"I replied with an adroit change of front: "Certainly not."
"For some mysterious reason the girl was again convulsed and broke off her laughter to cry in a voice of music which still tingles through me: "Doctor Byrne, you are delightful!"
"I should gladly have heard her say more upon this point, but it being one which I could not gracefully dispute with her, and being unwilling that she should lapse into one of her usual silences, I ventured to change the subject from myself to her.
""Miss c.u.mberland," I said, "I remark with much pleasure that the anxiety which has recently depressed you seems now in some measure lessened. I presume Mr. Daniels will be successful in his journey, though what the return of Mr. Daniels accompanied by Mr. Barry can accomplish, is, I confess, beyond my computation. Yet you are happier in the prospect of Mr. Barry"s return?"
"I asked this question with a falling heart, though I remain ignorant of the cause to which I can attribute my sudden depression. Still more mysterious was the delight which I felt when the girl shook her head slowly and answered: "Even if he comes, it will mean nothing."
"I said: "Then let us intercept him and send him back!"
"She cried out, as if I had hurt her: "No, no, no!" and twisted her fingers together in pain. She added at once: "What of poor Dad?"
""Your father," I confessed, "had for the moment slipped my mind."
"It seemed to me, however, that it was not wholly on her father"s account that she was grieved. She wished Mr. Barry to return, and yet she dreaded his coming. It was most mysterious. However, I had started Miss c.u.mberland thinking. She stopped eating and began to stare before her. Presently she said: "It is strange that we don"t hear from Buck.
What can have held him so long?"
"I regretted extremely that I had introduced the topic and cast about in my mind for another, but could not find one. I then expressed regret that I had revived her worries, but received in reply a smile in which there was no life: the very colour had died out from her cheeks. And she sat during the rest of the meal without speaking a word.
"Afterwards I went in with her to see Mr. c.u.mberland. His condition was not materially changed. The marvel of it grows upon me more and more. It is a freak which defies medical science. There lies a man at the point of dissolution. His body has died of old age, and yet the life principle remains. He does not eat--at least, the nourishment he takes is wholely negligible. But he still has energy. To be sure, he rarely moves about and his body remains practically inert. But we must never forget that the mind is a muscle and calls for continual rebuilding. And the mind of Mr. c.u.mberland is never inactive. It works ceaselessly. It will not permit him to sleep. For three days, now, as far as I can tell, he has not closed his eyes. It might be a.s.sumed that he is in a state of trance, but by a series of careful experiments, I have ascertained that he is constantly thinking in the most vigourous fashion.
"What does it mean? There is in the man a flame-like quality; something is burning in him every instant. But on what does the flame feed? I know that material cannot be created and that energy means dissolution of matter: but why does not the life of Joseph c.u.mberland dissolve?
"The subject possesses me. I dare not ponder it too steadily or my brain begins to whirl. I make no progress towards any reasonable solution. I only feel that I am living in the presence of an astounding mystery.
"Strange thoughts possess me. What is the fire that burns but does not consume Joe c.u.mberland? What is the thing in the wandering Dan Barry which Kate c.u.mberland fears and yet waits for? Why was it that Daniels trembled with dread when he started out to find a man who, by his own profession, he holds to be his best friend?
"You see how the mystery a.s.sumes shape? It is before me. It is in my hand. And yet I cannot grasp its elements.
"The story of a man, a horse, and a dog. What is the story?
"To-day I wandered about the great corrals and came to one which was bounded by a fence of extraordinary height. It was a small corral, but all the posts were of great size, and the rails were as large as ordinary posts. I inquired what strange beasts could be kept in such a pen, and the man-of-all-work of whom I asked replied: "That"s Satan"s corral."
"I guessed at some odd story. "The devil?" I cried, "Do they fence the devil in a corral?"
""Oh, ay," said the fellow, "he"s a devil, right enough. If we"d let him run with the other hosses he"d have cut "em to ribbons. That"s what kind of a devil he is!"
"A story of a man, a horse, and a dog. I think I have seen the great chain which bound the dog. Was that the place where they kept the horse?
"And, if so, what bonds are used for the man? And what sort of man can he be? One of gigantic size, no doubt, to mate his horse and his dog. A fierce and intractable nature, for otherwise Kate c.u.mberland could not dread him. And yet a man of singular values, for all this place seems to wait for his return. I catch the fire of expectancy. It eats into my flesh. Dreams haunt me night and day. What will be the end?
