Moodily, at the corner of Church Street and High Street, he turned into another saloon. Here, however, his glance immediately brightened. This place was warm, well lit, and filled with the animated chatter of voices; a glitter of mirrors and cut glass threw back myriads of coruscating lights; stacks of bottles with vivid labels were banked behind the bar and through half -drawn curtains he saw, in another room, the smooth, green cloth of a billiard table.
'Give me a Mackay's special,' he ordered impressively. 'John Mackay's and no other for me.'
A plump, pink woman with jet drop earrings served him delicately. He admired the crook of her little finger as she decanted the spirits, considering it the essence of refinement, and although she was matronly he smiled at her blandly. He was such a lion with the ladies! A reputation like his must be sustained at all costs!
'Nice snug little place you've got here,' he remarked loudly. 'Reminds me of Spinosa's bar in Calcutta. Not so large but pretty well as comfortable!' There was a hush in the conversation, and feeling with satisfaction that he was being stared at, he sipped his whisky appreciatively, with the air of a connoisseur, and went on, 'They don't give you the right stuff out there, though! Not unless you watch them! Too much blue vitriol in it. Like the knock-out gin at Port Said. Nothing like the real John Mackay.' To his satisfaction, a few people began to collect round him; an English sailor in the crowd nudged him familiarly and said, thickly:
'You been out there too, cocky?'
'Just back!' said Matt affably, draining his glass. 'Back across the briny from India.'
'And so have I,' replied the other, staring at Matthew with a fixed solemnity, then gravely shaking hands with him, as though the fact that they had both returned from India made them brothers now and for all time. 'Bloody awful heat out there, isn't it, cocky? Gives me a thirst that lasts till I get back.'
'Have a wet, then?'
'Naow! You have one along o' me!'
Agreeably they argued the point until they finally decided by tossing.
'Lovely lady,' cried Matthew, with a killing glance at the fat barmaid. He won and the sailor ordered drinks for every one in the small coterie. 'Right with the ladies every time,' sniggered Matthew. He was glad that he had won and the sailor, in the exuberance of his drunken hospitality, glad to have lost. Whilst they drank, they compared their amazing experiences and the mob gaped whilst they discussed mosquitoes, monsoons, bars, bazaars, ship biscuits, pagodas, sacred and profane cows and the contours and anatomical intimacies of Armenian women. Stories circulated as freely as the drinks until the sailor, far ahead in the matter of inebriation, began to grow incoherent, maudlin, and Matt, at the outset of his night's enjoyment and swollen with an exuberant dignity, set himself to look for an excuse to shake him off.
'What can a man do in this half-dead town?' he cried. 'Can't you squeeze out some excitement here?' This was not the society he had moved in before leaving for India and no one recognized him; as, indeed, they did not know him to be a son of the ancient Borough, he preferred them to regard him as a stranger, a dashing cosmopolitan.
They could think of nothing worthy of him and were silent until finally some one suggested:
'What about billiards?'
'Ah! a game of pills,' said Matt thoughtfully; 'that's something in my line.'
'Billiards!' roared the seaman. 'I'm true blue, I am! I'll play anybody alive for for anything you like to what I ' His voice deteriorated into a drunken dribble of sound. Matthew considered hirn dispassionately.
'You're the champion, are you? Good enough. I'll play you fifty up for a pound a side,' he challenged.
'Right,' shouted the other. He surveyed Matthew with lowered lids and an oscillating head, indicating, in incoherent yet unmistakable picturesque language, that he would be soused for a son of a sea cook if he would go back on his word. 'Where's your money?' he asked solemnly, in conclusion.
Each produced his stake, which the onlooker who had first suggested the game had the honour of holding, and, as no one had ever played in the place for such an unheard-of sum, the crowd, simmering with excitement, surged into the billiard room behind them amidst considerable commotion, and the game commenced.
