CHAPTER XXX
DISASTER
BARBER took his time. He even prepared to have a smoke before"attending" to Johnnie. He fumbled through his coat pockets to find hispipe, grinning all the while at Cis.
Being bound had not subdued her. She looked back at him, her facequivering, her cheeks streaming with angry tears. "Oh, yes, he'll goafter you!" she sobbed. "You needn't be afraid he won't! He likes totake somebody that's little and weak, and abuse him, just as he's abusedme, because I'm a girl! You don't think, Johnnie, that he'd ever takeanybody his own size!"
"That'll do!" warned Big Tom. He had found the pipe, and now came a stepnearer to her. "Y'd better keep y'r mouth shut, young lady!"
"Don't talk, Cis! Don't!" begged Johnnie, half whispering.
"I _will_ talk!" she declared. "All the years I've been here I've wantedto tell him what I think of him. And now I'm going to!--I _am_ a younglady. You great, big coward!"
He struck her with the flat of one heavy hand. But as she instantlystruggled, and frantically, throwing herself this way and that, andalmost overturning the table upon herself, the longshoreman thoughtbetter of continuing the punishment, and crossed to the sink to emptyhis pipe.
Again Cis fell to sobbing, and talking as she wept. "I'm going to seethat Father Pat knows about this," she threatened. "And everybody in thewhole neighborhood, too! They'll drive you out of this part of town--yousee if they don't! And, oh, wait till One-Eye knows, and Mr. Perkins!"
It was just then, as she paused for breath, that something happenedwhich was unexpected, unforeseen, and terrible in its results. Thelongshoreman, to empty his pipe, rapped once on that pipe leading downinto the sink from Mrs. Kukor's flat--then twice more--then once again.
It was the book signal!
Johnnie gasped. And Cis stopped crying, turning on him a look that wasfull of frightened inquiry. He tipped back his head, to stare at theceiling as if striving to see through it, and he held his breath,listening. During the quarrel, he had not thought of Mrs. Kukor, norheard any sound from above. Was she at home? Oh, he hoped she was not!or that she had not heard!
But she was at home, and was preparing to obey the raps. Her rockingsteps could be heard, crossing the floor.
"Johnnie!" warned Cis. She forgot herself now, in remembering what mightbe threatening.
They heard the scrape of the book basket as it left the upper sill.Johnnie got to his feet then, watching Barber, who was leaning over thesink, cleaning out the bowl of the pipe with the half of a match. Oh, ifonly the longshoreman would leave the window now, before--before----
Almost gayly, and as jerkily as always, the basket with its preciousload came dropping by quick inches into full view, where it swung fromside to side, waiting to be drawn in. And as it swung, Big Tom caughtthe movement of it, faced round, and stood staring, seeing the books,but not comprehending just yet how they came to be outside his window,or for whom they were intended. And Johnnie, his face distorted by anagony of anxiety, kept his eyes on Barber.
"Ha-a-a-a!" Cis broke in, scornfully. "He's been asking old Grandpaquestions, Johnnie! He's been spying on you, too! He ought to make afine detective! All he does is spy!"
It was this which told Barber that the books belonged in his flat, andto Johnnie. "So-o-o-o!" he roared triumphantly, and grabbed the fourstrings. But now his anger was toward Mrs. Kukor.
His jerk at the basket had told her something: that all was not rightdown below. And the next moment she was pulling hard at the strings,dire amazement, and alarm, and dismay in her every jerk.
Big Tom, holding firmly to the basket, leaned out to call. "Hey, there!"he said angrily.
"Vot?"
"I say, what y' sendin' books down _here_ for?"
An exclamation--in that strange tongue which she spoke--smothered andindistinct, but fervent! Then more jerks.
"Oh, yes!" called out Cis. "Now abuse her! Insult that poor littlething! She's only a woman!"
Barber had no time to answer this. He was pulling at the strings, too,trying to break them. "Let go up there!" he shouted.
"It wass my basket!"
