; said was there ever
+the like o&rsquo; ut un the three Kungdoms.&nbsp; Ut was Doctor Hall
+thot first suspicioned, I mind me well, though ut was luttle I dreamt
+what he was up tull ot the time.&nbsp; I seehum holdun&rsquo; thungs&rsquo;
+un fronto&rsquo; luttle Sammy&rsquo;s eyes, an&rsquo; a-makun&rsquo;
+noises, loud an&rsquo; soft, an&rsquo; far an&rsquo; near, un luttle
+Sammy&rsquo;s ears.&nbsp; An&rsquo; then I see Doctor Hall go away,
+wrunklun&rsquo; hus eyebrows an&rsquo; shakun&rsquo; hus head like the
+bairn was ailun&rsquo;.&nbsp; But he was no ailun&rsquo;, oz I could
+swear tull, me a-seeun&rsquo; hum eat an&rsquo; grow.&nbsp; But Doctor
+Hall no said a word tull Margaret an&rsquo; I was no for guessun&rsquo;
+the why he was sore puzzled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mind me when luttle Sammy first spoke.&nbsp; He was two
+years old an&rsquo; the size of a child o five, though he could no monage
+the walkun&rsquo; yet but went around on all fours, happy an&rsquo;
+contented-like an&rsquo; makun&rsquo; no trouble oz long oz he was fed
+promptly, which was onusual often.&nbsp; I was hangun&rsquo; the wash
+on the line ot the time when out he comes, on all fours, hus bug head
+waggun&rsquo; tull an&rsquo; fro an&rsquo; blunkun&rsquo; un the sun.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; then, suddent, he talked.&nbsp; I was thot took a-back I near
+died o&rsquo; fright, an&rsquo; fine I knew ut then, the shakun&rsquo;
+o&rsquo; Doctor Hall&rsquo;s head.&nbsp; Talked?&nbsp; Never a bairn
+on Island McGill talked so loud an&rsquo; tull such purpose.&nbsp; There
+was no mustakun&rsquo; ut.&nbsp; I stood there all tremblun&rsquo; an&rsquo;
+shakun&rsquo;.&nbsp; Little Sammy was brayun&rsquo;.&nbsp; I tell you,
+sir, he was brayun&rsquo; like an ass&mdash;just like thot,&mdash;loud
+an&rsquo; long an&rsquo; cheerful tull ut seemed hus lungs ud crack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He was a eediot&mdash;a great, awful, monster eediot.&nbsp;
+Ut was after he talked thot Doctor Hall told Margaret, but she would
+no believe.&nbsp; Ut would all come right, she said.&nbsp; Ut was growun&rsquo;
+too fast for aught else.&nbsp; Guv ut time, said she, an&rsquo; we would
+see.&nbsp; But old Tom Henan knew, an&rsquo; he never held up hus head
+again.&nbsp; He could no abide the thung, an&rsquo; would no brung humsel&rsquo;
+tull touch ut, though I om no denyun&rsquo; he was fair fascinated by
+ut.&nbsp; Mony the time, I see hum watchun&rsquo; of ut around a corner,
+lookun&rsquo; ot ut tull hus eyes fair bulged wuth the horror; an&rsquo;
+when ut brayed old Tom ud stuck hus fungers tull hus ears an&rsquo;
+look thot miserable I could a-puttied hum.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; bray ut could!&nbsp; Ut was the only thung ut could
+do besides eat an&rsquo; grow.&nbsp; Whenever ut was hungry ut brayed,
+an&rsquo; there was no stoppun&rsquo; ut save wuth food.&nbsp; An&rsquo;
+always of a marnun&rsquo;, when first ut crawled tull the kutchen-door
+an&rsquo; blunked out ot the sun, ut brayed.&nbsp; An&rsquo; ut was
+brayun&rsquo; that brought about uts end.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I mind me well.&nbsp; Ut was three years old an&rsquo; oz
+bug oz a led o&rsquo; ten.&nbsp; Old Tom hed been goun&rsquo; from bed
+tull worse, ploughun&rsquo; up an&rsquo; down the fields an&rsquo; talkun&rsquo;
+an&rsquo; mutterun&rsquo; tull humself.&nbsp; On the marnun&rsquo; o&rsquo;
+the day I mind me, he was suttun&rsquo; on the bench outside the kutchen,
+a-futtun&rsquo; the handle tull a puck-axe.&nbsp; Unbeknown, the monster
+eediot crawled tull the door an&rsquo; brayed after hus fashion ot the
