The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 1, 1903, Page 12

12 THE SUNDAY CALL. e to Los Angeles; we ng about kickers right enough to kick,” ob- trave! “I can kiek ere’s peed of there’s one kickers 1 idon’t take to—the fe years er give the house & . any time than take it; & s ave to.p & T s a ab once & year, . € every twelve months,” sug- £ & lawye ing Kis ash st iim & through . gs c Chicago -about 11 é ed in early, but & ever get under way t r e were going to ar n g after the we got pas p er' fished- every blamed th e way of baggage out fron y berth and crawied around.on his hends &nd knees till he Xad me as wide aweake gs a grasshopper, looking for some- body's handbag. He sald 'a gen’'man lost his bag and it must be som’'ers around under there. After he got me all stirred up and fo rothing he tackled the bag- £age of my bull-neck’ neighboér across the sisle. "B an wouldn't stand fer it, not's in! , &n ter till the boy was glad enough to et off he bellowed at the por- with his life and let his traps alone. “It was ebout half past 12 o'ciock then: I thought I was going to manage some sleep and worked hard for an hour to get mext to-it, when all of a sudden No. 7, Just ahead of me, began coughing. Cough! 1 pever heard the beat of it in my life. It wasn't & loud cough, nor a hard one, but just a lttle miserable, aggravating hack that ren along in triplets as regular &8 & foghorn. I turned on one side and urned on -the other; I tried my good ear up and my bad €ar up; stuck my head between the ws; once I pulled the blanket over it: It wasn't & bit of use; that kind of a cough would go through burglar-proof vaul There wasn't & soul In the car could gleep; I knew that per- fectly well, because somebody was up and Gown all- night except that cougher In No. T He never got- up, nor Ist up, ex- cept when the train stopped, and when we took & fresh start he toock a fresh start, and we chased along that way clear to the Missourl, Of course, when I #aw the case was hopeless I guve up try- ing and turned my attention to figuring up my expense sotount and planning for an incresse in salary this year—that I bhaven't got yel. So the night wore alon, cough, cough, cough, and two or thres times I heard the bull-neck man- ki¢king like sixty about it to the porter. About daylight 1 814 get. one. little nap: just enough to. make me cross for all day. After breakfast, when all the car was made up ° except 0. 7, and we were talking across sections, the man with the golf clubs began tel what he thought of & dy that would keep & car full of awake all night coughing. We ngers t rd a sound from No.. 7 since and we wouMn't have known imposition on the rights of a man-to make a public f himself in eany way,’ as- nieck, talking across -at me , 0 _No. 7 could hear it. nt on, ‘after other folks without any sleep he akes his good nap in the morning. Tray- elers that reserve space in a private car ere entitied to the rest and comfort they pay for without daisturbance. . They wouldn't ailow that sort of & thing any- e but in the United States.’ t as he wound up_No. 7 opened his and put his feet down in -the was a- young man, not a day all dressed, though his halr smbled’ & good deal and “he looked He pushed the curtains back both wiye with his bands and looked at the For a minute he dién’t say s may-be sure no one else did He just looked at Golf-clubs'a minute and tired A WELL~FED, BULL-NECKED |8} CHAR" then he began, Kind of low: *“I'm the meanest taan on earth, T know Just a miserable, low-down- cur needn’t have taken the pains to taik d -while you. were tel you thoughf of me. It's s what I think of myself “It appeared a st for ‘him to' talk He had big eyes and looked as thin In the ¢ as a postage stamp me what half so:bad He was sp quiet couldn’t have told he was mad ex t o warm, red. spots in his cheeks. neck picked up a-newspaper and. be- n.to shuffe it around ‘You want to know what husiness a man's got in & car Itke this-if .he can’t other people,’ No. 7 ‘I'd just as llef te!l you my & I'm golng to California to try to. Eave my life. . I wasn't able to sit-up ell night in a chair car and I bought this berth and paid for jt with money I earned myself. You say they wouldn’t allow this enywhere but in the United States. I sup- pose if you were running this road you'd refuse to sell me space; you wouldn't give meé a chance, if you could help, to breathe ifornia alr, would you? What aré you going to California for?’ No. 7 seemed to be sizing up his man pretty fast by that time. ‘Going out there to play golf and loaf eround the big hotels ani lie about what & score you can make on grass links, ar you? You probably never eained @ dollar of the money you are gpending, and. you probably mever were sick a day in your life, and you're as big as three of me &nd yet you've got-the meanness to jump ‘all ‘over ‘me so:thé.wholé car can hear it-and so you kmow I can hear it Bay, are you naturalized?. I'll bet the last dollar I've got on earth you're -not an Americen. I know. you-just as. well asif I'd ‘made. you. - Your kind.own the earth wherever they go, and anybody t in- terferes with their comfort fs an -outlaw. They say corporations don't 'h. a soul, but the corporation that runs-tl road has got a soul as big as the United BStates compared to yours. I krew I was keeping you awake; I knew I was keeping everybody awake.. I couldn't help it. The porter, when -he lielped me in last night, mislald one of my valises, the one that had my medicines in, and I couldn’t find @ thing to stop my cough with.’ “He looked around all the time with his blue eyes as quick as ferrets, ‘Why, therel’ he exclalmed, pointing to a bag In the plle on Bull-neck’s front seat. “There's my beg now. Look here, porter, what do you mean? he asked, as the darky came up. ‘There’s my bag and it's been in the next section to me all this time; you claimed you'd hunted all through the car for it.’ . “The darky shuffied darky fashion. “’Deed 1 did hunt. I hunted right smart, but this gen'man wouldn't le’ me- look under kis berth. He sald the baggage in there was all his'n and tole me to keep my bands off.’ *I never saw a fellow get firing mad so qQuick in my life as 7 did He went for Bull-neck Itke & hornet. ‘You great big bully, you loud-mouthed, beef-éating brute, you; you're the cause of this whole trouble yourself—' “I might as well stop repeating what he sald right there, for I never heard one man swear so at another in my life, and for three years I lived in Chicago_on the West Side. He cursed him from Arizona to tide water before I could jump and balt bim; there were half a dozen women in the hind end of the car. I had hardly sald the word ‘women’ when he stopped short. He was the worst cut up you ever saw. Didn't say another word; juat put both hands to his face and kind of let the curtains ° fall - together in front of him. But T want to- tell you, while’ that scoring lasted; Bull- neck sat as if he'd been burnt clean into the cushion.” 1 guess the way things stood, even then, the women thought he had a good deal the worst of it. There was & sour-mouthed cld maid in the far end that sputtered about the way the sick fellow talked, but none ot the rest sald -a word about it, /// ) B /l /7/: S0 1.’ I.l /, ,‘, \ /| # I BROUGHT ~ THIS . BAcrk FoR Your* *No. 7-didn’t get into the- dining car in, timé for breakfast. When the excitement was over the porter brought him back a little toast and coffee, but.T noticed when the tray went out there was just about as much on it as-when it came in. He didn’t tyrn out of his sectivn till along in the afterrnioon. I didn't know why then, but thinking since I guess he felt morti- ed over the way he had:talked. Another thing. he couldn’t hold. his head up fivé minutes at a time, and when the por-. ter did get the section made up he ‘had to fix a bed of pillows and the fellow ldy on fhat all the afternoon looking out of the window. ° ‘ “Most of the time when I happened to glance over, his eyes were closed. It didn’t ‘take a very old traveler to se# he was & pretty sick man. Toward evening when he dppeared fo brage up a little, i dropped down In his section aid asked him if he ‘was familiar with the rou too, telling .him 1 liad beer over it so many ° times 1 knew every section stone to Al- buquerque. After 1 had got to talking I could see his heart was pretty fuil and he started. in again to’ speak about the chap that had-roasted- him so’ in . the morning. ok - ‘It wouldf't have been so had, said he, ‘if I could have found my medicines last pight when [ ought to've had'them. 1 haven't had any strength since I got out of bed two weeks ago and it's beer pretty h for me Xeeping track °of things If; my head goes 80 weak. Then my wife came down last:night to the train with me. Of course, we had to say good-by; you know how women get .