The LABRADOR TALES of DILLON WALLACE

Left on the LabradorA Tale of Adventures Down North. Illustrated $1. 75

The Testing of Jim MacLeanA Tale of the Wilds of Labrador. Illustrated $1. 75

Troop One of the LabradorA Tale of Life Out-of-Doors. Illustrated $1. 75

The Ragged Inlet GuardsA Story of Adventure in Labrador. Illustrated $1. 75

Grit-A-PlentyA Tale of the Labrador Wild. Illustrated $1. 75

The Gaunt Gray WolfFur-Trapping on the Labrador. Illustrated $1. 75

Ungava BobA Tale of the Fur Trappers. Illustrated $1. 75

The Story of Grenfell of the LabradorA Boy's Life of Wilfred T. Grenfell. Illustrated $1. 50

The Lure of the Labrador WildThe Story of the Exploring Expedition conducted by Leonidas Hubbard, Jr. Illustrations and Maps. 8vo, cloth $2. 50

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[Illustration: HE HELD THE AX READY TO STRIKE THE FIRST ATTACKINGANIMAL. (See page 189. )]

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LEFT ON THE LABRADOR

A Tale of Adventure Down North

By DILLON WALLACE

Author of "Troop One of the Labrador, " "The Testing of Jim MacLean, ""The Lure of the Labrador Wild, " etc. , etc. 

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK--CHICAGOFleming H. Revell CompanyLondon and Edinburgh

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Copyright, MCMXXVII, byFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

New York: 158 Fifth AvenueChicago: 851 Cass StreetLondon: 21 Paternoster SquareEdinburgh: 99 George Street

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To HerWhose Never FailingLoyalty and Devotionis My Fount of InspirationMy Wife

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This life is not all sunshine, Nor is it yet all showers;But storms and calms alternate, As thorns among the flowers, And while we seek the roses, The thorns full oft we scan, Still let us, though they wound us, Be happy as we can. 

This life has heavy crosses, As well as joys to share, And griefs and disappointments, Which you and I must bear. And if we may not follow The path our hearts would plan, Let us make all around us As happy as we can. 

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CONTENTS

 I. THE LOST PASSENGER 9 II. THE TWIGS OF PINCH-IN TICKLE 19 III. SKIPPER ZEB FIXES MATTERS 25 IV. MISSING 34 V. WRECKED 43 VI. THE CAMP AT THE DUCK'S HEAD 53 VII. A SNUG BERTH 64 VIII. THE TRAIL OF A LYNX 77 IX. THE FAR WILDERNESS 86 X. SKIPPER ZEB'S TRAPPING PATH 99 XI. THE WORST FIX OF ALL 112 XII. THE PANGS OF STARVATION 126 XIII. THE GREAT SNOWY OWL 141 XIV. THE BAY FASTENS 146 XV. LOST IN THE BARRENS 156 XVI. A WALL OF SNOW 171 XVII. SKIPPER ZEB'S DOGS 176 XVIII. THE FIGHT WITH THE WOLVES 188 XIX. CHARLEY'S NEW RIFLE 198 XX. THE REBELLION OF THE DOGS 213 XXI. THE CARIBOU HUNT 223 XXII. THE STRANGER 240 XXIII. THE LOST FUR 255 XXIV. THE VENGEANCE OF THE PACK 266 XXV. AMISHKU AND MAIGEN, THE INDIANS 273 XXVI. THE END OF THE FIX 281

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ILLUSTRATIONS Facing Page

HE HELD THE AX READY TO STRIKE THE FIRSTATTACKING ANIMAL title

"SHE'S GONE! THE SHIP HAS GONE!" CRIEDCHARLEY IN SUDDEN FRIGHT 18

SKIPPER ZEB'S OAR BROKE, AND THE BOAT WASDRIVEN UPON A ROCK 154

THE GREAT PAW SENT TOBY SPRAWLING 214

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I

THE LOST PASSENGER

Charley Norton was bored and unhappy. He stood at the starboard rail ofthe mail boat gazing out at the cold, bleak rocks of the Labrador coast, dimly visible through fitful gusts of driving snow. 

Charley Norton and his father's secretary, Hugh Wise, had boarded theship at St. John's ten days before for the round trip voyage to Hopedale, and during the voyage there had not been one pleasant day. Biting blastsswept the deck, heralding the winter near at hand, and there was noprotecting nook where one could escape them and sit in any degree ofcomfort. The cabin was close and stuffy, and its atmosphere was heavywith that indescribable odor that rises from the bowels of old ships. The smoking room, bare and dismal and reeking with stale tobacco smoke, was deserted, save when the mail boat doctor and Hugh Wise wereoccasionally discovered there in a silent game of checkers. 

Charley had tried every corner of the ship to which he was admitted, andhad decided that, as uncomfortable as it was, he preferred the deck tocabin or smoking room. 

It was the middle of October, and the last voyage the mail boat was tomake until the end of the following June, when the winter's ice wouldclear from the coast, and navigation would open for another shortsummer. The last fishing schooner had already hurried southward toescape the autumn gales and the blockade of ice, and the sea wasdeserted save by the lonely mail boat, which was picking up the last ofthe Newfoundlanders' cod fishing gear at the little harbours of thecoast. 

"A swell time I'm having!" Charley muttered. "Not even a decent place onthe old ship where I can sit and read!"

"Not having a good time, eh?"

Charley looked up into the smiling face of Barney MacFarland, the secondengineer. 

"Hello!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know anybody was around. I didn't hearyou. "

"Having a rotten time?" Barney grinned good-naturedly. 

"The worst I've ever had!" said Charley. "It's too cold to stay on deckand too close and smelly inside, and there's no one to talk with. Mr. Wise sprawls in his bunk reading silly novels he brought with him, whenhe isn't playing checkers with the Doctor. "

"'Tis a bad season to be coming down to The Labrador, " suggested Barney. "Though there's fog enough in July and August, we're having fine weathertoo, with plenty of sunshine. 'Tis then the passengers are with us, withnow and again sightseers from the States. And the fishing places arebusy, with enough to see. Then's the time to come. "

"I didn't pick the time, " explained Charley, glad to have an opportunityto talk into sympathetic ears. "Dad was going hunting in Newfoundland, and he took me to St. John's with him. I thought I was going along, butafter we got to St. John's he said I was too young to hike through thecountry, and that this trip on the mail boat would be more interestingfor me while he hunted. He sent Mr. Wise along to keep me company. He'sDad's secretary. He's left me alone most of the time. Dad said I wouldsee Indians and Eskimos and loads of interesting things, but I've beenon the ship ever since we left, except at Hopedale when the Captaintook me ashore for an hour while we were lying there before we turnedback. That was dandy! I saw Eskimos, and Eskimo dogs, and I bought somesouvenirs at the Moravian Mission for Mother and some of the boys. But Iwasn't there half long enough to see everything. They never let me goashore in the boat at the harbours where we stop. "

"Well, well, now! That is hard on you, b'y, " agreed Barneysympathetically. "Where is your home?"

"In New York. But Dad is so busy at his office that I don't see himoften. I thought I was going to have a dandy time with _him_!"

Charley choked back tears, which he felt it would be unmanly to shed, and gazed out over the sea. 

"Lad, when you gets lonesome to talk come down to the engine room whenit's my watch on, " Barney invited heartily. "I'll show you the bigengines, and we'll chum up a bit. I'm off watch now, but I'll be on ateight bells. That's four o'clock, land reckoning. I'll come and get you, b'y, and show you the way. "

"Thank you! Thank you ever so much!" Charley acknowledged gratefully, asBarney left him. 

The ship which had been standing off from the shore was now edging intoward the land. Suddenly there came a long blast of the whistle. Therewas activity upon the deck at once. Sailors were swinging a boat outupon the davits. Charley hastened to join the sailors, and asked:

"Are we going to make a port?"

"Aye, lad, " answered one of them good-naturedly. 

"What place is it?" asked Charley. 

"Pinch-In Tickle. "

"Will it be a long stop?"

"Now I'm not knowin' how long or how short. We stop inside the Tickle totake on fish and gear. I'm thinkin' 'twill be a half hour's stop, orthereabouts. "

"May I go ashore in the boat?"

"Ask the mate. I'm doubtin' there'll be room. The boat comes back withfull cargo at this harbour. "

Charley turned his inquiry to the mate, who was directing the men. 

"No, lad. I'm sorry, " he answered, "but there'll be no room forpassengers. "

It was always that way! Charley left them to return to his old place atthe rail. The ship had slowed to half speed, and was already picking herway cautiously into the tickle, where the cliffs, nearly as high as themasthead, were so close on either side that Charley believed he mighthave touched them with a ten-foot pole. 

At the end of two hundred yards the narrow tickle opened up into abeautiful, sheltered harbour. Perched upon the rocks at the north sideof the harbour were some rude cabins. Opposite these the ship swungabout, the boat was lowered, and manned by four sailors, pulled to therocks that formed a natural pier for the fishing station. 

There was some bitterness in Charley's heart as he watched theretreating boat, and so occupied was he that he failed to observe, untilit was quite near, another boat pulling toward the ship. It was a small, dilapidated old boat, with a boy of fourteen or thereabouts at the oars. 

Charley leaned over the rail, and with much interest watched the boymake the painter fast to the ladder, and then, like a squirrel, mountthe ladder to the deck. 

The visitor was dressed much like the other natives that Charley hadseen. An Eskimo adikey, made of white moleskin cloth, with the hoodthrown back, served as a coat. His trousers were also of white moleskin, and were tucked into knee-high sealskin boots with moccasined feet. Fromunder a muskrat fur cap appeared a round, smiling face, tanned a darkbrown, and a pair of bright, pleasant eyes. 

"Hello!" said Charley. "Looking for some one?"

"No, " answered the boy, "I'm just pullin' over to look at the ship. "

Charley was seized by a sudden impulse, and acted on it instantly. 

"Will you take me ashore? The ship will be here for half an hour, andmaybe longer. I'll give you a dollar if you'll take me ashore and bringme back. "

"And you wants to go I'll pull you ashore, " agreed the boy cheerfully. "I'll be goin' down and holdin' the boat up so you can get into sheeasy. "

Without parley he slipped over the side and down the ladder into theboat, which he drew broadside to the ladder and there held it untilCharley, who followed, was seated astern. 

"Where you wantin' to go now?" asked the boy. "To the boat landin'?"

"Just anywhere ashore, " directed Charley. "Let's land over where I canclimb that hill and have a look around. "

He indicated a low hill midway between the tickle and the cabins, andthe boy soon made a landing on a shelving rock, above which the hillrose abruptly. Charley helped him pull the boat to a safe place, andwaited while he made the painter fast. Then the two began the ascent ofthe hill. 

"What's your name?" asked Charley. 

"Toby Twig, " answered the boy. 

"My name is Charley Norton, and I'm from New York. I'm taking a cruisein the mail boat. "

"I'm wishin' every time I sees she come in that I could be takin' acruise in she! It must be wonderful fine. "

"I don't think it is. It's too cold on deck and too smelly in the cabin. It must get pretty cold here in winter. Where I live we hardly ever havesnow until the end of December. "

"Aye, it does get wonderful cold, " agreed Toby. "'Twill not be long nowtill the harbour freezes and the sea too. "

"Can't you use boats in winter?"

"No, we can't use un much longer now. We cruises with dogs in winter, after the harbour and the sea freezes. "

"It must be dreadfully lonesome with no boats coming in. "

"I don't find un lonesome. There's aplenty to do. We hunts in winter, and 'tis fine fun. "

"Did you ever shoot a wolf?" asked Charley in some awe. 

"No, but I sees un. Last winter I sees five wolves, but they keeps toofar away to shoot un. "

"My, but I'd like to see a wild wolf! Did you ever see a bear?"

"Yes, I sees bears, black and white. Dad killed a black bear last week. "

The two had crossed the crest of the hill, as they talked, whollyoblivious of the passage of time, until Toby suggested:

"I'm thinkin' now we'd better be goin' back. The mail boat never bideslong here. "

"She was to be here half an hour, " said Charley, as they retraced theirsteps. "We haven't been half an hour. "

A moment later they reached the top of the hill. Both boys stopped andlooked below them and in consternation into the empty harbour. 

"She's gone! The ship has gone!" cried Charley in sudden fright. 

"She's gone!" echoed Toby. "She's goin' and leavin' you!"

"Oh, catch her! Signal her! Do something!" Charley plead helplessly. 

"We can't catch she or signal she! She's too far, " and Toby pointed to along black line of smoke rising above the rocks beyond Pinch-In Tickle, and more than a mile distant. 

"What shall I do? Oh, what shall I do?" wailed Charley in wild despair. 

What indeed could he do? Here he was, left upon the bleak rocks of theLabrador coast, at the edge of an Arctic winter, a lad of thirteen, astranger in a strange and desolate land. 

[Illustration: "SHE'S GONE! THE SHIP HAS GONE!" CRIED CHARLEY IN SUDDENFRIGHT. ]

II

THE TWIGS OF PINCH-IN TICKLE

"You'll be comin' along with me, " suggested Toby. "Dad'll be knowin'what to do. "

"But the boat has gone! How can I get home?" Charley almost sobbed, quite beside himself with despair and terror. 

"Don't be takin' on like that now!" Toby placed his hand soothingly uponCharley's arm. "Dad says a man can get out of most fixes, and he keepshis head and don't get scared. Dad knows. He's wonderful fine aboutgettin' out of fixes. Dad'll know what to do. He'll be gettin' you outof your fix easy as a swile[1] slips off a rock. You'll see!"

Helpless to do otherwise, Charley submitted, and Toby led him down tothe boat, and when Charley was seated astern, and Toby was pulling forthe huts, a half mile away, with the strong, sure stroke of an expertboatman, Toby counselled:

"Don't be lettin' yourself get worked up with worry, now. Dad saysworry and frettin' never makes a bad job better. "

"It's terrible! It's terrible!" exclaimed Charley in agony. "I've beenleft behind! I've no place to go, and I'll starve and freeze!"

"'Tisn't so bad, now, " Toby argued. "You be safe and sound and well. Maybe the mail boat folk'll be missin' you and come back. "

"Do you think they will?" asked Charley, ready to grasp at a straw ofhope. 

"I'm not knowin', " answered Toby cautiously, "but leastways you'll besafe enough. "

Toby's assurance gave little comfort to Charley. The snow was nowfalling so heavily that he could scarcely see the huts perched upon therocky hillside, and there was no other indication of human life in thegreat wide, bleak wilderness that surrounded them. The bare rocks, thefalling snow, and the sound of the sea beating upon the cliffs beyondPinch-In Tickle filled his heart with hopelessness and helplessness. Asuncomfortable and unhappy as he had been upon the ship, he now thoughtof it as a haven of refuge and luxury. If it would only come back forhim! Why had he gone ashore! He had dreamed of adventures, but never anadventure like this. 

"Here's the landin'. "

Toby had drawn the boat alongside a great flat rock that formed anatural wharf. He sprang nimbly out, painter in hand, and while hesteadied the boat Charley followed. 

Above the landing were three unpainted and dilapidated cabins. Smoke wasissuing from a stovepipe that protruded through the roof of the smallestof these, and toward this Toby led the way. 

"This is our fishin' place, " Toby volunteered. "We fishes here insummer, and lives in the house where you sees the smoke. The otherhouses belongs to Mr. McClung from Newfoundland. The mail boat weretakin' he and three men that fishes with he, and their gear, and theytakes Dad's fish, too. "

"You stay here, don't you? You'll stay here till the ship comes back forme, won't you?" asked Charley pleadingly. 

"We goes up the bay to-morrow marnin' to our tilt, our winter house atDouble Up Cove, " said Toby, "but I'm thinkin' that if the ship's comin'back she'll be back before night. Nobody stays out here in winter. 'Tiswonderful cold here when the wind blows down over the hills and in fromthe sea, with no trees to break un, and 'tis a poor place for huntin', and no wood is handy for the fire. "

"What'll I do when you go?" asked Charley in fresh dismay. 

"You'll not be stoppin' here _what_ever, " assured Toby. "Dad'll knowwhat to do. He'll get you out of _this_ fix! Don't you worry now. "

Toby opened the door of the cabin, and the two boys entered. A tall, broad-shouldered, bearded man stood by one of the two windows cleaning agun. A round-faced, plump little woman was at the stove, transferringfrom a kettle to a large earthen bowl something that filled the roomwith a most delicious odour, and a girl of twelve years or thereaboutswas placing dishes upon the table. 

"Dad, " said Toby addressing the man, "I brings with me Charley Nortonwho was a passenger on the mail boat, and while he's ashore the mailboat goes off and leaves he. "

"That's a fix now! _That's_ a fix to be in! I calls that a mean trickfor the mail boat to be playin'!" He spoke in a big voice that quitesuited his size, but which startled Charley, and did not reassure him. "What's to be done about un now? What be _you_ thinkin' to do?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to do, " answered Charley timidly. 

Toby's Dad put down the gun he was cleaning and wiped his hand on acloth. 

"Leastways we'll make the best of un, " he said, taking Charley's hand ina bear-like clasp. "Besides bein' Toby's Dad, I'm Skipper Zebulon Twigof Double Up Cove, and this is Mrs. Twig and this is Vi'let, thesmartest little maid on The Labrador. "

Skipper Zebulon Twig laughed so heartily that Charley forgot hisdifficulty for a moment, and laughed too, while he shook hands with Mrs. Twig, who had, Charley thought, a nice motherly way, and with Violet, who took his hand shyly. 

"Now, " said Skipper Zeb, "you're in a fix. You're cast away. The worstfix a man can get in, to my thinkin', is to be cast away on a rock, oron the ice, without grub. But you're cast away _with_ grub, and that'snot so bad. There's a pot of stewed bear's meat with dumplin' justready. We'll set in and eat, and then talk about your fix. 'Tis hard tothink a way out of fixes with an empty belly, and we'll fill ours. Thenwe'll get to the bottom of this fix. We'll find a way out of un. You'llsee!"

III

SKIPPER ZEB FIXES MATTERS

Mrs. Twig placed the big earthen bowl with the appetizing odour in thecenter of the table, together with a plate heaped high with slices ofwhite bread and a bowl of molasses. Then she poured tea. 

"Dinner's ready this minute, " boomed Skipper Zeb. "Set in, and we'lleat. "

There was no cover upon the home-made table, but its top had beenscoured clean and white with sand and water. The cabin boasted nochairs, and chests were drawn up by Skipper Zeb and Toby to the ends ofthe table, and a bench on each side, to serve as seats. 

Accepting the invitation, Charley took a place beside Toby on one of thebenches, Violet sat on the bench opposite them, while the Skipper andMrs. Twig each took an end. When all were seated, Skipper Zeb, in so biga voice Charley was sure the Lord could not fail to hear, asked a devoutblessing upon the family, the stranger within their home, and upon thefood. 

"Turn to, now, and eat hearty, " Skipper Zeb invited, indicating theearthen bowl. "'Tisn't much we has, but 'tis good. Mrs. Twig makes thefinest dumplin' on The Labrador. I knows for I eats un. I shoots thebear last week, and 'twere as fine and fat a bear as ever I sees. Hewere just prime to curl up for his winter sleep. "

"It looks good, and I'm hungry, " said Charley, transferring, with a bigserving spoon, a portion of the stewed bear's meat and dumpling to hisplate. "I never ate bear's meat, and I've always wished I could. "

"Never ate bear's meat!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb. "Well, now! And we getsa bear most every year. What kind of meat does you eat where you comesfrom? 'Tis likely you gets plenty of deer's meat?"

"Beef, and lamb, and veal, and pork, but I don't care much for pork, except bacon, " said Charley. 

"Well, now! In all my days I never tastes beef or lamb or veal! We getspickled pork at the post, and 'tis wonderful fine meat _I_ thinks. Ifbeef and lamb and veal be better than pork, I'd like to try un once. _They_ must be a rare treat. " Skipper Zeb smacked his lips. "Yes, sir, I'd like to try un once! And does you hunt un?"

"No, " Charley smiled, "the animals are raised on farms and the meat issold at stores. "

"Well, now! What wonderful things goes on in the world, and we neverknows about un down here on The Labrador. " Skipper Zeb shook his head inastonishment. "Does you mark that, Sophia? They raises the animals andthen kills un, and sells the meat at the tradin' stores!"

"'Tis a queer way, " admitted Mrs. Twig. 

"'Tis a fine way!" enthused Skipper Twig. "Twould be fine if we couldraise deer and kill un when we wants un. "

"Here's sweetenin' for your tea, " and Toby, observing that Charley hadnot helped himself, passed the molasses. 

"Thank you, " Charley accepted, putting a spoonful of the molasses intohis tea, and wondering why it was used instead of sugar, but venturingno question. Had he asked, Skipper Zeb would have told him that it wasmuch less expensive than sugar, and that sugar was a luxury they couldnot afford. 

There were no vegetables, for on the Labrador coast the summers are tooshort and too cold to grow them, and not one of the Twig family had everso much as tasted a potato or an onion or a tomato, or, indeed, any ofthe wholesome vegetables that we, in our kindlier land, have soplentifully, and accept as a matter of course. But Charley and theTwigs, old and young, found the stewed bear's meat, with Mrs. Twig'slight, fluffy dumplings and the good bread and molasses, both satisfyingand appetizing; and when Charley declined a third helping, urged uponhim by Skipper Zeb, he declared that he was as full as though he hadeaten a Christmas dinner. 

When all were finished, Skipper Zeb bowed his head and gave thanks forthe bountiful meal; and then, with Toby's assistance, drew the benchesand chests back to the wall. 

"Set down, now, and when I lights my pipe we'll talk over this fixyou're gettin' in, " said Skipper Zeb. Drawing a pipe and a plug of blacktobacco and a jack-knife from his pocket, he shaved some of the pluginto the palm of his left hand, rolled it between his palms, and filledthe pipe. Then, with some deliberation, he selected a long, slendersliver from the wood box, ignited it at the stove, lighted his pipe andcarefully extinguished the burning sliver. 

"This _is_ a fix, now! Well, now, '_tis_ a fix!" Skipper Zeb sat downupon a bench by Charley's side, and for a minute or two puffed his pipein silence, sending up a cloud of smoke. Then, turning to Charley, heboomed: "But 'tis not such a bad fix we can't get out of un! No, sir!We'll see about _this_ fix! We'll see!"

"Thank you, " said Charley gratefully, and with hope that there might bea way out of his trouble after all. 

"Now, to start in the beginning, and that's where most things have tostart, " said Skipper Zeb, "we won't worry about un. Worry is bad for theinsides of a man's head, and what's bad for the insides of a man's headis bad for all of his insides, and if he worries, and keeps un up, hegets sick. To-day is to-day and to-morrow is to-morrow. 'Tis but sensefor a man to provide for to-morrow, and do his best to do un, but if hecan't there's no use his worryin' about un. That's how I figgers. You'refeelin' well and hearty to-day?"

"Yes, " admitted Charley. 

"You just had a good snack of vittles?"

"Yes. "

"You're warm and snug?"

"Yes. "

"There you be! The worst of un's took care of to start with! Feelin'well, a belly full of good vittles, warm and snug! Now keep feelin'contented, and right as if this was your own home. Nothin' to worryover. No, sir, not a thing! Now we've headed off the worst of un. 

"You're in a fix, but 'twon't trouble us any. Not us! Life is full offixes, first and last. 'Twouldn't be much fun livin' if we didn't get infixes now and again! 'Tis a fine bit of sport figgerin' the way out offixes. Fixes gives us a change and somethin' to think about. There's away out of most fixes _I_ finds, even the worst of un. "

"Do you think the ship will come back for me?" asked Charley anxiously. 

"Well, now, " Skipper Zeb wrinkled his forehead as though he werepondering the question deeply, "if she comes back she'll come in throughthe tickle and come to in the offing and blow her whistle, and we'llhear un, and be ready for she. If she don't come back, she'll not blowher whistle, and we'll not hear un. We'll be stayin' here as snug as abear in his den and listen for that whistle. "

"But _do_ you think she'll come back?" insisted Charley, with asuspicion that Skipper Zeb's answer had been evasive. 

"That's a question! That's a fair and square question, now, " admittedSkipper Zeb. "You asks un fair and I'll answer un fair. The folk on themail boat misses you. They looks up and down and don't find you. You'renot on the boat, and how can they find you? Captain Barcus of the mailboat says, 'Well, he's gone, that's sure. If he leaves the mail boat atPinch-In Tickle, he's with Skipper Zeb Twig by now, and safe enough andwell took care of. If he falls overboard, that's the last of he. ' Andsayin' this, and knowin' Captain Barcus the way I knows he, he keepsright on to St. John's, and don't come back till next June or Julymonth. "

"If the ship don't come, " broke in Charley, suddenly startled into hisold fear, "what _can_ I do? What _will_ become of me?"

"Well, now!" and Skipper Zeb broke into a hearty laugh. "'Tis just whatI says in the beginnin' about no worry, and about to-day bein' to-dayand to-morrow bein' to-morrow. You're cast away with shelter _and_ grub. That's not so bad, considerin'. Not the best of shelter and not the bestof grub, but not so bad either. You does your best to get out of thisfix, and the best way you finds is to bide right where you finds theshelter and grub. If the mail boat don't come to-day, and I says fairand square, I'm not expectin' she, you goes to Double Up Cove in themarnin' with us. Whilst you're on The Labrador our home is your home, and I hopes you'll like un. "

"But Daddy! Poor Daddy! He'll be broken-hearted when he thinks I've beenlost at sea, and so will Mother!" Charley gulped hard to keep back thetears. 

"'Twill be a bit hard for un, but you can't help un, " Skipper Zebconsoled. "What's past is past, and there's no use worryin' about un. You're busy tryin' to get out of a fix. They'll be so glad to see youwhen you gets home, 'twill more than make up to un for the mournin' theydoes now. Your feelin' bad and worryin' about un won't help your fatherand mother any, and it'll get your insides upset, as I were sayin'. You're gettin' out of a fix. You stick by the grub and shelter, such as'tis, and make the best of un, and be happy. "

"Oh, thank you!" and tears came into Charley's eyes in spite of hiseffort to keep them back. "Daddy will make it right with you. He'll payyou for being good to me. He'll pay you all you ask. "

"I asks nothing, " said Skipper Zeb. "'Tis the right thing to do. Here onThe Labrador we stands shoulder to shoulder, and when a man's cast awaywe takes him to our home till he can get to his own home. We all bewonderful glad to have you. Ask Mrs. Twig, now. "

"'Twill be wonderful fine to have you bide with us, " and Mrs. Twig'ssmile left no doubt of her sincerity. "You and Toby will be havin' raregood times together. "

"That we will, now!" broke in Toby quite excited at the prospect. 

FOOTNOTE: [1] Seal. 

IV

MISSING

Mr. Henry Wise, Mr. Bruce Norton's secretary, was enjoying himself. Themail boat did not offer the luxuries to which he was accustomed, to besure, but it was much more to his liking than a hunting camp in thewilderness, particularly in frosty weather and flying snow. He could notkeep his shoes properly polished, nor creases in his trousers, nor aspotless collar tramping upon rough trails through underbrush, and thevery thought of sleeping in a tent, and upon the ground, was horrible. 

When he had suggested to Mr. Norton that Charley was too young to followhis father on the trail, he had done so with the hope that he might bepermitted to remain at St. John's in charge of Charley, and there enjoythe comfort of a hotel in idleness. That the hunting trip might provetoo strenuous for Charley had not occurred to Mr. Norton until thesuggestion came from Mr. Wise after their arrival in St. John's. Mr. Wise amplified his suggestion with the argument that it was quite toogreat a physical undertaking for any boy of thirteen, and mighttherefore create in Charley a distaste for future camping in the wilds. 

This appealed to Mr. Norton as reasonable. He wished his boy to love thewilds as he loved them. Perhaps, he admitted, Mr. Wise was right, and ifhe took Charley with him, and Charley found the trails too hard, notonly his own holiday would be spoiled, but Charley would have anythingbut a pleasant time. 

In expectation that he would take him on his hunting expedition, Mr. Norton had promised Charley a unique and enjoyable experience. Now thathe had decided against it, he cast about for a substitute. Mr. Nortonwas a man of his word. Charley had looked forward with keen anticipationto the hunting trip with his father, and had asked innumerable questionsconcerning it, and talked of little else since leaving New York. Theprospect of camping in a real wilderness with his father, --theassociation with his father in camp, rather than the camp itself, --wasthe source of Charley's anticipated pleasure. 

Not realizing this, and believing that any unusual experience wouldplease Charley quite as well, whether or not he was to take part in ithimself, Mr. Norton received with satisfaction the suggestion thatCharley be sent upon the Labrador cruise. This, he was satisfied, was asolution of his difficulty. A cruise on the mail boat would be anexperience to be remembered, and he had no doubt would prove much moreinteresting to Charley than the hunting expedition. 

This settled, he engaged passage on the mail boat for Charley and Mr. Wise, to the chagrin and disappointment of the latter gentleman, who wasforced, however, to accept the situation with good grace. Mr. Wise hadno love of the sea. 

He was to be Charley's companion on the voyage. He was to learn theinteresting features of the coast along which the mail boat cruised, andto explain them and point them out to Charley. In general, he was to dohis utmost to make the voyage one which Charley would remember withpleasure. 

But as Mr. Wise expressed himself to the mail boat doctor, he was"employed as secretary and not as nurse maid. " He had no intention ofshivering around in the cold. He was going to make this voyage, whichhad been thrust upon him, as pleasant for himself as circumstances wouldpermit. He pleaded sickness, and, as Charley had complained to BarneyMacFarland, lay in his bunk reading novels, or sat in the smoking roomplaying checkers with the mail boat doctor, while Charley was left tohis own resources. 

It was eleven o'clock in the morning when the mail boat departed fromPinch-In Tickle. Mr. Wise was engrossed in a particularly interestingnovel, and was so deeply buried in it that he failed to hear or respondto the noonday call to dinner. When, an hour later, hunger called hisattention to the fact that he had not eaten, he rang for the steward, and a liberal tip brought a satisfactory luncheon to his stateroom. Thusit came to pass that he did not observe Charley's absence from thedinner table. 

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when, the novel at last finished, Mr. Wise left his room to challenge the doctor to a game in the smokingroom. It was not until the six o'clock evening meal that his attentionwas called to the fact that Charley, who was usually prompt at meals, was not present. 

He had no doubt Charley had gone to his room and fallen asleep. If hisward chose to sleep at meal time it was no fault of his. He ateleisurely, and when he was through lighted a cigar, and, prompted bycompunction perhaps, looked into Charley's room. It was vacant. A suddenanxiety seized him, and nervously and excitedly he searched the deck andthe smoking room. Charley was nowhere to be found, and in a state ofpanic he reported the disappearance to Captain Barcus. 

The Captain immediately instituted an investigation, and a minute searchof the ship was made, but nowhere was Charley to be found, and withevery moment Mr. Hugh Wise grew more excited. 

Members of the crew were called before the Captain and Mr. Wise andquizzed. The sailor to whom Charley had spoken and of whom he hadrequested a passage ashore, recalled the incident. The mate stated thatCharley had also come to him and asked permission to go ashore in theship's boat at Pinch-In Tickle, but as there was no room in the boat, permission had been denied. The men who manned the boat were thenquestioned, and all were agreed that he had not been in the boat and hadnot gone ashore, and they were equally positive that he had not goneashore at any other harbour where the vessel had stopped during the day. 

Barney MacFarland recalled his conversation with Charley, when he wasgoing off watch. He stated that the lad had seemed most unhappy andlonesome, and complained that Mr. Wise had done little to make thevoyage a pleasant one for him, or to help him find entertainment. He wasnot on deck when Barney went on duty at eight bells. 

So fertile is the imagination that two of the sailors were quitepositive they had seen Charley leaning at the rail during the afternoon, and after the ship's departure from Pinch-In Tickle. 

The steward was quite sure Charley had not eaten the midday meal. Asthere was some sea running, he had supposed that Charley had a touch ofseasickness and had preferred not to eat. He had not seen Charley sincebreakfast, and had not been in his stateroom since early morning. 

"What can we do?" asked Mr. Wise, now in complete panic. "Will you turnback?" he plead in a voice trembling with apprehension and fear. "Willyou look for him, Captain? You'll turn the ship back and look for him!You must! You must at once! We _must_ find him!"

"Where would we look?" asked Captain Barcus. 

"At the harbours where we stopped! At Pinch-In Tickle, or whatever youcall it! Everywhere! Everywhere!" plead Mr. Wise. 

"'Twould be a waste of time and fuel, and a fool's chase, " said CaptainBarcus quietly. "There was no way for the lad to go ashore but by theship's boat, and 'tis plain he didn't go ashore in the boat at any portwe stops at to-day. Some one would have seen him if he had, and everyman of the crew says he didn't. "

"Then he's on the ship somewhere!" shouted Mr. Wise excitedly, springingto his feet. "He's hiding! He's hiding somewhere on the ship!"

