Left on the Labrador: A Tale of Adventure Down North

e lynx would spring upon them before Toby could fire. Charley held his breath, and then Toby

ried Toby exultantly as the two r

ted, quite beside himself with excit

ass with vast pride. "Won't he and Mother be glad of un! The fur's not

bbits!" Charley boasted, touching

where we sees un, were the

arry it?" as

he," assured Toby. "I'l

l than he had thought when he saw its eyes and its crouching form in the shadows. Still he had no desire to meet a lynx alone in the fore

d the legs several times, and tying it in a secure knot. The hind legs were tied in similar manner. Then cutting a stiff po

the pole on your shoulder, I'll take the oth

doing it that way," said Charle

s growing heavy to Charley's unaccustomed shoulder, and

season. You're startin' in fine as a Labradorman!" and he slapped Charley on the shoulder. "Day before yesterday a castaway! Yesterday shipwrecked! To-day settin' rabbit

odestly. "He'd have got away from me

elped to trail he, though I did the sh

e shoulder with vast approval. "Only one would be doin' the shootin' whatever. We'll be makin' a hunter o' you before the ship comes ba

then pulled snugly over a board shaped for the purpose, with the fur next the board and the fleshy side out, drawn taut and secured. Now, with a sheath knife, Skipper Zeb scrap

e," said Charley when supper was eaten and Skipper Zeb h

is pipe. "We had a bit of a hard time yesterday, but here we are to-day

the ship looking for me. I guess he thinks he's in a fix! Serves him right if he is worried. But,"

t be thinkin' how joyful they'll be when you goes home in July month. What a fine surprise 'twill be for un!"

d Charley. "I could buy things

bit down north from Pinch-In Tickle, and we'll not be gettin' there for two months

d a pair o' moleskin trousers. We're a bit short o' underclothes. We gets Toby new ones this year, and I can

Charley. "Let Toby have the new one

h the suit you has 'twill make two. I'll be havin' the other two suits of new

a good way to fix it. And when there's a chance to go to

Mrs. Twig. "I gets un all tanned in the s

eamed delightedly. "We're gettin' out o' that fix! And has you duf

d Mrs. Twig, amused at the Skipper's enthusiasm. "I'll

s, I thinks the lads might have caps made out of un, and the hoods of their adikeys

d Mrs. Twig, who usually agreed

n fussin' about the trap boat, and feelin' bad about un ever since we leaves un at the Duck's Head. She's thinkin' if we pulls un out o' the water, we'll find the bottom not so bad we can't fix un. I'm not d

thinkin' maybe she's just got a bust

ley?" asked Skipper Zeb. "You're one o' th

sponsibility was being thrust upon him, and rather plea

judgment from the minute I sees you, and that proves un. We'll go in the marnin' to t

ad breakfast nearly ready before he awoke the following morning. They ate by candle-light, and at the first break of daw

block and fall rigging, hammer, nails, pieces of plank and an

ered that no serious damage had been done. A plank had been broken, but ribs and timbers were uncracked. The boat was soon mended and the new

nd stewin' herself half sick about she. That's the way 'tis with most worries, when you

"I was sure you'd lost her, and I'm

at un. I thinks we'd lost she sure, but I says, 'That's the way o' things,' and I don't worry. Tho

the afternoon with the big trap boat, and the small boat in tow. Mrs. Twig and Violet saw

prow touched the shore. "We gets she all fixed up, Mothe

rs glistened in her eyes. "Now you and the lads must be wonderful hungry, for '

erky as a cock pa'tridge," boomed Skipper Zeb.

as a cut of the lynx that he and Toby had killed the night before, his natural pr

e kept Charley busy from morning till night with himself and Toby doing the most interesting things imaginable, and, with all the other work, the boys vis

the path and set up the traps. We'

s wilderness. What unfathomed mysteries it held! There it slept as it had slept through the silence of unnumbered ages since the world was formed, untrod by the white man's foot, known only to wild Indian hunters, as primitive as the wilderness itself. What strange b

ing on Monday morning, though he could not, perhaps, have pu

goes in quite so late to set up my path. But I has tw

oat was laden with a cargo of flour, pork, molasses, tea and steel traps, with extra clothing for the trail. Two pairs

s season," explained Skipper Zeb. "If snow come

," said Charley. "I don't see how you can walk

Zeb in astonishment. "Well, now! And how d

rley, "and we don't have so much snow anyhow. Even

a place where you're not needin' snowshoes to get about in winter. You'll learn

and to wish them Godspeed as they pulled away with Skipper Ze