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diff --git a/old/69683-h/69683-h.htm b/old/69683-h/69683-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 70983a2..0000000 --- a/old/69683-h/69683-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8497 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8"> - <title> - Men Without Women, by Earnest Hemingway—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - <style> - body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:10%; } - .it { font-style:italic; } - .bold { font-weight:bold; } - .sc { font-variant:small-caps; } - p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; - text-align: justify; } - div.lgc { } - div.lgl { } - div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - div.lgl p { text-indent: -17px; margin-left:17px; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; - font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto} - hr.tbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35%; } - hr.tbk100{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:15%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; text-align:center; margin-left:42%; margin-right:42% } - hr.tbk101{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:15%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; text-align:center; margin-left:42%; margin-right:42% } - hr.tbk102{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:15%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; text-align:center; margin-left:42%; margin-right:42% } - hr.pbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em } - .figcenter { text-align:center; margin:1em auto;} - div.blockquote { margin:1em 2em; text-align:justify; } - p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - .pindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:1.5em; } - .noindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:0; } - .hang { padding-left:1.5em; text-indent:-1.5em; } - .literal-container { text-align:center; margin:0 0; } - .literal { display:inline-block; text-align:left; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Men without women, by Ernest Hemingway</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Men without women</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Ernest Hemingway</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 1, 2023 [eBook #69683]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Marcia Brooks, Mark Akrigg, Cindy Beyer, Mary Meehan and the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN WITHOUT WOMEN ***</div> - - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:12em;margin-bottom:12em;font-size:1.2em;'>MEN WITHOUT WOMEN</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:10em;font-size:1.2em;'>BOOKS BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY</p> - -<hr class='tbk100'> - -<div class='literal-container' style='margin-bottom:15em;'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>MEN WITHOUT WOMEN</p> -<p class='line'>THE SUN ALSO RISES</p> -<p class='line'>THE TORRENTS OF SPRING</p> -<p class='line'>IN OUR TIME</p> -</div></div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:1.5em;'>MEN</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.5em;'>WITHOUT WOMEN</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.8em;'>By</p> -<p class='line'>ERNEST HEMINGWAY</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:80px;height:auto;'> -</div> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:1.2em;'>NEW YORK</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.2em;margin-bottom:.2em;font-size:1.2em;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:1.5em;'>1927</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div class='lgc' style='margin-top:10em;margin-bottom:10em;'> <!-- rend=';fs:.6em;' --> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1927, by</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.8em;'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p> -<hr class='tbk101'> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1926, by The Little Review Publishing Company</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1926, by Ernest Walsh and Ethel Moorhead</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1927, by Republic Publishing Company</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1927, by Doubleday, Page & Company</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1927, by Atlantic Monthly Company</span></p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'><span class='it'>Copyright, 1927, by The Macaulay Company</span></p> -<hr class='tbk102'> -<p class='line' style='font-size:.6em;'>Printed in the United States of America</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:15em;margin-bottom:.5em;font-size:.8em;'>TO</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:15em;'>EVAN SHIPMAN</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div class='literal-container' style='margin-top:10em;margin-bottom:10em;'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>Some of these stories were first published</p> -<p class='line'>in the following periodicals: <span class='it'>The American</span></p> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>Caravan</span>, <span class='it'>The Atlantic Monthly</span>, <span class='it'>The Little</span></p> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>Review</span>, <span class='it'>The New Republic</span>, <span class='it'>La Nouvelle</span></p> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>Revue Française</span>, <span class='it'>This Quarter</span>, <span class='it'>Der Querschnitt</span>,</p> -<p class='line'><span class='it'>Scribner’s Magazine</span>, <span class='it'>Transition</span>.</p> -</div></div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1>CONTENTS</h1></div> - -<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'><a href='#ch1'><span class='sc'>The Undefeated</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch2'><span class='sc'>In Another Country</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch3'><span class='sc'>Hills Like White Elephants</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch4'><span class='sc'>The Killers</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch5'><span class='sc'>Che Ti Dice La Patria?</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch6'><span class='sc'>Fifty Grand</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch7'><span class='sc'>A Simple Enquiry</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch8'><span class='sc'>Ten Indians</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch9'><span class='sc'>A Canary for One</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch10'><span class='sc'>An Alpine Idyll</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch11'><span class='sc'>A Pursuit Race</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch12'><span class='sc'>To-day Is Friday</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch13'><span class='sc'>Banal Story</span></a></p> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:.5em;'><a href='#ch14'><span class='sc'>Now I Lay Me</span></a></p> -</div></div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:12em;margin-bottom:12em;font-size:1.2em;'>MEN WITHOUT WOMEN</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch1'>THE UNDEFEATED</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Manuel Garcia</span> climbed the stairs to Don -Miguel Retana’s office. He set down his suitcase -and knocked on the door. There was no -answer. Manuel, standing in the hallway, felt -there was some one in the room. He felt it -through the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Retana,” he said, listening.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no answer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He’s there, all right, Manuel thought.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Retana,” he said and banged the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who’s there?” said some one in the office.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Me, Manolo,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you want?” asked the voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I want to work,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Something in the door clicked several times -and it swung open. Manuel went in, carrying -his suitcase.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A little man sat behind a desk at the far side -of the room. Over his head was a bull’s head, -stuffed by a Madrid taxidermist; on the walls -were framed photographs and bull-fight posters.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The little man sat looking at Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought they’d killed you,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel knocked with his knuckles on the -desk. The little man sat looking at him across -the desk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How many corridas you had this year?” -Retana asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“One,” he answered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just that one?” the little man asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I read about it in the papers,” Retana said. -He leaned back in the chair and looked at Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel looked up at the stuffed bull. He -had seen it often before. He felt a certain -family interest in it. It had killed his brother, -the promising one, about nine years ago. Manuel -remembered the day. There was a brass -plate on the oak shield the bull’s head was -mounted on. Manuel could not read it, but -he imagined it was in memory of his brother. -Well, he had been a good kid.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The plate said: “The Bull ‘Mariposa’ of the -Duke of Veragua, which accepted 9 varas for 7 -caballos, and caused the death of Antonio Garcia, -Novillero, April 27, 1909.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana saw him looking at the stuffed bull’s -head.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The lot the Duke sent me for Sunday will -make a scandal,” he said. “They’re all bad in -the legs. What do they say about them at the -Café?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Manuel said. “I just got -in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Retana said. “You still have your -bag.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked at Manuel, leaning back behind -the big desk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sit down,” he said. “Take off your cap.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel sat down; his cap off, his face was -changed. He looked pale, and his coleta pinned -forward on his head, so that it would not show -under the cap, gave him a strange look.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t look well,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I just got out of the hospital,” Manuel -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I heard they’d cut your leg off,” Retana -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Manuel. “It got all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana leaned forward across the desk and -pushed a wooden box of cigarettes toward Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have a cigarette,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thanks.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel lit it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Smoke?” he said, offering the match to -Retana.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Retana waved his hand, “I never -smoke.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana watched him smoking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you get a job and go to work?” -he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want to work,” Manuel said. “I -am a bull-fighter.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There aren’t any bull-fighters any more,” -Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m a bull-fighter,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, while you’re in there,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel laughed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana sat, saying nothing and looking at -Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll put you in a nocturnal if you want,” -Retana offered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When?” Manuel asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t like to substitute for anybody,” Manuel -said. That was the way they all got killed. -That was the way Salvador got killed. He -tapped with his knuckles on the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s all I’ve got,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you put me on next week?” -Manuel suggested.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You wouldn’t draw,” Retana said. “All -they want is Litri and Rubito and La Torre. -Those kids are good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’d come to see me get it,” Manuel said, -hopefully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, they wouldn’t. They don’t know who -you are any more.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve got a lot of stuff,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m offering to put you on to-morrow -night,” Retana said. “You can work with -young Hernandez and kill two novillos after -the Chariots.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Whose novillos?” Manuel asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. Whatever stuff they’ve got -in the corrals. What the veterinaries won’t -pass in the daytime.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t like to substitute,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can take it or leave it,” Retana said. -He leaned forward over the papers. He was -no longer interested. The appeal that Manuel -had made to him for a moment when he -thought of the old days was gone. He would -like to get him to substitute for Larita because -he could get him cheaply. He could get others -cheaply too. He would like to help him though. -Still he had given him the chance. It was up -to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How much do I get?” Manuel asked. He -was still playing with the idea of refusing. But -he knew he could not refuse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Two hundred and fifty pesetas,” Retana -said. He had thought of five hundred, but -when he opened his mouth it said two hundred -and fifty.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You pay Villalta seven thousand,” Manuel -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re not Villalta,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know it,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He draws it, Manolo,” Retana said in explanation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Manuel. He stood up. “Give -me three hundred, Retana.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” Retana agreed. He reached in -the drawer for a paper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Can I have fifty now?” Manuel asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Retana. He took a fifty peseta -note out of his pocket-book and laid it, spread -out flat, on the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel picked it up and put it in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What about a cuadrilla?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s the boys that always work for me -nights,” Retana said. “They’re all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How about picadors?” Manuel asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re not much,” Retana admitted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve got to have one good pic,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Get him then,” Retana said. “Go and get -him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not out of this,” Manuel said. “I’m not -paying for any cuadrilla out of sixty duros.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana said nothing but looked at Manuel -across the big desk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know I’ve got to have one good pic,” -Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana said nothing but looked at Manuel -from a long way off.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t right,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana was still considering him, leaning -back in his chair, considering him from a long -way away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’re the regular pics,” he offered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know,” Manuel said. “I know your regular -pics.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana did not smile. Manuel knew it was -over.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All I want is an even break,” Manuel said -reasoningly. “When I go out there I want to -be able to call my shots on the bull. It only -takes one good picador.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was talking to a man who was no longer -listening.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you want something extra,” Retana said, -“go and get it. There will be a regular cuadrilla -out there. Bring as many of your own -pics as you want. The charlotada is over by -10.30.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” Manuel said. “If that’s the way -you feel about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the way,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll see you to-morrow night,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll be out there,” Retana said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel picked up his suitcase and went out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shut the door,” Retana called.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel looked back. Retana was sitting forward -looking at some papers. Manuel pulled -the door tight until it clicked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He went down the stairs and out of the door -into the hot brightness of the street. It was -very hot in the street and the light on the white -buildings was sudden and hard on his eyes. He -walked down the shady side of the steep street -toward the Puerta del Sol. The shade felt solid -and cool as running water. The heat came suddenly -as he crossed the intersecting streets. -Manuel saw no one he knew in all the people he -passed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Just before the Puerta del Sol he turned into -a café.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was quiet in the café. There were a few -men sitting at tables against the wall. At one -table four men played cards. Most of the men -sat against the wall smoking, empty coffee-cups -and liqueur-glasses before them on the tables. -Manuel went through the long room to a small -room in back. A man sat at a table in the corner -asleep. Manuel sat down at one of the -tables.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A waiter came in and stood beside Manuel’s -table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have you seen Zurito?” Manuel asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He was in before lunch,” the waiter answered. -“He won’t be back before five o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bring me some coffee and milk and a shot -of the ordinary,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The waiter came back into the room carrying -a tray with a big coffee-glass and a liqueur-glass -on it. In his left hand he held a bottle of -brandy. He swung these down to the table -and a boy who had followed him poured coffee -and milk into the glass from two shiny, spouted -pots with long handles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel took off his cap and the waiter noticed -his pigtail pinned forward on his head. -He winked at the coffee-boy as he poured out -the brandy into the little glass beside Manuel’s -coffee. The coffee-boy looked at Manuel’s pale -face curiously.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You fighting here?” asked the waiter, corking -up the bottle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Manuel said. “To-morrow.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The waiter stood there, holding the bottle on -one hip.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You in the Charlie Chaplins?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The coffee-boy looked away, embarrassed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. In the ordinary.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought they were going to have Chaves -and Hernandez,” the waiter said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. Me and another.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who? Chaves or Hernandez?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hernandez, I think.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter with Chaves?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He got hurt.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where did you hear that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Retana.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, Looie,” the waiter called to the next -room, “Chaves got cogida.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel had taken the wrapper off the lumps -of sugar and dropped them into his coffee. He -stirred it and drank it down, sweet, hot, and -warming in his empty stomach. He drank off -the brandy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me another shot of that,” he said to -the waiter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The waiter uncorked the bottle and poured -the glass full, slopping another drink into the -saucer. Another waiter had come up in front of -the table. The coffee-boy was gone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is Chaves hurt bad?” the second waiter -asked Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Manuel said, “Retana didn’t -say.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A hell of a lot he cares,” the tall waiter said. -Manuel had not seen him before. He must -have just come up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you stand in with Retana in this town, -you’re a made man,” the tall waiter said. “If -you aren’t in with him, you might just as well -go out and shoot yourself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You said it,” the other waiter who had come -in said. “You said it then.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re right I said it,” said the tall waiter. -“I know what I’m talking about when I talk -about that bird.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look what he’s done for Villalta,” the first -waiter said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And that ain’t all,” the tall waiter said. -“Look what he’s done for Marcial Lalanda. -Look what he’s done for Nacional.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You said it, kid,” agreed the short waiter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel looked at them, standing talking in -front of his table. He had drunk his second -brandy. They had forgotten about him. They -were not interested in him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look at that bunch of camels,” the tall -waiter went on. “Did you ever see this Nacional -II?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I seen him last Sunday didn’t I?” the original -waiter said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a giraffe,” the short waiter said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did I tell you?” the tall waiter said. -“Those are Retana’s boys.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, give me another shot of that,” Manuel -said. He had poured the brandy the waiter had -slopped over in the saucer into his glass and -drank it while they were talking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The original waiter poured his glass full -mechanically, and the three of them went out -of the room talking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the far corner the man was still asleep, -snoring slightly on the intaking breath, his head -back against the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel drank his brandy. He felt sleepy -himself. It was too hot to go out into the town. -Besides there was nothing to do. He wanted -to see Zurito. He would go to sleep while he -waited. He kicked his suitcase under the table -to be sure it was there. Perhaps it would be -better to put it back under the seat, against the -wall. He leaned down and shoved it under. -Then he leaned forward on the table and went -to sleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When he woke there was some one sitting -across the table from him. It was a big man -with a heavy brown face like an Indian. He -had been sitting there some time. He had -waved the waiter away and sat reading the -paper and occasionally looking down at Manuel, -asleep, his head on the table. He read the paper -laboriously, forming the words with his lips as -he read. When it tired him he looked at Manuel. -He sat heavily in the chair, his black Cordoba -hat tipped forward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel sat up and looked at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Zurito,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, kid,” the big man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been asleep.” Manuel rubbed his forehead -with the back of his fist.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought maybe you were.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How’s everything?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good. How is everything with you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not so good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were both silent. Zurito, the picador, -looked at Manuel’s white face. Manuel looked -down at the picador’s enormous hands folding -the paper to put away in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got a favor to ask you, Manos,” Manuel -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manosduros was Zurito’s nickname. He -never heard it without thinking of his huge -hands. He put them forward on the table -self-consciously.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s have a drink,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The waiter came and went and came again. -He went out of the room looking back at the -two men at the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter, Manolo?” Zurito set -down his glass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would you pic two bulls for me to-morrow -night?” Manuel asked, looking up at Zurito -across the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Zurito. “I’m not pic-ing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel looked down at his glass. He had -expected that answer; now he had it. Well, he -had it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m sorry, Manolo, but I’m not pic-ing.” -Zurito looked at his hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m too old,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I just asked you,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it the nocturnal to-morrow?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s it. I figured if I had just one good -pic, I could get away with it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How much are you getting?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Three hundred pesetas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I get more than that for pic-ing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know,” said Manuel. “I didn’t have any -right to ask you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you keep on doing it for?” Zurito -asked. “Why don’t you cut off your coleta, -Manolo?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re pretty near as old as I am,” Zurito -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Manuel said. “I got to do -it. If I can fix it so that I get an even break, -that’s all I want. I got to stick with it, Manos.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, you don’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I do. I’ve tried keeping away from -it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know how you feel. But it isn’t right. -You ought to get out and stay out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t do it. Besides, I’ve been going good -lately.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito looked at his face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ve been in the hospital.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I was going great when I got hurt.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito said nothing. He tipped the cognac -out of his saucer into his glass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The papers said they never saw a better -faena,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito looked at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know when I get going I’m good,” -Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re too old,” the picador said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Manuel. “You’re ten years older -than I am.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With me it’s different.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m not too old,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They sat silent, Manuel watching the picador’s -face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was going great till I got hurt,” Manuel -offered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to have seen me, Manos,” Manuel -said, reproachfully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want to see you,” Zurito said. “It -makes me nervous.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t seen me lately.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve seen you plenty.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito looked at Manuel, avoiding his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to quit it, Manolo.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t,” Manuel said. “I’m going good -now, I tell you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito leaned forward, his hands on the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen. I’ll pic for you and if you don’t go -big to-morrow night, you’ll quit. See? Will -you do that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito leaned back, relieved.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got to quit,” he said. “No monkey -business. You got to cut the coleta.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I won’t have to quit,” Manuel said. “You -watch me. I’ve got the stuff.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito stood up. He felt tired from arguing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got to quit,” he said. “I’ll cut your -coleta myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, you won’t,” Manuel said. “You won’t -have a chance.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito called the waiter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on,” said Zurito. “Come on up to -the house.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel reached under the seat for his suitcase. -He was happy. He knew Zurito would -pic for him. He was the best picador living. -It was all simple now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on up to the house and we’ll eat,” -Zurito said.</p> - -<hr class='tbk'> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel stood in the patio de caballos waiting -for the Charlie Chaplins to be over. Zurito -stood beside him. Where they stood it was -dark. The high door that led into the bull-ring -was shut. Above them they heard a shout, -then another shout of laughter. Then there -was silence. Manuel liked the smell of the -stables about the patio de caballos. It smelt -good in the dark. There was another roar from -the arena and then applause, prolonged applause, -going on and on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ever seen these fellows?” Zurito asked, -big and looming beside Manuel in the dark.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re pretty funny.” Zurito said. He -smiled to himself in the dark.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The high, double, tight-fitting door into the -bull-ring swung open and Manuel saw the ring -in the hard light of the arc-lights, the plaza, -dark all the way around, rising high; around -the edge of the ring were running and bowing -two men dressed like tramps, followed by a -third in the uniform of a hotel bell-boy who -stooped and picked up the hats and canes thrown -down onto the sand and tossed them back up -into the darkness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The electric light went on in the patio.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll climb onto one of those ponies while -you collect the kids,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Behind them came the jingle of the mules, -coming out to go into the arena and be hitched -onto the dead bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The members of the cuadrilla, who had been -watching the burlesque from the runway between -the barrera and the seats, came walking -back and stood in a group talking, under the -electric light in the patio. A good-looking lad -in a silver-and-orange suit came up to Manuel -and smiled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m Hernandez,” he said and put out his -hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel shook it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re regular elephants we’ve got to-night,” -the boy said cheerfully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re big ones with horns,” Manuel -agreed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You drew the worst lot,” the boy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right,” Manuel said. “The bigger -they are, the more meat for the poor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where did you get that one?” Hernandez -grinned.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s an old one,” Manuel said. “You -line up your cuadrilla, so I can see what I’ve -got.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ve got some good kids,” Hernandez -said. He was very cheerful. He had been on -twice before in nocturnals and was beginning -to get a following in Madrid. He was happy -the fight would start in a few minutes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where are the pics?” Manuel asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re back in the corrals fighting about -who gets the beautiful horses,” Hernandez -grinned.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The mules came through the gate in a rush, -the whips snapping, bells jangling and the -young bull ploughing a furrow of sand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They formed up for the paseo as soon as the -bull had gone through.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel and Hernandez stood in front. The -youths of the cuadrillas were behind, their -heavy capes furled over their arms. In back, -the four picadors, mounted, holding their steel-tipped -push-poles erect in the half-dark of the -corral.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a wonder Retana wouldn’t give us -enough light to see the horses by,” one picador -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He knows we’ll be happier if we don’t get -too good a look at these skins,” another pic answered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This thing I’m on barely keeps me off the -ground,” the first picador said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, they’re horses.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure, they’re horses.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They talked, sitting their gaunt horses in the -dark.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito said nothing. He had the only steady -horse of the lot. He had tried him, wheeling -him in the corrals and he responded to the bit -and the spurs. He had taken the bandage off -his right eye and cut the strings where they had -tied his ears tight shut at the base. He was a -good, solid horse, solid on his legs. That was -all he needed. He intended to ride him all -through the corrida. He had already, since he -had mounted, sitting in the half-dark in the -big, quilted saddle, waiting for the paseo, pic-ed -through the whole corrida in his mind. The -other picadors went on talking on both sides of -him. He did not hear them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The two matadors stood together in front of -their three peones, their capes furled over their -left arms in the same fashion. Manuel was -thinking about the three lads in back of him. -They were all three Madrileños, like Hernandez, -boys about nineteen. One of them, a -gypsy, serious, aloof, and dark-faced, he liked -the look of. He turned.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s your name, kid?” he asked the -gypsy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fuentes,” the gypsy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s a good name,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gypsy smiled, showing his teeth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You take the bull and give him a little run -when he comes out,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” the gypsy said. His face was -serious. He began to think about just what he -would do.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here she goes,” Manuel said to Hernandez.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. We’ll go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Heads up, swinging with the music, their -right arms swinging free, they stepped out, -crossing the sanded arena under the arc-lights, -the cuadrillas opening out behind, the picadors -riding after, behind came the bull-ring servants -and the jingling mules. The crowd applauded -Hernandez as they marched across the arena. -Arrogant, swinging, they looked straight ahead -as they marched.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They bowed before the president, and the -procession broke up into its component parts. -The bull-fighters went over to the barrera and -changed their heavy mantles for the light fighting -capes. The mules went out. The picadors -galloped jerkily around the ring, and two rode -out the gate they had come in by. The servants -swept the sand smooth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel drank a glass of water poured for -him by one of Retana’s deputies, who was acting -as his manager and sword-handler. Hernandez -came over from speaking with his own manager.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got a good hand, kid,” Manuel complimented -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They like me,” Hernandez said happily.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How did the paseo go?” Manuel asked -Retana’s man.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Like a wedding,” said the handler. “Fine. -You came out like Joselito and Belmonte.