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+Project Gutenberg's Winter Adventures of Three Boys, by Egerton R. Young
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Winter Adventures of Three Boys
+
+Author: Egerton R. Young
+
+Illustrator: J.E. Loughlin
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21246]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WINTER ADVENTURES OF THREE BOYS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys
+
+By Egerton R. Young
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+WINTER ADVENTURES OF THREE BOYS
+
+BY EGERTON R. YOUNG
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+SAGASTA-WEEKEE--A HAPPY HOME IN THE GREAT LONE LAND--THREE BOYS THERE
+WELCOMED--THE SUDDEN COMING OF WINTER--VARIOUS SPORTS DISCUSSED--HURRAH
+FOR THE DOGS--USEFUL ANIMALS--DOG-WHIPS--KINESASIS, THE DOG-KEEPER.
+
+While a wintry storm was raging outside, in the month of November, three
+happy, excited boys were gathered around the breakfast table in a cozy
+home in a far North Land.
+
+To those who have not read of the previous doings of these young lads we
+would say that our heroes were three noble boys from across the sea.
+They had come out the previous summer from Great Britain by the Hudson
+Bay Company's ship and had had several months of most delightful and
+exciting adventures in the wild North Land.  They were the guests of Mr
+Ross, a retired official in the Hudson Bay Company, who, when his long
+term of active service in the fur trade had ended, had preferred
+remaining in the country rather than returning to any other land.
+During the many years he had traded with the Indians he had ever been on
+the most friendly terms with them.  He had observed so many noble traits
+and characteristics in them that he and his family preferred spending
+the greater portion of each year surrounded by them.  Then the quiet
+charm of such a life had more attraction and a greater fascination for
+them than the rush and worry and demands of our so-called highest
+civilisation.
+
+Mrs Ross was a native Indian woman, but, like many other wives of
+Hudson Bay officials, was a highly educated woman.  The years spent in
+foreign lands at the best of schools had not spoiled her.  She was
+beloved and honoured by all who knew her, and she was indeed a
+benediction and a blessing among the poor of her own people.
+
+The musical and expressive Indian names of Minnehaha and Wenonah had
+been given to the two bright, winsome little girls in the household,
+while the wee brother was called by the old Scottish name of Roderick.
+
+Cordially had Mrs Ross, with her husband, welcomed the three boys, who
+at their special request had come out to be their guests, or rather,
+more correctly, to be loved members of their own household, for at least
+twelve months in that land.  Sagasta-weekee, the house full of sunshine,
+was the beautiful Indian name given to the cozy, comfortable house which
+Mr Ross had built for himself and household.  It was a delightful home,
+well furnished with everything essential to the enjoyment and comfort of
+all its inmates.
+
+We need not here repeat all that has been previously mentioned about the
+three heroes of our story.  Suffice it to say that Frank, the eldest,
+was the son of an English banker; Alec was a genuine Scottish lad, while
+Sam was a jolly Irish boy.  They had a splendid trip across the ocean,
+and had met with varied adventures while on the long journey up the
+rivers and across the portages between York Factory, on the Hudson Bay,
+where they had landed, and Norway House, where they had been welcomed by
+Mr Ross.
+
+The summer and autumn months had been full of wonderful and exciting
+trips and adventures.  Their last excursion, which had so recently
+ended, had been one of great pleasure and intense excitement.  It had
+been made in canoes to a distant part of the country where reindeer and
+other large game abounded.  The boys would have been delighted to have
+there remained longer, but the experienced guide and canoemen had been
+quick to notice the significant actions of the wild beasts, as well as
+the frightened cries and incessant flights of the wild geese and ducks
+to the South Land.
+
+Spurred on by the signs of coming winter, they had pushed on toward home
+with unremitting toil and but little rest, and had fortunately managed
+to land the boys safely at Sagasta-weekee the day before the wintry gale
+broke upon them.
+
+Great indeed was the amazement of our three boys at the transformation
+wrought by this sudden incoming of winter.
+
+People living in more southern latitudes, where the transition from one
+season to another is so slow and almost imperceptible, can hardly
+realise the suddenness with which the Frost King can set up his throne
+and begin his despotic reign.  There are no long premonitions of his
+coming.  No noisy heralds for weeks warn of his approach.  The birds and
+beasts seem to have some mysterious intimations that he draweth near,
+and act accordingly.  But man knoweth not of his approach; he heareth
+not his stealthy steps.
+
+Yesterday may have been balmy and reposeful, with only a few breezes
+from the summer South Land.  To-day the wild north winds may howl and
+shriek, while full of frost and pinching cold is the icy, biting air.
+Yesterday the waves may have been merrily rippling in the sunshine on
+the beautiful lakes.  To-day, after a night of storm and boreal tempest,
+the ice is rapidly forming, and is binding down in strongest fetters the
+highest billows.
+
+Mr and Mrs Ross were much pleased and amused at the genuine excitement
+of the lads as they realised the wondrous transformation wrought by this
+first wintry storm, and the possibilities it opened up to them for other
+kinds of sport, than those in which, for some time past, they had been
+so deeply interested.  Eager and excited as they were, they had as yet
+no definite plan of action for their winter amusement.  So sudden had
+been the transition, there had been no time to think.  However, with
+boyish candour and joyous anticipation, they were all ready with their
+suggestions.
+
+"Skates!" shouted Alec, as he caught a glimpse of an icy expanse that
+glittered in the distance as a ray of sunshine shot out through the
+parting clouds and for a moment rested upon it.
+
+"Toboggans!" cried Sam, as he saw a steep hillside one mass of beautiful
+snow.
+
+"Let us make an ice boat," said Frank.  Although he had never seen one,
+yet he had eagerly read much about them, and at the sight of the frozen
+lake was wild to set about the manufacture of one of these dainty craft,
+that he might enjoy the exhilarating sport he had so long anticipated.
+
+"Capital suggestions are all of these," said Mr Ross.  "Still, as the
+ice is not yet twenty-four hours old, and therefore not very safe for
+skating, and the snow has not yet fallen in sufficient quantity upon the
+hills to make them smooth enough for tobogganing, and the carpenter will
+require some time to make an ice boat, and we will have six good months
+of winter in which to enjoy these and other sports, my suggestion is
+that we get ready to-day to start, as soon as the ice will be safe, for
+the island fisheries and bring home the dogs."
+
+"The dogs! the dogs! yes, hurrah for the dogs!" cried all the boys in
+unison.
+
+So everything was for the moment forgotten, or postponed, in their eager
+anticipation to become intimately acquainted with the dogs, about which
+they had heard so much.  During the summer months the dogs were away to
+a distant island, where they were cared for by Kinesasis, a careful old
+Indian, who with a few nets easily caught all the fish they required for
+food.  This island was quite out of the route of travel, and so our
+young friends had seen but little of Mr Ross's dogs, about which many
+interesting stories had been told them.  Now at the prospect of soon
+seeing them they were greatly delighted.
+
+Although so much can be done with dogs in winter in those high
+latitudes, there is practically no use for them in summer.  It is true
+that some enterprising missionaries had used them for ploughing up their
+little potato fields and gardens, and yet it was slow work and not long
+continued.  But through the long winter the dog is practically the only
+draft animal that can be utilised by the inhabitants of those regions.
+From the far-off forest the wood for fuel is dragged home by the dogs.
+The frozen fish, which are caught and piled up on stages beyond the
+reach of wolves or other wild beasts, are drawn home to the villages
+from the distant fisheries by the well-trained dogs.
+
+When a Christian decides to exchange his old wigwam for a house, all the
+squared timber and logs required in its construction are dragged, if not
+floated by water in the summer time, it may be several miles, by the
+dogs.  Christian hunters use them to drag home the moose and reindeer or
+other heavy game they may shoot.  Formerly their wives and mothers had
+to do this heavy work, but now Christianity has relegated this and many
+other heavy duties to the dogs.
+
+However, the greatest and most arduous work to which the dogs are put is
+that of drawing the canoles and dog-sleds of travellers and tourists or
+fur traders for long distances through various parts of that great
+northern land.  Without the dogs, travelling in that country would be
+practically impossible in the winter months.  So full of lakes and
+rivers is the country that it is possible to go almost anywhere in a
+birch canoe in summer by making occasional portages.  But when the
+severe cold freezes up those water stretches and the snow lies thick,
+and there is not the least vestige of a road or trail, then the value
+and sagacity of the dogs are seen and the power and endurance of the
+guides and drivers are put to the severest test.
+
+Mr Ross still prided himself on his splendid dogs.  In his younger days
+he had the reputation of being one of the most active and energetic of
+the young officers in the service of the Hudson Bay Company.  His
+father, who was for many years one of the chief factors in the Company's
+service, was proud of his son's endurance and skill, as well as of his
+tact and ability in managing strange Indians and thus opening up new
+trading posts among them.  So constantly employed had he been in thus
+advancing the interests of this fur-trading corporation that some
+winters he travelled thousands of miles with his own dog-train and
+guides.  In his wanderings he had met with some strange adventures, and
+had passed through some trying ordeals.  Later on we may hear from his
+own lips the recital of some of these stirring events.
+
+Now, however, that he had retired from active service he had left these
+long and dangerous journeys to be taken by younger men.  Still, the love
+for the dogs was so ingrained within him, and he had so much work for
+them to do, that he was the possessor of some very valuable trains,
+which every winter did his work and gave him as much pleasure as ever a
+man derived from the possession of a fine carriage and a splendid span
+of horses.
+
+Knowing well the habits of the old Indian who had charge of his dogs,
+Mr Ross said to the boys:
+
+"It is very likely that Kinesasis will come in to-day with some of the
+dogs.  If he does we will harness them up to-morrow, and if the ice is
+strong enough to be safe we will return with them for the others.  I
+understand he has a number of fine young dogs; doubtless there will be
+enough to make a good train for each of you, after they are broken in.
+So there will be plenty of work for all to-day, to get ready for the
+first day's outing with dog-trains."
+
+Soon everybody was at work.  Indian women, under Mrs Ross's direction,
+were busily employed in making large mooseskin moccasins and mittens.
+Beautiful white blanket overcoats, with warm capotes or hoods, had
+already been made for each of the boys.  They were to be worn over the
+deerskin suits when they stopped to rest in the heavy trail, and also
+while the boys were riding over the long stretches of icy roads where it
+was possible for the dogs to easily draw them.
+
+While the Indian women were thus busily engaged in fitting out the warm
+apparel necessary for travelling in such a cold land the boys were
+making themselves useful, under Mr Ross's guidance, in overhauling
+carioles, dog-sleds, harness, robes, snowshoes, and other things
+essential for the trip on the morrow.  While almost everything was novel
+and strange to them, they were most interested in the heavy dog-whips,
+and, boylike, must try their hands in wielding them.  These whips
+differed very much from anything they had ever seen in civilisation.
+While the handles were only eighteen inches in length, the lashes, which
+were loaded with shot, were over fifteen feet long.  To skilfully handle
+one requires much care and practice.  An inexperienced person is apt to
+get into trouble when he first attempts to use one.
+
+Sam was the first of the boys to attempt to display his skill, but he
+soon found that a heavily loaded dog-whip was a different weapon from an
+Irish shillalah.  He had admired the skill and dexterity with which Mr
+Ross, at the boy's request, had used one, and, foolishly thinking that
+he could successfully imitate him, had with any amount of assurance made
+the attempt.  To his surprise and chagrin the cracker of the whip,
+instead of exploding with a pistol-shot-like report at a spot about
+fifteen feet away, as it had done for Mr Ross, had by some remarkable
+movement, entirely unexpected, squarely landed with stinging effect upon
+his nose!
+
+Alec was the next to try his skill.  He was a little more successful
+than Sam, in that he escaped inflicting any injury upon himself, but he
+succeeded in striking Frank upon his ear, although he stood fully six
+feet away from the spot at which Alec had aimed.  Frank, with his ear
+hot and stinging from the effects of the blow so unexpected and so
+unintentionally given, wisely decided that he would postpone his first
+attempt with a weapon that seemed to be as uncertain as a boomerang.
+
+To the great delight of the boys, as Mr Ross had predicted, toward
+evening in came Kinesasis with about a dozen dogs at his heels.  The
+splendid animals were delighted to get home again after their long
+summer's outing, and joyously they greeted Mr Ross and the other
+inmates of the household.  To our three boys, who had arrived since
+their departure, they were somewhat distant and unsociable.  It is a
+well-known fact that the native dogs are much more hostile to white
+people than to the natives.  This offishness and even hostility on the
+part of the dogs did not much disturb the boys.  They, boylike, had all
+confidence in themselves that by tact and kindness they would soon
+become warm friends, and in this they were not disappointed.  After
+Kinesasis had seen the dogs well fed and put into their kennels he was
+taken into the kitchen and given a hearty meal.  A pipe of tobacco was
+then put in his hands, and shortly after he had begun to smoke he made
+his report of his summer's doings to Mr Ross.
+
+To the great delight of Frank, Alec, and Sam, Mr Ross was able to
+inform them that the number of young dogs of the right age to break into
+work was so large that he would be able to furnish each of them with a
+capital train, which they should have charge of and call their own as
+long as they remained in the country.
+
+The few short hours of sunshine of that November day sped away all too
+soon for the completion of the work to be done, and so by lamplight
+willing hands toiled on until everything was ready for the journey.  So
+rapidly did the temperature fall, and so intense became the cold, that
+Mr Ross decided that with careful, experienced Kinesasis as their guide
+the ice would be quite strong enough to bear them on the morrow, and so
+if the storm was not too severe they would be off as soon as there was
+sufficient light, as it was too risky to travel in the dark over such
+thin ice.
+
+Cozy were the beds and warm were the blankets into which three happy,
+excited boys tumbled that night, and if in their pleasant dreams there
+were sounds of cracking whips and jingling, musical dog-bells--well, we
+will not envy them, still we wish we were there.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+BRINGING HOME THE DOGS--THE THIN ICE--METHOD OF CROSSING DANGEROUS
+PLACES--THE DOGS' SUMMER HOME--THE RETURN TRIP--THE UNEXPECTED GOOSE
+HUNT--THE SAUCY FOX--KINESASIS'S QUESTION, "WHY DO THE GEESE GO TO THE
+SOUTH LAND?"
+
+Long before daylight the next morning the lamps were brightly burning in
+Sagasta-weekee.  As it was fully twenty miles to the island where
+Kinesasis had kept the dogs, and Mr Ross was anxious that they should
+return home that night, it was absolutely necessary that every hour of
+the daylight should be utilised.  Thus it was that all were stirring
+long before daybreak.  A good warm breakfast was eaten and all final
+preparations made.
+
+As Kinesasis had brought back with him twelve dogs, they were thus able
+to rig out three trains for the trip.  Extra sleds and harness were
+taken along, as well as food and blankets, in case any serious accident
+or delay should happen to them.  In such a land it is always best to be
+prepared for any emergency.
+
+The boys were very proud and happy in their new mooseskin costumes and
+snow-white blankets, only relieved by the black stripes on the sleeves
+and skirts.  Kinesasis, who had been on the lookout, at length reported
+the morning star, just visible as the harbinger of dawn.  This was good
+news, and so the start was soon made.
+
+Mr Ross up to a late hour the previous evening had not thought of
+going, but now, at the sight of the dogs and the preparations for the
+journey, he seemed to catch the enthusiasm of the boys, as well as the
+fire of earlier days, and resolved to accompany them.  Three Indian dog-
+drivers had been secured, while Kinesasis, old as he was, was proud to
+act the part of guide for the whole party.
+
+Sam shared a large cariole with Mr Ross, while Frank and Alec occupied
+another.  To each cariole was assigned a careful driver.  The third
+Indian made up his load of several dog-sleds piled on each other.  All
+were well-loaded with supplies.  Kinesasis armed himself with a stout
+pole about ten feet long, which he carried as an Alpine climber would
+his alpenstock, although it weighed as much as a dozen of them.  The
+boys were surprised at seeing him thus encumber himself with a pole so
+heavy.  They were also perplexed, when it grew lighter, to see a similar
+one tied on to the sled of the third driver.  However, before the
+journey was finished they saw the wisdom of his forethought.
+
+At first some of the dogs seemed to resent the restraint of the harness,
+and acted as though they would still have preferred the liberty which
+had been theirs all through the summer months.  Others, however, seemed
+to be delighted to hear the music of the little open bells, with which
+the collars of their harness were decorated, and joyously barked and
+jumped about as though, in glad sport, they were dancing to the music
+they themselves were making.
+
+The trail selected at once led them out along Jack River, and then
+southwest into Playgreen Lake.  Kinesasis's alert eye was on the ice
+continually.  Now he was glancing at the long stretches before him, and
+then quickly deciding the best route to follow.  When this was selected
+he seemed to critically examine every yard of the ice, over which, on
+his moccasined feet, he so lightly and yet so rapidly glided.  His
+constant alertness was absolutely necessary; for while the ice was
+apparently strong enough to be safe, yet when ice freezes up thus
+rapidly air holes frequently abound, which may be so thinly coated over
+that none but an experienced eye can detect them.  They are very
+treacherous, as the ice, which to any ordinary observer may appear safe,
+may not be a quarter of an inch in thickness, and so the unfortunate
+person stepping on one may suddenly drop out of sight.
+
+The rate at which Kinesasis led the party was about five miles an hour.
+To do this he kept up a swinging jog trot, and was ever on the alert for
+danger.  Mr Ross, whose cariole immediately followed the guide, well
+knowing that there was a certain spice of danger associated with a trip
+like this so soon after the ice had formed, also kept constantly on the
+alert, as his long years in such kind of travelling made him almost
+equal to an Indian in this respect.  After travelling for ten miles they
+reached a spot where one of the great currents of the mighty Nelson
+River, from Lake Winnipeg, had kept the ice from forming as solidly as
+where the water was not so rapid in motion.  By its ominous bending and
+cracking under him Kinesasis saw the danger and suddenly brought the
+whole party to a halt.  As the weakness in the ice apparently extended a
+long way in each direction, it was evident that the party must get
+across in some way or else return home.  The latter idea was not for a
+moment to be entertained, and so arrangements were at once made for
+crossing the dangerous place.  This novel plan was witnessed by the boys
+with a great deal of interest.  At first they wished to jump from the
+warm fur robes in their carioles, but this Mr Ross would not hear of.
+They could be of no service and would only get thoroughly chilled.
+
+The crossing over the dangerous place was accomplished in the following
+manner: Kinesasis first untied the other heavy pole from the dog-sled,
+and then, advancing to the place where the weak ice began, he carefully
+laid one of the poles on the poor ice, and using the other as a
+ropewalker would his balancing pole, he carefully walked out on the one
+on the ice.  Then carefully placing the one in his hand down on the ice,
+in a straight line before him, he stepped on it, and cautiously lifted
+up the one over which he had just walked.  Using this as he had handled
+the other one, as a balancing pole, he thus went on and on, using his
+poles alternately, until he reached the strong ice on the other side.
+Then he returned in the same way and reported to Mr Ross his opinion,
+which was that by doubling the under surface of the carioles they could
+pass over in safety.
+
+This was quickly done by taking the sleds, which the third Indian driver
+had in charge, and securely lashing them to the sides of the carioles,
+in such a way that the area of surface on the ice would be doubled, and
+thus the pressure would be only half.  As an extra precaution a long
+rope was tied to the rear of each cariole.  Then Kinesasis once more
+crossed over with his poles to the firm ice.  The dogs were put to the
+gallop, and being urged by those behind, as well as by Kinesasis's well-
+known voice in front, the dangerous place was passed in safety.
+
+"Now I see," said Alec, "the solution of what was bothering me.  I
+wondered how Kinesasis was able to get along over the weak places in the
+ice yesterday, but with those poles to help him it is now plain enough."
+
+"It must require a great deal of practice to do it safely," said Frank.
+And so in after days he found it out when he made the attempt himself,
+and in trying to transfer himself from one to the other ignominiously
+fell off, with such force that he broke through the thin ice.
+Fortunately he had presence of mind enough to seize hold of one of the
+poles, which was in such a position that each end rested on the unbroken
+ice.  His frightened shouts soon brought help, and he was quickly
+rescued.
+
+Nothing else occurred to cause delay on the route, and so before noon
+the dogs, excited by the near approach to the spot where they had spent
+their happy summer, sprang into a gallop and fairly flew over the good
+ice that was found for the last few miles.  Kinesasis and the Indian
+drivers had all they could do to keep up with them.
+
+With great delight did the boys spring out of their carioles, and then
+and there declared that dog travelling was the most exhilarating of
+sports and the very poetry of motion.  Some time later they changed
+their views.  Immediately on their landing they were surrounded by a
+crowd of dogs of all ages, and doglike they acted.  The old fellows that
+had done good work in other years and were now only kept for drawing
+wood for the fires, or hay from the distant beaver meadows for the
+cattle, were dignified and sedate, and yet manifested the greatest
+affection for their old master, who was kind and gentle to all the
+animals in his possession.  This kindness was well repaid by the
+intelligent obedience they all gave him.  Eagerly the boys scanned the
+young dogs, for from among them were to be selected the promised trains
+which they were to call their own.
+
+While the boys were discussing the dogs and indicating their
+preferences, old Kinesasis had rekindled the fire in the large wigwam,
+in which he had passed the summer, and, aided by the other Indians of
+the party, busied himself in preparing the dinner out of the supplies
+which had been brought along.  Never did a dinner seem to taste better
+than did that one in that leather tent to those boys, who had so enjoyed
+the exhilarating twenty-mile trip.
+
+After Mr Ross, Frank, Sam, and Alec had dined.  Kinesasis and the
+Indian dog-drivers soon had a hearty dinner, and then, after the
+inevitable pipes, the work of preparation for the return trip speedily
+began.  It was the desire of all to reach home before dark.  To
+accomplish this would be no easy matter, as there were so many untrained
+dogs.  At first it was decided to harness up a number of these, as
+harness had been brought for the purpose, but after some consultation
+with Kinesasis about the thin ice Mr Ross decided against it, thus
+leaving the young dogs to follow.  Only the old dogs were harnessed.
+This added a couple more trains to the party.  The sleds of these were
+loaded down with the tent, nets, and other things which had made up
+Kinesasis's outfit during the summer.
+
+At length everything was loaded up, and the return trip began.  There
+was some trouble in getting a number of the younger dogs to take to the
+ice and keep up with the trains; numbers would persist in turning round
+and hurrying back.
+
+"We cannot blame them," Sam said afterward, and his Irish oratory burst
+forth as he described what had been their happy condition.  "Just
+think," he said, "on that beautiful island in the pleasant springtime
+they were born.  There they have had a happy, careless puppyhood life.
+There they have spent the pleasant summer time with plenty to eat and
+nothing to do.  On the sandy beaches and over the smooth rocks they have
+gamboled together, and in the warm, rippling waters they have splashed
+and battled.  Now the cold weather has suddenly come and the snow has
+covered their favourite romping grounds, and even their great bathing
+places are hard with slippery ice."
+
+There was, however, but little sentiment in the minds of Mr Ross and
+the Indians.  On the contrary, they were very much annoyed at the delay
+the refractory young dogs were causing, and so had to adopt prompt
+measures, or they well knew that the night would be upon them ere home
+was reached.  The younger puppies were packed in the carioles around our
+travellers, and some of the more obstinate older ones were led by ropes
+fastened to their collars and tied to the sleds, while the great
+majority, coaxed by little pieces of meat occasionally dropped on the
+ice, kept well up to the trains.  Thus on they pushed until they reached
+the rapid current in the lake where the thin ice had given them so much
+trouble in the morning.  Fortunately the additional hours of bitter cold
+had so strengthened it that no serious difficulty was anticipated in
+crossing over, even if the loads were much heavier.
+
+But another event occurred, quite unexpected, indeed, and which, while
+it did much to impede their progress, created a good deal of excitement
+and interest.  The first intimation of its coming was the sudden cry of
+wild geese not very far away.  Their "Honk! honk!" was very distinct,
+and not only excited the boys, but also the dogs.  The loose dogs, in
+spite of all the calls of the Indians, at once dashed off in the
+direction from which the loud calls were coming, while the sleigh dogs
+were almost unmanageable.  Prompt and quick were the men to act.  The
+excited dog-trains were bunched and tied together and left in charge of
+a couple of Indians, while Mr Ross and the boys and a couple of Indians
+went forward to investigate.
+
+To the right, a couple of hundred yards away, was a rocky island, on one
+side of which was a reedy marsh.  From among the reeds and rushes the
+loud calls of the geese were coming.  Into these plunged the dogs, while
+the men and boys climbed up on the rocks where they could overlook the
+whole spot, which was only of a few acres in extent.  The experienced
+eyes of the Indians took in the whole situation at a glance.  The young
+geese had not been strong enough to fly away to the sunny South Land
+when the call to go had come, and so the old geese had left them behind
+to perish.  And so now here they were, over twenty of them.  A novel
+goose hunt was organised, and, while the boys looked on, the Indians,
+with the dogs' help, soon secured quite a number.  Some of them were
+easily killed, as they were securely frozen to the icy reeds.  Others
+rushed about in a vain attempt to escape, but they were so chilled by
+the cold that they were easily captured.  The sleds were piled up with
+this additional load of geese, and the journey was resumed.
+
+Later on in the evening the boys heard from Kinesasis more about those
+young geese and why they were there.  They also learned some truths from
+nature that abode with them for many a day.
+
+Without much difficulty the dangerous places in Playgreen Lake were
+passed, and the return run down Jack River was begun.  The loose young
+dogs were pretty well wearied by the long trip and required some
+coaxing, and even the occasional crack of the whip was necessary to urge
+them to keep up.  It is amazing what a latent amount of strength and
+speed there is in a tired dog.  Here was a striking example of it.
+While the trains were jogging along, and the young dogs with tongues out
+and tails down were wearily following after and looking as though they
+were deeply bemoaning their lot, suddenly a splendid cross-fox sprang
+out from the dense forest on one side of the river and deliberately
+dashed across before the dogs on the frozen ice toward the other shore.
+All evidence of weariness at once disappeared.  With a hue and cry that
+would have done credit to a first-class pack of hounds they were all
+off, sleigh dogs as well as loose ones.
+
+The ice was so slippery that it required quite an effort on the part of
+the drivers of the carioles to control their dogs and get them in line.
+If the truth must be told, the boys richly enjoyed the short burst of
+speed and the exciting chase, which ended almost as soon as it began,
+for Reynard was too much for the young dogs and soon reached the shelter
+of the wooded shore.
+
+The beautiful evening stars were shining in the western sky ere the
+welcome lights in the windows of Sagasta-weekee were seen.  A hearty
+welcome was given to the returning party by Mrs Ross and the children.
+All were anxious to hear about the first day's winter outing, and each
+boy had to give his own version of the day's excitements and pleasures.
+
+The commodious kennels were soon taken possession of by the tired dogs.
+Indian servants had abundance of fish ready for them, and a watchful
+oversight was kept upon them that the stronger ones should not rob the
+weaker or younger ones, a trick, we are sorry to say, of which some dogs
+are guilty.
+
+After the hearty supper and prayers were over in the dining room, and
+the younger children had retired to rest, Mr and Mrs Ross and the boys
+went out into the capacious kitchen to hear old Kinesasis give his
+version of the goose hunt.  To please the old man, Mr Ross filled a
+beautiful calumet and presented it to him as a gift in addition to his
+wages, for his thoughtful care of the dogs while under his charge at the
+island.  For some minutes he smoked his new pipe in silence.  Indians
+are the least demonstrative people in the world, and Kinesasis was one
+of them.  He was never known to say "Thank you" in his life, and yet
+none could be more grateful or pleased than he to have his faithful
+services thus recognised.  Mr Ross thoroughly understood him, and the
+grateful look in his expressive eyes as he received the pipe from Mr
+Ross's hand was all that was expected or that would be received.
+Without one word of reference to the pipe, Kinesasis began about the
+wild geese.  Here is his story, which was a sort of monologue.  He said:
+
+"I have been much thinking about it, and I feel that it is my fault that
+the young geese could not go south with the old ones when the call came
+in the voice of the North Wind that it was time to go.  I well remember
+that last spring, when in the big boat I carried the dogs out to the
+island, we saw some geese flying around that island where we caught the
+young ones to-day.  We could not get a shot at the old geese then, they
+were so wary, but we pulled ashore, and there among the rushes we found
+some nests full of eggs.  Of course, we took the eggs and ate them.  No
+doubt those old geese when they returned, after we had gone, were very
+angry at our taking the eggs, but they were not discouraged, and so they
+went to work and filled up their nests with another setting of eggs and
+hatched them out.  But they had lost a full month of time, and there was
+not enough warm weather left for these broods of young geese to grow
+strong to rise up in the air when the call came to fly away to the South
+Land."
+
+For a few minutes he puffed away vigorously at his calumet, and then
+continuing his story said: "Wild geese are strange things.  I have hid
+myself from them and watched them years ago, when they were more
+plentiful and hatched their young at many places around our lakes and
+rivers here.  Then we had only bows and arrows, and so did not kill as
+many as we do now.  Their greatest enemies were the foxes, but no fox
+would dare attack a goose on her nest or a brood of young ones if the
+old gander were around.  One blow of his powerful wing would kill any
+fox.  I have found dead foxes that have thus been killed."
+
+Then, looking up, the old Indian said, in a voice that showed he was
+deeply impressed by what he was uttering: "There was always some strange
+mystery about their call to go south and their leaving.  To-day they
+would be acting as though they would be intending to stay with us all
+the time.  They were all very quiet and only busy in getting their food,
+while the old ones were alert against their enemies, and would even risk
+their lives to defend their young ones.  Then to-morrow would come, and
+there was such a change in them.  They were all so excited and noisy;
+their cries filled the air.  The old ones would stretch their wings and
+circle round and round in the air about their young ones and encourage
+them to follow.  Soon all of them would rise up and up, and, starting
+away for the South Land, we would see them no more that year.  And yet
+not all, for sometimes there were late broods, like the one we found to-
+day.  They came too late to be strong enough to fly.  They could not go,
+and here is the mystery to me.  Why was it that the parent geese, that
+yesterday would risk their lives in fighting against wild animals to
+save their young, would to-day, when the call came to go, leave their
+young broods behind them to perish?  They all did it.  Never was an old
+goose known to stay behind when the call came.  That voice was louder
+and stronger than was even the love for their offspring.  Can any of you
+tell old Kinesasis why it is so?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+SELECTING THEIR DOGS--VARIOUS METHODS OF BREAKING THEM IN--FRANK'S
+SUCCESS BY KINDNESS WITH MONARCH--SAM'S TROUBLES WITH SPITFIRE--
+CONQUERED AT LAST--TRAINING AND CAPTURING DOGS WITH DOGS--ALEC'S TRAIN
+OF PART STAGHOUNDS.
+
+With this question of the old Indian ringing in their ears the party in
+the kitchen broke up, and as the day had been a long one they all soon
+retired to rest.
+
+The boys were more than delighted with the day's experience, and were
+full of joyful anticipation for the morrow, for then it was that they
+were to select the dogs that were to constitute their own trains and at
+once to begin the work of breaking them in.  So long and soundly did
+they sleep the next morning that the second breakfast bell was ringing
+when they awoke, and so they had but little time in which to dress ere
+breakfast was served.  However, to their joy they found that others had
+also overslept themselves.  Even Mr Ross himself, who was one of these,
+declared that the capital outing of the previous day had done him a
+great deal of good, as he had not slept so well for a long time.
+
+The events of yesterday and the anticipations of the present day were
+discussed with great animation.  The boys were questioned as to the
+style and disposition of the dogs they each desired, and the methods
+they intended to pursue in their training.  Frank wanted his to be
+strong and powerful, able to carry him over any difficult place and able
+to draw any reasonable load assigned him.  Alec's ambition was for a
+swift train, that he might have all the fun and excitement of rapid
+travelling.
+
+"All right," said Sam, "but give me the darlings with any amount of
+mischief and tricks in them.  Those are the dogs for me."
+
+A hearty laugh from all greeted Sam's queer wish.
+
+"I think, as regards the tricks, we can easily satisfy you," said Mr
+Ross.  "And it will be amusing to see how a young Irish gentleman can
+circumvent them; for you will find out, before you get through with
+them, that tricky dogs are not only very clever, but very provoking, in
+some of their deals."
+
+Mr Ross had been very careful for years in the selection and breeding
+of his dogs.  There is as much difference between good and bad dogs as
+there is between high-spirited horses and miserably lazy ones.  The
+hardy Eskimo was still the prevailing element in his dogs.  There were,
+however, many crosses with some of the finest breeds of civilisation,
+such as the English mastiff, the Newfoundland, and the large Scottish
+staghound.  Dogs are considered old enough to be broken to harness when
+they have reached their ninth month.  They should not, however, be
+expected, no matter how willing, to draw very heavy loads until they are
+considerably older.  They are much more easily trained when young, and
+are not so apt to be sullen and ugly as are dogs which are only broken
+in after they have reached the age of two or three years.
+
+Soon after breakfast and prayers an early visit was made to the kennels.
+The boys were desirous of having the pleasure that morning of giving
+the dogs their breakfast.  They were very much surprised, however, when
+informed that the dogs were only fed once a day, and that that one meal
+was given to them in the evening, when their day's work was done.  This
+information at first aroused their sympathies for the dogs, but after
+some experience they found out that they could not only do much better
+work on one good meal a day, but were always in much better health.
+
+Some dogs submit readily to the harness and never give any trouble;
+others are very obstinate, and will take any amount of whipping before
+they surrender.  Some that seem docile and affectionate before being
+harnessed, when they find themselves collared and strapped, develop the
+ferocity of wolves and make the most desperate efforts, not only to get
+loose, but to attack their own masters.  Mr Ross had, after some
+discussion with the boys, promised them the privilege to do the breaking
+in of their own dogs, provided the animals did not develop too obstinate
+dispositions, which would require a good deal of punishment ere they
+would submit.  Generally this work was done by the Indian servants, as
+many kind-hearted masters cannot bear to inflict the punishment
+themselves, which seems to be necessary for some dogs to receive ere
+their are conquered.
+
+Several methods are used in breaking in young dogs.  Some trainers
+securely harness them up and fasten them to a sled, then vigorously, by
+voice and whip, keep at them until they yield and do what is demanded of
+them.  They must at the first harnessing be so securely fastened that
+they cannot possibly in any way squeeze or pull themselves out from the
+harness.  Nearly all dogs at first make desperate efforts to escape.  If
+they once succeed in doing so, during the process of training, they are
+never absolutely reliable afterward.  They will occasionally try to
+repeat the experiment of squeezing themselves loose, and may do it at a
+critical place on a long journey, and thus cause annoyance and delay.
+
+One of Mr Ross's methods, which he now suggested to the boys, was to
+have an old train of four steady dogs harnessed up in tandem style and
+one of the young dogs, which was to be broken in, harnessed in between
+the third and fourth dog of the train.  Frank was given the first
+selection.  He chose a large, powerful dog that seemed to be part
+mastiff and part Newfoundland.  He had a fine head and kindly eyes.
+Frank, who was a great lover of dogs, and knowing much about them, had
+taken the precaution to make a visit to the kitchen, and now, with his
+outer pockets supplied with broken bits of meat and buns, he began the
+work of making friends with this big, burly young dog, which was his
+first choice.  The fact that only in the evening were they supposed to
+be fed, was quietly ignored by Frank just now.
+
+Kinesasis called him Ookemou.  This Frank translated into Monarch, and
+by this name he was always called.  Frank began his approaches by a
+liberal use of the contents of his pockets, and who ever knew a young
+dog proof against such an argument?  Growing dogs are always hungry, and
+will take kindly to anyone who will stuff them.  The Indian servants
+speedily had a train of old dogs ready, with a vacant harness placed as
+we have described.  Into it Monarch willingly allowed himself to be
+harnessed by Frank.  The whole train was then fastened to a dog-sled,
+and the word "Marche!" was shouted by the driver.  The well-trained dogs
+at once responded and started off, and as long as Frank ran by the side
+of Monarch the young dog did very well, but when he dropped behind and
+sprang on the sled with the Indian driver, Monarch also made an effort
+to do likewise.  This, however, he found to be an impossible feat, as
+the three strong dogs before him kept him on the move, and so he was
+obliged to proceed, which he did very unwillingly.  Frank shouted to him
+to go on.  This, however, was a great mistake, as the dog, at once
+recognising his voice, and not knowing as yet the meaning of "Go on,"
+would much rather have come back to the one who had so thoroughly won
+his friendship.  Seeing him beginning to act ugly and obstinate, the
+Indian driver drew his heavy dog-whip and was about to strike him.  This
+Frank hotly resented, and so the Indian quickly recoiled his whip and
+quietly waited to see what the young white master wanted to do.  Frank's
+quick intellect was at work.  He was a wide-awake, kindly lad, with a
+love for as well as a knowledge of dogs, and so when he saw this young
+dog so resolutely pull back at the sound of his voice, thus showing that
+he would rather come toward him than run from him, he instantly made up
+his mind that he could be broken in by kindness and persuasion.  Quickly
+he resolved upon his own plan of action.  Ordering the Indian driver to
+stop the train, Frank speedily ran to Mr Ross with an urgent request
+for another train of old dogs.  Mr Ross, who was at once interested by
+the intense earnestness of the lad, speedily granted him his request,
+although as yet he could not understand the reason why two trains were
+desired, where one was generally considered sufficient.
+
+Very quickly did willing hands harness up a train of old dogs and attach
+them to a dog-sled.
+
+"Now," said Frank to the driver of them, "you drive on ahead of that
+other train and let me ride with you."
+
+Orders having been given to the driver of the train, in which Monarch
+was harnessed, to follow after, Frank, who was now on ahead and in plain
+sight, began calling to his dog to follow.  To this call he at once
+responded, and as the train in which he was harnessed was allowed to
+come alongside of the first, Monarch was rewarded by receiving from his
+master's hands some dainty bits of meat.  There was no trouble with him
+after this.  No matter how fast the first train was now driven, with
+head and tail up, on came Monarch, with as much vim and dash as the best
+of the old dogs, with which he was harnessed.  When it was thought that
+he had had enough exercise for that day, and as they were about two
+miles from home, they rested for a few moments, during which Frank spoke
+kindly to his dog and fed him with the remaining pieces of meat.  Before
+leaving he gave orders to the driver of the train, in which Monarch was
+harnessed, to wait until he and the other train would have time to reach
+home.  Monarch, as he saw the other train leaving, became very much
+excited and was eager to follow.  He was, however, restrained by the
+driver, as were the other dogs.  All sleigh dogs of any spirit hate to
+be thus left behind, and so when the word "Marche!" was uttered they
+sprang forward with a will, Monarch being as eager as any of them.
+
+In the meantime, when Frank with the one train of old dogs returned to
+Sagasta-weekee, he was met with laughter and quizzing remarks from both
+Alec and Sam.  Coming as he did without his young dog, they could only
+imagine that he had met with complete failure, and had given up the
+business in disgust.  Mr Ross, however, older and more experienced,
+after one searching glance in Frank's triumphant, satisfied face,
+surmised something better, and so was prepared for the lad's triumph,
+which soon came.
+
+Frank very good-naturedly took the guying of his comrades, but his eyes
+were along the trail made by the sled, from which he had just alighted.
+Keen was his vision then, and alert his eye, and so when the coming
+train was still far away he knew by their rapid pace that he had
+triumphed.  Turning to Mr Ross, he triumphantly exclaimed:--
+
+"There they come, and Monarch as eager as any of them, and no whip has
+ever touched his back, or ever will."
+
+It did not take the rapidly advancing train long to reach the now
+interested group of spectators.
+
+Frank's triumph was complete.  None could have imagined that the finest-
+looking dog in that train, that bore himself so proudly, had that day
+for the first time ever had a collar on his neck.  Yet such was the
+case, and as Frank petted and unharnessed him, warm and sincere were Mr
+Ross's congratulations.
+
+From that day forward Monarch was a model sleigh dog, and never failed
+to respond to the voice of his new master, whose kindly tact had saved
+him from the lash.
+
+There was still time before lunch for another experiment or two, and so
+Alec suggested that Sam, who wanted dogs full of fun and tricks, should
+make the next choice.
+
+Sam, nothing loath, selected a handsomely built dog with the queerest
+combination of colours.  He had a bright, mischievous-looking eye, and
+it was evident that he had a good opinion of himself.  His small, erect,
+pointed ears, his foxlike muzzle, and his curly, bushy tail told that
+there was a good deal of the Eskimo in him, and therefore, until better
+acquainted with the paleface, he would not have much love for him.  Sam
+soon found this out.  At Mr Ross's request Kinesasis skillfully threw a
+lasso over him and brought him out of the kennels.  This undignified
+procedure considerably ruffled his temper, and so when Sam, in sweet
+simplicity, took up a harness and endeavoured to put it on him the dog
+viciously sprang at him and buried his teeth in the heavy mooseskin
+mitten of the hand which Sam was fortunately able to quickly throw up,
+thus saving his face from injury.  Mr Ross and others sprang forward to
+help the lad, but Sam's Irish was up, and as the lasso was still upon
+the dog's neck, and his teeth had only cut through the tough leather
+without injuring his hand, he cried:--
+
+"Please let me have the satisfaction of conquering him alone."
+
+Suddenly throwing himself forward, Sam seized hold of the lasso, and,
+tightening it about the dog's neck, he quickly tangled him up in the
+loose coils and managed to throw him on the snowy ground.  Seizing the
+harness, he dropped down upon the excited, half-choked animal, and,
+guarding his hands against his snappy teeth, he managed to get the
+collar over his head.  But the work was not yet completed, and Mr Ross,
+seeing the danger the boy was in of being badly bitten by the now
+furious animal, ordered a couple of Indian men to his assistance.  He
+highly complimented Sam, and said that in getting the collar on such a
+dog he had succeeded well.  The Indians cautiously, but quickly, muzzled
+the dog, and then, letting him get up, they finished Sam's work of
+harnessing him.  The next thing was to get him into the train with the
+other dogs, and this proved to be no easy matter.
+
+"Give him a name," said Alec.
+
+"Spitfire!" shouted out Sam, and by this name he was ever after known.
+
+He seemed to have an idea that his personal liberty was being interfered
+with, and so he resisted everything done by Sam or the dog-drivers.
+When by main force he was placed in position and the traces were
+fastened he made most violent attempts to escape.  He struggled first to
+one side and then to the other in his frantic efforts.  Then he tried to
+crawl under and then over the dog in front of him.  Failing in this, he
+suddenly sprang forward with such force that he managed to seize hold of
+the short, stumpy tail of the dog in front of him.  This was an
+unfortunate move on his part, as the dogs that are accustomed to work
+together will readily fight for each other when one is in trouble.  So,
+before Sam or the Indians could interfere, if they had been so disposed,
+the dogs ahead of Spitfire, hearing the cry of pain from their comrade,
+quickly turned upon him and gave him a thorough shaking.  When the
+Indians thought he had had enough they interfered, and once more
+straightened out the dogs.
+
+Spitfire was most decidedly a sadder, if not a wiser, dog as the result
+of his rashness.  But, poor fellow, his troubles were not yet over, for
+the old sleigh dog behind him was also indignant at the attack upon the
+tail of his old comrade, and so he was also resolved to mete out some
+punishment to the rash young offender.  This was just what the Indians
+wanted, and so, telling Sam to jump on the sled with them, they shouted,
+"Marche!" to the head dogs, while the old fellow behind sprang at
+Spitfire.
+
+At first the young fellow, seeing that he could not get away, had
+resolved to balk, but when the big dog with fierce growls made his
+desperate efforts to seize hold of him he was glad to spring as far away
+as his traces would permit.  The result was that before he knew what he
+was about he was rapidly galloping in unison with the rest of the train.
+Sam kept him at it until he was so tired that all the venom and fight
+were worked out of him.  If for an instant he tried to act ugly or break
+loose, all Sam had to do was to call on the sleigh dog to attack him.
+This was quite sufficient and Spitfire surrendered to the inevitable,
+and in less than three hours had well learned his first lesson.
+
+To conquer the dog's repugnance to Sam, and to make them fast friends,
+Mr Ross had him, when taken out of the harness, fastened up in a dark
+root cellar without any supper.  The next day Sam went in to bring him
+out, but was met only with savage growls.
+
+"All right," said Mr Ross, "it seems hard on you for the present, but
+it will be better for you in the end;" and so the heavy door was shut,
+and Spitfire had another twenty-four hours in solitude and quiet to
+ponder over his ways.  The next day, as directed by Mr Ross, in whom he
+had all confidence, Sam suddenly threw open the door, and, while the dog
+was still blinking in the sudden sunshine that poured in, Sam without
+any hesitancy or fear strode in and, unchaining him, led him out and up
+to an abundant supply of food and drink.
+
+Spitfire was conquered, and from that day he and Sam were the best of
+friends.  A few more lessons in the harness, with a growling, cross
+sleigh dog behind him, made him one of the best and fleetest of the
+train.
+
+Sam, who was quick to utilise a good thing when he observed it, saw in
+this dislike of this old sleigh dog to having fresh young dogs ahead of
+him just the assistance he needed; and so, although he selected three
+other dogs, that at first were about as ugly and intractable as Spitfire
+had been, he was able in this way to subdue them all with firmness and
+patience, and he not only made them his affectionate friends, but he
+became the master of one of the most spirited trains in the country.
+They were obedient and quick to respond to Sam's calls upon them, but
+woe to anyone else who tried to drive them when the spirit of mischief
+or contrariness which was in them showed itself.
+
+Alec had stated that he wanted a swift train for the fun and excitement
+of fast travelling.  It was fortunate for him that Mr Ross had some
+young dogs with a large strain of the Scottish staghound in them.  The
+pure staghounds are unable to stand the severe cold of the long winters,
+but the mixed breeds at Sagasta-weekee, while retaining much of the
+speed of the staghound, had a rich, warm coating of fur-like hair.
+Still, they enjoyed a warm blanket when the weather was very severe.
+The young untrained ones were very wild, and when Kinesasis attempted to
+bring out from the kennels a beautiful one that he had lassoed, and
+which Alec had fancied, the frightened, agile creature jerked the lasso
+out of his hands, scaled the walls, and dashed away over the snowy
+fields.  To have followed him would have been absurd, as the frightened
+dog if pursued would have continued his flight until he had reached the
+distant island where he had spent the summer.  Kinesasis knew a better
+plan than that, and so he quickly let loose about a half dozen sagacious
+old dogs, trained by him for such work, and quietly told them to go out
+and bring that young wanderer back.  The frightened dog, after running
+several hundred yards, when he saw that he was not being followed,
+slackened his pace and more leisurely continued his journey.  He would,
+however, frequently stop and look about him, and especially back toward
+the place he had so abruptly left.
+
+Soon he saw the dogs that Kinesasis had sent out, and that were now
+gambolling and playing with each other.  He was attracted by the sight,
+and stopped his flight to watch them.  They were apparently not noticing
+him in their sporting with each other, but they were nevertheless
+drawing nearer to him.  At first he was inclined to be suspicious of
+them, but this soon left him, and he seemed to become pleased to greet
+them, as doubtless he had already begun to feel lonesome, for the dog is
+indeed a social animal.  When once he was thrown off his guard it was
+not long ere the trailing lasso was seized by the teeth of a couple of
+the most sagacious dogs, who immediately started on the return trip.
+The rest of the dogs followed growling in the rear of the runaway.  When
+necessary they used their teeth upon him, and so they soon brought him,
+cowed and submissive, to the hands of Kinesasis.
+
+Tame elephants take great delight in helping to capture and subdue wild
+ones, but not greater is their satisfaction at their successful work
+than is that of old dogs who are trained to it when they have a share in
+the capturing or breaking in of obstinate, refractory dogs.
+
+The boys enthusiastically expressed their surprise as well as admiration
+at this wonderful cleverness on the part of these trained dogs in
+capturing the runaway.  They were also amused at their evident delight
+at the success of their efforts.
+
+"Yes," said Mr Ross, "and if that young dog had been able to elude
+them, either by keeping out of their reach, in the first place, or by
+slipping the lasso over his head and thus escaping from them, and they
+had had to return without him, they would have been thoroughly ashamed
+of themselves, and would have skulked off to their kennels."
+
+"I have read," said Frank, "that that is the way the Saint Bernard dogs
+in the Alps act if they are unsuccessful in bringing any belated or lost
+traveller back to the monastery, when they are sent out by the monks to
+search for any in distress.  They are very proud if they succeed, but if
+they fail to find anyone they skulk back ashamed of themselves and sulk
+in their kennels for a couple of days, or even longer."
+
+Alec, taking advantage of the methods adopted by both Frank and Sam, and
+other plans suggested by Mr Ross, at length succeeded in breaking in
+his four dogs.  He had the misfortune to have one of them, on account of
+his small head, squeeze himself out of his harness and escape.  Great
+difficulty was experienced in capturing him, and then even when
+conquered he at times gave endless trouble by slipping his collar and
+skulking in the rear.
+
+Another of his dogs, when being broken in, made the most desperate
+efforts to cut himself loose with his teeth.  He ruined in this way some
+valuable harness, and several times cut the traces of the dogs in front
+of him.  Having exhausted the patience of Alec, he received a first-
+class whipping ere he stopped trying these tricks.
+
+In about a month the dogs were thoroughly trained and seasoned to their
+work.  Frank clung to Monarch as his favourite, while Sam and Spitfire
+were almost inseparable.  Alec, true to the romantic love of his
+country, made the runaway his favourite and called him Bruce.  His other
+three he named Wallace, Gelert, and Lorne.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+NUMEROUS DOGS--USEFUL ANIMALS--FOOD SUPPLY--FROZEN FISH--BRINGING THEM
+HOME--VIGOROUS WORK FOR BOYS AND DOGS--FRANK'S TUMBLE--SAM'S DUCKING--
+SKATING PARTIES--ALEC'S THRILLING ADVENTURE--THE RACE FOR LIFE--NORTHERN
+GREY WOLVES--THEIR CUNNING--THEIR VARIOUS STRATAGEMS--MR. ROSS'S FEARS--
+THE SEARCH PARTY--ALEC RESCUED--THE WOLVES SHOT.
+
+It may seem strange to some of our readers that such numbers of dogs
+were kept by Mr Ross.  It must be remembered that they were, in those
+regions, the only animals in those days that were of any use to man.
+
+So abundant were the fish that the dogs were kept with little expense.
+The lakes and rivers so swarmed with them that a few gill nets and an
+Indian could easily take care of a large number of dogs during the
+summer months.  For the winter supply an immense number of whitefish
+were caught just as the winter was setting in.  These fish were hung up
+on high stagings beyond the reach of wolves and stray, prowling dogs.
+So intense and steady was the frost that the fish, which immediately
+froze solid after being hung up, remained in that condition until well
+on into the next April.  Such a thing as the temperature rising high
+enough to even soften the fish was almost unknown.  The result was the
+fish were kept by this great preservative, the intense frost, in prime
+condition for both the people and the dogs.  On account of their
+abundance, and the ease with which they could be obtained, they were for
+many years the principal article of food.
+
+The Indians take but little care of their dogs in the summer time; they
+literally have to fish for themselves, and very clever are some of them
+at it.  So abundant are the fish, and so clever are the dogs in
+capturing several varieties that haunt the marshes and shallows along
+the shores, that the dogs easily secure sufficient numbers to sustain
+life and even grow fat upon.  On these fishing excursions the Indian
+dogs often wander over a hundred miles away from the wigwams of their
+masters, and are gone for months together.
+
+While quantities of fish were being caught during every month of the
+year--for even in the coldest parts of the winter they could be caught
+through holes in the ice--yet the actual full fishery season only lasted
+a few weeks.  On this fishery everybody depended for their principal
+winter supply.  It generally began a short time before the ice set, and
+continued about as long after.  The fish, which were principally
+whitefish, were all caught in gill nets.  When brought ashore they were
+stabbed through the flesh near the tail.  Through this incision a sharp-
+pointed stick was inserted.  Ten were always thus hung up on each stick,
+with their heads hanging down.  While still warm a single slash of a
+sharp knife was given to each fish between the gills.  This caused what
+little blood there was in them to drip out, and thus materially added to
+the quality of the fish, and also helped in its preservation.
+
+The work of bringing these thousands of fish home was done by the dog-
+trains.  It is heavy work, as each train of four dogs was expected to
+draw twenty sticks of fish at each load.  However, the track was
+generally all ice, and so it was much easier than travelling in a forest
+trail in the deep snow.  Six hundred pounds are considered a good load
+for four dogs on ordinary trails.
+
+As Mr Ross's fishermen had hung up about fifty thousand fish, besides
+packing a large number of the finest ones in ice or snow, there was
+considerable work for the trains in dragging them home.  The work is so
+steady that it is considered capital training for young dogs.  Of
+course, they are not at first given as heavy loads as are the old
+trains.  The boys were allowed to go with their trains about three times
+a week.  This was quite sufficient for them, for, although they rode on
+the empty sleds, wrapped in a buffalo skin, on the outward trip to the
+fishery camp, yet they felt in honour bound to imitate the Indian
+drivers of the older trains, and walk, or rather trot, as much as they
+could on the return with their heavy loads.
+
+The kind-hearted Indians, while admiring the pluck of the boys when, on
+the first trip, they urged for heavier loads, wisely and firmly insisted
+that they should take light ones to begin with.
+
+"This is only fun," said Alec, "just running on the ice.  I have walked
+all day in the Highlands, and was all right the next day.  I want a full
+load, for I intend to run the whole distance on the home stretch."
+
+"Twenty miles on ice, with some slipping and falling and managing a
+lively dog-train, will seem a long journey ere it is ended," said
+Mustagan, a grand old Indian who that year had charge of the work of
+bringing home the fish.
+
+Frank thought that with his strong dogs he could take more than Sam or
+Alec, but even to this Mustagan objected.
+
+"Yes," he said, "fine big dogs, but very young, bones still soft.  Big
+loads by and by, but not now."
+
+"I wish we had brought our skates," said Sam, "and then we would have
+had no trouble in making the twenty miles."  This, it was unanimously
+agreed, was a capital suggestion, and one that would be carried out on
+future trips.
+
+So in the meantime they decided to carry out Mustagan's request and only
+take light loads.  The wisdom of this was seen before they had gone many
+miles.  The gait at which the old, experienced dogs struck out, and
+which was kept up by the drivers, as well as by the dog-trains of the
+boys, was altogether too rapid for them.
+
+Very gamely they kept up the pace for four or five miles, when Mustagan
+called a halt for the first pipe.  His observant eyes had been on the
+boys, and while he was pleased with their pluck, he was too wise to
+allow them to injure themselves; so, taking the matter into his own
+hands, he so arranged the sticks of fish on their sleds that, with the
+aid of the buffalo skins, he made for each a comfortable seat.  It is
+not surprising that the boys were willing to accept of the situation,
+and, while on the remainder of the trip they rode a good deal, they
+often sprang off and, by the vigorous exercises of keeping up with the
+Indians on their famous jog trot, kept themselves warm, and also put in
+a good deal of training to fit them for longer journeys.
+
+On future trips to the fisheries, as long as the ice kept free of snow,
+they carried with them their skates, and not only on the home trip with
+loaded sleds, but even on the outward journey, did they have some
+capital sport.  Alec especially was a splendid skater.  Coming from
+Scotland, where they had so much more ice than there was in England or
+Ireland, he had had greater opportunities for becoming an adept in this
+exhilarating sport.  He was very much amused at the temper and annoyance
+of his dogs when, on a fine stretch of smooth ice, he would dash away
+from them at a rate which it was impossible for them to keep up.  They
+would make the most desperate efforts to travel as fast as he did.  When
+they realised the impossibility of doing this, hampered as they were by
+their heavy load, they would at times set up a most dismal cry that was
+a cross between a bark and a howl.  At other times some of the dogs
+would think that one of the train was shirking his work, and then they
+would unmercifully pile on him and give him a sound thrashing.
+
+Well was it for Alec that he had these splendid skating trips;
+unconsciously was he preparing for a race for his life.
+
+On one of these home trips Frank, while sitting on his load, wrapped up
+in his buffalo robe, went to sleep.  He was all right while the sled was
+going along in a straight trail, but at one place the road turned at a
+sharp angle, and here he had a sudden awakening.  The ice was firm and
+the dogs were going at a good speed.  When they reached the sharp turn
+the sled slid around at a great rate, and poor Frank, who like the other
+boys had when awake securely hung on to the straps on other trips, was
+now so fast asleep that when the sled flew around he was sent in the air
+at a tangent, and then went sprawling on the ice quite a number of yards
+away.  He was well shaken up and badly bruised.  After that he took good
+care to take his naps on the sleds in less dangerous places.
+
+Sam had a worse adventure than that.  One day, while running behind and
+driving his train and cheerily talking to his dogs, he had the
+misfortune to step through the thin ice into an air hole.  He
+fortunately had presence of mind enough to throw out his arms, and so,
+as the hole was a small one, he only went in up to his armpits.  That,
+however, was quite enough, as the temperature was many degrees below
+zero.  He was speedily pulled out and cared for by the Indian drivers.
+They quickly threw all the fish from Alec's sled, and, taking the three
+buffalo robes which the boys were accustomed to use on the outward
+trips, carefully wrapped Sam in them, and securely tied him on it.  Then
+they said:--
+
+"Now, Master Alec, here is your chance to show the speed of your dogs.
+Hang on securely yourself, and see how quickly you can make the ten-mile
+trip from here to Sagasta-weekee."
+
+Alec needed no other incentive than the desire to get his beloved Sam
+home as quickly as possible.  The boys all dearly loved each other, and
+a serious accident to one gave sorrow to the other two.  The cold was
+intense, and it was necessary that Sam should be taken home as speedily
+as possible.  The weight of the two boys was but little to the active-
+spirited dogs, and so when the sharp cracks of the whip sounded around
+them, but not on them, and the urgent cries of "Marche!  Marche!" with
+unusual emphasis kept ringing out from the lips of their master, they
+seemed at once to realise that something unusual was the matter; and as
+it was also on the home stretch, away they flew at a rate that soon left
+the heavily loaded sleds far behind.
+
+In less than an hour's time the distance was covered.  Sam was soon in
+the hands of loving, experienced friends who knew just what to do, and
+so in a day or two he was out again, none the worse for his adventure.
+
+The skating was simply perfect.  Just fancy miles and miles of ice,
+smooth as glass and stretching out over lake and river in every
+direction; no pent-up little pond or skating rink where in a few hours
+the ice is ruined by the crowd or melted by the rising temperature.
+Here were great lakes and rivers of it that lasted for months.  Lakes
+full of beautiful islands, whose shores not long ago were lapped by the
+murmuring, laughing waves, are now gripped, as in fetters of steel, by
+the Frost King.  In and out among them glide the merry skaters.
+Everybody in that land big enough skated, and skated well.
+
+Jolly parties from the fur-trading posts and mission home joined with
+others in making merry groups, who for hours at a time engaged in this
+joyous and exhilarating sport.  Sometimes several young gentlemen in the
+service of the Hudson Bay Company would come over from the fort and join
+them in their moonlight excursions.  So glorious were the surroundings,
+and so exhilarating the sport, that the nights would be far spent ere
+they thought of returning home.
+
+There seemed a strange fascination in seeking out new places and
+exploring untried branches of the great rivers, which seemed like
+streams of molten silver in the bright moonlight as they stretched away
+into primitive forests, where the trees on the shores hung heavy with
+icicles, or were so bent under the weight of snow that, at times, they
+looked like ghostly visitants from dreamland.
