surprised at its stiffness. The passage between the hall and kitchen
was rather dark, so that he was somewhat nervous and impatient to open
the door. It happened that he had left the door by which he had quitted
the hall partially open. A gust of wind shut this with a bang that sent
every drop of blood into his heart, whence it rebounded into his
extremities. The impulse thus communicated to his hand was
irresistible. The door was burst in; as a matter of course the table
was hurled into the middle of the kitchen, where it was violently
arrested by the stove. Poor Teddy O'Donel, unable to stand it any
longer, toppled backwards over the bench with a hideous yell, and fell
headlong into a mass of pans, kettles, and firewood, where he lay
sprawling and roaring at the full power of his lungs, and keeping up an
irregular discharge of such things as came to hand at the supposed
ghost, who sheltered himself as he best might behind the stove.
"Hold hard, you frightened ass!" shouted Jack as a billet of wood
whizzed over his head.
"Eh! what? It's _you_, sur? O, musha, av I didn't belave it was the
ghost at last!"
"I tell you what, my man," said Jack, who was a good deal nettled at his
reception, "I would advise you to make sure that it _is_ a ghost next
time before you shie pots and kettles about in that way. See what a
smash you have made. Why, what on earth have you been doing to the
door?"
"Sure I only stuffed up the kayhole to keep out the wind."
"Humph! and the ghosts, I suppose. Well, see that you are up betimes
to-morrow and have these salmon nets looked over and repaired."
So saying, Jack turned on his heel and left the room, feeling too much
annoyed to carry out his original intention of smoking a pipe with his
man. He spent the evening, therefore, in reading a pocket copy of
Shakespeare, and retired to rest at the usual hour in a more composed
frame of mind, and rather inclined to laugh at his superstitious fears.
It happened, unfortunately, that from his window, as he lay on his bed,
Jack could see the graveyard. This fact had never been noticed by him
before, although he had lain there nightly since his arrival, and looked
over the yard to the beach and the sea beyond. Now, the night being
bright moonlight, he could see it with appalling distinctness. Sleep
was banished from his eyes, and although he frequently turned with
resolution to the wall and shut them, he was invariably brought back to
his old position as if by a species of fascination.
Meanwhile Teddy O'Donel lay absolutely quaking in the kitchen. Unable
to endure it, he at last rose, opened the door softly, and creeping up
as near us he dared venture to his master's door, sat down there, as he
said, "for company." In course of time he fell asleep.
Jack, being more imaginative, remained awake. Presently he saw a figure
moving near the churchyard. It was white--at least the upper half of it
was.
"Pshaw! this is positive folly; my digestion must be out of order,"
muttered Jack, rubbing his eyes; but the rubbing did not dissipate the
figure which moved past the yard and approached the fort. At that
moment Teddy O'Donel gave vent to a prolonged snore. Delivered as it
was against the wooden step on which his nose was flattened, it sounded
dreadfully like a groan. Almost mad with indignation and alarm, Jack
Robinson leaped from his bed and pulled on his trousers, resolved to
bring things to an issue of some sort.
He threw open his chamber door with violence and descended the staircase
noisily, intending to arouse his man. He _did_ arouse him, effectually,
by placing his foot on the back of his head and crushing his face
against the steps with such force as to produce a roar that would have
put to shame the war-whoop of the wildest savage in America.
In endeavouring to recover himself, Jack fell upon Teddy and they rolled
head-over-heels down the steps together towards the door of the house,
which was opened at that instant by Ladoc, who had walked up to the
fort, clad only in his shirt and trousers, (the night being warm), to
give a report of the condition of things at the fishery, where he and
Rollo had quarrelled, and the men generally were in a state of mutiny.
CHAPTER NINE.
THE BULLY RECEIVES A LESSON.
We regret to be compelled to chronicle the fact, that Jack Robinson lost
command of his temper on the occasion referred to in the last chapter.
