Bobby of the Labrador Page 3

  CHAPTER III

  SKIPPER ED AND HIS PARTNER

  On that part of the Labrador coast where Abel Zachariah lived thecabins, with small variation, are fashioned upon one general model. Themodel is well adapted to the needs of the people and the exigencies ofthe climate. At one end of the cabin is an enclosed porch which servesas a woodshed and general storage room. Here the dog harness, traps, andother tools and equipment necessary to the hunter's life are kept.

  A door opens from the enclosed porch into the cabin proper, whichusually consists of a single room which serves as living room, diningroom, kitchen and bedroom. This room commonly has two windows, one oneither side.

  The floor of the cabin is of uncovered planks. In the center stands astove shaped like a large box. In the lower half of this stove is thefire space, adapted to receive huge blocks of wood. The upper half is anoven.

  Against the wall, and not far from the stove, the table stands, andbuilt against the wall at one side of the door, the kitchen closet. Inthe farther end of the room are the family beds, usually built into thecabin after the fashion of ships' bunks. In Abel's cabin there was butone bed, and this of ample breadth to accommodate two. Now there was tobe another for Bobby.

  Home-made chests, which answer the double purpose of storage places forclothing and whatnot and seats, take the place of chairs, thoughsometimes there are rude home-made chairs and Abel's cabin containedtwo. Guns always loaded and within reach for instant use, rest upon lowoverhead beams, or upon pegs against the wall. On a shelf, at someconvenient place, and specially built for their accommodation, the Bibleand hymnal are kept. Abel's Bible and hymnal, as in all ChristianizedEskimo houses, were printed in the Eskimo language.

  This, then, was the kind of home that Bobby entered, and which, as theyears passed, he was to love, for it was a haven of affection.

  The cabin was cold and damp and stuffy now, and filled with unpleasantodors, for it had been unoccupied since early in July. But soon Abel hada roaring fire in the stove, and the things in from the boat, and Mrs.Abel had the room aired, and before the candle was lighted the room hadtaken on the cozy comfort of occupancy.

  Then there was supper of stewed duck and hot dough-bread and tea. WhenBobby had eaten heartily and his eyes grew heavy with sleep he wasundressed and tucked away into bed, with Mrs. Abel lying by his side fora little, crooning an Eskimo lullaby before she washed her dishes. Andat length, when the dishes were washed, and all was made snug for thenight, Abel took down, as was his custom, the Bible, and read by theflickering light, and he and Mrs. Abel sang a hymn, and knelt in familydevotion, before they joined the sleeping Bobby in their bed.

  Abel Zachariah's nearest neighbor was Edward Norman, commonly known asSkipper Ed, a sailor-man who had come to the coast many years before ina fishing vessel, and when his vessel sailed away Skipper Ed hadremained behind to cast his lot with the Eskimos. At the head of Abel'sbay and a mile from Abel's home, he took up the life of hunter andfisherman, and in due time learned to speak the Eskimo language. HereSkipper Ed lived with his little partner, as he called him--JimmySanderson, a husky lad of seven years.

  Jimmy was an orphan. His mother died when he was so young that he couldscarcely remember her at all. His father, a Newfoundland sailor andfisherman, was one of the crew of a fishing schooner that sailedregularly each summer to this part of the Labrador coast, and becausethere was no one at home to care for him after his mother's death, Jimmyalways accompanied his father on these voyages. And thus it came aboutthat when Seaman Sanderson fell overboard while reefing the jib, onestormy day, Jimmy was left alone in the world.

  It so happened that on the day Jimmy's father was lost, the schooner,with the forlorn little boy on board, took refuge under the lee of theisland upon which Skipper Ed had his fishing camp. Skipper Ed, after themanner of the Coast, rowed his boat alongside and climbed aboard, tohear such scraps of news from the outside world as the sailors mightbring, and to enjoy their company for an hour. Here he met Jimmy,heartbroken and weeping at the loss of his father. Skipper Ed'ssympathies went out to the wretched little boy, and placing his big handon Jimmy's small shoulder, he comforted him.

