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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Make-Believe Man, 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: The Make-Believe Man
+
+Author: Richard Harding Davis
+
+Posting Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1823]
+Release Date: July, 1999
+Last Updated: September 26, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAKE-BELIEVE MAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Don Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MAKE-BELIEVE MAN
+
+By Richard Harding Davis
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+I had made up my mind that when my vacation came I would spend it
+seeking adventures. I have always wished for adventures, but, though
+I am old enough--I was twenty-five last October--and have always gone
+half-way to meet them, adventures avoid me. Kinney says it is my fault.
+He holds that if you want adventures you must go after them.
+
+Kinney sits next to me at Joyce & Carboy’s, the woollen manufacturers,
+where I am a stenographer, and Kinney is a clerk, and we both have rooms
+at Mrs. Shaw’s boarding-house. Kinney is only a year older than myself,
+but he is always meeting with adventures. At night, when I have sat up
+late reading law, so that I may fit myself for court reporting, and in
+the hope that some day I may become a member of the bar, he will knock
+at my door and tell me some surprising thing that has just happened to
+him. Sometimes he has followed a fire-engine and helped people from a
+fire-escape, or he has pulled the shield off a policeman, or at the bar
+of the Hotel Knickerbocker has made friends with a stranger, who turns
+out to be no less than a nobleman or an actor. And women, especially
+beautiful women, are always pursuing Kinney in taxicabs and calling upon
+him for assistance. Just to look at Kinney, without knowing how clever
+he is at getting people out of their difficulties, he does not appear
+to be a man to whom you would turn in time of trouble. You would think
+women in distress would appeal to some one bigger and stronger; would
+sooner ask a policeman. But, on the contrary, it is to Kinney that women
+always run, especially, as I have said, beautiful women. Nothing of the
+sort ever happens to me. I suppose, as Kinney says, it is because he was
+born and brought up in New York City and looks and acts like a New York
+man, while I, until a year ago, have always lived at Fairport. Fairport
+is a very pretty harbor, but it does not train one for adventures. We
+arranged to take our vacation at the same time, and together. At least
+Kinney so arranged it. I see a good deal of him, and in looking forward
+to my vacation, not the least pleasant feature of it was that everything
+connected with Joyce & Carboy and Mrs. Shaw’s boarding-house would be
+left behind me. But when Kinney proposed we should go together, I could
+not see how, without being rude, I could refuse his company, and when
+he pointed out that for an expedition in search of adventure I could not
+select a better guide, I felt that he was right.
+
+“Sometimes,” he said, “I can see you don’t believe that half the things
+I tell you have happened to me, really have happened. Now, isn’t that
+so?”
+
+To find the answer that would not hurt his feelings I hesitated, but he
+did not wait for my answer. He seldom does.
+
+“Well, on this trip,” he went on, “you will see Kinney on the job. You
+won’t have to take my word for it. You will see adventures walk up and
+eat out of my hand.”
+
+Our vacation came on the first of September, but we began to plan for
+it in April, and up to the night before we left New York we never ceased
+planning. Our difficulty was that having been brought up at Fairport,
+which is on the Sound, north of New London, I was homesick for a smell
+of salt marshes and for the sight of water and ships. Though they
+were only schooners carrying cement, I wanted to sit in the sun on
+the string-piece of a wharf and watch them. I wanted to beat about the
+harbor in a catboat, and feel the tug and pull of the tiller. Kinney
+protested that that was no way to spend a vacation or to invite
+adventure. His face was set against Fairport. The conversation of
+clam-diggers, he said, did not appeal to him; and he complained that at
+Fairport our only chance of adventure would be my capsizing the catboat
+or robbing a lobster-pot. He insisted we should go to the mountains,
+where we would meet what he always calls “our best people.” In
+September, he explained, everybody goes to the mountains to recuperate
+after the enervating atmosphere of the sea-shore. To this I objected
+that the little sea air we had inhaled at Mrs. Shaw’s basement
+dining-room and in the subway need cause us no anxiety. And so, along
+these lines, throughout the sleepless, sultry nights of June, July,
+and August, we fought it out. There was not a summer resort within five
+hundred miles of New York City we did not consider. From the information
+bureaus and passenger agents of every railroad leaving New York,
+Kinney procured a library of timetables, maps, folders, and pamphlets,
+illustrated with the most attractive pictures of summer hotels, golf
+links, tennis courts, and boat-houses. For two months he carried on a
+correspondence with the proprietors of these hotels; and in comparing
+the different prices they asked him for suites of rooms and sun parlors
+derived constant satisfaction.
+
+“The Outlook House,” he would announce, “wants twenty-four dollars a day
+for bedroom, parlor, and private bath. While for the same accommodations
+the Carteret Arms asks only twenty. But the Carteret has no tennis
+court; and then again, the Outlook has no garage, nor are dogs allowed
+in the bedrooms.”
+
+As Kinney could not play lawn tennis, and as neither of us owned an
+automobile or a dog, or twenty-four dollars, these details to me seemed
+superfluous, but there was no health in pointing that out to Kinney.
+Because, as he himself says, he has so vivid an imagination that what
+he lacks he can “make believe” he has, and the pleasure of possession is
+his.
+
+Kinney gives a great deal of thought to his clothes, and the question
+of what he should wear on his vacation was upon his mind. When I said
+I thought it was nothing to worry about, he snorted indignantly. “YOU
+wouldn’t!” he said. “If I’D been brought up in a catboat, and had a tan
+like a red Indian, and hair like a Broadway blonde, I wouldn’t
+worry either. Mrs. Shaw says you look exactly like a British peer
+in disguise.” I had never seen a British peer, with or without his
+disguise, and I admit I was interested.
+
+“Why are the girls in this house,” demanded Kinney, “always running
+to your room to borrow matches? Because they admire your CLOTHES? If
+they’re crazy about clothes, why don’t they come to ME for matches?”
+
+“You are always out at night,” I said.
+
+“You know that’s not the answer,” he protested. “Why do the type-writer
+girls at the office always go to YOU to sharpen their pencils and tell
+them how to spell the hard words? Why do the girls in the lunch-rooms
+serve you first? Because they’re hypnotized by your clothes? Is THAT
+it?”
+
+“Do they?” I asked; “I hadn’t noticed.”
+
+Kinney snorted and tossed up his arms. “He hadn’t noticed!” he kept
+repeating. “He hadn’t noticed!” For his vacation Kinney bought a
+second-hand suit-case. It was covered with labels of hotels in France
+and Switzerland.
+
+“Joe,” I said, “if you carry that bag you will be a walking falsehood.”
+
+Kinney’s name is Joseph Forbes Kinney; he dropped the Joseph because he
+said it did not appear often enough in the Social Register, and could be
+found only in the Old Testament, and he has asked me to call him Forbes.
+Having first known him as “Joe,” I occasionally forget.
+
+“My name is NOT Joe,” he said sternly, “and I have as much right to
+carry a second-hand bag as a new one. The bag says IT has been to
+Europe. It does not say that I have been there.”
