suggested Miss Jelliffe.
"I dare say they are fitted for little else," I replied. "And besides, like so many other people all over the face of the earth they are attached to their own land, and many get homesick who are transplanted to other places. They seem to have taken root in the cracks between these barren rocks, and the tearing them away is hard. So they keep on, in spite of all the hardships. They get lost in storms and fogs; they get drowned or are frozen to death on the ice-pans, nearly every spring, at the sealing, for which they are paid in shares. This naturally means that if the ship is unsuccessful they get nothing for all their terrible toil and exposure. Indeed, Miss Jelliffe, they are brave people and hard workers, who never get more than the scantiest rewards. I think I am becoming very fond of them. I"m a Newfoundlander, you know."
"Was it home-sickness that brought you back?" she asked.
"It may have been sickness of some sort," I answered.
She looked at me, without saying anything more, and we stepped on board the boat, after I had guided her over the precarious footing of a loose plank which, however, she tackled bravely.
CHAPTER VI
_From Miss Helen Jelliffe to Miss Jane Van Zandt_
_Dearest Auntie_:
During these long evenings there is absolutely nothing for me to do except to inflict long epistles upon you. Dear Daddy seems to be making up for some of the lost sleep of his youth, and is apt to begin early the unmusical accompaniment to his slumbers.
We are now able to dispense with the nice old mariner who watched him so effectively the first night. Daddy said the compet.i.tion was too great for him to stand, and explained that he wanted a monopoly. You will be delighted to hear that as far as we can tell the poor leg is doing nicely; at any rate the doctor seems to be pleased. I had no idea that our patient would be so easily resigned to his fate. He is just as good as good can be.
To console you for reading about the hardships I must tell you that I had one of the times of my life to-day. An ultimate a.n.a.lysis of it would reduce itself to a trip from a dirty sh.o.r.e, in a dirty boat, to a dirty island, at least that part of it that was not daily scrubbed by the Atlantic billows. Of course this may be somewhat exaggerated, but the places one departs from and arrives at are somewhat trying to sensitive noses.
That young doctor I spoke of is the responsible party, aided and abetted by Daddy. Between them they just bundled me away, under some silly pretense that I needed fresh air. It is possible, after all, that they may have been right.
We went down to the fish-houses and flakes that crop out like queer mushrooms on stilts all over the edges of the cove, and it was a shaky damsel who shuddered over the pa.s.sing of a wobbly plank. The crew of two waited below in the boat, and smiled encouragingly, so that I had to try and show more bravery than I really felt. I had no desire to intrude among the squids; one sees them dimly through the clear water and they impress one, as they move about, as resembling rather active rats. The cod are more partial to them than I ever shall be. Then there was a rather rickety ladder down which I scrambled. I am sure the crew had never seen silk stockings before, but their heads were politely turned away. A large, exuberantly whiskered Frenchman in picturesque rags gave me his hand and helped me down with a manner worthy of a.s.sorted dukes and counts; and there was a little boy who sat on a thwart and looked wistfully at me.
"De leetle bye, heem want go, if mademoiselle heem no mind," said the Frenchman, bashfully, with a very distinct look of appeal.
The little fellow also sought my eyes, and held his ragged little cap in his hands. He was simply the curliest darling, clad in a garment of many colors made of strange remnants and sewed by hands doubtless acquainted with a sailor"s palm but unfamiliar with ordinary st.i.tching.
Naturally I bent down and lifted him up and put him on my knees, recognizing in this infant the nicest discovery I have yet made on this amazing island. His little pink face and golden curls imperatively demanded a kiss. He is just the sweetest little fellow you ever saw, and looks altogether out of place among the st.u.r.dy urchins of the Cove. Then I had to put him down, because of course I had flopped down in the wrong place. I notice that in small boats one always does. The child took his cap off again and said "merci," and I had to smile at Yves, the Frenchman, whose grin distinctly showed that the way to his heart lies through that kiddy.
We were off at once, and I sat astern near the ancient. Yves had gone forward and the doctor, after the usual totally unnecessary concern as to rugs and either useless things, followed him and appeared to practice his French on the sailor.
"That there Frenchy," Captain Sammy confided to me, "is most crazy over th" young "un. I never did see sich a thing in all me born days."
"He must be awfully proud of such a dear little son," I answered.
"There"s them as says it ain"t the son o" he," replied Sammy. "He don"t never talk about the bye. They says he jist picked him up somewheres, jist some place or other. You would hardly think what a plenty they is as have fathers or mothers neither, along th" coast."
This opened to me a vista of troops of kiddies wandering up and down the cliffs, wailing the poor daddies that will never be given back by the rough sea, and the mothers who found life harder than they could bear, and it saddened me. You always said I must beware of my imagination, but I think there was a funded reality in that vision. Then I was compelled to look about me, for we were pa.s.sing through headlands at the narrow mouth of the cove, the long lift of the open sea bore us up and down again, softly, like an easy low swing. That terrible reek of fish had disappeared and the air was laden with the delightful pungency of clean seaweed and the pure saltiness of the great waters. North and south of us extended the rocky coastline all frilled, at the foot of the great ledges, with the pearly spume of the long rollers.
It was very early when we arrived in the _s...o...b..rd_, and I was not on deck very long. It didn"t seem nearly so beautiful then, and I had no idea that it would be like this.
"It is perfectly marvelous," I told Captain Sammy. "But it is a terrible coast. How do you ever manage to get back in storms and fogs? The mouth of the cove is nothing but a tiny hole in the face of the cliffs."
"Times when they is nought but fog maybe we smells "un," he replied, with the most solemn gravity.
