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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12151 ***
+
+NIGHT WATCHES
+
+by W.W. Jacobs
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BACK
+
+Mrs. Scutts, concealed behind the curtain, gazed at the cab in uneasy
+amazement.  The cabman clambered down from the box and, opening the
+door, stood by with his hands extended ready for any help that might be
+needed. A stranger was the first to alight, and, with his back towards
+Mrs. Scutts, seemed to be struggling with something in the cab.  He
+placed a dangling hand about his neck and, staggering under the weight,
+reeled backwards supporting Mr. Scutts, whose other arm was round the
+neck of a third man.  In a flash Mrs. Scutts was at the door.
+
+"Oh, Bill!"  she gasped.  "And by daylight, too!"
+
+Mr. Scutts raised his head sharply and his lips parted; then his head
+sank again, and he became a dead weight in the grasp of his assistants.
+
+"He's all right," said one of them, turning to Mrs. Scutts.
+
+A deep groan from Mr. Scutts confirmed the statement.
+
+"What is it?"  inquired his wife, anxiously.
+
+"Just a little bit of a railway accident," said one of the strangers.
+"Train ran into some empty trucks.  Nobody hurt--seriously," he added,
+in response to a terrible and annoyed groan from Mr. Scutts.
+
+With his feet dragging helplessly, Mr. Scutts was conveyed over his own
+doorstep and placed on the sofa.
+
+"All the others went off home on their own legs," said one of the
+strangers, reproachfully.  "He said he couldn't walk, and he wouldn't go
+to a hospital."
+
+"Wanted to die at home," declared the sufferer.  "I ain't going to be
+cut about at no 'ospitals."
+
+The two strangers stood by watching him; then they looked at each other.
+
+I don't want--no--'ospitals," gasped Mr. Scutts, "I'm going to have my
+own doctor."
+
+"Of course the company will pay the doctor's bill," said one of the
+strangers to Mrs. Scutts or they'll send their own doctor.  I expect
+he'll be all right to-morrow."
+
+"I 'ope so," said Mr. Scutts, "but I don't think it.  Thank you for
+bringing of me 'ome."
+
+He closed his eyes languidly, and kept them closed until the men had
+departed.
+
+"Can't you walk, Bill?"  inquired the tearful Mrs. Scutts.
+
+Her husband shook his head.  "You go and fetch the doctor," he said,
+slowly.  "That new one round the corner."
+
+"He looks such a boy," objected Mrs. Scutts.
+
+"You go and fetch 'im," said Mr. Scutts, raising his voice.  "D'ye
+hear!"
+
+"But--" began his wife.
+
+"If I get up to you, my gal," said the forgetful Mr. Scutts, "you'll
+know it."
+
+"Why, I thought--" said his wife, in surprise.
+
+Mr. Scutts raised himself on the sofa and shook his fist at her.  Then,
+as a tribute to appearances, he sank back and groaned again.  Mrs.
+Scutts, looking somewhat relieved, took her bonnet from a nail and
+departed.
+
+The examination was long and tedious, but Mr. Scutts, beyond remarking
+that he felt chilly, made no complaint.  He endeavoured, but in vain, to
+perform the tests suggested, and even did his best to stand, supported
+by his medical attendant.  Self-preservation is the law of Nature, and
+when Mr. Scutts's legs and back gave way he saw to it that the doctor
+was underneath.
+
+"We'll have to get you up to bed," said the latter, rising slowly and
+dusting himself.
+
+Mr. Scutts, who was lying full length on the floor, acquiesced, and sent
+his wife for some neighbours.  One of them was a professional furniture-
+remover, and, half-way up the narrow stairs, the unfortunate had to
+remind him that he was dealing with a British working man, and not a
+piano.  Four pairs of hands deposited Mr. Scutts with mathematical
+precision in the centre of the bed and then proceeded to tuck him in,
+while Mrs. Scutts drew the sheet in a straight line under his chin.
+
+"Don't look much the matter with 'im," said one of the assistants.
+
+"You can't tell with a face like that," said the furniture-remover.
+"It's wot you might call a 'appy face.  Why, he was 'arf smiling as we,
+carried 'im up the stairs."
