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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29374-doc.doc b/29374-doc.doc Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b6faca --- /dev/null +++ b/29374-doc.doc diff --git a/29374-doc.zip b/29374-doc.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed2b6b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/29374-doc.zip diff --git a/29374-h.zip b/29374-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..da233b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/29374-h.zip diff --git a/29374-h/29374-h.htm b/29374-h/29374-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7361af4 --- /dev/null +++ b/29374-h/29374-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7489 @@ +<!-- saved from url=(0022)http://internet.e-mail --> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> + <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> + <title>The Gaunt Grey Wolf</title> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gaunt Gray Wolf, by Dillon Wallace + +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: The Gaunt Gray Wolf + A Tale of Adventure With Ungava Bob + +Author: Dillon Wallace + +Release Date: July 11, 2009 [EBook #29374] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF *** + + + + +Produced by Don Kostuch + + + + + +</pre> + +<img style="width: 359px; height: 557px;" alt="Book Cover" + src="images/p0320pic.jpg"><br> +<br><br><br><br> +[Transcriber's note: the groups of four question marks below +indicate illegible text in the source page scans] +<br><br><br><br> +OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL<br> +<br> +<table style="width: 578px; height: 312px;" border="0" cellpadding="2" + cellspacing="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td>Honorary President, </td> + <td> The HON. WOODROW WILSON</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Honorary Vice-President, </td> + <td> HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Honorary Vice-President, </td> + <td> COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>President, </td> + <td> COLIN H. LIVINGSTON, Washington D.C.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Vice-President, </td> + <td> B. L. DULANY, ????, Tenn.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Vice-President, </td> + <td> MILTON A. McRAE, ????</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Vice-President, </td> + <td> DAVID STARR JORDAN, ????</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Vice-President, </td> + <td> F. L. SEELY, Asheville, N.C.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Vice-President, </td> + <td> A. STANFORD. WHITE, Chicago, Ill.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Chief Scout, </td> + <td> ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, ????</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>National Scout Commissioner, </td> + <td> DANIEL CARTER BEARD, ????</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<br> +FINANCE COMMITTEE<br> +????<br> +<br> +NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS<br> +BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA<br> +THE FIFTH AVENUE BUILDING, 200 FIFTH AVENUE<br> +TELEPHONE GRAMERCY 545<br> +NEW YORK CITY<br> +<br> +ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD<br> +????<br> +<br> +July 31, 1913.<br> +<p> +TO THE PUBLIC--<br> +In the execution of its purpose to give educational value and moral +worth to the recreational activities of the boyhood of America, the +leaders of the Boy Scout Movement quickly learned that to effectively +carry out its program, the boy must be influenced not only in his +out-of-door life but also in the diversions of his other leisure +moments. It is at such times that the boy is captured by the tales of +daring enterprises and adventurous good times. What now is needful in +not that his taste should be thwarted but trained. There should +constantly be presented to him the books the boy likes best, yet always +the books that will be best for the boy. As a matter of fact, however, +the boy's taste is being constantly visited and exploited by the great +mass of cheap juvenile literature.</p> +<p> +To help anxiously concerned parents and educators to meet this grave +peril, the Library Commission of the Boy Scouts of America has been +organized. EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY is the result of their labors. All the +books chosen have been approved by them. The commission is composed of +the following members: George F. Bowerman, Librarian, Public Library of +the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.; Harrison W. Graver, +Librarian, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Claude G. Leland, +Superintendent, Bureau of Libraries, Board of Education, New York City; +Edward F. Stevens, Librarian, Pratt Institute Free Library, Brooklyn, +New York; together with the Editorial Board of our Movement, William D. +Murray, George D. Pratt and Frank Presbrey, with Franklin K. Mathiews, +Chief Scout Librarian, as Secretary.</p> +<p> +In selecting the books, the Commission has chosen only such as are of +interest to boys, the first twenty-five being either works of fiction +or stirring stories of adventurous experiences. In later lists, books +of a more serious sort will be included. It is hoped that as many as +twenty-five may be added to the library each year.</p> +<p> +Thanks are due the several publishers who have helped to inaugurate +this new department of our work. Without their co-operation in making +available for popular priced editions some of the best books ever +published for boys, the promotion of EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY would have +been impossible.</p> +<p> +We wish, too, to express out heartfelt gratitude to the Library +Commission, who, without compensation, have placed their vast +experience and immense resources at the service of our Movement.</p> +<p> +The commission invites suggestions as to future books to be included in +the Library. Librarians, teachers, parents, and all others interested +in welfare work for boys, can render a unique service by forwarding to +National Headquarters lists of such books as in their judgment would be +suitable for EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY.</p> +<p> +Signed, James E. West.</p> +<p> +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF<br> +</p> +<p><a name="Startled"></a><br> +</p> +<p> +<img style="width: 548px; height: 768px;" alt="" src="images/p0002pic.jpg"></p> +<p> +EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY--BOY SCOUT EDITION</p> +<p> +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF</p> +<p> +A TALE OF ADVENTURE WITH "UNGAVA BOB"</p> +<p> +BY<br> +DILLON WALLACE</p> +<p> +AUTHOR OF<br> +UNGAVA BOB, ETC., ETC.</p> +<p> +ILLUSTRATED</p> +<p> +NEW YORK<br> +GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS<br> +Made in the United State of America</p> +<p> +Copyright, 1914, by<br> +FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY</p> +<p> +<br> +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue<br> +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.<br> +London: 21 Paternoster Square<br> +Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street</p> +<br> +CONTENTS<br> +<br> +<table style="width: 510px; height: 816px;" border="0" cellpadding="2" + cellspacing="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td><a href="#I">I.</a> </td> + <td> SHAD TROWBRIDGE OF BOSTON</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#II">II.</a> </td> + <td>THE LURE OF THE WILDERNESS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#III">III</a>. </td> + <td>UNGAVA BOB MAKES A RESCUE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#IV">IV.</a> </td> + <td> AWAY TO THE TRAILS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#V">V.</a> </td> + <td> IN THE FAR WILDERNESS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#VI">VI.</a> </td> + <td> OLD FRIENDS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#VII">VII.</a> </td> + <td> WHERE THE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a> </td> + <td>AFTER THE INDIAN ATTACK</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#IX">IX.</a> </td> + <td>THE INDIAN MAIDEN AT THE RIVER TILT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#X">X.</a> </td> + <td>THE VOICES OF THE SPIRITS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XI">XI.</a> </td> + <td>MANIKAWAN'S VENGEANCE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XII">XII.</a> </td> + <td> THE TRAGEDY OF THE RAPIDS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a> </td> + <td> ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a> </td> + <td> THE MATCHI MANITU IS CHEATED</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XV">XV.</a> </td> + <td> THE PASSING OF THE WILD THINGS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XVI">XVI.</a> </td> + <td> ALONE WITH THE INDIANS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XVII">XVII</a>. </td> + <td> CHRISTMAS AT THE RIVER TILT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XVIII">XVIII.</a> </td> + <td> THE SPIRIT OF DEATH GROWS BOLD.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XIX">XIX.</a> </td> + <td> THE CACHE ON THE LAKE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XX">XX.</a> </td> + <td> THE FOLK AT WOLF BIGHT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXI">XXI.</a> </td> + <td> THE RIFLED CACHE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXII">XXII.</a> </td> + <td>MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXIII">XXIII.</a> </td> + <td>TUMBLED AIR CASTLES</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXIV">XXIV.</a> </td> + <td> THE MESSENGER</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXV">XXV.</a> </td> + <td> A MISSION OF LIFE AND DEATH</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXVI">XXVI.</a> </td> + <td> "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS"</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXVII">XXVII.</a> </td> + <td> SHAD'S TRIBUTE TO THE INDIAN MAIDEN</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> + <td> TROWBRIDGE AND GRAY, TRADERS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td><a href="#XXIX">XXIX.</a> </td> + <td>THE FRUIT OF MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<a name="I"></a>I<br> +<br> +SHAD TROWBRIDGE OF BOSTON +<p>On a foggy morning of early July in the year 1890, the Labrador mail +boat, northward bound from St. Johns, felt her way cautiously into the +mist-enveloped harbour of Fort Pelican and to her anchorage.</p> +<p> +For six days the little steamer had been buffeted by wind and ice and +fog, and when at last her engines ceased to throb and she lay at rest +in harbour, Allen Shadrach Trowbridge of Boston, her only passenger, +felt hugely relieved, for the voyage had been a most unpleasant one, +and here he was to disembark.</p> +<p> +In June, Allen Shadrach Trowbridge--or "Shad" Trowbridge as the fellows +called him, and as we shall call him--had completed his freshman year +in college. When college closed he set sail at once for Labrador, where +he was to spend his summer holiday canoeing and fishing in the +wilderness.</p> +<p> +This was the first extended journey Shad Trowbridge had ever made quite +alone. For many months he had been planning and preparing for it, and +he promised himself it was to be an eventful experience.</p> +<p> +He was standing now at the rail, as the ship anchored, peering eagerly +through the mist at the group of low, whitewashed buildings which +composed Fort Pelican post of the Hudson's Bay Company, and at the dim +outline of dark forest behind--a clean-cut, square-shouldered, athletic +young fellow, who carried his head with the air of one possessing a +fair share of self-esteem and self-reliance, and whose square jaw +suggested wilfulness if not determination.</p> +<p> +The rugged surroundings thrilled him with promise of adventure. The +historic post of the old fur traders, the boundless, mysterious forest, +and the romantic life of the trappers and dusky tribes which it +sheltered, were pregnant with interest. But his wildest dreams could +not have foretold the part Shad Trowbridge was destined to play in this +primordial land and life before he should bid farewell to its bleak +coast.</p> +<p> +"A rough-looking country," remarked the steward, joining Shad at the +rail.</p> +<p> +"It's glorious!" exclaimed Shad enthusiastically. "A real frontier! And +back there is a real wilderness! Just the sort of wilderness I've +dreamed about getting into all my life."</p> +<p> +"The deck of the mail boat's about as near as I want to get to it," +said the steward with a deprecatory shrug. "It's a land o' hard knocks +and short grub. You'd better leave it to the livyeres and Indians, +young man, and go back to God's country with the ship."</p> +<p> +"No, thank you," said Shad. "I'm going to have a rattling good summer +hunting and fishing here before I see the ship again."</p> +<p> +"When we come on our next voyage, a fortnight from now, you'll be +standing out there on the dock looking for us, and mighty glad to see +us," laughed the steward. "You'll have all you want of The Labrador by +then. Shall I put your things ashore?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, if you please--all but the canoe. I'll paddle that over, if +you'll send a man to help me launch it."</p> +<p> +"Pooh!" thought Shad, as the steward left him. "'Hard knocks and short +grub'! Of course there would be some hard knocks, but he expected that, +for he was going to rough it! But with the woods full of game and fish +there'd be plenty to eat! He didn't expect any Pullman-car jaunt; he +could have had that at home. What kind of a fellow did the steward take +him for, anyway?"<br> +A half-dozen natives on the boat wharf watched Shad curiously as he +paddled to a low stretch of beach adjoining the wharf, and two of them +strolled down to inspect his canoe when he lifted it out of the water +and turned it upon its side at a safe distance above the lapping waves.</p> +<p> +"Now she's what I calls a rare fine canoe," observed one, a tall, +big-boned, loose-jointed fellow with a straggly red beard, and +picturesquely attired in moleskin trousers tucked into the tops of +sealskin boots, a flannel shirt, a short jacket, and the peakless cap +of the trapper.</p> +<p> +"That she be, Ed, an' a wonderful sight better'n th' bark canoes th' +Injuns uses," agreed the other, a powerful, broad-shouldered, +deep-chested man, who wore a light-cloth adicky, but whose dress was +otherwise similar to that of his companion.</p> +<p> +"She have better lines than th' Injun craft," said the one addressed as +Ed, eyeing the canoe critically.</p> +<p> +"An' she's stancher--a wonderful lot stancher," continued the other.</p> +<p> +"She is a pretty good canoe, and a splendid white-water craft," Shad +remarked, to break the ice of reserve, and to give the two trappers the +opening for conversation for which they were evidently hedging.</p> +<p> +"Aye, sir," said the man in the adicky, "they's no doot o' that. Her +lines be right, sir. She'd be a fine craft in th' rapids, now--a fine +un."</p> +<p> +"Be you comin' far, an' be you goin' back wi' th' ship?" asked Ed, +unable to restrain his curiosity longer.</p> +<p> +"I came from Boston, and if I can get a guide I shall stay for the +summer and take a canoe trip into the country," answered Shad.</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin' you can get un in th' shop," suggested Ed.</p> +<p> +"Get them in the shop?" asked Shad, in astonishment, not quite certain +whether he was misunderstood, or whether the trapper was making game of +him. Ed's respectful manner, however, quickly satisfied him that the +former was the case.</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Ed. "They keeps a wonderful stock o' things in the shop."</p> +<p> +"I refer to a man," explained Shad. "I wish to employ a man to go into +the country with me to show me about and to assist me."</p> +<p> +"'Tis a pilot you wants!" exclaimed Ed, light breaking upon him.</p> +<p> +"O' course 'tis a pilot!" broke in the other, with an intonation that +suggested scorn of Ed's ignorance. "A pilot an' a guide be th' same +thing. A pilot be a guide, an' a guide be a pilot."</p> +<p> +"I'd like wonderful well t' pilot you myself, sir, but I couldn't do it +nohow," volunteered Ed, in a tone of apology. "You see, I has my nets +out, an' I has t' get in firewood for th' wife, t' last she through th' +winter whilst I be on th' trail trappin'. An Dick here's fixed th' +same. Dick an' me's partners fishin', an' he gives me a hand gettin' +out wood, an' I helps he. This be Dick Blake, sir," continued Ed, +suddenly remembering that there had been no introduction, "an' I be Ed +Matheson."</p> +<p> +"I'm glad to make your acquaintance, gentlemen," Shad acknowledged. "My +name is Trowbridge. Perhaps you may be able to tell me where I can +employ a guide. I would appreciate your assistance."</p> +<p> +"Le'me see," Ed meditated. "Now I'm thinkin' Ungava Bob might go," he +at length suggested. "He were home th' winter, an' they hauled a rare +lot o' wood out wi' th' dogs, an' his father can 'tend th' nets. What +d'you think, Dick?"</p> +<p> +"Aye, Ungava Bob could sure go, whatever," agreed Dick.</p> +<p> +"'Ungava Bob' sounds interesting," said Shad. "How old a man is this +Ungava Bob, and is that his real name, or is 'Ungava' a title?"</p> +<p> +"He's but a lad-eighteen year old comin' September--but a rare likely +lad--good as a man. Aye, good as a man," declared Ed.</p> +<p> +"His real name be Bob Gray," explained Dick, "but we calls him 'Ungava +Bob' for a wonderful cruise he were makin' two year ago comin' winter."</p> +<p> +"Seventeen years of age, and already so famous as to have won a title! +I'm interested, and I'd like to hear more about him," suggested Shad.</p> +<p> +"An' you wants t' hear," said Ed. "But now we be a-standin' an' +a-keepin' you, when you wants t' see Mr. Forbes."</p> +<p> +"Yes, I wish to see Mr. Forbes, if he is the factor of the post, but +you haven't detained me in the least. I can see him presently," +reassured Shad.</p> +<p> +"Mr. Forbes be wonderful busy till th' ship goes, an' she'll be here +for nigh an hour yet," advised Ed.</p> +<p> +"Very well, I'll not call on him, then, till the ship goes," decided +Shad, "and I'd be glad to hear something of Ungava Bob's travels, in +the meantime."</p> +<p> +"We might step into th' men's kitchen, where there be seats an' we can +talk in comfort," suggested Ed. "This fog be wonderful chillin' +standin' still."</p> +<p> +"That's a good suggestion," agreed Shad. "The fog is cold." And he +followed the two trappers down the long board walk to the men's kitchen.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="II"></a>II</p> +<p> +THE LURE OF THE WILDERNESS</p> +<p> +"Ungava Bob's father's name be Richard Gray," began Ed, while he cut +tobacco from a black plug and stuffed it into his pipe, when they were +presently seated in the men's kitchen. "Dick's name, here, be Richard, +too, but we calls he 'Dick,' and Richard Gray, Richard,' so's not t' +get un mixed up. You see, if we calls un both 'Dick' or both +'Richard,' we'd never be knowin' who 'twas were meant."</p> +<p> +"I see," said Shad.</p> +<p> +"Well, Richard were havin' a wonderful streak o' bad luck," continued +Ed, striking a match and holding it aloft for the sulphur to burn off, +"wonderful hard luck. His furrin' fails he two years runnin', an' then +th' fishin' fails he, an' his debt wi' th' Company gets so big he's two +year behind, whatever, th' best he does." Ed paused to apply the match +to his pipe.</p> +<p> +"Were you ever noticin', Mr. Toobridge--"</p> +<p> +"Tumbridge," corrected Dick.</p> +<p> +"Be it 'Toobridge' or 'Tumbridge,' sir?" asked Ed, unwilling to accept +Dick's correction.</p> +<p> +"Trowbridge."</p> +<p> +"Leastways Toobridge were nigher right than Tumbridge," declared Ed, +looking disdainfully at Dick. "Were you ever noticin' how bad luck, +when she strikes a man's trail, follows him like a pack o' hungry +wolves? Well, just at th' time I'm speakin' about, Richard's little +maid Emily falls off a ledge an' hurts she so she can't walk. They +tries all th' cures they knows, but 't weren't no good, an' then they +brings Emily here t' Pelican, t' see th' mail-boat doctor when th' ship +comes.</p> +<p> +"Th' mail-boat doctor tells un th' only cure is t' take she t' th' +hospital in St. Johns, an' so they fetches Emily back t' Wolf Bight, +for a trip t' St. Johns takes a wonderful lot o' money, an' Richard +ain't got un.</p> +<p> +"Bob thinks a wonderful lot o' Emily. He be only sixteen then, but a +rare big an' stalwart lad for his years, an' unbeknown t' Richard an' +his ma he goes t' Douglas Campbell, an' says t' Douglas, an' he lets he +work th' Big Hill trail on shares th' winter, he's thinkin' he may ha' +th' luck t' trap a silver fox, an' leastways fur t' pay t' send Emily +t' th' hospital."</p> +<p> +"Who is Douglas Campbell?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Oh, every one knows he, an' a rare old man he be. He comes t' th' Bay +from th' Orkneys nigh forty year ago, workin' as servant for th' +Company, an' then leavin' th' Company t' go trappin'. He done wonderful +well, buyin' traps an' openin' new trails, which he lets out on shares. +Th' Big Hill trail up th' Grand River were a new one.</p> +<p> +"Well, Bob goes in wi' me an' Dick an' Bill Campbell, Douglas's lad, we +workin' connectin' trails, an' he done fine. He starts right in +catchin' martens an' silver foxes--a wonderful lot for a lad--"</p> +<p> +"He only catches one silver, barrin' th' one after he were lost!" broke +in Dick. "Now don't go yarnin', Ed."</p> +<p> +"Leastways, he gets one silver an' a rare lot o' martens an' otters up +t' Christmas, an' a plenty t' send Emily t' th' hospital.</p> +<p> +"Then Micmac John--he were a thievin' half-breed as asks Douglas for +th' Big Hill trail, an' feels a grudge ag'in' Bob because Douglas give +un t' Bob--Micmac goes in an' steals Bob's tent when Bob were up +country after deer. A snow comin' on--'twere wonderful cold--Bob gives +out tryin' t' find his tilt, an' falls down, an' loses his senses. When +he wakes up he's in a Nascaupee Injun tent, th' Injuns comin' on he +where he falls an' takin' he with un.</p> +<p> +"Bob not knowin' th' lingo they speaks, an' they not knowin' his lingo, +an' he not knowin' how far they took he before he wakes up, or rightly +how t' find his tilt, he sticks t' the' Injuns, an' they keeps workin' +north till they comes t' Ungava."</p> +<p> +"A wonderful trip that were! A wonderful trip! No man in th' Bay were +ever t' Ungava before, so we calls he 'Ungava Bob,'" interrupted Dick.</p> +<p> +"Then Bob works 'cross th' nu'th'ard country with huskies," continued +Ed, "an' up th' coast with huskies, until he goes adrift on th' +ice--him an' his two huskies he has with he--an' when they thinks +they's lost, or like t' be lost, they comes on a tradin' vessel froze +in th' ice an' loaded wi' tradin' goods an' furs, an' not e'er a man +aboard she. Bob an' th' huskies sails th' vessel in here, when th' ice +breaks up, an' th' ship goes free.</p> +<p> +"That were just one year ago. Me an' Dick gets out from th' trails th' +day Bob gets home, an' Douglas goin' with us, we sails th' vessel, +which were 'The Maid o' the North,' t' St. Johns, an' Bob gets fifteen +thousand dollars salvage money. A rare lot o' money, sir, that were for +any man t' have, let alone a lad."</p> +<p> +"What happened to the little girl--his sister?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"She goes t' th' hospital, an' comes back t' Wolf Bight in September, +cured an' fine. She be a fine little maid, too--a fine little maid," Ed +asserted.</p> +<p> +"What was done to the half-breed Indian--Micmac John, I think you +called him?"</p> +<p> +"Micmac? Oh, he were killed by wolves handy t' th' place th' Injuns +finds Bob. Me, wi' Bill an' Dick, here, goes lookin' for Bob an' finds +Micmac's bones where th' wolves scatters un, an' handy to un is Bob's +flatsled an' thinkin' they's Bob's remains I hauls un out in th' +winter, an' his folks buries un proper for his remains before he gets +out in th' spring."</p> +<p> +"What an experience for a kid!" exclaimed Shad. "He must have had some +rattling adventures?"</p> +<p> +"Aye, that he did," said Ed. "'Twould be a long story t' tell un all, +but there were one, now--"</p> +<p> +"Now don't go yarnin', Ed," interrupted Dick, who had stepped out of +doors and returned at this moment. "Ed never tells un straight, Mr. +Trunbridge."</p> +<p> +"Troobridge," broke in Ed.</p> +<p> +"Trowbridge," volunteered Shad.</p> +<p> +"Mr. Trowbridge," continued Dick. "He makes un a lot worse'n Bob tells +un. Fog's clearin', Ed, an' we better be goin' after we eats dinner."</p> +<p> +"That we had, an' the fog's clearin'," agreed Ed.</p> +<p> +"But how about Ungava Bob? I'd like to meet him. Do you really think I +may be able to engage him to guide me on a two or three weeks' trip?" +asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Ed. "I'm thinkin', now, you might. Bob's not startin' for +th' trails for three weeks, whatever, an' he's bidin' home till he +goes, an' not wonderful busy. I'm thinkin' Bob could go."</p> +<p> +"That settles it," Shad decided. "I'll look him up."</p> +<p> +"You'll be welcome t' a place in our boat," suggested Dick. "'Tis a +two-days' sail, wi' fair wind. They's plenty o' room, an' we can tow +th' canoe. Me an' Ed lives at Porcupine Cove, an' you can paddle th' +canoe over from there t' Wolf Bight in half a day, whatever."</p> +<p> +"Done!" exclaimed Shad.</p> +<p> +With the assurance of Mr. James Forbes, the factor, that the rivers +flowing into the head of the Bay, a hundred miles inland from Fort +Pelican, offered good canoe routes, Shad felt that a kind fate had +indeed directed him to Fort Pelican, and that he had been particularly +fortunate in meeting the two trappers.</p> +<p> +"Bob Gray will be a good man for you if you can engage him, and I think +you can," said Mr. Forbes. "Bob has had some truly remarkable +adventures, and he's an interesting chap. Ed Matheson will probably +relate these adventures to you, properly embellished, if you go up the +Bay with him and Dick Blake. Take Ed's stories, though, with a grain of +salt. He is a good trapper, but he has a vivid imagination."</p> +<p> +Shad accepted Mr. Forbes's invitation to dine in the "big house," as +the factor's residence was called, and when, after dinner, Mr. Forbes +accompanied him to the wharf, the trappers had already stowed his +outfit into their boat, and the two mean were awaiting his arrival. No +time was lost in getting away. Sail was hoisted at once, and with +Shad's canoe in tow the boat turned westward into the narrows that +connect Eskimo Bay with the ocean.</p> +<p> +"Th' wind's shifted t' nu'th'ard, and when we gets through th' narrows +there'll be no fog," Dick prophesied, and his prophecy proved true. +Presently the sky cleared, the sun broke through the mist, the +freshening north wind swept away the last lingering fog bank, and as a +curtain rises upon a scene, so the lifting fog revealed to Shad +Trowbridge the weird, primitive beauty of the rugged northland that he +was entering.</p> +<p> +The atmosphere, so lately clogged with mist, had suddenly become +transparent. To the southward, beyond a broad stretch of gently heaving +waters, rose a range of snow-capped mountains, extending far to the +westward. Reaching up from the nearby northern shore of the bay, and +stretching away over gently rolling hills lay the boundless evergreen +forest.</p> +<p> +Somewhere in the distance a wild goose honked. White-winged gulls +soared gracefully overhead. Now and again a seal rose to gaze for an +inquisitive moment at the passing boat, and once a flock of ducks +settled upon the waters. The air was redolent with the pungent odour of +spruce and balsam fir--the perfume of the forest--and Shad, lounging +contentedly at the bow of the boat, drank in great wholesome lungfuls +of it.</p> +<p> +All this was commonplace to the trappers, and quite unmindful of it Ed +Matheson launched upon tales of stirring wilderness adventures in which +his imagination was unrestrained, save by an occasional expostulation +from Dick.</p> +<p> +The wild region through which they were passing gave proper setting for +Ed's stories, and Shad, a receptive listener, wished that he, too, +might battle with nature as these men did. How tame and uneventful his +own life seemed. Already the subtle lure of the wilderness was +asserting itself.</p> +<p> +Three days after leaving Fort Pelican, Shad and the two trappers sailed +their dory into Porcupine Cove. It was mid-afternoon, and Shad, +impatient to reach Wolf Bight and begin his explorations in company +with Ungava Bob, prepared for immediate departure, after a bountiful +dinner of boiled grouse, bread, and tea in Dick Blake's cabin.</p> +<p> +"Better 'bide wi' me th' evenin'," invited Dick, "an' take an early +start in th' mornin'. Th' wind's veered t' th' nor'-nor'west, an' she's +like t' kick up some chop th' evenin', an' 'tis a full half-day's +cruise t' Wolf Bight, whatever."</p> +<p> +"I can make it all right," insisted Shad. "Bob may not be able to give +me much time, and I want to take advantage of all he can give me."</p> +<p> +"Well, if you must be goin', I'd not hinder you; but," continued Dick, +"keep clost t' shore, until you reaches that p'int yonder, an' then +make th' crossin' for th' south shore, keepin' that blue mountain peak +just off your starboard bow, an' you can't be missin' Wolf Bight. If +th' wind freshens, camp on th' p'int, an' wait for calm t' make th' +crossin' t' th' s'uth'ard shore."</p> +<p> +"Thank you, I'll follow your advice," said Shad.</p> +<p> +"Wait, now," called Ed, who had disappeared into the cabin, and +reappeared with a rope. "I'm thinkin' I'll lash your outfit t' th' +canoe. They's no knowin' what's like t' happen, an' 'tis best t' be +sure, whatever."</p> +<p> +Shad felt truly grateful to the two bronzed trappers as he shook their +hands and said adieu to them. It was only his impatience to plunge into +the deep forests reaching away to the westward, and a growing curiosity +to meet Ungava Bob, that induced him to decline the sincerely extended +hospitality of Blake and Matheson.</p> +<p> +Afternoon was waning into evening when Shad reached the point Dick had +indicated, and the rising breeze was beginning to whip the wave crests +here and there into white foam.</p> +<p> +Dick Blake had advised him to camp here if the wind increased. It had +increased considerably, but Shad had set his heart upon reaching Wolf +Bight that night, and he did not wish to stop. The sun was setting, but +there was to be a full moon, and he would be able to see nearly as well +as by day. The sea, though a little rougher than it had been during the +afternoon, was not, after all, he argued, so bad.</p> +<p> +"I'll make a try for it, anyhow; I know I can make it," said he, after +a little hesitation, and turning his back upon the point he paddled on.</p> +<p> +Presently, however, he began to regret his decision. With the setting +sun the wind increased perceptibly. The sea grew uncomfortably rough. +Little by little the canoe began to ship water, and with every moment +the situation became more perilous.</p> +<p> +Now, genuinely alarmed, Shad made a vain attempt to turn about, in the +hope that he might gain the lee of the point and effect a landing. But +it was too late. He quickly found that it was quite impossible to stem +the wind, and he had no choice but to continue upon his course.</p> +<p> +With full realization of his desperate position, Shad paddled hard and +paddled for his life. He was a good swimmer, but he knew well that were +his canoe to capsize he could not hope to survive long in these cold +waters.</p> +<p> +The canoe was gradually filling with water, but he dared not release +his paddle to bail the water out. With each big sea that bore down upon +him he held his breath in fear that it would overwhelm him.</p> +<p> +Nearer and nearer the south shore loomed in the moonlight, and with +every muscle strained Shad paddled for it with all his might. If he +could only keep afloat another twenty minutes!</p> +<p> +But he had taken too desperate a chance. His goal was still a full mile +away when a great wave broke over the canoe. Then came another and +another in quick succession, and Shad suddenly found himself cast into +the sea, struggling in the icy waters, hopelessly far from shore.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="III"></a>III</p> +<p> +UNGAVA BOB MAKES A RESCUE</p> +<p> +Twilight was settling into gloom, and the first faint stars were +struggling to show themselves above the distant line of dark fir and +spruce trees that marked the edge of the forest bordering Eskimo Bay. +Dark cloud patches scudding across the sky, now and again obscured the +face of the rising moon. A brisk northwest breeze was blowing, and +though it was mid-July the air had grown chill with the setting of the +sun.</p> +<p> +Ungava Bob, alone in his boat, arose, buttoned his jacket, trimmed +sail, and by force of habit stood with his left hand resting upon the +tiller while he scanned the moonlit waters of the bay before resuming +his seat.</p> +<p> +He was a tall, square-shouldered, well-developed lad of seventeen, +straight and lithe as an Indian, with keen, gray-blue eyes, which +seemed ever alert and observant. Exposure to sun and wind had tanned +his naturally fair skin a rich bronze, and his thick, dark-brown hair, +with a tendency to curl up at the ends, where it fell below his cap, +gave his round, full face an appearance of boyish innocence.</p> +<p> +He was now homeward bound to Wolf Bight from the Hudson's Bay Company's +post on the north shore, where he had purchased a supply of steel traps +and other equipment preparatory to his next winter's campaign upon the +trapping trails of the far interior wilderness; for Bob Gray, though +but seventeen years of age, was already an experienced hunter and +trapper.</p> +<p> +Suddenly, as he looked over the troubled sea, a small black object +rising upon the crest of a wave far to leeward caught his eye. The +small black object was Shad's canoe, and one with less keen vision +might have passed it unnoticed, or seeing it have supposed it belated +debris cast into the bay by the rivers, for the spring floods had +hardly yet fully subsided. But Bob's training as a hunter taught him to +take nothing for granted, and, watching intently for its reappearance +from the trough of the sea, he presently discerned in the moonlight the +faint glint of a paddle.</p> +<p> +"A canoe!" he exclaimed, as he sat down. "An' what, now, be an Injun +doin' out there this time o' night? An' Injuns never crosses where this +un be. I'll see, now, who it is, an' what he's up to, whatever," and, +suiting the action to the resolve, he shifted his course to bear down +upon the stranger.</p> +<p> +The hunter instinctively attributes importance to every sign, sound, or +action that is not in harmony with the usual routine of his world, and +by actual investigation he must needs satisfy himself of its meaning. +This is not idle curiosity, but an instinct born of necessity and +life-long training, and it was this instinct that prompted Ungava Bob's +action in turning from his direct course homeward.</p> +<p> +"'Tis no Injun," he presently said, as with a nearer approach he +observed the stroke. "'Tis too long an' slow a paddle-stroke."</p> +<p> +This puzzled him, for he knew well every white settler of the Bay +within a hundred miles of his home, and he knew, too, that only some +extraordinary mission could have called one of them abroad so late in +the evening, and particularly upon the course this canoe was taking at +a season of the year when all were employed upon their fishing grounds.</p> +<p> +Gradually he drew down upon the canoe, until at length he could make +out its lines, and observed that it was not a birch bark, the only sort +of canoe in use in the Bay by either Indians or white natives. The +canoeist, too, was a stranger in the region. Of this he had no doubt, +though he could not see his features.</p> +<p> +He was well within hailing distance, though it was evident the stranger +in the canoe had not yet discovered his approach, when a black cloud +passed over the face of the moon, plunging the sea into darkness, and +when the moon again lighted the waters canoe and canoeist had vanished +as by magic.</p> +<p> +Like a flash, realising what had happened, Bob seized a coil of rope, +made one end fast to the stern of his boat, grasped the coil in his +right hand, and, tense and expectant, scanned the sea for the +reappearance of the unfortunate stranger.</p> +<p> +Presently he discovered the submerged canoe directly ahead, and an +instant later saw Shad rise to the surface, strike out for it, and +catch and cling to the gunwale.</p> +<p> +Bob poised himself for the effort, and as he scudded past, measuring +the distance to a nicety, deftly cast the line directly across the +canoe and within the reach of Shad's hand, shouting as he did so:</p> +<p> +"Make un fast!"</p> +<p> +Without looking for the result, he sprang forward, lowered sail, +shipped the oars, pulled the boat about, and Shad, who had caught the +rope, had scarcely time to thrust it under a thwart and secure it +before Bob, drawing alongside, caught him by the collar of his shirt +and hauled him aboard the boat. Seizing the oars again, and pulling +safely free from danger of collision with the canoe, Bob hoisted sail, +brought the boat before the wind, and resuming his seat astern had his +first good look at his thus suddenly acquired passenger.</p> +<p> +Shad, amidships, was engaged in drawing off his outer flannel shirt, +from which he coolly proceeded to wring, as thoroughly as possible, the +excess water, before donning it again.</p> +<p> +Not a word had passed between them, and neither spoke until Shad had +readjusted his shirt, when, by way of opening conversation, Bob +remarked:</p> +<p> +"You'm wet, sir."</p> +<p> +"Naturally," admitted Shad. "I've been in the Bay, and the bay water is +surprisingly wet."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed Bob, "'tis that."</p> +<p> +"And surprisingly cold."</p> +<p> +"Aye, 'tis wonderful cold."</p> +<p> +"And I'm profoundly grateful to you for pulling me out of it."</p> +<p> +"'Twere fine I comes up before your canoe founders, or I'm thinkin' +you'd be handy t' drownded by now."</p> +<p> +"A sombre thought, but I guess you're right. A fellow couldn't swim far +or stick it out long in there," said Shad, waving his arm toward the +dark waters. "I'm sure I owe my life to you. It was lucky for me you +saw me."</p> +<p> +"'Tweren't luck, sir; 'twere Providence. 'Twere th' Lord's way o' +takin' care o' you."</p> +<p> +"Well, it was a pretty good way, anyhow. But where did you drop from? I +didn't see you till you threw me that line a few minutes ago."</p> +<p> +"I were passin' t' wind'ard, sir, when I sights you, an' not knowin' +who 'twere, I sails close in till I makes you out as a stranger, an' +then you goes down an' I picks you up."</p> +<p> +"That sounds very simple, but it was a good stunt, just the same, to +get me the line and come around in this chop the way you did, and then +haul me aboard before I knew what you were about--you kept your head +beautifully, and knew what to do--and you only a kid, too!" added Shad, +in surprise, as the moonlight fell full on Bob's face.</p> +<p> +"A--kid?" asked Bob, not quite certain what "kid" might be.</p> +<p> +"Yes--just a youngster--a boy."</p> +<p> +"I'm seventeen," Bob asserted, in a tone which resented the imputation +of extreme youth. "You don't look much older'n that yourself."</p> +<p> +"But I am--much older--I'm eighteen," said Shad, grinning. +"My name's Trowbridge--Shad Trowbridge, from Boston. What is your name? +Let's get acquainted," and Shad extended his hand.</p> +<p> +"I'm Bob Gray, o' Wolf Bight," said Bob, taking Shad's hand.</p> +<p> +"Not Ungava Bob?" exclaimed Shad.</p> +<p> +"Aye, they calls me Ungava Bob here-abouts sometimes."</p> +<p> +"Why, I was on my way to Wolf Bight to see you!"</p> +<p> +"T' see me, sir?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, I came up from Fort Pelican to Porcupine Cove with two trappers +named Blake and Matheson, and they told me about you. They said I might +induce you to take a trip with me."</p> +<p> +"A trip with you, sir?"</p> +<p> +"Yes. I want to take a little canoe and fishing trip into the country, +and Blake and Matheson suggested that you might have two or three weeks +to spare and could go along with me. I'll pay you well for your +services. What do you think of it?"</p> +<p> +"I'm--not just knowin'," Bob hesitated. "I leaves for my trappin' +grounds th' first o' August t' be gone th' winter, an'--I'm thinkin' I +wants t' stay home till I goes--an' my folks'll be wantin' me home."</p> +<p> +"Well, let's not decide now. We'll talk it over to-morrow."</p> +<p> +"You'm cold," said Bob, after a moment's silence, reaching into a +locker under his seat and bringing out a moleskin adicky. "Put un on. +She's fine and warm."</p> +<p> +"Thank you. I'm thoroughly chilled," Shad admitted, gratefully +accepting the adicky and drawing it on over his wet clothing.</p> +<p> +"Pull th' hood up," suggested Bob. "'Twill help warm you."</p> +<p> +"There, that's better; I'll soon be quite comfortable."</p> +<p> +"We don't seem to be making much headway," Shad remarked, observing the +shore after a brief lapse in conversation.</p> +<p> +"No," said Bob, "th' canoe bein' awash 'tis a heavy drag towin' she, +but we'll soon be in th' lee, an' out o' danger o' th' sea smashin' she +ag'in' th' boat, an' then I'll haul she alongside an' bring your outfit +aboard."</p> +<p> +They were slowly approaching the south shore and presently, as Bob had +predicted, ran under the lee of a long point of land, where in calmer +water the canoe was manoeuvred alongside, and Shad's outfit, so +fortunately and securely lashed fast by Ed Matheson, was found intact, +save the paddle which Shad had been using.</p> +<p> +The things were quickly transferred to the boat, and, this +accomplished, Bob bailed the canoe free of water, dropped it astern, +now a light and easy tow, and catching the breeze again in the open, +turned at length into Wolf Bight, where he made a landing on a sandy +beach.</p> +<p> +"That's where I lives," said Bob, indicating a little log cabin, +sharply silhouetted against the moonlit sky, on a gentle rise above +them.</p> +<p> +When the canoe, quite unharmed, was lifted from the water and all made +snug, Shad silently followed up the path and into the door of the +darkened cabin, where Bob lighted a candle, displaying a large square +room, the uncarpeted floor scoured to immaculate whiteness, as were +also the home-made wooden chairs, a chest of drawers, and uncovered +table.</p> +<p> +There were two windows on the south side and one on the north side, all +gracefully draped with snowy muslin. A clock ticked cheerfully on a +rude mantel behind a large box stove. To the left of the door, a rough +stairway led to the attic, and the rear of the room was curtained off +into two compartments, the spotlessly clean curtains of a pale blue and +white checked print, giving a refreshing touch of colour to the room +which, simply as it was furnished, possessed an atmosphere of +restfulness and homely comfort that impressed the visitor at once as +cosy and wholesome.</p> +<p> +"My folks be all abed," explained Bob, as he placed the candle on the +table, "but we'll put a fire on an' boil th' kettle. A drop o' hot +tea'll warm you up after your cold souse."</p> +<p> +"I would appreciate it," said Shad, his teeth chattering.</p> +<p> +"Be that you, Bob?" asked a voice from behind the curtain.</p> +<p> +"Aye, Father," answered Bob, "an' I has a gentleman with me, come t' +visit us."</p> +<p> +"Now that be fine. I'll be gettin' right up," said the voice.</p> +<p> +"Put a fire on, lad, an' set th' kettle over," suggested a woman's +voice, "an' I'll be gettin' a bite t' eat."</p> +<p> +"Please don't leave your bed," pleaded Shad. "It will make me feel that +I am causing a lot of trouble. Bob and I will do very nicely."</p> +<p> +"'Tis no trouble, sir--'tis no trouble at all," the man's voice assured.</p> +<p> +"Oh, no, sir; 'tis no trouble," echoed the woman's voice. "'Tis too +rare a pleasure t' have a visitor."</p> +<p> +Both spoke in accents of such honest welcome and hospitality that Shad +made no further objection.</p> +<p> +The fire was quickly lighted, and Shad, as the stove began to send out +its genial warmth, had but just removed his borrowed adicky when the +curtain parted and Mr. and Mrs. Gray appeared.</p> +<p> +"Mr. Trowbridge, this be Father and Mother," said Bob; adding as a +second thought, "Mr. Trowbridge lives in Boston."</p> +<p> +"'Tis fine t' see a stranger, sir," welcomed Richard Gray, as he shook +Shad's hand warmly, "an' from Boston, too! I have hearn th' fishermen +o' th' coast tell o' Boston more'n once, but I never were thinkin' we'd +have some one from Boston come t' our house! An' you comes all th' way +from Boston, now?"</p> +<p> +"Yes," admitted Shad, "but I feel sure I'm causing you and Mrs. Gray no +end of inconvenience, coming at this time of night."</p> +<p> +"Oh, no, sir! 'Tis no inconvenience in th' least. We're proud t' have +you," assured Mrs. Gray, taking his hand. "Why, you'm wet, sir!" she +exclaimed, noticing Shad's clinging garments, and her motherly instinct +at once asserted itself. "You must have a change. Bob, lad, hold th' +candle, now, whilst I get some dry clothes."</p> +<p> +"Please don't trouble yourself. I'm very comfortable by the fire; +indeed, I am," Shad protested.</p> +<p> +But Bob nevertheless held the candle while his mother selected a suit +of warm underwear, a pair of woollen socks, a flannel outer shirt, and +a pair of freshly washed white moleskin trousers from the chest of +drawers.</p> +<p> +"These be Bob's clothes, but they'll be a handy fit for you, I'm +thinkin', for Bob an' you be as like in size as two duck's eggs," she +commented, looking the two over for comparison. "Now, Bob, light a +candle an' show Mr. Trowbridge above stairs. When you're changed, sir, +bring your wet things down, an' we'll hang un by th' stove t' dry."</p> +<p> +"You're very kind, Mrs. Gray," said Shad gratefully, turning to follow +Bob.</p> +<p> +In the attic were three bunks spread with downy Hudson's Bay Company +blankets, two stools, and a small table. It contained no other +furniture, but was beautifully clean. There was an open window at +either end, one looking toward the water, the other toward the spruce +forest, and the atmosphere, bearing the perfume of balsam and fir, was +fresh and wholesome.</p> +<p> +"I sleeps here," informed Bob, placing the candle on the table and +indicating one of the bunks, "an' you may have either o' th' other beds +you wants. Now whilst you changes, sir, I'll bring up th' things from +th' boat. Here's a pair o' deerskin moccasins. Put un on," he added, +selecting a new pair from several hanging on a peg.</p> +<p> +Shad made his toilet leisurely, and as he turned to descend the stairs +with his wet garments on his arm he met the appetising odour of frying +fish, which reminded him that he had eaten nothing since mid-day and +was ravenously hungry.</p> +<p> +In the room below he found the table spread with a white cloth. A plate +of bread and a jar of jam were upon it, and at the stove Mrs. Gray was +transferring from frying-pan to platter some deliciously browned brook +trout. Bob, with his father's assistance, had brought up Shad's +belongings from the boat, and Richard was critically examining Shad's +repeating rifle.</p> +<p> +"Let me have un," said he, putting down the gun, and reaching for the +wet garments on Shad's arm proceeded at once to spread them upon a line +behind the stove.</p> +<p> +"Set in an' have a bite, now. You must be wonderful hungry after your +cruise," invited Mrs. Gray.</p> +<p> +"'Tis only trout an' a bit o' bread an' jam an' a drop o' tea," Richard +apologised, as he joined Shad and Bob at the table, "but we has t' do +wi' plain eatin' in this country, an' be content with what th' Lord +sends us."</p> +<p> +"Trout are a real luxury to me," assured Shad. "We are seldom able to +get them at home, and a trout supper is a feast to be remembered."</p> +<p> +"Well, now! Trout a luxury!" exclaimed Richard. "About all we gets t' +eat in th' summer is trout an' salmon, an' we're glad enough when th' +birds flies in th' fall."</p> +<p> +"What birds do you get?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Duck and geese, and there's plenty of partridge in the winter," +explained Richard.</p> +<p> +"An' I were thinkin', now, you might not care for un," said Mrs. Gray. +"I'm wonderful glad you likes un."</p> +<p> +Richard asked the blessing, and then invited Shad to "fall to," and +frequently urged him to take more trout and not to be "afraid of un," a +quite unnecessary warning in view of Shad's long fast and naturally +vigorous appetite.</p> +<p> +"Mr. Trowbridge wants me t' go on a fortnight's trip up th' country +with he," remarked Bob, as they ate.</p> +<p> +"A trip up th' country?" inquired Richard.</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Shad, "a fishing and canoeing trip."</p> +<p> +"But Bob's t' be wonderful busy makin' ready for th' trappin'," Richard +objected.</p> +<p> +"So he tells me," said Shad, "but perhaps if we talk it over to-morrow +you can make some suggestion."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed Richard, with evident relief, "we'll talk un over +to-morrow."</p> +<p> +When the meal was finished, Richard devoutly offered thanks, after the +manner of the God-fearing folk of the country.</p> +<p> +The mantel clock struck two as they arose from the table. Dawn was +breaking, for at this season of the year the Labrador nights are short, +and Shad, at the end of his long and eventful day, was quite content to +follow Bob above stairs to his attic bunk.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="IV"></a>IV</p> +<p> +AWAY TO THE TRAILS</p> +<p> +Sunshine was streaming through the open south window of the attic when +Shad awoke. Just outside the window a jay was screeching noisily. Bob's +bunk was vacant. It was evident that Shad had slept long and that the +hour was late, and he sprang quickly from his bed and consulted his +watch, but the watch, flooded with water when the canoe capsized the +night before, had stopped.</p> +<p> +He paused for a moment at the open window to look out upon the nearby +forest and expand his lungs with delicious draughts of the fragrant +air. It was a glorious day, and as he left the window to make a hasty +toilet his nerves tingled in eager anticipation, for he was at last at +the threshold of the great Labrador wilderness--his land of dreams and +romance. He was certain it held for him many novel experiences and +perhaps thrilling adventures. And he was not to be disappointed.</p> +<p> +His clothes, which Richard had hung to dry by the stove the night +before, lay on a stool at his bedside, neatly folded. Some one had +placed them there while he slept. He donned them quickly, and +descending to the living-room found the table spread and Mrs. Gray +preparing to set a pot of tea to brew.</p> +<p> +"Good morning, sir," she greeted, adding solicitously: "I hopes you had +a good rest, and feels none the worse for gettin' wet last evenin'."</p> +<p> +"Good morning," said Shad. "I rested splendidly, thank you, and feel +fine and dandy. Whew!" he exclaimed, glancing at the mantel clock. +"Twelve o'clock!"</p> +<p> +"Aye. We was wonderful careful t' be quiet an' not wake you, sir," she +explained. "'Tis well t' have plenty o' +rest after a wettin' in th' Bay. Dinner's just ready," and going to the +open door she called, "Emily! Emily!"</p> +<p> +A young girl, perhaps twelve years of age, quickly entered in response +to the summons. She was clad in a cool, fresh print frock and wore +deerskin moccasins upon her feet. Her wavy chestnut-brown hair, +gathered with a ribbon, hung down her back; her oval face, lighted by +big blue eyes, was tanned a healthy brown, and Shad thought her a +rather pretty and altogether wholesome looking child, as she paused in +confusion at the threshold upon seeing him.</p> +<p> +"Emily, dear, get Mr. Trowbridge a basin o' water, now; he's wantin' t' +wash up," directed Mrs. Gray. "Mr. Trowbridge, this is our little maid, +Emily."</p> +<p> +"I'm glad to know you, Emily," said Shad courteously. "Have you quite +recovered from your injury? When I was at Fort Pelican I heard all +about you and your trip to St. Johns."</p> +<p> +"I's fine now, thank you, sir," answered Emily, flushing to the roots +of her hair.</p> +<p> +"Yes, Emily's fine an' well now, sir," assured Mrs. Gray, as Emily +turned to fill the basin of water. "But she were wonderful bad after +her fall till she goes t' th' hospital in St. Johns t' be cured. They's +a fresh towel on the peg above th' bench, sir, an' a comb on th' shelf +under th' mirror by th' window," she continued, as Emily placed a basin +of water on a bench by the door.</p> +<p> +"Thank you," acknowledged Shad, turning to complete his toilet.</p> +<p> +"Now, Emily, dear, call Father an' Bob," said Mrs. Gray; "dinner's +sot." And Emily, glad of a respite from the embarrassing presence of +the stranger, ran out, presently to return with her father and Bob.</p> +<p> +When dinner was disposed of, Richard suggested that it was "wonderful +warm so handy t' th' stove," and leaving Mrs. Gray and Emily to clear +the table he conducted Shad and Bob to a convenient seat near the boat +landing, where they could enjoy a cooling breeze from the bay. Here he +drew from his pocket a stick of very black and very strong-looking +tobacco, and holding it toward Shad, asked:</p> +<p> +"Does you smoke, sir?"</p> +<p> +"No, thank you," declined Shad. "I had just learned to smoke when I +entered college, but I was trying for a place on the 'varsity nine, and +I had to drop smoking. A fellow can't play his best ball, you know, if +he smokes. So I quit smoking before I formed the habit."</p> +<p> +"Is that a game like snowshoe racin'!" asked Bob.</p> +<p> +"Oh, no!" and Shad described the game and its tactics minutely, with +thrilling detail of battles that his college nine had won and lost upon +the diamond.</p> +<p> +"Well, Bob," Shad asked finally, "have you decided to go with me for a +trip into the country?"</p> +<p> +"I'm not rightly knowin', sir, where you wants t' go," said Bob.</p> +<p> +Shad stated the object of his journey, and the three talked over the +possibilities of making such a trip as he desired within the time at +Bob's disposal.</p> +<p> +"Countin' on bad weather, 'twouldn't be much of a trip you could make +in a fortnut, and that'd be th' most time Bob could spare, whatever, +with his gettin' ready t' go t' th' trails," Richard finally explained. +"His mother an' me be wantin' he home, too, till he goes, for 'twill be +a long winter for his mother t' have he away without seein' he.</p> +<p> +"Now you says you has no hurry t' go away. Dick Blake an' Bill Campbell +goes t' th' handiest tilt o' th' Big Hill trail t' help Bob an' Ed +Matheson in with their outfit, an' they starts th' first o' August. +Then they comes back t' take their outfits up an' they has t' get in +before freeze up.</p> +<p> +"You bein' in no hurry, sir, could go with un on th' first trip, an' +come back with un, an' that gives you a fine trip an' a fine view o' +th' country. It takes un a month t' go in, but runnin' back light wi' +th' rapids they makes un in a week, so you gets back th' first week in +September month."</p> +<p> +"'Twould be grand t' have you along, sir!" exclaimed Bob. "An' I were +never thinkin' o' that. Father's wonderful at plannin'."</p> +<p> +"Done!" said Shad. "I'll do it, but I hope you won't find me a nuisance +around here during the three weeks we have to wait."</p> +<p> +"Oh, no, sir! 'Tis a rare treat t' have you visit us, sir!" protested +Richard.</p> +<p> +And thus it was finally decided.</p> +<p> +Bob was very busy during the days that followed. Not only his provision +and clothing supply for a ten months' absence from home was to be made +ready, but also the full equipment for the new trails to be established.</p> +<p> +The necessary traps had already been purchased, but sheet-iron had to +be fashioned into stoves and stove-pipe to heat the tents and log +tilts, and one new tent was to be made. It was imperative, too, that +each minor necessity that the wilderness itself could not readily +supply, he provided in advance, and that nothing be forgotten or +overlooked.</p> +<p> +The establishment of these trails was an event of high importance in +the Gray household. Bob's little fortune of a few thousand dollars, +derived from the salvage of a trading schooner the previous year, had +been deposited in a St. Johns bank, and his thrifty old friend, Douglas +Campbell, had suggested that it might be invested to advantage in a +small trading venture.</p> +<p> +"Bob can lay his trails this winter," said Douglas, "an' next year take +some tradin' goods in. Knowin' th' Nascaupee an' Mountaineer Injuns, +an' a bit o' their lingo, he'll be able t' do a snug bit o' tradin' +with un, along with his trappin'. An' if you opens a little store here +at th' Bight next summer, th' rest of you can 'tend un when Bob's +inside trappin'.</p> +<p> +"I were thinkin', too," said Douglas, "'twould be fine t' send Emily t' +St. Johns t' school th' winter, an' she'd learn t' keep th' books. +She's a smart lass, an' she'd learn, now, in a winter or two winters, +whatever, an' 'twould pay--an' do th' lass a wonderful lot o' good. I'm +wantin' a trip t' St. Johns, an' I'd take she on th' mail boat."</p> +<p> +There were many long discussions before it was finally decided that Bob +should launch upon the venture. Bob's mother opposed it. The terrible +winter of suspense when Bob, lost in the snow, was given up for dead, +was still a vivid remembrance to her. She recalled those tedious months +of grief as one recalls a horrid nightmare, and she declared that +another such winter, particularly if she were to be deprived of Emily's +society, would be unendurable.</p> +<p> +But her objections were finally overcome. Emily was to go to school and +it was decided Bob should establish two new trails. One of these he was +to hunt himself, the other one Ed Matheson had agreed to hunt on a +profit-sharing basis. Dick Blake and Bill Campbell--a son of Douglas +Campbell--were to occupy adjoining trails, and the four to work more or +less in conjunction with one another.</p> +<p> +Shad and Emily became fast friends at once. On pleasant afternoons she +would lead him away to explore the surrounding woods in search of wild +flowers, and after supper he would tell her fairy tales from Grimm, but +best of all she liked his stories from Greek and Roman mythology.</p> +<p> +She, and the whole family, indeed, listened with rapt attention when +Shad related how Chronos attacked Uranos with a sickle, wounding and +driving Uranos from his throne; how from some of the drops that fell +from Uranos's wounds sprang giants, the forefathers of the wild +Indians; how from still other drops came the swift-footed Furies--the +three Erinnyes--who punished those who did wrong, and were the dread of +the wicked.</p> +<p> +Thus the days passed quickly and pleasantly--even the occasional foggy +or rainy days, when Bob and his father worked indoors, and Bob, at +Emily's request, recounted very modestly his own adventures. Emily +particularly liked to have Bob tell of Ma-ni-ka-wan, an Indian maiden +who nursed him back to health after Sish-e-ta-ku-shin and Moo-koo-mahn, +Manikawan's father and brother, had found him unconscious in the snow +and carried him to their skin wigwam.</p> +<p> +"Th' Nascaupees was rare kind t' me," Bob explained to Shad. "They made +me one o' th' tribe, Sishetakushin calls me his son, an' they gives me +an Indian name meanin' in our talk 'White Brother o' th' Snow.' They +were thinkin' I'd stop with un, an' they were wonderful sorry when I +leaves un t' come home with th' huskies. Manikawan were a pretty +maid--as pretty as ever I see."</p> +<p> +"Were she as pretty as Bessie, now?" asked Emily slyly.</p> +<p> +"Now, Emily, dear, don't go teasin' Bob," warned Mrs. Gray.</p> +<p> +"I were just askin' he," said Emily; "he's so wonderful fond o' Bessie."</p> +<p> +"O' course he's fond o' Bessie, and so be all of us. Emily's speakin' +o' Bessie Black, sir," Mrs. Gray explained, to Shad. "She's Tom Black's +lass. Tom is th' factor's man over t' th' post, an' th' Blacks be great +friends of ours. Bessie's but a young maid--a year younger'n Bob. +You'll see th' Blacks when you goes over t' th' post with Bob."</p> +<p> +"I'm immensely interested in your Indian friends," said Shad. +"Manikawan was a little brick, and the Nascaupees bully good fellows. +Will there be a chance of my meeting them?"</p> +<p> +"No, they camps on lakes down t' th' n'uth'ard in summer," Bob +explained. "If you was stayin' th' winter, now, you'd see un."</p> +<p> +"I'm almost persuaded to remain on the trails with you all winter, and +see something of the life of real, uncivilised Indians," asserted Shad. +"I would stay if it were not for college."</p> +<p> +"'Twould be fine t' have you, now!" exclaimed Bob enthusiastically. +"But," he added doubtfully, "I'm fearin' you'd find th' winter +wonderful cold, an' th' tilts lonesome places t' stop in, not bein' +used to un."</p> +<p> +"An' your mother would be worryin' about you; now, wouldn't she?" +suggested Mrs. Gray.</p> +<p> +"My mother died when I was a little boy, and Father died two years +ago," said Shad. "I have one sister, but she learned long ago that I +could take care of myself."</p> +<p> +"Is she a little sister?" asked Emily.</p> +<p> +"Oh, no," said Shad, "she's a big, married sister, and has a little +girl of her own nearly as old as you are."</p> +<p> +"'Twould be grand t' have you stay," Bob again suggested.</p> +<p> +"Thank you, and it would be grand to stay, I'm sure, but," said Shad +regretfully, "I can't do it. I must go back to college."</p> +<p> +At length Bob announced one day that his outfit was completed and that +all was in readiness, save a few incidentals to be purchased at the +Hudson's Bay Company's trading post, fifteen miles across the bay. +Shad, too, found it necessary to make some purchases preparatory to his +journey to the interior, and the following morning the two sailed away +in Bob's dory.</p> +<p> +Tom Black, the post servant, welcomed them as they stepped ashore on +the sandy beach below the post, and with him was Bob's old friend, +Douglas Campbell, who stated that he had arrived at the post an hour +earlier.</p> +<p> +"I'm glad you come over, Bob," said he, as the four walked up toward +Black's cabin. "When I comes t' th' post this mornin', I were thinkin' +t' go back t' Kenemish by way of Wolf Bight t' have a talk with you, +but your comin' saves me th' cruise. Set down here, now, a bit, till +dinner's ready. I wants t' hear your plans for th' trails."</p> +<p> +And while Shad was carried off by Tom to meet Mr. McDonald, the factor, +Douglas and Bob seated themselves upon a bench before the cabin and +discussed the proposed new trails.</p> +<p> +"Now, Bob, 'tis this I were wantin' t' say to you, an' I weren't +wantin' t' say it when your mother'd hear, an' set her worryn'," said +Douglas finally. "Don't forget you're goin' where no white trapper was +ever goin' before. You'll have to be a wonderful sight more careful +than on th' Big Hill trail. Last year when I goes on th' Big Hill trail +some Mingen Injuns come t' th' last tilt an' made some trouble, an' +told me they'd never let a white trapper hunt th' country beyond th' +Big Hill trail, an' you plans t' go, Bob. Now, if you works west'ard of +a line from th' last tilt o' th' Big Hill trail an' th' river, be +wonderful careful o' th' Mingens. They's a bad lot of Injuns."</p> +<p> +"I'll be careful, sir," promised Bob, adding, however, "I'm not fearin' +th' Injuns, though."</p> +<p> +"You never knows what an Injun's goin' t' do," cautioned Douglas. "You +was findin' th' Nascaupees friendly, but th' Mingens is different."</p> +<p> +Presently Tom joined them and invited them to dinner in the crudely +furnished but spotlessly clean living-room of the cabin. Mrs. Black, a +stout, motherly woman, had countless questions to ask of Douglas and +Bob as to how "th' folks t' home" fared, while she and her daughter +Bessie served the meal.</p> +<p> +Shad dined with Mr. McDonald, but directly after dinner joined Bob +while they made their purchases in the shop, and prepared for immediate +departure to Wolf Bight. When all was ready, Bob left Shad waiting at +the boat while he returned to the cabin to say goodbye to Mrs. Black +and Bessie.</p> +<p> +Bessie followed him to the door, and when they were outside where none +could see she drew from beneath her apron a buckskin cartridge pouch, +upon which she had neatly worked in silk the word "BOB" in the centre +of a floral design, doubtless the result of many days' labour.</p> +<p> +"Here, Bob," said she, "I were makin' it for you, an' when you carries +it on th' trail remember we're all thinkin' of you down here, an' +wishin' you luck in th' furrin', an' hopin' you're safe."</p> +<p> +"Oh!--Bessie--'tis--'tis wonderful kind of you--I'll always be +rememberin'," Bob stammered in acceptance, for a moment quite overcome +with surprise and embarrassment.</p> +<p> +"Now take care of yourself, Bob. We'll be missin' you th' +winter--good-bye, Bob."</p> +<p> +"Good-bye, Bessie."</p> +<p> +Bob and Shad quickly hoisted sail, and as they drew away from shore Bob +looked back to see Bessie still standing in the cabin door, waving her +handkerchief to him, and he regretted that he had not shown more +plainly his appreciation of her gift and her thoughtfulness.</p> +<p> +The following Monday was the day set for the departure of the +adventurers, and in accordance with a previous arrangement, late on +Sunday afternoon Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell, Ungava +Bob's trapping companions, joined him and Shad at Wolf Bight, where +they were to spend the night. Bill Campbell was a tall, awkward, +bashful young man of twenty-one, whose chief physical characteristic +was a great shock of curly red hair.</p> +<p> +Monday morning came all too soon. Breakfast was eaten by candle light, +and with the first grey hints of coming dawn the boat and Shad's canoe +were loaded for the start.</p> +<p> +Shad's tent and camping equipment, less heavy and cumbersome than +Bob's, together with a limited supply of provisions for daily use upon +the journey to the plateau, were carried in the canoe. The bulk of the +provisions and the heavier outfit for the trails, made up into easily +portaged packs, were stowed in the boat. This arrangement of the outfit +was made to avoid the necessity of unpacking and repacking at night +camp, and with packs thus always ready for the carry, much time could +be saved.</p> +<p> +The family gathered at the shore to bid the travellers farewell. First, +the boat with Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell at the oars +pulled off into the curtain of heavy morning mist that lay upon the +waters. Then Bob kissed his mother and Emily, pressed his father's +hand, took his place in the canoe with Shad, and a moment later they, +too, were swallowed up by the fog.</p> +<p> +The long journey, to be followed by a winter of hardship and adventure, +was begun, and with heavy hearts the little family upon the shore +turned back to their lowly cabin and weary months of misgiving and +uncertainty.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="V"></a>V</p> +<p> +IN THE FAR WILDERNESS</p> +<p> +Beyond the sheltered bight a good breeze was blowing and presently, as +the sun arose and the mist lifted from the water, Shad and Bob, keeping +close to shore, discovered the boat a half-mile away with sails +hoisted, bowling along at good speed.</p> +<p> +"We'll be makin' rare time, now," said Bob. "We'll be passin' Rabbit +Island in an hour, an' makin' the Traverspine t' boil th' kettle for +dinner."</p> +<p> +"No rapids to-day?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"No, th' portage at Muskrat Falls is th' first," answered Bob, adding +uncertainly: "I'm 'feared you'll find th' work on th' river wearisome, +not bein' used t' un--th' portagin' an' trackin'. I finds un hard."</p> +<p> +"That's a part of the game," said Shad. "I expect to do my share of the +work, old man, and I don't think you'll find me a quitter."</p> +<p> +"I were knowin', now, you were that kind, ever since I picks you out o' +th' Bay," exclaimed Bob. "You weren't losin' your head, an' by th' time +I h'ists sail you was wringin' th' water outen your shirt, just as if +'tweren't nothin'. An', Mr. Trowbridge, I likes you ever since."</p> +<p> +"Thank you, Bob, but if you want me to be your friend drop the handle +from my name and call me 'Shad.' We're on an equal footing from this +on."</p> +<p> +"'Twill be wonderful hard, Mr. Trow--"</p> +<p> +"Shad!"</p> +<p> +"'Twill be wonderful hard t' call you 'Shad '--it sounds kind of +unrespectful, now."</p> +<p> +"Not in the least," laughed Shad. "All the fellows call me Shad."</p> +<p> +"I'll try t' think now t' do it, Mr.--I means Shad. But 'tis a rare +queer name."</p> +<p> +"Shadrach is the full name. It is pretty awful, isn't it? But doting +parents cast it upon me, and I'll have to hold my head up under it."</p> +<p> +"'Tis a Bible name, now. I remembers readin' about Shadrach somewheres +in th' Book o' Daniel."</p> +<p> +The canoe and boat had been gradually drawing together and now, within +speaking distance, Bob called out:</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin' me an' Shad'll go on t' th' Traverspine or handy t' un, +an' have th' kettle boiled when you comes up. We ought t' make clost t' +th' Traverspine by noon."</p> +<p> +"You an' who?" bawled Dick.</p> +<p> +"Me an' Shad--Mr. Trowbridge."</p> +<p> +"Oh, aye," answered Dick, "'twill save time."</p> +<p> +"Bob's gettin' wonderful unrespectful, callin' Mr. Toobridge 'Shad!'" +remarked Ed.</p> +<p> +"'Tain't 'Toobridge,' Ed!" exclaimed Dick, in disgust. "Can't you +remember, now? 'Tis Towbreg--T-o-w-b-r-e-g. You'll be callin' he wrong +t' his face again."</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin' you be right this time, Dick," Ed reluctantly admitted.</p> +<p> +The lighter and swifter canoe had already shot ahead and was out of +hearing. Bob's mind filled with plans for the future, Shad enjoying the +wide vista of water and wilderness, they paddled in silence.</p> +<p> +The brilliant sunshine, the low, rocky shores, the spruce-clad hills +rising above, with now and again a breath of the perfumed forest wafted +to them upon the breeze, inspired and exhilarated the young voyageurs. +Shad was conscious of a new sense of freedom and power taking +possession of him. The romance of the situation appealed to his +imagination. Was he not one of an adventurous band of pioneers going +into a vast wilderness, an untamed and unexplored land, to battle with +nature and the elements?</p> +<p> +For several hours they paddled, finally entering the wide river mouth. +Here the first indication of a current was encountered, and the +northern bank was followed closely that they might take advantage of +counter eddies, and thus overcome the retarding effect of the midstream +current.</p> +<p> +"'Twill be noon when th' boat comes, an' we'll stop now t' boil th' +kettle," Bob finally suggested. "Th' Traverspine River is handy by. She +comes into this river just above here a bit."</p> +<p> +"Good!" exclaimed Shad. "I'm nearly famished, and I've been hoping for +the last hour to hear you say that."</p> +<p> +"Paddlin' do make for hunger," admitted Bob, as he stepped ashore on a +sandy beach near the mouth of a rushing brook. "I'm a bit hungry +myself. I'll be puttin' a fire on now, an' you brings up th' things +from th' canoe."</p> +<p> +In an incredibly short time the fire was lighted, and when Shad brought +up a kettle of water from the river Bob had already cut a stiff pole +about five feet in length. The butt end of this he sharpened, and, +jamming it into the ground, inclined it in such manner that the kettle, +which he took from Shad and hung by its bail upon the other end of the +pole, was suspended directly over the blaze.</p> +<p> +Bob, who installed himself as cook, now sliced some fat pork to fry, +while Shad gathered a quantity of large dry sticks which lay +plentifully about and began piling them upon the fire.</p> +<p> +"Oh, don't make such a big fire, now!" exclaimed Bob, when he +discovered what Shad was about. "'Twill be too hot t' cook by. A small +bit o' fire's enough;" and he proceeded to pull out of the blaze the +large wood which Shad had placed upon it.</p> +<p> +<img style="width: 581px; height: 807px;" alt="" src="images/p0070pic.jpg"></p> +<p> +"If there's nothing else for me to do, I'll see if there are any trout +in that brook," said Shad.</p> +<p> +Shad made his first cast in a promising pool a little way from the +fire, and the moment the fly touched the water, "zip!" went the reel. +The result was a fine big trout. Within twenty minutes he had landed +eighteen, and when presently the boat drew up a delicious odour of +frying fish welcomed the three hungry men as they sprang ashore and +made the painter fast.</p> +<p> +"Shad got un," explained Bob, in response to an exclamation of pleasure +from Ed.</p> +<p> +"You means Mr. Towbridge, Bob," corrected Dick, with dignity.</p> +<p> +"No," broke in Shad, "Bob's right. Shad is my front name and I want you +fellows to call me Shad; leave the handle off."</p> +<p> +"An' you wants, sir," agreed Dick. "'Tis a bit more friendly soundin'."</p> +<p> +"Them trout makes me think," said Ed, as he cut some tobacco from a +plug and filled his pipe after dinner, "of onct I were out huntin' +pa'tridges. I gets plenty o' pa'tridges, but I finds myself wonderful +hungry for trout, when I comes to a pool in a brook where I stops t' +cook my dinner an' sees a big un jump.</p> +<p> +"'Now,' says I, t' myself, 'Ed,' says I, 'you got t' get un somehow,' +an' I goes through my pocket lookin' for tackle. All I finds is a piece +o' salmon twine an' one fishhook. 'I'll try un, whatever,' says I, an' +I cuts a pole an' ties th' salmon twine t' un, an' th' hook t' th' +salmon twine, an,' baitin' th' hook with a bit o' pa'tridge skin, +throws in.</p> +<p> +"Quicker'n a steel trap a trout takes un, but he's a little un, an' I'm +so disgusted-like I don't pull he right in. Then before I knows it a +big trout takes an' swallows th' little un."</p> +<p> +Ed paused to lend effect to the climax, while he lighted his pipe and +began puffing vigorously.</p> +<p> +"Well?" asked Shad. "Did you land him?"</p> +<p> +"Not very prompt," continued Ed. "I was so flustrated I just looks at +un for a bit, skiddin' around in th' water. Then, while I lets un play, +quicker'n I can say 'boo' an old whopper up an' grabs th' big un an' +swallows he. Then I yanks, an' I lands th' three of un.</p> +<p> +"Th' outside un were two foot and a half long an' a fraction over. I +measures he. Th' next one were nineteen an' three-quarters inches long, +an' th' little un were ten inches long. Th' little un an' th' next +weren't hurt much, an' not wantin' they I throws un back, an' th' big +un does me for dinner an' supper an' breakfast th' next mornin', an' +then I throws a big hunk that were left over away, because I don't want +t' pack un any longer."</p> +<p> +"Ed," said Dick solemnly, "you'll be struck dead some day for lyin' so."</p> +<p> +"Who? Me lyin'?" asked Ed, with assumed indignation.</p> +<p> +"Yes, you. You'm always yarnin', Ed. You never seen a trout moren't two +foot long, no more'n I have," declared Dick.</p> +<p> +"Oh, well," sighed Ed, while the others laughed, "they's no use tellin' +you of happenin's, Dick, you always were a doubtin' o' me."</p> +<p> +The following day at noon the Muskrat Falls were reached, and here the +real work and hardship of the journey began. Day after day the men were +driven to toil with tracking lines up swift currents, more often than +not immersed to their waists in the icy waters of the river, or for +weary miles they staggered over portages with heavy loads upon their +backs. To add to their difficulties a season of rain set in, and hardly +a day passed without its hours of drizzle or downpour. But they could +not permit rain or weather to retard their progress.</p> +<p> +Always between sunrise and sunset they were tormented, too, by myriads +of black flies and mosquitoes, the pests of the North. There was no +protection against the attacks of the insects. The black flies were +particularly vicious; not only was their bite poisonous, but a drop of +blood appeared wherever one of them made a wound, and in consequence +the faces, hands, and wrists of the toiling voyageurs were not alone +constantly swollen, but were coated with a mixture of blood and sweat.</p> +<p> +Shad, less toughened than his companions, suffered more than they. He +was actually made ill for a day or two by the poison thus inoculated +into his system, though with his characteristic determination, he still +insisted, against the protests of the others, upon doing his full share +of the work. Dick advised him, finally, to carry a fat pork rind in his +pocket and to occasionally apply the greasy side of the rind to his +face and hands. This he discovered offered some relief, though, as he +remarked, grease, added to blood and sweat, gave him the appearance of +a painted savage.</p> +<p> +With the evening camp-fire, however, came a respite to the weary +travellers, and recompense for all the hardship and toil of the day. +Here they would relax after supper, and with vast enjoyment smoke and +chat or tell stories of wild adventure.</p> +<p> +Shad contributed tales of college pranks, which never failed to bring +forth uproarious laughter, while his vivid descriptions of battles on +the gridiron or on the diamond, illustrated with diagrams drawn with a +stick upon the ground, and minutely explained, held his hearers in +suspense until the final goal was kicked or the last inning played.</p> +<p> +Dick and Ed described many stirring personal adventures, the latter +embellishing his stories with so many fantastic flights of imagination +that Shad would scarcely have known where fact ended and fiction began +had Dick not made it a point to interject his warnings of the eternal +vengeance that awaited Ed if he did not "have a care of his yamin'."</p> +<p> +One morning during the third week after leaving Wolf Bight, a beautiful +sheet of placid water opened before them in a far-reaching vista to the +northwest. On either side of the narrow lake rose towering cliffs of +granite, their dark faces lighted at intervals by brooklets tumbling in +cascades from the heights above. A loon laughed weirdly in the +distance, and from the hills above a wolf sounded a dismal howl. It was +a scene of rugged, primeval grandeur, and Shad, taken completely by +surprise, caught his breath.</p> +<p> +"'Tis Lake Wanakapow," explained Ed. "There'll be no more trackin' or +portagin'. 'Twill be straight sailin' an' paddlin' from this on. Th' +first tilt o' th' Big Hill trail's handy, an' if th' wind holds fair +we'll reach un by th' end o' th' week, whatever."</p> +<p> +For the first time since their departure the voyageurs were enabled to +don dry clothing, with the assurance that they could remain dry and +comfortable throughout the day. The evenings were becoming frosty and +exhilarating. The black flies and mosquitoes had ceased to annoy. Wild +geese and ducks upon the waters, and flocks of ptarmigans along the +shores, gave promise of an abundance and variety of food.</p> +<p> +With the changed conditions, in marked contrast to the toil and +hardships of the preceding weeks, Shad's desire to remain throughout +the winter grew. The lure of the wilderness had its power upon him.</p> +<p> +The first tilt of the Big Hill trail was reached on Saturday, as Ed had +predicted. Here camp was pitched, the boat finally unloaded, and +preparation made for Dick and Bill to begin their return voyage on +Monday morning.</p> +<p> +When supper was eaten and they were gathered about the evening +camp-fire in blissful relaxation, silently watching the aurora borealis +work its wild wonders in the sky, Shad suddenly asked:</p> +<p> +"Are you certain, Bob, I'd not be a burden to you if I remained here +all winter, You know, I'm a tenderfoot in the woods."</p> +<p> +"Oh, no!" Bob assured enthusiastically. "You'd be no burden! An' when +your feet gets tender you can bide in th' tilt an' rest un."</p> +<p> +"I don't mean that my feet are tender in that way," laughed Shad, "but +I'm a novice in woodcraft and I've never done any trapping. You'd have +to teach me a great deal about these things, and I don't want to stay +if I'll hinder your work in the least."</p> +<p> +"Oh, you'd never be hinderin' th' work! An' you'd be a wonderful lot o' +company, whatever! I hopes you'll stay, Shad!"</p> +<p> +"Thank you, Bob. I'll stay. It will put me back a whole year in +college, but I'll stay anyhow. My experience with you will be worth the +sacrifice of a year in college, I'm sure."