"Put that stave down Gregory! put it down, for Christ's sake!"
"Good God! Grab Jim, someone!"
"Don't be a fool ... hold Gregory ... he's got the stave!"
"He'll kill Jim!"
"Or Jim'll kill him!"...
Then came a shout from nearby.
"I'll heve the law on ye, I will! destroyin' a man's cornfield like a
lot o' heathens!"
Yelling and menacing, the farmer and his big, raw-boned son were upon
us. They evidently thought that we were all in such a drunken condition
that they could kick us about as they choose. They had just driven home
from market-day in Laurel.
Everything was mixed up in my head ... but one thing out-stood: I must
do my duty by my barrel stave ... as the farmer leaped into the circle
he did not notice me staggering on the outskirts. I rushed up and let
him have the barrel stave full across the head.
At the same time Black Jim had turned his attention to the rangy boy,
felling him at a blow. The boy leaped to his feet and ran away to a safe
distance.
"Paw!" he called out, 'I'll run back to th' house an' 'phone th'
p'lice."
"Come on, boys, we'd better dig out!"
* * * * *
We straggled along in silent, rolling clusters, like bees smoked out,
down the road ... we heard the rumble of a waggon ... when we recognised
that it was our teetotaler coming back for us....
"God, if my old man hears of this I'm done for at Laurel."
"So'm I!"
"If we only lay low and don't go spouting off about it, things will be
all O.K."
"We'll send Travers back with a little collection, to fix it up with the
farmer, and blarney him out of taking any action."
* * * * *
In the morning I had a roaring headache ... as long as I lay quiet there
was only the slow, deep regular pulse of pain driving through my head,
but when I made an effort to get up, my eyeballs throbbed with such
torment that they seemed to be starting out of my head....
I fell asleep in the broad day again, waking to find Jack Travers
standing by my bed, pale and cynical, dusting off the ashes from the end
of his eternal cigarette.
"How are you feeling this morning?"
"Rotten," I answered. I sat up and triphammers of pain renewed their
pounding inside my racked head.
--"thought you would, so's soon as I got up, I came down to see you."
--"lot of good that'll do."
He whipped a flask out of his hip pocket. "Take a nip of this and it
will set you right in a jiffy."
"No, I'll never drink another drop."
"Don't be a fool. Just a swallow and you'll be on your feet again."