+
+"You're a liar," said Mr. Scutts, opening his eyes.
+
+"All right, mate," said the furniture-remover; "all right.  There's no
+call to get annoyed about it.  Good old English pluck, I call it.  Where
+d'you feel the pain?"
+
+"All over," said Mr. Scutts, briefly.
+
+His neighbours regarded him with sympathetic eyes, and then, led by the
+furniture-remover, filed out of the room on tip-toe.  The doctor, with a
+few parting instructions, also took his departure.
+
+"If you're not better by the morning," he said, pausing at the door,
+"you must send for your club doctor."
+
+Mr. Scutts, in a feeble voice, thanked him, and lay with a twisted smile
+on his face listening to his wife's vivid narrative to the little crowd
+which had collected at the front door.  She came back, followed by the
+next-door neighbour, Mr. James Flynn, whose offers of assistance ranged
+from carrying Mr. Scutts out pick-a-back when he wanted to take the air,
+to filling his pipe for him and fetching his beer.
+
+"But I dare say you'll be up and about in a couple o' days," he
+concluded.  "You wouldn't look so well if you'd got anything serious the
+matter; rosy, fat cheeks and----"
+
+"That'll do," said the indignant invalid.  "It's my back that's hurt,
+not my face."
+
+"I know," said Mr. Flynn, nodding sagely; "but if it was hurt bad your
+face would be as white as that sheet-whiter."
+
+"The doctor said as he was to be kep' quiet," remarked Mrs. Scutts,
+sharply.
+
+"Right-o," said Mr. Flynn.  "Ta-ta, old pal.  Keep your pecker up, and
+if you want your back rubbed with turps, or anything of that sort, just
+knock on the wall."
+
+He went, before Mr. Scutts could think of a reply suitable for an
+invalid and, at the same time, bristling with virility.  A sinful and
+foolish desire to leap out of bed and help Mr. Flynn downstairs made him
+more rubicund than ever.
+
+He sent for the club doctor next morning, and, pending his arrival,
+partook of a basin of arrowroot and drank a little beef-tea.  A bottle
+of castor-oil and an empty pill-box on the table by the bedside added a
+little local colour to the scene.
+
+"Any pain?"  inquired the doctor, after an examination in which bony and
+very cold fingers had played a prominent part.
+
+"Not much pain," said Mr. Scutts.  "Don't seem to have no strength in my
+back."
+
+"Ah!"  said the doctor.
+
+"I tried to get up this morning to go to my work," said Mr. Scutts, "but
+I can't stand!  couldn't get out of bed."
+
+"Fearfully upset, he was, pore dear," testified Mrs. Scutts.  "He can't
+bear losing a day.  I s'pose--I s'pose the railway company will 'ave to
+do something if it's serious, won't they, sir?"
+
+"Nothing to do with me," said the doctor.  "I'll put him on the club for
+a few days; I expect he will be all right soon.  He's got a healthy
+colour--a very healthy colour."
+
+Mr. Scutts waited until he had left the house and then made a few
+remarks on the colour question that for impurity of English and strength
+of diction have probably never been surpassed.
+
+A second visitor that day came after dinner--a tall man in a frock-coat,
+bearing in his hand a silk hat, which, after a careful survey of the
+room, he hung on a knob of the bedpost.
+
+"Mr. Scutts?"  he inquired, bowing.
+
+"That's me," said Mr. Scutts, in a feeble voice.
+
+"I've called from the railway company," said the stranger.  "We have
+seen now all those who left their names and addresses on Monday
+afternoon, and I am glad to say that nobody was really hurt.  Nobody."
+
+Mr. Scutts, in a faint voice, said he was glad to hear it.
+
+"Been a wonder if they had," said the other, cheerfully.  "Why, even the
+paint wasn't knocked off the engine.  The most serious damage appears to
+be two top-hats crushed and an umbrella broken."
+
+He leaned over the bed-rail and laughed joyously.  Mr. Scutts, through
+half-closed eyes, gazed at him in silent reproach.
