Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (155 page)
Read Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) Online
Authors: Travelers In Time
"What
do
you
think?"
he
said,
at
last.
"I
fancy
I
shall
call
it
'The Story
of
a
Ship.'
"
"I
think
the
idea's
pretty
good;
but
you
won't
be
able
to
handle
it
for
ever
so
long.
Now
I"
----
"Would
it
be
of
any
use
to
you?
Would
you
care
to
take
it?
I should
be
proud,"
said
Charlie,
promptly.
There
are
few
things
sweeter
in
this
world
than
the
guileless,
hotheaded,
intemperate,
open
admiration
of
a
junior.
Even
a
woman
in her
blindest
devotion
does
not
fall
into
the
gait
of
the
man
she
adores, tilt
her
bonnet
to
the
angle
at
which
he
wears
his
hat,
or
interlard
her speech
with
his
pet
oaths.
And
Charlie
did
all
these
things.
Still
it
was necessary
to
salve
my
conscience
before
I
possessed
myself
of
Charlie's thoughts.
"Let's
make
a
bargain.
I'll
give
you
a
fiver
for
the
notion,"
I
said. Charlie
became
a
bank-clerk
at
once.
"Oh,
that's
impossible.
Between
two
pals,
you
know,
if
i
may
call you
so,
and
speaking
as
a
man
of
the
world,
I
couldn't.
Take
the notion
if
it's
any
use
to
you.
I've
heaps
more."
He
had—none
knew
this
better
than
I—but
they
were
the
notions of
other
men.
"Look
at
it
as
a
matter
of
business—between
men
of
the
world,"
I
returned.
"Five
pounds
will
buy
you
any
number
of
poetry-books.
Business
is
business,
and
you
may
be
sure
I
shouldn't
give
that
price
unless"
-----
"Oh,
if
you
put
it
that
way,"
said
Charlie,
visibly
moved
by
the thought
of
the
books.
Tire
bargain
was
clinched
with
an
agreement that
he
should
at
unstated
intervals
come
to
me
with
all
the
notions that
he
possessed,
should
have
a
table
of
his
own
to
write
at,
and
unquestioned
right
to
inflict
upon
me
all
his
poems
and
fragments
of poems.
Then
I
said,
"Now
tell
me
how
you
came
by
this
idea."
"It
came
by
itself."
Charlie's
eyes
opened
a
little.
"Yes,
but
you
told
me
a
great
deal
about
the
hero
that
you
must have
read
before
somewhere."
"I
haven't
any
time
for
reading,
except
when
you
let
me
sit
here, and
on
Sundays
I'm
on
my
bicycle
or
down
the
river
all
day.
There's nothing
wrong
about
the
hero,
is
there?"
"Tell
me
again
and
I
shall
understand
clearly.
You
say
that
your hero
went
pirating.
How
did
he
live?"
"He
was
on
the
lower
deck
of
this
ship-thing
that
I
was
telling
you about."
"What
sort
of
ship?"
"It
was
the
kind
rowed
with
oars,
and
the
sea
spurts
through
the oar-holes
and
the
men
row
sitting
up
to
their
knees
in
water.
Then there's
a
bench
running
down
between
the
two
lines
of
oars
and
an overseer
with
a
whip
walks
up
and
down
the
bench
to
make
the
men work."
