into the line ourselves. Light up, Stony; we'll take a look at your
picture, anyhow."
There was a brisk, whipping sound against the skylight above them. It
drew their attention, and presently came again. Livingstone arose
hastily.
"Sleet!"
He spoke eagerly, and looked up at the glass overhead. Then he added in
a sort of joyous excitement:
"Fellows, let's do it! Let's go down there and get into the line
ourselves! I've been waiting for this sleet to see how they would _look_
in it. Now we're hungry, too. Let's go down and get into the line and
see how it _feels_!"
Van Dorn and Perner stared at him a moment to make sure that he was in
earnest. There was consent in the laugh that followed. The proposition
appealed to their sense of artistic fitness. There was a picturesque
completeness in thus rounding out the year. Besides, as Livingstone had
said, they were hungry.
They set forth somewhat later. There was a strong wind, and the sleet
bit into their flesh keenly. It got into their eyes and, when they
spoke, into their mouths.
"I don't know about this," shouted Van Dorn, presently. "I think it's
undertaking a good deal for the sake of art."
"Oh, pshaw, Van, this is bully!" Livingstone called back. He was well in
advance, and did not seem to mind the storm.
Perner, who was tall, was shrunken and bent by the cold and storm. His
voice, however, he lifted above it.
"Art!" he yelled. "I'm going for the sake of the coffee!"
The line that began on Tenth Street had made the turn on Broadway and
reached almost to Grace Church when they arrived. The men stood
motionless, huddled back into their scanty collars, their heads bent
forward to shield their faces from the sharp, flying ice. Strong
electric light shone on them. The driving sleet grew on their hats and
shoulders. Those who had just arrived found it even colder standing
still. Van Dorn's teeth were rattling.
"Do you suppose there's always enough to go round?" he asked of Perner,
who stood ahead of him.
Talking was not pleasant, but the waif behind him answered:
"Wasn't last night. I was on the end of the line and didn't git no
coffee. Guess there'll be enough to-night, though, 'cause it's New
Year."
"If they don't have coffee to-night I'll die," shivered Perner.
Livingstone stood ahead of Perner in the line.
"If it stops with me I'll give you mine," he said. "I'm not hungry, nor
cold, either."
The waif in front of him and the waif behind Van Dorn both made an
effort to see Livingstone.
"What are you doing here, then?" growled the man behind. He saw that the
three ahead of him were better dressed than the others and regarded them
suspiciously. "What did you fellers come here for, anyway?"
There was a chance for a final joke. It fell to Perner:
"We've been keeping up a whole family," he chattered,--"several whole
families. Now we're broke."
"You can have my place in the line," added Livingstone, and they
changed.
The incident attracted little attention. Storm, cold, and hunger had
deadened the instinct of curiosity natural to every human bosom.
Presently Livingstone leaned forward and murmured to Van Dorn:
"Look at that old chap ahead yonder--around the corner. How he crouches
and shivers! Isn't that great?"
Van Dorn looked as directed--then more keenly.
"Good God!" he said, "it's Colonel Hazard!" He leaned forward to Perner.
"Isn't that the Colonel," he asked,--"that old fellow just around the
corner, with his collar full of sleet?"
"By gad, it is!" decided Livingstone.
"We'll take him back with us," said Perner. "Poor old Colonel!"
The waif from behind was talking again. He had turned around so they
could hear.
"Last New Year there was some blokes come along an' give us a nickel
apiece all round. I was on the end an' got two. When they went away one
of 'em said they was comin' back to-night to give us a dollar apiece."
"They won't come," said Perner.
"How d' y' know?"
"We're the men."
"Aw, what yeh givin' us?"
"Facts. We've started a paper since then."
A party of roisterers came shouting across the street.
"Come and have a drink," they called. "Come on, you fellows, and have a
drink with us!"
A number of men left their places in the line and went. Perner watched
one of them intently.
"If that fellow isn't Bates you can drink my coffee," he said, pointing.
Van Dorn and Livingstone looked, but could not be certain. They did not
see him return.
It was somewhat after midnight, and the chimes of Grace Church, mingled
with a pandemonium of horns and whistles, were still roaring in the glad
New Year, when they finally obtained the brown loaf and the cup of hot
coffee, which by this time they needed desperately. The bread they
thrust under their coats, and some minutes later were in the studios.
Colonel Hazard was with them. He had maintained a wonderful
self-possession when overhauled at Fleischmann's.
"Excellent place to study character," he remarked, after the first
moment of surprise. "I come here now and then for the feeling."
And Van Dorn had answered:
"I've got enough to last me forever!"
The coals were still red in their grate, and over them they toasted the
bread. For a while they attended to this busily, and talked but little.
