Kilo : being the love story of Eliph' Hewlitt, book agent Read online

  CHAPTER VI. The Castaway

  Eliph' Hewlitt, when he reached the large, yellow house, found the dooropen. The sale was well over. The gingham aprons and the cat-stitcheddusting cloths were all sold, and only a few crocheted slipper-bagsand similar luxuries remained, and these were being offered at greatlyreduced prices, much to the chagrin of the ladies who had contributedthem. The cashiers were counting the results of the evening's business,and the other ladies were grouped about the minister, who stood inthe middle of the parlor, laughingly explaining the merits of aplush-covered rolling-pin he had purchased in a moment of folly.

  Eliph' Hewlitt tapped on the door to call attention to his presence,and walked into the parlor. Mrs. Doctor Weaver came forward, a shade ofanxiety on her face.

  "Mrs. Doctor Weaver, I suppose," said Eliph' Hewlitt. "Well, my nameis Hewlitt, Eliph' Hewlitt, and I heard of this sale at the hotel. Thelandlord said strangers were welcome----"

  "Of course they are!" exclaimed Mrs. Doctor Weaver. "I'm afraid all thebest things are gone, they went off so quickly to-night; but you're justas welcome, I'm sure, an' mebby you'll find something you'd like, thoughI suppose you're a travelin' man, an' I don't see what you'd do with aknit tidy, or a rickrack pin cushion, unless you've got a sister or awife to send it to. But mebby you ain't a drummer after all?"

  "Well, yes, I'm a sort of a drummer," said Eliph', tapping his parcel."Book agent, you know. That the minister?"

  Mrs. Weaver drew back when Eliph' mentioned his occupation. She did notconsider a book agent any less worthy than another man, but she had beenobliged to miss the last payment on Sir Walter Scott, and she had anill-defined feeling of guilt. To miss a payment was almost as hideousin her eyes as to neglect to put a dime in the contribution plate eachSunday would have been. Her first thought was that Eliph' had come torudely bear away the ten volumes of Sir Walter before the eyes of allthe women of Kilo, and she gladly grasped at his last words.

  "Yes," she said quickly, "that's him. Let me introduce you. He--he likesbooks."

  "I'm not selling books to-night," explained Eliph' Hewlitt, for herwords seemed one form of the usual reception of a book agent, and toindicate a desire to be rid of him as quickly as possible; "but I don'tmind meeting him."

  As Mrs. Weaver led the way to the center of the group, Eliph' Hewlittfollowed her, but his eyes quickly made a circle of the room, and resteda moment on Sally Briggs, who was one of the cashiers.

  She saw him and caught her breath, as if the sight had frightened her,but when he nodded she could not refuse to return the salutation. Shenodded as coldly as she knew how, and hurried to the most distant cornerof the room. Eliph' was well enough pleased with this reception, for hewould hardly have known what to do with a warmer one; in many years hehad received only the book agent's usual greeting, which is far fromcordial. She had nodded to him, at any rate, and he felt a glow ofsatisfaction.

  When Mrs. Weaver introduced him to the minister she added that he was abook agent. She may have done this as an explanation, for Kilo, and evenKilo's minister, craved details, or she may have done it to give fairwarning to all concerned. The effect was instantaneous, and the smilesof welcome faded. The minister shook hands gravely, and the ladies whohad run forward with shoe bags and tidies turned and walked coldly away.

  Eliph' Hewlitt smiled.

  "Funny how that name makes a man unpopular, ain't it?" he said,addressing the minister. "But I ain't going to talk books in Kilo. Thelandlord down at the hotel told me it was a bad time, so I'm going topass it by. Well, I guess we deserve all the blame we get. Some of us dopester the life out of people--don't know when to stop. Now, when I seea man don't want my book, or when I see a town ain't ready for it, Idrop books and go off, and leave them alone. I could have stayed downthere at the hotel and bothered the landlord into taking my book. He'dhave too it, because everybody that sees this book, and understands it,does take it; but I said, 'Why bullyrag the life out of the poor manwhen there's a missionary sale going on in town, and he don't want abook, and I do want to see the sale? I am interested in missions."

  "It's a great field," said the minister, with a sigh of relief; for,as the literary head of Kilo, he was always the first and most stronglycontested goal of the book agents. The subscription list that did notbear his name at the head bore few others, and he appreciated the selfdenial of Eliph' Hewlitt in passing such a good opportunity to talkbusiness.

  "Are you deeply interested in the field?" he inquired graciously.

