Troop One of the Labrador by Dillon Wallace

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TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR

_The Talbot Baines Series_

With fine attractive new wrappers

THE FIFTH FORM AT ST. DOMINIC'S. By Talbot Baines Reed
THE ADVENTURES OF A THREE-GUINEA WATCH. By Talbot Baines Reed
THE COCK-HOUSE AT FELLSGARTH. By Talbot Baines Reed
A DOG WITH A BAD NAME. By Talbot Baines Reed
THE MASTER OF THE SHELL. By Talbot Baines Reed
THE SCHOOL GHOST, AND BOYCOTTED. By Talbot Baines Reed
THE SILVER SHOE. By Major Charles Gilson
THE TREASURE OF TREGUDDA. By Argyll Saxby
THE TWO CAPTAINS OF TUXFORD. By Frank Elias
THE RIDERS FROM THE SEA. By G. Godfray Sellick
A SON OF THE DOGGER. By Walter Wood
A FIFTH FORM MYSTERY. By Harold Avery
A SCOUT OF THE '45. By E. Charles Vivian
FROM SLUM TO QUARTER-DECK. By Gordon Stables
COMRADES UNDER CANVAS. By F.P. Gibbon

(_For Complete List see Catalogue_)

OF All BOOKSELLERS

[Illustration: IT WAS DR. JOE BEYOND A DOUBT!]

TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR

BY

DILLON WALLACE

AUTHOR OF "GRIT-A-PLENTY," "THE RAGGED INLET GUARDS," ETC., ETC.

THE "BOY'S OWN PAPER" OFFICE
4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, E.C.4

MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN
_Printed by_
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED
LONDON AND WOKING

CONTENTS

Page

I. DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 9

II. PLANS 37

III. "'TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN" 51

IV. SHOT FROM BEHIND 63

V. LEM HORN'S SILVER FOX 71

VI. THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 94

VII. THE MYSTERY OF THE BOAT 109

VIII. TRAILING THE HALF-BREED 120

IX. ELI SURPRISES INDIAN JAKE 126

X. THE END OF ELI'S HUNT 135

XI. THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 147

XII. THE HIDDEN CACHE 165

XIII. SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 179

XIV. THE TWO DESPERADOS 192

XV. MISSING! 198

XVI. BOUND AND HELPLESS 206

XVII. LOST IN A BLIZZARD 220

XVIII. A PLACE TO "BIDE" 232

XIX. SEARCHING THE WHITE WILDERNESS 240

XX. "WOLVES!" YELLED ANDY 251

XXI. THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT 259

XXII. THE IMMUTABLE LAW OF GOD 268

ILLUSTRATIONS

IT WAS DR. JOE BEYOND A DOUBT! _Frontispiece_

Facing Page
STRETCHED UPON THE FLOOR LAY LEM HORN 70

ON THE RIGHT SEETHED THE DEVIL'S TEA
KETTLE 104

"YOU STAND WHERE YOU IS AND DROP YOUR
GUN!" 132

IT WAS A FIGHT TO THE DEATH 260

Troop One of the Labrador

CHAPTER I

DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER

"Doctor Joe! Doctor Joe's comin'! He just turned the p'int!"

Jamie Angus burst into the cabin at The Jug breathlessly shouting this
joyful news, and then rushed out again with David and Andy at his
heels.

"Oh, Doctor Joe! It can't be Doctor Joe, now! Can it, Pop? It must be
some one else Jamie sees! It can't be Doctor Joe, _what_ever!"
exclaimed Margaret in a great flutter of excitement.

"Jamie's keen at seein'! He'd know anybody as far as he can see un!"
assured Thomas, no less excited at the news than was Margaret. "But
'tis strange that he's comin' back so soon!"

