Rodman

“ In a few minutes the four men had armed themselves with cutlasses from the rack around the mizzen-mast, which came through the cabin at the for'ard end of the table, Rodman also taking the captain's and chief mate's loaded revolvers out of their berths.
The fourth mate and steward were then carried into the captain's cabin, and Gerald Rodman spoke:
“Newman,” he said, “we are going to take charge of this ship for a while. If you make an attempt to give an alarm you are a dead man. Wray, stand here and run them both through if they make the ghost of a sound.” ”

“ Rodman lighted a match; there was no candle, only a piece of pitch-pine stuck in an iron socket on the wall; he set fire to this primitive torch and looked around.
"There is nothing there," said the man outside, making an effort to speak carelessly; "my servant went to town for supplies. Do not trouble yourself to wait; he will come presently, and—and I want nothing."
But Rodman saw through proud poverty's lie; he knew that irregular quavering of the voice, and that trembling of the hand; the poor fellow had but one to tremble. He continued his search ”

“ George Rodman, well and good; if we can’t, Rodman’s got to be put through the grill anyhow. He’s in it for keeps—that elevator door isn’t easily explained away.”
[151]
“Does Mr. Rodman,” it was Norah who spoke, and as before, Hudson turned to her almost expectantly—he seemed to depend on her for suggestions, or at least, he always listened to them—“I wonder, Mr. Brice,” she went on slowly, “does Mr. Rodman look at all like the figure you saw in the shadow?”
I thought back.
“Yes,” I said, decidedly, “he does! Now, hold on, Hudson, it’s only a memory, you know, and I may easily be mistaken. ”

“ Unlike Ned, he was a man of a passionate and revengeful nature, and the second mate, to whose boat he belonged, had warned the cooper of the Shawnee never to meet Gerald Rodman ashore alone.
“He is a man who will never forgive an injury, and I would not care to be in your shoes if he gets you by yourself one day.”
And, as a matter of fact, Gerald Rodman had sworn to himself, when he lay in irons, in the sail-locker, to have his revenge upon both the cooper and Captain Lucy, should he ever meet either of them ashore at any of the islands the barque was likely to touch at during her cruise. ”

“ Not even this big, yellow, servile creature who took exclusive care of him in the house was allowed to enter, except under Rodman's eye. What he saw in the final scenes of the tragedy, he saw looking in through a crack under the door. The earlier things he noticed when he put logs on the fire at dark.
Time is hardly a measure for the activities of the mind. These reflections winged by in a scarcely perceptible interval of it. They have taken me some time to write out here, but they crowded past while the big Oriental was speaking—in the pause between his words. ”

“ RODMAN THE KEEPER.
"KEEPER of what? Keeper of the dead. Well, it is easier to keep the dead than the living; and as for the gloom of the thing, the living among whom I have been lately were not a hilarious set."
John Rodman sat in the doorway and looked out over his domain. The little cottage behind him was empty of life save himself alone. In one room the slender appointments provided by Government for the keeper, who being still alive must sleep and eat, made the bareness doubly bare ”

“ They must be angels. We have no angels here."
"I am inclined to believe you are right," said the keeper.
That night old Pomp, who had remained invisible in the kitchen during the ceremony, stole away in the twilight and came back with a few flowers. Rodman saw him going down toward the parade-ground, and watched. The old man had but a few blossoms; he arranged them hastily on the mounds with many a furtive glance toward the house, and then stole back, satisfied; he had performed his part.
Ward De Rosset lay on his pallet, apparently unchanged; he seemed neither stronger nor weaker. ”

“ The peculiar character of the gentleman who was the leader and soul of the expedition, as well as its historian, has imbued what he has written with a vast deal of romantic fervor, very different from the luke-warm and statistical air which pervades most records of the kind. Mr. James E. Rodman, from whom we obtained the MS., is well known to many of the readers of this Magazine; and partakes, in some degree, of that temperament which embittered the earlier portion of the life of his grandfather, Mr. Julius Rodman, the writer of the narrative. We allude to an hereditary hypochondria. ”

