THE NEW JOB
May at Lovell's Harbor was one of the most beautiful seasons of the
year. In fact the inhabitants of the town often remarked that they put
up with the winters the small isolated village offered for the sake of
its springs and summers. Certain it was that when easterly storms
swept the marshes and lashed the harbor into foam; when every boat
that struggled out of the channel returned whitened to the gunwale
with ice, there was little to induce anybody to take up residence in
the hamlet. How cold and blue the water looked! How the surf boomed up
on the lonely beach and the winds howled and whined around the eaves
of the low cottages!
One buttoned himself tightly into a greatcoat then, twisted a muffler
many times about his neck, pulled his cap over his ears, and rushed
for school with a velocity that almost equaled the scudding schooners
whose sails billowed large against the horizon. At least that was what
His Highness, Walter King, invariably did.
But from the instant the breath of spring stole into the air,--ah,
then Lovell's Harbor became a different place altogether. The stems of
the willows fringing the small fresh-water ponds mellowed to bronze
before one's very eyes; the dull reaches of salt grass turned emerald;
the steely tint of the sea softened to azure and glinted golden in the
sun. How shrill sounded the cries of the redwings in the marsh! How
jolly the frogs' twilight chorus!
The miracle went on with amazing rapidity. Soon you were scouring the
hollows in the woods for arbutus or splashing bare-legged into the
bogs for cowslips. You even ventured knee-deep into the sea which
although still chill was no longer frigid. And then, before you knew
it, you were hauling out your fishing tackle and looking over your
flies; inspecting the old dory and calking her seams with a coat of
fresh paint. Then came the raking of the leaves, the uncovering of the
hollyhocks, and the burning of brush; and through the mists of smoke
that rose high in air you could hear the resonant chee-ee of the
blackbirds swinging on the reeds along the margin of the creek.
And afterward, when summer had really made its appearance, what days
of blue and gold followed! Was ever sky so cloudless, grass so vividly
green, or ocean so sparkling? Ah, a boy never lacked amusement now! He
wriggled into his bathing suit directly after breakfast and was off to
the shore to swim, fish, or sail, or do any of the thousand-and-one
alluring things that turned up. And things always did turn up in that
small horseshoe where the boats made in. It was the club of Lovell's
Harbor.
Here all the men of the village congregated daily to smoke, swap
jokes, and heckle those who worked.
"That's no way to mend a net, Eph," one of the spectators would
protest. "Where was you fetched up, man? Tote the durn thing over here
and I'll show you how they do it off the Horn."
Or another member of the audience would call:
"Was you reckonin' you'd have enough paint in that keg to finish your
yawl, Eddie? Never in the world! What are you so scrimpin' of it for?
Slither it on good and thick and let it trickle down into the cracks.
'Twill keep 'em tight."
Oh, one learned to curb his temper and bend to the higher criticism if
he carried his work down to the beach. He got an abundance of advice
whether he asked for it or not and for the most part the counsel was
sound and helpful. There you heard also tales of tempests, wrecks,
strange ports, and sea serpents,--weird tales that chilled your blood;
and sometimes the piping note of an old chanty was raised by one whose
sailing days were now only a memory.
What marvel that to be a boy at Lovell's Harbor was a boon to be
coveted even if along with the distinction went a throng of homely
tasks such as shucking clams, cleaning cod, baiting lobster pots, and
running errands? No cake is all frosting and no chowder all broth. You
had to take the bad along with the good if you lived at Lovell's
Harbor. And while you were sandwiching in work and fun what an
education you got! Why, it was better than a dozen schools. Not only
did you learn to swim like a spaniel, pull a strong oar, hoist a sail,
and gain an understanding of winds and tides, but also you came to
handle tools with an ease no manual training school could teach you.
You made a wooden pin do if you had no nail; and a bit of rope serve
if the whittled pin were lacking. Instead of hurrying to a shop to
purchase new you patched up the old, and the triumph of doing it
afforded a satisfaction very pleasant to experience.
