Still Jim

by Honoré Morrow

  CHAPTER XXV

  SARA GOES ON A JOURNEY

  "Love is the speaking voice of the Great Hunger. Happy the human who has found one great love. All nature speaks in him profoundly."

  MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT.

  Jim started up the road but Mr. Dennis stopped long enough to say,"Oughtn't you to be there, doctor?"

  The doctor nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can. They've just broughtan hombre with a crushed leg into the hospital. Mrs. Flynn knows what todo and so does his wife. He may go any time."

  Uncle Denny panted after Jim, but before they reached the tent house,Mrs. Flynn stopped them on the trail.

  "It's all over," she said. "I've taken Mrs. Penelope over to our house.I'll take charge up here."

  "You don't mean Saradokis is dead?" cried Uncle Denny.

  "He is, God rest his poor wicked soul!"

  Jim stood white and rigid. "Did I hasten this with my scene last night,I wonder!" he asked huskily.

  Mrs. Flynn shook her head. "The doctor told me a month ago not to go outof reach of the tent house. That this was liable to come any time. Hecame out of the morphine near noon, held Mrs. Pen's hand and said shehad slapped a lot of the bitterness out of his heart last night. Then hewent to sleep and never woke up. Mr. Dennis, you go to Mrs. Penelope.Boss, you go and do the telegraphing that's necessary."

  It was supper time before Jim could leave the business of the dam andget up to his house. He and Uncle Denny had finished supper when Pencame out of Mrs. Flynn's room. She was white and spent, but she had notbeen crying.

  "Still," she said, "I want you to persuade Uncle Denny not to go backEast with me and poor Sara. I am perfectly well and quite able to makethe trip alone. Uncle Denny is needed here."

  "It's not to be thought of!" cried Dennis. "When the first shock is overI'm looking for you to go to pieces and I propose to be on the job."

  "Uncle Denny," said Pen quietly, "I shall not go to pieces. I feel thetragedy of Sara's life very deeply and I am very sad over it all. ButI'm not a widow. I'm a nurse and friend whose job is over. It will be apitiful journey to take Sara back to his father. But I shall be withdear Aunt Mary in New York. I shall get no rest unless I know that youare with Jim in this critical moment of his career."

  The two men looked at each other uncertainly. Suddenly Pen's voiceshook: "Oh, don't make me argue!"

  Jim spoke slowly: "We never have regretted doing what Pen told us to,Uncle Denny. It looks heartless, but I guess we'll have to obey."

  "Me soul in me is like a whirling Dervish," said Uncle Denny, "withboth of you needing me so. You'll have to decide betwixt you."

  "Then Uncle Denny will stay here and we will take you over for the fiveo'clock morning train, Pen. Mrs. Flynn has packed your trunk and poorSara is ready for his last trip. When shall we look for your return,little Penelope?"

  Pen looked a little bewildered. "Why, there is no excuse for my comingback. I shall stay with your mother until I get rested and then I mustfind something to do."

  Uncle Denny jumped up and stood with his back to the fireplace while Jimleaned on the back of Pen's chair.

  "Listen to me, children," said Dennis. "Of what use is it to beat aboutthe bush and refuse to speak what's in the heart of each of us? How canwe pretend that poor Sara's death is not God's own relief to him and us?We can weep, as Pen says, over the tragedy of his life, but not that heis gone. Your talk of going to work is nonsense, me sweet Pen. After afew months you will marry Jim and have the happiness you have earned sodearly."

  Jim did not move. Pen's pale face turned scarlet. "Oh, Uncle Denny," shecried, "don't talk to me of marriage! I love Jim dearly, but now this isall over I have left only a deadly fear of marriage!"

  "Pen! Pen!" exclaimed Uncle Denny. "What do you know of marriage? Forevery unhappy marriage we hear of there are three of such sweetcompanionship that its sharers hide it from the world as if 'twere toosacred for the common gaze. The perfect friendship is between man andwoman and when you add to that the sacrament of body and soul, you havethe only heaven humans may know on earth. And 'tis enough. 'Tis fullcompensation for all the ills of life."