</p> +<p> +"Now that be grand!" exclaimed Bob, his face beaming pleasure.</p> +<p> +"An' Shad stays, Ed, he'll give Bob a hand with th' tilts," suggested +Dick. "Can't you go back, now, with me an' Bill, t' help us up with our +outfits? 'Twill be a wonderful hard an' slow pull for just th' two of +us."</p> +<p> +"Be you thinkin', now, you can manage th' tilts?" asked Ed, turning to +Bob.</p> +<p> +"O' course me an' Shad can manage un," assured Bob.</p> +<p> +"I'll go back, then, Dick," consented Ed. "'Twould be hard t' manage +with just two on th' boat."</p> +<p> +Arrangements were made for the three trappers to bring Shad some +adequate winter clothing upon their return, letters were written home, +and at daylight on Monday morning adieus were said. Bob and Shad stood +upon the shore watching the boat bearing their friends away, until it +turned a bend in the river below and was lost to view.</p> +<p> +"We'll not see un again for five weeks," said Bob regretfully, as they +retraced their steps to the embers of the camp-fire over which +breakfast had been cooked.</p> +<p> +"And in the meantime," began Shad gaily, with a sweep of his arm, "we +are monarch, of all--" Suddenly he stopped. His eyes, following the +sweep of his arm, had fallen upon two Indians watching them from the +shadow of the spruce trees beyond their camp.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="VI"></a>VI</p> +<p> +OLD FRIENDS</p> +<p> +"Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn!" exclaimed Bob.</p> +<p> +The moment they were recognised the two Indians strode forward, +laughing, and grasped Bob's hand in a manner that left no doubt of +their pleasure at meeting him, while both voiced their feeling in a +torrent of tumultuous words.</p> +<p> +They were tall, lithe, sinewy fellows, clad in buckskin shirt, +tight-fitting buckskin leggings, and moccasins. They wore no hats, but +a band of buckskin, decorated in colours, passing around the forehead, +held in subjection the long black hair, which fell nearly to their +shoulders. In the hollow of his left arm each carried a long, +muzzle-loading trade gun, and Mookoomahn, the younger of the two, also +carried at his back a bow and a quiver of arrows.</p> +<p> +"These be th' Injuns I were tellin' you of," Bob finally introduced, +when an opportunity offered. "Shake hands with un, Shad. This un is +Sishetakushin, an' this un is his son, Mookoomahn. I've been tellin' +they you're my friend."</p> +<p> +In their attitude toward Shad they were dignified and reserved. Neither +could speak English, and Bob, who had a fair mastery of the Indian +tongue, interpreted.</p> +<p> +"We are glad to meet the friend of White Brother of the Snow," said +Sishetakushin, acting as spokesman. "We welcome him to our country. +White Brother of the Snow tells us he will remain for many moons. He +will visit our lodge with White Brother of the Snow and eat our meat. +He will be welcome."</p> +<p> +"I thank you," responded Shad. "'White Brother of the Snow has told me +how kind you were to him when he was in trouble, and it is a great +pleasure to meet you. I will certainly visit your lodge with him and +eat your meat."</p> +<p> +The ceremony of introduction completed, Bob renewed the fire and brewed +a kettle of tea for his visitors. They drank it greedily, and at a +temperature that would have scalded a white man's throat.</p> +<p> +"They's wonderful fond o' tea, and tobacco, too," explained Bob, "an' +they only gets un when they goes t' Ungava onct or twict a year."</p> +<p> +Upon Bob's suggestion that, should they meet Indians, it would prove an +acceptable gift, Shad had purchased at the post and brought with him a +bountiful supply of black plug tobacco, such as the natives used, and +with this hint from Bob he gave each of the Indians a half-dozen plugs. +The swarthy faces and black eyes of the visitors lighted with pleasure, +and from that moment much of the reserve that they had hitherto +maintained toward him vanished.</p> +<p> +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is generous," said +Sishetakushin, in accepting the tobacco. "For four moons we have had +nothing to smoke but dried leaves and the bark of the red willow."</p> +<p> +Each Indian carried at his belt a pipe, the bowl fashioned from soft, +red pipe stone, the stem a hollow spruce stick. Squatting upon their +haunches before the fire, they at once filled their pipes with tobacco, +lighted them with coals from the fire, and blissfully puffed in silence +for several minutes.</p> +<p> +"How are Manikawan and her mother?" Bob presently inquired.</p> +<p> +"The mother is well, but the maiden has grieved long because White +Brother of the Snow never returns," answered Sishetakushin. "She +watches for him when the Spirit of the Wind speaks in the tree-tops. +She watches when the moon is bright and the shadow spirits are abroad. +She watches when the evil spirits of the storm are raging in fury +through the forest. She watches always, and is sad. Young men have +sought her hand to wife, but she has denied them. White Brother of the +Snow will return. He will come again to our lodge, and the maiden will +be joyful."</p> +<p> +Shad was unable to understand a word of this, but Bob's face told him +plainly that something not altogether pleasant to the lad had been said.</p> +<p> +"I cannot go now," said Bob, speaking in the Indian tongue. "We must +build our lodges and lay our trails. Winter will soon be upon us and we +must have the lodges built before the Frost Spirit freezes the earth."</p> +<p> +"Sishetakushin's lodge is always open to White Brother of the Snow. It +is pitched upon the shores of the Great Lake, two-days' journey to the +northward. The trail is plain. It lies through two lakes and along +water running to the Great Lake. The maiden is waiting for White +Brother of the Snow. He was made one of our people. He is welcome."</p> +<p> +[Footnote: Lake Michikamau, the Great Lake of the Indians, situated on +the Labrador plateau.]</p> +<p> +The Indians had risen to go, and Bob presented them with a package of +tea, as a parting gift, which they accepted.</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow will come to our lodge soon and bring with +him his friend," said Sishetakushin, in accepting the tea, and he and +Mookoomahn, like shadows, disappeared into the forest.</p> +<p> +"Injuns be queer folk, but they were good friends t' me when I were +needin' friends," said Bob, when the Indians were gone.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="VII"></a>VII</p> +<p> +WHERE THE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL</p> +<p> +From the river tilt, as they called it, where their camp was pitched, +the Big Hill trail led to the northwest for fifteen miles, then fifteen +miles to the westward, where it took a sharp turn to the northward, in +which direction it continued for nearly thirty miles, then again swung +to the westward for fifteen miles, where it terminated on the shores of +a small lake. This was the trail previously hunted by Bob.</p> +<p> +Douglas Campbell had visited the Big Hill trail the preceding winter, +but had not remained to hunt, and it had therefore been unoccupied +during the winter. For the season at hand it had been transferred to +Dick Blake, while Dick's own trail, farther down the river, was to +remain untenanted, and the animals given an opportunity to increase. +Directly below the Big Hill trail and adjoining it was Bill Campbell's +trail.</p> +<p> +Bob had been informed by Mountaineer Indians who camped during a +portion of each summer near the Eskimo Bay post, that by following a +stream flowing into the river a short distance above the river tilt of +the Big Hill trail, and taking a west-northwesterly direction, he would +find a series of lakes running almost parallel with the river, and +lying between the river and the Big Hill trail.</p> +<p> +Tradition said that this stream and series of lakes had at one time +been an Indian portage route around the Great Falls of the Grand River, +but for many years it had been generally avoided by Indians because of +its proximity to the falls, which were supposed to be the abode of evil +spirits, a superstition doubtless arising from the fact that Indian +canoes may have been caught in the current above the falls and carried +to destruction below; and because of the impression and awful aspect of +the falls themselves, whose thunderous roar may be heard for many +miles, echoing through the solitudes.</p> +<p> +From the fact that this region had but rarely been traversed, and had +certainly not been hunted by Indians for many generations, and that the +animals within the considerable territory which it embraced had +therefore been permitted to increase undisturbed by man, Bob argued +that it must of necessity prove a rich trapping ground for the first +who ventured to invade it. It was here, then, that he purposed +establishing his first trapping trail.</p> +<p> +The first step to be taken was to make a survey of the region, and with +a quantity of steel traps, a limited supply of provisions, and Shad's +light tent, the two young adventurers set forward in the canoe upon +their scouting journey within the hour after Sishetakushin and +Mookoomahn had left them.</p> +<p> +A long portage and the ascent of a stream for several miles carried +them that evening to the first of the series of lakes, where Bob's +trained eye soon discovered unquestionable signs of an abundance of +fur-bearing animals, sustaining his hope that the ground would be found +virgin and profitable territory.</p> +<p> +Their camp was pitched by the lake shore. At their back lay the dark +forest, before them spread the shimmering lake, and to the westward a +high hill lifted its barren peak of weather-beaten, storm-scoured rocks.</p> +<p> +The atmosphere became cool as evening approached, and when supper was +disposed of the fire was renewed, and, weary with their day's work, +they reclined before its genial blaze to watch the sun go down in an +effulgence of glory and colour.</p> +<p> +Neither spoke until the colours were well-nigh faded, and the first +stars twinkled faintly above.</p> +<p> +"The most glorious sunset I ever beheld," remarked Shad finally, +breaking the silence.</p> +<p> +"'Twere fine!" admitted Bob. "We sees un often in here, this time o' +year. They makes me think o' what the Bible says th' holy place in th' +temple was t' be like--'A veil o' blue an' purple an' scarlet.' I'm +wonderin', now, if th' Lard weren't makin' these sunsets just t' show +what th' holy place be like, an' t' keep us from forgettin' un. I'm +wonderin' if 'tisn't a bit o' th' holy place in th' temple o' Heaven, +th' Lard's showin' us in them sunsets."</p> +<p> +"I don't know," said Shad; "I don't remember it. I must confess I never +read my Bible very much."</p> +<p> +"I'll read un to you from my Bible when day comes," promised Bob.</p> +<p> +Presently the aurora borealis flashed up upon the sky with the effect +of a thousand powerful searchlights, the long fingers of light rising +from the northern horizon to the zenith and flashing from east to west +in a maze of every-changing colour--now white--now red--now yellow. It +was a scene not only beautiful, but weird and awe-inspiring.</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin', now, o' th' northern lights," remarked Bob, when they +had watched them for some time, "that they's flashes o' light from +heaven. I'm thinkin' th' Lard sends un t' give us promise o' th' +glories we'll have when we dies."</p> +<p> +"That is a cheerful thought, at least," admitted Shad.</p> +<p> +"Yes, 'tis cheerin'. Leastways, they always cheers me when I see un," +declared Bob.</p> +<p> +"Whenever I see them after this," said Shad, "I shall remember your +suggestion--that they are the reflected glory of heaven, sent to +inspire the dwellers upon earth."</p> +<p> +As they arose to retire to their tent the dead silence of the +wilderness was startled by the uncanny cry of a loon. Bob stood for a +moment and listened. Then, turning to the tent, he remarked:</p> +<p> +"'Tis a bad sign, when a loon laughs at night like that!"</p> +<p> +"In what way?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"'Tis said t' be a warnin' o' danger an' trouble."</p> +<p> +In a series of portages from lake to lake they passed the next day +through six lakes of varying size, caching traps now and again at +convenient points for future use.</p> +<p> +All the afternoon a low, rumbling sound was to be heard. Time and again +they halted to listen. It was a changeless, sullen, muffled roar. +Finally, when they reached the sixth lake, later in the +afternoon, their curiosity got the better of them and they climbed a +barren eminence to investigate. As they neared the summit the roar +increased in volume, and when they reached the top and looked to the +southward they beheld a cloud of vapour.</p> +<p> +"'Tis th' Great Falls o' th' Injuns!" exclaimed Bob.</p> +<p> +"Where the evil spirits dwell?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Aye, where th' evil spirits dwell." Around them lay a rugged scene of +sub-Arctic grandeur. To the eastward the country was dotted with a +network of small lakes similar to those through which they had been +travelling, while to the northward a much larger lake appeared. The +shores of these lakes supported a forest of black spruce, but every +rise of ground was destitute of other growth than the gray caribou +lichen which everywhere carpets the Labrador forest.</p> +<p> +"There's a grand chance t' lay th' trails," said Bob. "We'll be makin' +our trails along th' s'uth'ard lakes an' up t' that big lake, an' Ed's +among th' lakes t' th' n'uth'ard."</p> +<p> +"I'd like to see those falls," suggested Shad. "Can't we take the +morning off to visit them?"</p> +<p> +"An' you wants," agreed Bob. "We'll be buildin' a tilt down where th' +canoe is, an' another on th' first lake, an' I'm thinkin' another +on th' big lake above."</p> +<p> +Accordingly the following morning, leaving their camp pitched and their +canoe on the lake shore, they turned southward upon an exploring +expedition. Their tramp carried them across a series of ridges and bogs +and finally into a forest. With every step the roar increased, and at +length they could plainly feel the earth tremble beneath their feet.</p> +<p> +Suddenly they emerged from the forest to behold a scene of wild and +sublime grandeur. They stood at the very brink of a mighty chasm. From +far above them the river rushed down, a stupendous torrent of +foam-crested billows and swirling whirlpools, impatient to make its +leap into the depths at their feet where it was presently to be +swallowed up in a bank of mist, which shimmered beneath the two +adventurers like a giant opal lighted by all the colours of the +rainbow. Below the rainbow-coloured mist the river again appeared, +rushing in fearful power past beetling, frowning cliffs, which directly +hid it from view. The very rocks upon which they stood trembled, and a +reverberating roar rose from the canyon at their feet, so loud that +conversation was well-nigh impossible.</p> +<p> +[Footnote: These are the Grand Falls of Labrador. The river falls three +hundred and sixteen feet with a single leap.]</p> +<p> +For half an hour they stood enthralled by the scene, then they turned +up the river, walking along its bank.</p> +<p> +"'Tis an awful place down there," remarked Bob. "I'm not wonderin', +now, th' Injuns thinks 'tis possessed by evil spirits."</p> +<p> +"It is the most sublime scene I ever beheld," declared Shad. "One +glimpse of it is worth all the trouble we've had in getting here."</p> +<p> +The river gradually widened, but always with a strong current, even +above the heavy white rapids, until some five miles above the falls it +expanded into a large island-dotted lake. At the extreme lower end of +this lake the old Indian portage trail was discovered, and following it +the explorers late in the day reached their camp.</p> +<p> +The following weeks were devoted to the erection of tilts--small log +cabins to be used in winter as shelter. One was established well up the +shores of the large lake expansion above the falls, another upon the +shores of the lake from which they had made their excursion to the +falls, and still another upon the first lake above the river tilt of +the Big Hill trail, while to the northward near other lakes four other +tilts were erected, at convenient distances apart, for Ed's use.</p> +<p> +These tilts were all constructed upon the same general plan. They were +on an average about eight by ten feet in size, with a slightly sloping +roof so low in the rear Bob could scarcely stand erect.</p> +<p> +The chinks between the logs were filled with caribou moss. The roof +logs were covered with boughs, over which was spread first a blanket of +moss and then a coating of six inches of earth. Each was provided with +a doorway about four feet in height and two and a half feet wide, which +was fitted with a door constructed of lashed saplings covered with bark.</p> +<p> +Within, a platform of flat stones was arranged to accommodate the +sheet-iron stove, with a stove-pipe hole through the roof directly over +it.</p> +<p> +Long, springy saplings were utilised in erecting bunks at the rear and +along the side of the tilt opposite the stove. These were later to be +covered with spruce boughs, and would serve both as beds and seats, and +were elevated some eighteen inches above the earth floor.</p> +<p> +"They'll be warm an' snug," said Bob. "When frosty weather an' winter +comes th' snow soon banks un up an' covers un up, roof and all, and +makes un good an' tight."</p> +<p> +"But how do you get air enough to breathe?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Th' stove-pipe hole is made plenty big," explained Bob, "an' that lets +th' bad air out, an' we mostly has a snow tunnel leadin' t' th' door so +th' wind won't strike in, an' leavin' th' door off, th' good air comes +in."</p> +<p> +Nearly four weeks had been consumed in this work, and without waiting +for the reappearance of their friends they began at once the +distribution of supplies among the tilts, for September was nearly +spent and winter would be upon them by mid-October, when ice in the +lakes would render the canoe useless.</p> +<p> +Therefore, with all haste they proceeded with their first canoe-load of +provisions to the farthest tilt, built upon the shores of the lake +expansion above the falls.</p> +<p> +It was mid-forenoon of a beautiful, transparent September day when they +reached the tilt. The supplies were quickly stowed beneath the bunks, +the tent stove erected, and, halting only long enough to make tea, they +launched their canoe for the return.</p> +<p> +"We'll be makin' th' river tilt before we sleeps," said Bob. "They's a +moon, an' we'll finish by moonlight, an' to-morrow we'll be gettin' out +with th' next load. If we travels fast we can make th' river tilt +before midnight, whatever!"</p> +<p> +The portage trail left the river at a point some ten miles below the +tilt, and as previously stated, at the lower end of the lake, where the +current began to gather strength for its final tumultuous rush toward +the falls.</p> +<p> +They had paddled the distance in two hours, and were congratulating +themselves upon their good progress as they turned the canoe toward the +portage landing, when suddenly they were startled by a burst of wild, +bloodcurdling whoops, and a half-dozen strange Indians, guns levelled, +rose upon the shore.</p> +<p> +"Mingens!" exclaimed Bob.</p> +<p> +A warning in the Indian tongue was shouted at them that they must not +attempt to land. A shot was fired over their heads to emphasise the +fact that the savages were in earnest, and with no alternative, and +taken wholly by surprise, Shad at the steersman's paddle astern, swung +the canoe out into the stream, still continuing down the river.<br> +</p> +<p><a href="#Startled">[Illustration]</a><br> +</p> +<p> +"Upstream! Upstream! Turn about!" shouted Bob.</p> +<p> +In the excitement and confusion that followed the first few moments +after the attack, much valuable time had been lost in ineffectual +manoeuvres, and when the canoe was finally turned about they were far +out into the stream, and it was found that the insidious current had +caught them. Bob was the first to recognise the danger, and in a sharp, +tense voice he commanded:</p> +<p> +"Quick! Work for your life! If th' rapid gets us, 'twill carry us over +th' falls!"</p> +<p> +Then they paddled--paddled as none had ever paddled before. But already +the powerful current had them in its grip. Slowly--slowly--but with +increasing speed they were drifting toward the awful cataract.</p> +<p> +They would have braved the Indians now, and attempted a landing, but +from a point directly below the portage trail, and extending to the +white water of the heavy rapids the river bank rose in a perpendicular +rampart of smooth-scoured rock, a full ten feet in height, offering no +possible foothold.</p> +<p> +For a little while they hoped, as they worked like madmen. Then the +full import of their position dawned upon them--that they were +hopelessly drifting toward the brink of the awful cataract.</p> +<p> +Beads of cold perspiration broke out upon their foreheads. A sickening +numbness came into their hearts, and as in a dream they heard the +derisive, exultant yells of the savages upon the shore.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="VIII"></a>VIII</p> +<p> +AFTER THE INDIAN ATTACK</p> +<p> +Below them rose the appalling roar of the hungry rapids and the dull, +thunderous, monotonous undertone of the falls themselves.</p> +<p> +Before their vision a vivid picture passed of the scene they had so +recently beheld--the onrushing, white piled billows above the cataract, +gathering strength for their mighty leap--the final plunge of the +resistless torrent--the bank of rainbow-coloured mist hovering in space +over a dark abyss--and far below and beyond the mist-bank the murky +chasm, where a white seething flood was beating its wild anger out +against jagged rocks in its mad endeavour to fight its way to freedom +between narrow canyon walls rising in frowning cliffs on either side.</p> +<p> +Impotent to resist the power that was drawing them down, Shad +Trowbridge and Ungava Bob were certain beyond a doubt that presently +they were to be hurled into this awful chasm, and that in all human +probability but a few minutes more of life remained to them.</p> +<p> +Then suddenly there flashed upon Bob's memory the recollection of an +island which he had observed when walking along the river bank from the +falls to the portage trail.</p> +<p> +He remembered that this island was of curious formation, with high +polished cliffs rising on its upper end and on either side, like +bulwarks to guard it from the rushing tide.</p> +<p> +At its lower end a long, low, gravelly point reached downward, like a +pencil point, among the swirling eddies. The gravel which formed this +point, he had remarked at the time, had been deposited by the eddies +created by the meeting of the waters where they rushed together from +either side below the island.</p> +<p> +With the recollection of the island came also a realisation that here +possibly lay a means of escape. A quick estimate of the distance they +had already drifted below the portage trail satisfied him that they +were still perhaps half a mile above the island, and probably not too +far amidstream to enable them to swing in upon it before it was passed, +in which case a landing might be made with comparative ease upon the +gravelly point.</p> +<p> +The canoe, as previously stated, was heading upstream, with Bob in the +bow, Shad in the stern. It was necessary that they turn around and +secure a view of the river in order to avoid possible reefs near the +island shore, and to properly pick an available landing place.</p> +<p> +But to attempt to turn the canoe itself in the swift current would in +all probability result in fatal delay. Therefore, acting upon the +moment's instinct, Bob ceased paddling, arose, and himself quickly +turned, seating himself face to the stern, shouting to Shad as he did +so:</p> +<p> +"Turn! I'll steer!"</p> +<p> +Shad had no doubt Bob had become demented, but without question obeyed +the command. In this position what had previously been the stern of the +canoe now became the bow, Shad Trowbridge the bowman and Ungava Bob the +steersman.</p> +<p> +The moment paddling ceased the canoe shot forward in the current, +heading toward the white waters of the rapids. The manoeuvre had not +been made a moment too soon, for directly before them, a little to the +left, lay the island.</p> +<p> +With a quick, dexterous turn of the paddle Bob swung the canoe toward +the island shore farthest from the mainland and, close under the +cliffs, caught the retarding shore current. A few seconds later the bow +of the little craft ground upon the gravelly point, Shad sprang ashore, +Bob at his heels, and the canoe was drawn after them to safety.</p> +<p> +For a moment Bob and Shad looked at each other in silence, then Shad +exclaimed simply: "Thank God!"</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Bob reverently, "thank th' Lard. He were watchin' an' +guardin' us when we were thinkin' we was lost. 'Tis th' Lard's way, +Shad."</p> +<p> +"My God, Bob! Look at that!" exclaimed Shad, pointing toward the mad +white waters below them. "If you hadn't thought of this island, Bob, +we'd be in there now--in there--dead! My God, what an escape! And such +a death!"</p> +<p> +Shad sank upon a bowlder, white and trembling. He was no coward, but he +was highly imaginative at times. During the trying period in the canoe +he was cool and brave. He had done his part at the paddle equally as +well as Bob. He would have gone to his death without a visible tremor. +But now the reaction had come, and his imagination ran riot with his +reason.</p> +<p> +"Why, Shad, what's th' matter now?" asked Bob solicitously. "Were th' +strain at th' paddle too much? You looks sick."</p> +<p> +"No--I'm all right--just foolish. I'm afraid you'll think I'm not game, +Bob."</p> +<p> +"Oh, but I knows you is, Shad. I seen you turned over in th' Bay, +Shad--an' I knows you'm wonderful brave."</p> +<p> +"Thank you, Bob. I hope I deserve your opinion."</p> +<p> +"I were terrible scairt first, when I finds th' canoe's slippin' back +toward th' rapid an' I'm seein' no way t' land," said Bob. "Then I +stops bein' scairt an' has a feelin' that I don't care--"</p> +<p> +"Just as I felt," broke in Shad. "A sort of hopeless speculation on +what was going to happen, but not much caring."</p> +<p> +"Aye," continued Bob. "Then I thinks 'twill be sore hard on Mother--my +never goin' home--an' I prays th' Lard t' help us, an' soon's I says +'Amen' I thinks o' this island. 'Twere th' Lard puts un in my head, +Shad."</p> +<p> +"I think," said Shad, "it was your quick wit and resourcefulness, Bob."</p> +<p> +"No," Bob insisted positively, "'twere th' Lard. An', Shad, we must be +thankin' th' Lard now."</p> +<p> +Then Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge knelt by the side of the boulder, +the former reverently, the latter courteously, while Bob prayed aloud:</p> +<p> +"Dear Lard, Shad and me is wonderful thankful that you p'inted out t' +us th' landin' place on this island, an', Lard, we wants t' thank you. +We knows, Lard, if you hadn't been p'intin' she out t' us, we'd be dead +in th' rapids now, or handy t' un. We'll never be forgettin'. An', +Lard, keep clost t' Shad an' me always. Amen."</p> +<p> +"That," said Shad, when they rose to their feet, "was the most honest, +simple, straightforward prayer I ever heard offered. Thank you, Bob, +for including me. If the Lord hears prayers, Bob, He heard yours, for +it was honest and from the heart and to the point."</p> +<p> +"He hears un, Shad, an' He answers un." There was a note of conviction +in Bob's tone that left no room for doubt.</p> +<p> +"We're here, because we're here, because we're here--" Shad began to +sing. "Bob, I'm feeling all right now, and I guess I've got my nerve +back again. Foolish, wasn't it, to get frightened after it was all +over? Let's see, now, what the prospects are of getting away."</p> +<p> +From an eminence in the centre of the island they surveyed their +surroundings. The mainland lay not more than a short stone's throwaway, +but between it and the island the water ran as swift as a mill race. +Some two hundred yards below the point on which they had landed the +heavy white rapids began, and with but one exception the perpendicular +wall of rock that formed the mainland shore extended to and beyond the +white water.</p> +<p> +This exception occurred about half-way between the island and the heavy +rapids, where for a distance of some six or eight yards frost action +had caused disintegration of the rock, and the wall sloped down toward +the river at an angle of forty-five degrees.</p> +<p> +At the foot of this slope, and on a level with the water, a narrow +platform had been formed by the dislodged portion of the rock. Under +the most favourable conditions exceedingly expert canoemen might +succeed in making a landing here, but it was plain that the foothold +offered was so narrow and so unstable that any attempt to make a +landing upon it would prove perilous and more than likely fatal.</p> +<p> +The island itself was oblong in shape and contained an area of three or +four acres. Its rocky surface sustained a scant growth of gnarled black +spruce and stunted white birch, with here and there patches of brush.</p> +<p> +From their vantage point no sign of the Indians who had caused their +trouble could be seen, and it was evident they had not descended the +river bank below the portage trail.</p> +<p> +"Well, what do you think of it, Bob?" Shad asked.</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin' now, th' Injuns are headin' for th' tilt up th' river, +an' that they'll be cleanin' un out an' burnin' un. Th' Injuns t' th' +post tells me they never comes below th' portage. They's afraid o' th' +evil spirits o' th' falls. But they goes back in th' country sometimes +an' circles around by th' Big Hill trail."</p> +<p> +"But what do you think of trying to cross, and make a landing down +there where the rock slopes?" inquired Shad.</p> +<p> +"We'd never make un, Shad," decided Bob. "I knows th' handlin' o' +boats. I'm too uncertain in a canoe, an' so be you, Shad."</p> +<p> +"What are we to do, then? We can't stay here," insisted Shad.</p> +<p> +"I'm not knowin' yet. They'll be some way showin'," promised Bob, "but +we'll have t' think un out first."</p> +<p> +"What was the matter with those Indians, anyway? I thought all the +Indians were friendly to white men," Shad asked, as they turned down +again to the canoe.</p> +<p> +"They's Mingen Injuns," explained Bob. "I were forgettin' t' tell you, +Shad. When we was t' th' post, Douglas Campbell tells me that last fall +some Mingens comes t' th' last tilt o' th' Big Hill trail an' tells he +they'd not let any white trapper hunt above th' Big Hill trail. They's +likely seen our tilt up th' river, an' laid for us. I'm sorry, now, I +were bringin' you here an' not tellin' you, Shad."</p> +<p> +"Oh, don't worry about that, Bob. I'd have come just the same," assured +Shad. "In fact, I'd have been all the more ready to come, with the +prospect of a scrap with Indians in view. If I'd known, though, I'd +have had my eyes open and my rifle ready, and dropped a bullet or two +among them before we got caught in the current."</p> +<p> +"Injuns were never givin' me trouble before, an' I weren't takin' their +threatenin' t' Douglas in earnest, so I forgets all about un till I +sees th' Injuns at th' portage trail," Bob explained.</p> +<p> +"'Twouldn't have done t' kill any of un, Shad. If you had, th' rest +would have laid in th' bushes an' killed us, for they's no knowin' how +many they is of un. Then they'd gone back an' laid for Ed an' Dick an' +Bill an' killed they before they'd be knowin' they was any trouble.</p> +<p> +"Now 'tis more 'n likely th' Injuns is thinkin' we be th' only white +men about, an' when we thinks up a way o' gettin' out o' here we'll +give warnin' t' Ed an' th' others, an' being on th' lookout one of us +can hold off a hull passel o' Injuns, for we has Winchesters, an' all +they has is muzzle-loadin' trade guns."</p> +<p> +"But suppose we don't get off this island before the others come to +look for us? What then?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"If they misses us an' goes lookin' for us, they'll be knowin' we're +missin' for some cause. Bill Campbell's been hearin' from his father +what th' Mingens were sayin' last year, an' they'll suspicion 'tis th' +Mingens an' be watchin' for un."</p> +<p> +"But I don't understand yet what objection the Mingens have to our +trapping here. I supposed this was the country of your Nascaupee +friends."</p> +<p> +"'Tis this way," Bob explained. "Th' Nascaupees hunts t' th' n'uth'ard, +th' Bay Mountaineers t' th' east'ard, an' th' Mingens t' th' s'uth'ard, +an' all of un comes in hereabouts t' get deer's meat, mostly th' +Mingens, when deer's scarce t' th' s'uth'ard, an' they thinks if white +trappers is about th' deer'll be drove out."</p> +<p> +"Well, Bob, let's boil the kettle and try to figure out a plan of +escape," suggested Shad. "With the reaction from the morning's +excitement, I'm developing a vast hunger."</p> +<p> +"They's not a mouthful o' grub in th' bag, Shad," Bob announced +sorrowfully, "only a bit o' tea with th' kettle an' our cups. I leaves +un all in th' tilt, thinkin' we'd get back t' th' next tilt an' use th' +grub that's there, an' I just leaves th' bit o' tea in th' bag."</p> +<p> +"No grub!" exclaimed Shad. "Then we've got to try to make a landing +down on that wall. We can't stay here and starve!"</p> +<p> +"An' we can't make th' landin'. 'Twould be sure drownin' t' try."</p> +<p> +"Then it is just a choice between drowning and starving? For my part, +I'd rather drown and have it over with, than starve to death!"</p> +<p> +"Th' Lard weren't showin' us here just t' have us die right off," said +Bob quietly. "He were savin' us because He's wantin us t' live, an' +He'll be thinkin' if we tries t' make th' landin' knowin' we can't make +un, that we're not wantin' t' live. If we takes time now t' plan un +out, th' Lard'll show us how."</p> +<p> +"I wish I had your faith, Bob, but I haven't, and I'm still in favour +of making a try for the shore," insisted Shad. "However, let us make +some tea and argue the matter out later."</p> +<p> +"Aye, we'll boil th' kettle an' talk un over, whatever," agreed Bob, +rising from the rock upon which they had seated themselves, and turning +into the scant growth to collect dry sticks for a fire.</p> +<p> +But instead of collecting the sticks he returned to the canoe, secured +Shad's doublebarrelled shotgun, and a moment later Shad, who was +dipping a kettle of water for their tea and had not noticed the +movement, was startled by the report of the gun. Looking up, he saw Bob +stoop, reach into a clump of bushes, and bring forth a rabbit.</p> +<p> +"Well, I'll be jiggered!" exclaimed Shad, as Bob held his game aloft +for inspection. "I didn't suppose there was hide or hair or feather on +this wind-blasted, forsaken island of desolation!"</p> +<p> +"I sees th' signs," said Bob, "an' then I looks about an' sees th' +rabbit. Where they's one they's like t' be quite a passel of un. They +likely crosses over last winter on th' ice an' th' break-up catches un +here an' they can't get off."</p> +<p> +"That's some relief to the situation. But we've only about a dozen +shells in the canoe," announced Shad, "and when they are gone we'll be +as badly off as ever."</p> +<p> +"We'll not be wastin' shells, now, on rabbits," said Bob. "They's other +ways t' catch un. I uses that shell t' get our dinner. I'll get th' +rabbit ready now whilst you puts a fire on."</p> +<p> +"Very well," agreed Shad, collecting wood for a fire, "and when we've +eaten I hope we can think of some way of escape."<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="IX"></a>IX</p> +<p> +THE INDIAN MAIDEN AT THE RIVER TILT</p> +<p> +"Well," said Ed Matheson, as the boat rounded a bend in the river, +"there's the river tilt, an' she looks good."</p> +<p> +"That she do," agreed Dick Blake. "I hopes, now, Bob's there an' has a +fire on. I'm wet t' th' last rag."</p> +<p> +"So be I. This snow an' rain comin' mixed always 'pears t' make a +wetter wet 'n just rain alone," observed Ed.</p> +<p> +"Bob's there now," broke in Bill Campbell. "I sees smoke comin' from +th' tilt pipe."</p> +<p> +The voyageurs were returning from Eskimo Bay with their second cargo of +winter supplies for the trails. Five weeks had elapsed since the +morning Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge had watched them disappear +around the river bend, and returning to camp had found Sishetakushin +and Mookoomahn awaiting them at the edge of the forest.</p> +<p> +Since early morning there had been a steady drizzle of snow and rain, +accompanied by a raw, searching, easterly wind, a condition of weather +that renders wilderness travel most disheartening and disagreeable.</p> +<p> +This was, however, the first break in a long series of delightfully +cool, transparent days, characteristic of Labrador during the month of +September, when Nature pauses to take breath and assemble her forces +preparatory to casting upon the land the smothering snows and withering +blasts of a sub-Arctic winter.</p> +<p> +Despite the pleasant weather, the whole journey from Eskimo Bay had +been one of tremendous effort. With but three, instead of five, as on +the previous journey, to transport the boat and carry the loads over +portages, the labour had been proportionately increased.</p> +<p> +It was, then, with a feeling of intense satisfaction and relief that +the voyageurs hailed the end of their journey, with its promised rest, +when they finally ran their boat to the landing below the river tilt of +the Big Hill trail.</p> +<p> +"I'll be tellin' Bob an' Shad we're here now, an' have un help us up +with th' outfit," said Ed Matheson cheerily, stepping ashore and +striding up the trail leading to the clearing a few yards above, in the +centre of which stood the trail.</p> +<p> +But at the edge of the clearing he stopped in open-mouthed amazement. +Before the open door of the tilt stood a tall, comely Indian maiden, +perhaps seventeen years of age. She was clad in fringed buckskin +garments, decorated in coloured designs. Her hair hung in two long +black braids, while around her forehead she wore a band of dark-red +cloth ornamented with intricate beadwork. From her shoulder hung a +quiver of arrows, and resting against the tilt at her side was a long +bow.</p> +<p> +She stood motionless as a statue, striking, picturesque and graceful, +and for a full minute the usually collected and loquacious Ed gazed at +her in speechless surprise.</p> +<p> +"Good evenin'," said he finally, regaining his composure and his power +of speech at the same time. "I weren't expectin' t' find any one here +but Ungava Bob an' Shad Toobridge. Be they in th' tilt?"</p> +<p> +With Ed's words she took a step forward, and in evident excitement +launched upon him a torrent of Indian sentences spoken so rapidly and +with such vehemence that, though he boasted a smattering of the +language, he was unable to comprehend in the least what she was saying. +It was evident, however, she was addressing him upon some subject of +import.</p> +<p> +"There now," he interrupted finally, forgetting even his smattering of +Indian and addressing her in English, "just 'bide there a bit, lass, +whilst I gets Dick Blake. He knows your lingo better'n me. I'll send he +up."</p> +<p> +And, hurrying down the trail, he called:</p> +<p> +"Dick, come up here. They's a Injun lass at th' tilt, firin' a lot o' +lingo at me I can't fathom."</p> +<p> +"A Injun lass!" exclaimed Dick. "What's she doin' there, now? An' +where's Bob an' Shad?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, a Injun lass," said Ed impatiently, "an' what she's doin' you'll +have t' find out. It seems like she's achin' t' tell somethin'. I'm not +seein' Bob an' Shad."</p> +<p> +"They must be somethin' wrong, Ed. Come down an' help Bill get th' +cargo ashore, an' I'll find out what 'tis;" and Dick hurried up the +trail past Ed, to meet Manikawan, for she it was.</p> +<p> +She was still standing where Ed had left her, and Dick asked kindly in +Indian:</p> +<p> +"What message does the maiden bring to her white brothers?"</p> +<p> +"Listen!" she commanded, in a clear, musical voice. "I am Manikawan, +the daughter of Sishetakushin, whose lodge is pitched on the shores of +the Great Lake, to the north. Yesterday some men of the South visited +the lodge of my father."</p> +<p> +"Mingens!" exclaimed Dick.</p> +<p> +"They told him," she continued, not heeding the interruption, "that +five suns back they had found a lodge built where the big river +broadens. The lodge was newly made. It was a white man's lodge, for it +was built of trees. The men of the South waited in hiding at the end of +the portage that was once used by my people. It is above the place +where evil spirits dwell."</p> +<p> +"How many of the men of the South were there?" asked Dick, again +interrupting.</p> +<p> +"Six," she answered promptly. "While they waited two white men passed +with a painted canoe and much provisions. Then, while they still +waited, the white men returned with the canoe empty.</p> +<p> +"They fired their guns at the white men. Then the evil spirits that +dwell where the river falls reached up for the canoe and dragged it +down to the place of thunder.</p> +<p> +"I have come to tell you this, and to ask if White Brother of the Snow +and his friend are here. All night and all day have I travelled, for I +am afraid for White Brother of the Snow. He has lived in the lodge of +Sishetakushin, my father. He is one of my people, and I am afraid for +him."</p> +<p> +Her rapid speech, her dramatic pose and gestures, and her intensely +earnest manner left no doubt in Dick Blake's mind that she spoke the +truth. Neither had he any doubt that she referred to Ungava Bob and +Shad Trowbridge as the two white men, for no other white men were in +the region, or, he was sure, within several hundred miles of the place, +at the time to which she referred.</p> +<p> +"No," said he, after a moment's pause, "White Brother of the Snow and +his friend are not with us."</p> +<p> +"They are not here!" she wailed, lifting her arms in a gesture of +despair. "Where is he? Tell me! It was not White Brother of the Snow +sent to the torment of evil spirits?"</p> +<p> +"I'm afraid, Manikawan, it was. There were no other white men here than +White Brother of the Snow and his friend."</p> +<p> +Manikawan's hands dropped at her side, and for an instant she stood, a +picture of mingled horror and grief. But it was for only an instant. +Then her face grew hard and vengeful, and in low, even tones she said:</p> +<p> +"These men of the South killed White Brother of the Snow. They are no +longer of my people. They must die."</p> +<p> +"They must die," echoed Dick.</p> +<p> +"Come!" she said laconically, reaching for her bow and slinging it on +her back.</p> +<p> +"No, we will rest to-night, and to-morrow at dawn we will go. Rest +to-night and be strong for the chase to-morrow," Dick counselled, +kindly, as she turned toward the portage trail leading around the +rapids.</p> +<p> +"I cannot rest," she answered. "I go now;" and like a shadow, and as +silently, she melted into the darkening forest.</p> +<p> +Big Dick Blake's heart was full of vengeance, as he strode down the +trail to rejoin his companions.</p> +<p> +"What speech were th' Injun maid tryin' t' get rid of, now?" asked Ed +Matheson, pausing in his work of unloading the canoe as Dick appeared.</p> +<p> +"Bob an' Shad's dead!" announced Dick bluntly.</p> +<p> +"Dead! Dead!" echoed Ed and Bill together.</p> +<p> +"Aye, dead. Drove over th' falls by Mingen Injuns," continued Dick. +"Five or six days ago, she's sayin'. They's six o' them Injuns down +north o' here, huntin' deer, an' their camp's up th' river somewheres. +I'm not knowin' rightly where, but we'll find un, an' we'll shoot them +Injuns just like a passel o' wolves. If we don't, they'll sure be +layin' for us an' shoot us."</p> +<p> +"Be you sure, now, th' lads is dead?" insisted Ed.</p> +<p> +"They's no doubtin' it. She tells th' story straight an' clean as a +rifle shot;" and Dick went on to repeat in detail the story he had +heard from Manikawan.</p> +<p> +"It looks bad, now, whatever," commented Ed. "But they's a chanct they +gets a ashore. I were caught onct in th' rapids above Muskrat Falls, +an' thinks it all up with me--right in th' middle o' th' rapids, +too--an'--"</p> +<p> +"Ed," broke in Dick, with vast impatience, "this be no time for yamin'. +You knows you never could be gettin' out o' them rapids an' not goin' +over th' falls. An' these rapids is a wonderful sight worse."</p> +<p> +"Maybe they be," admitted Ed. "Th' poor lad, now, bein' killed in that +way. Dick," he continued, raising his tall, awkward figure to its full +height and placing his hand on Dick's shoulder, "me an' you's stood by +one 'nother for a good many years, an' in all sorts o' hard places, an' +if it's fight Injuns with you now, Dick, it's fight un, an' Bill's with +us."</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Bill, "that I am."</p> +<p> +The boat was unloaded, and with heavy hearts the men prepared and ate +their evening meal. Then while they smoked their pipes, light packs +were put up and all was made snug for an early start the following +morning.</p> +<p> +With the first blink of dawn the three determined men, armed with their +rifles, swung out into the forest, and rapidly but cautiously filed up +the old portage trail in the direction Manikawan had taken.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="X"></a>X</p> +<p> +THE VOICES OF THE SPIRITS</p> +<p> +Heedless of drizzling rain and snow, of driving wind and gathering +darkness, Manikawan ran forward on the trail. Hatred was in her heart. +Vengeance was crying to her. Every subtle, cunning instinct of her +savage race was aroused in her bosom.</p> +<p> +She was determined that those who had sent her beloved White Brother of +the Snow to destruction in the deadly place of evil spirits must die. +How she should compass their death she did not yet know; this was a +detail for circumstance to decide, but it must be done. White Brother +of the Snow was of her tribe; the law of her savage nature told her his +death must be avenged.</p> +<p> +At the end of a mile or so she left the trail and turned sharply to the +northward, winding her way deftly through moisture-laden underbrush +which scarcely seemed to lessen her pace. Presently she broke out upon +the shores of a lake and behind some willow bushes uncovered a small +birch-bark canoe, which she had carefully concealed there on her +journey to the river tilt.</p> +<p> +Turning the canoe over her head, with the middle thwart resting upon +her shoulders, she took a southwesterly direction until the old portage +trail was again encountered, and resuming the trail she at length came +upon the first lake of the chain through which the portage route passed.</p> +<p> +The storm had ceased, and the stars were breaking through the clouds as +Manikawan launched her canoe. It was a long, narrow lake, and paddling +its length she had no difficulty in locating the place where the stream +entered; and not far away a blazed tree, now plainly visible in the +light of the rising moon, told her where the trail led out.</p> +<p> +Here, as she stepped ashore, she discovered the first of the series of +tilts which Bob and Shad had built, and, immediately pushing aside the +flimsy bark door, entered the tilt and struck a match. Its flare +disclosed a half-burned candle on a shelf near the door, and lighting +it she held it aloft for a survey of the interior of the tilt.</p> +<p> +On the bunk at the side were two or three bags evidently containing +clothing and other supplies, while on the bunk in the rear were some +odds and ends of clothing, a folded tent, a coil of rope, doubtless +used by the young adventurers as a tracking line, to assist them in +hauling their canoe up the swift stream which connected the lake with +the river below, and a rifle in a sealskin case.</p> +<p> +On beholding this last object, Manikawan gave a low exclamation of +pleasure. Taking a chip from the floor she bent the candle over it, +permitting some of the hot grease to flow upon it, and setting the +candle firmly in the grease placed the improvised candlestick upon the +tent stove.</p> +<p> +Then, reaching for the rifle, she drew it from the case and examined it +critically. The magazine proved to be fully charged. Returning the +rifle to its case, she now examined the other contents of the tilt, and +presently came upon a quantity of cartridges in one of the bags.</p> +<p> +Several of these she appropriated, and dropping them into a leathern +pouch at her belt, restored the remaining contents of the tilt to the +position in which she had found them. Then taking the rifle in its +case, she blew out the candle, and passed out of the tilt, carefully +closing the door behind her.</p> +<p> +The moon was now sufficiently risen to light the trail, and the blazes +which Ungava Bob had made were so clear that Manikawan's progress was +rapid.</p> +<p> +Spectral shadows lay all about her, flitting here and there across her +trail as she sped onward and onward through the dark forests that +intervened between the lakes. In the distance she heard the voices of +the evil spirits so dreaded by her people, speaking in dull, monotonous +undertones, like ceaseless, rolling thunder far away, threatening +destruction and death to all who fell within their reach. Even to her, +whose home was the wilderness, the situation was weird and uncanny.</p> +<p> +At length she passed another tilt near the end of a lake, but she did +not pause to enter it. A little beyond the tilt the trail crossed a +rise of ground, and upon reaching the summit she beheld in the distance +a long, wide, silvery streak glistening in the moonlight. It was the +river, and with a sense of relief she lowered the canoe from her +shoulders and concealed it carefully amongst the underbrush.</p> +<p> +She glanced at the stars and calculated the time until dawn. The region +into which she had come was wholly unfamiliar to her, and she must have +daylight to reconnoitre and locate the camp of her enemies.</p> +<p> +There was still ample time for rest, for this was the season of +lengthening nights and shortening days, and Manikawan was in much need +of rest and food. For nearly thirty-six hours she had been exerting +herself to the utmost of her strength. At the river tilt she had made a +fire in the stove and brewed herself some tea, but she had eaten +nothing. Now, with the moment's relaxation, a feeling of great fatigue +came upon her, and for the first time she realised the length of her +fast and the extent of her weariness.</p> +<p> +Slowly she retraced her steps to the tilt which she had passed on the +lake shore a little way back. Entering it she struck a match and +lighted a candle, as she had done at the other tilt, and with its +assistance found the flour, pork, and tea, together with a frying pan +and kettle which Ungava Bob had left there the day that he and Shad +Trowbridge were attacked by the Indians.</p> +<p> +She went to the lake for a kettle of water, and returning gathered a +handful of birch bark. Using the bark for tinder and appropriating wood +which she found split and neatly piled near the stove for ready use, +she lighted a fire in the stove, and set the kettle on to heat for tea. +This done she cut several thick slices of fat pork, which she fried in +the pan, and mixing a quantity of flour and water into dough, browned +the dough in the pork grease.</p> +<p> +It was with a keen appetite that she sat down to her long-deferred +banquet; and with vast relief she drank the tea and ate the pork and +dough cake. Then, wearied to the last degree, she fell back upon one of +the bunks, the rifle by her side; and with the distant rumble of the +falls in her ears, fell immediately asleep.</p> +<p> +It was broad day when Manikawan opened her eyes. She seized the kettle, +and hastening to the lake laved her face and head in the cooling water. +Then, from a buckskin pouch at her belt, she drew a neat birch-bark +case, decorated with porcupine quills, and from the case a rudely +fashioned comb, from which dangled by a buckskin thong a tuft of +porcupine tail. The lake was her mirror, as she smoothed and rebraided +her hair. This done, she ran the comb several times through the tuft of +porcupine tail before returning it to its case.</p> +<p> +Her simple toilet completed, Manikawan mounted a high pinnacle of rock +and for several minutes stood silently contemplating the rising sun. +The eastern sky was ablaze with red and purple and orange, and she +beheld the glory of the scene with deep reverence.</p> +<p> +Upon her pinnacle of rock she felt herself in the presence of the +Mysterious Power which governed her destiny and the world in which she +lived, and after the manner of her fathers she besought that Mysterious +Presence in unspoken words, to make her pure and noble and generous; to +make her worthy to stand in its Presence--worthy to live in the +beautiful world which surrounded her.</p> +<p> +But Manikawan was not a Christian. She knew nothing of the white man's +God or of Christ's lessons of forgiveness, and she descended from the +rock morally strengthened, perhaps, in her savage way, but no less +determined to wreak vengeance upon those whom she deemed her enemies.</p> +<p> +While she slept she had heard constantly the voice of the evil spirits +of the falls, and the spirits themselves had come to her in a dream, +and whispering in her ear had urged her on to vengeance, and promised +her immunity from their wrath. Manikawan, like all her people, was +superstitious in the extreme. She believed absolutely in the +supernatural, and her faith in dreams was unwavering.</p> +<p> +The sun was hour high when she set forth again upon her mission. +Mounting the semi-barren ridge where she had hidden her canoe, she +crouched low behind the bushes, and catlike and noiselessly descended +to the forest on the other side. Here under cover of the trees she +proceeded more rapidly to the end of the portage trail.</p> +<p> +Peering out from her cover, she first studied every foot of the river +and surrounding country that lay within the range of her vision; then +moving silently forward she removed the rifle, which she still carried, +from its sealskin case and laid the case on the ground behind a boulder +and the weapon upon it, where it would be completely hidden from view, +but still available for instant use.</p> +<p> +This arranged to her satisfaction, she crossed the trail, and gliding +as noiselessly as a shadow through the trees, ascended the river bank +to reconnoitre for the Mingen camp. The Indians that visited her +father's lodge had said that they were encamped near the river, and not +far above the portage trail.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XI"></a>XI</p> +<p> +MANIKAWAN'S VENGEANCE</p> +<p> +Therefore, Manikawan in her quest advanced cautiously, at the same time +making, as she advanced, a thorough study of the ground.</p> +<p> +She had travelled perhaps two miles, when she discovered a thin curl of +smoke rising over the trees a short distance in advance, and dropping +upon her hands and knees she crawled stealthily forward until from +behind a clump of willow bushes she was afforded a clear view of the +fire and its surroundings.</p> +<p> +A deerskin wigwam stood in a clearing, and near the smouldered embers +of a fire two Indians were engaged in making snowshoe frames; but, so +far as she could see, they were the only inhabitants of the camp. It +was evident that the remainder of the party were absent, probably +hunting caribou in the North.</p> +<p> +As noiselessly as she had approached, Manikawan now retreated to a safe +distance. With a full understanding of the conditions, she had quickly +and cunningly formulated her plans, and when well out of view she arose +to her feet and boldly approached the camp.</p> +<p> +The Indians, with no sign of alarm or surprise, and not deigning either +recognition or greeting, continued at their task, quite ignoring her +presence as she approached. For a moment Manikawan stood before them in +silence; then she spoke:</p> +<p> +"I am Manikawan, the daughter of Sishetakushin, whose lodge the men of +the South have visited. Manikawan has come to do honour to the men of +the South. While they talked with Sishetakushin, her father, she heard +how bravely they have guarded the hunting grounds of her people and +theirs. They are brave men and she has come to do them honour.</p> +<p> +"She heard how they drove the two white invaders of our country into +the arms of the evil spirits, whose thunderous voices she hears even +now. It was well. White men have come into our land and have made the +spirits angry. When the spirits are made angry they drive away the +caribou. Then the people of the South and Sishetakushin's people are +hungry. The white men have built lodges of trees near the potagan +(portage) of our fathers. They stored these lodges with much tea and +tobacco, flour and pork. Without these things the white man cannot +live, for he is not like our people.</p> +<p> +"Other white men are coming to our country. If these stores are left in +the lodges near the potagan of our fathers, the white men will stay. If +they do not have these things, they will go away, for without them they +will be hungry.</p> +<p> +"The men of Sishetakushin's people and the men of the South cannot +remove them, for the evil spirits dwell there, and would do them harm.</p> +<p> +"But Manikawan is a maiden. The evil spirits will not harm her. She is +too humble for their notice. Manikawan has gone to the lodges of the +white men and has removed the things from the lodges, so that the white +men will not find them when they come.</p> +<p> +"The men of the South are brave. They have sent two of the white men +into the arms of the evil spirits. They must be rewarded.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan has carried much tobacco and tea and other stores to the +place where the potagan reaches up from the river. These things are for +the men of the South. Let them bring their canoe. Manikawan will show +them the things and they will take them."</p> +<p> +The Indians did not deign to reply at once, but presently one of them +said:</p> +<p> +"Let Manikawan bring the things to the lodge of the men of the South. +She is a maiden, and it is a maiden's work. It is not the work of a +hunter."</p> +<p> +"Manikawan is not of the lodge of the men of the South, and she will +not do this. She will wait at the place where the potagan rises from +the river until the sun is there;" and Manikawan pointed to the zenith. +"If the men of the South do not come, she will go, for she will believe +the men of the South do not need tea and tobacco."</p> +<p> +"Let the maiden return to the place where the potagan rises from the +river. Let her wait there. The men of the South will come," said the +spokesman.</p> +<p> +Manikawan turned away, down the river bank, by the route she had +ascended. Her progress was dignified and unhurried so long as she might +still be seen by the Indians, but was quickly changed to a run the +moment she was beyond their view.</p> +<p> +Glibly she had lied to them and her conscience was not troubled. She +was not a Christian. The savage teaching upheld subterfuge in dealing +with the enemy, and she deemed these Indians her enemies, for had they +not destroyed White Brother of the Snow? And was he not of her people +by adoption.</p> +<p> +Immediately Manikawan arrived at the portage trail she looked sharply +about to make certain she was not observed. Then she examined the rifle +behind the bowlder, and, quite satisfied with her inspection, returned +it to its resting place and waited.</p> +<p> +She knew that the two Indians, with due attention to their dignity, +would make no haste in their coming, and would doubtless keep her +waiting until the noonday hour which she had designated, but +nevertheless her lookout up the river was never for a moment +relinquished. She watched as a cat watches a hole--from which it +expects the mouse to emerge--ready to pounce upon the unwary prey.</p> +<p> +At last she was rewarded. A birch-bark canoe containing the two Indians +came leisurely gliding down the river some hundred yards from shore. +Manikawan, like a beautiful statue, stood tall and straight at the end +of the portage trail. Two paces from her the rifle lay behind the +bowlder.</p> +<p> +The Indians, unsuspecting, turned the prow of the canoe toward the +shore where she stood. Still she did not move. The cat waits for its +victim until the victim beyond peradventure is within reach of its +spring. Nearer and nearer drew the canoe. Still Manikawan stood, a +graven image. She was looking out and beyond her intended victims. The +roar of the distant rapids, and the monotonous, thunderous undertone of +the falls were in her ears, and they came to her as beautiful music. +The canoe was now but a hundred feet from shore.</p> +<p> +Suddenly, Manikawan sprang, and the astonished Indians beheld the +statue with a menacing rifle at its shoulder. Then came a flash and a +report. The Indians ducked, and the blade of the steersman's paddle, +poised in mid-air, was shattered by a bullet.</p> +<p> +Manikawan spoke, her voice ringing out in clear, even tones:</p> +<p> +"The men of the South sent White Brother of the Snow and his friend +into the arms of the evil spirits. White Brother of the Snow was of +Manikawan's people. The men of the South are the enemies of Manikawan's +people. They are cowards and they must die."</p> +<p> +The Indian at the bow paddled desperately away from shore and the +menacing rifle. The Indian at the stern made equally desperate but +ineffectual attempts with his broken paddle.</p> +<p> +Another shot rang out, and the bowman ducked, and ceased paddling as a +bullet sang past his head. Immediately the canoe began drifting, and a +moment later the strengthening current caught it.</p> +<p> +Then the Indians, alive to this new danger, disregarding bullets, rose +to their feet and paddled desperately, the one in the stern seeming not +to know that the broken stick he held was useless. They knew that the +evil spirits had reached up for their canoe and were drawing them +down--down--to something worse than death. Their faces became drawn and +terror-stricken.</p> +<p> +Faintly, and as a voice far away and unreal, they heard Manikawan's +taunts as she ran down the high banks of the river, keeping pace with +the doomed canoe and its occupants going headlong to destruction:</p> +<p> +"The men of the South are cowards. They are afraid to die. The evil +spirits are hungry, and soon they will be fed. Their voices are loud. +They are crying with hunger. The men of the South will feed them."<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XII"></a>XII</p> +<p> +THE TRAGEDY OF THE RAPIDS</p> +<p> +The two adventurers marooned on the island ate their first meal of +rabbit, grilled over the coals, with keen relish, though they had +neither salt to season it nor bread to accompany it.</p> +<p> +"It might be worse," remarked Shad, when the meal was finished. "Rabbit +is good, and," he continued, lolling back lazily and contentedly before +the fire, "there's always some bright spot to light the darkest +cloud--we've no dishes to wash. A rinse of the tea pail, a rinse of our +cups, and, presto! the thing's done. I detest dish-washing."</p> +<p> +"Aye," admitted Bob, "dish-washin' is a putterin' job."</p> +<p> +"Yes, that's it; a puttering job," resumed Shad. "But now let's come to +the important question of the day. Continued banqueting upon rabbit, +I've been told, becomes monotonous, and under any conditions +imprisonment is sure to become monotonous sooner or later. I have a +hunch it will be sooner in our case. I'm beginning to chafe under bonds +already. What are we going to do about it?"</p> +<p> +"I'm not knowin' so soon," confessed Bob, "but I'm thinkin' before this +day week Dick an' Ed an' Bill will be huntin' around for us, an' they's +like t' find us, an' when they does they'll be findin' a way t' help +us. They might build up th' place down there with stones, so's t' make +a footin' t' land on, an' then 'twill be easy goin' ashore."</p> +<p> +"But suppose they don't come around this way and don't find us?"</p> +<p> +"Then I'm thinkin' we'll be bidin' here till ice forms."</p> +<p> +"Till ice forms! And when will that be?"</p> +<p> +"An' she comes on frosty, ice'll begin formin' th' middle of October on +th' banks. But th' current's wonderful strong, an' I'll not be +expectin' ice t' cross on till New Year, whatever."</p> +<p> +"January first! October! November! December! Three months on this +god-forsaken bit of rock! Great Jehoshaphat, man! That'll be an +eternity! We can't endure it!"</p> +<p> +"I'm not thinkin' we'll have to. I'm thinkin' they'll find us in a +fortni't, whatever," reassured Bob, rising and picking up the axe. +"We'll be needin' a shelter, an' I'm thinkin' I'll build un now."</p> +<p> +"And we have no blankets with us!" exclaimed Shad. "Oh, we're going to +have a swell time!"</p> +<p> +"We'll be fair snug with a shelter, now. I'll be cuttin' th' sticks, +an' you breaks boughs."</p> +<p> +"All right, Bob, I'll get the boughs," agreed Shad, languidly rising, +and as he went to his task singing:</p> +<br> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;"> "'Old Noah, he did build an ark,<br> + He made it out of hick'ry bark.<br> +<br> + "'If you belong to Gideon's band,<br> + Why here's my heart, and here's my hand,<br> + Looking for a home.<br> +<br> + "'He drove the animiles in two by two,<br> + The elephant and the kangaroo.<br> +<br> + "'And then he nailed the hatches down,<br> + And told outsiders they might drown.<br> +<br> + "'And when he found he had no sail,<br> + He just ran up his own coat tail.<br> +<br> + "'If you belong to Gideon's band,<br> + Why here's my heart, and here's my hand,<br> + Looking for a home.'"<br> +</div> +<p> +A full stomach sometimes wholly changes one's outlook upon the world. +Shad was beginning now to view his adventure from a whimsical +standpoint, a result induced partially by his dinner, largely by Bob's +philosophical attitude.</p> +<p> +It was not anticipated the shelter would be required for long, and a +comfortable lean-to under the lee of the hill, with back and ends +enclosed, and closely thatched with boughs and moss, was considered +sufficient. A thick, springy bed of spruce boughs was then arranged, +and the temporary home was completed.</p> +<p> +Then Bob proceeded to set deadfalls, utilising flat stones and raising +them on a figure 4, which he baited with tender birch boughs. Several +rabbits were started in the course of the afternoon, giving assurance +that the deadfalls would yield sufficient food for their needs, though +no results could be expected from them until the following morning.</p> +<p> +"Now for supper, Shad, we'll have t' be usin' some shells," he +announced. "Supposin' you tries un. I were goin' t' make a bow an' +arrows t' save th' shells, but they's nothin' t' feather th' arrows +with, an' no string that'd be strong enough for th' bow."</p> +<p> +"All right," agreed Shad. "I'll get them;" and within half an hour he +returned with a bag of two fat young rabbits.</p> +<p> +Their fire was built before the lean-to, and a very small blaze was +found sufficient to heat it to a cosy warmth. Here they sat and ate +their grilled rabbit and drank their tea, quite as comfortably as they +would have done in their tent or tilt, though during the night one or +the other found it necessary to rise several times to renew the fire.</p> +<p> +Bivouacking in this manner was more or less of an ordinary circumstance +in Ungava Bob's life. He looked upon it as the sort of thing to be +expected, and as a matter of course. He felt indeed that they were very +fortunately situated, and for the present he had small doubt that their +imprisonment would prove but a temporary inconvenience.</p> +<p> +The deadfalls yielded them the first night three rabbits; another was +shot. They had quite enough to eat the next day, and Shad took a +brighter view of the matter.</p> +<p> +"By Jove!" he laughed, after breakfast, "I wonder what the fellows at +home would say if they should see me now, playing the part of Robinson +Crusoe?" and then he began to sing:</p> +<br> +<div style="margin-left: 40px;"> "'Fare thee well, for I must +leave thee.<br> + Do not let the parting grieve thee,<br> + And remember that the best of friends must part,<br> + must part.<br> + Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu, adieu, adieu,<br> + I can no longer stay with you, stay with you,<br> + I'll hang my harp on a weeping-willow tree,<br> + And may the world go well with thee.'"<br> +</div> +<p> +But when another morning came, with no sugar remaining for the tea, and +no other food than the now monotonous unsalted rabbit, Shad rebelled.</p> +<p> +"See here, Bob!" he exclaimed irritably, "I can't eat any more rabbit! +It nauseates me to even think of it! We've got to do something."</p> +<p> +"We can't help un, now, Shad," answered Bob soothingly. "Rabbit ain't +so bad."</p> +<p> +"Not once or twice, or even three times in succession--but eternally +and forever, I can't go it."</p> +<p> +"It does get a bit wearisome, but 'tis a wonderful lot better'n no +rabbit, when rabbit's all there is."</p> +<p> +"Wearisome! Wearisome! Confound it, Bob, it's disgusting! Now we've got +to do something to get ourselves out of here, and that quick."</p> +<p> +"I'm not knowin', now, what t' do till th' others comes, an' I'm +knowin' they will."</p> +<p> +"Come, Bob, let's make a try for that wall down there. Even if the +canoe does get away from us, we can make the wall--I know we can."</p> +<p> +"No," and Bob shook his head ominously, "I'm ready t' take any fair +chanct, Shad, but they wouldn't be even a fair chanet t' make un."</p> +<p> +"Oh, bosh!" exclaimed Shad angrily. "I thought you had some nerve."</p> +<p> +"'Tisn't a matter o' nerve, Shad; 'tis a matter o' what can be done an' +what can't."</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, it can! Anyone with two legs and two hands and two eyes and +just a grain of grit can do it."</p> +<p> +Bob, quiet and unruffled, grilled his rabbit, refusing to take offence +or to be moved at Shad's remarks, evidently intended to goad him into +what his experience told him would certainly prove a hopeless and +foolhardy venture.</p> +<p> +It is a psychological phenomenon that men, denied action and confined +to limited and solitary surroundings, become highly irascible. They +find cause for offence in every word and every action of their +companions, and it is not unusual for men situated as Ungava Bob and +Shad Trowbridge were to lapse into such a state of antagonism toward +one another that they cease to converse.</p> +<p> +This was the condition into which Shad Trowbridge quickly lapsed. He +soon came to ascribe to timidity and cowardice Bob's opposition to his +wish to attempt a crossing to the mainland. He was one who chafed under +restraint, and one who, when he had once decided upon a course of +action, could not brook opposition from another; and though at heart he +knew that Bob was fearless and brave, and that his arguments were +sound, yet he would not now admit this, even to himself.</p> +<p> +Normally Shad was a good fellow, and he would endure hardships +cheerfully if the hardships were accompanied by physical activity; but +the condition of monotonous existence, accompanied by idleness and +inactivity, which they were now experiencing, was too great for him to +withstand, and he was prepared to take the most desperate chance to +escape from it. When at length the tea and his tobacco were gone, and +nothing but the daily ration of unseasoned rabbit remained, the thought +of thus continuing indefinitely became unendurable to him.</p> +<p> +Ungava Bob, on the contrary, had been accustomed to wilderness solitude +all his life. This, and a naturally even disposition, coupled with a +philosophical temperament, rendered him capable of overlooking Shad's +slurs, and when finally Shad ceased to speak to him, or when spoken to +by Bob ceased to acknowledge that he heard, Bob permitted the slight to +pass unnoticed.</p> +<p> +At length, one day, when Shad had nursed his supposed grievance to a +point where he could no longer endure it, he blurted out brutally:</p> +<p> +"See here, I've stood this devilish cowardice of yours as long as I'm +going to. Do you see where the sun is! It's noon. Now I'll give you +until that sun drops half-way to the horizon to decide whether or not +you're going across with me. If you say 'No,' I'm going without you, +that's all, and you can stay here and eat rabbit, and rot, if you +choose."</p> +<p> +"Now, Shad," Bob placated, "I knows how you feels, an' it's your +judgment ag'in mine. But I'm havin' experience with places like that, +an' I knows we can't make th' crossin' an' land. Now don't try un, +Shad."</p> +<p> +"Don't 'Shad' me--My God, Bob! Look there!" he suddenly broke off.</p> +<p> +Shooting past them, half standing in their birch canoe, paddling with +the desperation of men facing doom, one with his sound paddle, the +other with his broken one, were the Indians that Manikawan had sent +adrift.</p> +<p> +They were very near the island--so near that every outline of their +drawn, terrorstricken faces was visible--but too far away to reach the +gravelly point upon which Bob and Shad had found refuge. Indeed, they +seemed not to see it, or to see anything but the horrible spectral +phantom of the evil spirit that they believed had them in its control.</p> +<p> +On--on--on-they sped, ever faster--faster toward the pounding +rapids--impotently, though still desperately, wielding their paddles. +Bob and Shad stood spellbound and horror-stricken. The Indians were +nearing the first white foam! In a moment their canoe would strike it! +It was in the foam! It rose for an instant upon a white crest, the +Indians' paddles still working--then was swallowed up in the swirling +tumult of waves and whirlpools, never to reappear.</p> +<p> +Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge stood for a moment in awe-stricken +horror. Then they sat down upon the rock on which Shad had sunk when +overcome with shock on the day of their escape upon the island.</p> +<p> +"Bob," said Shad, at last, "that was the most terrible thing I ever +beheld!"</p> +<p> +"'Twere awful!" assented Bob.</p> +<p> +"It shows us, Bob, what you and I escaped. Bob, I've been very +disagreeable lately. Take my hand and forgive me, won't you?"</p> +<p> +"'Twere th' rabbit meat, Shad," said Bob, taking Shad's hand. "Rabbit +meat be wonderful tryin' t' eat steady. I were knowin', now, you'd be +all right again, Shad."</p> +<p> +"I think I've been demented, Bob--I'm sure I have--anyway, believe it, +and don't hold it against me."</p> +<p> +"I'll not be holdin' un ag'in you, Shad. 'Twere natural, and--" Bob +ceased speaking and sat staring at the high bank of the mainland. +"Manikawan!" he exclaimed, springing up and crossing the island point +at a bound.</p> +<p> +There she stood, joy, wonder, incredulity, written upon her face. She +had believed White Brother of the Snow dead, but here she saw him in +flesh and alive, and he had spoken her name.</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow! Oh, White Brother of the Snow! The evil +spirits did not devour you, but like hungry wolves they have devoured +your enemies."</p> +<p> +Very quickly Bob explained their predicament, and she listened +silently. Then she went to the sloping rock, descended its dangerous +angle to the water's edge, and returned.</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow and his friend would find no lodgment +there," said she. "It is a place of deceit. But White Brother of the +Snow knows how to be patient. Let him and his friend wait. The evil +spirits cannot reach up for them where they are. When the sun returns +again to the high point in the heavens Manikawan will stand here. Wait."</p> +<p> +The next instant she was gone.</p> +<p> +"What did she say?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"She were sayin'," explained Bob, "that if we has patience an' waits +she'll be back by noon to-morrow, or thereabouts. An' she says if we +waits here we'll be safe, but we couldn't be makin' a footin' on th' +rock. She's thinkin' o' some way o' gettin' us off, but I'm not knowin' +what 'tis, now."<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XIII"></a>XIII</p> +<p> +ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS</p> +<p> +None of the three trappers had ever penetrated the region lying between +the Big Hill trail and the river. They knew that here, somewhere, +Ungava Bob was to lay his new trails, but as to the route the trails +were to take they had no information, for this was a circumstance that +the local evidences of the existence of fur-bearing animals was to have +decided for Bob when he entered the country to make his initial survey +of conditions.</p> +<p> +Among the Indians who traded at the Eskimo Bay post there was but one, +an old man, who had any personal knowledge of the region. When a small +boy this Indian had once traversed with his father the now long disused +portage trail; and one day when Ungava Bob and Dick Blake met him at +the post he had, at their earnest solicitation, described to them the +country as he had seen it with the distorted vision of extreme youth, +and as his memory, alloyed with the superstitious tales of nearly +threescore years, recalled it.</p> +<p> +It was, he said, a region of many lakes, over which flitted the phantom +canoes of those who had perished in the nearby dwelling place of evil +spirits. In the canoes were the ghostly forms of the victims, for ever +paddling their phantom crafts around the lakes, vainly striving to +escape the torment of mocking, ghoulish spirits which pursued them. +Surrounding the lakes were wild marshes and deep black forests, which +were peopled by innumerable evil spirits for ever searching for new +victims to destroy. Their thunder voices were always to be heard, low +and deep, in a terrible frenzy of unceasing anger, ever hungry for men +to devour.</p> +<p> +In analysing this description Dick Blake eliminated the phantom canoes +as the wild creation of imagination, and the thunder voices of evil +spirits he set down as nothing more nor less than the roar of the great +falls of whose existence the Indians had told.</p> +<p> +With this elimination he accepted as fact the statement that the region +was sprinkled with many lakes, and that without the assistance of a +canoe these lakes and perhaps some wide marshes would have to be +circumvented by him and his companions before they came upon the river +above the falls, where it was expected the Mingen Indians would be +encountered.</p> +<p> +While Dick Blake was the first to declare that the Indians must be +punished for causing the supposed death of Bob and Shad, he was no more +thoroughly in earnest than were his companions.</p> +<p> +Normally these trappers were quiet, peace-loving men, who would have +shuddered at the thought of causing human bloodshed; but now, moved +doubtless to a large extent by a natural desire to avenge an outrage +committed upon their friends, they also felt it their plain duty to +mete out punishment to the guilty ones, in order to insure themselves +and other white trappers against further molestation. Unless this were +done there was no guarantee against continued raids upon their tilts, +and there would always be the danger, and even probability, that sooner +or later they would themselves be attacked and shot from ambush by the +emboldened savages.</p> +<p> +The trail that Bob had made, leading up from the river tilt and along +the creek which flowed from the first lake, was plainly marked; and +they proceeded with the long, swinging stride characteristic of the +woodsman, rapidly and without a halt, to the point where the trail +entered the lake. Here a wide circuit around the lake shore was +necessary, and it was nearly noon when they fell again into the trail +at the farther end and came upon the first tilt.</p> +<p> +"We may's well stop an' boil th' kettle," said Dick, throwing down the +light pack of provisions he carried and mopping the perspiration from +his forehead, for the mid-day sun was warm. "If we were only havin' a +canoe, now, we'd be a rare piece farther. 'Twere a long cruise around +the lake."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed Ed, "a canoe'd ha' saved us a good two hours. We may's +well put th' fire on outside; 'twill be warm in th' tilt."</p> +<p> +"Now I'm wonderin' what th' Injun lass is up to," said Dick, as they +sat down to their simple meal of fried pork and camp bread.</p> +<p> +"She's got a canoe. There's her footin' by th' lake, where she makes +her landin'."</p> +<p> +"They's no tellin' what an Injun's goin' t' do, but I'm not thinkin' +'twill be much harm, t' th' Mingens with just a bow an' arrer, an' +that's all she has in th' way o' weapons, so far's I makes out," +declared Ed, adding: "She were a wonderful fine-lookin' lass; now, +weren't she?"