Hoskins

“ Hoskins's 'Westward'?" suggested Elmore, with lazy irony.
"The very thing!" cried his wife. "Owen, you deserve great credit for thinking of that; no one else would have done it! No one will dream what it means, and it will be great fun, letting them make it out. We must keep it a dead secret from Mr. Hoskins, and let her surprise him with it when he comes for her that evening. It will be a very pretty way of returning his compliment, and it will be a sort of delicate acknowledgement of his kindness in asking her, and in so many other ways. Yes, you've hit it exactly, Owen ”

“ Hoskins went to the bulkhead and dropped a second acceleration couch. It took all three of them, working hard, to lift Ives' great bulk up to it. Paresi opened the first-aid kit clamped under the control console and went to the unconscious man. The Captain cast about him for something to do, something to say, and apparently found it. "Hoskins!"
"Aye."
"Do you usually think better on an empty stomach?" ”

“ The darkness was gone. Ives was sprawled on the after couch, apparently unconscious. Johnny was smiling in his sleep. The Captain was snoring stertorously, and Paresi was curled up like a cat on the floor. The sunlight streamed in through the forward viewports. The manual wheel gleamed on the bulkhead, unbroken.
Hoskins looked at the sleeping crew and shook his head, half-smiling. Then he stepped to the control console and lifted a microphone from its hook. He began to speak softly into it in his gentle, unimpressive voice. He said:
“Reality is what it is, and not what it seems to be. ”

“ A dim regret, evaporating in a long sigh, which made the others laugh, recalled him to himself, as the bell rang and Hoskins appeared. He was received in a preconcerted silence, and he looked from one to the other with his queer, knowing smile, and took in the whole affair without a word.
"Isn't it a pretty idea?" said Mrs. Elmore. "Studied from an antique bas-relief, or just the same as an antique,—full of the anguish and the repose of the Laocoön."
"Mrs. Elmore," said the sculptor, "you're too many for me. I reckon the procession had better start before I make a fool of myself. Well!" ”

“ They ascended to Edwards's rooms and when they were seated the gambler rang for wine, and, leaning forward, said:
"You want your man, Hoskins, to go to the Senate when the Legislature meets this winter?"
"Why—not exactly—my political plans are rather indefinite. Hoskins is an acceptable man"——
"Oh, chop it," said the gambler sharply. "There's no use for us to try to fool each other. You want to put Hoskins over and you know you're going to have a deuce of a time crowding him through." ”

“ He was fascinated; he could not avoid drawing nearer and nearer to the danger which he believed to be yawning to swallow him; ten days after Hillary left America, he was crossing the Atlantic. Hoskins was the first person he saw on landing, the second was Neville. His heart grew cold; he felt himself in the toils; how bitterly he repented his voyage. Coward as he was, he died a thousand deaths from fear of that one which, in fact, there was no danger of his incurring.
That Osborne should of his own accord have come to England appeared to smooth everything. ”

“ Hoskins just took him by the arm, and said, 'Here! you come along with me,' and led him up to the princess, where Lily was sitting; and when the princess had explained to him, Lily rose, and mustered up enough French to say, 'Je vous prie, monsieur, de danser avec moi,' and after that they were the greatest friends."
"That was very pretty in her; it was sovereignly gracious," said Elmore.
"Oh, if an American girl is left to manage for herself she can always manage!" cried Mrs. Elmore. ”

“ How the Civic League struggled and the three good little men dreamed and planned. How Fanny Foster came to pay the great price for Green Valley's salvation. How in death gentle Mary Hoskins paid too. He explained why Seth Curtis was a gentler man and why John Foster hurried home each day to laugh and talk with his crippled wife. He told her of that awful day that had crushed George Hoskins so that he went about a broken, shrunken man, praying and searching for peace through service. It was George who bought the beautiful new piano for the Community House, who was paying for little Jim's cure. ”

“ Poor fellow!—we under-clerks all thought it was a fine thing to sit at a desk by oneself, and have 50l. per month, as Roundhand had; but I’ve a notion that Hoskins and I, blowing duets on the flute together in our second floor in Salisbury Square, were a great deal more at ease than our head—and more in harmony, too; though we made sad work of the music, certainly.
One day Gus Hoskins and I asked leave from Roundhand to be off at three o’clock, as we had particular business at the West End. He knew it was about the great Hoggarty diamond, and gave us permission; so off we set. ”

