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diff --git a/1764.txt b/1764.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdb2a36 --- /dev/null +++ b/1764.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1309 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Billy and the Big Stick, by Richard Harding Davis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Billy and the Big Stick + +Author: Richard Harding Davis + +Posting Date: September 21, 2008 [EBook #1764] +Release Date: May, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY AND THE BIG STICK *** + + + + +Produced by Aaron Cannon + + + + + +BILLY AND THE BIG STICK + +by Richard Harding Davis + + + +Had the Wilmot Electric Light people remained content only to make +light, had they not, as a by-product, attempted to make money, they need +not have left Hayti. + +When they flooded with radiance the unpaved streets of Port-au-Prince no +one, except the police, who complained that the lights kept them awake, +made objection; but when for this illumination the Wilmot Company +demanded payment, every one up to President Hamilear Poussevain was +surprised and grieved. So grieved was President Ham, as he was lovingly +designated, that he withdrew the Wilmot concession, surrounded the +power-house with his barefooted army, and in a proclamation announced +that for the future the furnishing of electric light would be a monopoly +of the government. + +In Hayti, as soon as it begins to make money, any industry, native or +foreign, becomes a monopoly of the government. The thing works +automatically. It is what in Hayti is understood as _haute_ finance. The +Wilmot people should have known that. Because they did not know that, +they stood to lose what they had sunk in the electric-light plant, and +after their departure to New York, which departure was accelerated as +far as the wharf by seven generals and twelve privates, they proceeded +to lose more money on lobbyists and lawyers who claimed to understand +international law; even the law of Hayti. And lawyers who understand +that are high-priced. + +The only employee of the Wilmot force who was not escorted to the wharf +under guard was Billy Barlow. He escaped the honor because he was +superintendent of the power-house, and President Ham believed that +without him the lightning would not strike. Accordingly by an executive +order Billy became an employee of the government. With this arrangement +the Wilmot people were much pleased. For they trusted Billy, and they +knew while in the courts they were righting to regain their property, +he would see no harm came to it. + +Billy's title was Directeur General et Inspecteur Municipal de Luminaire +Electrique, which is some title, and his salary was fifty dollars a +week. In spite of Billy's color President Ham always treated his only +white official with courtesy and gave him his full title. About giving +him his full salary he was less particular. This neglect greatly annoyed +Billy. He came of sturdy New England stock and possessed that New +England conscience which makes the owner a torment to himself, and to +every one else a nuisance. Like all the other Barlows of Barnstable on +Cape Cod, Billy had worked for his every penny. He was no shirker. From +the first day that he carried a pair of pliers in the leg pocket of his +overalls, and in a sixty-knot gale stretched wires between ice-capped +tele graph poles, he had more than earned his wages. Never, whether on +time or at piece-work, had he by a slovenly job, or by beating the +whistle, robbed his employer. And for his honest toil he was determined +to be as honestly paid--even by President Hamilcar Poussevain. And +President Ham never paid anybody; neither the Armenian street peddlers, +in whose sweets he delighted, nor the Bethlehem Steel Company, nor the +house of Rothschild. + +Why he paid Billy even the small sums that from time to time Billy wrung +from the president's strong box the foreign colony were at a loss to +explain. Wagner, the new American consul, asked Billy how he managed it. +As an American minister had not yet been appointed to the duties of the +consul, as Wagner assured everybody, were added those of diplomacy. But +Haytian diplomacy he had yet to master. At the seaport in Scotland where +he had served as vice-consul, law and order were as solidly established +as the stone jetties, and by contrast the eccentricities of the Black +REPUBLIC baffled and distressed him. + +"It can't be that you blackmail the president," said the consul, +"because I understand he boasts he has committed all the known crimes." + +"And several he invented," agreed Billy. + +"And you can't do it with a gun, because they tell me the president +isn't afraid of anything except a voodoo priestess. What is your +secret?" coaxed the consul. "If you'll only sell it, I know several +Powers that would give you your price." Billy smiled modestly. + +"It's very simple," he said. "The first time my wages were shy I went to +the palace and told him if he didn't come across I'd shut off the juice. +I think he was so stunned at anybody asking him for real money that +while he was still stunned he opened his safe and handed me two thousand +francs. I think he did it more in admiration for my nerve than because +he owed it. The next time pay-day arrived, and the pay did not, I didn't +go to the palace. I just went to bed, and the lights went to bed, too. +You may remember?" The consul snorted indignantly. + +"I was holding three queens at the time," he protested. "Was it YOU did +that?" + +"It was," said Billy. "The police