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito rode by, a bulky equestrian statue. He -wheeled his horse and faced him toward the -toril on the far side of the ring where the bull -would come out. It was strange under the arc-light. -He pic-ed in the hot afternoon sun for -big money. He didn’t like this arc-light business. -He wished they would get started.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel went up to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pic him, Manos,” he said. “Cut him down -to size for me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll pic him, kid,” Zurito spat on the sand. -“I’ll make him jump out of the ring.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Lean on him, Manos,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll lean on him,” Zurito said. “What’s -holding it up?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s coming now,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito sat there, his feet in the box-stirrups, -his great legs in the buckskin-covered armor -gripping the horse, the reins in his left hand, -the long pic held in his right hand, his broad -hat well down over his eyes to shade them from -the lights, watching the distant door of the toril. -His horse’s ears quivered. Zurito patted him -with his left hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The red door of the toril swung back and for -a moment Zurito looked into the empty passageway -far across the arena. Then the bull came -out in a rush, skidding on his four legs as he -came out under the lights, then charging in a -gallop, moving softly in a fast gallop, silent -except as he woofed through wide nostrils as he -charged, glad to be free after the dark pen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the first row of seats, slightly bored, leaning -forward to write on the cement wall in front -of his knees, the substitute bull-fight critic of -<span class='it'>El Heraldo</span> scribbled: “Campagnero, Negro, -42, came out at 90 miles an hour with plenty of -gas——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel, leaning against the barrera, watching -the bull, waved his hand and the gypsy ran -out, trailing his cape. The bull, in full gallop, -pivoted and charged the cape, his head down, -his tail rising. The gypsy moved in a zigzag, -and as he passed, the bull caught sight of him -and abandoned the cape to charge the man. The -gyp sprinted and vaulted the red fence of the -barrera as the bull struck it with his horns. He -tossed into it twice with his horns, banging into -the wood blindly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The critic of <span class='it'>El Heraldo</span> lit a cigarette and -tossed the match at the bull, then wrote in his -note-book, “large and with enough horns to satisfy -the cash customers, Campagnero showed a -tendency to cut into the terrane of the bull-fighters.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel stepped out on the hard sand as the -bull banged into the fence. Out of the corner -of his eye he saw Zurito sitting the white horse -close to the barrera, about a quarter of the way -around the ring to the left. Manuel held the -cape close in front of him, a fold in each hand, -and shouted at the bull. “Huh! Huh!” The -bull turned, seemed to brace against the fence -as he charged in a scramble, driving into the -cape as Manuel side-stepped, pivoted on his -heels with the charge of the bull, and swung the -cape just ahead of the horns. At the end of -the swing he was facing the bull again and held -the cape in the same position close in front of -his body, and pivoted again as the bull recharged. -Each time, as he swung, the crowd -shouted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Four times he swung with the bull, lifting -the cape so it billowed full, and each time bringing -the bull around to charge again. Then, at -the end of the fifth swing, he held the cape -against his hip and pivoted, so the cape swung -out like a ballet dancer’s skirt and wound the -bull around himself like a belt, to step clear, -leaving the bull facing Zurito on the white -horse, come up and planted firm, the horse facing -the bull, its ears forward, its lips nervous, -Zurito, his hat over his eyes, leaning forward, -the long pole sticking out before and behind in -a sharp angle under his right arm, held half-way -down, the triangular iron point facing the -bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>El Heraldo’s</span> second-string critic, drawing on -his cigarette, his eyes on the bull, wrote: “the -veteran Manolo designed a series of acceptable -veronicas, ending in a very Belmontistic recorte -that earned applause from the regulars, and we -entered the tercio of the cavalry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito sat his horse, measuring the distance -between the bull and the end of the pic. As he -looked, the bull gathered himself together and -charged, his eyes on the horse’s chest. As he -lowered his head to hook, Zurito sunk the point -of the pic in the swelling hump of muscle above -the bull’s shoulder, leaned all his weight on -the shaft, and with his left hand pulled the -white horse into the air, front hoofs pawing, -and swung him to the right as he pushed the -bull under and through so the horns passed -safely under the horse’s belly and the horse -came down, quivering, the bull’s tail brushing -his chest as he charged the cape Hernandez offered -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hernandez ran sideways, taking the bull out -and away with the cape, toward the other picador. -He fixed him with a swing of the cape, -squarely facing the horse and rider, and stepped -back. As the bull saw the horse he charged. -The picador’s lance slid along his back, and as -the shock of the charge lifted the horse, the -picador was already half-way out of the saddle, -lifting his right leg clear as he missed -with the lance and falling to the left side to -keep the horse between him and the bull. The -horse, lifted and gored, crashed over with the -bull driving into him, the picador gave a shove -with his boots against the horse and lay clear, -waiting to be lifted and hauled away and put -on his feet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel let the bull drive into the fallen -horse; he was in no hurry, the picador was safe; -besides, it did a picador like that good to worry. -He’d stay on longer next time. Lousy pics! He -looked across the sand at Zurito a little way -out from the barrera, his horse rigid, waiting.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Huh!” he called to the bull, “Tomar!” -holding the cape in both hands so it would catch -his eye. The bull detached himself from the -horse and charged the cape, and Manuel, running -sideways and holding the cape spread wide, -stopped, swung on his heels, and brought the -bull sharply around facing Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Campagnero accepted a pair of varas for the -death of one rosinante, with Hernandez and -Manolo at the quites,” <span class='it'>El Heraldo’s</span> critic wrote. -“He pressed on the iron and clearly showed he -was no horse-lover. The veteran Zurito resurrected -some of his old stuff with the pike-pole, -notably the suerte——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Olé Olé!” the man sitting beside him -shouted. The shout was lost in the roar of the -crowd, and he slapped the critic on the back. -The critic looked up to see Zurito, directly below -him, leaning far out over his horse, the -length of the pic rising in a sharp angle under -his armpit, holding the pic almost by the point, -bearing down with all his weight, holding the -bull off, the bull pushing and driving to get at -the horse, and Zurito, far out, on top of him, -holding him, holding him, and slowly pivoting -the horse against the pressure, so that at -last he was clear. Zurito felt the moment when -the horse was clear and the bull could come -past, and relaxed the absolute steel lock of -his resistance, and the triangular steel point of -the pic ripped in the bull’s hump of shoulder -muscle as he tore loose to find Hernandez’s -cape before his muzzle. He charged blindly -into the cape and the boy took him out into the -open arena.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito sat patting his horse and looking at the -bull charging the cape that Hernandez swung -for him out under the bright light while the -crowd shouted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You see that one?” he said to Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was a wonder,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got him that time,” Zurito said. “Look -at him now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At the conclusion of a closely turned pass of -the cape the bull slid to his knees. He was up -at once, but far out across the sand Manuel and -Zurito saw the shine of the pumping flow of -blood, smooth against the black of the bull’s -shoulder.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got him that time,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a good bull,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If they gave me another shot at him, I’d -kill him,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’ll change the thirds on us,” Manuel -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look at him now,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got to go over there,” Manuel said, and -started on a run for the other side of the ring, -where the monos were leading a horse out by -the bridle toward the bull, whacking him on the -legs with rods and all, in a procession, trying to -get him toward the bull, who stood, dropping -his head, pawing, unable to make up his mind -to charge.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito, sitting his horse, walking him toward -the scene, not missing any detail, scowled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Finally the bull charged, the horse leaders -ran for the barrera, the picador hit too far back, -and the bull got under the horse, lifted him, -threw him onto his back.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito watched. The monos, in their red -shirts, running out to drag the picador clear. -The picador, now on his feet, swearing and flopping -his arms. Manuel and Hernandez standing -ready with their capes. And the bull, the -great, black bull, with a horse on his back, -hooves dangling, the bridle caught in the horns. -Black bull with a horse on his back, staggering -short-legged, then arching his neck and lifting, -thrusting, charging to slide the horse off, horse -sliding down. Then the bull into a lunging -charge at the cape Manuel spread for him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull was slower now, Manuel felt. He -was bleeding badly. There was a sheen of -blood all down his flank.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel offered him the cape again. There -he came, eyes open, ugly, watching the cape. -Manuel stepped to the side and raised his arms, -tightening the cape ahead of the bull for the -veronica.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now he was facing the bull. Yes, his head -was going down a little. He was carrying it -lower. That was Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel flopped the cape; there he comes; he -side-stepped and swung in another veronica. -He’s shooting awfully accurately, he thought. -He’s had enough fight, so he’s watching now. -He’s hunting now. Got his eye on me. But I -always give him the cape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shook the cape at the bull; there he -comes; he side-stepped. Awful close that time. -I don’t want to work that close to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The edge of the cape was wet with blood -where it had swept along the bull’s back as he -went by.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All right, here’s the last one.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel, facing the bull, having turned with -him each charge, offered the cape with his two -hands. The bull looked at him. Eyes watching, -horns straight forward, the bull looked at -him, watching.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Huh!” Manuel said, “Toro!” and leaning -back, swung the cape forward. Here he comes. -He side-stepped, swung the cape in back of him, -and pivoted, so the bull followed a swirl of -cape and then was left with nothing, fixed by -the pass, dominated by the cape. Manuel swung -the cape under his muzzle with one hand, to -show the bull was fixed, and walked away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no applause.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel walked across the sand toward the -barrera, while Zurito rode out of the ring. The -trumpet had blown to change the act to the -planting of the banderillos while Manuel had -been working with the bull. He had not consciously -noticed it. The monos were spreading -canvas over the two dead horses and sprinkling -sawdust around them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel came up to the barrera for a drink of -water. Retana’s man handed him the heavy -porous jug.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Fuentes, the tall gypsy, was standing holding -a pair of banderillos, holding them together, -slim, red sticks, fish-hook points out. He looked -at Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go on out there,” Manuel said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gypsy trotted out. Manuel set down -the jug and watched. He wiped his face with -his handkerchief.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The critic of <span class='it'>El Heraldo</span> reached for the bottle -of warm champagne that stood between his -feet, took a drink, and finished his paragraph.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“—the aged Manolo rated no applause for -a vulgar series of lances with the cape and we -entered the third of the palings.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Alone in the centre of the ring the bull stood, -still fixed. Fuentes, tall, flat-backed, walking -toward him arrogantly, his arms spread out, the -two slim, red sticks, one in each hand, held by -the fingers, points straight forward. Fuentes -walked forward. Back of him and to one side -was a peon with a cape. The bull looked at him -and was no longer fixed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His eyes watched Fuentes, now standing still. -Now he leaned back, calling to him. Fuentes -twitched the two banderillos and the light on -the steel points caught the bull’s eye.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His tail went up and he charged.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He came straight, his eyes on the man. -Fuentes stood still, leaning back, the banderillos -pointing forward. As the bull lowered his head -to hook, Fuentes leaned backward, his arms -came together and rose, his two hands touching, -the banderillos two descending red lines, -and leaning forward drove the points into the -bull’s shoulder, leaning far in over the bull’s -horns and pivoting on the two upright sticks, -his legs tight together, his body curving to one -side to let the bull pass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Olé!” from the crowd.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull was hooking wildly, jumping like a -trout, all four feet off the ground. The red -shaft of the banderillos tossed as he jumped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel standing at the barrera, noticed that -he hooked always to the right.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell him to drop the next pair on the right,” -he said to the kid who started to run out to -Fuentes with the new banderillos.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A heavy hand fell on his shoulder. It was -Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you feel, kid?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel was watching the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito leaned forward on the barrera, leaning -the weight of his body on his arms. Manuel -turned to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re going good,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel shook his head. He had nothing to -do now until the next third. The gypsy was -very good with the banderillos. The bull -would come to him in the next third in good -shape. He was a good bull. It had all been -easy up to now. The final stuff with the sword -was all he worried over. He did not really -worry. He did not even think about it. But -standing there he had a heavy sense of apprehension. -He looked out at the bull, planning -his faena, his work with the red cloth that was -to reduce the bull, to make him manageable.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gypsy was walking out toward the bull -again, walking heel-and-toe, insultingly, like a -ball-room dancer, the red shafts of the banderillos -twitching with his walk. The bull watched -him, not fixed now, hunting him, but waiting to -get close enough so he could be sure of getting -him, getting the horns into him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As Fuentes walked forward the bull charged. -Fuentes ran across the quarter of a circle as the -bull charged and, as he passed running backward, -stopped, swung forward, rose on his toes, -arms straight out, and sunk the banderillos -straight down into the tight of the big shoulder -muscles as the bull missed him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The crowd were wild about it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That kid won’t stay in this night stuff long,” -Retana’s man said to Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s good,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch him now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They watched.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Fuentes was standing with his back against -the barrera. Two of the cuadrilla were back -of him, with their capes ready to flop over the -fence to distract the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull, with his tongue out, his barrel -heaving, was watching the gypsy. He thought -he had him now. Back against the red planks. -Only a short charge away. The bull watched -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gypsy bent back, drew back his arms, -the banderillos pointing at the bull. He called -to the bull, stamped one foot. The bull was -suspicious. He wanted the man. No more -barbs in the shoulder.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Fuentes walked a little closer to the bull. -Bent back. Called again. Somebody in the -crowd shouted a warning.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s too damn close,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch him,” Retana’s man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Leaning back, inciting the bull with the -banderillos, Fuentes jumped, both feet off the -ground. As he jumped the bull’s tail rose and -he charged. Fuentes came down on his toes, -arms straight out, whole body arching forward, -and drove the shafts straight down as he swung -his body clear of the right horn.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull crashed into the barrera where the -flopping capes had attracted his eye as he lost -the man.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gypsy came running along the barrera -toward Manuel, taking the applause of the -crowd. His vest was ripped where he had not -quite cleared the point of the horn. He was -happy about it, showing it to the spectators. He -made the tour of the ring. Zurito saw him go -by, smiling, pointing at his vest. He smiled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Somebody else was planting the last pair of -banderillos. Nobody was paying any attention.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana’s man tucked a baton inside the red -cloth of a muleta, folded the cloth over it, and -handed it over the barrera to Manuel. He -reached in the leather sword-case, took out a -sword, and holding it by its leather scabbard, -reached it over the fence to Manuel. Manuel -pulled the blade out by the red hilt and the -scabbard fell limp.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked at Zurito. The big man saw he -was sweating.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now you get him, kid,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel nodded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s in good shape,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just like you want him,” Retana’s man assured -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel nodded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The trumpeter, up under the roof, blew for -the final act, and Manuel walked across the -arena toward where, up in the dark boxes, the -president must be.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the front row of seats the substitute bull-fight -critic of <span class='it'>El Heraldo</span> took a long drink of -the warm champagne. He had decided it was -not worth while to write a running story and -would write up the corrida back in the office. -What the hell was it anyway? Only a nocturnal. -If he missed anything he would get it out of the -morning papers. He took another drink of the -champagne. He had a date at Maxim’s at -twelve. Who were these bull-fighters anyway? -Kids and bums. A bunch of bums. He put his -pad of paper in his pocket and looked over toward -Manuel, standing very much alone in the -ring, gesturing with his hat in a salute toward -a box he could not see high up in the dark -plaza. Out in the ring the bull stood quiet, -looking at nothing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I dedicate this bull to you, Mr. President, -and to the public of Madrid, the most intelligent -and generous of the world,” was what -Manuel was saying. It was a formula. He said -it all. It was a little long for nocturnal use.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He bowed at the dark, straightened, tossed -his hat over his shoulder, and, carrying the muleta -in his left hand and the sword in his right, -walked out toward the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel walked toward the bull. The bull -looked at him; his eyes were quick. Manuel -noticed the way the banderillos hung down on -his left shoulder and the steady sheen of blood -from Zurito’s pic-ing. He noticed the way the -bull’s feet were. As he walked forward, holding -the muleta in his left hand and the sword -in his right, he watched the bull’s feet. The -bull could not charge without gathering his feet -together. Now he stood square on them, dully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel walked toward him, watching his -feet. This was all right. He could do this. He -must work to get the bull’s head down, so he -could go in past the horns and kill him. He -did not think about the sword, not about killing -the bull. He thought about one thing at a time. -The coming things oppressed him, though. -Walking forward, watching the bull’s feet, he -saw successively his eyes, his wet muzzle, and -the wide, forward-pointing spread of his horns. -The bull had light circles about his eyes. His -eyes watched Manuel. He felt he was going to -get this little one with the white face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Standing still now and spreading the red -cloth of the muleta with the sword, pricking the -point into the cloth so that the sword, now held -in his left hand, spread the red flannel like the -jib of a boat, Manuel noticed the points of the -bull’s horns. One of them was splintered from -banging against the barrera. The other was -sharp as a porcupine quill. Manuel noticed -while spreading the muleta that the white base -of the horn was stained red. While he noticed -these things he did not lose sight of the bull’s -feet. The bull watched Manuel steadily.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He’s on the defensive now, Manuel thought. -He’s reserving himself. I’ve got to bring him -out of that and get his head down. Always get -his head down. Zurito had his head down once, -but he’s come back. He’ll bleed when I start -him going and that will bring it down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Holding the muleta, with the sword in his -left hand widening it in front of him, he called -to the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull looked at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He leaned back insultingly and shook the -wide-spread flannel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull saw the muleta. It was a bright -scarlet under the arc-light. The bull’s legs -tightened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Here he comes. Whoosh! Manuel turned -as the bull came and raised the muleta so that -it passed over the bull’s horns and swept down -his broad back from head to tail. The bull had -gone clean up in the air with the charge. Manuel -had not moved.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At the end of the pass the bull turned like -a cat coming around a corner and faced Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was on the offensive again. His heaviness -was gone. Manuel noted the fresh blood -shining down the black shoulder and dripping -down the bull’s leg. He drew the sword out of -the muleta and held it in his right hand. The -muleta held low down in his left hand, leaning -toward the left, he called to the bull. The -bull’s legs tightened, his eyes on the muleta. -Here he comes, Manuel thought. Yuh!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He swung with the charge, sweeping the muleta -ahead of the bull, his feet firm, the sword -following the curve, a point of light under the -arcs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull recharged as the pase natural finished -and Manuel raised the muleta for a pase -de pecho. Firmly planted, the bull came by his -chest under the raised muleta. Manuel leaned -his head back to avoid the clattering banderillo -shafts. The hot, black bull body touched his -chest as it passed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Too damn close, Manuel thought. Zurito, -leaning on the barrera, spoke rapidly to the -gypsy, who trotted out toward Manuel with a -cape. Zurito pulled his hat down low and -looked out across the arena at Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel was facing the bull again, the muleta -held low and to the left. The bull’s head was -down as he watched the muleta.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If it was Belmonte doing that stuff, they’d -go crazy,” Retana’s man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito said nothing. He was watching Manuel -out in the centre of the arena.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where did the boss dig this fellow up?” -Retana’s man asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Out of the hospital,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s where he’s going damn quick,” Retana’s -man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito turned on him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Knock on that,” he said, pointing to the barrera.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was just kidding, man,” Retana’s man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Knock on the wood.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana’s man leaned forward and knocked -three times on the barrera.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch the faena,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Out in the centre of the ring, under the -lights, Manuel was kneeling, facing the bull, -and as he raised the muleta in both hands the -bull charged, tail up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel swung his body clear and, as the bull -recharged, brought around the muleta in a half-circle -that pulled the bull to his knees.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, that one’s a great bull-fighter,” Retana’s -man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, he’s not,” said Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel stood up and, the muleta in his left -hand, the sword in his right, acknowledged the -applause from the dark plaza.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull had humped himself up from his -knees and stood waiting, his head hung low.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito spoke to two of the other lads of the -cuadrilla and they ran out to stand back of -Manuel with their capes. There were four men -back of him now. Hernandez had followed -him since he first came out with the muleta. -Fuentes stood watching, his cape held against -his body, tall, in repose, watching lazy-eyed. -Now the two came up. Hernandez motioned -them to stand one at each side. Manuel stood -alone, facing the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel waved back the men with the capes. -Stepping back cautiously, they saw his face was -white and sweating.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Didn’t they know enough to keep back? Did -they want to catch the bull’s eye with the capes -after he was fixed and ready? He had enough -to worry about without that kind of thing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull was standing, his four feet square, -looking at the muleta. Manuel furled the muleta -in his left hand. The bull’s eyes watched -it. His body was heavy on his feet. He carried -his head low, but not too low.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel lifted the muleta at him. The bull -did not move. Only his eyes watched.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He’s all lead, Manuel thought. He’s all -square. He’s framed right. He’ll take it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He thought in bull-fight terms. Sometimes -he had a thought and the particular piece of -slang would not come into his mind and he -could not realize the thought. His instincts -and his knowledge worked automatically, and -his brain worked slowly and in words. He knew -all about bulls. He did not have to think about -them. He just did the right thing. His eyes -noted things and his body performed the necessary -measures without thought. If he thought -about it, he would be gone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now, facing the bull, he was conscious of -many things at the same time. There were the -horns, the one splintered, the other smoothly -sharp, the need to profile himself toward the -left horn, lance himself short and straight, -lower the muleta so the bull would follow it, -and, going in over the horns, put the sword all -the way into a little spot about as big as a five-peseta -piece straight in back of the neck, between -the sharp pitch of the bull’s shoulders. -He must do all this and must then come out -from between the horns. He was conscious he -must do all this, but his only thought was in -words: “Corto y derecho.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Corto y derecho,” he thought, furling the -muleta. Short and straight. Corto y derecho, -he drew the sword out of the muleta, profiled -on the splintered left horn, dropped the muleta -across his body, so his right hand with the sword -on the level with his eye made the sign of the -cross, and, rising on his toes, sighted along the -dipping blade of the sword at the spot high up -between the bull’s shoulders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corto y derecho he lanced himself on the -bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was a shock, and he felt himself go -up in the air. He pushed on the sword as he -went up and over, and it flew out of his hand. -He hit the ground and the bull was on him. -Manuel, lying on the ground, kicked at the -bull’s muzzle with his slippered feet. Kicking, -kicking, the bull after him, missing him in his -excitement, bumping him with his head, driving -the horns into the sand. Kicking like a man -keeping a ball in the air, Manuel kept the bull -from getting a clean thrust at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel felt the wind on his back from the -capes flopping at the bull, and then the bull was -gone, gone over him in a rush. Dark, as his -belly went over. Not even stepped on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel stood up and picked up the muleta. -Fuentes handed him the sword. It was bent -where it had struck the shoulder-blade. Manuel -straightened it on his knee and ran toward -the bull, standing now beside one of the dead -horses. As he ran, his jacket flopped where it -had been ripped under his armpit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Get him out of there,” Manuel shouted to -the gypsy. The bull had smelled the blood -of the dead horse and ripped into the canvas-cover -with his horns. He charged Fuentes’s -cape, with the canvas hanging from his splintered -horn, and the crowd laughed. Out in the -ring, he tossed his head to rid himself of the -canvas. Hernandez, running up from behind -him, grabbed the end of the canvas and neatly -lifted it off the horn.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull followed it in a half-charge and -stopped still. He was on the defensive again. -Manuel was walking toward him with the sword -and muleta. Manuel swung the muleta before -him. The bull would not charge.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel profiled toward the bull, sighting -along the dipping blade of the sword. The -bull was motionless, seemingly dead on his feet, -incapable of another charge.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel rose to his toes, sighting along the -steel, and charged.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again there was the shock and he felt himself -being borne back in a rush, to strike hard on the -sand. There was no chance of kicking this time. -The bull was on top of him. Manuel lay as -though dead, his head on his arms, and the bull -bumped him. Bumped his back, bumped his -face in the sand. He felt the horn go into the -sand between his folded arms. The bull hit -him in the small of the back. His face drove -into the sand. The horn drove through one of -his sleeves and the bull ripped it off. Manuel -was tossed clear and the bull followed the capes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel got up, found the sword and muleta, -tried the point of the sword with his thumb, and -then ran toward the barrera for a new sword.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana’s man handed him the sword over -the edge of the barrera.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wipe off your face,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel, running again toward the bull, -wiped his bloody face with his handkerchief. -He had not seen Zurito. Where was Zurito?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cuadrilla had stepped away from the -bull and waited with their capes. The bull -stood, heavy and dull again after the action.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel walked toward him with the muleta. -He stopped and shook it. The bull did not respond. -He passed it right and left, left and -right before the bull’s muzzle. The bull’s eyes -watched it and turned with the swing, but he -would not charge. He was waiting for Manuel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel was worried. There was nothing to -do but go in. Corto y derecho. He profiled -close to the bull, crossed the muleta in front -of his body and charged. As he pushed in the -sword, he jerked his body to the left to clear -the horn. The bull passed him and the sword -shot up in the air, twinkling under the arc-lights, -to fall red-hilted on the sand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel ran over and picked it up. It was -bent and he straightened it over his knee.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he came running toward the bull, fixed -again now, he passed Hernandez standing with -his cape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s all bone,” the boy said encouragingly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel nodded, wiping his face. He put the -bloody handkerchief in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was the bull. He was close to the barrera -now. Damn him. Maybe he was all bone. -Maybe there was not any place for the sword to -go in. The hell there wasn’t! He’d show -them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He tried a pass with the muleta and the bull -did not move. Manuel chopped the muleta back -and forth in front of the bull. Nothing doing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He furled the muleta, drew the sword out, -profiled and drove in on the bull. He felt the -sword buckle as he shoved it in, leaning his -weight on it, and then it shot high in the air, -end-over-ending into the crowd. Manuel had -jerked clear as the sword jumped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The first cushions thrown down out of the -dark missed him. Then one hit him in the face, -his bloody face looking toward the crowd. They -were coming down fast. Spotting the sand. -Somebody threw an empty champagne-bottle -from close range. It hit Manuel on the foot. -He stood there watching the dark, where the -things were coming from. Then something -whished through the air and struck by him. -Manuel leaned over and picked it up. It was -his sword. He straightened it over his knee and -gestured with it to the crowd.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Oh, the dirty bastards! Dirty bastards! Oh, -the lousy, dirty bastards! He kicked into a -cushion as he ran.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was the bull. The same as ever. All -right, you dirty, lousy bastard!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel passed the muleta in front of the -bull’s black muzzle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nothing doing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>You won’t! All right. He stepped close -and jammed the sharp peak of the muleta into -the bull’s damp muzzle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull was on him as he jumped back and -as he tripped on a cushion he felt the horn go -into him, into his side. He grabbed the horn -with his two hands and rode backward, holding -tight onto the place. The bull tossed him and -he was clear. He lay still. It was all right. -The bull was gone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He got up coughing and feeling broken and -gone. The dirty bastards!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me the sword,” he shouted. “Give -me the stuff.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Fuentes came up with the muleta and the -sword.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hernandez put his arm around him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go on to the infirmary, man,” he said. -“Don’t be a damn fool.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Get away from me,” Manuel said. “Get to -hell away from me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He twisted free. Hernandez shrugged his -shoulders. Manuel ran toward the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was the bull standing, heavy, firmly -planted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All right, you bastard! Manuel drew the -sword out of the muleta, sighted with the same -movement, and flung himself onto the bull. -He felt the sword go in all the way. Right up -to the guard. Four fingers and his thumb into -the bull. The blood was hot on his knuckles, -and he was on top of the bull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The bull lurched with him as he lay on, and -seemed to sink; then he was standing clear. He -looked at the bull going down slowly over on -his side, then suddenly four feet in the air.