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.  And so, without parley, each seized his rifle, and together they set out across the island, and thus it happened that presently they came upon Bobby and Jimmy admiring the prize.

“Jimmy and I got a bear!  A ripping big one, too!” said Bobby as the two men came up to them, giving Jimmy equal credit, for if he was positive, Bobby was also generous, and wished his friend to share in the glory of his triumphs and achievements.

“Bobby got him alone,” corrected Jimmy.  “I legged it, and if it hadn’t been for Bobby he’d have caught me.”

“Oh, you know better than that,” protested Bobby.  “You got in his way, so he’d take after you, and that gave me time to load, and shoot him.”

“Peauke!  Peauke!” exclaimed Abel.  “A fine fat bear.”

“Good for you, Bobby!” commented Skipper Ed, looking the carcass over.  “I never killed as big a bear as that myself.  Good work!”

“And we’ll have some meat now, and won’t have to eat just fish all summer,” said Bobby, who had the respect of most healthy boys for his stomach.

“We’ll feast like kings,” agreed Skipper Ed.  “Flesh as well as fish.  Great luck!  Great luck!  And I’ll be bound not another lad of your age could have got a bear like that with just a shotgun.  Why, neither Abel nor I would have tackled him with just a shotgun.  No, sir, we wouldn’t!”

And Skipper Ed put it to Abel, who declared he never would have risked a shotgun unless he had a spear, also, to protect himself.

Deftly and quickly they skinned and dressed the carcass, wasting no part of the flesh, save the liver, which they fed to the dogs, for, as every one knows, the liver of the polar bear is poisonous and unfit for human consumption.

“I could eat a steak right now,” suggested Bobby, when the meat was stowed.

But there was no time now to cook bear steaks, for a breeze had sprung up and they must needs take advantage of it, and Skipper Ed and Jimmy had already hoisted sail.

“Never mind,” said Abel, “I’ll show you!  I’ll show you!” and with an air of mystery, and chuckling to himself, Abel hurriedly gathered some flat stones which he piled into the boat.

“Now,” suggested Abel, when they were at last moving, “you take the tiller, Bobby, and we’ll see about the bear steaks.”