Lavirotte dead! Absurd.
Now he remembered how it had been.
Lavirotte had sprung upon him out of the shadow of that rock, and
seized him and sought to kill him, because Lavirotte was mad with
jealousy, or with southern blood, or with something else or other, no
matter what--mad anyway. And there was that burning sensation in his
shoulder, and the fever in his blood, and that--ugh!--clammy feeling
down his back, But Lavirotte dead?
No; the very notion was preposterous.
Now he remembered the struggle.
Another flash. Another roar of thunder. Another deluge of rain.
He looked wonderfully like death in that blue light. And yet in that
struggle he (O'Donnell) did not remember having struck the other. It
was a common tussle, an irregular wrestle, with the supreme interest
of a knife added by Lavirotte. That was all. Yet he lay there
motionless, and it must have been a considerable time since he fell.
With great difficulty and a sense of oppression, O'Donnell rose
partly, and crawled towards the prostrate man.
"Dominique," he whispered, "Dominique, what is the matter? Rouse up."
There was no response. The form of the Frenchman lay there motionless,
inert, nerveless. O'Donnell raised an arm; it fell back again into the
mud of the road, unsustained by any trace of vitality.
"What can it be?" thought O'Donnell, straightening himself, as another
flash of lightning revealed the pallid face of Lavirotte. He waited
for the thunder to pass, and then, putting his hands around his mouth,
shouted with all the strength that was left in him:
"Help! Help! Help!"
The storm had not been unnoticed in the village, and many were awake.
James Crotty, boatman, had been roused by the first peal of thunder,
had filled a pipe, undone the door of his cottage, and come out to see
how the night went. His boat was moored in the cove, but as there was
no wind his mind was easy about her. His wife and little ones were
safe asleep in the cottage, and his mind was easy about them. At the
best of times he was a light sleeper and a great smoker, and took a
boatman's interest in the weather, fair or foul, but had a particular
interest in the great conflicts of nature.
While he was standing in the doorway he was within a few hundred yards
of the two men below near the cove. His cottage was about half-way
down the road, and it was quite possible to hear an ordinary speaking
voice from where the men now were.
When O'Donnell's loud cry for help rang out in the stillness, Crotty
started, and then listened intently. No other sound followed. There
was no mistaking the nature of that cry. He had heard the word as
distinctly as though it were spoken in the dark room behind him. "It
can't be any of the men," he said, meaning the fishermen of the place.
"It is too early for any of the boats to be back, and too late for
them to be going out. What can have brought anyone down there at this
hour? I'd better go and see, anyway."
He went down the little garden in front of his cottage, and gained the
road. He turned to the left. Then he went on slowly, cautiously,
keeping to the middle of the road.
"Who's there?" he called out. "What's the matter?"
"Here," cried O'Donnell faintly, "This way. Help."
The rain had now ceased, and the silence was intense. Far out there in
the darkness was the soft washing of the wavelets on the shore. No
other sound burdened the night.
Guided by O'Donnell's voice, Crotty now walked on with decision.
"What's the matter?" he called out again. "Who is it?"
O'Donnell's voice answered from the darkness. "It is I, O'Donnell."
"Oh, Mr. O'Donnell, is it you? What's the matter?"
"I'm hurt, badly I think, and here is Mr. Lavirotte insensible. I know
how I got my hurt." Crotty was now close to the speaker. "That makes
no difference; but I don't know how Mr. Lavirotte was hurt."
"Maybe 'twas a fight," said Crotty, in a tone of interest. A fight is
always an interesting thing, but a fight here and on such a night as
this was something which Crotty did not feel himself justified in
treating with anything but the greatest respect.
"Never mind what has been," said O'Donnell feebly. "The thing is to
get him to the village and call a doctor. I can't be of much help. I
am quite weak. Come now, Crotty, look sharp. Knock them up at Maher's,
tell them to put a horse in, and be back here in no time, and let
there be a doctor at hand by the time we get back. Run now. Don't lose
a minute."
"And leave you here by yourself, hurt? Aren't you strong enough to
walk as far as Maher's, or my place even?"
"No. Be off. Every second you wait is killing us."
Crotty started at the top of his speed, and in less than half-an-hour
returned with a car from Maher's hotel. He had brought a lantern, and
he and the driver carried Lavirotte to the car, and sat him up on it.
Then Crotty got up and held the insensible man. O'Donnell got up on
the other side, and thus they drove to the hotel.
Here the doctor was awaiting them.
