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diff --git a/21703.txt b/21703.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77ce566 --- /dev/null +++ b/21703.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4582 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Silver Lake, by R.M. Ballantyne + +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: Silver Lake + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Release Date: June 6, 2007 [EBook #21703] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SILVER LAKE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +SILVER LAKE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE HUNTERS. + +It was on a cold winter morning long ago, that Robin Gore, a bold hunter +of the backwoods of America, entered his parlour and sat him down to +breakfast. + +Robin's parlour was also his dining-room, and his drawing-room, besides +being his bedroom and his kitchen. In fact, it was the only room in his +wooden hut, except a small apartment, opening off it, which was a +workshop and lumber-room. + +Robin's family consisted of himself, and his wife, and his son Roy, who +was twelve years of age--and his daughter Nelly, who was eight, or +thereabout. In addition to these, his household comprised a nephew, +Walter and an Irishman, Larry O'Dowd. The former was tall, strong, +fearless, and twenty. The latter was stout, short, powerful, and forty. + +The personal history of Robin Gore, to the point at which we take it up, +runs briefly thus:-- + +He had been born in a backwood's settlement, had grown up and married in +the little hamlet in which he had been born, and hunted around it +contentedly until he was forty years of age. But, as population +increased, he became restive. He disliked restraint; resolved to take +his wife and family into the wilderness and, after getting his nephew +and an Irish adventurer to agree to accompany him, carried his +resolution into effect. + +He travelled several hundreds of miles into the woods--beyond the most +remote settlement--built three wooden huts, surrounded them with a tall +stockade, set up a flagstaff in the centre thereof, and styled the whole +affair, "Fort Enterprise." + +"I'm sorry to bring you to such a lonesome spot, Molly, my dear," said +Robin, as he sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, on the afternoon of the +day on which he arrived at the scene of his future home; "it'll be +rayther tryin' at first, but you'll soon get used to it, and we won't be +bothered hereaway wi' all the new-fangled notions o' settlement folk. +We'll dwell in the free wilderness, where there are no tyrannical laws +to hamper a man, an' no nonsensical customs to fix the fashion of his +coat an' leggins. Besides, you'll have Roy an' Nelly an' Walter an' +Larry to keep you company, lass, not to mention our neighbours to look +in upon now and again." + +"Very true, Robin," replied the wife, "I have no doubt it will be quite +cheery and homelike in course of time." + +She looked out upon the broad bosom of the lake which lay before the +site of their forest home, and sighed. It was evident that Mrs Gore +had a strong partiality for the laws and customs which her husband +abhorred. + +The "neighbours" to whom Robin referred lived in a leather tent twenty +miles distant from the Fort. They were an Indian, named "The Black +Swan," his wife, named "The White Swan," and a half-caste trapper, whose +proper name was unknown to all save himself. His cognomen in the +wilderness was "Slugs," a name which originated in his frequent use of +clipped pieces of lead instead of shot in the loading of his gun. + +But to return to the point from which we started:-- + +It was on a cold winter morning that Robin Gore entered his parlour and +sat him down to breakfast. + +It was not only cold--very cold; colder than ever was experienced in our +favoured British isles--but it was also very dark. Robin had risen +before daybreak in order to visit his traps, and shoot some game as +early in the day as possible. The larder chanced to be nearly empty +that day, a fact which was all the more to be regretted that it was New +Year's day, and, as Robin remarked, "that day didn't occur more than +once in the year." This statement Larry O'Dowd disputed, affirming that +it occurred "at laste twice ivery year--wance at the beginnin' an' wance +at the end of it!" + +"Come along, lad," said Robin, trimming the candle as his nephew Walter +entered, "we'll ha' to make the most of our time to-day, for we dine at +sharp five p.m., an' our dinner--leastwise the most of it--is at this +moment alive an' kickin', if it's not sleepin', in the forest, and has +got to be found and shot yet. Hallo! boy, where are _you_ bound for?" + +"For the woods, father, with you and Walter," replied his son Roy, +sitting down and coolly helping himself to a portion of bear's meat, +with which the hunter was regaling himself. + +"Nonsense, boy," said Robin, somewhat gruffly. + +"You'll not be able to keep up with us," added Walter, "for we've little +time before us, an' a long way to go." + +"If I break down I can turn back," retorted Roy. + +"Very good; please yourself;" said Robin in a tone of indifference, +although his glance seemed to indicate that he was not sorry to see his +boy determined to attempt an expedition which he knew from experience +would be very trying to a lad of his years. + +Breakfast over, the three hunters clothed themselves in habiliments +suitable to the climate--leathern coats and trousers which were +impervious to the wind; cloth leggings to keep the snow from the +trousers; leather mocassins, or shoes with three pairs of blanket socks +inside of them; fur-caps with ear-pieces; leather mittens with an +apartment for the fingers and a separate chamber for the thumb, +powder-horns, shot-pouches, guns, and snow-shoes. These latter were +light wooden frames, netted across with deerskin threads, about five +feet long and upwards of a foot wide. The shoes were of this enormous +size, in order that they might support the wearers on the surface of the +snow, which was, on an average, four feet deep in the woods. They were +clumsy to look at, but not so difficult to walk in as one might suppose. + +In silence the three hunters entered the dark woods in front of Fort +Enterprise. Robin went first and beat the track, Walter followed in his +footsteps, Roy brought up the rear. The father sank about six inches at +every step, but the snow which fell upon his snow-shoes was so fine and +dry, owing to the intense frost, that it fell through the net-work of +the shoes like dust. Walter and Roy, treading in the footsteps, had +less labour in walking, but Walter, being almost as strong as his uncle, +took his turn at beating the track every two hours. + +Through the woods they went, over mound and hollow, across frozen swamp +and plain, through brush and break, until near noon, when they halted +for rest and refreshment. While Walter cut firewood, Robin and Roy +cleared away the snow, using their snow-shoes as shovels, and prepared +their meal. It was simple; a few mouthfuls of dried meat and a tin can +of hot tea--the backwoodsman's greatest luxury, next to his pipe. It +was short, too. Half an hour sufficed to prepare and consume it. + +"Let's see, now, what we have got," said Robin, counting the game before +resuming the march. + +"More than enough," said Walter, lighting his pipe for a hurried whiff, +"ten brace of white grouse, four rabbits, six red foxes and a black one, +and two wolves. We can't eat all that." + +"Surely we won't eat the foxes and wolves!" cried Roy, laughing. + +"Not till we're starvin'," replied his father. "Come, let's go on--are +ye tired, lad?" + +"Fresh as Walter," said the boy, proudly. + +"Well, we won't try you too much. We'll just take a sweep round by the +Wolf's Glen, an' look at the traps there--after which make for home and +have our New Year's dinner. Go ahead, Walter, and beat the track; it is +your turn this time." + +Without speaking, Walter slipped his feet into the lines of his +snow-shoes, extinguished his pipe, and led the way once more through the +pathless forest. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE STARVED INDIAN. + +In the depths of the same forest, and not far from the locality to which +we have introduced our reader, a Red Indian was dragging his limbs +wearily along over the untrodden snow. + +The attenuated frame of this son of the soil, his hollow cheeks and +glaring eye-balls, his belt drawn with extreme tightness round his +waist, to repress the gnawings of hunger, as well as his enfeebled gait, +proved that he was approaching the last stage of starvation. + +For many weeks Wapaw had been travelling in the woods, guided on his way +by the stars, and by those slight and delicate signs of the wilderness-- +such as the difference of thickness in the bark on the north, from that +on the south side of a tree--which are perceptible only to the keen eye +of an Indian, or a white man whose life has been spent in the +wilderness. + +But Wapaw was a very different man, when he quitted his tribe, from what +he was at the time we introduce him to our reader. Strong, wiry, +upright, and lithe as a panther, he left his wigwam and his wife, and +turned his face towards the rising sun; but the season was a severe one, +and game was scarce; from the very beginning of his journey he had found +it difficult to supply himself with a sufficiency of food. Towards the +middle of it he was on short allowance, and much reduced in strength; +and now near its termination, he was, as we have said, almost in the +last stage of starvation. + +Fort Enterprise was Wapaw's goal. He had never been there before, but +from the description of the place and its locality, given by those of +his kindred who had visited Robin Gore, he was able to direct his march +with unerring certainty towards it. Of course, as he drew near to it he +could not ascertain his exact distance--whether he was a day or several +days' journey off--but from the tracks of Robin's snow-shoes, which he +crossed more than once, he guessed that he was nearing the Fort, and +pushed on with renewed hope and energy. + +Robin, however, was an active hunter. He often made long and rapid +marches from his lonely dwelling--sometimes staying away a week or two +at a time even in winter; so that Wapaw thought himself nearer Fort +Enterprise than he really was, when he first discovered the bold +hunter's tracks. When, at length, he did arrive at less than a day's +journey from the Fort, he was not aware of its close proximity, and, +having tasted nothing whatever for two days, he felt the approach of +that terrible state of exhaustion which precedes death. + +It was a somewhat stormy day when the poor Indian's strength finally +broke down. Hitherto he had pushed forward with some degree of hope, +but on the morning of this day a broken branch caught his snow-shoe and +tripped him. At any other time the fall would have been a trifle, but +in his weak condition it acted like the last straw which breaks the +camel's back. Wapaw rose with difficulty, and brushing the snow from +his eyes, looked earnestly at his snow-shoes, well knowing that if they +had been broken in the fall his power of advancing would have been taken +away and his fate sealed, for he had neither strength nor energy left to +repair them. They were uninjured, however; so he once more attempted to +stagger on. + +A slight rising ground lay before him. To ascend this was a labour so +great that he almost sank in the midst of it. He reached the top, +however, and gazed eagerly before him. He had gazed thus at the top of +every rising ground that he had reached during the last two days, in the +hope of seeing some sign of the Fort. + +A deep sigh escaped him as he rested his hands on the muzzle of his gun, +and his grave countenance was overspread with a look of profound +melancholy. For the first time in his life, the once stout and active +Wapaw had reached the point of giving way to despair. A wide open plain +stretched out before him. The cold wind was howling wildly across it, +driving the keen snow-drift before it in whirling clouds. Even a strong +man might have shrunk from exposing himself on such a plain and to such +a blast on that bitter arctic day. Wapaw felt that, in his case, to +cross it would be certain death; so, with the calm philosophy of a Red +Indian, he made up his mind to lay him down and die! + +His manner of preparing for his end was somewhat singular. Turning +aside into the woods, he set about making an encampment with as much +vigour as he could summon up. Clearing away the snow from the roots of +a large spreading pine-tree, he strewed branches on the ground, and thus +made a rude couch. On this he spread his blanket. Then he cut some +firewood with the axe that hung at his side, and soon kindled, by means +of flint, steel, and tinder, a good fire. Seating himself before the +warm blaze, the exhausted man rested awhile, with his legs drawn +together and his head resting on his knees. + +He sat so long thus that he nearly fell asleep. Presently he roused +himself, and proceeded to make a close examination of his wallet and +firebag--the latter being a beautifully ornamented pouch, which Indians +and fur-traders wear at their belts, for the purpose of containing the +materials for producing fire, besides pipes and tobacco. + +Poor Wapaw had already searched his wallet and firebag twice, without +finding a crumb of food or a morsel of tobacco. He knew well that they +were empty, yet he turned them inside out, and examined the seams and +corners with as much earnestness as if he really expected to find relief +from his sufferings there. + +There was no expression of pain on the red man's face--only a look of +profound melancholy. + +He laid aside the firebag after a little while, and then quietly drew +his knife, and cut a piece of leather from the skirt of his hunting +coat. + +The leather had been dried and smoked, and contained no substance +whatever that could sustain life. Wapaw was aware of this--nevertheless +he singed a portion of it until it was reduced almost to ashes, and +mingling a little snow with this, ate it greedily. + +Then, raising his eyes to the sky with a long earnest gaze, he sat +immovable, until the sinking fire and the increasing cold recalled his +wandering faculties. + +There was a wild, glassy look about the Indian's eyes now, which +probably resulted from exhaustion. He seemed to struggle several times +to rouse himself before he succeeded; shuddering with intense cold, he +crept to the little pile of firewood, and placed several billets on the +fire, which speedily blazed up again, and the dying man cowered over it, +regardless of the smoke which ever and anon wreathed round his drooping +head. + +In a few minutes Wapaw started up as if new energy had been infused into +him. He placed his gun, axe, firebag, and powder-horn by themselves on +the ground; then he wrapped himself in his blanket and lay slowly down +beside them with his feet towards the fire. For a few minutes he lay on +his back, gazing earnestly upwards, while his lips moved slowly, but no +sound issued from them. Then he turned wearily on his side, and, +covering his head with the blanket and turning his face towards the +ground, he resigned himself to death. + +But God had ordained that, at that time, the red man should not die. + +About the time when he lay down, our hunters emerged upon the plain +which had caused the Indian to despair. + +"It's of no use goin' farther," observed Robin, as he and his companions +stood at the edge of the forest and looked across the plain; "the wind +blows too hard, and the drift is keen; besides there ain't much to be +got hereaway, even in seasons of plenty." + +"Father! is that smoke risin' over the bluff yonder?" asked Roy, +pointing with his finger as he spoke. + +"No doubt of it, lad." + +"Indians, may be," said Walter. + +Robin shook his head. "Don't think so," said he, "for the redskins +don't often come to see me at this time o' the year. But we'll go see; +an' look to your primin', lads--if it's a war-party we'll ha' to fight, +mayhap, if we don't run." + +The three hunters crossed the plain in the teeth of the howling drift, +and cautiously approached the bluff referred to by Roy, and from behind +which the smoke ascended. + +"It's a camp fire," whispered Robin, as he glanced back at his +companions, "but I see no one there. They must have just left the +place." + +There was a shade of anxiety in the hunter's voice as he spoke, for he +thought of Fort Enterprise, its defenceless condition, and the +possibility of the Indians having gone thither. + +"They can't have gone to the Fort," said Walter, "else we should have +seen their tracks on the way hither." + +"Come," said Robin, stepping forward quickly, "we can see their tracks +now, anyhow, and follow them up, and if they lead to the Fort." + +The hunter did not finish his sentence, for at that moment he caught +sight of the recumbent form of Wapaw in the camp. + +"Hist! A redskin alone, and asleep! Well, I never did 'xpect to see +that." + +"Mayhap, he's a decoy-duck," suggested Walter. "Better look sharp out." + +Robin and Roy heeded not the caution. They at once went forward, and +the father lifted the blanket from the Indian's head. + +"Dead!" exclaimed Roy, in a solemn tone. + +"Not yet, lad! but I do b'lieve the poor critter's a'most gone wi' +starvation. Come, bestir you, boys--rouse up the fire, and boil the +kettle." + +Walter and Roy did not require a second bidding. The kettle was ere +long singing on a blazing fire. The Indian's limbs were chafed and +warmed; a can of hot tea was administered, and Wapaw soon revived +sufficiently to look up and thank his deliverers. + +"Now, as good luck has it, I chanced to leave my hand-sled at the Wolf's +Glen. Go, fetch it, Roy," said Robin. + +The lad set off at once, and, as the glen was not far distant, soon +returned with a flat wooden sledge, six feet long by eighteen inches +broad, on which trappers are wont to pack their game in winter. On this +sledge Wapaw was firmly tied, and dragged by the hunters to Fort +Enterprise. + +"Hast got a deer, father?" cried little Nelly, as she bounded in advance +of her mother to meet the returning party. + +"No, Nelly--'tis dearer game than that." + +"What? a redskin!" exclaimed Dame Gore in surprise; "is he dead?" + +"No, nor likely to die," said Robin, "he's in a starvin' state though, +an'll be none the worse of a bit of our New Year's dinner. Here is game +enough for one meal an' more; come, lass, get it ready as fast as may +be." + +So saying the bold hunter passed through the Fort gate, dragging the red +man behind him. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +PREPARATIONS FOR A FEAST. + +"Why so grave, Robin?" inquired Mrs Gore, when her husband returned to +the parlour after seeing Wapaw laid in a warm corner of the kitchen, and +committed to the care of Larry O'Dowd. + +"Molly, my dear, it's of no use concealin' things from you, 'cause when +bad luck falls we must just face it. This Injun--Wapaw, he calls +himself--tells me he has com'd here a-purpose, as fast as he could, to +say that his tribe have resolved to attack me, burn the Fort, kill all +the men, and carry you off into slavery." + +"God help me! can this be true?" + +"True enough, I don't doubt, 'cause Wapaw has the face of an honest man, +and I believe in faces. He says some of the worst men of his tribe are +in power just now; that they want the contents of my store without +paying for them; that he tried to get them to give up the notion, but +failed. On seeing that they were bent on it, he said he was going off +to hunt, and came straight here to warn me. He says they talked of +starting for the Fort two days after he did, and that he pushed on as +fast as he could travel, so it's not likely they'll be here for two or +three days yet. I'll get ready for them, hows'ever, and when the +reptiles do come they'll meet with a warm reception, I warrant them; +meanwhile, do you go and get dinner ready. We won't let such varmints +interfere with our New Year's feast." + +While Robin's wife went to her larder, his children were in the kitchen +tending the Indian with earnest solicitude, and Larry was preparing a +little soup for him. + +"Do you like rabbit soup?" asked Nelly, kneeling beside the pallet of +pine branches on which Wapaw lay. + +The Indian smiled, and said something in his native tongue. + +"Sure he don't onderstan' ye," exclaimed Larry, as he bustled in an +energetic way amongst his pots and pans. + +"Let me try him with Cree," said Roy, kneeling beside his sister, "I +know a little--a _very_ little Cree." + +Roy tried his "very little Cree," but without success. + +"It's o' no use," he said, "father must talk to him, for _he_ knows +every language on earth, I believe." + +Roy's idea of the number of languages "on earth" was very limited. + +"Och! don't bother him, see, here is a lingo that every wan +onderstan's," cried Larry, carrying a can of hot soup towards Wapaw. + +"Oh, let me! _do_ let me!" cried Nelly, jumping up and seizing the can. + +"Be all manes," said Larry, resigning it. + +The child once more knelt by the side of the Indian and held the can to +him, while he conveyed the soup to his lips with a trembling, unsteady +hand. The eyes of the poor man glittered as he gazed eagerly at the +food, which he ate with the avidity of a half-famished wolf. + +His nurses looked on with great satisfaction, and when Wapaw glanced up +from time to time in their faces, he was advised to continue his meal +with nods and smiles of goodwill. + +Great preparations were made for the dinner of that New Year's Day. +Those who "dwell at home at ease" have no idea of the peculiar feelings +with which the world's wanderers hail the season of Christmas and New +Year. Surrounded as they usually are by strange scenes, and ignorant as +they are of what friends at home are doing or thinking, they lay hold of +this season as being one point at least in the circle of the year in +which they can unite with the home circle, and, at the _same time_, +commemorate with them the birth of the blessed Saviour of mankind, and +think with them of absent friends. Much, therefore, as the "happy" +season is made of in the "old country," it is made more of, if possible, +in the colonies; especially on the outskirts of the world, where the +adventurous and daring have pitched their tents. + +Of course Robin Gore and his household did not think of the "old +country," for they were descendants of settlers; but they had imbibed +the spirit of the old country from their forefathers, and thought of +those well-remembered friends whom they had left behind them in the +settlements. + +Notwithstanding the delay caused by the conveying of Wapaw to the Fort, +the hunters had walked so fast that there was still some time to spare +before dinner should be ready. + +Roy resolved to devote this time to a ramble in the woods with his +sister Nelly. Accordingly the two put on their snow-shoes, and, merely +saying to their mother that they were going to take a run in the woods, +set forth. + +Now, it must be known that Mrs Gore had looked forward to New Year's +Day dinner with great interest and much anxiety. There was a general +feeling of hilarity and excitement among the male members of the +self-exiled family that extended itself to the good woman, and induced +her to resolve that the entire household should have what Walter styled +a "rare blow-out!" During the whole morning she had been busy with the +preparation of the various dishes, among which were a tart made of +cloudberry jam, a salt goose, and a lump of bear's ham, besides the +rabbits and ptarmigan which had been shot that day. + +"That's the way to do it, Molly," cried Robin, as he opened the door and +peeped in upon his wife during the height and heat of her culinary +labours; "keep the pot bilin', my dear, and don't spare the butter this +day. It only comes once a year, you know." + +"Twice," muttered Larry in a low voice, as he stirred the contents of a +large pot which hung over the fire. + +"And see that you look after Wapaw," continued Robin. "Don't give him +too much at first, it'll hurt him." + +"No fear of that," replied Larry, "he's got so much a'ready that he +couldn't howld another morsel av he was to try." + +"Well, well, take care of him, anyhow," said Robin, with a laugh; +"meanwhile I'll go see after the defences o' the Fort, and make all +snug." + +By dint of unwearied perseverance the dinner was cooked, and then it +occurred to Robin to ask where the children were, but no one could tell, +so the hunter remarked quietly that they would "doubtless make their +appearance in a short while." + +Gradually the dinner reached that interesting point which is usually +styled "ready to dish." Whereupon Robin again asked where the children +were. Still no one could tell, so he said he would go out and hail +them. Loudly and long did the hunter call, but no one answered; then he +made a rapid search in and about the Fort, but they were not to be +found. Moreover, a snow-storm had begun to set in, and the drift +rendered it difficult to distinguish tracks in the snow. + +At last the day's labours were brought to a close. Dinner was served, +and smoked invitingly on the table. The party only awaited the return +of Robin with the children. In a few minutes Robin entered hastily. + +"Molly," said he, in a tone of anxiety, "the foolish things have gone +into the woods, I think. Come, lads, we must hunt them down. It's +snowin' hard, so we've no time to lose." + +Walter and Larry at once put on their capotes, fur-caps, and snow-shoes, +and sallied forth, leaving Mrs Gore seated alone, and in a state of +deep anxiety, by the side of her untasted New Year's Day dinner. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +LOST IN THE SNOW. + +When Roy and Nelly set out for a ramble, they had at first no intention +of going beyond their usual haunts in the woods around the Fort; but Roy +had been inspirited by his successful march that day with his father and +Walter, and felt inclined to show Nelly some new scenes to which they +had not, up to that time, dared to penetrate together. + +The snow-storm, already referred to, had commenced gradually. When the +children set forth on their ramble only a few flakes were falling, but +they had not been away half an hour when snow fell so thickly that they +could not see distinctly more than a few yards ahead of them. There was +no wind, however, so they continued to advance, rather pleased than +otherwise with the state of things. + +"Oh, I _do_ like to see falling snow," cried Nelly, with a burst of +animation. + +"So do I," said Roy, looking back at his sister with a bright smile, +"and I like it best when it comes down thick and heavy, in big flakes, +on a _very_ calm day, don't you?" + +"Yes, oh it's so nice," responded Nelly sympathetically. + +They paused for minutes to shake some of the snow from their garments, +and beat their hands together, for their fingers were cold, and to laugh +boisterously, for their hearts were merry. Then they resumed their +march, Roy beating the track manfully and Nelly following in his +footsteps. + +In passing beneath a tall fir-tree Roy chanced to touch a twig. The +result was literally overwhelming, for in a moment he was almost buried +in snow, to the unutterable delight of his sister, who stood screaming +with laughter as the unfortunate boy struggled to disentomb himself. + +In those northern wilds, where snow falls frequently and in great +abundance, masses are constantly accumulating on the branches of trees, +particularly on the pines, on the broad flat branches of which these +masses attain to considerable size. A slight touch is generally +sufficient to bring these down, but, being soft, they never do any +injury worth mentioning. + +When Roy had fairly emerged from the snow he joined his sister in the +laugh, but suddenly he stopped, and his face became very grave. + +"What's the matter?" asked Nelly, with an anxious look. + +"My snow-shoe's broken," said Roy. + +There was greater cause for anxiety on account of this accident than the +reader is perhaps aware of. It may be easily understood that in a +country where the snow averages four feet in depth, no one can walk +half-a-mile without snow-shoes without being thoroughly exhausted; on +the other hand, a man can walk thirty or forty miles a day by means of +snow-shoes. + +"Can't you mend it?" asked Nelly. + +Roy, who had been carefully examining the damaged shoe, shook his head. + +"I've nothing here to do it with; besides, it's an awful smash. I must +just try to scramble home the best way I can. Come, it's not very far, +we'll only be a bit late for dinner." + +The snow-shoe having been bandaged, after a fashion, with a +pocket-handkerchief, the little wanderers began to retrace their steps; +but this was now a matter of extreme difficulty, owing to the quantity +of snow which had fallen and almost obliterated the tracks. The broken +shoe, also, was constantly giving way, so that ere long the children +became bewildered as well as anxious, and soon lost the track of their +outward march altogether. To make matters worse, the wind began to blow +clouds of snow-drift into their faces, compelling them to seek the +denser parts of the forest for shelter. + +They wandered on, however, in the belief that they were drawing nearer +home every step, and Roy, whose heart was stout and brave, cheered up +his sister's spirit so much that she began to feel quite confident their +troubles would soon be over. + +Presently all their hopes were dashed to the ground by their suddenly +emerging upon an open space, close to the very spot where the snow-mass +had fallen on Roy's head. After the first feeling of alarm and +disappointment had subsided, Roy plucked up heart and encouraged Nelly +by pointing out to her that they had at all events recovered their old +track, which they would be very careful not to lose sight of again. + +Poor Nelly whimpered a little, partly from cold and hunger as well as +from disappointment, as she listened to her brother's words; then she +dried her eyes and said she was ready to begin again. So they set off +once more. But the difficulty of discerning the track, if great at +first, was greater now, because the falling and drifting snow had +well-nigh covered it up completely. In a very few minutes Roy stopped, +and, confessing that he had lost it again, proposed to return once more +to their starting point to try to recover it. Nelly agreed, for she was +by this time too much fatigued and alarmed to have any will of her own, +and was quite ready to do whatever she was told without question. + +After wandering about for nearly an hour in this state of uncertainty, +Roy at last stopped, and, putting his arm round his sister's waist, said +that he had lost himself altogether! Poor Nelly, whose heart had been +gradually sinking, fairly broke down; she hid her face in her brother's +bosom, and wept. + +"Come now, don't do that, dear Nell," said Roy, tenderly, "I'll tell you +what we shall do--we'll camp in the snow! We have often done it close +to the house, you know, for fun, so we'll do it now in earnest." + +"But it's so dark and cold," sobbed Nelly, looking round with a shudder +into the dark recesses of the forest, which were by that time enshrouded +by the gathering shades of night; "and I'm _so_ hungry too! Oh me! what +_shall_ we do?" + +"Now _don't_ get so despairing," urged Roy, whose courage rose in +proportion as his sister's sank; "it's not such an awful business after +all, for father is sure to scour the woods in search of us, an' if we +only get a comfortable encampment made, an' a roarin' fire kindled, why, +we'll sit beside it an' tell stories till they find us. They'll be sure +to see the fire, you know, so come--let's to work." + +Roy said this so cheerfully that the child felt a little comforted, +dried her eyes, and said she would "help to make the camp." + +This matter of making an encampment in the snow, although laborious +work, was by no means a novelty to these children of the backwoods. +They had often been taught how to do it by Cousin Walter and Larry +O'Dowd, and had made "playing at camps" their chief amusement in fine +winter days. When, therefore, they found themselves compelled to +"camp-out" from necessity, neither of them was at a loss how to proceed. +Roy drew a circle in the snow, about three yards in diameter, at the +foot of a large tree, and then both set to work to dig a hole in this +space, using their snow-shoes as shovels. It took an hour's hard work +to reach the ground, and when they did so the piled-up snow all round +raised the walls of this hole to the height of about six feet. + +"Now for bedding," cried Roy, scrambling over the walls of their camp +and going into the woods in search of a young pine-tree, while Nelly sat +down on the ground to rest after her toil. + +It was a dark night, and the woods were so profoundly obscured, that Roy +had to grope about for some time before he found a suitable tree. +Cutting it down with the axe which always hung at his girdle, he +returned to camp with it on his shoulder, and cut off the small soft +branches, which Nelly spread over the ground to the depth of nearly half +a foot. This "pine-brush," as it is called, formed a soft elastic +couch. + +The fire was the next business. Again Roy went into the bush and +gathered a large bundle of dry branches. + +"Now, Nelly, do you break a lot of the small twigs," said Roy, "and I'll +strike a light." + +He pulled his firebag from his belt as he spoke, and drew from it flint, +steel, and tinder. No one ever travels in the wilds of which we write +without such means of procuring fire. Roy followed the example of his +elder companions in carrying a firebag, although he did not, like them, +carry tobacco and pipe in it. + +Soon the bright sparks that flew from the flint caught on the tinder. +This was placed in a handful of dry grass, and whirled rapidly round +until it was fanned into a flame. Nelly had prepared another handful of +dry grass with small twigs above it. The light was applied, the fire +leaped up, more sticks were piled on, and at last the fire roared +upward, sending bright showers of sparks into the branches overhead, +lighting the white walls of the camp with a glow that caused them to +sparkle as with millions of gems, and filling the hearts of the children +with a sensation of comfort and gladness, while they stood before the +blaze and warmed themselves, rubbing their hands and laughing with glee. + +No one, save those who have experienced it, can form any conception of +the cheering effect of a fire in the heart of a dark wood at night. Roy +and Nelly quite forgot their lost condition for a short time, in the +enjoyment of the comforting heat and the bright gladsome blaze. The +brother cut firewood until he was rendered almost breathless, the sister +heaped on the wood until the fire roared and leaped high above their +heads. Strange though it may appear to some, the snow did not melt. +The weather was too cold for that; only a little of that which was +nearest the fire melted--the snow walls remained hard frozen all round. +Roy soon sat down to rest, as close to the fire as he could without +getting scorched; then Nelly seated herself by his side and nestled her +head in his breast. There they sat, telling stories and gazing at the +fire, and waiting for "father to come." + +Meanwhile Robin and his comrade ranged the forest far and near in +desperate anxiety. But it was a wide and wild country. The children +had wandered far away; a high ridge of land hid their fire from view. +Moreover, Robin, knowing the children's usual haunts, had chanced to go +off in the wrong direction. When night set in the hunters returned to +Fort Enterprise to procure ammunition and provisions, in order to +commence a more thorough and prolonged search. Poor Mrs Gore still sat +beside the cold and untasted feast, and there the hunters left her, +while they once more plunged into the pathless wilderness to search for +the lost ones on that luckless New Year's Day. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +CARRIED OFF. + +While Robin Gore and his companions were anxiously searching the woods +around Fort Enterprise for the lost children, a war-party of savages was +making its way swiftly towards the Fort. + +A chief of the Indians, named Hawk, who was a shrewd as well as a bad +man, had suspected Wapaw's intentions in quitting the camp of his people +alone and in such unnecessary haste. This man had great influence over +his fellows, and easily prevailed on them to set off on their murderous +expedition against the Fort of the "pale-faces" without delay. + +Being well supplied with food, they travelled faster than their starving +comrade, and almost overtook him. They finally encamped within a short +distance of the Fort the day after Wapaw's arrival, and prepared to +assault it early next morning. + +"If the wicked skunk has got there before us," said Hawk to his fellows, +as they prepared to set out before daybreak, "the pale-faces will be +ready for us, and we may as well go back to our wigwams at once; but if +that badger's whelp has been slow of foot, we shall hang the scalps of +the pale-faces at our belts, and eat their food this day." + +The polite titles above used by Hawk were meant to refer to Wapaw. + +Indians are not naturally loquacious. No reply was made to Hawk's +remark, except that one man with a blackened face, and a streak of red +ochre down the bridge of his nose, said, "Ho!" and another with an +equally black face, and three red streaks on each of his cheeks, said, +"Hum!" as the war-party put on their snowshoes and prepared to start. + +They had not gone far when Hawk came to a sudden pause, and stood +transfixed and motionless like a dark statue. His comrades also stopped +abruptly and crouched. No question was asked, but Hawk pointed to a +spark of fire, which every Indian in the band had observed the instant +their leader had paused. Silently they crept forward, with guns cocked +and arrows fitted to the bowstrings, until they all stood round an +encampment where the fire was still smouldering, and in the centre of +which lay a little boy and girl, fast asleep and shuddering with cold. + +Poor Roy and Nelly had told each other stories until their eyes would +not remain open; then they fell asleep, despite their efforts to keep +awake, and, as the fire sank low, they began to shiver with the cold. +Lucky was it for them that the Indians discovered them, else they had +certainly been frozen to death that night. + +Hawk roused them with little ceremony. Roy, by an impulse which would +appear to be natural to those who dwell in wild countries, whether young +or old, seized his axe, which lay beside him, as he leaped up. Hawk +grinned, and took the axe from him at once, and the poor boy, seeing +that he was surrounded by dark warriors, offered no resistance, but +sought to comfort Nelly, who was clinging to him and trembling with +terror. + +Immediately the savages sat down in the encampment, and began an earnest +discussion, which the children watched with great eagerness. They +evidently did not agree, for much gesticulation and great vehemence +characterised their debate. Some pointed towards the Fort, and touched +their tomahawks, while others pointed to the woods in the direction +whence they had come, and shook their heads. Not a few drew their +scalping knives partially from their sheaths, and, pointing to the +children, showed clearly that they wished to cut their career short +without delay, but several of the more sedate members of the party +evidently objected to this. Finally, Hawk turned to Roy, and said +something to him in the Indian tongue. + +Roy did not understand, and attempted to say so as well as he could by +signs, and the use of the few words of the Cree language which his +father had taught him. In the course of his speech (if we may use that +term), he chanced to mention Wapaw's name. + +"Ho! ho! ho!" said one and another of the Indians, while Hawk grinned +horribly. + +A variety of questions were now put to poor Roy, who, not understanding, +of course could not answer them. Hawk, however, repeated Wapaw's name, +and pointed towards the Fort with a look of inquiry, to which Roy +replied by nodding his head and repeating "Wapaw" once or twice, also +pointing to the Fort; for he began to suspect these must be Wapaw's +comrades, who had come to search for him. He therefore volunteered a +little additional information by means of signs; rubbed his stomach, +looked dreadfully rueful, rolled himself as if in agony on the ground, +and then, getting up, pretended to eat and look happy! By all of which +he meant to show how that Wapaw had been on the borders of starvation, +but had been happily saved therefrom. + +Indians in council might teach a useful lesson to our members of +parliament, for they witnessed this rather laughable species of +pantomime with profound gravity and silence. When Roy concluded, they +nodded their heads, and said, "Ho! ho!" which, no doubt, was equivalent +to "Hear hear!" + +After a little more discussion they rose to depart, and made signs to +the children to get up and follow. Roy then pointed out the broken +state of his snow-shoe, but this difficulty was overcome by Hawk, who +threw it away, and made him put on his sister's snow-shoes. A stout +young warrior was ordered to take Nelly on his back, which he did +without delay, and the whole party left the encampment, headed by their +chief. + +The children submitted cheerfully at first, under the impression that +the Indians meant to convey them to the Fort. Great, however, was their +horror when they were taken through the woods by a way which they knew +to be quite in the opposite direction. + +When Roy saw this he stopped and looked back, but an Indian behind him +gave him a poke with the butt of his gun, which there was no resisting. +For a moment the lad thought of trying to break away, run home, and tell +his father of Nelly's fate; but a second thought convinced him that this +course was utterly impracticable. As for Nelly, she was too far from +her brother in the procession to hold converse with him; and, as she +knew not what to do, say, think, she was reduced to the miserable +consolation of bedewing with her tears the shoulders of the young +warrior who carried her. + +The storm which had commenced the day before still continued, so that, +in the course of a few hours, traces of the track of the war-party were +almost obliterated, and the chance of their being followed by Robin and +his friends was rendered less and less likely as time ran on. + +All that day they travelled without halt, and when they stopped at night +to encamp, Roy was nearly dead from exhaustion. "My poor Nell," said +he, drawing his sobbing sister close to him, as they sat near the camp +fire, after having eaten the small quantity of dried venison that was +thrown to them by their captors, "don't despair; father will be sure to +hunt us down, if it's in the power of man to do it." + +"I don't despair," sobbed Nelly; "but oh! what will darling mother do +when she finds that we're lost, and I'm so afraid they'll kill us." + +"No fear o' that, Nell; it's not worth their while. Remember, too, what +mother often told us--that--that--what is it she used to read so often +out of the Bible? I forget." + +"I think it was, `Call upon Me in the time of trouble, and I will +deliver thee.' I've been thinkin' of that, Roy, already." + +"That's right, Nell; now, come, cheer up! Have you had enough to eat?" + +"Yes," said Nelly, with a loud yawn, which she did not attempt to check. + +Roy echoed it, as a matter of course, (who ever did see anyone yawn +without following suit?) and then the two lay down together, spread over +themselves an old blanket which one of the Indians had given them, and +fell asleep at once. + +Day succeeded day, night followed night, and weeks came and went, yet +the Indians continued their journey through the snow-clad wilderness. +Roy's snow-shoes had been picked up and repaired by one of the savages, +and Nelly was made to walk a good deal on her own snowshoes; but it is +justice to the Indians to say that they slackened their pace a little +for the sake of the children, and when Nelly showed symptoms of being +fatigued, the stout young warrior who originally carried her took her on +his shoulders. + +At length the encampment of the tribe was reached, and Nelly was handed +over to Hawk's wife to be her slave. Soon after that, the tents were +struck, and the whole tribe went deeper into the northern wilds. +Several gales arose and passed away, completely covering their +footprints, so that no tracks were left behind them. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE CAMP, THE ATTACK, AND THE ESCAPE. + +It were vain to attempt a description of the varied condition of mind +into which the brother and sister fell when they found themselves +actually reduced to a state of slavery in an Indian camp, and separated +from their parents, as they firmly believed, for ever. + +Nelly wept her eyes almost out of their sockets at first. Then she fell +into a sort of apathetic state, in which, for several days, she went +about her duties almost mechanically, feeling as if it were all a +horrible dream, out of which she would soon awake, and find herself at +home with her "darling mother" beside her. This passed, however, and +she had another fit of heart-breaking sorrow, from which she found +relief by recalling some of the passages in God's Word, which her mother +had taught her to repeat by heart; especially that verse in which it is +said, "that Jesus is a friend who sticketh closer than a brother." And +this came to the poor child's mind with peculiar power, because her own +brother Roy was so kind, and took such pains to comfort her, and to +enter into all her girlish feelings and sympathies, that she could +scarcely imagine it possible for anyone to stick closer to her in all +her distress than he did. + +As for Roy, he was not given to the melting mood. His nature was bold +and manly. Whatever he felt, he kept it to himself, and he forgot more +than half his own sorrow in his brotherly efforts to assuage that of +Nelly. + +Both of them were active and willing to oblige, so that they did not +allow their grief to interfere with their work, a circumstance which +induced their captors to treat them with forbearance, and even kindness. +Nelly sobbed and worked; gradually, the sobbing decreased, and the work +was carried on with vigour, so that she soon became quite expert at +skinning rabbits, boiling meat, embroidering mocassins, smoking +deerskins, chopping firewood into small pieces, and many other details +of Indian household economy; while Roy went out with the hunters, and +became a very Nimrod, insomuch that he soon excelled all the lads of his +own age, and many of those who were older, in the use of the bow, the +snow-shoes, the spear, the axe, and the gun. But all this, and what +they did and said in the Indian camp during that winter, and what was +said and done to them, we do not mean to write about, having matter of +deeper interest to tell. + +Winter passed away, and spring came. But little do those who dwell in +England know of the enchantment of returning spring in the frozen +wilderness of North America. The long, long winter, seems as though it +would _never_ pass away. The intense frost seals up all the sweet +odours of the woods for so many months, that the nostrils become +powerfully sensitive, and, as it were, yearn for something to smell. +The skin gets so used to frost, that a balmy breeze is thought of as a +thing of the past, or well-nigh forgotten. + +Spring in those regions comes suddenly. It came on our wanderers with a +gush. One night the temperature rose high above the freezing point; +next day all the sights and sounds of Nature's great awakening were in +full play. The air fanned their cheeks like a summer breeze; the +strange unwonted sound of tinkling and dropping water was heard; scents, +as of green things, were met and inhaled greedily. As the thirsty +Bedouin drinks from the well in the oasis, so did Roy and Nelly drink in +the delicious influences of melting nature. And they thought of those +words which say, that the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the +rose. The rejoicing had commenced, the blossoming would soon follow. + +But warlike and wicked men were even then preparing to desecrate the +beautiful land. A war-party of enemies had come down upon the tribe, +with whom they dwelt. Scouts had brought in the news. All was +commotion and excitement in the camp. Goods and chattels were being +packed up. The women and children were to be sent off with these, under +an escort, to a place of greater security, while the Braves armed for +the fight. + +In the middle of all the confusion, Roy took Nelly aside, and, with a +look of mystery, said-- + +"Nell, dear, I'm goin' to run away. Stay, now, don't stare so like an +owl, but hold your sweet tongue until I have explained what I mean to +do. You and I have picked up a good deal of useful knowledge of one +sort or another since we came here, and I'm inclined to think we are +quite fit to take to the woods and work our way back to Fort +Enterprise." + +"But isn't it an _awful_ long way?" said Nelly. + +"It is, but we have an _awful_ long time to travel; haven't we all our +lives before us? If our lives are long, we'll manage it; if they are +short, why, we won't want to manage it, so we need not bother our heads +about that?" + +"But the way home," suggested Nelly, "do you know it?" + +"Of course I know it; that is to say, I know, from that ugly thief Hawk, +that it lies somewhere or other to the south-west o' this place, some +hundreds of miles off; how many hundreds does not much matter, for we +have got the whole of the spring, summer, and fall before us." + +"But what if we don't get home in the fall?" + +"Then we shall spend the winter in the woods, that's all." + +Nelly laughed, in spite of her anxieties, at the confident tone in which +her brother spoke; and, being quite unable to argue the matter farther, +she said that she was ready to do whatever Roy pleased, having perfect +confidence in his wisdom. + +"That's right, Nell; now, you get ready to start at a moment's notice. +When the Injuns attack the camp, we'll give 'em the slip. Put all you +want to take with you on a toboggan, [see note 1] and meet me at the +crooked tree when the camp moves." + +That night the camp was struck, and the women and children departed, +under a strong escort. Almost at the same time the enemy came down on +their prey, but they met men prepared for them. In the dark, Nelly +crept to the crooked tree, dragging the toboggan after her. She was met +by Roy, who took the sledge-line and her hand and led her into the dark +forest, while the savages were fighting and yelling like fiends in the +camp. There let us leave them to fight it out. Enough for us to know +that their warfare prevented any pursuit of the young fugitives. + +Weeks passed, and Roy and Nelly wandered on; all fear of pursuit soon +left them. Ducks, geese, and other waterfowl, came in myriads with the +spring. Roy had brought with him his gun (the one he was wont to use in +hunting), and bow and quiver. They fed on the fat of the land. Summer +advanced, and game became less plentiful; still, there was more than +sufficient to supply them with abundance of food. Autumn approached; +the wild fowl that had passed northward in spring, began to return +southward, and again the wants of the young wanderers were +superabundantly supplied. + +The pole-star was Roy's guide. At night he laid his course by it; and +by the sun during the day, making constant allowance, of course, for the +sun's rate of travelling through the sky, and taking advantage of all +prominent landmarks on the way. + +Time sped on; many weary miles were travelled, but no sign of Fort +Enterprise was to be seen. Day after day, week after week, month after +month they wandered, and still found themselves in the heart of an +unknown wilderness. Occasionally they observed signs of Indians, and +carefully kept out of sight at such times, as you may easily believe. + +At last there came a day when hard frost set in. It was the first touch +of another winter. Roy and Nelly did not betray their feelings to each +other, but their hearts sank as they thought of what lay before them. +The frost was short-lived, however; towards noon the air became +delightfully warm, and their spirits revived. + +On reaching the summit of an eminence, up which they had toiled for +several hours, they beheld a small lake, in which the silvery clouds +were clearly reflected. The day was calm; the sun unusually brilliant; +the autumnal foliage most gorgeous in colour. It was like a scene in +fairy-land! + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Roy, sitting down beside his sister on the trunk +of a fallen tree. + +"Oh! _how_ beautiful," cried Nelly. + +"It's so like silver," said Roy. + +"Silver Lake," murmured Nelly. + +Roy seemed to think the name appropriate, for he echoed the words, "Yes, +Silver Lake." And there brother and sister sat, for a long time, on the +fallen tree, in silent admiration of the scene. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. A small Indian sledge, dragged on the snow, either by hand or +by dog with loops at the sides for lashing the loading of the sledge +upon it. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE ENCAMPMENT ON SILVER LAKE. + +When Roy and Nelly sat down to gaze in admiration on Silver Lake, they +little thought how long a period they should have to spend on its +shores. + +The lake was a small sheet of water not more than half a mile broad, +embosomed among low hills, which, though not grand, were picturesque in +outline, and wooded to their tops. It occupied the summit of an +elevated region or height-of-land--a water-shed, in fact--and Roy +afterwards discovered that water flowed from both the north-east and +south-west sides of the table-land, in the midst of which it lay. These +fountain-heads, separated by little more than half a mile from each +other, were the sources of streams, which, flowing in opposite +directions through hundreds of miles of wild, beautiful, and +uncultivated wilderness, found their way, on the one hand, into Hudson's +Bay, on the other hand, into the Atlantic through the great rivers and +lakes of Canada. + +The waters of the lake were strikingly clear and pellucid. When the +young wanderer first came upon the scene, not a zephyr stirred the +leaves of the forest; the blue sky was studded with towering masses of +white clouds which glowed in sunshine, and these reflected in the glassy +water--as if far, far down in its unfathomable depths--produced that +silvery effect which prompted Nelly to utter the name which we have +adopted. + +Small though the Silver Lake was, it boasted two islets, which like twin +babes lay side by side on their mother's fair breast, their reflected +images stretching down into that breast as if striving to reach and +grasp its heart! + +"Couldn't we stay here a short time?" asked Nelly, breaking the silence +in a tone that indicated anxiety, hope, and enthusiasm, "only for a very +_little_ time," she added, coaxingly. + +Roy looked grave and sagacious. Boys, as well as men, like to be leant +upon and trusted by the fair sex--at least in things masculine--and +Nelly had such boundless faith in her brother's capacity to protect her +and guide her through the forest, that she unwittingly inspired him with +an exuberant amount of courage and self-reliance. The lad was bold and +fearless enough by nature. His sister's confidence in him had the +effect of inducing him to think himself fit for anything! He affected, +therefore, at times, a look of grave sagacity, befitting, as he thought, +so important and responsible a character. + +"I've just been thinking," said he-- + +"Oh! don't _think_, but say yes!" interrupted Nelly. + +"Well, I'm going to say yes, but I meant to give you my reasons for +sayin' so. In the first place, my powder and shot is gettin' low. You +see I did not bring away very much from the Injun camp, and we've been +using it for so many months now that it won't last much longer, so I +think it would not be a bad plan to stop here awhile and fish and shoot +and feed up--for you need rest, Nelly--and then start fresh with a +well-loaded sledge. I'll save some powder by using the bow we made the +other day." + +"But you forget it's broken." + +"So it is--never mind, we can make another--there's a tree that will +make a first-rater down in the hollow, d'ye see it, Nell?" + +"Where--oh yes--just by the grassy place where the rock juts out into +the water with the sun shining on it? what a _nice_ place to build a +hut!" + +"Just so," said Roy, smiling at the girl's enthusiasm, "that's the spot, +and that's the very thought that jumped bang into my brain as you spoke. +By the way, does a thought jump _into_ a man's brain or _out_ of it, I +wonder?" + +"Out of it, of course," cried Nelly, with a laugh. + +"I'm not so sure of that, Nell. I send it rather slowly out through my +mouth, but I think it jumps _into_ my brain. I wonder how it gets in; +whether by the eyes, or ears, or mouth--perhaps it goes up the nose." + +"What stuff you do talk!" cried Nelly. + +"D'ye think so," said Roy with a grin, "well, that bein' the case, let's +go and fix our camp, for the sun is not given to sitting up all night in +these parts, so we must work while it shines." + +With hurried steps and eager looks, (for Roy, despite his affected +coolness, was as enthusiastic about the new plan as his sister,) they +descended to the margin of Silver Lake, and began to make their +encampment on the sunny spot before referred to. + +It turned out to be most suitable for their purpose, having a gentle +slope towards the margin of the lake, which was fringed with a beach of +pure white pebbles, and being well sheltered in the rear by umbrageous +trees. The point of rocks close at hand formed a natural jetty, which, +Roy observed, would be useful as a landing-place when he got his raft +under way; the turf was soft, a matter of some importance, as it was to +form their couch at night, and a small stream trickled down from one of +the numerous springs which welled up at the foot of the nearest hill. + +Solitary and remote from the usual haunts of men as this lake was, there +was no feeling of solitude about it at the time we write of. The entire +region was alive with wild fowl of many kinds. Wild geese trumpeted +their advent as they came from the far north, _en route_ for the far +south, and settled on the bosom of Silver Lake to take a night's lodging +there. Ducks, from the same region, and bound for the same goal--though +with less stately and regular flight--flew hither and thither with +whistling wings, ever and anon going swash into the water as a tempting +patch of reeds invited them to feed, or a whim of fancy induced them to +rest. Wild swans occasionally sailed in all their majesty on its +waters, while plover of every length of limb and bill, and every species +of plaintive cry, waded round its margin, or swept in clouds over the +neighbouring swamps. Sometimes deer would trot out of the woods and +slake their thirst on its shore, and the frequent rings that broke its +smooth surface told of life in the watery depths below. + +The whole air was filled with gushing sounds of wild melody, as though +bird and beast were uniting in a hymn of praise to the beneficent +Creator who had provided the means of, and given the capacity for, so +much enjoyment. + +Having decided on a suitable spot for their temporary resting-place, +Roy's first care was to construct a hut. This was neither a work of +time nor difficulty. In a couple of hours it was finished. He +commenced the work by felling about a dozen young fir-trees not much +thicker than a man's wrist, from which he chopped the branches, thus +leaving them bare poles about nine feet long. While he was thus +employed, his sister cleared the spot on which their dwelling was to +stand, and, having an eye to the picturesque, so arranged that the +opening of the hut should command an uninterrupted view of the lake. On +going into the "bush" to the place where Roy was at work, she found him +cutting down his sixth tree, and the ground was strewn with the flat +branches of those already cut. + +"Come along, Nelly--how hot I am--carry these branches into camp, lass, +an' go ahead, for I've got supper to kill yet." + +Nelly made no direct reply, but muttered to herself something that +sounded very like, "Oh, what fun!" as she filled her tiny arms with pine +branches, and, hugging them to her heaving breast, staggered to the +camp. When she had carried all the branches, Roy had cut all the poles, +so he proceeded to set them up. Tying three poles together at the top, +and using the pliant roots of a tree for the purpose, he set them up in +the form of a tripod. Against these three all the other poles were +piled, crossing each other at the top, and spreading out at the base so +as to enclose a circle of about six feet in diameter. Being numerous, +the poles were pretty close together, thus affording good support to the +branches which were afterwards piled on them. Pine branches are flat, +spreading, and thick, so that when laid above each other to a depth of +several inches they form a very good shelter from dew and light rain. +The hut was entirely covered with such branches, which were kept in +their places by other poles leaning upon and pressing them down. The +floor of the hut was also covered with pine "brush." + +"Now for supper, Nelly," said Roy, seizing his bow, when the hut was +completed, and splicing its broken part with a strip of deerskin cut +from the lines of the sledge. + +"Get a goose, Roy, and pick out a nice fat one," cried Nelly, laughing, +"I'll have the fire ready when you come back." + +"I'll try," said Roy, and he did try, but tried in vain. Although a +good shot, he was not sufficiently expert with the bow to shoot wild +fowl on the wing, so he returned to the hut empty-handed. + +"We must make a new bow, Nell," said he, sitting down by the fire, "I +can do nothin' wi' this, and it won't do to use the gun for anythin' but +deer. Meanwhile let's have the remains of our dinner for supper. Come, +cheer up, old 'ooman; we shall feast on the fat of the land to-morrow!" + +The stars were shining in the sky, and winking at their reflections down +in the depths of Silver Lake, and the lake itself lay, as black as ink, +under the shadow of the hills, when the brother and sister spread their +blanket above them that night, and sank, almost immediately, into +profound slumber. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +HUNTING, AND OTHER MATTERS, ON SILVER LAKE. + +Sunrise is a gladsome event almost at all times; we say "almost," +because there are times when sunrise is _not_ particularly gladsome. In +the arctic regions of Norway, for instance, we have seen it rise only +twenty minutes after it set, and the rising and setting were so much +mingled, that no very strong feelings of any kind were awakened. +Moreover, we were somewhat depressed at the time, in consequence of +having failed to reach those latitudes where the sun does not set at all +for several weeks in summer, but shines night and day. To the sick, +sunrise brings little comfort; too often it is watched for with +weariness, and beheld, at last, with a feeling of depression at the +thought that another day of pain has begun. But to the healthy, and +especially to the young, sunrise is undoubtedly, on most occasions, a +gladsome event. + +At least Nelly Gore thought so when she awoke and beheld, from the floor +of the hut where she lay, a flood of yellow glory gushing through a +valley, turning Silver Lake into gold, tipping the trees with fire, and +blazing full in Roy's face, which was at that moment turned up to the +sky with the mouth open, and the nose snoring. + +"Oh, _how_ beautiful!" screamed Nelly, in the exuberance of her delight. + +"Hallo! murder! come on, ye black varmints," shouted Roy, as he sprang +up and seized the axe which lay at his side. "Oh, it's only _you_, what +a yell you do give, Nelly! why, one would think you were a born Injun; +what is't all about, lass? Ye-a-ow! how sleepy I am--too late to have +another nap, I suppose, eh?" + +"Oh yes, lazy thing! get up and come out quick!" cried the other, as she +sprang up and ran out of the hut to enjoy the full blaze of the +sunshine, and the fresh morning air. + +That morning Nelly could do little but ramble about in a wild sort of +fashion, trying to imagine that she was queen of the world around her! +She sobered down, however, towards noon, and went diligently about the +work which Roy had given her to do. She had the internal arrangements +of the hut to complete and improve, some pairs of mocassins to mend, and +several arrows to feather, besides other matters. + +Meanwhile Roy went out to hunt. + +Determined not to use his fast-diminishing ammunition, except on large +game, and anxious to become more expert with the bow, he set to work the +first thing that day, and made a new bow. Armed with this and a dozen +arrows, he sallied forth. + +Some of his arrows were pointed with ivory, some with iron, and some had +no points at all, but blunt heavy heads instead. These latter were, and +still are, used by Indians in shooting game that is tame and easily +killed. Grouse of various kinds, for instance, if hit with full force +from a short range by a blunt-headed arrow, will be effectually stunned, +especially if hit on the head. + +At first Roy walked along the shores of the lake, but was not very +successful, because the ducks and geese were hid among reeds, and rose +suddenly with a distracting _whirr_, usually flying off over the water. +To have let fly at these would have cost him an arrow every shot, so, +after losing one, he wisely restrained himself. + +After a time, he turned into the woods, resolving to try his fortune +where his arrows were not so likely to be lost. He had not gone far, +when a tree-grouse sprang into the air and settled on a neighbouring +pine. + +Roy became excited, for he was anxious not to return to the hut +empty-handed a second time. He fitted a sharp-headed arrow to the +string, and advanced towards the bird cautiously. His anxiety to make +little noise was so great, that he tripped over a root and fell with a +hideous crash into the middle of a dead bush, the branches of which +snapped like a discharge of little crackers. Poor Roy got up disgusted, +but on looking up found that the grouse was still sitting there, filled +apparently with more curiosity than alarm. Seeing this he advanced to +within a few yards of the bird, and, substituting a blunt arrow for the +sharp one, discharged it with vigour. It hit the grouse on the left +eye, and brought it to the ground like a stone. + +"Good, that's `number one,'" muttered the lad as he fastened the bird to +his belt; "hope `number two' is not far off." + +"Number two" was nearer than he imagined, for four other birds of the +same kind rose a few yards ahead of him, with all the noise and flurry +that is characteristic of the species. + +They settled on a tree not far off, and looked about them. + +"Sit there, my fine fellows, till I come up," muttered Roy. (The lad +had a habit of speaking to himself while out hunting.) + +They obeyed the order, and sat until he was close to them. Again was +the blunt arrow fitted to the string; once more it sped true to its +mark, and "number two" fell fluttering to the ground. + +Now, the grouse of North America is sometimes a very stupid creature. +It literally sits still to be shot, if the hunter is only careful to +fire first at the lowest bird of the group. If he were to fire at the +topmost one, its fluttering down amongst the others would start them +off. + +Roy was aware of this fact, and had aimed at the bird that sat lowest on +the tree. Another arrow was discharged, and "number three" lay +sprawling on the ground. The blunt arrows being exhausted, he now tried +a sharp one, but missed. The birds stretched their necks, turned their +heads on one side, and looked at the lad, as though to say, "It won't +do,--try again!" + +Another shaft was more successful. It pierced the heart of "number +four," and brought it down like a lump of lead. "Number five" seemed a +little perplexed by this time, and made a motion as though it were about +to fly off, but an arrow caught it in the throat, and cut short its +intentions and its career. Thus did Roy bag, or rather belt, five birds +consecutively. [See note one.] + +Our hero was not one of those civilised sportsmen who slaughter as much +game as they can. He merely wanted to provide food for a day or two. +He therefore turned his steps homeward--if we may be allowed the +expression--being anxious to assist his sister in making the hut +comfortable. + +As he walked along, his active mind ran riot in many eccentric channels. +Those who take any interest in the study of mind, know that it is not +only the mind of a romantic boy that does this, but that the mind of man +generally is, when left to itself, the veriest acrobat, the most +unaccountable harlequin, that ever leaped across the stage of fancy. + +Roy's mind was now in the clouds, now on the earth. Anon it was away in +the far-off wilderness, or scampering through the settlements, and +presently it was deep down in Silver Lake playing with the fish. Roy +himself muttered a word or so, now and then, as he walked along, which +gave indication of the whereabouts of his mind at the time. + +"Capital fun," said he, "only it won't do to stay too long. Poor +mother, how she'll be wearin' for us! Hallo! ducks, you're noisy coons, +wonder why you get up with such a bang. Bang! that reminds me of the +gun. No more banging of you, old chap, if my hand keeps in so well with +the bow. Eh! duck, what's wrong?" + +This latter question was addressed to a small duck which seemed in an +anxious state of mind, to judge from its motions. Presently a head, as +if of a fish, broke the surface of the lake, and the duck disappeared! + +"Oh the villain," exclaimed Roy, "a fish has bolted him!" + +After this the lad walked on in silence, looking at the ground, and +evidently pondering deeply. + +"Nelly," said he, entering the hut and throwing the grouse at her feet, +"here is dinner, supper, and breakfast for you, and please get the first +ready as fast as you can, for I'm famishing." + +"Oh, how nice! how did you get them?" + +"I'll tell you presently, but my head's full of a notion about catching +ducks just now." + +"Catching ducks, Roy, what is the notion?" + +"Never mind, Nelly, I han't scratched it out o' my brain yet, but I'll +tell 'ee after dinner, and we'll try the plan to-morrow mornin'." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The author has himself, in the backwoods, taken four birds in +succession off a tree in this fashion with a fowling-piece. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +FISHING EXTRAORDINARY. + +Early on the following morning, Roy and Nelly rose to try the new style +of duck-hunting which the former had devised. + +"I wonder if it will do," said the little girl, as she tripped along by +her brother's side in the direction of a marshy bay, which had been +selected as the scene of their experiments. "How clever of you to +invent such a funny plan!" + +"Well, I didn't exactly invent it, lass. The fact is, that I remembered +father havin' told me he had read it in a book before he left the +settlements. I _wish_ we had some books. Pity that we've got no +books." + +"So it is," assented Nell, with a touch of sadness in her tone. + +Both Roy and his sister were good readers, having been taught by their +mother out of the Bible--the only book that Robin Gore had brought with +him from the settlements. Robin could read, but he did not care much +for reading--neither did Walter nor Larry O'Dowd. Indeed the latter +could not read at all. Mrs Gore had wanted to take a few books with +her into the wilderness, but her husband said he thought the Bible was +enough for her; so the library at Fort Enterprise was select and small! +One good resulted from this--the Bible was read, by all who could read, +a great deal more than would have been the case had there been other +books at hand. But the young people longed earnestly for books +containing fairy tales, such as was told to them by their mother; and +wild adventures, such as Walter could relate or invent by the hour. + +It might have been observed that Roy carried on his shoulder a +remarkable object--something like a clumsy basket made of reeds, and +about twice the size of a man's head. This had been made by Nelly the +night before. The use to which it was to be put was soon shown by Roy. +Having reached the spot where the experiment was to be tried, and having +observed that there were many ducks, large and small, floating about +among the reeds, he got Nelly to hold the basket, if we may so call it, +as high as she could raise it. There was a hole in the bottom of it. +Through this Roy thrust his head, so that the machine rested on his +shoulders, his head being inside and completely concealed. + +"Now, Nelly, what think you of my helmet?" + +"Oh! it is splendid!" cried the girl, laughing in a subdued voice. +"It's so awfully absurd looking, but can you see? for I don't see a bit +of your face." + +"See? ay, as well as need be. There's lots of small holes which I can +peep through in all directions. But come, I'll try it. Keep close, +Nell, and don't laugh too loud, for ducks ain't used to laughing, d'ye +see, and may be frightened by it." + +So saying Roy crept on his hands and knees to the edge of the lake, +being concealed by bushes, until he got into the water. Here a few +steps took him into the reeds which clustered so thickly at that spot, +and grew so tall that he was soon hidden from sight altogether. + +He had not taken off much of his dress, which, we may remark in passing, +was of the simplest at all times--consisting of a pair of trousers, a +striped cotton shirt, and a grey cloth capote with a hood to it. His +capote and cap were left in charge of his sister. As for the shirt and +trousers, they could be easily dried again. + +Nelly watched the place where her brother had disappeared with +breathless interest. As he did not reappear as quickly as she had +expected, she became greatly alarmed. In a few minutes more she would +certainly have rushed into the lake to the rescue, regardless of +consequences and of ducks, had not Roy's strange head-dress come +suddenly into view at the outward verge of the reeds. The lad had waded +in up to his neck, and was now slowly--almost imperceptibly--approaching +a group of ducks that were disporting themselves gaily in the water. + +"They'll never let him near them," thought Nelly. + +She was wrong, for at that moment an extremely fat and pert young duck +observed the bundle of reeds, and swam straight up to it, animated, no +doubt, by that reckless curiosity which is peculiar to young creatures. +Had its mother known what was inside of the bundle, she would no doubt +have remonstrated with her head-strong child, but, old and sagacious +though that mother was, she was completely deceived. She was not even +astonished when her duckling suddenly disappeared beneath the water, +thinking, no doubt, that it had dived. Soon the bundle of reeds drew +near to the mother, and she, too, disappeared suddenly below the water. +Whatever her astonishment was at feeling her legs seized from below, she +had not time to express it before her voice was choked. Nelly observed +these disappearances with intense amazement, and delight stamped every +lineament of her little visage. + +When the bundle moved towards the father of the duck-family, that +gentleman became agitated and suspicious. Probably males are less +trusting than females, in all conditions of animal life. At all events +he sheered off. The bundle waxed impatient and made a rush at him. The +drake, missing his wife and child, quacked the alarm. The bundle made +another rush, and suddenly disappeared with a tremendous splash, in the +midst of which a leg and an arm appeared! Away went the whole brood of +ducks with immense splutter, and Nelly gave a wild scream of terror, +supposing--and she was right--that her brother had fallen into a hole, +and that he would be drowned. In the latter supposition, however, she +was mistaken, for Roy swam ashore in a few moments with a duck in each +hand! + +"O Roy! ain't you cold?" inquired Nelly, as she helped him to squeeze +the water out of his garments. + +"Y-y-ye-es," said Roy, trembling in every limb, while his teeth rattled +like small castanets, "I'm very c-c-c-cold, but I'm in luck, for I've +g-g-g-got to-night's s-s-s-supper, anyhow." + +This was true, but as he could not hope to procure many more suppers in +the same fashion at that season of the year, he and his sister went off +without delay to try the fishing. + +They had brought a fishing-line and a few hooks, among other small +things, from the Indian camp. This line was now got out, overhauled, +and baited with a bit of the young duck's breast. From the end of the +point of rocks, which had been named the Wharf, the line was cast, for +there the lake was deep. + +"Take the end of the line, Nell; I want you to catch the first fish." + +"How d'ye know we shall catch--oh! oh--ooh!" The fish in Silver Lake +had never seen a bait or felt a hook in their lives before that day. +They actually fought for the prize. A big bully--as is usually the case +in other spheres of life--gained it, and found he had "caught a Tartar." +He nearly pulled Nelly into the lake, but Roy sprang to the rescue, and +before the child's shout of surprise had ceased to echo among the +cliffs, a beautiful silvery fish, about a foot and a half long, lay +tumbling on the strand. + +"Hurray!" cried Roy. "Try again." + +They did try again, and again, and over again, until they had caught two +dozen and a half of those peculiar "white-fish" which swarm in most of +the lakes of North America. Then they stopped, being somewhat +exhausted, and having more than enough for present use. + +Before sitting down to supper that night, they preserved their fish in +the simple but effective manner which is practised among the fur-traders +in cold weather, and which they had learned while with the Indians. +Each fish was split open and cleaned out, and then hung up by the tail +to dry. + +"What a jolly time we shall have of it!" said Roy, with his mouth full, +as he sat beside Nelly and toasted his toes that night at supper. + +"Yes," said Nelly--"if--if we were only a _little_ nearer home." + +This reply made them both silent and sad for a time. + +"Never mind," resumed Roy, cheerily, as he began another white-fish-- +having already finished one fish and the duckling--"cheer up, Nell, +we'll stay here long enough to get up a stock o' dried meat, and then +set off again. I only wish it would come frost, to make our fish keep." + +Roy's wish was gratified sooner than he expected, and much more fully +than he desired. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +CHANGES, SLIDING, FISHING, ETCETERA. + +That night King Frost spread his wings over the land with unwonted +suddenness and rigour, insomuch that a sheet of ice, full an inch thick, +sealed up the waters of Silver Lake. + +Roy and Nelly had feasted heartily, and had piled wood on the fire so +high that the hut was comparatively warm, and they slept soundly till +morning: but, about sunrise, the fire having died out, they both awoke +shivering with cold. Being _very_ sleepy, they tried for some time to +drop off again in spite of the cold. Failing in this, Roy at last +jumped up with vigour and said he would light the fire, but he had +scarcely issued from the hut, when a shout brought Nelly in alarm and +haste to his side. + +If Silver Lake was worthy of its name before, it was infinitely more +worthy of it now. The sun had just over-topped the opposite ridge, and +was streaming over a very world of silver. The frozen lake was like a +sheet of the purest glass, which reflected the silvery clouds and white +rolling mists of morning as perfectly in their form as the realities +that floated in the blue sky. Every tree, every twig, seemed made of +silver, being encased in hoar-frost, and as these moved very gently in +the calm air--for there was no breeze--millions of crystalline points +caught the sun's rays and scattered them around with dazzling lustre. +Nature seemed robed in cloth of diamonds; but the comparison is feeble, +for what diamonds, cut by man, can equal those countless crystal gems +that are fashioned by the hand of God to decorate, for an hour or two, +the spotless robe of a winter morning? + +Had Roy been a man and Nelly a woman, the two would probably have cast +around a lingering glance of admiration, and then gone quietly about +their avocations; but, being children, they made up their minds, on the +spot, to enjoy the state of things to the utmost. They ran down to the +lake and tried the ice. Finding that it was strong enough to bear them, +they advanced cautiously out upon its glassy surface; then they tried to +slide, but did not succeed well, owing to their soft mocassins being ill +adapted for sliding. Then they picked up stones, and tried how far they +could make them skim out on the lake. + +"How I wish we could slide!" exclaimed Nelly, pausing in the midst of +her amusement. + +Roy also paused, and appeared to meditate for a minute. + +"So you shall," said he quickly. "Come and let us breakfast, and I'll +make you a pair of sliders." + +"Sliders! what are they?" + +"You shall see; get breakfast ready, a man's fit for nothing without +grub." + +While breakfast was preparing, Roy began to fashion wooden soles for his +sister's feet and his own. These he fixed on by means of strips of +deerskin, which were sunk into grooves in the under part of the soles to +prevent them from chafing. Rough and ready they were, nevertheless they +fitted well and tightly to their feet; but it was found that the want of +a joint at the instep rendered it difficult to walk with these soles on, +and impossible to run. Roy's ingenuity, however, soon overcame this +difficulty. He cut the soles through just under the instep, and then, +boring two holes in each part, lashed them firmly together with +deerskin, thus producing a joint or hinge. Eager to try this new +invention, he fastened on his own "sliders" first, and, running down to +the lake, made a rush at the ice and sent himself off with all his +force. Never was boy more taken by surprise; he went skimming over the +surface like a stone from a sling. The other side of the lake seemed to +be the only termination of his journey. "What if it should not be +bearing in the middle!" His delight was evinced by a cheer. It was +echoed, with the addition of a laugh by Nell, who stood in rapt +admiration on the shore. Roy began well, with his legs far apart and +his arms in the air; then he turned round and advanced the wrong way, +then he staggered--tried to recover himself; failed, shouted, cheered +again, and fell flat on his back, and performed the remainder of the +journey in that position! + +It was a magnificent slide, and was repeated and continued, with every +possible and conceivable modification, for full two hours, at the end of +which time Nelly said she couldn't take another slide to save her life, +and Roy felt as if every bone in his body were going out of joint. + +"This is all very well," said Roy, as they went up to the hut together, +"but it won't do much in the way of getting us a supply of meat or +fish." + +"That's true," assented Nelly. + +"Well, then," continued Roy, "we'll rest a bit, and then set to work. +It's quite plain that we can have no more wading after ducks, but the +fish won't object to feed in cold weather, so we'll try them again after +having had a bit to eat." + +In pursuance of this plan the two went to the wharf, after having +refreshed themselves, and set to work with the fishing-line. Nelly +baited the hook, and Roy cut a hole in the ice with his axe. Having put +in the hook, and let it down to the bottom, they stood at the edge of +the hole--expectant! + +"Frost seems to spoil their appetite," said Roy, in a tone of +disappointment, after about five minutes had elapsed. + +A fish seemed to have been listening, for before Nelly could reply, +there came a violent tug at the line. Roy returned a still more violent +tug, and, instead of hauling it up hand over hand, ran swiftly along the +ice, drawing the line after him, until the fish came out of the hole +with a flop and a severe splutter. It was above four pounds weight, and +they afterwards found that the deeper the water into which the line was +cast the larger were the fish procured. White-fish were the kind they +caught most of, but there were a species of trout, much resembling a +salmon in colour and flavour, of which they caught a good many above ten +and even fifteen pounds weight. All these fish, except those reserved +for immediate use, they cleaned and hung up in the manner already +described. + +Thus they occupied themselves for several days, and as the work was +hard, they did not wander much from their hut, but ate their meals with +appetite, and slept at nights soundly. + +One night, just as they were about to lay down to rest, Roy went out to +fetch an armful of firewood. He returned with a look of satisfaction on +his face. + +"Look here, Nell, what call ye that?" pointing to a few specks of white +on his breast and arms. + +"Snow!" exclaimed Nelly. + +"Ay--snow! it's come at last, and I am glad of it, for we have far more +than enough o' grub now, and it's time we were off from this. You see, +lass, we can't expect to find much game on a journey in winter, so we +must carry all we can with us. Our backs won't take so much as the +sled, but the sled can't go loaded till there's snow on the ground, so +the moment there is enough of it we'll set off. Before starting, +hows'ever, I must go off and try for a deer, for men can't walk well on +fish alone; and when I'm away you can be getting the snow-shoes +repaired, and the sled-lashings overhauled. We will set about all that +to-morrow." + +"But isn't to-morrow Sabbath?" said Nelly. + +"So 'tis! I forgot; well, we can put it off till Monday." + +It may be well here to remark that Mrs Gore, being a sincere Christian, +had a great reverence for the Sabbath-day, and had imbued her children +with some of her own spirit in regard to it. + +During the troubles and anxieties of the period when the children were +lost in the snow and captured by the Indians, they had lost count of the +days of the week. Roy was not much troubled about this, but his +sister's tender conscience caused her much uneasiness; and when they +afterwards ran away from the Indians, and could do as they pleased, they +agreed together to fix a Sabbath-day for themselves, beginning with the +particular day on which it first occurred to them that they had not kept +a Sabbath "for a long, long time." + +"We can't find out the right day now, you know," observed Nelly, in an +apologetic tone. + +"Of course not," said Roy; "besides, it don't matter, because you +remember how it is in the Ten Commandments: `Six days shalt thou labour +and do all thy work, but the _seventh_ day is the Sabbath.' We will +keep _to-day_, then; work _six_ days, and then keep the _seventh_ day." + +We have elsewhere observed that Roy was a bit of a philosopher. Having +reasoned the matter out thus philosophically, the children held to their +resolve; they travelled six days, and observed every seventh day as the +Sabbath. + +The particular Sabbath-day about which we are writing turned out to be a +memorable one, as we shall see. + +Roy and Nelly lay down that night, side by side, as was their wont, with +their separate blankets wrapped around them, and their feet pointing +towards the fire. Of course they never undressed at night on this +journey, but washed their underclothing as they found time and +opportunity. + +Soon they were sound asleep, and their gentle breathing was the only +sound that broke the stillness of the night. But snow was falling +silently in thick heavy flakes, and it soon lay deep on the bosom of +Silver Lake. Towards morning the wind arose, and snow-drift began to +whirl round the hut, and block up its low doorway. + +Still the brother and sister slumbered peacefully, undisturbed by the +gathering storm. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER--RABBITS AND BEARS APPEAR. + +"Hi! Hallo! I say, Nelly, what's all this?" There was good cause for +the tone of surprise in which Roy uttered these words when he awoke, for +the fireplace and the lower half of his own, as well as his sister's, +blanket were covered with at least half a foot of snow. It had found +its way in at the hole in the roof of the hut, and the wind had blown a +great deal through the crevices of the doorway, so that a snow-wreath +more than a foot high lay close to Nelly's elbow. + +This was bad enough, but what made it worse was that a perfect hurricane +was blowing outside. Fortunately the hut was sheltered by the woods, +and by a high cliff on the windward side; but this cliff, although it +broke the force of the gale, occasioned an eddy which sent fearful gusts +and thick clouds of snow ever and anon full against the doorway. + +"O Roy! what shall we do?" said Nelly, in an anxious tone. + +"Don't know," said Roy, jumping up and tightening his belt; "you never +can know what's got to be done till you've took an observation o' what's +goin' on, as daddy used to say. Hallo! hold on. I say, if it goes on +like this it'll blow the hut down. Come, Nelly, don't whimper; it's +only a puff, after all, an' if it did capsize us, it wouldn't be the +first time we had a tumble in the snow. Seems to me that we're goin' to +have a stormy Sabbath, though. Rouse up, lass, and while you're +clearin' off the snow, I'll go get a bundle o' sticks, and light the +fire." + +Roy stooped to pass under the low doorway, or, rather, hole of the hut, +and bending his head to the blast passed out; while Nelly, whose heart +was cheered by her brother's confident tone more than by his words, set +about shovelling away the snow-drift with great activity. + +Presently Roy returned, staggering under a heavy load of firewood. + +"Ho! Nell," he cried, flinging down the wood with a clatter, "just you +come an' see Silver Lake. Such a sight it is you never saw; but come +slick off--never mind your belt; just roll your blanket round you, over +head and ears--there," said he, assisting to fasten the rough garment, +and seizing his sister's hand, "hold on tight by me." + +"Oh, _what_ a storm!" gasped the little girl, as she staggered out and +came within the full force of the gale. + +It was indeed a storm, such as would have appalled the hearts of +youngsters less accustomed to the woods than were our hero and heroine. +But Roy and Nelly had been born and bred in the midst of stormy +backwoods' elements, and were not easily alarmed, chiefly because they +had become accustomed to estimate correctly the extent of most of the +dangers that menaced them from time to time. A gale of the fiercest +kind was blowing. In its passage it bent the trees until they groaned +and creaked again; it tore off the smaller twigs and whisked them up +into the air; it lifted the snow in masses out of the open spots in the +woods, and hurled them in cloud-like volumes everywhere; and it roared +and shrieked through the valleys and round the mountain tops as if a +thousand evil spirits were let loose upon the scene. + +Silver Lake was still silvery in its aspect, for the white drift was +flying across it like the waves of a raging sea; but here, being +exposed, the turmoil was so tremendous that there was no distinguishing +between earth, lake, and sky. "Confusion, worse confounded" reigned +every where, or rather, appeared to reign; for, in point of fact, _there +is no confusion whatever_ in the works and ways of God. Common sense, +if unfallen, would tell us that. The Word reveals it, and science of +late years has added its testimony thereto. + +Roy and Nelly very naturally came to the conclusion that things were in +a very disordered state indeed on that Sabbath morning, so they returned +to their hut, to spend the day as best they might. + +Their first care was to kindle the fire and prepare breakfast. While +Nelly was engaged in this, Roy went out and cut several small trees, +with which he propped the hut all round to prevent it from being blown +down. But it was discovered, first, that the fire would hardly kindle, +and, second, that when it was kindled it filled the whole place with +smoke. By dint of perseverance, however, breakfast was cooked and +devoured, after which the fire was allowed to go out, as the smoke had +almost blinded them. + +"Never mind, Nell, cheer up," said Roy, on concluding breakfast; "we'll +rig up a tent to keep the snow off us." + +The snow, be it understood, had been falling into the fire, and, more or +less, upon themselves, through the hole in the roof; so they made a tent +inside the hut, by erecting two posts with a ridge-pole at a height of +three feet from the ground, over which they spread one of their +blankets. Under this tent they reclined with the other blankets spread +over them, and chatted comfortably during the greater part of that day. + +Of course their talk was chiefly of home, and of the mother who had been +the sun and the joy of their existence up to that sad day when they were +lost in the snow, and naturally they conversed of the Bible, and the +hymns which their mother had made the chief objects of their +contemplation on the Sabbaths they had spent at Fort Enterprise. + +Monday was as bad as Sunday in regard to weather, but Tuesday dawned +bright and calm, so that our wanderers were enabled to resume their +avocations. The snow-shoes were put in order, the sled was overhauled +and mended, and more fish were caught and hung up to dry. In the +evening Roy loaded his gun with ball, put on his snow-shoes, and sallied +forth alone to search for deer. He carried with him several small +pieces of line wherewith to make rabbit snares; for, the moment the snow +fell, innumerable tracks revealed the fact that there were thousands of +rabbits in that region. Nelly, meanwhile, busied herself in putting the +hut in order, and in repairing the mocassins which would be required for +the journey home. + +Lest any reader should wonder where our heroine found materials for all +the mending and repairing referred to, we may remark that the Indians in +the wilderness were, and still are, supplied with needles, beads, cloth, +powder and shot, guns, axes, etcetera, etcetera, by the adventurous +fur-traders, who penetrate deep and far into the wilderness of North +America; and when Nelly and Roy ran away from their captors they took +care to carry with them an ample supply of such things as they might +require in their flight. + +About half a mile from the hut Roy set several snares. He had often +helped his father in such work, and knew exactly how to do it. +Selecting a rabbit-track at a spot where it passed between two bushes, +he set his snare so that it presented a loop in the centre of the path. +This loop was fastened to the bough of a tree bent downwards, and so +arranged that it held fast to a root in the ground; when a rabbit should +endeavour to leap or force through it, he would necessarily pull away +the fastening that held it down, and the bough would spring up and lift +the hapless creature by the neck off the ground. + +Having set half-a-dozen such snares, Roy continued his march in search +of deer-tracks. He was unsuccessful, but to his surprise he came +suddenly on the huge track of a bear! Being early in the season this +particular bruin had not yet settled himself into his winter quarters, +so Roy determined to make a trap for him. He had not much hope of +catching him, but resolved to try, and not to tell Nelly of his +discovery until he should see the result. + +Against the face of a cliff he raised several huge stones so as to form +a sort of box, or cave, or hole, the front of which was open, the sides +being the stones referred to, and the back the cliff. Then he felled a +tree as thick as his waist, which stood close by, and so managed that it +fell near to his trap. By great exertions, and with the aid of a wooden +lever prepared on the spot, he rolled this tree--when denuded of its +branches--close to the mouth of the trap. Next he cut three small +pieces of stick in such a form that they made a trigger--something like +the figure 4--on which the tree might rest. On the top of this trigger +he raised the tree-stem, and on the end of the trigger, which projected +into the trap, he stuck a piece of dried fish, so that when the bear +should creep under the stem and touch the bait, it would disarrange the +trigger, set it off, and the heavy stem would fall on bruin's back. As +he knew, however, that bears were very strong, he cut several other +thick stems, and piled them on the first to give it additional weight. + +All being ready, and the evening far advanced, he returned to the hut to +supper. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +ROY'S DREAM. + +"Nelly, ye-a-a-ow!" exclaimed Roy, yawning as he awoke on the following +morning from a dream, in which bears figured largely; "what a night I've +had of it, to be sure--fightin' like a mad buffalo with--" Here Roy +paused abruptly. + +"Well, what were you fighting with?" asked Nell, with a smile that ended +in a yawn. + +"I won't tell you just now, lass, as it might spoil your appetite for +breakfast. Set about getting that ready as fast as you can, for I want +to be off as soon as possible to visit my snares." + +"I guess we shall have rabbits for dinner to-day." + +"What are you going to do with the sled?" inquired Nelly, observing that +her brother was overhauling the lashings and drag-rope. + +"Well, I set a lot o' snares, an' there's no sayin' how many rabbits may +have got into 'em. Besides, if the rabbits in them parts are +tender-hearted, a lot o' their relations may have died o' grief, so I +shall take the sled to fetch 'em all home!" + +After breakfast Roy loaded his gun with ball, and putting on his +snow-shoes, sallied forth with an admonition to his sister to "have a +roarin' fire ready to cook a rare feast!" + +Nelly laughingly replied, that she would, and so they parted. + +The first part of Roy's journey that day led him through a +thickly-wooded part of the country. He went along with the quick, yet +cautious and noiseless, step of a hunter accustomed to the woods from +infancy. His thoughts were busy within him, and far away from the scene +in which he moved; yet, such is the force of habit, he never for a +moment ceased to cast quick, inquiring glances on each side as he went +along. Nothing escaped his observation. + +"Oh, if I could only get a deer this day," thought he, "how scrumptious +it would be!" + +What he meant by "scrumptious" is best known to himself, but at that +moment a large deer suddenly--perhaps scrumptiously!--appeared on the +brow of a ridge not fifty yards in advance of him. They had been both +walking towards each other all that forenoon. Roy, having no powers of +scent beyond human powers, did not know the fact, and as the wind was +blowing from the deer to the hunter, the former--gifted though he was +with scenting powers--was also ignorant of the approaching meeting. + +One instant the startled deer stood in bewildered surprise. One instant +Roy paused in mute amazement. The next instant the deer wheeled round, +while Roy's gun leaped to his shoulder. There was a loud report, +followed by reverberating echoes among the hills, and the deer lay dead +on the snow. + +The young hunter could not repress a shout of joy, for he not only had +secured a noble stag, but he had now a sufficiency of food to enable him +to resume his homeward journey. + +His first impulse was to run back to the hut with the deer's tongue and +a few choice bits, to tell Nelly of his good fortune; but, on second +thoughts, he resolved to complete the business on which he had started. +Leaving the deer where it fell he went on, and found that the snares had +been very successful. Some, indeed, had been broken by the strength of +the boughs to which they had been fastened, and others remained as he +had set them; but above two-thirds of them had each a rabbit hung up by +the neck, so that the sled was pretty well loaded when all the snares +had been visited. + +He had by this time approached the spot where the bear-trap was set, and +naturally began to grow a little anxious, for, although his chance of +success was very slight, his good fortune that morning had made him more +sanguine than usual. + +There is a proverb which asserts that "it never rains but it pours." It +would seem to be a common experience of mankind that pieces of good +fortune, as well as misfortunes, come not singly. Whether the proverb +be true or no, this experience was realised by Roy on that day, for he +actually did find a bear in his trap! Moreover it was alive, and, +apparently, had only just been caught, for it struggled to free itself +with a degree of ferocity that was terrible to witness. + +It was an ordinary black bear of considerable size and immense strength. +Heavy and thick though the trees were that lay on its back and crushed +it to the earth, it caused them to shake, leap, and quiver as though +they had been endowed with life. Roy was greatly alarmed, for he +perceived that at each successive struggle the brute was ridding itself +of the superincumbent load, while fierce growls and short gasps +indicated at once the wrath and the agony by which it was convulsed. + +Roy had neglected to reload his piece after shooting the deer--a most +un-hunter-like error, which was the result of excitement. Thinking that +he had not time to load, he acted now on the first suggestion of his +bold spirit. Resting his gun against a tree, he drew the small axe that +hung at his belt and attacked the bear. + +The first blow was well delivered, and sank deep into bruin's skull; but +that skull was thick, and the brain was not reached. A roar and a +furious struggle caused Roy to deliver his second blow with less effect, +but this partial failure caused his pugnacity to rise, and he +immediately rained down blows on the head and neck of the bear so fast +and furious that the snow was speedily covered with blood. In +proportion as Roy strove to end the conflict by vigorous and quick +blows, the bear tried to get free by furious efforts. He shook the +tree-stem that held him down so violently that one of the other trees +that rested on it fell off, and thus the load was lightened. Roy +observed this, and made a desperate effort to split the bear's skull. +In his haste he misdirected the blow, which fell not on the head but on +the neck, in which the iron head of the axe was instantly buried--a main +artery was severed, and a fountain of blood sprang forth. This was +fortunate, for the bear's strength was quickly exhausted, and, in less +than two minutes after, it sank dead upon the snow. + +Roy sat down to rest and wipe the blood from his hands and garments, and +then, cutting off the claws of the animal as a trophy, he left it there +for a time. Having now far more than it was possible for him to drag to +the hut, he resolved to proceed thither with the rabbits, and bring +Nelly back to help him to drag home the deer. + +"Well done, Roy," cried Nelly, clapping her hands, when her brother +approached with the sled-load of rabbits, "but you are covered with +blood. Have you cut yourself?" + +She became nervously anxious, for she well knew that a bad cut on a +journey costs many a man his life, as it not only disables from +continuing the journey but from hunting for provisions. + +"All right, Nell, but I've killed a deer--and--and--something else! +Come, lass, get on your snow-shoes and follow me. We'll drag home the +deer, and then see what is to be done with the--" + +"Oh, _what_ is it? do tell!" cried Nell, eagerly. + +"Well, then, it's a bear!" + +"Nonsense!