Abel had expended great care in his handicraft, and derived a vast deal of satisfaction from the result.  And when Mrs. Abel fitted the bunk with a fine feather bed which she made from the duck and goose feathers which she had saved, and spread it with warm blankets and tucked Bobby away in it, he, too, seemed to find it entirely to his liking, for he went to sleep at once, and slept as soundly as he could have slept in a bed of carved mahogany, spread with counterpanes of silk and down.

Indeed, Bobby was in a fair way of being spoiled.  His indulgent foster parents could deny him nothing.  They gratified his every wish and whim, even to the extent of tearing from its mother a little puppy dog, to the great distress of the dumb mother, and taking it into the house for him to play with.

Since Bobby’s arrival Abel, devoting his spare moments to the task, had carved from walrus tusks six little ivory dogs, an ivory sledge, and a little ivory Eskimo man, to represent the driver of the miniature team, for no dog team could be complete without a driver.  Now, during the two days’ enforced leisure from out-of-door activities afforded him by the blizzard, he put the finishing touches upon his work.  With infinite patience he fashioned miniature harness for the ivory dogs, and, harnessing them to the ivory sledge, with due ceremony presented them to Bobby.  And Bobby, who was already learning to prattle Eskimo words, received the gift with unfeigned delight.  Then he must learn the name of each, which Abel patiently taught him to pronounce with proper accent and intonation:  inuit—­man; tingmik—­dog; komatik—­sledge.

This was the first of many toys that Abel made for Bobby in the weeks that followed:  a small dog whip, a fathom long, an exact counterpart of Abel’s own long whip, which was a full five fathoms long; a small sledge, on which he could coast, and on which pups could haul him about over the ice; bow and arrow—­nearly everything, indeed, that Abel believed his childish desires could crave.

When the storm had passed Skipper Ed and Jimmy came over on snowshoes, and Jimmy stopped for a week in Abel’s cabin, with Mrs. Abel and Bobby, while Abel and Skipper Ed went away to hunt for seals.  This was a glorious week for both lads, and with it began a comradeship and friendship that was to last throughout their life and carry them in later years side by side through many adventures.

The seal hunt was a success, and Abel and Skipper Ed returned with the big boat loaded with seals.  Then followed a season of activity.  The seals were skinned and dressed, the blubber placed in barrels in the porch, and the meat elevated to a stage outside where it was well out of reach of the dogs, and was at hand to be used as dog food—­and human food also during the winter.

The seal skins were turned over to Mrs. Abel, to soak and scrape and prepare for boots and other garments, which Abel and Skipper Ed and Jimmy, as well as she herself, and Bobby, would require.