CHAPTER XIX
THE END OF THE GAME
Oh, Thou who hast lighted the sun, Oh, Thou who hast darkened the tare, Judge Thou The sin of the Stone that was hurled By the Goat from the light of the sun As she sinks in 'the mire of the tarn.
_----Kipling._
WHEN Pearl got her four lively young charges settled down she hadtime to look about her. Up and down the line of spectators her eyesearched for Libby Anne and Mrs. Cavers, but they were nowhere to beseen, and Pearl became more and more troubled.
"I'd like fine to see that faded old raincoat of hers," she said toherself, "and Lib's little muslin hat"; but every raincoat that Pearlsaw was new and fresh, and every muslin hat had a bright and happylittle face under it, instead of Libby Anne's pale cheeks and sad,big eyes.
Dr. Clay came over with a bag of popcorn for them, and Pearl told himthe cause of her worry.
"They had their dinner all right," she said in a low voice to thedoctor, as he leaned over the wheel. "Bill was fine, and do you know,he is real nice when he's sober? I waited on them, and Mrs. Caversseemed so happy; it pretty near made my heart stop beatin' every timeI thought of it, and how nice it would be if he'd keep straight.Libby Anne had two licorice kittens and a package of gum saved up ina bag; she said she wouldn't eat them to-day, for she was havin' agood enough time when she could see her mother enjoyin' herself sowell. Lib is only ten years old, but she knows as much as somegrown-up people. The last I saw of them they were going up to Mrs.Burrell's to fix up a little before they had the photo taken. Ithink I'll go and see about them, Doctor; I can't enjoy myself forwonderin' if they're all right.
"I'll go with you," the doctor said, calling Jimmy Watson to come andhold the horse and look after the boys.
Down the almost deserted street the doctor and Pearl went, lookingfor any member of the Cavers family. Flags hung motionless in thebright sunshine. The trees that formed the arch over the road werebeginning to droop in the heat of the afternoon.
The photographer's tent was the first place they went to. A younglady and gentleman were posing for a photo, the young lady all goneto blushes and the young man very gorgeous in tan boots and a redtie.
Pearl did the talking.
"Did you take a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Cavers and Libby Anne?"
"What are they like?" the photographer asked.
"She is a little woman, pale and tried-looking; looks as if she satup a lot at night," Pearl answered.
"I know who you mean, then," he said. "She has been up here with herlittle girl looking for some one, but I do not know where she wentfrom here."
Pearl's heart sank. "He's broke his word!" she said angrily, whenthey were on the street. "He promised me he would not give Bill anyliquor until he got his picture taken, anyway." Pearl's eyes werethrowing off rings of fire.
"Who promised?" the doctor asked.
"Sandy Braden. I told him all about the photos when we went therethis morning with the onions and other stuff, and he seemed real niceabout it; but it doesn't look as if he meant it."
"I don't know, Pearl. Sandy Braden is not a bad fellow. He wouldn'tgo back on his word. I'm sure of that. You go up to Mrs. Burrell'sand I'll go down to the hotel and see if, they know anything aboutBill."
The bar-room was full. Even the lacrosse game was not a strong enoughattraction to draw away all the crowd; the products of Walker andSeagram still held their own.
Bob Steele, the bartender, was telling about Bill Cavers going tohave his photo taken.
"They got around Sandy easy," he was saying; "but that's one thing Iwon't let any one interfere with. As long as I've been selling liquorI've never refused to sell to any man. I refuse no one. Every man hasa perfect right to whatever he wants to eat or drink--I claim thatfor myself, and I hold that no one has a right to interfere withanother man's liberty."
The crowd in the bar-room gave maudlin approval.
"And so you just bet Bill Cavers got all he wanted. He came in heresoon after dinner, and the first man that asked him to drink gotturned down. Think of Bill Cavers refusin' good liquor! But when heheard it bubblin' in the glass his knee just wobbled--that's thebeauty of sellin' our goods, it advertises itself, and works nightsand Sundays. I says: 'What'll you have, Bill?' and he said--Bill's anhonest fellow--he said: 'I've no money, Bob.' But I says: 'That makesno difference, your credit is good here--you've always paid--and soname yer drink, Bill,' and I poured out a glass of Three Swallows;and you bet by the time Bill was ready to quit he would sure lookwell in a picture. I was takin' a risk of losin' money, too. Bill'shonest enough, but there's a strong chance that there'll be judgmentagainst his stuff this fall. But I've always said a man has a rightto all the liquor he wants, and I'm prepared to stand by it even if Idrop money on it. It may be foolish"--looking around for applause,but his audience were not in the mental condition to discuss fineethical points--"but I'm prepared to do it."
