“Oh, but, Pop,” pleaded David in deep disappointment. “I’ll be wonderful careful. I’ll ’bide in th’ tilts when th’ weather’s too nasty t’ be out. I _wants_ t’ go. I’ll get _some_ fur, _what_ever, and we needs un all to pay for th’ cure t’ Jamie’s eyes.”
Jamie’s eyes! Thomas looked at Jamie, who was standing at the window, vainly trying to peer through the ever-present mist, and as he saw Jamie raise his hand to brush the mist away a great lump came into his throat.
“Davy,” said he, after a little silence, “you’re a brave lad, and careful, but ’tis a wonderful lonely place up there, trampin’ th’ trails. The storms come sudden and awful sometimes, and it takes a man’s strength to face un. ’Tis frostier there, too, than here. There’s none o’ th’ comfort o’ th’ home you’ve always been used to. I’d never rest easy if I let you go and you never came back.”
“But,” insisted David, “I’ll be careful and come back--and Jamie mustn’t be let t’ go blind. ’Twould be worse for he than bein’ dead. _Let_ me go, Pop!”
“I’ll think about un--I’ll think about un,” said Thomas, and he closed his eyes to think.
At the end of ten minutes, when Thomas opened his eyes again, he had decided, and turning to Indian Jake, he said:
“I’m thinkin’, now, I’ll let Davy go, and I’ll let Andy go along t’ keep Davy company and help he. The two will be company for each other, and doin’ th’ work together they’ll get over th’ trail faster than ever Davy could alone, and if they’s a mishap, one can help the other. But you’ll have t’ keep an eye to un, Jake!”
“It’s all the same to me, whether one or both of ’em go,” said Indian Jake. “I’ll keep an eye on ’em, so they won’t get in trouble.”
“Thank you, Pop! I’ll be wonderful careful,” said David, with vast relief and satisfaction.
“Are you meanin’ _I’m_ t’ go t’ th’ trails, too?” asked Andy, who had been standing with David and Indian Jake by the bedside.
“Aye, Andy, lad,” said Thomas, “you’ll go along and help Davy.”
“Oh--Pop!” exclaimed Andy, which was all his emotions and excitement would permit him to say.
“Is you glad, now?” asked Thomas with a smile, for he knew very well how glad Andy was. It is the greatest wish of every lad on The Labrador to go to the trails and hunt, as his father does, and eagerly he waits for the time when he may go. It is a brave life, that, living in the midst of the great wilderness, surrounded by its ever-present mysteries, and what boy is there who does not wish to do brave deeds? ’Tis a man’s work, following the trails, and the trapper plays a man’s game, and what boy does not wish to play a man’s game?