Then came the tobacco. It was like heaven.
Presently Perner told the Colonel of some Egyptian articles wanted by
the "Columbian."
"They offered them to me," he said, "and I took them, because I haven't
had the courage to refuse anything lately. But I had you in mind at the
time to help me on with them, and now I've something else on hand, I'll
turn them over to you altogether, if you'll take them."
The Colonel was very near to losing his quiet dignity at this news. He
was obliged to clear his throat several times before replying. At last
he said, quite naturally:
"I shall be happy to oblige you, Mr. Perner--very happy indeed." Then he
turned suddenly and shook Perner's hand.
They talked on. By and by the Colonel refilled his pipe and leaned back
in his chair.
"Fortune is a fickle jade," he said. "I have won and lost her seven
times. I do not know that I shall ever do so again--it takes money to
make money. Such resources as I have are not at present convertible into
cash. Speculation without capital may win," he continued, "but the
chances are much against it. It takes money to start anything, even a
paper, as you gentlemen can testify."
The others assented silently.
"I might have told you that, in the beginning," Colonel Hazard went on,
"had you asked me. Of course, I did not know the true condition of
affairs until a state of dissolution had been reached. I could have
advised you from past experience and observation."
The Colonel drew a number of luxurious whiffs from his pipe. The others
only listened. The Colonel resumed:
"I knew a man some years ago who started a paper with forty thousand
dollars in cash and an excellent scheme--premiums similar to yours. He
spent that forty thousand, and another forty thousand on top of
it--money from his people. Then he borrowed all he could get, at any
rate of interest. He was bound to make it go, and he did make it go at
last; but when the tide turned and commenced to flow his way he didn't
have a dollar--not a dollar!"
Colonel Hazard looked into the fire and smoked reflectively.
"Humph!" commented Perner, "that part of it was like Frisby."
The Colonel turned quickly.
"Frisby--yes, that was his name. Why, do you know him?"
"What!"
The others had shouted this in chorus, and were staring at the Colonel
stupidly.
"Why, yes," he repeated, looking from one to the other; "Frisby of the
'Voice of Light.' I saw a copy of it lying here on the table one day.
It's a big property now. Do you know him?"
Perner had risen and was standing directly in front of the Colonel.
"We do," he admitted. His voice sounded rather unusual in its quality,
and he spoke very deliberately. "At least, we know _of_ him. It was what
happened to Frisby, or, at least, what we _heard_ happened to Frisby,
that we were banking on."
"By gad, yes," put in Livingstone.
"What did you hear happened to Frisby?" asked the Colonel, quietly.
"We heard," continued Perner, "that Frisby bought the 'Voice of Light'
without putting down a dollar--that he didn't have a dollar to put
down--that he contracted for papers and advertising without a
dollar--that he didn't have a dollar when his first advertising
appeared--that he got a thousand dollars in the first mail, and six
thousand dollars in one day! That's what we heard happened to Frisby."
Colonel Hazard rose and walked across the room and back. Above him the
gray of the New Year lay on the sleet-drifted skylight like the dawn of
truth. He paused in front of the fire and regarded the three listening
men.
"Well," he said, "it didn't happen to us, did it?"
XXIII
THE LAST LETTER--TO MR. AND MRS. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE, OLD POINT COMFORT,
VIRGINIA
"DEAR PEOPLE: You can go right on to Florida or to any other
seaport where honeymoons shine upon summer seas from skies
that are always cloudless. You can go, and with our
permission, as soon as you get this letter, and you may stay
as long as the inclosed check lasts--provided you first buy
your return tickets for New York.
"You see, the 'Bread Line' sold at Macbeth's, and this is
the net result. It is a good deal more than the picture is
worth, but then, if people will go on being so unreasonable
in their tastes, I suppose you will have to go on profiting
by it. Van and I went up to-day to take a last look at it.
You can't paint much, old man, but after living with that
picture a year, and knowing all that it means, it wasn't
quite easy to part with it.
"Well, times are some better. Van made a comic series of
some fellows running a paper, and sold it to 'Dawn.' It was
ripping! I am just finishing a story on the subject for the
'Decade.' They are going to have you illustrate it. The
Colonel is well on with his Egyptian articles.
"Van says, when you can't go any place else, come home and
be forgiven. As ever,
"PERNY.
"P.S. Barrifield was just in, and sends you his 'best.' And
now, listen! He has disposed of the lists and good will of
the 'Whole Family' to--whom do you think? Why, to Frisby, of
course, who, in return, will fill out our subscriptions with
his new paper, entitled
"'THE ROAD TO FORTUNE.'"