</p> +<p> +"That she were," agreed Dick, "wonderful handsome--an' wonderful +wild-lookin', too."</p> +<p> +"Th' poor lad!" said Ed, after a pause. "He were buildin' th' tilt +yonder, thinkin' o' th' good furrin' he were t' have th' winter, an' +now he's gone. I'm not knowin', Dick, how t' tell his mother. You'll +have t' tell she, Dick; I couldn't stand t' tell she."</p> +<p> +"No," objected Dick, "you were goin' an' tellin' she th' time we thinks +th' wolves gets Bob, an' you knows how. You'm a wonderful sight better +breakin' bad news than me, Ed. I'd just be bawlin' with she, an' she +cries; an' she sure will, for 'twill break her heart this time, an' Bob +sure gone."</p> +<p> +"Maybe none of us'll be havin' th' chanct," broke in Bill. "They may be +a big passel o' Mingens, and whilst we catches some of un, th' others +won't be sittin' quiet."</p> +<p> +"Ed an' me's keepin' a watch for signs," assured Dick, as they arose to +continue their journey. "They ain't been no signs so far, exceptin' +signs o' th' poor lads an' th' Injun lass, an' she were passin' in th' +night, by th' oldness o' her footin'."</p> +<p> +"They ain't no danger o' findin' Injuns here, Bill," added Ed. "This is +what they calls th' ha'nted country, an' they'd be too scairt o' ghosts +an' th' devils they thinks is runnin' round loose here t' risk +theirselves."</p> +<p> +The long detours made necessary without the assistance of a canoe so +far delayed their progress that, though they had not slackened the +rapid pace set in the morning, night found them upon the shores of one +of the intermediate lakes, with little more than half the distance to +the end of the portage trail behind them.</p> +<p> +Here they erected a lean-to at the edge of the forest, as a reflector +for their camp-fire, and as a protection against a light but chilling +breeze that had sprung up with the setting sun; and, all made snug for +the night, they cooked and ate their supper.</p> +<p> +Then they lighted their pipes and lounged back upon the bed of spruce +boughs under the lean-to, speculating upon the morrow, and the +probability of an encounter with the Indians.</p> +<p> +"What's that, now?" exclaimed Ed suddenly, and cautiously rising and +taking a position beyond the glow of the fire, he stood for several +minutes gazing intently out upon the waters of the wide lake not yet +lighted by the belated moon.</p> +<p> +"There 'tis again! Did you make un out, Dick?" he asked, as Dick and +Bill, following Ed's example of cautious exit from the range of the +fire's glow, joined him.</p> +<p> +"No, I weren't makin' nothin' out," answered Dick.</p> +<p> +"There were somethin' there on th' water," Ed stated positively, when +they presently returned to the lean-to.</p> +<p> +"What were it, now? What were it like?" asked Dick.</p> +<p> +"I seen un twict, an' 'twere lookin' t' me like a canoe, though I'm not +sayin' so for sure," explained Ed.</p> +<p> +"I seen un," corroborated Bill, "but whether 'twere a canoe or no, I'm +noways sure--'twere so far out."</p> +<p> +"If 'twere a canoe, 'twere Injuns," declared Ed, "an' if 'twere Injuns +they was seein' our fire, an' they'll be up t' some devilment, now, +before day."</p> +<p> +"Be you sartin', now, you seen something?" asked Dick, a note of +scepticism in his voice.</p> +<p> +"Sure an' sartin'," insisted Ed. "'Twere movin', an' I'm thinkin' +'twere a canoe, though I'm noways sure."</p> +<p> +"'Twere just a loon or maybe a bunch o' geese," said Dick, still +unwilling to believe.</p> +<p> +"'Twere movin', an' 'twere lookin' like a canoe t' me," said Bill. +"'Twere certain no loon nor geese either. 'Twere too big."</p> +<p> +"An' we better be gettin' out o' here, too," advised Ed. "If 'twere +Injuns--an' I'm noways sure 'twere or 'tweren't--they seen th' fire, +an' th' dirty devils'll be droppin' us off an' we stays here."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed Dick, "we'll be movin' on. You an' Bill both seein' +somethin', they must ha' been somethin' there, though I weren't seein' +un."</p> +<p> +Weary as they were, the three men hastily shouldered their light packs, +and with rifles resting in the hollow of their arms, Ed in the lead, +they stole noiselessly away into the forest.</p> +<p> +Two hours of rapid travelling, in the light of the now rising moon, +brought them to the end of the lake. Here they paused to fall upon +their knees and make a critical examination of the shore.</p> +<p> +"Here's fresh footin'," Ed finally announced. "A canoe were launched +here since sundown. Th' gravel's wet where th' water splashed up. +They's one track o' a Injun moccasin, an' from th' smallness of un +'twere a woman."</p> +<p> +"'Twere sure a woman," both Bill and Dick agreed.</p> +<p> +"An' there's th' same footin' goin' t'other way, but 'tis an older +track," Ed continued. "'Twere th' Injun lass we sees +to-night goin' back."</p> +<p> +"Now I'm wonderin'," said Dick, as they arose, "what she's goin' back +for? Maybe now, she's lookin' t' meet us t' help her?"</p> +<p> +"Maybe," Ed suggested, laughing, "she's finding a hull passel o' Injuns +more'n she wants t' tackle wi' just her bow an' arrer. I were thinkin', +now, a bow an' arrer weren't much t' run up ag'in a band o' Injuns +with, seein' they has guns."</p> +<p> +"Whatever 'tis she's up to," suggested Bill, "'tisn't lookin' for us. +She couldn't ha' missed seein' our fire back here on th' shore, an' +she'd ha' known who 'twere an' come over if she's wantin' t' see us."</p> +<p> +"You're right," agreed Dick. "She must have seen our fire, and if she'd +wanted t' see us she'd ha' come over. Now I'm wonderin' why she didn't."</p> +<p> +At mid-forenoon the following day the tilt on the last lake, where +Manikawan had snatched a few hours' sleep, was reached, and mounting +the ridge above, the river was discovered beyond.</p> +<p> +At the end of the portage trail the three trappers held a hurried +consultation. At length, carefully concealing their packs among the +bushes, and with rifles held in position for instant use, they turned +noiselessly up along the river bank, following the water closely, and +taking almost exactly the course followed the previous morning by +Manikawan.</p> +<p> +They were aware that they were now beyond the bounds of the region +avoided by the Indians, and they also had no doubt that the Indian camp +was situated farther up the river, probably at some convenient +landing-place for canoes.</p> +<p> +Finally Ed Matheson, who had the lead, halted and held up his hand.</p> +<p> +"Smoke," he whispered, sniffing the air. "Aye," whispered Dick, also +sniffing.</p> +<p> +Ed now sank to his hands and knees, pausing frequently in his advance +to reconnoitre. Presently he ceased to move, his rifle extended before +him, until Dick and Bill drew along side.</p> +<p> +"There's th' fire," he whispered, "an' there's where they was camped, +but it's lookin' t' me as if they's gone."</p> +<p> +The smouldering embers of a camp-fire in the centre of the open spot +where the wigwam had stood the previous day, lay directly in front of +them. On a tree hung some unfinished snow-shoe frames, and there were +many signs of a hurried departure.</p> +<p> +"What you think?" Dick whispered.</p> +<p> +"Th' devils may be hidin' back here," answered Ed. "You an' Bill stay +now, an' watch, whilst I looks."</p> +<p> +Very cautiously Ed stole away, and Dick Blake and Bill Campbell waited +patiently for an hour, when they discovered him walking boldly down +toward them.</p> +<p> +"They's gone," he announced. "I seen their canoe makin' a landin' on +th' other side where th' river widens, away up above here."</p> +<p> +An examination of the camping ground confirmed their conclusion that +the Indians had in some manner learned of their danger and had fled, +evidently in great haste, leaving behind them the snowshoe frames and +some other trifles.</p> +<p> +"That's explainin', now, what that sneakin' Injun lass was up to," +declared Ed.</p> +<p> +"What were she up to, now?" asked Dick.</p> +<p> +"She were up to this," said Ed: "she were watchin' at th' river tilt +for our comin', an' when we comes she up an' tells th' Injuns we're on +their trail, an' they gets out quick. That's why she weren't stoppin' +when she sees our fire last night, an' we'll never be seein' her again. +She's a Nascaupee, an' it's lookin' now as if th' Nascaupees an' +Mingens'll be workin' t'gether, an' if they be, they'll be layin' for +us, now, an' we got t' look out."</p> +<p> +"Aye," agreed Dick, "that's what they'll be doin', now, an' we got t' +look out."</p> +<p> +"Well," sighed Ed, as they turned to retrace their steps to the portage +trail, "we may's well get back an' lay our plans. Them Injun females is +worse'n wolverines; they's no trustin' any of un."<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XIV"></a>XIV</p> +<p> +THE MATCHI MANITU IS CHEATED</p> +<p> +"Well," said Shad, at length, "there's the sun about as high as it will +get to-day, and where's your pretty Indian girl?"</p> +<p> +"I been thinkin', now," Bob explained, "she's sure havin' a canoe, an' +could make un t' th' river tilt an' back, by travellin' all night. But +Dick an' Ed an' Bill ain't havin' a canoe, an' if they comes they has +t' walk, an' walkin' they can't make un before some time t'morrer, +whatever. 'Tis like, now, she'll wait t' show un th' way t' where we +be, an' doin' that she won't be comin' till they does t 'morrer."</p> +<p> +"Your logic is sound," Shad admitted, "but it's mighty +disappointing."</p> +<p> +"There she be!" exclaimed Bob, a moment later, as Manikawan, quite +alone, emerged from the forest hastening toward them, carrying on her +arm two coils of rope--one the coil Bob had left in the first tilt of +the new trail, and which she had observed at the time she found and +carried away Bob's rifle; the other a tracking line which the trappers +had used on their last trip up the river, and which she had discovered +in the river tilt.</p> +<p> +"Is it well with White Brother of the Snow and his friend?" she asked, +stepping eagerly forward to the river bank.</p> +<p> +"It is, and they are glad to see Manikawan," answered Bob.</p> +<p> +"They will do now as Manikawan directs, and they will soon again be +free to hunt the atuk (caribou), the amishku (beaver), and the neejuk +(otter)," she promised.</p> +<p> +With this she tied the ropes securely together, end to end, and then +producing a quantity of salmon twine, which she had appropriated for +the purpose from one of the tilts, tied an end of this to one end of +the connected ropes. She now proceeded to coil the twine carefully upon +a smooth flat rock at her feet, after which she drew from her quiver a +long, blunt-nosed arrow, and directly above the feathered end of the +arrow attached the loose end of the twine.</p> +<p> +These preliminary arrangements completed, and her plan of rescue ready +for the test, Manikawan stood erect, bow and arrow in position, and a +moment later the arrow flew out across the water and fell upon the +gravelly point.</p> +<p> +Ungava Bob sprang forward, seized the twine, still fast tied to the +arrow, and rapidly drew it and the end of the rope attached to the +twine to him, while Manikawan played out the coil.</p> +<p> +"Now," said she, "let White Brother of the Snow make the line which he +has received fast and tight to the bow thwart of his canoe.</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow and his friend will then place their canoe +into the water with its bow facing the river as it comes down to meet +them. They will paddle hard against the river, for the Matchi Manitu +(bad spirit) beneath the waves will draw them backward toward the place +where the water is white and angry.</p> +<p> +"They need not fear. Manikawan holds one end of the rope in her hand. +The other end will be fast to the canoe. Manikawan is strong and she +will not let the Matchi Manitu draw White Brother of the Snow and his +friend down.</p> +<p> +"While White Brother of the Snow and his friend paddle, their canoe +will move toward the place where Manikawan stands. Near the shore the +spirits are weaker than where the water is deep.</p> +<p> +"When their canoe is near the shore, Manikawan will let it go backward +very slowly to the place where the bank slopes."</p> +<p> +Bob ran the end of rope under and around the bow thwart, as Manikawan +directed, knotting it securely, leaving sufficient length to extend +back to the centre thwart, around which he again wrapped it and finally +tied the end. This he did in order that the strain upon the canoe might +be more evenly distributed.</p> +<p> +With Shad's rifle and shotgun and their few other possessions in the +canoe, they immediately placed it in the water. Bob held it while Shad +took a kneeling position in the stern, then himself stepped lightly to +his place in the bow, and in an instant they were afloat in the rushing +water, paddling fast and hard in order to relieve the stress upon the +long line, and to keep the canoe head on to the current.</p> +<p> +A few moments later they found themselves close under the mainland +bank, with Manikawan letting them slip slowly down to the sloping rock.</p> +<p> +Though the treacherous footing on the steep, slippery incline rendered +it a hazardous undertaking, the landing was safely accomplished, and +the canoe brought ashore.</p> +<p> +When Manikawan saw the young adventurers standing before her, her work +of rescue completed and the excitement and uncertainty of the preceding +days and nights at an end, she sank upon the ground, weak, dazed, and +overcome with fatigue.</p> +<p> +During sixty hours her only sleep or refreshment had been that snatched +the preceding morning in the tilt, and throughout the entire period she +had been bending herself to almost superhuman effort.</p> +<p> +After all, she was but a girl. Human emotions are pretty much the same +the world over, irrespective of race, and Manikawan, the Indian maiden, +was very human indeed in her emotions and the limit of her physical +endurance.</p> +<p> +She looked faint and weary, indeed, as Shad and Bob bent over her +solicitously, but presently she indicated her desire to rise; and +slowly, for Manikawan's exhaustion was still apparent, Bob led the way +while the three took a direct course to the tilt on the first lake.</p> +<p> +It was not far, and in the course of an hour, mounting a ridge, they +saw the lake shimmering below them and the little tilt nestling among +the trees on the shore.</p> +<p> +"How good it looks! Almost homelike!" said Shad.</p> +<p> +"Aye, almost homelike," echoed Bob.</p> +<p> +At the tilt they made a fire under the trees, and Bob quickly brewed a +kettle of strong tea, and prepared food; and when Manikawan had taken +nourishment, she was sent into the tilt for the rest she so much needed.</p> +<p> +Bob and Shad were still lingering over their meal when they looked up +to find Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell staring at them from +the edge of the woods.</p> +<p> +"Hello!" cried Shad, jumping up in pleasure to greet their friends.</p> +<p> +"Evenin'," said Bob; "set in an' have a drop o' tea an' a bite."</p> +<p> +"Well, now, I wern't sure I see straight!" exclaimed Ed, and the three +strode forward. "Here we was thinkin' never t' see you lads ag'in, an' +arguin' who were goin' t' break th' news o' your death t' your folks, +an' there you be, eatin'! Bob, I'm never goin' t' break th' news o' +your death ag'in till I sees you dead. I were doin' it once, an' now I +comes pretty nigh havin' to ag'in;" and Ed nearly shook Bob's arm off +in his delight.</p> +<p> +"Aye," Dick explained, while he and Bill followed Ed in the greeting, +"th' Injun lass Manikawan comes an' tells us you lads was drove over +th' falls by Mingens."</p> +<p> +"An' we goes out huntin' Mingens," went on Bill, "tryin' t' kill un, +an' would ha' killed un if we'd found un."</p> +<p> +"Now, what devilment were she up to? That's what I wants t' know, +tellin' us that. They's no knowin' what a Injun'll do, leastways a +female," declared Ed.</p> +<p> +"She was about right, now," said Bob, and he proceeded to relate the +experiences of the preceding days, while Shad now and again interjected +dramatic colour.</p> +<p> +"Th' lass were doin' rare fine! Rare fine!" said Ed. "An' we was +thinkin' she's up t' some devilment. But why wern't you shootin' at th' +Injuns from th' canoe when they opens on you? Your repeatin' rifle +would ha' scattered un, Bob."</p> +<p> +"I left un in th' tilt by th' first lake above th' river. Shad were +steerin', an' he weren't thinkin' t' use his'n," Bob explained.</p> +<p> +"In th' first tilt above th' river?" Ed repeated. "We were in th' tilt, +now, Dick, when we comes through, an' there weren't any rifle there. +Rope an' tent an' other outfit, but no rifle."</p> +<p> +"No, there weren't none there," corroborated Dick and Bill.</p> +<p> +"Now, 'tis strange," said Bob. "I left un there, didn't I, Shad?"</p> +<p> +"Yes, you certainly left it there, on the rear bunk," Shad affirmed +positively.</p> +<p> +This puzzled them long, and they were never to learn the truth, for +Manikawan, on her return journey for the ropes, had replaced the rifle +exactly as she had found it, and none but herself ever knew the part +she had played in the river tragedy.</p> +<p> +While Manikawan rested in the tilt, and Bill Campbell set out to hunt +ptarmigans for supper, Dick Blake and Ed Matheson in Manikawan's canoe, +and Bob and Shad in Shad's canoe, left upon a reconnoitering expedition +to the tilt from which the two latter were returning on the day of the +Indian attack.</p> +<p> +They had no fear now of an Indian surprise, since Ed Matheson had +observed the retreat of the savages to the southern shore, and they +proceeded boldly to their destination.</p> +<p> +As anticipated, the tilt had been rifled of its contents, chiefly flour +and pork. The tilt itself, however, had not been burned, and was +otherwise undisturbed.</p> +<p> +"They was thinkin', now, t' have un an' t' use un theirselves when they +comes here t' hunt, th' winter," declared Ed. "They thinks Bob an' +Shad's done for. Unless they gets scairt out by th' ha'nts in th' +water--"</p> +<p> +"The what?" asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Th' ghosts or spirits they thinks is there. They's wonderful easy +scairt, Injuns is. Oh, I knows th' Injuns; I been havin' trouble with +un before."</p> +<p> +"When was you havin' trouble with Injuns, now?" asked Dick sceptically.</p> +<p> +"More'n once," said Ed. "There were th' time, now, I comes t' my tilt +an' finds a hull passel o' Mountaineers--they wan't friendly in them +days, th' Bay Mountaineers wan 't--so many they eats up a hull barrel +o' my flour t' one meal--"</p> +<p> +"Now, Ed," broke in Dick, in evident disgust, "you been tellin' that +yarn so many times you believes un yourself. Now, don't tell un ag'in."</p> +<p> +"'Tis gospel truth--" Ed began.</p> +<p> +"'Tis no kind o' truth."</p> +<p> +"Well, an' you don't want t' hear un, I won't tell un," said Ed, with +an air of injured innocence.</p> +<p> +"'What was it, Ed, that happened you?" asked Shad, laughing, for he had +learned to know the peculiarities of these two friends.</p> +<p> +"Dick's not wantin' t' hear un, Shad. He gets all ruffled up when I +tells o' some happenin' I been havin' that's bigger'n any he ever has. +I won't tell un now; 'twould make he feel bad, an' I don't want t' make +he feel bad, nohow," said Ed, with mock magnanimity. "But there were +another time--I'll tell you o' this, Shad, an' Dick don't mind?"</p> +<p> +"Oh, go ahead an' yarn, if you wants to! But th' Lard'll strike you +dead some day, Ed, for lyin';" and Dick turned toward the canoes in +disgust.</p> +<p> +"Now Dick's mad," Ed laughed, "but don't mind he, Shad; he'll get over +un."</p> +<p> +"As I was sayin', now, 'twas when I was layin' my trail t' th' +nu'th'ard o' Wanokapow. I gets my tilt built an' all in shape an' +stocked up, an' I goes out one mornin' lookin' t' kill a bit o' fresh +meat. 'Tis early, an' too soon t' set up th' traps, for th' fur ain't +prime.</p> +<p> +"I gets a porcupine, which is all I wants, an' comin' down t' my second +tilt about th' middle o' th' forenoon, finds un all afire an' a band o' +twelve Injuns--I counts un, an' they's just a dozen--lookin' on, an' +dividin' up my things, which they takes out o' th' tilt before they +fires un.</p> +<p> +"Now I were mad--too mad t' be scairt--an' I steps right down among th' +Injuns, an' when they sees me lookin' fierce an' ready t' kill un all, +they's too scairt t' do a thing or t' run, an' they just stands lookin' +at me.</p> +<p> +"Well, I keeps on lookin' wonderful fierce, an' jumps about a bit an' +hollers. It makes me laugh now t' think how that passel o' Injuns +stared! One of un tells me a couple o' years after that they thinks I +gone crazy.</p> +<p> +"'Tisn't long till I gets un all so scairt they thinks I'm goin' t' +shoot un all up, an' they's afeared t' run, thinkin' if they does I'll +start right in quick.</p> +<p> +"Then I thinks it's time t' break th' news t' un, an' I tells un if +they builds th' tilt up new for me I'll let un off. An' they starts +right in t' build un, an' has un all done before th' sun sets. Th' same +tilt's standin' there yet--'</p> +<p> +"Ed!" called Dick, from the canoe, "if you're through yarnin', come on +now an' get started back. It'll be dark now before we gets t' th' tilt."</p> +<p> +It was dark when they reached the tilt. Bill, sitting alone by the +camp-fire, had seen nothing of Manikawan while they were gone, and none +of them ventured to enter the tilt or to disturb her.</p> +<p> +But, when they arose from their bed of boughs in the lee of the tent +the following I morning, they found that the fire at their feet had +been renewed while they slept. Manikawan was not in the tilt, but +presently they discovered her, standing upon the pinnacle of rock near +the lake shore, looking toward the glowing East, immovable as a statue, +picturesque and beautiful in her primitive Indian costume.</p> +<p> +As the rim of the sun appeared above the horizon and the marvellous +colourings of the morning melted into the fuller light of day, +Manikawan extended her arms before her for a moment, then descended +from her rock, and, observing that her friends were astir, she +approached them, her face glowing with the health and freshness of +youth, and bearing no trace of the ordeal through which she had passed.</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow, the matchi manitu has been cheated. You +have escaped from his power, and you will live long in the beautiful +world," said she, for the first time adopting a more personal and +affectionate form of address. "Manikawan's heart is as the rising sun, +bright and full of light. It is as the earth, when the sun shines in +summer, warm and happy. It soars like the gulls, no longer weighted +with trouble."</p> +<p> +"Manikawan is my good sister, and I am glad she is happy," responded +Bob. "White Brother of the Snow and his friend will never forget that +she outwitted the Matchi Manitu. They will never forget what she did."</p> +<p> +Ungava Bob and Bill Campbell, sharing the canoe with Manikawan, Dick +Blake and Ed Matheson the canoe with Shad Trowbridge, they reached the +river tilt that evening. Manikawan was radiantly happy, but Bob, +uncertain as to what course she might decide upon, and well aware that +any attempt to send her back to her people would prove quite fruitless +if she chose to remain with them, was much disturbed in mind. He sat +long by the campfire that night, before he joined his companions in the +tent, still undetermined what he should do to rid himself of her.</p> +<p> +When morning came Manikawan gave no hint of going until breakfast was +eaten. Then with her customary promptness of action, standing before +Ungava Bob, she announced:</p> +<p> +"Manikawan will now return to the lodge of Sishetakushin, her father, +and wait for White Brother of the Snow. He is safe from the Matchi +Manitu. She will wait and be contented. She will know that he is in the +country of her people. She will wait for him till the sun grows timid +and afraid, till the Spirit of the Frost grows bold and strong. Then +White Brother of the Snow will come to the lodge of Sishetakushin, and +there he will rest. Manikawan will prepare for him his nabwe (stew) and +make for him warm garments from the skin of the atuk."</p> +<p> +Without further preliminary or adieu, she lifted her canoe upon her +head and disappeared as unexpectedly as she had appeared.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XV"></a>XV</p> +<p> +THE PASSING OF THE WILD THINGS</p> +<p> +It was already too late in the season to attempt further distribution +of supplies with the canoe. Therefore, the boat and canoe were carried +to a safe distance above the river, and a shelter of logs erected over +them, that they might not be crushed under the weight of snow presently +to come.</p> +<p> +Two days later the lakes were clogged with ice, and a week later the +first fall of snow that was to remain throughout the winter fell to a +depth of several inches.</p> +<p> +Then came an interval of waiting, but not of idleness, for Ungava Bob +or Ed Matheson. Their new tilts were unsupplied with stretching boards +for furs and many other necessities, in the preparation of which they +occupied themselves at the river tilt, while the others lent a hand; +though nearly every day Dick Blake or Bill Campbell accompanied Shad on +hunting expeditions which resulted in keeping the larder well supplied +with geese, ducks--now in their southward flight--ptarmigans, and an +occasional porcupine.</p> +<p> +The birds were all fat and in splendid condition. The ptarmigans, now +changing their mottled brown-and-white coat for the pure white plumage +of winter, were gathered into large flocks, and easily had. A +considerable number were killed with the first blast of frosty weather, +and, together with a few ducks and geese, stored where they would +freeze and keep sweet for future use.</p> +<p> +With the last week of October active trapping began, when fur, though +not yet at its best, was in excellent condition.</p> +<p> +With November winter fell upon the land in all its sub-Arctic rigour. +For a day and a night a blizzard raged, so blinding, so terrific, and +with the temperature so low that none dared venture out; and when the +weather cleared, the snow, grown so deep that snowshoes were essential +in travel, no longer melted under the mid-day sun.</p> +<p> +Socks of heavy woollen duffel were now necessary to protect the feet, +and buckskin moccasins, with knee-high leggings, took the place of +sealskin boots.</p> +<p> +In the final distribution of supplies among the tilts, long, narrow +Indian toboggans were brought into service, and the loads hauled upon +the toboggans.</p> +<p> +Martens and foxes were the animals chiefly sought at this season. There +were two methods followed in setting the marten traps. Where a tree of +sufficient diameter was available, it was cut off as high as the +trapper could wield his axe above the snow, and a notch about four +inches deep and fourteen inches high cut some distance below the top of +the stump and several feet above the snow. The bottom of this notch was +given a level surface with the axe, the trap set upon it, and the bait +hung in the side of the notch a foot above the trap. At other times an +enclosure was made with spruce boughs, and in a narrow opening the trap +was set, with the bait within the enclosure.</p> +<p> +Fox traps were set upon the marshes, and baited with rabbits which had +been hung in the tilt until they began to smell badly, or with other +scraps of flesh. The trap securely fastened by its chain to a block of +wood or the base of willow brush, was carefully concealed under a thin +crust of snow.</p> +<p> +The usual routine followed by Ungava Bob, after his trail was once in +order and his traps set, was to leave the river tilt on Monday morning, +and by a wide circuit around lake shores and marshes, embracing a +distance of some fifteen miles, reach his tilt at the far end of the +first lake at night. On Tuesday another wide circle of traps around +contiguous lakes brought him back again at night to the same tilt. On +Wednesday his trail led him to the tilt on the last lake of the old +portage trail.</p> +<p> +His original intention had been to continue from this tilt to the tilt +which the Indians had robbed, and thence to the last tilt on Ed +Matheson's trail, some fifteen miles to the northeast. But after the +appearance of the Indians it had been deemed unsafe and inadvisable to +do this, and the tilt on the river above the portage trail was, +therefore, temporarily abandoned.</p> +<p> +With this modification, his Thursday circuit of traps was so arranged +that it brought him back at night to the tilt on the last lake, and on +Friday he proceeded to Ed Matheson's last tilt. This arrangement +carried him during the five days over seventy-five miles of trail along +which his traps were distributed.</p> +<p> +Ed Matheson's trail was so arranged that he also arrived at his last +tilt on Friday evening, and he and Bob thus shared the tilt each +fortnight from Friday until Monday.</p> +<p> +Saturdays were occupied in making repairs and in doing the thousand and +one odd jobs always at hand, Sunday in rest, and on Monday the return +journey began which brought them to the river tilt on the following +Friday, unless by chance they were delayed by storms.</p> +<p> +This was the point of fortnightly rendezvous for the four trappers--the +junction point of all their trails. Dick Blake's and Bill Campbell's +trails took them in opposite directions, and during their period of +absence from the river tilt neither saw any of his companions.</p> +<p> +The fortnightly reunion at the river tilt was naturally an occasion +they all looked forward to. It gave an opportunity to compare notes +upon their success, to recount experiences, and to satisfy for a time +the human craving for companionship.</p> +<p> +Shad made the first outward journey with Bob, and returned with Ed +Matheson. Then he made a round with Dick Blake, and finally a round +with Bill Campbell.</p> +<p> +Every feature of the work was new and interesting to Shad Trowbridge, +and for a time he enjoyed it hugely. But presently it dropped into a +dreary, monotonous routine. The vast, unbroken solitude, the endless +tramping over endless snow, day after day, and the lack of adventure to +which he had looked forward, served presently to make him moody and +irritable.</p> +<p> +Shad had hoped for sport with his rifle, but no big game had been +seen--not so much as the track of a caribou. Long before this the last +goose and duck had passed southward. Not a bird save the ever-present +jay had been encountered in upward of three weeks. Even the rabbits, +whose tracks had criss-crossed the early snow in every direction and +packed it down along the willow brush, had unaccountably disappeared. +The stock of fresh meat, save a pair of geese and three pairs of +ptarmigans reserved for a Christmas feast, was exhausted.</p> +<p> +These were extraordinary conditions. The men declared that never before +in their experience had they observed so complete a disappearance of +game. Caribou were usually rather numerous in November. In previous +years ptarmigans and spruce grouse had been so plentiful that they were +easily killed when needed. One year in every nine rabbits were said to +vanish, but otherwise the total absence of game was inexplicable.</p> +<p> +It was a condition, too, that caused uneasiness. The flour and pork +brought into the country by the trappers was far from adequate to +supply their needs. Sufficient wild game to at least double their +provision supply was an absolute essential if they were to continue on +the trails. Thus far the early game had supplied their requirements, +but the prospects for the future were disquieting.</p> +<p> +At the end of the first week in December, Bill Campbell and Shad +returned from their fortnight on the trail to find their friends +already at the river tilt and discussing the situation.</p> +<p> +"What you havin', this cruise, Bill?" asked Dick, when the greetings +were over.</p> +<p> +"Th' worst cruise I ever has," Bill replied, as he drew off his adicky. +"One white fox--nothin' else, an' no footin' now t' speak of. Shad an' +me never see a hair or feather barrin' th' fox I catches, an' he were a +poor un."</p> +<p> +"I gets one marten an' a red, up an' back," said Dick. "Ed gets +nothin', an' Bob gets one marten. 'Tis a wonderful bad showin'."</p> +<p> +"Aye, a wonderful bad showin', gettin' never a hair, an' that's what I +gets," declared Ed, in disgust. "If th' next cruise don't show a +wonderful lot better, I starts for th' Bay th' mornin' after Christmas, +an' I'll not be comin' back till th' middle o' February, whatever."</p> +<p> +The dough bread, fried pork, and tea, which Ed and Bob had been +preparing, were ready, and, the meal disposed of, pipes were lighted +and the discussion of the all-important question was resumed.</p> +<p> +"'Tisn't th' havin' a poor cruise now an' again's what's botherin' me," +began Ed, "but they ain't no footin'; and where they ain't no footin', +they ain't nothin'; an' where they ain't nothin', they ain't no use +huntin' it."</p> +<p> +"They ain't even a pa'tridge t' be killed for th' pot," complained Bill.</p> +<p> +"No, an' we'll be seein' th' end of our grub, with nothin' t' help out, +by th' end o' February, whatever," Ed dolefully prophesied.</p> +<p> +"Isn't there danger of scurvy if we have nothing but salt pork to eat?" +asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"That they is, sure as shootin'," agreed Ed.</p> +<p> +"If you'd like to go along with me, Shad," suggested Bob, who up to +this time had said little, "we'll take a flat-sled with your tent an' a +tent stove, an' a couple weeks' grub, an' go down t' th' nu'th'ard an' +see if we can't run onto some deer. Th' deer's somewheres, an' if they +ain't here they must be t' th' nu'th'ard."</p> +<p> +"Of course I'll go with you, Bob," said Shad, delighted with the +prospect of individual action and new experiences.</p> +<p> +"An' you may be runnin' into some o' th' Mountaineers an' Nascaupees +down north, an' let un know about th' tradin' next year," suggested +Dick. "If you tells one Injun, th' hull passel o' both tribes'll know +about un. Things travels wonderful fast among th' Injuns."</p> +<p> +The following day two toboggans were packed with the provisions and +equipment sufficient for a two weeks' absence, together with a +considerable quantity of tea in addition to their probable +requirements, and some plug tobacco, designed as gifts for the Indians.</p> +<p> +Long before daylight on Monday morning adieus were said and the two +young adventurers turned into the frozen, silent wastes to the +northward, Bob in the lead making a rapid pace, Shad following, and +each hauling his toboggan.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XVI"></a>XVI</p> +<p> +ALONE WITH THE INDIANS</p> +<p> +At the edge of every frozen marsh and lake Ungava Bob paused to +reconnoitre for caribou, but always to be disappointed, and when he and +Shad halted at sundown to pitch their night camp, no living thing had +they seen.</p> +<p> +Shad's small wedge tent was stretched between two trees, snow was +banked around it on the outside, and a thick bed of boughs spread upon +the snow within. Two short butts of logs were placed at proper distance +apart near the entrance and inside the tent, the tent stove set upon +them, and with an ample supply of wood cut and split, their night +shelter, with a roaring fire in the stove, was warm and cosy.</p> +<p> +The days that followed were equally as disappointing. The smooth white +surface of the snow was unmarred by track of beast or bird. No living +creature stirred. No sound broke the silence. The frozen world was +dead, and the silence was the silence of the sepulchre.</p> +<p> +"It's so quiet you can hear it," Shad remarked once when they halted to +make tea.</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Bob, "'tis that, and they's no footin' of even rabbits. I +can't make un out."</p> +<p> +On the afternoon of the third day after leaving the river tilt, they +came upon the southern shore of the Great Lake of the Indians, and +turning westward presently discovered Sishetakushin's wigwam.</p> +<p> +The travellers received a warm welcome from the Indians. Sishetakushin +and Mookoomahn were indeed noisy and effusive in their greeting. +Manikawan radiated pleasure, but she and her mother, a large, fat +woman, as became their status as women, remained in the background.</p> +<p> +The Indians had killed some caribou early in the season, and jerked the +meat. They had just killed a bear whose winter den they had discovered, +and over the fire was a kettle of stewing beaver meat, upon which they +feasted their visitors.</p> +<p> +At the proper time Bob presented them with tea, Shad gave them each +some tobacco, and then Bob told them of his proposed trading project.</p> +<p> +"My people will be glad," said Sishetakushin, "and you will have much +trade."</p> +<p> +It developed in the course of conversation that the Indians were +preparing to move at once to the Lake of Willows (Petitsikapau), to the +northwest, in the hope of meeting caribou, for none had been seen by +them since those they had killed in early fall.</p> +<p> +They were to cache some of their provisions near the Great Lake; and +when they had made a sufficient kill in the North to supply them with +food, were to return to their cache near the Great Lake to trap +martens, for in the more northerly country, where wide barrens take the +place of forests, martens are rarely to be found.</p> +<p> +"Bob, here's a chance I've been hoping for," said Shad, when Bob +interpreted to him the Indians' plan. "Do you think they would be +willing to let me go with them until their return here, if I gave them +some tobacco?"</p> +<p> +"They's no tellin', Shad, how long they'll be away," suggested Bob.</p> +<p> +"But I want to go if they'll let me go. Please ask them," insisted Shad.</p> +<p> +"But they may not be findin' deer, an' if they don't find un they won't +be comin' back here till th' end o' winter. You don't want t' be with +un th' rest o' th' winter, Shad; 'twill be rougher cruisin' than with +us," Bob warned.</p> +<p> +"Ask them. I'm going if they'll have me along;" and Shad displayed in +his tone a suggestion of resentment that Bob should question the +advisability of anything upon which he had determined.</p> +<p> +The Indians discussed the matter at some length before finally giving +Bob an affirmative decision.</p> +<p> +"They says you can go, Shad, but they'll not promise t' be back here +for two months, whatever, an' when they does they'll come t' th' river +tilt with you," said Bob.</p> +<p> +"Good! It'll give me some change of experience, and the chance to study +their life and customs that I've wanted;" and Shad was elated with the +prospect.</p> +<p> +Partly because of the earnest solicitation of his Indian friends, but +chiefly in the hope of dissuading Shad from his determination, +Bob remained in the Indian camp the remainder of the week. While they +still maintained a degree of reserve toward Shad, Bob was treated in +every respect as one of them.</p> +<p> +Manikawan made him the object of her particular attention. She waited +upon him as the Indian women wait upon their lords, anticipating his +needs.</p> +<p> +In expectation of his coming she had, after her return from the river +tilt, made for him a beautiful coat of caribou skins. The hair, left on +the skins, made a warm lining, while the outside of the coat, tanned as +soft and white as chamois, was decorated with designs painted in +colours. Attached to it was a hood of wolfskin.</p> +<p> +Accompanying the coat was a pair of long, close-fitting buckskin +leggings, and a pair of buckskin moccasins, both decorated, and the +whole comprising the typical winter suit of a Nascaupee hunter.</p> +<p> +Manikawan's attentions were extremely irritating to Bob, but he could +not well avoid them, and to have declined to accept the gift which she +had made especially for him in anticipation of his coming, would have +caused her keen disappointment. So he accepted them and donned them, to +her evident delight.</p> +<p> +"Shad," said Bob, on the Sunday evening after their arrival "I has t' +start back in th' mornin', an' you better be goin' with me."</p> +<p> +"No," insisted Shad, "I'll stick to the Indians for a while."</p> +<p> +The following morning Bob bade them adieu.</p> +<p> +"Take care of yourself, old man," said Shad. "I'll see you in a month +or so."</p> +<p> +"I hopes so, Shad, an' you take care o' yourself, now. I'm fearin' t' +leave you, Shad."</p> +<p> +"Oh, I know how to look out for myself," declared Shad. "Don't worry +about me."</p> +<p> +Turning to Manikawan, who stood mutely waiting for the word of farewell +that she hoped Bob would bestow upon her, he said, in the Indian tongue:</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow must go to his hunting grounds. He is +leaving behind him his friend. Will Manikawan minister to his friend as +she would to him? Will she see that no harm comes to him?"</p> +<p> +"Manikawan will do as White Brother of the Snow directs," she answered. +"She will minister to his friend's needs. She will make for his friend +the nabwe. His friend will not be hungry. Manikawan will care for him +until White Brother of the Snow is weary of hunting and comes again to +Sishetakushin's lodge. She will do this because he is the friend of +White Brother of the Snow."</p> +<p> +Then Bob turned into the white, frigid waste to the southward, and Shad +was alone with the Indians.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XVII"></a>XVII</p> +<p> +CHRISTMAS AT THE RIVER TILT</p> +<p> +Christmas fell on Thursday that year, and it had been arranged that the +trappers, by turning back on their trails the preceding Saturday +instead of waiting as was their custom until Monday, and by slighting +some of the less important sections of the trails on their return trip, +should gather at the river tilt on Wednesday evening, in order to +celebrate the holiday with a feast.</p> +<p> +It was late on Christmas eve when Ungava Bob, returning from the Indian +camp, drew his toboggan into the clearing in the centre of which stood +the river tilt. Its roof was scarcely visible in the moonlight above +the high drifted snow. He had hoped that some of the others might have +arrived before him, but no smoke issued from the pipe, and fresh +drifted, untrodden snow around the door told him that he was the first.</p> +<p> +It was fearfully cold. Rime filled the air. The deerskin coat which +Manikawan had given him, and which he wore, was thick coated with frost.</p> +<p> +He paused before the door and stood for a moment to painfully pick away +the ice that had accumulated upon his eyelashes, partially closing his +eyelids, and discovered that his nose and cheeks were frost-bitten. He +drew his right hand from its mitten, and holding his nose in the bare +palm, covered the exposed hand with the mittened palm of the other, +quickly rubbing the frosted parts with the warm palm to restore +circulation.</p> +<p> +Presently, satisfied that the frost had been removed from nose and +cheeks, he kicked off his snowshoes, shovelled the accumulated snow +from the doorway with one of them, set the snowshoes on end in the snow +at one side, and entering the tilt lighted a candle and kindled a fire +in the stove.</p> +<p> +Taking the kettle from the stove and an axe from a corner, he passed +out of the tilt and down to the river, chopped open the water hole, +filled the kettle, and returning set it over to heat.</p> +<p> +Unpacking his toboggan and stowing the things away, he leaned it end up +against the tilt, brought a bucket of water from the river for culinary +use, removed his deerskin coat, and settled down in the now comfortable +tilt to prepare supper and await his friends.</p> +<p> +Presently he heard a movement outside, and a moment later Dick Blake +poked his head in at the door.</p> +<p> +"Evenin', Bob," he greeted. "Glad t' see you. Th' tilt smells fine an' +warm! Where's Shad?" he asked, entering and rubbing his hands over the +stove.</p> +<p> +"Stoppin' wi' th' Injuns. I were tryin' t' get he t' come back, but he +thinks he wants t' go huntin' deer with un, an' stays," explained Bob. +"Any fur?"</p> +<p> +"Only one marten an' one otter, but they's good uns. No sign o' foxes. +But foxes won't stay when th' rabbits goes;" and Dick went out to +unpack.</p> +<p> +Presently Bill Campbell arrived, and a little later Ed Matheson drew +his long form through the low doorway, his red beard laden with ice.</p> +<p> +"Where's Shad?" he asked, after greetings were exchanged.</p> +<p> +Bob explained Shad's absence.</p> +<p> +"Well, now!" he exclaimed. "Shad must ha' been gettin' light-headed t' +do that. Well, he's welcome t' 'bide 'long with Injuns if he wants to, +but I'm thinkin' by about now he's wishin' he was where he ain't. An' +by t'morrer he'll have boiled goose an' fried pa'tridges on his mind, +an' wishin' harder 'n ever he were back here in th' river tilt."</p> +<p> +"He were wantin' th' hunt, an' now he may not find un so bad," said Bob.</p> +<p> +"He won't be havin' no feather-bed time cruisin' about with Injuns," +insisted Ed. "Shad's gettin' wonderful peevish an' sot in his way +lately. He's thinkin' o' th' fine grub an' good times he's been havin' +t' that college place he talks about, instead o' thinkin' o' how he +likes rabbit meat three times a day an' betwixt meals when you an' him +was 'bidin' a time on th' island over here because you wasn't havin' +wings t' fly off, an' they wa'n't no other way t' get off till th' +Injun lass takes you off."</p> +<p> +"Shad weren't gettin' peeved," objected Bob, ready to defend his absent +friend. "He were just disappointed at findin' no huntin', an' he 'bides +with th' Injuns t' get some deer."</p> +<p> +"Maybe so, but Shad'll be glad enough t' get back t' th' river tilt, +an' when he is gettin' back he'll be findin' it fine. He'll be thinkin' +o' th' tough cruisin' with th' Injuns instead o' th' grub at his +college place, an' that'll make he think 'tis fine in th' tilts. That's +the way it mostly is with folks. They always wants somethin' they ain't +got, an' when they gets un they wants somethin' else. An' like's not +then they wants what they was havin' first, because they can't have un +now."</p> +<p> +Ed paused to pour a cup of tea and help himself to pork.</p> +<p> +"Shad's a good mate, though," he continued magnanimously. "He ain't +gettin' used t' th' bush yet. That's all's th' matter with he. He'll +get used t' un after a bit, an' then he won't be gettin' peeved like he +is now."</p> +<p> +"I'm wishin' he weren't stayin' back with th' Injuns now. I'm fearin' +he'll be havin' a hard time of un--an' I'm fearin' he may be gettin' in +trouble not knowin' how t' take un," Bob remarked solicitously.</p> +<p> +"I'm wonderful sorry, now, he stays wi' th' Injuns. 'Twould be fine t' +have he here for Christmas," agreed Ed, as he drew a plug of black +tobacco from his pocket and began to shave some of it into the hollow +of his hand, preparatory to filling his pipe.</p> +<p> +"Any fur this trip?" asked Bob.</p> +<p> +"Two martens--both fine uns. Not so bad. How'd you make un, Dick?"</p> +<p> +"I gets one marten an' shoots an otter," answered Dick.</p> +<p> +"You gettin' any, Bill?" asked Ed, turning to Bill, who was reclining +in one of the bunks and smoking in luxurious contentment.</p> +<p> +"Aye, one marten, an' I shoots a wolf last evenin'--a wonderful poor +wolf, an' his skin ain't much account. Three of un were after me on th' +trail all day, but I only gets one."</p> +<p> +"Three wolves, now--an' poor uns," commented Dick. "Wolves ain't +follerin' a man all day unless they's hungry, an' they ain't like t' be +hungry where they's deer."</p> +<p> +"No," agreed Ed, who had lighted his pipe, one moccasined heel drawn up +on the edge of the bunk upon which he lounged, the other long leg +stretched out. "Wolves follers th' deer, but when they ain't no deer t' +faller they don't faller un. Which means they ain't no deer in this +part o' th' country, an' so they just naturally fallers Bill as th' +next best meat."</p> +<p> +"An' bein' poor means they's hungry, an' bein' hungry means they's +lickin' their chops for Bill," continued Dick.</p> +<p> +"Were it night, now?" asked Ed.</p> +<p> +"No, 'twere broad day," answered Bill, undisturbed.</p> +<p> +"Now if 'twere night, I'd say they was follerin' you because your red +hair lights th' trail up for un."</p> +<p> +"'Tain't no redder 'n your'n," retorted Bill.</p> +<p> +"Never mind un, Bill," said Bob sympathetically. "Ed's jealous because +your hair's curly an' his 'n ain't."</p> +<p> +"Now, how about gettin' grub?" suggested Ed, when the laugh had +subsided. "They ain't nothin' t' kill, an' we got t' haul grub in from +th' Bay. I'm thinkin' t' start down Friday, an' if one o' you wants t' +go along, we'll both haul up a load on our flatsleds. How'd you like t' +go, Bill? They's a moon, an' by travellin' some at night we'll make th' +Bay for th' New Year, goin' light, an' be back by th' first o' +February, whatever, with our loads."</p> +<p> +<br> +"I'd like wonderful well t' go!" answered Bill, elated at the prospect +of a visit to the Bay, brief as it would be.</p> +<p> +"What you think of un?" asked Ed, addressing Dick and Bob jointly.</p> +<p> +"We got t' have grub if we stays on th' trails," agreed Dick, "an' +they's no sign o' killin' any meat."</p> +<p> +"Aye, we'll all have t' leave th' trails by th' first o' March, +whatever, unless some of us goes for grub," said Bob.</p> +<p> +"Bill an' me bein' away'll stretch th' grub we has, for Bill be a +wonderful eater--" Bill interjected a protest, but Ed, ignoring it, +continued: "An' what we hauls back on th' flatsleds'll carry us over +th' spring trappin'. We'll be startin' early on Friday. We'll go down +your trail an' spring your traps up on th' way out, Bill."</p> +<p> +A late breakfast of fried ptarmigans, and a late afternoon dinner of +boiled goose, with an evening "snack" of ptarmigan before retiring--the +last of the game reserved from the fall shooting--together with camp +bread and tea, comprised the Christmas menu.</p> +<p> +Directly after breakfast Ed and Bill made ready for packing on their +toboggans the light outfit which they were to use on their outward +trip; and this done, the four held a service of song in which all +joined heartily, and spent the remainder of the day luxuriously +lounging in the tilt and telling stories.</p> +<p> +Shad was sincerely missed. He had looked forward keenly to the +Christmas feast, and many hearty good wishes were expressed for +him--that even among the Indians he might pass a pleasant day--that he +would not find the hardships so great as his friends had feared--and +that he would soon return to them in safety and none the worse for his +experiences.</p> +<p> +Then the thoughts turned to home, and speculations as to what the +far-off loved ones were doing at the moment.</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin' a wonderful lot of home now," said Bob. "Tell Mother an' +Father, Ed, I'm safe an' thinkin' of un every day, an' of Emily, away +off somewheres in St. Johns t' school. It's makin' me rare lonesome t' +think o' home without Emily there. An'--an'--tell Mother, Ed--I never +forgets my prayers."</p> +<p> +"That I will, lad!" promised Ed heartily. "An' what you wantin' me t' +say t' Bessie, now? Tell she about th' Injun lass an' th' fine deerskin +coat she's givin' you?"</p> +<p> +"Tell Bessie I always carries th' ca'tridge bag she gives me--an' I'm +thinkin' how 'tis she that makes un--an' I'll be glad t'--get home t' +th' Bay," directed Bob hesitatingly.</p> +<p> +"Oh, aye. Glad t' get back t' see th' Bay, I'm thinkin'," laughed Ed.</p> +<p> +As Bob and Dick returned to the tilt an hour before daybreak, after +watching Ed and Bill disappear down the trail in the still, bitter cold +of the starlit morning, Bob remarked:</p> +<p> +"I'm feelin' wonderful strange--I'm not knowin' how. 'Tis a +lonesomeness--but different--like as if somethin' were goin' t' happen."</p> +<p> +"An' I has th' same sort o' feelin'," confessed Dick. "'Tis like th' +stillness before a big storm breaks at sea--'tis like as if some one +was dyin' clost by."<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XVIII"></a>XVIII</p> +<p> +THE SPIRIT OF DEATH GROWS BOLD</p> +<p> +When Ungava Bob was gone, Shad Trowbridge returned to the deerskin +lodge to think. Now that he was alone with the Indians, he was not at +all sure that he did not regret his decision to remain with them and +share their uncertain fortunes.</p> +<p> +For a moment the thought occurred to him that he might even yet follow +Bob's trail and overtake him in his night camp. But he thrust the +impulse aside at once as unworthy consideration. He had come to his +decision, and he was determined to remain and play the game to a finish.</p> +<p> +He craved action and excitement, and the glamour of romance that +surrounded the Indians and their nomadic life had attracted him. It was +this, together with the human instinct to play at games of chance, and +the primordial instinct slumbering in every strong man's breast to +throw off restraint and, untrammelled, match his brains and strength +against the forces of untamed nature, that had led Shad to adopt the +red man's life for a period which he believed would not exceed three or +four weeks at most.</p> +<p> +In preparation for departure the following day, the Indians erected +upon an elevated flat rock, which winds had swept bare of snow, a log +shelter some five feet square and five feet high. After lining the +bottom and sides of this shelter with spruce boughs, a quantity of +jerked venison and dried fish was deposited in it, the top covered with +boughs, and the roof, consisting of logs laid closely side by side and +weighted with stones, was placed in position. This precaution was taken +to protect the cache from marauding animals.</p> +<p> +In the dim light of the cold December morning the deerskin covering of +the wigwam was stripped from the poles, folded and packed upon the +toboggans, together with the simple housekeeping equipment of the +Indians, and a sufficient quantity of fresh bear's meat and jerked +venison to sustain them for a fortnight.</p> +<p> +Immediately the march was begun toward the Lake of Willows, +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn in turn taking the lead and breaking the +trail, the others following, single file.</p> +<p> +Day after day they pushed on and still on through scattered forests, +across wide barrens and over frozen lakes, always on the alert for +caribou but always disappointed.</p> +<p> +Once a small flock of ptarmigans was seen along the willow brush that +lined a stream. Shad drew his shotgun from his toboggan, but the +Indians would not permit him to use it, and in disgust he returned it +to its place while he watched Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn kill the +birds with bows and arrows. He marvelled at their skill. Indeed, he did +not observe a single arrow go astray of its mark.</p> +<p> +Eleven birds were secured in this way--the first game they had seen, +and the last they were to see for several days.</p> +<p> +A dead, awful cold settled upon the earth. The very atmosphere was +frozen. Rime in shimmering, glittering particles hung suspended in +space, and covered bushes, trees, and rocks--scintillating in the +sunlight and seeming to intensify the cold.</p> +<p> +The few brief hours of sunshine were disregarded. The sun rose only to +tantalise. For three or four hours each day it hung close to the +horizon, then dropped again below the southwestern hills; and its rays +gave out no warmth.</p> +<p> +No sign of game was seen near the Lake of Willows, and no halt was +made. The life of the Indians depended upon the killing of caribou. The +little cache of jerked venison and fish left near the Great Lake would +scarcely have sustained them a month. The few ptarmigans killed now and +again were of small assistance. The food they hauled was nearly +exhausted.</p> +<p> +Then came a period of storm. For a week snow fell and gales blew with +such terrific fury that no living thing could have existed in the open, +and during this period a halt was unavoidable.</p> +<p> +Once a day a small ration was doled out--pitifully small--enough to +tantalise appetite, but not to still hunger. Shad was consumed with a +craving for food. He could think of nothing but food. His days on the +trails and in the tilts with the trappers were remembered as days of +luxury and feasting. He wondered if Bob and the others had thought of +him when they ate their Christmas dinner of geese and ptarmigans. "Oh, +for one delicious meal of pork and camp bread. Oh, for one night of the +luxurious warmth of the river tilt!"</p> +<p> +When the storm abated sufficiently to permit them to continue their +journey, he moved his legs mechanically, even forgetting at last that +the effort was painful. An insidious weakness was taking possession of +him. It was an effort to draw his lightly-laden toboggan. It made him +dizzy to swing an axe when he assisted Manikawan to cut wood for the +fire. His knees gave way under him when he sat down.</p> +<p> +Manikawan's plump cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were growing big and +staring. Her mother had lost half her bulk, and Sishetakushin and +Mookoomahn were also noticeably affected. They no longer laughed and +seldom spoke.</p> +<p> +As one performing a duty that must not under any circumstance or +condition be neglected, Manikawan conscientiously looked after Shad's +welfare; but still she treated him with the same degree of dignity and +reserve, if not aloofness, that she had always maintained toward him. +He realised that what she did for him she did because he was the friend +of her beloved White Brother of the Snow, and not for his own sake--as +a dog will guard the thing which its master directs it to guard, +faithfully and untiringly, for the master's sake, but with no other +attachment for the thing itself.</p> +<p> +He wondered why they did not return to their cache on the Great Lake +after the long storm, and then it occurred to him that probably their +destination was the trading post at Ungava, of which Bob had told him.</p> +<p> +On the afternoon of the second day after the storm, they came upon a +single wigwam. Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn looked into it and passed +on. Shad raised the flap, and peering in saw the emaciated figure of an +old Indian. He was quite stark and dead, his wide-open eyes staring +vacantly into space. He had been abandoned to die.</p> +<p> +That evening Shad stumbled over an object in the snow. He stooped to +examine it in the starlight, and was horrified to discover the dead +body of a woman.</p> +<p> +The following morning, as they plodded wearily forward under the faint +light of the stars, they came suddenly upon a group of wigwams. Men, +women, and children came out to meet them--an emaciated, starved, +unkempt horde that had more the appearance of ghouls and skeletons than +human beings. Some of them tottered as they walked, some fell in the +snow and with difficulty regained their feet.</p> +<p> +"Atuk! Atuk! Have you found the atuk?" was the cry from all--a hopeless +cry of desperation, as they crowded around the travellers.</p> +<p> +"We have not found the atuk," answered Sishetakushin.</p> +<p> +Some heard him stoically, others staggered hopelessly away to their +wigwams, others wailed:</p> +<p> +"The Great Spirit of the Sky is angry. He has sent all the spirits to +destroy us. The Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--is at our back. +The raven, the Black Spirit of Death, is ready to attack us. The Spirit +of the Tempest torments us. The Spirits of the Forest and of the +Barrens mock us. The Great Spirit of the Sky has driven away the atuk, +and our people are starving. Many of our people are dead. Four of our +hunters now lie dead in their lodges."</p> +<p> +Shad Trowbridge could not understand what was said, but he could not +fail to understand the situation.</p> +<p> +For some inexplicable reason the caribou, upon which the Indians +depended for food, had disappeared from the land. All living things +save these starving wretches had vanished.</p> +<p> +For twenty-four hours not a mouthful of food had passed Shad's own +lips, and a sickening dread engulfed his soul.</p> +<p> +[Footnote: This was the winter of 1890-1891, known as "the year of +starvation," when for some unknown reason the caribou failed to appear +in their accustomed haunts, and as a result one out of every three of +the Indians of northern Labrador perished of starvation.]<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XIX"></a>XIX</p> +<p> +THE CACHE ON THE LAKE</p> +<p> +Shad Trowbridge stood dazed, as one in a dream--a horrid, awful dream. +He looked through a haze, and what he saw was distorted, unreal, +terrible. The suffering creatures about him were spectral phantoms of +the nether world, the shimmering rime, a symbol of death, the endless +snow the white robe of the grave quickly to cover them all.</p> +<p> +A sudden stillness fell upon the camp, to be presently broken by the +agonised scream of a woman, shrill and startling, followed by wailings +and melancholy moans. The Spirit of Death had snatched away her +favourite son.</p> +<p> +A sickening nausea overtook Shad, and he sank upon his toboggan, faint +and dizzy with an overpowering weakness. His imagination was getting +the better of him.</p> +<p> +It is always dangerous and sometimes fatal for one to permit the +imagination to assert itself in seasons of peril. Will power to put +away thoughts of to-morrow, to think only of to-day, to do to-day the +thing which necessity requires, coupled with a determination never to +abandon hope, is a paramount essential for the successful explorer to +possess.</p> +<p> +In this moment of hopeless surrender Shad felt Manikawan's hand rest +lightly upon his shoulder for an instant, and looking up he saw her +standing before him, tall, straight, commanding, and as she looked that +day on the river bank when she bade him and Bob wait for her return to +free them from their island prison.</p> +<p> +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is not a coward. He is not +afraid of the Spirit of Hunger. He is not afraid of the Spirit of +Death. He is brave. He once outwitted the Matchi Manitu of the River. +He will outwit the Spirit of Hunger. He will outwit the Spirit of +Death. The friend of White Brother of the Snow is brave. He is not +afraid to die."</p> +<p> +The words were unintelligible to him, but their import was +unmistakable. She, a young Indian maiden, was offering him +encouragement, and recalling him to his manhood.</p> +<p> +He arose to his feet, ashamed that she had read his mind, ashamed that +she had found it necessary to recall him from a lapse into his foolish +weakness which must have seemed to her like cowardice.</p> +<p> +But he remembered now that he was a man--a white man--and because he +was a white man, the physical equal and mental superior of any savage +there. Looking into Manikawan's eyes, he made an unspoken vow that she +should never again have cause to chide him.</p> +<p> +Dawn was breaking, and in the growing light a half-dozen lodges were to +be seen. At one side and alone stood a deerskin tent of peculiar form. +It was a high tent of exceedingly small circumference, and where the +smoke opening was provided and the poles protruded at the top of the +ordinary wigwam, this was tightly closed. It was the medicine lodge of +the shaman.</p> +<p> +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn had entered one of the lodges immediately +after the tumult caused by their arrival had subsided, and Manikawan +now followed her mother into another lodge. There were no Indians +visible. The moans of the grief-stricken mother, rising above the +voices of men in the lodge which Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn had +entered, were the only sounds.</p> +<p> +The air was bitterly cold, but the tragedy enacting around him had for +a time rendered Shad quite insensible to it. When he did finally +realise that, standing inactive, he was numbed and chilled, he still +lingered a little before joining Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn, dreading +to enter the famine-stricken lodges.</p> +<p> +At last, however, necessity drove him to do so, and within the lodge he +discovered that a council was in progress. In the centre a fire burned, +and around it the men, solemn and dignified, sat in a circle. One after +another of the Indians spoke in earnest debate. They were considering +what action they should take to preserve their lives, and Shad, as +deeply interested as any, felt aggrieved that he could not immediately +learn the final result of the conference, which came to an end as the +sun cast its first feeble rays over the barren ranges that marked the +southeastern horizon.</p> +<p> +When the council closed the Indians filed out of the lodge, and one, a +tall old man, fantastically attired in skins, entered the medicine +lodge alone, carefully closing the entrance after him to exclude any +ray of light.</p> +<p> +Immediately drum beats were heard within the tent, accompanied by a low +groaning and moaning, which gradually increased in volume and pitch +until presently it became a high, penetrating, blood-curdling screech. +This continued for perhaps half an hour, the drum beats never ceasing +their monotonous rat-tat-tat.</p> +<p> +The shaman, or medicine man, thus working himself into a frenzy, at +length believed he saw within the lodge the ghostly form of the +particular Matchi Manitu, or evil spirit, responsible for the +disappearance of the caribou and the resulting famine.</p> +<p> +This spirit's wrath it was believed had for some reason unknown to the +Indians been aroused against them. Only the shaman could get into +communication with the spirit, and learn from it what course the +Indians would be required to pursue to placate its wrath, and remove +its curse.</p> +<p> +When the appearance of the spirit was announced, the shaman began to +supplicate and implore the Matchi Manitu to withdraw from the people +the pursuit of Famine; to return the caribou to the land; and to +preserve the lives of the dying.</p> +<p> +Presently in tones of joy the shaman announced that he had succeeded in +enlisting the services of the Matchi Manitu, and with the announcement +the din within the lodge ceased, and for several minutes mysterious +whisperings were heard.</p> +<p> +Suddenly the shaman threw over the lodge, and in a state of exhaustion +tottered forward. Still under the influence of the paroxysms into which +he had worked himself, he delivered in a wandering, disconnected jumble +of meaningless sentences the demands of the Matchi Manitu. These +consisted of many unreasonable and impossible feats that the people +were required to accomplish before the Spirit of Starvation--the Gaunt +Gray Wolf--would cease to follow upon their trail.</p> +<p> +The Indians began at once to break camp. Sishetakushin had reported no +caribou to the southward. Their only remaining hope was to reach the +haven of Ungava post to the northward; and they were to begin the +life-and-death struggle northward at once--a struggle in which many +were to fall.</p> +<p> +A sense of vast relief was experienced by Shad when Sishetakushin +resumed the march. Famished and weak as he was, this was inexpressibly +preferable to a continuance with the starving crowd, and he turned his +back upon the camp, little caring whence their trail led.</p> +<p> +For a while they continued northward upon the frozen bed of a stream, +which they had been following for several days, then a sharp turn was +made to the eastward, and as the sun was setting they came upon the ice +of a wide lake.</p> +<p> +At the end of a half-hour of slow plodding across an arm of the lake, +they entered the edge of sparsely wooded forest and halted. +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn began at once to remove the snow from the +top of what appeared to be a high drift, and a little below the surface +uncovered the roof of a cache similar to the one they had made on the +shores of the Great Lake of the Indians, where Shad and Ungava Bob had +found them.</p> +<p> +Shad's heart gave a bound when the object of the journey was revealed +to him. Here was food and promise of life! And Bob's words, so often +repeated when they were stranded on the island, flashed into his mind:</p> +<p> +"It's th' Lard's way. He's watchin' you when you thinks He's losin' +track o' you. He's takin' care o' you an' you does your best t' take +care o' yourself."</p> +<p> +Manikawan and her mother stretched the deerskin cover upon wigwam poles +used the previous summer and still standing near the lake, and Shad +cleared the snow from the interior of the wigwam, while the women broke +boughs and laid the bed.</p> +<p> +In the meantime, Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn opened the cache and +transferred its precious contents to the wigwam. A fire was kindled, +and in the cosy warmth of their shelter they broke their fast, which +had now extended over a period of thirty-six hours.</p> +<p> +The small portion of dried caribou meat doled out to each was far from +satisfying. Some of the tea which Ungava Bob had given the Indians +still remained. A kettle of this was brewed, and it served to stimulate +and warm them. Then they lighted their pipes and for a time smoked in +silence.</p> +<p> +At length Sishetakushin, turning to Mookoomahn, began:</p> +<p> +"On the Lake of the Beaver to the northward we have a small store of +atuk weas (deer's meat). We also have there the cover of a lodge. Three +suns will pass before we can reach this store of food. On the Great +Lake we have another store.</p> +<p> +"Sishetakushin and the woman will travel to the Lake of the Beaver. +With the store of provisions and the lodge which we find on the Lake of +the Beaver we will travel northward to the lodge of the white man, +where the water of the river joins the big sea water, and where we +shall find food.</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn and the maiden, with the friend of White Brother of the +Snow, will travel southward to the Great Lake. Mookoomahn will show the +white man the way to the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. Then he +will return to the Great Lake and trap the marten and the mink.</p> +<p> +"When the sun grows strong, and drives away the Spirit of the Frost, +Mookoomahn will travel northward to the Lake of the Beaver. There he +will find Sishetakushin and the woman to welcome him. He will take his +food from the waters as he travels.</p> +<p> +"The maiden will remain in the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. +Sishetakushin gives her to White Brother of the Snow. She is his. White +Brother of the Snow is of our people. He will be glad, and the maiden +will be glad. White Brother of the Snow has white man's food in great +store. Mookoomahn will not be hungry."</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn will do as Sishetakushin directs," answered Mookoomahn.</p> +<p> +For a time all smoked in silence, then Sishetakushin resumed:</p> +<p> +"Of the dried meat on the toboggan Mookoomahn and those who are with +him will eat but once during each sun. They will eat little. If they +eat much, the meat will soon be gone, and the Spirit of Starvation will +overtake them and destroy them."</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn and those that are with him will do as Sishetakushin +directs," said Mookoomahn.</p> +<p> +A series of signs and pantomime conveyed to Shad the substance of +Sishetakushin's remarks. He understood that on the morrow the party was +to separate. That he with Mookoomahn and Manikawan were to return to +the Great Lake, and that they had been cautioned to husband their +provisions.</p> +<p> +He surveyed the small bundle of jerked venison with misgivings. Even +with one light meal a day he calculated that it could not last them +above three weeks. Their journey from the cache on the Great Lake to +their present position had consumed a month, including a period of one +week when they were stormbound.</p> +<p> +Should they be fortunate and encounter no storms, the food, sparingly +doled out, might serve to sustain them. If storms delayed them, it +certainly would not.</p> +<p> +In any case their lives must hang in the balance until the cache was +reached, unless game were encountered in the meantime, which seemed +highly improbable.</p> +<p> +A meagre meal was served at an early hour the following morning. As +usual, camp was broken long before day, and then came the farewells.</p> +<p> +The parting between Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn was affecting, that +between the women more stoical. Shad regretfully shook the hands of the +old Indian and his wife. They had been friends to him, and he had no +expectation that he should ever see them again.</p> +<p> +Then Shad and his companions turned southward into the wide wastes of +frozen desolation that lay between him and his friends. It was to be a +journey of tragic experiences--a journey that was to try his metal as +it had never yet been tried.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XX"></a>XX</p> +<p> +THE FOLK AT WOLF BIGHT</p> +<p> +The Grays were very lonely and the little cabin at Wolf Bight seemed +desolate and deserted indeed during the first days following the +departure of the trappers for the interior. Mrs. Gray and Emily cried a +little, and often Emily would say:</p> +<p> +"I wonders where Bob is now, Mother, an' what he's doin'?"</p> +<p> +"He's workin' up th' river, lass, an' th' dirty weather's makin' th' +trackin' an' portagin' wonderful hard for un," she would answer, when +it stormed; or, when the sun shone, "They's havin' a fine day for +travellin' now."</p> +<p> +But presently the preparations for Emily's departure for school +occupied their attention to the exclusion of all else, and they forgot +for a time their loneliness.</p> +<p> +Her going was to be an event of vast importance. It was an innovation, +not only in their household but in the community, for never before had +any of the young people of the Bay attended school; and never before, +save on the occasion when Emily had been taken to the St. Johns +hospital the previous year, to undergo an operation, had any of the +girls--or women, either, for that matter--been farther from home than +Fort Pelican.</p> +<p> +When Bob came into his little fortune through the salvage of the +trading schooner, "Maid of the North," Mrs. Gray had urged that Richard +rest from the trail for one season, and at the same time give the +animals an opportunity to increase. This he had done, and during the +previous winter, when Bob also was at home, he and Bob had occupied +their time in the woods with the axe and pit saw, cutting a quantity of +timber and planking.</p> +<p> +There was no immediate need of this timber, and when Bob was gone +Richard determined to utilise it in the construction of a small +schooner, in anticipation of the trading operations to begin the +following year. Such a vessel would be a necessity in transporting +supplies from Fort Pelican to the store at Wolf Bight.</p> +<p> +Therefore, he began at once the work of laying the keel. There were +nearly three months at his disposal before he would go out upon his +trapping trail, and in this time, hoping to accomplish much, he +remained at his task from early morning until dusk drove him from it. +Thus occupied, Mrs. Gray and Emily seldom saw him, save at meal hours +and after candle-light in the evening, and this made them doubly +lonesome.</p> +<p> +One day late in August, Douglas Campbell sailed his boat over to Wolf +Bight to spend the day with his friends and to announce that a week +later he would come for Emily to take her to Fort Pelican, where they +were to connect with the mail boat for St. Johns.</p> +<p> +This recalled the near approach of Emily's departure, and the days that +followed passed with amazing rapidity. Emily's new woollen frock--the +first woollen frock she had ever possessed--needed still some finishing +touches. It was to be her Sunday dress--to be worn at church, where +there would be many fine people to see her--and as pretty as the +mother's skill and care could make it.</p> +<p> +Then there were the print frocks for everyday wear, to be freshly +laundered and packed with other clothing into a new wooden chest which +her father had made for her; and the innumerable last things to be +done, which kept Emily and her mother in a continuous state of flurry +and excitement.</p> +<p> +Quite too soon Emily's last day at home dawned, and, true to his +appointment, Douglas Campbell arrived during the afternoon. He looked +very grand and dignified and altogether unlike himself in his suit of +grey tweed. He wore this suit only on those rare occasions--usually at +intervals of three or four years--when business called him to St. +Johns, and Emily had but once before seen him so strangely attired.</p> +<p> +He looked so strange and unnatural--so unlike the good old Douglas that +she loved, in moleskin trousers and pea-jacket or adicky--that she felt +he was somehow different, and that the world was going all topsy-turvy.</p> +<p> +And then for the first time there came to her a full realisation of the +great change that was to take place in her life--that she was going far +from home and into a strange land--that for many, many months she was +to see neither her father nor her mother--that she was to live among +strangers who cared nothing for her--that she would be separated from +those who loved her and all that she held dear in the world. A great +ache came into her heart--the first heart-hunger of the homesick--and +she slipped away behind the curtain to throw herself upon her little +white bed and seek relief in stifled sobs.</p> +<p> +Presently as she lay there, weeping quietly to herself, loud +exclamations of hearty welcome from her father and mother as some one +entered the door caused her to sit up and listen. Then she recognised +Tom Black's voice, and heard Bessie asking:</p> +<p> +"Where's Emily?"</p> +<p> +This was splendid! Bessie had come to spend the night! And, quickly +drying her tears and forgetting her heartache, Emily rushed out to +greet her friend and to find that the whole Black family were +there--Tom, the motherly Mrs. Black, and Bessie.</p> +<p> +"Oh, Emily, I just had t' come t' see you off!" exclaimed Bessie, as +the two girls rushed together and hugged each other in delight. "I +coaxes, an' coaxes, an' coaxes Father t' bring me over, an' he just +teases me an' says he's busy, an' Mr. McDonald can't spare he, till +this mornin' he says we're comin'. An' all th' time he an' Mother's +plannin' t' come!"</p> +<p> +"'Twon't do t' tell a maid everything you plans t' do," Tom chuckled.</p> +<p> +Bessie pursed up her red lips, and tossing her head at him laughed +gaily, showing her dimples.</p> +<p> +"Oh, but you just had t' come anyway, for I'd never give you a bit o' +peace if you hadn't."</p> +<p> +Her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes sparkling with +pleasure, Tom looked at her proudly, and could not refrain from the +remark:</p> +<p> +"She ain't a very humbly lass, now be she, Richard?"</p> +<p> +"Now, Father, stop teasin' Bessie," cautioned Mrs. Black. "He's always +teasin' th' lass."</p> +<p> +"I'm just dyin' t' see your things, Emily!" exclaimed Bessie, as Emily +took her friend's bonnet and wraps. "An, I couldn't let you go without +seein' you. An' I'm goin' t' stay awhile, too, with your mother. She'll +be so lonesome without somebody t' talk to when you goes."</p> +<p> +"Oh, Bessie! How wonderful glad I am o' that! I were just thinkin' how +lonesome Mother were goin' t' be with me an' Bob both gone--an'--an' +'twere makin' me feel bad;" and Emily brushed away a tear.</p> +<p> +"We'll not be lettin' your mother, nor father, either, get lonesome," +said Douglas, patting her shoulder gently and looking down in his +kindly way into her face. "Bessie'll be 'bidin' here till I comes back +in October, an' then she'll be comin' again after th' New Year for a +long stop. An' I'll be comin' once every week, whatever."</p> +<p> +"Oh, I'm hopin' so!" Mrs. Gray exclaimed. "I'm not darin' t' think +about how 'twill be when Emily's gone."</p> +<p> +"Now I knows, an' Tom knows; an' we was talkin' t' Douglas about un +when he were over t' th' post, an' we were sayin', 'Now Bessie'll have +t' go over an' 'bide awhile with Mary when Emily's gone,'" said Mrs. +Black.</p> +<p> +"An' you never tells me, an' just lets me tease t' come!" pouted Bessie.</p> +<p> +"We were wantin' t' surprise you, lass. An'," Mrs. Black continued, +addressing Mrs. Gray, "I knows what 'tis t' be alone, now, an' th' men +folks is all in th' bush. I used t' be alone before Tom takes th' place +t' th' post; but now we has plenty o' company."