CHAPTER XXI
THE MUTINY
They went to the house together, he carrying Arabella like a sick babyand Miss Patty beside him. As far as I could see they didn't speak aword to each other, but once or twice I saw her turn and look up at himas if she was puzzled.
I closed the door and stood just inside, looking at father's pictureover the mantel. As sure as I stood there, the eyes were fixed on thespring, and I sensed, as you may say, what they meant. I went over andlooked down into the spring, and it seemed to me it was darker thanusual. It may have smelled stronger, but the edge had been taken off mynose, so to speak, by being there so long.
From the spring I looked again at father, and his eyes were on memournful and sad. I felt as though, if he'd been there, father wouldhave turned the whole affair to the advantage of the house, and itwas almost more than I could bear. I was only glad the old doctor'senlargement had not come yet. I couldn't have endured having it see whathad occurred.
The only thing I could think of was to empty the spring and let thewater come in plain. I could put a little sulphur in to give it colorand flavor, and if it turned out that Mr. Pierce was right and thatArabella was only a glutton, I could put in the other things later.
I was carrying out my first pailful when Doctor Barnes came down thepath and took the pail out of my hand.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Making a slide?"
"No," I said bitterly, "I am watering the flowers."
"Good!" He was not a bit put out. "Let me help you." He took the pailacross the path and poured a little into the snow at the base of ahalf-dozen fence posts. "There!" he said, coming back triumphant."The roses are done. Now let's have a go at the pansies and thelady's-slippers and the--the begonias. I say"--he stopped suddenlyon his way in--"sulphur water on a begonia--what would it make? Skunkcabbage?"
Inside, however, he put down the pail, and pulling me in, closed thedoor.
"Now forget it!" he commanded. "Just because a lot of damn fools see adog in a fit and have one, too, is that any reason for your being scaredwall-eyed and knock-kneed?"
"I'm not!" I snapped.
"Well, you're wall-eyed with fright," he insisted. "Of course, you'rethe best judge of your own knees, but after last night--Had any lunch?"
I shook my head.
"Exactly," he said. "You make me think of the little boy who dugpost-holes in the daytime and took in washings at night to support thefamily. Sit down."
I sat.
"Inhale and exhale slowly four times, and then swallow the lump in yourthroat.... Gone?"
"Yes."
"Good." He was fumbling in his pocket and he brought out a napkin. Whenhe opened it there was a sandwich, a piece of cheese and a banana.
"What do you think of that?" he asked, watching me anxiously. "Lookspretty good?"
"Fine," I said, hating to disappoint him, although I never eat sardines,and bananas give me indigestion, "I'm hungry enough to eat a rawItalian."
"Then fall to," he directed, and with a flourish he drew a bottle ofginger ale from his pocket.
"How's this?" he demanded, holding it up. "Cheers but doesn't inebriate;not a headache in a barrel; ginger ale to the gingery! 'A quart of aleis a dish for a king,'" he said, holding up a glass. "That'sShakespeare, Miss Minnie."
I was a good bit more cheerful when I'd choked down the sandwich,especially when he assured me the water was all right--"a little high,as you might say, but not poisonous. Lord, I wish you could have seenthem staggering into my office!"
"I saw enough," I said with a shiver.
"That German, von Inwald," he went on, "he's the limit. He accused us ofpoisoning him for reasons of state!"
"Where are they now?"
"My dear girl," he answered, putting down his glass, "what has beenpounded into me ever since I struck the place? The baths! I prescribe'em all day and dream 'em all night. Where are the poisonees now?They are steaming, stewing, exuding in the hot rooms of the bathdepartment--all of them, every one of them! In the hold and the hatchesdown!"
He picked up the pail and went down the steps to the spring.
"After all," he said, "it won't hurt to take out a little of this andpour it on the ground. It ought to be good fertilizer." He stooped."'Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come,'" he quoted, and dippedin the pail.
Just then somebody fell against the door and stumbled into the room. Itwas Tillie, as white as milk, and breathing in gasps.
"Quick!" she screeched, "Minnie, quick!"
"What is it?" I asked, jumping up. She'd fallen back against thedoor-frame and stood with her hand clutching her heart.
"That dev--devil--Mike!" she panted. "He has turned on the steam in themen's baths and gone--gone away!"
"With people in the bath?" Doctor Barnes asked, slamming down the pail.
Tillie nodded.
"Then why in creation don't they get out of the baths until we can shutoff the steam?" I demanded, grabbing up my shawl. But Tillie shook herhead in despair.
"They can't," she answered, "he's hid their clothes!"
The next thing I recall is running like mad up the walk with DoctorBarnes beside me, steadying me by the arm. I only spoke once that Iremember and that was just as we got to the house,
"This settles it!" I panted, desperately. "It's all over."
"Not a bit of it!" he said, shoving me up the steps and into the hall."The old teakettle is just getting 'het up' a bit. By the gods andlittle fishes, just listen to it singing down there!"
The help was gathered in a crowd at the head of the bath-housestaircase, where a cloud of steam was coming up, and down below we couldhear furious talking, and somebody shouting, "Mike! Mike!" in a voicethat was choked with rage and steam.
Doctor Barnes elbowed his way through the crowd to the top of the stairsand I followed.
"There's Minnie!" Amanda King yelled. "She knows all about the place.Minnie, you can shut it off, can't you?"
"I'll try," I said, and was starting down, when Doctor Barnes jerked meback.
"You stay here," he said. "Where's Mr. Pier--where's Carter?"
"Down with the engineer," somebody replied out of the steam cloud.
"Hello there!" he called down the staircase. "How's the air?"
"Clothes! Send us some clothes!"
