Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces

by Charles Felix

  CHAPTER XV

  It was late on the afternoon of the day following when he turned up atClarges Street and threw Dollops into a very transport of delight at thebare sight of him.

  "Crumbs, Gov'nor, but I am glad to see you, sir!" said the boy, with alook of positive adoration. "A fish out o' water ain't a patch to wotI've felt like--Lord, no! Why, sir, it's the first time you've ever beenaway from me since you took me on; and the dreams I've had is enough todrive a body fair dotty. I've seen parties a-stickin' knives in yourback and puttin' poison in your food and doin' the Lord knows wot not toyou, sir; and every blessed nerve in my body has been a doin' of aconstant shake--like a jelly-fish on a cold day."

  Cleek laughed, and catching him by the shoulder whirled him round,looked at him, and then clapped him on the back.

  "Look here, don't you get to worrying and to developing nerves, youngman," he said, "or I shall have to ship you off somewhere for a longrest; and I'm just beginning to feel as if I couldn't do without you.What you want is a change; and what I want is the river, so, if there isno message from The Yard--"

  "There isn't, sir."

  "Good. Then 'phone through to Mr. Narkom and tell him that you and I aregoing for a few days up the river as far as Henley, and that we aregoing to break it on Wednesday to go to the Derby."

  "Gov'nor! Gawd's truth, sir, you aren't never a-goin' to give me twosich treats as that? From now till Thursday with jist you--jist _you_,sir? I'll go balmy on the crumpet--I'll get to stickin' straws in mybloomin' 'air!"

  "You 'get to' the telephone and send that message to The Yard, if youknow when you're well off," said Cleek, laughing. "And, after that, outwith the kit bag and in with such things as we shall need; and--Hullo!what's this thing?"

  "A necktie and a rose bush wot I took the liberty of buyin' for you,sir, bein' as you give me ten shillin's for myself," said Dollopssheepishly. "I been a-keepin' of my eye on that rose bush and thatnecktie for a week past, sir. I 'ope you'll take 'em, Gov'nor, and notthink me presumin', sir."

  Cleek faced round and looked at him--a long look--without sayinganything, then he screwed round on his heel and walked to the window.

  "It is very nice and very thoughtful of you, Dollops," he saidpresently, his voice a little thick, his tones a little uneven. "Butdon't be silly and waste your money, my lad. Lay it by. You may need itone day. Now toddle on and get things ready for our outing." Butafterwards--when the boy had gone and he was alone in the room--hewalked back to the potted rose bush and touched its buds lovingly, andstood leaning over it and saying nothing for a long time. And though thenecktie that hung on its branches was a harlequin thing of red and greenand violent purple, when he came to dress for that promised outing heput it on and adjusted it as tenderly, wore it as proudly as ever knightof old wore the colours of his lady.

  "You look a fair treat in it, sir," said Dollops, delightedly andadmiringly, when he came in later and saw that he had it on. And ifanything had been wanting to make him quite, quite happy, it was wantingno more. Or, if it had been, the night that came down and found themhoused in a little old-world inn, with a shining river at its door andthe hush and the odorous darkness of the country lanes about it, must ofitself have supplied the omission; for when all the house was still andall the lights were out, he crept from his bed and curled up like a dogon the mat before Cleek's door, and would not have changed places withan emperor.

  They were up and on the river, master and man, almost as soon as thedawn itself; taking their morning plunge under a sky that was but justchanging the tints of rose to those of saffron before they merged intothe actual light of day; and to the boy the man seemed almost a god inthat dim light, which showed but an ivory shoulder lifting now and againas he struck outwards and deft his way through a yielding, yellow-greywaste that leaped in little lilac-hued ripples to his chin, and thencewavered off behind him in dancing lines of light. And once, when heheard him lift up his voice and sing as he swam, he felt sure that he_must_ be a god--that that alone could explain why he had found him sodifferent from other men, and cared for him as he had never cared forany human thing before.

  From dawn to dark that day was one of unalloyed delight to him. Neverbefore had the starved soul of him--fed, all his life, when it was fedat all, from the drippings of the flesh-pots and the "leavings" of theCity--found any savour in the insipid offerings of the Country; neverbefore had he known what charms lie on a river's breast, what spells ofmagic a blossoming hedge and the white "candles" of a horse-chestnuttree may weave, and never before had a meadow been anything to him but asimple grass-grown field. To-day Nature--through this man who was soessentially bred in the very womb of her--spoke to his understanding andfound her words not lost on air. The dormant things within the boy hadawakened. Life spoke; Hope sang; and between them all the world waschanged. Yesterday, he had looked upon this day of idling in the countryas a pleasant interlude, as a happy prologue to those greater delightsthat would come when he at last went to Epsom and really saw the famousrace for the Derby. To-day, he was sorry that anything--even so great athing as that--must come to disturb such placid happiness as this.