</p> +<p> +"'Tis wonderful good an' thoughtful of you!" Mrs. Gray exclaimed +heartily. "Now set in an' have a cup o' tea an' a bite. You must need +un after th' cruise over."</p> +<p> +The evening was spent in chatting and visiting and looking over Emily's +new clothes. Neither Emily nor Bessie--both overcome with +excitement--slept much, however, that night, for they had a world to +talk about as they lay in bed--but most of all the great and wonderful +experiences Emily was to have.</p> +<p> +Emily and her mother clung to each other, and Bessie to both of them, +and cried and cried, when the time for parting came the following +morning, until finally Douglas and Richard were compelled to draw Emily +gently into the boat. Then motherly Mrs. Black, surreptitiously +brushing tears from her own eyes, put her arm around Mrs. Gray and +soothingly urged:</p> +<p> +"Don't be cryin', Mary. Th' maid's goin' t' be all right, an' they's +nothin' to cry for. 'Twon't be so long till you has she back."</p> +<p> +Richard had the hull of the little schooner well under way when the +mid-October cold forced him to abandon the work until the following +summer, and he was preparing to set out upon his trail when Douglas +appeared one evening, fresh from St. Johns, to report Emily comfortably +settled in the home of a hospitable family near the school she was +attending, and that she was immensely interested in her studies and +fairly well contented, though a little lonesome at times for home.</p> +<p> +Douglas evidently had something on his mind that troubled him. Once +Mrs. Gray asked if he were ailing, but he denied anything but the best +of health. Finally, however, as a disagreeable duty that he must +perform, the kind-hearted old trapper said:</p> +<p> +"I'm not knowin' just how t' tell you--'twill be a wonderful hard blow +t' th' lad--th' bank where Bob were puttin' his money has broke, an' +I'm fearin' th' money's all lost."</p> +<p> +"Lost! Lost!" exclaimed Richard and Mrs. Gray together.</p> +<p> +"Aye," said Douglas, "lost."</p> +<p> +Then he explained fully the failure of the bank, in which he also had a +small amount on deposit, and the improbability of any of the depositors +recovering more than a nominal percentage of their deposits, and even +that doubtful.</p> +<p> +"Well," said Mrs. Gray, "'twill be wonderful hard on th' lad, an' he +countin' so on th' tradin' business."</p> +<p> +"Aye," repeated Richard, "wonderful hard on he. Wonderful hard an' +disappointin', After all his plannin' an' hopin' an' thinkin' about un."</p> +<p> +"An' Emily's schoolin' charge! How now be we goin' t' pay un?" asked +Mrs. Gray.</p> +<p> +"Don't worry about that, now," said Douglas. "I were wantin' she t' go, +an' I were th' first t' say for she t' go, an' I'll see, now, about un +this year, whatever. Don't worry about th' schoolin', now."</p> +<p> +"But we can't be havin' you pay un," remonstrated Richard.</p> +<p> +"Well, now, don't worry about un," insisted Douglas. "We'll see. We'll +see."</p> +<p> +They lapsed into silence for a little, when Bessie remarked:</p> +<p> +"'Tisn't so bad, now. 'Tis bad t' lose th' money, an' 'twill be hard +an' disappointin' t' Bob, but he's a wonderful able lad--they's no +other lad in th' Bay so able as Bob. He's a fine lot o' traps on his +new trails, an' he'll not be doin' so bad, now."</p> +<p> +"Yes," agreed Douglas, "he be, now, a wonderful able lad."</p> +<p> +"And," Richard spoke up, beginning to see the brighter side of the +situation, "Bob owns un, an' he's havin' no debt, an' he's payin' up +all our debts. They's no other folk o' th' Bay as well off as we be."</p> +<p> +"I weren't thinkin' of un that way. I were just thinkin' of how hard +'twill be for Bob-givin' up th' tradin'," Mrs. Gray explained. "But we +has a lot t' be thankful for, an', as Bessie says, Bob's young an' +wonderful able."</p> +<p> +But nevertheless it was a hard blow--a disheartening blow--to all of +them. Bob had planned so much for the future, he was still planning and +dreaming of his career as a trader, and building air castles--away up +there in the desolate white wilderness.</p> +<p> +This meant, instead of the realisation of those dreams, a tedious, +interminable tramping, year after year, of the fur trails, an always +uncertain, a never-ending, struggle for the bare necessities of life. A +single bad year would throw them again into debt; two bad years in +succession would plunge them so hopelessly into debt that the most +earnest effort for the remainder of his life would not relieve Bob of +its burden.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXI"></a>XXI</p> +<p> +THE RIFLED CACHE</p> +<p> +The cold of February, intense, searching, deadly, tightened its grip +upon the wilderness, sapping the life of the three struggling human +derelicts--for derelicts Shad Trowbridge felt himself and his two +companions to be--as they fought their way, now hopefully, now +despondently, but ever with slower pace, as strength ebbed, toward the +precious cache on the shores of the Great Lake; and with the slower +progress that growing weakness demanded, it was quickly found necessary +to reduce by half the already minute portion of dried caribou meat +allotted to each.</p> +<p> +Everything in the world save only themselves seemed to have been frozen +into oblivion. There was no sound, save the monotonous swish, swish of +their own snowshoes, to disturb the silence--a silence otherwise as +absolute and vast as the uttermost depths of the grave.</p> +<p> +Storms overtook them, but they mercifully were storms of short +duration, and seldom interfered with hours of travel. Staggering, but +ever struggling forward, they forced their way painfully on and on, +over pitiless windswept ridges, across life-sapping, desolate barrens, +through scarcely less inhospitable forests. Exerting their waning +strength to its utmost, they never stopped, save when exhausted nature +compelled them to halt for brief intervals of sleep and rest, to +recuperate their wasted energies.</p> +<p> +Shad Trowbridge came finally to wonder vaguely if he were not dead, +this another existence, and be doomed to keep going and going through +endless ages over endless reaches of snow. To his numbed intellect it +seemed that he had been thus going for months and years.</p> +<p> +Like a vague, pleasant dream of something experienced in a previous +life, he remembered Bob and the tilts, Wolf Bight farther back, and the +dear old college. What would the fellows say now, if they were to see +him--the fellows who had known him in that former, happier life?</p> +<p> +At other times he fancied he heard Ungava Bob and the others hallooing +in the distance, and he would answer in glad, expectant shouts. But +there never came a reply.</p> +<p> +The first time this occurred Manikawan turned and looked inquiringly at +him, through eyes sunk deep in their sockets. When it was repeated +later--and he came to hear the voices and to shout to the empty snow +wastes at least once every day--she would step to his side, +solicitously touch his shoulder and say:</p> +<p> +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow hears the voices of the Matchi +Manitu of Hunger. Let him close his ears and be deaf, for the Matchi +Manitu is mocking him."</p> +<p> +Mookoomahn's face was not pleasant to see now; it was horrible--the +dark skin was drawn tight over the high cheek bones, the lips shrunken +to the gums, and the eyes fallen far back into the skull. His face +resembled more than anything else the smoked and dried skull of a mummy.</p> +<p> +Shad laughed sometimes when he looked at Mookoomahn's ghastly face, +framed in a mass of long, straggling black hair; at other times he was +overcome with a heart-rending pity for Mookoomahn that brought tears to +his eyes. But tears froze, and were annoying and painful.</p> +<p> +Manikawan, too, had changed woefully. The lean, gaunt figure stalking +along uncomplainingly with Shad and Mookoomahn had small resemblance to +the beautiful, commanding Manikawan that bade Bob and Shad be patient +in their imprisonment on the island until she returned to relieve them; +or the glowing, happy Manikawan that accompanied Shad and the others to +the river tilt after she had accomplished the rescue. Though there +still burned within her an unquenchable fire of energy, and she never +lagged on the trail, she was no longer the Manikawan of old.</p> +<p> +In spite of all the hardships and all the pain, and slowly starving as +she was, she never ceased her attention to Shad, and she never once +lost her patience with him.</p> +<p> +When Shad laughed hysterically and derisively at his fate, as he did +sometimes, Manikawan would step to his side, touch him lightly with her +hand, and say in the same old voice, lower than of old, but even more +musical and sweet:</p> +<p> +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is brave. He is not a coward. +He is not afraid to die."</p> +<p> +This always had a magical, soothing effect upon Shad. Though he never +learned to interpret her language, the touch of the hand, the human +note of encouragement in her voice, the light in the eyes that looked +into his, never failed to recall him to his manhood and to himself, and +to the remembrance of his vow that as a white man he must by mere force +of will prove his superiority.</p> +<p> +All record of time was lost. But the days were visibly lengthening with +each sunrise and sunset, and when the wind did not blow to freeze them, +and the snow did not drift to blind them, the sunshine gave forth a +hint--just a hint--of warmth.</p> +<p> +One day the dead silence was suddenly startled by the long-drawn-out +howl of a wolf. It was a blood-curdling and almost human cry, and Shad +likened it to the agonised cry of a lost soul in the depths of eternal +torment. Again and again it sounded, then suddenly ceasing, Shad +discovered the animal itself trotting leisurely after them far in the +rear, and a feeling of fellowship--of pity--welled up in his bosom.</p> +<p> +But when he discovered the creature still following them the next day, +now so near that he could see its lolling red tongue, its lean sides, +and ugly fangs, he became possessed with a feeling of revulsion toward +it. Then he fancied it the embodied Spirit of Starvation stalking them +and awaiting an opportunity to destroy them. This fancy gave birth to a +consuming, intense hatred of the thing. Finally it attained the +proportions of a mocking, tantalising demon.</p> +<p> +Cunningly he watched for a moment when it was well within rifle shot, +and drawing his rifle from the toboggan he dropped upon a knee, aimed +carefully, and pulled the trigger. The frost-clogged firing pin did not +respond, and the wolf, seeming to understand its peril, slunk away +unharmed.</p> +<p> +Shad had seen it plainly--its repulsive gray sides so lank that they +seemed almost to meet, its red, hungry tongue lolling from its ugly +mouth, its cruel white fangs, and its malevolent, gleaming eyes. His +hatred for the creature became an obsession, for it appeared again +presently, persistently following, but now keeping at a respectful +distance.</p> +<p> +On the third day, however, the wolf had forgotten its temporary +timidity, and with increased boldness stole steadily upon their heels. +With a patience quite foreign to him Shad waited, glancing behind +constantly, but making no demonstration until the wolf, apparently +satisfied that it had little to fear from the hunger-stricken plodders, +trotted boldly up and took a place behind them, so near that if the +rifle failed at the first snap there would be opportunity for a second +attempt before the beast could pass out of range.</p> +<p> +Shad again stopped, and seizing the rifle discovered that the beast had +also stopped and stood glaring at him, mocking and unafraid. As though, +knowing their weakness, it had lost respect for their power to injure +it.</p> +<p> +A mighty rage took possession of Shad. He fell to his knee again, aimed +carefully, and again pulled the trigger. This time there was a report, +and in an insane frenzy of delight he beheld the carcass of the +tantalising creature stretched upon the snow.</p> +<p> +<img style="width: 847px; height: 488px;" alt="" src="images/p0246pic.jpg"></p> +<p> +Mookoomahn and Manikawan had halted, and stood in breathless silence +watching the result of Shad's shot. Now with an exclamation of pleasure +from Mookoomahn the two rushed forward, knives in hand, and in an +incredibly short time the carcass of the wolf was quartered, a fire +lighted, and some of the meat cooking.</p> +<p> +It was a lean, scrawny wolf, and the meat tough and stringy, but to the +famished travellers it meant life, and Shad thought the half-cooked +piece which Mookoomahn doled to him as his share the sweetest morsel he +had ever eaten.</p> +<p> +The wolf meat, carefully husbanded, supplied food until one morning +Mookoomahn by a series of signs conveyed the information to Shad that +they were within one day's march of the cache. Then they ate the last +of it, that it might give them strength for the final effort.</p> +<p> +It was evening, but not yet dark, when familiar landmarks told Shad +that they were nearing the goal, and a little later they halted where +the poles of Sishetakushin's lodge stood in the edge of the woods above +the lake shore.</p> +<p> +With furious haste Shad and Mookoomahn rushed to the cache, but +suddenly stopped, aghast and stupefied. The cache had been rifled of +its contents, and lying near it, half covered with snow, lay the +frozen, emaciated body of an Indian.</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXII"></a>XXII</p> +<p> +MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE</p> +<p> +An examination of the surroundings made it plain that a band of eastern +Mountaineer or Mingen Indians, in a starving condition, had visited the +place; that one of them, already too far exhausted to be revived, had +died; that the others, taking the food, had left his body uncared for +and fled.</p> +<p> +The disappointment was quite beyond expression. Had they been in good +physical condition, a short three days' travel would now have carried +them to the river tilt and safety. In their present weakened and +starved condition at least twice that time would be consumed in the +journey, and no food remained to help them on their way.</p> +<p> +In deep depression Shad assisted Manikawan to stretch the deerskin +covering upon the lodge, while Mookoomahn gathered wood for the fire. +Clumsy with weakness, dizzy with disappointment, Shad reached to spread +the skin, his snowshoes became entangled, he stumbled and fell. When he +attempted to rise he discovered to his dismay that he had wrenched a +knee, and when he attempted to walk he was scarcely able to hobble into +the lodge.</p> +<p> +The last bare chance of life fled, the last thread of flickering hope +broken, Shad sank down, little caring for the pain, numb with a +certainty of quickly impending death. He could not keep the pace of the +Indians. He could not travel at all, and he could neither ask nor +expect that they do otherwise than proceed as usual after a period of +rest, and leave him to his fate.</p> +<p> +Very early in the morning Shad heard a movement in the lodge, and +realised that Mookoomahn and Manikawan were engaged in low and earnest +conversation. This meant, he was sure, that they were going.</p> +<p> +He vaguely wondered whether they would take the lodge with them and +leave him to die the more quickly in the intense cold of the open, or +whether they would leave it behind them as a weight now too great to be +hauled farther upon their toboggan.</p> +<p> +He did not care much. He was resigned to his fate. He suffered now no +pain of body, save an occasional twitch of the knee when he moved. The +hunger pain had gone. It would be sweet and restful, after all, to lie +there and die peacefully. It would end the struggle for existence. +There would be no more weary plodding over boundless snow wastes. The +end of hope was the end of trouble and pain.</p> +<p> +With his acceptance of the inevitable, and resignation to his fate, a +great lassitude fell upon him. He was overcome with a drowsiness, and +as the swish, swish of retreating snowshoes fell upon his ears he +dropped into a heavy sleep.</p> +<p> +It must have been hours later when Shad opened his eyes to behold +sitting opposite him, across the fire, Manikawan. She smiled when she +saw that he was awake, and he thought how thin and worn she looked, a +mere shadow of the Manikawan he had first known.</p> +<p> +Then there dawned upon his slowly-waking brain a realisation of the +situation. She had resigned her chance of life to remain with him. He +could not permit this. It was a useless waste of life. There was still +hope that she might reach the tilts and safety. By remaining with him +she was deliberately rejecting a possible opportunity to preserve +herself. Much perturbed by this discovery, Shad sat up.</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn?" he asked, pointing toward the south.</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn," she answered, pointing in the same direction. +"Manikawan," pointing at the fire, to indicate that Mookoomahn had gone +but she had remained.</p> +<p> +He protested by signs that she should follow Mookoomahn. He passed +around the fire to where she sat, and grasped her arm in his bony +fingers, in an attempt to compel her to do so; but she stubbornly shook +her head, and, forced to submit, he resumed his seat. Both sorry and +glad that he should not be left alone, he reached over and pressed her +hand as an indication of his appreciation of her self-sacrifice.</p> +<p> +Then she dipped from a kettle by the fire a cup of liquid, which she +handed him. He sipped it, and, discovering that it was a weak broth, +drank it. He looked at her inquiringly.</p> +<p> +Turning again to the pail, she drew forth half a boiled ptarmigan, +which she passed him.</p> +<p> +"Let the friend of White Brother of the Snow eat. It is little, and it +will not drive away the Spirit of Hunger, but it will help to keep away +the evil Spirit of Starvation until White Brother of the Snow brings +food to his friend."</p> +<p> +He accepted it and ate, not ravenously, for his hunger now was not +consuming, but with delicious relish. Manikawan did not eat, but he +presumed that she had already had a like portion.</p> +<p> +Shad was able to hobble, though with considerable pain, in and out of +the lodge, and to assist in getting wood for the fire, and so far as +she would permit him to do so he relieved her of the task.</p> +<p> +The following morning and for four successive mornings the cup of broth +and the portion of ptarmigan awaited him when he awoke. It was evident +Manikawan had killed them with bow and arrow.</p> +<p> +He never saw her eat. It was quite natural that she should have done so +before he awoke of mornings, for he made no attempt at early rising.</p> +<p> +But he noted with alarm that Manikawan was daily growing weaker. She +staggered woefully at times when she walked, like one intoxicated. She +was weaker than he, but this he ascribed to his stronger mentality.</p> +<p> +By sheer force of will he put aside the insistent weakness, which he +knew would get the better of him were he to resign himself to it. By +the same force of will he injected into his being a degree of physical +energy. But he was a white man, she only an Indian, and this could not +be expected of her.</p> +<p> +Then there came a day when he awoke to find her gone, and no broth or +ptarmigan awaiting him. Later she tottered into the lodge, and +empty-handed laid her bow and arrow aside.</p> +<p> +The next morning she was lying prone, and the fire was nearly out, for +the wood was gone.</p> +<p> +"Poor girl," he said, "she is tired and has overslept;" and stealthily, +that he might not disturb her, he stole out for the needed wood.</p> +<p> +She was awake when he returned, and she tried to rise, but fell +helplessly back upon her bed of boughs.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan is weak like a little child," she said, in a low, uncertain +voice. "But White Brother of the Snow will soon come. The suns are +rising and setting. He will soon come. Let the friend of White Brother +of the Snow have courage."</p> +<p> +Shad brewed her some strong tea--a little still remaining. She drank +it, and the hot stimulant presently gave her renewed strength.</p> +<p> +But Shad was not deceived. Manikawan's words had sounded to him a +prophecy of the impending end. Her voice and her rapidly failing +strength told him that the Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--was +conquering; that the spirit most dreaded of all the spirits, Death, +stood at last at the portal of the lodge, waiting to enter.</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXIII"></a>XXIII</p> +<p> +TUMBLED AIR CASTLES</p> +<p> +With the strengthening cold that came with January and continued into +February, the animals ceased to venture far from their lairs in search +of food, and the harvest of the trails was therefore light. With the +disappearance of rabbits, the fox and lynx had also disappeared. The +rabbit is the chief prey of these animals during the tight midwinter +months, and as the wolf follows the caribou, so the fox follows the +rabbit.</p> +<p> +With the going of the fox the field of operations was not only +narrowed, but the work was robbed of much of its zest. When foxes are +fairly numerous the trapper is always buoyed with the hope that a black +or silver fox, the most valuable of the fur-bearing animals, may wander +into his traps; and this hope renders less irksome the weary tramping +of the trails at seasons when the returns might otherwise seem too +small a recompense for the hardships and isolation suffered.</p> +<p> +The two preceding years had yielded rich harvests to Dick Blake, and +had more than fulfilled his modest expectations. He was, therefore, +though certainly disappointed, far from discouraged with the present +outlook, and very cheerfully accepted the few marten and mink pelts +that fell to his lot as a half loaf by no means to be despised.</p> +<p> +While Ungava Bob had looked forward to a successful winter's trapping, +his chief object in coming so far into the wilderness had been the +establishment of his new trails as a basis for future trading +operations; and more particularly, therefore, with a view to the future +than to the immediate present. Neither was he, for this reason, in any +wise discouraged. His youthful mind, engaged in planning the castles he +was to build tomorrow, had no room for the disappointments of to-day.</p> +<p> +Sishetakushin had given Bob the assurance that the Nascaupees would +bring him their furs to barter. He was satisfied, also, that he could +secure a large share of the trade of the Eastern, or Bay, Mountaineer +Indians, for he would pay a fair and reasonable price for their furs, +and they would quickly recognise the advantage of trading with him. And +he would have another advantage over the coast traders: he would +establish a trading station in the very heart of the wilderness, in the +midst of the Indian hunting country.</p> +<p> +Previous to his coming into his little fortune his father had, as far +back as Bob could remember, been struggling under a load of debt. At +times the family had been plunged into the very uttermost depths of +poverty; and even now a sickening dread stole upon Bob as he recalled +some of the winters through which they had passed when the factor at +the post had refused them further credit, and the flour barrel at home +was empty, and they could scarcely have survived had it not been for +the bounty of Douglas Campbell.</p> +<p> +This was the condition still with many of the families of the Bay. They +were always in debt to the Company for advances of provisions, and +there was no hope that they could ever emerge from the deplorable +condition. It was the policy of the Company that they should not.</p> +<p> +In accepting credit from the Company, the trapper placed himself under +obligation to deliver to the Company every product of his labours until +the debt was discharged. The Company allowed the trapper in return for +his pelts such an amount as it saw fit. He had no word in the matter, +and of necessity was compelled to accept the Company's valuation of his +furs, which valuation the Company took good care to place so low as to +obviate any probability of his release from debt. At a reasonable +valuation of their furs, there was seldom a year that most, if not all, +the Bay trappers might not have been freed from their serfdom.</p> +<p> +Thus when a trapper died his only inheritance to his children was a +burden of debt, which sometimes passed down from generation to +generation; for the son who refused to assume his father's debt was +denied credit or consideration at the Company's stores.</p> +<p> +The Grays, as we have stated, had felt the heavy hand of this +inquisitional system. Now that they were free, Bob's sympathy was +poured out to his neighbours, and he was secretly planning how, when he +became a trader, he might also compass their release.</p> +<p> +As rapidly as his profits would permit, Bob was determined to advance, +first to one family, then to another, sufficient cash to discharge +their debts and relieve them from their obligation to the Company.</p> +<p> +Then he would advance them the necessary provisions and supplies to +sustain them until they returned from their trails with their hunt. He +would buy their pelts at as high a price as he could afford with a +reasonable profit. This price would always be certainly double, and +often four or five times, that which the Company was accustomed to +allow.</p> +<p> +Bob, thus forming his Utopian plans, forgot the tedium of the trail. No +person is so happy as when doing something to make some other person +happy. And Bob was happy because he believed he was to be the means of +bringing happiness to many. Making a comfortable living himself, he +would make it possible for his neighbours to make a comfortable living, +also.</p> +<p> +It never occurred to him that failure was possible, or that, with the +amount of capital which he believed was still at his disposal, the plan +was unpractical. Young, highly optimistic, and somewhat visionary, his +dreams assumed the status of reality.</p> +<p> +Bob's mind was thus pleasantly occupied when at the end of the first +week in February he returned to the river tilt to find Ed Matheson and +Bill Campbell back from Eskimo Bay, and Dick Blake, just in from his +trail, drawing off his frost-encrusted adicky.</p> +<p> +"An' there's Bob, now!" exclaimed Ed, as Bob appeared in the doorway.</p> +<p> +"'Tis grand, now, t' see you back," said Bob, his face beaming welcome +as he shook the hands of the returned travellers. "Dick an' me's been +missin' you wonderful."</p> +<p> +"'Twere grand, now, t' see th' tilt when Bill an' me comes in last +evenin'. 'Twere th' hardest pull up from th' Bay with our loads we ever +has, an' we was tired enough t' drop when we gets here. Where's Shad?"</p> +<p> +"Wi' th' Injuns yet, an' I'm worryin' about he not comin' back. They +must ha' gone a long ways down north lookin' for deer, or they'd been +back before this. How'd you find th' folks at th' Bay, Ed?"</p> +<p> +"Fine--all of un fine. Your mother's wantin' wonderful bad t' see you. +But when I tells she you'm all right, she stops worryin'. I were +forgettin' t' say anything about th' trouble wi' th' Mingens, though;" +and Ed grinned.</p> +<p> +"Forgettin' a purpose?" asked Bob, smiling.</p> +<p> +"Maybe so," admitted Ed. "What's past don't do nobody no good t' know +when they's nothin' for un t' make right. 'Twouldn't ha' helped none +for she t' know about th' Mingens, so I just naturally forgets un."</p> +<p> +"I'm glad o' that. Mother'd 'a' worried an' been thinkin' all sorts o' +things happenin' what never would happen;" and, greatly relieved, Bob +asked, "An' when'd you make th' Bay?"</p> +<p> +"'Twere just New Year. Bill an' me cruises along fast, bein' light, an' +takin' short sleeps. 'Twere night when we gets t' Wolf Bight, an' I +says t' Bill, says I: ''Tis near midnight, an' likewise t' th' New +Year. They'll be sleepin', an' le's's wake un up shootin' th' New Year +in like all creation.'</p> +<p> +"Gettin' alongside th' winder, we lets go till our rifles is empty, and +then rushin' in th' door yells, 'Happy New Year!' They was awake, all +right, wonderin' what in time an' creation were turned loose on un, we +yellin' like a passel o' Injuns. They was glad t' see us.</p> +<p> +"Bill goes home t' Kenemish with daylight, an' your father takes me t' +th' post wi' dogs an' komatik, your mother goin' along, an' I gets home +th' evenin'."</p> +<p> +"Were they goin' right back home?"</p> +<p> +"No, they 'bides t' th' post with Tom Black's folks till th' end o' th' +week, an' Bessie goes back with un t' be company with your mother. Oh, +I were forgettin'! Here's somethin' your mother were sendin';" and Ed +reached under the bunk and drew forth a package.</p> +<p> +Upon opening the package Bob discovered a quantity of sweet cakes, a +loaf of plum bread, and a letter. He passed the cakes around, then +drawing up to the candle proceeded at once to read hungrily his +mother's letter.</p> +<p> +It was a message of love and encouragement, closing with the news of +the bank failure and consequent loss of the little fortune with which +he had planned to do so many things. Presently looking up he said, in a +shaking voice:</p> +<p> +"Why--Ed--Mother's sayin' th' bank's broke--an' all our money's gone."</p> +<p> +"Aye," admitted Ed, his voice sympathetic and sorrowful. "'Tis broke, +lad--I were hopin' she wouldn't write you that, an' you wouldn't know +till you gets home. But don't worry about un, now, lad. 'Twon't do no +good. If you hadn't known about un now, you wouldn't be worryin' about +un. An' now you knows, 'twon't help none."</p> +<p> +"I suppose you're right, Ed. But 'twill be hard not t' worry. I were +plannin' so."</p> +<p> +"'Tain't so bad as t' have some o' your folks die, now. An' I been +noticin' all my life that sometimes things happens t' me I thinks is +'most more'n I can stand, an' I feels like givin' up. Then somethin' +comes along that's better'n anything I ever thought o' gettin'. An' +then when I thinks un out, I finds th' good couldn't ha' come without +me havin' th' trouble first. So don't get feelin' too bad about un, +Bob. This may be just openin' th' way for some wonderful good luck +better 'n all th' money you loses," soothed Ed.</p> +<p> +There was a postscript which Bob had overlooked. Now in folding the +letter his eye caught it and he read it--a brief line added by Bessie, +telling him not to think too much about his loss, for she was sure it +would all be well in the end, and not to forget it was the Lord's will +or it could not have happened, adding, "Remember, Bob, the Lord is +always near you."</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, Bob was very quiet at supper. He could not forget his +tumbled air castles. He could not forget the fact that the returns from +the present year's trapping would be insufficient to buy the next +year's outfit.</p> +<p> +"They was a band o' Injuns comes t' th' post just before I leaves, +pretty nigh on their last legs," remarked Ed, when they had finished +eating and he had lighted his pipe. "They was about as nigh starved as +any passel o' men I ever seen, an' if they'd been starved much more +they'd been dead. I hears some o' th' band did die before these gets +out."</p> +<p> +"Who were they?" asked Bob.</p> +<p> +"Mountaineers," answered Ed. "They was back in th' country huntin', but +don't find th' deer. They's camped down t' th' post now."</p> +<p> +"Did you hear where 'bouts they was huntin'?" inquired Dick. "In th' +nu'th'ard or s'uth'ard?"</p> +<p> +"They all comes from th' nu'th'ard and west'ard o' th' post," said Ed. +"They tells me they finds it th' worst year for fur an' game up that +way they ever seen, an' I tells un 'tis th' same here."</p> +<p> +"I wonders, now, how Shad an' th' Injuns he's with is makin' out. +They'll be wonderful bad off, an' they don't run on th' deer," +suggested Dick.</p> +<p> +"They'll be likely t' find un up where they finds un when I was with +un," reassured Bob, "but 'tis a long cruise there an' back."</p> +<p> +Bob's loss was a keen disappointment to him. For several days it robbed +him of ambition, and he tramped along the trails and attended to his +traps dully and methodically, with a heavy heart. Then he began to say +to himself:</p> +<p> +"'Tis th' Lard's way. 'Tweren't right for me to go tradin' or t' have +th' money, an' th' Lord knowin' it takes th' money away."</p> +<p> +This thought, with his natural buoyancy of temperament, restored again +to a large extent his interest and ambition in his work; and when he +remembered that he was, after all, the owner of two unencumbered +trails, with all their traps, he almost forgot his disappointment--but +not altogether; that was impossible.</p> +<p> +With the end of February ptarmigans began to reappear among the willows +along the river bank. They were welcomed by the trappers, for they +supplied a much needed variety to the diet. They offered hope, too, +that the period of famine was nearing its end.</p> +<p> +Ed Matheson's report of the condition of the Indians appearing at the +Eskimo Bay post gave the men food for thought. When they gathered again +at the river tilt two weeks later, the chief subject of conversation +was Shad's continued absence, and many speculations were put forth as +to the probable movements of Shad and their Indian friends. Whether or +not they were likely to find caribou, where they would go and what they +would be likely to do should they fail, were questions which they +discussed at length. And they did not conceal from one another the fact +that they were deeply concerned for Shad's safety.</p> +<p> +When the trappers gathered again at the rendezvous on Friday, the sixth +of March, they fully expected that Shad would be there to greet them, +but they were disappointed. His failure to appear at this late date +excited alarm, but no course of action that would be in the least +likely to lead to results presented itself.</p> +<p> +They agreed that the Indians had beyond doubt left a cache at the Great +Lake, for Sishetakushin had stated to Bob that he would do so; and upon +returning to that point it was believed Shad would have sufficient food +to proceed to the river tilt. Any search beyond the Great Lake would be +fruitless, for none could know in what direction to search.</p> +<p> +Still there was no Shad on Friday, the twentieth of March. They ate +their supper and resumed their speculations.</p> +<p> +"I'm thinkin', now, t' make a cruise t' th' place where th' Injuns was +camped when I left un," declared Bob. "If they ain't there, I'll come +back, unless I sees signs of un. And, anyway, 'twill make me feel +better."</p> +<p> +"An' I'll go along," said Ed. "We'll be startin' in th' mornin' early, +an' we may's well get our stuff out t'-night, ready t' pack."</p> +<p> +They had blown out the candle and were lying in their bunks, discussing +still Shad's long absence, when the door of the tilt was pushed quietly +open and the figure of a man appeared in the moonlight at the entrance.</p> +<p> +They sprang from their bunks, and Ed Matheson, striking a match, +applied it to a candle. As the light flared up the man entered, and +Mookoomahn stood before them.</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXIV"></a>XXIV</p> +<p> +THE MESSENGER</p> +<p> +They looked at the Indian in awed and speechless horror. His tale of +suffering was told before he spoke. He had come from a land of Tragedy. +He had been stalking side by side with Death.</p> +<p> +This was a mere shadowy caricature of the Mookoomahn Bob had known. The +face was fleshless as that of a skeleton head, with the skin of the +former inhabitant stretched and dried upon the bones; the lips so +shrunken that they scarcely served to cover the two white lines of +teeth; the eyes deep fallen into gaping cavities below the frontal bone.</p> +<p> +Drawing his skeleton hands from their mittens, and raising them in an +imploring gesture, Mookoomahn looked, as he stood there in the dim +candlelight under the low log ceiling, more a spectre--a ghostly +phantom visitor--than a living human being.</p> +<p> +Then he spoke in a voice low and broken:</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow, Mookoomahn has long been tormented by the +Spirit of Hunger. When he slept the Spirit of Starvation sat by his +side, never sleeping. When he travelled the Spirit of Starvation +stalked at his heels, never tiring. For many suns the Spirit of Death +has had his cold fingers on Mookoomahn's shoulder."</p> +<p> +Gently Bob removed the caribou-skin coat from the starving and +exhausted traveller, and made him comfortable while the others brewed +tea and heated some cold boiled ptarmigan in the pan.</p> +<p> +"'Twon't do t' give he much at first," cautioned Dick Blake, setting +before Mookoomahn a small portion of the meat and a small piece of +bread with a cup of the hot tea. "He's like t' be wonderful sick, +anyway, th' carefullest we is. We'll let he have a small bit at a time, +an' let he have un often."</p> +<p> +No questions were asked until after the Indian had eaten. It seemed +almost that no questions were necessary. The man had come alone. He was +in the last stages of starvation. These facts spoke loudly enough. They +told the tale of wasting strength, of hopeless struggle, of tragic +death that had taken place in the bleak wild wastes above.</p> +<p> +The food revived and the tea stimulated Mookoomahn, and when he spoke +again, in answer to Bob's urgent request that he tell them of the fate +of Shad and the others, his voice was stronger.</p> +<p> +He described the journey to the Lake of Willows, and thence to the camp +of starving Indians. He told how the shaman had made medicine to the +spirits; how the spirits had revealed to the shaman the things that it +was required the Indians do; how the Indians in their starved condition +were not able to fulfil the requirements laid upon them by the spirits; +and how in consequence the wrath of the spirits was not placated.</p> +<p> +He described the journey to the cache on the northern lake; +Sishetakushin's instructions, and gift of Manikawan to White Brother of +the Snow; of the parting from Sishetakushin.</p> +<p> +Vividly he detailed the long and tedious return to the Great Lake; and +how the angry spirits reaching up had seized Shad, cast him into the +snow, and lamed him.</p> +<p> +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow could not walk. The Matchi +Manitu had wounded his knee. Manikawan, the sister of Mookoomahn, had +promised White Brother of the Snow that she would not leave his friend +until he came.</p> +<p> +"Mookoomahn told Manikawan White Brother of the Snow would not hold her +to her promise. That White Brother of the Snow did not mean that she +should die for his friend.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan would not listen to Mookoomahn, and she said: 'When White +Brother of the Snow comes he will find Manikawan waiting with his +friend. She has promised. If the Spirit of Death comes into the lodge, +White Brother of the Snow will find Manikawan's body with the body of +his friend, and he will know that Manikawan kept her word.'</p> +<p> +"Seven suns ago Mookoomahn left the lodge. He travelled slowly, for the +spirits clung to his feet and made them heavy. The spirits tripped him +and made him fall often. He killed three ptarmigans as he travelled, +and the flesh of the ptarmigans made him strong to reach the lodge of +White Brother of the Snow.</p> +<p> +"For seven suns the friend of White Brother of the Snow and Manikawan +have had no food. The Spirit of Death stood very near the lodge when +Mookoomahn left it. The Spirit of Death has entered the lodge and +destroyed Manikawan and the friend of White Brother of the Snow."</p> +<p> +With this sombre prophecy Mookoomahn ceased speaking, and leaned back +exhausted. As they looked at him they could appreciate the sufferings +of Shad and Manikawan, and no great stretch of the imagination was +necessary to picture the gruesome spectacle that they had no doubt +awaited them in the lodge on the Great Lake.</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXV"></a>XXV</p> +<p> +A MISSION OF LIFE AND DEATH</p> +<p> +Bob's face had grown pale and tense as he listened. With Mookoomahn's +last words he rose from the edge of the bunk where he had seated +himself, and turning to Ed Matheson, asked:</p> +<p> +"Be you goin' with me, Ed? Th' moon's good for travellin', an' I knows +th' way."</p> +<p> +"That I be," Ed responded, beginning his preparation at once. "I +couldn't be restin' here a minute knowin' them poor souls was dyin' out +there."</p> +<p> +"I'm goin', too," declared Dick Blake, reaching for his adicky. "Three +can travel faster'n two, by changin' off in th' lead."</p> +<p> +"What you doin', Bill, with your a dicky, now?" Ed suddenly asked, +observing that Bill Campbell was also drawing on his adicky. "Goin'," +answered Bill laconically.</p> +<p> +"No, Bill, you better stay here with th' Injun," directed Ed. +"Somebody'll have t' stay with he. If they don't, by to-morrer he'll +get eatin' so much he'll kill hisself if he ain't watched.</p> +<p> +"You stay an' keep an eye on he. Give he just a small bit t' a time, +till he gets over th' first sickness. He'll be wonderful sick t'-night, +an' for a week, but sick's he is, by day after t'-morrer he'll be +wonderful hungry, an' want t' eat everything in sight, an' more too, +an' if he eats too much 'twill kill he sure. His belly'll be givin' he +trouble for a month yet, whatever, two ways--wantin' t' stuff un, an' +makin' he sick because he does."</p> +<p> +Bill Campbell was plainly disappointed, but there was no doubt Ed was +right, and laying aside his adicky he uncomplainingly assumed the role +of nurse to which Ed had assigned him.</p> +<p> +The men set forth in haste upon their mission of life and death. The +moon, a white, cold patch, lay against the steel-blue sky. The snow, +thick coated with frost, glittered and scintillated in the moonlight. A +silence impressive, complete, tense, lay upon the frozen white world. +It spoke of death, as the bated breath of the storm, before it breaks, +speaks of calamity.</p> +<p> +The three trappers, who had entered the tilt that evening wearied from +the day's labour upon the trail, forgot their weariness as they swung +forward at a rapid pace toward the camp on the Great Lake.</p> +<p> +First one, then another, took the lead, breaking the trail and making +it easier for those who followed. To men less inured to hardship and +less accustomed to wilderness travel, it would have been a killing +pace, continued unabated, unvarying, hour after hour.</p> +<p> +At length the moon, falling near the western horizon, threatened +quickly to withdraw her light; and then a halt was called, the tent +quickly stretched between two convenient trees, the sheet-iron stove +set up, a fire lighted, a few boughs spread for a bed, and the men +stretched themselves for a two hours' rest.</p> +<p> +They were up again before light, a hurried breakfast was eaten, and +with daybreak they were away. Seldom was a word spoken. Each was +occupied with his own thoughts, and each was stingy of his breath. To +have talked would have been to expend energy.</p> +<p> +Only once during the day did they halt, early in the evening, to make +tea and partake of much-needed refreshment, and then were quickly on +their way again, continuing by moonlight.</p> +<p> +It was past midnight when, Ungava Bob in the lead, crossing a barren +rise, beheld the smooth white surface of the Great Lake stretching far +away to the northward. Descending the ridge and plunging into the thin +forest below, he turned with a nameless dread at his heart toward the +lodge where, three months before, he had said farewell to Shad and +Manikawan. Then they were in the full exuberance of health and +strength. How should he find them now? He dared not answer the question.</p> +<p> +A little farther, and the lodge, a black blot on the snow, loomed up +through the trees. Quickening his pace, he peered anxiously ahead for +smoke, half hoping, wholly dreading, the result. Yes, there it was! The +merest whiff rising above the protruding lodge poles at the top! At +least one lived!</p> +<p> +Bob broke into a run, the others at his heels, and, scarcely halting to +drop the hauling rope of his toboggan from his shoulders, he lifted the +flap and entered, calling as he did so:</p> +<p> +"Shad! Shad! Manikawan! Does you hear me?"</p> +<p> +The place was dark. The smouldering embers of a fire gave out no light, +and receiving no answer Bob shouted to the others to bring a candle. Ed +Matheson had anticipated the need, and, close at Bob's side, struck a +light.</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXVI"></a>XXVI</p> +<p> +"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS"</p> +<p> +As the candle sputtered for a moment and then flared up, it revealed, +lying prone on opposite sides of the lodge, feet to the embers of the +dying fire, two human wrecks, whose emaciated features and shrunken +forms could never have been recognised as those of Shad and Manikawan.</p> +<p> +Bob stooped, and taking Shad gently by the shoulder shook him, saying +as he did so:</p> +<p> +"Shad! Shad! Shad!"</p> +<p> +Slowly Shad, awakening from deep and exhausting slumber, opened his +cavernous eyes and stared vacantly at Bob.</p> +<p> +"Shad!" Bob repeated. "'Tis Bob an' Ed an' Dick come for you! Shad! We +has grub, Shad!"</p> +<p> +Still Shad gave no sign of recognition.</p> +<p> +"Shad! Shad!" pleaded Bob. "Don 't you know me now, Shad?"</p> +<p> +Then light came into Shad's face, and he forced himself to a sitting +position.</p> +<p> +"Bob! Oh, Bob!" he exclaimed, in a weak voice. "Am I awake or is it +just a dream? Oh, Bob! Good old Bob! And Ed! and Dick! I was dreaming +of you and the tilts. The dear old tilts! And you've come! You've +really come? I heard you calling, Bob--days and days and days I heard +you, and I answered. But my voice was too weak, and you couldn't hear.</p> +<p> +"We've been in hell, Bob! In hell! The devils chased us, Bob--chased us +for months and months and months. They looked like wolves, Bob--hungry, +ugly wolves. I shot one! Yes, shot it! We ate it, and it was good! Ate +the devil, Bob! and Ed! and Dick! Are you angels from heaven, or really +you?"</p> +<p> +"A bit o' tea's what he needs first thing," suggested Ed, in a shaky +voice, as Shad paused in his ramblings. "Dick, you cut some wood, now, +an' I'll be fillin' th' kettle with ice an' get un over. Bob better be +stayin' right here."</p> +<p> +"Bob!" Shad continued, as Dick and Ed passed out of the lodge. "Is it +really you, Bob?"</p> +<p> +His voice was now more rational, though very weak.</p> +<p> +"Yes, Shad, 'tis me."</p> +<p> +"How is Manikawan, Bob? Look after her, won't you? I'm all right now. +I've tried to keep her out of the deep sleeps she falls into. I've been +afraid she'd die. But I was very tired, and I think I must have been +very sound asleep myself--and slept for hours. Leave me, Bob, and wake +her up. I'm all right."</p> +<p> +Bob obediently passed over to Manikawan, leaving Shad sitting and +anxiously watching him.</p> +<p> +It seemed for a time that he was not to succeed in rousing Manikawan +from the coma-like sleep into which she had passed. But when Dick +placed wood upon the fire, and the lodge began to warm, she displayed +symptoms of waking; and Bob lifted her head to his shoulder, chafed her +temples, and spoke her name over and over again. At last she opened her +eyes, and with almost instant recognition smiled:</p> +<p> +"White Brother of the Snow--Manikawan is glad you have come. It +has--been--long--but Manikawan knew--White Brother of the Snow--would +come at last--she did not--leave his friend."</p> +<p> +Then she paused, exhausted, but presently continued:</p> +<p> +"Manikawan told--White Brother of the Snow--she would--stay until he +came--for his friend."</p> +<p> +"Manikawan has done well. She has been very brave. She is a Ne-ne-not +(Nascaupee), and brave." Bob could trust himself to say no more, for +his voice was thick.</p> +<p> +Manikawan's eyes lighted at these words of praise, and, never taking +them from Bob's face, she lay silent upon his shoulder until the food +was ready.</p> +<p> +Ed Matheson gave some tea and a small portion of broiled ptarmigan and +bread to Shad, while Bob held the cup for Manikawan, then fed her some +morsels of the meat as one would have fed a child. It was difficult for +her to eat, though the tea stimulated her temporally, and she began +presently to speak again, in a scarcely audible voice:</p> +<p> +"The Spirit--of Hunger--followed us. The Gaunt +Gray--Wolf--was--always--behind--us. +The--Spirit--of--Death--stood--at--the--door--of the--lodge. The +spirits--were--strong--and cunning--like--the +wolverine--Manikawan--was--weak--like a rabbit."</p> +<p> +She was out of breath again and had to rest, and Bob held the cup of +tea to her lips. With renewed strength she continued:</p> +<p> +"Manikawan--killed--two ptarmigans--with--her--arrow. +She--ate--the--entrails--but she--gave--the meat--to the friend--of +White Brother of--the Snow. She was--not afraid--to die. +She--could--not say to--White Brother--of the Snow--when he came--'The +Spirit--of Death--has--entered--the lodge--and--taken--your--friend.'"</p> +<p> +There was another pause. Bob could see, and Ed and Dick could see that +the Spirit of Death was even then in the lodge, and that his cold hand +was upon Manikawan's brow. Tears trickled down Bob's cheeks. He could +not check them.</p> +<p> +"White--Brother--of--the--Snow--must--not--feel--bad. +He--must--be--strong. Manikawan--is--happy. +She--is--warm--as--when--the--sun--grows--brave--in--summer--and--comes--to--warm--the--earth."</p> +<p> +A smile played upon her lips.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan--is--very--happy. +She--sees--a--light--like--the--rising--sun. +White--Brother--of--the--Snow--"</p> +<p> +That was the end. Bob's cheeks were wet as he laid the lifeless form +upon its couch of boughs, and gently covered it with a deerskin robe; +and tears streamed down the weather-beaten cheeks of the two rough +trappers standing at his side.</p> +<p> +Manikawan was not a Christian. She had never heard of Christ and His +saving grace. But dare any say He did not welcome her to His Father's +house?</p> +<p> +She had renounced her own hope of life by remaining behind in the lodge +when Mookoomahn left them. In the name of love and duty she had made +the supreme sacrifice--she had laid down her life for another--and +Christ hath said: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay +down his life for his friends."</p> +<p> +And, after all, did Manikawan not worship the same God that you and I +worship? Standing upon the high pinnacle of rock, looking toward the +rising sun, she offered a silent prayer to the Great Mystery, that she +might be made nobler, braver, and more generous--worthy to stand in the +presence of the Great Mystery--the Maker of heaven and earth and all +things.</p> +<p> +We call Him God. Manikawan called Him the Great Mystery.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXVII"></a>XXVII</p> +<p> +SHAD'S TRIBUTE TO THE INDIAN MAIDEN</p> +<p> +Though Shad's weakness caused him to wobble woefully when he walked, +his knee had much improved since the day of his injury.</p> +<p> +The food, given him in small portions at frequent intervals, and the +assurance of continued life that the appearance of the rescuers +brought, stimulated his body to new strength and restored to him his +mental equilibrium. Hope is life, and one possessed of a large degree +of hope, coupled with a good physique, may withstand a tremendous +amount of hardship and privation.</p> +<p> +The very presence of Manikawan during the long period of enforced +inactivity and waiting, had kept alive in Shad Trowbridge the hope that +Mookoomahn might after all reach the river tilt and send his friends to +the rescue before it was too late. Had it not been for this, it is +scarcely probable he would have survived until they came.</p> +<p> +The few Indian words which Shad had acquired had not been sufficient to +permit him to carry on connected conversation with Manikawan or the +other Indians. Denied this privilege for so long, he talked almost +incessantly to the three trappers, while the four sat through the hours +until daybreak, keeping vigil with Death. He talked of the prospect of +continued life, and what a blessed thing it was to know that he was +still to be in and of the great and glorious world; of his trying +experiences since he had joined the Indians.</p> +<p> +With dawn the tent was pitched among the trees, not far from the lodge. +Then they removed to its more comfortable shelter, with Bob walking at +Shad's side to steady his uncertain footsteps.</p> +<p> +Shad was sick, and suffered severely from nausea that day--and at +intervals, indeed, for several days thereafter--a result that always +follows the introduction of food into the contracted stomach after a +long period of starvation, particularly when the food is of coarse +quality and unsuitably prepared.</p> +<p> +Almost immediately, too, his legs began to swell. But this disturbed +him little. It was merely an incident and another result of his long +period of starvation, quite to be expected.</p> +<p> +"Don't worry about un none," advised Ed Matheson, when Shad called +attention to the phenomenon. "Injuns as starves always gets swelled +legs, an' they stays swelled for quite a bit, too. Just forget un now. +You'll be all right so long's you don't get too rapid wi' th' grub, an' +set you'm belly swellin' too fast."</p> +<p> +"Ed," said Shad, "after what I've been through, I think there's nothing +would alarm me much. It doesn't disturb me in the least to have my legs +swell. I'm rather proud of them. They contrast beautifully with the +rest of me, and give me a certain sense of stability that otherwise I +should not have, for they're the only part of me that looks in the +least natural. Do you hear my bones rattle when I move? I have a +presentment that, unless I'm pretty careful, my skeleton will fall +apart before I get flesh enough to hold it together."</p> +<p> +"Now that's th' way I likes t' see folk!" exclaimed Ed. "Not growlin' +like a bear because they looks summat like a dead man, an' because they +has a bit o' ache in their insides every time they eats. You'm do look +as though you'm just rize from th' grave. But you'm a wonderful live +corpse yet, Shad. A man may's well be happy even if he do feel like all +creation turned inside out, 'specially when he knows he ain't goin' t' +keep feelin' that way. A man is just as happy as he's thinkin' he is, +an' no happier, an' as miserable as he's thinkin' he is an' no +miserabler. I finds bein' happy an' content wi' things is just a matter +o' th' way o' lookin' at un."</p> +<p> +"Yes, Ed, I think you're right," agreed Shad. "I'm finding no fault. +I'm thankful to be alive and in the beautiful world, and I'm very much +contented with my lot. I would be very happy, too, but for the thought +of that poor little Indian girl."</p> +<p> +The earth, frozen to adamantine hardness, precluded the possibility of +digging a grave during the winter season. Therefore, after the manner +of her people, a platform of poles, high raised above the snow, was +built among the spruce trees to receive Manikawan's body.</p> +<p> +It was late in the afternoon when the platform was completed and the +four weatherbeaten men again entered the silent lodge, where they were +to conduct a simple, primitive funeral service, and give Manikawan the +rites of Christian burial before raising her body to the platform.</p> +<p> +Bob, who never was separated from the little Testament his mother had +given him years before, drew the book from his pocket when they had +seated themselves in the lodge, and opening to John xv, passed it to +Shad, who, accepting it, read the chapter aloud in a low but clear +voice, while the others reverently listened.</p> +<p> +[Transcriber's note: John XV:12-13--"This is my commandment: love one +another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down +one's life for one's friends."]</p> +<p> +"Bob," said Shad at length, closing the Testament, "you knew her first. +Tell us about her."</p> +<p> +Responding, Bob described how Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn, finding him +unconscious in the snow, had carried him to their lodge--the very lodge +in which they were now sitting; and how upon first opening his eyes to +consciousness he had seen her, weaving the web of a snowshoe, opposite +him, across the fire--just where she was lying now; and she had looked +up and smiled when she discovered he was awake. And then, ever gentle, +ever considerate, she had nursed him to health, and ministered to him +until he had left them.</p> +<p> +When Bob had finished, Shad spoke of her never-failing thoughtfulness +and consideration. Of the encouragement of her example as, +uncomplaining, she followed the weary, endless trail day after day. Of +her hand lightly laid upon his shoulder as she looked into his eyes and +spoke words of encouragement he could not understand, but which never +failed to call him back to himself and his manhood and to banish an +impulse which frequently assailed him to give up the fight for life, +lie down in the snow and accept the release from suffering which Death +offered.</p> +<p> +"But her crowning sacrifice," said Shad, "came when she refused to +leave me alone to die; and I certainly could not have survived had I +been left in this lodge without human companionship.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan could have gone on with Mookoomahn and saved herself. He +went to you and told you of our need. He did well, but he did it mainly +to save himself. It was the instinct of self-preservation that gave him +inspiration to accomplish it. But she remained, and remaining she gave +me the only food that fell to her arrow, while she starved. That was +divine unselfishness--divine sacrifice."</p> +<p> +Stepping to the side of Manikawan's lifeless body, he lifted and laid +aside the skin robe which covered her face, then kneeling at her side, +with tears upon his cheeks, he continued:</p> +<p> +"Manikawan, your skin was red, but your soul was as white as the driven +snow that covers the desolate land of your people. Your features are +shrunken with starvation and suffering, but still they are beautiful, +for they reflect the beautiful, unselfish soul which they once +sheltered.</p> +<p> +"Your lips smile. Did you see the glory of heaven as you passed from +us--a thousand times more beautiful than the brilliant aurora or the +gorgeous sunsets that glorify the skies of this land of awful +desolation where you existed? Did you see the light of the Eternal City +shining through its gates when they were opened to receive you?"</p> +<p> +As though in answer to Shad's question the last rays of the setting sun +dropped through the open top of the lodge and rested upon the upturned +face of the dead Indian maiden in a bright, illuminating glow.</p> +<p> +"Manikawan, you sacrificed your life to duty and to human sympathy. You +died a Christ-like death, and your sacrifice shall not be wasted. Your +body is dead, but your spirit still lives.</p> +<p> +"So long as the breath of life is in me, Manikawan, I shall never +forget your example of patience and encouragement and self-effacement. +It has built for me new ideals. It has taught me that there are other +things to live for than the mere attainment of pleasure and the +gratification of selfish desires.</p> +<p> +"You were an Indian, Manikawan, and the world would have called you a +pagan and a savage. But you have pointed out to me the way to a nobler +and better life."</p> +<p> +Shad arose and resumed his seat. He had spoken in a voice of tense +earnestness, and for a little while all sat in awed silence. Then Ed +Matheson began to sing, and the others joined him:</p> +<p> +"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,</p> +<p> +Let me hide myself in thee."</p> +<p> +With the last notes of the grand old hymn they all knelt, while big +Dick Blake, in a voice shaken with emotion, offered a short but fervent +prayer.</p> +<p> +Manikawan's body was wrapped tightly in deerskin robes, and in the +darkening twilight of the cold winter evening it was reverently borne +to the newly erected platform among the spruce trees. Here it was to +lie exposed to winds and storms, but beyond the reach of marauding +animals, until the next summer's sun should warm and soften the earth +sufficiently to permit Mookoomahn and the trappers to dig a grave and +lay it in its final resting-place.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</p> +<p> +TROWBRIDGE AND GRAY, TRADERS</p> +<p> +At the end of a week, when the supply of provisions which the trappers +had brought with them was running low, Shad suggested that he was quite +able to make the journey to the river tilt. His knee was now so far +improved that it caused him but slight inconvenience to walk, and he +was rapidly regaining strength.</p> +<p> +He was anxious indeed to return to the tilt. He thought of it much as +one thinks of home; and the thought carried with it visions of rest and +comfort. The others could ill afford a longer absence from their +trails, and it was therefore with a sense of deep satisfaction to all +that the camp on the shore of the Great Lake was broken.</p> +<p> +Travelling slowly, with Shad following in the well-packed trail which +the others made, they arrived at their destination on an afternoon five +days later, and were welcomed by Bill Campbell and Mookoomahn.</p> +<p> +How deeply or how lightly Mookoomahn felt when he learned of +Manikawan's death, none knew. He listened in stoical silence while Bob +related to him in detail the circumstances of her going and the +subsequent happenings in the lodge and in the camp at the Great Lake; +but throughout the recital Mookoomahn made no comments, and his +countenance betrayed nothing of his sensations.</p> +<p> +Mookoomahn was recovering rapidly. He was passing, indeed, quite beyond +Bill Campbell's control; and not satisfied now with the limited +portions of food which Bill, religiously adhering to the advice he had +received from Dick Blake and Ed Matheson, doled out to him, he had the +day before the return of the travellers stolen away to the willows +along the river bank below the tilt, killed some ptarmigans on his own +account, and gorged himself upon the flesh to his temporary +satisfaction; but nature balanced her account with him in the hours of +subsequent agony which he suffered for his indiscretion.</p> +<p> +Fully a month elapsed after their return before Shad could eat a meal +with any assurance that it would not be followed by distress. His +normal appetite, however, had begun to return before they broke camp on +the Great Lake, and had quickly developed into a highly abnormal +appetite.</p> +<p> +No sooner was one meal finished than his mind was centred upon the +next. At night his last thought was his next morning's breakfast, and +when he awoke breakfast was still on his mind. Eating during this +period of recuperation was to him the all-important object in life.</p> +<p> +It was nearly a month after his return to the river tilt that Shad +first learned of Bob's loss of fortune. It was upon the occasion of the +fortnightly rendezvous, when Ed Matheson remarked:</p> +<p> +"Th' next round's about th' last we can make. Th' fur's 'most too poor +t' take, now, an' when I comes back I'll strike up my traps. An' it's +been a wonderful poor hunt."</p> +<p> +"Aye, wonderful poor, an' wonderful disappointin'," sighed Bob.</p> +<p> +"Th' worst I ever see," continued Ed. "If 'tweren't for you, Bob, +clearin' Dick's an' my old debts, we'd be in a bad way gettin' next +fall's debt from th' Company. An' now your losin' all your money, th' +bad furrin' comes hard on you--wonderful hard. I'm fearin' th' new debt +we'll all have t' start off next season with'll be a big un."</p> +<p> +"What money did you lose, Bob? I hadn't heard of it," asked Shad, as Ed +passed out of the tilt to join Dick and Bill, who were cleaning the +snow from the roof of the tilt in anticipation of an early thaw.</p> +<p> +"Th' money I has in th' bank t' St. Johns," explained Bob. "When Ed +comes back from th' Bay he brings me a letter from Mother sayin' th' +bank broke an' th' money's gone."</p> +<p> +"That's bad!" Shad sympathised. "How much was there?"</p> +<p> +"About twelve thousand dollars. But 'tain't so bad. We has th' traps, +an' th' new trails laid."</p> +<p> +"But that was the capital you were to begin trading on?"</p> +<p> +"Aye, but we'll have t' give th' tradin' up now. I'm thinkin' th' Lard +weren't wantin' us t' go tradin' or t' have th' money, an' I'm not +complainin', though I were wonderful disappointed when I hears of +un first."</p> +<p> +Shad asked many questions, in the course of which he drew from Bob a +description of the air castles which Bob had been building, and which +had been so unceremoniously knocked down about his ears by his mother's +letter; of the poverty-stricken condition of the Bay folk, which Bob in +his big-hearted and youthful enthusiasm had hoped to relieve; and of +many other things which he had planned to do with his fortune.</p> +<p> +Though all this was of the past, and of little importance now, he had +intended to keep it a secret. But he and Shad had grown very close +together, and somehow Shad had a way of drawing from him even his most +sacred thoughts--and before Bob realised it he had bared his heart to +his friend.</p> +<p> +"An' I were thinkin'," said Bob, after the sum-total of his shattered +plans had been disclosed, "when we was up on th' Great Lake, what a +rare fine thing 'twould ha' been for th' Injuns, if I hadn't ha' lost +th' money, t' make a tradin' station an' a cache o' grub up th' other +end o' th' Great Lake--seventy or eighty miles in from where Manikawan +dies--so when another bad year comes th' Injuns down that way could get +grub t' carry un out t' th' Ungava post. If they'd been a cache there +this winter, Manikawan wouldn't ha' died, an' a lot o' th' other poor +Injuns as must ha' died would ha' got out."</p> +<p> +"That's so," agreed Shad. "What an amount of suffering it would have +saved! And the poor little Indian girl wouldn't have been sacrificed."</p> +<p> +The others returned at this point, and conversation drifted into other +channels--the striking up of the traps--the probability of an early +break-up--the hard times that the present season's failure was certain +to cause among the people of the Bay.</p> +<p> +"Bob, if you're going to strike up and make this next trip your last +one of the season, I'm going over the trail with you," said Shad, the +following day. "I want to see again the trail I helped you lay, and the +tilts we built together. It seems a long while ago, and the memory of +it is already a pleasant one."</p> +<p> +So on Monday morning they started on the last round of traps for the +season. The days were long now, and the sun was still high when they +reached the tilt on the first lake--the tilt where Manikawan had found +Bob's rifle, and the first of the series of tilts Bob and Shad had +built.</p> +<p> +They cooked and ate their supper, and then lounged back upon their +bunks to chat of their first exploration of the trail, their visit to +the falls, and of Manikawan's unexpected appearance when they were on +the island.</p> +<p> +Finally they lapsed into silence, Shad sitting on the edge of his bunk, +his elbows on his knees, and his chin in his palms; Bob lying back, his +hands folded under his head, his eyes studying the ceiling, but his +thoughts far away with the loved ones at home and with Emily at school.</p> +<p> +Suddenly Shad broke the silence and Bob's thoughts with the question:</p> +<p> +"How would you like me for a partner, Bob?"</p> +<p> +"A trappin' partner, Shad? 'Twould be fine, now!" exclaimed Bob, coming +back to himself and his surroundings. "But I was thinkin' you'd be +weary o' th' trails, Shad, after what you've been through."</p> +<p> +"No, Bob, a trading partner;" and Shad sat up. "You were going into +business, Bob, but your loss, you tell me, has made it impossible, +because you have no capital. I'd like to be let in on your plans, for +they appeal to me. Such a trading operation as you outlined to me +should prove not only profitable, but at the same time would be a +practical method of relieving a vast amount of suffering. It would give +the Bay people independence and bring them a good many comforts of life +they've never enjoyed.</p> +<p> +"And if your suggestion were carried out to establish two or three +trading stations with provision caches attached, up here in the Indian +hunting country, there could be no repetition of this year's horrible +experience.</p> +<p> +"Now, Bob, you know the people and their needs, and you're an expert in +judging furs, but you haven't the funds to carry out your plan. I don't +know much about these things, but I have the funds. Let's come +together--your experience and knowledge against my cash--and form a +partnership. What do you say?"</p> +<p> +"Oh, Shad! 'Twould be--'twould be th' grandest thing in th' world, +Shad!" and Bob's face flushed with excitement; and then, suddenly, he +continued: "But I couldn't do it, Shad. 'Twouldn't be fair for me t' be +partners, for I hasn't any money t' put in for a share."</p> +<p> +"Don't be foolish, now, Bob. Don't talk nonsense. Money without a +knowledge of the people and their needs isn't enough. I haven't the +knowledge, and I'd make a failure of it alone. But with your knowledge +and my money we'd be successful.</p> +<p> +"You've said a good many times that things don't happen by chance, but +are brought about by the direction of the Lord; haven't you, Bob?" +asked Shad.</p> +<p> +"Aye, 'tis th' Lard brings things t' happen," admitted Bob.</p> +<p> +"Now, Bob, listen to me. I came here in the first place just to enjoy a +pleasant summer's outing. Pleasure and good times were all I ever +thought of, and I knew nothing of life or life's higher motives. I +doubt if I could have earned my own bread if I had been turned loose in +the world empty-handed, because I hadn't the power or patience to stick +to a thing or to face discouraging conditions for any length of time.</p> +<p> +"I did not know the meaning of the word toil; I did not know what +privation meant, or the suffering that comes through privation. I had +always had whatsoever my fancy craved, and had never known want or +disappointment.</p> +<p> +"Here in your country, Bob, I have experienced toil. I have been tried +out in the furnace fire of physical suffering and mental agony, and I +have learned what sympathy means.</p> +<p> +"I am living to-day only because Manikawan, an Indian girl, made it +possible by the sacrifice of her own life for me to live. I'd have +given up and thrown myself down in the snow to die a hundred times but +for the encouragement she gave me to keep going, for I was constantly +possessed of a desire to seek the rest and peace of death. And those +poor Indians shared with me, Bob, the little they had, when they might +easily have left me to perish.</p> +<p> +"Do you know, Bob, there has not been a night since she died that I +have not dreamed of Manikawan? She seems to say to me: 'I gave my life +for yours. Go forth and make your life useful--offer a helping hand to +others. It is in your power to guard my people from starvation.' So, +Bob, I've got to do it if I am ever to have peace of mind, and you've +got to help me.</p> +<p> +"Do you think that these things just happened, Bob? Or were they +brought about by Divine direction? Don't you think that this +combination of incidents points out to us our life work? Don't you +think they suggest that we are to unite our talents and so use them +that we shall not only help ourselves but help others? Come, Bob, what +do you say?"</p> +<p> +For a moment Bob did not speak, and when he did his voice betrayed deep +emotion.</p> +<p> +"Th' way you puts un, Shad, I'm thinkin', now, you'm right. 'Tis th' +Lard's way o' bringin' things about. You'm wonderful good, Shad, t' +think o' me for a partner, an' I'll be wonderful proud t' be partners +with you, Shad."</p> +<p> +"That's the way to talk, old man!" exclaimed Shad, grasping Bob's hand.</p> +<p> +"I'm not knowin' how t' thank you, Shad," replied Bob, his heart +overflowing.</p> +<p> +"That feeling is reciprocated, Bob, so we won't either of us thank the +other. Now we've agreed to our partnership, we'll have plenty of time +to arrange the details of our business before we go to the Bay, and +then I think you'll have to make a trip to St. Johns or Boston with me +to have the co-partnership agreement drawn and executed in proper legal +form."</p> +<p> +Shad explained to Bob that at the time of his birth his grandfather set +aside one hundred thousand dollars to be held in trust for his benefit. +It was provided that the income of this trust fund was to be paid to +his guardian annually, upon his birthday, to be applied to his +immediate needs, or to constitute an annual allowance of spending +money, until he attained his majority, when he was to receive the +principal.</p> +<p> +"But I've never spent any of Grandfather's allowance," said Shad. +"Father got me everything I needed and kept me supplied with spending +money, and every year when the income from the trust fund came in +Father bought government bonds with it and placed the bonds in a safety +deposit vault for me.</p> +<p> +"These bonds amount to more than the principal of the trust fund now--I +don't know just how much, but I know there's considerably more than one +hundred thousand dollars, for they have been earning interest all these +years.</p> +<p> +"This money is mine to use as I see fit, and I'm going to invest one +hundred thousand dollars of it in our partnership and hold the balance +as a reserve. Of course my sister will have to act for me until I'm of +age. She's ten years older than I am, and has been my guardian since +Father died. She'll not object, for she has a great deal of confidence +in my judgment.</p> +<p> +"When Father died, nearly three years ago, he left me a snug fortune, +and I have plenty to live on even if our trading venture doesn't prove +a money-making business at first."</p> +<p> +"'Tis a wonderful lot o' money!" declared Bob. "More'n I can think!"</p> +<p> +"We'll need a pretty fair capital to succeed," said Shad. "We'll have +to purchase a vessel of some sort to carry on trade along the outer +coast, and bring our supplies to the Bay, and carry to market our furs, +fish, and oil. You'll look after the native trade, with the men you +employ to help you, but I'll have to engage expert assistance in +purchasing the trading goods and disposing of the products to the best +advantage until I finish college and learn my end of the business. All +will cost money, though I hope when we once get started we'll build up +a trade that will warrant it."</p> +<p> +Bob went to his bunk that night with his head all awhirl. The amount of +capital which Shad proposed to put into their partnership, and the +extensive business which he proposed to build up, were too big and too +wonderful for Bob to comprehend all at once.</p> +<p> +A substantial structure had indeed taken the place of his tumbled air +castles, though it was long before he could bring himself to realise +that this structure was not, after all, another and greater air castle +than those which had been destroyed.<br> +</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<a name="XXIX"></a>XXIX</p> +<p> +THE FRUIT OF MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE</p> +<p> +At length the break-up came, much as it always comes in that country. +The sun, grown strong and bold, vanquished the Spirit of Frost. The +snow became a sea of slush, and water covered the ice of lakes and +river. Finally the clouds opened, and for a week rain fell in a deluge.</p> +<p> +A thousand new streams sprang into being, rushing in white torrents to +join the swollen river. Cascades fell from every ledge and parapet. Now +and again a great boulder was loosened and went crashing down a +hillside with terrifying roar. The river, freed from its ice shackles, +overflowed its banks, and in the wild, unrestrained ardour of its new +power uprooted trees and washed them away upon its turbulent bosom as +it dashed madly seaward.</p> +<p> +One day, when the rain had ceased and the waters had somewhat subsided, +Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge, accompanied by Mookoomahn, turned +northward in Shad's canoe to the Great Lake, following the route which +Manikawan had taken several months before in her journey to the river +tilt.</p> +<p> +Manikawan's body was found as they had left it, and undisturbed. It was +lowered from its rude platform, and they laid it in its final +resting-place in a grave among the spruce trees not far from her +father's lodge. Over the grave a cairn of boulders was raised, and +surmounted by a tablet of wood upon which was carved simply the word +"MANIKAWAN."</p> +<p> +Then they parted, Mookoomahn to turn northward in his long and lonely +journey to join his people, Bob and Shad to return to the river tilt, +and homeward.</p> +<p> +It was on an afternoon late in June when the browned and weather-beaten +voyageurs turned their boat into Wolf Bight. What a long, long time had +elapsed, it seemed to Shad, since that foggy morning in August when +they had left the little cabin and said farewell to the tearful group +upon the shore; and how homelike and restful the cabin looked now! What +an age of experience had passed since that night when Bob pulled him +out of the Bay, and introduced him, shivering and wet, to its +hospitable shelter and warmth.</p> +<p> +As they approached the shore a glad shout was heard, and a moment later +Emily--who had that very day reached home from St. Johns--and Bessie, +who was there to meet her, came running to the landing, with Mrs. Gray +and Richard and Douglas Campbell at their heels.</p> +<p> +Emily laughed and cried with delight, quite smothering Bob with kisses, +and when she relinquished him to her mother she kissed each of the +other brown faces. Bob was quite impartial, and when his mother +released him Bessie was not forgotten in his greeting.</p> +<p> +The most important, and therefore the first piece of news to be +imparted, was the partnership agreement between Shad and Bob. Douglas +at once prophesied success, and when, a fortnight later, Bob and +Richard took passage with Shad to St. Johns, Douglas accompanied them +as expert adviser in the selection of a trading vessel and the +necessary supplies for their posts.</p> +<p> +* * * * *</p> +<p> +The firm of Trowbridge and Gray began operations with the establishment +of stations in the interior, as originally designed. Dick Blake was +engaged to take charge of the post at the northerly end of the Great +Lake, where he quickly built up a large and lucrative trade with both +Nascaupee and Mountaineer Indians.</p> +<p> +The river tilt was enlarged, and became a trading station and supply +base for the interior, over which Ed Matheson presided.</p> +<p> +Bill Campbell, during the open season of navigation, had command of the +brigades of Indians employed to transport goods from Wolf Bight to the +interior posts, and during the midwinter months conducted a sub-post +and storehouse situated at the southerly end of the Great Lake, not far +from Manikawan's grave.</p> +<p> +With the interior trade in such able hands, Ungava Bob devoted his +attention to the Bay trade, and it is needless to say that the trappers +of the region prospered.</p> +<p> +Richard, in command of the trim schooner "Manikawan," also opened a +profitable trade with livyeres and Eskimos of the coast.</p> +<p> +Shad Trowbridge, after graduation from college, quickly developed into +an able business man, and personally attended to the purchase of +supplies and the sale of products.</p> +<p> +Trowbridge and Gray made mistakes, as was to be expected, and had their +ups and downs, but in the end they succeeded, and the firm is known +to-day from Boston to Hudson's Straits as one of the most honourable +and substantial concerns in the North.</p> +<p> +At the very beginning of their career Shad and Bob adopted as their +trademark the picture of an Indian maiden with bow raised and arrow +poised ready for its flight, and beneath it the word "Manikawan." With +this constantly before them Shad declared they could never stray from +the original object of their enterprise, and could never forget the +lesson taught by Manikawan's heroic sacrifice. And never since the firm +began business have Manikawan's people failed to receive relief in +times of need, and never has there been a repetition of the awful year +of starvation.</p> +<p> +"'Tis wonderfully strange, Bessie, how things come about," Bob +sometimes says to his wife, in their cosy home at St. Johns. "I used to +think the Lord had forgotten me sometimes, but I always found later +that those were the times He was nearest to me."</p> +<p> +"The Lord has always been very close to you, Bob," Bessie invariably +replies.