BILL GETS A JOB
After luncheon, over cigars, the conversation again became personal.
Appleton regarded the younger man thoughtfully.
"You spoke of being temporarily out of funds. Allow me to loan you what
you require."
"Thank you, sir, but I could not think of it. I am already deeply
indebted to you. If it were only a temporary embarrassment I wouldn't
mind. But I have no definite plans. I must find work, and I freely
confess I don't know exactly how to go about it. It might be a long
time before I could repay the loan. Then, too, if a man is broke he
will tackle the first job that comes along, whereas if he had money in
his pocket he would be tempted to wait for something better, no matter
what was offered."
"If you work it right you can easily get a couple of thousand out of
the railroad company--damages, you know."
The younger man looked up quickly. "Not me," he smiled. "I have not
sustained any loss to speak of. That crack on the head when the coach
tipped over didn't even knock me out. And as for the pummeling I got
afterward with the knucks--that was my own lookout--the railroad
company is not to blame for that. No. Getting something for nothing is
not playing the game--it savors too strongly of the methods of our
friend the pickpocket."
As he talked the elder man subjected him to a careful scrutiny. He
noted the deep-set, unwavering eyes, the smiling lips, and the firm,
square set of the jaw.
"So you are really in earnest about going to work?"
"In earnest! Mr. Appleton, you have just witnessed a fair demonstration
of the demands of my appetite," with a nod toward the array of empty
dishes. "I am subject to those attacks on an average of three times a
day. In my pocket are just four one-dollar bills. Can you guess the
answer?"
The lumberman smiled.
"What kind of position were you thinking of? What is your business?"
"Haven't any. And I am not thinking of a position--what I want is a
_job_."
"Know anything about lumber?"
"No."
The two smoked in silence while the waiters removed the remains of the
luncheon. When the door closed behind them the lumberman spoke. He
dropped the conversational tone and his words cut crisp and to the
point:
"Young man, I can use you. If you are foot-loose and are willing to
work, I will give you your chance. I am going to put it up to you
straight and let you decide for yourself.
"I can use you in my office at a very fair salary. In two or three
years you will, in all probability, become a valuable clerk--later, a
lumber salesman at a good salary and better commissions.
"Your duties will not be strenuous, and as you enlarge your
acquaintance you will naturally assume the social position to which you
are entitled.
"Or I can use you in the woods. Send you into a logging camp to learn
the business where it starts. Up there the work is not easy. Instead of
a salary you will receive wages--and you will earn them--every cent of
them. There are no snap jobs in a logging camp. Everybody, from the
boss down, works--and works hard. Instead of roast lamb and green peas
you will eat salt pork and baked beans.
"You will be called a lumberjack--a social pariah. Your associates will
be big men--some good and some bad--bad as they make them--and all
rough. Good and bad, they would rather fight than eat, and they would
rather watch others fight than fight.
"In summer you can loaf and blow in your wages, or you can go into the
mills and learn how lumber is made--learn to tell at a glance whether a
log will saw to the best profit into bridge timber or lath.
"It is no sinecure--the life of the logging camp. A hundred times you
will be called upon to face battle, murder, and sudden death, and it
will be up to you to make good.
"In the office I have clerks who will be found at the same desk twenty
years from now. And in the woods I have hundreds of swampers, skidders,
and sawyers who will always be swampers, skidders and sawyers. I have
camp bosses who will always be camp bosses, and a few who will become
lumbermen.
"But the man who comes up through that school is the man who learns the
game--the man who eventually will sit behind locked doors and talk in
millions, while the office-made salesman is out on the road dickering
in car-loads."
He paused and relighted his cigar.
"And you are offering me the choice of these jobs?"
"Just so. Take your time. Think it over carefully and give me your
answer in the morning."
"I have already made up my mind. If it is just the same to you I will
go to the woods. I need the exercise," he grinned.
"By the way, you have not told me your name."
"Bill," he answered, and watched the blue smoke curl upward from the
end of his cigar.
"Bill what?" Appleton regarded him through narrowing lids.
"Bill," he repeated. "Just Bill, for the present--and no references.
Sometime--if I make good, perhaps--but surely Bill ought to be name
enough for a lumberjack."
"Well, Bill, you are hired! Most men would call me a fool! Maybe I
am--but it's got to be proven. I came up through the woods myself and I
know men. It is my business to know men. A name is nothing to me--nor
references. Both are easy to get. I hire men--not names. And as for
references--I don't pay for past performances. It is up to you to make
good!
"I like your eyes. There is honesty in those eyes--and purpose. Your
mother's eyes, I should say." The young man turned his face away and
the blood surged upward, reddening the skin below the white bandages.
Thoughts of his mother crowded his brain--the beautiful, gentle
girl-mother, who used to snatch him up and hold him close--way back in
the curly-locks days.
He remembered her eyes--deep, soft blue eyes that shone bright and
mysterious with love for the little boy--so often such a bad,
self-willed little boy--and he thought of the hurt in those eyes. It
was his very worst punishment in the long ago--to read the pain and
sorrow in those eyes.
"No, no, no!" he murmured. "Not her eyes--not mother's! Oh, I am glad
that she did not live to know--" He stopped abruptly and faced the
other, speaking quietly:
"Mr. Appleton, I am not a criminal--not a fugitive from justice--as you
may have guessed. But I have been an--an awful fool!" The older man
arose and extended his hand:
"Good-by, Bill. You better sleep now. I will see you in the morning."
As the door closed behind Appleton, the pleasant-voiced nurse appeared
at the bedside. She straightened the covers, patted the pillows into
shape, and fed the patient medicine out of a spoon. She hesitated when
she finished and smiled down at him.
"Would you like to send any messages," she asked--"telegrams, to let
your people know you are safe?"
Young Carmody returned the smile. The nurse looked into his face and
knew that behind the smile was sadness rather than mirth.
"No," he said; "there is no one to tell." She leaned over and laid soft
fingers on his bandaged brow.
"Isn't--isn't there a real Ethel--somewhere?" He did not resent the
question of the sweet-faced nurse.
"Yes," he answered, "there _is_ a real Ethel--but she would not care.
Nobody cares."