"I hadn"t thought of such an obvious thing," I replied, laughing. "It seems quite possible. But how about gales?"
"They is times when we has to run to some o" the bays north or south of us fer shelter," he answered. "I"ve allers been able to fetch "un."
"But what if you were carried out to sea?"
"Then likely I"d git ketched, like so many others has, ma"am."
And then, Aunt Jennie dear, in spite of the shining of the bright sun upon the glittering water and the softness of the air that was caressing my face, I felt very sad for a moment. It looked like a very cruel world for all of its present smiling. On this coast the elements seem always to be waiting for their prey, just as, in the shelter of ledges deep beneath our keel, unspeakable slimy things with wide glaucous eyes are lying in watch, with tentacles outspread.
"It all seems very dreadful to me," I said.
But the old fellow, though he nodded civilly in a.s.sent, had not understood me in the least. This was clearly the only world with which he was acquainted; the one particular bit of earth whereupon fate had dropped him, as fertilizing seeds are dropped by wandering birds. I daresay he is unable to realize any other sort of existence, excepting perhaps in some such vague way as you and I may think of those ca.n.a.l-diggers of Mars. Close to us, to port, we pa.s.sed a big rock that was jutting from the water and over which the long smooth seas washed, foaming with hissing sounds.
"He nigh ketched us, day I fetched doctor back to yer father," Sammy informed me. "Ye mind t"were a bit rough that day, and ye couldn"t tell yer hand afore yer face, hardly, t"were that thick, and tide she"d drawed us furder insh.o.r.e "n I mistrusted. The wind he were middlin" high an"
gusty, too. I don"t mind many sich hard times a-makin" th" cove. We was sure glad enough ter get in."
"I never thought of it in that way," I exclaimed. "It certainly was an awful afternoon, and it must have been horribly dangerous."
"I telled "un afore startin" as how t"were a bit of a job, an" he asks me kin I make it, an" I says I expect I kin, like enough, wid luck. Then he tells me ter think o" th" old woman an" th" children, an" I says it"s all right. Frenchy he were willin" too, so in course we started."
Then, perhaps for the first time, I took a real long look at that doctor, who was sitting forward, perched on the head of a barrel. He was laughing with Frenchy, and held the boy on his lap. I decided that he belongs to a cla.s.s that is familiar to us. You know his kind, Aunt Jennie, keen of eye, full of quiet determination, and always moving forcibly, even if slowly, towards success. We have seen lots of them on the football fields, at Corinthian yacht races, wherever big chaps are contending and care but little for the safety of their necks as long as they are playing the game.
To me the strangest thing about this man is that he appears to be thoroughly adapted to these surroundings, and yet would be equally at home in what we choose to call our set, just like that dear woman Mrs.
Barnett. I can"t help wondering what he is doing here, I mean apart from his obvious work which, in all conscience, appears to be hard enough.
He was pointing out something to the little boy, in the distance, so that I stared also and caught a puff of vapor above the water.
"It"s a whale, isn"t it?" I asked.
"Yis, ma"am," replied Sammy. "It"s one o" they big sulphur-bottoms. Them little whaling steamers is mighty glad to get hold o" that kind. They grows awful big. I"ve seed some shockin" big fellows."
"I"d like to see one caught. It must be ever so exciting," I said.
"There ain"t no whalin" stations in these parts, but they tells me some of "em "ll tow them little steamers miles and miles, even wid" engine half speed astern. Then other times they gits "em killed first shot out o" the gun."
After this I looked around again. I know you don"t care for small boats, but it is delightful to be so close to the water, and it gives one a sense of keen pleasure one often misses in bigger ships. They seem to be so much more alive.
I must acknowledge that after a time I began to observe the doctor again.
I presume it is a fault of our present education, Aunt Jennie, that we young girls are not much used to being neglected by young men. This one was really paying little attention to me. Even when a man"s daily garb includes a flannel shirt one expects him to be attentive, if he is nice.
Of course I don"t suppose any one here knows how to starch and iron white shirts and collars, so that the doctor can"t help his raiment, which is better adapted to the local fashions. You must not think that he seems to be restrained by a sense of respectful deference especially due to the daughter of one whom the silly papers are fond of referring to as belonging to the tribe of magnates. His manners are perfectly civil and courteous, showing that he has been accustomed to move among nice people.
He took the trouble to ask whether I were comfortable, to suggest a rug which I declined and to ask if there was anything else he could do. But after that he went forward to practise his French on Yves, who frequently grinned with pleasure. Nor has he seemed to be particularly elated at the privilege of attending a rich yacht owner, who may represent a decent fee. I know perfectly well that he takes a great deal more interest in the fisherman we went to see.
The island towards which we were sailing was rising from the sea, and Sammy pointed it out to me, in the distance, faintly azure in the slight haze. We were sailing with a fair wind, our little sails drawing steadily and the forefoot casting spray before it in pearly showers.
"Won"t you let me take her?" I asked.
Sammy opened astonished eyes and doubtfully relinquished the tiller to me. Isn"t it queer how people of our sort are always deemed to be quite helpless with their hands? I may boast of the fact that the ancient mariner was soon satisfied that his craft was in fairly competent ones. I had to use just a little more strength than I had expected to, and to stand and brace myself against the pull. But it was glorious and made me feel to its full extent the delight of the sea. In a moment I felt that my cheeks were red enough to satisfy Daddy himself, who is always a strenuous advocate of robustious femininity. He has no use for the wilted-flower effect in girls. My locks, of course, were disporting themselves as they pleased, and I am sure that I began there and then to strew the bottom of our ship with hairpins.