Active Service, Stephen Crane [classic books for 11 year olds TXT] 📗

To Be Electrified by The Speech Was

Coke Himself. He Saw With A Kind Of Sub-Conscious

Amazement This Volley Of Bird-Shot Take Effect Upon

The Face Of The Old Professor. The Face Of Marjory

Flushed crimson As If Her Mind Had Sprung To A Fear

That If Coke Could Develop Ability In this Singular

Fashion He Might Succeed in humiliating her Father In

The Street In the Presence Of The Seven Students,  Her

Mother,  Coleman And-Herself. She Had Felt The Bird-

Shot Sting her Father.

 

When Coke Had Launched forth,  Coleman With His

Legs Stretched far Apart Had Just Struck A Match On

The Wall Of The House And Was About To Light A Cigar.

His Groom Was Leading up His Horse. He Saw The

Value Of Coke'S Argument More Appreciatively And

Sooner Perhaps Than Did Coke. The Match Dropped

From His Fingers,  And In the White Sunshine And Still

Air It Burnt On The Pavement Orange Coloured and

With Langour. Coleman Held His Cigar With All Five

Fingers-In A Manner Out Of All The Laws Of Smoking.

He Turned toward Coke. There Was Danger In the

Moment,  But Then In a Flash It Came Upon Him That

His Role Was Not Of Squabbling with Coke,  Far Less Of

Punching him. On The Contrary,  He Was To Act The

Part Of A Cool And Instructed man Who Refused to Be

Waylaid Into Foolishness By The Outcries Of This

Pouting youngster And Who Placed himself In complete

Deference To The Wishes Of The Professor. Before The

Professor Had Time To Embark Upon Any Reply To Coke,

Coleman Was At The Side Of The Carriage And,  With A

Fine Assumption Of Distress,  Was Saying: "Professor,

I Could Very Easily Ride Back To Agrinion Alone. It

Would Be All Right. I Don'T Want To-"

 

To His Surprise The Professor Waved at Him To Be

Silent As If He Were A Mere Child. The Old Man'S Face

Was Set With The Resolution Of Exactly What Hewas

Going to Say To Coke. He Began In measured tone,

Speaking with Feeling,  But With No Trace Of Anger.

 

" Mr. Coke,  It Has Probably Escaped your Attention

That Mr. Coleman,  At What I Consider A Great Deal Of

Peril To Himself,  Came Out To Rescue This Party-You

And Others-And Although He Studiously Disclaims All

Merit In his Finding us And Bringing us In,  I Do Not

Regard It In that Way,  And I Am Surprised that Any

Member Of This Party Should Conduct Himself In

This Manner Toward A Man Who Has Been Most

Devotedly And Generously At Our Service." It Was

At This Time That The Professor Raised himself And

Shook His Finger At Coke,  His Voice Now Ringing with

Scorn. In such Moments Words Came To Him And

Formed themselves Into Sentences Almost Too Rapidly

For Him To Speak Them. " You Are One Of The Most

Remarkable Products Of Our Civilisation Which I Have

Yet Come Upon. What Do You Mean,  Sir? Where

Are Your Senses? Do You Think That All This Pulling

And Pucking is Manhood? I Will Tell You What I Will

Do With You. I Thought I Brought Out Eight Students

To Greece,  But When I Find That I Brought Out,  Seven

Students And--Er--An--Ourang-Outang--Don'T Get

Angry,  Sir--I Don'T Care For Your Anger--I Say When I

Discover This I Am Naturally Puzzled for A Moment. I

Will Leave You To The Judgment Of Your Peers. Young

Gentlemen! "

Of The Seven Heads Of The Forward Carriage None

Had To Be Turned. All Had Been Turned since The

Beginning of The Talk. If The Professor'S Speech Had

Been Delivered in one Of The Class-Rooms Of

Washurst They Would Have Glowed with Delight Over The

Butchery Of Coke,  But They Felt Its Portentous Aspect.

Butchery Here In greece Thousands Of Miles From

Home Presented to Them More Of The Emphasis Of

Downright Death And Destruction. The Professor

Called out " Young Gentlemen,  I Have Done All That I

Can Do Without Using force,  Which,  Much To My Regret,

Is Impracticable. If You Will Persuade Your Fellow

Student To Accompany You I Think Our Consciences

Will Be The Better For Not Having left A Weak Minded

Brother Alone Among The By-Paths."