"He's not on the ship, " said Captain Barcus gravely. "She've beensearched from masthead to hold, and he's not on the ship. There's nodoubting the poor lad has fallen overboard. "

"Do you mean he's been--lost--at--sea?" and the terrified Wise sanklimply into a seat. 

"Aye, " admitted Captain Barcus, "lost at sea. "

"Then turn back! Turn back and look for him!" demanded Mr. Wise, againon his feet in a frenzy of excitement. "Why don't you turn back and lookfor him?"

"Keep your senses, man, " admonished Captain Barcus. "As I said before, 'twould be a fool's job to look for him in the sea. No man knows whereor when he went overboard. 'Tis likely 'twere hours ago. "

Mr. Wise slouched into a seat, and with his elbows upon his knees heldhis head in his hands for a full minute before he spoke. 

"What can I tell his father? What can I tell him? He'll discharge me!He'll think I didn't look after the boy!" and Mr. Wise's dejection wascomplete. "What _can_ I tell him!"

"Tell him the truth. He'll discharge you likely. I would, " said theCaptain in blunt disgust. 

"You can fix it up! You can tell him it happened through no fault ofmine! Tell him something that will clear me of any charge of neglectingthe boy!" Mr. Wise raised his head and looked wistfully and pleadinglyat the Captain. 

"You seem to be thinking more of your job than of the poor lad that'slost, " and Captain Barcus, who had risen to his feet, looked down incontempt upon the cringing man. "My log will say he was last seenleaning over the starb'rd rail. That he was not at dinner nor at tea, and that you didn't miss him till after tea and long after dark, though'tis likely he was lost overboard before dinner. And I'll put in thetestimony of the last to talk with him, the mate, and the seaman, andwhat he said to Barney MacFarland. I'm going now to write my log while'tis all fresh in my mind. "

And leaving Mr. Wise, Captain Barcus went to his room to write in hislog a true report of what apparently had happened, and the account thatwas finally to be given Mr. Bruce Norton upon the arrival of the steamerin St. John's. 

V

WRECKED

There was much to be done in Pinch-In Tickle that everything in andabout Skipper Zeb's cabin, which they were to leave the followingmorning, should be snug and tight and tidy for the winter. There wereboats to be hauled out of the water and covered, that they might beprotected from the ice and snow, fishing gear and boat equipment tostow, and much cleaning to be done about the fish stage and cabin. Thenthere was Skipper Zeb's big trap boat to make ready for the voyage upthe bay. A mast step had to be repaired, sails mended, and no end oftinkering before it met with Skipper Zeb's approval. 

"I never says a thing's good enough unless 'tis right, " declared SkipperZeb. "I likes to have my boats, and fishin' gear and dog trappin's shipshape before I starts to use un. When I stops usin' they I leaves un asright as I can so they'll be ready to use when I needs un again. "

For a little while Charley, the picture of gloom, watched Skipper Zeband Toby stowing gear. Presently Skipper Zeb, who had been observingCharley out of the corner of his eye, suggested:

"Come on, lad, and lend a hand. Toby and I needs help to haul the boatsup. Work's a wonderful fine medicin' for folks that's feelin' homesick. Lend Toby and me a hand, and you'll be forgettin' all about this fixyou're in. I were thinkin' we'd taken all the kinks out o' that fix, andthat we made out 'twere no fix at all. "

"I guess I would like to help, if you'll let me, " Charley admitted. "Itisn't much fun standing around and doing nothing. What can I do?"

"We'll pull this un up first, she's heaviest, " and Skipper Zeb indicatedone of two boats that were moored at the landing. "You take the portside of un along with Toby, and I'll take the starb'rd side, and when Ibawls 'Heave ho!' we'll all heave on her together. "

Charley did as he was directed, and while he did not believe that he waslending much assistance, he did his best with each "heave ho!" boomed bySkipper Zeb, and in due time the two boats were removed to a desirabledistance from high tide level. Timbers were now placed under them toelevate them from the ground, and a roofing of heavy planking built overthem. 

It was all novel and interesting to Charley. He lent a hand here andthere, and as they worked Skipper Zeb and Toby talked of the fishingseason just ended, and of the winter hunting and trapping, and ofjourneys on snowshoes and with dogs and sledge, and related manyexciting adventures, until Charley quite forgot that he was marooned ina strange land among strangers. 

Before candles were lighted that evening, Charley had placed Skipper Zeband Toby in the category of the heroes of his favourite books ofadventure. Here he was in a wilderness as remote as any of which he hadever read, and here he was with folk who were living the life and doingthe deeds and meeting the adventures of which he had often read withbreathless interest. When he went to sleep that night in a bunk withToby he would have been glad that the mail boat had not returned forhim, had it not been for the regret he felt for the grief he knew thathis mother and father would suffer when Mr. Wise would report to themthat he had been lost. 

They ate breakfast by candle-light the following morning, and daybreakwas still two hours away when Charley embarked with Skipper Zeb and thefamily for the voyage to Double Up Cove. 

Skipper Zeb and Toby hoisted leg-o'-mutton sails on the foremast andmainmast under the lee of the land though the sails did not fill toSkipper Zeb's satisfaction, and he and Toby each shipped a big oar andpulled for a little until they were in the open bay and beyond theshelter of the hills. Then they stowed the oars, and Skipper Zeb tookthe tiller. 

A good breeze now bellied the sails, and almost immediately the morningdarkness swallowed up the outline of the cabins. No star, no light, noland was to be seen, and Charley was only conscious of the swishingwaters that surrounded them. He wondered how Skipper Zeb could know thedirection with no landmarks to guide him. How vast and mysterious thisnew world was! How far away and unreal the land from which he had come!He tried to visualize home, and the city streets with crowded trafficand jostling people; and crouching down in the boat a thought of theluxury and comfort of his snug bed, in which he would now have beencozily tucked were he there, came to him, and he drew the collar of hisulster more closely around his ears, and thrust his hands into its deeppockets. 

For a long time no one spoke, and a sense of great loneliness wasstealing upon him, when Skipper Zeb, lighting his pipe, remarked:

"'Tis a good sailin' breeze, and come day 'twill be smarter, with moresea, and I'm thinkin' more snow. "

"How long a trip is it?" asked Charley. 

"'Tis a short cruise. With a fair wind like we has now we makes un infive or six hours, whatever, " explained Skipper Zeb. "We never bideshere so late in the year. 'Tis wonderful late for us. We always goesbefore the end of September month. This year I stays to help Mr. McClung. "

"It's a fine, big boat, " said Charley. 

"She's a wonderful fine boat!" boasted Skipper Zeb. "Twenty-eight footover all. I buys she last year from a schooner crew, south bound afterthe fishin' ends. They wants to sell she bad, because they has no roomto stow she on deck, and in the rough sea that were runnin' theycouldn't tow she. I buys she for thirty dollars!"

"That was cheap, I should think, " said Charley. 

"'Twere, now!" and there was pride in Skipper Zeb's voice. "I'll tellyou how 'twere. We needs a trap boat wonderful bad for our cruisin', andI says to Mrs. Twig, 'We'll skimp and save till we gets enough saved tobuy un. ' So each year we saves a bit, sometimes more and sometimes less, goin' without this and that, and not mindin', because when we goeswithout somethin' we thinks about what a fine boat 'tis goin' to help usget. And so we keeps savin' and savin' and skimpin' and skimpin'. Wewere savin' for un for four years----"

"Five years, Zeb, " Mrs. Twig corrected. 

"You're right, Sophia, 'twere five years, and we has thirty dollarssaved. Then along comes the schooner with the boat, and the skipper saysto me, 'Skipper Zeb, you wants a trap boat. I'll sell you this un. ' 'Howmuch does you want for un?' says I. 'You can have she for fiftydollars, ' says he, 'and that's givin' she to you. ' 'All I has is thirtydollars, ' says I. 'Give me the thirty dollars and take un, ' says he. 'I'd have to leave un behind whatever. ' And so I gets un. "

"You _were_ lucky!" said Charley. 

"Lucky! Not that!" objected Skipper Zeb. "'Twere the Lard's doin's. Heknows how bad I wants un, and how we skimps to get un, and He says tothat skipper, 'You just sell that trap boat to Skipper Zeb Twig forthirty dollars, ' and the skipper just ups and sells un to me. _I_ saysthe Lard were good, and I thanks _He_ for un, and not luck. "

The northeast wind was rising. Charley huddled down in the bottom of theboat, where he found some protection. A gray dawn was breaking, and thisis the coldest and bleakest hour of the day. With dawn both wind andcold increased, until by mid-forenoon half a gale was blowing. 

"We're makin' fine headway, " said Toby. "We'll be getting to Double UpCove by twelve o'clock, _what_ever. "

"I'm wishin' 'twere a bit calmer, " observed Skipper Zeb, lookingcritically at the sky, "but there's no signs of un. "

"Can't we make a landin' somewhere, and wait for un to calm down?" askedMrs. Twig solicitously. "I fears cruisin' when 'tis so rough. "

"They's no fair shore to land on this side o' the Duck's Head, " answersSkipper Zeb. 

White horses were chasing each other over the surrounding sea. A halfhour later the wind had developed into a gale. Skipper Zeb reefed themainsail. Then taking a long oar from the boat, he dropped it betweentwo pegs astern, and while he used this as a sculling oar to steer theboat, Toby unshipped the rudder and dragged it aboard. 

"She's makin' leeway, " Skipper Zeb explained, "and I can hold she up tothe wind better with the oar than the tiller. "

A roller broke over the boat, and left a foot of water in the bottom. Toby seized a bucket, and began to bail it out. Charley was nowthoroughly frightened, but with a bucket thrust into his hand by Mrs. Twig, he assisted Toby. 

The boat was on her beam ends, even with shortened sail. The air wasfilled with flying spray, and now came the snow that Skipper Zeb hadpredicted. 

"We'll make a landin' in the lee of the Duck's Head, " shouted SkipperZeb, his voice booming above the tumult of sea and wind. 

Violet was crying, and clinging to her mother. 

"Don't be scared, now!" Skipper Zeb reassured, though he was plainlyanxious. "There'll be a fine lee above the Duck's Head!"

"There's the Duck's Head!" Toby's voice suddenly came in warning. 

"I sees un!" Skipper Zeb shouted back in confirmation. 

"Take care the reef! She's straight ahead!" yelled Toby. 

"She's makin' leeway the best I can do, " came back from Skipper Zeb. "Lend me a hand, Toby!"

Toby sprang to his assistance. The long oar bent under the superhumaneffort that the two put forth, but the boat was coming up. Charley saw, in dim outline through the snow, a high, black mass of rock jutting outin a long point. It bore a strong resemblance to a duck's neck and head, and as though to form the duck's bill a reef extended for several yardsbeyond into the water and over this the sea with boom and roar heaved inmighty breakers, sending the spray a hundred feet into the air. If theyfailed to pass that awful boiling caldron they would be lost. It was aterrifying spectacle, and Charley's heart stood still. 

They were close upon the reef. Skipper Zeb's face was tense. He wasworking like a giant, and Toby, too, was putting all the strength hepossessed upon the sculling oar. With a scant margin to spare, they wereat last shooting past the outer rocks, when the oar snapped with areport that was heard above the boom of the breakers. 

An instant later came a crash, Violet screamed in terror, and Charleyfelt the bottom of the boat rise beneath his feet. 

VI

THE CAMP AT THE DUCK'S HEAD

When Skipper Zeb's oar broke, the boat, now at the mercy of the wind, was driven upon a submerged rock at the tip end of the reef extendingsome twenty yards out from the cliff known as the Duck's Head. Here itstuck for what seemed to Charley a long time, reeling in the surf untilhe was quite certain it would roll over and they would all be drowned. Mrs. Twig, clinging with Violet to the mainmast, gave a shrill cry ofdespair, and Violet screamed in terror. Then a mighty sea lifted themlike a chip from the rock, and swept the boat onward and beyond thereef. 

Rolling and wallowing in the angry sea, which threatened every moment toswallow it up, the boat still floated to the astonishment of all, andSkipper Zeb and Toby, with feverish zeal shipping a fresh oar, begansculling toward the sheltered and calm waters under the lee of theDuck's Head. 

The wind in their quarter helped them, and with a few mighty strokes ofthe oar the boat was carried beyond the reach of the rollers, and a fewminutes later, submerged to her gunwale, grounded upon a narrow strip ofgravelly beach on the western side of the Duck's Head, and Skipper Zebcarried Violet ashore, while the other half drowned and half frozenvoyageurs followed. 

A quantity of driftwood lined the base of the cliff. With an ax, whichSkipper Zeb recovered from the boat, he quickly split some sticks, whittled shavings with his jack-knife from the dry hearts of the splitsticks, lighted these with a match from a supply which he carried in asmall corked bottle, and which were thus protected from the water, andin an incredibly short time a cheerful fire was blazing. 

"Well, now!" Skipper Zeb exclaimed, genially, warming his hands beforethe fire. "Here we are safe and sound and none of us lost, as I werefearin' when we strikes the rock we might be! All of us saved by themercy of the Lard! How is you feelin' now, Vi'let?"

"I feels fine, with the fire, " answered Violet, who was snuggling closeto her mother. 

"That's pluck; now! And wet as a muskrat!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb, laughing heartily, and quite as though it were an ordinary occurrence, and they had not, a few minutes before, been in peril of their lives. Turning to Charley, he asked: "And how be you, lad?"

"I'm all right now, thank you, " said Charley shivering still with thecold. "But I never was so wet and cold in my life, and I'm sure I'd havefrozen stiff if you hadn't made a fire in a hurry. It's lucky you hadsome matches in a bottle, for that's all that kept them dry. "

"No, no, 'twaren't luck!" objected Skipper Zeb. "'Twere just sense! Inever goes cruisin' without dry matches corked tight in a bottle handyin my pocket, and I never uses un unless my other matches gets wet. There's times when it's the only way to get a fire, and without unto-day I'm not doubtin' some of us would have perished. "

"I always carries un too, " said Toby. 

"Aye, a man that cruises in this land must always be ready to put a fireon, " commended Skipper Zeb. 

"I'll remember that, " said Charley. 

"'Twere a narrow shave we has, " remarked Toby, "but you always gets outof fixes, Dad. When I looks through the snow and sees the white waterrollin' over the reef right handy ahead, and the wind drivin' us on toun, I thinks, now here's a _fix_! 'Tis a wonderful bad fix! Dad can't begettin' us out of _this_ fix, whatever! I'll be just watchin' now, andsee! Dad can't get us out of this un! And then you gets the oar andpulls us up into the wind, and we has room to pass fine, and then Isays, Dad's doin' it! Dad's gettin' us out of the fix! Then the oarbreaks, and I says that's the end of _us_! But you gets out of un, _what_ever! You're wonderful fine at gettin' out of fixes, Dad!"

"'Tweren't me, " objected Skipper Zeb, "'twere the Lard. We does the bestwe can, and when the Lard sees we does our best, He steps in and helps. He says, 'These folk does the best _they_ can to get out of this fix, and I'll just step in and do what they can't do, and help un out of it, 'and that's what He does, and here we be, safe and sound. "

"Is the boat wrecked?" asked Mrs. Twig. "Can't you fix un and use un anymore?"

"Well now, I'm not knowin' rightly yet, but I'm fearin' her bottom'sknocked out of she, " answered Skipper Zeb. "If 'tis, 'twill be the endof she, but we'll be makin' out as fine as can be without she. "

"'Tis too bad to lose she after all our skimpin' and savin' to buy she, "mourned Mrs. Twig. "You were wantin' she so bad, and we were savin' andskimpin' for five years, and when you got she you were so pleased overshe, and she were helpin' you so in the fishin'. "

"Aye, she were a fine help, " admitted Skipper Zeb cheerfully. "But Iwere thinkin' maybe she were a bit too big to be handy. Leastways to-dayis to-day and to-morrow is to-morrow, and if she's wrecked she'swrecked, and that's the end of she. We won't worry and fuss about what'sgone and can't be helped, and maybe some day we'll be gettin' a betterboat. We'll just thank the Lard we're safe and sound. "

Skipper Zeb put some fresh wood upon the fire, and then, pausing to rubhis hands over the blaze, he chuckled audibly. 

"I'm feelin' wonderful glad to be thinkin' how all of us be alive andsafe, " he said in explanation. "The Lard were wonderful good to us to bebringin' us all ashore. Now we'll get snug. Toby, lad, we'll try to getthe things out of the boat, and we'll put up the tent and the stove, andbefore night comes we'll be as dry and tight as ever we were in ourlives. "

It was no easy matter to transfer the cargo from the submerged boat. Itwas snowing hard, and the water was icy cold, and Skipper Zeb would notpermit Charley to go into the boat with himself and Toby. 

"You be stayin' ashore, " he directed, "and keep the fire up for Mrs. Twig and Vi'let. "

"But I want to help! I want to do my part!" protested Charley. "PerhapsI can't do much, but I can do something. You've been so kind to me andtook me in when I had no place to go! Now I want to do what I can, andnot have you do everything for me. "

"That's fine now! That's spirit! You'll be makin' a real Labradormanbefore you leaves us. But not bein' used to un, " Skipper Zeb explained, "you'd be findin' the water a bit coolish. We're used to un. We're wetat the fishin' all summer. 'Tis best you stays by the fire and getswarmed up, and gets your clothes dry. "

But when Charley insisted that he do something to help, Skipper Zebagreed that he might carry the things back from the shore, as they werebrought from the boat, and pile them near the fire. 

"Then they'll be handy for us to get at and dry out, and the work'll bekeepin' you warm and free from chill, " said Skipper Zeb, "and 'twill bebetter than gettin' in the water with Toby and me. "

Skipper Zeb and Toby, waist deep in the boat, rescued the variousarticles of the cargo and passed them to Charley, who worked with a willuntil everything was salvaged. A tent was then quickly set up in the leeof the cliff, a tent stove placed in the tent, a fire lighted in thestove, and in fifteen minutes the tent was warm and snug and cozy. 

A bag of flour was now opened, and it was found that while the outsidewas wet, the greater part of the center was dry, and in a jiffy Mrs. Twig was mixing dough bread, a kettle was over for tea, and Skipper Zebhad some bear's meat sizzling in the pan and sending forth a mostdelicious and appetizing odour. 

"Well, now!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb when they were all gathered in thewarm tent, and Mrs. Twig had piled their plates with meat and hot breadand passed each of them a cup of steaming hot tea, "here we are in assnug a berth as can be, safe and sound, with nothin' to worry about evenif we be a bit wet. "

"It is cozy, " agreed Charley, with a mouthful of the hot bread, "and Inever tasted anything so good!"

"Hunger be a wonderful fine spice for vittles, " remarked Skipper Zeb. "Are you all warmed up, now?"

Everybody was warm, and wet clothing was steaming in the overheatedtent. 

"I'm wonderful thankful you makes the cruise to the Post early, " saidMrs. Twig. "'Twere fine to get our winter outfit in September month, andget un safe up to Double Up Cove whilst fair weather held. If we'd hadun to-day all the flour and tea and hard bread[2] would be spoiled. As'tis, we loses the boat and so much else it makes my heart sick to thinkof un. "

"Well, now!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb. "Worryin' when we has everything tobe thankful for! We has the boat for the cruise in September month, justwhen we needs un most. Now we don't need un this year again. The thingswe loses we'll make out without. Everything works fine for us, and herewe be, snug as a bear in his den, eatin' good vittles, even if we be abit wet. "

"I can't help worryin' about the boat, " insisted Mrs. Twig. "I'm 'tisfeelin' bad for you not havin' she. "

"Don't feel bad about un, Mother, " and there was a tenderness in SkipperTwig's voice that Charley noted. "'Twere the Lard's doin's. "

When the meal was finished Mrs. Twig and Violet were left in the tent todry their clothing, and to hang the blankets from the ridge in anattempt to dry them also. With one of the sails a lean-to shelter wasmade by the open fire outside, and while Skipper Zeb was busy with this, Toby and Charley broke boughs for a seat, and here the three devotedthemselves to drying their own clothing. 

"How can we get from here without a boat?" asked Charley. 

"Now that's a fair question!" admitted Skipper Zeb, "but 'tis easy toanswer. We're not so far from Double Up Cove. I can walk un in an hour, whatever. Toby and I goes in the marnin', if the sea calms down in thenight, and I'll be comin' with another boat. I'm thinkin' 'twill clearbefore we turns in, whatever. 'Twere only a squall, and 'tis aboutover. To-morrow's like to be a fair day. "

Late in the afternoon, as Skipper Zeb predicted, the snow ceased, thesky cleared and the wind moderated. The campfire outside was so cheerfulMrs. Twig and Violet came out of the tent to cook their supper there;and while Mrs. Twig cooked, Skipper Zeb laid a fragrant, springy bed ofboughs within the tent. 

They all sat around the fire and ate in the light of its blaze. And whenthey were through, Skipper Zeb lighted his pipe, and told stories of hislife at sea as a fisherman and on the winter trail as a trapper andhunter that were as full of thrills as any Charley had ever read, untilit was time to go to the tent and to bed. 

It had been the most exciting and adventurous day of Charley's life. Hewas thankful for his escape. Within his heart welled something of theexultation that one feels who meets and conquers obstacles. True, he haddone little himself to aid in the escape, but he had done something. Hehad taken part in the transference of the cargo, and in pitching thetent, and breaking boughs. He had helped make the camp, and had morethan the passive interest of a visitor in it. 

What tales he would have to tell when he returned home! He had notenjoyed the experience of the day as an experience, but already inretrospect he was thrilled by it. The fellows would surely envy him!When he was wet to the skin and chilled to numbness, he had longed againand again for the warmth of the mail boat, even with its unsavourysmells, and he had asked himself why he had been so foolish as to goashore. Now that he was dry and warm, his regrets passed, and he felthimself quite a hero. 

Within, the tent was warm and cozy. The air was perfumed with the spicyfragrance of spruce mingled with the pleasant odour of the woodfire, theincense of the wilderness. Outside he could hear the seas breaking uponthe cliff off the Duck's Head and over the reef, and listening to thepounding seas outside, and the cheerful crackling of the fire in thestove, he fell into pleasant dreams. 

VII

A SNUG BERTH

It was Charley Norton's first experience in a wilderness camp, but heslept quite as well as he could have slept in his own bed at home, andperhaps more soundly. He had lain down wearied with the day's excitementand exertion, as he had never been wearied before. 

The strokes of an ax outside awakened him, and he hurried out to findSkipper Zeb and Toby preparing breakfast over an open fire. It wasearly. The sky was studded with stars, and he stood for a moment to lookout over the starlit and now peaceful waters of the bay. No longer werethe shrieking winds and the booming breakers to be heard, and no soundbroke the silence other than the gentle rhythmic lap of the waters overthe reef. 

Rising above the snow-covered foreground, towered the grim cliff of theDuck's Head. The two figures bending over the brightly burning fire atits base were pigmies as compared to its great bulk. The romance andthe mystery of the scene thrilled Charley. He breathed deeply of thecrisp, frosty, perfumed air, as he hastened to join Skipper Zeb andToby. 

"Right on time!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb. "Were you sleepin' warm and snugthe night? I keeps the fire on in the stove to make un warm. Theblankets were a bit damp. "

"I never woke up till I heard you chopping wood, " said Charley. 

"Feelin' good after yesterday's wettin' and chillin'?" asked Skipper Zebsolicitously. 

"Fine and dandy!" Charley answered. "Isn't it great out here!"

"'Tis a fine marnin', " agreed Skipper Zeb. "Toby and I thinks we'll bemakin' an early start, so I'll be comin' early with the boat. "

"May I go with you?" asked Charley eagerly. 

"Well, now!" and Skipper Zeb looked doubtfully at Charley's leathershoes and heavy ulster. "You'd be findin' that coat a weary burden, andyou'd be gettin' wonderful cold feet. "

"I were dryin' out my other adikey, " suggested Toby. "Charley might wearun. I'll soften up my other skin boots for he, and let him have a pairof my duffle socks. "

"Aye, " agreed Skipper Zeb, "he might wear they. Get un, b'y. "

In a moment Toby produced from the tent an adikey made of heavy whitewoolen cloth, a pair of thick woolen slippers made of heavy blanketcloth, and a pair of knee-high black sealskin boots with moccasin feet. The latter were hard as boards, but by rubbing the skin upon the roundedend of a stick Toby soon had them soft and pliable. 

Charley took off his leather shoes, donned the woolen slippers, and overthese pulled the sealskin boots which met his knickers, and with abuckskin draw string tied the boot tops just below the knees. Then, removing his ulster, he drew the hooded adikey over his head. 

"You looks now like you belong here, " commented Toby, much pleased. 

"Anyhow, " said Charley, "I feel a lot more comfortable, dressed thisway. "

"Now we'll eat a bit and get started, " suggested Skipper Zeb, passingthe frying-pan which contained fried salt pork, smoking hot. "We'll beleavin' Mother and Vi'let to rest as long as they wants. "

It was a half hour later, and dawn was just breaking, when Skipper Zeband Toby picked up their rifles, and with Skipper Zeb in the lead, andCharley bringing up the rear, they set out for Double Up Cove. 

For a little while they followed the shore, single file, making theirway through tangles of willow brush, or over piles of boulders that hadbeen loosed from the cliffs above by the frosts of untold winters, androlled down to the base of the cliff. It was the hardest work Charleyhad ever done, and he felt some pride in the fact that he was able tokeep close at Toby's heels, quite unaware that Skipper Zeb was makingwhat to him and Toby was a slow pace, in order that Charley'sunaccustomed legs might not lag too far behind. 

Presently the cliffs receded into sloping hills, covered with a forestof spruce and tamarack, and here they turned into the forest along theslopes, where walking proved much easier, though still more difficultthan Charley had expected. 

Suddenly some birds arose with a great whir of wings, and alighted in atree. 

"Spruce pa'tridges!" exclaimed Toby. 

In a twinkling Skipper Zeb and Toby had their rifles at theirshoulders, and with the report of the rifles, which was almostsimultaneous, two of the birds fell to the snow below. 

To Charley's astonishment, the remaining birds did not fly from thetree, and still they remained when two more were shot, and in the endSkipper Zeb and Toby bagged the whole flock of nine. In each case thehead had been neatly clipped off by the bullet, and the body of the birdwas unmarred and uninjured. 

"We has two good meals whatever, " remarked Skipper Zeb, as they gatheredup the birds. "We'll pluck un whilst they're warm. 'Tis easier to dothan after they gets cold. 'Twill give us a bit of time to rest. "

"Why didn't the others fly after you shot the first ones?" askedCharley. "I expected they'd be frightened and all fly away after thefirst shot. "

"That's the way with spruce pa'tridges, " explained Skipper Zeb. "Theyhas a wonderful foolish way with un. They don't fly when you shoots. They're so tame you could almost knock un over with a stick. They fliesin a tree when we comes, thinkin' we're like a fox and can't climb atree, and knowin' nothin' about guns there they sets and lets us shootun. "

To Skipper Zeb and Toby, the shooting of the grouse had meant no morethan a means of securing necessary food. In that land where there are nodomestic animals or birds, men must hunt the wild things to supply theirtable, just as a farmer in civilized lands kills chickens from his flockto supply his table. Charley assisted in plucking the birds, andsilently admiring the marksmanship of his companions, determined thathe, too, would learn to shoot well. 

The sun had risen, and the winter forest gleamed and sparkled under itsrays. Through the trees the waters of the bay glinted like moltensilver. The air was redolent with forest fragrance. An impudent LabradorJay[3] scolding them in its harsh voice, came so close that Charleycould almost have caught it with his bare hands. Chickadees[4] chirpedin the trees. A three-toed arctic woodpecker hammered industriously upona tree trunk. In the distance a red squirrel chattered happily andnoisily. 

A thrill of exultation tingled Charley's spine. He was doing the verything that his father had believed too hard for him to do, and in awilder country than his father had ever seen. How proud and pleased hisfather would be when he reached home and told of what he had seen anddone! It would compensate for all the suffering at his supposed loss. 

"Plenty of rabbits this year, " remarked Toby, calling Charley'sattention to a network of tracks that covered the snow. "We'll besettin' snares for un. 'Tis great sport. "

"Oh, can we snare them?" said Charley. "That will be great. "

"Aye, " promised Toby, "and we'll be settin' marten traps too. Here'ssome marten signs now. There's fine signs of marten this year. "

"You catch martens for the fur, don't you?" asked Charley. 

"Aye, " answered Toby. "They has wonderful fine fur. Weren't you everseein' a marten?"

"No, " confessed Charley, "I never saw one. "

"You'll be seein' they this winter, whatever, " promised Toby. 

Toby pointed to the tracks of a small animal in the snow. 

It was mid-forenoon when they suddenly came upon a cabin in the midst ofa clearing at the edge of the forest, and looking out upon the water. 

"Well, now, and here we be safe and sound and in good time!" announcedSkipper Zeb. 

He opened a door leading into an enclosed porch, which was built againstone end of the cabin, and through the porch they entered the cabin. Charley observed that neither the porch door nor the inner door waslocked, and that the latches of both were made of wood, and opened bypulling a string, which hung outside. 

"Not so bad a place to be cast away in!" boomed Skipper Zeb, surveyingthe room with pride after depositing his gun upon the beams overhead. "What does you think of your new home, now? 'Twere easy enough to getyou out o' _that_ fix, says I! Easy enough!"

"It's great!" exclaimed Charley in appreciation. "I'm going to have abang-up time with you! I feel at home already!"

"That's fine, now! Fine!" and Skipper Zeb slapped Charley on theshoulder with his big hand and laughed his hearty laugh. "No worries!To-day's to-day and to-morrow's to-morrow! Cast away with plenty o' gruband a snug shelter and berth! Not so bad! Not so bad! That's gettin' outof a fix, now! Half the time a man worries there's nothin' to worryabout. The worst fix a man ever gets in can't last. There's sure to bean end to un. "

"It seems like a lot to ask of you--taking me into your home this way, "said Charley appreciatively. "Dad'll make it up to you some day, after Iget home. "

"Nothin' to make up, if you means pay me!" broke in Skipper Zeb, ratherresenting the implication that he might expect payment. "'Tis the way ofThe Labrador, and the way of the Lard, to share what we has withcastaway folk or folk that's in trouble. 'Tis a pleasure to have youwith us, lad. Mrs. Twig and I'll just be havin' two lads instead of onethe winter, and we were always wishin' we has two. So here you be out o'your fix, and we're all happy as a swile on a sunny rock. "

"I'm wonderful glad to have you, too, " added Toby. "I gets wishin' I hadsome one to hunt with me, when Dad's away. We'll be huntin' andcruisin' about together, and have a fine time. "

"It's just great to be with you!" and Charley said it with a full andappreciative heart. 

"Now, lads, help me put the boat in the water, and I'll pull over to theDuck's Head for Mother and Vi'let and the cargo, " said Skipper Zeb. "Whilst I'm gone, Toby, put on a fire and make the house snug. "

Charley and Toby helped Skipper Zeb launch a boat, which was drawn upupon the beach below the cabin, and when he had set out for the Duck'sHead, the boys returned to the cabin, and Toby kindled a fire in a bigoblong box stove. 

It was a small cabin, but snug and homelike, and much more comfortablethan the one they had left at Pinch-In Tickle. There was no coveringupon the floor, but the boards were white and clean with much scrubbing. Sections of old newspapers and picture pages from old magazines werepasted upon the log walls, and completely covered them. These kept outno small degree of winter wind and cold, and at the same time did dutyas decorations. Charley observed with interest several guns restingupon the beams overhead. 

There were no chairs in the room, and storage chests served as seats. Atable occupied the center of the room, and this had doubtless been builtby Skipper Zeb himself. Against the side wall was a shelf upon whichstood a silent clock. At one side of the clock was a small Bible, at theother a candlestick. A bed built against a corner of the room and a dishcloset completed its furnishings. 

A partition across the rear of the cabin formed a second room, and builtagainst the wall, one at each end of this room, were two beds similar tothat in the living-room. 

"I sleeps in this un in the big room, and you'll be sleepin' with me, "Toby advised. "Mother and Dad and Violet sleeps in the beds in the backroom. "

The rear of the entrance porch was piled with firewood ready for thestove, ranked in tiers which reached nearly to the roof, while upon thewalls in front hung dog harness, several pairs of snowshoes, traps andother gear incident to a hunter's life. 

Primitive and crude as was the cabin, it appealed to Charley, doubtlessin contrast to his recent experiences, as most comfortable andhomelike. This feeling of comfort increased when Toby wound the clock, and it began ticking its welcome. 

Toby was quite excited at his return to his winter home. He must needssee and show Charley everything inside and outside the cabin, andCharley was interested in all he saw, but most of all in the big, broadsnowshoes and the dog harness. 

"Where are the dogs?" Charley asked. 

"We leaves un over at Tom Ham's whilst we were at the fishin' insummer, " explained Toby. "Tom Ham lives at Lucky Bight, ten miles to thenuth'ard from here. We'll be goin' for un soon now. "

"It must be fun traveling with dogs, " said Charley. 