</p> +<p> +Emily, at the earnest solicitation of Shad, was permitted to finish her +education in Boston under the chaperonage of Shad's sister, and +developed into a charming and accomplished woman, though she never lost +her love for the little cabin at Wolf Bight.</p> +<p> +But the failures and successes of Trowbridge and Gray, and the +experiences of Emily in the new and greater world which she entered, +are stories by themselves, and each would require a volume to relate.</p> +<p> +<br> +THE END</p> +<p> +</p> +<p> +<br> +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> +<p> +EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY BOY SCOUT EDITION</p> +<p> +The books in this library have been proven by nation-wide canvass to be +the one most universally in demand by the boys themselves. Originally +published in more expensive editions only they are now re-issued at a +lower price so that all boys may have the advantage of reading and +owning them. It is the only series of books published under the control +of this great organization, whose sole object is the welfare and +happiness of the boy himself.</p> +<br> +<table style="width: 565px; height: 1087px;" border="1" cellpadding="2" + cellspacing="2"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td>Adventures in Beaver Stream Camp, </td> + <td> Major A. R. Dugmore</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Along the Mohawk Trail, </td> + <td> Percy Keese Fitzhugh</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Animal Heroes, </td> + <td> Ernest Thompson Seton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Baby Elton, Quarter-Back, </td> + <td> Leslie W. Quirk</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bartley, Freshman Pitcher, </td> + <td> William Heyliger</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Billy Topsail with Doctor Lake of the Labrador, </td> + <td>Norman Duncan</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Biography of a Grizzly, </td> + <td> Ernest Thompson Seton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Boy Scouts of Black Eagle Patrol, </td> + <td> Leslie W. Quirk</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill, </td> + <td>Charles Pierce Burton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Brown Wolf and Other Stories, </td> + <td> Jack London</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts, </td> + <td> Frank R. Stockton</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Call of the Wild, </td> + <td> Jack London</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cattle Ranch to College, </td> + <td> R. Doubleday</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>College Years, </td> + <td> Ralph D. Paine</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Cruise of the Cachalot, </td> + <td> Frank T. Bollen</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Cruise of the Dazzler, </td> + <td> Jack London</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Don Strong, Patrol Leader, </td> + <td> William Heyliger</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Don Strong of the Wolf Patrol. </td> + <td> William Heyliger</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>For the Honor of the School, </td> + <td> Ralph Henry Barbour</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Gaunt Gray Wolf, </td> + <td> Dillon Wallace</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Grit-a-Plenty, </td> + <td> Dillon Wallace</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Half-Back, </td> + <td> Ralph Henry Barbour</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Horsemen of the Plains, </td> + <td> Joseph A. Altsheler</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Jim Davis, </td> + <td> John Masefield</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Kidnapped, </td> + <td> Robert Louis Stevenson</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Last of the Chiefs, </td> + <td> Joseph A. Altsheler</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Last of the Mohicans, </td> + <td> James Fenimore Cooper</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Last of the Plainsmen, </td> + <td> Zane Grey</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Lone Bull's Mistake, </td> + <td> J. W. Shultz</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ranche on the Oxhide, </td> + <td> Henry Inman</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The Ransom of Red Chief and <br> +Other Stories for Boys, </td> + <td> O. Henry <br> +Edited by F. K. Mathiews</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Scouting With Daniel Boone, </td> + <td> Everett T. Tomlinson</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Scouting With Kit Carson, </td> + <td> Everett T. Tomlinson</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Through College on Nothing a Year, </td> + <td>Christian Gauss</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Treasure Island, </td> + <td> Robert Louis Stevenson</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, </td> + <td> Jules Verne</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Under Boy Scout Colors, </td> + <td> J. B. Ames</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Ungava Bob, </td> + <td>Dillon Wallace</td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +<br> +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK<br> +<br> +<p> +THE TOM SLADE BOOKS<br> +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH<br> +Author of "Roy Blakeley," "Pee-wee Harris," "Westy Martin," Etc.<br> +Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Colors.<br> +Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +<p> +"Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade," is a suggestion which thousands +of parents have followed during the past, with the result that the TOM +SLADE BOOKS are the most popular boys' books published today. They take +Tom Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through his +tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as an American +doughboy in France, back to his old patrol and the old camp ground at +Black Lake, and so on.</p> +<p> +TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT<br> +TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP<br> +TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER<br> +TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS<br> +TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT<br> +TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE<br> +TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER<br> +TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS<br> +TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE<br> +TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL<br> +TOM SLADE'S DOUBLE DARE<br> +TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN<br> +TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER<br> +TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN<br> +TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER<br> +TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS</p> +<p> +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK</p> +<p> +THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS<br> +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH<br> +Author of "Tom Slade," "Pee-wee Harris," "Westy Martin," Etc.<br> +Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color.<br> +Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +<p> +In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified the very +essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as Huck Finn and Tom +Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of the troop of Scouts of which he is a +member, and the average boy has to go only a little way in the first +book before Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to +part with his best treasure to get the next book in the series.</p> +<p> +<br> +ROY BLAKELEY<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S ADVENTURES IN CAMP<br> +ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S SILVER FOX PATROL<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN<br> +ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S BEE-LINE HIKE<br> +ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S FUNNY BONE HIKE<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL<br> +ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S ELASTIC HIKE<br> +ROY BLAKELEY'S ROUNDABOUT HIKE</p> +<p> +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK</p> +<p> +THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS<br> +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH<br> +Author of "Tom Slade," "Roy Blakeley," "Westy Martin," Etc.<br> +Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color.<br> +Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +<p> +All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley books are acquainted +with Pee-wee Harris. These stories record the true facts concerning his +size (what there is a it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, +his clothe his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. +Together with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, +circumvented and triumphed over everything and everybody (except where +he failed) and how even when he failed he succeeded. The whole recorded +in a series of screams and told with neither muffler nor cut-out.</p> +<p> +<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY<br> +PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE</p> +<p> +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gaunt Gray Wolf, by Dillon Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF *** + +***** This file should be named 29374-h.htm or 29374-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/7/29374/ + +Produced by Don Kostuch + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Gaunt Gray Wolf + A Tale of Adventure With Ungava Bob + +Author: Dillon Wallace + +Release Date: July 11, 2009 [EBook #29374] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF *** + + + + +Produced by Don Kostuch + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: the groups of four question marks below +indicate illegible text in the source page scans] + + + + + +OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL + +Honorary President, The HON. WOODROW WILSON +Honorary Vice-President, HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT +Honorary Vice-President, COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT +President, COLIN H. LIVINGSTON, Washington D.C. +Vice-President, B. L. DULANY, ????, Tenn. +Vice-President, MILTON A. McRAE, ???? +Vice-President, DAVID STARR JORDAN, ???? +Vice-President, F. L. SEELY, Asheville, N.C. +Vice-President, A. STANFORD. WHITE, Chicago, Ill. +Chief Scout, ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, ???? +National Scout Commissioner, DANIEL CARTER BEARD, ???? + +FINANCE COMMITTEE +???? + +NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS +BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA +THE FIFTH AVENUE BUILDING, 200 FIFTH AVENUE +TELEPHONE GRAMERCY 545 +NEW YORK CITY + +ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD +???? + +July 31, 1913. + +TO THE PUBLIC-- +In the execution of its purpose to give educational value and moral +worth to the recreational activities of the boyhood of America, the +leaders of the Boy Scout Movement quickly learned that to effectively +carry out its program, the boy must be influenced not only in his +out-of-door life but also in the diversions of his other leisure +moments. It is at such times that the boy is captured by the tales of +daring enterprises and adventurous good times. What now is needful in +not that his taste should be thwarted but trained. There should +constantly be presented to him the books the boy likes best, yet +always the books that will be best for the boy. As a matter of fact, +however, the boy's taste is being constantly visited and exploited by +the great mass of cheap juvenile literature. + +To help anxiously concerned parents and educators to meet this grave +peril, the Library Commission of the Boy Scouts of America has been +organized. EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY is the result of their labors. All the +books chosen have been approved by them. The commission is composed of +the following members: George F. Bowerman, Librarian, Public Library +of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.; Harrison W. Graver, +Librarian, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Claude G. Leland, +Superintendent, Bureau of Libraries, Board of Education, New York +City; Edward F. Stevens, Librarian, Pratt Institute Free Library, +Brooklyn, New York; together with the Editorial Board of our Movement, +William D. Murray, George D. Pratt and Frank Presbrey, with Franklin +K. Mathiews, Chief Scout Librarian, as Secretary. + +In selecting the books, the Commission has chosen only such as are of +interest to boys, the first twenty-five being either works of fiction +or stirring stories of adventurous experiences. In later lists, books +of a more serious sort will be included. It is hoped that as many as +twenty-five may be added to the library each year. + +Thanks are due the several publishers who have helped to inaugurate +this new department of our work. Without their co-operation in making +available for popular priced editions some of the best books ever +published for boys, the promotion of EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY would have +been impossible. + +We wish, too, to express out heartfelt gratitude to the Library +Commission, who, without compensation, have placed their vast +experience and immense resources at the service of our Movement. + +The commission invites suggestions as to future books to be included +in the Library. Librarians, teachers, parents, and all others +interested in welfare work for boys, can render a unique service by +forwarding to National Headquarters lists of such books as in their +judgment would be suitable for EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY. + +Signed, James E. West. + +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF + + + +[Illustration: "They were startled by blood-curdling whoops, and a +half-dozen Indians, guns levelled, rose upon the shore" (See page +85).] + + +EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY--BOY SCOUT EDITION + +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF + +A TALE OF ADVENTURE WITH "UNGAVA BOB" + +BY +DILLON WALLACE + +AUTHOR OF +UNGAVA BOB, ETC., ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED + +NEW YORK +GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS +Made in the United State of America + +Copyright, 1914, by +FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + + +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street + +CONTENTS + +I. SHAD TROWBRIDGE OF BOSTON +II. THE LURE OF THE WILDERNESS +III. UNGAVA BOB MAKES A RESCUE +IV. AWAY TO THE TRAILS +V. IN THE FAR WILDERNESS +VI. OLD FRIENDS +VII. WHERE THE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL +VIII. AFTER THE INDIAN ATTACK +IX. THE INDIAN MAIDEN AT THE RIVER TILT +X. THE VOICES OF THE SPIRITS +XI. MANIKAWAN'S VENGEANCE +XII. THE TRAGEDY OF THE RAPIDS +XIII. ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS +XIV. THE MATCHI MANITU IS CHEATED +XV. THE PASSING OF THE WILD THINGS +XVI. ALONE WITH THE INDIANS +XVII. CHRISTMAS AT THE RIVER TILT +XVIII. THE SPIRIT OF DEATH GROWS BOLD. +XIX. THE CACHE ON THE LAKE +XX. THE FOLK AT WOLF BIGHT +XXI. THE RIFLED CACHE +XXII. MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE +XXIII. TUMBLED AIR CASTLES +XXIV. THE MESSENGER +XXV. A MISSION OF LIFE AND DEATH +XXVI. "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS" +XXVII. SHAD'S TRIBUTE TO THE INDIAN MAIDEN +XXVIII. TROWBRIDGE AND GRAY, TRADERS +XXIX. THE FRUIT OF MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE + + + +THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF + + +I + +SHAD TROWBRIDGE OF BOSTON + +On a foggy morning of early July in the year 1890, the Labrador mail +boat, northward bound from St. Johns, felt her way cautiously into the +mist-enveloped harbour of Fort Pelican and to her anchorage. + +For six days the little steamer had been buffeted by wind and ice and +fog, and when at last her engines ceased to throb and she lay at rest +in harbour, Allen Shadrach Trowbridge of Boston, her only passenger, +felt hugely relieved, for the voyage had been a most unpleasant one, +and here he was to disembark. + +In June, Allen Shadrach Trowbridge--or "Shad" Trowbridge as the +fellows called him, and as we shall call him--had completed his +freshman year in college. When college closed he set sail at once for +Labrador, where he was to spend his summer holiday canoeing and +fishing in the wilderness. + +This was the first extended journey Shad Trowbridge had ever made +quite alone. For many months he had been planning and preparing for +it, and he promised himself it was to be an eventful experience. + +He was standing now at the rail, as the ship anchored, peering eagerly +through the mist at the group of low, whitewashed buildings which +composed Fort Pelican post of the Hudson's Bay Company, and at the dim +outline of dark forest behind--a clean-cut, square-shouldered, +athletic young fellow, who carried his head with the air of one +possessing a fair share of self-esteem and self-reliance, and whose +square jaw suggested wilfulness if not determination. + +The rugged surroundings thrilled him with promise of adventure. The +historic post of the old fur traders, the boundless, mysterious +forest, and the romantic life of the trappers and dusky tribes which +it sheltered, were pregnant with interest. But his wildest dreams +could not have foretold the part Shad Trowbridge was destined to play +in this primordial land and life before he should bid farewell to its +bleak coast. + +"A rough-looking country," remarked the steward, joining Shad at the +rail. + +"It's glorious!" exclaimed Shad enthusiastically. "A real frontier! +And back there is a real wilderness! Just the sort of wilderness I've +dreamed about getting into all my life." + +"The deck of the mail boat's about as near as I want to get to it," +said the steward with a deprecatory shrug. "It's a land o' hard knocks +and short grub. You'd better leave it to the livyeres and Indians, +young man, and go back to God's country with the ship." + +"No, thank you," said Shad. "I'm going to have a rattling good summer +hunting and fishing here before I see the ship again." + +"When we come on our next voyage, a fortnight from now, you'll be +standing out there on the dock looking for us, and mighty glad to see +us," laughed the steward. "You'll have all you want of The Labrador by +then. Shall I put your things ashore?" + +"Yes, if you please--all but the canoe. I'll paddle that over, if +you'll send a man to help me launch it." + +"Pooh!" thought Shad, as the steward left him. "'Hard knocks and short +grub'! Of course there would be some hard knocks, but he expected +that, for he was going to rough it! But with the woods full of game +and fish there'd be plenty to eat! He didn't expect any Pullman-car +jaunt; he could have had that at home. What kind of a fellow did the +steward take him for, anyway?" + +A half-dozen natives on the boat wharf watched Shad curiously as he +paddled to a low stretch of beach adjoining the wharf, and two of them +strolled down to inspect his canoe when he lifted it out of the water +and turned it upon its side at a safe distance above the lapping +waves. + +"Now she's what I calls a rare fine canoe," observed one, a tall, +big-boned, loose-jointed fellow with a straggly red beard, and +picturesquely attired in moleskin trousers tucked into the tops of +sealskin boots, a flannel shirt, a short jacket, and the peakless cap +of the trapper. + +"That she be, Ed, an' a wonderful sight better'n th' bark canoes th' +Injuns uses," agreed the other, a powerful, broad-shouldered, +deep-chested man, who wore a light-cloth adicky, but whose dress was +otherwise similar to that of his companion. + +"She have better lines than th' Injun craft," said the one addressed +as Ed, eyeing the canoe critically. + +"An' she's stancher--a wonderful lot stancher," continued the other. + +"She is a pretty good canoe, and a splendid white-water craft," Shad +remarked, to break the ice of reserve, and to give the two trappers +the opening for conversation for which they were evidently hedging. + +"Aye, sir," said the man in the adicky, "they's no doot o' that. Her +lines be right, sir. She'd be a fine craft in th' rapids, now--a fine +un." + +"Be you comin' far, an' be you goin' back wi' th' ship?" asked Ed, +unable to restrain his curiosity longer. + +"I came from Boston, and if I can get a guide I shall stay for the +summer and take a canoe trip into the country," answered Shad. + +"I'm thinkin' you can get un in th' shop," suggested Ed. + +"Get them in the shop?" asked Shad, in astonishment, not quite certain +whether he was misunderstood, or whether the trapper was making game +of him. Ed's respectful manner, however, quickly satisfied him that +the former was the case. + +"Aye," said Ed. "They keeps a wonderful stock o' things in the shop." + +"I refer to a man," explained Shad. "I wish to employ a man to go into +the country with me to show me about and to assist me." + +"'Tis a pilot you wants!" exclaimed Ed, light breaking upon him. + +"O' course 'tis a pilot!" broke in the other, with an intonation that +suggested scorn of Ed's ignorance. "A pilot an' a guide be th' same +thing. A pilot be a guide, an' a guide be a pilot." + +"I'd like wonderful well t' pilot you myself, sir, but I couldn't do +it nohow," volunteered Ed, in a tone of apology. "You see, I has my +nets out, an' I has t' get in firewood for th' wife, t' last she +through th' winter whilst I be on th' trail trappin'. An Dick here's +fixed th' same. Dick an' me's partners fishin', an' he gives me a hand +gettin' out wood, an' I helps he. This be Dick Blake, sir," continued +Ed, suddenly remembering that there had been no introduction, "an' I +be Ed Matheson." + +"I'm glad to make your acquaintance, gentlemen," Shad acknowledged. +"My name is Trowbridge. Perhaps you may be able to tell me where I can +employ a guide. I would appreciate your assistance." + +"Le'me see," Ed meditated. "Now I'm thinkin' Ungava Bob might go," he +at length suggested. "He were home th' winter, an' they hauled a rare +lot o' wood out wi' th' dogs, an' his father can 'tend th' nets. What +d'you think, Dick?" + +"Aye, Ungava Bob could sure go, whatever," agreed Dick. + +"'Ungava Bob' sounds interesting," said Shad. "How old a man is this +Ungava Bob, and is that his real name, or is 'Ungava' a title?" + +"He's but a lad-eighteen year old comin' September--but a rare likely +lad--good as a man. Aye, good as a man," declared Ed. + +"His real name be Bob Gray," explained Dick, "but we calls him 'Ungava +Bob' for a wonderful cruise he were makin' two year ago comin' +winter." + +"Seventeen years of age, and already so famous as to have won a title! +I'm interested, and I'd like to hear more about him," suggested Shad. + +"An' you wants t' hear," said Ed. "But now we be a-standin' an' +a-keepin' you, when you wants t' see Mr. Forbes." + +"Yes, I wish to see Mr. Forbes, if he is the factor of the post, but +you haven't detained me in the least. I can see him presently," +reassured Shad. + +"Mr. Forbes be wonderful busy till th' ship goes, an' she'll be here +for nigh an hour yet," advised Ed. + +"Very well, I'll not call on him, then, till the ship goes," decided +Shad, "and I'd be glad to hear something of Ungava Bob's travels, in +the meantime." + +"We might step into th' men's kitchen, where there be seats an' we can +talk in comfort," suggested Ed. "This fog be wonderful chillin' +standin' still." + +"That's a good suggestion," agreed Shad. "The fog is cold." And he +followed the two trappers down the long board walk to the men's +kitchen. + + + +II + +THE LURE OF THE WILDERNESS + +"Ungava Bob's father's name be Richard Gray," began Ed, while he cut +tobacco from a black plug and stuffed it into his pipe, when they were +presently seated in the men's kitchen. "Dick's name, here, be Richard, +too, but we calls he 'Dick,' and Richard Gray, Richard,' so's not t' +get un mixed up. You see, if we calls un both 'Dick' or both +'Richard,' we'd never be knowin' who 'twas were meant." + +"I see," said Shad. + +"Well, Richard were havin' a wonderful streak o' bad luck," continued +Ed, striking a match and holding it aloft for the sulphur to burn off, +"wonderful hard luck. His furrin' fails he two years runnin', an' then +th' fishin' fails he, an' his debt wi' th' Company gets so big he's +two year behind, whatever, th' best he does." Ed paused to apply the +match to his pipe. + +"Were you ever noticin', Mr. Toobridge--" + +"Tumbridge," corrected Dick. + +"Be it 'Toobridge' or 'Tumbridge,' sir?" asked Ed, unwilling to accept +Dick's correction. + +"Trowbridge." + +"Leastways Toobridge were nigher right than Tumbridge," declared Ed, +looking disdainfully at Dick. "Were you ever noticin' how bad luck, +when she strikes a man's trail, follows him like a pack o' hungry +wolves? Well, just at th' time I'm speakin' about, Richard's little +maid Emily falls off a ledge an' hurts she so she can't walk. They +tries all th' cures they knows, but 't weren't no good, an' then they +brings Emily here t' Pelican, t' see th' mail-boat doctor when th' +ship comes. + +"Th' mail-boat doctor tells un th' only cure is t' take she t' th' +hospital in St. Johns, an' so they fetches Emily back t' Wolf Bight, +for a trip t' St. Johns takes a wonderful lot o' money, an' Richard +ain't got un. + +"Bob thinks a wonderful lot o' Emily. He be only sixteen then, but a +rare big an' stalwart lad for his years, an' unbeknown t' Richard an' +his ma he goes t' Douglas Campbell, an' says t' Douglas, an' he lets +he work th' Big Hill trail on shares th' winter, he's thinkin' he may +ha' th' luck t' trap a silver fox, an' leastways fur t' pay t' send +Emily t' th' hospital." + +"Who is Douglas Campbell?" asked Shad. + +"Oh, every one knows he, an' a rare old man he be. He comes t' th' Bay +from th' Orkneys nigh forty year ago, workin' as servant for th' +Company, an' then leavin' th' Company t' go trappin'. He done +wonderful well, buyin' traps an' openin' new trails, which he lets out +on shares. Th' Big Hill trail up th' Grand River were a new one. + +"Well, Bob goes in wi' me an' Dick an' Bill Campbell, Douglas's lad, +we workin' connectin' trails, an' he done fine. He starts right in +catchin' martens an' silver foxes--a wonderful lot for a lad--" + +"He only catches one silver, barrin' th' one after he were lost!" +broke in Dick. "Now don't go yarnin', Ed." + +"Leastways, he gets one silver an' a rare lot o' martens an' otters up +t' Christmas, an' a plenty t' send Emily t' th' hospital. + +"Then Micmac John--he were a thievin' half-breed as asks Douglas for +th' Big Hill trail, an' feels a grudge ag'in' Bob because Douglas give +un t' Bob--Micmac goes in an' steals Bob's tent when Bob were up +country after deer. A snow comin' on--'twere wonderful cold--Bob gives +out tryin' t' find his tilt, an' falls down, an' loses his senses. +When he wakes up he's in a Nascaupee Injun tent, th' Injuns comin' on +he where he falls an' takin' he with un. + +"Bob not knowin' th' lingo they speaks, an' they not knowin' his +lingo, an' he not knowin' how far they took he before he wakes up, or +rightly how t' find his tilt, he sticks t' the' Injuns, an' they keeps +workin' north till they comes t' Ungava." + +"A wonderful trip that were! A wonderful trip! No man in th' Bay were +ever t' Ungava before, so we calls he 'Ungava Bob,'" interrupted Dick. + +"Then Bob works 'cross th' nu'th'ard country with huskies," continued +Ed, "an' up th' coast with huskies, until he goes adrift on th' +ice--him an' his two huskies he has with he--an' when they thinks +they's lost, or like t' be lost, they comes on a tradin' vessel froze +in th' ice an' loaded wi' tradin' goods an' furs, an' not e'er a man +aboard she. Bob an' th' huskies sails th' vessel in here, when th' ice +breaks up, an' th' ship goes free. + +"That were just one year ago. Me an' Dick gets out from th' trails th' +day Bob gets home, an' Douglas goin' with us, we sails th' vessel, +which were 'The Maid o' the North,' t' St. Johns, an' Bob gets fifteen +thousand dollars salvage money. A rare lot o' money, sir, that were +for any man t' have, let alone a lad." + +"What happened to the little girl--his sister?" asked Shad. + +"She goes t' th' hospital, an' comes back t' Wolf Bight in September, +cured an' fine. She be a fine little maid, too--a fine little maid," +Ed asserted. + +"What was done to the half-breed Indian--Micmac John, I think you +called him?" + +"Micmac? Oh, he were killed by wolves handy t' th' place th' Injuns +finds Bob. Me, wi' Bill an' Dick, here, goes lookin' for Bob an' finds +Micmac's bones where th' wolves scatters un, an' handy to un is Bob's +flatsled an' thinkin' they's Bob's remains I hauls un out in th' +winter, an' his folks buries un proper for his remains before he gets +out in th' spring." + +"What an experience for a kid!" exclaimed Shad. "He must have had some +rattling adventures?" + +"Aye, that he did," said Ed. "'Twould be a long story t' tell un all, +but there were one, now--" + +"Now don't go yarnin', Ed," interrupted Dick, who had stepped out of +doors and returned at this moment. "Ed never tells un straight, Mr. +Trunbridge." + +"Troobridge," broke in Ed. + +"Trowbridge," volunteered Shad. + +"Mr. Trowbridge," continued Dick. "He makes un a lot worse'n Bob tells +un. Fog's clearin', Ed, an' we better be goin' after we eats dinner." + +"That we had, an' the fog's clearin'," agreed Ed. + +"But how about Ungava Bob? I'd like to meet him. Do you really think I +may be able to engage him to guide me on a two or three weeks' trip?" +asked Shad. + +"Aye," said Ed. "I'm thinkin', now, you might. Bob's not startin' for +th' trails for three weeks, whatever, an' he's bidin' home till he +goes, an' not wonderful busy. I'm thinkin' Bob could go." + +"That settles it," Shad decided. "I'll look him up." + +"You'll be welcome t' a place in our boat," suggested Dick. "'Tis a +two-days' sail, wi' fair wind. They's plenty o' room, an' we can tow +th' canoe. Me an' Ed lives at Porcupine Cove, an' you can paddle th' +canoe over from there t' Wolf Bight in half a day, whatever." + +"Done!" exclaimed Shad. + +With the assurance of Mr. James Forbes, the factor, that the rivers +flowing into the head of the Bay, a hundred miles inland from Fort +Pelican, offered good canoe routes, Shad felt that a kind fate had +indeed directed him to Fort Pelican, and that he had been particularly +fortunate in meeting the two trappers. + +"Bob Gray will be a good man for you if you can engage him, and I +think you can," said Mr. Forbes. "Bob has had some truly remarkable +adventures, and he's an interesting chap. Ed Matheson will probably +relate these adventures to you, properly embellished, if you go up the +Bay with him and Dick Blake. Take Ed's stories, though, with a grain +of salt. He is a good trapper, but he has a vivid imagination." + +Shad accepted Mr. Forbes's invitation to dine in the "big house," as +the factor's residence was called, and when, after dinner, Mr. Forbes +accompanied him to the wharf, the trappers had already stowed his +outfit into their boat, and the two mean were awaiting his arrival. No +time was lost in getting away. Sail was hoisted at once, and with +Shad's canoe in tow the boat turned westward into the narrows that +connect Eskimo Bay with the ocean. + +"Th' wind's shifted t' nu'th'ard, and when we gets through th' narrows +there'll be no fog," Dick prophesied, and his prophecy proved true. +Presently the sky cleared, the sun broke through the mist, the +freshening north wind swept away the last lingering fog bank, and as a +curtain rises upon a scene, so the lifting fog revealed to Shad +Trowbridge the weird, primitive beauty of the rugged northland that he +was entering. + +The atmosphere, so lately clogged with mist, had suddenly become +transparent. To the southward, beyond a broad stretch of gently +heaving waters, rose a range of snow-capped mountains, extending far +to the westward. Reaching up from the nearby northern shore of the +bay, and stretching away over gently rolling hills lay the boundless +evergreen forest. + +Somewhere in the distance a wild goose honked. White-winged gulls +soared gracefully overhead. Now and again a seal rose to gaze for an +inquisitive moment at the passing boat, and once a flock of ducks +settled upon the waters. The air was redolent with the pungent odour +of spruce and balsam fir--the perfume of the forest--and Shad, +lounging contentedly at the bow of the boat, drank in great wholesome +lungfuls of it. + +All this was commonplace to the trappers, and quite unmindful of it Ed +Matheson launched upon tales of stirring wilderness adventures in +which his imagination was unrestrained, save by an occasional +expostulation from Dick. + +The wild region through which they were passing gave proper setting +for Ed's stories, and Shad, a receptive listener, wished that he, too, +might battle with nature as these men did. How tame and uneventful his +own life seemed. Already the subtle lure of the wilderness was +asserting itself. + +Three days after leaving Fort Pelican, Shad and the two trappers +sailed their dory into Porcupine Cove. It was mid-afternoon, and Shad, +impatient to reach Wolf Bight and begin his explorations in company +with Ungava Bob, prepared for immediate departure, after a bountiful +dinner of boiled grouse, bread, and tea in Dick Blake's cabin. + +"Better 'bide wi' me th' evenin'," invited Dick, "an' take an early +start in th' mornin'. Th' wind's veered t' th' nor'-nor'west, an' +she's like t' kick up some chop th' evenin', an' 'tis a full +half-day's cruise t' Wolf Bight, whatever." + +"I can make it all right," insisted Shad. "Bob may not be able to give +me much time, and I want to take advantage of all he can give me." + +"Well, if you must be goin', I'd not hinder you; but," continued Dick, +"keep clost t' shore, until you reaches that p'int yonder, an' then +make th' crossin' for th' south shore, keepin' that blue mountain peak +just off your starboard bow, an' you can't be missin' Wolf Bight. If +th' wind freshens, camp on th' p'int, an' wait for calm t' make th' +crossin' t' th' s'uth'ard shore." + +"Thank you, I'll follow your advice," said Shad. + +"Wait, now," called Ed, who had disappeared into the cabin, and +reappeared with a rope. "I'm thinkin' I'll lash your outfit t' th' +canoe. They's no knowin' what's like t' happen, an' 'tis best t' be +sure, whatever." + +Shad felt truly grateful to the two bronzed trappers as he shook their +hands and said adieu to them. It was only his impatience to plunge +into the deep forests reaching away to the westward, and a growing +curiosity to meet Ungava Bob, that induced him to decline the +sincerely extended hospitality of Blake and Matheson. + +Afternoon was waning into evening when Shad reached the point Dick had +indicated, and the rising breeze was beginning to whip the wave crests +here and there into white foam. + +Dick Blake had advised him to camp here if the wind increased. It had +increased considerably, but Shad had set his heart upon reaching Wolf +Bight that night, and he did not wish to stop. The sun was setting, +but there was to be a full moon, and he would be able to see nearly as +well as by day. The sea, though a little rougher than it had been +during the afternoon, was not, after all, he argued, so bad. + +"I'll make a try for it, anyhow; I know I can make it," said he, after +a little hesitation, and turning his back upon the point he paddled +on. + +Presently, however, he began to regret his decision. With the setting +sun the wind increased perceptibly. The sea grew uncomfortably rough. +Little by little the canoe began to ship water, and with every moment +the situation became more perilous. + +Now, genuinely alarmed, Shad made a vain attempt to turn about, in the +hope that he might gain the lee of the point and effect a landing. But +it was too late. He quickly found that it was quite impossible to stem +the wind, and he had no choice but to continue upon his course. + +With full realization of his desperate position, Shad paddled hard and +paddled for his life. He was a good swimmer, but he knew well that +were his canoe to capsize he could not hope to survive long in these +cold waters. + +The canoe was gradually filling with water, but he dared not release +his paddle to bail the water out. With each big sea that bore down +upon him he held his breath in fear that it would overwhelm him. + +Nearer and nearer the south shore loomed in the moonlight, and with +every muscle strained Shad paddled for it with all his might. If he +could only keep afloat another twenty minutes! + +But he had taken too desperate a chance. His goal was still a full +mile away when a great wave broke over the canoe. Then came another +and another in quick succession, and Shad suddenly found himself cast +into the sea, struggling in the icy waters, hopelessly far from shore. + + + +III + +UNGAVA BOB MAKES A RESCUE + +Twilight was settling into gloom, and the first faint stars were +struggling to show themselves above the distant line of dark fir and +spruce trees that marked the edge of the forest bordering Eskimo Bay. +Dark cloud patches scudding across the sky, now and again obscured the +face of the rising moon. A brisk northwest breeze was blowing, and +though it was mid-July the air had grown chill with the setting of the +sun. + +Ungava Bob, alone in his boat, arose, buttoned his jacket, trimmed +sail, and by force of habit stood with his left hand resting upon the +tiller while he scanned the moonlit waters of the bay before resuming +his seat. + +He was a tall, square-shouldered, well-developed lad of seventeen, +straight and lithe as an Indian, with keen, gray-blue eyes, which +seemed ever alert and observant. Exposure to sun and wind had tanned +his naturally fair skin a rich bronze, and his thick, dark-brown hair, +with a tendency to curl up at the ends, where it fell below his cap, +gave his round, full face an appearance of boyish innocence. + +He was now homeward bound to Wolf Bight from the Hudson's Bay +Company's post on the north shore, where he had purchased a supply of +steel traps and other equipment preparatory to his next winter's +campaign upon the trapping trails of the far interior wilderness; for +Bob Gray, though but seventeen years of age, was already an +experienced hunter and trapper. + +Suddenly, as he looked over the troubled sea, a small black object +rising upon the crest of a wave far to leeward caught his eye. The +small black object was Shad's canoe, and one with less keen vision +might have passed it unnoticed, or seeing it have supposed it belated +debris cast into the bay by the rivers, for the spring floods had +hardly yet fully subsided. But Bob's training as a hunter taught him +to take nothing for granted, and, watching intently for its +reappearance from the trough of the sea, he presently discerned in the +moonlight the faint glint of a paddle. + +"A canoe!" he exclaimed, as he sat down. "An' what, now, be an Injun +doin' out there this time o' night? An' Injuns never crosses where +this un be. I'll see, now, who it is, an' what he's up to, whatever," +and, suiting the action to the resolve, he shifted his course to bear +down upon the stranger. + +The hunter instinctively attributes importance to every sign, sound, +or action that is not in harmony with the usual routine of his world, +and by actual investigation he must needs satisfy himself of its +meaning. This is not idle curiosity, but an instinct born of necessity +and life-long training, and it was this instinct that prompted Ungava +Bob's action in turning from his direct course homeward. + +"'Tis no Injun," he presently said, as with a nearer approach he +observed the stroke. "'Tis too long an' slow a paddle-stroke." + +This puzzled him, for he knew well every white settler of the Bay +within a hundred miles of his home, and he knew, too, that only some +extraordinary mission could have called one of them abroad so late in +the evening, and particularly upon the course this canoe was taking at +a season of the year when all were employed upon their fishing +grounds. + +Gradually he drew down upon the canoe, until at length he could make +out its lines, and observed that it was not a birch bark, the only +sort of canoe in use in the Bay by either Indians or white natives. +The canoeist, too, was a stranger in the region. Of this he had no +doubt, though he could not see his features. + +He was well within hailing distance, though it was evident the +stranger in the canoe had not yet discovered his approach, when a +black cloud passed over the face of the moon, plunging the sea into +darkness, and when the moon again lighted the waters canoe and +canoeist had vanished as by magic. + +Like a flash, realising what had happened, Bob seized a coil of rope, +made one end fast to the stern of his boat, grasped the coil in his +right hand, and, tense and expectant, scanned the sea for the +reappearance of the unfortunate stranger. + +Presently he discovered the submerged canoe directly ahead, and an +instant later saw Shad rise to the surface, strike out for it, and +catch and cling to the gunwale. + +Bob poised himself for the effort, and as he scudded past, measuring +the distance to a nicety, deftly cast the line directly across the +canoe and within the reach of Shad's hand, shouting as he did so: + +"Make un fast!" + +Without looking for the result, he sprang forward, lowered sail, +shipped the oars, pulled the boat about, and Shad, who had caught the +rope, had scarcely time to thrust it under a thwart and secure it +before Bob, drawing alongside, caught him by the collar of his shirt +and hauled him aboard the boat. Seizing the oars again, and pulling +safely free from danger of collision with the canoe, Bob hoisted sail, +brought the boat before the wind, and resuming his seat astern had his +first good look at his thus suddenly acquired passenger. + +Shad, amidships, was engaged in drawing off his outer flannel shirt, +from which he coolly proceeded to wring, as thoroughly as possible, +the excess water, before donning it again. + +Not a word had passed between them, and neither spoke until Shad had +readjusted his shirt, when, by way of opening conversation, Bob +remarked: + +"You'm wet, sir." + +"Naturally," admitted Shad. "I've been in the Bay, and the bay water +is surprisingly wet." + +"Aye," agreed Bob, "'tis that." + +"And surprisingly cold." + +"Aye, 'tis wonderful cold." + +"And I'm profoundly grateful to you for pulling me out of it." + +"'Twere fine I comes up before your canoe founders, or I'm thinkin' +you'd be handy t' drownded by now." + +"A sombre thought, but I guess you're right. A fellow couldn't swim +far or stick it out long in there," said Shad, waving his arm toward +the dark waters. "I'm sure I owe my life to you. It was lucky for me +you saw me." + +"'Tweren't luck, sir; 'twere Providence. 'Twere th' Lord's way o' +takin' care o' you." + +"Well, it was a pretty good way, anyhow. But where did you drop from? +I didn't see you till you threw me that line a few minutes ago." + +"I were passin' t' wind'ard, sir, when I sights you, an' not knowin' +who 'twere, I sails close in till I makes you out as a stranger, an' +then you goes down an' I picks you up." + +"That sounds very simple, but it was a good stunt, just the same, to +get me the line and come around in this chop the way you did, and then +haul me aboard before I knew what you were about--you kept your head +beautifully, and knew what to do--and you only a kid, too!" added +Shad, in surprise, as the moonlight fell full on Bob's face. + +"A--kid?" asked Bob, not quite certain what "kid" might be. + +"Yes--just a youngster--a boy." + +"I'm seventeen," Bob asserted, in a tone which resented the imputation +of extreme youth. "You don't look much older'n that yourself." + +"But I am--much older--I'm eighteen," said Shad, grinning. "My +name's Trowbridge--Shad Trowbridge, from Boston. What is your name? +Let's get acquainted," and Shad extended his hand. + +"I'm Bob Gray, o' Wolf Bight," said Bob, taking Shad's hand. + +"Not Ungava Bob?" exclaimed Shad. + +"Aye, they calls me Ungava Bob here-abouts sometimes." + +"Why, I was on my way to Wolf Bight to see you!" + +"T' see me, sir?" + +"Yes, I came up from Fort Pelican to Porcupine Cove with two trappers +named Blake and Matheson, and they told me about you. They said I +might induce you to take a trip with me." + +"A trip with you, sir?" + +"Yes. I want to take a little canoe and fishing trip into the country, +and Blake and Matheson suggested that you might have two or three +weeks to spare and could go along with me. I'll pay you well for your +services. What do you think of it?" + +"I'm--not just knowin'," Bob hesitated. "I leaves for my trappin' +grounds th' first o' August t' be gone th' winter, an'--I'm thinkin' I +wants t' stay home till I goes--an' my folks'll be wantin' me home." + +"Well, let's not decide now. We'll talk it over to-morrow." + +"You'm cold," said Bob, after a moment's silence, reaching into a +locker under his seat and bringing out a moleskin adicky. "Put un on. +She's fine and warm." + +"Thank you. I'm thoroughly chilled," Shad admitted, gratefully +accepting the adicky and drawing it on over his wet clothing. + +"Pull th' hood up," suggested Bob. "'Twill help warm you." + +"There, that's better; I'll soon be quite comfortable." + +"We don't seem to be making much headway," Shad remarked, observing +the shore after a brief lapse in conversation. + +"No," said Bob, "th' canoe bein' awash 'tis a heavy drag towin' she, +but we'll soon be in th' lee, an' out o' danger o' th' sea smashin' +she ag'in' th' boat, an' then I'll haul she alongside an' bring your +outfit aboard." + +They were slowly approaching the south shore and presently, as Bob had +predicted, ran under the lee of a long point of land, where in calmer +water the canoe was manoeuvred alongside, and Shad's outfit, so +fortunately and securely lashed fast by Ed Matheson, was found intact, +save the paddle which Shad had been using. + +The things were quickly transferred to the boat, and, this +accomplished, Bob bailed the canoe free of water, dropped it astern, +now a light and easy tow, and catching the breeze again in the open, +turned at length into Wolf Bight, where he made a landing on a sandy +beach. + +"That's where I lives," said Bob, indicating a little log cabin, +sharply silhouetted against the moonlit sky, on a gentle rise above +them. + +When the canoe, quite unharmed, was lifted from the water and all made +snug, Shad silently followed up the path and into the door of the +darkened cabin, where Bob lighted a candle, displaying a large square +room, the uncarpeted floor scoured to immaculate whiteness, as were +also the home-made wooden chairs, a chest of drawers, and uncovered +table. + +There were two windows on the south side and one on the north side, +all gracefully draped with snowy muslin. A clock ticked cheerfully on +a rude mantel behind a large box stove. To the left of the door, a +rough stairway led to the attic, and the rear of the room was +curtained off into two compartments, the spotlessly clean curtains of +a pale blue and white checked print, giving a refreshing touch of +colour to the room which, simply as it was furnished, possessed an +atmosphere of restfulness and homely comfort that impressed the +visitor at once as cosy and wholesome. + +"My folks be all abed," explained Bob, as he placed the candle on the +table, "but we'll put a fire on an' boil th' kettle. A drop o' hot +tea'll warm you up after your cold souse." + +"I would appreciate it," said Shad, his teeth chattering. + +"Be that you, Bob?" asked a voice from behind the curtain. + +"Aye, Father," answered Bob, "an' I has a gentleman with me, come t' +visit us." + +"Now that be fine. I'll be gettin' right up," said the voice. + +"Put a fire on, lad, an' set th' kettle over," suggested a woman's +voice, "an' I'll be gettin' a bite t' eat." + +"Please don't leave your bed," pleaded Shad. "It will make me feel +that I am causing a lot of trouble. Bob and I will do very nicely." + +"'Tis no trouble, sir--'tis no trouble at all," the man's voice +assured. + +"Oh, no, sir; 'tis no trouble," echoed the woman's voice. "'Tis too +rare a pleasure t' have a visitor." + +Both spoke in accents of such honest welcome and hospitality that Shad +made no further objection. + +The fire was quickly lighted, and Shad, as the stove began to send out +its genial warmth, had but just removed his borrowed adicky when the +curtain parted and Mr. and Mrs. Gray appeared. + +"Mr. Trowbridge, this be Father and Mother," said Bob; adding as a +second thought, "Mr. Trowbridge lives in Boston." + +"'Tis fine t' see a stranger, sir," welcomed Richard Gray, as he shook +Shad's hand warmly, "an' from Boston, too! I have hearn th' fishermen +o' th' coast tell o' Boston more'n once, but I never were thinkin' +we'd have some one from Boston come t' our house! An' you comes all +th' way from Boston, now?" + +"Yes," admitted Shad, "but I feel sure I'm causing you and Mrs. Gray +no end of inconvenience, coming at this time of night." + +"Oh, no, sir! 'Tis no inconvenience in th' least. We're proud t' have +you," assured Mrs. Gray, taking his hand. "Why, you'm wet, sir!" she +exclaimed, noticing Shad's clinging garments, and her motherly +instinct at once asserted itself. "You must have a change. Bob, lad, +hold th' candle, now, whilst I get some dry clothes." + +"Please don't trouble yourself. I'm very comfortable by the fire; +indeed, I am," Shad protested. + +But Bob nevertheless held the candle while his mother selected a suit +of warm underwear, a pair of woollen socks, a flannel outer shirt, and +a pair of freshly washed white moleskin trousers from the chest of +drawers. + +"These be Bob's clothes, but they'll be a handy fit for you, I'm +thinkin', for Bob an' you be as like in size as two duck's eggs," she +commented, looking the two over for comparison. "Now, Bob, light a +candle an' show Mr. Trowbridge above stairs. When you're changed, sir, +bring your wet things down, an' we'll hang un by th' stove t' dry." + +"You're very kind, Mrs. Gray," said Shad gratefully, turning to follow +Bob. + +In the attic were three bunks spread with downy Hudson's Bay Company +blankets, two stools, and a small table. It contained no other +furniture, but was beautifully clean. There was an open window at +either end, one looking toward the water, the other toward the spruce +forest, and the atmosphere, bearing the perfume of balsam and fir, was +fresh and wholesome. + +"I sleeps here," informed Bob, placing the candle on the table and +indicating one of the bunks, "an' you may have either o' th' other +beds you wants. Now whilst you changes, sir, I'll bring up th' things +from th' boat. Here's a pair o' deerskin moccasins. Put un on," he +added, selecting a new pair from several hanging on a peg. + +Shad made his toilet leisurely, and as he turned to descend the stairs +with his wet garments on his arm he met the appetising odour of frying +fish, which reminded him that he had eaten nothing since mid-day and +was ravenously hungry. + +In the room below he found the table spread with a white cloth. A +plate of bread and a jar of jam were upon it, and at the stove Mrs. +Gray was transferring from frying-pan to platter some deliciously +browned brook trout. Bob, with his father's assistance, had brought up +Shad's belongings from the boat, and Richard was critically examining +Shad's repeating rifle. + +"Let me have un," said he, putting down the gun, and reaching for the +wet garments on Shad's arm proceeded at once to spread them upon a +line behind the stove. + +"Set in an' have a bite, now. You must be wonderful hungry after your +cruise," invited Mrs. Gray. + +"'Tis only trout an' a bit o' bread an' jam an' a drop o' tea," +Richard apologised, as he joined Shad and Bob at the table, "but we +has t' do wi' plain eatin' in this country, an' be content with what +th' Lord sends us." + +"Trout are a real luxury to me," assured Shad. "We are seldom able to +get them at home, and a trout supper is a feast to be remembered." + +"Well, now! Trout a luxury!" exclaimed Richard. "About all we gets t' +eat in th' summer is trout an' salmon, an' we're glad enough when th' +birds flies in th' fall." + +"What birds do you get?" asked Shad. + +"Duck and geese, and there's plenty of partridge in the winter," +explained Richard. + +"An' I were thinkin', now, you might not care for un," said Mrs. Gray. +"I'm wonderful glad you likes un." + +Richard asked the blessing, and then invited Shad to "fall to," and +frequently urged him to take more trout and not to be "afraid of un," +a quite unnecessary warning in view of Shad's long fast and naturally +vigorous appetite. + +"Mr. Trowbridge wants me t' go on a fortnight's trip up th' country +with he," remarked Bob, as they ate. + +"A trip up th' country?" inquired Richard. + +"Yes," said Shad, "a fishing and canoeing trip." + +"But Bob's t' be wonderful busy makin' ready for th' trappin'," +Richard objected. + +"So he tells me," said Shad, "but perhaps if we talk it over to-morrow +you can make some suggestion." + +"Aye," agreed Richard, with evident relief, "we'll talk un over +to-morrow." + +When the meal was finished, Richard devoutly offered thanks, after the +manner of the God-fearing folk of the country. + +The mantel clock struck two as they arose from the table. Dawn was +breaking, for at this season of the year the Labrador nights are +short, and Shad, at the end of his long and eventful day, was quite +content to follow Bob above stairs to his attic bunk. + + + +IV + +AWAY TO THE TRAILS + +Sunshine was streaming through the open south window of the attic when +Shad awoke. Just outside the window a jay was screeching noisily. +Bob's bunk was vacant. It was evident that Shad had slept long and +that the hour was late, and he sprang quickly from his bed and +consulted his watch, but the watch, flooded with water when the canoe +capsized the night before, had stopped. + +He paused for a moment at the open window to look out upon the nearby +forest and expand his lungs with delicious draughts of the fragrant +air. It was a glorious day, and as he left the window to make a hasty +toilet his nerves tingled in eager anticipation, for he was at last at +the threshold of the great Labrador wilderness--his land of dreams and +romance. He was certain it held for him many novel experiences and +perhaps thrilling adventures. And he was not to be disappointed. + +His clothes, which Richard had hung to dry by the stove the night +before, lay on a stool at his bedside, neatly folded. Some one had +placed them there while he slept. He donned them quickly, and +descending to the living-room found the table spread and Mrs. Gray +preparing to set a pot of tea to brew. + +"Good morning, sir," she greeted, adding solicitously: "I hopes you +had a good rest, and feels none the worse for gettin' wet last +evenin'." + +"Good morning," said Shad. "I rested splendidly, thank you, and feel +fine and dandy. Whew!" he exclaimed, glancing at the mantel clock. +"Twelve o'clock!" + +"Aye. We was wonderful careful t' be quiet an' not wake you, sir," she +explained. "'Tis well t' have plenty o' rest after a wettin' in +th' Bay. Dinner's just ready," and going to the open door she called, +"Emily! Emily!" + +A young girl, perhaps twelve years of age, quickly entered in response +to the summons. She was clad in a cool, fresh print frock and wore +deerskin moccasins upon her feet. Her wavy chestnut-brown hair, +gathered with a ribbon, hung down her back; her oval face, lighted by +big blue eyes, was tanned a healthy brown, and Shad thought her a +rather pretty and altogether wholesome looking child, as she paused in +confusion at the threshold upon seeing him. + +"Emily, dear, get Mr. Trowbridge a basin o' water, now; he's wantin' +t' wash up," directed Mrs. Gray. "Mr. Trowbridge, this is our little +maid, Emily." + +"I'm glad to know you, Emily," said Shad courteously. "Have you quite +recovered from your injury? When I was at Fort Pelican I heard all +about you and your trip to St. Johns." + +"I's fine now, thank you, sir," answered Emily, flushing to the roots +of her hair. + +"Yes, Emily's fine an' well now, sir," assured Mrs. Gray, as Emily +turned to fill the basin of water. "But she were wonderful bad after +her fall till she goes t' th' hospital in St. Johns t' be cured. +They's a fresh towel on the peg above th' bench, sir, an' a comb on +th' shelf under th' mirror by th' window," she continued, as Emily +placed a basin of water on a bench by the door. + +"Thank you," acknowledged Shad, turning to complete his toilet. + +"Now, Emily, dear, call Father an' Bob," said Mrs. Gray; "dinner's +sot." And Emily, glad of a respite from the embarrassing presence of +the stranger, ran out, presently to return with her father and Bob. + +When dinner was disposed of, Richard suggested that it was "wonderful +warm so handy t' th' stove," and leaving Mrs. Gray and Emily to clear +the table he conducted Shad and Bob to a convenient seat near the boat +landing, where they could enjoy a cooling breeze from the bay. Here he +drew from his pocket a stick of very black and very strong-looking +tobacco, and holding it toward Shad, asked: + +"Does you smoke, sir?" + +"No, thank you," declined Shad. "I had just learned to smoke when I +entered college, but I was trying for a place on the 'varsity nine, +and I had to drop smoking. A fellow can't play his best ball, you +know, if he smokes. So I quit smoking before I formed the habit." + +"Is that a game like snowshoe racin'!" asked Bob. + +"Oh, no!" and Shad described the game and its tactics minutely, with +thrilling detail of battles that his college nine had won and lost +upon the diamond. + +"Well, Bob," Shad asked finally, "have you decided to go with me for a +trip into the country?" + +"I'm not rightly knowin', sir, where you wants t' go," said Bob. + +Shad stated the object of his journey, and the three talked over the +possibilities of making such a trip as he desired within the time at +Bob's disposal. + +"Countin' on bad weather, 'twouldn't be much of a trip you could make +in a fortnut, and that'd be th' most time Bob could spare, whatever, +with his gettin' ready t' go t' th' trails," Richard finally +explained. "His mother an' me be wantin' he home, too, till he goes, +for 'twill be a long winter for his mother t' have he away without +seein' he. + +"Now you says you has no hurry t' go away. Dick Blake an' Bill +Campbell goes t' th' handiest tilt o' th' Big Hill trail t' help Bob +an' Ed Matheson in with their outfit, an' they starts th' first o' +August. Then they comes back t' take their outfits up an' they has t' +get in before freeze up. + +"You bein' in no hurry, sir, could go with un on th' first trip, an' +come back with un, an' that gives you a fine trip an' a fine view o' +th' country. It takes un a month t' go in, but runnin' back light wi' +th' rapids they makes un in a week, so you gets back th' first week in +September month." + +"'Twould be grand t' have you along, sir!" exclaimed Bob. "An' I were +never thinkin' o' that. Father's wonderful at plannin'." + +"Done!" said Shad. "I'll do it, but I hope you won't find me a +nuisance around here during the three weeks we have to wait." + +"Oh, no, sir! 'Tis a rare treat t' have you visit us, sir!" protested +Richard. + +And thus it was finally decided. + +Bob was very busy during the days that followed. Not only his +provision and clothing supply for a ten months' absence from home was +to be made ready, but also the full equipment for the new trails to be +established. + +The necessary traps had already been purchased, but sheet-iron had to +be fashioned into stoves and stove-pipe to heat the tents and log +tilts, and one new tent was to be made. It was imperative, too, that +each minor necessity that the wilderness itself could not readily +supply, he provided in advance, and that nothing be forgotten or +overlooked. + +The establishment of these trails was an event of high importance in +the Gray household. Bob's little fortune of a few thousand dollars, +derived from the salvage of a trading schooner the previous year, had +been deposited in a St. Johns bank, and his thrifty old friend, +Douglas Campbell, had suggested that it might be invested to advantage +in a small trading venture. + +"Bob can lay his trails this winter," said Douglas, "an' next year +take some tradin' goods in. Knowin' th' Nascaupee an' Mountaineer +Injuns, an' a bit o' their lingo, he'll be able t' do a snug bit o' +tradin' with un, along with his trappin'. An' if you opens a little +store here at th' Bight next summer, th' rest of you can 'tend un when +Bob's inside trappin'. + +"I were thinkin', too," said Douglas, "'twould be fine t' send Emily +t' St. Johns t' school th' winter, an' she'd learn t' keep th' books. +She's a smart lass, an' she'd learn, now, in a winter or two winters, +whatever, an' 'twould pay--an' do th' lass a wonderful lot o' good. +I'm wantin' a trip t' St. Johns, an' I'd take she on th' mail boat." + +There were many long discussions before it was finally decided that +Bob should launch upon the venture. Bob's mother opposed it. The +terrible winter of suspense when Bob, lost in the snow, was given up +for dead, was still a vivid remembrance to her. She recalled those +tedious months of grief as one recalls a horrid nightmare, and she +declared that another such winter, particularly if she were to be +deprived of Emily's society, would be unendurable. + +But her objections were finally overcome. Emily was to go to school +and it was decided Bob should establish two new trails. One of these +he was to hunt himself, the other one Ed Matheson had agreed to hunt +on a profit-sharing basis. Dick Blake and Bill Campbell--a son of +Douglas Campbell--were to occupy adjoining trails, and the four to +work more or less in conjunction with one another. + +Shad and Emily became fast friends at once. On pleasant afternoons she +would lead him away to explore the surrounding woods in search of wild +flowers, and after supper he would tell her fairy tales from Grimm, +but best of all she liked his stories from Greek and Roman mythology. + +She, and the whole family, indeed, listened with rapt attention when +Shad related how Chronos attacked Uranos with a sickle, wounding and +driving Uranos from his throne; how from some of the drops that fell +from Uranos's wounds sprang giants, the forefathers of the wild +Indians; how from still other drops came the swift-footed Furies--the +three Erinnyes--who punished those who did wrong, and were the dread +of the wicked. + +Thus the days passed quickly and pleasantly--even the occasional foggy +or rainy days, when Bob and his father worked indoors, and Bob, at +Emily's request, recounted very modestly his own adventures. Emily +particularly liked to have Bob tell of Ma-ni-ka-wan, an Indian maiden +who nursed him back to health after Sish-e-ta-ku-shin and +Moo-koo-mahn, Manikawan's father and brother, had found him +unconscious in the snow and carried him to their skin wigwam. + +"Th' Nascaupees was rare kind t' me," Bob explained to Shad. "They +made me one o' th' tribe, Sishetakushin calls me his son, an' they +gives me an Indian name meanin' in our talk 'White Brother o' th' +Snow.' They were thinkin' I'd stop with un, an' they were wonderful +sorry when I leaves un t' come home with th' huskies. Manikawan were a +pretty maid--as pretty as ever I see." + +"Were she as pretty as Bessie, now?" asked Emily slyly. + +"Now, Emily, dear, don't go teasin' Bob," warned Mrs. Gray. + +"I were just askin' he," said Emily; "he's so wonderful fond o' +Bessie." + +"O' course he's fond o' Bessie, and so be all of us. Emily's speakin' +o' Bessie Black, sir," Mrs. Gray explained, to Shad. "She's Tom +Black's lass. Tom is th' factor's man over t' th' post, an' th' Blacks +be great friends of ours. Bessie's but a young maid--a year younger'n +Bob. You'll see th' Blacks when you goes over t' th' post with Bob." + +"I'm immensely interested in your Indian friends," said Shad. +"Manikawan was a little brick, and the Nascaupees bully good fellows. +Will there be a chance of my meeting them?" + +"No, they camps on lakes down t' th' n'uth'ard in summer," Bob +explained. "If you was stayin' th' winter, now, you'd see un." + +"I'm almost persuaded to remain on the trails with you all winter, and +see something of the life of real, uncivilised Indians," asserted +Shad. "I would stay if it were not for college." + +"'Twould be fine t' have you, now!" exclaimed Bob enthusiastically. +"But," he added doubtfully, "I'm fearin' you'd find th' winter +wonderful cold, an' th' tilts lonesome places t' stop in, not bein' +used to un." + +"An' your mother would be worryin' about you; now, wouldn't she?" +suggested Mrs. Gray. + +"My mother died when I was a little boy, and Father died two years +ago," said Shad. "I have one sister, but she learned long ago that I +could take care of myself." + +"Is she a little sister?" asked Emily. + +"Oh, no," said Shad, "she's a big, married sister, and has a little +girl of her own nearly as old as you are." + +"'Twould be grand t' have you stay," Bob again suggested. + +"Thank you, and it would be grand to stay, I'm sure, but," said Shad +regretfully, "I can't do it. I must go back to college." + +At length Bob announced one day that his outfit was completed and that +all was in readiness, save a few incidentals to be purchased at the +Hudson's Bay Company's trading post, fifteen miles across the bay. +Shad, too, found it necessary to make some purchases preparatory to +his journey to the interior, and the following morning the two sailed +away in Bob's dory. + +Tom Black, the post servant, welcomed them as they stepped ashore on +the sandy beach below the post, and with him was Bob's old friend, +Douglas Campbell, who stated that he had arrived at the post an hour +earlier. + +"I'm glad you come over, Bob," said he, as the four walked up toward +Black's cabin. "When I comes t' th' post this mornin', I were thinkin' +t' go back t' Kenemish by way of Wolf Bight t' have a talk with you, +but your comin' saves me th' cruise. Set down here, now, a bit, till +dinner's ready. I wants t' hear your plans for th' trails." + +And while Shad was carried off by Tom to meet Mr. McDonald, the +factor, Douglas and Bob seated themselves upon a bench before the +cabin and discussed the proposed new trails. + +"Now, Bob, 'tis this I were wantin' t' say to you, an' I weren't +wantin' t' say it when your mother'd hear, an' set her worryn'," said +Douglas finally. "Don't forget you're goin' where no white trapper was +ever goin' before. You'll have to be a wonderful sight more careful +than on th' Big Hill trail. Last year when I goes on th' Big Hill +trail some Mingen Injuns come t' th' last tilt an' made some trouble, +an' told me they'd never let a white trapper hunt th' country beyond +th' Big Hill trail, an' you plans t' go, Bob. Now, if you works +west'ard of a line from th' last tilt o' th' Big Hill trail an' th' +river, be wonderful careful o' th' Mingens. They's a bad lot of +Injuns." + +"I'll be careful, sir," promised Bob, adding, however, "I'm not +fearin' th' Injuns, though." + +"You never knows what an Injun's goin' t' do," cautioned Douglas. "You +was findin' th' Nascaupees friendly, but th' Mingens is different." + +Presently Tom joined them and invited them to dinner in the crudely +furnished but spotlessly clean living-room of the cabin. Mrs. Black, a +stout, motherly woman, had countless questions to ask of Douglas and +Bob as to how "th' folks t' home" fared, while she and her daughter +Bessie served the meal. + +Shad dined with Mr. McDonald, but directly after dinner joined Bob +while they made their purchases in the shop, and prepared for +immediate departure to Wolf Bight. When all was ready, Bob left Shad +waiting at the boat while he returned to the cabin to say goodbye to +Mrs. Black and Bessie. + +Bessie followed him to the door, and when they were outside where none +could see she drew from beneath her apron a buckskin cartridge pouch, +upon which she had neatly worked in silk the word "BOB" in the centre +of a floral design, doubtless the result of many days' labour. + +"Here, Bob," said she, "I were makin' it for you, an' when you carries +it on th' trail remember we're all thinkin' of you down here, an' +wishin' you luck in th' furrin', an' hopin' you're safe." + +"Oh!--Bessie--'tis--'tis wonderful kind of you--I'll always be +rememberin'," Bob stammered in acceptance, for a moment quite overcome +with surprise and embarrassment. + +"Now take care of yourself, Bob. We'll be missin' you th' +winter--good-bye, Bob." + +"Good-bye, Bessie." + +Bob and Shad quickly hoisted sail, and as they drew away from shore +Bob looked back to see Bessie still standing in the cabin door, waving +her handkerchief to him, and he regretted that he had not shown more +plainly his appreciation of her gift and her thoughtfulness. + +The following Monday was the day set for the departure of the +adventurers, and in accordance with a previous arrangement, late on +Sunday afternoon Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell, Ungava +Bob's trapping companions, joined him and Shad at Wolf Bight, where +they were to spend the night. Bill Campbell was a tall, awkward, +bashful young man of twenty-one, whose chief physical characteristic +was a great shock of curly red hair. + +Monday morning came all too soon. Breakfast was eaten by candle light, +and with the first grey hints of coming dawn the boat and Shad's canoe +were loaded for the start. + +Shad's tent and camping equipment, less heavy and cumbersome than +Bob's, together with a limited supply of provisions for daily use upon +the journey to the plateau, were carried in the canoe. The bulk of the +provisions and the heavier outfit for the trails, made up into easily +portaged packs, were stowed in the boat. This arrangement of the +outfit was made to avoid the necessity of unpacking and repacking at +night camp, and with packs thus always ready for the carry, much time +could be saved. + +The family gathered at the shore to bid the travellers farewell. +First, the boat with Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell at the +oars pulled off into the curtain of heavy morning mist that lay upon +the waters. Then Bob kissed his mother and Emily, pressed his father's +hand, took his place in the canoe with Shad, and a moment later they, +too, were swallowed up by the fog. + +The long journey, to be followed by a winter of hardship and +adventure, was begun, and with heavy hearts the little family upon the +shore turned back to their lowly cabin and weary months of misgiving +and uncertainty. + + + +V + +IN THE FAR WILDERNESS + +Beyond the sheltered bight a good breeze was blowing and presently, as +the sun arose and the mist lifted from the water, Shad and Bob, +keeping close to shore, discovered the boat a half-mile away with +sails hoisted, bowling along at good speed. + +"We'll be makin' rare time, now," said Bob. "We'll be passin' Rabbit +Island in an hour, an' makin' the Traverspine t' boil th' kettle for +dinner." + +"No rapids to-day?" asked Shad. + +"No, th' portage at Muskrat Falls is th' first," answered Bob, adding +uncertainly: "I'm 'feared you'll find th' work on th' river wearisome, +not bein' used t' un--th' portagin' an' trackin'. I finds un hard." + +"That's a part of the game," said Shad. "I expect to do my share of +the work, old man, and I don't think you'll find me a quitter." + +"I were knowin', now, you were that kind, ever since I picks you out +o' th' Bay," exclaimed Bob. "You weren't losin' your head, an' by th' +time I h'ists sail you was wringin' th' water outen your shirt, just +as if 'tweren't nothin'. An', Mr. Trowbridge, I likes you ever since." + +"Thank you, Bob, but if you want me to be your friend drop the handle +from my name and call me 'Shad.' We're on an equal footing from this +on." + +"'Twill be wonderful hard, Mr. Trow--" + +"Shad!" + +"'Twill be wonderful hard t' call you 'Shad '--it sounds kind of +unrespectful, now." + +"Not in the least," laughed Shad. "All the fellows call me Shad." + +"I'll try t' think now t' do it, Mr.--I means Shad. But 'tis a rare +queer name." + +"Shadrach is the full name. It is pretty awful, isn't it? But doting +parents cast it upon me, and I'll have to hold my head up under it." + +"'Tis a Bible name, now. I remembers readin' about Shadrach somewheres +in th' Book o' Daniel." + +The canoe and boat had been gradually drawing together and now, within +speaking distance, Bob called out: + +"I'm thinkin' me an' Shad'll go on t' th' Traverspine or handy t' un, +an' have th' kettle boiled when you comes up. We ought t' make clost +t' th' Traverspine by noon." + +"You an' who?" bawled Dick. + +"Me an' Shad--Mr. Trowbridge." + +"Oh, aye," answered Dick, "'twill save time." + +"Bob's gettin' wonderful unrespectful, callin' Mr. Toobridge 'Shad!'" +remarked Ed. + +"'Tain't 'Toobridge,' Ed!" exclaimed Dick, in disgust. "Can't you +remember, now? 'Tis Towbreg--T-o-w-b-r-e-g. You'll be callin' he wrong +t' his face again." + +"I'm thinkin' you be right this time, Dick," Ed reluctantly admitted. + +The lighter and swifter canoe had already shot ahead and was out of +hearing. Bob's mind filled with plans for the future, Shad enjoying +the wide vista of water and wilderness, they paddled in silence. + +The brilliant sunshine, the low, rocky shores, the spruce-clad hills +rising above, with now and again a breath of the perfumed forest +wafted to them upon the breeze, inspired and exhilarated the young +voyageurs. Shad was conscious of a new sense of freedom and power +taking possession of him. The romance of the situation appealed to his +imagination. Was he not one of an adventurous band of pioneers going +into a vast wilderness, an untamed and unexplored land, to battle with +nature and the elements? + +For several hours they paddled, finally entering the wide river mouth. +Here the first indication of a current was encountered, and the +northern bank was followed closely that they might take advantage of +counter eddies, and thus overcome the retarding effect of the +midstream current. + +"'Twill be noon when th' boat comes, an' we'll stop now t' boil th' +kettle," Bob finally suggested. "Th' Traverspine River is handy by. +She comes into this river just above here a bit." + +"Good!" exclaimed Shad. "I'm nearly famished, and I've been hoping for +the last hour to hear you say that." + +"Paddlin' do make for hunger," admitted Bob, as he stepped ashore on a +sandy beach near the mouth of a rushing brook. "I'm a bit hungry +myself. I'll be puttin' a fire on now, an' you brings up th' things +from th' canoe." + +In an incredibly short time the fire was lighted, and when Shad +brought up a kettle of water from the river Bob had already cut a +stiff pole about five feet in length. The butt end of this he +sharpened, and, jamming it into the ground, inclined it in such manner +that the kettle, which he took from Shad and hung by its bail upon the +other end of the pole, was suspended directly over the blaze. + +Bob, who installed himself as cook, now sliced some fat pork to fry, +while Shad gathered a quantity of large dry sticks which lay +plentifully about and began piling them upon the fire. + +"Oh, don't make such a big fire, now!" exclaimed Bob, when he +discovered what Shad was about. "'Twill be too hot t' cook by. A small +bit o' fire's enough;" and he proceeded to pull out of the blaze the +large wood which Shad had placed upon it. + +[Illustration: Two boys cooking over a campfire.] + +"If there's nothing else for me to do, I'll see if there are any trout +in that brook," said Shad. + +Shad made his first cast in a promising pool a little way from the +fire, and the moment the fly touched the water, "zip!" went the reel. +The result was a fine big trout. Within twenty minutes he had landed +eighteen, and when presently the boat drew up a delicious odour of +frying fish welcomed the three hungry men as they sprang ashore and +made the painter fast. + +"Shad got un," explained Bob, in response to an exclamation of +pleasure from Ed. + +"You means Mr. Towbridge, Bob," corrected Dick, with dignity. + +"No," broke in Shad, "Bob's right. Shad is my front name and I want +you fellows to call me Shad; leave the handle off." + +"An' you wants, sir," agreed Dick. "'Tis a bit more friendly +soundin'." + +"Them trout makes me think," said Ed, as he cut some tobacco from a +plug and filled his pipe after dinner, "of onct I were out huntin' +pa'tridges. I gets plenty o' pa'tridges, but I finds myself wonderful +hungry for trout, when I comes to a pool in a brook where I stops t' +cook my dinner an' sees a big un jump. + +"'Now,' says I, t' myself, 'Ed,' says I, 'you got t' get un somehow,' +an' I goes through my pocket lookin' for tackle. All I finds is a +piece o' salmon twine an' one fishhook. 'I'll try un, whatever,' says +I, an' I cuts a pole an' ties th' salmon twine t' un, an' th' hook t' +th' salmon twine, an,' baitin' th' hook with a bit o' pa'tridge skin, +throws in. + +"Quicker'n a steel trap a trout takes un, but he's a little un, an' +I'm so disgusted-like I don't pull he right in. Then before I knows it +a big trout takes an' swallows th' little un." + +Ed paused to lend effect to the climax, while he lighted his pipe and +began puffing vigorously. + +"Well?" asked Shad. "Did you land him?" + +"Not very prompt," continued Ed. "I was so flustrated I just looks at +un for a bit, skiddin' around in th' water. Then, while I lets un +play, quicker'n I can say 'boo' an old whopper up an' grabs th' big un +an' swallows he. Then I yanks, an' I lands th' three of un. + +"Th' outside un were two foot and a half long an' a fraction over. I +measures he. Th' next one were nineteen an' three-quarters inches +long, an' th' little un were ten inches long. Th' little un an' th' +next weren't hurt much, an' not wantin' they I throws un back, an' th' +big un does me for dinner an' supper an' breakfast th' next mornin', +an' then I throws a big hunk that were left over away, because I don't +want t' pack un any longer." + +"Ed," said Dick solemnly, "you'll be struck dead some day for lyin' +so." + +"Who? Me lyin'?" asked Ed, with assumed indignation. + +"Yes, you. You'm always yarnin', Ed. You never seen a trout moren't +two foot long, no more'n I have," declared Dick. + +"Oh, well," sighed Ed, while the others laughed, "they's no use +tellin' you of happenin's, Dick, you always were a doubtin' o' me." + +The following day at noon the Muskrat Falls were reached, and here the +real work and hardship of the journey began. Day after day the men +were driven to toil with tracking lines up swift currents, more often +than not immersed to their waists in the icy waters of the river, or +for weary miles they staggered over portages with heavy loads upon +their backs. To add to their difficulties a season of rain set in, and +hardly a day passed without its hours of drizzle or downpour. But they +could not permit rain or weather to retard their progress. + +Always between sunrise and sunset they were tormented, too, by myriads +of black flies and mosquitoes, the pests of the North. There was no +protection against the attacks of the insects. The black flies were +particularly vicious; not only was their bite poisonous, but a drop of +blood appeared wherever one of them made a wound, and in consequence +the faces, hands, and wrists of the toiling voyageurs were not alone +constantly swollen, but were coated with a mixture of blood and sweat. + +Shad, less toughened than his companions, suffered more than they. He +was actually made ill for a day or two by the poison thus inoculated +into his system, though with his characteristic determination, he +still insisted, against the protests of the others, upon doing his +full share of the work. Dick advised him, finally, to carry a fat pork +rind in his pocket and to occasionally apply the greasy side of the +rind to his face and hands. This he discovered offered some relief, +though, as he remarked, grease, added to blood and sweat, gave him the +appearance of a painted savage. + +With the evening camp-fire, however, came a respite to the weary +travellers, and recompense for all the hardship and toil of the day. +Here they would relax after supper, and with vast enjoyment smoke and +chat or tell stories of wild adventure. + +Shad contributed tales of college pranks, which never failed to bring +forth uproarious laughter, while his vivid descriptions of battles on +the gridiron or on the diamond, illustrated with diagrams drawn with a +stick upon the ground, and minutely explained, held his hearers in +suspense until the final goal was kicked or the last inning played. + +Dick and Ed described many stirring personal adventures, the latter +embellishing his stories with so many fantastic flights of imagination +that Shad would scarcely have known where fact ended and fiction began +had Dick not made it a point to interject his warnings of the eternal +vengeance that awaited Ed if he did not "have a care of his yamin'." + +One morning during the third week after leaving Wolf Bight, a +beautiful sheet of placid water opened before them in a far-reaching +vista to the northwest. On either side of the narrow lake rose +towering cliffs of granite, their dark faces lighted at intervals by +brooklets tumbling in cascades from the heights above. A loon laughed +weirdly in the distance, and from the hills above a wolf sounded a +dismal howl. It was a scene of rugged, primeval grandeur, and Shad, +taken completely by surprise, caught his breath. + +"'Tis Lake Wanakapow," explained Ed. "There'll be no more trackin' or +portagin'. 