With a curse, "I don't care _whose_ basket it is! Let _go_!" he ordered,and gave such a wrench at the strings that all parted, suddenly, and thebasket was his. "Y' think y're pretty smart, don't y'?" he demanded,head out of the window again; "helpin' this kid t' neglect his work!"
"I pay you always, Mister Barber," she answered, "if so he makes hiswork oder not!"
"Yes, and he knows it, Mrs. Kukor!" Cis called out.
"Don't you ever set foot in this here flat again!" ordered Big Tom.
"That's right!" retorted Cis, as fearless as ever. "Drive her away!--thebest friend we've ever had!"
"You been hidin' these here books for him!" Barber went on, his headstill out of the window, so that much of what Cis was saying was lostupon him.
"_Ja! Ja! Ja! Ja!_"
"Don't y' yaw _me_!"
But Mrs. Kukor's window had gone down.
Now every other window in the neighborhood was up, though the dwellersround about were hidden from sight. However, they launched at him achorus of hisses.
"A-a-a-a!" triumphed Cis. "You see what people think of you? Good! Good!Why don't you go out and get hold of _them_? why don't you throw _them_around?--Oh, you're safe in here, with the children!"
Still Barber did not notice her. Leaning farther out across the windowsill, he shook a fist into space. "Bah!" he shouted. "Ain't one o' y'dares t' show y'r face! Jus' y' let me see who's hissin', and I'll givey' what for! Geese hiss, and snakes! Come and do y'r hissin' where I canlook at y'!"
More hisses--and cat calls, yowls, meows, and a spirited spitting;raucous laughter, too, and a mingling of voices in several tongues.
"Wops!" cried Big Tom again. "Wops, and Kikes, and Micks! Not a decentAmerican in the whole lot--you low-down bunch o' foreigners!"
Cis laughed again. She was like one possessed. It was as if she did notcare what he did to her, nor what she said to him; as if she weretaunting him and daring him--even encouraging him--to do more. "DecentAmericans!" she repeated, as he closed the window and came toward her,the books in his hands. "Do you think _you're_ a decent American? Butthey're foreigners! Ha! And you call them names! But they don't treatchildren the way you've always treated us! You'd better call yourselfnames for a change!"
"And I s'pose that dude left these!" Barber had halted at the table. Nowhe turned to Johnnie, looking directly at him for the first time. Thenext moment, an expression of mingled astonishment and rage changed andshadowed his dark face, as he glared at the uniform, the leggings, thebrown shoes. Next, "Where did y' git _them_?" he demanded, almostchoking. He leveled a finger.
Johnnie swallowed, shifting from foot to foot. To his lips had sprungthe strangest words, "There's people that're givin' these suits away--toall the kids." (The kind of an explanation that he would have madepromptly, and as boldly as possible, in the days before he knew FatherPat and Mr. Perkins.) But he did not speak the falsehood; he evenwondered how it had come into his mind; and he asked himself what Mr.Roosevelt, for instance, would think of him if he were to tell such alie. For a scout is trustworthy.
Once more Cis broke in, her voice high and shrill. "Oh, now he's gotsomething else to worry about! A second ago he was mad because he foundout you had a few books! But here you've got a decent pair of shoes toyour feet--for once in your life! and a decent suit of clothes to yourback--so that you look like a human being instead of the rag bag! Andyou've got the first hat you've had since you were five years old!"
The hat was lying on the floor--to one side, where it had fallen fromJohnnie's head when Barber had thrown the boy off. Now the latter wentto pick it up, and hold it at his side. Then, standing straight, hissober eyes on the longshoreman, he waited.
"Where'd y' git 'em?" questioned Barber. He slammed the books on thetable.
The big-girl hands worked convulsively with the hat for a moment. Then,"The suit was--was give t' me," Johnnie f
altered.
"_Gi-i-ive?_" echoed Big Tom, as if this were his first knowledge of agreat and heinous crime.
