Doctor Luke of the Labrador Part 41

"'Is you gone an' forgot,' says I, 'about Jagger?'

"'Never you mind about Jagger, Docks,' says he. 'I'll see _him_,' says he, 'later. Call the hands,' says he, 'an' we'll wreck her like men!'"

Docks covered his face with his hands. Place was once more given to the noises of the gale. He looked up--broken, listless; possessed again by the mood of that time.

"An' what did _you_ say, lad?" Skipper Billy whispered.

"I hadn't no objection," sighed the lad.

The answer was sufficient.

"So I called the hands," Docks went on. "An' when the second hand cotched sight o' the rocks we was bound for, he went mad, an' tumbled over the taffrail; an' the cook was so weak a lurch o' the s.h.i.+p flung him after the second hand afore we reached the breakers. I never seed Skipper Jim no more; nor the cook, nor the second hand, nor poor Tommy Mib. But I'm glad the Lord G.o.d A'mighty give Jim the chance t' die right, though he'd lived wrong. Oh, ay! I'm fair glad the good Lord done that. The Labradormen give us a cheer when the chain went rattlin' over an' the _Sink or Swim_ gathered way--a cheer, sir, that beat its way agin the wind--G.o.d bless them!--an' made me feel that in the end I was a man agin. She went t' pieces when she struck," he added, as if in afterthought; "but I'm something of a hand at swimmin', an' I got ash.o.r.e on a bit o' spar. An' then I come down the coast 'til I found you lyin'

here in the lee o' Saul's Island." After a pause, he said hoa.r.s.ely, to Skipper Billy: "They had the smallpox at Tops'l Cove, says you? They got it yet at Smith's Arm? At Harbour Rim an' Highwater Cove they been dyin'? How did they die at Seldom Cove? Like flies, says you? An' one was a kid?"

"_My_ kid," said Skipper Billy, quietly still.

"My G.o.d!" cried Docks. "_His_ kid! How does that there song go? What about they lakes o' fire? Wasn't it,

"'They's lakes o' fire in h.e.l.l t' sail for such as Skipper Jim!'

you sung? Lord! sir, I'm thinkin' I'll have t' s.h.i.+p along o' Skipper Jim once more!"

"No, no, lad!" cried Skipper Billy, speaking from the heart. "For you was willin' t' die right. But G.o.d help Jagger on the mornin' o' the Judgment Day! I'll be waitin' at the foot o' the throne o' G.o.d t' charge un with the death o' my wee kid!"

Doctor Luke sat there frowning.

XXVI

DECOYED

Despite Skipper Billy's anxious, laughing protest that 'twas not yet fit weather to be at sea, the doctor next day ordered the sail set: for, as he said, he was all of a maddening itch to be about certain business, of a professional and official turn, at our harbour and Wayfarer's Tickle, and could no longer wait the pleasure of a d.a.m.ned obstinate nor'east gale--a shocking way to put it, indeed, but vastly amusing when uttered with a fleeting twinkle of the eye: vastly convincing, too, followed by a snap of the teeth and the gleam of some high, heroic purpose. So we managed to get the able little _Greased Lightning_ into the thick of it--merrily into the howl and gray frown of that ill-minded sea--and, though wind and sea, taking themselves seriously, conspired to smother her, we made jolly reaches to the nor'ard, albeit under double reefs, and came that night to Poor Luck Harbour, where the doctor's sloop was waiting. There we bade good-bye to the mood-stricken Docks, and a short farewell to Skipper Billy, who must return into the service of the Government doctors from St. Johns, now, at last, active in the smallpox ports. And next morning, the wind having somewhat abated in the night, the doctor and I set sail for our harbour, where, two days later, with the gale promising to renew itself, we dropped anchor: my dear sister, who had kept watch from her window, now waiting on my father's wharf.

It seemed to me then--and with utmost conviction I uttered the feeling abroad, the while perceiving no public amus.e.m.e.nt--that the powers of doctors were fair witchlike: for no sooner had my sweet sister swallowed the first draught our doctor mixed--nay, no sooner had it been offered her in the silver spoon, and by the doctor, himself--than her soft cheek turned the red of health, and her dimples, which of late had been expressionless, invited kisses in a fas.h.i.+on the most compelling, so that a man of mere human parts would swiftly take them, though he were next moment hanged for it. I marvel, indeed, that Doctor Luke could resist them; but resist he did: as I know, for, what with lurking and peeping (my heart being anxiously enlisted), I took pains to discover the fact, and was in no slight degree distressed by it. For dimples were made for kissing--else for what?--and should never go unsatisfied; they are so frank in pleading that 'twould be sheer outrage for the lips of men to feel no mad desire: which, thank G.o.d! seldom happens. But, then, what concern have I, in these days, with the identical follies of dimples and kissing?

