_ So sang Bibbs, his musical gaieties inaudible to his fellow-workmen
because of the noise of the machinery. He had discovered long ago
that the uproar was rhythmical, and it had been intolerable; but now,
on the afternoon of the fourth day of his return, he was accompanying
the swing and clash of the metals with jubilant vaquero fragments,
mingling improvisations of his own among them, and mocking the
zinc-eater's crash with vocal imitations:
Fearless and bold, Chang! Bash! Behold! With a leap from the ground
to the saddle in a bound, And away--and away! Hi-YAY! WHO looks a
chang, chang, bash, crash, bang! WHO cares a dash how you bash and
you crash? NIGHT'S on the way EACH time I say, Hi-YAY! Crash, chang!
Bash, chang! Chang, bang, BANG!
The long room was ceaselessly thundering with metallic sound; the
air was thick with the smell of oil; the floor trembled perpetually;
everything was implacably in motion--nowhere was there a rest for the
dizzied eye. The first time he had entered the place Bibbs had become
dizzy instantly, and six months of it had only added increasing nausea
to faintness. But he felt neither now. "ALL DAY LONG I'LL SEND MY
THOUGHTS TO YOU. YOU MUST KEEP REMEMBERING THAT YOUR FRIEND STANDS
BESIDE YOU." He saw her there beside him, and the greasy, roaring
place became suffused with radiance. The poet was happy in his
machine-shop; he was still a poet there. And he fed his old
zinc-eater, and sang:
Away--and away! Hi-YAHa ! Crash, bash, crash, bash, CHANGa ! Wild are
his eyes, Fiercely he dies! Hi-YAH! Crash, bash, bang! Bash, CHANG!
Ready to fling Our gloves in the ring--
He was unaware of a sensation that passed along the lines of workmen.
Their great master had come among them, and they grinned to see him
standing with Dr. Gurney behind the unconscious Bibbs. Sheridan
nodded to those nearest him--he had personal acquaintance with nearly
all of them--but he kept his attention upon his son. Bibbs worked
steadily, never turning from his machine. Now and then he varied his
musical programme with remarks addressed to the zinc-eater.
"Go on, you old crash-basher! Chew it up! It's good for you, if you
don't try to bolt your vittles. Fletcherize, you pig! That's right
--YOU'LL never get a lump in your gizzard. Want some more? Here's
a nice, shiny one."
The words were indistinguishable, but Sheridan inclined his head to
Gurney's ear and shouted fiercely: "Talkin' to himself! By George!"
Gurney laughed reassuringly, and shook his head.
Bibbs returned to song:
Chang! Chang, bash, chang! It's I! WHO looks a mustang in the eye?
Fearless and bo--
His father grasped him by the arm. "Here!" he shouted. "Let ME show
you how to run a strip through there. The foreman says you're some
better'n you used to be, but that's no way to handle--Get out the way
and let me show you once."
"Better be careful," Bibbs warned him, stepping to one side.
"Careful? Boh!" Sheridan seized a strip of zinc from the box.
"What you talkin' to yourself about? Tryin' to make yourself think
you're so abused you're goin' wrong in the head?"
"'Abused'? No!" shouted Bibbs. "I was SINGING--because I 'like it'!
I told you I'd come back and 'like it.'"
Sheridan may not have understood. At all events, he made no reply,
but began to run the strip of zinc through the machine. He did it
awkwardly--and with bad results.
"Here!" he shouted. "This is the way. Watch how I do it. There's
nothin' to it, if you put your mind on it." By his own showing then
his mind was not upon it. He continued to talk. "All you got to look
out for is to keep it pressed over to--"
"Don't run your hand up with it," Bibbs vociferated, leaning toward
him.
"Run nothin'! You GOT to--"
"Look out!" shouted Bibbs and Gurney together, and they both sprang
forward. But Sheridan's right hand had followed the strip too far,
and the zinc-eater had bitten off the tips of the first and second
fingers. He swore vehemently, and wrung his hand, sending a shower
of red drops over himself and Bibbs, but Gurney grasped his wrist,
and said, sharply:
"Come out of here. Come over to the lavatory in the office. Bibbs,
fetch my bag. It's in my machine, outside."