"Think of it!" shrilled Cis. "Johnnie's got a friend that's willing tospend a few dollars on him! Isn't that a shame!"
Barber did not look at her; did not seem to know that she was talking."_Who_ give it?" he persisted.
"It--it was One-Eye," said Johnnie.
"Oh, _was_ it!" exclaimed the longshoreman. His tone implied that in allgood time he would reckon with the Westerner.
"Yes, One-Eye!" cried Cis. "So you can take your temper out on _him_!Only you better look out! One-Eye's a man--not just a kid! And cowboyscarry pistols, too! So you better think twice before you go at _him_!You'll be safer to stick to abusing children!--Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"
While he was waiting for silence, Barber fell to examining the scoutuniform, article by article--the hat, the coat, the trousers, theleggings, the shoes, his look full of disgust, and fairly withering.When he was done, he sank leisurely into the morris chair, a big hand oneach knee, and the flat back of his head rested against the old soiledcushion. And now he concentrated on Johnnie's countenance. "So MisterOne-Eye fitted y' out," he resumed, and his mouth lifted at one corner,showing a brown, fanglike tooth worn by his pipe stem.
"Y--yes, sir," replied Johnnie.
"Oh, be sure to sir him!" mocked Cis. "He deserves politeness!"
Big Tom showed all of his teeth. But not at what Cis had been saying; itwas evident that some new and pleasant thought had occurred to him. Henodded his head over it. "I thought maybe it was that dude again," heremarked cheerfully. "But it was One-Eye fitted y' out! Hm! And when I'moff at work, instead o' doin' what y' ought t', y' fix y'rself up, don'ty'?--soldier boy stuff!"
"I--I do my work in these," pleaded Johnnie. "I do! Honest! See how nicethe place is! I don't shirk nothin'! 'Cause y' see, a scout, he----"
Big Tom let him get no further. "Take them rags off!" he commanded. Thelast trace of that smile was gone. The bulging eyes looked out throughslits. That underlip was thrust forward wrathfully.
"Take your suit off, Johnnie," counseled Cis. "Don't you see he hates tohave you look nice?"
"My--my scout suit!" faltered the boy. The light in those peering,bloodshot eyes told him that the longshoreman would mistreat thatbeloved uniform; and Johnnie wanted to gain time. Something, or someone, might interrupt, and thus stave off--what?
Barber straightened. "Take--it--off," he said quietly, but with heat;and added, "Before I tear it off."
Johnnie proceeded to carry out the order. He put the beautifulolive-drab hat on the table. Next he unfastened the neat, webbed belt,and unlaced the soldierly leggings. The emblemed coat came offcarefully. The khaki shirt followed. Last of all, having slipped hisfeet out of the wonderful shoes, he pulled off the trousers, and stood,a pathetic little figure, in an old undershirt of Grandpa's, the sleevesof which he had shortened, and a pair of Grandpa's underdrawers,similarly cut--to knee length.
Barber stared at the underclothes. "Who said y' could wear my old man'sthings?" he asked.
"N--nobody."
"They're too small for Grandpa," declared Cis, stoutly. "Johnnie mightas well wear them. If he didn't, I'd throw them away, or use them fordishcloths."
Barber did not notice the girl. "Nobody," he repeated. "But y' go aheadand use the scissors on 'em!"
"Your shirts 're so big," reminded Johnnie; "and the pants, too. And ifI didn't wear nothin', why, I'd dirty the new uniform, wearin' it nextmy skin, and so----"
"Fold that truck up!" came the next command.
Under Grandpa's old, torn undershirt, Johnnie's heart began to beat sohard that he could hear it. But quietly and dutifully he folded eachdear article, and placed all, one upon another, neatly, the hat toppingthe pile. Finished, he stood waiting, and his whole body trembled with achill that was not from cold or fear, but from apprehension. Oh, whatwas about to happen to his treasured uniform?
