THE VISION
AS life came back into his body, Johnnie's first thought was a grateful
one: how cool to his cheek was the old, crackled oilcloth on the table
if he rested that cheek a moment, now here, now there! His second
thought, too, was one of thankfulness: How good it was to be lying there
so quietly after those rending blows which had driven the breath out of
his lungs!
He would have liked to tug at his hair; but as his hands were tied fast
together, and held a little way beyond where lay his head, being secured
almost immovably by a length of clothesline which came up to them from
around a farther leg of the table, he could not comfort himself with his
old, odd habit.
Presently, "Cis!" he whispered. "Cis!"
A moan, feeble and pitiful, like the complaint of a hurt baby.
It was pitch dark in the kitchen, and though he turned his look her way,
he could not see her. Yet all at once he knew that this was not the
wild, fighting, bold Cis, with the strange, changed face, who had
stormed at the longshoreman; this was again the Cis he knew, gentle,
wistful, leaning on him, wanting his affection and sympathy. "Aw, Cis!"
he murmured fondly.
"Oh, Johnnie, I want a drink! I'm thirsty!"
He pulled at his hands. But Big Tom had done his tying well, and Johnnie
could not even loosen one of them. "I wish I could bring you some
water," He answered. "But my legs 're roped down on this side, and he's
got my hands 'way over my head on the other, so the most I could do
would be t' fall sideways off the table, and that wouldn't help y' one
bit."
"Oh!" she mourned. "Oh!"
"Can't you git loose?" he asked.
"No! I'm tied just as _tight_!"
Then for a little they were quiet, while Johnnie tried to study out a
way of helping her. But he failed. And soon she began to fret, and move
impatiently, now sobbing softly, as if to herself, again only sighing.
He strove to soothe her. "It won't be long till mornin'," he declared.
"If y' could make b'lieve y' was in bed, and count sheep----"
"But the ropes hurt me!" she complained. "I want them off! They hurt me
awfully, and I feel sick!"
"Well," he proposed, "let's pretend y're so sick y' need a nurse,
and----"
But she would not wait for the rest of his plan. "Oh, that kind of
thinking won't help me!" she protested. "And I don't want anybody but my
mother!" Then sobbing aloud, "Oh, I want my mother! I want my mother!"
The cry smote his heart, bringing the tears that had not come when
Barber was beating him. Never before, in all the years he had known her,
had she cried out this longing. Saying scarcely anything of that mother
who was gone, leaving her so lonely, so bereft, always she herself had
been the little mother of the flat.
"Course y' do!" he whispered, gulping. "Course y' do!"
"If she'd only come back to me now!" she went on. "And put her arms
around me again!"
"Don't, Cis!" he pleaded tenderly. "Oh, please don't! Ain't y' got me?
That's pretty nice, ain't it? 'Cause we're t'gether. Here I am, Cis!
Right in reach, almost. Close by! Don't cry!"
But she was not listening. "Oh, Mother, why did you go and leave me?"
she wept. "Oh, Mother, I want you so much!"
Johnnie began to argue with her, gently: "But, Cis, think how Mister
Perkins likes y'! My! And he wants t' marry y'! And y'll have such a
nice place t' live in. Oh, things'll be _fine_!"
That helped a little; but soon, "I want to lie down!" she complained.
"Oh, Johnnie, it hurts to sit like this all the time! Can't you reach
me? Oh, try to untie me!"
"Cis, I can't," he protested, once more. "But it'll be mornin' before y'
know it! W'y, it's awful late in the night right now! I betcher it's
twelve--almost. So let's play a game, and the time'll pass so _quick_!"
"I can't wait till morning for a drink!" she cried. "I'm so thirsty! And
I want to lie down!"
"Now," he started off cheerily, "--now, we'll play the way we used t'
before y' got grown-up. Remember all the nice things we used t' do?
Callin' on the Queen, and dancin' parties, and----"
"My back hurts! Awful!"
"Let's try t' think jus' o' all our nice friends," he coaxed. "Mister
Perkins, and One-Eye, and Mrs. Kukor, and----"
"Let's call to Mrs. Kukor!" she pleaded. "Let's try to make her hear!"
"He'll whip us again if we do!" Johnnie cautioned. "And, Cis, I don't
think I could stand any more whippin'. Oh, don't holler, Cis. Let's
rest--jus' rest!" A weakness came over him suddenly, and he could not go
on.
But she was sobbing again. "I'm thirsty!" she lamented. "I'm thirsty!
I'm thirsty! I'm thirsty!"
Presently he roused himself, and remembered his faithful Buckle. He
summoned the latter now, speaking to him in that throaty, important
voice which he used when issuing commands. "Mister Buckle," he said,
"bring the young lady a lemon soda jus' chock-full o' ice."
