"Can't we go on to-night?"
"Nup!" The conductor passed out of the car and banged the door.
"Got to sit here all night!" said Aladdin. "Not much! Get up, Troubles!If you don't think I know the way about here, you can stay by the stove.I'm going to walk."
Aladdin and Troubles rose, buttoned their coat, left the car, and setout in the direction of the St. Johns'. Aladdin's watch at starting readfive o'clock.
"Our luggage is all checked, Troubles," he said, "and all we've gotto face is the idea of walking three miles through very disagreeableweather, over a broad path that we know like the palm of our hand (whichwe don't know as well as we might), arriving late, wet to the skin, andwithout a change of clothes. On the other hand, we shall deserve a longdrink and much sympathy. As for you, Troubles, you're the best company Iknow, and all is well."
The first scarlet huntsman blew into his horn, "Lirala, Lovely Morning, I'm glad I was born."
XVI
At first the way, lying through waist-high fir scrub, was pretty badunderfoot, but beyond was a stretch of fine timber, where the trees haddone much to arrest the snow, and the going was not so severe. Aladdincalculated that he should make the distance in an hour and a half; andwhen the wood ended, he looked at his watch and found that the firstmile, together with only twenty-five minutes, was behind him.
"That's the rate of an hour and a quarter, Troubles," he said. "Andthat's good time. Are you listening?"
But following the wood was a great open space of country pitched up fromthe surrounding levels, and naked to every fury of nature. Across thatupland the wind blew a wicked gale, scarifying the tops of knolls to thebrown, dead grass, and filling the hollows flush with snow. At times, tokeep from being blown over, it was necessary to lean against the gusts.Aladdin was conscious of not making very rapid progress, but there wassomething exhilarating in the wildness, the bitter cold, and the roar ofthe wind; it had an effect as of sea thundering upon beach, greatviews from mountain-tops, black wild nights, the coming of thunder andfreshness after intense heat, or any of the thousand and one vasterdemonstrations of nature. Now and again Aladdin sang snatches of song:
Gaily bedight, A gallant knight In sunshine and shadow Journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of El Dorado.
Or from "The Mole of Marimolena"
I was turning fifty-odd when the everlasting God Smote a path of molten gold across the blue, Says, "There's many million men would have done the like again, But you didn't, and, my man, there's hope for you.
"Start sheets and sail for the Mole-- For the old rotten Mole of Marimolena; There's maybe some one there That you're longing to treat fair, On the dismal, woeful Mole of Marimolena."
And other deep-sea chanteys,--the one in which the pirate found the Ladyin the C-a-a-bin and slivered off her head, or back to Red Renard, orfurther to his own campaign song, and furthest of all to the bad, badyoung dog of a crow. Then he got quite out of breath, and pausing for amoment to catch it, noted for the first time the extreme bitterness ofthe cold. It stung the face like insects. "Woof!" he said. "And now forlost time."
Again he stepped out, but with each step the snow became deeper, andpresently he floundered in to his waist. "Must be a ditch!" he said,turning a little to the right and exclaiming, "Thought so!" as thewading got shallower. Whereupon he stepped into a deep hole and fell.After plunging and plowing about, it was brought home to him that he hadlost the path. Even at that the difficulty remained one of hard walkingalone, for he had been familiar with that country since childhood,and knew the precise direction in which it was necessary for him tolocomote. It was a pity that the only structure in the vicinity was anancient and deserted house,--it lay just off there,--as he should haveliked to have warmed himself by a good fire before going farther. Heremembered that there were a partly preserved stove in the desertedhouse, broken laths, and naily boards, and swathes of curious oldwall-papers, layer upon layer, which, dampening and rotting from thewall, hung raggedly down. He had once explored the house with Margaret,and it seemed almost wise to go to the place and make a fire. But onaccount of the delay involved and the approach of darkness, hediscarded the notion, and, a little impatient at being badly used by aneighborhood he knew so well, struggled on.