Cis was silent now, refraining from angering Big Tom at a time when itwas possible for him to vent his rage on Johnnie's belongings. But shewatched him breathlessly as he rose and went to the table, and reachedto take the books.
"So y' keep 'em upstairs?" he said to Johnnie.
"Yes, sir,"--it was a whisper.
"She's accommodatin', ain't she, the old lady?"
"She--she--yes."
"A-a-ah!" The longshoreman placed the books atop the olive-drab hat,crushing it flat with their weight.
"Oh! Oh, don't hurt 'em!" pleaded Johnnie. He put out a hand.
"Oh, I won't hurt 'em," answered Big Tom. But his tone was far fromreassuring.
"I won't ever read 'em 'cept nights," promised the boy. "Honest, MisterBarber! And y' know y' like me t' read good. When--when Mister Maloneywas here, why, y' liked it. And y' can lock 'em all away in the bedroomif y' don't b'lieve me!"
Big Tom leered down at him. "Oh, I'll lock 'em up, all right," he said."I'll do it up so brown that there won't be no more danger o' this scoutbusiness 'round the place, and no more readin'." With that, he took upboth the books and the suit and turned.
At the same moment Cis and Johnnie understood what was impending--thesame terrible moment; and they cried out together, the one in renewedanger, the other in mortal pain:
"_NO!_"
For Barber had turned--_to the stove_.
Johnnie rushed to the longshoreman and again clung to him, weeping,pleading, promising, asking to be whipped--oh, anything but that histreasures be destroyed. And at the table, Cis wept, too, and threatened,calling for help, striving to divert Big Tom from his purpose, trying tolash him into a rage against herself.
"Oh, Mister Barber, y' wouldn't!" Johnnie cried. "They're ev'rything Igot in the world! And I love 'em so! Oh, I'll stay forever with y' if y'won't hurt 'em! I'll work so hard, and be so good----!"
Barber uncovered the fire--that fire which Johnnie had built for thebaking of Big Tom's pudding.
"The medal!" Cis shouted, straining at the rope which bound her. "Don'tlet him burn that! Johnnie! Johnnie!"
Johnnie caught at the coat. "In a pocket!" he explained. "My father's!Look for it! Let me!"
"A--what?" inquired Big Tom, lifting books and uniform out of the boy'sreach. "What're y' talkin' about?"
"Don't you _dare_ burn it!" Cis stormed. "They'll arrest you! See ifthey don't! You give it to Johnnie! If you don't, I'll tell the police!I will! _I will!_"
"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!" laughed Barber. Holding everything under one arm,he took off a second stove lid, as well as the hour-glass-shaped supportbetween the two front lids. The whole of the firebox was uncovered. Itwas a mass of coals. As the longshoreman hung over the fire, his darkface was lit by it. And now lifted in a horrid smile!
Cis's voice rose again. Nothing could save Johnnie's books and suit:there was no need to keep silent. "He's a devil!" she cried. "He isn't aman at all! Look! He's enjoying himself! He's grinning! Oh, Johnnie,_look at his face_!"
Johnnie fell back. And into his own face, twisted and wet with grief,there came an expression of a terrible wonder--the wonder that Big Tom,or any one, could be so cruel, so heartless, so contemptible. And thereflashed into his mind something he had once heard Father Pat say:"There's not so many grown-up people in the world; there's plenty ofgrown-up bodies, but the minds at the top o' them, they're children'sminds!" And, oh, how true it was! For Barber was like that--had a mindyounger than Johnnie's own--the boy knew it then. Further, it was asmean and cruel and little as the minds of those urchins who shouted "oldclothes," and "girl's hair." Yes, Barber had a man's body, but the brainof an ignorant, wicked boy!
"Look at my face all y' want t'!" he was saying now. "But there's _one_thing sure: after this we'll know who's boss 'round here!"
"This is the only place you can boss!" retorted Cis, turning wild,defiant eyes upon him. "A crippled old man, and a couple of young folks!But you bet you mind Furman!"