--tell me true, now." + +"That's the truth, Nell, as you shall see, and here are the claws. Look +sharp, now, and let's off." + +Away went these two through the snow, until they came to where the deer +had been left. It was hard work to get it lashed on the sled, and much +harder work to drag it over the snow, but by dint of perseverance and +resolution they got it home. They were so fatigued, however, that it +was impossible to think of doing the same with the bear. This was a +perplexing state of things, for Roy had observed a wolf-track when out, +and feared that nothing but the bones would be left in the morning. + +"What _is_ to be done?" said Nelly, with that pretty air of utter +helplessness which she was wont to assume when she felt that her brother +was the proper person to decide. + +Roy pondered a few moments, and then said abruptly, "Camp-out, Nelly." + +"Camp-out?" + +"Ay, beside the bear--keep it company all night with a big fire to scare +away the wolves. We'll put everything into the hut, block up the door, +and kindle a huge fire outside that will burn nearly all night. So now, +let's go about it at once." + +Although Nelly did not much relish the idea of leaving their comfortable +hut, and going out to encamp in the snow beside the carcase of a dead +bear, she was so accustomed to regard her brother's plans as perfect, +and to obey him promptly, that she at once began to assist in the +necessary preparations. Having secured everything safely in the hut, +and kindled a fire near it, which was large enough to have roasted an +ox, they set off for the bear-trap, and reached it in time to scare away +a large wolf which was just going to begin his supper on bruin. + +An encampment was then made in the usual way, close to the bear-trap, a +fire as large as could be conveniently made was kindled, and the brother +and sister wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay comfortably down +beside it to spend the night there. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +"SHOOSKIN'." + +Next day Roy and Nelly rose with the sun, and spent the forenoon in +skinning and cutting up the bear, for they intended to dry part of the +meat, and use it on their journey. The afternoon was spent in dragging +the various parts to the hut. In the evening Roy proposed that they +should go and have a shoosk. Nelly agreed, so they sallied forth to a +neighbouring slope with their sledge. + +Shoosking, good reader, is a game which is played not only by children +but by men and women; it is also played in various parts of the world, +such as Canada and Russia, and goes by various names; but we shall adopt +the name used by _our_ hero and heroine, namely "shoosking." It is very +simple, but uncommonly violent, and consists in hauling a sledge to the +top of a snow-hill or slope, getting upon it, and sliding down to the +bottom. Of course, the extent of violence depends on the steepness of +the slope, the interruptions that occur in it, and the nature of the +ground at the bottom. We once shoosked with an Indian down a +wood-cutter's track, on the side of a steep hill, which had a sharp turn +in it, with a pile of firewood at the turn, and a hole in the snow at +the bottom, in which were a number of old empty casks. Our great +difficulties in this place were to take the turn without grazing the +firewood, and to stop our sledges before reaching the hole. We each had +separate sledges. For some time we got on famously, but at last _we_ +ran into the pile of firewood, and tore all the buttons off our coat, +and the Indian went down into the hole with a hideous crash among the +empty casks; yet, strange to say, neither of us came by any serious +damage! + +"There's a splendid slope," said Roy, as they walked briskly along the +shores of Silver Lake, dragging the sledge after them, "just beyond the +big cliff, but I'm afraid it's too much for _you_." + +"Oh, _I_ can go if you can," said Nell, promptly. + +"You've a good opinion of yourself. I guess I could make you sing small +if I were to try." + +"Then don't try," said Nelly, with a laugh. + +"See," continued Roy, "there's the slope; you see it is very steep; we'd +go down it like a streak of greased lightnin'; but I don't like to try +it." + +"Why not? It seems easy enough to me. I'm sure we have gone down as +steep places before at home." + +"Ay, lass, but not with a round-backed drift like that at the bottom. +It has got such a curve that I think it would make us fly right up into +the air." + +Nelly admitted that it looked dangerous, but suggested that they might +make a trial. + +"Well, so we will, but I'll go down by myself first," said Roy, +arranging the sledge at the summit of a slope, which was full fifty feet +high. + +"Now, then, pick up the bits tenderly, Nell, if I'm knocked to pieces; +here goes, hurrah!" + +Roy had seated himself on the sledge, with his feet resting on the head +of it, and holding on to the side-lines with both hands firmly. He +pushed off as he cheered, and the next moment was flying down the hill +at railway speed, with a cloud of snow-drift rolling like steam behind +him. He reached the foot, and the impetus sent him up and over the +snow-drift or wave, and far out upon the surface of the lake. It is +true he made one or two violent swerves in this wild descent, owing to +inequalities in the hill, but by a touch of his hands in the snow on +either side, he guided the sledge, as with a rudder, and reached the +foot in safety. + +"May I venture, Roy?" inquired Nell, eagerly, as the lad came panting up +the hill. + +"Venture! Of course. I rose off the top o' the drift only a little +bit, hardly felt the crack at all; come, get you on in front, and I'll +sit at yer back an' steer." + +Nelly needed no second bidding. She sat down and seized the side-lines +of the sledge, with a look of what we may call wild expectation; Roy sat +down behind her. + +"Now, lass, steady, and away we go!" + +At the last word they shot from the hill-top like an arrow from a bow. +The cloud of snow behind them rolled thicker, for the sledge was more +heavily laden than before. Owing to the same cause it plunged into the +hollow at the foot of the hill with greater violence, and shot up the +slope of the snow-drift and over its crest with such force that it +sprung horizontally forward for a few feet in the air, and came to the +ground with a crash that extracted a loud gasp from Roy, and a sharp +squeak from Nelly. It was found to be so delightful, however, that they +tried it again and again, each time becoming more expert, and therefore +more confident. + +Excessive confidence, however, frequently engenders carelessness. Roy +soon became reckless; Nelly waxed fearless. The result was that the +former steered somewhat wildly, and finally upset. + +Their last "shoosk" that evening was undertaken just as the sun's latest +rays were shooting between the hills on the opposite side of Silver +Lake, and casting a crimson glow on the hut and the surrounding scenery. +Roy had fixed a snow-shoe on the outer ridge of the snow-drift, to mark +the distance of their last leap from its crest, and had given the sledge +an extra push on the way down to increase its impetus. This extra push +disconcerted him in steering; he reached the hollow in a side-long +fashion, shot up the slope of the drift waveringly, and left its crest +with a swing that not only turned the sledge right round, but also +upside down. Of course they were both thrown off, and all three fell +into the snow in a condition of dire confusion. Fortunately, no damage +was done beyond the shock and the fright, but this accident was +sufficient to calm their spirits, and incline them to go home to supper. + +"Well, it's great fun, no doubt, but we must turn our minds to more +earnest work, for our journey lies before us," said Roy, with the +gravity of an Iroquois warrior, as he sat beside the fire that night +discussing a bear-steak with his sister. "We have more than enough of +fish and meat, you see; a day or two will do to turn our deer and bear +into dried meat; the snow-shoes are mended, the sledge is in good order, +as to-night's work has proved, and all that we've got to do is to start +fresh with true bearin's and--hey! for home!" + +"I wish I was there," said Nelly, laying down a marrow-bone with a sigh. + +"Wishin' ain't enough, Nell." + +"I know that, an' I'm ready to work," said Nelly, resuming the bone with +a resolute air. "When shall we set out?" + +"When we are ready, lass. We shall begin to dry the meat to-morrow, an' +as soon as it's fixed--off we'll start. I only hope the cold weather +will last, for if it came warm it would go hard with your little feet, +Nell. But let's turn in now. Hard work requires a good sleep, an' it +may be that we've harder work than we think before us." + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +THE JOURNEY HOME RESUMED AND INTERRUPTED. + +Three days more and our young friends bade farewell to Silver Lake. + +Short though their stay had been, it had proved very pleasant, for it +was full of energetic labour and active preparation, besides a great +deal of amusement, so that quite a home feeling had been aroused in +their minds, and their regret at leaving was considerable. + +But after the first few miles of their journey had been accomplished, +the feeling of sadness with which they set out wore away, and hopeful +anticipations of being home again in a few weeks rendered them cheerful, +and enabled them to proceed with vigour. The weather at starting was +fine, too, so that the night encampments in the snow were comparatively +agreeable, and the progress made during the first few days was +satisfactory. + +After this, however, the good fortune of our adventurers seemed to +desert them. First of all one of Nelly's snow-shoes broke down. This +necessitated a halt of half a day, in order to have it repaired. Then +one of Roy's snow-shoes gave way, which caused another halt. After this +a heavy snow-storm set in, rendering the walking very difficult, as they +sank, snow-shoes and all, nearly to the knees at each step. A storm of +wind which arose about the same time, effectually stopped their farther +advance, and obliged them to take to the shelter of a dense part of the +woods and encamp. + +During three days and three nights the hurricane raged, and the snow was +blown up in the air and whirled about like the foam of the roaring sea; +but our wanderers did not feel its effects much, for they had chosen a +very sheltered spot at the foot of a large pine, which grew in a hollow, +where a cliff on one side and a bluff of wood on the other rendered the +blast powerless. Its fierce howling could be heard, however, if not +felt; and as the brother and sister lay at the bottom of their hole in +the snow, with their toes to the comfortable fire, they chatted much +more cheerily than might have been expected in the midst of such a +scene, and gazed upward from time to time with comparative indifference +at the dark clouds and snow-drifts that were rushing madly overhead. + +On the fourth day the gale subsided almost as quickly as it had arisen, +and Roy announced that it was his intention to start. In a few minutes +everything was packed up and ready. + +"I say, Nell," said Roy, just as they were about to leave the camp, +"don't the sled look smaller than it used to?" + +"So it does, Roy; but I suppose it's because we have eaten so much +during the last three days." + +Roy shook his head, and looked carefully round the hole they were about +to quit. + +"Don't know, lass; it seems to me as if somethin' was a-wantin'. Did ye +pack your own bundle very tight?" + +"Yes; I think I did it tighter than usual, but I'm not very sure." + +"Hum--that's it, no doubt--we've packed the sled tighter, and eaten it +down. Well, let's off now." + +So saying, Roy threw the lines of the sledge over his shoulder and led +the way, followed by his sister, whose only burden was a light blanket, +fastened as a bundle to her shoulders, and a small tin can, which hung +at her belt. + +The country through which they passed that day was almost destitute of +wood, being a series of undulating plains, with clumps of willows and +stunted trees scattered over it like islets in the sea. The land lay in +a succession of ridges, or steppes, which descended from the elevated +region they were leaving, and many parts of these ridges terminated +abruptly in sheer precipices from forty to sixty feet high. + +The sun shone with dazzling brilliancy, insomuch that the travellers' +eyes became slightly affected by snow-blindness. This temporary +blindness is very common in these regions, and ranges from the point of +slight dazzlement to that of total blindness; fortunately it is curable +by the removal of the cause--the bright light of the sun on pure snow. +Esquimaux use "goggles" or spectacles made of wood, with a narrow slit +in them as a preventive of snow-blindness. + +At first neither Roy nor Nelly felt much inconvenience, but towards +evening they could not see as distinctly as usual. One consequence of +this was, that they approached a precipice without seeing it. The snow +on its crest was so like to the plain of snow extending far below, that +it might have deceived one whose eyesight was not in any degree +impaired. + +The first intimation they had of their danger was the giving way of the +snow that projected over the edge of the precipice. Roy fell over +headlong, dragging the sledge with him. Nelly, who was a few feet +behind him, stood on the extreme edge of the precipice, with the points +of her snow-shoes projecting over it. Roy uttered a cry as he fell, and +his sister stopped short. A shock of terror blanched her cheek and +caused her heart to stand still. She could not move or cry for a few +seconds, then she uttered a loud shriek and shrank backwards. + +There chanced to be a stout bush or tree growing on the face of the +cliff, not ten feet below the spot where the snow-wreath had broken off. +Roy caught at this convulsively, and held on. Fortunately the line on +his shoulder broke, and the sledge fell into the abyss below. Had this +not happened, it is probable that he would have been dragged from his +hold of the bush. As it was, he maintained his hold, and hung for a few +seconds suspended in the air. Nelly's shriek revived him from the gush +of deadly terror that seized him when he fell. He grasped the boughs +above him, and was quickly in a position of comparative security among +the branches of the bush. + +"All right, Nell," he gasped, on hearing her repeat her cry of despair. +"I'm holdin' on quite safe. Keep back from the edge, lass--there's no +fear o' me." + +"Are you sure, Roy?" cried Nelly, trembling very much, as she stretched +forward to try to catch sight of her brother. + +"Ay, quite sure; but I can't get up, for there's six feet o' smooth rock +above me, an' nothin' to climb up by." + +"Oh! what _shall_ I do!" cried Nelly. + +"Don't get flurried--that's the main thing, lass. Let me think--ay, +that's it--you've got your belt?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, take it off and drop the end over to me; but lie down on your +breast, and be careful." + +Nelly obeyed, and in a few seconds the end of the worsted belt that +usually encircled her waist was dangling almost within reach of her +brother. This belt was above five feet long. Roy wore one of similar +material and length. He untied it, and then sought to lay hold of the +other. With some difficulty, and much risk of falling, he succeeded, +and fastened his own belt to it firmly. + +"Now, Nell, haul up a little bit--hold! enough." + +"What am I to do now?" asked Nell, piteously; "I cannot pull you up, you +know." + +"Of course not; but take your snow-shoe and dig down to the rocks-- +you'll find somethin', I dare say, to tie the belts to. Cheer up, lass, +and go at it." + +Thus encouraged, the active little girl soon cleared away the snow until +she reached the ground, where she found several roots of shrubs that +seemed quite strong enough for her purpose. To one of these she tied +the end of her belt, and Roy, being an athletic lad, hauled himself up, +hand over hand, until he gained a place of safety. + +"But the sledge is gone," cried Nelly, pausing suddenly in the midst of +her congratulations. + +"Ay, and the grub," said Roy, with a blank look. + +This was indeed too true, and on examination it was found that things +were even worse than had been anticipated, for the sledge had fallen on +a ledge, half way down the precipice, that was absolutely inaccessible +either from above or below. An hour was spent in ascertaining this, +beyond all doubt, and then Roy determined to return at once to their +last encampment to gather the scraps they had thrown away or left behind +as useless. + +That night they went supperless to rest. Next morning, they set out +with heavy hearts for the encampment of the previous day. On reaching +it, and searching carefully, they found that one of the bundles of dry +meat had been forgotten. This accounted for the lightness of the +sledge, and, at the same time, revived their drooping spirits. + +"What is to be done now?" inquired Nelly. + +"Return to Silver Lake," said Roy, promptly. "We must go back, fish and +hunt again until we have another supply o' grub, and then begin our +journey once more." + +Sadly and slowly they retraced their steps. Do what he would Roy could +not cheer up his sister's spirits. She felt that her back was turned +towards her father's house--her mother's home--and every step took her +farther from it. + +It was a lovely evening, about sunset, when they reached Silver Lake, +and found the hut as they had left it, and enough of old scraps of +provisions to afford a sufficient meal. + +That night they ate their supper in a more cheerful frame of mind. Next +day they breakfasted almost with a feeling of heartiness, and when they +went out to resume their fishing, and to set snares and make traps, the +old feeling of hopefulness returned. Ere long, hope became again so +strong in their ardent young hearts, that they laughed and talked and +sported as they had done during the period of their first residence +there. + +At first they were so anxious to make up the lost quantity of food that +they did little else but fish, hunt, and dry their provisions when +obtained; but after a few days they had procured such an ample supply +that they took to shoosking again--having succeeded in making a new +sledge. But a thaw came suddenly and spoiled all their fish. A wolf +carried off the greater part of their dried meat one day while they were +absent from the hut. After this the frost set in with extreme violence, +game became more scarce, and fish did not take the bait so readily, so +that, although they procured more than enough for present consumption, +they were slow in accumulating a travelling store; and thus it came to +pass that November found Roy and Nelly still toiling wearily, yet +hopefully, on the shores of Silver Lake. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +THE MASSACRE. + +We must return now to Robin Gore and his wife, who, on the morning on +which we re-introduce them to the reader, were standing in the trading +store of Fort Enterprise, conversing earnestly with Black, the Indian, +who has been already mentioned at the beginning of our tale. The wife +of the latter--the White Swan--was busily engaged in counting over the +pack of furs that lay open on the counter, absorbed, apparently, in an +abstruse calculation as to how many yards of cloth and strings of beads +they would purchase. + +"Well, I'm glad that's fixed, anyhow," said Robin to his wife, as he +turned to the Indian with a satisfied air, and addressed him in his +native tongue, "it's a bargain, then, that you an' Slugs go with me on +this expedition, is't so?" + +"The Black Swan is ready," replied the Indian, quietly, "and he thinks +that Slugs will go too--but the white hunter is self-willed; he has a +mouth--ask himself." + +"Ay, ye don't like to answer for him," said Robin, with a smile; +"assuredly Slugs has his own notions, and holds to 'em; but I'll ask +him. He is to be here this night, with a deer, I hope, for there are +many mouths to fill." + +Black Swan, who was a tall, taciturn, and powerful Indian, here glanced +at his wife, who was, like most Indian women, a humble-looking and not +very pretty or clean creature. Turning again to Robin, he said, in a +low, soft voice-- + +"The White Swan is not strong, and she is not used to be alone." + +"I understand you," said Robin; "she shall come to the Fort, and be +looked after. You won't object to take her in, Molly, when we're away?" + +"Object, Robin," said Molly, with a smile, which was accompanied by a +sigh, "I'll only be too glad to have her company." + +"Well, then, that's settled; and now, Black Swan, I may as well tell you +what coorse I mean to follow out in this sarch for my child'n. You know +already that four white men--strangers--have come to the Fort, an' are +now smokin' their pipes in the hall, but you don't know that one on 'em +is my own brother Jefferson; Jeff, I've bin used to call him. Jeff's +bin a harem-scarem feller all his life--active and able enough, an' good +natur'd too, but he never could stick to nothin', an' so he's bin +wanderin' about the world till grey hairs have begun to show on him, +without gettin' a home or a wife. The last thing he tried was stokin' a +steamboat on the Mississippi; but the boat blew up, pitched a lot o' the +passengers into the water, an' the rest o' them into the next world. +Jeff was always in luck with his life; he's lost everythin' over an' +over again but that. He was one o' the lot as was blowed into the +water, so, when he come up he swamed ashore, an' come straight away here +to visit me, bringin' three o' the blowed-up passengers with him. The +three are somethin' like himself; good for nothin'; an' I'd rather have +their room than their company at most times. Hows'ever, just at this +time I'm very glad they've come, for I'll leave them in charge o' the +Fort, and set off to look for the child'n in two days from this. I'll +take Walter and Larry wi' me, for brother Jeff is able enough to manage +the trade if redskins come; he can fight too, if need be. The Gore +family could always do that, so ye needn't be afraid, Molly." + +"I'll not be afraid, Robin, but I'll be anxious about ye." + +"That's nat'ral, lass, but it can't be helped. Well, then," continued +Robin, "the five of us will start for the Black Hills. I've bin told by +a redskin who comed here last week that he an' his tribe had had a +scrimmage with Hawk an' the reptiles that follow him. He says that +there was a white boy an' a white girl with Hawk's party, an' from his +account of 'em I'm sartin sure it's my Roy and Nelly. God help 'em! +`but,' says he, `they made their escape durin' the attack, an' we +followed our enemies so far that we didn't think it worth while to +return to look for 'em, so I'm convinced they made for the Black Hills, +nigh which Hawk was attacked, an' if we follow 'em up there we may find +'em alive yet, mayhap.'" + +Poor Robin's voice became deeper and less animated as he spoke, and the +last word was uttered with hesitation and in a whisper. + +"O Robin, Robin!" exclaimed Mrs Gore, throwing her arms suddenly round +her husband's neck, and hiding her sobbing face in his breast, "d'ye +think they can _still_ be alive?" + +"Come, Molly," said Robin, commanding his feelings with a great effort, +"han't ye often read to me that wi' God all things is possible?" + +The poor woman thanked God in her heart, for up to that day Robin had +never once quoted Scripture in his efforts to comfort her. + +"Was Wapaw with Hawk when they were attacked?" inquired the Black Swan. + +"Wapaw is dead," said a deep voice, as the huge form of a western hunter +darkened the little doorway, and the next moment Slugs strode into the +store, and quietly seated himself on the counter. + +"Dead!" exclaimed Robin, as he shook the hunter's proffered hand. + +"Ay, dead! Have ye no word of welcome for a chum after a month's +absence?" said Slugs, holding out his horny hand to the Black Swan, who +gravely grasped and shook it. + +"You redskins are a queer lot," said Slugs, with a grin, "yer as stiff +as a rifle ramrod to look at, but there's warm and good stuff in 'ee for +all that." + +"But what about Wapaw?" inquired Mrs Gore, anxiously; "surely he's not +dead." + +"If he's not dead he's not livin', for I saw Hawk himself, not four +weeks ago, shoot him and follow him up with his tomahawk, and then heard +their shout as they killed him. Where did he say he was goin' when he +left you?" + +"He said he would go down to the settlements to see the missionaries, +an' that he thought o' lookin' in on the fur-traders that set up a fort +last year, fifty miles to the south'ard o' this." + +"Ay, just so," said Slugs; "I was puzzled to know what he was doin' +thereaway, and that explains it. He's dead now, an' so are the +fur-traders he went to see. I'll tell ye all about it if you'll give me +baccy enough to fill my pipe. I ran out o't three days agone, an' ha' +bin smokin' tea-leaves an' bark, an' all sorts o' trash. Thank 'ee; +that's a scent more sweet nor roses." + +As he said this the stout hunter cut up the piece of tobacco which Robin +at once handed to him, and rolled it with great zest between his palms. +When the pipe was filled and properly lighted, he leaned his back +against an unopened bale of goods that lay on the counter, and drawing +several whiffs, began his narrative. + +"You must know that I made tracks for the noo fur-tradin' post when I +left you, Black Swan, about a month ago. I hadn't much of a object; it +was mainly cooriosity as took me there. I got there all right, an' was +sittin' in the hall chattin' wi' the head man--Macdonell they called +him--about the trade and the Injuns. Macdonell's two little child'n was +playin' about, a boy an' a girl, as lively as kittens, an' his wife--a +good-lookin' young 'ooman--was lookin' arter 'em, when the door opens, +and in stalks a long-legged Injun. It