"Well, now! Here we be, safe and sound and snug! Everybody well and happy! 'Tis wonderful fine to be back."
"'Tis wonderful fine to have you back!" Mrs. Twig declared, and everybody echoed the sentiment.
When he had taken his things off, and properly greeted every one, and Toby and Charley had unpacked his toboggan and carried into the house his winter's catch of pelts and his traveling equipment, he turned to Charley.
"Well, now!" said he. "You looks like a Labradorman! And how does you like livin' at Double Up Cove? 'Twere a proper way to get out of that fix you gets in when the mail boat leaves you, I'm thinkin', from the way you looks! Rugged and well! And everybody happy!"
"I've had the best time this winter I ever had in my life," Charley declared.
"Well, now! That's the way to talk! That's the way to make the best of a bad job! 'Twere lookin' like a wonderful bad job you makes of un, and a wonderful bad fix you gets in, when the mail boat goes and leaves you. But you gets out of the fix and makes the best of what you finds and turns trouble into a good time! That's what I calls risin' above trouble," and Skipper Zeb slapped Charley upon the shoulder in hearty approval. "Now we'll set in and eat. I'm as hungry as a bear, and I could eat a bear if I had un to eat."
"'Twill be bear's meat you'll eat," smiled Mrs. Twig, placing a dish of meat on the table.
"Charley knocks un over, and 'twere a white bear," Toby announced. "And Charley fights a wolf pack, and knocks one of un over with an ax."
As they ate Skipper Zeb heard from Toby the stories of Charley's fight with the wolves and of the shooting of the bear, interrupting the narrative with many delighted exclamations.
"Now I wants wonderful bad to hear how you lads were makin' out to get back to Double Up Cove after you leaves the Black River tilt," said Skipper Zeb. "The wind comes to blow a gale before you has time to get to Swile Island, and I wonders and wonders about un, and I fears you gets in a wonderful bad fix. But they's no way I can be helpin', so I says, ''Tis no use to worry. To-day's to-day and to-morrow's to-morrow, and so I'll trust the Lard and the good sense o' the two lads to get un out o' any fix they gets in.'"