Moreover, as a result, you had more pennies in your pocket and more
brains in your head. Both Bob and Walter King, as well as most of the
other village lads, outranked the town-bred boy in all-round practical
skill. They may not have cut such a fine figure at golf or dancing;
perhaps they did not excel at Latin or French; but they had at the
tips of their tongues numberless useful facts which they had tried out
and proven workable and which no city dweller could possibly have
gleaned.
His Highness might be freckled and towsled and, as his mother
affirmed, forgetful and careless, but like a sponge his active young
mind had soaked up a deal no books could have given him. You would
best beware how you jollied Walter King or put him down for a "Rube."
More than likely you would later regret your snap judgment.
No doubt it was this realization that had stimulated Jerry Thomas to
ask him to come to Surfside, the Crowninshields' big summer estate,
and look after the dogs. Jerry was an old resident of Lovell's Harbor,
and having watched the boy grow up, he unquestionably knew what he
was about. That there were plenty of other boys at the Harbor to
choose from was certain. If the honor descended to His Highness rest
assured it was not without reason.
Hence Jerry was not only pleased but immensely gratified when on the
morning following Walter rounded the corner of the great barn and
appeared in the doorway.
"I've come to say Yes to that job you offered me the other day,"
announced he, without wasting words on preliminaries.
"Good, youngster!"
"When shall you want me?"
"When can you come?" grinned Jerry.
He was a lank, sharp-featured man with china blue eyes that narrowed
to a mere slit when he smiled, and from the corners of which
crowsfeet, like fan-shaped streaks of light from the rising sun,
radiated across his temples. His skin was tanned to the hue of old
hickory and deep down in its furrows were lines of white. He had a big
nose that was always sunburned, powerful hands with a reddish fuzz on
their backs, and gnarled fingers that bore the scars of innumerable
nautical disasters. But the chief glory he possessed was a neatly
tattooed schooner that sailed under full canvas upon his forearm and
bore beneath it the inscription:
The Mollie D. The finest ship afloat.
The words had been intended as a tribute rather than a challenge for
Jerry was a peaceful soul, but unfortunately they had proved
provocative of many a brawl, and had the truth been known a certain
odd slant of Jerry's chin could have been traced back to this
apparently harmless assertion. Possibly had this mate of the _Mollie
D._ foreseen into what straits his boast was to lead him he might not
have expressed it so baldly in all the naked glory of blue ink; but
with the sentiment once immortalized what choice had he but to defend
it? Therefore, being no coward but a sturdy seaman with a swinging
undercut, he had in times past delivered many a blow in order to
uphold the _Mollie D.'s_ nautical reputation, after which encounters
his challengers were wont to emerge with a more profound respect not
only for the bark but for Jerry Thomas as well.
All that, however, was long ago. Since the great storm of 1890 when so
many ships had perished and the _Mollie D._, bound from Norfolk to
Fairhaven, had gone down with the rest, Jerry had abandoned the sea.
It was not the perils of the deep, nevertheless, that had driven him
landward, or the fear of future disasters; it was only that since his
first love was lost he could not bring himself to ship on any other
vessel.
Accordingly he took to the shore and for a time a very strange misfit
he was there. How he fumed and fidgeted and roamed from one place to
another, searching for some spot in which his restless spirit would
find peace! And then one day he had wandered into Lovell's Harbor and
there he had stayed ever since. For several seasons he had taken out
sailing parties of summer boarders or piloted amateur fishermen out to
the Ledges; but the timidity and lack of sophistication of these city
patrons at length so rasped his nerves that he gave up the task and
was about to betake himself to pastures new when he fell beneath the
eye of Mr. Glenmore Archibald Crowninshield, a New York banker, who
had bought the strip of land forming one arm of the bay and was on the
point of erecting there a diminutive summer palace.