"Aye, 'tis that, " agreed Toby, "when the weather's fair and thetravelin' is good. When the weather's nasty with snow or high winds andfrost, or when the goin' is soft, 'tis hard cruisin' with dogs. "

When Skipper Zeb returned at one o'clock with Mrs. Twig and Violet, andthe cargo from the wrecked boat, Toby and Charley had a pot of grousestewing upon the stove and ready for the dumplings which Mrs. Twigquickly prepared. 

"'Twill be fine for you lads to set some rabbit snares this evenin', "suggested Skipper Zeb, when dinner was finished. "Rabbit stew would makefine eatin'. Whilst you're gone, I'll be snuggin' up and makin' thingstidy around the house. Comin' Monday I'll start settin' up the traps onmy path, and I'm thinkin' to take you lads with me on the first round Imakes. When you gets back I'm thinkin' 'twill be well to get the dogsfrom Tom Ham's if he don't bring un before. He'll have his wood hauled, and there'll be good footin' for you lads to take the team and haul ourwood by then. "

This was exciting news to Charley. The dogs! How he wanted to see Eskimosledge dogs in harness! And to set traps with a real trapper and hunter!He could scarce wait for the time to come. 

FOOTNOTES:[2] Hardtack. [3] Similar to the Canada Jay, but with darker upper parts and head. [4] The Hudsonian Chickadee. 

VIII

THE TRAIL OF A LYNX

Evening down on The Labrador begins directly after twelve o'clock, noon, and therefore by Labrador reckoning it was already evening. It wasSkipper Zeb's intention that the boys set out immediately, and heemphasized this by bidding them:

"Bide a bit whilst I find some proper twine. The old twine you has lastyear Toby, lad, were not strong enough to hold rabbits when you catchesun. "

"'Twere wonderful poor twine, " agreed Toby, "and I loses half therabbits, whatever, that gets in the snares. "

Skipper Zeb began rummaging in one of the storage chests, and presentlyproduced a ball of heavy, smooth, closely wound twine. 

"There's the best twine now I ever gets for snares, " he declared withsome pride, handing it to Toby. "The rabbits'll not be breakin' _that_twine, whatever. 'Tis stout as a small cable. I gets un in July monthfrom Skipper Mudge o' the schooner _Lucky Hand_. I asks he last fallwhen he goes home from the fishin' to get un for me in St. John's. That's_string_, now, _that_ is! 'Twill hold the biggest rabbit on theLabrador. "

"Are rabbits so strong?" asked Charley. 

"Strong enough to break string that's not stout enough to hold un, "laughed Skipper Zeb, explaining good-naturedly: "She has to be rarestout to hold some of un. The string Toby has last year were rotten, 'twere so old, and he loses a rare lot o' rabbits that gets in thesnares with un breakin' the twine, so I gets new string for this year. "

"That'll hold un! 'Tis fine twine, " agreed Toby, testing it. "Come on, Charley! We'll set a rare lot o' snares this evenin', and have rabbitfor dinner to-morrow. "

The boys hurried into their adikeys, and Toby carrying his rifle, andCharley a light ax, which Toby selected from three or four in the shed, the two set out. 

"We can't set snares too handy to the house, " advised Toby, turning intothe forest behind the cabin, with Charley following. "The dogs wouldfind un _too_ handy, when we gets the team home from Skipper Tom's. "

A thick bramble of dwarf willows and mooseberry bushes lined the shorebetween the water of the bay and the spruce forest, and to avoid thisToby laid his course through the forest behind the tangle. Charley, thrilled with a sense of adventure, followed Toby eagerly as he led theway for some time in silence. This was Charley's first trappingexpedition in a real wilderness! He wondered whether there were wolvesor other wild animals lurking among the shadows, and he was glad thatToby had his rifle. 

Suddenly Toby stopped. The white surface of the snow was covered with athick network of tracks, among the forest trees and back among thebramble. 

"They's plenty o' rabbits here, " and Toby pointed to the tracks. "Inever sees so much rabbit footin'. I'm thinkin' 'tis far enough so thedogs'll not be findin' the snares, and we'll start to set un here. "

"Are these all rabbit tracks?" asked Charley in amazement. "There mustbe thousands of them!"

"Aye, there's a rare fine band of un about, " agreed Toby with anappraising glance. "Here's a fine run, now! We'll be settin' the firstsnare on this run. "

Toby pointed to a beaten path or runway, indicating that rabbits hadpassed back and forth over it many times. 

He proceeded at once to cut a spruce sapling. From the middle of oneside of this he trimmed off the branches with his ax, leaving the thickbranches on both ends and on the other side. He then laid the saplingacross the runway where the runway passed between two trees, placing itin such manner that the branches on each end of the sapling supported itabout eighteen inches above the snow, and the trimmed section of thesapling left an opening for the runway. 

On each side of the runway he now placed an upright stick, and betweenthe sticks and the trees on each side made a thick network of branches, that only the gateway between the sticks, with the sapling above, wouldbe open for the passage of rabbits, and there would be no temptation topass around or to jump over the obstruction of branches on the upperside of the sapling. 

This done, he made a slipnoose on one end of a piece of twine. The otherend of the twine he tied to the sapling directly over the runway, andspreading the noose around the gateway through the barricade, stood upand surveyed his work. 

"There she is, all ready for un to come along and get caught, " he saidwith pride. 

"Don't you bait it with anything?" asked Charley, who had watched themaking of the snare with much interest. 

"No, we don't bait un, " explained Toby. "'Tis a runway where rabbitsgoes, and they'll go right through un without bait, and get caught. "

"Rabbits must be chumps to walk right into a contraption like thatwithout any reason, when they've miles of space to go around, " Charleydeclared. 

"They're wonderful foolish creatures, " said Toby. "They never seems toknow enough to go around. "

Darkness comes early at this season in that northern latitude, and whenthe boys had set six snares they suddenly became aware that it wasnearly sunset. They must set out on their return to the cabin withoutdelay. 

"This _is_ the life!" exclaimed Charley, as they turned back. "Seems tome an afternoon never flew so fast!"

"When I'm busy workin' I finds the time does go wonderful fast, " agreedToby. "Havin' you along it went a wonderful lot faster'n when I'malone, too. 'Tis fine to have you here, Charley!"

"I'm having a great time, too! It's a peck of fun getting off here inthe woods away from everything, and setting snares. "

"Aye, 'tis that. "

"When shall we know whether we have caught anything?"

"We'll come and look at un first thing in the marnin'. "

"I can't wait to see!"

"'Twill be more fun when we sets marten and fox traps. I'm goin' to askDad to let us have some traps, and we can trap together, and I'm notdoubtin' we'll be gettin' some fur. We'll be partners. "

"That'll be great! When can we start setting them?"

"When we comes back from goin' with Dad to his path. "

"Where are we going now? We're not going the way we came. "

"I'm takin' a short way through the timber. We may see some pa'tridges. "

They walked for a few minutes in silence, when Toby, who was in thelead, suddenly stopped, and examined the snow at his feet. 

"What is it?" asked Charley in excitement, as Toby pointed to somelarge tracks in the snow. 

Toby, looking in the direction in which the tracks led, said nothing fora moment. They were large tracks--nearly large enough for those of abear, and the steps taken by the animal that made them were short steps. 

"What tracks are they?" Charley repeated, with bated breath. "Are theywolf tracks or bear tracks?"

"They looks something like bear tracks, but 'tis not a bear made un, "answered Toby. "'Tis not heavy enough for a bear, and bear tracks hasnail marks. This un has no nail marks. A bear steps longer, too. 'Tisthe track of a lynx, I'm thinkin'. "

"Is a lynx dangerous?" asked Charley, a strange tingle chasing up anddown his spine. 

"They're not like to be unless they gets cornered, " said Toby. "Anythingfights when 'tis cornered. Even a fox would do that. This track isfresh. 'Twere just made. I'm thinkin' the lynx is handy by, and we mightget a shot at un. He's around huntin' rabbits. Let's follow he. "

"All right, I'm for it!" agreed Charley, quite excited at the prospectof a lynx hunt. 

The two boys set forward in silence, following the well defined trailleft by the animal. They had gone but a short distance when Toby stoppedand pointed at a red-stained and trampled place in the snow, with somebits of fur lying about. 

"He kills a rabbit here, " whispered Toby. "See how fresh 'tis. Thatstick is fresh wet with the rabbit's blood. 'Tis sure a lynx. 'Tis theonly beast makin' that big track that kills rabbits. I knows now 'tis alynx. "

"It must be _very_ near!" whispered Charley, his heart beating fast. 

"We're like to see he any minute, " agreed Toby. "He's right handy. We'llhave to be keepin' wonderful quiet now. "

"Will he run when he sees us?" asked Charley anxiously. 

"He's not like to run at first. 'Tis the way of the lynx to stop andlook before he goes, but 'twould be easy to lose sight of he and lose ashot here in the timber. "

Never was Charley more excited. They continued on the trail withincreased caution. In every dark shadow Charley fancied he saw thefigure of a crouching beast about to spring upon them. He knew that alynx was a big cat, and he could not but wonder if, in spite of Toby'sassurance, it would not attack them from ambush. He had seen fiercepanthers in the zoo at home, and with every step the lynx grew in hisimagination to the proportions of the panther. 

He recalled a story he had read of an attack a lynx had made upon ahunter, and the more he thought of it the surer he was that at anymoment he would feel the lynx upon his back clawing and tearing at histhroat. Afraid, wild eyed, and peering into every shadowy recess as theyadvanced, he still had no thought of deserting Toby. Come what might, hewas determined to see the adventure through. In this he was heroic. Onewho faces danger without fear or appreciation of the danger displays nobravery. But he who faces danger, drawn on by duty as Charley felt ithis duty now to stick by the side of Toby, believing himself in greatperil, but still not flinching, is truly brave. 

The sun had dropped behind the western hills, and the first hint oftwilight was settling among the trees, when Toby without warning haltedand froze where he stood. Then it was that Charley saw in the shadowsahead two eyes glowing like balls of fire and the outlines of a greatcrouching creature. 

IX

THE FAR WILDERNESS

Deliberately Toby raised his rifle to his shoulder, so deliberately thatCharley was sure the lynx would spring upon them before Toby could fire. Charley held his breath, and then Toby's rifle rang out. The lynx gave afeeble lunge, and the next instant lay crumpled in a heap. 

"We got un! I knocked un over!" cried Toby exultantly as the two ranforward to the prostrate animal. 

"That was a fine shot!" Charley shouted, quite beside himself withexcitement, and now breathing freely again. 

"He'll be a fine surprise for Dad!" exclaimed Toby, surveying thecarcass with vast pride. "Won't he and Mother be glad of un! The fur'snot prime, but 'twill be fair, and 'tis the first fur we gets thisyear!"

"He won't kill any more of our rabbits!" Charley boasted, touching thefurry coat of the dead animal. 

"The one he kills back there where we sees un, were the last un forhe, " agreed Toby. 

"How'll we carry it?" asked Charley. 

"'Twill be easy to carry he, " assured Toby. "I'll show you how easy'tis. "

Now that the lynx was harmless to attack, and lay quiet and motionlessat their feet, Charley discovered that it was a much smaller animal thanhe had thought when he saw its eyes and its crouching form in theshadows. Still he had no desire to meet a lynx alone in the forest, though Toby still insisted that the animal would have made no attack, and would have slipped away from them had he failed in his aim. 

Toby drew the twine from his pocket, and tied together the front legs, just above the padded feet, wrapping the twine around the legs severaltimes, and tying it in a secure knot. The hind legs were tied in similarmanner. Then cutting a stiff pole, and trimming off the branches withthe ax, he ran the pole between the front and hind legs, with the twoends protruding. 

"Now, " said Toby, "and you takes one end of the pole on your shoulder, I'll take the other on mine and we'll carry he in between us. "

"I never would have thought of doing it that way, " said Charleyadmiringly. "That's dead easy!"

It was dusk when they reached the cabin, and the lynx was growing heavyto Charley's unaccustomed shoulder, and both boys were tired and happywith the day's adventure. 

"Well, now!" boomed Skipper Zeb in his biggest voice, when the boysappeared at the door. "A lynx! And a fine big un, too! And the fur's notso bad for this early in the season. You're startin' in fine as aLabradorman!" and he slapped Charley on the shoulder. "Day beforeyesterday a castaway! Yesterday shipwrecked! To-day settin' rabbitsnares and helpin' Toby knock over a lynx! Aye, and gettin' the lynx!That's two bad fixes you gets out of yourself, and one you gets the lynxin that he don't get out of!"

"Toby shot the lynx, " said Charley modestly. "He'd have got away from meif I'd been alone, or eaten me up. "

"Charley helped, " Toby broke in. "He helped to trail he, though I didthe shootin', and he helped to carry he home. "

"Both of you gets un, though only one does the shootin', " agreed SkipperZeb with a hearty "haw! haw! haw!" slapping the two boys on theshoulder with vast approval. "Only one would be doin' the shootin'whatever. We'll be makin' a hunter o' you before the ship comes back inJuly month, lad! You'll be a true Labradorman by then. Now we'll haveroast lynx for dinner to-morrow, and 'tis a fine fat un too. "

Supper was not ready, and while they waited Skipper Zeb and Toby skinnedthe lynx, beginning at the hind feet, and drawing the skin whole andinside out over the carcass. It was then pulled snugly over a boardshaped for the purpose, with the fur next the board and the fleshy sideout, drawn taut and secured. Now, with a sheath knife, Skipper Zebscraped it carefully, removing every particle of fat or flesh thatadhered, and when this was completed to his satisfaction he hung theboard with the pelt upon it from a peg to dry. 

"It seems like a month instead of three days since I came, " said Charleywhen supper was eaten and Skipper Zeb had lighted his pipe. "A lot hashappened in three days. "

"Things has happened, now! Yes, sir!" observed Skipper Zeb, puffing athis pipe. "We had a bit of a hard time yesterday, but here we areto-day all snug and safe and well. Not one of us in a fix, and all goin'fine. "

"I wonder how Mr. Wise felt when he missed me, " Charley chuckled. "I canjust see him running around the ship looking for me. I guess he thinkshe's in a fix! Serves him right if he is worried. But, " and Charleysobered, "it makes me feel badly to think of Dad and Mother when theyhear I'm missing. "

"Don't be thinkin' o' that now, " cautioned Skipper Zeb. "'Twill do youno good and 'twill do they no good. Just be thinkin' how joyful they'llbe when you goes home in July month. What a fine surprise 'twill be forun!" And then to change the line of thought, he suggested: "You'll beneedin' a fit out o' clothes for the winter. "

"I have some money, " volunteered Charley. "I could buy things if therewas a store to go to. "

"There's no store this side o' Skipper Blink's shop at Deer Harbour, andthat's a bit down north from Pinch-In Tickle, and we'll not be gettin'there for two months whatever, " explained Skipper Zeb. "Mother, how canwe fit out the lad for clothes?"

"We has a bolt o' moleskin and a bolt o' kersey cloth, " said Mrs. Twig. "I'll make the adikeys from that, and a pair o' moleskin trousers. We'rea bit short o' underclothes. We gets Toby new ones this year, and I canmend up his old ones to do he for a bit until you goes to Deer Harbour, and Charley can wear the new ones. "

"I'll wear the old ones, " objected Charley. "Let Toby have the new ones. I have the suit I'm wearing, too. "

"You have one of the new ones, " suggested Toby by way of compromise, "and with the suit you has 'twill make two. I'll be havin' the other twosuits of new uns, and we'll both be wearin' the old uns if we needs untill you gets new. "

"All right, I'll go you on that, " agreed Charley. "That's a good way tofix it. And when there's a chance to go to the store at Deer HarbourI'll get some new things there. "

"We has some fine skins for boots, " said Mrs. Twig. "I gets un alltanned in the spring, and I'll be makin' up some boots. "

"Well, now! We're gettin' out o' that fix easy, " and Skipper Zeb beameddelightedly. "We're gettin' out o' _that_ fix! And has you duffle forsox? And is there plenty o' deerskin on hand for moccasins?"

"Aye, plenty o' duffle and plenty of deerskins, " smiled Mrs. Twig, amused at the Skipper's enthusiasm. "I'll soon be havin' a plenty o'sox and moccasins made up. "

"The lynx fur the lads gets this evenin' not bein' prime for trade, butfine for caps, I thinks the lads might have caps made out of un, and thehoods of their adikeys trimmed with un, " suggested Skipper Twig. "Thenboth our lads will be dressed alike. "

"'_Twould_ be fine, now, " assented Mrs. Twig, who usually agreed withSkipper Zeb's suggestions. 

"Now that's settled, and we has you lads togged out to the king's tastefor winter. " Skipper Zeb stroked his beard contentedly. "No fix there tobother, and we'll talk up our plans. First thing, Mother's been fussin'about the trap boat, and feelin' bad about un ever since we leaves un atthe Duck's Head. She's thinkin' if we pulls un out o' the water, we'llfind the bottom not so bad we can't fix un. I'm not doubtin' myself thebottom's all stove in, the way she struck. But we'll go over to theDuck's Head in the marnin' to pull she out and make sure of un, and'twill make Mother feel better if we tries, whatever. "

"That's fine, " agreed Toby. "I were thinkin' maybe she's just got abusted plank, and her timbers are sound. "

"Now what does you think o' the plan, Charley?" asked Skipper Zeb. "You're one o' the partners, and must have a say about un. "

"It sounds good to me, " agreed Charley, feeling that responsibility wasbeing thrust upon him, and rather pleased that it was. "I think the boatshould be looked at. "

"There, now, that's good judgment, " boomed the Skipper. "I were sure youwere a lad o' judgment from the minute I sees you, and that proves un. We'll go in the marnin' to the Duck's Head to see the trap boat, afteryou lads come back from your rabbit snares. "

As Toby had planned, Charley and he shared the bed in the living-room, and so soundly did Charley sleep that Mrs. Twig had breakfast nearlyready before he awoke the following morning. They ate by candle-light, and at the first break of dawn the two boys set out eagerly to look atthe rabbit snares, and within an hour returned with three big snowshoerabbits. 

Skipper Twig was ready with his boat, in which he had stowed block andfall rigging, hammer, nails, pieces of plank and an ax, and withoutdelay the three were off for the Duck's Head. 

With the block and fall they were able to haul the boat out of thewater, and to their satisfaction, and the amazement of Skipper Zeb, discovered that no serious damage had been done. A plank had beenbroken, but ribs and timbers were uncracked. The boat was soon mendedand the new section of plank caulked with oakum, and shortly aftermidday the trap boat was again afloat, and quite as serviceable asbefore the accident. 

"There she be, fine and shipshape as ever!" Skipper Zeb boomed. "Motherwere worryin' and stewin' herself half sick about she. That's the way'tis with most worries, when you goes to the bottom of un. Nothin' toworry about. There's another fix we gets out of. "

"Fine and dandy!" exclaimed Charley. "I was sure you'd lost her, and I'mso glad she's all right after all. "

"Well, now, " said Skipper Zeb, "this was once Mother was right when shepesters me to come and look at un. I thinks we'd lost she sure, but Isays, 'That's the way o' things, ' and I don't worry. Though we'd havemissed she at the fishin', we'd be gettin' on, and 'twasn't worth aworry, whatever. "

There was great rejoicing when Skipper Zeb and the boys arrived atDouble Up Cove early in the afternoon with the big trap boat, and thesmall boat in tow. Mrs. Twig and Violet saw them coming, and were at thebeach to meet them, and Mrs. Twig actually shed tears of joy. 

"Snug and tight as ever!" announced Skipper Zeb, as the prow touched theshore. "We gets she all fixed up, Mother. I'm thinkin' you knows moreabout boats than I does. "

"I'm _so_ glad!" and Mrs. Twig's round face was wreathed in smiles whileglad tears glistened in her eyes. "Now you and the lads must bewonderful hungry, for 'tis near two hours after dinner time, anddinner's been waitin' this long while. "

"Aye, hungry as seven bears and as happy and perky as a cock pa'tridge, "boomed Skipper Zeb. "We'll make the boats fast, and be right up. "

What an appetite Charley had! And when he learned that the deliciousroast meat was a cut of the lynx that he and Toby had killed the nightbefore, his natural prejudice against unaccustomed food did not preventhim from taking a second helping. 

Charley scarce had time to think of home. Skipper Zeb was quite awarethat the best antidote for homesickness is work, with little time toruminate, and he kept Charley busy from morning till night with himselfand Toby doing the most interesting things imaginable, and, with all theother work, the boys visited their rabbit snares each day and set newones. The week passed quickly, and on Saturday evening, when they satdown to supper, Skipper Zeb announced:

"Well, now, here 'tis time to go to the path and set up the traps. We'llbe leavin' Monday marnin', lads. "

This was an adventure to which Charley had looked forward with keenanticipation since Skipper Zeb had first announced that he and Toby wereto accompany him. Reaching away for countless miles in every directionfrom the water's edge lay the vast primordial, boundless wilderness. What unfathomed mysteries it held! There it slept as it had sleptthrough the silence of unnumbered ages since the world was formed, untrod by the white man's foot, known only to wild Indian hunters, asprimitive as the wilderness itself. What strange beasts lived in its farfastnesses! What marvelous lakes, what great rivers, what mountain peakswaited there to be discovered! What a wonderful sensation it would be topenetrate the hem of its outer edge beyond the sight and reach of evenSkipper Zeb's frontier cabin. 

This was what Charley was thinking, as they talked of the going onMonday morning, though he could not, perhaps, have put his thoughts oremotions into words that would express them. 

"'Tis a late start, " Skipper Zeb continued. "I never goes in quite solate to set up my path. But I has two fine helpers, whatever, and Inever has they before. "

Everything was made ready on Sunday night, and a full two hours beforedaybreak on Monday morning Skipper Zeb's small boat was laden with acargo of flour, pork, molasses, tea and steel traps, with extra clothingfor the trail. Two pairs of snowshoes were taken for himself, in case ofaccident to one of them, and also a pair for Toby and a pair forCharley. 

"'Tis never safe to go without snowshoes at this season, " explainedSkipper Zeb. "If snow comes now, there'll be no gettin' about withoutun. "

"I never had a pair of snowshoes on in my life, " said Charley. "I don'tsee how you can walk with them, they're so wide and must be clumsy. "

"Never has snowshoes on!" explained Skipper Zeb in astonishment. "Well, now! And how does you ever get about in winter without un?"

"The streets are kept clear of snow, " explained Charley, "and we don'thave so much snow anyhow. Even in the country there isn't enough snow touse them. "

"Well, now!" said Skipper Zeb in wonderment. "It must be strange to belivin' in a place where you're not needin' snowshoes to get about inwinter. You'll learn to use un. 'Twill be easy enough, once you findsthe way o' swingin' your feet. "

Mrs. Twig and Violet went down to the landing to see them off, and towish them Godspeed as they pulled away with Skipper Zeb and Toby at theoars and Charley settled snugly in the stern. 

X

SKIPPER ZEB'S TRAPPING PATH

The stars shone brightly. The distant shore line stood out in darksilhouette marking the boundary of the land of silence, where no manlived. A thousand miles of trackless, unknown wilderness lay beyond thatdark forest boundary. Charley's imagination pictured it as anotherworld, apart and different from anything he had ever seen. Reared in agreat city, it was difficult for him, even after his experience of thepast week, to visualize it or form any accurate conception of what laywithin its cold, rugged heart. 

Listening to the ripple of water, watching the stars, Charley's thoughtsturned from the dark shore line to the brighter home land. What had hisfather said when Mr. Wise returned without him? What would his mothersay and feel when his father reached home alone? How grief-stricken theywould be! Tears came into Charley's eyes, and remorse threatened todampen the pleasure, and rob him of the ardour, of the adventure, whenSkipper Zeb, in his big, cheery voice, asked:

"Be you snug and warm back there, Charley, lad?"

"Yes, thank you. " Charley's voice betrayed his thoughts, perhaps, forSkipper Zeb asked:

"Not sorry now that the ship left you, be you, lad?"

"N-n-o, " hesitated Charley, "I'm having a great time, but I was thinkingof Dad and Mother, and how badly they will feel. "

"Don't be thinkin' o' that now. Think how glad you'll make they when yougoes back. " Skipper Zeb laughed heartily. "I'm just laughin' at the waythey'll be takin' on _then_! They'll be just maulin' you to pieces, they'll be so glad! Think o' _that_ now. Think o' the bad fix you getsout of, and thank the Lard you gets left at Pinch-In Tickle where youwas as welcome as a son, instead of at some harbour where no one wasbidin', as might o' happened. Just be thinkin' of to-day, and thank theLard you're well and hearty, and has a snug berth with plenty o' grub. Nothin' to worry about! Not a thing!"

"May I have a pull at the oars?" Charley asked, the gloom suddenlydispersed by Skipper Zeb's cheery voice and logical argument. 

"Aye, lad, 'twill warm you up, " agreed Skipper Zeb heartily. "TakeToby's oars. Let Charley have a pull at your oars, Toby, lad. "

Charley soon wearied of the unaccustomed work, and blisters began toform in the palms of soft hands; and when Toby suggested it, he was gladenough to surrender the oars again to Toby, who minded it not a bit. 

Daylight came and with it bright sunshine. Charley's heart beat withgladness and the joy of life. His far away city home seemed farther awaythan ever. He remembered it as one remembers a place of dreams--thesubways, the elevated railways, the traffic-clogged streets, the highbuildings, the noise. Here were no chimneys vomiting smoke and soot. Here were no dirty streets to poison the air with noxious fumes andgerms of disease. He breathed deeply of the pure air bearing the sweetperfume of the forest and the refreshing smell of the salt sea. Itfilled his lungs like a life-giving tonic. How glorious this wild worldwas!

"Well, now!" Skipper Zeb announced an hour before midday. "Here's SwileIsland before we knows it! We'll stop for a bit to boil the kettle andstretch our legs ashore. "

Swile Island was a small, nearly round island, containing an area equalto about that of a city block. Its center rose to a small hill, coveredby a stunted growth of black spruce trees, which somehow clung to itsrocky surface. 

Charley was glad to go ashore, and he soon learned that "to boil thekettle" meant to prepare and eat luncheon. While Toby carried up fromthe boat the food and cooking utensils, Skipper Zeb lighted a fire, andin a little while the kettle was boiling for tea and a pan of salt porksizzling over the coals. 

Never in his life had Charley eaten fried salt pork, and Skipper Zeb'spork contained no streak of lean. He would have left the table withouteating had such a meal been served him in his city home. But here he atethe pork, with his bread sopped into the grease, and tea sweetened withmolasses, hungrily and with a relish, so quickly had exercise in thepure, clear air of the wilderness had its effect. Indeed, he was alwayshungry now, and could scarcely wait for meal time. 

"There were lots of things I'd never eat at home, " he said as he passedhis plate for a second helping of pork, "but here I like everything. "

"As I were sayin' before, hunger's a rare sauce for vittles, " remarkedSkipper Zeb. 

A light breeze sprang up while they were eating, and when they madetheir departure from Swile Island Skipper Zeb hoisted a leg-o'-muttonsail, and then sat and smoked his pipe and told stories of experiencesand adventures on the trail, while Toby took the rudder. 

It was nearly three o'clock when Skipper Zeb pointed out a little loghut near the mouth of a small river, and announced:

"There's Black River and there's Black River tilt where we bidesto-night. "

A few minutes later the prow of the boat grounded upon a gravelly beach, and while Skipper Zeb unloaded the cargo the boys carried it to thetilt, laying it upon spruce boughs broken by Toby to protect it from thesnow. 

The tilt was built of logs, with a roof thatched with bark. The door wasnot more than four feet in height, and when Skipper Zeb opened it thethree were compelled to stoop low to enter. The interior was a roomabout eight by ten feet in size. Across the end opposite the door was abunk, and, along the right side of the room as they entered, anotherbunk extended from that at the far end to the wall behind the door. Onthe left side of the room, and midway between the end bunk and the doorwas a sheet-iron tent stove, with a pipe dismantled and lying on top ofit. An old pair of snowshoes, and steel traps, pieces of board shapedfor stretching pelts of various sizes and some simple cooking utensilshung upon wooden pegs against the wall. The floor was of hard-packedearth. 

"Well, now! Here we be safe and sound and ready for work!" boomedSkipper Zeb. "Everything snug and fine when we gets our beds made andthe stove set up and a fire in she. Whilst you lads gets boughs for thebeds, I'll be puttin' up the stove and stow the cargo inside. "

Toby and Charley went to work with a will, and soon had deep springybeds laid upon the bunks. Upon the bunk at the farther end they spreadSkipper Zeb's sleeping bag, and side by side, upon the other bunk, theirown. Already Skipper Zeb had a crackling fire in the stove and thecargo carried in and stowed snugly under the berths. 

"Now whilst Toby and I tidy up a bit, put over the kettle, Charley lad, and we'll have a bite to eat, " suggested Skipper Zeb. 

Charley took the tin pail that served as a kettle, to fill it at theriver. Just as he had dipped it and was about to return, his eye fellupon a peculiar looking animal perched upon a branch high up in a sprucetree. With all speed he ran back to the tilt and called excitedly uponToby to come and see it. 

"'Tis a porcupine!" exclaimed Toby, grabbing his rifle and followingCharley. "I'll shoot he, and we'll have he for supper!"

And so it proved. A shot brought the animal tumbling down. Toby pickedit up gingerly by a leg and carried it back. 

"Well, now! Fresh meat the first night!" boomed Skipper Zeb. "Whilst youlads tidy the tilt, I'll skin he. "

In a few minutes Skipper Zeb had the porcupine skinned and dressed, andafter washing the meat in the river and cutting it into convenientsections he placed it in a kettle of water to stew for supper. 

Two Indian flatsleds or toboggans, which were standing on end againstthe tilt, were put into repair by Skipper Zeb and made ready for thejourney on the morrow, and before dark all preparations for an earlydeparture were completed. 

It was snug and cozy now in the tilt, with the fire in the little tentstove cracking and snapping. The air was spicy sweet with the odour ofthe spruce and balsam beds, but to the boys a still more delicious andappealing odour was given out by the kettle of stewing porcupine on thestove. Presently when supper was served Charley declared that the mealmore than fulfilled his expectations. 

"Why, it makes me think of lamb, " he said, "only it's a heap better thanany stewed lamb I ever ate. It's just great!"

"'Twere young and fat, " said Skipper Zeb. "We likes porcupine wonderfulwell. 'Tis a fine treat _we_ thinks. "

Before daybreak the following morning loads were lashed upon the twoflatsleds, and all was made ready for the trail. Snow was not deepenough to require the use of snowshoes, and they were tied securely uponthe tops of the loads. 

"All ready!" announced Skipper Zeb, in his big hearty voice, as dawnwas breaking. "I'll be goin' ahead with the heavy flatsled, and you ladstakes turns haulin' the other. Toby b'y, you take the first turn at un. "

"Aye, " agreed Toby eagerly, "I'll haul un a spell first. "

The route for a time followed the course of Black River. Now and againSkipper Zeb paused and turned aside to set a trap, where the tracks ofmartens or minks indicated their presence. At intervals he took bunchesof a dozen or more traps from trees where he had hung them the previousspring when the trapping season had ended. Charley wondered how it waspossible for him to remember where he had left them, and asked:

"How do you ever find the traps where you left them? The places all lookalike to me. "

"Why, 'tis easy enough, lad. This bunch I hangs in the only hackmatacktree handy about. I just looks up and sees the tree, and there I findsthe traps just where I leaves un. "

Even still Charley could not understand how Skipper Zeb could know whereto look for the particular hackmatack tree, standing alone among thespruces and quaking aspens, for at several points he saw lonehackmatacks in similar surroundings. Presently he was to learn that thewoodsman by long practice learns to know every tree or bush that is evenslightly out of the ordinary along his trail, and so trained is he inthe art of observation that his subconscious mind records these with noeffort on his part. Thus to the woodsman the trail over which he hastraveled two or three times, and often but once, becomes as familiar tohim as streets to the city dweller. 

After two hours on the trail, Skipper Zeb announced that they would"boil the kettle, " and have a "snack" to eat. Already the boys wereravenously hungry, and Skipper Zeb chuckled merrily as he observed theirkeen enjoyment as they ate. 

"Settin' up traps makes for hunger, " said he. "Fill up now. "

"I was just hollow!" confessed Charley. 

"And I was hungrier'n a starved wolf!" added Toby. 

Their course now left the river valley, and presently came upon a widefrozen marsh, or "mesh" as Skipper Zeb called it. 

"'Tis here on the meshes we finds the best fox footin', " he explained toCharley. 

It was not long until he found tracks that he said were fox tracks, andin various places on the marsh set three traps, which were considerablylarger than those set for marten or mink, and had two springs instead ofone, and he used much greater care in setting them than in setting thosefor marten and mink. With his sheathknife he cut out a square of snow, and excavated in the snow a place large enough to accommodate the trap. Over the trap a thin crust of snow was placed, and so carefully fittedthat its location was hardly discernible. In like manner the chain, which was attached to the root of a scrubby spruce tree, was alsoconcealed. From a carefully wrapped package on his flatsled Skipper Zebproduced some ill-smelling meat, and this he scattered upon the snowover and around the trap. 

