And to Stephen it was no less strange to be walking over a muddy road of the prairie with this most singular man and a newspaper correspondent, than it might have been to the sub-terrestrial inhabitant to emerge on the earth"s surface. Stephen"s mind was in the process of a chemical change: Suddenly it seemed to him as if he had known this tall Illinoisan always. The whim of the senatorial candidate in choosing him for a companion he did not then try to account for.
"Come, Mr. Stephen," said Mr. Lincoln, presently, "where do you hail from?"
"Boston," said Stephen.
"No!" said Mr. Lincoln, incredulously. "And how does it happen that you come to me with a message from a rank Abolitionist lawyer in St. Louis?"
"Is the Judge a friend of yours, sir?" Stephen asked.
"What!" exclaimed Mr. Lincoln, "didn"t he tell you he was?"
"He said nothing at all, sir, except to tell me to travel until I found you."
"I call the Judge a friend of mine," said Mr. Lincoln. "He may not claim me because I do not believe in putting all slave-owners to the sword."
"I do not think that Judge Whipple is precisely an Abolitionist, sir."
"What! And how do you feel, Mr. Stephen?"
Stephen replied in figures. It was rare with him, and he must have caught it from Mr. Lincoln.
"I am not for ripping out the dam suddenly, sir, that would drown the nation. I believe that the water can be drained off in some other way."
Mr. Lincoln"s direct answer to this was to give Stephen stinging slap between the shoulder-blades.
"G.o.d bless the boy!" he cried. "He has thought it out. Bob, take that down for the Press and Tribune as coming from a rising young politician of St. Louis."
"Why," Stephen blurted out, "I--I thought you were an Abolitionist, Mr.
Lincoln."
"Mr. Brice," said Mr. Lincoln, "I have as much use for the Boston Liberator as I have for the Charleston Courier. You may guess how much that is. The question is not whether we shall or shall not have slavery, but whether slavery shall stay where it is, or be extended according to Judge Douglas"s ingenious plan. The Judge is for breeding worms. I am for cauterizing the sore so that it shall not spread. But I tell you, Mr. Brice, that this nation cannot exist half slave and half free."
Was it the slap on the back that opened Stephen"s eyes? It was certain that as they returned to the tavern the man at his side was changed. He need not have felt chagrined. Men in high places underestimated Lincoln, or did not estimate him at all. Affection came first. The great warm heart had claimed Stephen as it claimed all who came near it.
The tavern was deserted save for a few stragglers. Under the dim light at the bar Mr. Lincoln took off his hat and drew the Judge"s letter from the lining.
"Mr. Stephen," said he, "would you like to come to Freeport with me to-morrow and hear the debate?"
An hour earlier he would have declined with thanks. But now! Now his face lighted at the prospect, and suddenly fell again. Mr. Lincoln guessed the cause. He laid his hand on the young man"s shoulder, and laughed.
"I reckon you"re thinking of what the Judge will say."
Stephen smiled.
"I"ll take care of the Judge," said Mr. Lincoln. "I"m not afraid of him." He drew forth from the inexhaustible hat a slip of paper, and began to write.
"There," said he, when he had finished, "a friend of mine is going to Springfield in the morning, and he"ll send that to the Judge."
And this is what he had written:--
"I have borrowed Steve for a day or two, and guarantee to return him a good Republican.
A. LINCOLN."
It is worth remarking that this was the first time Mr. Brice had been called "Steve" and had not resented it.
Stephen was embarra.s.sed. He tried to thank Mr. Lincoln, but that gentleman"s quizzical look cut him short. And the next remark made him gasp.
"Look here, Steve," said he, "you know a parlor from a drawing-room.
What did you think of me when you saw me to-night?"
Stephen blushed furiously, and his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth.
"I"ll tell you," said Mr. Lincoln, with his characteristic smile, "you thought that you wouldn"t pick me out of a bunch of horses to race with the Senator."
CHAPTER IV. THE QUESTION
Many times since Abraham Lincoln has been called to that mansion which G.o.d has reserved for the patriots who have served Him also, Stephen Brice has thought of that steaming night in the low-ceiled room of the country tavern, reeking with the smell of coa.r.s.e food and hot humanity.
He remembers vividly how at first his gorge rose, and recalls how gradually there crept over him a forgetfulness of the squalidity and discomfort. Then came a s.p.a.ce gray with puzzling wonder. Then the dawning of a worship for a very ugly man in a rumpled and ill-made coat.
You will perceive that there was hope for Stephen. On his shake-down that night, oblivious to the snores of his companions and the droning of the insects, he lay awake. And before his eyes was that strange, marked face, with its deep lines that blended both humor and sadness there. It was homely, and yet Stephen found himself reflecting that honesty was just as homely, and plain truth. And yet both were beautiful to those who had learned to love them. Just so this Mr. Lincoln.
He fell asleep wondering why Judge Whipple had sent him.
It was in accord with nature that reaction came with the morning. Such a morning, and such a place!
He was awakened, shivering, by the beat of rain on the roof, and stumbling over the prostrate forms of the four Beaver brothers, reached the window. Clouds filled the sky, and Joshway, whose pallet was under the sill, was in a blessed state of moisture.
No wonder some of his enthusiasm had trickled away!
He made his toilet in the wet under the pump outside; where he had to wait his turn. And he rather wished he were going back to St. Louis.
He had an early breakfast of fried eggs and underdone bacon, and coffee which made him pine for Hester"s. The dishes were neither too clean nor too plentiful, being doused in water as soon as ever they were out of use.
But after breakfast the sun came out, and a crowd collected around the tavern, although the air was chill and the muck deep in the street.
Stephen caught glimpses of Mr. Lincoln towering above the knots of country politicians who surrounded him, and every once in a while a knot would double up with laughter. There was no sign that the senatorial aspirant took the situation seriously; that the coming struggle with his skilful antagonist was weighing him down in the least. Stephen held aloof from the groups, thinking that Mr. Lincoln had forgotten him.
He decided to leave for St. Louis on the morning train, and was even pushing toward the tavern entrance with his bag in his hand, when he was met by Mr. Hill.
"I had about given you up, Mr. Brice," he said. "Mr. Lincoln asked me to get hold of you, and bring you to him alive or dead."
Accordingly Stephen was led to the station, where a long train of twelve cars was pulled up, covered with flags and bunting. On entering one of these, he perceived Mr. Lincoln sprawled (he could think of no other word to fit the att.i.tude) on a seat next the window, and next him was Mr. Medill of the Press and Tribune. The seat just in front was reserved for Mr. Hill, who was to make any notes necessary. Mr. Lincoln looked up. His appearance was even less attractive than the night before, as he had on a dirty gray linen duster.
"I thought you"d got loose, Steve," he said, holding out his hand. "Glad to see you. Just you sit down there next to Bob, where I can talk to you."
Stephen sat down, diffident, for he knew that there were others in that train who would give ten years of their lives for that seat.
"I"ve taken a shine to this Bostonian, Joe," said Mr Lincoln to Mr.
Medill. "We"ve got to catch "em young to do anything with "em, you know.