Active Service - Stephen Crane (librera reader .TXT) 📗

A Hit,  My Boy. You Are The

Success Of The Season."

 

Coleman Reflected upon The Probable Result Of A Direct Appeal

To Nora. He Knew Of Course That Such Appeals Were Usually Idle,

But He Did Not Consider Nora An Ordinary Person. His Decision

Was To Venture It. He Drew His Horse Close To Hers. " Nora," He

Said,  " Do You Know That You Are Raising the Very Devil? "

 

She Lifted her Finely Penciled eyebrows And Looked at Him

With The Baby-Stare. " How ? " She Enquired.

 

" You Know Well Enough," He Gritted out Wrathfully.

 

"Raising the Very Devil?" She Asked. " How Do You Mean?"

She Was Palpably Interested for His Answer. She Waited for His

Reply For An Interval,  And Then She Asked him Outright. " Rufus

Coleman Do You Mean That I Am Not A Respectable Woman ? "

 

In Reality He Had Meant Nothing of The Kind,  But This Direct

Throttling of A Great Question Stupefied him Utterly,  For He Saw

Now That She' Would Probably Never Understand Him In the

Least And That She Would

At Any Rate Always Pretend Not To Understand Him And That The

More He Said The More Harm He Manufactured. She Studied him

Over Carefully And Then Wheeled her Horse Towards The Rear With

Some Parting remarks. " I Suppose You Should Attend More

Strictly To Your Own Affairs,  Rufus. Instead Of Raising the Devil I

Am Lending hairpins. I Have Seen You Insult People,  But I Have

Never Seen You Insult Anyone Quite For The Whim Of The Thing.

Go Soak Your Head."

 

Not Considering it Advisable To Then Indulge In such

Immersion Coleman Rode Moodily Onward. The Hot Dust

Continued to Sting the Cheeks Of The Travellers And In some

Places Great Clouds Of Dead Leaves Roared in circles About Them.

All Of The Wainwright Party Were Utterly Fagged. Coleman Felt

His Skin Crackle And His Throat Seemed to Be Coated with The

White Dust. He Worried his Dragoman As To The Distance To Arta

Until The Dragoman Lied to The Point Where He Always Declared

That Arta Was Only Off Some Hundreds Of Yards.

 

At Their Places In the Procession Mrs. Wainwright And

Marjory Were Animatedly Talking to Nora And The Old Lady On

The Little Pony. They Had At First Suffered great Amazement At The

Voluntary Presence Of The Old Lady,  But She Was There Really

Because She Knew No Better. Her Colossal Ignorance Took The

Form,  Mainly,  Of A Most Obstreperous Patriotism,  And Indeed she

Always Acted in a Foreign Country As If She Were The

Special Commissioner Of The President,  Or Perhaps As A

Special Commissioner Could Not Act At All. She Was

Very Aggressive,  And When Any Of The Travelling

Arrangements In europe Did Not Suit Her Ideas She Was

Won'T To Shrilly Exclaim: " Well ! New York Is Good

Enough For Me." Nora,  Morbidly Afraid That Her Ex-

Pense Bill To The Daylight Would Not Be Large Enough,

Had Dragged her Bodily Off To Greece As Her Companion,

Friend And Protection. At Arta They Had Heard Of The

Grand Success Of The Greek Army. The Turks Had Not

Stood For A Moment Before That Gallant And Terrible

Advance; No; They Had Scampered howling with Fear

Into The North. Jannina Would Fall-Well,  Jannina

Would Fall As Soon As The Greeks Arrived. There Was

No Doubt Of It. The Correspondent And Her Friend,

Deluded and Hurried by The Light-Hearted confidence

Of The Greeks In arta,  Had Hastened out Then On A

Regular Tourist'S Excursion To See Jannina After Its

Capture. Nora Concealed from Her Friend The Fact

That The Editor Of The Daylight Particularly Wished

Her To See A Battle So That She Might Write An Article

On Actual Warfare From A Woman'S Point Of View.

With Her Name As A Queen Of Comic Opera,  Such An

Article From Her Pen Would Be A Burning,  Sensation.

 

Coleman Had Been The First To Point Out To Nora That Instead

Of Going on A Picnic To Jannina,  She Had Better Run Back To

Arta. When The Old Lady Heard That They Had Not Been Entirely

Safe,  She Was Furious With Nora. "The Idea!" She Exclaimed to

Mrs. Wainwright. "They Might Have Caught Us! They Might Have

Caught Us ! "

 

" Well," Said Mrs. Wainwright. " I Verily Believe They Would

Have Caught Us If It Had Not Been For Mr. Coleman."

 

" Is He The Gentleman On The Fine Horse?"

