THE COUNCIL AT THE TOWN PUMP
Next morning the sun had made but little progress in the heavens and
the dew was not yet off the grass when the party, an imposing
cavalcade, issued from the manor on the return journey. Their
home-coming was uneventful. The barn-burners had disappeared like
rabbits in their holes; the manor whose master had fled, deserted even
by the faithful Oly-koeks, was seen for the last time from the brow of
the hill, and then, with its gables and extensive wings, vanished from
sight.
"Well," remarked Barnes as they sped down the road, "it was a happy
coincidence for me that led the anti-renters to the patroon's house
last night."
And he proceeded to explain how when he had sought the magistrate, he
found that official organizing a _posse comitatus_ for the purpose of
quelling an anticipated uprising of lease-holders. In answer to the
manager's complaint the custodian of the law had asserted his first
duty was generally to preserve the peace; afterward, he would attend
to Barnes' particular grievance. Obliged to content himself as best
he might with this meager assurance, the manager, at his wit's end,
had accompanied the party whose way had led them in the direction the
carriage had taken, and whose final destination--an unhoped-for
consummation!--had proved the ultimate goal of his own desires.
On reaching, that afternoon, the town where they were playing, Susan
was the first of the company to greet Constance.
"Now that it's all over," she laughed, "I rather envy you that you
were rescued by such a handsome cavalier."
"Really," drawled Kate, "I should have preferred not being rescued.
The owner of a coach, a coat of arms, silver harness, and the best
horses in the country! I could drive on forever."
But later, alone with Susan, she looked hard at her:
"So you fainted yesterday?"
"Oh, I'm a perfect coward," returned the other, frankly.
Kate's mind rapidly swept the rough and troubled past; the haphazard
sea upon which they had embarked so long ago--
"Dear me!" she remarked quietly, and Susan turned to conceal a blush.
Owing to the magistrate's zeal in relating the story of the rescue,
the players' success that night was great.
"The hall was filled to overflowing," says the manager in his date
book. "At the end of the second act, the little girl was called out,
and much to her inward discomfiture the magistrate presented her with
a bouquet and the audience with a written speech. Taking advantage of
the occasion, he pointed a political moral from the tale, and referred
to his own candidacy to the legislature, where he would look after the
interests of the rank and file. It was time the land-owners were
taught their places--not by violence--Oh, no--no French methods for
Americans!--by ballot, not by bullet! Let the people vote for an
amendment to the constitution!
"As we were preparing to leave the theater, the magistrate appeared
behind the scenes. 'Of course, Mr. Barnes, you will appear against the
patroon?' he said. 'His prosecution will do much to fortify the
issue.'
"'That is all very fine,' I returned, satirically. 'But will the Lord
provide while we are trying the case? Shall we find miraculous
sustenance? We live by moving on, sir. One or two nights in a place;
sometimes, a little longer! No, no; 'tis necessary to forget, if not
to forgive. You'll have to fortify your issue without us.'
"'Well, well,' he said, good-naturedly, 'if it's against your
interests, I have no wish to press the matter.' Whereupon we shook
hands heartily and parted. I looked around for Constance, but she had
left the hall with Saint-Prosper. Have I been wise in asking him to
join the chariot? I sometimes half regret we are beholden to him--"
From the Shadengo Valley Barnes' company proceeded by easy stages to
Ohio, where the roads were more difficult than any the chariot had yet
encountered. On every hand, as they crossed the country, sounded the
refrains of that memorable song-campaign which gave to the state the
fixed sobriquet of "Buckeye." Drawing near the capital, where the
convention was to be held, a log cabin, on an enormous wagon, passed
the chariot. A dozen horses fancifully adorned were harnessed to this
novel vehicle; flowers over-ran the cabin-home, hewn from the buckeye
logs of the forest near Marysville. In every window appeared the faces
of merry lads and lasses, and, as they journeyed on, their chorus
echoed over field and through forest. The wood-cutter leaned on his ax
to listen; the plowman waved his coonskin cap, his wife, a red
handkerchief from the doorway of their log cabin.
"Oh, tell me where the Buckeye cabin was made?
'Twas built among the boys who wield the plow and spade,
Where the log-cabin stands in the bonnie Buckeye shade."
From lip to lip the song had been carried, until the entire country
was singing it, and the log-cabin had become a part of the armorial
bearings of good citizenship, especially applicable to the crests of
presidents. Well might the people ask:
"Oh, what has caused this great commotion
All the country through?"
which the ready chorus answered:
"It is a ball a-rolling on
For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!"
The least of the strollers' troubles at this crucial period of their
wanderings were the bad roads or the effects of song and log-cabin
upon the "amusement world," the greatest being a temperance orator who
thundered forth denunciations of rum and the theater with the
bitterness of a Juvenal inveighing profligate Rome. The people crowded
the orator's hall, upon the walls of which hung the customary banners:
a serpent springing from the top of a barrel; the steamboat, Alcohol,
bursting her boiler and going to pieces, and the staunch craft,
Temperance, safe and sound, sailing away before a fair wind. With
perfect self-command, gift of mimicry and dramatic gestures, the
lecturer swayed his audience; now bubbling over with witty anecdotes,
again exercising his power of graphic portraiture. His _elixir
vitae_--animal spirits--humanized his effort, and, as Sir Robert Peel
played upon the House of Commons "as on an old fiddle," so John B.