+
+As the days passed on these skating excursions were much more extended,
+and as the skaters began to get familiar with the different routes the
+vigilance which was at first kept up, that none might go astray, was
+much relaxed.  When there were any indications of a storm or blizzard it
+was well understood that no skater was to go out alone, and even then
+not beyond some well-defined landmarks.
+
+However, when the weather seemed settled, and the sun shone brightly by
+day and the moonlight was clear and beautiful at night, no positive
+restraint was upon anyone.  Thus, day after day, they merrily skated in
+little groups or in pairs as they desired.  Sometimes one would dash off
+alone, and for hours amidst the weird, picturesque surroundings, such as
+a skater alone can find in such a land, would, in the very intoxication
+of his bliss, push on and on, without any idea of the progress of time
+or of the distance he was travelling.
+
+To Alec, the Scottish lad, there came one beautiful moonlight night an
+experience which nearly had a tragic ending.  The night was one of
+rarest beauty, but it was very cold, so cold that Mr Ross remarked that
+the moon looked more like burnished steel than silver.  As the merry
+party started out he warned them to keep their furs well around them or
+severe frostbites would be theirs, in spite of the vigorous exercise of
+rapid skating.
+
+The company of half a dozen or so kept together for a time, and then, in
+joyous rivalry, shot out and in along the icy stretches between the
+granite, fir-clad islands that on that lake were so numerous.  As
+further they advanced they became more and more separated, until Alec
+found himself alone with a young clerk from the trading post, who prided
+himself on his skill and speed as a skater.  He had been considered the
+champion the previous winter, and naturally wished to retain his
+laurels.  Finding himself alone with Alec, whom he thought but a novice
+compared to himself, he endeavoured to show off his speed, but was very
+much annoyed and chagrined to find that, skate as rapidly as he would,
+the Scottish lad kept alongside and merrily laughed and chatted as on
+they sped.  Ruffled and angry at being so easily matched by Alec, the
+clerk abruptly turned around and skated back.  Alec was at first a
+little hurt by this discourteous action, but this feeling quickly wore
+off as on and on he skated, fairly entranced by the beauty of his
+surroundings and the excitement of his sport.  After a time he noticed
+that the lake was abruptly ending.  Just as he was about to circle
+around and begin the return journey he saw the mouth of a beautiful
+little ice-covered river which ran up into the forest.  The ice looked
+so smooth and was so transparent, as there it lay in the beautiful
+moonlight, and he was so fascinated by the sight, that he could not
+resist the impulse to dash in upon it.  On and on he glided, on what
+seemed to him the most perfect ice that skater ever tried.  He did not
+appear to observe that this glassy, winding river, on which he was so
+joyously skating, was gradually narrowing, until he observed the great
+branches of some high trees meeting together and cutting off the bright
+moonlight.  Skating under these great shadowy branches, with the
+glinting moonlight here and there in great patches of white upon the
+ice, alternating with the shadows, was a new experience, and very much
+did he revel in it, when-- What sound was that?
+
+It must have been only the falling of some drift of snow from an
+overloaded branch, or a broken branch itself, and so, although Alec was
+startled at hearing any sound amidst these almost noiseless solitudes,
+he soon recovered his spirits and dashed on along the narrowing, crooked
+stream: but--there it is again!  And now as Alec quickly turns his head
+and looks he sees what blanches his face for an instant and shows him
+the peril of his position.  Four great northern grey wolves are skulking
+through the snow on the shore, and already their eyes are gleaming in
+triumph, and their mouths are watering for their prey.  Quick as a flash
+he turns, and so do they.  Well is it now that the sturdy lad, on his
+native lochs in Scottish winters, had practiced every movement, and had
+become an adept in twisting and rapid turning on his skates.  He will
+need it all to-night, as well as the hardened muscles of his vigorous
+sports since he came to this wild North Land; for the wolves will not
+easily be balked in their efforts to capture and then devour.  The very
+fact of there being four of them seemed at first in his favour, as the
+instant they turned they appeared to get in each other's way.  In the
+brief delay thus caused Alec was away and was increasing his speed every
+instant.  But he is not to be let off so easily.  Looking behind, he
+sees that two are coming on in their long, galloping, speedy way.  Where
+are the other two?  Soon enough will he know.
+
+As we have stated, this little river was very crooked.  The cunning
+wolves well knew this, and so a couple of them made a short cut through
+the woods, to intercept their prey at a spot ahead of him.  As an
+inspiration, the quick-witted lad took in the situation.  He had heard
+much already about the cunning of these grey wolves in hunting in relays
+the moose and other species of deer, and by having some of their numbers
+sent on ahead or stationed in narrow defiles to intercept their prey.
+So, suspecting the trap being laid for him, he made up his mind, if
+possible, to reach that danger point before those wolves.  It was a long
+sweep around, like a horse shoe, and he had to make the whole distance
+round, while they had but to cross the tongue of land.  He had to
+traverse at least twice the distance that the wolves had to go, but then
+he had the advantage in being on the ice, while they had to loup through
+the snow.  Still, there were no risks to be taken.  For an instant the
+thoughts came, as he heard the faint thud, thud on the ice of the fleet
+wolves behind him.  What if anything should happen to my skates?  Or if
+I should get in a crack in the ice?  But he quickly banished these
+thoughts as unworthy.  He had all confidence in the splendid skates on
+his feet, and saw with delight that he was emerging from the last place
+where the trees entirely hid the bright moonlight.  Every crack and
+dangerous place could now be easily seen and guarded against.
+
+On and on he fairly flew.  The wolves, in spite of their desperate
+efforts to keep up, were being left further and further behind.  At this
+Alec rejoiced; but his heart fairly jumped, and fear for an instant
+again seized him, as there suddenly burst upon his ears the blood-
+curdling howlings of many wolves.  It was begun by those in the rear.
+It was answered by others that seemed ahead of him.  It was re-echoed
+back by others that appeared to be further off.  Looking back, he
+observed that the two that had been following him, when they had
+finished their howlings, suddenly disappeared in the forest, evidently
+bent upon some new plan of attack.
+
+No wonder that the plucky lad felt that this was a crisis in his life,
+and that if ever he had his wits about him they were needed now.  As the
+result of his early teachings, and the memory of his godly mother, there
+sprang from his heart and lips a whispered prayer: "God of my mother,
+remember her boy to-night;" and he felt that he was not forgotten.
+
+Like as with fresh soldiers on the battle field, so now that the first
+terror had come and gone, a strange spirit of exhilaration came to him,
+and seemed to nerve him for the race.  He had no weapon with him, not
+even a stick in his hand.  His wits, his skates, and his power of
+endurance must be his reliance in this unique encounter.  As well as he
+could he endeavoured to recall the different windings in the river, and
+the places where he was likely to be attacked later on, if he escaped
+the spot where he felt sure the next effort would be made by his cunning
+foes.
+
+Rapidly as he was skating, his quick eye caught sight of two of his
+foes.  They were crouching together on a snow-covered rock that almost
+overhung the edge of the stream where it was narrowest.  To endeavour to
+escape by such fierce brutes, now so aroused by having once missed him,
+would have been madness.  To have retreated would have been certain
+death.  Quick as a flash came the ruse to Alec.  Dashing up, with a
+shout that was a challenge, he made as though he were going to fly by,
+but the instant before he reached the spot where his quick eye saw they
+would spring upon him he whirled upon the heels of his skates.  That
+instant they sprang upon the spot where their instinct told them he
+ought to have been.  He was not there, however, but a few yards in the
+rear; so they missed him, and with the momentum of their spring went
+sprawling out on the smooth ice.  Another turn on the skates, as quick
+as the first, and Alec was by them ere they could recover themselves.
+Thoroughly baffled and furious, they were speedily in pursuit, and it
+required all of Alec's effort to much increase the distance between them
+and himself.
+
+Several times they cut across short necks of the little river, and once
+so near did they get that the snappings of their terrible teeth were
+distinctly heard.  One long stretch more, then a double twist, like the
+letter S in the river, and he would reach the lake.
+
+Alec was heated now; his clothes were wet with perspiration, in spite of
+the bitter cold.  That some wolves were ahead of him he was certain.
+Home was far away.  The other skaters had long since returned from their
+outings.  Around the great blazing fireplace Mr Ross had more than once
+said:
+
+"I am sorry that Alec has remained out so late."
+
+Unknown to the rest of the family, some hunters had reported to him that
+already tracks of wolves had been seen in the hunting grounds not many
+miles away.  These brutes are always very vicious in the beginning of
+winter.  Their summer supplies of food are cut off, and the deer have
+not yet begun to run and thus leave their tracks in the woods.  When
+another hour had passed on Mr Ross could stand it no longer, and
+earnestly exclaimed:
+
+"Who saw Alec last?"
+
+The young clerk who had been last seen with him, and who had not as yet
+returned to his trading post, said:--
+
+"I left him near the other side of the lake."
+
+Mr Ross was indignant, but there was now no time for anything but
+action.  Short and stern were his orders.  Alec must be sought after at
+once.  Hastily rousing up three trusty Indian servants, he and they were
+soon out on the lake.  All were on skates and armed with guns.  A few
+dogs were allowed to accompany them, among them being Alec's train.  Mr
+Ross wisely judged that if they once struck his tracks, such was the
+love they had for him, they would soon find him, even if he had become
+bewildered and lost his bearings.  So, while Alec was still in danger,
+help was coming.
+
+Fortunately for him, the river was wider now, and his eyes were so alert
+that he could detect his foes, even when quite a distance from them.  He
+was thus able to see through the disguise of a couple of them that lay
+crouching out on the ice, trying to look like the little piles of snow
+that the eddying winds had gathered.  Still, although he saw them, and
+by another clever ruse flew by them, yet so close were they to him, when
+they sprang at him, that some of the froth from the mouth of one of them
+fell upon him.
+
+To his surprise, these two did not long follow him, but sprang into the
+gloom of the forest and disappeared.  In the last half of the S-like
+river Alec was now speeding.  He felt confident that if he could once
+reach the lake he would be able by speed, and perhaps some quick
+dodging, to elude them; but this last portion of the crooked river
+troubled him, and made him doubly cautious.
+
+There is need for it all, for look!  There are now not less than a dozen
+of them, and they are so arranged on the ice and on the shore that there
+is apparently no escape.  Those strange howlings, so blood-curdling and
+so weird, which the first pair of wolves uttered were understood by
+others, and here they are, ready and eager to join in the attack and to
+divide the prey.
+
+They seem so confident now, and so loudly do they howl that the great
+high rocks echo back the doleful music.  To Alec it was now the martial
+music that only sharpened his faculties and made him more cautious and
+more brave.  Boldly skating up to them, he suddenly turned, when almost
+in their clutches, and instantly started back up the river as rapidly as
+he could skate.  On and on he fairly flew, until, owing to the bend in
+the river, he was completely out of their sight.  Then skating near to
+one of the shores he pushed on a couple of hundred yards or so.
+Crossing over to the other side, he quickly turned to a spot where,
+sheltered by a large tree, he was securely hid in the deep shadow, which
+was in sharp contrast to the bright moonlight near him.  In this retreat
+he had not long to wait ere he saw the wolves, evidently disconcerted,
+but coming on his trail.  They were stretched out quite apart from each
+other, and covered such a distance that he saw that those in front would
+be doubling back on him ere all had passed.  However, he was confident
+that so suddenly could he dash out that, by skillful dodging on the
+glassy ice, where the wolves would not have much of a foothold, he could
+elude them.
+
+It was a trying moment for the boy, as on the opposite side of the tree,
+which rose up directly out of the ice, he heard the measured steps and
+even the heavy breathings of the cruel monsters, not fifty yards away.
+Fortunately, there was no wind to carry the scent from him to them, and
+so they did not detect his stratagem.  When about half of them had
+passed, with a dash and a shout he was off.  So completely taken by
+surprise were they that those nearest to him made no attempt to stop
+him.  The two or three in the rear savagely tried to block his way and
+sprang at him, but signally failed to reach him, as Alec skillfully
+skated round them and sped onward toward the lake.  Furious indeed were
+those that had passed him and felt themselves robbed of their victim.
+Outwitted were they all, but not yet discouraged.  Wolves can run with
+great swiftness on the smoothest ice, and although, as we have seen,
+they cannot turn quickly, and can be dodged by a clever skater, yet for
+a straight go-ahead pace they are not to be despised by the swiftest
+runner.  Then their powers of endurance are very great, and so it was
+evident to Alec that they were resolved, by grim endurance, to run him
+down.
+
+Firmly convinced that there were none ahead of him, and that it was now
+to be a long race, he wisely resolved not to so force himself that he
+could not, if need be, keep up a good rate of speed all the way to the
+abode of Mr Ross.  It did not take him long to again reach the river
+mouth, and as he flew past the spot where, a few minutes before, his
+enemies had waited for him he could not but see the sagacity with which
+they had selected the place.  He was grateful for his deliverance thus
+far, but he knew that there was no time for investigation, for the yelps
+and howlings distinctly heard told him that his foes were hot on his
+trail and not far behind.
+
+Out on the lake he dashed, and still on they came.  Alec is hot and
+excited now.  The strain on him is beginning to tell, and he feels it.
+He knows that he could put on a desperate spurt and get far ahead, but
+would they not, with that long, steady louping of theirs, gradually
+creep up again, and, finding him almost exhausted, make a desperate
+spurt, and thus run him down?  But he is resolved to succeed, and so he
+nerves himself and carefully speeds along, while perhaps not five
+hundred yards behind are those merciless pursuers that will not be
+shaken off.  In this way about ten miles are passed since the mouth of
+the river was left.  Still on and on they come.  The moon is now sinking
+low, and the shadows are weird and ghostly.  Auroras, phantom-like, flit
+in the northern sky, while some of them seem like frightened spirits
+flying before avenging enemies.  The sight is depressing to Alec, and so
+he turns his eyes from beholding them while still on he speeds.
+
+Hark!  What is that?  It is like the bark of a dog that is instantly
+hushed.  To Alec it seemed a dream or an illusion; and yet he could not
+help putting on a spurt of speed and veering a little out of his course
+to see the rocky islands, surrounded by the smooth ice, from which the
+dog's bark seemed to come.  As he swiftly dashed along how suddenly all
+things changed to him, and quick and swift was his deliverance.  There
+was Mr Ross with his three Indians and a number of dogs.
+
+Alec was saved.  He had fairly run into his deliverers.  But no time was
+to be lost.  Fortunately, a high rocky island for a moment hid the
+wolves, that were now following wholly by the scent.
+
+With their double-barrelled guns, loaded with balls, the three Indians
+rapidly scaled the rocky isle, on the opposite side of which they would
+be hid and yet within easy range of the wolves as they came along on
+Alec's trail.  Mr Ross and Alec had all they could do to quiet the dogs
+and keep them still, as some of them were eager to follow the Indians.
+Only a few minutes elapsed, as Alec's spurt had only put him a half a
+mile or so ahead of the wolves, when the guns rang out once, and then
+again as the second barrels were fired.  Let loose the dogs now, and let
+everyone shout for the rescue and the victory!  Five wolves were killed
+outright, and one was so badly wounded that the dogs soon ran him down
+and dispatched him.  The other wolves turned and fled.  Mr Ross would
+not, at that hour, allow any pursuit of them.
+
+The morning star was shining ere home was reached, and Alec was the hero
+of the hour.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE INVITATION TO THE INDIAN SCHOOL EXAMINATION AND SPORTS--TRAPPING
+EXPERIENCES--THE CUNNING CROSS-FOX--FRANK SEEKING AID FROM MEMOTAS--
+METHOD OF SUCCESSFUL TRAP-SETTING--JOYOUS TRIP TO THE MISSION--AN
+ABIDING CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION FOR THE INDIANS--SAM'S AND A YOUNG
+INDIAN'S NOVEL HUNTING METHODS--WILD CATS CAPTURED--THE QUEER BATTLE
+BETWEEN A FOX AND A WILD CAT.
+
+When the boys returned home from a splendid outing on their skates they
+were greeted by Mr Hurlburt, the missionary from the Indian Mission,
+who cordially invited them all to the half-yearly examinations at the
+school, which were to be held the Friday before Christmas in the
+forenoon, and then would follow the usual games among the Indian boys in
+the afternoon.
+
+The boys soon found that Mr Ross and the missionary had been long
+discussing the matter, but had as yet come to no decision as to the
+different games, in which the white boys might, if they so desired,
+compete with the Indian lads.
+
+Alec, of course, wanted to enter for the dog race and the skating.
+Frank wanted to try his skill with the snowshoes, but Sam gravely shook
+his head and said he feared he would be lonesome ere the race ended.
+
+"Well, what will you enter for?" said Frank, as he turned to Sam after
+this sally, which had set everybody laughing.
+
+"Indeed I don't know, unless it should be tobogganing," he replied.
+
+This also caused a good deal of amusement, as Sam's efforts in this line
+thus far had not been much of a success.  He had caused a good deal of
+fun, and some excitement, by the extraordinary way in which his toboggan
+had several times shot out of the regular route and gone off on some
+erratic lines, perfectly oblivious to the interests of life and limb.
+He had one strong characteristic: he would hang on no matter which way
+or to what place his toboggan, under his erratic steering, flew with
+him.  Once, in the middle of a hill, it shot off at a tangent and ran
+over an Indian woman.  So unexpected was the attack, so deep was the
+drift into which she was hurled, and so rapidly did the flying toboggan
+get out of sight, that the poor, superstitious old woman ever after
+declared that it could have been no other than the Muche Manetoo, the
+Evil One, that struck her.
+
+As a couple of weeks would elapse ere the day for the examinations and
+sports would arrive, the matter was left in abeyance, as to the sports
+in which the boys should enter.  A cordial acceptance of the invitation
+was of course intimated.
+
+In talking the matter over afterward it was decided that only in one
+race or sport should each of the white boys enter.  The number was
+limited as the Indian boys were numerous, and it might perhaps cause
+jealousies.  So it was finally decided that Alec should try with his
+dogs in the four-dog race, Frank should be a competitor in the skating
+match, and Sam, with Spitfire, should contend in the one-dog race, or
+else enter in the skating backward contest.
+
+From knowing the skill of the Indian boys in everything else, Mr Ross
+felt that in these selected were their only chances of success.  Of
+course, it was felt that Alec should have been in the skating contest,
+but as it was essential that each owner should drive his own dogs, and
+Alec had such confidence in his now splendid team and was so proud of
+them, he decided in favour of his dogs.
+
+Mr Ross's advice to them all was to keep themselves in good trim for
+any sudden emergency that might turn up, especially if it should happen
+that the young gentlemen in the Hudson Bay Company's service should
+decide to compete, or should themselves challenge them.
+
+Full of most exhilarating sport as had been the bright sunny days since
+winter had set in nearly two months before this, the incentive of the
+coming races gave a new zest to their sports and pastimes, and so there
+was snow-shoeing by day as well as rapid dog-travelling under aurora
+lights by night.
+
+Among other things, it was arranged with Memotas that, as his hunting
+grounds began not many miles away from the place where Sagasta-weekee
+was built, the boys should have the privilege of hunting in all that
+section of the country under his guidance when necessary, and as much
+alone as they desired.  Mr Ross secured for them about a dozen steel
+traps apiece, and either he or Memotas instructed the lads in the
+methods of setting them for the different fur-bearing animals, such as
+mink, marten, otter, wild cat, and especially for the different
+varieties of foxes that were so abundant in those regions.  In addition
+to this they were taught how to make the spring snares of fine twine for
+rabbits and partridges.  Thus they learned much of the habits and
+instincts of various animals, and were delighted and profited by these
+lessons learned out in the school of nature, amidst such favourable
+surroundings.
+
+When the boys saw the great number of tracks of the various wild animals
+that so speedily packed down the snow in runs in various directions
+through the forests, they were sanguine that great success would attend
+their hunting efforts.  But as they drove in day after day with nothing
+more valuable than some rabbits or a few ptarmigan, or some other kind
+of partridges, they were half-discouraged, and told Mr Ross they were
+surprised at their poor success.
+
+Frank was especially mortified at his ill success.  He had for days set
+his trap for a beautiful cross-fox that he had once or twice seen.
+Nearly every day he found his traps sprung and the bait gone.  That it
+was the same fox Frank discovered by the fact that he had lost part of
+one of his hind feet.  This Mr Ross said doubtless happened long ago in
+the trap of some hunter.  The fox had not been quick enough to spring
+away, and had thus been caught by part of his foot.  If it were in the
+winter time when he was thus caught he doubtless ate the part of the
+foot that was held in the teeth of the trap without feeling any
+sensation of pain, as the cold would quickly freeze it solid.  If he
+were caught in the summer time he would use the most desperate efforts
+to pull himself loose ere he would use his teeth, and then, of course,
+he would suffer much in the operation.  Hence in the winter time a fox,
+as a general thing, if only caught by one foot, cuts himself off in a
+few hours, but in summer time he has been known to remain in a couple of
+days.  Indians often talk of clever three-legged foxes in the woods.
+
+One pleasant day Frank persuaded Memotas to go out with him and help him
+set his traps for that old fox that had so long tantalised him by his
+tricks and was getting fat on his bait.  This the old man did with
+pleasure, for he had become very much attached to Frank.  When they
+reached the place, to which they had come on Frank's dog-sled, the
+Indian very carefully examined the region around for quite a distance.
+He told Frank where the fox's den was, and said that now that he had
+become so well acquainted with Frank perhaps a stranger might get hold
+of him.  He asked Frank to show him how he had generally set his traps
+that had been so unceremoniously sprung and robbed of the bait.  This
+Frank proceeded to do, and, as he thought, very quickly and cleverly
+sprung back and baited them.  Memotas watched him go through all the
+process, and then rather coolly took him down by saying:
+
+"Good trap, well set, plenty of bait; might perhaps catch a puppy or old
+crow, but never fox."
+
+This seemed rather rough on Frank, and he was glad that Sam was not
+there to improve the occasion with some further caustic remarks.
+
+When the Indian saw that Frank seemed so crestfallen at his comments he
+at once hastened to assure him that they all had to learn much about
+these animals, and now he said:
+
+"You and I will go to work and see if we cannot get that fox in a trap
+again, even if his half foot tells us he has been there before."
+
+The first thing they did was to decide where to set the traps.
+
+"Not much hurry, though, about that," said Memotas.  "We must first have
+a fire to burn all of Frank off the traps."
+
+This was a bit of a puzzle to Frank at first, but when Memotas told
+Frank that every time he handled a trap or a bit of bait he left enough
+of himself on it for the fox to know all that he wanted to about him, it
+was more unintelligible than ever.
+
+At a spot about a couple of hundred yards away from where the traps were
+to be set a fire was built.  When it was brightly burning Memotas cut a
+long pole, and then, springing or setting the trap, had Frank fasten a
+good-sized piece of meat as bait securely on with a fine wire.
+
+"Now," said Memotas, as he carefully lifted up the set trap on the end
+of his pole, "we will burn old Injun and Frank off that trap and bait."
+
+Then he held the trap in the fire until the meat fairly sizzled and the
+steel trap was quite hot.
+
+"Guess all Injun and Frank now have gone up in smoke, so, Mr Fox,
+you'll not find us when you come skulking round this trap, anyway."
+
+The old man chuckled, and Frank now understood what he had meant.
+
+Memotas walked very carefully to within some yards of the spot where he
+had decided to place the trap.
+
+Again addressing Frank, he said:
+
+"We must not even walk there, for if we did we should leave some more of
+ourselves through our moccasins, and Mr Fox would then be too sharp for
+us."
+
+Giving Frank the pole with the trap on it to hold for a few minutes, the
+old man quickly moved back to a spot where some tall, slender live
+balsams were growing.  Cutting one down, he trimmed off all the branches
+except a mere broom-like tuft at the top, taking care all the time not
+to touch any of those remaining with his hands.  Returning with this
+long, broom-like affair, he vigorously used it on a spot some yards
+away.  Then he took the long pole from the hands of Frank, and there in
+that place thus brushed out, he carefully and skillfully laid the trap.
+Then with the long brush he deftly swept back a thin layer of snow over
+the trap and bait.
+
+"Now, Frank," he said, "set the rest of your traps as you have been
+doing these past days, but do not go near that one we have just
+arranged."
+
+This operation was soon performed by Frank in the different places
+suggested by Memotas.  In carefully investigating these spots the fox
+would be apt to get caught in the one that had in it, as the old fellow
+put it, "no Frank or no Injun."
+
+By a roundabout route they started for home.  At nearly every place
+where Frank had set his snares for rabbits or partridges he was
+successful in finding game.  At a couple of places the snares themselves
+were gone and the snow was badly trampled down.  Here Memotas's
+knowledge came into play, and he showed Frank where a wild cat had
+seized a rabbit just as it had sprung into the snare, and then both had
+struggled and the spring pole had been dragged twenty feet or so before
+the strong twine had been broken.  In another place the feathers strewn
+around showed where a fox had been too quick for Frank and had taken the
+partridge which had been caught.
+
+Thus they pushed on, and at length reached home.  A good dinner awaited
+them, and then Frank harnessed up his dogs again, and, hitching them to
+a beautifully painted cariole, took Wenonah and Roddy out for a splendid
+ride.  The day was cold but brilliant.  The little folks were well
+wrapped up in their beautiful furs, and so the drive over to the mission
+and back was much enjoyed.
+
+At the mission house they went in for a short call on the family, where
+they were always welcome.  As they could not remain for dinner a five-
+o'clock tea was quickly prepared and much enjoyed.  When about to begin
+a great jingling of bells was heard outside, and to the delight of all
+in came Mr and Mrs Ross, who had been driven over by Alec and Sam.  It
+seems the boys had both returned from their hunting routes shortly after
+Frank had left with the two children.  After a hasty lunch they had
+coaxed Mr and Mrs Ross to let them drive them over, and so a couple of
+carioles were soon attached to their different trains.  Plenty of robes
+were put in, and now here they all were, and, as always, were most
+cordially welcomed.
+
+They spent a couple of hours with the members of this delightful family,
+who here as missionaries were doing such a blessed work, even if it were
+one of self-denial and at times sufferings.  But Mr and Mrs Hurlburt,
+their two young daughters, and Miss Adams, the lady teacher, were so
+proud of the Indians, and of their genuine kindly ways, that they were
+happy and contented with their lot.
+
+During the brief two hours spent at the home this afternoon, as well as
+on many other occasions, the boys had opportunities to see evidences of
+their kindnesses and tangible love to the sick and hungry ones who
+looked so much to them.  Not only did they find in Mr and Mrs Ross
+real friends to help them, but by their very substantial contributions
+they made the missionary and his family the almoners of many gifts much
+needed by the poor Indians.
+
+Genuine Christians themselves, the owners of Sagasta-weekee did much to
+help in the spiritual uplifting of the people from the degradation and
+superstitions of a cruel paganism into the blessedness and enjoyments of
+a genuine Christianity and an abiding civilisation.
+
+The time quickly sped by.  They had some earnest chat, a few delightful
+hymns and songs of the homeland, and then a brief but earnest prayer for
+Heaven's blessing on loved ones far away, upon themselves in that land
+and their different work, and also upon the Indians.
+
+Then the dogs were roused, the carioles arranged, and the passengers
+were soon all aboard.  The boys took their places firmly standing on the
+tailboards of the sleds that projected in the rear.  Grasping the tail-
+ropes, with which they held themselves on and guided their carioles,
+simultaneously they cried, "Marche!" and with a spring they were all off
+together.
+
+They had three splendid trains and were not badly matched for a short
+spurt.  So amidst shoutings and laughter in the beautiful gloaming of
+that lovely evening they fairly flew over the icy expanse of Playgreen
+Lake.  But blood will tell, and it was soon evident that although Alec
+had Mr Ross as his passenger, and therefore the heaviest load of the
+three, he was surely forging ahead.  With those long, houndlike legs,
+these round-barrelled, small-headed, keen-eyed dogs need not take any
+second place in that crowd, and so it is that, catching the enthusiasm
+of the hour, and springing in unison with each other, they respond to
+Alec's cheery call, and seem to pick themselves up and so fly over the
+rest of the route to Sagasta-weekee that, in placing them, all that
+could be said was, "Alec first, the rest nowhere."
+
+"Well done, Alec," said Mr Ross, as he sprang out of the cariole.  "If
+you equal the speed of the last two or three miles in the race with the
+trains of the village and the fort, I think the blue ribbon of first
+place will be yours.  But where is your cap?"
+
+Happy Alec!  He had been so excited with the splendid speed of his dogs,
+and the perfect unison of their movements, that he did not seem to be
+conscious of the fact that the capote of his overcoat was hanging down
+his back and that his cap had left him a mile or two back on the ice.
+However, his abundant curly locks had been sufficient for him during the
+excitement of that blood-stirring race.  He speedily pulled up the
+capote over his head, and Sam, who had seen his cap fall and had hastily
+snatched it up as his cariole flew by, now came up and restored it to
+him.
+
+Frank, with the children, was the last in.  His heavy dogs, while the
+strongest, were not so adapted for rapid travelling as the others.
+
+"Well, we had the longest ride," said Roddy; "you folks went so fast you
+did not have such a nice long time as we did."
+
+This happy way of looking at it pleased everybody, and all voted Roddy
+to be a philosopher.
+
+The Indian servants had the dog-fish all ready, and so it was not long
+ere the twelve dogs were enjoying their well-earned supper.
+
+When they had all entered the house the boys, as usual, were anxious to
+know of each other's success during the day.  Not only had Frank, as we
+have described, gone out to his traps, but Sam and Alec had also driven
+some miles to the places where they, apart from each other, were also
+trying their skill in trapping various kinds of fur-bearing animals.
+
+Sam had gone out for several days past in company with a son of Memotas.
+He was a bright young fellow, and he and Sam had suddenly become very
+confidential.  It was evident that they had some great scheme on between
+them.  What it was nobody seemed quite able to make out, and so their
+curiosity was much excited, especially when Sam had been seen in close
+converse with the cook, and had then, after a hasty visit to the cellar,
+hurried away with young Memotas.  To make matters worse, Sam had dropped
+a couple of large onions ere he reached his sled.  Then one of the maids
+said she heard him asking the mistress if she had any oil of bergamot,
+and if there was any castoreum left in the house.  They did not get much
+information from him that night, and, strange to say, he was the first
+one after dinner that proposed bed.  Before daylight a trusty servant
+called him, as Sam had desired, and even then, early as it was when he
+came down, young Memotas was there awaiting him.
+
+Mrs Ross insisted that both Sam and young Memotas should have a good,
+warm breakfast ere they started out.  It is very dangerous indeed to
+start off in the morning without a good, warm, generous meal.  While the
+two boys were eating their breakfast a trusty Indian called out Sam's
+dogs, and now there they stood, longing to be off.  They did not return
+until the afternoon, and then they proudly brought in two prime wild
+cats which they had captured.  Sam that evening told how that he and
+young Memotas had found the tracks of them some days before, and that
+they had been busy ever since making a dead fall, and the last day or so
+they had been decoying them to the place by the scent of onions.  This
+would bring them into the vicinity of the trap; but he said that he
+remembered reading somewhere that some animals were attracted by
+bergamot, and so he begged a little from Mrs Ross, and sure enough
+there the two wild cats were securely caught.  The weight of the logs
+had been increased by heavy stones, and so, he added, "The animals were
+quite dead when we reached them.  As there were other tracks around we
+have been busy ever since making traps of the same kind."
+
+Alec had not accomplished much beyond finding the frozen part of the
+hind foot of a marten in one of his steel traps.  He noticed which way
+the animal had gone, and so, taking a couple of dogs out of his sled, he
+put them on the trail, and to his surprise and delight they quickly ran
+it down.  He rescued it from them as speedily as possible.  It was quite
+dead, but its beautiful fur was uninjured.
+
+Frank was eager to be off again with old Memotas to see the result of
+the new method, to him, of trap-setting for a cunning old fox.  But
+Memotas, who was and experienced himself, said:
+
+"Wait one day more yet.  That old fox not going to walk into that trap
+the first day, nor perhaps the second day.  You have been well feeding
+him on plenty of bait, and he not a bit hungry.  But when he get hungry
+perhaps he go prowling round to see if his friend hasn't come with any
+more bait for him.  For foxes get to know traps that seem just set for
+them to live from."
+
+This was all rather hard on Frank, but he had come to see that it was
+all true, and so he patiently waited until the old man came in and said
+he thought perhaps they might go and see if that fox was still playing
+any of his tricks.  The train was soon harnessed, and away they flew
+over the icy lake, and then into the forest trail.  On and on they went,
+until they came near the spot where the traps had all been set.  Every
+one that Frank had set was sprung and empty, and the one that Memotas
+had set with such care was missing!  Nowhere could Frank see it or any
+trace of it.  Memotas quickly stepped out a hundred feet or so, and then
+began walking in a circle around the spot.  He had not more than half
+completed the circle before he quickly called to Frank, who at once
+hurried to his side.  Pointing to a peculiar spot in the snow that had
+been much disturbed, Memotas said:
+
+"I think fox caught with both fore legs in the trap.  He is now walking
+away on his hind legs and holding up the trap in his mouth.  See, there
+he walk on two legs!  See, there he rest!"  And the old man began to
+hurry on, closely followed by Frank, to whom he explained every movement
+the fox had made.
+
+"Must be a fine big fox to get away so far with the trap on both fore
+feet," said Memotas.  "But listen!"
+
+A strange snarling-like sound fell on their ears, and with it something
+like the fierce yelping of a fiery young dog.  Memotas had quickly
+dropped flat on the ground in the snow, and Frank crouched beside him.
+The old man whispered to Frank to give him his long hunting knife.
+
+"Some other animal, wild cat perhaps, meet fox, and they fighting.  Keep
+still, I must go back to the sled for the gun."
+
+Without making the slightest noise the old man glided back, and was soon
+lost to sight.
+
+Fortunately, there was a dense clump of evergreen balsam or spruce trees
+between the contending animals and Frank.  Then they were so absorbed in
+their own quarrel that they were not very alert in watching for others.
+However, Frank knew enough to keep perfectly still, although he
+confessed he clutched the knife several times more firmly as the blood-
+curdling snarls of the wild cat pierced the air so near.  Soon Memotas
+was back again, and then the question was to get a successful shot at
+the wild cat, as it was evident the fox was sure enough.  At first
+Memotas crawled forward closer to the trees, the branches of which,
+laden down with snow, reached to the ground all around.  Carefully
+peering through the dense branches, he gazed intently for a time, and
+then he silently beckoned Frank to come.  Noiselessly he crawled up
+beside Memotas, and after his eyes had become accustomed to the work he
+was able to see the two animals not more than two hundred feet away.
+The two fore legs of the fox were securely fastened in the steel trap,
+which seemed to have closed on him about four inches up from his feet.
+The wild cat was a fierce old male, and was doing his best to get a good
+grip on the fox.  This the fox was resolved not to let him have, and so
+he kept his face toward his foe, and whenever the latter would spring at
+him the fox would suddenly raise himself, and, throwing up the trap so
+securely fastened on his fore legs, would bang it down with a whack on
+the head of the wild cat.  With a snarl the cat would suddenly back off
+and arch up his back and snarl worse than ever.  It was the queerest
+battle that Memotas had ever witnessed, and every time the trap rattled
+on the head or body of the wild cat the old man fairly quivered with
+excitement and delight.  To Frank the sight was also the oddest and
+queerest he had ever even heard of.  At one skillful parry the fox,
+although so terribly handicapped, was able to give the cat a whack that
+sent him fairly sprawling in the snow.  At the sight of this Frank had
+to crowd his fur mitten into his mouth to prevent him from fairly
+shouting out:
+
+"Well done, old fox!"
+
+Why they remained so in this one open place, Frank now saw, was because
+the fox was fearful that if he got in among the fallen logs or the rocks
+the wild cat would have the advantage, and thus succeed in springing
+upon his back, while he, so hampered, could make but little resistance.
+All at once Frank saw the animals cease both the attack and their
+noises.  Memotas, quick and alert, suddenly brought his gun into
+position, and the next instant, as Frank heard the jingling of distant
+bells, there also rang out the report of the gun, and the wild cat
+tumbled over dead.
+
+Springing up, Memotas called Frank to follow, and together they quickly
+hurried after the fox, that was now again desperately striving to get
+away.
+
+Memotas did not wish to injure the valuable skin by piercing it with a
+ball, and so, picking up a heavy clublike branch of a tree, he quickly
+killed the fox without breaking the skin.
+
+A few minutes after Alec drove up along the trail.  He had visited his
+traps and snares, and had decided to take this trail on his way home.
+His bells were the ones heard by the two fighters.  Well was it that
+Memotas's quick ears also heard them, and that he was able to fire
+before the wild cat had fled into the forest.
+
+They were soon all on their way home again.  The fox was a great beauty,
+and although it was a cross, yet it was so nearly black that a large sum
+was given for it.
+
+For many a day after Frank talked and laughed about that oddest of all
+fights, the one between the trapped fox and the fierce old wild cat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE WINTER BIRDS OF THE GREAT LONE LAND--THE WHISKY JACK--THE
+PTARMIGAN--THEIR BEDS IN THE SNOW--MISSION VISITS--CUPID'S DARTS--THE
+WOOD SUPPLY--PRIMITIVE WAY OF CAPTURING PARTRIDGES--GREAT SNOWY OWLS--
+METHODS OF CAPTURE--SAM'S EXPERIENCE--THE FEARFUL GRIP OF THE OWL'S
+CLAW.
+
+"Where are your singing birds?" said Sam one morning as he came in from
+having taken Wenonah and Roderick out for a drive with the dogs.  "We
+have travelled over a dozen miles and have not heard a single bird
+song."
+
+"Only a whisky jack," said Roderick.
+
+This reply of Roderick's made everybody laugh; for the shrill, harsh cry
+of the Indians' sacred bird, called by the very unpoetical name of
+whisky jack, is not very musical, but just the reverse.
+
+"Our singing birds are all in the sunny South Land during these cold
+months," said Mr Ross.  "We have multitudes of them during our brief
+summer time.  Then, at the first breath of the Frost King, they flit
+away and leave us so still and quiet."
+
+"What about this saucy bird, here called whisky jack, that we meet with
+on all of our wintry journeys?" asked Alec.
+
+"Well," replied Mrs Ross, "you see, in the first place, that he is not
+very handsome.  His bluish-grey plumage is not very attractive, but he
+has an inner coating of black down, and if you could strip him of both
+of these jackets you would find him to be a very small bird after all.
+The Indians used to call him their sacred bird.  They never kill one, no
+matter how hungry they may be.  They have some beautiful traditions
+associated with him.  His voice, so harsh and loud, is, according to
+some legends, the cry of a fair maiden who, fleeing from a hateful
+suitor, was lost in a blizzard.  In vain she called for her own
+sweetheart, until her once musical voice became so harsh and rough that
+it lost its beauty.  To prevent her from falling into the hands of her
+hated suitor, just as he was about [to seize] her the magicians changed
+her, in answer to her prayer, into a bird, and this is the whisky jack."
+
+"Our next most interesting winter bird," said Mr Ross, "is the
+ptarmigan, or white partridge.  The colder the winter the more numerous
+they seem to be.  They are easily snared, like the rabbits, as they have
+certain favourite runs, and do not seem to observe the twine or wire
+loops into which they so foolishly run their heads."
+
+"Where do they sleep at nights?" asked little Roderick.
+
+"Faith, and I know," said Sam; "for was I not fairly frightened out of
+my wits by a lot of them one night when travelling late to the camp to
+drive over a snowdrift into which they were burying themselves?  I saw
+them fly up high in the air, and then, like a stone, they just shot
+themselves down and buried themselves out of sight of myself and those
+who were with me."
+
+"Yes," said Alec, "and I well remember how they startled me several
+times as they were getting up out of these queer beds in the deep snow
+away out from the dense woods.  It always occurred very early in the
+morning, shortly after we had left our camps in the woods, where we had
+spent the night.  I could hardly get used to the start they gave me, as
+sometimes they flew right up from under the feet of my dogs.  They
+seemed like wee ghosts, they were so very white, and my dogs as well as
+myself were disturbed by their uncanny ways."
+
+"Do they go back to the same snowdrifts night after night?" asked Frank.
+
+"No," said Mr Ross; "they are birds that move around a good deal, and
+as far as the Indians' observations go the same flock or covey never
+sleep twice in the same place.  If they did the foxes and other animals
+that are very fond of feeding on them would soon discover their
+retreats, and would make short work of them."
+
+Thus the days and weeks passed by.  Sometimes all the boys, with Mr
+Ross and a number of Indians, would be away on some great excursion
+after the bears or beavers.  At other times shorter trips would be
+arranged, when but one or two of the boys would go.
+
+Then there were the home sports and frequent visits to the traps and
+snares.  The dogs were kept busy, and the skates and snowshoes were not
+forgotten.
+
+The visits between Sagasta-weekee and the mission were very frequent,
+and it began to appear as if Cupid had donned a fur ermine coat, or a
+feather mantle, and had made a flying visit and fired a couple of his
+darts into the hearts of Frank and Alec, and on these darts were the
+names of the two lovely daughters of the missionary.  Whether this be
+true or not, or only a rumour brought by a relay of gulls, we cannot
+say, but Mrs Ross affirmed that never since their arrival at Sagasta-
+weekee were these two young gentlemen so particular about their personal
+appearance, or so anxious to find some good and valid reason why they
+should be sent over to the home of the missionary.  It was also
+remarked, by those who saw their two beautifully painted carioles made
+ready for the trip, that an extra soft fur robe or two were placed
+therein.  Their skates were sometimes also carried along with them.  It
+was also further remarked that they generally preferred starting early
+in the day, and it was an actual fact that, although the whole round
+trip need not have taken more than three or four hours, they generally
+did not return until long after dark.  Rumours also reached Sagasta-
+weekee that on several occasions two beautiful carioles, with lovely
+white young ladies cozily wrapped up in costly furs, and driven by
+handsome young gentlemen, had been met with, fairly flying over the
+great icy routes, while the air was full of happy laughter that sounded
+very much in unison with the music of the little silver bells that hung
+on the collars of the splendid dogs.  And furthermore, it was well known
+that among the skating parties Frank and Alec were generally found
+skating with these same two young ladies.  Their explanations were that
+their skates seemed to glide more in unison with each other, and in fact
+that there was a sort of affinity between them.  Then their joy was
+complete when Mrs Ross invited the whole family from the mission to
+come early and spend the day with them at Sagasta-weekee.  It was
+remarked that these two young gentlemen generally had word that the
+devoted missionary had been using his dogs very much lately on his long
+trips among the distant bands of Indians, and it would be a capital idea
+for some of them to drive over with their fresh trains and bring back
+some of the family.  This happy suggestion was of course carried out,
+but it was observed that the carioles of the aforesaid young gentlemen,
+when they returned, only had in each of them a sweet-faced, beautiful
+young lady, and they said that the trip had been "perfectly lovely!"
+
+What happy days those were!  To Frank and Alec had come their first
+young love-dreams, and they were pure and sweet and stimulating.  Cynics
+and crusty, disappointed old bachelors might make fun of these youthful
+lovers and make some sarcastic remarks; still, after all, where is the
+noble, healthy, splendid young man of fifteen or sixteen that has not
+safely passed through these same ordeals, and, as a general thing,
+survived?  So let Frank and Alec have these daydreams and thus enjoy
+themselves.  They will be none the worse, but rather the better, when
+the ordeal is over, as it is with those who safely get through with a
+lingering attack of the measles or scarlet fever.
+
+One day Mr Ross sent old Mustagan out into the woods to select a place
+where the next year's supply of wood could be obtained.  His
+instructions were to find a dense forest of tall, symmetrical trees from
+which a trail or road could be easily made to Sagasta-weekee.  Then
+choppers would be sent in, and some acres of this forest would be cut
+down and there left to dry for twelve months.  The result would be that
+at the end of the year's time the trees would be in splendid condition
+for firewood.  The next operation was to have these trees all cut up in
+lengths that could be easily handed, and then dragged home by the dogs
+on their long sleds when there was abundance of snow on the ground.
+
+Sam asked for the privilege of accompanying Mustagan.  As the walk was
+only a few miles, the old Indian was pleased to have the bright young
+paleface go with him.  As they were to go through the forest, where
+there was not as yet the first vestige of a trail, they at once strapped
+on their snowshoes.  Mustagan's only weapon was his axe, while Sam
+carried a small rifle.  Very much sooner than they had anticipated they
+found a suitable grove, the limits of which Mustagan at once proceeded
+to mark off with his axe.  These few marks thus made on some of the
+trees were all that was necessary to secure the property.
+
+They had seen but little game, and so all that Sam had fired at had been
+a passing rabbit or ptarmigan.  While on the home trip a beautiful covey
+of partridges came flying by them and lit in a large balsam tree but a
+few hundred feet in front of them.
+
+"I wish I had brought a shotgun instead of this rifle," said Sam.  "I
+think we might have had more than one of those partridges."
+
+"Suppose we try and get them all without any gun," said Mustagan, in a
+tone that seemed to indicate perfect confidence in the experiment.
+
+"If we get two of them before they fly I will be delighted," said Sam,
+as he raised his gun and tried to get a shot at two in a line.  However,
+before he could fire Mustagan quickly stopped him and said:
+
+"No, no, not that way.  I will show you how.  Step back and keep still,
+and see how our fathers used to get them before the white man's gun came
+into the country."
+
+Sam naturally thought of the bow and arrows, but as Mustagan had
+[brought] none along he wondered if the old man was going to quickly try
+and make some.  In the meantime Mustagan had quietly slipped back into a
+grove of tall, slender young trees that grew up like great fish poles.
+Here he quickly cut down one that could be easily handed by a strong
+man.  This he rapidly trimmed of all its branches, and then quietly
+returned with it to the spot where Sam was watching the birds.  Stooping
+down to one of his moccasined feet, Mustagan untied the deerskin string
+with which the moccasin had been securely fastened around his ankle to
+keep out the snow.  Cutting off a piece about two feet long, he again
+fastened up his shoe, and then, with the string thus secured, began to
+make a snare out of it.  He first tied one end of the string securely to
+the smaller end of the long pole; then in the other end of the string he
+made a running slip noose, which he arranged so that it would be about
+four inches in diameter.  Then began the strangest part of his
+proceedings, and one only possible in a land of such intense cold.
+Taking his hand out of his mitten, Mustagan wet his fingers with his
+saliva and then immediately rubbed it on the deerskin string.  As fast
+as it was thus wet it froze as stiff as wire, and stood straight out
+from the stick.  Rapidly did the Indian thus wet the whole string, the
+loop of the slip noose included, until the whole stood out as though
+made of steel wire.  Then, cautioning Sam not to move, Mustagan,
+carrying his long pole with this uniquely formed noose on its end, moved
+cautiously and quickly under the tree in which the partridges were still
+sitting.  Carefully he began raising up the pole until it was higher
+than the head of the partridge nearest the ground.  Then he deftly
+brought it so that the noose was directly over the head of the bird.
+With a quick jerk he pulled the pole down with the head of the bird in
+the noose of the string, which, of course, tightened with the sudden
+jerk.  Mustagan quickly killed the bird by crushing in the skull.  Then,
+loosing it from the string, he rapidly went through the whole process
+again of moistening the string with his saliva and arranging the noose
+as before.  In this way he succeeded in securing the whole covey of
+those partridges.  From his favourable position Sam watched the whole
+operation, and was much delighted with the success of the old Indian,
+who had in this way, without the loss of one charge of powder, or even
+an arrow, secured ten or a dozen fine, plump partridges.  On their way
+home, in answer to Sam's many questions as to his reasons for adopting
+this method of capturing the partridges, the Indian stated that the
+secret of his success in getting them all was the fact that he began by
+catching in his noose the bird lowest down.  "When you do that," he
+added, "the birds above think that as those below them go down they are
+just flying to the ground to see what they can find to eat.  Never take
+a bird that is higher up in the tree than any other.  If you do you get
+no more.  The rest will at once fly away."
+
+Another bird that remains all winter in those cold North Lands is the
+great snow-white owl.  His wonderful covering of feathers, even down to
+the toes, enables him to defy the severest frost.  He generally sleeps
+by day in some dense balsam tree, and then is ready, when the sun goes
+down, for his nightly raids upon the rabbits and partridges.  He is also
+fond of mice, and as there are some varieties of these active little
+creatures that run around a good deal even in the winter, and at night,
+the owls are ever on the lookout for them, as well as are the foxes.
+Sometimes these great white owls in their night huntings fly far away
+from their usual resting places.  Then they are in great trouble,
+especially if there are no trees with dense branches among which they
+can hide.  If the bright sun happens to peep up over the horizon ere
+they are safely stowed away in some shadowy place, they are at the mercy
+of any foe.  Sometimes they alight on the icy or snowy surface of the
+lake.  They are then easily captured.
+
+When a clever Indian dog-driver sees one thus standing out on the ice he
+quickly stops his dog-train, and, running toward the bewildered owl,
+gets on the side on which the sun is shining.  Then he makes sufficient
+noise to keep the owl excited and looking toward him.  In doing this the
+owl has to let the bright, brilliant rays of the sun shine right into
+his great, staring eyes.  The man, with nothing but his long whip in his
+hand, keeps approaching, taking care, however, that his shadow does not
+fall on the bird.  If he did, that instant the owl would be off.  So the
+man keeps enough to one side to have the owl always in the brilliant
+light.  The result is he does not see the approaching man.  When near
+enough the man uses his whip in such a way that the long lash winds
+itself suddenly around the neck of the owl, and he is thus captured.
+
+When better food is scarce these large owls are eaten by the Indians.
+Some are so fond of them that they are ever on the lookout to capture
+them.  They have several methods by which they catch them.  One is to
+fasten an upright pole securely in the ice.  On the top of this is
+nailed a little board, and on this is set a steel trap or snare.  The
+owls get tired with their constant flying about, and, seeing this handy
+resting place, are then quickly caught as they alight upon it.  Another
+method was explained to Sam by an old Indian hunter, and with some help
+in securing the material they had a great deal of fun in trying it.  The
+first thing they did was to make a great black rag mouse about as big as
+a beaver.  To this was added a tail about five feet long.  Then to the
+nose of this great bogus mouse was attached one end of a large ball of
+twine.  This was the whole outfit, except, of course, the guns.  One
+evening an Indian arrived with the news that at a certain place the
+great white owls had been seen in numbers, and perhaps it would be a
+good place to go and see what could be done in capturing some.  As it
+was a very pleasant evening and the place mentioned was not very far
+away, Sam had little Roderick packed with him in his cariole, and with
+the mouse, ball of twine, and gun, and attended by one of the Indian
+servants, they drove over to the spot.  The big mouse was placed on the
+snow as far out from the shore as the string would allow.  The dogs with
+the cariole were driven into the shadow of a large spruce tree that grew
+on the very edge of the lake.  Here the Indian, with Sam and Roderick,
+although completely hidden in the shade, could see distinctly everything
+outside, for the moon was now up and shining with wondrous beauty.  For
+a time they remained there under the tree in complete silence.  Then the
+clear vision of the Indian enabled him to be the first to detect the
+presence of an owl.
+
+"Hist!" he quietly uttered, and then as he pointed out the object they
+were able to see a great owl sailing round and round up in the air,
+perhaps fifty feet directly over the big black bogus mouse.  Suddenly he
+made a swift dive down for it.  But at that instant the Indian, who had
+hold of the end of the cord, gave it a sudden jerk and pulled the mouse
+in a dozen feet or so nearer to them.  This apparent big jump of the
+mouse seemed to disconcert the owl, and so he quickly flew away.  But it
+was only for a moment, and then back he came.  Round and round in
+circles he flew, getting nearer and nearer all the time, when once more
+he dashed down on the big mouse.  But another sudden jerk had pulled the
+mouse out of his reach, and so the owl failed once more.
+
+"Get your gun ready," said the Indian to Sam; "he will be mad now, and
+so we will soon have him near."
+
+It was just as the Indian had predicted.  The owl seemed angry at having
+been fooled the second time, and so when he rose up again and saw that
+great big mouse, which would, to judge by its size, make him such a
+famous supper, he dashed at it again most savagely.  But once more it
+jumped away from him, as now the Indian kept pulling it in like a mouse
+running away.  Seeing this the owl lost all caution, and was soon within
+range of Sam's gun, which speedily rang out its sharp report, and the
+great ghostly bird fell suddenly on the ice not more than forty or fifty
+feet away.
+
+"Look out for his claws," said the Indian to Sam, who had at once rushed
+out to secure his game.  But the warning came too late.  Sam, seeing
+only the beautiful mass of white feathers and the great staring eyes,
+had reached out his naked hand, from which had dropped his mitten, to
+seize hold of the owl.  But the savage bird lying there on its back was
+only wounded, and so when Sam's hand was reached out to seize it the
+very opposite happened, for the owl, with one of its terrible talons,
+closed on Sam's hand with such a grip that the poor boy fairly howled
+from the pain.  The sharp claws had pierced him to the very bone, with a
+grip he could not break.  The Indian, however, quickly came to his
+rescue, and pulling out his keen hunting knife he skillfully encircled
+the owl's leg with its sharp edge.  This severed every sinew and tendon,
+and caused the claws to be so powerless that they could be easily pulled
+out of Sam's mangled hand.
+
+The owl was speedily killed, the wounded hand carefully wrapped up, and
+the return to Sagasta-weekee was made as quickly as possible.  For weeks
+Sam suffered from his wounds ere they healed, and always after, although
+he shot a number of owls in this and other ways, he took good care never
+to let a naked hand come in contact with an owl's claws.
+
+Poor little Roderick, who had gone out that evening in great expectancy
+of a good time, had had his sympathies so aroused by Sam's howlings that
+he began crying in sympathy, and kept it up until home was reached.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+WOUNDS FROM CLAWS VERSUS TEETH DISCUSSED--MR. ROSS'S STORY OF THE BATTLE
+WITH THE EAGLES--THEIR MOUNTAIN AERIE--THEIR HUNTING SKILL--THEIR
+VORACITY--THE EAGLETS--THE CONFLICT--THE RESULT--THE PAINFUL WOUNDS.
+
+The next day, as Sam was having his hand dressed, quite a discussion
+arose in reference to which wounds were the more painful, those received
+from the teeth of wild animals or those from the claws.  Sam's present
+opinion, very decidedly expressed, was that those from the claws were
+the worse.  This was the general testimony also of the Indians when
+questioned on the subject, one of their reasons being that the teeth
+were smoother and did not make such a torn, jagged wound as did the
+claws.  Another was that the claws were very much dirtier than the
+teeth, and hence the wounds of the claws were much slower in healing
+than were those from the teeth.
+
+"But what about hydrophobia from the bites of the dogs and wild
+animals?" said Frank.
+
+To this Mr Ross's reply was that that dreadful disease was about
+unknown among them, although there were said to have been some cases
+occurring from the bites of the fox.
+
+"Did not a Governor-General of Canada die from the wounds received from
+the bites of a fox?" said Alec.
+
+"Yes," replied Mr Ross.  "It was a tame fox, but it was supposed that
+it had gone mad."
+
+"Perhaps it had been bitten by a mad dog, and then became mad itself,"
+said Sam.
+
+"That is in all probability the correct solution of the difficult
+problem, which for a long time troubled many medical men and others,"
+said Mr Ross.
+
+"Are there any other birds in this country with claws or talons equal to
+those of this great owl?" asked Sam.
+
+"O yes," replied Mr Ross, "those of the great eagle, which is the first
+of all the migratory birds to reach us, are more terrible.  It is
+generally seen during the March moon, and so the Cree Indians call that
+moon, or month, Mikisewpesim, the eagle moon.  The Indians prize the
+feathers of the golden eagle very highly.  The magnificent war bonnets
+of the great chiefs are made of them, and every warrior of any note is
+very ambitious to have his eagle plumes.  They are hunted only for their
+feathers, beaks, and claws.  Their flesh is worthless.  They are very
+wary birds, and it is indeed a skillful hunter who can get within range
+of one of them by ordinary stalking.  They build their nests, or aeries,
+as they are called, away up on the most inaccessible cliffs, where it is
+dangerous for even the most experienced mountain climbers to follow.
+When not engaged in nesting they spend a great deal of time in circling
+around in the bright blue sky, at heights so great that the eye can
+scarce discern them, and where the arrow or bullet of the best-armed
+Indian fails to reach them.  Indian cunning, however, sometimes enables
+them to capture the eagles in traps, and then their beautiful pinions,
+that had enabled them to soar away into the blue heavens above, become,
+next to the scalps of their enemies and the necklaces of the grizzly
+bears' claws, the proudest ornaments with which they can decorate
+themselves."
+
+"Did you ever have one attack you?" said Sam.
+
+"Or did you ever try to get hold of a wounded one's talons with your
+naked hand?" said Alec.
+
+This latter question caused some laughter at Sam's expense, as at him it
+was evidently aimed, in view of his recent mishap with the owl.  Mr
+Ross's answer was grateful to Sam, as it stopped the laughter and showed
+that others might make the same mistake or meet with similar adventures.
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Mr Ross, "for I can answer both questions that way.
+It was long ago when my father had charge of a Hudson Bay trading post
+away west of this, where the Rocky Mountain ranges were not very far
+distant from us.  I was fond of sport, and went with the Indians on all
+sorts of hunting adventures.  Sometimes we would be gone for days
+together, and have all kinds of strange experiences.  We hunted every
+kind of wild animal that roamed in the prairies, in the foothills, or in
+the mountains themselves.  Very glorious was the scenery among these
+magnificent mountains.  Once when out with some Assiniboines, or
+Mountain Stonies, as they are generally called by the whites, we saw a
+large eagle attack a mountain sheep with such fury that the sheep lost
+its footing and went whirling down the mountain side to certain
+destruction.  The eagle, instead of swooping down on the quivering
+carcass, as we had expected it to do, dashed at what we now observed for
+the first time--a little timid lamb that its mother had vainly tried to
+defend.  The fierce eagle, with an exultant scream, fastened its strong
+talons into the back of the frightened little creature, and then,
+flapping its great wings, began slowly rising from the rock.  We watched
+it as it slowly flew away until it landed on a ledge of rocks away up on
+a mountain side near the top.  As soon as it landed we observed that
+there was its aerie, for from a clump of sticks some little heads were
+outstretched for food.  The eyes of my Indian attendants gleamed with
+satisfaction, and they said:--
+
+"`We will soon have your feathers, old Mr Eagle, and that will stop
+your destroying our mountain game.'
+
+"While the side of the mountain on which the eagles had built their nest
+was quite precipitous, the back part was easily scaled, so that hunters
+with level heads could climb, by being careful, up so high that they
+could really look down into the eagle's nest.  The nearest point from
+the nest that we could reach was perhaps fifty feet away.  We did not,
+however, at once go that near.  We did, however, crawl near enough to
+see the fierce, savage way in which the old bird tore that young
+mountain lamb to pieces and fed the voracious young eaglets, that
+struggled and fought with each other in their mad greed.  While they
+were thus being fed by the old male bird we saw the mother arrive with a
+rabbit in her talons.  When she saw the feast that had been provided for
+the young brood she laid the rabbit on one side, and patiently waited
+until her mate had satisfied the voracious appetites of the brood.  Then
+she and the other eagle tore to pieces the rabbit, and devoured it, with
+what was left of the mountain lamb.