  "Well, you se," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "I was cast away on one of thosedesert islands myself once, and I know what those poor heathen mustsuffer for lack of churches and civilization, and good books to read. Ican feel for them."

  Someone pushed a chair gently against Eliph's legs, in gentle invitationfor him to be seated, and he took the chair, and laid his package acrosshis knees. Those who had drawn away from him now gathered closer, andall gazed at him with interest. Miss Sally alone remained at the otherend of the room.

  "Well, I never expected to live to see a man that had been shipwrecked,"said Mrs. Weaver, "let alone shipwrecked on a desert island--an' a bookagent at that!"

  Eliph' smiled indulgently.

  "I wasn't a book agent in them days," he said; "it was that made me abook agent. If I hadn't been shipwrecked on that island I wouldn't behere now with this book on my knees."

  Mrs. Weaver's face flushed.

  "I'm sure I ask you to excuse me," she exclaimed. "I don't know what Iwas thinkin' of not to ask to take your package. Let me put it aside foryou. They ain't no use for you to be bothered with it."

  "Thank you, ma'm," said Eliph', "but I'll just keep it. No offense, butI never let it go out of my hands, day or night. It saved my life, notonce, but many times, this book did, and I keep it handy. But for thisbook that shipwreck would have been my last day."

  "Land sakes, now!" cried Mrs. Weaver, "won't you tell us about it?"

  "Well, as I said, but for this book I'd be bones at the bottom of thesea. Yes, ladies and gents, bones, of which there is one hundred andninety-eight in the full grown human skeleton, composed of four-fifthsinorganic and one-fifth organic matter."

  "How dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs. Weaver, who, being a doctor's wife, hada particular dislike for bones, as for useless things that cluttered upthe house, and were not ornamental. "But how come you to get wrecked?"

  "Five years ago," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "I was a confidence man in NewYork. New York is the largest city in the Western Hemisphere; populationestimated over three million; located on the island of Manhattan, atthe mouth of the Hudson River. And, if I do say it myself, I was a goodconfidence man. I was a success; I got rich. And what then? The policegot after me, and I had to run away. Yes, ladies and gents, I had to flyfrom my native land. I took passage on a ship for Ceylon. Ceylon," headded, "is an island southeast of India; population three millions;principal town, Colombo; English rule; products, tea, coffee, spices,and gems.

  "We had a good trip until we almost got there, and then a big storm comeup, and blew our ship about like it was a peanut shell, tossing it upand down on the mighty waves, and round and back; and the third day webumped on a rock, and the ship began to sink. In the hurry I was leftbehind when the crew and passengers went off in the boats. Think of it,ladies and gents, not even a life preserver to save me, and the shipsinking a foot a minute."

  "Goodness me!" said Mrs. Weaver, "you wasn't drowned, was you?"

  "No," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "or I wouldn't be here to tell it. I rushedto the captain's cabin. I thought maybe I would find a life preserverthere. Alas, no! But there, ladies and gents, I found something better.When I didn't find a life preserver I was stunned--yes, clean knockedout. I dropped into a chair and laid my head on the captain's table.I sat there several minutes, the ship sinking one foot per minute,and when I come to my senses, and raised my head, my hand was lying onthis."

  Reverently he raised the volume from his knees and unwrapped it, and theLadies' Foreign Mission Socie
ty leaned forward with one accord to catcha glimpse of the title. Eliph' Hewlitt opened the book and flipped overthe pages rapidly with the moistened tip of his third finger.

  "It was this book, ladies and gents, and it was open here, page 742.Without thinking, I read the first thing that hit my eye. 'How to Makea Life Preserver,' it said. 'Take the corks from a hundred champagnebottles; tie them tightly in a common shirt; then fasten the arms ofthe shirt about the body, with the corks resting on the chest. With thiseasily improvised life preserver drowning is impossible.' I done it. Thecaptain of that ship was a high liver, and his room was chuck full ofchampagne bottles. I put in two extry corks for good measure, and whenthe ship went down, I floated off on the top of the ocean as easy as aduck takes to a pond."

  "My sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Weaver, "that captain must have been an awfulhard drinker!"

  "He was," said Eliph' Hewlitt--"fearful. I was really shocked. But,there I was in the water, and not much better off for it, neither, for Icouldn't swim a stroke, and as soon as I got through bobbing up and downlike your cork when you've got a sunfish on your line, I stayed rightstill, just as if I'd been some bait-can a boy had thrown into an eddy,and I figgered like as not I'd stay there forever. Then I noticed I hadthis book in my hand, and I thought, 'While I'm staying here forever,I'll just take another peek at this book,' and I opened her. Page781," said Eliph', turning quickly to that page, "was where she opened.'Swimming; How to Float, Swim, Dive, and Tread Water--Plain and FancySwimming, Shadow Swimming, High Diving,' et cetery. There she was, allas plain as pie, and when I read it I could swim as easy as an old hand.The direction all through this book is plain, practical, and easilyfollowed.