  "There, there, now, lad, don't cry," said he. "You're a wee bit of a ladto be left alone in the world I know, but by the mercy of God you'llforget your trouble, for Time's a wonderful healer. And there's betterluck coming, lad, better luck coming."

  Thereupon he sought out the Captain of the schooner and inquired intoJimmy's worldly prospects.

  "There's none to care for him," said the Captain, "and the bestprospects he have be the poor house."

  "Will you leave him with me, then?" asked Skipper Ed. "I'll give the lada good home, and teach him a bit, and he'll be fine company for me."

  "O' course I'll leave he with you, Skipper, and wonderful glad I'll betoo that the lad's found a good home," said the Captain.

  Then Skipper Ed returned to Jimmy.

  "Lad," said he, "I'm looking for a partner, and it strikes me _you'll_do. How'd you like to be _my_ partner? Look me over now, and see whatyou think of _me_. How'd you like _me_ for a partner?"

  Jimmy looked him over critically, through tear-stained eyes, but saidnothing.

  "Come now," urged Skipper Ed, getting down on his haunches that Jimmymight look straight into his face, "here we are, you and I, both alonein the world and both wanting partners. Can't we splice up apartnership? Share and share alike, you know--you have as much as I, andI have as much as you, and we'll take the fair winds and the contrarywinds together, and make port together, and sell our cargoes together,and use the same slop chest. What do you say, lad? Shall we sign on aspartners?"

  "Yes, sir," agreed Jimmy.

  "Good! Good!" exclaimed Skipper Ed. "Here, shake hands on it, partner.Now we're friends to each other, whatever falls, good voyages and poorones, and there's better luck coming for us both, lad, better luck."

  And so Skipper Ed and Jimmy Sanderson formed their partnership, andJimmy, with his own and his father's kits, went ashore with Skipper Edin Skipper Ed's boat, which he insisted was half Jimmy's, under theirpartnership agreement, and the next day the schooner sailed away andleft them. And with the passing weeks, Time, as Skipper Ed hadpredicted, and as he always does, healed Jimmy's sorrow, and he came tolook upon Skipper Ed as the finest man and the finest partner in theworld, and they two loved each other very much.

  Abel and his wife and Skipper Ed and his partner lived upon terms ofintimacy and good comradeship, as neighbors should. And because they hadno nearer neighbors than Abraham Moses, an Eskimo ten miles to thesouthward, and the people of the Moravian Mission and Eskimo settlementat Nain, twenty miles to the northward, the two families were dependentupon one another for human companionship, and therefore the bond offriendship that drew them together was the stronger.

  And so it happened that early on the morning following the return ofAbel and Mrs. Abel with Bobby, Skipper Ed and Jimmy walked over towelcome their neighbors home, and to discuss with them the fishingseason just closed, and the seal hunting and the trapping seasons whichwere at hand.

  Abel was engaged in cutting and shaping the sticks from which he was tobuild Bobby's little bunk, when he heard Skipper Ed's cheery:

  "_Oksunae!_"[A]

  "_Oksutingal!_"[A] exclaimed Abel, delightedly, grasping Skipper Ed'shand and then Jimmy's hand and laughing with pleasure. "_Oksutingai_! Iam glad to see you, and how have you been?"

  [Footnote A: "_Oksunae_" is the Eskimo greeting when one is addressed, and,literally translated, means "You be strong." "_Oksutingai"_ is addressedto two--"You two be strong." "_Okiusee"_ to more than two--"You all bestrong."]

  Abel spoke his native language, for his tongue was awkward with the fewEnglish words he had learned. He and Skipper Ed, indeed, alwaysconversed in Eskimo, and Jimmy, though he usually spoke his nativeEnglish at home when he and Skipper Ed were alone, also understood theEskimo tongue perfectly.

  "We're very well," said Skipper Ed, "and glad to know you are bac
k. Wewere lonely without you. How is Mrs. Abel?"

  "Well. Very well. And we have something to surprise you," and Abel,laughing heartily, could hardly contain himself.

  "I know what it is!" broke in Jimmy. "You've got a new boat. I saw it aswe came up! It's a fine big boat, too!"

  "It's a greater surprise than that," laughed Abel. "It's in the house.Come in and see him."