Of course Margaret, who was laying the table for supper, must needs
follow the boys; and Thomas, who was leaning over the wash basin
removing the grime of the day's toil, snatched the towel from its peg
behind the door and, drying his hands as he ran, sacrificing dignity
to haste, followed Margaret, who had joined the three boys at the end
of the jetty which served as a boat landing.

A skiff had just entered the narrow channel which connected The Jug,
as the bight where the Anguses lived was called, with the wider waters
of Eskimo Bay. There could be no doubt, even at that distance, that
the tall man standing aft and manipulating the long sculling oar, was
Doctor Joe. As the little group gathered on the jetty he took off his
hat and waved it high above his head. It was Doctor Joe beyond a
doubt! The boys waved their caps and shouted at the top of their lusty
young lungs, Margaret, undoing her apron, waved it and added her voice
to the chorus, and Thomas, quite carried away by the excitement, waved
the towel and in a great bellowing voice shouted a louder welcome than
any of them.

There was no happier or better contented family on all The Labrador
than the family of Thomas Angus, though they had their trials and ups
and downs and worries like any other family in or out of Labrador.

"Everybody must expect a bit o' trouble and worry now and again,"
Thomas would say when things did not go as they should. "If we never
had un, and livin' were always fine and clear, we'd forget to be
thankful for our blessin's. We has t' have a share o' trouble in our
lives, and here and there a hard knock whatever, t' know how fine the
good things are and rightly enjoy un when they come. And in the end
troubles never turn out as bad as we're expectin', by half. First and
last there's a wonderful sight more good times than bad uns for all of
us."

Thomas had reason to be proud and thankful. Jamie could see as well as
ever he could, and it was all because of Doctor Joe and his wonderful
operation on Jamie's eyes when it seemed certain the lad was to become
blind. Through the skill of Doctor Joe, Jamie's eyes were every whit
as keen as David's and Andy's, and there were no keener eyes in the
Bay than theirs.

David was now nearly seventeen and Andy was fifteen--brawny,
broad-shouldered lads who had already faced more hardships and had
more adventures to their credit than fall to many a man in a whole
lifetime. In that brave land adventures are to be found at every turn.
They bob up unexpectedly, and the man or boy who meets them
successfully must know the ways of the wilderness and must be
self-reliant and resourceful, must have grit a-plenty and a stout
heart.

Margaret kept house for the little family, a responsibility that had
been thrust upon her, and which she cheerfully accepted, when her
mother was laid to rest and she was a wee lass of twelve. Now she was
eighteen and as tidy and cheerful a little housekeeper as could be
found on the coast, and pretty too, in manner as well as in feature.
"'Tis the manner that counts," said Thomas, and he declared that there
was no prettier lass to be found on the whole Labrador.

Doctor Joe, whose real name was Joseph Carver, was their nearest
neighbour at Break Cove, ten miles down Eskimo Bay. He had come to the
coast nine years before, a mysterious stranger, nervous and broken in
health. Thomas gave him shelter at The Jug, helped him build his
cabin at Break Cove and taught him the ways of the land and how to set
his traps. Doctor Joe became a trapper like his neighbours, and in
time, with wholesome living in the out-of-doors, regained his health
and came to love his adopted country and its rugged life.

No one knew then that Joseph Carver was indeed a doctor, but he was so
handy with bandages and medicines that the folk of the Bay recognized
his skill and soon fell, by common consent, to calling him "Doctor
Joe."

It was a year before our story begins that Jamie had first complained
of a mist in his eyes. With passing weeks the mist thickened, and one
day Doctor Joe examined the eyes and announced that only a delicate
and serious operation could save the lad's sight. This demanded that
Jamie be taken to a hospital in New York where a specialist might
operate. It was an expensive undertaking. Neither Thomas nor Doctor
Joe had the necessary money, but Thomas hoped to realize enough from
his winter's trapping in the interior and Doctor Joe was to add the
proceeds of his own winter's work to the fund. Then Thomas broke his
leg. Doctor Joe must needs remain at The Jug to care for him, and
there seemed no hope for Jamie but a life of darkness.