+
+“But, you probably will,” I pointed out, “and then some one who has
+really visited those places--”
+
+“Listen!” commanded Kinney. “If you want adventures you must be somebody
+of importance. No one will go shares in an adventure with Joe Kinney, a
+twenty-dollar-a-week clerk, the human adding machine, the hall-room boy.
+But Forbes Kinney, Esq., with a bag from Europe, and a Harvard ribbon
+round his hat--”
+
+“Is that a Harvard ribbon round your hat?” I asked.
+
+“It is!” declared Kinney; “and I have a Yale ribbon, and a Turf Club
+ribbon, too. They come on hooks, and you hook ‘em on to match your
+clothes, or the company you keep. And, what’s more,” he continued, with
+some heat, “I’ve borrowed a tennis racket and a golf bag full of sticks,
+and you take care you don’t give me away.”
+
+“I see,” I returned, “that you are going to get us into a lot of
+trouble.”
+
+“I was thinking,” said Kinney, looking at me rather doubtfully, “it
+might help a lot if for the first week you acted as my secretary, and
+during the second week I was your secretary.”
+
+Sometimes, when Mr. Joyce goes on a business trip, he takes me with him
+as his private stenographer, and the change from office work is very
+pleasant; but I could not see why I should spend one week of my holiday
+writing letters for Kinney.
+
+“You wouldn’t write any letters,” he explained. “But if I could tell
+people you were my private secretary, it would naturally give me a
+certain importance.”
+
+“If it will make you any happier,” I said, “you can tell people I am a
+British peer in disguise.”
+
+“There is no use in being nasty about it,” protested Kinney. “I am only
+trying to show you a way that would lead to adventure.”
+
+“It surely would!” I assented. “It would lead us to jail.”
+
+The last week in August came, and, as to where we were to go we still
+were undecided, I suggested we leave it to chance.
+
+“The first thing,” I pointed out, “is to get away from this awful city.
+The second thing is to get away cheaply. Let us write down the names
+of the summer resorts to which we can travel by rail or by boat for two
+dollars and put them in a hat. The name of the place we draw will be the
+one for which we start Saturday afternoon. The idea,” I urged, “is in
+itself full of adventure.”
+
+Kinney agreed, but reluctantly. What chiefly disturbed him was the
+thought that the places near New York to which one could travel for so
+little money were not likely to be fashionable.
+
+“I have a terrible fear,” he declared, “that, with this limit of yours,
+we will wake up in Asbury Park.”
+
+Friday night came and found us prepared for departure, and at midnight
+we held our lottery. In a pillow-case we placed twenty slips of paper,
+on each of which was written the name of a summer resort. Ten of these
+places were selected by Kinney, and ten by myself. Kinney dramatically
+rolled up his sleeve, and, plunging his bared arm into our grab-bag,
+drew out a slip of paper and read aloud: “New Bedford, via New Bedford
+Steamboat Line.” The choice was one of mine.
+
+“New Bedford!” shouted Kinney. His tone expressed the keenest
+disappointment. “It’s a mill town!” he exclaimed. “It’s full of cotton
+mills.”
+
+“That may be,” I protested. “But it’s also a most picturesque old
+seaport, one of the oldest in America. You can see whaling vessels at
+the wharfs there, and wooden figure-heads, and harpoons--”
+
+“Is this an expedition to dig up buried cities,” interrupted Kinney, “or
+a pleasure trip? I don’t WANT to see harpoons! I wouldn’t know a harpoon
+if you stuck one into me. I prefer to see hatpins.”
+
+The Patience did not sail until six o’clock, but we were so anxious to
+put New York behind us that at five we were on board. Our cabin was
+an outside one with two berths. After placing our suit-cases in it, we
+collected camp-chairs and settled ourselves in a cool place on the boat
+deck. Kinney had bought all the afternoon papers, and, as later I had
+reason to remember, was greatly interested over the fact that the young
+Earl of Ivy had at last arrived in this country. For some weeks the
+papers had been giving more space than seemed necessary to that young
+Irishman and to the young lady he was coming over to marry. There had
+been pictures of his different country houses, pictures of himself;
+in uniform, in the robes he wore at the coronation, on a polo pony, as
+Master of Fox-hounds. And there had been pictures of Miss Aldrich, and
+of HER country places at Newport and on the Hudson. From the afternoon
+papers Kinney learned that, having sailed under his family name of
+Meehan, the young man and Lady Moya, his sister, had that morning landed
+in New York, but before the reporters had discovered them, had escaped
+from the wharf and disappeared.
+
+“‘Inquiries at the different hotels,’” read Kinney impressively,
+“‘failed to establish the whereabouts of his lordship and Lady Moya, and
+it is believed they at once left by train for Newport.’”
+
+With awe Kinney pointed at the red funnels of the Mauretania.
+
+“There is the boat that brought them to America,” he said. “I see,” he
+added, “that in this picture of him playing golf he wears one of those
+knit jackets the Eiselbaum has just marked down to three dollars and
+seventy-five cents. I wish--” he added regretfully.
+
+“You can get one at New Bedford,” I suggested.
+
+“I wish,” he continued, “we had gone to Newport. All of our BEST people
+will be there for the wedding. It is the most important social event of
+the season. You might almost call it an alliance.”
+
+I went forward to watch them take on the freight, and Kinney stationed
+himself at the rail above the passengers gangway where he could see the
+other passengers arrive. He had dressed himself with much care, and was
+wearing his Yale hat-band, but when a very smart-looking youth came up
+the gangplank wearing a Harvard ribbon, Kinney hastily retired to our
+cabin and returned with one like it. A few minutes later I found him
+and the young man seated in camp-chairs side by side engaged in a
+conversation in which Kinney seemed to bear the greater part. Indeed, to
+what Kinney was saying the young man paid not the slightest attention.
+Instead, his eyes were fastened on the gangplank below, and when a young
+man of his own age, accompanied by a girl in a dress of rough tweed,
+appeared upon it, he leaped from his seat. Then with a conscious look at
+Kinney, sank back.
+
+The girl in the tweed suit was sufficiently beautiful to cause any man
+to rise and to remain standing. She was the most beautiful girl I had
+ever seen. She had gray eyes and hair like golden-rod, worn in a fashion
+with which I was not familiar, and her face was so lovely that in my
+surprise at the sight of it, I felt a sudden catch at my throat, and my
+heart stopped with awe, and wonder, and gratitude.
+
+After a brief moment the young man in the real Harvard hat-band rose
+restlessly and, with a nod to Kinney, went below. I also rose and
+followed him. I had an uncontrollable desire to again look at the girl
+with the golden-rod hair. I did not mean that she should see me. Never
+before had I done such a thing. But never before had I seen any one who
+had moved me so strangely. Seeking her, I walked the length of the main
+saloon and back again, but could not find her. The delay gave me time
+to see that my conduct was impertinent. The very fact that she was so
+lovely to look upon should have been her protection. It afforded me no
+excuse to follow and spy upon her. With this thought, I hastily returned
+to the upper deck to bury myself in my book. If it did not serve to
+keep my mind from the young lady, at least I would prevent my eyes from
+causing her annoyance.
+
+I was about to take the chair that the young man had left vacant when
+Kinney objected.
+
+“He was very much interested in our conversation,” Kinney said, “and he
+may return.”
