rothers of the wilderness in their care-free wanderings, and be
forever free themselves from the yoke of sledge and whip and the toil
and drudgery of the trail. But so like men were the beasts that they
never had the courage to cast themselves free from the shackles of their
man-master, though it required but a resolution and a plunge into the
hills.

"So it is with many a man," said Skipper Ed one evening when Bobby was
stopping for the night with him and Jimmy, and a wolf howl was followed
by the answering howl of dogs. "Many and many a man that has the power
and strength within him, and the brains too, if he but knew it, to go
out into the broad world of endeavor and do great things, simmers his
life away in the little narrow world into which he has grown, expending
his energies as a servant when he might be a master. He keeps his eyes
to the ground and never looks out or up, and so he never knows how big
the world is or how much it holds for him.

"It takes courage sometimes to break loose from old things. But it's the
man that dares to break loose, and hit a new trail, and try his hand at
new things, that wins. The man that never takes a chance, never gets
anywhere, and then he says that luck has been against him. I speak of
luck sometimes, but I don't mean it in that way. There is no such thing
as luck. What we call luck is the Almighty's reward when we've done the
best we can."

"Did you ever try new things?" asked Bobby.

"Yes, yes, lad! Long ago," and a shadow fell upon Skipper Ed's face, to
pass in a moment, however, as he added, "I think I did what the Lord
Almighty intended me to do."

"What was it?" asked Bobby, ever curious.

"To come here, and be Jimmy's partner, and to be a friend to both of you
young scalawags, I think," and Skipper Ed smiled.

"Didn't you ever ask the Lord to let you do some big, _big_ things?"
insisted Bobby.

"Partner does big things all the time," protested Jimmy. "He's a fine
shot, and there isn't a better hunter on The Labrador."

"Yes," said Skipper Ed, "I've asked the Lord, and I think the big thing
He's given me to do is to teach you chaps the best I can, and maybe my
teaching will help one of you to do the big, _big_ thing."

And then a wolf howled again, not far away this time, and out in front
of the cabin Skipper Ed's dogs howled an answer, and down from Abel's
cabin came the long, weird cry of woe from Abel's dogs; and the three
sat silent for a little, and lis