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then he gestured at the crowd, his hand -warm from the bull blood.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All right, you bastards! He wanted to say -something, but he started to cough. It was hot -and choking. He looked down for the muleta. -He must go over and salute the president. -President hell! He was sitting down looking at -something. It was the bull. His four feet up. -Thick tongue out. Things crawling around on -his belly and under his legs. Crawling where -the hair was thin. Dead bull. To hell with -the bull! To hell with them all! He started to -get to his feet and commenced to cough. He -sat down again, coughing. Somebody came and -pushed him up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They carried him across the ring to the infirmary, -running with him across the sand, -standing blocked at the gate as the mules came -in, then around under the dark passageway, men -grunting as they took him up the stairway, and -then laid him down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The doctor and two men in white were waiting -for him. They laid him out on the table. -They were cutting away his shirt. Manuel felt -tired. His whole chest felt scalding inside. -He started to cough and they held something -to his mouth. Everybody was very busy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was an electric light in his eyes. He -shut his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He heard some one coming very heavily up -the stairs. Then he did not hear it. Then he -heard a noise far off. That was the crowd. -Well, somebody would have to kill his other -bull. They had cut away all his shirt. The -doctor smiled at him. There was Retana.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Retana!” Manuel said. He could -not hear his voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana smiled at him and said something. -Manuel could not hear it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito stood beside the table, bending over -where the doctor was working. He was in his -picador clothes, without his hat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito said something to him. Manuel could -not hear it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito was speaking to Retana. One of the -men in white smiled and handed Retana a pair -of scissors. Retana gave them to Zurito. -Zurito said something to Manuel. He could -not hear it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>To hell with this operating-table! He’d -been on plenty of operating-tables before. He -was not going to die. There would be a priest -if he was going to die.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Zurito was saying something to him. Holding -up the scissors.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That was it. They were going to cut off his -coleta. They were going to cut off his pigtail.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel sat up on the operating-table. The -doctor stepped back, angry. Some one grabbed -him and held him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You couldn’t do a thing like that, Manos,” -he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He heard suddenly, clearly, Zurito’s voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right,” Zurito said. “I won’t do -it. I was joking.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was going good,” Manuel said. “I didn’t -have any luck. That was all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel lay back. They had put something -over his face. It was all familiar. He inhaled -deeply. He felt very tired. He was very, -very tired. They took the thing away from his -face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was going good,” Manuel said weakly. -“I was going great.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana looked at Zurito and started for the -door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll stay here with him,” Zurito said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Retana shrugged his shoulders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel opened his eyes and looked at Zurito.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wasn’t I going good, Manos?” he asked, -for confirmation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Zurito. “You were going great.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The doctor’s assistant put the cone over Manuel’s -face and he inhaled deeply. Zurito stood -awkwardly, watching.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch2'>IN ANOTHER COUNTRY</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>In</span> the fall the war was always there, but we -did not go to it any more. It was cold in the -fall in Milan and the dark came very early. -Then the electric lights came on, and it was -pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. -There was much game hanging outside -the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur -of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. The -deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small -birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their -feathers. It was a cold fall and the wind came -down from the mountains.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were all at the hospital every afternoon, -and there were different ways of walking across -the town through the dusk to the hospital. Two -of the ways were alongside canals, but they were -long. Always, though, you crossed a bridge -across a canal to enter the hospital. There was a -choice of three bridges. On one of them a -woman sold roasted chestnuts. It was warm, -standing in front of her charcoal fire, and the -chestnuts were warm afterward in your pocket. -The hospital was very old and very beautiful, -and you entered through a gate and walked -across a courtyard and out a gate on the other -side. There were usually funerals starting from -the courtyard. Beyond the old hospital were -the new brick pavilions, and there we met every -afternoon and were all very polite and interested -in what was the matter, and sat in the machines -that were to make so much difference.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The doctor came up to the machine where -I was sitting and said: “What did you like best -to do before the war? Did you practise a -sport?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I said: “Yes, football.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good,” he said. “You will be able to play -football again better than ever.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My knee did not bend and the leg dropped -straight from the knee to the ankle without a -calf, and the machine was to bend the knee and -make it move as in riding a tricycle. But it did -not bend yet, and instead the machine lurched -when it came to the bending part. The doctor -said: “That will all pass. You are a fortunate -young man. You will play football again like -a champion.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the next machine was a major who had a -little hand like a baby’s. He winked at me -when the doctor examined his hand, which was -between two leather straps that bounced up and -down and flapped the stiff fingers, and said: -“And will I too play football, captain-doctor?” -He had been a very great fencer, and before the -war the greatest fencer in Italy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The doctor went to his office in a back room -and brought a photograph which showed a -hand that had been withered almost as small -as the major’s, before it had taken a machine -course, and after was a little larger. The major -held the photograph with his good hand and -looked at it very carefully. “A wound?” he -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“An industrial accident,” the doctor said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very interesting, very interesting,” the major -said, and handed it back to the doctor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have confidence?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the major.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were three boys who came each day -who were about the same age I was. They were -all three from Milan, and one of them was to -be a lawyer, and one was to be a painter, and -one had intended to be a soldier, and after we -were finished with the machines, sometimes we -walked back together to the Café Cova, which -was next door to the Scala. We walked the -short way through the communist quarter because -we were four together. The people hated -us because we were officers, and from a wine-shop -some one would call out, “A basso gli ufficiali!” -as we passed. Another boy who walked -with us sometimes and made us five wore a -black silk handkerchief across his face because -he had no nose then and his face was to be rebuilt. -He had gone out to the front from the -military academy and been wounded within an -hour after he had gone into the front line for -the first time. They rebuilt his face, but he -came from a very old family and they could -never get the nose exactly right. He went to -South America and worked in a bank. But this -was a long time ago, and then we did not any -of us know how it was going to be afterward. -We only knew then that there was always the -war, but that we were not going to it any more.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We all had the same medals, except the boy -with the black silk bandage across his face, and -he had not been at the front long enough to get -any medals. The tall boy with a very pale face -who was to be a lawyer had been a lieutenant -of Arditi and had three medals of the sort we -each had only one of. He had lived a very long -time with death and was a little detached. We -were all a little detached, and there was nothing -that held us together except that we met -every afternoon at the hospital. Although, as -we walked to the Cova through the tough part -of town, walking in the dark, with light and -singing coming out of the wine-shops, and sometimes -having to walk into the street when the -men and women would crowd together on the -sidewalk so that we would have had to jostle -them to get by, we felt held together by there -being something that had happened that they, -the people who disliked us, did not understand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We ourselves all understood the Cova, where -it was rich and warm and not too brightly -lighted, and noisy and smoky at certain hours, -and there were always girls at the tables and -the illustrated papers on a rack on the wall. -The girls at the Cova were very patriotic, and I -found that the most patriotic people in Italy -were the café girls—and I believe they are still -patriotic.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The boys at first were very polite about my -medals and asked me what I had done to get -them. I showed them the papers, which were -written in very beautiful language and full of -<span class='it'>fratellanza</span> and <span class='it'>abnegazione</span>, but which really -said, with the adjectives removed, that I had -been given the medals because I was an American. -After that their manner changed a little -toward me, although I was their friend against -outsiders. I was a friend, but I was never really -one of them after they had read the citations, -because it had been different with them and they -had done very different things to get their -medals. I had been wounded, it was true; but -we all knew that being wounded, after all, was -really an accident. I was never ashamed of the -ribbons, though, and sometimes, after the cocktail -hour, I would imagine myself having done -all the things they had done to get their medals; -but walking home at night through the empty -streets with the cold wind and all the shops -closed, trying to keep near the street lights, I -knew that I would never have done such things, -and I was very much afraid to die, and often -lay in bed at night by myself, afraid to die and -wondering how I would be when I went back to -the front again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks; -and I was not a hawk, although I might -seem a hawk to those who had never hunted; -they, the three, knew better and so we drifted -apart. But I stayed good friends with the boy -who had been wounded his first day at the front, -because he would never know now how he -would have turned out; so he could never be -accepted either, and I liked him because I -thought perhaps he would not have turned out -to be a hawk either.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The major, who had been the great fencer, -did not believe in bravery, and spent much time -while we sat in the machines correcting my -grammar. He had complimented me on how -I spoke Italian, and we talked together very -easily. One day I had said that Italian seemed -such an easy language to me that I could not -take a great interest in it; everything was so -easy to say. “Ah, yes,” the major said. “Why, -then, do you not take up the use of grammar?” -So we took up the use of grammar, and soon -Italian was such a difficult language that I was -afraid to talk to him until I had the grammar -straight in my mind.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The major came very regularly to the hospital. -I do not think he ever missed a day, although -I am sure he did not believe in the -machines. There was a time when none of us -believed in the machines, and one day the major -said it was all nonsense. The machines were -new then and it was we who were to prove them. -It was an idiotic idea, he said, “a theory, like -another.” I had not learned my grammar, and -he said I was a stupid impossible disgrace, and -he was a fool to have bothered with me. He -was a small man and he sat straight up in his -chair with his right hand thrust into the machine -and looked straight ahead at the wall -while the straps thumped up and down with his -fingers in them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will you do when the war is over if -it is over?” he asked me. “Speak grammatically!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I will go to the States.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Are you married?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, but I hope to be.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The more of a fool you are,” he said. He -seemed very angry. “A man must not marry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, Signor Maggiore?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t call me ‘Signor Maggiore.’ ”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why must not a man marry?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He cannot marry. He cannot marry,” he -said angrily. “If he is to lose everything, he -should not place himself in a position to lose -that. He should not place himself in a position -to lose. He should find things he cannot lose.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He spoke very angrily and bitterly, and -looked straight ahead while he talked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But why should he necessarily lose it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’ll lose it,” the major said. He was -looking at the wall. Then he looked down at -the machine and jerked his little hand out from -between the straps and slapped it hard against -his thigh. “He’ll lose it,” he almost shouted. -“Don’t argue with me!” Then he called to the -attendant who ran the machines. “Come and -turn this damned thing off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He went back into the other room for the -light treatment and the massage. Then I heard -him ask the doctor if he might use his telephone -and he shut the door. When he came -back into the room, I was sitting in another machine. -He was wearing his cape and had his -cap on, and he came directly toward my machine -and put his arm on my shoulder.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am so sorry,” he said, and patted me on -the shoulder with his good hand. “I would not -be rude. My wife has just died. You must -forgive me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh—” I said, feeling sick for him. “I am -<span class='it'>so</span> sorry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He stood there biting his lower lip. “It is -very difficult,” he said. “I cannot resign myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked straight past me and out through -the window. Then he began to cry. “I am utterly -unable to resign myself,” he said and -choked. And then crying, his head up looking -at nothing, carrying himself straight and soldierly, -with tears on both his cheeks and biting -his lips, he walked past the machines and out -the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The doctor told me that the major’s wife, -who was very young and whom he had not married -until he was definitely invalided out of the -war, had died of pneumonia. She had been -sick only a few days. No one expected her to -die. The major did not come to the hospital -for three days. Then he came at the usual hour, -wearing a black band on the sleeve of his uniform. -When he came back, there were large -framed photographs around the wall, of all sorts -of wounds before and after they had been cured -by the machines. In front of the machine the -major used were three photographs of hands -like his that were completely restored. I do not -know where the doctor got them. I always understood -we were the first to use the machines. -The photographs did not make much difference -to the major because he only looked out of the -window.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch3'>HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> hills across the valley of the Ebro were -long and white. On this side there was no -shade and no trees and the station was between -two lines of rails in the sun. Close against the -side of the station there was the warm shadow -of the building and a curtain, made of strings of -bamboo beads, hung across the open door into -the bar, to keep out flies. The American and -the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, -outside the building. It was very hot and the -express from Barcelona would come in forty -minutes. It stopped at this junction for two -minutes and went on to Madrid.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What should we drink?” the girl asked. -She had taken off her hat and put it on the -table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s pretty hot,” the man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s drink beer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dos cervezas,” the man said into the curtain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Big ones?” a woman asked from the doorway.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Two big ones.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The woman brought two glasses of beer and -two felt pads. She put the felt pads and the -beer glasses on the table and looked at the man -and the girl. The girl was looking off at the -line of hills. They were white in the sun and -the country was brown and dry.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They look like white elephants,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve never seen one,” the man drank his -beer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, you wouldn’t have.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I might have,” the man said. “Just because -you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove -anything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl looked at the bead curtain. -“They’ve painted something on it,” she said. -“What does it say?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Could we try it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man called “Listen” through the curtain. -The woman came out from the bar.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Four reales.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We want two Anis del Toro.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With water?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you want it with water?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” the girl said. “Is it good -with water?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You want them with water?” asked the -woman.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, with water.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It tastes like licorice,” the girl said and put -the glass down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the way with everything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes of -licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited -so long for, like absinthe.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, cut it out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You started it,” the girl said. “I was being -amused. I was having a fine time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, let’s try and have a fine time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. I was trying. I said the mountains -looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that -bright?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was bright.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wanted to try this new drink. That’s all -we do, isn’t it—look at things and try new -drinks?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl looked across at the hills.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re lovely hills,” she said. “They -don’t really look like white elephants. I just -meant the coloring of their skin through the -trees.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Should we have another drink?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warm wind blew the bead curtain against -the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The beer’s nice and cool,” the man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s lovely,” the girl said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,” -the man said. “It’s not really an operation at -all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl looked at the ground the table legs -rested on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s -really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl did not say anything.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all -the time. They just let the air in and then it’s -all perfectly natural.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then what will we do afterward?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll be fine afterward. Just like we were -before.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What makes you think so?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s -the only thing that’s made us unhappy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl looked at the bead curtain, put her -hand out and took hold of two of the strings of -beads.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you think then we’ll be all right and -be happy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know we will. You don’t have to be -afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have -done it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So have I,” said the girl. “And afterward -they were all so happy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” the man said, “if you don’t want -to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do -it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly -simple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you really want to?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t -want you to do it if you don’t really want to.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And if I do it you’ll be happy and things -will be like they were and you’ll love me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I love you now. You know I love you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice -again if I say things are like white elephants, -and you’ll like it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t -think about it. You know how I get when I -worry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If I do it you won’t ever worry?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly -simple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t care about me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, I care about you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. And -I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want you to do it if you feel that -way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl stood up and walked to the end of -the station. Across, on the other side, were -fields of grain and trees along the banks of the -Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. -The shadow of a cloud moved across the -field of grain and she saw the river through the -trees.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And we could have all this,” she said. “And -we could have everything and every day we -make it more impossible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you say?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I said we could have everything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We can have everything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, we can’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We can have the whole world.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, we can’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We can go everywhere.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, we can’t. It isn’t ours any more.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s ours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, it isn’t. And once they take it away, -you never get it back.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But they haven’t taken it away.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll wait and see.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on back in the shade,” he said. “You -mustn’t feel that way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t feel any way,” the girl said. “I -just know things.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want you to do anything that you -don’t want to do——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nor that isn’t good for me,” she said. “I -know. Could we have another beer?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. But you’ve got to realize——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I realize,” the girl said. “Can’t we maybe -stop talking?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They sat down at the table and the girl -looked across at the hills on the dry side of the -valley and the man looked at her and at the -table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ve got to realize,” he said, “that I don’t -want you to do it if you don’t want to. I’m -perfectly willing to go through with it if it -means anything to you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Doesn’t it mean anything to you? We could -get along.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Of course it does. But I don’t want anybody -but you. I don’t want any one else. And -I know it’s perfectly simple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, you know it’s perfectly simple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right for you to say that, but I do -know it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would you do something for me now?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d do anything for you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would you please please please please -please please please stop talking?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He did not say anything but looked at the -bags against the wall of the station. There -were labels on them from all the hotels where -they had spent nights.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I don’t want you to,” he said, “I don’t -care anything about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll scream,” the girl said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The woman came out through the curtains -with two glasses of beer and put them down on -the damp felt pads. “The train comes in five -minutes,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did she say?” asked the girl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That the train is coming in five minutes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl smiled brightly at the woman, to -thank her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d better take the bags over to the other -side of the station,” the man said. She smiled -at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. Then come back and we’ll finish -the beer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He picked up the two heavy bags and carried -them around the station to the other tracks. He -looked up the tracks but could not see the train. -Coming back, he walked through the barroom, -where people waiting for the train were drinking. -He drank an Anis at the bar and looked -at the people. They were all waiting reasonably -for the train. He went out through the -bead curtain. She was sitting at the table and -smiled at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you feel better?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I feel fine,” she said. “There’s nothing -wrong with me. I feel fine.”</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch4'>THE KILLERS</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> door of Henry’s lunch-room opened -and two men came in. They sat down at the -counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s yours?” George asked them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” one of the men said. “What -do you want to eat, Al?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” said Al. “I don’t know what -I want to eat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Outside it was getting dark. The street-light -came on outside the window. The two men at -the counter read the menu. From the other -end of the counter Nick Adams watched them. -He had been talking to George when they -came in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have a roast pork tenderloin with apple -sauce and mashed potatoes,” the first man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t ready yet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What the hell do you put it on the card -for?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the dinner,” George explained. -“You can get that at six o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George looked at the clock on the wall behind -the counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s five o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The clock says twenty minutes past five,” -the second man said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s twenty minutes fast.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, to hell with the clock,” the first man -said. “What have you got to eat?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can give you any kind of sandwiches,” -George said. “You can have ham and eggs, -bacon and eggs, liver and bacon, or a steak.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me chicken croquettes with green peas -and cream sauce and mashed potatoes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the dinner.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Everything we want’s the dinner, eh? -That’s the way you work it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can give you ham and eggs, bacon and -eggs, liver——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll take ham and eggs,” the man called Al -said. He wore a derby hat and a black overcoat -buttoned across the chest. His face was -small and white and he had tight lips. He -wore a silk muffler and gloves.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me bacon and eggs,” said the other -man. He was about the same size as Al. Their -faces were different, but they were dressed like -twins. Both wore overcoats too tight for them. -They sat leaning forward, their elbows on the -counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Got anything to drink?” Al asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Silver beer, bevo, ginger-ale,” George said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I mean you got anything to <span class='it'>drink</span>?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just those I said.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is a hot town,” said the other. “What -do they call it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Summit.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ever hear of it?” Al asked his friend.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the friend.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you do here nights?” Al asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They eat the dinner,” his friend said. -“They all come here and eat the big dinner.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s right,” George said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So you think that’s right?” Al asked George.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re a pretty bright boy, aren’t you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said George.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you’re not,” said the other little man. -“Is he, Al?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s dumb,” said Al. He turned to Nick. -“What’s your name?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Adams.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Another bright boy,” Al said. “Ain’t he a -bright boy, Max?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The town’s full of bright boys,” Max said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George put the two platters, one of ham and -eggs, the other of bacon and eggs, on the counter. -He set down two side-dishes of fried potatoes -and closed the wicket into the kitchen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Which is yours?” he asked Al.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you remember?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ham and eggs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just a bright boy,” Max said. He leaned -forward and took the ham and eggs. Both men -ate with their gloves on. George watched them -eat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are <span class='it'>you</span> looking at?” Max looked at -George.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The hell you were. You were looking at -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe the boy meant it for a joke, Max,” -Al said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George laughed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>You</span> don’t have to laugh,” Max said to him. -“<span class='it'>You</span> don’t have to laugh at all, see?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” said George.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So he thinks it’s all right.” Max turned to -Al. “He thinks it’s all right. That’s a good -one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he’s a thinker,” Al said. They went on -eating.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the bright boy’s name down the -counter?” Al asked Max.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, bright boy,” Max said to Nick. “You -go around on the other side of the counter with -your boy friend.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the idea?” Nick asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There isn’t any idea.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You better go around, bright boy,” Al said. -Nick went around behind the counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the idea?” George asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None of your damn business,” Al said. -“Who’s out in the kitchen?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The nigger.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean the nigger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The nigger that cooks.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell him to come in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the idea?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell him to come in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where do you think you are?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We know damn well where we are,” the -man called Max said. “Do we look silly?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You talk silly,” Al said to him. “What the -hell do you argue with this kid for? Listen,” -he said to George, “tell the nigger to come out -here.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are you going to do to him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing. Use your head, bright boy. -What would we do to a nigger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George opened the slit that opened back into -the kitchen. “Sam,” he called. “Come in here -a minute.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The door to the kitchen opened and the nigger -came in. “What was it?” he asked. The -two men at the counter took a look at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, nigger. You stand right there,” -Al said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sam, the nigger, standing in his apron, looked -at the two men sitting at the counter. “Yes, -sir,” he said. Al got down from his stool.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m going back to the kitchen with the nigger -and bright boy,” he said. “Go on back to -the kitchen, nigger. You go with him, bright -boy.” The little man walked after Nick and -Sam, the cook, back into the kitchen. The door -shut after them. The man called Max sat at -the counter opposite George. He didn’t look at -George but looked in the mirror that ran along -back of the counter. Henry’s had been made -over from a saloon into a lunch-counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, bright boy,” Max said, looking into -the mirror, “why don’t you say something?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s it all about?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, Al,” Max called, “bright boy wants -to know what it’s all about.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you tell him?” Al’s voice came -from the kitchen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you think it’s all about?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you think?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Max looked into the mirror all the time he -was talking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wouldn’t say.