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diff --git a/6357-h/6357-h.htm b/6357-h/6357-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d5e7d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/6357-h/6357-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,16617 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Young Fur-Traders, by R. M. Ballantyne</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Young Fur-Traders, by R. M. Ballantyne</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Young Fur-Traders</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: R. M. Ballantyne</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 1, 2002 [eBook #6357]<br /> +[Most recently updated: August 15, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>The Young Fur-Traders</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by R. M. Ballantyne</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#pref01">PREFACE</a><br/> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I</a><br/> +Plunges the reader into the middle of an arctic winter; conveys him into the +heart of the wildernesses of North America; and introduces him to some of the +principal personages of our tale +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II</a><br/> +The old fur-trader endeavours to “fix” his son’s +“flint,” and finds the thing more difficult to do than he expected +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III</a><br/> +The counting-room +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</a><br/> +A wolf-hunt in the prairies; Charley astonishes his father, and breaks in the +“noo’oss” effectually +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V</a><br/> +Peter Mactavish becomes an amateur doctor; Charley promulgates his views of +things in general to Kate; and Kate waxes sagacious +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</a><br/> +Spring and the voyageurs +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</a><br/> +The store +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</a><br/> +Farewell to Kate; departure of the brigade; Charley becomes a voyageur +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</a><br/> +The voyage; the encampment; a surprise +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X</a><br/> +Varieties, vexations, and vicissitudes +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</a><br/> +Charley and Harry begin their sporting career without much success; Whisky-John +catching +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</a><br/> +The storm +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</a><br/> +The canoe; ascending the rapids; the portage; deer-shooting and life in the +woods +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</a><br/> +The Indian camp; the new outpost; Charley sent on a mission to the Indians +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</a><br/> +The feast; Charley makes his first speech in public; meets with an old friend; +an evening in the grass +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</a><br/> +The return; narrow escape; a murderous attempt, which fails; and a discovery +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</a><br/> +The scene changes; Bachelors’ Hall; a practical joke and its +consequences; a snow-shoe walk at night in the forest +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br/> +The walk continued; frozen toes; an encampment in the snow +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</a><br/> +Shows how the accountant and Harry set their traps, and what came of it +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</a><br/> +The accountant’s story +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI</a><br/> +Ptarmigan-hunting; Hamilton’s shooting powers severely tested; a +snow-storm +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII</a><br/> +The winter packet; Harry hears from old friends, and wishes that he was with +them +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII</a><br/> +Changes; Harry and Hamilton find that variety is indeed, charming; the latter +astonishes the former considerably +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV</a><br/> +Hopes and fears; an unexpected meeting; philosophical talk between the hunter +and the parson +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV</a><br/> +Good news and romantic scenery; bear-hunting and its results +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI</a><br/> +An unexpected meeting, and an unexpected deer-hunt; arrival at the outpost; +disagreement with the natives; an enemy discovered, and a murder +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII</a><br/> +The chase; the fight; retribution; low spirits and good news +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII</a><br/> +Old friends and scenes; coming events cast their shadows before +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap29">CHAPTER XXIX</a><br/> +The first day at home; a gallop in the prairie, and its consequences +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap30">CHAPTER XXX</a><br/> +Love; old Mr. Kennedy puts his foot in it +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<a href="#chap31">CHAPTER XXXI</a><br/> +The course of true love, curiously enough, runs smooth for once; and the +curtain falls +</p> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p> +In writing this book my desire has been to draw an exact copy of the picture +which is indelibly stamped on my own memory. I have carefully avoided +exaggeration in everything of importance. All the chief, and most of the minor +incidents are facts. In regard to unimportant matters, I have taken the liberty +of a novelist—not to colour too highly, or to invent improbabilities, +but—to transpose time, place, and circumstance at pleasure; while, at the +same time, I have endeavoured to convey to the reader’s mind a truthful +impression of the <i>general effect</i>—to use a painter’s +language—of the life and country of the Fur Trader. +</p> + +<p> +EDINBURGH, 1856. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Plunges the reader into the middle of an Arctic winter; conveys him into the +heart of the wildernesses of North America; and introduces him to some of the +principal personages of our tale. +</p> + +<p> +Snowflakes and sunbeams, heat and cold, winter and summer, alternated with +their wonted regularity for fifteen years in the wild regions of the Far North. +During this space of time the hero of our tale sprouted from babyhood to +boyhood, passed through the usual amount of accidents, ailments, and +vicissitudes incidental to those periods of life, and finally entered upon that +ambiguous condition that precedes early manhood. +</p> + +<p> +It was a clear, cold winter’s day. The sunbeams of summer were long past, +and snowflakes had fallen thickly on the banks of Red River. Charley sat on a +lump of blue ice, his head drooping and his eyes bent on the snow at his feet +with an expression of deep disconsolation. +</p> + +<p> +Kate reclined at Charley’s side, looking wistfully up in his expressive +face, as if to read the thoughts that were chasing each other through his mind, +like the ever-varying clouds that floated in the winter sky above. It was quite +evident to the most careless observer that, whatever might be the usual +temperaments of the boy and girl, their present state of mind was not joyous, +but on the contrary, very sad. +</p> + +<p> +“It won’t do, sister Kate,” said Charley. “I’ve +tried him over and over again—I’ve implored, begged, and entreated +him to let me go; but he won’t, and I’m determined to run away, so +there’s an end of it!” +</p> + +<p> +As Charley gave utterance to this unalterable resolution, he rose from the bit +of blue ice, and taking Kate by the hand, led her over the frozen river, +climbed up the bank on the opposite side—an operation of some difficulty, +owing to the snow, which had been drifted so deeply during a late storm that +the usual track was almost obliterated—and turning into a path that lost +itself among the willows, they speedily disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +As it is possible our reader may desire to know who Charley and Kate are, and +the part of the world in which they dwell, we will interrupt the thread of our +narrative to explain. +</p> + +<p> +In the very centre of the great continent of North America, far removed from +the abodes of civilised men, and about twenty miles to the south of Lake +Winnipeg, exists a colony composed of Indians, Scotsmen, and French-Canadians, +which is known by the name of Red River Settlement. Red River differs from most +colonies in more respects than one—the chief differences being, that +whereas other colonies cluster on the sea-coast, this one lies many hundreds of +miles in the interior of the country, and is surrounded by a wilderness; and +while other colonies, acting on the Golden Rule, export their produce in return +for goods imported, this of Red River imports a large quantity, and exports +nothing, or next to nothing. Not but that it <i>might</i> export, if it only +had an outlet or a market; but being eight hundred miles removed from the sea, +and five hundred miles from the nearest market, with a series of rivers, lakes, +rapids, and cataracts separating from the one, and a wide sweep of treeless +prairie dividing from the other, the settlers have long since come to the +conclusion that they were born to consume their own produce, and so regulate +the extent of their farming operations by the strength of their appetites. Of +course, there are many of the necessaries, or at least the luxuries, of life +which the colonists cannot grow—such as tea, coffee, sugar, coats, +trousers, and shirts—and which, consequently, they procure from England, +by means of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company’s ships, which sail once a +year from Gravesend, laden with supplies for the trade carried on with the +Indians. And the bales containing these articles are conveyed in boats up the +rivers, carried past the waterfalls and rapids overland on the shoulders of +stalwart voyageurs, and finally landed at Red River, after a rough trip of many +weeks’ duration. The colony was founded in 1811, by the Earl of Selkirk, +previously to which it had been a trading-post of the Fur Company. At the time +of which we write, it contained about five thousand souls, and extended upwards +of fifty miles along the Red and Assiniboine rivers, which streams supplied the +settlers with a variety of excellent fish. The banks were clothed with fine +trees; and immediately behind the settlement lay the great prairies, which +extended in undulating waves—almost entirely devoid of shrub or +tree—to the base of the Rocky Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +Although far removed from the civilised world, and containing within its +precincts much that is savage and very little that is refined, Red River is +quite a populous paradise, as compared with the desolate, solitary +establishments of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company. These lonely dwellings of +the trader are scattered far and wide over the whole continent—north, +south, east, and west. Their population generally amounts to eight or ten +men—seldom to thirty. They are planted in the thick of an uninhabited +desert—their next neighbours being from two to five hundred miles +off—their occasional visitors, bands of wandering Indians—and the +sole object of their existence being to trade the furry hides of foxes, +martens, beavers, badgers, bears, buffaloes, and wolves. It will not, then, be +deemed a matter of wonder that the gentlemen who have charge of these +establishments, and who, perchance, may have spent ten or twenty years in them, +should look upon the colony of Red River as a species of Elysium, a sort of +haven of rest, in which they may lay their weary heads, and spend the remainder +of their days in peaceful felicity, free from the cares of a residence among +wild beasts and wild men. Many of the retiring traders prefer casting their lot +in Canada; but not a few of them <i>smoke</i> out the remainder of their +existence in this colony—especially those who, having left home as boys +fifty or sixty years before, cannot reasonably expect to find the friends of +their childhood where they left them, and cannot hope to remodel tastes and +habits long nurtured in the backwoods so as to relish the manners and customs +of civilised society. +</p> + +<p> +Such an one was old Frank Kennedy, who, sixty years before the date of our +story, ran away from school in Scotland; got a severe thrashing from his father +for so doing; and having no mother in whose sympathising bosom he could weep +out his sorrow, ran away from home, went to sea, ran away from his ship while +she lay at anchor in the harbour of New York, and after leading a wandering, +unsettled life for several years, during which he had been alternately a clerk, +a day-labourer, a store-keeper and a village schoolmaster, he wound up by +entering the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in which he obtained an +insight into savage life, a comfortable fortune, besides a half-breed wife and +a large family. +</p> + +<p> +Being a man of great energy and courage, and moreover possessed of a large, +powerful frame, he was sent to one of the most distant posts on the Mackenzie +River, as being admirably suited for the display of his powers both mental and +physical. Here the small-pox broke out among the natives, and besides carrying +off hundreds of these poor creatures, robbed Mr. Kennedy of all his children +save two, Charles and Kate, whom we have already introduced to the reader. +</p> + +<p> +About the same time the council which is annually held at Red River in spring +for the purpose of arranging the affairs of the country for the ensuing year +thought proper to appoint Mr. Kennedy to a still more outlandish part of the +country—as near, in fact, to the North Pole as it was possible for mortal +man to live—and sent him an order to proceed to his destination without +loss of time. On receiving this communication, Mr. Kennedy upset his chair, +stamped his foot, ground his teeth, and vowed, in the hearing of his wife and +children, that sooner than obey the mandate he would see the governors and +council of Rupert’s Land hanged, quartered, and boiled down into tallow! +Ebullitions of this kind were peculiar to Frank Kennedy, and meant +<i>nothing</i>. They were simply the safety-valves to his superabundant ire, +and, like safety-valves in general, made much noise but did no damage. It was +well, however, on such occasions to keep out of the old fur-trader’s way; +for he had an irresistible propensity to hit out at whatever stood before him, +especially if the object stood on a level with his own eyes and wore whiskers. +On second thoughts, however, he sat down before his writing-table, took a sheet +of blue ruled foolscap paper, seized a quill which he had mended six months +previously, at a time when he happened to be in high good-humour, and wrote as +follows:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +To the Governor and Council of Rupert’s Land,<br/> +Red River Settlement. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Fort Paskisegun<br/> +<i>June</i> 15, 18—. +</p> + +<p> +G<small>ENTLEMEN</small>,—I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of +your favour of 26th April last, appointing me to the charge of Peel’s +River, and directing me to strike out new channels of trade in that quarter. In +reply, I have to state that I shall have the honour to fulfil your instructions +by taking my departure in a light canoe as soon as possible. At the same time I +beg humbly to submit that the state of my health is such as to render it +expedient for me to retire from the service, and I herewith beg to hand in my +resignation. I shall hope to be relieved early next spring.—I have the +honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +F. K<small>ENNEDY</small>. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” exclaimed the old gentleman, in a tone that would lead one +to suppose he had signed the death-warrant, and so had irrevocably fixed the +certain destruction, of the entire council—“there!” said he, +rising from his chair, and sticking the quill into the ink-bottle with a +<i>dab</i> that split it up to the feather, and so rendered it <i>hors de +combat</i> for all time coming. +</p> + +<p> +To this letter the council gave a short reply, accepting his resignation, and +appointing a successor. On the following spring old Mr. Kennedy embarked his +wife and children in a bark canoe, and in process of time landed them safely in +Red River Settlement. Here he purchased a house with six acres of land, in +which he planted a variety of useful vegetables, and built a summer-house after +the fashion of a conservatory, where he was wont to solace himself for hours +together with a pipe, or rather with dozens of pipes, of Canadian twist +tobacco. +</p> + +<p> +After this he put his two children to school. The settlement was at this time +fortunate in having a most excellent academy, which was conducted by a very +estimable man. Charles and Kate Kennedy, being obedient and clever, made rapid +progress under his judicious management, and the only fault that he had to find +with the young people was, that Kate was a little too quiet and fond of books, +while Charley was a little too riotous and fond of fun. +</p> + +<p> +When Charles arrived at the age of fifteen and Kate attained to fourteen years, +old Mr. Kennedy went into his conservatory, locked the door, sat down on an +easy chair, filled a long clay pipe with his beloved tobacco, smoked vigorously +for ten minutes, and fell fast asleep. In this condition he remained until the +pipe fell from his lips and broke in fragments on the floor. He then rose, +filled another pipe, and sat down to meditate on the subject that had brought +him to his smoking apartment. “There’s my wife,” said he, +looking at the bowl of his pipe, as if he were addressing himself to it, +“she’s getting too old to be looking after everything herself +(<i>puff</i>), and Kate’s getting too old to be humbugging any longer +with books: besides, she ought to be at home learning to keep house, and help +her mother, and cut the baccy (<i>puff</i>), and that young scamp Charley +should be entering the service (<i>puff</i>). He’s clever enough now to +trade beaver and bears from the red-skins; besides, he’s (<i>puff</i>) a +young rascal, and I’ll be bound does nothing but lead the other boys into +(<i>puff</i>) mischief, although, to be sure, the master <i>does</i> say +he’s the cleverest fellow in the school; but he must be reined up a bit +now. I’ll clap on a double curb and martingale. I’ll get him a +situation in the counting-room at the fort (<i>puff</i>), where he’ll +have his nose held tight to the grindstone. Yes, I’ll fix both their +flints to-morrow;” and old Mr. Kennedy gave vent to another puff so thick +and long that it seemed as if all the previous puffs had concealed themselves +up to this moment within his capacious chest, and rushed out at last in one +thick and long-continued stream. +</p> + +<p> +By “fixing their flints” Mr. Kennedy meant to express the fact that +he intended to place his children in an entirely new sphere of action, and with +a view to this he ordered out his horse and cariole<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1" id="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +on the following morning, went up to the school, which was about ten miles +distant from his abode, and brought his children home with him the same +evening. Kate was now formally installed as housekeeper and tobacco-cutter; +while Charley was told that his future destiny was to wield the quill in the +service of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and that he might take a week to +think over it. Quiet, warm-hearted, affectionate Kate was overjoyed at the +thought of being a help and comfort to her old father and mother; but reckless, +joyous, good-humoured, hare-brained Charley was cast into the depths of despair +at the idea of spending the livelong day, and day after day, for years it might +be, on the top of a long-legged stool. In fact, poor Charley said that he +“would rather become a buffalo than do it.” Now this was very wrong +of Charley, for, of course, he didn’t <i>mean</i> it. Indeed, it is too +much a habit among little boys, ay, and among grown-up people, too, to say what +they don’t mean, as no doubt you are aware, dear reader, if you possess +half the self-knowledge we give you credit for; and we cannot too strongly +remonstrate with ourself and others against the practice—leading, as it +does, to all sorts of absurd exaggerations, such as gravely asserting that we +are “broiling hot” when we are simply “rather warm,” or +more than “half dead” with fatigue when we are merely “very +tired.” However, Charley <i>said</i> that he would rather be “a +buffalo than do it,” and so we feel bound in honour to record the fact. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1" id="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +A sort of sleigh. +</p> + +<p> +Charley and Kate were warmly attached to each other. Moreover, they had been, +ever since they could walk, in the habit of mingling their little joys and +sorrows in each other’s bosoms; and although, as years flew past, they +gradually ceased to sob in each other’s arms at every little mishap, they +did not cease to interchange their inmost thoughts, and to mingle their tears +when occasion called them forth. They knew the power, the inexpressible +sweetness, of sympathy. They understood experimentally the comfort and joy that +flow from obedience to that blessed commandment to “rejoice with those +that do rejoice, and weep with those that weep.” It was natural, +therefore, that on Mr. Kennedy announcing his decrees, Charley and Kate should +hasten to some retired spot where they could commune in solitude; the effect of +which communing was to reduce them to a somewhat calmer and rather happy state +of mind. Charley’s sorrow was blunted by sympathy with Kate’s joy, +and Kate’s joy was subdued by sympathy with Charley’s sorrow; so +that, after the first effervescing burst, they settled down into a calm and +comfortable state of flatness, with very red eyes and exceedingly pensive +minds. We must, however, do Charley the justice to say that the red eyes +applied only to Kate; for although a tear or two could without much coaxing be +induced to hop over his sun-burned cheek, he had got beyond that period of life +when boys are addicted to (we must give the word, though not pretty, because it +is eminently expressive) <i>blubbering</i>. +</p> + +<p> +A week later found Charley and his sister seated on the lump of blue ice where +they were first introduced to the reader, and where Charley announced his +unalterable resolve to run away, following it up with the statement that +<i>that</i> was “the end of it.” He was quite mistaken, however, +for that was by no means the end of it. In fact it was only the beginning of +it, as we shall see hereafter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The old fur-trader endeavours to “fix” his son’s +“flint,” and finds the thing more difficult to do than he expected. +</p> + +<p> +Near the centre of the colony of Red River, the stream from which the +settlement derives its name is joined by another, called the Assiniboine. About +five or six hundred yards from the point where this union takes place, and on +the banks of the latter stream, stands the Hudson’s Bay Company’s +trading-post, Fort Garry. It is a massive square building of stone. Four high +and thick walls enclose a space of ground on which are built six or eight +wooden houses, some of which are used as dwellings for the servants of the +Hudson’s Bay Company, and others as stores, wherein are contained the +furs, the provisions which are sent annually to various parts of the country, +and the goods (such as cloth, guns, powder and shot, blankets, twine, axes, +knives, etc., etc.) with which the fur-trade is carried on. Although Red River +is a peaceful colony, and not at all likely to be assaulted by the poor +Indians, it was, nevertheless, deemed prudent by the traders to make some show +of power; and so at the corners of the fort four round bastions of a very +imposing appearance were built, from the embrasures of which several large +black-muzzled guns protruded. No one ever conceived the idea of firing these +engines of war; and, indeed, it is highly probable that such an attempt would +have been attended with consequences much more dreadful to those <i>behind</i> +than to those who might chance to be in front of the guns. Nevertheless they +were imposing, and harmonised well with the flag-staff, which was the only +other military symptom about the place. This latter was used on particular +occasions, such as the arrival or departure of a brigade of boats, for the +purpose of displaying the folds of a red flag on which were the letters H. B. +C. +</p> + +<p> +The fort stood, as we have said, on the banks of the Assiniboine River, on the +opposite side of which the land was somewhat wooded, though not heavily, with +oak, maple, poplar, aspens, and willows; while at the back of the fort the +great prairie rolled out like a green sea to the horizon, and far beyond that +again to the base of the Rocky mountains. The plains at this time, however, +were a sheet of unbroken snow, and the river a mass of solid ice. +</p> + +<p> +It was noon on the day following that on which our friend Charley had +threatened rebellion, when a tall elderly man might have been seen standing at +the back gate of Fort Garry, gazing wistfully out into the prairie in the +direction of the lower part of the settlement. He was watching a small speck +which moved rapidly over the snow in the direction of the fort. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s very like our friend Frank Kennedy,” said he to himself +(at least we presume so, for there was no one else within earshot to whom he +could have said it, except the door-post, which every one knows is proverbially +a deaf subject). “No man in the settlement drives so furiously. I +shouldn’t wonder if he ran against the corner of the new fence now. Ha! +just so—there he goes!” +</p> + +<p> +And truly the reckless driver did “go” just at that moment. He came +up to the corner of the new fence, where the road took a rather abrupt turn, in +a style that insured a capsize. In another second the spirited horse turned +sharp round, the sleigh turned sharp over, and the occupant was pitched out at +full length, while a black object, that might have been mistaken for his hat, +rose from his side like a rocket, and, flying over him, landed on the snow +several yards beyond. A faint shout was heard to float on the breeze as this +catastrophe occurred, and the driver was seen to jump up and readjust himself +in the cariole; while the other black object proved itself not to be a hat, by +getting hastily up on a pair of legs, and scrambling back to the seat from +which it had been so unceremoniously ejected. +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes more the cheerful tinkling of the merry sleigh-bells was +heard, and Frank Kennedy, accompanied by his hopeful son Charles, dashed up to +the gate, and pulled up with a jerk. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! Grant, my fine fellow, how are you?” exclaimed Mr. Kennedy, +senior, as he disengaged himself from the heavy folds of the buffalo robe and +shook the snow from his greatcoat. “Why on earth, man, don’t you +put up a sign-post and a board to warn travellers that you’ve been +running out new fences and changing the road, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, my good friend,” said Mr. Grant, smiling, “the fence +and the road are of themselves pretty conclusive proof to most men that the +road is changed; and, besides, we don’t often have people driving round +corners at full gallop; but—” +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo! Charley, you rascal,” interrupted Mr. +Kennedy—“here, take the mare to the stable, and don’t drive +her too fast. Mind, now, no going off upon the wrong road for the sake of a +drive, you understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right, father,” exclaimed the boy, while a bright smile lit up +his features and displayed two rows of white teeth: “I’ll be +particularly careful,” and he sprang into the light vehicle, seized the +reins, and with a sharp crack of the whip dashed down the road at a hard +gallop. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s a fine fellow that son of yours,” said Mr. Grant, +“and will make a first-rate fur-trader.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pur-trader!” exclaimed Mr. Kennedy. “Just look at him! +I’ll be shot if he isn’t thrashing the mare as if she were made of +leather.” The old man’s ire was rising rapidly as he heard the whip +crack every now and then, and saw the mare bound madly over the snow. +“And see!” he continued, “I declare he <i>has</i> taken the +wrong turn after all.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” said Mr. Grant: “he’ll never reach the stable +by that road; he’s much more likely to visit the White-horse Plains. But +come, friend, it’s of no use fretting, Charley will soon tire of his +ride; so come with me to my room and have a pipe before dinner.” +</p> + +<p> +Old Mr. Kennedy gave a short groan of despair, shook his fist at the form of +his retreating son, and accompanied his friend to the house. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed that Frank Kennedy was very deeply offended with his +son, although he did shower on him a considerable amount of abuse. On the +contrary, he loved him very much. But it was the old man’s nature to give +way to little bursts of passion on almost every occasion in which his feelings +were at all excited. These bursts, however, were like the little puffs that +ripple the surface of the sea on a calm summer’s day. They were over in a +second, and left his good-humoured, rough, candid countenance in unruffled +serenity. Charley knew this well, and loved his father tenderly, so that his +conscience frequently smote him for raising his anger so often; and he over and +over again promised his sister Kate to do his best to refrain from doing +anything that was likely to annoy the old man in future. But, alas! +Charley’s resolves, like those of many other boys, were soon forgotten, +and his father’s equanimity was upset generally two or three times a day; +but after the gust was over, the fur-trader would kiss his son, call him a +“rascal,” and send him off to fill and fetch his pipe. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Grant, who was in charge of Fort Garry, led the way to his smoking +apartment, where the two were soon seated in front of a roaring log-fire, +emulating each other in the manufacture of smoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Kennedy,” said Mr. Grant, throwing himself back in his +chair, elevating his chin, and emitting a long thin stream of white vapour from +his lips, through which he gazed at his friend complacently—“well, +Kennedy, to what fortunate chance am I indebted for this visit? It is not often +that we have the pleasure of seeing you here.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy created two large volumes of smoke, which, by means of a vigorous +puff, he sent rolling over towards his friend, and said, “Charley.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what of Charley?” said Mr. Grant with a smile, for he was well +aware of the boy’s propensity to fun, and of the father’s desire to +curb it. +</p> + +<p> +“The fact is,” replied Kennedy, “that Charley must be broke. +He’s the wildest colt I ever had to tame, but I’ll do it—I +will—that’s a fact.” +</p> + +<p> +If Charley’s subjugation had depended on the rapidity with which the +little white clouds proceeded from his sire’s mouth, there is no doubt +that it would have been a “fact” in a very short time, for they +rushed from him with the violence of a high wind. Long habit had made the old +trader and his pipe not only inseparable companions, but part and parcel of +each other—so intimately connected that a change in the one was sure to +produce a sympathetic change in the other. In the present instance, the little +clouds rapidly increased in size and number as the old gentleman thought on the +obstinacy of his “colt.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he continued, after a moment’s silence, +“I’ve made up my mind to tame him, and I want <i>you</i>, Mr. +Grant, to help me.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Grant looked as if he would rather not undertake to lend his aid in a work +that was evidently difficult; but being a good-natured man, he said, “And +how, friend, can I assist in the operation?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you see, Charley’s a good fellow at bottom, and a clever +fellow too—at least so says the schoolmaster; though I must confess, that +so far as my experience goes, he’s only clever at finding out excuses for +not doing what I want him to. But still I’m told he’s clever, and +can use his pen well; and I know for certain that he can use his tongue well. +So I want to get him into the service, and have him placed in a situation where +he shall have to stick to his desk all day. In fact, I want to have him broken +into work; for you’ve no notion, sir, how that boy talks about bears and +buffaloes and badgers, and life in the woods among the Indians. I do +believe,” continued the old gentleman, waxing warm, “that he would +willingly go into the woods to-morrow, if I would let him, and never show his +nose in the settlement again. He’s quite incorrigible. But I’ll +tame him yet—I will!” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy followed this up with an indignant grunt, and a puff of smoke, so +thick, and propelled with such vigour, that it rolled and curled in fantastic +evolutions towards the ceiling, as if it were unable to control itself with +delight at the absolute certainty of Charley being tamed at last. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Grant, however, shook his head, and remained for five minutes in profound +silence, during which time the two friends puffed in concert, until they began +to grow quite indistinct and ghost-like in the thick atmosphere. +</p> + +<p> +At last he broke silence. +</p> + +<p> +“My opinion is that you’re wrong, Mr. Kennedy. No doubt you know +the disposition of your son better than I do; but even judging of it from what +you have said, I’m quite sure that a sedentary life will ruin him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ruin him! Humbug!” said Kennedy, who never failed to express his +opinion at the shortest notice and in the plainest language—a fact so +well known by his friends that they had got into the habit of taking no notice +of it. “Humbug!” he repeated, “perfect humbug! You +don’t mean to tell me that the way to break him in is to let him run +loose and wild whenever and wherever he pleases?” +</p> + +<p> +“By no means. But you may rest assured that tying him down won’t do +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense!” said Mr. Kennedy testily; “don’t tell me. +Have I not broken in young colts by the score? and don’t I know that the +way to fix their flints is to clap on a good strong curb?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you had travelled farther south, friend,” replied Mr. Grant, +“you would have seen the Spaniards of Mexico break in their wild horses +in a very different way; for after catching one with a lasso, a fellow gets on +his back, and gives it the rein and the whip—ay, and the spur too; and +before that race is over, there is no need for a curb.” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” exclaimed Kennedy, “and do you mean to argue from +that, that I should let Charley run—and <i>help</i> him too? Send him off +to the woods with gun and blanket, canoe and tent, all complete?” The old +gentleman puffed a furious puff, and broke into a loud sarcastic laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” interrupted Mr. Grant; “I don’t exactly mean +that, but I think that you might give him his way for a year or so. He’s +a fine, active, generous fellow; and after the novelty wore off, he would be in +a much better frame of mind to listen to your proposals. Besides” (and +Mr. Grant smiled expressively), “Charley is somewhat like his father. He +has got a will of his own; and if you do not give him his way, I very much fear +that he’ll—” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” inquired Mr. Kennedy abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +“Take it,” said Mr. Grant. +</p> + +<p> +The puff that burst from Mr. Kennedy’s lips on hearing this would have +done credit to a thirty-six pounder. +</p> + +<p> +“Take it!” said he; “he’d <i>better</i> not.” +</p> + +<p> +The latter part of this speech was not in itself of a nature calculated to +convey much; but the tone of the old trader’s voice, the contraction of +his eyebrows, and above all the overwhelming flow of cloudlets that followed, +imparted to it a significance that induced the belief that Charley’s +taking his own way would be productive of more terrific consequences than it +was in the power of the most highly imaginative man to conceive. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s his sister Kate, now,” continued the old gentleman; +“she’s as gentle and biddable as a lamb. I’ve only to say a +word, and she’s off like a shot to do my bidding; and she does it with +such a sweet smile too.” There was a touch of pathos in the old +trader’s voice as he said this. He was a man of strong feeling, and as +impulsive in his tenderness as in his wrath. “But that rascal +Charley,” he continued, “is quite different. He’s obstinate +as a mule. To be sure, he has a good temper; and I must say for him he never +goes into the sulks, which is a comfort, for of all things in the world sulking +is the most childish and contemptible. He <i>generally</i> does what I bid him, +too. But he’s <i>always</i> getting into scrapes of one kind or other. +And during the last week, notwithstanding all I can say to him, he won’t +admit that the best thing for him is to get a place in your counting-room, with +the prospect of rapid promotion in the service. Very odd. I can’t +understand it at all;” and Mr. Kennedy heaved a deep sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever explain to him the prospects that he would have in the +situation you propose for him?” inquired Mr. Grant. +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say I ever did.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever point out the probable end of a life spent in the +woods?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor suggest to him that the appointment to the office here would only be +temporary, and to see how he got on in it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, my dear sir, I’m not surprised that Charley rebels. You have +left him to suppose that, once placed at the desk here, he is a prisoner for +life. But see, there he is,” said Mr. Grant, pointing as he spoke towards +the subject of their conversation, who was passing the window at the moment; +“let me call him, and I feel certain that he will listen to reason in a +few minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated Mr. Kennedy, “you may try.” +</p> + +<p> +In another minute Charley had been summoned, and was seated, cap in hand, near +the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Charley, my boy,” began Mr. Grant, standing with his back to the +fire, his feet pretty wide apart, and his coat-tails under his +arms—“Charley, my boy, your father has just been speaking of you. +He is very anxious that you should enter the service of the Hudson’s Bay +Company; and as you are a clever boy and a good penman, we think that you would +be likely to get on if placed for a year or so in our office here. I need +scarcely point out to you, my boy, that in such a position you would be sure to +obtain more rapid promotion than if you were placed in one of the distant +outposts, where you would have very little to do, and perhaps little to eat, +and no one to converse with except one or two men. Of course, we would merely +place you here on trial, to see how you suited us; and if you prove steady and +diligent, there is no saying how fast you might get on. Why, you might even +come to fill my place in course of time. Come now, Charley, what think you of +it?” +</p> + +<p> +Charley’s eyes had been cast on the ground while Mr. Grant was speaking. +He now raised them, looked at his father, then at his interrogator, and +said,— +</p> + +<p> +“It is very kind of you both to be so anxious about my prospects. I thank +you, indeed, very much; but I—a—” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t like the desk?” said his father, in an angry tone. +“Is that it, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +Charley made no reply, but cast down his eyes again and smiled (Charley had a +sweet smile, a peculiarly sweet, candid smile), as if he meant to say that his +father had hit the nail quite on the top of the head that time, and no mistake. +</p> + +<p> +“But consider,” resumed Mr. Grant, “although you might +probably be pleased with an outpost life at first, you would be sure to grow +weary of it after the novelty wore off, and then you would wish with all your +heart to be back here again. Believe me, child, a trader’s life is a very +hard and not often a very satisfactory one—” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” broke in the father, desirous, if possible, to help the +argument, “and you’ll find it a desperately wild, unsettled, roving +sort of life, too, let me tell you! full of dangers both from wild beast and +wild men—” +</p> + +<p> +“Hush!” interrupted Mr. Grant, observing that the boy’s eyes +kindled when his father spoke of a wild, roving life, and wild +beasts.—“Your father does not mean that life at an outpost is wild +and <i>interesting</i> or <i>exciting</i>. He merely means +that—a—it—” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Grant could not very well explain what it was that Mr. Kennedy meant if he +did not mean that, so he turned to him for help. +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly so,” said that gentleman, taking a strong pull at the pipe +for inspiration. “It’s no ways interesting or exciting at all. +It’s slow, dull, and flat; a miserable sort of Robinson Crusoe life, with +red Indians and starvation constantly staring you in the face—” +</p> + +<p> +“Besides,” said Mr. Grant, again interrupting the somewhat +unfortunate efforts of his friend, who seemed to have a happy facility in +sending a brilliant dash of romantic allusion across the dark side of his +picture—“besides, you’ll not have opportunity to amuse +yourself, or to read, as you’ll have no books, and you’ll have to +work hard with your hands oftentimes, like your men—” +</p> + +<p> +“In fact,” broke in the impatient father, resolved, apparently, to +carry the point with a grand <i>coup</i>—“in fact, you’ll +have to rough it, as I did, when I went up the Mackenzie River district, where +I was sent to establish a new post, and had to travel for weeks and weeks +through a wild country, where none of us had ever been before; where we shot +our own meat, caught our own fish, and built our own house—and were very +near being murdered by the Indians; though, to be sure, afterwards they became +the most civil fellows in the country, and brought us plenty of skins. Ay, lad, +you’ll repent of your obstinacy when you come to have to hunt your own +dinner, as I’ve done many a day up the Saskatchewan, where I’ve had +to fight with red-skins and grizzly bears and to chase the buffaloes over miles +and miles of prairie on rough-going nags till my bones ached and I scarce knew +whether I sat on—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” exclaimed Charley, starting to his feet, while his eyes +flashed and his chest heaved with emotion, “that’s the place for +me, father!—Do, please, Mr. Grant send me there, and I’ll work for +you with all my might!” +</p> + +<p> +Frank Kennedy was not a man to stand this unexpected miscarriage of his +eloquence with equanimity. His first action was to throw his pipe at the head +of his enthusiastic boy; without worse effect, however, than smashing it to +atoms on the opposite wall. He then started up and rushed towards his son, who, +being near the door, retreated precipitately and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“So,” said Mr. Grant, not very sure whether to laugh or be angry at +the result of their united efforts, “you’ve settled the question +now, at all events.” +</p> + +<p> +Frank Kennedy said nothing, but filled another pipe, sat doggedly down in front +of the fire, and speedily enveloped himself, and his friend, and all that the +room contained, in thick, impenetrable clouds of smoke. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile his worthy son rushed off in a state of great glee. He had often +heard the voyageurs of Red River dilate on the delights of roughing it in the +woods, and his heart had bounded as they spoke of dangers encountered and +overcome among the rapids of the Far North, or with the bears and bison-bulls +of the prairie, but never till now had he heard his father corroborate their +testimony by a recital of his own actual experience; and although the old +gentleman’s intention was undoubtedly to damp the boy’s spirit, his +eloquence had exactly the opposite effect—so that it was with a hop and a +shout that he burst into the counting-room, with the occupants of which Charley +was a special favourite. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Counting-room. +</p> + +<p> +Everyone knows the general appearance of a counting-room. There are one or two +peculiar features about such apartments that are quite unmistakable and very +characteristic; and the counting-room at Fort Garry, although many hundred +miles distant from other specimens of its race, and, from the peculiar +circumstances of its position, not therefore likely to bear them much +resemblance, possessed one or two features of similarity, in the shape of two +large desks and several very tall stools, besides sundry ink-bottles, rulers, +books, and sheets of blotting-paper. But there were other implements there, +savouring strongly of the backwoods and savage life, which merit more +particular notice. +</p> + +<p> +The room itself was small, and lighted by two little windows, which opened into +the courtyard. The entire apartment was made of wood. The floor was of +unpainted fir boards. The walls were of the same material, painted blue from +the floor upwards to about three feet, where the blue was unceremoniously +stopped short by a stripe of bright red, above which the somewhat fanciful +decorator had laid on a coat of pale yellow; and the ceiling, by way of +variety, was of a deep ochre. As the occupants of Red River office were, +however, addicted to the use of tobacco and tallow candles, the original colour +of the ceiling had vanished entirely, and that of the walls had considerably +changed. +</p> + +<p> +There were three doors in the room (besides the door of entrance), each opening +into another apartment, where the three clerks were wont to court the favour of +Morpheus after the labours of the day. No carpets graced the floors of any of +these rooms, and with the exception of the paint aforementioned, no ornament +whatever broke the pleasing uniformity of the scene. This was compensated, +however, to some extent by several scarlet sashes, bright-coloured shot-belts, +and gay portions of winter costume peculiar to the country, which depended from +sundry nails in the bedroom walls; and as the three doors always stood open, +these objects, together with one or two fowling-pieces and canoe-paddles, +formed quite a brilliant and highly suggestive background to the otherwise +sombre picture. A large open fireplace stood in one corner of the room, devoid +of a grate, and so constructed that large logs of wood might be piled up on end +to any extent. And really the fires made in this manner, and in this individual +fireplace, were exquisite beyond description. A wood-fire is a particularly +cheerful thing. Those who have never seen one can form but a faint idea of its +splendour; especially on a sharp winter night in the arctic regions, where the +thermometer falls to forty degrees below zero, without inducing the inhabitants +to suppose that the world has reached its conclusion. The billets are usually +piled up on end, so that the flames rise and twine round them with a fierce +intensity that causes them to crack and sputter cheerfully, sending innumerable +sparks of fire into the room, and throwing out a rich glow of brilliant light +that warms a man even to look at it, and renders candles quite unnecessary. +</p> + +<p> +The clerks who inhabited this counting-room were, like itself, peculiar. There +were three—corresponding to the bedrooms. The senior was a tall, +broad-shouldered, muscular man—a Scotchman—very good-humoured, yet +a man whose under lip met the upper with that peculiar degree of precision that +indicated the presence of other qualities besides that of good-humour. He was +book-keeper and accountant, and managed the affairs intrusted to his care with +the same dogged perseverance with which he would have led an expedition of +discovery to the North Pole. He was thirty or thereabouts. +</p> + +<p> +The second was a small man—also a Scotchman. It is curious to note how +numerous Scotchmen are in the wilds of North America. This specimen was +diminutive and sharp. Moreover, he played the flute—an accomplishment of +which he was so proud that he ordered out from England a flute of ebony, so +elaborately enriched with silver keys that one’s fingers ached to behold +it. This beautiful instrument, like most other instruments of a delicate +nature, found the climate too much for its constitution, and, soon after the +winter began, split from top to bottom. Peter Mactavish, however, was a genius +by nature, and a mechanical genius by tendency; so that, instead of giving way +to despair, he laboriously bound the flute together with waxed thread, which, +although it could not restore it to its pristine elegance, enabled him to play +with great effect sundry doleful airs, whose influence, when performed at +night, usually sent his companions to sleep, or, failing this, drove them to +distraction. +</p> + +<p> +The third inhabitant of the office was a ruddy, smooth-chinned youth of about +fourteen, who had left home seven months before, in the hope of gratifying a +desire to lead a wild life, which he had entertained ever since he read +“Jack the Giant Killer,” and found himself most unexpectedly +fastened, during the greater part of each day, to a stool. His name was Harry +Somerville, and a fine, cheerful little fellow he was, full of spirits, and +curiously addicted to poking and arranging the fire at least every ten +minutes—a propensity which tested the forbearance of the senior clerk +rather severely, and would have surprised any one not aware of poor +Harry’s incurable antipathy to the desk, and the yearning desire with +which he longed for physical action. +</p> + +<p> +Harry was busily engaged with the refractory fire when Charley, as stated at +the conclusion of the last chapter, burst into the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo!” he exclaimed, suspending his operations for a moment, +“what’s up?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” said Charley, “but father’s temper, +that’s all. He gave me a splendid description of his life in the woods, +and then threw his pipe at me because I admired it too much.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ho!” exclaimed Harry, making a vigorous thrust at the fire, +“then you’ve no chance now.” +</p> + +<p> +“No chance! what do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only that we are to have a wolf-hunt in the plains to-morrow; and if +you’ve aggravated your father, he’ll be taking you home to-night, +that’s all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no fear of that,” said Charley, with a look that seemed to +imply that there was very great fear of “that”—much more, in +fact, than he was willing to admit even to himself. “My dear old father +never keeps his anger long. I’m sure that he’ll be all right again +in half-an-hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hope so, but doubt it I do,” said Harry, making another deadly +poke at the fire, and returning, with a deep sigh, to his stool. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you like to go with us, Charley?” said the senior clerk, +laying down his pen and turning round on his chair (the senior clerk never sat +on a stool) with a benign smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, very, very much indeed,” cried Charley; “but even should +father agree to stay all night at the fort, I have no horse, and I’m sure +he would not let me have the mare after what I did to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think he’s not open to persuasion?” said the senior +clerk. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I’m sure he’s not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, it don’t much signify; perhaps we can mount +you.” (Charley’s face brightened.) “Go,” he continued, +addressing Harry Somerville—“go, tell Tom Whyte I wish to speak to +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry sprang from his stool with a suddenness and vigour that might have +justified the belief that he had been fixed to it by means of a powerful +spring, which had been set free with a sharp recoil, and shot him out at the +door, for he disappeared in a trice. In a few minutes he returned, followed by +the groom Tom Whyte. +</p> + +<p> +“Tom,” said the senior clerk, “do you think we could manage +to mount Charley to-morrow?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, I don’t think as how we could. There ain’t an +’oss in the stable except them wot’s required and them wot’s +badly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Couldn’t he have the brown pony?” suggested the senior +clerk. +</p> + +<p> +Tom Whyte was a cockney and an old soldier, and stood so bolt upright that it +seemed quite a marvel how the words ever managed to climb up the steep ascent +of his throat, and turn the corner so as to get out at his mouth. Perhaps this +was the cause of his speaking on all occasions with great deliberation and +slowness. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you see, sir,” he replied, “the brown pony’s got +cut under the fetlock of the right hind leg; and I ’ad ’im down to +L’Esperance the smith’s, sir, to look at ’im, sir; and he +says to me, says he ‘That don’t look well, that ’oss +don’t,’—and he’s a knowing feller, sir, is +L’Esperance though he <i>is</i> an ’alf-breed—” +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind what he said, Tom,” interrupted the senior clerk; +“is the pony fit for use? that’s the question.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir, ’e hain’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the black mare, can he not have that?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; Mr. Grant is to ride ’er to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s unfortunate,” said the senior clerk.—“I +fear, Charley, that you’ll need to ride behind Harry on his gray pony. It +wouldn’t improve his speed, to be sure, having two on his back; but then +he’s so like a pig in his movements at any rate, I don’t think it +would spoil his pace much.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could he not try the new horse?” he continued, turning to the +groom. +</p> + +<p> +“The noo ’oss, sir! he might as well try to ride a mad buffalo +bull, sir. He’s quite a young colt, sir, only ’alf +broke—kicks like a windmill, sir, and’s got an ’ead like a +steam-engine; ’e couldn’t ’old ’im in no’ow, sir. +I ’ad ’im down to the smith ’tother day, sir, an’ says +’e to me, says ’e, ‘That’s a screamer, that is.’ +‘Yes,’ says I, ‘that his a fact.’ ‘Well,’ +says ’e—” +</p> + +<p> +“Hang the smith!” cried the senior clerk, losing all patience; +“can’t you answer me without so much talk? Is the horse too wild to +ride?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, ’e is” said the groom, with a look of slightly +offended dignity, and drawing himself up—if we may use such an expression +to one who was always drawn up to such an extent that he seemed to be just +balanced on his heels, and required only a gentle push to lay him flat on his +back. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I have it!” cried Peter Mactavish, who had been standing +during the conversation with his back to the fire, and a short pipe in his +mouth: “John Fowler, the miller, has just purchased a new pony. I’m +told it’s an old buffalo-runner, and I’m certain he would lend it +to Charley at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“The very thing,” said the senior clerk.—“Run, Tom; +give the miller my compliments, and beg the loan of his horse for Charley +Kennedy.—I think he knows you, Charley?” +</p> + +<p> +The dinner-bell rang as the groom departed, and the clerks prepared for their +mid-day meal. +</p> + +<p> +The Senior clerk’s order to <i>“run”</i> was a mere form of +speech, intended to indicate that haste was desirable. No man imagined for a +moment that Tom Whyte could, by any possibility, <i>run</i>. He hadn’t +run since he was dismissed from the army, twenty years before, for incurable +drunkenness; and most of Tom’s friend’s entertained the belief that +if he ever attempted to run he would crack all over, and go to pieces like a +disentombed Egyptian mummy. Tom therefore walked off to the row of buildings +inhabited by the men, where he sat down on a bench in front of his bed, and +proceeded leisurely to fill his pipe. +</p> + +<p> +The room in which he sat was a fair specimen of the dwellings devoted to the +<i>employés</i> of the Hudson’s Bay Company throughout the country. It +was large, and low in the roof, built entirely of wood, which was unpainted; a +matter, however, of no consequence, as, from long exposure to dust and tobacco +smoke, the floor, walls, and ceiling had become one deep, uniform brown. The +men’s beds were constructed after the fashion of berths on board ship, +being wooden boxes ranged in tiers round the room. Several tables and benches +were strewn miscellaneously about the floor, in the centre of which stood a +large double iron stove, with the word <i>“Carron”</i> stamped on +it. This served at once for cooking and warming the place. Numerous guns, axes, +and canoe-paddles hung round the walls or were piled in corners, and the +rafters sustained a miscellaneous mass of materials, the more conspicuous among +which were snow-shoes, dog-sledges, axe-handles, and nets. +</p> + +<p> +Having filled and lighted his pipe, Tom Whyte thrust his hands into his +deerskin mittens, and sauntered off to perform his errand. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +A wolf-hunt in the prairies—Charley astonishes his father, and breaks in +the “noo ’oss” effectually. +</p> + +<p> +During the long winter that reigns in the northern regions of America, the +thermometer ranges, for many months together, from zero down to 20, 30, and 40 +degrees <i>below</i> it. In different parts of the country the intensity of the +frost varies a little, but not sufficiently to make any appreciable change in +one’s sensation of cold. At York Fort, on the shores of Hudson’s +Bay, where the winter is eight months long, the spirit-of-wine (mercury being +useless in so cold a climate) sometimes falls so low as 50 degrees below zero; +and away in the regions of Great Bear Lake it has been known to fall +considerably lower than 60 degrees below zero of Fahrenheit. Cold of such +intensity, of course, produces many curious and interesting effects, which, +although scarcely noticed by the inhabitants, make a strong impression upon the +minds of those who visit the country for the first time. A youth goes out to +walk on one of the first sharp, frosty mornings. His locks are brown and his +face ruddy. In half-an-hour he returns with his face blue, his nose +frost-bitten, and his locks <i>white</i>—the latter effect being produced +by his breath congealing on his hair and breast, until both are covered with +hoar-frost. Perhaps he is of a sceptical nature, prejudiced it may be, in +favour of old habits and customs; so that, although told by those who ought to +know that it is absolutely necessary to wear moccasins in winter, he prefers +the leather boots to which he has been accustomed at home, and goes out with +them accordingly In a few minutes the feet begin to lose sensation. First the +toes, as far as feeling goes, vanish; then the heels depart, and he feels the +extraordinary and peculiar and altogether disagreeable sensation of one who has +had his heels and toes amputated, and is walking about on his insteps. Soon, +however, these also fade away, and the unhappy youth rushes frantically home on +the stumps of his ankle-bones—at least so it appears to him, and so in +reality it would turn out to be if he did not speedily rub the benumbed +appendages into vitality again. +</p> + +<p> +The whole country during this season is buried in snow, and the prairies of Red +River present the appearance of a sea of the purest white for five or six +months of the year. Impelled by hunger, troops of prairie wolves prowl round +the settlement, safe from the assault of man in consequence of their light +weight permitting them to scamper away on the surface of the snow, into which +man or horse, from their greater weight, would sink, so as to render pursuit +either fearfully laborious or altogether impossible. In spring, however, when +the first thaws begin to take place, and commence that delightful process of +disruption which introduces this charming season of the year, the relative +position of wolf and man is reversed. The snow becomes suddenly soft, so that +the short legs of the wolf, sinking deep into it, fail to reach the solid +ground below, and he is obliged to drag heavily along; while the long legs of +the horse enable him to plunge through and dash aside the snow at a rate which, +although not very fleet, is sufficient nevertheless to overtake the chase and +give his rider a chance of shooting it. The inhabitants of Red River are not +much addicted to this sport, but the gentlemen of the Hudson’s Bay +Service sometimes practise it; and it was to a hunt of this description that +our young friend Charley Kennedy was now so anxious to go. +</p> + +<p> +The morning was propitious. The sun blazed in dazzling splendour in a sky of +deep unclouded blue, while the white prairie glittered as if it were a sea of +diamonds rolling out in an unbroken sheet from the walls of the fort to the +horizon, and on looking at which one experienced all the pleasurable feelings +of being out on a calm day on the wide, wide sea, without the disagreeable +consequence of being very, very sick. +</p> + +<p> +The thermometer stood at 39° in the shade, and “everythi<i>k</i>” +as Tom Whyte emphatically expressed it, “looked like a runnin’ of +right away into slush.” That unusual sound, the trickling of water, so +inexpressibly grateful to the ears of those who dwell in frosty climes, was +heard all around, as the heavy masses of snow on the housetops sent a few +adventurous drops gliding down the icicles which depended from the eaves and +gables; and there was a balmy softness in the air that told of coming spring. +Nature, in fact, seemed to have wakened from her long nap, and was beginning to +think of getting up. Like people, however, who venture to delay so long as to +<i>think</i> about it, Nature frequently turns round and goes to sleep again in +her icy cradle for a few weeks after the first awakening. +</p> + +<p> +The scene in the court-yard of Fort Garry harmonised with the cheerful spirit +of the morning. Tom Whyte, with that upright solemnity which constituted one of +his characteristic features, was standing in the centre of a group of horses, +whose energy he endeavoured to restrain with the help of a small Indian boy, to +whom meanwhile he imparted a variety of useful and otherwise unattainable +information. +</p> + +<p> +“You see, Joseph,” said he to the urchin, who gazed gravely in his +face with a pair of very large and dark eyes, “ponies is often skittish. +Reason why one should be, an’ another not, I can’t comprehend. +P’r’aps it’s nat’ral, p’r’aps not, but +howsomediver so ’tis; an’ if it’s more nor above the likes +o’ <i>me</i>, Joseph, you needn’t be suprised that it’s +somethink haltogether beyond <i>you</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +It will not surprise the reader to be told that Joseph made no reply to this +speech, having a very imperfect acquaintance with the English language, +especially the peculiar dialect of that tongue in which Tom Whyte was wont to +express his ideas, when he had any. +</p> + +<p> +He merely gave a grunt, and continued to gaze at Tom’s fishy eyes, which +were about as interesting as the face to which they belonged, and <i>that</i> +might have been mistaken for almost anything. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Joseph,” he continued, “that’s a fact. +There’s the noo brown o’ss now, <i>it’s</i> a skittish +’un. And there’s Mr. Kennedy’s gray mare, wot’s a +standin’ of beside me, she ain’t skittish a bit, though she’s +plenty of spirit, and wouldn’t care hanythink for a five-barred gate. +Now, wot I want to know is, wot’s the reason why?” +</p> + +<p> +We fear that the reason why, however interesting it might prove to naturalists, +must remain a profound secret for ever; for just as the groom was about to +entertain Joseph with one of his theories on the point, Charley Kennedy and +Harry Somerville hastily approached. +</p> + +<p> +“Ho, Tom!” exclaimed the former, “have you got the +miller’s pony for me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no, sir; ’e ’adn’t got his shoes on, sir, last +night—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, bother his shoes!” said Charley, in a voice of great +disappointment. “Why didn’t you bring him up without shoes, man, +eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, the miller said ’e’d get ’em put on early +this mornin’, an’ I ’xpect ’e’ll be ’ere in +’alf-a-hour at farthest, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, very well,” replied Charley, much relieved, but still a little +nettled at the bare possibility of being late.—“Come along, Harry; +let’s go and meet him. He’ll be long enough of coming if we +don’t go to poke him up a bit.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’d better wait,” called out the groom, as the boys +hastened away. “If you go by the river, he’ll p’r’aps +come by the plains; and if you go by the plains, he’ll +p’r’aps come by the river.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley and Harry stopped and looked at each other. Then they looked at the +groom, and as their eyes surveyed his solemn, cadaverous countenance, which +seemed a sort of bad caricature of the long visages of the horses that stood +around him, they burst into a simultaneous and prolonged laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s a clever old lamp-post,” said Harry at last: “we +had better remain, Charley.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” continued Tom Whyte, “the pony’s ’oofs +is in an ’orrible state. Last night w’en I see’d ’im I +said to the miller, says I, ‘John, I’ll take ’im down to the +smith d’rectly.’ ‘Very good,’ said John. So I ’ad +him down to the smith—” +</p> + +<p> +The remainder of Tom’s speech was cut short by one of those unforeseen +operations of the laws of nature which are peculiar to arctic climates. During +the long winter repeated falls of snow cover the housetops with white mantles +upwards of a foot thick, which become gradually thicker and more consolidated +as winter advances. In spring the suddenness of the thaw loosens these from the +sloping roofs, and precipitates them in masses to the ground. These miniature +avalanches are dangerous, people having been seriously injured and sometimes +killed by them. Now it happened that a very large mass of snow, which lay on +and partly depended from the roof of the house near to which the horses were +standing, gave way, and just at that critical point in Tom Whyte’s speech +when he “’ad ’im down to the smith,” fell with a +stunning crash on the back of Mr. Kennedy’s gray mare. The mare was not +“skittish”—by no means—according to Tom’s idea, +but it would have been more than an ordinary mare to have stood the sudden +descent of half-a-ton of snow without <i>some</i> symptoms of consciousness. No +sooner did it feel the blow than it sent both heels with a bang against the +wooden store, by way of preliminary movement, and then rearing up with a wild +snort, it sprang over Tom Whyte’s head, jerked the reins from his hand, +and upset him in the snow. Poor Tom never <i>bent</i> to anything. The military +despotism under which he had been reared having substituted a touch of the cap +for a bow, rendered it unnecessary to bend; prolonged drill, laziness, and +rheumatism made it at last impossible. When he stood up, he did so after the +manner of a pillar; when he sat down, he broke across at two points, much in +the way in which a foot-rule would have done had <i>it</i> felt disposed to sit +down; and when he fell, he came down like an overturned lamp-post. On the +present occasion Tom became horizontal in a moment, and from his unfortunate +propensity to fall straight, his head, reaching much farther than might have +been expected, came into violent contact with the small Indian boy, who fell +flat likewise, letting go the reins of the horses, which latter no sooner felt +themselves free than they fled, curvetting and snorting round the court, with +reins and manes flying in rare confusion. +</p> + +<p> +The two boys, who could scarce stand for laughing, ran to the gates of the fort +to prevent the chargers getting free, and in a short time they were again +secured, although evidently much elated in spirit. +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes after this Mr. Grant issued from the principal house leaning on +Mr. Kennedy’s arm, and followed by the senior clerk, Peter Mactavish, and +one or two friends who had come to take part in the wolf-hunt. They were all +armed with double or single barrelled guns or pistols, according to their +several fancies. The two elderly gentlemen alone entered upon the scene without +any more deadly weapons than their heavy riding-whips. Young Harry Somerville, +who had been strongly advised not to take a gun lest he should shoot himself or +his horse or his companions, was content to take the field with a small +pocket-pistol, which he crammed to the muzzle with a compound of ball and +swan-shot. +</p> + +<p> +“It won’t do,” said Mr. Grant, in an earnest voice, to his +friend, as they walked towards the horses—“it won’t do to +check him too abruptly, my dear sir.” +</p> + +<p> +It was evident that they were recurring to the subject of conversation of the +previous day, and it was also evident that the father’s wrath was in that +very uncertain state when a word or look can throw it into violent agitation. +</p> + +<p> +“Just permit me,” continued Mr. Grant, “to get him sent to +the Saskatchewan or Athabasca for a couple of years. By that time he’ll +have had enough of a rough life, and be only too glad to get a berth at +headquarters. If you thwart him now, I feel convinced that he’ll break +through all restraint.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated Mr. Kennedy, with a frown—“Come +here, Charley,” he said, as the boy approached with a disappointed look +to tell of his failure in getting a horse; “I’ve been talking with +Mr. Grant again about this business, and he says he can easily get you into the +counting-room here for a year, so you’ll make arrangements—” +</p> + +<p> +The old gentleman paused. He was going to have followed his wonted course by +<i>commanding</i> instantaneous obedience; but as his eye fell upon the honest, +open, though disappointed face of his son, a gush of tenderness filled his +heart. Laying his hand upon Charley’s head, he said, in a kind but abrupt +tone, “There now, Charley, my boy, make up your mind to give in with a +good grace. It’ll only be hard work for a year or two, and then plain +sailing after that, Charley!” +</p> + +<p> +Charley’s clear blue eyes filled with tears as the accents of kindness +fell upon his ear. +</p> + +<p> +It is strange that men should frequently be so blind to the potent influence of +kindness. Independently of the Divine authority, which assures us that “a +soft answer turneth away wrath,” and that “<i>love</i> is the +fulfilling of the law,” who has not, in the course of his experience, +felt the overwhelming power of a truly affectionate word; not a word which +possesses merely an affectionate signification, but a word spoken with a gush +of tenderness, where love rolls in the tone, and beams in the eye, and revels +in every wrinkle of the face? And how much more powerfully does such a word or +look or tone strike home to the heart if uttered by one whose lips are not much +accustomed to the formation of honeyed words or sweet sentences! Had Mr. +Kennedy, senior, known more of this power, and put it more frequently to the +proof, we venture to affirm that Mr. Kennedy, junior, would have <i>allowed</i> +his <i>“flint to be fixed”</i> (as his father pithily expressed it) +long ago. +</p> + +<p> +Ere Charley could reply to the question, Mr. Grant’s voice, pitched in an +elevated key, interrupted them. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh! what?” said that gentleman to Tom Whyte. “No horse for +Charley! How’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir,” said Tom. +</p> + +<p> +“Where’s the brown pony?” said Mr. Grant, abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut ’is fetlock, sir,” said Tom, slowly. +</p> + +<p> +“And the new horse?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tan’t ’alf broke yet, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! that’s bad.—It wouldn’t do to take an unbroken +charger, Charley; for although you are a pretty good rider, you couldn’t +manage him, I fear. Let me see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Please, sir,” said the groom, touching his hat, “I’ve +borrowed the miller’s pony for ’im, and ’e’s sure to be +’ere in ’alf-a-hour at farthest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’ll do,” said Mr. Grant; “you can soon +overtake us. We shall ride slowly out, straight into the prairie, and Harry +will remain behind to keep you company.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, Mr. Grant mounted his horse and rode out at the back gate, followed +by the whole cavalcade. +</p> + +<p> +“Now this is too bad!” said Charley, looking with a very perplexed +air at his companion. “What’s to be done?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry evidently did not know what was to be done, and made no difficulty of +saying so in a very sympathising tone. Moreover, he begged Charley very +earnestly to take <i>his</i> pony, but this the other would not hear of; so +they came to the conclusion that there was nothing for it but to wait as +patiently as possible for the arrival of the expected horse. In the meantime +Harry proposed a saunter in the field adjoining the fort. Charley assented, and +the two friends walked away, leading the gray pony along with them. +</p> + +<p> +To the right of Fort Garry was a small enclosure, at the extreme end of which +commences a growth of willows and underwood, which gradually increases in size +till it becomes a pretty thick belt of woodland, skirting up the river for many +miles. Here stood the stable belonging to the establishment; and as the boys +passed it, Charley suddenly conceived a strong desire to see the renowned +“noo ’oss,” which Tom Whyte had said was only +“’alf broke;” so he turned the key, opened the door, and went +in. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing <i>very</i> peculiar about this horse, excepting that his +legs seemed rather long for his body, and upon a closer examination, there was +a noticeable breadth of nostril and a latent fire in his eye, indicating a good +deal of spirit, which, like Charley’s own, required taming. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh” said Charley, “what a splendid fellow! I say, Harry, +I’ll go out with <i>him.”</i> +</p> + +<p> +“You’d better not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why? just because if you do Mr. Grant will be down upon you, and your +father won’t be very well pleased.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense,” cried Charley. “Father didn’t say I +wasn’t to take him. I don’t think he’d care much. He’s +not afraid of my breaking my neck. And then, Mr. Grant seemed to be only afraid +of my being run off with—not of his horse being hurt. Here goes for +it!” In another moment Charley had him saddled and bridled, and led him +out into the yard. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, I declare, he’s quite quiet; just like a lamb,” said +Harry, in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“So he is,” replied Charley. “He’s a capital charger; +and even if he does bolt, he can’t run five hundred miles at a stretch. +If I turn his head to the prairies, the Rocky Mountains are the first things +that will bring him up. So let him run if he likes, I don’t care a +fig.” And springing lightly into the saddle, he cantered out of the yard, +followed by his friend. +</p> + +<p> +The young horse was a well-formed, showy animal, with a good deal of +bone—perhaps too much for elegance. He was of a beautiful dark brown, and +carried a high head and tail, with a high-stepping gait, that gave him a noble +appearance. As Charley cantered along at a steady pace, he could discover no +symptoms of the refractory spirit which had been ascribed to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us strike out straight for the horizon now,” said Harry, after +they had galloped half-a-mile or so along the beaten track. “See, here +are the tracks of our friends.” Turning sharp round as he spoke, he +leaped his pony over the heap that lined the road, and galloped away through +the soft snow. +</p> + +<p> +At this point the young horse began to show his evil spirit. Instead of +following the other, he suddenly halted and began to back. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo, Harry!” exclaimed Charley; “hold on a bit. +Here’s this monster begun his tricks.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hit him a crack with the whip,” shouted Harry. +</p> + +<p> +Charley acted upon the advice, which had the effect of making the horse shake +his head with a sharp snort, and back more vigorously than ever. +</p> + +<p> +“There, my fine fellow, quiet now,” said Charley, in a soothing +tone, patting the horse’s neck. “It’s a comfort to know you +can’t go far in <i>that</i> direction, anyhow!” he added, as he +glanced over his shoulder, and saw an immense drift behind. +</p> + +<p> +He was right. In a few minutes the horse backed into the snow-drift. Finding +his hind-quarters imprisoned by a power that was too much even for <i>his</i> +obstinacy to overcome, he gave another snort and a heavy plunge, which almost +unseated his young rider. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold on fast,” cried Harry, who had now come up. +</p> + +<p> +“No fear,” cried Charley, as he clinched his teeth and gathered the +reins more firmly.—“Now for it, you young villain!” and +raising his whip, he brought it down with a heavy slash on the horse’s +flank. +</p> + +<p> +Had the snow-drift been a cannon, and the horse a bombshell, he could scarcely +have sprung from it with greater velocity. One bound landed him on the road; +another cleared it; and, in a second more, he stretched out at full +speed—his ears flat on his neck, mane and tail flying in the wind, and +the bit tight between his teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done,” cried Harry, as he passed. “You’re off +now, old fellow; good-bye.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hurrah!” shouted Charley, in reply, leaving his cap in the snow as +a parting souvenir; while, seeing that it was useless to endeavour to check his +steed, he became quite wild with excitement; gave him the rein; flourished his +whip; and flew over the white plains, casting up the snow in clouds behind him +like a hurricane. +</p> + +<p> +While this little escapade was being enacted by the boys, the hunters were +riding leisurely out upon the snowy sea in search of a wolf. +</p> + +<p> +Words cannot convey to you, dear reader, an adequate conception of the peculiar +fascination, the exhilarating splendour of the scene by which our hunters were +surrounded. Its beauty lay not in variety of feature in the landscape, for +there was none. One vast sheet of white alone met the view, bounded all round +by the blue circle of the sky, and broken, in one or two places, by a patch or +two of willows, which, rising on the plain, appeared like little islands in a +frozen sea. It was the glittering sparkle of the snow in the bright sunshine; +the dreamy haziness of the atmosphere, mingling earth and sky as in a halo of +gold; the first taste, the first <i>smell</i> of spring after a long winter, +bursting suddenly upon the senses, like the unexpected visit of a long-absent, +much-loved, and almost-forgotten friend; the soft, warm feeling of the south +wind, bearing on its wings the balmy influences of sunny climes, and recalling +vividly the scenes, the pleasures, the bustling occupations of summer. It was +this that caused the hunters’ hearts to leap within them as they rode +along—that induced old Mr. Kennedy to forget his years, and shout as he +had been wont to do in days gone by, when he used to follow the track of the +elk or hunt the wild buffalo; and it was this that made the otherwise +monotonous prairies, on this particular clay, so charming. +</p> + +<p> +The party had wandered about without discovering anything that bore the +smallest resemblance to a wolf, for upwards of an hour; Fort Garry had fallen +astern (to use a nautical phrase) until it had become a mere speck on the +horizon, and vanished altogether; Peter Mactavish had twice given a false +alarm, in the eagerness of his spirit, and had three times plunged his horse up +to the girths in a snow-drift; the senior clerk was waxing impatient, and the +horses restive, when a sudden “Hollo!” from Mr. Grant brought the +whole cavalcade to a stand. +</p> + +<p> +The object which drew his attention, and to which he directed the anxious eyes +of his friends was a small speck, rather triangular in form, which overtopped a +little willow bush not more than five or six hundred yards distant. +</p> + +<p> +“There he is!” exclaimed Mr. Grant. “That’s a +fact,” cried Mr. Kennedy; and both gentlemen, instantaneously giving a +shout, bounded towards the object; not, however, before the senior clerk, who +was mounted on a fleet and strong horse, had taken the lead by six yards. A +moment afterwards the speck rose up and discovered itself to be a veritable +wolf. Moreover, he condescended to show his teeth, and then, conceiving it +probable that his enemies were too numerous for him, he turned suddenly round +and fled away. For ten minutes or so the chase was kept up at full speed, and +as the snow happened to be shallow at the starting-point, the wolf kept well +ahead of its pursuers—indeed, distanced them a little. But soon the snow +became deeper, and the wolf plunged heavily, and the horses gained +considerably. Although to the eye the prairies seemed to be a uniform level, +there were numerous slight undulations, in which drifts of some depth had +collected. Into one of these the wolf now plunged and laboured slowly through +it. But so deep was the snow that the horses almost stuck fast. A few minutes, +however, brought them out, and Mr. Grant and Mr. Kennedy, who had kept close to +each other during the run, pulled up for a moment on the summit of a ridge to +breathe their panting steeds. +</p> + +<p> +“What can that be?” exclaimed the former, pointing with his whip to +a distant object which was moving rapidly over the plain. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh! what—where?” said Mr. Kennedy, shading his eyes with his +hand, and peering in the direction indicated. “Why, that’s another +wolf, isn’t it? No; it runs too fast for that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Strange,” said his friend; “what <i>can</i> it be?” +</p> + +<p> +“If I hadn’t seen every beast in the country,” remarked Mr. +Kennedy, “and didn’t know that there are no such animals north of +the equator, I should say it was a mad dromedary mounted by a ring-tailed +roarer.” +</p> + +<p> +“It can’t be surely—not possible!” exclaimed Mr. Grant. +“It’s not Charley on the new horse!” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Grant said this with an air of vexation that annoyed his friend a little. +He would not have much minded Charley’s taking a horse without leave, no +matter how wild it might be; but he did not at all relish the idea of making an +apology for his son’s misconduct, and for the moment did not exactly know +what to say. As usual in such a dilemma, the old man took refuge in a towering +passion, gave his steed a sharp cut with the whip, and galloped forward to meet +the delinquent. +</p> + +<p> +We are not acquainted with the general appearance of a “ring-tailed +roarer;” in fact, we have grave doubts as to whether such an animal +exists at all; but if it does, and is particularly wild, dishevelled, and +fierce in deportment, there is no doubt whatever that when Mr. Kennedy applied +the name to his hopeful son, the application was singularly powerful and +appropriate. +</p> + +<p> +Charley had had a long run since we last saw him. After describing a wide +curve, in which his charger displayed a surprising aptitude for picking out the +ground that was least covered with snow, he headed straight for the fort again +at the same pace at which he had started. At first Charley tried every possible +method to check him, but in vain; so he gave it up, resolving to enjoy the +race, since he could not prevent it. The young horse seemed to be made of +lightning, with bones and muscles of brass; for he bounded untiringly forward +for miles, tossing his head and snorting in his wild career. But Charley was a +good horseman, and did not mind <i>that</i> much, being quite satisfied that +the horse <i>was</i> a horse and not a spirit, and that therefore he could not +run for ever. At last he approached the party, in search of which he had +originally set out. His eyes dilated and his colour heightened as he beheld the +wolf running directly towards him. Fumbling hastily for the pistol which he had +borrowed from his friend Harry, he drew it from his pocket, and prepared to +give the animal a shot in passing. Just at that moment the wolf caught sight of +this new enemy in advance, and diverged suddenly to the left, plunging into a +drift in his confusion, and so enabling the senior clerk to overtake him, and +send an ounce of heavy shot into his side, which turned him over quite dead. +The shot, however had a double effect. At that instant Charley swept past; and +his mettlesome steed swerved as it heard the loud report of the gun, thereby +almost unhorsing his rider, and causing him unintentionally to discharge the +conglomerate of bullets and swan-shot into the flank of Peter Mactavish’s +horse—fortunately at a distance which rendered the shot equivalent to a +dozen very sharp and particularly stinging blows. On receiving this unexpected +salute, the astonished charger reared convulsively, and fell back upon his +rider, who was thereby buried deep in the snow, not a vestige of him being +left, no more than if he had never existed at all. Indeed, for a moment it +seemed to be doubtful whether poor Peter <i>did</i> exist or not, until a +sudden upheaving of the snow took place, and his dishevelled head appeared, +with the eyes and mouth wide open, bearing on them an expression of mingled +horror and amazement. Meanwhile the second shot acted like a spur on the young +horse, which flew past Mr. Kennedy like a whirlwind. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, you young scoundrel!” he shouted, shaking his fist at +Charley as he passed. +</p> + +<p> +Charley was past stopping, either by inclination or ability. This sudden and +unexpected accumulation of disasters was too much for him. As he passed his +sire, with his brown curls streaming straight out behind, and his eyes flashing +with excitement, his teeth clinched, and his horse tearing along more like an +incarnate fiend than an animal, a spirit of combined recklessness, +consternation, indignation, and glee took possession of him. He waved his whip +wildly over his head, brought it down with a stinging cut on the horse’s +neck, and uttered a shout of defiance that threw completely into the shade the +loudest war-whoop that was ever uttered by the brazen lungs of the wildest +savage between Hudson’s Bay and Oregon. Seeing and hearing this, old Mr. +Kennedy wheeled about and dashed off in pursuit with much greater energy than +he had displayed in chase of the wolf. +</p> + +<p> +The race bid fair to be a long one, for the young horse was strong in wind and +limb; and the gray mare, though decidedly not “the better horse,” +was much fresher than the other. +</p> + +<p> +The hunters, who were now joined by Harry Somerville, did not feel it incumbent +on them to follow this new chase; so they contented themselves with watching +their flight towards the fort, while they followed at a more leisurely pace. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Charley rapidly neared Fort Garry, and now began to wonder whether +the stable door was open, and if so, whether it were better for him to take his +chance of getting his neck broken, or to throw himself into the next snow-drift +that presented itself. +</p> + +<p> +He had not to remain long in suspense. The wooden fence that enclosed the +stable-yard lay before him. It was between four and five feet high, with a +beaten track running along the outside, and a deep snow-drift on the other. +Charley felt that the young horse had made up his mind to leap this. As he did +not at the moment see that there was anything better to be done, he prepared +for it. As the horse bent on his haunches to spring, he gave him a smart cut +with the whip, went over like a rocket, and plunged up to the neck in the +snow-drift; which brought his career to an abrupt conclusion. The sudden +stoppage of the horse was <i>one</i> thing, but the arresting of Master Charley +was <i>another</i> and quite a different thing. The instant his charger landed, +he left the saddle like a harlequin, described an extensive curve in the air, +and fell head foremost into the drift, above which his boots and three inches +of his legs alone remained to tell the tale. +</p> + +<p> +On witnessing this climax, Mr. Kennedy, senior, pulled up, dismounted, and +ran—with an expression of some anxiety on his countenance—to the +help of his son, while Tom Whyte came out of the stable just in time to receive +the “noo ’oss” as he floundered out of the snow. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe,” said the groom, as he surveyed the trembling charger, +“that your son has broke the noo ’oss, sir, better nor I could +’ave done myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe that my son has broken his neck,” said Mr. Kennedy +wrathfully. “Come here and help me to dig him out.” +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes Charley was dug out, in a state of insensibility, and carried +up to the fort, where he was laid on a bed, and restoratives actively applied +for his recovery. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Peter Mactavish becomes an amateur doctor; Charley promulgates his views of +tilings in general to Kate; and Kate waxes sagacious. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the catastrophe just related, Charley opened his eyes to +consciousness, and aroused himself out of a prolonged fainting fit, under the +combined influence of a strong constitution and the medical treatment of his +friends. +</p> + +<p> +Medical treatment in the wilds of North America, by the way, is very original +in its character, and is founded on principles so vague that no one has ever +been found capable of stating them clearly. Owing to the stubborn fact that +there are no doctors in the country, men have been thrown upon their own +resources, and as a natural consequence <i>every</i> man is a doctor. True, +there <i>are</i> two, it may be three, real doctors in the Hudson’s Bay +Company’s employment; but as one of these is resident on the shores of +Hudson’s Bay, another in Oregon, and a third in Red River Settlement, +they are not considered available for every case of emergency that may chance +to occur in the hundreds of little outposts, scattered far and wide over the +whole continent of North America, with miles and miles of primeval wilderness +between each. We do not think, therefore, that when we say there are <i>no</i> +doctors in the country, we use a culpable amount of exaggeration. +</p> + +<p> +If a man gets ill, he goes on till he gets better; and if he doesn’t get +better, he dies. To avert such an undesirable consummation, desperate and +random efforts are made in an amateur way. The old proverb that “extremes +meet” is verified. And in a land where no doctors are to be had for love +or money, doctors meet you at every turn, ready to practise on everything, with +anything, and all for nothing, on the shortest possible notice. As maybe +supposed, the practice is novel, and not unfrequently extremely wild. +Tooth-drawing is considered child’s play—mere blacksmith’s +work; bleeding is a general remedy for everything, when all else fails; +castor-oil, Epsom salts, and emetics are the three keynotes, the foundations, +and the copestones of the system. +</p> + +<p> +In Red River there is only one <i>genuine</i> doctor; and as the settlement is +fully sixty miles long, he has enough to do, and cannot always be found when +wanted, so that Charley had to rest content with amateur treatment in the +meantime. Peter Mactavish was the first to try his powers. He was aware that +laudanum had the effect of producing sleep, and seeing that Charley looked +somewhat sleepy after recovering consciousness, he thought it advisable to help +out that propensity to slumber, and went to the medicine-chest, whence he +extracted a small phial of tincture of rhubarb, the half of which he emptied +into a wine-glass, under the impression that it was laudanum, and poured down +Charley’s throat! The poor boy swallowed a little, and sputtered the +remainder over the bedclothes. It may be remarked here that Mactavish was a +wild, happy, half-mad sort of fellow—wonderfully erudite in regard to +some things, and profoundly ignorant in regard to others. Medicine, it need +scarcely be added, was not his <i>forte</i>. Having accomplished this feat to +his satisfaction, he sat down to watch by the bedside of his friend. Peter had +taken this opportunity to indulge in a little private practice just after +several of the other gentlemen had left the office, under the impression that +Charley had better remain quiet for a short time. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Peter,” whispered Mr. Kennedy, senior, putting his head in +at the door (it was Harry’s room in which Charley lay), “how is he +now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! doing capitally,” replied Peter, in a hoarse whisper, at the +same time rising and entering the office, while he gently closed the door +behind him. “I gave him a small dose of physic, which I think has done mm +good. He’s sleeping like a top now.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy frowned slightly, and made one or two remarks in reference to +physic which were not calculated to gratify the ears of a physician. +</p> + +<p> +“What did you give him?” he inquired abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +“Only a little laudanum.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Only,</i> indeed! it’s all trash together, and that’s the +worst kind of trash you could have given him. Humph!” and the old +gentleman jerked his shoulders testily. +</p> + +<p> +“How much did yon give him?” said the senior clerk, who had entered +the apartment with Harry a few minutes before. +</p> + +<p> +“Not quite a wineglassful,” replied Peter, somewhat subdued. +</p> + +<p> +“A what!” cried the father, starting from his chair as if he had +received an electric shock, and rushing into the adjoining room, up and down +which he raved in a state of distraction, being utterly ignorant of what should +be done under the circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Harry Somerville fell rather than leaped off his stool, and dashed into +the bedroom, where old Mr. Kennedy was occupied in alternately heaping +unutterable abuse on the head of Peter Mactavish, and imploring him to advise +what was best to be done. But Peter knew not. He could only make one or two +insane proposals to roll Charley about the floor, and see if <i>that</i> would +do him any good; while Harry suggested in desperation that he should be hung by +the heels, and perhaps it would run out! +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the senior clerk seized his hat, with the intention of going in +search of Tom Whyte, and rushed out at the door; which he had no sooner done +than he found himself tightly embraced in the arms of that worthy, who happened +to be entering at the moment, and who, in consequence of the sudden onset, was +pinned up against the wall of the porch. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my buzzum!” exclaimed Tom, laying his hand on his breast; +“you’ve a’most bu’st me, sir. W’at’s wrong, +sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Go for the doctor, Tom, quick! run like the wind. Take the freshest +horse; fly, Tom, Charley’s poisoned—laudanum; quick!” +</p> + +<p> +“’Eavens an’ ’arth!” ejaculated the groom, +wheeling round, and stalking rapidly off to the stable like a pair of insane +compasses, while the senior clerk returned to the bedroom, where he found Mr. +Kennedy still raving, Peter Mactavish still aghast and deadly pale, and Harry +Somerville staring like a maniac at his young friend, as if he expected every +moment to see him explode, although, to all appearance, he was sleeping +soundly, and comfortably too, notwithstanding the noise that was going on +around him. Suddenly Harry’s eye rested on the label of the half-empty +phial, and he uttered a loud, prolonged cheer. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s only tincture of—” +</p> + +<p> +“Wild cats and furies!” cried Mr. Kennedy, turning sharply round +and seizing Harry by the collar, “why d’you kick up such a row, +eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s only tincture of rhubarb,” repeated the boy, +disengaging himself and holding up the phial triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +“So it is, I declare,” exclaimed Mr. Kennedy, in a tone that +indicated intense relief of mind; while Peter Mactavish uttered a sigh so deep +that one might suppose a burden of innumerable tons weight had just been +removed from his breast. +</p> + +<p> +Charley had been roused from his slumbers by this last ebullition; but on being +told what had caused it, he turned languidly round on his pillow and went to +sleep again, while his friends departed and left him to repose. +</p> + +<p> +Tom Whyte failed to find the doctor. The servant told him that her master had +been suddenly called to set a broken leg that morning for a trapper who lived +ten miles <i>down</i> the river, and on his return had found a man waiting with +a horse and cariole, who carried him violently away to see his wife, who had +been taken suddenly ill at a house twenty miles <i>up</i> the river, and so she +didn’t expect him back that night. +</p> + +<p> +“An’ where has ’e been took to?” inquired Tom. +</p> + +<p> +She couldn’t tell; she knew it was somewhere about the White-horse +Plains, but she didn’t know more than that. +</p> + +<p> +“Did ’e not say w’en ’e’d be home?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, he didn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh dear!” said Tom, rubbing his long nose in great perplexity. +“It’s an ’orrible case o’ sudden and onexpected +pison.” +</p> + +<p> +She was sorry for it, but couldn’t help that; and thereupon, bidding him +good-morning, shut the door. +</p> + +<p> +Tom’s wits had come to that condition which just precedes “giving +it up” as hopeless, when it occurred to him that he was not far from old +Mr. Kennedy’s residence; so he stepped into the cariole again and drove +thither. On his arrival he threw poor Mrs. Kennedy and Kate into great +consternation by his exceedingly graphic, and more than slightly exaggerated, +account of what had brought him in search of the doctor. At first Mrs. Kennedy +resolved to go up to Fort Garry immediately, but Kate persuaded her to remain +at home, by pointing out that she could herself go, and if anything very +serious had occurred (which she didn’t believe), Mr. Kennedy could come +down for her immediately, while she (Kate) could remain to nurse her brother. +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes Kate and Tom were seated side by side in the little cariole, +driving swiftly up the frozen river; and two hours later the former was seated +by her brother’s bedside, watching him as he slept with a look of tender +affection and solicitude. +</p> + +<p> +Rousing himself from his slumbers, Charley looked vacantly round the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you slept well, darling?” inquired Kate, laying her hand +lightly on his forehead. +</p> + +<p> +“Slept—eh! oh yes. I’ve slept. I say, Kate, what a precious +bump I came down on my head, to be sure!” +</p> + +<p> +“Hush, Charley!” said Kate, perceiving that he was becoming +energetic. “Father said you were to keep quiet—and so do I,” +she added, with a frown. “Shut your eyes, sir, and go to sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley complied by shutting his eyes, and opening his mouth, and uttering a +succession of deep snores. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, you bad boy,” said Kate, “why <i>won’t</i> you +try to rest?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Kate, dear,” said Charley, opening his eyes +again—“because I feel as if I had slept a week at least; and not +being one of the seven sleepers, I don’t think it necessary to do more in +that way just now. Besides, my sweet but particularly wicked sister, I wish +just at this moment to have a talk with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“But are you sure it won’t do you harm to talk? do you feel quite +strong enough?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite: Sampson was a mere infant compared to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t talk nonsense, Charley dear, and keep your hands quiet, +and don’t lift the clothes with your knees in that way, else I’ll +go away and leave you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, my pet; if you do, I’ll get up and dress and follow +you, that’s all! But come, Kate, tell me first of all how it was that I +got pitched off that long-legged rhinoceros, and who it was that picked me up, +and why wasn’t I killed, and how did I come here; for my head is sadly +confused, and I scarcely recollect anything that has happened; and before +commencing your discourse, Kate, please hand me a glass of water, for my mouth +is as dry as a whistle.” +</p> + +<p> +Kate handed him a glass of water, smoothed his pillow, brushed the curls gently +off his forehead, and sat down on the bedside. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, Kate; now go on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you see,” she began— +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me, dearest,” interrupted Charley, “if you would +please to look at me you would observe that my two eyes are tightly closed, so +that I don’t <i>see</i> at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, you must understand—” +</p> + +<p> +“Must I? Oh!—” +</p> + +<p> +“That after that wicked horse leaped with you over the stable fence, you +were thrown high into the air, and turning completely round, fell head foremost +into the snow, and your poor head went through the top of an old cask that had +been buried there all winter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” ejaculated Charley; “did anyone see me, +Kate?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who?” asked Charley, somewhat anxiously; “not Mrs. Grant, I +hope? for if she did she’d never let me hear the last of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“No; only our father, who was chasing you at the time,” replied +Kate, with a merry laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“And no one else?” +</p> + +<p> +“No—oh yes, by-the-by, Tom Whyte was there too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, he’s nobody. Go on.” +</p> + +<p> +“But tell me, Charley, why do you care about Mrs. Grant seeing +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no reason at all, only she’s such an abominable quiz.” +</p> + +<p> +We must guard the reader here against the supposition that Mrs. Grant was a +quiz of the ordinary kind. She was by no means a sprightly, clever woman, +rather fond of a joke than otherwise, as the term might lead you to suppose. +Her corporeal frame was very large, excessively fat, and remarkably unwieldy; +being an appropriate casket in which to enshrine a mind of the heaviest and +most sluggish nature. She spoke little, ate largely, and slept much—the +latter recreation being very frequently enjoyed in a large arm-chair of a +peculiar kind. It had been a water-butt, which her ingenious husband had cut +half-way down the middle, then half-way across, and in the angle thus formed +fixed a bottom, which, together with the back, he padded with tow, and covered +the whole with a mantle of glaring bed-curtain chintz, whose pattern alternated +in stripes of sky-blue and china roses, with broken fragments of the rainbow +between. Notwithstanding her excessive slowness, however, Mrs. Grant was fond +of taking a firm hold of anything or any circumstance in the character or +affairs of her friends, and twitting them thereupon in a grave but persevering +manner that was exceedingly irritating. No one could ever ascertain whether +Mrs. Grant did this in a sly way or not, as her visage never expressed anything +except unalterable good-humour. She was a good wife and an affectionate mother; +had a family of ten children, and could boast of never having had more than one +quarrel with her husband. This disagreement was occasioned by a rather awkward +mischance. One day, not long after her last baby was born, Mrs. Grant waddled +towards her tub with the intention of enjoying her accustomed siesta. A few +minutes previously, her seventh child, which was just able to walk, had +scrambled up into the seat and fallen fast asleep there. As has been already +said, Mrs. Grant’s intellect was never very bright, and at this +particular time she was rather drowsy, so that she did not observe the child, +and on reaching her chair, turned round preparatory to letting herself plump +into it. She always <i>plumped</i> into her chair. Her muscles were too soft to +lower her gently down into it. Invariably on reaching a certain point they +ceased to act, and let her down with a crash. She had just reached this point, +and her baby’s hopes and prospects were on the eve of being cruelly +crushed for ever, when Mr. Grant noticed the impending calamity. He had no time +to warn her, for she had already passed the point at which her powers of +muscular endurance terminated; so grasping the chair, he suddenly withdrew it +with such force that the baby rolled off upon the floor like a hedgehog, +straightened out flat, and gave vent to an outrageous roar, while its +horror-struck mother came to the ground with a sound resembling the fall of an +enormous sack of wool. Although the old lady could not see exactly that there +was anything very blameworthy in her husband’s conduct on this occasion, +yet her nerves had received so severe a shock that she refused to be comforted +for two entire days. +</p> + +<p> +But to return from this digression. After Charley had two or three times +recommended Kate (who was a little inclined to be quizzical) to proceed, she +continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then you were carried up here by father and Tom Whyte, and put to +bed, and after a good deal of rubbing and rough treatment you were got round. +Then Peter Mactavish nearly poisoned you, but fortunately he was such a goose +that he did not think of reading the label of the phial, and so gave you a dose +of tincture of rhubarb instead of laudanum as he had intended; and then father +flew into a passion, and Tom Whyte was sent to fetch the doctor, and +couldn’t find him; but fortunately he found me, which was much better, I +think, and brought me up here. And so here I am, and here I intend to +remain.” +</p> + +<p> +“And so that’s the end of it. Well, Kate, I’m very glad it +was no worse.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I am very <i>thankful</i>” said Kate, with emphasis on the +word, “that it’s no worse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, well, you know, Kate, I <i>meant</i> that, of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you did not <i>say</i> it,” replied his sister earnestly. +</p> + +<p> +“To be sure not,” said Charley gaily; “it would be absurd to +be always making solemn speeches, and things of that sort, every time one has a +little accident.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, Charley; but when one has a very serious accident, and escapes +unhurt, don’t you think that <i>then</i> it would be—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh yes, to be sure,” interrupted Charley, who still strove to turn +Kate from her serious frame of mind; “but sister dear, how could I +possibly <i>say</i> I was thankful with my head crammed into an old cask and my +feet pointing up to the blue sky, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +Kate smiled at this, and laid her hand on his arm, while she bent over the +pillow and looked tenderly into his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“O my darling Charley, you are disposed to jest about it; but I cannot +tell you how my heart trembled this morning when I heard from Tom Whyte of what +had happened. As we drove up to the fort, I thought how terrible it would have +been if you had been killed; and then the happy days we have spent together +rushed into my mind, and I thought of the willow creek where we used to fish +for gold eyes, and the spot in the woods where we have so often chased the +little birds, and the lake in the prairies where we used to go in spring to +watch the water-fowl sporting in the sunshine. When I recalled these things, +Charley, and thought of you as dead, I felt as if I should die too. And when I +came here and found that my fears were needless, that you were alive and safe, +and almost well, I felt thankful—yes, very, very thankful—to God +for sparing your life, my dear, dear Charley.” And Kate laid her head on +his bosom and sobbed, when she thought of what might have been, as if her very +heart would break. +</p> + +<p> +Charley’s disposition to levity entirely vanished while his sister spoke; +and twining his tough little arm round her neck, he pressed her fervently to +his heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Bless you, Kate,” he said at length. “I am indeed thankful +to God, not only for sparing my life, but for giving me such a darling sister +to live for. But now, Kate, tell me, what do you think of father’s +determination to have me placed in the office here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I think it’s very hard. Oh, I do wish <i>so</i> much that +I could do it for you,” said Kate with a sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“Do <i>what</i> for me?” asked Charley. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, the office work,” said Kate. +</p> + +<p> +“Tuts! fiddlesticks! But isn’t it, now, really a <i>very</i> hard +case?” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed it is; but, then, what can you do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do?” said Charley impatiently; “run away to be sure.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t speak of that!” said Kate anxiously. “You +know it will kill our beloved mother; and then it would grieve father very +much.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, father don’t care much about grieving me, when he hunted me +down like a wolf till I nearly broke my neck.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Charley, you must not speak so. Father loves you tenderly, although +he <i>is</i> a little rough at times. If you only heard how kindly he speaks of +you to our mother when you are away, you could not think of giving him so much +pain. And then the Bible says, ‘Honour thy father and thy mother, that +thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee;’ and +as God speaks in the Bible, <i>surely</i> we should pay attention to it!” +</p> + +<p> +Charley was silent for a few seconds; then heaving a deep sigh, he said,— +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I believe you’re right, Kate; but then, what am I to do? If +I don’t run away, I must live, like poor Harry Somerville, on a +long-legged stool; and if I do <i>that</i>, +I’ll—I’ll—” +</p> + +<p> +As Charley spoke, the door opened, and his father entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my boy,” said he, seating himself on the bedside and taking +his son’s hand, “how goes it now? Head getting all right again? I +fear that Kate has been talking too much to you.—Is it so, you little +chatterbox?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy parted Kate’s clustering ringlets and kissed her forehead. +</p> + +<p> +Charley assured his father that he was almost well, and much the better of +having Kate to tend him. In fact, he felt so much revived that he said he would +get up and go out for a walk. +</p> + +<p> +“Had I not better tell Tom Whyte to saddle the young horse for +you?” said his father, half ironically. “No, no, boy; lie still +where you are to-day, and get up if you feel better to-morrow. In the meantime, +I’ve come to say good-bye, as I intend to go home to relieve your +mother’s anxiety about you. I’ll see you again, probably, the day +after to-morrow. Hark you, boy; I’ve been talking your affairs over again +with Mr. Grant, and we’ve come to the conclusion to give you a run in the +woods for a time. You’ll have to be ready to start early in spring with +the first brigades for the north. So adieu!” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy patted him on the head, and hastily left the room. +</p> + +<p> +A burning blush of shame arose on Charley’s cheek as he recollected his +late remarks about his father; and then, recalling the purport of his last +words, he sent forth an exulting shout as he thought of the coming spring. +</p> + +<p> +“Well now, Charley,” said Kate, with an arch smile, “let us +talk seriously over your arrangements for running away.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley replied by seizing the pillow and throwing it at his sister’s +head; but being accustomed to such eccentricities, she anticipated the movement +and evaded the blow. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Charley,” cried Kate, laughing, “you mustn’t let +your hand get out of practice! That was a shockingly bad shot for a man +thirsting to become a bear and buffalo hunter!” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll make my fortune at once,” cried Charley, as Kate +replaced the pillow, “build a wooden castle on the shores of Great Bear +Lake, take you to keep house for me, and when I’m out hunting +you’ll fish for whales in the lake; and we’ll live there to a good +old age; so good-night, Kate dear, and go to bed.” +</p> + +<p> +Kate laughed, gave her brother a parting kiss, and left him. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Spring and the voyageurs. +</p> + +<p> +Winter, with its snow and its ice: winter, with its sharp winds and white +drifts; winter, with its various characteristic occupations and employments, is +past, and it is spring now. +</p> + +<p> +The sun no longer glitters on fields of white; the woodman’s axe is no +longer heard hacking the oaken billets, to keep alive the roaring fires. That +inexpressibly cheerful sound the merry chime of sleigh-bells, that tells more +of winter than all other sounds together, is no longer heard on the bosom of +Red River; for the sleighs are thrown aside as useless lumber—carts and +gigs have supplanted them. The old Canadian, who used to drive the ox with its +water-barrel to the ice-hole for his daily supply, has substituted a small cart +with wheels for the old sleigh that used to glide so smoothly over the snow, +and <i>grit</i> so sharply on it in the more than usually frosty mornings in +the days gone by. The trees have lost their white patches, and the clumps of +willows, that used to look like islands in the prairie, have disappeared, as +the carpeting that gave them prominence has dissolved. The aspect of everything +in the isolated settlement has changed. The winter is gone, and +spring—bright, beautiful, hilarious spring—has come again. +</p> + +<p> +By those who have never known an arctic winter, the delights of an arctic +spring can never, we fear, be fully appreciated or understood. Contrast is one +of its strongest elements; indeed, we might say, <i>the</i> element which gives +to all the others peculiar zest. Life in the arctic regions is like one of +Turner’s pictures, in which the lights are strong, the shadows deep, and +the <i>tout ensemble</i> hazy and romantic. So cold and prolonged is the +winter, that the first mild breath of spring breaks on the senses like a zephyr +from the plains of Paradise. Everything bursts suddenly into vigorous life, +after the long, death-like sleep of Nature; as little children burst into the +romping gaieties of a new day, after the deep repose of a long and tranquil +night. The snow melts, the ice breaks up, and rushes in broken masses, heaving +and tossing in the rising floods, that grind and whirl them into the ocean, or +into those great fresh-water lakes that vie with ocean itself in magnitude and +grandeur. The buds come out and the leaves appear, clothing all nature with a +bright refreshing green, which derives additional brilliancy from sundry +patches of snow, that fill the deep creeks and hollows everywhere, and form +ephemeral fountains whose waters continue to supply a thousand rills for many a +long day, until the fierce glare of the summer sun prevails at last and melts +them all away. +</p> + +<p> +Red River flows on now to mix its long-pent-up waters with Lake Winnipeg. Boats +are seen rowing about upon its waters, as the settlers travel from place to +place; and wooden canoes, made of the hollowed-out trunks of large trees, shoot +across from shore to shore—these canoes being a substitute for bridges, +of which there are none, although the settlement lies on both sides of the +river. Birds have now entered upon the scene, their wild cries and ceaseless +flight adding to it a cheerful activity. Ground squirrels pop up out of their +holes to bask their round, fat, beautifully-striped little bodies in the sun, +or to gaze in admiration at the farmer, as he urges a pair of <i>very</i> +slow-going oxen, that drag the plough at a pace which induces one to believe +that the wide field <i>may</i> possibly be ploughed up by the end of next year. +Frogs whistle in the marshy grounds so loudly that men new to the country +believe they are being regaled by the songs of millions of birds. There is no +mistake about their <i>whistle</i>. It is not merely <i>like</i> a whistle, but +it <i>is</i> a whistle, shrill and continuous; and as the swamps swarm with +these creatures, the song never ceases for a moment, although each individual +frog creates only <i>one</i> little gush of music, composed of half-a-dozen +trills, and then stops a moment for breath before commencing the second bar. +Bull-frogs, too, though not so numerous, help to vary the sound by croaking +vociferously, as if they understood the value of bass, and were glad of having +an opportunity to join in the universal hum of life and joy which rises +everywhere, from the river and the swamp, the forest and the prairie, to +welcome back the spring. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the state of things in Red River one beautiful morning in April, when +a band of voyageurs lounged in scattered groups about the front gate of Fort +Garry. They were as fine a set of picturesque, manly fellows as one could +desire to see. Their mode of life rendered them healthy, hardy, arid +good-humoured, with a strong dash of recklessness—perhaps too much of +it—in some of the younger men. Being descended, generally, from +French-Canadian sires and Indian mothers, they united some of the good and not +a few of the bad qualities of both, mentally as well as +physically—combining the light, gay-hearted spirit and full, muscular +frame of the Canadian with the fierce passions and active habits of the Indian. +And this wildness of disposition was not a little fostered by the nature of +their usual occupations. They were employed during a great part of the year in +navigating the Hudson’s Bay Company’s boats, laden with furs and +goods, through the labyrinth of rivers and lakes that stud and intersect the +whole continent, or they were engaged in pursuit of the bisons,<a href="#fn2" name="fnref2" id="fnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +which roam the prairies in vast herds. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn2" id="fn2"></a> <a href="#fnref2">[2]</a> +These animals are always called buffaloes by American hunters and fur-traders. +</p> + +<p> +They were dressed in the costume of the country: most of them wore light-blue +cloth capotes, girded tightly round them’, by scarlet or crimson worsted +belts. Some of them had blue and others scarlet cloth leggings, ornamented more +or less with stained porcupine quills, coloured silk, or variegated beads; +while some might be seen clad in the leathern coats of winter—deer-skin +dressed like chamois leather, fringed all round with little tails, and +ornamented much in the same way as those already described. The heavy winter +moccasins and duffel socks, which gave to their feet the appearance of being +afflicted with gout, were now replaced by moccasins of a lighter and more +elegant character, having no socks below, and fitting tightly to the feet like +gloves. Some wore hats similar to those made of silk or beaver which are worn +by ourselves in Britain, but so bedizened with scarlet cock-tail feathers, and +silver cords and tassels, as to leave the original form of the head-dress a +matter of great uncertainty. These hats, however, are only used on high +occasions, and chiefly by the fops. Most of the men wore coarse blue cloth caps +with peaks, and not a few discarded head-pieces altogether, under the +impression, apparently, that nature had supplied a covering which was in itself +sufficient. These costumes varied not only in character but in quality, +according to the circumstances of the wearer; some being highly ornamental and +mended—evincing the felicity of the owner in the possession of a good +wife—while others were soiled and torn, or but slightly ornamented. The +voyageurs were collected, as we have said, in groups. Here stood a dozen of the +youngest—consequently the most noisy and showily dressed—laughing +loudly, gesticulating violently, and bragging tremendously. Near to them were +collected a number of sterner spirits—men of middle age, with all the +energy, and muscle, and bone of youth, but without its swaggering hilarity; men +whose powers and nerves had been tried over and over again amid the stirring +scenes of a voyageur’s life; men whose heads were cool, and eyes sharp, +and hands ready and powerful, in the mad whirl of boiling rapids, in the sudden +attack of wild beast and hostile man, or in the unexpected approach of any +danger; men who, having been well tried, needed not to boast, and who, having +carried off triumphantly their respective brides many years ago, needed not to +decorate their persons with the absurd finery that characterised their younger +brethren. They were comparatively few in number, but they composed a sterling +band, of which every man was a hero. Among them were those who occupied the +high positions of bowman and steersman, and when we tell the reader that on +these two men frequently hangs the safety of a boat, with all its crew and +lading, it will be easily understood how needful it is that they should be men +of iron nerve and strength of mind. +</p> + +<p> +Boat-travelling in those regions is conducted in a way that would astonish most +people who dwell in the civilised quarters of the globe. The country being +intersected in all directions by great lakes and rivers, these have been +adopted as the most convenient highways along which to convey the supplies and +bring back the furs from outposts. Rivers in America, however, as in other +parts of the world, are distinguished by sudden ebullitions and turbulent +points of character, in the shape of rapids, falls, and cataracts, up and down +which neither men nor boats can by any possibility go with impunity; +consequently, on arriving at such obstructions, the cargoes are carried +overland to navigable water above or below the falls (as the case may be), then +the boats are dragged over and launched, again reloaded, and the travellers +proceed. This operation is called “making a portage;” and as these +portages vary from twelve yards to twelve miles in length, it may be readily +conceived that a voyageur’s life is not an easy one by any means. +</p> + +<p> +This, however, is only one of his difficulties. Rapids occur which are not so +dangerous as to make a “portage” necessary, but are sufficiently +turbulent to render the descent of them perilous. In such cases, the boats, +being lightened of part of their cargo, are <i>run</i> down, and frequently +they descend with full cargoes and crews. It is then that the whole management +of each boat devolves upon its bowman and steersman. The rest of the crew, or +<i>middlemen</i> as they are called, merely sit still and look on, or give a +stroke with their oars if required; while the steersman, with powerful sweeps +of his heavy oar, directs the flying boat as it bounds from surge to surge like +a thing of life; and the bowman stands erect in front to assist in directing +his comrade at the stern, having a strong and long pole in his hands, with +which, ever and anon, he violently forces the boat’s head away from +sunken rocks, against which it might otherwise strike and be stove in, +capsized, or seriously damaged. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the groups already enumerated, there were one or two others, composed +of grave, elderly men, whose wrinkled brows, gray hairs, and slow, quiet step, +showed that the strength of their days was past; although their upright figures +and warm brown complexions gave promise of their living to see many summers +still. These were the principal steersmen and old guides—men of renown, +to whom the others bowed as oracles or looked up to as fathers; men whose youth +and manhood had been spent in roaming the trackless wilderness, and who were, +therefore, eminently qualified to guide brigades through the length and breadth +of the land; men whose power of threading their way among the perplexing +intricacies of the forest had become a second nature, a kind of instinct, that +was as sure of attaining its end as the instinct of the feathered tribes, which +brings the swallow, after a long absence, with unerring certainty back to its +former haunts again in spring. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The store. +</p> + +<p> +At whatever establishment in the fur-trader’s dominions you may chance to +alight you will find a particular building which is surrounded by a halo of +interest; towards which there seems to be a general leaning on the part of +everybody, especially of the Indians; and with which are connected, in the +minds of all, the most stirring reminiscences and pleasing associations. +</p> + +<p> +This is the trading-store. It is always recognisable, if natives are in the +neighbourhood, by the bevy of red men that cluster round it, awaiting the +coming of the storekeeper or the trader with that stoic patience which is +peculiar to Indians. It may be further recognised, by a close observer, by the +soiled condition of its walls occasioned by loungers rubbing their backs +perpetually against it, and the peculiar dinginess round the keyhole, caused by +frequent applications of the key, which renders it conspicuous beyond all its +comrades. Here is contained that which makes the red man’s life +enjoyable; that which causes his heart to leap, and induces him to toil for +months and months together in the heat of summer and amid the frost and snow of +winter; that which <i>actually</i> accomplishes, what music is <i>said</i> to +achieve, the “soothing of the savage breast:” in short, here are +stored up blankets, guns, powder, shot, kettles, axes, and knives; twine for +nets, vermilion for war-paint, fishhooks and scalping-knives, capotes, cloth, +beads, needles, and a host of miscellaneous articles, much too numerous to +mention. Here, also occur periodical scenes of bustle and excitement, when +bands of natives arrive from distant hunting-grounds, laden with rich furs, +which are speedily transferred to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s stores +in exchange for the goods aforementioned. And many a tough wrangle has the +trader on such occasions with sharp natives, who might have graduated in +Billingsgate, so close are they at a bargain. Here, too, voyageurs are supplied +with an equivalent for their wages, part in advance, if they desire it (and +they generally do desire it), and part at the conclusion of their long and +arduous voyages. +</p> + +<p> +It is to one of these stores, reader, that we wish to introduce you now, that +you may witness the men of the North brigade receive their advances. +</p> + +<p> +The store at Fort Garry stands on the right of the fort, as you enter by the +front gate. Its interior resembles that of the other stores in the country, +being only a little larger. A counter encloses a space sufficiently wide to +admit a dozen men, and serves to keep back those who are more eager than the +rest. Inside this counter, at the time we write of, stood our friend, Peter +Mactavish, who was the presiding genius of the scene. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut the door now, and lock it,” said Peter, in an authoritative +tone, after eight or ten young voyageurs had crushed into the space in front of +the counter. “I’ll not supply you with so much as an ounce of +tobacco if you let in another man.” +</p> + +<p> +Peter needed not to repeat the command. Three or four stalwart shoulders were +applied to the door, which shut with a bang like a cannon-shot, and the key was +turned. +</p> + +<p> +“Come now, Antoine,” began the trader, “we’ve lots to +do, and not much time to do it in, so pray look sharp.” +</p> + +<p> +Antoine, however, was not to be urged on so easily. He had been meditating +deeply all the morning on what he should purchase. Moreover, he had a +sweetheart, and of course he had to buy something for her before setting out on +his travels. Besides, Antoine was six feet high, and broad shouldered, and well +made, with a dark face and glossy black hair; and he entertained a notion that +there were one or two points in his costume which required to be carefully +rectified, ere he could consider that he had attained to perfection: so he +brushed the long hair off his forehead, crossed his arms, and gazed around him. +</p> + +<p> +“Come now, Antoine,” said Peter, throwing a green blanket at him; +“I know you want <i>that</i> to begin with. What’s the use of +thinking so long about it, eh? And <i>that</i>, too,” he added, throwing +him a blue cloth capote. “Anything else?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, oui, monsieur,” cried Antoine, as he disengaged himself from +the folds of the coat which Peter had thrown over his head. “Tabac, +monsieur, tabac!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, to be sure,” cried Peter. “I might have guessed that +<i>that</i> was uppermost in your mind. Well, how much will you have?” +Peter began to unwind the fragrant weed off a coil of most appalling size and +thickness, which looked like a snake of endless length. “Will that +do?” and he flourished about four feet of the snake before the eyes of +the voyageur. +</p> + +<p> +Antoine accepted the quantity, and young Harry Somerville entered the articles +against him in a book. +</p> + +<p> +“Anything more, Antoine?” said the trader. “Ah, some beads +and silks, eh? Oho, Antoine!—By the way, Louis, have you seen Annette +lately?” +</p> + +<p> +Peter turned to another voyageur when he put this question, and the voyageur +gave a broad grin as he replied in the affirmative, while Antoine looked a +little confused. He did not care much, however, for jesting. So, after getting +one or two more articles—not forgetting half-a-dozen clay pipes, and a +few yards of gaudy calico, which called forth from Peter a second reference to +Annette—he bundled up his goods, and made way for another comrade. +</p> + +<p> +Louis Peltier, one of the principal guides, and a man of importance therefore, +now stood forward. He was probably about forty-five years of age; had a plain, +olive-coloured countenance, surrounded by a mass of long jet-black hair, which +he inherited, along with a pair of dark, piercing eyes, from his Indian mother; +and a robust, heavy, yet active frame, which bore a strong resemblance to what +his Canadian father’s had been many years before. His arms, in +particular, were of herculean mould, with large swelling veins and +strongly-marked muscles. They seemed, in fact, just formed for the purpose of +pulling the heavy sweep of an inland boat among strong rapids. His face +combined an expression of stern resolution with great good-humour; and truly +his countenance did not belie him, for he was known among his comrades as the +most courageous and at the same time the most peaceable man in the settlement. +Louis Peltier was singular in possessing the latter quality, for assuredly the +half-breeds, whatever other good points they boast, cannot lay claim to very +gentle or dove-like dispositions. His grey capote and blue leggings were +decorated with no unusual ornaments, and the scarlet belt which encircled his +massive figure was the only bit of colour he displayed. +</p> + +<p> +The younger men fell respectfully into the rear as Louis stepped forward and +begged pardon for coming so early in the day. “Mais, monsieur,” he +said, “I have to look after the boats to-day, and get them ready for a +start to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +Peter Mactavish gave Louis a hearty shake of the hand before proceeding to +supply his wants, which were simple and moderate, excepting in the article of +<i>tabac</i>, in the use of which he was <i>im</i>-moderate, being an +inveterate smoker; so that a considerable portion of the snake had to be +uncoiled for his benefit. +</p> + +<p> +“Fond as ever of smoking, Louis?” said Peter Mactavish, as he +handed him the coil. +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, monsieur—very fond,” answered the guide, smelling the +weed. “Ah, this is very good. I must take a good supply this voyage, +because I lost the half of my roll last year;” and the guide gave a sigh +as he thought of the overwhelming bereavement. +</p> + +<p> +“Lost the half of it, Louis!” said Mactavish. “Why, how was +that? You must have lost <i>more</i> than half your spirits with it!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, oui, I lost <i>all</i> my spirits, and my comrade François at the +same time!” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” exclaimed the clerk, bustling about the store while the +guide continued to talk. +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, monsieur, oui. I lost <i>him</i>, and my tabac, and my spirits, and +very nearly my life, all in one moment!” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, how came that about?” said Peter, pausing in his work, and +laying a handful of pipes on the counter. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, monsieur, it was very sad (merci, monsieur, merci; thirty pipes, if +you please), and I thought at the time that I should give up my voyageur life, +and remain altogether in the settlement with my old woman. Mais, monsieur, that +was not possible. When I spoke of it to my old woman, she called <i>me</i> an +old woman; and you know, monsieur, that <i>two</i> old women never could live +together in peace for twelve months under the same roof. So here I am, you see, +ready again for the voyage.” +</p> + +<p> +The voyageurs, who had drawn round Louis when he alluded to an anecdote which +they had often heard before, but were never weary of hearing over again, +laughed loudly at this sally, and urged the guide to relate the story to +“<i>monsieur</i>” who, nothing loath to suspend his operations for +a little, leaned his arms on the counter and said— +</p> + +<p> +“Tell us all about it, Louis; I am anxious to know how you managed to +come by so many losses all at one time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bien, monsieur, I shall soon relate it, for the story is very +short.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry Somerville, who was entering the pipes in Louis’s account, had just +set down the figures “30” when Louis cleared his throat to begin. +Not having the mental fortitude to finish the line, he dropped his pen, sprang +off his stool, which he upset in so doing, jumped up, sitting-ways, upon the +counter, and gazed with breathless interest into the guide’s face as he +spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“It was on a cold, wet afternoon,” said Louis, “that we were +descending the Hill River, at a part of the rapids where there is a sharp bend +in the stream, and two or three great rocks that stand up in front of the +water, as it plunges over a ledge, as if they were put there a purpose to catch +it, and split it up into foam, or to stop the boats and canoes that try to run +the rapids, and cut them up into splinters. It was an ugly place, monsieur, I +can tell you; and though I’ve run it again and again, I always hold my +breath tighter when we get to the top, and breathe freer when we get to the +bottom. Well, there was a chum of mine at the bow, Francois by name, and a fine +fellow he was as I ever came across. He used to sleep with me at night under +the same blanket, although it was somewhat inconvenient; for being as big as +myself and a stone heavier, it was all we could do to make the blanket cover +us. However, he and I were great friends, and we managed it somehow. Well, he +was at the bow when we took the rapids, and a first-rate bowman he made. His +pole was twice as long and twice as thick as any other pole in the boat, and he +twisted it about just like a fiddlestick. I remember well the night before we +came to the rapids, as he was sitting by the fire, which was blazing up among +the pine-branches that overhung us, he said that he wanted a good pole for the +rapids next day; and with that he jumped up, laid hold of an axe, and went back +into the woods a bit to get one. When he returned, he brought a young tree on +his shoulder, which he began to strip of its branches, and bark. +‘Louis,’ says he, ‘this is hot work; give us a pipe.’ +So I rummaged about for some tobacco, but found there was none left in my bag; +so I went to my kit and got out my roll, about three fathoms or so, and cutting +half of it off, I went to the fire and twisted it round his neck by way of a +joke, and he said he’d wear it as a necklace all night, and so he did, +too, and forgot to take it off in the morning; and when we came near the rapids +I couldn’t get at my bag to stow it away, so says I, ‘Francois, +you’ll have to run with it on, for I can’t stop to stow it +now.’ ‘All right,’ says he, ‘go ahead;’ and just +as he said it, we came in sight of the first run, foaming and boiling like a +kettle of robbiboo. ‘Take care, lads,’ I cried, and the next moment +we were dashing down towards the bend in the river. As we came near to the +shoot, I saw Francois standing up on the gunwale to get a better view of the +rocks ahead, and every now and then giving me a signal with his hand how to +steer; suddenly he gave a shout, and plunged his long pole into the water, to +fend off from a rock which a swirl in the stream had concealed. For a second or +two his pole bent like a willow, and we could feel the heavy boat jerk off a +little with the tremendous strain, but all at once the pole broke off short +with a crack, Francois’ heels made a flourish in the air, and then he +disappeared head foremost into the foaming water, with my tobacco coiled round +his neck! As we flew past the place, one of his arms appeared, and I made a +grab at it, and caught him by the sleeve; but the effort upset myself and over +I went too. Fortunately, however, one of my men caught me by the foot, and held +on like a vice; but the force of the current tore Francois’ sleeve out of +my grasp, and I was dragged into the boat again just in time to see my +comrade’s legs and arms going like the sails of a windmill, as he rolled +over several times and disappeared. Well, we put ashore the moment we got into +still water, and then five or six of us started off on foot to look for +Francois. After half-an-hour’s search, we found him pitched upon a flat +rock in the middle of the stream like a bit of driftwood, We immediately waded +out to the rock and brought him ashore, where we lighted a fire, took off all +his clothes, and rubbed him till he began to show signs of life again. But you +may judge, mes garçons, of my misery when I found that the coil of tobacco was +gone. It had come off his neck during his struggles, and there wasn’t a +vestige of it left, except a bright red mark on the throat, where it had nearly +strangled him. When he began to recover, he put his hand up to his neck as if +feeling for something, and muttered faintly, ‘The tabac.’ +‘Ah, morbleu!’ said I, ‘you may say that! Where is it?’ +Well, we soon brought him round, but he had swallowed so much water that it +damaged his lungs, and we had to leave him at the next post we came to; and so +I lost my friend too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did Francois get better?” said Charley Kennedy, in a voice of +great concern. +</p> + +<p> +Charley had entered the store by another door, just as the guide began his +story, and had listened to it unobserved with breathless interest. +</p> + +<p> +“Recover! Oh oui, monsieur, he soon got well again.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I’m so glad,” cried Charley. +</p> + +<p> +“But I lost him for that voyage,” added the guide; “and I +lost my tabac for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must take better care of it this time, Louis,” said Peter +Mactavish, as he resumed his work. +</p> + +<p> +“That I shall, monsieur,” replied Louis, shouldering his goods and +quitting the store, while a short, slim, active little Canadian took his place. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, then, Baptiste,” said Mactavish, “you want +a—” +</p> + +<p> +“Blanket, monsieur,” +</p> + +<p> +“Good. And—” +</p> + +<p> +“A capote, monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +“And—” +</p> + +<p> +“An axe—” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, stop!” shouted Harry Somerville from his desk. +“Here’s an entry in Louis’s account that I can’t make +out—30 something or other; what can it have been?” +</p> + +<p> +“How often,” said Mactavish, going up to him with a look of +annoyance—“how often have I told you, Mr. Somerville, not to leave +an entry half-finished on any account!” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know that I left it so,” said Harry, twisting his +features, and scratching his head in great perplexity. “What <i>can</i> +it have been? 30—30—not blankets, eh?” (Harry was becoming +banteringly bitter.) “He couldn’t have got thirty guns, could he? +or thirty knives, or thirty copper kettles?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps it was thirty pounds of tea,” suggested Charley. +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt it was thirty <i>pipes</i>,” said Peter Mactavish. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that was it!” cried Harry, “that was it! thirty pipes, +to be sure. What an ass I am!” +</p> + +<p> +“And pray what is <i>that</i>?” said Mactavish, pointing +sarcastically to an entry in the previous account—“<i>5 yards of +superfine Annette</i>. Really, Mr. Somerville, I wish you would pay more +attention to your work and less to the conversation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh dear!” cried Harry, becoming almost hysterical under the +combined effects of chagrin at making so many mistakes, and suppressed +merriment at the idea of selling Annettes by the yard. “Oh, dear +me—” +</p> + +<p> +Harry could say no more, but stuffed his handkerchief into his mouth and turned +away. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir,” said the offended Peter, “when you have laughed +to your entire satisfaction, we will go on with our work, if you please.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” cried Harry, suppressing his feelings with a strong +effort; “what next?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then a tall, raw-boned man entered the store, and rudely thrusting +Baptiste aside, asked if he could get his supplies now. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Mactavish, sharply; “you’ll take your turn +like the rest.” +</p> + +<p> +The new-comer was a native of Orkney, a country from which, and the +neighbouring islands, the Fur Company almost exclusively recruits its staff of +labourers. These men are steady, useful servants, although inclined to be slow +and lazy <i>at first</i>; but they soon get used to the country, and rapidly +improve under the example of the active Canadians and half-breeds with whom +they associate; some of them are the best servants the Company possess. Hugh +Mathison, however, was a very bad specimen of the race, being rough and coarse +in his manners, and very lazy withal. Upon receiving the trader’s answer, +Hugh turned sulkily on his heel and strode towards the door. Now, it happened +that Baptiste’s bundle lay just behind him, and on turning to leave the +place, he tripped over it and stumbled, whereat the voyageurs burst into an +ironical laugh (for Hugh was not a favourite). +</p> + +<p> +“Confound your trash!” he cried, giving the little bundle a kick +that scattered everything over the floor. +</p> + +<p> +“Crapaud!” said Baptiste, between his set teeth, while his eyes +flashed angrily, and he stood up before Hugh with clinched fists, “what +mean you by that, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +The big Scotchman held his little opponent in contempt; so that, instead of +putting himself on the defensive, he leaned his back against the door, thrust +his hands into his pockets, and requested to know “what that was to +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Baptiste was not a man of many words, and this reply, coupled with the insolent +sneer with which it was uttered, caused him to plant a sudden and well-directed +blow on the point of Hugh’s nose, which flattened it on his face, and +brought the back of his head into violent contact with the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done!” shouted the men; “bravo, Baptiste! <i>Regardez +le nez, mes enfants!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold!” cried Mactavish, vaulting the counter, and intercepting +Hugh, as he rushed upon his antagonist; “no fighting here, you +blackguards! If you want to do <i>that,</i> go outside the fort;” and +Peter, opening the door, thrust the Orkneyman out. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, Baptiste gathered up his goods and left the store, in company +with several of his friends, vowing that he would wreak his vengeance on the +“gros chien” before the sun should set. +</p> + +<p> +He had not long to wait, however, for just outside the gate he found Hugh, +still smarting under the pain and indignity of the blow, and ready to pounce +upon him like a cat on a mouse. +</p> + +<p> +Baptiste instantly threw down his bundle, and prepared for battle by discarding +his coat. +</p> + +<p> +Every nation has its own peculiar method of fighting, and its own ideas of what +is honourable and dishonourable in combat. The English, as everyone knows, have +particularly stringent rules regarding the part of the body which may or may +not be hit with propriety, and count it foul disgrace to strike a man when he +is down, although, by some strange perversity of reasoning, they deem it right +and fair to <i>fall</i> upon him while in this helpless condition, and burst +him if possible. The Scotchman has less of the science, and we are half +inclined to believe that he would go the length of kicking a fallen opponent; +but on this point we are not quite positive. In regard to the style adopted by +the half-breeds, however, we have no doubt. They fight <i>any</i> way and +<i>every</i> way, without reference to rules at all; and really, although we +may bring ourselves into contempt by admitting the fact, we think they are +quite right. No doubt the best course of action is <i>not</i> to fight; but if +a man does find it <i>necessary</i> to do so, surely the wisest plan is to get +it over at once (as the dentist suggested to his timorous patient), and to do +it in the most effectual manner. +</p> + +<p> +Be this as it may, Baptiste flew at Hugh, and alighted upon him, not head +first, or fist first, or feet first, or <i>anything</i> first, but +altogether—in a heap as it were; fist, feet, knees, nails, and teeth, all +taking effect at one and the same time, with a force so irresistible that the +next moment they both rolled in the dust together. +</p> + +<p> +For a minute or so they struggled and kicked like a couple of serpents, and +then, bounding to their feet again, they began to perform a war-dance round +each other, revolving their fists at the same time in, we presume, the most +approved fashion. Owing to his bulk and natural laziness, which rendered +jumping about like a jack-in-the-box impossible, Hugh Mathison preferred to +stand on the defensive; while his lighter opponent, giving way to the natural +bent of his mercurial temperament and corporeal predilections, comported +himself in a manner that cannot be likened to anything mortal or immortal, +human or inhuman, unless it be to an insane cat, whose veins ran wild-fire +instead of blood. Or perhaps we might liken him to that ingenious piece of +firework called a zigzag cracker, which explodes with unexpected and repeated +suddenness, changing its position in a most perplexing manner at every crack. +Baptiste, after the first onset, danced backwards with surprising lightness, +glaring at his adversary the while, and rapidly revolving his fists as before +mentioned; then a terrific yell was heard; his head, arms, and legs became a +sort of whirling conglomerate; the spot on which he danced was suddenly vacant, +and at the same moment Mathison received a bite, a scratch, a dab on the nose, +and a kick on the stomach all at once. Feeling that it was impossible to plant +a well-directed blow on such an assailant, he waited for the next onslaught; +and the moment he saw the explosive object flying through the air towards him, +he met it with a crack of his heavy fist, which, happening to take effect in +the middle of the chest, drove it backwards with about as much velocity as it +had approached, and poor Baptiste measured his length on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, pauvre chien!” cried the spectators, “c’est +fini!” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet,” cried Baptiste, as he sprang with a scream to his feet +again, and began his dance with redoubled energy, just as if all that had gone +before was a mere sketch—a sort of playful rehearsal, as it were, of what +was now to follow. At this moment Hugh stumbled over a canoe-paddle, and fell +headlong into Baptiste’s arms, as he was in the very act of making one of +his violent descents. This unlooked-for occurrence brought them both to a +sudden pause, partly from necessity and partly from surprise. Out of this state +Baptiste recovered first, and taking advantage of the accident, threw Mathison +heavily to the ground. He rose quickly, however, and renewed the light with +freshened vigour. +</p> + +<p> +Just at this moment a passionate growl was heard, and old Mr. Kennedy rushed +out of the fort in a towering rage. +</p> + +<p> +Now Mr. Kennedy had no reason whatever for being angry. He was only a visitor +at the fort, and so had no concern in the behaviour of those connected with it. +He was not even in the Company’s service now, and could not, therefore, +lay claim, as one of its officers, to any right to interfere with its men. But +Mr. Kennedy never acted much from reason; impulse was generally his +guiding-star. He had, moreover, been an absolute monarch, and a commander of +men, for many years past in his capacity of fur-trader. Being, as we have said, +a powerful, fiery man, he had ruled very much by means of brute force—a +species of suasion, by the way, which is too common among many of the gentlemen +(?) in the employment of the Hudson’s Bay Company. On hearing, therefore, +that the men were fighting in front of the fort, Mr. Kennedy rushed out in a +towering rage. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you precious blackguards!” he cried, running up to the +combatants, while with flashing eyes he gazed first at one and then at the +other, as if uncertain on which to launch his ire. “Have you no place in +the world to fight but <i>here</i>? eh, blackguards?” +</p> + +<p> +“O monsieur,” said Baptiste, lowering his hands, and assuming that +politeness of demeanour which seems inseparable from French blood, however much +mixed with baser fluid, “I was just giving <i>that dog</i> a thrashing, +monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go!” cried Mr. Kennedy in a voice of thunder, turning to Hugh, who +still stood in a pugilistic attitude, with very little respect in his looks. +</p> + +<p> +Hugh hesitated to obey the order; but Mr. Kennedy continued to advance, +grinding his teeth and working his fingers convulsively, as if he longed to lay +violent hold of the Orkneyman’s swelled nose; so he retreated in his +uncertainty, but still with his face to the foe. As has been already said, the +Assiniboine River flows within a hundred yards of the gate of Fort Garry. The +two men, in their combat, had approached pretty near to the bank, at a place +where it descends somewhat precipitately into the stream. It was towards this +bank that Hugh Mathison was now retreating, crab fashion, followed by Mr. +Kennedy, and both of them so taken up with each other that neither perceived +the fact until Hugh’s heel struck against a stone just at the moment that +Mr. Kennedy raised his clenched fist in a threatening attitude. The effect of +this combination was to pitch the poor man head over heels down the bank, into +a row of willow bushes, through which, as he rolled with great speed, he went +with a loud crash, and shot head first, like a startled alligator, into the +water, amid a roar of laughter from his comrades and the people belonging to +the fort; most of whom, attracted by the fight, were now assembled on the banks +of the river. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy’s wrath vanished immediately, and he joined in the laughter; +but his face instantly changed when he beheld Hugh sputtering in deep water, +and heard some one say that he could not swim. +</p> + +<p> +“What! can’t swim?” he exclaimed, running down the bank to +the edge of the water. Baptiste was before him, however. In a moment he plunged +in up to the neck, stretched forth his arm, grasped Hugh by the hair, and +dragged him to the land. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Farewell to Kate—Departure of the brigade—Charley becomes a +voyageur. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day at noon, the spot on which the late combat had taken place +became the theatre of a stirring and animated scene. Fort Garry, and the space +between it and the river, swarmed with voyageurs, dressed in their cleanest, +newest, and most brilliant costume. The large boats for the north, six in +number, lay moored to the river’s bank, laden with bales of furs, and +ready to start on their long voyage. Young men, who had never been on the road +before, stood with animated looks watching the operations of the guides as they +passed critical examination upon their boats, overhauled the oars to see that +they were in good condition, or with crooked knives (a species of instrument in +the use of which voyageurs and natives are very expert) polished off the top of +a mast, the blade of an oar, or the handle of a tiller. Old men, who had passed +their lives in similar occupations, looked on in silence—some standing +with their heads bent on their bosoms, and an expression of sadness about their +faces, as if the scene recalled some mournful event of their early life, or +possibly reminded them of wild, joyous scenes of other days, when the blood +coursed warmly in their young veins, and the strong muscles sprang lightly to +obey their will; when the work they had to do was hard, and the sleep that +followed it was sound—scenes and days that were now gone by for ever. +Others reclined against the wooden fence, their arms crossed, their thin white +hair waving gently in the breeze, and a kind smile playing on their sunburned +faces, as they observed the swagger and coxcombry of the younger men, or +watched the gambols of several dark-eyed little children—embryo +buffalo-hunters and voyageurs—whose mothers had brought them to the fort +to get a last kiss from papa, and witness the departure of the boats. +</p> + +<p> +Several tender scenes were going on in out-of-the-way places—in angles of +the walls and bastions, or behind the gates-between youthful couples about to +be separated for a season. Interesting scenes these of pathos and +pleasantry—a combination of soft glances and affectionate fervent +assurances; alternate embraces (that were <i>apparently</i> received with +reluctance, but <i>actually</i> with delight, and proffers of pieces of calico +and beads and other trinkets (received both <i>apparently</i> and +<i>actually</i> with extreme satisfaction) as souvenirs of happy days that were +past), and pledges of unalterable constancy and bright hope in days that were +yet to come. +</p> + +<p> +A little apart from the others, a youth and a girl might be seen sauntering +slowly towards the copse beyond the stable. These were Charley Kennedy and his +sister Kate, who had retired from the bustling scene to take a last short walk +together, ere they separated, it might be for years, perhaps for ever! Charley +held Kate’s hand, while her sweet little head rested on his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“O Charley, Charley, my own dear, darling Charley, I’m quite +miserable, and you ought not to go away; it’s very wrong, and I +don’t mind a bit what you say, I shall die if you leave me!” And +Kate pressed him tightly to her heart, and sobbed in the depth of her woe. +“Now, Kate, my darling, don’t go on so! You know I can’t help +it—” +</p> + +<p> +“I <i>don’t</i> know,” cried Kate, interrupting him, and +speaking vehemently—“I don’t know, and I don’t believe, +and I don’t care for anything at all; it’s very hard-hearted of +you, and wrong, and not right, and I’m just quite wretched!” +</p> + +<p> +Poor Kate was undoubtedly speaking the absolute truth; for a more disconsolate +and wretched look of woebegone misery was never seen on so sweet and tender and +lovable a little face before. Her blue eyes swam in two lakes of pure crystal, +that overflowed continually; her mouth, which was usually round, had become an +elongated oval; and her nut-brown hair fell in dishevelled masses over her soft +cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“O Charley,” she continued, “why <i>won’t</i> you +stay?” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen to me, dearest Kate,” said Charley, in a very husky voice. +“It’s too late to draw back now, even if I wished to do so; and you +don’t consider, darling, that I’ll be back again soon. Besides, +I’m a man now, Kate, and I must make my own bread. Who ever heard of a +man being supported by his old father.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, but can’t you do that here?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, don’t interrupt me, Kate,” said Charley, kissing her +forehead; “I’m quite satisfied with <i>two short</i> legs, and have +no desire whatever to make my bread on the top of <i>three long</i> ones. +Besides, you know I can write to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you won’t; you’ll forget.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, indeed, I will not. I’ll write you long letters about all that +I see and do; and you shall write long letters to me about—” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, Charley,” cried Kate; “I won’t listen to you. I +hate to think of it.” +</p> + +<p> +And her tears burst forth again with fresh violence. This time Charley’s +heart sank too. The lump in his throat all but choked him; so he was fain to +lay his head upon Kate’s heaving bosom, and weep along with her. +</p> + +<p> +For a few minutes they remained silent, when a slight rustling in the bushes +was heard. In another moment a tall, broad-shouldered, gentlemanly man, dressed +in black, stood before them. Charley and Kate, on seeing this personage, arose, +and wiping the tears from their eyes, gave a sad smile as they shook hands with +their clergyman. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor children,” said Mr. Addison, affectionately, “I know +well why your hearts are sad. May God bless and comfort you! I saw you enter +the wood, and came to bid you farewell, Charley, my dear boy, as I shall not +have another opportunity of doing so.” +</p> + +<p> +“O dear Mr. Addison,” cried Kate, grasping his hand in both of +hers, and gazing imploringly up at him through a perfect wilderness of ringlets +and tears, “do prevail upon Charley to stay at home; please do!” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Addison could scarcely help smiling at the poor girl’s extreme +earnestness. +</p> + +<p> +“I fear, my sweet child, that it is too late now to attempt to dissuade +Charley. Besides, he goes with the consent of his father; and I am inclined to +think that a change of life for a <i>short</i> time may do him good. Come, +Kate, cheer up! Charley will return to us again ere long, improved, I trust, +both physically and mentally.” +</p> + +<p> +Kate did <i>not</i> cheer up, but she dried her eyes, and endeavoured to look +more composed; while Mr. Addison took Charley by the hand, and, as they walked +slowly through the wood, gave him much earnest advice and counsel. +</p> + +<p> +The clergyman’s manner was peculiar. With a large, warm, generous heart, +he possessed an enthusiastic nature, a quick, brusque manner, and a loud voice, +which, when his spirit was influenced by the strong emotions of pity or anxiety +for the souls of his flock, sunk into a deep soft bass of the most thrilling +earnestness. He belonged to the Church of England, but conducted service very +much in the Presbyterian form, as being more suited to his mixed congregation. +After a long conversation with Charley, he concluded by saying— +</p> + +<p> +“I do not care to say much to you about being kind and obliging to all +whom you may meet with during your travels, nor about the dangers to which you +will be exposed by being thrown into the company of wild and reckless, perhaps +very wicked, men. There is but <i>one</i> incentive to every good, and +<i>one</i> safeguard against all evil, my boy, and that is the love of God. You +may perhaps forget much that I have said to you; but remember this, Charley, if +you would be happy in this world, and have a good hope for the next, centre +your heart’s affection on our blessed Lord Jesus Christ; for believe me, +boy, <i>His</i> heart’s affection is centred upon you.” +</p> + +<p> +As Mr. Addison spoke, a loud hello from Mr. Kennedy apprised them that their +time was exhausted, and that the boats were ready to start. Charley sprang +towards Kate, locked her in a long, passionate embrace, and then, forgetting +Mr. Addison altogether in his haste, ran out of the wood, and hastened towards +the scene of departure. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Charley!” cried Harry Somerville, running up to his +friend and giving him a warm grasp of the hand. “Don’t forget me, +Charley. I wish I were going with you, with all my heart; but I’m an +unlucky dog. Good-bye.” The senior clerk and Peter Mactavish had also a +kindly word and a cheerful farewell for him as he hurried past. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, Charley, my lad!” said old Mr. Kennedy, in an +<i>excessively</i> loud voice, as if by such means he intended to crush back +some unusual but very powerful feelings that had a peculiar influence on a +certain lump in his throat. “Good-bye, my lad; don’t forget to +write to your old—Hang it!” said the old man, brushing his +coat-sleeve somewhat violently across his eyes, and turning abruptly round as +Charley left him and sprang into the boat—“I say, Grant, +I—I—What are you staring at, eh?” The latter part of his +speech was addressed, in an angry tone, to an innocent voyageur, who happened +accidentally to confront him at the moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Come along, Kennedy,” said Mr. Grant, interposing, and grasping +his excited friend by the arm—“come with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, to be sure!—yes,” said he, looking over his shoulder and +waving a last adieu to Charley, “Good-bye, God bless you, my dear +boy!—I say, Grant, come along; quick, man, and let’s have a +pipe—yes, let’s have a pipe.” Mr. Kennedy, essaying once more +to crush back his rebellious feelings, strode rapidly up the bank, and entering +the house, sought to overwhelm his sorrow in smoke: in which attempt he failed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The voyage—The encampment—A surprise. +</p> + +<p> +It was a fine sight to see the boats depart for the north. It was a thrilling, +heart-stirring sight to behold these picturesque, athletic men, on receiving +the word of command from their guides, spring lightly into the long, heavy +boats; to see them let the oars fall into the water with a loud splash, and +then, taking their seats, give way with a will, knowing that the eyes of +friends and sweethearts and rivals were bent earnestly upon them. It was a +splendid sight to see boat after boat shoot out from the landing-place, and cut +through the calm bosom of the river, as the men bent their sturdy backs until +the thick oars creaked and groaned on the gunwales and flashed in the stream, +more and more vigorously at each successive stroke, until their friends on the +bank, who were anxious to see the last of them, had to run faster and faster in +order to keep up with them, as the rowers warmed at their work, and made the +water gurgle at the bows—their bright blue and scarlet and white +trappings reflected in the dark waters in broken masses of colour, streaked +with long lines of shining ripples, as if they floated on a lake of liquid +rainbows. And it was a glorious thing to hear the wild, plaintive song, led by +one clear, sonorous voice, that rang out full and strong in the still air, +while at the close of every two lines the whole brigade burst into a loud, +enthusiastic chorus, that rolled far and wide over the smooth +waters—telling of their approach to settlers beyond the reach of vision +in advance, and floating faintly back, a last farewell, to the listening ears +of fathers, mothers, wives, and sisters left behind. And it was interesting to +observe how, as the rushing boats sped onwards past the cottages on shore, +groups of men and women and children stood before the open doors and waved +adieu, while ever and anon a solitary voice rang louder than the others in the +chorus, and a pair of dark eyes grew brighter as a voyageur swept past his +home, and recognised his little ones screaming farewell, and seeking to attract +their <i>sire’s</i> attention by tossing their chubby arms or flourishing +round their heads the bright vermilion blades of canoe-paddles. It was +interesting, too, to hear the men shout as they ran a small rapid which occurs +about the lower part of the settlement, and dashed in full career up to the +Lower Fort—which stands about twenty miles down the river from Fort +Garry—and then sped onward again with unabated energy, until they passed +the Indian settlement, with its scattered wooden buildings and its small +church; passed the last cottage on the bank; passed the low swampy land at the +river’s mouth; and emerged at last as evening closed, upon the wide, +calm, sea-like bosom of Lake Winnipeg. +</p> + +<p> +Charley saw and heard all this during the whole of that long, exciting +afternoon, and as he heard and saw it his heart swelled as if it would burst +its prison-bars, his voice rang out wildly in the choruses, regardless alike of +tune and time, and his spirit boiled within him as he quaffed the first sweet +draught of a rover’s life—a life in the woods, the wild, free, +enchanting woods, where all appeared in <i>his</i> eyes bright, and sunny, and +green, and beautiful! +</p> + +<p> +As the sun’s last rays sunk in the west, and the clouds, losing their +crimson hue, began gradually to fade into gray, the boats’ heads were +turned landward. In a few seconds they grounded on a low point, covered with +small trees and bushes which stretched out into the lake. Here Louis Peltier +had resolved to bivouac for the night. +</p> + +<p> +“Now then, mes garçons,” he exclaimed, leaping ashore, and helping +to drag the boat a little way on to the beach, “vite, vite! à terre, à +terre!