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Doctor Luke of the Labrador, a novel by Norman Duncan |
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Chapter 6. The Man On The Mail-Boat |
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_ CHAPTER VI. The MAN on The MAIL-BOAT It was in the dusk of a wet night of early June, with the sea in a tumble and the wind blowing fretfully from the west of north, that the mail-boat made our harbour. For three weeks we had kept watch for her, but in the end we were caught unready--the lookouts in from the Watchman, my father's crew gone home, ourselves at evening prayer in the room where my mother lay abed. My father stopped dead in his petition when the first hoarse, muffled blast of the whistle came uncertain from the sea, and my own heart fluttered and stood still, until, rising above the rush of the wind and the noise of the rain upon the panes, the second blast broke the silence within. Then with a shaking cry of "Lord God, 'tis she!" my father leaped from his knees, ran for his sea-boots and oilskins, and shouted from below for my sister to make ready his lantern. But, indeed, he had to get his lantern for himself; for my mother, who was now in a flush of excitement, speaking high and incoherently, would have my sister stay with her to make ready for the coming of the doctor--to dress her hair, and tidy the room, and lay out the best coverlet, and help on with the dainty nightgown. "Ay, mother," my sister said, laughing, to quiet her, "I'll not leave you. Sure, my father's old enough t' get his own lantern ready." "The doctor's come!" I shouted, contributing a lad's share to the excitement. "He've come! Hooray! He've come!" "Quick, Bessie!" cried my mother. "He'll be here before we know it. And my hair is in a fearful tangle. The looking-glass, lassie----" I left them in the thick of this housewifely agitation. Donning my small oilskins, as best as I could without my kind sister's help--and I shed impatient tears over the stiff button-holes, which my fingers would not manage--I stumbled down the path to the wharf, my exuberant joy escaping, the while, in loud halloos. There I learned that the mail-boat lay at anchor off the Gate, and, as it appeared, would not come in from the sea, but would presently be off to Wayfarer's Tickle, to the north, where she would harbour for the night. The lanterns were shining cheerily in the dark of the wharf; and my father was speeding the men who were to take the great skiff out for the spring freight--barrels of flour and pork and the like--and roundly berating them, every one, in a way which surprised them into unwonted activity. Perceiving that my father's temper and this mad bustle were to be kept clear of by wise lads, I slipped into my father's punt, which lay waiting by the wharf-stairs; and there, when the skiff was at last got underway, I was found by my father and Skipper Tommy Lovejoy. "Ashore with you, Davy, lad!" said my father. "There'll be no room for the doctor. He'll be wantin' the stern seat for hisself." "Leave the boy bide where he is," Skipper Tommy put in. "Sure, he'll do no harm, an'--an'--why, zur," as if that were sufficient, "he's wantin' t' go!" I kept silent--knowing well enough that Skipper Tommy was the man to help a lad to his desire. "Ay," said my father, "but I'm wantin' the doctor t' be comfortable when he comes ashore." "He'll be comfortable enough, zur. The lad'll sit in the bow an' trim the boat. Pass the lantern t' Davy, zur, an' come aboard." My father continued to grumble his concern for the doctor's comfort; but he leaned over to pat my shoulder while Skipper Tommy pushed off: for he loved his little son, did my big father--oh, ay, indeed, he did! We were soon past the lumbering skiff--and beyond Frothy Point--and out of the Gate--and in the open sea, where the wind was blowing smartly and the rain was flying in gusts. My father hailed the steamer's small-boat, inbound with the mail, to know if the doctor was in verity aboard; and the answer, though but half caught, was such that they bent heartily to the oars, and the punt gave a great leap and went staggering through the big waves in a way to delight one's very soul. Thus, in haste, we drew near the steamer, which lay tossing ponderously in the ground-swell, her engines panting, her lamps bright, her many lights shining from port-hole and deck--all so cozy and secure in the dirty night: so strange to our bleak coast! At the head of the ladder the purser stood waiting to know about landing the freight. "Is you goin' on?" my father asked. "Ay--t' Wayfarer's Tickle, when we load your skiff." "'Twill be alongside in a trice. But my wife's sick. I'm wantin' t' take the doctor ashore." "He's aft in the smokin'-room. You'd best speak t' the captain first. Hold her? Oh, sure, he'll hold her all night, for sickness!" They moved off forward. Then Skipper Tommy took my hand--or, rather, I took his; for I was made ill at ease by the great, wet sweep of the deck, glistening with reflections of bright lights, and by the throng of strange men, and by the hiss of steam and the clank of iron coming from the mysterious depths below. He would