And we are glad that he has that wee nip o’ rum t’ comfort him....
’Twas blowing high to-day. Tumm, of the Quick as Wink, beat into harbor for shelter. ’Twas good to know that the genial fellow had come into Twist Tickle. I boarded him. ’Twas very dark and blustering and dismally cold at that time. The schooner was bound 344 down to the French shore and the ports of the Labrador. I had watched the clouds gather and join and forewarn us of wind. ’Twas an evil time for craft to be abroad, and I was glad that Tumm was in harbor. “Ecod!” says he, “I been up t’ see the fool. They’ve seven,” says he. “Ecod! think o’ that! I ’low Walrus Liz o’ Whoopin’ Harbor got all she wanted. Seven!” cries he. “Seven kids! Enough t’ stock a harbor! An’ they’s talk o’ one o’ them,” says he, “bein’ trained for a parson.” I think the man was proud of his instrumentality. “I’ve jus’ come from the place,” says he, “an’ he’ve seven, all spick an’ span,” says he, “all shined an’ polished like a cabin door-knob!” I had often thought of it, and now dwelt upon it when I left him. I remembered the beginnings of our lives, and I knew that out of the hopelessness some beauty had been wrought, in the way of the God of us all: which is the moral of my tale.
“Think o’ that!” cries Tumm, of the Quick as Wink.
I did think of it.
“Think o’ that!” he repeated.
I had left Tumm below. I was alone. The night was still black and windy; but of a sudden, as I looked up, the clouds parted, and from the deck of the Quick as Wink I saw, blind of vision as I was, that high over the open sea, hung in the depth and mystery of space, there was a star....
THE END