"No! No!" Cis broke in petulantly. "Oh, that makes it all the harder to
bear!--Oh, where's Mrs. Kukor? She knows something's wrong! Why hasn't
she helped us?" She fell to weeping irritably.
At his wits' end, Johnnie racked his brain for something to tell
her--something which might take her thoughts from her misery. But his
own misery was now great, for the clothesline was cutting into his
wrists and ankles; while across the front of his body, the edge of the
table was pressing into him like the blade of a dull knife. "But I'll
stand it," he promised himself. "And I'll try t' be cheerful, like the
Handbook says."
However, there was no immediate need for his cheerfulness, for Cis had
quieted. A few moments, and he heard her deep breathing. He smiled
through the dark at her, happy to think that sleep had come to help her
over the long night hours. As for himself, he could not sleep, weak as
he was. His heart was sore because of what he had lost--his new,
wonderful uniform, and all his dear, dear books. What were all these
now? Just a bit of gray dust in the cooling stove! Gone! Gone forever!
Ah, but _were_ they! The suit was. Yes, he would not be able ever again
to wear that--not actually. But the books--? They were also destroyed,
as completely as the khaki uniform. And yet--_had_ Big Tom really done
to them what he wanted to do? _Had_ he wiped them out?
No!
And as Johnnie answered himself thus, he realized the truth of a certain
statement which Father Pat had once made to him: "The only possessions
in this world that can't be taken away from ye, lad dear, 're the
thoughts, the ideas, the knowledge that ye've got in yer brain." And
along with his sudden understanding of this there came a sense of joyous
wonder, and a feeling of utter triumph. His precious volumes were
burned. True enough. Their covers, their pictures, their good-smelling
leaves, these were ashes. But--_what was in each book had not been wiped
out_! No! The longshoreman had not been able to rob Johnnie of the
thoughts, the ideas, the knowledge which had been tied into those books
with the printed letter!
"I got 'em yet, all the stories!" he cried to himself. "The 'stronomy,
too! And the things in the Handbook! They're all in my brain!"
And the people of his books! They were not destroyed at all! Fire had
not wiped them out! They were just as alive as ever! As he lay,
stretched over the table edge, they took shape for him; and out of the
black corners of the room, from behind the cupboard, the stove, and the
chairs, they came trooping to him--Aladdin, the Sultan, the Princess
Buddir al Buddoor, Jim Hawkins, Uncas, King Arthur, Long John Silver,
Robinson Crusoe, Lincoln, Heywood, Elaine, Galahad, Friday, Alice, Sir
Kay!
"Oh!" he exclaimed in a whisper. "Oh, gee, all my friends!" Oh, yes, the
people in stories _did_ live on and on, just as Father Pat had said;
were immortal because they lived in the minds of all who loved them!
His eyes were shut. But he smiled at the group about him. "He didn't
hurt y'!" he said happily--but whispering as before, lest he disturb
Cis. "Say! He didn't hurt y' a teeny-weeny bit!"
Pressing eagerly round him, smiling back at him fondly, those book
people whom he loved best replied proudly: "Course he didn't! Shucks! We
don't bother 'bout _him_!"
"Oh, fine! Fine!" answered Johnnie.
Next, he understood in a flash why it was that Father Pat could feel so
satisfied about Edith Cavell. That general (whose name was like a hiss)
could shoot down a brave woman, and hide her body away in the ground,
_but he could not destroy her_! No! not with all his power of men and
guns! She would live on and on, just as these dear ones of his lived on!
And the fact was, her executioner had only helped in making her live!
Yes, and here she was, right now, standing in white beside scarlet-clad
Galahad! In the darkness her nurse's dress glimmered. "I'm better 'cause
I know you," Johnnie said to her. His tied right hand closed as if on
the hand of another, and he bent his head on the oilcloth, as if before
a Figure. "Oh, thank y' for comin'!"
Then came another wonderful thought: what difference did it
make--really--whether he was on his back on his square of old mattress,
or here on his face across the table _if_ he wished to think some
splendid adventure with all these friends? "Not a bit o' difference!" he
declared. "Not a bit!" Big Tom had been able to tie fast his feet and
hands; but in spite of that Johnnie could go wherever he pleased!
His wound-darkened, tear-stained face lit with that old, radiant smile.
"Big Tom can't tie my thinks!" he boasted. He was out of his body now,
and up on his feet, looking into the faces of all those book friends.
"So let's take a ship--your ship, Jim Hawkins! Ye-e-eh, let's take the
_Hispaniola_, and sail, and sail! Where? The 'Cific Ocean? 'R t' Cathay?
'R where?" Then he knew! "Say! we'll take a 'stronomy trip!" he
announced.