Dr. Clay, standing on the outer edge of the crowd, heard all this. Hemade his way to the bar. "Where is Bill Cavers, now?" he asked.
The gleam in the doctor's eyes should have warned the bartender to bediscreet in his answers. "Well, I can't just say," he answered withmock politeness, resenting the tone of the doctor's question. "Hedidn't leave word with me, but I guess he's getting his photo taken."
"Did you set him drunk and then turn him out in this blazing sun?"the doctor asked, in a voice so tense with anger that the audience,befuddled as they were, drew closer to see what it was all about.
"We never keep people longer than is necessary," the bartendersaid, with an evil smile, "and besides, Bill was due at thephotographer's."
Before the doctor knew what he was doing his right arm flew out andlanded a smashing blow on the bartender's smirking face, a blow thatsent him crashing into the bottles behind him. He recovered in aninstant, and the doctor's quick eye caught the flash of a knife inhis hand as he came over the bar at him. With a swift blow the doctorknocked the knife from his hand, and, grasping him by the coatcollar, he dragged him to the back door, and then, raising him on thetoe of his boot, landed him in the middle of the mud-puddle that hadbeen left by the morning's rain.
The bartender was just gathering himself up when Sandy Braden droveup to the stable door with his pacer.
Meanwhile Pearl had continued the search for Mrs. Cavers and LibbyAnne. She was on her way to Mrs. Burrell's when she caught sight ofsomething like a parasol down in the trees where the horses weretied. She ran down to the picnic grounds hastily, and there, in agrassy hollow, shaded by a big elm, she found the objects of hersearch.
Bill Cavers, with purple face and wide open mouth, lay breathingheavily. Libby Anne was fanning him with her muslin hat, and Mrs.Cavers was tenderly bathing his swollen face with water Libby Annehad brought from the river. Her own eyes were red with crying andhopeless with defeat.
"We've just found him, Pearl," she said. "He's been here in the hotsun I don't know how long. I never saw him breathing so queerbefore."
"I'll get the doctor," said Pearl.
She ran back up the road and found the doctor talking to SandyBraden, at the stable behind the hotel.
"Come on, Doctor!" Pearl cried breathlessly. "I found them. You come,too"--to, Mr. Braden--"it will take you both to carry him."
Sandy Braden hesitated, but there was something in Pearl's compellingeyes that made him follow her.
They reached the grassy slope. Mrs. Cavers had made a pillow of hercoat for his head, and was still bathing his face. The doctor hastilyloosened the drunken man's clothing and listened to the beating ofhis heart. Its irregular pounding was unmistakable, it was making itslast great fight.
Dr. Clay took out his hypodermic syringe and made an injection inBill's arm. Bill stirred uneasily. "I don't--want--it--Bob," he saidthickly. "I promised--the--missus. She's--with me--to-day."
Sandy Braden endeavoured to quiet Mrs. Cavers's fears.
"It's the heat, Mrs. Cavers," he said; "but it'll soon wearoff--he'll be all r
ight soon, won't he, Doc?"
The doctor made no reply, but listened again to the sick man's heart.It was failing.
Mrs. Cavers, looking up, read the doctor's face.
She fell on the ground beside her husband, calling him every tendername as she rained kisses on his livid cheeks, uttering queer littlecries like a wounded animal, but begging him always to live for hersake, and crying out bitterly that she could not give him up.
Sandy Braden, who had often seen men paralyzed with liquor, gentlytried to take her away, assuring, her again that he would be allright soon. She noticed then for the first time who it was who hadcome with the doctor, and shaking off his hand, she sprang up andfaced him, with blazing eyes that scorched into his very soul.