came for me to start the current going +again, but I said I was too ill. Then the president's own doctor came, +old Gautier, and Gautier examined me with a lantern and said that in +Hayti my disease frequently proved fatal, but he thought if I turned on +the lights I might recover. I told him I was tired of life, anyway, but +that if I could see three thousand francs it might give me an incentive. +He reported back to the president and the three thousand francs arrived +almost instantly, and a chicken broth from Ham's own chef, with His +Excellency's best wishes for the recovery of the invalid. My recovery +was instantaneous, and I switched on the lights. + +"I had just moved into the Widow Ducrot's hotel that week, and her +daughter Claire wouldn't let me eat the broth. I thought it was because, +as she's a dandy cook herself, she was professionally jealous. She put +the broth on the top shelf of the pantry and wrote on a piece of paper, +'Gare!' But the next morning a perfectly good cat, who apparently +couldn't read, was lying beside it dead." + +The consul frowned reprovingly. + +"You should not make such reckless charges," he protested. "I would call +it only a coincidence." + +"You can call it what you please," said Billy, "but it won't bring the +cat back. Anyway, the next time I went to the palace to collect, the +president was ready for me. He said he'd been taking out information, +and he found if I shut off the lights again he could hire another man +in the States to turn them on. I told him he'd been deceived. I told him +the Wilmot Electric Lights were produced by a secret process, and that +only a trained Wilmot man could work them. And I pointed out to him +if he dismissed me it wasn't likely the Wilmot people would loan him +another expert; not while they were fighting him through the courts +and the State Department. That impressed the old man; so I issued my +ultimatum. I said if he must have electric lights he must have me, too. +Whether he liked it or not, mine was a life job." + +"What did he say to that?" gasped the new consul. + +"Said it wasn't a life job, because he was going to have me shot at +sunset." + +"Then you said?" + +"I said if he did that there wouldn't be any electric lights, and you +would bring a warship and shoot Hayti off the map." + +The new consul was most indignant. + +"You had no right to say that!" he protested. "You did very ill. My +instructions are to avoid all serious complications." + +"That was what I was trying to avoid," said Billy. "Don't you call +being shot at sunset a serious complication? Or would that be just a +coincidence, too? You're a hellofa consul!" + +Since his talk with the representative of his country four months had +passed and Billy still held his job. But each month the number of francs +he was able to wrest from President Hamilcar dwindled, and were won only +after verbal conflicts that each month increased in violence. + +To the foreign colony it became evident that, in the side of President +Ham, Billy was a thorn, sharp, irritating, virulent, and that at any +moment Ham might pluck that thorn and Billy would leave Hayti in haste, +and probably in hand-cuffs. This was evident to Billy, also, and the +prospect was most disquieting. Not because he loved Hayti, but because +since he went to lodge at the cafe of the Widow Ducrot, he had learned +to love her daughter Claire, and Claire loved him. + +On the two thousand dollars due him from Ham they plotted to marry. This +was not as great an adventure as it might appear. Billy knew that from +the Wilmot people he always was sure of a salary, and one which, with +such an excellent housekeeper as was Claire, would support them both. +But with his two thousand dollars as capital they could afford to +plunge; they could go upon a honeymoon; they need not dread a rainy day, +and, what was of greatest importance, they need not delay. There was +good reason against delay, for the hand of the beautiful Claire was +already promised. The Widow Ducrot had promised it to Paillard, he of +the prosperous commission business, the prominent EMBONPOINT, and four +children. Monsieur Paillard possessed an establishment of his own, but +it was a villa in the suburbs; and so, each day at noon, for his DEJEUNE +he left his office and crossed the street to the Cafe Ducrot. For five +years this had been his habit. At first it was the widow's cooking that +attracted him, then for a time the widow herself; but when from the +convent Claire came to assist her mother in the cafe, and when from a +lanky, big-eyed, long-legged child she grew into a slim, joyous, and +charming young woman, she alone was the attraction, and the Widower +Paillard decided to make her his wife. Other men had made the same +decision; and when it was announced that between Claire and the widower +a marriage had been "arranged," the clerks in the foreign commission +houses and the agents of the steamship lines drowned their sorrow in +rum and ran the house flags to half-staff. Paillard himself took the +proposed alliance calmly. He was not an impetuous suitor. With Widow +Ducrot he agreed that Claire was still too young to marry, and to +himself kept the fact that to remarry he was in no haste. In his mind +doubts still lingered. With a wife, young enough to be one of his +children, disorganizing, the routine of his villa, would it be any more +comfortable than he now found it? Would his eldest daughter and her +stepmother dwell together in harmony? The eldest daughter had assured +him that so far as she was concerned they would not; and, after all, in +marrying a