THE BOAT THAT CAME DOWN FROM THE SEA Abel Zachariah was jigging cod.

Cod were plentiful, and Abel Zachariah was happy.

It still lacked two hours of mid-day, and already he had caught a skiffload of fish and had landed them on Itigailit Island, where his tent was pitched.
Now, as he jigged a little off shore, he could see Mrs.Abel Zachariah, the yellow sunshine spread all about her, splitting his morning catch on a rude table at the foot of the sloping rocks.

Above her stood the little tent that was their summer home, and here and there the big sledge dogs, now idle and lazy and fat, sprawled blissfully upon the rocks enjoying the August morning, for this was their season of rest and plenty.
With a feeling of deep content Abel drew in his line, unhooked a flapping cod, returned the jigger to the water, and, as he resumed the monotonous tightening and slackening of line, turned his eyes again to the peaceful scene ashore.
Mrs.Abel in this brief interval had left the splitting table and had ascended the sloping rock a little way, where she now stood, shading her eyes with her right hand and gazing intently seaward.

Suddenly she began gesticulating wildly, and shouting, and over the water to Abel came the words: "_Umiak! Umiak!_" (A boat! A boat!) Abel arose deliberately in his skiff, and looking in the direction in which Mrs.Abel pointed discovered, coming out of the horizon, a boat, rising and falling upon the swell.