—Take the kettle, Pierre, and let’s have supper.” +</p> + +<p> +Pierre needed no second bidding. He grasped a large tin kettle and an axe, with +which he hurried into a clump of trees. Laying down the kettle, which he had +previously filled with water from the lake, he singled out a dead tree, and +with three powerful blows of his axe, brought it to the ground. A few +additional strokes cut it up into logs, varying from three to five feet in +length, which he piled together, first placing a small bundle of dry grass and +twigs beneath them, and a few splinters of wood which he cut from off one of +the logs. Having accomplished this, Pierre took a flint and steel out of a +gaily ornamented pouch which depended from his waist, and which went by the +name of a fire-bag in consequence of its containing the implements for +procuring that element. It might have been as appropriately named tobacco-box +or smoking-bag, however, seeing that such things had more to do with it, if +possible, than fire. Having struck a spark, which he took captive by means of a +piece of tinder, he placed in the centre of a very dry handful of soft grass, +and whirled it rapidly round his head, thereby producing a current of air, +which blew the spark into a flame; which when applied, lighted the grass and +twigs; and so, in a few minutes, a blazing fire roared up among the +trees—spouted volumes of sparks into the air, like a gigantic squib, +which made it quite a marvel that all the bushes in the neighbourhood were not +burnt up at once—glared out red and fierce upon the rippling water, until +it became, as it were, red-hot in the neighbourhood of the boats, and caused +the night to become suddenly darker by contrast; the night reciprocating the +compliment, as it grew later, by causing the space around the fire to glow +brighter and brighter, until it became a brilliant chamber, surrounded by walls +of the blackest ebony. +</p> + +<p> +While Pierre was thus engaged there were at least ten voyageurs similarly +occupied. Ten steels were made instrumental in creating ten sparks, which were +severally captured by ten pieces of tinder, and whirled round by ten lusty +arms, until ten flames were produced, and ten fires sprang up and flared wildly +on the busy scene that had a few hours before been so calm, so solitary, and so +peaceful, bathed in the soft beams of the setting sun. +</p> + +<p> +In less than half-an-hour the several camps were completed, the kettles boiling +over the fires, the men smoking in every variety of attitude, and talking +loudly. It was a cheerful scene; and so Charley thought as he reclined in his +canvas tent, the opening of which faced the fire, and enabled him to see all +that was going on. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre was standing over the great kettle, dancing round it, and making sudden +plunges with a stick into it, in the desperate effort to stir its boiling +contents—desperate, because the fire was very fierce and large, and the +flames seem to take a fiendish pleasure in leaping up suddenly just under +Pierre’s nose, thereby endangering his beard, or shooting out between his +legs and licking round them at most unexpected moments, when the light wind +ought to have been blowing them quite in the opposite direction; and then, as +he danced round to the other side to avoid them, wheeling about and roaring +viciously in his face, until it seemed as if the poor man would be roasted long +before the supper was boiled. Indeed, what between the ever-changing and +violent flames, the rolling smoke, the steam from the kettle, the showering +sparks, and the man’s own wild grimaces and violent antics, Pierre seemed +to Charley like a raging demon, who danced not only round, but above, and on, +and through, and <i>in</i> the flames, as if they were his natural element, in +which he took special delight. +</p> + +<p> +Quite close to the tent the massive form of Louis the guide lay extended, his +back supported by the stump of a tree, his eyes blinking sleepily at the blaze, +and his beloved pipe hanging from his lips, while wreaths of smoke encircled +his head. Louis’s day’s work was done. Few could do a better; and +when his work was over, Louis always acted on the belief that his position and +his years entitled him to rest, and took things very easy in consequence. +</p> + +<p> +Six of the boat’s crew sat in a semicircle beside the guide and fronting +the fire, each paying particular attention to his pipe, and talking between the +puffs to anyone who chose to listen. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Pierre vanished into the smoke and flames altogether, whence in +another moment he issued, bearing in his hand the large tin kettle, which he +deposited triumphantly at the feet of his comrades. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, then,” cried Pierre. +</p> + +<p> +It was unnecessary to have said even that much by way of invitation. Voyageurs +do not require to have their food pressed upon them after a hard day’s +work. Indeed it was as much as they could do to refrain from laying violent +hands on the kettle long before their worthy cook considered its contents +sufficiently done. +</p> + +<p> +Charley sat in company with Mr. Park—a chief factor, on his way to Norway +House. Gibault, one of the men who acted as their servant, had placed a kettle +of hot tea before them, which, with several slices of buffalo tongue, a lump of +pemmican, and some hard biscuit and butter, formed their evening meal. Indeed, +we may add that these viands, during a great part of the voyage, constituted +their every meal. In fact, they had no variety in their fare, except a wild +duck or two now and then, and a goose when they chanced to shoot one. +</p> + +<p> +Charley sipped a pannikin of tea as he reclined on his blanket, and being +somewhat fatigued in consequence of his exertions and excitement during the +day, said nothing. Mr. Park, for the same reasons, besides being naturally +taciturn, was equally mute, so they both enjoyed in silence the spectacle of +the men eating their supper. And it <i>was</i> a sight worth seeing. +</p> + +<p> +Their food consisted of robbiboo, a compound of flour, pemmican, and water, +boiled to the consistency of very thick soup. Though not a species of food that +would satisfy the fastidious taste of an epicure, robbiboo is, nevertheless, +very wholesome, exceedingly nutritious, and withal palatable. Pemmican, its +principal component, is made of buffalo flesh, which fully equals (some think +greatly excels) beef. The recipe for making it is as follows:-First, kill your +buffalo—a matter of considerable difficulty, by the way, as doing so +requires you to travel to the buffalo-grounds, to arm yourself with a gun, and +mount a horse, on which you have to gallop, perhaps, several miles over rough +ground and among badger-holes at the imminent risk of breaking your neck. Then +you have to run up alongside of a buffalo and put a ball through his heart, +which, apart from the murderous nature of the action, is a difficult thing to +do. But we will suppose that you have killed your buffalo. Then you must skin +him; then cut him up, and slice the flesh into layers, which must be dried in +the sun. At this stage of the process you have produced a substance which in +the fur countries goes by the name of dried meat, and is largely used as an +article of food. As its name implies, it is very dry, and it is also very +tough, and very undesirable if one can manage to procure anything better. But +to proceed. Having thus prepared dried meat, lay a quantity of it on a flat +stone, and take another stone, with which pound it into shreds. You must then +take the animal’s hide, while it is yet new, and make bags of it about +two feet and a half long by a foot and a half broad. Into this put the pounded +meat loosely. Melt the fat of your buffalo over a fire, and when quite liquid +pour it into the bag until full; mix the contents well together; sew the whole +up before it cools, and you have a bag of pemmican of about ninety pounds +weight. This forms the chief food of the voyageur, in consequence of its being +the largest possible quantity of sustenance compressed into the smallest +possible space, and in an extremely convenient, portable shape. It will keep +fresh for years, and has been much used, in consequence, by the heroes of +arctic discovery, in their perilous journeys along the shores of the frozen +sea. +</p> + +<p> +The voyageurs used no plate. Men who travel in these countries become +independent of many things that are supposed to be necessary here. They sat in +a circle round the kettle, each man armed with a large wooden or pewter spoon, +with which he ladled the robbiboo down his capacious throat, in a style that +not only caused Charley to laugh, but afterwards threw him into a deep reverie +on the powers of appetite in general, and the strength of voyageur stomachs in +particular. +</p> + +<p> +At first the keen edge of appetite induced the men to eat in silence; but as +the contents of the kettle began to get low, their tongues loosened, and at +last, when the kettles were emptied and the pipes filled, fresh logs thrown on +the fires, and their limbs stretched out around them, the babel of English, +French, and Indian that arose was quite overwhelming. The middle-aged men told +long stories of what they <i>had</i> done; the young men boasted of what they +<i>meant</i> to do; while the more aged smiled, nodded, smoked their pipes, put +in a word or two as occasion offered, and listened. While they conversed the +quick ears of one of the men of Charley’s camp detected some unusual +sound. +</p> + +<p> +“Hist!” said he, turning his head aside slightly, in a listening +attitude, while his comrades suddenly ceased their noisy laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Do ducks travel in canoes hereabouts?” said the man, after a +moment’s silence; “for, if not, there’s someone about to pay +us a visit. I would wager my best gun that I hear the stroke of paddles.” +</p> + +<p> +“If your ears had been sharper, François, you might have heard them some +time ago,” said the guide, shaking the ashes out of his pipe and +refilling it for the third time. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Louis, I do not pretend to such sharp ears as you possess, nor to +such sharp wit either. But who do you think can be <i>en route</i> so +late?” +</p> + +<p> +“That my wit does not enable me to divine,” said Louis; “but +if you have any faith in the sharpness of your eyes, I would recommend you to +go to the beach and see, as the best and shortest way of finding out.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time the men had risen, and were peering out into the gloom in the +direction whence the sound came, while one or two sauntered down to the margin +of the lake to meet the new-comers. +</p> + +<p> +“Who can it be, I wonder?” said Charley, who had left the tent, and +was now standing beside the guide. +</p> + +<p> +“Difficult to say, monsieur. Perhaps Injins, though I thought there were +none here just now. But I’m not surprised that we’ve attracted +<i>something</i> to us. Livin’ creeturs always come nat’rally to +the light, and there’s plenty of fire on the point to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Rather more than enough,” replied Charley, abruptly, as a slight +motion of wind sent the flames curling round his head and singed off his +eye-lashes. “Why, Louis, it’s my firm belief that if I ever get to +the end of this journey, I’ll not have a hair left on my head.” +</p> + +<p> +Louis smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“O monsieur, you will learn to <i>observe</i> things before you have been +long in the wilderness. If you <i>will</i> edge round to leeward of the fire, +you can’t expect it to respect you.” +</p> + +<p> +Just at this moment a loud hurrah rang through the copse, and Harry Somerville +sprang over the fire into the arms of Charley, who received him with a hug and +a look of unutterable amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“Charley, my boy!” +</p> + +<p> +“Harry Somerville, I declare!” +</p> + +<p> +For at least five minutes Charley could not recover his composure sufficiently +to <i>declare</i> anything else, but stood with open mouth and eyes, and +elevated eyebrows, looking at his young friend, who capered and danced round +the fire in a manner that threw the cook’s performances in that line +quite into the shade, while he continued all the time to shout fragments of +sentences that were quite unintelligible to anyone. It was evident that Harry +was in a state of immense delight at something unknown save to himself, but +which, in the course of a few minutes, was revealed to his wondering friends. +</p> + +<p> +“Charley, I’m <i>going!</i> hurrah!” and he leaped about in a +manner that induced Charley to say he would not only be going but very soon +<i>gone</i>, if he did not keep further away from the fire. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Charley, I’m going with you! I upset the stool, tilted the +ink-bottle over the invoice-book, sent the poker almost through the back of the +fireplace, and smashed Tom Whyte’s best whip on the back of the +‘noo ’oss’ as I galloped him over the plains for the last +time: all for joy, because I’m going with you, Charley, my +darling!” +</p> + +<p> +Here Harry suddenly threw his arms round his friend’s neck, meditating an +embrace. As both boys were rather fond of using their muscles violently, the +embrace degenerated into a wrestle, which caused them to threaten complete +destruction to the fire as they staggered in front of it, and ended in their +tumbling against the tent and nearly breaking its poles and fastenings, to the +horror and indignation of Mr. Park, who was smoking his pipe within, quietly +waiting till Harry’s superabundant glee was over, that he might get an +explanation of his unexpected arrival among them. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, they will be good voyageurs!” cried one of the men, as he +looked on at this scene. +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, oui! good boys, active lads,” replied the others, laughing. +The two boys rose hastily. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” cried Harry, breathless, but still excited, “I’m +going all the way, and a great deal farther. I’m going to hunt buffaloes +in the Saskatchewan, and grizzly bears in the—the—in fact +everywhere! I’m going down the Mackenzie River—I’m going +<i>mad</i>, I believe;” and Harry gave another caper and another shout, +and tossed his cap high into the air. Having been recklessly tossed, it came +down into the fire. When it went in, it was dark blue; but when Harry dashed +into the flames in consternation to save it, it came out of a rich brown +colour. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, youngster,” said Mr. Park, “when you’ve done +capering, I should like to ask you one or two questions. What brought you +here?” +</p> + +<p> +“A canoe,” said Harry, inclined to be impudent. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, and pray for what <i>purpose</i> have you come here?” +</p> + +<p> +“These are my credentials,” handing him a letter. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Park opened the note and read. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! oh! Saskatchewan—hum—yes—outpost—wild +boy—just so—keep him at it—ay, fit for nothing else. +So,” said Mr. Park, folding the paper, “I find that Mr. Grant has +sent you to take the place of a young gentleman we expected to pick up at +Norway House, but who is required elsewhere; and that he wishes you to see a +good deal of rough life—to be made a trader of, in fact. Is that your +desire?” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the very ticket!” replied Harry, scarcely able to +restrain his delight at the prospect. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, you had better get supper and turn in, for you’ll have +to begin your new life by rising at three o’clock to-morrow morning. Have +you got a tent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Harry, pointing to his canoe, which had been brought to +the fire and turned bottom up by the two Indians to whom it belonged, and who +were reclining under its shelter enjoying their pipes, and watching with looks +of great gravity the doings of Harry and his friend. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>That</i> will return whence it came to-morrow. Have you no +other?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh yes,” said Harry, pointing to the overhanging branches of a +willow close at hand, “lots more.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Park smiled grimly, and, turning on his heel, re-entered the tent and +continued his pipe, while Harry flung himself down beside Charley under the +bark canoe. +</p> + +<p> +This species of “tent” is, however, by no means a perfect one. An +Indian canoe is seldom three feet broad—frequently much narrower—so +that it only affords shelter for the body as far down as the waist, leaving the +extremities exposed. True, one <i>may</i> double up as nearly as possible into +half one’s length, but this is not a desirable position to maintain +throughout an entire night. Sometimes, when the weather is <i>very</i> bad, an +additional protection is procured by leaning several poles against the bottom +of the canoe, on the weather side, in such a way as to slope considerably over +the front; and over these are spread pieces of birch bark or branches and moss, +so as to form a screen, which is an admirable shelter. But this involves too +much time and labour to be adopted during a voyage, and is only done when the +travellers are under the necessity of remaining for some time in one place. +</p> + +<p> +The canoe in which Harry arrived was a pretty large one, and looked so +comfortable when arranged for the night that Charley resolved to abandon his +own tent and Mr. Park’s society, and sleep with his friend. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll sleep with you, Harry, my boy,” said he, after Harry +had explained to him in detail the cause of his being sent away from Red River; +which was no other than that a young gentleman, as Mr. Park said, who +<i>was</i> to have gone, had been ordered elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right, Charley; spread out our blankets, while I get some +supper, like a good fellow.” Harry went in search of the kettle while his +friend prepared their bed. First, he examined the ground on which the canoe +lay, and found that the two Indians had already taken possession of the only +level places under it. “Humph!” he ejaculated, half inclined to +rouse them up, but immediately dismissed the idea as unworthy of a voyageur. +Besides, Charley was an amiable, unselfish fellow, and would rather have lain +on the top of a dozen stumps than have made himself comfortable at the expense +of anyone else. +</p> + +<p> +He paused a moment to consider. On one side was a hollow “that” (as +he soliloquised to himself) “would break the back of a buffalo.” On +the other side were a dozen little stumps surrounding three very prominent +ones, that threatened destruction to the ribs of anyone who should venture to +lie there. But Charley did not pause to consider long. Seizing his axe, he laid +about him vigorously with the head of it, and in a few seconds destroyed all +the stumps, which he carefully collected, and, along with some loose moss and +twigs, put into the hollow, and so filled it up. Having improved things thus +far, he rose and strode out of the circle of light into the wood. In a few +minutes he reappeared, bearing a young spruce fir tree on his shoulder, which +with the axe he stripped of its branches. These branches were flat in form, and +elastic—admirably adapted for making a bed on; and when Charley spread +them out under the canoe in a pile of about four inches in depth by four feet +broad and six feet long, the stumps and the hollow were overwhelmed altogether. +He then ran to Mr. Park’s tent, and fetched thence a small flat bundle +covered with oilcloth and tied with a rope. Opening this, he tossed out its +contents, which were two large and very thick blankets—one green, the +other white; a particularly minute feather pillow, a pair of moccasins, a +broken comb, and a bit of soap. Then he opened a similar bundle containing +Harry’s bed, which he likewise tossed out; and then kneeling down, he +spread the two white blankets on the top of the branches, the two green +blankets above these, and the two pillows at the top, as far under the shelter +of the canoe as he could push them. Having completed the whole in a manner that +would have done credit to a chambermaid, he continued to sit on his knees, with +his hands in his pockets, smiling complacently, and saying, +“Capital—first-rate!” +</p> + +<p> +“Here we are, Charley. Have a second supper—do!” +</p> + +<p> +Harry placed the smoking kettle by the head of the bed, and squatting down +beside it, began to eat as only a boy <i>can</i> eat who has had nothing since +breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +Charley attacked the kettle too—as he said, “out of +sympathy,” although he “wasn’t hungry a bit.” And +really, for a man who was not hungry, and had supped half-an-hour before, the +appetite of <i>sympathy</i> was wonderfully strong. +</p> + +<p> +But Harry’s powers of endurance were now exhausted. He had spent a long +day of excessive fatigue and excitement, and having wound it up with a heavy +supper, sleep began to assail him with a fell ferocity that nothing could +resist. He yawned once or twice, and sat on the bed blinking unmeaningly at the +fire, as if he had something to say to it which he could not recollect just +then. He nodded violently, much to his own surprise, once or twice, and began +to address remarks to the kettle instead of to his friend. “I say, +Charley, this won’t do. I’m off to bed!” and suiting the +action to the word, he took off his coat and placed it on his pillow. He then +removed his moccasins, which were wet, and put on a dry pair; and this being +all that is ever done in the way of preparation before going to bed in the +woods, he lay down and pulled the green blankets over him. +</p> + +<p> +Before doing so, however, Harry leaned his head on his hands and prayed. This +was the one link left of the chain of habit with which he had left home. Until +the period of his departure for the wild scenes of the Northwest, Harry had +lived in a quiet, happy home in the West Highlands of Scotland, where he had +been surrounded by the benign influences of a family the members of which were +united by the sweet bonds of Christian love—bonds which were strengthened +by the additional tie of amiability of disposition. From childhood he had been +accustomed to the routine of a pious and well-regulated household, where the +Bible was perused and spoken of with an interest that indicated a genuine +hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and where the name of JESUS +sounded often and sweetly on the ear. Under such training, Harry, though +naturally of a wild, volatile disposition, was deeply and irresistibly +impressed with a reverence for sacred things, which, now that he was thousands +of miles away from his peaceful home, clung to him with the force of old habit +and association, despite the jeers of comrades and the evil influences and +ungodliness by which he was surrounded. It is true that he was not altogether +unhurt by the withering indifference to God that he beheld on all sides. Deep +impression is not renewal of heart. But early training in the path of Christian +love saved him many a deadly fall. It guarded him from many of the grosser +sins, into which other boys, who had merely broken away from the +<i>restraints</i> of home too easily fell. It twined round him—as the ivy +encircles the oak—with a soft, tender, but powerful grasp, that held him +back when he was tempted to dash aside all restraint; and held him up when, in +the weakness of human nature, he was about to fall. It exerted its benign sway +over him in the silence of night, when his thoughts reverted to home, and +during his waking hours, when he wandered from scene to scene in the wide +wilderness; and in after years, when sin prevailed, and intercourse with rough +men had worn off much of at least the superficial amiability of his character, +and to some extent blunted the finer feelings of his nature, it clung faintly +to him still, in the memory of his mother’s gentle look and tender voice, +and never forsook him altogether. Home had a blessed and powerful influence on +Harry. May God bless such homes, where the ruling power is <i>love!</i> God +bless and multiply such homes in the earth! Were there more of them there would +be fewer heart-broken mothers to weep over the memory of the blooming, manly +boys they sent away to foreign climes—with trembling hearts but high +hopes—and never saw them more. They were vessels launched upon the +troubled sea of time, with stout timbers, firm masts, and gallant +sails—with all that was necessary above and below, from stem to stern, +for battling with the billows of adverse fortune, for stemming the tide of +opposition, for riding the storms of persecution, or bounding with a press of +canvas before the gales of prosperity; but without the rudder—without the +guiding principle that renders the great power of plank and sail and mast +available; with which the vessel moves obedient to the owner’s will, +without which it drifts about with every current, and sails along with every +shifting wind that blows. Yes, may the best blessings of prosperity and peace +rest on such families, whose bread, cast continually on the waters, returns to +them after many days. +</p> + +<p> +After Harry had lain down, Charley, who did not feel inclined for repose, +sauntered to the margin of the lake, and sat down upon a rock. +</p> + +<p> +It was a beautiful, calm evening. The moon shone faintly through a mass of +heavy clouds, casting a pale light on the waters of Lake Winnipeg, which +stretched, without a ripple, out to the distant horizon. The great fresh-water +lakes of America bear a strong resemblance to the sea. In storms the waves rise +mountains high, and break with heavy, sullen roar upon a beach composed in many +places of sand and pebbles; while they are so large that one not only looks out +to a straight horizon, but may even sail <i>out of sight of land</i> +altogether. +</p> + +<p> +As Charley sat resting his head on his hand, and listening to the soft hiss +that the ripples made upon the beach, he felt all the solemnising influence +that steals irresistibly over the mind as we sit on a still night gazing out +upon the moonlit sea. His thoughts were sad; for he thought of Kate, and his +mother and father, and the home he was now leaving. He remembered all that he +had ever done to injure or annoy the dear ones he was leaving; and it is +strange how much alive our consciences become when we are unexpectedly or +suddenly removed from those with whom we have lived and held daily intercourse. +How bitterly we reproach ourselves for harsh words, unkind actions; and how +intensely we long for one word more with them, one fervent embrace, to prove at +once that all we have ever said or done was not <i>meant</i> ill, and, at any +rate, is deeply, sincerely repented of now! As Charley looked up into the +starry sky, his mind recurred to the parting words of Mr. Addison. With +uplifted hands and a full heart, he prayed that God would bless, for +Jesus’ sake, the beloved ones in Red River, but especially Kate; for +whether he prayed or meditated, Charley’s thoughts <i>always</i> ended +with Kate. +</p> + +<p> +A black cloud passed across the moon, and reminded him that but a few hours of +the night remained; so hastening up to the camp again, he lay gently down +beside his friend, and drew the green blanket over him. +</p> + +<p> +In the camp all was silent. The men had chosen their several beds according to +fancy, under the shadow of a bush or tree. The fires had burned low—so +low that it was with difficulty Charley, as he lay, could discern the recumbent +forms of the men, whose presence was indicated by the deep, soft, regular +breathing of tired but, healthy constitutions. Sometimes a stray moonbeam shot +through the leaves and branches, and cast a ghost-like, flickering light over +the scene, which ever and anon was rendered more mysterious by a red flare of +the fire as an ember fell, blazed up for an instant, and left all shrouded in +greater darkness than before. +</p> + +<p> +At first Charley continued his sad thoughts, staring all the while at the red +embers of the expiring fire; but soon his eyes began to blink, and the stumps +of trees began to assume the form of voyageurs, and voyageurs to look like +stumps of trees. Then a moonbeam darted in, and Mr. Addison stood on the other +side of the fire. At this sight Charley started, and Mr. Addison disappeared, +while the boy smiled to think how he had been dreaming while only half asleep. +Then Kate appeared, and seemed to smile on him; but another ember fell, and +another red flame sprang up, and put her to flight too. Then a low sigh of wind +rustled through the branches, and Charley felt sure that he saw Kate again +coming through the woods, singing the low, soft tune that she was so fond of +singing, because it was his own favourite air. But soon the air ceased; the +fire faded away; so did the trees, and the sleeping voyageurs; Kate last of all +dissolved, and Charley sank into a deep, untroubled slumber. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Varieties, vexations, and vicissitudes. +</p> + +<p> +Life is checkered—there is no doubt about that; whatever doubts a man may +entertain upon other subjects, he can have none upon this, we feel quite +certain. In fact, so true is it that we would not for a moment have drawn the +reader’s attention to it here, were it not that our experience of life in +the backwoods corroborates the truth; and truth, however well corroborated, is +none the worse of getting a little additional testimony now and then in this +sceptical generation. +</p> + +<p> +Life is checkered, then, undoubtedly. And life in the backwoods strengthens the +proverb, for it is a peculiarly striking and remarkable specimen of +life’s variegated character. +</p> + +<p> +There is a difference between sailing smoothly along the shores of Lake +Winnipeg with favouring breezes, and being tossed on its surging billows by the +howling of a nor’-west wind, that threatens destruction to the boat, or +forces it to seek shelter on the shore. This difference is one of the checkered +scenes of which we write, and one that was experienced by the brigade more than +once during its passage across the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Since we are dealing in truisms, it may not, perhaps, be out of place here to +say that going to bed at night is not by any means getting up in the morning; +at least so several of our friends found to be the case when the deep sonorous +voice of Louis Peltier sounded through the camp on the following morning, just +as a very faint, scarcely perceptible, light tinged the eastern sky. +</p> + +<p> +“Lève, lève, lève!” he cried, “lève, lève, mes +enfants!” +</p> + +<p> +Some of Louis’s <i>infants</i> replied to the summons in a way that would +have done credit to a harlequin. One or two active little Canadians, on hearing +the cry of the awful word <i>lève</i>, rose to their feet with a quick bound, +as if they had been keeping up an appearance of sleep as a sort of practical +joke all night, on purpose to be ready to leap as the first sound fell from the +guide’s lips. Others lay still, in the same attitude in which they had +fallen asleep, having made up their minds, apparently, to lie there in spite of +all the guides in the world. Not a few got slowly into the sitting position, +their hair dishevelled, their caps awry, their eyes alternately winking very +hard and staring awfully in the vain effort to keep open, and their whole +physiognomy wearing an expression of blank stupidity that is peculiar to man +when engaged in that struggle which occurs each morning as he endeavours to +disconnect and shake off the entanglement of nightly dreams and the realities +of the breaking day. Throughout the whole camp there was a low, muffled sound, +as of men moving lazily, with broken whispers and disjointed sentences uttered +in very deep, hoarse tones, mingled with confused, unearthly noises, which, +upon consideration, sounded like prolonged yawns. Gradually these sounds +increased, for the guide’s <i>lève</i> is inexorable, and the +voyageur’s fate inevitable. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh dear!—yei a—a—ow” (yawning); “hang your +<i>lève!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, vraiment—yei a-a——ow—morbleu!” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh, what’s that? Oh, misère!” +</p> + +<p> +“Tare an’ ages!” (from an Irishman), “an’ I had +only got to slaape yit! but—yei a—a——ow!” +</p> + +<p> +French and Irish yawns are very similar, the only difference being, that +whereas the Frenchman finishes the yawn resignedly, and springs to his legs, +the Irishman finishes it with an energetic gasp, as if he were hurling it +remonstratively into the face of Fate, turns round again and shuts his eyes +doggedly—a piece of bravado which he knows is useless and of very short +duration. +</p> + +<p> +“Lève! lève!! lève!!!” There was no mistake this time in the tones +of Louis’s voice. “Embark, embark! vite, vite!” +</p> + +<p> +The subdued sounds of rousing broke into a loud buzz of active preparation, as +the men busied themselves in bundling up blankets, carrying down camp-kettles +to the lake, launching the boats, kicking up lazy comrades, stumbling over and +swearing at fallen trees which were not visible in the cold, uncertain light of +the early dawn, searching hopelessly, among a tangled conglomeration of leaves +and broken branches and crushed herbage, for lost pipes and missing +tobacco-pouches. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo!” exclaimed Harry Somerville, starting suddenly from his +sleeping posture, and unintentionally cramming his elbow into Charley’s +mouth, “I declare they’re all up and nearly ready to start.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s no reason,” replied Charley, “why you should +knock out all my front teeth, is it?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Mr. Park issued from his tent, dressed and ready to step into his +boat. He first gave a glance round the camp to see that all the men were +moving, then he looked up through the trees to ascertain the present state and, +if possible, the future prospects of the weather. Having come to a satisfactory +conclusion on that head, he drew forth his pipe and began to fill it, when his +eye fell on the two boys, who were still sitting up in their lairs, and staring +idiotically at the place where the fire had been, as if the white ashes, +half-burned logs, and bits of charcoal were a sight of the most novel and +interesting character, that filled them with intense amazement. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Park could scarce forbear smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo, youngsters, precious voyageurs <i>you’ll</i> make, to be +sure, if this is the way you’re going to begin. Don’t you see that +the things are all aboard, and we’ll be ready to start in five minutes, +and you sitting there with your neckcloths off?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Park gave a slight sneer when he spoke of <i>neckcloths</i>, as if he +thought, in the first place, that they were quite superfluous portions of +attire, and in the second place, that having once put them on, the taking of +them off at night was a piece of effeminacy altogether unworthy of a +Nor’-wester. +</p> + +<p> +Charley and Harry needed no second rebuke. It flashed instantly upon them that +sleeping comfortably under their blankets when the men were bustling about the +camp was extremely inconsistent with the heroic resolves of the previous day. +They sprang up, rolled their blankets in the oil-cloths, which they fastened +tightly with ropes; tied the neckcloths, held in such contempt by Mr. Park, in +a twinkling; threw on their coats, and in less than five minutes were ready to +embark. They then found that they might have done things more leisurely, as the +crews had not yet got all their traps on board; so they began to look around +them, and discovered that each had omitted to pack up a blanket. +</p> + +<p> +Very much crestfallen at their stupidity, they proceeded to untie the bundles +again, when it became apparent to the eyes of Charley that his friend had put +on his capote inside out; which had a peculiarly ragged and grotesque effect. +These mistakes were soon rectified, and shouldering their beds, they carried +them down to the boat and tossed them in. Meanwhile Mr. Park, who had been +watching the movements of the boys with a peculiar smile, that filled them with +confusion, went round the different camps to see that nothing was left behind. +The men were all in their places with oars ready, and the boats floating on the +calm water, a yard or two from shore, with the exception of the guide’s +boat, the stern of which still rested on the sand awaiting Mr. Park. +</p> + +<p> +“Who does this belong to?” shouted that gentleman, holding up a +cloth cap, part of which was of a mottled brown and part deep blue. +</p> + +<p> +Harry instantly tore the covering from his head, and discovered that among his +numerous mistakes he had put on the head-dress of one of the Indians who had +brought him to the camp. To do him justice the cap was not unlike his own, +excepting that it was a little more mottled and dirty in colour, besides being +decorated with a gaudy but very much crushed and broken feather. +</p> + +<p> +“You had better change with our friend here, I think,” said Mr. +Park, grinning from ear to ear, as he tossed the cap to its owner, while Harry +handed the other to the Indian, amid the laughter of the crew. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind, boy,” added Mr. Park, in an encouraging tone, +“you’ll make a voyageur yet.—Now then, lads, give way;” +and with a nod to the Indians, who stood on the shore watching their departure, +the trader sprang into the boat and took his place beside the two boys. +</p> + +<p> +“Ho! sing, mes garçons,” cried the guide, seizing the massive sweep +and directing the boat out to sea. +</p> + +<p> +At this part of the lake there occurs a deep bay or inlet, to save rounding +which travellers usually strike straight across from point to point, making +what is called in voyageur parlance a <i>traverse</i>. These traverses are +subjects of considerable anxiety and frequently of delay to travellers, being +sometimes of considerable extent, varying from four to five, and in such +immense seas as Lake Superior, to fourteen miles. With boats, indeed, there is +little to fear, as the inland craft of the fur-traders can stand a heavy sea, +and often ride out a pretty severe storm; but it is far otherwise with the bark +canoes that are often used in travelling. These frail craft can stand very +little sea—their frames being made of thin flat slips of wood and sheets +of bark, not more than a quarter of an inch thick, which are sewed together +with the fibrous roots of the pine (called by the natives <i>wattape</i>), and +rendered water-tight by means of melted gum. Although light and buoyant, +therefore, and extremely useful in a country where portages are numerous, they +require very tender usage; and when a traverse has to be made, the guides have +always a grave consultation, with some of the most sagacious among the men, as +to the probability of the wind rising or falling—consultations which are +more or less marked by anxiety and tediousness in proportion to the length of +the traverse, the state of the weather and the courage or timidity of the +guides. +</p> + +<p> +On the present occasion there was no consultation, as has been already seen. +The traverse was a short one, the morning fine, and the boats good. A warm glow +began to overspread the horizon, giving promise of a splendid day, as the +numerous oars dipped with a plash and a loud hiss into the water, and sent the +boats leaping forth upon the white wave. +</p> + +<p> +“Sing, sing!” cried the guide again, and clearing his throat, he +began the beautiful quick-tuned canoe-song “Rose Blanche,” to which +the men chorused with such power of lungs that a family of plovers, which up to +that time had stood in mute astonishment on a sandy point, tumbled +precipitately into the water, from which they rose with a shrill, inexpressibly +wild, plaintive cry, and fled screaming away to a more secure refuge among the +reeds and sedges of a swamp. A number of ducks too, awakened by the unwonted +sound, shot suddenly out from the concealment of their night’s bivouac +with erect heads and startled looks, sputtered heavily over the surface of +their liquid bed, and rising into the air, flew in a wide circuit, with +whistling wings, away from the scene of so much uproar and confusion. +</p> + +<p> +The rough voices of the men grew softer and softer as the two Indians listened +to the song of their departing friends, mellowing down and becoming more +harmonious and more plaintive as the distance increased, and the boats grew +smaller and smaller, until they were lost in the blaze of light that now bathed +both water and sky in the eastern horizon, and began rapidly to climb the +zenith, while the sweet tones became less and less audible as they floated +faintly across the still water, and melted at last into the deep silence of the +wilderness. +</p> + +<p> +The two Indians still stood with downcast heads and listening ears, as if they +loved the last echo of the dying music, while their grave, statue-like forms +added to rather than detracted from, the solitude of the deserted scene. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Charley and Harry begin their sporting career without much +success—Whisky-john catching. +</p> + +<p> +The place in the boats usually allotted to gentlemen in the Company’s +service while travelling is the stern. Here the lading is so arranged as to +form a pretty level hollow, where the flat bundles containing their blankets +are placed, and a couch is thus formed that rivals Eastern effeminacy in +luxuriance. There are occasions, however, when this couch is converted into a +bed, not of thorns exactly, but of corners; and really it would be hard to say +which of the two is the more disagreeable. Should the men be careless in +arranging the cargo, the inevitable consequence is that “monsieur” +will find the leg of an iron stove, the sharp edge of a keg, or the corner of a +wooden box occupying the place where his ribs should be. So common, however, is +this occurrence that the clerks usually superintend the arrangements +themselves, and so secure comfort. +</p> + +<p> +On a couch, then, of this kind Charley and Harry now found themselves +constrained to sit all morning—sometimes asleep, occasionally awake, and +always earnestly desiring that it was time to put ashore for breakfast, as they +had now travelled for four hours without halt, except twice for about five +minutes, to let the men light their pipes. +</p> + +<p> +“Charley,” said Harry Somerville to his friend, who sat beside him, +“it strikes me that we are to have no breakfast at all to-day. Here have +I been holding my breath and tightening my belt, until I feel much more like a +spider or a wasp than a—a—” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Man</i>, Harry; out with it at once, don’t be afraid,” +said Charley. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, no, I wasn’t going to have said <i>that</i> exactly, but I +was going to have said a voyageur, only I recollected our doings this morning, +and hesitated to take the name until I had won it.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s well that you entertain so modest an opinion of +yourself,” said Mr. Park, who still smoked his pipe as if he were +impressed with the idea that to stop for a moment would produce instant death. +“I may tell you for your comfort, youngster, that we shan’t +breakfast till we reach yonder point.” +</p> + +<p> +The shores of Lake Winnipeg are flat and low, and the point indicated by Mr. +Park lay directly in the light of the sun, which now shone with such splendour +in the cloudless sky, and flashed on the polished water, that it was with +difficulty they could look towards the point of land. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is it?” asked Charley, shading his eyes with his hand; +“I cannot make out anything at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Try again, my boy; there’s nothing like practice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah yes! I make it out now; a faint shadow just under the sun. Is that +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, and we’ll break our fast <i>there</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would like very much to break your head <i>here</i>,” thought +Charley, but he did not say it, as, besides being likely to produce unpleasant +consequences, he felt that such a speech to an elderly gentleman would be +highly improper; and Charley had <i>some</i> respect for gray hairs for their +own sake, whether the owner of them was a good man or a goose. +</p> + +<p> +“What shall we do, Harry? If I had only thought of keeping out a +book.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know what <i>I</i> shall do,” said Harry, with a resolute air: +“I’ll go and shoot!” +</p> + +<p> +“Shoot!” cried Charley. “You don’t mean to say that +you’re going to waste your powder and shot by firing at the clouds! for +unless you take <i>them</i>, I see nothing else here.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s because you don’t use your eyes,” retorted +Harry. “Will you just look at yonder rock ahead of us, and tell me what +you see?” +</p> + +<p> +Charley looked earnestly at the rock, which to a cursory glance seemed as if +composed of whiter stone on the top. “Gulls, I declare!” shouted +Charley, at the same time jumping up in haste. +</p> + +<p> +Just then one of the gulls, probably a scout sent out to watch the approaching +enemy, wheeled in a circle overhead. The two youths dragged their guns from +beneath the thwarts of the boat, and rummaged about in great anxiety for +shot-belts and powder-horns. At last they were found; and having loaded, they +sat on the edge of the boat, looking out for game with as much—ay, with +<i>more</i> intense interest than a Blackfoot Indian would have watched for a +fat buffalo cow. +</p> + +<p> +“There he goes,” said Harry; “take the first shot, +Charley.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where? where is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Right ahead. Look out!” +</p> + +<p> +As Harry spoke, a small white gull, with bright-red legs and beak, flew over +the boat so close to them that, as the guide remarked, “he could see it +wink!” Charley’s equanimity, already pretty well disturbed, was +entirely upset at the suddenness of the bird’s appearance; for he had +been gazing intently at the rock when his friend’s exclamation drew his +attention in time to see the gull within about four feet of his head. With a +sudden “Oh!” Charley threw forward his gun, took a short, wavering +aim, and blew the cock-tail feather out of Baptiste’s hat; while the gull +sailed tranquilly away, as much as to say, “If <i>that’s</i> all +you can do, there’s no need for me to hurry!” +</p> + +<p> +“Confound the boy!” cried Mr. Park. “You’ll be the +death of someone yet; I’m convinced of that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Parbleu! you may say that, c’est vrai,” remarked the +voyageur with a rueful gaze at his hat, which, besides having its ornamental +feather shattered, was sadly cut up about the crown. +</p> + +<p> +The poor lad’s face became much redder than the legs or beak of the gull +as he sat down in confusion, which he sought to hide by busily reloading his +gun; while the men indulged in a somewhat witty and sarcastic criticism of his +powers of shooting, remarking, in flattering terms, on the precision of the +shot that blew Baptiste’s feather into atoms, and declaring that if every +shot he fired was as truly aimed, he would certainly be the best in the +country. +</p> + +<p> +Baptiste also came in for a share of their repartee. “It serves you +right,” said the guide, laughing, “for wearing such things on the +voyage. You should put away such foppery till you return to the settlement, +where there are <i>girls</i> to admire you.” (Baptiste had continued to +wear the tall hat, ornamented with gold cords and tassels, with which he had +left Red River). +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” cried another, pulling vigorously at his oar, “I fear +that Marie won’t look at you, now that all your beauty’s +gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis not quite gone,” said a third; “there’s all +the brim and half a tassel left, besides the wreck of the remainder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I can lend you a few fragments,” retorted Baptiste, +endeavouring to parry some of the thrusts. “They would improve <i>you</i> +vastly.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, friend; gather them up and replace them: they will look more +picturesque and becoming now. I believe if you had worn them much longer all +the men in the boat would have fallen in love with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“By St. Patrick,” said Mike Brady, an Irishman who sat at the oar +immediately behind the unfortunate Canadian, “there’s more than +enough o’ rubbish scattered over mysilf nor would do to stuff a +fither-bed with.” +</p> + +<p> +As Mike spoke, he collected the fragments of feathers and ribbons with which +the unlucky shot had strewn him, and placed them slyly on the top of the +dilapidated hat, which Baptiste, after clearing away the wreck, had replaced on +his head. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s very purty,” said Mike, as the action was received by +the crew with a shout of merriment. +</p> + +<p> +Baptiste was waxing wrathful under this fire, when the general attention was +drawn again towards Charley and his friend, who, having now got close to the +rock, had quite forgotten their mishap in the excitement of expectation. +</p> + +<p> +This excitement in the shooting of such small game might perhaps surprise our +readers, did we not acquaint them with the fact that neither of the boys had, +up to that time, enjoyed much opportunity of shooting. It is true that Harry +had once or twice borrowed the fowling-piece of the senior clerk, and had +sallied forth with a beating heart to pursue the grouse which are found in the +belt of woodland skirting the Assiniboine River near to Fort Garry. But these +expeditions were of rare occurrence, and they had not sufficed to rub off much +of the bounding excitement with which he loaded and fired at anything and +everything that came within range of his gun. Charley, on the other hand, had +never fired a shot before, except out of an old horse-pistol; having up to this +period been busily engaged at school, except during the holidays, which he +always spent in the society of his sister Kate, whose tastes were not such as +were likely to induce him to take up the gun, even if he had possessed such a +weapon. Just before leaving Red River, his father presented him with his own +gun, remarking, as he did so, with a sigh, that <i>his</i> day was past now; +and adding that the gun was a good one for shot or ball, and if he (Charley) +brought down <i>half</i> as much game with it as he (Mr. Kennedy) had brought +down in the course of his life, he might consider himself a crack shot +undoubtedly. +</p> + +<p> +It was not surprising, therefore, that the two friends went nearly mad with +excitation when the whole flock of gulls rose into the air like a white cloud, +and sailed in endless circles and gyrations above and around their +heads—flying so close at times that they might almost have been caught by +the hand. Neither was it surprising that innumerable shots were fired, by both +sportsmen, without a single bird being a whit the worse for it, or themselves +much the better; the energetic efforts made to hit being rendered abortive by +the very eagerness which caused them to miss. And this was the less +extraordinary, too, when it is remembered that Harry in his haste loaded +several times without shot, and Charley rendered the right barrel of his gun +<i>hors de combat</i> at last, by ramming down a charge of shot and omitting +powder altogether, whereby he snapped and primed, and snapped and primed again, +till he grew desperate, and then suspicious of the true cause, which he finally +rectified with much difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +Frequently the gulls flew straight over the heads of the youths—which +produced peculiar consequences, as in such cases they took aim while the birds +were approaching; but being somewhat slow at taking aim, the gulls were almost +perpendicularly above them ere they were ready to shoot, so that they were +obliged to fire hastily in <i>hope</i>, feeling that they were losing their +balance, or give up the chance altogether. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Park sat grimly in his place all the while, enjoying the scene, and +smoking. +</p> + +<p> +“Now then, Charley,” said he, “take that fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which? where? Oh, if I could only get one!” said Charley, looking +up eagerly at the screaming birds, at which he had been staring so long, in +their varying and crossing flight, that his sight had become hopelessly +unsteady. +</p> + +<p> +“There! Look sharp; fire away!” +</p> + +<p> +Bang went Charley’s piece, as he spoke, at a gull which flew straight +towards him, but so rapidly that it was directly above his head; indeed, he was +leaning a little backwards at the moment, which caused him to miss again, while +the recoil of the gun brought matters to a climax, by toppling him over into +Mr. Park’s lap, thereby smashing that gentleman’s pipe to atoms. +The fall accidentally exploded the second barrel, causing the butt to strike +Charley in the pit of his stomach—as if to ram him well home into Mr. +Park’s open arms—and hitting with a stray shot a gull that was +sailing high up in the sky in fancied security. It fell with a fluttering crash +into the boat while the men were laughing at the accident. +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t I say so?” cried Mr. Park, wrathfully, as he pitched +Charley out of his lap, and spat out the remnants of his broken pipe. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately for all parties, at this moment the boat approached a spot on which +the guide had resolved to land for breakfast; and seeing the unpleasant +predicament into which poor Charley had fallen, he assumed the strong tones of +command with which guides are frequently gifted, and called out,— +</p> + +<p> +“Ho, ho! à terre! à terre! to land! to land! Breakfast, my boys; +breakfast!”—at the same time sweeping the boat’s head +shoreward, and running into a rocky bay, whose margin was fringed by a growth +of small trees. Here, in a few minutes, they were joined by the other boats of +the brigade, which had kept within sight of each other nearly the whole +morning. +</p> + +<p> +While travelling through the wilds of North America in boats, voyageurs always +make a point of landing to breakfast. Dinner is a meal with which they are +unacquainted, at least on the voyage, and luncheon is likewise unknown. If a +man feels hungry during the day, the pemmican-bag and its contents are there; +he may pause in his work at any time, for a minute, to seize the axe and cut +off a lump, which he may devour as he best can; but there is no going +ashore—no resting for dinner. Two great meals are recognised, and the +time allotted to their preparation and consumption held +inviolable—breakfast and supper: the first varying between the hours of +seven and nine in the morning; the second about sunset, at which time +travellers usually encamp for the night. Of the two meals it would be difficult +to say which is more agreeable. For our own part, we prefer the former. It is +the meal to which a man addresses himself with peculiar gusto, especially if he +has been astir three or four hours previously in the open air. It is the time +of day, too, when the spirits are freshest and highest, animated by the +prospect of the work, the difficulties, the pleasures, or the adventures of the +day that has begun; and cheered by that cool, clear <i>buoyancy</i> of Nature +which belongs exclusively to the happy morning hours, and has led poets in all +ages to compare these hours to the first sweet months of spring or the early +years of childhood. +</p> + +<p> +Voyageurs, not less than poets, have felt the exhilarating influence of the +young day, although they have lacked the power to tell it in sounding numbers; +but where words were wanting, the sparkling eye, the beaming countenance, the +light step, and hearty laugh, were more powerful exponents of the feelings +within. Poet, and painter too, might have spent a profitable hour on the shores +of that great sequestered lake, and as they watched the picturesque +groups—clustering round the blazing fires, preparing their morning meal, +smoking their pipes, examining and repairing the boats, or suning their +stalwart limbs in wild, careless attitudes upon the greensward—might have +found a subject worthy the most brilliant effusions of the pen, or the most +graphic touches of the pencil. +</p> + +<p> +An hour sufficed for breakfast. While it was preparing, the two friends +sauntered into the forest in search of game, in which they were unsuccessful; +in fact, with the exception of the gulls before mentioned, there was not a +feather to be seen—save, always, one or two whisky-johns. +</p> + +<p> +Whisky-johns are the most impudent, puffy, conceited little birds that exist. +Not much larger in reality than sparrows, they nevertheless manage to swell out +their feathers to such an extent that they appear to be as large as magpies, +which they further resemble in their plumage. Go where you will in the woods of +Rupert’s Land, the instant that you light a fire two or three +whisky-johns come down and sit beside you, on a branch, it may be, or on the +ground, and generally so near that you cannot but wonder at their recklessness. +There is a species of impudence which seems to be specially attached to little +birds. In them it reaches the highest pitch of perfection. A bold, swelling, +arrogant effrontery—a sort of stark, staring, self-complacent, +comfortable, and yet innocent impertinence, which is at once irritating and +amusing, aggravating and attractive, and which is exhibited in the greatest +intensity in the whisky-john. He will jump down almost under your nose, and +seize a fragment of biscuit or pemmican. He will go right into the +pemmican-bag, when you are but a few paces off, and pilfer, as it were, at the +fountain-head. Or if these resources are closed against him, he will sit on a +twig, within an inch of your head, and look at you as only a whisky-john +<i>can</i> look. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll catch one of these rascals,” said Harry, as he saw them +jump unceremoniously into and out of the pemmican-bag. +</p> + +<p> +Going down to the boat, Harry hid himself under the tarpaulin, leaving a hole +open near to the mouth of the bag. He had not remained more than a few minutes +in this concealment when one of the birds flew down, and alighted on the edge +of the boat. After a glance round to see that all was right, it jumped into the +bag. A moment after, Harry, darting his hand through the aperture, grasped him +round the neck and secured him. Poor whisky-john screamed and pecked +ferociously, while Harry brought him in triumph to his friend; but so +unremittingly did the bird scream that its captor was fain at last to let him +off, the more especially as the cook came up at the moment and announced that +breakfast was ready. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The storm. +</p> + +<p> +Two days after the events of the last chapter, the brigade was making one of +the traverses which have already been noticed as of frequent occurrence in the +great lakes. The morning was calm and sultry. A deep stillness pervaded Nature, +which tended to produce a corresponding quiescence in the mind, and to fill it +with those indescribably solemn feelings that frequently arise before a +thunderstorm. Dark, lurid clouds hung overhead in gigantic masses, piled above +each other like the battlements of a dark fortress, from whose ragged +embrasures the artillery of heaven was about to play. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall we get over in time, Louis?” asked Mr. Park, as he turned to +the guide, who sat holding the tiller with a firm grasp; while the men, aware +of the necessity of reaching shelter ere the storm burst upon them, were +bending to the oars with steady and sustained energy. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” replied Louis, laconically.—“Pull, lads, +pull! else you’ll have to sleep in wet skins to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +A low growl of distant thunder followed the guide’s words, and the men +pulled with additional energy; while the slow measured hiss of the water, and +clank of oars, as they cut swiftly through the lake’s clear surface, +alone interrupted the dead silence that ensued. +</p> + +<p> +Charley and his friend conversed in low whispers; for there is a strange power +in a thunder-storm, whether raging or about to break, that overawes the heart +of man,—as if Nature’s God were nearer then than at other times; as +if He—whose voice, indeed, if listened to, speaks even in the slightest +evolution of natural phenomena—were about to tread the visible earth with +more than usual majesty, in the vivid glare of the lightning flash, and in the +awful crash of thunder. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know how it is, but I feel more like a coward,” said +Charley, “just before a thunderstorm than I think I should do in the arms +of a polar bear. Do you feel queer, Harry?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little,” replied Harry, in a low whisper, “and yet +I’m not frightened. I can scarcely tell what I feel, but I’m +certain it’s not fear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I don’t know,” said Charley. “When +father’s black bull chased Kate and me in the prairies, and almost +overtook us as we ran for the fence of the big field, I felt my heart leap to +my mouth, and the blood rush to my cheeks, as I turned about and faced him, +while Kate climbed the fence; but after she was over, I felt a wild sort of +wickedness in me, as if I should like to tantalise and torment him,—and I +felt altogether different from what I feel now while I look up at these black +clouds. Isn’t there something quite awful in them, Harry?” +</p> + +<p> +Ere Harry replied, a bright flash of lightning shot athwart the sky, followed +by a loud roll of thunder, and in a moment the wind rushed, like a fiend set +suddenly free, down upon the boats, tearing up the smooth surface of the water +as it flew, and cutting it into gleaming white streaks. Fortunately the storm +came down behind the boats, so that, after the first wild burst was over, they +hoisted a small portion of their lug sails, and scudded rapidly before it. +</p> + +<p> +There was still a considerable portion of the traverse to cross, and the guide +cast an anxious glance over his shoulder occasionally, as the dark waves began +to rise, and their crests were cut into white foam by the increasing gale. +Thunder roared in continued, successive peals, as if the heavens were breaking +up, while rain descended in sheets. For a time the crews continued to ply their +oars; but as the wind increased, these were rendered superfluous. They were +taken in, therefore, and the men sought partial shelter under the tarpaulin; +while Mr. Park and the two boys were covered, excepting their heads, by an +oilcloth, which was always kept at hand in rainy weather. +</p> + +<p> +“What think you now, Louis?” said Mr. Park, resuming the pipe which +the sudden outburst of the storm had caused him to forget. “Have we seen +the worst of it?” +</p> + +<p> +Louis replied abruptly in the negative, and in a few seconds shouted loudly, +“Look out, lads! here comes a squall. Stand by to let go the sheet +there!” +</p> + +<p> +Mike Brady, happening to be near the sheet, seized hold of the rope, and +prepared to let go, while the men rose, as if by instinct, and gazed anxiously +at the approaching squall, which could be seen in the distance, extending along +the horizon, like a bar of blackest ink, spotted with flakes of white. The +guide sat with compressed lips, and motionless as a statue, guiding the boat as +it bounded madly towards the land, which was now not more than half-a-mile +distant. +</p> + +<p> +“Let go!” shouted the guide, in a voice that was heard loud and +clear above the roar of the elements. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” replied the Irishman, untwisting the rope instantly, as +with a sharp hiss the squall descended on the boat. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the rope became entangled round one of the oars, and the gale +burst with all its fury on the distended sail, burying the prow in the waves, +which rushed inboard in a black volume, and in an instant half filled the boat. +</p> + +<p> +“Let go!” roared the guide again, in a voice of thunder; while Mike +struggled with awkward energy to disentangle the rope. +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, an Indian, who during the storm had been sitting beside the mast, +gazing at the boiling water with a grave, contemplative aspect, sprang quickly +forward, drew his knife, and with two blows (so rapidly delivered that they +seemed but one) cut asunder first the sheet and then the halyards, which let +the sail blow out and fall flat upon the boat. He was just in time. Another +moment and the gushing water, which curled over the bow, would have filled them +to the gunwale. As it was, the little vessel was so full of water that she lay +like a log, while every toss of the waves sent an additional torrent into her. +</p> + +<p> +“Bail for your lives, lads!” cried Mr. Park, as he sprang forward, +and, seizing a tin dish, began energetically to bail out the water. Following +his example, the whole crew seized whatever came first to hand in the shape of +dish or kettle, and began to bail. Charley and Harry Somerville acted a +vigorous part on this occasion—the one with a bark dish (which had been +originally made by the natives for the purpose of holding maple sugar), the +other with his cap. +</p> + +<p> +For a time it seemed doubtful whether the curling waves should send most water +<i>into</i> the boat, or the crew should bail most <i>out</i> of it. But the +latter soon prevailed, and in a few minutes it was so far got under that three +of the men were enabled to leave off bailing and reset the sail, while Louis +Pettier returned to his post at the helm. At first the boat moved but slowly, +owing to the weight of water in her; but as this gradually grew less, she +increased her speed and neared the land. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, Redfeather,” said Mr. Park, addressing the Indian as he +resumed his seat; “your knife did us good service that time, my fine +fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather, who was the only pure native in the brigade, acknowledged the +compliment with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Ah, oui</i>,” replied the guide, whose features had now lost +their stern expression. “These Injins are always ready enough with their +knives. It’s not the first time my life has been saved by the knife of a +red-skin.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph! bad luck to them,” muttered Mike Brady; “it’s +not the first time that my windpipe has been pretty near spiflicated by the +knives o’ the redskins, the murtherin’ varmints.” +</p> + +<p> +As Mike gave vent to this malediction, the boat ran swiftly past a low rocky +point, over which the surf was breaking wildly. +</p> + +<p> +“Down with the sail, Mike,” cried the guide, at the same time +putting the helm hard up. The boat flew round, obedient to the ruling power, +made one last plunge as it left the rolling surf behind, and slid gently and +smoothly into still water under the lee of the point. +</p> + +<p> +Here, in the snug shelter of a little bay, two of the other boats were found, +with their prows already on the beach, and their crews actively employed in +landing their goods, opening bales that had received damage from the water, and +preparing the encampment; while ever and anon they paused a moment to watch the +various boats as they flew before the gale, and one by one doubled the friendly +promontory. +</p> + +<p> +If there is one thing that provokes a voyageur more than another, it is being +wind-bound on the shores of a large lake. Rain or sleet, heat or cold, icicles +forming on the oars, or a broiling sun glaring in a cloudless sky, the stings +of sand-flies, or the sharp probes of a million musquitoes, he will bear with +comparative indifference; but being detained by high wind for two, three, or +four days together—lying inactively on shore, when everything else, it +may be, is favourable: the sun bright, the sky blue, the air invigorating, and +all but the wind propitious—is more than his philosophy can carry him +through with equanimity. He grumbles at it; sometimes makes believe to laugh at +it; very often, we are sorry to say, swears at it; does his best to sleep +through it; but whatever he does, he does with a bad grace, because he’s +in a bad humour, and can’t stand it. +</p> + +<p> +For the next three days this was the fate of our friends. Part of the time it +rained, when the whole party slept as much as was possible, and then +<i>endeavoured</i> to sleep <i>more</i> than was possible, under the shelter +afforded by the spreading branches of the trees. Part of the time was fair, +with occasional gleams of sunshine, when the men turned out to eat and smoke +and gamble round the fires; and the two friends sauntered down to a sheltered +place on the shore, sunned themselves in a warm nook among the rocks, while +they gazed ruefully at the foaming billows, told endless stories of what they +had done in time past, and equally endless <i>prospective</i> adventures that +they earnestly hoped should befall them in time to come. +</p> + +<p> +While they were thus engaged, Redfeather, the Indian who had cut the ropes so +opportunely during the storm, walked down to the shore, and sitting down on a +rock not far distant, fell apparently into a reverie. +</p> + +<p> +“I like that fellow,” said Harry, pointing to the Indian. +</p> + +<p> +“So do I. He’s a sharp, active man. Had it not been for him we +should have had to swim for it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, had it not been for him I should have had to sink for it,” +said Harry, with a smile, “for I can’t swim.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, true, I forgot that. I wonder what the red-skin, as the guide calls +him, is thinking about,” added Charley in a musing tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Of home, perhaps, ‘sweet home,’” said Harry, with a +sigh. “Do you think much of home, Charley, now that you have left +it?” +</p> + +<p> +Charley did not reply for a few seconds. He seemed to muse over the question. +</p> + +<p> +At last he said slowly— +</p> + +<p> +“Think of home? I think of little else when I am not talking with you, +Harry. My dear mother is always in my thoughts, and my poor old father. Home? +ay; and darling Kate, too, is at my elbow night and day, with the tears +streaming from her eyes, and her ringlets scattered over my shoulder, as I saw +her the day we parted, beckoning me back again, or reproaching me for having +gone away—God bless her! Yes, I often, very often, think of home, +Harry.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry made no reply. His friend’s words had directed his thoughts to a +very different and far-distant scene—to another Kate, and another father +and mother, who lived in a glen far away over the waters of the broad Atlantic. +He thought of them as they used to be when he was one of the number, a unit in +the beloved circle, whose absence would have caused a blank there. He thought +of the kind voice that used to read the Word of God, and the tender kiss of his +mother as they parted for the night. He thought of the dreary day when he left +them all behind, and sailed away, in the midst of strangers, across the wide +ocean to a strange land. He thought of them now—<i>without</i> +him—accustomed to his absence, and forgetful, perhaps, at times that he +had once been there. As he thought of all this a tear rolled down his cheek, +and when Charley looked up in his face, that tear-drop told plainly that he too +thought sometimes of home. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us ask Redfeather to tell us something about the Indians,” he +said at length, rousing himself. “I have no doubt he has had many +adventures in his life. Shall we, Charley?” +</p> + +<p> +“By all means—Ho, Redfeather; are you trying to stop the wind by +looking it out of countenance?” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian rose and walked towards the spot where the boys lay. +</p> + +<p> +“What was Redfeather thinking about?” said Charley, adopting the +somewhat pompous style of speech occasionally used by Indians. “Was he +thinking of the white swan and his little ones in the prairie; or did he dream +of giving his enemies a good licking the next time he meets them?” +</p> + +<p> +“Redfeather has no enemies,” replied the Indian. “He was +thinking of the great Manito,<a href="#fn3" name="fnref3" id="fnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> +who made the wild winds, and the great lakes, and the forest.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn3" id="fn3"></a> <a href="#fnref3">[3]</a> +God. +</p> + +<p> +“And pray, good Redfeather, what did your thoughts tell you?” +</p> + +<p> +“They told me that men are very weak, and very foolish, and wicked; and +that Manito is very good and patient to let them live.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is to say,” cried Harry, who was surprised and a little +nettled to hear what he called the heads of a sermon from a red-skin, +“that <i>you</i>, being a man, are very weak, and very foolish, and +wicked, and that Manito is very good and patient to let <i>you</i> live?” +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said the Indian calmly; “that is what I mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, Redfeather,” said Charley, laying his hand on the +Indian’s arm, “sit down beside us, and tell us some of your +adventures. I know that you must have had plenty, and it’s quite clear +that we’re not to get away from this place all day, so you’ve +nothing better to do.” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian readily assented, and began his story in English. +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather was one of the very few Indians who had acquired the power of +speaking the English language. Having been, while a youth, brought much into +contact with the fur-traders, and having been induced by them to enter their +service for a time, he had picked up enough of English to make himself easily +understood. Being engaged at a later period of life as a guide to one of the +exploring parties sent out by the British Government to discover the famous +North West Passage, he had learned to read and write, and had become so much +accustomed to the habits and occupations of the “pale faces,” that +he spent more of his time, in one way or another, with them than in the society +of his tribe, which dwelt in the thick woods bordering on one of the great +prairies of the interior. He was about thirty years of age; had a tall, thin, +but wiry and powerful frame; and was of a mild, retiring disposition. His face +wore a habitually grave expression, verging towards melancholy; induced, +probably, by the vicissitudes of a wild life (in which he had seen much of the +rugged side of nature in men and things) acting upon a sensitive heart, and a +naturally warm temperament. Redfeather, however, was by no means morose; and +when seated along with his Canadian comrades round the camp fire, he listened +with evidently genuine interest to their stories, and entered into the spirit +of their jests. But he was always an auditor, and rarely took part in their +conversations. He, was frequently consulted by the guide in matters of +difficulty, and it was observed that the “red-skin’s” opinion +always carried much weight with it, although it was seldom given unless asked +for. The men respected him much because he was a hard worker, obliging, and +modest—-three qualities that insure respect, whether found under a red +skin or a white one. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall tell you,” he began, in a soft, musing tone, as if he were +wandering in memories of the past—“I shall tell you how it was that +I came by the name of Redfeather.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” interrupted Charley, “I intended to ask you about that; +you don’t wear one.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did once. My father was a great warrior in his tribe,” continued +the Indian; “and I was but a youth when I got the name. +</p> + +<p> +“My tribe was at war at the time with the Chipewyans, and one of our +scouts having come in with the intelligence that a party of our enemies was in +the neighbourhood, our warriors armed themselves to go in pursuit of them. I +had been out once before with a war-party, but had not been successful, as the +enemy’s scouts gave notice of our approach in time to enable them to +escape. At the time the information was brought to us, the young men of our +village were amusing themselves with athletic games, and loud challenges were +being given and accepted to wrestle, or race, or swim in the deep water of the +river, which flowed calmly past the green bank on which our wigwams stood. On a +bank near to us sat about a dozen of our women—some employed in +ornamenting moccasins with coloured porcupine quills; others making rogans of +bark for maple sugar, or nursing their young infants; while a few, chiefly the +old women, grouped themselves together and kept up an incessant chattering, +chiefly with reference to the doings of the young men. +</p> + +<p> +“Apart from these stood three or four of the principal men of our tribe, +smoking their pipes, and although apparently engrossed in conversation, still +evidently interested in what was going forward on the bank of the river. +</p> + +<p> +“Among the young men assembled there was one of about my own age, who had +taken a violent dislike to me because the most beautiful girl in all the +village preferred me before him. His name was Misconna. He was a hot-tempered, +cruel youth; and although I endeavoured as much as possible to keep out of his +way, he sought every opportunity of picking a quarrel with me. I had just been +running a race along with several other youths, and although not the winner, I +had kept ahead of Misconna all the distance. He now stood leaning against a +tree, burning with rage and disappointment. I was sorry for this, because I +bore him no ill-will, and if it had occurred to me at the time, I would have +allowed him to pass me, since I was unable to gain the race at any rate. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Dog!’ he said at length, stepping forward and confronting +me, ‘will you wrestle?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Just as he approached I had turned round to leave the place. Not wishing +to have more to do with him, I pretended not to hear, and made a step or two +towards the lodges. ‘Dog,’ he cried again, while his eyes flashed +fiercely, as he grasped me by the arm, ‘will you wrestle, or are you +afraid? Has the brave boy’s heart changed into that of a girl?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No, Misconna,’ said I. ‘You <i>know</i> that I am not +afraid; but I have no desire to quarrel with you.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘You lie!’ cried he, with a cold sneer,—‘you are +afraid; and see,’ he added, pointing towards the women with a triumphant +smile, ‘the dark-eyed girl sees it and believes it too!’ +</p> + +<p> +“I turned to look, and there I saw Wabisca gazing on me with a look of +blank amazement. I could see, also, that several of the other women, and some +of my companions, shared in her surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“With a burst of anger I turned round. ‘No,’ Misconna,’ +said I, ‘I am <i>not</i> afraid, as you shall find;’ and springing +upon him, I grasped him round the body. He was nearly, if not quite, as strong +a youth as myself; but I was burning with indignation at the insolence of his +conduct before so many of the women, which gave me more than usual energy. For +several minutes we swayed to and fro, each endeavouring in vain to bend the +other’s back; but we were too well matched for this, and sought to +accomplish our purpose by taking advantage of an unguarded movement. At last +such a movement occurred. My adversary made a sudden and violent attempt to +throw me to the left, hoping that an inequality in the ground would favour his +effort. But he was mistaken. I had seen the danger and was prepared for it, so +that the instant he attempted it I threw forward my right leg, and thrust him +backwards with all my might. Misconna was quick in his motions. He saw my +intention—too late, indeed, to prevent it altogether, but in time to +throw back his left foot and stiffen his body till it felt like a block of +stone. The effort was now entirely one of endurance. We stood each with his +muscles strained to the utmost, without the slightest motion. At length I felt +my adversary give way a little. Slight though the motion was, it instantly +removed all doubt as to who should go down. My heart gave a bound of +exaltation, and with the energy which such a feeling always inspires, I put +forth all my strength, threw him heavily over on his back, and fell upon him. +</p> + +<p> +“A shout of applause from my comrades greeted me as I rose and left the +ground; but at the same moment the attention of all was taken from myself and +the baffled Misconna by the arrival of the scout, bringing us information that +a party of Chipewyans were in the neighbourhood. In a moment all was bustle and +preparation. An Indian war-party is soon got ready. Forty of our braves threw +off the principal parts of their clothing; painted their faces with stripes of +vermilion and charcoal; armed themselves with guns, bows, tomahawks and +scalping knives, and in a few minutes left the camp in silence, and at a quick +pace. +</p> + +<p> +“One or two of the youths who had been playing on the river’s bank +were permitted to accompany the party, and among these were Misconna and +myself. As we passed a group of women, assembled to see us depart, I observed +the girl who had caused so much jealousy between us. She cast down her eyes as +we came up, and as we advanced close to the group she dropped a white feather, +as if by accident. Stooping hastily down, I picked it up in passing, and stuck +it in an ornamented band that bound my hair. As we hurried on I heard two or +three old hags laugh, and say, with a sneer, ‘His hand is as white as a +feather: it has never seen blood.’ The next moment we were hid in the +forest, and pursued our rapid course in dead silence. +</p> + +<p> +“The country through which we passed was varied, extending in broken bits +of open prairie, and partly covered with thick wood, yet not so thick as to +offer any hindrance to our march. We walked in single file, each treading in +his comrade’s footsteps, while the band was headed by the scout who had +brought the information. The principal chief of our tribe came next, and he was +followed by the braves according to their age or influence. Misconna and I +brought up the rear. The sun was just sinking as we left the belt of woodland +in which our village stood, crossed over a short plain, descended a dark +hollow, at the bottom of which the river flowed, and following its course for a +considerable distance, turned off to the right and emerged upon a sweep of +prairieland. Here the scout halted, and taking the chief and two or three +braves aside, entered into earnest consultation with them. +</p> + +<p> +“What they said we could not hear; but as we stood leaning on our guns in +the deep shade of the forest, we could observe by their animated gestures that +they differed in opinion. We saw that the scout pointed several times to the +moon, which was just rising above the treetops, and then to the distant +horizon: but the chief shook his head, pointed to the woods, and seemed to be +much in doubt, while the whole band watched his motions in deep silence but +evident interest. At length they appeared to agree. The scout took his place at +the head of the line, and we resumed our march, keeping close to the margin of +the wood. It was perhaps three hours after this ere we again halted to hold +another consultation. This time their deliberations were shorter. In a few +seconds our chief himself took the lead, and turned into the woods, through +which he guided us to a small fountain which bubbled up at the root of a birch +tree, where there was a smooth green spot of level ground. Here we halted, and +prepared to rest for an hour, at the end of which time the moon, which now +shone bright and full in the clear sky, would be nearly down, and we could +resume our march. We now sat down in a circle, and taking a hasty mouthful of +dried meat, stretched ourselves on the ground with our arms beside us, while +our chief kept watch, leaning against the birch tree. It seemed as if I had +scarcely been asleep five minutes when I felt a light touch on my shoulder. +Springing up, I found the whole party already astir, and in a few minutes more +we were again hurrying onwards. +</p> + +<p> +“We travelled thus until a faint light in the east told us that the day +was at hand, when the scout’s steps became more cautious, and he paused +to examine the ground frequently. At last we came to a place where the ground +sank slightly, and at a distance of a hundred yards rose again, forming a low +ridge which was crowned with small bushes. Here we came to a halt, and were +told that our enemies were on the other side of that ridge; that they were +about twenty in number, all Chipewyan warriors, with the exception of one +paleface—a trapper, and his Indian wife. The scout had learned, while +lying like a snake in the grass around their camp, that this man was merely +travelling with them on his way to the Rocky Mountains, and that, as they were +a war-party, he intended to leave them soon. On hearing this the warriors gave +a grim smile, and our chief, directing the scout to fall behind, cautiously led +the way to the top of the ridge. On reaching it we saw a valley of great +extent, dotted with trees and shrubs, and watered by one of the many rivers +that flow into the great Saskatchewan. It was nearly dark, however, and we +could only get an indistinct view of the land. Far ahead of us, on the right +bank of the stream, and close to its margin, we saw the faint red light of +watch fires; which caused us some surprise, for watch-fires are never lighted +by a war-party so near to an enemy’s country. So we could only conjecture +that they were quite ignorant of our being in that part of the country; which +was, indeed, not unlikely, seeing that we had shifted our camp during the +summer. +</p> + +<p> +“Our chief now made arrangements for the attack. We were directed to +separate and approach individually as near to the camp as was possible without +risk of discovery, and then, taking up an advantageous position, to await our +chief’s signal, which was to be the hooting of an owl. We immediately +separated. My course lay along the banks of the stream, and as I strode rapidly +along, listening to its low solemn murmur, which sounded clear and distinct in +the stillness of a calm summer night, I could not help feeling as if it were +reproaching me for the bloody work I was hastening to perform. Then the +recollection of what the old woman said of me raised a desperate spirit in my +heart. Remembering the white feather in my head, I grasped my gun and quickened +my pace. As I neared the camp I went into the woods and climbed a low hillock +to look out. I found that it still lay about five hundred yards distant, and +that the greater part of the ground between it and the place where I stood was +quite flat, and without cover of any kind. I therefore prepared to creep +towards it, although the attempt was likely to be attended with great danger, +for Chipewyans have quick ears and sharp eyes. Observing, however, that the +river ran close past the camp, I determined to follow its course as before. In +a few seconds more I came to a dark narrow gap where the river flowed between +broken rocks, overhung by branches, and from which I could obtain a clear view +of the camp within fifty yards of me. Examining the priming of my gun, I sat +down on a rock to await the chief’s signal. +</p> + +<p> +“It was evident from the careless manner in which the fires were placed, +that no enemy was supposed to be near. From my concealment I could plainly +distinguish ten or fifteen of the sleeping forms of our enemies, among which +the trapper was conspicuous, from his superior bulk, and the reckless way in +which his brawny arms were flung on the turf, while his right hand clutched his +rifle. I could not but smile as I thought of the proud boldness of the +pale-face—lying all exposed to view in the gray light of dawn while an +Indian’s rifle was so close at hand. One Indian kept watch, but he seemed +more than half asleep. I had not sat more than a minute when my observations +were interrupted by the cracking of a branch in the bushes near me. Starting +up, I was about to bound into the underwood, when a figure sprang down the bank +and rapidly approached me. My first impulse was to throw forward my gun, but a +glance sufficed to show me that it was a woman. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Wah!’ I exclaimed, in surprise, as she hurried forward and +laid her hand on my shoulder. She was dressed partly in the costume of the +Indians, but wore a shawl on her shoulders and a handkerchief on her head that +showed she had been in the settlements; and from the lightness of her skin and +hair, I judged at once that she was the trapper’s wife, of whom I had +heard the scout speak. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Has the light-hair got a medicine-bag, or does she speak with +spirits, that she has found me so easily?’ +</p> + +<p> +“The girl looked anxiously up in my face as if to read my thoughts, and +then said, in a low voice,— +</p> + +<p> +“‘No, I neither carry the medicine-bag nor hold palaver with +spirits; but I do think the good Manito must have led me here. I wandered into +the woods because I could not sleep, and I saw you pass. But tell me,’ +she added with still deeper anxiety, ‘does the white-feather come alone? +Does he approach <i>friends</i> during the dark hours with a soft step like a +fox?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Feeling the necessity of detaining her until my comrades should have +time to surround the camp, I said: ‘The white-feather hunts far from his +lands. He sees Indians whom he does not know, and must approach with a light +step. Perhaps they are enemies.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Do Knisteneux hunt at night, prowling in the bed of a +stream?’ said the girl, still regarding me with a keen glance. +‘Speak truth, stranger’ (and she started suddenly back); ‘in +a moment I can alarm the camp with a cry, and if your tongue is +forked—But I do not wish to bring enemies upon you, if they are indeed +such. I am not one of them. My husband and I travel with them for a time. We do +not desire to see blood. God knows,’ she added in French, which seemed +her native tongue, ‘I have seen enough of that already.’ +</p> + +<p> +“As her earnest eyes looked into my face a sudden thought occurred to me. +‘Go,’ said I, hastily, ‘tell your husband to leave the camp +instantly and meet me here; and see that the Chipewyans do not observe your +departure. Quick! his life and yours may depend on your speed.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The girl instantly comprehended my meaning. In a moment she sprang up +the bank; but as she did so the loud report of a gun was heard, followed by a +yell, and the war-whoop of the Knisteneux rent the air as they rushed upon the +devoted camp, sending arrows and bullets before them. +</p> + +<p> +“On the instant I sprang after the girl and grasped her by the arm. +‘Stay, white-cheek; it is too late now. You cannot save your husband, but +I think he’ll save himself. I saw him dive into the bushes like a +cariboo. Hide yourself here; perhaps you may escape.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The half-breed girl sank on a fallen tree with a deep groan, and clasped +her hands convulsively before her eyes, while I bounded over the tree, +intending to join my comrades in pursuing the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +“As I did so a shrill cry arose behind me, and looking back, I beheld the +trapper’s wife prostrate on the ground, and Misconna standing over her, +his spear uplifted, and a fierce frown on his dark face. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Hold!’ I cried, rushing back and seizing his arm. +‘Misconna did not come to kill <i>women</i>. She is not our enemy.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Does the young wrestler want <i>another</i> wife?’ he said, +with a wild laugh, at the same time wrenching his arm from my gripe, and +driving his spear through the fleshy part of the woman’s breast and deep +into the ground. A shriek rent the air as he drew it out again to repeat the +thrust; but before he could do so, I struck him with the butt of my gun on the +head. Staggering backwards, he fell heavily among the bushes. At this moment a +second whoop rang out, and another of our band sprang from the thicket that +surrounded us. Seeing no one but myself and the bleeding girl, he gave me a +short glance of surprise, as if he wondered why I did not finish the work which +he evidently supposed I had begun. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Wah!’ he exclaimed; and uttering another yell plunged his +spear into the woman’s breast, despite my efforts to prevent +him—this time with more deadly effect, as the blood spouted from the +wound, while she uttered a piercing scream, and twined her arms round my legs +as I stood beside her, as if imploring for mercy. Poor girl! I saw that she was +past my help. The wound was evidently mortal. Already the signs of death +overspread her features, and I felt that a second blow would be one of mercy; +so that when the Indian stooped and passed his long knife through her heart, I +made but a feeble effort to prevent it. Just as the man rose, with the warm +blood dripping from his keen blade, the sharp crack of a rifle was heard, and +the Indian fell dead at my feet, shot through the forehead, while the trapper +bounded into the open space, his massive frame quivering, and his sunburned +face distorted with rage and horror. From the other side of the brake six of +our band rushed forward and levelled their guns at him. For one moment the +trapper paused to cast a glance at the mangled corpse of his wife, as if to +make quite sure that she was dead; and then uttering a howl of despair, he +hurled his axe with a giant’s force at the Knisteneux, and disappeared +over the precipitous bank of the stream. +</p> + +<p> +“So rapid was the action that the volley which immediately succeeded +passed harmlessly over his head, while the Indians dashed forward in pursuit. +At the same instant I myself was felled to the earth. The axe which the trapper +had flung struck a tree in its flight, and as it glanced off the handle gave me +a violent blow in passing. I fell stunned. As I did so my head alighted on the +shoulder of the woman, and the last thing I felt, as my wandering senses +forsook me, was her still warm blood flowing over my face and neck. +</p> + +<p> +“While this scene was going on, the yells and screams of the warriors in +the camp became fainter and fainter as they pursued and fled through the woods. +The whole band of Chipewyans was entirely routed, with the exception of four +who escaped, and the trapper whose flight I have described; all the rest were +slain, and their scalps hung at the belts of the victorious Knisteneux +warriors, while only one of our party was killed. +</p> + +<p> +“Not more than a few minutes after receiving the blow that stunned me, I +recovered, and rising as hastily as my scattered faculties would permit me, I +staggered towards the camp, where I heard the shouts of our men as they +collected the arms of their enemies. As I rose, the feather which Wabisca had +dropped fell from my brow, and as I picked it up to replace it, I perceived +that it was <i>red</i>, being entirely covered with the blood of the half-breed +girl. +</p> + +<p> +“The place where Misconna had fallen was vacant as I passed, and I found +him standing among his comrades round the camp fires, examining the guns and +other articles which they had collected. He gave me a short glance of deep +hatred as I passed, and turned his head hastily away. A few minutes sufficed to +collect the spoils, and so rapidly had everything been done that the light of +day was still faint as we silently returned on our track. We marched in the +same order as before, Misconna and I bringing up the rear. As we passed near +the place where the poor woman had been murdered, I felt a strong desire to +return to the spot. I could not very well understand the feeling, but it lay so +strong upon me that, when we reached the ridge where we first came in sight of +the Chipewyan camp, I fell behind until my companions disappeared in the woods, +and then ran swiftly back. Just as I was about to step beyond the circle of +bushes that surrounded the spot, I saw that some one was there before me. It +was a man, and as he advanced into the open space and the light fell on his +face, I saw that it was the trapper. No doubt he had watched us off the ground, +and then, when all was safe, returned to bury his wife. I crouched to watch +him. Stepping slowly up to the body of his murdered wife, he stood beside it +with his arms folded on his breast and quite motionless. His head hung down, +for the heart of the white man was heavy, and I could see, as the light +increased, that his brows were dark as the thunder-cloud, and the corners of +his mouth twitched from a feeling that the Indian scorns to show. My heart is +full of sorrow for him now” (Redfeather’s voice sank as he spoke); +“it was full of sorrow for him even <i>then</i>, when I was taught to +think that pity for an enemy was unworthy of a brave. The trapper stood gazing +very long. His wife was young; he could not leave her yet. At length a deep +groan burst from his heart, as the waters of a great river, long held down, +swell up in spring and burst the ice at last. Groan followed groan as the +trapper still stood and pressed his arms on his broad breast, as if to crush +the heart within. At last he slowly knelt beside her, bending more and more +over the lifeless form, until he lay extended on the ground beside it, and +twining his arms round the neck, he drew the cold cheek close to his, and +pressed the blood-covered bosom tighter and tighter, while his form quivered +with agony as he gave her a last, long embrace. Oh!” continued +Redfeather, while his brow darkened, and his black eye flashed with an +expression of fierceness that his young listeners had never seen before, +“may the curse—” He paused. “God forgive them! How +could they know better? +</p> + +<p> +“At length the trapper rose hastily. The expression of his brow was still +the same, but his mouth was altered. The lips were pressed tightly like those +of a brave when led to torture, and there was a fierce activity in his motions +as he sprang down the bank and proceeded to dig a hole in the soft earth. For +half an hour he laboured, shovelling away the earth with a large, flat stone; +and carrying down the body, he buried it there, under the shadow of a willow. +The trapper then shouldered his rifle and hurried away. On reaching the turn of +the stream which shuts the little hollow out from view, he halted suddenly, +gave one look into the prairie he was henceforth to tread alone, one short +glance back, and then, raising both arms in the air, looked up into the sky, +while he stretched himself to his full height. Even at that distance I could +see the wild glare of his eye and the heaving of his breast. A moment after, +and he was gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“And did you never see him again?” inquired Harry Somerville, +eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I never saw him more. Immediately afterwards I turned to rejoin my +companions, whom I soon overtook, and entered our village along with them. I +was regarded as a poor warrior, because I brought home no scalps, and ever +afterwards I went by the name of <i>Redfeather</i> in our tribe.” +</p> + +<p> +“But are you still thought a poor warrior?” asked Charley, in some +concern, as if he were jealous of the reputation of his new friend. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian smiled. “No,” he said: “our village was twice +attacked afterwards, and in defending it, Redfeather took many scalps. He was +made a chief!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” cried Charley, “I’m glad of that. And Wabisca, +what came of her? Did Misconna get her?” +</p> + +<p> +“She is my wife,” replied Redfeather. +</p> + +<p> +“Your wife! Why, I thought I heard the voyageurs call your wife the white +swan.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wabisca is <i>white</i> in the language of the Knisteneux. She is +beautiful in form, and my comrades call her the white swan.” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather said this with an air of gratified pride. He did not, perhaps, love +his wife with more fervour than he would have done had he remained with his +tribe; but Redfeather had associated a great deal with the traders, and he had +imbibed much of that spirit which prompts “<i>white</i> men” to +treat their females with deference and respect—a feeling which is very +foreign to an Indian’s bosom. To do so was, besides, more congenial to +his naturally unselfish and affectionate disposition, so that any flattering +allusion to his partner was always received by him with immense gratification. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll pay you a visit some day, Redfeather, if I’m sent to +any place within fifty miles of your tribe,” said Charley with the air of +one who had fully made up his mind. +</p> + +<p> +“And Misconna?” asked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“Misconna is with his tribe,” replied the Indian, and a frown +overspread his features as he spoke; “but Redfeather has been following +in the track of his white friends; he has not seen his nation for many +moons.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The canoe—Ascending the rapids—The portage—Deer shooting and +life in the woods. +</p> + +<p> +We must now beg the patient reader to take a leap with us, not only through +space, but also through time. We must pass over the events of the remainder of +the journey along the shore of Lake Winnipeg. Unwilling though we are to omit +anything in the history of our friends that would be likely to prove +interesting, we think it wise not to run the risk of being tedious, or of +dwelling too minutely on the details of scenes which recall powerfully the +feelings and memories of bygone days to the writer, but may, nevertheless, +appear somewhat flat to the reader. +</p> + +<p> +We shall not, therefore, enlarge at present on the arrival of the boats at +Norway House, which lies at the north end of the lake, nor on what was said and +done by our friends and by several other young comrades whom they found there. +We shall not speak of the horror of Harry Somerville, and the extreme +disappointment of his friend Charley Kennedy, when the former was told that +instead of hunting grizzly bears up the Saskatchewan he was condemned to the +desk again at York Fort, the depot on Hudson’s Bay,—a low, swampy +place near the sea-shore, where the goods for the interior are annually landed +and the furs shipped for England, where the greater part of the summer and much +of the winter is occupied by the clerks who may be doomed to vegetate there in +making up the accounts of what is termed the Northern Department, and where the +brigades converge from all the wide scattered and far-distant outposts, and the +<i>ship</i> from England—that great event of the year—arrives, +keeping the place in a state of constant bustle and effervescence until autumn, +when ship and brigades finally depart, leaving the residents (about thirty in +number) shut up for eight long, dreary months of winter, with a tenantless +wilderness around and behind them, and the wide, cold frozen sea before. This +was among the first of Harry’s disappointments. He suffered many +afterwards, poor fellow! +</p> + +<p> +Neither shall we accompany Charley up the south branch of the Saskatchewan, +where his utmost expectations in the way of hunting were more than realised, +and where he became so accustomed to shooting ducks and geese, and bears and +buffaloes, that he could not forbear smiling when he chanced to meet with a +red-legged gull, and remembered how he and his friend Harry had comported +themselves when they first met with these birds on the shores of Lake Winnipeg! +We shall pass over all this, and the summer, autumn, and winter too, and leap +at once into the spring of the following year. +</p> + +<p> +On a very bright, cheery morning of that spring a canoe might have been seen +slowly ascending one of the numerous streams which meander through a +richly-wooded fertile country, and mingle their waters with those of the +Athabasca River, terminating their united career in a large lake of the same +name. The canoe was small—one of the kind used by the natives while +engaged in hunting, and capable of holding only two persons conveniently, with +their baggage. To any one unacquainted with the nature and capabilities of a +northern Indian canoe, the fragile, bright orange-coloured machine that was +battling with the strong current of a rapid must indeed have appeared an unsafe +and insignificant craft; but a more careful study of its performances in the +rapid, and of the immense quantity of miscellaneous goods and chattels which +were, at a later period of the day, disgorged from its interior, would have +convinced the beholder that it was in truth the most convenient and serviceable +craft that could be devised for the exigencies of such a country. +</p> + +<p> +True, it could only hold two men (it <i>might</i> have taken three at a pinch), +because men, and women too, are awkward, unyielding baggage, very difficult to +stow compactly; but it is otherwise with tractable goods. The canoe is +exceedingly thin, so that no space is taken up or rendered useless by its own +structure, and there is no end to the amount of blankets, and furs, and coats, +and paddles, and tent-covers, and dogs, and babies, that can be stowed away in +its capacious interior. The canoe of which we are now writing contained two +persons, whose active figures were thrown alternately into every graceful +attitude of manly vigour, as with poles in hand they struggled to force their +light craft against the boiling stream. One was a man apparently of about +forty-five years of age. He was a square-shouldered, muscular man, and from the +ruggedness of his general appearance, the soiled hunting-shirt that was +strapped round his waist with a party-coloured worsted belt, the leather +leggings, a good deal the worse for wear, together with the quiet, +self-possessed glance of his gray eye, the compressed lip and the sunburned +brow, it was evident that he was a hunter, and one who had seen rough work in +his day. The expression of his face was pleasing, despite a look of habitual +severity which sat upon it, and a deep scar which traversed his brow from the +right temple to the top of his nose. It was difficult to tell to what country +he belonged. His father was a Canadian, his mother a Scotchwoman. He was born +in Canada, brought up in one of the Yankee settlements on the Missouri, and +had, from a mere youth, spent his life as a hunter in the wilderness. He could +speak English, French, or Indian with equal ease and fluency, but it would have +been hard for anyone to say which of the three was his native tongue. The +younger man, who occupied the stern of the canoe, acting the part of steersman, +was quite a youth, apparently about seventeen, but tall and stout beyond his +years, and deeply sunburned. Indeed, were it not for this fact, the unusual +quantity of hair that hung in massive curls down his neck, and the voyageur +costume, we should have recognised our young friend Charley Kennedy again more +easily. Had any doubts remained in our mind, the shout of his merry voice would +have scattered them at once. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold hard, Jacques,” he cried, as the canoe trembled in the +current, “one moment, till I get my pole fixed behind this rock. Now, +then, shove ahead. Ah!” he exclaimed with chagrin, as the pole slipped on +the treacherous bottom and the canoe whirled round. +</p> + +<p> +“Mind the rock,” cried the bowsman, giving an energetic thrust with +his pole, that sent the light bark into an eddy formed by a large rock which +rose above the turbulent waters. Here it rested while Jacques and Charley +raised themselves on their knees (travellers in small canoes always sit in a +kneeling position) to survey the rapid. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s too much for us, I fear, Mr. Charles,” said Jacques, +shading his brow with his horny hand. “I’ve paddled up it many a +time alone, but never saw the water so big as now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph! we shall have to make a portage then, I presume. Could we not +give it one trial more? I think we might make a dash for the tail of that eddy, +and then the stream above seems not quite so strong. Do you think so, +Jacques?” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques was not the man to check a daring young spirit. His motto through life +had ever been, “Never venture, never win”—a sentiment which +his intercourse among fur-traders had taught him to embody in the pithy +expression, “Never say die;” so that, although quite satisfied that +the thing was impossible, he merely replied to his companion’s speech by +an assenting “Ho,” and pushed out again into the stream. An +energetic effort enabled them to gain the tail of the eddy spoken of, when +Charley’s pole snapped across, and, falling heavily on the gunwale, he +would have upset the little craft had not Jacques, whose wits were habitually +on the <i>qui vive</i>, thrown his own weight at the same moment on the +opposite side, and counterbalanced Charley’s slip. The action saved them +a ducking; but the canoe, being left to its own devices for an instant, whirled +off again into the stream, and before Charley could seize a paddle to prevent +it, they were floating in the still water at the foot of the rapids. +</p> + +<p> +“Now isn’t that a bore?” said Charley, with a comical look of +disappointment at his companion. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“It was well to <i>try</i>, master. I mind a young clerk who came into +these parts the same year as I did, and <i>he</i> seldom <i>tried</i> anything. +He couldn’t abide canoes. He didn’t want for courage neither; but +he had a nat’ral dislike to them, I suppose, that he couldn’t help, +and never entered one except when he was obliged to do so. Well, one day he +wounded a grizzly bear on the banks o’ the Saskatchewan (mind the tail +o’ that rapid, Mr. Charles; we’ll land t’other side o’ +yon rock). Well, the bear made after him, and he cut stick right away for the +river, where there was a canoe hauled up on the bank. He didn’t take time +to put his rifle aboard, but dropped it on the gravel, crammed the canoe into +the water and jumped in, almost driving his feet through its bottom as he did +so, and then plumped down so suddenly, to prevent its capsizing, that he split +it right across. By this time the bear was at his heels, and took the water +like a duck. The poor clerk, in his hurry, swayed from side to side +tryin’ to prevent the canoe goin’ over. But when he went to one +side, he was so unused to it that he went too far, and had to jerk over to the +other pretty sharp; and so he got worse and worse, until he heard the bear give +a great snort beside him. Then he grabbed the paddle in desperation, but at the +first dash he missed his stroke, and over he went. The current was pretty +strong at the place, which was lucky for him, for it kept him down a bit, so +that the bear didn’t observe him for a little; and while it was +pokin’ away at the canoe, he was carried down stream like a log and +stranded on a shallow. Jumping up he made tracks for the wood, and the bear +(which had found out its mistake), after him; so he was obliged at last to take +to a tree, where the beast watched him for a day and a night, till his friends, +thinking that something must be wrong, sent out to look for him. (Steady, now, +Mr. Charles; a little more to the right. That’s it.) Now, if that young +man had only ventured boldly into small canoes when he got the chance, he might +have laughed at the grizzly and killed him too.” +</p> + +<p> +As Jacques finished, the canoe glided into a quiet bay formed by an eddy of the +rapid, where the still water was overhung with dense foliage. +</p> + +<p> +“Is the portage a long one?” asked Charley, as he stepped out on +the bank, and helped to unload the canoe. +</p> + +<p> +“About half-a-mile,” replied his companion. “We might make it +shorter by poling up the last rapid; but it’s stiff work, Mr. Charles, +and we’ll do the thing quicker and easier at one lift.” +</p> + +<p> +The two travellers now proceeded to make a portage. They prepared to carry +their canoe and baggage overland, so as to avoid a succession of rapids and +waterfalls which intercepted their further progress. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Jacques, up with it,” said Charley, after the loading had +been taken out and placed on the grassy bank. +</p> + +<p> +The hunter stooped, and seizing the canoe by its centre bar, lifted it out of +the water, placed it on his shoulders, and walked off with it into the woods. +This was not accomplished by the man’s superior strength. Charley could +have done it quite as well; and, indeed, the strong hunter could have carried a +canoe twice the size with perfect ease. Immediately afterwards Charley followed +with as much of the lading as he could carry, leaving enough on the bank to +form another load. +</p> + +<p> +The banks of the river were steep—in some places so much so that Jacques +found it a matter of no small difficulty to climb over the broken rocks with +the unwieldy canoe on his back; the more so that the branches interlaced +overhead so thickly as to present a strong barrier, through which the canoe had +to be forced, at the risk of damaging its delicate bark covering. On reaching +the comparatively level land above, however, there was more open space, and the +hunter threaded his way among the tree stems more rapidly, making a detour +occasionally to avoid a swamp or piece of broken ground; sometimes descending a +deep gorge formed by a small tributary of the stream they were ascending, and +which to an unpractised eye would have appeared almost impassable, even without +the encumbrance of a canoe. But the said canoe never bore Jacques more +gallantly or safely over the surges of lake or stream than did he bear +<i>it</i> through the intricate mazes of the forest; now diving down and +disappearing altogether in the umbrageous foliage of a dell; anon reappearing +on the other side and scrambling up the bank on all-fours, he and the canoe +together looking like some frightful yellow reptile of antediluvian +proportions; and then speeding rapidly forward over a level plain until he +reached a sheet of still water above the rapids. Here he deposited his burden +on the grass, and halting only for a few seconds to carry a few drops of the +clear water to his lips, retraced his steps to bring over the remainder of the +baggage. Soon afterwards Charley made his appearance on the spot where the +canoe was left, and throwing down his load, seated himself on it and surveyed +the prospect. Before him lay a reach of the stream which spread out so widely +as to resemble a small lake, in whose clear, still bosom were reflected the +overhanging foliage of graceful willows, and here and there the bright stem of +a silver birch, whose light-green leaves contrasted well with scattered groups +and solitary specimens of the spruce fir. Reeds and sedges grew in the water +along the banks, rendering the junction of the land and the stream uncertain +and confused. All this and a great deal more Charley noted at a glance; for the +hundreds of beautiful and interesting objects in nature which take so long to +describe even partially, and are feebly set forth after all even by the most +graphic language, flash upon the eye in all their force and beauty, and are +drunk in at once in a single glance. +</p> + +<p> +But Charley noted several objects floating on the water which we have not yet +mentioned. These were five gray geese feeding among the rocks at a considerable +distance off, and all unconscious of the presence of a human foe in their +remote domains. The travellers had trusted very much to their guns and nets for +food, having only a small quantity of pemmican in reserve, lest these should +fail—an event which was not at all likely, as the country through which +they passed was teeming with wild-fowl of all kinds, besides deer. These +latter, however, were only shot when they came inadvertently within rifle +range, as our voyageurs had a definite object in view, and could not afford to +devote much of their time to the chase. +</p> + +<p> +During the day previous to that on which we have introduced them to our +readers, Charley and his companion had been so much occupied in navigating +their frail bark among a succession of rapids, that they had not attended to +the replenishing of their larder, so that the geese which now showed themselves +were looked upon by Charley with a longing eye. Unfortunately they were feeding +on the opposite side of the river, and out of shot. But Charley was a hunter +now, and knew how to overcome slight difficulties. He first cut down a pretty +large and leafy branch of a tree, and placed it in the bow of the canoe in such +a way as to hang down before it and form a perfect screen, through the +interstices of which he could see the geese, while they could only see, what +was to them no novelty, the branch of a tree floating down the stream. Having +gently launched the canoe, Charley was soon close to the unsuspecting birds, +from among which he selected one that appeared to be unusually complacent and +self-satisfied, concluding at once, with an amount of wisdom that bespoke him a +true philosopher, that such <i>must</i> as a matter of course be the fattest. +</p> + +<p> +“Bang” went the gun, and immediately the sleek goose turned round +upon its back and stretched out its feet towards the sky, waving them once or +twice as if bidding adieu to its friends. The others thereupon took to flight, +with such a deal of sputter and noise as made it quite apparent that their +astonishment was unfeigned. Bang went the gun again, and down fell a second +goose. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha!” exclaimed Jacques, throwing down the remainder of the cargo +as Charley landed with his booty, “that’s well. I was just thinking +as I comed across that we should have to take to pemmican to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Jacques, and if we had, I’m sure an old hunter like you, who +have roughed it so often, need not complain,” said Charley, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“As to that, master,” replied Jacques, “I’ve roughed it +often enough; and when it does come to a clear fix, I can eat my shoes without +grumblin’ as well as any man. But, you see, fresh meat is better than +dried meat when it’s to be had; and so I’m glad to see that +you’ve been lucky, Mr. Charles.” +</p> + +<p> +“To say truth, so am I; and these fellows are delightfully plump. But you +spoke of eating your shoes, Jacques. When were you reduced to that direful +extremity?” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques finished reloading the canoe while they conversed, and the two were +seated in their places, and quietly but swiftly ascending the stream again, ere +the hunter replied. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve heerd of Sir John Franklin, I s’pose?” he +inquired, after a minute’s consideration. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, often.” +</p> + +<p> +“An’ p’r’aps you’ve heerd tell of his first trip +of discovery along the shores of the Polar Sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you refer to the time when he was nearly starved to death, and when +poor Hood was shot by the Indian?” +</p> + +<p> +“The same,” said Jacques. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes; I know all about that. Were you with them?” inquired +Charley, in great surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no—not exactly <i>on</i> the trip; but I was sent in winter +with provisions to them—and much need they had of them, poor fellows! I +found them tearing away at some old parchment skins that had lain under the +snow all winter, and that an Injin’s dog would ha’ turned up his +nose at—and they don’t turn up their snouts at many things, I can +tell ye. Well, after we had left all our provisions with them, we started for +the fort again, just keepin’ as much as would drive off starvation; for, +you see, we thought that surely we would git something on the road. But neither +hoof nor feather did we see all the way (I was travellin’ with an Injin), +and our grub was soon done, though we saved it up, and only took a mouthful or +two the last three days. At last it was done, and we was pretty well used up, +and the fort two days ahead of us. So says I to my comrade—who had been +looking at me for some time as if he thought that a cut off my shoulder +wouldn’t be a bad thing—says I, ‘Nipitabo, I’m afeard +the shoes must go for it now;’ so with that I pulls out a pair o’ +deerskin moccasins. ‘They looks tender,’ said I, trying to be +cheerful. ‘Wah!’ said the Injin; and then I held them over the fire +till they was done black, and Nipitabo ate one, and I ate the tother, with a +lump o’ snow to wash it down!” +</p> + +<p> +“It must have been rather dry eating,” said Charley, laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“Rayther; but it was better than the Injin’s leather breeches, +which we took in hand next day. They was <i>uncommon</i> tough, and very dirty, +havin’ been worn about a year and a half. Hows’ever, they kept us +up; an’ as we only ate the legs, he had the benefit o’ the stump to +arrive with at the fort next day.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s yon ahead?” exclaimed Charley, pausing as he spoke, +and shading his eyes with his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s uncommon like trees,” said Jacques. “It’s +likely a tree that’s been tumbled across the river; and from its +appearance, I think we’ll have to cut through it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cut through it!” exclaimed Charley; “if my sight is worth a +gun-flint, we’ll have to cut through a dozen trees.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley was right. The river ahead of them became rapidly narrower; and either +from the looseness of the surrounding soil, or the passing of a whirlwind, +dozens of trees had been upset, and lay right across the narrow stream in +terrible confusion. What made the thing worse was that the banks on either +side, which were low and flat, were covered with such a dense thicket down to +the water’s edge, that the idea of making a portage to overcome the +barrier seemed altogether hopeless. +</p> + +<p> +“Here’s a pretty business, to be sure!” cried Charley, in +great disgust. +</p> + +<p> +“Never say die, Mister Charles,” replied Jacques, taking up the axe +from the bottom of the canoe; “it’s quite clear that cuttin’ +through the trees is easier than cuttin’ through the bushes, so here +goes.” +</p> + +<p> +For fully three hours the travellers were engaged in cutting their way up the +encumbered stream, during which time they did not advance three miles; and it +was evening ere they broke down the last barrier and paddled out into a sheet +of clear water again. +</p> + +<p> +“That’ll prepare us for the geese, Jacques,” said Charley, as +he wiped the perspiration from his brow; “there’s nothing like warm +work for whetting the appetite, and making one sleep soundly.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s true,” replied the hunter, resuming his paddle. +“I often wonder how them white-faced fellows in the settlements manage to +keep body and soul together—a-sittin’, as they do, all day in the +house, and a-lyin’ all night in a feather bed. For my part, rather than +live as they do, I would cut my way up streams like them we’ve just +passed every day and all day, and sleep on top of a flat rock o’ nights, +under the blue sky, all my life through.” +</p> + +<p> +With this decided expression of his sentiments, the stout hunter steered the +canoe up alongside of a huge flat rock, as if he were bent on giving a +practical illustration of the latter part of his speech then and there. +</p> + +<p> +“We’d better camp now, Mister Charles; there’s a portage +o’ two miles here, and it’ll take us till sundown to get the canoe +and things over.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be it so,” said Charley, landing. “Is there a good place at +the other end to camp on?” +</p> + +<p> +“First-rate. It’s smooth as a blanket on the turf, and a clear +spring bubbling at the root of a wide tree that would keep off the rain if it +was to come down like water-spouts.” +</p> + +<p> +The spot on which the travellers encamped that evening overlooked one of those +scenes in which vast extent, and rich, soft variety of natural objects, were +united with much that was grand and savage. It filled the mind with the calm +satisfaction that is experienced when one gazes on the wide lawns studded with +noble trees; the spreading fields of waving grain that mingle with stream and +copse, rock and dell, vineyard and garden, of the cultivated lands of civilized +men; while it produced that exulting throb of freedom which stirs man’s +heart to its centre, when he casts a first glance over miles and miles of broad +lands that are yet unowned, unclaimed; that yet lie in the unmutilated beauty +with which the beneficent Creator originally clothed them—far away from +the well-known scenes of man’s checkered history; entirely devoid of +those ancient monuments of man’s power and skill that carry the mind back +with feelings of awe to bygone ages, yet stamped with evidences of an antiquity +more ancient still in the wild primeval forests, and the noble trees that have +sprouted, and spread, and towered in their strength for centuries—trees +that have fallen at their posts, while others took their place, and rose and +fell as they did, like long-lived sentinels whose duty it was to keep perpetual +guard over the vast solitudes of the great American Wilderness. +</p> + +<p> +The fire was lighted, and the canoe turned bottom up in front of it, under the +branches of a spreading tree which stood on an eminence, whence was obtained a +bird’s-eye view of the noble scene. It was a flat valley, on either side +of which rose two ranges of hills, which were clothed to the top with trees of +various kinds, the plain of the valley itself being dotted with clumps of wood, +among which the fresh green foliage of the plane tree and the silver-stemmed +birch were conspicuous, giving an airy lightness to the scene and enhancing the +picturesque effect of the dark pines. A small stream could be traced winding +out and in among clumps of willows, reflecting their drooping boughs and the +more sombre branches of the spruce fir and the straight larch, with which in +many places its banks were shaded. Here and there were stretches of clearer +ground where the green herbage of spring gave to it a lawn-like appearance, and +the whole magnificent scene was bounded by blue hills that became fainter as +they receded from the eye and mingled at last with the horizon. The sun had +just set, and a rich glow of red bathed the whole scene, which was further +enlivened by flocks of wild-fowls and herds of reindeer. +</p> + +<p> +These last soon drew Charley’s attention from the contemplation of the +scenery, and observing a deer feeding in an open space, towards which he could +approach without coming between it and the wind, he ran for his gun and hurried +into the woods while Jacques busied himself in arranging their blankets under +the upturned canoe, and in preparing supper. +</p> + +<p> +Charley discovered soon after starting, what all hunters discover sooner or +later—namely, that appearances are deceitful; for he no sooner reached +the foot of the hill than he found, between him and the lawn-like country, an +almost impenetrable thicket of underwood. Our young hero, however, was of that +disposition which sticks at nothing, and instead of taking time to search for +an opening, he took a race and sprang into the middle of it, in hopes of +forcing his way through. His hopes were not disappointed. He got +through—quite through—and alighted up to the armpits in a swamp, to +the infinite consternation of a flock of teal ducks that were slumbering +peacefully there with their heads under their wings, and had evidently gone to +bed for the night. Fortunately he held his gun above the water and kept his +balance, so that he was able to proceed with a dry charge, though with an +uncommonly wet skin. Half-an-hour brought Charley within range, and watching +patiently until the animal presented his side towards the place of his +concealment, he fired and shot it through the heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, Mister Charles,” exclaimed Jacques, as the former +staggered into camp with the reindeer on his shoulders. “A fat doe, +too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” said Charley; “but she has cost me a wet skin. So pray, +Jacques, rouse up the fire, and let’s have supper as soon as you +can.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques speedily skinned the deer, cut a couple of steaks from its flank, and +placing them on wooden spikes, stuck them up to roast, while his young friend +put on a dry shirt, and hung his coat before the blaze. The goose which had +been shot earlier in the day was also plucked, split open, impaled in the same +manner as the steaks, and set up to roast. By this time the shadows of night +had deepened, and ere long all was shrouded in gloom, except the circle of +ruddy light around the camp fire, in the centre of which Jacques and Charley +sat, with the canoe at their backs, knives in their hands, and the two spits, +on the top of which smoked their ample supper, planted in the ground before +them. +</p> + +<p> +One by one the stars went out, until none were visible except the bright, +beautiful morning star, as it rose higher and higher in the eastern sky. One by +one the owls and the wolves, ill-omened birds and beasts of night, retired to +rest in the dark recesses of the forest. Little by little, the gray dawn +overspread the sky, and paled the lustre of the morning star, until it faded +away altogether; and then Jacques awoke with a start, and throwing out his arm, +brought it accidentally into violent contact with Charley’s nose. +</p> + +<p> +This caused Charley to awake, not only with a start, but also with a roar, +which brought them both suddenly into a sitting posture, in which they +continued for some time in a state between sleeping and waking, their faces +meanwhile expressive of mingled imbecility and extreme surprise. Bursting into +a simultaneous laugh, which degenerated into a loud yawn, they sprang up, +launched and reloaded their canoe, and resumed their journey. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Indian camp—The new outpost—Charley sent on a mission to the +Indians. +</p> + +<p> +In the councils of the fur-traders, on the spring previous to that about which +we are now writing, it had been decided to extend their operations a little in +the lands that lie in central America, to the north of the Saskatchewan River; +and in furtherance of that object, it had been intimated to the chief trader in +charge of the district that an expedition should be set on foot, having for its +object the examination of a territory into which they had not yet penetrated, +and the establishment of an outpost therein. It was, furthermore, ordered that +operations should be commenced at once, and that the choice of men to carry out +the end in view was graciously left to the chief trader’s well-known +sagacity. +</p> + +<p> +Upon receiving this communication, the chief trader selected a gentleman named +Mr. Whyte to lead the party; gave him a clerk and five men, provided him with a +boat and a large supply of goods necessary for trade, implements requisite for +building an establishment, and sent him off with a hearty shake of the hand and +a recommendation to “go and prosper.” +</p> + +<p> +Charles Kennedy spent part of the previous year at Rocky Mountain House, where +he had shown so much energy in conducting the trade, especially what he called +the “rough and tumble” part of it, that he was selected as the +clerk to accompany Mr. Whyte to his new ground. After proceeding up many +rivers, whose waters had seldom borne the craft of white men, and across +innumerable lakes, the party reached a spot that presented so inviting an +aspect that it was resolved to pitch their tent there for a time, and, if +things in the way of trade and provision looked favourable, establish +themselves altogether. The place was situated on the margin of a large lake, +whose shores were covered with the most luxuriant verdure, and whose waters +teemed with the finest fish, while the air was alive with wild-fowl, and the +woods swarming with game. Here Mr. Whyte rested awhile; and having found +everything to his satisfaction, he took his axe, selected a green lawn that +commanded an extensive view of the lake, and going up to a tall larch, struck +the steel into it, and thus put the first touch to an establishment which +afterwards went by the name of Stoney Creek. +</p> + +<p> +A solitary Indian, whom they had met with on the way to their new home, had +informed them that a large band of Knisteneux had lately migrated to a river +about four days’ journey beyond the lake at which they halted; and when +the new fort was just beginning to spring up, our friend Charley and the +interpreter, Jacques Caradoc, were ordered by Mr. Whyte to make a canoe, and +then, embarking in it, to proceed to the Indian camp, to inform the natives of +their rare good luck in having a band of white men come to settle near their +lands to trade with them. The interpreter and Charley soon found birch bark, +pine roots for sewing it, and gum for plastering the seams, wherewith they +constructed the light machine whose progress we have partly traced in the last +chapter, and which, on the following day at sunset, carried them to their +journey’s end. +</p> + +<p> +From some remarks made by the Indian who gave them information of the camp, +Charley gathered that it was the tribe to which Redfeather belonged, and +furthermore that Redfeather himself was there at the time; so that it was with +feelings of no little interest that he saw the tops of the yellow tents +embedded among the green trees, and soon afterwards beheld them and their +picturesque owners reflected in the clear river, on whose banks the natives +crowded to witness the arrival of the white men. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the greensward, and under the umbrageous shade of the forest trees, the +tents were pitched to the number of perhaps eighteen or twenty, and the whole +population, of whom very few were absent on the present occasion, might number +a hundred—men, women, and children. They were dressed in habiliments +formed chiefly of materials procured by themselves in the chase, but ornamented +with cloth, beads, and silk thread, which showed that they had had intercourse +with the fur-traders before now. The men wore leggings of deerskin, which +reached more than half-way up the thigh, and were fastened to a leathern girdle +strapped round the waist. A loose tunic or hunting-shirt of the same material +covered the figure from the shoulders almost to the knees, and was confined +round the middle by a belt—in some cases of worsted, in others of leather +gaily ornamented with quills. Caps of various indescribable shapes, and made +chiefly of skin, with the animal’s tail left on by way of ornament, +covered their heads, and moccasins for the feet completed their costume. These +last may be simply described as leather mittens for the feet, without fingers, +or rather toes. They were gaudily ornamented, as was almost every portion of +costume, with porcupines’ quills dyed with brilliant colours, and worked +into fanciful, and in many cases extremely elegant, figures and designs; for +North American Indians oftentimes display an amount of taste in the harmonious +arrangement of colour that would astonish those who fancy that <i>education</i> +is absolutely necessary to the just appreciation of the beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +The women attired themselves in leggings and coats differing little from those +of the men, except that the latter were longer, the sleeves detached from the +body, and fastened on separately; while on their heads they wore caps, which +hung down and covered their backs to the waist. These caps were of the simplest +construction, being pieces of cloth cut into an oblong shape, and sewed +together at one end. They were, however, richly ornamented with silk-work and +beads. +</p> + +<p> +On landing, Charley and Jacques walked up to a tall, good-looking Indian, whom +they judged from his demeanour, and the somewhat deferential regard paid to him +by the others, to be one of the chief men of the little community. +</p> + +<p> +“Ho! what cheer?” said Jacques, taking him by the hand after the +manner of Europeans, and accosting him with the phrase used by the fur-traders +to the natives. The Indian returned the compliment in kind, and led the +visitors to his tent, where he spread a buffalo robe for them on the ground, +and begged them to be seated. A repast of dried meat and reindeer-tongues was +then served, to which our friends did ample justice; while the women and +children satisfied their curiosity by peering at them through chinks and holes +in the tent. When they had finished, several of the principal men assembled, +and the chief who had entertained them made a speech, to the effect that he was +much gratified by the honour done to his people by the visit of his white +brothers; that he hoped they would continue long at the camp to enjoy their +hospitality; and that he would be glad to know what had brought them so far +into the country of the red men. +</p> + +<p> +During the course of this speech the chief made eloquent allusion to all the +good qualities supposed to belong to white men in general, and (he had no +doubt) to the two white men before him in particular. He also boasted +considerably of the prowess and bravery of himself and his tribe, launched a +few sarcastic hits at his enemies, and wound up with a poetical hope that his +guests might live for ever in these beautiful plains of bliss, where the sun +never sets, and nothing goes wrong anywhere, and everything goes right at all +times, and where, especially, the deer are outrageously fat, and always come +out on purpose to be shot! During the course of these remarks his comrades +signified their hearty concurrence to his sentiments, by giving vent to sundry +low-toned “hums!” and “has!” and “wahs!” +and “hos!” according to circumstances. After it was over Jacques +rose, and addressing them in their own language, said,— +</p> + +<p> +“My Indian brethren are great. They are brave, and their fame has +travelled far. Their deeds are known even so far as where the Great Salt Lake +beats on the shore where the sun rises. They are not women, and when their +enemies hear the sound of their name they grow pale; their hearts become like +those of the reindeer. My brethren are famous, too, in the use of the +snow-shoe, the snare, and the gun. The fur-traders know that they must build +large stores when they come into their lands. They bring up much goods, because +the young men are active, and require much. The silver fox and the marten are +no longer safe when their traps and snares are set. Yes, they are good hunters: +and we have now come to live among you” (Jacques changed his style as he +came nearer to the point), “to trade with you, and to save you the +trouble of making long journeys with your skins. A few days’ distance +from your wigwams we have pitched our tents. Our young men are even now felling +the trees to build a house. Our nets are set, our hunters are prowling in the +woods, our goods are ready, and my young master and I have come to smoke the +pipe of friendship with you, and to invite you to come to trade with us.” +</p> + +<p> +Having delivered this oration, Jacques sat down amid deep silence. Other +speeches, of a highly satisfactory character, were then made, after which +“the house adjourned,” and the visitors, opening one of their +packages, distributed a variety of presents to the delighted natives. +</p> + +<p> +Several times during the course of these proceedings, Charley’s eyes +wandered among the faces of his entertainers, in the hope of seeing Redfeather +among them, but without success; and he began to fear that his friend was not +with the tribe. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Jacques,” he said, as they left the tent, “ask +whether a chief called Redfeather is here. I knew him of old, and half expected +to find him at this place.” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian to whom Jacques put the question replied that Redfeather was with +them, but that he had gone out on a hunting expedition that morning, and might +be absent a day or two. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Charley, “I’m glad he’s here. +Come, now, let us take a walk in the wood; these good people stare at us as if +we were ghosts.” And taking Jacques’s arm, he led him beyond the +circuit of the camp, turned into a path which, winding among the thick +underwood, speedily screened them from view, and led them into a sequestered +glade, through which a rivulet trickled along its course, almost hid from view +by the dense foliage and long grasses that overhung it. +</p> + +<p> +“What a delightful place to live in!” said Charley. “Do you +ever think of building a hut in such a spot as this, Jacques, and settling down +altogether?” Charley’s thoughts reverted to his sister Kate when he +said this. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no,” replied Jacques, in a pensive tone, as if the question +had aroused some sorrowful recollections; “I can’t say that +I’d like to settle here <i>now</i>. There was a time when I thought +nothin’ could be better than to squat in the woods with one or two jolly +comrades, and—” (Jacques sighed); “but times is changed now, +master, and so is my mind. My chums are most of them dead or gone one way or +other. No; I shouldn’t care to squat alone.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley thought of the hut <i>without</i> Kate, and it seemed so desolate and +dreary a dwelling, notwithstanding its beautiful situation, that he agreed with +his companion that to “squat” <i>alone</i> would never do at all. +</p> + +<p> +“No, man was not made to live alone,” continued Jacques, pursuing +the subject; “even the Injins draw together. I never knew but one as +didn’t like his fellows, and he’s gone now, poor fellow. He cut his +foot with an axe one day, while fellin’ a tree. It was a bad cut; and +havin’ nobody to look after him, he half bled and half starved to +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“By the way, Jacques,” said Charley, stepping over the clear brook, +and following the track which led up the opposite bank, “what did you say +to those red-skins? You made them a most eloquent speech apparently.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, as to that, I can’t boast much of its eloquence, but I think +it was clear enough. I told them that they were a great nation; for you see, +Mr. Charles, the red men are just like the white in their fondness for butter; +so I gave them some to begin with, though, for the matter o’ that, +I’m not overly fond o’ givin’ butter to any man, red or +white. But I holds that it’s as well always to fall in with the ways and +customs o’ the people a man happens to be among, so long as them ways and +customs a’n’t contrary to what’s right. It makes them feel +more kindly to you, and don’t raise any onnecessary ill-will. However, +the Knisteneux <i>are</i> a brave race; and when I told them that the hearts of +their enemies trembled when they heard of them, I told nothing but the truth; +for the Chipewyans are a miserable set, and not much given to fighting.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your principles on that point won’t stand much sifting, I +fear,” replied Charley: “according to your own showing, you would +fall into the Chipewyan’s way of glorifying themselves on account of +their bravery, if you chanced to be dwelling among them, and yet you say they +are not brave. That would not be sticking to truth, Jacques, would it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” replied Jacques with a smile, “perhaps not exactly, +but I’m sure there could be small harm in helping the miserable objects +to boast sometimes, for they’ve little else than boasting to comfort +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet, Jacques, I cannot help feeling that truth is a grand, a +glorious thing, that should not be trifled with even in small matters.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques opened his eyes a little. “Then do you think, master, that a man +should <i>never</i> tell a lie, no matter what fix he may be in?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not, Jacques.” +</p> + +<p> +The hunter paused a few minutes, and looked as if an unusual train of ideas had +been raised in his mind by the turn their conversation had taken. Jacques was a +man of no religion, and little morality, beyond what flowed from a naturally +kind, candid disposition, and entertained the belief that the <i>end</i>, if a +good one, always justifies the <i>means</i>—a doctrine which, had it been +clearly exposed to him in all its bearings and results, would have been spurned +by his straightforward nature with the indignant contempt that it merits. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Charles,” he said at length, “I once travelled across +the plains to the head waters of the Missouri with a party of six trappers. One +night we came to a part of the plains which was very much broken up with wood +here and there, and bein’ a good place for water we camped. While the +other lads were gettin’ ready the supper, I started off to look for a +deer, as we had been unlucky that day—we had shot nothin’. Well, +about three miles from the camp I came upon a band o’ somewhere about +thirty Sieux (ill-looking, sneaking dogs they are, too!), and before I could +whistle they rushed upon me, took away my rifle and hunting-knife, and were +dancing round me like so many devils. At last a big black-lookin’ thief +stepped forward, and said in the Cree language, ‘White men seldom travel +through this country alone; where are your comrades?’ Now, thought I, +here’s a nice fix! If I pretend not to understand, they’ll send out +parties in all directions, and as sure as fate they’ll find my companions +in half-an-hour, and butcher them in cold blood (for, you see, we did not +expect to find Sieux, or indeed any Injins, in them parts); so I made believe +to be very narvous, and tried to tremble all over and look pale. Did you ever +try to look pale and frighttened, Mr. Charles?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t say that I ever did,” said Charley, laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“You can’t think how troublesome it is,” continued Jacques, +with a look of earnest simplicity. “I shook and trembled pretty well, but +the more I tried to grow pale, the more I grew red in the face, and when I +thought of the six broad-shouldered, raw-boned lads in the camp, and how easy +they would have made these jumping villains fly like chaff if they only knew +the fix I was in, I gave a frown that had well-nigh showed I was shamming. +Hows’ever, what with shakin’ a little more and givin’ one or +two most awful groans, I managed to deceive them. Then I said I was hunter to a +party of white men that were travellin’ from Red River to St. Louis, with +all their goods, and wives, and children, and that they were away in the plains +about a league off. +</p> + +<p> +“The big chap looked very hard into my face when I said this, to see if I +was telling the truth; and I tried to make my teeth chatter, but it +wouldn’t do, so I took to groanin’ very bad instead. But them Sieux +are such awful liars nat’rally that they couldn’t understand the +signs of truth, even if they saw them. ‘Whitefaced coward,’ said he +to me, ‘tell me in what direction your people are.’ At this I made +believe not to understand; but the big chap flourished his knife before my +face, called me a dog, and told me to point out the direction. I looked as +simple as I could and said I would rather not. At this they laughed loudly and +then gave a yell, and said if I didn’t show them the direction they would +roast me alive. So I pointed towards apart of the plains pretty wide o’ +the spot where our camp was. ‘Now lead us to them,’ said the big +chap, givin’ me a shove with the butt of his gun; ‘an’ if you +have told lies—‘he gave the handle of his scalpin’-knife a +slap, as much as to say he’d tickle up my liver with it. Well, away we +went in silence, me thinkin’ all the time how I was to get out o’ +the scrape. I led them pretty close past our camp, hopin’ that the lads +would hear us. I didn’t dare to yell out, as that would have showed them +there was somebody within hearin’, and they would have made short work of +me. Just as we came near the place where my companions lay, a prairie wolf +sprang out from under a bush where it had been sleepin’, so I gave a loud +hurrah, and shied my cap at it. Giving a loud growl, the big Injin hit me over +the head with his fist, and told me to keep silence. In a few minutes I heard +the low, distant howl of a wolf. I recognised the voice of one of my comrades, +and knew that they had seen us, and would be on our track soon. Watchin’ +my opportunity, and walkin’ for a good bit as if I was awful +tired—all but done up—to throw them off their guard, I suddenly +tripped up the big chap as he was stepping over a small brook, and dived in +among the bushes. In a moment a dozen bullets tore up the bark on the trees +about me, and an arrow passed through my hair. The clump of wood into which I +had dived was about half-a-mile long; and as I could run well (I’ve found +in my experience that white men are more than a match for red-skins at their +own work), I was almost out of range by the time I was forced to quit the cover +and take to the plain. When the blackguards got out of the cover, too, and saw +me cuttin’ ahead like a deer, they gave a yell of disappointment, and +sent another shower of arrows and bullets after me, some of which came nearer +than was pleasant. I then headed for our camp with the whole pack +screechin’ at my heels. ‘Yell away, you stupid sinners,’ +thought I; ‘some of you shall pay for your music.’ At that moment +an arrow grazed my shoulder, and looking over it, I saw that the black fellow I +had pitched into the water was far ahead of the rest, strainin’ after me +like mad, and every now and then stopping to try an arrow on me; so I kept a +look-out, and when I saw him stop to draw, I stopped too, and dodged, so the +arrows passed me, and then we took to our heels again. In this way I ran for +dear life till I came up to the cover. As I came close up I saw our six fellows +crouchin’ in the bushes, and one o’ them takin’ aim almost +straight for my face. ‘Your day’s come at last,’ thought I, +looking over my shoulder at the big Injin, who was drawing his bow again. Just +then there was a sharp crack heard; a bullet whistled past my ear, and the big +fellow fell like a stone, while my comrade stood coolly up to reload his rifle. +The Injins, on seein’ this, pulled up in a moment; and our lads stepping +forward, delivered a volley that made three more o’ them bite the dust. +There would have been six in that fix, but, somehow or other, three of us +pitched upon the same man, who was afterwards found with a bullet in each eye, +and one through his heart. They didn’t wait for more, but turned about +and bolted like the wind. Now, Mr. Charles, if I had told the truth that time, +we would have been all killed; and if I had simply said nothin’ to their +questions, they would have sent out to scour the country, and have found out +the camp for sartin, so that the only way to escape was by tellin’ them a +heap o’ downright lies.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley looked very much perplexed at this. +</p> + +<p> +“You have indeed placed me in a difficulty. I know not what I would have +done. I don’t know even what I <i>ought to do</i> under these +circumstances. Difficulties may perplex me, and the force of circumstances +might tempt me to do what I believed to be wrong. I am a sinner, Jacques, like +other mortals, I know; but one thing I am quite sure of—namely, that when +men speak it should <i>always</i> be truth and <i>never</i> falsehood.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques looked perplexed too. He was strongly impressed with the necessity of +telling falsehoods in the circumstances in which he had been placed, as just +related, while at the same time he felt deeply the grandeur and the power of +Charley’s last remark. +</p> + +<p> +“I should have been under the sod <i>now</i>,” said he, “if I +had not told a lie <i>then</i>. Is it better to die than to speak +falsehood?” +</p> + +<p> +“Some men have thought so,” replied Charley. “I acknowledge +the difficulty of <i>your</i> case and of all similar cases. I don’t know +what should be done, but I have read of a minister of the gospel whose people +were very wicked and would not attend to his instructions, although they could +not but respect himself, he was so consistent and Christianlike in his conduct. +Persecution arose in the country where he lived, and men and women were cruelly +murdered because of their religious belief. For a long time he was left +unmolested, but one day a band of soldiers came to his house, and asked him +whether he was a Papist or a Protestant (Papist, Jacques, being a man who has +sold his liberty in religious matters to the Pope, and a Protestant being one +who protests against such an ineffably silly and unmanly state of slavery). +Well, his people urged the good old man to say he was a Papist, telling him +that he would then be spared to live among them, and preach the true faith for +many years perhaps. Now, if there was one thing that this old man would have +toiled for and died for, it was that his people should become true +Christians—and he told them so; ‘but,’ he added, ‘I +will not tell a lie to accomplish that end, my children—no, not even to +save my life.’ So he told the soldiers that he was a Protestant, and +immediately they carried him away, and he was soon afterwards burned to +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Jacques, “<i>he</i> didn’t gain much by +sticking to the truth, I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not so sure of <i>that</i>. The story goes on to say that he +<i>rejoiced</i> that he had done so, and wouldn’t draw back even when he +was in the flames. But the point lies here, Jacques: so deep an impression did +the old man’s conduct make on his people, that from that day forward they +were noted for their Christian life and conduct. They brought up their children +with a deeper reverence for the truth than they would otherwise have done, +always bearing in affectionate remembrance, and holding up to them as an +example, the unflinching truthfulness of the good old man who was burned in the +year of the terrible persecutions; and at last their influence and example had +such an effect that the Protestant religion spread like wild-fire, far and wide +around them, so that the very thing was accomplished for which the old pastor +said he would have died—accomplished, too, very much in consequence of +his death, and in a way and to an extent that very likely would not have been +the case had he lived and preached among them for a hundred years.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t understand it, nohow,” said Jacques; “it seems +to me right both ways and wrong both ways, and all upside down every +how.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley smiled. “Your remark is about as clear as my head on the subject, +Jacques; but I still remain convinced that truth is <i>right</i> and that +falsehood is <i>wrong</i>, and that we should stick to the first through thick +and thin.” +</p> + +<p> +“I s’pose,” remarked the hunter, who had walked along in deep +cogitation, for the last five minutes, and had apparently come to some +conclusion of profound depth and sagacity—“I s’pose that +it’s all human natur’; that some men takes to preachin’ as +Injins take to huntin’, and that to understand sich things requires them +to begin young,’ and risk their lives in it, as I would in +followin’ up a grizzly she-bear with cubs.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yonder is an illustration of one part of your remark. They begin +<i>young</i> enough, anyhow,” said Charley, pointing as he spoke to an +opening in the bushes, where a particularly small Indian boy stood in the act +of discharging an arrow. +</p> + +<p> +The two men halted to watch his movements. According to a common custom among +juvenile Indians during the warm months of the year, he was dressed in +<i>nothing</i> save a mere rag tied round his waist. His body was very brown, +extremely round, fat, and wonderfully diminutive, while his little legs and +arms were disproportionately small. He was so young as to be barely able to +walk, and yet there he stood, his black eyes glittering with excitement, his +tiny bow bent to its utmost, and a blunt-headed arrow about to be discharged at +a squirrel, whose flight had been suddenly arrested by the unexpected +apparition of Charley and Jacques. As he stood there for a single instant, +perfectly motionless, he might have been mistaken for a grotesque statue of an +Indian cupid. Taking advantage of the squirrel’s pause the child let fly +the arrow, hit it exactly on the point of the nose, and turned it over, +dead—a consummation which he greeted with a rapid succession of frightful +yells. +</p> + +<p> +“Cleverly done, my lad; you’re a chip of the old block, I +see,” said Jacques, patting the child’s head as he passed, and +retraced his steps, with Charley, to the Indian camp. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The feast—Charley makes his first speech in public, and meets with an old +friend—An evening in the grass. +</p> + +<p> +Savages, not less than civilized men, are fond of a good dinner. In saying +this, we do not expect our reader to be overwhelmed with astonishment. He might +have guessed as much; but when we state that savages, upon particular +occasions, eat six dinners in one, and make it a point of honour to do so, we +apprehend that we have thrown a slightly new light on an old subject. Doubtless +there are men in civilised society who would do likewise if they could; but +they cannot, fortunately, as great gastronomic powers are dependent on severe, +healthful, and prolonged physical exertion. Therefore it is that in England we +find men capable only of eating about two dinners at once, and suffering a good +deal for it afterwards; while in the backwoods we see men consume a +week’s dinners in one, without any evil consequences following the act. +</p> + +<p> +The feast which was given by the Knisteneux in honour of the visit of our two +friends was provided on a more moderate scale than usual, in order to +accommodate the capacities of the “white men;” three days’ +allowance being cooked for each man. (Women are never admitted to the public +feasts.) On the day preceding the ceremony, Charley and Jacques had received +cards of invitation from the principal chief in the shape of two quills; +similar invites being issued at the same time to all the braves. Jacques being +accustomed to the doings of the Indians, and aware of the fact that whatever +was provided for each man <i>must</i> be eaten before he quitted the scene of +operations, advised Charley to eat no breakfast, and to take a good walk as a +preparative. Charley had strong faith, however, in his digestive powers, and +felt much inclined, when morning came, to satisfy the cravings of his appetite +as usual; but Jacques drew such a graphic picture of the work that lay before +him, that he forbore to urge the matter, and went off to walk with a light +step, and an uncomfortable feeling of vacuity about the region of the stomach. +</p> + +<p> +About noon, the chiefs and braves assembled in an open enclosure situated in an +exposed place on the banks of the river, where the proceedings were watched by +the women, children, and dogs. The oldest chief sat himself down on the turf at +one end of the enclosure, with Jacques Caradoc on his right hand, and next to +him Charley Kennedy, who had ornamented himself with a blue stripe painted down +the middle of his nose, and a red bar across his chin. Charley’s +propensity for fun had led him thus to decorate his face, in spite of his +companion’s remonstrances,—urging, by way of excuse, that +worthy’s former argument, “that it was well to fall in with the +ways o’ the people a man happened to be among, so long as these ways and +customs were not contrary to what was right.” Now Charley was sure there +was nothing wrong in his painting his nose sky blue, if he thought fit. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques thought it was absurd, and entertained the opinion that it would be +more dignified to leave his face “its nat’ral colour.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley didn’t agree with him at all. He thought it would be paying the +Indians a high compliment to follow their customs as far as possible, and said +that, after all, his blue nose would not be very conspicuous, as he (Jacques) +had told him that he would “look blue” at any rate when he saw the +quantity of deer’s meat he should have to devour. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques laughed at this, but suggested that the bar across his chin was +<i>red</i>. Whereupon Charley said that he could easily neutralise that by +putting a green star under each eye; and then uttered a fervent wish that his +friend Harry Somerville could only see him in that guise. Finding him +incorrigible, Jacques, who, notwithstanding his remonstrances, was more than +half imbued with Charley’s spirit, gave in, and accompanied him to the +feast, himself decorated with the additional ornament of a red night-cap, to +whose crown was attached a tuft of white feathers. +</p> + +<p> +A fire burned in the centre of the enclosure, round which the Indians seated +themselves according to seniority, and with deep solemnity; for it is a trait +in the Indian’s character that all his ceremonies are performed with +extreme gravity. Each man brought a dish or platter, and a wooden spoon. +</p> + +<p> +The old chief, whose hair was very gray, and his face covered with old wounds +and scars, received either in war or in hunting, having seated himself, allowed +a few minutes to elapse in silence, during which the company sat motionless, +gazing at their plates as if they half expected them to become converted into +beefsteaks. While they were seated thus, another party of Indians, who had been +absent on a hunting expedition, strode rapidly but noiselessly into the +enclosure, and seated themselves in the circle. One of these passed close to +Charley, and in doing so stooped, took his hand, and pressed it. Charley looked +up in surprise, and beheld the face of his old friend Redfeather, gazing at him +with an expression in which were mingled affection, surprise, and amusement at +the peculiar alteration in his visage. +</p> + +<p> +“Redfeather!” exclaimed Charlie, in delight, half rising, but the +Indian pressed him down. +</p> + +<p> +“You must not rise,” he whispered, and giving his hand another +squeeze, passed round the circle, and took his place directly opposite. +</p> + +<p> +Having continued motionless for five minutes with becoming gravity, the company +began operations by proceeding to smoke out of the sacred stem—a ceremony +which precedes—all occasions of importance, and is conducted as +follows:—The sacred stem is placed on two forked sticks to prevent its +touching the ground, as that would be considered a great evil. A stone pipe is +then filled with tobacco, by an attendant specially appointed to that office, +and affixed to the stem, which is presented to the principal chief. That +individual, with a gravity and <i>hauteur</i> that is unsurpassed in the annals +of pomposity, receives the pipe in both hands, blows a puff to the east +(probably in consequence of its being the quarter whence the sun rises), and +thereafter pays a similar mark of attention to the other three points. He then +raises the pipe above his head, points and balances it in various directions +(for what reason and with what end in view is best known to himself), and +replaces it again on the forks. The company meanwhile observe his proceedings +with sedate interest, evidently imbued with the idea that they are deriving +from the ceremony a vast amount of edification—an idea which is helped +out, doubtless, by the appearance of the women and children, who surround the +enclosure, and gaze at the proceedings with looks of awe-struck seriousness +that is quite solemnizing to behold. +</p> + +<p> +The chief then makes a speech relative to the circumstance which has called +them together; and which is always more or less interlarded with boastful +reference to his own deeds, past, present, and prospective, eulogistic remarks +on those of his forefathers, and a general condemnation of all other Indian +tribes whatever. These speeches are usually delivered with great animation, and +contain much poetic allusion to the objects of nature that surround the homes +of the savage. The speech being finished, the chief sits down amid a universal +“Ho!” uttered by the company with an emphatic prolongation of the +last letter—this syllable being the Indian substitute, we presume, for +“rapturous applause.” +</p> + +<p> +The chief who officiated on the present occasion, having accomplished the +opening ceremonies thus far, sat down; while the pipe-bearer presented the +sacred stem to the members of the company in succession, each of whom drew a +few whiffs and mumbled a few words. +</p> + +<p> +“Do as you see the red-skins, Mr. Charles,” whispered Jacques, +while the pipe was going round. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s impossible,” replied Charley, in a tone that could +not be heard except by his friend. “I couldn’t make a face of +hideous solemnity like that black thief opposite if I was to try ever so +hard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t let them think you’re laughing at them,” +returned the hunter; “they would be ill-pleased if they thought +so.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll try,” said Charley, “but it is hard work, +Jacques, to keep from laughing; I feel like a high-pressure steam-engine +already. There’s a woman standing out there with a little brown baby on +her back; she has quite fascinated me; I can’t keep my eyes off her, and +if she goes on contorting her visage much longer, I feel that I shall give +way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hush!” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the pipe was presented to Charley, who put it to his lips, drew +three whiffs, and returned it with a bland smile to the bearer. +</p> + +<p> +The smile was a very sweet one, for that was a peculiar trait in the native +urbanity of Charley’s disposition, and it would have gone far in +civilized society to prepossess strangers in his favour; but it lowered him +considerably in the estimation of his red friends, who entertained a wholesome +feeling of contempt for any appearance of levity on high occasions. But +Charley’s face was of that agreeable stamp that, though gentle and bland +when lighted up with a smile, is particularly masculine and manly in expression +when in repose, and the frown that knit his brows when he observed the bad +impression he had given almost reinstated him in their esteem. But his +popularity became great, and the admiration of his swarthy friends greater, +when he rose and made an eloquent speech in English, which Jacques translated +into the Indian language. +</p> + +<p> +He told them, in reply to the chief’s oration (wherein that warrior had +complimented his pale-faced brothers on their numerous good qualities), that he +was delighted and proud to meet with his Indian friends; that the object of his +mission was to acquaint them with the fact that a new trading-fort was +established not far off, by himself and his comrades, for their special benefit +and behoof; that the stores were full of goods which he hoped they would soon +obtain possession of, in exchange for furs; that he had travelled a great +distance on purpose to see their land and ascertain its capabilities in the way +of fur-bearing animals and game; that he had not been disappointed in his +expectations, as he had found the animals to be as numerous as bees, the fish +plentiful in the rivers and lakes, and the country at large a perfect paradise. +He proceeded to tell them further that he expected they would justify the +report he had heard of them, that they were a brave nation and good hunters, by +bringing in large quantities of furs. +</p> + +<p> +Being strongly urged by Jacques to compliment them, on their various good +qualities, Charley launched out into an extravagantly poetic vein, said that he +had heard (but he hoped to have many opportunities of seeing it proved) that +there was no nation under the sun equal to them in bravery, activity, and +perseverance; that he had heard of men in olden times who made it their +profession to fight with wild bulls for the amusement of their friends, but he +had no doubt whatever their courage would be made conspicuous in the way of +fighting wild bears and buffaloes, not for the amusement but the benefit of +their wives and children (he might have added of the Hudson’s Bay +Company, but he didn’t, supposing that that was self-evident, probably). +He complimented them on the way in which they had conducted themselves in war +in times past, comparing their stealthy approach to enemies’ camps to the +insidious snake that glides among the bushes, and darts unexpectedly on its +prey; said that their eyes were sharp to follow the war-trail through the +forest or over the dry sward of the prairie; their aim with gun or bow true and +sure as the flight of the goose when it leaves the lands of the sun, and points +its beak to the icy regions of the north; their war-whoops loud as the thunders +of the cataract; and their sudden onset like the lightning flash that darts +from the sky and scatters the stout oak in splinters on the plain. +</p> + +<p> +At this point Jacques expressed his satisfaction at the style in which his +young friend was progressing. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s your sort, Mr. Charles. Don’t spare the butter; lay +it on thick. You’ve not said too much yet, for they are a brave race, +that’s a fact, as I’ve good reason to know.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques, however, did not feel quite so well satisfied when Charley went on to +tell them that although bravery in war was an admirable thing, war itself was a +thing not at all to be desired, and should only be undertaken in case of +necessity. He especially pointed out that there was not much glory to be earned +in fighting against the Chipewyans, who, everybody knew, were a poor, timid set +of people, whom they ought rather to pity than to destroy; and recommended them +to devote themselves more to the chase than they had done in times past, and +less to the prosecution of war in time to come. +</p> + +<p> +All this, and a great deal more, did Charley say, in a manner, and with a +rapidity of utterance, that surprised himself, when he considered the fact that +he had never adventured into the field of public speaking before. All this, and +a great deal more—a very great deal more—did Jacques Caradoc +interpret to the admiring Indians, who listened with the utmost gravity and +profound attention, greeting the close with a very emphatic “Ho!” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques’s translation was by no means perfect. Many of the flights into +which Charley ventured, especially in regard to the manners and customs of the +savages of ancient Greece and Rome, were quite incomprehensible to the worthy +backwoodsman; but he invariably proceeded when Charley halted, giving a flight +of his own when at a loss, varying and modifying when he thought it advisable, +and altering, adding, or cutting off as he pleased. +</p> + +<p> +Several other chiefs addressed the assembly, and then dinner, if we may so call +it, was served. In Charley’s case it was breakfast; to the Indians it was +breakfast, dinner, and supper in one. It consisted of a large platter of dried +meat, reindeer tongues (considered a great delicacy), and marrow-bones. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the graphic power with which Jacques had prepared his young +companion for this meal, Charley’s heart sank when he beheld the mountain +of boiled meat that was placed before him. He was ravenously hungry, it is +true, but it was patent to his perception at a glance that no powers of +gormandizing of which he was capable could enable him to consume the mass in +the course of one day. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques observed his consternation, and was not a little entertained by it, +although his face wore an expression of profound gravity while he proceeded to +attack his own dish, which was equal to that of his friend. +</p> + +<p> +Before commencing, a small portion of meat was thrown into the fire as a +sacrifice to the Great Master of Life. +</p> + +<p> +“How they do eat, to be sure!” whispered Charley to Jacques, after +he had glanced in wonder at the circle of men who were devouring their food +with the most extraordinary rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you must know,” replied Jacques, “that it’s +considered a point of honour to get it over soon, and the man that is done +first gets most credit. But it’s hard work” (he sighed, and paused +a little to breathe), “and I’ve not got half through yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s quite plain that I must lose credit with them, then, if it +depends on my eating that. Tell me, Jacques, is there no way of escape? Must I +sit here till it is all consumed?” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt of it. Every bit that has been cooked must be crammed down our +throats somehow or other.” Charley heaved a deep sigh, and made another +desperate attack on a large steak, while the Indians around him made +considerable progress in reducing their respective mountains. +</p> + +<p> +Several times Charley and Redfeather exchanged glances as they paused in their +labours. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Jacques,” said Charley, pulling up once more, “how do +you get on? Pretty well stuffed by this time, I should imagine?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh no! I’ve a good deal o’ room yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“I give in. Credit or disgrace, it’s all one. I’ll not make a +pig of myself for any red-skin in the land.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“See,” continued Charley, “there’s a fellow opposite +who has devoured as much as would have served me for three days. I don’t +know whether it’s imagination or not, but I do verily believe that +he’s <i>blacker</i> in the face than when we sat down!” +</p> + +<p> +“Very likely,” replied Jacques, wiping his lips, “Now +I’ve done.” +</p> + +<p> +“Done! you have left at least a third of your supply.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, and I may as well tell you for your comfort that there is one way +of escape open to you. It is a custom among these fellows, that when any one +cannot gulp his share o’ the prog, he may get help from any of his +friends that can cram it down their throats; and as there are always such +fellows among these Injins, they seldom have any difficulty.” +</p> + +<p> +“A most convenient practice,” replied Charley, “I’ll +adopt it at once.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley turned to his next neighbour with the intent to beg of him to eat his +remnant of the feast. +</p> + +<p> +“Bless my heart, Jacques, I’ve no chance with the fellow on my left +hand; he’s stuffed quite full already, and is not quite done with his own +share.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never fear,” replied his friend, looking at the individual in +question, who was languidly lifting a marrowbone to his lips; +“he’ll do it easy. I knows the gauge o’ them chaps, and for +all his sleepy looks just now he’s game for a lot more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible,” replied Charley, looking in despair at his unfinished +viands and then at the Indian. A glance round the circle seemed further to +convince him that if he did not eat it himself there were none of the party +likely to do so. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll have to give him a good lump o’ tobacco to do it, +though; he won’t undertake so much for a trifle, I can tell you.” +Jacques chuckled as he said this, and handed his own portion over to another +Indian, who readily undertook to finish it for him. +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll burst; I feel certain of that,” said Charley, with a +deep sigh, as he surveyed his friend on the left. +</p> + +<p> +At last he took courage to propose the thing to him, and just as the man +finished the last morsel of his own repast, Charley placed his own plate before +him, with a look that seemed to say, “Eat it, my friend, <i>if you +can.</i>” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian, much to his surprise, immediately commenced to it, and in less than +half-an-hour the whole was disposed of. +</p> + +<p> +During this scene of gluttony, one of the chiefs entertained the assembly with +a wild and most unmusical chant, to which he beat time on a sort of tambourine, +while the women outside the enclosure beat a similar accompaniment. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, master,” whispered Jacques, “it seems to my +observation that the fellow you call Redfeather eats less than any Injin I ever +saw. He has got a comrade to eat more than half his share; now that’s +strange.” +</p> + +<p> +“It won’t appear strange, Jacques, when I tell you that Redfeather +has lived much more among white men than Indians during the last ten years; and +although voyageurs eat an enormous quantity of food, they don’t make it a +point of honour, as these fellows seem to do, to eat much more than enough. +Besides, Redfeather is a very different man from those around him; he has been +partially educated by the missionaries on Playgreen Lake, and I think has a +strong leaning towards them.” +</p> + +<p> +While they were thus conversing in whispers, Redfeather rose, and holding forth +his hand, delivered himself of the following oration:— +</p> + +<p> +“The time has come for Redfeather to speak. He has kept silence for many +moons now, but his heart has been full of words. It is too full; he must speak +now. Redfeather has fought with his tribe, and has been accounted a brave, and +one who loves his people. This is true. He <i>does</i> love, even more than +they can understand. His friends know that he has never feared to face danger +and death in their defence, and that, if it were necessary, he would do so +still. But Redfeather is going to leave his people now. His heart is heavy at +the thought. Perhaps many moons will come and go, many snows may fall and melt +away, before he sees his people again; and it is this that makes him full of +sorrow, it is this that makes his head to droop like the branches of the +weeping willow.” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather paused at this point, but not a sound escaped from the listening +circle: the Indians were evidently taken by surprise at this abrupt +announcement. He proceeded:— +</p> + +<p> +“When Redfeather travelled not long since with the white men, he met with +a pale-face who came from the other side of the Great Salt Lake towards the +rising sun. This man was called by some of the people a missionary. He spoke +wonderful things in the ear of Redfeather. He told him of things about the +Great Spirit which he did not know before, and he asked Redfeather to go and +help him to speak to the Indians about these strange things. Redfeather would +not go. He loved his people too much, and he thought that the words of the +missionary seemed foolishness. But he has thought much about it since. He does +not understand the strange things that were told to him, and he has tried to +forget them, but he cannot. He can get no rest. He hears strange sounds in the +breeze that shakes the pine. He thinks that there are voices in the waterfall; +the rivers seem to speak, Redfeather’s spirit is vexed. The Great Spirit, +perhaps, is talking to him. He has resolved to go to the dwelling of the +missionary and stay with him.” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian paused again, but still no sound escaped from his comrades. Dropping +his voice to a soft plaintive tone, he continued— +</p> + +<p> +“But Redfeather loves his kindred. He desires very much that they should +hear the things that the missionary said. He spoke of the happy hunting grounds +to which the spirits of our fathers have gone, and said that we required a +<i>guide</i> to lead us there; that there was but one guide, whose name, he +said, was Jesus. Redfeather would stay and hunt with his people, but his spirit +is troubled; he cannot rest; he must go!” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather sat down, and a long silence ensued. His words had evidently taken +the whole party by surprise, although not a countenance there showed the +smallest symptom of astonishment, except that of Charley Kennedy, whose +intercourse with Indians had not yet been so great as to have taught him to +conceal his feelings. +</p> + +<p> +At length the old chief rose, and after complimenting Redfeather on his bravery +in general, and admitting that he had shown much love to his people on all +occasions, went into the subject of his quitting them at some length. He +reminded him that there were evil spirits as well as good; that it was not for +him to say which kind had been troubling him, but that he ought to consider +well before he went to live altogether with pale-faces. Several other speeches +were made, some to the same effect, and others applauding his resolve. These +latter had, perhaps, some idea that his bringing the pale-faced missionary +among them would gratify their taste for the marvellous—a taste that is +pretty strong in all uneducated minds. +</p> + +<p> +One man, however, was particularly urgent in endeavouring to dissuade him from +his purpose. He was a tall, low-browed man; muscular and well built, but +possessed of a most villainous expression of countenance. From a remark that +fell from one of the company, Charley discovered that his name was Misconna, +and so learned, to his surprise, that he was the very Indian mentioned by +Redfeather as the man who had been his rival for the hand of Wabisca, and who +had so cruelly killed the wife of the poor trapper the night on which the +Chipewyan camp was attacked, and the people slaughtered. +</p> + +<p> +What reason Misconna had for objecting so strongly to Redfeather’s +leaving the community no one could tell, although some of those who knew his +unforgiving nature suspected that he still entertained the hope of being able, +some day or other, to weak his vengeance on his old rival. But whatever was his +object, he failed in moving Redfeather’s resolution; and it was at last +admitted by the whole party that Redfeather was a “wise chief;” +that he knew best what ought to be done under the circumstances, and it was +hoped that his promised visit, in company with the missionary, would not be +delayed many moons. +</p> + +<p> +That night, in the deep shadow of the trees, by the brook that murmured near +the Indian camp, while the stars twinkled through the branches overhead, +Charley introduced Redfeather to his friend Jacques Caradoc, and a friendship +was struck up between the bold hunter and the red man that grew and +strengthened as each successive day made them acquainted with their respective +good qualities. In the same place, and with the same stars looking down upon +them, it was further agreed that Redfeather should accompany his new friends, +taking his wife along with him in another canoe, as far as their several routes +led them in the same direction, which was about four or five days’ +journey; and that while the one party diverged towards the fort at Stoney +Creek, the other should pursue its course to the missionary station on the +shores of Lake Winnipeg. +</p> + +<p> +But there was a snake in the grass there that they little suspected. Misconna +had crept through the bushes after them, with a degree of caution that might +have baffled their vigilance, even had they suspected treason in a friendly +camp. He lay listening intently to all their plans, and when they returned to +their camp, he rose out from among the bushes, like a dark spirit of evil, +clutched the handle of his scalping-knife, and gave utterance to a malicious +growl; then, walking hastily after them, his dusky figure was soon concealed +among the trees. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The return—Narrow escape—A murderous attempt, which fails—And +a discovery. +</p> + +<p> +All nature was joyous and brilliant, and bright and beautiful. Morning was +still very young—about an hour old. Sounds of the most cheerful, +light-hearted character floated over the waters and echoed through the woods, +as birds and beasts hurried to and fro with all the bustling energy that +betokened preparation and search for breakfast. Fish leaped in the pools with a +rapidity that brought forcibly to mind that wise saying, “The more hurry, +the less speed;” for they appeared constantly to miss their mark, +although they jumped twice their own length out of the water in the effort. +</p> + +<p> +Ducks and geese sprang from their liquid beds with an amazing amount of +unnecessary sputter, as if they had awakened to the sudden consciousness of +being late for breakfast, then alighted in the water again with a +<i>squash,</i> on finding (probably) that it was too early for that meal, but, +observing other flocks passing and re-passing on noisy wing, took to flight +again, unable, apparently, to restrain their feelings of delight at the +freshness of the morning air, the brightness of the rising sun, and the sweet +perfume of the dewy verdure, as the mists cleared away over the tree-tops and +lost themselves in the blue sky. Everything seemed instinct not only with life, +but with a large amount of superabundant energy. Earth, air, sky, animal, +vegetable, and mineral, solid and liquid, all were either actually in a state +of lively exulting motion, or had a peculiarly sprightly look about them, as if +nature had just burst out of prison <i>en masse</i>, and gone raving mad with +joy. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the delectable state of things the morning on which two canoes darted +from the camp of the Knisteneux, amid many expressions of goodwill. One canoe +contained our two friends, Charley and Jacques; the other, Redfeather and his +wife Wabisca. +</p> + +<p> +A few strokes of the paddle shot them out into the stream, which carried them +rapidly away from the scene of their late festivities. In five minutes they +swept round a point which shut them out from view, and they were swiftly +descending those rapid rivers that had cost Charley and Jacques so much labour +to ascend. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out for rocks ahead, Mr. Charles,” cried Jacques, as he +steered the light bark into the middle of a rapid, which they had avoided when +ascending by making a portage. “Keep well to the left of yon swirl. +<i>Parbleu</i>, if we touch the rock <i>there</i> it’ll be all over with +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” was Charley’s laconic reply. And so it proved, +for their canoe, after getting fairly into the run of the rapid, was evidently +under the complete command of its expert crew, and darted forward amid the +foaming waters like a thing instinct with life. Now it careered and plunged +over the waves where the rough bed of the stream made them more than usually +turbulent. Anon it flew with increased rapidity through a narrow gap where the +compressed water was smooth and black, but deep and powerful, rendering great +care necessary to prevent the canoe’s frail sides from being dashed on +the rocks. Then it met a curling wave, into which it plunged like an impetuous +charger, and was checked for a moment by its own violence. Presently an eddy +threw the canoe a little out of its course, disconcerting Charley’s +intention of <i>shaving</i> a rock, which lay in their track, so that he +slightly grazed it in passing. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Mr. Charles,” said Jacques, shaking his head, “that was +not well done; an inch more would have sent us down the rapids like drowned +cats.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” replied Charley, somewhat crestfallen; “but you see +the other inch was not lost, so we’re not much the worse for it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, after all, it was a ticklish bit, and I should have guessed that +your experience was not up to it quite. I’ve seen many a man in my day +who wouldn’t ha’ done it <i>half</i> so slick, an’ yet +ha’ thought no small beer of himself; so you needn’t be ashamed, +Mr. Charles. But Wabisca beats you for all that,” continued the hunter, +glancing hastily over his shoulder at Redfeather, who followed closely in their +wake, he and his modest-looking wife guiding their little craft through the +dangerous passages with the utmost <i>sangfroid</i> and precision. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve about run them all now,” said Jacques, as they paddled +over a sheet of still water which intervened between the rapid they had just +descended and another which thundered about a hundred yards in advance. +</p> + +<p> +“I was so engrossed with the one we have just come down,” said +Charley, “that I quite forgot this one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite right, Mr. Charles,” said Jacques, in an approving tone, +“quite right. I holds that a man should always attend to what he’s +at, an’ to nothin’ else. I’ve lived long in the woods now, +and the fact becomes more and more sartin every day. I’ve know’d +chaps, now, as timersome as settlement girls, that were always in such a mortal +funk about what <i>was</i> to happen, or <i>might</i> happen, that they were +never fit for anything that <i>did</i> happen; always lookin’ ahead, and +never around them. Of coorse, I don’t mean that a man shouldn’t +look ahead at all, but their great mistake was that they looked out too far +ahead, and always kep’ their eyes nailed there, just as if they had the +fixin’ o’ everything, an’ Providence had nothin’ to do +with it at all. I mind a Canadian o’ that sort that travelled in company +with me once. We were goin’ just as we are now, Mr. Charles, two canoes +of us; him and a comrade in one, and me and a comrade in t’other. One +night we got to a lot o’ rapids that came one after another for the +matter o’ three miles or thereabouts. They were all easy ones, however, +except the last; but it <i>was</i> a tickler, with a sharp turn o’ the +land that hid it from sight until ye were right into it, with a foamin’ +current, and a range o’ ragged rocks that stood straight in front +o’ ye, like the teeth of a cross-cut saw. It was easy enough, however, if +a man <i>knew</i> it, and was a cool hand. Well, the <i>pauvre</i> Canadian was +in a terrible takin’ about this shoot long afore he came to it. He had +run it often enough in boats where he was one of a half-dozen men, and had +nothin’ to do but look on; but he had never <i>steered</i> down it +before. When he came to the top o’ the rapids, his mind was so filled +with this shoot that he couldn’t attend to nothin’, and scraped +agin’ a dozen rocks in almost smooth water, so that when he got a little +more than half-way down, the canoe was as rickety as if it had just come off a +six months’ cruise. At last we came to the big rapid, and after +we’d run down our canoe I climbed the bank to see them do it. Down they +came, the poor Canadian white as a sheet, and his comrade, who was brave +enough, but knew nothin’ about light craft, not very comfortable. At +first he could see nothin’ for the point, but in another moment round +they went, end on, for the big rocks. The Canadian gave a great yell when he +saw them, and plunged at the paddle till I thought he’d have capsized +altogether. They ran it well enough, straight between the rocks (more by good +luck than good guidance), and sloped down to the smooth water below; but the +canoe had got such a battering in the rapids above, where an Injin baby could +have steered it in safety, that the last plunge shook it all to pieces. It +opened up, and lay down flat on the water, while the two men fell right through +the bottom, screechin’ like mad, and rolling about among shreds o’ +birch bark!” +</p> + +<p> +While Jacques was thus descanting philosophically on his experience in time +past, they had approached the head of the second rapid, and in accordance with +the principles just enunciated, the stout backwoodsman gave his undivided +attention to the work before him. The rapid was short and deep, so that little +care was required in descending it, excepting at one point, where the stream +rushed impetuously between two rocks about six yards asunder. Here it was +requisite to keep the canoe as much in the middle of the stream as possible. +</p> + +<p> +Just as they began to feel the drag of the water, Redfeather was heard to shout +in a loud warning tone, which caused Jacques and Charley to back their paddles +hurriedly. +</p> + +<p> +“What can the Injin mean, I wonder?” said Jacques, in a perplexed +tone. “He don’t look like a man that would stop us at the top of a +strong rapid for nothin’.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s too late to do that now, whatever is his reason,” said +Charley, as he and his companion struggled in vain to paddle up stream. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s no use, Mr. Charles; we must run it now—the +current’s too strong to make head against; besides, I do think the man +has only seen a bear, or something o’ that sort, for I see he’s +ashore, and jumpin’ among the bushes like a cariboo.” +</p> + +<p> +Saying this, they turned the canoe’s head down stream again, and allowed +it to drift, merely retarding its progress a little with the paddles. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Jacques uttered a sharp exclamation. “<i>Mon Dieu!</i>” +said he, “it’s plain enough now. Look there!” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques pointed as he spoke to the narrows to which they were now approaching +with tremendous speed, which increased every instant. A heavy tree lay directly +across the stream, reaching from rock to rock, and placed in such a way that it +was impossible for a canoe to descend without being dashed in pieces against +it. This was the more curious that no trees grew in the immediate vicinity, so +that this one must have been designedly conveyed there. +</p> + +<p> +“There has been foul work here,” said Jacques, in a deep tone. +“We must dive, Mr. Charles; there’s no chance any way else, and +<i>that’s</i> but a poor one.” +</p> + +<p> +This was true. The rocks on each side rose almost perpendicularly out of the +water, so that it was utterly impossible to run ashore, and the only way of +escape, as Jacques said, was by diving under the tree, a thing involving great +risk, as the stream immediately below was broken by rocks, against which it +dashed in foam, and through which the chances of steering one’s way in +safety by means of swimming were very slender indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Charley made no reply, but with tightly-compressed lips, and a look of stern +resolution on his brow, threw off his coat, and hastily tied his belt tightly +round his waist. The canoe was now sweeping forward with lightning speed; in a +few minutes it would be dashed to pieces. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment a shout was heard in the woods, and Redfeather darting out, +rushed over the ledge of rock on which one end of the tree rested, seized the +trunk in his arms, and exerting all his strength, hurled it over into the +river. In doing so he stumbled, and ere he could recover himself a branch +caught him under the arm as the tree fell over, and dragged him into the +boiling stream. This accident was probably the means of saving his life, for +just as he fell the loud report of a gun rang through the woods, and a bullet +passed through his cap. For a second or two both man and tree were lost in the +foam, while the canoe dashed past in safety. The next instant Wabisca passed +the narrows in her small craft, and steered for the tree. Redfeather, who had +risen and sunk several times, saw her as she passed, and making a violent +effort, he caught hold of the gunwale, and was carried down in safety. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Jacques, as the party stood +on a rock promontory after the events just narrated: “I would give a +dollar to have that fellow’s nose and the sights o’ my rifle in a +line at any distance short of two hundred yards.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was Misconna,” said Redfeather. “I did not see him, but +there’s not another man in the tribe that could do that.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m thankful we escaped, Jacques. I never felt so near death +before, and had it not been for the timely aid of our friend here, it strikes +me that our wild life would have come to an abrupt close.—God bless you, +Redfeather,” said Charley, taking the Indian’s hand in both of his +and kissing it. +</p> + +<p> +Charley’s ebullition of feeling was natural. He had not yet become used +to the dangers of the wilderness so as to treat them with indifference. +Jacques, on the other hand, had risked his life so often that escape from +danger was treated very much as a matter of course, and called forth little +expression of feeling. Still, it must not be inferred from this that his nature +had become callous. The backwoodsman’s frame was hard and unyielding as +iron, but his heart was as soft still as it was on the day on which he first +donned the hunting-shirt, and there was much more of tenderness than met the +eye in the squeeze that he gave Redfeather’s hand on landing. +</p> + +<p> +As the four travellers encircled the fire that night, under the leafy branches +of the forest, and smoked their pipes in concert, while Wabisca busied herself +in clearing away the remnants of their evening meal, they waxed communicative, +and stories, pathetic, comic, and tragic, followed each other in rapid +succession. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Redfeather,” said Charley, while Jacques rose and went down +to the luggage to get more tobacco, “tell Jacques about the way in which +you got your name. I am sure he will feel deeply interested in that +story—at least I am certain that Harry Somerville and I did when you told +it to us the day we were wind-bound on Lake Winnipeg.” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather made no reply for a few seconds. “Will Mr. Charles speak for +me?” he said at length. “His tongue is smooth and quick.” +</p> + +<p> +“A doubtful kind of compliment,” said Charley, laughing; “but +I will, if you don’t wish to tell it yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“And don’t mention names. Do not let him know that you speak of me +or my friends,” said the Indian, in a low whisper, as Jacques returned +and sat down by the fire again. +</p> + +<p> +Charley gave him a glance of surprise; but being prevented from asking +questions, he nodded in reply, and proceeded to relate to his friend the story +that has been recounted in a previous chapter. Redfeather leaned back against a +tree, and appeared to listen intently. +</p> + +<p> +Charley’s powers of description were by no means inconsiderable, and the +backwoodsman’s face assumed a look of good-humoured attention as the +story proceeded. But when the narrator went on to tell of the meditated attack +and the midnight march, his interest was aroused, the pipe which he had been +smoking was allowed to go out, and he gazed at his young friend with the most +earnest attention. It was evident that the hunter’s spirit entered with +deep sympathy into such scenes; and when Charley described the attack, and the +death of the trapper’s wife, Jacques seemed unable to restrain his +feelings. He leaned his elbows on his knees, buried his face in his hands, and +groaned aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Charles,” he said, in a deep voice, when the story was ended, +“there are two men I would like to meet with in this world before I die. +One is the young Injin who tried to save that girl’s life, the other is +the cowardly villain that took it. I don’t mean the one who finished the +bloody work: my rifle sent his accursed spirit to its own place—” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Your</i> rifle!” cried Charley, in amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, mine! It was <i>my</i> wife who was butchered by these savage dogs +on that dark night. Oh, what avails the strength o’ that right +arm!” said Jacques, bitterly, as he lifted up his clenched fist; +“it was powerless to save <i>her</i>—the sweet girl who left her +home and people to follow me, a rough hunter, through the lonesome +wilderness!” +</p> + +<p> +He covered his face again, and groaned in agony of spirit, while his whole +frame quivered with emotion. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques remained silent, and his sympathising friends refrained from intruding +on a sorrow which they felt they had no power to relieve. +</p> + +<p> +At length he spoke. “Yes,” said he, “I would give much to +meet with the man who tried to save her. I saw him do it twice; but the devils +about him were too eager to be balked of their prey.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley and the Indian exchanged glances. “That Indian’s +name,” said the former, “was <i>Redfeather!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” exclaimed the trapper, jumping to his feet, and grasping +Redfeather, who had also risen, by the two shoulders, stared wildly in his +face; “was it <i>you</i> that did it?” +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather smiled, and held out his hand, which the other took and wrung with +an energy that would have extorted a cry of pain from any one but an Indian. +Then, dropping it suddenly and clinching his hands, he exclaimed,— +</p> + +<p> +“I said that I would like to meet the villain who killed her—yes, I +said it in passion, when your words had roused all my old feelings again; but I +am thankful—I bless God that I did not know this sooner—that you +did not tell me of it when I was at the camp, for I verily believe that I would +not only have fixed <i>him</i>, but half the warriors o’ your tribe too, +before they had settled <i>me!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +It need scarcely be added that the friendship which already subsisted between +Jacques and Redfeather was now doubly cemented; nor will it create surprise +when we say that the former, in the fulness of his heart, and from sheer +inability to find adequate outlets for the expression of his feelings, offered +Redfeather in succession all the articles of value he possessed, even to the +much-loved rifle, and was seriously annoyed at their not being accepted. At +last he finished off by assuring the Indian that he might look out for him soon +at the missionary settlement, where he meant to stay with him evermore in the +capacity of hunter, fisherman, and jack-of-all-trades to the whole clan. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The scene changes—Bachelor’s Hall—A practical joke and its +consequences—A snow-shoe walk at night in the forest. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving Charley to pursue his adventurous career among the Indians, we will +introduce our reader to a new scene, and follow for a time the fortunes of our +friend Harry Somerville. It will be remembered that we left him labouring under +severe disappointment at the idea of having to spend a year, it might be many +years, at the depot, and being condemned to the desk, instead of realising his +fond dreams of bear-hunting and deer-stalking in the woods and prairies. +</p> + +<p> +It was now the autumn of Harry’s second year at York Fort. This period of +the year happens to be the busiest at the depot, in consequence of the +preparation of the annual accounts for transmission to England, in the solitary +ship which visits this lonely spot once a year; so that Harry was tied to his +desk all day and the greater part of the night too, so that his spirits fell +infinitely below zero, and he began to look on himself as the most miserable of +mortals. His spirits rose, however, with amazing rapidity after the ship went +away, and the “young gentlemen,” as the clerks were styled <i>en +masse</i>, were permitted to run wild in the swamps and woods for the three +weeks succeeding that event. During this glimpse of sunshine they recruited +their exhausted frames by paddling about all day in Indian canoes, or wandering +through the marshes, sleeping at nights in tents or under the pine trees, and +spreading dismay among the feathered tribes, of which there were immense +numbers of all kinds. After this they returned to their regular work at the +desk; but as this was not so severe as in summer, and was further lightened by +Wednesdays and Saturdays being devoted entirely to recreation, Harry began to +look on things in a less gloomy aspect, and at length regained his wonted +cheerful spirits. +</p> + +<p> +Autumn passed away. The ducks and geese took their departure to more genial +climes. The swamps froze up and became solid. Snow fell in great abundance, +covering every vestige of vegetable nature, except the dark fir trees, that +only helped to render the scenery more dreary, and winter settled down upon the +land. Within the pickets of York Fort, the thirty or forty souls who lived +there were actively employed in cutting their firewood, putting in double +window-frames to keep out the severe cold, cutting tracks in the snow from one +house to another, and otherwise preparing for a winter of eight months’ +duration, as cold as that of Nova Zembla, and in the course of which the only +new faces they had any chance of seeing were those of the two men who conveyed +the annual winter packet of letters from the next station. Outside of the fort, +all was a wide, waste wilderness for <i>thousands</i> of miles around. +Deathlike stillness and solitude reigned everywhere, except when a covey of +ptarmigan whirred like large snowflakes athwart the sky, or an arctic fox +prowled stealthily through the woods in search of prey. +</p> + +<p> +As if in opposition to the gloom and stillness and solitude outside, the +interior of the clerks’ house presented a striking contrast of ruddy +warmth, cheerful sounds, and bustling activity. +</p> + +<p> +It was evening; but although the sun had set, there was still sufficient +daylight to render candles unnecessary, though not enough to prevent a bright +glare from the stove in the centre of the hall taking full effect in the +darkening chamber, and making it glow with fiery red. Harry Somerville sat in +front, and full in the blaze of this stove, resting after the labours of the +day; his arms crossed on his breast, his head a little to one side, as if in +deep contemplation, as he gazed earnestly into the fire, and his chair tilted +on its hind legs so as to balance with such nicety that a feather’s +weight additional outside its centre of gravity would have upset it. He had +divested himself of his coat—a practice that prevailed among the young +gentlemen when <i>at home</i>, as being free-and-easy as well as convenient. +The doctor, a tall, broad-shouldered man, with red hair and whiskers, paced the +room sedately, with a long pipe depending from his lips, which he removed +occasionally to address a few remarks to the accountant, a stout, heavy man of +about thirty, with a voice like a Stentor, eyes sharp and active as those of a +ferret, and a tongue that moved with twice the ordinary amount of lingual +rapidity. The doctor’s remarks seemed to be particularly humorous, if one +might judge from the peals of laughter with which they were received by the +accountant, who stood with his back to the stove in such a position that, while +it warmed him from his heels to his waist, he enjoyed the additional benefit of +the pipe or chimney, which rose upwards, parallel with his spine, and, taking a +sudden bend near the roof, passed over his head—thus producing a genial +and equable warmth from top to toe. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said the doctor, “I left him hotly following up a +rabbit-track, in the firm belief that it was that of a silver fox.” +</p> + +<p> +“And did you not undeceive the greenhorn?” cried the accountant, +with another shout of laughter. +</p> + +<p> +“Not I,” replied the doctor. “I merely recommended him to +keep his eye on the sun, lest he should lose his way, and hastened home; for it +just occurred to me that I had forgotten to visit Louis Blanc, who cut his foot +with an axe yesterday, and whose wound required redressing, so I left the poor +youth to learn from experience.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pray, who did you leave to that delightful fate?” asked Mr. +Wilson, issuing from his bedroom, and approaching the stove. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Wilson was a middle-aged, good-humoured, active man, who filled the onerous +offices of superintendent of the men, trader of furs, seller of goods to the +Indians, and general factotum. +</p> + +<p> +“Our friend Hamilton,” answered the doctor, in reply to his +question. “I think he is, without exception, the most egregious +nincompoop I ever saw. Just as I passed the long swamp on my way home, I met +him crashing through the bushes in hot pursuit of a rabbit, the track of which +he mistook for a fox. Poor fellow! He had been out since breakfast, and only +shot a brace of ptarmigan, although they are as thick as bees and quite tame. +‘But then, do you see,’ said he, in excuse, ‘I’m so +very shortsighted! Would you believe it, I’ve blown fifteen lumps of snow +to atoms, in the belief that they were ptarmigan!’ and then he rushed off +again.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt,” said Mr. Wilson, smiling, “the lad is very green, +but he’s a good fellow for all that.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll answer for that,” said the accountant; “I found +him over at the men’s houses this morning doing <i>your</i> work for you, +doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so?” inquired the disciple of Æsculapius. +</p> + +<p> +“Attending to your wounded man, Louis Blanc, to be sure; and he seemed to +speak to him as wisely as if he had walked the hospitals, and regularly passed +for an M.D.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” said the doctor, with a mischievous grin. “Then I +must pay him off for interfering with my patients.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, doctor, you’re too fond of practical jokes. You never let slip +an opportunity of ‘paying off’ your friends for something or other. +It’s a bad habit. Practical jokes are very bad things—shockingly +bad,” said Mr. Wilson, as he put on his fur cap, and wound a thick shawl +round his throat, preparatory to leaving the room. +</p> + +<p> +As Mr. Wilson gave utterance to this opinion, he passed Harry Somerville, who +was still staring at the fire in deep mental abstraction, and, as he did so, +gave his tilted chair a very slight push backwards with his finger—an +action which caused Harry to toss up his legs, grasp convulsively with both +hands at empty air, and fall with a loud noise and an angry yell to the ground, +while his persecutor vanished from the scene. +</p> + +<p> +“O you outrageous villain!” cried Harry, shaking his fist at the +door, as he slowly gathered himself up; “I might have expected +that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” said the doctor; “you might. It was very neatly +done, undoubtedly. Wilson deserves credit for the way in which it was +executed.” +</p> + +<p> +“He deserves to be executed for doing it at all,” replied Harry, +rubbing his elbow as he resumed his seat. +</p> + +<p> +“Any bark knocked off?” inquired the accountant, as he took a piece +of glowing charcoal from the stove wherewith to light his pipe. “Try a +whiff, Harry. It’s good for such things. Bruises, sores, contusions, +sprains, rheumatic affections of the back and loins, carbuncles and +earache—there’s nothing that smoking won’t cure; eh, +doctor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. If applied inwardly, there’s nothing so good for +digestion when one doesn’t require tonics—Try it, Harry; it will do +you good, I assure you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, thank you,” replied Harry; “I’ll leave that to you +and the chimney. I don’t wish to make a soot-bag of my mouth. But tell +me, doctor, what do you mean to do with that lump of snow there?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry pointed to a mass of snow, of about two feet square, which lay on the +floor beside the door. It had been placed there by the doctor some time +previously. +</p> + +<p> +“Do with it? Have patience, my friend, and you shall see. It is a little +surprise I have in store for Hamilton.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the door opened, and a short, square-built man rushed into the +room, with a pistol in one hand and a bright little bullet in the other. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo, skipper!” cried Harry, “what’s the row?” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” cried the skipper; “here it is at last, solid as +the fluke of an anchor. Toss me the powder-flask Harry; look sharp, else +it’ll melt.” +</p> + +<p> +A powder-flask was immediately produced, from which the skipper hastily charged +the pistol, and rammed down the shining bullet. +</p> + +<p> +“Now then,” said he, “look out for squalls. Clear the decks +there.” +</p> + +<p> +And rushing to the door, he flung it open, took a steady aim at something +outside, and fired. +</p> + +<p> +“Is the man mad?” said the accountant, as with a look of amazement +he beheld the skipper spring through the doorway, and immediately return +bearing in his arms a large piece of fir plank. +</p> + +<p> +“Not quite mad yet,” he said, in reply, “but I’ve sent +a ball of quicksilver through an inch plank, and that’s not a thing to be +done every day—even <i>here</i>, although it <i>is</i> cold enough +sometimes to freeze up one’s very ideas.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me,” interrupted Harry Somerville, looking as if a new +thought had struck him, “that must be it! I’ve no doubt that poor +Hamilton’s ideas are <i>frozen</i>, which accounts for the total absence +of any indication of his possessing such things.” +</p> + +<p> +“I observed,” continued the skipper, not noticing the interruption, +“that the glass was down at 45 degrees below zero this morning, and put +out a bullet-mould full of mercury, and you see the result.” As he spoke +he held up the perforated plank in triumph. +</p> + +<p> +The skipper was a strange mixture of qualities. To a wild, off-hand, +sailor-like hilarity of disposition in hours of leisure, he united a grave, +stern energy of character while employed in the performance of his duties. Duty +was always paramount with him. A smile could scarcely be extracted from him +while it was in the course of performance. But the instant his work was done a +new spirit seemed to take possession of the man. Fun, mischief of any kind, no +matter how childish, he entered into with the greatest delight and enthusiasm. +Among other peculiarities, he had become deeply imbued with a thirst for +scientific knowledge, ever since he had acquired, with infinite labour, the +small modicum of science necessary to navigation; and his doings in pursuit of +statistical information relative to the weather, and the phenomena of nature +generally, were very peculiar, and in some cases outrageous. His transaction +with the quicksilver was in consequence of an eager desire to see that metal +frozen (an effect which takes place when the spirit-of-wine thermometer falls +to 39 degrees below zero of Fahrenheit), and a wish to be able to boast of +having actually fired a mercurial bullet through an inch plank. Having made a +careful note of the fact, with all the relative circumstances attending it, in +a very much blotted book, which he denominated his scientific log, the worthy +skipper threw off his coat, drew a chair to the stove, and prepared to regale +himself with a pipe. As he glanced slowly round the room while thus engaged, +his eye fell on the mass of snow before alluded to. On being informed by the +doctor for what it was intended, he laid down his pipe and rose hastily from +his chair. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve not a moment to lose,” said he. “As I came in +at the gate just now, I saw Hamilton coming down the river on the ice, and he +must be almost arrived now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Up with it then,” cried the doctor, seizing the snow, and lifting +it to the top of the door. “Hand me those bits of stick, Harry; quick, +man, stir your stumps.—Now then, skipper, fix them in so, while I hold +this up.” +</p> + +<p> +The skipper lent willing and effective aid, so that in a few minutes the snow +was placed in such a position that upon the opening of the door it must +inevitably fall on the head of the first person who should enter the room. +</p> + +<p> +“So,” said the skipper, “that’s rigged up in what I +call ship-shape fashion.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” remarked the doctor, eyeing the arrangement with a look of +approval; “it will do, I think, admirably.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you think, skipper,” said Harry Somerville gravely, as +he resumed his seat in front of the fire, “that it would be worth while +to make a careful and minute entry in your private log of the manner in which +it was put up, to be afterwards followed by an account of its effect? You might +write an essay on it now, and call it the extraordinary effects of a fall of +snow in latitude so and so, eh? What think you of it?” +</p> + +<p> +The skipper vouchsafed no reply, but made a significant gesture with his fist, +which caused Harry to put himself in a posture of defence. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment footsteps were heard on the wooden platform in front of the +building. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly all became silence and expectation in the hall as the result of the +practical joke was about to be realised. Just then another step was heard on +the platform, and it became evident that two persons were approaching the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Hope it’ll be the right man,” said the skipper, with a look +savouring slightly of anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the door opened, and a foot crossed the threshold; the next instant +the miniature avalanche descended on the head and shoulders of a man, who +reeled forward from the weight of the blow, and, covered from head to foot with +snow, fell to the ground amid shouts of laughter. +</p> + +<p> +With a convulsive stamp and shake, the prostrate figure sprang up and +confronted the party. Had the cast-iron stove suddenly burst into atoms, and +blown the roof off the house, it could scarcely have created greater +consternation than that which filled the merry jesters when they beheld the +visage of Mr. Rogan, the superintendent of the fort, red with passion and +fringed with snow. +</p> + +<p> +“So,” said he, stamping violently with his foot, partly from anger, +and partly with a view of shaking off the unexpected covering, which stuck all +over his dress in little patches, producing a somewhat piebald +effect,—“so you are pleased to jest, gentlemen. Pray, who placed +that piece of snow over the door?” Mr. Rogan glared fiercely round upon +the culprits, who stood speechless before him. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment he stood silent, as if uncertain how to act; then turning short on +his heel, he strode quickly out of the room, nearly overturning Mr. Hamilton, +who at the same instant entered it, carrying his gun and snowshoes under his +arm. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me, what has happened?” he exclaimed, in a peculiarly gentle +tone of voice, at the same time regarding the snow and the horror-stricken +circle with a look of intense surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“You <i>see</i> what has happened,” replied Harry Somerville, who +was the first to recover his composure; “I presume you intended to ask, +‘What has <i>caused</i> it to happen?’ Perhaps the skipper will +explain; it’s beyond me, quite.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus appealed to, that worthy cleared his throat, and said,— +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you see, Mr. Hamilton, a great phenomenon of meteorology has +happened. We were all standing, you must know, at the open door, taking a +squint at the weather, when our attention was attracted by a curious object +that appeared in the sky, and seemed to be coming down at the rate of ten knots +an hour, right end-on for the house. I had just time to cry, ‘Clear out, +lads,’ when it came slap in through the doorway, and smashed to shivers +there, where you see the fragments. In fact, it’s a wonderful aërolite, +and Mr. Rogan has just gone out with a lot of the bits in his pocket, to make a +careful examination of them, and draw up a report for the Geological Society in +London. I shouldn’t wonder if he were to send off an express to-night; +and maybe you will have to convey the news to headquarters, so you’d +better go and see him about it soon.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>Soft</i> although Mr. Hamilton was supposed to be, he was not quite prepared +to give credit to this explanation; but being of a peaceful disposition, and +altogether unaccustomed to retort, he merely smiled his disbelief, as he +proceeded to lay aside his fowling-piece, and divest himself of the voluminous +out-of-door trappings with which he was clad. Mr. Hamilton was a tall, slender +youth, of about nineteen. He had come out by the ship in autumn, and was +spending his first winter at York Fort. Up to the period of his entering the +Hudson’s Bay Company’s service, he had never been more than twenty +miles from home, and having mingled little with the world, was somewhat +unsophisticated, besides being by nature gentle and unassuming. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after this the man who acted as cook, waiter, and butler to the mess, +entered, and said that Mr. Rogan desired to see the accountant immediately. +</p> + +<p> +“Who am I to say did it?” enquired that gentleman, as he rose to +obey the summons. +</p> + +<p> +“Wouldn’t it be a disinterested piece of kindness if you were to +say it was yourself?” suggested the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps it would, but I won’t,” replied the accountant, as +he made his exit. +</p> + +<p> +In about half-an-hour Mr. Rogan and the accountant re-entered the apartment. +The former had quite regained his composure. He was naturally amiable; which +happy disposition was indicated by a habitually cheerful look and smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, gentlemen,” said he, “I find that this practical joke +was not intended for me, and therefore look upon it as an unlucky accident; but +I cannot too strongly express my dislike to practical jokes of all kinds. I +have seen great evil, and some bloodshed, result from practical jokes; and I +think that, being a sufferer in consequence of your fondness for them, I have a +right to beg that you will abstain from such doings in future—at least +from such jokes as involve risk to those who do not choose to enter into +them.” +</p> + +<p> +Having given vent to this speech, Mr. Rogan left his volatile friends to digest +it at their leisure. +</p> + +<p> +“Serves us right,” said the skipper, pacing up and down the room in +a repentant frame of mind, with his thumbs hooked into the arm-holes of his +vest. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor said nothing, but breathed hard and smoked vigorously. +</p> + +<p> +While we admit most thoroughly with Mr. Rogan that practical jokes are +exceedingly bad, and productive frequently of far more evil than fun, we feel +it our duty, as a faithful delineator of manners, customs, and character in +these regions, to urge in palliation of the offence committed by the young +gentlemen at York Fort, that they had really about as few amusements and +sources of excitement as fall to the lot of any class of men. They were +entirely dependent on their own unaided exertions, during eight or nine months +of the year, for amusement or recreation of any kind. Their books were few in +number, and soon read through. The desolate wilderness around afforded no +incidents to form subjects of conversation further than the events of a +day’s shooting, which, being nearly similar every day, soon lost all +interest. No newspapers came to tell of the doings of the busy world from which +they were shut out, and nothing occurred to vary the dull routine of their +life; so that it is not matter for wonder that they were driven to seek for +relaxation and excitement occasionally in most outrageous and unnatural ways, +and to indulge now and then in the perpetration of a practical joke. +</p> + +<p> +For some time after the rebuke administered by Mr. Rogan, silence reigned in +<i>Bachelor’s Hall</i>, as the clerks’ house was termed. But at +length symptoms of <i>ennui</i> began to be displayed. The doctor yawned and +lay down on his bed to enjoy an American newspaper about twelve months old. +Harry Somerville sat down to reread a volume of Franklin’s travels in the +polar regions, which he had perused twice already. Mr. Hamilton busied himself +in cleaning his fowling-piece; while the skipper conversed with Mr. Wilson, who +was engaged in his room in adjusting an ivory head to a walking-stick. Mr. +Wilson was a jack-of-all-trades, who could make shift, one way or other, to do +<i>anything</i>. The accountant paced the uncarpeted floor in deep +contemplation. +</p> + +<p> +At length he paused, and looked at Harry Somerville for some time. +</p> + +<p> +“What say you to a walk through the woods to North River, Harry?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ready,” cried Harry, tossing down the book with a look of +contempt—“ready for anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will <i>you</i> come, Hamilton?” added the accountant. Hamilton +looked up in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t mean, surely, to take so long a walk in the dark, do +you? It is snowing, too, very heavily, and I think you said that North River +was five miles off, did you not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course I mean to walk in the dark,” replied the accountant, +“unless you can extemporize an artificial light for the occasion, or +prevail on the moon to come out for my special benefit. As to snowing and a +short tramp of five miles, why, the sooner you get to think of such things as +<i>trifles</i> the better, if you hope to be fit for anything in this +country.” +</p> + +<p> +“I <i>don’t</i> think much of them,” replied Hamilton, softly +and with a slight smile; “I only meant that such a walk was not very +<i>attractive</i> so late in the evening.” +</p> + +<p> +“Attractive!” shouted Harry Somerville from his bedroom, where he +was equipping himself for the walk; “what can be more attractive than a +sharp run of ten miles through the woods on a cool night to visit your traps, +with the prospect of a silver fox or a wolf at the end of it, and an extra +sound sleep as the result? Come, man, don’t be soft; get ready, and go +along with us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Besides,” added the accountant, “I don’t mean to come +back to-night. To-morrow, you know, is a holiday, so we can camp out in the +snow after visiting the traps, have our supper, and start early in the morning +to search for ptarmigan.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I will go,” said Hamilton, after this account of the +pleasures that were to be expected; “I am exceedingly anxious to learn to +shoot birds on the wing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bless me! have you not learned that yet!” asked the doctor, in +affected surprise, as he sauntered out of his bedroom to relight his pipe. +</p> + +<p> +The various bedrooms in the clerks’ house were ranged round the hall, +having doors that opened directly into it, so that conversation carried on in a +loud voice was heard in all the rooms at once, and was not infrequently +sustained in elevated tones from different apartments, when the occupants were +lounging, as they often did of an evening, in their beds. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Hamilton, in reply to the doctor’s question, +“I have not learned yet, although there were a great many grouse in the +part of Scotland where I was brought up. But my aunt, with whom I lived, was so +fearful of my shooting either myself or someone else, and had such an aversion +to firearms, that I determined to make her mind easy, by promising that I would +never use them so long as I remained under her roof.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite right; very dutiful and proper,” said the doctor, with a +grave, patronising air. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you’ll fall in with more <i>fox</i> tracks of the same +sort as the one you gave chase to this morning,” shouted the skipper, +from Wilson’s room. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! there’s hundreds of them out there,” said the +accountant; “so let’s off at once.” +</p> + +<p> +The trio now proceeded to equip themselves for the walk. Their costumes were +peculiar, and merit description. As they were similar in the chief points, it +will suffice to describe that of our friend Harry. +</p> + +<p> +On his head he wore a fur-cap made of otter-skin, with a flap on each side to +cover the ears, the frost being so intense in these climates that without some +such protection they would inevitably freeze and fall off. +</p> + +<p> +As the nose is constantly in use for the purposes of respiration, it is always +left uncovered to fight with the cold as it best can; but it is a hard battle, +and there is no doubt that, if it were possible, a nasal covering would be +extremely pleasant. Indeed, several desperate efforts <i>have</i> been made to +construct some sort of nose-bag, but hitherto without success, owing to the +uncomfortable fact that the breath issuing from that organ immediately freezes, +and converts the covering into a bag of snow or ice, which is not agreeable. +Round his neck Harry wound a thick shawl of such portentious dimensions that it +entirely enveloped the neck and lower part of the face; thus the entire head +was, as it were, eclipsed—the eyes, the nose, and the cheek-bones alone +being visible. He then threw on a coat made of deer-skin, so prepared that it +bore a slight resemblance to excessively coarse chamois leather. It was +somewhat in the form of a long, wide surtout, overlapping very much in front, +and confined closely to the figure by means of a scarlet worsted belt instead +of buttons, and was ornamented round the foot by a number of cuts, which +produced a fringe of little tails. Being lined with thick flannel, this portion +of attire was rather heavy, but extremely necessary. A pair of blue cloth +leggings, having a loose flap on the outside, were next drawn on over the +trousers, as an additional protection to the knees. The feet, besides being +portions of the body that are peculiarly susceptible of cold, had further to +contend against the chafing of the lines which attach them to the snow-shoes, +so that special care in their preparation for duty was necessary. First were +put on a pair of blanketing or duffel socks, which were merely oblong in form, +without sewing or making-up of any kind. These were wrapped round the feet, +which were next thrust into a pair of made-up socks, of the same material, +having ankle-pieces; above these were put <i>another</i> pair, <i>without</i> +flaps for the ankles. Over all was drawn a pair of moccasins made of stout +deer-skin, similar to that of the coat. Of course, the elegance of +Harry’s feet was entirely destroyed, and had he been met in this guise by +any of his friends in the “old country,” they would infallibly have +come to the conclusion that he was afflicted with gout. Over his shoulders he +slung a powder-horn and shot-pouch, the latter tastefully embroidered with dyed +quill-work, A pair of deer-skin mittens, having a little bag for the thumb, and +a large bag for the fingers, completed his costume. +</p> + +<p> +While the three were making ready, with a running accompaniment of grunts and +groans at refractory pieces of apparel, the night without became darker, and +the snow fell thicker, so that when they issued suddenly out of their warm +abode, and emerged into the sharp frosty air, which blew the snow-drift into +their eyes, they felt a momentary desire to give up the project and return to +their comfortable quarters. +</p> + +<p> +“What a dismal-looking night it is!” said the accountant, as he led +the way along the wooden platform towards the gate of the fort. +</p> + +<p> +“Very!” replied Hamilton, with an involuntary shudder. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep up your heart,” said Harry, in a cheerful voice; +“you’ve no notion how your mind will change on that point when you +have walked a mile or so and got into a comfortable heat. I must confess, +however, that a little moonshine would be an improvement,” he added, on +stumbling, for the third time, off the platform into the deep snow. +</p> + +<p> +“It is full moon just now,” said the accountant, “and I think +the clouds look as if they would break soon. At any rate, I’ve been at +North River so often that I believe I could walk out there blindfold.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke they passed the gate, and diverging to the right, proceeded, as +well as the imperfect light permitted, along the footpath that led to the +forest. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The walk continued—Frozen toes—An encampment in the snow. +</p> + +<p> +After quitting York Fort, the three friends followed the track leading to the +spot where the winter’s firewood was cut. Snow was still falling thickly, +and it was with some difficulty that the accountant kept in the right +direction. The night was excessively dark, while the dense fir forest, through +which the narrow road ran, rendered the gloom if possible more intense. +</p> + +<p> +When they had proceeded about a mile, their leader suddenly came to a stand. +</p> + +<p> +“We must quit the track now,” said he; “so get on your +snow-shoes as fast as you can.” +</p> + +<p> +Hitherto they had carried their snow-shoes under their arms, as the beaten +track along which they travelled rendered them unnecessary; but now, having to +leave the path and pursue the remainder of their journey through deep snow, +they availed themselves of those useful machines, by means of which the +inhabitants of this part of North America are enabled to journey over many +miles of trackless wilderness, with nearly as much ease as a sportsman can +traverse the moors in autumn, and that over snow so deep that one hour’s +walk through it <i>without</i> such aids would completely exhaust the stoutest +trapper, and advance him only a mile or so on his journey. In other words, to +walk without snow-shoes would be utterly impossible, while to walk with them is +easy and agreeable. They are not used after the manner of skates, with a +<i>sliding</i>, but a <i>stepping</i> action, and their sole use is to support +the wearer on the top of snow, into which without them he would sink up to the +waist. When we say that they support the wearer on the <i>top</i> of the snow, +of course we do not mean that they literally do not break the surface at all. +But the depth to which they sink is comparatively trifling, and varies +according to the state of the snow and the season of the year. In the woods +they sink frequently about six inches, sometimes more, sometimes less, while on +frozen rivers, where the snow is packed solid by the action of the wind, they +sink only two or three inches, and sometimes so little as to render it +preferable to walk without them altogether. Snow-shoes are made of a light, +strong framework of wood, varying from three to six feet long by eighteen and +twenty inches broad, tapering to a point before and behind, and turning up in +front. Different tribes of Indians modify the form a little, but in all +essential points they are the same. The framework is filled up with a netting +of deer-skin threads, which unites lightness with great strength, and permits +any snow that may chance to fall upon the netting to pass through it like a +sieve. +</p> + +<p> +On the present occasion the snow, having recently fallen, was soft, and the +walking, consequently, what is called heavy. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on,” shouted the accountant, as he came to a stand for the +third time within half-an-hour, to await the coming up of poor Hamilton, who, +being rather awkward in snow-shoe walking even in daylight, found it nearly +impossible in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a little, please,” replied a faint voice in the distance; +“I’ve got among a quantity of willows, and find it very difficult +to get on. I’ve been down twice al—” +</p> + +<p> +The sudden cessation of the voice, and a loud crash as of breaking branches, +proved too clearly that our friend had accomplished his third fall. +</p> + +<p> +“There he goes again,” exclaimed Harry Somerville, who came up at +the moment. “I’ve helped him up once already. We’ll never get +to North River at this rate. What <i>is</i> to be done?” +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s see what has become of him this time, however,” said +the accountant, as he began to retrace his steps. “If I mistake not, he +made rather a heavy plunge that time, judging from the sound.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the clouds overhead broke, and a moonbeam shot down into the +forest, throwing a pale light over the cold scene. A few steps brought Harry +and the accountant to the spot whence the sound had proceeded, and a loud +startling laugh rang through the night air, as the latter suddenly beheld poor +Hamilton struggling, with his arms, head, and shoulders stuck into the snow, +his snow-shoes twisted and sticking with the heels up and awry, in a sort of +rampant confusion, and his gun buried to the locks beside him. Regaining +one’s perpendicular after a fall in deep snow, when the feet are +encumbered by a pair of long snow-shoes, is by no means an easy thing to +accomplish, in consequence of the impossibility of getting hold of anything +solid on which to rest the hands. The depth is so great that the outstretched +arms cannot find bottom, and every successive struggle only sinks the unhappy +victim deeper down. Should no assistance be near, he will soon beat the snow to +a solidity that will enable him to rise, but not in a very enviable or +comfortable condition. +</p> + +<p> +“Give me a hand, Harry,” gasped Hamilton, as he managed to twist +his head upwards for a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Here you are,” cried Harry, holding out his hand and endeavouring +to suppress his desire to laugh; “up with you,” and in another +moment the poor youth was upon his legs, with every fold and crevice about his +person stuffed to repletion with snow. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, cheer up,” cried the accountant, giving the youth a slap on +the back; “there’s nothing like experience—the proverb says +that it even teaches fools, so you need not despair.” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton smiled as he endeavoured to shake off some of his white coating. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll be all right immediately,” added Harry; “I see +that the country ahead is more open, so the walking will be easier.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I wish that I had not come!” said Hamilton, sorrowfully, +“because I am only detaining you. But perhaps I shall do better as we get +on. At any rate, I cannot go back now, as I could never find the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go back! of course not,” said the accountant; “in a short +time we shall get into the old woodcutters’ track of last year, and +although it’s not beaten at all, yet it is pretty level and open, so that +we shall get on famously.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go on, then,” sighed Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +“Drive ahead,” laughed Harry, and without further delay they +resumed their march, which was soon rendered more cheerful as the clouds rolled +away, the snow ceased to fall, and the bright full moon poured its rays down +upon their path. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time they proceeded in silence, the muffled sound of the snow, as it +sank beneath their regular footsteps, being the only interruption to the +universal stillness around. There is something very solemnizing in a scene such +as we are now describing—the calm tranquillity of the arctic night; the +pure whiteness of the snowy carpet, which rendered the dark firs inky black by +contrast; the clear, cold, starry sky, that glimmered behind the dark clouds, +whose heavy masses, now rolling across the moon, partially obscured the +landscape, and anon, passing slowly away, let a flood of light down upon the +forest, which, penetrating between the thick branches, scattered the surface of +the snow, as it were, with flakes of silver. Sleep has often been applied as a +simile to nature in repose, but in this case death seemed more appropriate. So +silent, so cold, so still was the scene, that it filled the mind with an +indefinable feeling of dread, as if there was some mysterious danger near. Once +or twice during their walk the three travellers paused to rest, but they spoke +little, and in subdued voices, as if they feared to break the silence of the +night. +</p> + +<p> +“It is strange,” said Harry, in a low tone, as he walked beside +Hamilton, “that such a scene as this always makes me think more than +usual of home.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet it is natural,” replied the other, “because it +reminds us more forcibly than any other that we are in a foreign land—in +the lonely wilderness—far away from home.” +</p> + +<p> +Both Harry and Hamilton had been trained in families where the Almighty was +feared and loved, and where their minds had been early led to reflect upon the +Creator when regarding the works of His hand: their thoughts, therefore, +naturally reverted to another home, compared with which this world is indeed a +cold, lonely wilderness; but on such subjects they feared to converse, partly +from a dread of the ridicule of reckless companions, partly from ignorance of +each other’s feelings on religious matters, and although their minds were +busy, their tongues were silent. +</p> + +<p> +The ground over which the greater part of their path lay was a swamp, which, +being now frozen, was a beautiful white plain, so that their advance was more +rapid, until they approached the belt of woodland that skirts North River. Here +they again encountered the heavy snow, which had been such a source of +difficulty to Hamilton at setting out. He had profited by his former +experience, however, and by the exercise of an excessive degree of caution +managed to scramble through the woods tolerably well, emerging at last, along +with his companions, on the bleak margin of what appeared to be the frozen sea. +</p> + +<p> +North River, at this place, is several miles broad, and the opposite shore is +so low that the snow causes it to appear but a slight undulation of the frozen +bed of the river. Indeed, it would not be distinguishable at all, were it not +for the willow bushes and dwarf pines, whose tops, rising above the white garb +of winter, indicate that <i>terra firma</i> lies below. +</p> + +<p> +“What a cold, desolate-looking place!” said Hamilton, as the party +stood still to recover breath before taking their way over the plain to the +spot where the accountant’s traps were set. “It looks much more +like the frozen sea than a river.” +</p> + +<p> +“It can scarcely be called a river at this place,” remarked the +accountant, “seeing that the water hereabouts is brackish, and the tides +ebb and flow a good way up. In fact, this is the extreme mouth of North River, +and if you turn your eyes a little to the right, towards yonder ice-hummock in +the plain, you behold the frozen sea itself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where are your traps set?” inquired Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“Down in the hollow, behind yon point covered with brushwood.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, we shall soon get to them then; come along,” cried Harry. +</p> + +<p> +Harry was mistaken, however. He had not yet learned by experience the extreme +difficulty of judging of distance in the uncertain light of night—a +difficulty that was increased by the ignorance of the locality, and by the +gleams of moonshine that shot through the driving clouds and threw confused +fantastic shadows over the plain. The point which he had at first supposed was +covered with low bushes, and about a hundred yards off, proved to be clad in +reality with large bushes and small trees, and lay at a distance of two miles. +</p> + +<p> +“I think you have been mistaken in supposing the point so near, +Harry,” said Hamilton, as he trudged on beside his friend. +</p> + +<p> +“A fact evident to the naked eye,” replied Harry. “How do +your feet stand it, eh? Beginning to lose bark yet?” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton did not feel quite sure. “I think,” said he softly, +“that there is a blister under the big toe of my left foot. It feels very +painful.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you feel at all <i>uncertain</i> about it, you may rest assured that +there <i>is</i> a blister. These things don’t give much pain at first. +I’m sorry to tell you, my dear fellow, that you’ll be painfully +aware of the fact to-morrow. However, don’t distress yourself; it’s +a part of the experience that everyone goes through in this country. +Besides,” said Harry smiling, “we can send to the fort for medical +advice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t bother the poor fellow, and hold your tongue. Harry,” +said the accountant, who now began to tread more cautiously as he approached +the place where the traps were set. +</p> + +<p> +“How many traps have you?” inquired Harry in a low tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Three,” replied the accountant. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know I have a very strange feeling about my heels—or rather +a want of feeling,” said Hamilton, smiling dubiously. +</p> + +<p> +“A want of feeling! what do you mean?” cried the accountant, +stopping suddenly and confronting his young friend. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I daresay it’s nothing,” he exclaimed, looking as if +ashamed of having spoken of it; “only I feel exactly as if both my heels +were cut off, and I were walking on tip-toe!” +</p> + +<p> +“Say you so? then right about wheel. Your heels are frozen, man, and +you’ll lose them if you don’t look sharp.” +</p> + +<p> +“Frozen!” cried Hamilton, with a look of incredulity. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, frozen; and it’s lucky you told me. I’ve a place up in +the woods here, which I call my winter camp, where we can get you put to +rights. But step out; the longer we are about it the worse for you.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry Somerville was at first disposed to think that the accountant jested, but +seeing that he turned his back towards his traps, and made for the nearest +point of the thick woods with a stride that betokened thorough sincerity, he +became anxious too, and followed as fast as possible. +</p> + +<p> +The place to which the accountant led his young friends was a group of fir +trees which grew on a little knoll, that rose a few feet above the surrounding +level country. At the foot of this hillock a small rivulet or burn ran in +summer, but the only evidence of its presence now was the absence of willow +bushes all along its covered narrow bed. A level tract was thus formed by +nature, free from all underwood, and running inland about the distance of a +mile, where it was lost in the swamp whence the stream issued. The wooded knoll +or hillock lay at the mouth of this brook, and being the only elevated spot in +the neighbourhood, besides having the largest trees growing on it, had been +selected by the accountant as a convenient place for “camping out” +on, when he visited his traps in winter, and happened to be either too late or +disinclined to return home. Moreover, the spreading fir branches afforded an +excellent shelter alike from wind and snow in the centre of the clump, while +from the margin was obtained a partial view of the river and the sea beyond. +Indeed, from this look-out there was a very fine prospect on clear winter +nights of the white landscape, enlivened occasionally by groups of arctic +foxes, which might be seen scampering about in sport, and gambolling among the +hummocks of ice like young kittens. +</p> + +<p> +“Now we shall turn up here,” said the accountant, as he walked a +short way up the brook before mentioned, and halted in front of what appeared +to be an impenetrable mass of bushes. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall have to cut our way, then,” said Harry, looking to the +right and left in the vain hope of discovering a place where, the bushes being +less dense, they might effect an entrance into the knoll or grove. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so. I have taken care to make a passage into my winter camp, +although it was only a whim, after all, to make a concealed entrance, seeing +that no one ever passes this way except wolves and foxes, whose noses render +the use of their eyes in most cases unnecessary.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the accountant turned aside a thick branch, and disclosed a narrow +track, into which he entered, followed by his two companions. +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes brought them to the centre of the knoll. Here they found a clear +space of about twenty feet in diameter, round which the trees circled so +thickly that in daylight nothing could be seen but tree-stems as far as the eye +could penetrate, while overhead the broad flat branches of the firs, with their +evergreen verdure, spread out and interlaced so thickly that very little light +penetrated into the space below. Of course at night, even in moonlight, the +place was pitch dark. Into this retreat the accountant led his companions, and +bidding them stand still for a minute lest they should stumble into the +fireplace, he proceeded to strike a light. +</p> + +<p> +Those who have never travelled in the wild parts of this world can form but a +faint conception of the extraordinary and sudden change that is produced, not +only in the scene, but in the mind of the beholder, when a blazing fire is +lighted on a dark night. Before the fire is kindled, and you stand, perhaps (as +Harry and his friend did on the present occasion) shivering in the cold, the +heart sinks, and sad, gloomy thoughts arise, while your eye endeavours to +pierce the thick darkness, which, if it succeeds in doing so, only adds to the +effect by disclosing the pallid snow, the cold, chilling beams of the moon, the +wide vista of savage scenery, the awe-inspiring solitudes that tell of your +isolated condition, or stir up sad memories of other and far-distant scenes. +But the moment the first spark of fire sends a fitful gleam of light upwards, +these thoughts and feelings take wing and vanish. The indistinct scenery is +rendered utterly invisible by the red light, which attracts and rivets the eye +as if by a species of fascination. The deep shadows of the woods immediately +around you grow deeper and blacker as the flames leap and sparkle upwards, +causing the stems of the surrounding trees, and the foliage of the overhanging +branches, to stand out in bold relief, bathed in a ruddy glow, which converts +the forest chamber into a snug <i>home-like</i> place, and fills the mind with +agreeable, <i>home-like</i> feelings and meditations. It seemed as if the +spirit, in the one case, were set loose and etherealized to enable it to spread +itself over the plains of cold, cheerless, illimitable space, and left to dwell +upon objects too wide to grasp, too indistinct to comprehend; while, in the +other, it is recalled and concentrated upon matters circumscribed and +congenial, things of which it has long been cognizant, and which it can +appreciate and enjoy without the effort of a thought. +</p> + +<p> +Some such thoughts and feelings passed rapidly through the minds of Harry and +Hamilton, while the accountant struck a light and kindled a roaring fire of +logs, which he had cut and arranged there on a previous occasion. In the middle +of the space thus brilliantly illuminated, the snow had been cleared away till +the moss was uncovered, thus leaving a hole of about ten feet in diameter. As +the snow was quite four feet deep, the hole was surrounded with a pure white +wall, whose height was further increased by the masses thrown out in the +process of digging to nearly six feet. At one end of this space was the large +fire which had just been kindled, and which, owing to the intense cold, only +melted a very little of the snow in its immediate neighbourhood. At the other +end lay a mass of flat pine branches, which were piled up so thickly as to form +a pleasant elastic couch, the upper end being slightly raised so as to form a +kind of bolster, while the lower extended almost into the fire. Indeed, the +branches at the extremity were burnt quite brown, and some of them charred. +Beside the bolster lay a small wooden box, a round tin kettle, an iron +tea-kettle, two tin mugs, a hatchet, and a large bundle tied up in a green +blanket. There were thus, as it were, two apartments, one within the +other—namely, the outer one, whose walls were formed of tree-stems and +thick darkness, and the ceiling of green boughs; and then the inner one, with +walls of snow, that sparkled in the firelight as if set with precious stones, +and a carpet of evergreen branches. +</p> + +<p> +Within this latter our three friends were soon actively employed. Poor +Hamilton’s moccasins were speedily removed, and his friends, going down +on their knees, began to rub his feet with a degree of energy that induced him +to beg for mercy. +</p> + +<p> +“Mercy!” exclaimed the accountant, without pausing for an instant; +“faith, it’s little mercy there would be in stopping just +now.