CHAPTER XII
THE MARATHON
As if two gods should play some heavenly match, and on this wager lay two earthly women.--_Shakespeare_.
An automaton, scarcely thinking, I gained the platform of the station.There was a sound of hissing steam, a rolling cloud of sulphurous smoke,a shouting of railway captains, a creaking of the wheels. Withoutvolition of my own, I was on my northward journey. Presently I lookedaround and found seated at my side the man whom I then recollected I wasto meet--Doctor Samuel Ward. I presume he took the train after I did.
"What's wrong, Nicholas?" he asked. "Trouble of any kind?"
I presume that the harsh quality of my answer surprised him. He lookedat me keenly.
"Tell me what's up, my son," said he.
"You know Miss Elisabeth Churchill--" I hesitated.
He nodded. "Yes," he rejoined; "and damn you, sir! if you give that girla heartache, you'll have to settle with me!"
"Some one will have to settle with me!" I returned hotly.
"Tell me, then."
So, briefly, I did tell him what little I knew of the events of the lasthour. I told him of the shame and humiliation of it all. He pondered fora minute and asked me at length if I believed Miss Elisabeth suspectedanything of my errand of the night before.
"How could she?" I answered. "So far as I can recollect I nevermentioned the name of the Baroness von Ritz."
Then, all at once, I did recollect! I did remember that I had mentionedthe name of the baroness that very morning to Elisabeth, when thebaroness passed us in the East Room! I had not told the truth--I hadgone with a lie on my lips that very day, and asked her to take vowswith me in which no greater truth ought to be heard than the simpletruth from me to her, in any hour of the day, in any time of our twolives!
Doctor Ward was keen enough to see the sudden confusion on my face, buthe made no comment beyond saying that he doubted not time would clear itall up; that he had known many such affairs.
"But mind you one thing," he added; "keep those two women apart."
"Then why do you two doddering old idiots, you and John Calhoun, withlife outworn and the blood dried in your veins, send me, since youdoubt me so much, on an errand of this kind? You see what it has donefor me. I am done with John Calhoun. He may get some other fool for hisservice."
"Where do you propose going, then, my friend?"
"West," I answered. "West to the Rockies--"
Doctor Ward calmly produced a tortoise shell snuffbox from his left-handwaistcoat pocket, and deliberately took snuff. "You are going to donothing of the kind," said he calmly. "You are going to keep yourpromise to John Calhoun and to me. Believe me, the business in hand isvital. You go to Canada now in the most important capacity you have everhad."
"I care nothing for that," I answered bitterly.
"But you are the agent of your country. You are called to do yourcountry's urgent work. Here is your trouble over one girl. Would youmake trouble for a million American girls--would you unsettle thousandsand thousands of American homes because, for a time, you have knowntrouble? All life is only trouble vanquished. I ask you now to be a man;I not only expect it, but demand it of you!"
His words carried weight in spite of myself. I began to listen. I tookfrom his hand the package, looked at it, examined it. Finally, as he satsilently regarding me, I broke the seal.
"Now, Nicholas Trist," resumed Doctor Ward presently, "there is to beat Montreal at the date named in these papers a meeting of the directorsof the Hudson Bay Company of England. There will be big men there--thebiggest their country can produce; leaders of the Hudson Bay Company,many, public men even of England. It is rumored that a brother of LordAberdeen, of the British Ministry, will attend. Do you begin tounderstand?"
Ah, did I not? Here, then, was further weaving of those complex plotswhich at that time hedged in all our history as a republic. Now Iguessed the virtue of our knowing somewhat of England's secret plans, asshe surely did of ours. I began to feel behind me the impulse of JohnCalhoun's swift energy.
"It is Oregon!" I exclaimed at last.
Doctor Ward nodded. "Very possibly. It has seemed to Mr. Calhoun verylikely that we may hear something of great importance regarding the farNorthwest. A missed cog now may cost this country a thousand miles ofterritory, a hundred years of history."
Doctor Ward continued: "England, as you know," said he, "is the enemy ofthis country as much to-day as ever. She claims she wishes Texas toremain free. She forgets her own record--forgets the burning cities ofRohilkhand, the imprisoned princesses of Oudh! Might is her right. Shewants Texas as a focus of contention, a rallying point of sectionalism.If she divides us, she conquers us. That is all. She wants the chancefor the extension of her own hold on this continent, which she will pushas far, and fast as she dare. She must have cotton. She would like landas well."
"That means also Oregon?"
He nodded. "Always with the Texas question comes the Oregon question.Mr. Calhoun is none too friendly to Mr. Polk, and yet he knows thatthrough Jackson's influence with the Southern democracy Polk has anexcellent chance for the next nomination for the presidency. God knowswhat folly will come then. But sometime, one way or another, the jointoccupancy of England and the United States in the Oregon country mustend. It has been a waiting game thus far, as you know; but never thinkthat England has been idle. This meeting in Montreal will prove that toyou."
In spite of myself, I began to feel the stimulus of a thought like this.It was my salvation as a man. I began to set aside myself and my owntroubles.
"You are therefore," he concluded, "to go to Montreal, and find your ownway into that meeting of the directors of the Hudson Bay Company. Thereis a bare chance that in this intrigue Mexico will have an emissary onthe ground as well. There is reason to suspect her hostility to all ourplans of extension, southwest and northwest. Naturally, it is the cardof Mexico to bring on war, or accept it if we urge; but only in case shehas England as her ally. England will get her pay by taking Texas, andwhat is more, by taking California, which Mexico does not value. Sheowes England large sums now. That would leave England owner of thePacific coast; for, once she gets California, she will fight us then for_all_ of Oregon. It is your duty to learn all of these matters--who isthere, what is done; and to do this without making known your ownidentity."
I sat for a moment in thought. "It is an honor," said I finally; "anhonor so large that under it I feel small."
"Now," said Doctor Ward, placing a gnarled hand on my shoulder, "youbegin to talk like a Marylander. It's a race, my boy, a race across thiscontinent. There are two trails--one north and one mid-continent. Onthese paths two nations contend in the greatest Marathon of all theworld. England or the United States--monarchy or republic--aristocracyor humanity'? These are some of the things which hang on the issue ofthis contest. Take then your duty and your honor, humbly andfaithfully."
"Good-by," he said, as we steamed into Baltimore station. I turned, andhe was gone.