by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXIX
IN STRANGE LANDS
Mr. Winslow and his nephew Edward Norman were sportsmen who, as manyother sportsmen had done before them and have done since, had gone aspassengers with the sealing fleet that they might see the big ice andsecure for themselves trophies of the seal hunt of their own killing.And so it came about that they met Bobby, and took him under their care.Indeed, Mr. Winslow felt an unusual interest in the lad from the momenthe met him, for Bobby had an open, frank countenance and a pleasingmanner.
But they would not permit him to talk or tell them much of his storyuntil they had him on shipboard, and Bobby had eaten and bathed andchanged his ill-smelling skin clothing for a suit that Edward Normanpressed upon him. And though the clothes were a trifle large, and thetrousers two or three inches longer than was necessary, they set Bobbyoff to good advantage and wrought a wonderful change in his appearance.
"You're to stay in the cabin as our guest," said Mr. Winslow when Bobbywas dressed, and would have gone forward to the sailors' quarters. "Ihave arranged it with the Captain. I am very much interested in what yousaid about Skipper Ed. His name, you said, is Edward Norman. Who is he?"
"Skipper Ed's our nearest neighbor," Bobby explained simply.
"Do you call him 'Skipper' because he is a sea captain? Has he alwayslived on the Labrador coast? You see," added Mr. Winslow, "I'm greatlyinterested because his name is the same as my nephew's. It is a strangecoincidence, and we should like to learn all about him."
"We've always called him 'Skipper,'" answered Bobby. "He was a sailoronce, but that was long before I came. He's lived at Abel's Bay, I heardhim say, over twenty years. He's told Jimmy and me a lot about HarvardCollege, and when he was a boy he lived in a place called Carrington--"
"What! Carrington?" exclaimed Mr. Winslow. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir," said Bobby. "He's often told Jimmy and me about his homethere when he was a boy."
The two men looked at each other and they were plainly excited, and inan intensely expectant voice Mr. Winslow asked:
"Did he ever speak of his family?"
"Yes, sir--of his father and mother and brother and sister," said Bobby.
"Anything else?"
"Why, yes, sir; about the trees and flowers and garden and--"
"I mean about himself," interrupted Mr. Winslow. "Did he ever tell youabout a bank, or why he left home?"
"No, sir," said Bobby. "I remember, though, a story he used to tell usabout two boys whose father had a bank. One borrowed some money from thebank and lost it gambling, and because he had a wife and little childthe other brother told their father that he did it, though he didn'tknow anything about it until after it was done. The brother that tookthe money tried to stop him. The father of the boys sent the one whosaid he took the money away, and he went and settled in a land like TheLabrador, and never saw his old home or any of his people again."
The two men were leaning eagerly forward during this recital. When Bobbyhad finished they sat back and looked into each other's eyes, and aftera moment Mr. Winslow spoke:
"There is no doubt, Edward, that Skipper Ed is your uncle--your father'sbrother who disappeared so long ago, when you were a baby."
"Yes," agreed Edward, "and we must go to him and take him home again."
"You--don't--mean--you're Skipper Ed's people?" stammered the astonishedBobby.
"Yes," said Mr. Winslow, "Edward's father and Skipper Ed were, I believefrom what you have told us, brothers, and in that case Mrs. Winslow isSkipper Ed's sister. She was a little girl when he went away. We mustlook into the matter, and we shall all be very glad if it proves to betrue."
And then they talked for a long while, and drew from Bobby the story oftheir life at Abel's Bay--of how Skipper Ed had taught him and Jimmy,and the evenings spent in talking and studying in the easy chairs beforethe big box stove in Skipper Ed's cabin, and about Abel Zachariah andMrs. Abel--so much, in fact, about their daily lives and hopes anddisappointments that presently his two hearers felt that they had knownBobby and his friends all their life.
And Bobby told them the story of his own coming to the Coast, as he hadheard it from Abel and Mrs. Abel many a time, of how he had been founddrifting in a boat with a dead man, of the grave Abel had made onItigailit Island for his dead companion, and the cairn he himself hadbuilt.
"We have the boat yet," said Bobby, "for it was a good boat. Father hasalways taken great care of it. He and Mother always say it's the boatGod sent me in out of the mists from the far beyond, where storms areborn."
"What a romantic life you've led!" said Edward. "Your very advent uponthe Coast was romantic--and tragic. And the way we found you today is noless so."
