"
Bobby was not given to vain regrets and needless worry, as we have seen,
but nevertheless he could not keep his mind from the possible fate of
himself and Jimmy, and think as he would he could conceive of no
possible means of their escape, save in the possibility of the floe
coming again in contact with land. Then his thoughts ran to Abel and
Mrs. Abel, and before he was aware of it he was crying bitterly.
"If I'd only hurried on, as Skipper Ed told me to!" he moaned. "I'm
always doing something! And there's Jimmy in the--in the fix too! And it
was all my fault!"
And then he remembered the evening devotions that Abel and Mrs. Abel
were doubtless then holding in the cabin. He could see Abel taking the
old worn Eskimo Bible and hymnal from the shelf, and Abel reading and
the two good folks singing a hymn, and then kneeling in praise and
thanks to God for his mercies. And joining them in spirit he sang the
Eskimo version of "Nearer My God to Thee," and then he knelt and prayed,
and felt the better for it.
For a long while he lay, after his devotions were ended, recalling the
kindness of his beloved foster parents. But at last he, too, like Jimmy,
fell asleep to the tune of the booming ice and howling wind, and,
exhausted with his day's work, he slept long and heavily.
When Bobby awoke at last he perceived that it was twilight in his snow
cavern, and, listening for the wind, discovered to his satisfaction that
it had ceased to blow.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188