CHAPTER IX
_In Which Jimmie Grimm and Billy Topsail, Being Added Up and Called a Man, Are Shipped For St. John's, With Bill o' Burnt Bay, Where They Fall In With Archie Armstrong, Sir Archibald's Son, and Bill o' Burnt Bay Declines to Insure the "First Venture"_
Of course, Donald North, who had been ferryman to his father, had nofoolishly romantic idea of his experience on that pan of ice; nor hadJimmie Grimm, nor had Billy Topsail. Donald North would not havecalled it an adventure, nor himself a hero; he would have said,without any affectation of modesty, "Oh, that was jus' a little mess!"The thing had come in the course of the day's work: that was all.Something had depended upon him, and, greatly to his elation, he had"made good." It was no more to him than a hard tackle to a boy of theAmerican towns. Any sound American boy--any boy of healthy courage andclean heart--would doubtless have taken Job North off the driftingfloe; and Donald North, for his part, would no doubt have made thetackle and saved the goal--though frightened to a greenish pallor--hadhe ever been face to face with the necessity. Had he ever survived afootball game, he would have thought himself a hero, and perhaps haveboasted more than was pleasant; but to have taken a larger chance withhis life on a pan of ice was so small and usual a thing as presentlyto be forgotten.
Newfoundland boys are used to that.
* * * * *
It was still spring at Ruddy Cove--two weeks or more after Bagg cameback to his real home--when Donald North's friends, Billy Topsail andJimmie Grimm, fell into considerable peril in a gale of wind off theChunks. Even they--used to such adventures as they were--called it anarrow escape.
"No more o' that for _me_," said Billy Topsail, afterwards.
"Nor me," said Jimmie Grimm.
"You'll both o' you take all that comes your way," Bill o' Burnt Bayput in, tartly.
It was aboard the _First Venture_, which Bill o' Burnt Bay had asmaster-builder built at Ruddy Cove for himself. She was to be his--she_was_ his--and he loved her from stem to stern. And she was hisbecause Sir Archibald Armstrong, the great St. John's merchant andship-owner, had advanced the money to build her in recognition ofSkipper Bill's courageous rescue of Archie Armstrong, Sir Archibald'sonly son, in a great blizzard, on the sealing voyage of the yearbefore.[2] At any rate, the _First Venture_ was Bill's; and she wasnow afloat and finished, rigged to the last strand of rope. To saythat Skipper Bill was proud of her does not begin to express the wayin which he loved her.
"Now, look you, Billy Topsail, and you, too, Jimmie Grimm!" said he,gravely, one day, beckoning the boys near.
The _First Venture_ was lying at anchor in the harbour, ready for hermaiden voyage to St. John's.
"I'm in need of a man aboard this here craft," Bill o' Burnt Bay wenton; "an' as there's none t' be had in this harbour I'm thinkin' ofaddin' you two boys up an' callin' the answer t' the sum a man."
"Wisht you would, Skipper Bill," said Jimmie.
"Two halves makes a whole," Bill mused, scratching his head in doubt."Leastwise, so I was teached."
"They teach it in school," said Jimmie.
Billy Topsail grinned delightedly.
"Well," Bill declared, at last, "I'll take you, no matter what comesof it, for there's nothing else I can do."
It wasn't quite complimentary; but the boys didn't mind.
* * * * *
When the _First Venture_ made St. John's it was still early enough inthe spring of the year for small craft to be at sea. When she wasready to depart on the return voyage to Ruddy Cove, the days were daysof changeable weather, of wind and snow, of fog and rain, ofunseasonable intervals of quiet sunshine. The predictions of thewiseacres were not to be trusted; and, at any rate, every forecast wasmade with a wag of the head that implied a large mental reservation.At sea it was better to proceed with caution. To be prepared foremergencies--to expect the worst and to be ready for it--was the partof plain common sense. And Skipper Bill o' Burnt Bay was well aware ofthis.
The _First Venture_ lay in dock at St. John's. She was loaded forRuddy Cove and the ports beyond. Skipper Bill had launched himself asa coastwise skipper--master of the stout _First Venture_, carryingfreight to the northern settlements at a fair rate for all comers. Thehold was full to the deck; and the deck itself was cumbered with casksand cases, all lashed fast in anticipation of a rough voyage. It was amiscellaneous cargo: flour, beef, powder and shot, molasses, kerosene,clothing--such necessities, in short, as the various merchants to whomthe cargo was consigned could dispose of to the people of the coast,and such simple comforts as the people could afford.
