Ungava Bob

Ungava Bob

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Ungava Bob, by Dillon Wallace, Illustrated by Samuel M. Palmer
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Title: Ungava Bob A Winter's Tale
Author: Dillon Wallace

Release Date: August 25, 2005 [eBook #16596]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Much of the dialogue is dialect. The few spelling mistakes have been retained, including St. Johns for St. John's (Newfoundland).

Every Boy's Library--Boy Scout Edition
UNGAVA BOB
A Winter's Tale
by
DILLON WALLACE
Author of The Lure of the Labrador Wild Illustrated by Samuel M. Palmer
New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers
1907
Third Edition

[Illustration: Three of the men hauled, the other with a pole, kept it clear of the rocks (_See page 45_)]

To My Sisters Annie and Jessie

CONTENTS
I. HOW BOB GOT HIS "TRAIL" 9
II. OFF TO THE BUSH 26
III. AN ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR 37
IV. SWEPT AWAY IN THE RAPIDS 50
V. THE TRAILS ARE REACHED 56
VI. ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS 68
VII. A STREAK OF GOOD LUCK 76
VIII. MICMAC JOHN'S REVENGE 87
IX. LOST IN THE SNOW 96
X. THE PENALTY 108
XI. THE TRAGEDY OF THE TRAIL 115
XII. IN THE HANDS OF THE NASCAUPEES 129
XIII. A FOREBODING OF EVIL 140
XIV. THE SHADOW OF DEATH 153
XV. IN THE WIGWAM OF SISHETAKUSHIN 171
XVI. ONE OF THE TRIBE 187
XVII. STILL FARTHER NORTH 199
XVIII. A MISSION OF TRUST 206
XIX. AT THE MERCY OF THE WIND 226
XX. PRISONERS OF THE SEA 240
XXI. ADRIFT ON THE ICE 254
XXII. THE MAID OF THE NORTH 269
XXIII. THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE 280
XXIV. THE ESCAPE 290
XXV. THE BREAK-UP 304
XXVI. BACK AT WOLF BIGHT 315
XXVII. THE CRUISE TO ST. JOHN'S 333
XXVIII. IN AFTER YEARS 341

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
THREE OF THE MEN HAULED, THE OTHER WITH A POLE, KEPT IT CLEAR OF THE ROCKS Title
"BOB JUMPED OUT WITH THE PAINTER IN HIS HAND." 21
CHART OF THE TRAILS. 64
"MICMAC JOHN KNEW HIS END HAD COME." 114
"IT WAS DANGEROUS WORK." 173
"SAW HER STANDING IN THE BRIGHT MOONLIGHT." 197
"HE HELD THE VESSEL STEADILY TO HER COURSE." 298

UNGAVA BOB
I
HOW BOB GOT HIS "TRAIL"
It was an evening in early September twenty years ago. The sun was just setting in a radiance of glory behind the dark spruce forest that hid the great unknown, unexplored Labrador wilderness which stretched away a thousand miles to the rocky shores of Hudson's Bay and the bleak desolation of Ungava. With their back to the forest and the setting sun, drawn up in martial line stood the eight or ten whitewashed log buildings of the Hudson's Bay Company Post, just as they had stood for a hundred years, and just as they stand to-day, looking out upon the wide waters of Eskimo Bay, which now, reflecting the glow of the setting sun, shone red and sparkling like a sea of rubies.
On a clearing to the eastward of the post between the woods and water was an irregular cluster of deerskin wigwams, around which loitered dark-hued Indians puffing quietly at their pipes, while Indian women bent over kettles steaming at open fires, cooking the evening meal, and little Indian boys with bows shot harmless arrows at soaring gulls overhead, and laughed joyously at their sport as each arrow fell short of its mark. Big wolf dogs skulked here and there, looking for bits of refuse, snapping and snarling ill-temperedly at each other.
A group of stalwart, swarthy-faced men, dressed in the garb of northern hunters--light-coloured moleskin trousers tucked into the tops of long-legged sealskin moccasins, short jackets and peakless caps--stood before the post kitchen or lounged upon the rough board walk which extended the full length of the reservation in front of the servants' quarters and storehouses. They were watching a small sailboat that, half a mile out upon the red flood, was bowling in before a smart breeze, and trying to make out its single occupant. Finally some one spoke.
"'Tis Bob Gray from Wolf Bight, for that's sure Bob's punt."
"Yes," said another, "'tis sure Bob."
Their curiosity satisfied, all but two strolled into the kitchen, where supper had been announced.
Douglas Campbell, the older of the two that remained, was a short, stockily built man with a heavy, full, silver-white beard, and skin tanned dark as an Indian's by the winds and storms of more than sixty years. A pair of kindly blue eyes beneath shaggy white eyebrows gave his face an appearance at once of strength and gentleness, and an erect bearing and well-poised head stamped him a leader and a man of importance.
The other was a