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, Al, bright boy says he wouldn’t say -what he thinks it’s all about.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can hear you, all right,” Al said from the -kitchen. He had propped open the slit that -dishes passed through into the kitchen with a -catsup bottle. “Listen, bright boy,” he said -from the kitchen to George. “Stand a little further -along the bar. You move a little to the left, -Max.” He was like a photographer arranging -for a group picture.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Talk to me, bright boy,” Max said. “What -do you think’s going to happen?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George did not say anything.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you,” Max said. “We’re going to -kill a Swede. Do you know a big Swede named -Ole Andreson?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He comes here to eat every night, don’t -he?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes he comes here.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He comes here at six o’clock, don’t he?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If he comes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We know all that, bright boy,” Max said. -“Talk about something else. Ever go to the -movies?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Once in a while.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to go to the movies more. The -movies are fine for a bright boy like you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are you going to kill Ole Andreson -for? What did he ever do to you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He never had a chance to do anything to us. -He never even seen us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And he’s only going to see us once,” Al said -from the kitchen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are you going to kill him for, then?” -George asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’re killing him for a friend. Just to -oblige a friend, bright boy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shut up,” said Al from the kitchen. “You -talk too goddam much.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, I got to keep bright boy amused. -Don’t I, bright boy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You talk too damn much,” Al said. “The -nigger and my bright boy are amused by themselves. -I got them tied up like a couple of girl -friends in the convent.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I suppose you were in a convent.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You never know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were in a kosher convent. That’s -where you were.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George looked up at the clock.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If anybody comes in you tell them the cook -is off, and if they keep after it, you tell them -you’ll go back and cook yourself. Do you get -that, bright boy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” George said. “What you going -to do with us afterward?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’ll depend,” Max said. “That’s one -of those things you never know at the time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>George looked up at the clock. It was a -quarter past six. The door from the street -opened. A street-car motorman came in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, George,” he said. “Can I get supper?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sam’s gone out,” George said. “He’ll be -back in about half an hour.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d better go up the street,” the motorman -said. George looked at the clock. It was twenty -minutes past six.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was nice, bright boy,” Max said. -“You’re a regular little gentleman.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He knew I’d blow his head off,” Al said -from the kitchen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Max. “It ain’t that. Bright -boy is nice. He’s a nice boy. I like him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At six-fifty-five George said: “He’s not coming.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two other people had been in the lunch-room. -Once George had gone out to the kitchen -and made a ham-and-egg sandwich “to -go” that a man wanted to take with him. Inside -the kitchen he saw Al, his derby hat tipped back, -sitting on a stool beside the wicket with the -muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun resting on the -ledge. Nick and the cook were back to back in -the corner, a towel tied in each of their mouths. -George had cooked the sandwich, wrapped it -up in oiled paper, put it in a bag, brought it in, -and the man had paid for it and gone out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bright boy can do everything,” Max said. -“He can cook and everything. You’d make -some girl a nice wife, bright boy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” George said. “Your friend, Ole -Andreson, isn’t going to come.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll give him ten minutes,” Max said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Max watched the mirror and the clock. The -hands of the clock marked seven o’clock, and -then five minutes past seven.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on, Al,” said Max. “We better go. -He’s not coming.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Better give him five minutes,” Al said from -the kitchen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the five minutes a man came in, and -George explained that the cook was sick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why the hell don’t you get another cook?” -the man asked. “Aren’t you running a lunch-counter?” -He went out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on, Al,” Max said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What about the two bright boys and the -nigger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You think so?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. We’re through with it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t like it,” said Al. “It’s sloppy. You -talk too much.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what the hell,” said Max. “We got -to keep amused, haven’t we?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You talk too much, all the same,” Al said. -He came out from the kitchen. The cut-off -barrels of the shotgun made a slight bulge -under the waist of his too tight-fitting overcoat. -He straightened his coat with his gloved -hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So long, bright boy,” he said to George. -“You got a lot of luck.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the truth,” Max said. “You ought -to play the races, bright boy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The two of them went out the door. George -watched them, through the window, pass under -the arc-light and cross the street. In their -tight overcoats and derby hats they looked like -a vaudeville team. George went back through -the swinging-door into the kitchen and untied -Nick and the cook.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want any more of that,” said Sam, -the cook. “I don’t want any more of that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick stood up. He had never had a towel -in his mouth before.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say,” he said. “What the hell?” He was -trying to swagger it off.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They were going to kill Ole Andreson,” -George said. “They were going to shoot him -when he came in to eat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ole Andreson?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook felt the corners of his mouth with -his thumbs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They all gone?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yeah,” said George. “They’re gone now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t like it,” said the cook. “I don’t -like any of it at all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen,” George said to Nick. “You better -go see Ole Andreson.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You better not have anything to do with it -at all,” Sam, the cook, said. “You better stay -way out of it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t go if you don’t want to,” George -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mixing up in this ain’t going to get you -anywhere,” the cook said. “You stay out of it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go see him,” Nick said to George. -“Where does he live?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook turned away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Little boys always know what they want -to do,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He lives up at Hirsch’s rooming-house,” -George said to Nick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go up there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Outside the arc-light shone through the bare -branches of a tree. Nick walked up the street -beside the car-tracks and turned at the next arc-light -down a side-street. Three houses up the -street was Hirsch’s rooming-house. Nick -walked up the two steps and pushed the bell. -A woman came to the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is Ole Andreson here?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you want to see him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if he’s in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick followed the woman up a flight of -stairs and back to the end of a corridor. She -knocked on the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who is it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s somebody to see you, Mr. Andreson,” -the woman said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s Nick Adams.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come in.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick opened the door and went into the -room. Ole Andreson was lying on the bed with -all his clothes on. He had been a heavyweight -prizefighter and he was too long for the bed. -He lay with his head on two pillows. He did -not look at Nick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What was it?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was up at Henry’s,” Nick said, “and two -fellows came in and tied up me and the cook, -and they said they were going to kill you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It sounded silly when he said it. Ole Andreson -said nothing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They put us out in the kitchen,” Nick went -on. “They were going to shoot you when you -came in to supper.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ole Andreson looked at the wall and did not -say anything.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“George thought I better come and tell you -about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There isn’t anything I can do about it,” Ole -Andreson said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you what they were like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want to know what they were like,” -Ole Andreson said. He looked at the wall. -“Thanks for coming to tell me about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick looked at the big man lying on the bed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you want me to go and see the police?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Ole Andreson said. “That wouldn’t -do any good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t there something I could do?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. There ain’t anything to do.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe it was just a bluff.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. It ain’t just a bluff.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ole Andreson rolled over toward the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The only thing is,” he said, talking toward -the wall, “I just can’t make up my mind to go -out. I been in here all day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t you get out of town?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Ole Andreson said. “I’m through -with all that running around.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked at the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There ain’t anything to do now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t you fix it up some way?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. I got in wrong.” He talked in the -same flat voice. “There ain’t anything to do. -After a while I’ll make up my mind to go out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I better go back and see George,” Nick -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So long,” said Ole Andreson. He did not -look toward Nick. “Thanks for coming -around.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick went out. As he shut the door he saw -Ole Andreson with all his clothes on, lying on -the bed looking at the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s been in his room all day,” the landlady -said downstairs. “I guess he don’t feel -well. I said to him: ‘Mr. Andreson, you -ought to go out and take a walk on a nice fall -day like this,’ but he didn’t feel like it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He doesn’t want to go out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m sorry he don’t feel well,” the woman -said. “He’s an awfully nice man. He was in -the ring, you know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’d never know it except from the way -his face is,” the woman said. They stood talking -just inside the street door. “He’s just as -gentle.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, good-night, Mrs. Hirsch,” Nick said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m not Mrs. Hirsch,” the woman said. -“She owns the place. I just look after it for -her. I’m Mrs. Bell.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, good-night, Mrs. Bell,” Nick said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night,” the woman said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick walked up the dark street to the corner -under the arc-light, and then along the car-tracks -to Henry’s eating-house. George was -inside, back of the counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did you see Ole?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Nick. “He’s in his room and he -won’t go out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook opened the door from the kitchen -when he heard Nick’s voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t even listen to it,” he said and shut -the door.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did you tell him about it?” George asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. I told him but he knows what it’s -all about.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s he going to do?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’ll kill him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess they will.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He must have got mixed up in something -in Chicago.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess so,” said Nick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a hell of a thing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s an awful thing,” Nick said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They did not say anything. George reached -down for a towel and wiped the counter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wonder what he did?” Nick said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Double-crossed somebody. That’s what -they kill them for.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m going to get out of this town,” Nick -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said George. “That’s a good thing -to do.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t stand to think about him waiting in -the room and knowing he’s going to get it. -It’s too damned awful.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said George, “you better not think -about it.”</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch5'>CHE TI DICE LA PATRIA?</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> road of the pass was hard and smooth -and not yet dusty in the early morning. Below -were the hills with oak and chestnut trees, -and far away below was the sea. On the other -side were snowy mountains.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came down from the pass through -wooded country. There were bags of charcoal -piled beside the road, and through the trees -we saw charcoal-burners’ huts. It was Sunday -and the road, rising and falling, but always -dropping away from the altitude of the pass, -went through the scrub woods and through villages.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Outside the villages there were fields with -vines. The fields were brown and the vines -coarse and thick. The houses were white, and -in the streets the men, in their Sunday clothes, -were playing bowls. Against the walls of some -of the houses there were pear trees, their -branches candelabraed against the white walls. -The pear trees had been sprayed, and the walls -of the houses were stained a metallic blue-green -by the spray vapor. There were small -clearings around the villages where the vines -grew, and then the woods.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In a village, twenty kilometres above Spezia, -there was a crowd in the square, and a young -man carrying a suitcase came up to the car and -asked us to take him in to Spezia.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There are only two places, and they are occupied,” -I said. We had an old Ford coupé.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I will ride on the outside.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will be uncomfortable.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That makes nothing. I must go to Spezia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Should we take him?” I asked Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He seems to be going anyway,” Guy said. -The young man handed in a parcel through the -window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look after this,” he said. Two men tied -his suitcase on the back of the car, above our -suitcases. He shook hands with every one, explained -that to a Fascist and a man as used to -travelling as himself there was no discomfort, -and climbed up on the running-board on the -left-hand side of the car, holding on inside, his -right arm through the open window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can start,” he said. The crowd waved. -He waved with his free hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did he say?” Guy asked me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That we could start.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t he nice?” Guy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The road followed a river. Across the river -were mountains. The sun was taking the frost -out of the grass. It was bright and cold and -the air came cold through the open wind-shield.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you think he likes it out there?” -Guy was looking up the road. His view out of -his side of the car was blocked by our guest. -The young man projected from the side of the -car like the figurehead of a ship. He had -turned his coat collar up and pulled his hat -down and his nose looked cold in the wind.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe he’ll get enough of it,” Guy said. -“That’s the side our bum tire’s on.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he’d leave us if we blew out,” I said. -“He wouldn’t get his travelling-clothes dirty.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t mind him,” Guy said—“except -the way he leans out on the turns.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The woods were gone; the road had left the -river to climb; the radiator was boiling; the -young man looked annoyedly and suspiciously -at the steam and rusty water; the engine was -grinding, with both Guy’s feet on the first-speed -pedal, up and up, back and forth and -up, and, finally, out level. The grinding -stopped, and in the new quiet there was a great -churning bubbling in the radiator. We were -at the top of the last range above Spezia and -the sea. The road descended with short, barely -rounded turns. Our guest hung out on the -turns and nearly pulled the top-heavy car over.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t tell him not to,” I said to Guy. -“It’s his sense of self-preservation.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The great Italian sense.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The greatest Italian sense.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came down around curves, through deep -dust, the dust powdering the olive trees. -Spezia spread below along the sea. The road -flattened outside the town. Our guest put his -head in the window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I want to stop.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Stop it,” I said to Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We slowed up, at the side of the road. The -young man got down, went to the back of the -car and untied the suitcase.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I stop here, so you won’t get into trouble -carrying passengers,” he said. “My package.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I handed him the package. He reached in -his pocket.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How much do I owe you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then thanks,” the young man said, not -“thank you,” or “thank you very much,” or -“thank you a thousand times,” all of which you -formerly said in Italy to a man when he handed -you a time-table or explained about a direction. -The young man uttered the lowest form of the -word “thanks” and looked after us suspiciously -as Guy started the car. I waved my hand at -him. He was too dignified to reply. We went -on into Spezia.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s a young man that will go a long way -in Italy,” I said to Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Guy, “he went twenty kilometres -with us.”</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:.8em;'>A MEAL IN SPEZIA</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came into Spezia looking for a place to -eat. The street was wide and the houses high -and yellow. We followed the tram-track into -the centre of town. On the walls of the houses -were stencilled eye-bugging portraits of Mussolini, -with hand-painted “vivas,” the double -V in black paint with drippings of paint down -the wall. Side-streets went down to the harbor. -It was bright and the people were all out -for Sunday. The stone paving had been sprinkled -and there were damp stretches in the dust. -We went close to the curb to avoid a tram.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s eat somewhere simple,” Guy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We stopped opposite two restaurant signs. -We were standing across the street and I was -buying the papers. The two restaurants were -side by side. A woman standing in the doorway -of one smiled at us and we crossed the street -and went in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was dark inside and at the back of the room -three girls were sitting at a table with an old -woman. Across from us, at another table, sat a -sailor. He sat there neither eating nor drinking. -Further back, a young man in a blue suit -was writing at a table. His hair was pomaded -and shining and he was very smartly dressed -and clean-cut looking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The light came through the doorway, and -through the window where vegetables, fruit, -steaks, and chops were arranged in a show-case. -A girl came and took our order and another -girl stood in the doorway. We noticed that she -wore nothing under her house dress. The girl -who took our order put her arm around Guy’s -neck while we were looking at the menu. There -were three girls in all, and they all took turns -going and standing in the doorway. The old -woman at the table in the back of the room -spoke to them and they sat down again with -her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no doorway leading from the -room except into the kitchen. A curtain hung -over it. The girl who had taken our order -came in from the kitchen with spaghetti. She -put it on the table and brought a bottle of red -wine and sat down at the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said to Guy, “you wanted to eat -some place simple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This isn’t simple. This is complicated.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you say?” asked the girl. “Are -you Germans?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“South Germans,” I said. “The South Germans -are a gentle, lovable people.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t understand,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the mechanics of this place?” Guy -asked. “Do I have to let her put her arm -around my neck?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Certainly,” I said. “Mussolini has abolished -the brothels. This is a restaurant.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl wore a one-piece dress. She -leaned forward against the table and put her -hands on her breasts and smiled. She smiled -better on one side than on the other and turned -the good side toward us. The charm of the -good side had been enhanced by some event -which had smoothed the other side of her nose -in, as warm wax can be smoothed. Her nose, -however, did not look like warm wax. It was -very cold and firmed, only smoothed in. “You -like me?” she asked Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He adores you,” I said. “But he doesn’t -speak Italian.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ich spreche Deutsch,” she said, and stroked -Guy’s hair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Speak to the lady in your native tongue, -Guy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where do you come from?” asked the lady.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Potsdam.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you will stay here now for a little -while?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In this so dear Spezia?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell her we have to go,” said Guy. “Tell -her we are very ill, and have no money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My friend is a misogynist,” I said, “an -old German misogynist.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell him I love him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will you shut your mouth and get us out of -here?” Guy said. The lady had placed another -arm around his neck. “Tell him he is mine,” -she said. I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will you get us out of here?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are quarrelling,” the lady said. “You -do not love one another.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We are Germans,” I said proudly, “old -South Germans.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell him he is a beautiful boy,” the lady -said. Guy is thirty-eight and takes some pride -in the fact that he is taken for a travelling salesman -in France. “You are a beautiful boy,” I -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who says so?” Guy asked, “you or her?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She does. I’m just your interpreter. Isn’t -that what you got me in on this trip for?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m glad it’s her,” said Guy. “I didn’t want -to have to leave you here too.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. Spezia’s a lovely place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Spezia,” the lady said. “You are talking -about Spezia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Lovely place,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is my country,” she said. “Spezia is my -home and Italy is my country.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She says that Italy is her country.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell her it looks like her country,” Guy -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What have you for dessert?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fruit,” she said. “We have bananas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bananas are all right,” Guy said. “They’ve -got skins on.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he takes bananas,” the lady said. She -embraced Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What does she say?” he asked, keeping his -face out of the way.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She is pleased because you take bananas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell her I don’t take bananas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Signor does not take bananas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah,” said the lady, crestfallen, “he doesn’t -take bananas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell her I take a cold bath every morning,” -Guy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Signor takes a cold bath every morning.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No understand,” the lady said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Across from us, the property sailor had not -moved. No one in the place paid any attention -to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We want the bill,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no. You must stay.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen,” the clean-cut young man said from -the table where he was writing, “let them go. -These two are worth nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The lady took my hand. “You won’t stay? -You won’t ask him to stay?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We have to go,” I said. “We have to get -to Pisa, or if possible, Firenze, to-night. We -can amuse ourselves in those cities at the end of -the day. It is now the day. In the day we -must cover distance.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To stay a little while is nice.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To travel is necessary during the light of -day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen,” the clean-cut young man said. -“Don’t bother to talk with these two. I tell you -they are worth nothing and I know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bring us the bill,” I said. She brought the -bill from the old woman and went back and sat -at the table. Another girl came in from the -kitchen. She walked the length of the room -and stood in the doorway.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t bother with these two,” the clean-cut -young man said in a wearied voice. “Come -and eat. They are worth nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We paid the bill and stood up. All the girls, -the old woman, and the clean-cut young man -sat down at table together. The property sailor -sat with his head in his hands. No one had -spoken to him all the time we were at lunch. -The girl brought us our change that the old -woman counted out for her and went back to -her place at the table. We left a tip on the -table and went out. When we were seated in -the car ready to start, the girl came out and -stood in the door. We started and I waved to -her. She did not wave, but stood there looking -after us.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:.8em;'>AFTER THE RAIN</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was raining hard when we passed through -the suburbs of Genoa and, even going very -slowly behind the tram-cars and the motor -trucks, liquid mud splashed on to the sidewalks, -so that people stepped into doorways as they -saw us coming. In San Pier d’Arena, the industrial -suburb outside of Genoa, there is a wide -street with two car-tracks and we drove down -the centre to avoid sending the mud on to the -men going home from work. On our left was -the Mediterranean. There was a big sea running -and waves broke and the wind blew the -spray against the car. A river-bed that, when -we had passed, going into Italy, had been wide, -stony and dry, was running brown, and up to -the banks. The brown water discolored the -sea and as the waves thinned and cleared in -breaking, the light came through the yellow -water and the crests, detached by the wind, -blew across the road.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A big car passed us, going fast, and a sheet of -muddy water rose up and over our wind-shield -and radiator. The automatic wind-shield -cleaner moved back and forth, spreading the -film over the glass. We stopped and ate lunch -at Sestri. There was no heat in the restaurant -and we kept our hats and coats on. We could -see the car outside, through the window. It -was covered with mud and was stopped beside -some boats that had been pulled up beyond the -waves. In the restaurant you could see your -breath.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The <span class='it'>pasta asciuta</span> was good; the wine tasted -of alum, and we poured water in it. Afterward -the waiter brought beefsteak and fried potatoes. -A man and a woman sat at the far end of the -restaurant. He was middle-aged and she was -young and wore black. All during the meal she -would blow out her breath in the cold damp -air. The man would look at it and shake his -head. They ate without talking and the man -held her hand under the table. She was good-looking -and they seemed very sad. They had -a travelling-bag with them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had the papers and I read the account of -the Shanghai fighting aloud to Guy. After the -meal, he left with the waiter in search for a -place which did not exist in the restaurant, and I -cleaned off the wind-shield, the lights and the -license plates with a rag. Guy came back and -we backed the car out and started. The waiter -had taken him across the road and into an old -house. The people in the house were suspicious -and the waiter had remained with Guy to see -nothing was stolen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Although I don’t know how, me not being a -plumber, they expected me to steal anything,” -Guy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we came up on a headland beyond the -town, the wind struck the car and nearly tipped -it over.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s good it blows us away from the sea,” -Guy said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “they drowned Shelley somewhere -along here.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was down by Viareggio,” Guy said. -“Do you remember what we came to this country -for?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I said, “but we didn’t get it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll be out of it to-night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If we can get past Ventimiglia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll see. I don’t like to drive this coast at -night.” It was early afternoon and the sun was -out. Below, the sea was blue with whitecaps -running toward Savona. Back, beyond the cape, -the brown and blue waters joined. Out ahead -of us, a tramp steamer was going up the coast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Can you still see Genoa?” Guy asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That next big cape ought to put it out of -sight.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll see it a long time yet. I can still see -Portofino Cape behind it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Finally we could not see Genoa. I looked -back as we came out and there was only the sea, -and below in the bay, a line of beach with fishing-boats -and above, on the side of the hill, a -town and then capes far down the coast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s gone now,” I said to Guy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it’s been gone a long time now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But we couldn’t be sure till we got way out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was a sign with a picture of an S-turn -and Svolta Pericolosa. The road curved around -the headland and the wind blew through the -crack in the wind-shield. Below the cape was a -flat stretch beside the sea. The wind had dried -the mud and the wheels were beginning to lift -dust. On the flat road we passed a Fascist riding -a bicycle, a heavy revolver in a holster on -his back. He held the middle of the road on -his bicycle and we turned out for him. He -looked up at us as we passed. Ahead there was -a railway crossing, and as we came toward it -the gates went down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we waited, the Fascist came up on his bicycle. -The train went by and Guy started the -engine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wait,” the bicycle man shouted from behind -the car. “Your number’s dirty.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I got out with a rag. The number had been -cleaned at lunch.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can read it,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You think so?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Read it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cannot read it. It is dirty.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I wiped it off with the rag.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Twenty-five lire.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What?” I said. “You could have read it. -It’s only dirty from the state of the roads.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t like Italian roads?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They are dirty.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fifty lire.” He spat in the road. “Your -car is dirty and you are dirty too.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good. And give me a receipt with your -name.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He took out a receipt-book, made in duplicate, -and perforated, so one side could be given -to the customer, and the other side filled in and -kept as a stub. There was no carbon to record -what the customer’s ticket said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me fifty lire.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He wrote in indelible pencil, tore out the -slip and handed it to me. I read it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is for twenty-five lire.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A mistake,” he said, and changed the -twenty-five to fifty.