_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 competition 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 analysis of it would
reduce itself to a trip from a dirty shore, 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 passing 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 assorted 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 stitching.
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 sturdy 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 passing 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 _Snowbird_, 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 assent, 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 canal-diggers of Mars. Close to us, to port, we passed 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 inshore '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
class 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.
Then I got the one great genuine compliment of my youthful existence.
"_La belle dame qui gouverne_!" exclaimed Yves' little boy.
Of course the other two turned at once to behold the beautiful lady who
was governing, as the Gallic language calls steering. I shall give that
infant a supply of chocolate which will make his big blue eyes open
widely. Such a talent for discrimination should be encouraged. That pard
of a Frenchman was smiling in approval, and the doctor was evidently
taking notice. When a girl wears a white jersey and blue skirt, and she
has a picturesque cap, and is engaged in the occupation of steering,
which brings out many of one's best points, she has a right to expect a
little admiration. It worked and presently the doctor was sitting at my
side, which goes to show that he is but a weak male human after all.
"They are splendid little boats, are they not?" he said.
"Yes, indeed. The rig reminds me of some of the sharpies they use on the
Connecticut coast. But these are regular sea-going craft, and must beat
up to windward nicely."
"You are quite a sailor," was his obviously indicated remark.
"I've done a good deal of small-boat sailing on the Sound," I informed
him, "out of Larchmont and those places, and in Great South Bay. I
suppose I've been a good deal of a tomboy."
"You've been a fine, strong, healthy girl, and you still are," he
replied, quietly.
It was only such approval as Harry Lawrence, for instance, might have
bestowed on a blue-ribbon pointer. The man considers me as a rather nice
specimen and, with all due modesty, I am inclined to agree with him.
By this time we were rapidly nearing the island. As far as I could see it
was nothing but a rough mass of rocks better suited to the tenancy of
sea-gulls than human beings. Everywhere the waves were breaking at the
foot of the cliffs and monstrous boulders. A great host of sea-birds was
rising from it and returning; in the waters near us the dear little
petrels dotted the surface with black points, while slow-flying gannets
traveled sedately and active terns rioted in the air. Coots and other
sea-ducks rose before our boat and, from time to time, the little round
heads of harbor seals, with very human-looking eyes, bobbed on the seas.
"Isn't it perfectly delightful," I cried. "I could never weary of
watching all these things, and what is that big duck, or is it a goose,
traveling all alone and flying straight as an arrow?"
"It is just a big loon. The Great Northern Diver, you know."
"I don't think I ever saw them flying. I shall always recognize one
again. They are regular double-enders, pointed at both ends. Is it the
same sort of loon that we see on the Maine and Adirondack lakes?"
"The very same," he replied. "I dare say you are well acquainted with its
voice."
"Indeed I am; it used to give me goose-flesh when I first heard it, ever
so long ago. It's a dreadfully shivery sound."
The man smiled, as if he thought this a pretty fair description.
"It is rather spooky," he admitted, "but I love it as a typical sound of
the wilderness. It is just redolent with memories of the scented smoke of
camp-fires, of game-tracked swamps and big forests mirrored in deep, calm
waters all aglow with the lights of the setting sun."
This interested me. It is evident that this doctor is not simply a fairly
well educated dispenser of pills and a wielder of horrid instruments.
There is some tincture of sentiment in his make-up.
"How do you enjoy the practice of your profession in Sweetapple Cove?" I
suddenly asked him, rather irrelevantly.
"I have an idea that it is a sort of practice for which I am fairly well
fitted," he answered, slowly, and still looking at the birds. "A fellow
can never be sure that he would make a success in the larger places. Here
you will admit that the critical sense of the population must be easily
satisfied. I have no reason to doubt that I am at least the half a loaf
that is better than no bread."
Of course I could only smile. He had said a lot, very pleasantly, without
giving me the slightest bit of information. To-morrow I intend to go and
have a chat with Mrs. Barnett and pump her dry. I notice that I am rather
a curious young person.
"Jist keep her off a bit now," advised Sammy. "They is a big tide settin'
in."
A slight pressure on the tiller was enough, and Yves loosened the sheets
just a little. On our port side we could see the cliffs, dark and rather
menacing, which as yet failed to show the slightest indenture within
which a boat might lie.
"I think I will give you the tiller now," I told Sammy.
"If you'll not be minding," he answered.
I am discovering that these people have an inborn sense of courtesy.
Their broad accent, which is a mixture of Scotch and Irish and other
North British sounds, is rather a pleasant one. It was quite evident that
I was to suit myself in the matter of steering the boat. If I objected to
relinquishing the tiller owing to a preference for running up on the
rocks I was entirely welcome, as far as I could judge from Sammy's words.
I am beginning to love the old man.
He took the helm and I swung my arms against my sides, for my muscles
felt just a little bit sore.