girl, no matter how charming, without a dot, and the daughter +of a boarding-house keeper, no matter how respectable, was he not +disposing of himself too cheaply? These doubts assailed Papa Paillard; +these speculations were in his mind. And while he speculated Billy +acted. + +"I know that in France," Billy assured Claire, "marriages are arranged +by the parents; but in my country they are arranged in heaven. And who +are we to disregard the edicts of heaven? Ages and ages ago, before the +flood, before Napoleon, even before old Paillard with his four children, +it was arranged in heaven that you were to marry me. So, what little +plans your good mother may make don't cut enough ice to cool a green +mint. Now, we can't try to get married here," continued Billy, "without +your mother and Paillard knowing it. In this town as many people have to +sign the marriage contract as signed our Declaration of Independence: +all the civil authorities, all the clergy, all the relatives; if every +man in the telephone book isn't a witness, the marriage doesn't 'take.' +So, we must elope!" + +Having been brought up in a convent, where she was taught to obey +her mother and forbidden to think of marriage, Claire was naturally +delighted with the idea of an elopement. + +"To where will we elope to?" she demanded. Her English, as she learned +it from Billy, was sometimes confusing. + +"To New York," said Billy. "On the voyage there I will put you in charge +of the stewardess and the captain; and there isn't a captain on the +Royal Dutch or the Atlas that hasn't known you since you were a baby. +And as soon as we dock we'll drive straight to the city hall for a +license and the mayor himself will marry us. Then I'll get back my old +job from the Wilmot folks and we'll live happy ever after!" + +"In New York, also," asked Claire proudly, "are you directeur of the +electric lights?" + +"On Broadway alone," Billy explained reprovingly, "there is one sign +that uses more bulbs than there are in the whole of Hayti!" + +"New York is a large town!" exclaimed Claire. + +"It's a large sign," corrected Billy. "But," he pointed out, "with no +money we'll never see it. So to-morrow I'm going to make a social call +on Grandpa Ham and demand my ten thousand francs." Claire grasped his +arm. + +"Be careful," she pleaded. "Remember the chicken soup. If he offers you +the champagne, refuse it!" + +"He won't offer me the champagne," Billy assured her. "It won't be that +kind of a call." + +Billy left the Cafe Ducrot and made his way to the water-front. He was +expecting some electrical supplies by the PRINZ DER NEDERLANDEN, and she +had already come to anchor. + +He was late, and save for a group of his countrymen, who with the +customs officials were having troubles of their own, the customs shed +was all but deserted. Billy saw his freight cleared and was going away +when one of those in trouble signalled for assistance. + +He was a good-looking young man in a Panama hat and his manner seemed +to take it for granted that Billy knew who he was. "They want us to pay +duty on our trunks," he explained, "and we want to leave them in bond. +We'll be here only until to-night, when we're going on down the coast +to Santo Domingo. But we don't speak French, and we can't make them +understand that." + +"You don't need to speak any language to give a man ten dollars," said +Billy. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the man in the Panama. "I was afraid if I tried that +they might arrest us." + +"They may arrest you if you don't," said Billy. Acting both as +interpreter and disbursing agent, Billy satisfied the demands of +his fellow employees of the government, and his fellow countrymen he +directed to the Hotel Ducrot. + +As some one was sure to take their money, he thought it might as well +go to his mother-in-law elect. The young man in the Panama expressed +the deepest gratitude, and Billy, assuring him he would see him later, +continued to the power-house, still wondering where he had seen him +before. + +At the power-house he found seated at his desk a large, bearded stranger +whose derby hat and ready-to-wear clothes showed that he also had but +just arrived on the PRINZ DER NEDERLANDEN. + +"You William Barlow?" demanded the stranger. "I understand you been +threatening, unless you get your pay raised, to commit sabotage on these +works?" + +"Who the devil are you?" inquired Billy. + +The stranger produced an impressive-looking document covered with seals. + +"Contract with the president," he said. "I've taken over your job. You +better get out quiet," he advised, "as they've given me a squad of +nigger policemen to see that you do." + +"Are you aware that these works are the property of the Wilmot Company?" +asked Billy, "and that if anything went wrong here they'd hold you +responsible?" The stranger smiled complacently. + +"I've run plants," he said, "that make these lights look like a stable +lantern on a foggy night." + +"In that case," assented Billy, "should anything happen, you'll know +exactly what to do, and I can leave you in charge without feeling the +least anxiety." + +"That's just what you can do," the stranger agreed heartily, "and you +can't do it too quick!" From the desk he took Billy's favorite pipe and +loaded it from Billy's tobacco-jar. But when Billy had reached the door +he called to him. "Before you go, son," he said "you might give me a tip +about this climate. I never been in the tropics. It's kind of unhealthy, +ain't it?" + +His expression was one of concern. + +"If you hope to keep alive," began Billy, "there are two