CABOT IS LEFT ALONE.
Deeply interested and affected as Cabot had been by the electrician's
story, his excitement over its conclusion caused him momentarily to
forget everything else.
"Does the ore show anywhere about here?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes. Lift one of the skins hanging against the wall and you will find
it. It is better, though, in the lower portions of the inner cavern,
for the deeper you go the richer it gets."
In another moment our young engineer was chipping bits of rock from the
nearest wall, and then he must need explore those of the storeroom,
where, on a bank of the subterranean stream, he found ore as rich as
any he had ever seen, even in museums. Returning with hands and
pockets full of specimens, he said:
"This is the very thing for which I came to Labrador, but have thus far
failed to find. Of course I have discovered plenty of indications, for
the whole country is full of iron, but nowhere else have I found it in
quantity or of a quality that would pay to work. Here you have both,
and close to a navigable waterway."
"On which the largest ships may moor to the very cliffs," added Mr.
Balfour.
"It means a fortune to the owner, and I congratulate you, sir."
"My dear lad, I don't want it! I am an electrician, not a miner. Even
if I were inclined to work it, which I am not, I should not be
permitted to do so, for my earthly interests are very nearly ended.
Therefore I cheerfully relinquish in your favour whatever claim I may
have acquired by discovery or occupation. If you want it, take it, and
may God's blessing go with the gift. Also, under this bed, you will
find a bag containing more specimens that may interest you. Of them we
will talk at another time, for now I am weary."
With this the man turned his face to the wall, while Cabot, securing
the bag, quickly became absorbed in an examination of its contents.
Among these he found rich specimens of iron and copper ores, slabs of
the rare and exquisitely beautiful Labradorite, with its sheen of
peacock-blue, and even bits of gold-bearing quartz. For a long time he
examined and tested these; then, with a sigh of content, he laid them
aside and went to bed. His mission to Labrador was at length
accomplished, and now he had only to get back to New York as quickly as
possible.
But getting to New York from that place, under existing circumstances,
was something infinitely easier to plan than to accomplish. To begin
with, he had promised to remain with the new-found friend, who was also
so greatly his benefactor, so long as he should be needed, and he meant
to fulfil the promise to the letter. But to do so taxed his patience
to the utmost; for, in spite of the electrician's belief that he had
not long to live, the passing of many weeks found his condition but
little changed. At the same time, in spite of Cabot's best nursing and
ceaseless attention, he failed to gain strength.
Having once broken his years of silence, he now found his greatest
pleasure in talking, and Cabot had frequently to interrupt his
conversation on the pretence of taking outside exercise, to prevent him
from exhausting himself in that way. He hated to do this, for Mr.
Balfour's words were always instructive, and he so freely yielded the
established secrets of his profession, as well as those of his own
recent discoveries, to his young friend that Cabot acquired a rich
store of valuable information during the short days and long nights of
that Labrador winter.
With the apparatus at hand, he was able to conduct many experiments and
put into practice a number of his newly acquired theories. The sick
man followed these with keenest interest, and aided his pupil with
shrewd suggestions. At other times they discussed the mineral wealth
of Labrador, and Mr. Balfour drew rough diagrams to show localities
from which his various specimens had been brought. He also gave much
time to a sketch map of the surrounding country, especially the coast
between the place where the "Sea Bee" had been left and Indian Harbour,
beyond which his knowledge did not extend.
With these congenial occupations, time never hung heavily in the
wilderness home of the Man-wolf, and, though bitter cold might reign
outside, fierce storms rage, and driving snows pile themselves into
mountainous drifts, neither hunger nor cold could penetrate its snug
interior, warmed and lighted by the magic of modern science. With the
passing weeks the old year died and a new one was born. January merged
into February, and days began noticeably to lengthen. Through all
these weeks Cabot kept up his strength by frequent exercise in the
open, where, in conflict with storm and cold, he ever won some part of
their own ruggedness. At the same time, his patient grew slowly but
surely weaker, until at length he could converse only in whispers, and
experienced such difficulty in swallowing that he had almost ceased to
take nourishment. One evening while affairs stood thus, he roused
himself sufficiently to inquire what day of the month it was.
"The thirteenth of February," replied Cabot, who had kept careful note
of the calendar.
Instantly the man brightened, and said, with an unexpected strength of
voice: "Six years to-morrow since we were married. Five years to-day
since she left me, and to-night I shall rejoin her. Wish me joy, lad,
for the long period of our separation is ended. Good-night, good-bye,
God bless you!"