Gough (for it was the versatile comic singer, actor and speaker)
sounded the chords of that homely gathering.
Whatever he was, "poet, orator and dramatist, an English Gavazzi," or,
"mountebank," "humbug," or "backslider," Mr. Gough was, even at that
early period, an antagonist not to be despised. He had been out of
pocket and out at the elbows--indeed, his wardrobe now was mean and
scanty; want and privation had been his companions, and, from his
grievous experiences, he had become a sensational story-teller of low
life and penury. Certainly Barnes had reason to lament the coincidence
which brought players and lecturer into town at the same time,
especially as the latter was heralded under the auspices of the Band
of Hope.
The temperance lectures and a heavy rain combined to the undoing of
the strollers. Majestically the dark clouds rolled up, outspread like
a pall, and the land lay beneath the ban of a persistent downpour.
People remained indoors, for the most part, and the only signs of life
Barnes saw from the windows of the hotel were the landlord's
Holderness breed of cattle, mournfully chewing their monotonous cuds,
and some Leicester sheep, wofully wandering in the pasture, or huddled
together like balls of stained cotton beneath the indifferent
protection of a tree amid field.
Exceptional inducements could not tempt the villagers to the theater.
Even an epilogue gained for them none of Mr. Gough's adherents. "The
Temperance Doctor" failed miserably; "Drunkard's Warning" admonished
pitiably few; while as for "Drunkard's Doom," no one cared what it
might be and left him to it.
After such a disastrous engagement the manager not only found himself
at the end of his resources, but hopelessly indebted, and, with much
reluctance, laid the matter before the soldier who had already
advanced Barnes a certain sum after their conversation on the night
of the country dance and had also come to his assistance on an
occasion when box-office receipts and expenses had failed to meet.
Moreover, he had been a free, even careless, giver, not looking after
his business concerns with the prudent anxiety of a merchant whose
ventures are ships at the rude mercy of a troubled sea. To this third
application, however, he did not answer immediately.
"Is it as bad as that?" he said at length, thoughtfully.
"Yes; it's hard to speak about it to you," replied the manager, with
some embarrassment, "but at New Orleans--"
The soldier encountered his troubled gaze. "See if you can sell my
horse," he answered.
"You mean--" began the other surprised.
"Yes."
"Hanged if I will!" exclaimed the manager. Then he put out his hand
impulsively. "I beg your pardon. If I had known--but if we're ever out
of this mess, I may give a better account of my stewardship."
Nevertheless, his plight now was comparable to that of the strollers
of old, hunted by beadles from towns and villages, and classed as
gypsies, vagabonds and professed itinerants by the constables. He was
no better served than the mummers, clowns, jugglers, and petty chapmen
who, wandering abroad, were deemed rogues and sturdy beggars. Yet no
king's censor could have found aught "unchaste, seditious or unmete"
in Barnes' plays; no cause for frays or quarrels, arising from pieces
given in the old inn-yards; no immoral matter, "whatsoever any light
and fantastical head listeth to invent or devise;" no riotous actors
of rollicking interludes, to be named in common with fencers,
bearwards and vagrants.
"Better give it up, Mr. Barnes," said a remarkably sweet and
sympathetic voice, as the manager was standing in the hotel office,
turning the situation over and over in his mind.
Barnes, looking around quickly to see who had read his inmost
thoughts, met the firm glance of his antagonist.
"Mr. Gough, it is an honor to meet one of your talents," replied the
manager, "but"--with an attempt to hide his concern--"I shall not be
sorry, if we do not meet again."
"An inhospitable wish!" answered the speaker, fixing his luminous eyes
upon the manager. "However, we shall probably see each other
frequently."
"The Fates forbid, sir!" said Barnes, earnestly. "If you'll tell me
your route, we'll--go the other way!"
"It won't do, Mr. Barnes! The devil and the flesh must be fairly
fought. 'Where thou goest'--You know the scriptural saying?"
"You'll follow us!" exclaimed the manager with sudden consternation.
The other nodded.
"Why, this is tyranny! You are a Frankenstein; an Old-Man-of-the
Sea!"
"Give it up," said the orator, with a smile that singularly illumined
his thin, but powerful features. "As I gave it up! Into what dregs of
vice, what a sink of iniquity was I plunged! The very cleansing of my
soul was an Augean task. Knavery, profligacy, laxity of morals,
looseness of principles--that was what the stage did for me; that was
the labor of Hercules to be cleared away! Give it up, Mr. Barnes!" And
with a last penetrating look, he strode out of the office.
In spite of Barnes' refusal, the soldier offered to sell his horse to
the landlord, but the latter curtly declined, having horses enough to
"eat their heads off" during the winter, as he expressed it. His
Jeremy Collier aversion to players was probably at the bottom of this
point-blank rebuff, however. He was a stubborn man, czar in his own
domains, a small principality bounded by four inhospitable walls. His
guests--having no other place to go--were his subjects, or prisoners,
and distress could not find a more unfitting tribunal before which to
lay its case. There was something so malevolent in his vigilance, so
unfriendly in his scrutiny, that to the players he seemed an emissary
of disaster, inseparable from their cruel plight.