+
+I had not noticed any eagerness on the part of the young man to talk to
+Kinney or to listen to him, but I did not sit down.
+
+“I should not be surprised a bit,” said Kinney, “if that young man is
+no end of a swell. He is a Harvard man, and his manner was most polite.
+That,” explained Kinney, “is one way you can always tell a real swell.
+They’re not high and mighty with you. Their social position is so secure
+that they can do as they like. For instance, did you notice that he
+smoked a pipe?”
+
+I said I had not noticed it.
+
+For his holiday Kinney had purchased a box of cigars of a quality more
+expensive than those he can usually afford. He was smoking one of them
+at the moment, and, as it grew less, had been carefully moving the gold
+band with which it was encircled from the lighted end. But as he spoke
+he regarded it apparently with distaste, and then dropped it overboard.
+
+“Keep my chair,” he said, rising. “I am going to my cabin to get my
+pipe.” I sat down and fastened my eyes upon my book; but neither did I
+understand what I was reading nor see the printed page. Instead, before
+my eyes, confusing and blinding me, was the lovely, radiant face of the
+beautiful lady. In perplexity I looked up, and found her standing not
+two feet from me. Something pulled me out of my chair. Something made me
+move it toward her. I lifted my hat and backed away. But the eyes of the
+lovely lady halted me.
+
+To my perplexity, her face expressed both surprise and pleasure. It was
+as though either she thought she knew me, or that I reminded her of some
+man she did know. Were the latter the case, he must have been a friend,
+for the way in which she looked at me was kind. And there was, besides,
+the expression of surprise and as though something she saw pleased her.
+Maybe it was the quickness with which I had offered my chair. Still
+looking at me, she pointed to one of the sky-scrapers.
+
+“Could you tell me,” she asked, “the name of that building?” Had her
+question not proved it, her voice would have told me not only that she
+was a stranger, but that she was Irish. It was particularly soft, low,
+and vibrant. It made the commonplace question she asked sound as though
+she had sung it. I told her the name of the building, and that farther
+uptown, as she would see when we moved into midstream, there was another
+still taller. She listened, regarding me brightly, as though interested;
+but before her I was embarrassed, and, fearing I intruded, I again made
+a movement to go away. With another question she stopped me. I could see
+no reason for her doing so, but it was almost as though she had asked
+the question only to detain me.
+
+“What is that odd boat,” she said, “pumping water into the river?”
+
+I explained that it was a fire-boat testing her hose-lines, and then as
+we moved into the channel I gained courage, and found myself pointing
+out the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
+The fact that it was a stranger who was talking did not seem to disturb
+her. I cannot tell how she conveyed the idea, but I soon felt that she
+felt, no matter what unconventional thing she chose to do, people would
+not be rude, or misunderstand.
+
+I considered telling her my name. At first it seemed that that would be
+more polite. Then I saw to do so would be forcing myself upon her, that
+she was interested in me only as a guide to New York Harbor.
+
+When we passed the Brooklyn Navy Yard I talked so much and so eagerly of
+the battle-ships at anchor there that the lady must have thought I had
+followed the sea, for she asked: “Are you a sailorman?”
+
+It was the first question that was in any way personal.
+
+“I used to sail a catboat,” I said.
+
+My answer seemed to puzzle her, and she frowned. Then she laughed
+delightedly, like one having made a discovery.
+
+“You don’t say ‘sailorman,’” she said. “What do you ask, over here, when
+you want to know if a man is in the navy?”
+
+She spoke as though we were talking a different language.
+
+“We ask if he is in the navy,” I answered.
+
+She laughed again at that, quite as though I had said something clever.
+
+“And you are not?”
+
+“No,” I said, “I am in Joyce & Carboy’s office. I am a stenographer.”
+
+Again my answer seemed both to puzzle and to surprise her. She regarded
+me doubtfully. I could see that she thought, for some reason, I was
+misleading her.
+
+“In an office?” she repeated. Then, as though she had caught me, she
+said: “How do you keep so fit?” She asked the question directly, as a
+man would have asked it, and as she spoke I was conscious that her eyes
+were measuring me and my shoulders, as though she were wondering to what
+weight I could strip.
+
+“It’s only lately I’ve worked in an office,” I said. “Before that I
+always worked out-of-doors; oystering and clamming and, in the fall,
+scalloping. And in the summer I played ball on a hotel nine.”
+
+I saw that to the beautiful lady my explanation carried no meaning
+whatsoever, but before I could explain, the young man with whom she had
+come on board walked toward us.
+
+Neither did he appear to find in her talking to a stranger anything
+embarrassing. He halted and smiled. His smile was pleasant, but entirely
+vague. In the few minutes I was with him, I learned that it was no sign
+that he was secretly pleased. It was merely his expression. It was as
+though a photographer had said: “Smile, please,” and he had smiled.
+
+When he joined us, out of deference to the young lady I raised my hat,
+but the youth did not seem to think that outward show of respect was
+necessary, and kept his hands in his pockets. Neither did he cease
+smoking. His first remark to the lovely lady somewhat startled me.
+
+“Have you got a brass bed in your room?” he asked. The beautiful lady
+said she had.
+
+“So’ve I,” said the young man. “They do you rather well, don’t they? And
+it’s only three dollars. How much is that?”
+
+“Four times three would be twelve,” said the lady. “Twelve shillings.”
+
+The young man was smoking a cigarette in a long amber cigarette-holder.
+I never had seen one so long. He examined the end of his
+cigarette-holder, and, apparently surprised and relieved at finding a
+cigarette there, again smiled contentedly.
+
+The lovely lady pointed at the marble shaft rising above Madison Square.
+
+“That is the tallest sky-scraper,” she said, “in New York.” I had just
+informed her of that fact. The young man smiled as though he were being
+introduced to the building, but exhibited no interest.
+
+“IS it?” he remarked. His tone seemed to show that had she said, “That
+is a rabbit,” he would have been equally gratified.
+
+“Some day,” he stated, with the same startling abruptness with which he
+had made his first remark, “our war-ships will lift the roofs off those
+sky-scrapers.”
+
+The remark struck me in the wrong place. It was unnecessary. Already I
+resented the manner of the young man toward the lovely lady. It seemed
+to me lacking in courtesy. He knew her, and yet treated her with no
+deference, while I, a stranger, felt so grateful to her for being what I
+knew one with such a face must be, that I could have knelt at her feet.
+So I rather resented the remark.
+
+“If the war-ships you send over here,” I said doubtfully, “aren’t more
+successful in lifting things than your yachts, you’d better keep them at
+home and save coal!”
+
+Seldom have I made so long a speech or so rude a speech, and as soon as
+I had spoken, on account of the lovely lady, I was sorry.
+
+But after a pause of half a second she laughed delightedly.
+
+“I see,” she cried, as though it were a sort of a game. “He means
+Lipton! We can’t lift the cup, we can’t lift the roofs. Don’t you see,
+Stumps!” she urged. In spite of my rude remark, the young man she called
+Stumps had continued to smile happily. Now his expression changed to one
+of discomfort and utter gloom, and then broke out into a radiant smile.