was Wapaw. Down he sat in front +o' the fireplace, an' after some palaver an' a pipe--for your Injuns'll +never tell all they've got to say at once--he tells Macdonell that there +was a dark plot hatchin' agin' him--that Hawk, a big rascal of his own +tribe, had worked upon a lot o' reptiles like hisself, an' they had made +up their minds to come an' massacre everybody at the Fort, and carry off +the goods. + +"At first Macdonell didn't seem to believe the Injun, but when I told +him I knowed him, an' that he was a trustworthy man, he was much +troubled, an' in doubt what to do. Now, it's quite clear to me that +Hawk must have somehow found out or suspected that Wapaw was goin' to +'peach on him, an' that he had followed his trail close up; for in less +than an hour arter Wapaw arrived, an' while we was yet sittin' smokin' +by the fire, there was a most tremendous yell outside. I know'd it for +the war-whoop o' the redskins, so I jumped up an' cocked my rifle. The +others jumped up too, like lightnin'; an' Mrs Macdonell she got hold o' +her girlie in her arms an' was runnin' across the hall to her own room, +when the door was knocked off its hinges, and fell flat on the floor. +Before it had well-nigh fallen I got sight o' somethin', an' let drive. +The yell that follered told me I had spoilt somebody's aim. A volley +was poured on us next moment, an' a redskin jumped in, but Wapaw's +tomahawk sent him out again with a split skull. Before they could +reload--for the stupid fools had all fired together--I had the door up, +and a heavy table shoved agin it. Then I turned round, to load agin; +while I was doin' this, I observed poor Macdonell on his knees beside +his wife, so I went to them an' found that the wife an' girl were stone +dead--both shot through the heart with the same ball. + +"As soon as Macdonell saw this he rose up quietly, but with a look on +his face sich as I never see in a man 'xcept when he means to stick at +nothin'. He got hold of his double-barrelled gun, an' stuck a scalpin' +knife an' an axe in his belt. + +"`Git on my back, Tommy,' says he to his little boy, who was cryin' in a +corner. + +"Tommy got up at once, an' jumped on his dad's back. All this time the +redskins were yellin' round the house like fiends, an' batterin' the +door, so that it was clear it couldn't stand long. + +"`Friends,' said he turnin' to me an' Wapaw, an' a poor terrified chap +that was the only one o' his men as chanced to be in the house at the +time, `friends, it's every man for himself now; I'll cut my way though +them, or--'. He stopped short, an' took hold o' his axe in one hand, +an' his gun in the other. `Are ye ready?' says he. We threw forward +our rifles an' cocked 'em; Macdonell--he was a big, strong man--suddenly +upset the table; the savages dashed in the door with sich force that +three or four o' 'em fell sprawlin' on the floor. We jumped over these +before they could rise, and fired a volley, which sent three or four o' +the reptiles behind on their backs. We got into the bush without a +scratch, an' used our legs well, I can tell 'ee. They fired a volley +after us, which missed us all except poor Tommy. A bullet entered his +brain, an' killed him dead. For some time his father would not drop +him, though I told him he was quite dead; but his weight kept him from +runnin' fast, an' we heard the redskins gainin' on us, so at last +Macdonell put the boy down tenderly under a bush. Me and Wapaw stopped +to fire an' keep the reptiles back, but they fired on us, and Wapaw +fell. I tried to lift him, but he struggled out o' my arms. Poor +fellow! he was a brave man; and I've no doubt did it a-purpose, knowin' +that I couldn't run fast enough with him. Just then I saw Hawk come +jumpin' and yellin' at us, followed by two or three dozen redskins, all +flourishin' their tomahawks. Macdonell and me turned to die fightin' +alongside o' our red comrade, but Wapaw suddenly sprang up, uttered a +shout of defiance, an' dashed into the bush. The Injuns were after him +in a moment, and before we could get near them a yell of triumph told us +that it was too late, so we turned and bolted in different directions. + +"I soon left them behind me, but I hung about the place for a day or two +to see if Macdonell should turn up, or any of his men. I even went back +to the Fort after the reptiles had left it. They had burned it down, +an' I saw parts o' the limbs o' the poor wife and child lyin' among the +half-burned goods that they weren't able to carry away with them." + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +VENGEANCE. + +The terrible tale which was related by Slugs had the effect of changing +Robin Gore's plans. He resolved to pursue the murderers, and inflict +summary punishment on them before setting off on the contemplated search +for his lost children, and he was all the more induced to do this that +there was some hope he might be able to obtain a clue to their +whereabouts from some of the prisoners whom he hoped to seize. + +It might be thought by some a rash step for him to take--the pursuit of +a band of about fifty savages with a party of six men. But backwood +hunters were bold fellows in those days, and Indians were by no means +noted for reckless courage. Six stout, resolute, and well-armed men +were, in Robin's opinion, quite a match for fifty redskins! + +He could not muster more than six, because it was absolutely necessary +to leave at least three men to guard Fort Enterprise. Robin therefore +resolved to leave his brother Jeff to look after it, with two of the +strangers; and Jeff accepted the charge with pleasure, saying he "would +defend the place agin a hundred red reptiles." The third stranger--a +man named Stiff--he resolved to take with him. + +The war-party, when mustered, consisted of Robin Gore, his nephew +Walter, Larry O'Dowd, the Black Swan, Slugs the hunter, and Stiff the +stranger. Armed to the teeth, these six put on their snow-shoes the +following morning, and set forth on their journey in silence. + +Now this change of plans was--all unknown to Robin--the means of leading +him towards, instead of away from, his lost little ones. For Roy and +Nelly had travelled so far during their long wanderings from the Black +Hills--the place where they escaped from the Indians--that they were at +that time many long miles away from them in another direction. In fact, +if Robin had carried out his original plan of search, he would have been +increasing the distance between himself and his children every step he +took! + +Not knowing this, however, and being under the impression that each +day's march lessened his chance of ultimately finding his lost ones, he +walked along, mile after mile, and day after day, in stern silence. + +On the third day out, towards evening, the party descried a thin line of +blue smoke rising above the tree-tops. They had reached an elevated and +somewhat hilly region, so that the ground favoured their approach by +stealth, nevertheless, fearing to lose their prey, they resolved to wait +till dark, and take their enemies, if such they should turn out to be, +by surprise. + +Soon after sunset Robin gave the word to advance. Each man of the party +laid aside his blanket, and left his provisions, etcetera, in the +encampment, taking with him his arms only. + +"I need not say that there must be no speaking, and that we must tread +lightly. You're up to redskin ways as well as me, except mayhap our +friend Stiff here." + +Stiff who was a tall Yankee, protested that he could "chaw up his +tongue, and go as slick as a feline mouser." + +On nearing the fire, they made a _detour_ to examine the tracks that led +to it, and found from their number and other signs that it was indeed +Hawk's party. + +Robin advanced alone to reconnoitre. On returning, he said-- + +"It's just the reptiles; there's forty of 'em if there's one, an' +they've got a white man bound with 'em; no doubt from what you said of +him, Slugs, it's Macdonell; but I don't see Wapaw. I fear me that his +days are over. Now, then, lads, here's our plan: we'll attack them from +six different points at once. We'll all give the war-whoop at the same +moment, takin' the word from Walter there, who's got a loud pipe of his +own, then when the varmints start to their feet--for I don't like the +notion o' firin' at men off their guard--Walter, Larry, an' Stiff will +fire. Black Swan, Slugs, an' I will reserve our fire while you reload; +the reptiles will scatter, of course, an' we'll give 'em a volley an' a +united yell as they cut stick, that'll keep 'em from waitin' for more." + +The plan thus hastily sketched was at once carried out. Advancing +stealthily to their several stations, the six men, as it were, +surrounded the savages, who, not dreaming of pursuit, had neglected to +place sentinels round the camp. When Walter's loud "halloo!" rang in +their ears, the whole band sprang to their feet, and seized their arms, +but three shots laid three of them dead on the ground. As they fled +right and left the reserve fired, and shot three others, among whom was +Hawk himself. Black Swan had picked him out, and shot him through the +head. Before they were quite out of shot, the three who had first fired +had reloaded and fired again with some effect, for blood was afterwards +observed on the snow. + +Slugs now made a rush into the camp to unbind Macdonell, but to his +horror he discovered that a knife was plunged up to the handle in his +breast, and that he was almost dead. Hawk had evidently committed this +cowardly deed on the first alarm, for the knife was known to be his. +Macdonell tried hard to speak, but all that he was able to say was, +"Wapaw, wounded, escaped--follow." Then his head fell back, and he +died. From the few words thus uttered, however, the pursuers concluded +that Wapaw was not dead, but wounded, and that he had escaped. + +"If that be so," said Walter, "then they must have been on Wapaw's +tracks, an' if we search we shall find 'em, an' may follow 'em up." + +"True," said Slugs, "and the sooner we're away from this the better, for +the reptiles may return, and find us not so strong a band as they +think." + +Acting on this advice, the whole party set off at once. Wapaw's track +was soon discovered, being, of course, a solitary one, and in advance of +his enemies, who were in pursuit. Following the track with untiring +vigour, the party found that it led them out of the lower country into a +region high up amongst the hills. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +THE PURSUIT. + +"Wapaw must have worked hard, for we should have overhauled him by this +time," said Walter to his uncle on the evening of the next day, as they +plodded steadily along through the snow. + +"I would give up the pursuit," said Robin, somewhat gloomily, "for it's +losin' time that might be better spent on another search; but it won't +do to leave the crittur, for if he's badly wounded he may die for want +o' help." + +"Guess he can't be very bad, else he'd niver travel so fast," observed +Stiff, who, now that the chief murderer was punished, did not care much +to go in search of the wounded Indian. + +"When a man thinks a band o' yellin' redskins are follerin' up his +trail," said Slugs, "he's pretty sure to travel fast, wounded or not +wounded--leastways if he's able. But I don't think we'll have to go +much farther now, for I've noticed that his stride ain't so long as it +was, and that's a sartin sure sign that he's failin'; I only hope he +won't go under before we find him." + +"Niver a fear o' that," said Larry O'Dowd, with a grin. "I've seed him +as far gone as any one iver I comed across, wi' starvation; but the way +that fellow walked into the grub when he got the chance was wonderful to +behold! I thought he'd ait me out o' the house entirely; and he put so +much flesh on his bones in a week or two that he was able to go about +his business, though he warn't no fatter when he began to ait than a +consumptive darnin' needle. True for ye--it's naither walkin', +starvin', nor cowld, as'll kill Wapaw." + +"What does the Black Swan think?" inquired Robin. + +"We shall see Wapaw when the sun is low to-morrow," replied the Indian. + +"Mayhap we shall," quoth Robin, "but it behooves us to get the steam up +for to-morrow: so, comrades, as there's a good clump o' timber here +away, we'll camp." + +Robin threw down his bundle as he spoke, and his example was at once +followed by the others, each of whom set to work vigorously to assist in +preparing the encampment. + +They had all the requisite implements for this purpose, having returned, +after the attack on the Indians, for the things they had left behind +them. + +"It's a pity that we shall have to keep watch to-night," said Walter; +"one of us will have to do it, I fancy; for though I don't believe these +murderin' redskins have pluck to attack us, it would not do to trust to +that." + +Slugs, to whom this remark was addressed, lowered the axe with which he +was about to fell a neighbouring tree for firewood. + +"That's true," said he, looking round him in all directions; "hold on, +comrades, yonder's a mound with a bare top, we'd better camp there. +Makin' a big blaze on sitch a place'll show the red reptiles we don't +care a gun-flint for them, and they'll not dare to come near, so we +won't have to watch." + +"Arrah! an' a purty spot it'll be for the blackyirds to shoot us all +aisy as we're sottin' at supper," exclaimed Larry O'Dowd. + +"Doubtless there's a hollow on it," rejoined Slugs, "for the top is +flat." + +"Humph! maybe," growled Larry, who still seemed to object; but, as the +rest of the party were willing to adopt the suggestion, he said no more, +and they all went to the top of the little mound, which commanded a +clear view of the surrounding country. + +As Slugs had surmised, there was a slight hollow on the summit of the +mound, which effectually screened the party from any one who might wish +to fire at them from below; and as there was no other mound in the +immediate neighbourhood, they felt quite secure. Huge logs were cut and +carried to the top of the mound, the snow was cleared out of the hole, +pine branches were spread over it, the fire was kindled, the kettle put +on and filled with snow, and soon Larry O'Dowd was involved in the heat, +steam, smoke, and activities of preparing supper, while his comrades +spread out their blankets and lay down to smoke with their arms ready +beside them. + +The fire roared up into the wintry sky, causing the mound to resemble +the cone or crater of a volcano, which could be seen for miles round. +Ever and anon, while supper was being eaten, the Black Swan or Slugs +would rise, and going stealthily to the edge of the mound would peep +cautiously over, to make sure that none of their enemies were +approaching. + +Immediately after supper, they all lay down to sleep, but, for a time, +each motionless form that lay rolled tightly in its blanket like an +Egyptian mummy, sent a series of little puffs from its head. At last +the stars came out, and the pipes dropped from each sleeper's lips. +Then the moon rose--a circumstance which rendered their position still +more secure--and the fire sank low. But Slugs was too cautious a hunter +to trust entirely to the alleged cowardice of the savages. He knew well +that many, indeed most of the redskins, bad as well as good, had quite +enough of mere brute courage to make them dare and risk a good deal for +the sake of scalping a white hunter, so he rose once or twice during the +night to replenish the fire and take a look round; and as often as he +rose for these purposes, so often did he observe the glittering eye of +the Black Swan glaring round the encampment, although its owner never +once moved from his recumbent posture. + +Thus the night was spent. The first glimmer of daylight found the whole +party up and equipped for the journey. + +They did not breakfast before setting out, as they preferred to take +their morning meal later in the day. Few words were spoken. At that +early hour, and in the sleepy condition which usually results from a +_very_ early start, men are seldom inclined to talk. Only one or two +monosyllables were uttered as each man rolled up his blanket with his +share of the provisions in it, and fastened on his snow-shoes. A few +minutes later Robin led the way down the slope, and the whole party +marched off in single file, and re-entered the woods. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +INTERESTING THOUGH PUZZLING DISCOVERIES. + +About eight o'clock they halted for breakfast, which Larry O'Dowd +prepared with his accustomed celerity, and assisted to consume with his +wonted voracity. + +"There's nothin' like aitin' when yer hungry," observed Larry, with his +mouth full. + +"'Xcept drinking when you're dry," said Stiff, ironically. + +"Now I don't agree with ye," retorted Larry; "I used to think so wance, +before I left the owld country--my blissin' rest on it. I used to think +there was nothin' like drink, an' sure I was right, for there niver +_was_ anythin' like it for turnin' a poor man into a baste; but when I +comed into the woods here I couldn't get drink for love or money, an' +sure I found, after a while, I didn't need it, and got on better widout +it, an' enjoyed me life more for want of it. Musha! it's little I care +for drink now; but, och! I've a mortal love for aitin'!" + +It needed not Larry's assurance to convince his hearers of the fact, for +he consumed nearly twice as much dried meat as any of his comrades. + +"Well, if ye don't drink gin-sling or cocktail," said Stiff, "you're +mighty hard on the tea." + +"True for ye, Stiff, it was the fav'rite tipple o' me owld mother, an' +I'm fond of it on that score, not to mention other raisins of a private +natur'." + +"Couldn't ye make these reasons public?" said Walter. + +"Unpossible!" said Larry, with much gravity, as he helped himself to +another can of tea. + +"Come, time's up," said Robin abruptly, as he rose to put on his +snow-shoes. + +Larry swallowed the tea at a draught, the others rose promptly, and in a +few minutes more they were again on the march. + +Towards noon they issued out of the woods upon a wide undulating +country, which extended, as far as the eye could see, to faint blue +mountains in the distance. This region was varied in character and +extremely beautiful. The undulations of the land resembled in some +places the waves of the sea. In other places there were clumps of trees +like islets. Elsewhere there were hollows in which lakelets and ponds +evidently existed, but the deep snow covered all these with a uniform +carpet. In some parts the ground was irregular and broken by miniature +hills, where there were numerous abrupt and high precipices. + +The party were approaching one of the latter in the afternoon, when +Robin suddenly paused and pointed to a projecting ledge on the face of +one of the cliffs. + +"What would ye say yonder objic' was?" he inquired of Slugs. + +The hunter shaded his eyes with his hand, and remained silent for a few +seconds. + +"It _looks_ like a sled," said he, dropping his hand, "but how it got +thar' would puzzle even a redskin to tell, for there's no track up to +that ledge." + +"It _is_ a sled," said Black Swan, curtly. + +"An' how came it there?" asked Robin. + +"It fell from the top," replied the Indian. + +"Right, lad, yer right!" said Slugs, who had taken another long look at +the object in question; "I see somethin' like a broken tree near the top +o' the precipice. I hope Wapaw hain't gone an' tumbled over that +cliff." + +This supposition was received in silence and with grave looks, for all +felt that the thing was not impossible, but the Indian shook his head. + +"Come, Black Swan," said Walter, "you don't agree with us--what think +ye?" + +"Wapaw had no sled with him," replied the Indian. + +"Right again!" cried Slugs; "I do believe my sense is forsakin' me; an +Injun baby might have thought of that, for his tracks are plain enough. +Hows'ever, let's go see, for it's o' no use standin' here guessin'." + +The party at once advanced to the foot of the precipice, and for nearly +an hour they did their utmost to ascend to the ledge, on which the +sledge lay, but their efforts were in vain. The rock was everywhere too +steep and smooth to afford foot-hold. + +"It won't do," said Larry, wiping the perspiration from his brow; "av we +had wings we might, but we hain't got 'em, so it's o' no manner o' use +tryin'." + +"We shall try from the top now," said Robin. "If anybody _has_ tumbled +over, the poor crittur may be alive yet, for all we know." + +They found their efforts to descend from the top of the precipice +equally fruitless and much more dangerous, and although they spent a +long time in the attempt, and taxed their wits to the utmost, they were +ultimately compelled to leave the place and continue their journey +without attaining their object. + +One discovery was made, however. It was ascertained by the old marks in +the snow at the edge of the precipice that, whatever members of the +party who owned the sledge had tumbled over, at least two of them had +escaped, for their track--faint and scarcely discernible--was traced for +some distance. It was found, also, that Wapaw's track joined this old +one. The wounded Indian had fallen upon it not far from the precipice, +and, supposing, no doubt, that it would lead him to some encampment, he +had followed it up. Robin and his men also followed it--increasing +their speed as much as possible. + +Night began to descend again, but Wapaw was not overtaken, despite the +Black Swan's prophecy. This, however, was not so much owing to the +miscalculation of the Indian, as to the fact that a great deal of time +had been lost in their futile endeavour to reach the sledge that had +fallen over the precipice. + +About sunset they came to a place where the track turned suddenly at a +right angle and entered the bushes. + +"Ha! the first travellers must have camped here, and Wapaw has followed +their example," said Robin, as he pushed aside the bushes. "Just so, +here's the place, but the ashes are cold, so I fear we are not so near +our Injun friend as we could wish." + +"Well, it can't be helped," cried Stiff, throwing down his bundle; +"we've had plenty o' walkin' for one day, so I vote for supper right +off." + +"I second the motion," said Walter, seizing his axe, "seein' that the +camp is ready made to hand. Now, Larry, get your pot ready." + +"Sure it's stuffed full a'ready--an' I only wish I was in the same +state," said the Irishman, as he pressed the snow tightly into a tin +kettle, and hung it over the fire, which Slugs had just kindled. + +The supper scene of the previous night was, in most of its details, +enacted over again; but it was resolved that each of the party should +keep watch for an hour, as, if the Indians had followed, there was a +possibility of their having gained on them during the delay at the +precipice. + +Before the watch was set, however, and while all the party were enjoying +their pipes after supper, the Black Swan suddenly exclaimed, "Ho!" and +pointed with his finger to something which peeped out of the snow at +Larry's elbow, that volatile individual having uncovered it during some +of his eccentric movements. + +"It's only an owld mocassin," said Larry, plucking the object from the +snow as he spoke; "some Injun lad has throw'd it away for useless." + +"Hand it here," said Robin, re-lighting his pipe, which had gone out. + +Larry tossed the mocassin to his leader, who eyed it carelessly for a +moment. Suddenly he started, and, turning the mocassin over, examined +it with close and earnest attention. Then he smiled, as if at his +passing anxiety, and dropped it on the ground. + +"It reminded me," said he to Walter, "of my Nelly, for it has something +of the same shape that she was fond of, an' for a moment I was foolish +enough to think it might ha' belonged to the dear child, but--. Come, +Larry, have 'ee got any more tea there?" + +"Is it tay ye want? faix, then, it's little more nor laves that's +remainin'," said Larry, draining the last drops into a pannikin; "well, +there's about half a mug-full, afther all; it's wonderful what can be +got out o' it sometimes by squaazin' the pot." + +"Hand it over, that's enough," said Robin, "thank 'ee, lad--here's +luck." + +He drained the pannikin as though it had been a glass of rum, and, +smacking his lips, proceeded leisurely to refill his pipe. + +"Are ye sure it's _not_ one of Nelly's old mocassins?" asked Walter, as +he eyed the little shoe earnestly. + +"Sure enough, nephy, I would know her mother's make among ten thousand, +an' although that one is oncommon like it in some respec's, it ain't one +o' _hers_." + +"But Nelly might have made it herself," suggested Walter, "and that +would account for its bein' like her mother's in the make." + +Robin shook his head. "Not likely," said he. "The child didn't use to +make mocassins. I'm not sure if she could do it at all; besides she was +last heard of miles and miles away from here in another direction. No, +no, Walter lad, we mustn't let foolish fancies bother us. However, the +sight o' this has fixed me to push on to-morrow as hard as I can lay my +legs to it, for if Wapaw's alive we can't fail to come up wi' him afore +sundown; and I'm keen to turn about an' go after my children. I'll push +on by myself if ye don't care to keep up wi me." + +This latter remark was made to Stiff, whose countenance indicated that +he had no desire to undertake a harder day's march than usual. The +effect of the remark was to stir up all the Yankee's pride. + +"I'll tell 'ee what it is, _Mister_ Gore," said he, tartly; "you may +think yourself an oncommon hard walker, but Obadiah Stiff is not the man +to cave in to any white man alive. I don't care to go trampin' over the +country day after day, like the Wandering Jew, after a redskin, as, I'll +go bound, ain't no better than the rest o' his kind; but if ye want to +see which of our legs is the best pair o' compasses, I'll walk with ye +from here to hereafter, I guess, or anywhar else ye choose; if I don't, +then my name ain't Stiff." + +"It would be well av it worn't Stiff, for ye've no reason to be proud +o't," observed Larry O'Dowd, with a grin; "don't spake so loud, man, but +shut up yer potatie trap and go to roost. Ye'll need it all if ye +wouldn't like to fall behind to-morrow. There now, don't reply; ye've +no call to make me yer father confessor, and apologise for boastin'; +good night, an' go to slape!" + +The rest of the party, who had lain down, laughed at this sally, and +Stiff, on consideration, thought it best to laugh too. In a few minutes +every one in the encampment was sound asleep, with the exception of +Robin Gore, who took the first hour of watching, and who sat beside the +sinking fire like a Indian in earnest meditation, with his eyes resting +dreamily on the worn-out mocassin. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +SHORT ALLOWANCE, AND A SURPRISE. + +Once again we return to Silver Lake; but here we do not find affairs as +we left them. True, Roy and Nelly are still there, the hut is as snug +as it used to be, and the scenery as beautiful, but provisions have +begun to fail, and an expression of real anxiety clouds the usually +cheerful countenance of Roy, while reflected anxiety sits on the sweet +little face of Nell. The winter is far advanced, and the prospect of +resuming the journey home is farther off than ever. + +One morning Roy entered the hut with a slow step and a sad countenance. + +"Nell," said he, throwing down a small fish which he had just caught, +"things look very bad now; seems to me that we'll starve here. Since we +broke the long line I've only caught little things like _that_; there's +no rabbits in the snares--I looked at every one this mornin'--and, as +for deer, they seem to have said good-bye for the winter. I thought of +goin' out with the gun this forenoon, but I think it a'nt o' no use, for +I was out all yesterday without seeing a feather or a hoof-print." + +The tone in which Roy said this, and the manner in which he flung +himself down on the ground beside the fire, alarmed his sister greatly, +so that she scarcely knew what to say. + +"Don't know what's to be done at all," continued Roy somewhat peevishly. + +This was so unlike himself that the little girl felt a strong tendency +to burst into tears, but she restrained herself. After a short silence, +she said somewhat timidly-- + +"Don't you think we might try to pray?" + +"What's the use," said Roy quickly; "I'm sure I've prayed often and +often, and so have you, but nothin's come of it." + +It was quite evident that Roy was in a state of rebellion. This was the +first time Nelly had suggested _united_ prayer to her brother; she did +it timidly, and the rebuff caused her to shrink within herself. + +Roy's quick eye observed the shrinking; he repented instantly, and, +drawing Nelly to him, laid her head on his breast. + +"Forgive me, Nell, I shouldn't have said it; for, after all, we've had +everything given to us here that we have needed up to this time. Come, +I _will_ pray with you." + +They both got upon their knees at once, but, strive as he might, not a +word would cross Roy's lips for several minutes. Nelly raised her head +and looked at him. + +"God help us!" he ejaculated. + +"For Jesus' sake," murmured Nelly. + +They both said "Amen" to these words, and these were all their prayers. + +Roy's rebellion of heart was gone now, but his feelings were not yet +calmed. He leaped up, and, raising his sister, kissed her almost +violently. + +"Now, lass, we _have_ prayed, and I _do_ believe that God will answer +us; so I'll take my gun and snow-shoes, an' off to the woods to look for +a deer. See that you have a roarin' fire ready to roast him three hours +hence." + +Nelly smiled through her tears and said she would, while Roy slipped his +feet through the lines of his snow-shoes, threw his powder-horn and +bullet-pouch over his shoulder, seized his gun, and sallied forth with a +light step. + +When he was gone, Nelly began actively to prepare for the fulfilment of +her promise. She took up the axe which Roy had left behind him, and +went into the forest behind the hut to cut firewood. She was very +expert at this laborious work. Her blows were indeed light, for her +little arms, although strong for their size, were not strong for such +labour; but she knew exactly where to hit and how to hit. Every stroke +fell on the right spot, with the axe at the right angle, so that a chip +or two flew off every time. She panted a good deal, and grew uncommonly +warm, but she liked the work; her face glowed and her eyes sparkled, and +it was evident that she was not exhausted by it. In little more than an +hour she had cut enough of dry wood to make a fire that would have +roasted an entire sheep. Then she carried it to the hut, after which +she sat down to rest a little. + +While resting, she gathered carefully together all the scraps of food in +the hut, and found that there was still enough for two good meals; so +she ate a small piece of dried fish, and began to wish that Roy would +return. Suddenly she was startled by a loud fluttering noise close to +the hut, and went out to see what it could be. + +It might be supposed that a little girl in such solitary and unprotected +circumstances would have felt alarmed, and thought of wolves or bears; +but Nelly was too well accustomed to the dangers and risks of the +backwoods to be much troubled with mere fancies. She was well aware +that wolves and bears, as a rule, shun the presence of human beings, and +the noise which she had heard was not of a very alarming character. + +The first sight that greeted her was a large bird of the grouse species, +sitting on a tree not three yards from the hut. She almost felt that by +springing forward she could seize it with her hands, and her first +impulse was to throw the axe at it; but, checking herself, she went +noiselessly back into the hut, and quickly reissued with the bow and a +couple of arrows. + +Fitting an arrow to the string, she whispered to herself, "Oh, how I +_do_ hope I won't miss it!" and took a careful aim. Anxiety, however, +made her hand unsteady, for, the next moment, the arrow was quivering in +the stem of the tree at least three inches below the bird. + +A look of deep disappointment was mingled with an expression of +determination as she pursed her little mouth and fitted the second arrow +to the string. This time she did not take so careful an aim, but let +fly at once, and her shaft entered the bird's throat and brought it to +the ground. With a cry of delight she sprang upon her prize, and bore +it in triumph into the hut, where she speedily plucked it. Then she +split it open, and went down to the lake and washed it quite clean and +spread it out flat. Her next proceeding was to cut a short stick, about +two feet in length, which she pointed at both ends, making one point +thinner than the other. This thin point she thrust through the bird, +and stuck it up before the fire to roast, placing a small dish, made of +birch bark, below it to catch the dripping. + +"I hope he won't come back till it's ready," she muttered, as the skin +of the bird began to brown and frizzle, while a delicious odour began to +fill the hut. + +Just as the thought was uttered, a footstep was heard outside, the +covering of the doorway was raised, a tall figure stooped to enter, and +the next instant a gaunt and half-naked savage stood before her. + +Nelly uttered a faint cry of terror, but she was so paralysed that she +could make no effort to escape, even had escape been possible. + +The appearance of the Indian was indeed calculated to strike terror to a +stouter heart than that of poor Nelly; for besides being partially clad +in torn garments, his eyes were sunken and bloodshot, and his whole +person was more or less smeared with blood. + +As the poor child gazed at this apparition in horror, the Indian said, +"Ho!" by way of salutation, and stepping forward, took her hand gently +and shook it after the manner of the white man. A gleam of intelligence +and surprise at once removed the look of fear from Nelly's face. + +"Wapaw!" she exclaimed breathlessly. + +"Ho!" replied the Indian, with a nod and a smile, as he laid aside his +gun and snowshoes, and squatted himself down before the fire. + +There was not much to be gathered from "ho!" but the nod and smile +proved to Nelly that the intruder was indeed none other than her old +friend Wapaw. + +Her alarm being now removed, she perceived that the poor Indian was +suffering both from fatigue and wounds--perhaps from hunger too; but +this latter idea was discarded when she observed that several birds, +similar to the one she had just killed, hung at the Indian's belt. She +rose up quickly, therefore, and, running down to the lake, soon returned +with a can of clear water, with which she purposed bathing Wapaw's +wounds. Wapaw seized the can, however, and emptied the contents down +his throat, so she was constrained to go for a second supply. + +Having washed the wounds, which were chiefly on the head and appeared to +her to be very severe, although, in reality, they were not so, she set +the roasted bird before him and desired him to eat. + +Of course she had put a great many questions to Wapaw while thus +occupied. Her residence with the Indians had enabled her to speak and +understand the Indian tongue a little, and, although she had some +difficulty in understanding much of what Wapaw said in reply, she +comprehended enough to let her know that a number of white men had been +killed by the savages, and that Wapaw was fleeing for his life. + +On first hearing this a deadly paleness overspread her face, for she +imagined that the white people killed must be her own kindred; but Wapaw +quickly relieved her mind on this point. + +After this he devoted himself entirely to the roasted bird, and Nelly +related to him, as well as she could, the particulars of her own and +Roy's escape from the Indians. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +MORE SURPRISING DISCOVERIES. + +While they were thus occupied, a cry was heard to ring through the +forest. The Indian laid his hand on his gun, raised his head, which he +turned to one side in a listening attitude, and sat as still as a dark +statue. The only motion that could be detected in the man was a slight +action in his distended nostrils as he breathed gently. + +This attitude was but momentary, however, for the cry was repeated ("Hi! +Nelly, hi!") in clear silvery tones, and Wapaw smiled as he recognised +Roy's voice, and quietly resumed his former occupation. + +Nelly bounded up at once, and ran out to receive her brother, and tell +him of the arrival of their old friend. + +She slipped on her snow-shoes, and went off in the direction of the cry. +On rounding the foot of a cliff she discovered Roy, standing as if he +had been petrified, with his eyes glaring at the snow with a mingled +look of surprise and alarm. + +Nelly's step roused him. + +"Ho! Nell," he cried, giving vent to a deep sigh of relief, "I'm +thankful to see you--but look here. What snow-shoe made _this_ track? +I came on it just this moment, and it pulled me up slick, I can tell +ye." + +Nelly at once removed Roy's alarm, and increased his surprise by telling +him of the new arrival, who, she said, was friendly, but she did not +tell him that he was an old friend. + +"But come, now, what have you got for dinner, Roy?" said Nelly, with an +arch smile, "for oh! I'm _so_ hungry." + +Roy's countenance fell, and he looked like a convicted culprit. + +"Nell, I haven't got nothin' at all." + +"_What_ a pity! We must just go supperless to bed, I suppose." + +"Come, lass, I see by the twinkle in your eye that you've got grub +somehow or other. Has the redskin brought some 'at with him?" + +"Yes, he has brought a little; but the best fun is that I shot a bird +myself, and had it all ready beautifully cooked for your supper, when +Wap--" + +"Well, what d'ye mean by Wap?" inquired Roy, as Nelly stopped short. + +"Nothing. I only meant to say that the Indian arrived suddenly, and ate +it all up." + +"The villain! Well, I'll pay him off by eatin' up some o' _his_ grub. +Did he say what his name was, or where he came from?" inquired Roy. + +"Never mind, you can ask him yourself," said Nelly, as they drew near to +the hut; "he seems to me to have been badly wounded by his enemies." + +They stooped and entered the hut as Nelly spoke. The Indian looked up +at her brother, and, uttering his wonted "Ho!" held out his hand. + +"Good luck to ye!" cried Roy, grasping it and shaking it with a feeling +of hearty hospitality. "It's good to see yer face, though it _is_ a +strange un; but--hallo!--I say--yer face ain't so strange, after all!-- +what! Why, you're not Wap--Wap--Wapaw!" + +The Indian displayed all his teeth, which were very numerous and +remarkably white, and nodded his head gently. + +"Well now, that beats everything!" cried Roy, seizing the Indian's hand +again and shaking it violently; then, turning to Nelly, he said, "Come, +Nell, stir yer stumps and pluck two o' them birds. I'll split 'em, an' +wash 'em, an' roast 'em, an' we'll all eat 'em--Wapaw'll be ready for +more before it's ready for him. Jump, now, and see if we don't have a +feast to-night, if we should starve to-morrow. But I say, Wapaw, don't +ye think the redskins may be after you yet?" + +The first part of this speech was uttered in wild glee, but the last +sentence was spoken more earnestly, as the thought occurred to him that +Wapaw might have been closely pursued, for Nelly had told him of the +Indian having been wounded by enemies and obliged to fly. + +Wapaw shook his head, and made his young friend understand as well as he +could that there was little chance of that, as he had travelled with the +utmost speed in order to distance his pursuers, and induce them to give +up the chase. + +"Well, it may be as you say, friend," observed Roy, as he sat down +before the fire and pulled off his hunting mocassins and socks, which he +replaced by lighter foot-gear more suited to the hut; "but I don't much +like the notion o' givin' them a chance to come up and cut all our +throats at once. It's not likely, however, that they'll be here +to-night, considerin' the pace you say you came at, so we'll make our +minds easy, but with your leave we'll cut our sticks to-morrow, an' make +tracks for Fort Enterprise. We han't got much in the way o' grub to +start wi', it is true, but we have enough at least for two days' eatin', +and for the rest, we have our guns, and you to be our guide." + +This plan was agreed to by Wapaw, who thereupon advised that they should +all lie down to sleep without delay. Roy, who was fatigued with his +day's exertions, agreed, and in less than half an hour the three were +sound asleep. + +Next morning they arose with the sun, much refreshed; and while Wapaw +and Nelly collected together and packed on their new sledge the few +things that they possessed, Roy went for the last time to cast his line +in Silver Lake. He was more fortunate than usual, and returned in an +hour with four fine fish of about six pounds' weight each. + +With this acceptable, though small, addition to their slender stock of +provisions, they left the hut about noon, and commenced their journey, +making a considerable _detour_ in order to avoid meeting with any of the +Indians who might chance to have continued the pursuit of Wapaw. + +That same evening, towards sunset, a party of hunters marched out of the +woods, and stood upon the shores of Silver Lake, the tracks about which +they began to examine with particular interest. There were six of the +party, five of them being white hunters, and one an Indian. We need +scarcely add that they were our friend Robin and his companions. + +"I tell 'ee what it is," cried Robin, in an excited tone, "that's my +Nelly's fut; I'd know the prints o't among a thousand, an' it's quite +plain Roy is with her, an' that Wapaw has come on 'em, for their tracks +are clear." + +"Sure it looks like it," observed Larry O'Dowd, scratching his head as +if in perplexity, "but the tracks is so mixed up, it ain't aisy to +foller 'em." + +"See, here's a well-beaten track goin' into the wood!" cried Walter, who +had, like his companions, been searching among the bushes. + +Every one followed Walter, who led the way towards the hut, which was +finally discovered with a thin, scarcely perceptible line of smoke still +issuing from the chimney. They all stopped at once, and held back to +allow Robin to advance alone. The poor man went forward with a beating +heart, and stopped abruptly at the entrance, where he stood for a few +seconds as if he were unable to go in. At length he raised the curtain +and looked in; then he entered quickly. + +"Gone, Walter, they're gone!" he cried; "come in, lad, and see. Here's +evidence o' my dear children everywhere. It's plain, too, that they +have left only a few hours agone." + +"True for ye, the fire's hot," said Larry, lighting his pipe from the +embers in testimony of the truth of his assertion. + +"They can't be far off," said Slugs, who was examining every relic of +the absent ones with the most minute care. "The less time we lose in +follerin' of 'em the better--what think ye, lad?" The Black Swan nodded +his approval of the sentiment. + +"What! without sleep or supper?" cried Stiff, whose enthusiasm in the +chase had long ago evaporated. + +"Ay," said Robin sternly, "_I_ start _now_. Let those stop here who +will." + +To do Stiff justice, his objections were never pressed home, so he +comforted himself with a quid of tobacco, and accompanied Robin and his +men with dogged resolution when they left the hut. Plunging once more +into the forest, they followed up the track all night, as they had +already followed it up all day. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +A GLADSOME MEETING. + +Some hours before dawn Robin Gore came to an abrupt pause, and looking +over his shoulder, held up his hand to command silence. Then he pointed +to a small mound, on the top of which a faint glow of light was seen +falling on the boughs of the shrubs, with which it was crowned. + +The moon had just set, but there was sufficient light left to render +surrounding objects pretty distinct. + +"That's them," said Robin to Walter, in a low whisper, as the latter +came close to his side; "no doubt they're sound asleep, an' I'm puzzled +how to wake 'em up without givin' 'em a fright." + +"Musha! it's a fright that Wapaw will give _us_, av we start him +suddenly, for he's murtherin' quick wi' his rifle," whispered Larry. + +"We'd better hide and then give a howl," suggested Stiff, "an', after +they're sot up, bring 'em down with a familiar hail." + +The deliberations of the party were out short and rendered unnecessary, +however, by Wapaw himself. That sharp-eared red man had been startled +by the breaking of a branch which Larry O'Dowd chanced to set his foot +on, and, before Robin had observed their fire, he had roused Roy and +Nelly and hurried with them to the summit of a rocky eminence, from +which stronghold they now anxiously watched the proceedings of the +hunters. The spot to which they had fled for refuge was almost +impregnable, and might have been held for hours by a couple of resolute +men against a host of savages. + +Robin, after a little further consultation, resolved to send the Black +Swan in advance to reconnoitre. This he did, contrary to his wonted +custom of taking the lead in everything, because of an unaccountable +feeling of dread lest he should not find his children there. + +Black Swan at once stepped cautiously forward with his rifle, ready +cocked, in the hollow of his left arm, and his finger on the +trigger-guard. Step by step he moved towards the encampment without +making the slightest noise, and with so little motion that he might +easily have been mistaken for a dark shadow. Raising his head over the +edge of the encampment he gazed earnestly into it, then he advanced +another pace or two, finally he stepped into it, and, standing erect, +looked around him. With a wave of his hand he summoned his comrades to +advance. Robin Gore's heart beat hard as he approached, followed by the +others. + +Meanwhile they were closely watched by Roy and Wapaw. When the Black +Swan's head appeared, Roy exclaimed in a whisper, "An Injun--d'ye know +him, Wapaw?" + +"He is one of our tribe, I think," replied the Indian, in the same low +voice, "but I know him not; the light of the fire is not strong." + +"If he's one o' your tribe," said Roy, "it's all up with us, for they +won't be long o' findin' us here. Keep close to me, Nell. I'll stick +by you, lass, don't fear." + +Wapaw's brows lowered when he saw the Black Swan step into the +encampment, and make the signal to his comrades to advance. He raised +his rifle, and took deliberate aim at his heart. + +"Roy," he whispered, "get an arrow ready, aim at the next man that steps +into the light and let fly; I'll not fire till after you, for the smoke +would blind you." + +Roy obeyed with a trembling hand. Notwithstanding the rough life he had +led in those wild woods of the West, he had never yet been called on to +lift his hand against a human being, and the thought of taking life in +this deliberate and almost murderous way caused him to shudder; still he +felt that their case was desperate, and he nerved himself to the deed. + +Another moment, and Robin stood beside the Black Swan. Roy tried to +raise his bow, but his heart failed him. Wapaw glanced at him, and said +sternly-- + +"Shoot first." + +At that moment Obadiah Stiff stepped into the encampment, and, stirring +the embers of the fire with a piece of stick, caused a bright flame and +showers of sparks to shoot upwards. This revealed the fact that some of +the party were white men, so Wapaw lowered his rifle. A single glance +of his practised eye told him who they were. Laying his hand suddenly +and heavily on Roy's shoulder he pressed him down. + +"Come, let us go," he said quickly; "I must see these men alone, and you +must keep close--you _must not look_." + +He said the latter words with emphasis; but in order to make sure that +they should not have a chance of looking, he led his young companions to +a point whence the encampment could not be seen, and left them there +with strict injunctions not to quit the spot until he should return. + +In a few seconds Wapaw stepped into the circle of light where Robin and +his party were all assembled, and so rapid and noiseless had his +movement been, that he was in the midst of them almost before they were +aware of his approach. + +"Wapaw!" exclaimed Walter in surprise, "why, you seem to have dropped +from the clouds." + +"Sure it's a ghost ye must be," cried Larry. The Indian took no notice +of these remarks, but turned to Robin, who, with a look of deep anxiety, +said-- + +"Have 'ee seed the childer, Wapaw?" + +"They are safe," answered the Indian. + +"Thank God for that!" cried Robin, while a sigh of relief burst from +him: "I believe ye, Wapaw, yer a true man an' wouldn't tell me a lie, +would ye?" + +The tone in which the hunter said this implied that the statement was +scarcely a true index to his feelings, and that he would be glad to hear +Wapaw assure him that he was indeed telling the truth. But this Indian +was a man of truthfulness, and did not deem it necessary to repeat his +assertion. He said, however, that he would go and fetch the children, +and immediately quitted the camp. Soon after he returned with Roy and +Nelly; he had not told them, however, who the strangers were. + +When Roy first caught sight of his father he gave a shout of surprise, +and stood still as if he were bewildered. Nelly uttered a wild scream, +and rushed forward with outstretched arms. Robin met her more than half +way, and the next moment folded his long-lost little one to his bosom. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +AT SILVER LAKE ONCE MORE. + +It were needless to detail all that was said and done during the +remainder of that night, or, rather, morning, for day began to break +soon after the happy meeting narrated in the last chapter. It would +require more space than we can afford to tell of all that was said and +done; how Robin embraced his children over and over again in the +strength of his love, and thanked God in the fervour of his gratitude; +how Roy and Nelly were eager to relate all that had befallen them since +they were carried away into captivity, in a much shorter time than such +a long story could by any possibility be told; how Walter rendered the +telling of it much more difficult by frequent interruptions with eager +questions, which induced divergencies from which the tale-tellers forgot +to return to the points where the interruptions occurred; how Larry +O'Dowd complicated matters by sometimes volunteering anecdotes of his +own, illustrative of points similar to those which were being related; +how Slugs always cut these anecdotes short with a facetious poke in the +ribs, which caused Larry to howl; how Stiff rendered confusion worse +confounded by trying to cook some breakfast, and by upsetting the whole +affair into the fire; and how the children themselves broke in on their +own discourse continually with sudden and enthusiastic questions as to +the health of their mother and the welfare of the live stock at Fort +Enterprise. + +All this cannot be described, therefore we leave it to the vivid +imagination of the reader. + +"Now, comrades," said Robin, after the sun had risen, after breakfast +had been and eaten, after every incident had been related at least twice +over, and after every conceivable question had been asked four or five +times--"now, comrades, it remains for us to fix what we'll do." + +"To the Fort," said Larry O'Dowd abruptly. + +"Ay--home!" cried Walter. + +"Oh yes--home--home!" exclaimed Roy and Nelly in the same breath. + +"Ditto," observed Obadiah Stiff. + +Slugs and the Black Swan, being men of few words, said nothing, but +nodded approval. + +"Well, it's quite plain that we're all of one mind," resumed Robin; +"nevertheless, there are one or two points to which I ax yer attention. +In the first place, it's now near the end of November. Fort Enterprise, +in a straight line, is more nor three weeks' march from hereaway. Our +provisions is low. When I left the Fort provisions was low there too, +an' if my brother Jeff ha'nt had more nor his usual luck in huntin' +they'll be lower yet before long. Now, I think it would be better to go +back to Silver Lake for a week or so, hunt an' fish there till we've got +a good supply, make noo sleds, load 'em chock full, an' then--ho! for +home. What say ye to that, comrades?" + +As every one assented readily to this plan, they proceeded at once to +carry it into execution. At first, indeed, Nelly looked a little +disappointed, saying that she wanted to get to her darling mother +without delay; but, on Walter pointing out to her that it would only +delay matters a week or so, and that it would enable the whole party to +rest and recruit, and give Wapaw time to recover thoroughly from his +wounds, she became reconciled, and put on her snow-shoes to return to +Silver Lake with some degree of cheerfulness; and when, in the course of +that day's walk, she began to tell her father of all the beauties and +wonders of Silver Lake, she was not only reconciled but delighted to +return. + +"O father!" said she, as they walked briskly through the forest, "you've +no notion what a beautiful place Silver Lake is. It's so clear, and +so--so--oh! I don't know how to tell you; so like the fairy places +Walter used to tell us of, with clear water and high cliffs, and the +clouds shining up at the clouds shining down, and two suns--one below +and another above. And then the hut! we made it all ourselves." + +"What! made the trees and all?" said Robin, with a smile. + +"No, of course not the trees; but we _cut_ the trees and piled 'em up, +and spread the brush-wood, and--and--then the fish! we caught _such_ big +ones." + +"How big, Nelly?" + +"Oh, ever so big!" + +"How big may that be?" + +"Well, some were so long," (measuring off the size on her arm,) "an' +some near as long as my leg--an' they were good to eat too--no good! +you've no notion; but you'll see and taste 'em too. Then there's the +shooskin'! Did you ever shoosk, father?" + +"No, lass--leastways I don't remember, if I did." + +"But you know what it is?" + +"To be sure, Nelly; ha'nt I seed ye do it often on the slopes at Fort +Enterprise?" + +"Well, the shooskin' here is far, _far_ better. The first time Roy did +it, he said it nearly banged all his bones to pieces--yes, he said he +felt as if his backbone was shoved up into his brain; and I sometimes +thought it would squeeze all my ribs together. Oh, it is _so_ nice! +You shall try it, father." + +Robin laughed heartily at this, and remarked that he would be very glad +to try it, though he had no particular desire to have his ribs squeezed +together, or his backbone shoved up into his brain! + +Then Nelly went on with great animation and volubility to tell of the +trapping of the bear, and the snaring of rabbits, and the catching of +fish, and of Roy's peculiar method of wading into the lake for ducks, +and many other things. + +Roy, meanwhile, entertained Walter and Larry O'Dowd with a somewhat +similar account of their doings during the months of their residence in +that wild region; and thus the journey was beguiled, so that the time +seemed to pass on swallows' wings. + +Towards evening the party approached the spot where Silver Lake had +first burst upon the enraptured gaze of the wandering pair. As they +drew near, Roy and Nelly hurried on in advance, and, mounting the fallen +tree on which they had formerly rested, waved to the others to come on, +and shouted for glee. And well might they shout, for the evening +happened to be brighter and calmer, if possible, than the one on which +they first saw the lake. The rolling clouds were whiter, too, and the +waters looked more silvery than ever. + +The exclamations of delight, and the looks of admiration with which the +glorious scene was greeted by the hunters when they came up, gratified +the hearts of Roy and Nelly very much. + +"Oh, _how_ I wish mother was here to see it!" cried Nelly. + +"Ain't _that_ a place for a king to live in, daddy?" said Roy, +enthusiastically. + +"So 'tis, lad, so 'tis--leastwise it's a goodish spot for a hunter. How +say you, Slugs?" + +Slugs smiled grimly, and nodded his head. + +"Would the red man like to pitch his wigwam there?" said Robin, +addressing the Black Swan. + +"He has pitched his wigwam here before," replied the Black Swan softly. +"When he first took the White Swan home to be his mate, he came to hunt +here." + +"Och! is it the honeymoon ye spint here?" broke in Larry. "Faix, it's a +purty spot for courtin', and no mistake. Is that a beehive over there?" +he added, pointing across the lake. + +"Why that's our hut--our _palace_," cried Nell, with gleeful look. + +"Then the sooner we get down to it, and have supper, the better," +observed Walter, "for we'll have to work hard to-morrow." + +"Come along, then," cried Robin, "an' go you ahead, Roy; beat the track, +and show us the way." + +Roy accepted the position of honour. Nelly followed him, and the whole +band marched off in single file along the shores of Silver Lake. They +soon reached the hut, and here again Nelly found many interesting points +to dilate upon. She poured her words into willing and sympathetic ears, +so that she monopolised nearly all the talk during the time that Larry +O'Dowd was preparing supper. + +When that meal was being eaten the conversation became more general. +Plans were discussed as to the intended procedure on the morrow, and +various courses of action fixed. After that, as a matter of course, the +pipes came out, and while these were being smoked, only the talkative +members of the party kept up the conversation at intervals. Roy and +Nelly having exhausted all they had to say, began to feel desperately +sleepy, and the latter, having laid her head on her father's knee, fell +sound asleep in that position. Soon the pipes were smoked out, the fire +was replenished, the blankets unrolled; and in a very brief period of +time the whole party was in a state of happy unconsciousness, with the +exception of poor Wapaw, whose wounds made him rather restless, and the +Black Swan, whose duty it was to take the first watch; for it was, +deemed right to set a watch, lest by any chance the Indians should have +followed the hunters' tracks, though this was not probable. + +Next morning Robin aroused the sleepers somewhat abruptly by shooting a +grey hen with his rifle from the tent door. + +"There's breakfast for you and me, Nelly, at any rate," remarked the +hunter, as he went down to the lake to secure his bird. + +"An' won't there be the bones and feathers for the rest of us?" observed +Larry, yawning, "so we won't starve this day, anyhow." + +In a few minutes every man was actively engaged in work of some sort or +other. Robin and Walter prepared fishing-lines from some pieces of +buckskin parchment; Black Swan and Slugs went out to cut wood for making +sledges; Stiff repaired the snow-shoes of the party, or rather assisted +Nelly in this operation; and Larry attended to the preparation of +breakfast. Wapaw was the only one who lay still, it being thought +better to make him rest, and get strong for the approaching journey. + +During the course of the day the lines were tried, and a good number of +fish caught. Slugs also went off in search of deer, and returned in the +evening with a large stag on his broad shoulders. This raised the +spirits of the party greatly, and they feasted that night, with much +rejoicing, on venison, marrowbones, and broiled fish! + +Thus they spent their time for several days. One party went regularly +every morning to fish in the ice-holes; another party roamed the woods, +and returned with grouse, or rabbits, and sometimes with deer; while +some remained, part of the day at least, in the hut, mending snow-shoes +and moccasins, and making other preparations. + +In the midst of all this busy labour, the shoosking was not forgotten. +One day Robin said to his little daughter, at breakfast, that as they +had got nearly enough of provisions for the journey they would take a +holiday and go and have a shoosk. The proposal was hailed with delight, +and the whole party went off with the new sledges, and spent the +forenoon in sliding and tumbling down the hills like very children. + +At last everything was ready for a start. The provisions were tightly +fastened on the sledges, which were to be drawn by each of the men in +turn. Snow-shoes were put on, guns and bows looked to and shouldered, +and on a bright, frosty December morning the hunters left the hut, +struck into the woods, and set out for Fort Enterprise. + +At the top of the slope, beside the fallen tree, they stopped with one +consent and gazed back; and there Nelly took her last sad look at Silver +Lake, and sorrowfully said her last farewell. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +THE HAPPIEST MEETING OF ALL. + +The snow was driving through the forests and over the plains of the +North American wilderness; the wind was shrieking among the tree-tops, +and whirling the drift in great clouds high up into the frosty air; and +the sun was setting in a glow of fiery red, when, on the last day of the +year, Robin Gore and his followers came to an abrupt halt, and, with one +consent, admitted that "the thing was impossible." + +"We can't do it, boys," said Robin, resting his rifle against a tree; +"so it's o' no use to try. The Fort is good ten miles off, an' the +children are dead beat--" + +"No they ain't," interrupted Roy, whose tone and aspect, however, proved +that his father's statement was true; "at least _I'm_ not beat yet--I'm +game for two or three hours more." + +"Well, lad, p'raps ye are, but Nelly ain't; so we'll camp here, an' take +'em by surprise in the morning early." + +Nelly, who had been carried on the backs of those who had broadest +shoulders during the last dozen miles, smiled faintly when spoken to, +and said she was "ve-y s'eepy!" + +So they set to work in the usual style, and were soon comfortably seated +in their snowy encampment. + +Next morning before dawn Robin awoke them. + +"Ho!" he cried, "get up, lads, look alive! A happy New Year to 'ee all, +young an' old, red an' white. Kiss me, Nell, dear--a shake o' yer paw, +Roy. An' it's a good New Year's day, too, in more ways than one, praise +the Almighty for that." + +The whole party was astir immediately, and that feeling of kindly +brotherhood which usually pervades the hearts of men on the first day of +a new year, induced them to shake hands heartily all round. + +"You'll eat your New Year's dinner at home, after all," said Walter to +Nelly. + +"Sure, an' it's a happy 'ooman yer mother'll be this good day," said +Larry, as he stirred up the embers of the fire, and blew them into a +flame. + +The kettle was boiled, and a good breakfast eaten, because, although it +is usually the custom for hunters to start on their day's journey, and +accomplish a good many miles of it before breakfast, they had +consideration for Roy and Nelly, both of whom were still suffering a +little from the fatigue of the previous day. They hoped to be at Fort +Enterprise in about four hours, and were anxious to arrive fresh. + +The sun was rising when they reached the top of a ridge, whence they +could obtain a distant view of the Fort. + +"Here we are _at home_, Nelly," said Robin, stooping down to kiss his +child on the forehead. + +"Darling, _darling_ mother!" was all that poor Nelly could say, as she +tried in vain to see the Fort though the tears which sprang to her eyes. + +"Don't you see it, Nell?" said Roy, passing his arm round his sister's +waist. + +"No, I don't," cried Nelly, brushing the tears away; "oh, _do_ let us go +on!" + +Robin patted her on the had, and at once resumed the march. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +That morning Mrs Gore rose from her bed about the saddest woman in the +land. Her mind flew back to the last New Year's day, when her children +were lost to her, as she feared, for ever. The very fact that people +are usually more jocose, and hearty, and happy, on the first day of the +year, was sufficient to make her more sorrowful than usual; so she got +up and sighed, and then, not being a woman of great self-restraint, she +wept. + +In a few minutes she dried her eyes, and took up her Bible, and, as she +read its blessed pages, she felt comfort--such as the world can neither +give nor take away--gradually stealing over her soul. When she met her +kinsman and his friends at breakfast she was comparatively cheerful, and +returned their hearty salutation with some show of a reciprocal spirit. + +"Jeff," said Mrs Gore, with a slight sigh, "it's a year, this day, +since my two darlings were lost in the snow." + +"D'ye say so?" observed Jeff, as he sat down to his morning meal, and +commenced eating with much voracity. + +Jeff was not an unkind man, but he was very stupid. He said nothing +more for some time, but, after consuming nearly a pound of venison +steak, he observed suddenly-- + +"Wall, I guess it wor a bad business that--worn't it, missus?" + +"It was," responded Mrs Gore; and, feeling that she had no hope of +meeting with sympathy from Jeff, she relapsed into silence. After a +time, she said-- + +"But we must get up a feast, Jeff. It won't do to let New Year's day +pass without a good dinner." + +"That's true as gosp'l," said Jeff. "Feed up is my motto, always. It +don't much matter wot turns up, if ye don't feed up yer fit for nothin'; +but, contrairy-wise, if ye do feed up, why yer ready for anythin' or +nothin', as the case may be." + +Having given vent to this sentiment, Jeff finished his meal with a +prolonged draught of tea. + +"Wall, now," said he, filling his pipe, "we've got enough o' deer's meat +an' other things to make a pretty fair feast, missus, but my comrades +and we will go an' try to git somethin' fresh for dinner. If we git +nothin' else we'll git a appetite and that's worth a good long march any +day; so, lads, if--" + +Jeff's speech was interrupted here by a sudden and tremendous outburst +of barking on the part of the dogs of the establishment. He sprang up +and hastened to the door, followed by his companions and Mrs Gore. + +"Injuns, mayhap; see to your guns, boys, we can niver be sure o' the +reptiles." + +"They're friendly," observed one of Jeff's friends, as they stood at the +Fort gate; "enemies never come on in that straightforward fashion." + +"Not so sure o' that," said Jeff. "I've seen redskins do somethin' o' +that kind when they meant mischief; but, if my eyes ain't telling lies, +I'd say there were white men there." + +"Ay, an' young folk, too," remarked one of the others. + +"Young folk!" exclaimed Mrs Gore, as she shaded her eyes from the sun +with her hand, and gazed earnestly at the band which was approaching. + +Suddenly one of them ran a little in advance of the rest, and waved a +handkerchief. The figure was a small one. A faint cheer was heard in +the distance. It was followed, or rather accompanied, by a loud, manly, +and well-known shout. + +Mrs Gore grew pale, and would have fallen to the ground had not Jeff +caught and supported her. + +"Why, I _do_ declare it's Robin--an'--eh! if there beant the children +wi' 'im!" + +The advancing party broke into a run as he spoke, another loud cheer +burst forth, and in a few seconds Nelly was locked once more in her dear +mother's arms. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +CONCLUSION. + +It is not necessary to say that there was joy--powerful, inexpressible-- +within the wooden walls of Fort Enterprise on that New Year's morning, +and a New Year's hymn of praise welled up continually from the glad +mother's heart, finding expression sometimes in her voice, but oftener +in her eyes, as she gazed upon the faces of her dear ones, the lost and +found. + +The flag at Fort Enterprise, which had not flaunted its red field from +the flagstaff since the sad day--that day twelve months exactly--when +the children were lost, once more waved gaily in the frosty air, and +glowed in the beams of the wintry sun. The sound of joyful revelry, +which had not been heard within the walls of the Fort for a long, long +year, once again burst forth with such energy that one might have been +led to suppose its being pent up so long had intensified its power. + +The huge fireplace roared, and blazed, and crackled, with a log so +massive that no other Yule log in the known world could have held a +candle to it; and in, on, and around that fire were pots, pans, and +goblets innumerable, all of which hissed, and spluttered, and steamed at +Larry O'Dowd, as if with glee at the sight of his honest face once again +presiding over his own peculiar domain. And the parlour of Fort +Enterprise--that parlour which we have mentioned as being Robin's +dining-room and drawing-room, besides being his bedroom and his +kitchen--was converted into a leafy bower by means of pine branches and +festooned evergreens, and laid out for a feast the like of which had not +been seen there for many a day, and which was transcendently more +magnificent than that memorable New Year's day dinner which had been +cooked, but not eaten, just three hundred and sixty-five days before. + +In short, everything in and about Fort Enterprise bore evidence that its +inmates meant to rejoice and make merry on that first day of a new year, +as it was meet they should do under such favourable circumstances. + +Jeff Gore had shot a deer not many days before, and one of its fat +haunches was to be the great dish of the feast; but Robin said that it +was not enough: so, after the first congratulations were over, he and +Walter, and Slugs, and Black Swan, set off into the forest, and ere long +returned with several brace of grouse, and a few rabbits. Roy, with a +very sly look, had asked leave to go and have a walk on snow-shoes in +the woods with Nelly before dinner, but his father threatened to lock +him up in the cellar, so he consented to remain at home for that day and +assist his mother. + +"Now, Nelly, you and Roy will come help me to prepare the feast," said +Mrs Gore, whose eyes were swollen with joyful weeping till they looked +like a couple of inflamed oysters; "not that there's much to do, for, +now that Larry is come back, we'll leave everything to him except the +pl-plum--poo--poo--ding--oh! _my_ darling!" + +Here Mrs Gore broke down for the fifteenth time, and, catching Nelly to +her bosom, hugged her. + +"Darling mother!" sighed Nelly. + +"Och! but it's a sight good for sore eyes, anyhow," exclaimed Larry, +looking up from his occupation among the steaming pots and pans. + +Wapaw, who was the only other member of the party who chose to remain in +the house during the forenoon of that day, sat smoking his pipe in the +chimney corner, and regarded the whole scene with that look of stoical +solemnity which is peculiar to North American Indians. + +"Come, I say, this'll never do, mother," cried Roy, going to the +flour-barrel which stood in a corner. "If we're to help you wi' that +'ere poodin', let's have at it at once." + +Thus admonished, Mrs Gore and her recovered progeny set to work and +fabricated a plum-pudding, which was nearly as hard, almost as heavy as, +and much larger than a sixty-four pound cannon ball. It would have +killed with indigestion half a regiment of artillery, but it could not +affect the hardened frames of these men of the backwoods! + +In course of time the board was spread, the viands smoked upon it, and +the united party set to work. Mrs Gore sat at the head of the table, +with Nelly on one side and Roy on the other. Robin sat at the foot, +supported by the White Swan on his right, and Wapaw on his left. Ranged +between these were Walter, Slugs, the Black Swan, Jeff Gore, Obadiah +Stiff, the two other strangers who came with Jeff, and Larry O'Dowd--for +Larry acted the part of cook only, and did not pretend to "wait." After +he had placed the viands on the table, he sat down with the rest. These +backwoodsmen ignored waiters. They passed their plates from hand to +hand, and when anything was wanted by any one he rose to fetch it +himself. + +After the plates were cleared away, the tea-kettle was put on the table. +In some parts of the backwoods spirits are (fortunately) so difficult +to procure, that hunters and trappers live for many months without +tasting a drop, and get into the habit of doing entirely without +intoxicating drink of any kind. Robin had no spirits except animal +spirits, but he had plenty of tea. When it was poured out into huge +cups, which might have been styled small slop-basins, and sweetened and +passed round, Robin applied his knuckles to the table to command +silence. + +"Friends," said he, "I niver wos much o' a speechifier, but I could +always manage to blurt out my meanin' somehow. Wot I've got to say to +you this day is, I'm thankful to the Almighty for givin' me back my +childer, an' I'm right glad to see ye all under my roof this Noo Year's +day, and so's the wife, _I_ know--ain't ye, Molly, my dear?" + +To this appeal Mrs G replied with a hysterical ye-es, and an +application of her apron to the inflamed oysters. Robin continued-- + +"Well, I'm sorry there ain't nothin' stronger in the fort to give 'ee +than tea, but for my part I find it strong enough to keep up my spirits, +an' yer all heartily welcome to swig buckets-full o' that. There is an +old fiddle in the store. If any o' ye can scrape a tune, we'll have a +dance. If not, why we'll sing and be jolly." + +This speech was followed up by another from Obadiah Stiff, who, with a +countenance of the deepest solemnity, requested permission to make a few +brief observations. + +"Friends," said he, turning the quid of tobacco which usually graced his +right cheek into his left, "it's not every day a man's got a chance o'-- +o' wot I was a-goin' to obsarve is, that men who are so much indebted to +their much-respected host as--as (Nelly happened to sneeze at this +point, and distracted Stiff's attention) as--yes, I guess we ha'nt often +got the chance to chase the redskins, and--and--. In short, without +makin' an onnecessairy phrase about it--I'm happy to say that _I_ can +play the fiddle, so here's luck." + +Mr Stiff sat down abruptly and drained his cup at a draught. + +"Pr'aps," said Larry, with a twinkle in his eye, "Mister Stiff would +favour the company wi' a song before we commence to cut capers." + +"Hear, hear!" from Walter. + +"Hurrah!" from Roy. + +Mr Stiff cleared his throat and began at once. The tune was so +dolorous, and the voice so unmusical, that in any other circumstances it +would have been intolerable, but there were lines in it touching upon +"good fellowship," which partially redeemed it, and in the last verse +there was reference made to "home," and "absent friends," which rendered +it a complete success, insomuch that it was concluded amid rapturous +cheering, so true is it, as Walter observed, that, "one touch of nature +covers a multitude of sins!" + +"Let's drink to absent friends an' owld Ireland," cried Larry, filling +his cup and pushing the kettle round. + +This was drunk with enthusiasm and was followed by a succession of +toasts and songs, which were drunk and sung not at the table, but round +the fire, to which the party withdrew in order to enjoy their pipes more +thoroughly. Then followed a number of anecdotes of stories--some true, +some doubtful, and some fabricated--which were listened to with deep +interest, not only by Roy and Nelly, but by the whole party, including +the Indians, who listened intently, with faces like owls, although they +did not understand a word that was said. + +Many of these stories were so touching that poor Mrs Gore's eyes became +more inflamed and more oyster-like than ever. Nelly, too, became +sympathetic, and her eyes were similarly affected. + +When the evening was pretty well advanced, the violin was sent for and +tuned, and Stiff turned out to be a very fair player of Scotch reels; so +the party laid aside their pipes, cleared the floor, and began to dance. + +It was rough but hearty dancing. Each dancer composed his own steps on +the spur of the moment, but executed them with a degree of precision and +violence that would have caused civilised dancing masters to blush with +shame and envy. Mrs Gore and Nelly danced too, weeping the while with +joy, and so did the White Swan, but her performances were peculiar. She +danced with a slowness of manner and a rigidity of person that are +utterly indescribable. She looked as if all her joints had become +inflexible, except those of her knees, and her arms hung straight down +at her sides, while she pendulated about the floor and gazed at the +rafters in deep solemnity. + +How they did keep it up, to be sure! Men of the backwoods find it no +easy matter to fatigue their muscles or exhaust their spirits, so they +danced all night, and a considerable portion of next morning too. Long +before they gave in, however, the females were obliged to retire. They +lay down on their rude couches without taking the trouble to undress, +and in a few moments after were sound asleep--Nelly locked in her +mother's arms, with their two cheeks touching, their dishevelled hair +mingling, and a few tears welling from their inflamed eyes, and mixing +as they flowed slowly down their united noses. Sleeping thus, the +mother dreamed of home, and Nelly dreamed of Silver Lake. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Reader, our tale is told. We have not space to tell of what befell +Robin Gore and his family in after life, but we may remark, in +conclusion, that although Robin stoutly refused to go back to +civilisation, in the course of a few years civilisation considerately +advanced to him, and the wild region, which was once a dense forest +around Fort Enterprise, finally became (to Mrs Gore's inexpressible +joy) a flourishing settlement, in which were heard the sounds of human +industry, and the tinkle of the Sabbath bell. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Silver Lake, by R.M. 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