"Now I am going down to see Mr. c.u.mberland again. I know what I shall see--the flickering of the fire behind his eyes. The lightning glances, the gentle, rare voice, the wasted face; and by him will be Kate c.u.mberland; and they both will seem to be listening, listening--for what?
"No more to-night. But, Loughburne, you should be here; I feel that the like of this has never been upon the earth.
"Byrne."
CHAPTER XIX
SUSPENSE
He found them as he had expected, the girl beside the couch, and the old man p.r.o.ne upon it, wrapped to the chin in a gaudy Navajo blanket. But to-night his eyes were closed, a most unusual thing, and Byrne could look more closely at the aged face. For on occasions when the eyes were wide, it was like looking into the throat of a searchlight to stare at the features--all was blurred. He discovered now wrinkled and purple-stained lids under the deep shadow of the brows--and eyes were so sunken that there seemed to be no pupils there. Over the cheek bones the skin was drawn so tightly that it shone, and the cheeks fell away into cadaverous hollows. But the lips, beneath the s.h.a.g of grey beard, were tightly compressed. No, this was not sleep. It carried, as Byrne gazed, a connotation of swifter, fiercer thinking, than if the gaunt old man had stalked the floor and poured forth a tirade of words.
The girl came to meet the doctor. She said: "Will you use a narcotic?"
"Why?" asked Byrne. "He seems more quiet than usual."
"Look more closely," she whispered.
And when he obeyed, he saw that the whole body of Joe c.u.mberland quivered like an aspen, continually. So the finger of the duellist trembles on the trigger of his gun before he receives the signal to fire--a suspense more terrible than the actual face of death.
"A narcotic?" she pleaded. "Something to give him just one moment of full relaxation?"
"I can"t do it," said Byrne. "If his heart were a shade stronger, I should. But as it is, the only thing that sustains him is the force of his will-power. Do you want me to unnerve the very strength which keeps him alive?"
She shuddered.
"Do you mean that if he sleeps it will be--death?"
"I have told you before," said the doctor, "that there are phases of this case which I do not understand. I predict nothing with certainty.
But I very much fear that if your father falls into a complete slumber he will never waken from it. Once let his brain cease functioning and I fear that the heart will follow suit."
They stood on the farther side of the room and spoke in the softest of whispers, but now the deep, calm voice of the old man broke in: "Doc, they ain"t no use of worryin". They ain"t no use of medicine. All I need is quiet."
"Do you want to be alone?" asked the girl.
"No, not so long as you don"t make no noise. I can "most hear something, but your whisperin" shuts it off."
They obeyed him, with a glance at each other. And soon they caught the far off beat of a horse in a rapid gallop.
"Is it that?" cried Kate, leaning forward and touching her father"s hand. "Is that horse what you hear?"
"No, no!" he answered impatiently. "That ain"t what I hear. It ain"t no hoss that I hear!"
The hoof-beats grew louder--stopped before the house--steps sounded loud and rattling on the veranda--a door squeaked and slammed--and Buck Daniels stood before them. His hat was jammed down so far that his eyes were almost buried in the shadow of the brim; the bandana at his throat was twisted so that the knot lay over his right shoulder; he carried a heavy quirt in a hand that trembled so that the long lash seemed alive; a thousand bits of foam had dried upon his vest and stained it; the rowels of his spurs were caked and enmeshed with horsehair; dust covered his face and sweat furrowed it, and a keen scent of horse-sweat pa.s.sed from him through the room. For a moment he stood at the door, bracing himself with legs spread wide apart, and stared wildly about--then he reeled drunkenly across the room and fell into a chair, sprawling at full length.
No one else moved. Joe c.u.mberland had turned his head; Kate stood with her hand at her throat; the doctor had placed his hand behind his head, and there it stayed.
"Gimme smoke--quick!" said Buck Daniels. "Run out of Durham a thousan"
years ago!"
Kate ran into the next room and returned instantly with papers and a fresh sack of tobacco. On these materials Buck seized frantically, but his big fingers were shaking in a palsy, and the papers tore, one after another, as soon as he started to roll his smoke. "G.o.d!" he cried, in a burst of childish desperation, and collapsed again in the chair.
But Kate c.u.mberland picked up the papers and tobacco which he had dashed to the floor and rolled a cigarette with deft fingers. She placed it between his lips and held the match by which he lighted it. Once, twice, and again, he drew great breaths of smoke into his lungs, and then he could open his eyes and look at them. They were not easy eyes to meet.