Billy Topsail & Company: A Story for Boys

  CHAPTER VI

  _In Which, Much to the Delight of Jimmie Grimm and Billy Topsail, Donald North, Having Perilous Business On a Pan of Ice After Night, is Cured of Fear, and Once More Puffs Out His Chest and Struts Like a Rooster_

  Like many another snug little harbour on the northeast coast ofNewfoundland, Ruddy Cove is confronted by the sea and flanked by avast wilderness; so all the folk take their living from the sea, astheir forebears have done for generations. In the gales and high seasof the summer following, and in the blinding snow-storms and bittercold of the winter, Donald North grew in fine readiness to face perilat the call of duty. All that he had gained was put to the test in thenext spring, when the floating ice, which drifts out of the north inthe spring break-up, was driven by the wind against the coast.

  After that adventure, Jimmie Grimm said:

  "You're all right, Don!"

  And Billy Topsail said:

  "You're all right, Don!"

  Donald North, himself, stuck his hands in his pockets, threw out hischest, spat like a skipper and strutted like a rooster.

  "I 'low I _is_!" said he.

  And he was. And nobody decried his little way of boasting, whichlasted only for a day; and everybody was glad that at last he was likeother boys.

  * * * * *

  Job North, with Alexander Bludd and Bill Stevens, went out on the iceto hunt seal. The hunt led them ten miles offshore. In the afternoonof that day the wind gave some sign of changing to the west, and atdusk it was blowing half a gale offshore. When the wind blows offshoreit sweeps all this wandering ice out to sea, and disperses the wholepack.

  "Go see if your father's comin', b'y," said Donald's mother. "I'mgettin' terrible nervous about the ice."

  Donald took his gaff--a long pole of the light, tough dogwood, twoinches thick and shod with iron--and set out. It was growing dark. Thewind, rising still, was blowing in strong, cold gusts. It began tosnow while he was yet on the ice of the harbour, half a mile awayfrom the pans and dumpers which the wind of the day before had crowdedagainst the coast.

  When he came to the "standing edge"--the stationary rim of ice whichis frozen to the coast--the wind was thickly charged with snow. Whatwith dusk and snow, he found it hard to keep to the right way. But hewas not afraid for himself; his only fear was that the wind wouldsweep the ice-pack out to sea before his father reached the standingedge. In that event, as he knew, Job North would be doomed.

  Donald went out on the standing edge. Beyond lay a widening gap ofwater. The pack had already begun to move out.

  There was no sign of Job North's party. The lad ran up and down,hallooing as he ran; but for a time there was no answer to his call.Then it seemed to him that he heard a despairing hail, sounding far tothe right, whence he had come. Night had almost fallen, and the snowadded to its depth; but as he ran back Donald could still see acrossthe gap of water to the great pan of ice, which, of all the pack, wasnearest to the standing edge. He perceived that the gap hadconsiderably widened since he had first observed it.

  "Is that you, father?" he called.

  "Ay, Donald," came an answering hail from directly opposite. "Is therea small pan of ice on your side?"

  Donald searched up and down the standing edge for a detached cakelarge enough for his purpose. Near at hand he came upon a small, thinpan, not more than six feet square.

  "Haste, b'y!" cried his father.

  "They's one here," he called back, "but 'tis too small. Is there nonethere?"

  "No, b'y. Fetch that over."

  Here was desperate need. If the lad were to meet it, he must actinstantly and fearlessly. He stepped out on the pan and pushed offwith his gaff. Using his gaff as a paddle--as these gaffs areconstantly used in ferrying by the Newfoundland fishermen--and helpedby the wind, he soon ferried himself to where Job North stood waitingwith his companions.

  "'Tis too small," said Stevens. "'Twill not hold two."

  North looked dubiously at the pan. Alexander Bludd shook his head indespair.

  "Get back while you can, b'y," said North. "Quick! We're driftin'fast! The pan's too small."

  "I thinks 'tis big enough for one man an' me," said Donald.

  "Get aboard an' try it, Alexander," said Job. "Quick, man!"

  Alexander Bludd stepped on. The pan tipped fearfully, and the waterran over it; but when the weight of the man and the boy was properlyadjusted, it seemed capable of bearing them both across. They pushedoff, and seemed to go well enough; but when Alexander moved to put hisgaff in the water the pan tipped again. Donald came near losing hisfooting. He moved nearer the edge and the pan came to a level. Theypaddled with all their strength, for the wind was blowing againstthem, and there was need of haste if three passages were to be made.Meantime the gap had grown so wide that the wind had turned theripples into waves, which washed over the pan as high as Donald'sankles.

  But they came safely across. Bludd stepped swiftly ashore, and Donaldpushed off. With the wind in his favour he was soon once more at theother side.

  "Now, Bill," said North; "your turn next."

  "I can't do it, Job," said Stevens. "Get aboard yourself. The ladcan't come back again.

  "We're driftin' out too fast. He's your lad, an' you've the rightto----"

  "Ay, I can come back," said Donald. "Come on, Bill! Be quick!"

  Stevens was a lighter man than Alexander Bludd; but the passage waswider, and still widening, for the pack had gathered speed. WhenStevens was safely landed he looked back. A vast white shadow was allthat he could see. Job North's figure had been merged with the night.

  "Donald, b'y," he said, "you got t' go back for your father, but I'mfair feared you'll never----"

  "Give me a push, Bill," said Donald.

  Stevens caught the end of the gaff and pushed the lad out.

  "Good-bye, Donald," he called.

  When the pan touched the other side Job North stepped aboard without aword. He was a heavy man. With his great body on the ice-cake, thedifficulty of return was enormously increased, as Donald had foreseen.The pan was overweighted. Time and again it nearly shook itself freeof its load and rose to the surface. North was near the centre, plyinghis gaff with difficulty, but Donald was on the extreme edge.Moreover, the distance was twice as great as it had been at first, andthe waves were running high, and it was dark.

  They made way slowly. The pan often wavered beneath them; but Donaldwas intent upon the thing he was doing, and he was not afraid. Thencame the time--they were but ten yards off the standing edge--whenNorth struck his gaff too deep into the water. He lost his balance,struggled to regain it, failed--and fell off. Before Donald was awaketo the danger, the edge of the pan sank under him, and he, too,toppled off.

  Donald had learned to swim now. When he came to the surface, hisfather was breast-high in the water, looking for him.

  "Are you all right, Donald?" said his father.

  "Yes, sir."

  "Can you reach the ice alone?"

  "Yes, sir," said Donald, quietly.

  Alexander Bludd and Bill Stevens helped them up on the standing edge,and they were home by the kitchen fire in half an hour.

  "'Twas bravely done, b'y," said Job.

  So Donald North learned that perils feared are much more terriblethan perils faced. He had a courage of the finest kind, in thefollowing days of adventure, now close upon him, had young Donald.