"They likes meat that smells bad, " he explained, "and I'm thinkin' thatsmells bad enough for un. "

Evening was falling when suddenly through the forest there glinted thewaters of a lake, and here on its shores Skipper Zeb told them they wereto camp for the night. A home-made cotton tent, small but amply largeenough for the three, was quickly pitched and a tent stove set up. Thenwhile Toby and Charley gathered boughs and laid the bed, Skipper Zeb cuta supply of wood for the night, and before the boys had finished the bedhe was frying in the pan a delicious supper of partridges, which he andToby had shot during the afternoon. 

Charley was sure he had never been so tired in his life. It had been along day of steady walking, save for the brief stops when Skipper Zebhalted to set a trap, and the snow and turns at hauling the flatsled hadmade it the harder. He lay back upon his sleeping bag chatting with Tobyand watching Skipper Zeb prepare supper. How cozy and luxurious the tentwas! The pleasant fragrance of spruce and balsam would have put him tosleep at once, had it not been for the pleasanter fragrance of thefrying partridges and a hunger that increased with every minute. 

When the meal was eaten Charley's eyes were so heavy that it was littleshort of torture to keep them open, and he slipped into his sleepingbag, and in an instant had fallen into dreamless, restful sleep. 

How long he had been sleeping he did not know, when suddenly he foundhimself awake and alert. Something had aroused him, and he sat up andlistened. For a time he heard nothing, save the heavy breathing ofSkipper Zeb and Toby, and he was about to lie down again when there camethe sound of footsteps in the slightly crusted snow outside. Some animalwas prowling cautiously about the tent sniffing at its side. The moonwas shining, and suddenly he saw the shadowy outline, against thecanvas, of a great beast that he knew to be a timber wolf. 

He was about to reach over to Skipper Zeb to wake him, when all at oncethe stillness was broken by a terrifying, heartrending howl, rising andfalling in mournful cadence, and echoing through the forest behind them. The howling creature was separated from Charley only by the thickness ofthe canvas, and Charley's blood ran cold. 

XI

THE WORST FIX OF ALL

Skipper Zeb and Toby sat up hurriedly, and without an instant'shesitation Skipper Zeb slipped on his moccasins, reached for his rifleand left the tent. A moment later there came the report of his rifle. 

The boys awaited eagerly his return, and when presently he reentered thetent it was to report:

"'Twere an old she wolf, but I misses she. 'Twere just one alone. I'mthinkin' we may be findin' deer signs up the path. Wolves follow thedeer. "

"Will the wolf come back? And is it dangerous?" asked Charley, theterrifying echo of its howl still in his ears. 

"We'll never see _she_ again, " said Skipper Zeb, settling in hissleeping bag to resume his interrupted rest. "That un won't bedangerous, whatever. If she keeps goin' as smart as she started she'llbe over the height o' land by to-morrow night this time, " and hechuckled with the recollection of the frightened wolf's speed. 

Farther and farther into the wilderness they went. It seemed to Charleythat they had left the whole world behind them, and that the forest andbarrens through which they trod had swallowed them up, and he wonderedif they would ever be able to find their way back to Black River tiltand the boat. Had he been left alone he would not have known in whichdirection to turn. 

The silence was total. There was never a sound to break it at night, andduring the day none save the harsh voice of the Labrador jay, which camebegging for food whenever they boiled the kettle, and was so fearless itwould almost take crumbs from the hand; or the incessant dee-dee-dee ofthe chickadee, a much pleasanter companion of the trail, Charleythought, than the jay. Once, in the evening, they heard the honk of aflock of wild geese passing south. 

"They're a bit late, " observed Skipper Zeb. "They'll be bidin' in a ponda step to the west'ard from here, and feedin' in the marnin'. I getsgeese there sometimes, and I'm thinkin' I'll take a look at break o' dayand see if I can knock one or two of un over. "

Accordingly, the following morning after they had eaten breakfast andjust as dawn was breaking, he left the boys, and a half hour laterreturned with three fat geese. 

"We'll cache un here, " said he, "and when we comes back take un with us, and you lads can take un home. "

On Wednesday night they had the shelter of a tilt, which Skipper Zebcalled "Long Lake tilt, " and on Friday evening they reached "Big Laketilt" and the end of the trail. 

"Here we stops till Monday, " Skipper Zeb announced. "'Twill give youlads a chance to rest up. "

"That's great! It's the longest and hardest hike I ever had, " saidCharley. "I'll tell Dad about it when I get home, and he'll think Icould have stood the Newfoundland hike he wouldn't take me on. I'll betit wasn't half as hard as this one!"

"You'll be gettin' as strong as a young bear, lad, and as toughened upas a wolvering before you leaves The Labrador, " chuckled Skipper Zeb. 

"Mother'll be scared when I tell her what I've done here, " said Charley, "but Dad will be proud of it. They never thought I could do _anything_hard, and never let me do anything much. They'll know now what I cando!"

"We never knows what we can do till we tries un, " commented Skipper Zeb. 

The following morning Skipper Zeb did not wake the boys, but left themto sleep while he slipped away alone to set traps in the forest andmarshes along the lake shore. It was broad day when they awoke, and whenthey had eaten Toby suggested:

"We'll be goin' out with my rifle and try shootin' at a mark. "

"May I shoot?" asked Charley eagerly. "I never shot a gun in my life andI'd like to learn!"

"'Tis easy, " assured Toby. "I'll be showin' you how, and you'll belearnin' quick. "

Before they left the tilt Toby instructed Charley in how to fill themagazine and how to manipulate the lever, impressing all the time uponhis pupil the necessity of caution, and telling tales of two or three ofhis acquaintances who had been shot through the careless handling offirearms. 

When Charley had learned the rudiments of gun handling to Toby'ssatisfaction, they went a little way down the lake shore, and selectinga bank as a background, in order, Toby told Charley, that bullets thatmissed the mark might not go crashing through the forest, but would beburied in the earth, he fastened a small square of white birchbark upona spruce tree, to serve as a target, and retired with Charley to adistance of about fifty yards from it. 

"Now try a shot, " Toby directed. 

"How do you hold the rifle steady?" asked Charley who found the muzzlewabbling woefully. 

Toby, with much patience, illustrated the method of placing the feet, the position in which to stand, how to hold the arm, and how to aimproperly. 

"Now don't pull un with a jerk. Hold your breath and squeeze the triggerhand together all at once, so she goes off almost without your knowin'when she goes. "

Charley proved himself an apt pupil, and after a few shots rarely missedthe target. 

Skipper Zeb did not return to the tilt for dinner, and after the boyshad eaten Toby suggested that they stroll up the lake shore in the hopethat they might get a shot at some partridges. 

"May I carry your rifle and try to shoot them if we see any?" askedCharley eagerly. 

"Aye, " agreed Toby, "'twill be fine for you to try un, now you knows howto shoot. "

Charley took the rifle eagerly, and this time took the lead, as thehunter. They had walked but a short distance when Toby whispered:

"Drop quick!"

"What is it?" whispered Charley, as both dropped to the ground and Tobycrawled up beside him. 

"Deer!" whispered Toby. "See un! Right ahead!"

Then for the first time Charley saw a big caribou, nosing in the snowand feeding leisurely. 

"What'll I do?" asked Charley. 

"'Tis a fine shot!" answered Toby. "Be wonderful careful o' your aim, and shoot!"

Charley was all atremble as he brought the rifle to his shoulder for hisfirst shot at any game. In spite of all he could do, the muzzle of therifle would not behave, and before he was aware of it he pulled thetrigger, and the shot went wild. 

"Try un again! Try un again before he runs!" plead Toby. 

Charley fired again and then again, but with no better success, and thecaribou, now taking alarm, turned and disappeared into the forest. 

"You misses that un, " said Toby, not in the least perturbed, now thatthe caribou had gone. "'Tis hard to hit un the first time you tries. "

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" and Charley could scarce control his voice inexcitement and disappointment. "It was nearer than the target we shotat! How _could_ I miss it?"

"You gets nervous the first time you tries, the way most folks does, "soothed Toby. "Next time you'll get un. "

It was Thursday evening of the following week when they again reachedthe tilt at Black River and the boat. Both boys were tired but happy, and Charley, who had shot his first partridge with Toby's rifle thatmorning, told Skipper Zeb that he had had the best time he ever had inall his life. 

"That's the way to talk, lad! That's the way!" and Skipper Zeb slappedhim on the shoulder, his characteristic method of expressing approval. "You has the makin's in you of a fine trapper and hunter. You fitsyourself to what you has to meet and to do, whether 'tis a bit hard orwhether 'tis easy. 'Twere a long way for young legs that's not used toun. Bein' on the path settin' up traps is a wonderful sight differentfrom bein' snug and warm with a good bed o' nights at home. You ladsstands un like old hands at un. "

"Thank you, Skipper, " and Charley was proud, as was Toby, at the word ofpraise. Every one likes to be praised for an act well done, or done tothe best of one's ability, and Skipper Zeb, who in a crude way was astudent of human nature, and carried a gentle, affectionate heart in hisbosom, never failed to speak a word of praise where it was deserved. Heknew that a kindly word of appreciation for a deed well done, oftenproved an incentive to greater effort. A little flower handed to theliving is better than a wreath placed upon the casket of the dead. Skipper Zeb gave his flowers of kindliness to those about him while theylived and could enjoy them. 

"Now, lads, " said Skipper Zeb when they had finished their evening meal, and he was puffing his pipe comfortably by the warm stove, "I has a lineo' traps to set up to the east'ard of the tilt that I weren't settin'up before we goes in, and two days' work to do about here whatever. We've been havin' a long spell o' fine weather like we mostly has beforewinter sets in hard. The wind is shiftin', and before to-morrow night, whatever, there'll be snow. Early in the marnin' I thinks you had betterstart back with the boat, and be gettin' snug at Double Up Cove beforethe snow comes. "

"When'll you be gettin' home, Dad?" asked Toby. 

"I'll be gettin' home the Saturday or Sunday before Christmas, whatever, " promised Skipper Zeb, "and I'll be stayin' for a fortnightholiday when I comes. "

"Won't you be home before then?" asked Charley in astonishment. 

"No, I has to keep tendin' the traps once I sets un, " explained SkipperZeb. "'Tis the only way to get fur. "

"I should think you'd get dreadfully lonesome on the trail alone, " saidCharley, "and we'll miss you. "

"A busy man's not havin' time to get lonesome. 'Tis only idleness thatmakes for lonesomeness. "

The sky was heavily clouded the following morning, and a brisknortheasterly breeze, cold and raw, was blowing. Toby and Charley badegood-bye to Skipper Zeb, and hoisting the sail departed for Double UpCove. 

"The breeze'll be helpin' you now, " shouted Skipper Zeb from the shore. "Make the most of un, and don't be takin' too much time to boil thekettle at Swile Island!"

"Aye, " shouted Toby, "we'll be makin' the most of un. "

Charley watched Skipper Zeb standing on the shore and looking longinglyafter them, and then turn back to his lonely work in the wilderness, andhe, himself, felt suddenly very lonely. 

With unexpected suddenness the wind rose to half a gale before they hadspanned two-thirds of the distance to Swile Island. The boat shippedseveral seas, and while Charley bailed the water out, all of Toby'sseamanship was required to keep her on her course, until at length, totheir great relief, a landing was made on the lee side of the island. 

"I was sure we'd be wrecked again!" exclaimed Charley when he and Toby, dripping wet, had hauled the prow of the boat upon the sloping rock ofthe island shore. 

"'Twere a bit rough, " admitted Toby. "We'll have to bide here till thewind goes down, and I'm thinkin' there'll be snow before we gets thekettle boiled. "

"And we haven't any tent!" exclaimed Charley in consternation. 

"We'll be makin' a lean-to with the sail, " suggested Toby. "We'll notfind un so bad. We'll make un before we boils the kettle. "

The boat was unloaded, and under the lee of a big rock, where they wereprotected from the wind also by a grove of spruce trees, Toby selectedtwo trees about seven feet apart, and five feet from the ground andlashed a pole from tree to tree. He then cut several poles, and arrangedthem evenly with one end resting upon the pole which he had lashed tothe tree and the other end sloping back to the ground. To make thesloping poles secure and hold them in place, he laid another polebetween the trees, and on top of the sloping poles, lashing this alsofirmly into place, and then placed a log over the ends of the poles onthe ground to hold them in position. 

With Charley's assistance he now spread the boat sail over the poles, and tied it into place. Then at each end of the lean-to be and Charleyplaced a thick barricade of spruce brush. A floor of boughs finished andmade comfortable the shelter, and a fire built against a rock in frontof it, that the rock might serve as a reflector, soon made the lean-towarm and snug. 

There was no abatement of wind, and snow was falling thickly before theyhad finished eating, and when they were through, Toby suggested:

"I'm thinkin' we'd better haul the boat up farther and turn she over. "

"All right, " agreed Charley, "let's do it now. It don't look as thoughwe'd get off the island to-day. "

"Not till the wind stops, whatever, " said Toby. "We may have to bidehere two or three days, _I'm_ thinkin'. "

This was a new adventure. Charley rather enjoyed the prospect of it, andToby perhaps equally as well, and as they walked down to their landingplace they chatted merrily about what they would do, when all at onceboth boys stopped and looked at each other aghast. The boat was notthere!

"She's gone!" exclaimed Toby. "The tide were risin' up and floatin' sheoff!"

"What shall we do?" asked Charley in dismay. "We can't get off theisland without a boat!"

"'Tis a bad fix, " confessed Toby. "They's no way o' gettin' off theisland without the boat. I'm not knowin' rightly what to do. 'Tis theworst fix I _ever_ were in!"

The snow was now falling heavily, driven in thick, swirling clouds bythe gale. Everywhere they looked along the shore, in the vain hope thatthe boat may have drifted in at some other point, and eagerly theylooked out into the drifting clouds of snow in the equally vain hopethat it might be seen floating near enough to the shore to be recoveredby some means. But nowhere was it to be seen, and the two boys, depressed by a sense of helplessness to extricate themselves from thesmall, isolated and nearly barren island that had so suddenly becometheir prison, turned back to the partial protection of their improvisedshelter. 

Disconsolate, they sat under the lean-to and talked over their dilemmawhile the snow beyond the fire grew thicker, and the wind shrieked andhowled dismally through the trees. 

"You thinks 'twere bad when the ship leaves you at Pinch-In Tickle, "said Toby finally, "but we're gettin' in a wonderful sight worse fix!"

"Yes, " agreed Charley dejectedly, "of all that's happened, this is theworst fix of all. "

"All we has to eat, " continued Toby, "is half a loaf o' bread, a smallbit o' pork and enough tea for one or two days, besides the three geeseDad were sendin' home to Mother. "

"Perhaps we can get some game on the island?" suggested Charley. 

"No, " said Toby, "they's no game here. 'Tis too small an island. "

"Is any one likely to come this way in a boat?" asked Charley hopefully. 

"No, " answered Toby discouragingly. "We're clost to the head o' the bay, and nobody ever comes here except Dad. We're sure in a wonderful badfix, Charley. "

XII

THE PANGS OF STARVATION

When the first shock at the loss of their boat had passed, youthfulbuoyancy of spirit asserted itself, and the two castaways looked morehopefully upon their position. By eating lightly, Toby declared theycould make a goose last them two days, and thus they had six days'rations of goose. The other food they would consider another day'srations. Thus, while they would not have as much to eat by any means asthey might wish, they would do fairly well for a week. 

"'Tis the comin' o' winter, " prognosticated Toby. "'Tis gettin' frostierall the time, and when the storm clears 'twill settle down to steadyfreezin' day and night. If she does, the bay's like to fasten over soon, and then we'll be walkin' back to Double Up Cove on the ice, andcouldn't use a boat if we had un. "

"How long will it likely be before the bay freezes?" asked Charleyanxiously. 

"Soon as the wind stops and she calms down. After she begins freezin'she'll keep freezin' and ice is like to make fast, " Toby explained. "Theice'll hold us in one or two days after she fastens, whatever, andthere'll be fine footin' then to Double Up Cove. "

"Then we're not likely to be here very long, and that's a comfort, " saidCharley, much relieved. 

"Not so long, I'm thinkin', " agreed Toby. 

There was a good deal of driftwood on the island shores, and dead woodscattered over the island, and upon Toby's suggestion they carried aquantity of this to the lean-to, and piled it at one side of the bigboulder against which the fire was built. A huge pile was collected toserve as a reserve supply of fuel, that they might have a-plenty on handto serve their needs, should the storm continue for two or three days, as Toby predicted it would, in which case the dead wood scattered overthe island might be buried so deeply beneath the snow that they couldnot reach it. 

When Toby deemed the supply of dead wood sufficient, even in case of agreater emergency than he anticipated, he felled some green trees, trimmed the branches from the trunks, and cut the logs into convenientlengths for use upon the fire, and these Charley carried to the lean-toand piled at the opposite side of the boulder, that either dry or greenwood might be had as desired. 

"The green wood's slow to get started, " said Toby, "but 'twill burnlonger and keeps a fire longer. "

Toby's judgment in collecting a reserve supply of fuel proved sound. Before night came a sudden and decided increase in the fall of snowrendered it unsafe to move a score of feet from the shelter, and theboys were thankful for the foresight that had led them to provide forthe emergency. 

Comfort and luxury are measured by contrast and comparison. The mailboat had seemed to Charley bleak and uncomfortable as compared to theluxurious home he had just left. The cabin at Pinch-In Tickle hadappealed to him as a crude and miserable shelter in contrast to the mailboat, and he had wondered how the Twigs could exist in a place so barrenof what he had always looked upon as the most necessary conveniences. But after his experience on the trap boat, and the retreat from theDuck's Head camp, the Twig home, at Double Up Cove, in all itssimplicity, was accepted by him as possessing every necessary comfort. Now, in contrast to the buffeting snow and wind which he and Toby hadbeen fighting all day, even the rough lean-to assumed a cozy atmosphere, the fire before it blazing cheerily, and the boulder against which thefire was built reflecting the heat to the farthest corner. 

"I never thought a place like this could be so snug, " said Charley, whenthey had plucked and dressed one of the geese, and after disjointing itwith his sheathknife Toby had put it over the fire to boil in thekettle, and the two boys lay upon their bough bed basking in the warmthand sniffing the appetizing odour sent forth from the kettle, whilebeyond the fire the snow drifted and the wind whistled. 

"'Tis snug now, " agreed Toby. "'Tis an easy way o' makin' a place tobide in when they's no tent. "

"Your father always says not to worry, " said Charley reflectively. "Iknow he's right, and it never helps a fellow any to worry. I'm not goingto worry again. I'm sure the ice will come in time to get us out ofhere. When we found the boat was gone I _was_ worried though! I'malmost glad now we got caught here. When I get home and tell Dad aboutit he'll think it was just great!"

"No, as Dad says, 'twill do no good to worry, because worry unsets theinsides of our heads and then that upsets our other insides and we getssick, " commented Toby. "We're about as well off without the boat as wewould be with un. 'Tis lookin' to me like the start of winter, and if'tis, I'm thinkin' the bay'll fasten over by the time the storm's overand before we could be gettin' away with the boat if we had un, and we'dbe havin' to walk whatever. "

"Do you mean walk on the ice when it comes?" asked Charley anxiously. "Won't that take a good while? We won't starve before then, will we?"

"We may be havin' some hungry days, but we'll not be starvin', "suggested Toby. "Indians has hungry spells when they don't get deersometimes, and if Indians can stand un we can. "

"Yes, " Charley boasted, "if the Indians can stand it we can. "

It was long after dark, and the evening well advanced, when they ate amost satisfying supper of boiled goose. After they had eaten Toby cut asupply of dry shavings and kindling wood from the hearts of dead sticks, which he split, and stowed the shavings and kindling wood behind theirsleeping bags where the snow could not reach them to wet them, and theywould be ready for instant use in the morning. Then he piled an extrasupply of dry wood upon the fire, and upon this placed two of the greenlogs, remarking:

"The green wood'll not be goin' out so quick when she gets goin', andthe coals are like to keep the fireplace free o' snow longer if shedrifts in whilst we sleeps. "

Never had Charley experienced such a storm. The weather had suddenlygrown intensely cold, as he discovered when he stepped beyond the fire'sglow. Now, snuggling down into his sleeping bag, it seemed to him thatall the forces of nature had broken loose in their wildest fury. Abovethe shriek of wind was heard the dull thud of pounding seas upon therocks, and the hiss of driving snow, combining to fill the air with atumult little less than terrifying. 

Once, in concern, he spoke to Toby, but there was no response, and heknew that Toby was asleep. For a time he lay awake and listened to theroar of the storm and the thunder of the seas, and then, wearied withthe day's labours and adventures, the shriek of wind and hiss of snowand roar of pounding seas blended into blissful unconsciousness, and heslept as peacefully as he would have slept in his bed at Double Up Cove. 

When the young adventurers awoke the next morning, there was noabatement in the storm. A huge drift covered the boulder and the placewhere their fire had been, and nearly enclosed the front of the lean-to;and before they could lay a fire, a half hour's hard work was necessaryto clear the snow away, each using a snowshoe in lieu of a shovel. 

Then Toby lighted a fire, and soon the lean-to was warm again, and thekettle boiling merrily, and they ate a light breakfast of goose, alittle of the remaining bread, and one cup each of weak tea sweetenedwith molasses. 

"We'll have to be a bit careful o' the grub, " advised Toby, "and not eatall we wants. There's no tellin' how long 'twill be before the bayfreezes over. I'm thinkin' if we eats only twice a day 'twill be best. "

"That's good sense, " agreed Charley. "We'll not be doing anything butwaiting here, and we'll have to make two meals do us. "

For four days and four nights the blizzard raged without abatement, andwhen the sky cleared on the fifth day, a new intense cold had settledupon the world. When the boys were able again to venture forth, theydiscovered that while the smooth rocks of the island had been sweptclear of snow by the wind, huge drifts had formed against everyobstructing boulder, and among the trees the snow lay a full four feetdeep. 

"It's a good time for me to learn to use snowshoes, " suggested Charley. "I'm going to put them on and try them. "

"'Tis, now, " agreed Toby. "Get un out, and we'll see how you likes un. "

Toby adjusted the slings for Charley, and then donning his own the twoset out in the deep snow on the center of the island. At the beginningCharley stumbled, and falling in the snow could not get upon his feetwithout Toby's assistance; but in a little while he discovered that hecould swing along at a good pace, and Toby pronounced him an "easylarner. "

"I'm thinkin' Dad's at Black River tilt yet, " said Toby when thesnowshoe lesson was finished and they had returned to their fire. "He'llbe havin' a wonderful bad time settin' up his path again. The martentraps'll be above the snow, settin' on trees, but the mink and foxtraps'll be deep enough under. "

"Our snares will all be covered up, " suggested Charley. "We'll neverfind them. "

"We'll never dig _they_ out, whatever, " agreed Toby. "When we gets homewe'll be settin' new ones. "

"It seems to me it must be cold enough to freeze the bay, " said Charleywistfully. "We haven't much goose left, and if it doesn't freeze soonwe'll not have any left. "

"'_Tis_ cold enough, " said Toby, "but the sea'll have to calm downbefore she freezes. We'll have to bide here three or four days more, _what_ever. "

Two days later they ate the last of the goose, and that night went totheir sleeping bags with no breakfast in view for the following morning. Still the waters of the bay gave no promise of freezing when they awoke. Heavy seas were breaking in from the eastward, though for three days thesky had been clear. 

With scant meals the boys had been hungry for several days, and now withnothing to eat they became ravenous. They could talk of little else thanthe good things they would have to eat when they were safely back at thecabin at Double Up Cove, and the possibility of the early freezing ofthe bay. Every little while during the day they wandered out along theshore in the hope that they might discover that the sea was calming, only to return each time with little to encourage them. 

"I'm as hollow as a drum, " Charley declared when night came and they hadsettled in their sleeping bags. "I don't see how I can stand it anotherday. Isn't there something we can find to eat?"

"I'm wonderful hungry too, " admitted Toby. "I'm as empty as a flourbarrel that's been scraped, and I'm not knowin' anything we could findto eat, with snow on the ground. If the ground were clear we might befindin' berries, though I'm doubtin' there's many on Swile Island. Butif there are, they're under the snow and they'll have to bide there, forwe never could be findin' they. "

"It seems to me I can't sleep without something to eat, " Charleycomplained. "I just can't stand it much longer, that's all. "

"Try gettin' asleep, " counseled Toby, "and when you gets asleep you'llbe forgettin' about bein' hungry. "

Charley did get to sleep readily enough, but it was only to dream thathe was hungry, and always in his dreams he was about to get food, butsomething happened to keep it from him. 

Two more days passed, and still the boys were without food. No one canknow but one who has starved the degree of their hunger and craving forfood during this period. Nothing that might have served as food wouldhave been rejected by them or have been repugnant to them, but no morselcould they find. It was on the morning of the third day of their famine, when hunger pangs were the keenest, that Toby announced:

"I been prayin' the Lard to send the ice, and telling He how we wants toget away from here but don't know how until ice comes. Has you beenprayin', Charley?"

"No, " confessed Charley, "I've been growling around about our hard luckand about being hungry. All I know is the Lord's prayer anyhow. I neverwas taught to pray out of my head. How do you do it?"

"Just talk to the Lard like you talks to anybody, " said Toby inastonishment. "Ask He what you wants He to give you or wants He to do, just like you asks your Dad. "

"You pray for both of us, " suggested Charley. "Do it aloud so that I canhear it, and I'll say it over to myself, and maybe that will help. Don'tforget to tell Him how hungry we are. "

"I'm not doubtin' 'twould help, " agreed Toby. "We'll be takin' off ourcaps. 'Twill be more respectful. Mr. Stuart at the Hudson's Bay Postmakes us take off our caps when we talks to he and asks he anything. "

"Yes, and we'd better get on our knees too, " suggested Charley. 

"Aye, 'twould be respectful, " Toby agreed. "Dad says 'tis fine to kneelwhen 'tis so we can, though if we can't, to pray standin' up or rowin' aboat, or any way that's handiest. "

Taking off their caps and kneeling upon their sleeping bags under thelean-to, and bowing their heads reverently, Toby prayed:

"Charley and I are wonderful hungry, Lard. We been bidin' here on thisisland, which we calls Swile Island, goin' on ten days. We only has twomeals a day till day before yesterday, and since then we has nothin' andto-day we has nothin'. Please, Lard, calm the sea and let the bay fastenover so 'twill be right to walk on, and we'll be goin' to Double Up Covewhere our home is. You know all about it, Lard. We been doin' our best, Lard, and we don't know anything more to do. We're in a wonderful badfix, and we needs help to get out of un. We're wantin' somethin' to eat, Lard, and we'll be wonderful thankful for un. Amen. "

The boys sat down and resumed their caps, and in a moment Charley said:

"That was a bang up prayer, Toby. I couldn't have thought of a thing tosay, except that I was hungry, but you thought of everything. "

That evening Toby announced that the sea was calmer, but still too roughto freeze, and the next morning that the water was much "steadier, "though yet not enough to freeze. 

"If she keeps on steadyin' down I'm thinkin' by to-morrow marnin' she'llbegin to fasten. "

"I'm not half so hungry as I was, " said Charley, "but I'll be just asglad to get away from here. "

"That's the way I hears the Indians say 'tis, " said Toby, "and that'sthe way 'tis with me. I wants to eat, but I'm not hankerin' after un theway I was first. "

Another morning brought a calm, though still unfrozen, sea. The boyswere early by the shore to scan eagerly the waters. 

"She's smokin'!" exclaimed Toby. "She's smokin'! 'Tis a sure sign!"

"What do you mean?" asked Charley excitedly. "Do you mean that haze thathangs over the water?"

"Aye, " explained Toby, "'tis what we calls the sea smoke. "

But this time the sign failed, and another morning dawned with the seastill free from its wintry shackles. A gentle swell, but quite enough toprevent the hoped for freezing, was rolling in, and the boys, quitediscouraged, returned to their fire. 

"We can't stand it much longer, " declared Charley, making no effort toconceal his discouragement. "I'm getting so weak I don't believe I canever walk to Double Up Cove, even if it does freeze. I'm weak and I'msleepy all the time. We've been days without eating, and even when itdoes freeze you say we'll have to wait a day or two before the iceoutside will be strong enough to bear our weight. "

"Don't be talkin' that way now, " counseled Toby. "We were prayin' theLard, and He'll fix un for us. Keep a stout heart We'll not be givin' uphopes for another week, _what_ever. "

"The Lord don't seem to be answering our prayer, " retorted Charley. 

And Toby, though he hid his thoughts within his breast, realized, evenbetter than did Charley, that their position was now desperate, and thatwith another day or two without food they might become too weak to makethe journey to Double Up Cove. Even were the bay to freeze that verynight, at least two days must elapse before the water at a distance fromshore would be hard enough frozen to bear their weight, and permit themto cross to the mainland. 

XIII

THE GREAT SNOWY OWL

The cold had become intense, and in their starving condition Charley andToby felt it perhaps the more keenly. With the disappointment of anothermorning dawning and still no sign of the longed-for ice, Charley, aftermaking his declaration of discouragement and hopelessness to Toby, became quiet and morose. He had no inclination to leave the tent and thefire, and he spent his time sitting under the shelter and brooding overhis troubles. 

Toby, no less anxious, made frequent journeys along the shore. On eachreturn he would endeavour to engage Charley in conversation, but withoutresult. Charley's replies to questions were "yes" or "no, " unless astatement was necessary, and then it was given in as few words aspossible. He appeared to have suddenly developed a grudge against Toby, as though Toby were responsible for their unfortunate position, and atlength would not respond to Toby's efforts at conversation, or reply tohim. 

This was an attitude that Toby could not in the least understand, and hefinally, when Charley in silence crawled into his sleeping bag, left thelean-to, doubly depressed because of Charley's bearing toward him, andset out again to reconnoiter the island. 

"'Tis not me he's angry with, " he soliloquized, "'tis the hunger, and'tis gettin' the insides of his head sick, like Dad says worry will. "

Toby wandered aimlessly along the shore rocks. He was weak, and walkingwas becoming an effort. For two or three days he and Charley had noticedthat when they sat down their knees would unexpectedly give way to letthem down with a shock upon their seat; and when they arose, they werecompelled to stand for a moment to steady themselves lest they wouldstagger. Toby's usually brisk walk was now a lounging gait, like that ofone grown old. 

He had more than half circled the island, and was returning to thelean-to, when his eye fell upon something white, perched in a sprucetree which stood apart from the other trees. He stepped nearer, and hisheart leaped with joy. The object was a great snowy owl. 

With the best haste he could make he hurried back to the lean-to. Charley was asleep in his bag, and without arousing him Toby secured hisrifle, and returned with renewed haste and vigour to the tree. 

There still sat the owl taking its daytime rest, and quite unconsciousof impending danger. With greater care than he had ever taken before, Toby aimed, fired, and the owl came tumbling to the snow below. 

As though fearful that it might still escape from him, Toby sprang uponthe dead bird like a ravenous wolf. Tears of joy came into his eyes ashe held it up and stroked its feathers, and hugged it close to hisbreast. This would save his own and Charley's life, and how glad Charleywould be!

How he ran back to the lean-to! How he shouted to Charley as heapproached! How the two boys, their eyes wet with tears, stroked thething for a moment before plucking it! these were events that neitherever forgot while he lived. 

"The Lard sent un to us! The Good Lard sent un!" declared Toby. 

"The Lord surely sent it to save us!" said Charley devoutly. "Toby, I'vebeen a cad. I was so selfish that I was thinking that nothing matteredbut my having to stay here, and I guess I was blaming you for it. Idon't know why, for you didn't make the storm that stranded us here. Anyhow, I acted a cad, and I want to tell you how sorry I am. "

"'Tweren't your fault, " soothed Toby. "Don't think of un. 'Twere likeDad says, you got to worryin' and worry were makin' the insides of yourhead upsot. "

"Your father always says not to worry, but the Lord will help us out ofany fix, if we do our best first, " said Charley. "He's right. Isn't itjust great, Toby, that you saw it and shot it! I feel like yelling, Ifeel so happy!"

"Just get out and yell all you wants to, " grinned Toby. "We'll have onegood feed, whatever. "

In remarkably short time the owl was plucked, dressed and boilingmerrily over the fire in a kettle that was becoming rusty from disuse. 

"We'll be eatin' the broth first, and then the meat a bit at a time, andoften, " suggested Toby. "The Indians says if they eats too much whenthey first gets un after starvin' 'tis like to make un sick. Sometimesthey gets wonderful sick, too. "

"Then we'll be careful, " agreed Charley, "though it's mighty hard not topitch right in. I feel as though I could eat it all and then want more. "

"So does I, " grinned Toby, "and I'm not doubtin' you could eat un all, and I knows 'twould be easy for me to eat un. "

How delicious the broth tasted, unsalted and unseasoned as it was! Andwhen they drank it all, and temptation got the better of them and theyeach ate a small portion of the meat. 

