Bobby of the Labrador Part 13

"Now we'll be all right," said Bobby, with immense relief, as they watched the four long oars, pulled by four husky men, rise and fall and glint in the sunshine, while a fifth man sculled astern. "They'll either drop us in at Itigailit Island or lend us oars for the skiff!"

"Yes, and it's great luck for us that they saw us," remarked Jimmy. "I don't believe we ever could have made land with these short paddles."

"The first thing I want is something to eat and drink," declared Bobby.

"I'm getting hungrier every minute."

But the boat was upon them already, and they were soon to have a plenty to eat, and the adventure after all had amounted to nothing but a little inconvenience. It was all in a day's work, and already they had forgotten the dismal night, or if they had not in fact forgotten it they had at least put it behind them as an experience of small importance.

"Look sharp now, lads!" shouted the man at the sculling oar, as the boat and the skiff, rising and falling upon the swell, approached each other.

"Look sharp! Now, heave her, b'y!"

And Jimmy, in the bow of the skiff, with coiled painter ready, tossed it to one of the men. The boats were straightened out, the skiff drawn alongside, and in a moment Jimmy and Bobby were aboard, with Skipper Ed's skiff trailing behind.

"Why, it's Skipper Ed's partner an' Abel Zachariah's lad! My eyes! My eyes now! And whatever brings you driftin' around the sea at this time of the mornin', and with nary an oar?" exclaimed the man astern, who proved to be Captain Higgles of the Newfoundland fishing schooner _Good and Sure_, who for as long as the lads could remember had anch.o.r.ed for at least one night each summer on his outward voyage down north, or on his homeward voyage south, in the shelter of the island upon which Skipper Ed had always fished, or behind Itigailit Island. And so it happened that Captain Higgles recognized Bobby and Jimmy, and they recognized him.

"Oh," explained Bobby, "we were getting ice off a berg yesterday, when she shifted and turned us over and we lost our oars."

"Yesterday, was it? And so you young scallawags ha' been cruisin' about since yesterday, eh, with nary an oar. Now listen t' that, b'ys!

Cruisin' around with nary an oar! My eyes! Oh, my eyes!" and the captain roared with laughter, as though it were a great joke, and the four seamen laughed with him.

"And neither of you'd be eatin' a biscuit, an' drinkin' a mug o' tea, now, if you had un!" he continued. "I'll be bound both o' you young daredevils'd turn up your nose at a mug o' tea and a biscuit, now.

Wouldn't ye?"

"No, sir," said Jimmy, "we wouldn't turn up our nose at anything good to eat."

"I could eat the oarlocks this minute!" broke in Bobby.

At which Captain Higgles exclaimed, "My eyes! Oh, my eyes!" and indulged in another burst of hearty guffaws.

"Well, b'ys," said the captain, "I know how you feels, an' I knows where you'll get th' tea and th' biscuit. An' th' cook aboard th' _Good an'

Sure_'ll show you."

"Thank you," said Bobby.

'"Twere lucky I sees you," continued the captain. "There's a sick lad with a rash aboard, an' it's a wonderful troublesome rash, and makes he sick. I were just turnin' in t' see Skipper Ed, thinkin' he might know what t' do for the little lad t' relieve he, when we sights you."

"What, sir!" exclaimed Jimmy, "are we as far south as that?"

"Aye," said the captain, "we're just t' th' s'uth'ard o' Skipper Ed's fishin' place. An' weren't you comin' from there when you goes adrift?"

"No, sir," explained Jimmy. "Partner and I are down at Itigailit Island with Abel Zachariah this year, and we went adrift from there."

"An' there we goes, then!" said the captain. "Another hour's sail, but time saved. Lucky for you that we sights you, an' lucky for th' sick lad, an' lucky for me--lucky all around. My eyes! 'Tis like t' be a lucky day."

And so it came about that Bobby and Jimmy were presently aboard the _Good and Sure_, satisfying an acc.u.mulated and vast appet.i.te upon Captain Higgles' good hardtack and tea, while the schooner laid her course for Itigailit Island.

An hour later, as the captain had predicted, the _Good and Sure_ came to off Abel Zachariah's fishing place, and almost before the anchor chains had ceased rattling Skipper Ed and Abel pulled alongside in a boat and were expressing their relief upon the safe return of the two lads, whose sudden and unexplained disappearance had puzzled them and caused them a deal of worry.