+
+“I say!” he cried. “That’s awfully good: ‘If your war-ships aren’t any
+better at lifting things--’ Oh, I say, really,” he protested, “that’s
+awfully good.” He seemed to be afraid I would not appreciate the rare
+excellence of my speech. “You know, really,” he pleaded, “it is AWFULLY
+good!”
+
+We were interrupted by the sudden appearance, in opposite directions, of
+Kinney and the young man with the real hat-band. Both were excited and
+disturbed. At the sight of the young man, Stumps turned appealingly to
+the golden-rod girl. He groaned aloud, and his expression was that of a
+boy who had been caught playing truant.
+
+“Oh, Lord!” he exclaimed, “what’s he huffy about now? He TOLD me I could
+come on deck as soon as we started.”
+
+The girl turned upon me a sweet and lovely smile and nodded. Then, with
+Stumps at her side, she moved to meet the young man. When he saw them
+coming he halted, and, when they joined him, began talking earnestly,
+almost angrily. As he did so, much to my bewilderment, he glared at me.
+At the same moment Kinney grabbed me by the arm.
+
+“Come below!” he commanded. His tone was hoarse and thrilling with
+excitement.
+
+“Our adventures,” he whispered, “have begun!”
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+I felt, for me, adventures had already begun, for my meeting with the
+beautiful lady was the event of my life, and though Kinney and I had
+agreed to share our adventures, of this one I knew I could not even
+speak to him. I wanted to be alone, where I could delight in it, where I
+could go over what she had said; what I had said. I would share it
+with no one. It was too wonderful, too sacred. But Kinney would not be
+denied. He led me to our cabin and locked the door.
+
+“I am sorry,” he began, “but this adventure is one I cannot share with
+you.” The remark was so in keeping with my own thoughts that with sudden
+unhappy doubt I wondered if Kinney, too, had felt the charm of the
+beautiful lady. But he quickly undeceived me.
+
+“I have been doing a little detective work,” he said. His voice was
+low and sepulchral. “And I have come upon a real adventure. There are
+reasons why I cannot share it with you, but as it develops you can
+follow it. About half an hour ago,” he explained, “I came here to get my
+pipe. The window was open. The lattice was only partly closed. Outside
+was that young man from Harvard who tried to make my acquaintance,
+and the young Englishman who came on board with that blonde.” Kinney
+suddenly interrupted himself. “You were talking to her just now,” he
+said. I hated to hear him speak of the Irish lady as “that blonde.” I
+hated to hear him speak of her at all. So, to shut him off, I answered
+briefly: “She asked me about the Singer Building.”
+
+“I see,” said Kinney. “Well, these two men were just outside my window,
+and, while I was searching for my pipe, I heard the American speaking.
+He was very excited and angry. ‘I tell you,’ he said, ‘every boat and
+railroad station is watched. You won’t be safe till we get away from
+New York. You must go to your cabin, and STAY there.’ And the other one
+answered: ‘I am sick of hiding and dodging.’”
+
+Kinney paused dramatically and frowned.
+
+“Well,” I asked, “what of it?”
+
+“What of it?” he cried. He exclaimed aloud with pity and impatience.
+
+“No wonder,” he cried, “you never have adventures. Why, it’s plain
+as print. They are criminals escaping. The Englishman certainly is
+escaping.”
+
+I was concerned only for the lovely lady, but I asked: “You mean the
+Irishman called Stumps?”
+
+“Stumps!” exclaimed Kinney. “What a strange name. Too strange to be
+true. It’s an alias!” I was incensed that Kinney should charge the
+friends of the lovely lady with being criminals. Had it been any one
+else I would have at once resented it, but to be angry with Kinney is
+difficult. I could not help but remember that he is the slave of his own
+imagination. It plays tricks and runs away with him. And if it leads him
+to believe innocent people are criminals, it also leads him to believe
+that every woman in the Subway to whom he gives his seat is a great
+lady, a leader of society on her way to work in the slums.
+
+“Joe!” I protested. “Those men aren’t criminals. I talked to that
+Irishman, and he hasn’t sense enough to be a criminal.”
+
+“The railroads are watched,” repeated Kinney. “Do HONEST men care a darn
+whether the railroad is watched or not? Do you care? Do I care? And did
+you notice how angry the American got when he found Stumps talking with
+you?”
+
+I had noticed it; and I also recalled the fact that Stumps had said
+to the lovely lady: “He told me I could come on deck as soon as we
+started.”
+
+The words seemed to bear out what Kinney claimed he had overheard. But
+not wishing to encourage him, of what I had heard I said nothing.
+
+“He may be dodging a summons,” I suggested. “He is wanted, probably,
+only as a witness. It might be a civil suit, or his chauffeur may have
+hit somebody.”
+
+Kinney shook his head sadly.
+
+“Excuse me,” he said, “but I fear you lack imagination. Those men are
+rascals, dangerous rascals, and the woman is their accomplice. What they
+have done I don’t know, but I have already learned enough to arrest them
+as suspicious characters. Listen! Each of them has a separate state-room
+forward. The window of the American’s room was open, and his suit-case
+was on the bed. On it were the initials H. P. A. The stateroom is number
+twenty-four, but when I examined the purser’s list, pretending I wished
+to find out if a friend of mine was on board, I found that the man in
+twenty-four had given his name as James Preston. Now,” he demanded, “why
+should one of them hide under an alias and the other be afraid to show
+himself until we leave the wharf?” He did not wait for my answer. “I
+have been talking to Mr. H. P. A., ALIAS Preston,” he continued. “I
+pretended I was a person of some importance. I hinted I was rich. My
+object,” Kinney added hastily, “was to encourage him to try some of
+his tricks on ME; to try to rob ME; so that I could obtain evidence.
+I also,” he went on, with some embarrassment, “told him that you, too,
+were wealthy and of some importance.”
+
+I thought of the lovely lady, and I felt myself blushing indignantly.
+
+“You did very wrong,” I cried; “you had no right! You may involve us
+both most unpleasantly.”
+
+“You are not involved in any way,” protested Kinney. “As soon as we
+reach New Bedford you can slip on shore and wait for me at the hotel.
+When I’ve finished with these gentlemen, I’ll join you.”
+
+“Finished with them!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean to do to them?”
+
+“Arrest them!” cried Kinney sternly, “as soon as they step upon the
+wharf!”
+
+“You can’t do it!” I gasped.
+
+“I HAVE done it!” answered Kinney. “It’s good as done. I have notified
+the chief of police at New Bedford,” he declared proudly, “to meet me at
+the wharf. I used the wireless. Here is my message.”
+
+From his pocket he produced a paper and, with great importance, read
+aloud: “Meet me at wharf on arrival steamer Patience. Two well-known
+criminals on board escaping New York police. Will personally lay charges
+against them.--Forbes Kinney.”
+
+As soon as I could recover from my surprise, I made violent protest. I
+pointed out to Kinney that his conduct was outrageous, that in making
+such serious charges, on such evidence, he would lay himself open to
+punishment.
+
+He was not in the least dismayed.
+
+“I take it then,” he said importantly, “that you do not wish to appear
+against them?”