things to +avoid----" The stranger laughed knowingly. + +"I got you!" he interrupted. "You're going to tell me to cut out wine +and women." + +"I was going to tell you," said Billy, "to cut out hoping to collect any +wages and to avoid every kind of soup." + +From the power-house Billy went direct to the palace. His anxiety was +great. Now that Claire had consented to leave Hayti, the loss of his +position did not distress him. But the possible loss of his back pay +would be a catastrophe. He had hardly enough money to take them both +to New York, and after they arrived none with which to keep them alive. +Before the Wilmot Company could find a place for him a month might pass, +and during that month they might starve. If he went alone and arranged +for Claire to follow, he might lose her. Her mother might marry her to +Paillard; Claire might fall ill; without him at her elbow to keep her to +their purpose the voyage to an unknown land might require more courage +than she possessed. Billy saw it was imperative they should depart +together, and to that end he must have his two thousand dollars. The +money was justly his. For it he had sweated and slaved; had given +his best effort. And so, when he faced the president, he was in no +conciliatory mood. Neither was the president. + +By what right, he demanded, did this foreigner affront his ears with +demands for money; how dared he force his way into his presence and +to his face babble of back pay? It was insolent, incredible. With +indignation the president set forth the position of the government: +Billy had been discharged and, with the appointment of his successor, +the stranger in the derby hat, had ceased to exist. The government could +not pay money to some one who did not exist. All indebtedness to Billy +also had ceased to exist. The account had been wiped out. Billy had been +wiped out. The big negro, with the chest and head of a gorilla, tossed +his kinky white curls so violently that the ringlets danced. Billy, he +declared, had been a pest; a fly that buzzed and buzzed and disturbed +his slumbers. And now when the fly thought he slept he had caught and +crushed it-so. President Ham clinched his great fist convulsively and, +with delight in his pantomime, opened his fingers one by one, and held +out his pink palm, wrinkled and crossed like the hand of a washerwoman, +as though to show Billy that in it lay the fly, dead. + +"C'EST UNE CHOSE JUGEE!" thundered the president. He reached for his +quill pen. + +But Billy, with Claire in his heart, with the injustice of it rankling +in his mind, did not agree. + +"It is not an affair closed," shouted Billy in his best French. "It is +an affair international, diplomatic; a cause for war!" + +Believing he had gone mad, President Ham gazed at him speechless. + +"From here I go to the cable Office," shouted Billy. "I cable for a +warship! If, by to-night, I am not paid my money, marines will +surround our power-house, and the Wilmot people will back me up, and my +government will back me up!" + +It was, so Billy thought, even as he launched it, a tirade satisfying +and magnificent. But in his turn the president did not agree. + +He rose. He was a large man. Billy wondered he had not previously +noticed how very large he was. + +"To-night at nine o'clock," he said, "the German boat departs for New +York." As though aiming a pistol, he raised his arm and at Billy pointed +a finger. "If, after she departs, you are found in Port-au-Prince, you +will be shot!" + +The audience-chamber was hung with great mirrors in frames of tarnished +gilt. In these Billy saw himself reproduced in a wavering line of +Billies that, like the ghost of Banquo, stretched to the disappearing +point. Of such images there was an army, but of the real Billy, as he +was acutely conscious, there was but one. Among the black faces scowling +from the doorways he felt the odds were against him. Without making a +reply he passed out between the racks of rusty muskets in the anteroom, +between the two Gatling guns guarding the entrance, and on the palace +steps, in indecision, halted. + +As Billy hesitated an officer followed him from the palace and beckoned +to the guard that sat in the bare dust of the Champ de Mars playing +cards for cartridges. Two abandoned the game, and, having received their +orders, picked their muskets from the dust and stood looking expectantly +at Billy. + +They were his escort, and it was evident that until nine o'clock, when +he sailed, his movements would be spied upon; his acts reported to the +president. + +Such being the situation, Billy determined that his first act to be +reported should be of a nature to cause the president active mental +anguish. With his guard at his heels he went directly to the cable +station, and to the Secretary of State of the United States addressed +this message: "President refuses my pay; threatens shoot; wireless +nearest war-ship proceed here full speed. William Barlow." + +Billy and the director of telegraphs, who out of office hours was a +field-marshal, and when not in his shirt-sleeves always appeared in +uniform, went over each word of the cablegram together. When Billy was +assured that the field-marshal had grasped the full significance of it +he took it back and added, "Love to Aunt Maria." The extra words cost +four dollars and eighty cents gold, but, as they suggested ties of blood +between himself and the Secretary of State, they seemed advisable. +In the account-book in which he recorded his daily expenditures Billy +credited the item to "life-insurance." + +The revised cablegram caused