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And now the other side. Make it fifty in -the part you keep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He smiled a beautiful Italian smile and wrote -something on the receipt stub, holding it so I -could not see.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go on,” he said, “before your number gets -dirty again.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We drove for two hours after it was dark and -slept in Mentone that night. It seemed very -cheerful and clean and sane and lovely. We -had driven from Ventimiglia to Pisa and Florence, -across the Romagna to Rimini, back -through Forli, Imola, Bologna, Parma, Piacenza -and Genoa, to Ventimiglia again. The -whole trip had only taken ten days. Naturally, -in such a short trip, we had no opportunity to -see how things were with the country or the -people.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch6'>FIFTY GRAND</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>How</span> are you going yourself, Jack?” I -asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seen this, Walcott?” he says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just in the gym.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” Jack says, “I’m going to need a lot -of luck with that boy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He can’t hit you, Jack,” Soldier said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wish to hell he couldn’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He couldn’t hit you with a handful of bird-shot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bird-shot’d be all right,” Jack says. “I -wouldn’t mind bird-shot any.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He looks easy to hit,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” Jack says, “he ain’t going to last long. -He ain’t going to last like you and me, Jerry. -But right now he’s got everything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll left-hand him to death.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe,” Jack says. “Sure. I got a chance -to.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Handle him like you handled Kid Lewis.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Kid Lewis,” Jack said. “That kike!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The three of us, Jack Brennan, Soldier Bartlett, -and I were in Handley’s. There were a -couple of broads sitting at the next table to us. -They had been drinking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean, kike?” one of the broads -says. “What do you mean, kike, you big Irish -bum?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” Jack says. “That’s it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Kikes,” this broad goes on. “They’re always -talking about kikes, these big Irishmen. -What do you mean, kikes?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Kikes,” this broad goes on. “Whoever saw -you ever buy a drink? Your wife sews your -pockets up every morning. These Irishmen and -their kikes! Ted Lewis could lick you too.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” Jack says. “And you give away a lot -of things free too, don’t you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went out. That was Jack. He could say -what he wanted to when he wanted to say it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack started training out at Danny Hogan’s -health-farm over in Jersey. It was nice out -there but Jack didn’t like it much. He didn’t -like being away from his wife and the kids, and -he was sore and grouchy most of the time. He -liked me and we got along fine together; and he -liked Hogan, but after a while Soldier Bartlett -commenced to get on his nerves. A kidder gets -to be an awful thing around a camp if his stuff -goes sort of sour. Soldier was always kidding -Jack, just sort of kidding him all the time. It -wasn’t very funny and it wasn’t very good, and -it began to get to Jack. It was sort of stuff like -this. Jack would finish up with the weights and -the bag and pull on the gloves.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You want to work?” he’d say to Soldier.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. How you want me to work?” Soldier -would ask. “Want me to treat you rough -like Walcott? Want me to knock you down -a few times?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s it,” Jack would say. He didn’t like -it any, though.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One morning we were all out on the road. -We’d been out quite a way and now we were -coming back. We’d go along fast for three -minutes and then walk a minute, and then go -fast for three minutes again. Jack wasn’t ever -what you would call a sprinter. He’d move -around fast enough in the ring if he had to, -but he wasn’t any too fast on the road. All the -time we were walking Soldier was kidding him. -We came up the hill to the farmhouse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” says Jack, “you better go back to -town, Soldier.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You better go back to town and stay there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m sick of hearing you talk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” says Soldier.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” says Jack.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll be a damn sight sicker when Walcott -gets through with you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” says Jack, “maybe I will. But I -know I’m sick of you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So Soldier went off on the train to town that -same morning. I went down with him to the -train. He was good and sore.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was just kidding him,” he said. We were -waiting on the platform. “He can’t pull that -stuff with me, Jerry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s nervous and crabby,” I said. “He’s a -good fellow, Soldier.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The hell he is. The hell he’s ever been a -good fellow.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “so long, Soldier.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The train had come in. He climbed up with -his bag.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So long, Jerry,” he says. “You be in town -before the fight?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“See you then.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He went in and the conductor swung up and -the train went out. I rode back to the farm in -the cart. Jack was on the porch writing a letter -to his wife. The mail had come and I got the -papers and went over on the other side of the -porch and sat down to read. Hogan came out -the door and walked over to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did he have a jam with Soldier?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not a jam,” I said. “He just told him to -go back to town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I could see it coming,” Hogan said. “He -never liked Soldier much.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. He don’t like many people.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a pretty cold one,” Hogan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, he’s always been fine to me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Me too,” Hogan said. “I got no kick on -him. He’s a cold one, though.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hogan went in through the screen door and -I sat there on the porch and read the papers. -It was just starting to get fall weather and it’s -nice country there in Jersey, up in the hills, and -after I read the paper through I sat there and -looked out at the country and the road down -below against the woods with cars going along it, -lifting the dust up. It was fine weather and -pretty nice-looking country. Hogan came to -the door and I said, “Say, Hogan, haven’t you -got anything to shoot out here?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Hogan said. “Only sparrows.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Seen the paper?” I said to Hogan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s in it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sande booted three of them in yesterday.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got that on the telephone last night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You follow them pretty close, Hogan?” -I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I keep in touch with them,” Hogan -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How about Jack?” I says. “Does he still -play them?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Him?” said Hogan. “Can you see him doing -it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Just then Jack came around the corner with -the letter in his hand. He’s wearing a sweater -and an old pair of pants and boxing shoes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Got a stamp, Hogan?” he asks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give me the letter,” Hogan said. “I’ll mail -it for you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Jack,” I said, “didn’t you used to play -the ponies?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I knew you did. I knew I used to see you -out at Sheepshead.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you lay off them for?” Hogan -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Lost money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack sat down on the porch by me. He leaned -back against a post. He shut his eyes in the sun.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Want a chair?” Hogan asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Jack. “This is fine.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a nice day,” I said. “It’s pretty nice -out in the country.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d a damn sight rather be in town with the -wife.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you only got another week.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Jack says. “That’s so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We sat there on the porch. Hogan was inside -at the office.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you think about the shape I’m in?” -Jack asked me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you can’t tell,” I said. “You got a -week to get around into form.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t stall me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “you’re not right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m not sleeping,” Jack said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll be all right in a couple of days.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” says Jack, “I got the insomnia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s on your mind?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I miss the wife.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have her come out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. I’m too old for that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ll take a long walk before you turn in -and get you good and tired.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tired!” Jack says. “I’m tired all the time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was that way all week. He wouldn’t -sleep at night and he’d get up in the morning -feeling that way, you know, when you can’t shut -your hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s stale as poorhouse cake,” Hogan said. -“He’s nothing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I never seen Walcott,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’ll kill him,” said Hogan. “He’ll tear -him in two.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “everybody’s got to get it -sometime.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not like this, though,” Hogan said. -“They’ll think he never trained. It gives the -farm a black eye.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You hear what the reporters said about -him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t I! They said he was awful. They -said they oughtn’t to let him fight.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “they’re always wrong, ain’t -they?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Hogan. “But this time they’re -right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What the hell do they know about whether -a man’s right or not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Hogan, “they’re not such -fools.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All they did was pick Willard at Toledo. -This Lardner, he’s so wise now, ask him about -when he picked Willard at Toledo.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Aw, he wasn’t out,” Hogan said. “He only -writes the big fights.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t care who they are,” I said. “What -the hell do they know? They can write maybe, -but what the hell do they know?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t think Jack’s in any shape, do -you?” Hogan asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. He’s through. All he needs is to have -Corbett pick him to win for it to be all over.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, Corbett’ll pick him,” Hogan says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. He’ll pick him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That night Jack didn’t sleep any either. The -next morning was the last day before the fight. -After breakfast we were out on the porch again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you think about, Jack, when you -can’t sleep?” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I worry,” Jack says. “I worry about -property I got up in the Bronx, I worry about -property I got in Florida. I worry about the -kids. I worry about the wife. Sometimes I -think about fights. I think about that kike Ted -Lewis and I get sore. I got some stocks and I -worry about them. What the hell don’t I think -about?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “to-morrow night it’ll all be -over.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Jack. “That always helps a lot, -don’t it? That just fixes everything all up, I -suppose. Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was sore all day. We didn’t do any work. -Jack just moved around a little to loosen up. -He shadow-boxed a few rounds. He didn’t even -look good doing that. He skipped the rope a -little while. He couldn’t sweat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’d be better not to do any work at all,” -Hogan said. We were standing watching him -skip rope. “Don’t he ever sweat at all any -more?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He can’t sweat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you suppose he’s got the con? He never -had any trouble making weight, did he?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, he hasn’t got any con. He just hasn’t -got anything inside any more.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He ought to sweat,” said Hogan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack came over, skipping the rope. He was -skipping up and down in front of us, forward -and back, crossing his arms every third time.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” he says. “What are you buzzards -talking about?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think you ought to work any more,” -Hogan says. “You’ll be stale.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wouldn’t that be awful?” Jack says and -skips away down the floor, slapping the rope -hard.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That afternoon John Collins showed up out -at the farm. Jack was up in his room. John, -came out in a car from town. He had a couple -of friends with him. The car stopped and they -all got out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’s Jack?” John asked me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Up in his room, lying down.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Lying down?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How is he?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I looked at the two fellows that were with -John.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re friends of his,” John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s pretty bad,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter with him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He don’t sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hell,” said John. “That Irishman could -never sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He isn’t right,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hell,” John said. “He’s never right. I’ve -had him for ten years and he’s never been right -yet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The fellows who were with him laughed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I want you to shake hands with Mr. Morgan -and Mr. Steinfelt,” John said. “This is Mr. -Doyle. He’s been training Jack.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Glad to meet you,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s go up and see the boy,” the fellow -called Morgan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s have a look at him,” Steinfelt said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We all went upstairs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’s Hogan?” John asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s out in the barn with a couple of his -customers,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He got many people out here now?” John -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just two.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pretty quiet, ain’t it?” Morgan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I said. “It’s pretty quiet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were outside Jack’s room. John knocked -on the door. There wasn’t any answer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe he’s asleep,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What the hell’s he sleeping in the daytime -for?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John turned the handle and we all went in. -Jack was lying asleep on the bed. He was face -down and his face was in the pillow. Both his -arms were around the pillow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, Jack!” John said to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack’s head moved a little on the pillow. -“Jack!” John says, leaning over him. Jack -just dug a little deeper in the pillow. John -touched him on the shoulder. Jack sat up and -looked at us. He hadn’t shaved and he was -wearing an old sweater.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Christ! Why can’t you let me sleep?” he -says to John.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be sore,” John says. “I didn’t mean -to wake you up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh no,” Jack says. “Of course not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know Morgan and Steinfelt,” John -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Glad to see you,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you feel, Jack,” Morgan asks him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fine,” Jack says. “How the hell would -I feel?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You look fine,” Steinfelt says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, don’t I,” says Jack. “Say,” he says -to John. “You’re my manager. You get a -big enough cut. Why the hell don’t you come -out here when the reporters was out! You want -Jerry and me to talk to them?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I had Lew fighting in Philadelphia,” John -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What the hell’s that to me?” Jack says. -“You’re my manager. You get a big enough -cut, don’t you? You aren’t making me any -money in Philadelphia, are you? Why the -hell aren’t you out here when I ought to have -you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hogan was here.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hogan,” Jack says. “Hogan’s as dumb as -I am.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Soldier Bathlett was out here wukking with -you for a while, wasn’t he?” Steinfelt said to -change the subject.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, he was out here,” Jack says. “He was -out here all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Jerry,” John said to me. “Would you -go and find Hogan and tell him we want to see -him in about half an hour?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why the hell can’t he stick around?” Jack -says. “Stick around, Jerry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Morgan and Steinfelt looked at each other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Quiet down, Jack,” John said to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I better go find Hogan,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, if you want to go,” Jack says. -“None of these guys are going to send you -away, though.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go find Hogan,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hogan was out in the gym in the barn. He -had a couple of his health-farm patients with -the gloves on. They neither one wanted to hit -the other, for fear the other would come back -and hit him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’ll do,” Hogan said when he saw me -come in. “You can stop the slaughter. You -gentlemen take a shower and Bruce will rub you -down.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They climbed out through the ropes and -Hogan came over to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“John Collins is out with a couple of friends -to see Jack,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw them come up in the car.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who are the two fellows with John?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re what you call wise boys,” Hogan -said. “Don’t you know them two?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s Happy Steinfelt and Lew Morgan. -They got a pool-room.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I been away a long time,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” said Hogan. “That Happy Steinfelt’s -a big operator.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve heard his name,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a pretty smooth boy,” Hogan said. -“They’re a couple of sharpshooters.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said. “They want to see us in half -an hour.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean they don’t want to see us until a -half an hour?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on in the office,” Hogan said. “To -hell with those sharpshooters.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After about thirty minutes or so Hogan and -I went upstairs. We knocked on Jack’s door. -They were talking inside the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wait a minute,” somebody said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To hell with that stuff,” Hogan said. -“When you want to see me I’m down in the -office.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We heard the door unlock. Steinfelt opened -it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on in, Hogan,” he says. “We’re all -going to have a drink.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” says Hogan. “That’s something.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went in. Jack was sitting on the bed. -John and Morgan were sitting on a couple of -chairs. Steinfelt was standing up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re a pretty mysterious lot of boys,” -Hogan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Danny,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Danny,” Morgan says and shakes -hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack doesn’t say anything. He just sits there -on the bed. He ain’t with the others. He’s all -by himself. He was wearing an old blue jersey -and pants and had on boxing shoes. He -needed a shave. Steinfelt and Morgan were -dressers. John was quite a dresser too. Jack -sat there looking Irish and tough.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Steinfelt brought out a bottle and Hogan -brought in some glasses and everybody had a -drink. Jack and I took one and the rest of them -went on and had two or three each.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Better save some for your ride back,” Hogan -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you worry. We got plenty,” Morgan -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack hadn’t drunk anything since the one -drink. He was standing up and looking at them. -Morgan was sitting on the bed where Jack had -sat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have a drink, Jack,” John said and handed -him the glass and the bottle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Jack said, “I never liked to go to these -wakes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They all laughed. Jack didn’t laugh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were all feeling pretty good when they -left. Jack stood on the porch when they got -into the car. They waved to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So long,” Jack said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had supper. Jack didn’t say anything all -during the meal except, “Will you pass me -this?” or “Will you pass me that?” The two -health-farm patients ate at the same table with -us. They were pretty nice fellows. After we -finished eating we went out on the porch. It -was dark early.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Like to take a walk, Jerry?” Jack asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We put on our coats and started out. It was -quite a way down to the main road and then we -walked along the main road about a mile and a -half. Cars kept going by and we would pull -out to the side until they were past. Jack didn’t -say anything. After we had stepped out into -the bushes to let a big car go by Jack said, “To -hell with this walking. Come on back to Hogan’s.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went along a side road that cut up over -the hill and cut across the fields back to Hogan’s. -We could see the lights of the house up -on the hill. We came around to the front of -the house and there standing in the doorway -was Hogan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have a good walk?” Hogan asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, fine,” Jack said. “Listen, Hogan. -Have you got any liquor?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” says Hogan. “What’s the idea?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Send it up to the room,” Jack says. “I’m -going to sleep to-night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re the doctor,” Hogan says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on up to the room, Jerry,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Upstairs Jack sat on the bed with his head in -his hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ain’t it a life?” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hogan brought in a quart of liquor and two -glasses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Want some ginger-ale?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you think I want to do, get sick?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I just asked you,” said Hogan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have a drink?” said Jack.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, thanks,” said Hogan. He went out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How about you, Jerry?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have one with you,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack poured out a couple of drinks. “Now,” -he said, “I want to take it slow and easy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put some water in it,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Jack said. “I guess that’s better.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had a couple of drinks without saying -anything. Jack started to pour me another.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” I said, “that’s all I want.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” Jack said. He poured himself -out another big shot and put water in it. He -was lighting up a little.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was a fine bunch out here this afternoon,” -he said. “They don’t take any chances, -those two.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then a little later, “Well,” he says, “they’re -right. What the hell’s the good in taking -chances?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you want another, Jerry?” he said. -“Come on, drink along with me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t need it, Jack,” I said. “I feel all -right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just have one more,” Jack said. It was -softening him up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack poured one for me and another big one -for himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know,” he said, “I like liquor pretty -well. If I hadn’t been boxing I would have -drunk quite a lot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know,” he said, “I missed a lot, boxing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You made plenty of money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure, that’s what I’m after. You know I -miss a lot, Jerry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” he says, “like about the wife. And -being away from home so much. It don’t do -my girls any good. ‘Whose your old man?’ -some of those society kids’ll say to them. ‘My -old man’s Jack Brennan.’ That don’t do them -any good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hell,” I said, “all that makes a difference -is if they got dough.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” says Jack, “I got the dough for them -all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He poured out another drink. The bottle -was about empty.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put some water in it,” I said. Jack poured -in some water.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know,” he says, “you ain’t got any idea -how I miss the wife.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ain’t got any idea. You can’t have an -idea what it’s like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It ought to be better out in the country than -in town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With me now,” Jack said, “it don’t make -any difference where I am. You can’t have an -idea what it’s like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have another drink.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Am I getting soused? Do I talk funny?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re coming on all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t have an idea what it’s like. They -ain’t anybody can have an idea what it’s like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Except the wife,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She knows,” Jack said. “She knows all -right. She knows. You bet she knows.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put some water in that,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jerry,” says Jack, “you can’t have an idea -what it gets to be like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was good and drunk. He was looking at -me steady. His eyes were sort of too steady.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll sleep all right,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen, Jerry,” Jack says. “You want to -make some money? Get some money down on -Walcott.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen, Jerry,” Jack put down the glass. -“I’m not drunk now, see? You know what I’m -betting on him? Fifty grand.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s a lot of dough.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fifty grand,” Jack says, “at two to one. I’ll -get twenty-five thousand bucks. Get some -money on him, Jerry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sounds good,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How can I beat him?” Jack says. “It ain’t -crooked. How can I beat him? Why not make -money on it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put some water in that,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m through after this fight,” Jack says. -“I’m through with it. I got to take a beating. -Why shouldn’t I make money on it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I ain’t slept for a week,” Jack says. “All -night I lay awake and worry my can off. I -can’t sleep, Jerry. You ain’t got an idea what -it’s like when you can’t sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t sleep. That’s all. I just can’t sleep. -What’s the use of taking care of yourself all -these years when you can’t sleep?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s bad.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ain’t got an idea what it’s like, Jerry, -when you can’t sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put some water in that,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Well, about eleven o’clock Jack passes out -and I put him to bed. Finally he’s so he can’t -keep from sleeping. I helped him get his -clothes off and got him into bed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll sleep all right, Jack,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” Jack says, “I’ll sleep now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night, Jack,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night, Jerry,” Jack says. “You’re the -only friend I got.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, hell,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re the only friend I got,” Jack says, -“the only friend I got.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go to sleep,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll sleep,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Downstairs Hogan was sitting at the desk -in the office reading the papers. He looked up. -“Well, you get your boy friend to sleep?” he -asks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s better for him than not sleeping,” Hogan -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’d have a hell of a time explaining that -to these sport writers though,” Hogan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’m going to bed myself,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night,” said Hogan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the morning I came downstairs about eight -o’clock and got some breakfast. Hogan had -his two customers out in the barn doing exercises. -I went out and watched them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“One! Two! Three! Four!” Hogan was -counting for them. “Hello, Jerry,” he said. -“Is Jack up yet?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. He’s still sleeping.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I went back to my room and packed up to go -in to town. About nine-thirty I heard Jack -getting up in the next room. When I heard -him go downstairs I went down after him. -Jack was sitting at the breakfast table. Hogan -had come in and was standing beside the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you feel, Jack?” I asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not so bad.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sleep well?” Hogan asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I slept all right,” Jack said. “I got a thick -tongue but I ain’t got a head.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good,” said Hogan. “That was good -liquor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put it on the bill,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What time you want to go into town?” -Hogan asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Before lunch,” Jack says. “The eleven -o’clock train.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, Jerry,” Jack said. Hogan went -out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I sat down at the table. Jack was eating a -grape-fruit. When he’d find a seed he’d spit -it out in the spoon and dump it on the plate.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess I was pretty stewed last night,” he -started.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You drank some liquor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess I said a lot of fool things.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You weren’t bad.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’s Hogan?” he asked. He was -through with the grape-fruit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s out in front in the office.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did I say about betting on the fight?” -Jack asked. He was holding the spoon and -sort of poking at the grape-fruit with it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl came in with some ham and eggs -and took away the grape-fruit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bring me another glass of milk,” Jack said -to her. She went out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You said you had fifty grand on Walcott,” -I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s right,” Jack said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s a lot of money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t feel too good about it,” Jack said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Something might happen.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Jack said. “He wants the title bad. -They’ll be shooting with him all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t ever tell.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. He wants the title. It’s worth a lot -of money to him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fifty grand is a lot of money,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s business,” said Jack. “I can’t win. You -know I can’t win anyway.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As long as you’re in there you got a chance.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Jack says. “I’m all through. It’s -just business.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you feel?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pretty good,” Jack said. “The sleep was -what I needed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You might go good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll give them a good show,” Jack said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After breakfast Jack called up his wife on -the long-distance. He was inside the booth -telephoning.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the first time he’s called her up -since he’s out here,” Hogan said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He writes her every day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” Hogan says, “a letter only costs -two cents.