A QUACK DOCTOR.
The wind storm which caused the Sea Queen to dance so violently about
to the discomfort of several on board, and more particularly the
cabin-boy, bore the schooner very swiftly toward her destination. On
the same evening that it began to subside into a well-behaved summer
breeze, the light on Alligator Reef was sighted, and Captain Irwin
confidently announced that the first half of the voyage would be ended
before the sun could set again.
During all these six days Ben had had no opportunity of holding any
extended conversation with Gertie. Several times while at work in the
cabin he was able to ask or answer a few questions by which he and,
through him, Jake learned that the so-called doctor was industriously
engaged in preparing her for those duties he intended she should
perform, excepting, of course, the tight-rope business; but she
evidently had no idea that she was to appear before the public of Key
West.
Ben hesitated about telling her what he and Jake believed she would be
forced to do, for there was a chance that Dr. Harlan would not oblige
her to begin the distasteful work until after arriving at Mexico,
and it would be cruel to distress her unnecessarily. That Gertie was
grieving sorely, Ben knew only too well; several times when they met
in the cabin her eyes were red, as from crying, and on one occasion
the boy found the opportunity to ask, in a cautious whisper, when the
doctor had gone in to his state-room for a moment:
“Has he been abusin’ you?”
“He hasn’t beat me, if that’s what you mean; but I know he would if I
didn’t obey him in everything. I can’t help crying, Ben, when I think
of being forced to leave everybody who loved me, and go away where I
won’t be liable even to talk with a soul except the man who was cruel
to my mother.”
Then the tears began to flow anew; but before Ben could whisper the
shortest word of comfort, the doctor re-entered the cabin, and Gertie
was summoned for another music lesson.
After this it was as if the cook and the cabin-boy could no longer
meet without holding at least a brief consultation as to what should
be done to aid the girl in whom they were both so deeply interested.
If it chanced that these two particular members of the crew came on
deck at the same time, a whispered conversation was certain to ensue,
and every evening they held what Bill Barlow called a “reg’lar caucus”
in the galley; but they had not succeeded in forming a plan which
could be carried into execution. It is true that Jake supplemented his
first scheme with several others equally original and, to his mind,
brilliant; but none of them found favor in Ben’s eyes.
When the Sea Queen, leaving behind the key with the charming name of
Eastern Sambo, entered the main channel and dropped anchor in Key West
harbor, the conspirators were yet undecided as to what course of action
they should pursue. While nearing the port Ben had tried persistently
but unsuccessfully to speak with Gertie. It seemed very much as if
Dr. Harlan feared that some attempt might be made to interfere with
his plans, for he did not allow the girl to move from his side during
the day that the schooner was skirting the keys; and when about an
hour after sunset the heavily laden craft swung to her moorings, he
peremptorily ordered her to retire.
“It’s no use. I can’t get so much as a chance to grin at her without
that doctor’s pokin’ his nose ’round her ear to see what I’m up to,”
Ben said in a disconsolate tone as he entered the galley, after
having remained on the quarter-deck or in the cabin during the entire
afternoon. “I don’t see how we can do the least thing toward helping
her.”
“It’s got past me now,” Jake replied with a sigh as he began to mix up
the bread he intended to bake for breakfast. “It’s no manner of use to
ask Captain Jack to interfere, ’cause he jest the same as told me I’d
better mind my own business when I tried to talk to him about it last.”
“But must we let him march her off an’ not attempt to stop it?”
“I ’spose we could foller ’em an’ see that he didn’t give her a
downright beatin’, though I’d have to come back in time to get dinner.”
“Then let’s do it,” Ben cried excitedly. “That would be better’n
stayin’ here thinkin’ she was bein’ abused.”
“All right. You shinny around so as to get your work done in a hurry,
an’ we won’t be far behind that precious quack when he lands.”
Although Jake had no suggestion to make as to what they could do
in case Gertie was really ill-treated next morning, Ben felt more
relieved in mind than since he first had cause to believe she would be
obliged to go on shore, and when he clambered into his berth after the
interview was ended, it seemed to him as if he had already done very
much toward protecting the sad-faced little passenger.