From that instant Jerry's fortune was made. Mr. Crowninshield was a
keen student of human nature and was immediately attracted to the
sailor with his ambling gait and twinkling blue eyes. Moreover, the
New Yorker happened to be in search of just such a man to look out for
his interests when he was not at Lovell's Harbor. Hence Jerry was
elevated to the post of caretaker and delegated to keep guard over the
edifice that was about to be erected.
In view of the fact that up to the moment Jerry had been the most
care-free mortal alive and had never from day to day been able to
remember the whereabouts of his sou'wester or his rubber boots, his
ensuing transformation was nothing short of a miracle. Promptly
settling down with doglike fidelity he began mildly to urge on the
lagging carpenters; but presently, magnificent in his wrath, he rose
above them, whiplash in hand, and drove them forward. His watery blue
eyes followed every stick of timber, every foot of piping, every nail
that was placed. There was no escaping his watchfulness. If corners
were not true or moldings did not meet he saw and called attention to
it. Many a time a slipshod workman was ready to throw him over the
cliff into the sea and perhaps might have done so had he not been
conscious of the justice of the criticism.
In consequence the Crowninshield house was built on honor; and when
the bills began to come in and showed a marked falling off in
magnitude the owner of the mansion could not but express gratitude.
Jerry, however, did not covet thanks. Instead he tagged along at his
employer's heels, proudly calling notice first to one skillful bit of
work and then to another. The house and all that concerned it became
his hobby. It was to him what the _Mollie D._ had been, the primary
interest of his life. He knew every inch of plumbing; where every
shut-off, valve, ventilator, and stopcock was located. Moreover, he
could have told, had not his jaws been clamped together tightly as a
scallop shell, exactly how much every article in the mansion cost.
Later he superintended the grading of the lawns, the laying out of
tennis courts, and the building of garages, boathouses, and
bathhouses. By this time Mr. Crowninshield would willingly have
trusted him with every farthing he possessed so complete was his
confidence in his man Friday.
Jerry, however, was modest. He declared he had only done his duty and
insisted that it go at that. But having set this high standard of
fidelity for himself it followed that he demanded a like faithfulness
in others; and if he were not merciful to those who came under his
dictatorship at least no one of them could deny that he was just.
Hence Walter King did not shrink from the prospect of working with
him, stern though he was reputed to be. One can only do one's best and
that the boy was determined to do. Therefore he smiled up into Jerry's
misty blue eyes and answered:
"I could begin work when school closes toward the end of June."
"Humph! I wish you could make it earlier. Well, we must put up with
that since it is the best you can do. Goodness knows I'd be the last
one to discourage learning in the young. I got all too little of it
when I was a shaver. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I'd had my
chance. I shipped to sea when I was only twelve--would go--nothing
would stop me--and I've been knocking round ever since, picking up
here and there what scraps of knowledge I could get. Don't let
anything tempt you to sea till you're full-grown, sonny, for you'll
live to regret it, sure as my name is Jerry Taylor."
Walter flushed guiltily, wondering as he did so whether Jerry's little
blue eyes had bored their way into his skull and read there his
aspirations.
"Nope!" went on the sailor. "Take it from me, seafaring is a man's
job. You much better stay ashore and----" he stopped as if at a loss
and then smiling broadly added, "play governess to a pack of dogs."
"I figure that is about what I'm going to do," replied His Highness
with a comic air of resignation.
"Well, what's the matter with that?" inquired Jerry sharply. "You'll
be getting paid for it, won't you--well paid? And you'll have cozy
quarters all to yourself, and three good meals a day. Land alive! Some
folks want the earth! Why, when I was your age, I was swung up in a
hammock between decks with not an inch of space that I could call my
own. If I wanted to stow away anything I hadn't a place to put it
where it wasn't common property. As for meals I took what I could get
and was thankful that I didn't starve. And here you come along and
tilt up your freckled pug nose at a room and board and ten a week.
Bah! What's come over this generation anyway?"
