do injury with it, and endeavored to take
it from him. In some manner it was discharged, and I was injured, I am
well aware, fatally. I lost consciousness, and when I awoke today Magee
was gone. In his frenzy he must have plunged overboard.
"My strength is nearly gone, and it is hard to hold a pencil. Should our
boat by chance be discovered, let the finder communicate with Mr. Henry
Winslow, Carrington, Massachusetts, and care for the little boy, who is
his son. I commend the child to God's care, and as I die I pray God that
my son Edward may grow to noble and Christian manhood--that he may
possess as true and noble and Christian a character as my long-lost
brother for whom he was named, the brother who sacrificed so much for me
and him, and whom I wronged so deeply. God has forgiven me and I die in
peace.
"Robert Norman."
It was difficult to read the final lines, for the pencil had wavered
sadly, and it was evident that the entry had been finished with intense
effort.
When Mr. Winslow at last laid aside the yellow old notebook there were
no dry eyes, and for a little while all were silent. Then Edward took
Skipper Ed's hand in a strong grasp.
"With God's help," said he, "I will live as my father wished, and always
endeavor to be worthy his ideal."
* * * * *
But our story must end. I might relate how Bobby and Jimmy went to
college, for Skipper Ed would not part from his partner. How the three
always spent their summers with Abel Zachariah and Mrs. Abel, and
provided for their comfort until in the fullness of years they went to
their final rest; and how Edward erected a stone on Itigailit Island to
his father's memory. But already our story has grown too long.
We may be sure in the busy years that followed, Bobby and Jimmy never
forgot the cabins at Abel's Bay, nor the cozy hours in the easy chairs
before the big box stove. Nor Skipper Ed's teaching: "Destiny is God's
will."
THE END
The Wilderness Castaways
_By_
DILLON WALLACE
ILLUSTRATED BY H.S. WATSON
One of the "meatiest" stories for boys that has seen the light for many
years. The tale of how two lads, one a self-reliant Newfoundlander, and
the other an over-pampered New Yorker, went adrift in a fog on Hudson
Bay and were forced to make their own living out of the wild in a
sub-Arctic winter. It is full of adventure from first to last.--_Boston
Globe_.
Full of hunting, of peril, and privatio
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