GOOD SAMARITANS
“Maybe it’s a bear!” exclaimed René hopefully.
“Somebody’s old ragbag,” suggested Priscilla.
“No,” concluded Desiré, “it’s a man.”
“Must be sick, or dead tired to sit there on such a day,” observed Jack.
Just as he spoke the words, the interested watchers saw the man attempt
to get up, and fall heavily back upon the ground. Urging the horses to
greater speed, Jack soon brought the wagon abreast of the unfortunate
creature. Face down, he lay perfectly motionless.
“Must be unconscious,” said Jack, as they all got out and stumbled up the
bank upon which the man was stretched.
Desiré held her breath as her brother was rolling the figure carefully
over. There was something strangely familiar about that heavy form. No
mistake, it was their old enemy.
Brother and sister faced each other across the quiet body.
“Oh, it’s _him_!” said Priscilla, in disgust.
“He’s the man Jack fought with!” squealed René.
“Must be badly hurt,” said Jack; “wonder what we can do for him.”
“Do! _Do!_” exclaimed Priscilla; “why, leave him here and go on as fast
as we can.”
“Prissy!” reproved Jack and Desiré with one accord.
“I’m afraid I can’t carry him to the wagon,” said Jack slowly. “He’s so
heavy.”
“Don’t want him in our nice wag’n,” declared René vehemently.
“I can help you,” offered Desiré, striving to conquer her aversion to the
man.
At that moment, the object of their concern groaned and opened his eyes.
Unseeing, at first, they soon showed recognition of the faces above his.
“What’s the trouble with you?” asked Jack.
“Cracked up somewhere,” was the sullen response.
“How did it happen?”
“Fell over those stones in the fog.”
Desiré turned to glance at the big pile of sharp rocks nearby, and felt
that a fall on those could do almost any damage in an unexpected
encounter.
“Where can we take you, or what can we do for you?” asked Jack briskly.
“Nothin’.”
“That’s ridiculous! You can’t stay here. Could you walk as far as the
wagon if we helped you?”
“Can try.”
With the aid of Jack and Desiré, one on either side, he managed to get
up. One or two promptly stifled groans broke from him, and he swayed
precariously as he tried to stand.
“One foot’s no good,” he muttered, holding it up and throwing all his
weight on the other.
“You two children go back and get into your places in the wagon,” ordered
Jack. “Push your stools as close to the front seat as you can.”
Reluctantly they obeyed, hanging over the seat to watch the little
procession. Slowly, painfully, stopping often to rest, the injured man
was finally helped as far as the wagon.
“Lean on the wheel a minute,” directed Jack, “so my sister can get things
fixed for you.”
Desiré opened the back doors, pushed the tent as far to the side as it
would go, and arranged a couple of blankets on the floor.
“This is going to be the hardest bit,” observed Jack, when all was ready,
“but we’ve got to make it some way.”
“Prissy and I can help him from the wagon, if you can manage out here,”
suggested Desiré.
“All right, get in.”
The two girls, Priscilla under protest, grasped the man’s shoulders and
pulled, while Jack eased his body and legs up from the ground to the
floor of the wagon. Half fainting with pain and exertion, the patient was
finally settled on the blankets.
“Where are you going to take him?” asked Desiré softly, as Jack took his
place and picked up the reins.
“Back to Halifax, where he can get a doctor. I think his ribs as well as
his foot are injured; and Heaven only knows what else.”
They were all very quiet as they re-covered the ten miles to the city.
Priscilla was sullen; René somewhat awed; Desiré compassionate, and Jack
thoughtful.
As they entered Halifax, Jack turned toward their passenger and asked—
“Any special place here you want to be taken?”
“Wharf. Pal there who’ll look after me.”
Over the cobblestones, down the steep hill to the docks they rattled.
“There he is. Tall fellow beside that pile of crates,” said the man who
had been peering out the crack between the doors, which had been propped
partly open to give him more air.
“Bill!” he shouted.
The fisherman turned at the sound of his name, and Jack beckoned. With
three or four strides he was beside the wagon.
“What’s wanted?”