+
+"I don't say that one or two people didn't receive a little bit of a
+shock to their nerves," said the visitor, thoughtfully.  "One lady even
+stayed in bed next day.  However, I made it all right with them.  The
+company is very generous, and although of course there is no legal
+obligation, they made several of them a present of a few pounds, so that
+they could go away for a little change, or anything of that sort, to
+quiet their nerves."
+
+Mr. Scutts, who had been listening with closed eyes, opened them
+languidly and said, "Oh."
+
+"I gave one gentleman twen-ty pounds!"  said the visitor, jingling some
+coins in his trouser-pocket.  "I never saw a man so pleased and grateful
+in my life.  When he signed the receipt for it--I always get them to
+sign a receipt, so that the company can see that I haven't kept the
+money for myself--he nearly wept with joy."
+
+"I should think he would," said Mr. Scutts, slowly--"if he wasn't hurt."
+
+"You're the last on my list," said the other, hastily.  He produced a
+slip of paper from his pocket-book and placed it on the small table,
+with a fountain pen.  Then, with a smile that was both tender and
+playful, he plunged his hand in his pocket and poured a stream of gold
+on the table.
+
+"What do you say to thir-ty pounds?"  he said, in a hushed voice.
+"Thirty golden goblins?"
+
+"What for?"  inquired Mr. Scutts, with a notable lack of interest.
+
+"For--well, to go away for a day or two," said the visitor.  "I find you
+in bed; it may be a cold or a bilious attack; or perhaps you had a
+little upset of the nerves when the trains kissed each other."
+
+"I'm in bed--because--I can't walk-or stand," said Mr. Scutts, speaking
+very distinctly.  "I'm on my club, and if as 'ow I get well in a day or
+two, there's no reason why the company should give me any money.  I'm
+pore, but I'm honest."
+
+"Take my advice as a friend," said the other; "take the money while you
+can get it."
+
+He nodded significantly at Mr. Scutts and closed one eye.  Mr. Scutts
+closed both of his.
+
+"I 'ad my back hurt in the collision," he said, after a long pause.  "I
+'ad to be helped 'ome.  So far it seems to get worse, but I 'ope for the
+best."
+
+"Dear me," said the visitor; "how sad!  I suppose it has been coming on
+for a long time.  Most of these back cases do.  At least all the doctors
+say so."
+
+"It was done in the collision," said Mr. Scutts, mildly but firmly. "I
+was as right as rain before then."
+
+The visitor shook his head and smiled.  "Ah! you would have great
+difficulty in proving that," he said, softly; "in fact, speaking as man
+to man, I don't mind telling you it would be impossible.  I'm afraid I'm
+exceeding my duty, but, as you're the last on my list, suppose--suppose
+we say forty pounds.  Forty!  A small fortune."
+
+He added some more gold to the pile on the table, and gently tapped Mr.
+Scutts's arm with the end of the pen.
+
+"Good afternoon," said the invalid.
+
+The visitor, justly concerned at his lack of intelligence, took a seat
+on the edge of the bed and spoke to him as a friend and a brother, but
+in vain.  Mr. Scutts reminded him at last that it was medicine-time,
+after which, pain and weakness permitting, he was going to try to get a
+little sleep.
+
+"Forty pounds!"  he said to his wife, after the official had departed.
+"Why didn't 'e offer me a bag o' sweets?"
+
+"It's a lot o' money," said Mrs. Scutts, wistfully.
+
+"So's a thousand," said her husband.  "I ain't going to 'ave my back
+broke for nothing, I can tell you.  Now, you keep that mouth o' yours
+shut, and if I get it, you shall 'ave a new pair o' boots."
+
+"A thousand!"  exclaimed the startled Mrs. Scutts.  "Have you took leave
+of your senses, or what?"
+
+"I read a case in the paper where a man got it," said Mr. Scutts.  "He
+'ad his back 'urt too, pore chap.  How would you like to lay on your
+back all your life for a thousand pounds?"
+
+"Will you 'ave to lay abed all your life?"  inquired his wife, staring.
+
+"Wait till I get the money," said Mr. Scutts; "then I might be able to
+tell you better."
