{"id":3958,"date":"2025-09-01T03:08:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T03:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3958"},"modified":"2025-09-01T03:08:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T03:08:21","slug":"a-pursuit-race-by-ernest-hemingway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3958","title":{"rendered":"A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Pursuit Race by <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/the-great-american-novel-quiz\">Ernest Hemingway<\/a> was published in 1927.  It appears in the collection Men Without Women.<\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway<\/h2>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\"><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway<\/h3>\n<p>William Campbell\u00a0had been in a pursuit race with a burlesque show ever since Pittsburgh. In a pursuit race, in bicycle racing, riders start at equal intervals to ride after one another. They ride very fast because the race is usually limited to a short distance and if they slow their riding another rider who maintains his pace will make up the space that separated them equally at the start. As soon as a rider is caught and passed he is out of the race and must get down from his bicycle and leave the track. If none of the riders are caught the winner of the race is the one who has gained the most distance. In most pursuit races, if there are only two riders, one of the riders is caught inside of six miles. The burlesque show caught William Campbell at Kansas City.<\/p>\n<p>William Campbell had hoped to hold a slight lead over the burlesque show until they reached the Pacific coast. As long as he preceded the burlesque show as advance man he was being paid. When the burlesque show caught up with him he was in bed. He was in bed when the manager of the burlesque troupe came into his room and after the manager had gone out he decided that he might as well stay in bed. It was very cold in Kansas City and he was in no hurry to go out. He did not like Kansas City. He reached under the bed for a bottle and drank. It made his stomach feel better. Mr. Turner, the manager of the burlesque show, had refused a drink.<\/p>\n<p>William Campbell\u2019s interview with Mr. Turner had been a little strange. Mr. Turner had knocked on the door. Campbell had said: \u201cCome in!\u201d When Mr. Turner came into the room he saw clothing on a chair, an open suitcase, the bottle on a chair beside the bed, and some one lying in the bed completely covered by the bed-clothes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMister Campbell,\u201d Mr. Turner said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t fire me,\u201d William Campbell said from underneath the covers. It was warm and white and close under the covers. \u201cYou can\u2019t fire me because I\u2019ve got down off my bicycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re drunk,\u201d Mr. Turner said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, yes,\u201d William Campbell said, speaking directly against the sheet and feeling the texture with his lips.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re a fool,\u201d Mr. Turner said. He turned off the electric light. The electric light had been burning all night. It was now ten o\u2019clock in the morning. \u201cYou\u2019re a drunken fool. When did you get into this town?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got into this town last night,\u201d William Campbell said, speaking against the sheet. He found he liked to talk through a sheet. \u201cDid you ever talk through a sheet?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t try to be funny. You aren\u2019t funny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not being funny. I\u2019m just talking through a sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re talking through a sheet all right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can go now, Mr. Turner,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI don\u2019t work for you any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know that anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know a lot,\u201d William Campbell said. He pulled down the sheet and looked at Mr. Turner. \u201cI know enough so I don\u2019t mind looking at you at all. Do you want to hear what I know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood,\u201d said William Campbell. \u201cBecause really I don\u2019t know anything at all. I was just talking.\u201d He pulled the sheet up over his face again. \u201cI love it under a sheet,\u201d he said. Mr. Turner stood beside the bed. He was a middle-aged man with a large stomach and a bald head and he had many things to do. \u201cYou ought to stop off here, Billy, and take a cure,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll fix it up if you want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to take a cure,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take a cure at all. I am perfectly happy. All my life I have been perfectly happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long have you been this way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat a question!\u201d William Campbell breathed in and out through the sheet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long have you been stewed, Billy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaven\u2019t I done my work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure. I just asked you how long you\u2019ve been stewed, Billy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know. But I\u2019ve got my wolf back,\u201d he touched the sheet with his tongue. \u201cI\u2019ve had him for a week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hell you have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, yes. My dear wolf. Every time I take a drink he goes outside the room. He can\u2019t stand alcohol. The poor little fellow.\u201d He moved his tongue round and round on the sheet. \u201cHe\u2019s a lovely wolf. He\u2019s just like he always was.\u201d William Campbell shut his eyes and took a deep breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou got to take a cure, Billy,\u201d Mr. Turner said. \u201cYou won\u2019t mind the Keeley. It isn\u2019t bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Keeley,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t far from London.