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He looked at her with a droll expression. "Might have expected that question, my dear," said he; "but it's rather hard to answer. If I say no, you'll be afraid I'll want to borrow a little spendin' money, now an' then; and if I say yes, you'll take me for a Rockyfeller." "Not exactly," smiled Louise. "Well, then, if I figure close I won't have to borrow," he responded, gravely.
At the outset let me state that what occurred subsequent to the departure for Precigne of B. and Pete and The Sheeneys and Rockyfeller is shrouded in a rather ridiculous indistinctness; due, I have to admit, to the depression which this departure inflicted upon my altogether too human nature.
"'Well, says Mack, 'sit down, he says. 'Rockyfeller, he says, 'tell Morgan f'r to fetch up a kag iv sherry wine, he says. 'Tom, he says, 'we've been frinds f'r years, he says. 'We have, says Tom. 'We've concealed it fr'm th' vulgar an' pryin' public, he says; 'but in our hear-rts we've been frinds, barrin' th' naygur dillygates at th' convintion, he says.
But the vast and unutterable success achieved by the Menagerie was this Rockyfeller, shortly after, left our ill-bred society for "l'hopital"; the very same "hospital" whose comforts and seclusion Monsieur le Surveillant had so dextrously recommended to B. and myself.
Could it possibly have been "B."? We made inquiries of certain of our friends who had been nearer the planton than ourselves. We were told that Pete and The Trick Raincoat and The Fighting Sheeney and Rockyfeller were leaving about "B." nobody was able to enlighten us. Not that opinions in this matter were lacking. There was plenty of opinions but they contradicted each other to a painful extent.
I was for some reason angry at Rockyfeller I think I had a curious notion that if I couldn't have a light after "lumieres eteintes" and if my very good friends were none of them allowed to have one, then, by God! neither should Rockyfeller. "It is useless to sleep," said One Eyed Dah-veed in French and Spanish. "True," I agreed; "therefore, let's make all the noise we can."
I can and will say, however, that this face was most hideous perhaps that is the word when it grinned. When The Fighting Sheeney grinned you felt that he desired to eat you, and was prevented from eating you only by a superior desire to eat everybody at once. He and Rockyfeller came to us from, I think it was, the Sante; both accompanied B. to Precigne.
"I want ten thousand dollars to steer Cayuse away." McCoppet slowly shook his head. "You ain't a hog, Larry, you're a Rockyfeller. Five thousand, cash on the nail, if you show me you can steer Cayuse so far off the trail he'll never get on it again." Five thousand dollars was a great deal of money to Trimmer. Ten thousand was far in excess of his real expectations.
This began to get on everybody's nerves. Protests in a number of languages arose from all parts of The Enormous Room. Rockyfeller gave a contemptuous look around him and proceeded with his conversation. A curse emanated from the darkness. Up sprang The Fighting Sheeney, stark naked; strode over to the bed of the curser, and demanded ferociously: "Boxe? Vous!"
During the weeks which The Fighting Sheeney spent at La Ferte Mace, the non-existence of the inhabitants of The Enormous Room was rendered something more than miserable. It was rendered well-nigh unbearable. The night Rockyfeller and his slave arrived was a night to be remembered by everyone. It was one of the wildest and strangest and most perfectly interesting nights I, for one, ever spent.
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