WHITE BALDWIN AND HIS "SEA BEE."
The hour that preceded the coming of that heaven-sent schooner was the
blackest of Cabot Grant's life, and as he sat with bowed head on the
wet platform of his tossing raft he was utterly hopeless. He believed
that he should never again hear a human voice nor tread the blessed
land--yes, everything was ended for him, or very nearly so, and
whatever record he had made in life must now stand without addition or
correction. His thoughts went back as far as he could remember
anything, and every act of his life was clearly recalled. How mean
some of them now appeared; how thoughtless, indifferent, or selfish he
had been in others. Latterly how he had been filled with a sense of
his own importance, how he had worked and schemed for a little
popularity, and now who would regret him, or give his memory more than
a passing thought?
Thorpe Walling would say: "Served him right for throwing me over, as he
did," and others would agree with him. Even Mr. Hepburn, who had
doubtless given him a chance merely because he was his guardian, would
easily find a better man to put in his place. Some cousins whom he had
never seen nor cared to know would rejoice on coming into possession of
his little property; and so, on the whole, his disappearance would
cause more of satisfaction than regret. Most bitter of all was the
thought that he would never have the opportunity of changing, or at
least of trying to change, this state of affairs, since he had
doubtless looked at the sun for the last time, and the blackness of an
endless night was about to enfold him.
Had he really seen his last ray of sunlight and hope? No; it could not
be. There must be a gleam left. The sun could not have set yet. He
lifted his head. There was no sun to be seen. With a cry of terror he
sprang to his feet, and, from the slight elevation thus gained, once
more beheld the mighty orb of day, and life, and promise, crowning with
a splendour infinitely beyond anything of this earth, the distant
shore-line that he had striven so stoutly to gain.
Dazzled by its radiance, Cabot saw nothing else during the minute that
it lingered above the horizon. Then, as it disappeared, he uttered
another cry, but this time it was one of incredulous and joyful
amazement, for close at hand, coming directly towards him from out the
western glory, was a ship bearing a new lease of life and freighted
with new opportunities.
The poor lad tried to wave his cap at the new-comers; but after a
feeble attempt sank to his knees, overcome by weakness and gratitude.
It was in that position they found him as the little schooner was
rounded sharply into the wind, and, with fluttering sails, lay close
alongside the drifting raft.
David flung a line that Cabot found strength to catch and hold to,
while the young skipper of the "Sea Bee" sprang over her low rail and
alighted beside the castaway just as the latter staggered to his feet
with outstretched hand. The stranger grasped it tightly in both of
his, and for a moment the two gazed into each other's eyes without a
word. Cabot tried to speak, but something choked him so that he could
not; and, noting this, the other said gently:
"It is all over now, and you are as safe as though you stood on dry
land; so don't try to say anything till we've made you comfortable, for
I know you must have had an almighty hard time."
"Yes," whispered Cabot. "I've been hungry, and thirsty, and wet, and
cold, and scared; but now I'm only grateful--more grateful than I can
ever tell."
A little later the life raft, its mission accomplished, was left to
toss and drift at will, while the "Sea Bee," with everything set and
drawing finely, was rapidly regaining her course, guided by the
far-reaching flash of Cape Race light. In her dingy little cabin,
which seemed to our rescued lad the most delightfully snug, warm, and
altogether comfortable place he had ever entered, Cabot lay in the
skipper's own bunk, regarding with intense interest the movements of
that busy youth.
The latter had lighted a swinging lamp, started a fire in a small and
very rusty galley stove, set a tea kettle on to boil, and a pan of cold
chowder to re-warm. Having thus got supper well under way, he returned
to the cabin, where he proceeded to set the table. The worst of
Cabot's distress had already been relieved by a cup of cold tea and a
ship's biscuit. Now, finding that he was able to talk, his host could
no longer restrain his curiosity, but began to ask questions. He had
already learned Cabot's name, and told his own, which was Whiteway
Baldwin, "called White for short," he had added. Now he said:
"You needn't talk, if you don't feel like it, but I do wish you could
tell how you came to be drifting all alone on that raft."
"A steamer that I was on was wrecked yesterday, and so far as I know I
am the only survivor," answered Cabot.
"Goodness! You don't say so! What steamer was she, where was she
bound, and what part of the coast was she wrecked on?"
"She was the 'Lavinia' from New York for St. Johns, and she wasn't
wrecked on any part of the coast, but was lost at sea."
"_Jiminetty_! The 'Lavinia'! It don't seem possible. How did it
happen? There hasn't been any gale. Did she blow up, or what?"
