Troop One of the Labrador

Joe's comin'! He jus

athlessly shouting this joyful news, and then r

must be some one else Jamie sees! It can't be Doctor Joe, wh

see un!" assured Thomas, no less excited at the news than wa

asin removing the grime of the day's toil, snatched the towel from its peg behind the door and, drying his hands as he ran, sacr

d manipulating the long sculling oar, was Doctor Joe. As the little group gathered on the jetty he took off his hat and waved it high above his head. It was Doctor Joe beyond a doubt! The boys waved their caps and shouted at the top of

than the family of Thomas Angus, though they had their trials and up

'd forget to be thankful for our blessin's. We has t' have a share o' trouble in our lives, and here and there a hard knock whatever, t' know how fine the good things are and rightly e

e and his wonderful operation on Jamie's eyes when it seemed certain the lad was to become blind. Through the skill of Do

redit than fall to many a man in a whole lifetime. In that brave land adventures are to be found at every turn. They bob up unexpectedly, and the man or

est and she was a wee lass of twelve. Now she was eighteen and as tidy and cheerful a little housekeeper as could be found on the coast, and pretty too, in

nger, nervous and broken in health. Thomas gave him shelter at The Jug, helped him build his cabin at Break Cove and taught him the ways of the land and how to set his traps. Doc

handy with bandages and medicines that the folk of the Bay recognized h

lad's sight. This demanded that Jamie be taken to a hospital in New York where a specialist might operate. It was an expensive undertaking. Neither Thomas nor Doctor Joe had the necessary money, but Thomas hoped to realize enough from his winter

rsuasion, for the need was desperate, Thomas consented that David and Andy should spend the w

ilderness, following silent trails over wide white wastes or through the depths of dark forests, and falling upon many a wild adventure that tried

d scarcely see at all. Then it was that Doctor Joe announced one day before the return of David and Andy from the trails, that the operation could be no longer delayed if

t eye surgeon. With Thomas's consent he offered to perform the operation on Jamie's eyes.

efore, that he should wish to resume the practice of surgery. He was an indifferent trapper, and the living that he made following the trails amounted to

s that they would ever see him again, though he had said that he would some day return to visit his friends at The Jug and to see his own little deserted cabin at Break Cove, where he had spent so many lonely but p

that need a doctor's help up and down the coast. But I'm a poor man, and if I stopped here I'd have to make my living as a trapper, and you know how poor a trapper I've b

t we'll be missin' you sore, Doctor Joe. I scarce knows how we'll get on

aret. It hurts me to go, but it's best I should. I might scratch along here for a few years, but I was not born to the work and the time woul

en to you, Doctor Joe. There's nary a thing I could ever do to make up to you for savin' Jamie's eyes.

," Doctor Joe rep

wonder that Thomas Angus and his family were quite beside themsel

nd Doctor Joe stepped out upon the jetty, he wa

am back again, as you see. I couldn't stay away from you dear, good people. I may as well confess, I was homesick for you befo

xclaimed Margaret. "'Tis

Thomas. "'Tis like the Lord's ble

ere Roaring Brook tumbled down into The Jug. "It's the sweetest music I've heard since I left here! And the smell of the spruce trees! And suc

n the distance, beyond the Bay, the snow-capped peaks of the Mealy Mountains stood in silent majesty, now reflecting the last brilliant rays of the setting sun. As they tarried, watching them

e Lord lets out of evenin's for us to see,

red the cabin. "Margaret were just puttin' supper on when Jam

" asked Doctor Joe. "I believe I am

t, sir," sa

ed his eyes in mock ecstasy. "

hed Margaret. "If 'twere just bread an

esh trout are worth five dollars a pound wh

et in astonishment. "And

e big box stove, while everybody talked excitedly and Margaret set on the table

, Doctor Joe!"

