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Running Elk
by
“There came some sort of a fumble, too fast for the eye to follow, and then the ball rolled out of the scrimmage. Before we knew what had happened, Running Elk was away with it, a scattered field ahead of him.
“I dare say you have heard about that run, for it occurred in the last three minutes of play, and is famous in football annals to this day, so I’m told. It was a spectacular performance, apparently devised by fate to make more difficult the labors of old Henry and me. Every living soul on those high-banked bleachers was on his feet at the finish, a senseless, screaming demon. I saw Alicia straining forward, her face like chalk, her very lips blanched, her whole high-strung body aquiver. Her eyes were distended, and in them I saw a look which told me that this was no mere girlish whim, that this was more than the animal call of youth and sex. Running Elk had become a fetish to her.
“The father must likewise have recognized this, for as we passed out he stammered into my ear:
“‘You see, Doc, the girl’s mad. It’s awful–awful. I don’t know what to do.’
“We had become momentarily separated from her, and therefore I urged him: ‘Get her away, quick, no matter how or where. Use force if you have to, but get her out of this crowd, this atmosphere, and keep her away. I’ll see him to-night.’
“The old fellow nodded. ‘I–I’ll kidnap her and take her to Europe,’ he mumbled. ‘God! It’s awful!’
“I didn’t go back to the city with the Harmans; but I told Alicia good-by at the running-board of the machine. I don’t think she heard me.
“Running Elk was glad to see me, and I spent that evening with him. He asked all about his people; he told me of his progress, and he spoke lightly of his victory that day. But sound him as I would, I could elicit no mention of Alicia Harman’s name. He wasn’t much of a talker, anyhow, so at last I was forced to bring up the subject myself. At my first word the silence of his forefathers fell upon him, and all he did was listen. I told him forcibly that any thoughts of her were ridiculous and impossible.
“‘Why?’ said he, after I had finished.
“I told him a thousand reasons why; I recounted them cruelly, unfeelingly, but he made no sign. As a matter of fact, I don’t think he understood them any more than he understood the affair itself. He appeared to be blinded, confused by the splendor of what had come to him. Alicia was so glorious, so different, so mysterious to him, that he had lost all sense of perspective and of proportion. Recognizing this, I descended to material things which I knew he could grasp.
“‘I paid for your education,’ said I, ‘and it is almost over with. In a few months you’ll be turned out to make your own living, and then you’ll encounter this race prejudice I speak of in a way to effect your stomach and your body. You’re a poor man, Running Elk, and you’ve got to earn your way. Your blood will bar you from a good many means of doing it, and when your color begins to affect your earning capacity you’ll have all you can do to take care of yourself. Life isn’t played on a gridiron, and the first thing you’ve got to do is to make a man of yourself. You’ve got no right to fill your head with dreams, with insane fancies of this sort.’
“‘Yes, sir!’ said he, and that was about all I could get out of him. His reticence was very annoying.
“I didn’t see him again, for I came West the next day, and the weeks stretched into months without word of him or of the others.
“Shortly before he was due to return I was taken sick–the one big illness of my life, which came near ending me, which made me into the creaking old ruin that I am. They sent me away to another climate, where I got worse, then they shifted me about like a bale of goods, airing me here and there. For a year and a half I hung over the edge, one ailment running into another, but finally I straightened out a bit and tottered back into Washington to resume operations.