The Octopus : A Story of California

house, Hilma and Mrs. Derrick he

nd upon young Vacca's arm. "Stop t

ar away across the rustling wheat came

ng his eyes, "oh, say, th

put her hands

h, oh, it's terrible. Mag

s?" demanded Hilma. "Tha

back. Drive to

aid we were to go to Derrick's. Better keep away from Hooven's if the

cried Mrs. Derrick, "I'm af

me to Hoo

couldn't. I-I can't. It would be all

epeated y

off the lap-robes, preparing to descend. "And you," she exclaimed, turning to M

drove across the open fields till he reached t

" cried

the touch of the whip. The ranch

the house?" inquired V

o faster-make

ugh the houses o

denly, "look, look there.

for the road in front of A

ntents into the dust; there were the white wool rugs of the sitting-room, the flower stand, with its pots all broken, its flowers wilting; the cracked goldfish globe, the fishes already dead; the rocking chair, the sewing machine, the great round table of yellow oak, the lamp with its deep shade of crinkly red tissue paper, the pretty tinted photographs that had hung on the wall-the choir boys with beautiful eyes, the pensive young girls in pink gow

graded; all that she held sacred pilloried, gibbeted, and exhibited to the world's derision

"oh, how could they do it?" But other fear

ied to Vacca, "

, deputies, no doubt, on the porch of the ranch house. They held possession there, and

ing to take you anywhere where you're liable to get hurt. Besides

ng from th

said to Mr

, and Hilma, picking her way through and around the wreck of her

n overturned buggy lay on the side of the road in the distance, its horses in a tangle of harness, held by two or three men. She s

; oh, what has happene

the hand and together they pushed their way throu

the two women, parting to r

m in the doorway of the house, "oh, Presley, what has ha

ck," said Presley, comin

husband?" d

steadied himself again

to Cutter and Phelps. There was a strange, acrid odour of an unfamiliar drug in the air. On the table before her was a satchel, surgical instruments, rolls of bandages, and a blue, oblong p

hree or four men lying on the floor, one half naked, his body swathed in white bandages;

ned a white

is my h

ting upon it, took Annixter's head in her lap, holding it gently between her hands. Thereafter she did not move, but sat holding her dead husband's head in her lap, looking

ide, Magnus came quickly forward.

me," she cried,

yet," he answer

cked himself. He, the indomita

we can. Try and be brave, Annie. There is always hope

rward, but he

Go into the next room. G

reaking through the group that surrounded her son, sank o

d through with blood. His eyes were half-closed, and with the regularity of a machine, the eyeballs twitched and twitched. His face was so white that it made his yellow hair loo

lled Mrs. Derrick, catch

or shook

nscious, Mr

he-where is

gh the

well? Tell

know. Mrs

er, took her to the one adjoining room-Minna Hooven's bedchamber. Dazed, numb with f

e, oh, my son,

, doing what he could to be of service, si

ian's body. S. Behrman and Ruggles held bowls of water while Osterman was attended to. The horror of that dreadful business had driven all other considerations from the mind. The sworn foes of the

d Hooven, whose wounds had all been in the face and head, were covered with a tablecloth. Upon the floor, places were made for

the waist, bandages of adhesive tape reeved about his abdomen and shoulder. His eyes were half-closed. Presley, who

ad ever taken very seriously, at the last redeemed himself. When at len

had reached out his free arm and taken Presley's hand in his, gripping it harder and harder, as the probe entered the wound. His breath came short through his nostrils; his fa

r and he could find breath to

the others

of men who had struck off from the road on the other side of the irrigating ditch and were advancing cautiously in

at when he was shot he crawled off into t

of seeing him slide from his horse at the beginning of the fight. Anxious to

fooling around in here. If he's alive yet he's just as lia

ht left in him," another answ

bled like

med the leader of the party. "He

iously. All at once the men in advance stopped so suddenly that those

e he

! Sure, th

low, poor

is knees drawn up, his eyes wide open, his lips brown

ellows from Guadalajara, drew back in instinctive repulsio

inquired tho

n't k

on his heart." "No!