+sun.&nbsp; I see old Tom start up an&rsquo; look.&nbsp; An&rsquo; there
+was the monster eediot, waggun&rsquo; uts bug head an&rsquo; blunkun&rsquo;
+an&rsquo; brayun&rsquo; like the great bug ass ut was.&nbsp; Ut was
+too much for Tom.&nbsp; Somethun&rsquo; went wrong wuth hum suddent-like.&nbsp;
+He jumped tull hus feet an&rsquo; fetched the puck-handle down on the
+monster eediot&rsquo;s head.&nbsp; An&rsquo; he hut ut again an&rsquo;
+again like ut was a mod dog an&rsquo; hum afeard o&rsquo; ut.&nbsp;
+An&rsquo; he went straight tull the stable an&rsquo; hung humsel&rsquo;
+tull a rafter.&nbsp; An&rsquo; I was no for stoppun&rsquo; on after
+such-like, an&rsquo; I went tull stay along wuth me suster thot was
+married tull John Martin an&rsquo; comfortable-off.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>I sat on the bench by the kitchen door and regarded Margaret Henan,
+while with her callous thumb she pressed down the live fire of her pipe
+and gazed out across the twilight-sombred fields.&nbsp; It was the very
+bench Tom Henan had sat upon that last sanguinary day of life.&nbsp;
+And Margaret sat in the doorway where the monster, blinking at the sun,
+had so often wagged its head and brayed.&nbsp; We had been talking for
+an hour, she with that slow certitude of eternity that so befitted her;
+and, for the life of me, I could lay no finger on the motives that ran
+through the tangled warp and woof of her.&nbsp; Was she a martyr to
+Truth?&nbsp; Did she have it in her to worship at so abstract a shrine?&nbsp;
+Had she conceived Abstract Truth to be the one high goal of human endeavour
+on that day of long ago when she named her first-born Samuel?&nbsp;
+Or was hers the stubborn obstinacy of the ox? the fixity of purpose
+of the balky horse? the stolidity of the self-willed peasant-mind?&nbsp;
+Was it whim or fancy?&mdash;the one streak of lunacy in what was otherwise
+an eminently rational mind?&nbsp; Or, reverting, was hers the spirit
+of a Bruno?&nbsp; Was she convinced of the intellectual rightness of
+the stand she had taken?&nbsp; Was hers a steady, enlightened opposition
+to superstition? or&mdash;and a subtler thought&mdash;was she mastered
+by some vaster, profounder superstition, a fetish-worship of which the
+Alpha and the Omega was the cryptic <i>Samuel</i>?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wull ye be tellun&rsquo; me,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;thot
+uf the second Samuel hod been named Larry thot he would no hov fell
+un the hot watter an&rsquo; drownded?&nbsp; Atween you an&rsquo; me,
+sir, an&rsquo; ye are untellugent-lookun&rsquo; tull the eye, would
+the name hov made ut onyways dufferent?&nbsp; Would the washun&rsquo;
+no be done thot day uf he hod been Larry or Michael?&nbsp; Would hot
+watter no be hot, an&rsquo; would hot watter no burn uf he hod hod ony
+other name but Samuel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I acknowledged the justice of her contention, and she went on.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do a wee but of a name change the plans o&rsquo; God?&nbsp;
+Do the world run by hut or muss, an&rsquo; be God a weak, shully-shallyun&rsquo;
+creature thot ud alter the fate an&rsquo; destiny o&rsquo; thungs because
+the worm Margaret Henan seen fut tull name her bairn Samuel?&nbsp; There
+be my son Jamie.&nbsp; He wull no sign a Rooshan-Funn un hus crew because
+o&rsquo; believun&rsquo; thot Rooshan-Funns do be monajun&rsquo; the
+wunds an&rsquo; hov the makun&rsquo; o&rsquo; bod weather.&nbsp; Wull
+you be thunkun&rsquo; so?&nbsp; Wull you be thunkun&rsquo; thot God
+thot makes the wunds tull blow wull bend Hus head from on high tull