But David was confident that he could take his father's place on the
trails, and with some persuasion, for the need was desperate, Thomas
consented that David and Andy should spend the winter in the great
interior wilderness with no other companion than Indian Jake, a
half-breed.

That was an experience needing the stoutest heart. Through long dreary
months they faced the sub-arctic cold and fearful blizzards that swept
the wilderness, following silent trails over wide white wastes or
through the depths of dark forests, and falling upon many a wild
adventure that tried their mettle a hundred times. It was a man's job,
but they both made good, and that is something to be proud of--to make
good at the job you tackle.

Jamie had pluck too, but pluck alone could not save his eyes. The mist
thickened more rapidly than Doctor Joe had expected it would, and
there came a time when Jamie could scarcely see at all. Then it was
that Doctor Joe announced one day before the return of David and Andy
from the trails, that the operation could be no longer delayed if
Jamie's eyesight was to be saved, and that to attempt to delay it
until the ice cleared from the coast and the mail boat came to bear
him away to New York would be fatal.

After making this announcement, Doctor Joe revealed the fact that he
had once been a great eye surgeon. With Thomas's consent he offered to
perform the operation on Jamie's eyes. Thomas had unbounded faith in
his friend. Doctor Joe operated and Jamie's sight was saved.

In curing Jamie, Doctor Joe discovered that he himself was cured, and
that he was again in possession of all his former skill. It was quite
natural, therefore, that he should wish to resume the practice of
surgery. He was an indifferent trapper, and the living that he made
following the trails amounted to a bare existence. He decided,
therefore, that it was his duty to himself to return to the work for
which, during long years of study, he had been trained.

Six weeks before Doctor Joe had sailed away on the mail boat from Fort
Pelican, bound for New York, that far distant, mysterious, wonderful
city of which he had told so many marvellous tales. Thomas had grave
doubts that they would ever see him again, though he had said that he
would some day return to visit his friends at The Jug and to see his
own little deserted cabin at Break Cove, where he had spent so many
lonely but profitable years, for it was here that he had rebuilt his
broken health. He had good reason to love the place, and he was quite
sure he had no better or truer friends in all the world than Thomas
Angus and his family.

"Thomas," said he at parting, "if I had the means to support myself I
would stay here on The Labrador and be doctor to the people that need
me, for there are folk enough that need a doctor's help up and down
the coast. But I'm a poor man, and if I stopped here I'd have to make
my living as a trapper, and you know how poor a trapper I've been all
these years. Back in New York I can do much good, and there I can live
as I was reared to live. But I'll not forget you, Thomas, and some day
I'll come to see you."

"I'm not doubtin' 'tis best you go and the Lord's will," said Thomas.
"But we'll be missin' you sore, Doctor Joe. I scarce knows how we'll
get on without you. 'Twill seem strange--almost like you were dead,
I'm fearin'."

"Thomas," and Doctor Joe's voice trembled with emotion, "there's no
one in the wide world nearer my affections than you and the boys and
Margaret. It hurts me to go, but it's best I should. I might scratch
along here for a few years, but I was not born to the work and the
time would come when I'd be a burden on some one, and it would make me
unhappy. I know that I'll wish often enough to be back here with you
at The Jug."

"You'd never be a burden, _what_ever!" Thomas declared, quite shocked
at the suggestion. "I feels beholden to you, Doctor Joe. There's nary
a thing I could ever do to make up to you for savin' Jamie's eyes. You
made un as good as new. He'd ha' been stone blind now if 'tweren't for
you--and the mercy o' God."

"The mercy of God," Doctor Joe repeated reverently.

And here at the end of six weeks was Doctor Joe back again. What
wonder that Thomas Angus and his family were quite beside themselves
with joy, shouting themselves hoarse down there on the jetty.

And presently, when the skiff drew alongside, and Doctor Joe stepped
out upon the jetty, he was quite overwhelmed with the welcome he
received.