With this final utterance, he again lapsed into silence, closed his
eyes, and seemed to sleep. Several times during that night Cabot stole
softly to his patient's bedside, but the latter was always asleep, and
he would not disturb him. Only in the morning, when daylight revealed
the marble-like repose of feature, did he know that a glad reunion of
long parted lovers had been effected, and that it was he who was left
alone.
Although the position in which our lad now found himself was a very
trying one, he had anticipated and planned for it. He had no boards
with which to make a coffin, but there was plenty of stout canvas, and
in a double thickness of this he sewed the body of his friend. Before
doing so he dug away the snow beside a cairn of rocks that marked the
last resting place of her who had gone before, and placed the electric
heater, with extended wire connections, on the ground thus exposed.
Within a few hours this soil became sufficiently thawed to permit him
to dig a shallow grave, to which, by great effort, he managed to remove
the shrouded body. After covering it, and piling above it rocks as
large as he could lift, he returned to the empty dwelling, having
completed the hardest and saddest day's work of his life.
So terrible was the loneliness of that night, and so anxious was Cabot
to take his departure, that he was again astir long before daylight,
completing his preparations. He had previously built a light sled that
he proposed to drag, and had planned exactly what it should carry. Now
he loaded this with a canvas-wrapped package of cooked provisions, a
sleeping bag, a rifle together with a few rounds of ammunition, a light
axe, his precious bag of specimens, and the Man-wolf's electric
flashlight with its battery newly charged.
With everything thus in readiness he ate a hearty meal, threw the
dynamo out of gear, closed the door and shutters of the place that had
given him the shelter of a home, adjusted the hauling straps of his
sled, and set resolutely forth on his venturesome journey across the
frozen wilderness.
In his mittened hands Cabot carried a stout staff tipped with a
boathook, and this proved of inestimable service in aiding him down the
face of the cliffs to the frozen surface of the estuary; for, by Mr.
Balfour's advice, he had determined to follow the coast line rather
than attempt the shorter but more uncertain inland route.
Although the distance to be covered was but little over one hundred
miles, the journey was so beset with difficulties and hardships that
only our young engineer's splendid physical condition and recently
acquired skill, combined with indomitable pluck, enabled him to
accomplish it. While he sometimes met with smooth stretches of
snow-covered ice, it was generally piled in huge wind-rows, incredibly
rugged and difficult to surmount. Again it would be broken away from
the base of sheer cliffs, where stretches of open water would
necessitate toilsome inland detours over or around lofty headlands. He
was always buffetted by strong winds, and often halted by blinding
snowstorms. He had no fire, no warm food, and no shelter save such as
he could make by burrowing into snowdrifts. During the weary hours of
one whole night he held a pack of snarling wolves at bay by means of
his flashlight. But always he pushed doggedly forward, and after ten
days of struggle, exhausted almost beyond the power for further effort,
but immensely proud of his achievement, he reached the goal of his long
desire.
Indian Harbour--with its hospital, its church, its two or three houses,
and score of native huts, seemed to our lad almost a metropolis after
his months of wilderness life, and the welcome he received from its
warm-hearted inhabitants when he made known his identity was that of
one raised from the dead. White Baldwin and Yim had been there many
weeks earlier, and had reported his disappearance under circumstances
that left no hope of his ever again being seen alive. Then the latter
had set forth on his return journey, while White had joined a mail
carrier and started for Battle Harbour.
Now occurred what promised to be a serious interruption to Cabot's
southward advance, for no one was proposing to travel in that
direction, and, in spite of their hospitality, his new acquaintances
were not inclined to undertake the arduous task of guiding him to
Battle Harbour, 250 miles away, without being well paid for their
labour, and our young engineer had no money. Nor, after his recent
experience, did he care to again encounter the perils of the wilderness
alone.
But fortune once more favoured him; for while he was chafing against
this enforced detention, Dr. Graham Aspland, house surgeon of the
Battle Harbour Hospital, who makes a heroic sledge journey to the far
north every winter, arrived on his annual errand of mercy. He would
set out on his return trip a few days later, and would be more than
pleased to have Cabot for a companion.
Thus it happened that one bright day in early March the music of sledge
bells and the cracking of a dog driver's whip attracted the inmates of
the Battle Harbour Hospital to doors and windows to witness an arrival.
Two fur-clad figures followed a great travelling sledge, and one of
them dragged a small sled of his own. As he came to a halt, and began
wearily to loosen his hauling gear, he cast a glance at one of the
upper windows, and uttered an exclamation of amazement. Then, with a
joyful cry, he shouted:
"Hello! White, old man! Run down here and say you're glad I've come!"