第94章

"By crimus," declared Issy, "I'm makin' myself poor helpin' out the gov'ment, but let 'er go and darn the Kaiser, that's my motto.But they ain't all like me.I was down to the drug store yesterday and old man Burgess had the cheek to tell me I owed him for some cigars I bought--er--last fall, seems to me 'twas.I turned right around and looked at him--'I've got my opinion,' says I, 'of a man that thinks of cigars and such luxuries when the country needs every cent.What have you got that gov'ment poster stuck up on your wall for?' says I.'Read it,' I says.'It says' '"Save! Save!

Save!"' don't it? All right.That's what I'M doin'.I AMsavin'.' Then when he was thinkin' of somethin' to answer back Iwalked right out and left him.Yes sir, by crimustee, I left him right where he stood!"August came; September--the Hindenburg Line was broken.Each day the triumphant headlines in the papers were big and black and also, alas, the casualty lists on the inside pages long and longer.Then October.The armistice was signed.It was the end.The Allied world went wild, cheered, danced, celebrated.Then it sat back, thinking, thanking God, solemnly trying to realize that the killing days, the frightful days of waiting and awful anxiety, were over.

And early in November another telegram came to the office of Z.

Snow and Co.This time it came, not from the War Department direct, but from the Boston headquarters of the American Red Cross.

And this time, just as on the day when the other fateful telegram came, Laban Keeler was the first of the office regulars to learn its contents.Ben Kelley himself brought this message, just as he had brought that telling of Albert Speranza's death.And the usually stolid Ben was greatly excited.He strode straight from the door to the bookkeeper's desk.

"Is the old man in, Labe?" he whispered, jerking his head toward the private office, the door of which happened to be shut.

Laban looked at him over his spectacles."Cap'n Lote, you mean?"he asked."Yes, he's in.But he don't want to be disturbed--no, no.Goin' to write a couple of important letters, he said.

Important ones....Um-hm.What is it, Ben? Anything I can do for you?"Kelley did not answer that question.Instead he took a telegram from his pocket.

"Read it, Labe," he whispered."Read it.It's the darndest news--the--the darnedest good news ever you heard in your life.It don't seem as if it could he, but, by time, I guess 'tis.Anyhow, it's from the Red Cross folks and they'd ought to know."Laban stared at the telegram.It was not in the usual envelope;Kelley had been too anxious to bring it to its destination to bother with an envelope.

"Read it," commanded the operator again."See if you think Cap'n Lote ought to have it broke easy to him or--or what? Read it, Itell you.Lord sakes, it's no secret! I hollered it right out loud when it come in over the wire and the gang at the depot heard it.They know it and it'll be all over town in ten minutes.READIT."

Keeler read the telegram.His florid cheeks turned pale.

"Good Lord above!" he exclaimed, under his breath.

"Eh? I bet you! Shall I take it to the cap'n? Eh? What do you think?""Wait....Wait...I--I-- My soul! My soul! Why...

It's--it's true....And Rachel always said...Why, she was right...I..."From without came the sound of running feet and a series of yells.

"Labe! Labe!" shrieked Issy."Oh, my crimus!...Labe!"He burst into the office, his eyes and mouth wide open and his hands waving wildly.

"Labe! Labe!" he shouted again."Have you heard it? Have you?

It's true, too.He's alive! He's alive! He's alive!"Laban sprang from his stool."Shut up, Is!" he commanded."Shut up! Hold on! Don't--""But he's alive, I tell you! He ain't dead! He ain't never been dead! Oh, my crimus!...Hey, Cap'n Lote! HE'S ALIVE!"Captain Zelotes was standing in the doorway of the private office.

The noise had aroused him from his letter writing.

"Who's alive? What's the matter with you this time, Is?" he demanded.

"Shut up, Issy," ordered Laban, seizing the frantic Mr.Price by the collar."Be still! Wait a minute.""Be still? What do I want to be still for? I cal'late Cap'n Lote'll holler some, too, when he hears.He's alive, Cap'n Lote, Itell ye.Let go of me, Labe Keeler! He's alive!""Who's alive? What is it? Labe, YOU answer me.Who's alive?"Laban's thoughts were still in a whirl.He was still shaking from the news the telegraph operator had brought.Rachel Ellis was at that moment in his mind and he answered as she might have done.

"Er--er--Robert Penfold," he said.

"Robert PENFOLD! What--"

Issachar could hold in no longer.

"Robert Penfold nawthin'!" he shouted."Who in thunder's he?

'Tain't Robert Penfold nor Robert Penholder neither.It's Al Speranza, that's who 'tis.He ain't killed, Cap'n Lote.He's alive and he's been alive all the time."Kelley stepped forward.

"Looks as if 'twas so, Cap'n Snow," he said."Here's the telegram from the Red Cross."