Billy Topsail, M.D.: A Tale of Adventure With Doctor Luke of the Labrador

by Norman Duncan

  CHAPTER XX

  _In Which Skinflint Sam of Ragged Run Finds Himself in a Desperate Predicament and Bad-Weather Tom West at Last Has What Skinflint Sam Wants_

  Well, now, when all this had been accomplished, and when Dolly had goneto bed with her mother, it occurred to Doctor Luke that he had notclapped eyes on Dolly's father, Bad-Weather Tom West.

  "Where's Tom?" said he.

  Joe started.

  "Wh-wh-where's Tom?" he stammered.

  "Ay."

  "Have you not heard about Tom?"

  Doctor Luke was puzzled.

  "No," said he; "not a word."

  Joe commanded himself for the tale he had to tell.

  * * * * *

  "Skipper Tom West," Joe began, "made a wonderful adventure of life inthe end. I doubt if ever a man done such a queer thing afore. 'Twasqueer enough, sir, I'll be bound, an' you'll say so when I tells you;but 'twas a brave, kind thing, too, though it come perilous close t' theline o' foul play--but that's how you looks at it. Bad-Weather Tom," hewent on, "come back from seein' you, sir, in a silent mood. An' nowonder! You told un, sir--well, you told un what you told un, about whathe was to expect in this life; an' the news lay hard on his mood. Hetold nobody here what that news was; nor could the gossips gain a wordfrom his wife.

  "'What's the matter with Bad-Weather Tom?' says they.

  "'Ask Tom,' says she.

  "An' they asked Tom.

  "'Tom,' says they, 'what's gone along o' you, anyhow?'

  "'Well,' says Tom, 'I found out something I never knowed afore. That'sall that's the matter with me.'

  "'Did Doctor Luke tell you?'

  "'When I talks with Doctor Luke,' says Tom, 'I _always_ finds outsomething I never knowed afore.'

  "Whatever you told un, sir--an' I knows what you told un--it made achanged man o' Bad-Weather Tom. He mooned a deal, an' he would talk nomore o' the future, but dwelt upon the shortness of a man's days an' thequantity of his sin, an' laboured like mad, an' read the Scriptures bycandle-light, an' sot more store by going to church and prayer-meetin'than ever afore. Labour? Ecod, how that poor man laboured--after youtold un. While there was light! An' until he fair dropped in his trackso' sheer weariness!

  "'Twas back in the forest--haulin' fire-wood with the dogs an' storin'it away back o' this little cottage under Lend-a-Hand Hill.

  "'Dear man!' says Skinflint Sam; 'you've fire-wood for half a dozenwinters.'

  "'They'll need it,' says Tom.

  "'Ay,' says Sam; 'but will you lie idle next winter?'

  "'Nex' winter?' says Tom. An' he laughed. 'Oh, nex' winter,' says he,'I'll have another occupation.'

  "'Movin' away, Tom?'

  "'Well,' says Tom, 'I is an' I isn't.'

  "There come a day not long ago when seals was thick on the floe offRagged Run. You mind the time, sir?" Billy Topsail "minded" the timewell enough. And so did Doctor Luke. It was the time when Billy Topsailand Teddy Brisk were carried to sea with the dogs on the ice. "Well, youcould see the seals with the naked eye from Lack-a-Day Head. A hundredthousand black specks swarmin' over the ice three miles an' more to sea.Ragged Run went mad for slaughter--jus' as it did yesterday, sir. 'Twasa fair time for offshore sealin', too: a blue, still day, with the lookan' feel o' settled weather.

  "The ice had come in from the current with a northeasterly gale, awonderful mixture o' Arctic bergs and Labrador pans, all blindin' whitein the spring sun; an' 'twas a field so vast, an' jammed so tightagainst the coast, that there wasn't much more than a lane or two an' aDutchman's breeches of open water within sight from the heads. Nobodylooked for a gale o' offshore wind t' blow that ice t' sea afore dawn o'the next day.

  "'A fine, soft time, lads!' says Skinflint Sam. 'I 'low I'll go out withthe Ragged Run crew.'

  "'Skipper Sam,' says Bad-Weather Tom, 'you're too old a man t' be on theice.'

  "'Ay,' says Sam; 'but I wants t' bludgeon another swile afore I dies.'

  "'But you _creaks_, man!'

  "'Ah, well,' says Sam; 'I'll show the lads I'm able t' haul a swileashore.'

  "'Small hope for such as you on a movin' floe!'

  "'Last time, Tom,' says Sam.