  "A baby!" guessed the delighted Jimmy. "It's a baby!"

  "Come in and see for yourselves," Abel invited, and pushing the dooropen he led them into the cabin, where Mrs. Abel overwhelmed them withgreeting, and brought Bobby forth for introduction.

  "A boy, and a white one!" exclaimed Skipper Ed in English. "Nowwherever did they get him?" He took Bobby by the hand, and asked: "Canyou talk, little lad?"

  "Yeth, thir," Bobby admitted, respectfully, "I like to talk."

  "I'll wager you do, now! Where did you live before you came here?"

  "With Papa and Mamma."

  "What, now, may your name be?"

  "Bobby, thir."

  "What is your papa's name?"

  "What is my papa's name?"

  "Yes, what is your papa's name?"

  "Why, 'Papa,'" in great surprise that all the world did not know that.

  Further solicitation brought from the child the statement that "UncleRobert took me for a nice ride in a boat, but Uncle Robert got hurted,and I came here."

  And this was the sum total of the information concerning Bobby's pastthat Skipper Ed succeeded in drawing from the child, though hequestioned and cross-questioned him at length, after Abel and Mrs. Abelhad told how they found him that August morning. But Abel and Mrs. Abel,considering these things of small importance, did not mention to orshow Skipper Ed the packet containing the notebook found in the deadman's pocket, and which they had carefully put away.

  Skipper Ed did not altogether accept the theory of Abel and Mrs. Abelthat God had in a miraculous manner sent Bobby to them from heaven,directing his course from the Far Beyond, through the place where mistsand storms were born. Skipper Ed in his own mind could not dismiss thesubject in this casual manner. He scented some dark mystery, though hedoubted if the mystery would ever be cleared.

  Abel must needs exhibit to Skipper Ed and Jimmy the boat, and whenSkipper Ed saw it his practiced eye told him that the finish andworkmanship were far too fine and expensive for any ordinary ship'sboat, and that it was the long boat of a luxuriously appointed privateyacht. Of this he was well assured when he read, in gold letters oneither side of its prow, the name _Wanderer_.

  And then they must each try their hand with the beautifully engravedshotgun. Such a gun, Abel declared, had never before been seen on thecoast, and was in itself a fortune. And Skipper Ed examined itcritically, and agreed with Abel that it was a gun of marvelousworkmanship, and had cost much money.

  "None but God could have fashioned it," said Abel, reverently. "It isHis gift to the boy, and it will always be the boy's. He sent it withthe boy from the Great Beyond, from the place where mists and storms areborn. Do you think He would mind if I used it sometimes?"

  "No," answered Skipper Ed, "I think He meant you to use it to hunt foodfor the boy, so that the boy should never be in want. God never forgets.He always provides. Destiny is the Almighty's will, and He provides."

  "The lad has come from rich people," said Skipper Ed, as he and Jimmywalked home that evening. "He's not been used to this sort of life. ButTime's a great healer. He's young enough to forget the fine things he'sbeen used to, and he'll grow up a hunter and a fisherman like the restof us. There's better luck coming for him. Better luck. He'll be happyand contented, for people are always happy with simple living, so longas they don't know about any other kind of living."

  "I thinks Abel lives fine now, and we lives fine," ventured Jimmy."Abel's house is fine and warm, and so is ours."

  "Aye," said Skipper Ed, "'tis that. 'Tis that; and enough's a-plenty.Enough's a-plenty."

  They walked along in silence for a little while.

  "We must always talk to the little chap in English," said Skipper Ed,presently. "We must not let him forget to speak the tongue his mothertaught him."

  "Yes, sir," agreed Jimmy.

  "And we must teach him to read and write in English, the way I teachyou," continued Skipper Ed. "Somewhere in the world his mother andfather are grieving their life out for the loss of him. It's very likethey'll never see him again, but we must teach him as much as we knowhow of what they would have taught him."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Destiny is just the working out of the Almighty's will. And it was apart of the lad's destiny to be cast upon this bleak coast and to find ahome with the Eskimos."

  And so, walking home along the rocky shore, they talked to theaccompaniment of lapping waves upon the shore and soughing spruce treesin the forest.

