Part 26 (1/2)
What he saw in that first glance was so utterly incredible that it could not be true, though if it were it would be the ht in all the world Yet it was only a shi+p! Just one shi+p and a lot ofreasy and smeared in every part with coal soot from her tall smoke stack She lay a h the outer edge of which she had forced a passage The men, evidently her creere on the ice near the foot of Cabot's ridge, were a disreputable looking lot, ragged, dirty, unkempt, and as bloody as so many butchers And that is exactly what they were--butchers engaged in their legiti up fro ice pack, had crawled out on it by thousands to rear their young
This was all that Cabot saw; yet the sight so affected hihed and sobbed for joy Then he stood up, and, with glad tears blinding his eyes, tried to shout to the men beneath him, but could only utter hoarse whispers; for, in his overpowering happiness, he had almost lost the power of speech As he could not call to thean to wave his arms to attract their attention, and then, all at once, he was nearly paralysed by a hail from close at hand of:
”hello there, ye bloo around, Cabot saw, standing only a few rods away, a man who had evidently just clinised him in an instant, as he must have done had he reat city, so distinctively peculiar was his figure
”David! David Gidge!” he gasped, recovering his voice for the effort, and in anotherhis ar out a flood of incoherent words
”Wal, I'll be jiggered!” reed himself from Cabot's impulsive embrace and stepped back for a more comprehensive view ”Your voice sounds familiar, Mister, but I can't say as I ever seen you before I took ye fust off fer a b'ar, and then fer a Huskie When I seen you hite, I 'lowed yeas she was heading fer the pack 'bout the tiered ef I know exectly who ye be”
”Why, Mr Gidge, I'm Cabot Grant, who----”
”Of course To be sartin! Now I know ye!” interrupted the other
”But where's White? What hev ye done with Whiteway Baldwin?”
”He's back there on the ice helpless with a crippled leg, freezing and starving to death; but if you'll come at once I'll show you the way, and we may still be in time to save him”
With instant coe, who, as Cabot afterwards learned, was first mate of the sealer ”Labrador,” turned and shouted in stentorian tones to thebelow:
”Knock off, all hands, and followdistance apart, so's we'll find our way back after dark There's white o to the shi+p and report Move lively! Now, lad, I'e, with, a long line ofout behind them, reached the little hut There was no answer to the cheery shouts hich they approached it, and, as they crawled through its low entrance, they were filled with anxious s What if they were too late after all? No spark of fire lighted the gloom or took from the deadly chill of the interior, and no voice bade the sounded from one side, and told them that White was at least alive
It took but a s worth taking away that it contained Then it was left without a shadow of regret, and the un Four men carried White, who seemed to have sunk into a stupor, while two more supported Cabot, who had becoed to be allowed to sleep where he was
”It's been a close call for both of 'eot to'em back to the shi+p”
Fortunately there were plenty of willing hands to which the burdens ht be shi+fted, for the ”Labrador” carried a creo hundred strong, and, as the little partyth the sealer was reached, and the rescued lads were taken to her cabin, where the shi+p's doctor, having made every possible preparation for their reception, awaited theiven hot drinks, rubbed, fed, and placed betarm blankets, where poor, weary Cabot was at last allowed to fall asleep without further interruption
The aniht by the sealers of Newfoundland areat ice pack is not the fur-bearing seal of Alaska, but a variety of the much less i the Atlantic coast From its skin seal leather is made, but it is chiefly valuable for the oil yielded by the layer of fat lying directly beneath the skin and enveloping the entire body These seals would hardly be worth hunting unless they could be captured easily and in quantities; but, on their native ice in early spring, the young seals are found in prime condition and in vast numbers Each helpless victim is killed by a blow on the head, ”sculped” or stripped of his pelt, and the flayed body is left lying in a pool of its own blood
The crew of a single vessel will thus destroy thousands of seals in a day, and in some prosperous years the total kill of seals has passed the half ed in the business, but by the The idly enforced laws that forbid them to leave port before the 12th of March, to kill a seal before the 14th of the same month, or after the 20th of April, and prohibit any stea this short open season The crews are paid in shares of the catch, andseason co else to be done
As March was not yet ended when our lads were received aboard the ”Labrador,” and as she would not return to port until the last minute of the open season had expired, they had before theies and learn the business of sealing White had suffered so severely, and reached such a precarious condition, that he required every day of the allotted tith was by no means fully restored Cabot, on the other hand, woke after a thirty-six-hour nap, ravenously hungry, and as fit as ever for anything thathi baby seals to death, he took an active part in the other work of the shi+p, thereby fully repaying the cost of the food eaten by himself and White
Of course, with their very first opportunity, both lads eagerly plied David Gidge with questions concerning the welfare of the Baldwin fa absence Thus they learned to their disainst the Baldwin estate that threatened to shat little property had been left, and that White, having been convicted of conte the lobster factory after an adverse decision had been rendered, was now liable to a fine of one thousand dollars, or imprisonment, as soon as he landed
”But what has become of my mother and sister?” asked White
”They are in Harbour Grace,” answered David Gidge, ”stopping with so to St Johns as witnesses, and there wasn'tand e!” exclairatefully squeezed the honest fellow's hand