"Troubles," he said, "what sort of a storm is this anyway? Did you eversee anything quite like it round here? Because I never did. It mustbe like those things they have out West, when millions of poor littlebaa-sheeps and horses and cattles freeze to death. I'd hate to be ahorse out in this, but I wish I had one. I--"
If, as a child, you have ever slipped, though only an inch, whileclimbing over roofs, you will know that sudden, stabbing, sinkingfeeling that came to Aladdin and stopped the beating of his heart by thehairbreadth of a second. He had been proceeding chin on breast, and headbent against the wind, or he would have seen it before, for it was anotable landmark in that part of the world, and showed him that he hadbeen making way, not toward his destination, but toward the wilderness.
He gazed up at the great black blasted pine, its waist the height of atall tree, and its two lonely lightning-scathed and white arms stretchedout like a malediction; and for a moment he had to take himself in hand.After a little he mastered the fear that had seized him.
"It's only a poor old lonely vegetable out in the cold," he said. "Andit shows us exactly where we are and exactly which way we have to go."
He set himself right, and, with head lowered and hands clenched, againstarted on. But he was beginning to be very much bored, and sensiblethat his legs were not accustomed to being used so hard. Furthermore,there was a little difficulty--not by any means an insurmountableone--in steering straight, because of the constantly varying point ofthe compass in which the wind blew. He went on for a long time....
He began to look for the high ground to decline, as it should, aboutnow, if it was the high ground he took it for. "I ought to be gettingsomewhere," he said.
And, God help him! tired out, half frozen and very foot-sore, he wasgetting somewhere, for, glancing up, he again beheld the gigantic anddemoniac shape of the blasted pine.
It is on prairies and among mountains, far from the habitations ofmen, that man is most readily terrified before nature, and not on thethree-mile primrose way from a railway accident to a house-party. Butfor a moment cold terror struck at Aladdin like a serpent, and themarrow in his bones froze. Before he could succeed in reducing thisawful feeling to one of acute anxiety alone, he had to talk to himselfand explain things as to a child.
"Then it is true, Troubles, old man," he said, "about a person'stendency to go to the left. That's interesting, isn't it? But what do wecare? Being gifted with a certain (flighty, it is true) intelligence, wewill simply take pains, and every step pull a little to the right; andthat will make us go straight. Come now-keep thinking about it-everystep!"
As the end of the day approached, a lull came in the gale, and thesnow fell less freely. The consequently widened horizon of vision waseminently comforting, and Aladdin's unpleasant feeling of anxiety almostdisappeared.
Suddenly he was aware of a red horse.
XVII
It was standing almost leg-clear, in an angle of what seemed adrifted-over snake-fence. Its ugly, Roman-nosed head was thrown up andout, as if about to neigh.
"Poor beastie," said Aladdin, after a start. "You must be direfful cold,but we'll ride you, and that will make you warm, and us cold, and we'llall get along faster."
Drawing near, he began to gentle the horse and call it pet names. It wasa huge brute, over seventeen hands high, and Aladdin, aided only by arickety fence, and a pair of legs that would hardly support him, wasappalled by the idea of having to climb to that lofty eminence, itsback. Without doubt he was dreadfully tired.
"The fence will help, old man" he said. "Here, you, pay attention andget over." He tried to insinuate himself between the horse and thefence, but the horse did not seem inclin
ed to move.
"Get over, you!" he said, and gave a shove. The horse moved a little,very unwillingly. "Farther yet," said Aladdin: "Get over, you, getover." Again he shoved; this time harder. He slapped the great shoulderwith his open hand. And again the horse moved, but very slowly. "You'rean unwilling brute, aren't you?" he said angrily.
For answer the thing tottered, and, to his horror, began to fall, atfirst slowly, but ever with accelerating speed, until, in the exactattitude in which it had stood by the fence,--the great Roman-nosed headthrown up and out, as if to neigh,--he beheld the horse stretched beforehim on the ground, and noted for the first time the awful death-likeglint of the yellow teeth through the parting of the lips.
