 | X Steadfast Falters |  |
10. X
When Fairfax Cary entered the lounge of the Sussex Club he found young Tony Page, who had just returned from France after three months' service as a stretcher-bearer in connection with the American Ambulance, holding forth to a good-sized audience.
"But the peach experience of them all," Fairfax heard him remark as he passed on his way to the corner where he was to meet Major Barry, "was the time I got wounded." He glanced at his arm, which he carried in a sling. "It was before Verdun, and every one had been working his heart out day and night trying to get the wounded back. It was some job, for there were so many that every hospital was overflowing, and we stretcher-bearers thought we were lucky if we got three hours' sleep out of the twenty-four. Every once in a while one of us would be knocked out, and then there would be the dickens, and all to find a man to take his place. Well, that night it seemed as if all Hades was let loose. Generally they talk about a curtain of fire behind the force attacked, but this time it seemed as if we were in the center of it. The shrapnel had been falling round us like hail, and finally a
He paused and looked interrogatively at Lindlay Strong, who nodded.
"We had a man on the stretcher," Tony went on, "and of course we had to take him in; but when we reached the hospital we made up our minds we'd get Tom or die in the attempt. We knew it would be frightfully difficult, if not impossible, but we weren't going to let that stop us if we could get the extra man. Apparently there wasn't one to be found for love or money. Small wonder, too, for it looked like almost certain death to go back into that inferno. Then some one tapped me on the arm. I turned and saw a boy — little chap he was; young, too, from his voice. It was dark; I couldn't really get a good look at him, but he asked me if he might go with us. Of course I snapped him up, and we jumped on the ambulance and drove like mad to the place where we'd left Tom. That sure was some ride! The road was all torn to bits by heavy traffic and by the shells, and every once in a while we would jounce into a pit that seemed as if we would never get out of it. All the time those great, screeching Jack Johnsons were crashing around us, exploding with a fury that seemed to tear the very insides out of the earth. It was awful!"
Tony Page stopped and shuddered, and then, as if to emphasize the reality of his present surroundings, shook the ice against the side of the glass he held in his hand.
"Did you get Tom?" asked Strong anxiously.
"Yes, finally. He was about all in, but we put him on the stretcher and started back to the ambulance. Those beastly shells never let up for a minute, and at last one exploded about fifty yards from us, and a great piece of it caught me in the arm. I felt a gush of blood, and knew that a big vein had been cut. Fortunately we were close to the ambulance, so we shoved Tom in, and then the little chap we'd picked up started to put a tourniquet on my arm. His hands looked awfully small for a boy's, and he had the most wonderful touch! I tried to see his face, but his cap was pulled down over his eyes, and I was sort of dazed from the shock, so I didn't really care much; but when we got back to the hospital, and I was taken into the ward, I took a good look at him. Fellows, who do you suppose it was?"
There was a tense silence, while Tony Page's quick eyes ran over the eager faces about him. Major Barry had come in, and he and Fairfax stood a little to one side, listening to the young man's story.
"Who?" asked some one.
"Elizabeth Crosby!"
Fairfax Cary caught the back of the armchair behind which he stood, as if to steady himself. Major Barry stepped impulsively toward Tony Page.
"Randolph Crosby's daughter?" he ejaculated.
"The same," acquiesced Tony cheerfully. "She's been working in the hospital. Mrs. Maitland Andrews sent her over and paid her expenses; and when Betty heard we were short a man, she took the clothes of one of the wounded soldiers and went out with us. Pretty sandy, wasn't it?"
"Are you sure?"
Horrified incredulity shone on Major Barry's face, from which the ruddy color had fled.
"Am I sure? Am I sure I'm alive?" Tony looked significantly at his arm. "Why, of course I'm sure! That girl saved my life," he asserted gratefully. "I've always known Betty; used to play tennis with her a lot at the Country Club and different places. I always knew she had grit; but believe me, that night was enough to make the nerve of the strongest man crack, much less a woman's. She didn't seem to care, though; she walked through that Hades as quietly as if she'd been strolling along Fifth Avenue. I tell you, there was some commotion in that hospital when what she'd done got out!"
Fairfax Cary was hanging on every word, his face livid, his eyes like coals of fire. Tony took up a cigarette and held it against the match that some one lit for him.
"Paul Townsend's at the head of the hospital. You remember him, don't you? Big, strapping fellow, looks like Adonis, fair hair, very bright blue eyes. He's a fiend for work, simply eats it up, has that hospital humming day and night, and no matter what time you bring in a poor wretch he's always on the job. Well, he's in love with Betty — absolutely dotty about her. I think it began long before he went to France. At all events, when he found out what she'd done, he went right up in the air — said he was responsible for the nurses under him, and
Fairfax Cary walked to an armchair in the corner and dropped into it. He covered his eyes with his hand, and Major Barry heard him gasp under his breath.
