Part 3 (1/2)
”Destiny is just the working out of the Alhty's will And it was a part of the lad's destiny to be cast upon this bleak coast and to find a ho the rocky shore, they talked to the acco spruce trees in the forest
Skipper Ed, giving voice to thoughts hich he was deeply engrossed, told of the kindlier, sunnier land from which Bobby had been sent adrift--from a home of luxury, perhaps--to live upon bounty, and in the crude, primitive cabin of an Eskimo And he thrilled his little partner with vivid descriptions of great cities where people were so numerous they jostled one another, and did not know each other's na locomotives; of beautiful houses which seereen fields; and yellow fields of waving grain frolorious flowers; and forests of strange trees
They reached their cabin at last, which stood in the shelter of the trees at the edge of the great wilderness, and looked out over the bay; and at the porch door Skipper Ed paused, and, gazing for awater, stretched his arms before him and said:
”It's out there, Partner--the land I've told you about--out there beyond the sea--the land I came from and the land Bobby came from--and the land you came from, too, for that matter Some time you may sail away to see it”
In outward appearance Skipper Ed's cabin was almost the counterpart of Abel's, but within it was fitted much more cos of dog and wolf skins, and there were three big armchairs--one for Skipper Ed, one for his partner, and one for Abel when he came to see them--and a rocker for Mrs Abel when she called; all home-ht-backed dining chairs, and against the wall some shelves well filled with books, as well as many other conveniences and comforts and refine, also, the heavy, fishy odor of seal oil, never absent fro outhouse, a little apart from his cabin, as a storehouse for seal oil and fish and pelts
Dusk was settling Skipper Ed lighted candles and kindled a fire in the stove, and he and Ji and soon snow began to beat against thepane, and when supper was eaten and the table cleared, and the two drew their ar there and listening to the howling storly curled in his chair, was so still that Skipper Ed, silently s his pipe, believed his little partner asleep, when he was startled out of his s by the request:
”Partner, tell me a story”
”A story, Partner? What kind of a story? One about the sea?”
”A story about people that live out there in the country Bobby came from, and you came from”
”Oh, out there! Yes, to be sure!” Skipper Ed sat silent for a few h a crack in the stove door, while Ji into Skipper Ed's face At last he began:
”Once there were two boys who lived in a fine big house, for their father was rich The house was in a town, and it had a great reen lawn, over which were scattered trees and bushes that bore flowers, and behind the house was a large garden where delicious fruits and vegetables grew, and where there were beautiful beds of bright flowers Under the shady trees of this garden was a favorite playground of the boys”
”What were the names of the boys?” interrupted Jih these may not have been their real names,” explained Skipper Ed ”Toh, don't you think so?”
”Yes, Partner, they're fine names, and easy to remember”
”Toreat chuot into ether, until Toether Toed to escape punishment, for he was a much keener lad than Bill, and Bill, on his part, seldom failed to receive his full share of punishment”
”That weren't fair!” broke in Jiet all the punishment!”
”He didn't mean to be dishonest, I'm sure,” said Skipper Ed
”But 'tweren't honest,” insisted Ji,” continued Skipper Ed, ”Toe and e two years later the lads saw little of each other Tom was a brilliant fellow, and everyone liked hi the students Bill, on the other hand, was not in the least brilliant, and he had to work hard to get his lessons, and they ith different crowds of fellows
”Their father, as I told you, was rich, and he was also indulgent He gave the boys a larger allowance of spending ood for theo to Bill and borrow some of his, and even then Toay coh it off and say that a fellow in the upper classes had to keep up his end, as Bill would learn later
”What Bill did learn later was that Toambler, and had lost hismany debts unpaid
”The father of the boys was a manufacturer, and was also president of the bank in the little city where they lived A bank is a place where other people's money is kept for them, and whenever the people who keep et what they need When Toraduation had been advanced to the position of cashi+er, and hadwoe of the ht best also for Bill to enter the bank, which he did a few e, as assistant to his brother
”Things went on very well until, one day, a man came to examine the bank and to see if all the money was safely there, and the exae That is, there was not as e lay between the two brothers Tom, in terrible distress, admitted to Bill that he had 'just borrowed' the money to invest in stocks--which is a way people speak of one kind of ga--but that the investment had failed, and he had lost it