Sandy Braden put up his hand as if to ward off her fury.
Bill moved his lips, and she knelt beside him once more, her thingray hair falling over her shoulders. The sick man gazed into herface, and a look of understanding came into his bloodshot eyes.
"Ellie," he said with great effort, "I--did--not--want--it--atfirst," and with his eyes still looking into hers, as if mutelypleading with her to understand, the light faded from them ... andthe last long, staggering breath went out. Then fell silence ... thatnever-ending silence ... and quite perceptibly the colour went inpatches from his face. Dr. Clay gently touched Mrs. Cavers's arm."Yes, Doctor, I know ... he's dead." She talked like people do intheir sleep.
"I did my best, Will," she said, as she smoothed his thick blackhair. "I tried my hardest to save you, and I always thought I wouldwin ... but they've beat me, Will. They were too strong for me ...and I'm sorry!" She bent down and tenderly kissed his forehead, dampnow with the dews of death.
There was not a leaf stirring on the trees. Every bird in the valleywas still. Only the gentle lapping of the Souris over the fallen treein the current below them came to their ears.
Sandy Braden's face was as white as his shirt-bosom as he stoodlooking at Bill's quiet face.
A cheer from the lacrosse grounds came like a voice from anotherworld; the world of life and pleasure and action.
Mrs. Cavers, roused at the sound, stood up and addressed thehotel-keeper.
"Excuse me, Mr. Braden," she said, "I was almost forgetting. Mr.Cavers, I know had not enough with him to pay for ... all this." Shemotioned toward Bill's dead face. "This ... must have cost a lot."She handed him some silver. "It is all I have with me to-day ... Ihope it is enough. I know Mr. Cavers would not like to leave a debt... like this."
Mechanically Sandy Braden took the money, then dropping it as if itburned him, he turned away and went slowly up the road that he hadcome, reeling unsteadily. A three-seated democrat, filled withdrunken men, was just driving away from his stable. They were a crowdfrom Howard, who had been drinking heavily at his bar all theafternoon. They drove away,--madly lashing their horses into agallop.
Sandy Braden hid in a clump of poplars until they got past him.Looking back toward the river he could see Mrs. Cavers kneelingbeside her husband, and even at that distance he fancied he could seeBill's dead face looking into hers, and begging her to understand.Just as the democrat passed pants burst into maudlin song:
"Who's the best man in this town? Sandy Braden, Sandy Braden. Who's the best man in this town? Sandy Braden, Sandy Braden."
And then it was that Sandy Braden fell prone upon the ground andburied his face in the cool, green grass, crying: "God be merciful tome, a sinner!"
* * *
When the victorious lacrosse team came down the street, they werefollowed by a madly cheering throng. They went straight to the hotel,where, by the courtesy of the proprietor, they had always been givenrooms in which to dress.
Bob Steele met them at the office door, all smiles andcongratulations, in spite of a badly blackened eye.
"Come on in, boys!" he called. "It's my treat. Walk right in."
Most of the boys needed no second invitation. Bud Perkins hesitated.His father was just behind him. "Take a little Schlitz, Buddie. Thatwon't hurt you," he said.
Bud went in with the others. Every one was in the gayest humour. Thebartender called in the porter to help him to serve the crowd. Theglasses were being filled when a sudden hush fell on the bar-room,for Sandy Braden, with a face as ghastly as the one he had just lefton the river-bank, came in the back door.
He raised his hand with a gesture of authority. "Don't drink it,boys!" he said. "It has killed one man to-day. Don't touch it."
Even the bartender turned pale, and there was a moment of intensesilence. Just then some one rushed in and shouted the news of BillCavers's death. The crowd fell away until Sandy Braden and thebartender were left face to face.
"How much have you in the business here, Bob?" he asked in aperfectly controlled voice.
The bartender told him.
He took a cheque-book from his pocket and hastily made out a cheque.
"Now, go," he said, as he gave it to him. "I will not be needing aman in here any more."
He took the keys from his pocket and locked the back door. Thencoming out into the office, where there were a few stragglerslounging in the chairs, he carefully locked the door leading into thebar.
"I'm done, boys," he said shortly. "I've quit the business."
The Second Chance Page 19