"I wasn't turning up my nose," Walter ventured to protest. "It turns
up anyhow."
"Then you need to be careful how you make it go higher," grinned
Jerry.
"And--and--I had no idea you meant to pay me that much."
"What do you think we are up here?" bristled Jerry. "A sweatshop? No
siree! We stand for the square deal every time, we do. Only you've got
to understand, young one, that it's to be square on both sides. You're
to do no shirking; if you do you'll get fired so quick you'll wonder
what hit you. But if you do your part you need have no worries. Now
think good and plenty before you embark on the cruise."
"I have thought."
"All right then. We'll haul up anchor and be off the latter part of
June."
"You'll have to tell me exactly what you want me to do."
"Oh, I'll tell you right 'nough," drawled Jerry, with a humorous twist
of his lips. "You'll get a chart to sail by. Still, it won't wholly
cover your duties. The thing for you to do is to keep your eyes peeled
and look alive. Watch out and see where there's a hole an' be in that
hole so it won't be empty. That's the best recipe I know for being
useful."
"I'll try."
"If you honestly do that I reckon there'll be no cause for you to
worry," observed the caretaker kindly. "Towards the end of June, then,
I'll be on the lookout for you. Your quarters will be all ready,
shipshape and trim as a liner's cabin."
"Where will they be?" inquired Walter.
"Want to see 'em?"
"I'd like to, yes."
"I s'pose you would," nodded Jerry. "You can as well as not; only they
ain't fixed up as they'll be later. Look kinder dismal."
"Oh, I shan't mind."
The big man smiled at the eagerness of the boy's tone.
"Likely you ain't never been away from home before, son," said he, as
he took a key out of a glass case on the wall of the barn and slipped
it into his pocket.
"No--that is, not to stay."
"Quite some adventure, eh?"
The lad shot a bright glance toward him.
"Yes."
"Well, well! Count yourself lucky, youngster, that you've had a good
home and a good mother up to now; and bless your stars, too, that
since you are going to start branching out you're coming to a place
like Surfside rather'n somewhere else."
His voice was gentle and his misty eyes mistier than ever.
Striding ahead he crossed the lawn, unlocked a low building, and
mounting the stairs, stopped before a door in the hall above. With a
turn of the key it swung open, disclosing a small sheathed room
containing a white iron bed, bureau, table, chairs, and bookshelves.
"Think this will suit your Highness?" grinned he.
"It's--it's corking!" stammered Walter, almost too delighted to reply.
"'Tain't bad," admitted Jerry, strolling over to one of the windows
that faced the sea and looking out. "Mr. Crowninshield makes it a rule
never to stow away other folks where he wouldn't be stowed himself. It
isn't a bad principle, either. You'll have a couple of the chauffeurs
for company." With his thumb he motioned to other rooms flanking the
narrow hall. "They may josh you some at first. That's part of starting
out in the world. Keep a civil tongue in your head and if you don't
mind 'em they'll soon quit. If they don't it's up to you to find the
way to get on with 'em. Half of life is learning to shy round the
corners of the folks about you. And old Tim, who used to be gardener
for Mr. Crowninshield's father and has been in the family 'most half a
century, bides here, too. A rare soul, Tim. You'll like him. Everybody
does. Simple as a child, he is, and so gentle that it well-nigh breaks
his heart to kill a potato bug. You can count on Tim standing your
friend no matter what the rest may do, so cheer up."
"And the dogs?"
"Oh, the kennels, you mean? They're close by where you'll get the full
benefit of the pups' barking in the early morning," said Jerry, with a
twinkle. "'Twill give you a pleasant feeling to be certain your
charges are alive. Most often, though, they do no yammering until
about six, and goodness knows all Christians ought to be up at that
hour. You'll find the dogs fitted out comfortable as the rest of us.