Thus it was that the strollers perforce reached a desperate conclusion
when making their way from the theater on the last evening. By
remaining longer, they would become the more hopelessly involved; in
going--without their host's permission--they would be taking the
shortest route toward an honorable settlement in the near future; a
paradoxical flight from the brunt of their troubles, to meet them
squarely! This, to Barnes, ample reason for unceremonious departure
was heartily approved by the company in council assembled around the
town pump.
"Stay and become a county burden, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Adams,
tragically.
"As well be buried alive as anchored here!" fretfully added Susan.
"The council is dissolved," said the manager, promptly, "with no one
the wiser--except the town pump."
"An ally of Mr. Gough!" suggested Adonis.
Thus more merrily than could have been expected, with such a
distasteful enterprise before them, they resumed their way. It was
disagreeable under foot and they presented an odd appearance, each one
with a light. Mrs. Adams, old campaigner that she was, led the way for
the ladies, elastic and chatty as though promenading down Broadway on
a spring morning. With their lanterns and the purpose they had in
view, they likened themselves to a band of conspirators. As Barnes
marched ahead with his light, Susan playfully called him Guy Fawkes,
of gun-powder fame, whereupon his mind almost misgave him concerning
the grave adventure upon which they were embarked.
The wind was blowing furiously, doors and windows creaked, and all the
demons of unrest were moaning that night in the hubbub of sounds. Save
for a flickering candle in the hall, the tavern was dark, and
landlord and maids had long since retired to rest. Amid the noise of
the rain and the sobbing of the wind, trunks were lowered from the
window; the chariot and property wagon were drawn from the stable yard
and the horses led from their stalls. In a trice they were ready and
the ladies, wrapped in their cloaks, were in the coach. But the
clatter of hoofs, the neighing of a horse, or some other untoward
circumstance, aroused the landlord; a window in the second story shot
up and out popped a head in a night-cap.
"Here!--What are you about?" cried the man.
"Leaving!" said the manager, laconically.
The landlord threw up his arms like Shylock at the loss of his
money-bags.
"The reckoning!" he exclaimed. "What about the reckoning?"
"Your pound of flesh, sir!" replied Barnes.
"My score! My score!" shouted the other. "You would not leave without
settling it!"
"Go to bed, sir," was the answer, "and let honest people depart
without hindrance. You will be paid out of our first profits."
But the man was not so easily appeased. "Robbers! Constable!" he
screamed.
Conceiving it was better to be gone without further parley, having
assured him of their honorable intentions, Barnes was about to lash
the horses, when Kate suddenly exclaimed:
"Where's Constance?"
"Isn't she inside?" asked the manager quickly.
"No; she isn't here."
"Oh, I sent her back to get something for me I had forgotten," spoke
up Mrs. Adams, "and she hasn't returned yet."
"Sent her back! Madam, you have ruined everything!" burst out Barnes,
bitterly.
"Mr. Barnes, I won't be spoken to like a child!"
"Child, indeed--"
But the querulous words were not uttered, for, as the manager was
about to leave the box in considerable perturbation, there--gazing down
upon them at a window next to that occupied by the landlord--stood
Constance!
For a tippet, or a ruff, or some equally wretched frippery, carelessly
left by the old lady, all their plans for deliverance appeared likely
to miscarry. Presumably, Constance, turned from her original purpose
by the noisy altercation, had hurried to the window, where now the
landlord perceived her and immediately availed himself of the
advantage offered.
"So one of you is left behind," he shouted exultantly. "And it's the
leading lady, too! I'll take care she stays here, until after a
settlement. I'll stop you yet! Stealing away in the middle of the
night, you--you vagabonds!"
His voice, growing louder and louder, ended in a shrieking crescendo.
Disheartened, there seemed no alternative for the players save to turn
back and surrender unconditionally. Barnes breathed a deep sigh; so
much for a tippet!--their dash for freedom had been but a sorry
attempt!--now he saw visions of prison bars, and uttered a groan, when
the soldier who was riding his own horse dashed forward beneath the
window and stood upright in his stirrups.
"Do not be afraid, Miss Carew," he said.
Fortunately the window was low and the distance inconsiderable, but
Barnes held his breath, hoping the hazard would deter her.
"Do not, my dear!" he began.
But she did not hesitate; the sight of the stalwart figure and the
strong arms, apparently reassured her, and she stepped upon the sill.
"Quick!" he exclaimed, and, at the word, she dropped into his
upstretched arms. Scarcely had she escaped, however, before the
landlord was seen at the same window. So astonished was he to find her
gone, surprise at first held him speechless; then he burst into a
volley of oaths that would have shamed a whaler's master.
"Come back!" he cried. "Come back, or--" The alternative was lost in
vengeful imprecation.
Holding Constance before him, the soldier resumed his saddle. "Drive
on!" he cried to Barnes, as past the chariot sped his horse, with its
double burden.