"Doctor, Doctor!" was all they could say. "What can we do for ye?"
"Go out and catch foxes," said the Doctor. "We'll see what we can get for them when you catch them."
Next summer the Doctor, true to his word as always, came back and found the little house as bare and bleak as before. But the boys met him with the same old broad grins on their faces, cheerful as the sunrise.
"See, Doctor!" They flourished the precious pelt of a silver fox. "We kep' it for youse, though us hadn't ne'er a bit in the house. We knowed you'd do better'n we with he."
So Dr. Grenfell said he would try. He went to an island where Captain Will Bartlett made his home. This Bartlett was the father of "Bob" Bartlett who captained Peary's ship, the Roosevelt, on the successful trip to the North Pole in 1909. Father Bartlett was famous round about for sealing and fishing, and he had not only a thriving summer trade of his own but a big heart for unfortunate neighbors.
"Do your best for me, Captain Will," said Grenfell, handing over the skin.
"That I will, Doctor!" answered Bartlett heartily. "Drop in on your way back."
The Doctor did so—and he found Captain Will had put aside a full boat-load of provisions of all sorts for the starving family.
Happy in the thought of the good it would do, Grenfell started back for the promontory at Big River where he had every reason to expect the family would be watching for him anxiously.
As he neared the land—he saw no one moving. The boat was beached, and the Doctor went up to the house.