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hogan said good-by to us and Bruce, the -nigger rubber, drove us down to the train in the -cart.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-by, Mr. Brennan,” Bruce said at the -train, “I sure hope you knock his can off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So long,” Jack said. He gave Bruce two -dollars. Bruce had worked on him a lot. He -looked kind of disappointed. Jack saw me looking -at Bruce holding the two dollars.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s all in the bill,” he said. “Hogan -charged me for the rubbing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On the train going into town Jack didn’t talk. -He sat in the corner of the seat with his ticket -in his hat-band and looked out of the window. -Once he turned and spoke to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I told the wife I’d take a room at the Shelby -to-night,” he said. “It’s just around the corner -from the Garden. I can go up to the house to-morrow -morning.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s a good idea,” I said. “Your wife -ever see you fight, Jack?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Jack says. “She never seen me fight.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I thought he must be figuring on taking an -awful beating if he doesn’t want to go home -afterward. In town we took a taxi up to the -Shelby. A boy came out and took our bags and -we went in to the desk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How much are the rooms?” Jack asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We only have double rooms,” the clerk -says. “I can give you a nice double room for -ten dollars.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s too steep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can give you a double room for seven -dollars.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“With a bath?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Certainly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You might as well bunk with me, Jerry,” -Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” I said, “I’ll sleep down at my brother-in-law’s.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t mean for you to pay it,” Jack says. -“I just want to get my money’s worth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will you register, please?” the clerk says. -He looked at the names. “Number 238, -Mister Brennan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went up in the elevator. It was a nice -big room with two beds and a door opening into -a bath-room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is pretty good,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The boy who brought us up pulled up the -curtains and brought in our bags. Jack didn’t -make any move, so I gave the boy a quarter. -We washed up and Jack said we better go out -and get something to eat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We ate a lunch at Jimmey Handley’s place. -Quite a lot of the boys were there. When we -were about half through eating, John came in -and sat down with us. Jack didn’t talk much.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How are you on the weight, Jack?” John -asked him. Jack was putting away a pretty -good lunch.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I could make it with my clothes on,” Jack -said. He never had to worry about taking off -weight. He was a natural welter-weight and -he’d never gotten fat. He’d lost weight out at -Hogan’s.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s one thing you never had to -worry about,” John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s one thing,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went around to the garden to weigh in -after lunch. The match was made at a hundred -forty-seven pounds at three o’clock. Jack -stepped on the scales with a towel around him. -The bar didn’t move. Walcott had just weighed -and was standing with a lot of people around -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s see what you weigh, Jack,” Freedman, -Walcott’s manager said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, weigh <span class='it'>him</span> then,” Jack jerked his -head toward Walcott.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Drop the towel,” Freedman said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you make it?” Jack asked the fellows -who were weighing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“One hundred and forty-three pounds,” the -fat man who was weighing said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re down fine, Jack,” Freedman says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Weigh <span class='it'>him</span>,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott came over. He was a blond with -wide shoulders and arms like a heavyweight. -He didn’t have much legs. Jack stood about -half a head taller than he did.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Jack,” he said. His face was plenty -marked up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello,” said Jack. “How you feel?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good,” Walcott says. He dropped the -towel from around his waist and stood on the -scales. He had the widest shoulders and back -you ever saw.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“One hundred and forty-six pounds and -twelve ounces.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott stepped off and grinned at Jack.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” John says to him, “Jack’s spotting -you about four pounds.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“More than that when I come in, kid,” Walcott -says. “I’m going to go and eat now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went back and Jack got dressed. “He’s -a pretty tough-looking boy,” Jack says to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He looks as though he’d been hit plenty of -times.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” Jack says. “He ain’t hard to hit.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where are you going?” John asked when -Jack was dressed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Back to the hotel,” Jack says. “You looked -after everything?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” John says. “It’s all looked after.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m going to lie down a while,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll come around for you about a quarter to -seven and we’ll go and eat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Up at the hotel Jack took off his shoes and -his coat and lay down for a while. I wrote a -letter. I looked over a couple of times and -Jack wasn’t sleeping. He was lying perfectly -still but every once in a while his eyes would -open. Finally he sits up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Want to play some cribbage, Jerry?” he -says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He went over to his suitcase and got out -the cards and the cribbage board. We played -cribbage and he won three dollars off me. John -knocked at the door and came in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Want to play some cribbage, John?” Jack -asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John put his kelly down on the table. It -was all wet. His coat was wet too.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it raining?” Jack asks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s pouring,” John says. “The taxi I had, -got tied up in the traffic and I got out and -walked.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on, play some cribbage,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to go and eat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” says Jack. “I don’t want to eat yet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So they played cribbage for about half an -hour and Jack won a dollar and a half off him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, I suppose we got to go eat,” Jack -says. He went to the window and looked out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it still raining?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s eat in the hotel,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” Jack says, “I’ll play you once -more to see who pays for the meal.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After a little while Jack gets up and says, -“You buy the meal, John,” and we went downstairs -and ate in the big dining-room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After we ate we went upstairs and Jack -played cribbage with John again and won two -dollars and a half off him. Jack was feeling -pretty good. John had a bag with him with all -his stuff in it. Jack took off his shirt and collar -and put on a jersey and a sweater, so he -wouldn’t catch cold when he came out, and put -his ring clothes and his bathrobe in a bag.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You all ready?” John asks him. “I’ll call -up and have them get a taxi.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pretty soon the telephone rang and they said -the taxi was waiting.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We rode down in the elevator and went out -through the lobby, and got in a taxi and rode -around to the Garden. It was raining hard but -there was a lot of people outside on the streets. -The Garden was sold out. As we came in on our -way to the dressing-room I saw how full it was. -It looked like half a mile down to the ring. It -was all dark. Just the lights over the ring.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a good thing, with this rain, they didn’t -try and pull this fight in the ball park,” John -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They got a good crowd,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is a fight that would draw a lot more -than the Garden could hold.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t tell about the weather,” Jack -says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John came to the door of the dressing-room -and poked his head in. Jack was sitting there -with his bathrobe on, he had his arms folded -and was looking at the floor. John had a couple -of handlers with him. They looked over his -shoulder. Jack looked up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is he in?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s just gone down,” John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We started down. Walcott was just getting -into the ring. The crowd gave him a big hand. -He climbed through between the ropes and put -his two fists together and smiled, and shook -them at the crowd, first at one side of the ring, -then at the other, and then sat down. Jack got -a good hand coming down through the crowd. -Jack is Irish and the Irish always get a pretty -good hand. An Irishman don’t draw in New -York like a Jew or an Italian but they always -get a good hand. Jack climbed up and bent -down to go through the ropes and Walcott came -over from his corner and pushed the rope down -for Jack to go through. The crowd thought -that was wonderful. Walcott put his hand on -Jack’s shoulder and they stood there just for -a second.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So you’re going to be one of these popular -champions,” Jack says to him. “Take your -goddam hand off my shoulder.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Be yourself,” Walcott says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This is all great for the crowd. How gentlemanly -the boys are before the fight! How -they wish each other luck!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Solly Freedman came over to our corner -while Jack is bandaging his hands and John is -over in Walcott’s corner. Jack puts his thumb -through the slit in the bandage and then -wrapped his hand nice and smooth. I taped it -around the wrist and twice across the knuckles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey,” Freedman says. “Where do you -get all that tape?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Feel of it,” Jack says. “It’s soft, ain’t it? -Don’t be a hick.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Freedman stands there all the time while -Jack bandages the other hand, and one of the -boys that’s going to handle him brings the -gloves and I pull them on and work them -around.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Freedman,” Jack asks, “what nationality -is this Walcott?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Solly says. “He’s some sort -of a Dane.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a Bohemian,” the lad who brought the -gloves said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The referee called them out to the centre -of the ring and Jack walks out. Walcott comes -out smiling. They met and the referee put his -arm on each of their shoulders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, popularity,” Jack says to Walcott.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Be yourself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What do you call yourself ‘Walcott’ for?” -Jack says. “Didn’t you know he was a nigger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen—” says the referee, and he gives -them the same old line. Once Walcott interrupts -him. He grabs Jack’s arm and says, “Can -I hit when he’s got me like this?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Keep your hands off me,” Jack says. “There -ain’t no moving-pictures of this.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They went back to their corners. I lifted the -bathrobe off Jack and he leaned on the ropes and -flexed his knees a couple of times and scuffed -his shoes in the rosin. The gong rang and -Jack turned quick and went out. Walcott came -toward him and they touched gloves and as -soon as Walcott dropped his hands Jack jumped -his left into his face twice. There wasn’t anybody -ever boxed better than Jack. Walcott was -after him, going forward all the time with his -chin on his chest. He’s a hooker and he carries -his hands pretty low. All he knows is to -get in there and sock. But every time he gets -in there close, Jack has the left hand in his face. -It’s just as though it’s automatic. Jack just -raises the left hand up and it’s in Walcott’s face. -Three or four times Jack brings the right over -but Walcott gets it on the shoulder or high up -on the head. He’s just like all these hookers. -The only thing he’s afraid of is another one of -the same kind. He’s covered everywhere you -can hurt him. He don’t care about a left-hand -in his face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After about four rounds Jack has him bleeding -bad and his face all cut up, but every time -Walcott’s got in close he’s socked so hard he’s -got two big red patches on both sides just below -Jack’s ribs. Every time he gets in close, Jack -ties him up, then gets one hand loose and uppercuts -him, but when Walcott gets his hands -loose he socks Jack in the body so they can hear -it outside in the street. He’s a socker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It goes along like that for three rounds more. -They don’t talk any. They’re working all the -time. We worked over Jack plenty too, in between -the rounds. He don’t look good at all -but he never does much work in the ring. He -don’t move around much and that left-hand is -just automatic. It’s just like it was connected -with Walcott’s face and Jack just had to wish -it in every time. Jack is always calm in close -and he doesn’t waste any juice. He knows -everything about working in close too and he’s -getting away with a lot of stuff. While they -were in our corner I watched him tie Walcott -up, get his right hand loose, turn it and come -up with an uppercut that got Walcott’s nose -with the heel of the glove. Walcott was bleeding -bad and leaned his nose on Jack’s shoulder -so as to give Jack some of it too, and Jack sort -of lifted his shoulder sharp and caught him -against the nose, and then brought down the -right hand and did the same thing again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott was sore as hell. By the time they’d -gone five rounds he hated Jack’s guts. Jack -wasn’t sore; that is, he wasn’t any sorer than he -always was. He certainly did used to make the -fellows he fought hate boxing. That was why -he hated Kid Lewis so. He never got the Kid’s -goat. Kid Lewis always had about three new -dirty things Jack couldn’t do. Jack was as safe -as a church all the time he was in there, as long -as he was strong. He certainly was treating -Walcott rough. The funny thing was it looked -as though Jack was an open classic boxer. That -was because he had all that stuff too.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After the seventh round Jack says, “My -left’s getting heavy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From then he started to take a beating. It -didn’t show at first. But instead of him running -the fight it was Walcott was running it, instead -of being safe all the time now he was in trouble. -He couldn’t keep him out with the left hand -now. It looked as though it was the same as -ever, only now instead of Walcott’s punches -just missing him they were just hitting him. -He took an awful beating in the body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the round?” Jack asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The eleventh.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t stay,” Jack says. “My legs are going -bad.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott had been just hitting him for a long -time. It was like a baseball catcher pulls the -ball and takes some of the shock off. From -now on Walcott commenced to land solid. He -certainly was a socking-machine. Jack was just -trying to block everything now. It didn’t show -what an awful beating he was taking. In between -the rounds I worked on his legs. The -muscles would flutter under my hands all the -time I was rubbing them. He was sick as hell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How’s it go?” he asked John, turning -around, his face all swollen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s his fight.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I think I can last,” Jack says. “I don’t want -this bohunk to stop me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was going just the way he thought it -would. He knew he couldn’t beat Walcott. He -wasn’t strong any more. He was all right -though. His money was all right and now he -wanted to finish it off right to please himself. -He didn’t want to be knocked out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gong rang and we pushed him out. He -went out slow. Walcott came right out after -him. Jack put the left in his face and Walcott -took it, came in under it and started working on -Jack’s body. Jack tried to tie him up and it was -just like trying to hold on to a buzz-saw. Jack -broke away from it and missed with the right. -Walcott clipped him with a left-hook and Jack -went down. He went down on his hands and -knees and looked at us. The referee started -counting. Jack was watching us and shaking his -head. At eight John motioned to him. You -couldn’t hear on account of the crowd. Jack -got up. The referee had been holding Walcott -back with one arm while he counted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When Jack was on his feet Walcott started -toward him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch yourself, Jimmy,” I heard Solly -Freedman yell to him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott came up to Jack looking at him. -Jack stuck the left hand at him. Walcott just -shook his head. He backed Jack up against the -ropes, measured him and then hooked the left -very light to the side of Jack’s head and socked -the right into the body as hard as he could sock, -just as low as he could get it. He must have -hit him five inches below the belt. I thought -the eyes would come out of Jack’s head. They -stuck way out. His mouth come open.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The referee grabbed Walcott. Jack stepped -forward. If he went down there went fifty -thousand bucks. He walked as though all his -insides were going to fall out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It wasn’t low,” he said. “It was a accident.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The crowd were yelling so you couldn’t hear -anything.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m all right,” Jack says. They were right -in front of us. The referee looks at John and -then he shakes his head.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on, you polak son-of-a-bitch,” Jack -says to Walcott.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John was hanging onto the ropes. He had -the towel ready to chuck in. Jack was standing -just a little way out from the ropes. He took -a step forward. I saw the sweat come out on his -face like somebody had squeezed it and a big -drop went down his nose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on and fight,” Jack says to Walcott.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The referee looked at John and waved Walcott -on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go in there, you slob,” he says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott went in. He didn’t know what to -do either. He never thought Jack could have -stood it. Jack put the left in his face. There -was such a hell of a lot of yelling going on. -They were right in front of us. Walcott hit -him twice. Jack’s face was the worst thing I -ever saw,—the look on it! He was holding -himself and all his body together and it all -showed on his face. All the time he was thinking -and holding his body in where it was busted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then he started to sock. His face looked -awful all the time. He started to sock with his -hands low down by his side, swinging at Walcott. -Walcott covered up and Jack was swinging -wild at Walcott’s head. Then he swung the -left and it hit Walcott in the groin and the right -hit Walcott right bang where he’d hit Jack. -Way low below the belt. Walcott went down -and grabbed himself there and rolled and -twisted around.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The referee grabbed Jack and pushed him toward -his corner. John jumps into the ring. -There was all this yelling going on. The -referee was talking with the judges and then the -announcer got into the ring with the megaphone -and says, “Walcott on a foul.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The referee is talking to John and he says, -“What could I do? Jack wouldn’t take the -foul. Then when he’s groggy he fouls him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’d lost it anyway,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack’s sitting on the chair. I’ve got his gloves -off and he’s holding himself in down there with -both hands. When he’s got something supporting -it his face doesn’t look so bad.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go over and say you’re sorry,” John says -into his ear. “It’ll look good.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack stands up and the sweat comes out all -over his face. I put the bathrobe around him -and he holds himself in with one hand under -the bathrobe and goes across the ring. They’ve -picked Walcott up and they’re working on him. -There’re a lot of people in Walcott’s corner. -Nobody speaks to Jack. He leans over Walcott.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m sorry,” Jack says. “I didn’t mean to -foul you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Walcott doesn’t say anything. He looks too -damned sick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you’re the champion now,” Jack says -to him. “I hope you get a hell of a lot of fun -out of it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Leave the kid alone,” Solly Freedman says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hello, Solly,” Jack says. “I’m sorry I -fouled your boy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Freedman just looks at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jack went to his corner walking that funny -jerky way and we got him down through the -ropes and through the reporters’ tables and out -down the aisle. A lot of people want to slap -Jack on the back. He goes out through all -that mob in his bathrobe to the dressing-room. -It’s a popular win for Walcott. That’s the way -the money was bet in the Garden.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Once we got inside the dressing-room Jack -lay down and shut his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We want to get to the hotel and get a -doctor,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m all busted inside,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m sorry as hell, Jack,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lies there with his eyes shut.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They certainly tried a nice double-cross,” -John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Your friends Morgan and Steinfelt,” Jack -said. “You got nice friends.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lies there, his eyes are open now. His -face has still got that awful drawn look.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s funny how fast you can think when it -means that much money,” Jack says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re some boy, Jack,” John says.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” Jack says. “It was nothing.”</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch7'>A SIMPLE ENQUIRY</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Outside</span>, the snow was higher than the window. -The sunlight came in through the window -and shone on a map on the pine-board wall of -the hut. The sun was high and the light came -in over the top of the snow. A trench had been -cut along the open side of the hut, and each -clear day the sun, shining on the wall, reflected -heat against the snow and widened the trench. -It was late March. The major sat at a table -against the wall. His adjutant sat at another -table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Around the major’s eyes were two white -circles where his snow-glasses had protected his -face from the sun on the snow. The rest of his -face had been burned and then tanned and then -burned through the tan. His nose was swollen -and there were edges of loose skin where blisters -had been. While he worked at the papers -he put the fingers of his left hand into a saucer -of oil and then spread the oil over his face, -touching it very gently with the tips of his fingers. -He was very careful to drain his fingers -on the edge of the saucer so there was only a -film of oil on them, and after he had stroked -his forehead and his cheeks, he stroked his nose -very delicately between his fingers. When he -had finished he stood up, took the saucer of oil -and went into the small room of the hut where -he slept. “I’m going to take a little sleep,” he -said to the adjutant. In that army an adjutant -is not a commissioned officer. “You will finish -up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, signor maggiore,” the adjutant answered. -He leaned back in his chair and -yawned. He took a paper-covered book out of -the pocket of his coat and opened it; then laid -it down on the table and lit his pipe. He leaned -forward on the table to read and puffed at his -pipe. Then he closed the book and put it back -in his pocket. He had too much paper-work to -get through. He could not enjoy reading until -it was done. Outside, the sun went behind a -mountain and there was no more light on the -wall of the hut. A soldier came in and put -some pine branches, chopped into irregular -lengths, into the stove. “Be soft, Pinin,” the -adjutant said to him. “The major is sleeping.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pinin was the major’s orderly. He was a -dark-faced boy, and he fixed the stove, putting -the pine wood in carefully, shut the door, and -went into the back of the hut again. The adjutant -went on with his papers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tonani,” the major called.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Signor maggiore?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Send Pinin in to me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pinin!” the adjutant called. Pinin came -into the room. “The major wants you,” the -adjutant said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pinin walked across the main room of the -hut toward the major’s door. He knocked on -the half-opened door. “Signor maggiore?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come in,” the adjutant heard the major say, -“and shut the door.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Inside the room the major lay on his bunk. -Pinin stood beside the bunk. The major lay -with his head on the rucksack that he had -stuffed with spare clothing to make a pillow. -His long, burned, oiled face looked at Pinin. -His hands lay on the blankets.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are nineteen?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, signor maggiore.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have ever been in love?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you mean, signor maggiore?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In love—with a girl?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been with girls.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I did not ask that. I asked if you had been -in love—with a girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, signor maggiore.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are in love with this girl now? You -don’t write her. I read all your letters.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am in love with her,” Pinin said, “but I -do not write her.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are sure of this?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tonani,” the major said in the same tone -of voice, “can you hear me talking?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no answer from the next room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He can not hear,” the major said. “And -you are quite sure that you love a girl?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And,” the major looked at him quickly, -“that you are not corrupt?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know what you mean, corrupt.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” the major said. “You needn’t -be superior.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pinin looked at the floor. The major looked -at his brown face, down and up him, and at his -hands. Then he went on, not smiling, “And -you don’t really want—” the major paused. -Pinin looked at the floor. “That your great desire -isn’t really—” Pinin looked at the floor. -The major leaned his head back on the rucksack -and smiled. He was really relieved: life in -the army was too complicated. “You’re a good -boy,” he said. “You’re a good boy, Pinin. But -don’t be superior and be careful some one else -doesn’t come along and take you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pinin stood still beside the bunk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be afraid,” the major said. His hands -were folded on the blankets. “I won’t touch -you. You can go back to your platoon if you -like. But you had better stay on as my servant. -You’ve less chance of being killed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you want anything of me, signor maggiore?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” the major said. “Go on and get on -with whatever you were doing. Leave the door -open when you go out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pinin went out, leaving the door open. The -adjutant looked up at him as he walked awkwardly -across the room and out the door. Pinin -was flushed and moved differently than he had -moved when he brought in the wood for the -fire. The adjutant looked after him and smiled. -Pinin came in with more wood for the stove. -The major, lying on his bunk, looking at his -cloth-covered helmet and his snow-glasses that -hung from a nail on the wall, heard him walk -across the floor. The little devil, he thought, -I wonder if he lied to me.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch8'>TEN INDIANS</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>After</span> one Fourth of July, Nick, driving -home late from town in the big wagon with Joe -Garner and his family, passed nine drunken -Indians along the road. He remembered there -were nine because Joe Garner, driving along in -the dusk, pulled up the horses, jumped down -into the road and dragged an Indian out of the -wheel rut. The Indian had been asleep, face -down in the sand. Joe dragged him into the -bushes and got back up on the wagon-box.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That makes nine of them,” Joe said, “just -between here and the edge of town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Them Indians,” said Mrs. Garner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick was on the back seat with the two Garner -boys. He was looking out from the back -seat to see the Indian where Joe had dragged -him alongside of the road.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was it Billy Tabeshaw?” Carl asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“His pants looked mighty like Billy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All Indians wear the same kind of pants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t see him at all,” Frank said. “Pa -was down into the road and back up again before -I seen a thing. I thought he was killing a -snake.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Plenty of Indians’ll kill snakes to-night, I -guess,” Joe Garner said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Them Indians,” said Mrs. Garner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They drove along. The road turned off from -the main highway and went up into the hills. -It was hard pulling for the horses and the boys -got down and walked. The road was sandy. -Nick looked back from the top of the hill by -the schoolhouse. He saw the lights of Petoskey -and, off across Little Traverse Bay, the -lights of Harbour Springs. They climbed back -in the wagon again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They ought to put some gravel on that -stretch,” Joe Garner said. The wagon went -along the road through the woods. Joe and -Mrs. Garner sat close together on the front seat. -Nick sat between the two boys. The road came -out into a clearing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Right here was where Pa ran over the -skunk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was further on.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It don’t make no difference where it was,” -Joe said without turning his head. “One place -is just as good as another to run over a skunk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw two skunks last night,” Nick said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Down by the lake. They were looking for -dead fish along the beach.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They were coons probably,” Carl said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They were skunks. I guess I know skunks.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to,” Carl said. “You got an -Indian girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Stop talking that way, Carl,” said Mrs. -Garner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, they smell about the same.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Joe Garner laughed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You stop laughing, Joe,” Mrs. Garner said. -“I won’t have Carl talk that way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have you got an Indian girl, Nickie?” Joe -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He has too, Pa,” Frank said. “Prudence -Mitchell’s his girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’s not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He goes to see her every day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t.” Nick, sitting between the two boys -in the dark, felt hollow and happy inside himself -to be teased about Prudence Mitchell. “She -ain’t my girl,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen to him,” said Carl. “I see them together -every day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Carl can’t get a girl,” his mother said, “not -even a squaw.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Carl was quiet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Carl ain’t no good with girls,” Frank said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You shut up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re all right, Carl,” Joe Garner said. -“Girls never got a man anywhere. Look at -your pa.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that’s what you would say,” Mrs. Garner -moved close to Joe as the wagon jolted. -“Well, you had plenty of girls in your time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll bet Pa wouldn’t ever have had a squaw -for a girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you think it,” Joe said. “You better -watch out to keep Prudie, Nick.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His wife whispered to him and Joe laughed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What you laughing at?” asked Frank.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you say it, Garner,” his wife warned. -Joe laughed again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nickie can have Prudence,” Joe Garner said. -“I got a good girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s the way to talk,” Mrs. Garner said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The horses were pulling heavily in the sand. -Joe reached out in the dark with the whip.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on, pull into it. You’ll have to pull -harder than this to-morrow.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They trotted down the long hill, the wagon -jolting. At the farmhouse everybody got down. -Mrs. Garner unlocked the door, went inside, -and came out with a lamp in her hand. Carl -and Nick unloaded the things from the back of -the wagon. Frank sat on the front seat to drive -to the barn and put up the horses. Nick went -up the steps and opened the kitchen door. Mrs. -Garner was building a fire in the stove. She -turned from pouring kerosene on the wood.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-by, Mrs. Garner,” Nick said. “Thanks -for taking me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh shucks, Nickie.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I had a wonderful time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We like to have you. Won’t you stay and -eat some supper?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I better go. I think Dad probably waited -for me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, get along then. Send Carl up to the -house, will you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night, Nickie.