  And yet, when the wondrous "Wednesday" came and he was actually on hisway to Epsom Downs at last ... Ah, well, Joy is elastic; Youth is a timeof many dreams, and who blames a boy for being delighted that one ofthem is coming true at last?

  Cleek did not, at all events. Indeed, Cleek aided and abetted him in allhis boisterous outbursts from first to last; and was quite as excited ashe when the event of the meeting--the great race for the famous DerbyStakes--was put up at last. Indeed, he was a bit wilder, if anything,than the boy himself when the flag fell and the whole field swept by inone thunderous rush, with Minnow in the lead and Black Riot far and awaybehind. Nor did his excitement abate when, as the whole cavalcade swungonwards over the green turf with the yelling thousands waving andshouting about it, Sir Henry Wilding's mare began to lessen that lead,and foot by foot to creep up towards the head.

  He shouted then--as wildly as Dollops himself, as wildly as any manpresent. He jumped up on his seat and waved his hat; he thumped Dollopson the back and cried: "She's creeping up! She's creeping up! Stick toit, old chap, stick to it! Give her her head, you fool! She'll do it--byGod, she'll do it! Hurrah! Hurrah!" And was shouted down, and evenseized and pulled down by others whose view he obstructed, and whoseinterest and excitement were as great as his.

  Onwards they flew, horses and riders, the whole pounding, mixing,ever-changing mass of them; jackets and caps of every hue flashing hereand there--now in a huddled mass, now with this one in the lead, andagain with that: a vast, ever-moving, ever-altering kaleidoscope thatwas, presently, hidden entirely from the main mass of the onlookers, bythe surging crowd, the mass of drags and carriages of all sorts in thehuge square of the central enclosure, and most of all by the people whostood up on seats and wheels and even the tops of the vehicles. Then,for a little time, the roars came from a distance only--from those inthe enclosure who alone could see--then neared and neared and grew involume, as the unseen racers pounded onward and came pelting up the longstretch toward Tattenham Corner. And by and bye they swung into viewagain--still a huddled mass, still so closely packed together that thepositions of the individual horses was a matter of uncertainty--butalways the roaring sound went on and always it came nearer and nearer,until a thousand voices took it up at the foot of the grand stand, andother thousands bellowed it up and up from tier to tier to the veryroof.

  For, of a sudden, that blaze of caps and jackets, that huddle of horsesred and horses grey, horses black and horses roan, piebald, white--everycolour that a horse may be--had come at last to Tattenham Corner andburst into the full view of everybody. Yet, as they came, a black mare,hugging the railed enclosure on the inner side of the sweep, arrowedforward with a sudden spurt, came like a rocket to the fore, and all theearth and all the sky seemed to ring with the cry: "Wilding! Wilding!Black Riot leads! Black Riot leads!"

  She did--and kept it to
the end!

  In half a minute her number was up, yelling thousands were tumbling outupon the field to cheer her, to cheer her rider, to cheer her proudowner when he came out to lead her to the paddock and the weighing room,and to feel in that moment the proudest and the happiest man in England;and of those, not the least excited and delighted was Cleek.

  Carried away by enthusiasm, he had risen again in his seat and, with hishat held aloft upon a walking stick, was waving and stamping andshouting enthusiastically: "Black Riot wins! Black Riot! Black Riot!Bully boy! Bully boy!"

  And so he was still shouting when he felt a hand touch him, and lookinground saw Mr. Narkom.

  "Ripping, wasn't it, old chap?" said the superintendent. "No wonder youare excited, considering what interest you have. Been looking for you,my dear fellow. Knew of course, from your telling me, that you would behere to-day, but shouldn't have been able to identify you but for thepresence of young Dollops here. I say: you're not going to stop now thatthe great race is over, are you? The rest won't amount to anything."

  "No, I shall not stop," said Cleek. "Why? Do you want me?"

  "Yes. Lennard's outside with the limousine. Hop into it, will you, andmeet me at the Fiddle and Horseshoe, between Shepherd's Bush and Acton?It's only half-past three and the limousine can cover the distance inless than no time. Can't go with you. Got to round up my men here,first. Join you shortly, however. McTavish has a sixty-horse-powerMercedes, and he'll rush me over almost on your heels. Let Dollops gohome by train, and you meet me as I've asked, will you?"

  "Yes," said Cleek.

  And so the joyous holiday came to an unexpected end.

  Parting from Dollops, and leaving the boy to journey on to ClargesStreet alone, he fared forth to find Lennard and the red limousine, andwas whirled away in record time to the inn of the Fiddle and Horseshoe.