Before the boy could reply, the injured man called out—“I’m in here,
Bill. Had a smash.”
The newcomer, without a word, stepped to the back of the wagon and stuck
his head in. After a short conversation, during which the Wistmores stood
beside the horses’ heads, he slid the invalid part way out, put his
powerful arms under him, and picked him up like a child.
“Much obliged to you for bringing him back,” he said awkwardly to Jack;
then strode away down the wharf; but before they were out of earshot, the
injured man called back over the other one’s shoulder—“You’ve won!”
“Well, of all strange experiences,” exclaimed Desiré.
“Whatever did he mean?” asked Priscilla.
“Perhaps that he wouldn’t bother us any more,” replied Jack slowly.
“An’ he didn’t give you any money, nor nothin’,” grumbled René, as they
started out of Halifax for the second time that day. “I thought if
anybody helped anyone else they always gave ’em a—a—re—reward.”
“We _did_ get a reward,” said Desiré softly, “but not the kind you mean.”
“Where’s his wagon?” demanded Priscilla.
“Probably he left it in Halifax,” replied Jack carelessly, as he wondered
just what harm to themselves the pile of stones might have thwarted.
Progress on the way back toward Wolfville was necessarily slow; for
housewives all along the route were preparing for the coming winter when
indoor occupations must replace the activities of the warm months.
Thread, wool, and notions of all kinds were in great demand; for the
women folk must keep busy with more feminine tasks, the hands that during
the summer had helped in gardens and farmyards, as well as in picking
blueberries to be shipped to the States. Daily great trucks stop at the
scattered houses along certain sections rich in that fruit to gather up
supplies and take their loads to the seaports where ships are waiting for
them. The average tourists en route from Nova Scotia to the States little
know, when they are pacing the decks of the comfortable steamers, that
far below are crates and crates of berries which will later be consumed
by themselves at home or in hotels.
Several times Jack had to replenish his stock as best he could from some
town through which they passed; and Desiré daily rejoiced at the steadily
increasing number of coins in their little iron bank.
“We’ll be rich yet!” she exulted, shaking it merrily as they drove away
from Mount Uniacke.
“Sorry to destroy your hopes,” said Jack, half under his breath, so as
not to be overheard by the two children on the floor behind them, playing
a hotly contested game on the board which Mrs. Auberge had given them.
“Had you thought that we’ll have to get some kind of furniture for the
Godet house?”
Desiré looked at him wide-eyed with surprise and dismay.
“Why, Jack, how stupid I am! I never once thought of it.”
“Nor I, until today. I don’t know what was the matter with our brains.”
As if stunned by the discovery, they drove for some time in utter
silence. In the protection afforded by an upturned coat collar, and a hat
pulled far down over her curls, the girl let fall a few tears. Jack,
gazing fixedly ahead, half buried in a coat at least two sizes too large
for him, was apparently oblivious of her distress.
The day was grey and cold, with a brisk wind whirling the golden leaves
of the birches in all directions, scattering the piles of brushwood
collected and left beside the road by some native for firewood; rolling
the pine cones merrily along in the dust, and making the great firs and
balsams toss their branches ceaselessly. Its chill warned of the near
approach of snow and ice.
“Jack,” began Desiré at last.
“Yes?” untangling himself from his problems with a start, and turning
toward her.
“I’ve been thinking about expenses for the winter. Of course food will
cost more, because while we were on the road we had fish and berries to
help out; but in regard to the furniture, we could get only what is
absolutely necessary for now, and add other pieces as we were able to. We
could doubtless pick up used articles at low prices. Think how little we
got for our own things when we sold them.”
“But you and the children have got to be comfortable, and warm,” said
Jack decidedly. “Camp life in the summer is all right; but too much
makeshift doesn’t work in the winter time.”
“You must be comfortable, too,” added Desiré affectionately; “but we
_can_ do with a couple of mattresses on the floor, and a table and four
chairs for the present. Maybe we could buy those from someone in
Wolfville who had more than they needed, and get them cheaper that way.”
“We must have a stove, dishes, and bedding,” added Jack.
“The fireplace will do for heating; and I can cook on the camp stove.