"I don't know," replied Cabot, "for I was down-stairs when it took
place, and my stateroom door was jammed so that I couldn't get out for
a long time. I only know that there was the most awful crash I ever
heard, and it seemed as though the ship were being torn to pieces.
Then there came an explosion, and when I got on deck the ship was
sinking so fast that I had only time to cut loose the raft before she
went down."
"What became of the others?" asked White excitedly.
"I am afraid they were drowned, for I heard them shouting just before
she sank, but there was such a cloud of steam, smoke, and fog that I
couldn't see a thing, and after it was all over I seemed to be the only
one left."
"Wasn't there a rock or ship or anything she might have run into?"
asked the young skipper, whose tanned face had grown pale as he
listened to this tale of sudden disaster.
"There was an iceberg," replied Cabot, "but when I went down-stairs it
wasn't very close, and the sun was shining, so that it was in plain
sight."
"That must be what she struck, though," declared the other. Then he
thrust his head up the companionway and shouted: "Hear the news, Dave.
The 'Lavinia's' lost with all on board, except the chap we've just
picked up."
"What happened her?" asked the man laconically.
"He says she ran into an iceberg in clear day, bust up, and sank with
all hands, inside of a minute."
"Rot!" replied the practical sailor. "The 'Laviny' had collision
bulkheads, and couldn't have sunk in no sich time, ef she could at all.
'Sides Cap'n Phinney ain't no man to run down a berg in clear day, nor
yet in the night, nor no other time. He's been on this coast and the
Labrador run too long fur any sich foolishness. No, son, ef the
'Laviny's' lost, which mind, I don't say she ain't, she's lost some
other way 'sides that, an' you can tell your friend so with my
compliments."
Cabot did not overhear these remarks, and wondered at the queer look on
the young skipper's face when he reëntered the cabin, as he did at the
silence with which the latter resumed his preparations for supper. At
the same time he was still too weak, and, in spite of his biscuit, too
ravenously hungry to care for further conversation just then. So it
was only after a most satisfactory meal and several cups of very hot
tea that he was ready in his turn to ask questions. But he was not
given the chance; for, as soon as White Baldwin was through with
eating, he went on dock to relieve the tiller, and the other member of
the crew, whose name was David Gidge, came below.
He was a man of remarkable appearance, of very broad shoulders and long
arms; but with legs so bowed outward as to materially lower his
stature, which would have been short at best, and convert his gait into
an absurd waddle. His face was disfigured by a scar across one cheek
that so drew that corner of his mouth downward as to produce a
peculiarly forbidding expression. He also wore a bristling iron-grey
beard that grew in form of a fringe or ruff, and added an air of
ferocity to his make up.
As this striking-looking individual entered the cabin and rolled into a
seat at the table, he cast one glance, accompanied by a grunt, at
Cabot, and then proceeded to attend strictly to the business in hand.
He ate in such prodigious haste, and gulped his food in such vast
mouthfuls, that he had cleaned the table of its last crumb, and was
fiercely stuffing black tobacco into a still blacker pipe, before
Cabot, who really wished to talk with him, had decided how to open the
conversation. Lighting his pipe and puffing it into a ruddy glow, Mr.
Gidge made a waddling exit from the cabin, bestowing on our lad another
grunt as he passed him, and leaving an eddying wake of rank tobacco
smoke to mark his passage.
For some time after this episode Cabot struggled to keep awake in the
hope that White would return and answer some of his questions; but
finally weariness overcame him, and he fell into a sleep that lasted
without a break until after sunrise of the following morning.
In the meantime the little schooner had held her course, and swept
onward past the flashing beacons of Cape Race, Cape Pine, and Cape St.
Mary, until, at daylight, she was standing across the broad reach of
Placentia Bay towards the bald headland of Cape Chapeau Rouge. She was
making a fine run, and in spite of his weariness after a six hours'
watch on deck, White Baldwin presented a cheery face to Cabot, as the
latter vainly strove to recognise and account for his surroundings.
"Good morning," said the young skipper, "I hope you have slept well,
and are feeling all right again."
"Yes, thank you," replied Cabot, suddenly remembering, "I slept
splendidly, and am as fit as a fiddle. Have we made a good run?"
"Fine; we have come nearly a hundred miles from the place where we
picked you up."
"Then we must be almost to St. Johns," suggested Cabot, tumbling from
his bunk as he spoke. "I am glad, for it is important that I should
get there as quickly as possible."
"St. Johns!" replied the other blankly. "Didn't you know that we had
come from St. Johns, and were going in the opposite direction? Why, we
are more than one hundred and fifty miles from there at this minute."