"_A-a-a-a-a-ah!_"
The cry was wrung from Johnnie. For wit
h another loud laugh, Big Tomhad dropped the scout hat upon the flames.
"Coward!" charged the girl, again writhing in her ropes. "Low, meancoward!"
It was beyond Johnnie's strength to watch what was happening. He threwup an arm to shut out the sight of Big Tom, and faced the other way."Oh, don't!" he moaned weakly. "Oh, don't! Don't!" A strange, unpleasantodor was filling the room. He guessed that was the hat. Smoke camewafting his way next--a whole cloud of it--and drifted ceilingward. "Oh,Cis! Cis!" he moaned again.
Some one was in the hall--Mrs. Kukor, for the steps rocked. "Chonnie?"she called now. "Chonnie! Talk sometink!"
It was Big Tom who talked. "Oh, you go home, y' busybody!" he answered.
"Mrs. Kukor! Mrs. Kukor! He's burning everything of Johnnie's!" shoutedCis.
"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!" burst out Barber, as if this had delighted him.Into the fire he thrust the khaki breeches and the coat, poking themdown upon the coals with a hand which was too horny to be scorched bythe fire.
"The medal!" mourned the girl. "Oh, I hope they'll punish you for that!And there's something you don't know, but it's the truth, and it'll meana lot that _you_ won't like!"
"Ye-e-e-eah?" Barber was waiting for the breeches and coat to burn.
"Yes! Johnnie's rich! He's got money! Lots of it! You'll see! You won'thave so much to say to-morrow!"
Big Tom laughed. "T'morrow," he said good-humoredly, "I'm goin' t' havey'r brain examined." The room was half full of smoke now; he fell tocoughing, and went over to pull down the upper half of the window. Whenhe came back he thrust the leggings into the stove.
Peering round through the smoke, Johnnie saw that. "Oh!" he whispered."Oh!" He went forward a few steps, weakly; then all his strength seemedsuddenly to go out of him, and he dropped to his knees beside a wall,brushing it with his hands as he went down. There he stayed, hisforehead pressed against his knuckles.
Once more Cis began to weep, in pity for his suffering. "Oh, don't youfeel so bad!" she pleaded. "Just try to remember that we're going away,Johnnie! Mr. Perkins'll take us both, and Big Tom'll never see us again!And I love you, Johnnie, and so does Mrs. Kukor, and Father Pat, andOne-Eye, and Mr. Perkins!"
"I know!" groaned the boy. "I--I'll try t' think."
"Mister Perkins!" scoffed the longshoreman. "Who cares about _that_ tonyguy? If he ever pokes his head into this flat again, I'll stick _him_into the stove!" The shirt followed the leggings, after which, with adull clanking of the stove lids, he covered the firebox.
"But my jacket's burnin'," Johnnie sobbed. "My nice jacket! And themedal! Oh, the beautiful medal!"
"He'll pay for it!" vowed Cis. "You'll see! I know one person that'llmake him pay!--for hitting me, and tying me up, and burning your things!Just you wait, Johnnie! It'll all come out right! This isn't over yet!No, it isn't!"
Barber was laughing again. The top of the stove was a reddening black.Upon it now he threw all the books; whereupon little threads of smokebegan to ascend--white smoke, piercing the darker smoke of the burninghat and uniform.
As the books struck the stove, Johnnie had once more turned his head tolook, and, "Oh, my _Robinson Crusoe_!" he burst out now. "Oh, Aladdin!And dear Galahad!" This was more than the destruction of stories: thiswas the perishing of friends.
"Never mind, dear Johnnie! Never mind!" The voice of the comforter wasstrong and clear.
Once more a stove lid rattled. Big Tom was putting the first book uponthe fire. It was the beloved _Last of the Mohicans_. Johnnie's tearfuleyes knew it by the brown binding. He groaned. "Oh, it's Uncas!" he toldCis. "Oh, my story! I'll never read y' again!"
