Free press., 1906-09-29
HIS HARDEST
LUCK

dI q place called ATnDrOSla lily. lie
was the mayor of the city, and he was
the entire city most of the time, for
therc was only one house beside his in
the place. One night there was a town
meeting, the entire pOpulation-hve men
and a dog-and LaRoche told this
story:
Talk about hard luck, the hardest luck
| ever heard of come to old man Nc
Bride. Probably none of you knew Old
Danny Mcbride, the man who was
drowned trying to escape from Black
wells Island No offence intended. I'm
not inslnuating that any of you did know
him. l never knew him myself-least-
ways not when he was alive. Well, eight
or nine years ago l was the victim in
a case of mistaken identity, and the judge
sent me to the island for thirty days /;
and there I heard about Mcbride He
had hid himself along the shore one day
they let you out with only a guard
standing round, understand-and at
night he found 4 boat and was rowing
across to the city when tug ran him
down, and he was drowned. And the
story was that he'd been seen of a night
lately rowing back and forth across the
river, just like he was doing when he
was drowned. / didn't believe the story,
but it gave me 4 good idea. If he could
do it, l could do it, only l wouldn't
bother with boat. I'd swim. So |
slipped away from the guard next day
and waited until i, was dark, and then
| crept into the water on the east side
and l started to swim across.
But just as | struck out heard a voice
in front of me. and l looked up. And
there was Old Danny Mcbride himself
sat right down in the water. If it
had been four inches deeper | should've
drowned where | was, for | hadn't sense
enough left to have saved myself. He
was all white, nd his boat was white.
He was baldLeaded and had a long
beard, and he looked dead-awful dead
could see the electric lights of Long
Island City right through him.
Hello, pardner," says he. what you
'fraid Of? l amt no patrol boat. Want
a lift across the river?"
What are yNu?" says I, my voice
coming back, but shaky "Are you the
ghost of Danny McBride?"
"Ghosts?" says he, throwing back his
head and laughing. "Do you believe in
ghosts? Don't you do it. There amt
no such things as ghosts"
'There ain't?" says l, some doubtful
Certainly not. Don't you suppose l
lnow?"
Well, of course, I couldn't dispute
with thing like that, which certainly
had the facts. But if you could O seen
him sitting there, laughing, with the
green light from the starboard side of
a tugboat shining right through him, you
would O wanted something better than
his word for it.
"Then what are you?" says l.
"This," says he, tapping himself where
the light shone through him, this is
my astral body. You understand"
Well, l couldn't see much difference
between ghost and an astral body at
that time O. night, but l didn't say moth
ing to offend him.
''You want to get over to the Long
Island shore?" says he. "All right; get
in here with me. know how it is my
self"
didn't want him to think I was
green, so put my hand on the gunnel
o the boat and threw one leg over the
side, cool as anything. But my foot
went right through the bottom of the
boat back into the water again. The
boat wasn't anything but kind of fog.
Hold on" says Old Danny, "that
truck in this boat? Or paving stones
Take off your body and leave it in them
weeds over there"
when I come back I climbed into the
boat as dry as you please, and we rowed
across the river to a pier on the other
side. He hitched his boat and l climbed
out and left him. l was in such hurry
to get away that 1 ran right through
the corner of pile of lumber and never
noticed it.
But when l got out on to the street |
pulled up short had forgot all about
my body that I'd left lying in them weeds
over on Blackwells Island. Here was a
pretty kettle o fish. | was in Long Is
land City and my body was half way
across the East River. Supposing Nc
Bride had gone away-how was l going
to get over to it again?
l put back to that pier on a run, l
can tell you; and this time l never
stopped for lumber piles or warehouses
or nothing. went right plumb through
buildings, and all. The old fellow was
| just untying his boat when l reached
him.
"IIold on" says I. "Wait minute. -
"Oh, it's you, is it?" said he. Whats
wrong7''
why, we've left my body over there, y
says I, pointing with my fog arm across
the channel
"Well,' says the old fellow, what else
could we do?"
But I want it." says I. 81 need it in
my business. Do you think Pm going
over to the city like this?" and l hit
myself a misty blow on the chest 'How
could / ever face my friends again?"
+'H-m-m," says Old Danny, stroking
his beard. ''Well, we'll; there is some
thing in that" He thought a minute OF
two, and then he says: 'Pll tell you
what to do. Go and wake up somebody
you can trust and get him to row over