The major laid his hand on Cary's shoulder.
"It's all right, my boy," he said quietly. She's safe enough!"
Cary's hand dropped, and he raised tortured eyes to the major.
"But think of her going through that!"
The major's eyebrows were twitching nervously. He nodded.
"Frightful! It never should have happened. I don't know what Mrs. Andrews was thinking about. The front's no place for a girl like Betty. Never stops to think of herself. She's just as apt as not to do it again!" he concluded fearfully, forgetting his consoling counsel of a moment before.
Fairfax agreed disconsolately, and they stared anxiously into each other's face.
"Tell you what, old man!" The major emphasized his words by bringing down his clenched fist into his open palm. "One or the other of us — or both of us, if necessary — must go over and bring that child back!"
Cary nodded gloomily, but his eyes brightened at the suggestion.
"Now which shall it be?" the major went on thoughtfully. "I'd give half my life to go, but" — a quizzical, rather wistful light gleamed in his kind eyes — "I think, Fairfax, perhaps you'd have more influence."
It was the first time the major had called him by his Christian name, and it seemed to Cary as if in some way it brought him nearer to Elizabeth, and gave him a part ownership in her. He impulsively put out his hand and grasped the major's.
"Thank you, major!" be exclaimed a little huskily.
The light in Major Barry's eyes increased until it illumined his whole face.
"And, Fairfax," he went on whimsically, "if Betty wants to stop in Paris and get her trousseau, tell her it will be my wedding-present." He hesitated before he added softly: "They tell me the Bermudas make an ideal wedding-trip at this time of the year!"
The color mounted into Cary's face.
"I'm afraid it isn't going to be as easy as all that," he answered with a rueful shake of his head.
"You can't tell, my boy; you can't tell!" Then the major asked abruptly: "How about this fellow Townsend?"
The flush died out of Cary's face, and was replaced by an anxious frown.
"He was at the head of the Rockefeller Institute for a while. He's always been a great admirer of Betty."
"Well, the sooner you get off the better." Major Barry reached for the evening paper, which lay on a table near them, and, adjusting his eye-glasses carefully, turned to the shipping news. "The Touraine sails tomorrow morning at six thirty. Can you make it?"
"I can!" declared Fairfax so emphatically that the major chuckled.
"I'll give you some letters. It would be useless going without the proper credentials. By the way, did you see Pat?"
"Yes; I've just come back from Sheepshead Bay. The poor little chap met with a bad accident this afternoon, and I'm afraid he's done for," Fairfax said sadly.
"Too bad! I'm sorry to hear that!" The major's face expressed real concern. "What happened?"
"He got smashed up in a steeplechase. He was nearly gone when I left."
"Too bad! He was a nice little lad. Good sort — absolutely straight. No chance for him?"
He looked interrogatively at Fairfax, who shook his head.
"I'm afraid not."
"Shame! Randolph never would let him ride in those steeplechases — said he was too light, and also too good a boy." The major paused for a moment before asking: "Did he say anything about the race?"
"Nothing definite; but be seemed to suspect that something was wrong with Steadfast, and he intimated that Molly — his sister, you know — had information that would throw light on it."
The major raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips under the gray mustache.
"So?" he asked thoughtfully.
Fairfax went on.
"Norman Crosby seems to be running her pretty hard. Pat's been a good deal worried over it."
"I don't wonder!" commented the major grimly.
"He also told me that Mr. Crosby was interested in some diamond-mines in South Africa with a man by the name of Tutney — do you know him?"
"Tutney? Oh, yes, I know Tutney. Randolph was in a lot of schemes with him. He's a keener, all right, but I guess he's honest without any question; and he thought a lot of Randolph — that I'm sure of. Did Pat say where he was to be found?"
Fairfax shook his head.
"South Africa, somewhere — that was all the information he could give me."
"Rather a large order, eh? Well, all right, old man; I'll hunt up the address and cable it to you. Perhaps that would be as good a wedding-trip as the other," he added chaffingly.
Fairfax smiled uncertainly.
"I hope you're a good prophet," he replied, rising and pushing back his chair. "Will you write those letters here or at my diggings?"
"I'll come with you, I guess."
The two men walked out of, the room, stopping on the way to get the number of Betty's hospital from Tony.
| X Steadfast Falters | |