show me the cabin, said he, where there was unexampled splendour to delight in; but when we came to a little house on the after deck, where men were lounging in a thick fog of tobacco smoke, I would go no further (though Skipper Tommy said that words were spoken not meet for the ears of lads to hear); for my interest was caught by a giant pup, which was not like the pups of our harbour but a lean, long-limbed, short-haired dog, with heavy jaws and sagging, blood-red eyelids. At a round table, whereon there lay a short dog-whip, his master sat at cards with a stout little man in a pea-jacket--a loose-lipped, blear-eyed, flabby little fellow, but, withal, hearty in his own way--and himself cut a curious figure, being grotesquely ill-featured and ill-fashioned, so that one rebelled against the sight of him. A gust of rain beat viciously upon the windows and the wind ran swishing past. "'Tis a dirty night," said the dog's master, shuffling nervously in his seat. At this the dog lifted his head with a sharp snarl: whereupon, in a flash, the man struck him on the snout with the butt of the whip. "That's for you!" he growled. The dog regarded him sullenly--his upper lip still lifted from his teeth. "Eh?" the man taunted. "Will you have another?" The dog's head subsided upon his paws; but his eyes never once left his master's face--and the eyes were alert, steady, hard as steel. "You're l'arnin'," the man drawled. But the dog had learned no submission, but, if anything, only craft, as even I, a child, could perceive; and I marvelled that the man could conceive himself to be winning the mastery of that splendid brute. 'Twas no way to treat a dog of that disposition. It had been a wanton blow--taken with not so much as a whimper. Mastery? Hut! The beast was but biding his time. And I wished him well in the issue. "Ecod!" thought I, with heat. "I hopes he gets a good grip o' the throat!" Whether or not, at the last, it was the throat, I do not know; but I do know the brutal tragedy of that man's end, for, soon, he came rough-shod into our quiet life, and there came a time when I was hot on his trail, and rejoiced, deep in the wilderness, to see the snow all trampled and gory. But the telling of that is for a later page; the man had small part in the scene immediately approaching: it was another. When the wind and rain again beat angrily upon the ship, his look of triumph at once gave place to cowardly concern; and he repeated: "'Tis a dirty night." "Ay," said the other, and, frowning, spread his cards before him. "What do you make, Jagger?" My father came in--and with him a breath of wet, cool air, which I caught with delight. "Ha!" he cried, heartily, advancing upon the flabby little man, "we been waitin' a long time for you, doctor. Thank God, you've come, at last!" "Fifteen, two----" said the doctor. My father started. "I'm wantin' you t' take a look at my poor wife," he went on, renewing his heartiness with an effort. "She've been wonderful sick all winter, an' we been waitin'----" "Fifteen, four," said the doctor; "fifteen, six----" "Doctor," my father said, touching the man on the shoulder, while Jagger smiled some faint amusement, "does you hear?" It was suddenly very quiet in the cabin. "Fifteen, eight----" said the doctor. My father's voice changed ominously. "Is you listenin', zur?" he asked. "Sick, is she?" said the doctor. "Fifteen, ten. I've got you, Jagger, sure ... 'Tis no fit night for a man to go ashore ... Fifteen, ten, did I say? and one for his nibs ... Go fetch her aboard, man ... And two for his heels----" My father laid his hand over the doctor's cards. "Was you sayin'," he asked, "t' fetch her aboard?" "The doctor struck the hand away. "Was you sayin'," my father quietly persisted, "t' fetch her aboard?" I knew my father for a man of temper; and, now, I wondered that his patience lasted. "Damme!" the doctor burst out. "Think I'm going ashore in this weather? If you want me to see her now, go fetch her aboard." My father coughed--then fingered the neck-band of his shirt. "I wants t' get this here clear in my mind," he said, slowly. "Is you askin' me t' fetch that sick woman aboard this here ship?" The doctor leaned over the table to spit. "Has I got it right, zur?" In the pause the spectators softly withdrew to the further end of the cabin. "If he won't fetch her aboard, Jagger," said the doctor, turning to the dog's master, "she'll do very well, I'll be bound, till we get back from the north. Eh, Jagger? If he cared very much, he'd fetch her aboard, wouldn't he?" Jagger laughed. "Ay, she'll do very well," the doctor repeated, now addressing my father, "till we get back. I'll take a look at her then." I saw the color rush into my father's face. Skipper Tommy laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Easy, now, Skipper David!" he muttered. "Is I right," said my father, bending close to the doctor's face, "in thinkin' you says you won't come ashore?" The doctor shrugged his shoulders. "Is I right," pursued my father, his voice rising, "in thinkin' the gov'ment pays you t' tend the sick o' this coast?" "That's my business," flashed the doctor. "That's my business, sir!" Jagger looked upon