"'Tis growing calmer on the water, " Toby announced when he had coveredthe kettle and hidden its contents from their hungry eyes. "I sees unwhen I'm out and sees the owl in the tree. The water's smokin' just finenow. Come and have a look, Charley. "

"All right, " said Charley reluctantly rising, though cheerfully. "If Istay here by the kettle, I'll not be able to leave the meat alone, andone of us mustn't have any more of it than the other. "

Down on the sunny side of the island Charley all at once clutched Toby'sarm. 

"What's that?" he whispered excitedly, pointing to a dark object lyingupon the rocks just above the water's edge. 

XIV

THE BAY FASTENS

"Down!" whispered Toby. "Keep down where you is! Don't move! 'Tis aswile!"

Charley lay prone upon the snow, scarcely daring to move, and Toby wasgone in a twinkling, moving as silently as a fox. It seemed an age thatCharley lay there before he discovered Toby edging, rifle in hand, to arock behind which he might have good vantage ground for a shot. 

Charley, tense with excitement lest the seal might take alarm, watchedToby's every movement as he wormed himself forward, then lay still, thenwormed forward again little by little. On his success might depend theirlives, and Charley realized it fully. The owl would not last long, andwould not go far to renew their wasted strength. The ice had not yetformed upon the bay, and still many days might pass before it wouldform. 

At last Toby reached the rock, and Charley held his breath as Tobyslowly and deliberately adjusted the rifle at his shoulder and aimed. Then the rifle rang out as music to Charley's ears. The seal gave aspasmodic lurch toward the water, and then lay still. Toby's aim hadbeen sure, and the bullet had reached its mark in the head, the onepoint where it would deal quick and certain death to the seal. 

Both boys ran to their game, and fairly shouted with the joy of success. They touched it with their moccasined toes, and felt it with theirhands. 

"'Tis a dotar, "[5] said Toby. "Now we has plenty to eat till the bayfastens over. "

"The Lord is _surely_ helping us!" declared Charley devoutly. "Just whenI gave up all hope of ever getting away from this island you shot theowl, and now we've got the seal!"

"Let's thank the Lard, " suggested Toby. "Dad says 'tis a fine thing tothank He for what He's givin' us, and tryin' to be doin' somethin' for_He_ sometimes, and not be always just askin' He for somethin' andtakin' what He's givin' us without ever lettin' He know how much welikes un. "

"You thank Him, Toby. I don't know just how to do it, " admitted Charley. "Dad never says blessing or gives thanks at the table the way yourfather does. "

"I'll thank He, " agreed Toby. "We'll be gettin' on our knees. "

The two boys knelt. 

"Lard, Charley and I be wonderful thankful for the owl and the swile Yousends us. And we'll be tryin' to think o' things to do for You, and wehas a chanst. Amen. "

"That makes me feel better, " Charley confessed. "Now what shall we dowith the seal?"

"I'll be gettin' a rope, and we'll haul he over to camp. "

"I'll stay here and watch it till you come back, " Charley volunteered. 

"I'll be comin' right back, and the swile'll not be runnin' away, "grinned Toby. 

"I know it, " Charley laughed, "but I just want to enjoy looking at it. "

When Toby was gone, Charley stroked the seal caressingly. He was surenow that all of their worries were at an end. His heart was light again, and he stood up and looked out over the smoking waters, and breatheddeeply of the frosty air. How lovely the world was! How glorious it wasjust to live! What an Odyssey of adventures he would have to relatewhen he reached home! And still, he mused, as wonderful as theseadventures appeared to him they were a part of the routine of life inthe country, and not one of them unusual. Toby looked upon them as apart of the day's work, and experiences that were to be expected. 

Lost in retrospection, Charley was surprised by Toby's return with therope much sooner than he had expected him. The rope was fastened to theseal, and the two boys, their hearts light with the certainty of food tosustain them and end their long fast, hauled the carcass back to theirbivouac. 

It was not easy to be abstemious in their eating. The broth from the owlhad aroused the full vigour of the appetite of both boys, which had tosome extent become dormant with long fasting. But they heeded thewarning Toby had borrowed from the Indians, and practicing self-denialate sparingly, though often. 

Toby busied himself at once in removing the seal's entrails, before thecarcass could freeze, and this he did without skinning it, explaining toCharley that if the ice formed before they had eaten the flesh, as heexpected it would, they could haul it home over the ice, at the end ofthe rope, much more easily than they could carry the dismembered joints. Extracting the liver, and laying it back under the lean-to on a piece ofbark, Toby remarked:

"We'll be eatin' the liver fried in a bit o' seal fat for breakfast. Ifwe just eats the owl to-day, I'm thinkin' by marnin' we can stand theliver, or a piece of un. 'Tis stronger meat than the owl. After theliver's gone, we'll be tryin' the flippers. "

"All right, " agreed Charley, happily. "Anything you say goes with me. I'm going to have a good time here now until we get away. "

"So'll I, " said Toby, "and we'll not be startin' till the ice is strongenough, whatever, so's not to be takin' any risk o' breakin' through. 'Tis never as thick outside as 'tis near shore. "

When they awoke the next morning, a new and strange silence had fallenupon the world. Toby sat up excitedly, and shaking Charley intowakefulness, asked:

"Does you hear un? Does you hear un?"

"Hear what?" asked Charley, sleepily. "I don't hear a thing. "

"Hear the stillness!" explained Toby. "The water's not lappin'! The bayhas fastened over! By to-morrow, whatever, we'll be leavin' here forDouble Up Cove!"

"Hurrah!" shouted Charley, now thoroughly awake. "Isn't it great, Toby!We'll start to-morrow, and to-morrow night we'll be at good old DoubleUp Cove again! Hurrah!"

Charley "heard" the silence, the impressive, gravelike silence that hadfallen upon the world. No longer was there a lapping of waters upon therocks. No breath of wind murmured through the trees. There was a silenceso complete, so absolute that Charley declared he could actually hearit. 

The boys hurried down to the shore to scan the bay, and sure enough itlay gray and still under a coating of smooth, dark ice. Toby tried itwith a stick, and already it was tough enough to bear his weight nearshore. 

"I'm doubtin' 'tis fast out in the middle yet, " said Toby, "but she'llbe freezin' all day, and she'll be fast enough all over by to-morrow, whatever. "

It was a busy day of preparation and excitement. On the morrow they weresurely to be relieved from their island prison and from an experiencethat had been most trying and that they would both remember while theylived. All of the boat gear that they had brought ashore and otherequipment and belongings were gathered together in a pile. 

"'Tisn't much, " said Toby, "but 'twould make for weariness to pack un onour backs. I'm thinkin' I'll fix up a riggin' to haul un. 'Twill beeasier than packin'. "

He proceeded to lay two of the long boat oars parallel upon the snow, and about eighteen inches apart. The blade end of the oars he connectedwith half a dozen sticks, the end of the sticks lashed firmly to theoars. The handle end of the oars he connected with a piece of rope, drawn taut, and securely tied to the handles. 

"Now stand betwixt the handles, Charley, and lift un up so's the rope'llbe against your chest, " Toby directed. 

Charley complied, and Toby tied another piece of rope to the end of oneof the oars, and where the chest rope was tied to it. Then passing therope up and in front of the shoulder, then behind the neck and down infront of the other shoulder, he secured the loose end to the other oar. 

"There, now, " said Toby, surveying his work, "she'll ride on the iceand she's right for easy haulin'. The rope up around the back o' yourneck holds she so you won't have to be holdin' she up with your hands, and you can have un free, and the rope across your chest fixes un so'syou can haul by just walkin'. "

"Am I going to haul this rig?" asked Charley. 

"We'll be takin' turns at she and the seal, " said Toby. "You'll behaulin' the one you likes to haul best, and I'll be haulin' the other. But I thinks this un'll be easier to haul than the seal. She'll beslippin' over the ice wonderful easy. We'll be lashin' the outfit on thesticks across the oar blades on the other end. 'Twill be light. Wehasn't much of un to take. We'll cache the other pair of oars here forDad to pick up next year when he's comin' up with the boat. "

"All right, " agreed Charley. "This rig will be dead easy to walk with onthe ice, and I think I'll take it and let you drag the seal, if youdon't mind. "

"I'll be goin' ahead with the seal, if you likes the rig, " planned Toby, "and I'll take a stick to try the ice, so we'll be keepin' abroad fromany bad ice. "

"You're wonderful, Toby!" exclaimed Charley admiringly. "I never wouldhave thought of fixing up a rig like this. "

"'Twill be easier'n packin' the outfit on our backs, " remarked Toby. 

Under ordinary conditions Charley would have found the fishy flavour ofthe seal's liver, and the still more highly flavoured flippersobjectionable, if not offensive, to his taste. But now he pronouncedthem delectable, and his revived appetite found no grounds for complaintor criticism. During the day they consumed the liver, and for theevening meal a pair of flippers. 

With the skin still in place that it might protect the meat and carcassof the seal in dragging it over the ice, Toby cut some liberal slices ofmeat in preparation for the frying pan in the morning, that there mightbe no delay. He also prepared an extra portion for the next day'sluncheon, which he said they could eat cold. 

Before they retired to their sleeping bags, Toby again led the way tothe ice, and tried it with his ax. It was fully two inches thick. 

"She's fine and tough, and she's makin' for thickness fast, " Tobyannounced delightedly. "She'll be twice as thick by marnin', whatever!She'd hold us now! Salt water ice is a wonderful sight tougher'n freshwater ice. "

[Illustration: SKIPPER ZEB'S OAR BROKE, AND THE BOAT WAS DRIVEN UPON AROCK. ]

That night, snug in his sleeping bag, Charley recalled the manyadventures that had befallen him since his arrival at Pinch-In Ticklenearly a month before. One peril after another had beset him, and now, the worst of all, threatened starvation upon this desolate island, wasabout to end, and he thanked God silently for his deliverance. 

To the dwellers in that far, silent land adventures are an incident inthe game of life, and their existence is truly a man's game fashionedfor the sturdy of soul and strong of heart. Everywhere in that bleakcountry adventure lurks, ever ready to spring upon the unwary. In themysterious and dark depths of the broad forests, in the open wastes ofthe bleak barrens, in the breath of the sea winds it is met suddenly andunexpectedly. And soon enough Charley was to meet it again in a strugglefor his very life, as we shall see. 

XV

LOST IN THE BARRENS

Winter, the monarch of the North, had returned to his throne to rule hiskingdom with relentless hand. Never had Charley experienced such cold asthat which met him when he and Toby left their sleeping bags the nextmorning. The air was marvelously clear and transparent. The stars shonewith unusual brilliancy, and seemed very near the earth. Frost prisms onthe snow sparkled and glinted in the starlight. 

"Our skin boots'll be freezin' stiff as sticks, " remarked Toby. "'Tistime for deerskin moccasins, for the snow'll not be softenin' again. They'll be steady freezin' all day, and _I_ thinks steady freezin' nowtill the end o' winter. "

"Oh, boy, but it's cold!" shivered Charley, as he hurriedly drew on hisduffle socks and skin boots. 

"Wonderful frosty!" said Toby, as he lighted the fire. "There's nodoubtin' the ice'll be stout enough to hold us now, whatever, andshe'll be makin' thicker all day. "

In a few minutes the fire was crackling and snapping cheerily, and theboys drew close to its genial warmth. A kettle of ice was put over tomelt for water, and some slices of seal meat to fry in the pan. 

They were eager to gain release from their island prison, and when theirmeal was eaten Toby hurriedly lashed their few belongings, including theboat sail, which had served so well as a shelter, upon the improvisedtravois, for Charley to drag behind him. A rope had been attached to thenow hard-frozen seal the evening before. Snow was thrown upon the fireto put it out, that there might be no danger of a breeze scattering theembers among the trees, which covered the center of the island with ascant growth, and burning them. Then, with cheerful hearts and eagerfeet they turned down upon the ice and set forth on their way to DoubleUp Cove at last. 

Toby, carrying a staff with which to try the ice ahead, and with theseal in tow, took the lead, while Charley, with the travois followed. How good it was to be away! How glorious the ice and the starlitmorning!

The surface of the bay, smooth and firm, proved much more solidly frozenthan Toby had expected to find it, and in a little while, when they hadpassed the center of ice lying between the island and the mainland, hediscarded his staff as an unnecessary burden. 

"She don't bend anywhere, " he said delightedly. "We'll not be needin' totry she now. Past the middle 'tis sure to be tough and thick. We'll beheadin' now for shore, and be keepin' clost inshore where there'll surebe no bad ice whatever. "

"Isn't it glorious!" Charley exploded in exuberance. "I feel likedancing a jig! Whoopla! Toby, let's yell!"

And together the boys gave a yell that made the forest on the near-byshore echo. 

"Oh, but it's great!" exclaimed Charley a little later. "I'm gladthere's no snow on the ice. This rig I'm harnessed in wouldn't drag halfso easily if there was snow. I don't mind it a little bit. I hardly feelthe difference, it slides so well. How long will it take us?"

"With the early start, we'll be getting there a bit after dinner, and wemay make un by dinner. We were startin' two hours before daylight, whatever. "

The travois continued to prove no appreciable burden to Charley, as Tobyhad feared it would. The clear frosty air was an inspiration to fastwalking, and indeed it was necessary for the boys to walk fast in orderthat they might keep the blood in circulation and comfortably warm. Hisexperience on the trail with Skipper Zeb had toughened Charley'smuscles, and improved his powers of endurance greatly, and he had nodifficulty in keeping the quite rapid pace that Toby made. 

They had been a full two hours on the trail when daylight came, andpresently the sun peeped over the eastern horizon. In the flood ofglorious sunshine that suddenly bathed the world, every shrub and bushthat lined the shore, thickly coated with hoarfrost and rime, sparkledand glinted as though encrusted with burnished silver set with countlessdiamonds. 

"How wonderful!" exclaimed Charley. "Isn't it great, Toby! I never sawanything like it!"

"Aye, 'tis wonderful fine, " said Toby. 

Even in the full rays of sunshine the snow along shore did not soften, and the ice kept dry. Charley declared that it was no warmer at middaythan it had been in the early morning. 

It was nearly one o'clock when they rounded the point above Double UpCove, and the cabin fell into view. Smoke was curling upward from thestovepipe which protruded above the roof. How cozy and hospitable itlooked! Both boys gave exclamations of pleasure, and with one accordbroke into a trot. 

Mrs. Twig and Violet saw them coming, and putting on the kettle hurriedoutside to greet them, and what a welcome they received!

"Set down now, lads, by the stove whilst I gets you something to eat, and sets a pot o' tea to brew, " admonished Mrs. Twig. "You must be rarehungry, and 'tis wonderful frosty. "

While the boys ate a hastily prepared luncheon of bread and molasses anddrank hot tea they related their experiences, interrupted by Mrs. Twig, who was cooking a substantial dinner of stewed rabbit, with frequentexclamations of concern or sympathy. 

"Vi'let and I were worryin' and worryin' about you lads, when the stormcomes, " confessed Mrs. Twig. "We were fearin' you'd be comin' in theboat. I'm wonderful thankful you gets home safe!"

The borrowed garments that Charley had been wearing were now discardedfor new, and sealskin boots were now replaced by buckskin moccasins andmoleskin leggings. 

During their absence Mrs. Twig had made for Charley an adikey of whitewoolen kersey, and another to wear over it of white moleskin cloth, thehood of the latter trimmed with lynx fur. The former was for warmth, andthe latter to break the wind and to shed snow readily. She had also madehim moleskin trousers and leggings, and a fur cap for each of the boys. The caps were made from the pelt of the lynx that they had shot on thatmemorable evening when they first set their rabbit snares. There werenew buckskin moccasins for Charley, with socks of heavy blanket duffleto wear inside the moccasins; and buckskin mittens, with inner mittensof duffle that would keep the hands comfortable on the coldest day. 

The novelty of the new life, flavoured with his many adventures, hadlong since stilled completely the pangs of homesickness that hadinsisted upon asserting themselves during Charley's first days atDouble Up Cove, and he was quite as contented as though he had alwayslived in a cabin in the wilderness. Home and the old life had meltedinto what seemed like a far distant past to him, though his father andmother were still very real and dear, and he often imagined them as nearat hand, as they were, indeed, in a spiritual sense. 

On the day after their return fresh rabbit snares were set, and on thefollowing morning when they went to look at the snares, Toby took withhim two fox traps. 

"I were seein' some footin' o' foxes on the mesh, " he explained. "I'mthinkin' we'll set the traps, and we might get a fox. Dad would bewonderful glad and we gets a fox. There's a chance we might get asilver, or a cross, whatever. "

"That would be great!" exclaimed Charley. "And can't we set othertraps?"

"Aye, when I gets everything fixed up about home we'll set some martentraps too. There's fine signs o' martens. Dad don't think we can get unhereabouts, but I sees the signs and we'll get un!"

Beyond the last rabbit snare, and a quarter mile out upon an open marsh, Toby set the first fox trap, concealing it, as Skipper Zeb hadconcealed his fox traps, with great care, and scattering bits of meataround the trap and over the snow, and a few drops of liquid from abottle which he called "scent, " and which had a most unpleasant odour. 

"Skipper Tom Ham'll be like to bring the dogs over from Lucky Bight nowany day, with the bay fast, " said Toby as they turned homeward. "I wantsto get some more wood cut to haul with un when they comes, but we'll setsome o' the marten traps up to-morrow and more of un later. "

"Oh!" exclaimed Charley. "We've been doing so many things I forgot allabout the dogs! Then we can travel with them?"

"Aye, we'll be cruisin' with un. 'Twill be a fine way for you to getused to un, helpin' me haul in the wood, and you'll be learnin' to driveun. We hauls in most of our wood in the spring, but they's some left tohaul, and if I cuts more whilst they's a chanst before the snow gets toodeep, we'll be haulin' that too, so there'll be plenty of un. "

"How many dogs are there?" Charley asked eagerly. 

"Eight of un, " answered Toby, "and 'tis the best team on The Labrador, _I_ thinks. They's the real nu'thern dogs. Dad says the nu'thern dogshas more wolf in they than others has. "

"Do they look like wolves?" Charley asked in some awe. 

"Aye, they look so much like un you could scarce tell un from wolves, only they curls their tails up over their backs and wolves don't. "

"Are they cross?" Charley inquired anxiously. 

"I wouldn't call un cross, " explained Toby. "I calls un sneaky. If theythinks they could down you, they'd do un quick enough. 'Tis best tocarry a stick when you goes abroad among un, till you gets used to unand they gets used to you. They're wonderful scared of a stick. "

"I'll carry a stick, but I'll make friends with them too. I like dogs. "

"They's not like other dogs, " warned Toby. "Maybe you won't be likin'they so much after you sees un. "

"I can hardly wait till the dogs come! I've read so much about Eskimodogs, but I never saw them pulling a sledge, and I know it's going to begreat sport traveling with them. "

"Soon as Tom brings un we'll start haulin' the wood. I'll have to beworkin' wonderful hard cuttin' more, so we'll have un hauled before toolate. The wood gets so deep under, that 'tis hard to dig un out o' thesnow. "

"I could look after the snares and fox traps, " suggested Charley, "andyou could cut wood. I can set up some more snares, too. "

"Aye, now, you could look after un, whilst I cuts more wood. You knowsfrom the tracks we makes where the traps are set, and you can find un. I'll be cuttin' no more wood after the next snow comes. 'Twill begettin' too deep by then, and I'll not be havin' long to cut un. "

"All right, " and Charley was quite delighted with the prospect ofresponsibility, and the fact that Toby would trust him to go alone. "I'll start in to-morrow morning. May I carry your shotgun when I go?"

"Aye, carry un. You may be pickin' up some pa'tridges. "

In accordance with this arrangement, Charley visited the rabbit snaresand the fox traps alone the next morning, and returned quite elated withhis experience, bringing with him three rabbits that he had found insnares and four spruce grouse that he had shot. It was dinner time whenhe appeared, and he reported to Toby, who had just reached the cabinafter a morning chopping wood, that there was nothing in the fox traps, and that he had set up three new snares. 

"That's fine, now, " Toby praised. "I were knowin' you could 'tend thesnares and traps alone. You can do un as well as I can. "

"Thank you, " said Charley, much elated at Toby's praise. "It was greatfun. "

For two more days Charley proudly followed the trail alone, and thencame a morning with a heavily overcast sky, and a keen northeast windblowing in from the bay. Toby predicted that it would snow beforemidday, and as Charley slipped his feet into his snowshoe slings, andshouldered Toby's gun preparatory to setting out to make the morninground of the traps and snares alone, Toby warned:

"If snow starts, 'twill be best to turn about and come home as soon asyou sees un start. If she comes she'll cover the footin' wonderful fast, and you might be goin' abroad from the trail. The wind'll be risin' abit, and if she blows hard 'twill make for nasty traveling and I'mthinkin' when the snow starts the wind'll come up quick, and be blowin'wonderful hard before you knows un. "

"Oh, I'll be all right, " Charley assured confidently. "I ought to knowmy way by this time, even if the snow does cover my tracks. "

"'Twill be safer to turn back, " said Toby. "Don't go to the fox traps. 'Twill do no harm to let un stand over a day. "

Charley had reached the last of the rabbit snares before the firstflakes of the threatened storm fell. He had three rabbits in a game bagslung over his shoulder, and he was hesitating as to whether or not heshould visit the fox traps or heed Toby's warning to turn back, when hewas startled by a flock of ptarmigans, or "white pa'tridges, " as Tobycalled them, rising at the edge of the marsh. 

The partridges flew a short distance out upon the marsh, and alightedupon the snow. Charley could see them plainly. They offered a good shot, and it would be a feat to bag some of them. 

Quite excited with the prospect, he followed them, and with carefulstalking brought down two, one with each barrel of his gun. Startled bythe shots, the remainder of the flock flew farther into the open marsh, and elated with his success Charley picked up the two birds he hadkilled, and following the flock soon succeeded in bagging two more. Thenext flight was much farther, but he overtook them and shot a fifthbird. They now took a long flight, and were lost in the mist of snow, which was now falling thickly. 

Forgetting all caution, Charley continued to follow in the direction inwhich the birds had disappeared. On and on he went without a thought ofdanger. He was sure the birds had not gone far, and he must have onemore shot at them before turning back. 

All at once, he found himself in a rocky, barren region. He had crossedthe marsh, and was rising upon higher ground. This must certainly, heconcluded, be a barren beyond the marsh of which Toby had told him, andhe suddenly realized that he had gone much farther than he had yetventured. 

In the brief space of time since he had last flushed the birds the windhad risen and was fast gaining strength. Already the snow was driftingso thickly that he could not see the marsh, which lay between thebarrens and the forest. But still he was not alarmed. 

"I've got five of them anyway, " he said exultantly, looking into his bagand admiring the beautiful white birds. "Toby said it was some stunt toshoot ptarmigans. I guess he'll think now that I can shoot most as wellas he can. "

With no other thought than that he could find his way to the marsh andacross it to the forest without difficulty, he turned to retrace hissteps. 

"Even if I can't see far, I can follow my tracks I made coming in, " hesaid confidently. "That'll be dead easy. "

Every moment the wind was rising, and the storm was increasing in fury. Before he had reached the marsh, the gale was sweeping the snow beforeit in suffocating clouds, and he was forced frequently to turn his backupon it that he might catch his breath. 

Presently Charley realized that he had lost the trail of his snowshoeprints, but still confident that he could find it he searched first tothe right and then to the left, but nowhere could he discover it. 

Then it was that he became anxious, and a vague fear fell upon him, andhe rushed madly about in vain search of some sign that would guide him. He could scarcely see twenty feet away, and nowhere within his limitedrange of vision was a rock or bush or anything that he had ever beforeseen. Suddenly he knew that he was lost. The thought fell upon him likean overwhelming disaster. All at once he was seized by wild terror. Hemust find the forest or he would perish! The snow was suffocating him, and his legs were atremble with the effort he had put forth. 

Dazed and uncertain he stood, with the wind swirling the snow about him, and then, with no sense of direction, like a panic-stricken animal, heplunged away into the storm. 

FOOTNOTE: [5] Old harbour seal. 

XVI

A WALL OF SNOW

Several times he fell, and regaining his feet rushed madly and blindlyabout in vain hope of finding the lost trail and escaping the doom thatseemed closing in upon him. The snow clouds were like dense walls, andhe, like a child, in puny effort wildly trying to batter them down togain his freedom. 

Finally exhaustion overtook him, and with it a degree of reason. Hislegs were weak and quivering with their effort. He began to realize thathe had been depending upon them to extricate him from the tracklessmarsh in which he wandered, instead of using reason. Limp and tremblingas a result of the mad fear that had taken possession of him, and thetremendous physical exertion he had been putting forth, he stopped andwith wild, still frightened eyes gazed at the walls of snow thatsurrounded him like an impassable barrier. 

Then his brain began to function and his reason to return. He knew thathe must reach the cover of the forest, where the trees would shelterhim from the blasts that swept the marsh. There he would find somemeasure of protection at least, and in any case the forest lay betweenhim and the cabin at Double Up Cove. 

He recalled that time and again Toby had said to him, "Dad's wonderfulfine at gettin' out o' fixes, and he always does un by usin' his head. "And Skipper Zeb himself had said, "When a man gets into a fix 'tismostly because he don't use his head, and 'tis his head has to get heout of un. His legs and his hands won't help he, unless his head tellsun what to do. "

That was logical and reasonable. He was now in a "fix, " and a worse fixindeed than that in which he and Toby had found themselves on SwileIsland. Charley crouched with his back to the snow-laden blasts while hetried to gather his senses and his poise, and these thoughts flashingthrough his mind, gave him courage. It was bitterly cold and he knewthat he must soon find shelter or he would perish. In his mad panic, hehad not only lost knowledge of direction, but had expended much of hisstrength. 

Slowly it occurred to him that the wind blew across the marsh from thedirection of the forest and toward the barrens, and was in his back whenhe followed the ptarmigans. This being the case, he reasoned, he must_face_ the wind to regain the forest. 

He was somewhere in the marsh. He knew that. The forest must lie _up_the wind. It was suffocating and paralyzing work to face it, but in thatdirection alone lay the only chance for escape and safety. His very lifedepended upon reaching the forest, and reaching it soon, and he turnedboldly to it. 

With renewed courage, he fought his way forward step by step. He wouldwalk but a little way, when dense snow clouds would force him to turnhis back upon them to regain his breath. But he kept going, now andagain stumbling and falling and then getting to his feet again tostumble on a little farther. The distance seemed interminable, andseveral times he was on the point of giving up the struggle in despair. 

Then it was that he collided with a tree. An outpost of the forest! Hisheart leaped with hope. With renewed vigour he plunged forward into windand snow cloud, and a moment later was under the blessed shelter of thetrees. 

The wind raged through the tree tops, but the thick growth of the spruceforest protected him. He did not know where he was, and could see nofamiliar thing. Finally, too weary to go farther, he crawled under thelow branches of a tree to rest. 

Charley was dozing and half unconscious when a distant crash startledhim into wakefulness. What could it have been? He listened intently. Then it came again, and he sprang to his feet excitedly. He had no doubtnow. It was the report of a rifle, and some one was within hearing. 

Through all his struggle in the marsh, Charley had unconsciously clungto Toby's shotgun. He fired one barrel, and then the other. An answeringshot rang out above the roar of the wind, and not so far away now. Heran in the direction from which it came. Then came another shot, nowquite near, and a moment later he saw Toby hurrying toward him. 

Charley's heart leaped with joy and relief. How good Toby looked! DearToby, who always seemed to be on hand when he was needed!

"You looks fair scragged!" greeted Toby. "Were you gettin' lost?"

"Lost--I was lost out on the barrens and the marsh!" and Charley wasscarce able to choke back tears of joy and relief. 

Toby after the manner of woodsmen had brought his ax. He quickly cutsome wood, and in a few moments had a rousing fire. Then he cut somepoles, and made a lean-to, which he thatched thickly with boughs, andwithin it made a couch of boughs where they could sit before the fireprotected from the storm. 

While Toby prepared and broiled two of the ptarmigans, Charley told thestory of his experiences. 

"I was scared stiff, " said Charley in closing. "If I had done as youtold me to do, and gone straight home when the snow began it wouldn'thave happened. But I didn't know a storm could come up like that, or howbad it could get in a few minutes. "

"You were usin' your head when you goes up the wind, and that gets youout of a wonderful bad fix, " said Toby. "Dad says the only way to getout of fixes is to use your head, and he knows. "

There was never a word of reproach from Toby for not having heeded hisadvice, and for this Charley was grateful. 

XVII

SKIPPER ZEB'S DOGS

Long Tom Ham was glad to have the care of Skipper Zeb's dogs during thesummer. There was always enough food from the sea for them during thefishing season, and a supply of seal meat from the spring sealing tofeed them in the fall, after the fishing season was ended. And tocompensate him for caring for the dogs, he had them to haul his winter'swood in from the forest, before returning them to Skipper Zeb, which healways did after the bay was frozen and his fall hauling was finished. 

In summer, with no work to do, and as much to eat as ever they wished, the dogs were sleek and fat and lazy, and quite harmless. But with theclose of the fishing season they were given but one meal a day, and thatin the evening, and only enough to keep them strong and in goodcondition, for fat dogs will not work well. 

With frosty weather and less food they roused from their lethargy. Thenit was that they became savage, snapping creatures, with no moreaffection for man than has the wild wolf, which was their ancestor. LongTom Ham declared that Skipper Zeb's dogs were the most "oncivil team ofdogs he ever knew. "

Toby and Charley, a week after the big storm, were returning home atmidday after a morning in the forest setting marten traps, when, just asthey came around the corner of the cabin, and the bay below them cameinto view, Toby exclaimed:

"There's Skipper Tom comin' with the dogs and komatik!"[6]

For the first time in his life Charley saw dogs in harness. They werestill a half mile away, the animals spread out in fan-shaped formation, and trotting leisurely. As they approached nearer the cabin they brokeinto a run, as though eager to reach their destination, and with shortyelps swung off of the ice and came charging up to the cabin whereCharley and Toby were awaiting them. 

Skipper Tom Ham, his beard encrusted with ice, disembarked from thekomatik, and Charley thought him the tallest man he had ever seen. 

"'Ere I ham, and 'ow are you hall?" greeted Skipper Tom through his icemask, as he extended a hand to Toby and then to Charley. 

"We're all well, " said Toby. "Were you gettin' your wood all hauled?"

"Aye, hall my wood is 'auled, and I'm most thankful I 'ad the dogs to'aul un, and most thankful to be rid of un. So Hi'm twice thankful, "said Skipper Tom following Toby and Charley into the house to join themat dinner, picking the ice from his beard as he talked. 

"Them's the most honcivil dogs I knows, " remarked Skipper Tom, as heate. "Hi comes 'ome from my traps last hevenin' and I sees Marthasittin' hup on the scaffold where I keeps the dog meat, and the dogshall haround lookin' at 'er. When she sees me she yells the dogs behafter 'er, and I says to 'er that they thinks she his goin' to feed'em, and she says she thinks they his goin' to heat 'er. Hi tells 'er tocome down, and she comes, and when we gets hinto the 'ouse she says, 'Tom, you take them dogs right hover to Skipper Zeb's, ' and so Hi bringsthe honcivil beasts hover. "

Tom chuckled at the recollection of his wife's fear and her appearanceon the scaffold the evening before. When he was through he said he mustreturn at once, or Martha would think the dogs had eaten him. Tobysuggested taking Skipper Tom home with dogs and komatik, but Skipper Tomdeclined on the ground that it was just a wee bit of a walk, and hewould rather walk and look for partridges along shore as he went. Theten mile walk to Lucky Bight was no hardship to Skipper Tom. 

The coming of the dogs was an exciting incident to Charley. They werebig, handsome creatures, though with a fierce, evil look, and a sneakingmanner that made Charley feel uncomfortable when they were loosed fromharness, and had liberty to prowl about at will. 

"'Tis a wonderful team, " Toby declared proudly. "They comes fromNuth'ard dogs, though we raises they all from pups. Some of un has wildwolves for fathers. Tinker there is one, and so are Rocks and Sampson. They comes from the same litter. That un over there is Nancy. I namesshe from a schooner that calls at Pinch-In Tickle every spring. That unnext she, with the end of his tail gone, is Traps. Whilst he were a puphe gets the end of his tail in a trap, and loses the end of un. Iremember his howlin' yet! Nancy and Traps be brother and sister. Tuckerand Skipper and Molly are the names of the others. We gets un from thePost when they's just weaned and are wee pups. They tells us they haswild wolf fathers too, but I'm not knowin'. "

"That man that brought them told me, when I went to pat one of them onthe head, that they were bad, and not to touch them, " said Charley. 

"You can't trust un, " admitted Toby. "I knows un all, and I plays withun when they's pups, but if I were trippin' and fallin' down among unnow, I'm not doubtin' they's tear me abroad. "

"After you raised them from pups, and always had them, and feed them andeverything?" asked Charley, horrified at the suggestion. 

"Aye, they has no care for man, and whilst they'll mind me a wonderfulsight better than they'd be mindin' a stranger to un, they'd be tearin'me abroad if they has the chance just like a band o' wolves, " warnedToby. 

"They don't look so terrible, though they do look sneaky, as you toldme the other day they are, " said Charley. 

