The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature) (45 page)

"For the moment, I am not living in the present century, but in
one which interests me more, for the time being. You pray, if you
like-never mind me, I will amuse myself with a curious toy if it
won't disturb you."

He got a little steel thing out of his pocket and set it between his
teeth, remarking "it's a jew's-harp-the niggers use it"-and began
to buffet out of it a most urgent and strenuous and vibrant and
exceedingly gay and inspiriting kind of music, and at the same time
he went violently springing and capering and swooping and swirling all up and down the room in a way to banish prayer and make a
person dizzy to look at him; and now and then he would utter the
excess of his joy in a wild whoop, and at other times he would leap
into the air and spin there head over heels for as much as a minute
like a wheel, and so frightfully fast that he was all webbed together
and you could hear him buzz. And he kept perfect time to his
music all the while. It was a most extravagant and stirring and
heathen performance.

Instead of being fatigued by it he was only refreshed. He came
and sat down by me and rested his hand on my knee in his winning
way, and smiled his beautiful smile, and asked me how I liked it. It
was so evident that he was expecting a compliment, that I was
obliged to furnish it. I had not the heart to hurt him, and he so
innocently proud of his insane exhibition. I could not expose to him
how undignified it was, and how degrading, and how difficult it
had been for me to stand it through; I forced myself to say it was
"ideal-more than ideal;" which was of course a perfectly meaningless phrase, but he was just hungry enough for a compliment to make him think this was one, and also make him overlook what was
going on in my mind; so his face was fairly radiant with thanks and
happiness, and he impulsively hugged me and said-

"It's lovely of you to like it so. I'll do it again!"

And at it he went, God assoil him, like a tempest. I couldn't say
anything, it was my own fault. Yet I was not really to blame, for I
could not foresee that he would take that uninflamed compliment
for an invitation to do the fiendish orgy over again. He kept it up
and kept it up until my heart was broken and all my body and spirit
so worn and tired and desperate that I could not hold in any longer,
I had to speak out and beg him to stop, and not tire himself so. It
was another mistake; damnation, he thought I was suffering on his
account! so he piped out cheerily, as he whizzed by-

"Don't worry about me; sit right where you are and enjoy it, I
can do it all night."

I thought I would go out and find a good place to die, and was
starting, when he called out in a grieved and disappointed tone-

"Ali, you are not going, are you?"

"Yes."

'What for? Don't go-please don't."

"Are you going to keep still? Because I am not going to stay here
and see you tire yourself to death."

"Oh, it doesn't tire me in the least, I give you my word. Do stay."

Of course I wanted to stay, but not unless he would sit down and
act civilized, and give me a rest. For a time he could not seem to get
the situation through his head-for he certainly could be the dullest animal that ever was, at times-but at last he looked up with a
wounded expression in his big soft eyes, and said-

"August, I believe you do not want any more."

Of course that broke me all down and made me ashamed of
myself, and in my anxiety to heal the hurt I had given and see him
happy again I came within a hair's breadth of throwing all judgment and discretion to the winds and saying I did want more. But I
did not do it; the dread and terror of what would certainly follow,
tied my tongue and saved my life. I adroitly avoided a direct answer
to what he had said, by suddenly crying "ouch!" and grabbing at an imaginary spider inside my collar, whereupon he forgot his troubles
at once in his concern for me. He plunged his hand in and raked it
around my neck and fetched out three spiders-real ones, whereas
I had supposed there was none there but imaginary ones. It was
quite unusual for any but imaginary ones to be around at that time
of the year, which was February.

We had a pleasant time together, but no religious conversation,
for whenever I began to frame a remark of that color he saw it in
my mind and squelched it with that curious power of his whereby
he barred from utterance any thought of mine it happened to suit
him to bar. It was an interesting time, of course, for it was the
nature of 44 to be interesting. Pretty soon I noticed that we were
not in my room, but in his. The change had taken place without my
knowing when it happened. It was beautiful magic, but it made me
feel uneasy. FortyFour said-

"It is because you think I am traveling toward temptation."