+lussen tull the word o&rsquo; a greasy Rooshan-Funn un some dirty shup&rsquo;s
+fo&rsquo;c&rsquo;sle?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I said no, certainly not; but she was not to be set aside from pressing
+home the point of her argument.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then wull you be thunkun&rsquo; thot God thot directs the
+stars un their courses, an&rsquo; tull whose mighty foot the world uz
+but a footstool, wull you be thunkun&rsquo; thot He wull take a spite
+again&rsquo; Margaret Henan an&rsquo; send a bug wave off the Cape tull
+wash her son un tull eternity, all because she was for namun&rsquo;
+hum Samuel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But why Samuel?&rdquo; I asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; thot I dinna know.&nbsp; I wantud ut so.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But <i>why</i> did you want it so?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo; uz ut me thot would be answerun&rsquo; a such-like
+question?&nbsp; Be there ony mon luvun&rsquo; or dead thot can answer?&nbsp;
+Who can tell the <i>why</i> o&rsquo; like?&nbsp; My Jamie was fair daft
+on buttermilk, he would drunk ut tull, oz he said humself, hus back
+teeth was awash.&nbsp; But my Tumothy could no abide buttermilk.&nbsp;
+I like tull lussen tull the thunder growlun&rsquo; an&rsquo; roarun&rsquo;,
+an&rsquo; rampajun&rsquo;.&nbsp; My Katie could no abide the noise of
+ut, but must scream an&rsquo; flutter an&rsquo; go runnun&rsquo; for
+the mudmost o&rsquo; a feather-bed.&nbsp; Never yet hov I heard the
+answer tull the <i>why</i> o&rsquo; like, God alone hoz thot answer.&nbsp;
+You an&rsquo; me be mortal an&rsquo; we canna know.&nbsp; Enough for
+us tull know what we like an&rsquo; what we duslike.&nbsp; I <i>like</i>&mdash;thot
+uz the first word an&rsquo; the last.&nbsp; An&rsquo; behind thot like
+no men can go an&rsquo; find the <i>why</i> o&rsquo; ut.&nbsp; I <i>like</i>
+Samuel, an&rsquo; I like ut well.&nbsp; Ut uz a sweet name, an&rsquo;
+there be a rollun&rsquo; wonder un the sound o&rsquo; ut thot passes
+onderstandun&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The twilight deepened, and in the silence I gazed upon that splendid
+dome of a forehead which time could not mar, at the width between the
+eyes, and at the eyes themselves&mdash;clear, out-looking, and wide-seeing.&nbsp;
+She rose to her feet with an air of dismissing me, saying&mdash;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ut wull be a dark walk home, an&rsquo; there wull be more
+thon a sprunkle o&rsquo; wet un the sky.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you any regrets, Margaret Henan?&rdquo; I asked, suddenly
+and without forethought.</p>
+<p>She studied me a moment.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, thot I no ha&rsquo; borne another son.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you would . . .?&rdquo; I faltered.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aye, thot I would,&rdquo; she answered.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ut would
+ha&rsquo; been hus name.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>I went down the dark road between the hawthorn hedges puzzling over
+the why of like, repeating <i>Samuel</i> to myself and aloud and listening
+to the rolling wonder in its sound that had charmed her soul and led
+her life in tragic places.&nbsp; <i>Samuel</i>!&nbsp; There was a rolling
+wonder in the sound.&nbsp; Aye, there was!</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE STRENGTH OF THE STRONG ***</p>
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