+
+He gazed wistfully at the window.  It was late October, but the sun
+shone and the air was clear.  The sound of traffic and cheerful voices
+ascended from the little street.  To Mr. Scutts it all seemed to be a
+part of a distant past.
+
+"If that chap comes round to-morrow and offers me five hundred," he
+said, slowly, "I don't know as I won't take it.  I'm sick of this mouldy
+bed."
+
+He waited expectantly next day, but nothing happened, and after a week
+of bed he began to realize that the job might be a long one.  The
+monotony, to a man of his active habits, became almost intolerable, and
+the narrated adventures of Mr. James Flynn, his only caller, filled him
+with an uncontrollable longing to be up and doing.
+
+The fine weather went, and Mr. Scutts, in his tumbled bed, lay watching
+the rain beating softly on the window-panes.  Then one morning he awoke
+to the darkness of a London fog.
+
+"It gets worse and worse," said Mrs. Scutts, as she returned home in the
+afternoon with a relish for his tea.  "Can't see your 'and before your
+face."
+
+Mr. Scutts looked thoughtful.  He ate his tea in silence, and after he
+had finished lit his pipe and sat up in bed smoking.
+
+"Penny for your thoughts," said his wife.
+
+"I'm going out," said Mr. Scutts, in a voice that defied opposition.
+"I'm going to 'ave a walk, and when I'm far enough away I'm going to
+'ave one or two drinks.  I believe this fog is sent a-purpose to save my
+life."
+
+Mrs. Scutts remonstrated, but in vain, and at half-past six the invalid,
+with his cap over his eyes and a large scarf tied round the lower part
+of his face, listened for a moment at his front door and then
+disappeared in the fog.
+
+Left to herself, Mrs. Scutts returned to the bedroom and, poking the
+tiny fire into a blaze, sat and pondered over the willfulness of men.
+
+She was awakened from a doze by a knocking at the street-door.  It was
+just eight o'clock, and, inwardly congratulating her husband on his
+return to common sense and home, she went down and opened it.  Two tall
+men in silk hats entered the room.
+
+"Mrs. Scutts?"  said one of them.
+
+Mrs. Scutts, in a dazed fashion, nodded.
+
+"We have come to see your husband," said the intruder.  "I am a doctor."
+
+The panic-stricken Mrs. Scutts tried in vain to think.
+
+"He-he's asleep," she said, at last.
+
+"Doesn't matter," said the doctor.
+
+"Not a bit," said his companion.
+
+"You--you can't see him," protested Mrs. Scutts.  "He ain't to be seen."
+
+"He'd be sorry to miss me," said the doctor, eyeing her keenly as she
+stood on guard by the inner door.  "I suppose he's at home?"
+
+"Of course," said Mrs. Scutts, stammering and flushing.  "Why, the pore
+man can't stir from his bed."
+
+"Well, I'll just peep in at the door, then," said the doctor.  "I won't
+wake him.  You can't object to that.  If you do--"
+
+Mrs. Scutts's head began to swim.  "I'll go up and see whether he's
+awake," she said.
+
+She closed the door on them and stood with her hand to her throat,
+thinking.  Then, instead of going upstairs, she passed into the yard
+and, stepping over the fence, opened Mr. Flynn's back door.
+
+"Halloa!"  said that gentleman, who was standing in the scullery
+removing mud from his boots.  "What's up?"
+
+In a frenzied gabble Mrs. Scutts told him.  "You must be 'im," she said,
+clutching him by the coat and dragging him towards the door.  "They've
+never seen 'im, and they won't know the difference."
+
+"But--" exclaimed the astonished James.
+
+"Quick!"  she said, sharply.  "Go into the back room and undress, then
+nip into his room and get into bed.  And mind, be fast asleep all the
+time."
+
+Still holding the bewildered Mr. Flynn by the coat, she led him into the
+house and waved him upstairs, and stood below listening until a slight
+creaking of the bed announced that he had obeyed orders.  Then she
+entered the parlour.
+
+"He's fast asleep," she said, softly; "and mind, I won't 'ave him
+disturbed.  It's the first real sleep he's 'ad for nearly a week.  If
+you promise not to wake 'im you may just have a peep."
