by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI
WITH PASSING YEARS
Bobby's adventure on the cliff was, after all, but typical of theadventures that he was regularly getting into, and drawing Jimmy into,but somehow coming out of unscathed, during these years of his career.Though he was nearly four years Jimmy's junior, he was invariably theinstigator of their escapades.
Jimmy was inclined to cautiousness, while Bobby had a reckless turn, orrather failed to see danger. Bobby was naturally a leader, and in spiteof his youth Jimmy instinctively recognized him as such. He could alwaysovercome Jimmy's scruples and cautions, and with ease and celerity leadJimmy from one scrape into another.
But Bobby invariably kept a cool head. He had a steady brain and nerveand the faculty of quick thought and prompt decision, with a practicalturn of mind. If he got Jimmy and himself into a scrape, he usually gotthem out of it again not much the worse for their experience.
Jimmy was imaginative and emotional, and when they were in peril hecould see only the peril, and picture the possible dire results. Bobby,on the other hand, concentrated his attention upon some practical methodby which they might extricate themselves, losing sight, seemingly, ofwhat the result might be should they fail to do so.
Bobby had doubtless inherited from his unknown ancestors the peculiarmental qualities that made him a leader. From Abel he had absorbed theEskimo's apparent contempt of danger. Abel, like all Eskimos, was afatalist. If he was caught in a perilous position he believed that ifthe worst came it would be because it was to be. If he escaped unharmed,so it was to be. Therefore why be excited? Bobby had as completelyaccepted this creed as though he, too, were an Eskimo, for his life andtraining with Abel was the life and training of an Eskimo boy.
And so the years passed, and Bobby grew into a tall, square-shouldered,alert, handsome, self-reliant youth. He was in nearly every respect,save the color of his skin and the shade of his hair, an Eskimo. Hespoke the language like an Eskimo born, his tastes and his life wereEskimo, his ambition to be a great hunter--the greatest ambition of hislife--was the ambition of an Eskimo, and he bore the hardships, which tohim were no hardships at all, like an Eskimo. He was much more anEskimo, indeed, than the native half-breeds of the coast farther south.
In one respect, however, Bobby was highly civilized. He was a greatreader and an exceptional student. Skipper Ed had seen to this withsingleness of purpose.
To him and Jimmy study was recreation. Mathematical problems wereinteresting to them, just as the solution of puzzles interests the boyin civilization. Just as the boy in civilization will work for hoursupon the solution of a mechanical puzzle, they worked upon problems inarithmetic and geometry, and with the same gusto. They studiedgrammatical construction much as they studied the tracks and the habitsof wild animals. They read the books in Skipper Ed's library with thefeelings and sensations of explorers. In the first reading they weregoing through an unknown forest, and with each successive reading theywere retracing their steps and exploring the trail in minute detail andbecoming thoroughly acquainted with the surrounding country.
This may seem very improbable and unnatural to the boy whose studies areenforced and, because they are compulsory, appeal to him as tediousduties which he must perform. But nevertheless it was very natural.Human nature is obstinate and contrary. Tom Sawyer's friends derivedmuch pleasure from whitewashing the fence, and even paid for theprivilege. Had their parents set them to whitewashing fences they wouldhave found it irksome work, and anything but play.
Bobby, indeed, had developed two distinct personalities. In hisevery-day living he was decidedly an Eskimo; but of long winterevenings, reading or studying Skipper Ed's books, at home in Abel'scabin, or in one of the easy chairs in Skipper Ed's cabin, when SkipperEd explained to him and Jimmy the things they read, Bobby was as farremoved from his Eskimo personality as could be.
Abel and Mrs. Abel never wavered in their belief that God had sent Bobbyto them from the Far Beyond, through the place where mists and stormswere born. They believed he had been sent to them direct from heaven.
But Bobby was very human, indeed. No one other than Abel and Mrs. Abelwould ever have ascribed to him angelic origin, and as he developed itmust have caused a long stretch of even their imagination to continuethe fiction. There was nothing ethereal about Bobby. His big, huskyframe, his abounding and never-failing appetite, and his high spirits,were very substantial indeed.
And as Bobby grew, and more and more took part in the bigger things oflife, his adventures grew from the smaller adventures of the boy to thegreater ones of the man.
In this wild land no one knows when he will be called upon to meetadventure. The sea winds breathe it, it stalks boldly over the bleakwastes of the barrens, and in the dark and mysterious fastnesses of theforest it crouches, always ready for its chance to spring forward andmeet you unawares. Adventure, ay, and grave danger too, are wont to showthemselves unexpectedly. And so, one winter's evening, they came toSkipper Ed and Bobby and Jimmy.