+
+“I don’t wish to appear in it at all!” I cried. “You’ve no right to
+annoy that young lady. You must wire the police you are mistaken.”
+
+“I have no desire to arrest the woman,” said Kinney stiffly. “In my
+message I did not mention HER. If you want an adventure of your own, you
+might help her to escape while I arrest her accomplices.”
+
+“I object,” I cried, “to your applying the word ‘accomplice’ to that
+young lady. And suppose they ARE criminals,” I demanded, “how will
+arresting them help you?”
+
+Kinney’s eyes flashed with excitement.
+
+“Think of the newspapers,” he cried; “they’ll be full of it!” Already in
+imagination he saw the headlines. “‘A Clever Haul!’” he quoted. “‘Noted
+band of crooks elude New York police, but are captured by Forbes
+Kinney.’” He sighed contentedly. “And they’ll probably print my picture,
+too,” he added.
+
+I knew I should be angry with him, but instead I could only feel
+sorry. I have known Kinney for a year, and I have learned that his
+“make-believe” is always innocent. I suppose that he is what is called
+a snob, but with him snobbishness is not an unpleasant weakness. In his
+case it takes the form of thinking that people who have certain things
+he does not possess are better than himself; and that, therefore, they
+must be worth knowing, and he tries to make their acquaintance. But he
+does not think that he himself is better than any one. His life is very
+bare and narrow. In consequence, on many things he places false values.
+As, for example, his desire to see his name in the newspapers even as an
+amateur detective. So, while I was indignant I also was sorry.
+
+“Joe,” I said, “you’re going to get yourself into an awful lot of
+trouble, and though I am not in this adventure, you know if I can help
+you I will.”
+
+He thanked me and we went to the dining-saloon. There, at a table near
+ours, we saw the lovely lady and Stumps and the American. She again
+smiled at me, but this time, so it seemed, a little doubtfully.
+
+In the mind of the American, on the contrary, there was no doubt. He
+glared both at Kinney and myself, as though he would like to boil us in
+oil.
+
+After dinner, in spite of my protests, Kinney set forth to interview him
+and, as he described it, to “lead him on” to commit himself. I feared
+Kinney was much more likely to commit himself than the other, and when I
+saw them seated together I watched from a distance with much anxiety.
+
+An hour later, while I was alone, a steward told me the purser would
+like to see me. I went to his office, and found gathered there Stumps,
+his American friend, the night watchman of the boat, and the purser. As
+though inviting him to speak, the purser nodded to the American. That
+gentleman addressed me in an excited and belligerent manner.
+
+“My name is Aldrich,” he said; “I want to know what YOUR name is?”
+
+I did not quite like his tone, nor did I like being summoned to the
+purser’s office to be questioned by a stranger.
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“Because,” said Aldrich, “it seems you have SEVERAL names. As one of
+them belongs to THIS gentleman”--he pointed at Stumps--“he wants to know
+why you are using it.”
+
+I looked at Stumps and he greeted me with the vague and genial smile
+that was habitual to him, but on being caught in the act by Aldrich he
+hurriedly frowned.
+
+“I have never used any name but my own,” I said; “and,” I added
+pleasantly, “if I were choosing a name I wouldn’t choose ‘Stumps.’”
+
+Aldrich fairly gasped.
+
+“His name is not Stumps!” he cried indignantly. “He is the Earl of Ivy!”
+
+He evidently expected me to be surprised at this, and I WAS surprised. I
+stared at the much-advertised young Irishman with interest.
+
+Aldrich misunderstood my silence, and in a triumphant tone, which was
+far from pleasant, continued: “So you see,” he sneered, “when you chose
+to pass yourself off as Ivy you should have picked out another boat.”
+
+The thing was too absurd for me to be angry, and I demanded with
+patience: “But why should I pass myself off as Lord Ivy?”
+
+“That’s what we intend to find out,” snapped Aldrich. “Anyway, we’ve
+stopped your game for to-night, and to-morrow you can explain to the
+police! Your pal,” he taunted, “has told every one on this boat that you
+are Lord Ivy, and he’s told me lies enough about HIMSELF to prove HE’S
+an impostor, too!”
+
+I saw what had happened, and that if I were to protect poor Kinney I
+must not, as I felt inclined, use my fists, but my head. I laughed with
+apparent unconcern, and turned to the purser.
+
+“Oh, that’s it, is it?” I cried. “I might have known it was Kinney; he’s
+always playing practical jokes on me.” I turned to Aldrich. “My friend
+has been playing a joke on you, too,” I said. “He didn’t know who you
+were, but he saw you were an Anglomaniac, and he’s been having fun with
+you!”
+
+“Has he?” roared Aldrich. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out
+a piece of paper. “This,” he cried, shaking it at me, “is a copy of a
+wireless that I’ve just sent to the chief of police at New Bedford.”
+
+With great satisfaction he read it in a loud and threatening voice: “Two
+impostors on this boat representing themselves to be Lord Ivy, my future
+brother-in-law, and his secretary. Lord Ivy himself on board. Send
+police to meet boat. We will make charges.--Henry Philip Aldrich.”
+
+It occurred to me that after receiving two such sensational telegrams,
+and getting out of bed to meet the boat at six in the morning, the chief
+of police would be in a state of mind to arrest almost anybody, and that
+his choice would certainly fall on Kinney and myself. It was ridiculous,
+but it also was likely to prove extremely humiliating. So I said,
+speaking to Lord Ivy: “There’s been a mistake all around; send for
+Mr. Kinney and I will explain it to you.” Lord Ivy, who was looking
+extremely bored, smiled and nodded, but young Aldrich laughed
+ironically.
+
+“Mr. Kinney is in his state-room,” he said, “with a steward guarding the
+door and window. You can explain to-morrow to the police.”
+
+I rounded indignantly upon the purser.
+
+“Are you keeping Mr. Kinney a prisoner in his state-room?” I demanded.
+“If you are--”
+
+“He doesn’t have to stay there,” protested the purser sulkily. “When he
+found the stewards were following him he went to his cabin.”
+
+“I will see him at once,” I said. “And if I catch any of your stewards
+following ME, I’ll drop them overboard.”
+
+No one tried to stop me--indeed, knowing I could not escape, they seemed
+pleased at my departure, and I went to my cabin.
+
+Kinney, seated on the edge of the berth, greeted me with a hollow groan.
+His expression was one of utter misery. As though begging me not to be
+angry, he threw out his arms appealingly.
+
+“How the devil!” he began, “was I to know that a little red-headed
+shrimp like that was the Earl of Ivy? And that that tall blonde girl,”
+ he added indignantly, “that I thought was an accomplice, is Lady Moya,
+his sister?”
+
+“What happened?” I asked.
+
+Kinney was wearing his hat. He took it off and hurled it to the floor.
+
+“It was that damned hat!” he cried. “It’s a Harvard ribbon, all right,
+but only men on the crew can wear it! How was I to know THAT? I saw
+Aldrich looking at it in a puzzled way, and when he said, ‘I see you
+are on the crew,’ I guessed what it meant, and said I was on last year’s
+crew. Unfortunately HE was on last year’s crew! That’s what made him
+suspect me, and after dinner he put me through a third degree. I must
+have given the wrong answers, for suddenly he jumped up and called me a
+swindler and an impostor. I got back by telling him he was a crook
+and that I was a detective, and that I had sent a wireless to have him
+arrested at New Bedford. He challenged me to prove I was a detective,
+and, of course, I couldn’t, and he called up two stewards and told
+them to watch me while he went after the purser. I didn’t fancy being
+watched, so I came here.”
