U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [196]
"Who's 'at --King George? Wel , thank you, Mr. Consul."
He was walking along the street with the agent's ad-dress in one hand and the shil ing in the other. He felt sore and faint and sick at his stomach. He saw Mr. Zent-ner the other side of the street. He ran across through the jammed up traffic and went up to him with his hand held out.
"I got the clothes, Mr. Zentner, it was damn nice of you to send them." Mr. Zentner was walking along with a smal man in an officer's uniform. He waved a pudgy hand and said,
"Glad to be of service to a fel ow citizen, and walked on.
Joe went into a fried fish shop and spent sixpence on fried fish and spent the other sixpence on a big mug of beer in a saloon where he'd hoped to find free lunch to fil up on but there wasn't any free lunch. By the time he'd found his way to the agent's office it was closed and there he was roaming round the streets in the white misty evening without any place to go. He asked several guys around the wharves if they knew where the Tampa was docked, but nobody did and they talked so funny he could hardly understand what they said anyway.
Then just when the streetlights were going on, and Joe was feeling pretty discouraged, he found himself walking down a side street behind three Americans. He caught up to them and asked them if they knew where the Tampa was. Why the hel shouldn't they know, weren't they
-43-off'n her and out to see the goddam town and he'd better come along. And if he wasn't tickled to meet some guys from home after those two months on the limejuicer wasn't tickled to meet some guys from home after those two months on the limejuicer and being in jail and everything. They went into a bar and drank some whiskey and he told al about the jail and how the damn bobbies had taken him off the Argyle and he'd never gotten his pay nor nutten and they set him up to drinks and one of the guys who was from Norfolk, Virginia, named Wil Stirp pul ed out a five dol ar bil and said to take that and pay him back when he could. It was like coming home to God's country running into guys like that and they al had a drink al around; they were four of 'em Americans in this lousy limejuicer town and they each set up a round because they were four of
'em Americans ready to fight the world. Olaf was a Swede but he had his first papers so he counted too and the other fel er's name was Maloney. The hatchetfaced barmaid held back on the change but they got it out of her; she'd only given 'em fifteen shil ings instead of twenty for a pound, but they made her give the five shil ings back. They went to another fried fish shop; couldn't seem to get a damn thing to eat in this country except fried fish and then they al had some more drinks and were the four of them Americans feeling pretty good in this lousy limejuicer town. A runner got hold of them because it was closing time on account of the war and there wasn't a damn thing open and very few streetlights and funily little hats on the streetlights on account of the zeppelins. The runner was a pale ratfaced punk and said he knowed a house where they could 'ave a bit of beer and nice girls and a quiet social time. There was a big lamp with red roses painted on it in the parlor of the house and the girls were skinny and had horseteeth and there were some bloody limejuicers there who were pretty wel under way and they were the four of them Americans. The limeys began to pick on Olaf for bein' a bloody 'un. Olaf said he was a
-44-Swede but that he'd sooner be a bloody 'un than a lime-juicer at that. Somebody poked somebody else and the first thing Joe knew he was fighting a guy bigger 'n he was and police whistles blew and there was the whole crowd of them piled up in the Black Maria.
Wil Stirp kept saying they was the four of them
Americans just havin' a pleasant social time and there was no cal for the bobbies to interfere. But they were al dragged up to a desk and committed and al four of 'em