+
+"`Big dinner all around, everybody full,' said my Assiniboines; `big
+sleep next, then old ones go away for a big fly, and then we set our
+traps for them; but while they sleep we eat and sleep too.'
+
+"We drew back very cautiously into a ravine about a quarter of a mile
+down the mountain side, to a place where we had noticed some dry wood,
+for we were not quite above the timber limit.  Here we made a fire and
+had something to eat.  It was difficult to make the tea, as the water,
+although boiling, had so little heat in it at that height on the
+mountain.  We unstrapped our blankets and lay down near the fire and
+went to sleep, for we were very weary, having been up some nights before
+on the lookout for a mountain lion that had been lurking about.  I woke
+up after a couple of hours' sleep and found that both of the eagles had
+been seen by the watchful Indians to fly away from the nest.  As the
+length of their absence was very uncertain, the Indians quickly set to
+work to make the snares, in which they expected to entrap them.  Steel
+traps were unknown in those days, and so the Indians had to make theirs
+out of their strong buffalo sinews and deerskin twine.
+
+"When we went back to the place where we could overlook the nest it was
+evident that there would be some difficulty in getting down onto the
+ledge where the young eaglets lay quietly sleeping.  After various
+trials it was decided that the only way was for one of our party to be
+lowered over and let down by the rest.  As I was much the lightest one,
+and as the supply of material that we had with us out of which to
+improvise a rope was very limited, I was the one selected to go down and
+put the snares in position.  It was decided that we would not disturb
+the eaglets to-day, but would leave them alone for the present, for fear
+the old eagles would become alarmed and suspicious, and we would fail in
+capturing them.  The rope, such as it was, held me all right, and landed
+near the nest.  The young birds were so gorged with the flesh of the
+mountain lamb that they were very stupid, and hardly stirred.  I set to
+work as speedily as possible to arrange the snares, so that the eagles
+would step into them.  As they were all constructed on the running noose
+principle we knew that they would quickly tighten around the feet if
+once they were stepped into.  My principal difficulty was in finding
+places where I could tie the other ends of the snares.  Eagles are very
+powerful, and can drag by the foot great weights.  So I knew that all
+our work would be lost if I did not succeed in tying them so that their
+most desperate struggles to get loose would be in vain.  However, I
+succeeded at length, and then I was hoisted up and we all returned back
+a mile or so and there camped for the night.
+
+"The next morning, before we reached the spot, we heard enough to
+convince us of the success of our scheme.  Eagles can make a big noise
+if they try, and two captured eagles, and some frightened young ones,
+were noisy enough as we drew near and investigated.  Both eagles were
+firmly caught in these snares of rolled and twisted sinews, which,
+although not much thicker than common wire, were sufficiently strong to
+hold them.  The Indians wished to shoot them at once, but I had long had
+an ambition to own a live, full-grown eagle, and therefore I would not
+let them fire.  The rope of yesterday was soon brought into use again,
+and was lowered down once more to the rocky ledge, armed only with a
+stout club about four feet long.  The noise was simply deafening that
+was made by these angry birds.  The instant I landed they flew at me
+most viciously.  Well was it that the strong sinews held them firmly.
+As it was I had a rough time of it.  I would watch my opportunity and
+try to strike one of them a heavy blow on the head with my club.  To my
+surprise I received in return a heavy whack from a powerful wing.  Their
+wings were free, and the length of the string enabled them to attack me
+from all quarters.  Seeing my difficulties, I called to my Indians to
+shoot the female bird, and thus leave me but one to tackle.  This they
+did by shooting her through the head.  This left me but the old male
+bird.  I think I could have easily knocked him over the head, but my
+ambition was to capture him and to take him home as a trophy.  I
+unfastened the noose of the dead eagle, and, tying it to the rope, had
+the Indians hoist it up to the top.  Then I made the attempt to tie
+together the legs of the young eaglets to have them also drawn up to the
+summit.  What fighters they were!  The way they struck at me with their
+little beaks, and in every way possible resented my interference with
+their liberty, was wonderful.  My hands were sore and bleeding ere I
+succeeded in sending up the last of the four to my comrades.  I had them
+throw down the snares, and with them I made a kind of a lasso which I
+tried to throw over the head of the vicious bird.  As I threw it he
+coolly reached up and cleverly caught it in his beak, and snapped it in
+two as quickly as could a pair of scissors.  I tried it again, and once
+more he was too much for me.  Why he had not cut himself loose when in
+the snare was a mystery to me when I here saw how clever he was in
+cutting my lasso.  It was looking rather discouraging, and began to fear
+that he would have to be shot.
+
+"My comrades had been amused spectators of my adventures, and now,
+seeing me uncertain as to what would be my best move, gave me some
+advice.  It was this: `Untie the other end of the long noose that holds
+him to the rock where you fastened it, and tie it to the rope, and we
+will pull him up and see what we can do with him here.'  This plan
+struck me as a capital one, and so I immediately proceeded to carry it
+out.  But I had decided on this plan without taking the eagle into my
+confidence, and so when I began handing the string he flew at me, and
+with beak and wings assailed me.  I had foolishly dropped my heavy club,
+and so at first was about powerless.  Fortunately, I had my hunting
+knife at my side, and, quickly drawing it, I fought for my life.  The
+eagle cleverly warded off my lunges at him by striking me with his
+wings.  Sometimes so heavily did his blows rain on me that it was a
+wonder I was not stunned.  Apparently gaining courage by his success, he
+seemed to redouble his attacks, and for a time kept me wholly on the
+defensive.  Making a sudden dash at him with the hope of plunging my
+knife into him, he so cleverly, with one of his wings, knocked aside my
+knife that in my stumble I found I had awkwardly cut the noose that
+bound him.  As I knew that his talons were now free I presumed he would
+at once avail himself of his liberty and fly away.  But he had now no
+such idea.  His blood was up, and so with a scream of defiance, or
+triumph, he flew right at my face, with his great ugly talons extended,
+as though he would grip me up as he had done the lamb.  When attacked we
+naturally will do anything to save the face, and so the instant he
+dashed at me I threw up my left hand to grasp hold of him somewhere.
+This fortunately arrested his dash at my face, and in the next instant I
+had plunged my knife under his outstretched wings into his very vitals,
+and he was a dead eagle.  So terrible, however, was that death grip on
+my hand and wrist that it was not until I was hauled up with him to the
+top that the Indians were able to set me free, and then it was only done
+by cutting the sinews or muscles of each great claw and taking them out
+of my flesh."
+
+"Well," said Sam, "that is a splendid story; but you must have suffered
+much more than I did, and so as regards my little experience with the
+owl, well, I think I'll _ould_ my tongue."
+
+And so he did.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+SUNDAYS IN THE GREAT LONE LAND--SERVICES AT THE MISSION--BY SKIFF OR
+CANOE IN SUMMER--BY DOG-TRAIN IN WINTER--NAPOLEON, THE TAME BEAR, AND
+HIS LOAD--SERVICES AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE--MISSIONARY JOURNEYS--NATIVE
+MINISTERS--THE QUEER SERMON--HAPPY CHRISTMAS TIMES--NEW YEAR'S, THE
+GREAT DAY--OO-CHE-ME-KE-SE-GOU--THE KISSING DAY--VARIED EXPERIENCES--THE
+GREAT FEAST--HAPPY INDIANS--THANKSGIVING.
+
+Sundays in the North Land!  Yes, there are such days, and they come once
+in seven in the wild North Land as elsewhere, and right welcome they
+are; for they are days of gladness, not sadness--days in which loving
+homage is paid to the loving Father who is also the God of nature; and
+as nature rejoices in his bounteous care and infinite wisdom, why should
+not those in his kingdom of grace also be happy in the sunshine of his
+love?
+
+"Serve the Lord with gladness," was the motto of Mr Ross's religious
+life, and everyone under his influence or care felt that he was a
+genuine man and a safe leader to follow.  His religious life, while
+decided and settled, was unobtrusive and kindly.  It embraced the two
+commands, love to God and love to his fellow-man.
+
+The mission some years before established among the Indians had been
+very successful, and a capacious church was there built.  Every Sunday a
+large portion of the family went from Sagasta-weekee at least once a
+day, and there worshipped.  The morning service was conducted in the
+English language.
+
+This was done for two reasons: one was for the instruction and profit of
+all who spoke that tongue; the other was that the Indians who were
+learning the language might become the more speedily familiarised with
+it.  The afternoon and evening services were conducted in the Indian
+language.  However, if a number understanding the English language only
+happened to be present, both languages were used with the help of an
+interpreter.  The church was on the shore of a pretty lake, and it was a
+very pleasant sight to see the gathering of the congregation.  It was
+one quite different from what is generally seen as crowds usually gather
+for worship at the sound of the church bell.  Here were no long streets,
+or even common roads or sidewalks.  The homes of these Indians, both
+houses and wigwams, had been built around the lake shore on the various
+picturesque points, not far from the water's edge.  Every family wanted
+easy access to the lake for water, and none of them wished to be far
+away from the landing places where they kept their canoes.  The result
+was that it looked on Sundays, when they came to the church in groups,
+as if there were a pathway from every dwelling place.  Then, as large
+numbers of the Indians lived out on points and islands, away from the
+one on which the mission premises stood, the people, in the pleasant
+summer time, came from their various homes in their canoes to the house
+of God.  Very picturesque indeed was the sight, as for an hour or so
+before the time of service the lake seemed dotted with the well-filled
+canoes of the well-dressed crowds of Indian men, women, and children.
+In winter the scene was completely changed.  The frost had hid the
+sunlit, rippling waves under an icy pavement, as hard as granite.  Frost
+and snow and ice were everywhere.
+
+For the summer Sunday trips to the church Mr Ross had several large
+sailing boats and safe skiffs that would hold all who wished to go to
+the morning service.  In one, manned by four sturdy oarsmen, Mr Ross
+and his family generally went when the weather was at all favourable.
+In winter the dogs were all called into requisition, and the sight at
+the church, when on a bright day the crowds were assembling, was as
+pleasant and interesting as in the summer time, when on the bright
+waters were seen coming the many beautiful, well-loaded canoes.  From
+the Hudson Bay trading post there were always a goodly number present
+both in summer and winter.  The officials and clerks prided themselves
+on the quality of their dogs and the beauty and completeness of their
+carioles and harness.  Then some of the Indians had very valuable
+trains, and it was interesting to notice the number of persons that
+would be crowded into or on these dog-sleds and the strength of the dogs
+in pulling them.  Very primitive were some of their sleds, and mongrel
+indeed were many of the dogs attached to them.  Yet it was surprising to
+see how rapidly even the rudest looking sledges got over the ground.
+The dogs seemed to know that it was the day of religious worship, and
+therefore their duty was to get their masters and mistresses to the
+church with as little delay as possible.  Then on the return trip, of
+course, there must be no delay in getting them back for dinner.  For
+some winters a great tame black bear used to be attached every Sunday to
+a long dog-sled.  He was called Napoleon, and Alec and he became great
+friends.  When ordered to start he would dash off in his rough galloping
+way and keep up the one steady pace until the church was reached.  It
+seemed to make but little difference, such was his strength, whether two
+or ten persons were hanging on the sled.  At the church he was tied to a
+post, and there quietly remained until the service was over, when he at
+the same rapid rate drew his load home again.  Toward spring Napoleon
+disappeared and was not seen for months.
+
+It was understood that there was to be no racing on Sunday, yet somehow
+everybody seemed to want to go just about as fast as possible.  The
+terrible cold may have had something to do with this.  Alec was
+generally sent on first, or else requested to wait some time after the
+others had started, as his dogs had become possessed with the habit of
+catching up and going ahead of everything in sight.
+
+"Supposing, Alec," said Mr Morrison, a young clerk of the Company's
+service, "that it were not Sunday, I should like to run ahead of your
+dogs and show you what travelling is."
+
+"Supposing it were not Sunday, I should like to see you do it," was
+Alec's reply.
+
+"Supposing it were not Sunday, here goes," was the saucy challenge of
+this young clerk, who thought he had the fleetest train in the whole
+district.
+
+"Supposing it is Sunday," shouted Alec back to him, for they were both
+on the Sagasta-weekee route.  "I'll just go on and tell them you will be
+along after a while and dine with us."
+
+It was considerably later when the clerk arrived.  That afternoon, in
+conversation with Mr Ross, he gravely stated that one of the
+temptations of that country was a disposition to travel rapidly, to and
+from church, on the Lord's day.  Frank and Sam, as well as Mr Ross, had
+been promptly informed by Alec of the challenge and the race with this
+young gentleman, and so when Alec heard the remark just mentioned he
+gravely replied:
+
+"Well, Mr Morrison, you need not have any qualms of conscience about
+your speed to-day.  We started about the same time from the church, and
+it was a long time after I reached home ere you arrived."
+
+This bit of sarcasm, so well put in, so tickled Sam that he fairly
+exploded, and with his handkerchief in his mouth he rushed out of the
+room.  Soon after he was joined by Frank, and together they laughed
+until they were sore.  The hypocrisy of the young fellow was so evident
+that they were delighted with Alec's comforting remarks.
+
+Mr Hurlburt, the missionary, generally came over and held an evening
+service at Mr Ross's house every second Sabbath.  The alternate Sabbath
+evening was spent in holding a similar service at the fort.  These
+services were very delightful.  The boys often drove over to the mission
+services in the afternoon with their trains and brought back with them
+Mr and Mrs Hurlburt, and when it could be arranged--which was
+frequently done--the two sweet young daughters.
+
+To Frank, with his powerful train, was generally assigned the
+missionary, who was a large, portly man; to Alec, with his beautiful
+fleet train, was assigned the pleasure of bringing Mrs Hurlburt, and at
+first Sam had the exquisite delight of tucking the robes of rich beaver
+around the fair young daughters from the mission home, and carefully
+bringing them over to Sagasta-weekee.  This pleasure was, however, soon
+taken from him.  It was indeed a happy group that assembled around the
+hospitable tea table those delightful evenings.  The boys used to plead
+so hard to be allowed to drive back with the loads that they generally
+succeeded in having their way, although Mr Ross always took the
+precaution of sending an extra team of dogs under the guidance of an
+experienced Indian.  This was necessary, as not only did vicious, mad
+wolves sometimes cross that route, but blizzard storms might suddenly
+come up, and then it would have gone hard with the boys with their young
+dogs to have kept the trail.
+
+Mr Hurlburt generally rode home in the extra cariole driven by this
+Indian.  This enabled Frank to take the elder of the young ladies, and
+we must confess that, although Frank was very fond of the missionary, he
+had not the slightest objection in changing him for the daughter.
+
+Frequently the missionary, with some faithful Indians, used to make long
+journeys with the dog-trains to distant places where no one had ever
+gone before with the Bible and its sweet story of God's love to man.
+During his absence his pulpit would be supplied by native ministers,
+who, though not as yet ordained, were eloquent in their way, and were a
+blessing to their fellow-countrymen.  Even the white people who
+understood the Indian language used to listen with great pleasure to
+some of these gifted sons of the forest, as they preached from full
+hearts of the love of God as revealed in the gift of his Son.  In after
+years some of these younger Indians were educated and ordained, and are
+now regularly settled as ministers among their own people.  There were
+some of them, however, who aspired to be ministers who were not a
+success.  Some were too ambitious.  Some, not content with talking about
+what they knew themselves, must launch out into deep waters, and so
+speedily they came to grief.  Constantly did the missionary have them
+under his eye, and many were the lessons he was giving them.  Some
+would, in spite of his best efforts, get beyond him.  For example, one
+ambitious would-be minister said in his address before quite a large
+audience:
+
+"Brothers, the missionary says the world is round.  I don't believe it.
+It is flat as the top of that stove."
+
+As he said this he pointed to the top of the great flat iron stove, in
+which a fire was burning, for it was in the depth of winter.  Of course
+the missionary was informed of this daring brother's unbelief, and a
+good lesson in geography had to be administered to him by means of the
+map of the two hemispheres hanging on the wall.  He manfully
+acknowledged to the missionary his error, and promised to make it right
+with the audience the next time he stood up to address them.  This he
+endeavoured to do in the following manner:
+
+"Brothers, I made a mistake when I last addressed you, when I said I did
+not believe that the world was round.  It is round.  I have seen it.  It
+is like two moons flattened against the wall."
+
+Of course this would never do, and so the missionary had to take him in
+hand again and give him another lesson.  This time he used his large
+ball-like globe, swung on its axis in its frame, which was supported on
+three feet.  Patiently the minister showed him how the world was like a
+great ball, round in every direction.  Attentively the Indian listened,
+and carefully examined the globe and the frame in which it hung.
+
+"Yes," he said to his teacher, "I was wrong.  I have it now.  I will
+explain it to the people."
+
+When the first opportunity offered he was as good as his word, and so he
+thus addressed them:
+
+"Brothers, I seem to be hard to learn, but I have got it now.  Yes, the
+world is round every way.  It is not flat even one way.  It is round.
+Yes, it is round, but then it stands upon three legs."
+
+So another and even more thorough lesson was needed to knock those three
+legs away.
+
+As a general rule the Indians who were appointed to speak kept within
+their own depths, and very sensible and appropriate were their
+utterances.
+
+Christmas Day and New Year's Day were great times of feasting and
+gladness at the mission village among the Christian Indians.  On
+Christmas Day all the men, women, and children, arrayed in their very
+best finery, called at the mission house, and were each treated to a
+large cup of strong, well-sweetened tea, and a big bun.  Then they went
+to the fur-trading post, and there received the gratuities of tobacco
+and other things.  Many called at Sagasta-weekee, and were cordially
+received.  The boys were very much interested in them, and took great
+pleasure in assisting Mrs Ross, as on this day it is expected that the
+white people only will, pass the tea and cakes, and with their own hands
+also give their Christmas gifts to the poor and needy.  In such a land
+there are many who require a great deal of just such help.  After the
+matters of hospitality had been attended to there were many sports on
+the ice, and into these all who desired to enter were cordially
+welcomed.  The boys were in their glory in these sports, and gallantly
+held their own against the lighter but more agile Indians.  In the
+evening all the trains that could be mustered were harnessed up, and
+everybody who could get away went over to the mission church for the
+Christmas services, which, on account of the elaborate musical
+preparations, were held in the evening this year.  The missionary, aided
+by his musical family, had been for weeks diligently employed in
+teaching the Indians to sing Christmas carols and other appropriate
+songs for this joyous occasion.  The native choir acquitted themselves
+admirably, and everything passed off to the pleasure and delight of all.
+
+New Year's Day is, however, the big day to the Indians, as it is on that
+day that the great annual feast is held in the church.  This Christian
+festival has taken the place of the once heathen dog feast and other
+pagan ceremonials that the Indians held, with disgusting rites, before
+the missionaries came among them.
+
+New Year's Day is called by the Indians Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou, which
+literally means "the kissing day."  On this day the men claim the right
+to kiss every woman they meet, and, strange to say, every woman expects
+to be kissed, and is quite offended if she is passed by without being
+saluted in this way, which is so much more ancient and historic than the
+meaningless modern one of shaking hands.  This Indian definition of New
+Year's Day vastly amused the boys, and when in the morning Mrs Ross and
+Wenonah came in, they, of course, had to be saluted in the orthodox
+fashion.  This was very agreeable, but when the Indian cook came into
+the dining room, in answer to Mrs Ross's ringing, Wenonah shouted out
+to the boys:
+
+"This is Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou, and you must all kiss Nahkoomah, the
+cook."
+
+Nahkoomah was not at all handsome, but she knew what day it was and
+claimed her rights, and so when the boys made a rush to get out she
+blocked the way in that direction, while Wenonah bravely cut off the
+retreat by the other door.  Seeing themselves thus captured, they
+gracefully accepted the inevitable.  A resounding smack was given her
+first by Sam, which was gingerly imitated by Frank and Alec.  The boys
+afterward said that it paid grandly to give the cook the national kiss,
+as from that day forward she was ever pleased to prepare them the best
+dishes she could.
+
+"I say, Frank and Alec," mischievously exclaimed Wenonah, "don't you
+know they keep Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou over at the mission?"
+
+This sally very much amused all, and of course gave Sam a chance to
+remark that it was an elegant day for a sleigh ride; that he thought
+Frank and Alec's dogs needed some exercise; that the road to the mission
+was in capital condition, and perhaps they had better be off, and the
+sooner the better, for fear the young ladies should wear the glass of
+the windows thin, looking for their coming.  Mrs Ross here interposed,
+and stopped Sam's voluble utterances by saying that they were all going
+over a little after noon, in response to a very cordial invitation from
+Mr and Mrs Hurlburt, to witness the Indian feast and dine with them in
+the church.  This was great news to all, and as there were only a couple
+of hours for preparation there was hurrying in every direction.
+
+"Put on your best bibs and tuckers, my hearties," said Sam to Frank and
+Alec, "for this day is the event of your lives.  Rig yourselves up so
+gallantly and finely that the sweet, blushing lassies over beyond, will
+be so struck with your noble presences that they will, for the day at
+least, imagine themselves Indian maidens enough to at least comply with
+the customs of the day."  But ere Sam had finished his long harangue,
+the blushing Frank and Alec were hunting up their best apparel and
+selecting the warmest robes for their dog-sleds.
+
+While all are getting ready at Sagasta-weekee let us take a look at the
+feast, or rather first at the preparations necessary in such a land to
+feed ten or twelve hundred hungry Indians.  About two months before the
+time a great council is held.  The missionary is invariably asked to be
+the chairman, and a clever writer of the Indian syllabics is appointed
+secretary.  Then, as a matter of form, it is moved by the chief and
+seconded by some other Indian of influence, "That we have the usual
+feast on Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou day."  This is, of course, carried amid
+Indian applause.  Then the question next asked is:
+
+"How much will each supply to make it a grand success?"  Thus there is
+started a spirit of emulation that would astonish some white folks.
+
+Big Tom says: "I saw the tracks of a moose.  I will give half of him,
+when I shoot him," he adds, while the quiet laugh goes round.
+
+Mustagan says: "I saw the steam curl up from a bear's den.  I will give
+the largest bear, when I get him."
+
+Soquatum says: "I have just heard of the coming of the reindeer.  I will
+give one."
+
+Thus it goes on as rapidly as the secretary can write their names and
+promises.  Those hunters famous for killing the game that is good for
+food, promise, as these already referred to have done, all kinds of
+animals, from a moose to wild cats and beavers.  Those hunters whose
+skill is in killing the rich fur-bearing animals promise to exchange
+portions of the valuable products of their huntings for flour, tea,
+sugar, and raisins at the trading posts.
+
+Everybody was expected to promise something, and then he was to do his
+best to get it.
+
+This method of getting up a feast was a unique one.  The idea of
+subscribing bears that were in their dens a hundred miles away, or
+moose, or reindeer, or other wild animals that were roaming in the
+forests or on the barren plains many scores of miles distant, was, to
+say the least, very different from civilised methods.  When the council
+breaks up, every man is interested in securing what he has promised, or
+something better.  It often happens that the man who has promised a
+couple of wild cats succeeds in finding a good, full beaver house.  A
+couple of these are worth more than the cats.  The man who promised a
+reindeer may be lucky enough to kill a moose, and thus it is.  However,
+they all try to do the very best they can.  As these various supplies
+are brought in they are stowed away in the large fish house of the
+missionary, where they speedily freeze solid, and are thus kept sweet
+and good until required for use.  About four days before the feast the
+wife of the missionary calls to her help a number of clever, industrious
+Indian women, and from morning until night the cooking goes on.  Early
+in the morning of the feast day the seats are all removed from the
+church, and long tables are improvised that stretch from nearly end to
+end of the building.  One long table is prepared at the upper end of the
+church for all the whites, who are specially invited by letter to
+attend.  As they have all contributed largely to the feast, of course,
+they are welcomed.
+
+It is an interesting sight to see that happy, expectant throng.
+Everybody, Christian and pagan, is welcome.  No questions are asked.
+See the piles of provisions.  Surely there is enough and to spare.
+Well, they will need a great quantity, for Indians have great appetites,
+and then there are many sick and feeble who could not come to-day, and
+they must be remembered.  There are over a thousand out to-day, and
+while some scores are busy preparing the feast the others skate, play
+football, toboggan, and in other ways amuse themselves.  Of course the
+inmates of the mission house are busy.  To the missionary and his wife
+the Indians all look for direction and guidance.  This is necessary,
+that everything may go off without friction.  In addition, they have to
+be on hand to receive such white people as may come from the various
+trading posts and other places.
+
+See, here they come from Sagasta-weekee!  Alec is at the head of the
+company.  His fleet dogs are never happy now except when first in every
+crowd.  Cozily wrapped up in fur robes in his cariole are Wenonah and
+Roderick.  Sam has brought over Mr Ross, and to Frank has been
+intrusted Mrs Ross.  The boys are now skillful drivers, and so no
+mishap has occurred.  Cordially are they welcomed, and as it is Oo-che-
+me-ke-se-gou the ladies are gallantly kissed by the gentlemen.  With
+loving tenderness Mrs Hurlburt kissed the three boys, and said she
+would do so in place of their precious mothers, who would doubtless
+think of them on that glad day.  Then she turned them over to her young
+folks, while she hurried off to meet the later arrivals from the Hudson
+Bay Company's fort.
+
+Sam was first escorted in by Wenonah, who, as she met the young ladies
+of the mission, exclaimed:
+
+"Now this is Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou, and we are all of that way to-day."
+
+Bravely did the blushing Sam pass through the ordeal, and then Alec and
+Frank, in a way that seemed to come quite natural to them, saluted in a
+good old-fashioned way the two fair ladies who had come into their young
+lives and were much in their minds.
+
+"Sure," said Sam, "that's not bad medicine to take, at all, at all."
+
+At this there was a great laugh, for Sam had blushed and stammered and
+acted as though it were an ordeal of great solemnity.  There was a lot
+of fun and pleasantry for the next hour or so among these happy young
+people, while the older ones were busy looking after matters pertaining
+to the feast.  Frank and Alec entertained the young ladies' friends with
+the latest news that had come in by the Christmas packet.  Sam, with
+Wenonah and Roderick, played all sorts of pranks all over the house.
+When later arrivals came in and gravely kissed, not only the elderly
+ladies of the party, but also the beautiful young maidens, Alec and
+Frank's faces were studies that very much amused Sam.
+
+"Indeed," he afterward said, "I thought it was going to be pistols and
+coffee for four, and may I be there to see the fun."
+
+As the tender passion had not yet struck him, he could thus afford to be
+amused at the ebullitions of jealousy that rolled so ominously into the
+young hearts of the chums.  "Black as thunderclouds were their faces,"
+he said, "as they saw these sweet young ladies, whom they in their
+callow affections would already wholly monopolise, kissed by a dozen
+different gentlemen during the day."
+
+"How do you like `O-jimmy-catch-the-cow' day, or whatever you call it?"
+he said to Frank, as he saw him glowering at a Hudson Bay officer who
+had just kissed his sweetheart.
+
+"I don't like it at all," Frank replied, with gritted teeth.
+
+"You mean you don't like it for other folks," replied Sam.  "You took
+your medicine yourself very well, if I am a good judge, especially when
+you so lovingly displayed your osculatory skill on the sweet lips of
+peerless Rachel, whom that young prig of a Hudson Bay Company's clerk is
+now approaching."
+
+"I'll fight him," said Frank, and his hot breath and clinched lists
+showed that he would have loved to pitch in just then.
+
+"No, you will not," said Sam.  "Hot-headed Englishman though you are,
+you are too much of a gentleman to make a row in this clergyman's house,
+and about his young daughter.  But, Frank, I will give you a bit of
+comfort.  While the beautiful Rachel gave you her sweet lips to kiss,
+she only turned her rosy cheek to all the other fellows, me included.
+So now no more of your English, `I'll punch your 'ead for you.'"
+
+Here Sam's advice, helpful and needed as it was, abruptly ended, as
+everybody was summoned into the church to the great feast.  Frank was
+happy once again, as he was selected to take in his sweet Rachel, while
+Alec had her younger sister, Winnie, as his partner.  Much to his
+delight, Sam came in with Wenonah and Roderick.  Indeed, they were
+almost one and inseparable on such occasions.
+
+Of the great feast and how it was enjoyed by all we have written in
+other volumes.  Suffice to say that there was abundance for all.  In
+addition, great bundles of food, with packages of tea and sugar, were
+sent to every sick or aged or feeble person, with loving good wishes of
+all.  The feast was pronounced a great success.  At the evening meeting,
+where, as in former years, the Indians gathered, with the chief in the
+chair, and where many speeches were delivered by the eloquent ones of
+the village, it was observed that among the happy things said there were
+words of gratitude to their kind, loving missionary and his family, and
+to the other white friends, in every address.
+
+It was also noticed that many of the Christian Indians, rising higher in
+their thoughts, saw in all these blessings that had come to them the
+good hand of the Great Spirit, their heavenly Father, and so to him
+their grateful prayers ascended, and the most frequent word uttered was
+"nanaskoomowin"--"thanksgiving."
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+THE INDIAN SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS--THE PRIZES--NOBLE INDIAN BOYS--THE
+SKATES TO KEPASTICK--THE VARIOUS SPORTS--FOOT RACES--THE SKATING RACE--
+TRICKY CLERK OUTWITTED--FRANK AND KEPASTICK TIE AS WINNERS--FOOTBALL--
+HOCKEY.
+
+The day for the examinations and sports at the mission school arrived in
+due time.  Fortunately, it was a very beautiful day, although it was
+many degrees below zero.  But nobody now minded that.  There were no
+fogs, or mists, or damps, and the dry, steady cold is always much more
+healthy and invigorating than changeable weather in any land.  Everybody
+invited was present, and so the day's full program was well carried out.
+
+Mr McTavish, a chief factor in the Hudson Bay Company's service and the
+chief officer at the Norway House trading post, presided at the school
+examinations, which began promptly at nine o'clock.  The schoolhouse was
+packed with the children and their friends, except the large platform at
+the upper end of the schoolroom, on which were seated the white visitors
+from Sagasta-weekee and the trading posts and mission.
+
+The children were first examined in their reading lessons in both
+languages, Cree and English.  In their own language they used the
+syllabic characters, invented and perfected by the Reverend James Evans,
+the founder of this mission.  These syllabics, as their name indicates,
+each represent a syllable.  The result is there is no spelling, and just
+as soon as a pupil, young or old, has once mastered these characters he
+begins to read.  Three weeks or a month is considered quite sufficient
+time, in which to teach a person of ordinary intelligence to read
+fluently.
+
+Mr Evans was several years in perfecting this invention.  He begged
+from the traders the sheet lead that is found around the tea in tea
+chests.  Then, making little bars of this lead, he carved out his first
+type.  His first paper was made out of birch bark.  His first press he
+made himself.  His first ink was made out of soot mixed with sturgeon
+oil.  Many were his difficulties and discouragements, but he triumphed
+over them all, and now here were hundreds of Indians reading in their
+own language the word of God.
+
+The whole Bible, with some hundreds of hymns and a few volumes of good
+books, "_Pilgrim's Progress_," "_The Path of Life_," and others, have
+been translated and printed in these syllabic characters.  The old
+Indians prize them very much, but it is interesting to note that, just
+as soon as the younger Indians understand English and get to be able to
+read in it, they prefer it to their own language and books.
+
+The examinations in arithmetic, grammar, and geography were rather
+limited.  It could not have been otherwise in such a place.  All were,
+however, delighted with the splendid examination each class passed
+through in Bible history.  The Indians have wonderful memories, and here
+the children delighted all with their knowledge of events from the
+creation down, and the accuracy with which they could quote long
+portions of the sacred book.  The writing also won a great many
+complimentary remarks from all, and it is safe to assert that very few
+schools among white people could have made a better showing.  The
+recitations were good, considering that they were uttered in a foreign
+tongue.  The singing was delightful.  The children sang in the two
+languages, and the soft, sweet, liquid Cree did not suffer in pathos and
+beauty in comparison with the more vigorous English.  Of course, a
+number of prizes were given.  A beautiful incident occurred when the
+prizes for the best recitations of the fourteenth chapter of Saint
+John's gospel were being distributed.  Among the competitors was a poor
+lad who, when a babe, had been so bitten in the hand and arm by a wolf
+that the arm had to be cut off near the body.  Competing with him were
+several other bright boys.  The chief prize was a splendid pair of new
+skates, which Frank had generously given for this competition.  So even
+had been the boys, or rather so perfect were they in reciting, that the
+judges hesitated about selecting the winner of the first prize.  When
+the boys who were well, and unmaimed, observed this there was a short,
+quiet consultation between them, and then one rose up and, respectfully
+addressing Mr Mctavish, said that the boys who had two hands, as well
+as two feet, had more ways of having sport and fun than Kepastick, who
+had only one hand, and so they asked him to have the judges decide that
+Kepastick should have the skates.  Noble fellows! but that is just like
+young Christian Indian boys.  The white people present were much moved
+by this beautiful incident of quiet unselfishness, and soon arranged
+that those kind-hearted lads should not go unrewarded.
+
+By twelve o'clock the most successful examination of the school, up to
+that time, was over.  The prizes were distributed, and while all the
+white people, as was customary, accepted the missionary's invitation and
+dined at the parsonage, the Indians sped away home for a brief dinner,
+and were then soon all back again, to compete in or to witness the
+sports.
+
+The first races were run by some little girls.  The distance was only a
+few hundred yards and back.  These races caused a lot of fun and
+enjoyment.  The prizes were little handkerchiefs, strings of beads, and
+other trifling things in which little Indian girls rejoice, and of
+course every little competitor must have a prize.  Then there were races
+for little boys.  It was great fun to see the sturdy little fellows so
+gallantly strive for victory.  Meanwhile arrangements were being made
+for the more important races of the day.  The courses had been marked
+out previously with flags, and so every class knew its course and ran
+accordingly.  The fleetness and endurance of some of even the small boys
+were wonderful, and great was the interest, and even intense at times
+the excitement, when several well-matched competitors gamely struggled
+on for victory.  In the races open to all comers the larger Indian boys
+were disappointed that none of the whites had entered, as they were
+anxious to test their own speed against them.  There were races worth
+going across a continent to witness, and genuine and hearty was the
+applause that greeted the winners, who came in at such a rate that the
+white boys, while cheering as heartily as the others, saw how wise they
+had been in declining to put themselves against such runners as White
+Antelope or Spotted Deer, the winners.
+
+When the skating matches were called, Frank promptly entered the lists.
+His appearance was received with applause.  Even the quiet Indian lads
+tried to make a noise to show their pleasure in greeting the handsome,
+manly fellow whose splendid gift had gone to Kepastick, the one-armed
+lad.  Two or three young clerks or fur traders also entered for the
+race, one of them being the young man who had so abruptly left Alec the
+night of his fearful race with the wolves.  The route marked out for the
+skaters covered in all about ten or twelve miles.  It, however, so
+twisted in and out among the islands on the frozen lake, that many of
+the competitors would be in sight nearly all of the time.  That the
+intending skaters might thoroughly understand the route, it had been
+marked out a week or ten days before the race, and it had been
+thoroughly understood that any of the competitors were at perfect
+liberty to skate over the grounds and get familiar with the different
+turning places, marked by little red flags.
+
+Frank, with Alec as a companion and trainer, accompanied by one of Mr
+Ross's servants, who was also a splendid skater, had gone over the route
+two or three times, and so was quite familiar with it.  A little before
+the race began he was quite surprised to have this Indian skater call
+him aside and tell him to be careful and keep his eye on the correct
+route, and also to guard himself against that young white man who had
+deserted Alec.  He then added:
+
+"Watch the Indian with one arm; his heart is good toward you."
+
+Then, putting his fingers to his lips as a sign of caution, the Indian
+quickly slipped away among the crowd.  This very much perplexed and
+bothered Frank, especially when Mr Ross said to him:
+
+"Keep your eyes on the lookout for the flags--the Indian lads are so
+familiar with the route that they will not bother to notice them; and
+look out for tricks from those whose faces, like your own, are white."
+
+There were perhaps twenty competitors in the great race.  As the
+distance was so long it was not very essential that they should get off
+at the same instant.  There would doubtless be those who depended on
+rapid bursts of speed to carry them to the front, and so a second or two
+made but little difference at first.  At the report of a gun away they
+flew.  They had all sorts of skates and all kinds of styles.  With ten
+or twelve miles' work before them, none, except some of the younger
+lads, tried to do their very best at first.  Frank naturally wished to
+skate in company with his white companions, but they sullenly refused
+the offered society.  Insulted and annoyed at this conduct, and
+remembering the warning words of Mr Ross, and also of his faithful
+servant, he just made up his mind to be on the alert, and if it were
+possible he would be in the first of the palefaces.  On and on they
+sped, until a couple of miles at least were covered.  Then they had
+reached a spot where the route lay between two rocky islands not a
+hundred feet apart.  The ice here was beautifully smooth, and being
+well-sheltered was as clear as glass.  With a wild whoop the Indians
+dashed on across it, and at the same time, rather to Frank's surprise,
+one of the clerks, putting on a rapid burst of speed, dashed directly in
+front of him, in the centre of this narrow place.  Frank, with his
+suspicions all aroused, keenly watched him, and to his astonishment saw
+him deliberately but cautiously let slowly trickle from his hands fine
+streams of the white crystal quartz sand of that country.  To have
+skated over it would have so dulled his keen-edged skates that anything
+like victory would have been impossible.  There are times when the mind
+works rapidly, and so it did here with Frank.  The first thought was to
+shout out and expose the villainy.  The next was to evade the trap and
+for the present say nothing about it, and see what trick would next he
+tried.  So, quickly veering to the windward side sufficiently to make it
+sure that he would escape the sand, he rapidly sped along, humiliated
+and indignant that a white man would try a trick that an Indian would
+scorn to do.
+
+On and on they flew.  The route turned and twisted, and in several of
+the windings it brought them in fair view of the excited group on the
+mission hill who watched their progress, for now more than one half of
+the route was covered.  They were now entering a kind of a maze among
+the islands, where persons not thoroughly acquainted with the route
+required to keep a vigilant eye on the different flags.  In the front
+group was Frank, and closely edging beside him, he noticed with
+pleasure, was Kepastick, the one-armed lad, with his beautiful new
+skates, now serving him grandly and well.
+
+"Chist!" said the Indian lad quickly, and Frank knew by the way that
+this word, which means "look," was uttered that there was something
+meant.  Letting the boy glide just ahead of him, Frank caught the
+meaning of his words, though uttered in broken English:
+
+"Some bad hearts change flags to bother Frank.  Frank keep near
+Kepastick.  He knows the trail."
+
+These friendly words were uttered none too soon, for Frank saw at once
+that even some of the Indians, trusting to the flags, were perplexed and
+some had gone hopelessly astray.  With a rush and a jeer of triumph a
+white clerk made an attempt to fly by, for once out of that labyrinth of
+crooked icy channels the home stretch was as straight as an arrow.
+Frank was for responding to his spurt with an effort equally desperate,
+when Kepastick checked him with:
+
+"One Indian, good heart, meet clerk's bad heart; all right yet."
+
+Frank, now completely bewildered, yielded himself implicitly to the
+guidance of Kepastick, who moved on with all confidence and paid not the
+slightest attention to the flags.
+
+Look!  Away beyond the islands, in the distance, shining in the
+sunlight, is the steeple of the mission church.  Just a few more
+windings in these tortuous channels, and then the two miles' dash for
+home.  Most of the Indians--for their skates were poor--have fallen in
+the rear.  The one white man whom Frank despises is perhaps a hundred
+yards ahead, and not far behind him are his companions.  With intense
+interest Kepastick is watching them.
+
+"Chist!" he cries again, and his dark eyes flashed with excitement; "the
+trail is ours!"
+
+It seems that there ran out from that place two channels that looked
+very much alike.  The correct one had been flagged several days before,
+but the previous evening the clerk had skated over and had flagged the
+wrong channel.  Sharp eyes had been on him and had discovered his trick,
+and these misplaced flags had been replaced at their proper positions,
+while the others had been left as the villain had placed them.  Thus
+thrown off his guard, he blindly dashed into the wrong channel.  The
+rocky shores were high and abrupt, and so Kepastick and Frank shot by
+the trap and into the correct channel, and were hundreds of yards out on
+the now open lake, with their faces toward home, ere the plotters
+discovered, to their dismay, how they had been completely foiled.  As
+rapidly as possible they turned, but the distance could not be made up,
+and so to their chagrin they not only found that Frank and Kepastick had
+tied first, but that six or seven Indians, some with home-made skates,
+had wholly beaten them.
+
+As the miserable trickster passed Frank on the shore some time after, in
+the presence of the chief factor, Mr Ross, and several others, Frank
+sternly looked at him and uttered the one word "Sand".  None but the two
+then knew what was meant, but the guilty rascal paled, and so trembled
+that it seemed as though he would fall to the ground.  Very soon was he
+out of that company.  Next day he asked to be transferred to another
+post, which request was cheerfully granted.  It was a long time before
+Frank told of his contemptible conduct.  When Mr Ross at length heard
+of it he communicated at once with the head officers of the Hudson Bay
+Company in reference to conduct so dishonourable, and the result was
+that the poor fellow, who had not improved over such actions in other
+places, was ignominiously expelled from the service.
+
+Meanwhile the other sports were progressing finely.  The football teams
+crowned themselves with many honours.  The games were not fought on any
+strict Rugby rules.  The goals were set in the ice, about four or five
+times as distant from each other as is the case in civilisation.  Then
+two captains were named, and they selected their men and boys
+alternately, until all who wished to play were chosen.  Then each side
+was lined up at their own goal.  The ball was placed away out in the
+centre between them.  At the firing of a gun there was a wild rush, and
+the side that had the fleetest runners thus secured the first kick.  The
+ball was not to be thrown or carried.  It was to be kicked, and could be
+struck with the hand or head.  The game was fast and furious while it
+lasted.  It was always in ground, and there was no hold up until it went
+between the poles of one or the other side.  The cries of "Foul" were
+never heard, and umpires were only needed at the poles to shout out when
+a goal was won.  It was a jolly, lively, easily understood game of
+football, enjoyed by all.  Generally five wins in nine plays was the
+rule.
+
+The hockey games were like those played by men and boys in civilised
+lands, only here everybody who wished to play was paired with somebody
+else, so as to keep the sides even.  Everybody not otherwise engaged
+enthusiastically took a hand in it, and the fun was very great.  Mr
+Hurlburt, Mr Ross, Hudson Bay officers, as well as all down to the
+smallest Indian lad who could handle a crooked stick, had a share in
+this game.  The day was so cold, and the smooth ice expanse so great,
+that the vigorous exercise did everybody good.
+
+The tobogganing games were given over entirely to the girls to compete
+in, and skillfully and well did they acquit themselves.  The other minor
+games also gave great satisfaction, and afforded any amount of
+amusement.
+
+We reserve for the next chapter the story of the great race of the rival
+dog-trains, which for long years after was talked about in many a wigwam
+and at many a camp fire.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+THE GREAT RACE WITH THE DOG-TRAINS--CAREFUL PREPARATIONS BY ALEC--THE
+DIFFERENT BREATHING PLACES--THE TREACHEROUS HALF-BREEDS--THEIR SIGNAL
+FAILURE--ALEC'S TRIUMPH.
+
+And now for the races with the dogs.  These were looked forward to with
+the greatest interest.  All sorts of rumours were afloat of some
+wonderful surprises in store.  Fortunately for all parties concerned,
+including the dogs, there had been a great abundance of fish during the
+last few years, and so every Indian wigwam and house fairly swarmed with
+dogs, of all sizes and degree.  In other years, when fish failed and the
+herd of reindeer came not, as a last resort against starvation the dogs
+went into the soup pot.  But they had fared better lately, and so now
+they were all in the finest trim, and the trained ones were as eager
+here for the races as were their masters.
+
+There were about a dozen trains that contended for the victory in this
+next race.  There were to be four prizes given.  Alec, with his splendid
+houndlike dogs, seemed a certain victor.  However, as from different
+parts the dogs came into position and were eagerly scanned by those
+present, it was seen that there were many trains that would make a
+gallant race ere they or their magnificently developed drivers would
+even take a second place.  Alec and a young clerk were the only whites
+in the race.  Then there were three half-breed fur traders, and the rest
+of the competitors were pure Indians.
+
+The Indian carpenter at Sagasta-weekee had made for Alec a splendid
+birch toboggan-like sled for this race.  It was very light, and so the
+maker had sewed and re-sewed it, and so stiffened it with the sinews of
+the reindeer that it was as strong as a piece of steel.  He had fastened
+a seat in it so cleverly that, if the sled went over, the seat collapsed
+like a rubber ball, and as quickly resumed its position when the sled
+was righted.  Old Memotas had especially manufactured the harnesses for
+this event.  He made them out of the softest and lightest mooseskin that
+Mr Ross could buy for him.  It took Memotas a long time to get the
+right kind of traces to satisfy his experienced eye.  After testing a
+good deal of leather he settled down on a set of very long ones, that
+would not at all interfere with the long, springy movements of these
+beautiful houndlike dogs.
+
+The start was to be from the foot of the mission hill on the ice.  The
+route marked out, and along which Indians had now been stationed, was
+first to be the trading post, a distance of two and a half miles.  Here
+each train would be detained exactly five minutes.  At the expiration of
+the five minutes the next part of the race would begin.  This was to
+Sagasta-weekee, a distance of perhaps five miles.  Here there was to be
+a compulsory wait of ten minutes for each train, and then the dash back
+by the straight route to the mission, a distance, say, of six miles.
+Some of the Indians wanted the distance to be at least doubled, but this
+could not be allowed.  These races and prizes were only designed to
+encourage the Indians to be kind and careful with their dogs, as only by
+such treatment could they be brought to be of the highest use to them in
+that land where they are so much needed.
+
+Amid a good deal of barking, and some growls from some of the more
+quarrelsome dogs, the cry of "Marche!" was shouted, and they were off.
+Some especially clever Indian trains were the first to respond to the
+call and sprang to the front.  Some of the drivers were going to run;
+others, like Alec, intended to ride, while perhaps the greater number
+would ride or run as they judged best in the excitement of the race.
+Each driver, Alec included, had a splendid dog-whip, but it was a long
+time since a dog of Alec's was struck.  Indeed, the first one to receive
+a powerful blow was the leader dog of a train beside which Alec was
+running.  As Bruce came alongside, and was slowly forging ahead, the
+vicious brute made a spring at him.  Quick as it was, it was observed by
+his Indian master, who, although more than twelve feet from him in the
+rear, sent out so speedily and accurately that long, heavy, snake-like
+whiplash that it caught the brute on the nose with such force that, with
+a howl of pain, he turned to the front before any damage had been done.
+A few seconds later Alec and this Indian driver sped on right and left
+of a couple of trains mixed-up in terrible confusion, while their
+drivers, a white man and a half-breed, were in anything but a pleasant
+mood.  On and on they fairly flew.  Alec had been warned to guard
+against running into some of the vicious dog-trains, as some of them had
+teeth like wolves, and one fierce attack might easily disable one of his
+lighter dogs.
+
+Without mishap Alec reached the fort, and found that five trains were
+there ahead of him.  In a minute or two most of the others arrived.
+Even those tangled up had speedily unloosened, and had not lost more
+than a couple of minutes by their collision.  Exactly as each train's
+five minutes expired, away they flew for a long run for Sagasta-weekee.
+The ice was in fairly good condition for travelling, although there were
+long stretches where it was so absolutely smooth and glassy that some of
+the dogs would slip and slide in spite of their best efforts to the
+contrary.  On this smooth ice the Eskimos and the mongrels had the
+advantage, as they had such hard feet that they very seldom slipped.
+The feet of Alec's dogs were perhaps the worse for these smooth icy
+places, and so he found that it was necessary, where the travelling was
+good, for him to urge his dogs more than he had intended, to make up for
+what he lost in the glassy places.  Thus on they sped, and when Sagasta-
+weekee was reached Alec found three trains ahead of him and a couple
+alongside of his own and others close behind him.  Ten minutes was the
+time allotted for the rest here.  The instant Alec had arrived Memotas
+was at his side, and with him at once examined his dogs and compared his
+train with those that had thus far kept ahead.  Memotas was delighted
+with the inspection, for, while the other trains seemed about exhausted
+at the terrific rate their drivers had pushed them, Alec's were as
+playful and lively as though the race had only begun.  So, barring
+accident or foul play, there seemed to be no reason why Alec should not
+win with flying colours.  Two of the half-breeds with very vicious
+trains now pushed on with four minutes of a start.  An Indian followed
+two minutes after, and then in four minutes more Alec and those who had
+arrived at the same time as he did were again ready for the final run of
+the six-mile home stretch.  Just as Alec was leaving faithful, alert
+Memotas said to him, as he tucked him in:
+
+"Be on your guard against those two half-breeds and their vicious dogs.
+Try and not pass them in a narrow place.  There is mischief in their
+hearts.  Be wise."
+
+"Marche!" and he was off.
+
+For the first time now his blood began to tingle, and he entered into
+the wild, joyous enthusiasm of the race.  He had become an expert in the
+use of his whip over the backs of his splendid dogs.  Skillfully he
+whirled it, and its pistol-like report rang out over them, but not once
+did it inflict a stinging blow.
+
+"Ho! ho! my gallants!  With Scotland's best staghound's blood in your
+veins, and Scotland's names, my bonny dogs, for Scotland win the day!"
+
+He must needs hurry now, for fleet trains are around him and some ahead
+of him, with drivers just as keen and eager to win as he, and every one
+of them accustomed to dog-driving for years.  Victors are some of them
+in previous contests, and not one of them is disposed to see a white lad
+from across the sea come and wrest their honour from them.  Whips are
+flying now in earnest, and the dogs of other trains are waking up to
+realise that there is fire in their masters' eyes and strength in their
+arms and a burning sting at the end of the heavy lash.  With terrific
+rushes they make their desperate efforts to forge to the front.  Alec,
+excited now to the highest pitch, calls as never before to his dogs:
+
+"Marche!  Bruce, up!  Up, Wallace! and you Gelert, and my bonny Lorne.
+Ho! ho!  Away, away, my bonny dogs!  Away! away!"
+
+Grandly did they respond.  They too have caught the enthusiasm of the
+hour, and as in clock-like unison in those long, light traces they
+stretched themselves out and fairly flew over the icy surface, they
+seemed to lift the light sled and its driver as a thing of naught.
+
+Steady, Alec!  Keep well balanced now.  You have shaken off every sled
+that started in this last dash with you, but there are stubborn
+competitors ahead, and there are rough places where an upset at such a
+speed means disaster as well as defeat.  But he thinks naught of these
+things; his Scottish caution has gone to the winds, and with dauntless
+courage he keeps up his cheering cries.  Rapidly does he gain on a
+powerful train ahead of him, and just as he begins to fly past it the
+vicious leader turns and springs at Bruce.  He fails in his attempt on
+account of the slippery ice, and falls directly in front of the oncoming
+train.
+
+"Marche!  Bruce!" shouts Alec, and with a mighty bound the gallant
+fellow responds and springs directly over his prostrate assailant.
+Quickly follow Wallace, Gelert, and Lorne.  With a stunning blow Alec's
+sled hits the still struggling brute.  Well now is it for Alec that the
+cautious builder of that light sled had strengthened it with deerskin
+sinews till it was tough and strong.  And so it stood that fierce shock,
+and, with its sturdy occupant unseated, over the great dog, with
+undiminished speed, it goes.  Before him now are the two great trains of
+the half-breeds.  These are the men and trains about which Memotas
+whispered his words of caution.  And well is it for Alec that he was put
+on his guard.  Before them for a mile or so is the narrowest part of the
+route.  The good ice in places did not average more than from fifty to a
+hundred feet across.  Plenty of room, anyone might say, for three dog-
+trains to rush by [it] at the same time.  Yes, if all are fair and
+honourable, but not wide enough for the safety of the third if the other
+two are determined to stop him at all hazards.
+
+If there was one thing more than another in which Alec had carefully
+trained his dogs it was for them to respond to his voice, and quickly
+move to the right or left, as he spoke to them.  Like some other
+drivers, he had them so well-trained that no horse responds to the pull
+on the reins more promptly than did his dogs to his voice.  As Alec
+rapidly gained on these trains he observed that they were running about
+parallel to each other, and that the width of the ice was about the same
+between them and each shore.  This so equally divided the ice that it
+made it difficult to decide whether to try and pass between them, or on
+one side or the other.  Alec's first wish was to see if they were really
+working together against him, and so he shouted to his dogs as though he
+would clash in between them.  At once they began to close up from each
+side to block his way.  Quickly checking his dogs before there was a
+collision, he then tried the call to the right hand, and here the same
+plan was again pursued.  It was evident, seeing that they would both be
+beaten in a fair race, they were resolved, by sacrificing one train,
+that the other should win at any cost from this white lad.  Their dogs
+were large and fierce, and at one word from their master, if a collision
+occurred, would fasten on the lighter and younger dogs of Alec, with
+disastrous results.  So Alec, who saw the plan, resolved that there
+should be no collision with his train if he could help it.  All this
+time the speed was fairly kept up, and alert and watchful was each
+driver, although not a word was spoken among them.  After a little more
+manoeuvring from side to side Alec observed that his dogs were quicker
+to respond to his voice than were theirs, and so he resolved to try and
+confuse them and throw them off their guard.  In this he at length
+succeeded.  When, with a great show, it appeared that he was going to
+dash between them he suddenly checked his dogs just as the other two
+trains closed in to block his way.  Quickly they saw their danger, and
+tried to avert it, but they were too late.  Their own fierce, excited
+dogs sprang at each other as they met, and ere their masters could
+separate them Alec had skillfully veered to the right and was by them.
+The coast was clear now, but fleet trains were close behind.  The
+blocking of the way had necessarily somewhat lessened the speed, and
+swift trains had come up dangerously near.  But what now cared Alec?
+Springing to his feet, he swings his whip and calls to his gallant dogs.
+The distance is now only a couple of miles, and direct is the route.
+How those beautiful dogs do go!  In perfect unison they spring together,
+while Alec's cheering voice rings out:
+
+"Marche!  Bruce, my hero, my leader! and you, Wallace, true to the end,
+and Gelert the avenger, and Lorne the fortunate!  Gallant Scots ye are,
+and this is our Bannockburn!"
+
+Thus on he drives; and now before him in the distance is the expectant
+crowd, who, having finished all their other sports, have gathered on the
+sloping banks to watch the return of the dog-trains.  The day is drawing
+to a close, but there is one of those marvellous gloamings of the Great
+Lone Land, and so the whole scene is as visible as at noonday.  The
+speed at which Alec travels soon brings him near, and as the sharp eyes
+of many tell them that he is the victor, and far in advance of any other
+train, there is, for an Indian crowd, a great deal of cheering, or
+rather a shouting of what sounds like "Hi!  Hi!  Ho!  Ho!" from many a
+dusky Indian's lungs.  For Alec is very popular among them, and they
+rejoice at his victory.  The few whites are also very much interested,
+and add their full share to the noise and excitement that tell of Alec's
+triumph.  Of course, Frank and Sam were wild with delight--so much so
+that they could not even shout.  Sam in describing their feelings
+afterward said:
+
+"We could only yell, but that we did in right good earnest."
+
+As Alec dashed into the midst of the cheering crowd warm indeed was his
+welcome.  Stalwart arms seized him, and hoisted him up on the shoulders
+of a couple of gigantic Indians, who at once began their march to the
+front of the mission house, where amid the cheering of the crowd a blue
+ribbon was pinned upon the breast of his coat by the trembling fingers
+of an equally happy maiden, and her name was Winnie.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+PASCHE DISAPPEARS--THE SEARCH--BIG TOM AND MUSTAGAN--THE WHISKY JACKS--
+PASCHE FOUND IN A HOLLOW TREE--CHASED BY AN ANGRY MOOSE BULL--PASCHE
+RESCUED--HIS QUAINT ACCOUNT OF HIS ADVENTURES.
+
+There was great excitement at Sagasta-weekee one morning when word came
+in that the stableman who looked after the cows was missing.  In fact,
+he had not been around for three days, and the boy who helped him in the
+stables was scolded for not having reported his absence.  The name of
+the missing man was Pasche.  He was a French half-breed who had come up
+from the Indian settlement near Montreal, several years before, in one
+of the canoes of the famous Iroquois brigades that annually made the
+trip up the Ottawa and other rivers into Lake Superior to Thunder Bay,
+and from thence by Lake of the Woods and still other rivers until they
+reached Lake Winnipeg.
+
+Poor Pasche was ignominiously discharged by the despotic governor of the
+Hudson Bay Company, as being unfit for the laborious work of a canoeman
+in one of those large canoes.  The fact was that it was only the most
+vigorous and muscular men who could perform the tremendous task assigned
+them by that tyrannical man, who drove his men on and on with all the
+cruel, callous persistency of a slave-driver.  No wonder poor, weak
+Pasche gave out where many a stalwart man has also failed.  He had been
+a sailor for some years on the St. Lawrence, and had the agility of a
+monkey in climbing up to the top of the masts.  The unfortunate fellow
+was left stranded in that wild country, and so, out of sympathy for the
+poor exile, Mr Ross had given him work and a home, until he could
+return to his own people.  The kindness of his new master made him quite
+contented where he was, and so year after year he had remained, and to
+him had come the care of the cows both in the summer and winter.
+
+Now he was missing, and had been for three days.  The family was
+alarmed, as it was such an unusual thing for Pasche ever to be away over
+a night.  Mr Ross at once called into the kitchen all who had lately
+seen him or knew anything of his latest fads.  Of these the poor fellow
+had quite a number, and while some of them were sensible, others of them
+were generally laughed at by his friends.  The latest one was that he
+imagined himself a great hunter, and had secured some traps and had set
+them in the woods in various places, most of them several miles away.
+The last time he was seen by the stable-boy was when he had finished the
+morning work at the stable.  Then he had taken his gun and axe and
+started off to visit some of his traps.  When Mr Ross chided the boy,
+who had industriously attended to all the stable duties alone, he said
+that Pasche had made him promise to say nothing about his huntings, for
+fear he would be laughed at.
+
+A heavy fall of snow had completely obliterated all tracks, and so there
+was no possibility of following him up in that way.  A messenger was
+sent for old Mustagan and Big Tom, both famous Indian guides, and a
+consultation was held with them.  They smoked their stone pipes and
+talked the matter over, and then went out.  After closely questioning
+the stable-boy they returned to the Indian village.  Here they secured a
+couple of sharp, bright little beaver dogs.  With them they returned to
+the stables, and there, showing the dogs a coat that Pasche was in the
+habit of wearing, and making them thoroughly smell it, they tried to get
+them on his trail.  All, however, the dogs would do was to get back out
+of the deep snow as quickly as possible and into the shelter of the
+stables.  The plan was not a success.  These dogs were too small for the
+deep snow, and soon the old Indians gave up this plan in disgust.  Then
+they strapped on their snowshoes and made a long circuit around the
+place, and thus tried to find out some clue or trace of the missing man.
+Failing in this, they returned to the house, and after a hearty meal
+they equipped themselves to find that lost man.  They had but little to
+work on, as Pasche had never revealed to anyone the whereabouts of his
+traps.  However, Indian eyes are sharp, and so, unknown to him, keen
+hunters had observed his doings, and could tell the locality of every
+one of his traps and snares.  Those who had any knowledge in this
+direction were summoned, and then, with the information thus obtained,
+the two old men set off on their snowshoes.  It was not long ere they
+reached his first trap, but the snow covered everything there.  Then on
+to his next resort, still no success; and thus it was throughout the
+whole round.
