Bobby of the Labrador by Dillon Wallace

D >> Dillon Wallace >> Bobby of the Labrador

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With sixteen dogs Abel could muster two ordinary teams of eight dogs
each, or one powerful team of ten or twelve, or even the entire number.

Skipper Ed and Jimmy, when they required the services of dogs, could
always borrow a team from Abel, and to repay this courtesy it was their
custom to join in the autumn and spring seal hunts, and to contribute
the carcasses of the seals they killed to Abel, retaining only the
skins, which Mrs. Abel dressed and made up for them into boots and
winter garments and sleeping bags, as needs demanded.

It was a Saturday evening when Bobby finally received Abel's consent for
him to go to the _sena_ seal hunting. He was preparing to go over, as
was his custom on Saturdays, to spend the evening with Skipper Ed and
Jimmy in reading and study, and when he had eaten his supper he donned
his snowshoes and _netsek_[D] and hurried eagerly away to Skipper Ed's
cabin to invite Jimmy to join him in the adventure.

[Footnote D: An Eskimo garment of seal skin, which is drawn on over the
head like a shirt, and has a hood to protect the head. When this garment
is made of caribou skin it is called a _kulutuk_, and when made of
cloth, an _adikey_.]

"Yes, to be sure, Partner, you must go with Bobby," said Skipper Ed.
"But it's going to be bleak and cold out there. It's a man's work at
this season, hunting at the _sena_, and a strong man's work, too.
Perhaps I had better go along. Then we can take two teams of dogs."

"That will be dandy!" exclaimed Bobby, "We'll have a fine time!"

"Yes, Partner, come!" urged Jimmy. "You can leave your traps for a
week."

"I think I can--yes, I'll go," Skipper Ed decided. "I was never hunting
at the _sena_ but twice, though, and I've never forgotten my first
experience. It was a good many years ago, before you came, Partner. I
went with Abel. We had a hard time of it that year, for stormy weather
came up and we nearly perished in a blizzard."

"We'll build a snow _igloo_" said Bobby, "and be pretty comfortable.
We'll take Father's snow knives and two of his old stone lamps. We'll
have plenty of seal oil to burn. You know there's no wood out there, and
it isn't worth while hauling any."

"Yes," agreed Skipper Ed, "we'll need the lamps, though I don't like
them. I never could get used to them, and I never liked to go too far
from wood."

And so it came to pass that in the bright moonlight of Monday morning
they lashed upon the two _komatiks_ a good supply of hardtack and boiled
salt pork--the only provisions that would not freeze too hard to
eat--with tea, and sleeping bags, and numerous articles of equipment
for their own use and comfort, and a day's supply of seal meat for the
dogs.

Then the dogs were caught and harnessed, and in great excitement began
to strain at the traces and howl their eagerness to be off. _Oksunaes_
were shouted to Abel and Mrs. Abel, and Bobby, grasping the front of one
_komatik_, and Skipper Ed the front of the other, they pulled them
sharply to one side to break them loose, shouting to the teams as they
did so: "_Hu-it! Hu-it!_" Then they flung themselves upon the
_komatiks_, and away they dashed, down the steep and slippery incline,
and off through the shore hummocks at a wild, mad gallop.

They were away to the _sena_, and the Great Adventure, at last.

CHAPTER XX

JIMMY'S SACRIFICE

For a little way the dogs traveled at a gallop, and Bobby and Skipper Ed
had lively work while this lasted, guiding the _komatiks_ between the
ice hummocks. But it was not long before the first excitement of going
upon a journey wore off, and after their manner the animals, with tails
curled over their backs, settled down to a steady pulling. Now and again
they came upon a ridge of ice piled up by the tide, and then it was
necessary to lift at the _komatiks_ and help the dogs.

Presently the ice hummocks were left behind and the smooth, white
surface of the frozen bay stretched out before them. The snow which
covered the ice had been beaten down and hard packed by the wind, and
the sledge runners slid over its surface so easily that the dogs
increased their pace to a steady, rapid trot.

The weather was fearfully cold. The runners of the sledge squeaked and
creaked. Frost flakes on the hard packed snow glistened and scintillated
in the moonlight and soon the _netseks_ of the travelers were covered
with white hoar frost, ice formed upon their eyelashes and Skipper Ed's
breath froze upon his beard until presently his face was almost hidden
by a mass of ice.

They ran by the side of the _komatiks_ to keep warm, only now and again
riding for a little way to rest, and as they ran or walked they chatted
gaily, contemptuous of the cold, and keenly enjoying in anticipation the
sport and adventure in store for them.