"Well, Thomas," he said as they walked up to the cabin with Jamie
clinging to one of his hands and Andy to the other, "here I am back
again, as you see. I couldn't stay away from you dear, good people. I
may as well confess, I was homesick for you before I reached New York,
and I'm back to stay. I found my fortune had been made while I was
here, and now I can do as I please."

"Oh, that's fine now!" exclaimed Margaret. "'Tis fine if you're to
stay!"

"We were missin' you sore," said Thomas. "'Tis like the Lord's
blessin' to have you back at The Jug!"

"And there's good old Roaring Brook!" Doctor Joe stopped for a moment
with half closed eyes, to listen to the rush of water over the rocks,
where Roaring Brook tumbled down into The Jug. "It's the sweetest
music I've heard since I left here! And the smell of the spruce trees!
And such a scene! Thomas, my friend, it's a rugged land where we live,
but it's God's own land, just as He made it, beautiful, and undefiled
by man!"

Doctor Joe turned about and stretched his right arm toward the south.
Before them lay the shimmering placid waters of The Jug, reaching away
to join the wider, greater waters of Eskimo Bay. In the distance,
beyond the Bay, the snow-capped peaks of the Mealy Mountains stood in
silent majesty, now reflecting the last brilliant rays of the setting
sun. As they tarried, watching them, the light faded and shafts of
orange and red rose out of the west. The waters became a throbbing
expanse of colour, and the woods on the Point, at the entrance to The
Jug, sank into purple.

"'Tis a bit of the light of heaven that the Lord lets out of evenin's
for us to see," said Jamie, and perhaps Jamie was right.

"You must be rare hungry, now," observed Thomas, as they entered the
cabin. "Margaret were just puttin' supper on when Jamie sights you
turnin' the P'int. 'Twill be ready in a jiffy."

"What have you got for us, Margaret?" asked Doctor Joe. "I believe I
am hungry for the good things you cook."

"Fried trout, sir," said Margaret.

"Fried trout!" Doctor Joe rolled his eyes in mock ecstasy. "It
couldn't have been better!"

"You always says that, whatever," laughed Margaret. "If 'twere just
bread and tea I'm thinkin' you'd like un fine."

"But trout!" exclaimed Doctor Joe. "Why, fresh trout are worth five
dollars a pound where I've been--and couldn't be had for that!"

"Well, now!" said Margaret in astonishment. "And we has un so
plentiful!"

David lighted a lamp and Thomas renewed the fire, which crackled
cheerily in the big box stove, while everybody talked excitedly and
Margaret set on the table a big dish of smoking fried trout, a heaping
plate of bread, and poured the tea.

"Set in! Set in, Doctor Joe!" Thomas invited.

And when they drew up to the table, with Thomas at one end and
Margaret at the other, and Doctor Joe and Jamie at Thomas's right, and
David and Andy at his left, Thomas devoutly gave thanks for the return
of their friend and asked a blessing upon the bounty provided.

"Help yourself, now, and don't be afraid of un," Thomas admonished,
passing the dish of trout to Doctor Joe.

"A real banquet," Doctor Joe declared, as he helped himself
liberally. "I've eaten in some fine places since I've been away, but
I've had no such feast as this! And there's no one in the whole world
can fry trout like Margaret!"

"You always says that, sir," and Margaret's face glowed with pleasure
at the compliment.

"'Tis true!" declared Doctor Joe. "'Tis true!"

"I'm wonderin' now about the trout," remarked David.

"What are you wondering?" asked Doctor Joe.

"How folks get along with no trout to eat off where you've been, sir."

"There are men who go far out from the city and fish in the streams
for trout, just for the sport of catching them," explained Doctor Joe.
"They will tramp all day along brooks, and feel lucky if they catch a
dozen little fellows so small we'd not look at them here. But it is
only the few who do it for sport that ever get any at all, and there
are hundreds of people there who never even saw a trout, they catch so
very few of them."

