"Nay, speak not so bitterly," she reproved him softly. "There is no curse upon any man, dear sir! Come, you shall go with us and join our settlement, and when all is safely bestead you shall go and come as you please, with none to hinder!"
"So?" Radisson gazed down at her unsmiling, and I felt on a sudden that there might indeed be fear in his soul, but in no wise a selfish fear. "And whither is this ship sailing?"
"What—" Ruth stared up at him, her wonder slowly changing to something more. "You think—we are in danger?"
"Grave danger," he nodded confirmingly. "None know it save Wat Herries your master, and I, but we have been driven far from our course to the Colonies. Until I can get sight of the sun I know not whither we have drifted, but we are likelier to be near Greenland than the Americas."
This told us nothing, for we knew not that there was such a place as Greenland. There was no more trouble with the crew, who were all eager enough to do Master Radisson's bidding. But the scurvy was now upon us sore, all having it save Ruth and me and one or two others and Radisson himself. Two days later the storm ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and that noon Radisson and Black Michael busied themselves with poor Wat's instruments, until after an hour Radisson came below and asked to see Alec Gordon.
"Sir," he said quietly, while I held up old Alec's stricken head, "you must know that we are far off our course, and in dire need of green food, even if it be but grass. Now I know these waters well, and if we turn to our right course we will all be dead ere we reach the Colonies. But, an' it please you, I can guide this ship into Hudson's Bay and so to one of the posts established by the Adventurers. There we can remain till Master Herries be recovered and the sickness gone, when it will be no great matter for him to lay a course for the Colonies from there."
For a moment there was silence. We were all taken aback by this news and knew not what to say, until finally Alec sank back his head with a groan, speaking in the Gaelic which I translated.
"Do your best, Master Radisson, and we ask no more. The Lord hath sent you to us, and He knows His business best."
So it came about that our prow was no longer turned to the south, but to the west. Now, too, the winds favored us and drove us onward full steadily, and the same day our course was determined on, one of the men found a sack of half-rotted potatoes in the hold. We hunted over, but found no more. These, however, served to stay the sickness in a slight degree, and seemed to the men to be a good omen.
For many days thereafter we stood forward with the ice all around and with the weather bitter, but without storms to hinder and harass us. In that time Pierre Radisson drew ever closer to me and to Ruth, sitting often with us and talking much of his travels and adventures, one hand on Grim and the other clasping mine or Ruth's. On one of these occasions I asked him about Gib o' Clarclach, called The Pike.