Every lad on The Labrador, therefore, is taught from earliest youth to
take pride in his profession of hunter and trapper and fisherman--for on
The Labrador every man is a professional hunter and trapper and
fisherman--and to strive for skill and the praise of his elders, and
Bobby was no exception to the rule.
And so it came about that Bobby at the age of thirteen proved himself a
bold and brave hunter, and standing now over the carcass of his victim
he felt a vast and consistent pride in his success; for it was no small
achievement for a lad of his years to have killed, single-handed and
poorly armed, a full grown polar bear. It was an accomplishment, indeed,
in which a grown man and a more experienced hunter than Bobby might have
taken pride; and a grown man could scarcely have employed better
tactics, or shown greater skill and courage, after the first foolhardy
shot had been fired.
But this was Bobby's way. It was an exhibition of his old trait of
getting himself and Jimmy into a scrape and then by quick action and
practical methods getting them safely out of it again.
Skipper Ed and Abel had heard the reports of Bobby's gun, and they knew
that something unusual was on foot. The first shot did not disturb them.
That, they knew, was for the seal for which Bobby had taken the gun. But
no self-respecting seal will remain as a target to be fired at
repeatedly, and the shots that followed told their practiced ears that
more important game than a seal was the object of the fusillade.
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