"I'd like to do this often," I informed him. "It is fine for one's arms."
"It's sure fine fer the pretty face of yer," he asserted, rather timidly.
"The color on it an' the shinin' in yer eyes is real good to see."
"You are very complimentary," I laughed.
Then the old man looked at me, quite soberly, and I could see that a
misgiving had made its way in his dear old soul.
"I mistrust I doesn't jist know what that means," he said, rather
worried. "Ef it's anythin' bad I'm a-beggin' yer pardon."
"You are a perfect dear, Captain Sammy," I told him. "Indeed it means
something very nice."
Profound relief appeared upon his countenance. I am discovering that in
Sweetapple Cove one must limit one's vocabulary. The old man would
probably not appreciate chocolates, but he deserves them.
We were dashing on, at a safe distance from the rocks, and suddenly there
was an opening in the cliffs, with a tiny bay within. Yves pulled in the
sheets a little and we sailed into the deep, clear water of the tiny
cove.
There was a small beach of rolling shingle and, beyond this, clinging
like barnacles to the rocky hillside, were a couple of decrepit houses.
Some big flakes and a fish-house were built over the water, on spidery
legs. A few children, very stolid of face and unkempt, watched our
arrival and stared at me. A man, in half-bared arms dotted about the
wrists with remnants of what they call gurry-sores, stood at the water's
edge, waiting to lend a hand. There appears to be no anchorage in this
deep hole. The sails were quickly wrapped around the masts and our
forefoot gently grated against the pebbles. Then all the men jumped out
and dragged the boat up, using some rollers.
"She'll do now," announced Sammy. "Tide's on the ebb, anyways."
There was no lack of hands to help me jump out on the little beach.
Frenchy's small boy had clambered out like a monkey and, like myself, was
an object of silent curiosity to the local urchins. The scent of fish
prevailed, of course, but it was less pronounced than at Sweetapple Cove,
very probably for the unfortunate reason that very few fish had been
caught, of late. Indeed, it was a fine drying day and yet the poor flakes
were nearly bare.
"Bring up the barrel, Sammy," said the doctor. "I'm going up to the
house. I don't think I'll keep you waiting very long, Miss Jelliffe."
He hastened up, scrambling up the rocky path, and entered the house. I
followed him, perhaps rather indiscreetly. This queer atmosphere of
poverty had affected me, I think, and I suddenly became eager to see
whether I could not be of some help.
A woman had met him at the door, with an effort at a smile upon her thin,
seamed face, that was pale with scanty food and haggard from long
watching at night.
"Un do be sayin' as th' arm be better a lot," she informed him. Then she
stared at me, just for a moment, and smiled again.
"That's fine," said the doctor. "We'll have another look at it directly.
You can come in if you wish to, Miss Jelliffe."
There was nothing but just one fairly large room. The patient was lying
on a bed built of planks and his right arm was resting on a pillow,
wrapped up in an enormous dressing.
"You sure is a sight fer sore eyes ter see," said the man.
"I hope I'm one for sore arms too," said the doctor, cheerfully. Then he
turned to me.
"It would perhaps be best for you to leave for a few minutes, Miss
Jelliffe," he said. "It won't take long."
But I didn't feel that I could leave, and he began to cut through
bandages and dressings. Oh! Aunt Jennie dear! I didn't realize that
people could have such dreadful things the matter with them. It made me
just a little faint to look at it, and I had to turn away. There was but
a slight injury at first, I was told, and it had become awful for lack of
proper treatment and care. Dr. Grant, I was also informed by old Sammy,
was confronted at first with the horrible problem of either taking fair
chances for the man's life by an amputation which would have meant
starvation for the family, or of assuming the risk of trying to save that
arm upon which the woman and her little ones were depending. Such things
must surely try a man's soul, Aunt Jennie. The doctor told me that he had
gone out of the house and sat on a rock, to think it over, and had looked
at the flakes with their pitiful showing. The kiddies were ravenous and
the wife exhausted with care. Then he had stared at the other old house,
now abandoned by a family that had been unable to keep body and soul
together in the place.
And so he had been compelled to decide upon this great gamble and spent
three nights and days in watching, in a ceaseless struggle to save that
arm, using every possible means of winning his fight, knowing that the
penalty of failure was death. It was no wonder that he looked happy now
that he knew he had won.
I suppose that such things happen often, Auntie dear, but we have never
seen things like these, and they make an awfully strong impression.
Dr. Grant was working away, looking well pleased, and I handed him a few
things he needed.
"That's fine!" he declared, after he had completed a fresh dressing. "You
are well enough now to come back with me to the Cove, Dick, because that
arm must be attended to every day and I can't come here so often. You
will be able to stand the trip all right and I'll send you back as soon
as you are well."
"I sure kin stand anythin' so long as yer says I kin," answered the man.