Matthew, looking dashingly proficient in his shirt sleeves, began. He was, he fully understood, a good player, having practised assiduously in Calcutta, often indeed during the daytime when he should have been perched upon his office stool, and he realised with an inward complacency that the other, in his present condition, could be no match for him. Professionally, he ran his eye along his cue, halked it and, feeling that he was the focus of the combined admiration of the gathering, broke the balls, but failed to leave the red in baulk. His opponent, swaying slightly upon his feet, slapped his ball on the table, took a rapid sight at it and slammed hard with his cue. His ball struck the red with terrific violence and, pursuing it eagerly all around the table through a baffling intricacy of acute and obtuse angles, finally bolted after it into the bottom right-hand pocket. The crowd voiced its appreciation of the prodigious fluke. He turned and, supporting himself against the table, bowed gravely, then exclaimed triumphantly to Matthew:
'Whadeye think of that, cocky? Who's topsy-boozy now? Didn't I say I was true blue? Wasn't that a shot? I'll play you with cannon balls next time.' He wanted to stop the game for a profound dissertation upon the merits of his marvellous stroke and a lengthy explanation of how he had performed it, but, after some persuasion, he was prevailed upon to continue. Though he readdressed himself to the ame with the air of a conqueror, his next shot was hardly so successful, for his ball struck hard on the bottom, bounced skittishly across the cloth, hurdled the edge of the table in its stride, and landed with a thud on the wooden floor amidst even louder and more prolonged applause than had greeted his previous effort.
'Wha' do I get for that?' he enquired owlishly, of the assembly at large.
'A kick on the arse!' shouted somebody at the back. The seaman shook his head sadly, but they all laughed, even the fat barmaid, who was craning her neck to see the fun and who tittered involuntarily, but recovering herself with a start, quickly merged her merriment into a more modest cough.
It was now Matthew's turn to play, and though the balls were favourably placed, he began with great caution, making three easy cannons and then going in off the red. Next, he began to play a series of red losing hazards into the right middle pocket, so accurately that at every stroke the object ball returned with slow, unerring exactitude to the required position below the middle of the table. The crowd held its breath with profound and respectful attention whilst he continued
his break. Under the bright lights his white, fleshy hands swam over the smooth baize like pale amoebae in a green pool; his touch upon the cue was as delicate and as gentle as a woman's; the spirits in him steadied him like a rock. This was the greatest joy that life could offer him, not merely to show off his perfect poise and masterly ability before this throng, but to draw upon himself this combined admiration and envy. His empty vanity fed itself greedily upon their adulation.
When he had made thirty-nine he paused significantly, rechalked his cue, and neglecting, obviously an easy ball which lay over the pocket, he addressed himself ostentatiously to a long and difficult cushion cannon. He achieved it, and with three, further quick shots ran out with his unfinished break of fifty. A storm of cheering filled the room.
'Go on, sir! Don't stop! Show us what you can do!'
'Who is he? The man's a marvel!'
'Stand us a pint, mister. It's worth that, anyway!'
But with a lordly assumption of indolence he refused to continue, pocketed his winnings and flung his cue into the rack; now that he had made his reputation, he was afraid to mar it. They surrounded him, clapping him on the back, pushing and shoving each other, trying to shake hands with him, whilst he gloried in his popularity, laughing, talking, gesticulating with the rest. His opponent, having been with difficulty convinced that the game was over, manifested no regrets, but flung his arm tipsily around Matthew's shoulder.
'Did you see that shot of mine, cocky?' he kept repeating. 'It was worth a pound worth five pounds. It was a a regular nor'easter a pickled ripsnorter. I'm true blue, I am,' and he glared defiantly around, seeking for any one who might dispute it.
They all went back to the bar, where the whole assembly had beer at Matthew's expense. He was their hero; they toasted him, then dispersed into small groups throughout the room, discussing, stroke by stroke, the memorable achievement of the victor.
Matt swaggered about the room, lording it over them. He had no false reticence, no mock modesty, but visited each group, saying to this one, 'Did you see that cannon of mine off the cushion? Pretty neat, wasn't it? Judged to a hair's breadth!' To another, 'Dash it all, I've made a break of two hundred on my day more than two hundred!' And