+
+The Indians were puzzled and perplexed, and as they had now been on the
+go for hours they kindled a fire and awaited the arrival of some of the
+sleds with supplies that were to meet them here at this designated spot.
+The boys, who were equally grieved and excited with the rest at the
+loss of Pasche, with whom they had had a lot of innocent fun, had
+harnessed up their dog-trains and joined the party who brought out the
+supplies.  The meal was quickly prepared on the big, roaring fire, and
+vigorous appetites made heavy inroads on the abundant supplies which
+Mrs Ross had sent.  They all noticed, while at the meal, the unusual
+number of whisky jacks, the Indian's sacred bird, that were at once
+attracted by the fire.  They were all very noisy, and seemed unusually
+excited.  The Indians are quick to notice the actions of even the most
+insignificant birds when on their hunting or warlike excursions.  Many a
+lurking warrior, securely hid from the keenest human eye, has been given
+away by a noisy blue jay or a suspicious cawing crow, and has thus
+failed in his attempt to surprise his enemy, and has been obliged to
+make a hasty retreat.
+
+In answer to Frank's question, Big Tom told the boys how some of the
+wild animals are warned by the birds of the approach of the hunters, and
+are thus the more difficult to reach.  So here the whisky jacks, noisy
+at any time, but unusually so now, attracted the curiosity of those
+alert, watchful old Indians, as well as much amused the boys with their
+saucy ways.  The birds, as usual, clamoured around the fire, and as long
+as a crumb or bit of anything could be obtained were very saucy and
+persistent in their begging.  It was great fun for the boys to feed
+them, and to even catch some of them by their feet, so bold and
+venturesome were they.  They were all, however, speedily liberated, as
+Mustagan and Big Tom were anxious, if possible, to learn something from
+them.  So the remains of the meal were speedily scattered, and while the
+boys wrapped robes around themselves and sat near the fire to keep warm,
+the Indians, lighting their pipes, sat down on a log near the fire to
+watch the actions of the birds.  For a time they fluttered around and
+scolded in their pert, boisterous manner.  Then, seeing there was
+nothing more forthcoming, they began flying about in the woods, but
+occasionally came back to see if the next meal was being prepared.
+Seeing no signs of it, they flew further and further away, and now
+principally in one direction.
+
+After a while the quick ears of Mustagan detected a series of unusual
+cries of the birds.  He at once called Big Tom's attention to it, and
+they both decided that there was something unusual to cause them thus to
+act.  Not knowing but it might be a wolverine or a wild cat at which the
+birds seemed to be so angrily scolding, while the boys and the rest of
+the party remained near the fire they took their guns and carefully made
+their way through the woods to a spot where, without being seen
+themselves, they could observe the birds.  To their keenest
+investigation nothing unusual was visible.  The new, trackless snow was
+as yet unmarked by step of man or beast.  Still excitedly the birds
+acted, and incessantly scolded.  Soon the two men noticed that the
+centre of their whirlings was a large dead trunk of a tree that had been
+broken off between thirty and forty feet from the ground.  Around this
+stub of a tree the birds whirled and scolded, and occasionally some of
+them would light on the rough, jagged edge of the top, and seemed to be
+peeping down into the heart of the dead tree.  The curiosity of the men
+was aroused, and they wondered what animal the birds had there
+discovered.  Immediately they started for it, keeping their guns in
+readiness to fire if it, whatever it was, should attempt to escape.
+When they reached the spot there was not a track visible of any animal.
+The birds whirled around if possible more noisily than ever, and so it
+was evident to the men that there was something in that tree.  Drawing
+his axe from his belt, Big Tom made ready to pound against the side
+while Mustagan, with pointed gun, was on the alert to shoot any animal
+that the noise should disturb and cause to attempt to escape.  With
+lusty vigour Big Tom pounded away at the old tree, while carefully
+Mustagan watched the top.  In an instant after there were two very much
+amazed Indians.  For from the interior of that old tree thus vigorously
+assailed there came the faint cry of a human being!  What his first
+words were neither man was particular to inquire.  It was enough for
+their quick wits to tell them that they had found the lost man for whom
+they were seeking, and that he was still alive!
+
+At once they lifted up their voices and shouted words of cheer and
+encouragement to the imprisoned Pasche.  Then they called to the rest of
+the party who were at the fire to hasten to them.  Neither the boys nor
+the men required a second call.  They were speedily at the side of the
+two old Indians who, for such people, were very perceptibly excited.
+
+At first the boys could hardly take in the situation, but quickly it
+dawned on them that here was an imprisoned, half-starved man who must be
+helped out of his dangerous predicament.  What had best be done was the
+question that Mustagan, Big Tom, and the other Indians were discussing.
+Some suggested cutting down the big tree at once.  This was discouraged
+by some, who said that the blows of the axe on the dead tree would
+dislodge so much dry, dusty, rotten wood that it would about smother the
+imprisoned man.  So it was quickly decided that he must be pulled out of
+the top where, it was quite evident, he had fallen in.  At once the
+tail-ropes of the sleds and the packing and tie lines, which are also
+made of leather, were fastened together, and an effort was made to get
+one end to the poor fellow inside.  In the meantime, while these
+preparations were being made by the Indians, the boys endeavoured to
+hold some kind of conversation with the imprisoned Pasche.
+
+"Arrah, my man," shouted Sam, "and what are ye doing inside there?"
+
+"I fell in," faintly came back to the listeners.
+
+"Were ye looking for the cows?" persisted the irrepressible Sam, who was
+a great favourite with Pasche, although he often unmercifully chaffed
+him.
+
+"No, but a moose bull was looking for me."
+
+This answer was the explanation that told the whole story; but, while
+the old Indians were able to now understand at once the whole matter,
+they left it for Pasche, when rescued, to tell his story.  So in the
+meantime the question was how to liberate him as speedily as possible
+without injury.  They first tried by fastening a stone to one end of
+their improvised leather rope to so throw it up that it would drop into
+the hollow tree, as into a chimney.  But although they succeeded several
+times in getting the stone to fall in, yet so jagged was the edge of the
+broken wood that the rope would not slide down.  This plan failing, the
+next one tried was to cut down as large a young tree as the whole party
+could handle, and then carry it, and lean it up against the hollow tree,
+in which was the imprisoned man.  Alec, who was a daring climber, at
+once volunteered to climb this, and thus carry up one end of the rope,
+which could then be easily lowered down to Pasche.  Ere he started
+Mustagan handed him a ball of deerskin twine, and told him to put that
+into his pocket, as he might need it before he came down again.  Taking
+off his overcoat, and tightly fastening his leather coat around him with
+his sash belt, Alec gallantly began his difficult task.  It was no easy
+work, as the tree was in some places quite icy and it was hard to grip
+with his hands, which soon began to feel the effects of the cold.  But
+he gallantly persevered, and, cheered and encouraged by Sam and Frank,
+he at length succeeded in reaching the top.  Here for a time, after a
+cheery shout to Pasche, he rested, while he warmed his nearly frozen
+hands in his warm mittens, which he had stuck in his sash belt.  Then,
+hauling up sufficient length of line, he carefully dropped it down to
+the poor fellow at the bottom.  But now another difficulty presented
+itself to him.  He alone could not haul out the imprisoned man, and the
+men below could be of little service, as the rope if pulled on would
+surely get caught in the ragged edge of the rotten tree.  It was now
+that Alec saw the value of Mustagan's forethought in giving him that
+ball of deerskin twine.
+
+Calling up to him Mustagan said:
+
+"Hold on to the end of that twine, and let the ball drop to me."
+
+This Alec at once did.  Then Mustagan fastened a good solid green birch
+stick about four feet long and five or six inches in diameter to the
+string, and then said to Alec:
+
+"Now draw it up and lay it across the top of the tree, where it will
+rest firm and strong."
+
+This was quickly done.  Then calling to Pasche to tie the end let down
+to him about his waist, and then to hold on, he placed the rope over the
+strong, smooth green stick he had pulled up, and then gave the word to
+the men below to haul away.  No second order was necessary, and soon
+Pasche was pulled up to the top.  He had no difficulty in slipping down
+the inclined tree, weak as he was.  Alec also safely reached the ground.
+Poor Pasche was quickly placed on a dog-sled, and they all hurried back
+to the fire, where some tea and food were hastily prepared for the
+hungry, half-frozen man.  He was so weak and exhausted that it was
+thought best not to trouble him to tell his story until they had all
+returned to Sagasta-weekee.
+
+The journey home was soon made, and there was great rejoicing at the
+recovery of the poor fellow.  The following is his quaint story of his
+adventures:
+
+"Well, you see, I was emulous.  Les garcons--the boys--they succeed.
+They capture le renard--the fox--the wild cat, and other animals.  And
+still they not natives.  So I think it over when I milk la vache, and
+Sam he pushed open la porte and he show me fine cross-fox he caught, and
+that make me emulous.  So I take my wage le maitre he give, and exchange
+for the traps.  When my work is done, en avant, on I go to the great
+woods.  Aller a pied--I walk--I carry my traps, I set them with much
+bait.  I get nothing.  Le chien--the dog--he follows, he gets in the
+traps.  Then I try again.  I go far away this time.  I set my traps, I
+await with tranquillity.  It is far in the woods.  I wait trois days.
+Then I go to see if le renard, like Sam's, is in my trap.  Aussitot que
+possible--as soon as possible--I reach my traps.  There is no renard.
+So I return home.  Il fait nuit--it is night.  Then I say, A quoi bon?--
+What good is it?--and stay with my cows.  But Sam he comes again and he
+say great things about la chasse--the hunting--and so I say, I try
+again; and this time I take the great wolf trap that hang in the stable,
+and start early, and go far in the woods, and set my traps, and put the
+big one, the wolf trap, set with a log made fast to the chain, and then
+I retourner--return--to my duties.  Three days pass, then I advance
+again in the woods.  It is far.  Il fait de la neige--it is snowing--
+when I draw near.  I hear a great noise.  I draw nearer still.  I see
+the great moose bull, with his hind foot in the wolf trap.  He also sees
+me.  I raise a great shout.  A quoi bon?--What good is it?  He comes for
+me.  Voulez-vous?--I say.  So I fire my fusil--gun--at him.  Still he
+comes, for now I remember I only had shot for partridge in that gun.
+J'ai chaud--I am hot.  He makes me so, he looks so fierce.  His great
+ears, his long face, all his hair point toward me.  I turn, I run.  So
+does he run, but it is toward me.  Still he comes.  He has still the
+wolf trap on his foot.  The log is fastened to the chain, so it troubles
+him.  Still on he comes.  I can keep ahead, on account of the log, but
+the log slips off the chain.  So now he comes faster.  I run, I fly.  I
+see him draw near.  He looks diabolical.  I despair.  I see this tree
+like the mast broken off in the storm.  I learn to climb well when I
+sail on the ship.  I rush to the tree with the moose bull close behind
+me.  I drop my mittens, I seize hold of the rough bark, I climb up just
+as that animal, like le diable--the devil--he rush up, and he strike his
+great horns against the tree where I was, but I not there, I just above,
+out of his reach.  I dare not go back.  So up and up I climb like the
+sailor as I was, and when I get to the top I find plenty of sticks
+there, where some time ago the crows they make the nest, and it seem
+strong, and as I could not hold on at the sides of the tree I pull
+myself up and try to stand on those sticks, and they break sudden and I
+drop, I fall, I sink down into the tree.  I throw out my arms to catch
+hold, but the tree is rotten wood inside, so I lose my grip.  The wood
+it come down with me.  I sink into the depths, and there I was.  The
+rotten wood made a great dust as down I slide.  It nearly choke me.  I
+cannot call out; my mouth, my eyes, my throat all full.  There I stay.
+I could not climb out, the place too small.  I could not work up my
+knees, so there I stay.  My heart gets very sad soon.  Il fait nuit--it
+is night.  I am lost.  Good-bye, I say, to all.  I weep and then I
+sleep, I wake up with a start, then I sleep again.  When I wake again,
+il fait clair--it is light--above and rejoice.  The dust is all out of
+my eyes and mouth.  I can move back my head enough to look up and see
+the blue sky.  Then I call aloud, but there is no response.  I then
+remember I have some food in my pocket.  It is difficile to get at it,
+but I succeed.  I eat it, it is very good.  Then I find I have my knife
+in my pocket.  I call again and again.  I think I hear a reply; but it
+is only the birds, the whisky jacks.  They fly across my vision at the
+top; they look at me, they scream, they mock me.  Never mind, I have my
+knife; so I will hope to cut my way out.  It is easy cutting in the
+rotten wood.  But the dust affects me, I cough much.  I can work but
+little.  I have to wait for the dust to settle.  The air is bad.  When I
+get to the hard outside wood I can do nothing, my strength is gone.  It
+is hard to breathe when I keep still.  It is worse when I try to work.
+So I give myself up to die.  I call out at times, and try to think of my
+friends, and try to pray, and that comforts me best of all.  Thus passes
+this second day, and now I am very faint.  I can just easily move round
+in my prison, but I cannot sit down or lie down.  I am very tired.
+Still I call, and more and more the whisky jacks come and mock me.  They
+seem angry I have nothing for them, and so they scold, as they do at the
+camp fire when we feed them nothing.  To-day for a time they left me,
+and then they came back and seemed to laugh at me, and then I heard
+Mustagan and Big Tom call, and was rescued.
+
+"Je suis fache--I am sorry--I went hunting.  I will go no more.  Sam may
+continue."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+KINESASIS'S WONDERFUL STORY--HOW HE WOOED SHAKOONA--THEIR YOUTHFUL
+DAYS--MISKOODELL RESCUED FROM THE BEAR--OOSAHMEKOO WITH HIS GOLD--
+KINESASIS'S SUCCESSFUL HUNT--HIS FURS STOLEN--MARRIES SHAKOONA--CONFLICT
+WITH THE OLD WARRIOR.
+
+The romantic and thoroughly characteristic Indian way in which Kinesasis
+had obtained his Indian wife was one that had very much interested Mr
+and Mrs Ross.  They had known him for many years, and had ever been
+pleased with the kindly, helpful way in which he had always treated his
+wife, whom he called Shakoona.  "Shakoona" means "the snow-white one,"
+and those who knew her well, and studied her quiet, gentle manner, said
+she was well named.  The terrible loss of her children had been such a
+shock that her once black, luxuriant tresses had become as white as the
+snow, making her name more impressive than ever before.
+
+The story of how he had obtained his wife Kinesasis was induced to tell
+one evening at Sagasta-weekee, when fierce winds were howling around the
+place and at times seemed to strike with such fury against the house
+that they appeared like wild beasts shrieking for their prey.  As a
+general thing Kinesasis was not very communicative on matters relating
+to himself, but as Mrs Ross, who had some knowledge of how he had
+obtained his wife--indeed, her mother had a little to do with its
+consummation--had asked him to tell it for the pleasure of the boys and
+some good friends who had come over for a day or two from the mission,
+he could not refuse.
+
+The great log fire roared in the large fireplace in the dining room,
+while round it gathered the expectant listeners.  Mrs Ross had sent
+over to Kinesasis's little home and had brought from thence Shakoona,
+his wife.  She was now, like Kinesasis, getting up in years, yet she was
+the same shy, clever, modest, retiring woman she had ever been, and yet,
+as will be seen, there was that latent courage in her that mother's love
+can best bring out.  The inevitable pipe had to be produced and gravely
+smoked by Kinesasis, and those who would smoke with him, ere the talking
+could begin.  When this ceremony was over Kinesasis, looking kindly at
+Shakoona, began:
+
+"We had been children together in the forest.  Our fathers' wigwams were
+not far apart.  With other Indian children we had played in the wild
+woods, among the rocks and on the shores of the great lakes.  When large
+enough to help I had to go and try my skill in setting snares for the
+rabbits and partridges and other small game.  The trail along which I
+used to travel each morning, as I visited my snares and traps, was the
+one in which I often found little Shakoona getting sticks for the fire
+in her father's wigwam.  He was a stern man and cruel, and very fond of
+gain.
+
+"The years rolled on, and I was now a hunter, and could use the bow and
+arrows of my forefathers, as well as the gun of the white man, which was
+now being brought into the country.  Shakoona was now grown up, and was
+no longer a child.  We often met, and let it be known that we loved each
+other.  Shakoona's mother and the other members of her family were my
+friends, and they all had good reason to be my friends, for one summer,
+some years before, when Miskoodell was a little child, I saved her from
+the paws of a bear.  Her mother had gone out to gather moss and dry it
+for the winter use.  She had Miskoodell strapped in her moss-bag cradle,
+with its board at the back.  While the mother was at work she left her
+little baby girl in her cradle standing up against a tree.  As the moss
+was not very good just around that spot the mother wandered off quite a
+distance to find where it was better.  While she was thus hard at work a
+large black bear came along from the opposite direction.  I happened to
+be out in the woods with my bow and arrows shooting partridges, and what
+other small game I could find, for I was then only a boy.
+
+"Where this moss grows the ground is very damp, and it is easy to walk
+very still.  I came along, not being far behind the bear, and there the
+first thing I saw was that big bear with that baby, cradle and all, in
+his forearms.  He was standing up on his hind legs and holding it
+awkwardly, like a man does."
+
+This last remark created quite a laugh at Kinesasis's expense; but Mrs
+Ross came to his rescue, and declared that the expression was correct.
+"For a man," she said, "always awkwardly holds a young baby--the first
+one, anyway," she added, as she saw her amused husband laughing at her.
+
+"Go on, Kinesasis.  You said last that the bear was standing on his hind
+legs, and awkwardly holding the baby, as a man does," said Mrs Ross.
+
+Thus encouraged by the lady whom he so greatly respected, he went on,
+and only modified his statement by saying:
+
+"Indian men do, anyway.  Well, there I was, not very far behind and well
+hid behind the trees, and watched that bear, and think if I had been a
+white boy I would have laughed.  Strange to say, the baby did not cry,
+but seemed pleased to have some one lift it up in the cradle.  The bear
+would put his big nose in the baby's face very gently, and it seemed to
+like to feel this cold nose.  All at once I saw by the fine bead work in
+the cradle that it was the child of the mother of Shakoona, whom I
+loved, the little Miskoodell.  Then I thought the mother of the child
+must be near, and while the bear is kind to the child, as bears of that
+kind always are, it will surely attack the mother when she comes.  So,
+boylike, I resolved, in my great love for Shakoona, to try and kill that
+bear.  It was well for me that I had some steel-pointed arrowheads,
+obtained at the traders' shop.  These I had not been using, as they were
+too valuable to risk losing in shooting small game.  However, here was
+game big enough.  So I at once removed the flints from three of my best
+arrows, and quickly lashed on these long steel points with sinew.
+
+"All this time the bear was still fooling with that child.  He would
+turn it round and round, and then sometimes he would set it down, as
+though he wanted it to walk off with him.  At length, after failing in
+this, it seemed to me as if he were going to start off and carry the
+child with him.  When I saw this I knew that I must now try and shoot
+him.  So I crawled along on the mossy ground, and dodged from tree to
+tree until I was very near him.  Once or twice I was going to shoot, but
+I was afraid of hitting the child.  All at once I saw him drop the
+cradle and straighten himself up and listen.  He had heard something
+that startled him.  It was the mother coming back.  Now in the distance
+I, too, could see her coming.  She had a large bundle of moss on her
+head which she was supporting with both hands.  She had neither gun nor
+knife.
+
+"I could wait no longer.  I drew my arrow to the head of my bow and, as
+the bear was standing up with his side toward me, and his paws were well
+up, I aimed for his side, just under the leg, and sent the arrow with
+all the force I could.  I was perhaps twelve years old, but I well knew,
+like Indian boys, how to use the bow.  My arrow struck just where I
+wanted it to.  It entered his side near the heart.  With a savage growl
+he jumped, but he had not seen or heard me.  He only saw and felt the
+arrow, and so that was his only enemy, he thought.  That is the
+advantage of hunting with the bow over the gun.  If you can keep hidden,
+with bow and arrows the animals are not alarmed at your presence, but
+with a noisy gun the animal knows where you are and comes for you.  So
+it was in this case; the bear only tried to get hold of the arrow that
+was sticking into his side.  He twisted himself round and round and
+tried to pull it out with his paw on the opposite side, but I had sent
+it with such force that he could not succeed.  The more he worked at it
+the more the blood poured out of the wound.  He seemed to have forgotten
+now all about the child and the coming mother, so I was sure he was
+badly hurt.  But he was far from dead, and very angry at the arrow, so I
+thought I would give him another one.  This one I sent into the other
+side, as he was moving round and round.  When this second one struck him
+he seemed to think that he was in the wrong place, and had better start
+for his den; and so off he hurried, coming right by where I was hid.  I
+still had one steel-pointed arrow.  With this one ready to shoot I
+sprang up before him.  I was going to try and shoot him between the
+eyes, but at the sight of me he threw up his head, and so I shot the
+arrow into his throat.  He gave one great spring at me, but it was his
+last, and there he lay quite dead.  When we opened him we found that one
+of my arrows had entered into his heart, and when he made that last
+spring at me it did its work.  The mother of Shakoona picked up the
+cradle in which was Miskoodell, and found her child uninjured.  She was
+of our race, and therefore did not say much, but I knew that I had made
+a friend.
+
+"Some years went by, and brought my presents and asked the father of
+Shakoona for her to be my wife, but he was stern and cruel, and appeared
+to have forgotten that I had rescued Miskoodell.  Indeed, when told the
+story he only said.  `It was only a girl, anyway, that was rescued.'
+Since we have become Christians, thanks to the missionaries, we now
+think as much of the girls as of the boys.  But Wahbunoo, for that was
+his name, spurned my few gifts, for he was very selfish, and said that
+he that would receive Shakoona must bring many gifts, and even the
+`Keche Shuneou,' the gold of the white man, ere he could have her.  This
+was bad news, but I saw he was strong in his mind, and so I gathered up
+my gifts, which with all Indian ceremony I had laid at his feet, and
+without a word I left his wigwam.  That night Shakoona and met for a
+short time, and we gave our promise to each other, and vowed to be true
+to each other, no matter what might happen.
+
+"As I saw it was a large price Wahbunoo wanted, I plunged that fall into
+the forest with my traps and plenty of weapons.  My object was to hunt
+very hard, and so be able in the springtime to bring in so many skins of
+the silver and black foxes, with beaver, mink, otter, marten, and other
+rich furs, that I could change them for rich presents, or even for gold,
+with the traders, and thus cause to look kindly on my gifts and grant me
+my wish.  To carry out this purpose I went far away, where I was told by
+hunters that but few ever hunted and that the game I was after was very
+plentiful.  The reason why it was so little visited by hunters was that
+it was reported that great Windegoos, man-eaters, there haunted the deep
+forests, and that many hunters had mysteriously disappeared.  They had
+gone there with great hopes of success, but had never returned.  The
+man-eating Windegoos, that were so great and high that they could brush
+the trees aside as they walked along, they said, had devoured them.  So
+it was said and believed by many.  So great was my love for Shakoona
+that I cared for none of these stories, and was willing to run all risks
+for her sake; and so I made the many days' journey and reached those
+hunting grounds.  All winter I worked hard, and met with good success.
+
+"But while I was far away things were going on at the spot where dwelt
+Shakoona that were to my hurt.  One day there walked into her father's
+tent a great chief having on his face and body the scars of many
+battles.  But while he was surely a brave warrior he was a man of fierce
+temper, and some of the wives he already had showed the marks of his
+fierce anger.  The top of the head of one of them was hard and dry, for
+Oosahmekoo--that was his name--had in his anger, because she had not
+quickly prepared his dinner, rushed at her and, circling the spot with
+his knife, had torn away the scalp; and still she lived.  This
+Oosahmekoo was the man who came with his gifts to buy from Wahbunoo the
+beautiful young Shakoona.  He had gone off with another tribe in the
+south, called the Sioux and in one of their warlike excursions they had
+attacked a band of white people passing over the prairies.  They had
+crawled up to them in the darkness of night, and as the watchers had
+gone to sleep they had killed them all.  Among the pillage and plunder
+was a bag of gold.  The Sioux then knew not of its worth, so they gave
+it to Oosahmekoo, and as he had been much among the fur traders he knew
+it was valuable and carefully kept it.  He had seen Shakoona as she
+industriously did her work, and wanted her for another wife.  When he
+entered the wigwam his manner was so proud and unceremonious that even
+Wahbunoo's temper got the mastery over his love for gold, and he refused
+to let Shakoona be the sixth wife of a man who had no more respect for
+the custom of the tribe, and would thus act before the father whose girl
+he wished to buy.  So he had to pick up his bag of gold and leave the
+wigwam.  His having to leave in this way gave great joy to the mother of
+Shakoona, and to her brothers and sisters, especially Miskoodell, who
+was now a bright young girl herself.
+
+"But old Oosahmekoo, although repulsed this time, was not to be easily
+put off.  He saw that he had broken the usages of his tribe in the way
+that he had acted, and so, pretending to hide his anger, he found times
+to meet the father of Shakoona and offer his gold for her.  Without
+letting him know the reason of their so doing, his family all seemed
+very indignant that Oosahmekoo should have so insulted the old father,
+and so they kept him in such a state that he refused the chief's offer,
+but not in such a way as to discourage him from persisting in his
+efforts.
+
+"The winter passed away, and I prepared to return with my heavy pack of
+rich furs.  On the trail of many days I reached the hunting lodges of
+some of our people, who, being near, had frequently gone to the village.
+There they had learned about the efforts of Oosahmekoo to buy my Indian
+maiden, and of it they told me.  When I heard it my heart got hot, and
+clutched my knife and said something, but my friends urged me to be wise
+and careful, for the old chief was cruel and powerful.  Some of them
+with lighter loads hurried on, and one who was my true friend went fast
+and quietly told Shakoona that I was coming on the trail.  And some one
+else had told Oosahmekoo, and had also told him that I was the favourite
+hunter of Shakoona, and that I was bringing home sufficient rich furs to
+more than equal his gold in value, to lay at the feet of Wahbunoo.  The
+news given to Shakoona filled her heart with joy, while that given to
+the old chief made him furious and eager to destroy me.  With the help
+of her mother, who remembered how I had killed the bear, and thus likely
+saved her life, Shakoona was able to get away, and met me on the trail
+long before I entered the village.  From her I heard all there was to
+know.  She put her arms around my neck and kissed me, and said she would
+die before she would be the sixth wife of such a man.  There we promised
+that we would rather die than be separated.  We saw that we would have
+to be very wise and careful, as my friends had said.  I was glad to
+learn that all my maiden's family were friendly to me.  Only a little
+while dare Shakoona stay with me.  If her stern father missed her there
+would be trouble, even if his love for her was only what she, by her
+sale, could bring to him.  Before she left me I told her that in due
+form to-morrow I would enter her father's wigwam and open my pack of
+rich furs before him, and by their value would win his consent.  Then
+she kissed me and quickly hurried back again.  That night following was
+a bad night for me."
+
+For a time Kinesasis paused in his narrative, and seemed, Indian though
+he was, to be deeply moved, while his aged wife buried her head in her
+blanket and bowed to the floor.  Mr Ross, who knew his story, respected
+the old man's feelings, and for a short time said and did nothing; then
+he filled the calumet and gave it to him.  The tobacco and the rest
+quieted his perturbed spirits, and handing back the pipe he continued
+his most fascinating story:
+
+"Yes, that night I entered the village was indeed a bad night for me.
+Evil eyes had been on Shakoona.  Cunning steps had followed her, and
+sharp ears had heard enough of our story to find out what I was going to
+do next day with my valuable furs that I had been eight long moons in
+hunting.  As I entered the outskirts of the village I was met by a young
+Indian with the word that the wigwam of my relatives was cold and empty,
+as they had not yet returned from their hunting grounds, which were in
+an opposite direction from the way in which I had come.  Very cordial
+seemed the invitation of that man for me to rest that night in his
+wigwam, which was a large one, being made of many dressed buffalo skins
+sewed together.
+
+"Without any distrust I accepted his invitation, as was the manner of
+our people, and was glad to unstrap my heavy load of furs, as well as my
+gun and traps and blanket.  With much more attention than is generally
+shown to one thus coming in, this Indian helped me in various ways.
+With a good deal of show he hung up my gun and traps for me, and placed
+my pack of furs tightly back against the leather wall of the wigwam.  In
+the meantime fish and venison were brought in, and a good supper was
+prepared and eaten.  Afterward we smoked and talked for some time, and
+then prepared to sleep.  Noticing that the wind outside was rising, he
+showed me a place where I could spread my blanket where there would be
+no draft, but it was away from my pack of furs.  At first I thought I
+would bring my furs from the place where they had been put and place
+them at my head, but this I saw would give offence, and now as some
+young children were lying down to sleep near them, there was not enough
+room for me.  Still a little fearful, I made an excuse and stepped out
+of the wigwam for a minute.  There I saw that the snow was well piled up
+against the leather wall all around.  This quieted my fears, and so I
+returned into the wigwam, and being very weary was soon fast asleep.  In
+the morning my furs were gone!  A thief in the night had cut through the
+leather, making a hole so large that he could easily and noiselessly
+lift out my pack of furs.  He had left the upper part uncut, so that as
+quickly as he had obtained the pack he could let the leather down again
+and thus cover up the hole.  For fear the wind should get in and disturb
+the inmates, he had quietly laid a large deerskin over the whole place
+on the outside.  I was in a sad state the next morning, but I kept my
+lips closed and said but little.  The Indian family were much excited
+and angry at the theft.  The young Indian who had invited me in made a
+greater ado than anyone.  I suspected him at once of being the one who
+had robbed me, but I had then no evidence, and so carefully held my
+tongue.  But I thought a great deal, and in time I found out that he was
+in the plot.
+
+"What to do I knew not.  However, refusing to again eat under the wigwam
+where I had been so robbed, I took my gun, blanket, and traps and pushed
+on to the wigwam of my friends, and to my surprise found them in it, and
+there they had been for some days.  Then I knew that that young Indian
+was an enemy.  To my friends I told of my success, and of my loss.  We
+set about the recovery of them at once.  Runners were sent to every
+trading post describing the contents of the packs and telling the
+traders the circumstances of the robbery.  There was great indignation.
+Such robberies are very rare.  If the thieves are found out they are
+generally quickly poisoned by the conjurers of the tribe.  That is one
+of the things they are expected to do.  A robber of traps or furs is
+soon poisoned.  Then the traders themselves are down on these things.
+So the story of the theft was soon known, but the furs were not
+recovered until a long time after.
+
+"Wahbunoo was very cold and repellent.  He would not believe my story,
+and so refused to have me come to his wigwam.  So Shakoona and I had to
+meet when we could, and that was not often, for the father was cruel and
+Oosahmekoo had many spies.  Still, we had many friends.  Miskoodell, the
+little sister, was sharp and shrewd, and helped us greatly by warning us
+of danger.  So did her brother, Netahwatee.  He was a good hunter, and
+had friends who had seen the furs.  He had been on the alert, and had
+found out that the young Indian who had invited me into his wigwam had,
+during the winter, hung around the tent and had asked Shakoona to be his
+wife.  She had repelled him with scorn, and Netahwatee had told him that
+she was fond of Kinesasis, and that even now he was away in the forest
+hunting, to bring in sufficient rich furs to buy the consent of their
+father.  At this news from Netahwatee, he arose and left the tent, but
+he ground his teeth as he went out.  After that he was often seen in
+earnest talk with Oosahmekoo, the old chief, and it was the belief of
+many that they had been the ones who had planned the stealing of the
+furs.  But they were cunning, and so covered up the tracks that a long
+time passed ere the truth came out.  But, although some of the family
+were friendly toward me, the father of Shakoona turned more and more
+against us.  The gold of the old chief was offered again and again, and
+at length I heard that there was a likelihood that he would yield,
+although Shakoona still declared that she would throw herself from the
+cliff into the lake rather than marry him.  And this I think she would
+have done, for we loved each other, and do still."
+
+Here the old man stooped over and, tenderly lifting up the head of his
+aged wife, kissed her on the forehead.
+
+"One day some little boys out hunting rabbits among the great rocks
+overheard some earnest talking.  At first they were frightened, and were
+about running home when one of them, who was Shakoona's youngest
+brother, proposed that they creep to the top of the rocks and try and
+see who the talkers were on the other side.  Noiselessly they crawled to
+the top, and then as they peeked over whom should they see but Wahbunoo
+and Oosahmekoo in earnest talk?  They saw the chief with a fire bag that
+seemed heavy and saw him offer it to Wahbunoo, who took it and held it.
+Then the little boys slid down the rocks and returned to the tents.
+Netahwatee's little brother told what he had seen, and the brother told
+his mother and Miskoodell.  They talked it over, and Miskoodell was sent
+to warn us of what was being done.
+
+"So that very night we quietly left the and hurried to a place where
+Netahwatee, who had gone on some hours before, met us with a white man,
+a missionary.  He was pleased to hear from Netahwatee that there was an
+Indian couple who wanted to be married by the Book, in the Christian
+way, and not in the old pagan Indian manner; but," said Kinesasis, with
+a bit of a twinkle in his eye, "he did think it was a queer idea of ours
+that we wanted to be married out there in the forest by moonlight.
+However, as we had with us what he called witnesses, he married us.  We
+did not then return to the village, but went off with some friendly
+relatives at a trading post where the Indians were all Christians.
+Netahwatee and the others who had been with us went back at once and
+told how we had met the missionary and had been married with the Book.
+Strange to say, when Wahbunoo heard this he said he did not care, and
+would not oppose us as we were married by the Book.  He was very
+superstitious, and was afraid that evil would come to him if he seemed
+to be angry with anyone who had had anything to do with the Book.
+
+"It was very different, however, with Oosahmekoo, the old chief.  He was
+wild with anger.  He made many threats.  He was not as cunning as he
+generally was, and so he told his plans to get revenge.  He was going to
+waylay me and kill me on the trail.  Some of my friends overheard his
+threats, and a swift runner put me on my guard.  I felt that my youth
+was a match for his years, and then I had won my loved Shakoona.  So I
+had no fear.  I left my wife among friends, and started on the return
+trail.  We met in conflict, and I was not hurt.  He was quietly buried
+the next day."
+
+Here Kinesasis ceased.  He could say no more that night, the memory of
+the battle came up so vividly before him, although many years had passed
+away since it had occurred.  Since then he and his old wife had become
+Christians.  He paused for an instant, and then went over to the place
+where on the floor the heroine of his story, his true little wife, had
+sat during the long recital.  Then tucking her arm in his, as lovingly
+and as affectionately as any white man could have done, they quickly
+slipped out of the house and returned to their own little dwelling
+place.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+COMMENTS ON KINESASIS'S WONDERFUL STORY--THE PACK OF FURS RECOVERED--
+HONESTY OF INDIANS--THEIR DIFFERENT HUNTING GROUNDS--THE GOLDEN RULE--
+THE DISHONEST FOREIGN INDIAN--HIS SUDDEN DEATH.
+
+The next morning the wonderful story of Kinesasis, which had produced
+such a deep impression on all, was thoroughly discussed.  During its
+recital some one had quietly turned down the lamps, and thus the lights
+from the bright fireplace had full play upon him.  This seemed to add to
+the effect of the scene, as frequently Kinesasis, in his intense
+earnestness and few but strong movements, stood in the bright light or
+turned into a shadowy place.  As the story was light and shadowy itself,
+so also seemed in appearance this dramatic old Indian so eloquent with
+his theme.  He had deeply stirred and excited the boys as he had moved
+along in his story; and not only this, but he had changed their ideas
+concerning him.  This complete revulsion of feeling had come at the
+close, when the old Indian, whom they had thought was so cold and
+destitute of sentiment, had stooped down and kissed his wife, as he had
+also done before during the recital of the story.  It was done in a way
+that was so real and genuine that it completely broke them down.  They
+declared that morning that they would not quickly judge anyone again.
+They had thought him phlegmatic and unlovable, and now here had come out
+from the heart of this Indian, of such a rugged exterior, a story and an
+exhibition of love and devotion more genuine and beautiful than any that
+had ever been revealed to them in song or story.
+
+"And for very many years," said Mrs Ross, "he has been kind and true to
+that quiet, industrious little wife, who as a young maiden was so true
+to him and would undoubtedly have died rather than marry that chief."
+
+"What about his pack of furs?" said Frank.  "And did they find out the
+thief and put the conjurers after him?"
+
+"I am glad you have mentioned it," said Mr Ross.  "I have heard
+Kinesasis tell the story of their recovery, and will give you his
+version of it.  As regards the actual transgressors, they must have been
+the old chief who was killed and the young Indian whom Shakoona had
+refused.  When the old chief was killed the young fellow disappeared and
+was never heard of afterward.  When the leather wigwam that had been cut
+into was carefully examined it was found that the knife had been used on
+the inside, and that the great pack of furs had been handed out, so
+there must have been at least two persons engaged in the robbery.  Weeks
+later some women out snaring rabbits in a dense swampy place found the
+pack cached up among the branches of a great spruce tree.  It was so
+completely hidden in the close branches that it was a wonder that they
+ever discovered it.  The only clue they had was that a great wolverine
+came tumbling out of the tree and hurried away into the dense forest.
+The women, like the men, knew what clever animals these wolverines are
+to find out where venison or other game has been hid away until needed.
+So, as their curiosity was excited, they carefully searched the tree,
+which was a very large one, and there in among the dense branches they
+found the pack of Kinesasis.  They were not able to reach it, but
+reported their discovery when they returned to the village.  Kinesasis
+and others were soon after it.  It was well that they found it when they
+did, as the wolverine had cut through the outer coverings of deerskin,
+and had already ruined several valuable furs.  In an hour more there
+would have been nothing worth taking away, so terribly destructive are
+these animals when they thus find anything of fur or game.
+
+"Strange to say, old Wahbunoo would not accept anything from Kinesasis.
+The death of the old chief had very much disturbed him, and it also gave
+him such an idea of Kinesasis's prowess that he had to respect him.  The
+bag of gold also disappeared, and to this day none knows what became of
+it.  Kinesasis carried his furs to the Hudson Bay Company's store, and
+received enough for them to make him and Shakoona comfortable for many a
+day."
+
+"I have always heard that Indians were so honest with each other about
+their furs and traps," said Alec; "but this stealing of Kinesasis's
+whole pack seems to knock that idea over.  What are we to believe about
+it?"
+
+"What you have heard about the honesty of the Indians is the truth,"
+said Mr Ross.  "This stealing of the furs of Kinesasis was not an
+ordinary theft for gain.  The object of it was to prevent him from
+having sufficient gifts to satisfy the father of the maiden of his
+choice.  The fact that the furs were hid away as they were showed this.
+They could not bury them, as the ground was frozen like granite; they
+dare not burn them for fear of detection; and the ice was too thick on
+the rivers or lakes to be quickly cut through.  It was very evident that
+they did not try to sell them."
+
+"But did not the thieves hide them there so that they could go and get
+them, and sell them when the excitement of their loss had passed over?"
+said Alec, who was a boy who had a habit of seeing things from different
+sides and liked to have all the difficulties cleared up.
+
+Mr Ross admired this trait in Alec's character, and always endeavoured
+to meet it in a way that was helpful to the lad.  So to this last
+question his answer was:
+
+"No Indian who wished to preserve anything of value for future use would
+think of putting it up in such a place.  They all know the thievish,
+destructive habits of the wolverines, and other animals of that kind,
+that quickly detect and destroy everything destructible if placed in a
+tree, in the manner in which this was done.  The wonder was that this
+was not found out much sooner and completely destroyed."
+
+"Tell us, please," said Sam, "how the hunters act toward each other in
+regard to their hunting grounds and furs.  Have they any titles to the
+different places where they hunt year after year?"
+
+"They have no written titles," said Mr Ross, "but for generations the
+same families have hunted in the same localities.  Then some Indians,
+generation after generation, are noted as famous hunters of certain
+animals.  For example, Big Tom is noted as a successful moose hunter,
+and so were his immediate ancestors.  Others made a speciality of the
+beavers, others of the otter, and thus it went.  These Indian families
+naturally had localities where these different animals abounded,
+although there were seasons when other varieties of fur-bearing animals
+swarmed through these regions, and for a time were really more numerous
+than the ones there generally hunted.  As might have been expected, the
+hunters of the moose, reindeer, black bears, and other large animals
+that wander over immense districts had the right of following them in
+any direction.  The hunters and trappers of the rich fur-bearing
+animals, however, generally kept in certain regions year after year.
+Sometimes a hunter, in order to reach his own grounds, had to pass
+through, what we might call the preserves of three or four different
+families.  I once accompanied a hunter to his grounds, and we saw no
+less than seventy traps of other Indians on the trail as we passed along
+mile after mile.  In one of them was a beautiful mink.  My Indian
+companion at once stopped, and, putting his pack off his back, opened it
+and cut off some of his bait.  Then he took the mink out of the trap and
+reset it, supplying it with his own bait.  The mink he tied to the top
+of a young sapling, which he bent down for the purpose.  When he let go
+of the young tree it sprang up so that the mink hung in the air, about
+fifteen feet from the ground.  Here it was safe from the prowling
+wolverines and other animals.  Then the Indian made some peculiar marks
+upon the tree with his axe.  His pack was then again shouldered, and we
+proceeded on our way.  I was very much interested in his proceedings,
+and so when he had completed his work I asked him if that trap belonged
+to his brother or some relative.
+
+"`No,' he replied, `I do not yet know whose hunting ground this is, but
+my duty is to do as you have seen me act.  Perhaps when that hunter
+comes along to-morrow or next day he will find another mink in that
+trap.  Then with two instead of one he will be the more pleased.'"
+
+"Well done, honest Indian!" shouted the boys, when they heard this.
+"There is a lesson for many a white man."
+
+"And boys, too," added Sam.
+
+Continuing, Mr Ross said: "This was the understood custom.  It might
+seem a little burdensome on the man who had the farthest to go, and
+quite a tax on his supply of bait.  But then he had the advantage when
+he reached his hunting grounds, in that there were fewer human
+footsteps, and, in all probability, correspondingly more game."
+
+"Were there no exceptions--none who would take a mink or otter if they
+had a chance from a neighbour's trap, if they thought they could escape
+detection?" asked Alec.
+
+"I only remember of one case occurring in many years," said Mr Ross,
+"and there was soon a dead man at the end of it.  It was the winter
+after the great flood in Red River.  A number of Indians who lived near
+its mouth were driven out by the great flood.  Some of them came into
+this North country.  The most of them were industrious and worked hard.
+By fishing, shooting, and hunting where no persons specially claimed the
+localities they did well, and got on as did the others.  There were a
+few among them who apparently did nothing, but lounged about and lived
+on the industrious ones.  No notice was taken of these.  There was one
+man, however, who soon began to be talked about.  He was not known to
+have any traps, nor was he ever seen to make any dead falls or other
+things to catch the fur-bearing animals.  Yet he often sauntered into
+the trading post and brought out from under his coat a fine mink or
+marten, and sometimes even a splendid otter.  Soon some of the hunters
+began to speak about strange tracks about their traps.  One hunter told
+of how he had visited one of his otter traps and had found a quantity of
+hairs of an otter on the teeth, and yet the trap was set.  He had also
+observed where somebody who chewed tobacco had been spitting on the snow
+near this same otter trap.  Now, while these northern Indians are great
+smokers, they never chew tobacco, but this suspected man, who had in the
+Red River country been much with the whites, was nearly always chewing
+and spitting.  Then there was the suspicious circumstance that a few
+days after, he was offering at the Company's store a fine otter skin for
+sale.  The Indians then were nearly all pagans, and there was no law in
+the land but their own tribal one.  A secret council was held, and it
+was decided to put a watch on this man.  Two or three of the cleverest
+Indians were appointed to watch his steps.  Cunning though he was, they
+were too clever for him, and they so well followed him up that they saw
+him take a mink out of a trap.  Then, resetting the trap, he hid the
+mink under his coat, and rapidly disappeared in the forest.  The
+detectives did not rush out and capture him.  They did not even let him
+know of their presence.  As quietly as they had followed him, so they
+did return.  The secret council was again summoned.  A message was sent
+to a noted conjurer of the tribe, famous for his deadly poisons.  Two
+days after a big Indian lay dead in the birch wigwam of one of the Red
+River Indian families.  The burial was very quick and quiet.  Not much
+was said.  Indians do not, on some subjects, talk much, but it was
+observed for long years after that no hunter ever complained of his
+traps being robbed."
+
+"I cannot see," said Frank, "why any honest person could complain of any
+such laws as those.  They were certain that he was guilty, and then they
+quickly punished him."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Ross; "to some it may seem severe that he had to be
+killed, but the severity in this case crushed out the crime.  None dare
+imitate him for fear of suffering his doom."
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+HOME AMUSEMENTS AND STUDIES--HAPPY DAYS AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE--STORIES OF
+THE EARLY HUNTERS--METHODS OF HUNTING BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF
+FIREARMS--WOLVES MORE DREADED THEN--STORY OF TWO OF KINESASIS'S
+CHILDREN--KILLED BY WOLVES--SHAKOONA'S SORROW--SAVED BY THE CARESSES OF
+LITTLE CHILDREN.
+
+Sagasta-Weekee was at all times a cozy, homelike place, but never did it
+seem more inviting and comfortable than when blizzard storms roared
+round it, or when fierce snowstorms seemed to make their mightiest
+efforts to see if they could not bury it in their enormous drifts of
+whitest snow.  These terrific wintry gales sometimes made the house
+tremble on its foundations, and occasionally so shook the building that
+pictures hung on the wall would swing, and spoons in a tumbler on the
+mantelpiece would perceptibly jingle.  But, in spite of the war of the
+elements outside, all was brightness and bliss within.  There were
+endless resources of innocent amusement or work for all.  A splendid,
+useful course of readings had been marked out for the boys, and Mr Ross
+saw that this, as well as the books prescribed by their teachers at
+home, were faithfully read and studied.  Then the rest of the time was
+devoted to recreation and work.  A capital workshop, well supplied with
+tools, including a complete turning lathe, as well as fine saws for
+delicate fretwork, was always open to them, and in it many a pleasant
+and useful hour was spent.
+
+Frank excelled as the mechanical genius of the trio, and so generally to
+him was assigned the work of making any difficult repairs needed on the
+dog-sleds or harness, for it was a point of honour among the boys to
+keep their own outfits in perfect condition themselves.
+
+Sam excelled, as might have been expected from his nationality, as a
+reader and reciter, and during the long evenings added much to the
+profit and diversion of the household.
+
+Alec had a sweet, well-cultivated voice for one so young, and
+particularly excelled in singing the sweet songs and ballads of old
+Scotland.  Often amidst the hush of a still, quiet night, or even in the
+lulls between the roar of the blizzard or tempest, might have been heard
+the sweet notes of "Auld Lang Syne," "Annie Laurie," "Comin' Through the
+Rye," "John Anderson, My Jo," and many others that brought up happy
+memories of home, and touched for good all listening hearts.  Another
+source of interest to the boys was for Mr Ross to invite in some
+intelligent old Indian, like Memotas, Big Tom, Mustagan, Kinesasis, or
+Paulette, to tell some remarkable incident of his life, either as a
+hunter or traveller.  Then, as there were living at the village not far
+away a number of Indians who had gone out with great Arctic adventurers
+or explorers, and had been gone for years, some of them had very
+remarkable stories to tell.
+
+As Kinesasis had had charge of the dogs during the summer, and was still
+much employed by Mr Ross on various jobs about the place, the boys
+became very well acquainted with him.  He was a thorough Indian in his
+actions and modes of thought, and only saw things from his own stand-
+point.  He was very observant, and had been quietly studying these three
+young "palefaces," whom his master, the Ookemou, Mr Ross, had brought
+across the great sea.  At first their active, demonstrative ways, so
+different from the quiet and taciturn manners of young Indians, tried
+him considerably.  Yet he soon became accustomed to them.  Then their
+grit and courage and perseverance under difficulties soon won his
+admiration.  They had their mishaps, and, of course, in their endless
+sports and adventures they had to take their share of knocks, but under
+them all they were so good-natured and resourceful, as well as resolute
+and fearless, that the old Indian talked much about them among his own
+people, and said: "It was no wonder that the palefaces succeeded, if all
+their boys were like these three."  But what completely made him their
+friend was Alec's terrible adventure with the wolves, and his signal
+triumph over their instinct and cunning by his resourceful tact and
+splendid endurance.  Poor Kinesasis had reason to rejoice over every
+victory obtained over these fierce northern wolves.  Some years before
+this they had during his absence broken into his wigwam and devoured two
+of his children.  Some time later Mr Ross told the story to the boys as
+he had heard it from Kinesasis himself.  It was as follows:
+
+"It was long ago, before the white traders had sold many guns to the
+Indians.  Then the game was very much more plentiful than it is now in
+the forests.  The wild animals were then also very much tamer.  The bows
+and arrows of the hunters made but little noise in comparison with the
+loud report of the gunpowder.  The result was that the animals were much
+more easily approached."
+
+"Is it true, then," asked Sam, "that the young animals now, that have
+not as yet heard the firing of a gun, are wilder than the young ones
+were before gunpowder came into use?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Mr Ross.  "It is well-known by those who have
+studied it that all wild animals, and even birds, very soon become
+wilder and more alert and watchful after the introduction of gunpowder,
+and, what is stranger, they seem to be able to impart to their progeny
+this same spirit of fear and caution."
+
+"I have often wondered," said Frank, "how it was that the Indians were
+able to kill sufficient game to keep themselves alive before they began
+to purchase gunpowder."
+
+"What I have said in reply to Sam's question partly answers yours,"
+answered Mr Ross.  "When a boy I often talked with old hunters who for
+many years hunted ere they fired a gun.  They killed partridges with
+clubs, or with a noose on the end of a pole, as some of them can do yet,
+as has already been seen.  Then they had no difficulty in crawling up to
+within a few feet of the deer or beavers."
+
+"What about the more savage animals, such as the bears and wolves?"
+asked Alec.
+
+"As regards the bears, as the hides of the old fellows were hard to
+pierce with arrows sufficient to give a mortal wound, the Indians
+depended mostly on the hand-to-hand conflict with the knife or tomahawk.
+With the wolves it was different.  Before the guns were introduced the
+Indians dreaded the encounters with the wolves more than any other
+animals.  It is true that they feared the fire as much then as now, but
+the Indians suffered from many disadvantages.  Steel axes were but few,
+and very expensive.  Now, armed with guns, behind a good fire, hunters
+are comparatively safe.  Then, the wolves patiently waited until the
+limited wood supply was exhausted, and then closed in for the final
+struggle.  It was then teeth against tomahawks, and the chances were
+more in favour of the wolves than now.  Solitary hunters or single
+families caught by a pack were frequently overpowered and devoured.
+Climbing up into the trees afforded a temporary respite, as wolves
+cannot, like bears, there follow their victims.  But the wolves were
+persistent besiegers, and woe to the unfortunate hunter who was thus
+treed by them unless help was near.  For days they would keep watch, day
+and night, until the unfortunate one, chilled and benumbed by the bitter
+cold, fell into their midst and was speedily devoured.  In those days
+the wolves were much more numerous than they are now, and more
+courageous in their attacks on the wigwams or even small settlements of
+the Indians.  When distempers cut off the rabbits, or the deer were
+scarce, the wolves were very audacious in their attacks.
+
+"It was one winter when the cold was terrible and the snow unusually
+deep that the sad tragedy came to the wigwam of Kinesasis.  The reindeer
+had not come down from the barren plains as usual that winter, and the
+other animals generally hunted by the wolves were few and far between.
+Some of the Indian hunters had had some very narrow escapes, and the
+result was that very seldom did anyone venture far alone into his
+hunting grounds.  Kinesasis was always a man of great courage and
+strength.  He laughed at the caution of the others, and boldly pushed on
+to his distant hunting grounds whenever he saw a prospect of success.
+His wigwam, in which he left Shakoona and the two little ones during his
+absence, was made as warm and comfortable as such a habitation can be.
+It was arranged with the best of birch bark, and around outside, up to
+within a few feet of the top, Kinesasis piled the dry moss of that
+country, which grows there so plentifully.  He cut abundance of wood,
+and left plenty of frozen meat and fish on the high staging outside.
+The only drawback was that the wigwam was situated on the outskirts of
+the village, close to the dark forest.  Once a day, when the ice would
+be cut by the men of the village, Shakoona would take her buckets, made
+of the skin of the sturgeon, and go to the lake for her supply of water.
+It did not take her very long to make the trip, and she loitered not on
+the way, as she generally had to leave her two little ones alone.
+However, as the little girl was eight years of age and her brother only
+two years younger, the mother knew they were quite able to take care of
+themselves under ordinary circumstances during her brief absence from
+them.
+
+"One day, however, when she returned she was horrified beyond all
+expression to find that a couple of great wolves had noiselessly crawled
+in from the forest, and were greedily devouring her children.  With a
+scream, but not with a faint, she threw one of the leather buckets of
+water on the smouldering fire which burned on the ground in the centre
+of the wigwam.  Then she instantly seized an axe, which fortunately was
+near the door by which she had entered.  The clouds of steam which
+filled the wigwam quite disconcerted the wolves.  When she had entered
+they had at once begun to growl more savagely, and seemed as though they
+would spring at her.  The clouds of hot steam at once stopped their
+snarling, as well as their tearing at the bodies of the children, and,
+before they could do any further injury, Shakoona with one blow cut
+through the backbone of one, severing the spinal cord, thus rendering
+him powerless to move.  The other one sprang at her ere she could
+disengage the axe for another blow.  The wolf's object had been to catch
+her by the throat, but she had quickly thrown up her arm as a guard, and
+into it the cruel brute sank his great yellow fangs.
+
+"Shakoona was in a terrible position now but her presence of mind did
+not desert her, and so she quickly backed around the fire in such a way
+that before the wolf realised his position his hind feet were in the
+still red-hot embers of the fire.  With a howl of pain he let go his
+grip on her arm and made for the door, which was of mooseskin, and which
+like a curtain had dropped back into place.
+
+"In the meantime Shakoona's screams had been heard, and Indians from
+other wigwams speedily rushed to her help.  Little did they realise, as
+they were coming, her sad bereavement.  The first one to attempt to
+enter was an Indian woman.  Just as she was entering the wolf with
+scorched feet was rushing out.  The collision, as they met, knocked the
+woman over, and so delayed the wolf for a second or two that the next
+comer, who happened to be a stalwart hunter, was able to draw his
+tomahawk, and with one strong blow drove the keen edge of his weapon
+into the animal's brain.  When these two Indians, and others who had
+quickly joined them, had entered the wigwam they saw a terrible sight--
+two children half devoured and a mother so overwhelmed with sorrow that
+not a tear would come from those great sad eyes.  Then there was the
+wolf with severed spine, but still alive and looking more fiendish than
+ever.  Very soon was the savage brute dispatched and his body thrown out
+of the wigwam.
+
+"Loving hands quickly arranged and covered up what was left of the two
+children, and efforts were made to comfort the poor mother in her
+terrible sorrow.  Swift runners were sent away to Kinesasis, to tell him
+of his great loss and to bring him home, as many feared if his wife did
+not soon begin to weep she would die.  When Kinesasis heard the news he
+too was nearly heart-broken, but when he reached his wigwam and beheld
+Shakoona he crushed down his own sorrow to try and comfort her, who had,
+on account of the way the great bereavement had come to her, suffered
+much more than he.  For days and days Shakoona was as one in a dream.
+She was gentle as usual, but those great eyes, so sad and dry, seemed to
+haunt all who visited her.  All said she soon would die unless she got
+relief.  They tried many ways, but all in vain, until at length a kindly
+Indian woman went out, and brought in the boys and girls, with whom her
+little ones used to play.  At first Shakoona seemed pained by their
+presence, but as they looked into those sad eyes they began weeping,
+and, childlike, they threw their arms around her and wept.  Passively at
+first she received these fondlings, but soon the children's caresses
+broke down the barriers, and the hot tears began to flow; and the woman
+was saved from death or insanity.  But her hair turned white shortly
+afterward, and she has ever since been that sad little woman that you
+have seen her.  Kinesasis has never been cruel to her, as, alas! too
+many of the pagan Indian husbands are to their wives."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+THE BEAVERS, AND SOMETHING ABOUT THEM--TWO HUNTERS AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE--A
+GENERAL INVITATION TO A BEAVER HUNT ACCEPTED--THE PREPARATIONS--THE
+TRIP--DOG-TRAVELLING IN THE WOODS--SAUCY WILD ANIMALS--THE WOLF'S COVE--
+THE BOYS' PLUNGE IN THE SNOWDRIFT--THE RESCUE.
+
+The beaver is a very interesting animal.  In the previous summer the
+boys had been fortunate enough to see a colony of beavers at work during
+a beautiful moonlight night.  They had also subsequently examined the
+wonderful dam these industrious, ingenious creatures had made, and were
+much amazed and surprised not only at its size, but also at the clever
+way in which every part of it was constructed to meet any emergency that
+might occur by flood or freshet.
+
+They also noticed that the Indians did very little hunting of the
+beaver, or, indeed, of any of the rich fur-bearing animals during the
+summer months.  Now, however, that the winter had come they were all
+alert and active, and as soon as their fall fisheries were completed
+they began making preparations for the winter harvest of furs.  On their
+success in a great measure depended the happiness and comfort of
+themselves and their families.  They lived too far north to cultivate
+the land with any degree of success, and hence it was only by the sale
+of their furs that they were able to buy the essential necessaries for
+their simple lives.
+
+The fur is only considered prime in the winter months.  That killed in
+summer is thin and poor, and for it the hunters receive but a low price.
+But when the cold weather sets in, the fur becomes thick and valuable.
+Then the hunters leave their homes and go to the distant hunting
+grounds, often hundreds of miles away.  Many are their hardships and
+privations.  They take but little food with them, and so have to depend
+on what they can hunt or shoot.  In some regions where the fur-bearing
+animals are fairly numerous those that are good for food are very few.
+The result sometimes is that Indians doing well in getting the rich furs
+of the black and silver foxes, otters, minks, and martens, and some
+other fur-bearing animals, are nearly starving most of the time.  On the
+other hand, those who succeed in capturing abundance of beavers, wild
+cats, muskrats, and bears, live very well, as all of these animals are
+eaten by the natives, although their furs do not bring as high a price
+as the others.
+
+The discovery of a large beaver house is a great piece of good luck to
+an Indian hunter.  Sometimes, when the house is a small one, a hunter
+will with his axe only put his mark of ownership on a tree near by, then
+leave it undisturbed.  Scores of hunters may happen to come along, but
+when they see that mark they never think of trying to get those beavers.
+It may be that the owner will mark it the second year, and again leave
+it for the beaver to multiply the third time.  Each year the beavers are
+undisturbed they take down and enlarge their house, until, if thus left
+for years, and the dam keeps good and the water supply sufficient, they
+will continue extending their habitation until it is as large as a good-
+sized haystack.
+
+There came one day to Sagasta-weekee, on a visit, a couple of clever
+Indian hunters who were great friends of Mr Ross.  Among other things
+they told him, was that two nights away they had a large beaver house
+which they had preserved for three years, and that they were soon going
+to take out the beavers.  This was just the news Mr Ross wanted to
+hear, as he had often talked with the boys about these wonderful
+animals, and was anxious that they should see how the cleverness of the
+hunters outmatched all the skill and sagacity of the beavers.
