That very day Jimmy, too, fell ill, and Abel fell ill, and a day later Mrs.Abel also complained.

"Measles," said Skipper Ed.
And measles it was, and a serious condition of affairs confronted Skipper Ed.

He gave up his fishing and devoted his whole attention to his four patients, and he thanked the Lord that he himself had passed through the ordeal as a child, and was immune.
Because the people on the Labrador can seldom be brought to understand that a patient with this ailment must be kept warm and free from exposure or chill until the period of rash is passed, it is too often a fatal disease there--and an epidemic is sure to result in many deaths.
In tent life, in time of gales and driving storms, it is frequently difficult, and sometimes indeed impossible, to properly care for the patients, for the tents of the people are seldom stormproof or rainproof.
And so it was that Skipper Ed, who was not only nurse but cook, was more than occupied.

There were times when confinement grew irksome to his patients, and at those times he was compelled to resort even to force to prevent one or another from going out into the chilling sea breeze.

And one morning Bobby did evade him and go out, and became chilled, and the following day lay, as Skipper Ed verily believed, at the door of death..