Laughing Bill Hyde | Page 3

picture approvingly.
"Some queen, all right. Blonde, I reckon."
"Sure. You like blondes?"
"Who, me? I ain't strong for no kind of women. You hate her, don't
you?"
The young man smiled more widely, his whole face lit up. "I hate her
so much that I kissed her good-by and sailed away to make a quick
fortune. I hope Alaska's unhealthy."

"Yeah?"
"You see, I'm a doctor. I'm a good doctor, too, but it takes a long time
to prove it, out in the States, and I can't wait a long time."
Mr. Hyde pondered briefly. "I don't see's you got much on me, Doc,"
he said. "I frisk 'em while they're good and healthy, and you 'take' 'em
when they're feeble. I don't see no difference to speak of."
"It's an interesting viewpoint," the physician agreed, seriously enough,
"and I respect every man's opinion. Tell me, how did you acquire that
cough?"
"Livin' in a ground-floor apartment."
"What's your business?"
"Harness-maker."
"Hm-m! You'll do well up here." The doctor was highly entertained. "I
understand there's a horse at Nome."
"A horse!"
"Alaska isn't a stock country."
Laughing Bill was genuinely surprised. "No horses!" he murmured.
"How the hell do you get away?"
"You don't. You stay and face the music."
"Now what do you know about that?" There was a brief silence. "Well,
I bet I'll turn my hand to something."
"No doubt. You impress me as a man of resource." The doctor's eyes
twinkled and Bill smiled. A bond of friendly understanding had already
sprung up between the two men. "Now then, I'm interested in your case.
I've a notion to try to cure you."

"Nothing doin' on the fees. I'm a dead card."
"Oh, I won't charge you anything! I'm merely interested in obscure
ailments, and, if I'm not mistaken, you suffer from more than one--well,
disease. I think you need curing about as badly as any man I ever saw."
Now Laughing Bill was not skilled in subtleties, and his relief at
extricating himself from a trying predicament banished any resentment
he might have felt at the doctor's double meaning. Since the latter was a
good-natured, harmless individual he decided to humor him, and so,
after they had visited for an hour or more, Mr. Hyde discreetly
withdrew. But, oddly enough, during the days immediately following,
Laughing Bill grew to like the young fellow immensely. This in itself
was a novel experience, for the ex-convict had been a "loner" all
his-life, and had never really liked any one. Dr. Evan Thomas, however,
seemed to fill some long-felt want in Hyde's hungry make-up. He fitted
in smoothly, too, and despite the latter's lifelong habit of suspicion,
despite his many rough edges, he could not manage to hold the young
man at a distance.
Thomas was of a type strange to the wanderer, he was educated, he had
unfamiliar airs and accomplishments, but he was human and natural
withal. He was totally ignorant of much that Mr. Hyde deemed
fundamental, and yet he was mysteriously superior, while his
indifferent good nature, his mild amusement at the antics of the world
about him covered a sincere and earnest nature. He knew his business,
moreover, and he revolutionized Bill's habits of hygiene in spite of the
latter's protests.
But the disease which ravaged Mr. Hyde's constitution had its toes dug
in, and when the steamer touched at St. Michaels he suffered a severe
hemorrhage. For the first time in his life Laughing Bill stood face to
face with darkness. He had fevered memories of going over side on a
stretcher; he was dimly aware of an appalling weakness, which grew
hourly, then an agreeable indifference enveloped him, and for a long
time he lived in a land of unrealities, of dreams. The day came when he
began to wonder dully how and why he found himself in a freezing
cabin with Doctor Thomas, in fur cap and arctic overshoes, tending him.

Bill pondered the phenomenon for a week before he put his query into
words.
"I've had a hard fight for you, old man," the doctor explained. "I
couldn't leave you here to die."
"I guess I must 'a' been pretty sick."
"Right! There's no hospital here, so I took this cabin--borrowed it from
the Company. We don't burn much fuel, and expenses aren't high."
"You been standin' off the landlord?"
"Yes."
There was a considerable silence, then Bill said, fervently: "You're a
regular guy, like I told you! But you got your pill business to attend to.
I'm all right now, so you better blow."
Thomas smiled dubiously. "You're a long way from all right, and
there's no place to 'blow' to. The last boat sailed two weeks ago."
"Last boat for where?"
"For anywhere. We're here for the winter, unless the