Left on the Labrador | Page 8

please Charley quite as well, whether or not he was to take part in it
himself, Mr. Norton received with satisfaction the suggestion that
Charley be sent upon the Labrador cruise. This, he was satisfied, was a
solution of his difficulty. A cruise on the mail boat would be an
experience to be remembered, and he had no doubt would prove much
more interesting to Charley than the hunting expedition.
This settled, he engaged passage on the mail boat for Charley and Mr.
Wise, to the chagrin and disappointment of the latter gentleman, who
was forced, however, to accept the situation with good grace. Mr. Wise
had no love of the sea.
He was to be Charley's companion on the voyage. He was to learn the
interesting features of the coast along which the mail boat cruised, and
to explain them and point them out to Charley. In general, he was to do
his utmost to make the voyage one which Charley would remember
with pleasure.
But as Mr. Wise expressed himself to the mail boat doctor, he was
"employed as secretary and not as nurse maid." He had no intention of
shivering around in the cold. He was going to make this voyage, which
had been thrust upon him, as pleasant for himself as circumstances
would permit. He pleaded sickness, and, as Charley had complained to
Barney MacFarland, lay in his bunk reading novels, or sat in the
smoking room playing checkers with the mail boat doctor, while
Charley was left to his own resources.
It was eleven o'clock in the morning when the mail boat departed from
Pinch-In Tickle. Mr. Wise was engrossed in a particularly interesting
novel, and was so deeply buried in it that he failed to hear or respond to
the noonday call to dinner. When, an hour later, hunger called his
attention to the fact that he had not eaten, he rang for the steward, and a

liberal tip brought a satisfactory luncheon to his stateroom. Thus it
came to pass that he did not observe Charley's absence from the dinner
table.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon when, the novel at last finished, Mr.
Wise left his room to challenge the doctor to a game in the smoking
room. It was not until the six o'clock evening meal that his attention
was called to the fact that Charley, who was usually prompt at meals,
was not present.
He had no doubt Charley had gone to his room and fallen asleep. If his
ward chose to sleep at meal time it was no fault of his. He ate leisurely,
and when he was through lighted a cigar, and, prompted by
compunction perhaps, looked into Charley's room. It was vacant. A
sudden anxiety seized him, and nervously and excitedly he searched the
deck and the smoking room. Charley was nowhere to be found, and in a
state of panic he reported the disappearance to Captain Barcus.
The Captain immediately instituted an investigation, and a minute
search of the ship was made, but nowhere was Charley to be found, and
with every moment Mr. Hugh Wise grew more excited.
Members of the crew were called before the Captain and Mr. Wise and
quizzed. The sailor to whom Charley had spoken and of whom he had
requested a passage ashore, recalled the incident. The mate stated that
Charley had also come to him and asked permission to go ashore in the
ship's boat at Pinch-In Tickle, but as there was no room in the boat,
permission had been denied. The men who manned the boat were then
questioned, and all were agreed that he had not been in the boat and had
not gone ashore, and they were equally positive that he had not gone
ashore at any other harbour where the vessel had stopped during the
day.
Barney MacFarland recalled his conversation with Charley, when he
was going off watch. He stated that the lad had seemed most unhappy
and lonesome, and complained that Mr. Wise had done little to make
the voyage a pleasant one for him, or to help him find entertainment.
He was not on deck when Barney went on duty at eight bells.

So fertile is the imagination that two of the sailors were quite positive
they had seen Charley leaning at the rail during the afternoon, and after
the ship's departure from Pinch-In Tickle.
The steward was quite sure Charley had not eaten the midday meal. As
there was some sea running, he had supposed that Charley had a touch
of seasickness and had preferred not to eat. He had not seen Charley
since breakfast, and had not been in his stateroom since early morning.
"What can we do?" asked Mr. Wise, now in complete panic. "Will you
turn back?" he plead