+
+“When did you tell him I was the Earl of Ivy?”
+
+Kinney ran his fingers through his hair and groaned dismally.
+
+“That was before the boat started,” he said; “it was only a joke. He
+didn’t seem to be interested in my conversation, so I thought I’d liven
+it up a bit by saying I was a friend of Lord Ivy’s. And you happened
+to pass, and I happened to remember Mrs. Shaw saying you looked like a
+British peer, so I said: ‘That is my friend Lord Ivy.’ I said I was
+your secretary, and he seemed greatly interested, and--” Kinney added
+dismally, “I talked too much. I am SO sorry,” he begged. “It’s going
+to be awful for you!” His eyes suddenly lit with hope. “Unless,” he
+whispered, “we can escape!”
+
+The same thought was in my mind, but the idea was absurd, and
+impracticable. I knew there was no escape. I knew we were sentenced at
+sunrise to a most humiliating and disgraceful experience. The newspapers
+would regard anything that concerned Lord Ivy as news. In my turn I also
+saw the hideous head-lines. What would my father and mother at Fairport
+think; what would my old friends there think; and, what was of even
+greater importance, how would Joyce & Carboy act? What chance was
+there left me, after I had been arrested as an impostor, to become a
+stenographer in the law courts--in time, a member of the bar? But I
+found that what, for the moment, distressed me most was that the lovely
+lady would consider me a knave or a fool. The thought made me exclaim
+with exasperation. Had it been possible to abandon Kinney, I would have
+dropped overboard and made for shore. The night was warm and foggy, and
+the short journey to land, to one who had been brought up like a duck,
+meant nothing more than a wetting. But I did not see how I could desert
+Kinney.
+
+“Can you swim?” I asked
+
+“Of course not!” he answered gloomily; “and, besides,” he added, “our
+names are on our suitcases. We couldn’t take them with us, and they’d
+find out who we are. If we could only steal a boat!” he exclaimed
+eagerly--“one of those on the davits,” he urged--“we could put our
+suitcases in it and then, after every one is asleep, we could lower it
+into the water.”
+
+The smallest boat on board was certified to hold twenty-five persons,
+and without waking the entire ship’s company we could as easily have
+moved the chart-room. This I pointed out.
+
+“Don’t make objections!” Kinney cried petulantly. He was rapidly
+recovering his spirits. The imminence of danger seemed to inspire him.
+
+“Think!” he commanded. “Think of some way by which we can get off this
+boat before she reaches New Bedford. We MUST! We must not be arrested!
+It would be too awful!” He interrupted himself with an excited
+exclamation.
+
+“I have it!” he whispered hoarsely: “I will ring in the fire-alarm! The
+crew will run to quarters. The boats will be lowered. We will cut one of
+them adrift. In the confusion--”
+
+What was to happen in the confusion that his imagination had conjured
+up, I was not to know. For what actually happened was so confused that
+of nothing am I quite certain. First, from the water of the Sound, that
+was lapping pleasantly against the side, I heard the voice of a man
+raised in terror. Then came a rush of feet, oaths, and yells; then a
+shock that threw us to our knees, and a crunching, ripping, and tearing
+roar like that made by the roof of a burning building when it plunges to
+the cellar.
+
+And the next instant a large bowsprit entered our cabin window. There
+was left me just space enough to wrench the door open, and grabbing
+Kinney, who was still on his knees, I dragged him into the alleyway. He
+scrambled upright and clasped his hands to his head.
+
+“Where’s my hat?” he cried.
+
+I could hear the water pouring into the lower deck and sweeping the
+freight and trunks before it. A horse in a box stall was squealing like
+a human being, and many human beings were screaming and shrieking like
+animals. My first intelligent thought was of the lovely lady. I shook
+Kinney by the arm. The uproar was so great that to make him hear I was
+forced to shout. “Where is Lord Ivy’s cabin?” I cried. “You said it’s
+next to his sister’s. Take me there!”
+
+Kinney nodded, and ran down the corridor and into an alleyway on which
+opened three cabins. The doors were ajar, and as I looked into each I
+saw that the beds had not been touched, and that the cabins were empty.
+I knew then that she was still on deck. I felt that I must find her. We
+ran toward the companionway.
+
+“Women and children first!” Kinney was yelling. “Women and children
+first!” As we raced down the slanting floor of the saloon he kept
+repeating this mechanically. At that moment the electric lights went
+out, and, except for the oil lamps, the ship was in darkness. Many
+of the passengers had already gone to bed. These now burst from the
+state-rooms in strange garments, carrying life-preservers, hand-bags,
+their arms full of clothing. One man in one hand clutched a sponge,
+in the other an umbrella. With this he beat at those who blocked his
+flight. He hit a woman over the head, and I hit him and he went down.
+Finding himself on his knees, he began to pray volubly.
+
+When we reached the upper deck we pushed out of the crush at the gangway
+and, to keep our footing, for there was a strong list to port, clung to
+the big flag-staff at the stern. At each rail the crew were swinging
+the boats over the side, and around each boat was a crazy, fighting mob.
+Above our starboard rail towered the foremast of a schooner. She had
+rammed us fair amidships, and in her bows was a hole through which you
+could have rowed a boat. Into this the water was rushing and sucking her
+down. She was already settling at the stern. By the light of a swinging
+lantern I saw three of her crew lift a yawl from her deck and lower it
+into the water. Into it they hurled oars and a sail, and one of them
+had already started to slide down the painter when the schooner lurched
+drunkenly; and in a panic all three of the men ran forward and leaped to
+our lower deck. The yawl, abandoned, swung idly between the Patience and
+the schooner. Kinney, seeing what I saw, grabbed me by the arm.
+
+“There!” he whispered, pointing; “there’s our chance!” I saw that, with
+safety, the yawl could hold a third person, and as to who the third
+passenger would be I had already made up my mind.
+
+“Wait here!” I said.
+
+On the Patience there were many immigrants, only that afternoon released
+from Ellis Island. They had swarmed into the life-boats even before they
+were swung clear, and when the ship’s officers drove them off, the poor
+souls, not being able to understand, believed they were being sacrificed
+for the safety of the other passengers. So each was fighting, as he
+thought, for his life and for the lives of his wife and children. At the
+edge of the scrimmage I dragged out two women who had been knocked off
+their feet and who were in danger of being trampled. But neither was the
+woman I sought. In the half-darkness I saw one of the immigrants, a girl
+with a ‘kerchief on her head, struggling with her life-belt. A stoker,
+as he raced past, seized it and made for the rail. In my turn I took it
+from him, and he fought for it, shouting:
+
+“It’s every man for himself now!”
+
+“All right,” I said, for I was excited and angry, “look out for YOURSELF
+then!” I hit him on the chin, and he let go of the life-belt and
+dropped.