  "Jane Ames has been talking to me that way lately," said Pen, her eyesfull of tears. "But you nor she never really had your dreams destroyedas I have." She paused and went on as if half to herself: "And yetnothing has come into my life so revivifying and wholesome as Oscar andJane's finding each other after all these years. Perhaps there issomething in marriage I don't know. Jane says there is. But--Oh, I am sotired!"

  Jim moved round to Uncle Denny's side. "It's good of Uncle Denny toplead for me, isn't it, Penny? But you are in no state now to listen tohim or me, either. Go back to mother, and don't work, but play. You'veforgotten how to play. I remember that long ago when Uncle Denny wantedmother to marry him he told her that marrying him would give me mychance to play, that I couldn't come to my full strength without play.Grown-ups need play, too, little Pen. Go back for a while and rest andtake up your tennis again and go to Coney Island with mother. Go andplay, Penny. And some day I'll come back and play with you."

  Pen gave a little sigh. Suddenly her tense nerves relaxed and shesettled back in her chair with a little color in her cheeks.

  Uncle Denny cleared his throat. "Tell Mrs. Flynn to fetch her some teaand toast, me boy. Then she must go to bed for a few hours."

  The automobile, with Henderson at the wheel, was at the door beforedawn. Jim had sent poor Sara on before midnight. Uncle Denny put Penand Jim into the tonneau, then climbed up beside Henderson and themachine shot swiftly out on the great road.

  Pen did not speak for some time and Jim did not disturb her. She lookedback at the Elephant as long as she could discern the great meditativeform in the starlight. Then, after they had gotten into the hills andwere winging like night birds up the mountain road, Jim felt a coldlittle hand slip into his lean, warm paw.

  Jim's heart gave a thud. He leaned forward to look into Pen's face. Itwas dim in the starlight, but he saw that she smiled slightly. Jimleaned back, feeling as if he could overturn worlds with this thrill inhis veins.

  The great road curled like a hair among the dim black mountain tops. Themachine flew lightly. Uncle Denny and Henderson talked quietly, and atlast, under cover of their speech and the whirr of the engine, Pen beganto talk softly to Jim.

  "I am hoping that in the years to come I can remember Sara as a collegeboy, so full of life and ambition! He was a beautiful boy, Still, wasn'the?"

  "Yes, little Pen, I loved him very much, then."

  "Life was unfair to him to give him a greater burden than he wasdesigned to bear," said Pen. "I shall miss the care of him. I am goingto miss the demands he made on my best spiritual effort. I'm going tosag like a fiddle string released. If only he has gone on now to abetter chance! Poor, poor tortured Sara!"

  Jim rubbed the little twitching fingers and Pen leaned against hisshoulder softly as though she needed his nearness to steady her. Shewent on a little brokenly:

  "'Envy and calumny and hate and pain And that unrest which men miscall delight Can touch him not and torture not again----'

  "I guess I won't get over the scarring, Still. I'm so tired."

  "You've the priceless gift of youth, dear Penny," said Jim softly. "Goand play, sweetheart."

  There was a long silence. Dawn was marching on the mountain tops.Penelope watched the silver glory of the star-studded sky and she saidin a steadier tone:

  "'Life like a dome of many colored glass Stains the white radiance of Eternity Until death tramples it to fragments----'"

  A sudden scarlet revealed itself on a far peak. It was like a marveloustranslucent ruby, set in a silver mist.

  Uncle Denny turned. "Henderson says we are right on the railroad."

  "We are," replied Jim, "and yonder is the train."

  The automobile drew into the station with the train and Uncle Denny,with Henderson, helped embark poor S
ara on his last ride, while Jim putPen aboard the train. Pen followed Jim back onto the train platform. Jimshook hands with her and stood on the lower step waiting for the trainto start. His face in the dawn light was very wistful. Suddenly Pen'slips quivered. Just as the train began to move, "Jim!" she whispered.And she leaned over and caught his face between her hands and kissed himquickly on the lips. Then she slipped into the coach. Jim dropped offthe train and stood staring unseeingly at Uncle Denny and Henderson. Ato-hee sang its morning song from a nearby cactus:

  "O yahee! O yahai! Sweet as arrow weed in spring!"