We’ve had enough dishes and bedding for the summer; so a couple of extra
blankets will be all that we’ll have to buy in that line.”
“But I don’t want you to live like that,” interrupted her brother; “we
should have been more comfortable if we’d stayed in Sissiboo—”
“Oh, Jack! With you killing yourself trying to pay off a big debt, and no
prospects for years and years! As it is, at least we’re not in debt;
we’ve had a lovely summer, in spite of a few unpleasant spots; we’re all
healthy and together; and we’re going to live in the Godet house this
winter.”
“You’re a cheerful little partner, Dissy,” said Jack, looking at her so
admiringly that she flushed with shame as she recalled the tears so
recently shed.
“Of course we have money enough to get actual necessities for the
winter,” he continued, shamed by his sister’s courage into taking a more
hopeful view of their situation. “And I’m hoping that I’ll be able to
pick up something steady in Wolfville, or even Windsor, for the winter.”
“Perhaps the judge will be able to help you.”
“He might.”
“So don’t get all blue and discouraged again, Jack dear; we’ll come out
all right.”
Late in the afternoon of another dull day, they stopped in front of Judge
Herbine’s house.
“Guess we got here just in time,” observed Jack, as he got out, pointing
to a few stray flakes of snow idling aimlessly through the air as if they
didn’t care whether they stayed up or floated down.
The judge himself opened the door.
“So here you are at last!” was his pleasant greeting. “Come in—have a cup
of tea—before you go—to look at your own place. Work’s all done.”
They were all cold and tired, and very glad to accept his invitation. His
housekeeper, Madam Lovemore—for the judge had never married—bustled
around preparing a substantial supper instead of “tea.” She was a
sociable, motherly creature, who loved to have company at any time; but
the thoughts of these poor young things driving so many miles in the
cold, and going to live in that old house, so touched her heart that no
effort was too great, and no food too fine to be placed before them.
“Favored—” remarked the judge, as he seated his guests at the dining room
table. “Best plum preserves—my housekeeper must like your looks.”
Madam Lovemore, who was just taking her accustomed place at the foot of
the table, smiled indulgently at him, as one might smile at an outspoken
child.
The meal lasted a long time; for the judge wanted to hear all about their
summer. Once he excused himself and disappeared into the kitchen where he
held a lengthy conversation with some unseen person.
“Right away!” they heard him say, as he was about to re-enter the dining
room.
“We’ll go over—with you,” he said, when Jack proposed their departure,
saying that they counted on staying in the house that night, living camp
fashion until they had a chance to get the necessities. For an hour, René
had been asleep on the horse-hair sofa, and Priscilla’s head kept
nodding.
“They’re tired, poor dears,” said Madam Lovemore compassionately, as she
helped Desiré put their wraps on.
When they went outside, they discovered that the world had completely
changed its appearance. A thin layer of snow made the roads look like
strips of white cloth; each dried weed, seed pod, and knot of grass had a
spotless cap; and the outstretched arms of the firs held their light
burden so tenderly that not a flake was shaken off.
The judge was to drive over in the Ford, Madam Lovemore holding the still
sleeping René in her lap.
“He’ll be awful mad tomorrow,” volunteered Priscilla, who was now fully
awake, “when he hears that he’s been riding in an automobile and didn’t
know anything about it.”
The judge laughed, a sudden explosion, over almost before it began.
“In that case—you’d better come in here too; so you can tell him—what it
felt like.”
The little girl’s wistful look and tone had not been unnoticed by the
judge; and though they were somewhat crowded, both he and his housekeeper
gladly put up with the slight discomfort of an additional passenger.
“Prissy is thrilled to death,” said Desiré to Jack, as they followed the
Ford with as much speed as the tired horses were able to make.
“Yes, but I wish you could have had a ride, too. You’ve always wanted
one.”
“Oh, some day I shall.”
The headlights of the judge’s car, which had just turned off the main
road into the lane leading to the Godet house, revealed the fact that all
underbrush had been cleared away, and the road filled in. So occupied
were they with the unexpected improvement, that not until they had
stopped in front of the cabin did they notice that it was lighted.