Active Service - Stephen Crane (librera reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Stephen Crane
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Meantime He Drank Glass After Glass Of Wine. Finally He Made
Reckless Bets On A Mediocre Hand And An Opponent Followed
Him Thoughtfully Bet By Bet, Undaunted, Calm, Absolutely
Without Emotion. Coleman Lost; He Hurled down His Cards. "
Nobody But A Damned fool Would Have Seen That Last Raise On
Anything less Than A Full Hand."
" Steady. Come Off. What'S Wrong With You, Rufus ? " Cried
His Guests.
" You'Re Not Drunk, Are You ? " Said His Old College Friend,
Puritanically.
" 'Drunk' ?" Repeated coleman.
" Oh, Say," Cried a Man, " Let'S Play Cards. What'S All This
Gabbling ? "
It Was When A Grey, Dirty Light Of Dawn Evaded the Thick
Curtains And Fought On The Floor With The Feebled electric Glow
That Coleman, In the Midst Of Play, Lurched his Chest Heavily
Upon The Table. Some Chips Rattled to The Floor. " I'Ll Call You,"
He Murmured, Sleepily.
" Well," Replied a Man, Sternly, " Three Kings."
The Other Players With Difficulty Extracted five Cards From
Beneath Coleman'S Pillowed head. " Not A Pair! Come, Come,
This Won'T Do. Oh, Let'S Stop Playing. This Is The Rottenest Game I
Ever Sat In. Let'S Go Home. Why Don'T You Put Him. To Bed, Billie?"
When Coleman Awoke Next Morning, He Looked back Upon
The Poker Game As Something that Had Transpired in previous
Years. He Dressed and Went Down To The Grill-Room. For His
Breakfast He Ordered some Eggs On Toast And A Pint Of
Champagne. A Privilege Of Liberty Belonged to A Certain Irish
Waiter, And This Waiter Looked at Him, Grinning. "Maybe You
Had A Pretty Lively Time Last Night, Mr Coleman? "
" Yes, Pat," Answered coleman, " I Did. It Was All Because Of
An Unrequited affection, Patrick." The Man Stood Near, A Napkin
Over His Arm. Coleman Went On Impressively. " The Ways Of The
Modern Lover Are Strange. Now, I, Patrick, Am A Modern Lover,
And When, Yesterday, The Dagger Of Disappointment Was Driven
Deep Into My Heart, I Immediately Played poker As Hard As I
Could And Incidentally Got Loaded. This Is The Modern Point Of
View. I Understand On Good Authority That In old Times Lovers
Used to. Languish. That Is Probably A Lie, But At Any Rate We Do
Not, In these Times, Languish To Any Great Extent. We Get Drunk.
Do You Understand, Patrick? "
The Waiter Was Used to A Harangue At Coleman'S Breakfast
Time. He Placed his Hand Over His Mouth And Giggled. "Yessir."
" Of Course," Continued coleman, Thoughtfully. " It Might Be
Pointed out By Uneducated persons That
It Is Difficult To Maintain A High Standard Of Drunkenness For The
Adequate Length Of Time, But In the Series Of Experiments Which
I Am About To Make I Am Sure I Can Easily Prove Them To Be In
The Wrong."
" I Am Sure, Sir," Said The Waiter, " The Young Ladies Would
Not Like To Be Hearing you Talk This Way."
" Yes; No Doubt, No Doubt. The Young Ladies Have Still Quite
Medieval Ideas. They Don'T Understand. They Still Prefer Lovers
To Languish."
" At Any Rate, Sir, I Don'T See That Your Heart Is Sure
Enough Broken. You Seem To Take It Very Easy. "
" Broken! " Cried coleman. " Easy? Man, My Heart Is In
Fragments. Bring me Another Small Bottle."
Chapter 6
Six Weeks Later, Coleman Went To The Office Of The Proprietor
Of The Eclipse. Coleman Was One Of Those
Smooth-Shaven Old-Young Men Who Wear Upon Some Occasions
A Singular Air Of Temperance And Purity. At These Times, His
Features Lost Their Quality Of Worldly Shrewdness And Endless
Suspicion And Bloomed as The Face Of Some Innocent Boy. It
Then Would Be Hard To Tell That He Had Ever Encountered even
Such A Crime As A Lie Or A Cigarette. As He Walked into The
Proprietor'S Office He Was A Perfect Semblance Of A Fine,
Inexperienced youth. People Usually Concluded this Change Was
Due To A Turkish Bath Or Some Other Expedient Of Recuperation,
But It Was Due Probably To The Power Of A Physical
Characteristic.