'Twill be straight sailin' an' paddlin' from this on. Th' +first tilt o' th' Big Hill trail's handy, an' if th' wind holds fair +we'll reach un by th' end o' th' week, whatever." + +For the first time since their departure the voyageurs were enabled to +don dry clothing, with the assurance that they could remain dry and +comfortable throughout the day. The evenings were becoming frosty and +exhilarating. The black flies and mosquitoes had ceased to annoy. Wild +geese and ducks upon the waters, and flocks of ptarmigans along the +shores, gave promise of an abundance and variety of food. + +With the changed conditions, in marked contrast to the toil and +hardships of the preceding weeks, Shad's desire to remain throughout +the winter grew. The lure of the wilderness had its power upon him. + +The first tilt of the Big Hill trail was reached on Saturday, as Ed +had predicted. Here camp was pitched, the boat finally unloaded, and +preparation made for Dick and Bill to begin their return voyage on +Monday morning. + +When supper was eaten and they were gathered about the evening +camp-fire in blissful relaxation, silently watching the aurora +borealis work its wild wonders in the sky, Shad suddenly asked: + +"Are you certain, Bob, I'd not be a burden to you if I remained here +all winter, You know, I'm a tenderfoot in the woods." + +"Oh, no!" Bob assured enthusiastically. "You'd be no burden! An' when +your feet gets tender you can bide in th' tilt an' rest un." + +"I don't mean that my feet are tender in that way," laughed Shad, "but +I'm a novice in woodcraft and I've never done any trapping. You'd have +to teach me a great deal about these things, and I don't want to stay +if I'll hinder your work in the least." + +"Oh, you'd never be hinderin' th' work! An' you'd be a wonderful lot +o' company, whatever! I hopes you'll stay, Shad!" + +"Thank you, Bob. I'll stay. It will put me back a whole year in +college, but I'll stay anyhow. My experience with you will be worth +the sacrifice of a year in college, I'm sure." + +"Now that be grand!" exclaimed Bob, his face beaming pleasure. + +"An' Shad stays, Ed, he'll give Bob a hand with th' tilts," suggested +Dick. "Can't you go back, now, with me an' Bill, t' help us up with +our outfits? 'Twill be a wonderful hard an' slow pull for just th' two +of us." + +"Be you thinkin', now, you can manage th' tilts?" asked Ed, turning to +Bob. + +"O' course me an' Shad can manage un," assured Bob. + +"I'll go back, then, Dick," consented Ed. "'Twould be hard t' manage +with just two on th' boat." + +Arrangements were made for the three trappers to bring Shad some +adequate winter clothing upon their return, letters were written home, +and at daylight on Monday morning adieus were said. Bob and Shad stood +upon the shore watching the boat bearing their friends away, until it +turned a bend in the river below and was lost to view. + +"We'll not see un again for five weeks," said Bob regretfully, as they +retraced their steps to the embers of the camp-fire over which +breakfast had been cooked. + +"And in the meantime," began Shad gaily, with a sweep of his arm, "we +are monarch, of all--" Suddenly he stopped. His eyes, following the +sweep of his arm, had fallen upon two Indians watching them from the +shadow of the spruce trees beyond their camp. + + + +VI + +OLD FRIENDS + +"Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn!" exclaimed Bob. + +The moment they were recognised the two Indians strode forward, +laughing, and grasped Bob's hand in a manner that left no doubt of +their pleasure at meeting him, while both voiced their feeling in a +torrent of tumultuous words. + +They were tall, lithe, sinewy fellows, clad in buckskin shirt, +tight-fitting buckskin leggings, and moccasins. They wore no hats, but +a band of buckskin, decorated in colours, passing around the forehead, +held in subjection the long black hair, which fell nearly to their +shoulders. In the hollow of his left arm each carried a long, +muzzle-loading trade gun, and Mookoomahn, the younger of the two, also +carried at his back a bow and a quiver of arrows. + +"These be th' Injuns I were tellin' you of," Bob finally introduced, +when an opportunity offered. "Shake hands with un, Shad. This un is +Sishetakushin, an' this un is his son, Mookoomahn. I've been tellin' +they you're my friend." + +In their attitude toward Shad they were dignified and reserved. +Neither could speak English, and Bob, who had a fair mastery of the +Indian tongue, interpreted. + +"We are glad to meet the friend of White Brother of the Snow," said +Sishetakushin, acting as spokesman. "We welcome him to our country. +White Brother of the Snow tells us he will remain for many moons. He +will visit our lodge with White Brother of the Snow and eat our meat. +He will be welcome." + +"I thank you," responded Shad. "'White Brother of the Snow has told me +how kind you were to him when he was in trouble, and it is a great +pleasure to meet you. I will certainly visit your lodge with him and +eat your meat." + +The ceremony of introduction completed, Bob renewed the fire and +brewed a kettle of tea for his visitors. They drank it greedily, and +at a temperature that would have scalded a white man's throat. + +"They's wonderful fond o' tea, and tobacco, too," explained Bob, "an' +they only gets un when they goes t' Ungava onct or twict a year." + +Upon Bob's suggestion that, should they meet Indians, it would prove +an acceptable gift, Shad had purchased at the post and brought with +him a bountiful supply of black plug tobacco, such as the natives +used, and with this hint from Bob he gave each of the Indians a +half-dozen plugs. The swarthy faces and black eyes of the visitors +lighted with pleasure, and from that moment much of the reserve that +they had hitherto maintained toward him vanished. + +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is generous," said +Sishetakushin, in accepting the tobacco. "For four moons we have had +nothing to smoke but dried leaves and the bark of the red willow." + +Each Indian carried at his belt a pipe, the bowl fashioned from soft, +red pipe stone, the stem a hollow spruce stick. Squatting upon their +haunches before the fire, they at once filled their pipes with +tobacco, lighted them with coals from the fire, and blissfully puffed +in silence for several minutes. + +"How are Manikawan and her mother?" Bob presently inquired. + +"The mother is well, but the maiden has grieved long because White +Brother of the Snow never returns," answered Sishetakushin. "She +watches for him when the Spirit of the Wind speaks in the tree-tops. +She watches when the moon is bright and the shadow spirits are abroad. +She watches when the evil spirits of the storm are raging in fury +through the forest. She watches always, and is sad. Young men have +sought her hand to wife, but she has denied them. White Brother of the +Snow will return. He will come again to our lodge, and the maiden will +be joyful." + +Shad was unable to understand a word of this, but Bob's face told him +plainly that something not altogether pleasant to the lad had been +said. + +"I cannot go now," said Bob, speaking in the Indian tongue. "We must +build our lodges and lay our trails. Winter will soon be upon us and +we must have the lodges built before the Frost Spirit freezes the +earth." + +"Sishetakushin's lodge is always open to White Brother of the Snow. It +is pitched upon the shores of the Great Lake, two-days' journey to +the northward. The trail is plain. It lies through two lakes and along +water running to the Great Lake. The maiden is waiting for White +Brother of the Snow. He was made one of our people. He is welcome." + +[Footnote: Lake Michikamau, the Great Lake of the Indians, situated on +the Labrador plateau.] + +The Indians had risen to go, and Bob presented them with a package of +tea, as a parting gift, which they accepted. + +"White Brother of the Snow will come to our lodge soon and bring with +him his friend," said Sishetakushin, in accepting the tea, and he and +Mookoomahn, like shadows, disappeared into the forest. + +"Injuns be queer folk, but they were good friends t' me when I were +needin' friends," said Bob, when the Indians were gone. + + + +VII + +WHERE THE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL + +From the river tilt, as they called it, where their camp was pitched, +the Big Hill trail led to the northwest for fifteen miles, then +fifteen miles to the westward, where it took a sharp turn to the +northward, in which direction it continued for nearly thirty miles, +then again swung to the westward for fifteen miles, where it +terminated on the shores of a small lake. This was the trail +previously hunted by Bob. + +Douglas Campbell had visited the Big Hill trail the preceding winter, +but had not remained to hunt, and it had therefore been unoccupied +during the winter. For the season at hand it had been transferred to +Dick Blake, while Dick's own trail, farther down the river, was to +remain untenanted, and the animals given an opportunity to increase. +Directly below the Big Hill trail and adjoining it was Bill Campbell's +trail. + +Bob had been informed by Mountaineer Indians who camped during a +portion of each summer near the Eskimo Bay post, that by following a +stream flowing into the river a short distance above the river tilt of +the Big Hill trail, and taking a west-northwesterly direction, he +would find a series of lakes running almost parallel with the river, +and lying between the river and the Big Hill trail. + +Tradition said that this stream and series of lakes had at one time +been an Indian portage route around the Great Falls of the Grand +River, but for many years it had been generally avoided by Indians +because of its proximity to the falls, which were supposed to be the +abode of evil spirits, a superstition doubtless arising from the fact +that Indian canoes may have been caught in the current above the falls +and carried to destruction below; and because of the impression and +awful aspect of the falls themselves, whose thunderous roar may be +heard for many miles, echoing through the solitudes. + +From the fact that this region had but rarely been traversed, and had +certainly not been hunted by Indians for many generations, and that +the animals within the considerable territory which it embraced had +therefore been permitted to increase undisturbed by man, Bob argued +that it must of necessity prove a rich trapping ground for the first +who ventured to invade it. It was here, then, that he purposed +establishing his first trapping trail. + +The first step to be taken was to make a survey of the region, and +with a quantity of steel traps, a limited supply of provisions, and +Shad's light tent, the two young adventurers set forward in the canoe +upon their scouting journey within the hour after Sishetakushin and +Mookoomahn had left them. + +A long portage and the ascent of a stream for several miles carried +them that evening to the first of the series of lakes, where Bob's +trained eye soon discovered unquestionable signs of an abundance of +fur-bearing animals, sustaining his hope that the ground would be +found virgin and profitable territory. + +Their camp was pitched by the lake shore. At their back lay the dark +forest, before them spread the shimmering lake, and to the westward a +high hill lifted its barren peak of weather-beaten, storm-scoured +rocks. + +The atmosphere became cool as evening approached, and when supper was +disposed of the fire was renewed, and, weary with their day's work, +they reclined before its genial blaze to watch the sun go down in an +effulgence of glory and colour. + +Neither spoke until the colours were well-nigh faded, and the first +stars twinkled faintly above. + +"The most glorious sunset I ever beheld," remarked Shad finally, +breaking the silence. + +"'Twere fine!" admitted Bob. "We sees un often in here, this time o' +year. They makes me think o' what the Bible says th' holy place in th' +temple was t' be like--'A veil o' blue an' purple an' scarlet.' I'm +wonderin', now, if th' Lard weren't makin' these sunsets just t' show +what th' holy place be like, an' t' keep us from forgettin' un. I'm +wonderin' if 'tisn't a bit o' th' holy place in th' temple o' Heaven, +th' Lard's showin' us in them sunsets." + +"I don't know," said Shad; "I don't remember it. I must confess I +never read my Bible very much." + +"I'll read un to you from my Bible when day comes," promised Bob. + +Presently the aurora borealis flashed up upon the sky with the effect +of a thousand powerful searchlights, the long fingers of light rising +from the northern horizon to the zenith and flashing from east to west +in a maze of every-changing colour--now white--now red--now yellow. It +was a scene not only beautiful, but weird and awe-inspiring. + +"I'm thinkin', now, o' th' northern lights," remarked Bob, when they +had watched them for some time, "that they's flashes o' light from +heaven. I'm thinkin' th' Lard sends un t' give us promise o' th' +glories we'll have when we dies." + +"That is a cheerful thought, at least," admitted Shad. + +"Yes, 'tis cheerin'. Leastways, they always cheers me when I see un," +declared Bob. + +"Whenever I see them after this," said Shad, "I shall remember your +suggestion--that they are the reflected glory of heaven, sent to +inspire the dwellers upon earth." + +As they arose to retire to their tent the dead silence of the +wilderness was startled by the uncanny cry of a loon. Bob stood for a +moment and listened. Then, turning to the tent, he remarked: + +"'Tis a bad sign, when a loon laughs at night like that!" + +"In what way?" asked Shad. + +"'Tis said t' be a warnin' o' danger an' trouble." + +In a series of portages from lake to lake they passed the next day +through six lakes of varying size, caching traps now and again at +convenient points for future use. + +All the afternoon a low, rumbling sound was to be heard. Time and +again they halted to listen. It was a changeless, sullen, muffled +roar. Finally, when they reached the sixth lake, later in the +afternoon, their curiosity got the better of them and they climbed a +barren eminence to investigate. As they neared the summit the roar +increased in volume, and when they reached the top and looked to the +southward they beheld a cloud of vapour. + +"'Tis th' Great Falls o' th' Injuns!" exclaimed Bob. + +"Where the evil spirits dwell?" asked Shad. + +"Aye, where th' evil spirits dwell." Around them lay a rugged scene of +sub-Arctic grandeur. To the eastward the country was dotted with a +network of small lakes similar to those through which they had been +travelling, while to the northward a much larger lake appeared. The +shores of these lakes supported a forest of black spruce, but every +rise of ground was destitute of other growth than the gray caribou +lichen which everywhere carpets the Labrador forest. + +"There's a grand chance t' lay th' trails," said Bob. "We'll be makin' +our trails along th' s'uth'ard lakes an' up t' that big lake, an' Ed's +among th' lakes t' th' n'uth'ard." + +"I'd like to see those falls," suggested Shad. "Can't we take the +morning off to visit them?" + +"An' you wants," agreed Bob. "We'll be buildin' a tilt down where th' +canoe is, an' another on th' first lake, an' I'm thinkin' another on +th' big lake above." + +Accordingly the following morning, leaving their camp pitched and +their canoe on the lake shore, they turned southward upon an exploring +expedition. Their tramp carried them across a series of ridges and +bogs and finally into a forest. With every step the roar increased, +and at length they could plainly feel the earth tremble beneath their +feet. + +Suddenly they emerged from the forest to behold a scene of wild and +sublime grandeur. They stood at the very brink of a mighty chasm. From +far above them the river rushed down, a stupendous torrent of +foam-crested billows and swirling whirlpools, impatient to make its +leap into the depths at their feet where it was presently to be +swallowed up in a bank of mist, which shimmered beneath the two +adventurers like a giant opal lighted by all the colours of the +rainbow. Below the rainbow-coloured mist the river again appeared, +rushing in fearful power past beetling, frowning cliffs, which +directly hid it from view. The very rocks upon which they stood +trembled, and a reverberating roar rose from the canyon at their feet, +so loud that conversation was well-nigh impossible. + +[Footnote: These are the Grand Falls of Labrador. The river falls +three hundred and sixteen feet with a single leap.] + +For half an hour they stood enthralled by the scene, then they turned +up the river, walking along its bank. + +"'Tis an awful place down there," remarked Bob. "I'm not wonderin', +now, th' Injuns thinks 'tis possessed by evil spirits." + +"It is the most sublime scene I ever beheld," declared Shad. "One +glimpse of it is worth all the trouble we've had in getting here." + +The river gradually widened, but always with a strong current, even +above the heavy white rapids, until some five miles above the falls it +expanded into a large island-dotted lake. At the extreme lower end of +this lake the old Indian portage trail was discovered, and following +it the explorers late in the day reached their camp. + +The following weeks were devoted to the erection of tilts--small log +cabins to be used in winter as shelter. One was established well up +the shores of the large lake expansion above the falls, another upon +the shores of the lake from which they had made their excursion to the +falls, and still another upon the first lake above the river tilt of +the Big Hill trail, while to the northward near other lakes four other +tilts were erected, at convenient distances apart, for Ed's use. + +These tilts were all constructed upon the same general plan. They were +on an average about eight by ten feet in size, with a slightly sloping +roof so low in the rear Bob could scarcely stand erect. + +The chinks between the logs were filled with caribou moss. The roof +logs were covered with boughs, over which was spread first a blanket +of moss and then a coating of six inches of earth. Each was provided +with a doorway about four feet in height and two and a half feet wide, +which was fitted with a door constructed of lashed saplings covered +with bark. + +Within, a platform of flat stones was arranged to accommodate the +sheet-iron stove, with a stove-pipe hole through the roof directly +over it. + +Long, springy saplings were utilised in erecting bunks at the rear and +along the side of the tilt opposite the stove. These were later to be +covered with spruce boughs, and would serve both as beds and seats, +and were elevated some eighteen inches above the earth floor. + +"They'll be warm an' snug," said Bob. "When frosty weather an' winter +comes th' snow soon banks un up an' covers un up, roof and all, and +makes un good an' tight." + +"But how do you get air enough to breathe?" asked Shad. + +"Th' stove-pipe hole is made plenty big," explained Bob, "an' that +lets th' bad air out, an' we mostly has a snow tunnel leadin' t' th' +door so th' wind won't strike in, an' leavin' th' door off, th' good +air comes in." + +Nearly four weeks had been consumed in this work, and without waiting +for the reappearance of their friends they began at once the +distribution of supplies among the tilts, for September was nearly +spent and winter would be upon them by mid-October, when ice in the +lakes would render the canoe useless. + +Therefore, with all haste they proceeded with their first canoe-load +of provisions to the farthest tilt, built upon the shores of the lake +expansion above the falls. + +It was mid-forenoon of a beautiful, transparent September day when +they reached the tilt. The supplies were quickly stowed beneath the +bunks, the tent stove erected, and, halting only long enough to make +tea, they launched their canoe for the return. + +"We'll be makin' th' river tilt before we sleeps," said Bob. "They's a +moon, an' we'll finish by moonlight, an' to-morrow we'll be gettin' +out with th' next load. If we travels fast we can make th' river tilt +before midnight, whatever!" + +The portage trail left the river at a point some ten miles below the +tilt, and as previously stated, at the lower end of the lake, where +the current began to gather strength for its final tumultuous rush +toward the falls. + +They had paddled the distance in two hours, and were congratulating +themselves upon their good progress as they turned the canoe toward +the portage landing, when suddenly they were startled by a burst of +wild, bloodcurdling whoops, and a half-dozen strange Indians, guns +levelled, rose upon the shore. + +"Mingens!" exclaimed Bob. + +A warning in the Indian tongue was shouted at them that they must not +attempt to land. A shot was fired over their heads to emphasise the +fact that the savages were in earnest, and with no alternative, and +taken wholly by surprise, Shad at the steersman's paddle astern, swung +the canoe out into the stream, still continuing down the river. + +"Upstream! Upstream! Turn about!" shouted Bob. + +In the excitement and confusion that followed the first few moments +after the attack, much valuable time had been lost in ineffectual +manoeuvres, and when the canoe was finally turned about they were far +out into the stream, and it was found that the insidious current had +caught them. Bob was the first to recognise the danger, and in a +sharp, tense voice he commanded: + +"Quick! Work for your life! If th' rapid gets us, 'twill carry us over +th' falls!" + +Then they paddled--paddled as none had ever paddled before. But +already the powerful current had them in its grip. Slowly--slowly--but +with increasing speed they were drifting toward the awful cataract. + +They would have braved the Indians now, and attempted a landing, but +from a point directly below the portage trail, and extending to the +white water of the heavy rapids the river bank rose in a perpendicular +rampart of smooth-scoured rock, a full ten feet in height, offering no +possible foothold. + +For a little while they hoped, as they worked like madmen. Then the +full import of their position dawned upon them--that they were +hopelessly drifting toward the brink of the awful cataract. + +Beads of cold perspiration broke out upon their foreheads. A sickening +numbness came into their hearts, and as in a dream they heard the +derisive, exultant yells of the savages upon the shore. + + + +VIII + +AFTER THE INDIAN ATTACK + +Below them rose the appalling roar of the hungry rapids and the dull, +thunderous, monotonous undertone of the falls themselves. + +Before their vision a vivid picture passed of the scene they had so +recently beheld--the onrushing, white piled billows above the +cataract, gathering strength for their mighty leap--the final plunge +of the resistless torrent--the bank of rainbow-coloured mist hovering +in space over a dark abyss--and far below and beyond the mist-bank the +murky chasm, where a white seething flood was beating its wild anger +out against jagged rocks in its mad endeavour to fight its way to +freedom between narrow canyon walls rising in frowning cliffs on +either side. + +Impotent to resist the power that was drawing them down, Shad +Trowbridge and Ungava Bob were certain beyond a doubt that presently +they were to be hurled into this awful chasm, and that in all human +probability but a few minutes more of life remained to them. + +Then suddenly there flashed upon Bob's memory the recollection of an +island which he had observed when walking along the river bank from +the falls to the portage trail. + +He remembered that this island was of curious formation, with high +polished cliffs rising on its upper end and on either side, like +bulwarks to guard it from the rushing tide. + +At its lower end a long, low, gravelly point reached downward, like a +pencil point, among the swirling eddies. The gravel which formed this +point, he had remarked at the time, had been deposited by the eddies +created by the meeting of the waters where they rushed together from +either side below the island. + +With the recollection of the island came also a realisation that here +possibly lay a means of escape. A quick estimate of the distance they +had already drifted below the portage trail satisfied him that they +were still perhaps half a mile above the island, and probably not too +far amidstream to enable them to swing in upon it before it was +passed, in which case a landing might be made with comparative ease +upon the gravelly point. + +The canoe, as previously stated, was heading upstream, with Bob in the +bow, Shad in the stern. It was necessary that they turn around and +secure a view of the river in order to avoid possible reefs near the +island shore, and to properly pick an available landing place. + +But to attempt to turn the canoe itself in the swift current would in +all probability result in fatal delay. Therefore, acting upon the +moment's instinct, Bob ceased paddling, arose, and himself quickly +turned, seating himself face to the stern, shouting to Shad as he did +so: + +"Turn! I'll steer!" + +Shad had no doubt Bob had become demented, but without question obeyed +the command. In this position what had previously been the stern of +the canoe now became the bow, Shad Trowbridge the bowman and Ungava +Bob the steersman. + +The moment paddling ceased the canoe shot forward in the current, +heading toward the white waters of the rapids. The manoeuvre had not +been made a moment too soon, for directly before them, a little to the +left, lay the island. + +With a quick, dexterous turn of the paddle Bob swung the canoe toward +the island shore farthest from the mainland and, close under the +cliffs, caught the retarding shore current. A few seconds later the +bow of the little craft ground upon the gravelly point, Shad sprang +ashore, Bob at his heels, and the canoe was drawn after them to +safety. + +For a moment Bob and Shad looked at each other in silence, then Shad +exclaimed simply: "Thank God!" + +"Aye," said Bob reverently, "thank th' Lard. He were watchin' an' +guardin' us when we were thinkin' we was lost. 'Tis th' Lard's way, +Shad." + +"My God, Bob! Look at that!" exclaimed Shad, pointing toward the mad +white waters below them. "If you hadn't thought of this island, Bob, +we'd be in there now--in there--dead! My God, what an escape! And such +a death!" + +Shad sank upon a bowlder, white and trembling. He was no coward, but +he was highly imaginative at times. During the trying period in the +canoe he was cool and brave. He had done his part at the paddle +equally as well as Bob. He would have gone to his death without a +visible tremor. But now the reaction had come, and his imagination ran +riot with his reason. + +"Why, Shad, what's th' matter now?" asked Bob solicitously. "Were th' +strain at th' paddle too much? You looks sick." + +"No--I'm all right--just foolish. I'm afraid you'll think I'm not +game, Bob." + +"Oh, but I knows you is, Shad. I seen you turned over in th' Bay, +Shad--an' I knows you'm wonderful brave." + +"Thank you, Bob. I hope I deserve your opinion." + +"I were terrible scairt first, when I finds th' canoe's slippin' back +toward th' rapid an' I'm seein' no way t' land," said Bob. "Then I +stops bein' scairt an' has a feelin' that I don't care--" + +"Just as I felt," broke in Shad. "A sort of hopeless speculation on +what was going to happen, but not much caring." + +"Aye," continued Bob. "Then I thinks 'twill be sore hard on Mother--my +never goin' home--an' I prays th' Lard t' help us, an' soon's I says +'Amen' I thinks o' this island. 'Twere th' Lard puts un in my head, +Shad." + +"I think," said Shad, "it was your quick wit and resourcefulness, +Bob." + +"No," Bob insisted positively, "'twere th' Lard. An', Shad, we must be +thankin' th' Lard now." + +Then Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge knelt by the side of the boulder, +the former reverently, the latter courteously, while Bob prayed aloud: + +"Dear Lard, Shad and me is wonderful thankful that you p'inted out t' +us th' landin' place on this island, an', Lard, we wants t' thank you. +We knows, Lard, if you hadn't been p'intin' she out t' us, we'd be +dead in th' rapids now, or handy t' un. We'll never be forgettin'. +An', Lard, keep clost t' Shad an' me always. Amen." + +"That," said Shad, when they rose to their feet, "was the most honest, +simple, straightforward prayer I ever heard offered. Thank you, Bob, +for including me. If the Lord hears prayers, Bob, He heard yours, for +it was honest and from the heart and to the point." + +"He hears un, Shad, an' He answers un." There was a note of conviction +in Bob's tone that left no room for doubt. + +"We're here, because we're here, because we're here--" Shad began to +sing. "Bob, I'm feeling all right now, and I guess I've got my nerve +back again. Foolish, wasn't it, to get frightened after it was all +over? Let's see, now, what the prospects are of getting away." + +From an eminence in the centre of the island they surveyed their +surroundings. The mainland lay not more than a short stone's +throwaway, but between it and the island the water ran as swift as a +mill race. Some two hundred yards below the point on which they had +landed the heavy white rapids began, and with but one exception the +perpendicular wall of rock that formed the mainland shore extended to +and beyond the white water. + +This exception occurred about half-way between the island and the +heavy rapids, where for a distance of some six or eight yards frost +action had caused disintegration of the rock, and the wall sloped down +toward the river at an angle of forty-five degrees. + +At the foot of this slope, and on a level with the water, a narrow +platform had been formed by the dislodged portion of the rock. Under +the most favourable conditions exceedingly expert canoemen might +succeed in making a landing here, but it was plain that the foothold +offered was so narrow and so unstable that any attempt to make a +landing upon it would prove perilous and more than likely fatal. + +The island itself was oblong in shape and contained an area of three +or four acres. Its rocky surface sustained a scant growth of gnarled +black spruce and stunted white birch, with here and there patches of +brush. + +From their vantage point no sign of the Indians who had caused their +trouble could be seen, and it was evident they had not descended the +river bank below the portage trail. + +"Well, what do you think of it, Bob?" Shad asked. + +"I'm thinkin' now, th' Injuns are headin' for th' tilt up th' river, +an' that they'll be cleanin' un out an' burnin' un. Th' Injuns t' th' +post tells me they never comes below th' portage. They's afraid o' th' +evil spirits o' th' falls. But they goes back in th' country sometimes +an' circles around by th' Big Hill trail." + +"But what do you think of trying to cross, and make a landing down +there where the rock slopes?" inquired Shad. + +"We'd never make un, Shad," decided Bob. "I knows th' handlin' o' +boats. I'm too uncertain in a canoe, an' so be you, Shad." + +"What are we to do, then? We can't stay here," insisted Shad. + +"I'm not knowin' yet. They'll be some way showin'," promised Bob, "but +we'll have t' think un out first." + +"What was the matter with those Indians, anyway? I thought all the +Indians were friendly to white men," Shad asked, as they turned down +again to the canoe. + +"They's Mingen Injuns," explained Bob. "I were forgettin' t' tell you, +Shad. When we was t' th' post, Douglas Campbell tells me that last +fall some Mingens comes t' th' last tilt o' th' Big Hill trail an' +tells he they'd not let any white trapper hunt above th' Big Hill +trail. They's likely seen our tilt up th' river, an' laid for us. I'm +sorry, now, I were bringin' you here an' not tellin' you, Shad." + +"Oh, don't worry about that, Bob. I'd have come just the same," +assured Shad. "In fact, I'd have been all the more ready to come, with +the prospect of a scrap with Indians in view. If I'd known, though, +I'd have had my eyes open and my rifle ready, and dropped a bullet or +two among them before we got caught in the current." + +"Injuns were never givin' me trouble before, an' I weren't takin' +their threatenin' t' Douglas in earnest, so I forgets all about un +till I sees th' Injuns at th' portage trail," Bob explained. + +"'Twouldn't have done t' kill any of un, Shad. If you had, th' rest +would have laid in th' bushes an' killed us, for they's no knowin' how +many they is of un. Then they'd gone back an' laid for Ed an' Dick an' +Bill an' killed they before they'd be knowin' they was any trouble. + +"Now 'tis more 'n likely th' Injuns is thinkin' we be th' only white +men about, an' when we thinks up a way o' gettin' out o' here we'll +give warnin' t' Ed an' th' others, an' being on th' lookout one of us +can hold off a hull passel o' Injuns, for we has Winchesters, an' all +they has is muzzle-loadin' trade guns." + +"But suppose we don't get off this island before the others come to +look for us? What then?" asked Shad. + +"If they misses us an' goes lookin' for us, they'll be knowin' we're +missin' for some cause. Bill Campbell's been hearin' from his father +what th' Mingens were sayin' last year, an' they'll suspicion 'tis th' +Mingens an' be watchin' for un." + +"But I don't understand yet what objection the Mingens have to our +trapping here. I supposed this was the country of your Nascaupee +friends." + +"'Tis this way," Bob explained. "Th' Nascaupees hunts t' th' +n'uth'ard, th' Bay Mountaineers t' th' east'ard, an' th' Mingens t' +th' s'uth'ard, an' all of un comes in hereabouts t' get deer's meat, +mostly th' Mingens, when deer's scarce t' th' s'uth'ard, an' they +thinks if white trappers is about th' deer'll be drove out." + +"Well, Bob, let's boil the kettle and try to figure out a plan of +escape," suggested Shad. "With the reaction from the morning's +excitement, I'm developing a vast hunger." + +"They's not a mouthful o' grub in th' bag, Shad," Bob announced +sorrowfully, "only a bit o' tea with th' kettle an' our cups. I leaves +un all in th' tilt, thinkin' we'd get back t' th' next tilt an' use +th' grub that's there, an' I just leaves th' bit o' tea in th' bag." + +"No grub!" exclaimed Shad. "Then we've got to try to make a landing +down on that wall. We can't stay here and starve!" + +"An' we can't make th' landin'. 'Twould be sure drownin' t' try." + +"Then it is just a choice between drowning and starving? For my part, +I'd rather drown and have it over with, than starve to death!" + +"Th' Lard weren't showin' us here just t' have us die right off," said +Bob quietly. "He were savin' us because He's wantin us t' live, an' +He'll be thinkin' if we tries t' make th' landin' knowin' we can't +make un, that we're not wantin' t' live. If we takes time now t' plan +un out, th' Lard'll show us how." + +"I wish I had your faith, Bob, but I haven't, and I'm still in favour +of making a try for the shore," insisted Shad. "However, let us make +some tea and argue the matter out later." + +"Aye, we'll boil th' kettle an' talk un over, whatever," agreed Bob, +rising from the rock upon which they had seated themselves, and +turning into the scant growth to collect dry sticks for a fire. + +But instead of collecting the sticks he returned to the canoe, secured +Shad's doublebarrelled shotgun, and a moment later Shad, who was +dipping a kettle of water for their tea and had not noticed the +movement, was startled by the report of the gun. Looking up, he saw +Bob stoop, reach into a clump of bushes, and bring forth a rabbit. + +"Well, I'll be jiggered!" exclaimed Shad, as Bob held his game aloft +for inspection. "I didn't suppose there was hide or hair or feather on +this wind-blasted, forsaken island of desolation!" + +"I sees th' signs," said Bob, "an' then I looks about an' sees th' +rabbit. Where they's one they's like t' be quite a passel of un. They +likely crosses over last winter on th' ice an' th' break-up catches un +here an' they can't get off." + +"That's some relief to the situation. But we've only about a dozen +shells in the canoe," announced Shad, "and when they are gone we'll be +as badly off as ever." + +"We'll not be wastin' shells, now, on rabbits," said Bob. "They's +other ways t' catch un. I uses that shell t' get our dinner. I'll get +th' rabbit ready now whilst you puts a fire on." + +"Very well," agreed Shad, collecting wood for a fire, "and when we've +eaten I hope we can think of some way of escape." + + + +IX + +THE INDIAN MAIDEN AT THE RIVER TILT + +"Well," said Ed Matheson, as the boat rounded a bend in the river, +"there's the river tilt, an' she looks good." + +"That she do," agreed Dick Blake. "I hopes, now, Bob's there an' has a +fire on. I'm wet t' th' last rag." + +"So be I. This snow an' rain comin' mixed always 'pears t' make a +wetter wet 'n just rain alone," observed Ed. + +"Bob's there now," broke in Bill Campbell. "I sees smoke comin' from +th' tilt pipe." + +The voyageurs were returning from Eskimo Bay with their second cargo +of winter supplies for the trails. Five weeks had elapsed since the +morning Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge had watched them disappear +around the river bend, and returning to camp had found Sishetakushin +and Mookoomahn awaiting them at the edge of the forest. + +Since early morning there had been a steady drizzle of snow and rain, +accompanied by a raw, searching, easterly wind, a condition of weather +that renders wilderness travel most disheartening and disagreeable. + +This was, however, the first break in a long series of delightfully +cool, transparent days, characteristic of Labrador during the month of +September, when Nature pauses to take breath and assemble her forces +preparatory to casting upon the land the smothering snows and +withering blasts of a sub-Arctic winter. + +Despite the pleasant weather, the whole journey from Eskimo Bay had +been one of tremendous effort. With but three, instead of five, as on +the previous journey, to transport the boat and carry the loads over +portages, the labour had been proportionately increased. + +It was, then, with a feeling of intense satisfaction and relief that +the voyageurs hailed the end of their journey, with its promised rest, +when they finally ran their boat to the landing below the river tilt +of the Big Hill trail. + +"I'll be tellin' Bob an' Shad we're here now, an' have un help us up +with th' outfit," said Ed Matheson cheerily, stepping ashore and +striding up the trail leading to the clearing a few yards above, in +the centre of which stood the trail. + +But at the edge of the clearing he stopped in open-mouthed amazement. +Before the open door of the tilt stood a tall, comely Indian maiden, +perhaps seventeen years of age. She was clad in fringed buckskin +garments, decorated in coloured designs. Her hair hung in two long +black braids, while around her forehead she wore a band of dark-red +cloth ornamented with intricate beadwork. From her shoulder hung a +quiver of arrows, and resting against the tilt at her side was a long +bow. + +She stood motionless as a statue, striking, picturesque and graceful, +and for a full minute the usually collected and loquacious Ed gazed at +her in speechless surprise. + +"Good evenin'," said he finally, regaining his composure and his power +of speech at the same time. "I weren't expectin' t' find any one here +but Ungava Bob an' Shad Toobridge. Be they in th' tilt?" + +With Ed's words she took a step forward, and in evident excitement +launched upon him a torrent of Indian sentences spoken so rapidly and +with such vehemence that, though he boasted a smattering of the +language, he was unable to comprehend in the least what she was +saying. It was evident, however, she was addressing him upon some +subject of import. + +"There now," he interrupted finally, forgetting even his smattering of +Indian and addressing her in English, "just 'bide there a bit, lass, +whilst I gets Dick Blake. He knows your lingo better'n me. I'll send +he up." + +And, hurrying down the trail, he called: + +"Dick, come up here. They's a Injun lass at th' tilt, firin' a lot o' +lingo at me I can't fathom." + +"A Injun lass!" exclaimed Dick. "What's she doin' there, now? An' +where's Bob an' Shad?" + +"Yes, a Injun lass," said Ed impatiently, "an' what she's doin' you'll +have t' find out. It seems like she's achin' t' tell somethin'. I'm +not seein' Bob an' Shad." + +"They must be somethin' wrong, Ed. Come down an' help Bill get th' +cargo ashore, an' I'll find out what 'tis;" and Dick hurried up the +trail past Ed, to meet Manikawan, for she it was. + +She was still standing where Ed had left her, and Dick asked kindly in +Indian: + +"What message does the maiden bring to her white brothers?" + +"Listen!" she commanded, in a clear, musical voice. "I am Manikawan, +the daughter of Sishetakushin, whose lodge is pitched on the shores of +the Great Lake, to the north. Yesterday some men of the South visited +the lodge of my father." + +"Mingens!" exclaimed Dick. + +"They told him," she continued, not heeding the interruption, "that +five suns back they had found a lodge built where the big river +broadens. The lodge was newly made. It was a white man's lodge, for it +was built of trees. The men of the South waited in hiding at the end +of the portage that was once used by my people. It is above the place +where evil spirits dwell." + +"How many of the men of the South were there?" asked Dick, again +interrupting. + +"Six," she answered promptly. "While they waited two white men passed +with a painted canoe and much provisions. Then, while they still +waited, the white men returned with the canoe empty. + +"They fired their guns at the white men. Then the evil spirits that +dwell where the river falls reached up for the canoe and dragged it +down to the place of thunder. + +"I have come to tell you this, and to ask if White Brother of the Snow +and his friend are here. All night and all day have I travelled, for I +am afraid for White Brother of the Snow. He has lived in the lodge of +Sishetakushin, my father. He is one of my people, and I am afraid for +him." + +Her rapid speech, her dramatic pose and gestures, and her intensely +earnest manner left no doubt in Dick Blake's mind that she spoke the +truth. Neither had he any doubt that she referred to Ungava Bob and +Shad Trowbridge as the two white men, for no other white men were in +the region, or, he was sure, within several hundred miles of the +place, at the time to which she referred. + +"No," said he, after a moment's pause, "White Brother of the Snow and +his friend are not with us." + +"They are not here!" she wailed, lifting her arms in a gesture of +despair. "Where is he? Tell me! It was not White Brother of the Snow +sent to the torment of evil spirits?" + +"I'm afraid, Manikawan, it was. There were no other white men here +than White Brother of the Snow and his friend." + +Manikawan's hands dropped at her side, and for an instant she stood, a +picture of mingled horror and grief. But it was for only an instant. +Then her face grew hard and vengeful, and in low, even tones she said: + +"These men of the South killed White Brother of the Snow. They are no +longer of my people. They must die." + +"They must die," echoed Dick. + +"Come!" she said laconically, reaching for her bow and slinging it on +her back. + +"No, we will rest to-night, and to-morrow at dawn we will go. Rest +to-night and be strong for the chase to-morrow," Dick counselled, +kindly, as she turned toward the portage trail leading around the +rapids. + +"I cannot rest," she answered. "I go now;" and like a shadow, and as +silently, she melted into the darkening forest. + +Big Dick Blake's heart was full of vengeance, as he strode down the +trail to rejoin his companions. + +"What speech were th' Injun maid tryin' t' get rid of, now?" asked Ed +Matheson, pausing in his work of unloading the canoe as Dick appeared. + +"Bob an' Shad's dead!" announced Dick bluntly. + +"Dead! Dead!" echoed Ed and Bill together. + +"Aye, dead. Drove over th' falls by Mingen Injuns," continued Dick. +"Five or six days ago, she's sayin'. They's six o' them Injuns down +north o' here, huntin' deer, an' their camp's up th' river somewheres. +I'm not knowin' rightly where, but we'll find un, an' we'll shoot them +Injuns just like a passel o' wolves. If we don't, they'll sure be +layin' for us an' shoot us." + +"Be you sure, now, th' lads is dead?" insisted Ed. + +"They's no doubtin' it. She tells th' story straight an' clean as a +rifle shot;" and Dick went on to repeat in detail the story he had +heard from Manikawan. + +"It looks bad, now, whatever," commented Ed. "But they's a chanct they +gets a ashore. I were caught onct in th' rapids above Muskrat Falls, +an' thinks it all up with me--right in th' middle o' th' rapids, +too--an'--" + +"Ed," broke in Dick, with vast impatience, "this be no time for +yamin'. You knows you never could be gettin' out o' them rapids an' +not goin' over th' falls. An' these rapids is a wonderful sight +worse." + +"Maybe they be," admitted Ed. "Th' poor lad, now, bein' killed in that +way. Dick," he continued, raising his tall, awkward figure to its full +height and placing his hand on Dick's shoulder, "me an' you's stood by +one 'nother for a good many years, an' in all sorts o' hard places, +an' if it's fight Injuns with you now, Dick, it's fight un, an' Bill's +with us." + +"Aye," said Bill, "that I am." + +The boat was unloaded, and with heavy hearts the men prepared and ate +their evening meal. Then while they smoked their pipes, light packs +were put up and all was made snug for an early start the following +morning. + +With the first blink of dawn the three determined men, armed with +their rifles, swung out into the forest, and rapidly but cautiously +filed up the old portage trail in the direction Manikawan had taken. + + + +X + +THE VOICES OF THE SPIRITS + +Heedless of drizzling rain and snow, of driving wind and gathering +darkness, Manikawan ran forward on the trail. Hatred was in her heart. +Vengeance was crying to her. Every subtle, cunning instinct of her +savage race was aroused in her bosom. + +She was determined that those who had sent her beloved White Brother +of the Snow to destruction in the deadly place of evil spirits must +die. How she should compass their death she did not yet know; this was +a detail for circumstance to decide, but it must be done. White +Brother of the Snow was of her tribe; the law of her savage nature +told her his death must be avenged. + +At the end of a mile or so she left the trail and turned sharply to +the northward, winding her way deftly through moisture-laden +underbrush which scarcely seemed to lessen her pace. Presently she +broke out upon the shores of a lake and behind some willow bushes +uncovered a small birch-bark canoe, which she had carefully concealed +there on her journey to the river tilt. + +Turning the canoe over her head, with the middle thwart resting upon +her shoulders, she took a southwesterly direction until the old +portage trail was again encountered, and resuming the trail she at +length came upon the first lake of the chain through which the portage +route passed. + +The storm had ceased, and the stars were breaking through the clouds +as Manikawan launched her canoe. It was a long, narrow lake, and +paddling its length she had no difficulty in locating the place where +the stream entered; and not far away a blazed tree, now plainly +visible in the light of the rising moon, told her where the trail led +out. + +Here, as she stepped ashore, she discovered the first of the series of +tilts which Bob and Shad had built, and, immediately pushing aside the +flimsy bark door, entered the tilt and struck a match. Its flare +disclosed a half-burned candle on a shelf near the door, and lighting +it she held it aloft for a survey of the interior of the tilt. + +On the bunk at the side were two or three bags evidently containing +clothing and other supplies, while on the bunk in the rear were some +odds and ends of clothing, a folded tent, a coil of rope, doubtless +used by the young adventurers as a tracking line, to assist them in +hauling their canoe up the swift stream which connected the lake with +the river below, and a rifle in a sealskin case. + +On beholding this last object, Manikawan gave a low exclamation of +pleasure. Taking a chip from the floor she bent the candle over it, +permitting some of the hot grease to flow upon it, and setting the +candle firmly in the grease placed the improvised candlestick upon the +tent stove. + +Then, reaching for the rifle, she drew it from the case and examined +it critically. The magazine proved to be fully charged. Returning the +rifle to its case, she now examined the other contents of the tilt, +and presently came upon a quantity of cartridges in one of the bags. + +Several of these she appropriated, and dropping them into a leathern +pouch at her belt, restored the remaining contents of the tilt to the +position in which she had found them. Then taking the rifle in its +case, she blew out the candle, and passed out of the tilt, carefully +closing the door behind her. + +The moon was now sufficiently risen to light the trail, and the blazes +which Ungava Bob had made were so clear that Manikawan's progress was +rapid. + +Spectral shadows lay all about her, flitting here and there across her +trail as she sped onward and onward through the dark forests that +intervened between the lakes. In the distance she heard the voices of +the evil spirits so dreaded by her people, speaking in dull, +monotonous undertones, like ceaseless, rolling thunder far away, +threatening destruction and death to all who fell within their reach. +Even to her, whose home was the wilderness, the situation was weird +and uncanny. + +At length she passed another tilt near the end of a lake, but she did +not pause to enter it. A little beyond the tilt the trail crossed a +rise of ground, and upon reaching the summit she beheld in the +distance a long, wide, silvery streak glistening in the moonlight. It +was the river, and with a sense of relief she lowered the canoe from +her shoulders and concealed it carefully amongst the underbrush. + +She glanced at the stars and calculated the time until dawn. The +region into which she had come was wholly unfamiliar to her, and she +must have daylight to reconnoitre and locate the camp of her enemies. + +There was still ample time for rest, for this was the season of +lengthening nights and shortening days, and Manikawan was in much need +of rest and food. For nearly thirty-six hours she had been exerting +herself to the utmost of her strength. At the river tilt she had made +a fire in the stove and brewed herself some tea, but she had eaten +nothing. Now, with the moment's relaxation, a feeling of great fatigue +came upon her, and for the first time she realised the length of her +fast and the extent of her weariness. + +Slowly she retraced her steps to the tilt which she had passed on the +lake shore a little way back. Entering it she struck a match and +lighted a candle, as she had done at the other tilt, and with its +assistance found the flour, pork, and tea, together with a frying pan +and kettle which Ungava Bob had left there the day that he and Shad +Trowbridge were attacked by the Indians. + +She went to the lake for a kettle of water, and returning gathered a +handful of birch bark. Using the bark for tinder and appropriating +wood which she found split and neatly piled near the stove for ready +use, she lighted a fire in the stove, and set the kettle on to heat +for tea. This done she cut several thick slices of fat pork, which she +fried in the pan, and mixing a quantity of flour and water into dough, +browned the dough in the pork grease. + +It was with a keen appetite that she sat down to her long-deferred +banquet; and with vast relief she drank the tea and ate the pork and +dough cake. Then, wearied to the last degree, she fell back upon one +of the bunks, the rifle by her side; and with the distant rumble of +the falls in her ears, fell immediately asleep. + +It was broad day when Manikawan opened her eyes. She seized the +kettle, and hastening to the lake laved her face and head in the +cooling water. Then, from a buckskin pouch at her belt, she drew a +neat birch-bark case, decorated with porcupine quills, and from the +case a rudely fashioned comb, from which dangled by a buckskin thong a +tuft of porcupine tail. The lake was her mirror, as she smoothed and +rebraided her hair. This done, she ran the comb several times through +the tuft of porcupine tail before returning it to its case. + +Her simple toilet completed, Manikawan mounted a high pinnacle of rock +and for several minutes stood silently contemplating the rising sun. +The eastern sky was ablaze with red and purple and orange, and she +beheld the glory of the scene with deep reverence. + +Upon her pinnacle of rock she felt herself in the presence of the +Mysterious Power which governed her destiny and the world in which she +lived, and after the manner of her fathers she besought that +Mysterious Presence in unspoken words, to make her pure and noble and +generous; to make her worthy to stand in its Presence--worthy to live +in the beautiful world which surrounded her. + +But Manikawan was not a Christian. She knew nothing of the white man's +God or of Christ's lessons of forgiveness, and she descended from the +rock morally strengthened, perhaps, in her savage way, but no less +determined to wreak vengeance upon those whom she deemed her enemies. + +While she slept she had heard constantly the voice of the evil spirits +of the falls, and the spirits themselves had come to her in a dream, +and whispering in her ear had urged her on to vengeance, and promised +her immunity from their wrath. Manikawan, like all her people, was +superstitious in the extreme. She believed absolutely in the +supernatural, and her faith in dreams was unwavering. + +The sun was hour high when she set forth again upon her mission. +Mounting the semi-barren ridge where she had hidden her canoe, she +crouched low behind the bushes, and catlike and noiselessly descended +to the forest on the other side. Here under cover of the trees she +proceeded more rapidly to the end of the portage trail. + +Peering out from her cover, she first studied every foot of the river +and surrounding country that lay within the range of her vision; then +moving silently forward she removed the rifle, which she still +carried, from its sealskin case and laid the case on the ground behind +a boulder and the weapon upon it, where it would be completely hidden +from view, but still available for instant use. + +This arranged to her satisfaction, she crossed the trail, and gliding +as noiselessly as a shadow through the trees, ascended the river bank +to reconnoitre for the Mingen camp. The Indians that visited her +father's lodge had said that they were encamped near the river, and +not far above the portage trail. + + + +XI + +MANIKAWAN'S VENGEANCE + +Therefore, Manikawan in her quest advanced cautiously, at the same +time making, as she advanced, a thorough study of the ground. + +She had travelled perhaps two miles, when she discovered a thin curl +of smoke rising over the trees a short distance in advance, and +dropping upon her hands and knees she crawled stealthily forward until +from behind a clump of willow bushes she was afforded a clear view of +the fire and its surroundings. + +A deerskin wigwam stood in a clearing, and near the smouldered embers +of a fire two Indians were engaged in making snowshoe frames; but, so +far as she could see, they were the only inhabitants of the camp. It +was evident that the remainder of the party were absent, probably +hunting caribou in the North. + +As noiselessly as she had approached, Manikawan now retreated to a +safe distance. With a full understanding of the conditions, she had +quickly and cunningly formulated her plans, and when well out of view +she arose to her feet and boldly approached the camp. + +The Indians, with no sign of alarm or surprise, and not deigning +either recognition or greeting, continued at their task, quite +ignoring her presence as she approached. For a moment Manikawan stood +before them in silence; then she spoke: + +"I am Manikawan, the daughter of Sishetakushin, whose lodge the men of +the South have visited. Manikawan has come to do honour to the men of +the South. While they talked with Sishetakushin, her father, she heard +how bravely they have guarded the hunting grounds of her people and +theirs. They are brave men and she has come to do them honour. + +"She heard how they drove the two white invaders of our country into +the arms of the evil spirits, whose thunderous voices she hears even +now. It was well. White men have come into our land and have made the +spirits angry. When the spirits are made angry they drive away the +caribou. Then the people of the South and Sishetakushin's people are +hungry. The white men have built lodges of trees near the potagan +(portage) of our fathers. They stored these lodges with much tea and +tobacco, flour and pork. Without these things the white man cannot +live, for he is not like our people. + +"Other white men are coming to our country. If these stores are left +in the lodges near the potagan of our fathers, the white men will +stay. If they do not have these things, they will go away, for without +them they will be hungry. + +"The men of Sishetakushin's people and the men of the South cannot +remove them, for the evil spirits dwell there, and would do them harm. + +"But Manikawan is a maiden. The evil spirits will not harm her. She is +too humble for their notice. Manikawan has gone to the lodges of the +white men and has removed the things from the lodges, so that the +white men will not find them when they come. + +"The men of the South are brave. They have sent two of the white men +into the arms of the evil spirits. They must be rewarded. + +"Manikawan has carried much tobacco and tea and other stores to the +place where the potagan reaches up from the river. These things are +for the men of the South. Let them bring their canoe. Manikawan will +show them the things and they will take them." + +The Indians did not deign to reply at once, but presently one of them +said: + +"Let Manikawan bring the things to the lodge of the men of the South. +She is a maiden, and it is a maiden's work. It is not the work of a +hunter." + +"Manikawan is not of the lodge of the men of the South, and she will +not do this. She will wait at the place where the potagan rises from +the river until the sun is there;" and Manikawan pointed to the +zenith. "If the men of the South do not come, she will go, for she +will believe the men of the South do not need tea and tobacco." + +"Let the maiden return to the place where the potagan rises from the +river. Let her wait there. The men of the South will come," said the +spokesman. + +Manikawan turned away, down the river bank, by the route she had +ascended. Her progress was dignified and unhurried so long as she +might still be seen by the Indians, but was quickly changed to a run +the moment she was beyond their view. + +Glibly she had lied to them and her conscience was not troubled. She +was not a Christian. The savage teaching upheld subterfuge in dealing +with the enemy, and she deemed these Indians her enemies, for had they +not destroyed White Brother of the Snow? And was he not of her people +by adoption. + +Immediately Manikawan arrived at the portage trail she looked sharply +about to make certain she was not observed. Then she examined the +rifle behind the bowlder, and, quite satisfied with her inspection, +returned it to its resting place and waited. + +She knew that the two Indians, with due attention to their dignity, +would make no haste in their coming, and would doubtless keep her +waiting until the noonday hour which she had designated, but +nevertheless her lookout up the river was never for a moment +relinquished. She watched as a cat watches a hole--from which it +expects the mouse to emerge--ready to pounce upon the unwary prey. + +At last she was rewarded. A birch-bark canoe containing the two +Indians came leisurely gliding down the river some hundred yards from +shore. Manikawan, like a beautiful statue, stood tall and straight at +the end of the portage trail. Two paces from her the rifle lay behind +the bowlder. + +The Indians, unsuspecting, turned the prow of the canoe toward the +shore where she stood. Still she did not move. The cat waits for its +victim until the victim beyond peradventure is within reach of its +spring. Nearer and nearer drew the canoe. Still Manikawan stood, a +graven image. She was looking out and beyond her intended victims. The +roar of the distant rapids, and the monotonous, thunderous undertone +of the falls were in her ears, and they came to her as beautiful +music. The canoe was now but a hundred feet from shore. + +Suddenly, Manikawan sprang, and the astonished Indians beheld the +statue with a menacing rifle at its shoulder. Then came a flash and a +report. The Indians ducked, and the blade of the steersman's paddle, +poised in mid-air, was shattered by a bullet. + +Manikawan spoke, her voice ringing out in clear, even tones: + +"The men of the South sent White Brother of the Snow and his friend +into the arms of the evil spirits. White Brother of the Snow was of +Manikawan's people. The men of the South are the enemies of +Manikawan's people. They are cowards and they must die." + +The Indian at the bow paddled desperately away from shore and the +menacing rifle. The Indian at the stern made equally desperate but +ineffectual attempts with his broken paddle. + +Another shot rang out, and the bowman ducked, and ceased paddling as a +bullet sang past his head. Immediately the canoe began drifting, and a +moment later the strengthening current caught it. + +Then the Indians, alive to this new danger, disregarding bullets, rose +to their feet and paddled desperately, the one in the stern seeming +not to know that the broken stick he held was useless. They knew that +the evil spirits had reached up for their canoe and were drawing them +down--down--to something worse than death. Their faces became drawn +and terror-stricken. + +Faintly, and as a voice far away and unreal, they heard Manikawan's +taunts as she ran down the high banks of the river, keeping pace with +the doomed canoe and its occupants going headlong to destruction: + +"The men of the South are cowards. They are afraid to die. The evil +spirits are hungry, and soon they will be fed. Their voices are loud. +They are crying with hunger. The men of the South will feed them." + + + +XII + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE RAPIDS + +The two adventurers marooned on the island ate their first meal of +rabbit, grilled over the coals, with keen relish, though they had +neither salt to season it nor bread to accompany it. + +"It might be worse," remarked Shad, when the meal was finished. +"Rabbit is good, and," he continued, lolling back lazily and +contentedly before the fire, "there's always some bright spot to light +the darkest cloud--we've no dishes to wash. A rinse of the tea pail, a +rinse of our cups, and, presto! the thing's done. I detest +dish-washing." + +"Aye," admitted Bob, "dish-washin' is a putterin' job." + +"Yes, that's it; a puttering job," resumed Shad. "But now let's come +to the important question of the day. Continued banqueting upon +rabbit, I've been told, becomes monotonous, and under any conditions +imprisonment is sure to become monotonous sooner or later. I have a +hunch it will be sooner in our case. I'm beginning to chafe under +bonds already. What are we going to do about it?" + +"I'm not knowin' so soon," confessed Bob, "but I'm thinkin' before +this day week Dick an' Ed an' Bill will be huntin' around for us, an' +they's like t' find us, an' when they does they'll be findin' a way t' +help us. They might build up th' place down there with stones, so's t' +make a footin' t' land on, an' then 'twill be easy goin' ashore." + +"But suppose they don't come around this way and don't find us?" + +"Then I'm thinkin' we'll be bidin' here till ice forms." + +"Till ice forms! And when will that be?" + +"An' she comes on frosty, ice'll begin formin' th' middle of October +on th' banks. But th' current's wonderful strong, an' I'll not be +expectin' ice t' cross on till New Year, whatever." + +"January first! October! November! December! Three months on this +god-forsaken bit of rock! Great Jehoshaphat, man! That'll be an +eternity! We can't endure it!" + +"I'm not thinkin' we'll have to. I'm thinkin' they'll find us in a +fortni't, whatever," reassured Bob, rising and picking up the axe. +"We'll be needin' a shelter, an' I'm thinkin' I'll build un now." + +"And we have no blankets with us!" exclaimed Shad. "Oh, we're going to +have a swell time!" + +"We'll be fair snug with a shelter, now. I'll be cuttin' th' sticks, +an' you breaks boughs." + +"All right, Bob, I'll get the boughs," agreed Shad, languidly rising, +and as he went to his task singing: + + "'Old Noah, he did build an ark, + He made it out of hick'ry bark. + + "'If you belong to Gideon's band, + Why here's my heart, and here's my hand, + Looking for a home. + + "'He drove the animiles in two by two, + The elephant and the kangaroo. + + "'And then he nailed the hatches down, + And told outsiders they might drown. + + "'And when he found he had no sail, + He just ran up his own coat tail. + + "'If you belong to Gideon's band, + Why here's my heart, and here's my hand, + Looking for a home.'" + +A full stomach sometimes wholly changes one's outlook upon the world. +Shad was beginning now to view his adventure from a whimsical +standpoint, a result induced partially by his dinner, largely by Bob's +philosophical attitude. + +It was not anticipated the shelter would be required for long, and a +comfortable lean-to under the lee of the hill, with back and ends +enclosed, and closely thatched with boughs and moss, was considered +sufficient. A thick, springy bed of spruce boughs was then arranged, +and the temporary home was completed. + +Then Bob proceeded to set deadfalls, utilising flat stones and raising +them on a figure 4, which he baited with tender birch boughs. Several +rabbits were started in the course of the afternoon, giving assurance +that the deadfalls would yield sufficient food for their needs, though +no results could be expected from them until the following morning. + +"Now for supper, Shad, we'll have t' be usin' some shells," he +announced. "Supposin' you tries un. I were goin' t' make a bow an' +arrows t' save th' shells, but they's nothin' t' feather th' arrows +with, an' no string that'd be strong enough for th' bow." + +"All right," agreed Shad. "I'll get them;" and within half an hour he +returned with a bag of two fat young rabbits. + +Their fire was built before the lean-to, and a very small blaze was +found sufficient to heat it to a cosy warmth. Here they sat and ate +their grilled rabbit and drank their tea, quite as comfortably as they +would have done in their tent or tilt, though during the night one or +the other found it necessary to rise several times to renew the fire. + +Bivouacking in this manner was more or less of an ordinary +circumstance in Ungava Bob's life. He looked upon it as the sort of +thing to be expected, and as a matter of course. He felt indeed that +they were very fortunately situated, and for the present he had small +doubt that their imprisonment would prove but a temporary +inconvenience. + +The deadfalls yielded them the first night three rabbits; another was +shot. They had quite enough to eat the next day, and Shad took a +brighter view of the matter. + +"By Jove!" he laughed, after breakfast, "I wonder what the fellows at +home would say if they should see me now, playing the part of Robinson +Crusoe?" and then he began to sing: + + "'Fare thee well, for I must leave thee. + Do not let the parting grieve thee, + And remember that the best of friends must part, + must part. + Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu, adieu, adieu, + I can no longer stay with you, stay with you, + I'll hang my harp on a weeping-willow tree, + And may the world go well with thee.'" + +But when another morning came, with no sugar remaining for the tea, +and no other food than the now monotonous unsalted rabbit, Shad +rebelled. + +"See here, Bob!" he exclaimed irritably, "I can't eat any more rabbit! +It nauseates me to even think of it! We've got to do something." + +"We can't help un, now, Shad," answered Bob soothingly. "Rabbit ain't +so bad." + +"Not once or twice, or even three times in succession--but eternally +and forever, I can't go it." + +"It does get a bit wearisome, but 'tis a wonderful lot better'n no +rabbit, when rabbit's all there is." + +"Wearisome! Wearisome! Confound it, Bob, it's disgusting! Now we've +got to do something to get ourselves out of here, and that quick." + +"I'm not knowin', now, what t' do till th' others comes, an' I'm +knowin' they will." + +"Come, Bob, let's make a try for that wall down there. Even if the +canoe does get away from us, we can make the wall--I know we can." + +"No," and Bob shook his head ominously, "I'm ready t' take any fair +chanct, Shad, but they wouldn't be even a fair chanet t' make un." + +"Oh, bosh!" exclaimed Shad angrily. "I thought you had some nerve." + +"'Tisn't a matter o' nerve, Shad; 'tis a matter o' what can be done +an' what can't." + +"Oh, yes, it can! Anyone with two legs and two hands and two eyes and +just a grain of grit can do it." + +Bob, quiet and unruffled, grilled his rabbit, refusing to take offence +or to be moved at Shad's remarks, evidently intended to goad him into +what his experience told him would certainly prove a hopeless and +foolhardy venture. + +It is a psychological phenomenon that men, denied action and confined +to limited and solitary surroundings, become highly irascible. They +find cause for offence in every word and every action of their +companions, and it is not unusual for men situated as Ungava Bob and +Shad Trowbridge were to lapse into such a state of antagonism toward +one another that they cease to converse. + +This was the condition into which Shad Trowbridge quickly lapsed. He +soon came to ascribe to timidity and cowardice Bob's opposition to his +wish to attempt a crossing to the mainland. He was one who chafed +under restraint, and one who, when he had once decided upon a course +of action, could not brook opposition from another; and though at +heart he knew that Bob was fearless and brave, and that his arguments +were sound, yet he would not now admit this, even to himself. + +Normally Shad was a good fellow, and he would endure hardships +cheerfully if the hardships were accompanied by physical activity; but +the condition of monotonous existence, accompanied by idleness and +inactivity, which they were now experiencing, was too great for him to +withstand, and he was prepared to take the most desperate chance to +escape from it. When at length the tea and his tobacco were gone, and +nothing but the daily ration of unseasoned rabbit remained, the +thought of thus continuing indefinitely became unendurable to him. + +Ungava Bob, on the contrary, had been accustomed to wilderness +solitude all his life. This, and a naturally even disposition, coupled +with a philosophical temperament, rendered him capable of overlooking +Shad's slurs, and when finally Shad ceased to speak to him, or when +spoken to by Bob ceased to acknowledge that he heard, Bob permitted +the slight to pass unnoticed. + +At length, one day, when Shad had nursed his supposed grievance to a +point where he could no longer endure it, he blurted out brutally: + +"See here, I've stood this devilish cowardice of yours as long as I'm +going to. Do you see where the sun is! It's noon. Now I'll give you +until that sun drops half-way to the horizon to decide whether or not +you're going across with me. If you say 'No,' I'm going without you, +that's all, and you can stay here and eat rabbit, and rot, if you +choose." + +"Now, Shad," Bob placated, "I knows how you feels, an' it's your +judgment ag'in mine. But I'm havin' experience with places like that, +an' I knows we can't make th' crossin' an' land. Now don't try un, +Shad." + +"Don't 'Shad' me--My God, Bob! Look there!" he suddenly broke off. + +Shooting past them, half standing in their birch canoe, paddling with +the desperation of men facing doom, one with his sound paddle, the +other with his broken one, were the Indians that Manikawan had sent +adrift. + +They were very near the island--so near that every outline of their +drawn, terrorstricken faces was visible--but too far away to reach the +gravelly point upon which Bob and Shad had found refuge. Indeed, they +seemed not to see it, or to see anything but the horrible spectral +phantom of the evil spirit that they believed had them in its control. + +On--on--on-they sped, ever faster--faster toward the pounding +rapids--impotently, though still desperately, wielding their paddles. +Bob and Shad stood spellbound and horror-stricken. The Indians were +nearing the first white foam! In a moment their canoe would strike it! +It was in the foam! It rose for an instant upon a white crest, the +Indians' paddles still working--then was swallowed up in the swirling +tumult of waves and whirlpools, never to reappear. + +Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge stood for a moment in awe-stricken +horror. Then they sat down upon the rock on which Shad had sunk when +overcome with shock on the day of their escape upon the island. + +"Bob," said Shad, at last, "that was the most terrible thing I ever +beheld!" + +"'Twere awful!" assented Bob. + +"It shows us, Bob, what you and I escaped. Bob, I've been very +disagreeable lately. Take my hand and forgive me, won't you?" + +"'Twere th' rabbit meat, Shad," said Bob, taking Shad's hand. "Rabbit +meat be wonderful tryin' t' eat steady. I were knowin', now, you'd be +all right again, Shad." + +"I think I've been demented, Bob--I'm sure I have--anyway, believe it, +and don't hold it against me." + +"I'll not be holdin' un ag'in you, Shad. 'Twere natural, and--" Bob +ceased speaking and sat staring at the high bank of the mainland. +"Manikawan!" he exclaimed, springing up and crossing the island point +at a bound. + +There she stood, joy, wonder, incredulity, written upon her face. She +had believed White Brother of the Snow dead, but here she saw him in +flesh and alive, and he had spoken her name. + +"White Brother of the Snow! Oh, White Brother of the Snow! The evil +spirits did not devour you, but like hungry wolves they have devoured +your enemies." + +Very quickly Bob explained their predicament, and she listened +silently. Then she went to the sloping rock, descended its dangerous +angle to the water's edge, and returned. + +"White Brother of the Snow and his friend would find no lodgment +there," said she. "It is a place of deceit. But White Brother of the +Snow knows how to be patient. Let him and his friend wait. The evil +spirits cannot reach up for them where they are. When the sun returns +again to the high point in the heavens Manikawan will stand here. +Wait." + +The next instant she was gone. + +"What did she say?" asked Shad. + +"She were sayin'," explained Bob, "that if we has patience an' waits +she'll be back by noon to-morrow, or thereabouts. An' she says if we +waits here we'll be safe, but we couldn't be makin' a footin' on th' +rock. She's thinkin' o' some way o' gettin' us off, but I'm not +knowin' what 'tis, now." + + + +XIII + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE INDIANS + +None of the three trappers had ever penetrated the region lying +between the Big Hill trail and the river. They knew that here, +somewhere, Ungava Bob was to lay his new trails, but as to the route +the trails were to take they had no information, for this was a +circumstance that the local evidences of the existence of fur-bearing +animals was to have decided for Bob when he entered the country to +make his initial survey of conditions. + +Among the Indians who traded at the Eskimo Bay post there was but one, +an old man, who had any personal knowledge of the region. When a small +boy this Indian had once traversed with his father the now long +disused portage trail; and one day when Ungava Bob and Dick Blake met +him at the post he had, at their earnest solicitation, described to +them the country as he had seen it with the distorted vision of +extreme youth, and as his memory, alloyed with the superstitious tales +of nearly threescore years, recalled it. + +It was, he said, a region of many lakes, over which flitted the +phantom canoes of those who had perished in the nearby dwelling place +of evil spirits. In the canoes were the ghostly forms of the victims, +for ever paddling their phantom crafts around the lakes, vainly +striving to escape the torment of mocking, ghoulish spirits which +pursued them. Surrounding the lakes were wild marshes and deep black +forests, which were peopled by innumerable evil spirits for ever +searching for new victims to destroy. Their thunder voices were always +to be heard, low and deep, in a terrible frenzy of unceasing anger, +ever hungry for men to devour. + +In analysing this description Dick Blake eliminated the phantom canoes +as the wild creation of imagination, and the thunder voices of evil +spirits he set down as nothing more nor less than the roar of the +great falls of whose existence the Indians had told. + +With this elimination he accepted as fact the statement that the +region was sprinkled with many lakes, and that without the assistance +of a canoe these lakes and perhaps some wide marshes would have to be +circumvented by him and his companions before they came upon the river +above the falls, where it was expected the Mingen Indians would be +encountered. + +While Dick Blake was the first to declare that the Indians must be +punished for causing the supposed death of Bob and Shad, he was no +more thoroughly in earnest than were his companions. + +Normally these trappers were quiet, peace-loving men, who would have +shuddered at the thought of causing human bloodshed; but now, moved +doubtless to a large extent by a natural desire to avenge an outrage +committed upon their friends, they also felt it their plain duty to +mete out punishment to the guilty ones, in order to insure themselves +and other white trappers against further molestation. Unless this were +done there was no guarantee against continued raids upon their tilts, +and there would always be the danger, and even probability, that +sooner or later they would themselves be attacked and shot from ambush +by the emboldened savages. + +The trail that Bob had made, leading up from the river tilt and along +the creek which flowed from the first lake, was plainly marked; and +they proceeded with the long, swinging stride characteristic of the +woodsman, rapidly and without a halt, to the point where the trail +entered the lake. Here a wide circuit around the lake shore was +necessary, and it was nearly noon when they fell again into the trail +at the farther end and came upon the first tilt. + +"We may's well stop an' boil th' kettle," said Dick, throwing down the +light pack of provisions he carried and mopping the perspiration from +his forehead, for the mid-day sun was warm. "If we were only havin' a +canoe, now, we'd be a rare piece farther. 