Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-09-13


with a scared face and inquire about
the colonel. and the doctor always de
manded news of the battle. before he
answered the questions. The reports
| brought by the politicians We're not
encouraging, and they hurried outside
again. Their visits, in the afternoon
waned, became fewer. Even MOsely
and Garwood had been glad OF the ex-
citing excuse offered by the First dis
triCt convention in Italia hall down
| Clark street TO escape from the shad-
owed headquarters. At 6 o'clock
! no one had been there for an hour
| save some sympathetic bell-bOys and
| porters from downstairs, and Carroll,
| of course-he came every half hour
/ from the convention, disheveled,
bathed in perspiration, his eyes burn
| ing with excitement and suspense.
Foerder would not allow him to see
/ the colonel. who lay behind the white
door, his eyes half closed. too weak
any longer TO whisper.
At o'clock the reporters came and
Doctor Foerder, as they put it. issued
| a bulletin.
He's alive" the doctor said. pulse
| 100 to 124, respiration % to &c, TEN
perature 9S. His remarkable nerve
/ alone sustains him. He's making the
most magnificent fight l ever saw in
all my life-have you heard anything
| from the convention"
They're all over but the one in
the First district" one of the report
ers said, while they scrubbed down
! the physicians figures. 1T all depends
now upon what that does. It's the
worst fight ever known in Chicago.
| They say Warren has spent twenty
/ five thousand today"
Does it look as If he could be
elected therein the First, you
I know"
The reporters smiled and winked
one at another.
The colonel lay like one asleep, I'M
til far along in the evening. Once or
| twice he opened his eyes and looked
an inquiry into the doctors eyes, but
! Foerder could only shake his head.
| And once or twice he muttered some
thing about Baldwin, and was trou-
| bled that they could not understand.
/ Then he sank into state of coma,
and the news for which all were wait
| ing would not come.
| Doctor Foerder was forever glanc-
! ing at his watch and asking Lambert
| how he thought the First district
convention would turn out. Lambert
had no idea.
Il hope Wen win," Foerder would
say Finally he sent Lambert down
| for news. Lambert hurried back.
| They had taken forty-six ballots, he
said, and the vote was tied. At ten
o'clock Doctor Foerder examined the
colonel again, examined his eyes, his
finger-nails, drummed on his chest,
| listened to his heart.
You're magnificent" he could not
refrain from whispering, but his pa
| tient did not answer or look, or even
smile this time He was growing very
weak. His breathing was faint, he In
hailed the air through livid lips. He
did not arouse from his stupor.
Doctor Foerder got very impatient.
I'VE can't wait much longer" ne said.
Its all We can do, now" said Lam
| bert
| Foerder went outside. The ante
room was deserted. The politicians
came no more He would sit down,
then instantly get up, walk back and
forth; his eyebrows knitting In his
scowl, his lips twitching in that mirth.
| less smile And he smoked cigarette
after cigarette He did this for an
hour.
Along toward midnight he heard a
step. Flying to the door, he saw Car
roll, dragging down the hall with the
step of defeat and exhaustion. The
boys hair was matted under his hat,
his eyes were dull, sunken, black as
night
Licked" he said. waving his hands
with a gesture Of despair, as If the
world had come to an end. Foerder
went inside, leaving Carroll to sink
into the first chair. But a moment
later the physician opened the white
door, and beckoned with his head.
The motion was conclusive. final. He
held the door ajar and Carroll en-
tered. The useless drugs had been
pushed aside. The room was filled
with the strange silence, the odor of
death. Lambert stood at the win
dow, looking out. into the darkness.
The nurse stood by the bed, waiting
to perform her last office for the dy-
ing man.
Carroll timidly approached and
looked down at the long form, scarce
~ outlined by the sheet, at the rigid
head, at the great, waxen brow, at the
little blue spheres formed by the
closed eyelids, at the mouth slightly
open beneath the white mustache
with it's tinge of yellow. Doctor
Foerder was pressing his fingers to
the colonel's wrist. The breathing had
lost all human quality, it was but a
series of automatic gasps, which, 1t
seemed, would never end. Finally
they grew shorter. at last they ceased,
there was one faint inspiration. and
Doctor Foerder, laying the thin old
hand down upon the colonePs breast,
said:
Its all over"
| e. IL