The Colossus.
by Opie Read.
CHAPTER I.
LOOKING BACK AT EARLY LIFE.
When the slow years of youth were gone and the hastening time of manhood had come, the first thing that Henry DeGolyer, looking back, could call from a mysterious darkness into the dawn of memory was that he awoke one night in the cold arms of his dead mother. That was in New Orleans. The boy"s father had aspired to put the face of man upon lasting canvas, but appet.i.te invited whisky to mix with his art, and so upon dead walls he painted the trade-mark bull, and in front of museums he exaggerated the distortion of the human freak.
After the death of his mother, the boy was taken to the Foundlings"
Home, where he was scolded by women and occasionally knocked down by a vagabond older than himself. Here he remembered to have seen his father but once. It was a Sunday when he came, years after the gentle creature, holding her child in her arms, had died at midnight. The painter laughed and cried and begged an old woman for a drink of brandy. He went away, and after an age had seemed to pa.s.s the matron of the place took the boy on her lap and told him that his father was dead, and then, putting him down, she added: "Run along, now, and be good."
The boy was taken by an old Italian woman. In after years he could not determine the length of time that he had lived in her wretched home, but with vivid brightness dwelled in his memory the morning when he ran away and found a free if not an easy life in the newsboys"
lodging-house. He sold newspapers, he went to a night school, and as he grew older he picked up "river items" for an afternoon newspaper.
His hope was that he might become a "professional journalist," as certain young men termed themselves; and study, which in an ill-lighted room, tuned to drowsiness by the buzzing of youthful mumblers, might have been a chafing task to one who felt not the rowel of a spurring ambition, was to him a pleasure full of thrilling promises. To him the reporter stood at the high-water mark of ambition"s "freshet." But when years had pa.s.sed and he had scrambled to that place he looked down and saw that his height was not a dizzy one. And instead of viewing a conquered province, he saw, falling from above, the shadows of trials yet to be endured. He worked faithfully, and at one time held the place of city editor, but a change in the management of the paper not only reduced him to the ranks, but, as the saying went, set him on the sidewalk. Then he wrote "specials." His work was bright, original and strong, and was reproduced throughout the country, but as it was not signed, the paper alone received the credit. Year after year he lived in this unsettled way--reading in the public library, musing at his own fireside, catching glimpses of an important work which the future seemed to hold, and waiting for the outlines of that work to become more distinct; but the months went by and the plan of the work remained in the shadow of the coming years.
DeGolyer had now reached that time of life when a wise man begins strongly to suspect that the past is but a future stripped of its delusions. He was a man of more than ordinary appearance; indeed, people who knew him, and who believed that size grants the same advantages to all vocations, wondered why he was not more successful.
He was tall and strong, and in his bearing there was an ease which, to one who recognizes not a sleeping nerve force, would have suggested the idea of laziness. His complexion was rather dark, his eyes were black, and his hair was a dark brown. He was not handsome, but his sad face was impressive, and his smile, a mere melancholy recognition that something had been said, did not soon fade from memory.
One afternoon DeGolyer called at the office of a morning newspaper, and was told that the managing editor wanted to see him. When he was shown in he found an aspiring politician laughing with forced heartiness at something which the editor had said. To the Southern politician the humor of an influential editor is full of a delirious mellowness.
When the politician went out the editor invited DeGolyer to take a seat. "Mr. DeGolyer, a number of your sketches have been well received."
"Yes, sir; they have made me a few encouraging enemies."
The editor smiled. "And you regard enemies as an encouragement, eh?"
"Yes, as a proof of success. Our friends mark out a course for us, and if we depart from it and do something better than their specifications call for, they become our enemies."
"I don"t know but you are right." After a short silence the editor continued: "Mr. DeGolyer, we have been thinking of sending a man down into Costa Rica. Our merchants believe that if we were to pay more attention to that country we might thereby improve our trade. What we want is a number of letters intended to familiarize us with those people--want to show, you understand, that we are interested in them."
They talked during an hour. The nest day DeGolyer was on board a steamer bound for Punta Arenas. On the vessel he met a young man who said that his name was Henry Sawyer; and this young man was so blithe and light-hearted that DeGolyer, yielding to the persuasion of contrast, was drawn toward him. Young Sawyer was accompanied by his uncle, a short, fat, and at times a crusty old fellow. DeGolyer did not think that the uncle was wholly sound of mind. One evening, just before reaching port, and while the two young men were standing on deck, looking landward, young Sawyer said:
"Do you know, I think more of you than of any fellow I ever met?"