“ The boy spoke in a voice low, but clear. “Call me Rodman.”
“Good,” agreed Nate, heartily. “Might be a fust name, or a last. If ever you think up another name to go behind it, or in front, jes’ let me know. We can use the combination for your post-office address. Good-by—Rodman.”
In a half-hour, Nate came back, carrying an armful of clothes. “Might as well get up,” he said. “It ’ll be more cheerful than lyin’ here.” He assisted Rodman to dress, and then brought him a crutch. “Thar,” he said, “thet crutch is lighter an’ stronger than anythin’ you ’ll find in the stores. ”

“ There's the attitude that we can't understand in a genius—did you ever know a man with an inventive mind who doubted a miracle? A thing like that did not seem unreasonable to Rodman.
The two men spent the remainder of the night looking at the present that the creature brought Rodman in his prayer-carpet. They wanted to know where the Oriental got it, and that's how his story came out.
He was something—searcher, seems our nearest English word to it—in the great Shan Monastery on the southeastern plateau of the Gobi. ”

“ He had made up his mind not to return to Wimbledon, but to make use of a certain pied-a-terre which he had in Pimlico. His day’s work ended in Westminster, he dined at a restaurant with a friend. Afterwards billiards were proposed. They entered a house which Rodman did not know, and were passing before the bar to go to the billiard-room, when a man who stood there taking refreshment called out, ‘Hollo, Rodman!’ To announce a man’s name in this way is a decided breach of etiquette in the world to which Rodman belonged. ”

“ The boy was white. Nate put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s only visitors. Friends of mine.”
“One of them is from the city,” insisted Rodman. His breath was coming quickly, and he began to try to rise.
“Surely,” answered Nate. “But ye need n’t be afraid of him. It ’s Brian Dodd, and if he is rather citified in his dress, it don’t mean nothin’, He ain’t half so smart as his cousin Pelham, that comes with him.”
Rodman sank back. “Oh, that ’s who they are?”’
Nate nodded. “Pelham ’s sixteen; jes’ about your age. His father was here the other day; he owns the mills. ”

“ Did they clamor for your blood about the $200,000?”
“Rodman,” said Saxon slowly, “I hardly expect you to believe it, but that was a case of mistaken identity. I’m not the man you think. I was never in Puerto Frio before.”
Rodman let the cigar drop from his astonished lips, and caught wildly after it as it fell overboard.
“What?” he demanded, at last. “How’s that?”
[Pg 168] “It was a man who looked like me,” elucidated Saxon.
“You are damned right—he looked like you!” Rodman halted, amazed into silence. At last, he said: “Well, you have got the clear nerve! What’s the idea, anyhow. ”

“ Possibly, it may have been the hypnotic quality of Saxon’s eyes, but, whatever it was, Rodman found it impossible to disbelieve him when he spoke in this fashion. In the plaza, he had suddenly turned the scales and held power of life and death over Rodman, and his only emotion had been that of heart-broken misery. Carter had been, like Rodman himself, the intriguer, but he had always been trustworthy with his friends. He had been [Pg 192] violent, bitter, avenging, but never mean in small ways. ”

“ Rodman looked at the chair. “It looks comfortable,” he agreed. “But it ’s quite new.”
“Certainly,” said Nate. “I thought you ’d need one. It ’s better than store chairs—fits your back better.”
Slowly, carefully, the boy sat down. He lifted his leg into position, and settled himself so as to put no strain on the ankle. But all the time, though he said nothing, his face was working, And again two tears stood on his cheeks.
“Cheerfully!” warned Nate.
Rodman looked up into his face. “You do a great deal for me. And I ’m a perfect stranger to you.”
“Are ye?” inquired Nate, shrewdly. ”

“ I’m a very flossy bug, eh, Saxon?”
The painter admitted the soft self-impeachment with a qualification.
“I begin to think you are a very destructive one.”
“I am,” announced Rodman, calmly. “I could spin you many a yarn of intrigue, but for the fact that, since you began wearing a halo [Pg 177] instead of a hat, you have become too sanctified to listen.” ”

“ Rodman smiled. “Thanks.”
“We play ball that afternoon,” explained Pelham. “Perhaps you could get down to see us.”
“Perhaps,” agreed Rodman.
“And later you can play with us,” Pelham went on, warming with enthusiasm. “We have a match every Saturday, when we can arrange it. Any fellow can get a place on the nine who plays well enough. You do play, of course?”
“Of course,” said Rodman.
Brian spoke suddenly. “Where have you played?”
Rodman, flushing, hesitated for an answer. Pelham struck in quickly: “What ’s the difference? And say, Rodman, there ’s swimming, and hare and hounds. ”