The Valuable Aggregation Of Intelligence And Refine-

Ment Which Decorated the Interior Of The First Carriage

Did Not Hesitate Over Answering this Appeal. In fact,

His Fellow Students Had Worried among Themselves

Over Coke,  And Their Desire To See Him Come Out Of His

Troubles In fair Condition Was Intensified by The Fact

That They Had Lately Concentrated much Thought Upon

Him. There Was A Somewhat Comic Pretense Of

Speaking so That Only Coke Could Hear. Their Chorus Was

Law Sung. " Oh,  Cheese It,  Coke. Let Up On Your-Self, 

You Blind Ass. Wait Till You Get To Athens And

Then Go And Act Like A Monkey. All This Is No

Good-"

 

The Advice Which Came From The Carriage Was All In

One Direction,  And There Was So Much Of It That The

Hum Of Voices Sounded like A Wind Blowing through A

Forest.

 

Coke Spun Suddenly And Said Something to Nora

Black. Nora Laughed rather Loudly,  And Then The Two

Turned squarely And The Wainwright Party Contemplated

What Were Surely At That Time The Two Most Insolent

Backs In the World.

 

The Professor Looked as If He Might Be Going to

Have A Fit. Mrs. Wainwright Lifted her Eyes Toward

Heaven,  And Flinging out Her Trembling hands,  Cried:

" Oh,  What An Outrage. What An Outrage! That

Minx-" The Concensus Of Opinion In the First Carriage

Was Perfectly Expressed by Peter Tounley,  Who

With A Deep Drawn Breath,  Said : " Well,  I'M Damned! "

Marjory Had Moaned and Lowered her Head As From A

Sense Of Complete Personal Shame. Coleman Lit His

Cigar And Mounted his Horse. " Well,  I Suppose There

Is Nothing for It But To Be Off,  Professor? " His Tone

Was Full Of Regret,  With Sort Of Poetic Regret. For A

Moment The Professor Looked at Him Blankly,  And Then

Gradually Recovered part Of His Usual Manner. " Yes,"

He Said Sadly,  " There Is Nothing for It But To Go On."

At A Word From The Dragoman,  The Two Impatient

Drivers Spoke Gutturally To Their Horses And The Car-

Riages Whirled out Of Arta. Coleman,  His Dragoman

And The Groom Trotted in the Dust From The Wheels Of

The Wainwright Carriage. The Correspondent Always

Found His Reflective Faculties Improved by The Constant

Pounding of A Horse On The Trot,  And He Was Not Sorry

To Have Now A Period For Reflection,  As Well As This

Artificial Stimulant. As He Viewed the Game He Had In his

Hand About All The Cards That Were Valuable. In fact,

He Considered that The Only Ace Against Him Was Mrs.

Wainwright. He Had Always Regarded her As A Stupid

Person,  Concealing herself Behind A Mass Of Trivialities

Which Were All Conventional,  But He Thought Now That

The More Stupid She Was And The More Conventional In

Her Triviality The More She Approached to Being the

Very Ace Of Trumps Itself. She Was Just The Sort Of A

Card That Would Come Upon The Table Mid The Neat

Play Of Experts And By Some Inexplicable Arrangement

Of Circumstance,  Lose A Whole Game For The Wrong Man.

After Mrs. Wainwright He Worried over The Students.

He Believed them To Be Reasonable Enough;

In Fact,  He Honoured them Distinctly In regard To Their

Powers Of Reason,  But He Knew That People Generally

Hated a Row. It,  Put Them Off Their Balance,  Made

Them Sweat Over A Lot Of Pros And Cons,  And Prevented

Them From Thinking for A Time At Least Only Of Themselves.

Then They Came To Resent The Principals In a

Row. Of Course The Principal,  Who Was Thought To Be

In The Wrong,  Was The Most Rescnted,  But Coleman Be-

Lieved that,  After All,  People Always Came To Resent The

Other Principal,  Or At Least Be Impatient And Suspicious

Of Him. If He Was A Correct Person,  Why Was

He In a Row At All? The Principal Who Had Been In

The Right Often Brought This Impatience And Suspicion

Upon Himself,  No Doubt,  By Never Letting the Matter

End,  Continuing to Yawp About His Virtuous Suffering,

And Not Allowing people To Return To The Steady

Contemplation Of Their Own Affairs. As A Precautionary

Measure He Decided to Say Nothing at All About The

Late Trouble,  Unless Some One Addressed him Upon It.