+
+I heard at my elbow a low, excited laugh, and a voice said: “Well
+bowled! You never learned that in an office.” I turned and saw the
+lovely lady. I tossed the immigrant girl her life-belt, and as though I
+had known Lady Moya all my life I took her by the hand and dragged her
+after me down the deck.
+
+“You come with me!” I commanded. I found that I was trembling and that
+a weight of anxiety of which I had not been conscious had been lifted.
+I found I was still holding her hand and pressing it in my own. “Thank
+God!” I said. “I thought I had lost you!”
+
+“Lost me!” repeated Lady Moya. But she made no comment. “I must find my
+brother,” she said.
+
+“You must come with me!” I ordered. “Go with Mr. Kinney to the lower
+deck. I will bring that rowboat under the stern. You will jump into it.
+
+“I cannot leave my brother!” said Lady Moya.
+
+Upon the word, as though shot from a cannon, the human whirlpool that
+was sweeping the deck amidships cast out Stumps and hurled him toward
+us. His sister gave a little cry of relief. Stumps recovered his balance
+and shook himself like a dog that has been in the water.
+
+“Thought I’d never get out of it alive!” he remarked complacently.
+In the darkness I could not see his face, but I was sure he was still
+vaguely smiling. “Worse than a foot-ball night!” he exclaimed; “worse
+than Mafeking night!”
+
+His sister pointed to the yawl.
+
+“This gentleman is going to bring that boat here and take us away in
+it,” she told him. “We had better go when we can!”
+
+“Right ho!” assented Stumps cheerfully. “How about Phil? He’s just
+behind me.”
+
+As he spoke, only a few yards from us a peevish voice pierced the
+tumult.
+
+“I tell you,” it cried, “you must find Lord Ivy! If Lord Ivy--”
+
+A voice with a strong and brutal American accent yelled in answer: “To
+hell with Lord Ivy!”
+
+Lady Moya chuckled.
+
+“Get to the lower deck!” I commanded. “I am going for the yawl.”
+
+As I slipped my leg over the rail I heard Lord Ivy say: “I’ll find Phil
+and meet you.”
+
+I dropped and caught the rail of the deck below, and, hanging from it,
+shoved with my knees and fell into the water. Two strokes brought me to
+the yawl, and, scrambling into her and casting her off, I paddled back
+to the steamer. As I lay under the stern I heard from the lower deck the
+voice of Kinney raised importantly.
+
+“Ladies first!” he cried. “Her ladyship first, I mean,” he corrected.
+Even on leaving what he believed to be a sinking ship, Kinney could not
+forget his manners. But Mr. Aldrich had evidently forgotten his. I heard
+him shout indignantly: “I’ll be damned if I do!”
+
+The voice of Lady Moya laughed.
+
+“You’ll be drowned if you don’t!” she answered. I saw a black shadow
+poised upon the rail. “Steady below there!” her voice called, and the
+next moment, as lightly as a squirrel, she dropped to the thwart and
+stumbled into my arms.
+
+The voice of Aldrich was again raised in anger. “I’d rather drown!” he
+cried.
+
+Lord Ivy responded with unexpected spirit.
+
+“Well, then, drown! The water is warm and it’s a pleasing death.”
+
+At that, with a bump, he fell in a heap at my feet.
+
+“Easy, Kinney!” I shouted. “Don’t swamp us!”
+
+“I’ll be careful!” he called, and the next instant hit my shoulders and
+I shook him off on top of Lord Ivy.
+
+“Get off my head!” shouted his lordship.
+
+Kinney apologized to every one profusely. Lady Moya raised her voice.
+
+“For the last time, Phil,” she called, “are you coming or are you not?”
+
+“Not with those swindlers, I’m not!” he shouted. “I think you two are
+mad! I prefer to drown!”
+
+There was an uncomfortable silence. My position was a difficult one,
+and, not knowing what to say, I said nothing.
+
+“If one must drown!” exclaimed Lady Moya briskly, “I can’t see it
+matters who one drowns with.”
+
+In his strangely explosive manner Lord Ivy shouted suddenly: “Phil,
+you’re a silly ass.”
+
+“Push off!” commanded Lady Moya.
+
+I think, from her tone, the order was given more for the benefit of
+Aldrich than for myself. Certainly it was effective, for on the instant
+there was a heavy splash. Lord Ivy sniffed scornfully and manifested no
+interest.
+
+“Ah!” he exclaimed, “he prefers to drown!”
+
+Sputtering and gasping, Aldrich rose out of the water, and, while we
+balanced the boat, climbed over the side.
+
+“Understand!” he cried even while he was still gasping, “I am here under
+protest. I am here to protect you and Stumps. I am under obligation to
+no one. I’m--”
+
+“Can you row?” I asked.
+
+“Why don’t you ask your pal?” he demanded savagely; “he rowed on last
+year’s crew.”
+
+“Phil!” cried Lady Moya. Her voice suggested a temper I had not
+suspected. “You will row or you can get out and walk! Take the oars,”
+ she commanded, “and be civil!” Lady Moya, with the tiller in her hand,
+sat in the stern; Stumps, with Kinney huddled at his knees, was stowed
+away forward. I took the stroke and Aldrich the bow oars.
+
+“We will make for the Connecticut shore,” I said, and pulled from under
+the stern of the Patience.
+
+In a few minutes we had lost all sight and, except for her whistle, all
+sound of her; and we ourselves were lost in the fog. There was another
+eloquent and embarrassing silence. Unless, in the panic, they trampled
+upon each other, I had no real fear for the safety of those on board
+the steamer. Before we had abandoned her I had heard the wireless
+frantically sputtering the “standby” call, and I was certain that
+already the big boats of the Fall River, Providence, and Joy lines, and
+launches from every wireless station between Bridgeport and Newport,
+were making toward her. But the margin of safety, which to my thinking
+was broad enough for all the other passengers, for the lovely lady was
+in no way sufficient. That mob-swept deck was no place for her. I was
+happy that, on her account, I had not waited for a possible rescue. In
+the yawl she was safe. The water was smooth, and the Connecticut shore
+was, I judged, not more than three miles distant. In an hour, unless
+the fog confused us, I felt sure the lovely lady would again walk
+safely upon dry land. Selfishly, on Kinney’s account and my own, I was
+delighted to find myself free of the steamer, and from any chance of her
+landing us where police waited with open arms. The avenging angel in the
+person of Aldrich was still near us, so near that I could hear the
+water dripping from his clothes, but his power to harm was gone. I was
+congratulating myself on this when suddenly he undeceived me. Apparently
+he had been considering his position toward Kinney and myself, and,
+having arrived at a conclusion, was anxious to announce it.
+
+“I wish to repeat,” he exclaimed suddenly, “that I’m under obligations
+to nobody. Just because my friends,” he went on defiantly, “choose to
+trust themselves with persons who ought to be in jail, I can’t desert
+them. It’s all the more reason why I SHOULDN’T desert them. That’s why
+I’m here! And I want it understood as soon as I get on shore I’m going
+to a police station and have those persons arrested.”
