hot drink for Bobby, and wrapped
the lad warmly in blankets. That very day Jimmy, too, fell ill, and Abel
fell ill, and a day later Mrs. Abel also complained. "Measles," said
Skipper Ed.

And measles it was, and a serious condition of affairs confronted
Skipper Ed. He gave up his fishing and devoted his whole attention to
his four patients, and he thanked the Lord that he himself had passed
through the ordeal as a child, and was immune.

Because the people on the Labrador can seldom be brought to understand
that a patient with this ailment must be kept warm and free from
exposure or chill until the period of rash is passed, it is too often a
fatal disease there--and an epidemic is sure to result in many deaths.
In tent life, in time of gales and driving storms, it is frequently
difficult, and sometimes indeed impossible, to properly care for the
patients, for the tents of the people are seldom stormproof or
rainproof.

And so it was that Skipper Ed, who was not only nurse but cook, was more
than occupied. There were times when confinement grew irksome to his
patients, and at those times he was compelled to resort even to force to
prevent one or another from going out into the chilling sea breeze. And
one morning Bobby did evade him and go out, and became chilled, and the
following day lay, as Skipper Ed verily believed, at the door of death.

CHAPTER XIV

VISIONS IN DELIRIUM

There came a terrible day and night when Bobby's life hung in the
balance. A burning fever was upon him. His reason wandered, and he
talked of strange things.

"Mamma! Mamma!" he called, and time and again he plead: "Uncle Robert,
give me a drink of water! Uncle Robert, I'm so thirsty! Oh, I'm so
thirsty!"

And then it would be Abel Zachariah or Mrs. Abel, or Jimmy, or Skipper
Ed himself, who was addressed. Every subject under the sun was running
through Bobby's poor, delirious mind. Sometimes he spoke in Eskimo,
sometimes in English. "Father!" he would cry, "see this cod. He's a fine
one! We'll have a fine catch this season." And so he would ramble along
about the fishing for a time, and then perhaps grow silent, only to
resume, upon some other thought.

After each brief silence there was something new. Perhaps he was warning
Jimmy to run, or declaring that he knew he could get the bear if he only
had time to load. Or perhaps he was telling Mrs. Abel that he was tired,
oh, so tired, and begging her to sing a lullaby to him as