Even Then He Would Be Serenely Laconic. He Felt That

He Must Be Popular With The Seven Students. In the

First Place,  It Was Nice That In the Presence Of Marjory

They Should Like Him,  And In the Second Place He

Feared to Displease Them As A Body Because He Believed

That He Had Some Dignity. Hoodlums Are Seldom

Dangerous To Other Hoodlums,  But If They Catch

Pomposity Alone In the Field,  Pomposity Is Their Prey.

They Tear Him To Mere Bloody Ribbons,  Amid Heartless

Shrieks. When Coleman Put Himself On The Same

Basis With The Students,  He Could Cope With Them

Easily,  But He Did Not Want The Wild Pack After Him

When Marjory Could See The Chase. And So Be Rea-

Soned that His Best Attitude Was To Be One Of Rather

Taciturn Serenity.

 

On The Hard Military Road The Hoofs Of The Horses

Made Such Clatter That It Was Practically Impossible To

Hold Talk Between The Carriages And The Horsemen

Without All Parties Bellowing. The Professor,  How-

Ever,  Strove To Overcome The Difficulties. He Was

Apparently Undergoing a Great Amiability Toward

Coleman. Frequently He Turned with A Bright Face,  And

Pointing to Some Object In the Landscape,  Obviously

Tried to Convey Something entertaining to Coleman'S

Mind. Coleman Could See His Lips Mouth The Words.

He Always Nodded cheerily In answer And Yelled.

 

The Road Ultimately Became That Straight Lance-Handle

Which Coleman-It Seemed as If Many Years Had

Passed-Had Traversed with His Dragoman And The

Funny Little Carriers. He Was Fixing in his Mind A

Possible Story To The Wainwrights About The Snake And

His First Dead Turk. But Suddenly The Carriages Left

This Road And Began A Circuit Of The Gulf Of Arta,

Winding about An Endless Series Of Promontories. The

Journey Developed into An Excess Of Dust Whirling from

A Road,  Which Half Circled the Waist Of Cape After Cape.

All Dramatics Were Lost In the Rumble Of Wheels And

In The Click Of Hoofs. They Passed a Little Soldier

Leading a Prisoner By A String. They Passed more

Frightened peasants,  Who Seemed resolved to Flee Down

Into The Very Boots Of Greece. And People Looked at

Them With Scowls,  Envying them Their Speed. At The

Little Town From Which Coleman Embarked at One Stage

Of The Upward Journey,  They Found Crowds In the

Streets. There Was No Longer Any Laughter,  Any Confidence,

Any Vim. All The Spirit Of The Visible Greek

Nation Seemed to Have Been Knocked out Of It In two

Blows. But Still They Talked and Never Ceased talking.

Coleman Noticed that The Most Curious Changes Had

Come Upon Them Since His Journey To The Frontier.

They No Longer Approved of Foreigners. They Seemed

To Blame The Travellers For Something which Had

Transpired in the Past Few Days. It Was Not That They

Really Blamed the Travellers For The Nation'S Calamity:

It Was Simply That Their Minds Were Half Stunned by

The News Of Defeats,  And,  Not Thinking for A Moment To

Blame Themselves,  Or Even Not Thinking to Attribute

The Defeats To Mere Numbers And Skill,  They Were

Savagely Eager To Fasten It Upon Something near Enough

At Hand For The Operation Of Vengeance.

 

Coleman Perceived that The Dragoman,  All His Former

Plumage Gone,  Was Whining and Snivelling as He Argued

To A Dark-Browed crowd That Was Running beside The

Cavalcade. The Groom,  Who Always Had Been A

Miraculously Laconic Man,  Was Suddenly Launched forth

Garrulously. The,  Drivers,  From Their High Seats,  Palavered

Like Mad Men,  Driving with Oat Hand And Gesturing

With The Other,  Explaining evidently Their Own Great

Innocence.

 

Coleman Saw That There Was Trouble,  But He Only Sat

More Stiffly In his Saddle. The Eternal Gabble Moved

Him To Despise The Situation. At Any Rate,  The Travellers

Would Soon Be Out Of This Town And On To A More

Sensible Region.

 

However He Saw The Driver Of The First Carriage Sud-

Denly Pull Up Boforg A Little Blackened coffee Shop And

Inn. The Dragman Spurred forward And Began Wild

Expostulation. The Second Carriage Pulled close Behind

The Other. The Crowd,  Murmuring like A Roman Mob In

Nero'S Time,  Closed around Them.

Chapter 20