ou afra

touch him, that's all. It's

always te

you fellows make me sick. Here

other bent down and laid his ha

el

feel it beat and sometimes I don'

an't tell by

blame much. Dead or not, let'

e a litter was improvised, and throwing their coats over the body, the party carried it back to t

you?" exclaimed

ted the other. "I only said you couldn't al

on. The wagon containing Mrs. Hoove

ating the faces of the crowd. "Whadt has happun? Sey,

with Hilda in her arms. The crowd bore back

, as she hurried on, her two hands out before her, the finge

se in the outside room, saying no word, made way for them. They entered, closing the door behind them, and through all the rest of that terrible day, no sound nor sight of them was had by those who crowded into and ab

ousands who had that morning participated in the rabbit drive, surged about the place; men and women, young boys, young girls, farm hands, villagers, townspeopl

ry one wanted to see what had been done; failing that, to hear of it, and failing that, to be near the scene of the affair. The crowd of people packed the road in front of the house for nearly a quarter of a mile in either direction. They balanced themselves upon the lower strands of the barbed wi

n formed, and as he paused there a moment, a group of Leaguers, among whom were Garnett and Gethings, came slowly from the door carrying old

take it eas

infinite precautions, the men bore him to the carry-all and deposited him on the bac

re were exclamations, hurried movements. The doctor uttered a sharp command and a man ran back to the house returning on the instant with the doct

exclaimed the man who ha

answered the doctor

throughout the throng near at ha

e doctor quietly, "stand b

te. The horses of the carry-all shifted their feet and whisked their tails, driving off the flies.

ked. Gethings stepped forward and took his p

been taken away in a hack and the tablecloth over Dabney's body replaced with a sheet. But still unabated, agonised, raucous, came the sounds of Harran's breathing. Everything possible had already been done. For the moment it was out of the question to attempt to move

ly. One of the surgeons who had been called from Bonnevill

?" Presley

ve," the oth

egular and the lids closed over the twitching eyes. All at once

. Derrick," the

tched herself over the body of her son, her head upon his breas

and forgive m

h grief, with horror, with pity, and with mad, in

" began the s

re all dead, murdered, shot down, dead,

they killed my

me. The League is wrong. All the world is wrong. You are the only one of

n's. The bodies of Annixter and Harran were placed in it, and it

d already been carried to Guadalajara

at ride none of them spoke a word. It had been arranged that, since Quien Sabe was in the hands o

ooven's and turned into the county road towards Bonneville. The initial excitement of the affair of the irrigating ditch had di

body of Dabney, the silent old man of whom nothing was known but his name, who made no friends, w

errick was not so occupied by Harran's death that he could not think of others who were in distress, and when he had h

m, "it is precarious ho

, for once having given way to her grief, Hilma wept with a terrible anguish and a violence that racked her from head to foot, and at last, worn out, a

to Hilma's room, carrying the lamp with her. Mrs. Dyke needed no enlightenment. She woke Presley and besought hi

ly too well, whirled at a gallop through his imagination, or rose spectral and grisly before the eyes of his mind. Harran dead, Annixter dead, Broderson dead, Osterman, perhaps, even at that moment dying. Why, these men had made up his world. Annixter had been his best friend, Harran, his almost daily companion; Broderson and Osterman were familiar to him as brothers. They were all his associates, his good friends, th

d on his arms, as if tired, tired out. These things, I have seen them. The picture of this day's work is from henceforth part of my mind, part of ME. They have done it, S. Behrman and the owners of the railroad have done it, while all the world looked on, while the people of these United States looked on. Oh, come now and try your theories upon us, us of the ranchos, us, who have suffered, us, who KNOW. Oh, talk to US now of the 'rights of Capital,' talk to US of the Trust, talk to US of the 'equilibrium between the classes.' Try your in

r in the vast, clashing machinery of the nation's life; a fleck of grit in the wheels, perhaps, a grain of sand in the cogs-the momentary creak of the axle is the mother's wail of bereavement, the wife's cry of anguish-and the great wheel turns, spinning smooth again, even again, and the tiny impediment of a second, scarce noticed, is forgotten. Make the people believe that the faint tremour in their great engine is

selves, you of the South-ask yourselves, every citizen of every State from Maine to Mexico, from the Dakotas to the Carolinas, have you not the monster in your boundaries? If it is not a Trust of transportation, it is only another head of the same Hydra. Is not our death struggle typical? Is it not one of many, is it not symbolical of the great and terrible conflict that is going on everywhere in these United States? Ah, you people, blind, boun

l, or, seized at times with unreasoning horror and blind rage, flinging himself face downward upon his bed, vo

at the "Mercury." Bonneville published two other daily journals that professed t

re patrolling the streets and, still resolved to keep the peace, were even guarding the railroad shops and buildings. Furthermore, the Leaguers had issu

ere were no funds in the marshal's office to pay expenses for the summoning of jurors or the serving of processes. S. Behrman and Ruggles in interviews stated that the Railroad withdrew entirely from the fight; the matter now, according to them, was between the Leaguers and the United State

of news that morning was the report of the ac

ome arrangement difficult to understand, the telegraph operators at Bonneville and Guadalajara, acting under orders, refused to receive any telegrams except those emanating from railway o

ma, Magnus, nor Mrs. Derrick. The doctor came to look after Hilma. He breakfasted with Mrs. Dyke and Presley, and from him Pres

eg to be allowed to go to her. I have tried to get a wire through to Mrs. Tree, but the company will

