s of the household. In the bleak land
where he lived there is no shifting of these responsibilities. Everyman,
and every boy, too, must do his share to wrest a living from the sea and
rocks, and Bobby had no thought but to do his part. If a boy cannot do
one thing in Labrador, he can do another. He can cut wood, hunt small
game, attend the fish nets, jig cod--there are a thousand things that he
can do, and make sport of as he does them, too, as Bobby did, until he
grows to man's estate.

Each summer Abel and Mrs. Abel returned to their old fishing place on
Itigailit Island, and of course Bobby went with them, and did his share
in jigging cod; and each summer Skipper Ed and Jimmy went to Skipper
Ed's old fishing place--the place where he had found his forlorn little
partner that stormy autumn day, when they had sealed their bargain with
a handshake.

The days of preparation for departure to the fishing were days of keen
and pleasurable anticipation for the boys. It was a break from the
routine of the long winter, and brought with it the novelty of change.
These promised weeks upon the open sea were always weeks of delight, and
above all else was the pleasure of seeing and sometimes visiting the
fishing schooners which occasionally chanced their way.

The schooners had a wonderful fascination for the lads, for they came
from the far-away and mysterious land of civilization of which Skipper
Ed had told them so often and so much, and of which they had read so
eagerly on long winter evenings.

It was more than a novelty to listen to the sailormen on the schooners
talk of the strange happenings in that wonderful land, and to hear them
sing their quaint old sea songs and chanteys, or relate marvelous
stories of adventure.

Sometimes a skipper would drop them a newspaper, many weeks old to be
sure, but as fresh and interesting to them as though it had come
directly from the press. Or perchance--and this was a treasure
indeed--an illustrated magazine fell to their lot. And no line of paper
or magazine, even to the last advertisement, but was read many and many
times over. And no illustration in the magazines but held their
attention for hours upon hours.

These old newspapers and magazines were preserved, and carried home to
take their place as a valued source of entertainment on stormy winter
days and long winter evenings. And finally the illustrations and more
interesting articles were clipped and pasted upon the walls