TO Strong's mind satisfactory quarters meant rooms of good size, and
well lighted. We finally found connecting space in a private house. He
seemed anxious to see New Orleans, and started out while I looked up
some old acquaintances, but I found him awaiting me at our lodgings in
the early evening.
"Ben, I have done it. I've paid out the money, and I'm going to see it
through," was his greeting.
"Paid for what?" I asked, unable to avoid smiling at his cheerful
optimism.
"Fifty dollars to learn telegraphy. They say I can do it in sixty days,
and when I have completed my course I will get a job. New Orleans looks
to me like a regular place. I like it."
For a moment I thought he might have been indulging in some of the
mixtures for which the Southern Metropolis is noted, but it was only the
wine of youthful credulity that did the talking.
"That's good," I assented quickly. "When do you commence?"
"Oh, I have already started in. I took my first lesson this afternoon.
How did you make out? Can you get a job here?" There could be no doubt
of his keen desire to have me stay near him.
"Yes--two or three things turned up to-day."
"And any one of them better than going to sea, I'll bet?"
"Yes, as far as the money goes," I replied, reservedly.
"Bully, old boy!" he shouted, seizing my hand in a vise-like grip. From
then on the days were full of interest for both of us. Hiram's intention
to master telegraphy became almost an obsession with him. From the
moment he started in he seemed to forget everything else, and he worked
as though his welfare in this world and the world to come depended upon
his learning telegraphy in the shortest possible time. He ate, drank,
inhaled, and absorbed the Morse system during every waking moment, and
in less than three weeks he was substituting for a sick operator on the
Yazoo & Mississippi Railroad.
Strong's was undoubtedly an intensive nature; the height and especially
the width of his forehead clearly indicated power of concentration,
which, apparently, he had done nothing to build up. It was the same way
when he met the girl, Anna Bell Morgan, and when an intensive man meets
a comprehensive girl there is apt to be trouble, or a wedding, or
something equally interesting. If he had spent money with the same
tenacity of purpose that he set about learning telegraphy I do not
wonder that Hiram Strong, Sr., became tired to the bone of his folly and
would have no more of it.
After working a week as a substitute he blew into quarters one evening
like a cyclone and gave me a thump on the back that made me grunt.
"I've got it!--I've got it!--I've got it!" he shouted, his face aglow
and his eyes snapping.
This time I was sure he had broken over into old habits, especially when
I well knew the lure of that celebrated New Orleans gin fizz to which
all newcomers seemed to succumb. But again I was wrong. Strong had
simply boiled over with exuberant spirits and he certainly had a jag on
board. His ardor not in the least dampened by my hesitation, he grabbed
my hand and shook it vigorously, then capered about in front of me as a
boy in his teens might do.
"Congratulate me, Old Man, I've got it!" he roared. "The Yazoo Railroad
has offered me a station. Quarrytown, Ben--Quarrytown, Louisiana, is my
address after to-morrow!"
Of course, that was pleasant news to me and naturally I became as
excited as he, so much so that I became fearful we would jeopardize our
joint reputations for sobriety.
"There's only one thing, and you've got to fix that--eh? I don't know
just how: I must have a surety bond for a thousand dollars and also
three first-class references--can we do it, Ben? Can you do it?" he
repeated.
I hesitated a moment, wondering how I was going to get three first-class
references for a man who had spent a big part of his twenty-four years
in riotous living, even to the point of being disowned. But there was no
such thing as resisting him now.
"Oh, I don't have to wait for it; that can be done any time. But we can
fix it some way, can't we, Ben?--I've got to," he added with emphasis.
"Yes, if we have a little time I think it can be arranged," said I,
soberly, wondering somewhat over the details of the job. But he hardly
waited for my assurance before he seized me by the hand and began
dragging me about the room.
"Come on, let's get out--out in the air--let's go out and have a good
time," he commanded as he got my hat and jammed it down over my head.
"It's up the river, only about a hundred miles. You can come up Sunday.
It's big enough to have a day and night man, and I get the day job!" he
added, loud enough for the whole house to hear him as we passed
downstairs to the street.
