few lines is to let you know on acounts of havin broke me leg cotchin
the deer Im sory im in a stat of helth not bein able so as to be out in
hevy wether. hopin you is all wel as it leves me
yrs respectful
SANDY CLAWS
Fish was poor and it would not be much this yere anyways. tel little
Sammy
"Ha!" shouted the doctor, as he crushed the letter to a little ball and
flung it under the table. "Ha! That's the kind of thing that happens
when one's away from home. There you have it! Discipline gone to the
dogs. System gone to the dogs. Everything gone to the dogs. Now, what do
you think of that?"
He scowled, and gritted his teeth, and puffed, and said "Ha!" in a
fashion so threatening that one must needs have fled the room had there
not been a curiously reassuring twinkle in his eyes.
"What do you think of that?" he repeated, fiercely, at last. "A
countermanded order! I'll attend to _him_!" he burst out. "I'll fix that
fellow! The lazy dunderhead, I'll soon fix him! Give me pen and ink.
Where's the paper? Never mind. I've some in my pack. One moment, and
I'll----"
He rushed to the shed, to the great surprise and alarm of the little
Jutts, and loudly called back for a candle, which Skipper Jonas carried
to him; and when he had been gone a long time, he returned with a letter
in his hand, still ejaculating in a great rage.
"See that?" said he to the three little Jutts. "Well, _that's_ for Santa
Claus's clerk. That'll fix _him_. That'll blister the stupid fellow."
"Please, zur!" whispered Martha Jutt.
"Well?" snapped the doctor, stopping short in a rush to the stove.
"Please, zur," said Martha, taking courage, and laying a timid hand on
his arm. "Sure, I don't know what 'tis all about. I don't know what
blunder he've made. But I'm thinkin', zur, you'll be sorry if you acts
in haste. 'Tis wise t' count a hundred. Don't be too hard on un, zur.
'Tis like the blunder may be mended. 'Tis like he'll do better next
time. Don't be hard----"
"_Hard_ on him?" the doctor interrupted. "Hard on _him_! Hard on
that----"
"Ay, zur," she pleaded, looking fearlessly up. "Won't you count a
hundred?"
"Count it," said he, grimly.
Martha counted. I observed that the numbers fell slower--and yet more
slowly--from her lips, until (and she was keenly on the watch) a gentler
look overspread the doctor's face; and then she rattled them off, as
though she feared he might change his mind once more.
"----an' a hundred!" she concluded, breathless.
"Well," the doctor drawled, rubbing his nose, "I'll modify it,"
whereupon Martha smiled, "just to 'blige _you_," whereupon she blushed.
So he scratched a deal of the letter out; then he sealed it, strode to
the stove, opened the door, flung the letter into the flames, slammed
the door, and turned with a wondrously sweet smile to the amazed little
Jutts.
"There!" he sighed. "I think that will do the trick. We'll soon know, at
any rate."
We waited, all very still, all with eyes wide open, all gazing fixedly
at the door of the stove. Then, all at once--and in the very deepest of
the silence--the doctor uttered a startling "Ha!" leaped from his chair
with such violence that he overturned it, awkwardly upset Jimmie Jutt's
stool and sent the lad tumbling head over heels (for which he did not
stop to apologize); and there was great confusion: in the midst of which
the doctor jerked the stove door open, thrust in his arm, and snatched a
blazing letter straight from the flames--all before Jimmie and Martha
and Sammy Jutt had time to recover from the daze into which the sudden
uproar had thrown them.
"There!" cried the doctor, when he had managed to extinguish the blaze.
"We'll just see what's in this. Better news, I'll warrant."
You may be sure that the little Jutts were blinking amazement. There
could be no doubt about the authenticity of _that_ communication. And
the doctor seemed to know it: for he calmly tore the envelope open,
glanced the contents over, and turned to Martha, the broadest of grins
wrinkling his face.
"Martha Jutt," said he, "will you _please_ be good enough to read
_that_."
And Martha read:
_North Pole_, Dec. 24, 10:18 P.M.
_To Captain Blizzard,_
_Jonas Jutt's Cottage, Topmast Tickle_,
_Labrador Coast._