The Man on the Box

by Harold MacGrath

  XIII

  A RUNAWAY

  Four days passed. I might have used the word "sped," only that verbcould not be truthfully applied. Never before in the history of time(so our jehu thought) did four days cast their shadows more slowlyacross the dial of the hours. From noon till night there was a maddingnothing to do but polish bits and buckles and stirrups and ornamentalsilver. He would have been totally miserable but for the morning rides.These were worth while; for he was riding Pirate, and there was alwaysthat expectation of the unexpected. But Pirate behaved himselfpuzzlingly well. Fortunately for the jehu, these rides were always intothe north country. He was continually possessed with fear lest shewould make him drive through the shopping district. If he met Nancy, itwould be, in the parlance of the day, all off. Nancy would haverecognized him in a beard like a Cossack's; and here he was with theboy's face--the face she never would forget.

  He was desperately in love. I do not know what desperately in love is,my own love's course running smoothly enough; but I can testify that itwas making Mr. Robert thin and appetiteless. Every morning the impulsecame to him to tell her all; but every morning his courage oozed likeBob Acres', and his lips became dumb. I dare say that if she hadquestioned him he would have told her all; but for some reason she hadceased to inquire into his past. Possibly her young mind was occupiedwith pleasanter things.

  He became an accomplished butler, and served so well in rehearsals thatPierre could only grumble. One afternoon she superintended the comedy.She found a thousand faults with him, so many, in fact, that Pierre didnot understand what it meant, and became possessed with the vague ideathat she was hitting him over the groom's shoulder. He did not like it;and later, when they were alone, Warburton was distinctly impressedwith Pierre's displeasure.

  "You can not please _her_, and you can not please _me_. Bah! Zat eesvat comes uf teaching a groom table manners instead uf stable manners.And you vill smell uf horse! I do _not_ understand Mees Annesley; no!"

  "May I go now, Miss?"--ACT II]

  And there were other humiliations, petty ones. She chid him on havingthe stirrup too long or too short; the curb chain was rusting; thispiece of ornamental silver did not shine like that one; Jane's fetlockswere too long; Pirate's hoofs weren't thoroughly oiled. With doggedpatience he tried to remedy all these faults. It was only when they hadhad a romping run down the road that this spirit fell away from her,and she talked pleasantly.

  Twice he ran into Karloff; but that shrewd student of human nature didnot consider my hero worth studying; a grave mistake on his part, as hewas presently to learn. He was a handsome man, and the only thing henoticed about the groom was his handsome face. He considered it a crimefor a servant to be endowed with personal attractions. A servant in theeyes of a Russian noble excites less interest than a breedless dog. Mr.Robert made no complaint; he was very well satisfied to have the countignore him entirely. Once he met the count in the Turkish room, where,in the capacity of butler, he served liqueur and cigars. There was acertain grim humor in lighting his rival's cigar for him. This servicewas a test of his ability to pass through a room without knocking overtaborets and chairs. Another time they met, when Betty and the two ofthem took a long ride. Karloff _did_ notice how well the groom rode hismettlesome mount, being himself a soldier and a daring horseman.Warburton had some trouble. Pirate did not take to the idea ofbreathing Jane and Dick's dust; he wanted to lead these second-raters.Mr. James' arms ached that afternoon from the effort he had put forthto restrain Pirate and keep him in his proper place, five yards to therear.

  Nothing happened Sunday; the day went by uneventfully. He escaped theordeal of driving her to the Chevy Chase Club, William being up thatafternoon.

  Then Monday came, and with it Betty's curious determination to ridePirate.

  "You wish to ride Pirate, Miss?" exclaimed James, his horror of theidea openly manifest.

  "Saddle him for me,"--peremptorily. "I desire to ride him. I find Janeisn't exciting enough."

  "Pardon me, Miss Annesley," he said, "but I had rather you would notmake the attempt."

  "You had rather I would not make the attempt?"--slowly repeating thewords, making a knife of each one of them, tipped with the poison ofher contempt. "I do not believe I quite understand you."

  He bravely met the angry flash of her eyes. There were times when thecolor of these eyes did not resemble sapphires; rather disks ofgun-metal, caused by a sudden dilation of the pupils.