“ But not chess. No matter who your opponent might be, every time he does something to you, it's your move.”
“Very comforting. Have you any idea of how we move now?”
Hoskins looked at him, a gentle surprise on his aging face. “You missed my point, Skipper. We don't move.”
“Oh,” the Captain whispered. His face tautened as it paled, “I ... I see. We pushed the airlock button to get out. Countermove: It wouldn't work. We tried the manual. Countermove: It broke off. And so on. Now we've tried to fly the ship out. Oh, but Hoskins—Johnny broke. Isn't that countermove enough?” ”

“ Richard will explain these little family details to you later," he smiled. "As for me, I can do little or nothing without Hoskins.
"Teddy, that is, Edward Seymour," he explained, "was so ill-advised as to suggest that the Aunt had not always regarded Richard with such favour. Then it was that she turned and rent him, slew him with the jawbone—— No, that would not be altogether complimentary to Richard. She told him that if he had half Richard's brains, he would try to do something for himself instead of waiting for her to die. She was almost Æschylean in her grandeur. ”

“ Perhaps this arose from his ignorance of the giant's power, which Pedro was well acquainted with.
"Who the deuce are you that comes breaking into a man's house, and talking about doom and all that sort of thing? By George! I've a notion to——" began Hoskins in a blustering tone, but he came to an abrupt pause, for the giant seeing where it was most needed had swung the revolver around until it covered his form.
"You're mistaken. You haven't any notion at all, and it'll be better for your health if you don't have any. ”

“ I tell you, that girl's got a cool head."
In his soul Elmore ungratefully and inconsistently wished that her heart were not equally cool; but he only said, "Yes, she is a good and sensible girl. I hope the—the—other one is equally resigned."
"Oh, he'll get along," answered Hoskins, with the [Pg 107] indifference of one man for the sufferings of another in such matters. ”

“ Alas! ’board-ship friendships soon evaporate, and presently Shafto found himself standing on the aft-deck with his gun-case and cabin luggage, deserted and forgotten—no, for here came Hoskins, the police officer, hot and breathless.
“I say, look here, old chap!” he panted, “I’m just off to catch my train to Tonghoo, but I’ve had a word with FitzGerald; it will be all right about the chummery; they can take you in on Monday. I see Salter on board, one of the head assistants in Gregory’s; I expect he has come to meet you. Well, I must run; so long!” ”

“ A recent suicide for love which excited [Pg 105] all Venice at that time—an Austrian officer hopelessly attached to an Italian girl had shot himself—had suggested their talk, and given fresh poignancy to the misgivings in Elmore's mind.
"Well," said Hoskins, "those Dutch are queer. They don't look at women as respectfully as we do, and they mix up so much cabbage with their romance that you don't know exactly how to take them; and yet here you find this fellow suffering just as much as a white man because the girl's folks won't let her have him. ”

“ Hoskins eventually had the grace to redden perceptibly. He was slow in grasping the connection, however.
The impoverished millionaire had a busy afternoon, and some annoying mishaps—if they may be classified as such. In the first place, he went to the bank and delivered his resignation as vice-president and director. He handed it to Mr. Force and at the same moment applied for his old job as bookkeeper. Mr. Force complimented him on his promptness in both emergencies. It appears that the newspapers had printed columns about the Bingle affair. Mr. Force was in possession of all the facts. ”

“ They watched the enemy scouting party get a like scare, and then, after what seemed to be a whispered consultation, turn back to the German lines.
"What did you fall over?" the lieutenant finally asked of Slim, in a scarcely audible tone.
"I just found it," replied Slim. "It's a wire. Here, let me have your hand." And he guided the lieutenant's fingers to that which had been the cause of his downfall.
"Copper!" exclaimed the lieutenant. "Hoskins, let me have that kit."
And without the aid of a light he extracted from the leather case which Hoskins gave him a very small telegraph instrument. ”