+
+Then, as it was about a hundred miles away, it would be a capital
+winter's trip and give them some idea of the Indian hunter's life.  They
+would have to camp out in the wintry forest, and would thus find the
+difference between sleeping in the summer, with the temperature up to
+eighty, and sleeping in the wintry cold, with the spirit thermometer
+perhaps indicating fifty below zero.
+
+When the boys heard of the promised trip they were wild with excitement.
+As much preparation had to be made, the day selected to start was about
+a week after the visit of the two Indians.  It was indeed a busy week.
+Each of the three boys was to take his dog-train.  They would be
+expected to take on their own sleds their beds, clothing, and part of
+the supplies.  Snowshoes were made for them, and every day they
+diligently practiced this new method of locomotion.  They had many
+amusing tumbles.  Sometimes, where the snowdrifts were deep, when they
+attempted to pass over, they somehow or other would get the snowshoes so
+tangled up that over they would go on their heads.  The more they
+struggled, the deeper they sank in the light, fleecy snow, until it
+seemed as though nothing was visible but a pair of snowshoes wildly
+wobbling about.  Then the experienced Indian who always accompanied them
+would come to the rescue.  Gliding up gracefully on his own snowshoes to
+the struggling lad, he would reach down and, seizing him under the arms,
+would quickly lift him up and once more place him on his feet amidst the
+laughter of the others.  Thus they practiced and fell, tried again and
+again, until the knack was accomplished and they could get along very
+nicely.
+
+In the meantime diligent preparations were being made indoors for this
+excursion to the home of the beavers.  Abundance of fat food was cooked.
+Dogshoes were manufactured, as well as large moccasins for the
+travellers.
+
+In due time the start was made.  It was to the boys a most unique and
+novel affair.  First ran the guide, a stalwart Indian, who could easily
+keep ahead of the fastest train.  It is the duty of the guide, by
+running on in front, to indicate the best route.  He must never make a
+track where it is not safe for the dogs with the heavy sleds to follow.
+If he finds a great fallen tree in the way it is his duty, not to jump
+over the trunk and push on, but to circle around it where the party
+following can easily advance.  In rocky places he must ever have in mind
+the loaded sleds following, and walk or run where there is an available
+trail.  He must never go between two trees growing so closely together
+that there will be any difficulty for the widest sled following to pass
+between them.  He is supposed to know the strength or weakness of the
+weakest train or runner, and so must decide on each resting as well as
+camping place.  In his footsteps all are to implicitly follow, and so
+his position is one of great responsibility.  As a natural result, he is
+supposed to receive much higher pay than the ordinary dog-driver, who
+has not much care beyond that of his own dog-train.
+
+This being the first trip made in this direction this season, there was
+not the least vestige of a road or trail.  Tornado blasts had swept
+through the forests which abounded most of the way.  The result was that
+fallen trees were very numerous.  Some of them were so tangled together
+that it was at times easier to cut through than make the long detour to
+get around them.  Knowing this, the guide carried with him an axe
+instead of a gun.
+
+An old, experienced, powerful train of dogs went first.  The sagacious
+leader never swerved from the tracks of the guide.  No matter how
+winding or difficult the trail, he never wandered from it.  Sometimes he
+could see the guide straight ahead, while the path seemed to veer at
+right angles.  While the sight of the guide ahead might stimulate him to
+greater effort and speed, still he knew his duty was to keep in the
+well-defined track.  A straight cut to the guide might run him into a
+dangerous gully or over a steep precipice.  So, knowing his duty,
+perhaps taught it by bitter experience--and dogs have long memories--he
+tried his best in his doglike way to do his duty.
+
+Mr Ross's train followed next.  They were jet-black in colour, and were
+large, magnificent dogs.  They were so trained that they as readily
+responded to his calls as a good horse does to the pulling of the reins.
+
+Then following came the boys with their three trains.  Frank, having the
+largest dogs, had the lead.  Sam came next, and then Alec with the
+lightest but by far the fleetest train in the whole party.  Behind was
+another sled of Mr Ross's with more supplies, and then, bringing up the
+rear, was a sled belonging to the two Indians who owned the beaver
+house.  While one of them drove the train, the other, on account of the
+many fallen trees in the way that had to be cut out, was on ahead with
+Memotas, the guide.
+
+As they thus set off they made quite a display.  The boys were simply
+wild with the excitement of the hour.  They looked very picturesque in
+their handsome outfits.  Their deerskin suits, over the warmest of
+flannel underclothing, were very beautiful, as they were made under Mrs
+Ross's direction by the most clever Indian women.  They were beautifully
+adorned with bead and silkwork and trimmed with fur.  Their overcoats,
+as before stated, were made of the heavy white blankets of the Hudson
+Bay Company.  These blankets are very warm and firm, as they are
+especially made for that cold country.  The caps and mittens were of the
+finest fur.  Their moccasins were extra large, to allow for the
+additional wrapping of duffel required over the warm woollen hose.  They
+also had warm leggings of strouds, beautifully fringed and fastened with
+strong garters artistically worked with porcupine quills.  A warm, well-
+lined hood or capote was attached to each overcoat.  This the boys found
+of very great service and comfort, especially when their inexperienced
+sleigh dogs were unable to keep the heads of their sleds, at times, from
+striking against some snow-laden tree with such force that the snow in
+great quantities came tumbling about them.  But for these capotes much
+of the snow would have found its way into their faces and down under the
+collars of their coats.
+
+To be like the rest of the party, the lads were each the possessor of a
+fine dog-whip.  Of course, they were not so long and heavy as those
+ordinarily used, but they could, when well handled, make a pistol-like
+crack, and for this purpose only were they used.
+
+The first few miles of the route were on the ice over places well-known
+to all, as in their frequent outings they had gone in this direction.
+It was well-known to Alec, for it was along this very way that he had
+skated so rapidly after leaving the river, with the howling wolves
+behind him.
+
+On and on they pushed to the extreme end of the lake, for they wished to
+avail themselves of as much of the ice route as possible, as it is so
+much easier travelling on the ice than in the forest, where there is no
+trail.
+
+When the sleds reached the spot where they were to enter the forest they
+found that the guide and his Indian comrade had cut down some dry trees
+and made up a splendid fire.  No sooner had the trains arrived than some
+of the sleds were hastily untied, the deerskin wrappings which were on
+all were opened, and a couple of large kettles were speedily filled with
+the clear, light snow and placed on the roaring fire.  So light and
+feathery is the snow that the kettles have to be filled and refilled a
+good many times ere sufficient is put in to make them full of water.
+Then the provision bags were opened, and abundance of food was taken out
+for all.
+
+One of the Indians, who was skillful at this kind of work, was detailed
+as special cook and general waiter for Mr Ross and the boys.  Very
+quickly he had ready the dinner of the good things Mrs Ross had
+prepared for them.  The boys were surprised at the quantity of the fat
+food that was placed before them, and were almost ashamed of the vigour
+and capacity of their appetites.  Nature, true to her instincts, puts in
+the craving for the kind of food most essential for people in different
+parts of the world.
+
+About an hour was allowed for the dinner halt, and then the journey was
+resumed.  There were the usual mishaps that necessarily belonged to this
+mode of travel.  Sleds were occasionally upset, and if at the time
+anyone happened to be riding, he was buried in the snow, from which he
+emerged none the worse for the plunge, but generally amidst the laughter
+of those more fortunate.  Several times a fox or some other animal ran
+across the trail, and then it required some effort and sternness to
+control the dogs and prevent them from starting off after these animals,
+which are their natural foes.  The older dogs had learned somewhat by
+experience the folly of trying while thus harnessed to heavy sleds to
+capture wild foxes, and so merely confined their efforts to loud
+barkings and a little more vigorous tugging at their traces.  The
+younger and less disciplined trains, however, with less discretion and
+more zeal, at once dashed away from the beaten trail made by the trains
+ahead of them, and recklessly plunged into the forest after the game.
+
+"Who would imagine," said Frank, "that dogs so heavily loaded could thus
+fairly fly over the snow-covered logs and rocks and among the trees at
+such a rate?"
+
+They learned then, and in many an experience afterward, of the latent
+strength there is in an apparently wearied dog.  Only give him the
+stimulus to develop it, and it is simply surprising to all who witness
+it.
+
+Alec's fleet train was the most excited and intractable.  Bruce could
+not stand the sight of a saucy fox or a snarling wild cat passing across
+the trail, only a few hundred feet ahead of him, with any degree of
+equanimity.  After him he must and would go, in spite of Alec's hardest
+efforts to keep him in the trail.  Bruce, with the other three dogs,
+about as eager as himself, would often leave the track and with a spurt
+get off several hundred yards in the woods before he could be stopped.
+Sometimes their stopping would be rather abrupt.  Generally the trees
+were so close together that it was not long ere the head of the sled
+came in violent collision with a great one.  This, of course, stopped
+them most effectually.  At other times, while Bruce, the leader, decided
+to take one side of a small tree, the dog next to him took the other
+side.  This divergency of views on the part of the dogs also quickly put
+an end to their advance.
+
+Alec, in his determined efforts to arrest their progress at these times,
+did not always escape unscathed.  When in a bad forest where the snow
+was deep, he often would stumble and fall, and, before he could regain
+his feet, had acted the part of a snowplough as he was rapidly dragged
+along.  He received some painful bruises, but he pluckily kept to his
+work, and so had his dogs in fairly good submission before many such
+trips were made.
+
+A laughable but fortunately not dangerous adventure happened to the boys
+and their trains at a place called by the Indians the Wolf's Cove, on
+account of the many wolves that formerly infested the place.  There it
+was necessary to cross a very deep valley, or ravine.  The hillsides
+were very steep and slippery under the heavy snowfall.  As the dog-sleds
+have no brakes upon them, the only way of arresting their speedy motion
+when going down a steep hill is for the driver to hold back the sled by
+the strong rope which is always attached to the rear end and is called
+the tail rope.
+
+If the hill is steep or slippery, and the load heavy, this is a
+difficult operation and requires much care.  Owing to the way in which
+the dogs are attached to the sleds, the drivers are utterly powerless to
+render any assistance in arresting the progress of the sled.
+
+When the sleds reached the ravine there was a short halt ere the first
+descent was made.
+
+The old, experienced Indian drivers were of the opinion that the boys
+were not strong or heavy enough on their moccasined feet to hold back
+their sleds, and suggested that, after they themselves had gone down
+with the loads, they return and take charge of the trains of the boys.
+This help, kindly offered, was rejected by the lads, who, having managed
+fairly well thus far, except where the passing game bothered them, were
+anxious to try this new experiment.
+
+Mr Ross at first was also a little dubious about it, but youthful
+enthusiasm and love of new adventures conquered.  While the first sleds
+were descending the boys and the rest of the party not immediately
+occupied watched the operation with a good deal of interest.
+
+"Faith," said Sam, "it's as easy as sliding down the banisters."
+
+"The hill seems greased for the occasion," said Frank, as he noticed the
+ease and rapidity with which the sleds slid down in spite of the grip
+and strong holdback of the heavy, experienced Indian drivers.
+
+"Plenty of snow to tumble into," said Alec, who could not forget the way
+he had ploughed through it when his dogs ran away with him as they
+attempted to catch the wild cat.
+
+Fortunately or unfortunately for the boys, there had been a good deal of
+wind in this part of the country since the last snowfall, and so now
+there was a large drift of perhaps twenty feet that had been blown into
+the bottom of the first steep hill.  The guides, with some help, had, in
+the route through this deep snow, gone backward and forward a few times
+on their heavy snowshoes, and had packed down a trail sufficiently hard
+for the dogs and sleds.  All the heavy sleds with their drivers went on
+ahead of the boys.  Thus they, coming last, had the advantage of the
+packing of the snow.
+
+Sam, jolly and reckless, was the first of the boys to make the descent,
+while the others followed closely behind, Frank being next to him, and
+Alec bringing up the rear.
+
+For a time Sam succeeded very well in imitating the experienced drivers.
+He kept his feet well and firmly planted on the snowy surface, and held
+back his sled in fine style.  The other boys also succeeded in starting
+well on the trail.  They had not gone very far, however, before a small
+grey wolf, that had been hidden in one of the den-like recesses in the
+rocks, now thoroughly alarmed by the dingling of so many bells and the
+sounds of so many voices, suddenly sprang from his retreat, which was in
+the cliffs on the other side beyond the guide.  Plunging into the deep
+snow, he made the most desperate efforts to escape by retreating up the
+distant hillside in front of the whole party.  Fierce fires had raged
+through these woods a year so so before, nearly destroying the whole of
+the timber.  The result was that the country was now here quite open and
+objects as large as a wolf could be seen for a long distance.  From
+their higher position the boys and their dogs could much more distinctly
+see the wolf on the opposite hillside than could the rest of the party,
+who, having safely made the descent, were now on the beginning of the
+rise on the other side, awaiting the coming of the boys.  They did not
+have long to wait.  The sight of that wolf, so clearly seen in the
+bright sunshine of that wintry day on the snowy hillside, was too much
+for their brief discipline.  Spitfire could not stand it.  With a howl
+he was off, and well seconded were his efforts by the dogs he was
+leading.  Sam was instantly jerked off his feet, but he pluckily held on
+to the tail rope of his sled.  Well was it for him that his pants were
+made of mooseskin, for they had a good testing of their qualities now,
+as rapidly on them he was now tobogganing down that steep, slippery
+hillside.
+
+Behind him came the other dog-trains.  Of them the boys had also lost
+control.  Such was the steepness of the hill that soon the momentum
+obtained by the sleds caused them to go faster than the dogs could run.
+Here was the real danger.  Frank and Alec saw how it was faring with
+Sam, and were also quick to observe that with that wolf so plainly
+visible it would be utterly impossible for them on a downhill, slippery
+grade to control their now excited dogs, they, boylike, took the risks,
+and at once threw themselves upon their sleds, and hung on to the
+deerskin thongs, with which the loads were securely tied.
+
+"Hurrah for somewhere!" shouted Alec.
+
+"Clear the track!" was Frank's hurried shout to Sam, whom he saw still
+in the trail, down which he was now furiously coming.
+
+The guide on his snowshoes, in tramping out the trail had near the
+bottom made a little turn to the left in order to escape the deepest
+snowdrift which the wind had there piled up.  The foremost trains, with
+their powerful, experienced drivers, had been able to make this detour
+all right, and now had stopped only a little way ahead.
+
+By the time the trains of the boys had reached this part of the descent
+they were in a most thoroughly mixed-up condition.  Boys, dogs, and
+sleds were literally so tangled up that they were to the rest of the
+party an indistinguishable mass as down they came, and at the bend in
+the road, instead of being able to turn, they all flew into the heavy
+drift of snow which was straight before them, and almost disappeared.
+There was quick work for the onlookers now to do.  At first they had
+been almost convulsed with laughter, as they saw the mixed-up assortment
+coming down in such a way.  Then, when the whole flew by and buried
+itself so thoroughly in the deep drift of light, fleecy snow, there was
+instantly a good deal of anxiety for the boys.
+
+As they began the work of rescue the sight before them was unique.
+There is a hand working desperately, and here is a foot waving in the
+air.  There is a dog's head emerging as the animal makes a desperate
+struggle to get out, and there is the curly tail of another coming into
+view.  Only such a land could show such a sight.  Alec, the last to
+plunge in, was the first rescued, although he had been completely buried
+out of sight, as had been the others.  Frank was the next pulled out,
+feet foremost.  Sam was the last rescued.  His tobogganing slide had
+been abruptly ended by his being entangled in the harness of Frank's
+train coming on behind him.  Then it seemed to him as though the head of
+the oncoming sled, like the cowcatcher on an engine, had picked him and
+the dogs up, and in an instant more, he said, he was sent flying as from
+a catapult into the drift, the instant the sled left the track.  So far
+ahead was he thus shot, that the sleds stopped before they reached him,
+and so, although he was deeply buried, he was not run over.
+
+Not one of the boys had a scratch or a bruise.  The only discomfort was
+that, in spite of big mittens and capotes, so much snow had found its
+way where it was, to say the least, not very welcome.  But it was light
+and feathery, and was soon dusted off or shaken out, and then the work
+was to get out and disentangle the dogs.  This was no easy matter.  Some
+of them, in the wild rush down the hill, when struck by the sleds had
+rolled over and over in such a way that their traces looked more like
+ropes than anything else.  Others of them were now in such uncomfortable
+positions that they were howling most piteously for help, while others
+that had happened to be thrown together, and perhaps each thinking that
+the others were to blame for this mix-up, were as vigorously fighting as
+their entanglement in their harnesses and sleds would allow.
+
+After the rescue of the lads the Indians unfastened one of their most
+powerful dog-trains from one of the other sleds and hitched it to the
+rear of these buried ones, from which they had, with the snow shoes as
+shovels, so thrown the snow that they could be reached.  With a good
+deal of effort and a great deal of fun they were pulled out one by one.
+The dogs of each train were naturally indignant at thus being
+unceremoniously dragged backward.  As each sled and train were thus
+hauled out and straightened in the trail, and the harness untangled, the
+amount of damage could be ascertained.  With the exception of a few
+loose articles that were buried somewhere in the drift there was no
+loss.  It is true that some of the dogs seemed a little sore and stiff
+for a few days, but beyond that there was nothing serious.  Snow is a
+capital substance in which to tumble if there is plenty of it.
+
+This adventure, which was often talked about and caused many a hearty
+laugh, delayed the party about a couple of hours.  As the hill up which
+they were now to go was about as steep as the one down which they had so
+quickly come, it was decided to fasten two trains of dogs to each sled.
+This, while making the work easier on the dogs, caused considerable
+delay.  The result was that when the whole party had reached the top
+Memotas decided that it would be best there to camp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+STILL ON THE WAY TO THE BEAVER HOUSE--THE WINTER CAMP IN THE WOODS--WORK
+FOR ALL--FEEDING THE DOGS--OUR BOYS GUARDING THEIR OWN TRAINS--THE
+EVENING MEAL--BITTER COLD--MILK IN LUMPS OF ICE--EVENING PRAYERS--THE
+WINTRY CAMP BED--TUCKED IN--MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS IN THE FOREST--SMOTHERING
+SENSATIONS--SAM'S NIGHTMARE--BREAKFAST--TRICKY DOGS--METHODS OF
+CAPTURE--CARIOLES AND SLEDS RELOADED--TRAINS HARNESSED--JOURNEY RESUMED.
+
+A Winter camp in the North Land, and the temperature anywhere from
+thirty to sixty below zero! cold?  Yes, we think so, and so did Frank,
+Alec, and Sam, as now they were passing through their first experience.
+
+As was stated in our last chapter, to the guide was always assigned the
+responsibility of selecting the camping place.  The place here chosen by
+Memotas was considered a very good one.  First, because there was
+abundance of dead, dry trees to serve as fuel.  These had been killed a
+year or so before by a great forest fire that had run through that
+region of country.  Second, there was a fine, dense balsam grove that
+had escaped the fire.  In one part of it there was sufficient space for
+the camp.  Then, in addition, by cutting down some of the smaller of
+these evergreen trees, their branches, finely broken up, would help to
+make the bed more comfortable.
+
+These are the essentials for a good camp: plenty of fuel and a sheltered
+spot.  It is not always easy to find good camping places, so the guide
+is generally on the lookout for such localities.  The result is his
+quick eye and good memory generally enable him to select all the camps
+that will be required on a return journey.
+
+When all the sleds were at the spot selected, the first thing done was
+to unharness the dogs, the faithful animals that had so well done their
+work.  It seemed at first strange to the boys that the dogs could be
+treated so differently from what horses would have been when the day's
+work was done.  Indeed, everything was novel and startling.
+
+A days journey was ended, and they were about to take a night's rest.
+But how different from travelling elsewhere.  Here was no pleasant hotel
+or country tavern in which they could find lodgings.  Here were no
+hospitable settlers to invite these strangers in to be their guests.
+They were preparing to stop out here in the woods all night, where there
+was neither hotel nor private dwelling place nearer than the home they
+had left now so many miles behind.
+
+No wonder Sam said, as he pulled a piece of ice as big as a pepper
+caster off the fur edge of his cap, that had there formed from his
+breath:
+
+"This beats all the lodging houses I ever heard of.  Faith, and where is
+the landlord?"
+
+Alec's practical reply was: "Well, there will be no bill to pay in the
+morning, anyway."
+
+"Pay or no pay," said Sam, "I would like to know where we are going to
+sleep in such a place as this?"
+
+"And where are we going to eat?" said Frank.
+
+"Wait a little while," said Mr Ross, "and you will see a change that
+will astonish you.  In the meantime each of you take an axe and see
+which of you can first cut down one of those trees.  The exercise will
+do you good, and then remember," he said with a laugh, "we have no
+deadheads on this trip."
+
+Eagerly the boys rushed off to the sleds for their axes, and, putting on
+their snowshoes--for the snow was too deep for comfortable work without
+them--they were soon busily engaged at what was Gladstone's favourite
+exercise.  In the meantime the men were hard at work in preparing the
+camp.  The snow was between three and four feet deep at the place
+selected.  Using their snowshoes as shovels, they vigorously attacked
+the snow and threw it up on two sides and in the rear, making a snow
+wall about five feet high on three sides.  The two opposite walls were
+about twelve feet apart, while the rear wall was perhaps ten feet back
+from the front space where the snow was cleared away.  Here a great log
+heap was soon piled up.  Dry splinters and chips were placed under, and
+an Indian with his flint and steel soon had it ignited.  In a little
+while a glorious fire was blazing, lighting up the whole surroundings.
+The sun had gone down in splendour and the stars one by one had quickly
+come out, and now the whole heavens were aglow with them.  On the space
+between the snowbanks a heavy layer of the green balsam boughs were
+evenly spread.  On these the robes and blankets from each sled were
+arranged by busy hands, while others attended to various other duties.
+Some took large kettles and filled and refilled them up with snow, and
+kept them on the blazing fire until they were nearly full of water.
+Meat was cooked in some, while tea was made in others.
+
+The dog-drivers looked after their own dogs.  From the sleds sufficient
+fish were taken to give to each dog two good whitefish.  These were the
+daily rations of the dogs.  The invariable rule is when travelling to
+give them but one meal a day, and that is given at the evening camp.  So
+severe is the frost that these fish are frozen as hard as rocks, and so
+the drivers have to knock them off the sticks where in tens they were
+strung when caught.  Then they are placed against a log that is rolled
+as near to the fire as it can be without burning.  Against this log the
+fish are stood up next to the fire, and well thawed out, ere they are
+given to the dogs.  Getting but one meal a day, they are naturally very
+eager for it, and so it is no wonder if some of them get up an
+occasional quarrel.  Neither is it surprising if some of the stronger
+and more greedy strive to steal some portion of the supper from those
+not so active or quick in eating as themselves.  One of the best times
+to study dog nature is when they are being fed.
+
+The boys, having each cut down a good, large tree, hugely enjoyed the
+feeding of the thawed-out fish to their own dogs.  They were greatly
+amused at the efforts of the greedy ones to rob others.  They had their
+whips in hand, and while they each took good care not to strike his own
+dogs, they rather enjoyed giving a crack to some cunning old rascals
+from some of the older trains, that having in all probability imposed on
+the youngsters all summer imagined they could with impunity keep it up
+here.
+
+"You would, would you, you thieving beast!" said Sam, as with hearty
+good will he brought his whip vigorously down on a powerful old dog that
+was making a cunning attempt to rob Spitfire of about half a fish.
+
+With a howl of rage the baffled fellow quickly sprang back into the
+gloom.
+
+Frank and Alec also had to be equally alert, to see that their dogs were
+not robbed by others.
+
+Mr Ross and the Indians were much amused and pleased, to see the zeal
+and promptness, with which the boys guarded the rights of their trains.
+They said that this was always the way with old dogs; that they would
+try most persistently for a few nights, in the beginning of winter, to
+rob the younger animals.  A few good thrashings generally cured them of
+it; and sometimes, to the surprise of some of these old fellows, a
+youngster would develop such spirit and strength that he would turn on
+the would-be robber and give him a thrashing himself.  Then there would
+be no trouble from that old fellow afterward.
+
+"I wonder where the dogs will sleep," said Frank.
+
+"Wait a little while and you will see," was the reply from Memotas, the
+guide.
+
+Sure enough, it was evident that they knew how to look out for
+themselves.  The older ones, after being certain that all the fish had
+been distributed, would lift up their heads and sniff the breeze.  No
+matter how slight it was they could easily detect it.  Then they would
+travel about the camp in the snow until they found a sheltered spot,
+free from the wind.  Here they would turn round and round until they had
+made a hole in the snow, away down near the ground.  Then down in it
+they would curl themselves into as small a bundle as possible, with
+their tails over their noses, and there they would shiver or sleep
+through the night, as the cold would permit.
+
+The younger dogs seemed at first very uncertain as to their movements.
+Some of them followed the actions of the old dogs, but others, that had
+but little of the Eskimo blood in them, clung to the fire and the
+company of their masters.  For these Mr Ross had a driver bring from
+one of the sleds two or three extra buffalo skins, which he thoughtfully
+had brought along.  These were spread out near the fire, at a spot from
+which the snow was partially cleared.
+
+"Now tell your dogs to sleep there," said Mr Ross.
+
+The boys quickly did so, and it was not long before those that had not
+gone off and dug nests in the snow for themselves, were closely cuddled
+together on the comfortable robes.
+
+In the meantime supper was being prepared by others.  Meat and fish in
+generous quantities were cooked in the kettles.  Bread and flat cakes,
+well supplied with grease or fat, were being thawed out, and a large
+quantity of good black tea was prepared.
+
+A large deerskin robe was carefully spread out before the fire, and over
+this a plain tablecloth was laid.  Then the dishes, which were all
+indestructible, were placed in position, and the fat meat, strong tea,
+and hot rolls or buns were vigorously attacked by Mr Ross and the boys.
+While they were thus enjoying their meal the rest of the party, not far
+off, were similarly engaged.
+
+There were several things about this camping out in the woods that much
+surprised the boys.  One was that the numerous sparks from the fire had
+such long fiery tails.  Another was that the frost so quickly froze up
+the large pieces of meat, that often had to be thawed out two or three
+times at each meal.  Another was that the ice often formed on their cups
+of tea, which had been taken boiling hot out of the kettle only a few
+minutes before.  Then they were startled by sharp reports, like pistol
+or musket shots, that they kept hearing from places in the dark forest
+all around them, as though some lurking savages were taking snap shots
+at them.  Two especially were so near, and so real, that Sam jumped up
+so suddenly that he spilled his tea over the tablecloth.
+
+"Faith, indeed," he exclaimed, "I don't want to be potted out here by
+any wild huntsmen, or Northern desperado, or red Indian."
+
+The other boys were also much startled, but Mr Ross quieted their fears
+by telling them that these sounds were caused by the bursting in the
+trees, as the result of the freezing sap.  Water in freezing always
+expands, and as there is sufficient sap in some trees, when it freezes,
+it bursts them.  It must expand, and tremendous is its power, as even
+the burst rocks show.
+
+"It is a good thing that the ice remains on the top of the water," said
+Frank.  "As it freezes it expands, and thus, being lighter than the
+water, it comes to the top."
+
+"What a mess we would be in," said Sam, "if as the ice froze in chunks
+it sank to the bottom and kept at it all winter.  Sure then, before
+spring, in such a land as this, the lakes and rivers would all be one
+solid mass of ice, and then what would become of the fish and us?"
+
+"A sensible remark, Sam, and characteristically put," said Mr Ross.
+"If the ice were heavier than the water, and continued sinking, the
+colder regions would continually be encroaching on the warmer, to such a
+degree that in time the earth's habitable portions would be very much
+diminished."
+
+"Why is it," said Alec, "that the milk which we are carrying in chunks,
+wrapped up in paper bags, when put into our cups of tea, does not melt
+as soon as do the lumps of white sugar of the same size?"
+
+"Closely examine a lump of frozen milk, and also a lump of sugar, and
+you will easily see the reason," said Mr Ross.  "When milk is firmly
+frozen it is very solid indeed--so solid that even hot water can only
+melt it on its surface.  With a lump of sugar it is very different, as
+on account of its porousness the water at once forces its way through
+it, and thus is able to quickly dissolve it."
+
+Thus in pleasant chat the hour passed away in spite of the bitter cold.
+They were all securely wrapped up, only portions of their faces being
+visible.  They regretted that they could not handle their knives and
+forks with their heavy mittens on their hands, but were obliged to
+exchange them for well-lined gloves while they ate.  After all had eaten
+their hearty supper, and were now gathered near the fire, one of the
+Indians, who, like the rest of his country men in this party, was an
+earnest, devout Christian, struck up in a strong, melodious voice the
+Evening Hymn, translated into his own language.
+
+Quickly the others joined in, while Mr Ross and the boys sang in unison
+the English words.  After the hymn was sung, and ended up with Ken's
+beautiful doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," another
+Indian devoutly prayed in his own language, after which the service
+ended by all repeating together the Lord's Prayer in English.
+
+The boys were very much pleased and delighted with this evening service
+of praise and prayer.  Their weird surroundings added to its
+impressiveness.  Then the fact that they were out in the cold forest,
+with no roof above them but the starry heavens and no walls around them
+but snowbanks, and the temperature so many degrees below zero, made the
+petition in the beautiful hymn sung very appropriate:
+
+  Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
+  Beneath thine own almighty wings!
+
+After prayers the men made a thorough examination of the sleds and
+harness, to see that everything was in good condition, as they intended,
+if all was well, to start on the journey long hours before daylight.
+
+Then the beds were made.  This operation very much interested the boys.
+The first thing the Indians did was to put everybody out of the camp;
+then they scattered fresh green balsam boughs, finely broken up, over
+the whole spot, from which the snow had nearly all been cleared.  Then,
+on the side where Mr Ross and the boys were to sleep, the Indian
+bedmakers first spread out a deerskin wrapper, which during the day was
+used to hold all the various articles constituting a sleigh load, the
+whole then being securely lashed on by deerskin straps.  It was made by
+sewing several large, well-dressed deerskins together.  This large
+wrapper being made smooth and even, there was next spread out on it a
+couple of splendid buffalo skins.  Then on the top of these the warm,
+thick blankets known as four-point Hudson Bay Company's blankets were
+placed.
+
+While the bed was being thus prepared Mr Ross and the three boys were
+busily employed in preparing themselves to occupy it.  It can be readily
+understood that there was no such thing as "undressing" for bed in such
+a cold bedroom.
+
+"Unloose your collars and shirt bands," was all the directions given, as
+far as disrobing was concerned.
+
+The heavy travelling moccasins used during the day were exchanged either
+for long fur boots that came up to the hips, or for much larger and
+softer moccasins than those used during the day.
+
+It generally added to the comfort if a few of the tightest buttons on
+some of the inner garments were unloosed.  Then the heavy blanket coats,
+which had been well dried of all the perspiration absorbed during the
+day, and well warmed, were put on.  The heavy fur caps, with the big fur
+ears, were well drawn down, while, over all, the warm capotes, as hoods,
+were pulled up on the head and down in front to the nose.  Great fur
+mittens made of beaver and otter fur were then drawn on the hands, and
+the night suit was complete.
+
+Mr Ross took the outside place.  Then Sam, Alec, and Frank cuddled down
+in the order named.  There they lay with their feet as near to the fire
+as it was safe, so as not to burn the blankets or robes.  Then the
+Indians quickly threw some heavy blankets and fur robes over them and
+began at their feet to tuck them in.  Indians are very clever and handy
+at all such work, their movements are all so gentle and skillful.  They
+would make the best nurses in the world.  No woman is quieter, quicker,
+or more prompt just to do the right thing in the right way than an
+Indian attendant with a little training.  It seems to come to them more
+natural than to any other people.  So here they so daintily, and yet so
+thoroughly, tucked in the "master," as they called Mr Ross, and his
+three young guests.
+
+The boys enjoyed the operation hugely until they reached their heads.
+Then, as the Indians began to tuck in both blankets and fur robes under
+their heads, completely covering them up, it was a new experience, and
+one not very pleasant to contemplate.  Mr Ross, who was an old
+traveller in this land, and one who had slept out hundreds of nights in
+this way, was not at all discommoded by the tucking in.  But it was too
+much for the boys.  They stood it as long as they could, and then almost
+simultaneously they threw up their arms and pulled down the heavy
+coverings from their faces.
+
+"O dear!" said Sam.  "Let me freeze to death, but for dear old Ireland's
+sake don't smother me.  If ye must send word to my mother that I have
+been frozen to death or eaten by bears she will believe you, and
+survive, but let it never be told that the Irish lad perished in this
+country under fur robes and blankets."
+
+This pathetic lament of Sam's brought forth roars of laughter from all
+who could understand it.
+
+"What have you to say, Alec?" said Mr Ross.
+
+"Well, the fact is," he replied, "I was feeling about as Sam has
+expressed it, only I put it in a different way.  My thoughts were: `It
+is queer that I should have escaped from the wolves to be suffocated in
+this land for the want of fresh air!'"
+
+"What say you, Frank.  We may as well hear from all."
+
+His answer was: "Well, as I lay there on that contracted place, and the
+half-smothery sensation began to make life miserable, I remembered some
+of the lessons we were taught at school about requiring so many cubic
+feet of fresh air, and began to wonder if such laws were obsolete out
+here."
+
+With a little more freedom the boys were again tucked in, and it was not
+long before they were sound asleep.
+
+Memotas, the guide, rolled himself up in a woven rabbit skin robe, which
+was made out of a hundred and twenty skins, sixty being the warp and
+sixty the woof.  His place was next to Frank.  Then the other Indians,
+in their blankets, when they had finished their smoking, laid down
+wherever there was room.  These hardy natives do not wear half of the
+clothing by day that white people do, neither do they require such warm
+beds at night.
+
+The only disturbance in the night was caused by Sam.  He set up a great
+howling, which caused the guide to spring up in a hurry to see what was
+the matter.  In the morning, when Sam was questioned as to his troubles
+in the night, he said he was dreaming that he was sliding down one of
+the Rocky Mountains with an elephant after him, and just as he reached
+the bottom the elephant tumbled on him, and there he lay yelling for
+help, until at length some one came and drove the elephant away.
+
+This was too much for even the sedate, clever Memotas, and as Mr Ross
+noticed his hearty laugh, as a thing so unusual, he said:
+
+"Come, Memotas, you must surely know something about this."
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I saw the elephant.  It was Spitfire, his dog.  I
+heard Alec moaning gently at first, and so I uncovered my head, for I
+wake very easily, and there was his dog.  He was coming up from his
+feet, for the fire was burning low.  He would take one or two steps and
+then stop and smell.  I saw he was trying to find his master, so I did
+not disturb him.  Soon he came up so far that he could lie down on Sam's
+chest, on the outside on the robes.  Then Sam, he began howling, and so
+he had what you white people call the nightmare, but this time it was
+the night-dog."  And Memotas softly laughed again, and others joined
+with him at Sam's expense.
+
+At Mr Ross's request a large quantity of fuel had been cut the previous
+evening, so that the fire was not allowed to go entirely out during the
+whole night.  The trees most common for fuel in all the North country
+are the dry spruce and balsam.  The guides, looking for the camp, love
+to find a group of them where they are from fifty to seventy-five feet
+high.  All required are chopped down and then cut into lengths of from
+ten to fifteen feet.  They are easily handed by the stalwart men, and
+make a bright fire.  Generally the fire is allowed to go out after all
+have retired to rest.  However, if the wolves are howling around, the
+fire is well looked after all night, as these vicious brutes are very
+much afraid of a bright flame.
+
+The stars were shining brightly, and there was no sign of light in the
+eastern sky, when all were up and busy making preparations for the day's
+journey.  What most perplexed the boys was that there was no preparation
+made for washing hands or faces.  Towels and soap were not considered
+essentials on such a journey.  Each had in his pocket a comb and a
+toothbrush, and with these and a cup of melted snow he had to be
+content.
+
+Frank, young Englishman that he was, dearly loved his tub, or bath, and
+so it seemed about the hardest deprivation thus far presented that he
+could neither wash his hands nor face.
+
+"Too cold for that," said the guide.  "A missionary once tried it,
+although we warned him against it.  He was three months healing up his
+chapped and bleeding hands."  Then the guide added, as a little
+consolation, "If you like you can give yourself a dry rub with a piece
+of deerskin."
+
+The breakfast was similar to the supper of the previous evening.
+Indeed, there was about the same bill of fare for every meal.  It was
+strong, hearty food, and everyone was ready to do ample justice to it.
+
+After breakfast came prayers.  A few verses from the good Book were read
+by Memotas, and then prayers were offered.  Twice every day do these
+godly Indians thus worship God.  They are the converts of self-
+sacrificing missionaries who, coming into these lands, amid the
+privations and hardships incident to such lonely, solitary places, here
+patiently toiled and laboured to win these natives from their degrading,
+superstitious, abominable old religion to a knowledge of the one living
+and true God.  They have not toiled in vain, as the true, noble,
+consistent lives of hundreds of their converts now bear witness.
+
+The catching and harnessing of the dogs is a matter of pleasure or
+trouble, just as the dogs have been trained.  Dogs kindly treated, and
+taught to obey, give no trouble, but with many, where their training was
+defective, there is constant annoyance and worry.  The boys had treated
+their dogs so kindly that the cheery call was all that was needed.  So
+with all the trains of Mr Ross's except one.  These were what might be
+called a scratch train.  They had been bought singly from different
+parties.  When in harness they were the equal of any, but the trouble
+was to get them into their harness.  One was a white animal.  At the
+first sound or movement in the camp, he would sometimes quickly sneak
+away from where he had nested all night, and then lie down quietly in
+the snow.  So white and still was he that it was impossible for the
+keenest eye to detect him in the early morning starlight.  No calling
+would bring him.  He just lay there perfectly still, and buried enough
+to be even with the snow around him.  When he had one of these skulking
+tricks on him the quickest way to find him was for several Indians to
+begin tramping in ever-widening circles around the camp until they ran
+on him.  He would never run away, but his cunning trick was really more
+provoking than if he did.  He was at length broken of it by being
+thoroughly blackened.  Then, of course, he could be easily seen.  This
+so grieved and humiliated him that he never tried the trick again, even
+after his beautiful white coat was cleaned for him, much to his great
+joy.
+
+Some dogs, as soon as they hear the bells jingling in the morning as
+their drivers come for them, will skulk off into dark places in the
+forests.  There it is often difficult to find them.  Then again some are
+so wild that a rope at least sixty feet in length is tied to their necks
+in the evening as they are unharnessed.  By tramping around them in the
+morning the driver at length gets hold of the rope and draws in the
+culprit.
+
+A missionary who travelled some thousands of miles every winter with
+dogs, had about the most satisfactory way of summarily dealing with
+skulkers.
+
+He had in his own team a powerful St. Bernard, so trained that all he
+had to do was to show him the collar of the missing dog and then send
+him after the truant.  Hamilton gave one smell at the collar and then
+was off.  If that dog was anywhere within two miles he was driven into
+the camp in a hurry.  If a stubborn, obstinate dog objected to march in
+before him, he gave him a shaking that never had to be repeated.  Dogs
+have good memories for various things.
+
+The loading the sleds was not as easy a matter as some might imagine.
+This the boys found out when they tried to attend to the work
+themselves.  As stated somewhere else, the sleds are only sixteen inches
+wide and ten feet long.  They are made of two oak boards lying on the
+flat and well fastened together by crossbars.  The front end is planed
+thin and steamed, and is then curled up more or less gracefully,
+according to the taste and skill of the maker.  They have no runners on
+them.  They just glide along on the smooth flat under surface that by
+wear becomes like polished glass.  Along each side numerous loops are
+securely fastened.  When the empty sled is to be loaded, the first thing
+is to spread out over it one of these large deerskin wrappers, the sled
+being under the exact middle.  Then the various articles constituting
+the load, blankets, robes, provisions, kettles, guns, dog-fish, and
+everything else, are carefully piled up, the heaviest at the bottom, to
+make the upsets as few as possible.  Then the great deerskin leather is
+carefully and tightly folded over from both sides, and the whole is
+securely lashed on by the strong deerskin ropes, which are passed from
+side to side through the strong loops on the sled.  An experienced
+driver will so well tie on a great load of the most miscellaneous
+articles that it will not give an inch, or be in the slightest degree
+disarranged, no matter how many times it may upset, or roll over, or
+tumble down hillsides, either end first, or sideways.  So the boys,
+after finding that their best handiwork in this line often came to grief
+in bad places, were glad to avail themselves of the assistance of a
+clever Indian, and there was no more trouble.
+
+One careful look all around to see that nothing has been forgotten, and
+the cheery "Marche!" is heard.  Away rushes the guide, and another day's
+journey is begun.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+STILL ON THE WAY TO THE BEAVERS--THE BLIZZARD IN THE CAMP--SLEEPING AND
+EATING UNDER DIFFICULTIES--VICIOUS LITTLE BEAVER DOGS--THE BEAVER
+HOUSE--PREPARATIONS FOR THEIR CAPTURE--THE BEAVERS' KITCHENS--DISCOVERED
+BY THE LITTLE DOGS--HOW DESTROYED--THE METHOD OF CAPTURE--MAN'S
+EXPERIENCE VERSUS ANIMAL INSTINCT--THE RICH HARVEST OF BEAVERS.
+
+Still on the way for the beavers!
+
+We are surely a long time getting there, but every mile of the journey
+is interesting and full of novelty.  We left the blazing camp fire at a
+little this side of the Wolf's Cove.  The stars were shining brightly in
+the heavens.  Even the morning star, now so brilliant, had not as the
+harbinger of the great sun yet made its appearance.
+
+As a help to brighten up the trail for a short distance it is generally
+customary to pile on the fire, before starting, all of the wood
+remaining.  This makes things look cheerful, and assists in the last
+investigation of the camp that nothing, not even a half-buried axe, is
+left behind.
+
+At first the progress is not very rapid.  It is fearfully cold.  The
+dogs seem a little stiff, and some of them act as though they would much
+prefer to remain near that cozy camp fire.  But there is no time for
+regrets or delays.
+
+"Marche!  Marche!" is the cry, and as the whips, wielded by dexterous
+hands, give out their emphatic cracks the coldness and stiffness soon
+wear off, and after the first mile or two the progress is very much
+improved as dogs and men warm up to their work.
+
+We need not dwell much longer on the journey.  Enough has been given to
+enable every bright boy and clever girl who reads these pages to see how
+it is that travellers get along in a land where only the canoe in summer
+and the dog-train in winter afford them any possibilities for
+locomotion.  Here are no locomotives, but lots of locomotion, and the
+most of it is done on foot, as often it is quite enough for the dogs to
+drag the heavy loads through the deep snow and in the long, tangled
+forests, without carrying an additional man or boy.  So it is walk, or
+run, or more generally trot, as the case may be, as the dogs are able to
+get on or the trail will permit.
+
+Another long day, with its glorious sunrise, and then, after the weary
+hours of travel and the several stops to eat, the sunset in cold
+splendour comes, and with it Memotas calls for the halt.  Then another
+night in the woods, very similar to the one fully described, is passed,
+with the exception that during the hours of troubled slumber the fierce
+winds arose, and the light, dry snow in the three piled-up snowbanks of
+the camp was rudely seized hold of by rough old Boreas and driven hither
+and thither in his own rough way.  Most of the snow seemed to find its
+way back to the place, from which the snowshoes some hours before had
+thrown it, and now well it is for our young lads that they are so
+completely covered up in their bed, for the snow is now upon them to the
+depth of a couple of feet.  Fortunately, the snow is like an extra
+blanket which Dame Nature has thrown upon them to add to their comfort.
+When the storm was beginning, and they began to move as some erratic
+snowflakes were so twisted around that they reached their faces, the
+guide, who well knew what a wretched night of discomfort would be theirs
+if they now, in the blinding storm, uncovered their heads, shouted to
+them with a good deal of sternness, "Do not uncover your heads; lie
+still and sleep."  This, after a little effort, they were able to do.
+The fun, or rather discomfort, came in the morning, when the cry to get
+up was heard.  Suddenly they sprang up, but in spite of all their
+quickness some of the snow went into their faces, and down their necks,
+and--well, it was far from agreeable.
+
+The outlook was dismal enough.  The storm still continued raging.  There
+was, in addition to the wind playing all sorts of pranks, with what had
+already fallen, now a heavy snowfall besides.  It seemed to penetrate
+everywhere.  It forced its way into their eyes and noses and pockets,
+and tried to get under their caps and capotes.  The fire was completely
+extinguished.  In fact, where the bright, blazing fire was so cheerily
+throwing out its heat and warmth when they were tucked in by the
+faithful Indian, now a great snowdrift occupied the very spot.
+
+The experienced travellers in these lands, even under such conditions
+and worse, do not lose heart.  Quickly they went to work.  Strong axes
+soon felled more dry trees, and cut them into logs.  Others, with
+snowshoes as shovels, soon cleared away the snow drift from the
+fireplace.  A skillful firemaker soon had the dry kindling and chips
+under the logs in ablaze, and now the wind only fanned the flames to a
+greater brightness.
+
+As the downfall of snow continues very heavy some tough poles are cut
+down and one end of them so fastened in the snow that they are firmly
+held.  They are so slanted toward the fire, with the wind in the rear,
+that when roofed over with the big deerskin and a couple dropped each
+side it is astonishing how comfortably sheltered a few persons thus can
+be.  The active Indians shook the dry snow off from some robes, and
+placing them as a floor Mr Ross and the boys were soon under a storm-
+tight roof and gazing into the great fire just before them, that gave
+them both warmth and cheer.  A hot breakfast was enjoyed as soon as the
+Indians could cook it.
+
+Some of the Indians improvised a similar lean-to for themselves, while
+others stood out in the gale around the fire perfectly unconcerned.  To
+them the heavy storm was as little heeded as the songs of the robins in
+springtime, or the summer zephyrs among the trees.
+
+Owing to the delay of a half day on account of this disagreeable storm,
+the party did not reach the vicinity of the beaver house until toward
+evening.  So it was resolved to find a good place for the camp, as the
+Indian hunters who owned this house said they would not take the beavers
+until the third day in the afternoon, and then they would take all they
+decided to in a short time.  This was, of course, all a mystery to the
+boys, and so they were obliged to have patience, and witness the contest
+between animal instinct and cunning, and man's reason, observation, and
+ingenuity.
+
+The spot selected for the camp was not far from the beaver house, which
+stood in its symmetrical proportions well covered with snow, and looked
+like a great haystack in some farmer's yard at home.
+
+The boys had observed on the sled of these Indians who owned the beaver
+house a little wicker-like basket well-lined with rabbit skin.  One day,
+when peering into it, two fierce little dogs snapped at them most
+viciously, and seemed very much annoyed at their intrusion.  In the
+evening at the camp fire they asked Mr Ross about them, and were
+surprised to hear that they are what are called beaver dogs.  He said
+they were valuable, for with their help the Indians would get the beaver
+in a very novel which they would see commenced to-morrow.  Mr Ross
+cautioned the boys not to put their naked hands near the vicious brutes,
+as they were very fierce, and especially disliked white people.
+
+The camp was a well-sheltered, comfortable one for such a place, and as
+the storm had completely passed away, the evening, although very cold,
+was a fairly enjoyable one.  The routine at this camp was similar to the
+first.  The only excitement the boys had, was when one of the Indians
+came in from exploring the beaver house and dam, and told them that a
+large wolverine was seen walking on the dam the heavers had made, and
+then round and round the beaver house.
+
+"Beaver plenty safe there," he added, in his broken English.  "Wall four
+feet thick.  Frost make all like stone.  Only one door, and that under
+the thick ice and water.  Wolverine no catch beaver in that house."
+Then he added: "Beaver there for Injun to take.  White boys see how him
+do it quick, two days more.  Plenty work first, then plenty beaver."
+
+This picturesque talk to the boys was very interesting, and so they were
+all eager to see, as Sam said, "the curtain go up and the show begin."
+
+As nothing could be done the next day before daylight, there was no
+particular hurry in getting up.  After giving orders to the men who were
+left in charge at the camp to see that the dogs there remained, and that
+everything was kept in the best of order, and dinner ready at a certain
+hour, Mr Ross and the boys, like the rest, strapped on their snowshoes
+and away they tramped.  The Indian hunters had the little dogs with
+them.  These they carefully carried and kept covered up when not at
+work.  The boys were first taken to the top of a hill, from which the
+whole pond, dam, and beaver house could be distinctly seen.  Then Mr
+Ross explained that, while the beaver generally dwelt in their house
+during the winter, they had in addition what the Indians called
+kitchens.  These were cunningly hid along the shore at the edge of the
+ice.  All were now out of sight and under the snow.  They were
+ingeniously made, in such a way that the beaver by frequently visiting
+them and breaking away the ice, as it formed on the inside, could thus
+keep them open.  They were really breathing places for the beaver in
+case they should be attacked in their houses and driven out.
+
+Inexperienced hunters often try to get the beaver by chopping, digging,
+or even blasting with gunpowder a hole into the beaver house.  If the
+pond is well supplied with kitchens, or breathing places, the beavers
+need only laugh at such hunters, for just as soon as they become alarmed
+by these outside noises they plunge into the water, which is always open
+in the warm house, and dive out under the outer edge and away they go
+under the thick ice to the kitchens, which are so cunningly hid away.
+There they quietly remain and breathe the air, which is necessary as it
+comes through the light snow, and through the rushes and reeds, from
+which they keep the ice.  When the noise is over and the beavers think
+that their enemies have gone, they go back to the house.  If the
+invaders have much destroyed the house, the beavers desert it entirely
+and live in these kitchens until the spring freshets come and melt and
+carry away the ice.
+
+Sometimes a large colony of beavers with a big house will have twenty
+kitchens.  If one is discovered they swim to another.  We must remember
+that the beaver, although an amphibious animal and able to remain quite
+a time under water, requires fresh air, and so must go where he can get
+it, or he will die.  The length of time that a beaver can live under the
+ice without air is a matter of dispute, even among the experienced
+hunters themselves.  They all, however, agree in saying that, when
+beavers find all of their retreats cut off, as a last resort they come
+up to the ice and breathe out the air in their lungs against the ice,
+and then, when it is good, they breathe it in again.  But the trouble is
+that they lose some air bubbles each time, and so they soon become
+exhausted and die.
+
+In the meantime, while these interesting explanations were being made to
+the boys the Indians had commenced their operations.  They had cut down
+a couple of small green birch trees which were eight or ten inches in
+diameter.  Then they cut off lengths of about eight feet each.  On these
+they vigorously set to work with their axes, and so cut or trimmed these
+down, except a foot or fifteen inches at one end, so that when finished
+they were like gigantic pounders.
+
+With these made and thrown over their shoulders they took their way to
+the pond, only carrying in addition the two little dogs.  When the pond
+was reached the little dogs were set down in the snow near the edge.  At
+first they only moaned and shivered and begged to be again taken up by
+their masters.  These, however, had no intention of doing anything of
+the kind.
+
+"Umisk!  Umisk!" they excitedly cried, and soon this Indian word for
+"beaver" began to have its effect upon the dogs.  Pricking up their
+ears, they began running about, until at length, with a couple of yelps
+of triumph, they were off.  They hurried away as fast as their little
+legs could carry them through the light snow to a spot near the shore.
+Here they began making the snow fly as rapidly as was possible with
+their fore paws.  One of the Indians assisted them by utilising his
+snowshoe as a shovel, and, sure enough, there at the very edge of the
+ice they found a mass of rushes and grass most cunningly arranged, with
+a little space in the centre where it was open water.  This was a
+beaver's kitchen that had been so cunningly discovered by the keen scent
+of the little dogs.
+
+As soon as it had been discovered the Indians quickly picked up the
+little dogs and stowed the shivering creatures in warm bags on their
+backs.  Now the boys were able to see the use to which these great big
+pounders, hewn out of the young birch trees, were put.  With both of
+them the men began vigorously pounding down the coarse grass and rushes,
+and left the place so exposed that in a few hours it would be so solidly
+frozen over that not a particle of air could enter.
+
+Leaving this kitchen now completely destroyed, they began skirting the
+shore for a little distance up farther from the beaver house.  Once more
+they lifted the little dogs out of the warm bags and placed the
+shivering animals on the ice.  Then again the cry rang out, "Umisk!
+Umisk!"  The result was as before.  Like as an electric shock these
+words acted upon these queer little dogs, and at once they seemed to
+forget all about the cold and most vigorously set to work, and in a very
+few minutes had discovered another kitchen.  This one was destroyed in
+the same manner as was the first.
+
+Thus on and on they cautiously prospected and worked.  At one place
+where they had gone but a short distance from the last kitchen
+destroyed, suddenly one of the little dogs obstinately turned back and
+rushed to a spot where even the most experienced Indian had not the
+slightest suspicion of anything being, until the keen instinct of the
+dog discovered it.  Following up the little fellow to the spot where he
+was now barking most furiously, the men had not dug long in the snow
+before they found the most cunningly hid away kitchen on the whole pond.
+So large was it, and so well arranged as the breathing place of a large
+number of beavers, that the hunters declared that if they had let that
+single one escape them they would have completely failed when they made
+their attack upon the beaver house.  This sharpness on the part of the
+little dog made the men the more careful, and so it was noon ere the end
+of the pond was reached and about half of this work was completed.
+
+Dinner was ready for all when they returned to the camp.  The boys were
+hungry and the cold had helped to sharpen their appetites.
+
+"How is it?" said Sam, "that I find myself picking out the fattest part
+of the meat and hardly caring to eat anything else?"
+
+"That is," said Mr Ross, "because you are in first-class health.  And
+Nature, true to her instincts, is giving you and the rest of us the
+craving for just the kind of food that is now best adapted to our
+requirements.  Fat food has more heat in it than any other kind, and so
+that which you here crave is that which is really the most suitable.
+Living as we now are, day and night, out in the open air in this sharp
+cold weather, we require much more heat to keep us up to our normal
+temperature than if we were inside of the warm walls of Sagasta-weekee."
+
+When dinner was ended the party returned to the pond, and the work of
+discovering and destroying the remaining beavers' kitchens went on all
+the afternoon.  The following night the two Indian hunters, upon whom so
+much depended, did not take any sleep, but with their heavy pounders
+kept on the alert against the efforts of the clever beavers.  When they
+returned to the camp for a hasty breakfast in the morning they reported
+that they had had a very busy night, as the beavers seemed to have
+become possessed with the idea that an attack was soon to be made upon
+them in their house.  The result was they were very active all night,
+and persistent in their efforts to break through the new ice as it
+formed, and thus, if possible, keep some of their kitchens available in
+case of need.  Some were so bold that if the Indians had been so
+inclined they could easily have speared them, as they so bravely charged
+the new ice with their heads and broke it up.  They said that at that
+largest kitchen, which they so nearly overlooked, the beavers made their
+most persistent attacks.  At times as many as a half dozen would
+together strike bravely at the ice.  However, they thought that they had
+now succeeded in getting every place frozen air-tight and they could
+safely begin the work of attack upon the house, so that they would be
+ready by to-morrow to begin the capture of the beaver.
+
+Axes and ice chisels were the powerful tools required to-day.  Beginning
+at the shore on each side of the beaver house, the Indians cut two
+channels in the ice about a foot wide, and so converging that they met
+about six feet in front of the house.  Then the ice was cut out about
+ten feet further into the pond directly in front of the house.  The
+capital letter Y will give a correct idea of the cuttings thus made.
+The upper two lines are the ones from the shore on each side of the
+beaver house; the lower and wider part of the letter represents the
+channel cut in front.  This was perhaps ten feet long and about two feet
+in width.
+
+The next step was by careful measurement with a long pole to find the
+depth of the water in these channels thus free of ice.  When this was
+done everybody able to handle an axe was soon busily at work cutting
+down small trees into poles not less than four inches in diameter, and
+so long that when well driven in the mud the tops would still be
+considerably above the ice.  None but straight, strong ones were of any
+use.  Then, beginning close to the shore, the Indians, using, of course,
+the shorter poles where the water was shallow, began driving them in the
+mud through the channels cut in the ice.  They worked very carefully,
+for the beaver when aroused is a strong as well as a cunning animal, and
+the hunter who would not fail must be prepared for every emergency.  The
+poles were driven in the two upper sides until the approaching columns
+of them came within about two feet of each other at the front.  From
+this point the Indians turned and began driving the poles in the mud in
+two lines, parallel to each other, running out into the pond.  This left
+a channel, allowing for the diameter of the poles, of, say, from twelve
+to fifteen inches wide and ten feet long.
+
+Carefully examining and testing over and over again the grip of each
+pole which had been driven into the mud at the bottom of the pond, the
+men were at length well satisfied with their work and said: "Very good.
+Injun have much fine beaver this time.  We will have beavers' tails for
+supper to-morrow night."
+
+So anxious were those Indian hunters that even during the second night
+they slept but little, and several times slipped away from the camp and
+walked around from kitchen to kitchen to see that in every place the ice
+was firm and unbroken.  In the morning, when all were at breakfast, they
+reported that as the cold had become so intense they felt confident of
+success and anticipated the capture of a large number of beaver.  For
+days they had been working up to this consummation.  Experienced men
+grimly and remorselessly had pitted their long years of experience
+against the instincts and cunning of a colony of beavers, and, as it
+always is, in the end, man must conquer.
+
+"What are you going to do next?" is the question of the boys.  All the
+answer, however, they receive, is to be patient and they will soon see
+for themselves.  Their interest, however, is increased when to all is
+uttered the command, "Get all the guns ready, and load them heavily with
+powder."  With several extra charges they are all soon on their way to
+the beaver house.  When there they find that the water in the channel
+cut in the front yesterday has ice on it fully six inches in thickness.
+This will give some idea of the severity of the cold, but nobody seems
+to notice it in the excitement of the hour.  Very quickly is this ice
+broken up and thrown out on the frozen surface of the pond.
+
+One of the Indians has in his hand a long, stiff rod about the size of a
+bamboo fish pole.  This will play an important part in the capture of
+the beaver, as we shall see later on.  The next part of the program is
+of great interest to the boys.  Everybody now goes to the land side of
+the beaver house, and at once there begins the greatest din and racket
+it is possible for the whole party to make.  The guns are all fired off,
+and loaded and fired again and again.  The men with their great pounders
+most vigorously beat against the solid walls on the land side, as though
+they would burst in upon the now terrified inhabitants.  This attack and
+noise continued until it is supposed that all of the frightened animals
+have fled away from the house, which they must have imagined was about
+being knocked to pieces about their ears.  The result is the house is
+deserted, and the now frightened beaver are away out somewhere in the
+pond, swimming under the ice.
+
+As soon as the Indians feel confident that all have forsaken the house
+they hurry out on the pond in the front.  Here in the open water, in the
+space between the poles which were so solidly driven, the long slender
+pole is pushed down firmly through the water into the mud at the bottom
+of the pond.  One of the Indians now quickly pulls off his shirt sleeve,
+as well as that of his coat, and throws himself down on the ice close to
+the open channel which has been described.  His comrade quickly throws a
+warm blanket over him to at least partly protect him from the intense
+cold.  Then, arming himself with a heavy axe, this second Indian quietly
+steps back a pace or two.
+
+"Hush!  Everybody keep still or sit down on the ice, and do not utter a
+word.  Do not move your feet on the ice; do not even breathe heavily,
+for beavers have wonderful powers of hearing."