In one swift moment how gloriously arranged it all was! Halfway across
the kitchen floor, here were wonderful marble steps--steps guarded on
either side by a stone lion! The steps led up to a terrace that was
rather startlingly like Father Pat's description of the terrace below
the great New York Public Library; yet it was not the Library terrace,
since there was no building at the farther side of it. No, this wide,
granite-floored space was nothing less than a grand wharf.
Up to it Johnnie bounded in his brown shoes--and a new think-uniform
fully as handsome as the one Big Tom had thrust into the stove. On the
step next to the top one, some one was waiting--a person dressed in
work-clothes, with big, soiled hands, and an unshaven face. This
individual seemed to know that he was out of place and looking his
worst, for his manner was apologetic, and downcast. He implored Johnnie
with sad eyes.
It was Big Tom!
How beautiful the terrace wharf was, with its balustrades, and its
fountains, and its giant vases, these last holding flowers which were as
large as trees! And how deliciously cool was the breeze that swept
against Johnnie's face from the vast air ocean stretching across the
roofs! At the very center of the terrace was the place of honor. There
Johnnie took his stand.
He glanced round at the longshoreman. "No, we don't want y' on this
trip," he said firmly. He felt in a pocket for a five-cent piece, found
it, and tossed it to Barber. "Go and buy y'rself a lemon soda," he bade
kindly. "Hurry and git away, 'cause some folks is comin'."
Poor Barber! In spite of all he had done, it was almost pitiful to
observe how disappointed he was at this order, for he yearned to be
included in the approaching, and thrilling, adventure. He got to a knee,
holding out both hands. "Johnnie," he said, "I'll work! I'll do the
loadin' and unloadin'!" (The cargo hook was round his thick neck.)
"Nope," answered Johnnie, carelessly. "Don't need y'. Got Aladdin's
slaves." He waved a hand, motioning the suppliant off.
Below Big Tom scores of Johnnie's friends were waiting--his book
friends, his real friends, and his think-acquaintances. Ignoring the
longshoreman, Johnnie called down to them. "Come on up!" he invited.
"Come ahead! The wind's fine! The ship, she's headin' this way!"
Music sounded, for just that second Johnnie had ordered a band. With the
music there was plenty of dandy drumming--_Rumpety! rumpety! rump! rump!
rump!_
Then, ushered by Buckle, the guests began to stream up the steps.
One-Eye was first, attended by all of his fellow cowboys; and there was
some yip-yipping, and ki-eying, in true Western fashion, Johnnie
saluting each befurred horseman in perfect scout style. On the heels of
all these came Long John Silver, stumping the granite with his wooden
leg, and bidding his fellow buccaneers walk lively. Of course Jim
Hawkins was of this party, carrying the pieces-of-eight parrot in one
hand and leading Boof with the other.
David and Goliath were the next, and each was so pleasant to the other
that no one would have guessed they had ever waged a fight. The two,
like all who had gone by before, gave Barber a withering look as they
passed the drooping figure, after which Mr. Buckle, acting as a sort of
Grand Introducer, planted himself squarely in front of Big Tom, turning
upon him that gorgeous red-plush back, and wholly cutting off his view.
"Glad t' see y'!--It's fine y' could come!--How-d'y'-do!" Johnnie's hand
went from side to hat brim like a piston.
Another parrot! This was Crusoe's, borne by the Islander's servant,
Friday, who strode in the wake of his master along with any number of
man-eating savages, all, however, under perfect control. And on the
heels of these, having just alighted from mammoth, armored and howdahed
elephants, advanced Aladdin, escorting his Princess and her father, the
Sultan, and accompanied by fully a hundred slaves, all fairly groaning
under trays of pearls and rubies, diamonds and emeralds. The slaves and
the savages mingled with one another in the friendliest fashion; and as
Uncas and his painted and feathered braves now appeared, yelling their
war cry and swinging their tomahawks, there was, on hand, as Johnnie
remarked to Mr. Buckle, quite an assortment of kitchen and other help
for the voyage.
"But y're the boss o' 'em all," Johnnie hastened to add. "So don't y'
let one o' 'em run y'."
Of course Mr. Perkins could not be left out of this extraordinary
voyage. He came with Cis, the latter wearing such a pretty pink dress.
Grandpa walked with them, looking straight and strong and happy. The
first two, as might have been expected, paid not the slightest attention
to the longshoreman beyond making a slight detour in passing him. But
the old veteran shook a stern head at his son.
_Rumpety! rumpety! rumpety! rump!_
Small wonder that the music was blaring forth again! For here were
guests of great distinction--Mr. Carnegie (looking older than formerly),
Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Astor and Mr. Vanderbilt. There was no mistaking
them, for they wore millionaire hats, soft and velvety, and coats with
fur collars. All were strolling as leisurely and jauntily as only true
plutocrats can afford to do.
When they reached Big Tom, they halted; and at the same moment they
turned their four heads to stare at him, and showed him their four
countenances in four cold frowns. Then--they turned their heads away,
all snubbing him at once, and sauntered up the last step to the terrace,
and so forward to where their young host stood.