“ Richard’s right-hand man performed civilities with decidedly more finish than Richard himself had at command.
‘I am very happy to meet Miss Mutimer. I hope we shall have the pleasure of showing her New Wanley to-morrow.’
‘She and Miss Waltham will walk down in the morning. Good night, Rodman. Cold, eh?’
‘Why didn’t you introduce him this afternoon?’ Alice asked as she walked on.
‘I didn’t think of it—I was bothered.’
‘He seems very gentlemanly.’
‘Oh, Rodman’s seen a deal of life. He’s a useful fellow—gets through work in a wonderful way.’
‘But is he a gentleman? ”

“ So now ex-Colonel Rodman, keeper of the national cemetery, viewed the little town in its second estate with philosophic eyes. "It is part of a great problem now working itself out; I am not here to tend the living, but the dead," he said.
Whereupon, as he walked among the long mounds, a voice seemed to rise from the still ranks below: "While ye have time, do good to men," it said. "Behold, we are beyond your care." But the keeper did not heed.
This still evening in early February he looked out over the level waste. The little town stood in the lowlands ”

“ Marquis read the secret message in his emotionless drawl:
“'The American is destroyed, and his accursed work is destroyed with him. Send the news to Bangkok and west to Burma. The treasures of India are saved.”'
I cried out in astonishment.
“An assassin! The creature was an assassin! He killed Rodman simply by crushing him in his arms!”
Sir Henry's drawl lengthened.
“It's Lal Gupta,” he said, “the cleverest Oriental in the whole of Asia. The jewel-traders sent him to watch Rodman, and to kill him if he was ever able to get his formulae worked out. ”

“ There was one man in the world that everybody wished could have been present at the time. That was Sir Henry Marquis. Marquis was chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard. He had been in charge of the English secret service on the frontier of the Shan states, and at the time he was in Asia.
As soon as Scotland Yard could release Sir Henry, it sent him. Rodman's genius was the common property of the world. The American Government could not, even with the verdict of a trial court, let Rodman's death go by under the smoke-screen of such a weird, inscrutable mystery. ”

“ Every one that ever applied to me was of the kind that only wanted to learn my secrets in order to sell ’em. But I know when I can trust; and Rodman, he can work with me if he wants to.” He looked at the boy. “We have holidays here whenever we want ’em. The air ’s better here than in the mill, an’ the pay ’s jes’ as good.”
“Will you take me in?” laughed Pelham.
“Cert’,” answered Nate. “But first you ask your pa if he ’d let you come. And now—" His hand, which he had been holding behind his back, he suddenly revealed as holding bottles.
“Root-beer!” cried Pelham, springing up. “Oh, Nate!” ”

“ But Rodman laid a persuasive hand on the other’s arm.
“He must be taken to the water front,” he declared, earnestly. “After the conference, he would not be safe here.”
The stranger drew back, and stood for a moment twisting his dark mustache, while his eyes frowned inquiringly. He was disinclined to take part in proceedings that might have political after-effects. He had volunteered to assist an injured civilian, not a participant, or refugee. ”

“ You notice everything, and you remember it, too. You can do as much that way as any other. You were right when you said that a girl should be elected to one of the offices, and they all know you were right, no matter what they say. You noticed something there, and you had the courage to tell everybody else about it. What if you can't make the team? If you just do your best, the time is going to come when you will accomplish as much by seeing as the rest will by doing."
The look on Rodman's face was a queer mixture of shame and pleasure. He swallowed hard.
"You're right, Molly. ”

“ A savage oath preceded Captain Lucy's reply—
“They can lie there till they die before any one of them shall put a pipe in his mouth.”
“Just as you please, captain,” said the mate, nonchalantly. “I guess you know best what you're doing. But there's going to be more trouble aboard this ship if you don't ease up a bit on those five men; and if I were you I wouldn't go too far. One of 'em—that youngest Rodman boy—can't stand much more of that sail locker in such weather as this. ”