The World of IceBallantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
General
The World of Ice
Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Adventure stories; Arctic regions -- Fiction; Whaling -- Fiction
As for the others--Captain Guy continued his career at sea as commander
of an East Indiaman. He remained stout and true-hearted to the last,
like one of the oak timbers of his own good ship.
Bolton, Saunders, Mivins, Peter Grim, Amos Parr, and the rest of them,
were scattered in a few years, as sailors usually are, to the four
quarters of the globe. O'Riley alone was heard of again. He wrote to
Buzzby "by manes of the ritin' he had larn'd aboord the _Dolfin_,"
informing him that he had forsaken the "say" and become a small farmer
near Cork. He had plenty of murphies and also a pig--the latter "bein'"
he said, "so like the wan that belonged to his owld grandmother, that he
thought it must be the same wan corned alive agin, or its darter."
And Buzzby--poor Buzzby--he also gave up the sea, much against his will,
by command of his wife, and took to miscellaneous work, of which there
was plenty for an active man in a sea-port like Grayton. His rudder,
poor man, was again (and this time permanently) lashed amid-ships, and
whatever breeze Mrs. Buzzby chanced to blow, his business was to sail
_right before it._ The two little Buzzbys were the joy of their father's
heart. They were genuine little true-blues, both of them, and went to
sea the moment their legs were long enough, and came home, voyage after
voyage, with gifts of curiosities and gifts of money to their worthy
parents.
Dumps resided during the remainder of his days with Captain Ellice, and
Poker dwelt with Buzzby. These truly remarkable dogs kept up their
attachment to each other to the end. Indeed, as time passed by, they
drew closer and closer together, for Poker became more sedate, and,
consequently, a more suitable companion for his ancient friend. The dogs
formed a connecting link between the Buzzby and Ellice families--constantly
reminding each of the other's existence by the daily interchange of visits.
Fred and Tom soon came to be known as the best doctors with which that
part of the country had ever been blessed. And the secret of their
success lay in this, that while they ministered to the diseased bodies
of men, they also ministered to their diseased souls. With skilful hands
they sought to arrest the progress of decay; but when all their remedies
failed, they did not merely cease their efforts and retire--they turned
to the pages of divine truth, and directed the gaze of the dying
sufferers to Jesus Christ, the Great Physician of souls. When death had
done its work, they did not quit the mourning household as if they were
needed there no longer, but kneeling down with the bereaved, they prayed
to Him who alone can bind up the broken heart, and besought the Holy
Spirit to comfort the stricken ones in their deep affliction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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