great silence pervaded everything, a silence broken only by the subdued coming and going of the undertaker and his assistants. When Presley, havin

abrupt outbursts of fury injected his eyes with blood. He ground his teeth, his mouth filled with curses, his hands clenched till they grew white and bloodless. Was the Railroad to triumph then in the end? After all those months of preparation, after all those grandiloquent resolutions, after all the arrogant presumption of the League! The League! what a farce; what had it amounted to when the crisis came? Was the Trust to crush them all so easily? Was S. Behrman to swallow Los Muertos? S. Behrman! Presley saw him plainly, huge, rotund, white

head with his clenche

kill him, kill him, k

atter it out, strangle it out, to pay him back for the long years of extortion and oppression, to square accounts for bribed jurors, bought judges, corrupted legislatures, to have justice fo

d just opened his place and was standing in his doorway, smoking hi

and Pixley. It was no longer the crowd of curiosity seekers that had thronged around Hooven's place by the irrigating ditch; the People were no longer confused, bewildered. A full realisation of just what had been done the day before was clear now in the minds of all. Business was suspended; nearly all the stores were closed. Since early morning the members of the League had put in an appearance and rode from point to point, their rifles across their saddle pommels. Then, by ten o'clock, the streets had begun to fill up, the groups on the corners grew and merged into one another; pedestrians, unable to find room on the sid

the streets, moving slowly backward and forward, oscillating in the grooves of the t

reasons that were inexplicable, great, tumultuous heavings, like ground-swells of an incoming tide, surged over and through the multitude. At times, Presley, lifted from his feet, was swept back, back, back, with the crowd, till the entrance of the Opera House was half a block away; then, the returning billow beat back again and swung him along, gasping, staggering, clutching, till he was landed once more in the vortex of frantic action in front of the foyer. Here the waves were shorter, quicker, the crushing pressure on all sides of his body left him without strength to utter the cry that rose to his lips; then, suddenly the whole mass of stru

ats, leaving the print of dusty feet upon the red plush cushions. In a twinkling the house was filled from stage to topmost gallery.

e squares of black and white marble, while red, white, and yellow flowers were represented as growing from urns and vases. A long, double row of chai

l-known figures made their appearance-Garnett of the Ruby ranch, Gethings of the San Pablo, Keast of

tter-of-fact. He simply told what had happened. He announced that cer

ir of yesterday. He begged the people to wait in patience, to attempt no more violence. He informed them that armed guards of the League were, at that moment, patrolling L

es out to him in this hour of distress, but, at the same time, the position of the League must be defined. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the people of this county. The League armed for the very purpose of preserving the peace, not of breaking it. We believed that with six hundred armed and drilled men at our disposal, ready to muster at a moment's call, we could so overawe any attempt to expel us from our lands that such

from the Leaguers and less pronounced de

lace, a tall, clumsy man, h

d so as we wouldn't be taken by surprise as we were yesterday. And it seems no watch was kept at all, or if there was, it was mighty ineffective. Our idea was to forestall any movement on the part of the Railroad and then when we knew the marshal was coming down, to call a meeting of our Executive Committee and decide as to what should be done. We ought to have had time to call out the whole League. Instead of that, what happens? While we're all off chasing rabbits, the Railroad is allowed to steal a march on us and when it is too late, a handful of Leaguers is got together and a fight is precipitated and our men killed. I'M sorry for our President, too. No one is

towards Garnett. He handed the rancher a note, at the same time whispering in his ear. Garnett read the note

and fellow-citizen, Mr. Osterman, died this

g. The roar increased, the Opera House trembled to it, the gas jets in the lighted chandeliers

e no longer was master of his emotions or his impulses. All at once he found himself upon the stage, facing the audience, flaming with excit

, the white Czar heard it in the Kremlin,-'LET MY PEOPLE GO.' It is the cry of the nations, the great voice of the centuries; everywhere it is raised. The voice of God is the voice of the People. The people cry out 'Let us, the People, God's people, go.' You, our masters, you, our kings, you, our tyrants, don't you hear us? Don't you hear God speaking in us? Will you never let us go? How long at length will you abuse our patience? How long will you drive us? How long will you harass us? Will nothing daunt you? Does nothing check you? Do you not know that to ignore our cry too long is to wake the Red Terror? Rameses refused to listen to it and perished miserably. Caesar refused to listen and was stabbed in the Senate House. The Bourbon Louis refused to listen and died on the guillotine; Charles Stuart refused to listen and died on the block; the white Czar refused to listen and was blown up in his own capital. Will you let it come to that? Will you drive us

s. There was a roar of applause; then, more significant than mere vociferation, Presley's listeners, as he be

e are told that we must look to the courts for redress; they own the courts. We know them for what they are,-ruffians in politics, ruffians in finance, ruffians in law, ruffians in trade, bribers, swindlers, and tr

ce; they corrupt a legislature and call it Politics; they bribe a judge and call it Law; they hire blacklegs t

other shoulder. We talk of liberty-oh, the farce of it, oh, the folly of it! We tell ourselves and teach our children that we have achieved liberty, th

ering goddess. Oh, the farce of it, oh, the folly of it! Liberty is NOT a crowned goddess, beautiful, in spotless garments, victorious, supreme. Liberty is the Man In the Street, a terri

e very height and heat of battle, born from death, stained with blood, grimed with powder. And she grows to be not a