"Aye, sneaky, and as I tells you, 'tis never safe to go abroad among ununless you has a stick in your hand, and if they comes close strike atun. They're wonderful afraid of a stick. When they gets used to you, just kick at un, and 'twill keep un off, and then you won't be needin' astick. "

"I'll look out for them, " Charley promised. 

"Tinker's the leader in harness, " said Toby. "He were always quick tolearn, and I trains he whilst he were a pup when I plays with he beforehe's big enough to drive with the other dogs. Sampson's the boss, andout of harness he has his will of un. He's a bad fighter. "

"He's an ugly looking brute, " observed Charley. 

"With the dogs about you'll be wantin' to learn to use the whip, "suggested Toby. "They fears un worse than a stick. 'Tis fine sport tolearn to crack un, and you'll soon learn to do that, whatever. "

Toby brought forth the dog whip. It was a cruel looking instrument, witha lash of braided walrus hide, thirty-five feet in length, and a heavywooden handle about eighteen inches long. Toby was quite expert in itsuse. He could snap it with a report like a pistol shot, and attwenty-five or thirty feet distance he could, with the tip of the whip, strike a chip that was no bigger than a half dollar. When he had givenan exhibition of his skill, he passed the whip to Charley. 

"Now you try to snap un, " said he. 

It was great fun learning to handle the long whip, and though in hisfirst awkward attempts Charley sometimes wound the lash around his ownneck, where it left a red, smarting ring, with much practice he learned, in the course of two or three days, to snap it fairly well and withoutdanger to himself. 

During the days that followed Toby and Charley used the dogs and sledge, or komatik, as Toby called it, to haul wood that Toby had cut in thenear-by forest. During this time Charley was gradually becoming familiarwith the dogs, and sometimes Toby would permit him to guide the komatik, though he himself was always present to exact obedience from the team. 

The wood hauling was done in the afternoon, while the mornings weredevoted to a visit to the rabbit snares and several marten traps, whichToby had set in the woods, and to the two fox traps on the marsh. Fivefine martens had been caught, but no fox had been lured into eithertrap, when Toby suggested one morning, three weeks after the arrival ofthe dogs, that they drive the team on the coast ice to a point oppositethe marsh, and by a short cut through the forest drive out upon themarsh. 

"I'm thinkin' if we moves the fox traps from the mesh to the barrenswe'd be gettin' a fox there, " said he. "'Twould be a long walk out tothe barrens to tend un, but if we takes the dogs and komatik we'd havegood travelin' for un everywhere exceptin' through the short neck ofwoods. "

"Let's do!" Charley agreed enthusiastically. "It'll be a lot quicker, and it will give us a fine trip with the dogs every day when we go tolook at the traps. "

And so it was arranged, and so it came to pass that on that very dayCharley met with his first adventure with the dogs, and a most unusualone it was, as Toby declared. 

While it was nearly twice as far to the marsh by this roundabout route, the bay ice was in excellent condition for the dogs, and they traveledso briskly that they arrived at the point where they were to turn intothe woods much too soon for Charley. Here in the deep snow it wasnecessary for them to tramp a trail for the dogs with their snowshoes, but the distance was short to the marsh, and once there the dogs againhad a good hard bottom to walk upon. 

Toby took up the two fox traps, and drove the team to the edge of thebarrens, where the dogs were brought to a stop, and under the threat ofthe whip compelled to lie down. 

"'Tis rocky and bad travelin' in here, and if we takes the komatik we'llhave to help the dogs pull un some places, " said Toby. "The wind sendsthe snow abroad from the rocks, and plenty of places they're bare. I'mthinkin' now if you stays with the dogs and komatik, I'll go and set thetraps. I'll be back in half an hour, whatever. "

"All right, " agreed Charley. "I'll stay with them. "

"If they tries to get up, take the whip and make un lie down, " Tobydirected. "Keep un lyin' down. "

Toby strode away upon his snowshoes, and quickly disappeared over a lowknoll. For the first time Charley was alone with the dogs, and he feltsome pride in the fact that they were under his direction. 

Suddenly Sampson became restless, and he and Tinker rose to their feet. Charley snapped the whip over them, and reluctantly they lay down. 

But it was only for a moment. All of the dogs had their noses in theair, and before Charley could quiet them they were all on their feetrestlessly sniffing the air. Charley swung the whip, and shouted at themto lie down, but they were beyond his control, and would not lie down, but jumped and strained at their traces, giving out short whines andhowls. He struck at Sampson with the butt end of the whip, and Sampsonsnapped at him with ugly fangs, and would have sprung upon him had thedog's trace not held him in leash. 

Then the komatik broke loose. Charley threw himself upon it, stillclinging to the whip, as the dogs, at a mad gallop, turned across a neckof the marsh and toward a low hill that rose at the edge of the barrensand a quarter of a mile to the westward. 

The komatik bounced from side to side with every hummock of ice itstruck, and several times was in imminent danger of overturning. Charley shouted "Ah! Ah!" at the top of his voice in vain effort to stopthe mad beasts, and then "Ouk! Ouk! Ouk!" and "Rahder! Rahder! Rahder!"in the hope that they would swing to the right or to the left and returnto the starting point. 

But on they went, howling more excitedly and going faster and fasteruntil, suddenly, at the farther side of the neck of marsh and at thevery edge of the barrens, the komatik struck a rock and with the impactthe bridle, a line of walrus hide which connected the dogs' traces tothe komatik, snapped. The yelping, howling dogs, freed from the komatik, ran wildly and eagerly on, and soon passed over the lower slopes of thehill and out of sight. 

Charley, dazed at what had happened, watched the dogs disappear. Then, in sudden realization that they had escaped from him and were gone, heran after them calling them excitedly but vainly. 

He had not run far when all at once he saw them swing down over the browof the hill toward the komatik, and he turned about and ran to thekomatik to intercept them with the whip, which he was still dragging. The dogs were before him, a snarling, fighting mass. He was sure theywould tear each other to pieces. He was about to lay the whip upon themwhen to his amazement he discovered that there were many more than eightdogs fighting, and that the strangers were even more ferocious creaturesthan those of the team, and wore no harness. 

He brought down his whip upon the savage mass. Immediately one of thestrange animals turned upon him, showing its gleaming white fangs, andwith short, snapping yelps was about to spring at him, when Sampson, taking advantage of the animal's diverted attention, snapped his fangsinto its neck. 

Then it was that the truth dawned upon Charley. The strange beasts werenot dogs, but a pack of the terrible northern wolves of which he hadheard. It was plain, too, that the dogs were no match for them, and thenthe thought came to him that he had no firearms and no means ofprotecting himself against them. 

XVIII

THE FIGHT WITH THE WOLVES

A Cold sweat broke out upon Charley's body. His knees went limp. He feltlike one receiving the sentence of death. He was sure that he wouldpresently be torn to pieces by the savage beasts. 

The wolves were getting the better of the fight. They were one less innumber than the dogs, but the dogs were hampered by their harness, andthey were not as free to spring aside and snap at their enemy as werethe wolves. Tucker and Traps, bleeding and mangled, were falling backand trying to escape. The other dogs were fighting valiantly, but theywere fighting a losing fight, and Charley's untrained eyes could seethat there would soon be an end of it, with the wolves victors. 

Toby had taken his rifle with him, and Charley was unarmed. There was nochance for defence, and no escape. There was not a tree nearer than thefarther side of the marsh that he could climb, and long before he couldreach the woods the fight would be over and the wolves would be afterhim. 

His eyes, as he looked helplessly about, fell upon an ax tucked underthe lashings of the komatik. With nervous hands he drew it forth, andheld it ready to strike at the first attacking animal. 

Sampson and a big gray wolf were facing each other, and each maneuveringfor an opening to snap at the other's throat. The wolf's back was towardCharley, and not two paces away. With a sudden impulse he sprang forwardand brought the ax down upon the creature's head. It fell and lay still. He had killed it with one blow. 

The two wolves that were attacking Tucker and Traps, sensing a new andmore formidable enemy, turned upon Charley. Swinging his ax he held themat bay, while they crouched, watching for an opening, their lips drawnback from their ugly fangs, while with ferocious snaps and yelps theyvoiced their defiance. 

Then came the sharp report of a rifle, and one of the wolves fell. Thenanother report, and the other crumpled by the side of its dead mate. 

The remainder of the pack, suddenly aware of a new and unknown danger, broke from the dogs and ran, with bullets from Toby's rifle raisinglittle spurts of snow around them until they disappeared over a spur ofthe hill. 

"I hears the fightin', " said Toby, "and I runs as fast as I can. I seesyou knock that un over with the ax. 'Twere wonderful plucky, Charley, tofight un with an ax. "

Charley sank, weak and trembling, upon the komatik. 

"I--thought--they'd--kill--me, " he said. 

"'Twere lucky I hears un. " Toby stooped and felt of the fur of one ofthose he had shot. "They's prime, and we gets three of un, whatever. They pays six dollars for wolf skins at the post, and we'll be gettin'eighteen dollars for un. The dogs gets cut up some, but not so bad, andthey'll get over un. "

Charley made no response. He was not interested in the character orvalue of the fur. He was too close to the peril from which he hadescaped. He had been face to face with what he had believed to becertain death. How could Toby treat the incident with so little concern, and apparently with so little appreciation of the grave danger justended? He was giving first thought to the value of the pelts, as thoughthat mattered in the least. 

Toby, on his part, did not in any degree deprecate the peril in whichCharley had been placed, but now that it was ended, why should he talkabout it or even think about it? This was a habit of his life, a life ofunremitting endeavour in a stern land with its own dangers andadventures which Toby accepted as a matter of course and to be expected. In his city streets Charley might dodge an automobile at a crossing andescape with his life by a hair's breadth, but Charley would scarcelygive such an adventure a second thought. But to Toby such would havebeen an adventure to think and talk about and to remember with a thrill. 

To Toby now, the matter of chief importance was the fact that he andCharley had earned the trade value of three wolf pelts, which waseighteen dollars, and that was a good day's wages. The danger was at anend and behind them, and no longer worth a thought; the reward wasbefore them, and Toby began immediately, as a habit of life, to enjoy itin anticipation. 

While life warmth was still in the carcasses, the boys turned theirattention to the removal of the pelts, after first securing the dogs andrepairing the broken bridle. As Charley worked his interest in histrophy grew, and he was as proud of it as he had ever been of anythingin his life. He had killed a wolf at close quarters! It was anachievement to be proud of, and what normal boy or man would not havebeen proud of it?

This was the first pelt that Charley had ever secured by his own effort, and when they reached home he insisted upon stretching it himself, witha word or two of advice from Toby. Then, with a sheathknife, and withmuch pride, he scraped it free from every particle of clinging flesh andfat. 

None of the dogs, as an examination disclosed, was seriously injured, though Tucker and Traps had suffered severe lacerations from the wolffangs, and these two were relieved from team work for several days. 

During the week following the adventure with the wolves, good fortunesmiled upon the young hunters. More martens were captured, increasingthe number of marten pelts to nine, and Toby shot an otter. 

But the crowning event of the winter, and, Toby was sure, the big eventof his life, came two days after the fox traps had been removed from themarsh to the barrens, when Toby found in one of them a silver fox. Theyall declared, as did Long Tom Ham, who came over from Lucky Bight to seethe pelt, that it was the blackest, thickest and longest furred, andglossiest silver fox they had ever seen. 

"'Tis rare fine fur, " said Mrs. Twig, shaking out the pelt and holdingit up to admire it when it was finally dry and Toby had removed it fromthe board that it might be packed carefully and safely away in one ofthe chests. 

"Aye, " boasted Toby, "'tis that. 'Twill be worth five hundred dollars atthe post, or four hundred _what_ever. "

"Now we'll not have to skimp so with things, " said Mrs. Twig happily. "The silver'll get us a wonderful lot o' things we needs, and 'twill paythe debt at the post. "

"We has the marten skins, too, " said Toby. "They's worth at the postthirty dollars apiece, good martens like they. Skipper Tom Ham says thatbe the price this year for good black martens, and all we has is black. I'm thinkin' the otter'll be bringin' fifty dollars whatever. 'Tis awonderful fine skin o' fur. "

"You and Charley were wonderful lucky gettin' fur, " said Mrs. Twig inpraise. 

In another ten days Skipper Zeb would come home from his trappinggrounds to bring the pelts he had captured, and to take back with him, after a fortnight's rest, a fresh supply of provisions. 

Skipper Zeb's mid-winter return was always an occasion for greatrejoicing, but this winter it would have an added flavour of joy. All ofthem were keenly anxious that he see the silver fox pelt, and Tobydeclared he could hardly wait to show it to him. 

"'Twill be a rare treat for he, now, " said Toby. 

It was an event, indeed. Even Skipper Zeb had never in all his lifecaught a silver fox. Toby and Charley were justly proud, too, of theirsuccess in catching martens. Skipper Zeb had smiled indulgently whenToby had told him that with Charley's help he would set some martentraps, and Skipper Zeb's only remark had been, "'Twill be fine practicefor you lads, " never expecting that they would get a pelt. Indeed, Toby's previous winter's trapping had resulted in nothing but rabbits, but that was due, Toby had complained, to the fact that his mother hadnot permitted him to go so far alone into the forest. But this year hewas older, and with Charley's companionship she had made no restrictionsupon bounds. 

"And there are the wolf skins, " said Toby. "I wants Charley to take unhome with he when he goes next summer on the mail boat. Twere he thatfought for un, and they belongs to he. "

"Aye, they belongs to Charley, " agreed Mrs. Twig, "and half the martenstoo. If 'tweren't for Charley bein' here to go along with you, youcouldn't have got un, with all the work you were havin' to do with thewood, to make you bide home. If Charley were havin' a rifle when hemeets the wolves he'd have got more of un, and the dogs wouldn't havegot cut up so bad. "

"I wish I had a rifle, " Charley suggested eagerly. "I've got sixtydollars my father gave me before I left him. Is there anywhere I couldbuy one with that?"

"You'll be needin' that to pay your passage back home, " Mrs. Twigcounseled. "You needs some warm underclothes, and I'm thinkin' now youand Toby might take the dogs and komatik and go to Skipper Cy Blink'stradin' store at Deer Harbour, and take three of the marten skins andtrade un in for a rifle and what you needs, and Toby can get some thingswe're needin' in the house. "

"Oh, I wish we could!" Charley exclaimed. "But the skins aren't reallymine, " he added more soberly. "I owe you a lot for keeping me here, andfor all you've done for me, but Dad will pay you for that when I gethome. "

"You owes us nothing, " declared Mrs. Twig, a little out of patience thatCharley should have suggested it. "You pays for all you gets in work, and half the skins be yours, whatever. "

"Thank you, " said Charley gratefully, "but I can't help feeling thatyou're doing a lot more for me than I deserve, and I'm sure a good dealmore than I've earned. "

"You earns all of un, and more than you gets, " insisted Mrs. Twigkindly. "'Tis wonderful fine to have you here with Toby, and we'regettin' to think so much you belongs to us 'twill be a rare hard thingto see you go. You lads better be startin' for Deer Harbour in themarnin'. You'll be reachin' Pinch-In Tickle by noon, whatever, with thefine footin' for the dogs, and Deer Harbour by night. Comin' back thenext day you can bide the night at Pinch-In Tickle, and fetch back thefishin' gear that needs mendin', so 'twill be here to work on whenthey's time to work on un. "

Charley and Toby were as excited as they could be, and that evening allarrangements were made for an early start in the morning. It was to beCharley's first long dog journey, and that night he lay awake a longtime thinking of the wonderful journey he was to have, and of the newrifle he was to buy. 

FOOTNOTE: [6] Sledge. 

XIX

CHARLEY'S NEW RIFLE

Breakfast was eaten early, and long before daylight, which in thatlatitude does not come at this season until nearly ten o'clock. Toby andCharley brought the komatik box into the cabin that Mrs. Twig might packit for them. 

In a cotton bag as a protection, the precious marten pelts were storedin the bottom of the box. Then came the provisions consisting ofhardtack, which would not freeze as would ordinary bread, tea, a bottleof molasses, a liberal quantity of salt pork, and the necessary cookingutensils. As a precaution in case of accident some extra duffle socks, and an extra pair of buckskin moccasins were included for each, and Tobyadded some cartridges for his rifle. 

The box packed, it was lashed upon the rear of the komatik, and on thefloor of the sledge, in front of the box, Toby spread an untannedcaribou skin, and upon it lashed their sleeping bags, securing his rifleand an ax under the lashings, and tying to them his own and Charley'ssnowshoes. 

"Look out for bad ice, and be wonderful careful on the ballicaders, "[7]cautioned Mrs. Twig, as Toby broke the komatik loose and the dogs dashedaway down the decline to the bay ice. 

A big full moon lighted the ice, which stretched before them for milesin an unbroken white sheet. Rime filled the air, and soon their clothingwas coated with a film of frost. In the silvery moonlight they passedthe black cliff of the Duck's Head. They were well down the bay whendaylight came, and at last the sun rose, and its glorious rays set therime-filled air shimmering like a veil of silver. 

An hour before noon they reached Pinch-In Tickle, and stopped in thecabin to boil the kettle and eat a hasty luncheon. What memories itrevived of the day when Charley first entered the door with Toby, andwas first greeted by Skipper Zeb! How miserable a place in which to liveCharley thought it then! How alone and deserted he felt! Now it appealedto him as not uncomfortable, and here he had found friends and awelcome; and the thought came to him that when the time to leave TheLabrador came he would feel equally as badly at the leaving as he had atthe entry. 

Upon investigation, the ice in the tickle proved unsafe, and in thecenter there was some open water, where the tide surging in and out ofthe narrow passage had not permitted it to freeze. 

In order, therefore, to reach the sea ice outside, it proved necessaryto cross the low ridge of hills to the eastward of the cabin, whichCharley and Toby had climbed on the day that the mail boat desertedCharley. 

The ridge was bare of trees, and there was a hard coating of icy snowupon its rocky surface. From the cabins to the summit the slope wasgradual, and with some help over the steeper places, the dogs hauled thekomatik to the summit with little difficulty. 

The descent to the sea ice on the opposite side was much more abrupt. Immediately it was begun, the komatik began to coast, and Toby threw aring of braided walrus hide over the front end of one of the runners. This "drag, " as he called it, was three feet in diameter and as thick ashis wrist. The lower side of the ring, dragging back under the runner, was forced into the hard snow, and thus served to retard the komatik, but even then it gathered such speed that the dogs were forced to turnaside, lest it should run them down, and to race with it as fast as theycould run. Toby threw himself upon his side upon the komatik, clingingto it with both hands, and sticking his heels into the snow at the sideand in front of him, and running with the komatik at the same time, putforth all his strength to hold it back. 

This is exceedingly dangerous work, as Charley realized. A singlemisstep might result in a broken leg, and even worse injury, and Charleyheld his breath in expectation that some such catastrophe would surelyhappen before they reached the bottom. 

Once a dog's trace caught over a rock. The dog was sent sprawling, andCharley expected that the speeding komatik would strike and crush thehelpless animal. But fortunately the trace slipped over the top of therock just in time for the dog to escape, and in a moment it was on itsfeet again, racing with its companions. 

They had covered two-thirds of the descent, when to their horror theboys saw a ribbon of black water, several yards in width, separatingthe shore from the sea ice. They were dashing directly toward it attremendous speed, and Charley was sure that they could not avoid aplunge into its cold depths. 

"Roll off!" Toby shouted. 

Charley rolled clear of the speeding komatik, pitching over and over, and finally sliding to a stop, dazed and bewildered, but in time to seethe komatik, bottom up, at the very brink of the chasm. Toby wassprawling just above it. The dogs, with traces taut, stood above himbracing themselves to hold the sledge from slipping farther. 

"Oh!" cried Charley running down to Toby, who was up and righting thekomatik before he could reach him, "I was sure we were going over!"

"We were wonderful close to un!" said Toby. "When you drops off, I jerksthe front of the komatik and that makes she turn over and roll, and whenI does un the dogs stops and holds fast. If 'tweren't for that we'd suregone into the water and liker'n not been drowned. "

"What'll we do now?" asked Charley. "We can't reach the sea ice. "

"Follow the ballicaders, " said Toby, indicating a narrow strip of icehanging to the shore above the water. "'Twere careless of me not tothink of the open water. This early in winter 'tis always like thisabove and below the tickle. "

For nearly an hour they traveled upon the ice barricade. Sometimes itwas so narrow that Charley's heart was in his mouth in fear that thekomatik would slip over the brink. But Toby was a good driver, and atlast they came in safety to the end of the water, with the ocean solidlyfrozen as far as they could see. 

Here they turned upon the sea ice, and presently left the shore behindthem to cross a wide bay. The sun was setting, and they were approachingland on the opposite shore of the bay, when Toby remarked:

"We're most there. Deer Harbour's just around that p'int you seesahead. "

Just before dusk they drove up to the little log house and trading storeof Skipper Cyrus Blink, and glad enough they were to be met at the doorby Skipper Blink, who greeted them most heartily, and helped them tounharness their dogs and unpack their komatik, and when they had fed thedogs ushered them into the warm cabin, where Mrs. Blink, who had seenthem coming, had a pot of hot tea ready to pour and a "snack" to eat to"stay their stummiks" till supper would be ready. 

Skipper Blink's store, or "shop" as he called it, was in a small roomadjoining the living-room. It was a most primitive emporium of a mostprimitive frontier. Its stock of goods was limited to the necessities ofthe people, and consisted chiefly of flour, pork, molasses, duffle, practical clothing, arms and ammunition, with a pail of "sweets, " orhard candies that at some remote date might have laid claim to being"fresh. " It was a small branch shop of the Hudson's Bay Company'sestablishment known as the "Post" at Snow Inlet, some twenty miles tothe northward, and Skipper Blink received from the Company a commissionupon the trade which he did. 

Charley could scarcely restrain his eagerness to hold in his hands thenew rifle which he was to purchase, and when he and Toby had finishedtheir "snack, " he asked:

"Have you any guns for sale?"

"Aye, " said the Skipper, "I has three shotguns in the shop and threerifles. What kind now would you be wantin'?"

"A rifle, " said Charley. "Do you think I might see it now?"

"You can see un, " answered the Skipper obligingly. "I'll fetch un rightin here where 'tis warm. I has a forty-four carbine, a forty-five rifleand a thirty rifle. The forty-five would be a bit heavy for you. Theforty-four is fine and light, and so is the thirty, and that's awonderful far shootin' and strong shootin' gun, but the ca'tridges comeshigh. "

"Thank you, " said Charley, "I'd like to look at the rifles. "

Accordingly Skipper Cy lighted a candle, and passed through the doorleading to the shop, presently to return with the three rifles. 

"Now here be the forty-four, " said he, presenting the carbine forinspection. "'Tis a wonderful light fine gun for a lad. "

"It's just like yours, isn't it, Toby?" Charley asked. 

"Aye, " said Toby, "the one I has is a forty-four carbine, just like thisun. "

"'Tis a fine rifle for any shootin', " explained Skipper Blink. "'Tisstrong enough for deer or bear, if you hits un right, and 'tis fine forpa'tridges if you shoots un in the head. I finds un fine to hunt with, and 'tis not so costive as the others. "

"Let me see the forty-five, " suggested Charley. "That looks like a big, strong gun. "

"Here 'tis now, " and Skipper Blink handed it to Charley. "'Tis awonderful sight stronger shootin' gun than the forty-four, but 'tis abit too heavy for a lad like you to pack. 'Twould make for weariness, packin' she all day. "

"It is heavy, " agreed Charley, returning it to Skipper Blink, and eyeingthe thirty caliber. "May I see the other one?"

"Aye, and there 'tis now. She's the best, and I keeps she for the last, "said Skipper Blink proudly, as he delivered it into Charley's hands. "_She's_ a rifle now. She's the best and strongest shootin' gun I eversees. "

"This isn't heavy, " said Charley. "I like it mighty well. Try it, Toby, and see what you think of it. "

"She is fine and light, " said Toby. "I likes un better'n theforty-four. "

"So do I, ever so much, " said Charley taking it back from Toby, andhandling it caressingly. 

"You knows a good gun when you sees un, lad, " flattered Skipper Blink. "I were thinkin' when you asks to see un that you'd be pickin' that un, and I were sayin' to myself, 'There's a lad now what knows a gun, andhe'll be wantin' the thirty. ' But 'tis the most costive of all of un. "

"I'll take it anyhow, " agreed Charley, fondling the arm, quite sure thathis happiness depended upon owning it, and recognizing it as theundoubted aristocrat of the three. 

"That's right, lad, " beamed the Skipper. "When the bullet from that unhits a deer, you'll be gettin' the deer, whatever. Let me get a bit o'rag and wipe the grease off of she. And we'll take the ramrod and wipeout the barrel. 'Tis clogged full o' grease, and if you shoots shewithout cleanin' she out 'tis like to split she. "

When Skipper Cy had cleaned the gun to his satisfaction he handed it toCharley, with the suggestion:

"You'll be needin' some ca'tridges--a hundred, whatever. "

"I'll take a hundred and fifty, " said Charley proudly. 

"They comes twenty in a box, " advised the Skipper. "If you takes sevenboxes 'twill do you. 'Tis all I has. "

"Very well, " agreed Charley. 

It was Charley's first gun. He fondled it and handled it, and scarce putit down until Mrs. Blink announced supper, and they sat down to anappetizing meal of bruise. [8] Both boys were hungry, and Skipper Cyurged them to eat. 

"Fill up, now, " he would say. "Take more of un. You lads have had a longday cruisin', and I'm not doubtin' you're fair starved. "

And they ate and ate of the bruise until they could eat no more, withall the good Skipper's urging. 

When they were through Skipper Cy took them into the store, or "shop" ashe called it, where Charley purchased fresh underwear for himself andfor Toby to take the place of that which Toby had let him use, and Tobypurchased necessities which Mrs. Twig required at home, and still therewas a small balance left to Charley's credit. 

"I'd like something for Mrs. Twig, " suggested Charley. "Have youanything you think she'd like?"

"Just the thing! Just the thing!" and Skipper Cy produced a small woolenshawl. "She'll like un for her shoulders. Mrs. Blink wears one of un, and she's wonderful proud of un, and says 'tis a rare comfort. "

"Mother _would_ like un wonderful well, " advised Toby, much pleased atCharley's thoughtfulness. 

"All right, " agreed Charley. "And now I want something for Violet. "

"I has just the thing for the little maid!" Skipper Cy beameddelightedly. 

Going to a chest he produced a really nice and prettily dressed littledoll. 

"Here's a doll I gets at the Moravian Mission. I gets un because 'tis apretty trinket, but I has no use for un. Take un to the little maid fromme, and tell she I sends un to she. "

"Vi'let never has a doll in her life, but just a bit of cloth tiedaround a stick Mother fixes up for she and she calls a doll!" exclaimedToby delightedly. 

"It is _just_ the thing! But I want to pay for it, " insisted Charley. "Iwant to give it to her myself. "

Finally it was agreed that Charley should pay Skipper Cy the price thathe had paid the Mission folk for it, and he was perhaps quite as happy, and even more happy, with the thought of the pleasure his gifts wouldgive Mrs. Twig and Violet than with his new rifle. 

This closed Charley's purchases, and still he found that there was asmall balance due him. This balance, he insisted, Toby should use inselecting something for himself, and Toby acquired some additionalcartridges for his rifle, confessing that his supply was low, and fromthe pail of ancient candy a quantity of "sweets" to take home; andthough the candy was hard with age, in this land where luxuries arescarce, it was hailed as a great treat. 

They were up and had their breakfast before daylight, as is the customin this country, and with daylight the boys went out to try Charley'snew rifle, which proved to be an accurate and strong shooting gun, andquite equal to Skipper Cy's recommendation. Charley found, indeed, thathe could make a better target with it than with Toby's rifle. And it waswell that he had taken this early opportunity to become accustomed toits mechanism, as events proved. 

Shortly after sunrise they said good-bye to Skipper and Mrs. Blink, andwere on their way to Pinch-In Tickle, where it was their purpose tospend the night. 

When they passed out and beyond the point and the shelter of land theymet a stiff southeast wind, and looking at the sky, Toby stopped thedogs. 

"'Twill be blowin' hard before noon, and 'tis like to move the ice, "said Toby. "'Twill take two hours whatever to make land the other side. "

"What can we do?" asked Charley. "Can we go around?"

"We'd not make un to-day, " said Toby. "I'm thinkin' by hurryin' the dogsa bit we can make un. The ice'll not go abroad unless the wind blows agood bit stronger than 'tis blowin' now. "

"Hadn't we better go back and wait until we're sure?" asked Charleyanxiously. 

"If we goes back and waits we'll not be gettin' home to-morrow, " Tobyobjected. "We promises Mother we'd be home by to-morrow night whatever. "

"Let's take a chance at it, " said Charley. "This wind can't move theice, and we can get across before it gets blowing much harder. "

"Ooisht!"[9] called Toby, breaking the komatik loose, and away went thedogs. 

"Oksuit! Oksuit!"[10] Toby kept calling to the dogs, snapping the whipover them and urging them ahead. 

"What's that?" It was an hour later, and Charley pointed to a greatmoving object a half mile seaward. 

"A white bear!" exclaimed Toby, after a moment's scrutiny. 

"Can't we get it?" Charley excitedly clutched his new rifle. 

"We'll try un! Rahder! Rahder! Rahder!"[11] Toby shouted in rapidcommand, as rapidly as he could speak the word. 

Slowly the dogs turned to the left and toward the bear. Suddenly a sniffof the animal came down the wind. Immediately the dogs sprang forward intheir traces, and with short, sharp yelps were in wild, unrestrainedpursuit. The komatik swayed from side to side, now on one runner, now onthe other with every ice hummock it struck. 

The bear did not run. Either its dignity, its confidence in its ownstrength and prowess, or resentment that any should dare invade itssilent domain led it to face about upon its enemies. 

FOOTNOTES:[7] Ice barriers skirting open water. [8] Hardtack and salt codfish cooked together. [9] Go on. [10] Hurry! Hurry![11] To the left. 

XX

THE REBELLION OF THE DOGS

"He's like to run before we gets to he, " shouted Toby, between bumps ofthe speeding sledge, "but I'm thinkin' the dogs'll catch he before hegets to open water if he tries gettin' away. "

But the bear did not run. He rose upon his haunches, and looked upon theadvancing dogs with apparent contempt, the monarch of the ice fields. 

"He's a whopper!" exclaimed Charley, his heart beating double time, asToby by means of the drag cautiously slackened the speed of the team, and at a safe distance came to a stop, with the dogs, eager to be at thebear, springing in their traces and emitting snarls and growls andlittle impatient yelps. 

"Don't shoot till I gets the dogs clear!" warned Toby. "If he comes atun whilst they's in harness they won't have a chanst to dodge he!"

Toby threw the komatik upon its side, with its nose against an icehummock as an anchorage, and observing this maneuver, the bear resumedall fours and began a retreat with a lumbering, but astonishingly rapidgait, toward the northward. 

"Go after he and shoot!" Toby shouted, at the same time, with feverishhaste, endeavouring to loosen his rifle from its lashings upon thekomatik, and losing no time in unleashing the dogs. 

The bear was already fifty yards away when Charley fired. It was not along shot, but in his excitement he missed, and the report of the rifledid not, apparently, in any manner decrease or accelerate the bear'sspeed. Again Charley fired, aiming more carefully, and this time thebear stopped and bit at a wound in its flank. Taking advantage of theanimal's pause, Charley ran toward it, and fired a third shot. Now thebear bit at its shoulder, and suddenly in mighty rage turned uponCharley and charged him. 

A cold chill ran up and down his spine, and his hair stood upon end, when he saw the mighty hulk of the enraged beast coming at him. Again hefired, but on came the bear, and Charley turned and ran. 

[Illustration: THE GREAT PAW SENT TOBY SPRAWLING. ]

In the meantime, Toby had extricated his rifle and was running toCharley's assistance. They were taking a direction at right angles toToby, which gave him an excellent opening, and with careful aim he firedupon the bear. 

The bear paused to bite at a fresh wound, and discovering a new enemy, turned upon Toby who fired again, but with no apparent effect. Hoping toplant a bullet in the bear's head, Toby held his ground. He threw thelever forward to eject the empty shell, and jerked it back to insert afresh cartridge with undue haste, and to his consternation it jammed. Hejerked at the lever, but it would not move. Beads of perspiration brokeout upon his forehead. The bear was less than a dozen feet from him. 

Toby dropped his gun and ran, but he knew he could not outdistance thefurious animal at his heels. At that moment Charley's rifle rang out. The tip of the bear's great paw reached Toby and sent him sprawling, andas he fell the bear suddenly sank with a grunt like the dying exhaust ofan engine. 

"You got un! You got un!" exclaimed Toby, springing to his feet. 

"I thought he was going to get you!" said Charley, all atremble. 

"He just touched me!" Toby boasted. "'Tis the first white bear killed inthese parts in two years, whatever!"

Toby and Charley gloated over their prize, and when they had examinedthe carcass, Toby declared that it was Charley's last shot, just behindthe shoulder, that had killed it. 