 

" Yes; That'S Him. Oh,  He Has Been Sim-Plee Splendid. I

Confess I Was A Little Bit-Er-Surprised. He Was In college Under

My Husband. I Don'T Know That We Thought Very Great Things Of

Him,  But If Ever A Man Won Golden Opinions He Has Done So From

Us."

 

" Oh,  That Must Be The Coleman Who Is Such A Great Friend Of

Nora'S."

 

"Yes?" Said Mrs. Wainwright Insidiously. "Is He? I Didn'T

Know. Of Course He Knows So Many People." Her Mind Had Been

Suddenly Illumined by The Old Lady And She Thought

Extravagantly Of The Arrival Of Nora Upon The Scene. She

Remained all Sweetness To The Old Lady. "Did You Know He Was

Here? Did You Expect To Meet Him? I Seemed such A Delightful

Coincidence." In truth She Was Being subterraneously Clever.

 

" Oh,  No; I Don'T Think So. I Didn'T Hear Nora Mention It. Of

Course She Would Have Told Me. You Know,  Our Coming to

Greece Was Such A Surprise. Nora Had An Engagement In

London At The Folly Theatre In fly By Night,  But The Manager

Was Insufferable,  Oh,  Insufferable. So,  Of Course,  Nora Wouldn'T

Stand It A Minute,  And Then These Newspaper People Came Along And

Asked her To Go To Greece For Them And She Accepted. I Am Sure I

Never Expected to Find Us-Aw-Fleeing from The Turks Or I

Shouldn'T Have Come."

 

" Mrs. Wainwright Was Gasping. " You Don'T Mean That She Is--

She Is Nora Black,  The Actress."

 

" Of Course She Is," Said The Old Lady Jubilantly.

 

" Why,  How Strange," Choked mrs. Wainwrignt. Nothing she

Knew Of Nora Could Account For Her Stupefaction And Grief.

What Happened glaringly To Her Was The Duplicity Of Man.

Coleman Was A Ribald Deceiver.  He Must Have Known And Yet He

Had Pretended throughout That The Meeting was A Pure Accident

She Turned with A Nervous Impulse To Sympathist With Her

Daughter,  But Despite The Lovely Tranquillity Of The Girl'S Face

There Was Something about Her Which Forbade The Mother To

Meddle. Anyhow Mrs. Wainwright Was Sorry That She Had Told

Nice Things Of Coleman'S Behaviour,  So She Said To The Old Lady:

" Young Men Of These Times Get A False Age So Quickly. We

Have Always Thought It A Great Pity,  About Mr. Coleman."

 

"Why,  How So ? " Asked the Old Lady.

 

"Oh,  Really Nothing. Only,  To Us He Seemed rather --Er-

Prematurely Experienced or Something of That Kind.

The Old Lady Did Not Catch The Meaning of The Phrase.

She Seemed surprised. " Why,  I'Ve Never Seen Any Full-Grown

Person In this World Who Got Experience Any Too

Quick For His Own Good."

 

At The Tail Of The Procession There Was Talk Between The

Two Students Who Had In charge The Little Grey Horse-One

To Lead And One To Flog. " Billie," Said One,  " It Now

Becomes Necessary To Lose This Hobby Into The Hands Of

Some Of The Other Fellows. Whereby We Will Gain

Opportunity To Pay Homage To The Great Nora. Why,  You

Egregious Thick-Head,  This Is The Chance Of A Life-Time. I'M

Damned if I'M Going to Tow This Beast Of Burden Much

Further."

 

" You Wouldn'T Stand A Show," Said Billie

Pessimistically. " Look At Coleman."

 

" That'S All Right. Do You Mean To Say That You Prefer To

Continue Towing pack Horses In the Presence Of This Queen

Of Song And The Dance Just Because You Think Coleman Can

Throw Out His Chest A Little More Than You. Not So. Think

Of Your Bright And Sparkling youth. There'S Coke And

Pete Tounley Near Marjory. We'Ll Call 'Em." Whereupon

He Set Up A Cry. " Say,  You People,  We'Re Not Getting a,

Salary For This. Supposin' You Try For A Time. It'Ll Do You

Good." When The Two Addressed bad Halted to Await The

Arrival Of The Little Grey Horse,  They Took On Glum

Expressions. " You Look Like Poisoned pups," Said The

Student Who Led the Horse. " Too Strong For

Light Work. Grab Onto The Halter,  Now,  Peter,  And Tow.

We Are Going ahead To Talk To Nora Black."

 

" Good Time You'Ll Have," Answered peter Tounley.

 

" Coleman Is Cuttin' Up Scandalous. You Won'T Stand A

Show."

 

" What Do You Think Of Him ? " Said Coke. " Seems

Curious,  All 'Round. Do You Suppose He Knew She Would

Show Up? It Was Nervy To--"

 

" Nervy To What? " Asked billie.

