Billy Topsail, M.D.: A Tale of Adventure With Doctor Luke of the Labrador
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CHAPTER XIV
_In Which Billy Topsail and Doctor Luke Take to the Ice in the Night and Doctor Luke Tells Billy Topsail Something Interesting About Skinflint Sam and Bad-Weather Tom West of Ragged Run_
Doctor Luke and Billy Topsail took to the harbour ice and drove headdown into the gale. There were ten miles to go. It was to be a night'swork. They settled themselves doggedly to the miles. It was a mile and ahalf to the Head, where the Tickle led a narrow way from the shelter ofOur Harbour to Anxious Bight and the open sea; and from the lee of theHead--a straightaway across Anxious Bight--it was nine miles toBlow-me-Down Dick of Ragged Run Cove. Doctor Luke had rested but threehours. It was but a taste. Legs and feet were bitterly unwilling toforego a sufficient rest. They complained of the interruption. They werestiff and sore and sullen. It was hard to warm them to their labour.Impatient to revive the accustomed comfort and glow of strength, DoctorLuke began to run.
Presently they slowed up. Doctor Luke told Billy Topsail, as they pushedon, something about the Ragged Run family they were to visit. "There isa small trader at Ragged Run," said he. "A strange mixture of conscienceand greed he is. Skinflint Sam--they call him. Conscience? Oh, yes, hehas a conscience! And his conscience--as he calls it--has made him richas riches go in these parts. No, of course not! You wouldn't expect anorth-coast trader to have a conscience; and you wouldn't expect anorth-coast trader with a conscience to be rich!"
Billy Topsail agreed with this.
"Ah, well," Doctor Luke went on, "conscience is much like the wind. Itblows every which way (as they say); and if a man does but trim hissails to suit, he can bowl along in any direction without much wear andtear of the spirit. Skinflint Sam bowled along, paddle-punt fisherman toRagged Run merchant. Skinflint went where he was bound for,wing-and-wing to the breeze behind, and got there with his peace of mindshowing never a sign of the weather. It is said that the old man has aneasy conscience and ten thousand dollars!
"This Bad-Weather West vowed long ago that he would even scores withSkinflint Sam before he could pass to his last harbour with anysatisfaction.
"'With me, Tom?' said Sam. 'That's a saucy notion for a hook-an'-lineman.'
"'Ten more years o' life,' said Tom, 'an' I'll square scores.'
"'Afore you evens scores with me, Tom,' said Sam, 'you'll have t' havewhat I wants.'
"'I may have it.'
"'An' also,' said Sam, 'what I can't get.'
"'There's times,' said Tom, 'when a man stands in sore need o' what henever thought he'd want.'
"'When you haves what I needs,' said Sam, 'I'll pay what you asks.'
"'If 'tis for sale,' said Tom.
"'Money talks,' said Sam.
"'Ah, well,' said Tom, 'maybe it don't speak my language.'
"Of course, Skinflint Sam's conscience is just as busy as any otherman's conscience. I think it troubles Sam. It doesn't trouble him to behonest, perhaps; it troubles him only to be rich. And possibly it giveshim no rest. When trade is dull--no fish coming into Sam's storehousesand no goods going out of Sam's shop--Sam's conscience makes himgrumble and groan. They say a man never was so tortured by consciencebefore.
"And to ease his conscience Sam goes over his ledgers by night; and hewill jot down a gallon of molasses here, and a pound of tea there, untilhe has made a good day's trade of a bad one. 'Tis simple enough, too:for Sam gives out no accounts, but just strikes his balances to pleasehis greed, at the end of the season, and tells his dealers how much theyowe him or how little he owes them."
Doctor Luke paused.
"Ay," said Billy Topsail. "I've seed that way o' doin' business."
