While Commander Lanigan talked with the mayor from a telephone-booth in a drug-store under Central Labor Union hall, Post-Adjutant Demeter stood with his nose pressed against the gla.s.s door, waiting anxiously.
Lanigan pushed open the door with one hand while he hung up the receiver with the other, and by his precipitate exit nigh bowled his adjutant over; Mr. Lanigan, it was plain to be seen, was wound up tightly that evening and his mainspring was operating him by jumps.
"He"s the boy! He"s coming! Tell the world so! And I"ll go back up-stairs and tell them blistered sons o" seefo that there are such things as truth and a bar o" soap in this country, spite o" the fact they have never used either one!"
Demeter followed his commander into the street.
In spite of his haste, Lanigan was halted; he gazed up into the heavens, his breath streaming on the crackly-cold air.
The skies were blazing with shuttlings of lambent flame. From nadir to zenith the mystic light shivered and sheeted. Never had Lanigan beheld a more vivid display of the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. He seemed to be waiting for something. He sighed and shook his head.
"Peter, my heart jumped at first glimpse! "Tis like the flash of the Argonne big guns! Thank G.o.d, the thunder of "em isn"t following!"
"Yes, thank G.o.d!" murmured Demeter, his soul in his tones!
They stood there for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder, the contact of arm with arm serving for an exchange of thoughts between those veterans in a silence that would have been profaned by words.
The phantasmagoria overhead was shifting infinitely and rapidly; there were flashes that seemed to presage a thunderous roar of an explosion and were more bodeful because the hush aloft in the heavenly s.p.a.ces remained unbroken; then the filaments and streamers of light made one mighty oriflamme across the skies, an expanse of woven hues, wavering and lashing as if a great wind were threshing across the main fabric and flinging its attendant bannerets.
"It"s in the air; it"s in the nerves! It puts h.e.l.l into a man, doesn"t it, Peter?"
"Yes!"
"It was in that telephone back there! It crackled and snapped! A lot of it may be in those poor fools up in that hall--and they ain"t knowing what the matter is with "em! You and I have been over in the Big Bow-wow, boy, and we have had some good lessons in how to handle rattled nerves. I guess it"s up to us to hold things steady, as experts. Soothe "em and smooth "em! It was All-Wool Morrison"s lesson to me to-day! Soft and careful with "em, seeing that they"re full of what"s in the air this night, and don"t know just what ails "em!"
He lowered his gaze from the skies. A man was pa.s.sing on his way toward the door of the hall.
Lanigan had just laid down a general rule of diplomatic conduct for the evening, but he made a prompt exception. He leaped on the man, struggled with him for a moment, and yanked off a red necktie, taking with it the man"s collar and a part of his shirt, "But some stuff that they"re full of can"t be smoothed out--it"s got to be whaled out!" panted Lanigan. He did not release his captive. "The nerve o" ye, parading your red wattles on a night like this, ye Tom Gobbler of a Bullshevist!"
"I have the right to pick the color of my own necktie!" snarled the man.
"Not for the reason why you picked it! Not to wear it up into that hall, my bucko boy!"
When the man expostulated with oaths, Lanigan tripped him and held him on the sidewalk. "Hush your yawp! You can"t fool me about your taste in ties!
I know what"s behind that color like I"d know what"s behind an Orangeman"s yellow! I don"t need to wait for him to hooray for the battle o" the Boyne ere I get my brick ready! Peter, frisk his pockets!"
Demeter obeyed.
A crowd was collecting. Through the press rushed a young man. "Need help, Commander?"
"Only keep your eye peeled to see that another Bullshevist don"t sneak up and kick me from behind, after the like o" the breed!"
Demeter"s exploration produced a bulldog revolver, a slungshot, a packet of pamphlets, and several small red flags.
"What"s your name?" demanded the commander.
"No business of yours!"
Lanigan kneeled on the captive and roweled cruel thumbs into the man"s neck. "Out with it before I dig deeper for it."
"Nicolai Krylovensky!"
"I knew it must be bad, but I didn"t think it was as bad as that! I don"t blame ye for trying to keep it mum! And ye look as though it tasted bitter coming up. I"ll not poison me own mouth." He stood up and yanked the man to his feet. "So I"ll call ye Bill the Bomber! Where do ye work, or don"t ye work?"
"Conawin!"
"I thought so! One of that bunch down there that"s trying to undermine the best government on the face of the earth. Come along! I"ve got a bit o"
business on hand right now and I need you in it."
Then he turned, pushing the man ahead of him.
Lanigan became aware that the young fellow who had proffered aid was muttering in a derogatory fashion.
"What"s on your mind, Jeff?" demanded the commander, recognizing a member of the post.
"Nothing!"
"I"m in an inquiring turn o" mind right now," rasped Lanigan. "And ye have just seen me go after information. I heard ye d.a.m.ning something. Ye"d best make me understand that you wasn"t d.a.m.ning _me_!"
"I sure wasn"t, sir! But as for this government being the best, I want to say--"
Lanigan"s yelp broke in like an explosion. "Hold this Bullshevist, Peter!
I want both hands free!"
"I wasn"t saying anything against our government, Commander Lanigan! Not a word!" wailed the overseas man. "So help me!"
"I"m in a soothing frame of mind this night," returned the ex-sergeant. "I have been having some good lessons in soothing from the mayor of Marion, G.o.d bless him! I was nigh making a fool of myself till he showed me that the soothing way is the best way. And I shall keep right on soothing. But this is a night when the plain truth and the word of man-to-man have got to operate to prevent trouble! And I want the truth out o" ye, Jeff Tolson, or else ye"ll be calling for toast, well soaked, in the hospital in the morning!"
"I went up to one of them sissy slackers--"
"Mind the kind of a name ye stick on to a soldier of the government! Do ye see who"s listening?" He grabbed his prisoner again and shook him. "Be careful of what you say as an American citizen in the hearing of rats like this, Tolson! It encourages "em. They think we mean it. Get the bile out of your system in a strictly family fuss! Spit out a lot you don"t mean, if it"s going to make you feel better! But first slam down the windows so that the outsiders can"t overhear. I"ll see you later!"
"But I want you to get me right, Commander," Tolson pleaded. "I went up to one of the boys to show him how to hold his gun and he banged me with the b.u.t.t of it!"
"He did!" Lanigan clicked his teeth and showed that he was having hard work to control his own resentment.
"I was only trying to be helpful. I tried to take his gun and show him.
And he insulted an overseas veteran!"
Lanigan had himself in hand again. "Tried to take away his gun, you say!
You in civics and he in uniform and on duty! Jeff, if it"s that hard to wake up and know that you"re no longer a soldier, I reckon your wrist-watch is acting too much like a reminder-string around a Jane"s finger! Better hang it from the end of your nose. It"s a wonder he didn"t give you the bayonet!"
"The b.u.t.t was aplenty, sir!"
"I can stand it better to be banged on the k.n.o.b by a gun-b.u.t.t by a good American than batted in the eye by this color on a Bullshevist!" a.s.serted Lanigan, waving the red necktie that he still retained in his clutch. He gave the owner of it another push. "Along with you, Bill the Bomber."
Tolson trailed. "But what are they trying to do up on Capitol Hill, sir?