  "'Last time, true enough,' says Tom, 'if that ice starts t' sea with abreeze o' wind behind!'

  "'Oh, well, Tom,' says Sam, 'I'll creak along out an' take my chances.If the wind comes up I'll be as spry as I'm able.'

  "It come on to blow in the afternoon. But 'twas short warnin' o'offshore weather. A puff o' gray wind come down: a saucier gust went by;an' then a swirl o' galeish wind jumped off the heads an' come scurryingover the pans. At the first sign o' wind, Skinflint Sam took for home,lopin' over the ice as fast as his lungs an' old legs would take un whenpushed, an' nobody worried about _he_ any more. He was in such mad hastethat the lads laughed behind un as he passed.

  "Most o' the Ragged Run crew followed, draggin' their swiles; an' themthat started early come safe t' harbour with the fat. But there'snothin' will master a man's caution like the lust o' slaughter. Give aNewfoundlander a club, an' show un a swile-pack, an' he'll venture farfrom safety. 'Twas not until a flurry o' snow come along of a suddenthat the last o' the crew dropped what they was at an' begun t' jump forshore like a pack o' jack-rabbits.

  "With snow in the wind 'twas every man for himself. An' that means nomercy an' less help.

  "By this time the ice had begun t' feel the wind. 'Twas restless. An' abad promise. The pans crunched an' creaked as they settled more at ease.The ice was goin' abroad. As the farther fields drifted off t' sea, thefloe fell loose inshore. Lanes an' pools opened up. The cake-ice tippedan' went awash under the weight of a man. Rough goin', ecod! There wasno tellin' when open water would cut a man off where he stood.

  "An' the wind was whippin' offshore, an' the snow was like dust in aman's eyes an' mouth, an' the landmarks o' Ragged Run was nothin' butshadows in a mist o' snow t' windward.

  "Nobody knowed where Skinflint Sam was. Nobody thought about Sam. An'wherever poor old Skinflint was--whether safe ashore or creakin'shoreward against the wind on his last legs--he must do for himself.'Twas no time t' succour rich or poor. Every man for himself an' thedevil take the hindmost!

  "Bound out, in the mornin', Bad-Weather Tom had fetched his rodneythrough the lanes. By luck an' good conduct he had managed t' get thewee boat a fairish way out. He had beached her there on the floe--a bigpan, close by a hummock which he marked with care. And 'twas for TomWest's little rodney that the seven last men o' Ragged Run was jumpin'.With her afloat--an' the pack loosenin' inshore under the wind--theycould make harbour well enough afore the gale worked up the water in thelee o' the Ragged Run hills.

  "But she was a mean, small boat. There was room for six, withsafety--but room for no more. There was no room for seven. 'Twas a nastymess, t' be sure. You couldn't expect nothin' else. But there wasn't nopanic. Ragged Run men is accustomed t' tight places. An' they took thisone easy. Them that got there first launched the boat an' stepped in. Nofight: no fuss.

  "It just happened t' be Eleazer Butt that was left. 'Twas Eleazer'sill-luck. An' Eleazer was up in years an' had fell behind comin' overthe ice.

  "'No room for me?' says he.

  "'Twas sure death t' be left on the ice. The wind begun t' taste o'frost. An' 'twas jumpin' up. 'Twould carry the floe far an' scatter itbroadcast.

  "'See for yourself, lad,' says Tom.

  "'Pshaw!' says Eleazer. 'That's too bad!'

  "'You isn't no sorrier than me, b'y.'

  "Eleazer tweaked his beard. 'Dang it!' says he. 'I wisht there _was_room. I'm hungry for my supper.'

  "'Let un in,' says one of the lads. ''Tis even chances she'll float itout.'

  "'Well,' says Eleazer, 'I doesn't want t' make no trouble----'

  "'Come aboard,' says Tom. 'An' make haste.'

  "'If she makes bad weather,' says Eleazer, 'I'll get out.'

  "We pushed off from the pan. 'Twas failin' dusk by this time. The windblowed bl
ack. The frost begun t' bite. Snow come thick--just as if,ecod, somebody up aloft was shakin' the clouds, like bags, in the gale!An' the rodney was deep an' ticklish.

  "Had the ice not kep' the water flat in the lanes an' pools, eitherEleazer would have had to get out, as he promised, or she would haveswamped like a cup. As it was, handled like dynamite, she done wellenough; an' she might have made harbour within the hour had she not beenhailed by Skinflint Sam from a small pan o' ice midway between."

  Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail were intent on the tale.

  "Go on," said Doctor Luke.

  "A queer finish, sir."

  "What happened?"