He and Teddy O'Donel rolled to the very feet of the amazed Ladoc, before
the force of their fall was expended. They sprang up instantly, and
Jack dealt the Irishman an open-handed box on the ear that sent him
staggering against one of the pillars of the verandah, and resounded in
the still night air like a pistol-shot. Poor Teddy would have fired up
under other circumstances, but he felt so deeply ashamed of having
caused the undignified mishap to his master, that he pocketed the
affront, and quietly retired towards his kitchen. On his way thither,
however, he was arrested by the tremendous tone in which Jack demanded
of Ladoc the reason of his appearance at such an untimely hour.
There was a slight dash of insolence in the man's reply.
"I come up, monsieur," said he, "to tell you if there be _two_ masters
at fishery, _I_ not be one of 'em. Rollo tink he do vat him please,
mais I say, no; so ve quarrel."
"And so, you take upon you to desert your post," thundered Jack.
"Vraiment, oui," coolly replied Ladoc.
Jack clenched his fist and sprang at the man as a bull-terrier might
leap on a mastiff. Almost in the act of striking he changed his mind,
and, instead of delivering one of those scientific blows with which he
had on more than one occasion in his past history terminated a fight at
its very commencement, he seized Ladoc by the throat, tripped up his
heels, and hurled him to the ground with such force, that he lay quite
still for at least half a minute! Leaving him there to the care of
O'Donel, who had returned, Jack went up to his bedroom, shut the door,
thrust his hands into his pockets, and began to pace the floor rapidly,
and to shake his head. Gradually his pace became slower, and the
shaking of his head more sedate. Presently he soliloquised in an
undertone.
"This won't do, John Robinson. You've let off too much steam. Quite
against your principles to be so violent--shame on you, man. Yet after
all it was very provoking to be made such a fool of before that insolent
fellow. Poor Teddy--I wish I hadn't hit you such a slap. But, after
all, you deserved it, you superstitious blockhead. Well, well, it's of
no use regretting. Glad I didn't hit Ladoc, though, it's too soon for
_that_. Humph! the time has come for action, however. Things are
drawing to a point. They shall culminate _to-morrow_. Let me see."
Here Jack's tones became inaudible, and he began to complete his
toilette. His thoughts were busy--to judge from his knitted brows and
compressed lips. The decision of his motions at last showed that he had
made up his mind to a course of action.
It was with a cleared brow and a self-possessed expression of
countenance that he descended, a few minutes later, to the hall, and
summoned O'Donel.
That worthy, on making his appearance, looked confused, and began to
stammer out--
"I beg parding, sur, but--but raally, you know--it, it was all owin' to
them abominable ghosts."
Jack smiled, or rather, tried to smile, but owing to conflicting
emotions the attempt resulted in a grin.
"Let bygones be bygones," he said, "and send Ladoc here."
Ladoc entered with a defiant expression, which was evidently somewhat
forced.
Jack was seated at a table, turning over some papers. Without raising
his head, he said--
"Be prepared to start for the fishery with me in half-an-hour, Ladoc."
"Monsieur?" exclaimed the man, with a look of surprise.
Jack raised his head and _looked_ at him. It was one of his peculiar
looks.
"Did you not understand me?" he said, jumping up suddenly.
Ladoc vanished with an abrupt, "Oui, monsieur," and Jack proceeded, with
a _real_ smile on his good-humoured face, to equip himself for the road.
In half an hour the two were walking silently side by side at a smart
pace towards the fishery, while poor Teddy O'Donel was left, as he
afterwards said, "all be his lone wid the ghost and the newly buried
ooman," in a state of mental agony, which may, perhaps, be conceived by
those who possess strong imaginations, but which cannot by any
possibility be adequately described.
CHAPTER TEN.
STRANGERS AND STRANGE EVENTS.
The monotony of the night march to the fishery was enlivened by the
unexpected apparition of a boat. There was just enough of moonlight to
render it dimly visible a few hundred yards from the shore.
"Indians!" exclaimed Ladoc, breaking silence for the first time since
they set out.
"The stroke is too steady and regular for Indians," said Jack. "Boat
ahoy!"
"Shore ahoy!" came back at once in the ringing tones of a seaman's
voice.
"Pull in; there's plenty of water!" shouted Jack.