'Twere a long cruise around +the lake." + +"Aye," agreed Ed, "a canoe'd ha' saved us a good two hours. We may's +well put th' fire on outside; 'twill be warm in th' tilt." + +"Now I'm wonderin' what th' Injun lass is up to," said Dick, as they +sat down to their simple meal of fried pork and camp bread. + +"She's got a canoe. There's her footin' by th' lake, where she makes +her landin'." + +"They's no tellin' what an Injun's goin' t' do, but I'm not thinkin' +'twill be much harm, t' th' Mingens with just a bow an' arrer, an' +that's all she has in th' way o' weapons, so far's I makes out," +declared Ed, adding: "She were a wonderful fine-lookin' lass; now, +weren't she?" + +"That she were," agreed Dick, "wonderful handsome--an' wonderful +wild-lookin', too." + +"Th' poor lad!" said Ed, after a pause. "He were buildin' th' tilt +yonder, thinkin' o' th' good furrin' he were t' have th' winter, an' +now he's gone. I'm not knowin', Dick, how t' tell his mother. You'll +have t' tell she, Dick; I couldn't stand t' tell she." + +"No," objected Dick, "you were goin' an' tellin' she th' time we +thinks th' wolves gets Bob, an' you knows how. You'm a wonderful sight +better breakin' bad news than me, Ed. I'd just be bawlin' with she, +an' she cries; an' she sure will, for 'twill break her heart this +time, an' Bob sure gone." + +"Maybe none of us'll be havin' th' chanct," broke in Bill. "They may +be a big passel o' Mingens, and whilst we catches some of un, th' +others won't be sittin' quiet." + +"Ed an' me's keepin' a watch for signs," assured Dick, as they arose +to continue their journey. "They ain't been no signs so far, exceptin' +signs o' th' poor lads an' th' Injun lass, an' she were passin' in th' +night, by th' oldness o' her footin'." + +"They ain't no danger o' findin' Injuns here, Bill," added Ed. "This +is what they calls th' ha'nted country, an' they'd be too scairt o' +ghosts an' th' devils they thinks is runnin' round loose here t' risk +theirselves." + +The long detours made necessary without the assistance of a canoe so +far delayed their progress that, though they had not slackened the +rapid pace set in the morning, night found them upon the shores of one +of the intermediate lakes, with little more than half the distance to +the end of the portage trail behind them. + +Here they erected a lean-to at the edge of the forest, as a reflector +for their camp-fire, and as a protection against a light but chilling +breeze that had sprung up with the setting sun; and, all made snug for +the night, they cooked and ate their supper. + +Then they lighted their pipes and lounged back upon the bed of spruce +boughs under the lean-to, speculating upon the morrow, and the +probability of an encounter with the Indians. + +"What's that, now?" exclaimed Ed suddenly, and cautiously rising and +taking a position beyond the glow of the fire, he stood for several +minutes gazing intently out upon the waters of the wide lake not yet +lighted by the belated moon. + +"There 'tis again! Did you make un out, Dick?" he asked, as Dick and +Bill, following Ed's example of cautious exit from the range of the +fire's glow, joined him. + +"No, I weren't makin' nothin' out," answered Dick. + +"There were somethin' there on th' water," Ed stated positively, when +they presently returned to the lean-to. + +"What were it, now? What were it like?" asked Dick. + +"I seen un twict, an' 'twere lookin' t' me like a canoe, though I'm +not sayin' so for sure," explained Ed. + +"I seen un," corroborated Bill, "but whether 'twere a canoe or no, I'm +noways sure--'twere so far out." + +"If 'twere a canoe, 'twere Injuns," declared Ed, "an' if 'twere Injuns +they was seein' our fire, an' they'll be up t' some devilment, now, +before day." + +"Be you sartin', now, you seen something?" asked Dick, a note of +scepticism in his voice. + +"Sure an' sartin'," insisted Ed. "'Twere movin', an' I'm thinkin' +'twere a canoe, though I'm noways sure." + +"'Twere just a loon or maybe a bunch o' geese," said Dick, still +unwilling to believe. + +"'Twere movin', an' 'twere lookin' like a canoe t' me," said Bill. +"'Twere certain no loon nor geese either. 'Twere too big." + +"An' we better be gettin' out o' here, too," advised Ed. "If 'twere +Injuns--an' I'm noways sure 'twere or 'tweren't--they seen th' fire, +an' th' dirty devils'll be droppin' us off an' we stays here." + +"Aye," agreed Dick, "we'll be movin' on. You an' Bill both seein' +somethin', they must ha' been somethin' there, though I weren't seein' +un." + +Weary as they were, the three men hastily shouldered their light +packs, and with rifles resting in the hollow of their arms, Ed in the +lead, they stole noiselessly away into the forest. + +Two hours of rapid travelling, in the light of the now rising moon, +brought them to the end of the lake. Here they paused to fall upon +their knees and make a critical examination of the shore. + +"Here's fresh footin'," Ed finally announced. "A canoe were launched +here since sundown. Th' gravel's wet where th' water splashed up. +They's one track o' a Injun moccasin, an' from th' smallness of un +'twere a woman." + +"'Twere sure a woman," both Bill and Dick agreed. + +"An' there's th' same footin' goin' t'other way, but 'tis an older +track," Ed continued. "'Twere th' Injun lass we sees to-night goin' +back." + +"Now I'm wonderin'," said Dick, as they arose, "what she's goin' back +for? Maybe now, she's lookin' t' meet us t' help her?" + +"Maybe," Ed suggested, laughing, "she's finding a hull passel o' +Injuns more'n she wants t' tackle wi' just her bow an' arrer. I were +thinkin', now, a bow an' arrer weren't much t' run up ag'in a band o' +Injuns with, seein' they has guns." + +"Whatever 'tis she's up to," suggested Bill, "'tisn't lookin' for us. +She couldn't ha' missed seein' our fire back here on th' shore, an' +she'd ha' known who 'twere an' come over if she's wantin' t' see us." + +"You're right," agreed Dick. "She must have seen our fire, and if +she'd wanted t' see us she'd ha' come over. Now I'm wonderin' why she +didn't." + +At mid-forenoon the following day the tilt on the last lake, where +Manikawan had snatched a few hours' sleep, was reached, and mounting +the ridge above, the river was discovered beyond. + +At the end of the portage trail the three trappers held a hurried +consultation. At length, carefully concealing their packs among the +bushes, and with rifles held in position for instant use, they turned +noiselessly up along the river bank, following the water closely, and +taking almost exactly the course followed the previous morning by +Manikawan. + +They were aware that they were now beyond the bounds of the region +avoided by the Indians, and they also had no doubt that the Indian +camp was situated farther up the river, probably at some convenient +landing-place for canoes. + +Finally Ed Matheson, who had the lead, halted and held up his hand. + +"Smoke," he whispered, sniffing the air. "Aye," whispered Dick, also +sniffing. + +Ed now sank to his hands and knees, pausing frequently in his advance +to reconnoitre. Presently he ceased to move, his rifle extended before +him, until Dick and Bill drew along side. + +"There's th' fire," he whispered, "an' there's where they was camped, +but it's lookin' t' me as if they's gone." + +The smouldering embers of a camp-fire in the centre of the open spot +where the wigwam had stood the previous day, lay directly in front of +them. On a tree hung some unfinished snow-shoe frames, and there were +many signs of a hurried departure. + +"What you think?" Dick whispered. + +"Th' devils may be hidin' back here," answered Ed. "You an' Bill stay +now, an' watch, whilst I looks." + +Very cautiously Ed stole away, and Dick Blake and Bill Campbell waited +patiently for an hour, when they discovered him walking boldly down +toward them. + +"They's gone," he announced. "I seen their canoe makin' a landin' on +th' other side where th' river widens, away up above here." + +An examination of the camping ground confirmed their conclusion that +the Indians had in some manner learned of their danger and had fled, +evidently in great haste, leaving behind them the snowshoe frames and +some other trifles. + +"That's explainin', now, what that sneakin' Injun lass was up to," +declared Ed. + +"What were she up to, now?" asked Dick. + +"She were up to this," said Ed: "she were watchin' at th' river tilt +for our comin', an' when we comes she up an' tells th' Injuns we're on +their trail, an' they gets out quick. That's why she weren't stoppin' +when she sees our fire last night, an' we'll never be seein' her +again. She's a Nascaupee, an' it's lookin' now as if th' Nascaupees +an' Mingens'll be workin' t'gether, an' if they be, they'll be layin' +for us, now, an' we got t' look out." + +"Aye," agreed Dick, "that's what they'll be doin', now, an' we got t' +look out." + +"Well," sighed Ed, as they turned to retrace their steps to the +portage trail, "we may's well get back an' lay our plans. Them Injun +females is worse'n wolverines; they's no trustin' any of un." + + + +XIV + +THE MATCHI MANITU IS CHEATED + +"Well," said Shad, at length, "there's the sun about as high as it +will get to-day, and where's your pretty Indian girl?" + +"I been thinkin', now," Bob explained, "she's sure havin' a canoe, an' +could make un t' th' river tilt an' back, by travellin' all night. But +Dick an' Ed an' Bill ain't havin' a canoe, an' if they comes they has +t' walk, an' walkin' they can't make un before some time t'morrer, +whatever. 'Tis like, now, she'll wait t' show un th' way t' where we +be, an' doin' that she won't be comin' till they does t 'morrer." + +"Your logic is sound," Shad admitted, "but it's mighty +disappointing." + +"There she be!" exclaimed Bob, a moment later, as Manikawan, quite +alone, emerged from the forest hastening toward them, carrying on her +arm two coils of rope--one the coil Bob had left in the first tilt of +the new trail, and which she had observed at the time she found and +carried away Bob's rifle; the other a tracking line which the trappers +had used on their last trip up the river, and which she had discovered +in the river tilt. + +"Is it well with White Brother of the Snow and his friend?" she asked, +stepping eagerly forward to the river bank. + +"It is, and they are glad to see Manikawan," answered Bob. + +"They will do now as Manikawan directs, and they will soon again be +free to hunt the atuk (caribou), the amishku (beaver), and the neejuk +(otter)," she promised. + +With this she tied the ropes securely together, end to end, and then +producing a quantity of salmon twine, which she had appropriated for +the purpose from one of the tilts, tied an end of this to one end of +the connected ropes. She now proceeded to coil the twine carefully +upon a smooth flat rock at her feet, after which she drew from her +quiver a long, blunt-nosed arrow, and directly above the feathered end +of the arrow attached the loose end of the twine. + +These preliminary arrangements completed, and her plan of rescue ready +for the test, Manikawan stood erect, bow and arrow in position, and a +moment later the arrow flew out across the water and fell upon the +gravelly point. + +Ungava Bob sprang forward, seized the twine, still fast tied to the +arrow, and rapidly drew it and the end of the rope attached to the +twine to him, while Manikawan played out the coil. + +"Now," said she, "let White Brother of the Snow make the line which he +has received fast and tight to the bow thwart of his canoe. + +"White Brother of the Snow and his friend will then place their canoe +into the water with its bow facing the river as it comes down to meet +them. They will paddle hard against the river, for the Matchi Manitu +(bad spirit) beneath the waves will draw them backward toward the +place where the water is white and angry. + +"They need not fear. Manikawan holds one end of the rope in her hand. +The other end will be fast to the canoe. Manikawan is strong and she +will not let the Matchi Manitu draw White Brother of the Snow and his +friend down. + +"While White Brother of the Snow and his friend paddle, their canoe +will move toward the place where Manikawan stands. Near the shore the +spirits are weaker than where the water is deep. + +"When their canoe is near the shore, Manikawan will let it go backward +very slowly to the place where the bank slopes." + +Bob ran the end of rope under and around the bow thwart, as Manikawan +directed, knotting it securely, leaving sufficient length to extend +back to the centre thwart, around which he again wrapped it and +finally tied the end. This he did in order that the strain upon the +canoe might be more evenly distributed. + +With Shad's rifle and shotgun and their few other possessions in the +canoe, they immediately placed it in the water. Bob held it while Shad +took a kneeling position in the stern, then himself stepped lightly to +his place in the bow, and in an instant they were afloat in the +rushing water, paddling fast and hard in order to relieve the stress +upon the long line, and to keep the canoe head on to the current. + +A few moments later they found themselves close under the mainland +bank, with Manikawan letting them slip slowly down to the sloping +rock. + +Though the treacherous footing on the steep, slippery incline rendered +it a hazardous undertaking, the landing was safely accomplished, and +the canoe brought ashore. + +When Manikawan saw the young adventurers standing before her, her work +of rescue completed and the excitement and uncertainty of the +preceding days and nights at an end, she sank upon the ground, weak, +dazed, and overcome with fatigue. + +During sixty hours her only sleep or refreshment had been that +snatched the preceding morning in the tilt, and throughout the entire +period she had been bending herself to almost superhuman effort. + +After all, she was but a girl. Human emotions are pretty much the same +the world over, irrespective of race, and Manikawan, the Indian +maiden, was very human indeed in her emotions and the limit of her +physical endurance. + +She looked faint and weary, indeed, as Shad and Bob bent over her +solicitously, but presently she indicated her desire to rise; and +slowly, for Manikawan's exhaustion was still apparent, Bob led the way +while the three took a direct course to the tilt on the first lake. + +It was not far, and in the course of an hour, mounting a ridge, they +saw the lake shimmering below them and the little tilt nestling among +the trees on the shore. + +"How good it looks! Almost homelike!" said Shad. + +"Aye, almost homelike," echoed Bob. + +At the tilt they made a fire under the trees, and Bob quickly brewed a +kettle of strong tea, and prepared food; and when Manikawan had taken +nourishment, she was sent into the tilt for the rest she so much +needed. + +Bob and Shad were still lingering over their meal when they looked up +to find Dick Blake, Ed Matheson, and Bill Campbell staring at them +from the edge of the woods. + +"Hello!" cried Shad, jumping up in pleasure to greet their friends. + +"Evenin'," said Bob; "set in an' have a drop o' tea an' a bite." + +"Well, now, I wern't sure I see straight!" exclaimed Ed, and the three +strode forward. "Here we was thinkin' never t' see you lads ag'in, an' +arguin' who were goin' t' break th' news o' your death t' your folks, +an' there you be, eatin'! Bob, I'm never goin' t' break th' news o' +your death ag'in till I sees you dead. I were doin' it once, an' now I +comes pretty nigh havin' to ag'in;" and Ed nearly shook Bob's arm off +in his delight. + +"Aye," Dick explained, while he and Bill followed Ed in the greeting, +"th' Injun lass Manikawan comes an' tells us you lads was drove over +th' falls by Mingens." + +"An' we goes out huntin' Mingens," went on Bill, "tryin' t' kill un, +an' would ha' killed un if we'd found un." + +"Now, what devilment were she up to? That's what I wants t' know, +tellin' us that. They's no knowin' what a Injun'll do, leastways a +female," declared Ed. + +"She was about right, now," said Bob, and he proceeded to relate the +experiences of the preceding days, while Shad now and again +interjected dramatic colour. + +"Th' lass were doin' rare fine! Rare fine!" said Ed. "An' we was +thinkin' she's up t' some devilment. But why wern't you shootin' at +th' Injuns from th' canoe when they opens on you? Your repeatin' rifle +would ha' scattered un, Bob." + +"I left un in th' tilt by th' first lake above th' river. Shad were +steerin', an' he weren't thinkin' t' use his'n," Bob explained. + +"In th' first tilt above th' river?" Ed repeated. "We were in th' +tilt, now, Dick, when we comes through, an' there weren't any rifle +there. Rope an' tent an' other outfit, but no rifle." + +"No, there weren't none there," corroborated Dick and Bill. + +"Now, 'tis strange," said Bob. "I left un there, didn't I, Shad?" + +"Yes, you certainly left it there, on the rear bunk," Shad affirmed +positively. + +This puzzled them long, and they were never to learn the truth, for +Manikawan, on her return journey for the ropes, had replaced the rifle +exactly as she had found it, and none but herself ever knew the part +she had played in the river tragedy. + +While Manikawan rested in the tilt, and Bill Campbell set out to hunt +ptarmigans for supper, Dick Blake and Ed Matheson in Manikawan's +canoe, and Bob and Shad in Shad's canoe, left upon a reconnoitering +expedition to the tilt from which the two latter were returning on the +day of the Indian attack. + +They had no fear now of an Indian surprise, since Ed Matheson had +observed the retreat of the savages to the southern shore, and they +proceeded boldly to their destination. + +As anticipated, the tilt had been rifled of its contents, chiefly +flour and pork. The tilt itself, however, had not been burned, and was +otherwise undisturbed. + +"They was thinkin', now, t' have un an' t' use un theirselves when +they comes here t' hunt, th' winter," declared Ed. "They thinks Bob +an' Shad's done for. Unless they gets scairt out by th' ha'nts in th' +water--" + +"The what?" asked Shad. + +"Th' ghosts or spirits they thinks is there. They's wonderful easy +scairt, Injuns is. Oh, I knows th' Injuns; I been havin' trouble with +un before." + +"When was you havin' trouble with Injuns, now?" asked Dick +sceptically. + +"More'n once," said Ed. "There were th' time, now, I comes t' my tilt +an' finds a hull passel o' Mountaineers--they wan't friendly in them +days, th' Bay Mountaineers wan 't--so many they eats up a hull barrel +o' my flour t' one meal--" + +"Now, Ed," broke in Dick, in evident disgust, "you been tellin' that +yarn so many times you believes un yourself. Now, don't tell un +ag'in." + +"'Tis gospel truth--" Ed began. + +"'Tis no kind o' truth." + +"Well, an' you don't want t' hear un, I won't tell un," said Ed, with +an air of injured innocence. + +"'What was it, Ed, that happened you?" asked Shad, laughing, for he +had learned to know the peculiarities of these two friends. + +"Dick's not wantin' t' hear un, Shad. He gets all ruffled up when I +tells o' some happenin' I been havin' that's bigger'n any he ever has. +I won't tell un now; 'twould make he feel bad, an' I don't want t' +make he feel bad, nohow," said Ed, with mock magnanimity. "But there +were another time--I'll tell you o' this, Shad, an' Dick don't mind?" + +"Oh, go ahead an' yarn, if you wants to! But th' Lard'll strike you +dead some day, Ed, for lyin';" and Dick turned toward the canoes in +disgust. + +"Now Dick's mad," Ed laughed, "but don't mind he, Shad; he'll get over +un." + +"As I was sayin', now, 'twas when I was layin' my trail t' th' +nu'th'ard o' Wanokapow. I gets my tilt built an' all in shape an' +stocked up, an' I goes out one mornin' lookin' t' kill a bit o' fresh +meat. 'Tis early, an' too soon t' set up th' traps, for th' fur ain't +prime. + +"I gets a porcupine, which is all I wants, an' comin' down t' my +second tilt about th' middle o' th' forenoon, finds un all afire an' a +band o' twelve Injuns--I counts un, an' they's just a dozen--lookin' +on, an' dividin' up my things, which they takes out o' th' tilt before +they fires un. + +"Now I were mad--too mad t' be scairt--an' I steps right down among +th' Injuns, an' when they sees me lookin' fierce an' ready t' kill un +all, they's too scairt t' do a thing or t' run, an' they just stands +lookin' at me. + +"Well, I keeps on lookin' wonderful fierce, an' jumps about a bit an' +hollers. It makes me laugh now t' think how that passel o' Injuns +stared! One of un tells me a couple o' years after that they thinks I +gone crazy. + +"'Tisn't long till I gets un all so scairt they thinks I'm goin' t' +shoot un all up, an' they's afeared t' run, thinkin' if they does I'll +start right in quick. + +"Then I thinks it's time t' break th' news t' un, an' I tells un if +they builds th' tilt up new for me I'll let un off. An' they starts +right in t' build un, an' has un all done before th' sun sets. Th' +same tilt's standin' there yet--' + +"Ed!" called Dick, from the canoe, "if you're through yarnin', come on +now an' get started back. It'll be dark now before we gets t' th' +tilt." + +It was dark when they reached the tilt. Bill, sitting alone by the +camp-fire, had seen nothing of Manikawan while they were gone, and +none of them ventured to enter the tilt or to disturb her. + +But, when they arose from their bed of boughs in the lee of the tent +the following I morning, they found that the fire at their feet had +been renewed while they slept. Manikawan was not in the tilt, but +presently they discovered her, standing upon the pinnacle of rock near +the lake shore, looking toward the glowing East, immovable as a +statue, picturesque and beautiful in her primitive Indian costume. + +As the rim of the sun appeared above the horizon and the marvellous +colourings of the morning melted into the fuller light of day, +Manikawan extended her arms before her for a moment, then descended +from her rock, and, observing that her friends were astir, she +approached them, her face glowing with the health and freshness of +youth, and bearing no trace of the ordeal through which she had +passed. + +"White Brother of the Snow, the matchi manitu has been cheated. You +have escaped from his power, and you will live long in the beautiful +world," said she, for the first time adopting a more personal and +affectionate form of address. "Manikawan's heart is as the rising sun, +bright and full of light. It is as the earth, when the sun shines in +summer, warm and happy. It soars like the gulls, no longer weighted +with trouble." + +"Manikawan is my good sister, and I am glad she is happy," responded +Bob. "White Brother of the Snow and his friend will never forget that +she outwitted the Matchi Manitu. They will never forget what she did." + +Ungava Bob and Bill Campbell, sharing the canoe with Manikawan, Dick +Blake and Ed Matheson the canoe with Shad Trowbridge, they reached the +river tilt that evening. Manikawan was radiantly happy, but Bob, +uncertain as to what course she might decide upon, and well aware that +any attempt to send her back to her people would prove quite fruitless +if she chose to remain with them, was much disturbed in mind. He sat +long by the campfire that night, before he joined his companions in +the tent, still undetermined what he should do to rid himself of her. + +When morning came Manikawan gave no hint of going until breakfast was +eaten. Then with her customary promptness of action, standing before +Ungava Bob, she announced: + +"Manikawan will now return to the lodge of Sishetakushin, her father, +and wait for White Brother of the Snow. He is safe from the Matchi +Manitu. She will wait and be contented. She will know that he is in +the country of her people. She will wait for him till the sun grows +timid and afraid, till the Spirit of the Frost grows bold and strong. +Then White Brother of the Snow will come to the lodge of +Sishetakushin, and there he will rest. Manikawan will prepare for him +his nabwe (stew) and make for him warm garments from the skin of the +atuk." + +Without further preliminary or adieu, she lifted her canoe upon her +head and disappeared as unexpectedly as she had appeared. + + + +XV + +THE PASSING OF THE WILD THINGS + +It was already too late in the season to attempt further distribution +of supplies with the canoe. Therefore, the boat and canoe were carried +to a safe distance above the river, and a shelter of logs erected over +them, that they might not be crushed under the weight of snow +presently to come. + +Two days later the lakes were clogged with ice, and a week later the +first fall of snow that was to remain throughout the winter fell to a +depth of several inches. + +Then came an interval of waiting, but not of idleness, for Ungava Bob +or Ed Matheson. Their new tilts were unsupplied with stretching boards +for furs and many other necessities, in the preparation of which they +occupied themselves at the river tilt, while the others lent a hand; +though nearly every day Dick Blake or Bill Campbell accompanied Shad +on hunting expeditions which resulted in keeping the larder well +supplied with geese, ducks--now in their southward flight--ptarmigans, +and an occasional porcupine. + +The birds were all fat and in splendid condition. The ptarmigans, now +changing their mottled brown-and-white coat for the pure white plumage +of winter, were gathered into large flocks, and easily had. A +considerable number were killed with the first blast of frosty +weather, and, together with a few ducks and geese, stored where they +would freeze and keep sweet for future use. + +With the last week of October active trapping began, when fur, though +not yet at its best, was in excellent condition. + +With November winter fell upon the land in all its sub-Arctic rigour. +For a day and a night a blizzard raged, so blinding, so terrific, and +with the temperature so low that none dared venture out; and when the +weather cleared, the snow, grown so deep that snowshoes were essential +in travel, no longer melted under the mid-day sun. + +Socks of heavy woollen duffel were now necessary to protect the feet, +and buckskin moccasins, with knee-high leggings, took the place of +sealskin boots. + +In the final distribution of supplies among the tilts, long, narrow +Indian toboggans were brought into service, and the loads hauled upon +the toboggans. + +Martens and foxes were the animals chiefly sought at this season. +There were two methods followed in setting the marten traps. Where a +tree of sufficient diameter was available, it was cut off as high as +the trapper could wield his axe above the snow, and a notch about four +inches deep and fourteen inches high cut some distance below the top +of the stump and several feet above the snow. The bottom of this notch +was given a level surface with the axe, the trap set upon it, and the +bait hung in the side of the notch a foot above the trap. At other +times an enclosure was made with spruce boughs, and in a narrow +opening the trap was set, with the bait within the enclosure. + +Fox traps were set upon the marshes, and baited with rabbits which had +been hung in the tilt until they began to smell badly, or with other +scraps of flesh. The trap securely fastened by its chain to a block of +wood or the base of willow brush, was carefully concealed under a thin +crust of snow. + +The usual routine followed by Ungava Bob, after his trail was once in +order and his traps set, was to leave the river tilt on Monday +morning, and by a wide circuit around lake shores and marshes, +embracing a distance of some fifteen miles, reach his tilt at the far +end of the first lake at night. On Tuesday another wide circle of +traps around contiguous lakes brought him back again at night to the +same tilt. On Wednesday his trail led him to the tilt on the last lake +of the old portage trail. + +His original intention had been to continue from this tilt to the tilt +which the Indians had robbed, and thence to the last tilt on Ed +Matheson's trail, some fifteen miles to the northeast. But after the +appearance of the Indians it had been deemed unsafe and inadvisable to +do this, and the tilt on the river above the portage trail was, +therefore, temporarily abandoned. + +With this modification, his Thursday circuit of traps was so arranged +that it brought him back at night to the tilt on the last lake, and on +Friday he proceeded to Ed Matheson's last tilt. This arrangement +carried him during the five days over seventy-five miles of trail +along which his traps were distributed. + +Ed Matheson's trail was so arranged that he also arrived at his last +tilt on Friday evening, and he and Bob thus shared the tilt each +fortnight from Friday until Monday. + +Saturdays were occupied in making repairs and in doing the thousand +and one odd jobs always at hand, Sunday in rest, and on Monday the +return journey began which brought them to the river tilt on the +following Friday, unless by chance they were delayed by storms. + +This was the point of fortnightly rendezvous for the four +trappers--the junction point of all their trails. Dick Blake's and +Bill Campbell's trails took them in opposite directions, and during +their period of absence from the river tilt neither saw any of his +companions. + +The fortnightly reunion at the river tilt was naturally an occasion +they all looked forward to. It gave an opportunity to compare notes +upon their success, to recount experiences, and to satisfy for a time +the human craving for companionship. + +Shad made the first outward journey with Bob, and returned with Ed +Matheson. Then he made a round with Dick Blake, and finally a round +with Bill Campbell. + +Every feature of the work was new and interesting to Shad Trowbridge, +and for a time he enjoyed it hugely. But presently it dropped into a +dreary, monotonous routine. The vast, unbroken solitude, the endless +tramping over endless snow, day after day, and the lack of adventure +to which he had looked forward, served presently to make him moody and +irritable. + +Shad had hoped for sport with his rifle, but no big game had been +seen--not so much as the track of a caribou. Long before this the last +goose and duck had passed southward. Not a bird save the ever-present +jay had been encountered in upward of three weeks. Even the rabbits, +whose tracks had criss-crossed the early snow in every direction and +packed it down along the willow brush, had unaccountably disappeared. +The stock of fresh meat, save a pair of geese and three pairs of +ptarmigans reserved for a Christmas feast, was exhausted. + +These were extraordinary conditions. The men declared that never +before in their experience had they observed so complete a +disappearance of game. Caribou were usually rather numerous in +November. In previous years ptarmigans and spruce grouse had been so +plentiful that they were easily killed when needed. One year in every +nine rabbits were said to vanish, but otherwise the total absence of +game was inexplicable. + +It was a condition, too, that caused uneasiness. The flour and pork +brought into the country by the trappers was far from adequate to +supply their needs. Sufficient wild game to at least double their +provision supply was an absolute essential if they were to continue on +the trails. Thus far the early game had supplied their requirements, +but the prospects for the future were disquieting. + +At the end of the first week in December, Bill Campbell and Shad +returned from their fortnight on the trail to find their friends +already at the river tilt and discussing the situation. + +"What you havin', this cruise, Bill?" asked Dick, when the greetings +were over. + +"Th' worst cruise I ever has," Bill replied, as he drew off his +adicky. "One white fox--nothin' else, an' no footin' now t' speak of. +Shad an' me never see a hair or feather barrin' th' fox I catches, an' +he were a poor un." + +"I gets one marten an' a red, up an' back," said Dick. "Ed gets +nothin', an' Bob gets one marten. 'Tis a wonderful bad showin'." + +"Aye, a wonderful bad showin', gettin' never a hair, an' that's what I +gets," declared Ed, in disgust. "If th' next cruise don't show a +wonderful lot better, I starts for th' Bay th' mornin' after +Christmas, an' I'll not be comin' back till th' middle o' February, +whatever." + +The dough bread, fried pork, and tea, which Ed and Bob had been +preparing, were ready, and, the meal disposed of, pipes were lighted +and the discussion of the all-important question was resumed. + +"'Tisn't th' havin' a poor cruise now an' again's what's botherin' +me," began Ed, "but they ain't no footin'; and where they ain't no +footin', they ain't nothin'; an' where they ain't nothin', they ain't +no use huntin' it." + +"They ain't even a pa'tridge t' be killed for th' pot," complained +Bill. + +"No, an' we'll be seein' th' end of our grub, with nothin' t' help +out, by th' end o' February, whatever," Ed dolefully prophesied. + +"Isn't there danger of scurvy if we have nothing but salt pork to +eat?" asked Shad. + +"That they is, sure as shootin'," agreed Ed. + +"If you'd like to go along with me, Shad," suggested Bob, who up to +this time had said little, "we'll take a flat-sled with your tent an' +a tent stove, an' a couple weeks' grub, an' go down t' th' nu'th'ard +an' see if we can't run onto some deer. Th' deer's somewheres, an' if +they ain't here they must be t' th' nu'th'ard." + +"Of course I'll go with you, Bob," said Shad, delighted with the +prospect of individual action and new experiences. + +"An' you may be runnin' into some o' th' Mountaineers an' Nascaupees +down north, an' let un know about th' tradin' next year," suggested +Dick. "If you tells one Injun, th' hull passel o' both tribes'll know +about un. Things travels wonderful fast among th' Injuns." + +The following day two toboggans were packed with the provisions and +equipment sufficient for a two weeks' absence, together with a +considerable quantity of tea in addition to their probable +requirements, and some plug tobacco, designed as gifts for the +Indians. + +Long before daylight on Monday morning adieus were said and the two +young adventurers turned into the frozen, silent wastes to the +northward, Bob in the lead making a rapid pace, Shad following, and +each hauling his toboggan. + + + +XVI + +ALONE WITH THE INDIANS + +At the edge of every frozen marsh and lake Ungava Bob paused to +reconnoitre for caribou, but always to be disappointed, and when he +and Shad halted at sundown to pitch their night camp, no living thing +had they seen. + +Shad's small wedge tent was stretched between two trees, snow was +banked around it on the outside, and a thick bed of boughs spread upon +the snow within. Two short butts of logs were placed at proper +distance apart near the entrance and inside the tent, the tent stove +set upon them, and with an ample supply of wood cut and split, their +night shelter, with a roaring fire in the stove, was warm and cosy. + +The days that followed were equally as disappointing. The smooth white +surface of the snow was unmarred by track of beast or bird. No living +creature stirred. No sound broke the silence. The frozen world was +dead, and the silence was the silence of the sepulchre. + +"It's so quiet you can hear it," Shad remarked once when they halted +to make tea. + +"Aye," said Bob, "'tis that, and they's no footin' of even rabbits. I +can't make un out." + +On the afternoon of the third day after leaving the river tilt, they +came upon the southern shore of the Great Lake of the Indians, and +turning westward presently discovered Sishetakushin's wigwam. + +The travellers received a warm welcome from the Indians. Sishetakushin +and Mookoomahn were indeed noisy and effusive in their greeting. +Manikawan radiated pleasure, but she and her mother, a large, fat +woman, as became their status as women, remained in the background. + +The Indians had killed some caribou early in the season, and jerked +the meat. They had just killed a bear whose winter den they had +discovered, and over the fire was a kettle of stewing beaver meat, +upon which they feasted their visitors. + +At the proper time Bob presented them with tea, Shad gave them each +some tobacco, and then Bob told them of his proposed trading project. + +"My people will be glad," said Sishetakushin, "and you will have much +trade." + +It developed in the course of conversation that the Indians were +preparing to move at once to the Lake of Willows (Petitsikapau), to +the northwest, in the hope of meeting caribou, for none had been seen +by them since those they had killed in early fall. + +They were to cache some of their provisions near the Great Lake; and +when they had made a sufficient kill in the North to supply them with +food, were to return to their cache near the Great Lake to trap +martens, for in the more northerly country, where wide barrens take +the place of forests, martens are rarely to be found. + +"Bob, here's a chance I've been hoping for," said Shad, when Bob +interpreted to him the Indians' plan. "Do you think they would be +willing to let me go with them until their return here, if I gave them +some tobacco?" + +"They's no tellin', Shad, how long they'll be away," suggested Bob. + +"But I want to go if they'll let me go. Please ask them," insisted +Shad. + +"But they may not be findin' deer, an' if they don't find un they +won't be comin' back here till th' end o' winter. You don't want t' be +with un th' rest o' th' winter, Shad; 'twill be rougher cruisin' than +with us," Bob warned. + +"Ask them. I'm going if they'll have me along;" and Shad displayed in +his tone a suggestion of resentment that Bob should question the +advisability of anything upon which he had determined. + +The Indians discussed the matter at some length before finally giving +Bob an affirmative decision. + +"They says you can go, Shad, but they'll not promise t' be back here +for two months, whatever, an' when they does they'll come t' th' river +tilt with you," said Bob. + +"Good! It'll give me some change of experience, and the chance to +study their life and customs that I've wanted;" and Shad was elated +with the prospect. + +Partly because of the earnest solicitation of his Indian friends, but +chiefly in the hope of dissuading Shad from his determination, Bob +remained in the Indian camp the remainder of the week. While they +still maintained a degree of reserve toward Shad, Bob was treated in +every respect as one of them. + +Manikawan made him the object of her particular attention. She waited +upon him as the Indian women wait upon their lords, anticipating his +needs. + +In expectation of his coming she had, after her return from the river +tilt, made for him a beautiful coat of caribou skins. The hair, left +on the skins, made a warm lining, while the outside of the coat, +tanned as soft and white as chamois, was decorated with designs +painted in colours. Attached to it was a hood of wolfskin. + +Accompanying the coat was a pair of long, close-fitting buckskin +leggings, and a pair of buckskin moccasins, both decorated, and the +whole comprising the typical winter suit of a Nascaupee hunter. + +Manikawan's attentions were extremely irritating to Bob, but he could +not well avoid them, and to have declined to accept the gift which she +had made especially for him in anticipation of his coming, would have +caused her keen disappointment. So he accepted them and donned them, +to her evident delight. + +"Shad," said Bob, on the Sunday evening after their arrival "I has t' +start back in th' mornin', an' you better be goin' with me." + +"No," insisted Shad, "I'll stick to the Indians for a while." + +The following morning Bob bade them adieu. + +"Take care of yourself, old man," said Shad. "I'll see you in a month +or so." + +"I hopes so, Shad, an' you take care o' yourself, now. I'm fearin' t' +leave you, Shad." + +"Oh, I know how to look out for myself," declared Shad. "Don't worry +about me." + +Turning to Manikawan, who stood mutely waiting for the word of +farewell that she hoped Bob would bestow upon her, he said, in the +Indian tongue: + +"White Brother of the Snow must go to his hunting grounds. He is +leaving behind him his friend. Will Manikawan minister to his friend +as she would to him? Will she see that no harm comes to him?" + +"Manikawan will do as White Brother of the Snow directs," she +answered. "She will minister to his friend's needs. She will make for +his friend the nabwe. His friend will not be hungry. Manikawan will +care for him until White Brother of the Snow is weary of hunting and +comes again to Sishetakushin's lodge. She will do this because he is +the friend of White Brother of the Snow." + +Then Bob turned into the white, frigid waste to the southward, and +Shad was alone with the Indians. + + + +XVII + +CHRISTMAS AT THE RIVER TILT + +Christmas fell on Thursday that year, and it had been arranged that +the trappers, by turning back on their trails the preceding Saturday +instead of waiting as was their custom until Monday, and by slighting +some of the less important sections of the trails on their return +trip, should gather at the river tilt on Wednesday evening, in order +to celebrate the holiday with a feast. + +It was late on Christmas eve when Ungava Bob, returning from the +Indian camp, drew his toboggan into the clearing in the centre of +which stood the river tilt. Its roof was scarcely visible in the +moonlight above the high drifted snow. He had hoped that some of the +others might have arrived before him, but no smoke issued from the +pipe, and fresh drifted, untrodden snow around the door told him that +he was the first. + +It was fearfully cold. Rime filled the air. The deerskin coat which +Manikawan had given him, and which he wore, was thick coated with +frost. + +He paused before the door and stood for a moment to painfully pick +away the ice that had accumulated upon his eyelashes, partially +closing his eyelids, and discovered that his nose and cheeks were +frost-bitten. He drew his right hand from its mitten, and holding his +nose in the bare palm, covered the exposed hand with the mittened palm +of the other, quickly rubbing the frosted parts with the warm palm to +restore circulation. + +Presently, satisfied that the frost had been removed from nose and +cheeks, he kicked off his snowshoes, shovelled the accumulated snow +from the doorway with one of them, set the snowshoes on end in the +snow at one side, and entering the tilt lighted a candle and kindled a +fire in the stove. + +Taking the kettle from the stove and an axe from a corner, he passed +out of the tilt and down to the river, chopped open the water hole, +filled the kettle, and returning set it over to heat. + +Unpacking his toboggan and stowing the things away, he leaned it end +up against the tilt, brought a bucket of water from the river for +culinary use, removed his deerskin coat, and settled down in the now +comfortable tilt to prepare supper and await his friends. + +Presently he heard a movement outside, and a moment later Dick Blake +poked his head in at the door. + +"Evenin', Bob," he greeted. "Glad t' see you. Th' tilt smells fine an' +warm! Where's Shad?" he asked, entering and rubbing his hands over the +stove. + +"Stoppin' wi' th' Injuns. I were tryin' t' get he t' come back, but he +thinks he wants t' go huntin' deer with un, an' stays," explained Bob. +"Any fur?" + +"Only one marten an' one otter, but they's good uns. No sign o' foxes. +But foxes won't stay when th' rabbits goes;" and Dick went out to +unpack. + +Presently Bill Campbell arrived, and a little later Ed Matheson drew +his long form through the low doorway, his red beard laden with ice. + +"Where's Shad?" he asked, after greetings were exchanged. + +Bob explained Shad's absence. + +"Well, now!" he exclaimed. "Shad must ha' been gettin' light-headed t' +do that. Well, he's welcome t' 'bide 'long with Injuns if he wants to, +but I'm thinkin' by about now he's wishin' he was where he ain't. An' +by t'morrer he'll have boiled goose an' fried pa'tridges on his mind, +an' wishin' harder 'n ever he were back here in th' river tilt." + +"He were wantin' th' hunt, an' now he may not find un so bad," said +Bob. + +"He won't be havin' no feather-bed time cruisin' about with Injuns," +insisted Ed. "Shad's gettin' wonderful peevish an' sot in his way +lately. He's thinkin' o' th' fine grub an' good times he's been havin' +t' that college place he talks about, instead o' thinkin' o' how he +likes rabbit meat three times a day an' betwixt meals when you an' him +was 'bidin' a time on th' island over here because you wasn't havin' +wings t' fly off, an' they wa'n't no other way t' get off till th' +Injun lass takes you off." + +"Shad weren't gettin' peeved," objected Bob, ready to defend his +absent friend. "He were just disappointed at findin' no huntin', an' +he 'bides with th' Injuns t' get some deer." + +"Maybe so, but Shad'll be glad enough t' get back t' th' river tilt, +an' when he is gettin' back he'll be findin' it fine. He'll be +thinkin' o' th' tough cruisin' with th' Injuns instead o' th' grub at +his college place, an' that'll make he think 'tis fine in th' tilts. +That's the way it mostly is with folks. They always wants somethin' +they ain't got, an' when they gets un they wants somethin' else. An' +like's not then they wants what they was havin' first, because they +can't have un now." + +Ed paused to pour a cup of tea and help himself to pork. + +"Shad's a good mate, though," he continued magnanimously. "He ain't +gettin' used t' th' bush yet. That's all's th' matter with he. He'll +get used t' un after a bit, an' then he won't be gettin' peeved like +he is now." + +"I'm wishin' he weren't stayin' back with th' Injuns now. I'm fearin' +he'll be havin' a hard time of un--an' I'm fearin' he may be gettin' +in trouble not knowin' how t' take un," Bob remarked solicitously. + +"I'm wonderful sorry, now, he stays wi' th' Injuns. 'Twould be fine +t' have he here for Christmas," agreed Ed, as he drew a plug of black +tobacco from his pocket and began to shave some of it into the hollow +of his hand, preparatory to filling his pipe. + +"Any fur this trip?" asked Bob. + +"Two martens--both fine uns. Not so bad. How'd you make un, Dick?" + +"I gets one marten an' shoots an otter," answered Dick. + +"You gettin' any, Bill?" asked Ed, turning to Bill, who was reclining +in one of the bunks and smoking in luxurious contentment. + +"Aye, one marten, an' I shoots a wolf last evenin'--a wonderful poor +wolf, an' his skin ain't much account. Three of un were after me on +th' trail all day, but I only gets one." + +"Three wolves, now--an' poor uns," commented Dick. "Wolves ain't +follerin' a man all day unless they's hungry, an' they ain't like t' +be hungry where they's deer." + +"No," agreed Ed, who had lighted his pipe, one moccasined heel drawn +up on the edge of the bunk upon which he lounged, the other long leg +stretched out. "Wolves follers th' deer, but when they ain't no deer +t' faller they don't faller un. Which means they ain't no deer in this +part o' th' country, an' so they just naturally fallers Bill as th' +next best meat." + +"An' bein' poor means they's hungry, an' bein' hungry means they's +lickin' their chops for Bill," continued Dick. + +"Were it night, now?" asked Ed. + +"No, 'twere broad day," answered Bill, undisturbed. + +"Now if 'twere night, I'd say they was follerin' you because your red +hair lights th' trail up for un." + +"'Tain't no redder 'n your'n," retorted Bill. + +"Never mind un, Bill," said Bob sympathetically. "Ed's jealous because +your hair's curly an' his 'n ain't." + +"Now, how about gettin' grub?" suggested Ed, when the laugh had +subsided. "They ain't nothin' t' kill, an' we got t' haul grub in from +th' Bay. I'm thinkin' t' start down Friday, an' if one o' you wants t' +go along, we'll both haul up a load on our flatsleds. How'd you like +t' go, Bill? They's a moon, an' by travellin' some at night we'll make +th' Bay for th' New Year, goin' light, an' be back by th' first o' +February, whatever, with our loads." + + + +"I'd like wonderful well t' go!" answered Bill, elated at the prospect +of a visit to the Bay, brief as it would be. + +"What you think of un?" asked Ed, addressing Dick and Bob jointly. + +"We got t' have grub if we stays on th' trails," agreed Dick, "an' +they's no sign o' killin' any meat." + +"Aye, we'll all have t' leave th' trails by th' first o' March, +whatever, unless some of us goes for grub," said Bob. + +"Bill an' me bein' away'll stretch th' grub we has, for Bill be a +wonderful eater--" Bill interjected a protest, but Ed, ignoring it, +continued: "An' what we hauls back on th' flatsleds'll carry us over +th' spring trappin'. We'll be startin' early on Friday. We'll go down +your trail an' spring your traps up on th' way out, Bill." + +A late breakfast of fried ptarmigans, and a late afternoon dinner of +boiled goose, with an evening "snack" of ptarmigan before +retiring--the last of the game reserved from the fall +shooting--together with camp bread and tea, comprised the Christmas +menu. + +Directly after breakfast Ed and Bill made ready for packing on their +toboggans the light outfit which they were to use on their outward +trip; and this done, the four held a service of song in which all +joined heartily, and spent the remainder of the day luxuriously +lounging in the tilt and telling stories. + +Shad was sincerely missed. He had looked forward keenly to the +Christmas feast, and many hearty good wishes were expressed for +him--that even among the Indians he might pass a pleasant day--that he +would not find the hardships so great as his friends had feared--and +that he would soon return to them in safety and none the worse for his +experiences. + +Then the thoughts turned to home, and speculations as to what the +far-off loved ones were doing at the moment. + +"I'm thinkin' a wonderful lot of home now," said Bob. "Tell Mother an' +Father, Ed, I'm safe an' thinkin' of un every day, an' of Emily, away +off somewheres in St. Johns t' school. It's makin' me rare lonesome t' +think o' home without Emily there. An'--an'--tell Mother, Ed--I never +forgets my prayers." + +"That I will, lad!" promised Ed heartily. "An' what you wantin' me t' +say t' Bessie, now? Tell she about th' Injun lass an' th' fine +deerskin coat she's givin' you?" + +"Tell Bessie I always carries th' ca'tridge bag she gives me--an' I'm +thinkin' how 'tis she that makes un--an' I'll be glad t'--get home t' +th' Bay," directed Bob hesitatingly. + +"Oh, aye. Glad t' get back t' see th' Bay, I'm thinkin'," laughed Ed. + +As Bob and Dick returned to the tilt an hour before daybreak, after +watching Ed and Bill disappear down the trail in the still, bitter +cold of the starlit morning, Bob remarked: + +"I'm feelin' wonderful strange--I'm not knowin' how. 'Tis a +lonesomeness--but different--like as if somethin' were goin' t' +happen." + +"An' I has th' same sort o' feelin'," confessed Dick. "'Tis like th' +stillness before a big storm breaks at sea--'tis like as if some one +was dyin' clost by." + + + +XVIII + +THE SPIRIT OF DEATH GROWS BOLD + +When Ungava Bob was gone, Shad Trowbridge returned to the deerskin +lodge to think. Now that he was alone with the Indians, he was not at +all sure that he did not regret his decision to remain with them and +share their uncertain fortunes. + +For a moment the thought occurred to him that he might even yet follow +Bob's trail and overtake him in his night camp. But he thrust the +impulse aside at once as unworthy consideration. He had come to his +decision, and he was determined to remain and play the game to a +finish. + +He craved action and excitement, and the glamour of romance that +surrounded the Indians and their nomadic life had attracted him. It +was this, together with the human instinct to play at games of chance, +and the primordial instinct slumbering in every strong man's breast to +throw off restraint and, untrammelled, match his brains and strength +against the forces of untamed nature, that had led Shad to adopt the +red man's life for a period which he believed would not exceed three +or four weeks at most. + +In preparation for departure the following day, the Indians erected +upon an elevated flat rock, which winds had swept bare of snow, a log +shelter some five feet square and five feet high. After lining the +bottom and sides of this shelter with spruce boughs, a quantity of +jerked venison and dried fish was deposited in it, the top covered +with boughs, and the roof, consisting of logs laid closely side by +side and weighted with stones, was placed in position. This precaution +was taken to protect the cache from marauding animals. + +In the dim light of the cold December morning the deerskin covering of +the wigwam was stripped from the poles, folded and packed upon the +toboggans, together with the simple housekeeping equipment of the +Indians, and a sufficient quantity of fresh bear's meat and jerked +venison to sustain them for a fortnight. + +Immediately the march was begun toward the Lake of Willows, +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn in turn taking the lead and breaking the +trail, the others following, single file. + +Day after day they pushed on and still on through scattered forests, +across wide barrens and over frozen lakes, always on the alert for +caribou but always disappointed. + +Once a small flock of ptarmigans was seen along the willow brush that +lined a stream. Shad drew his shotgun from his toboggan, but the +Indians would not permit him to use it, and in disgust he returned it +to its place while he watched Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn kill the +birds with bows and arrows. He marvelled at their skill. Indeed, he +did not observe a single arrow go astray of its mark. + +Eleven birds were secured in this way--the first game they had seen, +and the last they were to see for several days. + +A dead, awful cold settled upon the earth. The very atmosphere was +frozen. Rime in shimmering, glittering particles hung suspended in +space, and covered bushes, trees, and rocks--scintillating in the +sunlight and seeming to intensify the cold. + +The few brief hours of sunshine were disregarded. The sun rose only to +tantalise. For three or four hours each day it hung close to the +horizon, then dropped again below the southwestern hills; and its rays +gave out no warmth. + +No sign of game was seen near the Lake of Willows, and no halt was +made. The life of the Indians depended upon the killing of caribou. +The little cache of jerked venison and fish left near the Great Lake +would scarcely have sustained them a month. The few ptarmigans killed +now and again were of small assistance. The food they hauled was +nearly exhausted. + +Then came a period of storm. For a week snow fell and gales blew with +such terrific fury that no living thing could have existed in the +open, and during this period a halt was unavoidable. + +Once a day a small ration was doled out--pitifully small--enough to +tantalise appetite, but not to still hunger. Shad was consumed with a +craving for food. He could think of nothing but food. His days on the +trails and in the tilts with the trappers were remembered as days of +luxury and feasting. He wondered if Bob and the others had thought of +him when they ate their Christmas dinner of geese and ptarmigans. "Oh, +for one delicious meal of pork and camp bread. Oh, for one night of +the luxurious warmth of the river tilt!" + +When the storm abated sufficiently to permit them to continue their +journey, he moved his legs mechanically, even forgetting at last that +the effort was painful. An insidious weakness was taking possession of +him. It was an effort to draw his lightly-laden toboggan. It made him +dizzy to swing an axe when he assisted Manikawan to cut wood for the +fire. His knees gave way under him when he sat down. + +Manikawan's plump cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were growing big and +staring. Her mother had lost half her bulk, and Sishetakushin and +Mookoomahn were also noticeably affected. They no longer laughed and +seldom spoke. + +As one performing a duty that must not under any circumstance or +condition be neglected, Manikawan conscientiously looked after Shad's +welfare; but still she treated him with the same degree of dignity and +reserve, if not aloofness, that she had always maintained toward him. +He realised that what she did for him she did because he was the +friend of her beloved White Brother of the Snow, and not for his own +sake--as a dog will guard the thing which its master directs it to +guard, faithfully and untiringly, for the master's sake, but with no +other attachment for the thing itself. + +He wondered why they did not return to their cache on the Great Lake +after the long storm, and then it occurred to him that probably their +destination was the trading post at Ungava, of which Bob had told him. + +On the afternoon of the second day after the storm, they came upon a +single wigwam. Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn looked into it and passed +on. Shad raised the flap, and peering in saw the emaciated figure of +an old Indian. He was quite stark and dead, his wide-open eyes staring +vacantly into space. He had been abandoned to die. + +That evening Shad stumbled over an object in the snow. He stooped to +examine it in the starlight, and was horrified to discover the dead +body of a woman. + +The following morning, as they plodded wearily forward under the faint +light of the stars, they came suddenly upon a group of wigwams. Men, +women, and children came out to meet them--an emaciated, starved, +unkempt horde that had more the appearance of ghouls and skeletons +than human beings. Some of them tottered as they walked, some fell in +the snow and with difficulty regained their feet. + +"Atuk! Atuk! Have you found the atuk?" was the cry from all--a +hopeless cry of desperation, as they crowded around the travellers. + +"We have not found the atuk," answered Sishetakushin. + +Some heard him stoically, others staggered hopelessly away to their +wigwams, others wailed: + +"The Great Spirit of the Sky is angry. He has sent all the spirits to +destroy us. The Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--is at our back. +The raven, the Black Spirit of Death, is ready to attack us. The +Spirit of the Tempest torments us. The Spirits of the Forest and of +the Barrens mock us. The Great Spirit of the Sky has driven away the +atuk, and our people are starving. Many of our people are dead. Four +of our hunters now lie dead in their lodges." + +Shad Trowbridge could not understand what was said, but he could not +fail to understand the situation. + +For some inexplicable reason the caribou, upon which the Indians +depended for food, had disappeared from the land. All living things +save these starving wretches had vanished. + +For twenty-four hours not a mouthful of food had passed Shad's own +lips, and a sickening dread engulfed his soul. + +[Footnote: This was the winter of 1890-1891, known as "the year of +starvation," when for some unknown reason the caribou failed to appear +in their accustomed haunts, and as a result one out of every three of +the Indians of northern Labrador perished of starvation.] + + + +XIX + +THE CACHE ON THE LAKE + +Shad Trowbridge stood dazed, as one in a dream--a horrid, awful dream. +He looked through a haze, and what he saw was distorted, unreal, +terrible. The suffering creatures about him were spectral phantoms of +the nether world, the shimmering rime, a symbol of death, the endless +snow the white robe of the grave quickly to cover them all. + +A sudden stillness fell upon the camp, to be presently broken by the +agonised scream of a woman, shrill and startling, followed by wailings +and melancholy moans. The Spirit of Death had snatched away her +favourite son. + +A sickening nausea overtook Shad, and he sank upon his toboggan, faint +and dizzy with an overpowering weakness. His imagination was getting +the better of him. + +It is always dangerous and sometimes fatal for one to permit the +imagination to assert itself in seasons of peril. Will power to put +away thoughts of to-morrow, to think only of to-day, to do to-day the +thing which necessity requires, coupled with a determination never to +abandon hope, is a paramount essential for the successful explorer to +possess. + +In this moment of hopeless surrender Shad felt Manikawan's hand rest +lightly upon his shoulder for an instant, and looking up he saw her +standing before him, tall, straight, commanding, and as she looked +that day on the river bank when she bade him and Bob wait for her +return to free them from their island prison. + +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is not a coward. He is not +afraid of the Spirit of Hunger. He is not afraid of the Spirit of +Death. He is brave. He once outwitted the Matchi Manitu of the River. +He will outwit the Spirit of Hunger. He will outwit the Spirit of +Death. The friend of White Brother of the Snow is brave. He is not +afraid to die." + +The words were unintelligible to him, but their import was +unmistakable. She, a young Indian maiden, was offering him +encouragement, and recalling him to his manhood. + +He arose to his feet, ashamed that she had read his mind, ashamed that +she had found it necessary to recall him from a lapse into his foolish +weakness which must have seemed to her like cowardice. + +But he remembered now that he was a man--a white man--and because he +was a white man, the physical equal and mental superior of any savage +there. Looking into Manikawan's eyes, he made an unspoken vow that she +should never again have cause to chide him. + +Dawn was breaking, and in the growing light a half-dozen lodges were +to be seen. At one side and alone stood a deerskin tent of peculiar +form. It was a high tent of exceedingly small circumference, and where +the smoke opening was provided and the poles protruded at the top of +the ordinary wigwam, this was tightly closed. It was the medicine +lodge of the shaman. + +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn had entered one of the lodges immediately +after the tumult caused by their arrival had subsided, and Manikawan +now followed her mother into another lodge. There were no Indians +visible. The moans of the grief-stricken mother, rising above the +voices of men in the lodge which Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn had +entered, were the only sounds. + +The air was bitterly cold, but the tragedy enacting around him had for +a time rendered Shad quite insensible to it. When he did finally +realise that, standing inactive, he was numbed and chilled, he still +lingered a little before joining Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn, +dreading to enter the famine-stricken lodges. + +At last, however, necessity drove him to do so, and within the lodge +he discovered that a council was in progress. In the centre a fire +burned, and around it the men, solemn and dignified, sat in a circle. +One after another of the Indians spoke in earnest debate. They were +considering what action they should take to preserve their lives, and +Shad, as deeply interested as any, felt aggrieved that he could not +immediately learn the final result of the conference, which came to an +end as the sun cast its first feeble rays over the barren ranges that +marked the southeastern horizon. + +When the council closed the Indians filed out of the lodge, and one, a +tall old man, fantastically attired in skins, entered the medicine +lodge alone, carefully closing the entrance after him to exclude any +ray of light. + +Immediately drum beats were heard within the tent, accompanied by a +low groaning and moaning, which gradually increased in volume and +pitch until presently it became a high, penetrating, blood-curdling +screech. This continued for perhaps half an hour, the drum beats never +ceasing their monotonous rat-tat-tat. + +The shaman, or medicine man, thus working himself into a frenzy, at +length believed he saw within the lodge the ghostly form of the +particular Matchi Manitu, or evil spirit, responsible for the +disappearance of the caribou and the resulting famine. + +This spirit's wrath it was believed had for some reason unknown to the +Indians been aroused against them. Only the shaman could get into +communication with the spirit, and learn from it what course the +Indians would be required to pursue to placate its wrath, and remove +its curse. + +When the appearance of the spirit was announced, the shaman began to +supplicate and implore the Matchi Manitu to withdraw from the people +the pursuit of Famine; to return the caribou to the land; and to +preserve the lives of the dying. + +Presently in tones of joy the shaman announced that he had succeeded +in enlisting the services of the Matchi Manitu, and with the +announcement the din within the lodge ceased, and for several minutes +mysterious whisperings were heard. + +Suddenly the shaman threw over the lodge, and in a state of exhaustion +tottered forward. Still under the influence of the paroxysms into +which he had worked himself, he delivered in a wandering, disconnected +jumble of meaningless sentences the demands of the Matchi Manitu. +These consisted of many unreasonable and impossible feats that the +people were required to accomplish before the Spirit of +Starvation--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--would cease to follow upon their +trail. + +The Indians began at once to break camp. Sishetakushin had reported no +caribou to the southward. Their only remaining hope was to reach the +haven of Ungava post to the northward; and they were to begin the +life-and-death struggle northward at once--a struggle in which many +were to fall. + +A sense of vast relief was experienced by Shad when Sishetakushin +resumed the march. Famished and weak as he was, this was inexpressibly +preferable to a continuance with the starving crowd, and he turned his +back upon the camp, little caring whence their trail led. + +For a while they continued northward upon the frozen bed of a stream, +which they had been following for several days, then a sharp turn was +made to the eastward, and as the sun was setting they came upon the +ice of a wide lake. + +At the end of a half-hour of slow plodding across an arm of the lake, +they entered the edge of sparsely wooded forest and halted. +Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn began at once to remove the snow from the +top of what appeared to be a high drift, and a little below the +surface uncovered the roof of a cache similar to the one they had made +on the shores of the Great Lake of the Indians, where Shad and Ungava +Bob had found them. + +Shad's heart gave a bound when the object of the journey was revealed +to him. Here was food and promise of life! And Bob's words, so often +repeated when they were stranded on the island, flashed into his mind: + +"It's th' Lard's way. He's watchin' you when you thinks He's losin' +track o' you. He's takin' care o' you an' you does your best t' take +care o' yourself." + +Manikawan and her mother stretched the deerskin cover upon wigwam +poles used the previous summer and still standing near the lake, and +Shad cleared the snow from the interior of the wigwam, while the women +broke boughs and laid the bed. + +In the meantime, Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn opened the cache and +transferred its precious contents to the wigwam. A fire was kindled, +and in the cosy warmth of their shelter they broke their fast, which +had now extended over a period of thirty-six hours. + +The small portion of dried caribou meat doled out to each was far from +satisfying. Some of the tea which Ungava Bob had given the Indians +still remained. A kettle of this was brewed, and it served to +stimulate and warm them. Then they lighted their pipes and for a time +smoked in silence. + +At length Sishetakushin, turning to Mookoomahn, began: + +"On the Lake of the Beaver to the northward we have a small store of +atuk weas (deer's meat). We also have there the cover of a lodge. +Three suns will pass before we can reach this store of food. On the +Great Lake we have another store. + +"Sishetakushin and the woman will travel to the Lake of the Beaver. +With the store of provisions and the lodge which we find on the Lake +of the Beaver we will travel northward to the lodge of the white man, +where the water of the river joins the big sea water, and where we +shall find food. + +"Mookoomahn and the maiden, with the friend of White Brother of the +Snow, will travel southward to the Great Lake. Mookoomahn will show +the white man the way to the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. Then +he will return to the Great Lake and trap the marten and the mink. + +"When the sun grows strong, and drives away the Spirit of the Frost, +Mookoomahn will travel northward to the Lake of the Beaver. There he +will find Sishetakushin and the woman to welcome him. He will take his +food from the waters as he travels. + +"The maiden will remain in the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. +Sishetakushin gives her to White Brother of the Snow. She is his. +White Brother of the Snow is of our people. He will be glad, and the +maiden will be glad. White Brother of the Snow has white man's food in +great store. Mookoomahn will not be hungry." + +"Mookoomahn will do as Sishetakushin directs," answered Mookoomahn. + +For a time all smoked in silence, then Sishetakushin resumed: + +"Of the dried meat on the toboggan Mookoomahn and those who are with +him will eat but once during each sun. They will eat little. If they +eat much, the meat will soon be gone, and the Spirit of Starvation +will overtake them and destroy them." + +"Mookoomahn and those that are with him will do as Sishetakushin +directs," said Mookoomahn. + +A series of signs and pantomime conveyed to Shad the substance of +Sishetakushin's remarks. He understood that on the morrow the party +was to separate. That he with Mookoomahn and Manikawan were to return +to the Great Lake, and that they had been cautioned to husband their +provisions. + +He surveyed the small bundle of jerked venison with misgivings. Even +with one light meal a day he calculated that it could not last them +above three weeks. Their journey from the cache on the Great Lake to +their present position had consumed a month, including a period of one +week when they were stormbound. + +Should they be fortunate and encounter no storms, the food, sparingly +doled out, might serve to sustain them. If storms delayed them, it +certainly would not. + +In any case their lives must hang in the balance until the cache was +reached, unless game were encountered in the meantime, which seemed +highly improbable. + +A meagre meal was served at an early hour the following morning. As +usual, camp was broken long before day, and then came the farewells. + +The parting between Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn was affecting, that +between the women more stoical. Shad regretfully shook the hands of +the old Indian and his wife. They had been friends to him, and he had +no expectation that he should ever see them again. + +Then Shad and his companions turned southward into the wide wastes of +frozen desolation that lay between him and his friends. It was to be a +journey of tragic experiences--a journey that was to try his metal as +it had never yet been tried. + + + +XX + +THE FOLK AT WOLF BIGHT + +The Grays were very lonely and the little cabin at Wolf Bight seemed +desolate and deserted indeed during the first days following the +departure of the trappers for the interior. Mrs. Gray and Emily cried +a little, and often Emily would say: + +"I wonders where Bob is now, Mother, an' what he's doin'?" + +"He's workin' up th' river, lass, an' th' dirty weather's makin' th' +trackin' an' portagin' wonderful hard for un," she would answer, when +it stormed; or, when the sun shone, "They's havin' a fine day for +travellin' now." + +But presently the preparations for Emily's departure for school +occupied their attention to the exclusion of all else, and they forgot +for a time their loneliness. + +Her going was to be an event of vast importance. It was an innovation, +not only in their household but in the community, for never before had +any of the young people of the Bay attended school; and never before, +save on the occasion when Emily had been taken to the St. Johns +hospital the previous year, to undergo an operation, had any of the +girls--or women, either, for that matter--been farther from home than +Fort Pelican. + +When Bob came into his little fortune through the salvage of the +trading schooner, "Maid of the North," Mrs. Gray had urged that +Richard rest from the trail for one season, and at the same time give +the animals an opportunity to increase. This he had done, and during +the previous winter, when Bob also was at home, he and Bob had +occupied their time in the woods with the axe and pit saw, cutting a +quantity of timber and planking. + +There was no immediate need of this timber, and when Bob was gone +Richard determined to utilise it in the construction of a small +schooner, in anticipation of the trading operations to begin the +following year. Such a vessel would be a necessity in transporting +supplies from Fort Pelican to the store at Wolf Bight. + +Therefore, he began at once the work of laying the keel. There were +nearly three months at his disposal before he would go out upon his +trapping trail, and in this time, hoping to accomplish much, he +remained at his task from early morning until dusk drove him from it. +Thus occupied, Mrs. Gray and Emily seldom saw him, save at meal hours +and after candle-light in the evening, and this made them doubly +lonesome. + +One day late in August, Douglas Campbell sailed his boat over to Wolf +Bight to spend the day with his friends and to announce that a week +later he would come for Emily to take her to Fort Pelican, where they +were to connect with the mail boat for St. Johns. + +This recalled the near approach of Emily's departure, and the days +that followed passed with amazing rapidity. Emily's new woollen +frock--the first woollen frock she had ever possessed--needed still +some finishing touches. It was to be her Sunday dress--to be worn at +church, where there would be many fine people to see her--and as +pretty as the mother's skill and care could make it. + +Then there were the print frocks for everyday wear, to be freshly +laundered and packed with other clothing into a new wooden chest which +her father had made for her; and the innumerable last things to be +done, which kept Emily and her mother in a continuous state of flurry +and excitement. + +Quite too soon Emily's last day at home dawned, and, true to his +appointment, Douglas Campbell arrived during the afternoon. He looked +very grand and dignified and altogether unlike himself in his suit of +grey tweed. He wore this suit only on those rare occasions--usually at +intervals of three or four years--when business called him to St. +Johns, and Emily had but once before seen him so strangely attired. + +He looked so strange and unnatural--so unlike the good old Douglas +that she loved, in moleskin trousers and pea-jacket or adicky--that +she felt he was somehow different, and that the world was going all +topsy-turvy. + +And then for the first time there came to her a full realisation of +the great change that was to take place in her life--that she was +going far from home and into a strange land--that for many, many +months she was to see neither her father nor her mother--that she was +to live among strangers who cared nothing for her--that she would be +separated from those who loved her and all that she held dear in the +world. A great ache came into her heart--the first heart-hunger of the +homesick--and she slipped away behind the curtain to throw herself +upon her little white bed and seek relief in stifled sobs. + +Presently as she lay there, weeping quietly to herself, loud +exclamations of hearty welcome from her father and mother as some one +entered the door caused her to sit up and listen. Then she recognised +Tom Black's voice, and heard Bessie asking: + +"Where's Emily?" + +This was splendid! Bessie had come to spend the night! And, quickly +drying her tears and forgetting her heartache, Emily rushed out to +greet her friend and to find that the whole Black family were +there--Tom, the motherly Mrs. Black, and Bessie. + +"Oh, Emily, I just had t' come t' see you off!" exclaimed Bessie, as +the two girls rushed together and hugged each other in delight. "I +coaxes, an' coaxes, an' coaxes Father t' bring me over, an' he just +teases me an' says he's busy, an' Mr. McDonald can't spare he, till +this mornin' he says we're comin'. An' all th' time he an' Mother's +plannin' t' come!" + +"'Twon't do t' tell a maid everything you plans t' do," Tom chuckled. + +Bessie pursed up her red lips, and tossing her head at him laughed +gaily, showing her dimples. + +"Oh, but you just had t' come anyway, for I'd never give you a bit o' +peace if you hadn't." + +Her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes sparkling with +pleasure, Tom looked at her proudly, and could not refrain from the +remark: + +"She ain't a very humbly lass, now be she, Richard?" + +"Now, Father, stop teasin' Bessie," cautioned Mrs. Black. "He's always +teasin' th' lass." + +"I'm just dyin' t' see your things, Emily!" exclaimed Bessie, as Emily +took her friend's bonnet and wraps. "An, I couldn't let you go without +seein' you. An' I'm goin' t' stay awhile, too, with your mother. +She'll be so lonesome without somebody t' talk to when you goes." + +"Oh, Bessie! How wonderful glad I am o' that! I were just thinkin' how +lonesome Mother were goin' t' be with me an' Bob both gone--an'--an' +'twere makin' me feel bad;" and Emily brushed away a tear. + +"We'll not be lettin' your mother, nor father, either, get lonesome," +said Douglas, patting her shoulder gently and looking down in his +kindly way into her face. "Bessie'll be 'bidin' here till I comes back +in October, an' then she'll be comin' again after th' New Year for a +long stop. An' I'll be comin' once every week, whatever." + +"Oh, I'm hopin' so!" Mrs. Gray exclaimed. "I'm not darin' t' think +about how 'twill be when Emily's gone." + +"Now I knows, an' Tom knows; an' we was talkin' t' Douglas about un +when he were over t' th' post, an' we were sayin', 'Now Bessie'll have +t' go over an' 'bide awhile with Mary when Emily's gone,'" said Mrs. +Black. + +"An' you never tells me, an' just lets me tease t' come!" pouted +Bessie. + +"We were wantin' t' surprise you, lass. An'," Mrs. Black continued, +addressing Mrs. Gray, "I knows what 'tis t' be alone, now, an' th' men +folks is all in th' bush. I used t' be alone before Tom takes th' +place t' th' post; but now we has plenty o' company." + +"'Tis wonderful good an' thoughtful of you!" Mrs. Gray exclaimed +heartily. "Now set in an' have a cup o' tea an' a bite. You must need +un after th' cruise over." + +The evening was spent in chatting and visiting and looking over +Emily's new clothes. Neither Emily nor Bessie--both overcome with +excitement--slept much, however, that night, for they had a world to +talk about as they lay in bed--but most of all the great and wonderful +experiences Emily was to have. + +Emily and her mother clung to each other, and Bessie to both of them, +and cried and cried, when the time for parting came the following +morning, until finally Douglas and Richard were compelled to draw +Emily gently into the boat. Then motherly Mrs. Black, surreptitiously +brushing tears from her own eyes, put her arm around Mrs. Gray and +soothingly urged: + +"Don't be cryin', Mary. Th' maid's goin' t' be all right, an' they's +nothin' to cry for. 'Twon't be so long till you has she back." + +Richard had the hull of the little schooner well under way when the +mid-October cold forced him to abandon the work until the following +summer, and he was preparing to set out upon his trail when Douglas +appeared one evening, fresh from St. Johns, to report Emily +comfortably settled in the home of a hospitable family near the school +she was attending, and that she was immensely interested in her +studies and fairly well contented, though a little lonesome at times +for home. + +Douglas evidently had something on his mind that troubled him. Once +Mrs. Gray asked if he were ailing, but he denied anything but the best +of health. Finally, however, as a disagreeable duty that he must +perform, the kind-hearted old trapper said: + +"I'm not knowin' just how t' tell you--'twill be a wonderful hard blow +t' th' lad--th' bank where Bob were puttin' his money has broke, an' +I'm fearin' th' money's all lost." + +"Lost! Lost!" exclaimed Richard and Mrs. Gray together. + +"Aye," said Douglas, "lost." + +Then he explained fully the failure of the bank, in which he also had +a small amount on deposit, and the improbability of any of the +depositors recovering more than a nominal percentage of their +deposits, and even that doubtful. + +"Well," said Mrs. Gray, "'twill be wonderful hard on th' lad, an' he +countin' so on th' tradin' business." + +"Aye," repeated Richard, "wonderful hard on he. Wonderful hard an' +disappointin', After all his plannin' an' hopin' an' thinkin' about +un." + +"An' Emily's schoolin' charge! How now be we goin' t' pay un?" asked +Mrs. Gray. + +"Don't worry about that, now," said Douglas. "I were wantin' she t' +go, an' I were th' first t' say for she t' go, an' I'll see, now, +about un this year, whatever. Don't worry about th' schoolin', now." + +"But we can't be havin' you pay un," remonstrated Richard. + +"Well, now, don't worry about un," insisted Douglas. "We'll see. We'll +see." + +They lapsed into silence for a little, when Bessie remarked: + +"'Tisn't so bad, now. 