the field-marshal deep concern. He frowned +at Billy ferociously. + +"I will forward this at once," he promised. "But, I warn you," he added, +"I deliver also a copy to MY president!" + +Billy sighed hopefully. + +"You might deliver the copy first," he suggested. + +From the cable station Billy, still accompanied by his faithful +retainers, returned to the power-house. There he bade farewell to the +black brothers who had been his assistants, and upon one of them pressed +a sum of money. + +As they parted, this one, as though giving the password of a secret +society, chanted solemnly: + +"A HUIT HEURES JUSTE!" And Billy clasped his hand and nodded. + +At the office of the Royal Dutch West India Line Billy purchased a +ticket to New York and inquired were there many passengers. "The ship is +empty," said the agent. + +"I am glad," said Billy, "for one of my assistants may come with me. He +also is being deported." + +"You can have as many cabins as you want," said the agent. "We are so +sorry to see you go that we will try to make you feel you leave us on +your private yacht." + +The next two hours Billy spent in seeking out those acquaintances +from whom he could borrow money. He found that by asking for it in +homoeopathic doses he was able to shame the foreign colony into loaning +him all of one hundred dollars. This, with what he had in hand, would +take Claire and himself to New York and for a week keep them alive. +After that he must find work or they must starve. + +In the garden of the Cafe Ducrot Billy placed his guard at a table with +bottles of beer between them, and at an 'adjoining table with Claire +plotted the elopement for that night. The garden was in the rear of the +hotel and a door in the lower wall opened into the rue Cambon, that led +directly to the water-front. + +Billy proposed that at eight o'clock Claire should be waiting in the rue +Cambon outside this door. They would then make their way to one of the +less frequented wharfs, where Claire would arrange to have a rowboat in +readiness, and in it they would take refuge on the steamer. An hour +later, before the flight of Claire could be discovered, they would have +started on their voyage to the mainland. + +"I warn you," said Billy, "that after we reach New York I have only +enough to keep us for a week. It will be a brief honey-moon. After that +we will probably starve. I'm not telling you this to discourage you," he +explained; "only trying to be honest." + +"I would rather starve with you in New York," said Claire, "than die +here without you." + +At these words Billy desired greatly to kiss Claire, but the guards were +scowling at him. It was not until Claire had gone to her room to pack +her bag and the chance to kiss her had passed that Billy recognized that +the scowls were intended to convey the fact that the beer bottles were +empty. He remedied this and remained alone at his table considering the +out look. The horizon was, indeed, gloomy, and the only light upon it, +the loyalty and love of the girl, only added to his bitterness. Above +all things he desired to make her content, to protect her from disquiet, +to convince her that in the sacrifice she was making she also was +plotting her own happiness. Had he been able to collect his ten thousand +francs his world would have danced in sunshine. As it was, the heavens +were gray and for the future the skies promised only rainy days. In +these de pressing reflections Billy was interrupted by the approach of +the young man in the Panama hat. Billy would have avoided him, but the +young man and his two friends would not be denied. For the service Billy +had rendered them they wished to express their gratitude. It found +expression in the form of Planter's punch. As they consumed this Billy +explained to the strangers why the customs men had detained them. + +"You told them you were leaving to-night for Santo Domingo," said Billy; +"but they knew that was impossible, for there is no steamer down the +coast for two weeks." + +The one whose features seemed familiar replied: + +"Still, we are leaving to-night," he said; "not on a steamer, but on a +war-ship." + +"A war-ship?" cried Billy. His heart beat at high speed. "Then," he +exclaimed, "you are a naval officer?" + +The young man shook his head and, as though challenging Billy to make +another guess, smiled. + +"Then," Billy complied eagerly, "you are a diplomat! Are you our new +minister?" + +One of the other young men exclaimed reproachfully: + +"You know him perfectly well!" he protested. "You've seen his picture +thousands of times." + +With awe and pride he placed his hand on Billy's arm and with the other +pointed at the one in the Panama hat. + +"It's Harry St. Clair," he announced. "Harry St. Clair, the King of the +Movies!" + +"The King of the Movies," repeated Billy. His disappointment was so keen +as to be embarrassing. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "I thought you----" Then he remembered his manners. +"Glad to meet you," he said. "Seen you on the screen." + +Again his own troubles took precedence. "Did you say," he demanded, "One +of our war-ships is coming here TO-DAY?" + +"Coming to take me to Santo Domingo," explained Mr. St. Clair. He spoke +airily, as though to him as a means of locomotion battle-ships were +as trolley-cars. The Planter's punch, which was something he had +never before encountered, encouraged the great young man to unbend. He +explained further and fully, and Billy, his mind intent upon his own +affair, pretended to listen. + +The United States Government, Mr. St. Clair explained, was assisting him +and the Apollo Film Company in producing the eight-reel film entitled +"The Man Behind the Gun." + +With it the Navy Department plotted to advertise the navy and encourage +recruiting. In moving pictures, in the form of a story, with love +interest, villain, comic relief, and thrills, it would show the life of +American bluejackets afloat and ashore, at home and abroad. They would +be seen at Yokohama playing baseball with Tokio University; in the +courtyard of the Vatican receiving the blessing of the Pope; at Waikiki +riding the breakers on a scrubbing-board; in the Philippines eating +cocoanuts in the shade of the sheltering palm, and in Brooklyn in the +Y. M. C. A. club, in the shadow of the New York sky-scrapers, playing +billiards and reading the sporting extras. + +As it would be illustrated on the film the life of "The Man Behind the +Gun" was one of luxurious ease. In it coal-passing, standing watch in a +blizzard, and washing down decks, cold and unsympathetic, held no part. +But to prove that the life of Jack was not all play he would be seen +fighting for the flag. That was where, as "Lieutenant Hardy, U. S. A.," +the King of the Movies entered. + +"Our company arrived in Santo Domingo last week," he explained. "And +they're waiting for me now. I'm to lead the attack on the fortress. We +land in shore boats under the guns of the ship and I take the fortress. +First, we show the ship clearing for action and the men lowering the +boats and pulling for shore. Then we cut back to show the gun-crews +serving the guns. Then we jump to the landing-party wading through the +breakers. I lead them. The man who is carrying the flag gets shot and +drops in the surf. I pick him up, put him on my shoulder, and carry him +and the flag to the beach, where----" + +Billy suddenly awoke. His tone was one of excited interest. + +"You got a uniform?" he demanded. + +"Three," said St. Clair impressively, "made to order according to +regulations on file in the Quartermaster's Department. Each absolutely +correct." Without too great a show of eagerness he inquired: "Like to +see them?" + +Without too great a show of eagerness Billy assured him that he would. + +"I got to telephone first," he added, "but by the time you get your +trunk open I'll join you in your room." + +In the cafe, over the telephone, Billy addressed himself to the +field-marshal in charge of the cable office. When Billy gave his name, +the voice of that dignitary became violently agitated. + +"Monsieur Barlow," he demanded, "do you know that the war-ship for which +you cabled your Secretary of State makes herself to arrive?" + +At the other end of the 'phone, although restrained by the confines of +the booth, Billy danced joyously. But his voice was stern. + +"Naturally," he replied. "Where is she now?" + +An hour before, so the field-marshal informed him, the battle-ship +LOUISIANA had been sighted and by telegraph reported. She was +approaching under forced draft. At any moment she might anchor in the +outer harbor. Of this President Ham had been informed. He was grieved, +indignant; he was also at a loss to understand. + +"It is very simple," explained Billy. "She probably was somewhere in +the Windward Passage. When the Secretary got my message he cabled +Guantanamo, and Guantanamo wired the war-ship nearest Port-au-Prince." + +"President Poussevain," warned the field marshal, "is greatly disturbed." + +"Tell him not to worry," said Billy. "Tell him when the bombardment +begins I will see that the palace is outside the zone of fire." + +As Billy entered the room of St. Clair his eyes shone with a strange +light. His manner, which toward a man of his repute St. Clair +had considered a little too casual, was now enthusiastic, almost +affectionate. + +"My dear St. Clair," cried Billy, "I'VE FIXED IT! But, until I was SURE, +I didn't want to raise your hopes!" + +"Hopes of what?" demanded the actor. + +"An audience with the president!" cried Billy. "I've just called him up +and he says I'm to bring you to the palace at once. He's heard of you, +of course, and he's very pleased to meet you. I told him about 'The Man +Behind the Gun,' and he says you must come in your makeup as 'Lieutenant +Hardy, U.S.A.,' just as he'll see you on the screen." + +Mr. St. Clair stammered delightedly. + +"In uniform," he protested; "won't that be----" + +"White, special full dress," insisted Billy. "Medals, side-arms, +full-dress belt, and gloves. What a press story! 'The King of the Movies +Meets the President of Hayti!' Of course, he's only an ignorant negro, +but on Broadway they don't know that; and it will sound fine!" St. Clair +coughed nervously. + +"DON'T forget," he stammered, "I can't speak French, or understand it, +either." + +The eyes of Billy became as innocent as those of a china doll. + +"Then I'll interpret," he said. "And, oh, yes," he added, "he's sending +two of the palace soldiers to act as an escort--sort of guard of honor!" + +The King of the Movies chuckled excitedly. + +"Fine!" he exclaimed. "You ARE a brick!" + +With trembling fingers he began to shed his outer garments. + +To hide his own agitation Billy walked to the window and turned his +back. Night had fallen and the electric lights, that once had been his +care, sprang into life. Billy looked at his watch. It was seven o'clock. +The window gave upon the harbor, and a mile from shore he saw the cargo +lights of the PRINZ DER NEDERLANDEN, and slowly approaching, as though +feeling for her berth, a great battle-ship. When Billy turned from the +window his voice was apparently undisturbed. + +"We've got