  "I at once swum off to the south, for there was no telling how long I'dhave to swim, and as the water was sort of cool, I thought best to gosouth, because the further south you go the warmer the water gets. WhenI swum two days, and was plumb tuckered out, I come to an island. Thewaves was dashing on it fearful, and I knew if I tried to land I'd bedashed to flinders. It knocked all the hope out of me, and I made up mymind to take off my life preserver and dive to the bottom of the sea toknock my brains out on the rocks. But, ladies and gents, before I divedI had another look at my book, hoping to find something to comfort adying man. I turned to page 201."

  Eliph' Hewlitt found the page, and pointed to the heading with hisfinger.

  "'Five Hundred Ennobling Thoughts from the World's Greatest Authors,including the Prose and Poetical Gems of All ages,'" he read. "Therethey were-sixty-two solid pages of them, with vingetty portraits of theauthors. I read No. 285:

  "As Thou has made Thy world without, Make Thou more fair my worldwithin,' et cetery."

  "Whittier, J. G., commonly called the poet of liberty, born 1807, died1892'--with a complete sketch of his life, a list of his most popularpieces, and a history of his work on behalf of the slave.

  "I was much comforted by this," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "and I run overthe pages this way, thinking of what I had read, when I hit on page927: 'Geography of Land and Sea.' I skipped ten pages telling inan interesting manner of the five great continents, their politicaldivision, mountains, lakes, and plains, their vegetable inhabitantsand animals, their ancient and modern history, et cetery, and I cometo 'Islands, Common, Volcanic, and Coral'; and on page 940 I read thatcoral islands are often surrounded by a reef on which the waves dash,but that there is usually a quiet lagoon between the reef and theisland, with somewhere an opening from the sea into the lagoon.

  "When I read that," said Eliph', closing the book, "I shut up my bookand swum round until I come to the opening, which was there, justlike the book said it would be, and I swum across the lagoon, and fellexhausted on the beach. I was played out, and I had swallered too muchwater. I would have died right there, but I thought of my book, andI turned to the index, where every subject known to the vast realm ofknowledge is set down alphabetically, from 'A' to 'Z', twenty thousandreferences in all, dealing with every subject from the time of Adam tothe present day, including, in the new and revised edition just fromthe press, a history of the war with Spain, with full page portraitsof Dewey, Sampson, Cervera, and the boy king, and colored plates of thebattles of Manila Bay and Santiago. I run my eye down the page till Icame to 'Drowned, How to Revive the,' page 96; and what I read theresaved my life."

  The ladies sighed with relief.

  "What shall I say about my four long years on that island?" said Eliph'."I was the only man on it. Oh, the pangs of solitude! Oh, the terrors ofbeing alone! But, ladies and gents, I suffered none of them. I was notalone. He is never alone who has a copy of Jarby's 'Encyclopedia ofKnowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art,' published byJarby & Goss, New York, and sold for the trifling sum of five dollarsa volume, one dollar down and one dollar a month until paid, the bookdelivered when the first payment is made. And that, my friends, was thebook I had, and the book you see before you."

  The minister put out his hand.

  "May I look at the volume?" he asked, and Eliph' passed it to him with anod.

  "From the first the book was my friend, philosopher, and guide. I hadno matches. Page 416, 'Fire, Its Traditions--How to Make a Fire WithoutMatches--Fire-fighting, Fire-extinguishers,' et cetery, taught me tomake a fire by rubbing two sticks, as the savages do. I had noweapons to kill the fowls of the air. Page 425, 'Weapons, Ancient andModern--Their History--How to Make and Use Them,' et cetery, told mehow to twist the cocoanut bark into a cord, and to shape the limb ofthe gum-gum tree into a bow and arrow. Page 396, 'Birds, Tropical,Temperate, and Arctic--Song Birds, Edible Birds, and Birds of Plumage,'et cetery, with their Latin and common names, and over one thousandillustrations, told me which to kill, and which to eat. Page 100, 'TheComplete Kitchen Guide,' being eight hundred tested recipes--roasts,fries, pastry, cakes, bread, puddings, entrees, soups, how to makecandy, how to clean brass, copper, silver, tin, et cetery--told me howto prepare and cook them.

