narrow
passage between high, beetling cliffs rising on either side. From the
sea the city is hidden by hills flanked by the cliffs, and a vessel
must enter the narrow gateway and pass nearly through it before the
city of St. Johns is seen rising from the water's edge upon sloping
hill-sides on the opposite side of the harbor. It is one of the safest
as well as most picturesque harbors in the world.

As the _Albert_ approached the entrance Doctor Grenfell and the crew
were astonished to see clouds of smoke rising from within and
obscuring the sky. As they passed the cliffs waves of scorching air
met them.

The city was in flames. Much of it was already in ashes. Stark,
blackened chimneys rose where buildings had once stood. Flames were
still shooting upward from those as yet but partly consumed. Some of
the vessels anchored in the harbor were ablaze. Everything had been
destroyed or was still burning. The Colonial public buildings, the
fine churches, the great warehouses that had lined the wharves, even
the wharves themselves, were smouldering ruins, and scarcely a private
house remained. It was a scene of complete and terrible desolation.
The fire had even extended to the forests beyond the city, and for
weeks afterward continued to rage and carry destruction to quiet,
scattered homes of the country.

[Illustration: "THE LABRADOR 'LIVEYERE'"]

The cause or origin of the fire no one knew. It had come as a
devastating scourge. It had left the beautiful little city a mass of
blackened, smoking ruins.

The Newfoundlanders are as fine and brave a people as ever lived. Deep
trouble had come to them, but they met it with their characteristic
heroism. No one was whining, or wringing his hands, or crying out
against God. They were accepting it all as cheerfully as any people
can ever accept so sweeping a calamity. Benjamin Franklin said, "God
helps them that help themselves." That is as true of a city as it is
of a person. That is what the St. Johns people were doing, and
already, while the fire still burned, they were making plans to take
care of themselves and rebuild their city.

Of course Doctor Grenfell could do little to help with his one small
ship, but he did what he could. The officials and the people found
time to welcome him and to tell him how glad they were that he was to
go to Labrador to heal the sick of their fleets and make the lives of
the fishermen and the natives of the northern coast happier and
pl