It must have been several minutes that he stood contemplating the entrance and the luxurious couples who went in.
"Plumb French!"he observed at length;and then,"Shucks!"in a key less confident,while his guests ten feet away watched him narrowly."They're eatin'patty de parley-voo in there,"he muttered,and the three bootblacks came beside him."Say,fellows,"said Lin,confidingly,"Iwasn't raised good enough for them dude dishes.What do yu'say!I'm after a place where yu'can mention oyster stoo without givin'anybody a fit.What do yu'say,boys?"That lighted the divine spark of brotherhood!
"Ah,you come along with us--we'll take yer!You don't want to go in there.We'll show yer the boss place in Market Street.We won't lose yer."So,shouting together in their shrill little city trebles,they clustered about him,and one pulled at his coat to start him.He started obediently,and walked in their charge,they leading the way.
"Christmas is comin'now,sure,"said Lin,grinning to himself."It ain't exactly what I figured on."It was the first time he had laughed since Cheyenne,and he brushed a hand over his eyes,that were dim with the new warmth in his heart.
Believing at length in him and his turkey,the alert street faces,so suspicious of the unknown,looked at him with ready intimacy as they went along;and soon,in the friendly desire to make him acquainted with Denver,the three were patronizing him.Only Billy,perhaps,now and then stole at him a doubtful look.
The large Country Mouse listened solemnly to his three Town Mice,who presently introduced him to the place in Market Street.It was not boss,precisely,and Denver knows better neighborhoods;but the turkey and the oyster stew were there,with catsup and vegetables in season,and several choices of pie.Here the Country Mouse became again efficient;and to witness his liberal mastery of ordering and imagine his pocket and its wealth,which they had heard and partly seen,renewed in the guests a transient awe.As they dined,however,and found the host as frankly ravenous as themselves,this reticence evaporated,and they all grew fluent with oaths and opinions.At one or two words,indeed,Mr.McLean stared and had a slight sense of blushing.
"Have a cigarette?"said the leader,over his pie.
"Thank yu',"said Lin."I won't smoke,if yu'll excuse me."He had devised a wholesome meal,with water to drink.
"Chewin's no good at meals,"continued the boy."Don't you use tobaccer?""Onced in a while."
The leader spat brightly."He ain't learned yet,"said he,slanting his elbows at Billy and sliding a match over his rump."But beer,now--Inever seen anything in it."He and Towhead soon left Billy and his callow profanities behind,and engaged in a town conversation that silenced him,and set him listening with all his admiring young might.Nor did Mr.
McLean join in the talk,but sat embarrassed by this knowledge,which seemed about as much as he knew himself.
"I'll be goshed,"he thought,"if I'd caught on to half that when I was streakin'around in short pants!Maybe they grow up quicker now."But now the Country Mouse perceived Billy's eager and attentive apprenticeship.
"Hello,boys!"he said,"that theatre's got a big start on us."They had all forgotten he had said anything about theatre,and other topics left their impatient minds,while the Country Mouse paid the bill and asked to be guided to the Opera-house."This man here will look out for your blackin'and truck,and let yu'have it in the morning."They were very late.The spectacle had advanced far into passages of the highest thrill,and Denver's eyes were riveted upon a ship and some icebergs.The party found its seats during several beautiful lime-light effects,and that remarkable fly-buzzing of violins which is proounced so helpful in times of peril and sentiment.The children of Captain Grant had been tracking their father all over the equator and other scenic spots,and now the north pole was about to impale them.The Captain's youngest child,perceiving a hummock rushing at them with a sudden motion,loudly shouted,"Sister,the ice is closing in!"and she replied,chastely,"Then let us pray."It was a superb tableau:the ice split,and the sun rose and joggled at once to the zenith.The act-drop fell,and male Denver,wrung to its religious deeps,went out to the rum-shop.
Of course Mr.McLean and his party did not do this.The party had applauded exceedingly the defeat of the elements,and the leader,with Towhead,discussed the probable chances of the ship's getting farther south in the next act.Until lately Billy's doubt of the cow-puncher had lingered;but during this intermission whatever had been holding out in him seemed won,and in his eyes,that he turned stealthily upon his unconscious,quiet neighbor,shone the beginnings of hero-worship.
"Don't you think this is splendid?"said he.
"Splendid,"Lin replied,a trifle remotely.
"Don't you like it when they all get balled up and get out that way?""Humming,"said Lin.
"Don't you guess it's just girls,though,that do that?""What,young fellow?"
"Why,all that prayer-saying an'stuff."
"I guess it must be."
"She said to do it when the ice scared her,an'of course a man had to do what she wanted him.""Sure."
"Well,do you believe they'd 'a'done it if she hadn't been on that boat,and clung around an'cried an'everything,an'made her friends feel bad?""I hardly expect they would,"replied the honest Lin,and then,suddenly mindful of Billy,"except there wasn't nothin'else they could think of,"he added,wishing to speak favorably of the custom.
"Why,that chunk of ice weren't so awful big anyhow.I'd 'a'shoved her off with a pole.Wouldn't you?""Butted her like a ram,"exclaimed Mr.McLean.
"Well,I don't say my prayers any more.I told Mr.Perkins I wasn't a-going to,an'he--I think he is a flubdub anyway.""I'll bet he is!"said Lin,sympathetically.He was scarcely a prudent guardian.