+
+Promptly had everyone obeyed Mr Ross, who had uttered these commands.
+He had placed the boys where they could easily see the wonderful way, in
+which these experienced hunters would quickly gather up their beaver
+harvest, after all their effort and toil.
+
+But where are the beavers?  They are in all probability out under the
+ice, swimming about from one kitchen to another, vainly trying to find
+one in which they can get their lungs full of fresh air.  If the men and
+those saucy little dogs have been successful in closing up all of these
+resorts, vain are the beavers' efforts.  For a long time these wonderful
+creatures are able to keep alive under water, but there is a limit to
+this ability, and then it becomes a matter of life or death to them.
+Thus it now was with these beavers.  They had been frightened from their
+home, and had hoped to be able to obtain fresh air at places carefully
+prepared for just such emergencies.  But, alas! these have failed them,
+and now there is nothing else to do but to make the effort to get back
+to their home as soon as possible.  This, they now find, is no easy
+matter.  A strange barricade of stakes is in the way, and there is only
+one opening, and even that is a very narrow one.  But they are now in
+such sad straits for fresh air that they must try that one place and get
+to their home or perish.
+
+Meanwhile the boys, sitting so still and quiet on the ice, began to
+think that it was getting very monotonous, especially Sam, who found it
+to be extremely difficult to have to hold his tongue so long.  But look!
+The top of that long slender twig is being roughly shaken, and quick as
+a flash down goes the naked arm of the alert Indian, and as rapidly does
+it come up again, and in the strong grasp of his hand is a fine, large
+beaver.  With a sudden swinging movement he sends it sprawling out on
+the ice, where his comrade is waiting to dispatch it with his axe.
+
+Now the boys see the important part played by that little stick.  See,
+it moves again, and once more the long, naked arm is thrust down and
+another great beaver is thrown out on the ice.  This one, like his
+predecessor, is quickly dispatched.  For a time all is still again.  The
+beavers crowding behind these two that have been so readily captured
+have been frightened by their sudden movements, so unnatural, and so
+they hesitated to follow.  But others are closely following behind, and
+all are suffering acutely now for the want of fresh air, and thus it is
+only a minute or two before the moving stick tells the story that
+another beaver is making the attempt to reach a spot where he can get
+some fresh air.  Vain indeed are his efforts, for no sooner does he
+touch that fatal stick than down goes that strong, muscular hand and arm
+and he is thrown out on the ice, to be killed in the same manner as were
+his fellows.
+
+See what a splendid black beaver that is!  But, O dear! he has lost him.
+Yes, he has.  That is too bad, and he brought him up far enough for his
+head to be out of the water, and so he once more filled up his lungs,
+and as he tumbled in he fell beyond the stick.  So that one is lost for
+this year.
+
+But there is no time for mourning over the loss of one, even if he was a
+beauty.  They crowd up quickly now, and the Indians are busy.  They keep
+cool and alert, for the harvest is increasing.
+
+The condition of the beavers is now so desperate that recklessly they
+are crowding on, and although the man is pulling them out as rapidly as
+possible it is evident that numbers, especially of the smaller ones, are
+slipping by, and thus are lost for that year.  In order to secure a
+greater number the second Indian gives his axe to Mr Ross and goes to
+the help of his comrade.
+
+No need of quiet now.  The remaining beavers must get by that stick or
+perish, and as they make the attempt, while some are captured, many
+others escape.  Thus it goes on until the last one has either been
+secured by the Indians or has eluded them.  Let us hope that he escaped
+to live another year.
+
+"Count the spoils, boys," shouts Mr Ross.  No second command is needed.
+They collect them together and find that there are forty-seven of them,
+and not a small one among them.  In addition, there were plenty that
+escaped to restock the house, and in two years it will in all
+probability be as rich a beaver harvest field as it has been to-day.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+WISE ECONOMY OF INDIAN HUNTERS--GAME NEVER ALL KILLED--BEAVERS' TAILS--
+THE BOYS INTERESTED IN THEM--PREPARATIONS FOR THE RETURN TRIP--LOADS
+PACKED--WOLVERINES--THEIR CUNNING THEFT OF FIVE BEAVERS--DOGS AND MEN ON
+THEIR TRAIL--SURVIVING BEAVERS ALREADY AT WORK--THE RETURN OF THE
+HUNTERS--CAPTURED WOLVERINES--JOURNEY RESUMED--THE CAMP--THE CRY OF
+"WOLVES!"
+
+Allowing a number of the beavers to escape was the almost universal
+custom of those northern Indian hunters.  They never killed all the game
+of any kind.  Thus where they alone hunted, the forests continued to
+yield their yearly supplies.  But when the white trapper enters with his
+steel traps and poisons he kills all before him, if possible, even if he
+does not secure one half of it.  The result is that great regions once
+rich in valuable fur-bearing animals are now as completely denuded of
+them as are the prairies of the once countless herds of buffalo.
+Pathetic is the picture of the last of the buffalo!
+
+The call, loud and clear, was sent by the far-reaching voice of one of
+the hunters to the watchers at the camp, and speedily in answer came a
+couple of trains of dogs.  These were attached to the two now well-
+filled sleds, and the whole party, flushed with triumph at their
+success, returned to the camp.  They are all in good trim for their
+dinner, and speedily is it dispatched, for all these beavers must be
+skinned, if possible, before they freeze.
+
+The Indian servants of Mr Ross aid the hunters, and so the work is
+rapidly done.  As the flesh of the beaver is very much prized as an
+article of food, the carcasses were carefully prepared.  The tails were
+left attached to the bodies, with the exception of a half dozen, which
+were left out for the evening meal.  These tails very much interested
+and amused the boys, not only on account of their odd appearance, but
+because of the many queer tales they had heard about them.  The tail of
+the beaver serves as a rudder to its owner when he is swimming.  It aids
+him in various ways when he is building his cozy house and marvellously
+constructed dam.  Next to his powerful teeth it is his best weapon of
+defence, as with it he can strike a very heavy blow.  Thus it was no
+wonder that the boys were interested in these half dozen tails, on which
+they expected to dine that evening.
+
+The process of preparation was very simple.  The tails were from twelve
+to fifteen inches long and from six to eight inches in width, and about
+an inch thick.  They were oval-shaped, somewhat resembling in appearance
+a mason's trowel.  They were covered with close-fitting, fishlike
+scales.  The first thing necessary in preparing them for the table is to
+hold them so close to a hot fire that the scales will speedily blister
+off.  The next thing is to boil them for a long time, especially if they
+are the tails of old beavers.  Then it is best to allow them to get
+thoroughly cold, as they taste very much better then, than when eaten
+hot.  On carving them the correct method is to cut the meat in long
+strips from the powerful central bone.  These are then to be served up
+and eaten with a little salt.  Beavers' tails thus prepared make a very
+dainty dish.  Indeed, it is one of the great delicacies of the country,
+prized alike by both Indians and travellers.  The other two great
+delicacies of the country are the moose's nose and the bear's paws.
+
+"That looks queer to me," said Sam, "that the delicacies of a country
+should be the beaver's tail, the bear's paws, and the moose's nose.  If
+such is the case, you see that when here eating even the delicacies of
+the land you are reduced to extremities!"
+
+"A very good one, Sam," shouted the boys.  "Old Ireland forever!"
+
+The beavers' tails, although never tasted before by the boys, were very
+much enjoyed by them.  They racked their brains and memories to try and
+think of some article of food that had a taste somewhat similar, but had
+to give it up.  So they had to agree with Alec that if you wished to
+know just how beavers' tails tasted--well, you must eat one.
+
+As the evening promised to be a calm and beautiful one, Mr Ross said
+that they had better start not long after midnight.  They could travel
+on the back trail until they reached the camp where the storm had struck
+them without much difficulty; after which in all probability they would
+have to make a fresh trail.  A blizzard storm in that land quickly
+obliterates a trail, and thus the return journey is often made without a
+single evidence of any other trip ever having been made in that region
+of country.  Their great success in capturing so many beavers meant a
+large additional weight on their sleds.  However, against that was the
+fact that their vigorous appetites had very considerably reduced the
+weight of their outfit, and in addition their dogs had, since they left
+home, devoured about a thousand-weight of fish.  Forty-seven beavers
+weigh a good deal when they have to be drawn many scores of miles on
+dog-sleds, and so, in spite of the lightened loads, it was no easy
+matter to arrange them on the sleds.
+
+That they might be ready to make the desired start in good time, it was
+thought best that Mr Ross and the boys should go to bed in their camp
+outfit as has been described, while the men should load up the sleds as
+far as possible, just leaving sufficient room in the deerskin wrappings
+for the packing away of the bedding and the other essentials required at
+the midnight meal.  This meant that the Indians would have at least two
+hours' less sleep than the whites.  This would be no unusual occurrence.
+As a general thing the Indians sleep very little when travelling, in
+summer or winter.  This is especially the case when they are employed as
+canoemen or dog-drivers.  They are so alert and watchful and anxious
+that everything should go right, that often white men have travelled for
+weeks together with several of these red men in their employ, without
+ever having once seen one of them asleep.  They seldom think of lying
+down until long after their employers have gone to sleep, and then they
+are up long before them in the mornings.  And yet how few there are who
+have given these most vigilant and faithful of comrades or servants
+their due meed of praise!
+
+To the music of the few quiet whispered words of the men, as they
+actively attended to the work of packing up the sleds, Mr Ross and the
+boys quickly fell into dreamless slumber.  When the men had finished
+packing and fastening up the loads they dragged them out in line on the
+homeward trail, leaving sufficient space between the sleds for the dogs
+when they should be harnessed to them.  The result was that the whole
+line of sleds, when thus stretched out, extended quite a distance from
+the camp.
+
+Loud were the shoutings and many were the indignant utterances which
+quickly aroused Mr Ross and his young bedfellows from their slumbers.
+
+"What is the matter?" demanded Mr Ross.
+
+"Wolverines!" was the quick response.
+
+Great indeed was the excitement, and at first the boys could hardly
+realise how the mention of that one word could cause such commotion.
+Even Mr Ross was about as much excited as anyone else.  While guns were
+being loaded, and other preparations were being made for a speedy hunt,
+the cause of all the excitement was soon told.  It was that, in spite of
+the presence of so many persons and dogs, the wolverines had crept up to
+the sleds, and had stolen away five of the best beavers, and in addition
+had so badly scented with their horrid odour more than a dozen others
+that they were absolutely worthless.
+
+"How was it possible that none of the dogs detected them?" asked Mr
+Ross.  "They are generally sleeping in various places around the camp.
+I am sure I cannot understand how those brutes, cunning as they are,
+could play such a trick upon us."
+
+In response to this one of the men explained that after they had
+finished arranging their loads they went out and brought into the camp
+all of the dogs, so as to have no trouble in finding them when they
+would be required.  They stated also that, during the brief time they
+tried to get a little sleep, some of the dogs were very restless, and
+they had to speak sternly to them to induce them to be quiet.  Then he
+added:
+
+"The dogs most uneasy were those of Sam's train.  Several times they
+growled, and were very uneasy.  Spitfire was the worst, and acted like a
+dog ready for a fight."
+
+The stupid drivers, instead of calling the hunters, who were very sleepy
+from the fact that they had had hardly any sleep for several nights
+past, sternly threatened the dogs, and thus succeeded in quieting them
+down.  After a time some disagreeably tainted air reached the sensitive
+nostrils of one of the Indian hunters.  He did not require a second
+sniff to tell him what it indicated.  With a bound he was up.  Suddenly
+rousing his comrade, they rushed out into the gloom of the forest.
+Unfortunately for them, the fire was about out, and so at first it was
+impossible to see how great had been their loss from these stealthy,
+cunning animals.  It was when they had rushed back to the camp, and were
+rousing up the other men and rebuilding the fire, that the commotion was
+made which had so suddenly called up Mr Ross and the boys.  A casual
+glance had enabled them to see, as we have mentioned, something of the
+nature of their loss.  On a closer investigation it was found that the
+damage was even much greater.
+
+What was to be done?  This was the question now discussed, and quickly
+was a decision arrived at.  It was to organise a party, and have them
+get on the trail of the wolverines, and follow them up until they were
+reached.  It was decided that those dogs which manifested any great
+eagerness to pick up and follow on the trail should be the ones
+encouraged to push on as rapidly as possible, while the hunters with
+their guns should follow as speedily as it could be done in the dense,
+gloomy forest.
+
+Spitfire and the rest of Sam's train were the first when taken to the
+place to immediately pick up the scent, and, as soon as they were
+encouraged by Sam to do so, away they dashed in the gloom.  Bruce and
+his comrades were equally as eager, and as Alec's cheery voice rang out
+his dogs quickly responded, and away they sped on the hot trail of the
+audacious, cunning thieves.  The two hunters and a couple of Mr Ross's
+best men, with their guns well-loaded and with their snowshoes on their
+feet, as rapidly as was possible strode after them.
+
+Mr Ross and the boys waited until the last sounds of the dogs were lost
+in the distance, and then, by the light of the now brilliant camp fire,
+made a more careful inspection of the sleds, and so were able to see the
+full extent of the depredations made by these most cunning of all
+animals in those regions.  There they not only saw the full extent of
+their destructiveness, but, under the guidance of the Indian now keeping
+watch over the sleds, they were able, by following back on their tracks,
+to see how five wolverines had outwitted the whole of them, dogs
+included.
+
+When they returned to the warmth and cheer of the camp fire they found
+that old Memotas and others had prepared for them a good warm breakfast.
+While it was being partaken of, Frank turned to Memotas and said:
+
+"How is it that you, who are so great a hunter, are not off in the woods
+with those other men?"
+
+With a grim, sarcastic smile he replied: "Better some one stay in camp
+for fear wolverines come in on other side and steal what is left."
+
+This answer was at first quite a riddle to the boys.  But the fact was,
+he was so thoroughly disgusted at the remissness of those whose duty had
+been to have watched that night, that he felt that a great disgrace had
+come to them all.  The idea of allowing five wolverines to thus steal
+such a march upon them was too much for even the patient, kind-hearted
+Memotas.
+
+"Why," said he, "it will be the story at every camp fire this winter--
+yes, and for long years to come.  We all know that wolverines are
+cunning animals, but when the fact is known that there were so many of
+us in the camp at the time that five beavers were stolen from our
+sleds--why, great will be their ridicule and contempt for us."
+
+It was indeed a long time since Memotas had made such a long speech of
+this kind, and so, when he stopped, there was an awkward silence.  Even
+Mr Ross had nothing to say.  It was very evident, however, that he felt
+that there had been very great carelessness on the part of somebody, and
+perhaps he chided himself that he had not interested himself in the
+matter.  However, he had his hopes that, in spite of the cunning of the
+wolverines, the men would succeed in killing some of them, and as one
+wolverine skin is worth four beaver skins, if they were successful there
+would at least be some satisfaction in that.
+
+As it was still a long time until daylight the boys were persuaded to
+lie down in their bed, and Memotas carefully tucked them in.  Refreshing
+sleep speedily came to them again, and when they awoke it was to hear
+Mr Ross giving some final instructions to three dog-drivers who were
+just about to start on the trail made at midnight by the wolverines,
+barking dogs and angry, indignant hunters.  Wrapped securely upon their
+sleds was a liberal supply of food, with kettles, axes, and other things
+that might be required.
+
+As they started the eastern sky almost suddenly became illuminated with
+the brightness of the coming day.  So beautiful was the morning that the
+boys longed to go with the departing trains.  It was thought best,
+however, owing to the uncertainty and probable hardships that might have
+to be encountered, not to run the risk.  To pleasantly and profitably
+pass the time it was suggested that some of them go out on a tour of
+investigation on the trail of the wolverines, and see in what direction
+they came and how it was that they had so well succeeded in their
+movements.  Dear Old Memotas, disconsolate as he was, was persuaded to
+go along and explain the various movements of these clever animals to
+the boys.  This he could well do, as he had hunted them for many years
+and knew much about them, although he always declared that there were
+some of them that could outwit any Indian.
+
+They all first went to the spot where stood the sleds, from which the
+beavers had been stolen.  Then, with Memotas leading, they followed back
+on the tracks, and soon they found, as they went on, that the cautious
+animals had completely crept around the camp, ere they had begun their
+depredations.  Continuing on their trail, still going back, they found
+that the wolverines had come directly from the spot on the dam where the
+beavers had been captured, as has been described.
+
+While so near the beaver house Memotas said to the boys that it might be
+interesting to try and find out if the surviving beavers had as yet gone
+to work again.  That anything could be found out seemed impossible to
+the boys, but the experienced eye of the old Indian saw evidences of
+their industry very close at hand.  Of course the intense cold had again
+frozen up the water where from it the ice had been cut and thrown out.
+This newly formed ice, of course, firmly held up the row of strong
+stakes which with so much trouble and care the men had driven so solidly
+in the ground.  Drawing his hunting axe from his belt, Memotas struck
+the projecting ends of the stakes a few smart blows, just sufficient to
+loosen them from the new ice.  Then said Memotas to the boys:
+
+"Try and see which of you is strong enough to pull any of them up."
+
+Eagerly they each seized hold of one, and, expecting that the other end
+was still securely stuck in the mud, they pulled with such vigour that
+the three of them nearly fell over on their backs.  To their
+astonishment they found by the appearance of the short sticks in their
+hands that the beavers had cut them off just below the ice.
+
+After some further interesting investigation they returned to the camp,
+for very naturally they were all anxious to get some word from the
+hunters and the dogs.  Fortunately they had not long to wait, for very
+soon after their return the expected ones dashed into their midst.  On
+their sleds they had three dead wolverines.  The dogs had returned
+panting and tired.  They were all in good shape, except Bruce and
+another one of Alec's train.  These, in battle with the wolverines, had
+each received a couple of severe flesh wounds, but they seemed to think
+nothing of them, and in a short time they completely healed up.
+Everybody was, of course, anxious to hear their story, and so one of the
+hunters was asked to be the spokesman for the whole, and here is about
+what he said:
+
+"You all know how we started.  You boys set your dogs on the tracks, and
+away they went and we after, as fast as we could follow.  The dogs could
+travel much faster than we could, and so it was not long before they
+were out of hearing.  The wolverines must have got a good start, as it
+was a long time before we found any trace of them.  But we pushed on as
+fast as it was possible for us to do in the darkness.  Sometimes the
+northern lights shone out, and then we made very much better time.  By
+and by we came to a half-eaten beaver that had been dropped by one of
+the thieves.  This told us that the dogs must be driving them very
+close, for a wolverine will make a big fight, before he will give up
+what he has secured.  Still on we hurried, and it was not long after
+this before we heard the dogs again.  Then we found another of the
+skinned beavers, and now the barkings of the dogs told us that the fight
+was on in good earnest.
+
+"We had been so much hindered by the dense woods, that was the reason we
+were so far behind, but now, as we came out from a bad piece of the
+forest, right there before us was a sight to please us for our anger at
+the loss of the beaver.  The dogs had driven one wolverine up into the
+branches of a large tree, while others were barking furiously at two
+others which they had chased up among some steep rocks.  It was at this
+time, just as we reached them, that some of the dogs got cut and
+wounded.  They seemed to be so glad to see us coming to their help that
+they made a furious attack upon the two that were upon the rocks, and
+some of them were taught that wolverines have sharp teeth and know well
+how to use them.
+
+"We speedily shot these three animals, and then began at once to look
+for the tracks of the other two.  After some time we found them, and in
+following them up we soon saw that they had reached the great cliffs,
+among which are their dens.  We could not then hope for much more
+success.  So we returned to the spot where we had left the three dead
+ones, and were just about beginning to skin them when the sleds arrived,
+and it was thought best, after we had had something to eat from the
+supplies Mr Ross was so good as to send us, for us all to return, and
+here we are."
+
+This was the story, and it showed quick, sharp, thorough work on the
+part of both men and dogs.  This long delay had caused quite a break in
+their plans.  Mr Ross, however, decided that just as soon as the
+wolverines could be skinned, and dinner prepared and eaten, the home
+journey must be resumed.  Some of the party would have preferred to have
+remained until the next day before starting, but Memotas sarcastically
+remarked that they had better go on for fear some more wolverines might
+come and carry away the rest of the beavers!  It is a remarkable fact,
+and one interesting to study, that the Indians are much more bitter and
+sarcastic on each other for any act of carelessness in capturing or
+securing their game, than for any other defect or folly.
+
+The homeward journey was soon resumed, and after travelling about twenty
+miles the winter camp was prepared.  Fortunate was it for them that they
+were able to find a favourable place in the very midst of a large
+quantity of dry trees.  So warm and invigorating was the work of cutting
+down these tall dry trees that not only did the boys, but several of the
+men, as they said, for the fun of it, slash away until an unusually
+large number had thus been made ready for the fire.
+
+The owners of the beavers were not to be caught napping again, and so
+they erected a kind of a staging near to the camp, on which the valuable
+loads of meat and furs were safely placed.  Memotas had to have another
+drive or two at them, and so he ironically congratulated them on their
+late precautions.  Sam said it looked like the old proverb of locking
+your stable after the horse was stolen.  Alec's more charitable remark
+was, "It is best to be made wise by the loss, and then strive to save
+the rest."
+
+Yes, indeed, it was a wise precaution, for even now, while the men were
+thus hard at work and others were thus discussing their actions, far
+back on the trail hungry and cruel enemies have caught the rich scent of
+the beaver, and with long, louping strides are rapidly drawing near.
+Supper and prayers were over, and the men had nicely tucked in the boys
+in their warm bed.  Before lying down themselves they had as usual lit
+their pipes and were having a quiet chat over the usual incidents of the
+day.  With a sudden start they were all on their feet in an instant, for
+coming down on the wind, in the direction in which they had so recently
+travelled, they heard a sound so blood-curdling and so ominous that it
+has chilled the very heart and caused the cheeks to blanch of many a
+stout-hearted traveller, the howlings of a pack of wolves!
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+THE COMING BATTLE WITH THE WOLVES--THOROUGH PREPARATIONS--THE CRY OF THE
+WOLVES FOR REINFORCEMENTS--THE FIRST ATTACK AND REPULSE--WOUNDED WOLVES
+DEVOURED--MEMOTAS'S COMMENTS--THE SECOND ATTACK--THE POWDER EXPLOSIONS--
+FINAL VICTORY--DOGS RELUCTANT TO ATTACK WOLVES--EXPLANATIONS--MR. ROSS'S
+STORY OF THE BEARS STEALING HIS PIGS--DOGS MORE CONFIDENT IN ATTACKING
+BEARS.
+
+The Indians very quickly aroused Mr Ross, who at once realised the
+danger that menaced them.  The Indians, prompt to act in such
+emergencies, had already begun their preparations to meet the oncoming
+foes.  They had seized their axes, and were already hard at work cutting
+down more trees, that there might be an additional supply of wood with
+which the fire could be kept brilliantly burning.  Some of the men were
+busily engaged in getting the guns and ammunition ready and in making
+other arrangements that would aid to success in the approaching battle.
+
+To Mr Ross the Indians left the work of calling up the boys and
+informing them of the coming danger.  This he speedily did, and great
+was their surprise when informed of the fact that in all probability
+they were in for a fierce battle with an unknown number of savage
+wolves.
+
+To judge by their howlings the wolves were still a long distance from
+the camp.  The hearing of the Indians is very acute, and when the
+temperature is down so low that the mercury is frozen, sounds are heard
+very much more distinctly, and from a greater distance, than under
+ordinary atmospheric conditions.  Thus there was fortunately a little
+time for preparation ere they would have to meet the fierce assault.
+
+The boys were each urged to quickly put the harness on their own dogs
+and bring them into the camp, which was rapidly being enlarged.  The old
+dogs, that had a wholesome dread of wolves, were, it was thought, wise
+enough to look after themselves.  Before even Mr Ross and the boys had
+heard the wolves, the old dogs had detected falling on their ears the
+melancholy sound, and trembling with fear they came crowding into the
+camp, and to the feet of their different drivers.
+
+Trees were fallen all around, under the vigorous blows of the choppers,
+and were being cut into lengths that could be carried in.  Three or four
+men would seize hold of these great dry logs and speedily bring them
+into the position which they well knew would be to the best advantage.
+The sleds were rearranged, and so placed that logs could be piled on
+them.  The harnesses were all hung high, and everything made as secure
+as possible.  Wolves are afraid of fire, and so now it was that on this
+fire the Indians were going mainly to depend.  Already the men had
+thrown a number of fresh logs on the fire, as well as extended it out in
+crescent shape to the right and left.  Behind the camp they cut down a
+number of the trees, so placing them that they made a natural barricade
+as they crashed into each other.  It was not at all wolf-proof, but it
+would prevent a rush attack, and those bold enough to try to venture
+through could be easily seen and shot.
+
+About five hundred yards from the camp the trail made quite an ascent
+ere the camp was reached.  Up to the moment when the wolves reached the
+top of this ascent they had travelled altogether by the strong scent of
+the castoreum which is found in the body of the beaver, and which had
+most thoroughly perfumed the whole party, dogs, men, and outfit.  As the
+brilliant fire now for the first moment was seen by them, their howlings
+suddenly ceased, and it was evident that they were very much perplexed.
+
+"Bothered are you?" chuckled Memotas, as he carefully examined his gun.
+"Wanted beaver, did you, and prepared to take it raw, and now it looks
+as though, if you get it, you will have to take it hot? come on for it,
+if you dare."
+
+These sarcastic words were helpful to the boys, who had worked
+splendidly under Mr Ross's guidance.  There was no doubt about it that
+the boys were excited.  Alec, whose fearful race against such monsters
+came visibly before him, was agitated, yet he bravely did everything
+desired of him, and felt that he was in for another triumph.  It is no
+sign of cowardice to be conscious of the danger to be faced.  The
+bravest of the brave are those who realise the greatness of the task
+before them, and then unflinchingly face it, to conquer or to die.
+
+Unfortunately, on this trip the boys had not brought with them their
+guns.  However, before starting Mr Ross had seen that one apiece for
+each of his men, including Memotas, with abundance of ammunition, was
+placed upon the sleds.  The hunters fortunately had an extra gun with
+them, and this was handed to Mr Ross.
+
+"I wonder what conspiracy they are hatching now," said Memotas, as the
+wolves continued so strangely silent.
+
+"Nothing that bodes any good to us," replied Mr Ross.  He had been in
+critical positions like this before, and now as the scent of battle once
+more was on him he handed his gun with pleasure and rejoiced in the
+excitement of the hour.  He would have been glad if the boys had been
+safe at Sagasta-weekee, for as yet it was utterly impossible to form any
+estimate of their as yet unseen foes' numbers, or to judge of the
+fierceness of the attack which they would shortly make.
+
+For about half an hour this strange, unnatural stillness continued, and
+then there broke upon their ears a horrid din that seemed to come from
+every point in the compass around them.  Although the sound was some
+distance off, yet so blood-curdling was it that the boys were startled,
+and Alec pulled his fur cap down over his ears in a vain endeavour to
+shut out the horrid sounds.  The dogs seemed at first to try and answer
+this noisy challenge, but soon their courage sadly oozed out, and they
+tremblingly huddled together in the camp, or close to their masters'
+feet.
+
+To the boys' amazement, the Indians unconcernedly put down their guns,
+and taking up their pipes began to smoke.  Turning to the boys, Mr Ross
+said:
+
+"You had all better lie down and sleep, for we are not going to be
+troubled with the wolves for a good while."
+
+"Why, dare we do that," said Frank, "when the wolves are now all around
+us?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr Ross, "that last cry we heard was from different points
+around us, but it was not the challenge of immediate attack, but a call
+sent out for reinforcements.  Every wolf within ten miles of us heard
+that far-reaching cry, and is galloping in this direction."
+
+"That means," said Sam, "that every wolf within four hundred miles of us
+is mustering for the fight?"
+
+"Precisely," said Alec, "if you square the circle."
+
+It was rather trying for the boys to be asked to lie down and go to
+sleep under such circumstances, yet they promptly obeyed the request of
+those they knew would only give them the best of advice.  Strange as it
+may appear to some, our brave boys were soon sound asleep, and when,
+about an hour after they were called up again, they found themselves
+refreshed and doubly nerved for the coming conflict.
+
+The subdued howlings of the wolves were again distinctly heard, and it
+was the opinion of the Indians that they were holding a big council to
+decide on the plan of their attack.  Knowing so well their methods, it
+was the opinion of them all that the heaviest assault would be on the
+leeward side, as there the wind carried the strong scent from the
+castoreum and the meat.  To impede them in their rush if they should try
+that method of attack, a couple of Indians with their axes ventured out
+in that direction and cut down a number of trees, which they caused to
+fall in such a way that the wolves, when approaching, would be delayed
+by them, and thus render it easier for them to be shot.  While these men
+were thus chopping, in that advanced position of danger, others with
+loaded guns stood not far behind as their defenders.  However, they were
+not disturbed except by one skulking fellow, that was doubtless acting
+as a scout.  When he saw that he was discovered, he quickly retreated
+back in the gloom of the forest.
+
+The increasing din and the more confident yelps told the men, who,
+living in the forest, had become familiar with the various sounds and
+calls of the wild beasts, that reinforcements were coming in, and that
+the attack would soon be made.
+
+The camp could muster ten guns.  Six of these were doubled-barrelled,
+but they were all muzzle-loaders.  When the boys were aroused the second
+time they were each given small-sized axes as their weapons of defence,
+in case the battle should reach the camp, which, however, was not
+anticipated.  In addition they were expected to keep the dogs together,
+and soothe and quiet them as much as possible.
+
+Noticing some peculiar rolls of birch bark well back from the fire, on
+which Memotas was keeping a careful eye, Sam inquired what they were,
+and was interested to learn that they were a kind of improvised hand
+grenade, made by Memotas, to be used if the wolves should strive to come
+too close.  They each contained two or more pounds of powder, and if
+they did but little execution they would at least add to the noise and
+excitement.
+
+At the request of all the men Mr Ross was appointed as captain, whose
+word was to be obeyed by all.  That he might be able to wisely direct
+the men to the points where the attack seemed to be most directed, a
+scaffold of logs was hurriedly erected on the windward side of the camp.
+So abundant was the supply of wood that the fire was kept burning so
+brightly that Mr Ross, from his elevated position, could see quite a
+distance into the forest in every direction.
+
+As was anticipated, the attack was made on the leeward side with a rush,
+and, with howlings that were blood-curdling, the savage beasts in a pack
+rushed forward, as though confident of success and an easy victory.  The
+newly fallen trees bothered them but for a moment, as on they rushed.
+As they emerged from them the men began firing at them, from the point
+in front of the camp, to which they had advanced.  As the first volley
+from the ten guns rang out a number of wolves fell dead, while others,
+badly wounded, with howls of pain quickly retreated.  Mr Ross could see
+that they met with no sympathy, for, wounded as they were, they had to
+fight for their lives against some of their comrades that, having tasted
+the blood of their wounds, were anxious to devour them.
+
+In the meantime the men with the double-barrelled guns kept picking off
+the more venturesome of the wolves, while the men with the other guides
+rapidly loaded them.  Thus they kept loading and firing until the
+disheartened survivors drew back beyond the range of the light into the
+darkness of the forest.  For a time all that was heard were the yelpings
+and snarlings of the wounded and their assailants.  These discordant
+cries seemed to amuse Memotas very much.
+
+"Ha, ha!" said he, "you came for beaver, did you?--with perhaps a man or
+boy or two thrown in; and now you are content to eat your brother wolf's
+flesh!  You are easily contented, anyway."
+
+"Wait, Memotas," said another Indian; "those wolves are not through with
+us yet, and it is likely that we will have a bigger attack from them
+than what we already have had."
+
+Quietly calling one of the Indians, who was possessed of marvellous
+powers of vision, up on the scaffolding where he was, Mr Ross called
+his attention to the stealthy movements of the wolves.  Keen as were the
+powers of vision possessed by Mr Ross, those of this Indian were much
+superior, and so he at once was able to detect the wolves skulking back
+to a point far in the rear of the camp.  Their object was to make an
+attack from that direction.  To meet this new movement, Mr Ross
+withdrew most of the men from the front, and placed them where they
+would be able to render most effective service.  About a hundred feet or
+more behind the camp stood a very tall, dead balsam tree.  Seizing a
+large axe, and calling another Indian to do likewise, Memotas rushed out
+with his comrade and speedily cut down that tree, causing it to fall
+directly from the camp.  Then taking his queer-looking rolls of
+gunpowder in his arms, and slipping his snowshoes on his feet, he
+hurried back to the place where the top of the tree now lay upon the
+ground.  This was at the place along which the wolves would probably
+come when they again made their attack.  Here Memotas carefully arranged
+his powder-loaded rolls of birch bark, and connected the fuses of each
+with a heavy sprinkling of gunpowder, which reached to the trunk of the
+tree.  Then pulling the cork out of a horn full of powder, which had
+been slung on his back, he laid a train on the trunk the whole length of
+the tree.  Coming into the camp, as he relit his pipe, he coolly said to
+the boys, "I think I will give them some singed wolf meat as a change
+after a while."
+
+As was anticipated, at this point a number of wolves gathered to make
+the attack.  They cunningly kept themselves as much in the shadows of
+the trees as possible, and so were the more difficult to hit.  However,
+they never got very near the camp until the firing for a time had to be
+nearly suspended owing to the guns becoming too hot from rapid use.
+This was Memotas's opportunity.  Seeing a number of wolves, emboldened
+by the apparent ceasing of the firing, coming on with a rush toward the
+spot where he had placed his birch rolls of powder, he boldly seized a
+flaming brand from the fire and rushed out to the spot where he had
+stood when he had cut down the tree.  As from his position he could not
+very well see the oncoming wolves, he waited for Mr Ross to give him
+notice when to fire his little train of gunpowder.  The instant the word
+was given he touched the firebrand to the powder, and at once rushed
+back to join the other Indians, who with their guns were again ready for
+their foes.  Some of the wolves, more eager than their comrades, had
+already passed by the mine laid for them, and so were a little startled
+by the spluttering little stream of fire that passed them as it made its
+way along the trunk of that tree.  Carefully and well had Memotas done
+his work, for soon there was a series of explosions mingled with
+yelpings of pain and terror, and a number of frightened hairless and
+wounded wolves turned into the forest and were seen no more.  A forward
+rush of the men, firing heavily as they advanced, completed the work,
+and that strange battle was over.
+
+There was but little rest or sleep for any of the party in the camp
+during the brief remainder of the night.  The fires were kept brightly
+burning, and in turns the men with guns loaded kept vigilant watch
+against their treacherous foes.  As an extra precaution a gun was
+occasionally fired, so that any skulking wolf remaining in the
+neighbourhood might know that the inhabitants of the camp were on their
+guard, and ready to renew the fight if it were necessary.
+
+As soon as it was broad daylight, escorted by some of the Indians, fully
+armed, Mr Ross and the boys went out on a tour around what might be
+called the battle field.  They were surprised at not finding more dead
+wolves than they did.  They were, however, simply disgusted at the many
+evidences of the rank cannibalism of those that had escaped the bullets.
+They had without any pity or remorse most rapidly devoured the dead and
+wounded, with the exception of those that had been singed by Memotas's
+improvised fireworks.  So successful had been this explosion, and so
+accurate the aim of the men, that several wolves of different kinds were
+found within a radius of half a mile.  Some had been killed instantly,
+and so lay just where they fell.  Others, mortally wounded, had managed
+to crawl away quite a distance ere they died.  But of all those that in
+any way had been singed or burnt by the fire not one had been torn or
+mangled by the survivors.  However, such had been the effects of the
+fire upon them that their skins were valueless as fur, and so they were
+left undisturbed where they had fallen.
+
+A good breakfast was ready for them all when they returned to the camp.
+Soon after it was over the sleds were again loaded, the dogs harnessed,
+and the journey once more resumed.
+
+It had been a memorable night for the boys.  They had remained cool and
+collected, but alert and watchful.  The conduct of the dogs rather
+humiliated and disappointed them.  Why some of them should act so
+cowardly, and so tremble at the howlings of the wolves, was to them a
+mystery and an annoyance.  They, however, stoutly declared that their
+own young trains growled, and even barked back their defiance, when the
+howlings of the wolves were most severe.  At the resting place where
+they stopped for dinner they had quite a discussion on the subject.  Sam
+confessed that he had been eager to let the dogs loose and then urge
+them on to the attack.  At this candid confession Mr Ross was much
+amused, and said that when a boy, long ago, travelling with his father
+and some Indians, one night in a camp where they were bothered by the
+howlings of some wolves he, against their advice, urged his own splendid
+train of young dogs to the attack.  Only three of them managed to get
+back to the camp, and they were in such a wounded, torn condition that
+they were worth but little for weeks.  The fourth one had been devoured
+by the wolves.
+
+"As one result," added Mr Ross, "I had to walk or run on snowshoes the
+rest of the long journey home, and as it was over a hundred miles I
+often wished I had not been so eager to set my dogs on a number of great
+northern wolves."
+
+"What do you think would have happened," said Alec, "if Sam had set the
+three trains we boys are driving on to those wolves that attacked us
+last night?"
+
+"I think," said Mr Ross, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, "that
+there would have been seen along here somewhere three tired, down-
+hearted boys trudging along on snowshoes and mourning the loss of twelve
+splendid dogs."
+
+"Well," said Frank, "I am glad we did not get up a wolf fight, for this
+is jollier than trudging along all day on snowshoes."
+
+With a laugh he threw himself on his dog-sled, and then with a cheer he
+was first off on the trail of the guide.  Quickly the rest followed, and
+the journey was resumed.
+
+When the journey was ended, and in after days as various incidents of
+this eventful trip were being discussed, the boys were loth to have to
+believe that it was running a big risk to allow sleigh dogs to attack
+wolves.
+
+"What about bears?" said Sam.
+
+"There is not one quarter the risk run by dogs in attacking bears, that
+there is when they venture to assail wolves," said Mr Ross.  "These big
+wolves of the North are generally in a half-starved condition.  When
+attacked they seem to know that it is for their very life they are
+fighting, and so they use their long, sharp teeth and powerful jaws with
+the greatest ferocity imaginable.  Bears, on the contrary, fight in an
+entirely different way.  When they are assailed by dogs they very
+seldom, if ever, fasten on them with their teeth as do the more vicious
+wolves.  Their one great effort in the conflict is to seize hold of the
+dogs.  If they can once get them in the grip of their long, strong,
+muscular forearms--well, one hug is all the most powerful dog requires
+to use him up for that day.  Fortunate is he if he is not killed by the
+fearful squeezing he has received.  Dogs seem, by some sort of instinct,
+to very quickly find out where their danger is, and so, unless they are
+young and inexperienced, they will fight shy of getting within the reach
+of those strong forearms that can give such an unlovely hug."
+
+"How do the clever, experienced dogs attack bears?" asked Alec.
+
+"I am in hopes," said Mr Ross, "that before many more months you will
+be able to see for yourselves, but as there is much uncertainty about
+all these things, I will try and describe a battle we had not a mile
+away from Sagasta-weekee a couple of years ago.  We had brought some
+young pigs out from the Selkirk country, and had them well housed in a
+warm pen, around which was erected a high, strong stockade.  We knew
+that bears were fond of pork, and were also aware of the fact that they
+were good climbers, but with all our experience of them we never
+imagined that they would attempt to scale that high stockade and try to
+steal our pigs.  But they did, and with a certain measure of success.
+Without alarming the dogs, or even any of the several Indians about the
+place, they succeeded in climbing over that high stockade, and each
+bear--for there were three of them--grabbed a pig, each one weighing
+perhaps fifty pounds, and succeeded in getting back over the stockade,
+and off for the woods ere the loud squealings of the frightened young
+porkers gave them away.  Of course, we were instantly aroused by these
+unusual noises, and at once suspecting the cause, I gave instant orders
+that the dogs that were at home should be immediately let out of their
+kennels and put on to the trail of the bears.  As soon as possible a
+number of us quickly followed.  Fortunately for us, the morning had so
+advanced that there was sufficient light for us to see our way.  We had
+no trouble in reference to the direction in which to go, as the squeals
+of the pigs and the excited barkings of the dogs were quite sufficient
+to guide us.  When we reached them we beheld a sight that made the most
+stoical of my Indians laugh.  Here we found the three bears brought to
+bay.  Each one of them was bravely holding in one forearm, as a mother
+does a child, one of the stolen pigs, while with his other forepaw he
+was giving resounding whacks to every dog that was rash enough to come
+within range.  My largest sleigh dogs were still out with Kinesasis at
+their summer home, and so the bears were more able to repel the attacks
+of these much smaller ones.  Still there were some plucky ones among the
+dozen or so in this pack, and they knew how to fight bears when they had
+them on the run.  But they were bothered to know what to do with these
+big fellows, sitting here with their backs against a tree and a noisy
+pig in one forearm while they used the other like a terrible boxer.
+
+"From a distance we watched for a time the peculiar conflict, and
+perhaps would have done so longer if it had not been that we saw one of
+my pet dogs, a very courageous little fellow, make a too venturesome
+rush and get within the sweep of that great arm.  Suddenly the bear
+dragged him in, and although the plucky fellow tried to use his teeth,
+it was of no use.  The bear hugged him to himself with such a crushing
+grip that the poor dog's ribs were broken like clay pipe-stems.  Then
+suddenly the dog was flung quite a distance to one side.
+
+"We did not want to see any more valuable dogs thus treated, and so we
+at once pushed forward.  When the alert bears saw us approaching they at
+once started for the distant woods.  Now the advantage was all with the
+dogs.  It was very comical to see the desperate efforts made by those
+bears to hold on to those pigs, and also to fight the dogs and to keep
+up their retreat.  Experienced dogs know that the tenderest spot in a
+bear is the tendon of his hind leg, and so that is where they try to
+seize hold of him.  Two clever dogs are all that are necessary to delay,
+until the hunters come up, the largest black bears in our country.  It
+does not depend very much on the size of the dogs.  Indeed, large dogs
+are rather at a disadvantage, as it is harder for them to get out of the
+range of the bear when he turns upon them.  In this fight all my dogs
+did was to assail each bear in front and rear.  While the dog in front
+kept up a vigorous barking as close to his nose as it was safe to
+venture, the dog in the rear, watching his opportunity, sprang in and
+gave him a severe nip in the tender spot in his hind leg.  This, of
+course, could not be put up with, and so the bear, still holding on to
+his pig, quickly whirled around to repel this second assailant.  The
+instant he did so the clever dog that had been in front, but was now in
+the rear, instantly sprang in and caught the bear in the same tender
+spot.  This, of course, brought the bear back again to him, but he was
+too clever to hang on, and having done his work he quickly sprang out of
+the reach of those dreaded paws.  Seeing the bear once more turned from
+him, the other dog again dashed in and gave him another severe bite in
+the same place.  Thus it was that the dogs, while not daring to close
+with such large bears, were yet able to keep them from escaping until we
+came up and shot them."
+
+"What about the pigs?" said Frank.
+
+"They were alive, and not much the worse for their queer adventure,
+although for some days they seemed dull and sore," was the reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A BEAR HUNT IN WINTER--MUSTAGAN A FAMOUS INDIAN GUIDE--BEARS' DEN--HOW
+DISCOVERED--BOYS' PERPLEXITY--THE JOURNEY TO THE DEN--A COLD MORNING--
+THE TELLTALE COLUMN OF STEAM--THE ATTEMPT TO DIG DOWN TO THE BEARS--
+TOTAL FAILURE--SUCCESSFUL TUNNELLING OPERATIONS--EXCITING FIGHT IN THE
+ICY CAVERN--THE BATTLES BETWEEN THE MEN AND DOGS AND THE ESCAPING BEARS.
+
+A Bear hunt in winter!  No wonder the boys were excited when they heard
+of it.  Yes, that was what it was, and a very interesting one at that.
+
+Mustagan was a famous hunter, as we have already seen.  In addition to
+that, he was a wonderful guide, and had also been a great traveller.  He
+had gone several times on great expeditions to the Arctic Ocean.  He was
+with Sir John Richardson on his memorable search for Sir John Franklin.
+He had also gone with Dr Rae and others on similar Arctic exploring
+trips.  Then this Mustagan was the old Cree Indian who found the silver
+spoons and other remains of Sir John Franklin among the Eskimos.  Their
+recovery gave the final definite knowledge of the tragic ending of that
+memorable expedition.  These relics of that sad expedition, in which
+about a hundred and forty of the bravest of men perished, some of whom
+might have been saved if Paulette had been true, are now in the
+Greenwich Museum.
+
+But although Mustagan had been long years thus employed he was yet in
+the full vigour of life, and as a hunter was unexcelled.  He was, like
+Big Tom, particularly noted for his skill as a moose hunter, and it was
+when out on the tracks of a moose that he made the singular discovery
+that led to this bear hunt in winter.  When he came over to Sagasta-
+weekee with the news that he had some rare sport for the boys they were,
+of course, full of curiosity to get all the information.
+
+During the previous summer they had all had their peculiar experiences
+in bear fights, but this finding of bears in winter was a revelation, as
+they were always taught that the bears, especially in cold countries,
+hibernate during the winter; that is, that they den up in some quiet
+retreat in the rocks, if possible, and there remain in a semi-
+unconscious condition for months together.  They generally go in very
+fat, and on this fat they keep alive all winter.
+
+"Is it true," said Sam to Mustagan, "that a bear sucks his paws like a
+baby does his thumb?"
+
+"That is what is believed by the Indians," said the old man.  "But," he
+added, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, "I don't remember any one of
+us ever having sat up to watch one doing it."
+
+"How in the world did you find out where this bear's den is which you
+are inviting us to see?" said Alec.
+
+"Perhaps," said Frank, "he marked it in the fall, like other Indians
+mark their beavers' houses."
+
+"No, indeed," said Mustagan.  "I never thought of one being in that
+place until I found it by the steam."
+
+Here was a bigger mystery than ever.
+
+"Steam!" said Sam; "and where was the engine?"
+
+"Down deep under the snow in a den among the rocks," was the answer
+given.
+
+This did not clear up the mystery, but rather added to their curiosity.
+
+"How far away is it?" asked Mr Ross.
+
+"One day's journey," said Mustagan.
+
+So it was decided that on the following Tuesday, if the weather
+continued bright and fine, the start would be made very early from
+Sagasta-weekee.
+
+"No use going then," said Memotas, "if the days are not bright and cold.
+No see any steam if no sunshine."
+
+This was a great perplexity to the boys, and they appealed to Mr Ross
+to help them out.  But he wished them to have the real surprise that
+Mustagan had in store for them, and so he told them to wait until they
+could see it for themselves, when on the ground.
+
+The weather was everything that could be desired.  On Monday four trains
+of dogs, with a full camping outfit and plenty of supplies to last for
+five or six days, were prepared.  The boys took their guns along with
+them and plenty of ammunition.  They were going to have their share of
+shooting if there was any to be done.  Mustagan, with a couple of his
+sons and two dog-sleds, arrived very early, and the whole party started
+while the stars were still shining.  One of Mustagan's sons, who had
+been with the old man when the den was discovered, ran on ahead of the
+trains as guide.  As the trail had been made by Mustagan and his son
+when they returned after the discovery of the bears, this made the
+travelling more rapid and agreeable.
+
+Three or four times during the day's journey they stopped, and cutting
+down some dry trees made up a big roaring fire, at which they warmed
+themselves and cooked a hearty meal.  About an hour before sundown they
+reached the place.  As it was too late to do anything that evening in
+the way of bear-hunting, it was decided to make the camp and have a good
+night's rest.  This was not as easy a matter as it had been in some
+other places.  There was not at any one spot sufficient dry wood for a
+good camp, especially if they should be attacked by wolves and thus
+require for their safety a good bright fire all night.  However, the
+matter was arranged by making the dogs help.  They were unfastened from
+their sleds, and while some of the men cut down the dry trees, wherever
+they could be found, the boys and one or two men hitched their dogs to
+them and dragged them to the vicinity of the camp, where they were
+speedily cut up into the desired lengths.  There were numbers of green
+balsams around, and so some of these were cut down and so arranged as to
+be helpful in keeping off the cold winds.  The frozen fish were thawed
+for the dogs, and then some of the men prepared the usual supper, which
+consisted of the fattest meat that could be obtained.  Prayers were
+offered after the Evening Hymn had been sung, the beds of fur robes and
+blankets were made, and Mr Ross and the boys were soon very thoroughly
+tucked in.  Nothing unusual disturbed them in the night, although some
+of the men had an uneasy half hour, as the dismal howlings of a solitary
+wolf in the distance could be distinctly heard.  The mournful sounds at
+length died away, and the men again went to sleep.
+
+As they were retiring Mustagan told the boys that the steam would be
+going best just after sunrise, and so they had better all be up early
+and, after a good warm cup of tea and something to eat, be off to see it
+and then return to breakfast.  Then he said, "After that we will find
+out what makes the steam."
+
+There was only the faintest glimmer of the coming dawn when the boys
+were called up.  My, but it was cold that morning!  How the lads did
+shiver!  Wistfully they looked back at the warm robes and blankets which
+the men were rapidly rolling up.  Gladly would they have tumbled under
+them again, the cold was so terrible, it must have been at least fifty
+below zero.  It seemed to chill them to the very marrow of their bones.
+Their teeth chattered.  The tears in their eyes froze into ice.  The
+breath touching their fur caps, or capotes, instantly became white and
+shining.  Well was it for them that the fire was brightly burning ere
+they were called.  Speedily were seats of rolls of blankets prepared for
+them, and here, with a big buffalo skin thrown around each one as an
+additional protection, they were seated as close to the fire as it was
+possible to get without setting their clothes or robes on fire.  How
+warming and delicious was the tea that morning!--well-sweetened, and
+with a lump of cream in it.  Cup after cup was taken, and soon the
+bitter cold was forgotten.
+
+"Very cold morning," said Mustagan.  "Take good breakfast now, then
+another good one will be ready when we come back from seeing the steam."
+
+With all the clothing that could well be worn consistent with rapid
+snow-shoeing the party soon set off.  Their direction from the camp was
+due south.  As far as the boys could make out the region was full of
+great rocky ravines.  But the snow covered everything, and it was
+evident that the high winds had caused enormous quantities to drift into
+the hollows and ravines.  Mr Ross and Mustagan were in front, while the
+boys and some Indians were not far behind.  All at once Mustagan, who
+had been on the alert, called Mr Ross's attention to an object which at
+first was to him more imaginary than real.  Sharp as were his eyes, he
+was asked to look upon what to him was at present invisible and
+intangible.  The party had all now stopped, and each one was
+endeavouring to see what already seemed so real to Mustagan.
+
+"O, I see it!" shouted Alec and Sam together.  "See, as the sun's rays
+fall upon it, it shines like a small bit of a rainbow."
+
+"Yes," said Frank, "I see it, like a thin column of steam lit up by the
+morning sun."
+
+Then it was visible to all.  For as the sun arose a little higher, and
+its full rays fell on it, at the right angle to the spot where our party
+now stood, there it was, clear and distinct, a tiny spiral column of
+steam rising up in the clear cold air from a great snowy expanse.  There
+was not a sign of a tree or of a den.  Then Mustagan explained that
+there was a deep ravine full of the snow, and at the bottom of it some
+bears had made their winter's nest in the fall.  Whether they had much
+of a den or not he did not know.  They would find that out when they dug
+them out.  Anyway, here they were under many feet of snow.  The
+breathing caused the snow to melt around them and above them, until it
+formed an icy crystal roof.  Then, as they went on breathing and
+breathing, by and by in a little opening it found its way through the
+crust and through the fine snow, until it made a small chimney all the
+way up to the top; and then he added, "There it comes out, as you see it
+now."
+
+Carefully they all walked up to the spot.  The opening was not more than
+an inch in diameter.  It was hardy perceptible.  The little bit of steam
+froze into the tiniest particles of ice, which were invisible except
+when the sun's bright rays shone on them.  It was a great curiosity to
+the boys.  "How many feet below us are the bears?" asked Sam, in tones
+so subdued that everybody laughed.  But the fact that only a lot of
+light snow separated him from he knew not how many savage bears had a
+tendency to make him a little nervous, and hence his whispered question.
+Glancing over the landscape, and taking notice of the hills in the
+distance and the amount of country that the storm had swept over,
+Mustagan and Mr Ross came to the conclusion that between twenty and
+thirty feet of snow were between them and the icy cave where these bears
+were drowsily sleeping away the long winter months.  After some further
+investigation, and a talk about the best way of getting down to those
+bears, the party returned to camp for breakfast.
+
+The snowshoe run back was a vigorous one, and enjoyed on account of the
+cold.  The second breakfast was dispatched, and the plans talked over
+for getting down to the bears.  If the snow should be found light and
+dry quite a distance down it would be impossible to dig a well-like hole
+down to them.  If the wind had packed the snow hard as it filled up the
+ravine it would be an easy matter.  If it were found impracticable to
+get to them that way, then they would have to tunnel in from below, in
+the valley, until they reached them.  A tunnel can always be dug in deep
+snow, as the pressure of the mass above sufficiently hardens the snow
+near the ground to make it quite possible to accomplish the work.  Thus
+they discussed various plans, and then decided to go and begin
+operations on what seemed the best way when they reached the spot.
+
+Axes, ropes, a big baglike bucket for hauling up snow, snowshovels, and
+other things considered necessary were taken along on a couple of dog-
+trains to the spot where the steam was quite visible, now that it had
+been discovered.  After some consultation it was decided to go to a
+cluster of trees not far off, and cut down a number of them and build a
+kind of platform on the snow directly over the steam orifice, and then
+commence the work of digging down to the den below.
+
+Soon all were busy.  The men cut down the trees, and the boys claimed
+the honour of driving the dogs that dragged the logs to the place where
+they were to be used.  As the snow over the bears' den was so very deep
+the boys had to keep on their snowshoes all the time.  It was very
+difficult at first for the dogs to get along, but, after the snowshoes
+had tramped out the trail a few times, the snow then easily held them
+up.
+
+The log platform was built, and in the large space left cleared in the
+centre, which was about eight feet square, the work of digging was
+commenced.  When all the snow was thrown out that could be reached with
+the long-handled snowshovels a rude windlass was made, and then the
+leather baglike bucket was brought into requisition, and the work went
+on as fast as it was possible to haul up the snow and have it dragged
+away on the dog-sleds.  When the well-like hole was down about fifteen
+feet, and they were congratulating themselves that at least half of the
+work was accomplished, there was a sudden collapse.  The whole thing had
+caved in and carried down the platform and all to a distance of eight or
+ten feet.  Nobody was badly hurt.  The two men who were in the bottom at
+the time, busily filling up the leather bucket, were hit with some of
+the falling logs and nearly buried in the avalanche of snow that seemed
+to them to come from every quarter above them.  Those who had tumbled in
+were more scared than hurt.  The difficulty now was to get the men out,
+as the sides were so light and yielding.
+
+"Use the dogs to do it," said Frank.  And quickly a strong rope was tied
+to an empty sled and it was let down to the first man.  A strong dog-
+train was attached to the other end of the rope.
+
+"Marche!" was shouted, and away went the dogs, and soon there emerged
+one of the men who had fallen in.  Quickly was he rescued, and speedily
+this operation was repeated until the dogs had dragged out all therein
+imprisoned.
+
+All this work had gone for nothing.  Some other plan must be devised.
+Half a day's work gone and nothing to show for it.  This was rather
+discouraging.
+
+"What is to be tried next?" was asked by several.
+
+"Dinner is next," said Mr Ross.  And so away they hurried back to camp,
+and there, while eating their well-earned meal, they talked over the
+next attempt, and decided to go down where the ravine ended out on a
+level place and there begin tunnelling.
+
+When they came back and examined the spot, and measured the drift, they
+found that in order to get low enough to reach the bears they would have
+to tunnel at least two hundred feet.  This meant a lot of heavy work.
+But they were there to get those bears, and were bound to succeed.  At
+first they dug away the snow like a deep trench, until they reached a
+place where it was too deep to be thrown out, and then the work of
+tunnelling really began.  To their delight, they found when they had
+gone some way in, that the pressure of the immense mass of snow upon the
+lower portion had so packed it that it would not require supports, as
+has already been referred to.
+
+They worked in relays with their big shovels, and cut the snow out in
+great pieces, which were dragged away by the dogs as fast as the sleds
+could be loaded.
+
+That evening, when they stopped work, they estimated that they had cut
+about half the way into the bears' den.  Then they returned to the camp
+for supper and rest, and hoped to be able to finish their work on the
+morrow.
+
+That night there was a most beautiful display of the aurora borealis.
+Their ever-changing glories delighted and so fascinated the boys that
+they were loth to cover up their heads in their camp beds.  These
+wondrous visions in the North Land exceed in weird beauty anything else
+that this wide world can show.
+
+Mr Ross was so anxious that they should get the bears to-day, so that
+the whole party could begin the return journey to-morrow, that he had
+them all up at such an early hour that they were eating breakfast by
+starlight.  Just as the sun rose, and the Indians were calling,
+"Sagastao!  Sagastao!"  ("The sun rises!") to each other, they were
+already at the tunnel, anxious to resume operations.  They had to be
+careful now to so run the tunnel that they would directly strike the
+bears.  So, while the men were digging, Mr Ross and Mustagan were
+constantly travelling on their snowshoes with a compass to try and help
+the diggers, who were rapidly pushing on their work.
+
+The boys could hardly understand how it was that it could be so cozy and
+comfortable in the tunnel while outside the cold was so terrible.  To
+their surprise, they here learned that there was warmth even in a snow
+tunnel.  While thus digging away and dragging out the loads, all at once
+the dogs became very much excited, and began barking furiously.
+Suspecting that it was because of the scent of the bears, which passes a
+long distance through the snow, the guns and some axes were immediately
+sent for.
+
+"Did you ever shoot a bear?" said Mustagan to Sam.
+
+"I was chased by one once," said Sam, with a laugh.  "But I fancy I got
+even with him before the summer ended."
+
+"O yes," said Mustagan, with a comical grin, "I do remember now a boy
+coming running into the camp with a bear at his heels.  That's why your
+hair stands up so straight ever since."
+
+Poor Sam, whose hair had a natural tendency to stand on end, said he
+thought he had heard enough of that bear story of his, and so was about
+blaming the old Indian for being too hard on him, when he was astonished
+at hearing him say:
+
+"I want you to be the first to walk into that bears' den with me.  Mr
+Bear chased you once.  You killed some of his relatives since then, but
+he has lots of brothers, and perhaps some of them are in this den, and
+so now is your chance to teach them a lesson for one of their relatives
+making your hair stand up straight.  Fact is," added the old Indian, who
+had never seen a person with his hair standing up like Sam's, "Indian
+thinks you will have to keep killing bears until your hair gets over its
+scare and lies down flat again."
+
+This bit of humour from Mustagan amused everybody, and Sam himself
+joined heartily in the laugh.
+
+Thus they chatted until the guns and axes arrived.  Then the work was
+vigorously pursued.  The tunnel was dug in further and further, as fast
+as the snow could be hauled out.  Every time the dogs came in with their
+empty sleds they were permitted to remain a few minutes to scent the
+bears.  As they had quieted down after their first noisy actions it was
+decided that they were still a good way off from the bears.