- broke up— S < ‘Why -didn’t ‘she come with you? .l esked, for 1 didn’t mind letting him .see that in my Jjudgment he was in a’ bad way. *He' looked at me with sométhing.as ciose to tears # 1 ever saw Iin a man's eyes, ‘There wasn't any chauce. would have come, but the baby—is almost —as- sick as: I am. She - couldn’t: bring him: we didn’t have. anybody to leave him with. The doctor sald 1'd bave to gome—right off. She :had to choose and I told her to stay with the . kid. If she'd been along it wouldn't hdve happened; she's got some way ‘of fixing - the pillows for me so I don't cough hardly any -at night. I fussed with. them 4l night myself, but I couldn’t get a blamed one fixed to do any good. 'Then,. I wouldn't have minded the coughing so much, nor even keeping ‘everybody awake, i 1 hadn’'t made such-a break right be- fore the ladies in the car when'I ripped into that fellow this morning.’ “‘Oh, that's all right,’ I sald. would lay that up agai=ast you.’ “‘No, it wasn't all right,’ he Insisted, with as much strength as he had, ‘It cut me to death to have the women think for a moment that I'd have used such lan- guage if I'd been’in my right senses, or to think I don't know what is due to a wo- man. I'm not able to say much ths way 1 feel to-day; I'd be ashamed to speak to one now, anyway. If you get the chance to drop & word of apology for me, and. will do 1it, I'll owe you a good deal.” “But I knew pretty well how the women felt ebout it and where. their sympathies. were. hind end of the car—she was & sturner, too; & yoyng widow with two children, the prettiest boy and girl I ever saw— when she came back from the dining car after suppér she saw. No. 7 propped up trying to nibble a plece of chocolate. Bhe had @ big orange in her hand. As she came along she held it out to him and sald as sweet &8 you éver heard, ‘T brought this back for you becauss ‘I thought may be it would taste good -after such a dusty day. I see 'you don’t eat much.” g : & “'The man- flushed up and his eyes fell; he started to rise. ‘Sft still,’ sho sald; ‘I don't want to disturb you." e **It 1s very kind of you to think of this for me,’ he replied, sitting down again. ‘No.one She"’ After supper one of them at the. . ‘were -the very few mnot meant for th Bhe n:!ood leaning agalinst the head of the section seat. 3 3 8 “Have you suffered much from the heat to-day? she asked. the remembrince of the unfortunate break 1 made this morning,’ he replied. “Her face showed the prettiest ignor- ance in the world. She was a stunner and no mistake. All she sald was, ‘Shan't I peel your orange for you? and she-held ‘out her hand for it. ‘I have a fruit knife here.’ . “He tried to thank her and she slipped down and sitting -opposite him took the orange in .her hand. ‘It was inexcusably rude in me,’ he persisted, with the awk- ‘wardness of a well meaning man, -‘to for- get this morning that I was not alone.” “‘I' am sure that none of us heard more than & very few words of the con- versation.” 2 60 “He Jooked at her with & kind of a ludicrous sadness. ‘] em afraid those public.’ But she made light of his apol- .ogles, quartered his orange, brought up her litfle boy and girl to help out the talk, and when she left ‘him he looked .and acted like a different man. ““Of course, that night everybody was pretty tiréd and went to bed early. We didn’t any of us expect.to get very rauch sleep. No. 7 had his berth made up first and after the porter and I had done what we could to fix the pillows we drew the curtains and left him for the night. He coughed a little early In the evening. 