She was a trim and stout little fore-and-aft schooner of fifty tonsburthen. The viewers had awarded the government bounty without aquibble. Old John Hulton, the chief of them--a terror to the slipshodmaster-builders--had frankly said that she was an honest little craftfrom bowsprit to taffrail. The newspapers had complimented Bill o'Burnt Bay, her builder, in black and white which could not bedisputed. They had even called Skipper Bill "one of the honestmaster-builders of the outports." Nor had they forgotten to add thehope that "in the hands of Skipper William, builder and master, thenew craft will have many and prosperous voyages." By this praise, ofcourse, Skipper Bill was made to glow from head to foot with happygratification.
All the _First Venture_ wanted was a fair wind out.
"She can leg it, sir," Skipper Bill said to Sir Archibald, running hiseyes over the tall, trim spars of the new craft; "an' once she gets t'sea she's got ballast enough t' stand up to a sousing breeze. With anysort o' civil weather she ought t' make Ruddy Cove in five days."
"I'd not drive her too hard," said Sir Archibald, who had come down tolook at the new schooner for a purpose.
Bill o' Burnt Bay looked up in amazement. This from the hard-sailingSir Archibald!
"Not too hard," Sir Archibald repeated.
Skipper Bill laughed.
"I'm sure," said Sir Archibald, "that Mrs. William had rather have youcome safe than unexpected. Be modest, Skipper Bill, and reef the_Venture_ when she howls for mercy."
"I'll bargain t' reef her, sir," Bill replied, "when I thinks youwould yourself."
"Oh, come, skipper!" Sir Archibald laughed.
Bill o' Burnt Bay roared like the lusty sea-dog he was.
"I've good reason for wishing you to go cautiously," said SirArchibald, gravely.
Bill looked up with interest.
"You've settled at Ruddy Cove, skipper?"
"Ay, sir," Bill answered. "I moved the wife t' Ruddy Cove when Iundertook t' build the _Venture_."
"I'm thinking of sending Archie down to spend the summer," said SirArchibald.
Bill o' Burnt Bay beamed largely and delightedly.
"Do you think," Sir Archibald went on, with a little grin, "that Mrs.Skipper William would care to take him in?"
"_Care?_" Skipper Bill exclaimed. "Why, sir, 'twould be as good astakin' her a stick o' peppermint."
"He'll come aboard this afternoon," said Sir Archibald.
"He'll be second mate o' the _Venture_," Bill declared.
"Skipper," said Sir Archibald, presently, "you'll be wanting thiscraft insured, I suppose?"
"Well, no, sir," Bill drawled.
Sir Archibald frowned. "No trouble for me to take the papers out foryou," said he.
"You see, sir," Bill explained, "I was allowin' t' save that thereinsurance money."
"Penny wise and pound foolish," said Sir Archibald.
"Oh," drawled Skipper Bill, "I'll manage t' get her t' Ruddy Cove wellenough. Anyhow," he added, "'twon't be wind nor sea that will wreck myschooner."
"As you will," said Sir Archibald, shortly; "the craft's yours."
* * * * *
Archie Armstrong came aboard that afternoon--followed by two portersand two trunks. He was Sir Archibald's son; there was no doubt aboutthat: a fine, hardy lad--robust, straight, agile, alert, with his headcar
ried high; merry, quick-minded, ready-tongued, fearless in wind andhigh sea. His hair was tawny, his eyes blue and wide and clear, hisface broad and good-humoured. He was something of a small dandy, too,as the two porters and the two trunks might have explained. The cut ofhis coat, the knot in his cravat, the polish on his boots, the set ofhis knickerbockers, were always matters of deep concern to him. Butthis did not interfere with his friendship with Billy Topsail, theoutport boy. That friendship had been formed in times of peril andhardship, when a boy was a boy, and clothes had had nothing to say inthe matter.
Archie bounded up the gangplank, crossed the deck in three leaps andstuck his head into the forecastle.
"Ahoy, Billy Topsail!" he roared.
"Ahoy, yourself!" Billy shouted. "Come below, Archie, an' take a lookat Jimmie Grimm."
Jimmie Grimm was at once taken into the company of friends.
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[2] The story of this voyage--the tale of the time when Archie Armstrong and Billy Topsail and Bill o' Burnt Bay were lost in the snow on the ice-floe--with certain other happenings in which Billy Topsail was involved--is related in "The Adventures of Billy Topsail."
_Courtesy of "The Youth's Companion"_SHE WAS BEATING LABORIOUSLY INTO A VIOLENT HEAD WIND.]