He went very gravely from that place, for he had been looking upon deathby freezing, and he himself was terribly cold, terribly tired, and--headmitted it now--completely lost.
But he went on for a long time--four or five hundred years. And it grewdarker and colder.
He began to talk to himself, to try and steady himself, as he had doneever since childhood at forsaken times.
"Troubles," he said, "You're full of troubles, aren't you, old man? Youalways were. But this is the worst. You can't walk very much farther,can you? I can't. And if you don't get helped by some one pretty soon,you're going to come to the end of your troubles. And, Troubles, do youknow, I think that's what's going to happen to you and me, and I wantyou to stand up to it if it comes [gulp] and face it like a man. Nowlet's rest a little, Troubles, will we?"
Troubles and Aladdin rested a little. When the rest was over they couldhardly move, and they began to see the end of a young man that they hadhoped would live a long time and be very happy. They went on.
"Troubles," said Aladdin, "do you suppose she knows that we are outhere, perhaps dying? We would know if she were, wouldn't we? And do youthink she cares? Liar, you know she cares, and a lot. She wouldn'tbe she if she didn't care. But we didn't think that all the years ofwaiting and hoping and loving and trying to be something would end likethis, did we, Troubles? We thought that it might end with the godlikeManners (whom we wouldn't help if he were freezing to death, would we?),but not like this--O Lord God, not like this!... And we weren't sure itwould end with Manners; we were going to fight it out to a mighty goodfinish, weren't we, Troubles? But now it's going to end in a mighty goodstorm, and you're going to die for all your troubles, Troubles... AndI'm talking to you so that we won't lose our sand, even if we are afraidto die, and there's no one looking on."
Though Aladdin stopped making talk in his head, the talk kept going onby itself; and he suddenly shouted aloud for it to stop. Then he beganto whimper and shiver, for he thought that his mind was going.
Presently he shook himself.
"Troubles," he said, "we've only a little farther to go--just as far asour feet will carry us, and no farther. That's the proper way to finish.And for God's sake keep sane. We won't give her up yet!"
Ten steps and years passed.
"Troubles," said Aladdin, "we're going to call for help, and if it don'tcome, which it won't, we're going to try and be calm. It seems simplestand looks best to be calm."
Aladdin stood there crying aloud for the help of man, but it didnot come. And then he cried for the help of God. And he stood therewaiting--waiting for it to come.
"We must help ourselves, Troubles," he said, with a desperate effort tobe calm. "We've got ten steps left in us. Now, then, one--two--"
During the taking of those ten steps the snow ceased entirely to fall,and black night enveloped the earth.
Aladdin was all numb, and he wished to sleep, but he made the ten stepsinto eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, before his limbs refused toact, and he fell forward in the snow. He managed to raise himself andcrawl a little way. He saw a light afar off, and guessing that it mustbe an angel, held out his hands to it--and one of them encountered asomething in the dark.
Even through his thick mitten it felt round and smooth and colder thanhis fingers, like a ball of ice. Then Aladdin laughed aloud, for he knewthat his last walk upon earth had been in the form of a silly circle. Hehad returned to the dead horse, and his gloved hand was resting upon itsfrozen eye. He shrieked with laughter and became heavy with a desire tosleep.
He sank deliciously down, and began to see showers of roses, when itflashed upon him that this was not sleep, but death.
It was like lifting prodigious dumb-bells to get his eyes to open, anda return to consciousness was like the stabbing of knives. But he openedhis eyes and roused himself.
"I won't give her up yet," he cried.
And then, by the help of God Almighty, he crawled the whole length ofthe horse.
And fell asleep.