"'Tis a wonderful clever doctor," said I to my sister, my glance fixed in amazement on her glowing cheeks, "that we got in Doctor Luke."

"Ah, yes!" she sighed: but so demure that 'twas not painful to hear it.

"An', ecod!" I declared, "'tis a wonderful clever medicine that he've been givin' you."

"Ecod! Davy Roth," she mocked, a sad little laugh in her eyes, "an'

how," said she, "did you manage to find it out?"

"Bessie!" cried I, in horror. "Do you stop that swearin'! For an you don't," I threatened, "I'll give you----"

"Hut!" she flouted. "'Tis your own word."

"Then," I retorted, "I'll never say it again. Ecod! but I won't."

She pinched my cheek.

"An' I'm wonderin'," I sighed, reverting to the original train of thought, which was ever a bothersome puzzle, "how he can keep from kissin' you when he puts the spoon in your mouth. Sure," said I, "he've such a wonderful good chance t' do it!"

It may have been what I said; it may have been a familiar footfall in the hall: at any rate, my sister fled in great confusion. And, pursuing heartily, I caught her in her room before she closed the door, but retreated in haste, for she was already crying on the bed. Whereupon, I gave up the puzzle of love, once and for all; and, as I sought the windy day, I was established in the determination by a glimpse of the doctor, sitting vacant as an imbecile in the room where my sister and I had been: whom I left to his own tragedy, myself being wearied out of patience by it.

"The maid that turns _me_ mad," was my benighted reflection, as I climbed the Watchman to take a look at the weather, "will be a wonderful clever hand."

Unhappily, there had been no indictable offense in Jagger's connection with the horrid crimes of the _Sink or Swim_ (as the doctor said with a wry face): for Docks would be but a poor witness in a court of law at St. Johns' knowing nothing of his own knowledge, but only by hearsay; and the bones of Skipper Jim already lay stripped and white in the waters of the Harbourless Sh.o.r.e. But, meantime, the doctor kept watch for opportunity to send frank warning to the man of Wayfarer's Tickle; and, soon, chance offered by way of the schooner _Bound Down_, Skipper Immerly Swat, whom the doctor charged, with a grim little grin, to inform the evil fellow that he was to be put in jail, out of hand, when first he failed to walk warily: a message to which Jagger returned (by the skipper of the _Never Say Die_) an answer of the sauciest--so saucy, indeed, that the doctor did not repeat it, but flushed and kept silent.

And now the coast knew of the open war; and great tales came to us of Jagger's laughter and loose-mouthed boasting--of his hate and ridicule and defiant cursing: so that the doctor wisely conceived him to be upon the verge of some cowardly panic. But the doctor went about his usual work, healing the sick, quietly keeping the helm of our business, as though nothing had occurred: and grimly waited for the inevitable hour.

Jonas Jutt, of Topmast Tickle, with whom we had pa.s.sed a Christmas Eve--the father of Martha and Jimmie and Sammy Jutt--came by stealth to our harbour to speak a word with the doctor. "Doctor Luke," said he, between his teeth, "I'm this year in service t' Jagger o' Wayfarer's Tickle; an' I've heared tell o' the quarrel atween you; an'...."

"Yes?" the doctor inquired.

"I've took sides."

"I rather think," the doctor observed, "that you can tell me something I very much want to know."

"I've no wish, G.o.d knows!" Jonas continued, with deep feeling, "t'

betray my master. But you--_you_, zur--cured my child, an' I'm wantin'

t' do you a service."

"I think you can."

"I knows I can! I know--I _knows_--that which will put Jagger t' makin'

brooms in the jail t' St. Johns."

"Ah!" the doctor drawled. "I wish," said he, "that I knew that."

"I knows," Jonas pursued, doggedly, though it went against the grain, "that last week he wrecked the _Jessie Dodd_ on the Ragged Edge at Wayfarer's Tickle. I knows that she was insured for her value and fifteen hundred quintal o' Labrador fish. I knows that they wasn't a fish aboard. I knows that every fish is safe stowed in Jagger's stores.

I knows that the schooner lies near afloat at high tide. I knows that she'll go t' pieces in the winter gales. I knows----"

The doctor lifted his hand. He was broadly smiling. "You have told me,"

said he, "quite enough. Go back to Wayfarer's Tickle. Leave me," he added, "to see that Jagger learns the worthy trade of broom-making. You have done me--great service."

"Ah, but," cried Jonas, gripping the doctor's hand, "_you_ cured my little Sammy!"

The doctor mused. "It may be difficult," he said, by and by, "to fix this wreck upon Jagger."