It was Mr. Sam calling. The rest was swallowed up in a fresh roaring,as if a steam-pipe had given away. That settled the people below. Witha burst of fury they swarmed up the stairs in their bath sheets, thebishop leading, and just behind him, talking as no gentleman should talkunder any circumstances, Senator Biggs. The rest followed, their redfaces shining through the steam--all of them murderous, holding theirsheets around them with one hand, and waving the other in a frenzy. Itwas awful.
The help scattered and ran, but I stood my ground. The sight of a man ina sheet didn't scare me and it was no time for weakness.
The steam was thicker than ever, and the hall was misty. A moment laterthe engineer came up and after him Mr. Pierce, with a towel over hismouth and a screw-driver in his hand. He was white with rage. He brushedpast the sheets without paying the slightest attention to them, and torethe towel off his mouth.
"Who saw Mike last?" he shouted across to where the pharmacy clerk, theelevator boy and some of the bell-boys had retreated to the office andwere peeping out through the door.
Here Mr. Moody, who's small at any time, and who without the paddingon his shoulders and wrapped in a sheet with his red face above, lookedlike a lighted cigarette, darted out of the crowd and caught him by thesleeve.
"Here!" he cried, "we've got a few things to say to you, you young--"
"Take your hand off my arm!" thundered Mr. Pierce.
The storm broke with that. They crowded around Mr. Pierce, yelling likemaniacs, and he stood there, white-faced, and let them wear themselvesout. The courage of a man in a den of lions was nothing to it. DoctorBarnes forced his way through the crowd and stood there beside him.
It w
asn't only the steam and their clothes being hidden; it had startedwith the scare at the spring in the morning, and when they had told himwhat they thought about that, they went back still further and bellowedabout the mismanagement of the place ever since he had taken charge, andthe food, and the steam-heat, and the new rules--oh, they hated him allright, and they told him so, purple-faced with rage and heat, dancingaround him and shaking one fist in his face, as I say, while they heldtheir sheets fast with the other.
And I stood there and watched, my mind awhirl, expecting every minuteto hear that they were all leaving, or to have some one forget and shakeboth fists at once.
And that's how it ended finally--I mean, of course, that they said theywould all leave immediately, and that he ought to be glad to havethem go quietly, and not have him jailed for malicious mischief orcompounding a felony. The whole thing was an outrage, and the threetrain would leave the house as empty as a squeezed lemon.
I wanted to go forward and drop on my knees and implore them to rememberthe old doctor, and the baths they'd had when nothing went wrong, andthe days when they'd sworn that the spring kept them young and well, butthere was something in Mr. Pierce's face that kept me back.
"At three o'clock, then," he said. "Very well."
"Don't be a fool!" I heard Mr. Sam from the crowd.
"Is that all you have to say?" roared Mr. von Inwald. I hadn't noticedhim before. He had his sheet on in Grecian style and it looked quiteornamental although a little short. "Haven't you any apology to make,sir?"
"Neither apology nor explanation to you," Mr. Pierce retorted. And tothe other: "It is an unfortunate accident--incident, if you prefer." Helooked at Thoburn, who was the only one in a bath robe, and who was theonly cheerful one in the lot. "I had refused a request of the bathman's and he has taken this form of revenge. If this gives me theresponsibility I am willing to take it. If you expect me to ask you tostay I'll not do it. I don't mind saying that I am as tired of all thisas you are."
"As tired of what?" demanded Mr. Moody, pushing forward out of thecrowd. Mr. Sam was making frantic gestures to catch Mr. Pierce's eye,but he would not look at him.
"Of all this," he said. "Of charging people sanatorium prices under apretense of making them well. Does anybody here imagine he's going tofind health by sitting around in an overstuffed leather chair, with thetemperature at eighty, eating five meals a day, and walking as far asthe mineral spring for exercise?"
There was a sort of angry snarl in the air, and Mr. Sam threw up his onefree hand in despair.
"In fact," Mr. Pierce went on, "I'd about decided on a new order ofthings for this place anyhow. It's going to be a real health resort,run for people who want to get well or keep well. People who wish to beoverfed, overheated and coddled need not come--or stay."
The bishop spoke over the heads of the others, who looked dazed.
"Does that mean," he inquired mildly, "that--guests must either obeythis new order of things or go away?"
Mr. Pierce looked at the bishop and smiled.
"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but as every one is leaving, anyhow--"
They fairly jumped at him then. They surrounded him in a howling mob anddemanded how he dared to turn them out, and what did he mean by sayingthey were overfed, and they would leave when they were good and readyand not before, and he could go to blazes. It was the most scandalousthing I've ever known of at Hope Springs, and in the midst of it Mr.Pierce stood cool and quiet, waiting for a chance to speak. And whenthe time came he jumped in and told them the truth about themselves, andmost of it hurt.
He was good and mad, and he stood there and picked out the flabby onesand the fat ones, the whisky livers and the tobacco hearts and thebanquet stomachs, and called them out by name.
When he got through they were standing in front of him, ashamed to lookat one another, and not knowing whether to fall on him and tear him topieces, or go and weep in a corner because they'd played such havoc withthe bodies the Lord gave them. If he'd weakened for a minute they'd havejumped on him. But he didn't. He got through and stood looking at themin their sheets, and then he said coolly:
"The bus will be ready at two-thirty, gentlemen," and turning on hisheels, went into the office and closed the door.
They scattered to their rooms in every stage of rage and excitement,and at last only Mr. Sam and I were left staring at each other. "Damnedyoung idiot!" he said. "I wish to heavens you'd never suggested bringinghim here, Minnie!"
And leaving me speechless with indignation, he trailed himself and hissheet up the stairs.