Читать книгу The Victors; a romance of yesterday morning & this afternoon - Robert Barr - Страница 10

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It is said that a man feels better just after breakfast than just before, but Maguire, on this occasion, was an exception to the rule. He had come to the farmhouse in a state of ecstatic admiration of himself; he was leaving it in a condition of mental gloom and depression that was the more bitter because of the injustice which caused it. It is disappointing enough to miss the appreciation a man knows to be his due, but to meet unreasoning censure when the appetite of expectation is whetted for merited commendation, arouses anger against the stupidity of our fellow-creatures. He liked the girl, too, better than any one he had ever met before; still, he said to himself, there were as good fish in the sea as had ever been taken out of it, and, business being business, he had no intention of letting anything she said interfere with his plans. If she chose to take an unpractical view of things, that was her lookout; such sentiments as she had expressed, besides being unjust, were no good in an everyday world. Still it was all very disheartening, and he could not rid his mind of the image of the girl standing there, resolute, her eyes unwavering, but brimming with unfallen tears.

Patrick harnessed the horse, cursing the straps, to the buckling of which he was unaccustomed, in bad humour with himself and the world, but now and then his hand touched the lump caused by the roll of bills in his pocket, and the undoubted presence of the money sent a little financial electric thrill through him that more and more began to compensate for the disadvantages that had followed its getting.

He sprang into the light waggon and drove away. It would have served everybody right if he simply had kept on to the south until he crossed the state line into Ohio, letting them whistle for their money; but, being an honest man, he would adhere rigidly to his bargain. He would pay the money to the voters and be done with it; then he would buy horse and waggon as agreed, shake the dust of Michigan from the wheels and peddle his way to New York. Meditating thus, he jogged slowly along the dusty road until he heard coming up rapidly behind him the gentle purr of a buggy. Looking over his shoulder he saw a natty turn-out, driven by a well-dressed man. The sun glistened on the polished black box of the buggy as if it shone on glass, and the sand poured from the sparkling wheels as if it were water from the paddles of a steamer. The spokes glittered in the sunlight like a revolving firework. The cover of the buggy was laid flat aft, and a white net to keep off the flies covered the spirited, speedy horse. The whole combination was in striking contrast to the dilapidated belongings of Maguire, who turned to the side of the road to let the more rapid conveyance pass him, as was the courteous custom. The oncomer, however, did not pass, but casting a sharp glance at the man in the light waggon pulled up sharply.

“Your name Maguire?” he asked.

“That’s what they call me.”

“I’ve been looking for you this some time back.”

“Yes? Well, I ain’t very hard to find. Always at the office during business hours.”

“Where’s your office?”

“In this here waggon.”

The stranger laughed. He was a smooth-faced, shrewd-looking man, whose age it was impossible to guess by looking at his keen face.

“You’re taking quite an interest in this ditch contest, I’m told.”

“Oh, so so. Just enough to make things a bit lively, you know.”

“So I hear. What are you going to make out of it?”

“Well, now, stranger,” drawled Maguire, throwing a leg over the edge of the seat, “I’ve been expecting that question, and to speak right down friendly with you, not to have the secret go any further, I’m just a leetle tired of it. See?”

“Been asked it several times, eh? Well, I don’t wonder. You’re a stranger here, I understand.”

“I was a stranger, but I guess there ain’t anyone better known in the district than me to-day, and they’ll know still more of me to-morrow.”

“That so? Well, to come back to the question you don’t like, what do you expect to make out of this?”

“I expect to make you folks sick, for one thing,” said Maguire serenely.

“Why do you say ‘you folks’? I haven’t got anything to do with it.”

“You wouldn’t be here chinning me if you hadn’t.”

“I’m not a voter in this section.”

“I dare say; neither am I, yet I’ve got this thing coppered all the samey.”

“I’m not so sure of that.”

“That’s why I’m telling you.”

“I’m not so sure of it even after you tell me.”

“All right, then, drive on. You’ll be sure of it to-morrow night. Good-bye; so long.”

“Oh, there’s no hurry. I’d like to have a little talk with you. Let’s drive down the road to the woods, where there’s some shade. It’s going to be another powerful hot day.”