That Dr. Harlan intended to meet the medicine-loving public of Key West
at the earliest possible moment, was shown by his eagerness to reach
the shore immediately after breakfast had been served. He had all the
paraphernalia of his peculiar calling on deck before the sun looked
over the horizon at the low-lying islands which the busy toilers in the
sea had built, and thanks to the reward promised the sailors in case he
was set ashore without delay, the long-boat was in the water when he
came on deck after a hurried meal.
Gertie had made her preparations for landing, and was ready when the
doctor cried impatiently that he was waiting. She evidently had no
suspicion as to why he was so anxious to have her accompany him, but
thought she was to spend the day in sight-seeing, which would be a
decidedly pleasant relief from the monotony of practicing songs which
had no other accompaniment than her step-father’s tum, tum, tum upon
the table with his fingers.
The long-boat had been rowed to the shore and back again before Ben
finished his work, and he was in a painful state of anxiety lest it
should be impossible to find the medicine vender, but Jake’s words soon
dispelled his fears.
“Don’t you worry about that, my hearty,” the cook said consolingly.
“The town ain’t so big but that we can run ’em down in half an hour;
and beside, if you was ready to go ashore this blessed minute it
couldn’t be done till Captain Irwin wants to start. It’ll take that
quack quite a while to get his traps in workin’ order, an’ we’ll be
there in plenty of time to see the curtain rise on what the show people
call the first act.”
Jake was right, as Ben learned an hour later when they arrived at the
market-place, where an unusually large number of men had gathered and
were gazing curiously at a small but high platform which had just been
erected by three negroes. It had a red covering profusely bespangled,
and on it was a table with a yet more gaudy cloth bearing a quantity of
tiny boxes and bottles, while lying along the edge of the stage were
great numbers of what appeared to be human teeth.
During several moments Ben looked in vain for Gertie, and just as he
was beginning to hope that Dr. Harlan was not as heartless as had been
supposed, the quack appeared from the rear as he lifted the child upon
the platform. Her eyes were red, her lips quivering with suppressed
sobs, and she hung her head as if ashamed to look at the curious ones
who were pressing eagerly forward to learn what this exhibition was, in
which medicine and children took such prominent parts.
The sympathy in Ben’s heart was written plainly on his face, and he
clutched Jake’s hand nervously when the doctor pushed Gertie forward,
whispering hoarsely:
“Are you goin’ to stand still an’ let him do that?”
“I reckon we’ll have to, my lad, though it goes mightily agin the
grain. You see it’s jest as the captain says, we haven’t got any right
to interfere, an’ if we go to kickin’ up a row we’d soon find ourselves
in the calaboose.”
“I’d be willin’ to go most anywhere if I could knock him down once!”
Ben exclaimed savagely.
“I don’t want to get into any law scrape,” the cook replied slowly,
and at the same time vindictively, “but if I can’t manage to pour a
plate-full of hot soup down the back of his neck before this voyage is
ended, it’ll be because I don’t get a chance to make any.”
This threat had the effect of soothing Ben to such a degree of calmness
that he was able to watch quietly the movements of the two on the
platform, although his compressed lips and clinched hands told that any
very cruel act on the part of the doctor might cause an outbreak from
him.
It hardly seemed necessary for the quack to do anything more in order
to attract a crowd, for already were the idle people of the town
gathered in front of his gaudily decorated platform; but he evidently
intended to carry out the programme by way of rehearsal for his new
performer.
Gertie stood timid and shrinking at the very edge of the stage until
her step-father made a threatening gesture, at the same time he
whispered a few words which, from the expression on his face, Ben
believed to be a menace, and then she advanced slowly, singing in a
low, tremulous, but yet sweet voice one of the songs the crew of the
Sea Queen had so often heard her practicing.
“After seein’ him make that child stand up here before the riff-raff of
the town, I wouldn’t buy a bit of medicine from him if I was starvin’
to death,” Jake said angrily, and Ben squeezed the cook’s hand in token
of admiration of his sentiments.
When the song was concluded the doctor motioned Gertie to a seat on the
rear of the stage and then begun his work of announcing that he had
visited Key West in order to benefit its inhabitants, rather than for
any pecuniary gain to himself. In proof of this assertion, which was
received with a low murmur of incredulity from the crowd, he offered to
extract teeth free of charge for every person on the island, insisting
so strongly that there must be some one among the audience who was in
need of such service that a big, burly negro was finally induced to
present himself as a candidate for the quack’s kindly offices.