"We all have, Billy," said Doctor Luke. And resumed: "In dull timesSam's conscience irks him into overhauling his ledgers. 'Tis otherwisein seasons of plenty. But Sam's conscience apparently keeps prickingaway just the same--aggravating Sam into getting richer and richer.There is no rest for Skinflint Sam. Skinflint Sam must have all themoney he can take by hook and crook or suffer the tortures of an evilconscience. And as any other man, Sam must ease that conscience or losesleep o' nights.
"And so in seasons of plenty up goes the price of tea at Skinflint Sam'sshop. And up goes the price of pork. And up goes the price of flour. Allsky high, ecod! Never was such harsh times (says Sam); why, my dear man,up St. John's way (says he) you couldn't touch tea nor pork nor flourwith a ten-foot sealing-gaff. And no telling what the world is comingto, with prices soaring like a gull in a gale and all the St. John'smerchants chary of credit!
"''Tis awful times for us poor traders,' says Sam. 'No tellin' who'llweather this here panic. I'd not be surprised if we got a war out ofit.'
"Well, now, as you know, Billy, on the north-coast in these days itisn't much like the big world beyond. Folk don't cruise about. They aretoo busy. And they are not used to it anyhow. Ragged Run folk are notborn at Ragged Run, raised at Rickity Tickle, married at Seldom-Come-By,aged at Skeleton Harbour and buried at Run-By-Guess. They are born andburied at Ragged Run. So what the fathers think at Ragged Run, the sonsthink; and what the sons know, has been known by the old men for a goodmany years.
"Nobody is used to changes. They are shy of changes. New ways arefearsome. And so the price of flour is a mystery. _It is, anyhow._ Whyit should go up and down at Ragged Run is beyond any man of Ragged Runto fathom. When Skinflint Sam says that the price of flour is up--well,then, it is up; and that's all there is about it. Nobody knows better.And Skinflint Sam has the flour. You know all about that sort of thing,don't you, Billy?"
"Ay, sir," Billy replied. "But I been helpin' the clerk of an honesttrader."
"There are honest traders. Of course! Not Sam, though. And, as I wassaying, Sam has the pork, as well as the flour. And he has the sweetnessand the tea. And he has the shoes and the clothes and the patentmedicines. And he has the twine and the salt. And he has almost all thecash there is at Ragged Run. And he has the schooner that brings in thesupplies and carries away the fish to the St. John's markets.
"He is the only trader at Ragged Run. His storehouses and shop arejammed with the things that the folk of Ragged Run can't do without andare able to get nowhere else. So all in all, Skinflint Sam can maketrouble for the folk that make trouble for him. And the folk grumble.But it is all they have the courage to do. And Skinflint Sam lets themgrumble away. The best cure for grumbling (says he) is to give it freecourse. If a man can speak out in meeting (says he) he will work nomischief in secret.
"'Sea-lawyers, eh?' says Sam. 'Huh! What you fellers want, anyhow? Huh?You got everything now that any man could expect. Isn't you housed?Isn't you fed? Isn't you clothed? Isn't you got a parson and aschoolmaster? I believes you wants a doctor settled in the harbour! Adoctor! An' 'tisn't two years since I got you your schoolmaster! Queertimes we're havin' in the outports these days with every harbour on thecoast wantin' a doctor within hail.
"'You're well enough done by at Ragged Run. None better nowhere. An'why? Does you ever think o' that? Why? Because I got my trade here. An'think o' _me_! If ar a one o' you had my brain-labour t' do, you'd soonfind out what harsh labour was like. What with bad debts, an' roguery,an' failed seasons, an' creditors t' St. John's, I'm hard put to it t'keep my seven senses. An' small thanks I gets--me that keeps thisharbour alive in famine an' plenty. 'Tis the business I haves that keepsyou. You make trouble for my business, an' you'll come t' starvation!Now, you mark me!'
"I do not want you to think too harshly of Skinflint Sam. No doubt hehas his good points. Most of us can discover a good point or two inourselves and almost everybody else. There are times when Skinflint Samwill yield an inch. Oh, yes! I've known Skinflint Sam to drop the priceof stick-candy when he had put the price of flour too high for anybody'scomfort."