The Labrador was all too short,
and she never reached the northernmost coast.

There were calls enough from the very beginning to keep Doctor
Grenfell busy with the sick folk of the schooners. All that day the
people came, and it was late that evening when the sick on the
schooners had been cared for and the last of the visitors had
departed.

Thus, on that first day in this new land, in the Harbor of Domino Run,
Doctor Grenfell's life work among the deep sea fishermen of The
Labrador began in earnest.

But even yet Doctor Grenfell's day's work was not to end. He was to
witness a scene that would sicken his heart and excite his deepest
pity. An experience awaited him that was to guide him to new and
greater plans and to bigger things than he had yet dreamed of.

For a long while a rickety old rowboat had been lying off from the
_Albert_. A bronzed and bearded man sat alone in the boat, eyeing the
strange vessel as though afraid to approach nearer. He was thin and
gaunt. The evening was chilly, but he was poorly clad, and his
clothing was as ragged and as tattered as his old boat.

Finally, as though fearing to intrude, and not sure of his reception,
he hailed the _Albert_.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] A small fish about the size of a smelt.

V

THE RAGGED MAN IN THE RICKETY BOAT

Grenfell, who had been standing at the rail for some time watching the
decrepid old boat and its strange occupant, answered the hail
cheerily.

"Be there a doctor aboard, sir?" asked the man.

"Yes," answered Grenfell. "I'm a doctor."

"Us were hearin' now they's a doctor on your vessel," said the man
with satisfaction. "Be you a _real_ doctor, sir?"

"Yes," assured the Doctor. "I hope I am."

"They's a man ashore that's wonderful bad off, but us hasn't no
money," suggested the man, adding expectantly, "You couldn't come to
doctor he now could you, sir?"

"Certainly I will," assured the Doctor. "What's the matter with the
man? Do you know?"

"He have a distemper in his chest, sir, and a wonderful bad cough,"
explained the man.

"All right," said the Doctor. "I'll go at once. How far is it?"

"Right handy, sir," said the man with evident relief.

"Pull alongside and I'll be with you in a jiffy," and the Doctor
hurried below for his medicine case.

The man was alongside waiting for him when he returned a few moments
later, and he stepped into the rickety old boat. As the liveyere rowed
away Grenfell may have thought of