+
+As a precautionary measure Memotas went out and cut a long, slim pole,
+which was about twenty feet long.  This he pushed in through the snow
+ahead of the diggers.  By this plan he was able to guard against any
+surprise, for he had stated to Mr Ross that, as the snow was so deep,
+the den would be found very warm, and he would not be surprised if they
+found the bears so wide-awake that they would have a bit of a fight with
+them ere they killed them.  When this was heard it added much to the
+excitement of the whole party, and so while everyone worked with a will
+they were all on the alert for some sudden developments.
+
+After Mustagan had pushed in the pole two or three times and found
+nothing but the ordinary snow, which was being rapidly dug away, he at
+length struck against something hard, which was about fifteen feet in
+from the end of the now long tunnel.  When the dogs came in for their
+last loads Mustagan pulled out the pole and let the dogs put their noses
+to the opening.  They were simply furious, and at once began most
+vigorously to dig into the snow around the hole.  Of course, they were
+quickly stopped and again fastened to the sleds, which on account of the
+narrowness of the tunnel had to be backed in.  Cautiously they worked,
+and soon were only within four or five feet of the obstruction, whatever
+it was, that prevented the pole being pushed along any further.
+
+A consultation was now held, and it was decided to very much enlarge the
+end of the tunnel, so that if there was to be much of a fight there
+would be room enough for the men to stand up and easily move around.
+This enlarging the tunnel and getting out the snow consumed the best
+part of an hour.  Fortunately, it was not very dark, although they were
+so far from daylight in any direction.  The pure white snow seems to
+throw off a certain amount of light.  However, it was warm work, and so
+the men frequently went out with the dogs in relays.  Once outside they
+quickly cooled off and were glad to return.  When the enlargement of the
+tunnel was about completed, and the men were again engaged in cutting
+out great blocks of the snow that was between them and the bears, there
+suddenly reached them a perfume so strong as to be almost sickening.  No
+need of telling anyone who has ever been near a close old bears' den
+where they were now.
+
+All the shovels except a couple were quickly dropped, and the weapons
+were seized by those who were expected to do the fighting.  The
+arrangements were speedily made.  It was difficult to say how many bears
+were in the den.  If only two or three, there would not be much trouble
+in killing them, but if, as sometimes happened, a number had clubbed
+together, there might be as many as eight or ten, and if so there would
+be lots of excitement, and perhaps somebody might get hurt.  So it was
+decided that Mr Ross with Frank and Alec should go out to the mouth of
+the tunnel, and there with their weapons remain, with the dogs
+unharnessed, and wait for developments, while Mustagan with Sam and the
+others would face them in their dens.  If any tried to escape through
+the tunnel those watching at the mouth would fire at them or run them
+down with the dogs.
+
+Cautiously the intervening wall of snow was broken down and trampled
+under foot.  Listen!  There are low growlings heard, and it is evident
+that the bears are on the alert.  These sounds show that the bears have
+long been hearing the noise made by the approach of the tunnellers, and
+are getting their courage up for a fight with the disturbers of their
+long repose.  Mustagan had taken the precaution to bring along some
+torches which he had specially made.  The principal materials of them
+were rolls of birch bark saturated in balsam gum.  The gum had been
+boiled down, and otherwise so prepared, that when ignited it made a most
+brilliant light and yet emitted but little smoke.  At length the diggers
+came to a wall of icy snow, which was very close and hard.  This was the
+wall and roof of the whole den.  The party attentively listened, and now
+the bears were easily heard.  Mustagan said:
+
+"Some of them wide-awake, others seem like sleepy boys called early.
+They are growling and snarling, and seem to say, `Be quiet and let us
+sleep till it is time to get up.'  We'll wake you so you will want to
+get up in a hurry," added the old man with a chuckle, as he made his
+final arrangements.
+
+These were as follows: The men who had been using the shovels were
+ordered to exchange them for their heavy axes.  With these they were to
+at once smash in a place large enough for Mustagan and Sam to step
+through.  They would each have one of the brightest torches, and so the
+old man believed that the sleeping animals would crowd from the
+bewildering light to the other side of the den.  So the flint and steel
+were struck and a light made by one of them, while the axemen now
+vigorously broke through the thin glassy wall.
+
+Soon an opening sufficiently large was made, and the old Indian and Sam
+fearlessly stepped in, with guns and torches.  As anticipated by
+Mustagan, the bears, frightened by the brilliant torches, at once
+crowded away from the dazzling flames.  So he and Sam were safely in,
+but it did not take him long to see that they were not altogether safe
+in there.  My, what a crowd of them! and bears of all sizes too.
+
+"Chop away at the ice," was Mustagan's first command, as he and Sam kept
+slowly edging their way around.  So numerous were the bears that they
+dare not think of letting go their splendid torches that were burning
+brightly.
+
+"We are going to try and drive them out," were his next words; and then
+the old Indian shouted, "Look out, men, and be ready for them!"
+
+Sam was cool and collected, for he had all confidence in Mustagan, but
+he could not help being startled and surprised at the number of the
+bears that lay there snarling and growling like a drove of pigs.  The
+size and beauty of the winter house was also a revelation.  As the
+winter had advanced the warmth of the bears had caused the icy walls and
+roof to keep slowly receding, until now here was a capacious vault-like
+room of clearest crystal.  As the brilliant light flashed on it, it
+seemed like some dream of fairyland.  One look, however, at the
+startled, growling bears showed that the fierce occupants were anything
+but nymphs and fairies.  Seeing their numbers, Mustagan quickly called
+in a couple more men, with axes and additional torches.  Pointing out a
+very large one that seemed ready to begin battle at any moment, he said,
+"You, Sam, you shoot him fair between the eyes."
+
+Sam at once obeyed.  Tremendous was the effect.  So confined was the
+place that the sound was as though a cannon had been fired.  All the
+torches were instantly extinguished but one, and the ice cracked and
+fell in great pieces around them.  Speedily were the torches relighted.
+The bears were wide-awake now.  Fortunately, the biggest and fiercest
+was stone dead.  Sam's aim had been sure, and his bullet had done its
+work.  Mustagan was now so fiercely attacked by the next largest one
+that he could not bring up his gun to his shoulder, but he skillfully
+fired from his side and sent a bullet into the heart of his assailant.
+This quickly finished him.  This second report was, if possible, worse
+than the first, and so some seconds were lost in relighting the torches.
+
+"Drop your guns," said Mustagan, "and fight with your axes and knives."
+
+And fight they had to, for the bears were now full of fight and each
+went for an opponent.  Sam bravely tackled a fine two-year-old with his
+axe.  He raised it and made a desperate blow to try and split the
+animal's skull open.  But just as he plunged forward to strike the bear
+suddenly rose up and with a side blow struck the axe such a clip that it
+fairly flew out of Sam's hands, while the lad, unable to keep his
+footing, stumbled forward at the bear's hind feet.  He was fortunately
+able to reach sideways and seize one of the flaming torches that had
+been thrown on the ground, and which was still fiercely burning.  He was
+none too soon, for already the bear's strong forearms were winding round
+him for a hug that he would have long remembered.  However, as the
+blazing torch was pushed into the bear's face it so suddenly singed his
+handsome whiskers that he had to throw up his paws to defend his face.
+Finding himself thus free again, Sam was quickly on his feet.  Drawing
+his knife, he was able to look around.  Two or three bears were killed
+and others wounded, but so carefully were they using their paws in
+parrying the blows of the men that they were fairly holding their own.
+One man had a shoulder blade broken, and another's crushed ribs were
+making him groan.
+
+"Let us drive them out," said Mustagan, and already it was evident that
+the bears' quick instinct had enabled them to catch the scent of the
+fresh air through the tunnel.
+
+"Run for your lives!" shouted Mustagan to the two men who had been left
+in the tunnel, "and tell Mr Ross and the boys to be ready at the mouth
+to receive them."
+
+They lost no time in getting out, for they were about half blinded and
+suffocated by the smoke of the guns and could render but little service.
+They were soon out, and found Mr Ross and the boys ready for the
+bears.  All were much excited, for they had distinctly heard the two
+shots fired inside.
+
+Mustagan, Sam, and the Indians had now wedged themselves so around the
+bears that they had them all between them and the opening into the
+tunnel.  The cunning animals were loth to leave their winter quarters,
+and so they very slowly and reluctantly gave ground as Mustagan and the
+others, with their flaming torches, gradually forced them on ahead.  It
+would now have been easy to have shot some of them, but Mustagan was
+afraid that as so much of the ice had fallen already from the roof of
+the den a few more such reports might find them all buried under the
+great mass above them.  So he decided to drive the bears out into the
+open air, where the fight could be renewed.
+
+At the great opening in the crystal wall the bears made a determined
+stand.  There were still seven or eight of them unwounded.  There they
+raised themselves upon their hind feet against the opening, and seemed
+to say, "We will not be thus driven out of our house."  Beyond this
+point it seemed impossible to drive them.  The torches would not burn
+much longer, and something desperate had to be done.  Mustagan, while
+fearful of the effects of a powder explosion on the roof, yet resolved
+to try one.  Skillfully throwing some powder in handfuls at the feet of
+the bears, he said to Sam and to the men:
+
+"Get back as far as possible, before I fire this train of powder.  Pull
+your caps over your eyes, and put your heads to the ground."
+
+Then he plunged one of the torches into the little train of gunpowder
+that reached from him to the bears.  Away flew the little stream of fire
+across the den, and then there was a commotion.  The powder went off in
+sheets and tongues.  The bears went off also.  They did not stand on
+ceremony now.  They could not stand such a fiery house, and so they
+wanted to get out of it as quickly as possible.  With growls and snarls
+away they hurried, while Mustagan and Sam and the rest, with the
+expiring torches and noisy yells, followed quickly after, keeping them
+on the move.  Mr Ross and the others heard them coming.  They had
+wisely retired a little from the mouth of the tunnel, so as to let the
+bears get well out before they should catch sight of these new
+assailants.  At the mouth of the tunnel, as they caught the cold air, so
+different from the comfortable quarters they had left, there was a
+decided desire on the part of the bears to retrace their steps, but that
+horrid din and those blazing torches were just behind, and so they made
+a break for the distant forest, which was quite visible across the snowy
+waste.
+
+"Fire now!" was the cry.  And the guns of Mr Ross, Alec, and Frank rang
+out, and a couple of bears tumbled over, one of which quickly regained
+his feet and was off after his comrades.  Unfortunately, the man holding
+the six dogs that had been unharnessed could no longer restrain them,
+and so they were off after the bears.  This was a great annoyance to the
+men who had guns and were now emerging from the tunnel.  They dare not
+now fire at the bears, for fear of hurting the dogs.  The snow on the
+open plain was not more than a foot deep, and so the bears, as well as
+the dogs, could make very good speed.  Some time was lost ere the men
+and boys could get their snowshoes on and take up the chase.  It was a
+great fight.  Some foolish dog would close in on a bear and would get a
+hug that sent him howling back.  Others were wiser and went in pairs.
+When they overtook a bear they immediately separated, one rushing to the
+front, while the other remained behind.  Thus they keep at him and, as a
+general thing, so thoroughly engage his attention that the hunter can
+come up and shoot him at his leisure.  In this way Frank and Alec were
+each able to get a shot at a couple of bears, which they easily killed
+without any great risk to themselves.
+
+A single dog has hardly any chance with a large bear, as one of Frank's
+train found to his cost.  Pluckily he rushed in and made a gallant
+effort to seize the bear by the throat, but the powerful forearms gave
+him a hug so terrible that he was so crushed that he had to be shot to
+be put out of misery.  His ribs were found broken like clay pipe-stems.
+Poor Frank dropped a few honest tears over Swag's grave, which was only
+a hole in the deep snow.  This death was the first break in any of the
+boys' teams, and although another fine dog took poor Swag's place, it
+was long before the boys ceased talking about him and his sad end.
+
+Some of the fleeter bears succeeded in reaching the trees, but they made
+there in the bitter cold but a sorry fight, and were soon all killed.
+
+For the first time almost for hours, now that the last bear was killed,
+one and all began to feel the terrible cold, and no wonder.  Such had
+been the excitement of the last few hours that they had not noticed that
+it was long past the dinner hour, and, when eating is neglected in such
+a temperature, much suffering will quickly follow.  So the cry was,
+"Back to the camp!"  No second order was necessary, and great was the
+delight of the boys to find that some one more level-headed and less
+excited had long since returned and had a bountiful dinner awaiting
+everyone.
+
+It was too late to return home that day, and so a swift runner was sent
+back for additional sleds, while the men, under Mustagan's guidance,
+with the dogs available--and they were not many--dragged the bears to
+the camp, and there during the evening and night carefully skinned them
+and cut up the meat.
+
+Mr Ross and the boys, who were thoroughly tired, wrapped themselves
+well up in their robes and rested in the camp, feeling that they had had
+enough excitement for that day.  This unique experience of bear-hunting
+in the depth of winter was often talked about in after years.  Many
+sceptics scoffed at it as a dream, but they who were in it knew better.
+
+Frank never forgot poor Swag's sad end, and for long days he mourned the
+loss of his faithful dog.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING--THE EAGLE MOON--EXPRESSIVE INDIAN NAMES FOR
+SOME OF THE MONTHS--CHATS AMONG THE BOYS ABOUT THE PHENOMENA OF THE
+NORTH LAND--POWER OF THE FROST--CUNNING OF ANIMALS--CLEVERNESS OF THE
+GUIDES--INVITATION TO A MUSKRAT HUNT GLADLY ACCEPTED--HABITS OF THESE
+LITTLE ANIMALS--METHODS OF CAPTURE--THEIR MANY FOES--THE QUEER BATTLE
+BETWEEN WILD CATS AND WOLVERINES.
+
+Thus rapidly and pleasantly passed the winter months at Sagasta-weekee.
+Cold they were, and at times the blizzards had howled around, but as a
+general thing the days had been full of sunshine and the nights of
+wondrous beauty.  Wretched days of fogs and mists and damps were almost
+unknown.  The air at all times was full of ozone, and knew no taint of
+fever or malaria.  There was a luxury in living where the skies were
+nearly always bright and the air was always absolutely pure.
+
+For long months the Frost King had reigned supreme, but now there were
+indications that his grip was lessening and that his power was coming to
+an end.  In sunny, sheltered spots the snow began to soften and then to
+disappear.  Then tiny little rivulets in the warmest hours of the day
+began to make sweet music, gathering strength and courage and hurrying
+on to play hide and seek as they dashed under the great icy coverings of
+the still frozen lakes.  Strong south winds blew frequently, and under
+their magic influences the great snowdrifts rapidly lessened and then
+disappeared.  From underneath the still hard, dry snow some mysterious
+melting influence was at work, and the great masses sank down, and soon
+all flitted away under the wondrous but unseen influences of the coming
+spring.
+
+"I saw a great golden eagle," said Alec, as one day he came in from a
+short hunting trip with Big Tom.
+
+"Did you see it first?" said Sam.
+
+"No, indeed," replied Alec; "Big Tom's eyes were more alert, and so he
+first saw it and then pointed it out to me as it was flying in graceful
+circles far up in the blue heavens."
+
+"The Indians will be all saying that spring indeed has come," said Mr
+Ross.  "As the appearance of the eagle is, as I think I told you, the
+beginning of spring, Mikisewpesim, the eagle moon, is the first spring
+month."
+
+"Is it not," said Frank, "a very uncertain way of marking the seasons?"
+
+"The variation is not as great as a person would at first imagine," was
+Mr Ross's reply.  "We talk about an early spring or a late spring, and
+March with us is sometimes like April.  Then some other years it is just
+the reverse.  So the Indians' methods of marking the months by the
+arrival of the birds, or other events in nature, is not generally much
+out of the way."
+
+"What birds follow the eagles?" asked Sam.
+
+"The wild geese," replied Mr Ross, "and as they do not come until the
+great marshes, which are their early feeding grounds, are partially
+bared of snow, they are about a month behind the eagles."
+
+"Then is there a goose month also?" asked Alec.
+
+"Yes, indeed," replied Mr Ross, "and it is a very important one to the
+Indians, and I anticipate that we, too, will have our share of
+excitement in it.  It is called Niskepesim, from `niska,' goose, or
+`niskuk,' geese, and `pesim,' month.  The Niskepesim, goose moon, which
+corresponds with our April, is followed by Unekepesim, frog moon, as
+then those denizens of the swamps and ponds begin their croakings.  In
+our North Land frog moon corresponds with May.  Then comes `Wawepesim,'
+egg moon, as in June the birds are nesting and hatching out their young.
+So it is with all the other months, each has some equally expressive
+name."
+
+"I am sure we are thankful for all this information," said Frank.
+
+"It is a pleasure to get information, even if it sometimes has to be
+acquired under difficulties, and it is equally pleasing to impart it to
+those who will make use of it," was Mr Ross's reply.
+
+"I am sure," said Sam, "we will have a deal to talk about when we return
+home next summer.  The only thing that is bothering me is that lots will
+say that it is only a pack of lies that I am trying to cram down their
+throats."
+
+"Well, then," replied Frank, "we will not be the only returned
+travellers whose veracity will be questioned.  Don't you remember, Sam,
+about the first ambassadors to England from a tropical country in the
+south of Asia, that when they returned home they were rash enough to say
+that in England sometimes in winter the water became hard enough to walk
+on.  Then the king was so mad at them for telling such monstrous lies
+that he immediately handed them over to the executioner and had them
+shortened by the length of their heads."
+
+"I wonder what he would have done with me," said Sam, "after I had
+enlightened him on some of the facts of this country, for that mere
+trifle of a statement about ice forming on a river in England was a
+mighty small incident, in comparison with what I have here discovered."
+
+"What would you tell him," asked Alec, "supposing the old rascal were
+still alive, and should ask you to visit him and then set your tongue a-
+wagging?"
+
+"Sure," replied Sam, without any hesitancy, "if his Satanic majesty--I
+beg his pardon, that Siamese king--wanted any more water information, I
+would say to him, `Sire, your majesty, once, in a fit of indignation at
+the doing of a stable man, called Pasche, I seized a bucket of water,
+just drawn, and up with it to throw over the fellow, and, wonderful to
+relate, it just hit him in chunks of ice as dry as marble.'"
+
+"Well, we know that is true," said Alec; "but supposing the old fellow
+still left your head on your shoulders, what next would you tell him?"
+
+"If the old questioner still wanted anything more about liquid matter, I
+would just inform him that we carry the milk of our cows wrapped up in
+old newspapers, and that it keeps that way for months, as solid and tidy
+and handy as a brickbat in the end of a stocking."
+
+"If he could stand that and let you survive, what next?" said Frank.
+
+"I fancy I would confound his intellect by telling him that the breath-
+laden air of the church, one bitterly cold Sunday, where some hundreds
+of Indians worshipped, so froze up that the whole of it fell to the
+floor in beautiful snow so plentifully that in one place, near a cold
+window, it was over a foot deep."
+
+"Supposing he survived that, or rather let you survive, what next would
+you cram him with?" said Frank.
+
+Sam, glib of tongue and ever ready, at once answered:
+
+"Well, if that son of the sun, or whatever his Oriental title may be,
+wanted any more information about our liquids, I would enlighten him
+with the information that here, as a pastime or scientific experiment,
+we take quicksilver or mercury and cast it into bullets that become as
+hard and solid as lead, and then shoot them through stable doors."
+
+"Anything more?" said Mr Ross, who had been an amused listener, and had
+been much pleased with Sam's ready answers, which showed how well he was
+gathering up the facts of the country to use them in other lands in
+years to come.
+
+"Well, yes," said Sam, "I would tell his bibulous majesty, if he were in
+the habit of imbibing moisture of a fiery kind, that on one of our long
+journeys with our dogs I had with me on my sled, for purposes that need
+not concern his majesty, a bottle of the strongest wine.  One day, when
+no eyes were on me, for good and honest purposes I made a visit to the
+aforesaid bottle, and to my horror and grief I found the bottle burst
+into a hundred pieces.  Feeling carefully around--for it was in the dark
+when I had made this visit--I discovered that the wine itself was frozen
+into a solid mass exactly the shape of the bottle.  I carefully wrapped
+it up in a handkerchief, and thus carried it along.  Suffice to say,
+none of it was lost."
+
+"Well," said Frank, "if just about water, milk, mercury, and wine we
+will be able to tell such things, shall we not have lots of fun when we
+talk of our dogs and their doings, and of many other things that at
+first seemed so marvellous to us, but are now everyday occurrences and
+have in a measure lost their force and novelty?"
+
+"I fancy," said Alec, "that some of the things we can also tell them
+about the cunning and cleverness of the wild animals we have been
+hunting, or seeing the Indians hunt, will open their eyes."
+
+"After all," said Frank, "the cleverness of the Indian guides in finding
+their way through the pathless forests, day or night, where there was
+not the least vestige of a trail, sometimes for hundreds of miles, and
+often when blizzard storms howled around them for days together, was to
+me as wonderful and unaccountable as anything I have witnessed."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Ross, "that is indeed wonderful.  I have been studying
+it all my life, and am just as much puzzled to-day as I was at first
+with these first-class guides.  They are not all thus gifted, but there
+are some who never blunder, or even hesitate, under the most difficult
+circumstances.  The sky may be leaden with clouds all day, and an
+ordinary person get so bewildered that he does not know north from
+south, or east from west, but the guide never hesitates for an instant,
+but on and on, with unerring accuracy, he pushes day after day, or even
+night after night."
+
+"That is wonderful indeed," replied Alec, "but the cleverness with which
+the wolves tried to get ahead of me by cutting across the necks of land
+in the river, and their other deviltries, are what I will never forget."
+
+Here this most interesting conversation was ended by the arrival of
+Paulette and Mustagan, with the word that the melting snow had exposed
+the houses of the muskrats, and that they were off on a hunting
+excursion to a great pondlike swamp where these animals were known to be
+very numerous.  At once it was decided that a party would be made up to
+join them at a designated spot in the forest on the edge of this great
+swamp.  The distance was between twenty and thirty miles, and as the
+greater part of the route would be on the ice, it was decided not to
+start until the chill of the evening had hardened the snow, which now
+nearly every day softened in the midday sun.  Travelling with dog-trains
+in half-melted snow, or even when it is just soft enough to stick, is
+very heavy, laborious work.  However, as soon as the sun ceases to shine
+upon it, at this season, it hardens up again very quickly.
+
+Arrangements were made for a three or four days' trip, so a regular camp
+outfit was taken along on the dog-sleds.  In addition to their guns the
+boys were each supplied with a long, lancelike barbed spear for
+effective use when securing the muskrats.  Two or three Indians were
+taken along by Mr Ross, who remarked to the boys, when he decided to
+accompany them himself, that perhaps this was the last hunting trip of
+the season with the dogs, with perhaps the exception of the one to the
+goose hunt, which would not be long distant.
+
+The whole party left Sagasta-weekee about sundown, and as it was a
+crisp, cold, beautiful moonlight night, everybody enjoyed the trip
+exceedingly.  The boys, however, could not help remarking the great
+change in the temperature from midday.  Then the sun was so hot that the
+snow was melting at a marvellous rate; now everything was as hard and
+firm as though it were still January.  Through the portages and over the
+frozen ice expanses they hurried, and some time before midnight they
+reached a splendid camp already prepared for them by Paulette and
+Mustagan.  A great roaring fire looked very attractive to all, even to
+the boys, as they had become quite accustomed to these wintry resting
+places when the heavy day's work was done.  Kettles were quickly filled
+and a late supper was eaten, and then all lay down to sleep.  Nothing
+disturbed their rest except the distant mournful screeches of the wild
+cats and some other wild animals, that were already, now that spring was
+coming, like themselves, on the lookout for muskrats.
+
+In the morning, after an early breakfast, the whole party set off for
+the great pondlike morass that extended for miles.  Numerous tracks of
+wild animals were seen, and Mustagan pointed out to the boys not only
+those of some wild cats, but also a number of those made by the great
+feet of the wolverines, as these latter animals are as fond of muskrats
+as are any other.  When the edge of the shore was reached the boys were
+surprised to see how rapidly the snow had disappeared from the surface
+of this lakelike pond.  On it they noticed a large number of what seemed
+like bundles of straw, as though a farmer in a great loaded wagon had
+driven over the surface and had here and there in many places pitched
+out large forkfuls and left them to decay.
+
+"It looks," said Sam, "as though some farmer hereabouts had been drawing
+out the contents of his barnyard to enrich his fields."
+
+"Just what I thought," said Alec.
+
+"All those little hillocks of marsh hay and reeds are muskrat nests,"
+explained Mr Ross.  "They were made last summer on the little mossy
+hillocks that everywhere abound in all of these great marshes.  Being
+then entirely surrounded by water, they are fairly safe from the
+prowling wild animals that hunt them as their prey, as wolverines and
+wild cats dislike the water.  Then in the winter they are completely
+covered by the deep snow, and so are as safe as beavers' kitchens.  But
+in the early spring, when the snow melts off the ice, they are at the
+mercy of their foes.  The ice remains solid for another month or so, and
+on its hard surface these water-hating enemies travel and tear open
+these nests and devour those that have not deep enough burrowings in
+which to hide themselves away.  Of course, as soon as open water comes
+they are safe, as they are thoroughly amphibious animals."
+
+The boys were each armed with long, lancelike spears, while the Indians
+had in addition to these some axes and guns.  At the first nest the boys
+found that the wild cats and wolverines had been there before them and
+had cleared out every muskrat.  However, as under the guidance of the
+Indians they pushed out further on the ice, they found many nests or
+little houses undisturbed.  A few blows with the axes knocked the house
+to pieces, and then there was quick work in spearing the almost helpless
+animals.  In the houses near the channel of the stream, or where there
+was deep water, very often the clever muskrats had a channel dug from
+their little straw houses to the water.  These "runs," as they are
+called, serve as a line of retreat whenever their home is attacked.  In
+other places the muskrats contented themselves with merely having a
+well-like place under their little houses.  While some of them were deep
+enough to save them from the wild cats or wolverines, they were not
+sufficient to save them from the spears of our boys and Indians.  It
+seemed at first cruel to thus stab the helpless animals, but their flesh
+was food for the natives, and their furs were sold to the traders for
+things essential to the Indians' comfort.  So numerous were the nests in
+this extensive morass that there was work enough for the hunters for
+days.  The boys, however, soon became tired of killing the poor
+muskrats, and so only remained at the work with the Indians for the one
+forenoon.  After that they left their long spears at the camp, and
+taking a dog or two with them, and their guns, had some good sport among
+the partridges, which were fairly numerous.
+
+The second morning the boys were aroused very early by a couple of the
+Indians who had been on the watch during the night guarding the now
+large pile of muskrats and skins.  Paulette and Mustagan were too clever
+to let their game be stolen from them, as were some beavers earlier in
+the winter from other hunters, as we have described elsewhere.
+
+"Get ready soon, and get your guns and come with us, and we will show
+you something that will please you."
+
+It did not take them long to respond, and so they were soon on the trail
+with Mr Ross, while the two old Indians noiselessly led the way.  The
+other Indians had orders to remain in the camp and keep the dogs with
+them, and as quiet as possible.  They had not travelled more than half a
+mile before the boys heard the most discordant screeches.  Still they
+had not the slightest idea of what sort of an experience was before
+them.  Louder and louder were these sounds, as they came directly with
+the wind toward them.  When they reached a little depression in the
+trail they found that Mustagan and Paulette had stopped and were
+awaiting their arrival.  It was now so light in the eastern sky that the
+boys could see as they approached that the Indians were making signs for
+perfect quiet.  So, as noiselessly as possible they, with Mr Ross,
+joined them.  Then they were informed that just over the brow of the
+steep hill before them a couple of wolverines had chased a couple of
+wild cats up into a large tree.  The cats had each captured a muskrat,
+and were making off with them when the wolverines came along and tried
+to rob them of their prey.  However, the wild cats had succeeded in
+getting up into this solitary large tree with their game, and although
+the wolverines can climb trees they did not like to do so to attack
+these fierce cats, as their being already above them in the tree would
+give them such an advantage.
+
+Very distinctly now could be heard the growls of the wolverines, and
+then the defiant snarls of the cats.  With their guns loaded with ball,
+they all began the cautious crawl up the hillside, with the Indians in
+the advance.  Fortunately for them, the top of the hill was studded with
+short, stunted spruce trees.  By each person keeping one of these well
+in front of him, they were all able to crawl up to positions where they
+could distinctly see the tree with the wild cats ensconced on its large
+branches and the wolverines at the foot of it.  The tree was not an
+evergreen, and so every branch was distinctly visible.  For a time they
+watched the various manoeuvres of the animals.  They noticed that when
+the wolverines were not active in their movements the wild cats kept
+eating bits off the muskrats.  This seemed to anger the furious brutes
+on the ground, and so they would one after another make the attempt to
+get up the hard, smooth trunk.  How the cats had succeeded was a mystery
+to the boys.  Wolverines are fairly good tree climbers, but they had no
+show at all here, for when one of them succeeded in getting well up the
+almost smooth, bare trunk, a fierce blow from the unencumbered paw of
+one of the wild cats, securely seated on the large lowest limb, which
+ran out almost parallel from the trunk of the tree, quickly caused him
+to loose his grip and fall helplessly to the ground.  Then, with
+apparent satisfaction, the wild cat would take another bite or two of
+his muskrat.  Several times, as though on purpose, the wild cats dropped
+small bits of meat or half-picked bones to the ground.  The taste or
+smell of these fairly drove the wolverines furious, and so they would
+desperately make fresh attempts to get at their enemies, but without
+success.
+
+It was fortunate for our party that the wind was blowing toward then,
+and also that the air was so thoroughly tainted with the musky smell of
+the muskrats.  Under ordinary circumstances they would have been
+detected long ere they had reached the top of the hill.  So,
+unsuspected, they watched the strange antics of these animals, until
+suddenly the reports of a couple of guns rang out, and then up sprang
+both Mustagan and Paulette and dashed down to the foot of the tree,
+loudly calling to the rest of the party to quickly follow.  Following
+Mr Ross, the boys speedily obeyed, and when they reached the tree they
+found that one wolverine was dead and the other was hobbling off, as
+speedily as he could, on three legs.  The other had been broken by the
+ball of one of the Indians.  The frightened wild cats had dropped what
+was left of the muskrats, which was not much, and had found their way
+much higher up in the large tree, where they vainly tried to hide
+themselves by stretching out on a couple of large branches.  Quickly
+loading his gun again, Paulette hurried off after the wounded wolverine,
+that, in spite of his broken leg, was rapidly making for the distant
+dense forest.  But vain were all his efforts, for behind him was an
+Indian who, although now well up in years, was one of the fleetest
+runners in the tribe.  Soon the gun rang out and another wolverine was
+dead.
+
+It was decided that the boys should have the work of shooting the wild
+cats.  So close and flat did they crawl down on the big branches that
+the boys had to move back to a considerable distance from the tree to
+get a good aim.  Sam and Alec were to fire first, and if either cat
+failed to drop, then Frank was to bring it down.  Mr Ross and Mustagan
+with loaded guns stood ready for any emergency, for wild cats are
+uncertain animals, and are not to be trifled with.  They are very
+fierce, and will sometimes, when thus treed, if furious with hunger, or
+driven from their young, spring down into the midst of the hunters and
+fight like tigers.  When the boys had secured a good position, and each
+knew which wild cat he was expected to kill, Mustagan gave the signal,
+and together the reports of their guns rang out.  The cat at which Sam
+had fired at once dropped to the ground, stone dead.  The other did not
+move, much to the chagrin of Alec, who could not understand how he
+should have missed him.  Just as Frank raised his gun to fire Mustagan's
+quick eye saw what the boys did not, and so before Frank could fire he
+stopped him by saying:
+
+"That cat is dead; do not waste another bullet on it.  You only more
+injure his skin."
+
+And so it was; when the body was at length obtained it was found that
+Alec's bullet had hit him squarely behind the fore shoulder and had gone
+clean through his body, of course killing him so suddenly that there was
+not even that muscular quiver which generally causes animals, when thus
+killed, to fall to the ground.  This was what actually happened to the
+one that Sam shot.
+
+Paulette soon after made his appearance, dragging the wolverine.  They
+were all delighted with the morning's work.  Mr Ross and the boys
+hurried back to the camp and speedily dispatched an Indian with a dog-
+train and empty sled for the game.  While some skinned these animals,
+others spent the day in killing additional muskrats, and then after
+supper, as soon as the snow had frozen hard again and the glorious moon
+was well up in the heavens, the home trip was commenced.  Loaded down as
+they were, they did not travel as fast as they had done in the outward
+trip, and so it was about daybreak when they reached Sagasta-weekee.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+NISKEPESIM, THE GOOSE MOON--EXCITEMENT AMONG THE INDIANS--THE FIRST
+GOOSE--THEIR NORTHERN MIGRATIONS--FEEDING GROUNDS--METHODS OF HUNTING
+THEM--NESTS--DECOYS--OUR BOYS OFF WITH THE INDIANS--THE SHOOTING
+GROUNDS--THEIR CAMP--GREAT SUCCESS--FRANK'S QUEER ACCIDENT--HIT BY A
+DEAD GOOSE--SAM'S COMMENTS--LADEN WITH SPOILS.
+
+Not many days after the return from the muskrat hunt the weather became,
+for that land, decidedly warmer.  This created so much excitement among
+the generally stoical Indians that the boys could not but observe it.
+So one day, when a number of them were at Sagasta-weekee, Sam asked
+Mustagan the cause of it.  The old man answered but one word, and that
+was:
+
+"Niskepesim."  ("The goose moon.")
+
+"Yes," said Kinesasis, who had just come in, "it has surely come.  Some
+passing hunters saw some wild geese near the mouth of the river, at Lake
+Winnipeg, and others who were out spearing muskrats said that they heard
+flocks of them passing over during the night."
+
+Great indeed was the excitement everywhere at this news.  It rapidly
+flew from Sagasta-weekee to the fort, and then on to the mission.  As
+though by some mysterious telegraphy, it passed from one Indian
+settlement to another, yea, from wigwam to wigwam, until the cry
+everywhere was, "Niskepesim!  Niskepesim!"  ("The goose moon!  The goose
+moon!")
+
+Why there should be such commotion among these northern Indians about
+the arrival of the wild geese has long been a puzzle to outsiders who
+happen to be among them at the time.  Nevertheless such is the case.
+The fact that this moon is really the beginning of spring, which is so
+welcome, after the long and dreary winter, may have something to do with
+this general excitement and gladness.  It is really the first month that
+the family have a flitting out from the close, confined houses or
+wigwams in which they have passed the cold, dreary months.  Then it
+brings them a welcome change of diet, which is much prized after the
+long six months' dining twenty-one times a week on frozen whitefish,
+with only the variation of a little venison, muskrat, or beaver.
+
+At Sagasta-weekee the excitement was as great as anywhere else.  Mr
+Ross had to exert a good deal of authority to keep some of his men at
+work after they had seen a great flock of these splendid grey geese fly
+over their heads.  Over at the mission Mr Hurlburt had failed
+completely in holding his men.  He had been for some time urging them to
+clear up and put under cultivation what ground they had around their
+village that was good and fertile.  At a good deal of expense he had
+secured a fine supply of axes, hoes, spades, and other necessary
+implements, as well as seeds, to help them.  For some days they had
+worked industriously and well, and there was every prospect of a large
+portion of the ground being prepared and planted.  One day, when Mr
+Hurlburt had about thirty men hard at work in the fields, what should
+come flying along on the south wind but a great flock of geese?  They
+were in broken ranks, not more than fifty feet above the ground, and
+evidently tired and looking for a feeding place.  The sight was too much
+for the hunting instinct of the Indians, and so every axe, hoe, and
+spade was instantly dropped, and away they rushed for their guns.  The
+missionary did not see one of them again for two weeks.
+
+The wild geese are of various varieties.  The first to arrive are the
+great grey ones.  They seem to come up from Central America, Mexico, and
+Southern California, where they have spent the winter months.  Then
+follow the brants, wavey, or laughing geese, which are all smaller
+varieties.  When on their long migrations the geese all fly very high,
+and generally in long lines or triangles.  But when they reach the north
+country, where they hope to spend the summer, they fly low over the
+ground.  They seem to be then on the lookout for feeding grounds and
+suitable locations for nest building.  If undisturbed, they speedily
+break up in pairs.  They arrive very hungry, and so spend some days in
+heavy feeding on the peculiar many-jointed grass, called goose grass,
+the Indian name of which is Niskeanuskwa.
+
+At Sagasta-weekee the boys had heard so much about the goose hunt that
+they were full of curiosity and excitement as the time of its expected
+arrival drew near.  White suits and white caps had already been made for
+them, and the guns were all freshly cleaned and oiled.  Camping outfits
+were all ready, and the boys observed that in addition to the winter's
+supplies there were added large heavy oilcloths, like tarpaulins.  The
+next morning, after Kinesasis had reported the words of the passing
+Indians, there came in another hunter, and he had with him the first
+goose of the season.  He was delighted to be the first, as a handsome
+reward is given to the one who is fortunate enough to kill and bring in
+this kind of first fruits of the harvest of these great birds.  The
+sight of this goose was all that was necessary to have all arrangements
+completed, and it was decided that on the next morning all who could go
+should be off to the great goose hunt.
+
+The point selected for the camp was on the border of one of these great
+swampy plains, from which the greater part of the snow had been melted
+by the warm south wind, leaving exposed, over hundreds of acres, vast
+quantities of this jointed grass, on which the geese feed with such
+avidity.  The frost was still in the ground, and so there was no
+difficulty on the part of the hunters in arranging their shooting nests
+and decoys as they desired.  The camp was made very similar to those
+already described.  There were a few changes, however.  The soft snow
+was all cleared away, and a deep layer of fine balsam boughs were evenly
+spread out over the cleared place.  Then over this a couple of
+tarpaulins were spread, and on these the usual camp beds of robes and
+blankets were arranged as elsewhere described.  A great log fire was
+built up in front, and numerous logs were cut for use when required.  A
+number of good stiff long poles were also cut and placed where they
+could be quickly utilised, if needed, to erect a roof or barrier against
+a storm of sleet or rain which might unexpectedly come up.
+
+While the camp was thus being prepared by some of the party, in this
+cozy elevated place, back among the trees, where it would not frighten
+the geese, others were equally hard at work making the nests out on the
+great open meadowlike place where the goose grass was most abundant.
+These nests were built up of dry grass and dead brush, and made so that
+they looked just as their names would indicate--like great nests.  Each
+of them was large enough to comfortably hold two hunters, who could
+easily move around, and thus be able to fire in any direction.  They
+were about four feet high, and so constructed that when the hunters
+inside were crouching down they were quite invisible to the passing
+geese.  Some Indians used to pile lumps of snow here and there on the
+edge of the nest to help the disguise.  It is a peculiarity of wild
+geese that white objects never frighten them.  This was the reason why
+the hunters all wore white suits and white caps.  Then a number of
+decoys were made.  They were rather rude affairs.  The bodies were hewn
+out of logs about the size of a goose.  A couple of sticks were driven
+in for legs; then the heads and necks, which had been prepared
+beforehand out of crooked roots, were fastened in their places.  They
+were poor affairs, but seemed quite sufficient to attract the simple
+geese.  A number of these decoys were assigned to each nest, and the
+hunter had to arrange his own according to his own judgment.  The
+direction of the wind had much to do in rightly placing them.  Care had
+to be exercised in arranging the nests so that the occupants of one
+would not be in danger from the firing from another, as in the
+excitement of the settling down of a large flock, or in their circling
+completely around a nest, a person is apt to forget everything but his
+anxiety to shoot as many as possible.
+
+As soon as the sleds were unloaded they were all sent back to Sagasta-
+weekee, as not a dog must be allowed at the camp.  No geese will come
+where there are barking dogs.  For the first day or two there was
+nothing but anxious watching.  The southern horizon was eagerly scanned
+for the oncoming lines of grey geese that were so eagerly anticipated
+but seemed to be so late in arriving.  During the second night the wind,
+which had been blowing from the north-east, suddenly veered round to the
+south-west.  This was noticed at once by the old, experienced men,
+Mustagan, Big Tom, Memotas, and Kinesasis, who had been invited by Mr
+Ross to join his party.  They were convinced that this wind would bring
+the geese, and so, dark as it was, they proceeded to make all
+arrangements for the next day's shooting.  They first went out and
+arranged all the decoys in the right position, so as to attract the
+geese coming with such a wind.  Then they carried the guns and arranged
+them four apiece in each nest, with the ammunition.
+
+Before this work had been completed the geese could be heard flying over
+their heads.  Some of the flocks were so low that the vibrations of the
+air could be easily felt.  When they returned to the camp, although it
+was still starlight, they called up Mr Ross and the boys.  Breakfast
+was quickly prepared, and while it was being eaten the rush and calls of
+the rapidly increasing flocks could be distinctly heard.  Then Mustagan
+and Frank, each taking a white blanket with him, hurried off to the most
+distant nest, which was almost north from the camp.  There they cozily
+ensconced themselves and anxiously waited for the first blush of
+morning.  Alec and Big Tom took possession of the nest on their left,
+about two hundred yards away.  Sam and Memotas were assigned to the nest
+about the same distance south of them, while Mr Ross and Kinesasis took
+possession of the one about three hundred yards distant on the right.
+All were in white suits, and had in addition their white blankets, as a
+protection against the cold.  While one or two men were left to take
+care of the camp, the others went off to different places where they
+thought they could get successful shots.
+
+It was not long before the morning star showed up above the eastern
+horizon, and then the first dawning of the day appeared.
+
+"Chist!"  ("Listen!") said Memotas to Sam, and quickly they were on the
+alert.  The Indian's quick ear had detected a low-flying flock, and so,
+before they were seen in the dim morning light, they were heard.  On
+they came, little dreaming of danger now that they were so far away from
+civilisation, and so they flew not a hundred feet above this hidden
+place of their enemies.
+
+Bang! bang! went the two guns into their midst, and soon bang! bang!
+went the other two barrels.  With loud, discordant cries, those that
+were uninjured veered off to right and left.  Memotas then threw down
+his empty gun and quickly seized his loaded one, but did not attempt to
+fire it.  Sam also quickly picked up his extra loaded one, and was about
+to fire at the now rapidly retreating geese.  Memotas, however, stopped
+him, and showed him that his gun was pointed exactly in the direction in
+which was the nest where Alec and Big Tom were stationed.  Sam was
+frightened at what might have been the consequences if he had fired, and
+gratefully thanked Memotas for his caution.  Memotas, who was busily
+engaged in reloading the guns, only said:
+
+"Soon daylight; then you will see better."
+
+In the meantime the others had heard the firing and were on the alert,
+and so when the divided flock turned to the right and left some of the
+geese came close to the nest of Alec and Big Tom, and the rest were not
+very far from that of Mr Ross and Kinesasis.  There was firing from
+both parties, but their success was not very much, as the darkness was
+still too great, and the geese were not so close to them as they had
+been to Sam's nest.  Memotas went out and found a couple of geese which
+he brought into the nest.  He and Sam were quite proud of having killed
+the first.  In the meantime, with the increase of the wind there was an
+increase in the number of the passing flocks.  And now soon they began
+to be distinctly visible, and the firing became quite frequent.  Of
+course, a good many shots were lost, as it is no easy matter to hit a
+flying goose, large as it is.  No experienced hunter thinks of firing
+directly at a goose that is flying by him, or even overhead.  He has to
+calculate for at least a foot ahead for, say, each hundred feet the
+goose is away from him, and it takes a quick eye and good judgment to
+correctly estimate the distance.  Sam said he liked best to fire at them
+when there was a string of them in line.  Then by blazing away at the
+first he generally brought down the third or fourth.
+
+It was now full daylight, and so it was necessary for the hunters to be
+much more wary and keep themselves well down in their nests and very
+quiet.  When they were perfectly still the geese took them for lumps of
+snow.  This was the reason why there was nothing but white in their
+dress.  Even the belts they had tied around them were pure white.  Soon
+the Indians began calling, to bring the geese within range.  The rude
+decoys were placed as though they were having a glorious time feasting
+on the rich goose grass.  The calls of the Indians were exact imitations
+of the geese calling to their fellows.  Sometimes these cries sounded
+like "Honk! honk! honk!"  Then they seemed to be more like "Uk! uk! uk!"
+Then sometimes they were like the calls that the ordinary barnyard
+geese make when well satisfied with food.  It was interesting to the
+boys to notice how quickly a far-away flock caught these sounds.
+Marvellously acute was their hearing.  Then they acted so differently.
+Some were very wary and shy, and at once began to endeavour, as it were,
+to climb up higher and higher in the sky.  This, however, was a
+difficult task just then, as the wind was behind them.  When geese, as a
+general thing, wish to quickly rise up high in the air, they turn and go
+against the wind.  In some way or other it speedily seems to lift them
+up.  Other flocks, as soon as they thought they heard some of their
+comrades having such a good time, came right on and were close to the
+decoys and nests before they were aware of their blunder.  Then the
+firing was rapid and destructive.  Some of the flocks had dropped down
+so low that in order to rise up again they had to circle round and go
+back against the wind.  Then there was double sport for the hunters.
+Often a flock would come in on the left side, and just as it was about
+to light among the decoys the guns would ring out and do their deadly
+work.  The survivors were so low down that they could not go on with any
+advantage, and so had to turn sharp to the right and try to get away by
+going back against the wind.  This movement brought them now on the
+right side of the nest, and as they passed more of the guns were fired
+and more victims fell dead to the ground.
+
+Such were the positions of the nests in reference to the wind, that Sam
+and Memotas had, by all odds, the best place that day.  Generally, after
+they had fired, the flock broke in two, and Alec and Big Tom got part,
+while the other portion generally found Mr Ross and Kinesasis.
+However, when a great flock pushed on unbroken, it generally went
+directly over, and very near, the nest where Frank and Mustagan had
+their quarters.  Then there was some fine shooting, as each had two
+double-barrelled guns and Frank had become quite famous as a shot.  Many
+of the geese dropped at once to the ground when shot.  Others, although
+mortally wounded, only fell when quite a distance beyond, as the
+momentum of their rapid flight seemed to carry them on.  Some fell when
+they were only shot through one wing.  During the lull after the firing,
+when the boys went out from the nests to bring in the spoils, there were
+some additional battles to be fought ere some of the geese were
+conquered.  Especially was this the case with those that were injured in
+only one wing.  When these were approached they instantly stood on the
+defensive and struck out most viciously with the unwounded wing.  Some
+of the boys had had some experience in this line, and so were now on
+their guard, and thus escaped feeling the tremendous power of a goose's
+wing.  Others viciously used their bills and made lively work for the
+boys ere they were conquered.  Others, unwounded in their legs, made off
+as rapidly as possible, and then there was great fun in the work of
+running them down.  Those that could use even their wounded wing, or
+wings, to help them in their movements made capital time, and while most
+of then were captured, others succeeded in getting away altogether.
+Doubtless they would be picked up by alert Indian hunters, who were, or
+would be in a day or so, literally swarming over every place where a
+goose was likely to be obtained.
+
+When noon arrived they nearly all returned to the camp, where dinner
+already awaited them.  Twenty-seven geese were the results of the
+shooting in the four nests.  Other Indians came in with their bags.
+Some had done on the average better than this, and some not so well.  As
+the wind remained steady in the one direction the flocks of geese were
+very numerous.  There was hardly a period of ten minutes' time when some
+were not visible.  Of course, the great majority of the flocks were high
+up in the air.  On and on they flew, their eyes fixed on a point further
+north, perhaps a thousand miles beyond.  No call from the hunters
+reached them, no ball even from a rifle pierced the thin air of that
+exalted region in which, at perhaps a rate of a hundred miles an hour,
+on they flew.  The Indians say that the same geese come back, when
+possible, to their old feeding grounds year after year.
+
+After dinner the sport was resumed.  When no flocks were near, the boys
+would jump out of their nests and, by some racing and frolicking on the
+ice, keep themselves warm, as there was much of winter still in the air.
+The cry of "Niskuk! niskuk!"  ("Geese! geese!") would send them racing
+back to their respective nests, and it was often as much as they could
+do to reach their retreats ere the geese were upon them.
+
+A queer accident happened to Frank.  As a small flock passed over the
+nest in which Sam and Memotas were sitting Sam blazed away with his last
+barrel, just as the geese had gone by.  He struck one of them and
+mortally wounded it, but it had vitality enough left to keep itself up
+until it reached the nest where Frank and Mustagan were crouched down,
+watching another flock that was approaching from the other side.
+Without any warning the goose suddenly dropped dead with a whack on top
+of Frank, knocking him over most thoroughly and causing his gun to
+suddenly go off, but fortunately without hitting his Indian companion.
+A great grey goose weighs something, and so the whack from this dead one
+nearly knocked Frank senseless.  The inmates of the other nests quickly
+came to his assistance.  He was so dazed with the blow that it was
+decided that he and Sam, who had had about enough of goose-killing to
+suit them, should go to the camp for the rest of the afternoon.  It was
+wisely thought that Sam's irrepressible fun and good nature would be the
+best medicine for Frank for the time being.
+
+That evening, when the shooting was over and all were seated on their
+comfortable robes around the bright camp fire, there was a lot of talk
+about Frank's queer accident.  All were thankful that the blow did no
+more serious harm.  Mustagan said that he had shot geese flying over the
+ice where they had fallen with such force that they had broken clean
+through ice so strong that men could walk over it with safety.
+
+"What do you think about it, Sam?" said Alec.
+
+"Think about it, do you ask me?" replied Sam.  "I have done a deal of
+thinking about it.  I've been thinking that was the queerest weapon of
+offence I ever heard or dreamed of.  I have heard of arrows and bullets
+and darts and clubs and shillalahs and tomahawks and boomerangs, and
+even thunderbolts, but the idea of hitting a poor, defenceless English
+lad with a dead goose! it beats me hollow!  Sure I can hardly believe my
+senses.  I'll be denying the whole thing to-morrow, although I saw the
+complete performance to-day."
+
+The next morning Frank was fully recovered from this queer blow, and
+just as eager as ever to take his place in his nest with Mustagan.  The
+wind veered around to the south-east, and so all of the decoys had to be
+changed.  The shooting was good all day, but not equal to the previous
+one.  The Indians were very clever in even calling some flocks back that
+had been fired into with deadly results.  The explanation the Indians
+gave for the returning of these flocks was that although they still kept
+together in great numbers the geese had selected their mates, and the
+shooting of one or other of these pairs had caused the whole flock to
+return to look them up, in response to the cries of the bereaved
+survivors.
+
+Sam said that he thought that the elegant voices of the Indians as they
+cried "Honk! honk!" had more to do with it than any affection in the
+heart or gizzard of an old goose.  This remark of Sam's was at once
+challenged, and a number of stories were related to prove that even the
+despised goose was worthy of a much better record than was generally
+given her.
+
+Thus, with varied success, several days were spent at the goose grounds.
+Two or three times the boys succeeded in each bringing down four geese
+with the four barrels of the two guns.  This was considered very clever
+shooting on the part of young fellows on their first spring's hunt.
+
+In due time the dog-trains returned from Sagasta-weekee.  The last
+visits to the nests were made, and the closing two hours of the goose
+hunt were voted by all to have been the best, as the geese were so
+numerous that at times the guns were hot with the rapid work.  The boys
+would have liked to remain longer, but Mr Ross stated that they had
+already shot as many geese as they could eat at home or could give away,
+and that it would not be right to kill any more of such valuable birds.
+The true hunter thinks not only of present needs, but of the years to
+come.  In times of plenty he remembers there are days and years ahead.
+This was a satisfactory explanation to all.
+
+The loading up of the geese on the extra sleds was soon accomplished.  A
+good warm supper was eaten, and then at about ten o'clock at night, when
+the frost had again hardened up the snow that had been so soft and
+slushy a few hours before, the home journey was begun, and among "the
+wee small hours beyond the twelve," the welcome lights in Sagasta-weekee
+were seen, and the happy, tired excursionists were glad to hurry off and
+half bury themselves in the beds and pillows filled with the downy
+feathers of geese killed at the spring hunts of years before.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+SUDDEN TRANSITION FROM WINTER TO SPRING--INTERESTING PHENOMENA--SAM'S
+LAST GREAT RUN WITH HIS DOGS--HIS UNIQUE ADVENTURE--THE OPEN WATER--HIS
+NOVEL RAFT--SUCCESSFUL CROSSING--FRANK AND ALEC'S DUCK-SHOOTING TRIP--
+THE MIGHTY NELSON--A HUNTER'S PARADISE--RETURNING UNDER DIFFICULTIES--
+ONE MORE SHOT AT THE WILD GEESE--FRANK AND RUMOURS--THE FAIR VISITANTS
+AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE.
+
+Very rapid indeed is the transformation from one season to another in
+the high latitudes.  When the long, steady winter breaks it does so with
+a suddenness that is startling to a person who observes it for the first
+time.  The snow disappears with a marvellous rapidity.  The ice, that
+was like granite in hardness and several feet thick on the great lakes,
+becomes dark and porous, and in spots literally seems to rot away.  Then
+along the great cracks, where it had burst by the power of the terrible
+frost some months before, it now opens, and soon great fields of it
+become floating masses on the waters.  Under the action of the brilliant
+rays of the sun it becomes disintegrated, and falls away in crystals
+that are of various sizes and as long as the ice is thick.  This
+crystallisation begins early, and makes the ice very dangerous and
+uncertain.  The Indians call this slivering of the ice, candling.
+
+Sam had a narrow escape from drowning on account of this rapid
+transformation of the ice.  He had harnessed his dogs and gone out on
+the shining lake for a run.  The snow had all disappeared from the land,
+and so the great icy expanse was all that was left for an invigorating
+run with the dogs.  The frost had been keen in the night, and so
+everything was firm and hard when he left in the morning.  The day was
+an ideal April one.  The sun was full of brightness, and the south winds
+were full of warmth.  For miles and miles Sam recklessly dashed along
+with his splendid dogs.  He was sorry at the thought that he was so soon
+to forever leave them behind in that North Land.  Soon some pools of
+water on the ice into which his dogs splashed brought him to his senses,
+and he turned for the home run to Sagasta-weekee, now perhaps twenty
+miles away.
+
+"Rip Van Winkle," said Sam; "sure.  I am that same old fellow, to judge
+by the change since I travelled over this icy lake."
+
+Great indeed was the transformation which the sun and south wind had
+made.  While there was still plenty of good ice, there were many dark,
+treacherous spots all around, which had so crystallised by the sun's
+rays that, although the ice there was still three or four feet thick, it
+was unsafe for dogs or boy.  Fortunately, dogs become very wise in this
+matter, and so Spitfire carefully wended his way among these dangerous
+places, cautiously keeping where the ice was firm and solid.  Rapid
+travelling was in some places impossible, for fear of running into a bit
+of rotten ice.
+
+Suddenly Sam was stopped by coming to a long stretch of open water.  It
+was a place where, during one of the coldest nights, the ice had
+suddenly burst open with a report like a great cannon.  The crack then
+made was about twenty or thirty feet wide and some miles in length.  So
+intense was the cold that the ice in a few hours formed again on the
+water which was in this great opening.  But when these great breaks in
+the thick ice occur, toward the end of the winter, the new ice that
+forms is never so thick as is the rest, and so when the spring warmth
+comes it is the first to disappear.  It was to one of these open seams
+that Sam had now come.  In the early hours of the morning it had been
+covered with ice sufficiently strong to hold him, but now it was full of
+broken fragments that rose and fell on the water that was stirred up by
+the strong south wind.  As far as the eye could reach north and south
+extended this open channel.  Sam was perplexed, and hardly knew what to
+do.  To drive across was impossible, as the seam was much wider than his
+cariole was long.  To wait until the night frost again froze up the
+water was a risk, as to judge by the warm south wind then blowing, if it
+so continued there would be no freezing of any consequence.  Thus Sam
+was troubled and annoyed at having allowed himself to be thus caught,
+especially as he and the other boys had heard Mr Ross and the Indians
+refer to just such experiences.  With his vexation at having thus had
+his trail so suddenly broken, there flashed into his memory the stories
+of how some of the Indians, when in just such dangerous places, had
+escaped by making great rafts of the ice and on them floating across the
+open water.  No sooner had this thought come to Sam than he fairly
+shouted out:
+
+"This is my plan.  Now I will have a story to tell that will sound well
+in dear, darling Dublin."
+
+It was well for him that an axe and ice chisel, which he had been using
+in cutting a hole in the ice the day before, were still lying in his
+cariole.  With these in his possession there came a feeling of elation
+in his heart, and he fairly shouted with delight at the position in
+which he found himself.  With great zeal he set to work, and having
+placed his dogs in what he imagined was a safe position, he first
+carefully marked out around them a line to indicate where he was to
+chop.  Industriously he set to work.  But, O dear!--well, it was hard
+work.  Soon off came his outer coat, then he threw down his mittens, and
+his fur cap followed next.  Bravely he toiled, until his hands were
+about blistered and his back sore.  To his great disgust he found out
+that not one tenth part of the task was accomplished, and yet he was
+about tired out.  He had selected the firmest ice he could find, in
+order that his raft might be perfectly safe.  While this was a wise
+thing to do, and would have been all right if there had been sufficient
+strength available to cut it out, it was a mistake on the part of Sam,
+and so he realised when he had toiled until weary.  But he was not
+disheartened, and so resolved to try and find a place where the sun's
+rays could be utilised.  Straightening out his dogs, he drove along the
+ice for a mile or so before he reached a place that seemed to suit him.
+When he had found what he thought would do he set to work at once, for
+the day was now advancing.
+
+The spot selected was a solid-looking piece of ice not much longer or
+wider each way than his dogs and cariole.  It projected somewhat into
+the water, and on the icy side were several dark places where the ice
+was rotten, on account of its crystallisation by the sun's rays.  Here
+Sam with renewed vigour set to work.  He made rapid progress, and found
+that all he had to do was to cut the firm ice that lay between these
+different dark spots where the ice had lost all of its cohesive power
+Sam found ere he had finished that his dogs were getting strangely
+nervous, and to keep them from rushing off he had to turn the train
+around and tie them to the cariole.  While doing this he discovered the
+cause of their fear, and was also thankful that he was with them in the
+middle of his now floating raft.  The strong wind blowing directly up
+the channel, narrow though it was, had so agitated the water that there
+was a good deal of force in it, and so now, even before Sam had
+completely severed the ice from the main body, the water had begun to
+cause it to slightly move.  Dogs are more sensitive than human beings,
+and so they had noticed it before Sam had, and while he was trying to
+quiet them the whole thing broke loose and began slowly to move north.
+
+As this novel raft broke loose it was quite unsteady for a few minutes,
+and Sam saw with disgust his axe slide into the water and disappear.
+However, he still had the ice chisel, with its strong handle, which was
+about eight feet in length.  At first he had all he could do to quiet
+his excited dogs.  They acted as though they would plunge into the water
+in spite of all his efforts.  Some soothing words, and also some
+vigorous kicks, quieted those of different temperaments, and they
+settled down at last and seemed to say: "Well, if our master can stand
+this, surely we ought to be able to."  Not until Sam felt that he had
+his dogs well under control did he make any effort to get his novel raft
+across the channel.  But when they all lay still and quiet he took up
+his ice chisel and was ready for work.  He vigorously pushed against the
+icy shore from which he had broken loose, but his strength did not at
+first seem to make much impression, as the wind was somewhat against
+him, and so his raft at times ground roughly against the side from which
+he had broken away.  However, he was slowly working north, and he was
+not discouraged.  Sam was always an observant lad.  When on shipboard he
+had been interested in watching the sailors shift the sails to catch the
+changing winds.  So now an idea came to him, and he resolved to see what
+could be done with an improvised sail, even if it were only made out of
+a large buffalo robe.  Lashing one side of the robe to the pole of his
+ice chisel, he then firmly fastened one end of it to the head of his
+cariole.  Cutting two holes in the outer corners of the robe, he there
+tied a couple of strong deerskin strings.  Then, taking his place in his
+cariole, he pulled his sail up against the wind and awaited the result.