"I don"t know it," DeGolyer answered, "but I am tempted to hope so."
"Good. I do, and that"s a fact. You see, I"ve led a most peculiar sort of life. I never had any home--that is, any real home. I don"t remember a thing about my father and mother. They died when I was very young, and then my uncle took me. Uncle never married and never was particularly attached to any one place. We have traveled a good deal; have lived quite a while in New Orleans, but for the past two years we have lived in a little bit of a place called Ulmata, in central Costa Rica. Uncle"s got an interest in some mines not far from there. Say, why wouldn"t it be a good idea for you to go to Ulmata and write your letters from there? Ain"t any railroad, but there"s a mule line running to the coast. How does it strike you?"
"I"d like to, but I"m afraid that it would take my letters too long to reach New Orleans; still, I don"t know what difference that would make, as I"m not going to write news. After all," he added, as though he were arguing with himself, "I should think that the interior is more interesting than the coast, for people don"t hang their characteristics over the coast line."
"There, you"ve hit the nail the very first lick. You go out there with us, and I"ll bet we have a magnificent time."
"But your uncle might object."
"How can he? It ain"t any of his business where you go."
"Of course not."
"Well, then, that settles it. But really, he"d like to have you.
You"ll like him; little peculiar at times, but you"ll find him all right. You"ll get a good deal of money for those letters, won"t you?"
"No; a hired mail on a newspaper doesn"t get much money."
"But it must take a good deal of brains to do your work."
"Presumably, but there stands a long row of brains ready to take the engagement--to take it, in fact, at a cut rate. The market is full of brains."
"How old did you say you were?"
"I am nearly thirty," DeGolyer answered.
"I"m only twenty-five, but that don"t make any difference; we"ll have a splendid time all the same. You read a good deal, I notice. Uncle"s got a whole raft of books, and you can read to me when you get tired of reading to yourself. I"ve gone to school a good deal, but I"m not much of a hand with a book; but I tell you what I believe--I believe I could run a business to the queen"s taste if I had a chance, and I"m going to try it one of these days. Uncle tells me that after awhile I may be worth some money, and if I am I"ll get rich as sure as you"re born. Business was born in me, but I"ve never had a chance to do anything, I have traded around a little, and I"ve made some money, too, but the trouble is that I"ve never been settled down long enough to do much of anything, I"ve scarcely any chance at all out at Ulmata.
What would you rather be than anything else?"
"I don"t know. It doesn"t seem that nature has exerted herself in fitting me for anything, and I am a strong believer in natural fitness. We may learn to do a thing in an average sort of way, but excellence requires instinct, and instinct, of course, can"t be learned."
"I guess that"s so. I can see hundreds of ways to make money. I"d rather be a big merchant than anything else. Old fellow," he suddenly broke off, "I am as happy as can be to have you go out yonder with us; and mark what I tell you--we"re going to have a splendid time."
CHAPTER II.
A SLEEPY VILLAGE AND A FUSSY OLD MAN.
In the village of Ulmata there was just enough of life to picture the dreamy indolence of man. Rest was its complexion, and freedom from all marks of care its most pleasing aspect.
Old Sawyer was so demonstrably gratified to have a companion for his nephew that he invited DeGolyer to take a room in his house, and DeGolyer gratefully accepted this kindness. Young Sawyer was delighted when the household had thus been arranged, and with many small confidences and unstudied graces of boyish friendship, he kept his guest in the refreshing atmosphere of welcome. And in the main the uncle was agreeable and courteous, but there were times when he flew out of his...o...b..t of goodfellowship.
Once he came puffing into the room where DeGolyer was writing, and bl.u.s.teringly flounced upon a sofa. He remained quiet for a few moments, and then he blew so strong a spout of annoyance that DeGolyer turned to him and asked:
"Has anything gone wrong?"
The old fellow"s eyes bulged out as if he were straining under a heavy load. "Yes," he puffed, "the devil"s gone wrong."
"But isn"t that of ancient date?" DeGolyer asked.
"Here, now, young fellow, don"t try to saw me!" And then he broke off with this execration: "Oh, this miserable world--this infernal pot where men are boiled!" He rolled his eyes like a choking ox, and after a short silence, asked: "Young fellow, do you know what I"d do if I were of your age?"
"If you were of my temperament as well as of my age I don"t think you"d do much of anything."
"Yes, I would; I would confer a degree of high favor on myself. I would cut my throat, sir."
"Pardon me, but is it too late at your time of life?"