  "Yes, Miss, I had rather you would not."

  "James, you forget yourself. Saddle Pirate, and take Jane back to thestables. Besides, Jane has a bit of a cold." She slapped her boot withher riding-crop and indolently studied the scurrying clouds overhead;for the day was windy.

  Soberly Warburton obeyed. He was hurt and angry, and he knew not whatbesides. Heavens, if anything should happen to her! His hopes rose abit. Pirate had shown no temper so far that morning. He docilelypermitted his master to put on the side-saddle. But as he came out intothe air again, he threw forward his ears, stretched out his long blackneck, took in a great breath, and whinnied a hoarse challenge to theelements. William had already saddled Dick, who looked askance at hisblack rival's small compact heels.

  "I am afraid of him," said Warburton, as he returned. "He will run awaywith you. I did not wholly subjugate him the other day. He pulls tillmy arms ache."

  Miss Annesley shrugged and patted Pirate on the nose and offered him alump of sugar. The thirst for freedom and a wild run down the windlurked in Pirate's far-off gazing eyes, and he ignored the sign ofconciliation which his mistress made him.

  "I am not afraid of him. Besides, Dick can outrun and out jump him."

  This did not reassure Warburton, nor did he know what this comparisonmeant, being an ordinary mortal.

  "With all respect to you, Miss Annesley, I am sorry that you aredetermined to ride him. He is most emphatically not a lady's horse, andyou have never ridden him. Your skirts will irritate him, and if hesees your crop, he'll bolt."

  She did not reply, but merely signified her desire to mount. No soonerwas she up, however, than she secretly regretted her caprice; but notfor a hundred worlds would she have permitted this groom to know. ButPirate, with that rare instinct of the horse, knew that his mistresswas not sure of him. He showed the whites of his eyes and began pawingthe gravel. The girl glanced covertly at her groom and found no colorin his cheeks. Two small muscular lumps appeared at the corners of herjaws. She would ride Pirate, and nothing should stop her; nothing,nothing. Womanlike, knowing herself to be in the wrong, she was furious.

  And Pirate surprised them both. During the first mile he behavedhimself in the most gentlemanly fashion; and if he shied once or twice,waltzed a little, it was only because he was full of life and spirit.They trotted, they cantered, ran and walked. Warburton, hithertoholding himself in readiness for whatever might happen, relaxed thetension of his muscles, and his shoulders sank relievedly. Perhaps,after all, his alarm had been needless. The trouble with Pirate mightbe the infrequency with which he had been saddled and ridden. But heknew that the girl would not soon forget his interference. There wouldbe more humiliations, more bitter pills for him to swallow. It pleasedhim, however, to note the ease with which Dick kept pace with Pirate.

  As for the most beautiful person in all the great world, I am afraidthat she was beginning to feel self-important. Now that her confidencewas fully restored, she never once spoke to, or looked at, her groom.Occasionally from the corner of her eye she could see the white patchon Dick's nose.

  "James," she said maliciously and suddenly, "go back five yards. I wishto ride alone."

  Warburton, his face burning, fell back. And thus she made her firstmistake. The second and final mistake came immediately after. Shetouched Pirate with her heel, and he broke from a trot into a livelygallop. Dick, without a touch of the boot, kept his distance to a foot.Pirate, no longer seeing Dick at his side, concluded that he had lefthis rival behind; and the suppressed mischief in his black head began
to find an outlet. Steadily he arched his neck; steadily but surely hedrew down on the reins. The girl felt the effort and tried to frustrateit. In backing her pull with her right hand, the end of her cropflashed down the side of Pirate's head--the finishing touch. There wasa wild leap, a blur of dust, and Mr. Pirate, well named after hisfreebooting sires, his head down where he wanted it, his feet rollinglike a snare-drum, Mr. Pirate ran away, headed for heaven only knewwhere.