. Instinctively as he made his way out, Presley knew that, after all, he had not once held the hearts of his audience. He had talked as he would have written; for all his scorn of literature, he had been literary. The men who listened to him, ranchers, country peo

ne moment that he was an outsider to their minds. He had n

s way slowly from the Opera House and stood o

e people would not consider him, would not believe that he could do them service. Then suddenly he seemed to remember. The resolute se

a great commotion had occurre

ut he was the President of the League, and never since its organisation had a meeting of such importance as this one been held. He had been in command at

proar. Many had pressed forward to shake his hand, but others were not found wanting who, formerly his staunch supporters, now scenting opposition in the air, held back

ich Garnett offered him, the Governor withdrew to a

agnus, acquainted him briefly with the t

talk of 'assumption of authority,' or 'acting without advice and consent'? As if there was any time to call a meeting of the Executive Committee. If you hadn't acted as you did, the whole county would have been grabbed by

of all moments? He put from him his terrible grief. The cause was in danger. At the instant he was the President of the League only, the chief, the master. A royal anger surged within him, a wide, towering scorn of opposition. He would cru

ague," he began, "ci

was as though his words had furnished a signal. In a certain quarter of the gallery, direct

legates at Sacramento? Tell us about t

le group of which he was but a part. Others in the audience, however, seeing in the disturbance only t

out, put

pounding with his gavel. The who

berate and planned attack. Persistently, doggedly, the group in the gallery vociferated: "Tell us how you br

out, put

s Derrick, unconvicte

aisle underneath where the recalcitrant group had

ay; you will be afforded the opportunity, but if you do not let th

irst shout leaned over the balcony rail,

howl about law and justice and corruption! Here"-he turned to the audience-"read about him, read the story of how the Sac

d in handfuls and armfuls the papers were flung out over the heads of the audience underneath. The air was full of the flutter of the newly printed sheets. They swarmed over the rim of the gallery like clouds of monstrous, winged insects, settled upon the heads and into the

ing the Governor's hush

embly of them were on their feet, bewildered, shouting vaguely. From proscenium wall to foyer, the Opera House was a

ced the

paid organ of the corporation. You have not one shadow of proof to back you up. Do you choose this, of all times, to heap your

"Let Derrick speak. Where is he hiding? If this is a lie, let him deny it.

uers, Keast got from off the stage into the wings. Here the crowd was no less dense. Nearly every one had a copy of the "Mercury."

aker, "we should be the last ones to kick. In any case, it wa

ut of the Ranchers' Commis

do-if he DID do it-bribing legislatures. Why, we were buckin

shed his way farther on. At last, opening a small doo

attered sofa and limping toilet table occupied a third of the space. The air was heavy with the smell of stale grease paint, ointments, and sachet. Faded photographs of young women i

of men who gesticulated and shouted in his very face, pale, alert, ag

e, Magnus, I've been looking for you. The crowd has gone wild out there. You've got to talk

could reply, Garne

we want him to do,

men who crowded around Magnus, "y

urned t

exclaimed. "You've got to answer that

"it is a lie. I will not stoop-I would not-would be

of Roman integrity, of Roman valour, before whose voice whole conventions

suddenly. "It is a lie, isn't it? That Co

w dare you question me-call me to account!

scare us, Derrick. That sort of talk was well enough onc

the lie in his face, in his voice? What a folly to maintain the wretched pretence! He had failed. He was ruined. Harran was gone. His ranch would soon go; his money was gone. Lyman was worse than dead. His own honour had been prostituted. Gon

d?" insisted Garnett. "Were the del

as no other way to-" Then suddenly and with the last dregs of his reso

laimed Keast, sitting swift

cended upon those present. No one knew what to say or where to

what I was trying t

length, bestirring himsel

r the door. One by one they went out. The last to go was Ke

n pretty soon. Don't let this discourage you. The

t, shuttin

ng at his face in the cracked mirror that for so many years had reflected the paint

d. Before nightfall of that day, Bonneville was further excited by an astonishing bit of news. S. Behrman lived in a detached house at some distance from the town, surrounded by a grove of live oak and eucalyptus trees. At a little after half-past six, as he w