1 suppose everybody braced for it—I know I did—expecting it to last all night, but by Jingo, after 10 o'clock we never heard" ‘Not so much from the heat as from- -Eet some sleep.! NEVER: SAW A FELLOW GET. L FRING TTAD S0 enother sound out of® that berth. And ® 1t? That old beeteater in No. 4.oppesite me, after all- that row he made about belng disturbed the night before, snored so he kept . everybody ‘awake from one énd of the car to the other, not excepting the porter. “In the morning, I can. tell you, I got up angry. I began expresging. my opin- don ‘of kickers and snorers up and down the car right away and oiit loud. We straggled In to breakfast about &s we did the morning befors. When I came back I thought I would peek in on -No. 7 .and see whether there wasn't somie- - thing I could bring while the stuff In the diner was hot, I asked the porter if he was awake. 3 “Yes. He got off at Toltec this mofn- ‘Got ‘oft?' P ; : : ..“‘He sat up all night to keep from coughing 8o riot to--diaturb - anybody: and he got off this morning. to try -and “Well, it was up to.Bull-rieck then. Every passenger in- the car had- it in for Bull-neck- that daj- for ‘dfiving the sick’ man. from the train. 5 R “But you can never choke off folks like _that. When the trafn got.started again I ‘was smoking a clgar with -some of the men In the front end when in hé came and began to taik about No.'7. One of the fellows got up right away aend left; I stood it just as long as I coul know ‘whom you're talking to,” saldl after & while, ‘but for my part 1 don’t want to hear you talk and I don’t beliove anybody elss in this room does. You Kicked the. first .night we were out about that poor . ‘T don’t- fellow keeping you awake coughing, un- til you had him pretty near ' stung to death; then you had the unmitigated nerve yourself to keep everybody awake all last night. with ‘your infernal snering &nd. snoring. Now, I haven't had any sleep—I guess nobody in this car has—for two nights—all on account of you. I want to.tell you right now,’ I shook my finger straight at him, ‘if you repeat lhis to- night you'll have an account.to square with ‘me in the morning,’ and I up and left, and every last man filed after me. I guess he felt as If he would lke to swal- low his golf clubs. But all the same that fellow didn’t ‘make any nolse that night; he never sneezed: the porter sald he was g0-scared he sat up all night: I slept like & baby, you bet. N “I had struck up- an acquaintance my- ‘melf, on the strength of all the disturb- ance, with the pretty widow that had the two children. Next morning after break- fast I.took some Indian trinkeéts I had picked up back to her section to the littls boy and we got to talking about Bill- neck. ‘I got the first good night's sleép I've had since we started,’ sald L - Then -I t0ld her, modestly, about the lttle talk in the smoking-room the night before and how I'd scared the globe-trotter.into keep- ing qulet so the rest of us could have at least one nighi sl Bhe was so de- mure and had so modest & way uf keep- . ing her.eyes down It was pretty hard to tell just what kind of an impression the story was making on her.’ 1 went on, ‘he ever peeped last night. 1 didn’t hear him make a sound, did you? * *N—no." - 3 % “‘1 hope you rested well yourself,” I went on, sort 6f congratulating myselt. * ‘Well—pretty well.’ ¢ “The old sour-faced girl in the section right behind her was listening so noth- ing should get away, and UICK INMY LIFE AS 7 D/D.” ‘I don’t think,’ - just at that’ point she chipped in. ‘T don’t bell says she, kind of pointed like, ‘s soul in this end of the car slept a wink last night. There was the worst snoring all night-1 ever heard th my life,” and I've spent fifteen different summers at Chau- tauqua assemblies.’ “* “Who was snoring last night? I blus- tered, rather sharp, for I thought she was talking just to hear herself talk. But she came back at me stralght an w. _*“ ‘The porter,’ she snapped, ‘sald it was youl' ™ The Master of Appleby A novel tale concerning Itself in part ‘with the great struggle in the two Caro- tinas, but chiefly with the adventures thereic of two geatlemen who loved By Francis Lynde + .. Begins right after “THE GOLDEN FETICH” Sunday Call