  "Yes, my friends, I went to that island an ignorant, unbelieving man,and I came away educated and reformed. For my idle hours there wasthe 'Complete Mathematician,' showing how to figger the most difficultproblems easily, how to measure corn in the drib, water in the well,figger interest, et cetery, by which I become posted on all kinds ofarithmetic. There was the 'Complete Letter Writer, or a Guide to Politeand Correct Correspondence,' the 'Dictionary of Legal Terms, orEvery Man His Own Lawyer,' the 'Modern Penman,' the 'Eureka ShorthandSystem'--in fact, all the knowledge in the world, condensed into onethousand and four pages, for the small sum of five dollars. Who canafford to be without this book, which will pay for itself twice overevery week of the year?

  "I was picked up, ladies and gents," continued Eliph' Hewlitt, "bya passing ship, and I decided to devote my life to a great work--tocirculating this wonderful book in my native land. I wept when I thoughtof the millions that had not seen it--millions that were living poor,starved lives because they didn't have a copy of Jarby's Encyclopediaof Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art, and I gavemyself to the cause."

  The minister handed the book back to Eliph' Hewlitt, and cleared histhroat.

  "It seems to be all you claim for it," he said; "but I fear the landlordof the Kilo House was right. We are not, many of us, ready for morebooks at present. If you return in a year or eight months----"

  Eliph' Hewlitt smiled, and put his hand gently no the glossy black kneeof the minister's best trousers.

  "True," he said, "true! Kilo has books. Kilo knows the civilizing andChristianizing influence of books. But," he exclaimed, "think ofthe poor heathen! Think of the poor missionaries fighting to bringcivilization to those dark-hued brothers! Shall it be said that everyhome in Kilo has a set of Sir Walter Scott, ten volumes with gilt edges,while the minds of the heathen dry up and rot for want of the vasttreasures contained in Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendiumof Literature, Science and Art? Here in this book is the wisdom of thewhole world, and will you selfishly withhold it form those who needit so badly? If
I know Kilo, I think not. If what is said in Jeffersonregarding the unselfishness and liberality of Kilo is true, I think not.I know what you will say. You will say, 'Here, take this money we havecollected this evening and give to the thirsting heathen as many volumesof Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature,Science and Art, as it will buy at five dollars a volume.'"

  He glanced around the circle of faces.

  "That is what you will say," he said; "But Eliph' Hewlitt will beg achance to do his little for the noble work. He will, seeing the goodcause, make the price four seventy-five per volume, and throw in onevolume from for the Kilo Sunday School library, where one and all canhave reference to its helpful and civilizing pages."

  In Eliph' Hewlitt's eyes glowed the fire of conquest that always shonein them when he was "talking book," a glitter such as shines in the eyesof the enthusiast, and they fell upon Miss Sally Briggs, who had beendrawn by his eloquence to the edge of the ring of ladies. As he paused,she recognized the moment as that when the victim is supposed to utterthe words, "Well, I guess I'll take a copy," but she missed the directappeal, and its absence confused her, and she was still wonderingwhether it was now time to say she would take a copy, or whether she hadbetter wait for the formal appeal, when Mrs. Doc Weaver spoke for theLadies' Mission Circle.

  When Eliph' Hewlitt left the house, half an hour later with his ordersigned, Miss Sally had disappeared, and, although he peeked eagerly intoboth the side rooms as he passed through the hall, he could see nothingof her. He was disappointed.

  When he returned to the hotel the landlord was asleep in the chairbefore the door. He arose with a yawn, rubbed his eyes, and led theway into the office where a dingy kerosene lamp was burning dimly. Hestretched his arms as he looked at the clock that stood above the dustypigeon holes back of the desk.

  "'Leven o'clock!" he yawned. "I must have been asleep two hours. Guessyou'll want to get right up to bed, won't you? I reckon you found outKilo don't want no books this trip, Sammy; an' if you want to git anearly start from town you'll need all the sleep you can get."

  Eliph' tossed his package on the desk carelessly.

  "Why, yes, Jim, I wish you WOULD call me early," he said. "I'll be readyfor bed in half an hour or so. I done a little business up yonder, and Iwant to mail my report to New York. But you needn't hitch up my horse inthe morning."

  "No?" asked the landlord sleepily.

  "No," said Eliph', "and if any feller comes this way selling books inthe next month or so, just tell him there ain't no use for a raw handto waste time in this town. Tell him Eliph' Hewlitt has settled down tolive here."