"Gee, he hated what y' done t' him!" exclaimed Johnnie. After shaking
hands with them, he passed them on to Uncas and his braves, the Indians
receiving them with every indication of cordiality.
_Bling-ell! bling-ell! bling-ell-dee-dee!_--a fresh burst of melody.
This time the Prince and his gentlemen were approaching, all
silk-hatted, and frock-coated, and gold-caned. His Royal Highness
led--naturally--and was assisting dear, little Mrs. Kukor as he came,
and she was beaming up at Royalty, and talking at him with both pudgy
hands, and rocking madly in her effort to keep step.
Following on the proper salutations, the English Prince and Aladdin very
properly got together, treating each other like old friends, while
Johnnie faced about to greet Father Pat, who was puffing and blowing as
he made the last step, and pointing back over a shoulder to where King
Arthur was approaching with Guinevere, the former in royal robes, with
four kings walking before him, bearing four golden swords; while the
Queen had four queens ahead of her, bearing four white doves. There was
a choir in this majestic train, and after the choir came fully two dozen
knights whose chain mail shone in the sunlight like gold.
"Here she comes!"
Now hats waved wildly, and handkerchiefs fluttered--as into sight, her
many rosy, silken sails filled to stiffness with the breeze, her scores
of flags snapping in the glorious air, and all her lovely lines showing
in sharp beauty against a violet-blue sky, came Jim Hawkins's superb
ship, crewless, and unguided, but moving evenly, slowly, majestically,
as if she were some living thing!
Roses garlanded her--pink roses by the thousands. They circled her rail
like a monster wreath. They hung down from her yardarms, too, in mammoth
festoons. And her cargo--forward, it was of watermelons, which were
arranged in a huge heap at the prow; aft, her load was books! There were
books in red bindings, and books in brown and green. Here and there on
the piles of volumes a book would be open, showing attractive
illustrations. To judge of the size of the consignment it was evident
that not one book had been left in that certain Fifth Avenue store!
Cheers--as softly the _Hispaniola_ came to a stop.
"All aboard!" shouted Johnnie. "All but Thomas Barber, who's goin' t' be
left behind 'cause he was so mean!"
What a blow! The longshoreman, plainly crushed by it, sank lower on his
step and covered his face.
But the company cared little how he felt. Shouting gayly, chatting,
smiling, waving to one another, all swarmed across the rose-bordered
rail to embark at Johnnie's bidding. Last of all stalked the haughty
Buckle--to begin passing melon.
"Ready! Let 'er go!"
Now a soul-inspiring blending of choir and instruments--just as Johnnie
gave his command, and the ship of his dreams moved off across the roofs
of the city, with no rolling from side to side. Skillfully she steered
her own way among the chimneys till she was lifted above them, all the
while tossing the blue air to either side of her prow exactly as if it
were water, so that it rose up in cloud-topped waves, and curled, and
broke along her rose-trimmed sides in crystal, from where it fell to lay
behind her in a long, tumbled, frothy path.
"Oh, Cis, we're sailin' the sky!" Johnnie shouted. His yellow hair was
blowing straight back from his eager, happy face as he peered forward
(as a good captain should) into the limitless, but astronomer-charted,
leagues ahead. "We're floatin' in the ocean o' space!"
Here, close at hand, was a cloud, monster, dazzlingly white, and made
all of dew which was heavenly cool. Gallantly the _Hispaniola_ plunged
into it, sending the bits of cloud from her in a milky spray, but
catching some of them upon her sides and sails, so that as she came
forth into the sun again, she seemed set with all of Aladdin's
diamonds!
"On, and on, and on, and on!" Johnnie commanded. (He had no time even
for a slice of watermelon!) Oh, how wonderful to think that there was no
shore ahead upon which Jim Hawkins's ship would need to beach! that
Johnnie and his friends could go on sailing and sailing for as long as
they chose!
"Look out for the Great Bear and the Bull!"--another command for the
_Hispaniola_, for now that the ship was higher, she was passing among
the stars, all as perfectly round as so many toy balloons, all
marvelously luminous, and each most accommodatingly marked across its
round, golden face (in great, black, capital letters!) with its
name--MARS, JUPITER, SATURN, VENUS.
It seemed to Johnnie as if he were meeting old friends. "Oh, Arcturus!"
he hailed. "Aldebaran! Neptune!"
"Johnnie, don't bump the Moon!" cried the Prince and his gentlemen,
waving their canes.
"Y' betcher life I won't!"
Any large body, the good ship most considerately avoided. As for the
small ones, which had no names on them, if she struck one, it glanced
off of her like a red-gold spark.
"Aw, gee!" cried Johnnie, easing his tortured little body by a shift of
his weight across the table edge; "this is jus' fine!"