And so they traveled for three full hours before the first hint of
daylight came stealing up over the white horizon in the southeast, and
at length, very slowly, as though reluctant to show his face, and
uncertain of his welcome, the sun peeked timidly over the ice field.
Then, reassured, he boldly lifted his round, glowing face full into
view, giving cheer and promise to the frozen world.

To the sledge traveler the dreariest hour of the day, and the hour of
bitterest cold, is that immediately preceding sunrise. As though by
consent our three friends during this period fell into silence,
and none spoke until the sun looked out over the ice, and the frost-covered
snow--each frost flake a miniature prism--was set a-sparkling and
a-glinting as though the snow was thick sown with diamonds.

[Illustration: They ran by the side of the _komatiks_ to keep warm]

"Glorious! Isn't it glorious!" exclaimed Bobby, dropping by Jimmy's
side upon the _komatik_, and removing a hand from its mitten for a
moment to pick small particles of ice from his eyelashes.

Jimmy for answer drew his right hand from its mitten, and clapping it
over Bobby's nose began to rub the member vigorously.

"There, now it's all right," said he, donning his mitten again after a
minute or two of rubbing. "Your nose was going dead.[E] The end of it
was white."

[E] Freezing.

"I never felt it," laughed Bobby. "Just look at the Skipper back there.
He's a perfect image of Santa Claus!"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Jimmy, looking back at Skipper Ed. "He's exactly
like the picture of Santa Claus in that old magazine you and I used to
look at so much, only a good deal more real."

"If he was driving reindeers, now, instead of dogs," laughed Bobby, "and
I met him with all that ice on his beard, and his _netsek_ white and
glistening with the frost that way, I'd think he had stepped right out
of the old picture book."

"Good old Partner!" said Jimmy. "I think I'll drop back with him a while
and keep him company."

And, dropping lightly from the moving _komatik_, he waited to run along
for a while with Skipper Ed, while Bobby ran alone with his own sledge.

Once a lonely raven coming from somewhere out of the blank spaces
alighted on the ice a quarter of a mile in advance of Bobby's team and
directly in its track. The dogs saw it immediately, and in an instant
they were after it at a mad gallop. Bobby threw himself upon the sledge,
in high glee at the wild pace, and Skipper Ed's team, quite sure they
were missing something very much worth while, set out in hot pursuit.

In seeming disregard for his safety, the raven, cocking his head first
on one side, then on the other, surveyed the approaching dogs with
interest, and to Bobby it seemed that the dogs would surely catch him.
Old Tucktu, the leader, was apparently of the same mind and very sure
of a tasty morsel, and they were almost upon him before the raven, too
dignified to hurry, rose leisurely on his wings, tantalizingly near to
Tucktu's nose, and flapped away another quarter of a mile to repeat,
with evident enjoyment, the episode, and then, unscathed, he disappeared
again into the blank spaces.

When the raven had gone and the excitement was at an end, Bobby and
Skipper Ed shouted "_Ah_!" at their teams, and ran ahead with their long
whips as the dogs stopped, to compel the panting animals to lie down and
remain quiet while they straightened out the tangled traces and made
merry over the rapid ride they had enjoyed. Then, extracting some
hardtack biscuits from their bags, they sat on the sledges and ate their
dry luncheon while the dogs jogged leisurely on again.

The sun was setting when Bobby, now well in the lead, halted his team at
Abel Zachariah's old fishing place on Itigailit Island to await Skipper
Ed and Jimmy. The sea, far out in the direction in which Abel had found
Bobby in the drifting boat that August morning, was frozen, and a little
way out from Itigailit Island the smooth ice gave place to mountainous
ridges and hummocks where, earlier in the season, rough seas had piled
massive blocks one upon another and left them there to freeze and catch
the drifting snow. Far out beyond the pressure ridges Bobby could see a
dark line which marked the edge of the sea ice and the place where open
water began. That was the _sena_ for which they were bound.

"Don't you think we'd better build our _igloo_ here?" Bobby suggested as
the others came up. "It's getting late and we can't do any hunting
tonight, anyway, and perhaps there won't be any good drifts out there."

"Yes, by all means," agreed Skipper Ed. "We'll have plenty of time in
the morning to go out, and if the hunting proves good, and we prefer to
stay there, we can build an _igloo_ at our leisure. If we get plenty of
seals we will want to haul them in here to land to cache them, and then
if the ice breaks up before we get them all hauled home, we can take
them in the boat. And while we are hauling them in here from the _sena_
we'll have a snug _igloo_ at each end of the trail, where we can make
hot tea, if we wish, and drink it in comfort."