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night, Mrs. Garner.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick went out the farmyard and down to the -barn. Joe and Frank were milking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night,” Nick said. “I had a swell -time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-night, Nick,” Joe Garner called. -“Aren’t you going to stay and eat?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I can’t. Will you tell Carl his mother -wants him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. Good-night, Nickie.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick walked barefoot along the path through -the meadow below the barn. The path was -smooth and the dew was cool on his bare feet. -He climbed a fence at the end of the meadow, -went down through a ravine, his feet wet in -the swamp mud, and then climbed up through -the dry beech woods until he saw the lights of -the cottage. He climbed over the fence and -walked around to the front porch. Through -the window he saw his father sitting by the -table, reading in the light from the big lamp. -Nick opened the door and went in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, Nickie,” his father said, “was it a -good day?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I had a swell time, Dad. It was a swell -Fourth of July.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Are you hungry?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You bet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you do with your shoes?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I left them in the wagon at Garner’s.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come on out to the kitchen.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick’s father went ahead with the lamp. He -stopped and lifted the lid of the ice-box. Nick -went on into the kitchen. His father brought -in a piece of cold chicken on a plate and a pitcher -of milk and put them on the table before Nick. -He put down the lamp.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s some pie too,” he said. “Will that -hold you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s grand.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father sat down in a chair beside the oilcloth-covered -table. He made a big shadow on -the kitchen wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who won the ball game?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Petoskey. Five to three.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father sat watching him eat and filled -his glass from the milk-pitcher. Nick drank -and wiped his mouth on his napkin. His father -reached over to the shelf for the pie. He cut -Nick a big piece. It was huckleberry pie.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you do, Dad?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I went out fishing in the morning.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you get?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Only perch.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father sat watching Nick eat the pie.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What did you do this afternoon?” Nick -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I went for a walk up by the Indian camp.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did you see anybody?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Indians were all in town getting -drunk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t you see anybody at all?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw your friend, Prudie.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where was she?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She was in the woods with Frank Washburn. -I ran onto them. They were having -quite a time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father was not looking at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What were they doing?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t stay to find out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me what they were doing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” his father said. “I just -heard them threshing around.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How did you know it was them?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought you said you didn’t see them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I saw them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who was it with her?” Nick asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Frank Washburn.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Were they—were they——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Were they what?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Were they happy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father got up from the table and went -out the kitchen screen door. When he came -back Nick was looking at his plate. He had -been crying.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have some more?” His father picked up -the knife to cut the pie.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Nick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You better have another piece.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I don’t want any.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His father cleared off the table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where were they in the woods?” Nick -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Up back of the camp.” Nick looked at his -plate. His father said, “You better go to bed, -Nick.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nick went into his room, undressed, and got -into bed. He heard his father moving around in -the living-room. Nick lay in the bed with his -face in the pillow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My heart’s broken,” he thought. “If I feel -this way my heart must be broken.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After a while he heard his father blow out -the lamp and go into his own room. He heard -a wind come up in the trees outside and felt -it come in cool through the screen. He lay for -a long time with his face in the pillow, and -after a while he forgot to think about Prudence -and finally he went to sleep. When he awoke in -the night he heard the wind in the hemlock -trees outside the cottage and the waves of the -lake coming in on the shore, and he went back -to sleep. In the morning there was a big wind -blowing and the waves were running high up -on the beach and he was awake a long time before -he remembered that his heart was broken.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch9'>A CANARY FOR ONE</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> train passed very quickly a long, red -stone house with a garden and four thick palm-trees -with tables under them in the shade. On -the other side was the sea. Then there was a -cutting through red stone and clay, and the sea -was only occasionally and far below against -rocks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I bought him in Palermo,” the American -lady said. “We only had an hour ashore and it -was Sunday morning. The man wanted to be -paid in dollars and I gave him a dollar and a -half. He really sings very beautifully.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was very hot in the train and it was very -hot in the <span class='it'>lit salon</span> compartment. There was no -breeze came through the open window. The -American lady pulled the window-blind down -and there was no more sea, even occasionally. -On the other side there was glass, then the corridor, -then an open window, and outside the -window were dusty trees and an oiled road and -flat fields of grapes, with gray-stone hills behind -them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was smoke from many tall chimneys—coming -into Marseilles, and the train slowed -down and followed one track through many -others into the station. The train stayed twenty-five -minutes in the station at Marseilles and the -American lady bought a copy of <span class='it'>The Daily -Mail</span> and a half-bottle of Evian water. She -walked a little way along the station platform, -but she stayed near the steps of the car because -at Cannes, where it stopped for twelve minutes, -the train had left with no signal of departure -and she had only gotten on just in time. The -American lady was a little deaf and she was -afraid that perhaps signals of departure were -given and that she did not hear them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The train left the station in Marseilles and -there was not only the switch-yards and the factory -smoke but, looking back, the town of Marseilles -and the harbor with stone hills behind it -and the last of the sun on the water. As it was -getting dark the train passed a farmhouse burning -in a field. Motor-cars were stopped along -the road and bedding and things from inside the -farmhouse were spread in the field. Many people -were watching the house burn. After it was -dark the train was in Avignon. People got on -and off. At the news-stand Frenchmen, returning -to Paris, bought that day’s French papers. -On the station platform were negro soldiers. -They wore brown uniforms and were tall and -their faces shone, close under the electric light. -Their faces were very black and they were too -tall to stare. The train left Avignon station -with the negroes standing there. A short white -sergeant was with them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Inside the <span class='it'>lit salon</span> compartment the porter -had pulled down the three beds from inside the -wall and prepared them for sleeping. In the -night the American lady lay without sleeping -because the train was a <span class='it'>rapide</span> and went very -fast and she was afraid of the speed in the night. -The American lady’s bed was the one next to -the window. The canary from Palermo, a -cloth spread over his cage, was out of the draft -in the corridor that went into the compartment -wash-room. There was a blue light outside the -compartment, and all night the train went very -fast and the American lady lay awake and -waited for a wreck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the morning the train was near Paris, and -after the American lady had come out from -the wash-room, looking very wholesome and -middle-aged and American in spite of not having -slept, and had taken the cloth off the birdcage -and hung the cage in the sun, she went -back to the restaurant-car for breakfast. When -she came back to the <span class='it'>lit salon</span> compartment -again, the beds had been pushed back into the -wall and made into seats, the canary was shaking -his feathers in the sunlight that came -through the open window, and the train was -much nearer Paris.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He loves the sun,” the American lady said. -“He’ll sing now in a little while.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The canary shook his feathers and pecked -into them. “I’ve always loved birds,” the -American lady said. “I’m taking him home to -my little girl. There—he’s singing now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The canary chirped and the feathers on his -throat stood out, then he dropped his bill and -pecked into his feathers again. The train -crossed a river and passed through a very carefully -tended forest. The train passed through -many outside of Paris towns. There were tram-cars -in the towns and big advertisements for the -Belle Jardinière and Dubonnet and Pernod on -the walls toward the train. All that the train -passed through looked as though it were before -breakfast. For several minutes I had not listened -to the American lady, who was talking to -my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is your husband American too?” asked the -lady.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said my wife. “We’re both Americans.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought you were English.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps that was because I wore braces,” I -said. I had started to say suspenders and -changed it to braces in the mouth, to keep my -English character. The American lady did not -hear. She was really quite deaf; she read lips, -and I had not looked toward her. I had looked -out of the window. She went on talking to my -wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m so glad you’re Americans. American -men make the best husbands,” the American -lady was saying. “That was why we left the -Continent, you know. My daughter fell in love -with a man in Vevey.” She stopped. “They -were simply madly in love.” She stopped again. -“I took her away, of course.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did she get over it?” asked my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think so,” said the American lady. -“She wouldn’t eat anything and she wouldn’t -sleep at all. I’ve tried so very hard, but she -doesn’t seem to take an interest in anything. -She doesn’t care about things. I couldn’t have -her marrying a foreigner.” She paused. “Some -one, a very good friend, told me once, ‘No -foreigner can make an American girl a good -husband.’ ”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said my wife, “I suppose not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The American lady admired my wife’s travelling-coat, -and it turned out that the American -lady had bought her own clothes for twenty -years now from the same maison de couturier -in the Rue Saint Honoré. They had her measurements, -and a vendeuse who knew her and -her tastes picked the dresses out for her and -they were sent to America. They came to the -post-office near where she lived up-town in New -York, and the duty was never exorbitant because -they opened the dresses there in the post-office -to appraise them and they were always very -simple-looking and with no gold lace nor ornaments -that would make the dresses look expensive. -Before the present vendeuse, named -Thérèse, there had been another vendeuse, -named Amélie. Altogether there had only been -these two in the twenty years. It had always -been the same couturier. Prices, however, had -gone up. The exchange, though, equalized -that. They had her daughter’s measurements -now too. She was grown up and there was not -much chance of their changing now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The train was now coming into Paris. The -fortifications were levelled but grass had not -grown. There were many cars standing on tracks—brown -wooden restaurant-cars and brown -wooden sleeping-cars that would go to Italy -at five o’clock that night, if that train still left -at five; the cars were marked Paris-Rome, and -cars, with seats on the roofs, that went back -and forth to the suburbs with, at certain hours, -people in all the seats and on the roofs, if that -were the way it were still done, and passing -were the white walls and many windows of -houses. Nothing had eaten any breakfast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Americans make the best husbands,” the -American lady said to my wife. I was getting -down the bags. “American men are the only -men in the world to marry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long ago did you leave Vevey?” asked -my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Two years ago this fall. It’s her, you know, -that I’m taking the canary to.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was the man your daughter was in love -with a Swiss?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said the American lady. “He was -from a very good family in Vevey. He was going -to be an engineer. They met there in Vevey. -They used to go on long walks together.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know Vevey,” said my wife. “We were -there on our honeymoon.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Were you really? That must have been -lovely. I had no idea, of course, that she’d fall -in love with him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was a very lovely place,” said my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said the American lady. “Isn’t it -lovely? Where did you stop there?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We stayed at the Trois Couronnes,” said -my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s such a fine old hotel,” said the American -lady.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said my wife. “We had a very fine -room and in the fall the country was lovely.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Were you there in the fall?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said my wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were passing three cars that had been in -a wreck. They were splintered open and the -roofs sagged in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look,” I said. “There’s been a wreck.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The American lady looked and saw the last -car. “I was afraid of just that all night,” she -said. “I have terrific presentiments about things -sometimes. I’ll never travel on a <span class='it'>rapide</span> again -at night. There must be other comfortable -trains that don’t go so fast.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then the train was in the dark of the Gare -de Lyons, and then stopped and porters came up -to the windows. I handed bags through the -windows, and we were out on the dim longness -of the platform, and the American lady put -herself in charge of one of three men from -Cook’s who said: “Just a moment, madame, and -I’ll look for your name.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The porter brought a truck and piled on the -baggage, and my wife said good-by and I said -good-by to the American lady, whose name had -been found by the man from Cook’s on a typewritten -page in a sheaf of typewritten pages -which he replaced in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We followed the porter with the truck down -the long cement platform beside the train. At -the end was a gate and a man took the tickets.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were returning to Paris to set up separate -residences.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch10'>AN ALPINE IDYLL</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>It</span> was hot coming down into the valley even -in the early morning. The sun melted the snow -from the skis we were carrying and dried the -wood. It was spring in the valley but the sun -was very hot. We came along the road into -Galtur carrying our skis and rucksacks. As we -passed the churchyard a burial was just over. I -said, “Grüss Gott,” to the priest as he walked -past us coming out of the churchyard. The -priest bowed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s funny a priest never speaks to you,” -John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’d think they’d like to say ‘Grüss -Gott.’ ”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They never answer,” John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We stopped in the road and watched the sexton -shovelling in the new earth. A peasant with -a black beard and high leather boots stood beside -the grave. The sexton stopped shovelling -and straightened his back. The peasant in the -high boots took the spade from the sexton and -went on filling in the grave—spreading the earth -evenly as a man spreading manure in a garden. -In the bright May morning the grave-filling -looked unreal. I could not imagine any one -being dead.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Imagine being buried on a day like this,” -I said to John.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wouldn’t like it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “we don’t have to do it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went on up the road past the houses of -the town to the inn. We had been skiing in -the Silvretta for a month, and it was good to -be down in the valley. In the Silvretta the skiing -had been all right, but it was spring skiing, -the snow was good only in the early morning -and again in the evening. The rest of the time -it was spoiled by the sun. We were both tired -of the sun. You could not get away from the -sun. The only shadows were made by rocks -or by the hut that was built under the protection -of a rock beside a glacier, and in the shade -the sweat froze in your underclothing. You -could not sit outside the hut without dark -glasses. It was pleasant to be burned black but -the sun had been very tiring. You could not -rest in it. I was glad to be down away from -snow. It was too late in the spring to be up in -the Silvretta. I was a little tired of skiing. -We had stayed too long. I could taste the snow -water we had been drinking melted off the tin -roof of the hut. The taste was a part of the -way I felt about skiing. I was glad there were -other things beside skiing, and I was glad to -be down, away from the unnatural high mountain -spring, into this May morning in the valley.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The innkeeper sat on the porch of the inn, -his chair tipped back against the wall. Beside -him sat the cook.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ski-heil!” said the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Heil!” we said and leaned the skis against -the wall and took off our packs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How was it up above?” asked the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Schön. A little too much sun.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes. There’s too much sun this time of -year.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook sat on in his chair. The innkeeper -went in with us and unlocked his office and -brought out our mail. There was a bundle of -letters and some papers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let’s get some beer,” John said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good. We’ll drink it inside.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The proprietor brought two bottles and we -drank them while we read the letters.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We better have some more beer,” John said. -A girl brought it this time. She smiled as she -opened the bottles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Many letters,” she said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Many.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Prosit,” she said and went out, taking the -empty bottles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d forgotten what beer tasted like.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hadn’t,” John said. “Up in the hut I -used to think about it a lot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” I said, “we’ve got it now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You oughtn’t to ever do anything too long.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. We were up there too long.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Too damn long,” John said. “It’s no good -doing a thing too long.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The sun came through the open window and -shone through the beer bottles on the table. -The bottles were half full. There was a little -froth on the beer in the bottles, not much because -it was very cold. It collared up when -you poured it into the tall glasses. I looked -out of the open window at the white road. The -trees beside the road were dusty. Beyond was -a green field and a stream. There were trees -along the stream and a mill with a water wheel. -Through the open side of the mill I saw a long -log and a saw in it rising and falling. No one -seemed to be tending it. There were four crows -walking in the green field. One crow sat in a -tree watching. Outside on the porch the cook -got off his chair and passed into the hall that led -back into the kitchen. Inside, the sunlight shone -through the empty glasses on the table. John -was leaning forward with his head on his arms.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Through the window I saw two men come up -the front steps. They came into the drinking -room. One was the bearded peasant in the high -boots. The other was the sexton. They sat -down at the table under the window. The girl -came in and stood by their table. The peasant -did not seem to see her. He sat with his hands -on the table. He wore his old army clothes. -There were patches on the elbows.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will it be?” asked the sexton. The -peasant did not pay any attention.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will you drink?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Schnapps,” the peasant said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And a quarter litre of red wine,” the sexton -told the girl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl brought the drinks and the peasant -drank the schnapps. He looked out of the window. -The sexton watched him. John had his -head forward on the table. He was asleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The innkeeper came in and went over to the -table. He spoke in dialect and the sexton answered -him. The peasant looked out of the -window. The innkeeper went out of the room. -The peasant stood up. He took a folded ten-thousand -kronen note out of a leather pocket-book -and unfolded it. The girl came up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Alles?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Alles,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let me buy the wine,” the sexton said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Alles,” the peasant repeated to the girl. -She put her hand in the pocket of her apron, -brought it out full of coins and counted out the -change. The peasant went out the door. As -soon as he was gone the innkeeper came into the -room again and spoke to the sexton. He sat -down at the table. They talked in dialect. The -sexton was amused. The innkeeper was disgusted. -The sexton stood up from the table. -He was a little man with a mustache. He -leaned out of the window and looked up the -road.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There he goes in,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In the Löwen?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ja.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They talked again and then the innkeeper -came over to our table. The innkeeper was a tall -man and old. He looked at John asleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s pretty tired.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, we were up early.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will you want to eat soon?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Any time,” I said. “What is there to eat?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Anything you want. The girl will bring the -eating-card.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The girl brought the menu. John woke up. -The menu was written in ink on a card and the -card slipped into a wooden paddle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s the speise-karte,” I said to John. -He looked at it. He was still sleepy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Won’t you have a drink with us?” I asked -the innkeeper. He sat down. “Those peasants -are beasts,” said the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We saw that one at a funeral coming into -town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was his wife.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s a beast. All these peasants are beasts.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You wouldn’t believe it. You wouldn’t believe -what just happened about that one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You wouldn’t believe it.” The innkeeper -spoke to the sexton. “Franz, come over here.” -The sexton came, bringing his little bottle of -wine and his glass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The gentlemen are just come down from -the Wiesbadenerhütte,” the innkeeper said. We -shook hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will you drink?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nothing,” Franz shook his finger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Another quarter litre?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you understand dialect?” the innkeeper -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s it all about?” John asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s going to tell us about the peasant we -saw filling the grave, coming into town.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t understand it, anyway,” John said. -“It goes too fast for me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That peasant,” the innkeeper said, “to-day -he brought his wife in to be buried. She died -last November.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“December,” said the sexton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That makes nothing. She died last December -then, and he notified the commune.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“December eighteenth,” said the sexton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Anyway, he couldn’t bring her over to be -buried until the snow was gone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He lives on the other side of the Paznaun,” -said the sexton. “But he belongs to this parish.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He couldn’t bring her out at all?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. He can only come, from where he -lives, on skis until the snow melts. So to-day he -brought her in to be buried and the priest, when -he looked at her face, didn’t want to bury her. -You go on and tell it,” he said to the sexton. -“Speak German, not dialect.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was very funny with the priest,” said the -sexton. “In the report to the commune she died -of heart trouble. We knew she had heart -trouble here. She used to faint in church sometimes. -She did not come for a long time. She -wasn’t strong to climb. When the priest uncovered -her face he asked Olz, ‘Did your wife -suffer much?’ ‘No,’ said Olz. ‘When I came in -the house she was dead across the bed.’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The priest looked at her again. He didn’t -like it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘How did her face get that way?’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I don’t know,’ Olz said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘You’d better find out,’ the priest said, and -put the blanket back. Olz didn’t say anything. -The priest looked at him. Olz looked back at -the priest. ‘You want to know?’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I must know,’ the priest said.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is where it’s good,” the innkeeper said. -“Listen to this. Go on Franz.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Well,’ said Olz, ‘when she died I made -the report to the commune and I put her in the -shed across the top of the big wood. When I -started to use the big wood she was stiff and I -put her up against the wall. Her mouth was -open and when I came into the shed at night to -cut up the big wood, I hung the lantern from -it.’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Why did you do that?’ asked the priest.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I don’t know,’ said Olz.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Did you do that many times?’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Every time I went to work in the shed at -night.’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It was very wrong,’ said the priest. ‘Did -you love your wife?’</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ja, I loved her,’ Olz said. ‘I loved her -fine.’ ”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did you understand it all?” asked the innkeeper. -“You understand it all about his wife?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I heard it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How about eating?” John asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You order,” I said. “Do you think it’s -true?” I asked the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure it’s true,” he said. “These peasants -are beasts.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where did he go now?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s gone to drink at my colleague’s, the -Löwen.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He didn’t want to drink with me,” said the -sexton.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He didn’t want to drink with me, after he -knew about his wife,” said the innkeeper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say,” said John. “How about eating?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” I said.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch11'>A PURSUIT RACE</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>William Campbell</span> had been in a pursuit -race with a burlesque show ever since Pittsburgh. -In a pursuit race, in bicycle racing, -riders start at equal intervals to ride after one -another. They ride very fast because the race -is usually limited to a short distance and if they -slow their riding another rider who maintains -his pace will make up the space that separated -them equally at the start. As soon as a rider -is caught and passed he is out of the race and -must get down from his bicycle and leave the -track. If none of the riders are caught the -winner of the race is the one who has gained the -most distance. In most pursuit races, if there -are only two riders, one of the riders is caught -inside of six miles. The burlesque show -caught William Campbell at Kansas City.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>William Campbell had hoped to hold a slight -lead over the burlesque show until they reached -the Pacific coast. As long as he preceded the -burlesque show as advance man he was being -paid. When the burlesque show caught up with -him he was in bed. He was in bed when the -manager of the burlesque troupe came into his -room and after the manager had gone out he -decided that he might as well stay in bed. It -was very cold in Kansas City and he was in no -hurry to go out. He did not like Kansas City. -He reached under the bed for a bottle and -drank. It made his stomach feel better. Mr. -Turner, the manager of the burlesque show, -had refused a drink.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>William Campbell’s interview with Mr. -Turner had been a little strange. Mr. Turner -had knocked on the door. Campbell had said: -“Come in!” When Mr. Turner came into the -room he saw clothing on a chair, an open suitcase, -the bottle on a chair beside the bed, and -some one lying in the bed completely covered -by the bed-clothes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mister Campbell,” Mr. Turner said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t fire me,” William Campbell said -from underneath the covers. It was warm and -white and close under the covers. “You can’t -fire me because I’ve got down off my bicycle.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re drunk,” Mr. Turner said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” William Campbell said, speaking -directly against the sheet and feeling the texture -with his lips.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re a fool,” Mr. Turner said. He -turned off the electric light. The electric light -had been burning all night. It was now ten -o’clock in the morning. “You’re a drunken -fool. When did you get into this town?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got into this town last night,” William -Campbell said, speaking against the sheet. He -found he liked to talk through a sheet. “Did -you ever talk through a sheet?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t try to be funny. You aren’t funny.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m not being funny. I’m just talking -through a sheet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re talking through a sheet all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can go now, Mr. Turner,” Campbell -said. “I don’t work for you any more.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know that anyway.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know a lot,” William Campbell said. He -pulled down the sheet and looked at Mr. Turner. -“I know enough so I don’t mind looking -at you at all. Do you want to hear what I -know?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good,” said William Campbell. “Because -really I don’t know anything at all. I was just -talking.” He pulled the sheet up over his -face again. “I love it under a sheet,” he said. -Mr. Turner stood beside the bed. He was a -middle-aged man with a large stomach and a -bald head and he had many things to do. “You -ought to stop off here, Billy, and take a cure,” -he said. “I’ll fix it up if you want to do it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want to take a cure,” William Campbell -said. “I don’t want to take a cure at all. -I am perfectly happy. All my life I have been -perfectly happy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long have you been this way?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What a question!” William Campbell -breathed in and out through the sheet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long have you been stewed, Billy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Haven’t I done my work?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. I just asked you how long you’ve -been stewed, Billy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. But I’ve got my wolf back,” -he touched the sheet with his tongue. “I’ve had -him for a week.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The hell you have.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. My dear wolf. Every time I take -a drink he goes outside the room. He can’t -stand alcohol. The poor little fellow.” He -moved his tongue round and round on the sheet. -“He’s a lovely wolf. He’s just like he always -was.” William Campbell shut his eyes and -took a deep breath.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got to take a cure, Billy,” Mr. Turner -said. “You won’t mind the Keeley. It isn’t -bad.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Keeley,” William Campbell said. “It -isn’t far from London.” He shut his eyes and -opened them, moving the eyelashes against the -sheet. “I just love sheets,” he said. He looked -at Mr. Turner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen, you think I’m drunk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You <span class='it'>are</span> drunk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I’m not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re drunk and you’ve had dt’s.