\u201d He shut his eyes and opened them, moving the eyelashes against the sheet. \u201cI just love sheets,\u201d he said. He looked at Mr. Turner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen, you think I\u2019m drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u00a0<em>are<\/em>\u00a0drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re drunk and you\u2019ve had dt\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d William Campbell held the sheet around his head. \u201cDear sheet,\u201d he said. He breathed against it gently. \u201cPretty sheet. You love me, don\u2019t you, sheet? It\u2019s all in the price of the room. Just like in Japan. No,\u201d he said. \u201cListen Billy, dear Sliding Billy, I have a surprise for you. I\u2019m not drunk. I\u2019m hopped to the eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d said Mr. Turner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake a look.\u201d William Campbell pulled up the right sleeve of his pyjama jacket under the sheet, then shoved the right forearm out. \u201cLook at that.\u201d On the forearm, from just above the wrist to the elbow, were small blue circles around tiny dark blue punctures. The circles almost touched one another. \u201cThat\u2019s the new development,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cI drink a little now once in a while, just to drive the wolf out of the room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey got a cure for that, \u2018Sliding Billy\u2019\u202f\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t got a cure for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t just quit like that, Billy,\u201d Turner said. He sat on the bed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe careful of my sheet,\u201d William Campbell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t just quit at your age and take to pumping yourself full of that stuff just because you got in a jam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a law against it. If that\u2019s what you mean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I mean you got to fight it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Billy Campbell caressed the sheet with his lips and his tongue. \u201cDear sheet,\u201d he said. \u201cI can kiss this sheet and see right through it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCut it out about the sheet. You can\u2019t just take to that stuff, Billy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>William Campbell shut his eyes. He was beginning to feel a slight nausea. He knew that this nausea would increase steadily, without there ever being the relief of sickness, until something were done against it. It was at this point that he suggested that Mr. Turner have a drink. Mr. Turner declined. William Campbell took a drink from the bottle. It was a temporary measure. Mr. Turner watched him. Mr. Turner had been in this room much longer than he should have been, he had many things to do; although living in daily association with people who used drugs, he had a horror of drugs, and he was very fond of William Campbell; he did not wish to leave him. He was very sorry for him and he felt a cure might help. He knew there were good cures in Kansas City. But he had to go. He stood up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen, Billy,\u201d William Campbell said, \u201cI want to tell you something. You\u2019re called \u2018Sliding Billy.\u2019 That\u2019s because you can slide. I\u2019m called just Billy. That\u2019s because I never could slide at all. I can\u2019t slide, Billy. I can\u2019t slide. It just catches. Every time I try it, it catches.\u201d He shut his eyes. \u201cI can\u2019t slide, Billy. It\u2019s awful when you can\u2019t slide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d said \u201cSliding Billy\u201d Turner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, what?\u201d William Campbell looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were saying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d said William Campbell. \u201cI wasn\u2019t saying. It must have been a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were saying about sliding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. It couldn\u2019t have been about sliding. But listen, Billy, and I\u2019ll tell you a secret. Stick to sheets, Billy. Keep away from women and horses and, and\u2014\u201d he stopped \u201c\u2014eagles, Billy. If you love horses you\u2019ll get horse-s\u2014, and if you love eagles you\u2019ll get eagle-s\u2014.\u201d He stopped and put his head under the sheet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got to go,\u201d said \u201cSliding Billy\u201d Turner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you love women you\u2019ll get a dose,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cIf you love horses\u2014\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, you said that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSaid what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout horses and eagles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, yes. And if you love sheets.\u201d He breathed on the sheet and stroked his nose against it. \u201cI don\u2019t know about sheets,\u201d he said. \u201cI just started to love this sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to go,\u201d Mr. Turner said. \u201cI got a lot to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s all right,\u201d William Campbell said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s got to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI better go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll right, you go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you all right, Billy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was never so happy in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you\u2019re all right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m fine. You go along. I\u2019ll just lie here for a little while. Around noon I\u2019ll get up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when Mr. Turner came up to William Campbell\u2019s room at noon William Campbell was sleeping and as Mr. Turner was a man who knew what things in life were very valuable he did not wake him.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Best Ernest Hemingway Books to Read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3UKNVjr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3KXPkzz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3GD2Ki1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/412cGJX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><br \/>\nClick on image to buy a copy<\/p>\n<p>Narrated by KevinS, courtesy of Librivox<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/out-of-season-by-ernest-hemingway\">Out of Season by Ernest Hemingway here<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway was published in 1927. It appears in the collection Men Without Women. This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway A Pursuit Race by Ernest Hemingway William Campbell\u00a0had been in a pursuit race with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}