  "Put your hat on, me boy," said Uncle Denny, who had not seen the littleepisode, "and come on." He led the way to the machine and climbed inbeside Jim. "Well, Still, she's gone!"

  Jim turned and looked at his Uncle Denny. "She's not gone for long. WhenI have finished the Project fight I shall go after her."

  "Did she agree?" asked Uncle Denny eagerly.

  "No," said Jim serenely. "She's in the frame of mind that's to beexpected after the life she's lived with Sara. She is afraid ofeverything. After the election, I shall go to her. She and I have missedenough of each other."

  Dennis brought his fist down on his knee. "Then that's settled right,thank God!" he said to the dawn at large.

  The next day Mrs. Ames came up to the dam. She was inconsolable that shehad not been sent for, to help Pen and Mrs. Flynn's air of superioritywas not soothing. Uncle Denny took to Mrs. Ames at once.

  "I've done nothing but gad for Mr. Manning, lately," she said.

  "How are things going?" asked Mrs. Flynn. "Has Bill Evans got all themoney yet?"

  "Eh? What's this?" exclaimed Uncle Denny.

  "Mrs. Pen thought it would do a lot of good if we could get thefarmers' wives to working against Fleckenstein," said Jane. "I've beencalling on a lot of them. Bill Evans takes me in his auto."

  "Who pays Bill?" asked Uncle Denny. "Ames?"

  "He does not, though he honestly offered to," said Jane. "This is awoman's job. Mrs. Flynn is paying for it. And don't you tell Mr.Manning. So far he hasn't asked any questions. Oscar says he's tooworried over other things."

  "Bless us!" cried Uncle Denny. "That won't do! You must let mestraighten it up."

  Mrs. Flynn rapped on the table with the dripping mixing spoon with whichshe had followed Jane in from the kitchen. "Michael Dennis! You willnot! What's me money for if it ain't for him? Ain't he all I've got inthe wide world and you grutch me that? God knows I never thought I'dcome to this to be told I couldn't do for him! If God lets me live tospare my life I hope to spend every cent I've got back on the Boss."

  Uncle Denny nodded. "All right! You're a good woman, Mrs. Flynn. How isyour campaign going, Mrs. Ames?"

  Jane shook her head. "You never know which way a woman will jump. Ifonly Fleckenstein can be beaten, it will be Mr. Manning's personalitythat beats him, and after that he can do whatever he wants to with thevalley. But the election is only a little way off and I'm scared todeath. I've talked and visited until I'm ashamed of myself. And there'sonly one woman in the valley I'm sure of."

  "Who is she?" asked Uncle Denny.

  "That's Mrs. Cady, a rich widow who lives near Cabillo. She's theterror of the valley. She's a scold and she holds half the mortgages inthe county. She stopped Mr. Manning a while ago and asked what he meantby running one of the canals the way it was. Then, just because he'salways nice to a woman, Mr. Manning stands and lets her explain hisbusiness to him for half an hour. When she got through he thanked herand said it was always wise to trust a woman's intuition. She thoughtshe'd taught him a real valuable lesson and she said he was the only manshe ever saw that knew good advice when he got it. Well, when I wentround to her the other day and told her what Mr. Manning was up against,she flew round like a wet hen. I've heard she threatened to foreclose onanyone that voted for Fleckenstein."

  Uncle Denny chuckled. "And the boy thinks he has no friends!"

  The fight into which Jim had thrown himself was an intangible one. Heknew that he could not save his job for himself, but he believed that ifhe could defeat Fleckenstein, he would have made the farmers assume aresponsibility for the Project that would never be lost.

  Uncle Denny did not tell Jim that he knew that every day lessened Jim'sterm of office on the dam. He asked no embarrassing questions. One day,as they stood looking at the dam slowly emerging from the river bed tolie in the utter beauty of strength at the Elephant's feet, Jim said:

  "I wonder if another man will love the dam as I have. There is not astone in it that I don't know and care for."

  But Uncle Denny only nodded and said in reply, "A man must love thething he creates whether it's a dam or a child." But his heart achedwithin him.