+
+"We won't disturb him," said the doctor, and, followed by his companion,
+noiselessly ascended the stairs and peeped into the room.  Mr. Flynn was
+fast asleep, and not a muscle moved as the two men approached the bed on
+tip-toe and stood looking at him.  The doctor turned after a minute and
+led the way out of the room.
+
+"We'll call again," he said, softly.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Mrs. Scutts.  "When?"
+
+The doctor and his companion exchanged glances.  "I'm very busy just at
+present," he said, slowly.  "We'll look in some time and take our chance
+of catching him awake."
+
+Mrs. Scutts bowed them out, and in some perplexity returned to Mr.
+Flynn. "I don't like the look of 'em," she said, shaking her head.
+"You'd better stay in bed till Bill comes 'ome in case they come back."
+
+"Right-o," said the obliging Mr. Flynn.  "Just step in and tell my
+landlady I'm 'aving a chat with Bill."
+
+He lit his pipe and sat up in bed smoking until a knock at the front
+door at half-past eleven sent him off to sleep again.  Mrs. Scutts, who
+was sitting downstairs, opened it and admitted her husband.
+
+"All serene?"  he inquired.  "What are you looking like that for?
+What's up?"
+
+He sat quivering with alarm and rage as she told him, and then, mounting
+the stairs with a heavy tread, stood gazing in helpless fury at the
+slumbering form of Mr. James Flynn.
+
+"Get out o' my bed," he said at last, in a choking voice.
+
+"What, Bill!"  said Mr. Flynn, opening his eyes.
+
+"Get out o' my bed," repeated the other.  "You've made a nice mess of it
+between you.  It's a fine thing if a man can't go out for 'arf a pint
+without coming home and finding all the riffraff of the neighbourhood in
+'is bed."
+
+"'Ow's the pore back, Bill?"  inquired Mr. Flynn, with tenderness.
+
+Mr. Scutts gurgled at him.  "Outside!"  he said as soon as he could get
+his breath.
+
+"Bill," said the voice of Mrs. Scutts, outside the door.
+
+"Halloa," growled her husband.
+
+"He mustn't go," said Mrs. Scutts.  "Those gentlemen are coming again,
+and they think he is you."
+
+"WHAT!" roared the infuriated Mr. Scutts.
+
+"Don't you see?  It's me what's got the pore back now, Bill," said Mr.
+Flynn.  "You can't pass yourself off as me, Bill; you ain't good-looking
+enough."
+
+Mr. Scutts, past speech, raised his clenched fists to the ceiling.
+
+"He'll 'ave to stay in your bed," continued the voice of Mrs. Scutts.
+"He's got a good 'art, and I know he'll do it; won't you, Jim?"
+
+Mr. Flynn pondered.  "Tell my landlady in the morning that I've took
+your back room," he said.  "What a fortunit thing it is I'm out o' work.
+What are you walking up and down like that for, Bill?  Back coming on
+agin?"
+
+"Then o' course," pursued the voice of Mrs. Scutts, in meditative
+accents, "there's the club doctor and the other gentleman that knows
+Bill.  They might come at any moment.  There's got to be two Bills in
+bed, so that if one party comes one Bill can nip into the back room, and
+if the other Bill--party, I mean--comes, the other Bill--you know what I
+mean!"
+
+Mr. Scutts swore himself faint.
+
+"That's 'ow it is, mate," said Mr. Flynn.  "It's no good standing there
+saying your little piece of poetry to yourself.  Take off your clo'es
+and get to bed like a little man.  Now! now!  Naughty!  Naughty!"
+
+"P'r'aps I oughtn't to 'ave let 'em up, Bill," said his wife; "but I was
+afraid they'd smell a rat if I didn't.  Besides, I was took by
+surprise."
+
+"You get off to bed," said Mr. Scutts.  "Get off to bed while you're
+safe."
+
+"And get a good night's rest," added the thoughtful Mr. Flynn.  "If
+Bill's back is took bad in the night I'll look after it."
+
+Mr. Scutts turned a threatening face on him.  "For two pins--" he began.
+
+"For two pins I'll go back 'ome and stay there," said Mr. Flynn.