to hurry," he said. "The LOUISIANA is standing in. She'll +soon be sending a launch for you. We've just time to drive to the palace +and back before the launch gets here." + +From his mind President Ham had dismissed all thoughts of the war-ship +that had been sighted and that now had come to anchor. For the moment he +was otherwise concerned. Fate could not harm him; he was about to dine. + +But, for the first time in the history of his administration, that +solemn ceremony was rudely halted. An excited aide, trembling at his own +temerity, burst upon the president's solitary state. + +In the anteroom, he announced, an officer from the battle-ship LOUISIANA +demanded instant audience. + +For a moment, transfixed in amazement, anger, and alarm President Ham +remained seated. Such a visit, uninvited, was against all tradition; it +was an affront, an insult. But that it was against all precedent argued +some serious necessity. He decided it would be best to receive the +officer. Besides, to continue his dinner was now out of the question. +Both appetite and digestion had fled from him. + +In the anteroom Billy was whispering final instructions to St. Clair. + +"Whatever happens," he begged, "don't LAUGH! Don't even smile politely! +He's very ignorant, you see, and he's sensitive. When he meets +foreigners and can't understand their language, he's always afraid if +they laugh that he's made a break and that they're laughing at HIM. So, +be solemn; look grave; look haughty!" + +"I got you!" assented St. Clair. "I'm to 'register' pride." + +"Exactly!" said Billy. "The more pride you register, the better for us." + +Inwardly cold with alarm, outwardly frigidly polite, Billy presented +"Lieutenant Hardy." He had come, Billy explained, in answer to the call +for help sent by himself to the Secretary of State, which by wireless +had been communicated to the LOUISIANA. Lieutenant Hardy begged him +to say to the president that he was desolate at having to approach His +Excellency so unceremoniously. But His Excellency, having threatened the +life of an American citizen, the captain, of the LOUISIANA was forced to +act quickly. + +"And this officer?" demanded President Ham; "what does he want?" + +"He says," Billy translated to St. Clair, "that he is very glad to meet +you, and he wants to know how much you earn a week." + +The actor suppressed his surprise and with pardonable pride said that +his salary was six hundred dollars a week and royalties on each film. +Billy bowed to the president. + +"He says," translated Billy, "he is here to see that I get my ten +thousand francs, and that if I don't get them in ten minutes he will +return to the ship and land marines." + +To St. Clair it seemed as though the president received his statement +as to the amount of his salary, with a disapproval that was hardly +flattering. With the heel of his giant fist the president beat upon the +table, his curls shook, his gorilla-like shoulders heaved. + +In an explanatory aside Billy made this clear. + +"He says," he interpreted, "that you get more as an actor than he gets +as president, and it makes him mad." + +"I can see it does myself," whispered St. Clair. "And I don't understand +French, either." + +President Ham was protesting violently. It was outrageous, he exclaimed; +it was inconceivable that a great republic should shake the Big Stick +over the head of a small republic, and for a contemptible ten thousand +francs. + +"I will not believe," he growled, "that this officer has authority +to threaten me. You have deceived him. If he knew the truth, he would +apologize. Tell him," he roared suddenly, "that I DEMAND that he +apologize!" + +Billy felt like the man who, after jauntily forcing the fighting, +unexpectedly gets a jolt on the chin that drops him to the canvas. + +While the referee might have counted three Billy remained upon the +canvas. + +Then again he forced the fighting. Eagerly he turned to St. Clair. + +"He says," he translated, "you must recite something." St. Clair +exclaimed incredulously: "Recite!" he gasped. + +Than his indignant protest nothing could have been more appropriate. + +"Wants to see you act out," insisted Billy. "Go on," he begged; "humor +him. Do what he wants or he'll put us in jail!" + +"But what shall I----" + +"He wants the curse of Rome from Richelieu," explained Billy. "He knows +it in French and he wants you to recite it in English. Do you know it?" + +The actor smiled haughtily. + +"I WROTE it," he protested. "Richelieu's my middle name. I've done it in +stock." + +"Then do it now!" commanded Billy. "Give it to him hot. I'm Julie de +Mortemar. He's the villain Barabas. Begin where Barabas hands you the +cue, 'The country is the king!'" + +In embarrassment St. Clair coughed tentatively. + +"Whoever heard of Cardinal Richelieu," he protested, "in a navy +uniform?" + +"Begin!" begged Billy. + +"What'll I do with my cap?" whispered St. Clair. + +In an ecstasy of alarm Billy danced from foot to foot. "I'll hold your +cap," he cried. "Go on!" + +St. Clair gave his cap of gold braid to Billy and shifted his +"full-dress" sword-belt. Not without concern did President Ham observe +these preparations. For the fraction of a second, in alarm, his eyes +glanced to the exits. He found that the officers of his staff completely +filled them. Their presence gave him confidence and his eyes returned to +Lieutenant Hardy. + +That gentleman heaved a deep sigh. Dejectedly, his head fell forward +until his chin rested upon his chest. Much to the relief of the +president, it appeared evident that Lieutenant Hardy was about to accede +to his command and apologize. St. Clair groaned heavily. + +"Ay, is it so?" he muttered. His voice was deep, resonant, vibrating +like a bell. His eyes no longer suggested apology. They were strange, +flashing; the eyes of a religious fanatic; and balefully they were fixed +upon President Ham. + +"Then wakes the power," the deep voice rumbled, "that in the age of iron +burst forth to curb the great and raise the low." He flung out his left +arm and pointed it at Billy. + +"Mark where she stands!" he commanded. + +With a sweeping, protecting gesture he drew around Billy an imaginary +circle. The pantomime was only too clear. To the aged negro, who feared +neither God nor man, but only voodoo, there was in the voice and gesture +that which caused his blood to chill. + +"Around her form," shrieked St. Clair, "I draw the awful circle of +our solemn church! Set but one foot within that holy ground and on thy +head----" Like a semaphore the left arm dropped, and the right arm, with +the fore-finger pointed, shot out at President Ham. "Yea, though it wore +a CROWN--I launch the CURSE OF ROME!" + +No one moved. No one spoke. What terrible threat had hit him President +Ham could not guess. He did not ask. Stiffly, like a man in a trance, he +turned to the rusty iron safe behind his chair and spun the handle. When +again he faced them he held a long envelope which he presented to Billy. + +"There are the ten thousand francs," he said. "Ask him if he is +satisfied, and demand that he go at once!" + +Billy turned to St. Clair. + +"He says," translated Billy, "he's very much obliged and hopes we will +come again. Now," commanded Billy, "bow low and go out facing him. We +don't want him to shoot us in the back!" + +Bowing to the president, the actor threw at Billy a glance full of +indignation. "Was I as BAD as that?" he demanded. + +On schedule time Billy drove up to the Hotel Ducrot and relinquished St. +Clair to the ensign in charge of the launch from the LOUISIANA. At sight +of St. Clair in the regalia of a superior officer, that young gentleman +showed his surprise. + +"I've been giving a 'command' performance for the president," explained +the actor modestly. "I recited for him, and, though I spoke in English, +I think I made quite a hit." + +"You certainly," Billy assured him gratefully, "made a terrible hit with +me." + +As the moving-picture actors, escorted by the ensign, followed their +trunks to the launch, Billy looked after them with a feeling of great +loneliness. He was aware that from the palace his carriage had been +followed; that drawn in a cordon around the hotel negro policemen +covertly observed him. That President Ham still hoped to recover his +lost prestige and his lost money was only too evident. + +It was just five minutes to eight. + +Billy ran to his room, and with his suit-case in his hand slipped down +the back stairs and into the garden. Cautiously he made his way to the +gate in the wall, and in the street outside found Claire awaiting him. + +With a cry of relief she clasped his arm. + +"You are safe!" she cried. "I was so frightened for you. That President +Ham, he is a beast, an ogre!" Her voice sank to a whisper. "And for +myself also I have been frightened. The police, they are at each corner. +They watch the hotel. They watch ME! Why? What do they want?" + +"They want something of mine," said Billy. "But I can't tell you what it +is until I'm sure it is mine. Is the boat at the wharf?" + +"All is arranged," Claire assured him. "The boatmen are our friends; +they will take us safely to the steamer." + +With a sigh of relief Billy lifted her valise and his own, but he did +not move forward. Anxiously Claire pulled at his sleeve. + +"Come!" she begged. "For what it is that you wait?" + +It was just eight o'clock. + +Billy was looking up at the single electric light bulb that lit the +narrow street, and following the direction of his eyes, Claire saw the +light grow dim, saw the tiny wires grow red, and disappear. From +over all the city came shouts, and cries of consternation oaths, and +laughter, and then darkness. + +"I was waiting for THIS!" cried Billy. + +With the delight of a mischievous child Claire laughed aloud. + +"You-you did it!" she accused. + +"I did!" said Billy. "And now-we must run like the devil!" + +The PRINZ DER NEDERLANDEN was drawing slowly out of the harbor. Shoulder +to shoulder Claire and Billy leaned upon the rail. On the wharfs of +Port-au-Prince they saw lanterns tossing and candles twinkling; saw the +LOUISIANA, blazing like a Christmas-tree, steaming majestically south; +in each other's eyes saw that all was well. + +From his pocket Billy drew a long envelope. + +"I can now with certainty," said Billy, "state that this is mine--OURS." + +He opened the envelope, and while Claire gazed upon many mille-franc +notes Billy told how he had retrieved them. + +"But what danger!" cried Claire. "In time Ham would have paid. Your +president at Washington would have made him pay. Why take such risks? +You had but to wait!" + +Billy smiled contentedly. + +"Dear one!" he exclaimed, "the policy of watchful waiting is safer, but +the Big Stick acts quicker and gets results!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Billy and the Big Stick, by Richard Harding Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY AND THE BIG STICK *** + +***** This file should be named 1764.txt or 1764.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/6/1764/ + +Produced by Aaron Cannon + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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