The following Sunday I went to see him. His station was delightfully
located. There was enough level space between the river and its very
high bluffs for two long sidetracks convenient for the meeting of
freight trains, which made a night and day operator necessary.
Hiram was expecting me and waved his arms wildly as I stepped off the
train, but as he was busy rushing mail, express, and trunks into the
baggage car, there was no chance for a handshake for the time being.
The depot looked like the cabin in which De Soto died from malaria and
disappointment in 1539, although somewhat modernized and adapted to the
needs of railroading.
Quarrytown was a rambling village around D. R. Morgan's General Store,
and he was Anna Bell's father. Near the ancient depot was a considerable
stone quarry, high clay bluffs, and the Mississippi River. Pickaninnies,
starved dogs, mules, razorback hogs and malaria seemed to thrive along
with the willow and pepper trees. The question of moment was how long
would Hiram Strong, Jr., late of Broadway, Sherry's, and Delmonico's, be
satisfied here? In the place of porterhouse steaks there would be
sow-belly and corn bread, and a very dry section to live in.
As soon as the train was out of the way Hiram came rushing over to me.
"Ben, old man, you look good to me!" he exclaimed. "I'm getting away
with it; haven't made a bull yet. Excuse me a little bit until I take
this mail over, then I'm through." Thus he greeted me, enthusiastic and
confident, then rushed away with the small mail bag to Morgan's store
and the post office.
While awaiting his return I examined a two-wheeled baggage truck he had
left standing after being loaded from the train. This contained an old
trunk fastened with a clothes line, a bunch of bananas, some castings
for a cotton gin, three boxes of chill-and-fever remedy, and five cases
of dynamite.
As Strong hurried across the street his eyes shone with anticipation
from under the visor of a cheap cap that had replaced the jaunty derby.
"Say, how do you like my new station? All the white people here are
mighty nice," said he, pushing the truck toward the depot.
I nodded approval and helped him to push the load up a steep incline
into the freight house adjoining the ticket office.
"Do you get much of that stuff?" I asked, pointing to the dynamite.
"Yes--the quarry uses quite a bit, but it usually comes by freight and I
don't have to handle it," he said, locking the door and leading the way
to the ticket and telegraph office, located in a small bay-windowed
room facing the track. We walked through a dingy waiting-room, in the
center of which stood a wooden box, half filled with sand, which stood
permanent duty as a cuspidor.
"You see, there is no hotel here, and Mr. Morgan has kindly taken me to
board with him. The night man stays there also. Sunday is such a busy
day, especially for freights, that I can't leave for my dinner, so they
send it over to me. They'll send enough for two to-day. You won't mind,
will you?"
Before I could reply the dispatcher called him and he began taking a
train order while I sat down upon the one remaining sixty-nine-cent
chair.
Opposite the bay-window was the regulation standing-counter, a
ticket-cabinet, and little window opening out to the waiting-room, aged
and dingy, especially the floor.
"That chair will go down with you some time," I suggested, when he
turned about after copying the order,--and setting a red signal for the
train.
"It looks as though it had served its full time," he replied, laughing,
as he arose in answer to a tap on the waiting-room door. A darky boy
with a market basket and a white pitcher stood grinning outside with
our dinner.
"Ben, this dinner is not like some we've had, but it's better than the
soup and mutton stew we got on the boat. Do you know, I would rather be
dead and in torment than fire again on that boat, but I would have
stayed, though, if you had," said he, opening the basket and setting out
a liberal portion of fried chicken and hot biscuit on the small
instrument table.
"We can tell only by comparison when we are well off," I replied.
"That's beginning to dawn on me, also," said he, dryly.
We had hardly begun eating when a big panting Mogul stopped with her
nose opposite the window and the conductor came trotting up and signed
for the orders. He gave one copy to the engineer and scuttled away.
"I was telling you about the white people here," he began, as we resumed
eating. "Old Mr. Morgan, who runs the store and post office, is about
the biggest man here, and his daughter, Anna Bell! Say, boy, she is as
pretty as any woman I ever saw." Then, for some reason, he checked
himself on the "Anna Bell" subject and became absorbed in the
well-cooked dainties spread before us.