by Charles King
CHAPTER VI.
And all day long the storm beat upon the substantial buildings of theold barracks and flooded the low ground about the sheds and stables.Drills for the infantry were necessarily suspended, several sentries,even, being taken off their posts. The men clustered in the squad-roomsand listened with more or less credulity to the theories andconfirmatory statements of fact as related by the imaginative orloquacious of their number. The majority of the officers gathered underthe flaring lamp-lights at the sutler's store and occupied themselvespretty much as did their inferiors in grade, though poker andpunch--specialties of Mr. Finkbein, the sutler--lent additional color tothe stories in circulation.
From this congress the better element of the commissioned force wasabsent, the names, nationalities, and idiomatic peculiarities of speechof the individual members being identical in most instances with thoseof their comrades in arms in the ranks. "Brax" had summoned Minor,Lawrence, Kinsey, and Dryden to hear what the post surgeon had to say onhis return, but cautioned them to keep quiet. As a result of thisprecaution, the mystery of the situation became redoubled by oneo'clock, and was intensified by two, when it was announced that PrivateDawson had attempted to break away out of the hospital after a visitfrom the same doctor in his professional capacity. People were temptedout on their galleries in the driving storm, and colored servantsflitted from kitchen to kitchen to gather or dispense new rumors, butnobody knew what to make of it when, soon after two, an orderly rode infrom town dripping with mud and wet, delivered a note to the colonel,and took one from him to Mr. Ferry, now sole representative of theofficers of Battery "X" present for duty. Ferry in return sent thebedraggled horseman on to the battery quarters with an order to thefirst sergeant, and in about fifteen minutes a sergeant and two men,mounted and each leading a spare horse, appeared under Ferry's gallery,and that officer proceeded to occupy one of the vacant saddles, and,followed by his party, went clattering out of the sally-port andsplashing over to the levee. Stable-call sounded as usual at fouro'clock, and, for the first time in the record of that disciplinedorganization since the devastating hand of Yellow Jack was laid upon itthe previous year, no officer appeared to supervise the grooming andfeeding. Two of them were at the post, however. Mr. Doyle, in arrest oncharge of absence without leave, was escorted to his quarters aboutfour-fifteen, and was promptly visited by sympathizing and inquisitivecomrades from the Hotel Finkbein, while Mr. Ferry, who had effected thearrest, was detained making his report to the post commander. Night cameon apace, the wind began to die away with the going down of the sun, therain ceased to fall, a pallid moon began peering at odd intervalsthrough rifts in the cloudy veil, when Cram rode splashing intobarracks, worn with anxiety and care, at eleven o'clock, and, stoppingonly for a moment to take his wife in his arms and kiss her anxious faceand shake his head in response to her eager query for news of Waring, hehurried down-stairs again and over to Doyle's quarters. All was darknessthere, but he never hesitated. Tramping loudly over the gallery, hebanged at the door, then, turning the knob, intending to burst right in,as was the way in the rough old days, was surprised to find the boltset.
"Doyle, open. I want to see you at once."
All silence within.
"Doyle, open, or, if you are too drunk to get up, I'll kick in thedoor."
A groan, a whispered colloquy, then the rattle of bolt and chain. Thedoor opened about an inch, and an oily Irish voice inquired,--
"Hwat's wanted, capt'in?"
"You here?" exclaimed Cram, in disgust. "What business have you in thisgarrison? If the colonel knew it, you'd be driven out at the point ofthe bayonet."
"Sure where should wife be but at her husband's side whin he's sick andsufferin'? Didn't they root him out of bed and comfort this day and ridehim down like a felon in all the storm? Sure it was the doughboys'orders, sir. I told Doyle the capt'in niver would have----"
"Oh, be quiet: I must see Doyle, and at once."
"Sure he's not able, capt'in. You know how it is wid him: he's thatsinsitive he couldn't bear to talk of the disgrace he's bringin' on thecapt'in and the batthery, and I knowed he'd been dhrinkin', sir, and Icame back to look for him, but he'd got started, capt'in, and it's----"
"Stop this talk! He wasn't drinking at all until you came back here tohound him. Open that door, or a file of the guard will."
"Och! thin wait till I'm dressed, fur dacency's sake, capt'in. Sure I'llthry and wake him."
And then more whispering, the clink of glass, maudlin protestation inDoyle's thick tones. Cram banged at the door and demanded instantobedience. Admitted at last, he strode to the side of an ordinaryhospital cot, over which the mosquito-bar was now ostentatiously drawn,and upon which was stretched the bulky frame of the big Irishman, hisred, blear-eyed, bloated face half covered in his arms. The close airreeked with the fumes of whiskey. In her distress lest Jim should taketoo much, the claimant of his name and protection had evidently beensequestrating a large share for herself.
"How on earth did you get here? Your house was flooded all day," angrilyasked Cram.
"Sure we made a raft, sir,--'Louette and me,--and poled over to thelevee, and I walked every fut of the way down to follow me husband, as Iswore I would whin we was married. I'd 'a' come in Anatole's boat, sir,but 'twas gone,--gone since last night. Did ye know that, capt'in?"
A groan and a feverish toss from the occupant of the narrow bedinterrupted her.
"Hush, Jim darlin'! Here's the capt'in to see you and tell you he's comeback to have you roighted. Sure how could a poor fellow be expected tocome home in all that awful storm this mornin', capt'in? 'Tis for notcomin' the colonel had him under arrest; but I tell him the capt'in 'llsee him through."
But Cram pushed her aside as she still interposed between him and thebed.
"Doyle, look up and answer. Doyle, I say!"