XVIII
It was a miserable, undressed thing wrapped in a horse-blanket and abuffalo-robe that woke up in front of a red-hot stove and rememberedthat it used to be Aladdin O'Brien. It had a dreadful headache, andcould smell whisky and feel warm, and that for a long time was aboutall. Then it noticed that the wall opposite was ragged with loosenedwall-paper and in places stripped of plaster, so that the lathing showedthrough, and that in its own head--no, in the room beyond the wall--animpatient stamping noise of iron on wood was occurring at intervals.Then it managed to turn its head, and it saw a big, beautiful mansitting on the end of an old soapbox and smoking a pipe. Then it wasseized with a wrenching sickness, and the big man came quickly and heldits head and was very good to it, and it felt better and went to sleep.After a while it descended into the Red Sea, with the avowed intentionof calling Neptune Red Renard to his face, and when it got to thebottom, which was of red brick sprinkled with white door-knobs thatpeople kept diving for, it became frightened and ran and ran until itcame to the bottom of an iceberg, that had roots like a hyacinth bulband was looking for a place to plant itself, and it climbed up to thetop of the iceberg, which was all bulrushes, and said, "I beg yourpardon, but I forgot; I must go back and make my apologies." Then itwoke up and spoke in a weak voice.
"Peter Manners," said Aladdin, "come here."
Manners came and sat on the floor beside him.
"Feel better now?" he said.
"Tell me--" said Aladdin.
"Oh, stuff!" said Manners.
"Manners," said Aladdin, "you don't look as if you hated me any more."
"You sleep," said Manners. "That's what you need."
Aladdin thought for a long time and tried to remember what he wanted tosay, and shutting his eyes, to think better, fell asleep.
For the third time he awoke. Manners was back on the soap-box, still asa sphinx, and smoking his pipe.
"Please come and talk some more," said Aladdin.
Again Manners came.
"Tell me about it," said Aladdin.
"You be good and go to sleep," said Manners.
"What time is it?"
"Nearly morning."
"Still storming?"
"No; stars out and warmer."
Aladdin thought a moment.
"Manners," he said, "please talk to me. How did you find me?"
"Simply enough," said Manners. "I took the senator's cutter out fora little drive, and got lost. Then I heard somebody laughing, and Istumbled over you and your horse; that's all. How the devil did youmanage to lose your saddle and bridle?"
"It was a dead horse," said Aladdin, and he shivered at therecollection.
"Quite so," said Manners.
"It was the funniest thing," said Aladdin, and again he shuddered witha kind of reminiscent revolt. "I pushed it, and it fell over frozen todeath." He was conscious of talking nonsense.
"Wait a minute, Manners," he said. "I'll be sensible in a minute."
Presently he told Manners about the horse.
"I saw alight just then," he said, "and I thought it was an angel."
"It was I," said Manners, naively.
"Yes, Manners, it was you," said Aladdin.
He thought about an angel turning out to be Manners for a long time.Then a terrible
recollection came to him, and, in a voice shaking withremorse and self-incrimination, he cried:
"God help me, Manners, I would have let you freeze."
Manners pulled at his pipe.
"Manners," said Aladdin, "it's true I know it's true, because, for all Iknew, I was dying when I said it."
Manners shook his head.
"Oh, no," said Manners.
"Make me think that," said Aladdin, with a quaver. "Please make me thinkthat if you can, for, God help me, I think I would have let you freeze."
"When I found you," said Manners, "I--I was sorry that the Lord hadn'tsent somebody else to you, and me to somebody else. That was because youalways hated me with no very good reason, and a man hates to be hated,and so, to be quite honest, I hated you back."
"Right," said Aladdin, "right."
Light began to come in through the windows, whose broken panes Mannershad stopped with crumpled wall-paper.
"But when I got you here," said Manners, "and began to work over you,you stopped being Aladdin O'Brien, and were just a man in trouble."
"Yes," said Aladdin, "it must be like that. It's got to be like that."
"At first," said Manners, "I worked because it seemed the proper thingto do, and then I got interested, and then it became terrible to thinkthat you might die."
"Yes," said Aladdin. His face was ghastly in the pre-sunrise light.
"You wouldn't get warm for hours," said Manners, "and I got so tiredthat I couldn't rub any more, and so I stripped and got into theblankets with you, and tried to keep you as warm as I could that way."
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