"'Twould seem like a waste o' time," remarked Thomas, "if they
catches so few. I'd never walk all day for a dozen trout unless I was
wonderful hard up for grub. If I were wantin' fish so bad I'd set a
net for whitefish or salmon, or if there were cod grounds about I'd
gig for cod, though salmon or cod or whitefish would never be takin'
the place o' good fresh trout with me."

"It's not altogether for the trout the sportsmen tramp the streams all
day," laughed Doctor Joe. "They prize the trout they get as a great
delicacy, to be sure, but it's the joy of getting out into the open
that pays them for the effort. I've done it myself. They get plenty of
sea fish, they buy them at the shops."

"I never were thinkin' o' that," said Thomas. "I'm thinkin', now,
that's where all the salmon we salts down and sells to the Post goes."

The boys were vastly interested, and asked many questions, which
Doctor Joe answered with infinite patience, concerning the various
kinds of fish people bought in the shops, and how the fish were caught
and shipped to the shops to be sold fresh.

"And you'll stay now? You'll not be leavin' The Labrador again?"
asked Thomas, after supper.

"Aye," said Doctor Joe, "I've elected to be a Labradorman." Then,
turning to the boys, he suggested:

"Lads, there are a lot of things in that skiff of mine. I wish you'd
bring them in. Will you do it while your father and I visit?"

The boys were not only glad but eager to do it, for there were
doubtless many surprises for themselves in the skiff, and with one
accord the three hurried out.

"Years ago, Thomas," said Doctor Joe, when the boys were gone, "in my
days in New York, I invested a little money in a mining property.
Shortly after I made the investment it was said the ore had run out,
and I believed my money was lost. When I returned to New York this
summer I found that more ore had been found later, and the mine had
earned me a lot of money. I invested what was due to me in such a way
that it will bring me an income each year sufficient to provide me
with all I shall ever need."

"Oh, but that's fine now!" said Thomas.

"Thomas," Doctor Joe continued "I should not have been able to enjoy
this had it not been for your kindness to me years ago, when I came
first to The Labrador a man of broken health. If you had not offered
me your friendship then I should have died an invalid in poverty.

"I've thought of this a thousand times. I believe God sent me here. I
only knew then that I came because I sought a secluded spot on the
earth where I could find relief from turmoil. Now, I believe He guided
me to The Labrador and to The Jug to you. He had something for me to
do in the world, and this was His way of saving me.

"When Jamie needed me I was here, and because you had befriended me I
was prepared with God's help and with my skill and training to restore
Jamie's eyesight. There are others on the coast who need a doctor's
skill just as Jamie needed it, and they have no one to help them. I
have decided that I shall be doctor to the people. If I can help the
folk, as I am sure I can, I'll be happy in the knowledge that I'm
making some little return for the great deal that you have done for
me."

"I were never doin' much for you, Doctor Joe--just what one man would
always do for another," Thomas protested. "But 'twill be a blessin'
to the folk of The Labrador to have you doctor un! We all need doctors
often enough when there's none to be had, and folks die for the need
of un."

"Yes, folks die here for the need of a doctor," Doctor Joe agreed,
"and I hope I may be the means of saving lives and giving relief."

The three boys broke in upon them with their arms full of packages.

"There's a lot more!" exclaimed Jamie depositing his load upon the
floor.

"Perhaps we had better help them, Thomas," suggested Doctor Joe,
rising.

"Oh, no, sir," Jamie protested. "Let us bring un up!"

And so said David and Andy also. They quickly had the contents of the
skiff transferred to the cabin, and the exciting process of opening
the packages began.

The first to be opened was for Margaret, and it contained many pretty
and useful things, including two neat, substantial warm dresses, finer
than any Margaret had ever before possessed or seen. Her eyes sparkled
as she held them up for inspection, and she exclaimed over and over
again:

"Oh, how wonderful pretty they is!"