my father's angry face and smiled. "Is we right, doctor," said Skipper Tommy, "in thinkin' you knows she lies desperate sick?" "Damme!" cried the doctor. "I've heard that tale before. You're a pretty set, you are, to try to play on a man's feelings like that. But you can't take me in. No, you can't," he repeated, his loose under-lip trembling. "You're a pretty set, you are. But you can't come it over me. Don't you go blustering, now! You can't come your bluster on me. Understand? You try any bluster on me, and, by heaven! I'll let every man of your harbour die in his tracks. I'm the doctor, here, I want you to know. And I'll not go ashore in weather like this." My father deliberately turned to wave Skipper Tommy and me out of the way: then laid a heavy hand on the doctor's shoulder. "You'll not come?" "Damned if I will!" "By God!" roared my father. "I'll take you!" At once, the doctor sought to evade my father's grasp, but could not, and, being unwise, struck him on the breast. My father felled him. The man lay in a flabby heap under the table, roaring lustily that he was being murdered; but so little sympathy did his plight extract, that, on the contrary, every man within happy reach, save Jagger and Skipper Tommy, gave him a hearty kick, taking no pains, it appeared, to choose the spot with mercy. As for Jagger, he had snatched up his whip, and was now raining blows on the muzzle of the dog, which had taken advantage of the uproar to fly at his legs. In this confusion, the Captain flung open the door and strode in. He was in a fuming rage; but, being no man to take sides in a quarrel, sought no explanation, but took my father by the arm and hurried him without, promising him redress, the while, at another time. Thus presently we found ourselves once more in my father's punt, pushing out from the side of the steamer, which was already underway, chugging noisily. "Hush, zur!" said Skipper Tommy to my father. "Curse him no more, zur. The good Lard, who made us, made him, also." My father cursed the harder. "Stop," cried the skipper, "or I'll be cursin' him, too, zur. God made that man, I tells you. He must have gone an' made that man." "I hopes He'll damn him, then," said I. "God knowed what He was doin' when he made that man," the skipper persisted, continuing in faith against his will. "I tells you I'll not doubt His wisdom. He made that man ... He made that man ... He made that man...." To this refrain we rowed into harbour. * * * * * We found my mother's room made very neat, and very grand, too, I thought, with the shaded lamp and the great armchair from the best-room below; and my mother, now composed, but yet flushed with expectation, was raised on many snow-white pillows, lovely in the fine gown, with one thin hand, wherein she held a red geranium, lying placid on the coverlet. "I am ready, David," she said to my father. There was the sound of footsteps in the hall below. It was Skipper Tommy, as I knew. "Is that he?" asked my mother. "Bring him up, David. I am quite ready." My father still stood silent and awkward by the door of the room. "David," said my poor mother, her voice breaking with sudden alarm, "have you been talking much with him? What has he told you, David? I'm not so very sick, am I?" "Well, lass," said my father, "'tis a great season for all sorts o' sickness--an' the doctor is sick abed hisself--an' he--couldn't--come." "Poor man!" sighed my mother. "But he'll come ashore on the south'ard trip." "No, lass--no; I fear he'll not." "Poor man!" My mother turned her face from us. She trembled, once, and sighed, and then lay very quiet. I knew in my childish way that her hope had fled with ours--that, now, remote from our love and comfort-alone--all alone--she had been brought face to face with the last dread prospect. There was the noise of rain on the panes and wind without, and the heavy tread of Skipper Tommy's feet, coming up the stair, but no other sound. But Skipper Tommy, entering now, moved a chair to my mother's bedside, and laid a hand on hers, his old face illumined by his unfailing faith in the glory and wisdom of his God. "Hush!" he said. "Don't you go gettin' scared lass. Don't you go gettin' scared at--the thing that's comin'--t' you. 'Tis nothin' t' fear," he went on, gloriously confident. "'Tis not hard, I'm sure--the Lard's too kind for that. He just lets us think it is, so He can give us a lovely surprise, when the time comes. Oh, no, 'tis not hard! 'Tis but like wakin' up from a troubled dream. 'Tis like wakin' t' the sunlight of a new, clear day. Ah, 'tis a pity us all can't wake with you t' the beauty o' the morning! But the dear Lard is kind. There comes an end t' all the dreamin'. He takes our hand. 'The day is broke,' says He. 'Dream no more, but rise, child o' Mine, an' come into the sunshine with Me.' 'Tis only that that's comin' t' you--only His gentle touch--an' the waking. Hush! Don't you go gettin' scared. 'Tis a lovely thing--that's comin' t' you!" "I'm not afraid," my mother whispered, turning. "I'm not afraid, Skipper Tommy. But I'm sad--oh I'm sad--to have to leave----" She looked tenderly upon me. _ |
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