O-o-o-o-h! it’s once I froze the end of my nose,
On the coast of Labrador, sir,
An’ I lost my smell, an’ my taste as well,
An’ my pipe, which made me roar, sir;
But the traders come, an’ think wot they done!
They poked an’ pinched an’ skewered me;
They cut an’ snipped, an’ they carved an’ ripped,
An’ they clothed an’ fed an’ cured me.
Chorus.—Hooroo! it’s true
An’ a sailor’s life for me.
“Not bad, eh?” said Bob.
“Might be worse,” answered Redding, with the air of one whose mind is preoccupied.
“I’ve often wondered,” continued Bob Smart, in a moralising tone, and looking intently at the wreaths of smoke that curled from his lips as if for inspiration, “I’ve often wondered how it is that sailors—especially British sailors—appear to possess such an enormous fund of superabundant rollicking humour, insomuch that they will jest and sing sometimes in the midst of troubles and dangers that would take the spirit out of ordinary men such as you and me.”
“Bob Smart,” said Redding earnestly.
“Yes,” said Bob.
“D’you know it strikes me that I ought to go down to the wreck to see how the McLeods are getting on.”
“O ah! well, to change the subject, d’you know Mr Redding, that same idea struck me some days ago, for Jonas Bellew has left them to look after his own affairs, and the Indians were to go north on the 13th, so the McLeods must have been living for some time on salt provisions, unless they have used their guns with better success than has been reported of them. If you remember, I have mentioned it to you more than once, but you seemed to avoid the subject.”
“Well, perhaps I did, and perhaps I had my reasons for it. However, I am going down now, immediately after dressing the poor fellows’ sores. Will you therefore be good enough to get the small boat ready, with some fresh meat, and tell Le Rue and Michel to be prepared to start in an hour or so.”
The day after the above conversation McLeod senior walked down to the wreck accompanied by Flora. Kenneth had been left in charge of the invalid, whose system had received such a shock that his recovery was extremely slow, and it had been deemed advisable not only to avoid, but to forbid all reference to the wreck. Indeed Roderick himself seemed to have no desire to speak about it, and although he had roused himself on the arrival of his relations, he had hitherto lain in such a weak semi-lethargic state that it was feared his head must have received severer injury than was at first supposed. On the morning of the day in question an Indian had arrived with a letter from Mr Gambart of Partridge Bay, which had not tended to soothe the luckless father.