They've a fine enclosure to stay in when they want to be out of doors;
a big airy room if it's better to have 'em under cover; steam heat
when it's cold; and blankets and brushes without end. Sometimes Lola,
the pet of 'em all, sleeps up at the big house; but mostly she's here
with the rest. There's too big a caravan of 'em to have the lot live
with the family. Besides, the folks like to sleep late in the morning
and not be disturbed by the noise of a pack of puppies. Then there's
guests here off and on. So take it all in all, the dogs are best by
themselves."
"But I don't know anything about taking care of dogs," faltered
Walter.
"I thought you'd had a dog yourself."
"So I had once. But he wasn't like any of these. He was just a dog.
All you had to do was to chuck him a bone."
"Well, you'll have a darn sight more to do for these critters than
that," announced Jerry.
"But how'll I know----" began the boy, alarmed by the prospect before
him.
"Oh, you'll get your instructions from the Madam, most likely--get 'em
all written down in black and white along with the history of every
dog. She'll tell you just what every one of 'em is to eat, and how
much; and where they're all to sleep. And if she don't Miss Nancy or
Mr. Dick will. You'll get yards and yards of directions before you're
through," chuckled Jerry. "You want to listen well to every word you
hear too, son, for these dogs ain't like your Towser--or whatever his
name was; a crumb of food too much might kill 'em. Or a blast of air."
"Scott!"
"Oh, there's no use getting panicky at the outset," declared Jerry
comfortably. "Follow orders and use your brains; and remember that if
you get addled you can always consult Tim. Tim has a world of common
sense and a heap of knowledge of odd sorts. And more than that, he's
never swept off his feet by the cost of things. Having been brought up
in the company of Rolls-Royce cars, and diamond rings, and
thousand-dollar dogs they don't move him an inch. He just treats 'em
same's he would anything else and often it's the best plan. Instead
of losing his head, and standing wringing his hands 'cause the prize
roses have got bugs on 'em he sets to work and kills the bugs; sprays
the plants same's he would ordinary bushes, and they go to growing
again like any other civilized flowers. An orchid ain't no more to him
than a buttercup. He's too used to 'em. He's used to dogs as well, and
with the shifting fashions he's seen during his fifty years with the
family he's had experience with most every kind of dog that ever was.
For there's fashions in dogs, you know, as well as in coats and hats.
So turn to Tim when you're in a tight place. He'll help you, never
fear."
"I hope he will," sighed His Highness ruefully. "I shall need him."
"Nonsense! Why, Mr. Dick has often cared for the pups when there was
no one else; and certainly you ought to have as many brains as he."
"Tell me about him."
"Richard? You've seen him round town lots of times--you must have. At
the village and other places."
"Oh, of course I've seen him," agreed Walter quickly. "In the summer
he drives past our house almost every day in his car. But I don't know
him any."
"You will now," asserted Jerry. "He's a great chap, Mr. Dick is! About
your age, too, I guess. Quite a mechanic and always tinkering with
tools and machinery. If there's anything wrong with the motor boat he
can usually fix her up all right. As for mending a car, he beats all
the chauffeurs out. They know it and have to say so. Likely you've
seen him fluking through the main street in his racer. She's a trim
little thing and could go like the wind if his Pa hadn't forbidden
letting out the engine. I reckon Mr. Crowninshield is afraid he'll
either kill himself or somebody else, and I will own the thing ain't
no proper toy for a lad his age. Still, city folks ain't content with
what would please you or me. They must have the biggest, the fastest,
the most expensive article there is or 'tain't good for nothin'. The
mere knowin' it's the biggest, fastest, and cost the most seems to
make 'em happy somehow. Funny, ain't it?"
His Highness did not reply. He was thinking.
"And Miss Nancy?" interrogated he presently.
"Ha! There's a girl for you!" ejaculated Jerry with enthusiasm.
"She'll be either seventeen or eighteen come June. Swims like a fish.
