Active Service by Stephen Crane (reading tree .TXT) 📕

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."

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