"Ay, ay," was the response. In a few seconds the boat's keel grated on
the sand, and an active sailor jumped ashore. There were five other men
in the boat.
"Where have _you_ dropped from?" enquired Jack. "Well, the last place
we dropped from," answered the seaman, "was the port quarter davits of
the good ship Ontario, Captain Jones, from Liverpool to Quebec, with a
general cargo; that was last night, and ten minutes afterwards, the
Ontario dropped to the bottom of the sea."
"Wrecked!" exclaimed Jack.
"Just so. Leastwise, sprung a leak and gone to the bottom."
"No hands lost, I hope?"
"No, all saved in the boats; but we parted company in the night, and
haven't seen each other since. Is there any port hereabouts, where we
could get a bit o' summat to eat?"
"There is, friend. Just pull six miles farther along shore as you are
going, and you'll come to the place that I have the honour and happiness
to command--we call it Fort Desolation. You and your party are heartily
welcome to food and shelter there, and you'll find an Irishman in charge
who will be overjoyed, I doubt not, to act the part of host. To-morrow
night I shall return to the fort."
The shipwrecked mariners, who were half-starved, received this news with
a cheer, and pushing off, resumed their oars with fresh vigour, while
Jack and his man continued their journey.
They reached the fishery before dawn, and, without awakening the men,
retired at once to rest.
Before breakfast, Jack was up, and went out to inspect the place. He
found that his orders, about repairing the roof of the out-house and the
clearing up, had not been attended to. He said nothing at first, but,
from the quiet settled expression of his face, the men felt convinced
that he did not mean to let it pass.
He ordered Ladoc to repair the roof forthwith, and bade Rollo commence a
general clearing-up. He also set the other men to various occupations,
and gave each to understand, that when his job was finished he might
return to breakfast. The result of this was, that breakfast that
morning was delayed till between eleven and twelve, the fishery speedily
assumed quite a new aspect, and that the men ate a good deal more than
usual when they were permitted to break their fast.
After breakfast, while they were seated outside the door of their hut
smoking, Jack smoked his pipe alone by the margin of the river, about
fifty yards off.
"Monsieur be meditating of something this morning," observed little
Francois Xavier, glancing at Rollo with a twinkle in his sharp grey eye.
"He may meditate on what he likes, for all that _I_ care," said Rollo
with a scornful laugh. "He'll find it difficult to cow _me_, as I'll
let him know before long."
Ladoc coughed, and an unmistakable sneer curled his lip as he relighted
his pipe. The flushed face of Rollo showed what he felt, but, as
nothing had been _said_, he could not with propriety give vent to his
passion.
At that moment Jack Robinson hailed Ladoc, who rose and went towards
him. Jack said a few words to him, which, of course, owing to the
distance, could not be heard by the men. Immediately after, Ladoc was
seen to walk away in the direction of an old Indian burying-ground,
which lay in the woods about a quarter of a mile from the fishery.
Five minutes later Jack hailed Rollo, who obeyed the summons, and after
a few words with his master, went off in the same direction as Ladoc.
There seemed something mysterious in these movements. The mystery was
deepened when Jack hailed Francois Xavier, and sent him after the other
two, and it culminated when Jack himself, after allowing five minutes
more to elapse, sauntered away in the same direction with a stout cudgel
under his arm. He was soon lost to view in the woods.
Each of the three men had been told to go to the burying-ground, and to
wait there until Jack himself should arrive. Ladoc was surprised on
receiving the order, but, as we have seen, obeyed it. He was more than
surprised, however, when he saw Rollo walk into the enclosure, and still
more astonished when Francois followed in due course. None of the three
spoke. They felt that Jack would not keep them long in suspense, and
they were right. He soon appeared--smoking calmly.
"Now, lads," said he, "come here. Stand aside, Francois. I have
brought you to this place to witness our proceedings, and to carry back
a true report to your comrades. Ladoc and Rollo, (here Jack's face
became suddenly very stern; there was something _intense_, though not
loud, in his voice), you have kept my men in constant hot water by your
quarrelling since you came together. I mean to put an end to this. You
don't seem to be quite sure which of you is the best man. You shall
settle that question this day, on this spot, and within this hour. So
set to, you rascals! Fight or shake hands. _I_ will see fair play!"