"I am sure you are, 44. Indeed you are already arrived there,
for you are doing things of a sort which the magician has prohibited."

"Oh, that's nothing! I don't obey him except when it suits me. I
mean to use his enchantments whenever I can get any entertainment out of them, and whenever I can annoy him. I know every
trick he knows, and some that he doesn't know. Tricks of my own
-for I bought them; bought them from a bigger expert than he is.
When I play my own, he is a puzzled man, for he thinks I do it by
his inspiration and command, and inasmuch as he can't remember
furnishing either the order or the inspiration, he is puzzled and
bothered, and thinks there is something the matter with his head.
He has to father everything I do, because he has begun it and can't
get out of it now, and so between working his magic and my own I
mean to build him up a reputation that will leave all other secondclass magicians in the shade."

"It's a curious idea. Why don't you build it up for yourself -"

"I don't want it. At home we don't care for a small vanity like
that, and I shouldn't value it here."

"Where is your ho-"

It got barred before I could finish. I wished in my heart I could
have that gorgeous reputation which he so despised! But he paid no
attention to the thought; so I sighed, and did not pursue it. Presently I got to worrying again, and said-

"FortyFour, I foresee that before you get far with the magician's
reputation you will bring a tragedy upon yourself. And you are so
unprepared. You ought to prepare, 44, you ought indeed; every
moment is precious. I do wish you would become a Christian; won't
you try?"

He shook his head, and said-

"I should be too lonesome."

"Lonesome? How?"

"I should be the only one."

I thought it an ill jest, and said so. But he said it was not a
jest-some time he would go into the matter and prove that he had
spoken the truth; at present he was busy with a thing of "importance"-and added, placidly, "I must jack-up the magician's reputation, first." Then he said in his kindest manner-

"You have a quality which I do not possess-fear. You are afraid
of Katzenyammer and his pals, and it keeps you from being with
me as much as you would like and as I would like. That can be
remedied, in a quite simple way. I will teach you how to become
invisible, whenever you please. I will give you a magic word. Utter
it in your mind, for you can't do it with your tongue, though I can.
Say it when you wish to disappear, and say it again when you wish
to be visible again."

He uttered the word, and vanished. I was so startled and so
pleased and so grateful that I did not know where I was, for a
moment, nor which end of me was up; then I perceived that I was
sitting by the fire in my own room, but I did not know how I got
there.

Being a boy, I did what another boy would have done: as long as
I could keep awake I did nothing but appear and disappear, and
enjoy myself. I was very proud, and considered myself the superior
of any boy in the land; and that was foolish, for I did not invent the art, it was a gift, and no merit to me that I could exercise it.
Another boy with the same luck would be just as superior as I was.
But these were not my thoughts, I got them later, and at second
hand-where all thoughts are acquired, 44 used to say. Finally I
disappeared and went to sleep happy and content, without saying
one prayer for 44, and he in such danger. I never thought of it.

ORTY-FOUR, by grace of his right to wear a sword, was legally a
gentleman. It suited his whim, now, to come out dressed as one. I
was clever, but ill balanced; and whenever he saw a particularly
good chance to be a fool, pie couldn't persuade him to let it go by;
he had to sample it, he couldn't seem to help it. He was as
unpopular as he could be, but the hostile feeling, the intense
bitterness, had been softening little by little for twentyfour hours,
on account of the awful danger his life was in, so of course he must
go and choose this time of all times, to flaunt in the faces of the
comps the offensive fact that he was their social equal. And not
only did he appear in the dress of a gentleman, but the quality and
splendor of it surpassed even Doangivadam's best, and as for the
others they were mere lilies of the valley to his Solomon. Embroidered buskins, with red heels; pink silk tights; pale blue satin
trunks; cloth of gold doublet; short satin cape, of a blinding red;
lace collar fit for a queen; the cunningest little blue velvet cap, with
a slender long feather standing up out of a fastening of clustered
diamonds; dress sword in a gold sheath, jeweled hilt. That was his
outfit; and he carried himself like a princeling "doing a cake-walk,"
as he described it. He was as beautiful as a picture, and as satisfied
with himself as if he owned the earth. lie had a lace handkerchief
in his hand, and now and then he would give his nose a dainty little
dab or two with it, the way a duchess does. It was evident that he
thought he was going to be admired, and it was pitiful to see his disappointment when the men broke out on him with insults and
ridicule and called him offensive names, and asked him where he
had stolen his clothes.

