XXII
MR. SHEEHAN SPEAKS
Joe helped to carry what was mortal of Eskew from Ariel's house
to its final abiding-place. With him, in that task, were Buckalew,
Bradbury, the Colonel, and the grandsons of the two latter, and
Mrs. Louden drew in her skirts grimly as her step-son passed her
in the mournful procession through the hall. Her eyes were red with
weeping (not for Eskew), but not so red as those of Mamie Pike,
who stood beside her.
On the way to the cemetery, Joe and Ariel were together in a carriage
with Buckalew and the minister who had read the service, a dark,
pleasant- eyed young man;--and the Squire, after being almost overcome
during the ceremony, experienced a natural reaction, talking cheerfully
throughout the long drive. He recounted many anecdotes of Eskew,
chuckling over most of them, though filled with wonder by a coincidence
which he and Flitcroft had discovered; the Colonel had recently
been made the custodian of his old friend's will, and it had been
opened the day before the funeral. Eskew had left everything he
possessed--with the regret that it was so little--to Joe.
"But the queer thing about it," said the Squire, addressing
himself to Ariel, "was the date of it, the seventeenth of June.
The Colonel and I got to talkin' it over, out on his porch, last
night, tryin' to rec'lect what was goin' on about then, and we figgered
it out that it was the Monday after you come back, the very day
he got so upset when he saw you goin' up to Louden's law- office
with your roses."
Joe looked quickly at Ariel. She did not meet his glance, but, turning
instead to Ladew, the clergyman, began, with a barely perceptible
blush, to talk of something he had said in a sermon two weeks ago.
The two fell into a thoughtful and amiable discussion, during which
there stole into Joe's heart a strange and unreasonable pain. The
young minister had lived in Canaan only a few months, and Joe had
never seen him until that morning; but he liked the short, honest
talk he had made; liked his cadenceless voice and keen, dark face;
and, recalling what he had heard Martin Pike vociferating in his
brougham one Sunday, perceived that Ladew was the fellow who had
"got to go" because his sermons did not please the Judge.
Yet Ariel remembered for more than a fortnight a passage from one
of these sermons. And as Joe looked at the manly and intelligent
face opposite him, it did not seem strange that she should.
He resolutely turned his eyes to the open window and saw that they
had entered the cemetery, were near the green knoll where Eskew
was to lie beside a brother who had died long ago. He let the minister
help Ariel out, going quickly forward himself with Buckalew; and
then--after the little while that the restoration of dust to dust
mercifully needs--he returned to the carriage only to get his hat.
Ariel and Ladew and the Squire were already seated and waiting.
"Aren't you going to ride home with us?" she asked, surprised.
"No," he explained, not looking at her. "I have to
talk with Norbert Flitcroft. I'm going back with him. Good-bye."
His excuse was the mere truth, his conversation with Norbert, in
the carriage which they managed to secure to themselves, continuing
earnestly until Joe spoke to the driver and alighted at a corner,
near Mr. Farbach's Italian possessions. "Don't forget,"
he said, as he closed the carriage door, "I've got to have
both ends of the string in my hands."
"Forget!" Norbert looked at the cupola of the Pike Mansion,
rising above the maples down the street. "It isn't likely I'll
forget!"
When Joe entered the "Louis Quinze room" which some decorator,
drunk with power, had mingled into the brewer's villa, he found
the owner and Mr. Sheehan, with five other men, engaged in a meritorious
attempt to tone down the apartment with smoke. Two of the five others
were prosperous owners of saloons; two were known to the public
(whose notion of what it meant when it used the term was something
of the vaguest) as politicians; the fifth was Mr. Farbach's closest
friend, one who (Joe had heard) was to be the next chairman of the
city committee of the party. They were seated about a table, enveloped
in blue clouds, and hushed to a grave and pertinent silence which
clarified immediately the circumstance that whatever debate had
preceded his arrival, it was now settled.
Their greeting of him, however, though exceedingly quiet, indicated
a certain expectancy, as he accepted the chair which had been left
for him at the head of the table. He looked thinner and paler than
usual, which is saying a great deal; but presently, finding that
the fateful hush which his entrance had broken was immediately resumed,
a twinkle came into his eye, one of his eyebrows went up and a corner
of his mouth went down.
"Well, gentlemen?" he said.
The smokers continued to smoke and to do nothing else; the exception
being Mr. Sheehan, who, though he spoke not, exhibited tokens of
agitation and excitement which he curbed with difficulty; shifting
about in his chair, gnawing his cigar, crossing and uncrossing his
knees, rubbing and slapping his hands together, clearing his throat
with violence, his eyes fixed all the while, as were those of his
companions, upon Mr. Farbach; so that Joe was given to perceive
that it had been agreed that the brewer should be the spokesman.
Mr. Farbach was deliberate, that was all, which added to the effect
of what he finally did say.
"Choe," he remarked, placidly, "you are der next
Mayor off Canaan."
"Why do you say that?" asked the young man, sharply.
"Bickoss us here," he answered, interlocking the tips
of his fingers over his waistcoat, that being as near folding his
hands as lay within his power,-- "bickoss us here shall try
to fix it so, und so hef ditcided."
Joe took a deep breath. "Why do you want me?"
"Dot," replied the brewer, "iss someding I shall
tell you." He paused to contemplate his cigar. "We want
you bickoss you are der best man fer dot positsion."