They found an excellent drift in a spot well sheltered from the wind,
and because he was taller and stronger than Bobby and a better builder
than Jimmy, Skipper Ed, with a snow knife which looked very much like a
sword but had a wider blade, which was straight instead of curved,
marked a circle about ten feet in diameter upon the drift.

Then he cut a wedge out of the snow in the center, and with this as a
beginning he carved from each side of the hole blocks of the hard-packed
snow, each block about two feet long and a foot and a half wide and ten
inches thick. These he placed on edge around the circle, fitting their
ends close together by trimming them as he found necessary, with the
knife.

Bobby and Jimmy, each with a knife, now began also to cut other slabs
from a drift outside the circle, and passed them to Skipper Ed when he
had exhausted his supply within the circle. They were very heavy, these
blocks, and as much as the boys could manage.

When Skipper Ed had built a row of blocks completely around the circle,
he trimmed the first blocks which he had placed to a wedge, that he
might build his circle of blocks up in a spiral.

Each block of snow was so placed that it was braced against the one
next it, and its top leaned a little inward, so that as the walls of the
_igloo_ rose each was smaller than the one preceding it, until at last a
key block in the top completed the dome-shaped structure. As the house
grew Bobby plastered the joints between the blocks full of snow, making
its outside smooth like the surface of a snowdrift.

When Skipper Ed had finished the building, he cut a circular place
through the side, close down to the bottom, and just large enough to
permit him to crawl out. Now with a snowshoe he shoveled the loose snow
out of the opening, and leveled the floor within.

Bobby and Jimmy in the meantime busied themselves unlashing the loads
upon the sledges and unharnessing the dogs. When this was done Bobby
with an ax chopped frozen seal meat into pieces for the dogs' supper,
while Jimmy with the long whip kept the hungry dogs at a distance, for
with the unharnessing, and preparation of their supper, they collected
into bunches, and sitting on their haunches, growled and snapped at one
another, each fearful that his neighbor should gain an advantage, and
all the time emitted dismal, whistling whines of impatience.

Presently Bobby stepped aside, Jimmy withdrew the menace of the whip,
and in an instant the hungry beasts were upon their food, gulping it
down as fast as they could pick it up, a snarling, snapping, yelping
mass, and there was a fight or two that the boys were called upon to
mediate by beating the animals apart.

By the time the feeding was over Skipper Ed had carried the harness into
the _igloo_ and spread it evenly on the floor--for the dogs would have
eaten their own harness if it had been left to them--and over the
harness he laid caribou skins, and then carried in the sleeping bags and
provisions. Nothing, indeed, was left outside, for nothing would have
been safe from the ravenous beasts. And when the dogs were fed and all
was made snug and safe the three crawled within, and closed the entrance
to the _igloo_ with a big block of snow previously provided for the
purpose.

They had brought with them two of Abel's old stone lamps. These were
simply blocks of stone cut in the shape of a half moon, and hollowed
out, to hold seal oil.

The lamps were now placed upon snow shelves, one on either side of the
_igloo_, and the oil from a piece of blubber squeezed into them. Pieces
of rags carefully placed along the straight side of the lamps served as
wicks. These were lighted and burned with a smoky, yellow flame.

When the wicks were burning well a snow knife was stuck into the wall of
the snow house over each lamp, and upon these knives kettles were
suspended and filled with snow taken from the wall of the _igloo_. One
of the kettles was removed when the snow was melted, and set aside for
drinking water. The other was permitted to boil, tea was made, and then
the fire was put out, for already the temperature inside the _igloo_ had
become so warm that presently there would be danger of the snow dripping
moisture.

"Now," said Skipper Ed, lighting a candle, for it was growing dark,
"we're ready for supper. You chaps must be hungry."

"I could eat my boots!" declared Bobby.

"So could I!" exclaimed Jimmy, as he poured hot tea into Skipper Ed's
and Bobby's cups and then helped himself. "I was glad enough when we
decided to stop here."

"Isn't it fine and cozy," said Bobby, between mouthfuls of frozen boiled
pork and hardtack. "I always find a snow _igloo_ cozy."

"It makes a pretty good shelter," Skipper Ed admitted, "but I never did
care for an _igloo_. I'm too much of an Indian, I suppose, for I prefer
a tent and a good wood fire, with its sweet smoke odor, and the
companionship and shelter of the forest."

"Oh, I think an _igloo_ is nicer," insisted Bobby. "A tent gets cold at
night when the fire goes out, and an _igloo_ keeps fine and warm. I
could live in an _igloo_ all winter."

"You're a regular husky!" laughed Skipper Ed. "Partner and I are
Indians, aren't we, Partner?"