Again vehement protestations, and now an outburst of tears andpleadings, from the woman.
"Oh, he can't understand you, capt'in. Ah, don't be hard on him. Onlythis mornin' he was sayin' how the capt'in reminded him of the ouldfoine days whin the officers was all gintlemen and soldiers. He's truerto ye than all the rest of thim, sir. D'ye moind that, capt'in? Yewouldn't belave it, mabby, but there's them that can tell ye Loot'nantWaring was no friend of yours, sir, and worse than that, if ouldLascelles could spake now--but there's thim left that can, glory be toGod!"
"Oh, for God's sake shut up!" spoke Cram, roughly, goaded beyond allpatience. "Doyle, answer me!" And he shook him hard. "You were at thePelican last night, and you saw Mr. Waring and spoke with him. What didhe want of you? Where did he go? Who were with him? Was there anyquarrel? Answer, I say! Do you know?" But maudlin moaning andincoherencies were all that Cram could extract from the prostrate man.Again the woman interposed, eager, tearful.
"Sure he was there, capt'in, he _was_ there; he told me of it whin Ifetched him home last night to git him out of the storm and away fromthat place; but he's too dhrunk now to talk. Sure there was no gittin'down here to barx for anybody. The cabman, sir, said no carriage couldmake it."
"What cabman? That's one thing I want to know. Who is he? What became ofhim?"
"Sure and how do I know, sir? He was a quiet, dacent man, sir; the samethat Mr. Waring bate so cruel and made Jeffers kick and bate him too. Isaw it all."
"And was he at the Pelican last night? I must know."
"Sure he was indade, sir. Doyle said so whin I fetched him home, andthough he can't tell you now, sir, he told me thin. They all came downto the Pelican, sir, Waring and Lascelles and the other gintleman, andthey had dhrink, and there was trouble between the Frenchman andWaring,--sure you can't blame him, wid his wife goin' on so wid theloot'nant all the last month,--and blows was struck, and Doyleinterposed to stop it, sir, loike the gintleman that he is, and thecab-driver took a hand and pitched him out into the mud. Sure he'd beendhrinkin' a little, sir, and was aisy upset, but that's all he knows.The carriage drove away, and there was three of thim, and poor Doyle gotcaught
out there in the mud and in the storm, and 'twas me wint out widDawson and another of the byes and fetched him in. And we niver heerd ofthe murther at all at all, sir, until I came down here to-day, that'sGod's troot', and he'll tell ye so whin he's sober," she ended,breathless, reckless of her descriptive confusion of Doyle and Divinity.
And still the Irishman lay there, limp, soggy, senseless, and at last,dismayed and disheartened, the captain turned away.
"Promise to sober him up by reveille, and you may stay. But hear this:if he cannot answer for himself by that time, out you go in the batterycart with a policeman to take you to the calaboose." And then he left.
No sooner had his footsteps died away than the woman turned on herpatient, now struggling to a sitting posture.
"Lie still, you thafe and cur, and swear you to every word I say, unlessyou'd hang in his place. Dhrink this, now, and go to slape, and be riddyto tell the story I give ye in the mornin', or may the knife ye drove inthat poor mummy's throat come back to cut your coward heart out."
And Doyle, shivering, sobbing, crazed with drink and fear, covered hiseyes with his hands and threw himself back on his hot and steamingpillow.
The morning sun rose brilliant and cloudless as the horses of thebattery came forth from the dark interior of the stable and, afterwatering at the long wooden trough on the platform, were led away bytheir white-frocked grooms, each section to its own picket-line. Ferry,supervising the duty, presently caught sight of the tall muscular formof his captain coming briskly around the corner, little Pierce trippingalong by his side. Cram acknowledged the salute of the battery officerof the day in hurried fashion.
"Good-morning, Ferry," he said. "Tell me, who were there when you gotDoyle away from that woman yesterday?"
"Only the three, sir,--Mr. and Mrs. Doyle and the negro girl."
"No sign of anybody else?"
"None, sir. I didn't go in the house at all. I rode in the gate andcalled for Doyle to come out. The woman tried to parley, but I refusedto recognize her at all, and presently Doyle obeyed without any troublewhatever, though she kept up a tirade all the time and said he was toosick to ride, and all that, but he wasn't. He seemed dazed, but notdrunk,--certainly not sick. He rode all right, only he shivered andcrossed himself and moaned when he passed the Lascelles place, for thathound pup set up a howl just as we were opposite the gate. He was alltrembling when we reached the post, and took a big drink the moment hegot to his room."
"Ye-es, he's been drinking ever since. I've just sent the doctor to seehim. Let the corporal and one man of the guard go with the ambulance toescort Mrs. Doyle out of the garrison and take her home. She shall notstay."
"Why, she's gone, sir," said Ferry. "The guard told me she went out ofthe back gate and up the track towards Anatole's--going for all she wasworth--just after dawn."
"The mischief she has! What can have started her? Did you see heryourself, Sergeant Bennett?" asked the captain of a stocky little Irishsoldier standing at the moment with drawn sabre awaiting opportunity tospeak to his commander.
"Yes, sir," and the sabre came flashing up to the present. "She'd wintover to the hospital to get some medicine for the lieutenant just afterour bugle sounded first call, and she came runnin' out as I wint to callthe officer of the day, sir. She ran back to the lieutenant's quartersahead of me, and was up only a minute or two whin down she came againwid some bundles, and away she wint to the north gate, runnin'wild-like. The steward told me a moment after of Dawson's escape."
"Dawson! escaped from hospital?"
"Yes, sir. They thought he was all right last evening when he wassleeping, and took the sentry off, and at four this morning he wasgone."