+
+He was not very sure just how to manage to get across the channel, but
+he had no anxiety about getting further off, as that was an
+impossibility, as he was now jammed up against the ice.  So he pulled in
+his sail and then let it out, until at length he found the right angle
+for the brisk wind to cause him to gradually draw away from the side he
+had been on.  When in the middle of the channel so pleased was he with
+his novel craft that he let out his sail, and for a time sped along
+north between the two icy shores.  Then, observing an indenture in the
+ice to the east sufficiently large to serve for a harbour for his queer
+vessel, he steered for it and safely ran in, but struck the icy landing
+place with such a crash that his raft was split in the middle under him.
+However, all he had to do was to hang on to his cariole and straighten
+out his dogs by the calls they well understood.  In an instant they
+sprang ashore, and easily dragged Sam and the cariole after them.
+Facing toward the distant home, the dogs required no special urging, and
+so rapidly, yet carefully watching against the treacherous places, they
+hurried on, and about sundown home was reached.
+
+Mr and Mrs Ross had begun to feel anxious about him, and so were not
+only relieved by his return, but very much amused by the characteristic
+account he gave of his adventure on the ice raft.
+
+In the meantime, although it was not quite dark, there was no word as
+yet from Frank and Alec, who with some Indians had gone off early in the
+morning on a duck-shooting excursion.
+
+Following the geese, the hunting of which has been so fully described in
+a previous chapter, came the ducks in great flocks.  They could be seen
+in great multitudes during every hour of the day, and the whistling
+sounds that accompany their rapid flights could be heard every hour of
+the night.  They seemed to be of about every known variety, from the
+great grey ducks down to the smallest teals.  The Indians were after
+them incessantly, and killed great numbers of them.  They resorted to no
+such elaborate preparations in hunting them as they did at the goose
+huntings, but shot them at the various points along which they seemed to
+crowd, and in the many pieces of open water on the marshy shores, where
+they tried to find some favourite food.  The boys were out almost every
+day, either with Mr Ross or some trusted Indians, and had some capital
+sport.
+
+The morning that Sam had prepared to have a good long final run with his
+dogs, Frank and Alec had gone to what was called the Old Fort, where the
+mighty Nelson, gathering in Lake Winnipeg the waters of many rivers,
+begins in its full strength its fierce, rapid, onward career, that ends
+only when it reaches the Hudson Bay.  This has been for generations a
+favourite shooting ground of the Indians, and here for the day the two
+lads and their Indian attendants came.  They had made the journey very
+early in the morning, and so their dogs had had no trouble with the ice,
+which in the night frost had quickly become firm and hard.  In the
+friendly shelter of some trees they had secured their dog-trains.  Here
+building a fire, their Indian cook had a second breakfast soon ready for
+them.  While eating it they could hear the cries of many wild birds,
+that the now strong south wind was bringing over them.  Flocks of wild
+geese, principally the waveys, a very much smaller variety than the
+great grey geese, were quite numerous, as well as an occasional one of
+the larger kinds.  Swans flew by in straight lines with such rapidity
+that many a shot was lost in trying to shoot them.  Pelicans were also
+there in great numbers, and the boys were intensely interested in their
+awkward, and at times comical, movements.  As they are not good for
+food, only one or two were shot, as curiosities.  Cranes stalked along
+on their long, slender legs in the marshy places, while snipe and many
+similar birds ran rapidly along the sandy shores.  The ducks were
+everywhere, and so the shooting was everything that our enthusiastic
+hunters could desire.
+
+The Indians, toward noon, began to get uneasy about the return trip, on
+account of the effects of the sun's rays and the south winds on the ice.
+They suggested an early start, but so fascinated had the boys become in
+the shooting that they kept putting it off from hour to hour.  However,
+the return trip was at length begun, and then the boys saw the wisdom of
+the Indians' suggestion for an earlier start, and heartily wished they
+had agreed to it.  Playgreen Lake, which in the morning seemed still one
+great mass of glittering ice, now appeared half broken up.  Wherever the
+ice had burst in the winter, and there frozen up again, now there were
+long channels of open water.  Suspicious-looking pools of water were on
+the ice in many places, and so the outlook for the return trip was
+anything but pleasant.  Frank's train was the first to come to grief.
+His heavy dogs in passing over a dark-looking patch of ice broke
+through, and were with much difficulty pulled out.  What amazed him and
+Alec was that the ice was still over two feet thick where the accident
+occurred, but under the effects of the rays of the sun it had simply
+disintegrated into long icy crystals that had no cohesiveness, and so
+when they were trodden upon they afforded little more support than so
+much water.
+
+The dripping dogs were no sooner hauled out, and once more started, than
+the appearance of a flock of geese, in one of the open stretches of
+water, was too great a temptation to be resisted.  The trains were
+halted, and Frank and Alec took their guns, and crept round to an icy
+hillock, from which they would be able to get a capital shot.  In a few
+minutes the guns rang out their reports, and up rose the great flocks of
+geese, as well as many ducks and other birds.  Frank and Alec had both
+been successful, and so speedily they dashed over the ice to attempt to
+secure their geese, which seemed to be only badly wounded.  As the
+Indians, who were in charge of the dogs, saw them thus recklessly
+dashing straight for the open water they instantly started the dog-
+trains toward them.  They were none too soon, for the boys, apparently
+seeing only their splendid game struggling in the narrow channel,
+noticed not the dangerous black spots on the ice.  Poor Frank, who was a
+little in advance, almost suddenly disappeared.  Down he went, and that
+so quickly that he had not time even to throw from him his gun, which
+speedily sank.
+
+He had all he could do to save himself as he sank in the icy crystals
+that sounded around him like the smashing of scores of panes of glass.
+Alec, alarmed at Frank's sad plight, madly rushed to his rescue, but ere
+he had gone a dozen yards he too found himself, as he afterward
+expressed it, like a person dropping into a well.  Fortunately, he was
+holding his gun crossways to his body, and as the hole of rotten ice
+into which he so speedily dropped was but a small one the gun struck
+solid ice each side, and as he had held on securely to it he did not
+fall in as completely as did poor Frank.  His plight was, however, a
+very awkward one, as the hole was so small and the firm, jagged ice so
+gripped him that unaided he would have had some difficulty in
+extricating himself.
+
+Well was it that the Indians had been on the alert, and so it was but a
+few minutes ere they were on the spot, and at once set about the work of
+rescue.  Alec was the first reached and was speedily pulled out,
+although it required some effort to do so on account of his being so
+wedged in so small a hole with the sharp, jagged ice.  His ribs were
+sore for many days.  In the meantime Frank's position was much more
+dangerous.  The speed with which he was running, when he so suddenly
+tumbled in, caused him to go completely under the ice.  He was, however,
+a good swimmer, and had presence of mind enough to know that for his own
+safety he must come up in the same place where he had gone down, as all
+around was solid ice.  He was sorry to have to drop his gun, but there
+was no hope for it if life was to be saved.  He found the sensation of
+trying to swim up through a mass of ice crystals that seemed to be two
+or three feet long, and no larger in size than pencils, a unique
+experience.  As he bravely struggled through them they broke in
+thousands of pieces, some of them cutting his face like glass.  When he
+was able to get his head above them he found that only a few strokes
+were necessary to take him to the strong ice, as this bad spot, in which
+he had fallen, was not more than twenty feet across.  Getting out of
+such a hole on the slippery ice is no easy matter, and so, as he could
+see that help was near, after a few efforts he was content to wait until
+strong arms came to his assistance and rescue.
+
+Speedily were some of the outer garments of the boys pulled off, and as
+much of the water as could be rubbed off from those remaining on them.
+Two of the Indians pulled off their dry coats, and, with these on, the
+boys were well wrapped up in their carioles, out of which many ducks
+were thrown, and then at once, with the swiftest and yet most cautious
+Indian on ahead as a guide for the safe places, the rapid race to
+Sagasta-weekee began.  It was no easy matter for the Indian in front
+when darkness began to hide the dangerous places.  More than once the
+rotten, treacherous ice gave way under him, and only by a sudden
+throwing of himself forward did he escape going through into the water.
+
+The distant lights in the windows of Sagasta-weekee, well called the
+house full of sunshine, were indeed welcome sights.  Mr and Mrs Ross
+and Sam had been long on the lookout for them, and were shocked and
+frightened at the sad plight of the two boys.  Frank and Alec, however,
+tried to make light of it, but neither had the slightest objection to
+offer to the hot baths at once prepared, and then their suppers, taken
+that night in bed.  They were both badly shaken up.  Frank felt worse in
+his mind, because he had lost such a valuable gun, while Alec's ribs
+were the spots that were for some days his tenderest places.
+
+All sorts of rumours went out in reference to the accident.  The story
+had so enlarged that when it reached the mission house it was that the
+boys had been rescued in a dying condition and were still very low, and
+so there was great sorrow over there, even so much that it was said that
+two sweet young ladies refused to be comforted.  When Mrs Ross heard
+this her motherly heart was touched, and so, as the wind had changed and
+the cold north wind had again made the ice safe for experienced Indian
+drivers, two carioles were dispatched to the mission for the aforesaid
+young ladies to come and spend a week or two at Sagasta-weekee.  The
+missionary, with his dog-train in charge of an experienced driver, also
+came over at the same time as did his daughters.  Ere they arrived the
+boys were up and dressed in moccasins and dressing gowns, and so were
+able to receive their very welcome visitors.  Mr Hurlburt only remained
+to a very early tea, and then after an earnest prayer, in which there
+was a great deal of thanksgiving for their deliverance, he, with Martin
+Papanekis, the driver, returned to his home.
+
+Of that happy week that followed we confess our inability to write.
+That it was a very delightful one was evident to all.  The only sorrow
+that tinged its brightness and bliss was the fact that soon the ice
+would be all gone, the boats would be arriving, and then the home trip
+of these three boys would begin.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPRING PACKET--WELCOME LETTERS--ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE
+HOME-FLITTING--SAM'S RAILLERY--RACHEL AND WINNIE AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE--
+HAPPY HOURS--CANOEING EXCURSIONS--THE CYCLONE--YOUNG EXCURSIONISTS
+EXPOSED TO ITS AWFUL POWER--THE NARROW ESCAPE--THE REFUGE OF THE ROCK--
+NAPOLEON, THE TAME BEAR, IN POSSESSION--GUN SIGNALS--THE HAPPY RESCUE.
+
+The arrival of the spring packet was, and still is, an interesting event
+to the dwellers in those remote northern regions.  Not a letter or paper
+had reached Sagasta-weekee since the Christmas packet, and now it was
+June.  And so when the first boats of the Hudson Bay Company arrived
+from Red River and Fort Garry, with supplies and great bundles of
+letters and periodicals, there was great excitement.  A swift canoe was
+in readiness at the fort, and so it was not long ere the large number
+directed to Sagasta-weekee were hurried over to the expectant ones.
+They were quickly assorted, and then each person with his own rushed off
+to fairly devour the contents.
+
+"Faith," said Sam, as he eagerly seized his bundle, "the sight of my
+blessed mother's handwriting puts sand in my eyes and a lump in my
+throat.  Blessings on the darling!  May she live a thousand years!"
+
+Frank and Alec were equally as much interested, but they controlled
+their feelings and left to the more demonstrative Sam these joyous
+ebullitions, that were as natural as it was for him to breathe.
+
+After Mr Ross had perused a number of his letters he quietly signalled
+to Mrs Ross, and immediately they both left the room.  He had received
+a letter from Liverpool which informed him that a very serious disease
+had begun to undermine the constitution of Frank's father, and while no
+immediate fatal results were expected, it was thought best that Frank
+should return by the speediest route possible.  In Frank's own letters
+from home all that had been mentioned in reference to the matter was
+that, "father was not quite up to his usual health, and they would all
+be glad to have him return as speedily as possible."  Neither Mr nor
+Mrs Ross said anything to the boys in reference to the matter of their
+return until after the evening meal, when they were all in the cozy
+study discussing the various events that had been occurring in the
+outside world during the last six months, and of which they had all been
+in profound ignorance until that day.
+
+Each boy had read his letters to the others, and together they had been
+delighted with all the news received, except that concerning Frank's
+father.  Then, for the first time, the matter of the return home was
+seriously discussed.  So happy had been the months since their arrival,
+nearly a year before, that even the discussion of the return trip had
+been kept in the background as much as possible.  But now they were face
+to face with it, and sharp and quick must be their decision if they
+would avail themselves of the first opportunity for their departure.
+This would be by the return of these Hudson Bay Company's boats to Red
+River.  In them they could travel as far as to Fort Garry.  From that
+point they would take the overland trail on the great plains to St.
+Paul, and there, boarding the flat-bottomed steamers on the Mississippi,
+would once more begin travelling in a civilised manner.
+
+This plan was the one on which they finally settled.  It would be much
+more expeditious than the long waiting for the sailing ship at York
+Factory, and then returning by the Hudson Bay and North Atlantic route.
+This decided, the next question was how to make the best of the ten days
+that would elapse ere the journey would begin.
+
+"I'll wager my dog-whip against a pair of moccasins," said Sam, "that I
+know where a good part of the time will be spent if a couple of young
+gentlemen friends of mine can have their own way."
+
+"All right," quickly responded Mrs Ross, "for although I consider a
+wager, at best, is but a fool's argument, and so you may keep your whip,
+I will accept your challenge and say that I know that here at Sagasta-
+weekee is the spot where the two young gentlemen you have in your mind
+will prefer to spend the time until the home journey is commenced."
+
+The sudden extinguishment of Sam's pet phrases of "I'll wager" and "I'll
+bet" by the gentle Mrs Ross was much relished by Frank and Alec, who
+well knew that they were the young gentlemen to whom he referred, and on
+whom he was about to turn his raillery.  Generous, good-natured Sam was
+quick to acknowledge the error of his ways, in the use of those
+expressions from the betting world that had, he hardly knew how, found
+their way into his vocabulary.  Still, as he gracefully apologised to
+Mrs Ross, there was a half-comical, half-perplexed look in his face,
+and so, as he never could keep even his thoughts to himself, amidst the
+laughter of all he blurted out:
+
+"Sure I was thinking of the young ladies over the way there at the
+mission, and that it would be in their sweet smiles my two chums would
+wish to be basking."
+
+"We have been thinking of them also," said Mrs Ross, "and before this,
+I imagine, the canoe has reached the mission, with a cordial invitation
+for both of them to come over, with as many others of the family as can
+leave, and spend the time with us until the boats start for Red River."
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Frank and Alec in chorus, and ere they seemed aware of
+what they were doing, in the exuberance of their boyish delight, they
+had hold of Mrs Ross and were gyrating with her around the room, to the
+great amusement of all, especially of Roderick and Wenonah, who speedily
+joined in the sport.
+
+This being settled, the next thing was to talk over the preparations
+essential for the return trip.  So many and varied were the trophies of
+the chase, as well as Indian curios that each of the boys wished to take
+back to the home land, that orders were at once given to the carpenters
+for the requisite number of large cassettes.  This is the name given in
+that region to water-tight boxes made out of the spruce lumber of the
+country.  Indian women also were engaged to prepare the requisite
+travelling outfits for both the water and prairie routes.  Then they all
+settled down to a loving talk over the happy months of the past and the
+outlook of the future.  Speaking for the three boys, Frank said:
+
+"We can never sufficiently thank Mr and Mrs Ross for this memorable
+year.  It has been an education to us all that will, we are sure, be
+helpful to us in years to come.  We shall not only, in the many trophies
+of these happy and sometimes exciting days, have before us in our
+different homes the tangible reminders of our glorious sports and
+adventures, but engraved in our memories will be the many remembrances
+of the unfailing love and indulgent sympathy you have ever shown toward
+us.  We are all very grateful to you both, and, while naturally pleased
+at the prospect of soon being with our loved ones across the sea, we are
+very sorry that we shall soon have to say good-bye."
+
+This touching and nicely worded speech of Frank's was too much for
+tender-hearted Wenonah and Roderick, and so they burst out into weeping
+and hurriedly left the room.  Sam seemed to be suddenly attacked with a
+bad cold and blew his nose vigorously, and for once had nothing to say.
+Alec, more able to control himself, added a few kindly, grateful words
+to these so well put by Frank.
+
+Mr and Mrs Ross were deeply stirred, and in reply stated the happiness
+that had come to them in having had within their home three young
+gentlemen who had ever been a source of pleasure and inspiration to
+them.  Kindly were the words of counsel given them for their guidance in
+the harder battles of life before them--to be manly, self-reliant, and
+ever honest and true.  "Remember this," added Mr Ross, "upright, honest
+boys will make the true men the world needs."
+
+The memory of that evening long lingered with them, and in after years,
+in some fierce moral conflicts, in which they each had to wear a face as
+of flint against temptation, the words of wisdom there heard, enabled
+them to triumph against the fiercest attacks.  "A word in season, how
+good it is!"
+
+Early the next morning the boys were up, and after breakfast and prayers
+they began assorting their various collections gathered, for skillful
+Indian hands to carefully pack up for the long, rough journey that lay
+between them and their distant homes.  A month or so before this they
+had parted with their dogs.  Kinesasis had taken them all out to the
+distant island, where in idleness they could spend the few brilliant
+summer months, ere another winter would call them back to their work
+again.  The boys had found it hard to part with the faithful animals.
+Alec especially, who had, in his Scottish nature, formed a great
+attachment to his gallant four that had found a warm place in his heart
+by the way they had secured for him his victory in that memorable race,
+was almost disconsolate.  Two or three times had he secured a couple of
+Indians and a good canoe, and had gone over to the island for a romp
+with them.
+
+The friends from the mission arrived in the afternoon, and were
+cordially welcomed.  They had accepted Mrs Ross's invitation in the
+spirit in which it had been so genuinely given.  In such a land there is
+but little of the artificial and conventional.  Friendship is true and
+genuine, and loving words have but one meaning.  Frank and Alec greeted
+Rachel and Winnie in Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou fashion.  They did not know
+whether to be pleased or sorry when they saw tears in the bright eyes of
+these young ladies, when the news was told them of the speedy departure
+of the three young gentlemen to their distant homes across the sea.
+Alec said he was rather proud of seeing the tears in Winnie's eyes, as
+it made him more than ever think that she did really think something of
+him, and he would try by hard and steady effort in the coming years to
+prove himself worthy of her love.  Frank, more open and impulsive, when
+he saw the tears in the eyes of his beloved Rachel, could not restrain
+his own, and was visibly affected.  Sam, who had been an interested
+spectator of the arrival and the various greetings, must of course make
+a few remarks.
+
+"Look at Alec there," said he.  "The self-opinionated young Scotchman!
+He thinks so much of himself that he is pleased to see a sweet young
+lady shedding some tears for him."
+
+This was rather severe on the part of Sam, but he could not bear to see
+anyone in tears, and so he was a little extra-critical just now.  His
+keen eyes had also narrowly watched Frank, and as he saw the tears in
+his eyes and noticed his visible emotion, even fun-loving Sam was
+touched, and he impulsively exclaimed:
+
+"Frank, my darling, I love you for your great big heart.  But my
+feelings are all mixed, for why should a young gentleman, who has just
+kissed his sweetheart, be after weeping and giving redness of eyes to
+the rest of us?"
+
+Then, with a merry laugh, he roused himself out of these dumps, as he
+called them, and exclaimed:
+
+"Frank, my boy, here is a conundrum for you: Of which of the venerable
+men of the past does your conduct remind me?"
+
+Various guesses were made, but none were considered satisfactory, and so
+Sam was called upon to solve his own riddle.  His answer was clever and
+characteristic.  "Well," said he, "when reading the blessed book my
+mother gave me I found a portion which said, `And Jacob kissed Rachel,
+and lifted up his voice, and wept.'  Why he should have shed any tears
+at such an interesting transaction bothered me.  But now I think I get a
+glimmering idea in reference to it, since I have seen the events of to-
+day."
+
+"Sam, Sam," said Mrs Ross, who had heard this quaint reference to the
+old patriarch, "why do you thus bring in such names in your
+pleasantries?"
+
+"I don't know," replied the irrepressible Sam, "unless it is that it is
+in my blood; for one of the last things I heard my mother say, ere I
+left home, was that, to judge by the thinness of the milk furnished by
+the farmer who supplied us, he much reminded her of Pharaoh's daughter,
+as he took a _profit_ out of the water!"
+
+"Chestnuts," said Alec.  "I have heard that before."
+
+It was new to the majority, and the droll way in which Sam gave it put
+everybody in a good humour, and a very happy, delightful time was spent
+by them all.
+
+Rapidly sped on the few days that intervened between the arrival of the
+packet and the return trip of the boats to Red River.  These Hudson Bay
+Company's boats had come loaded with furs caught the previous winter,
+which would be sent down to York Factory with vast quantities from other
+parts of the great country, and from that fort shipped to England.
+Then, loaded with goods for the next winter's trade, the boats would
+return to the different posts from which they had come.  With the
+exception of canoes, they afforded the only means of travel in the
+summer time in those regions.
+
+Mr Ross had gone over to the fort at Norway House, and had obtained
+from the gentlemen there in charge permission to send Frank, Alec, and
+Sam in these boats as far as Fort Garry.  He also decided to accompany
+them that far in their journey, and see that everything was secured
+necessary for their long trip across the prairies to St. Paul.
+
+As the weather had now become very pleasant for canoeing, several very
+delightful outings were arranged by Mr and Mrs Ross for the young
+folks.  The boys had become expert canoeists, and in the long gloamings
+of the lengthened days in June in those high north lands, they had many
+memorable excursions.
+
+As the Indian women and maidens are all experts in handling the paddle,
+so it becomes a point of honour among the ladies, young and old, in the
+Hudson Bay fort and mission to be able to, at least in a measure,
+imitate the dusky, bronzed maidens of the wigwams.  Mr Hurlburt had
+wisely trained his daughters in this accomplishment.  Living as they
+did, where there were really no walks except the trails that immediately
+led into the primeval forests, where lurking wild beasts were at times
+so bold that they came up close to the dwellings of the villagers, it
+was really dangerous to go far from home.  Canoeing thus became the
+great summer recreation and amusement.  And for the upper part of the
+body there is no better exercise.  The result was that Rachel and Winnie
+were both skillful and fearless canoeists, and very much enjoyed this,
+which has well been called "the poetry of motion."
+
+Mr Ross prided himself on his beautiful, graceful canoes for the summer
+time, about as much as he loved his dogs in the long winter months.  The
+Indians, knowing his love for their graceful canoes, had presented him
+with some great beauties, on which they had exercised all their
+ingenuity and skill in construction, and their artistic taste in
+ornamentation.  These were all now in much demand, and merry and happy
+indeed was the whole party, as perhaps in six or eight canoes they
+started from the little land-locked harbour of Sagasta-weekee.  Frank
+and Rachel were company enough for one of the prettiest canoes, while
+the same could be said of Alec and Winnie in another not less handsome.
+
+To the last, Sam's joy was to have with him the little children, Wenonah
+and Roderick.  To him was assigned a large, safe canoe, and a couple of
+trusty Indians to aid in the paddling.  The rest of the party went out
+more or less frequently, as it best suited them.  So much had to be done
+to complete the arrangements for the journey that often the young folks
+went out alone on their joyous trips.
+
+One afternoon Mr Ross was a little troubled, and at first seemed
+inclined to ask all to give up their excursions on the water for that
+day and amuse themselves at home.  His trusty barometer, that had stood
+so steady for fine settled weather for days, was now acting in a most
+erratic manner.  A change of some kind was evident, and so Sam and the
+children did not venture out.  Still, as the sky was cloudless and the
+blue waters of the island-studded lake looked so peaceful and quiet, he
+did not prevent Frank and Alec, with the young ladies, from venturing
+out, but gave them some words of caution and then let the happy
+canoeists embark, and saw them strike out in unison as away they glided
+over the little sun-kissed waves.  For a little while the music of their
+laughter and song fell on the ears of those who had gone to see them
+off.  When they had disappeared among the beautiful fir-clad islands the
+spectators returned to the house, and were soon busy in their various
+duties.
+
+Crash!  Boom!  What is that?
+
+Too well was it known by Mr Ross and those who had lived in that land.
+It was a dreadful thunderbolt, the precursor of the fierce cyclone, the
+sudden storm that is coming upon them at the rate of something near a
+hundred miles an hour.  Worst of all, four young people are out in it,
+in a couple of frail canoes, and who can tell what may happen to them
+when in its full fury it bursts upon them?
+
+And how fares it with the young folks about whom there is now naturally
+so much anxiety at Sagasta-weekee?  With laughter and song we saw them
+dash away, as under their skillful strokes their light canoes, like sea
+birds, glided along over the peaceful waters.  Now, drenched and half
+dazed by the blinding glare of the terrific storm, they are battling for
+life in a very maelstrom of waters.  Suddenly had the storm struck them.
+They had remarked the strange actions and the frightened cries of the
+birds, that all seemed hurrying in one direction.  Then they had
+observed the dead calm that had settled down on everything.  Even the
+aspen leaves on the trees, on the islands along which they glided, for
+once were ominously still.  Every wavelet on the waters hushed itself
+asleep, and the whole surface of the lake was as a sea of polished
+glass.
+
+Rachel was the first to take alarm from this deadly calm, and she
+exclaimed:
+
+"This is unnatural, and means danger.  Let us return at once."
+
+Quickly they turned their canoes, and now only a few yards apart they
+began the race before the coming storm, although as yet it had not
+revealed itself.  The first intimation they had of its approach was the
+rapidly rising wind, which fortunately arose directly behind them.  It
+was at first different from any ordinary breeze.  It seemed to come
+along like a thing of life, now catching up a handful of water and
+scattering it like sand, then bounding up in wanton sport, and then once
+more trailing on the waters and making it ripple in lines or lanes, as
+in mad sport it now more rapidly hurried along.
+
+Then, as they looked back over their shoulders to the north-west, they
+saw coming up the cyclonic cloud.  It was dark as midnight, ragged at
+its edges, and above it was a rim of sky so green and so unnatural that
+our brave young people for a moment almost recoiled with terror at the
+sight.
+
+"Paddle for that island!" shouted Rachel.  "No canoe can live in such a
+storm as will soon be on us."
+
+Hardly had she uttered these words ere there shot out a thunderbolt so
+vivid that they were all nearly blinded by its intense brightness.  It
+seemed to fill the whole heavens around them with its dazzling
+whiteness, and then as suddenly it was gone.
+
+"One, two, three, four," began Rachel, who, although paddling with
+wondrous effectiveness, was calm and collected.
+
+"O, don't stop to count," called Winnie, who was like the rest
+desperately yet cautiously using her paddle.  "It would be better to
+pray than do that."
+
+"We'll do that shortly, but paddle for dear life now, and don't
+interrupt the count.  Where was I?  Ten, eleven, twelve--" and at
+eighteen there came the crash of the thunder of that lightning flash
+that had so nearly blinded them.  It was as though a thousand great
+cannon had simultaneously been fired.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the brave girl the instant it died away.  "We have two
+minutes and a half yet ere the cyclone reaches us.  In two minutes we
+must reach the other side of that high rocky point, and in the remaining
+half minute we must get on the lee side of the great sheltering rocks.
+Courage all, and let every stroke tell!"
+
+And there was need for courage, for already the white caps were around
+them, and behind them the waters hissed and shrieked like demons let
+loose and howling for their victims.  The heavens were rapidly being
+overwhelmed with the blackness of darkness.  But here is the point!
+Skillfully the two girls, who were in the stern of the canoes, steered
+them sharply around, and the strong strokes of Frank and Alec did the
+rest, and they were in the shelter of the rock.  But it would only be
+safe for an instant.
+
+"Now all spring for your lives!" again cried Rachel; "and let everything
+go, Frank, but your gun and some cartridges."
+
+"Can we not save the canoes?" shouted Alec.
+
+"No, no!" cried Rachel.  "It is our lives here only that we must think
+about, for the sake of those who even now, perhaps, are mourning us as
+dead."
+
+The shelter of the rocks was within a few flying bounds, and they were
+safe.  It was an enormous rock that towered up some scores of feet, and
+on the lee side, where our young folks had found shelter, hung over for
+perhaps twenty feet.  Fortunate indeed were they to have reached such a
+refuge.
+
+A few seconds later, when, with backs against the mighty rock, they were
+in a measure recovering from the violent exertion of that fearful
+struggle, Winnie cried out, "O, where are the canoes?"
+
+Not a vestige of them was ever after seen.  They had been caught up in
+that cyclone that came thundering on so close behind that in the brief
+seconds in which the young people had run from them to the rock they had
+been picked up and whirled into oblivion.
+
+"It is well," said Alec, "I did not stop to try and save the one I was
+in.  But why, Rachel, did you ask Frank to bring along his gun and
+ammunition?"
+
+"You will soon see," said the brave, thoughtful girl, "that they will be
+worth more to us and our anxious friends than the canoes."
+
+In the meantime, the storm in passing the point had spread out over the
+whole place, and the rain, which was now descending in torrents, began
+to be very uncomfortable.  A rim of light was still in the distance, and
+with the now almost incessant flashings of the lightning it was possible
+to grope around for a dry and more sheltered spot under the great rock.
+Alec, who had volunteered to go out and try to find a drier place, and
+who was now groping along in one direction as the lightning lit up his
+path, was heard to suddenly let out a cry of alarm and then almost
+immediately after burst into a hearty peal of laughter.
+
+"What in the world have you found in such a place to cause you to act
+like this?" said Frank, who was really annoyed at the merriment of Alec
+after such a narrow escape.
+
+"Come here and you will see," was the only reply they could secure from
+Alec, who was acting in a manner so strange and unaccountable.
+
+So, waiting for the lightning flashes to enable them to pick their way
+over the rough stones under the sheltered place, they cautiously moved
+toward him.  As they came within a few feet and were now in the gloom,
+waiting for another flash to light up the way, Alec said: "Don't be
+frightened at what you will see.  It is only old Napoleon, and he is as
+frightened as he can be, and seems glad to have me with him."
+
+The sight that met them as the next vivid flash blazed out was indeed
+enough to try older and stronger nerves, for there was Alec with his
+back against the dry rock and one of his arms around the neck of an
+enormous bear.
+
+"Don't be alarmed," shouted Alec.  "It is old Napoleon, and he is more
+frightened by the cyclone than any of us."
+
+"How do you know it is Napoleon?" asked Winnie, who was noted for her
+extreme cautiousness.
+
+"Know him?  Why, of course I know him, and he was as pleased as an
+affectionate dog to see me.  And see, here are the two brass rings I put
+in his little round ears last winter at the fort, some time before
+Christmas."
+
+This was convincing proof that their comrade was a tame, harmless bear,
+and so without any more alarm they all crowded into what proved to be a
+dry and safe retreat from the fearful storm that still raged outside.
+
+"Bears know a thing or two," said Alec, "and so old Nap in selecting
+this spot was quite confident that it could stand a cyclone."
+
+Meantime the storm continued to rage with awful fury, but sheltered by
+the rocks they were safe from its ravages.  All they could do was to
+patiently wait until its fury was spent.  So they sang some sweet hymns,
+and the girls gave some reminiscences of previous storms and adventures.
+
+As soon as the storm began to abate Rachel said, "I think, Frank, it is
+time you began to use your gun."
+
+"What, would you have him shoot this affectionate old bear?" asked Alec.
+
+A merry laugh burst from the lips of both of the girls, and Winnie asked
+him if he had any idea of the reason why Rachel so urged Frank to save
+his gun and ammunition, even if everything else should be lost.
+
+"Not the slightest idea," was his answer.
+
+"Well," replied Rachel, "as the fury of the storm is about spent, it is
+time to be beginning to explain the mystery.  And so now suppose you
+take the gun and go out on the beach and fire three times in quick
+succession."
+
+Frank and Alec at once comprehended the riddle, and laughed at their own
+stupidity.  The firing of the gun would bring their rescuers speedily to
+them.
+
+Unfortunately for these young people, their retreat was too distant from
+Sagasta-weekee for the report of their gun to reach that place.
+However, just as soon as Mr Ross saw the storm approaching he summoned
+every available man, and had boats in readiness to begin the search as
+soon as it was possible to risk the angry waves which a cyclone of this
+description stirs up.  For at least three hours they had to wait ere
+they could make a start.  Then in the still angry waters they shoved out
+their boats, and in different directions started on the search.
+
+In the meantime let us again go back to the young people in their
+strange place of refuge.  Noting the increasing brightness, as the black
+clouds were now rapidly rolling away, Rachel suggested that three more
+shots be fired.  In a few minutes more they were repeated, and soon
+after, as the rain had now nearly ceased, the whole party came out from
+their gloomy cave retreat.  On every side were evidences of the terrific
+power of the cyclone.  Great trees had been torn up by the roots, while
+others had been snapped off, leaving the stumps standing from twenty to
+fifty feet high.
+
+Apart from the sad evidences of the storm, everything was soon simply
+delightful.  In those high latitudes the June evenings are very long.
+Here was now one of wondrous beauty.  The angry waves were quickly dying
+away into pleasant ripples.  The sun was setting behind some lovely
+clouds of gold and crimson, and the air, purified by the cyclone, seemed
+exhilarating in the extreme.
+
+"Keep up your firing, Frank," said Rachel, "for doubtless there are
+boats out long ere this, looking for what is left of us."
+
+"Listen!" said Winnie, who, being wonderfully gifted in hearing, had
+been the first to detect an answering gun.  "One, two, three, four.
+Fire again!" she cried.  "They have heard, but are uncertain as to the
+direction."
+
+Again the three reports of the gun sounded in quick succession, and soon
+there was the answer of two guns, which meant, "We hear you now and will
+soon be with you."
+
+To Mr Ross's great relief and satisfaction, it was the boat, manned by
+four oarsmen, of which he himself had charge that was the first to hear
+the firing of Frank's gun.  Some of his Indian crew had detected reports
+before he had, but nothing would satisfy him until the welcome sound
+fell on his own ears.
+
+"Pull, men!" he fairly shouted, "and let us see how many of those loved
+ones have survived that storm.  If any of them are drowned, you need not
+take me home."
+
+Not a man in that boat, white or Indian, needed any urging.  Such was
+the love they all had for those young people that gladly would any one
+of them have risked his own life for theirs.
+
+Around the next point, now not far away, again rang out the three
+reports, and soon a most welcome sight greeted the eyes of Mr Ross and
+his crew.  For there, distinctly visible on the shore, were four happy
+young people waving their welcomes.
+
+"Thank God," reverently said Mr Ross.  "They are all safe."  And,
+strong man that he was, he wept like a child.  Other eyes than his were
+moist also.  With an effort he checked his deep emotion, and was so able
+to control himself that ere the shore was reached he was calm and
+collected.
+
+When within hailing distance hearty words of congratulation rapidly
+passed back and forward.  Such was the nature of the shore that a good
+place where they could step into the boat from the shore was not easily
+found, and so the men at the oars rowed up on the sandy beach as far as
+they could, and then, running out three oars, made a walk that answered
+very well.
+
+Good Mr Ross was so wild with delight at the fact of the preservation
+of these young folks, whom he loved so well, that he was the first to
+rush out and try and gather them all in his arms.
+
+In the excitement of the rescue Napoleon, the tame bear, had been quite
+forgotten, but now he acted as though he had been doing his share of
+thinking, and had come to the conclusion that, if his liberty was to be
+associated with cyclones, he had had enough of it; and so, just as Mr
+Ross and the young people were about to go on board the boat, he
+deliberately came marching out of the cave and, carefully balancing
+himself, walked up on the oars and took a comfortable position in the
+boat.
+
+His unexpected appearance very much startled the men, and there was a
+general scramble for guns.  Alec, quick to see his danger, rushed up,
+and taking a position beside Napoleon forbade any shooting, and speedily
+made some very necessary explanations, much to the relief and amusement
+of all.
+
+It did not take long to return to Sagasta-weekee, and great indeed were
+the rejoicings there.
+
+Soon the other search boats returned, and the anxieties of all were thus
+speedily relieved.  After the recital of the story of their narrow
+escape an impressive thanksgiving service was held, and every heart was
+full of gratitude for their deliverance.
+
+Winter Adventures of Three Boys--by Egerton R.  Young
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+HOMEWARD BOUND--FAREWELL TO SAGASTA-WEEKEE--OLD NORWAY HOUSE--SAM'S
+CLEVER SURMISINGS--A GLAD SURPRISE FOR FRANK AND ALEC--SAM'S WELL-
+DESERVED DUCKING--A GLORIOUS EVENING--THE EARLY CALL--JUST ONE MORE
+SWEET "GOOD-BYE"--"ALL ABOARD"--ON GREAT LAKE WINNIPEG--SAM'S SUCCESSFUL
+SHOT AT A BEAR--RED RIVER--FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE PRAIRIES--FORT GARRY--
+THE BELLS OF ST. BONIFACE--THE LONG TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS--THE EXCITING
+BUFFALO HUNT--SAINT PAUL'S--STILL ON BY LAKES AND RIVERS--MONTREAL--ON
+BOARD SHIP--THE OCEAN VOYAGE--LIVERPOOL--HOME AT LAST.
+
+The start was made from Sagasta-weekee in time for the boats to go that
+afternoon as far as to the old Norway House fort, where the mighty
+Nelson River begins its career.  Here for scores of years it has been
+the custom for the boats to camp for at least one night and make their
+final preparations for the long trip of the whole length of Lake
+Winnipeg to the mouth of the Red River.
+
+To the great delight of the boys, some extra boats were sent in with the
+Red River brigade, and so they had Big Tom as their guide, Martin
+Papanekis as their cook, and Soquatum as bowman.
+
+These boats are each propelled by eight sturdy oarsmen.  The work of
+rowing all day at these heavy oars is very laborious, and so there is
+great delight when the wind is favourable and a mast can be placed in
+position and a great square sail hauled up into the favouring breeze.
+Then the voyage is a joyous holiday.  What is most dreaded is a long,
+continuous head wind, against which they can neither sail nor use the
+oars with good effect.
+
+Early in the forenoon on the day of starting the young gentlemen said
+farewell to their good friends of the mission, Mr and Mrs Hurlburt and
+the sweet young ladies, Rachel and Winnie.  It is almost needless to add
+that both Frank and Alec declared themselves as the most devoted of
+lovers, and vowed that in a few years they would return and claim them
+as their brides.  We must leave time to tell the results of these
+youthful loves, which had begun under such happy and romantic auspices.
+
+To the surprise of the young gentlemen, Mrs Ross and the children left
+Sagasta-weekee at the same time as did Mr Hurlburt and his family, and
+so were not there to see them off when they left a few hours later.
+
+So thoroughly and well had the packing been done that not much time was
+lost after the arrival of the boats before everything was on board.  The
+kindly farewells to all were said, and they were off.  Sam could not
+help shouting back to Pasche, as he stood on a rock with a sorrowful
+face:
+
+"Don't set any more traps for moose bulls, Pasche!"
+
+"No, mon garcon, I have had enough of that work," he shouted, amid the
+laughter of the other servants.
+
+With waving of handkerchiefs and shouts of "Bon voyage" and "Good-bye,"
+Sagasta-weekee was left behind.  There were tears in the eyes of the
+lads who had spent within its comfortable walls such an eventful year.
+They had grown much, not only physically, but there had been development
+mentally and morally that would tell for good in the oncoming years.  To
+have been under the guidance of such a couple as Mr and Mr Ross in
+such a formative period of their young lives was of incalculable value.
+Happy are the boys who have such guardians; happier still if their own
+parents are of this splendid class.
+
+As the wind sprang up from the north the mast, which had been securely
+tied to the outside of the boat, was quickly placed in position, and the
+sail was soon doing its work.  Mr Ross and the lads had comfortable
+seats arranged for them in the stern of the boat.  Just behind them
+stood Big Tom, skillfully using a great oar as a rudder.  Wild ducks and
+a few geese flew by, but there was now no time for shooting.  On they
+sped, and it was easy to observe from the quiet yet frequent
+consultations in the Indian language that passed between Mr Ross and
+Big Tom that there was something more than the sail in the Sam, who had
+picked up quite a knowledge of Indian, was the first to suspect what was
+before them, and so he blurted out:
+
+"Faith, I believe Oo-che-me-ke-se-gou is going to be repeated."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Frank.
+
+"Mean, is it, you ask?  Why, I mean that I fancy some other hands than
+Martin's will pour the tea for us to-night."
+
+"Do stop talking riddles, Sam," said Alec, "and tell us what your
+palaver is all about."
+
+"Well," replied the incorrigible tease, "I fancy that, if you young
+gentlemen are getting sick of having pledged yourselves to eternal
+loyalty, or, in other words, plighted your troths either to others, as
+the book says, you will both have a chance to tell the fair damsels to
+their faces ere the sun goes down."
+
+"Sam!" they both shouted, "what do you mean?"
+
+This explosion on their part caused Mr Ross to turn from his
+consultation with Big Tom.  In response rather to his looks than
+anything he uttered Sam said:
+
+"I have been trying to get it into the thick heads of these two boys
+that there is an agreeable conspiracy on foot for their mutual
+consolation and edification, but for the life of me I believe they are
+as much in the dark as when I began."
+
+"Chist!"  ("Look!") cried Big Tom.  "Akota wigwam!"  ("There is the
+tent!")
+
+These words of Big Tom caused everything else to be forgotten, and so
+even Mr Ross, who was vastly amused that Sam had been so observant, did
+not make any reply to the lad's remarks.
+
+Rapidly they sped along, and now soon to all was visible a large tent
+and a number of persons on the distant sandy beach.  Sam keenly watched
+his comrades, and saw their cheeks flush, and their eyes get moist, as
+they caught the sight of white handkerchiefs, waving from the hands of
+those to whom they had become so deeply attached.
+
+"It is too good to be true," said Frank, as he gripped Alec one hand,
+while with the other he was waving his handkerchief wildly in response
+to those of the loved ones on the shore.
+
+Onward sped the boat, and soon all were recognised.  Here they found all
+who had left early in the morning--Mrs Ross and the children and all
+the mission friends.  What a delightful surprise, and how happy they all
+were that it had been such a success!  Poor Sam, the only one to see
+through it, was the only one to come to grief.  He had not patience
+enough to wait until three or four of the big oars were lashed together,
+to serve as a rude gangway on which to walk safely to the shore but,
+seeing the ease with which some of the agile Indians ran out on a single
+oar, in spite of the rocking of the boat, he boldly tried to do the
+same, and ere he knew where he was he was down in the water, and nearly
+drowned by a retreating wave under the boat.  Quickly he was rescued,
+but he was completely drenched to the skin.  He was somewhat bruised,
+but was not long the worse for the accident.  But as he was quickly
+hurried off to the shelter of the tent and dry clothes secured for him
+he admitted that he deserved the ducking, as he had purposely hurried
+ashore to make a few remarks when the young lovers should meet again.
+
+And so Frank had the joy of again meeting his Rachel, and Alec his sweet
+Winnie, and a delightful visit they had with them while Sam was having
+his bruised body well rubbed in sturgeon oil by a stalwart Indian.  This
+is the Indian's drastic remedy for such a mishap, and a good one it is.
+Very delightfully passed that long June evening.  It was full eleven
+o'clock ere the gorgeous colours all died away in the west and the stars
+one by one came out in their quiet beauty and decked as with diamonds
+that peerless northern sky.  After a time the auroras flashed and blazed
+in quiet beauty.  To-night they seemed not as warriors bent on carnage,
+but as troops of lovers tripping in joyous unison to some sweet strains
+of music unheard by mortal ears.
+
+Amid such surroundings sat and talked this happy group.  It was, they
+well knew, their last evening together, and so amid its joyousness there
+was a tinge of sorrow and regret.  As the evening darkened into night
+they had all gathered near the great brilliant camp fire, which is
+always welcome and agreeable even in June nights, no matter how warm has
+been the day.
+
+After the delightful events and incidents of the past had been referred
+to and discussed by all, the conversation turned to the many dangers
+that had come to some of them, and their narrow escapes.  Gratitude to
+God for their many marvellous deliverances was the uppermost feeling in
+their hearts.  Mr Hurlburt and Mr Ross spoke most impressively on this
+wonderful providential care that had been over them.
+
+The Indians, except those whose duty it was to see to the welfare of
+their masters and mistresses, were all now asleep.  Wrapped up each in
+his blanket, they lay around on the rocks in picturesque places.
+
+During the evening all the other boats had arrived from Norway House,
+and so it was arranged that if the wind continued favourable they would
+make an early start in the morning.  When Mr Ross felt that it was time
+to break up the delightful circle he asked Mr Hurlburt to take charge
+of the devotional service.  Always hallowed and precious were these
+sacred hours of worship in the forest or on the shores, and this last
+one was not less suggestive and profitable.  First from memory they all
+repeated the one-hundred-and-third psalm, then they sang the sweet hymn,
+"Abide with me," and at its close Mrs Ross's sweet voice struck up,
+"Blest be the tie that binds."  Then Mr Hurlburt, the devoted
+missionary, led in prayer.  Heaven seemed very near as the good man
+talked with God and commended Frank, Alec, and Sam to his loving,
+omnipotent care during the long, varied journey before them.
+
+"Say good-bye as well as good night," said Mr Ross; "for we may be off
+in the morning without disturbing those who remain behind."
+
+So the tender farewells were uttered, and all the ladies of the party
+retired to the large, commodious tent that, as we have seen, had been
+prepared for them.  Mr Ross, Mr Hurlburt, and the boys went to the
+camp beds that had been long waiting for them on the dry beach.  Here
+the Indians quickly tucked them in, and soon they were fast asleep--so
+fast that Sam declared when he heard the sharp call, "Leve! leve!" in
+the morning that he had not had time for even one sweet dream.
+
+Quickly were the morning preparations made.  The kettles were soon
+boiling and a hasty breakfast prepared.  When this was eaten the
+Christian Indians asked Mr Hurlburt to take charge of their morning
+devotions.  This he cheerfully did, and so, as was customary, the
+service was conducted in Cree and English.
+
+Then the cry was, "All aboard!"  The boys--Frank and Alec, we mean--
+could not help casting their eyes toward the snow-white tent in hopes of
+at least one more glimpse at two of its inmates.  They were almost in
+despair, when Sam's cheery voice rang out:
+
+"Don't lose heart, my hearties!  If all the boys should go to China, the
+girls would surely go to Pekin.  Sure they are _peekin'_ now, and here
+they come!  Hurrah, and welcome!"
+
+Yes, here they come.  Love's ears are sharp, and so Rachel and Winnie
+heard the call to the travellers, and up they had sprung and dressed,
+and now, radiant and lovely, once more they came in their sweet beauty
+to greet and say "Good-bye" again, and "God be with you till we meet
+again."  For a few minutes they chatted, and then the "All aboard!"
+again rang out, and so they once more lovingly saluted each other and
+parted.  Rachel and Winnie at once returned to the tent.  Frank and Alec
+were soon in their places in the boat.  One after another of the boats
+pushed off, until the whole little fleet was under way.  The wind was
+favourable, and so it was a pretty sight to see the whole brigade
+speeding on over the rippling waves with the white sails filled by the
+northern breeze.
+
+Spider Islands were nearly reached ere much was said by anybody but Sam.
+His good humour and mirth were irrepressible, and soon it became
+contagious.  He had tried his hand at a big oar, and, "catching a crab,"
+had tumbled back amid some boxes, much to the amusement of all.
+
+Thus on they sped.  At Montreal Point they stopped long enough to boil
+their kettles, and then their journey was resumed.  At Poplar Point they
+spent a few hours and had a good sleep.  Then next morning, bright and
+early, they were off again.  At Beren's River they stopped for dinner,
+then on they sped.  At the Narrows they saw a great black bear swimming
+across the channel.  Poor bruin got into a tight place.  Some of the
+boats headed him off, and when he attempted to return he found that
+others were between him and the shore.  His perplexity was very great
+and his temper much ruffled.  Soon the bullets began to whistle around
+him, and these added to his trouble.  A bear swims very low in the
+water, and so, unless in anger he inflates his lungs and raises himself
+up to growl, there is very little to fire at.  The result was, in this
+case, the flintlock guns did not seem to be able to pierce his skull.
+
+Mr Ross, who could not bear to see even a bear tortured, took out his
+rifle and, loading it, handed it to Big Tom, to kill the animal at once.
+Big Tom took the rifle, looked at it and then at Sam, and gravely said:
+
+"Sam ran away from his first bear, suppose he shoots his last one."
+
+Nothing could please the reckless Sam better, and so he quickly sprang
+up beside Big Tom, who at once gave him some directions about allowing
+for the motion of the boat.
+
+"Now," said Big Tom, "I will swing the boat so that his head will be
+right in front of you.  When I call he will raise his head, and you hit
+him right between the eyes."
+
+Quickly was the boat swung in the right position, and as from Tom's lips
+there was emitted a sound like the call of another bear, the one in the
+water instantly raised up his head, in a listening attitude.  Instantly
+the report rang out, and a dead bear lay there in the water.
+
+"Well done, Sam!" shouted Frank and Alec, while perhaps Big Tom was the
+proudest man in the boat.
+
+The bear was hauled on board by the crew of one of the boats in the
+rear.  That night the men skinned the bear, and as rapidly as possible
+dried the robe, which was carried home to Ireland by Sam with his other
+trophies.
+
+Thus day after day passed.  Sometimes there was hardly a breath of wind,
+and then the men rowed all day.  A couple of days were lost on account
+of strong head winds, but, on the whole, they had a fairly good trip,
+for at the end of the tenth day they entered the mouth of Red River and
+camped on its low, marshy shores, amid its miles of reedy morass and its
+millions of mosquitoes.  This was the boys' first experience of them for
+the season, but it was enough for a lifetime.
+
+"The pious villains!" said Sam.  "They sing over us and they prey upon
+us!"
+
+But the longest night has an end, and next day the boats were rowed up
+to Lower Fort Garry.  Here the boys bade good-bye to Big Tom and the
+other Indians, after they had taken them up into the Hudson Bay
+Company's store and bought for each some handsome presents.  Mr Ross
+found urgent letters here awaiting him, and so that afternoon horses
+were secured, and he and our three boys were driven along the beautiful
+prairie road, on the western bank of the winding Red River, twenty miles
+up to Fort Garry.
+
+This was the first glance the boys had ever had of a genuine prairie.
+They were simply wild with delight at its vastness and inimitable
+beauty.  Seeing it as they did, in this early summer time, with its rich
+grasses at the greenest and its brilliant spring flowers at the
+perfection of their beauty, it was no wonder that they were in such
+raptures of delight.  Twenty miles of travel brought them to Upper Fort
+Garry.  This old historic fort had long played a prominent part in the
+history of that country.  Here they were hospitably entertained by the
+officers of the Hudson Bay Company.
+
+A few days only were needed to make all preparations for the long trip
+across the prairies to St. Paul, in Minnesota.  Some Red River carts,
+each drawn by an ox, were secured to carry the baggage and supplies.
+For the boys a double-seated buckboard wagon, with a canvas top, was
+purchased, and Baptiste, a famous half-breed French and Indian driver,
+was hired to manage the rather uncertain horses that in relays were to
+drag the affair along.  Saddles were also taken along for them to travel
+on horseback when they so desired.
+
+As there were all sorts of rumours and stories of troubles among the
+hostile Sioux and Chippewa Indians along the route, it was decided that
+the party should join a large brigade of carts that, loaded principally
+with buffalo robes and furs, was just starting for St. Paul.  These
+brigades carried the trading flag of the Hudson Bay Company.  Its motto
+was "Pro pella cutem" ("Skin for skin").  It is a remarkable fact that
+for generations, even among the most hostile tribes of Indians, this
+flag was respected, and those carrying it were never robbed or in any
+way interfered with.
+
+With sincere regret and sorrow the parting between Mr Ross and the boys
+took place.  However, they were delighted at his promise that, if all
+went well, he would see them a couple of years hence in their own homes
+in the old land.
+
+Just as they were leaving in the early morning the bells of St. Boniface
+rang out their silvery notes.  These are the bells, the first out there
+on the lonely prairies, that Whittier has made famous by his beautiful
+poem:
+
+  "The voyageur smiles as he listens
+  To the sound that grows apace;
+  Well he knows the vesper ringing
+  Of the bells of St. Boniface--
+
+  "The bells of the Roman Mission
+  That call from their turrets twain
+  To the boatmen on the river,
+  To the hunter on the plain!
+
+  "Even so in our mortal journey
+  The bitter north winds blow,
+  And thus upon life's Red River
+  Our hearts as oarsmen row."
+
+As some officials of the Hudson Bay Company went along with the large
+brigade, our young folks had some capital company.  After a few days the
+trip lost much of its excitement and interest.  The prairies, beautiful
+as they at first looked, became somewhat monotonous.  Every little
+lake--and they passed many--was greeted with pleasure.  As the horses
+could travel faster than the oxen, sometimes Baptiste would hurry on
+ahead to some well-known lake full of wild ducks, and here the boys and
+their friends would have some capital shooting, which largely and
+agreeably added to the food supply.
+
+When out about a week they were told by some of the outriders, who came
+galloping up from the front, that a herd of buffalo was not far distant,
+and that some Sioux Indians were preparing to run them.  Saddles were at
+once put on some of the relay horses, and Frank, Alec, and Sam, and some
+of their comrades, at once set off to the front to see the exciting
+sport.  They fortunately reached a high swell in the prairie just in
+time to have a splendid view of the whole affair.  The buffaloes
+numbered about six or eight hundred.  Attacking them were perhaps fifty
+or sixty of the finest horsemen in the world.  Their horses were trained
+buffalo runners, and entered into the mad, wild sport with all the
+enthusiasm of the riders.  All the saddle these riders had was a small
+piece of buffalo robe so securely fastened on that it could not slip.
+There was neither halter nor bride on their horses' heads.  One end of a
+long lariat was fastened loosely around their necks, while the rest of
+it dragged along the ground.
+
+The Indians availed themselves of a great swell in the prairies, and so
+were able to get quite close to the herd ere they were discovered.  Very
+few of these warriors had guns, but they were well armed with their
+famous bows and arrows.  About two miles away from our party they began
+the attack on the opposite side of the herd.  The result was that as the
+frightened animals came thundering on before their dreaded foes the boys
+had a splendid view of the whole scene.  For a time it looked as though
+they might be involved in the mass of terrified animals, as the slope up
+toward them was very gradual and they were in the direct line of the
+rush.  However, Baptiste and others, who well knew how to meet such an
+emergency, quickly bunched the party together, and had all the guns
+fired off in quick succession.  This speedily parted the oncoming herd,
+and so they in two divisions thundered by on the right and left, with
+their merciless pursuers on their flanks and in the rear, rapidly
+thinning their numbers.
+
+It was a most exciting scene, and one to a genuine sportsman that was
+worth many a day's travel to see.  The boys were wild to plunge into the
+fray, especially when the great buffaloes went galloping by not two
+hundred yards on each side of them; but their horses, although excited,
+were untrained for such sport, and in all probability if started off at
+full speed would soon have stumbled into some badger's hole or prairie
+dog's nest, and thus send their riders over their heads.  So Baptiste
+wisely restrained their ardour.  The next day our party visited the
+village of these noted warriors of the plains.
+
+St. Paul at length was reached.  Here passage was secured in a flat-
+bottomed steamer, with its great wheel at the stern.  Down to St. Croix,
+on the Mississippi, in this they voyaged.  Then across the State of
+Wisconsin to Milwaukee they travelled by railroad.  At this city they
+secured passage in a steam propeller to Montreal.  The trip through
+Lakes Michigan, Huron, St. Chair, and Erie was very delightful.  In the
+Canal the boys were much interested as they entered into the series of
+locks, by which great vessels go up and down the great hillside.  On
+they steamed through the beautiful Lake Ontario.  Then out into the
+great St. Lawrence River they glided.  The Thousand Islands seemed like
+fairyland.  The rapids, down which they plunged with the speed of an
+express train, very much excited and delighted them.  Toward the evening
+of the fifth day from Milwaukee the towers and steeples of Montreal
+became visible, with its splendid mountain in the rear.  Soon they were
+alongside of one of the wharves of that great, busy shipping port, and
+this part of the journey was ended.  By telegraph their berths had
+already been secured for them, and so all our travellers had to do was
+to oversee the trans-shipment of their boxes and bales from the lake
+propeller to the ocean steamship.
+
+As a day or two would intervene ere the voyage would begin, they had an
+opportunity for a drive or two around the glorious mountain which gives
+the city its name.  They also visited the quaint old cathedral and other
+places of historic interest in that famous city.
+
+In due time the ocean voyage was begun.  The great St. Lawrence is a
+magnificent and picturesque river.  Quebec, in its stern grandeur, very
+much charmed the boys, and they gazed with interest as some well-read
+travellers pointed out Wolfe's Cove, and the place up which Wolfe's
+gallant men clambered in the night, to fight the next day, on the Plains
+of Abraham, that fierce battle that caused half of the continent to
+change from French to English masters.  Then on again they steamed.
+Soon they were out on the stormy Atlantic.  The voyage was uneventful,
+and in ten days or so they sighted the coast of Ireland.  On and on they
+pushed, until the Mersey was reached.  The tide was favourable, and so
+there was no delay.
+
+Here they were at length, after all their wanderings, in dear old
+England.  Very green and beautiful did the country look, after their
+long voyage on the stormy ocean.  Yonder, in the distance, is Liverpool,
+that mighty city where at its marvellous stone docks are seen the ships
+of every sea.  The boys are excited now.  They are nearing home.  The
+coming of the ship has been reported hours before, and now, as she
+gallantly feels her way among the many vessels passing out, the boys,
+with staring eyes, are at the front, gazing for the sight of loved ones
+that they are sure will be there to meet them.
+
+"Hurrah!" they shout; for there, with waving handkerchiefs and excited
+gestures, are representatives from three families to welcome home our
+Frank, Alec, and Sam.  Delightful is the home-coming; joyous are the
+welcomes.
+
+Here we leave them.  We have had a very happy time together.  We are
+loath to separate from them.  Whether we shall see them again and take
+them back to those interesting regions to meet and wed their
+sweethearts, left in that far-away country, will much depend upon events
+which are beyond our ken at present.  Suffice to say that the year spent
+in the Great Lone Land proved to have been one of the most profitable of
+their lives.  They had returned in the most perfect health.  Their
+readings had not been neglected, and then they had in addition the rich
+stores of knowledge and information that a year so full of varied
+adventure could not fail to bestow.
+
+They had also returned with something like correct views of the red
+Indians of North America.  Instead of war whoops and scalping scenes,
+they had seen how the genuine Indian, when honourably dealt with, is a
+peaceful person, and can, under decent treatment, become the most loyal
+of friends.  They delighted also to speak most emphatically and
+encouragingly of the work accomplished by the self-denying missionaries
+among them, who had been instrumental in winning thousands of them from
+a degrading paganism to Christianity, and successfully introducing among
+them the best phases of a genuine and abiding civilisation.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Winter Adventures of Three Boys, by 
+Egerton R. Young
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