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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext scanned by Aaron Cannon of Paradise, California + + + + + +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 BAUTE FINANCE. +The Wilmot people should have known that. Because they did not 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 hell of a 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 pass-word of a +secret society, chanted solemnly: + +"A BUIT BEURES 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. 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 Etext of Billy and the Big Stick, by Davis + diff --git a/old/bbstk10.zip b/old/bbstk10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2dbb4c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bbstk10.zip |