"Yes, Partner, I like a tent better," agreed Jimmy, "but," he added, "I
like our house better than a tent."

"It all depends upon what we're used to, after all," remarked Skipper
Ed, "and comfort is a matter of comparison. I've no doubt that Bobby,
had he never been sent adrift, and had he never found his way here,
would now be living in a fine mansion somewhere, and if he had been
brought here directly from the luxuries of that mansion would have found
this _igloo_ unbearable, and instead of praising its comforts, as he is,
would be denouncing it as unendurable, and the good supper we have just
eaten as unfit to eat. And in that case it would have been a terrible
hardship for him to spend even a single night here."

"I'm glad, then, that I came away from the mansion and its finery,"
declared Bobby. "But I've often wondered who the dead man was that
Father found in the boat with me. I've often felt strange about that,
and every summer when we're here I go over and look at his grave."

"I remember you spoke of him as 'Uncle Robert,'" said Skipper Ed.
"Perhaps he was your uncle."

"I wonder--and I wonder--" said Bobby. "I wonder if my real mother and
father are living, and whether they have stopped feeling bad about me,
and forgotten me. I--think--sometimes I'd give most anything to see them
and tell them I'm happy."

Then they were silent, and presently Skipper Ed knew that the boys were
sleeping. But for a long time he lay awake and thought of other lands,
and the friends of his youth and the days when he lived in luxury; and
he wondered if, after all, he had been one whit happier in those days,
with all the fine things he had, than were Bobby and Jimmy here in this
rugged land, with no luxuries whatever. "We do not need much," he
soliloquized, "to make us happy if we are willing to be happy. Health
and love, and enough plain food to eat and clothes to cover us, and a
shelter--even a snow house--and we have enough."

Before day broke they were astir; and the sun had not yet risen when
they repacked their sledges and harnessed the dogs, and drove down over
the ice toward the _sena_. For a mile the ice was smooth. Then they came
among the pressure ridges, and had to pick their course in and out for
another two miles before they came at last to the open sea.

Seals were numerous on the ice edge, and on floating pans of ice, and
the dogs began to strain and howl in eagerness to attack the game, and
would have dashed to the very water's edge but for big hoops of walrus
hide thrown over the front of the _komatik_, which dragged into the snow
under the runners and stopped them, and when they were stopped only the
menace of the long whips could induce the animals to lie quietly down.

"We're going to have a dandy hunt!" exclaimed Bobby. "Shall we go right
at it, and build an _igloo_ later?"

"Don't you think we had better build the _igloo_ first?" suggested
Skipper Ed, laughing at Bobby's eagerness. "Then when we're tired we
won't have it to do, or to think about, and we'll have a shelter all
ready. Let us make things ship-shape."

"I suppose you're right," and Bobby grinned.

One of the two lamps and a share of the provisions had been left in the
_igloo_ on Itigailit Island, which was to be their land base and their
cache. But they had brought with them the other lamp and necessaries to
make their hunting _igloo_ comfortable. A good bank of snow was found,
not too far from the ice edge, and in an hour an _igloo_ was ready and
everything stowed safely away from possible foraging by the dogs. Then
the two teams, still fast in their traces, were picketed behind the ice
hummocks near the _igloo_, for had they been set at liberty each dog
would have gone hunting on his own account, and the seals would have
been driven from the ice and beyond range of the guns.

Now, each armed with a rifle, and Bobby with a harpoon, they stole down
toward the seals, crawling toward them, Bobby now and again emitting a
"_Hough! Hough_!" in imitation of the coughing bark of the seals, until
they approached quite near. Then, almost simultaneously, they fired,
and, springing up, ran forward. Two seals had been shot clear through
the head, and lay dead on the ice, but the other, though wounded, had
slipped into the water. Bobby drew his harpoon, and holding it poised
waited, until presently a dozen feet away the wounded seal came
struggling to the surface. In a flash the harpoon flew from the young
hunter's hand and struck its mark, and with the assistance of Skipper Ed
and Jimmy he drew it to the ice.

These seals were of a species which they called "harps," because of the
peculiar, harp-shaped markings on their back; and of the hair variety,
for none of the valuable fur seals inhabits north Atlantic waters. The
skins, however, when dressed into leather by Mrs. Abel, would prove of
splendid quality for boot tops, or, when dressed without removing the
hair, would supply them with many articles of clothing for their
comfort.

The day was terribly cold--Skipper Ed judged that the temperature must
have stood at least at fifty degrees below zero, and that even the
temperature of the sea water, where it was unfrozen, was well below the
freezing point. Once or twice, indeed, in spite of their enthusiasm, the
hunters retired to the _igloo_, where a lamp was kept burning, to warm
themselves.

