"You know a fellow up in Harlem," howled the tall man. "Up in Harlem!
How the d.i.c.kens are we to--say, you"re crazy!"
"We can take a cab," cried the other, waxing indignant.
The tall man grew suddenly calm. "Do you know any one else?" he asked, measuredly.
"I know another fellow somewhere on Park Place."
"Somewhere on Park Place," repeated the tall man in an unnatural manner.
"Somewhere on Park Place." With an air of sublime resignation he turned his face to the wall.
The freckled man sat erect and frowned in the direction of his companion. "Well, now, I suppose you are going to sulk. You make me ill!
It"s the best we can do, ain"t it? Hire a cab and go look that fellow up on Park--What"s that? You can"t afford it? What nonsense! You are getting--Oh! Well, maybe we can beg some clothes of the captain. Eh? Did I see "im. Certainly, I saw "im. Yes, it is improbable that a man who wears trousers like that can have clothes to lend. No, I won"t wear oilskins and a sou"-wester. To Athens? Of course not! I don"t know where it is. Do you? I thought not. With all your grumbling about other people, you never know anything important yourself. What? Broadway? I"ll be hanged first. We can get off at Harlem, man alive. There are no cabs in Harlem. I don"t think we can bribe a sailor to take us ash.o.r.e and bring a cab to the dock, for the very simple reason that we have nothing to bribe him with. What? No, of course not. See here, Tom Sharp, don"t you swear at me like that. I won"t have it. What"s that? I ain"t, either. I ain"t. What? I am not. It"s no such thing. I ain"t. I"ve got more than you have, anyway. Well, you ain"t doing anything so very brilliant yourself--just lying there and cussin"." At length the tall man feigned to prodigiously snore. The freckled man thought with such vigour that he fell asleep.
After a time he dreamed that he was in a forest where ba.s.s drums grew on trees. There came a strong wind that banged the fruit about like empty pods. A frightful din was in his ears.
He awoke to find the captain of the schooner standing over him.
"We"re at New York now," said the captain, raising his voice above the thumping and banging that was being done on deck, "an" I s"pose you fellers wanta go ash.o.r.e." He chuckled in an exasperating manner. "Jes"
sing out when yeh wanta go," he added, leering at the freckled man.
The tall man awoke, came over and grasped the captain by the throat.
"If you laugh again I"ll kill you," he said.
The captain gurgled and waved his legs and arms.
"In the first place," the tall man continued, "you rescued us in a deucedly shabby manner. It makes me ill to think of it. I"ve a mind to mop you "round just for that. In the second place, your vessel is bound for Athens, N.Y., and there"s no sense in it. Now, will you or will you not turn this ship about and take us back where our clothes are, or to Philadelphia, where we belong?"
He furiously shook the captain. Then he eased his grip and awaited a reply.
"I can"t," yelled the captain, "I can"t. This vessel don"t belong to me.
I"ve got to--"
"Well, then," interrupted the tall man, "can you lend us some clothes?"
"Hain"t got none," replied the captain, promptly. His face was red, and his eyes were glaring.
"Well, then," said the tall man, "can you lend us some money?"
"Hain"t got none," replied the captain, promptly. Something overcame him and he laughed.
"Thunderation," roared the tall man. He seized the captain, who began to have wriggling contortions. The tall man kneaded him as if he were biscuits. "You infernal scoundrel," he bellowed, "this whole affair is some wretched plot, and you are in it. I am about to kill you."
The solitary whisker of the captain did acrobatic feats like a strange demon upon his chin. His eyes stood perilously from his head. The suspender wheezed and tugged like the tackle of a sail.
Suddenly the tall man released his hold. Great expectancy sat upon his features. "It"s going to break," he cried, rubbing his hands.
But the captain howled and vanished in the sky.
The freckled man then came forward. He appeared filled with sarcasm.
"So!" said he. "So, you"ve settled the matter. The captain is the only man in the world who can help us, and I daresay he"ll do anything he can now."
"That"s all right," said the tall man. "If you don"t like the way I run things you shouldn"t have come on this trip at all."
They had another quarrel.
At the end of it they went on deck. The captain stood at the stern addressing the bow with opprobrious language. When he perceived the voyagers he began to fling his fists about in the air.
"I"m goin" to put yeh off," he yelled. The wanderers stared at each other.
"Hum," said the tall man.
The freckled man looked at his companion. "He"s going to put us off, you see," he said, complacently.
The tall man began to walk about and move his shoulders. "I"d like to see you do it," he said, defiantly.
The captain tugged at a rope. A boat came at his bidding.
"I"d like to see you do it," the tall man repeated, continually. An imperturbable man in rubber boots climbed down in the boat and seized the oars. The captain motioned downward. His whisker had a triumphant appearance.
The two wanderers looked at the boat. "I guess we"ll have to get in,"
murmured the freckled man.
The tall man was standing like a granite column. "I won"t," said he. "I won"t! I don"t care what you do, but I won"t!"
"Well, but--" expostulated the other. They held a furious debate.
In the meantime the captain was darting about making sinister gestures, but the back of the tall man held him at bay. The crew, much depleted by the departure of the imperturbable man into the boat, looked on from the bow.
"You"re a fool," the freckled man concluded his argument.
"So?" inquired the tall man, highly exasperated.
"So? Well, if you think you"re so bright, we"ll go in the boat, and then you"ll see."
He climbed down into the craft and seated himself in an ominous manner at the stern.
"You"ll see," he said to his companion, as the latter floundered heavily down. "You"ll see!"
The man in rubber boots calmly rowed the boat toward the sh.o.r.e. As they went, the captain leaned over the railing and laughed. The freckled man was seated very victoriously.
"Well, wasn"t this the right thing after all?" he inquired in a pleasant voice. The tall man made no reply.