“I don’t know as there’s much use us having a talk, but I can spend the time if you can. You drive on and I’ll get there sooner or later. My horse is Kentucky blood, as you can see, but it’s rather discouraged this while back, knowing what concerned fools there are on the other side of this here voting business.”

The man in the buggy made no reply, but drove rapidly to the shade of the forest, Maguire following him more leisurely. Once together under the grateful shadow of the trees it seemed as if they two were alone in the world. The hot air quivered above the long, straight white road, and even the birds in the shadow were silent because of the increasing heat. From the distance came to their ears the subdued, incessant chatter of a reaping machine in the fields, and now and then the clear whet-whet of a blade being sharpened by some farmer who was still using the ancient cradle for swinging down his standing grain.

“Now, to come back to first principles, what do you expect to make in this here campaign? I know this part of the country probably better than you do, and I’m willing to bet a dollar there isn’t much money in it.”

“No? That’s a pretty nice rig you’ve got. Do you own it?”

“Yes. It doesn’t look like a livery stable get-up, does it?”

“No. That’s why I thought it was yours. You seem to be able to pick up a little something in this locality.”

“Oh, I manage to make a living; yes.”

“I’m in exactly the same business,” said Maguire, nodding confidentially.

“Well, that’s what I don’t Understand. How are you going to make a living on this tack? I know these men, and they are as close-fisted as the old Harry. They tell me that you’re doing all this for nothing, and that they’ve got the thing fixed so that you can’t make a cent unless you steal it from old Slade, and I’m just naturally interested to know how you’re going to work it. I thought perhaps you could give me some valuable pointers.”

“So I can, but as it happens this isn’t my day I’m giving things away. Call round after the polling, and if you don’t see what you want ask for it. No trouble to show goods. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. Say, stranger, what are you driving at? Do you think there’s anything to be made out of me by beating ’round the bush? If you do, you’re fooling away your time. Look in my eye and tell me if you see any green there. You’ve asked me a whole lot of questions, and I’ve answered them like a gentleman. Now, let me ask you one. What’s your game?”

The man in the buggy gazed intently at the other for a few seconds before he replied. Then he said quietly:

“I’m a contractor. I’ve got this ditch contract secured, if it goes through, and there’s some little money to be made on the deal, although not any too much.”

“I see. Then, why in thunder didn’t you look after your fences a little better before this time of day?”

“Well, to tell the truth, I thought we had a sure thing, and so we had, if Maguire hadn’t happened along. If I’d had a week’s warning I could have knocked you sky high. I can do it yet, but being a contractor and having no vote in this district, I thought it would look better if I kept out of it. That’s why I come to you.”

“Could a-knocked me sky high, could you? I wish you’d come in a little sooner; we’d a-had some fun. I tell you what it is, contractor; it would cost you a thousand dollars to beat me now.”

“Shucks, you don’t know what you’re talking about. But I don’t want to beat you, I want to make terms with you. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I ask you what you expect to make against me.”

“You always say, ‘expect to make.’ Now, that’s where you’re on the wrong tack. I don’t expect to make; I’ve made. Look at that. That’s a roll of ten-dollar bills, and there’s a hundred and fifty dollars in that wad. Here’s another with not so much in it. That’s going to the free and independents, where it will do the most good, but not the most good to a contractor. This other pocket jingles, but it’s with silver, so we won’t count that. All this boodle was in the possession of old Slade this morning; it’s in my pocket now. Doing this thing for nothing? What’s your opinion.”

“I was told they only raised sixty or seventy dollars at the meeting.”

“At the meeting!” cried Maguire, contemptuously, stuffing the bills he had exhibited into his pocket again, taking care that their small denominations were not visible to the keen eyes of his opponent. “Yes, there wa’n’t much more than that raised at the meeting; but I’ve been round collecting ever since and have scared these people with the ten-years’ taxation that’s ahead of them, so they gave down. Oh, you bet, there’s a lot of money to be raised round here if you go the right way about it.”

“Still, even if you spend all that cash it would only take a couple of hundred dollars to beat you.”