  Skipper Ed, giving voice to thoughts with which he was deeply engrossed,told of the kindlier, sunnier land from which Bobby had been sentadrift--from a home of luxury, perhaps--to live upon bounty, and in thecrude, primitive cabin of an Eskimo. And he thrilled his little partnerwith vivid descriptions of great cities where people were so numerousthey jostled one another, and did not know each other's names; ofrushing, shrieking locomotives; of beautiful houses which seemed toJimmy no less than fairy palaces; of great green fields; and yellowfields of waving grain from which the flour was made which they ate; ofglorious flowers; and forests of strange trees.

  They reached their cabin at last, which stood in the shelter of thetrees at the edge of the great wilderness, and looked out over the bay;and at the porch door Skipper Ed paused, and, gazing for a moment at thestretch of heaving water, stretched his arms before him and said:

  "It's out there, Partner--the land I've told you about--out there beyondthe sea--the land I came from and the land Bobby came from--and the landyou came from, too, for that matter. Some time you may sail away to seeit."

  In outward appearance Skipper Ed's cabin was almost the counterpart ofAbel's, but within it was fitted much more completely and tastefully. Onthe well-scrubbed floor were rugs of dog and wolf skins, and there werethree big armchairs--one for Skipper Ed, one for his partner, and onefor Abel when he came to see them--and a rocker for Mrs. Abel when shecalled; all home-made and upholstered in buckskin. And there were fourstraight-backed dining chairs, and against the wall some shelves wellfilled with books, as well as many other conveniences and comforts andrefinements not usual in the cabins of the coast. There was lacking,also, the heavy, fishy odor of seal oil, never absent from the Eskimohome, for Skipper Ed had provided a log outhouse, a little apart fromhis cabin, as a storehouse for seal oil and fish and pelts.

  Dusk was settling. Skipper Ed lighted candles and kindled a fire in thestove, and he and Jimmy together set about preparing supper. The windwas rising and soon snow began to beat against the window pane, and whensupper was eaten and the table cleared, and the two drew their armchairsup before the fire, it was very cozy sitting there and listening to thehowling storm outside and the roaring fire in the stove. Jimmy, snuglycurled in his chair, was so still that Skipper Ed, silently smoking hispipe, believed his little partner asleep, when he was startled out ofhis musings by the request:

  "Partner, tell me a story."

  "A story, Partner? What kind of a story? One about the sea?"

  "A story about people that live out there in the country Bobby camefrom, and you came from."

  "Oh, out there! Yes, to be sure!" Skipper Ed sat silent for a fewmoments, gazing at the flickering light through a crack in the stovedoor, while Jimmy sat expectant, gazing into Skipper Ed's face. At lasthe began:

  "Once there were two boys who lived in a fine big house, for theirfather was rich. The house was in a town, and it had a great many rooms.In front of it was a beautiful green lawn, over which were scatteredtrees and bushes that bore flowers, and behind the house was a largegarden where delicious fruits and vegetables grew, and where there werebeautiful beds of bright flowers. Under
the shady trees of this gardenwas a favorite playground of the boys."

  "What were the names of the boys?" interrupted Jimmy.

  "We'll call them Tom and Bill, though these may not have been their realnames," explained Skipper Ed. "Tom and Bill are easy names to remember,though, don't you think so?"

  "Yes, Partner, they're fine names, and easy to remember."

  "Tom was two years older than Bill, and they were great chums. They notonly played together but they got into mischief together, and went toschool together, until Tom went to college. When they got into mischieftogether Tom, somehow, usually managed to escape punishment, for he wasa much keener lad than Bill, and Bill, on his part, seldom failed toreceive his full share of punishment."

  "That weren't fair!" broke in Jimmy. "'Tweren't honest for Tom to letBill get all the punishment!"

  "He didn't mean to be dishonest, I'm sure," said Skipper Ed.

  "But 'tweren't honest," insisted Jimmy.

  "As I was saying," continued Skipper Ed, "Tom went to college and madenew friends, and when Bill followed him to college two years later thelads saw little of each other. Tom was a brilliant fellow, and everyoneliked him. He had a host of friends among the students. Bill, on theother hand, was not in the least brilliant, and he had to work hard toget his lessons, and they went with different crowds of fellows.