"My shots takes un too far for'ard, and all your shots hits un too farback, except one, " Toby declared. 

Nearly an hour was occupied in skinning the bear, and in packing andlashing the meat upon the komatik. While they packed the meat, the dogswere permitted to feast upon the offal, as their reward, and when allwas ready they turned their faces again toward Pinch-In Tickle, quiteelated with their success. 

Travel now, with the heavily laden komatik, was slow, and the overfeddogs required constant urging. Completely engrossed with the capture andskinning of the bear, both Toby and Charley had quite forgotten aboutthe unstable condition of the ice. Now they were aware that the wind wasblowing considerably harder than when they had started. Charley was thefirst to speak of it. 

"The wind has stiffened, " said he with some concern. "The bear made usforget about the ice. Do you think it's all right?"

"That's what I'm thinkin' about. " Toby looked worried. "We'll soon beknowin'. If the ice has gone abroad from the shore, we're in a worse fixthan the bear had us in. "

"What'll we do if it has?" asked Charley with a sinking heart. 

"'Twill be a bad fix. 'Twill be a wonderful bad fix. I'm not knowin' howwe'd be gettin' out of a fix like that. I'd be wishin' Dad was here toget us out of un. He's always findin' a way out of fixes. We won't bethinkin' about un till we finds out. Dad says folk worry more aboutthings that don't happen than about things that do. "

On they went in silence, tense with uncertainty, for another half hour. Charley was thinking about what Skipper Zeb had said about worry whenthey were in the camp at the Duck's Head, and Skipper Zeb's philosophyhelped him to keep his courage. 

"Ah!" Toby suddenly shouted to the dogs, and they came to a stop at thecommand. "She's gone abroad from the shore!" and he pointed at a long, black streak of water between the ice and the shore ahead. 

"What'll we do?" asked Charley in a frightened voice. "Can't we get toland?"

"We'll try un to the west'ard, " suggested Toby. "The ice'll hold theshore longer there. 'Tis only half as far from here as we've come fromthe p'int this side of Deer Harbour. There's a narrow place in the baywhere I'm thinkin' the ice may clog and hold. "

With this he shouted "Ooisht!" to the dogs, and breaking the komatikloose, "Ouk! Ouk! Ouk!" until they were pointing toward the oppositeshore of the bay, and farther inland. 

"And you runs ahead of the dogs now, " suggested Toby, "'twill help un towork faster. I'll push un with the whip. Make toward the Capstan. That'sthat round hill you sees over there, " and Toby pointed to a lonelymountain to the westward. 

Charley set forth at a trot. His example, aided by Toby's threateningwhip, accelerated the speed of the dogs perceptibly, and the shore beganto loom up. But the sky had clouded, and presently a fine mist of snowshut out the Capstan, which was Charley's guide, and at last the entireshore line was clouded from view. 

For some time the dogs had persisted in edging toward the right, whichwas seaward, though Toby held them to their course with the whip. Aftera little while he called to Charley to come back. 

"I'm thinkin' you don't go straight since the snow comes and you can'tsee the hill, " he explained. "I'll be goin' ahead for a bit and youdrive. "

"All right, " agreed Charley. "I can drive the team, and you'll know theway better in the snow. "

Still the dogs were obstinate. They at once recognized the change indrivers, and took advantage of Charley's inexperience. Charley used thewhip, but he could not handle it as effectively as a driver should, andthe dogs gave little heed to it. They insisted upon taking an angle tothe right of Toby's trail, and Charley found that he could notstraighten them out upon the trail. 

In desperation he ran forward to the side of the team, with the whiphandle clubbed, to compel obedience. Sampson showed his fangs, andsnapped at Charley's legs. This was a signal for open rebellion on thepart of the whole team. They came to a standstill, and faced him, showing their fangs, and one or two of them sprang at him, but were heldin leash by their traces. 

Toby, looking behind, discovered the situation and came running toCharley's assistance. Taking the whip from Charley he quickly had themutinous dogs reduced to sullen submission. 

"I'll not be goin' ahead of un again, " said Toby. "'Tis not helpin' tomake they go any. The dogs act wonderful queer. They won't follow likethey always has. "

Toby urged them forward. They whined and whimpered, and at last some ofthem lay down, and Toby was compelled to beat them into action. 

It was directly after this that they came to open water. The boys lookedat each other in consternation. 

"What'll we do?" asked Charley. 

"I'm not knowin', " confessed Toby. "The ice has gone abroad from theshore, and we're driftin' out to sea. "

"Shall we be--lost?" asked Charley in dull terror. 

"It may be she's just settled off from shore here, " suggested Tobyhopefully. "She may be holdin' fast up the bay above the narrows. We'lltry un whatever. "

He commanded the dogs to go on. They sprang to the traces, but turned tothe right. Against their will, and with free use of the whip, hesucceeded in swinging them to the left and up the wind. Reluctantly andslowly they moved. They seemed aware of their danger. They weredissatisfied. 

At length Tinker, the leader, squat upon his belly. Toby cracked thewhip over him with a command to go on, and he turned upon his back, pawsin air, as though in meek appeal. Toby clipped him with the tip of thelash, and he sprang up, turning to the right, and Toby lashed him backinto the course to the left. He gave no display of savagery, as didSampson, but appeared to be beseeching his young master to do somethinghis master could not understand. 

The cold had grown intense. The wind had become a stiff gale. The airwas filled with a blinding dust of snow, so thick that Tinker, theleader, could scarcely be seen from the komatik. The wind was in theirface, and Toby and Charley and the dogs struggled against it as againstan unseen wall. The ice was heaving with an under swell. Now thekomatik would be climbing an incline, now dashing down another. 

At last the dogs in sullen mutiny rebelled against further action. Tinker squatted upon the ice, and the other dogs followed his example, save Sampson, who faced about at Toby, snarling and showing his fangs. No beating could induce them to move ahead in the direction in whichthey had been traveling, though they made several attempts to swingabout to the right. 

XXI

THE CARIBOU HUNT

The mutinous dogs eyed Toby's whip. They feared the whip, but no fear ofit could induce them to advance farther, in the face of the storm, uponthe unstable ice. 

"What can we do now?" asked Charley in an appealing tone. 

"I'm not knowin' what's ailin' the dogs, " answered Toby ratheruncertainly. "I can't make un go ahead, and we can't bide here, whatever. I'm fearin' with the way the ice heaves she's gone abroad atthe narrows. 'Tis no worse to the east'ard than 'tis here, and that'sthe way the dogs wants to go. I'm thinkin' to let un go that way. "

"But that will be going out to sea!" exclaimed Charley in alarm. 

"Aye, but the mouth of the bay is quite a bit out past Deer Harbour, andwe're a good bit inside Deer Harbour P'int now, " Toby explained. "Tillwe gets beyond the mouth of the bay I'll be hopin' to get ashore. We'llturn back before we goes too far, unless the ice floats us out. "

"Let's get farther from the edge of the ice anyhow, " said Charley, as agreat heave of the ice under his feet nearly threw him down. 

"Aye, 'tis like to break up here any time. We'll let the dogs have theirwill, " agreed Toby, but not hopefully. 

With that he commanded the dogs to rise, which they did readily, andbreaking the komatik loose he gave them the order to the right, and awaythey went with a will, and with apparent satisfaction that they had wontheir way in facing toward the eastward. 

Now, with the wind nearly behind them, the animals traveled steadily, and with no urging. It was much less trying, too, for Toby and Charleyas well as for the dogs. 

"The ice has about stopped its roll, " said Charley presently, and withfresh hope. "It's a lot steadier. "

"She is that, " admitted Toby. "I were just thinkin' that the dogs knowsmore than we does about un. "

And so it proved. Following the ice that bounded the open water alongthe north shore of the bay, they observed that the chasm of waterseparating the ice from the land was narrowing. Presently, to theirgreat joy, the open water came to an abrupt end, with the ice firmlyconnected with the shore. 

"We're just across from the p'int outside Deer Harbour, " said Toby. "Wecan make un to Deer Harbour now, and bide there till the storm passes. We'll be findin the Deer Harbour ice fast, I'm not doubtin'. "

"But we'll keep close to shore!" suggested Charley cautiously. 

"Aye, we'll do that, " agreed Toby. "We'll be takin' no more chances withthe ice. "

An hour later they again drove up to Skipper Cy Blink's trading store, and received a hearty welcome from the Skipper. 

"I'm wonderful glad to see you! Wonderful glad!" greeted the Skipper. "I've been blamin' myself ever since you goes for lettin' you start withthe wind the way she were, and fearin' all the time you'd be gettin'caught in a break up. "

Skipper Cy Blink made much of the bear that Charley had killed with hisnew rifle, and admitted that such game would surely have made himforget, quite as readily as it had the boys, about the danger of theice going abroad. 

"'Twere fine you knocks he over, " enthused the Skipper. "I never couldhave let a white bear pass without _tryin_' to knock he over, whatever. You lads bide here in comfort till the storm passes. 'Twill be a shortun. I'm thinkin' 'twill clear in the night, and the wind'll shiftnuth'ard before to-morrow marnin', and before to-morrow evenin' theice'll be fast again on the bay. "

And, as Skipper Cy had said, so it came to pass, and on the secondmorning after their return Toby and Charley turned again toward Pinch-InTickle and Double Up Cove, with the ice beneath them as firm and solidand safe as ever it was. 

How glad the boys were to reach Pinch-In Tickle! There would be no moredanger of bad ice to face, and the difficult ballicaders were behindthem, a fact that was particularly appreciated by Charley. 

They made a rousing fire in the stove, and fried some bear's meat tosatisfy a hunger that had been accumulating since they had left DeerHarbour in the morning. Then a fishing net that needed repairs was madeready to lash upon the komatik with the load in the morning, the dogswere fed, and they settled for a cozy evening while they talked overtheir adventures, and Charley's new rifle. 

"'Tis the finest shootin' rifle I _ever_ sees, " declared Toby, addingwistfully: "I wishes I had one like she. Maybe with the silver foxDad'll be lettin' me have un. "

"When I get home I'll have my Dad send you one, Toby, " Charley promisedimpulsively. "Don't say a thing to your father about it and I'll sendyou one and him one too. I'd let you have mine, only it's the first oneI ever owned, and I shot the bear with it. "

"Charley, you're wonderful kind!" and Toby's face beamed with pleasure. "But, " he added seriously, "'twould be too much, Charley. You mustn'tsend un. "

"No it won't be too much, " insisted Charley. "I want to do it. It willmake me feel happy. "

It was late the following afternoon when they reached Double Up Cove. The komatik was laden much more heavily than on the outward journey, andthe dogs, perforce, traveled much more slowly. 

When they had unloaded the komatik, and carried the meat and othercargo into the cabin, they brought in the komatik box, but before theyunpacked it Mrs. Twig and Violet must needs see Charley's new rifle, andhe exhibited it with due pride to be admired with real appreciation. 

The komatik box was then opened, and Charley drew forth the shawl andpresented it to Mrs. Twig. 

"Oh, Charley, lad!" she exclaimed, holding it up. "I been wantin' ashawl all my life and never has un, and this un is a _rare fine_ shawl. 'Twere wonderful kind o' you to think o' me and get un!"

Violet was standing wistfully by, and she hugged her mother to show howdeeply she shared her mother's pleasure. 

In the meantime Charley was delving into the depths of the komatik box, and now he brought forth another package, which he presented to Violet, remarking:

"There's something for you, Violet. I hope you'll like it. "

Skipper Blink had packed the doll most carefully in a box, that itsdainty dress might not be soiled. In great eagerness of anticipationViolet removed the wrappings one by one. When at last the doll wasdisclosed, she gasped for a moment, then caught her breath, and then ina spasm of joy hugged it to her breast with eyes brimming with tears. 

"Oh! Oh! Oh! How _pretty!_ How _wonder_ful pretty!" she cried inecstasy. "I _loves_ un! I _loves_ un! Oh, _Charley!_" and with one armhugging the doll, she flung the other arm around Charley's neck inunrestrained joy, and kissed his cheek. "Charley, you brings me thefirst doll I _ever_ has in my life!"

It was the most sincere exhibition of appreciation and pleasure Charleyhad ever witnessed, and the pathos of it made him wink hard to keep backthe tears that threatened to come into his own eyes. 

In the kindlier land from which he came, where dolls and other toys arelavished upon the children, and they accept them as a matter of course, and soon cast the old ones aside for the new, no such joy as that whichViolet experienced is possible. She was at that moment certainly thehappiest little girl in all The Labrador, and perhaps in all the world. And for many years to come that doll was to be her most preciouspossession. No other could ever take its place. She talked to it andloved it as though it were human, and alive, and to her it was indeed aliving thing. She told it all her joys, and went to it for comfort inall her sorrows. 

What exclamations of appreciation there were when Toby produced theancient "sweets" that he had purchased from Skipper Blink! They were ashard and ordinary and stale as ever candies could be, and at homeCharley could not have been tempted to taste them. But here even hepronounced them excellent, and to the others they were indeed a raretreat. 

Just as Mrs. Twig announced supper one evening a week after the boys hadreturned from their trip to Deer Harbour and their adventure with thebear and on the ice, the door unexpectedly opened and there stoodSkipper Zeb in the lamplight, laughing heartily at the fine surprise hehad given them. 

Violet ran to him and threw her arms around him, and every one gatheredabout him in joyful welcome, while he picked ice from his eyelashes andhis beard, and chuckled contentedly:

"Well, now! Here we be, safe and sound and snug! Everybody well andhappy! 'Tis wonderful fine to be back. "

"'Tis wonderful fine to have you back!" Mrs. Twig declared, andeverybody echoed the sentiment. 

When he had taken his things off, and properly greeted every one, andToby and Charley had unpacked his toboggan and carried into the househis winter's catch of pelts and his traveling equipment, he turned toCharley. 

"Well, now!" said he. "You looks like a Labradorman! And how does youlike livin' at Double Up Cove? 'Twere a proper way to get out of thatfix you gets in when the mail boat leaves you, I'm thinkin', from theway you looks! Rugged and well! And everybody happy!"

"I've had the best time this winter I ever had in my life, " Charleydeclared. 

"Well, now! That's the way to talk! That's the way to make the best of abad job! 'Twere lookin' like a wonderful bad job you makes of un, and awonderful bad fix you gets in, when the mail boat goes and leaves you. But you gets out of the fix and makes the best of what you finds andturns trouble into a good time! That's what I calls risin' abovetrouble, " and Skipper Zeb slapped Charley upon the shoulder in heartyapproval. "Now we'll set in and eat. I'm as hungry as a bear, and Icould eat a bear if I had un to eat. "

"'Twill be bear's meat you'll eat, " smiled Mrs. Twig, placing a dish ofmeat on the table. 

"Charley knocks un over, and 'twere a white bear, " Toby announced. "AndCharley fights a wolf pack, and knocks one of un over with an ax. "

As they ate Skipper Zeb heard from Toby the stories of Charley's fightwith the wolves and of the shooting of the bear, interrupting thenarrative with many delighted exclamations. 

"Now I wants wonderful bad to hear how you lads were makin' out to getback to Double Up Cove after you leaves the Black River tilt, " saidSkipper Zeb. "The wind comes to blow a gale before you has time to getto Swile Island, and I wonders and wonders about un, and I fears yougets in a wonderful bad fix. But they's no way I can be helpin', so Isays, ''Tis no use to worry. To-day's to-day and to-morrow's to-morrow, and so I'll trust the Lard and the good sense o' the two lads to get unout o' any fix they gets in. '"

"Were you findin' the oars we caches on Swile Island?" asked Toby. 

"Aye, I finds un, but I'm not findin' the boat, " nodded Skipper Zeb, apuzzled look on his face. "I'm not knowin' what to think o' that. When Ifinds the oars this marnin' I says, 'The lads gets to Swile Island, whatever. ' But when I'm not findin' fin or feather o' the boat, I'm notknowin' what to think about un. I figgers that they's no chanst to getaway from Swile Island with the boat, whatever, with the storm and thehigh seas that's runnin' for a week or ten days, and I knows you'll begettin' out o' grub. "

Then Toby told him of his own and Charley's experiences, and while helistened admiringly he asked many questions. 

"Well, now! With good sense and the Lard's help you pulls out of awonderful bad fix. You does all you knows how, and then prays the Lard. That's the way! 'Tis no use wastin' time prayin' till you does your bestfirst, " and Skipper Zeb nodded his head approvingly. "Well, now!" andleaning back his head he looked at Charley approvingly. "When you shootsa deer I'll be namin' you a Labradorman! 'Tis the proudest name I'mthinkin' of, and _that_ you'll be! There's a fine chance to knock oversome deer right handy. I sees fine footin' this evenin'. A big band ofdeer's workin' down this way, and they're like to come out any time. 'Tis a wonderful big band. Some years they comes and some years theydon't. This year they comes. "

Skipper Zeb explained to Charley that at this season of the year thesnow became so deep in the wooded interior that the caribou, or wildreindeer, had a great deal of digging to do with their hoofs to reachthe thick beds of moss which covered the ground beneath the snow, andupon which the animals chiefly fed. 

He also explained that each fall the caribou gathered in great bands orherds, and when food became hard to get, they would move or migrate tobarren places, where the wind, its force unobstructed by trees, sweptthe greater part of the snow from the moss covered ground, and thus itwas much easier for the animals to reach food. Such a barren was thatwhere the wolf fight had taken place, and where Toby had caught his fox. 

"This band, I'm thinkin', is on the barrens to the nuth'ard of the mesh, where you fights the wolves, " said Skipper Zeb. "The footin' goes thatway. We'll have a look in the marnin'. "

Not a sign of caribou had Toby or Charley seen the whole winter, andSkipper Zeb's statement that a large herd was so near was exciting news. All winter they had been living upon rabbits, partridges and anoccasional porcupine. Caribou venison would be a great treat, and theboys were keen for the hunt. 

The great event of the evening was reserved until after they had eaten. Then Toby, with much dignity, opened a chest and brought forth the otterand marten skins, and, as a climax, the silver fox pelt. Skipper Zeb wasquite overcome. His praise of the boys was unstinted. 

"I makes a fine winter's hunt myself, " said he, "but nary a silver has Iever caught. I has a rare fine catch of martens and minks, and one crossfox, three reds and seven whites, but I never catches a silver. 'Tisworth all the fox skins I gets three times over!"

"And now we'll be havin' a wonderful lot o' things we needs, " Mrs. Twigsmiled happily. 

"Aye, _that_ we will!" Skipper Zeb boomed heartily. "We can afford unnow without stintin'. We'll have un! We'll have nigh to anything we'reminded to buy!"

Breakfast the following morning was an exciting meal. The boys couldscarce restrain their eagerness to be away to the barrens to look forcaribou, and they could talk of nothing else. 

"I'm thinkin', " suggested Skipper Zeb, "that if you lads had done a bitof huntin' back over the barrens after you sees the wolves that you'dhave found some scatterin' deer there then. Wolves follows deer andkills un to eat, and there's not like to be wolves when there's no deerabout. "

As soon as breakfast was finished the dogs were harnessed, and day wasjust breaking when Skipper Zeb and Toby and Charley set forth on theircaribou hunt. They had scarcely reached the marsh below the barrens whenthe dogs began to sniff the air, and to show much eagerness to goforward. 

"See un sniff! See un sniff, now!" and Skipper Zeb grinned. "The wind'sdown from the barrens, and the dogs smells the caribou. We'll find unfeedin' there, and there'll be aplenty of un. "

At the edge of the barrens the komatik was stopped, and the dogs weresecured that they might not interfere with the hunting. Then the threeproceeded cautiously, with their rifles ready, over the slope of aknoll, Skipper Zeb in advance. On the summit of the knoll Skipper Zebhalted, and pointed to a moving mass nearly a mile away. 

"See un?" said he. "There's hundreds of un! There's not much dangerwe'll startle they, with the wind nuth'ard. When deer are in big bandsthey don't startle easy. We'll get all we wants of un. "

Gently rising knolls punctuated the barren plateau. Skipper Zeb, leadingthe way, set forward at an easy but rapid pace. As they approached thefeeding herd, he practiced some caution, until at length he stopped, crouching behind a rock, until the boys joined him. 

For some time, following depressions between the knolls, the caribou hadbeen hidden from view. Now, peering over the rock, they saw the greatherd directly before them. Hundreds upon hundreds of the sleek, gracefulanimals, spreading over the hills and knolls beyond, were pawing awaythe hard snow and eating the thick growth of moss that lay beneath it, with some old bucks strolling among them as sentinels. 

"We're in fine shootin' range, and we'll be gettin' all we wants of un, "said Skipper Zeb. "Go at un now!"

Charley was so excited that he could hardly hold his rifle, but he aimedand fired. Skipper Zeb and Toby fired at the same time, and the threecontinued to shoot into the herd until fourteen of the fine antleredbeasts lay stretched upon the snow. 

"That's enough of un!" directed Skipper Zeb. "'Twill be all we wants, and there'll be enough for Long Tom Ham, too. We'll knock down no morethan we can use handy. "

With the report of the rifles the animals had begun to move restlesslyabout. Some of the bucks were snorting, but because the wind was blowingdown from the herd toward the hunters, no smell of their enemies reachedthe caribou. The sound of shooting and even the view of the hunter willoften fail to startle a herd, unless they get the smell. But somethinghad happened to some of their number, and the sentinels were on thealert. 

Skipper Zeb, with Toby and Charley, stepped out from cover andapproached their victims. Suddenly panic seized the herd. It isprobable that in their sudden terror the animals did not see or realizethat these were the enemies that had attacked them, but with one accordthey started forward. Slowly at first the great herd moved, and then, inan instant, were in a wild stampede. 

The three hunters stood directly in the pathway of the fear-blindedanimals. On they came, the thousands of hoofs beating upon the frozensnow with an ominous roar like that of a great wind, and smashingeverything before them. 

"Run! Run! They'll trample us down!" yelled Skipper Zeb. 

They turned and ran, but they could not run with half the speed ofdeer. 

XXII

THE STRANGER

On came the caribou like a brigade of charging cavalry, tramping allbefore them. Forward they swept in blind panic, as relentlesslydestructive as an avalanche, and no more easily stopped or turned aside. 

Skipper Zeb and the two boys ran as they had never run before. OnceCharley slipped and fell, but was on his feet in an instant. It was anuneven race, and there was no hope of outdistancing the sea of animalsin mad flight. 

Skipper Zeb knew this, but he hoped to find refuge for himself and theboys behind a boulder large enough to protect them in its lee. Such aboulder caught his eye, and yelling at the boys at the top of his voice, that he might be heard by them above the roar of the pounding hoofs, hedirected them to follow him. The foremost caribou were at their heels, when they crouched, breathless with their running, behind the boulder, and not an instant too soon. Here in safety they watched the herd sweeppast them like ocean waves. 

Nearly as quickly as the stampede began it ended. The herd swung to thenortheast, began to slow its pace, and presently the three hunters sawthe rear of the herd in the distance, no longer running, but stillmoving around restlessly before the animals resumed their morningfeeding. 

Eight of the carcasses of those they had shot were hauled to the cabinthat morning, and while Skipper Zeb busied himself skinning and dressingthem, Toby and Charley, in the afternoon, loaded another on the komatikand drove over to Long Tom Ham's at Lucky Bight, and in the eveningbrought him back with them that he might prepare and take home with himthe meat and hides of those that had been reserved for his use; and forthis purpose Skipper Zeb loaned him the dogs and komatik. 

In that land neighbours are neighbours indeed. They never lose anopportunity to do one another a good turn; and just as Skipper Zeb hadthoughtfully shot the animals for Long Tom, and provided the means forLong Tom to take them home, others would, he knew, if occasion offered, do him a similar kindness. 

It was no small job to skin the carcasses and prepare the meat. Thesinews were cut from the backs, scraped carefully and hung in the cabinto dry. Later, as she required them, Mrs. Twig would separate them intothreads with which to sew moccasins, and boots, and other articles ofskin clothing. The tongues were preserved as a delicacy. The livers andhearts were put aside to serve as a variety in diet. The back fat wasprized as a substitute for lard. The venison was hung up to freeze andkeep sweet for daily consumption. 

What a treat that venison was! Charley declared he had never tasted suchdelicious meat, and he was sure it was much better than beef. 

"Well, now!" said Skipper Zeb. "I never in my life tastes beef, and Iwere thinkin' beef might be better than deer's meat, though I thinksdeer's meat is good enough for any man to eat. "

Christmas came with plum duff as a special treat, and then the New Year, and with it Skipper Zeb's departure again for his trapping grounds, where he was to remain alone, tramping silent, lonely trails until themiddle of April, then to return before the warming sun softened the snowand in season for the spring seal hunt. 

In January the cold increased. With February it became so intense thateven the animals kept close to their lairs, venturing out only whenhunger drove them forth to seek food. 

In January Toby and Charley captured two martens and one red fox, andduring February the traps were visited but twice a week, and with noreturns. For their pains, they suffered frost-bitten cheeks and noses, which peeled in due time, leaving white patches where the frost burn hadbeen. Then, too, the rabbit snares were sprung and abandoned. There wererabbits and partridges enough hanging frozen in the porch to serve thefamily needs until spring. 

During the cold days of January and February Charley and Toby spent muchtime in the cabin assisting Mrs. Twig prepare and tan the caribou skinsinto soft buckskin, or occupied themselves outside at the woodpile witha crosscut saw. The woodpile seemed always to require attention, andthough it was a bit tiresome now and again when they wished to dosomething more interesting, it supplied excellent exercise. 

But they had their share of sport too. On days when there was a fairbreeze it was great fun sailing an old sledge over the bay ice. Theyfitted a mast upon it, and with a boat sail had some rare spins, withoccasional spills, which added to the zest of the sport. 

Both Charley and Toby enjoyed, perhaps, most of all their excursionswith the dogs. When Skipper Zeb returned to his trapping path after hisholiday, they took him back, with a load of provisions to Black Rivertilt. And twice since, on the fortnightly weekend, when they knew hewould be there, they drove over and spent the night with him in thetilt, and a jolly time they had on each occasion. 

Once on a Saturday the whole family paid a visit to Skipper Tom Ham andhis wife at Lucky Bight, spending a Sunday with them. The journey on thekomatik was a great treat for both Mrs. Twig and Violet, and this visitsupplied food for pleasant conversation during the remainder of thewinter. 

One day in January Aaron Slade and his wife, neighbours who lived atLong Run, some forty miles away and to the southward of Pinch-InTickle, drove into Double Up Cove with dogs and komatik, and spent twowhole days with the Twigs. And then, the following week, came DavidDyson and his son Joseph, and to all the visitors Toby, with vast pride, exhibited his wonderful silver fox pelt. 

"'Tis a fine silver!" exclaimed Aaron, holding it up and shaking out itsglossy fur that he might admire its sheen. "'Tis the finest silver evercaught in these parts! You'll be gettin' a fine price for he, Toby. "

And so said David Dyson and Joseph, and David, with a wise shake of hishead, added:

"Don't be lettin' the traders have un, now, for what they offers first. Make un pay the worth of he. "

With these excursions of their own, and the pleasant visits from theirneighbours, and with always enough to do, time slipped away quickly, andthe middle of March came with its rapidly lengthening days. 

"In another month, whatever, Dad'll be comin' home, " said Toby onemorning when they were at breakfast. "We'll go for he with the dogs andkomatik. And then 'twill soon be time for the sealin' and fishin'again. "

"'Twill be nice to have fresh fish again, " suggested Mrs. Twig. "We'renot havin' any but salt fish the whole winter. I'm thinkin' 'twould befine for you lads to catch some trout. I'm wonderful hungry for trout. "

"I can be helpin' too, " Violet broke in delightedly. 

"'Twill be fine, now, " agreed Toby enthusiastically. "We'll catch unto-day. "

"How can you catch trout with everything frozen as tight as a drumhead?"asked Charley. 

"I'll be showin' you when we gets through breakfast, " Toby assured. "Wealways gets un in winter when we gets hungry for un. "

"I'm hungry for trout too, " laughed Charley, adding skeptically, "butyou'll have to show me, and I'll have to see them before I'll believe wecan get them with forty below zero. "

"I'll be showin' you, " Toby promised. 

From a box he selected some heavy fishing line and three hooks. On theshank of the hooks, and just below the eye, was a cone shaped leadweight, moulded upon the shank. Each line was then attached to the endof a short, stiff stick about three feet in length, which he obtainedfrom the woodpile outside. Then the hooks were attached to the lines, and cutting some pieces of pork rind, Toby announced that the "gear" wasready. 

Violet had her things on, and armed with the equipment, the three setout expectantly for the ice, Toby picking up an ax to take with them ashe passed through the wood porch. 

"Here's where we fishes, " said Toby, leading the way to a wide crack inthe ice a few feet from shore and following the shore line, caused bythe rising and falling of tide. 

The crack at the point indicated by Toby was eighteen inches wide. Withthe ax he cut three holes at intervals of a few feet through a coatingof three or four inches of young, or new ice, which had formed upon theice in the crack. Then, baiting the hooks with pork rind, he gave one ofthe sticks with line and baited hook to Charley and one to Violet. 

"The way you fishes now, " he explained to Charley, "you just drops thehook into the water in a hole, and holdin' the stick keeps un movin' upand down kind of slow. When you feels somethin' heavy on the hook heaveun out. "

"Don't the trout fight after you hook them?" asked Charley. "I alwaysheard they fought to get away, and you had to play them and tire themout before you landed them. "

"They never fights in winter, and your fishin' pole is strong enough soshe won't be hurt any by heavin' they out soon as you hooks un, " grinnedToby. "'Tis too cold to play with un any. Just heave un up on the ice. They don't feel much like sportin' about this weather. "

Charley had scarcely dropped his line into the water, when Violet gave alittle scream of delight, and cried:

"I gets one! I gets the first un!" and with a mighty yank she flung athree-pound trout clear of the hole. 

A few minutes later Charley, no less excited and thrilled, landed onethat was even larger than the one Violet had caught, and at the end ofhalf an hour the three had caught forty big fellows, some of which, Charley declared, were "as big as shad. "

It was stinging cold, and even with the up and down movement of the lineit was often caught fast in the newly forming ice. At intervals of a fewminutes it was necessary to use the ax to reopen the holes, and thelines themselves were thickly encrusted by ice. 

"'Tis wonderful cold standin' on the ice, " said Violet at length. "I hasto go in to get warm. "

"We're gettin' all the trout we can use for a bit, " suggested Toby. "Ifyou wants to go in, Charley, I'll be goin' too. "

"I'm ready to quit, " Charley admitted. "It's mighty cold standing in oneplace so long. "

"Wait a bit, " said Toby. "I'll be gettin' a box to put the trout in, andthe old komatik to haul un up to the house. Wait and help me. "

Charley busied himself throwing the fish from the three piles into one, while Toby followed Violet to the house, and when he had finished lookedout over the bay. Far down the bay he saw something moving over the ice, and in a moment recognized it as an approaching dog team. 

"Somebody's coming!" he shouted to Toby. "There's a team of dogs comingup the bay!"

"Who, now, might that be?" puzzled Toby, who ran down to Charley. 

"They must be coming here, for we're the last place up the bay, "reasoned Charley. 

"They's sure comin' here!" said Toby. "I'm thinkin' now she may be ateam from the French Post in Eskimo Bay, up south. They comes down northevery year about this time to buy fur, though they never comes herebefore. "

"Maybe they heard about your silver fox, " suggested Charley, "andthey're coming to try to buy it from you. Ask a good price for it. It'sa good one. "

"Maybe 'tis that now, " admitted Toby. "Aaron and David's been tellingthey about un, and they thinks they'll be comin' and buyin' she. ButI'll not sell un. I'll let Dad sell un. "

The boys excitedly threw the fish into two boxes that Toby had broughtdown on the old sledge that they used for sailing, and hastening to thecabin announced the approaching visitors to Mrs. Twig. 

She was in a flurry at once. She put the kettle over, and told Violet toset two places at the table, and Toby to clean some trout, and in ajiffy she had a pan of trout on the stove frying. 

"There'll be two of un, whatever, " she predicted. "The traders alwayshas a driver. "

But as the komatik approached nearer, the boys discovered that there wasbut one man, and, therefore, Toby was certain it could not be the Frenchtrader. 

"He'd be havin' a driver, whatever. He never travels without un, " Tobyasserted. "I'm not knowin' the team. 'Tis sure not the Company[12]team. "

"We'll soon know now, " said Charley, as the dogs swung in from the bayice and up the incline toward the cabin. 

Toby's dogs had been standing in the background growling ominously asthey watched the approach of the strange team. Now, as one dog, theymoved to the attack and as the two packs came together there was a massof snapping, snarling, howling dogs. The stranger with the butt of hiswhip, Toby with a club that he grabbed from the woodpile, jumped amongthem and beating them indiscriminately presently succeeded inestablishing an armistice between the belligerents, the Twig dogsretiring, and the visitors, persuaded by their master's whip, lying downquietly in harness. 