“Don’t you make any mistake. You couldn’t do it with a thousand, and I’d just like to see you try. Why, I’d raise the country. I’d say, ‘Here’s this contractor a-jumping in, spending a dollar to loot a hundred out of you.’ Lord, it would be too dead easy to beat you! But I guess you’re no such fool as to try it on, for you know it’s always easier to buy one man than twenty, and cheaper, too. You said you wanted to make terms. Well, you’ve left it a little late, but still you’re in time. If you’ve got any proposition to shove at me I’ll listen to it. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Can you clear a hundred dollars?”

“Yes, and more.”

“Well, you can’t do better than a hundred and fifty. Now, I’ll tell you what I’ll do with you. I’ll bet you two hundred against your hundred and fifty that this ditch is lost. If the polling goes for the ditch you pocket two hundred dollars and get back the money you staked.”

“I’m not a betting man. ’Tain’t moral. No, sir. In God we trust; all others cash. I ain’t taking no risks, and I ain’t doing no betting, being contrary to the way I was raised; a hundred and fifty in the pocket’s better’n two hundred in an umpire’s hands, with the hundred and fifty risked as well. That bluff won’t work.”

“There isn’t any bluff about it. If you act square you get your money; if you don’t you won’t. Nothing could be fairer.”

Maguire, with a deep sigh, gathered up the reins.

“Now, can there?” persisted the man, evidently getting a little anxious at the other’s threatened withdrawal.

“O, that’s too dead easy. You tie up my money till the voting’s over; then you squeal and say betting’s agin some state law, and where am I? I do hate to be taken for a fool. You’ll dig that ditch the way the old woman kept tavern. Good-day.”

“Hold on. No good of getting mad about it. I’ve made a proposition; if it don’t suit you, then make another. I’m willing to do anything fair, as long’s my interests are protected.”

“How you talk. Interests protected! You can’t have interests protected in a case like this. You either trust me or you don’t; I didn’t go to you; you came to me. All right; I’m a square man, and I do what I say. If you don’t know enough about a man to see that, after talking with him an hour, then put the bud on your horse and go home. No use in wasting my time.”

“Well, then, make a proposal.”

“All right, entirely on your account and to save hard feelings, I will. I’ll trust you fifty dollars. You pay me a hundred and fifty cash down right here, and I’ll call round at your place day after to-morrow and get the other fifty.”

“You don’t expect that I travel round with that much money on me?”

“If you don’t, then you’ve lost your darned old ditch, that’s all.”

“What security have I that you won’t take the money and still work against me?”

“None at all.”

“Oh, that’s not good enough.”

“ ’Nuf sed. You refuse, then?”

“No sane man could do anything else but refuse such an offer from an entire stranger.”

“I expected you to refuse, and that’s why I made the offer. Men who get big contracts are the men who take just such big chances. You ain’t no contractor; you’re some contractor’s clerk. You go back home, sonny, and tell your boss to come and see me, then we’ll fix this thing up in ten minutes.”

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll give you a hundred dollars down, and you come for the other hundred day after to-morrow.”

“No; you just think you’re going to do that. You’re dreaming on account of the hot weather. Now, I’ll tell you what you’ll do, and you’ll do it within the next ten minutes or not at all. You’ll pay me plump down two hundred dollars, and then you’ll get your ditch and no questions asked. There’s two men coming along the road, and they’ll be here in less than half an hour. Now when they get on the top of the next rise you’ll have taken or refused my offer, and you won’t get another.”

“But you made me a better offer a few minutes ago.”

“Yes, and you didn’t have the sense to take it, and durn me if I believe you’re going to have the sense to take this one, which is exactly the same offer if you only knew it. I haven’t raised the price a cent, for I’d a-had the fifty dollars that makes up the two hundred within forty-eight hours, or thereabouts.”

“You’re sure I would have paid it, then?”

“Certain. I can see in a minute you’re square, and the only thing that eats me is that you haven’t the gumption to see that I am.”

“Then, if you trust me as you say, why do you object to wait a couple of days for your money?”

