CHAPTER XXVI
_In Which Billy Topsail Determines to go to the Ice in the Spring of the Year and Young Archibald Armstrong of St. John's is Permitted to Set Out Upon an Adventure Which Promises to be Perilous but Profitable_
IN the winter when he was fifteen years old, Billy Topsail determinedto go to the ice with the great sealing fleet in the spring, if itcould be managed by hook or crook. His father had no objection to make.The boy was old enough to look out for himself, he knew; and he wassure that the experience would complete the process of making a man ofhim.
"Go, b'y," said he, "if you can."
There was the difficulty. What sealing captain would take a lad offifteen when there were grown men to be shipped? Billy was at a loss.But he determined, nevertheless, that he would go to the ice, andselected Long Tom Harbour as a promising port to sail from, for it wasnear by and well known. From Long Tom Harbour then, he would go sealhunting in the spring of the year if it could be managed by a boy withcourage and no little ingenuity.
"Oh, I'll go _somehow_!" said he.
* * * * *
It was twilight of a blustering February day. Sir Archibald Armstrong,the great St. John's merchant, sat alone in his office, with his chairdrawn close to the low, broad window, which overlooked the wharvesand the ice-strewn harbour beyond; and while the fire roared and thewind drove the snow against the panes, he lost himself in profoundmeditation. He stared absently at the swarm of busy men--now almosthidden in the dusk and storm--and at the lights of the sealing fleet,which lay there fitting out for the spring voyage to the drift-ice ofthe north; but no sound of the activity on deck or dock could disturbthe quiet of the little office where the fire blazed and crackled andthe snow fell softly against the window panes.
"Beg pardon, sir," a clerk interrupted, putting his head in at thedoor. "Cap'n Hand, sir."
Captain Hand, of the sealing ship _Dictator_, was admitted. He was athick, stubby, hammer-fisted, fiery-faced old man, marked with themark of the sea. His eyebrows made one broad black band of wiry hair,stretching from temple to temple, where they grew in the fashion oftwo sharp little horns; and he had a habit of dropping them over hislittle red eyes, as if in a passion--but nobody was deceived by that;for, save in moments of righteous anger, the light of good humourstill shone in the little red eyes, however fiercely they flashed. Therest of his face was beard--a wilderness of gray beard; it sprang fromsomewhere below his shirt collar, and straggled in a tangled growthover his cheek-bones and neck.
"Report t' you, sir," said he, in a surprisingly gruff voice; andat the same time he pulled the lobe of his right ear, which was hisinvariable manner of salute.
Sir Archibald and Captain Hand were in close consultation for half anhour; during all of which time the burly captain's eyes were thicklyscreened by his eyebrows.
"Oh, I sees, sir--I sees," said he, rising, at the end of it. "Oh, ay!Of course, sir--of course!"
"And you'll take good care?" Sir Archibald began, almost tenderly.
"Oh, ay!" heartily. "I ain't no nurse, as I tells you fair; but youneedn't worry about _him_, sir."
"His mother will be anxious. She'll hold you responsible, captain."
Captain Hand violently pulled the lobe of his right ear, and turned togo. At the door he halted. "Tim Tuttle o' Raggles Island has turned upagain, sir," he said, "an' wants t' be shipped."
"Tuttle?" muttered Sir Archibald. "He's the man who led the mutiny onthe _Never Say Die_. Well, as you will, captain."
"Oh, I'll ship him!" said the captain, grimly; and with a last pull athis ear he disappeared.
On the heels of the captain's departure came Archie. He was SirArchibald's son; there was no doubt about that: a fine, hardylad--robust, as every young Newfoundlander should be; straight, agile,alert, with head carried high; merry, quick-minded, ready-tongued,fearless in wind and high sea. His hair was tawny, his eyes blue andwide and clear, his face broad and good humoured. All this appeared ashe pulled off his cap, threw back the flaps of his fur-lined overcoat,picked a stray thread from his knickerbockers, and, at last, eagerlyapproached his father.
"You little dandy!" laughed his father.
Archie laughed, too--and flushed. He knew that his father liked to pokefun at him because the cut of his coat, the knot in his cravat, thepolish on his boots, were matters of such deep concern to the boy.
"Oh, come now, father!" he protested. "Tell me whether I'm to go ornot."
For reply, Sir Archibald gravely led his son to the window. It was hispurpose to impress the boy with the wealth and power (and, therefore,with the responsibilities) of the firm of Armstrong and Son.
"Come," said he; "let us watch them fitting out the fleet."
The wealth of the firm was vast, the power great. Directly orindirectly, Sir Archibald's business interests touched every portin Newfoundland, every cove of the Labrador, the markets of Spainand Portugal, of the West Indies and South American Republics. Hisfishing-schooners went south to the Banks and north to the gray, coldseas off Cape Chidley; the whalers gave chase in the waters of theGulf and of the Straits; the traders ran from port to port of allthat rugged coast; the barques carried cod and salmon and oil to allthe markets of the world. And when the ice came drifting down in thespring, the sealers scattered themselves over the waters of the NorthAtlantic.
Archie looked into the dusk without, where lay the ships and wharvesand warehouses that told the story.
"They are mine," said Sir Archibald, gravely, looking deep into hisson's wide-opened eyes. "Some day----"
Archie was alarmed. What did it all mean? Why was his father so grave?Why had he boasted of his wealth?
"They will be yours," Sir Archibald concluded. After a pause, hecontinued: "The firm has had an honourable career through threegenerations of our family. My father gave it to me with a spotlessreputation. More than that, with the business he gave me the perfectfaith of every man, woman and child of the outports. The firm hasdealt with its fishermen and sealers as man with man; it has neverwronged, or oppressed, or despised them. You are now fifteen yearsold. In September, you are going to an English public school, andthence to an English university. You will meet with new ideals. Thewarehouses and ships, the fish and fat, will not mean so much to you.You will forget. It may be, even--for you are something of a dandy, youknow--that you will be ashamed to acknowledge that your father is adealer in fish and seal-oil; that----"
Archie drew breath to speak.
"But I want you _to remember_," Sir Archibald went on, lifting hishand. "I want you to know a man when you meet one, whatever the clotheshe wears. The men upon whom the fortunes of this firm are founded aretrue men. They are strong, and brave, and true. Their work is toilsomeand perilous, and their lives are not unused to deprivation; but theyare cheerful, and independent, and fearless, through it all--stouthearts, every one of them! They deserve respectful and generoustreatment at the hands of their employers. For that reason I wantyou to know them more intimately--to know them as shipmates know oneanother--that you may be in sympathy with them. I am confident that youwill respect them, because I know that you love all manly qualities.And so, for your good, and for their good, and for the good of thefirm, I have decided that you may----"
"That I may go?" Archie cried, eagerly.
"With Captain Hand, of the _Dictator_, which puts out from Long TomHarbour at midnight of March tenth."