  The Department of Agriculture had responded immediately and half a dozenexperts already were at work on the Project. The older farmers resentedany suggestions that were made regarding their methods, but little bylittle the newcomers were turning to the experts, and Jim believed thateven in a year scientific farming would be a settled fact on theProject.

  Every moment that Jim could spare from hastening the work on the dam hespent in the valley with the farmers. He did not harangue. He had cometo realize that deep within us all dwells a hunger of the soul on which,when roused, the world wings forward. So he induced these men to talk tohim and listened, wondering at the deeps he touched. He did not realizethat often they were ashamed to show him narrowness or selfishness whenthrough his wistful silence they glimpsed his unsatisfied visioning.Nothing in life is so contagious as a great dream.

  As far as the Project was concerned, the story of Jim's allegedinterview with Freet made little impression, after all. Insinuations andaccusations had appeared so often about the engineers of the dam in thelocal papers that they had ceased to be a sensation. In the East,though, Jim knew the story would leave its permanent imprint. Murphyinterviewed Fleckenstein and never would tell what he and the politiciansaid to each other. But the threat of the letter never was carried out.Fleckenstein continued a vigorous campaign, however. Money and whiskeyflowed freely and Fleckenstein saw every man that Jim saw.

  Uncle Denny was only temporarily dismayed by Jim's refusal to allow himto work openly against Fleckenstein. Mrs. Ames, having come to the endof her talking capacity, he hired Bill Evans and his machine for theremaining six weeks of the campaign. Bill was quite willing to let thehogs go hungry while he and his machine were in demand.

  Uncle Denny said: "A twenty-mile ride in Bill's tonneau is better as aflesh reducer than ten hours in a Turkish bath. It is the truth when Itell folks I'm riding for me health."

  Uncle Denny made himself newsgetter-in-chief for Jim. He scoured thevalley for reports on the state of mind of every water user and businessman on the Project. Oscar and Murphy, when not with Jim, devotedthemselves to Uncle Denny. Both the men were frankly giving all theirtime to the Project these days.

  The weeks sped by all too rapidly. One evening Uncle Denny called aconference at Jim's house. Jim, coming home from the office at teno'clock that night, found Murphy and Henderson and Oscar awaiting himwith Uncle Denny as master of ceremonies.

  "Me boy," said Uncle Denny, "there's going to be a landslide forFleckenstein."

  Jim nodded. "I think so. Well, anyhow, I've made one or two friendsbelow who'll remember after I'm gone some of the things I've wanted forthe Project."

  Uncle Denny, standing before the grate, looked at Jim in a troubled way.The Big Boss, as he loved to call Jim, was looking very tired.

  "Well," said Murphy, "Fleckenstein can't make much trouble for a year.Even after he takes his seat it will take time to start things even withthe money from the Trust. And in the meantime the Big Boss will be ableto put up a great counter-irritant out here if what he's done the lastfew weeks is any sample."

  Jim lighted his pipe and leaned back in his chair. "I won't be here,boys," he said. "This is confidential. I have been asked for myresignation and it takes effect the day after election."

&nbs
p; There was utter silence in the room for a moment, then Henderson leanedforward and spat past Uncle Denny into the grate.

  "Hell's fire!" he said gently.

  "How long have you known this, Boss?" asked Murphy.

  "Nearly three months," answered Jim.

  "Pen told me," said Dennis. "Suma-theek told her."

  Jim looked up in astonishment, then he shook his head. "I'm sorry Penhas that to bother her, too."

  Murphy jumped to his feet. "And you have known this three months andnever told us! Is that any way to treat your friends? Do you suppose wewant to lie by and see you licked off this dam like a yellow cur? It'sno use for you to ask this to be kept quiet, Boss. I won't do it."

  Jim rose and pointed his pipe at Murphy. "Murphy, if you try to use thisconfidential talk to raise sentiment for me, I'll fire you!"

  "You can't fire my friendship!" shouted Murphy. "You can have my job anytime you want it!"

  Here Oscar Ames spoke for the first time. "When's Mrs. Penelope comingback?"

  "Don't you get her out here," said Jim. "She can do no good and sheneeds peace and quiet."