“Simply because this is an uncertain world. That horse may throw you out and break your neck on the way home, and then I couldn’t collect. There’s no such danger from my horse. But you take such a long time about a deal that you make me tired, and more than that you make me want to go right on with this contest and bust you wide open so that you’ll have more sense next time you meet a gentleman and don’t know it. I’d only lost fifty dollars by doing it, and I’d have more than the worth of that in fun. I don’t even know your name, and don’t want to; but I’d shout, mad clear through, to the free and independents that some man with a bay horse that had a white net over it, and a new covered buggy with the cover down, slick as a whistle, a smooth-faced man, who looked as if he was up to snuff and said he was a contractor, wanted to buy me for two hundred dollars so that he would have a free swing to make thousands out of the poor unfortunate taxpayer. I’ll bet you they wouldn’t be long in telling me the name of that man, and they’d believe all I said, too.”

“I doubt if they would believe you refused the two hundred. If I take this offer, what are you going to do with that cash you have in your pocket?”

“I’ll turn right round and give it back to old Slade, telling him my conscience will not allow me to corrupt the free and independent voters. He’s scared already of the bribery act; that’s how I got the money out of him, and I’ll make him scareder by saying the other side is on the lookout to get some one in state’s prison on this deal. Say, them two men’s disappeared down the hollow, and they will be in sight in another minute or two.”

“How about the voters you’ve bargained with?”

“Oh, them! That’s dead easy. I’ll go to each of them and tell ’em it was wrong of them to say they would take money, and that they’re morally bound to vote against the ditch anyhow, without payment.”

“Against the ditch?”

“Cert. That’ll make ’em so durn mad, with losing the money and all, that they’ll vote for it, just to throw me down. Nothing makes a man so fighting mad as to do the superior act with him and let on your conscience is a trifle better’n his’n; then if you go on a-pointing out to him the right path and imploring him to foller it, like a preacher at a revival meeting, why he’ll knock you down if he dare, or vote agin you if you’re bigger’n him.”

“Well, I guess there’s something in that,” remarked the contractor, with a smile. “I’ll accept your offer, Maguire, and I’ll trust you.” Saying this he took out a broad pocketbook from inside his coat, slipped an elastic band from it, displaying a flat heap of greenbacks, then counted the requisite number with care, slipping each bill between thumb and finger. He handed the result to Maguire, who also counted it over, found it correct, doubled it up and put it into a pocket as nonchalantly as if he completed such a transaction several times a day.

The man in the buggy gathered up his reins slowly, as if reluctant to go, being probably in some doubt regarding the wisdom of the loose and costly bargain he had made.

“I suppose you’ll wait in the neighbourhood till after the polling?”

“No, I don’t think so, I’ve got no more interest in the affair, and have lost enough time on it already. I’m going east.”

“What’s your business?”

“I’m doing a little peddling at present, but I don’t expect to keep at that long. Not enough money in it.”

“Better call round and see me at Ypsilanti. I could perhaps put you on something that would be worth while.”

“I guess New York’s got more loose cash lying round than Ypsilanti.”

“Shouldn’t wonder. Yet it might be harder to pick up.”

“That’s what I want to find out.”

“Well, good-bye.”

“So long. See you later, maybe.”

The man did not need to touch his horse with the whip; a slight chirrup, and the animal was off like a flash, the bright wheels twinkling in and out the bars of sunlight that crossed the road falling through the interstices of the forest, and in a very short time there was merely a little cloud of dust in the far distance to indicate the passing of the speculator.

Maguire sat complacently where he was, the unaspiring horse requiring no attention, content to remain uncomplaining in the shade as long as his master was willing. The young man turned his head in the opposite direction and watched the two approaching, whom he now recognised as Ben and Jim, tramping wearily together. He had seen little of them during the last ten days. They had adhered loyally to their compact, and now the time was come for the completing of the bargain. They had quite palpably avoided Maguire since the morning they made terms with him in the barnyard, keeping as much as possible to themselves and never using horse and waggon when he showed the slightest inclination of desiring them. He resented the aloofness on their part as indicating a belief in their own superiority over him, but he gave no hint of this feeling, speaking to them with the smoothness of oil during their infrequent and chance meetings. His umbrage increased as he watched them pause on seeing what was ahead of them, consult together for a moment, then, with the air of making the best of an unavoidable encounter, come slowly on. He awaited them with equanimity, resolved on that form of revenge which consists of burning the enemy’s head with the hot coals of remorse.