" 94

Let's Go! " " 110

"Who Said Halt?" " " 198

Off Duty " " 242

Where Four Feet Are Better Than Two " " 290

Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North

I

A BOY AND THE SEA

"I wonder if Jim is ever going to get back! My, isn't it an awful
storm!"

Wilfred Grenfell, then a small boy, stood at the window of his home in
Cheshire, England, looking out across the sea-wall at the raging,
seething waters of the Irish Sea.

The wind howled and the snowflakes beat against the window-panes as if
they were tiny birds that wanted to get in.

"Mother," he pleaded, "can I put on my sweater and my rubber boots and
go down on the beach and see if I can find Jim?"

"Yes," said his mother. "But wrap yourself up warmly, and don't stay
long--and don't take any risks, will you, dear?"

Almost before the words were out of her mouth, Wilf was down the
stairs and out in the roadway, where fishermen watched their little
boats as they tossed at anchor riding out the storm.

Wilf stepped up to a big, grizzled mariner he knew, whom every one
called Andy.

"Andy, have you seen Jim?"

"Jim who?"

"Jim Anderson."

"Was he the chap that went out in the _Daisy Bell_ about four hours
ago?"

"Yes," said Wilf, trying to control himself, "and he wanted me to go
with him, but----"

His words were cut short by a great wave that hurled itself against
the wall. The spray leapt high over the stones and drenched Andy and
the boy.

"It's lucky ye didn't go, boy," said Andy, solemnly. "We're watchin'
for the boat now. My brother was on her, and two cousins o' my wife.
She was a little craft, and a leaky one. We were goin' to patch her up
an' make her fit. But we waited too long. An' now----" He drew his
rough sleeve across his eyes.

The wind howled round their ears and the hail was smiting and stinging
as though the storm had a devilish mind to drive them away.

"Why don't you go out in a boat and get them?" pleaded Wilf.

Andy shook his head. "It ain't that we're afraid," he said. "But there
ain't a boat we have here that could ride those waves. The coast-guard
tried--and now look!" He pointed to a heap of broken, white-painted
timbers lying in the roadway, half-hidden from them by the whooping
blizzard that threw its dizzying veils of snow before their e