'Tis bad t' lose th' money, an' 'twill be hard +an' disappointin' t' Bob, but he's a wonderful able lad--they's no +other lad in th' Bay so able as Bob. He's a fine lot o' traps on his +new trails, an' he'll not be doin' so bad, now." + +"Yes," agreed Douglas, "he be, now, a wonderful able lad." + +"And," Richard spoke up, beginning to see the brighter side of the +situation, "Bob owns un, an' he's havin' no debt, an' he's payin' up +all our debts. They's no other folk o' th' Bay as well off as we be." + +"I weren't thinkin' of un that way. I were just thinkin' of how hard +'twill be for Bob-givin' up th' tradin'," Mrs. Gray explained. "But we +has a lot t' be thankful for, an', as Bessie says, Bob's young an' +wonderful able." + +But nevertheless it was a hard blow--a disheartening blow--to all of +them. Bob had planned so much for the future, he was still planning +and dreaming of his career as a trader, and building air castles--away +up there in the desolate white wilderness. + +This meant, instead of the realisation of those dreams, a tedious, +interminable tramping, year after year, of the fur trails, an always +uncertain, a never-ending, struggle for the bare necessities of life. +A single bad year would throw them again into debt; two bad years in +succession would plunge them so hopelessly into debt that the most +earnest effort for the remainder of his life would not relieve Bob of +its burden. + + + +XXI + +THE RIFLED CACHE + +The cold of February, intense, searching, deadly, tightened its grip +upon the wilderness, sapping the life of the three struggling human +derelicts--for derelicts Shad Trowbridge felt himself and his two +companions to be--as they fought their way, now hopefully, now +despondently, but ever with slower pace, as strength ebbed, toward the +precious cache on the shores of the Great Lake; and with the slower +progress that growing weakness demanded, it was quickly found +necessary to reduce by half the already minute portion of dried +caribou meat allotted to each. + +Everything in the world save only themselves seemed to have been +frozen into oblivion. There was no sound, save the monotonous swish, +swish of their own snowshoes, to disturb the silence--a silence +otherwise as absolute and vast as the uttermost depths of the grave. + +Storms overtook them, but they mercifully were storms of short +duration, and seldom interfered with hours of travel. Staggering, but +ever struggling forward, they forced their way painfully on and on, +over pitiless windswept ridges, across life-sapping, desolate barrens, +through scarcely less inhospitable forests. Exerting their waning +strength to its utmost, they never stopped, save when exhausted nature +compelled them to halt for brief intervals of sleep and rest, to +recuperate their wasted energies. + +Shad Trowbridge came finally to wonder vaguely if he were not dead, +this another existence, and be doomed to keep going and going through +endless ages over endless reaches of snow. To his numbed intellect it +seemed that he had been thus going for months and years. + +Like a vague, pleasant dream of something experienced in a previous +life, he remembered Bob and the tilts, Wolf Bight farther back, and +the dear old college. What would the fellows say now, if they were to +see him--the fellows who had known him in that former, happier life? + +At other times he fancied he heard Ungava Bob and the others hallooing +in the distance, and he would answer in glad, expectant shouts. But +there never came a reply. + +The first time this occurred Manikawan turned and looked inquiringly +at him, through eyes sunk deep in their sockets. When it was repeated +later--and he came to hear the voices and to shout to the empty snow +wastes at least once every day--she would step to his side, +solicitously touch his shoulder and say: + +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow hears the voices of the +Matchi Manitu of Hunger. Let him close his ears and be deaf, for the +Matchi Manitu is mocking him." + +Mookoomahn's face was not pleasant to see now; it was horrible--the +dark skin was drawn tight over the high cheek bones, the lips shrunken +to the gums, and the eyes fallen far back into the skull. His face +resembled more than anything else the smoked and dried skull of a +mummy. + +Shad laughed sometimes when he looked at Mookoomahn's ghastly face, +framed in a mass of long, straggling black hair; at other times he was +overcome with a heart-rending pity for Mookoomahn that brought tears +to his eyes. But tears froze, and were annoying and painful. + +Manikawan, too, had changed woefully. The lean, gaunt figure stalking +along uncomplainingly with Shad and Mookoomahn had small resemblance +to the beautiful, commanding Manikawan that bade Bob and Shad be +patient in their imprisonment on the island until she returned to +relieve them; or the glowing, happy Manikawan that accompanied Shad +and the others to the river tilt after she had accomplished the +rescue. Though there still burned within her an unquenchable fire of +energy, and she never lagged on the trail, she was no longer the +Manikawan of old. + +In spite of all the hardships and all the pain, and slowly starving as +she was, she never ceased her attention to Shad, and she never once +lost her patience with him. + +When Shad laughed hysterically and derisively at his fate, as he did +sometimes, Manikawan would step to his side, touch him lightly with +her hand, and say in the same old voice, lower than of old, but even +more musical and sweet: + +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow is brave. He is not a coward. +He is not afraid to die." + +This always had a magical, soothing effect upon Shad. Though he never +learned to interpret her language, the touch of the hand, the human +note of encouragement in her voice, the light in the eyes that looked +into his, never failed to recall him to his manhood and to himself, +and to the remembrance of his vow that as a white man he must by mere +force of will prove his superiority. + +All record of time was lost. But the days were visibly lengthening +with each sunrise and sunset, and when the wind did not blow to freeze +them, and the snow did not drift to blind them, the sunshine gave +forth a hint--just a hint--of warmth. + +One day the dead silence was suddenly startled by the long-drawn-out +howl of a wolf. It was a blood-curdling and almost human cry, and Shad +likened it to the agonised cry of a lost soul in the depths of eternal +torment. Again and again it sounded, then suddenly ceasing, Shad +discovered the animal itself trotting leisurely after them far in the +rear, and a feeling of fellowship--of pity--welled up in his bosom. + +But when he discovered the creature still following them the next day, +now so near that he could see its lolling red tongue, its lean sides, +and ugly fangs, he became possessed with a feeling of revulsion toward +it. Then he fancied it the embodied Spirit of Starvation stalking them +and awaiting an opportunity to destroy them. This fancy gave birth to +a consuming, intense hatred of the thing. Finally it attained the +proportions of a mocking, tantalising demon. + +Cunningly he watched for a moment when it was well within rifle shot, +and drawing his rifle from the toboggan he dropped upon a knee, aimed +carefully, and pulled the trigger. The frost-clogged firing pin did +not respond, and the wolf, seeming to understand its peril, slunk away +unharmed. + +Shad had seen it plainly--its repulsive gray sides so lank that they +seemed almost to meet, its red, hungry tongue lolling from its ugly +mouth, its cruel white fangs, and its malevolent, gleaming eyes. His +hatred for the creature became an obsession, for it appeared again +presently, persistently following, but now keeping at a respectful +distance. + +On the third day, however, the wolf had forgotten its temporary +timidity, and with increased boldness stole steadily upon their heels. +With a patience quite foreign to him Shad waited, glancing behind +constantly, but making no demonstration until the wolf, apparently +satisfied that it had little to fear from the hunger-stricken +plodders, trotted boldly up and took a place behind them, so near that +if the rifle failed at the first snap there would be opportunity for a +second attempt before the beast could pass out of range. + +Shad again stopped, and seizing the rifle discovered that the beast +had also stopped and stood glaring at him, mocking and unafraid. As +though, knowing their weakness, it had lost respect for their power to +injure it. + +A mighty rage took possession of Shad. He fell to his knee again, +aimed carefully, and again pulled the trigger. This time there was a +report, and in an insane frenzy of delight he beheld the carcass of +the tantalising creature stretched upon the snow. + +[Illustration: Shooting the wolf.] + +Mookoomahn and Manikawan had halted, and stood in breathless silence +watching the result of Shad's shot. Now with an exclamation of +pleasure from Mookoomahn the two rushed forward, knives in hand, and +in an incredibly short time the carcass of the wolf was quartered, a +fire lighted, and some of the meat cooking. + +It was a lean, scrawny wolf, and the meat tough and stringy, but to +the famished travellers it meant life, and Shad thought the +half-cooked piece which Mookoomahn doled to him as his share the +sweetest morsel he had ever eaten. + +The wolf meat, carefully husbanded, supplied food until one morning +Mookoomahn by a series of signs conveyed the information to Shad that +they were within one day's march of the cache. Then they ate the last +of it, that it might give them strength for the final effort. + +It was evening, but not yet dark, when familiar landmarks told Shad +that they were nearing the goal, and a little later they halted where +the poles of Sishetakushin's lodge stood in the edge of the woods +above the lake shore. + +With furious haste Shad and Mookoomahn rushed to the cache, but +suddenly stopped, aghast and stupefied. The cache had been rifled of +its contents, and lying near it, half covered with snow, lay the +frozen, emaciated body of an Indian. + + + +XXII + +MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE + +An examination of the surroundings made it plain that a band of +eastern Mountaineer or Mingen Indians, in a starving condition, had +visited the place; that one of them, already too far exhausted to be +revived, had died; that the others, taking the food, had left his body +uncared for and fled. + +The disappointment was quite beyond expression. Had they been in good +physical condition, a short three days' travel would now have carried +them to the river tilt and safety. In their present weakened and +starved condition at least twice that time would be consumed in the +journey, and no food remained to help them on their way. + +In deep depression Shad assisted Manikawan to stretch the deerskin +covering upon the lodge, while Mookoomahn gathered wood for the fire. +Clumsy with weakness, dizzy with disappointment, Shad reached to +spread the skin, his snowshoes became entangled, he stumbled and fell. +When he attempted to rise he discovered to his dismay that he had +wrenched a knee, and when he attempted to walk he was scarcely able to +hobble into the lodge. + +The last bare chance of life fled, the last thread of flickering hope +broken, Shad sank down, little caring for the pain, numb with a +certainty of quickly impending death. He could not keep the pace of +the Indians. He could not travel at all, and he could neither ask nor +expect that they do otherwise than proceed as usual after a period of +rest, and leave him to his fate. + +Very early in the morning Shad heard a movement in the lodge, and +realised that Mookoomahn and Manikawan were engaged in low and earnest +conversation. This meant, he was sure, that they were going. + +He vaguely wondered whether they would take the lodge with them and +leave him to die the more quickly in the intense cold of the open, or +whether they would leave it behind them as a weight now too great to +be hauled farther upon their toboggan. + +He did not care much. He was resigned to his fate. He suffered now no +pain of body, save an occasional twitch of the knee when he moved. The +hunger pain had gone. It would be sweet and restful, after all, to lie +there and die peacefully. It would end the struggle for existence. +There would be no more weary plodding over boundless snow wastes. The +end of hope was the end of trouble and pain. + +With his acceptance of the inevitable, and resignation to his fate, a +great lassitude fell upon him. He was overcome with a drowsiness, and +as the swish, swish of retreating snowshoes fell upon his ears he +dropped into a heavy sleep. + +It must have been hours later when Shad opened his eyes to behold +sitting opposite him, across the fire, Manikawan. She smiled when she +saw that he was awake, and he thought how thin and worn she looked, a +mere shadow of the Manikawan he had first known. + +Then there dawned upon his slowly-waking brain a realisation of the +situation. She had resigned her chance of life to remain with him. He +could not permit this. It was a useless waste of life. There was still +hope that she might reach the tilts and safety. By remaining with him +she was deliberately rejecting a possible opportunity to preserve +herself. Much perturbed by this discovery, Shad sat up. + +"Mookoomahn?" he asked, pointing toward the south. + +"Mookoomahn," she answered, pointing in the same direction. +"Manikawan," pointing at the fire, to indicate that Mookoomahn had +gone but she had remained. + +He protested by signs that she should follow Mookoomahn. He passed +around the fire to where she sat, and grasped her arm in his bony +fingers, in an attempt to compel her to do so; but she stubbornly +shook her head, and, forced to submit, he resumed his seat. Both sorry +and glad that he should not be left alone, he reached over and pressed +her hand as an indication of his appreciation of her self-sacrifice. + +Then she dipped from a kettle by the fire a cup of liquid, which she +handed him. He sipped it, and, discovering that it was a weak broth, +drank it. He looked at her inquiringly. + +Turning again to the pail, she drew forth half a boiled ptarmigan, +which she passed him. + +"Let the friend of White Brother of the Snow eat. It is little, and it +will not drive away the Spirit of Hunger, but it will help to keep +away the evil Spirit of Starvation until White Brother of the Snow +brings food to his friend." + +He accepted it and ate, not ravenously, for his hunger now was not +consuming, but with delicious relish. Manikawan did not eat, but he +presumed that she had already had a like portion. + +Shad was able to hobble, though with considerable pain, in and out of +the lodge, and to assist in getting wood for the fire, and so far as +she would permit him to do so he relieved her of the task. + +The following morning and for four successive mornings the cup of +broth and the portion of ptarmigan awaited him when he awoke. It was +evident Manikawan had killed them with bow and arrow. + +He never saw her eat. It was quite natural that she should have done +so before he awoke of mornings, for he made no attempt at early +rising. + +But he noted with alarm that Manikawan was daily growing weaker. She +staggered woefully at times when she walked, like one intoxicated. She +was weaker than he, but this he ascribed to his stronger mentality. + +By sheer force of will he put aside the insistent weakness, which he +knew would get the better of him were he to resign himself to it. By +the same force of will he injected into his being a degree of physical +energy. But he was a white man, she only an Indian, and this could not +be expected of her. + +Then there came a day when he awoke to find her gone, and no broth or +ptarmigan awaiting him. Later she tottered into the lodge, and +empty-handed laid her bow and arrow aside. + +The next morning she was lying prone, and the fire was nearly out, for +the wood was gone. + +"Poor girl," he said, "she is tired and has overslept;" and +stealthily, that he might not disturb her, he stole out for the needed +wood. + +She was awake when he returned, and she tried to rise, but fell +helplessly back upon her bed of boughs. + +"Manikawan is weak like a little child," she said, in a low, uncertain +voice. "But White Brother of the Snow will soon come. The suns are +rising and setting. He will soon come. Let the friend of White Brother +of the Snow have courage." + +Shad brewed her some strong tea--a little still remaining. She drank +it, and the hot stimulant presently gave her renewed strength. + +But Shad was not deceived. Manikawan's words had sounded to him a +prophecy of the impending end. Her voice and her rapidly failing +strength told him that the Spirit of Hunger--the Gaunt Gray Wolf--was +conquering; that the spirit most dreaded of all the spirits, Death, +stood at last at the portal of the lodge, waiting to enter. + + + +XXIII + +TUMBLED AIR CASTLES + +With the strengthening cold that came with January and continued into +February, the animals ceased to venture far from their lairs in search +of food, and the harvest of the trails was therefore light. With the +disappearance of rabbits, the fox and lynx had also disappeared. The +rabbit is the chief prey of these animals during the tight midwinter +months, and as the wolf follows the caribou, so the fox follows the +rabbit. + +With the going of the fox the field of operations was not only +narrowed, but the work was robbed of much of its zest. When foxes are +fairly numerous the trapper is always buoyed with the hope that a +black or silver fox, the most valuable of the fur-bearing animals, may +wander into his traps; and this hope renders less irksome the weary +tramping of the trails at seasons when the returns might otherwise +seem too small a recompense for the hardships and isolation suffered. + +The two preceding years had yielded rich harvests to Dick Blake, and +had more than fulfilled his modest expectations. He was, therefore, +though certainly disappointed, far from discouraged with the present +outlook, and very cheerfully accepted the few marten and mink pelts +that fell to his lot as a half loaf by no means to be despised. + +While Ungava Bob had looked forward to a successful winter's trapping, +his chief object in coming so far into the wilderness had been the +establishment of his new trails as a basis for future trading +operations; and more particularly, therefore, with a view to the +future than to the immediate present. Neither was he, for this reason, +in any wise discouraged. His youthful mind, engaged in planning the +castles he was to build tomorrow, had no room for the disappointments +of to-day. + +Sishetakushin had given Bob the assurance that the Nascaupees would +bring him their furs to barter. He was satisfied, also, that he could +secure a large share of the trade of the Eastern, or Bay, Mountaineer +Indians, for he would pay a fair and reasonable price for their furs, +and they would quickly recognise the advantage of trading with him. +And he would have another advantage over the coast traders: he would +establish a trading station in the very heart of the wilderness, in +the midst of the Indian hunting country. + +Previous to his coming into his little fortune his father had, as far +back as Bob could remember, been struggling under a load of debt. At +times the family had been plunged into the very uttermost depths of +poverty; and even now a sickening dread stole upon Bob as he recalled +some of the winters through which they had passed when the factor at +the post had refused them further credit, and the flour barrel at home +was empty, and they could scarcely have survived had it not been for +the bounty of Douglas Campbell. + +This was the condition still with many of the families of the Bay. +They were always in debt to the Company for advances of provisions, +and there was no hope that they could ever emerge from the deplorable +condition. It was the policy of the Company that they should not. + +In accepting credit from the Company, the trapper placed himself under +obligation to deliver to the Company every product of his labours +until the debt was discharged. The Company allowed the trapper in +return for his pelts such an amount as it saw fit. He had no word in +the matter, and of necessity was compelled to accept the Company's +valuation of his furs, which valuation the Company took good care to +place so low as to obviate any probability of his release from debt. +At a reasonable valuation of their furs, there was seldom a year that +most, if not all, the Bay trappers might not have been freed from +their serfdom. + +Thus when a trapper died his only inheritance to his children was a +burden of debt, which sometimes passed down from generation to +generation; for the son who refused to assume his father's debt was +denied credit or consideration at the Company's stores. + +The Grays, as we have stated, had felt the heavy hand of this +inquisitional system. Now that they were free, Bob's sympathy was +poured out to his neighbours, and he was secretly planning how, when +he became a trader, he might also compass their release. + +As rapidly as his profits would permit, Bob was determined to advance, +first to one family, then to another, sufficient cash to discharge +their debts and relieve them from their obligation to the Company. + +Then he would advance them the necessary provisions and supplies to +sustain them until they returned from their trails with their hunt. He +would buy their pelts at as high a price as he could afford with a +reasonable profit. This price would always be certainly double, and +often four or five times, that which the Company was accustomed to +allow. + +Bob, thus forming his Utopian plans, forgot the tedium of the trail. +No person is so happy as when doing something to make some other +person happy. And Bob was happy because he believed he was to be the +means of bringing happiness to many. Making a comfortable living +himself, he would make it possible for his neighbours to make a +comfortable living, also. + +It never occurred to him that failure was possible, or that, with the +amount of capital which he believed was still at his disposal, the +plan was unpractical. Young, highly optimistic, and somewhat +visionary, his dreams assumed the status of reality. + +Bob's mind was thus pleasantly occupied when at the end of the first +week in February he returned to the river tilt to find Ed Matheson and +Bill Campbell back from Eskimo Bay, and Dick Blake, just in from his +trail, drawing off his frost-encrusted adicky. + +"An' there's Bob, now!" exclaimed Ed, as Bob appeared in the doorway. + +"'Tis grand, now, t' see you back," said Bob, his face beaming welcome +as he shook the hands of the returned travellers. "Dick an' me's been +missin' you wonderful." + +"'Twere grand, now, t' see th' tilt when Bill an' me comes in last +evenin'. 'Twere th' hardest pull up from th' Bay with our loads we +ever has, an' we was tired enough t' drop when we gets here. Where's +Shad?" + +"Wi' th' Injuns yet, an' I'm worryin' about he not comin' back. They +must ha' gone a long ways down north lookin' for deer, or they'd been +back before this. How'd you find th' folks at th' Bay, Ed?" + +"Fine--all of un fine. Your mother's wantin' wonderful bad t' see you. +But when I tells she you'm all right, she stops worryin'. I were +forgettin' t' say anything about th' trouble wi' th' Mingens, though;" +and Ed grinned. + +"Forgettin' a purpose?" asked Bob, smiling. + +"Maybe so," admitted Ed. "What's past don't do nobody no good t' know +when they's nothin' for un t' make right. 'Twouldn't ha' helped none +for she t' know about th' Mingens, so I just naturally forgets un." + +"I'm glad o' that. Mother'd 'a' worried an' been thinkin' all sorts o' +things happenin' what never would happen;" and, greatly relieved, Bob +asked, "An' when'd you make th' Bay?" + +"'Twere just New Year. Bill an' me cruises along fast, bein' light, +an' takin' short sleeps. 'Twere night when we gets t' Wolf Bight, an' +I says t' Bill, says I: ''Tis near midnight, an' likewise t' th' New +Year. They'll be sleepin', an' le's's wake un up shootin' th' New Year +in like all creation.' + +"Gettin' alongside th' winder, we lets go till our rifles is empty, +and then rushin' in th' door yells, 'Happy New Year!' They was awake, +all right, wonderin' what in time an' creation were turned loose on +un, we yellin' like a passel o' Injuns. They was glad t' see us. + +"Bill goes home t' Kenemish with daylight, an' your father takes me t' +th' post wi' dogs an' komatik, your mother goin' along, an' I gets +home th' evenin'." + +"Were they goin' right back home?" + +"No, they 'bides t' th' post with Tom Black's folks till th' end o' +th' week, an' Bessie goes back with un t' be company with your mother. +Oh, I were forgettin'! Here's somethin' your mother were sendin';" and +Ed reached under the bunk and drew forth a package. + +Upon opening the package Bob discovered a quantity of sweet cakes, a +loaf of plum bread, and a letter. He passed the cakes around, then +drawing up to the candle proceeded at once to read hungrily his +mother's letter. + +It was a message of love and encouragement, closing with the news of +the bank failure and consequent loss of the little fortune with which +he had planned to do so many things. Presently looking up he said, in +a shaking voice: + +"Why--Ed--Mother's sayin' th' bank's broke--an' all our money's gone." + +"Aye," admitted Ed, his voice sympathetic and sorrowful. "'Tis broke, +lad--I were hopin' she wouldn't write you that, an' you wouldn't know +till you gets home. But don't worry about un, now, lad. 'Twon't do no +good. If you hadn't known about un now, you wouldn't be worryin' about +un. An' now you knows, 'twon't help none." + +"I suppose you're right, Ed. But 'twill be hard not t' worry. I were +plannin' so." + +"'Tain't so bad as t' have some o' your folks die, now. An' I been +noticin' all my life that sometimes things happens t' me I thinks is +'most more'n I can stand, an' I feels like givin' up. Then somethin' +comes along that's better'n anything I ever thought o' gettin'. An' +then when I thinks un out, I finds th' good couldn't ha' come without +me havin' th' trouble first. So don't get feelin' too bad about un, +Bob. This may be just openin' th' way for some wonderful good luck +better 'n all th' money you loses," soothed Ed. + +There was a postscript which Bob had overlooked. Now in folding the +letter his eye caught it and he read it--a brief line added by Bessie, +telling him not to think too much about his loss, for she was sure it +would all be well in the end, and not to forget it was the Lord's will +or it could not have happened, adding, "Remember, Bob, the Lord is +always near you." + +Nevertheless, Bob was very quiet at supper. He could not forget his +tumbled air castles. He could not forget the fact that the returns +from the present year's trapping would be insufficient to buy the next +year's outfit. + +"They was a band o' Injuns comes t' th' post just before I leaves, +pretty nigh on their last legs," remarked Ed, when they had finished +eating and he had lighted his pipe. "They was about as nigh starved as +any passel o' men I ever seen, an' if they'd been starved much more +they'd been dead. I hears some o' th' band did die before these gets +out." + +"Who were they?" asked Bob. + +"Mountaineers," answered Ed. "They was back in th' country huntin', +but don't find th' deer. They's camped down t' th' post now." + +"Did you hear where 'bouts they was huntin'?" inquired Dick. "In th' +nu'th'ard or s'uth'ard?" + +"They all comes from th' nu'th'ard and west'ard o' th' post," said Ed. +"They tells me they finds it th' worst year for fur an' game up that +way they ever seen, an' I tells un 'tis th' same here." + +"I wonders, now, how Shad an' th' Injuns he's with is makin' out. +They'll be wonderful bad off, an' they don't run on th' deer," +suggested Dick. + +"They'll be likely t' find un up where they finds un when I was with +un," reassured Bob, "but 'tis a long cruise there an' back." + +Bob's loss was a keen disappointment to him. For several days it +robbed him of ambition, and he tramped along the trails and attended +to his traps dully and methodically, with a heavy heart. Then he began +to say to himself: + +"'Tis th' Lard's way. 'Tweren't right for me to go tradin' or t' have +th' money, an' th' Lord knowin' it takes th' money away." + +This thought, with his natural buoyancy of temperament, restored again +to a large extent his interest and ambition in his work; and when he +remembered that he was, after all, the owner of two unencumbered +trails, with all their traps, he almost forgot his disappointment--but +not altogether; that was impossible. + +With the end of February ptarmigans began to reappear among the +willows along the river bank. They were welcomed by the trappers, for +they supplied a much needed variety to the diet. They offered hope, +too, that the period of famine was nearing its end. + +Ed Matheson's report of the condition of the Indians appearing at the +Eskimo Bay post gave the men food for thought. When they gathered +again at the river tilt two weeks later, the chief subject of +conversation was Shad's continued absence, and many speculations were +put forth as to the probable movements of Shad and their Indian +friends. Whether or not they were likely to find caribou, where they +would go and what they would be likely to do should they fail, were +questions which they discussed at length. And they did not conceal +from one another the fact that they were deeply concerned for Shad's +safety. + +When the trappers gathered again at the rendezvous on Friday, the +sixth of March, they fully expected that Shad would be there to greet +them, but they were disappointed. His failure to appear at this late +date excited alarm, but no course of action that would be in the least +likely to lead to results presented itself. + +They agreed that the Indians had beyond doubt left a cache at the +Great Lake, for Sishetakushin had stated to Bob that he would do so; +and upon returning to that point it was believed Shad would have +sufficient food to proceed to the river tilt. Any search beyond the +Great Lake would be fruitless, for none could know in what direction +to search. + +Still there was no Shad on Friday, the twentieth of March. They ate +their supper and resumed their speculations. + +"I'm thinkin', now, t' make a cruise t' th' place where th' Injuns was +camped when I left un," declared Bob. "If they ain't there, I'll come +back, unless I sees signs of un. And, anyway, 'twill make me feel +better." + +"An' I'll go along," said Ed. "We'll be startin' in th' mornin' early, +an' we may's well get our stuff out t'-night, ready t' pack." + +They had blown out the candle and were lying in their bunks, +discussing still Shad's long absence, when the door of the tilt was +pushed quietly open and the figure of a man appeared in the moonlight +at the entrance. + +They sprang from their bunks, and Ed Matheson, striking a match, +applied it to a candle. As the light flared up the man entered, and +Mookoomahn stood before them. + + + +XXIV + +THE MESSENGER + +They looked at the Indian in awed and speechless horror. His tale of +suffering was told before he spoke. He had come from a land of +Tragedy. He had been stalking side by side with Death. + +This was a mere shadowy caricature of the Mookoomahn Bob had known. +The face was fleshless as that of a skeleton head, with the skin of +the former inhabitant stretched and dried upon the bones; the lips so +shrunken that they scarcely served to cover the two white lines of +teeth; the eyes deep fallen into gaping cavities below the frontal +bone. + +Drawing his skeleton hands from their mittens, and raising them in an +imploring gesture, Mookoomahn looked, as he stood there in the dim +candlelight under the low log ceiling, more a spectre--a ghostly +phantom visitor--than a living human being. + +Then he spoke in a voice low and broken: + +"White Brother of the Snow, Mookoomahn has long been tormented by the +Spirit of Hunger. When he slept the Spirit of Starvation sat by his +side, never sleeping. When he travelled the Spirit of Starvation +stalked at his heels, never tiring. For many suns the Spirit of Death +has had his cold fingers on Mookoomahn's shoulder." + +Gently Bob removed the caribou-skin coat from the starving and +exhausted traveller, and made him comfortable while the others brewed +tea and heated some cold boiled ptarmigan in the pan. + +"'Twon't do t' give he much at first," cautioned Dick Blake, setting +before Mookoomahn a small portion of the meat and a small piece of +bread with a cup of the hot tea. "He's like t' be wonderful sick, +anyway, th' carefullest we is. We'll let he have a small bit at a +time, an' let he have un often." + +No questions were asked until after the Indian had eaten. It seemed +almost that no questions were necessary. The man had come alone. He +was in the last stages of starvation. These facts spoke loudly enough. +They told the tale of wasting strength, of hopeless struggle, of +tragic death that had taken place in the bleak wild wastes above. + +The food revived and the tea stimulated Mookoomahn, and when he spoke +again, in answer to Bob's urgent request that he tell them of the fate +of Shad and the others, his voice was stronger. + +He described the journey to the Lake of Willows, and thence to the +camp of starving Indians. He told how the shaman had made medicine to +the spirits; how the spirits had revealed to the shaman the things +that it was required the Indians do; how the Indians in their starved +condition were not able to fulfil the requirements laid upon them by +the spirits; and how in consequence the wrath of the spirits was not +placated. + +He described the journey to the cache on the northern lake; +Sishetakushin's instructions, and gift of Manikawan to White Brother +of the Snow; of the parting from Sishetakushin. + +Vividly he detailed the long and tedious return to the Great Lake; and +how the angry spirits reaching up had seized Shad, cast him into the +snow, and lamed him. + +"The friend of White Brother of the Snow could not walk. The Matchi +Manitu had wounded his knee. Manikawan, the sister of Mookoomahn, had +promised White Brother of the Snow that she would not leave his friend +until he came. + +"Mookoomahn told Manikawan White Brother of the Snow would not hold +her to her promise. That White Brother of the Snow did not mean that +she should die for his friend. + +"Manikawan would not listen to Mookoomahn, and she said: 'When White +Brother of the Snow comes he will find Manikawan waiting with his +friend. She has promised. If the Spirit of Death comes into the lodge, +White Brother of the Snow will find Manikawan's body with the body of +his friend, and he will know that Manikawan kept her word.' + +"Seven suns ago Mookoomahn left the lodge. He travelled slowly, for +the spirits clung to his feet and made them heavy. The spirits tripped +him and made him fall often. He killed three ptarmigans as he +travelled, and the flesh of the ptarmigans made him strong to reach +the lodge of White Brother of the Snow. + +"For seven suns the friend of White Brother of the Snow and Manikawan +have had no food. The Spirit of Death stood very near the lodge when +Mookoomahn left it. The Spirit of Death has entered the lodge and +destroyed Manikawan and the friend of White Brother of the Snow." + +With this sombre prophecy Mookoomahn ceased speaking, and leaned back +exhausted. As they looked at him they could appreciate the sufferings +of Shad and Manikawan, and no great stretch of the imagination was +necessary to picture the gruesome spectacle that they had no doubt +awaited them in the lodge on the Great Lake. + + + +XXV + +A MISSION OF LIFE AND DEATH + +Bob's face had grown pale and tense as he listened. With Mookoomahn's +last words he rose from the edge of the bunk where he had seated +himself, and turning to Ed Matheson, asked: + +"Be you goin' with me, Ed? Th' moon's good for travellin', an' I knows +th' way." + +"That I be," Ed responded, beginning his preparation at once. "I +couldn't be restin' here a minute knowin' them poor souls was dyin' +out there." + +"I'm goin', too," declared Dick Blake, reaching for his adicky. "Three +can travel faster'n two, by changin' off in th' lead." + +"What you doin', Bill, with your a dicky, now?" Ed suddenly asked, +observing that Bill Campbell was also drawing on his adicky. "Goin'," +answered Bill laconically. + +"No, Bill, you better stay here with th' Injun," directed Ed. +"Somebody'll have t' stay with he. If they don't, by to-morrer he'll +get eatin' so much he'll kill hisself if he ain't watched. + +"You stay an' keep an eye on he. Give he just a small bit t' a time, +till he gets over th' first sickness. He'll be wonderful sick +t'-night, an' for a week, but sick's he is, by day after t'-morrer +he'll be wonderful hungry, an' want t' eat everything in sight, an' +more too, an' if he eats too much 'twill kill he sure. His belly'll be +givin' he trouble for a month yet, whatever, two ways--wantin' t' +stuff un, an' makin' he sick because he does." + +Bill Campbell was plainly disappointed, but there was no doubt Ed was +right, and laying aside his adicky he uncomplainingly assumed the role +of nurse to which Ed had assigned him. + +The men set forth in haste upon their mission of life and death. The +moon, a white, cold patch, lay against the steel-blue sky. The snow, +thick coated with frost, glittered and scintillated in the moonlight. +A silence impressive, complete, tense, lay upon the frozen white +world. It spoke of death, as the bated breath of the storm, before it +breaks, speaks of calamity. + +The three trappers, who had entered the tilt that evening wearied from +the day's labour upon the trail, forgot their weariness as they swung +forward at a rapid pace toward the camp on the Great Lake. + +First one, then another, took the lead, breaking the trail and making +it easier for those who followed. To men less inured to hardship and +less accustomed to wilderness travel, it would have been a killing +pace, continued unabated, unvarying, hour after hour. + +At length the moon, falling near the western horizon, threatened +quickly to withdraw her light; and then a halt was called, the tent +quickly stretched between two convenient trees, the sheet-iron stove +set up, a fire lighted, a few boughs spread for a bed, and the men +stretched themselves for a two hours' rest. + +They were up again before light, a hurried breakfast was eaten, and +with daybreak they were away. Seldom was a word spoken. Each was +occupied with his own thoughts, and each was stingy of his breath. To +have talked would have been to expend energy. + +Only once during the day did they halt, early in the evening, to make +tea and partake of much-needed refreshment, and then were quickly on +their way again, continuing by moonlight. + +It was past midnight when, Ungava Bob in the lead, crossing a barren +rise, beheld the smooth white surface of the Great Lake stretching far +away to the northward. Descending the ridge and plunging into the thin +forest below, he turned with a nameless dread at his heart toward the +lodge where, three months before, he had said farewell to Shad and +Manikawan. Then they were in the full exuberance of health and +strength. How should he find them now? He dared not answer the +question. + +A little farther, and the lodge, a black blot on the snow, loomed up +through the trees. Quickening his pace, he peered anxiously ahead for +smoke, half hoping, wholly dreading, the result. Yes, there it was! +The merest whiff rising above the protruding lodge poles at the top! +At least one lived! + +Bob broke into a run, the others at his heels, and, scarcely halting +to drop the hauling rope of his toboggan from his shoulders, he lifted +the flap and entered, calling as he did so: + +"Shad! Shad! Manikawan! Does you hear me?" + +The place was dark. The smouldering embers of a fire gave out no +light, and receiving no answer Bob shouted to the others to bring a +candle. Ed Matheson had anticipated the need, and, close at Bob's +side, struck a light. + + + +XXVI + +"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS" + +As the candle sputtered for a moment and then flared up, it revealed, +lying prone on opposite sides of the lodge, feet to the embers of the +dying fire, two human wrecks, whose emaciated features and shrunken +forms could never have been recognised as those of Shad and Manikawan. + +Bob stooped, and taking Shad gently by the shoulder shook him, saying +as he did so: + +"Shad! Shad! Shad!" + +Slowly Shad, awakening from deep and exhausting slumber, opened his +cavernous eyes and stared vacantly at Bob. + +"Shad!" Bob repeated. "'Tis Bob an' Ed an' Dick come for you! Shad! We +has grub, Shad!" + +Still Shad gave no sign of recognition. + +"Shad! Shad!" pleaded Bob. "Don 't you know me now, Shad?" + +Then light came into Shad's face, and he forced himself to a sitting +position. + +"Bob! Oh, Bob!" he exclaimed, in a weak voice. "Am I awake or is it +just a dream? Oh, Bob! Good old Bob! And Ed! and Dick! I was dreaming +of you and the tilts. The dear old tilts! And you've come! You've +really come? I heard you calling, Bob--days and days and days I heard +you, and I answered. But my voice was too weak, and you couldn't hear. + +"We've been in hell, Bob! In hell! The devils chased us, Bob--chased +us for months and months and months. They looked like wolves, +Bob--hungry, ugly wolves. I shot one! Yes, shot it! We ate it, and it +was good! Ate the devil, Bob! and Ed! and Dick! Are you angels from +heaven, or really you?" + +"A bit o' tea's what he needs first thing," suggested Ed, in a shaky +voice, as Shad paused in his ramblings. "Dick, you cut some wood, now, +an' I'll be fillin' th' kettle with ice an' get un over. Bob better be +stayin' right here." + +"Bob!" Shad continued, as Dick and Ed passed out of the lodge. "Is it +really you, Bob?" + +His voice was now more rational, though very weak. + +"Yes, Shad, 'tis me." + +"How is Manikawan, Bob? Look after her, won't you? I'm all right now. +I've tried to keep her out of the deep sleeps she falls into. I've +been afraid she'd die. But I was very tired, and I think I must have +been very sound asleep myself--and slept for hours. Leave me, Bob, and +wake her up. I'm all right." + +Bob obediently passed over to Manikawan, leaving Shad sitting and +anxiously watching him. + +It seemed for a time that he was not to succeed in rousing Manikawan +from the coma-like sleep into which she had passed. But when Dick +placed wood upon the fire, and the lodge began to warm, she displayed +symptoms of waking; and Bob lifted her head to his shoulder, chafed +her temples, and spoke her name over and over again. At last she +opened her eyes, and with almost instant recognition smiled: + +"White Brother of the Snow--Manikawan is glad you have come. It +has--been--long--but Manikawan knew--White Brother of the Snow--would +come at last--she did not--leave his friend." + +Then she paused, exhausted, but presently continued: + +"Manikawan told--White Brother of the Snow--she would--stay until he +came--for his friend." + +"Manikawan has done well. She has been very brave. She is a Ne-ne-not +(Nascaupee), and brave." Bob could trust himself to say no more, for +his voice was thick. + +Manikawan's eyes lighted at these words of praise, and, never taking +them from Bob's face, she lay silent upon his shoulder until the food +was ready. + +Ed Matheson gave some tea and a small portion of broiled ptarmigan and +bread to Shad, while Bob held the cup for Manikawan, then fed her some +morsels of the meat as one would have fed a child. It was difficult +for her to eat, though the tea stimulated her temporally, and she +began presently to speak again, in a scarcely audible voice: + +"The Spirit--of Hunger--followed us. The Gaunt +Gray--Wolf--was--always--behind--us. +The--Spirit--of--Death--stood--at--the--door--of the--lodge. The +spirits--were--strong--and cunning--like--the +wolverine--Manikawan--was--weak--like a rabbit." + +She was out of breath again and had to rest, and Bob held the cup of +tea to her lips. With renewed strength she continued: + +"Manikawan--killed--two ptarmigans--with--her--arrow. +She--ate--the--entrails--but she--gave--the meat--to the friend--of +White Brother of--the Snow. She was--not afraid--to die. +She--could--not say to--White Brother--of the Snow--when he came--'The +Spirit--of Death--has--entered--the lodge--and--taken--your--friend.'" + +There was another pause. Bob could see, and Ed and Dick could see that +the Spirit of Death was even then in the lodge, and that his cold hand +was upon Manikawan's brow. Tears trickled down Bob's cheeks. He could +not check them. + +"White--Brother--of--the--Snow--must--not--feel--bad. +He--must--be--strong. Manikawan--is--happy. +She--is--warm--as--when--the--sun--grows--brave--in--summer--and-- +comes--to--warm--the--earth." + +A smile played upon her lips. + +"Manikawan--is--very--happy. +She--sees--a--light--like--the--rising--sun. +White--Brother--of--the--Snow--" + +That was the end. Bob's cheeks were wet as he laid the lifeless form +upon its couch of boughs, and gently covered it with a deerskin robe; +and tears streamed down the weather-beaten cheeks of the two rough +trappers standing at his side. + +Manikawan was not a Christian. She had never heard of Christ and His +saving grace. But dare any say He did not welcome her to His Father's +house? + +She had renounced her own hope of life by remaining behind in the +lodge when Mookoomahn left them. In the name of love and duty she had +made the supreme sacrifice--she had laid down her life for +another--and Christ hath said: "Greater love hath no man than this, +that a man lay down his life for his friends." + +And, after all, did Manikawan not worship the same God that you and I +worship? Standing upon the high pinnacle of rock, looking toward the +rising sun, she offered a silent prayer to the Great Mystery, that she +might be made nobler, braver, and more generous--worthy to stand in +the presence of the Great Mystery--the Maker of heaven and earth and +all things. + +We call Him God. Manikawan called Him the Great Mystery. + + + +XXVII + +SHAD'S TRIBUTE TO THE INDIAN MAIDEN + +Though Shad's weakness caused him to wobble woefully when he walked, +his knee had much improved since the day of his injury. + +The food, given him in small portions at frequent intervals, and the +assurance of continued life that the appearance of the rescuers +brought, stimulated his body to new strength and restored to him his +mental equilibrium. Hope is life, and one possessed of a large degree +of hope, coupled with a good physique, may withstand a tremendous +amount of hardship and privation. + +The very presence of Manikawan during the long period of enforced +inactivity and waiting, had kept alive in Shad Trowbridge the hope +that Mookoomahn might after all reach the river tilt and send his +friends to the rescue before it was too late. Had it not been for +this, it is scarcely probable he would have survived until they came. + +The few Indian words which Shad had acquired had not been sufficient +to permit him to carry on connected conversation with Manikawan or the +other Indians. Denied this privilege for so long, he talked almost +incessantly to the three trappers, while the four sat through the +hours until daybreak, keeping vigil with Death. He talked of the +prospect of continued life, and what a blessed thing it was to know +that he was still to be in and of the great and glorious world; of his +trying experiences since he had joined the Indians. + +With dawn the tent was pitched among the trees, not far from the +lodge. Then they removed to its more comfortable shelter, with Bob +walking at Shad's side to steady his uncertain footsteps. + +Shad was sick, and suffered severely from nausea that day--and at +intervals, indeed, for several days thereafter--a result that always +follows the introduction of food into the contracted stomach after a +long period of starvation, particularly when the food is of coarse +quality and unsuitably prepared. + +Almost immediately, too, his legs began to swell. But this disturbed +him little. It was merely an incident and another result of his long +period of starvation, quite to be expected. + +"Don't worry about un none," advised Ed Matheson, when Shad called +attention to the phenomenon. "Injuns as starves always gets swelled +legs, an' they stays swelled for quite a bit, too. Just forget un now. +You'll be all right so long's you don't get too rapid wi' th' grub, +an' set you'm belly swellin' too fast." + +"Ed," said Shad, "after what I've been through, I think there's +nothing would alarm me much. It doesn't disturb me in the least to +have my legs swell. I'm rather proud of them. They contrast +beautifully with the rest of me, and give me a certain sense of +stability that otherwise I should not have, for they're the only part +of me that looks in the least natural. Do you hear my bones rattle +when I move? I have a presentment that, unless I'm pretty careful, my +skeleton will fall apart before I get flesh enough to hold it +together." + +"Now that's th' way I likes t' see folk!" exclaimed Ed. "Not growlin' +like a bear because they looks summat like a dead man, an' because +they has a bit o' ache in their insides every time they eats. You'm do +look as though you'm just rize from th' grave. But you'm a wonderful +live corpse yet, Shad. A man may's well be happy even if he do feel +like all creation turned inside out, 'specially when he knows he ain't +goin' t' keep feelin' that way. A man is just as happy as he's +thinkin' he is, an' no happier, an' as miserable as he's thinkin' he +is an' no miserabler. I finds bein' happy an' content wi' things is +just a matter o' th' way o' lookin' at un." + +"Yes, Ed, I think you're right," agreed Shad. "I'm finding no fault. +I'm thankful to be alive and in the beautiful world, and I'm very much +contented with my lot. I would be very happy, too, but for the thought +of that poor little Indian girl." + +The earth, frozen to adamantine hardness, precluded the possibility of +digging a grave during the winter season. Therefore, after the manner +of her people, a platform of poles, high raised above the snow, was +built among the spruce trees to receive Manikawan's body. + +It was late in the afternoon when the platform was completed and the +four weatherbeaten men again entered the silent lodge, where they were +to conduct a simple, primitive funeral service, and give Manikawan the +rites of Christian burial before raising her body to the platform. + +Bob, who never was separated from the little Testament his mother had +given him years before, drew the book from his pocket when they had +seated themselves in the lodge, and opening to John xv, passed it to +Shad, who, accepting it, read the chapter aloud in a low but clear +voice, while the others reverently listened. + +[Transcriber's note: John XV:12-13--"This is my commandment: love one +another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down +one's life for one's friends."] + +"Bob," said Shad at length, closing the Testament, "you knew her +first. Tell us about her." + +Responding, Bob described how Sishetakushin and Mookoomahn, finding +him unconscious in the snow, had carried him to their lodge--the very +lodge in which they were now sitting; and how upon first opening his +eyes to consciousness he had seen her, weaving the web of a snowshoe, +opposite him, across the fire--just where she was lying now; and she +had looked up and smiled when she discovered he was awake. And then, +ever gentle, ever considerate, she had nursed him to health, and +ministered to him until he had left them. + +When Bob had finished, Shad spoke of her never-failing thoughtfulness +and consideration. Of the encouragement of her example as, +uncomplaining, she followed the weary, endless trail day after day. Of +her hand lightly laid upon his shoulder as she looked into his eyes +and spoke words of encouragement he could not understand, but which +never failed to call him back to himself and his manhood and to banish +an impulse which frequently assailed him to give up the fight for +life, lie down in the snow and accept the release from suffering which +Death offered. + +"But her crowning sacrifice," said Shad, "came when she refused to +leave me alone to die; and I certainly could not have survived had I +been left in this lodge without human companionship. + +"Manikawan could have gone on with Mookoomahn and saved herself. He +went to you and told you of our need. He did well, but he did it +mainly to save himself. It was the instinct of self-preservation that +gave him inspiration to accomplish it. But she remained, and remaining +she gave me the only food that fell to her arrow, while she starved. +That was divine unselfishness--divine sacrifice." + +Stepping to the side of Manikawan's lifeless body, he lifted and laid +aside the skin robe which covered her face, then kneeling at her side, +with tears upon his cheeks, he continued: + +"Manikawan, your skin was red, but your soul was as white as the +driven snow that covers the desolate land of your people. Your +features are shrunken with starvation and suffering, but still they +are beautiful, for they reflect the beautiful, unselfish soul which +they once sheltered. + +"Your lips smile. Did you see the glory of heaven as you passed from +us--a thousand times more beautiful than the brilliant aurora or the +gorgeous sunsets that glorify the skies of this land of awful +desolation where you existed? Did you see the light of the Eternal +City shining through its gates when they were opened to receive you?" + +As though in answer to Shad's question the last rays of the setting +sun dropped through the open top of the lodge and rested upon the +upturned face of the dead Indian maiden in a bright, illuminating +glow. + +"Manikawan, you sacrificed your life to duty and to human sympathy. +You died a Christ-like death, and your sacrifice shall not be wasted. +Your body is dead, but your spirit still lives. + +"So long as the breath of life is in me, Manikawan, I shall never +forget your example of patience and encouragement and self-effacement. +It has built for me new ideals. It has taught me that there are other +things to live for than the mere attainment of pleasure and the +gratification of selfish desires. + +"You were an Indian, Manikawan, and the world would have called you a +pagan and a savage. But you have pointed out to me the way to a nobler +and better life." + +Shad arose and resumed his seat. He had spoken in a voice of tense +earnestness, and for a little while all sat in awed silence. Then Ed +Matheson began to sing, and the others joined him: + + "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in thee." + +With the last notes of the grand old hymn they all knelt, while big +Dick Blake, in a voice shaken with emotion, offered a short but +fervent prayer. + +Manikawan's body was wrapped tightly in deerskin robes, and in the +darkening twilight of the cold winter evening it was reverently borne +to the newly erected platform among the spruce trees. Here it was to +lie exposed to winds and storms, but beyond the reach of marauding +animals, until the next summer's sun should warm and soften the earth +sufficiently to permit Mookoomahn and the trappers to dig a grave and +lay it in its final resting-place. + + + +XXVIII + +TROWBRIDGE AND GRAY, TRADERS + +At the end of a week, when the supply of provisions which the trappers +had brought with them was running low, Shad suggested that he was +quite able to make the journey to the river tilt. His knee was now so +far improved that it caused him but slight inconvenience to walk, and +he was rapidly regaining strength. + +He was anxious indeed to return to the tilt. He thought of it much as +one thinks of home; and the thought carried with it visions of rest +and comfort. The others could ill afford a longer absence from their +trails, and it was therefore with a sense of deep satisfaction to all +that the camp on the shore of the Great Lake was broken. + +Travelling slowly, with Shad following in the well-packed trail which +the others made, they arrived at their destination on an afternoon +five days later, and were welcomed by Bill Campbell and Mookoomahn. + +How deeply or how lightly Mookoomahn felt when he learned of +Manikawan's death, none knew. He listened in stoical silence while Bob +related to him in detail the circumstances of her going and the +subsequent happenings in the lodge and in the camp at the Great Lake; +but throughout the recital Mookoomahn made no comments, and his +countenance betrayed nothing of his sensations. + +Mookoomahn was recovering rapidly. He was passing, indeed, quite +beyond Bill Campbell's control; and not satisfied now with the limited +portions of food which Bill, religiously adhering to the advice he had +received from Dick Blake and Ed Matheson, doled out to him, he had the +day before the return of the travellers stolen away to the willows +along the river bank below the tilt, killed some ptarmigans on his own +account, and gorged himself upon the flesh to his temporary +satisfaction; but nature balanced her account with him in the hours of +subsequent agony which he suffered for his indiscretion. + +Fully a month elapsed after their return before Shad could eat a meal +with any assurance that it would not be followed by distress. His +normal appetite, however, had begun to return before they broke camp +on the Great Lake, and had quickly developed into a highly abnormal +appetite. + +No sooner was one meal finished than his mind was centred upon the +next. At night his last thought was his next morning's breakfast, and +when he awoke breakfast was still on his mind. Eating during this +period of recuperation was to him the all-important object in life. + +It was nearly a month after his return to the river tilt that Shad +first learned of Bob's loss of fortune. It was upon the occasion of +the fortnightly rendezvous, when Ed Matheson remarked: + +"Th' next round's about th' last we can make. Th' fur's 'most too poor +t' take, now, an' when I comes back I'll strike up my traps. An' it's +been a wonderful poor hunt." + +"Aye, wonderful poor, an' wonderful disappointin'," sighed Bob. + +"Th' worst I ever see," continued Ed. "If 'tweren't for you, Bob, +clearin' Dick's an' my old debts, we'd be in a bad way gettin' next +fall's debt from th' Company. An' now your losin' all your money, th' +bad furrin' comes hard on you--wonderful hard. I'm fearin' th' new +debt we'll all have t' start off next season with'll be a big un." + +"What money did you lose, Bob? I hadn't heard of it," asked Shad, as +Ed passed out of the tilt to join Dick and Bill, who were cleaning the +snow from the roof of the tilt in anticipation of an early thaw. + +"Th' money I has in th' bank t' St. Johns," explained Bob. "When Ed +comes back from th' Bay he brings me a letter from Mother sayin' th' +bank broke an' th' money's gone." + +"That's bad!" Shad sympathised. "How much was there?" + +"About twelve thousand dollars. But 'tain't so bad. We has th' traps, +an' th' new trails laid." + +"But that was the capital you were to begin trading on?" + +"Aye, but we'll have t' give th' tradin' up now. I'm thinkin' th' Lard +weren't wantin' us t' go tradin' or t' have th' money, an' I'm not +complainin', though I were wonderful disappointed when I hears of un +first." + +Shad asked many questions, in the course of which he drew from Bob a +description of the air castles which Bob had been building, and which +had been so unceremoniously knocked down about his ears by his +mother's letter; of the poverty-stricken condition of the Bay folk, +which Bob in his big-hearted and youthful enthusiasm had hoped to +relieve; and of many other things which he had planned to do with his +fortune. + +Though all this was of the past, and of little importance now, he had +intended to keep it a secret. But he and Shad had grown very close +together, and somehow Shad had a way of drawing from him even his most +sacred thoughts--and before Bob realised it he had bared his heart to +his friend. + +"An' I were thinkin'," said Bob, after the sum-total of his shattered +plans had been disclosed, "when we was up on th' Great Lake, what a +rare fine thing 'twould ha' been for th' Injuns, if I hadn't ha' lost +th' money, t' make a tradin' station an' a cache o' grub up th' other +end o' th' Great Lake--seventy or eighty miles in from where Manikawan +dies--so when another bad year comes th' Injuns down that way could +get grub t' carry un out t' th' Ungava post. If they'd been a cache +there this winter, Manikawan wouldn't ha' died, an' a lot o' th' other +poor Injuns as must ha' died would ha' got out." + +"That's so," agreed Shad. "What an amount of suffering it would have +saved! And the poor little Indian girl wouldn't have been sacrificed." + +The others returned at this point, and conversation drifted into other +channels--the striking up of the traps--the probability of an early +break-up--the hard times that the present season's failure was certain +to cause among the people of the Bay. + +"Bob, if you're going to strike up and make this next trip your last +one of the season, I'm going over the trail with you," said Shad, the +following day. "I want to see again the trail I helped you lay, and +the tilts we built together. It seems a long while ago, and the memory +of it is already a pleasant one." + +So on Monday morning they started on the last round of traps for the +season. The days were long now, and the sun was still high when they +reached the tilt on the first lake--the tilt where Manikawan had found +Bob's rifle, and the first of the series of tilts Bob and Shad had +built. + +They cooked and ate their supper, and then lounged back upon their +bunks to chat of their first exploration of the trail, their visit to +the falls, and of Manikawan's unexpected appearance when they were on +the island. + +Finally they lapsed into silence, Shad sitting on the edge of his +bunk, his elbows on his knees, and his chin in his palms; Bob lying +back, his hands folded under his head, his eyes studying the ceiling, +but his thoughts far away with the loved ones at home and with Emily +at school. + +Suddenly Shad broke the silence and Bob's thoughts with the question: + +"How would you like me for a partner, Bob?" + +"A trappin' partner, Shad? 'Twould be fine, now!" exclaimed Bob, +coming back to himself and his surroundings. "But I was thinkin' you'd +be weary o' th' trails, Shad, after what you've been through." + +"No, Bob, a trading partner;" and Shad sat up. "You were going into +business, Bob, but your loss, you tell me, has made it impossible, +because you have no capital. I'd like to be let in on your plans, for +they appeal to me. Such a trading operation as you outlined to me +should prove not only profitable, but at the same time would be a +practical method of relieving a vast amount of suffering. It would +give the Bay people independence and bring them a good many comforts +of life they've never enjoyed. + +"And if your suggestion were carried out to establish two or three +trading stations with provision caches attached, up here in the Indian +hunting country, there could be no repetition of this year's horrible +experience. + +"Now, Bob, you know the people and their needs, and you're an expert +in judging furs, but you haven't the funds to carry out your plan. I +don't know much about these things, but I have the funds. Let's come +together--your experience and knowledge against my cash--and form a +partnership. What do you say?" + +"Oh, Shad! 'Twould be--'twould be th' grandest thing in th' world, +Shad!" and Bob's face flushed with excitement; and then, suddenly, he +continued: "But I couldn't do it, Shad. 'Twouldn't be fair for me t' +be partners, for I hasn't any money t' put in for a share." + +"Don't be foolish, now, Bob. Don't talk nonsense. Money without a +knowledge of the people and their needs isn't enough. I haven't the +knowledge, and I'd make a failure of it alone. But with your knowledge +and my money we'd be successful. + +"You've said a good many times that things don't happen by chance, but +are brought about by the direction of the Lord; haven't you, Bob?" +asked Shad. + +"Aye, 'tis th' Lard brings things t' happen," admitted Bob. + +"Now, Bob, listen to me. I came here in the first place just to enjoy +a pleasant summer's outing. Pleasure and good times were all I ever +thought of, and I knew nothing of life or life's higher motives. I +doubt if I could have earned my own bread if I had been turned loose +in the world empty-handed, because I hadn't the power or patience to +stick to a thing or to face discouraging conditions for any length of +time. + +"I did not know the meaning of the word toil; I did not know what +privation meant, or the suffering that comes through privation. I had +always had whatsoever my fancy craved, and had never known want or +disappointment. + +"Here in your country, Bob, I have experienced toil. I have been tried +out in the furnace fire of physical suffering and mental agony, and I +have learned what sympathy means. + +"I am living to-day only because Manikawan, an Indian girl, made it +possible by the sacrifice of her own life for me to live. I'd have +given up and thrown myself down in the snow to die a hundred times but +for the encouragement she gave me to keep going, for I was constantly +possessed of a desire to seek the rest and peace of death. And those +poor Indians shared with me, Bob, the little they had, when they might +easily have left me to perish. + +"Do you know, Bob, there has not been a night since she died that I +have not dreamed of Manikawan? She seems to say to me: 'I gave my life +for yours. Go forth and make your life useful--offer a helping hand to +others. It is in your power to guard my people from starvation.' So, +Bob, I've got to do it if I am ever to have peace of mind, and you've +got to help me. + +"Do you think that these things just happened, Bob? Or were they +brought about by Divine direction? Don't you think that this +combination of incidents points out to us our life work? Don't you +think they suggest that we are to unite our talents and so use them +that we shall not only help ourselves but help others? Come, Bob, what +do you say?" + +For a moment Bob did not speak, and when he did his voice betrayed +deep emotion. + +"Th' way you puts un, Shad, I'm thinkin', now, you'm right. 'Tis th' +Lard's way o' bringin' things about. You'm wonderful good, Shad, t' +think o' me for a partner, an' I'll be wonderful proud t' be partners +with you, Shad." + +"That's the way to talk, old man!" exclaimed Shad, grasping Bob's +hand. + +"I'm not knowin' how t' thank you, Shad," replied Bob, his heart +overflowing. + +"That feeling is reciprocated, Bob, so we won't either of us thank the +other. Now we've agreed to our partnership, we'll have plenty of time +to arrange the details of our business before we go to the Bay, and +then I think you'll have to make a trip to St. Johns or Boston with me +to have the co-partnership agreement drawn and executed in proper +legal form." + +Shad explained to Bob that at the time of his birth his grandfather +set aside one hundred thousand dollars to be held in trust for his +benefit. It was provided that the income of this trust fund was to be +paid to his guardian annually, upon his birthday, to be applied to his +immediate needs, or to constitute an annual allowance of spending +money, until he attained his majority, when he was to receive the +principal. + +"But I've never spent any of Grandfather's allowance," said Shad. +"Father got me everything I needed and kept me supplied with spending +money, and every year when the income from the trust fund came in +Father bought government bonds with it and placed the bonds in a +safety deposit vault for me. + +"These bonds amount to more than the principal of the trust fund +now--I don't know just how much, but I know there's considerably more +than one hundred thousand dollars, for they have been earning interest +all these years. + +"This money is mine to use as I see fit, and I'm going to invest one +hundred thousand dollars of it in our partnership and hold the balance +as a reserve. Of course my sister will have to act for me until I'm of +age. She's ten years older than I am, and has been my guardian since +Father died. She'll not object, for she has a great deal of confidence +in my judgment. + +"When Father died, nearly three years ago, he left me a snug fortune, +and I have plenty to live on even if our trading venture doesn't prove +a money-making business at first." + +"'Tis a wonderful lot o' money!" declared Bob. "More'n I can think!" + +"We'll need a pretty fair capital to succeed," said Shad. "We'll have +to purchase a vessel of some sort to carry on trade along the outer +coast, and bring our supplies to the Bay, and carry to market our +furs, fish, and oil. You'll look after the native trade, with the men +you employ to help you, but I'll have to engage expert assistance in +purchasing the trading goods and disposing of the products to the best +advantage until I finish college and learn my end of the business. All +will cost money, though I hope when we once get started we'll build up +a trade that will warrant it." + +Bob went to his bunk that night with his head all awhirl. The amount +of capital which Shad proposed to put into their partnership, and the +extensive business which he proposed to build up, were too big and too +wonderful for Bob to comprehend all at once. + +A substantial structure had indeed taken the place of his tumbled air +castles, though it was long before he could bring himself to realise +that this structure was not, after all, another and greater air castle +than those which had been destroyed. + + + +XXIX + +THE FRUIT OF MANIKAWAN'S SACRIFICE + +At length the break-up came, much as it always comes in that country. +The sun, grown strong and bold, vanquished the Spirit of Frost. The +snow became a sea of slush, and water covered the ice of lakes and +river. Finally the clouds opened, and for a week rain fell in a +deluge. + +A thousand new streams sprang into being, rushing in white torrents to +join the swollen river. Cascades fell from every ledge and parapet. +Now and again a great boulder was loosened and went crashing down a +hillside with terrifying roar. The river, freed from its ice shackles, +overflowed its banks, and in the wild, unrestrained ardour of its new +power uprooted trees and washed them away upon its turbulent bosom as +it dashed madly seaward. + +One day, when the rain had ceased and the waters had somewhat +subsided, Ungava Bob and Shad Trowbridge, accompanied by Mookoomahn, +turned northward in Shad's canoe to the Great Lake, following the +route which Manikawan had taken several months before in her journey +to the river tilt. + +Manikawan's body was found as they had left it, and undisturbed. It +was lowered from its rude platform, and they laid it in its final +resting-place in a grave among the spruce trees not far from her +father's lodge. Over the grave a cairn of boulders was raised, and +surmounted by a tablet of wood upon which was carved simply the word +"MANIKAWAN." + +Then they parted, Mookoomahn to turn northward in his long and lonely +journey to join his people, Bob and Shad to return to the river tilt, +and homeward. + +It was on an afternoon late in June when the browned and +weather-beaten voyageurs turned their boat into Wolf Bight. What a +long, long time had elapsed, it seemed to Shad, since that foggy +morning in August when they had left the little cabin and said +farewell to the tearful group upon the shore; and how homelike and +restful the cabin looked now! What an age of experience had passed +since that night when Bob pulled him out of the Bay, and introduced +him, shivering and wet, to its hospitable shelter and warmth. + +As they approached the shore a glad shout was heard, and a moment +later Emily--who had that very day reached home from St. Johns--and +Bessie, who was there to meet her, came running to the landing, with +Mrs. Gray and Richard and Douglas Campbell at their heels. + +Emily laughed and cried with delight, quite smothering Bob with +kisses, and when she relinquished him to her mother she kissed each of +the other brown faces. Bob was quite impartial, and when his mother +released him Bessie was not forgotten in his greeting. + +The most important, and therefore the first piece of news to be +imparted, was the partnership agreement between Shad and Bob. Douglas +at once prophesied success, and when, a fortnight later, Bob and +Richard took passage with Shad to St. Johns, Douglas accompanied them +as expert adviser in the selection of a trading vessel and the +necessary supplies for their posts. + +* * * * * + +The firm of Trowbridge and Gray began operations with the +establishment of stations in the interior, as originally designed. +Dick Blake was engaged to take charge of the post at the northerly end +of the Great Lake, where he quickly built up a large and lucrative +trade with both Nascaupee and Mountaineer Indians. + +The river tilt was enlarged, and became a trading station and supply +base for the interior, over which Ed Matheson presided. + +Bill Campbell, during the open season of navigation, had command of +the brigades of Indians employed to transport goods from Wolf Bight to +the interior posts, and during the midwinter months conducted a +sub-post and storehouse situated at the southerly end of the Great +Lake, not far from Manikawan's grave. + +With the interior trade in such able hands, Ungava Bob devoted his +attention to the Bay trade, and it is needless to say that the +trappers of the region prospered. + +Richard, in command of the trim schooner "Manikawan," also opened a +profitable trade with livyeres and Eskimos of the coast. + +Shad Trowbridge, after graduation from college, quickly developed into +an able business man, and personally attended to the purchase of +supplies and the sale of products. + +Trowbridge and Gray made mistakes, as was to be expected, and had +their ups and downs, but in the end they succeeded, and the firm is +known to-day from Boston to Hudson's Straits as one of the most +honourable and substantial concerns in the North. + +At the very beginning of their career Shad and Bob adopted as their +trademark the picture of an Indian maiden with bow raised and arrow +poised ready for its flight, and beneath it the word "Manikawan." With +this constantly before them Shad declared they could never stray from +the original object of their enterprise, and could never forget the +lesson taught by Manikawan's heroic sacrifice. And never since the +firm began business have Manikawan's people failed to receive relief +in times of need, and never has there been a repetition of the awful +year of starvation. + +"'Tis wonderfully strange, Bessie, how things come about," Bob +sometimes says to his wife, in their cosy home at St. Johns. "I used +to think the Lord had forgotten me sometimes, but I always found later +that those were the times He was nearest to me." + +"The Lord has always been very close to you, Bob," Bessie invariably +replies. + +Emily, at the earnest solicitation of Shad, was permitted to finish +her education in Boston under the chaperonage of Shad's sister, and +developed into a charming and accomplished woman, though she never +lost her love for the little cabin at Wolf Bight. + +But the failures and successes of Trowbridge and Gray, and the +experiences of Emily in the new and greater world which she entered, +are stories by themselves, and each would require a volume to relate. + + + +THE END + + + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY BOY SCOUT EDITION + +The books in this library have been proven by nation-wide canvass to +be the one most universally in demand by the boys themselves. +Originally published in more expensive editions only they are now +re-issued at a lower price so that all boys may have the advantage of +reading and owning them. It is the only series of books published +under the control of this great organization, whose sole object is the +welfare and happiness of the boy himself. + +Adventures in Beaver Stream Camp, Major A. R. Dugmore +Along the Mohawk Trail, Percy Keese Fitzhugh +Animal Heroes, Ernest Thompson Seton +Baby Elton, Quarter-Back, Leslie W. Quirk +Bartley, Freshman Pitcher, William Heyliger +Billy Topsail with Doctor Lake of the Labrador, Norman Duncan +The Biography of a Grizzly, Ernest Thompson Seton +The Boy Scouts of Black Eagle Patrol, Leslie W. Quirk +The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill, Charles Pierce Burton +Brown Wolf and Other Stories, Jack London +Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coasts, Frank R. Stockton +The Call of the Wild, Jack London +Cattle Ranch to College, R. Doubleday +College Years, Ralph D. Paine +Cruise of the Cachalot, Frank T. Bollen +The Cruise of the Dazzler, Jack London +Don Strong, Patrol Leader, William Heyliger +Don Strong of the Wolf Patrol. William Heyliger +For the Honor of the School, Ralph Henry Barbour +The Gaunt Gray Wolf, Dillon Wallace +Grit-a-Plenty, Dillon Wallace +The Half-Back, Ralph Henry Barbour +The Horsemen of the Plains, Joseph A. Altsheler +Jim Davis, John Masefield +Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson +Last of the Chiefs, Joseph A. Altsheler +The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper +Last of the Plainsmen, Zane Grey +Lone Bull's Mistake, J. W. Shultz +Ranche on the Oxhide, Henry Inman +The Ransom of Red Chief and O. Henry + Other Stories for Boys, Edited by F. K. Mathiews +Scouting With Daniel Boone, Everett T. Tomlinson +Scouting With Kit Carson, Everett T. Tomlinson +Through College on Nothing a Year, Christian Gauss +Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson +20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne +Under Boy Scout Colors, J. B. Ames +Ungava Bob, Dillon Wallace + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + +THE TOM SLADE BOOKS +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +Author of "Roy Blakeley," "Pee-wee Harris," "Westy Martin," Etc. +Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Colors. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +"Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade," is a suggestion which thousands +of parents have followed during the past, with the result that the TOM +SLADE BOOKS are the most popular boys' books published today. They +take Tom Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through his +tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as an American +doughboy in France, back to his old patrol and the old camp ground at +Black Lake, and so on. + +TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT +TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP +TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER +TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS +TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT +TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE +TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER +TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS +TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE +TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL +TOM SLADE'S DOUBLE DARE +TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN +TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER +TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN +TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER +TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + +THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +Author of "Tom Slade," "Pee-wee Harris," "Westy Martin," Etc. +Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified the very +essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as Huck Finn and Tom +Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of the troop of Scouts of which he is +a member, and the average boy has to go only a little way in the first +book before Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to +part with his best treasure to get the next book in the series. + +ROY BLAKELEY +ROY BLAKELEY'S ADVENTURES IN CAMP +ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER +ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS +ROY BLAKELEY'S SILVER FOX PATROL +ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN +ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN +ROY BLAKELEY'S BEE-LINE HIKE +ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP +ROY BLAKELEY'S FUNNY BONE HIKE +ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL +ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL +ROY BLAKELEY'S ELASTIC HIKE +ROY BLAKELEY'S ROUNDABOUT HIKE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + +THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS +By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +Author of "Tom Slade," "Roy Blakeley," "Westy Martin," Etc. +Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color. +Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley books are acquainted +with Pee-wee Harris. These stories record the true facts concerning +his size (what there is a it) and his heroism (such as it is), his +voice, his clothe his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. +Together with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, +circumvented and triumphed over everything and everybody (except where +he failed) and how even when he failed he succeeded. The whole +recorded in a series of screams and told with neither muffler nor +cut-out. + + +PEE-WEE HARRIS +PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL +PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP +PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT +PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO +PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER +PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD +PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY +PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gaunt Gray Wolf, by Dillon Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAUNT GRAY WOLF *** + +***** This file should be named 29374.txt or 29374.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/3/7/29374/ + +Produced by Don Kostuch + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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