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.” William Campbell held the sheet -around his head. “Dear sheet,” he said. He -breathed against it gently. “Pretty sheet. You -love me, don’t you, sheet? It’s all in the price -of the room. Just like in Japan. No,” he -said. “Listen Billy, dear Sliding Billy, I have -a surprise for you. I’m not drunk. I’m hopped -to the eyes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Mr. Turner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Take a look.” William Campbell pulled -up the right sleeve of his pyjama jacket under -the sheet, then shoved the right forearm out. -“Look at that.” On the forearm, from just -above the wrist to the elbow, were small blue -circles around tiny dark blue punctures. The -circles almost touched one another. “That’s -the new development,” William Campbell said. -“I drink a little now once in a while, just to -drive the wolf out of the room.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They got a cure for that, ‘Sliding Billy’ ” -Turner said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” William Campbell said. “They -haven’t got a cure for anything.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t just quit like that, Billy,” Turner -said. He sat on the bed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Be careful of my sheet,” William Campbell -said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t just quit at your age and take to -pumping yourself full of that stuff just because -you got in a jam.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s a law against it. If that’s what you -mean.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I mean you got to fight it out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Billy Campbell caressed the sheet with his -lips and his tongue. “Dear sheet,” he said. “I -can kiss this sheet and see right through it at the -same time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Cut it out about the sheet. You can’t just -take to that stuff, Billy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>William Campbell shut his eyes. He was -beginning to feel a slight nausea. He knew -that this nausea would increase steadily, without -there ever being the relief of sickness, until -something were done against it. It was at this -point that he suggested that Mr. Turner have -a drink. Mr. Turner declined. William Campbell -took a drink from the bottle. It was a temporary -measure. Mr. Turner watched him. -Mr. Turner had been in this room much longer -than he should have been, he had many things -to do; although living in daily association with -people who used drugs, he had a horror of -drugs, and he was very fond of William Campbell; -he did not wish to leave him. He was -very sorry for him and he felt a cure might -help. He knew there were good cures in Kansas -City. But he had to go. He stood up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen, Billy,” William Campbell said, “I -want to tell you something. You’re called ‘Sliding -Billy.’ That’s because you can slide. I’m -called just Billy. That’s because I never could -slide at all. I can’t slide, Billy. I can’t slide. -It just catches. Every time I try it, it catches.” -He shut his eyes. “I can’t slide, Billy. It’s -awful when you can’t slide.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said “Sliding Billy” Turner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, what?” William Campbell looked at -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were saying.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said William Campbell. “I wasn’t -saying. It must have been a mistake.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were saying about sliding.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. It couldn’t have been about sliding. -But listen, Billy, and I’ll tell you a secret. Stick -to sheets, Billy. Keep away from women and -horses and, and—” he stopped “—eagles, Billy. -If you love horses you’ll get horse-s—, and if -you love eagles you’ll get eagle-s—.” He -stopped and put his head under the sheet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got to go,” said “Sliding Billy” Turner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you love women you’ll get a dose,” William -Campbell said. “If you love horses——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, you said that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Said what?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“About horses and eagles.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. And if you love sheets.” He -breathed on the sheet and stroked his nose -against it. “I don’t know about sheets,” he said. -“I just started to love this sheet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have to go,” Mr. Turner said. “I got -a lot to do.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right,” William Campbell said. -“Everybody’s got to go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I better go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, you go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Are you all right, Billy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was never so happy in my life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you’re all right?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m fine. You go along. I’ll just lie here -for a little while. Around noon I’ll get up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But when Mr. Turner came up to William -Campbell’s room at noon William Campbell -was sleeping and as Mr. Turner was a man who -knew what things in life were very valuable he -did not wake him.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch12'>TO-DAY IS FRIDAY</h1></div> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Three Roman soldiers are in a drinking-place at -eleven o’clock at night. There are barrels -around the wall. Behind the wooden -counter is a Hebrew wine-seller. The -three Roman soldiers are a little cock-eyed.</span></p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Roman Soldier</span>—You tried the red?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—No, I ain’t tried it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—You better try it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—All right, George, we’ll have a -round of the red.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Hebrew Wine-seller</span>—Here you are, gentlemen. -You’ll like that. [<span class='it'>He sets down an -earthenware pitcher that he has filled from one -of the casks.</span>] That’s a nice little wine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Have a drink of it yourself. -[<span class='it'>He turns to the third Roman soldier who is -leaning on a barrel.</span>] What’s the matter with -you?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—I got a gut-ache.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—You’ve been drinking water.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Try some of the red.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—I can’t drink the damn stuff. It -makes my gut sour.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—You been out here too long.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—Hell, don’t I know it?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Say, George, can’t you give this -gentleman something to fix up his stomach?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Hebrew Wine-seller</span>—I got it right here.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The third Roman soldier tastes the cup -that the wine-seller has mixed for him.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—Hey, what you put in that, -camel chips?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—You drink that right down, -Lootenant. That’ll fix you up right.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—Well, I couldn’t feel any worse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Take a chance on it. George -fixed me up fine the other day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—You were in bad shape, Lootenant. -I know what fixes up a bad stomach.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The third Roman soldier drinks the cup -down.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—Jesus Christ. [<span class='it'>He makes -a face.</span>]</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—That false alarm!</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Oh, I don’t know. He was -pretty good in there to-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Why didn’t he come down off -the cross?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—He didn’t want to come down -off the cross. That’s not his play.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Show me a guy that doesn’t want -to come down off the cross.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Aw, hell, you don’t know anything -about it. Ask George there. Did he -want to come down off the cross, George?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—I’ll tell you, gentlemen, I -wasn’t out there. It’s a thing I haven’t taken -any interest in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Listen, I seen a lot of them—here -and plenty of other places. Any time -you show me one that doesn’t want to get down -off the cross when the time comes—when the -time comes, I mean—I’ll climb right up with -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—I thought he was pretty good in -there to-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—He was all right.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—You guys don’t know -what I’m talking about. I’m not saying -whether he was good or not. What I mean is, -when the time comes. When they first start -nailing him, there isn’t none of them wouldn’t -stop it if they could.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Didn’t you follow it, George?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—No, I didn’t take any interest -in it, Lootenant.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—I was surprised how he acted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—The part I don’t like is the nailing -them on. You know, that must get to you -pretty bad.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—It isn’t that that’s so bad, as -when they first lift ’em up. [<span class='it'>He makes a lifting -gesture with his two palms together.</span>] When -the weight starts to pull on ’em. That’s when -it gets ’em.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—It takes some of them -pretty bad.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Ain’t I seen ’em? I seen plenty -of them. I tell you, he was pretty good in there -to-day.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The second Roman soldier smiles at the -Hebrew wine-seller.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—You’re a regular Christer, big -boy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Sure, go on and kid him. But -listen while I tell you something. He was -pretty good in there to-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—What about some more wine?</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The wine-seller looks up expectantly. -The third Roman soldier is sitting with his -head down. He does not look well.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Soldier</span>—I don’t want any more.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Just for two, George.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The wine-seller puts out a pitcher of -wine, a size smaller than the last one. He -leans forward on the wooden counter.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Roman Soldier</span>—You see his girl?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Wasn’t I standing right by her?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—She’s a nice-looker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—I knew her before he did. [<span class='it'>He -winks at the wine-seller.</span>]</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—I used to see her around the -town.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—She used to have a lot of stuff. -He never brought <span class='it'>her</span> no good luck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Oh, he ain’t lucky. But he -looked pretty good to me in there to-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—What become of his gang?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Oh, they faded out. Just the -women stuck by him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—They were a pretty yellow -crowd. When they seen him go up there -they didn’t want any of it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—The women stuck all right.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Sure, they stuck all right.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Roman Soldier</span>—You see me slip the old -spear into him?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—You’ll get into trouble -doing that some day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—It was the least I could do for -him. I’ll tell you he looked pretty good to me -in there to-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Hebrew Wine-seller</span>—Gentlemen, you know -I got to close.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Roman Soldier</span>—We’ll have one more -round.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—What’s the use? This -stuff don’t get you anywhere. Come on, let’s -go.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Just another round.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—[<span class='it'>Getting up from the -barrel.</span>] No, come on. Let’s go. I feel like -hell to-night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Soldier</span>—Just one more.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—No, come on. We’re going to -go. Good-night, George. Put it on the bill.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—Good-night, gentlemen. [<span class='it'>He -looks a little worried.</span>] You couldn’t let me -have a little something on account, Lootenant?</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—What the hell, George! -Wednesday’s pay-day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Wine-seller</span>—It’s all right, Lootenant. Good-night, -gentlemen.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>The three Roman soldiers go out the -door into the street.</span>]</p> - -<p class='pindent'>[<span class='it'>Outside in the street.</span>]</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Roman Soldier</span>—George is a kike just like -all the rest of them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>1st Roman Soldier</span>—Oh, George is a nice -fella.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—Everybody’s a nice fella to you -to-night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—Come on, let’s go up to -the barracks. I feel like hell to-night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—You been out here too long.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>3d Roman Soldier</span>—No, it ain’t just that. -I feel like hell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>2d Soldier</span>—You been out here too long. -That’s all.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'><span class='sc'>Curtain.</span></p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch13'>BANAL STORY</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>So he ate an orange, slowly spitting out the -seeds. Outside, the snow was turning to rain. -Inside, the electric stove seemed to give no heat -and rising from his writing-table, he sat down -upon the stove. How good it felt! Here, at -last, was life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He reached for another orange. Far away -in Paris, Mascart had knocked Danny Frush -cuckoo in the second round. Far off in Mesopotamia, -twenty-one feet of snow had fallen. -Across the world in distant Australia, the English -cricketers were sharpening up their wickets. -<span class='it'>There</span> was Romance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Patrons of the arts and letters have discovered -<span class='it'>The Forum</span>, he read. It is the guide, -philosopher, and friend of the thinking minority. -Prize short-stories—will their authors write -our best-sellers of to-morrow?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>You will enjoy these warm, homespun, -American tales, bits of real life on the open -ranch, in crowded tenement or comfortable -home, and all with a healthy undercurrent of -humor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I must read them, he thought.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He read on. Our children’s children—what -of them? Who of them? New means must -be discovered to find room for us under the -sun. Shall this be done by war or can it be -done by peaceful methods?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Or will we all have to move to Canada?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Our deepest convictions—will Science upset -them? Our civilization—is it inferior to older -orders of things?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And meanwhile, in the far-off dripping jungles -of Yucatan, sounded the chopping of the -axes of the gum-choppers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Do we want big men—or do we want them -cultured? Take Joyce. Take President Coolidge. -What star must our college students aim -at? There is Jack Britton. There is Dr. Henry -Van Dyke. Can we reconcile the two? Take -the case of Young Stribling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And what of our daughters who must make -their own Soundings? Nancy Hawthorne is -obliged to make her own Soundings in the sea -of life. Bravely and sensibly she faces the -problems which come to every girl of eighteen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a splendid booklet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Are you a girl of eighteen? Take the case -of Joan of Arc. Take the case of Bernard -Shaw. Take the case of Betsy Ross.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Think of these things in 1925—Was there a -risqué page in Puritan history? Were there -two sides to Pocahontas? Did he have a fourth -dimension?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Are modern paintings—and poetry—Art? -Yes and No. Take Picasso.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Have tramps codes of conduct? Send your -mind adventuring.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There is Romance everywhere. <span class='it'>Forum</span> -writers talk to the point, are possessed of humor -and wit. But they do not try to be smart and -are never long-winded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by -new ideas, intoxicated by the Romance of the -unusual. He laid down the booklet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And meanwhile, stretched flat on a bed in a -darkened room in his house in Triana, Manuel -Garcia Maera lay with a tube in each lung, -drowning with the pneumonia. All the papers -in Andalucia devoted special supplements to his -death, which had been expected for some days. -Men and boys bought full-length colored pictures -of him to remember him by, and lost the -picture they had of him in their memories by -looking at the lithographs. Bull-fighters were -very relieved he was dead, because he did always -in the bull-ring the things they could only do -sometimes. They all marched in the rain behind -his coffin and there were one hundred and -forty-seven bull-fighters followed him out to -the cemetery, where they buried him in the -tomb next to Joselito. After the funeral every -one sat in the cafés out of the rain, and many -colored pictures of Maera were sold to men -who rolled them up and put them away in their -pockets.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1 id='ch14'>NOW I LAY ME</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>That</span> night we lay on the floor in the room -and I listened to the silk-worms eating. The -silk-worms fed in racks of mulberry leaves and -all night you could hear them eating and a -dropping sound in the leaves. I myself did -not want to sleep because I had been living for -a long time with the knowledge that if I ever -shut my eyes in the dark and let myself go, my -soul would go out of my body. I had been that -way for a long time, ever since I had been blown -up at night and felt it go out of me and go off -and then come back. I tried never to think -about it, but it had started to go since, in the -nights, just at the moment of going off to sleep, -and I could only stop it by a very great effort. -So while now I am fairly sure that it would not -really have gone out, yet then, that summer, I -was unwilling to make the experiment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had different ways of occupying myself -while I lay awake. I would think of a trout -stream I had fished along when I was a boy and -fish its whole length very carefully in my mind; -fishing very carefully under all the logs, all the -turns of the bank, the deep holes and the clear -shallow stretches, sometimes catching trout and -sometimes losing them. I would stop fishing -at noon to eat my lunch; sometimes on a log -over the stream; sometimes on a high bank -under a tree, and I always ate my lunch very -slowly and watched the stream below me while -I ate. Often I ran out of bait because I would -take only ten worms with me in a tobacco tin -when I started. When I had used them all I -had to find more worms, and sometimes it was -very difficult digging in the bank of the stream -where the cedar trees kept out the sun and -there was no grass but only the bare moist earth -and often I could find no worms. Always -though I found some kind of bait, but one time -in the swamp I could find no bait at all and had -to cut up one of the trout I had caught and use -him for bait.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sometimes I found insects in the swamp -meadows, in the grass or under ferns, and used -them. There were beetles and insects with legs -like grass stems, and grubs in old rotten logs; -white grubs with brown pinching heads that -would not stay on the hook and emptied into -nothing in the cold water, and wood ticks under -logs where sometimes I found angle-worms that -slipped into the ground as soon as the log was -raised. Once I used a salamander from under -an old log. The salamander was very small and -neat and agile and a lovely color. He had tiny -feet that tried to hold on to the hook, and after -that one time I never used a salamander, although -I found them very often. Nor did -I use crickets, because of the way they acted -about the hook.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sometimes the stream ran through an open -meadow, and in the dry grass I would catch -grasshoppers and use them for bait and sometimes -I would catch grasshoppers and toss them -into the stream and watch them float along -swimming on the stream and circling on the -surface as the current took them and then disappear -as a trout rose. Sometimes I would fish -four or five different streams in the night; -starting as near as I could get to their source -and fishing them down stream. When I had -finished too quickly and the time did not go, -I would fish the stream over again, starting -where it emptied into the lake and fishing back -up stream, trying for all the trout I had missed -coming down. Some nights too I made up -streams, and some of them were very exciting, -and it was like being awake and dreaming. -Some of those streams I still remember and -think that I have fished in them, and they are -confused with streams I really know. I gave -them all names and went to them on the train -and sometimes walked for miles to get to them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But some nights I could not fish, and on those -nights I was cold-awake and said my prayers -over and over and tried to pray for all the people -I had ever known. That took up a great -amount of time, for if you try to remember all -the people you have ever known, going back -to the earliest thing you remember—which was, -with me, the attic of the house where I was -born and my mother and father’s wedding-cake -in a tin box hanging from one of the rafters, -and, in the attic, jars of snakes and other specimens -that my father had collected as a boy and -preserved in alcohol, the alcohol sunken in the -jars so the backs of some of the snakes and -specimens were exposed and had turned white—if -you thought back that far, you remembered a -great many people. If you prayed for all of -them, saying a Hail Mary and an Our Father -for each one, it took a long time and finally it -would be light, and then you could go to sleep, -if you were in a place where you could sleep -in the daylight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On those nights I tried to remember everything -that had ever happened to me, starting -with just before I went to the war and remembering -back from one thing to another. I found -I could only remember back to that attic in my -grandfather’s house. Then I would start there -and remember this way again, until I reached -the war.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I remembered, after my grandfather died we -moved away from that house and to a new -house designed and built by my mother. Many -things that were not to be moved were burned -in the back-yard and I remember those jars -from the attic being thrown in the fire, and -how they popped in the heat and the fire flamed -up from the alcohol. I remember the snakes -burning in the fire in the back-yard. But there -were no people in that, only things. I could not -remember who burned the things even, and I -would go on until I came to people and then -stop and pray for them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>About the new house I remembered how my -mother was always cleaning things out and making -a good clearance. One time when my father -was away on a hunting trip she made a good -thorough cleaning out in the basement and -burned everything that should not have been -there. When my father came home and got -down from his buggy and hitched the horse, the -fire was still burning in the road beside the -house. I went out to meet him. He handed -me his shotgun and looked at the fire. “What’s -this?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been cleaning out the basement, dear,” -my mother said from the porch. She was -standing there smiling, to meet him. My father -looked at the fire and kicked at something. -Then he leaned over and picked something out -of the ashes. “Get a rake, Nick,” he said to -me. I went to the basement and brought a rake -and my father raked very carefully in the ashes. -He raked out stone axes and stone skinning -knives and tools for making arrow-heads and -pieces of pottery and many arrow-heads. They -had all been blackened and chipped by the fire. -My father raked them all out very carefully -and spread them on the grass by the road. His -shotgun in its leather case and his game-bags -were on the grass where he had left them when -he stepped down from the buggy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Take the gun and the bags in the house, -Nick, and bring me a paper,” he said. My -mother had gone inside the house. I took the -shotgun, which was heavy to carry and banged -against my legs, and the two game-bags and -started toward the house. “Take them one at -a time,” my father said. “Don’t try and carry -too much at once.” I put down the game-bags -and took in the shotgun and brought out a newspaper -from the pile in my father’s office. My -father spread all the blackened, chipped stone -implements on the paper and then wrapped -them up. “The best arrow-heads went all to -pieces,” he said. He walked into the house with -the paper package and I stayed outside on the -grass with the two game-bags. After a while I -took them in. In remembering that, there were -only two people, so I would pray for them both.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Some nights, though, I could not remember -my prayers even. I could only get as far as -“On earth as it is in heaven” and then have to -start all over and be absolutely unable to get -past that. Then I would have to recognize that -I could not remember and give up saying my -prayers that night and try something else. So -on some nights I would try to remember all the -animals in the world by name and then the birds -and then fishes and then countries and cities and -then kinds of food and the names of all the -streets I could remember in Chicago, and when -I could not remember anything at all any more -I would just listen. And I do not remember a -night on which you could not hear things. If -I could have a light I was not afraid to sleep, -because I knew my soul would only go out of -me if it were dark. So, of course, many nights -I was where I could have a light and then I -slept because I was nearly always tired and -often very sleepy. And I am sure many times -too that I slept without knowing it—but I never -slept knowing it, and on this night I listened to -the silk-worms. You can hear silk-worms eating -very clearly in the night and I lay with my eyes -open and listened to them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was only one other person in the room -and he was awake too. I listened to him being -awake, for a long time. He could not lie as -quietly as I could because, perhaps, he had not -had as much practice being awake. We were -lying on blankets spread over straw and when he -moved the straw was noisy, but the silk-worms -were not frightened by any noise we made and -ate on steadily. There were the noises of night -seven kilometres behind the lines outside but -they were different from the small noises inside -the room in the dark. The other man in the -room tried lying quietly. Then he moved -again. I moved too, so he would know I was -awake. He had lived ten years in Chicago. -They had taken him for a soldier in nineteen -fourteen when he had come back to visit his -family, and they had given him to me for an -orderly because he spoke English. I heard him -listening, so I moved again in the blankets.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you sleep, Signor Tenente?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t sleep, either.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. I can’t sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You feel all right?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. I feel good. I just can’t sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You want to talk a while?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. What can you talk about in this damn -place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This place is pretty good,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” he said. “It’s all right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me about out in Chicago,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” he said, “I told you all that once.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me about how you got married.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I told you that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was the letter you got Monday—from -her?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. She writes me all the time. She’s -making good money with the place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ll have a nice place when you go back.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. She runs it fine. She’s making a lot -of money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you think we’ll wake them up, talking?” -I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. They can’t hear. Anyway, they sleep -like pigs. I’m different,” he said. “I’m nervous.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Talk quiet,” I said. “Want a smoke?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We smoked skilfully in the dark.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t smoke much, Signor Tenente.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No. I’ve just about cut it out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well,” he said, “it don’t do you any good -and I suppose you get so you don’t miss it. Did -you ever hear a blind man won’t smoke because -he can’t see the smoke come out?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I think it’s all bull, myself,” he said. “I -just heard it somewhere. You know how you -hear things.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were both quiet and I listened to the silk-worms.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You hear those damn silk-worms?” he -asked. “You can hear them chew.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s funny,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Signor Tenente, is there something -really the matter that you can’t sleep? I never -see you sleep. You haven’t slept nights ever -since I been with you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, John,” I said. “I got in pretty -bad shape along early last spring and at night it -bothers me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Just like I am,” he said. “I shouldn’t have -ever got in this war. I’m too nervous.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe it will get better.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Signor Tenente, what did you get in -this war for, anyway?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, John. I wanted to, then.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wanted to,” he said. “That’s a hell of a -reason.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We oughtn’t to talk out loud,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They sleep just like pigs,” he said. “They -can’t understand the English language, anyway. -They don’t know a damn thing. What are you -going to do when it’s over and we go back to the -States?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll get a job on a paper.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In Chicago?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Maybe.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you ever read what this fellow Brisbane -writes? My wife cuts it out for me and sends it -to me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever meet him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, but I’ve seen him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to meet that fellow. He’s a fine -writer. My wife don’t read English but she -takes the paper just like when I was home and -she cuts out the editorials and the sport page -and sends them to me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How are your kids?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’re fine. One of the girls is in the -fourth grade now. You know, Signor Tenente, -if I didn’t have the kids I wouldn’t be your -orderly now. They’d have made me stay in the -line all the time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’m glad you’ve got them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So am I. They’re fine kids but I want a -boy. Three girls and no boy. That’s a hell -of a note.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you try and go to sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I can’t sleep now. I’m wide awake -now, Signor Tenente. Say, I’m worried about -you not sleeping though.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’ll be all right, John.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Imagine a young fellow like you not to -sleep.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll get all right. It just takes a while.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got to get all right. A man can’t get -along that don’t sleep. Do you worry about -anything? You got anything on your mind?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, John, I don’t think so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to get married, Signor Tenente. -Then you wouldn’t worry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought to get married. Why don’t you -pick out some nice Italian girl with plenty of -money. You could get any one you want. -You’re young and you got good decorations and -you look nice. You been wounded a couple of -times.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t talk the language well enough.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You talk it fine. To hell with talking the -language. You don’t have to talk to them. -Marry them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll think about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know some girls, don’t you?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, you marry the one with the most -money. Over here, the way they’re brought -up, they’ll all make you a good wife.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll think about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t think about it, Signor Tenente. Do -it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A man ought to be married. You’ll never -regret it. Every man ought to be married.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” I said. “Let’s try and sleep a -while.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, Signor Tenente. I’ll try it again. -But you remember what I said.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll remember it,” I said. “Now let’s sleep -a while, John.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” he said. “I hope you sleep, -Signor Tenente.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I heard him roll in his blankets on the straw -and then he was very quiet and I listened to him -breathing regularly. Then he started to snore. -I listened to him snore for a long time and then -I stopped listening to him snore and listened to -the silk-worms eating. They ate steadily, making -a dropping in the leaves. I had a new -thing to think about and I lay in the dark with -my eyes open and thought of all the girls I had -ever known and what kind of wives they would -make. It was a very interesting thing to think -about and for a while it killed off trout-fishing -and interfered with my prayers. Finally, -though, I went back to trout-fishing, because I -found that I could remember all the streams -and there was always something new about -them, while the girls, after I had thought about -them a few times, blurred and I could not call -them into my mind and finally they all blurred -and all became rather the same and I gave up -thinking about them almost altogether. But I -kept on with my prayers and I prayed very -often for John in the nights and his class was -removed from active service before the October -offensive. I was glad he was not there, because -he would have been a great worry to me. -He came to the hospital in Milan to see me several -months after and was very disappointed -that I had not yet married, and I know he -would feel very badly if he knew that, so far, -I have never married. He was going back to -America and he was very certain about marriage -and knew it would fix up everything.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'> - -<div><h1>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. -Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been -employed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious -printer errors occur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A cover was created for this eBook.</p> - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN WITHOUT WOMEN ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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