 

"Well," Said Coke,  " Seems To Me He Is Playing both

Ends Against The Middle. I Don'T Know Anything about

Nora Black,  But-"

 

The Three Other Students Expressed themselves With

Conviction And In chorus. " Coleman'S All Right."

 

" Well,  Anyhow," Continued coke,  " I Don'T See My Way

Free To Admiring him Introducing nora Black To The

Wainwrights."

 

" He Didn'T," Said The Others,  Still In chorus.

 

" Queer Game," Said Peter Tounley. " He Seems To

Know Her Pretty Well."

 

" Pretty Damn Well," Said Billie.

 

"Anyhow He'S A Brick," Said Peter Tounley. "We

Mustn'T Forget That. Lo,  I Begin To Feel That Our Rufus Is A

Fly Guy Of Many Different Kinds. Any Play That He Is In

Commands My Respect. He Won'T Be Hit By A Chimney In

The Daytime,  For Unto Him Has Come Much Wisdom,  I

Don'T Think I'Ll Worry."

 

"Is He Stuck On Nora Black,  Do You Know?" Asked billie.

 

" One Thing is Plain," Replied coke. " She Has Got Him

Somehow By The Short Hair And She Intends Him To Holler

Murder. Anybody Can See That."

 

" Well,  He Won'T Holler Murder," Said One Of Them With

Conviction. " I'Ll Bet You He Won'T. He'Ll Hammer The War-Post

And Beat The Tom-Tom Until He Drops,  But He Won'T Holler

Murder."

 

" Old Mother Wainwright Will Be In his Wool Presently,"

Quoth Peter Tounley Musingly,  " I Could See It Coming in her

Eye. Somebody Has Given His Snap Away,  Or Something."

" Aw,  He Had No Snap," Said Billie. " Couldn'T You See How

Rattled he Was? He Would Have Given A Lac If Dear Nora Hadn'T

Turned up."

 

"Of Course," The Others Assented. "He Was Rattled."

 

" Looks Queer. And Nasty," Said Coke.

 

" Nora Herself Had An Axe Ready For Him."

 

They Began To Laugh. " If She Had Had An Umbrella She

Would Have Basted him Over The Head With It. Oh,  My! He Was

Green."

 

" Nevertheless," Said Peter Tounley,  " I Refuse To Worry Over

Our Rufus. When He Can'T Take Care Of Himself The Rest Of Us

Want To Hunt Cover. He Is A Fly Guy-"

 

Coleman In the Meantime Had Become Aware That

The Light Of Mrs. Wainwright'S Countenance Was Turned from

Him. The Party Stopped at A Well,  And When He Offered her A

Drink From His Cup He Thought She Accepted it With Scant

Thanks. Marjory Was Still Gracious,  Always Gracious,  But This Did

Not Reassure Him,  Because He Felt There Was Much Unfathomable

Deception In it. When He Turned to Seek Consolation In the

Manner Of The Professor He Found Him As Before,  Stunned with

Surprise,  And The Only Idea He Had Was To Be As Tractable As A

Child.

 

When He Returned to The Head Of The Column,  Nora Again

Cantered forward To Join Him. " Well,  Me Gay Lochinvar," She

Cried,  " And Has Your Disposition Improved? "

 

" You Are Very Fresh," He Said.

 

She Laughed loud Enough To Be Heard The Full Length Of The

Caravan. It Was A Beautiful Laugh,  But Full Of Insolence And

Confidence. He Flashed his Eyes Malignantly Upon Her,  But Then

She Only Laughed more. She Could See That He Wished to

Strangle Her. " What A Disposition ! " She Said. " What A

Disposition ! You Are Not. Nearly So Nice As Your Friends. Now,

They Are Charming,  But You-Rufus,  I Wish You Would Get That

Temper Mended. Dear Rufus,  Do It To Please Me. You Know You

Like To Please Me. Don'T You Now,  Dear? "

He Finally Laughed. " Confound You,  Nora. I Would Like To Kill

You."

 

But At His Laugh She Was All Sunshine. It Was As If She.

Had Been Trying to Taunt Him Into Good Humour With Her.

"Aw,  Now,  Rufus,  Don'T Be Angry. I'Ll Be Good,  Rufus.

Really,  I Will. Listen. I Want To Tell You Something. Do You

Know What I Did? Well,  You Know,  I Never Was Cut Out For

This Business,  And,  Back There,  When You Told Me About The

Turks Being near And All That Sort Of Thing,  I Was

Frightened almost To Death. Really,  I Was. So,  When

Nobody Was Looking,  I Sneaked two Or Three Little Drinks

Out Of My Flask. Two Or Three Little Drinks-"