"Louie, you mustn't make a mistake at the beginning,"
Joe said, hurriedly. "I may not be the kind of man you're looking
for. If I went in--" He hesitated, stammering. "It seems
an ungrateful thing to say, but--but there wouldn't be any slackness--I
couldn't be bound to anybody--"
"Holt up your hosses!" Mr. Farbach, once in his life,
was so ready to reply that he was able to interrupt. "Who hef
you heert speak off bounding? Hef I speakt off favors? Dit I say
der shoult be slackness in der city gofer'ment? Litsen to me, Choe."
He renewed his contemplation of his cigar, then proceeded: "I
hef been t'inkin' it ofer, now a couple years. I hef mate up my
mind. If some peobles are gombelt to keep der laws and oders are
not, dot's a great atwantitch to der oders. Dot iss what iss ruining
der gountry und der peobles iss commencement to take notice. Efer'veres
in oder towns der iss housecleaning; dey are reforming und indieding,
und pooty soon dot mofement comes here--shoo-er! If we intent to
holt der parsly in power, we shoult be a leetle ahead off dot mofement
so, when it shoult be here, we hef a goot 'minadstration to fall
beck on. Now, dere iss anoder brewery opened und trying to gombete
mit me here in Canaan. If dot brewery owns der Mayor, all der tsaloons
buying my bier must shut up at 'leven o'glock und Sundays, but der
oders keep open. If I own der Mayor, I make der same against dot
oder brewery. Now I am pooty sick off dot ways off bitsness und
fighting all times. Also," Mr. Farbach added, with magnificent
calmness, "my trade iss larchly owitside off Canaan, und it
iss bedder dot here der laws shoult be enforced der same fer all.
Litsen, Choe; all us here beliefs der same way. You are square.
Der whole tsaloon element knows dot, und knows dot all voult be
treated der same. Mit you it voult be fairness fer each one. Foolish
peobles hef sait you are a law-tricker, but we know dot you hef
only mate der laws brotect as well as bunish. Und at such times
as dey het been broken, you hef made dem as mertsiful as you coult.
You are no tricker. We are willing to help you make it a glean town.
Odervise der fightin' voult go on until der mofement strikes here
und all der granks vake up und we git a fool reformer fer Mayor
und der town goes to der dogs. If I try to put in a man dot I own,
der oder brewery iss goin' to fight like hell, but if I work fer
you it will not fight so hart."
"But the other people," Joe objected. "those outside
of what is called the saloon element--do you understand how many
of them will be against me?"
"It iss der tsaloon element," Mr. Farbach returned, peacefully,
"dot does der fightin'."
"And you have considered my standing with that part of Canaan
which considers itself the most respectable section?" He rose
to his feet, standing straight and quiet, facing the table, upon
which, it chanced, there lay a copy of the Tocsin.
"Und yet," observed Mr. Farbach, with mildness, "we
got some pooty risbecdable men right here."
"Except me," broke in Mr. Sheehan, grimly, "you have."
"Have you thought of this?" Joe leaned forward and touched
the paper upon the table.
"We hef," replied Mr. Farbach. "All of us. You shall
beat it,"
There was a strong chorus of confirmation from the others, and Joe's
eyes flashed.
"Have you considered," he continued, rapidly, while a
warm color began to conquer his pallor,-- "have you considered
the powerful influence which will be against me, and more against
me now, I should tell you, than ever before? That influence, I mean,
which is striving so hard to discredit me that lynch-law has been
hinted for poor Fear if I should clear him! Have you thought of
that? Have you thought--"
"Have we thought o' Martin Pike?" exclaimed Mr. Sheehan,
springing to his feet, face aflame and beard bristling. "Ay,
we've thought o' Martin Pike, and our thinkin' of him is where he
begins to git what's comin' to him! What d'ye stand there pickin'
straws fer? What's the matter with ye?" he demanded, angrily,
his violence tenfold increased by the long repression he had put
upon himself during the brewer's deliberate utterances. "If
Louie Farbach and his crowd says they're fer ye, I guess ye've got
a chanst, haven't ye?"
"Wait," said Joe. "I think you underestimate Pike's
influence--"
"Underestimate the devil!" shouted Mr. Sheehan, uncontrollably
excited. "You talk about influence! He's been the worst influence
this town's ever had--and his tracks covered up in the dark wherever
he set his ugly foot down. These men know it, and you know some,
but not the worst of it, because none of ye live as deep down in
it as I do! Ye want to make a clean town of it, ye want to make
a little heaven of the Beach--"
"And in the eyes of Judge Pike," Joe cut him off, "and
of all who take their opinions from him, I REPRESENT Beaver Beach!"
Mike Sheehan gave a wild shout. "Whooroo! It's come! I knowed
it would! The day I couldn't hold my tongue, though I passed my
word I would when the coward showed the deed he didn't dare to git
recorded! Waugh!" He shouted again, with bitter laughter. "Ye
do! In the eyes o' them as follow Martin Pike ye stand fer the Beach
and all its wickedness, do ye? Whooroo! It's come! Ye're an offence
in the eyes o' Martin Pike and all his kind because ye stand fer
the Beach, are ye?"
"You know it!" Joe answered, sharply. "If they could
wipe the Beach off the map and me with it--"
"Martin Pike would?" shouted Mr. Sheehan, while the others,
open-mouthed, stared at him. "Martin Pike would?"
"I don't need to tell you that," said Joe.
Mr, Sheehan's big fist rose high over the table and descended crashing
upon it. "It's a damn lie !" he roared. "Martin Pike
owns Beaver Beach!"