In fact, I ain't sure she couldn't outdistance some of 'em. And such
an oar as she pulls! It's strong and steady as any man's. Besides
that, she can beat the crowd at tennis, golf, and those other fool
games such folks play. Has a runabout of her own, too, and drives it
neat as a pin."
"She's better at sports than Mr. Dick, then."
"Oh, she can wipe the ground up with him," sniffed Jerry. "She can
swim overhand to the raft and get back almost before her brother has
started. By Guy! I never saw a woman swim as she does! Dick gets
kinder peeved with her sometimes when she jollies him. But let her car
play a prank and he has her, for she's no more idea what to do with
an engine than the man in the moon. She treats brother Richard with
proper respect then, I can tell you."
Walter smiled.
"And Mrs. Crowninshield?"
"She? She's all right! You'll like her and she'll like you--that is,
if you get on with the pups. Dogs are her hobby. What she don't know
about raisin' 'em ain't worth knowin'. But I just warn you not to
think that because she's so pleasant she's easy goin', 'cause she
ain't. Slip up on your job and she'll be down on you like a thousand
of brick. She's a fair-weather sailin' craft--that's what she is;
floats along nice as anything until something goes wrong and then--my
soul--but she kicks up a sea. Yet with all that you'll like her. We
all do. Almost everybody on the place would get down and let her walk
on 'em. She has a kind of way with her that makes you itch to please
her. Tim would let her cut his head clean off if she wanted to and I
ain't sure I wouldn't. Have a smart sore throat once and see the
things she'll do for you. And she'll do 'em herself, too--not set
other people on the job. I believe that woman has the biggest heart in
the world."
"And--and--Mr. Crowninshield?" ventured Walter.
"The boss?" Jerry cleared his throat and for the first time hesitated.
"You've got to understand the boss, my son," said he earnestly. "He
ain't like other men. And in order that you may, I better give you a
pointer or two for it will most probably save you trouble. The boss
is something like a big dog that barks fit to murder you and don't
mean a thing by it. You've seen the kind. To hear him go on when he's
roused you'd believe he was going to have your blood. My, how he does
orate!" Jerry smiled and shook his head indulgently. "I've seen the
men stand up before him with their knees shaking until you'd expect
'em to give way every second. And the master would rage and rage
because they'd done something he didn't want done. And then, like a
hurricane that's blown itself out, he'll calm down and the next you
know he's given you a smile that's made you forget all the rest of it.
That's him all over. Learn not to be afraid of him, that's the only
thing to do. He wouldn't hurt a fly really. He just gets to blusterin'
and tearin' round from force of habit. It don't mean nothin'--not a
thing in the world. And with all his money he ain't a mite cocky. To
see him you'd scarce dream he had a copper in his pocket. Yet he could
paper the house with thousand-dollar bills was he so minded. There's
no end to his money, seems to me. Just the same, you don't want to go
wastin' it for him on that account. Remember you ain't got the right
to, not havin' earned it. If he chooses to splash it round that's his
hunt. He made it. But it ain't yours or mine to slosh away. Jot that
down in your log. It may help you later."
Jerry paused.
"You deal square and honorable with the boss, standing up to what
you've done like you was a trooper at your gun, and he'll deal square
and honorable with you. But go to hoodwinking and imposing on him and
instead of a lamb you'll find you've got a rattlesnake at your heels.
Now you have an idea, I guess, what you're going to be up against
here," concluded the caretaker, taking out his pipe and cramming it
with tobacco. "If there's anything else you want to know now's your
chance, for after to-day I am never going to open my lips again about
any of the Crowninshield family. You'll be one of the employees and
your job will be to hold your tongue on them and their affairs, and be
loyal to 'em. Their bread will be feeding you and 'twill be only
decent. After you once have got your place the keeping of it will rest
with you. That's fair, ain't it?"
Walter nodded.
Yet he turned slowly toward home, depressed by a throng of misgivings.
Suppose he was not able to hold the job at Surfside once it was his?
What then?