Cool Hand Luke - Donn Pearce [94]
Come on, Boss! Come on!
Hey! You!
There were footsteps out front and then the door burst open. Shoes scraped and pounded, coming inside. Dragline was trying to squeeze himself under the lectern, reaching up to grab the huge Bible and the tablecloth off the top, pulling them over his head. He whimpered and prayed in a low moan, trying not to hear the clear, emphatic voice of the Dog Boy as he yelled out with the excitement of triumph and revenge.
Here he is, Boss! You got ‘iml You got ’im good! Hey, here’s the other one too. The fat boy hisself. Hidin‘ in the back. I’ll git him for you Boss. You got the other one. Let me get this one.
More footsteps, curses, the sound of a slap.
Put that thing down, you bastard. Put it down. There’s been enough killin‘ here for one day.
Hands reached into the lectern, grabbed Dragline’s shirt and pulled him to his feet, the Sheriff and his deputy holding his arms with desperate purpose. Dragline saw the Captain standing there inside the door with Boss Paul and Boss Hughes. Boss Godfrey was nearby, his rifle dangling loosely in one hand. A uniformed sergeant of the Highway Patrol grappled with the Dog Boy, slapping him in the face and holding up his gun hand by the wrist.
Breathing heavily, the Sheriff snapped a pair of handcuffs on Dragline and started to hustle him outside. At the same time the two shotgun guards went over to Luke. As soon as they touched him he struggled to rise to his feet. But he couldn’t stand up alone, his left arm and leg shivering, the corner of his lips and his cheek trembling violently.
Dragline was led outside and put in the back seat of the Sheriff’s car. There was a small crowd gathered nearby, a dozen Negroes huddled together, three disheveled men in green uniforms, one of them talking nervously.
I was on duty. Midnight to eight. Up in the tower. And I saw ‘em. Plain. The two of ’em. They were wearin‘ these striped pants. Sneakin’ around behind this here nigger shack. I could see ‘em plain in the glasses. There was frost last night. They were puttin’ out smudge pots and fires all over the groves. I had to keep my eyes open. You know. You gotta stay on your toes at a time like that. Case some of them fires get outta hand. So I’m lookin‘ all around. But convicts! Hell, I never figured on seein’ no convicts. But there they were. As big as life.
And Dragline heard the sergeant of the Highway Patrol say something to the Captain about providing an escort, about Orlando and the nearest hospital. But then he heard some dry spitting and a slow drawl, the Captain muttering something about not being authorized, about expenses and something about prison hospital.
Luke came out the door of the church supported by both arms between the two guards. And that was the last time that Dragline ever saw him. He was dragged stumbling past the car window, his entire left side twitching and shivering in spasms. They put him in the Captain’s black and yellow coupe and put cuffs around his ankles, put a safety belt around his waist and locked his wrists so that his hands dangled securely in his lap. Luke slumped forward, his head hanging at a strange angle, blood running down his neck and over his chest and belly, his mouth trembling but not making a sound.
Then the Captain got in the car and drove off towards Raiford, a hundred and twenty miles away.
28
AFTER LUKE AND DRAGLINE HAD TAKEN OFF with the tool truck the Bull Gang finished up the day. But we doubled up and went out on the Road the next morning with Boss Palmer’s gang. Boss Godfrey was missing all day and so was Boss Paul and Boss Hughes. But other than that we didn’t know anything about what was going on until after we had checked in that night. Then we found Dragline sitting on the floor next to his bunk, smoking a cigarette, staring down in sullen brooding at the shiny, brand-new set of shackles that were riveted to his ankles.
Silently we listened as Dragline told us about the escape and the shooting. Later in the evening, after the Last bell, Jabo the Cook was let inside