Janet of the Dunes | Page 7

ticklish matter. Don't lay it up agin Susan Jane, girl, the conniverin' in
money ways an' the Holy Book is all that Susan Jane has, since she was
struck."
"It's all right, Cap'n David, if it were only my money! And it soon will
be, Davy; it soon will be. I've just waked up to the fact that I ought to
be helping along, instead of hanging on Cap'n Billy. Seventeen, and
only just waking up! I've come over to the gold mine, Davy, and I'm
going to do some digging for myself."
David sighed and laughed together; it was a rare combination, and one
for which he was noted. Presently he came out with the chairs. The two
put their backs to the Light. David took out his pipe, and Janet, bracing
her feet against the railing and clasping her hands behind her head,
looked up at the stars. Next to Captain Billy, this man beside her was
her truest friend.
"Goin' t' help wait at some table?" asked David between long,
heartsome puffs.
"Nope."
"Maybe, washin'?"
"Nope."

"Anythin' in mind, special?"
"Yep."
"What?"
"I'm going up to the Hills and learn to paint pictures!"
"By gum!"
"Yes. I can at least see things as they are. All I shall have to do is to
learn to handle the brushes and mix the paint."
"By gum!"
"And, Cap'n David, I know what you all think. You think me a useless
kind of girl, willing enough to hang on Cap'n Billy and take all he can
give. And I know that you think him soft and, maybe, silly, because he
hasn't been sterner with me. But you're all wrong! Cap'n Daddy and I
haven't been wasting our time. We've got awfully close to each other
while we've lived alone and had only ourselves. I've been thinking a
long time of how I could help him best. I didn't want to come over
and--and--what shall I say?--well, plunder the city folks. That's what
every one is doing. Sometimes I'm sorry for them, the city folks. It
seems like we ought to treat them more as visitors, than as ships that
have been tossed up."
"Lord!" spluttered David through his smoke; "they know how t' look
after themselves."
"Yes, and when I think of that, I'm afraid of them. They'll get
something out of us for all the money they spend. And, Davy, I don't
want them to get it out of me!"
"Get it out of you!" David struck his pipe on the railing and the sparks
fell into the night like a shower of stars. Janet nodded her head.
"Yes, get it out of me! All the same if I'm going to help make my living,
this seems the only way, so I'm going in with the rest. But I want to

choose my own path. Davy, did you ever see my mother? Of course
you did! She was pretty, but I'm a lot better looking. Cap'n Billy's been
telling me about her."
"Tellin' ye about her, all?" David asked faintly.
"Oh! I reckon not all; he was choking while he talked, and I hated to
ask him particulars. How old was I when she died, Cap'n Davy?"
"Ye warn't no age at all, child; as yer little skiff hove int' sight, hers set
sail. Ye didn't any more than hail each other in passin'."
"Oh! tell me more, Davy."
"'T was an awful night ye chose, Janet. Wind off sea, an' howlin' like
mad. Sleet an' rain minglin', an' porridge ice slammin' ont' shore! Billy
had the midnight patrol, an' fore he started out, he 'ranged that we
should keep one eye out toward his cottage,--I happened t' be on that
night,--an' if we saw a light in the lean-to winder, I was t' rouse Mrs. Jo
G. 'Long 'bout two, I saw the light, an' I made tracks for Mrs. Jo G.'s.
The wind almost knocked us down as we set out for Billy's. I waited in
the lean-to, an' Mrs. Jo G. she went int' the bedroom."
"Go on, Cap'n Davy. I wish I had known always about Mrs. Jo G. She
didn't mind the storm? Somehow I never thought of her like that."
"'T was only human, Janet, her an' yer ma was the only females at the
Station. 'Long 'bout four, Billy came a-staggerin' in. He had seen the
light shinin' in the winder. He was coated over with ice, ice hangin' to
his beard an' lashes, but Lord, how his eyes was glitterin'! I couldn't say
a blessed thin'. Gum! there wasn't a thing t' say. I just gripped him like
a looney, an' he gripped me, an' thar we stood a-starin' an' a-staring'!
'Why don't ye go in?' I asked."
"And why didn't he?" Janet