Jack blazed up at this point, and stepped up to the men with such a
fierce expression, that they were utterly cowed.
"Fight, I say, or shake hands, or--" Here Jack paused, and his teeth
were heard to grate harshly together.
The two bullies stood abashed. They evidently did not feel inclined to
"come to the scratch." Yet they saw by the peculiar way in which their
master grasped his cudgel, that it would be worse for both of them if
they did not obey.
"Well," said Ladoc, turning with a somewhat candid smile to Rollo, "I's
willin' to shake hands if _you_ be."
He held out his hand to Rollo, who took it in a shamefaced sort of way
and then dropped it.
"Good," said Jack; "now you may go back to the hut; _but_, walk arm in
arm. Let your comrades _see_ that you are friends. Come, no
hesitation!"
The tone of command could not be resisted; the two men walked down to
the river arm in arm, as if they had been the best of friends, and
little Francois followed--chuckling!
Next day a man arrived on foot with a letter to the gentlemen in charge
of Fort Desolation. He and another man had conveyed it to the fort in a
canoe from Fort Kamenistaquoia.
"What have we here?" said Jack Robinson, sitting down on the gunwale of
a boat and breaking the seal.
The letter ran as follows:--
"Fort Kamenistaquoia, etcetera, etcetera.
"My Dear Jack,
"I am sorry to tell you that the business has all gone to sticks and
stivers. We have not got enough of capital to compete with the
Hudson's Bay Company, and I may remark, privately, that if we had, it
would not be worth while to oppose them on this desolate coast. The
trade, therefore, is to be given up, and the posts abandoned. I have
sent a clerk to succeed you and wind up the business, at Fort
Desolation, as I want you to come here directly, to consult as to
future plans.
"Your loving but unfortunate friend,
"J. Murray."
On reading this epistle, Jack heaved a deep sigh.
"Adrift again!" he muttered.
At that moment his attention was arrested by the sound of voices in
dispute. Presently the door of the men's house was flung open, and
Rollo appeared with a large bundle on his shoulders. The bundle
contained his "little all." He was gesticulating passionately to his
comrades.
"What's wrong now?" said Jack to Francois, as the latter came towards
him.
"Rollo he go 'way," said Francois. "There be an Indian come in hims
canoe, and Rollo make up his mind to go off vid him."
"Oh! has he?" said Jack, springing up and walking rapidly towards the
hut.
Now it must be told here that, a few days before the events we are
describing, Jack had given Rollo a new suit of clothes from the
Company's store, with a view to gain his regard by kindness, and attach
him to the service, if possible. Rollo was clad in this suit at the
time, and he evidently meant to carry it off.
Jack crushed back his anger as he came up, and said in a calm,
deliberate voice, "What _now_, Rollo?"
"I'm going off," said the man fiercely. "I've had enough of _you_."
There was something supernaturally calm and bland in Jack's manner, as
he smiled and said--
"Indeed! I'm _very_ glad to hear it. Do you go soon?"
"Ay, at once."
"Good. You had better change your dress before going."
"Eh?" exclaimed the man.
"Your clothes belong to the company; _put them off_!" said Jack.
"Strip, you blackguard!" he shouted, suddenly bringing his stick within
three inches of Rollo's nose, "Strip, or I'll break every bone in your
carcase."
The man hesitated, but a nervous motion in Jack's arm caused him to take
off his coat somewhat promptly.
"I'll go into the house," said Rollo, humbly.
"No!" said Jack, sternly, "Strip where you are. Quick!"
Rollo continued to divest himself of his garments, until there was
nothing left to remove.
"Here, Francois," said Jack, "take these things away. Now, sir, you may
go."
Rollo took up his bundle and went into the hut, thoroughly crestfallen,
to re-clothe himself in his old garments, while Jack strolled into the
woods to meditate on his strange fortunes.
That was the end of Rollo. He embarked in a canoe with an Indian and
went off--no one knew whither. So, the wicked and useless among men
wander about this world to annoy their fellows for a time--to pass away
and be forgotten. Perhaps some of them, through God's mercy, return to
their right minds. We cannot tell.
