"What are you in here again for so soon, Callahan? Let me see your arm."
She reached out her arm, and the Doctor took off the bandages.
"I'll tell you the truth, Doctor."
"Tell away."
"I called to little red-headed Jones,--you know that little dumpy thing
that fetches the work for us,--I called to Jones to fetch me some work.
She was talking to that little fire-brand of a Harlan that takes care
of the engine in the work-room. Well, you see, she felt so nice to be
taken notice of by Harlan, that she wouldn't mind when I spoke. She
pretended not to hear. I called louder, 'Jones, fetch me some work,'
Jones was mad then, and said, 'I'll fetch it when I please.' Then I told
her to fetch me some work now, and do her talking afterwards: 'That's
what you're here for,' I said. Harlan was mad, and went straight out
into the men's shop and reported me. The Master and the Deputy came
right in, and made towards me. I was mad; for if anybody was reported it
ought to be Harlan and Jones, for it is against the rules for them to be
talking together; but 'twasn't against the rules for me to ask for work.
When I saw the Master and the Deputy coming straight to me, to lock me
up, I pulled up a chair to knock him down, I was so mad to think I was
going to be locked up for nothing, and Jones to be let go when she had
been breaking the rules. And Harlan to report me, when he helped her
break 'em. The little spit-fire!"
"Why didn't you wait and see if you were going to be locked up, and tell
the Master how it was, before you took up a chair to strike him down?" I
asked.
"She's green, Doctor! Tell him! he wouldn't let me tell him anything!
Many's the time I've been locked up and didn't know what 'twas for. Look
here, wouldn't it make you mad to be locked up when you wasn't to blame?
Look here, do you blame me for being mad?"
I could not say yes, and tell the truth. There is not a human heart but
what would resent such injustice. There are but few who would not resist
it if they could. I could not say no, because it might be construed into
encouraging insubordination. I did not feel it incumbent on me to think
the Master in the right because he was the Master, and she the convict.
I deliberately committed the vulgarity of listening to a convict's
story; but did not think it necessary to tell her my thoughts.
"Callahan, you mustn't ask me such questions. I am sorry for you, and
will make you as comfortable as I can."
The doctor put some compresses on her arm, wet them with water, and
ordered her some to drink.
"Some water for Callahan to drink! Quick! The doctor has ordered it!" I
echoed. I thought I heard an officer's step at the farther end of the
prison, and it was a legitimate supposition that if it were the new
Deputy, who was coming, she would get no such favor. Unless she got the
water and drank it before he came, she would not get it at all.
It had been whispered to me that the Master had thrown Callahan on the
floor in his anger, when she caught up the chair, and put his foot on
her neck. I saw a mark of dirt on the lower part of her cheek and neck.
I looked closely at it. The skin was grazed as though a boot-heel had
been ground against it.
"Callahan, what is that dirt on your cheek and neck?" I asked.
She put up her hand and passed it across her face and neck at the place
where I saw the dirt. She knew exactly where to find the mark of which I
spoke. The boot had evidently been there.
"He did hurt me some," she said.
"Who?" I asked.
"The Master, he put his foot on me."
"On your cheek and neck?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"What for?"
"To hold me down."
"Let me see."
I examined the flesh; it was a little discolored as though it had been
bruised. It was evident that the tale that had been told me was true.
Was it necessary for that man--or the monster--in taking the chair away
from that woman, with two men to help him, to throw her upon the floor,
and place his foot on her neck?
"He was pretty well seas over. He's always savage when he is. I knew
he'd just had a horn when I saw him coming, and that's one thing made me
mad. Look here; folks are sent down here for getting drunk. Do you think
it'll ever cure 'em to put a drunkard over 'em?"
I did not make Callahan any reply; but I thought of the old proverb, "It
takes a rogue to catch a rogue;" but whether a rogue may be
advantageously set to cure one, is another question, and one upon which
a great deal of discussion might be spent, before popular judgment
would decide it in the affirmative.
Callahan had just finished washing the dirt from her face when the
Deputy made his appearance.
"I gave the order that Callahan's cell should not be opened unless I was
here."
"The doctor came, I supposed you sent him, and opened the cell door as I
always do for him."
"What way did he come in?"
"Through the front door of the kitchen, as he often does."