The reception accorded the boys and Pierre by Marie Roulett was not so triumphant as the one they had received at the wharf. She gave Pierre such a tonguelashing that he withdrew in confusion to the peace of the beach. The boys, having been soundly scolded, were fed an enormous meal and then rushed off to bed. Marie suspiciously took their clothes away and hid them, so as to ensure that they stayed in bed.
“Ye’ll sleep till I lets ye wake, ye sculpins!” she told them sternly. “And when ye wakes, I’ll more ’an likely tan the three of ye for good measure.”
The threat did not disturb the boys, but their dignity was a little hurt by the removal of their clothing. Considering that they were three pirates who had successfully hijacked a ship and her entire cargo, they felt that they were entitled to more respect from womankind–even from mothers. But they were too tired to be much perturbed and they were asleep almost as soon as they climbed into bed.
Pierre spent some time that evening talking to Smith, who agreed to carry the message to Gauthier, demanding Jonathan’s release and the transfer of ownership of Black Joke back to him, in exchange for the return of the cargo of whiskey.
Smith was an energetic man who did not allow his injuries to hamper him. That very evening he left for St. Pierre in Pierre’s boat, accompanied by Pascal. And in the middle of the following morning he was back in Miquelon. With him in the dory was Jonathan Spence, released from jail after his fine had been paid by Gauthier, and carrying in his pocket a brand-new bill of sale restoring legal ownership of Black Joke to him.
Pierre met them at the dock and, while Jonathan went on ahead to the house, Pierre lingered for a few words with Smith.
“By Gar, that was fast work, my fren’!”
“No trouble,” Smith replied modestly. “I just passed on the deal you offered. Maybe I helped a little, when I told ’em I was going to have a tough time persuading the big bosses in New Jersey that Gauthier didn’t mastermind the whole hijack stunt himself. I wasn’t lyin’ none either. I don’t guess the Big Boys is goin’ to do much more business with Gauthier, but I reckon we can do business with you fellows once we get this mess patched up.”
Pierre had to run to catch up to Jonathan, who was just entering the Roulett house, where he was warmly greeted by Marie. A few moments later her shrill voice brought Kye and Peter stumbling down the stairs, so excited that they forgot they were dressed only in their underwear. Jonathan caught them about the shoulders and hugged them to him with rough affection.
“Well, b’ys,” he said, “I suppose I’ll have to come back aboard Black Joke afore the mast…now that you two has took over as skipper and mate. Go find ye’re trousers and then set down and let’s hear the whole yarn.”
So the story was told all over again, from its beginning on Colombier Rock; first in English, and with many mutual interruptions between Kye and Peter; then by Jacques in French for the benefit of an ever-increasing audience, for it seemed that most of the population of Miquelon had crowded into the Rouletts’ big kitchen.
It was clear that the villagers intended to celebrate the recapture of Black Joke in true Basque fashion. Although Jonathan was anxious to return home as soon as possible, he found it hard to resist Pierre’s pleadings to the effect that he and the boys should remain for at least another day.
“We don’ wish you to go so soon, my fren’,” Pierre cried. “Tonight all the people make the party and the dance for you–the special Basque dance. So you see you must stay; an’ you won’ lose no time either, because the boat she is feex up so good now she get you home before you know it. That new engine make her go like a whale. Gauthier, he don’ spare the money when he has her on the slip. Everything aboard is new and of the best kind. I think he spend four thousand’ dollar’ for to feex her up. So now you got the finest boat on all the coast. That fire don’ make no big damage–nothing you can’t feex yourself in two, three days.”
Before leaving St. Pierre for Miquelon Jonathan had dispatched a cable to Ship Hole in order to set his wife’s mind at ease, so that he really had no good reason to refuse Pierre’s enthusiastic invitation. Consequently all that day, and far into the night, he and the two boys were feasted and fêted, and even persuaded to take part in the hectic national dance of the Basques.
None of the three got up very early the next morning, but nevertheless Black Joke was ready to sail by noon, for the Basques had seen to all the preparations.
As Jonathan was preparing to go aboard, Pierre had a last word with him.
“This morning we stow the schooner with the salt fish Gauthier had aboard to hide le whiskey, so you see you don’ go home empty-handed. And maybe you fin’ a little special cargo buried under the fish. You have many fren’s in Miquelon and they know about the hard times in Terre Neuve.”
Grasping Pierre’s hand, Jonathan squeezed it so hard that the big Basque grunted with pain.
“Thank’ee, b’y,” Jonathan said gruffly. “Words don’t come aisy to I, but there’s nothin’ me nor mine won’t do for you and yours if ever the time comes ye needs a hand.”
“By Gar!” Pierre replied ruefully. “I think I need a hand right now! This one of mine, she is squash’ like dead squid on the shore.”
The departure was a boisterous affair. A gay crowd consisting of most of the people of Miquelon had gathered to see the schooner off. As the lines were let go, a score of shotguns roared out a farewell salute and a hundred voices were raised in a lusty Basque song. Peter and Kye replied by sounding repeated blasts on the ship’s foghorn. Standing on the dock, as the schooner pulled slowly away, Jacques cupped his hands and yelled a final good-by to the two Newfoundland lads with whom he had become such close friends.
The wind was fresh from the southeast. Under the combined power of her sails and her diesel engine, Black Joke was soon logging a full twelve knots. It was still daylight when she began to close with the shores of Newfoundland. The massive sea-cliffs rose up close ahead, and the roar of bursting seas echoed back from the great rocks. Snoring through the water, the black-hulled ship bore down through the shadows of the evening.
Black Joke was going home at last.
BOOKS BY FARLEY MOWAT
People of the Deer (1952, revised edition 1975)
The Regiment (1955, new edition 1973, paperback edition 1989)
Lost in the Barrens (1956)
The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be (1957)
Grey Seas Under (1959)
The Desperate People (1959, revised edition 1975)
Owls in the Family (1961)
The Serpent’s Coil (1961)
The Black Joke (1962)
Never Cry Wolf (1963, new edition 1973)
Westviking (1965)
The Curse of the Viking Grave (1967)
Canada North (illustrated edition 1967)
Canada North Now (revised paperback edition 1967)
This Rock Within the Sea (with John de Visser)
(1968, reissued 1976)
The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float (1969, illustrated edition 1974)
Sibir (1970, new edition 1973)
A Whale for the Killing (1972)
Wake of the Great Sealers (with David Blackwood) (1973)
The Snow Walker (1975)
And No Birds Sang (1979)
The World of Farley Mowat, a selection from his works
(edited by Peter Davison) (1980)
Sea of Slaughter (1984)
My Discovery of America (1985)
Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey (1987)
The New Founde Land (1989)
Rescue the Earth! (1990)
My Father’s Son (1992)
Born Naked (1993)
Aftermath (1995)
The Farfarers (1998)
THE TOP OF THE WORLD TRILOGY
Ordeal by Ice (1960, revised edition 1973)
The Polar Passion (1967, revised edition 1973)
Tundra (1973)
EDITED BY FARLEY MOWAT
Coppermine Journey (19
58)
Copyright © by Farley Mowat, 1962
Illustrations copyright © by Little, Brown and Company, 1963
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher–or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency–is an infringement of the copyright law.
School edition Notes and Activities
copyright © by McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1973
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Mowat, Farley, 1921-
The black joke
eISBN: 978-1-55199-229-7
I. Mays, Victor. 1927- II. Title.
PS8526.089B56 1987 C813’.54 C87-094472-X
PR9199.3.M69B56 1987
McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
The Canadian Publishers
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Farley Mowat, The Black Joke
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