According to instructions, Jack made over the charge of his
establishment that day to the clerk who had been sent down to take
charge, and next morning set out for Fort Kamenistaquoia, in the boat
with the shipwrecked seamen.
Misfortune attended him even to the last minute. The new clerk, who
chanced to be an enthusiastic young man, had resolved to celebrate his
own advent and his predecessor's departure by firing a salute from an
old carronade which stood in front of the fort, and which might,
possibly, have figured at the battle of the Nile. He overcharged this
gun, and, just as the boat pushed off, applied the match. The result
was tremendous. The gun burst into a thousand pieces, and the clerk was
laid flat on the sand! Of course the boat was run ashore immediately,
and Jack sprang out and hastened to the scene of the disaster, which he
reached just as the clerk, recovering from the effects of the shock,
managed to sit up.
He presented a wonderful appearance! Fortunately, none of the flying
pieces of the gun had touched him, but a flat tin dish, full of powder,
from which he had primed the piece, had exploded in his face. This was
now of a uniform bluish-black colour, without eyelashes or eyebrows, and
surmounted by a mass of frizzled material that had once been the
unfortunate youth's hair.
Beyond this he had received no damage, so Jack remained just long enough
to dress his hurts, and make sure that he was still fit for duty.
Once more entering the boat, Jack pushed off. "Good-bye, boys!" said
he, as the sailors pulled away. "Farewell, Teddy, mind you find me out
when you go up to Quebec."
"Bad luck to me av I don't," cried the Irishman, whose eyes became
watery in spite of himself.
"And don't let the ghosts get the better of you!" shouted Jack.
O'Donel shook his head. "Ah, they're a bad lot, sur--but sorrow wan o'
them was iver so ugly as _him_!"
He concluded this remark by pointing over his shoulder with his thumb in
the direction of the house where the new clerk lay, a hideous, though
not severely injured, spectacle, on his bed.
A last "farewell" floated over the water, as the boat passed round a
point of land. Jack waved his hand, and, a moment later, Fort
Desolation vanished from his eyes for ever.
Readers, it is not our purpose here to detail to you the life and
adventures of Jack Robinson.
We have recalled and recounted this brief passage in his eventful
history, in order to give you some idea of what "outskirters," and
wandering stars of humanity sometimes see, and say, and go through.
Doubtless Jack's future career would interest you, for his was a nature
that could not be easily subdued. Difficulties had the effect of
stirring him up to more resolute exertions. Opposition had the effect
of drawing him on, instead of keeping him back. "Cold water" warmed
him. "Wet blankets," when thrown on him, were dried and made hot! His
energy was untiring, his zeal red hot, and when one effort failed, he
began another with as much fervour as if it were the first he had ever
made.
Yet Jack Robinson did not succeed in life. It would be difficult to say
why. Perhaps his zeal and energy were frittered away on too many
objects. Perhaps, if he had confined himself to one purpose and object
in life, he would have been a great man. Yet no one could say that he
was given to change, until change was forced upon him. Perchance want
of judgment was the cause of all his misfortunes; yet he was a clever
fellow: cleverer than the average of men. It may be that Jack's
self-reliance had something to do with it, and that he was too apt to
trust to his own strength and wisdom, forgetting that there is One,
without whose blessing man's powers can accomplish no good whatever. We
know not. We do not charge Jack with this, yet this is by no means an
uncommon sin, if we are to believe the confessions of multitudes of good
men.
Be this as it may, Jack arrived at Fort Kamenistaquoia in due course,
and kindly, but firmly, refused to take part with his sanguine friend, J
Murray, who proposed--to use his own language--"the getting-up of a
great joint-stock company, to buy up all the sawmills on the Ottawa!"
Thereafter, Jack went to Quebec, where he was joined by Teddy O'Donel,
with whom he found his way to the outskirt settlements of the far west.
There, having purchased two horses and two rifles, he mounted his steed,
and, followed by his man, galloped away into the prairie to seek his
fortune.
THE END.