And when Bibbs brought the bag to the washroom he found the doctor
still grasping Sheridan's wrist, holding the injured hand over a
basin. Sheridan had lost color, and temper, too. He glared over
his shoulder at his son as the latter handed the bag to Gurney.
"You go on back to your work," he said. "I've had worse snips than
that from a pencil-sharpener."
"Oh no, you haven't!" said Gurney.
"I have, too!" Sheridan retorted, angrily. "Bibbs, you go on back
to your work. There's no reason to stand around here watchin' ole
Doc Gurney tryin' to keep himself awake workin' on a scratch that
only needs a little court-plaster. I slipped, or it wouldn't
happened. You get back on your job."
"All right," said Bibbs.
"HERE!" Sheridan bellowed, as his son was passing out of the door.
"You watch out when you're runnin' that machine! You hear what I say?
I slipped, or I wouldn't got scratched, but you--YOU'RE liable to get
your whole hand cut off! You keep your eyes open!"
"Yes, sir." And Bibbs returned to the zinc-eater thoughtfully.
Half an hour later, Gurney touched him on the shoulder and beckoned
him outside, where conversation was possible. "I sent him home,
Bibbs. He'll have to be careful of that hand. Go get your overalls
off. I'll take you for a drive and leave you at home."
"Can't," said Bibbs. "Got to stick to my job till the whistle blows."
"No, you don't," the doctor returned, smothering a yawn. "He wants
me to take you down to my office and give you an overhauling to see
how much harm these four days on the machine have done you. I guess
you folks have got that old man pretty thoroughly upset, between you,
up at your house! But I don't need to go over you. I can see with
my eyes half shut--"
"Yes," Bibbs interrupted, "that's what they are."
"I say I can see you're starting out, at least, in good shape.
What's made the difference?"
"I like the machine," said Bibbs. "I've made a friend of it.
I serenade it and talk to it, and then it talks back to me."
"Indeed, indeed? What does it say?"
"What I want to hear."
"Well, well!" The doctor stretched himself and stamped his foot
repeatedly. "Better come along and take a drive with me. You can
take the time off that he allowed for the examination, and--"
"Not at all," said Bibbs. "I'm going to stand by my old zinc-eater
till five o'clock. I tell you I LIKE it!"
"Then I suppose that's the end of your wanting to write."
"I don't know about that," Bibbs said, thoughtfully; "but the zinc-
eater doesn't interfere with my thinking, at least. It's better than
being in business; I'm sure of that. I don't want anything to change.
I'd be content to lead just the life I'm leading now to the end of my
days."
"You do beat the devil!" exclaimed Gurney. "Your father's right when
he tells me you're a mystery. Perhaps the Almighty knew what He was
doing when He made you, but it takes a lot of faith to believe it!
Well, I'm off. Go on back to your murdering old machine." He climbed
into his car, which he operated himself, but he refrained from setting
it immediately in motion. "Well, I rubbed it in on the old man that
you had warned him not to slide his hand along too far, and that he
got hurt because he didn't pay attention to your warning, and because
he was trying to show you how to do something you were already doing a
great deal better than he could. You tell him I'll be around to look
at it and change the dressing to-morrow morning. Good-by."
But when he paid the promised visit, the next morning, he did more
than change the dressing upon the damaged hand. The injury was severe
of its kind, and Gurney spent a long time over it, though Sheridan was
rebellious and scornful, being brought to a degree of tractability
only by means of horrible threats and talk of amputation. However,
he appeared at the dinner-table with his hand supported in a sling,
which he seemed to regard as an indignity, while the natural inquiries
upon the subject evidently struck him as deliberate insults. Mrs.
Sheridan, having been unable to contain her solicitude several times
during the day, and having been checked each time in a manner that
blanched her cheek, hastened to warn Roscoe and Sibyl, upon their
arrival at five, to omit any reference to the injury and to avoid
even looking at the sling if they possibly could. _