Part 1 (1/2)

Bobby of the Labrador

by Dillon Wallace

DEDICATED

TO

LGH

WHO KNOWS WHY

If I entle destiny throughout the years; No soft content, or ease, or unearned bliss Bereft of heart-ache where no sorrow nears, But rather rugged trouble for a ht, To train you for the ruthless whip of fate And build your heart up for the bitter fight

If I may call you friend, I wish you ame itself beyond the score And take the tide of life as it le that ahit, And, though you slip before the charging foe, To love the game too well to ever quit

GRANTLAND RICE

Bobby of the Labrador

CHAPTER I

THE BOAT THAT CAME DOWN FROM THE SEA

Abel Zachariah was jigging cod Cod were plentiful, and Abel Zachariah was happy It still lacked two hours of ht a skiffload of fish and had landed theailit Island, where his tent was pitched

Now, as he jigged a little off shore, he could see Mrs Abel Zachariah, the yellow sunshi+ne spread all about her, splitting hisrocks Above her stood the little tent that was their sus, now idle and lazy and fat, sprawled blissfully upon the rocks enjoying the August , for this was their season of rest and plenty

With a feeling of deep content Abel drew in his line, unhooked a flapping cod, returned the jigger to the water, and, as he resu of line, turned his eyes again to the peaceful scene ashore

Mrs Abel in this brief interval had left the splitting table and had ascended the sloping rock a little here she now stood, shading her eyes with her right hand and gazing intently seaward Suddenly she began gesticulating wildly, and shouting, and over the water to Abel came the words:

”_Umiak! Umiak!_” (A boat! A boat!)

Abel arose deliberately in his skiff, and looking in the direction in which Mrs Abel pointed discovered, co upon the swell It carried no sail, and after careful scrutiny Abel's sharp eyes could discern no man at the oars This, then, was the cause of Mrs Abel's excitement The boat was un boat is fair booty on the Labrador coast It is the recognized property of the man who sees it and boards it first And should it be a trap boat he is indeed a fortunate reater than a whole season's catch of fish

So Abel lost no ti his oars, and in pulling away toward the derelict with all the strength his strong arood sea boat all his life When the fishi+ng schooners now and again of a foggy night anchored behind Itigailit Island he never failed to exa trap boats which they carried Sometimes he had ventured to inquire how e for one But he had never had enough fish, and his desire to possess a boat seemed little less likely of fulfilment than that of a boy with a diold watch in the shop

But here, at last, drifting directly toward hientle breeze and an incoetting Fortune was s

Now and again as he approached the derelict, Abel rested upon his oars, that he ht turn about for a moment and feast his eyes upon his prospective prize, and revel in the pleasure of anticipation about to be realized