"He'll wish a hundred times he'd never done it!" declared Cis. "It'llcost him something, I can tell you! He'll pay for them all, over andover!"
"Is that so?" Barber was amused. Now he threw the other books after thefirst. After that, he lounged to and fro, waiting till it was certainthat even no part of the volumes would fail to be consumed. As hesauntered, he found his sack of smoking tobacco and refilled that pipewhich had been the innocent cause of all Johnnie's misfortune.
With Big Tom away from the stove, the boy rose and crossed the room.They were turning into ashes, all his books and the other things, and hewanted one last look at them before they were wholly gone. He picked upthe poker, lifted a lid, and gazed down.
"Don't y' touch anythin'!" warned the longshoreman, fussing with thematches as he strolled.
"I won't." Layers of curling black leaves were lying uppermost in thestove. And they were moving, as if they were living and sufferingthings. On some of the leaves Johnnie could see lettering. But as, atthe sight, his tears burst forth again, the force of his breath uponthose blistered pages broke them, and they crumbled.
He covered the stove and stumbled away. An odd thought was in histortured brain: What Scout Law of the Twelve covered the burning of auniform? of the books that all scouts should love? "Trustworthy," herepeated aloud; "loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind,obedient----"
"Oh, shut up!" ordered Barber.
"Yes, shut up, Johnnie," advised Cis. "Because those are all things thisman doesn't know about--he's never heard, even, of anybody's being kind,or friendly." Then as there came from the stove a sudden snapping andblowing, she turned her face toward the longshoreman, and it wasstrangely unlike her face, so changed was it by hate. "Oh, you vile,vile thing!" she cried.
"Now I guess that'll about do," said Barber. "Understand me. I've heardenough."
"_Nothing'll_ do," she returned firmly. "You won't ever stop my talkingagain! I sha'n't ever obey you again--no, about anything! And there aresome things I'm going to tell about you. You think I don't know them--orthat I've forgot. But my mother told me what she knew about you, and Iremember it all. And to-morrow I'm going to hunt a policeman, and----"
In one long step he was beside her. "You--you--_you_!" he raged,choking. His face was blue, and working horribly, and there was fear inthe bulging eyes. "What're y' _talkin'_ about? Have y' gone cleancrazy?" With a half-bend, he caught up a length of the clothesline fromthe floor and doubled it. "You open your mouth to anybody," he told her,fiercely, "and I'll break ev'ry bone in y'r body!"
"Cis!" Johnnie rushed to her, clung to her bound arms, and warned her tosilence.
But she would not be still. She was triumphant, seeing how afraid he wasof her threat. She straightened, moving the table as she moved, andbroke into a shout of defiance. "_Break_ my bones!" she challenged."Kill me, if you want to! But I'm going to tell--_tell_--_TELL_!"
"I will kill y'!" he vowed, and doubled the rope into a short, four-plywhip.
Johnnie forgot everything then but Cis's danger. Once more he came toput himself, thinly clad though he was now, between her and Big Tom."Oh, don't y' see she's half crazy?" he cried to the latter. "She don'tknow what she's sayin'! Oh, Mister Barber! Mister Barber!"
"They'll arrest him! They'll send him to jail! To the chair!" Cis wasshouting, almost joyously, remembering only that now she was torturingtheir tormentor. "But I'll tell! I'll tell!"
Barber did not answer her. "Git out o' my way!" he growled to Johnnie."'R I'll lick you, too!"
Facing Barber, Johnnie leaned back against Cis, half covering her bodywith his own. "Lick me," he begged. "Oh, but don't touch her!"
Barber bared his teeth, turning a look of hate upon the boy. "You!" hecried, and cursed. "I'll lick y', all right! I'll lick y' so's it'll bea week before y' leave y'r bed!" Taking a firmer hold of the loopedstrands, he swung them above his head; then with a deep breath, and withall the power of his right arm, brought them down.
A shriek--from Cis.