Late that afternoon Jimmy wounded a seal on an ice pan, and it went into
the water. He seized a harpoon, but when the seal rose to the surface it
was so far away that the line could not reach it.

"Here!" shouted Bobby, laying down his gun and grabbing a paddle which
he had brought from Itigailit Island for such an emergency, "jump on
this pan. I'll paddle you out where you can get him."

They sprang upon a small pan, and, utilizing it as a raft, Bobby paddled
a few yards.

"There! There!" shouted Bobby. "There he is. He's most dead. You can get
him!"

Jimmy jumped to the side of the pan upon which Bobby was kneeling with
his paddle, and poising the harpoon was about to cast it when the pan,
too heavily weighted on that side, began slowly to turn. Bobby did not
see this, but Jimmy did.

"Don't move!" shouted Jimmy. "Stay where you are!"

And, without hesitation, Jimmy slipped from the pan and into the icy
sea, though he knew there was small chance for him to swim, and,
overcome by the shock of the terrible cold, he sank beneath the waves.

The pan righted itself immediately it was relieved of Jimmy's weight,
and Bobby, realizing what Jimmy had done, and that his friend had
sacrificed himself for his sake, stood bewildered and stunned, gazing
blankly at the spot where Jimmy had sunk.

CHAPTER XXI

WHO WAS THE HERO?

Bobby did not lose his head. After his manner in emergencies, he thought
quickly, and acted instantly, and now his bewilderment was for only a
moment.

Seizing the harpoon which Jimmy had dropped upon the ice, he gave a yell
that brought Skipper Ed to the water's edge in a hurry, and when Skipper
Ed came running down Bobby had already thrown off his _netsek_ and his
mittens and was knotting the loose end of the harpoon line around his
waist. Grasping the harpoon, he cast it upon the main ice, with the
command:

"Grab it, and hold it!"

"My God!" gasped Skipper Ed. "What has happened? Where is Jimmy? Where
is Partner?"

"In there! Stand by and help!" directed Bobby, who had not taken his
eyes off the dark water where Jimmy had disappeared, save for the
fleeting instant when he cast his harpoon to Skipper Ed.

Presently Jimmy, hampered by his _netsek_, weakly struggled to the
surface, already apparently overcome by the awful cold of the plunge.
Bobby saw him and instantly sprang after him, seized him about the waist
and held him with the desperation of one who fights with death. A
moment's struggle followed and then both lads went down.

Skipper Ed now comprehended Bobby's suddenly formulated plan of rescue,
and he pulled with all his strength upon the line, and as he pulled
Bobby, still grasping Jimmy about the body, rose again to the surface,
and Skipper Ed giving impetus to the line, drew them to him, seized them
and quite easily drew them upon the ice.

Jimmy had already lost consciousness and Bobby was so overcome by the
shock that he could scarcely speak, and Skipper Ed, lifting Jimmy into
his arms, ran with him to the _igloo_, calling to Bobby as he did so:

"Come! Run! Run, or you'll freeze!"

Bobby tried to run--tried very hard--but he fell. The water in an
instant formed a coat of mail upon his body. He rose, but his legs
refused to respond, and again he fell, and when Skipper Ed, who came
running back when he had dragged Jimmy into the _igloo_, reached him he
found Bobby on his hands and knees and nearly helpless.

"Come!" he shouted into Bobby's ear, at the same time passing his arm
around Bobby's body and lifting him to his feet. "Come, lad! Don't give
up!" he encouraged, half dragging the boy forward and pushing him into
the _igloo_.

"Undress, Bobby! Get into your sleeping bag!" he commanded.

"Jimmy--Jimmy--" said Bobby, in a voice which he hardly recognized as
his own.

"I'll take care of Jimmy," broke in Skipper Ed. "Get into your sleeping
bag! Quick!"

And Bobby in a dazed manner obeyed.

Fortunately the stone lamp was burning. Skipper Ed closed the door of
the _igloo_ with a block of snow, and working rapidly he stripped the
frozen clothing from Jimmy, wrapped him in a caribou skin, turned him
upon his face, and resorted to artificial respiration to restore him to
consciousness.

Jimmy responded quickly to the treatment, for he was suffering rather
from shock than from the amount of water that had entered his lungs, and
in a little while Skipper Ed was gratified to observe that he was
breathing naturally and making an effort to speak.

"Where's--Bobby?" he asked faintly.

"Bobby's safe," said Skipper Ed with a strange choking in his voice.
"Bobby pulled you out, Partner. My brave partner!"

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