And thus Bobby was learning to be a man and a hunter.
Bobby was still a very young lad when Abel began to teach him the signs
of the wilderness and the ways of the wild things that lived in the
woods. He learned to know the tracks of all the animals of the region,
and even how long it had been since the animals that made the tracks had
passed by. And he learned to make snares and traps, and how to handle
his gun--the wonderful gun which Abel told him God had sent with him
from the Far Beyond--and shoot it quickly and accurately, for the man
who exists upon the wilderness must know how to do these things, and his
sense of observation must be keenly trained; and he must train himself
to be alert.
One other accomplishment he acquired from Skipper Ed. He learned to
swim. Even in midsummer these northern waters are icy cold. From the
breaking up of the ice in summer until the sea freezes again in winter,
the natives spend their time upon the water or near it, yet it is rare,
indeed, that one of them can swim. And so it was with Abel. He had never
in his life voluntarily gone into the sea. But Skipper Ed was a mighty
swimmer, and under his instruction Jimmy had learned the art, and in the
fourth summer after Bobby's arrival nothing would do but he, too, must
learn. Much perseverance was necessary before Abel and Mrs. Abel gave
their consent, but finally it was obtained, and in a little while Bobby
was as keen for a dip and a dive and a swim as were Skipper Ed and his
partner, Jimmy.
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