"Have you no clue that would help you identify yourself? No clue as towhere you came from? Was there nothing to identify the dead man?" askedMr. Winslow.
"No," answered Bobby, "and I've never thought about it very much. Motherhas the clothes I wore, wrapped in a bundle and stowed into a chest.I've often seen the bundle, but I never undid it or meddled with it forshe prizes it so."
"It was probably a boat from a whaling or fishing ship that waswrecked," Mr. Winslow suggested. "Perhaps you were the captain's son.You should look into the bundle; it may help to identify you, and youmay have relatives living, perhaps in Newfoundland, who would be glad toknow of you."
For two weeks the _Fearless_, which was the ship upon which Mr. Winslowand his nephew were passengers, remained near the ice, her crew ofnearly two hundred men engaged in killing seals and in loading themaboard, and then at last, with a cargo of nearly forty thousandcarcasses, she set sail to the southward.
The days were lengthening rapidly now, and with every mile theatmosphere grew milder. The Labrador coast was still ice-bound, and itwould be many weeks before the harbors were cleared and vessels couldenter them, but Mr. Winslow promised Bobby that as early as conditionswould permit they would sail northward to Abel's Bay, and perhapscharter a vessel for the journey. Indeed, he and Edward were nearly ifnot quite as anxious for this as Bobby.
It was during the first week in April that the _Fearless_ steamed intoSt. John's harbor, and Bobby for the first time in his life saw a city,and great buildings, and railway trains, and horses--horses were hisgreat mark of admiration--and very shy he was, for he had beentransported to a world that was new to him.
And then, in a swirl of ever-growing wonders, they were away on arailway train, and for a night on a steamer, and again on a train,moving at a gait that made Bobby's head whirl, and at last budding treeswere seen, and green fields--all the marvelous things of which SkipperEd had so often told him.
At last they left the train one evening at Carrington, which, aseveryone knows, is a suburb of Boston. Bobby was hurried with Mr.Winslow and Edward Norman into an automobile, which whirled away withthem to a great old house, where they were greeted at the door by Mrs.Winslow, whom Bobby thought nice and motherly, and whom he loved atonce; and by a white-haired old gentleman and old lady who Bobby learnedwere Edward's grandparents.
Bobby was made quite dizzy by much talking and by innumerable questionsthat he was called upon to answer, and when Mrs. Winslow and thewhite-haired old lady cried at the story of Skipper Ed, and the oldgentleman repeated over and over again: "Is it possible! Is it possible!My poor Edward! My long lost boy!" he almost cried himself, though hecould see nothing to cry about, really, except Jimmy's supposed death.
And then came wonderful days while Bobby watched the marvelousblossoming of the trees in the garden, and as they were transformed intomasses of pink and white, and flower beds became spots of glowing color,he believed a miracle had been performed before his very eyes--as,indeed, one had. And there were times when he believed he must bedreaming, and not living in the world at all, and then he would pinchhimself to make certain he was really alive and awake, and that he hadnot perished on the ice after all and awakened in Paradise.
But in his room of nights when the lights were out and he was alone andall
was still, he had many sleepless and homesick hours. Then it was helonged for the old times again in the cozy cabins, and for AbelZachariah and Mrs. Abel, and Skipper Ed and Jimmy, and felt that hewould give all the world to have them back.
And so the weeks passed until the lengthening days of June were welladvanced, and Mr. Winslow announced that he had chartered a smallauxiliary schooner and that she was ready for the northern voyage, andthen for two nights before their departure for St. John's, where theschooner was in waiting, Bobby could scarcely sleep at all, so eager washe to return home to Abel Zachariah and Mrs. Abel, that they might knowhe still lived, for he often thought of them there in the cabin, verylonely without him.
One day late in June Mr. and Mrs. Winslow, with Edward Norman and Bobby,went down to Boston, where they boarded their steamer, and immediatelythe lines were thrown off and the steamer had turned her prow seaward,Bobby nearly shouted with joy, and every throb of the steamer's engine,and every turn of the propeller, brought fresh delight to his heart,for they were beating away the miles that separated him from home.
In Halifax there was a day's vexatious delay while they awaited the St.John's steamer, but at last it came, and at last they were on board theschooner _Gull_ in St. John's harbor, and at last the _Gull_ was plowingnorthward past stately icebergs glimmering in the sunshine, and vagrantpans of ice rising and falling on the swell, and home was drawing near.