"I finds th' young scallawags driftin' around th' sea, and bearin' no course whatever," explained Captain Higgles, "an' I picks un up as salvage. But I don't want un. My eyes! I don't want un. I don't want any such two scallawags as they about the _Good an' Sure_. They'd be causin'

me no end o' trouble, and you can have un free o' charge if you'll but take a look at a sick lad I has below, sir, an' tell us what t' do for un. 'Tis Hen. Blink's lad, sir. He has a wonderful rash all over he--my eyes, 'tis a wonderful rash, and it makes th' lad sick."

Skipper Ed followed the captain to the cluttered little cabin, and Abel and Jimmy and Bobby, curious to see the wonderful rash, also followed.

The lad, a boy of ten years or thereabouts, was stretched upon a bunk, and he was indeed afflicted with a wonderful rash. The moment Skipper Ed set eyes upon him his face a.s.sumed a very grave expression. He asked several questions, which the child's mother answered, and then he asked the boy:

"How you feeling, little lad?"

"Terrible sick," answered the boy, "but I'd be fine if I could go above deck, sir."

"'Twill never do for you to go above deck with this rash," said Skipper Ed, "but there'll be better luck by and by, lad; better luck, lad."

And then he directed the mother to give the child no cold drink, to keep him below decks, and not on any account to permit him to become chilled until the rash had disappeared and he felt quite well and normal again.

To this he added some simple directions as to food.

"Is I goin' t' die?" asked the boy anxiously.

"No, no, lad, not if you do as your mother tells you, now. You'll be all right, but it'll be some time. Can't weigh your anchor and hoist your sails for a little while. Better luck by and by, though."

"What's th' matter with un, Skipper?" asked Captain Higgles when they were again on deck.

"Measles," answered Skipper Ed.

"Measles! Measles!" exclaimed the Captain in instant consternation. "My eyes! Oh--my--eyes! And we're all like to cotch measles! And measles kills folks! Oh--my--eyes! 'Tis like t' ruin th' v'yage!"

"'Tis too bad, but it can't be helped," Skipper Ed sympathized. "The lad has the measles, and if any of you haven't had measles you're likely to get 'em now. The only thing for you to do if any one breaks out with the rash, is to treat him just as I said to treat the boy. Don't let 'em go out or get chilled till the rash is well."

"My eyes!" said Captain Higgles. "Measles! 'Tis a wonderful dangerous complaint. I minds when th' folks cotched un one summer in Black Run Harbor, and most every one that cotched un died! Oh, my eyes!"

"Aye, 'tis like t' be a dangerous complaint down here on The Labrador, where we folk have poor means for caring for our sick," agreed Skipper Ed, dropping into the dialect of the people, as he often did when conversing with them. "But you have a schooner, and you're not so badly off as we are in our tents."

"My eyes!" repeated Captain Higgles. "Measles! 'Tis like t' ruin th'

v'yage!"

The _Good and Sure_ spread her canvas and sailed away that morning, and quite as though nothing had occurred to disturb the even tenor of their every-day existence Abel Zachariah and Skipper Ed and Bobby and Jimmy turned their attention to jigging cod, and Mrs. Abel to splitting the fish and spreading them to dry, and all worked from morning until night each day, that none of the harvest might be lost, for that year there was a plentiful run of fish.

But Skipper Ed had something on his mind. After the departure of the _Good and Sure_ his face looked troubled, and more than once he murmured, "Better luck, I hope. Better luck." And as the days pa.s.sed his anxiety increased, and Bobby and Jimmy frequently surprised him looking intently at them.

Then came a morning when Bobby complained of feeling ill, and Skipper Ed directed that he must not go with the others of them to jig, but must remain in the tent, and he prepared a hot drink for Bobby, and wrapped the lad warmly in blankets. That very day Jimmy, too, fell ill, and Abel fell ill, and a day later Mrs. Abel also complained. "Measles," said Skipper Ed.

And measles it was, and a serious condition of affairs confronted Skipper Ed. He gave up his fishing and devoted his whole attention to his four patients, and he thanked the Lord that he himself had pa.s.sed through the ordeal as a child, and was immune.

Because the people on the Labrador can seldom be brought to understand that a patient with this ailment must be kept warm and free from exposure or chill until the period of rash is pa.s.sed, it is too often a fatal disease there--and an epidemic is sure to result in many deaths.

In tent life, in time of gales and driving storms, it is frequently difficult, and sometimes indeed impossible, to properly care for the patients, for the tents of the people are seldom stormproof or rainproof.

And so it was that Skipper Ed, who was not only nurse but cook, was more than occupied. There were times when confinement grew irksome to his patients, and at those times he was compelled to resort even to force to prevent one or another from going out into the chilling sea breeze. And one morning Bobby did evade him and go out, and became chilled, and the following day lay, as Skipper Ed verily believed, at the door of death.