“ Hoskins explained, “Whoever it was who said ‘Welcome to our planet.’”
Ives turned toward them, and Paresi's relief was noticeable. Ives said, “They want us dead.”
“Do they?” asked the Captain.
“They don't want us to leave the ship, and they don't want the ship to leave the planet.”
“Then it's the ship they want.”
“Yeah,” amended Ives, “without us.”
Paresi said, “You can't conclude that, Ives. They've inconvenienced us. They've turned us in on ourselves, and put a drain on our intangible resources as men and as a crew. But so far they haven't actually done anything to us. ”

“ We'll do something in some other area than communications. Hoskins—are those landing suits ready?"
"All but," rapped Hoskins. He scooped up the oxygen bottle and disappeared.
Paresi said, "We'll tell them something if we don't answer."
The Captain set his jaw. "We do what we can, Nick. We do the best we can. Got any better ideas?"
Paresi shrugged easily and smiled. "Just knocking, skipper. Knock everything. Then what's hollow, you know about."
"I should know better than to jump salty with you," said the Captain, all but returning the doctor's smile. "Johnny. ”

“ She doesn’t look too bad. Tell Hoskins to stand the rounds in the engine-room, T.I. in the fore-end, and second coxswain in the control-room.’
‘Very good, sir. Hallo! they’re at prayers,’ he added as the strains of a hymn accompanied by the Marine Band floated down the hatch. ‘Not much longer now. I think she’ll do, sir. Fall the hands in on the upper deck, coxswain.’
The last brass rag and lump of waste were stowed away and the men scrambled up on deck. ‘123’ was a pleasure to the eye and a credit to the makers of liquid metal polish. ”

“ Another voice also made itself heard, which said: “One is young but once! Make the most of these shining hours; sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
When in a placid temper, the Red Sea is favourable for dances and theatricals and, much against his will, Shafto was dragged into “the Neptune” company by Hoskins, a resolute, determined individual, who filled the thankless office of stage manager. Shafto was cast for the part of an old gentleman, the role being softened and alleviated by the fact that he was to undertake to play uncle to Miss Leigh. ”

“ Perhaps you can put your [Pg 37] finger on the thing that makes different men break in different ways, for different reasons. I mean, Johnny's case seemed pretty clear cut, and what you haven't explained about Hoskins, Hoskins has demonstrated pretty clearly. About Ives, now—we can skip that for the time he'll be unconscious. ”

“ Hoskins said. "Bein' the Big Boss, you've got to talk that way. They might reach out and grab you fr'm New York if you didn't. But what I was aimin' to say is that there'll be a train-load 'r two of strike-breakers a-careerin' along here in a day 'r so, and we ain't figurin' on lettin' 'em get past Portal City, if that far."
"That's up to you," said Mr. Norcross brusquely. "If you start anything in the way of a riot——"
"Excuse me. There ain't goin' to be no riotin', and no company property mashed up. Mr. ”

“ Point nine-eight earth gravity, Earth-type atmosphere—”
“Argon-rich,” said, Ives, from the panel. “Very rich.”
“That'll make no real difference,” Hoskins went on. “Temperature, about normal for an early summer back home ... looks as if there's a fiendish plot afoot here to make things easy for us.”
Paresi said, as if to himself, “I worry about easy things.”
“Yeah, I know,” snorted Johnny, rising to stretch. “The head-shrinker always does it the hard way. You can't just dislike rice pudding; it has to be a sister-syndrome. ”

“ His father, whose shop was in Fleet Street, was a man of intelligence and inspired his son with a love of reading (Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ii. 375–6) . After being educated at a private school at Streatham, Reed became an articled clerk to Messrs. Perrot & Hodgson, a firm of London solicitors. On the expiry of his articles he assisted a Lincoln's Inn conveyancer named Hoskins, but at the end of a year set up for himself as a conveyancer in chambers at Gray's Inn, whence he soon removed to Staple's Inn. He secured a good practice, but had no enthusiasm for his profession. ”

“ The Gods frown heavily on our village this day, and I have come once more to seek your intercession."
"What is the matter?" asked Cassidy.
"Alas, the trouble is in my own household. My wife lies at the door to death, and I fear she is fast slipping beyond."
"Haven't you had the priest in?" asked Dillon.
"Against your great and wondrous magic, Dillon, what is the priest? He is like a lost little boy, unable to tell North from East, and helpless in the face of death. Only you have the power to bring her back to the world of the living, as you did with Kylano and the others." ”