"What's this, O'Donnell?" he said. He knew the two men thoroughly.
"You two have been quarrelling. What is the meaning of this? Blood on
both! Nasty scalp wound. Don't think the bone is broken. Clear case of
concussion. What did you hit him with?"
"Nothing," said O'Donnell. "Is it dangerous?"
"Dangerous! I should think it is dangerous. Dangerous enough to mean
manslaughter, it may be."
"Good heavens!" cried O'Donnell, faintly. "I assure you I never struck
him."
"All right. Stick to that. It never does to make admissions. What's
the matter with you? Blood and mud all over. Cut off his coat. Here,
give me the scissors. No bleeding except here. Ugly cut."
"Is it much?" said O'Donnell, very weak now.
"Yes, it's a good hit."
"Will it do for me?"
"I don't think so, if you have luck. He has a much better chance of
going than you. What _did_ you hit him with, O'Donnell? It was a
terrible blow. Something blunt--a stone, or something of that kind.
It's a downright shame that two young fellows like you, of good
education, and so on, should fall to hacking and battering one another
in this brutal way, and at midnight, too. It's more like assassination
than fighting. A woman in the matter, eh?"
"For heaven's sake, hush, O'Malley."
"All right. I'm not a magistrate. My business is with the bruises, not
with the row, or the cause of the row; but I'm sure it's a woman. Men
don't go ripping one another open for anything else nowadays."
"I swear to you, O'Malley, as far as I am concerned, there was no row,
and that I did not strike him."
"Who else was with you?--although I'm not in the least curious. That
was a tremendous blow. I can't make it out. If he had stabbed you
first, I don't think you could have struck that blow. I can't make it
out. I can't do any more for you now. You mustn't lie on it, you
know."
"O'Malley," said O'Donnell, "I want you to do me a great favour."
"Oh, my dear fellow, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to swear an
information. It's nothing to me if two fellows go hacking and slashing
at one another. I shouldn't like to see either of you killed outright
for the finest woman in creation."
"Do stop, O'Malley, like a good fellow. I'll tell you what you must do
for me. I want you to break the matter to her to-morrow morning the
first thing."
Suddenly the manner of the glib doctor changed. "My dear fellow, I
have been very impertinent, very thoughtless, very rude, and as soon
as you are quite well you shall punch my head, and welcome. I had
clean forgotten that you are going to be married. When you do punch my
head, I hope it won't be quite so terribly as poor Lavirotte's. I'll
do anything in the world I can for you. What am I to say? She's at her
mother's, I suppose."
"Yes; she's at her mother's. The fact is, I don't exactly know what to
say. I can't tell her the truth."
"And you want me to tell her a lie, eh?"
"No, no; I would not be so rude as to ask you to do anything of the
kind. The fact of the matter is, I can tell and trust you----"
"Stop, O'Donnell, don't. Don't tell me anything you want to keep
quiet. If you told me now 'twould be known in China at breakfast-time.
I'm dying to know all about it, but, as your friend, I recommend you
not to tell me a word of it. What shall I tell her?"
"That I have been a little hurt."
"Lie No. 1. You are a good deal hurt."
"That I shall soon be all right."
"Lie No. 2. For a man who wouldn't be so rude as to ask me to tell a
lie, you are getting on marvellously."
"And that you do not know how I got the hurt."
"Truth this time, by Jove, for a change. And most unpleasant truth,
too, for I really am most curious to know."
"Then you shall know."
"No; as your friend I decline to listen. There, I promised to do the
best for you. I'll lie as much as ever I choose, and confound your
politeness for not asking me. There, now, you mustn't speak any more.
You must keep as quiet as possible." And after a few words more of
instruction the busy, talkative little doctor left O'Donnell.
Lavirotte had been put in another room. O'Malley went to him, and
again examined his condition, and then left the hotel.
When O'Donnell was alone, he thought to himself: "I suppose if
Lavirotte recovers, we may be able to hush the matter up. But if he
dies--great heavens, what a thought!--there will be a trial, and how
will it go with me? I can prove nothing. I know nothing of how he came
by this hurt. It will seem to anyone that we fought. It may seem that
I was the aggressor. That I attacked him foully, and killed him
ruthlessly while he was trying to defend his life. This is a terrible
thought. It will drive me mad. Why, they may bring in a verdict of
Murder! They may hang me. Innocent men have been hanged before. Hang
me on the very day that I was to have been married. What can I do for
you, Nellie? What better can I do for you, Nellie, than die here?"