+
+He put one muscular leg out of bed, and then, at the earnest request of
+Mr. Scutts, put it back again.  In a few simple, manly words the latter
+apologized, by putting all the blame on Mrs. Scutts, and, removing his
+clothes, got into bed.
+
+Wrapped in bedclothes, they passed the following day listening for
+knocks at the door and playing cards.  By evening both men were weary,
+and Mr. Scutts made a few pointed remarks concerning dodging doctors and
+deceitful visitors to which Mr. Flynn listened in silent approval.
+
+"They mightn't come for a week," he said, dismally.  "It's all right for
+you, but where do I come in?  Halves?"
+
+Mr. Scutts had a rush of blood to the head.
+
+"You leave it to me, mate," he said, controlling himself by an effort.
+"If I get ten quid, say, you shall have 'arf."
+
+"And suppose you get more?"  demanded the other.
+
+"We'll see," said Mr. Scutts, vaguely.
+
+Mr. Flynn returned to the charge next day, but got no satisfaction.  Mr.
+Scutts preferred to talk instead of the free board and lodging his
+friend was getting.  On the subject of such pay for such work he was
+almost eloquent.
+
+"I'll bide my time," said Mr. Flynn, darkly.  "Treat me fair and I'll
+treat you fair."
+
+His imprisonment came to an end on the fourth day.  There was a knock at
+the door, and the sound of men's voices, followed by the hurried
+appearance of Mrs. Scutts.
+
+"It's Jim's lot," she said, in a hurried whisper.  "I've just come up to
+get the room ready."
+
+Mr. Scutts took his friend by the hand, and after warmly urging him not
+to forget the expert instructions he had received concerning his back,
+slipped into the back room, and, a prey to forebodings, awaited the
+result.
+
+"Well, he looks better," said the doctor, regarding Mr. Flynn.
+
+"Much better," said his companion.
+
+Mrs. Scutts shook her head.  "His pore back don't seem no better, sir,"
+she said in a low voice.  "Can't you do something for it?"
+
+"Let me have a look at it," said the doctor.  "Undo your shirt."
+
+Mr. Flynn, with slow fingers, fumbled with the button at his neck and
+looked hard at Mrs. Scutts.
+
+"She can't bear to see me suffer," he said, in a feeble voice, as she
+left the room.
+
+He bore the examination with the fortitude of an early Christian martyr.
+In response to inquiries he said he felt as though the mainspring of his
+back had gone.
+
+"How long since you walked?"  inquired the doctor.
+
+"Not since the accident," said Mr. Flynn, firmly.
+
+"Try now," said the doctor.
+
+Mr. Flynn smiled at him reproachfully.
+
+"You can't walk because you think you can't," said the doctor; "that is
+all.  You'll have to be encouraged the same way that a child is.  I
+should like to cure you, and I think I can."
+
+He took a small canvas bag from the other man and opened it.  "Forty
+pounds," he said.  "Would you like to count it?"
+
+Mr. Flynn's eyes shone.
+
+"It is all yours," said the doctor, "if you can walk across the room and
+take it from that gentleman's hand."
+
+"Honour bright?" asked Mr. Flynn, in tremulous tones, as the other man
+held up the bag and gave him an encouraging smile.
+
+"Honour bright," said the doctor.
+
+With a spring that nearly broke the bed, Mr. Flynn quitted it and
+snatched the bag, and at the same moment Mrs. Scutts, impelled by a
+maddened arm, burst into the room.
+
+"Your back!"  she moaned.  "It'll kill you Get back to bed."
+
+"I'm cured, lovey," said Mr. Flynn, simply.
+
+"His back is as strong as ever," said the doctor, giving it a thump.
+
+Mr. Flynn, who had taken his clothes from a chair and was hastily
+dressing himself, assented.
+
+"But if you'll wait 'arf a tick I'll walk as far as the corner with
+you," he said, quickly.  "I'd like to make sure it's all right."
+
+He paused at the foot of the stairs and, glancing up at the palid and
+murderous face of Mr. Scutts, which protruded from the back bedroom,
+smiled at him rapturously.  Then, with a lordly air, he tossed him five
+pieces of gold.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Back to Back, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12151 ***