  For a brief moment Warburton lost his nerve; he was struck with horror.If she could not hold her seat, she would be killed or dreadfully hurt,and perhaps disfigured. It seemed rather strange, as he recalled it,that Dick, instead of himself, should have taken the initiative. Thenoble sorrel, formerly a cavalry horse, shot forward magnificently.Doubtless his horse-sense took in the situation, or else he did notlike the thought of yonder proud, supercilious show-horse beating himin a running race. So, a very fast mile was put to the rear.

  The girl, appreciating her peril, did as all good horsewomen would havedone: locked her knee on the horn and held on. The rush of wind torethe pins from her hair which, like a golden plume, stretched out behindher. (Have you ever read anything like this before? I dare say. But toWarburton and the girl, it never occurred that other persons had gonethrough like episodes. It was real, and actual, and single, and tragicto them.)

  The distance between the two horses began slowly to lessen, andWarburton understood, in a nebulous way, what the girl had meant whenshe said that Dick could outrun Pirate. If Pirate kept to the road,Dick would bring him down; but if Pirate took it into his head to vaulta fence! Warburton shuddered. Faster, faster, over this roll of earth,clattering across this bridge, around this curve and that angle. Oncethe sight of a team drawing a huge grain-wagon sent a shiver toWarburton's heart. But they thundered past with a foot to spare. Theold negro on the seat stared after them, his ebony face drawn withwonder and the whites of his eyes showing.

  Foot by foot, yard by yard, the space lessened, till Dick's nose waswithin three feet of Pirate's flowing tail. Warburton fairly liftedDick along with his knees. I only wish I could describe the race as myjehu told it to me. The description held me by the throat. I could seethe flashing by of trees and houses and fields; the scampering ofpiccaninnies across the road; the horses from the meadows dashing up tothe fences and whinnying; the fine stone and dust which Pirate'srattling heels threw into my jehu's face and eyes; the old painthrobbing anew in his leg. And when he finally drew alongside the blackbrute and saw the white, set face of the girl he loved, I can imagineno greater moment but one in his life. There was no fear on her face,but there was appeal in her eyes as she half turned her head. He leanedacross the intervening space and slid his arm around her waist. The twohorses came together and twisted his leg cruelly. His jaws snapped.

  "Let the stirrup go!" he cried. "Let go, quick!" She heard him. "Yourknee from the horn! I can't keep them together any longer. Now!"

  Brave and plucky and cool she was. She obeyed him instantly. There wasa mighty heave, a terrible straining of the back and the knees, andPirate was freed of his precious burden. The hardest part of it camenow. Dick could not be made to slow down abruptly. He wanted to keepright on after his rival. So, between holding the girl with his rightarm and pulling the horse with his left, Warburton saw that he couldkeep up this terrible effort but a very short time. Her arms wereconvulsively wound around his neck, and this added to the strain. Not aword did she say; her eyes were closed, as if she expected any momentto be dashed to the earth.

  But Dick was only a mortal horse. The fierce run and the double burdenbegan to tell, and shortly his head came up. Warburton stopped him. Thegirl slid to the ground, and in a moment he was at her side. And justin time. The reaction was too much for her. Dazedly she brushed herhair from her eyes, stared wildly at Warburton, and fainted. He did notcatch her with that graceful precision which on the stage is sofamiliar to us. No. He was lucky to snatch one of her arms, thuspreventing her head from striking the road. He dragged her to the sideof the highway and rested her head on his shaking knees. Things grewdark for a time. To tell the truth, he himself was very close to thatfeminine weakness which the old fellows, in their rough and readyplays, used to call "vapours". But he forced his heart to steady itself.

  And what do you suppose the rascal did--with nobody but Dick to watchhim? Why, he did what any healthy young man in love would have done:pressed his lips to the girl's hair, his eyes filling and half a sob inhis parched throat. He dolefully pictured himself a modern Antiochus,dying of love and never confessing it. Then he kissed her hair again;only her hair, for somehow he felt that her lips and cheeks were as yetinviolable to his touch. I should have liked to see the picture theymade: the panting horse a dozen rods away, looking at them inquiringly;the girl in her dust-covered habit, her hair spreading out like seaweedon a wave, her white face, her figure showing its graceful lines; myjehu, his hair matted to his brow, the streaks of dust and perspirationon his face, the fear and love and longing in his dark eyes. Irecollect a picture called _Love and Honor,_ or something like that. Itnever appealed to me. It lacked action. It simply represented a fellowurging a girl to elope with him. Both of them were immaculatelydressed. But here, on this old highway leading into Maryland, wassomething real. A battle had been fought and won.

