Barely were Claggett Chew and Osterbridge Hawsey out of sight, when
Chris simultaneously became aware of two things. One was the deep
throbbing ache of the whip cut, so painful it made him feel sick and
faint, and the second was the black figure of Mr. Wicker. Mr. Wicker
was threading his way in and out of the crowds and litter of the
wharves, and although to most he might have seemed leisurely, Chris
was able to detect in the step of his master a certain haste. He came
up to the little group of men, glanced at the back of Zachary Heigh,
who was moving away as if to some interrupted duty, and at Chris's
white face and the reddening handkerchief which he held to his chin.
Mr. Wicker looked slowly at all the faces and then raised his eyebrows
as if in surprise.
"Well, lads," he said, "what has happened here? You all look angry and
somewhat a-frighted. What occurred, Ned?" he asked, addressing Ned
Cilley, whose kind face was puckered with sympathy for Chris and who
stood pulling at the stocking cap he held in his hands. But Chris
spoke up before Ned could reply.
"It was my fault, sir. I expect I got what I deserved, but it seemed
to happen in spite of myself. I laughed at Osterbridge Hawsey's beauty
patch--and at him--all of him, really. We all did. Claggett Chew got
mad, and I guess I wouldn't blame him. It was a dreadful thing to
do--to laugh at someone to their face--and he lashed out with his whip
and gave _me_ a beauty patch!"
In spite of the pain Chris managed a grin as he took the handkerchief
from his chin to bare the deep, cruel cut.
"But truly sir," he ended, "I never saw anything like Osterbridge
Hawsey before. He's a dilly!"
And before they knew it they had all, including even the habitually
grave Mr. Wicker, burst into another shout of laughter. Mr. Wicker
soon stopped, however, and reached back into the pocket in the flap of
his coattails. When he drew out his hand it held a small glass box.
With unhurried gestures Mr. Wicker's fine fingers took off the lid.
"What a fortunate coincidence that I happened by just at this time,"
he said casually, "and that I have with me such an excellent
ointment." Master and pupil looked at one another for a moment, and
there was the hint of a wink in Mr. Wicker's right eye, and the
vestige of an answer from Chris's left.
"This will help to stop the bleeding, my boy," said Mr. Wicker, "and
take away the pain. It hastens the cure," he went on, lightly applying
the ointment to the wound. "In an hour you will scarcely know it
happened," he concluded.
Seeing the color seep back into Chris's cheeks, the men touched their
caps to Mr. Wicker and went back to their interrupted tasks. Ned
Cilley, with his hand on Amos's shoulder, moved off to point out some
detail of the _Mirabelle_, and Chris and Mr. Wicker were left alone.
Mr. Wicker looked down kindly at the boy, but there was a sadness also
in his face.
"Perhaps," he said as if to himself, "I have set you too great a task,
my poor Christopher, for you are but a boy." He laid his hand on
Chris's arm. "You are a boy, but what lies before you is a man's task,
and no mistake. You cannot in the future allow yourself the luxury of
such childish enjoyments as a laugh at Claggett Chew, or his friend!"
[Illustration]
"I know that now sir," Chris replied solemnly. "I asked for trouble
that time."
"Yes," agreed Mr. Wicker in a tired voice, "You did. Too bad," he
added, and Chris saw fatigue for the first time in his master's face.
"The laughter you could not resist has meant that you came forcibly
to Claggett Chew's notice in such a way that you will never be
forgotten." Mr. Wicker looked from some distant horizon back to Chris.
"I saw it happening while I was in my study, but could not warn you in
time," he said. "So I came down with the ointment for your poisoned
wound."
"Poisoned wound, sir?" Chris whispered, suddenly feeling much worse
than he had before.
[Illustration]
Mr. Wicker sighed. "Yes. Sometimes Mr. Chew has a way of wiping poison
onto the metal tip of his whip. It is a slow poison--it does not take
effect for days or weeks. In fact, so long after his lash that no one
attributes the whip cut to the death that finally follows. Never
fear," he said smiling his reassurance, "the ointment I have put on
will take care of that too, and your cut will be closed and healed
before the day is over. What is unfortunately more lasting," said Mr.
Wicker, "is Mr. Chew's memory. Well"--and Mr. Wicker shrugged his
shoulders--"there's no help for what is done. Use caution in the
future, Christopher. That is all I ask."
"I shall, sir!" Chris assured him. They turned to join Amos.
"Enjoy yourself the rest of the day, my boy," Mr. Wicker urged. "But
be constantly on the alert and look in all directions. Here," he said
putting his hand in his pocket, "take these few coins in case you
should need them. Now find Amos, and be off with you!"
Although Chris would have liked to investigate all the wharves and see
as many of the vessels as he could, he understood the warning given
him by Mr. Wicker. So with Amos he moved away from the scenes he
preferred, taking the first road he saw leading off Water Street.
M Street was, for Chris, completely unrecognizable. It was merely a
broad unpaved road in what seemed, at best, a country town. Groves of
old trees, pasture lands and orchards of large size surrounded the few
houses. It was hard for Chris to realize that this was the core of the
capital of the vast and teeming country into which he had been born.
With difficulty, for the streets all had different names if they
existed at all, Chris looked for his own street. Going back along what
he had known as M Street, not even the Pep Boys' or Iron Horse Grill
was to be seen. Instead of two wide stone bridges, now there was only
a rickety one crossing Rock Creek Park.
The boys walked to the bank above the park and looked down. The broad
asphalt traffic lanes were gone, and so was the tidiness of the park
lawns. Below him, Chris saw the tangled thick forests that had always
stood there. The creek itself, in the quiet of this earlier time,
could be plainly heard running over its stones.
Chris turned and led Amos to where he half expected to see his
mother's house. But where his house would stand in some future year,
nothing was to be seen but a dense grove of trees growing along the
top of a little rise of ground. Someone had once built a fire at the
corner, where his front door would one day be. Chris kicked idly at
the ashes and picked up a metal button blackened by the fire.
"What you-all looking for?" patient Amos asked.
"Just something I hoped I'd find," Chris answered, filled with a sense
of desolation.
Then he made himself remember that his house had yet to be built, and
aware of the hollowness of his stomach, he said to Amos: "Must be
lunch time. Let's go down to the creek to eat."
They scrambled down the bank near where, in his time, there was a
children's playground, and weaving in and out of the thick wood, found
the creek, clear and fresh. Here they ate their lunch, and then,
running and leaping, followed the turns of the stream until they
neared the marshes and the river.