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diff --git a/1823.txt b/1823.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b6fe1e --- /dev/null +++ b/1823.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1622 @@ +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 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** 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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAKE-BELIEVE MAN *** + +***** This file should be named 1823.txt or 1823.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/1823/ + +Produced by Don Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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