His eyes were full of a confidence one usually sees only in happy
children.
For a few minutes the wife had gone out of the house, and she returned,
breathlessly.
"They is all laughin' down ter th' beach," she announced. "They is
Frenchy's little bye, all wid' yeller curls, a-playin' wid our laddies,
and Sammy Moore he've brung a barrel o' flour, and a box wid pork, and
they is more tea and sugar. What d' yer think o' that?"
She was much excited, and looked from her husband to us, nervously, as if
fearing to awaken from a dream.
"That ere trader he said I couldn't have no more, afore I sent him a few
quintals o' fish," said Dick, "I don't see how it come."
"You had to have it," said the doctor, just a little bit gruffly. "You
can pay me back after you get to work again."
The woman grabbed his arm, and made him wince, and then she returned to
the beach again and brought back the box.
"Beggin' yer pardon, ma'am," she said. "Jist set down still fer a minnit.
I kin bile th' kittle now an' you'll be havin' a dish o' tea."
"Thank you ever so much," I answered, as pleasantly as I could. "I don't
want to give you so much trouble, and we are going back at once."
The woman looked sorely disappointed.
"It's awful good tea," she pleaded. "Th' kind as comes in yeller
packages, and they is sugar too."
I turned to Dr. Grant. A nearly imperceptible smile and nod from him
showed me that I had better accept. It was evident that the poor creature
could not understand how any one could refuse tea, the only luxury of her
hard life.
"I'll change my mind, if you will let me," I said. "I really think I
would enjoy it very much."
Then she smiled again, and went up to the little stove, and I followed
her. Dr. Grant had gone out for a moment.
"Doctor un' says Dick goes back wid' un," she said. "He be th' best man
in the whole world, ma'am. Says he'll take pay when fishing gets better.
I mistrust he'll be waitin' a long spell. It must be most twelve dollars,
all the things he've brung."
For a moment the prospect of this huge debt sobered her, and a tear ran
down her cheek.
"And what about the doctor's pay?" I asked.
"I doesn't know," she answered, helplessly. "It's sure a turrible world."
From this I judge that the financial returns of Dr. Grant's practice must
be more than meager. If I had had any money with me I would have given it
to this poor creature, but I had no pockets and had never thought of the
need of a vanity bag and purse for a visit to Will's Island.
The woman looked out of the door, and saw that the doctor had gone down
to the beach and was talking to the men, apparently engaged in making
some arrangement at the bottom of the boat whereon to lay his patient.
"I doesn't know what we'll do," she said again, hurriedly. "But there
never was a good man the like o' he. You ain't got a man yet, has you,
ma'am?"
"No, I'm a spinster yet," I declared, smiling.
"He's sure the best ever was. Mebbe he might go to courtin' you, ma'am,
and what a happy woman ye'd be."
I don't think I blushed, Aunt Jennie, or showed any particular
embarrassment. I think I simply recognized a tribute of adoration
rendered by the poor soul to one who, in her weary, red eyes, deserved
nothing less than worship.
"I am quite sure he is a splendid man," I answered, quietly. "He is
also taking care of my father, who broke his leg on the rocks, while
salmon-fishing."
"Oh! I knows yer now," said Mrs. Will. "Sammy he told us how you come in
that white steam schooner, wi' brass shinin' all over."
"Yes," I replied.
She began to stare at me, much interested.
"Sich a bonnie lass ye be! I wisht he'd take a fancy ter ye!" she
exclaimed. "Ye'd sure never find a better man nowheres an' ye look as
good as he do. I mistrust ye'd make an awful fine woman fer he."
I could only smile again. Fancy my meeting with matchmakers in this rocky
desert. The poor thing meant well, of course, and I could make no further
answer, for Dr. Grant was returning. He packed all his things away in his
bag, and I went over to the fisherman's bed.
"I am so glad that you are getting along so much better," I told him.
"Thank yer kindly, ma'am," he answered. "I'se sure a whole lot better an'
now we has grub too."
You know how sweet the fields are after a storm, Aunt Jennie. Here it
also looked as if some dreadful black cloud had lifted, so that the sun
shone down again on this desolate place and made it beautiful to the sick
man.
Then I had to swallow some strong tea, without milk, which I abhor. I
trust I managed it with fortitude. The doctor also had to submit.
"The day is fast approaching when I shall perish from an aggravated case
of tea-poisoning," he confided to me. "Everywhere, under penalty of
seeing long faces, I am compelled to swallow it in large doses. I lie
awake nights seeking vainly for some sort of excuse that will be accepted
without breaking hearts."
"I hope that when you feel the symptoms coming you will hasten back to
the security of civilization," I told him.
"Even that is open to question," he answered.
And so we brought the poor man home, Aunt Jennie, and I'm beginning to
feel dreadfully sleepy, so I'll say _au revoir_.