  "Their father, as I told you, was rich, and he was also indulgent. Hegave the boys a larger allowance of spending money than was good forthem. There was never a month, however, that Tom did not go to Bill andborrow some of his, and even then Tom was always in debt. Bill knew itwas the gay company Tom kept, and warned him against it, but Tom wouldlaugh it off and say that a fellow in the upper classes had to keep uphis end, as Bill would learn later.

  "What Bill did learn later was that Tom had become an inveterategambler, and had lost his money at cards, and went away from collegeleaving many debts unpaid.

  "The father of the boys was a manufacturer, and was also president ofthe bank in the little city where they lived. A bank is a place whereother people's money is kept for them, and whenever the people who keepmoney there need any, they come and get what they need. When Tom leftcollege he was taken into the bank, and before Bill's graduation hadbeen advanced to the position of cashier, and had married a very fineyoung woman. The cashier is the man that has charge of the money in thebank.

  "It was thought best also for Bill to enter the bank, which he did a fewmonths after his return from college, as assistant to his brother.

  "Things went on very well until, one day, a man came to examine the bankand to see if all the money was safely there, and the examiner, as theman was called, discovered a shortage. That is, there was not as muchmoney in the bank as there should have been. The shortage lay betweenthe two brothers. Tom, in terrible distress, admitted to Bill that hehad 'just borrowed' the money to invest in stocks--which is a waypeople speak of one kind of gambling--but that the investment hadfailed, and he had lost it.

  "You do not know, Partner, what stocks are, but I'll tell you some othertime.

  "When this happened Tom had a little baby boy at home, about two monthsold. Bill loved his brother, and he loved his brother's baby very much.

  "'Tom,' said Bill, 'I've always stood by you since we were little boysand played in the garden together, and I'm going to stand by you now. Ifthe loss is laid to you it will ruin not only your life but the lives ofyour wife and your baby. I'll say that I took the money and you must notsay I did not.'

  "'No,' said Tom, 'I can't let you do that! It's too much! It's too big asacrifice!'

  "'Yes, you will,' said Bill. 'It will likely ruin my life, I know, butI'm only one. If it's laid on you, three lives will be ruined. Justpromise me you'll live straight after this, and never gamble again.'

  "Tom promised, and Bill was sure he meant it, and when their father, whohad been sent for by the examiner, arrived at the bank, Bill, as agreed,told his father he had taken the money.

  "Of course there was a terrible scene. Bill was not arrested for hisfather did not wish the family disgraced, but he was driven from home,with very little money in his pocket, and told never to return again.His mother and little sister--I forgot to tell you the boys had a littlesister, who was ten years old at that time--nearly broke their hearts athis going. But his father was very harsh, and told him if he ever cameback he would have him arrested and put into prison. It was not the lossof the money which angered him. That was a comparatively small amount,which he paid back to the bank and did not miss very much. It was thethought that one of his boys had taken it."

  "What was the little sister's name?" asked Jimmy.

  "Well, let me see," said Skipper Ed. "We'll call her Mary."

  "Did Bill ever go back?"

  "No, he never went back."

  "Where did he go?"

  "Why, he went to a seaport town and shipped as a sailor, and afterknocking about the seas for a time he settled in a country much likethis where we live. He liked the wild country, where he could hunt andfish, and where the people he met were true and honest, and helped eachother, instead of always trying to take advantage of one another."

  "I'm glad he did that," declared Jimmy. "I wish he lived near us. Idon't think I'd like to live in a place like he came from, and I'm gladBobby came away from it."

  "And the fishing and hunting are better here than where he came from,too, Partner."

  "I don't want to live where the fishin' and huntin' isn't fine, and it'sfine here."

  "Aye, 'tis fine here, and many things are fine here. Destiny is theLord's will, and our destiny, Partner, is to live here and be as happyas we can; and now Bobby has come, it seems to be his destiny too."

  And so Jimmy had his story, and bedtime had arrived, and the twopartners went to bed to be lulled to sleep by the storm raging abouttheir cabin.