"Is this Double Up Cove, and are you Toby Twig?" asked the strangerthrough an ice-coated beard, when he was free to speak. 

"Aye, " admitted Toby, "'tis Double Up Cove, and I'm Toby Twig, sir. Comeinto the house and get warmed up and have a cup o' tea. 'Tis a wonderfulcold day to be cruisin', sir. "

"Thank you, " said the stranger, shaking hands with Toby and Charley. "Itis cold traveling, and I'll come in. "

"Charley and I'll be unloadin' your komatik, and puttin' your cargoinside so the dogs won't get at un, " suggested Toby. "You'll bide herethe night, sir?"

"Yes, " said the stranger, "I'll spend the night here. "

"Come in and have a cup o' tea, and we'll loose your dogs after, sir, "suggested Toby, leading the way to the cabin. 

Mrs. Twig, still flurried with the coming of a stranger, met them at thedoor. 

"Come right in, sir. 'Tis wonderful cold outside, " she invited. 

"Thank you, " said the man. "That fish you're frying smells appetizing. My name is Marks. I'm the trader at White Bear Run. I suppose you'reMrs. Twig and this little maid is your daughter?"

"Aye, sir, I'm Mrs. Twig and this is Vi'let. "

"Glad to see you both, " and after shaking hands with Mrs. Twig andViolet, Marks the trader from White Bear Run proceeded to remove hisadikey, and standing over the stove that the heat might assist him, toremove the mass of ice from his thickly encrusted beard. 

"Set in now and have a cup o' tea, sir, and some trout, " invited Mrs. Twig when Marks's beard was cleared to his satisfaction. 

"Thank you, " and Marks took a seat. "Nippy out. Hot tea is warming. Trout good too. Regular feast!"

"The lads and Vi'let just catches the trout this morning. "

When he was through eating, Marks donned his adikey, and went out ofdoors to release his dogs from harness. Toby and Charley had alreadyunlashed his load, and carried his things into the porch where theywould be safe from the inquisitive and destroying dogs. 

One by one Marks loosed his dogs from harness, giving each a viciouskick as it was freed, and sending it away howling and whining, until hecame to the last one, a big, gray creature. As he approached thisanimal, it bared its fangs and snarled at him savagely. With the butt ofhis whip he beat the dog mercilessly. Then slipping the harness from theanimal, Marks kicked at it as he had kicked at the others. The dog, apparently expecting the kick, sprang aside, and Marks losing hisbalance went sprawling in the snow. In an instant the savage beast wasupon him. 

XXIII

THE LOST FUR

With the release of the stranger's dogs Toby had rather anticipated arenewal of hostilities between the packs. To be prepared and armed forsuch an event he was standing by with his dog whip ready for action. 

He had been observing Marks and the dog, and the ill feeling between thetwo had caused him to expect, sooner or later, some such accident asthat which had occurred. The gray dog was bolder than is usual withEskimo dogs, and Toby had no doubt that it was constantly on the alertfor an opening that might permit it to find its cruel master at adisadvantage, when it could attack and destroy him safely. 

With these thoughts, Toby was an anxious witness of the inhumantreatment of the dogs by Marks, and when the big wolf dog sprang uponits victim, he intuitively and instantly brought the butt of his whipdown upon the dog's head using all the force of his young arm. Thisunexpected attack from the rear caused the animal to retreat, but notuntil it had torn a rent in the man's adikey, and drawn blood from hisshoulder, barely missing the neck and throat, which had been its aim. 

Marks was in a white rage when he regained his feet, and the dog wouldhave had another merciless beating at his hands, had he been able toapproach it, but it wisely kept at a distance, and would not permititself to be approached. 

"That dog's holdin' a grudge against you, " remarked Toby. "He'll begettin' you when you're not mindin' he sometime, and he'll sure kill youif he does. I'd shoot un if 'twere mine. "

"No, " snapped Marks decisively, "I won't kill him. He won't kill me. I'll keep him and club him till he cringes and crawls at my feet. I'llbe his master. No dog can make me kill him because he's bad. I'll takeit out of him. "

"But that un has a grudge, " repeated Toby. 

"Just bad! Just bad! Three-quarters wolf! I'll make him a dog and takethe wolf out of him. "

The wound in Marks's shoulder proved little more than a scratch. Mrs. Twig bathed it with Dr. Healum's Liniment, and Marks assured her itwould be all right. Then while Marks smoked, and the boys sat and talkedwith him, she repaired his torn adikey. 

"I'm buying fur, " Marks presently suggested. "Aaron Slade told me youhave some. "

"We has some fur, " Toby admitted, "but Dad sells the fur and he's awayat his path. He'll not be comin' home till the middle o' April month. "

"Too bad, but I'd like to have a look at it. Aaron says you have asilver fox. I'd like to see that. "

"I'll get un, " said Toby. 

While Toby opened the fur chest, and brought forth the cotton bag inwhich he kept the silver fox pelt, Marks watched him closely. As Tobydrew the pelt from the bag and handed it to Marks and the man shook itout and held it up for inspection, Charley detected a gleam in his eyeof mingled admiration and greed, and it gave Charley a mostuncomfortable feeling. 

"I'll give you four hundred cash for it, " said Marks without taking hiseyes from the fur. 

"No, " Toby declined, "I'm not wantin' to sell un. "

"That's a good offer, " persisted Marks. "It's about what they'll giveyou at the post in _trade_. I'll pay _cash_. "

"I'll not sell un. I'll keep un till Dad comes home, and let he sellun. "

"Four hundred fifty, " said Marks, and he drew forth a roll of bills andcounted out the money. "There's the cash. Take it. I want this fur. It'sa big price. "

"I can't take un, " Toby declined, unmoved. "I'm not doubtin' 'tis a fairprice, but I'll not sell un. The fur's for Dad to sell when he comeshome. "

"You're a stubborn young fool!" blurted the man in a burst of temper. 

"I'm not doubtin' that either, " grinned Toby. "I'm a bit stubbornwhatever about not sellin' the fur. 'Tis for Dad to sell. "

"All right. We'll call you stubborn and not a fool but foolish. That'swhat I mean to say. You're turning down the best offer you'll ever getfor that skin, and your father will say so, and he would want you tosell it if he were here. "

The man smiled in an effort to appear agreeable, though Charley thoughtthere was something sinister and unpleasant in the curl of his lips. 

"I'll not sell un whatever without Dad's tellin' me to sell un. "

At his request Toby displayed to Marks his other pelts. 

"I'll pay you twenty-five dollars apiece for your marten skins, and takethem as they run, " Marks offered. "That's cash I'm offering, not trade. "

"I can't sell un, " Toby declined. "We owes a debt at the Company shop, and we has to use un to pay the debt. They gives us thirty dollars forun there. "

"But that's trade, " said Marks. "I offer cash, and twenty-five in cashis more than thirty-five in trade. "

"Not for us, " objected Toby. "If we takes twenty-five dollars in cash weonly buys twenty-five dollars' worth with un. If we trades un in we getsthirty dollars' worth with un, whatever. "

"I can't argue with you, I see, " and the man appeared to relinquish hiseffort to buy the fur. 

Marks made no further reference to the pelts, indeed, until after Mrs. Twig and Violet had retired that evening to the inner room and to bed. Then for nearly an hour he sat smoking and telling the boys stories ofadventures up and down the coast, until Charley, yawning, suggested thathe was sleepy, and saying good night retired to the bunk which he andToby occupied. 

While Toby was spreading a caribou skin upon the floor near the stove asa protection for Marks's sleeping bag, Marks suggested:

"Let me see that silver again. I'd like another look at it. "

Toby obligingly brought it forth, and again Marks held it up forinspection. 

"I'll give you five hundred and fifty in trade for that, and you cancome to my shop at White Bear Run and trade it out any time you like. "

"No, I'll not sell un, " and there was no doubt that this was Toby'sfinal and decisive decision. 

"All right!" and Marks returned the pelt to Toby. "You have an otterthere you didn't show me. How about that?"

Toby passed the otter pelt over to Marks, who examined it critically, and finally suggested:

"I'll give you fifty-five dollars in cash for it. "

That was a good price. Toby was aware that the best price for otters atthe Hudson's Bay Company's shop was fifty dollars in trade, and he couldsee no reason for refusing to sell it to Marks. 

"You can have he, " he accepted. 

"Glad I can buy something, " Marks grinned, counting out the money andhanding it to Toby. 

"Aye, " said Toby, accepting the bills and counting them, "and I'm glad Ican sell that un to you, sir. "

"Dream pleasant dreams, and let them be about the silver fox, " Markssmiled his sinister smile. "If you dream right, you'll dream you took meup on my offer. "

"I'll not be dreamin' that, sir, whatever. Good night, and I hopesyou'll rest well, " and closing the fur chest, Toby joined Charley, whowas already asleep. 

Marks made no further mention of the silver fox the following morning. Directly breakfast was eaten he packed his sledge, harnessed his dogs, and drove away, and was soon lost in the distance. 

It was after sundown that evening, when Toby and Charley had just fedthe dogs, and were about to return to the cabin, when suddenly thereappeared out of the silent forest a party of six Indians, each hauling aheavily laden flat sled, or toboggan. 

Charley was the first to see them as they emerged in single file fromthe shadow of the trees into the clearing--tall, swarthy creatures, withstraight, coarse black hair reaching to their shoulders, and held inplace by red or blue bands of cloth tied around the forehead. They worehooded buckskin coats, decorated with painted designs. Two of theIndians had the hoods of their coats drawn over their heads, showingthem to be of caribou skin with the hairy side out, and with pieces ofskin sewn on each side of the hood to represent ears, and which servedto lend a savage aspect to the wearer. Some of them wore buckskinleggings, while others wore leggings of bright red cloth reaching fromtheir buckskin moccasins to the knees. 

Straight down they came on their snowshoes to Charley and Toby. Fierceand wild they looked to Charley, but Toby stepped out to meet them andto shake the hand of each, greeting them in their own tongue, while theylaughed as they returned the greeting and appeared to be glad to seeToby. 

Then they shook hands with Charley, and when he looked into their faceshe decided that they were not so savage after all, but human enough, though he could not take his eyes from their strange dress. It spoke ofmystery and of the wild life the men lived in the trackless land fromwhich they came. 

They unpacked their toboggans, and directed by Toby stowed theirbelongings in the porch. When everything was stowed, they stood thetoboggans on end, leaning them against the house, and followed Toby intothe living-room. 

Mrs. Twig welcomed the Indians with the cordiality of the frontier, andmade a pot of tea for them, which they drank with rare relish until thepot was drained. 

Then spoke Amishku[13] who was the leader, or chief, and Toby, whounderstood their language well, interpreted his words:

"We have been far into the land hunting the caribou, the marten and thefox, and it has been long since we have visited the wigwams of the whiteman. This is the first tea we have had in many moons. It is good, andwe are hungry for it. You are our friends. "

"Tell un we'll be havin' supper after a bit, " said Mrs. Twig, "and thenI'll make more tea. "

Upon Toby repeating this, the Indians laughed and two of them went tothe porch, where their belongings had been left, and presently returnedwith a quantity of jerked[14] caribou meat, half a dozen caribou tonguessmoked and cured after the Indian manner, and six beautifully tannedhides of buckskin, all of which they presented to Mrs. Twig. 

"Give the poor men each a stick of your father's tobacco, " directed Mrs. Twig, when the Indians had seated themselves upon the floor, with theirbacks against the wall, after supper. 

Toby went to Skipper Zeb's chest, and fetched a plug for each of them. When they saw the tobacco their faces beamed, and every man drew a redstone pipe from his belt, and when they had filled their pipes and weresending up clouds of smoke they began to laugh and joke. 

The conversation inevitably turned to the success of the winter's hunt, and the fur they had caught, and Toby went proudly to his chest toproduce and exhibit his precious silver fox pelt to the appreciativeeyes of the Indians. 

He gave an exclamation of horror, and standing up held in his hand theempty bag in which he had kept the pelt. Then he wildly rummaged to thevery bottom of the chest, and finally cried out:

"'Tis gone! The silver's gone!"

Madly he looked through the chest again, throwing out every pelt andevery article it contained, but the pelt was not there. 

FOOTNOTES:[12] Hudson's Bay Company. [13] The Beaver. [14] Dried. 

XXIV

THE VENGEANCE OF THE PACK

Marks was well satisfied with his day's work. He had gone to Double UpCove for the silver fox pelt, and he had it. He also had the otter pelt. He had paid a good price for the otter--more than he would have paidunder ordinary circumstances. Still, it would yield him a fair margin ofprofit. 

He and Toby had been alone when the bargain was struck. Mrs. Twig andthe little maid had retired and were asleep, and in any case could nothave heard the final bargaining or conversation between himself andToby. He was assured, also, by the lad's heavy breathing, that Charleywas asleep. There was no witness. It would be his word against Toby's. He was a trader with an established reputation, Toby was only a boy. 

Marks cringed a little when it occurred to him that contracts made withminors were not binding, if the minor's parents or guardians chose notto approve them. But this was Labrador, with no court of justice towhich they might appeal. Possession was the point, and Marks grinnedwith satisfaction. He had the pelt in his possession. 

No doubt, when the silver fox pelt was missed, he would be accused ofhaving stolen it. When they came to him, he would simply claim that hehad purchased it from Toby, upon a trade basis, and that the price wasfive hundred and fifty dollars. He would stand upon this claim. He wasprepared to supply them with goods to this extent of value at any timethey might choose to come to his shop at White Bear Run and select them. The price he should put on the goods, he assured himself, would besufficiently high to render the deal a highly profitable one for him. 

Marks had no doubt that he could establish a plausible case. He assuredhimself that he had no intention of stealing the pelt. At most, he hadbeen guilty only of sharp practice. He would pay for it. From the momentthat Aaron Slade had told him about it, he had set his heart uponpossessing it, and, he told himself, he usually got what he wanted. 

"I'm a go-getter, " he laughed in self-appreciation. 

The sun was climbing in the sky, and the reflection from the great whitefield of snow covered ice was intense. At this season it is never safeto travel in the north with the eyes unprotected by goggles fitted withsmoked or orange-tinted glasses. The penalty for neglect might prove aserious attack of snow-blindness. 

Marks felt in a pocket for his goggles. He could not find them. He feltin another pocket, and repeated the search, but they were not to befound. Then he remembered that he had laid them on the shelf beside theclock, at Double Up Cove, at the time he had taken off his adikey theprevious day, and he had no recollection of having removed them from theshelf. 

It was a risk to proceed without them, but there was a very good reasonwhy he could not safely return to the cabin at Double Up Cove. He feltthat it was to his advantage, until the Twigs had become accustomed tothe loss of the silver fox skin, to place as many miles as he couldbetween himself and them, and to do it as quickly as possible. Toby wasstubborn, and nobody knew what he might do in his first anger upondiscovering his loss. 

"He might even shoot, " he mused. "That other fellow didn't like me, andthe two work together. I'll take a chance without glasses, and won't goback for them. "

He turned about on the komatik and looked toward the cabin, his guiltyconscience prompting him to fear that even now he might be followed. Thecabin was still in view, and to his relief he could discover noactivity, and nothing to alarm him. 

He urged the dogs forward, and did not halt until he had passed Pinch-InTickle, and early in the afternoon had turned into the next bay to thesouthward. 

Here he found a grove of spruce trees, and with firewood at hand hestopped and lighted a fire and put his kettle over to boil for luncheon. 

When the fire was burning freely, Marks discovered, upon looking intoit, a painful sensation in his eyeballs. The glare of the snow hadaffected them. Before he finished eating, the pain had developedconsiderably, and he determined to remain where he was until sunset, when he would proceed to Aaron Slade's cabin, some five miles farther. Here he could spend the night, and could borrow a pair of goggles, hewas sure, from Aaron. If he kept his eyes closed in the meantime, hehad no doubt they would be much improved when evening came. 

Snapping his long whip over the dogs, he compelled them to lie down. Thebig gray dog was slow to obey, and Marks laid the lash upon him two orthree times to enforce authority. 

The dogs quieted, he dropped the whip in the snow at the rear of thekomatik, and within reach, and breaking some boughs arranged them toform a comfortable couch near the fire. He then unlashed his sleepingbag from the top of the load on his komatik, spread it upon the boughsand crawled into it. 

Marks fell asleep. When he awoke it was nearing sunset, and time todrive on to Aaron Slade's. But he could only open his eyes to a narrowslit, and that for a moment, when they would close. The pain wasexcruciating. Marks was snowblind. 

It was near feeding time, and the dogs were on their feet and restless. If he could get them started, perhaps they would carry him unguided toSlade's. At any rate, he determined to try, for he could not remainwhere he was. 

With much fumbling and groping he succeeded fairly well in securing hisload. He felt for his whip, and found it on the snow at the rear of thekomatik, where he had dropped it after compelling the dogs to lie down. 

The restless dogs had swung around in their traces, and were facing him. Through some mysterious instinct they appeared to have sensed the factthat there was something wrong with Marks. When he ordered them forward, and snapped the whip over them in an effort to straighten them out inthe direction in which he wished to go, they replied with snarls, andrefused to obey. Their open defiance of his authority sent Marks into arage. He tried to lash them, but in his blinded condition his aim waspoor and his efforts ineffectual. 

His anger rose to white heat. If he could not lash them, he could atleast beat them into submission, at close quarters, with the clubbedhandle of the whip. With a volley of curses, he flew at them blindly, beating right and left, and bringing whines of pain from the unfortunatedogs that he chanced to strike. 

Still they did not move into position. In painful peeps that he hadthrough narrow eye slits he saw the big gray dog facing him and snarlingat him with a show of its ugly fangs. That dog was the instigator of thetrouble he was having! He hated the creature! He would beat it intosubmission!

The gray dog was in the center of the pack, and to reach it Marks wascompelled to step over the traces of some of the other dogs. One ofthem, in fear of the whip handle, sprang away as Marks approached, andin the movement wrapped its trace around the man's foot. Marks stoopedto disentangle his foot, and as he did the dog swung in anotherdirection in an effort to escape. 

This motion jerked the blinded man's feet from under him, and unable torecover his balance, he fell at full length among the dogs. 

In a moment the gray dog, followed by the pack, was upon the prostrateand helpless man. The trader's team had suddenly become a snarling, yelping savage pack of wolves. 

XXV

AMISHKU AND MAIGEN, THE INDIANS

Every one gathered around Toby and the chest. The Indians were no lessexcited than were Charley and Toby. Again the chest was searched, butwith no result, until Charley thrust his hand into the cotton bag inwhich Toby had kept the missing pelt, and drew forth a piece of paper. 

"Here's something!" he exclaimed. "It's a note that man wrote and left. "

"Read un! Read un to me, Charley!" Toby asked, and Charley read:

 "To TOBY TWIG:

 "I forgot to give you credit slip for the silver fox skin before you went to bed. I may forget to give it to you in the morning, so I will put this in the bag where you will find it. You may use this as a credit memorandum. You may have trade goods from my store at White Bear Run to the value of $550. 00 at any time you wish to take the goods. 

 "JACOB MARKS. "

"I didn't trade he the silver!" Toby protested. "I'm not wantin' hisgoods! I sold he the otter, and told he the silver was for Dad to sellwhen he comes home from his path!"

"Of course you didn't sell it to him, " Charley vouched indignantly. "He's a crook! I knew it right away! He stole it! He's going to try tomake out that you sold it to him for five hundred and fifty dollars intrade. "

"I wants the silver back, " said Toby decisively. "I'll get un, too! Comeon, Charley, we'll go for un now. "

"All right, Toby, _I'll_ help you get it! We'll make that fellow hand itover, if we ever catch him, " and Charley meant every word of it. 

"What is you lads about?" asked Mrs. Twig anxiously, as Toby and Charleybegan to change to their traveling moccasins. 

"Charley and I'll be gettin' the silver back, " said Toby firmly. "Marks'll be gettin' no farther than David Dyson's to-day, whatever, andCharley and I'll be catchin' he by marnin'. If we don't we'll follow hetill we does, won't we, now, Charley? We'll be gettin' the silver. "

"I'll stick to you, whatever you do, " said Charley. 

"You lads can't be goin' alone, whatever, " objected Mrs. Twig. 

"I'm goin' to get that silver!" persisted Toby. 

"Don't be hasty, lads. Ask Amishku what he thinks about un, " suggestedMrs. Twig. "I'm fearin' to have you lads go. "

In his excitement Toby had failed to interpret the note to the Indians, nor had he told them of his purpose of following Marks, and they werelooking curiously on without understanding the conversation. 

When Toby now told them in their own language the contents of the notewhich Charley had found in the bag, and of his own and Charley'sintention of following Marks and recovering the pelt, and of hismother's objection, the Indians were interested in behalf of theirfriends. They gathered at once in council. Shortly Amishku turned toToby, and said:

"You are our friends and you are in trouble. We wish to help you. Yoursilver fox skin has been stolen, and we will help you find the man thatstole it, and get it back for you. We are on our way to the Hudson'sBay Company's Post at Snow Inlet. At Pinch-In Tickle we must turn north. The man that stole your fur is from White Bear Run. That is south. 

"This man left here this morning. He has been traveling all day. We mustgo now and travel all night if we overtake him soon. I will go with youand my brother Maigen[15] will go with you. You will take my things andmy brother's things on your sledge. Our three friends will followto-morrow and bring their flat sleds with their loads. At Pinch-InTickle they will wait for us if we are not there before them. We willleave my brother's things and my own things at Pinch-In Tickle and gosouth until we find the man that stole your fur. Then we will get thefur and come back to Pinch-In Tickle where our friends will be waiting. 

"Are you ready? We must go, and we must travel fast, that we may notlose the man's trail. "

There was hustle and bustle at once. Toby and Charley brought in thekomatik box that Mrs. Twig might pack in it necessary provisions andother equipment. The Indians packed their goods upon the komatik, together with the boys' sleeping bags, and Toby and Charley harnessedthe dogs. 

All of these preparations required but a few minutes, and when they wereready, and as the boys were leaving, Mrs. Twig plead with Toby toprevent the Indians "hurting the poor man, " even if he would notsurrender the fur. 

"I'd shoot he myself, " said Toby, "if he wouldn't give un up. I would, I'm that self-willed!"

"Don't be hard on the poor man now, " admonished Mrs. Twig as Toby brokethe dogs loose and they dashed away in the starlight. 

The ice was firm and with few hummocks, and the snow that covered it wasfrozen nearly as hard as the ice beneath it. The dogs made fastprogress, taking a steady trotting gait, with Toby and Charley trottingbeside the komatik and the two Indians ahead following the trail ofMarks to be certain that it did not turn to some other quarter. 

This was an adventure indeed for Charley. He had never before seenIndians other than those exhibited in shows in New York. But these weredifferent. They had never tasted civilization. They were like theIndians that Natty Bumpo knew, and of which Charley had read in Cooper'stales. He thrilled with the thought that he was traveling with Indiansquite as primitive as those which Henry Hudson met when he first sailedup the river that was named after him. These, indeed, he was happy tothink, might be the descendants of some of those very Indians, stillliving the untamed, free life of their primordial ancestors. 

It was still dark when the komatik drew up before the cabins at Pinch-InTickle, now grown familiar to Charley. Here the Indians quickly unloadedthe komatik, while Toby and Charley lighted a fire in the stove and putthe kettle on to boil; and while Toby fried some fresh caribou steak, the two Indians ran down the trail to assure themselves that Marks hadturned to the southward instead of to the northward. 

Presently they were back to report that the ice was safe through thetickle, and that Marks had gone, as Toby had expected, southward. 

Charley was glad of the opportunity for a short rest, and both boys werehungry. The moment they had eaten, however, the Indians were on theirfeet keen for the chase. The sledge was lightly laden now, and the dogstraveled so rapidly that Charley and Toby were able to ride much of thetime, though the Indians ran ahead to keep their eye on the trail. 

Presently dawn came, and before they turned into the bay to thesouthward it was full daylight. It was at this time that Amishku, whowas some distance in advance, held up his hand and signaled Toby tostop. The two Indians in a moment were lost to view among the bouldersthat lined the shore, and into which they crept. 

"I wonder what's up?" asked Charley, no little excited by theoccurrence. 

"I'm not knowin'. Maybe 'tis some game they sees. 'Tis not like thatMarks would be bidin' hereabouts. He sure went on to Dyson's or Slade's, whatever, " answered Toby, no less mystified than was Charley. 

Not more than fifteen minutes had passed, though it seemed to the boysmuch longer, when they saw the Indians returning, and when they joinedthem at the komatik Amishku held out the silver fox pelt to Toby. 

"We got the silver fox skin for our friend, and we are glad, " saidAmishku, in high good humour. "The man who stole it will never stealagain. "

"You--don't mean--you--killed him?" asked Toby, suddenly sorry that hehad permitted the Indians to come, and so horrified at the thought thatthe Indians might have done such a thing for him that he could scarcelyspeak. 

"No, " answered Amishku. "His dogs kill him. The dogs are there. Thesledge is there. Not much of the man is there. "

"The gray dog!" exclaimed Toby. 

They drove their team nearer to the scene of the tragedy. A horriblething met their view, and they quickly turned from it--blood-stainedsnow, pieces of torn clothing, and other evidences of the tragedy thathad taken place. 

The gray dog and his mates were still held in leash by their harness, and Toby decided that they should drive on to Aaron Slade's cabin totell him what had happened and to ask his assistance. And when theyreached Aaron's and he had listened to their story, he said:

"I'll drive my team over and take care of un, lads. 'Tis no job for ladslike you. "

XXVI

THE END OF THE FIX

March, with its sudden blizzards and terrific gales passed. Mid-Aprilcame, and Toby and Charley, with dogs and komatik, met Skipper Zeb atBlack River tilt, when he appeared again out of the silent wildernesswith the harvest of his labours, and his winter's trapping was ended. 

How happy they were when Skipper Zeb was home again. It was pleasant tohear his big voice and his jolly laugh booming about the cabin. He wasalways an optimist, and he always made every one feel that everythingwas all right. 

"Well, now! Here we are all safe and sound and snug! The winter gone, and nothin' to worry about, but a wonderful lot to be thankful to theLard for!"

The days were long now, and with the coming of May the sun began toassert his strength. The snow softened at midday, and sealskin bootsagain took the place of buckskin moccasins. 

Toby and Charley, with dogs and komatik, hauled wood that Toby had cutin the fall, and more wood that Skipper Zeb felled each day, inpreparation for another winter. 

"Before we knows un the summer'll be gone and the fishin' over, andDad'll be settin' up his traps again, and the winter'll come, and I'llnot be havin' you, Charley, " said Toby sadly. 

When there was enough wood cut and hauled to the cabin, and the warmdays of June came with their threat of a final break-up of the ice inthe bay, Long Tom Ham appeared to take the dogs to Lucky Bight for thesummer. 

A lump came in Charley's throat when he saw Long Tom Ham drive the dogsaway. The going of the dogs marked the end of winter, and the time closeat hand when they should close the little cabin at Double Up Cove, wherehe had spent so many happy months, and depart for Pinch-In Tickle, toawait the coming of the mail boat. 

But with every wave of regret there followed the happy thought that hewould soon be with his father and his mother again, and the thoughtalways sent a tingle of joy up and down his spine. What a meeting thatwould be! What a welcome he should receive! What tales he would have totell! How proud his father would be of him! How his mother would hoverover him and love him! As much as he regretted leaving his good friends, these thoughts made the time that he must wait for his going seem alltoo long. 

Near the end of June came a deluge of rain. Miniature rivers poured downthe hillsides into the bay, and the world became a sea of slush. Whenthe rain ceased and the sky cleared, the sun shone warm and mellow, andthe ice, now broken into pans, began to move out with the tide. 

Seals were now basking in the sunshine upon the loosened ice and uponthe shore, and for two weeks Skipper Zeb and the boys devoted their timeto hunting them. The skins were needed for boots, the flesh for dogfood, and the blubber for oil. Sometimes they would themselves eat sealmeat, and though the Twigs were fond of it, and Charley had pronouncedthe meat excellent when he and Toby were starving on Swile Island, henow thought it strong and not as palatable as he would like. 

On the last day of June Skipper Zeb's trap boat, calked and made tight, was launched, and Skipper Zeb announced:

"Well, now! Here we are clear of ice, and I'm thinkin' there'll soon besigns of fish down at the tickle. To-morrow marnin', and the weatherholds fine, we'll be cruisin' down. In another week, or fortnight, whatever, the mail boat'll be comin' and blowin' her whistle in theoffing. I tells you, Charley lad, when you comes, and when you wants togo home so bad, that when the mail boat comes back and blows her whistlein the offing, we'd be ready and waitin' for she. "

And so it came to pass that Charley found himself again with Skipper Zeband his family in the little cabin at Pinch-In Tickle. How crude it hadseemed to him that day when Toby led him up the path, and he had firstmet Skipper Zeb! How comfortable and hospitable it seemed to him now!How many memories it held for him!

Early one morning there sounded the long blast of a whistle, andpresently the mail boat appeared in the tickle, and came to in theoffing. There was great excitement in Skipper Zeb's cabin. Charley hadno time to change to the clothes in which he had arrived, but they werepacked in a neat bundle, and in another bundle were the wolf and bearskins, together with many other souvenirs of the winter. Charley wishedto give his rifle to Toby, but Toby declined:

"Keep un yourself to remember the bear, and our other huntin'. "

"I'll send you and your father new ones, as I promised, anyhow, " Charleyassured. 

"Well, now, and there's the mail boat!" exclaimed Skipper Zeb. "She'scome at last to take Charley away from us! And this is the end of thefix you gets in! I'm wonderful sorry to have you go, lad! We're thinkin'of you like one of the family now, and we're not wishin' to lose you. "

"We're all wonderful sorry!" and Mrs. Twig brushed away a tear. 

"Some day, " said Charley, his heart full, "I'll come back to see you, and perhaps I'll bring Dad with me to show him how good you people are, and how we live in a real wilderness. "

"I'll be puttin' you over in the punt to the mail boat, " said Toby, reluctant to bid Charley farewell. 

They all went down to the landing to see him off, Skipper Zeb, Mrs. Twigand Violet. He sat in the stern of the punt, as he did on the day Tobytook him ashore, while Toby rowed him alongside and helped him on deckwith his baggage, and then the boys grasped each other's hands infarewell. 

"'Twere the finest winter I ever has--with you here, " and Toby's chokingvoice would permit him to say no more. 

"It was the finest winter I ever spent, too, " and Charley was littleless moved than Toby. 

"The ship's movin'. Good-bye!" and Toby hurried down the ladder and intohis boat. 

Charley stood at the rail watching Toby row his old punt back, until theship passed into the tickle and shut from view Toby, the rocky hillside, the clinging cabins and Skipper Zeb with Mrs. Twig and Violet at thelanding still waving their farewell to him. 

"Where you going?" the steward's question met Charley as he turned fromthe rail. 

"To St. John's. Don't you know me? I'm Charley Norton who came down withyou last fall. "

It was several minutes before the steward could convince himself thatthis upstanding, clear-eyed, bronze-skinned fellow, attired like aLabradorman, was the pale, listless unhappy lad they had lost theprevious fall. Then he hastened to Captain Barcus with the news, andCaptain Barcus and the whole crew gathered around Charley and welcomedhim as they would have welcomed a returned hero, to his great confusion. 

"Now a wireless to your father!" beamed Captain Barcus, when Charley hadbeen duly greeted. 

 * * * * *

Mr. Bruce Norton was in his private office on William Street, in NewYork City, dictating his morning mail, when a boy laid a telegram uponhis desk. He finished the letter he was dictating, before opening themessage, and then he read:

 "Will arrive in St. John's July twentieth, on mail boat from Labrador. Had a great winter. Killed a wolf and shot a white bear. Wire how you and mother are. Love to you both. Cannot wait to see you. 

 "CHARLEY. "

Mr. Norton was upon his feet before he had read the last line. Hestuffed the message into his pocket, seized his hat, and as he boltedfrom his office he shouted to his secretary, who now filled the placeformerly occupied by Mr. Henry Wise:

"Get sleeper reservations for Mrs. Norton and myself to St. John's atonce!"

"For to-day?" asked the secretary. 

"Yes! Yes! First train possible!" and Mr. Norton disappeared in anelevator. 

When Mr. Norton broke the good news to Mrs. Norton a half hour later, the two declared it was the happiest day of their whole life. But when, a week later, they greeted Charley in St. John's when he disembarked fromthe mail boat, and he threw his arms around his mother, perhaps agreater height of happiness was reached. 

Before they left St. John's, Mr. Norton contracted for the best motorboat that he could buy, to be shipped on the mail boat to Skipper Zeb;and with it went a host of gifts to Mrs. Twig and Violet from Mrs. Norton, and new rifles and ammunition to Skipper Zeb and Toby as giftsfrom Charley. 

And we may be sure that the friendship did not end with this. But ourstory has already grown too long, and those happenings of after yearsbelong to another tale. 

FOOTNOTE: [15] The Wolf. 

 Printed in the United States of America

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Transcriber's Notes:1. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards. 2. In the original, the place name "St. John's" was consistently spelled incorrectly as "St. Johns" and has been corrected here.