Time to light up, Harkutt, aint it? said Wingate, tentatively.
Well, I was reckoning ez its such a wild night there wouldnt be any use keepin open, and when you fellows left Id just shut up for good and make things fast, said Harkutt, dubiously. Before his guests had time to fully weigh this delicate hint, another gust of wind shook the tenement, and even forced the unbolted upper part of the door to yield far enough to admit an eager current of humid air that seemed to justify the wisdom of Harkutts suggestion. Billings slowly and with a sigh assumed a sitting posture in the chair. The biscuit-nibbler selected a fresh dainty from the counter, and Wingate abstractedly walked to the window and rubbed the glass. Sky and water had already disappeared behind a curtain of darkness that was illuminated by a single point of lightthe lamp in the window of some invisible but nearer housewhich threw its rays across the glistening shallows in the road. Well, said Wingate, buttoning up his coat in slow dejection, I reckon I oughter be travelin to help the old woman do the chores before supper. He had just recognized the light in his own dining-room, and knew by that sign that his long-waiting helpmeet had finally done the chores herself.
Some folks have it mighty easy, said Billings, with long-drawn discontent, as he struggled to his feet. Youve only a step to go, and yers me and Peters thereindicating the biscuit-nibbler, who was beginning to show alarming signs of returning to the barrel againhev got to trapse five times that distance.
Moren half a mile, if it comes to that, said Peters, gloomily. He paused in putting on his overcoat as if thinking better of it, while even the more fortunate and contiguous Wingate languidly lapsed against the counter again.
The moment was a critical one. Billings was evidently also regretfully eying the chair he had just quitted. Harkutt resolved on a heroic effort.
Come, boys, he said, with brisk conviviality, take a parting drink with me before you go. Producing a black bottle from some obscurity beneath the counter that smelt strongly of india-rubber boots, he placed it with four glasses before his guests. Each made a feint of holding his glass against the opaque window while filling it, although nothing could be seen. A sudden tumult of wind and rain again shook the building, but even after it had passed the glass door still rattled violently.
Just see whats loose, Peters, said Billings; youre nearest it.
Peters, still holding the undrained glass in his hand, walked slowly towards it.
Its suthinor somebody outside, he said, hesitatingly.
The three others came eagerly to his side. Through the glass, clouded from within by their breath, and filmed from without by the rain, some vague object was moving, and what seemed to be a mop of tangled hair was apparently brushing against the pane. The door shook again, but less strongly. Billings pressed his face against the glass. Hol on, he said in a quick whisper,its Lige! But it was too late. Harkutt had already drawn the lower bolt, and a man stumbled from the outer obscurity into the darker room.
The inmates drew away as he leaned back for a moment against the door that closed behind him. Then dimly, but instinctively, discerning the glass of liquor which Wingate still mechanically held in his hand, he reached forward eagerly, took it from Wingates surprised and unresisting fingers, and drained it at a gulp. The four men laughed vaguely, but not as cheerfully as they might.
I was just shutting up, began Harkutt, dubiously.
I wont keep you a minit, said the intruder, nervously fumbling in the breast pocket of his hickory shirt. Its a matter of businessHarkuttIBut he was obliged to stop here to wipe his face and forehead with the ends of a loose handkerchief tied round his throat. From the action, and what could be seen of his pale, exhausted face, it was evident that the moisture upon it was beads of perspiration, and not the rain which some abnormal heat of his body was converting into vapor from his sodden garments as he stood there.
Ive got a document here, he began again, producing a roll of paper tremblingly from his pocket, that Id like you to glance over, and perhaps youdHis voice, which had been feverishly exalted, here broke and rattled with a cough.
Billings, Wingate, and Peters fell apart and looked out of the window. Its too dark to read anything now, Lige, said Harkutt, with evasive good humor, and I aint lightin up to-night.
But I can tell you the substance of it, said the man, with a faintness that however had all the distinctness of a whisper, if youll just step inside a minute. Its a matter of importance and a bargain
I reckon we must be goin, said Billings to the others, with marked emphasis. Were keepin Harkutt from shuttin up. Good-night! Good-night! added Peters and Wingate, ostentatiously following Billings hurriedly through the door. So long!
The door closed behind them, leaving Harkutt alone with his importunate intruder. Possibly his resentment at his customers selfish abandonment of him at this moment developed a vague spirit of opposition to them and mitigated his feeling towards Lige. He groped his way to the counter, struck a match, and lit a candle. Its feeble rays faintly illuminated the pale, drawn face of the applicant, set in a tangle of wet, unkempt, party-colored hair. It was not the face of an ordinary drunkard; although tremulous and sensitive from some artificial excitement, there was no ENGORGEMENT or congestion in the features or complexion, albeit they were morbid and unhealthy. The expression was of a suffering that was as much mental as physical, and yet in some vague way appeared unmeaningand unheroic.
I want to see you about selling my place on the creek. I want you to take it off my hands for a bargain. I want to get quit of it, at once, for just enough to take me out o this. I dont want any profit; only money enough to get away. His utterance, which had a certain kind of cultivation, here grew thick and harsh again, and he looked eagerly at the bottle which stood on the counter.
Look here, Lige, said Harkutt, not unkindly. Its too late to do anythin tonight. You come in to-morrow. He would have added when youre sober, but for a traders sense of politeness to a possible customer, and probably some doubt of the mans actual condition.
God knows where or what I may be tomorrow! It would kill me to go back and spend another night as the last, if I dont kill myself on the way to do it.
Harkutts face darkened grimly. It was indeed as Billings had said. The pitiable weakness of the mans manner not only made his desperation inadequate and ineffective, but even lent it all the cheapness of acting. And, as if to accent his simulation of a part, his fingers, feebly groping in his shirt bosom, slipped aimlessly and helplessly from the shining handle of a pistol in his pocket to wander hesitatingly towards the bottle on the counter.
Harkutt took the bottle, poured out a glass of the liquor, and pushed it before his companion, who drank it eagerly. Whether it gave him more confidence, or his attention was no longer diverted, he went on more collectedly and cheerfully, and with no trace of his previous desperation in his manner. Come, Harkutt, buy my place. Its a bargain, I tell you. Ill sell it cheap. I only want enough to get away with. Give me twenty-five dollars and its yours. See, theres the papersthe quitclaimall drawn up and signed. He drew the roll of paper from his pocket again, apparently forgetful of the adjacent weapon.