For the boys there were innumerable gifts dear to boys' hearts,
including a compass and a watch for each. For Thomas there was a fine
pair of field-glasses, a compass and a very fine watch indeed, and he
was as pleased and happy as the others.

"The glasses'll be a wonderful help t' me in huntin'," he declared.
"When I climbs hills for a look around I can see deer that I'd sure to
be missin' with no glasses. I'm not doubtin' the compass'll come in
handy now and again in thick weather."

Then there was a big box of goodies. There were such candies as they
had never dreamed of--oranges and big red-cheeked apples. Even Thomas
had never before in his life tasted an orange or an apple, and they
all declared that they had never imagined that anything could be so
good. It was quite astonishing to learn that in the great world from
which Doctor Joe had come there were people who ate oranges and apples
every day of their lives if they wished them.

"'Tis strange the way the Lord fixes things," observed Thomas. "Here
now we never saw the like of oranges and apples before in all our
lives, but we has plenty of trout, and there are folks out there that
has no trout but they all has oranges and apples. We has so many trout
we forgets how fine they is, and what a blessin' 'tis we has un. And
I'm thinkin' 'tis the same with them folks about the oranges and
apples."

"Yes," agreed Doctor Joe, "it's only when things are taken away from
us that we really appreciate them. Jamie, no doubt, appreciates his
eyes much more than he would have done had the mist never clouded
them."

"Aye, 'tis so," said Thomas.

"I dare say," Doctor Joe suggested, "that you've never eaten potatoes
or onions?"

"No," said Thomas, "I've heard of un, but I never eats un. I never had
any to eat."

"Well," announced Doctor Joe, "I've had several sacks of potatoes and
a sack of onions and two barrels of apples shipped to Fort Pelican
with a quantity of other goods. We'll have to go with the big boat for
them."

The boys and Margaret were quite beside themselves with the wonder of
it all, and Thomas was little less excited.

"We'll go for un to-morrow or the next day whatever," said Thomas.

There was one box still unopened, and the three boys were eyeing it
expectantly, when Doctor Joe exclaimed:

"Here we've left till the last the most important thing of all. Get an
axe, David, and we'll knock the cover off this box."

David had the axe in a jiffy, and when Doctor Joe removed the cover
the box was found to be filled with books.

"O-h-h!" breathed the boys in unison.

"'Tis fine! Oh, I've been wishin' and wishin' for books t' look at and
read!" exclaimed Margaret.

Doctor Joe had taught them all to read and write in the years he had
been with them, an accomplishment that not every boy and girl on The
Labrador possessed, for there were no schools there.

"There are some books to study and some to read. There are story books
and books about birds and flowers and animals. And here is something
that I know will please the boys," said Doctor Joe, drawing from the
box six paper-bound volumes. "There's an interesting story attached to
these books that I must tell you before you look at them, and then
we'll go through them together.

"One day I was walking in a park in New York.

"Suddenly I heard a crashing noise, and I hurried in the direction in
which I heard the noise, and turning a corner saw a motor-car lying on
its side. Some boys wearing khaki-coloured uniforms, very much like
soldiers' uniforms, had already reached the wreck, and before I came
up with them had rescued two injured men. I never saw more efficient
or prompt service than those boys were giving the poor men, who were
both badly hurt. They had the men stretched out upon the grass. One
had a severed artery in his arm, where the arm had been cut upon the
broken glass wind shield. The man's blood was pouring in great spurts
through the wound, but the boys were already adjusting the tourniquet,
for which they used a handkerchief, and in a minute they had the
bleeding stopped, as well as I could have done it. I've no doubt they
saved the man's life, for without prompt help he'd have bled to death
in a short time.

"The other man was cut and bruised, and the boys were making him as
comfortable as possible until an ambulance came to take him to a
hospital. There was really nothing I could do that the boys had not
already done promptly and remarkably well.

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