Doctor Joe and Jamie at Thomas's right, and David and Andy at his left, Thomas devoutly

raid of un," Thomas admonished, pass

eaten in some fine places since I've been away, but I've had no such feast

and Margaret's face glowed wi

clared Doctor J

w about the trout

wondering?" as

th no trout to eat off

will tramp all day along brooks, and feel lucky if they catch a dozen little fellows so small we'd not look at them here. But it is only the few

s I was wonderful hard up for grub. If I were wantin' fish so bad I'd set a net for whitefish or salmon, or if there were cod

ize the trout they get as a great delicacy, to be sure, but it's the joy of getting out into the open tha

"I'm thinkin', now, that's where all the sal

red with infinite patience, concerning the various kinds of fish people bought in

ot be leavin' The Labrador aga

cted to be a Labradorman." Then,

iff of mine. I wish you'd bring them in. Wi

here were doubtless many surprises for themselves in

ent it was said the ore had run out, and I believed my money was lost. When I returned to New York this summer I found that more ore had been found later, and the mine

's fine now!"

for your kindness to me years ago, when I came first to The Labrador a man of broken healt

ught a secluded spot on the earth where I could find relief from turmoil. Now, I believe He guided me to The

ere are others on the coast who need a doctor's skill just as Jamie needed it, and they have no one to help them. I have decided that I shall be doctor to the pe

homas protested. "But 'twill be a blessin' to the folk of The Labrador to have you doctor un!

r," Doctor Joe agreed, "and I hope I may be

n upon them with their

claimed Jamie depositing

elp them, Thomas," sugge

mie protested. "L

e contents of the skiff transferred to the cabin, an

ing two neat, substantial warm dresses, finer than any Margaret had ever before possessed or se

nderful pre

ss and a watch for each. For Thomas there was a fine pair of field-glasses, a com

s hills for a look around I can see deer that I'd sure to be missin' with no glas

e in his life tasted an orange or an apple, and they all declared that they had never imagined that anything could be so good. It was quite astonishing t

s, but we has plenty of trout, and there are folks out there that has no trout but they all has oranges and apples. We has so many trout we

us that we really appreciate them. Jamie, no doubt, appreciates his e

s so," sa

ggested, "that you've never

ard of un, but I never eats

sack of onions and two barrels of apples shipped to Fort Pelican with

de themselves with the wonder of it a

rrow or the next day w

nd the three boys were eyeing it ex

mportant thing of all. Get an axe, David,

en Doctor Joe removed the cover the

athed the bo

' and wishin' for books t' look

e had been with them, an accomplishment that not every boy and

is something that I know will please the boys," said Doctor Joe, drawing from the box six paper-bound volumes. "There's an in

walking in a pa

o injured men. I never saw more efficient or prompt service than those boys were giving the poor men, who were both badly hurt. They had the men stretched out upon the grass. One had a severed artery in his arm, where the arm had been cut upon the broken glass wind shield. The man's blood was pouring in

s possible until an ambulance came to take him to a hospital. There was really no

summon an ambulance and to notify the police, and in a little while a

e injured men I walked a little way with the boys, and learned that they belonged to a wonderful organization called 'Boy

pies of the Boy Scout's Handbook. They tell about the things the scouts do, and how a boy may become a scout. I knew you chaps would

outs?" asked An

sure!" Docto

re fun, now!"

ke the boys in New York?"

brador. There are Boy Scouts of America, and Boy Scouts of England, and Boy Scouts of nearly every country in the world except The L

do it?" a

the leader," explained Doctor Joe. "These b

ough one of the handbooks, until he found the proper page. "You can tie all the knots already. You do that ever

aw now, but it'll be necessary to learn it, and I'll explain then what each law means. You

marked the necessary

he Boy Scouts of America, and the flag it refers to is the United States flag. I'm an American, but you chaps are living in British ter

. This is called the flag of St. George. Three hundred years ago King James the First added to it the banner of Scotland, whic

w forth two small flags, one the Stars and S

ates flag affectionately. "I love it as you should love your flag. The Union Jack is the emblem of the great British Empire, of which you a

in Thomas, "'

I reached St. John's and saw the American flag flying over the office of the United States Consulate, my eyes filled with tears. I hadn't seen that old flag for years, and I stood in the stre

rew's Cross, explaining them again as he did so. "In the year 1801 another banner was added. This was the Banne

traced it o

ecause in the old days, the English knights, when they went out to fight their battles, wore a jacket over their armour with the S

made in 1776, and on June 14, 1777, it was adopted by the United States Congress as the national emblem, so you see it is even older than the British flag. The flags of all nations in the

t that they were to be a part of the great army of Boy Scouts, and to do the same things that other boys in far-away lands were doing, and

ted and so interested, indeed, that they could scarcely lay the books aside when Thomas announced that it

or, was organized, and in the nature of things the troop wa