“Leave you here!” I exclaimed, indignantly.  “You are crazy, girl!  I’ll stay with you, of course.  Here, some of you fellows, run down to the cove and tell my skipper to come here at once.”

So I stood there, just outside the door, watching a man scramble down the road, who finally returned with Stefansson.  Helen stood perfectly still, except for the toe of one of her boots, which was tapping a tattoo on the boards.

“Get the Snowbird under weigh at once,” I shouted.  “Run up to St. John’s and buy all the antitoxine you can get hold of, any amount, barrels of it, if it comes that way.  And bring a doctor back with you.  Promise him all the money he wants.  And get a nurse, or a couple of them, or a dozen.  Regular trained nurses, you understand.  Yes, it’s antitoxine I want.  Write it down.  It’s the stuff they use for diphtheria.  Then get back here at once.  Carry all the sail she’ll bear and all the steam she’ll take.  Look lively and don’t waste a minute.  Here, you Sammy!  Go aboard too and help pilot her back if it’s dark or foggy.  Good luck to you and jump her for all she’s worth!”

I suppose I spoke like a crazy man, but the two started down hill.  Stefansson, who has long legs, only beat the old fellow by a skip and a jump.  Then I saw the men casting off the hawsers, and the thin film of smoke became black, and the good old Snowbird shook herself.  I was tickled to see how a crew of chaps used to count seconds in racing were handling her.  She was moving, the smoke pouring thicker and thicker from her funnel, and the screw began to churn hard.  Then her sharp bowsprit turned around a little, till it was aimed at that cleft between the rocks.  She gathered speed and struck the billowing seas outside and turned a bit.  Then the big sails began to rise, as did the jibs, and I saw a man run out to the end of the bowsprit as a thick white rope ran up to the fore topmast head and broke out into a fleecy white cloud of silk.  Then, under the great balloon jib topsail my little ship flew off like a scared bird and disappeared behind the edges of the cliffs.

“Byes, did yer ever see the like o’ that?” shouted an old fisherman, enthusiastically.  “My, but Sammy’s a lucky dog ter be gettin’ sich a sail.  I’d give a quintal fer the chance.”

I must say that I was pleased with this expert appreciation, and began to feel better.

“But why didn’t we send the doctor on her?” I suddenly asked.  “He would have been attended to sooner.  We could have taken him with us.”

“He wouldn’t have gone,” said Helen, whose cheeks had now become red with excitement.  “He would never leave until some one came to take his place.  He thinks he can still help that child of Frenchy’s.”

So after a time we returned to the house we had thought we were seeing the last of, and it seemed very different, having been dismantled of many things which were now lying on the dock.