Billy Topsail, M.D.: A Tale of Adventure With Doctor Luke of the Labrador

by Norman Duncan

  CHAPTER XXVII

  _In Which Doctor Luke's Flesh Creeps, Billy Topsail Acts Like a Bob-Cat, and the Little Fiddler of Amen Island Tells a Secret_

  Confronting the slush of Deep Water Cove, with the finger of the LittleFiddler of Amen Island awaiting his ministration beyond, Doctor Luke hadmisled the faithful Billy Topsail into the assumption of hisacquiescence. It was not in his mind to return to Candlestick Cove thatnight. It was in his mind to gain the shore and proceed upon hisprofessional call. And there was reason in this. For when the group ofArctic ice--still rhythmically swinging in and out with the great seasfrom the open--drove down upon the broken base of Deep Water Cliff, itcompressed the ice between.

  At the moment of greatest compression the slush was reasonably solidground. When the Arctic ice subsided with the wave, the slush expandedin the wider space it was then permitted to occupy. A man could cross--alight, agile man, daring the depth of the slush, might be able tocross--when the slush was compressed. No man could run all the wayacross. It must be in two advances. Midway he would be caught by thesubsidence of the wave. From this he must preserve himself.

  And from this--from dropping through the field of slush and having itclose over his head--he might preserve himself by means of his gaff.

  "Wel-ll," Doctor Luke had admitted, apparently resigned, "no doubtyou're right, Billy. I----"

  Now the Arctic ice was poised.

  "Ay, sir. An' you're more reasonable than ever I knowed you t'----"

  A sea was rolling in.

  "Wel-ll," the Doctor drawled, "as I grow older----"

  Then came the moment of advantage. Doctor Luke ran out on the slushbefore Billy Topsail could reach out a hand to restrain him. It wasindiscreet. Doctor Luke had been too eager to escape--he had started toosoon; the sea was not down--the slush was not squeezed tight. A footsank to the ankle. Doctor Luke jerked it out The other foot went down tothe calf of the leg. Doctor Luke jerked it--tugged it. It was fast. Theslush, in increasing compression, had caught it. He must wait for thewave to subside.

  His flesh crept with the horror of the thing. He was trapped--caughtfast! A moment later the sea was in retreat from the cliff and the slushbegan rapidly to thin. Doctor Luke employed the stratagem that isfamiliar to the coast for dealing with such ice as the slush in which hewas entrapped. He waited--alert. There would come a moment when theconsistency of the ice would be so thin that he would drop through.

  Precisely before that moment--when his feet were first free--he droppedflat on his gaff. Having in this way distributed his weight--avoided itsconcentration on a small area--he was borne up. And he withdrew his feetand waited for the sea to fall in again and compress the ice.

  When the next wave fell in Billy Topsail started across the ice like abob-cat.

  Doctor Luke lay inert through two waves. When the third fell he jumpedup and ran towards the base of Deep Water Cliff. Again the sea caughthim unaware. His flesh was creeping again. Horror of the stuffunderfoot--the treacherous insecurity of it--drove him. The shore wasclose. He was too eager for the shore--he ran too far; and his foot wentdown again--foot and leg to the thigh. As instinctively he triedviolently to extract the leg by stepping up on the other foot--that legwent down to the knee.

  A fall to the arm-pits impended--a drop clean through and overhead. Thedrop would inevitably be the result of a flash of hesitation. DoctorLuke cried out. And as he cried he plunged forward--a swift, consciouseffort to fall prone on his gaff. There was a blank. Nothing seemed tohappen. He was amazed to discover that the gaff upheld him. It occurredto him, then, that his feet were trapped--that he could not withdraw hislegs from the sucking slush.

  Nor could he. They were caught. And he perceived that they were sinkingdeeper--that he was slowly slipping through the slush.

  He was conscious of the night--the dark and snow and wind; and hefancied that he heard a voice of warning.

  "Cotch hold----"

  It was a voice.

  "Cotch hold o' the gaff!"

  Doctor Luke seized the end of Billy Topsail's gaff and drew himself outof the grip of the slush. When the sea came in again he jumped up andjoined Billy Topsail on the broken base of Deep Water Cliff. He wasbreathing hard. He did not look back. Billy Topsail said that they hadbetter make haste--that somebody would "cotch a death o' cold" if theydid not make haste. And they made haste.

  * * * * *

  An hour or more later Doctor Luke, with Billy Topsail in his wake,thrust into Tom Lute's agitated kitchen and interrupted the amputationof the fiddle finger of the Little Fiddler of Amen Island with a "Well,well, well! What in the name of----" and stood staring--all dusted withsnow and shivering and fairly gone purple with cold.

  They had Terry Lute cornered, then--his back against the wall, his facehorrified, his mouth wide open in a bellow of rage; and Sandy Lands andBlack Walt Anderson were almost upon him--and Tom Lute was grimly readywith the axe and Terry Lute's mother was standing beside the round birchblock with the pot of tar in her hands and her apron over her head.

  Doctor Luke stood staring at all this--his mouth as wide open, becauseof a temporary paralysis, due to his amazement, as Terry Lute's mouthwas fallen in anger and terror. And it was not long after that--theDoctor being warm and dry, then, and the kitchen quiet and expectant,and Tom Lute and Terry Lute's mother exhibiting relief and the keenestsort of interest--that the Doctor took Terry Lute's fiddle finger in hishand.

  Then he began to prepare the finger for the healing thrust of a lance.

  "I'm going to cure it, Terry," said he.

  "That's good, sir. I'm wonderful glad t' save that finger."

  "You cherish that finger, Terry?"

  "I does that, sir! I've need of it, sir."

  The Doctor was not attending. His attention was on the lance and itsobject. "Mm-m," he ran on, absently, to make distracting conversation."You've need of it, eh?"

  "'Tis one o' my fiddle fingers, sir."

  "Mm-m? Ah! The Little Fiddler of Amen Island! Well, Terry, lad, you'llbe able to play your fiddle again in a fortnight."

  Terry grinned.

  "No, sir," said he. "I won't be playin' my fiddle by that time."

  The Doctor looked up in astonishment.

  "Yes, you will," he flashed, sharply.

  "No, sir."

  "But I tell you----"

  "I isn't got no fiddle."

  "What!"

  "All I got now," said the Little Fiddler of Amen Island, "is ajew's-harp. _But jus' you wait till I grows up!_"

  * * * * *

  Billy Topsail had broken into smothered laughter; and Doctor Luke,laughing, too, had already determined that the Little Fiddler of AmenIsland should not have to wait until he grew up for his first violin(which came to pass in due course)--this hearty mirth was in progresswhen there was a loud knock on the door, a trample of feet in the entry,a draught of cold air blowing through the open door, and Billy Topsailhad the surprise of his not uneventful career. He stared, helpless withamazement, incredulity, delight; and for a moment he could do nothingmore worthy of his manners than keep on staring, as though he hadclapped eyes on a ghost.

  Archie Armstrong had come in.

  "Archie!" Doctor Luke exclaimed.

  They shook hands. But Archie Armstrong's eyes were not on Doctor Luke.Doctor Luke might be met anywhere at any time. It was not surprising tofind him on Amen Island. Archie was staring at Billy Topsail.

  "Ye little lobster!" said he, at last, grinning.

  "Whoop!" Billy yelled. "'Tis you!"

  They flew at each other. It was like a wrestling bout. Each in thebear-like embrace of the other, they staggered over the floor andeventually fell down exhausted. And then they got up and shook hands inwhat Archie called "the regular" way.