THE FOUR YOUNG MEN 2$ 



Hope glides slowly out of sight ; the watchers on 

 the wharf turn homewards. The great adventure 

 has begun. 



All this may seem a little mysterious, but there is 

 no need for mystery. The explanation is this : 



The schooner Hope was under the care of a 

 Christian captain. He was a hardy seafaring man 

 who had travelled deep waters and had seen much 

 of the world. In the course of his journeyings he had 

 been upon a trading voyage to Greenland, and his 

 heart had been touched by the sight of the patient 

 missionaries and their little gatherings of rough 

 Eskimo Christians. 



He had seen for himself some of the great things 

 that God was doing for the heathen there ; he had 

 talked with the missionaries, and he had said : 

 " There are other Eskimos, people like these Green- 

 landers, living farther off still, upon the frozen coast 

 of Labrador ; surely they should hear the Gospel 

 too." 



In due time his ship came to the Port of London, 

 and there he spoke his mind among the Christian 

 folk whom he met. "Can we not," he said, 

 ' ' charter a ship to go upon a voyage to Labrador ? 

 We could trade in oil and furs, and we could carry 

 missionaries to preach the Gospel to the Eskimos. 

 It is a good work, and no one could lose anything 

 by it." 



Three Christian merchants put their heads to- 

 gether ; they talked the thing over ; they put their 

 hands into their pockets ; and so it came about that 

 the Hope was chartered, and so it was that she 