He defended himself the best he could, but he was so near to
crying that he could hardly control his voice. He said he had come
by the clothes honestly, through the generosity of his teacher the
good magician, who created them instantly out of nothing just by
uttering a single magic word; and said the magician was a far
mightier enchanter than they supposed; that he hadn't shown the
world the half of the wonders he could do, and he wished he was
here now, he would not like it to have his humble servant abused so
when he wasn't doing any harm; said he believed if he was here he
would do Katzenyammer a hurt for calling his servant a thief and
threatening to slap his face.

"He would, would he? Well, there he comes-let's see if he loves
his poor dear servant so much," said Katzenyammer, and gave the
boy a cruel slap that you could have heard a hundred yards.

The slap spun FortyFour around, and as soon as he saw the
magician he cried out eagerly and supplicatingly-

"Oh, noble master, oh greatest and sublimest of magicians, I read
your command in your eyes, and I must obey if it is your will, but I
pray you, I beseech you spare me the office, do it yourself with your
own just hand!"

The magician stood still and looked steadily and mutely at
FortyFour as much as half a minute, we waiting and gazing and
holding our breath; then at last 44 made a reverent bow, saying,
"You are master, your will is law, and I obey," and turned to
Katzenyammer and said-

"In not very many hours you will discover what you have
brought upon yourself and the others. You will see that it is not
well to offend the master."

You have seen a cloud-shadow sweep along and sober a sunlit
field; just so, that darkling vague threat was a cloud-shadow to those
faces there. There is nothing that is more depressing and demoralizing than the promise of an indefinite calamity when one is dealing with a powerful and malicious necromancer. It starts large, plenty
large enough, but it does not stop there, the imagination goes on
spreading it, till at last it covers all the space you've got, and takes
away your appetite, and fills you with dreads and miseries, and you
start at every noise and are afraid of your own shadow.

Old Katrina was sent by the women to beg 44 to tell what was
going to happen so that they could get relieved of a part of the
crushing burden of suspense, but she could not find him, nor the
magician either. Neither of them was seen, the rest of the day. At
supper there was but little talk, and no mention of the subject. In
the chess-room after supper there was some private and unsociable
drinking, and much deep sighing, and much getting up and walking the floor unconsciously and nervously a little while, then sitting
down again unconsciously; and now and then a tortured ejaculation
broke out involuntarily. At ten o'clock nobody moved to go to bed;
apparently each troubled spirit found a sort of help and solace in
the near presence of its kind, and dreaded to separate itself from
companionship. At half past ten no one had stirred. At eleven the
same. It was most melancholy to be there like this, in the dim light
of unquiet and flickering candles and in a stillness that was broken
by but few sounds and was all the more impressive because of the
moaning of the wintry wind about the towers and battlements.

It was at half past eleven that it happened. Everybody was sitting
steeped in musings, absorbed in thought, listening to that dirge the
wind was chanting-Katzenyammer like the rest. A heavy step was
heard, all glanced up nervously, and yonder in the door appeared a
duplicate Katzenyammer! There was one general gasping intake of
breath that nearly sucked the candles out, then the house sat
paralyzed and gazing. This creature was in shop-costume, and had a
"take" in its hand. It was the exact reproduction of the other
Katzenyammer to the last shade and detail, a mirror couldn't have
told them apart. It came marching up the room with the only gait
that could be proper to it-aggressive, decided, insolent-and held
out the "take" to its twin and said-