Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-26


Capt Meaghan sat down at his desk.
lighted a black cigar and began to smoke
thoughtfully. with long pauses between
nuffs leaning forward In his chair as If his
shoulders weighed him down, and staring at
the reports in their pigeon holes with the
vacant eyes of an OK. There was trouble in
the company-ever since Lieut.. Gallagher s;
promotion it had been brewing; and the new
lieutenant, Scully, did not seem able to do
more than bring tales of 1t to the office; and
Sergt PINS successor, Long Tom Don
nelly. did nothing but evade responsibility
and stand aloof.
From being one Of the most efficient crews
in the department. it had already come to
this: The men were responding so tardily
to the call of the jgger that a rival hook
and ladder company had taken two fires
from them in their own district within two
weeks When Meaghan had been officially
censured for that slowness he had had to
put the blame new and badly trained
horse He had consulted with Lieut.. Scully
then, and Scully had accused Gallagher OF
having been lax with the men. AN they re
sore" he had said, because I'm tryfn' to
tune them up" Meaghan had replied, lofti-
": Pick out the first man that balks an
send him to me-" And now Scully had re-
ported Corrigan-of all mentor insolence
and disobedence of orders at the fire from
which the company had just returned.
Meaghan smoked 1t would be possible
for him to make example of Corrigan
that would awe the whole crew; but would
it make affairs any better? There must be
something wrong at the root of things.
$50 He chewed his cigar. and rubbed his
forehead, and blew long breath through
his nose.
He knew he was not diplomatic. that he
was not willy; what he wanted was a plain
mark to go at with his head down, like a
bull. And because he could no mark
could not decide whether it was Corrigan or
Sculy the whole crew that was at fault
he remained chatting miserably, bewildered
by his own inability to choose a course and
run 1T blind.
Meanwhile Corrigan came upstairs to the
bunk room in his coat and helmet, and sat
down on the side of his cot 1t was evident,
from this proceeding that he was out of
hand: for the rules of the department re-
CURED that coats and helmets be left in
their allotted places on the truck. And
when he uncovered his head the light of the
gas jet above him showed his face drawn
up. white and auivering, with the anger and
menace of q clenched fist.
He had a vilainous dark eyebrow that
bridged his nose, and blue-black jowl of
tristles that seemed to be always in need
of razor: and now his eyebrows met over
a bloodShot glare of eyes that were red
from the smart of heat and smoke; his
great hand opened and closed on his knee,
like the paw of clawed beast: and when
the fire he had been Nightingale worked
them free of his teeth with the grimace of
snarl, his whole face twitching, his eyes
set and CLASSY.
They were the eyes of a man hypno-
tzed; and he was, In fact, just such. He
was fighting. in his fancy, through a savage
struggle with Lieut.. Scully; and 1t was a
soul-satisfying fight of swinging blows and
back-wrenching clinches, that grew fiercer
and fercer as 1t progressed, until Ito the
imagined applause of Long Tom Dom
nelly) he threw his opponent on the floor
and fell on him to choke him and cried:
"Yuh wud. wud yuh? Yuh wud. wud yuh7''
as he strangled him. 1t was struggle that
no sooner ended In the lieutenant's in
sensibility, than 1t began again. like series
in a cfnematograph, and threshed itself out
with untiring fury. And 1t was a struggle
that increased Corrigan's thirst for revenge
with mirage of the appeasement of II,
carrying him beyond any consideration Of
the duties of his position. or the discipline
demanded by his uniform, or the penalty to
be exacted from INSTRUMENTATION.
He could hear the crew. downstairs. re-
arranging the apparatus and returning the
horses to their stalls; but the sounds stood
back, like a circle of spectators from his
fisticuffs. When he heard Meaghan cough
in his room he looked up from the PROSTATE
Scully, for moment, to shake a fist at the
passing thought of the captain, and then
began again on the enemy with word and
blow. 1t was not until he heard the voice
of Seully hinself-using the desk telephone
woke to the realities, and passed his hand
across his face, and looked blinkingly
around him for the aid and counsel of his
hacker, Donnelly. The room empty.
He rose unsteadily and threw off his rubber
coat. trying In vain to swallow a burning
dryness that stuck in his throat; and he
found himself very hot and thirsty. He
stood a moment glowering at the captain 8
door, and then stumbled down the passage
way between the rows of cots to get a
drink in the bathroom.
otb fhair hoJe
they heard him splashing in the tub. They
knew that he had not asked the necessary
permission to put himself so beyond answer
ing an alarm. Hes fired" Morphy said
Long Tom" Donnelly replied that If he
was not yet fired he soon would be: and
furthermore that the crew would him
go without daring to raise a murmur.
'Yuh've took more from Scully than gang
O niggers." he told them. "Yuh We let him
drive yuh like a lot O. nuts. He's been put
tin 1t all over yuh an rubin 1t man
yuh've done nothin' but sulk In his I'M
prejudiced opinion they We're the poorest
crew of mean-spirited and condemned dogs
that ever handled hook.
Morphy invited him TO distinguish himself
among them by taking the initiative. He
replied by inviting Morphy to betake him.
self to bottomless perdition. He would not
raise finger for them, he said. Not a
fnger And with that announcement he be-
gan to strip off his turnout Of boots and
trousers and prepare himself for bed.
Now Donneliy was a man who-without
any achievement of his own--imposed re-
spect on his fellows by his superior con-
tempt for the works of others. He had the
power of the born critic. and the prestige
Lieut.. Scully had sighted him from the
first and had marked him out for special
enmity as time went on, suspecting-and
rightly, too-that Donnelly was the sly In.
stigator of half the difficulties which he was
having with the men. Donnelly, for hi;
part, had pretended TO be blind to this ami
mostly. and bore Il with a disdainful com
posure that was designedly irritating II
was not until SCully began systematically
10 harass Corrigan that Donnelly came gu,
among the men as the acknowledged enemy
OF the new lieutenant, and showed friend
ship for Corrigan that rapidly became a
whispering intimacy. The crew believed
that he had even egged Corrigan on to the
outbreak which had occurred at the fire.
Naturally. under these circumstances, they
had looked TO him for leadership in this
crisis, and his contemptuous desertion OF
them at once excited and depressed them
They stood around in the dim light of the
bunk room. mutterng subdued grumbhng.
or disgust and discomfort that were luminous
of d gathering storm. but of a storm thai
was still distant and uncertain. One mar
vented sudden spite on his innocent boots