Page:Stanwood Pier--The ancient grudge.djvu/443

432 The officials of the company received their first intimation of the serious result of the riot when a message was brought from the hospital, asking some one to come and identify the wounded man who had been left there. The two subordinates whom Gregg sent returned with the news that the man was Farrell, that he had not recovered consciousness, and that it was thought his brain had been injured. The superintendent dispatched a message to Farrell's wife and later in the morning telephoned to Floyd, who replied that he would come out to New Rome immediately.

As it happened, he came in the same car with Stewart Lee, who likewise was responding to a telephone summons. Floyd had entered and taken his seat without noticing who was opposite; then he glanced up and saw Stewart looking at him. Stewart nodded, without cordiality; Floyd did not reply, but gazed impassively out of the window. Stewart stared at him for a while and then shook out a newspaper with a contemptuous crackle.

Floyd was the first to leave the car; and after stopping to get the report of the morning's occurrences from Gregg, he hurried up the hill to the hospital. Hugh's condition was more favorable; he had regained consciousness, and it was thought now that, in spite of the fearful beating, he would recover. The doctor described the wounds in a way that made Floyd mutter savagely: "If I can find the brutes who did it!—" He asked if Farrell's wife had been informed; the doctor replied that she had just gone; they had sent her away greatly relieved in mind, but with no assurance as to when she might be able to see her husband.

Floyd returned to the company's offices to consult with Gregg. The superintendent was not sanguine of ever getting information that would lead to the punishment of Farrell's assailants.

"Nobody, did anything," he said. "It was just a mob. I saw it pretty much all—and yet I saw nothing."