ach other's names; of
rushing, shrieking locomotives; of beautiful houses which seemed to
Jimmy no less than fairy palaces; of great green fields; and yellow
fields of waving grain from which the flour was made which they ate; of
glorious 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 a moment at the
stretch of heaving water, 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 completely and tastefully. On
the well-scrubbed floor were rugs 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-made and upholstered in buckskin. And there were four
straight-backed dining chairs, and against the wall some shelves well
filled with books, as well as many other conveniences and comforts and
refinements not usual in the cabins of the coast. There was lacking,
also, the heavy, fishy odor of seal oil, never absent from the Eskimo
home, for Skipper Ed had provided a log 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 Jimmy together set about preparing supper. The wind
was rising and soon snow began to beat against the window pane, and when
supper was eaten and the table cleared, and the two drew their armchairs
up before the fire, it was very cozy sitting there and listening to the
howling storm outside and the roaring fire in the stove. Jimmy, snugly
curled in his chair, was so still that Skipper Ed, silently smoking his
pipe, believed his little partner asleep, when he was startled out of
his musings 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