" I sat down in the
arm-chair against the wall. A half-hour, perhaps, had I read when
"Eddie"--I am not entitled, perhaps, to such familiarity, but the
solemn title of "chief clerk" is far too stiff and formal for that
soul of good-heartedness striving in vain to hide behind a bluff
exterior--"Eddie," I say, blew a last cloud of smoke from his
lungs to the ceiling, tossed aside the butt of his cigarette, and
motioned to me to take the chair beside his desk.
"It's all off!" said a voice within me. For the expression on
"Eddie's" face was that of a man with an unpleasant duty to
perform, and his opening words were in exactly that tone of voice
in which a man begins, "I am sorry, but--" Had I not often used it
myself?
"The Captain," is how he really did begin, "called me up from
Colon last night, and--"
"Here's where I get my case nol prossed," I found myself
whispering. In all probability that sealed document I had sent in
the day before announced me as a physical wreck.
"--and told me," continued "Eddie" in his sad, regretful tone, "to
tell you we will take you on the force as a first-class policeman.
It happens, however, that the department of Civil Administration
is about to begin a census of the Zone, and they are looking for
any men that can speak Spanish. If we take you on, therefore, the
Captain would assign you to the census department until that work
is done--it will probably take something over a month--and then
you would be returned to regular police duty.
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