" Boss In ? " Said Coleman.
" Yeh," Said The Secretary, Jerking his Thumb Toward An Inner
Door. In his Private Office, Sturgeon Sat On The Edge Of The Table
Dangling one Leg And Dreamily Surveying the Wall. As Coleman
Entered he Looked up Quickly. "Rufus," He Cried, " You'Re Just
The Man I Wanted to See. I'Ve Got A Scheme. A Great Scheme."
He Slid From The Table And Began To Pace Briskly To
And Fro, His Hands Deep In his Trousers' Pockets, His Chin Sunk
In His Collar, His Light Blue Eyes Afire With Interest. " Now Listen.
This Is Immense. The Eclipse Enlists A Battalion Of Men To Go To
Cuba And Fight The Spaniards Under Its Own Flag-The Eclipse Flag.
Collect Trained officers From Here And There-Enlist Every Young
Devil We See-Drill 'Em--Best Rifles-Loads Of Ammunition-
Provisions-Staff Of Doctors And Nurses -A Couple Of Dynamite
Guns-Everything complete Best In the World. Now, Isn'T That
Great ? What'S The Matter With That Now ? Eh? Eh? Isn'T That
Great? It'S Great, Isn'T It? Eh? Why, My Boy, We'Ll Free-"
Coleman Did Not Seem To Ignite. " I Have Been Arrested four
Or Five Times Already On Fool Matters Connected with The
Newspaper Business," He Observed, Gloomily, " But I'Ve Never
Yet Been Hung. I Think Your Scheme Is A Beauty."
Sturgeon Paused in astonishment. " Why, What Happens To
Be The Matter With You ? What Are You Kicking about ? "
Coleman Made A Slow Gesture. " I'M Tired," He Answered. " I
Need a Vacation."
"Vacation!" Cried sturgeon. "Why Don'T You Take One Then ? "
" That'S What I'Ve Come To See You About. I'Ve Had A Pretty
Heavy Strain On Me For Three Years Now, And I Want To Get A
Little Rest."
" Well, Who In thunder Has Been Keeping you From It? It
Hasn'T Been Me."
" I Know It Hasn'T Been You, But, Of Course, I Wanted the
Paper To Go And I Wanted to Have My Share In its Success, But
Now That Everything is All Right I Think I Might Go Away For A
Time If You Don'T Mind."
" Mind! " Exclaimed sturgeon Falling into His Chair And
Reaching for His Check Book. "Where Do You Want To Go? How
Long Do You Want To Be Gone? How Much Money Do You Want ?"
" I Don'T Want Very Much. And As For Where I Want To Go, I
Thought I Might Like To Go To Greece For A While."
Sturgeon Had Been Writing a Check. He Poised his Pen In the
Air And Began To Laugh. " That'S A Queer Place To Go For A Rest.
Why, The Biggest War Of Modern Times--A War That May Involve
All Europe-Is Likely To Start There At Any Moment. You Are Not
Likely To Get Any Rest In greece."
" I Know That," Answered coleman. " I Know There Is Likely To
Be A War There. But I Think That Is Exactly What Would Rest Me. I
Would Like To Report The War."
"You Are A Queer Bird," Answered sturgeon Deeply Fascinated
With This New Idea. He Had Apparently Forgotten His Vision Of A
Cuban Volunteer Battalion. " War Correspondence Is About The
Most Original Medium For A Rest I Ever Heard Of."
"Oh, It May Seem Funny, But Really, Any Change Will Be Good
For Me Now. I'Ve Been Whacking at This Old Sunday Edition Until
I'M Sick Of It, And Some,. Times I Wish The Eclipse Was In hell."
That'S All Right," Laughed the Proprietor Of The
Eclipse. " But I Still Don'T See How You 'Are Going to Get Any
Vacation Out Of A War That Will Upset The Whole Of Europe. But
That'S Your Affair. If You Want To Become The Chief
Correspondent In the Field In case Of Any Such War, Why, Of
Course, I Would Be Glad To Have You. I Couldn'T Get Anybody
Better. But I Don'T See Where Your Vacation Comes In."