When the operation--evidently painful to the patient and amusing to
the spectators--was ended, the doctor proceeded to call attention to
the nostrums and pills on the table, declaring that each of them was a
specific for any disease from tic-douloureux to consumption. In fact,
according to his positive statement, it was necessary only to have a
dollar’s worth of these medicines in the house to ward off the attacks
of death in any form other than that of old age.
“He was comin’ it so strong one spell,” Jake said with a sigh of
relief, when the quack finally admitted that a person might possibly
cross the dark river even after purchasing his medicines, “I begun to
be afraid he’d swear his customers wouldn’t ever die. But don’t let’s
loaf ’round here any longer, Ben; he’s a reg’lar scamp, an’ it ain’t
creditable to a man to be listenin’ at what he says.”
“I don’t want to go away and leave Gertie alone,” the boy replied as he
held Jake more firmly by the hand. “It’s cruel to run off when we’re
the only friends she’s got here.”
“But she hasn’t seen you yet, an’ isn’t likely to while her precious
father has so many customers around. You might as well be on the
schooner, for there’s no chance he’ll mistreat her while he’s sellin’
his swindlin’ stuff.”
“It’ll make her feel better afterward if she knows we stayed. It seems
as if we ought to do that much for her.”
“Then I’ll leave you to keep lookout while I go on board, for it’s time
to be thinkin’ about gettin’ dinner. The schooner will be hauled into
the wharf before night, so you won’t have any trouble in findin’ her,
an’ I’ll see to the cabin work till you get back.”
Ben made no protest against this arrangement, for he knew it would be
useless, and Jake swung his short, bowed legs in half-circles as he
walked rapidly toward the wharf where the long-boat was moored.
When he was left alone Ben determined to try to speak with Gertie. She
was sitting on the rear of the platform, and her step-father was so
busily engaged with the credulous in front that there was but little
chance of interruption from him. To make his way around the outer
fringe of the crowd, unobserved by the quack, was not a difficult
matter, and when finally he stood before the child whom he was trying
to aid, if only by his presence, the look of joy and relief which came
over her face would have been reward enough if he had needed any.
“How glad; oh, how glad I am that you are here!” she exclaimed, as she
extended both hands until they touched his face. “How did you know
where to find me?”
“It wasn’t very hard work to do that, ’cause we could a’ walked over
the whole town in a little while. Jake an’ I was afraid the doctor was
goin’ to make you do something like this, so we came ashore as soon
after you did as we could.”
“Then you knew why he forced me to sing so much on the vessel?”
“Not exactly; we only thought so, an’ made up our minds to keep you in
sight till we found out for sure.”
“Isn’t it dreadful that he should make me do such things?” she cried
abruptly as an angry look came over her face. “I was terribly ashamed
to stand up before all these people, and I don’t think I could have
done it if he hadn’t threatened to whip me while every one was looking.”
“Did he talk like that?” Ben cried as he clinched his hands and a deep
flush appeared on his face.
“Indeed he did, and he swore at me. Oh, I can’t stay with him, I’m sure
I can’t! How I wish I had run away somewhere the day I first saw him!
Do you know,” and here she leaned over so that she might whisper in the
boy’s ear, “I believe I regularly hate him.”
“Of course you do,” Ben replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “You couldn’t
help it, anyway. I only wish I was big enough to snap his head right
off, even if Captain Irwin does say we haven’t any business to
interfere.”
At this point the conversation was brought to an end. Having satisfied
their curiosity, fully half the spectators had walked away, and those
who remained were not disposed to make any further investment in
medicine, therefore the doctor believed it necessary to offer some more
potent attraction than his own voice.
“Come and sing to the gentlemen, Gertrude,” he said in what he
evidently intended should be a pleasant tone, and without turning his
head. “After that we will extract a few more teeth, and perhaps then
they will be better able to appreciate my invigorator.”
“Do what he tells you to,” Ben whispered, as Gertie hesitated. “You
must give in to him now; but before we get to Mexico Jake an’ I’ll
think up some way to pull you out of the scrape. Don’t get frightened,
’cause I’ll stand here all the time to see that he don’t hurt you.”
Gertie followed this very sensible advice, and while she was singing
Ben crouched under the edge of the platform vainly trying to form some
plan by which he might fulfil his promise.