But Barber had not struck her. The blow had reached only the upraisedface and breast of the boy, driving him against Cis with terrible force.Even in his agony Johnnie knew that, as he was pressing against her, shemight be inadvertently struck as Big Tom struck at him; so, staggeringsidewise, his arms held, crossed, above his head to keep the rope fromhis eyes, he got away from the table and the bound girl. But as he we
nthe continued to clutch with all of his fingers at the rope which was nowdescending with awful regularity.
Shrieking, Cis covered her eyes by laying her head upon the table; andnow she tried to cover one ear, then the other, to shut out the soundof the blows. And to her screams was added the voice of old Grandpa,whimpering in the bedroom, while he beat feebly at the door.
Johnnie, however, made no sound. Each stinging blow of the rope whipknocked the breath out of him, sending him farther and farther away fromthe table. Sometimes he reeled, sometimes he spun, so that as Barberdrove him with lash after lash, he went as if performing a sort ofgrotesque dance. And all the while his face was purpling in two longstripes where had fallen that first cruel scourge.
With each swing of the strands Barber gasped out a word:"There!--Now!--Take!--Lazy!--_Sneak!_" Sweat dripped from among thehairs on his face. That white spot came and went in his left eye like anevil light.
Some one fell to pounding upon the hall door, and some one else upon adividing wall. Then, with a crash, a bottle came hurtling through a paneof the window.
But Big Tom was himself half crazed by now, and seemed not to hear."I'll learn y'!" he shouted, and rained blow after blow--till the smallfigure, those old undergarments almost in rags as the rope strands cutinto his back, could stand up to no more punishment. Of a sudden, withan anguished sigh, the boy half pivoted, and a score of red bandsshowing angrily upon his bare, thin arms, gave a lurch, bent double, andwent down, his limp body in a half circle, so that his yellow headtouched his knees.
A hoarse shriek of terror and grief from Cis; she tried to rise, anddragged the table part way across the kitchen, her chair with it,striving to get to Johnnie. "Oh, you've killed him!" she cried. "You'vekilled him!"
Outside in the hall, the stairs creaked to the steps of several. Voicescalled. Doors opened and shut. Windows went up and down. From top tobottom the old building was astir.
Big Tom strode to the door and listened. Gradually, as quiet prevailedin the Barber flat, the other flats fell into silence, while thewatchers in the hall stole away. Presently the longshoreman gave achuckle. Nobody cared to interfere with him. He came sauntering back toJohnnie.
The boy was lying prone now, his eyes shut, his breast heaving. As BigTom stood over him, his whole little ragged figure shivered, and hesucked in his breath through his clenched teeth.
"Ha-a-a!" laughed Barber. "So y' will stick in y'r nose! Well, I'lllearn y'!" Catching Johnnie up in one big hand, he carried him to thetable and laid him over its edge, arms outstretched, the yellow headbetween them, and the thin legs hanging down toward the floor. Thentaking up that length of rope with which he had beaten the boy, he tiedthe spent body beside that of the well-nigh fainting girl.
"Now there the two o' y'll stay till mornin'," he announced when he wasdone. "Then maybe y' won't be so fresh about runnin' this place."
The sun was now below the tops of the houses to the west, and thekitchen was beginning to darken. Big Tom got down the lamp, lighted it,and carried it to the bedroom. "All right, Pa," he said cheerfully, "I'mcomin' t' put y' t' bed now. Y' want y'r milk first, don't y'? Well,Tommie'll git it for y'." He returned to the cupboard for the milkbottle, gave a smiling look at the two heads leaned on the table, anddisappeared to bed.
Presently some one tapped timidly on the hall door; but as there was noreply, the caller went softly away. A bit later, a gruff voice was heardon the landing, speaking inquiringly, and there were whispered answers.But the gruff voice died away on the stairs, along with heavyfootsteps. Then only the distant rumble of the Elevated Railroad couldbe heard occasionally, or the far, seaward whistle of some steamer, orthe scrape and screak of a street-car.
And so night settled upon the flat.