  Fainting is but transitory; by and by she opened her eyes, and staredvaguely into the face above her. I do not know what she saw there;whatever it was it caused her to struggle to her feet. There was colorenough in her cheeks now; and there was a question, too, in her eyes.Of Warburton it asked, "What did you do when I lay there unconscious?"I'm afraid there was color in his face, too. Her gaze immediately rovedup the road. There was no Pirate, only a haze of dust. Doubtless he wasstill going it, delighted over the trouble he had managed to bringabout. Warburton knelt at the girl's side and brushed the dust from herskirt. She eyed him curiously. I shan't say that she smiled; I don'tknow, for I wasn't there.

  Meanwhile she made several futile attempts to put up her hair, and as afinality she braided it and let it hang down her back. Suddenly andunaccountably she grew angry--angry at herself, at James, at therascally horse that had brought her to this pass. Warburton sawsomething of this emotion in her eyes, and to avoid the storm he walkedover to Dick, picked up the reins, and led him back.

  "If you will mount Dick, Miss," he said, "I will lead him home. It'sabout five miles, I should say."

  The futility and absurdity of her anger aroused her sense of theridiculous; and a smile, warm and merry, flashed over her stained face.It surprised her groom.

  "Thank you, James. You were right. I ought not to have ridden Pirate. Iam punished for my conceit. Five miles? It will be a long walk."

  "I shan't mind it in the least," replied James, inordinately happy; andhe helped her to the saddle and adjusted the left stirrup.

  So the journey home began. Strangely enough, neither seemed to careparticularly what had or might become of Pirate. He disappeared,mentally and physically. One thing dampened the journey for Warburton.His "game leg" ached cruelly, and after the second mile (which wastraversed without speech from either of them), he fell into a slightlimp. From her seat above and behind him, she saw this limp.

  "You have hurt yourself?" she asked gently.

  "Not to-day, Miss,"--briefly.

  "When he ran away with you?"

  "No. It's an old trouble."

  "While you were a soldier?"

  "Yes."

  "How?"

  He turned in surprise. All these questions were rather unusual.Nevertheless he answered her, and truthfully.

  "I was shot in the leg by a drunken Indian."

  "While on duty?"

  "Yes." Unconsciously he was forgetting to add "Miss", which was thepatent of his servility. And I do not think that just then she noticedthis subtraction from the respect due her.

  It was eleven o'clock when they arrived at the gates. She dismountedalone. Warburton was visibly done up.

  "Any ord
ers for this afternoon, Miss?"

  "I shall want the victoria at three. I have some shopping to do and acall to make. Send William after Pirate. I am very grateful for whatyou have done."

  He made no reply, for he saw her father coming down the steps.

  "Betty," said the colonel, pale and worried, "have you been ridingPirate? Where is he, and what in the world has happened?"--noting thedust on her habit and her tangled hair.

  She explained: she told the story rather coolly, Warburton thought, butshe left out no detail.

  "You have James to thank for my safety, father. He was very calm andclear-headed."

  _Calm and clear-headed!_ thought Warburton.

  The girl then entered the house, humming. Most women would have got outthe lavender salts and lain down the rest of the day, considering theroutine of a fashionable dinner, which was the chief duty of theevening.

  "I am grateful to you, James. My daughter is directly in your care whenshe rides, and I give you full authority. Never permit her to mount anyhorse but her own. She is all I have; and if anything should happen toher--"

  "Yes, sir; I understand."

  The colonel followed his daughter; and Warburton led Dick to thestables, gave his orders to William, and flung himself down on his cot.He was dead tired. And the hour he had dreaded was come! He was todrive her through the shopping district. Well, so be it. If any oneexposed him, very good. This groom business was decidedly like work.And there was that confounded dinner-party, and he would have to limparound a table and carry soup plates! And as likely as not he would runinto the very last person he expected to see.

  Which he did.