" I'Ll Take Care Of That," Answered coleman. " When I Take A
Vacation I Want To Take It My Own Way, And I Think This Will Be A
Vacation Because It Will Be Different -Don'T You See-Different ? "
" No, I Don'T See Any Sense In it, But If You Think That Is The
Way That Suits You, Why, Go Ahead. How Much Money Do You
Want ? "
" I Don'T Want Much. Just Enough To See Me Through Nicely."
Sturgeon Scribbled on His Check Book And Then Ripped a
Check From It. " Here'S A Thousand Dollars. Will That Do You To
Start With? "
" That'S Plenty."
"When Do You Want To Start ? "
" To-Morrow."
"Oh," Said Sturgeon. " You'Re In a Hurry." This
Impetuous Manner Of Exit From Business Seemed to Appeal To
Him. " To-Morrow," He Repeated smiling. In reality He Was Some
Kind Of A Poet Using his Millions Romantically, Spending wildly
On A Sentiment That Might Be With Beauty Or Without Beauty,
According to The Momentary Vacillation. The Vaguely-Defined
Desperation In coleman'S Last Announcement Appeared to
Delight Him. He Grinned and Placed the Points Of His Fingers
Together Stretching out His Legs In a Careful Attitude Of
Indifference Which Might Even Mean Disapproval. " To-Morrow,"
He Murmured teasingly.
" By Jiminy," Exclaimed coleman, Ignoring the Other Man'S
Mood, " I'M Sick Of The Whole Business. I'Ve Got Out A Sunday
Paper Once A Week For Three Years And I Feel Absolutely
Incapable Of Getting out Another Edition. It Would Be All Right If
We Were Running on Ordinary Lines, But When Each Issue Is More
Or Less Of An Attempt To Beat The Previous Issue, It Becomes
Rather Wearing, You Know. If I Can'T Get A Vacation Now I Take
One Later In a Lunatic Asylum."
" Why, I'M Not Objecting to Your Having a Vacation. I'M
Simply Marvelling at The Kind Of Vacation You Want To Take. And
'To-Morrow,' Too, Eh ? "
" Well, It Suits Me," Muttered coleman, Sulkily.
" Well, If It Suits You, That'S Enough. Here'S Your Check. Clear
Out Now And Don'T Let Me See You Again Until You Are
Thoroughly Rested, Even If It Takes A Year." He Arose And Stood
Smiling. He Was Mightily Pleased with Himself. He Liked to
Perform In this Way. He Was Almost Seraphic As He Thrust The
Check For A Thousand Dollars Toward Coleman.
Then His Manner Changed abruptly. " Hold On A Minute. I
Must Think A Little About This Thing if You Are Going to Manage
The Correspondence. Of Course It Will Be A Long And Bloody
War."
"You Bet."
"The Big Chance Is That All Europe Will Be Dragged into It. Of
Course Then You Would Have To Come Out Of Greece And Take Up
Abetter Position-Say Vienna."
"No, I Wouldn'T Care To Do That," Said Coleman Positively. "I
Just Want To Take Care Of The Greek End Of It."
" It Will Be An Idiotic Way To Take A Vacation," Observed
Sturgeon.
" Well, It Suits Me," Muttered coleman Again. " I Tell You
What It Is-" He Added suddenly. "I'Ve Got Some Private Reasons-
See ? "
Sturgeon Was Radiant With Joy. " Private Reasons." He Was
Charmed by The Sombre Pain In coleman'S Eyes And His Own
Ability To Eject It. "Good. Go Now And Be Blowed. I Will Cable
Final Instruction To Meet You In london. As Soon As You Get To
Greece, Cable Me An Account Of The Situation There And We Will
Arrange Our Plans." He Began To Laugh. " Private Reasons. Come
Out To Dinner With Me."
" I Can'T Very Well," Said Coleman. " If I Go Tomorrow, I'Ve
Got To Pack-"
But Here The Real Tyrant Appeared, Emerging suddenly From
Behind The Curtain Of Sentiment, Appearing like A Red devil In a
Pantomine. " You Can'T ? " Snapped sturgeon. " Nonsense----"
Chapter Vii.
Sweeping out From Between Two Remote, Half-Submerged
Dunes On Which Stood Slender Sentry Light. Houses, The Steamer
Began To Roll With A Gentle Insinuating motion. Passengers In
Their Staterooms Saw At Rhythmical Intervals The Spray Racing
Fleetly Past The Portholes. The Waves Grappled hurriedly At The
Sides Of The Great Flying steamer And Boiled discomfited astern
In A Turmoil Of
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