+
+
+Rising out of the fog that had rendered each of us invisible to the
+other, his words sounded fantastic and unreal. In the dripping silence,
+broken only by hoarse warnings that came from no direction, and within
+the mind of each the conviction that we were lost, police stations did
+not immediately concern us. So no one spoke, and in the fog the words
+died away and were drowned. But I was glad he had spoken. At least I was
+forewarned. I now knew that I had not escaped, that Kinney and I were
+still in danger. I determined that so far as it lay with me, our yawl
+would be beached at that point on the coast of Connecticut farthest
+removed, not only from police stations, but from all human habitation.
+
+As soon as we were out of hearing of the Patience and her whistle, we
+completely lost our bearings. It may be that Lady Moya was not a skilled
+coxswain, or it may be that Aldrich understands a racing scull better
+than a yawl, and pulled too heavily on his right, but whatever the cause
+we soon were hopelessly lost. In this predicament we were not alone.
+The night was filled with fog-horns, whistles, bells, and the throb of
+engines, but we never were near enough to hail the vessels from which
+the sounds came, and when we rowed toward them they invariably sank into
+silence. After two hours Stumps and Kinney insisted on taking a turn at
+the oars, and Lady Moya moved to the bow. We gave her our coats, and,
+making cushions of these, she announced that she was going to sleep.
+Whether she slept or not, I do not know, but she remained silent. For
+three more dreary hours we took turns at the oars or dozed at the bottom
+of the boat while we continued aimlessly to drift upon the face of the
+waters. It was now five o’clock, and the fog had so far lightened that
+we could see each other and a stretch of open water. At intervals the
+fog-horns of vessels passing us, but hidden from us, tormented Aldrich
+to a state of extreme exasperation. He hailed them with frantic shrieks
+and shouts, and Stumps and the Lady Moya shouted with him. I fear Kinney
+and myself did not contribute any great volume of sound to the general
+chorus. To be “rescued” was the last thing we desired. The yacht or tug
+that would receive us on board would also put us on shore, where the
+vindictive Aldrich would have us at his mercy. We preferred the freedom
+of our yawl and the shelter of the fog. Our silence was not lost upon
+Aldrich. For some time he had been crouching in the bow, whispering
+indignantly to Lady Moya; now he exclaimed aloud:
+
+“What did I tell you?” he cried contemptuously; “they got away in this
+boat because they were afraid of ME, not because they were afraid of
+being drowned. If they’ve nothing to be afraid of, why are they so
+anxious to keep us drifting around all night in this fog? Why don’t they
+help us stop one of those tugs?”
+
+Lord Ivy exploded suddenly.
+
+“Rot!” he exclaimed. “If they’re afraid of you, why did they ask you to
+go with them?”
+
+“They didn’t!” cried Aldrich, truthfully and triumphantly. “They
+kidnapped you and Moya because they thought they could square themselves
+with YOU. But they didn’t want ME!” The issue had been fairly stated,
+and no longer with self-respect could I remain silent.
+
+“We don’t want you now!” I said. “Can’t you understand,” I went on with
+as much self-restraint as I could muster, “we are willing and anxious
+to explain ourselves to Lord Ivy, or even to you, but we don’t want to
+explain to the police? My friend thought you and Lord Ivy were crooks,
+escaping. You think WE are crooks, escaping. You both--”
+
+Aldrich snorted contemptuously.
+
+“That’s a likely story!” he cried. “No wonder you don’t want to tell
+THAT to the police!”
+
+From the bow came an exclamation, and Lady Moya rose to her feet.
+
+“Phil!” she said, “you bore me!” She picked her way across the thwart to
+where Kinney sat at the stroke oar.
+
+“My brother and I often row together,” she said; “I will take your
+place.”
+
+When she had seated herself we were so near that her eyes looked
+directly into mine. Drawing in the oars, she leaned upon them and
+smiled.
+
+“Now, then,” she commanded, “tell us all about it.”
+
+Before I could speak there came from behind her a sudden radiance, and
+as though a curtain had been snatched aside, the fog flew apart, and the
+sun, dripping, crimson, and gorgeous, sprang from the waters. From the
+others there was a cry of wonder and delight, and from Lord Ivy a shriek
+of incredulous laughter.
+
+Lady Moya clapped her hands joyfully and pointed past me. I turned and
+looked. Directly behind me, not fifty feet from us, was a shelving beach
+and a stone wharf, and above it a vine-covered cottage, from the chimney
+of which smoke curled cheerily. Had the yawl, while Lady Moya was taking
+the oars, NOT swung in a circle, and had the sun NOT risen, in
+three minutes more we would have bumped ourselves into the State of
+Connecticut. The cottage stood on one horn of a tiny harbor. Beyond it,
+weather-beaten shingled houses, sail-lofts, and wharfs stretched cosily
+in a half-circle. Back of them rose splendid elms and the delicate spire
+of a church, and from the unruffled surface of the harbor the masts
+of many fishing-boats. Across the water, on a grass-grown point, a
+whitewashed light-house blushed in the crimson glory of the sun. Except
+for an oyster-man in his boat at the end of the wharf, and the smoke
+from the chimney of his cottage, the little village slept, the harbor
+slept. It was a picture of perfect content, confidence, and peace. “Oh!”
+ cried the Lady Moya, “how pretty, how pretty!”
+
+Lord Ivy swung the bow about and raced toward the wharf. The others
+stood up and cheered hysterically.
+
+At the sound and at the sight of us emerging so mysteriously from the
+fog, the man in the fishing-boat raised himself to his full height and
+stared as incredulously as though he beheld a mermaid. He was an old
+man, but straight and tall, and the oysterman’s boots stretching to his
+hips made him appear even taller than he was. He had a bristling white
+beard and his face was tanned to a fierce copper color, but his eyes
+were blue and young and gentle. They lit suddenly with excitement and
+sympathy.
+
+“Are you from the Patience?” he shouted. In chorus we answered that we
+were, and Ivy pulled the yawl alongside the fisherman’s boat.
+
+But already the old man had turned and, making a megaphone of his hands,
+was shouting to the cottage.
+
+“Mother!” he cried, “mother, here are folks from the wreck. Get coffee
+and blankets and--and bacon--and eggs!”
+
+“May the Lord bless him!” exclaimed the Lady Moya devoutly.
+
+But Aldrich, excited and eager, pulled out a roll of bills and shook
+them at the man.
+
+“Do you want to earn ten dollars?” he demanded; “then chase yourself to
+the village and bring the constable.”
+
+Lady Moya exclaimed bitterly, Lord Ivy swore, Kinney in despair uttered
+a dismal howl and dropped his head in his hands.
+
+“It’s no use, Mr. Aldrich,” I said. Seated in the stern, the others had
+hidden me from the fisherman. Now I stood up and he saw me. I laid one
+hand on his, and pointed to the tin badge on his suspender.
+
+“He is the village constable himself,” I explained. I turned to the
+lovely lady. “Lady Moya,” I said, “I want to introduce you to my
+father!” I pointed to the vine-covered cottage. “That’s my home,”
+ I said. I pointed to the sleeping town. “That,” I told her, “is the
+village of Fairport. Most of it belongs to father. You are all very
+welcome.”
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg’s The Make-Believe Man, by Richard Harding Davis
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