—Rub away, Harry. Don’t give in. They’re coming right at +last.” +</p> + +<p> +After a very severe rubbing, the heels began to show symptoms of returning +vitality. They were then wrapped up in the folds of a thick blanket, and held +sufficiently near to the fire to prevent any chance of the frost getting at +them again. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, my boy,” said the accountant, as he sat down to enjoy a pipe +and rest himself on a blanket, which, along with the one wrapped round +Hamilton’s feet, had been extracted from the green bundle before +mentioned—“now, my boy, you’ll have to enjoy yourself here as +you best can for an hour or two, while Harry and I visit the traps. Would you +like supper before we go, or shall we have it on our return?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I’ll wait for it by all means till you return. I don’t +feel a bit hungry just now, and it will be much more cheerful to have it after +all your work is over. Besides, I feel my feet too painful to enjoy it just +now.” +</p> + +<p> +“My poor fellow,” said Harry, whose heart smote him for having been +disposed at first to treat the thing lightly, “I’m really sorry for +you. Would you not like me to stay with you?” +</p> + +<p> +“By no means,” replied Hamilton quickly. “You can do nothing +more for me, Harry; and I should be very sorry if you missed seeing the +traps.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, never mind the traps. I’ve seen traps, and set them too, fifty +times before now. I’ll stop with you, old boy, I will,” said Harry +doggedly, while he made arrangements to settle down for the evening. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if <i>you</i> won’t go, I will,” said Hamilton coolly, +as he unwound the blanket from his feet and began to pull on his socks. +</p> + +<p> +“Bravo, my lad!” exclaimed the accountant, patting him approvingly +on the back; “I didn’t think you had half so much pluck in you. But +it won’t do, old fellow. You’re in <i>my</i> castle just now, and +must obey orders. You couldn’t walk half-a-mile for your life; so just be +pleased to pull off your socks again. Besides, I want Harry to help me to carry +up my foxes, if there are any;—so get ready, sirrah!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, captain,” cried Harry, with a laugh, while he sprang up +and put on his snow-shoes. +</p> + +<p> +“You needn’t bring your gun,” said the accountant, shaking +the ashes from his pipe as he prepared to depart, “but you may as well +shove that axe into your belt; you may want it.—Now, mind, don’t +roast your feet,” he added, turning to Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +“Adieu!” cried Harry, with a nod and a smile, as he turned to go. +“Take care the bears don’t find you out.” +</p> + +<p> +“No fear. Good-bye, Harry,” replied Hamilton, as his two friends +disappeared in the wood and left him to his solitary meditations. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Shows how the accountant and Harry set their traps, and what came of it. +</p> + +<p> +The moon was still up, and the sky less overcast, when our amateur trappers +quitted the encampment, and, descending to the mouth of the little brook, took +their way over North River in the direction of the accountant’s traps. +Being somewhat fatigued both in mind and body by the unusual exertions of the +night, neither of them spoke for some time, but continued to walk in silence, +contemplatively gazing at their long shadows. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever trap a fox, Harry?” said the accountant at length. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I used to set traps at Red River; but the foxes there are not +numerous, and are so closely watched by the dogs that they have become +suspicious. I caught but few.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you know how to <i>set</i> a trap?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes; I’ve set both steel and snow traps often. You’ve +heard of old Labonté, who used to carry one of the winter packets from Red +River until within a few years back?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I’ve heard of him; his name is in my ledger—at least, +if you mean Pierre Labonté, who came down last fall with the brigade.” +</p> + +<p> +“The same. Well, he was a great friend of mine. His little cabin lay +about two miles from Fort Garry, and after work was over in the office I used +to go down to sit and chat with him by the fire, and many a time I have sat up +half the night listening to him as he recounted his adventures. The old man +never tired of relating them, and of smoking twist tobacco. Among other things, +he set my mind upon trapping, by giving me an account of an expedition he made, +when quite a youth, to the Rocky Mountains; so I got him to go into the woods +and teach me how to set traps and snares, and I flatter myself he found me an +apt pupil.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated the accountant; “I have no doubt you do +<i>flatter</i> yourself. But here we are. The traps are just beyond that mound; +so look out, and don’t stick your feet into them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hist!” exclaimed Harry, laying his hand suddenly on his +companion’s arm. “Do you see <i>that</i>?” pointing towards +the place where the traps were said to be. +</p> + +<p> +“You have sharp eyes, younker. I <i>do</i> see it, now that you point it +out. It’s a fox, and caught, too, as I’m a scrivener.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re in luck to-night,” exclaimed Harry, eagerly, +“It’s a <i>silver</i> fox. I see the white tip on its tail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense,” cried the accountant, hastening forward; “but +we’ll soon settle the point.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry proved to be right. On reaching the spot they found a beautiful black +fox, caught by the fore leg in a steel trap, and gazing at them with a look of +terror. +</p> + +<p> +The skin of the silver fox—so called from a slight sprinkling of pure +white hairs covering its otherwise jet-black body—is the most valuable +fur obtained by the fur-traders, and fetches an enormous price in the British +market, so much as thirty pounds sterling being frequently obtained for a +single skin. The foxes vary in colour from jet black, which is the most +valuable, to a light silvery hue, and are hailed as great prizes by the Indians +and trappers when they are so fortunate as to catch them. They are not +numerous, however, and being exceedingly wary and suspicious, are difficult to +catch, ft may be supposed, therefore, that our friend the accountant ran to +secure his prize with some eagerness. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, then, my beauty, don’t shrink,” he said, as the poor +fox backed at his approach as far as the chain which fastened the trap to a log +of wood, would permit, and then, standing at bay, showed a formidable row of +teeth. That grin was its last; another moment, and the handle of the +accountant’s axe stretched it lifeless on the snow. +</p> + +<p> +“Isn’t it a beauty!” cried he, surveying the animal with a +look of triumphant pleasure; and then feeling as if he had compromised his +dignity a little by betraying so much glee, he added, “But come now, +Harry; we must see to the other traps. It’s getting late.” +</p> + +<p> +The others were soon visited; but no more foxes were caught. However, the +accountant set them both off to see that all was right; and then readjusting +one himself, told Harry to set the other, in order to clear himself of the +charge of boasting. +</p> + +<p> +Harry, nothing loath, went down on his knees to do so. +</p> + +<p> +The steel trap used for catching foxes is of exactly the same form as the +ordinary rat-trap, with this difference, that it has two springs instead of +one, is considerably larger, and has no teeth, as these latter would only tend +to spoil the skin. Owing to the strength of the springs, a pretty strong effort +is required to set the trap, and, clumsy fellows frequently catch the tails of +their coats or the ends of their belts, and not unfrequently the ends of their +fingers, in their awkward attempts. Haying set it without any of the above +untoward accidents occurring, Harry placed it gently on a hole which he had +previously scraped—placing it in such a manner that the jaws and plate, +or trigger, were a hair-breadth below the level of the snow. After this he +spread over it a very thin sheet of paper, observing as he did so that hay or +grass was preferable; but as there was none at hand, paper would do. Over this +he sprinkled snow very lightly, until every vestige of the trap was concealed +from view, and the whole was made quite level with the surrounding plain, so +that even the accountant himself, after he had once removed his eyes from it, +could not tell where it lay. Some chips of a frozen ptarmigan were then +scattered around the spot, and a piece of wood left to mark its whereabouts. +The bait is always scattered <i>round</i> and not <i>on</i> the trap, as the +fox, in running from one piece to another, is almost certain to set his foot on +it, and so get caught by the leg; whereas, were the bait placed <i>upon</i> the +trap, the fox would be apt to get caught, while in the act of eating, by the +snout, which, being wedge-like in form, is easily dragged out of its gripe. +</p> + +<p> +“Now then, what say you to going farther out on the river, and making a +snow trap for white foxes?” said the accountant. “We shall still +have time to do so before the moon sets.” +</p> + +<p> +“Agreed,” cried Harry. “Come along.” +</p> + +<p> +Without further parley they left the spot and stretched out towards the sea. +</p> + +<p> +The snow on the river was quite hard on its surface, so that snow-shoes being +unnecessary, they carried them over their shoulders, and advanced much more +rapidly. It is true that their road was a good deal broken, and jagged pieces +of ice protruded their sharp corners so as to render a little attention +necessary in walking; but one or two severe bumps on their toes made our +friends sensitively alive to these minor dangers of the way. +</p> + +<p> +“There goes a pack of them!” exclaimed Harry, as a troop of white +foxes scampered past, gambolling as they went, and, coming suddenly to a halt +at a short distance, wheeled about and sat down on their haunches, apparently +resolved to have a good look at the strangers who dared to venture into their +wild domain. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, they are the most stupid brutes alive,” said the accountant, +as he regarded the pack with a look of contempt. “I’ve seen one of +them sit down and look at me while I set a trap right before his eyes; and I +had not got a hundred yards from the spot when a yell informed me that the +gentleman’s curiosity had led him to put his foot right into it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” exclaimed Harry. “I had no idea that they were so +tame. Certainly no other kind of fox would do that.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, that’s certain. But these fellows have done it to me again and +again. I shouldn’t wonder if we got one to-night in the very same way. +I’m sure, by the look of these rascals, that they would do anything of a +reckless, stupid nature just now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had we not better make our trap here, then? There is a point, not fifty +yards off, with trees on it large enough for our purpose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; it will do very well here. Now, then, to work. Go to the wood, +Harry, and fetch a log or two, while I cut out the slabs.” So saying, the +accountant drew the axe which he always carried in his belt; and while Harry +entered the wood and began to hew off the branch of a tree, he proceeded, as he +had said, to “cut out the slabs.” With the point of his knife he +first of all marked out an oblong in the snow, then cut down three or four +inches with the axe, and putting the handle under the cut, after the manner of +a lever, detached a thick solid slab of about three inches thick, which, +although not so hard as ice, was quite hard enough for the purpose for which it +was intended. He then cut two similar slabs, and a smaller one, the same in +thickness and breadth, but only half the length. Having accomplished this, he +raised himself to rest a little, and observed that Harry approached, staggering +under a load of wood, and that the foxes were still sitting on their haunches, +gazing at him with a look of deep interest. +</p> + +<p> +“If I only had my gun here!” thought he. But not having it, he +merely shook his fist at them, stooped down again, and resumed his work. With +Harry’s assistance the slabs were placed in such a way as to form a sort +of box or house, having one end of it open. This was further plastered with +soft snow at the joinings, and banked up in such a way that no animal could +break into it easily—at least such an attempt would be so difficult as to +make an entrance into the interior by the open side much more probable. When +this was finished, they took the logs that Harry had cut and carried with so +much difficulty from the wood, and began to lop off the smaller branches and +twigs. One large log was placed across the opening of the trap, while the +others were piled on one end of it so as to press it down with their weight. +Three small pieces of stick were now prepared—two of them being about +half a foot long, and the other about a foot. On the long piece of stick the +breast of a ptarmigan was fixed as a bait, and two notches cut, the one at the +end of it, the other about four or five inches further down. All was now ready +to set the trap. +</p> + +<p> +“Raise the log now while I place the trigger,” said Harry, kneeling +down in front of the door, while the accountant, as directed, lifted up the log +on which the others lay so as to allow his companion to introduce the +bait-stick, in such a manner as to support it, while the slightest pull on the +bait would set the stick with the notches free, and thus permit the log to fall +on the back of the fox, whose effort to reach the bait would necessarily place +him under it. +</p> + +<p> +While Harry was thus engaged, the accountant stood up and looked towards the +foxes. They had approached so near in their curiosity, that he was induced to +throw his axe frantically at the foremost of the pack. This set them galloping +off, but they soon halted and sat down as before. +</p> + +<p> +“What aggravating brutes they are, to be sure!” said Harry, with a +laugh, as his companion returned with the hatchet. +</p> + +<p> +“Humph! yes, but we’ll be upsides with them yet. Come along into +the wood, and I wager that in ten minutes we shall have one.” +</p> + +<p> +They immediately hurried towards the wood, but had not walked fifty paces when +they were startled by a loud yell behind them. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” exclaimed the accountant, while he and Harry turned +round with a start. “It cannot surely be possible that they have gone in +already.” A loud howl followed the remark, and the whole pack fled over +the plain like snow-drift, and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that’s a pity! something must have scared them to make them +take wing like that. However, we’ll get one to-morrow for certain; so +come along, lad, let us make for the camp.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so fast,” replied the other; “if you hadn’t pored +over the big ledger till you were blind, you would see that there is <i>one</i> +prisoner already.” +</p> + +<p> +This proved to be the case. On returning to the spot they found an arctic fox +in his last gasp, lying flat on the snow, with the heavy log across his back, +which seemed to be broken. A slight tap on the snout with the +accountant’s deadly axe-handle completed its destruction. +</p> + +<p> +“We’re in luck to-night,” cried Harry, as he kneeled again to +reset the trap. “But after all these white brutes are worth very little; +I fancy a hundred of their skins would not be worth the black one you got +first.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be quick, Harry; the moon is almost down, and poor Hamilton will think +that the polar bears have got hold of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ail right! Now then, step out,” and glancing once more at the trap +to see that all was properly arranged, the two friends once more turned their +faces homewards, and travelled over the snow with rapid strides. +</p> + +<p> +The moon had just set, leaving the desolate scene in deep gloom, so that they +could scarcely find their way to the forest; and when they did at last reach +its shelter, the night became so intensely dark that they had almost to grope +their way, and would certainly have lost it altogether were it not for the +accountant’s thorough knowledge of the locality. To add to their +discomfort, as they stumbled on, snow began to fall, and ere long a pretty +steady breeze of wind drove it sharply in their faces. However, this mattered +but little, as they penetrated deeper in among the trees, which proved a +complete shelter both from wind and snow. An hour’s march brought them to +the mouth of the brook, although half that time would have been sufficient had +it been daylight, and a few minutes later they had the satisfaction of hearing +Hamilton’s voice hailing them as they pushed aside the bushes and sprang +into the cheerful light of their encampment. +</p> + +<p> +“Hurrah!” shouted Harry, as he leaped into the space before the +fire, and flung the two foxes at Hamilton’s feet. “What do you +think of <i>that</i>, old fellow? How are the heels? Rather sore, eh? Now for +the kettle. Polly, put the kettle on; we’ll all have—My eye! +where’s the kettle, Hamilton? have you eaten it?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you compose yourself a little, Harry, and look at the fire, +you’ll see it boiling there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Man, what a chap you are for making unnecessary speeches! Couldn’t +you tell me to look at the fire without the preliminary piece of advice to +<i>compose</i> myself? Besides, you talk nonsense, for I’m composed +already, of blood, bones, flesh, sinews, fat, and—” +</p> + +<p> +“Humbug!” interrupted the accountant. “Lend a hand to get +supper, you young goose!” +</p> + +<p> +“And so,” continued Harry, not noticing the interruption, “I +cannot be expected, nor is it necessary, to <i>compose</i> myself over again. +But to be serious,” he added, “it was very kind and considerate of +you, Hammy, to put on the kettle, when your heels were in a manner +uppermost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, it was nothing at all; my heels are much better, thank you, and it +kept me from wearying.” +</p> + +<p> +“Poor fellow!” said the accountant, while he busied himself in +preparing their evening meal, “you must be quite ravenous by this +time—at least <i>I</i> am, which is the same thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Supper was soon ready. It consisted of a large kettle of tea, a lump of +pemmican, a handful of broken biscuit, and three ptarmigan—all of which +were produced from the small wooden box which the accountant was wont to call +his camp-larder. The ptarmigan had been shot two weeks before, and carefully +laid up for future use; the intense frost being a sufficient guarantee for +their preservation for many months, had that been desired. +</p> + +<p> +It would have done you good, reader (supposing you to be possessed of +sympathetic feelings), to have witnessed those three nor’-westers +enjoying their supper in the snowy camp. The fire had been replenished with +logs, till it roared and crackled again, as if it were endued with a vicious +spirit, and wished to set the very snow in flames. The walls shone like +alabaster studded with diamonds, while the green boughs overhead and the stems +around were of a deep red colour in the light of the fierce blaze. The +tea-kettle hissed, fumed, and boiled over into the fire. A mass of pemmican +simmered in the lid in front of it. Three pannikins of tea reposed on the green +branches, their refreshing contents sending up little clouds of steam, while +the ptarmigan, now split up, skewered, and roasted, were being heartily +devoured by our three hungry friends. +</p> + +<p> +The pleasures that fall to the lot of man are transient. Doubtless they are +numerous and oft recurring; still they are transient, and so—supper came +to an end. +</p> + +<p> +“Now for a pipe,” said the accountant, disposing his limbs at full +length on a green blanket. “O thou precious weed, what should we do +without thee!” +</p> + +<p> +“Smoke <i>tea</i>, to be sure,” answered Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! true, it <i>is</i> possible to exist on a pipe of tea-leaves for a +time, but <i>only</i> for a time. I tried it myself once, in desperation, when +I ran short of tobacco on a journey, and found it execrable, but better than +nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pity we can’t join you in that.” remarked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“True; but perhaps since you cannot pipe, it might prove an agreeable +diversification to dance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, I’d rather not,” said Harry; “and as for +Hamilton, I’m convinced that <i>his</i> mind is made up on the +subject.—How go the heels now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, pretty well,” he replied, reclining his head on the +pine branches, and extending his smitten members towards the fire. “I +think they will be quite well in the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a curious thing,” remarked the accountant, in a +soliloquising tone, “that <i>soft</i> fellows <i>never</i> smoke!” +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your pardon,” said Harry, “I’ve often seen hot +loaves smoke, and they’re soft enough fellows, in all conscience!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” sighed the accountant, “that reminds me of poor +Peterkin, who was <i>so</i> soft that he went by the name of +‘Butter.’ Did you ever hear of what he did the summer before last +with an Indian’s head?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, never; what was it!” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll tell you the story,” replied the accountant, drawing a +few vigorous whiffs of smoke, to prevent his pipe going out while he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +As the story in question, however, depicts a new phase of society in the woods, +it deserves a chapter to itself. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The accountant’s story. +</p> + +<p> +“Spring had passed away, and York Fort was filled with all the bustle and +activity of summer. Brigades came pouring in upon us with furs from the +interior, and as every boat brought a C. T. or a clerk, our mess-table began to +overflow. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve not seen the summer mess-room filled yet, Hamilton. +That’s a treat in store for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was pretty full last autumn, I think,” suggested Hamilton, +“at the time I arrived from England.” +</p> + +<p> +“Full! why, man, it was getting to feel quite lonely at that time. +I’ve seen more than fifty sit down to table there, and it was worth going +fifty miles to hear the row they kicked up—telling stories without end +(and sometimes without foundation) about their wild doings in the interior, +where every man-jack of them having spent at least eight months almost in +perfect solitude, they hadn’t had a chance of letting their tongues go +till they came down here. But to proceed. When the ship came out in the fall, +she brought a batch of new clerks, and among them was this miserable chap +Peterkin, whom we soon nicknamed <i>Butter</i>. He was the softest fellow I +ever knew (far worse than you, Hamilton), and he hadn’t been here a week +before the wild blades from the interior, who were bursting with fun and +mischief, began to play off all kinds of practical jokes upon him. The very +first day he sat down at the mess-table, our worthy governor (who, you are +aware, detests practical jokes) played him a trick, quite unintentionally, +which raised a laugh against him for many a day. You know that old Mr. Rogan is +rather absent at times; well, the first day that Peterkin came to mess (it was +breakfast), the old governor asked him, in a patronizing sort of way, to sit at +his right hand. Accordingly down he sat, and having never, I fancy, been away +from his mother’s apron-string before, he seemed to feel very +uncomfortable, especially as he was regarded as a sort of novelty. The first +thing he did was to capsize his plate into his lap, which set the youngsters at +the lower end of the table into suppressed fits of laughter. However, he was +eating the leg of a dry grouse at the time, so it didn’t make much of a +mess. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Try some fish, Peterkin,’ said Mr. Rogan kindly, seeing +that the youth was ill at ease. ‘That old grouse is tough enough to break +your knife.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘A very rough passage,’ replied the youngster, whose mind +was quite confused by hearing the captain of the ship, who sat next to him, +giving to his next neighbour a graphic account of the voyage in a very loud +key—‘I mean, if you please, no, thank you,’ he stammered, +endeavouring to correct himself. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah! a cup of tea perhaps.—Here, Anderson’ (turning to +the butler), ‘a cup of tea to Mr. Peterkin.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The butler obeyed the order. +</p> + +<p> +“‘And here, fill my cup,’ said old Rogan, interrupting +himself in an earnest conversation, into which he had plunged with the +gentleman on his left hand. As he said this he lifted his cup to empty the +slops, but without paying attention to what he was doing. As luck would have +it, the slop-basin was not at hand, and Peterkin’s cup <i>was</i>, so he +emptied it innocently into that. Peterkin hadn’t courage to arrest his +hand, and when the deed was done he looked timidly round to see if the action +had been observed. Nearly half the table had seen it, but they pretended +ignorance of the thing so well that he thought no one had observed, and so went +quietly on with his breakfast, and drank the tea! But I am wandering from my +story. Well, about this time there was a young Indian who shot himself +accidentally in the woods, and was brought to the fort to see if anything could +be done for him. The doctor examined his wound, and found that the ball had +passed through the upper part of his right arm and the middle of his right +thigh, breaking the bone of the latter in its passage. It was an extraordinary +shot for a man to put into himself, for it would have been next to impossible +even for <i>another</i> man to have done it, unless the Indian had been +creeping on all fours. When he was able to speak, however, he explained the +mystery. While running through a rough part of the wood after a wounded bird, +he stumbled and fell on all fours. The gun, which he was carrying over his +shoulder, holding it, as the Indians usually do, by the muzzle, flew forward, +and turned right round as he fell, so that the mouth of it was presented +towards him. Striking against the stem of a tree, it exploded and shot him +through the arm and leg as described ere he had time to rise. A comrade carried +him to his lodge, and his wife brought him in a canoe to the fort. For three or +four days the doctor had hopes of him, but at last he began to sink, and died +on the sixth day after his arrival. His wife and one or two friends buried him +in our graveyard, which lies, as you know, on that lonely-looking point just +below the powder-magazine. For several months previous to this our worthy +doctor had been making strenuous efforts to get an Indian skull to send home to +one of his medical friends, but without success. The Indians could not be +prevailed upon to cut off the head of one of their dead countrymen for love or +money, and the doctor had a dislike to the idea, I suppose, of killing one for +himself; but now here was a golden opportunity. The Indian was buried near to +the fort, and his relatives had gone away to their tents again. What was to +prevent his being dug up? The doctor brooded over the thing for one hour and a +half (being exactly the length of time required to smoke out his large Turkey +pipe), and then sauntered into Wilson’s room. Wilson was busy, as usual, +at some of his mechanical contrivances. +</p> + +<p> +“Thrusting his hands deep into his breeches pockets, and seating himself +on an old sea-chest, he began,— +</p> + +<p> +“‘I say, Wilson, will you do me a favour?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘That depends entirely on what the favour is,’ he replied, +without raising his head from his work. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I want you to help me to cut off an Indian’s head!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Then I <i>won’t</i> do you the favour. But pray, +don’t humbug me just now; I’m busy.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘No; but I’m serious, and I can’t get it done without +help, and I know you’re an obliging fellow. Besides, the savage is dead, +and has no manner of use for his head now.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Wilson turned round with a look of intelligence on hearing this. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ha!’ he exclaimed, ‘I see what you’re up to; +but I don’t half like it. In the first place, his friends would be +terribly cut up if they heard of it; and then I’ve no sort of aptitude +for the work of a resurrectionist; and then, if it got wind, we should never +hear the last of it; and then—’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And then,’ interrupted the doctor, ‘it would be +adding to the light of medical science, you unaspiring monster.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘A light,’ retorted Wilson, ‘which, in passing through +<i>some</i> members of the medical profession, is totally absorbed, and +reproduced in the shape of impenetrable darkness.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Now, don’t object, my dear fellow; you <i>know</i> +you’re going to do it, so don’t coquette with me, but agree at +once.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, I consent, upon one condition.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘And what is that?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘That you do not play any practical jokes on <i>me</i> with the +head when you have got it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Agreed!’ cried the doctor, laughing; ‘I give you my +word of honour. Now he has been buried three days already, so we must set about +it at once. Fortunately the graveyard is composed of a sandy soil, so +he’ll keep for some time yet. +</p> + +<p> +“The two worthies then entered into a deep consultation as to how they +were to set about this deed of darkness. It was arranged that Wilson should +take his gun and sally forth a little before dark, as if he were bent on an +hour’s sport, and, not forgetting his game-bag, proceed to the graveyard, +where the doctor engaged to meet him with a couple of spades and a dark +lantern. Accordingly, next evening, Mr. Wilson, true to his promise, shouldered +his gun and sallied forth. +</p> + +<p> +“It soon became an intensely dark night. Not a single star shone forth to +illumine the track along which he stumbled. Everything around was silent and +dark, and congenial with the work on which he was bent. But Wilson’s +heart beat a little more rapidly than usual. He is a bold enough man, as you +know, but boldness goes for nothing when superstition comes into play. However, +he trudged along fearlessly enough till he came to the thick woods just below +the fort, into which he entered with something of a qualm. Scarcely had he set +foot on the narrow track that leads to the graveyard, when he ran slap against +the post that stands there, but which, in his trepidation, he had entirely +forgotten. This quite upset the small amount of courage that remained, and he +has since confessed that if he had not had the hope of meeting with the doctor +in a few minutes, he would have turned round and fled at that moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Recovering a little from this accident, he hurried forward, but with +more caution, for although the night seemed as dark as could possibly be while +he was crossing the open country, it became speedily evident that there were +several shades of darkness which he had not yet conceived. In a few minutes he +came to the creek that runs past the graveyard, and here again his nerves got +another shake; for slipping his foot while in the act of commencing the +descent, he fell and rolled heavily to the bottom, making noise enough in his +fall to scare away all the ghosts in the country. With a palpitating heart poor +Wilson gathered himself up, and searched for his gun, which fortunately had not +been injured, and then commenced to climb the opposite bank, starting at every +twig that snapped under his feet. On reaching the level ground again he +breathed a little more freely, and hurried forward with more speed than +caution. Suddenly he came into violent contact with a figure, which uttered a +loud growl as Wilson reeled backwards. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Back, you monster,’ he cried, with a hysterical yell, +‘or I’ll blow your brains out!’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘It’s little good <i>that</i> would do ye,’ cried the +doctor as he came forward. ‘Why, you stupid, what did you take me for? +You’ve nearly knocked out my brains as it is,’ and the doctor +rubbed his forehead ruefully. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, it’s <i>you,</i> doctor!’ said Wilson, feeling as +if a ton weight had been lifted off his heart; ‘I verily thought it was +the ghost of the poor fellow we’re going to disturb. I do think you had +better give it up. Mischief will come of it, you’ll see.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Nonsense,’ cried the doctor; ‘don’t be a goose, +but let’s to work at once. Why, I’ve got half the thing dug up +already.’ So saying, he led the way to the grave, in which there was a +large opening. Setting the lantern down by the side of it, the two seized their +spades and began to dig as if in earnest. +</p> + +<p> +“The fact is that the doctor was nearly as frightened as Wilson, and he +afterwards confessed to me that it was an immense relief to him when he heard +him fall down the bank of the creek, and knew by the growl he gave that it was +he. +</p> + +<p> +“In about half-an-hour the doctor’s spade struck upon the coffin +lid, which gave forth a hollow sound. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Now then, we’re about done with it,’ said he, +standing up to wipe away the perspiration that trickled down his face. +‘Take the axe and force up the lid, it’s only fixed with common +nails, while I—’ He did not finish the sentence, but drew a large +scalping-knife from a sheath which hung at his belt. +</p> + +<p> +“Wilson shuddered and obeyed. A good wrench caused the lid to start, and +while he held it partially open the doctor inserted the knife. For five minutes +he continued to twist and work with his arms, muttering between his teeth, +every now and then, that he was a ‘tough subject,’ while the +crackling of bones and other disagreeable sounds struck upon the horrified ears +of his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“‘All right,’ he exclaimed at last, as he dragged a round +object from the coffin and let down the lid with a bang, at the same time +placing the savage’s head with its ghastly features full in the blaze of +the lantern. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Now, then, close up,’ said he, jumping out of the hole and +shovelling in the earth. +</p> + +<p> +“In a few minutes they had filled the grave up and smoothed it down on +the surface, and then, throwing the head into the game-bag, retraced their +steps to the fort. Their nerves were by this time worked up to such a pitch of +excitement, and their minds filled with such a degree of supernatural horror, +that they tripped and stumbled over stumps and branches innumerable in their +double-quick march. Neither would confess to the other, however, that he was +afraid. They even attempted to pass a few facetious remarks as they hurried +along, but it would not do, so they relapsed into silence till they came to the +hollow beside the powder-magazine. Here the doctor’s foot happening to +slip, he suddenly grasped Wilson by the shoulder to support himself—a +movement which, being unexpected, made his friend leap, as he afterwards +expressed it, nearly out of his skin. This was almost too much for them. For a +moment they looked at each other as well as the darkness would permit, when all +at once a large stone, which the doctor’s slip had overbalanced, fell +down the bank and through the bushes with a loud crash. Nothing more was +wanting. All further effort to disguise their feelings was dropped. Leaping the +rail of the open field in a twinkling, they gave a simultaneous yell of +consternation and fled to the fort like autumn leaves before the wind, never +drawing breath till they were safe within the pickets.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what has all this to do with Peterkin?” asked Harry, as the +accountant paused to relight his pipe and toss a fresh log on the fire. +</p> + +<p> +“Have patience, lad; you shall hear.” +</p> + +<p> +The accountant stirred the logs with his toe, drew a few whiffs to see that the +pipe was properly ignited, and proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +“For a day or two after this, the doctor was observed to be often +mysteriously engaged in an outhouse, of which he kept the key. By some means or +other, the skipper, who is always up to mischief, managed to discover the +secret. Watching where the doctor hid the key, he possessed himself of it one +day, and sallied forth, bent on a lark of some kind or other, but without very +well knowing what. Passing the kitchen, he observed Anderson, the butler, +raking the fire out of the large oven which stands in the backyard. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Baking again, Anderson?’ said he in passing. ‘You get +soon through with a heavy cargo of bread just now.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, sir; many mouths to feed, sir,’ replied the butler, +proceeding with his work. +</p> + +<p> +“The skipper sauntered on, and took the track which led to the boathouse, +where he stood for some time in meditation. Casting up his eyes, he saw +Peterkin in the distance, looking as if he didn’t very well know what to +do. +</p> + +<p> +“A sudden thought struck him. Pulling off his coat, he seized a mallet +and a calking-chisel, and began to belabour the side of a boat as if his life +depended on it. All at once he stopped and stood up, blowing with the exertion. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Hollo, Peterkin!’ he shouted, and waved his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Peterkin hastened towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well, sir’ said he, ‘do you wish to speak to +me?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes,’ replied the skipper, scratching his head, as if in +great perplexity. ‘I wish you to do me a favour, Peterkin, but I +don’t know very well how to ask you.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, I shall be most happy,’ said poor Butter eagerly, +‘if I can be of any use to you.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I don’t doubt your willingness,’ replied the other; +‘but then—the doctor, you see—the fact is, Peterkin, the +doctor being called away to see a sick Indian, has intrusted me with a delicate +piece of business—rather a nasty piece of business, I may say—which +I promised to do for him. You must know that the Surgical Society of London has +written to him, begging, as a great favour, that he would, if possible, procure +them the skull of a native. After much trouble, he has succeeded in getting +one, but is obliged to keep it a great secret, even from his fellow-clerks, +lest it should get wind: for if the Indians heard of it they would be sure to +kill him, and perhaps burn the fort too. Now I suppose you are aware that it is +necessary to boil an Indian’s head in order to get the flesh clean off +the skull?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes; I have heard something of that sort from the students at +college, who say that boiling brings flesh more easily away from the bone. But +I don’t know much about it,’ replied Peterkin. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Well,’ continued the skipper, ‘the doctor, who is +fond of experiments, wishes to try whether <i>baking</i> won’t do better +than <i>boiling</i>, and ordered the oven to be heated for that purpose this +morning; but being called suddenly away, as I have said, he begged me to put +the head into it as soon as it was ready. I agreed, quite forgetting at the +time that I had to get this precious boat ready for sea this very afternoon. +Now the oven is prepared, and I dare not leave my work; indeed, I doubt whether +I shall have it quite ready and taut after all, and there’s the oven +cooling; so, if you don’t help me, I’m a lost man.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Having said this, the skipper looked as miserable as his jolly visage +would permit, and rubbed his nose. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, I’ll be happy to do it for you, although it is not an +agreeable job,’ replied Butter. +</p> + +<p> +“‘That’s right—that’s friendly now!’ +exclaimed the skipper, as if greatly relieved. ‘Give us your flipper, my +lad;’ and seizing Peterkin’s hand, he wrung it affectionately. +‘Now, here is the key of the outhouse; do it as quickly as you can, and +don’t let anyone see you. It’s in a good cause, you know, but the +results might be terrible if discovered.’ +</p> + +<p> +“So saying, the skipper fell to hammering the boat again with surprising +vigour till Butter was out of sight, and then resuming his coat, returned to +the house. +</p> + +<p> +“An hour after this, Anderson went to take his loaves out of the oven; +but he had no sooner taken down the door than a rich odour of cooked meat +greeted his nostrils. Uttering a deep growl, the butler shouted out +‘Sprat!’ +</p> + +<p> +“Upon this, a very thin boy, with arms and legs like pipe stems, issued +from the kitchen, and came timidly towards his master. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Didn’t I tell you, you young blackguard, that the +grouse-pie was to be kept for Sunday? and there you’ve gone and put it to +fire to-day.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘The grouse-pie!’ said the boy, in amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Yes, the grouse-pie,’ retorted the indignant butler; and +seizing the urchin by the neck, he held his head down to the mouth of the oven. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Smell <i>that</i>, you villain! What did you mean by it, +eh?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh, murder!’ shouted the boy, as with a violent effort he +freed himself, and ran shrieking into the house. “‘Murder!’ +repeated Anderson in astonishment, while he stooped to look into the oven, +where the first thing that met his gaze was a human head, whose ghastly visage +and staring eyeballs worked and moved about under the influence of the heat as +if it were alive. +</p> + +<p> +“With a yell that rung through the whole fort, the horrified butler +rushed through the kitchen and out at the front door, where, as ill-luck would +have it, Mr. Rogan happened to be standing at the moment. Pitching head first +into the small of the old gentleman’s back, he threw him off the platform +and fell into his arms. Starting up in a moment, the governor dealt Anderson a +cuff that sent him reeling towards the kitchen door again, on the steps of +which he sat down, and began to sing out, ‘Oh, murder, murder! the oven, +the oven!’ and not another word, bad, good, or indifferent, could be got +out of him for the next half-hour, as he swayed himself to and fro and wrung +his hands. +</p> + +<p> +“To make a long story short, Mr. Rogan went himself to the oven, and +fished out the head, along with the loaves, which were, of course, all +spoiled.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what was the result?” enquired Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, there was a long investigation, and the skipper got a blowing-up, +and the doctor a warning to let Indians’ skulls lie at peace in their +graves for the future, and poor Butter was sent to M’Kenzie’s River +as a punishment, for old Rogan could never be brought to believe that he +hadn’t been a willing tool in the skipper’s hands; and Anderson +lost his batch of bread and his oven, for it had to be pulled down and a new +one built.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph! and I’ve no doubt the governor read you a pretty stiff +lecture on practical joking.” +</p> + +<p> +“He did,” replied the accountant, laying aside his pipe and drawing +the green blanket over him, while Harry piled several large logs on the fire. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-night,” said the accountant. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-night,” replied his companions; and in a few minutes more +they were sound asleep in their snowy camp, while the huge fire continued, +during the greater part of the night, to cast its light on their slumbering +forms. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Ptarmigan-hunting—Hamilton’s shooting powers severely +tested—A snowstorm. +</p> + +<p> +At about four o’clock on the following morning, the sleepers were +awakened by the cold, which had become very intense. The fire had burned down +to a few embers, which merely emitted enough light to make darkness visible. +Harry being the most active of the party, was the first to bestir himself. +Raising himself on his elbow, while his teeth chattered and his limbs trembled +with cold, he cast a woebegone and excessively sleepy glance towards the place +where the fire had been; then he scratched his head slowly; then he stared at +the fire again; then he languidly glanced at Hamilton’s sleeping visage, +and then he yawned. The accountant observed all this; for although he appeared +to be buried in the depths of slumber, he was wide awake in reality, and +moreover, intensely cold. The accountant, however, was sly—deep, as he +would have said himself—and knew that Harry’s active habits would +induce him to rise, on awaking, and rekindle the fire,—an event which the +accountant earnestly desired to see accomplished, but which he as earnestly +resolved should not be performed by <i>him</i>. Indeed, it was with this end in +view that he had given vent to the terrific snore which had aroused his young +companion a little sooner than would have otherwise been the case. +</p> + +<p> +“My eye,” exclaimed Harry, in an undertone, “how precious +cold it is!” +</p> + +<p> +His eye making no reply to this remark, he arose, and going down on his hands +and knees, began to coax the charcoal into a flame. By dint of severe blowing, +he soon succeeded, and heaping on a quantity of small twigs, the fitful flame +sprang up into a steady blaze. He then threw several heavy logs on the fire, +and in a very short space of time restored it almost to its original vigour. +</p> + +<p> +“What an abominable row you are kicking up!” growled the +accountant; “why, you would waken the seven sleepers. Oh! mending the +fire,” he added, in an altered tone: “ah! I’ll excuse you, my +boy, since that’s what you’re at.” +</p> + +<p> +The accountant hereupon got up, along with Hamilton, who was now also awake, +and the three spread their hands over the bright fire, and revolved their +bodies before it, until they imbibed a satisfactory amount of heat. They were +much too sleepy to converse, however, and contented themselves with a very +brief enquiry as to the state of Hamilton’s heels, which elicited the +sleepy reply, “They feel quite well, thank you.” In a short time, +having become agreeably warm, they gave a simultaneous yawn, and lying down +again, they fell into a sleep from which they did not awaken until the red +winter sun shot its early rays over the arctic scenery. +</p> + +<p> +Once more Harry sprang up, and let his hand fall heavily on Hamilton’s +shoulder. Thus rudely assailed, that youth also sprang up, giving a shout, at +the same time, that brought the accountant to his feet in an instant; and so, +as if by an electric spark, the sleepers were simultaneously roused into a +state of wide-awake activity. +</p> + +<p> +“How excessively hungry I feel! isn’t it strange?” said +Hamilton, as he assisted in rekindling the fire, while the accountant filled +his pipe, and Harry stuffed the tea-kettle full of snow. +</p> + +<p> +“Strange!” cried Harry, as he placed the kettle on the +fire—“strange to be hungry after a five miles’ walk and a +night in the snow? I would rather say it was strange if you were <i>not</i> +hungry. Throw on that billet, like a good fellow, and spit those grouse, while +I cut some pemmican and prepare the tea.” +</p> + +<p> +“How are the heels now, Hamilton?” asked the accountant, who +divided his attention between his pipe and his snow-shoes, the lines of which +required to be readjusted. +</p> + +<p> +“They appear to be as well as if nothing had happened to them,” +replied Hamilton: “I’ve been looking at them, and there is no mark +whatever. They do not even feel tender.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lucky for you, old boy, that they were taken in time, else you’d +had another story to tell.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean to say that people’s heels really freeze and fall +off?” inquired the other, with a look of incredulity. +</p> + +<p> +“Soft, very soft and green,” murmured Harry, in a low voice, while +he continued his work of adding fresh snow to the kettle as the process of +melting reduced its bulk. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean to say,” replied the accountant, tapping the ashes out of +his pipe, “that not only heels, but hands, feet, noses, and ears, +frequently freeze, and often fall off in this country, as you will find by sad +experience if you don’t look after yourself a little better than you have +done hitherto.” +</p> + +<p> +One of the evil effects of the perpetual jesting that prevailed at York Fort +was, that “soft” (in other words, straightforward, unsuspecting) +youths had to undergo a long process of learning-by-experience: first, +<i>believing</i> everything, and then <i>doubting</i> everything, ere they +arrived at that degree of sophistication which enabled them to distinguish +between truth and falsehood. +</p> + +<p> +Having reached the <i>doubting</i> period in his training, Hamilton looked down +and said nothing, at least with his mouth, though his eyes evidently remarked, +“I don’t believe you.” In future years, however, the evidence +of these same eyes convinced him that what the accountant said upon this +occasion was but too true. +</p> + +<p> +Breakfast was a repetition of the supper of the previous evening. During its +discussion they planned proceedings for the day. +</p> + +<p> +“My notion is,” said the accountant, interrupting the flow of words +ever and anon to chew the morsel with which his mouth was +filled—“my notion is, that as it’s a fine clear day we should +travel five miles through the country parallel with North River. I know the +ground, and can guide you easily to the spots where there are lots of willows, +and therefore plenty of ptarmigan, seeing that they feed on willow tops; and +the snow that fell last night will help us a little.” +</p> + +<p> +“How will the snow help us?” inquired Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +“By covering up all the old tracks, to be sure, and showing only the new +ones.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, captain,” said Harry, as he raised a can of tea to his lips, +and nodded to Hamilton as if drinking his health, “go on with your +proposals for the day. Five miles up the river to begin with, +then—” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we’ll pull up,” continued the accountant; “make a +fire, rest a bit, and eat a mouthful of pemmican; after which we’ll +strike across country for the southern woodcutters’ track, and so +home.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how much will that be?” +</p> + +<p> +“About fifteen miles.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ha!” exclaimed Harry; “pass the kettle, please. +Thanks.—Do you think you’re up to that, Hammy?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will try what I can do,” replied Hamilton. “If the +snow-shoes don’t cause me to fall often, I think I shall stand the +fatigue very well.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right,” said the accountant; “‘faint +heart,’ etc., you know. If you go on as you’ve begun, you’ll +be chosen to head the next expedition to the north pole.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” replied Hamilton, good-humouredly, “pray head the +present expedition, and let us be gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right!” ejaculated the accountant, rising. “I’ll just +put my odds and ends out of the reach of the foxes, and then we shall be +off.” +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes everything was placed in security, guns loaded, snow-shoes put +on, and the winter camp deserted. At first the walking was fatiguing, and poor +Hamilton more than once took a sudden and eccentric plunge; but after getting +beyond the wooded country, they found the snow much more compact, and their +march, therefore, much more agreeable. On coming to the place where it was +probable that they might fall in with ptarmigan, Hamilton became rather +excited, and apt to imagine that little lumps of snow which hung upon the +bushes here and there were birds. +</p> + +<p> +“There now,” he cried, in an energetic and slightly positive tone, +as another of these masses of snow suddenly met his eager +eye—“that’s one, I’m <i>quite</i> sure.” +</p> + +<p> +The accountant and Harry both stopped short on hearing this, and looked in the +direction indicated. +</p> + +<p> +“Fire away, then, Hammy,” said the former, endeavouring to suppress +a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“But do you think it <i>really</i> is one?” asked Hamilton, +anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I don’t <i>see</i> it exactly, but then, you know, I’m +near-sighted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t give him a chance of escape,” cried Harry, seeing that +his friend was undecided. “If you really do see a bird, you’d +better shoot it, for they’ve got a strong propensity to take wing when +disturbed.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus admonished Hamilton raised his gun and took aim. Suddenly he lowered his +piece again, and looking round at Harry, said in a low whisper,— +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I should like <i>so</i> much to shoot it while flying! Would it not +be better to set it up first?” +</p> + +<p> +“By no means,” answered the accountant. “‘A bird in the +hand,’ etc. Take him as you find him—look sharp; he’ll be off +in a second.” +</p> + +<p> +Again the gun was pointed, and, after some difficulty in taking aim, fired. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, what a pity you’ve missed him!” shouted Harry, +</p> + +<p> +“But see, he’s not off yet; how tame he is, to be sure! Give him +the other barrel, Hammy.” +</p> + +<p> +This piece of advice proved to be unnecessary. In his anxiety to get the bird, +Hamilton had cocked both barrels, and while gazing, half in disappointment, +half in surprise, at the supposed bird, his finger unintentionally pressed the +second trigger. In a moment the piece exploded. Being accidentally aimed in the +right direction, it blew the lump of snow to atoms, and at the same time +hitting its owner on the chest with the butt, knocked him over flat upon his +back. +</p> + +<p> +“What a gun it is, to be sure!” said Harry, with a roguish laugh, +as he assisted the discomforted sportsman to rise; “it knocks over game +with butt and muzzle at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite a rare instance of one butt knocking another down,” added +the accountant. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment a large flock of ptarmigan, startled by the double report, rose +with a loud whirring noise about a hundred yards in advance, and after flying a +short distance alighted. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s real game at last, though,” cried the accountant, as +he hurried after the birds, followed closely by his young friends. +</p> + +<p> +They soon reached the spot where the flock had alighted, and after following up +the tracks for a few yards further, set them up again. As the birds rose, the +accountant fired and brought down two; Harry shot one and missed another; +Hamilton being so nervously interested in the success of his comrades that he +forgot to fire at all. +</p> + +<p> +“How stupid of me!” he exclaimed, while the others loaded their +guns. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind; better luck next time,” said Harry, as they resumed +their walk. “I saw the flock settle down about half-a-mile in advance of +us; so step out.” +</p> + +<p> +Another short walk brought the sportsmen again within range. +</p> + +<p> +“Go to the front, Hammy,” said the accountant, “and take the +first shot this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton obeyed. He had scarcely made ten steps in advance, when a single bird, +that seemed to have been separated from the others, ran suddenly out from under +a bush, and stood stock-still, at a distance of a few yards, with its neck +stretched out and its black eyes wide open, as if in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Now then, you can’t miss <i>that</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton was quite taken aback by the suddenness of this necessity for +instantaneous action. Instead, therefore, of taking aim leisurely (seeing that +he had abundant time to do so), he flew entirely to the opposite extreme, took +no aim at all, and fired off both barrels at once, without putting the gun to +his shoulder. The result of this was that the affrighted bird flew away +unharmed, while Harry and the accountant burst spontaneously into fits of +laughter. +</p> + +<p> +“How very provoking!” said the poor youth, with a dejected look. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind—never say die—try again,” said the +accountant, on recovering his gravity. Having reloaded, they continued the +pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” exclaimed Harry, suddenly, “here are three dead +birds.—I verily believe, Hamilton, that you have killed them all at one +shot by accident.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can it be possible?” exclaimed his friend, as with a look of +amazement he regarded the birds. +</p> + +<p> +There was no doubt about the fact. There they lay, plump and still warm, with +one or two drops of bright red blood upon their white plumage. Ptarmigan are +almost pure white, so that it requires a practised eye to detect them, even at +a distance of a few yards; and it would be almost impossible to hunt them +without dogs, but for the tell-tale snow, in which their tracks are distinctly +marked, enabling the sportsman to follow them up with unerring certainty. When +Hamilton made his bad shot, neither he nor his companions observed a group of +ptarmigan not more than fifty yards before them, their attention being riveted +at the time on the solitary bird; and the gun happening to be directed towards +them when it was fired, three were instantly and unwittingly placed <i>hors de +combat</i>, while the others ran away. This the survivors frequently do when +very tame, instead of taking wing. Thus it was that Hamilton, to his immense +delight, made such a successful shot without being aware of it. +</p> + +<p> +Having bagged their game, the party proceeded on their way. Several large +flocks of birds were raised, and the game-bags nearly filled, before reaching +the spot where they intended to turn and bend their steps homewards. This +induced them to give up the idea of going further; and it was fortunate they +came to this resolution, for a storm was brewing, which in the eagerness of +pursuit after game they had not noticed. Dark masses of leaden-coloured clouds +were gathering in the sky overhead, and faint sighs of wind came, ever and +anon, in fitful gusts from the north-west. +</p> + +<p> +Hurrying forward as quickly as possible, they now pursued their course in a +direction which would enable them to cross the woodcutters’ track. This +they soon reached, and finding it pretty well beaten, were enabled to make more +rapid progress. Fortunately the wind was blowing on their backs, otherwise they +would have had to contend not only with its violence, but also with the +snow-drift, which now whirled in bitter fury among the trees, or scoured like +driving clouds over the plain. Under this aspect, the flat country over which +they travelled seemed the perfection of bleak desolation. Their way, however, +did not lie in a direct line. The track was somewhat tortuous, and gradually +edged towards the north, until the wind blew nearly in their teeth. At this +point, too, they came to a stretch of open ground which they had crossed at a +point some miles further to the northward in their night march. Here the storm +raged in all its fury, and as they looked out upon the plain, before quitting +the shelter of the wood, they paused to tighten their belts and readjust their +snow-shoe lines. The gale was so violent that the whole plain seemed tossed +about like billows of the sea, as the drift rose and fell, curled, eddied, and +dashed along, so that it was impossible to see more than half-a-dozen yards in +advance. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven preserve us from ever being caught in an exposed place on such a +night as this!” said the accountant, as he surveyed the prospect before +him. “Luckily the open country here is not more than a quarter of a mile +broad, and even that little bit will try our wind somewhat.” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton and Harry seemed by their looks to say, “We could easily face +even a stiffer breeze than that, if need be.” +</p> + +<p> +“What should we do,” inquired the former, “if the plain were +five or six miles broad?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do? why, we should have to camp in the woods till it blew over, +that’s all,” replied the accountant; “but seeing that we are +not reduced to such a necessity just now, and that the day is drawing to a +close, let us face it at once. I’ll lead the way, and see that you follow +close at my heels. Don’t lose sight of me for a moment, and if you do by +chance, give a shout; d’ye hear?” +</p> + +<p> +The two lads replied in the affirmative, and then bracing themselves up as if +for a great effort, stepped vigorously out upon the plain, and were instantly +swallowed up in clouds of snow. For half-an-hour or more they battled slowly +against the howling storm, pressing forward for some minutes with heads down, +as if <i>boring</i> through it, then turning their backs to the blast for a few +seconds’ relief, but always keeping as close to each other as possible. +At length the woods were gained; on entering which it was discovered that +Hamilton was missing. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo! where’s Hamilton?” exclaimed Harry; “I saw him +beside me not five minutes ago.” The accountant gave a loud shout, but +there was no reply. Indeed, nothing short of his own stentorian voice could +have been heard at all amid the storm. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s nothing for it,” said Harry, “but to search at +once, else he’ll wander about and get lost.” Saying this, he began +to retrace his steps, just as a brief lull in the gale took place. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo! don’t you hear a cry, Harry?” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment there was another lull; the drift fell, and for an instant +cleared away, revealing the bewildered Hamilton, not twenty yards off, +standing, like a pillar of snow, in mute despair. +</p> + +<p> +Profiting by the glimpse, Harry rushed forward, caught him by the arm, and led +him into the partial shelter of the forest. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing further befell them after this. Their route lay in shelter all the way +to the fort. Poor Hamilton, it is true, took one or two of his occasional +plunges by the way, but without any serious result—not even to the extent +of stuffing his nose, ears, neck, mittens, pockets, gun-barrels, and everything +else with snow, because, these being quite full and hard packed already, there +was no room left for the addition of another particle. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The winter packet—Harry hears from old friends, and wishes that he was +with them. +</p> + +<p> +Letters from home! What a burst of sudden emotion—what a riot of +conflicting feelings of dread and joy, expectation and anxiety—what a +flood of old memories—what stirring up of almost forgotten associations +these three words create in the hearts of those who dwell in distant regions of +this earth, far, far away from kith and kin, from friends and acquaintances, +from the much-loved scenes of childhood, and from <i>home</i>! Letters from +home! How gratefully the sound falls upon ears that have been long unaccustomed +to sounds and things connected with home, and so long accustomed to wild, +savage sounds, that these have at length lost their novelty, and become +everyday and commonplace, while the first have gradually grown strange and +unwonted. For many long months home and all connected with it have become a +dream of other days, and savage-land a present reality. The mind has by degrees +become absorbed by surrounding objects—objects so utterly unassociated +with or unsuggestive of any other land, that it involuntarily ceases to think +of the scenes of childhood with the same feelings that it once did. As time +rolls on, home assumes a misty, undefined character, as if it were not only +distant in reality, but were also slowly retreating further and further +away—growing gradually faint and dream-like, though not less dear, to the +mental view. +</p> + +<p> +“Letters from home!” shouted Mr. Wilson, and the doctor, and the +skipper, simultaneously, as the sportsmen, after dashing through the wild +storm, at last reached the fort, and stumbled tumultuously into +Bachelors’ Hall. +</p> + +<p> +“What!—Where!—How!—You don’t mean it!” they +exclaimed, coming to a sudden stand, like three pillars of snow-clad +astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” replied the doctor, who affected to be quite cool upon all +occasions, and rather cooler than usual if the occasion was more than +ordinarily exciting—“ay, we <i>do</i> mean it. Old Rogan has got +the packet, and is even now disembowelling it.” +</p> + +<p> +“More than that,” interrupted the skipper, who sat smoking as usual +by the stove, with his hands in his breeches pockets—“more than +that, I saw him dissecting into the very marrow of the thing; so if we +don’t storm the old admiral in his cabin, he’ll go to sleep over +these prosy yarns that the governor-in-chief writes to him, and we’ll +have to whistle for our letters till midnight.” +</p> + +<p> +The skipper’s remark was interrupted by the opening of the outer door and +the entrance of the butler. “Mr. Rogan wishes to see you, sir,” +said that worthy to the accountant. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll be with him in a minute,” he replied, as he threw off +his capote and proceeded to unwind himself as quickly as his multitudinous haps +would permit. +</p> + +<p> +By this time Harry Somerville and Hamilton were busily occupied in a similar +manner, while a running fire of question and answer, jesting remark and +bantering reply, was kept up between the young men, from their various +apartments and the hall. The doctor was cool, as usual, and impudent. He had a +habit of walking up and down while he smoked, and was thus enabled to look in +upon the inmates of the several sleeping-rooms, and make his remarks in a +quiet, sarcastic manner, the galling effect of which was heightened by his +habit of pausing at the end of every two or three words, to emit a few puffs of +smoke. Having exhausted a good deal of small talk in this way, and having, +moreover, finished his pipe, the doctor went to the stove to refill and +relight. +</p> + +<p> +“What a deal of trouble you do take to make yourself comfortable!” +said he to the skipper, who sat with his chair tilted on its hind legs, and a +pillow at his back. +</p> + +<p> +“No harm in that, doctor,” replied the skipper, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“No harm, certainly, but it looks uncommonly lazy-like.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, putting a pillow at your back, to be sure.” +</p> + +<p> +The doctor was a full-fleshed, muscular man, and owing to this fact it mattered +little to him whether his chair happened to be an easy one or not. As the +skipper sometimes remarked, he carried padding always about with him; he was, +therefore, a little apt to sneer at the attempts of his brethren to render the +ill-shaped, wooden-bottomed chairs, with which the hall was ornamented, +bearable. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, doctor,” said the skipper, “I cannot see how you make +me out lazy. Surely it is not an evidence of laziness, my endeavouring to +render these instruments of torture less tormenting? Seeking to be comfortable, +if it does not inconvenience anyone else, is not laziness. Why, what <i>is</i> +comfort?” The skipper began to wax philosophical at this point, and took +the pipe from his mouth as he gravely propounded the momentous question. +“What <i>is</i> comfort? If I go out to camp in the woods, and after +turning in find a sharp stump sticking into my ribs on one side, and a pine +root driving in the small of my back on the other side, is <i>that</i> comfort? +Certainly not. And if I get up, seize a hatchet, level the stump, cut away the +root, and spread pine brush over the place, am I to be called lazy for doing +so? Or if I sit down on a chair, and on trying to lean back to rest myself find +that the stupid lubber who made it has so constructed it that four small hard +points alone touch my person—two being at the hip-joints and two at the +shoulder-blades; and if to relieve such physical agony I jump up and clap a +pillow at my back, am I to be called lazy for doing <i>that</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +“What a glorious entry that would make in the log!” said the +doctor, in a low tone, soliloquizingly, as if he made the remark merely for his +own satisfaction, while he tapped the ashes out of his pipe. +</p> + +<p> +The skipper looked as if he meditated a sharp reply; but his intentions, +whatever they might have been, were interrupted by the opening of the door, and +the entrance of the accountant, bearing under his arm a packet of letters. +</p> + +<p> +A general rush was made upon him, and in a few minutes a dead silence reigned +in the hall, broken only at intervals by an exclamation of surprise or pathos, +as the inmates, in the retirement of their separate apartments, perused letters +from friends in the interior of the country and friends at home: letters that +were old—some of them bearing dates many months back—and +travel-stained, but new and fresh and cheering, nevertheless, to their owners, +as the clear bright sun in winter or the verdant leaves in spring. +</p> + +<p> +Harry Somerville’s letters were numerous and long. He had several from +friends in Red River, besides one or two from other parts of the Indian +country, and one—it was very thick and heavy—that bore the +post-marks of Britain. It was late that night ere the last candle was +extinguished in the hall, and it was late too before Harry Somerville ceased to +peruse and re-peruse the long letter from home, and found time or inclination +to devote to his other correspondents. Among the rest was a letter from his old +friend and companion, Charley Kennedy, which ran as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +M<small>Y DEAR</small> H<small>ARRY</small>,—It really seems more than an +age since I saw you. Your last epistle, written in the perturbation of mind +consequent upon being doomed to spend another winter at York Fort, reached me +only a few days ago, and filled me with pleasant recollections of other days. +Oh! man, how much I wish that you were with me in this beautiful country! You +are aware that I have been what they call “roughing it” since you +and I parted on the shores of Lake Winnipeg; but, my dear fellow, the idea that +most people have of what that phrase means is a very erroneous one indeed. +“Roughing it,” I certainly have been, inasmuch as I have been +living on rough fare, associating with rough men, and sleeping on rough beds +under the starry sky; but I assure you that all this is not half so rough upon +the constitution as what they call leading an <i>easy life</i>, which is simply +a life that makes a poor fellow stagnate, body and spirit, till the one comes +to be unable to digest its food, and the other incompetent to jump at so much +as half an idea. Anything but an easy life, to my mind. Ah! there’s +nothing like roughing it, Harry, my boy. Why, I am thriving on it—growing +like a young walrus, eating like a Canadian voyageur, and sleeping like a top! +This is a splendid country for sport, and as our <i>bourgeois</i><a href="#fn4" name="fnref4" id="fnref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +has taken it into his head that I am a good hand at making friends with the +Indians, he has sent me out on several expeditions, and afforded me some famous +opportunities of seeing life among the red-skins. There is a talk just now of +establishing a new outpost in this district, so if I succeed in persuading the +governor to let me accompany the party, I shall have something interesting to +write about in my next letter. By the way, I wrote to you a month ago, by two +Indians who said they were going to the missionary station at Norway House. Did +you ever get it? There is a hunter here just now who goes by the name of +Jacques Caradoc. He is a first-rater—can do anything, in a wild way, that +lies within the power of mortal man, and is an inexhaustible anecdote-teller, +in a quiet way. He and I have been out buffalo-hunting two or three times, and +it would have done your heart good, Harry, my dear boy, to have seen us +scouring over the prairie together on two big-boned Indian horses—regular +trained buffalo-runners, that didn’t need the spur to urge, nor the rein +to guide them, when once they caught sight of the black cattle, and kept a +sharp look-out for badger-holes, just as if they had been reasonable creatures. +The first time I went out I had several rather ugly falls, owing to my +inexperience. The fact is, that if a man has never run buffaloes before, +he’s sure to get one or two upsets, no matter how good a horseman he may +be. And that monster Jacques, although he’s the best fellow I ever met +with for a hunting companion, always took occasion to grin at my mishaps, and +gravely to read me a lecture to the effect that they were all owing to my own +clumsiness or stupidity; which, you will acknowledge, was not calculated to +restore my equanimity. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn4" id="fn4"></a> <a href="#fnref4">[4]</a> +The gentleman in charge of an establishment is always designated the bourgeois. +</p> + +<p> +The very first run we had cost me the entire skin of my nose, and converted +that feature into a superb Roman for the next three weeks. It happened thus. +Jacques and I were riding over the prairies in search of buffaloes. The place +was interspersed with sundry knolls covered with trees, slips and belts of +woodland, with ponds scattered among them, and open sweeps of the plain here +and there; altogether a delightful country to ride through. It was a clear +early morning, so that our horses were fresh and full of spirit. They knew, as +well as we ourselves did, what we were out for, and it was no easy matter to +restrain them. The one I rode was a great long-legged beast, as like as +possible to that abominable kangaroo that nearly killed me at Red River; as for +Jacques, he was mounted on a first-rate charger. I don’t know how it is, +but somehow or other everything about Jacques, or belonging to him, or in the +remotest degree connected with him, is always first-rate! He generally owns a +first-rate horse, and if he happens by any unlucky chance to be compelled to +mount a bad one, it immediately becomes another animal. He seems to infuse some +of his own wonderful spirit into it! Well, as Jacques and I curvetted along, +skirting the low bushes at the edge of a wood, out burst a whole herd of +buffaloes. Bang went Jacques’s gun, almost before I had winked to make +sure that I saw rightly, and down fell the fattest of them all, while the rest +tossed up their tails, heels, and heads in one grand whirl of indignant +amazement, and scoured away like the wind. In a moment our horses were at full +stretch after them, on their <i>own</i> account entirely, and without any +reference to <i>us</i>. When I recovered my self-possession a little, I threw +forward my gun and fired; but owing to my endeavouring to hold the reins at the +same time, I nearly blew off one of my horse’s ears, and only knocked up +the dust about six yards ahead of us! Of course Jacques could not let this pass +unnoticed. He was sitting quietly loading his gun, as cool as a cucumber, while +his horse was dashing forward at full stretch, with the reins hanging loosely +on his neck. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Mister Charles,” said he, with the least possible grin on his +leathern visage, “that was not well done. You should never hold the reins +when you fire, nor try to put the gun to your shoulder. It a’n’t +needful. The beast’ll look arter itself, if it’s a riglar +buffalo-runner; any ways holdin’ the reins is of no manner of use. I once +know’d a gentleman that came out here to see the buffalo-huntin’. +He was a good enough shot in his way, an’ a first-rate rider. But he was +full o’ queer notions: he <i>would</i> load his gun with the ramrod in +the riglar way, instead o’ doin’ as we do, tumblin’ in a drop +powder, spittin’ a ball out your mouth down the muzzle, and hittin’ +the stock on the pommel of the saddle to send it home. And he had them +miserable things—the <i>somethin’</i> ’cussion-caps, and used +to fiddle away with them while we were knockin’ over the cattle in all +directions. Moreover, he had a notion that it was altogether wrong to let go +his reins even for a moment, and so, what between the ramrod and the +’cussion-caps and the reins, he was worse than the greenest clerk that +ever came to the country. He gave it up in despair at last, after lamin’ +two horses, and finished off by runnin’ after a big bull, that turned on +him all of a suddent, crammed its head and horns into the side of his horse, +and sent the poor fellow head over heels on the green grass. He wasn’t +much the worse for it, but his fine double-barrelled gun was twisted into a +shape that would almost have puzzled an Injin to tell what it was.” Well, +Harry, all the time that Jacques was telling me this we were gaining on the +buffaloes, and at last we got quite close to them, and as luck would have it, +the very thing that happened to the amateur sportsman happened to me. I went +madly after a big bull in spite of Jacques’s remonstrances, and just as I +got alongside of him up went his tail (a sure sign that his anger was roused), +and round he came, head to the front, stiff as a rock; my poor charger’s +chest went right between his horns, and, as a matter of course, I continued the +race upon <i>nothing</i>, head first, for a distance of about thirty yards, and +brought up on the bridge of my nose. My poor dear father used to say I was a +bull-headed rascal, and, upon my word, I believe he was more literally correct +than he imagined; for although I fell with a fearful crash, head first, on the +hard plain, I rose up immediately, and in a few minutes was able to resume the +chase again. My horse was equally fortunate, for although thus brought to a +sudden stand while at full gallop, he wheeled about, gave a contemptuous +flourish with his heels, and cantered after Jacques, who soon caught him again. +My head bothered me a good deal for some time after this accident, and swelled +up till my eyes became almost undistinguishable; but a few weeks put me all +right again. And who do you think this man Jacques is? You’d never guess. +He’s the trapper whom Redfeather told us of long ago, and whose wife was +killed by the Indians. He and Redfeather have met, and are very fond of each +other. How often in the midst of these wild excursions have my thoughts +wandered to you, Harry! The fellows I meet with here are all kind-hearted, +merry companions, but none like yourself. I sometimes say to Jacques, when we +become communicative to each other beside the camp-fire, that my earthly +felicity would be perfect if I had Harry Somerville here; and then I think of +Kate, my sweet, loving sister Kate, and feel that, even although I had you with +me, there would still be something wanting to make things perfect. Talking of +Kate, by the way, I have received a letter from her, the first sheet of which, +as it speaks of mutual Red River friends, I herewith enclose. Pray keep it +safe, and return per first opportunity. We’ve loads of furs here and +plenty of deerstalking, not to mention galloping on horseback on the plains in +summer and dog-sledging in the winter. Alas! my poor friend, I fear that it is +rather selfish in me to write so feelingly about my agreeable circumstances, +when I know you are slowly dragging out your existence at that melancholy place +York Fort; but believe me, I sympathize with you, and I hope earnestly that you +will soon be appointed to more genial scenes. I have much, very much, to tell +you yet, but am compelled to reserve it for a future epistle, as the packet +which is to convey this is on the point of being closed. +</p> + +<p> +Adieu, my dear Harry, and wherever you may happen to pitch your tent, always +bear in kindly remembrance your old friend, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +C<small>HARLES</small> K<small>ENNEDY</small>. +</p> + +<p> +The letter was finished, but Harry did not cease to hold intercourse with his +friend. With his head resting on his two hands, and his elbows on the table, he +sat long, silently gazing on the signature, while his mind revelled in the +past, the present, and the future. He bounded over the wilderness that lay +between him and the beautiful plains of the Saskatchewan. He seized Charley +round the neck, and hugged and wrestled with him as in days of yore. He mounted +an imaginary charger, and swept across the plains along with him; listened to +anecdotes innumerable from Jacques, attacked thousands of buffaloes, singled +out scores of wild bulls, pitched over horses’ heads and alighted +precisely on the bridge of his nose, always in close proximity to his old +friend. Gradually his mind returned to its prison-house, and his eye fell on +Kate’s letter, which he picked up and began to read. It ran thus:— +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +M<small>Y DEAR, DEAR, DARLING</small> C<small>HARLEY</small>,—I cannot +tell you how much my heart has yearned to see you, or hear from you, for many +long, long months past. Your last delightful letter, which I treasure up as the +most precious object I possess, has indeed explained to me how utterly +impossible it was to have written a day sooner than you did; but that does not +comfort me a bit, or make those weary packets more rapid and frequent in their +movements, or the time that passes between the periods of hearing from you less +dreary and anxious. God bless and protect you, my darling, in the midst of all +the dangers that surround you. But I did not intend to begin this letter by +murmuring, so pray forgive me, and I shall try to atone for it by giving you a +minute account of everybody here about whom you are interested. Our beloved +father and mother, I am thankful to say, are quite well. Papa has taken more +than ever to smoking since you went away. He is seldom out of the summer-house +in the garden now, where I very frequently go, and spend hours together in +reading to and talking with him. He very often speaks of you, and I am certain +that he misses you far more than we expected, although I think he cannot miss +you nearly so much as I do. For some weeks past, indeed ever since we got your +last letter, papa was engaged all the forenoon in some mysterious work, for he +used to lock himself up in the summer-house—a thing he never did before. +One day I went there at my usual time and instead of having to wait till he +should unlock the door, I found it already open, and entered the room, which +was so full of smoke that I could hardly see. I found papa writing at a small +table, and the moment he heard my footstep he jumped up with a fierce frown, +and shouted, “Who’s there?” in that terrible voice that he +used to speak in long ago when angry with his men, but which he has almost +quite given up for some time past. He never speaks to me, as you know very +well, but in the kindest tones, so you may imagine what a dreadful fright I got +for a moment; but it was only for a moment, because the instant he saw that it +was me his dear face changed, and he folded me in his arms, saying, “Ah, +Kate, forgive me, my darling! I did not know it was you, and I thought I had +locked the door, and was angry at being so unceremoniously interrupted.” +He then told me he was just finishing a letter of advice to you, and going up +to the table, pushed the papers hurriedly into a drawer. As he did so, I +guessed what had been his mysterious occupation, for he seemed to have covered +<i>quires</i> of paper with the closest writing. Ah, Charley, you’re a +lucky fellow to be able to extort such long letters from our dear father. You +know how difficult he finds it to write even the shortest note, and you +remember his old favourite expression, “I would rather skin a wild +buffalo bull alive than write a long letter.” He deserves long ones in +return, Charley; but I need not urge you on that score—you are an +excellent correspondent. Mamma is able to go out every day now for a drive in +the prairie. She was confined to the house for nearly three weeks last month, +with some sort of illness that the doctor did not seem to understand, and at +one time I was much frightened, and very, very anxious about her, she became so +weak. It would have made your heart glad to have seen the tender way in which +papa nursed her through the illness. I had fancied that he was the very last +man in the world to make a sick-nurse, so bold and quick in his movements, and +with such a loud, gruff voice—for it <i>is</i> gruff, although very sweet +at the same time. But the moment he began to tend mamma he spoke more softly +even than dear Mr. Addison does, and he began to walk about the house on +tiptoe, and persevered so long in this latter that all his moccasins began to +be worn out at the toes, while the heels remained quite strong. I begged of him +often not to take so much trouble, as <i>I</i> was naturally the proper nurse +for mamma; but he wouldn’t hear of it, and insisted on carrying +breakfast, dinner, and tea to her, besides giving her all her medicine. He was +for ever making mistakes, however, much to his own sorrow, the darling man; and +I had to watch him pretty closely, for more than once he has been on the point +of giving mamma a glass of laudanum in mistake for a glass of port wine. I was +a good deal frightened for him at first, as, before he became accustomed to the +work, he tumbled over the chairs and tripped on the carpets while carrying +trays with dinners and breakfasts, till I thought he would really injure +himself at last, and then he was so terribly angry with himself at making such +a noise and breaking the dishes—I think he has broken nearly an entire +dinner and tea set of crockery. Poor George, the cook, has suffered most from +these mishaps—for you know that dear papa cannot get angry without +letting a <i>little</i> of it out upon somebody; and whenever he broke a dish +or let a tray fall, he used to rush into the kitchen, shake his fist in +George’s face, and ask him, in a fierce voice, what he meant by it. But +he always got better in a few seconds, and finished off by telling him never to +mind, that he was a good servant on the whole, and he wouldn’t say any +more about it just now, but he had better look sharp out and not do it again. I +must say, in praise of George, that on such occasions he looked very sorry +indeed, and said he hoped that he would always do his best to give him +satisfaction. This was only proper in him, for he ought to be very thankful +that our father restrains his anger so much; for you know he was rather violent +<i>once</i>, and you’ve no idea, Charley, how great a restraint he now +lays on himself. He seems to me quite like a lamb, and I am beginning to feel +somehow as if we had been mistaken, and that he never was a passionate man at +all. I think it is partly owing to dear Mr. Addison, who visits us very +frequently now, and papa and he are often shut up together for many hours in +the smoking-house. I was sure that papa would soon come to like him, for his +religion is so free from everything like severity or affected solemnity. The +cook, and Rosa, and my dog that you named Twist, are all quite well. The last +has grown into a very large and beautiful animal, something like the stag-hound +in the picture-book we used to study together long ago. He is exceedingly fond +of me, and I feel him to be quite a protector. The cocks and hens, the cow and +the old mare, are also in perfect health; so now, having told you a good deal +about ourselves, I will give you a short account of the doings in the colony. +</p> + +<p> +First of all, your old friend Mr. Kipples is still alive and well, and so are +all our old companions in the school. One or two of the latter have left, and +young Naysmith has joined the Company’s service. Betty Peters comes very +often to see us, and she always asks for you with great earnestness. I think +you have stolen the old woman’s heart, Charley, for she speaks of you +with great affection. Old Mr. Seaforth is still as vigorous as ever, dashing +about the settlement on a high-mettled steed, just as if he were one of the +youngest men in the colony. He nearly poisoned himself, poor man, a month ago, +by taking a dose of some kind of medicine by mistake. I did not hear what it +was, but I am told that the treatment was rather severe. Fortunately the doctor +happened to be at home when he was sent for, else our old friend would, I fear, +have died. As it was, the doctor cured him with great difficulty. He first gave +him an emetic, then put mustard blisters to the soles of his feet, and +afterwards lifted him into one of his own carts, without springs, in which he +drove him for a long time over all the ploughed fields in the neighbourhood. If +this is not an exaggerated account, Mr. Seaforth is certainly made of sterner +stuff than most men. I was told a funny anecdote of him a few days ago, which I +am sure you have never heard, otherwise you would have told it to me, for there +used to be no secrets between us, Charley—alas! I have no one to confide +in or advise with now that you are gone. You have often heard of the great +flood; not Noah’s one, but the flood that nearly swept away our +settlement and did so much damage before you and I were born. Well, you +recollect that people used to tell of the way in which the river rose after the +breaking up of the ice, and how it soon overflowed all the low points, sweeping +off everything in its course. Old Mr. Seaforth’s house stood at that time +on the little point, just beyond the curve of the river, at the foot of which +our own house stands, and as the river continued to rise, Mr. Seaforth went +about actively securing his property. At first he only thought of his boat and +canoes, which, with the help of his son Peter and a Canadian, who happened at +the time to be employed about the place, he dragged up and secured to an iron +staple in the side of his house. Soon, however, he found that the danger was +greater than at first he imagined. The point became completely covered with +water, which brought down great numbers of <i>half</i>-drowned and +<i>quite</i>-drowned cattle, pigs, and poultry, and stranded them at the garden +fence, so that in a short time poor Mr. Seaforth could scarcely move about his +overcrowded domains. On seeing this, he drove his own cattle to the highest +land in his neighbourhood and hastened back to the house, intending to carry as +much of the furniture as possible to the same place. But during his short +absence the river had risen so rapidly that he was obliged to give up all +thoughts of this, and think only of securing a few of his valuables. The bit of +land round his dwelling was so thickly covered with the poor cows, sheep, and +other animals, that he could scarcely make his way to the house, and you may +fancy his consternation on reaching it to find that the water was more than +knee-deep round the walls, while a few of the cows and a whole herd of pigs had +burst open the door (no doubt accidentally) and coolly entered the dining-room, +where they stood with drooping heads, very wet, and apparently very miserable. +The Canadian was busy at the back of the house, loading the boat and canoe with +everything he could lay hands on, and was not aware of the foreign invasion in +front. Mr. Seaforth cared little for this, however, and began to collect all +the things he held most valuable, and threw them to the man, who stowed them +away in the boat. Peter had been left in charge of the cattle, so they had to +work hard. While thus employed the water continued to rise with fearful +rapidity, and rushed against the house like a mill-race, so that it soon became +evident that the whole would ere long be swept away. Just as they finished +loading the boat and canoes, the staple which held them gave way; in a moment +they were swept into the middle of the river, and carried out of sight. The +Canadian was in the boat at the time the staple broke, so that Mr. Seaforth was +now left in a dwelling that bid fair to emulate Noah’s ark in an hour or +two, without a chance of escape, and with no better company than five black +oxen, in the dining-room, besides three sheep that were now scarcely able to +keep their heads above water, and three little pigs that were already drowned. +The poor old man did his best to push out the intruders, but only succeeded in +ejecting two sheep and an ox. All the others positively refused to go, so he +was fain to let them stay. By shutting the outer door he succeeded in keeping +out a great deal of water. Then he waded into the parlour, where he found some +more little pigs, floating about and quite dead. Two, however, more adventurous +than their comrades, had saved their lives by mounting first on a chair and +then upon the table, where they were comfortably seated, gazing languidly at +their mother, a very heavy fat sow, which sat, with what seemed an expression +of settled despair, on the sofa. In a fit of wrath, Mr. Seaforth seized the +young pigs and tossed them out of the window; whereupon the old one jumped +down, and half-walking, half-swimming, made her way to her companions in the +dining-room. The old gentleman now ascended to the garret, where from a small +window he looked out upon the scene of devastation. His chief anxiety was about +the foundation of the house, which, being made of a wooden framework, like +almost all the others in the colony, would certainly float if the water rose +much higher. His fears were better founded than the house. As he looked up the +river, which had by this time overflowed all its banks, and was spreading over +the plains, he saw a fresh burst of water coming down, which, when it dashed +against his dwelling, forced it about two yards from its foundation. Suddenly +he remembered that there were a large anchor and chain in the kitchen, both of +which he had brought there one day, to serve as a sort of anvil when he wanted +to do some blacksmith work. Hastening down, he fastened one end of the chain to +the sofa, and cast the anchor out of the window. A few minutes afterwards +another rush of water struck the building, which yielded to pressure, and swung +slowly down until the anchor arrested its further progress. This was only for a +few seconds, however. The chain was a slight one. It snapped, and the house +swept majestically down the stream, while its terrified owner scrambled to the +roof, which he found already in possession of his favourite cat. Here he had a +clear view of his situation. The plains were converted into a lake, above whose +surface rose trees and houses, several of which, like his own, were floating on +the stream or stranded among shallows. Settlers were rowing about in boats and +canoes in all directions, but although some of them noticed the poor man +sitting beside his cat on the housetop, they were either too far off or had no +time to render him assistance. +</p> + +<p> +For two days nothing was heard of old Mr. Seaforth. Indeed, the settlers had +too much to do in saving themselves and their families to think of others; and +it was not until the third day that people began to inquire about him. His son +Peter had taken a canoe and made diligent search in all directions, but +although he found the house sticking on a shallow point, neither his father nor +the cat was on or in it. At last he was brought to the island, on which nearly +half the colony had collected, by an Indian who had passed the house, and +brought him away in his canoe, along with the old cat. Is he not a wonderful +man, to have come through so much in his old age? and he is still so active and +hearty! Mr. Swan of the mill is dead. He died of fever last week. Poor old Mr. +Cordon is also gone. His end was very sad. About a month ago he ordered his +horse and rode off, intending to visit Fort Garry. At the turn of the road, +just above Grant’s house, the horse suddenly swerved, and its rider was +thrown to the ground. He did not live more than half-an-hour after it. Alas! +how very sad to see a man, after escaping all the countless dangers of a long +life in the woods (and his, you know, was a very adventurous one), thus cut +violently down in his old age. O Charley, how little we know what is before us! +How needful to have our peace made with God through Jesus Christ, so that we +may be ready at any moment when our Father calls us away. There are many events +of great interest that have occurred here since you left. You will be glad to +hear the Jane Patterson is married to our excellent friend Mr. Cameron, who has +taken up a store near to us, and intends to run a boat to York Fort next +summer. There has been another marriage here which will cause you astonishment +at least, if not pleasure. Old Mr. Peters has married Marie Peltier! What +<i>could</i> have possessed her to take such a husband? I cannot understand it. +Just think of her, Charley, a girl of eighteen, with a husband of +seventy-five!— +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +At this point the writing, which was very close and very small, terminated. +Harry laid it down with a deep sigh, wishing much that Charley had thought it +advisable to send him the second sheet also. As wishes and regrets on this +point were equally unavailing, he endeavoured to continue it in imagination, +and was soon as deeply absorbed in following Kate through the well-remembered +scenes of Red River as he had been, a short time before, in roaming with her +brother over the wide prairies of Saskatchewan. The increasing cold, however +soon warned him that the night was far spent. He rose and went to the stove; +but the fire had gone out, and the almost irresistible frost of these regions +was already cooling everything in Bachelors’ Hall down to the +freezing-point. All his companions had put out their candles, and were busy, +doubtless, dreaming of the friends whose letters had struck and reawakened the +long-dormant chords that used to echo to the tones and scenes of other days. +With a slight shiver, Harry returned to his apartment, and kneeled to thank God +for protecting and preserving his absent friends, and especially for sending +him “good news from a far land.” The letter with the British +post-marks on it was placed under his pillow. It occupied his waking and +sleeping thoughts that night, and it was the first thing he thought of and +reread on the following morning, and for many mornings afterwards. Only those +can fully estimate the value of such letters who live in distant lands, where +letters are few—very, very few—and far between. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Changes—Harry and Hamilton find that variety is indeed charming—The +latter astonishes the former considerably. +</p> + +<p> +Three months passed away, but the snow still lay deep and white and +undiminished around York Fort. Winter—cold, silent, unyielding +winter—still drew its white mantle closely round the lonely dwelling of +the fur-traders of the Far North. +</p> + +<p> +Icicles hung, as they had done for months before, from the eaves of every +house, from the tall black scaffold on which the great bell hung, and from the +still taller erection that had been put up as an outlook for “<i>the +ship</i>” in summer. At the present time it commanded a bleak view of the +frozen sea. Snow covered every housetop, and hung in ponderous masses from +their edges, as if it were about to fall; but it never fell—it hung there +in the same position day after day, unmelted, unchanged. Snow covered the whole +land, and the frozen river, the swamps, the sea-beach, and the sea itself, as +far as the eye could reach, seemed like a pure white carpet. Snow lined the +upper edge of every paling, filled up the key-hole of every door, embanked +about half of every window, stuck in little knobs on the top of every picket, +and clung in masses on every drooping branch of the pine trees in the forest. +Frost—sharp, biting frost—solidified, surrounded, and pervaded +everything. Mercury was congealed by it; vapour was condensed by it; iron was +cooled by it until it could scarcely be touched without (as the men expressed +it) “burning” the fingers. The water-jugs in Bachelors’ Hall +and the water-buckets were frozen by it, nearly to the bottom; though there was +a good stove there, and the Hall was not <i>usually</i> a cold place by any +means. The breath of the inhabitants was congealed by it on the window-panes, +until they had become coated with ice an inch thick. The breath of the men was +rendered white and opaque by it, as they panted and hurried to and fro about +their ordinary avocations; beating their gloved hands together, and stamping +their well-wrapped-up feet on the hard-beaten snow to keep them warm. Old +Bobin’s nose seemed to be entirely shrivelled up into his face by it, as +he drove his ox-cart to the river to fetch his daily supply of water. The only +things that were not affected by it were the fires, which crackled and roared +as if in laughter, and twisted and leaped as if in uncontrollable glee at the +bare idea of John Frost acquiring, by any artifice whatever, the smallest +possible influence over <i>them</i>! Three months had elapsed, but frost and +snow, instead of abating, had gone on increasing and intensifying, deepening +and extending its work, and riveting its chains. Winter—cold, silent, +unyielding winter—still reigned at York Fort, as though it had made it a +<i>sine qua non</i> of its existence at all that it should reign there for +ever! +</p> + +<p> +But although everything was thus wintry and cold, it was by no means cheerless +or dreary. A bright sun shone in the blue heavens with an intenseness of +brilliancy that was quite dazzling to the eyes, that elated the spirits, and +caused man and beast to tread with a more elastic step than usual. Although the +sun looked down upon the scene with an unclouded face, and found a mirror in +every icicle and in every gem of hoar-frost with which the objects of nature +were loaded, there was, however, no perceptible heat in his rays. They fell on +the white earth with all the brightness of midsummer, but they fell powerless +as moonbeams in the dead of winter. +</p> + +<p> +On the frozen river, just in front of the gate of the fort, a group of men and +dogs were assembled. The dogs were four in number, harnessed to a small flat +sledge of the slender kind used by Indians to drag their furs and provisions +over the snow. The group of men was composed of Mr. Rogan and the inmates of +Bachelors’ Hall, one or two men who happened to be engaged there at the +time in cutting a new water-hole in the ice, and an Indian, who, to judge from +his carefully-adjusted costume, the snow-shoes on his feet, and the short whip +in his hand, was the driver of the sledge, and was about to start on a journey. +Harry Somerville and young Hamilton were also wrapped up more carefully than +usual. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-bye, then, good-bye,” said Mr. Rogan, advancing towards the +Indian, who stood beside the leading dog, ready to start. “Take care of +our young friends; they’ve not had much experience in travelling yet; and +don’t over drive your dogs. Treat them well, and they’ll do more +work. They’re like men in that respect.” Mr. Rogan shook the Indian +by the hand, and the latter immediately flourished the whip and gave a shout, +which the dogs no sooner heard than they uttered a simultaneous yell, sprang +forward with a jerk, and scampered up the river, closely followed by their +dark-skinned driver. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, lads, farewell,” said the old gentleman, turning with a +kindly smile to our two friends, who were shaking hands for the last time with +their comrades. “I’m sorry you’re going to leave us, my boys. +You’ve done your duty well while here, and I would willingly have kept +you a little longer with me, but our governor wills it otherwise. However, I +trust that you’ll be happy wherever you may be sent. Don’t forget +to write to me. God bless you. Farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Rogan shook them heartily by the hand, turned short round, and walked +slowly up to his house, with an expression of sadness on his mild face; while +Harry and Hamilton, having once more waved farewell to their friends, marched +up the river side by side in silence. They followed the track left by the +dog-sledge, which guided them with unerring certainty, although their Indian +leader and his team were out of sight in advance. +</p> + +<p> +A week previous to this time an Indian arrived from the interior, bearing a +letter from headquarters, which directed that Messrs. Somerville and Hamilton +should be forthwith despatched on snow-shoes to Norway House. As this +establishment is about three hundred miles from the sea-coast, the order +involved a journey of nearly two weeks’ duration through a country that +was utterly destitute of inhabitants. On receiving a command from Mr. Rogan to +prepare for an early start, Harry retired precipitately to his own room, and +there, after cutting unheard of capers, and giving vent to sudden, +incomprehensible shouts, all indicative of the highest state of delight, he +condescended to tell his companions of his good fortune, and set about +preparations without delay. Hamilton, on the contrary, gave his usual quiet +smile on being informed of his destination, and returning somewhat pensively to +Bachelors’ Hall, proceeded leisurely to make the necessary arrangements +for departure. As the time drew on, however, a perpetual flush on his +countenance, and an unusual brilliancy about his eye, showed that he was not +quite insensible to the pleasures of a change, and relished the idea more than +he got credit for. The Indian who had brought the letter was ordered to hold +himself in readiness to retrace his steps, and conduct the young men through +the woods to Norway House, where they were to await further orders. A few days +later the three travellers, as already related, set out on their journey. +</p> + +<p> +After walking a mile up the river, they passed a point of land which shut out +the fort from view. Here they paused to take a last look, and then pressed +forward in silence, the thoughts of each being busy with mingled recollections +of their late home and anticipations of the future. After an hour’s sharp +walking they came in sight of the guide, and slackened their pace. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Hamilton,” said Harry, throwing off his reverie with a deep +sigh, “are you glad to leave York Fort, or sorry?” +</p> + +<p> +“Glad, undoubtedly,” replied Hamilton, “but sorry to part +from our old companions there. I had no idea, Harry, that I loved them all so +much. I feel as if I should be glad were the order for us to leave them +countermanded even now.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the very thought,” said Harry, “that was +passing through my own brain when I spoke to you. Yet somehow I think I should +feel uncommonly sorry after all if we were really sent back. There’s a +queer contradiction, Hammy: we’re sorry and happy at the same time! If I +were the skipper now, I would found a philosophical argument upon it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which the skipper would carry on with untiring vigour,” said +Hamilton, smiling, “and afterwards make an entry of in his log. But I +think, Harry, that to feel the emotion of sorrow and joy at the same time is +not such a contradiction as it at first appears.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps not,” replied Harry; “but it seems very +contradictory to <i>me</i>, and yet it’s an evident fact, for I’m +<i>very</i> sorry to leave <i>them</i>, and I’m <i>very</i> happy to have +you for my companion here.” +</p> + +<p> +“So am I, so am I,” said the other heartily. “I would rather +travel with you, Harry, than with any of our late companions, although I like +them all very much.” +</p> + +<p> +The two friends had grown, almost imperceptibly, in each other’s esteem +during their residence under the same roof, more than either of them would have +believed possible. The gay, reckless hilarity of the one did not at first +accord with the quiet gravity and, as his comrades styled it, <i>softness</i> +of the other. But character is frequently misjudged at first sight, and +sometimes men who on a first acquaintance have felt repelled from each other +have, on coming to know each other better, discovered traits and good qualities +that ere long formed enduring bonds of sympathy, and have learned to love those +whom at first they felt disposed to dislike or despise. Thus Harry soon came to +know that what he at first thought and, along with his companions, called +softness in Hamilton in reality gentleness of disposition and thorough +good-nature, united in one who happened to be utterly unacquainted with the +<i>knowing</i> ways of this peculiarly sharp and clever world, while in the +course of time new qualities showed themselves in a quiet, unobtrusive way that +won upon his affections and raised his esteem. On the other hand, Hamilton +found that although Harry was volatile, and possessed of an irresistible +tendency to fun and mischief, he never by any chance gave way to anger, or +allowed malice to enter into his practical jokes. Indeed, he often observed him +to restrain his natural tendencies when they were at all likely to give pain, +though Harry never dreamed that such efforts were known to any one but himself. +Besides this, Harry was peculiarly <i>unselfish</i>, and when a man is +possessed of this inestimable disposition, he is, not <i>quite</i> but <i>very +nearly</i>, perfect! +</p> + +<p> +After another pause, during which the party had left the open river and +directed their course through the woods, where the depth of the snow obliged +them to tread in each other’s footsteps, Harry resumed the conversation. +</p> + +<p> +“You have not yet told me, by-the-by, what old Mr. Rogan said to you just +before we started. Did he give you any hint as to where you might be sent to +after reaching Norway House?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; he merely said he knew that clerks were wanted both for Mackenzie +River and the Saskatchewan districts, but he did not know which I was destined +for.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! exactly what he said to me, with the slight addition that he +strongly suspected that Mackenzie River would be my doom. Are you aware, Hammy +my boy, that the Saskatchewan district is a sort of terrestrial paradise, and +Mackenzie River equivalent to Botany Bay?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard as much during our conversations in Bachelors’ Hall, +but—Stop a bit, Harry; these snow-shoe lines of mine have got loosened +with tearing through this deep snow and these shockingly thick bushes. +There—they are right now; go on. I was going to say that I +don’t—oh!” +</p> + +<p> +This last exclamation was elicited from Hamilton by a sharp blow caused by a +branch which, catching on part of Harry’s dress as he plodded on in +front, suddenly rebounded and struck him across the face. This is of common +occurrence in travelling through the woods, especially to those who from +inexperience walk too closely on the heels of their companions. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s wrong now, Hammy?” inquired his friend, looking over +his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, nothing worth mentioning—rather a sharp blow from a branch, +that’s all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, proceed; you’ve interrupted yourself twice in what you were +going to say. Perhaps it’ll come out if you try it a third time.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was merely going to say that I don’t much care where I am sent +to, so long as it is not to an outpost where I shall be all alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“All very well, my friend; but seeing that outposts are, in comparison +with principal forts, about a hundred to one, your chance of avoiding them is +rather slight. However, our youth and want of experience is in our favour, as +they like to send men who have seen some service to outposts. But I fear that, +with such brilliant characters as you and I, Hammy, youth will only be an +additional recommendation, and inexperience won’t last long.—Hollo! +what’s going on yonder?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry pointed as he spoke to an open spot in the woods about a quarter of a +mile in advance, where a dark object was seen lying on the snow, writhing +about, now coiling into a lump, and anon extending itself like a huge snake in +agony. +</p> + +<p> +As the two friends looked, a prolonged howl floated towards them. +</p> + +<p> +“Something wrong with the dogs, I declare!” cried Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt of it,” replied his friend, hurrying forward, as they saw +their Indian guide rise from the ground and flourish his whip energetically, +while the howls rapidly increased. +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes brought them to the scene of action, where they found the dogs +engaged in a fight among themselves, and the driver, in a state of vehement +passion, alternately belabouring and trying to separate them. Dogs in these +regions, like the dogs of all other regions, we suppose, are very much addicted +to fighting—a propensity which becomes extremely unpleasant if indulged +while the animals are in harness, as they then become peculiarly savage, +probably from their being unable, like an ill-assorted pair in wedlock, to cut +or break the ties that bind them. Moreover, they twist the traces into such an +ingeniously complicated mass that it renders disentanglement almost impossible, +even after exhaustion has reduced them to obedience. Besides this, they are so +absorbed in worrying each other that for the time they are utterly regardless +of their driver’s lash or voice. This naturally makes the driver angry, +and sometimes irascible men practise shameful cruelties on the poor dogs. When +the two friends came up they found the Indian glaring at the animals, as they +fought and writhed in the snow, with every lineament of his swarthy face +distorted with passion, and panting from his late exertions. Suddenly he threw +himself on the dogs again, and lashed them furiously with the whip. Finding +that this had no effect, he twined the lash round his hand, and struck them +violently over their heads and snouts with the handle; then falling down on his +knees, he caught the most savage of the animals by the throat, and seizing its +nose between his teeth almost bit it off. The appalling yell that followed this +cruel act seemed to subdue the dogs, for they ceased to fight, and crouched, +whining, in the snow. +</p> + +<p> +With a bound like a tiger young Hamilton sprang upon the guide, and seizing him +by the throat, hurled him violently to the ground. “Scoundrel!” he +cried, standing over the crestfallen Indian with flushed face and flashing +eyes, “how dare you thus treat the creatures of God?” +</p> + +<p> +The young man would have spoken more, but his indignation was so fierce that it +could not find vent in words. For a moment he raised his fist, as if he +meditated dashing the Indian again to the ground as he slowly arose; then, as +if changing his mind, he seized him by the back of the neck, thrust him towards +the panting dogs, and stood in silence over him with the whip grasped firmly in +his hand, while he disentangled the traces. +</p> + +<p> +This accomplished, Hamilton ordered him in a voice of suppressed anger to +“go forward”—an order which the cowed guide promptly obeyed, +and in a few minutes more the two friends were again alone. +</p> + +<p> +“Hamilton, my boy,” exclaimed Harry, who up to this moment seemed +to have been petrified, “you have perfectly amazed me! I’m utterly +bewildered.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I fear that I have been very violent,” said Hamilton, +blushing deeply. +</p> + +<p> +“Violent!” exclaimed his friend. “Why, man, I’ve +completely mistaken your character. I—I—” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope not, Harry,” said Hamilton, in a subdued tone; “I +hope not. Believe me, I am not naturally violent. I should be very sorry were +you to think so. Indeed, I never felt thus before, and now that it is over I am +amazed at myself; but surely you’ll admit that there was great +provocation. Such terrible cruelty to—” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear fellow, you quite misunderstand me. I’m amazed at your +pluck, your energy. <i>Soft</i> indeed! we have been most egregiously mistaken. +Provocation! I just think you had; my only sorrow is that you didn’t give +him a little more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, Harry; I see you would be as cruel to him as he was to the +poor dog. But let us press forward; it is already growing dark, and we must not +let the fellow out of sight ahead of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Allons donc</i>,” cried Harry; and hastening their steps, they +travelled silently and rapidly among the stems of the trees, while the shades +of night gathered slowly round them. +</p> + +<p> +That night the three travellers encamped in the snow under the shelter of a +spreading pine. The encampment was formed almost exactly in a similar manner to +that in which they had slept on the night of their exploits at North River. +They talked less, however, than on that occasion, and slept more soundly. +Before retiring to rest, and while Harry was extended, half asleep and half +awake, on his green blanket, enjoying the delightful repose that follows a hard +day’s march and a good supper, Hamilton drew near to the Indian, who sat +sullenly smoking a little apart from the young men. Sitting down beside him, he +administered a long rebuke in a low, grave tone of voice. Like rebukes +generally, it had the effect of making the visage of the Indian still more +sullen. But the young man did not appear to notice this; he still continued to +talk. As he went on, the look grew less and less sullen, until it faded +entirely away, and was succeeded by that grave, quiet, respectful expression +peculiar to the face of the North American Indian. +</p> + +<p> +Day succeeded day, night followed night, and still found them plodding +laboriously through the weary waste of snow, or encamping under the trees of +the forest. The two friends went through all the varied stages of experience +which are included in what is called “becoming used to the work,” +which is sometimes a modified meaning of the expression “used up.” +They started with a degree of vigour that one would have thought no amount of +hard work could possibly abate. They became aware of the melancholy fact that +fatigue unstrings the youngest and toughest sinews. They pressed on, however, +from stern necessity, and found, to their delight, that young muscles recover +their elasticity even in the midst of severe exertion. They still pressed on, +and discovered, to their dismay, that this recovery was only temporary, and +that the second state of exhaustion was infinitely worse than the first. Still +they pressed on, and raised blisters on their feet and toes that caused them to +limp wofully; then they learned that blisters break and take a long time to +heal, and are much worse to walk upon during the healing process than they are +at the commencement—at which time they innocently fancied that nothing +could be more dreadful. Still they pressed on day after day, and found to their +satisfaction that such things can be endured and overcome; that feet and toes +can become hard like leather, that muscles can grow tough as india-rubber, and +that spirits and energy can attain to a pitch of endurance which nothing within +the compass of a day’s march can by any possibility overcome. They found +also, from experience, that their conversation changed, both in manner and +subject, as they progressed on their journey. At first they conversed +frequently and on various topics, chiefly on the probability of their being +sent to pleasant places or the reverse. Then they spoke less frequently, and +growled occasionally, as they advanced in the painful process of training. +After that, as they began to get hardy, they talked of the trees, the snow, the +ice, the tracks of wild animals they happened to cross, and the objects of +nature generally that came under their observation. Then as their muscles +hardened and their sinews grew tough, and the day’s march at length +became first a matter of indifference, and ultimately an absolute pleasure, +they chatted cheerfully on any and every subject, or sang occasionally, when +the sun shone out and cast an <i>appearance</i> of warmth across their path. +Thus onward they pressed, without halt or stay, day after day, through wood and +brake, over river and lake, on ice and on snow, for miles and miles together, +through the great, uninhabited, frozen wilderness. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Hopes and fears—An unexpected meeting—Philosophical talk between +the hunter and the parson. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving at Norway House, Harry Somerville and his friend Hamilton found +that they were to remain at that establishment during an indefinite period of +time, until it should please those in whose hands their ultimate destination +lay to direct them how and where to proceed. This was an unlooked-for trial of +their patience; but after the first exclamation of disappointment, they made up +their minds, like wise men, to think no more about it, but bide their time, and +make the most of present circumstances. +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” remarked Hamilton, as the two friends, after having had +an audience of the gentleman in charge of the establishment, sauntered towards +the rocks that overhang the margin of Playgreen Lake—“you see, it +is of no use to fret about what we cannot possibly help. Nobody within three +hundred miles of us knows where we are destined to spend next winter. Perhaps +orders may come in a couple of weeks, perhaps in a couple of months, but they +will certainly come at last. Anyhow, it is of no use thinking about it, so we +had better forget it, and make the best of things as we find them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Harry, “your advice is, that we should by all +means be happy, and if we can’t be happy, be as happy as we can. Is that +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Just so. That’s it exactly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ho! But then you see, Hammy, you’re a philosopher and I’m +not, and that makes all the difference. I’m not given to anticipating +evil, but I cannot help dreading that they will send me to some lonely, swampy, +out-of-the-way hole, where there will be no society, no shooting, no riding, no +work even to speak of—nothing, in fact, but the miserable satisfaction of +being styled ‘bourgeois’ by five or six men, wretched outcasts like +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, Harry,” cried Hamilton; “you are taking the very worst +view of it. There certainly are plenty of such outposts in the country, but you +know very well that young fellows like you are seldom sent to such +places.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know that,” interrupted Harry. “There’s +young M’Andrew: he was sent to an outpost up the Mackenzie his second +year in the service, where he was all but starved, and had to live for about +two weeks on boiled parchment. Then there’s poor Forrester: he was +shipped off to a place—the name of which I never could +remember—somewhere between the head-waters of the Athabasca Lake and the +North Pole. To be sure, he had good shooting, I’m told, but he had only +four labouring men to enjoy it with; and he has been there <i>ten</i> years +now, and he has more than once had to scrape the rocks of that detestable stuff +called <i>tripe de roche</i> to keep himself alive. And then +there’s——” +</p> + +<p> +“Very true,” interrupted Hamilton. “Then there’s your +friend Charles Kennedy, whom you so often talk about, and many other young +fellows we know, who have been sent to the Saskatchewan, and to the Columbia, +and to Athabasca, and to a host of other capital places, where they have enough +of society—male society, at least—and good sport.” +</p> + +<p> +The young men had climbed a rocky eminence which commanded a view of the lake +on the one side, and the fort, with its background of woods, on the other. Here +they sat down on a stone, and continued for some time to admire the scene in +silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Harry, resuming the thread of discourse, “you are +right: we have a good chance of seeing some pleasant parts of the country. But +suspense is not pleasant. O man, if they would only send me up the Saskatchewan +River! I’ve set my heart upon going there. I’m quite sure +it’s the very best place in the whole country.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve told the truth that time, master,” said a deep voice +behind them. +</p> + +<p> +The young men turned quickly round. Close beside them, and leaning composedly +on a long Indian fowling-piece, stood a tall, broad-shouldered, sun-burned man, +apparently about forty years of age. He was dressed in the usual leathern +hunting-coat, cloth leggings, fur cap, mittens, and moccasins that constitute +the winter garb of a hunter; and had a grave, firm, but good-humoured +expression of countenance. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve told the truth that time, master,” he repeated, +without moving from his place. “The Saskatchewan <i>is</i>, to my mind, +the best place in the whole country; and havin’ seen a considerable deal +o’ places in my time, I can speak from experience.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, friend,” said Harry, “I’m glad to hear you say +so. Come, sit down beside us, and let’s hear something about it.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus invited, the hunter seated himself on a stone and laid his gun on the +hollow of his left arm. +</p> + +<p> +“First of all, friend,” continued Harry, “do you belong to +the fort here?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” replied the man, “I’m staying here just now, but +I don’t belong to the place.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where do you come from then, and what’s your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, I’ve comed d’rect from the Saskatchewan with a packet +o’ letters. I’m payin’ a visit to the missionary village +yonder”—the hunter pointed as he spoke across the +lake—“and when the ice breaks up I shall get a canoe and return +again.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, I’ve got four or five names. Somehow or other people have +given me a nickname wherever I ha’ chanced to go. But my true name, and +the one I hail by just now, is Jacques Caradoc.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jacques Caradoc!” exclaimed Harry, starting with surprise. +“You knew a Charley Kennedy in the Saskatchewan, did you?” +</p> + +<p> +“That did I. As fine a lad as ever pulled a trigger.” +</p> + +<p> +“Give us your hand, friend,” exclaimed Harry, springing forward, +and seizing the hunter’s large, hard fist in both hands. “Why, man, +Charley is my dearest friend, and I had a letter from him some time ago in +which he speaks of you, and says you’re one of the best fellows he ever +met.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t say so,” replied the hunter, returning +Harry’s grasp warmly, while his eyes sparkled with pleasure, and a quiet +smile played at the corner of his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes I do,” said Harry; “and I’m very nearly as glad to +meet with you, friend Jacques, as I would be to meet with him. But come; +it’s cold work talking here. Let’s go to my room; there’s a +fire in the stove.—Come along, Hammy;” and taking his new friend by +the arm, he hurried him along to his quarters in the fort. +</p> + +<p> +Just as they were passing under the fort gate, a large mass of snow became +detached from a housetop and fell heavily at their feet, passing within an inch +of Hamilton’s nose. The young man started back with an exclamation, and +became very red in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo!” cried Harry, laughing, “got a fright, Hammy! That +went so close to your chin that it almost saved you the trouble of +shaving.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; I got a little fright from the suddenness of it,” said +Hamilton quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think of my friend there?” said Harry to Jacques, in a +low voice, pointing to Hamilton, who walked on in advance. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve not seen much of him, master,” replied the hunter. +“Had I been asked the same question about the same lad twenty years +agone, I should ha’ said he was soft, and perhaps chicken-hearted. But +I’ve learned from experience to judge better than I used to do. I niver +thinks o’ forming an opinion o’ anyone till I geen them called to +sudden action. It’s astonishin’ how some faint-hearted men will +come to face a danger and put on an awful look o’ courage if they only +get warnin’, but take them by surprise—that’s the way to try +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Jacques, that is the very reason why I ask your opinion of +Hamilton. He was pretty well taken by surprise that time, I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, master; but <i>that</i> kind of start don’t prove much. +Hows’ever, I don’t think he’s easy upset. He does <i>look</i> +uncommon soft, and his face grew red when the snow fell, but his eyebrow and +his under lip showed that it wasn’t from fear.” +</p> + +<p> +During that afternoon and the greater part of that night the three friends +continued in close conversation—Harry sitting in front of the stove, with +his hands in his pockets, on a chair tilted as usual on its hind legs, and +pouring out volleys of questions, which were pithily answered by the +good-humoured, loquacious hunter, who sat behind the stove, resting his elbows +on his knees, and smoking his much-loved pipe; while Hamilton reclined on +Harry’s bed, and listened with eager avidity to anecdotes and stories, +which seemed, like the narrator’s pipe, to be inexhaustible. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-night, Jacques, good-night,” said Harry, as the latter rose +at last to depart; “I’m delighted to have had a talk with you. You +must come back to-morrow. I want to hear more about your friend Redfeather. +Where did you say you left him?” +</p> + +<p> +“In the Saskatchewan, master. He said that he would wait there, as +he’d heerd the missionary was comin’ up to pay the Injins a +visit.” +</p> + +<p> +“By-the-by, you’re going over to the missionary’s place +to-morrow, are you not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, then, that’ll do. I’ll go over with you. How far off is +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Three miles or thereabouts.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. Call in here as you pass, and my friend Hamilton and I will +accompany you. Good-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques thrust his pipe into his bosom, held out his horny hand, and giving his +young friends a hearty shake, turned and strode from the room. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day Jacques called according to promise, and the three friends +set off together to visit the Indian village. This missionary station was under +the management of a Wesleyan clergyman, Pastor Conway by name, an excellent +man, of about forty-five years of age, with an energetic mind and body, a bald +head, a mild, expressive countenance, and a robust constitution. He was +admirably qualified for his position, having a natural aptitude for every sort +of work that man is usually called on to perform. His chief care was for the +instruction of the Indians, whom he had induced to settle around him, in the +great and all-important truths of Christianity. He invented an alphabet, and +taught them to write and read their own language. He commenced the laborious +task of translating the Scriptures into the Cree language; and being an +excellent musician, he instructed his converts to sing in parts the psalms and +Wesleyan hymns, many of which are exceedingly beautiful. A school was also +established and a church built under his superintendence, so that the natives +assembled in an orderly way in a commodious sanctuary every Sabbath day to +worship God; while the children were instructed, not only in the Scriptures, +and made familiar with the narrative of the humiliation and exaltation of our +blessed Saviour, but were also taught the elementary branches of a secular +education. But good Pastor Conway’s energy did not stop here. Nature had +gifted him with that peculiar genius which is powerfully expressed in the term +“a jack-of-all-trades.” He could turn his hand to anything; and +being, as we have said, an energetic man, he did turn his hand to almost +everything. If anything happened to get broken, the pastor could either +“mend it himself or direct how it was to be done. If a house was to be +built for a new family of red men, who had never handled a saw or hammer in +their lives, and had lived up to that time in tents, the pastor lent a hand to +begin it, drew out the plan (not a very complicated thing certainly), set them +fairly at work, and kept his eye on it until it was finished. In short, the +worthy pastor was everything to everybody, “that by all means he might +gain some.” +</p> + +<p> +Under such management the village flourished as a matter of course, although it +did not increase very rapidly owing to the almost unconquerable aversion of +North American Indians to take up a settled habitation. +</p> + +<p> +It was to this little hamlet, then, that our three friends directed their +steps. On arriving, they found Pastor Conway in a sort of workshop, giving +directions to an Indian who stood with a soldering-iron in one hand and a sheet +of tin in the other, which he was about to apply to a curious-looking +half-finished machine that bore some resemblance to a canoe. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my friend Jacques!” he exclaimed as the hunter approached him, +“the very man I wished to see. But I beg pardon, gentlemen,-strangers, I +perceive. You are heartily welcome. It is seldom that I have the pleasure of +seeing new friends in my wild dwelling. Pray come with me to my house.” +</p> + +<p> +Pastor Conway shook hands with Harry and Hamilton with a degree of warmth that +evinced the sincerity of his words. The young men thanked him and accepted the +invitation. +</p> + +<p> +As they turned to quit the workshop, the pastor observed Jacques’s eye +fixed with a puzzled expression of countenance, on his canoe. +</p> + +<p> +“You have never seen anything like that before, I daresay?” said +he, with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; I never did see such a queer machine afore.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a tin canoe, with which I hope to pass through many miles of +country this spring, on my way to visit a tribe of Northern Indians, and it was +about this very thing that I wanted to see you, my friend.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques made no reply, but cast a look savouring very slightly of contempt on +the unfinished canoe as they turned and went away. +</p> + +<p> +The pastor’s dwelling stood at one end of the village, a view of which it +commanded from the back windows, while those in front overlooked the lake. It +was pleasantly situated and pleasantly tenanted, for the pastor’s wife +was a cheerful, active little lady, like-minded with himself, and delighted to +receive and entertain strangers. To her care Mr. Conway consigned the young +men, after spending a short time in conversation with them; and then, +requesting his wife to show them through the village, he took Jacques by the +arm and sauntered out. +</p> + +<p> +“Come with me, Jacques,” he began; “I have somewhat to say to +you. I had not time to broach the subject when I met you at the Company’s +fort, and have been anxious to see you ever since. You tell me that you have +met with my friend Redfeather.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; I spent a week or two with him last fall I found him +stayin’ with his tribe, and we started to come down here together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that is the very point,” exclaimed the pastor, “that I +wish to inquire about. I firmly believe that God has opened that Indian’s +eyes to see the truth; and I fully expected from what he said when we last met, +that he would have made up his mind to come and stay here.” +</p> + +<p> +“As to what the Almighty has done to him,” said Jacques, in a +reverential tone of voice, “I don’t pretend to know; he did for +sartin speak, and act too, in a way that I never seed an Injin do before. But +about his comin’ here, sir, you were quite right: he did mean to come, +and I’ve no doubt will come yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“What prevented him coming with you, as you tell me he intended?” +inquired the pastor. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you see, sir, he and I and his squaw, as I said, set off to come +here together: but when we got the length o’ Edmonton House, we heerd +that you were comin’ up to pay a visit to the tribe to which Redfeather +belongs; and so seem’ that it was o’ no use to come down hereaway +just to turn about an’ go up agin, he stopped there to wait for you, for +he knew you would want him to interpret—” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” interrupted the pastor, “that’s true. I have two +reasons for wishing to have him here. The primary one is, that he may get good +to his immortal soul; and then he understands English so well that I want him +to become my interpreter; for although I understand the Cree language pretty +well now, I find it exceedingly difficult to explain the doctrines of the Bible +to my people in it. But pardon me, I interrupted you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was only going to say,” resumed Jacques, “that I made up +my mind to stay with him; but they wanted a man to bring the winter packet +here, so, as they pressed me very hard, an’ I had nothin’ +particular to do, I ’greed and came, though I would rather ha’ +stopped; for Redfeather an’ I ha’ struck up a friendship +togither—a thing that I would never ha’ thought it poss’ble +for me to do with a red Injin.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why not with a red Indian, friend?” inquired the pastor, while +a shade of sadness passed over his mild features, as if unpleasant thoughts had +been roused by the hunter’s speech. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s not easy to say why,” rejoined the other. +“I’ve no partic’lar objection to the red-skins. There’s +only one man among them that I bears a grudge agin, and even that one I’d +rayther avoid than otherwise.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you should <i>forgive</i> him, Jacques. The Bible tells us not only +to bear our enemies no grudge, but to love them and to do them good.” +</p> + +<p> +The hunter’s brow darkened. “That’s impossible, sir,” +he said; “I couldn’t do <i>him</i> a good turn if I was to try ever +so hard. He may bless his stars that I don’t want to do him mischief; but +to <i>love him</i>, it’s jist imposs’ble.” +</p> + +<p> +“With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” +said the pastor solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques’s naturally philosophic though untutored mind saw the force of +this. He felt that God, who had formed his soul, his body, and the wonderfully +complicated machinery and objects of nature, which were patent to his observant +and reflective mind wherever he went, must of necessity be equally able to +alter, influence, and remould them all according to His will. Common-sense was +sufficient to teach him this; and the bold hunter exhibited no ordinary amount +of common-sense in admitting the fact at once, although in the case under +discussion (the loving of his enemy) it seemed utterly impossible to his +feelings and experience. The frown, therefore, passed from his brow, while he +said respectfully, “What you say, sir, is true; I believe though I +can’t <i>feel</i> it. But I s’pose the reason I niver felt much +drawn to the red-skins is, that all the time I lived in the settlements I was +used to hear them called and treated as thievin’ dogs, an ‘when I +com’d among them I didn’t see much to alter my opinion. Here +an’ there I have found one or two honest Injins, an’ Redfeather is +as true as steel; but the most o’ them are no better than they should be. +I s’pose I don’ think much o’ them just because they are +red-skins.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Jacques, you will excuse me if I say that there is not much sense in +<i>that</i> reason. An Indian cannot help being a red man any more than you can +help being a white one, so that he ought not to be despised on that account. +Besides, God made him what he is, and to despise the <i>work</i> of God, or to +undervalue it, is to despise God Himself. You may indeed despise, or rather +abhor, the sins that red men are guilty of; but if you despise <i>them</i> on +this ground, you must much more despise white men, for <i>they</i> are guilty +of greater iniquities than Indians are. They have more knowledge, and are +therefore more inexcusable when they sin; and anyone who has travelled much +must be aware that, in regard to general wickedness, white men are at least +quite as bad as Indians. Depend upon it, Jacques, that there will be Indians +found in heaven at the last day as well as white men. God is no respecter of +persons.” +</p> + +<p> +“I niver thought much on that subject afore, sir,” returned the +hunter; “what you say seems reasonable enough. I’m sure an’ +sartin, any way, that if there’s a red-skin in heaven at all, Redfeather +will be there, an’ I only hope that I may be there too to keep him +company.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so, my friend,”, said the pastor earnestly; “I hope +so too, with all my heart. And if you will accept of this little book, it will +show you how to get there.” +</p> + +<p> +The missionary drew a small, plainly-bound copy of the Bible from his pocket as +he spoke, and presented it to Jacques, who received it with a smile, and +thanked him, saying, at the same time, that he “was not much up to +book-larnin’, but he would read it with pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Jacques,” said the pastor, after a little further +conversation on the subject of the Bible, in which he endeavoured to impress +upon him the absolute necessity of being acquainted with the blessed truths +which it contains—“now, Jacques, about my visit to the Indians. I +intend, if the Almighty spares me, to embark in yon tin canoe that you found me +engaged with, and, with six men to work it, proceed to the country of the +Knisteneux Indians, visit their chief camp, and preach to them there as long as +the weather will permit. When the season is pretty well advanced, and winter +threatens to cut off my retreat, I shall re-embark in my canoe and return home. +By this means I hope to be able to sow the good seed of Christian truths in the +hearts of men who, as they will not come to this settlement, have no chance of +being brought under the power of the Gospel by any other means.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques gave one of his quiet smiles on hearing this. “Right +sir—right,” he said, with some energy; “I have always +thought, although I niver made bold to say it before, that there was not enough +o’ this sort o’ thing. It has always seemed to me a kind o’ +madness (excuse my plainness o’ speech, sir) in you pastors, +thinkin’ to make the red-skins come and settle round you like so many +squaws, and dig up an’ grub at the ground, when it’s quite clear +that their natur’ and the natur’ o’ things about them meant +them to be hunters. An’ surely, since the Almighty made them hunters, He +intended them to <i>be</i> hunters, an’ won’t refuse to make them +Christians on <i>that</i> account. A red-skin’s natur’ is a +huntin’ natur’, an’ nothin’ on arth ’ll ever make +it anything else.’ +</p> + +<p> +“There is much truth in what you observe, friend,” rejoined the +pastor; “but you are not <i>altogether</i> right. Their nature <i>may</i> +be changed, although certainly nothing on <i>earth</i> will change it. Look at +that frozen lake.” He pointed to the wide field of thick snow-covered ice +that stretched out for miles like a sheet of white marble before them. +“Could anything on earth break up or sink or melt that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothin’,” replied Jacques, laconically. +</p> + +<p> +“But the warm beams of yon glorious sun can do it,” continued the +pastor, pointing upwards as he spoke, “and do it effectually too; so +that, although you can scarcely observe the process, it nevertheless turns the +hard, thick, solid ice into limpid water at last. So is it in regard to man. +Nothing on earth can change his heart, or alter his nature; but our Saviour, +who is called the Sun of Righteousness, can. When He shines into a man’s +soul it melts. The old man becomes a little child, the wild savage a Christian. +But I agree with you in thinking that we have not been sufficiently alive to +the necessity of seeking to convert the Indians before trying to gather them +round us. The one would follow as a natural consequence, I think, of the other, +and it is owing to this conviction that I intend, as I have already said, to +make a journey in spring to visit those who will not or cannot come to visit +me. And now, what I want to ask is whether you will agree to accompany me as +steersman and guide on my expedition.” +</p> + +<p> +The hunter slowly shook his head. “I’m afeard not sir; I have +already promised to take charge of a canoe for the Company. I would much rather +go with you, but I must keep my word.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, Jacques, certainly; that settles the question You cannot go +with me—unless—” the pastor paused as if in thought for a +moment—“unless you can persuade them to let you off.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, I can try,” returned Jacques. +</p> + +<p> +“Do; and I need not say how happy I shall be if you succeed. Good-day, +friend, good-bye.” So saying, the missionary shook hands with the hunter +and returned to his house, while Jacques wended his way to the village in +search of Harry and Hamilton. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Good news and romantic scenery—Bear-hunting and its results. +</p> + +<p> +Jaques failed in his attempt to break off his engagement with the fur-traders. +The gentleman in charge of Norway House, albeit a good-natured, estimable man, +was one who could not easily brook disappointment, especially in matters that +involved the interests of the Hudson’s Bay Company; so Jacques was +obliged to hold to his compact, and the pastor had to search for another guide. +</p> + +<p> +Spring came, and with it the awakening (if we may use the expression) of the +country from the long, lethargic sleep of winter. The sun burst forth with +irresistible power, and melted all before it. Ice and snow quickly dissolved, +and set free the waters of swamp and river, lake and sea, to leap and sparkle +in their new-found liberty. Birds renewed their visits to the regions of the +north; frogs, at last unfrozen, opened their leathern jaws to croak and whistle +in the marshes; and men began their preparations for a summer campaign. +</p> + +<p> +At the commencement of the season an express arrived with letters from +headquarters, which, among other matters of importance, directed that Messrs. +Somerville and Hamilton should be despatched forthwith to the Saskatchewan +district, where, on reaching Fort Pitt, they were to place themselves at the +disposal of the gentleman in charge of the district. It need scarcely be added +that the young men were overjoyed on receiving this almost unhoped-for +intelligence, and that Harry expressed his satisfaction in his usual hilarious +manner, asserting, somewhat profanely, in the excess of his glee, that the +governor-in-chief of Rupert’s Land was a “regular brick.” +Hamilton agreed to all his friend’s remarks with a quiet smile, +accompanied by a slight chuckle, and a somewhat desperate attempt at a caper, +which attempt, bordering as it did on a region of buffoonery into which our +quiet and gentlemanly friend had never dared hitherto to venture proved an +awkward and utter failure. He felt this and blushed deeply. +</p> + +<p> +It was further arranged and agreed upon that the young men should accompany +Jacques Caradoc in his canoe. Having become sufficiently expert canoemen to +handle their paddles well, they scouted the idea of taking men with them, and +resolved to launch boldly forth at once as <i>bona-fide</i> voyageurs. To this +arrangement Jacques, after one or two trials to test their skill, agreed; and +very shortly after the arrival of the express, the trio set out on their +voyage, amid the cheers and adieus of the entire population of Norway House, +who were assembled on the end of the wooden wharf to witness their departure, +and with whom they had managed during their short residence at that place, to +become special favourites. A month later, the pastor of the Indian village, +having procured a trusty guide, embarked in his tin canoe with a crew of six +men, and followed in their track. +</p> + +<p> +In process of time spring merged into summer—a season mostly +characterised in those climes by intense heat and innumerable clouds of +musquitoes, whose vicious and incessant attacks render life, for the time +being, a burden. Our three voyageurs, meanwhile, ascended the Saskatchewan, +penetrating deeper each day into the heart of the North American continent. On +arriving at Fort Pitt, they were graciously permitted to rest for three days, +after which they were forwarded to another district, where fresh efforts were +being made to extend the fur-trade into lands hitherto almost unvisited. This +continuation of their travels was quite suited to the tastes and inclinations +of Harry and Hamilton, and was hailed by them as an additional reason for +self-gratulation. As for Jacques, he cared little to what part of the world he +chanced to be sent. To hunt, to toil in rain and in sunshine, in heat and in +cold, at the paddle or on the snow-shoe, was his vocation, and it mattered +little to the bold hunter whether he plied it upon the plains of the +Saskatchewan or among the woods of Athabasca. Besides, the companions of his +travels were young, active, bold, adventurous, and therefore quite suited to +his taste. Redfeather, too, his best and dearest friend, had been induced to +return to his tribe for the purpose of mediating between some of the turbulent +members of it and the white men who had gone to settle among them, so that the +prospect of again associating with his red friend was an additional element in +his satisfaction. As Charley Kennedy was also in this district, the hope of +seeing him once more was a subject of such unbounded delight to Harry +Somerville, and so, sympathetically, to young Hamilton, that it was with +difficulty they could realize the full amount of their good fortune, or give +adequate expression to their feelings. It is therefore probable that there +never were three happier travellers than Jacques, Harry, and Hamilton, as they +shouldered their guns and paddles, shook hands with the inmates of Fort Pitt, +and with light steps and lighter hearts launched their canoe, turned their +bronzed faces once more to the summer sun, and dipped their paddles again in +the rippling waters of the Saskatchewan River. +</p> + +<p> +As their bark was exceedingly small, and burdened with but little lading, they +resolved to abandon the usual route, and penetrate the wilderness through a +maze of lakes and small rivers well known to their guide. By this arrangement +they hoped to travel more speedily, and avoid navigating a long sweep of the +river by making a number of portages; while, at the same time, the changeful +nature of the route was likely to render it more interesting. From the fact of +its being seldom traversed, it was also more likely that they should find a +supply of game for the journey. +</p> + +<p> +Towards sunset, one fine day, about two weeks after their departure from Fort +Pitt, our voyageurs paddled their canoe round a wooded point of land that +jutted out from, and partly concealed, the mouth of a large river, down whose +stream they had dropped leisurely during the last three days, and swept out +upon the bosom of a large lake. This was one of those sheets of water which +glitter in hundreds on the green bosom of America’s forests, and are so +numerous and comparatively insignificant as to be scarce distinguished by a +name, unless when they lie directly in the accustomed route of the fur-traders. +But although, in comparison with the freshwater oceans of the Far West, this +lake was unnoticed and almost unknown, it would by no means have been regarded +in such a light had it been transported to the plains of England. In regard to +picturesque beauty, it was perhaps unsurpassed. It might be about six miles +wide, and so long that the land at the farther end of it was faintly +discernible on the horizon. Wooded hills, sloping gently down to the +water’s edge; jutting promontories, some rocky and barren, others more or +less covered with trees; deep bays, retreating in some places into the dark +recesses of a savage-looking gorge, in others into a distant meadow-like plain, +bordered with a stripe of yellow sand; beautiful islands of various sizes, +scattered along the shores as if nestling there for security, or standing +barren and solitary in the centre of the lake, like bulwarks of the wilderness, +some covered with luxuriant vegetation, others bald and grotesque in outline, +and covered with gulls and other water-fowl,—this was the scene that +broke upon the view of the travellers as they rounded the point, and, ceasing +to paddle, gazed upon it long and in deep silence, their hands raised to shade +their eyes from the sun’s rays, which sparkled in the water, and fell, +here in bright spots and broken patches, and there in yellow floods, upon the +rocks, the trees, the forest glades and plains around them. +</p> + +<p> +“What a glorious scene!” murmured Hamilton, almost unconsciously. +</p> + +<p> +“A perfect paradise!” said Harry, with a long-drawn sigh of +satisfaction.—“Why, Jacques, my friend, it’s a matter of +wonder to me that you, a free man, without relations or friends to curb you, or +attract you to other parts of the world, should go boating and canoeing all +over the country at the beck of the fur-traders, when you might come and pitch +your tent here for ever!” +</p> + +<p> +“For ever!” echoed Jacques. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I mean as long as you live in this world.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, master,” rejoined the guide, in a sad tone of voice, +“it’s just because I have neither kith nor kin nor friends to draw +me to any partic’lar spot on arth, that I don’t care to settle down +in this one, beautiful though it be.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, true,” muttered Harry; “man’s a gregarious +animal, there’s no doubt of that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anon?” exclaimed Jacques. +</p> + +<p> +“I meant to say that man naturally loves company,” replied Harry, +smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“An’ yit I’ve seen some as didn’t, master; though, to +be sure, that was onnat’ral, and there’s not many o’ them, by +good luck. Yes, man’s fond o’ seein’ the face o’ +man.” +</p> + +<p> +“And woman, too,” interrupted Harry.—“Eh, Hamilton, +what say you?— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +‘O woman, in our hours of ease,<br/> +Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,<br/> +When pain and anguish wring the brow,<br/> +A ministering angel thou.’ +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Alas, Hammy! pain and anguish and every thing else may wring our unfortunate +brows here long enough before woman, ‘lovely woman,’ will come to +our aid. What a rare sight it would be, now, to see even an ordinary house-maid +or cook out here! It would be good for sore eyes. It seems to me a sort of +horrible untruth to say that I’ve not seen a woman since I left Red +River; and yet its a frightful fact, for I don’t count the +copper-coloured nondescripts one meets with hereabouts to be women at all. I +suppose they are, but they don’t look like it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be a goose, Harry,” said Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not, my friend. If I were under the disagreeable necessity of +being anything but what I am, I should rather be something that is not in the +habit of being shot,” replied the other, paddling with renewed vigour in +order to get rid of some of the superabundant spirits that the beautiful scene +and brilliant weather, acting on a young and ardent nature, had called forth. +</p> + +<p> +“Some of these same red-skins,” remarked the guide, “are not +such bad sort o’ women, for all their ill looks. I’ve know’d +more than one that was a first-rate wife an’ a good mother, though +it’s true they had little edication beyond that o’ the +woods.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt of it,” replied Harry, laughing gaily. “How shall I +keep the canoe’s head, Jacques?” +</p> + +<p> +“Right away for the pint that lies jist between you an’ the +sun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; I give them all credit for being excellent wives and mothers, after +a fashion,” resumed Harry. “I’ve no wish to asperse the +characters of the poor Indians; but you must know, Jacques, that they’re +very different from the women that I allude to and of whom Scott sung. His +heroines were of a <i>very</i> different stamp and colour!” +</p> + +<p> +“Did <i>he</i> sing of niggers?” inquired Jacques, simply. +</p> + +<p> +“Of niggers!” shouted Harry, looking over his shoulder at Hamilton, +with a broad grin; “no, Jacques, not exactly of niggers—” +</p> + +<p> +“Hist!” exclaimed the guide, with that peculiar subdued energy that +at once indicates an unexpected discovery, and enjoins caution, while at the +same moment, by a deep, powerful back-stroke of his paddle, he suddenly checked +the rapid motion of the canoe. +</p> + +<p> +Harry and his friend glanced quickly over their shoulders with a look of +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s in the wind now?” whispered the former. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop paddling, masters, and look ahead at the rock yonder, jist under +the tall cliff. There’s a bear a-sittin’ there, and if we can only +get ashore afore he sees us, we’re sartin sure of him.” +</p> + +<p> +As the guide spoke, he slowly edged the canoe towards the shore, while the +young men gazed with eager looks in the direction indicated, where they beheld +what appeared to be the decayed stump of an old tree or a mass of brown rock. +While they strained their eyes to see it more clearly, the object altered its +form and position. +</p> + +<p> +“So it is,” they exclaimed simultaneously, in a tone that was +equivalent to the remark, “Now we believe, because we see it.” +</p> + +<p> +In a few seconds the bow of the canoe touched the land, so lightly as to be +quite inaudible, and Harry, stepping gently over the side, drew it forward a +couple of feet, while his companions disembarked. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Mister Harry,” said the guide, as he slung a powder-horn and +shot-belt over his shoulder, “we’ve no need to circumvent the +beast, for he’s circumvented himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so?” inquired the other, drawing the shot from his +fowling-piece, and substituting in its place a leaden bullet. +</p> + +<p> +Jacques led the way through the somewhat thinly scattered underwood as he +replied, “You see, Mister Harry, the place where he’s gone to sun +hisself is just at the foot o’ a sheer precipice, which runs round ahead +of him and juts out into the water, so that he’s got three ways to choose +between. He must clamber up the precipice, which will take him some time, I +guess, if he can do it at all; or he must take to the water, which he +don’t like, and won’t do if he can help it; or he must run out the +way he went in, but as we shall go to meet him by the same road, he’ll +have to break our ranks before he gains the woods, an’ +<i>that</i>’ll be no easy job.” +</p> + +<p> +The party soon reached the narrow pass between the lake and the near end of the +cliff, where they advanced with greater caution, and peeping over the low +bushes, beheld Bruin, a large brown fellow, sitting on his haunches, and +rocking himself slowly to and fro, as he gazed abstractedly at the water. He +was scarcely within good shot, but the cover was sufficiently thick to admit of +a nearer approach. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Hamilton,” said Harry, in a low whisper, “take the +first shot. I killed the last one, so it’s your turn this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Hamilton hesitated, but could make no reasonable objection to this, although +his unselfish nature prompted him to let his friend have the first chance. +However, Jacques decided the matter by saying, in a tone that savoured strongly +of command, although it was accompanied with a good-humoured smile,— +</p> + +<p> +“Go for’ard, young man; but you may as well put in the +primin’ first.” +</p> + +<p> +Poor Hamilton hastily rectified this oversight with a deep blush, at the same +time muttering that he never <i>would</i> make a hunter; and then advanced +cautiously through the bushes, slowly followed at a short distance by his +companions. +</p> + +<p> +On reaching the bush within seventy yards of the bear, Hamilton pushed the +twigs aside with the muzzle of his gun; his eye flashed and his courage mounted +as he gazed at the truly formidable animal before him, and he felt more of the +hunter’s spirit within him at that moment than he would have believed +possible a few minutes before. Unfortunately, a hunter’s spirit does not +necessarily imply a hunter’s eye or hand. Having, with much care and long +time, brought his piece to bear exactly where he supposed the brute’s +heart should be, he observed that the gun was on half-cock, by nearly breaking +the trigger in his convulsive efforts to fire. By the time that this error was +rectified, Bruin, who seemed to feel intuitively that some imminent danger +threatened him, rose, and began to move about uneasily, which so alarmed the +young hunter lest he should lose his shot that he took a hasty aim, fired, and +<i>missed.</i> Harry asserted afterwards that he even missed the cliff! On +hearing the loud report, which rolled in echoes along the precipice, Bruin +started, and looking round with an undecided air, saw Harry step quietly from +the bushes, and fire, sending a ball into his flank. This decided him. With a +fierce growl of pain, he scampered towards the water; then changing his mind, +he wheeled round, and dashed at the cliff, up which he scrambled with wonderful +speed. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, Mister Hamilton, load again; quick, I’ll have to do the job +myself, I fear,” said Jacques, as he leaned quietly on his long gun, and +with a half-pitying smile watched the young man, who madly essayed to recharge +his piece more rapidly than it was possible for mortal man to do. Meanwhile, +Harry had reloaded and fired again; but owing to the perturbation of his young +spirits, and the frantic efforts of the bear to escape, he missed. Another +moment, and the animal would actually have reached the top, when Jacques +hastily fired, and brought it tumbling down the precipice. Owing to the +position of the animal at the time he fired, the wound was not mortal; and +foreseeing that Bruin would now become the aggressor, the hunter began rapidly +to reload, at the same time retreating with his companions, who in their +excitement had forgotten to recharge their pieces. On reaching level ground, +Bruin rose, shook himself, gave a yell of anger on beholding his enemies, and +rushed at them. +</p> + +<p> +It was a fine sight to behold the bearing of Jacques at this critical juncture. +Accustomed to bear-hunting from his youth, and utterly indifferent to +consequences when danger became imminent, he saw at a glance the probabilities +of the case. He knew exactly how long it would take him to load his gun, and +regulated his pace so as not to interfere with that operation. His features +wore their usual calm expression. Every motion of his hands was quick and +sudden, yet not hurried, but performed in a way that led the beholder +irresistibly to imagine that he would have done it even more rapidly if +necessary. On reaching a ledge of rock that overhung the lake a few feet he +paused and wheeled about; click went the dog-head, just as the bear rose to +grapple with him; another moment, and a bullet passed through the brute’s +heart, while the bold hunter sprang lightly on one side, to avoid the dash of +the falling animal. As he did so, young Hamilton, who had stood a little behind +him with an uplifted axe, ready to finish the work should Jacques’s fire +prove ineffective, received Bruin in his arms, and tumbled along with him over +the rock, headlong into the water, from which, however, he speedily arose +unhurt, sputtering and coughing, and dragging the dead bear to the shore. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, Hammy,” shouted Harry, indulging in a prolonged peal of +laughter when he ascertained that his friend’s adventure had cost him +nothing more than a ducking; “that was the most amicable, loving plunge I +ever saw.” +</p> + +<p> +“Better a cold bath in the arms of a dead bear than an embrace on dry +land with a live one,” retorted Hamilton, as he wrung the water out of +his dripping garments. +</p> + +<p> +“Most true, O sagacious diver! But the sooner we get a fire made the +better; so come along.” +</p> + +<p> +While the two friends hastened up to the woods to kindle a fire, Jacques drew +his hunting-knife, and, with doffed coat and upturned sleeves, was soon busily +employed in divesting the bear of his natural garment. The carcass, being +valueless in a country where game of a more palatable kind was plentiful, they +left behind as a feast to the wolves. After this was accomplished and the +clothes dried, they re-embarked, and resumed their journey, plying the paddles +energetically in silence, as their adventure had occasioned a considerable loss +of time. +</p> + +<p> +It was late, and the stars had looked down for a full hour into the profound +depths of the now dark lake ere the party reached the ground at the other side +of the point, on which Jacques had resolved to encamp. Being somewhat wearied, +they spent but little time in discussing supper, and partook of that meal with +a degree of energy that implied a sense of duty as well as of pleasure. Shortly +after, they were buried in repose, under the scanty shelter of their canoe. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +An unexpected meeting, and an unexpected deer-hunt—Arrival at the +outpost—Disagreement with the natives—An enemy discovered, and a +murder. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning they rose with the sun, and therefore also with the birds and +beasts. +</p> + +<p> +A wide traverse of the lake now lay before them. This they crossed in about two +hours, during which time they paddled unremittingly, as the sky looked rather +lowering, and they were well aware of the danger of being caught in a storm in +such an egg-shell craft as an Indian canoe. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll put in here now, Mister Harry,” exclaimed Jacques, as +the canoe entered the mouth of one of these small rivulets which are called in +Scotland <i>burns</i>, and in America <i>creeks</i>; “it’s like +that your appetite is sharpened after a spell like that. Keep her head a little +more to the left—straight for the p’int—so. It’s likely +we’ll get some fish here if we set the net.” +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Jacques, is yon a cloud or a wreath of smoke above the trees in +the creek?” inquired Harry, pointing with his paddle towards the object +referred to. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s smoke, master; I’ve seed it for some time, and mayhap +we’ll find some Injins there who can give us news of the traders at +Stoney Creek.” +</p> + +<p> +“And pray, how far do you think we may now be from that place?” +inquired Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“Forty miles, more or less.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the canoe entered the shallow water of the creek, and began to +ascend the current of the stream, which at its mouth was so sluggish as to be +scarcely perceptible to the eye. Not so, however, to the arms. The light bark, +which while floating on the lake had glided buoyantly forward as if it were +itself consenting to the motion, had now become apparently imbued with a spirit +of contradiction, bounding convulsively forward at each stroke of the paddles, +and perceptibly losing speed at each interval. Directing their course towards a +flat rock on the left bank of the stream, they ran the prow out of the water +and leaped ashore. As they did so the unexpected figure of a man issued from +the bushes, and sauntered towards the spot. Harry and Hamilton advanced to meet +him, while Jacques remained to unload the canoe. The stranger was habited in +the usual dress of a hunter, and carried a fowling piece over his right +shoulder. In general appearance he looked like an Indian; but though the face +was burned by exposure to a hue that nearly equalled the red skins of the +natives, a strong dash of pink in it, and the mass of fair hair that encircled +it, proved that as Harry paradoxically expressed it, its owner was a +<i>white</i> man. He was young, considerably above the middle height, and +apparently athletic. His address and language on approaching the young men put +the question of his being a <i>white</i> man beyond a doubt. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-morning, gentlemen,” he began. “I presume that you are +the party we have been expecting for some time past to reinforce our staff at +Stoney Creek. Is it not so?” +</p> + +<p> +To this query young Somerville, who stood in advance of his friend, made no +reply, but stepping hastily forward, laid a hand on each of the +stranger’s shoulders, and gazed earnestly into his face, exclaiming as he +did so,— +</p> + +<p> +“Do my eyes deceive me? Is Charley Kennedy before me—or his +ghost?” +</p> + +<p> +“What! eh,” exclaimed the individual thus addressed, returning +Harry’s gripe and stare with interest, “is it possible? no—it +cannot—Harry Somerville, my old, dear, unexpected +friend!”—and pouring out broken sentences, abrupt ejaculations, and +incoherent questions, to which neither vouchsafed replies, the two friends +gazed at and walked round each other, shook hands, partially embraced, and +committed sundry other extravagances, utterly unconscious of or indifferent to +the fact that Hamilton was gazing at them, open-mouthed, in a species of +stupor, and that Jacques was standing by, regarding them with a look of mingled +amusement and satisfaction. The discovery of this latter personage was a source +of renewed delight and astonishment to Charley, who was so much upset by the +commotion of his spirits, in consequence of this, so to speak, double shot, +that he became rambling and incoherent in his speech during the remainder of +that day, and gave vent to frequent and sudden bursts of smothered enthusiasm, +in which it would appear, from the occasional muttering of the names of +Redfeather and Jacques, that he not only felicitated himself on his own good +fortune, but also anticipated renewed pleasure in witnessing the joyful meeting +of these two worthies ere long. In fact, this meeting did take place on the +following day, when Redfeather, returning from a successful hunt, with part of +a deer on his shoulders, entered Charley’s tent, in which the travellers +had spent the previous day and night, and discovered the guide gravely +discussing a venison steak before the fire. +</p> + +<p> +It would be vain to attempt a description of all that the reunited friends said +and did during the first twenty-four hours after their meeting: how they talked +of old times, as they lay extended round the fire inside of Charley’s +tent, and recounted their adventures by flood and field since they last met; +how they sometimes diverged into questions of speculative philosophy (as +conversations <i>will</i> often diverge, whether we wish it or not), and broke +short off to make sudden inquiries after old friends; how this naturally led +them to talk of new friends and new scenes, until they began to forecast their +eyes a little into the future; and how, on feeling that this was an uncongenial +theme under present circumstances, they reverted again to the past, and by a +peculiar train of conversation—to retrace which were utterly +impossible—they invariably arrived at <i>old</i> times again. Having in +course of the evening pretty well exhausted their powers, both mental and +physical, they went to sleep on it, and resumed the colloquial <i>mélange</i> +in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +“And now tell me, Charley, what you are doing in this uninhabited part of +the world, so far from Stoney Creek,” said Harry Somerville, as they +assembled round the fire to breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +“That is soon explained,” replied Charley. “My good friend +and superior, Mr. Whyte, having got himself comfortably housed at Stoney Creek, +thought it advisable to establish a sort of half outpost, half fishing-station +about twenty miles below the new fort, and believing (very justly) that my +talents lay a good deal in the way of fishing and shooting, sent me to +superintend it during the summer months. I am, therefore, at present monarch of +that notable establishment, which is not yet dignified with a name. Hearing +that there were plenty of deer about twenty miles below my palace, I resolved +the other day to gratify my love of sport, and at the same time procure some +venison for Stoney Creek; accordingly, I took Redfeather with me, +and—here I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good,” said Harry; “and can you give us the least idea +of what they are going to do with my friend Hamilton and me when they get +us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say. One of you, at any rate, will be kept at the creek, to +assist Mr. Whyte; the other may, perhaps, be appointed to relieve me at the +fishing for a time, while <i>I</i> am sent off to push the trade in other +quarters. But I’m only guessing. I don’t know anything definitely, +for Mr. Whyte is by no means communicative.” +</p> + +<p> +“An’ please, master,” put in Jacques, “when do you mean +to let us off from this place? I guess the bourgeois won’t be over +pleased if we waste time here.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll start this forenoon, Jacques. I and Redfeather shall go +along with you, as I intended to take a run up to the creek about this time at +any rate.—Have you the skins and dried meat packed, Redfeather?” +</p> + +<p> +To this the Indian replied in the affirmative, and the others having finished +breakfast, the whole party rose to prepare for departure, and set about loading +their canoes forthwith. An hour later they were again cleaving the waters of +the lake, with this difference in arrangement, that Jacques was transferred to +Redfeather’s canoe, while Charley Kennedy took his place in the stern of +that occupied by Harry and Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +The establishment of which our friend Charley pronounced himself absolute +monarch, and at which they arrived in the course of the same afternoon, +consisted of two small log houses or huts, constructed in the rudest fashion, +and without any attempt whatever at architectural embellishment. It was +pleasantly situated on a small bay, whose northern extremity was sheltered from +the arctic blast by a gentle rising ground clothed with wood. A miscellaneous +collection of fishing apparatus lay scattered about in front of the buildings, +and two men and an Indian woman were the inhabitants of the place; the king +himself, when present, and his prime minister, Redfeather, being the remainder +of the population. +</p> + +<p> +“Pleasant little kingdom that of yours, Charley,” remarked Harry +Somerville, as they passed the station. +</p> + +<p> +“Very,” was the laconic reply. +</p> + +<p> +They had scarcely passed the place above a mile, when a canoe, containing a +solitary Indian, was observed to shoot out from the shore and paddle hastily +towards them. From this man they learned that a herd of deer was passing down +towards the lake, and would be on its banks in a few minutes. He had been +waiting their arrival when the canoes came in sight, and induced him to hurry +out so as to give them warning. Having no time to lose, the whole party now +paddled swiftly for the shore, and reached it just a few minutes before the +branching antlers of the deer came in sight above the low bushes that skirted +the wood. Harry Somerville embarked in the bow of the strange Indian’s +canoe, so as to lighten the other and enable all parties to have a fair chance. +After snuffing the breeze for a few seconds, the foremost animal took the +water, and commenced swimming towards the opposite shore of the lake, which at +this particular spot was narrow. It was followed by seven others. After +sufficient time was permitted to elapse to render their being cut off, in an +attempt to return, quite certain, the three canoes darted from the shelter of +the overhanging bushes, and sprang lightly over the water in pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t hurry, and strike sure,” cried Jacques to his young +friends, as they came up with the terrified deer that now swam for their lives. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +In another moment they shot in among the struggling group. Harry Somerville +stood up, and seizing the Indian’s spear, prepared to strike, while his +companions directed their course towards others of the herd. A few seconds +sufficed to bring him up with it. Leaning backwards a little, so as to give +additional force to the blow, he struck the spear deep into the animal’s +back. With a convulsive struggle, it ceased to swim, its head slowly sank, and +in another second it lay dead upon the water. “Without waiting a moment, +the Indian immediately directed the canoe towards another deer; while the +remainder of the party, now considerably separated from each other, despatched +the whole herd by means of axes and knives. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha!” exclaimed Jacques, as they towed their booty to the shore, +“that’s a good stock o’ meat, Mister Charles. It will help to +furnish the larder for the winter pretty well.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was much wanted, Jacques: we’ve a good many mouths to feed, +besides <i>treating</i> the Indians now and then. And this fellow, I think, +will claim the most of our hunt as his own. We should not have got the deer but +for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, true, Mister Charles. They belong to the red-skin by rights, +that’s sartin.” +</p> + +<p> +After this exploit, another night was passed under the trees; and at noon on +the day following they ran their canoe alongside the wooden wharf at Stoney +Creek. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-day to you, gentlemen,” said Mr. Whyte to Harry and Hamilton +as they landed; “I’ve been looking out for you these two weeks +past. Glad you’ve come at last, however. Plenty to do, and no time to +lose. You have despatches, of course. Ah! that’s right.” (Harry +drew a sealed packet from his bosom and presented it with a bow), +“that’s right. I must peruse these at once.—Mr. Kennedy, you +will show these gentlemen their quarters. We dine in half-an-hour.” So +saying, Mr. Whyte thrust the packet into his pocket, and without further remark +strode towards his dwelling; while Charley, as instructed, led his friends to +their new residence—not forgetting, however, to charge Redfeather to see +to the comfortable lodgment of Jacques Caradoc. +</p> + +<p> +“Now it strikes me,” remarked Harry, as he sat down on the edge of +Charley’s bed and thrust his hands doggedly down into his pockets, while +Hamilton tucked up his sleeves and assaulted a washhand-basin which stood on an +unpainted wooden chair in a corner—“it strikes me that if +<i>that’s</i> his usual style of behaviour, old Whyte is a pleasure that +we didn’t anticipate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t judge from first impressions; they’re often +deceptive,” spluttered Hamilton, pausing in his ablutions to look at his +friend through a mass of soap-suds—an act which afterwards caused him a +good deal of pain and a copious flow of unbidden tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Right,” exclaimed Charley, with an approving nod to +Hamilton.—“You must not judge him prematurely, Harry. He’s a +good-hearted fellow at bottom; and if he once takes a liking for you, +he’ll go through fire and water to serve you, as I know from +experience.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which means to say <i>three</i> things,” replied the implacable +Harry: “first, that for all his good-heartedness <i>at bottom,</i> he +never shows any of it <i>at top,</i> and is therefore like unto truth, which is +said to lie at the bottom of a well—so deep, in fact, that it is never +got out, and so is of use to nobody; secondly, that he is possessed of that +amount of affection which is common to all mankind (to a great extent even to +brutes), which prompts a man to be reasonably attentive to his friends; and +thirdly, that you, Master Kennedy, enjoy the peculiar privilege of being the +friend of a two-legged polar bear!” +</p> + +<p> +“Were I not certain that you jest,” retorted Kennedy, “I +would compel you to apologize to me for insulting my friend, you rascal! But +see, here’s the cook coming to tell us that dinner waits. If you +don’t wish to see the teeth of the polar bear, I’d advise you to be +smart.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus admonished, Harry sprang up, plunged his hands and face in the basin and +dried them, broke Charley’s comb in attempting to pass it hastily through +his hair, used his fingers savagely as a substitute, and overtook his +companions just as they entered the mess-room. +</p> + +<p> +The establishment of Stoney Creek was comprised within two acres of ground. It +consisted of eight or nine houses—three of which, however, alone met the +eye on approaching by the lake. The “great” house, as it was +termed, on account of its relative proportion to the other buildings, was a +small edifice, built substantially but roughly of unsquared logs, partially +whitewashed, roofed with shingles, and boasting six small windows in front, +with a large door between them. On its east side, and at right angles to it, +was a similar edifice, but smaller, having two doors instead of one, and four +windows instead of six. This was the trading-shop and provision-store. Opposite +to this was a twin building which contained the furs and a variety of +miscellaneous stores. Thus were formed three sides of a square, from the centre +of which rose a tall flagstaff. The buildings behind those just described were +smaller and insignificant—the principal one being the house appropriated +to the men; the others were mere sheds and workshops. Luxuriant forests +ascended the slopes that rose behind and encircled this oasis on all sides, +excepting in front, where the clear waters of the lake sparkled like a blue +mirror. +</p> + +<p> +On the margin of this lake the new arrivals, left to enjoy themselves as they +best might for a day or two, sauntered about and chatted to their heart’s +content of things past, present, and future. +</p> + +<p> +During these wanderings, Harry confessed that his opinion of Mr. Whyte had +somewhat changed; that he believed a good deal of the first bad impressions was +attributable to his cool, not to say impolite, reception of them; and that he +thought things would go on much better with the Indians if he would only try to +let some of his good qualities be seen through his exterior. +</p> + +<p> +An expression of sadness passed over Charley’s face as his friend said +this. +</p> + +<p> +“You are right in the last particular,” he said, with a sigh. +“Mr. Whyte is so rough and overbearing that the Indians are beginning to +dislike him. Some of the more clear-sighted among them see that a good deal of +this lies in mere manner, and have penetration enough to observe that in all +his dealings with them he is straightforward and liberal; but there are a set +of them who either don’t see this, or are so indignant at the rough +speeches he often makes, and the rough treatment he sometimes threatens, that +they won’t forgive him, but seem to be nursing their wrath. I sometimes +wish he was sent to a district where the Indians and traders are, from habitual +intercourse, more accustomed to each other’s ways, and so less likely to +quarrel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have the Indians, then, used any open threats?” asked Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“No, not exactly; but through an old man of the tribe, who is well +affected towards us, I have learned that there is a party among them who seem +bent on mischief.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we may expect a row some day or other. That’s +pleasant!—What think you, Hammy?” said Harry, turning to his +friend. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that it would be anything but pleasant,” he replied; +“and I sincerely hope that we shall not have occasion for a row.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re not afraid of a fight, are you, Hamilton?” asked +Charley. +</p> + +<p> +The peculiarly bland smile with which Hamilton usually received any remark that +savoured of banter overspread his features as Charley spoke, but he merely +replied— +</p> + +<p> +“No, Charley, I’m not afraid.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know any of the Indians who are so anxious to vent their spleen +on our worthy bourgeois?” asked Harry, as he seated himself on a rocky +eminence commanding a view of the richly-wooded slopes, dotted with huge masses +of rock that had fallen from the beetling cliffs behind the creek. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I do,” replied Charley; “and, by the way, one of +them—the ringleader—is a man with whom you are acquainted, at least +by name. You’ve heard of an Indian called Misconna?” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” exclaimed Harry, with a look of surprise; “you +don’t mean the blackguard mentioned by Redfeather, long ago, when he told +us his story on the shores of Lake Winnipeg—the man who killed poor +Jacques’s young wife?” +</p> + +<p> +“The same,” replied Charley. +</p> + +<p> +“And does Jacques know he is here?” +</p> + +<p> +“He does; but Jacques is a strange, unaccountable mortal. You remember +that in the struggle described by Redfeather, the trapper and Misconna had +neither of them seen each other, Redfeather having felled the latter before the +former reached the scene of action—a scene which, he has since told me, +he witnessed at a distance, while rushing to the rescue of his wife-so that +Misconna is utterly ignorant of the fact that the husband of his victim is now +so near him; indeed, he does not know that she had a husband at all. On the +other hand, although Jacques is aware that his bitterest enemy is within +rifle-range of him at this moment, he does not know him by sight; and this +morning he came to me, begging that I would send Misconna on some expedition or +other, just to keep him out of his way.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you intend to do so?” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall do my best,” replied Charley; “but I cannot get him +out of the way till to-morrow, as there is to be a gathering of Indians in the +hall this very day, to have a palaver with Mr. Whyte about their grievances, +and Misconna wouldn’t miss that for a trifle. But Jacques won’t be +likely to recognise him among so many; and if he does, I rely with confidence +on his powers of restraint and forbearance. By the way,” he continued, +glancing upwards, “it is past noon, and the Indians will have begun to +assemble, so we had better hasten back, as we shall be expected to help in +keeping order.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, he rose, and the young men returned to the fort. On reaching it they +found the hall crowded with natives, who sat cross-legged around the walls, or +stood in groups conversing in low tones, and to judge from the expression of +their dark eyes and lowering brows, they were in extremely bad humour. They +became silent and more respectful, however, in their demeanour when the young +men entered the apartment and walked up to the fireplace, in which a small fire +of wood burned on the hearth, more as a convenient means of rekindling the +pipes of the Indians when they went out than as a means of heating the place. +Jacques and Redfeather stood leaning against the wall near to it, engaged in a +whispered conversation. Glancing round as he entered, Charley observed Misconna +sitting a little apart by himself, and apparently buried in deep thought. He +had scarcely perceived him, and nodded to several of his particular friends +among the crowd, when a side-door opened, and Mr. Whyte, with an angry +expression on his countenance, strode up to the fireplace, planted himself +before it, with his legs apart and his hands behind him, while he silently +surveyed the group. +</p> + +<p> +“So,” he began, “you have asked to speak with me; well, here +I am. What have you to say?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Whyte addressed the Indians in their native tongue, having, during a long +residence in the country, learned to speak it as fluently as English. +</p> + +<p> +For some moments there was silence. Then an old chief—the same who had +officiated at the feast described in a former chapter—rose, and standing +forth into the middle of the room, made a long and grave oration, in which, +besides a great deal that was bombastic, much that was irrelevant, and more +that was utterly fabulous and nonsensical, he recounted the sorrows of himself +and his tribe, concluding with a request that the great chief would take these +things into consideration—the principal <i>“things”</i> being +that they did not get anything in the shape of gratuities, while it was +notorious that the Indians in other districts did, and that they did not get +enough of goods in advance, on credit of their future hunts. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Whyte heard the old man to the end in silence: then, without altering his +position, he looked round on the assembly with a frown, and said, “Now +listen to me; I am a man of few words. I have told you over and over again, and +I now repeat it, that you shall get no gratuities until you prove yourselves +worthy of them. I shall not increase your advances by so much as half an inch +of tobacco till your last year’s debts are scored off, and you begin to +show more activity in hunting and less disposition to grumble. Hitherto you +have not brought in anything like the quantity of furs that the capabilities of +the country led me to expect. You are lazy. Until you become better hunters you +shall have no redress from me.” +</p> + +<p> +As he finished, Mr. Whyte made a step towards the door by which he had entered, +but was arrested by another chief, who requested to be heard. Resuming his +place and attitude, Mr. Whyte listened with an expression of dogged +determination, while guttural grunts of unequivocal dissatisfaction issued from +the throats of several of the malcontents. The Indian proceeded to repeat a few +of the remarks made by his predecessor, but more concisely, and wound up by +explaining that the failure in the hunts of the previous year was owing to the +will of the Great Manito, and not by any means on account of the supposed +laziness of himself or his tribe. +</p> + +<p> +“That is false,” said Mr. Whyte; “you know it is not +true.” +</p> + +<p> +As this was said, a murmur of anger ran round the apartment, which was +interrupted by Misconna, who, apparently unable to restrain his passion, sprang +into the middle of the room, and confronting Mr. Whyte, made a short and pithy +speech, accompanied by violent gesticulation, in which he insinuated that if +redress was not granted the white men would bitterly repent it. +</p> + +<p> +During his speech the Indians had risen to their feet and drawn closer +together, while Jacques and the three young men drew near their superior. +Redfeather remained apart, motionless, and with his eyes fixed on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“And, pray, what dog—what miserable thieving cur are you, who dare +to address me thus?” cried Mr. Whyte, as he strode, with flashing eyes, +up to the enraged Indian. +</p> + +<p> +Misconna clinched his teeth, and his fingers worked convulsively about the +handle of his knife, as he exclaimed, “I am no dog. The pale-faces are +dogs. I am a great chief. My name is known among the braves of my tribe. It is +Misconna—” +</p> + +<p> +As the name fell from his lips, Mr. Wiryte and Charley were suddenly dashed +aside, and Jacques sprang towards the Indian, his face livid, his eyeballs +almost bursting from their sockets, and his muscles rigid with passion. For an +instant he regarded the savage intently as he shrank appalled before him; then +his colossal fist fell like lightning, with the weight of a sledge-hammer, on +Misconna’s forehead, and drove him against the outer door, which, giving +way before the violent shock, burst from its fastenings and hinges, and fell, +along with the savage, with a loud crash to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +For an instant everyone stood aghast at this precipitate termination to the +discussion, and then, springing forward in a body, with drawn knives, the +Indians rushed upon the white men, who in a close phalanx, with such weapons as +came first to hand, stood to receive them. At this moment Redfeather stepped +forward unarmed between the belligerents, and, turning to the Indians, +said— +</p> + +<p> +“Listen: Redfeather does not take the part of his white friends against +his comrades. You know that he never failed you in the war-path, and he would +not fail you now if your cause were just. But the eyes of his comrades are +shut. Redfeather knows what they do not know. The white hunter” (pointing +to Jacques) “is a friend of Redfeather. He is a friend of the Knisteneux. +He did not strike because you disputed with his bourgeois; he struck because +Misconna <i>is his mortal foe</i>. But the story is long. Redfeather will tell +it at the council fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is right,” exclaimed Jacques, who had recovered his usual grave +expression of countenance; “Redfeather is right. I bear you no ill-will, +Injins, and I shall explain the thing myself at your council fire.” +</p> + +<p> +As Jacques spoke the Indians sheathed their knives, and stood with frowning +brows, as if uncertain what to do. The unexpected interference of their +comrade-in-arms, coupled with his address and that of Jacques, had excited +their curiosity. Perhaps the undaunted deportment of their opponents, who stood +ready for the encounter with a look of stern determination, contributed a +little to allay their resentment. +</p> + +<p> +While the two parties stood thus confronting each other, as if uncertain how to +act, a loud report was heard just outside the doorway. In another moment Mr. +Whyte fell heavily to the ground, shot through the heart. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The chase—The fight—Retribution—Low spirits and good news. +</p> + +<p> +The tragical end of the consultation related in the last chapter had the effect +of immediately reconciling the disputants. With the exception of four or five +of the most depraved and discontented among them, the Indians bore no +particular ill-will to the unfortunate principal of Stoney Creek; and although +a good deal disappointed to find that he was a stern, unyielding trader, they +had, in reality, no intention of coming to a serious rupture with him, much +less of laying violent hands either upon master or men of the establishment. +</p> + +<p> +When, therefore, they beheld Mr. Whyte weltering in his blood at their feet, a +sacrifice to the ungovernable passion of Misconna, who was by no means a +favourite among his brethren, their temporary anger was instantly dissipated, +and a feeling of deepest indignation roused in their bosoms against the +miserable assassin who had perpetrated the base and cowardly murder. It was, +therefore, with a yell of rage that several of the band, immediately after the +victim fell, sprang into the woods in hot pursuit of him, whom they now counted +their enemy. They were joined by several men belonging to the fort, who had +hastened to the scene of action on hearing that the people in the hall were +likely to come to blows. Redfeather was the first who had bounded like a deer +into the woods in pursuit of the fugitive. Those who remained assisted Charley +and his friends to convey the body of Mr. Whyte into an adjoining room, where +they placed him on a bed. He was quite dead, the murderer’s aim having +been terribly true. +</p> + +<p> +Finding that he was past all human aid, the young men returned to the hall, +which they entered just as Redfeather glided quickly through the open doorway, +and, approaching the group, stood in silence beside them, with his arms folded +on his breast. +</p> + +<p> +“You have something to tell, Redfeather,” said Jacques, in a +subdued tone, after regarding him a few seconds. “Is the scoundrel +caught?” +</p> + +<p> +“Misconna’s foot is swift,” replied the Indian, “and +the wood is thick. It is wasting time to follow him through the bushes.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would you advise then?” exclaimed Charley, in a hurried +voice. “I see that you have some plan to propose.” +</p> + +<p> +“The wood is thick,” answered Redfeather, “but the lake and +the river are open. Let one party go by the lake, and one party by the +river.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it, that’s it, Injin,” interrupted Jacques, +energetically; “your wits are always jumpin’. By crosin’ over +to Duck River, we can start at a point five or six miles above the lower fall, +an’ as it’s thereabouts he must cross, we’ll be time enough +to catch him. If he tries the lake, the other party’ll fix him there; and +he’ll be soon poked up if he tries to hide in the bush.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, then; we’ll all give chase at once,” cried Charley, +feeling a temporary relief in the prospect of energetic action from the +depressing effects of the calamity that had so suddenly befallen him in the +loss of his chief and friend. +</p> + +<p> +Little time was needed for preparation. Jacques, Charley, and Harry proceeded +by the river; while Redfeather and Hamilton, with a couple of men, launched +their canoe on the lake and set off in pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +Crossing the country for about a mile, Jacques led his party to the point on +the Duck River to which he had previously referred. Here they found two canoes, +into one of which the guide stepped with one of the men, a Canadian, who had +accompanied them, while Harry and Charley embarked in the other. In a few +minutes they were rapidly descending the stream. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you mean to act, Jacques?” inquired Charley, as he paddled +alongside of the guide’s canoe. “Is it not likely that Misconna may +have crossed the river already? in which case we shall have no chance of +catching him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Niver fear,” returned Jacques. “He must have longer legs +than most men if he gets to the flat-rock fall before us, an’ as +that’s the spot where he’ll nat’rally cross the river, being +the only straight line for the hills that escapes the bend o’ the bay to +the south o’ Stoney Creek, we’re pretty sartin to stop him +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“True; but that being, as you say, the <i>natural</i> route, don’t +you think it likely he’ll expect that it will be guarded, and avoid it +accordingly?” +</p> + +<p> +“He <i>would</i> do so, Mister Charles, if he thought we were +<i>here</i>; but there are two reasons agin this. He thinks that he’s got +the start o’ us, an’ won’t need to double by way o’ +deceivin’ us; and then he knows that the whole tribe is after him, and +consekintly won’t take a long road when there’s a short one, if he +can help it. But here’s the rock. Look out, Mister Charles. We’ll +have to run the fall, which isn’t very big just now, and then hide in the +bushes at the foot of it till the blackguard shows himself. Keep well to the +right an’ don’t mind the big rock; the rush o’ water takes +you clear o’ that without trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +With this concluding piece of advice, he pointed to the fall, which plunged +over a ledge of rock about half-a-mile ahead of them, and which was +distinguishable by a small column of white spray that rose out of it. As +Charley beheld it his spirits rose, and forgetting for a moment the +circumstances that called him there, he cried out— +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll run it before you, Jacques. Hurrah! Give way, Harry!” +and in spite of a remonstrance from the guide, he shot the canoe ahead, gave +vent to another reckless shout, and flew, rather than glided, down the stream. +On seeing this, the guide held back, so as to give him sufficient time to take +the plunge ere he followed. A few strokes brought Charley’s canoe to the +brink of the fall, and Harry was just in the act of raising himself in the bow +to observe the position of the rocks, when a shout was heard on the bank close +beside them. Looking up they beheld an Indian emerge from the forest, fit an +arrow to his bow, and discharge it at them. The winged messenger was truly +aimed; it whizzed through the air and transfixed Harry Somerville’s left +shoulder just at the moment they swept over the fall. The arrow completely +incapacitated Harry from using his arm, so that the canoe, instead of being +directed into the broad current, took a sudden turn, dashed in among a mass of +broken rocks, between which the water foamed with violence, and upset. Here the +canoe stuck fast, while its owners stood up to their waists in the water, +struggling to set it free—an object which they were the more anxious to +accomplish that its stern lay directly in the spot where Jacques would +infallibly descend. The next instant their fears were realised. The second +canoe glided over the cataract, dashed violently against the first, and upset, +leaving Jacques and his man in a similar predicament. By their aid, however, +the canoes were more easily righted, and embarking quickly they shot forth +again, just as the Indian, who had been obliged to make a detour in order to +get within range of their position, reappeared on the banks above, and sent +another shaft after them—fortunately, however, without effect. +</p> + +<p> +“This is unfortunate,” muttered Jacques, as the party landed and +endeavoured to wring some of the water from their dripping clothes; +“an’ the worst of it is that our guns are useless after sich a +duckin’, an’ the varmint knows that, an’ will be down on us +in a twinklin’.” +</p> + +<p> +“But we are four to one,” exclaimed Harry. “Surely we +don’t need to fear much from a single enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated the guide, as he examined the lock of his gun. +“You’ve had little to do with Injins, that’s plain, You may +be sure he’s not alone, an’ the reptile has a bow with arrows +enough to send us all on a pretty long journey. But we’ve the trees to +dodge behind. If I only had <i>one</i> dry charge!” and the disconcerted +guide gave a look, half of perplexity, half of contempt, at the dripping gun. +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind,” cried Charley; “we have our paddles. But I +forgot, Harry, in all this confusion, that you are wounded, my poor fellow. We +must have it examined before doing anything further.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, it’s nothing at all—a mere scratch, I think; at least I +feel very little pain.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the twang of a bow was heard, and an arrow flew past +Jacques’s ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, so soon!” exclaimed that worthy, with a look of surprise, as +if he had unexpectedly met with an old friend. Stepping behind a tree, he +motioned to his friends to do likewise; an example which they followed somewhat +hastily on beholding the Indian who had wounded Harry step from the cover of +the underwood and deliberately let fly another arrow, which passed through the +hair of the Canadian they had brought with them. +</p> + +<p> +From the several trees behind which they had leaped for shelter they now +perceived that the Indian with the bow was Misconna, and that he was +accompanied by eight others, who appeared, however, to be totally unarmed; +having, probably, been obliged to leave their weapons behind them, owing to the +abruptness of their flight. Seeing that the white men were unable to use their +guns, the Indians assembled in a group, and from the hasty and violent +gesticulations of some of the party, especially of Misconna, it was evident +that a speedy attack was intended. +</p> + +<p> +Observing this, Jacques coolly left the shelter of his tree, and going up to +Charley, exclaimed, “Now, Mister Charles, I’m goin’ to run +away, so you’d better come along with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“That I certainly will not. Why, what do you mean?” inquired the +other, in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean that these stupid red-skins can’t make up their minds what +to do, an’ as I’ve no notion o’ stoppin’ here all day, +I want to make them do what will suit us best. You see, if they scatter through +the wood and attack us on all sides, they may give us a deal o’ trouble, +and git away after all; whereas, if we <i>run away</i>, they’ll bolt +after us in a body, and then we can take them in hand all at once, +which’ll be more comfortable-like, an’ easier to manage.” +</p> + +<p> +As Jacques spoke they were joined by Harry and the Canadian; and being observed +by the Indians thus grouped together, another arrow was sent among them. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, follow me,” said Jacques, turning round with a loud howl and +running away. He was closely followed by the others. As the guide had +predicted, the Indians no sooner observed this than they rushed after them in a +body, uttering horrible yells. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, then; stop here; down with you.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques instantly crouched behind a bush, while each of the party did the same. +In a moment the savages came shouting up, supposing the white men were still +running on in advance. As the foremost, a tall, muscular fellow, with the +agility of a panther, bounded over the bush behind which Jacques was concealed, +he was met with a blow from the guide’s fist, so powerfully delivered +into the pit of his stomach that it sent him violently back into the bush, +where he lay insensible. This event, of course, put a check upon the headlong +pursuit of the others, who suddenly paused, like a group of infuriated tigers +unexpectedly baulked of their prey. The hesitation, however, was but for a +moment. Misconna, who was in advance, suddenly drew his bow again, and let fly +an arrow at Jacques, which the latter dexterously avoided; and while his +antagonist lowered his eyes for an instant to fit another arrow to the string, +the guide, making use of his paddle as a sort of javelin, threw it with such +force and precision that it struck Misconna directly between the eyes and +felled him to the earth, In another instant the two parties rushed upon each +other, and a general <i>mélée</i> ensued, in which the white men, being greatly +superior to their adversaries in the use of their fists, soon proved themselves +more than a match for them all although inferior in numbers. Charley’s +first antagonist, making an abortive attempt to grapple with him, received two +rapid blows, one on the chest and the other on the nose, which knocked him over +the bank into the river, while his conqueror sprang upon another Indian. Harry, +having unfortunately selected the biggest savage of the band as his special +property, rushed upon him and dealt him a vigorous blow on the head with his +paddle. +</p> + +<p> +The weapon, however, was made of light wood, and, instead of felling him to the +ground, broke into shivers. Springing upon each other they immediately engaged +in a fierce struggle, in which poor Harry learned, when too late, that his +wounded shoulder was almost powerless. Meanwhile, the Canadian having been +assaulted by three Indians at once, floored one at the outset, and immediately +began an impromptu war-dance round the other two, dealing them occasionally a +kick or a blow, which would speedily have rendered them <i>hors de combat</i>, +had they not succeeded in closing upon him, when all three fell heavily to the +ground. Jacques and Charley having succeeded in overcoming their respective +opponents, immediately hastened to his rescue. In the meantime, Harry and his +foe had struggled to a considerable distance from the others, gradually edging +towards the river’s bank. Feeling faint from his wound, the former at +length sank under the weight of his powerful antagonist, who endeavoured to +thrust him over a kind of cliff which they had approached. He was on the point +of accomplishing his purpose, when Charley and his friends perceived +Harry’s imminent danger, and rushed to the rescue. Quickly though they +ran, however, it seemed likely that they would be too late. Harry’s head +already overhung the bank, and the Indian was endeavouring to loosen the gripe +of the young man’s hand from his throat, preparatory to tossing him over, +when a wild cry rang through the forest, followed by the reports of a +double-barrelled gun, fired in quick succession. Immediately after, young +Hamilton bounded like a deer down the slope, seized the Indian by the legs, and +tossed him over the cliff, where he turned a complete somersault in his +descent, and fell with a sounding splash into the water. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, cleverly done, lad!” cried Jacques, as he and the rest +of the party came up and crowded round Harry, who lay in a state of partial +stupor on the bank. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Redfeather hastily but silently approached; his broad chest was +heaving heavily, and his expanded nostrils quivering with the exertions he had +made to reach the scene of action in time to succour his friends. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank God!” said Hamilton softly, as he kneeled beside Harry and +supported his head, while Charley bathed his temples—“thank God +that I have been in time! Fortunately I was walking by the river considerably +in advance of Redfeather, who was bringing up the canoe, when I heard the +sounds of the fray, and hastened to your aid.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment Harry opened his eyes, and saying faintly that he felt better, +allowed himself to be raised to a sitting posture, while his coat was removed +and his wound examined. It was found to be a deep flesh-wound in the shoulder, +from which a fragment of the broken arrow still protruded. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a wonder to me, Mr. Harry, how ye held on to that big thief +so long,” muttered Jacques, as he drew out the splinter and bandaged up +the shoulder. Having completed the surgical operation after a rough fashion, +they collected the defeated Indians. Those of them that were able to walk were +bound together by the wrists and marched off to the fort, under a guard which +was strengthened by the arrival of several of the fur-traders, who had been in +pursuit of the fugitives, and were attracted to the spot by the shouts of the +combatants. Harry, and such of the party as were more or less severely injured, +were placed in canoes and conveyed to Stoney Creek by the lake, into which Duck +River runs at the distance of about half-a-mile from the spot on which the +skirmish had taken place. Misconna was among the latter. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving at Stoney Creek, the canoe party found a large assemblage of the +natives awaiting them on the wharf, and no sooner did Misconna land than they +advanced to seize him. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep back, friends,” cried Jacques, who perceived their +intentions, and stepped hastily between them.—“Come here, +lads,” he continued, turning to his companions; “surround Misconna. +He is <i>our</i> prisoner, and must ha’ fair justice done him, +accordin’ to white law.” +</p> + +<p> +They fell back in silence on observing the guide’s determined manner; but +as they hurried the wretched culprit towards the house, one of the Indians +pressed close upon their rear, and before anyone could prevent him, dashed his +tomahawk into Misconna’s brain. Seeing that the blow was mortal, the +traders ceased to offer any further opposition; and the Indians rushing upon +his body, bore it away amid shouts and yells of execration to their canoes, to +one of which the body was fastened by a rope, and dragged through the water to +point of land which jutted out into the lake near at hand. Here they lighted a +fire and burned it to ashes. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +There seems to be a period in the history of every one when the fair aspect of +this world is darkened—when everything, whether past, present, or future, +assumes a hue of the deepest gloom; a period when, for the first time, the sun, +which has shone in the mental firmament with more or less brilliancy from +childhood upwards, entirely disappears behind a cloud of thick darkness, and +leaves the soul in a state of deep melancholy; a time when feelings somewhat +akin to despair pervade us, as we begin gradually to look upon the past as a +bright, happy vision, out of which we have at last awakened to view the sad +realities of the present, and look forward with sinking hope to the future. +Various are the causes which produce this, and diverse the effects of it on +differently constituted minds; but there are few, we apprehend, who have not +passed through the cloud in one or other of its phases, and who do not feel +that this <i>first</i> period of prolonged sorrow is darker, and heavier, and +worse to bear, than many of the more truly grievous afflictions that sooner or +later fall to the lot of most men. +</p> + +<p> +Into a state of mind somewhat similar to that which we have endeavoured to +describe, our friend Charley Kennedy fell immediately after the events just +narrated. The sudden and awful death of his friend Mr. Whyte fell upon his +young spirit, unaccustomed as he was to scenes of bloodshed and violence, with +overwhelming power. From the depression, however, which naturally followed he +would probably soon have rallied had not Harry Somerville’s wound in the +shoulder taken an unfavourable turn, and obliged him to remain for many weeks +in bed, under the influence of a slow fever; so that Charley felt a desolation +creeping over his soul that no effort he was capable of making could shake off. +It is true he found both occupation and pleasure in attending upon his sick +friend; but as Harry’s illness rendered great quiet necessary, and as +Hamilton had been sent to take charge of the fishing-station mentioned in a +former chapter, Charley was obliged to indulge his gloomy reveries in silence. +To add to his wretchedness he received a letter from Kate about a week after +Mr. Whyte’s burial, telling him of the death of his mother. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Redfeather and Jacques—both of whom at their young +master’s earnest solicitation, agreed to winter at Stoney +Creek—cultivated each other’s acquaintance sedulously. There were +no books of any kind at the outpost, excepting three Bibles—one belonging +to Charley, and one to Harry, the third being that which had been presented to +Jacques by Mr. Conway the missionary. This single volume, however, proved to be +an ample library to Jacques and his Indian friend. Neither of these sons of the +forest was much accustomed to reading, and neither of them would have for a +moment entertained the idea of taking to literature as a pastime; but +Redfeather loved the Bible for the sake of the great truths which he discovered +in its inspired pages, though much of what he read was to him mysterious and +utterly incomprehensible. Jacques, on the other hand, read it, or listened to +his friend, with that philosophic gravity of countenance and earnestness of +purpose which he displayed in regard to everything; and deep, serious, and +protracted were the discussions they entered into, as night after night they +sat on a log, with the Bible spread out before them, and read by the light of +the blazing fire in the men’s house at Stoney Creek. Their intercourse, +however, was brought to an abrupt conclusion by the unexpected arrival, one +day, of Mr. Conway the missionary in his tin canoe. This gentleman’s +appearance was most welcome to all parties. It was like a bright ray of +sunshine to Charley to meet with one who could fully sympathise with him in his +present sorrowful frame of mind. It was an event of some consequence to Harry +Somerville, inasmuch as it provided him with an amateur doctor who really +understood somewhat of his physical complaint, and was able to pour balm, at +once literally and spiritually, into his wounds. It was an event productive of +the liveliest satisfaction to Redfeather, who now felt assured that his tribe +would have those mysteries explained which he only imperfectly understood +himself; and it was an event of much rejoicing to the Indians themselves, +because their curiosity had been not a little roused by what they heard of the +doings and sayings of the white missionary, who lived on the borders of the +great lake. The only person, perhaps, on whom Mr. Conway’s arrival acted +with other than a pleasing influence was Jacques Caradoc. This worthy, although +glad to meet with a man whom he felt inclined both to love and respect, was by +no means gratified to find that his friend Redfeather had agreed to go with the +missionary on his visit to the Indian tribe, and thereafter to accompany him to +the settlement on Playgreen Lake. But with the stoicism that was natural to +him, Jacques submitted to circumstances which he could not alter, and contented +himself with assuring Redfeather that if he lived till next spring he would +most certainly “make tracks for the great lake,” and settle down at +the missionary’s station along with him. This promise was made at the end +of the wharf of Stoney Creek the morning on which Mr. Conway and his party +embarked in their tin canoe—the same tin canoe at which Jacques had +curled his nose contemptuously when he saw it in process of being constructed, +and at which he did not by any means curl it the less contemptuously now that +he saw it finished. The little craft answered its purpose marvellously well, +however, and bounded lightly away under the vigorous strokes of its crew, +leaving Charley and Jacques on the pier gazing wistfully after their friends, +and listening sadly to the echoes of their parting song as it floated more and +more faintly over the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Winter came, but no ray of sunshine broke through the dark cloud that hung over +Stoney Creek. Harry Somerville, instead of becoming better, grew worse and +worse every day, so that when Charley despatched the winter packet, he +represented the illness of his friend to the powers at headquarters as being of +a nature that required serious and immediate attention and change of scene. But +the word <i>immediate</i> bears a slightly different signification in the +backwoods to what it does in the lands of railroads and steamboats. The letter +containing this hint took many weeks to traverse the waste wilderness to its +destination; months passed before the reply was written, and many weeks more +elapsed ere its contents were perused by Charley and his friend. When they did +read it, however, the dark cloud that had hung over them so long burst at last; +a ray of sunshine streamed down brightly upon their hearts, and never forsook +them again, although it did lose a little of its brilliancy after the first +flash. It was on a rich, dewy, cheerful morning in early spring when the packet +arrived, and Charley led Harry, who was slowly recovering his wonted health and +spirits, to their favourite rocky resting-place on the margin of the lake. Here +he placed the letter in his friend’s hand with a smile of genuine +delight. It ran as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +M<small>Y DEAR</small> S<small>IR</small>,—Your letter containing the +account of Mr. Somerville’s illness has been forwarded to me, and I am +instructed to inform you that leave of absence for a short time has been +granted to him. I have had a conversation with the doctor here, who advises me +to recommend that, if your friend has no other summer residence in view, he +should spend part of his time in Red River settlement. In the event of his +agreeing to this, I would suggest that he should leave Stoney Creek with the +first brigade in spring, or by express canoe if you think it advisable.—I +am, etc. +</p> + +<p> +“Short but sweet—uncommonly sweet!” said Harry, as a deep +flush of joy crimsoned his pale cheeks, while his own merry smile, that had +been absent for many a weary day, returned once more to its old haunt, and +danced round its accustomed dimples like a repentant wanderer who has been long +absent from and has at last returned to his native home. +</p> + +<p> +“Sweet indeed!” echoed Charley. “But that’s not all; +here’s another lump of sugar for you.” So saying, he pulled a +letter from his pocket, unfolded it slowly, spread it out on his knee, and, +looking up at his expectant friend, winked. +</p> + +<p> +“Go on, Charley; pray don’t tantalize me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tantalize you! My dear fellow, nothing is farther from my thoughts. +Listen to this paragraph in my dear old father’s letter:— +</p> + +<p> +“‘So you see, my dear Charley, that we have managed to get you +appointed to the charge of Lower Fort Garry, and as I hear that poor Harry +Somerville is to get leave of absence, you had better bring him along with you. +I need not add that my house is at his service as long as he may wish to remain +in it.’ +</p> + +<p> +“There! what think ye of that, my boy?” said Charley, as he folded +the letter and returned it to his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +“I think,” replied Harry, “that your father is a dear old +gentleman, and I hope that you’ll only be half as good when you come to +his time of life; and I think I’m so happy to-day that I’ll be able +to walk without the assistance of your arm to-morrow; and I think we had better +go back to the house now, for I feel, oddly enough, as tired as if I had had a +long walk. Ah, Charley, my dear fellow, that letter will prove to be the best +doctor I have had yet. But now tell me what you intend to do.” +</p> + +<p> +Charley assisted his friend to rise, and led him slowly back to the house, as +he replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“Do, my boy? that’s soon said. I’ll make things square and +straight at Stoney Creek. I’ll send for Hamilton and make him interim +commander-in-chief. I’ll write two letters—one to the gentleman in +charge of the district, telling him of my movements; the other (containing a +screed of formal instructions) to the miserable mortal who shall succeed me +here. I’ll take the best canoe in our store, load it with provisions, put +you carefully in the middle of it, stick Jacques in the bow and myself in the +stern, and start, two weeks hence, neck and crop, head over heels, through +thick and thin, wet and dry, over portage, river, fall, and lake, for Red River +settlement!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Old friends and scenes—Coming events cast their shadows before. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy, senior, was seated in his own comfortable arm-chair before the +fire, in his own cheerful little parlour, in his own snug house, at Red River, +with his own highly characteristic breakfast of buffalo steaks, tea, and +pemmican before him, and his own beautiful, affectionate daughter Kate +presiding over the tea-pot, and exercising unwarrantably despotic sway over a +large gray cat, whose sole happiness seemed to consist in subjecting Mr. +Kennedy to perpetual annoyance, and whose main object in life was to catch its +master and mistress off their guard, that it might go quietly to the table, the +meat-safe, or the pantry, and there—deliberately—steal! +</p> + +<p> +Kate had grown very much since we saw her last. She was quite a woman now, and +well worthy of a minute description here; but we never could describe a woman +to our own satisfaction. We have frequently tried and failed; so we substitute, +in place, the remarks of Kate’s friends and acquaintances about +her—a criterion on which to form a judgment that is a pretty correct one, +especially when the opinion pronounced happens to be favourable. Her father +said she was an angel, and the only joy of his life. This latter expression, we +may remark, was false; for Mr. Kennedy frequently said to Kate, confidentially, +that Charley was a great happiness to him; and we are quite sure that the pipe +had something to do with the felicity of his existence. But the old gentleman +said that Kate was the <i>only</i> joy of his life, and that is all we have to +do with at present. Several ill-tempered old ladies in the settlement said that +Miss Kennedy was really a quiet, modest girl—testimony this (considering +the source whence it came) that was quite conclusive. Then old Mr. Grant +remarked to old Mr. Kennedy, over a confidential pipe, that Kate was certainly, +in his opinion, the most modest and the prettiest girl in Red River. Her old +school companions called her a darling. Tom Whyte said “he never seed +nothink like her nowhere.” The clerks spoke of her in terms too glowing +to remember; and the last arrival among them, the youngest, with the slang of +the “old country” fresh on his lips, called her a <i>stunner!</i> +Even Mrs. Grant got up one of her half-expressed remarks about her, which +everybody would have supposed to be quizzical in its nature, were it not for +the frequent occurrence of the terms “good girl,” “innocent +creature,” which seemed to contradict that idea. There were also one or +two hapless swains who said nothings, but what they <i>did</i> and +<i>looked</i> was in itself unequivocal. They went quietly into a state of +slow, drivelling imbecility whenever they happened to meet with Kate; looked as +if they had become shockingly unwell, and were rather pleased than otherwise +that their friends should think so too; and upon all and every occasion in +which Kate was concerned, conducted themselves with an amount of insane +stupidity (although sane enough at other times) that nothing could account for, +save the idea that their admiration of her was inexpressible, and that +<i>that</i> was the most effective way in which they could express it. +</p> + +<p> +“Kate, my darling,” said Mr. Kennedy, as he finished the last +mouthful of tea, “wouldn’t it be capital to get another letter from +Charley?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, dear papa, it would indeed. But I am quite sure that the next time +we shall hear from him will be when he arrives here, and makes the house ring +with his own dear voice.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so, girl?” said the old trader with a smile. It may as well be +remarked here that the above opening of conversation was by no means new; it +was stereotyped now. Ever since Charley had been appointed to the management of +Lower Fort Garry, his father had been so engrossed by the idea, and spoke of it +to Kate so frequently, that he had got into a way of feeling as if the event so +much desired would happen in a few days, although he knew quite well that it +could not, in the course of ordinary or extra-ordinary circumstances, occur in +less than several months. However, as time rolled on he began regularly, every +day or two, to ask Kate questions about Charley that she could not by any +possibility answer, but which he knew from experience would lead her into a +confabulation about his son, which helped a little to allay his impatience. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you see, father,” she replied, “it is three months +since we got his last, and you know there has been no opportunity of forwarding +letters from Stoney Creek since it was despatched. Now, the next opportunity +that occurs-” +</p> + +<p> +“Mee-aow!” interrupted the cat, which had just finished two pats of +fresh butter without being detected, and began, rather recklessly, to exult. +</p> + +<p> +“Hang that cat!” cried the old gentleman, angrily, +“it’ll be the death o’ me yet;” and seizing the first +thing that came to hand, which happened to be the loaf of bread, discharged it +with such violence, and with so correct an aim, that it knocked, not only the +cat, but the tea-pot and sugar-bowl also, off the table. +</p> + +<p> +“O dear papa!” exclaimed Kate. +</p> + +<p> +“Really, my dear,” cried Mr. Kennedy, half angry and half ashamed, +“we must get rid of that brute immediately. It has scarcely been a week +here, and it has done more mischief already than a score of ordinary cats would +have done in a twelvemonth.” +</p> + +<p> +“But then the mice, papa—” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, but—but—oh, hang the mice!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; but how are we to catch them?” said Kate. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the cook, who had heard the sound of breaking crockery, and +judged it expedient that he should be present, opened the door. +</p> + +<p> +“How now, rascal!” exclaimed his master, striding up to him. +“Did I ring for you, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; but—” +</p> + +<p> +“But! eh, but! no more ‘buts,’ you scoundrel, else +I’ll—” +</p> + +<p> +The motion of Mr. Kennedy’s fist warned the cook to make a precipitate +retreat, which he did at the same moment that the cat resolved to run for its +life. This caused them to meet in the doorway, and making a compound +entanglement with the mat, they both fell into the passage with a loud crash. +Mr. Kennedy shut the door gently, and returned to his chair, patting Kate on +the head as he passed. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, darling, go on with what you were saying; and don’t mind the +tea-pot—let it lie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” resumed Kate, with a smile, “I was saying that the +next opportunity Charley can have will be by the brigade in spring, which we +expect to arrive here, you know, a month hence; but we won’t get a letter +by that, as I feel convinced that he and Harry will come by it +themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the express canoe, Kate—the express canoe,” said Mr. +Kennedy, with a contortion of the left side of his head that was intended for a +wink; “you know they got leave to come by express, Kate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, as to the express, father, I don’t expect them to come by +that, as poor Harry Somerville has been so ill that they would never think of +venturing to subject him to all the discomforts, not to mention the dangers, of +a canoe voyage.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know that, lass—I don’t know that,” said +Mr. Kennedy, giving another contortion with his left cheek. “In fact, I +shouldn’t wonder if they arrived this very day; and it’s well to be +on the look-out, so I’m off to the banks of the river, Kate.” +Saying this, the old gentleman threw on an old fur cap with the peak all awry, +thrust his left hand into his right glove, put on the other with the back to +the front and the thumb in the middle finger, and bustled out of the house, +muttering as he went, “Yes, it’s well to be on the look-out for +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy, however, was disappointed: Charley did not arrive that day, nor +the next, nor the day after that. Nevertheless the old gentleman’s faith +each day remained as firm as on the day previous that Charley would arrive on +that day “for certain.” About a week after this, Mr. Kennedy put on +his hat and gloves as usual, and sauntered down to the banks of the river, +where his perseverance was rewarded by the sight of a small canoe rapidly +approaching the landing-place. From the costume of the three men who propelled +it, the cut of the canoe itself, the precision and energy of its movements, and +several other minute points about it only apparent to the accustomed eye of a +nor’-wester, he judged at once that this was a new arrival, and not +merely one of the canoes belonging to the settlers, many of which might be seen +passing up and down the river. As they drew near he fixed his eyes eagerly upon +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Very odd,” he exclaimed, while a shade of disappointment passed +over his brow: “it ought to be him, but it’s not like him; too +big—different nose altogether. Don’t know any of the three. +Humph!—well, he’s <i>sure</i> to come to-morrow, at all +events.” Having come to the conclusion that it was not Charley’s +canoe, he wheeled sulkily round and sauntered back towards his house, intending +to solace himself with a pipe. At that moment he heard a shout behind him, and +ere he could well turn round to see whence it came, a young man bounded up the +bank and seized him in his arms with a hug that threatened to dislocate his +ribs. The old gentleman’s first impulse was to bestow on his antagonist +(for he verily believed him to be such) one of those vigorous touches with his +clinched fist which in days of yore used to bring some of his disputes to a +summary and effectual close; but his intention changed when the youth spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Father, dear, dear father!” said Charley, as he loosened his +grasp, and, still holding him by both hands, looked earnestly into his face +with swimming eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Old Mr. Kennedy seemed to have lost his powers of speech. He gazed at his son +for a few seconds in silence—then suddenly threw his arms around him and +engaged in a species of wrestle which he intended for an embrace. +</p> + +<p> +“O Charley, my boy! you’ve come at last—God bless you! +Let’s look at you. Quite changed: six feet; no, not quite +changed—the old nose; black as an Indian. O Charley, my dear boy! +I’ve been waiting for you for months; why did you keep me so long, eh? +Hang it, where’s my handkerchief?” At this last exclamation Mr. +Kennedy’s feelings quite overcame him; his full heart overflowed at his +eyes, so that when he tried to look at his son, Charley appeared partly +magnified and partly broken up into fragments. Fumbling in his pocket for the +missing handkerchief, which he did not find, he suddenly seized his fur cap, in +a burst of exasperation, and wiped his eyes with that. Immediately after, +forgetting that it was a cap he thrust it into his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, dear father,” cried Charley, drawing the old man’s arm +through his, “let us go home. Is Kate there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” cried Mr. Kennedy, waving his hand as he was dragged +away, and bestowing, quite unwittingly, a back-handed slap on the cheek to +Harry Somerville—which nearly felled that youth to the ground. “Ay, +ay! Kate, to be sure, darling. Yes, quite right, Charley; a +pipe—that’s it, my boy, let’s have a pipe!” And thus, +uttering coherent and broken sentences, he disappeared through the doorway with +his long-lost and now recovered son. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Harry and Jacques continued to pace quietly before the house, waiting +patiently until the first ebullition of feeling, at the meeting of Charley with +his father and sister, should be over. In a few minutes Charley ran out. +</p> + +<p> +“Hollo, Harry! come in, my boy; forgive my forgetfulness, +but—” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear fellow,” interrupted Harry, “what nonsense you are +talking! Of course you forgot me, and everybody and everything on earth, just +now; but have you seen Kate? is—” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” cried Charley, as he pushed his friend before him, and +dragged Jacques after him into the parlour.—“Here’s Harry, +father, and Jacques.—You’ve heard of Jacques, Kate?” +</p> + +<p> +“Harry, my, dear boy;” cried Mr. Kennedy, seizing his young friend +by the hand; “how are you, lad? Better, I hope.” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment Mr. Kennedy’s eye fell on Jacques, who stood in the +doorway, cap in hand, with the usual quiet smile lighting up his countenance. +</p> + +<p> +“What! Jacques—Jacques Caradoc!” he cried, in astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“The same, sir; you an’ I have know’d each other afore now in +the way o’ trade,” answered the hunter, as he grasped his old +bourgeois by the hand and wrung it warmly. Mr. Kennedy, senior, was so +overwhelmed by the combination of exciting influences to which he was now +subjected, that he plunged his hand into his pocket for the handkerchief again, +and pulled out the fur hat instead, which he flung angrily at the cat; then +using the sleeve of his coat as a substitute, he proceeded to put a series of +abrupt questions to Jacques and Charley simultaneously. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime Harry went up to Kate and <i>stared</i> at her. We do not mean +to say that he was intentionally rude to her. No! He went towards her intending +to shake hands, and renew acquaintance with his old companion; but the moment +he caught sight of her he was struck not only dumb, but motionless. The odd +part of it was that Kate, too, was affected in precisely the same way, and both +of them exclaimed mentally, “Can it be possible?” Their lips, +however, gave no utterance to the question. At length Kate recollected herself, +and blushing deeply, held out her hand, as she said,— +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me, Har—Mr. Somerville; I was so surprised at your altered +appearance, I could scarcely believe that my old friend stood before me.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry’s cheeks crimsoned as he seized her hand and said: “Indeed, +Ka—a—Miss—that is, in fact, I’ve been very ill, and +doubtless have changed somewhat; but the very same thought struck me in regard +to yourself, you are so—so—” +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately for Harry, who was gradually becoming more and more confused, to +the amusement of Charley, who had closely observed the meeting of his friend +and sister, Mr. Kennedy came up. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh! what’s that? What did you say <i>struck</i> you, Harry, my +lad?” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>You</i> did, father, on his arrival,” replied Charley, with a +broad grin, “and a very neat back-hander it was.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense, Charley,” interrupted Harry, with a +laugh.—“I was just saying, sir, that Miss Kennedy is so changed +that I could hardly believe it to be herself.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I had just paid Mr. Somerville the same compliment, papa,” +cried Kate, laughing and blushing simultaneously. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy thrust his hands into his pockets, frowned portentously as he +looked from one to the other, and said slowly, “<i>Miss</i> Kennedy, +<i>Mr.</i> Somerville!” then turning to his son, remarked, +“That’s something new, Charley, lad; that girl is <i>Miss</i> +Kennedy, and that youth there is <i>Mr.</i> Somerville!” +</p> + +<p> +Charley laughed loudly at this sally, especially when the old gentleman +followed it up with a series of contortions of the left cheek, meant for +violent winking. +</p> + +<p> +“Right, father, right; it won’t do here. We don’t know +anybody but Kate and Harry in this house.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry laughed in his own genuine style at this. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Kate be it, with all my heart,” said he; “but, really, +at first she seemed so unlike the Kate of former days that I could not bring +myself to call her so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” said Mr. Kennedy. “But come, boys, with me to my +smoking-room, and let’s have a talk over a pipe, while Kate looks after +dinner.” Giving Charley another squeeze of the hand, and Harry a pat on +the shoulder, the old gentleman put on his cap (with the peak behind), and led +the way to his glass divan in the garden. +</p> + +<p> +It is perhaps unnecessary for us to say that Kate Kennedy and Harry Somerville +had, within the last hour, fallen deeply, hopelessly, utterly, irrevocably, and +totally in love with each other. They did not merely fall up to the ears in +love. To say that they fell over head and ears in it would be, comparatively +speaking, to say nothing. In fact, they did not fall into it at all. They went +deliberately backwards, took a long race, sprang high into the air, turned +completely round, and went down head first into the flood, descending to a +depth utterly beyond the power of any deep-sea lead to fathom, or of any human +mind adequately to appreciate. Up to that day Kate had thought of Harry as the +hilarious youth who used to take every opportunity he could of escaping from +the counting-room and hastening to spend the afternoon in rambling through the +woods with her and Charley. But the instant she saw him a man, with a bright, +cheerful countenance, on which rough living and exposure to frequent peril had +stamped unmistakable lines of energy and decision, and to which recent illness +had imparted a captivating touch of sadness—the moment she beheld this, +and the undeniable scrap of whisker that graced his cheeks, and the slight +<i>shade</i> that rested on his upper lip, her heart leaped violently into her +throat, where it stuck hard and fast, like a stranded ship on a lee-shore. +</p> + +<p> +In like manner, when Harry beheld his former friend a woman, with beaming eyes +and clustering ringlets and—(there, we won’t attempt it!)—in +fact, surrounded by every nameless and namable grace that makes woman +exasperatingly delightful, his heart performed the same eccentric movement, and +he felt that his fate was sealed; that he had been sucked into a rapid which +was too strong even for his expert and powerful arm to contend against, and +that he must drift with the current now, <i>nolens volens</i>, and run it as he +best could. +</p> + +<p> +When Kate retired to her sleeping-apartment that night, she endeavoured to +comport herself in her usual manner; but all her efforts failed. She sat down +on her bed, and remained motionless for half-an-hour; then she started and +sighed deeply; then she smiled and opened her Bible, but forgot to read it; +then she rose hastily, sighed again, took off her gown, hung it up on a peg, +and returning to the dressing-table sat down on her best bonnet; then she cried +a little, at which point the candle suddenly went out; so she gave a slight +scream, and at last went to bed in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +Three hours afterwards, Harry Somerville, who had been enjoying a cigar and a +chat with Charley and his father, rose, and bidding his friends good-night, +retired to his chamber, where he flung himself down on a chair, thrust his +hands into his pockets, stretched out his legs, gazed abstractedly before him, +and exclaimed—“O Kate, my exquisite girl, you’ve floored me +quite that!” +</p> + +<p> +As he continued to sit in silence, the gaze of affection gradually and slowly +changed into a look of intense astonishment as he beheld the gray cat sitting +comfortably on the table, and regarding him with a look of complacent interest, +as if it thought Harry’s style of addressing it was highly +satisfactory—though rather unusual. +</p> + +<p> +“Brute!” exclaimed Harry, springing from his seat and darting +towards it. But the cat was too well accustomed to old Mr. Kennedy’s +sudden onsets to be easily taken by surprise. With a bound it reached the +floor, and took shelter under the bed, whence it was not ejected until Harry, +having first thrown his shoes, soap, clothes-brush, and razor-strop at it, +besides two or three books and several miscellaneous articles of toilet, at +last opened the door (a thing, by the way, that people would do well always to +remember before endeavouring to expel a cat from an impregnable position), and +drew the bed into the middle of the room. Then, but not till then, it fled, +with its back, its tail, its hair, its eyes—in short, its entire +body—bristling in rampant indignation. Having dislodged the enemy, Harry +replaced the bed, threw off his coat and waistcoat, untied his neckcloth, sat +down on his chair again, and fell into a reverie; from which, after +half-an-hour, he started, clasped his hands, stamped his foot, glared up at the +ceiling, slapped his thigh, and exclaimed, in the voice of a hero, “Yes, +I’ll do it, or die!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The first day at home—A gallop in the prairie, and its consequences. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning, as the quartette were at breakfast, Mr. Kennedy, senior, took +occasion to propound to his son the plans he had laid down for them during the +next week. +</p> + +<p> +“In the first place, Charley, my boy,” said he, as well as a large +mouthful of buffalo steak and potato would permit, “you must drive up to +the fort and report yourself. Harry and I will go with you; and after we have +paid our respects to old Grant (another cup of tea, Kate, my darling)—you +recollect him, Charley, don’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, perfectly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, after we’ve been to see him, we’ll drive down +the river, and call on our friends at the mill. Then we’ll look in on the +Thomsons; and give a call, in passing, on old Neverin—he’s always +out, so he’ll be pleased to hear we were there, and it won’t detain +us. Then—-” +</p> + +<p> +“But, dear father—excuse my interrupting you—Harry and I are +very anxious to spend our first day at home entirely with you and Kate. +Don’t you think it would be more pleasant? and then, +to-morrow—” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Charley, this is too bad of you,” said Mr. Kennedy, with a +look of affected indignation: “no sooner have you come back than +you’re at your old tricks, opposing and thwarting your father’s +wishes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, I do not wish to do so, father,” replied Charley, with a +smile; “but I thought that you would like my plan better yourself, and +that it would afford us an opportunity of having a good long, satisfactory talk +about all that concerns us, past, present, and future.” +</p> + +<p> +“What a daring mind you have, Charley,” said Harry, “to speak +of cramming a <i>satisfactory</i> talk of the past, the present, and the future +all into <i>one</i> day!” +</p> + +<p> +“Harry will take another cup of tea, Kate,” said Charley, with an +arch smile, as he went on,— +</p> + +<p> +“Besides, father, Jacques tells me that he means to go off immediately, +to visit a number of his old voyageur friends in the settlement, and I cannot +part with him till we have had one more canter together over the prairies. I +want to show him to Kate, for he’s a great original.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that <i>will</i> be charming!” cried Kate. “I should +like of all things to be introduced to the bold hunter.—Another cup of +tea, Mr. S-Harry, I mean?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry started on being thus unexpectedly addressed. “Yes, if you +please—that is—thank you—no, my cup’s full already, +Kate!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” broke in Mr. Kennedy, senior, “I see +you’re all leagued against me, so I give in. But I shall not accompany +you on your ride, as my bones are a little stiffer than they used to be” +(the old gentleman sighed heavily), “and riding far knocks me up; but +I’ve got business to attend to in my glass house which will occupy me +till dinner-time.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the business you speak of,” began Charley, “is not +incompatible with a cigar, I shall be happy to—” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, as to that, the business itself has special reference to tobacco, +and, in fact, to nothing else; so come along, you young dog,” and the old +gentleman’s cheek went into violent convulsions as he rose, put on his +cap, with the peak very much over one eye, and went out in company with the +young men. +</p> + +<p> +An hour afterwards four horses stood saddled and bridled in front of the house. +Three belonged to Mr. Kennedy; the fourth had been borrowed from a neighbour as +a mount for Jacques Caradoc. In a few minutes more Harry lifted Kate into the +saddle, and having arranged her dress with a deal of unnecessary care, mounted +his nag. At the same moment Charley and Jacques vaulted into their saddles, and +the whole cavalcade galloped down the avenue that led to the prairie, followed +by the admiring gaze of Mr. Kennedy, senior, who stood in the doorway of his +mansion, his hands in his vest pockets, his head uncovered, and his happy +visage smiling through a cloud of smoke that issued from his lips. He seemed +the very personification of jovial good-humour, and what one might suppose +Cupid would become were he permitted to grow old, dress recklessly, and take to +smoking! +</p> + +<p> +The prairies were bright that morning, and surpassingly beautiful. The grass +looked greener than usual, the dew-drops more brilliant as they sparkled on +leaf and blade and branch in the rays of an unclouded sun. The turf felt +springy, and the horses, which were first-rate animals, seemed to dance over +it, scarce crushing the wild-flowers beneath their hoofs, as they galloped +lightly on, imbued with the same joyous feeling that filled the hearts of their +riders. The plains at this place were more picturesque than in other parts, +their uniformity being broken up by numerous clumps of small trees and wild +shrubbery, intermingled with lakes and ponds of all sizes, which filled the +hollows for miles round—temporary sheets of water these, formed by the +melting snow, that told of winter now past and gone. Additional animation and +life was given to the scene by flocks of water-fowl, whose busy cry and cackle +in the water, or whirring motion in the air, gave such an idea of joyousness in +the brute creation as could not but strike a chord of sympathy in the heart of +a man, and create a feeling of gratitude to the Maker of man and beast. +Although brilliant and warm, the sun, at least during the first part of their +ride, was by no means oppressive; so that the equestrians stretched out at full +gallop for many miles over the prairie, round the lakes and through the bushes, +ere their steeds showed the smallest symptoms of warmth. +</p> + +<p> +During the ride Kate took the lead, with Jacques on her left and Harry on her +right, while Charley brought up the rear, and conversed in a loud key with all +three. At length Kate began to think it was just possible the horses might be +growing wearied with the slapping pace, and checked her steed; but this was not +an easy matter, as the horse seemed to hold quite a contrary opinion, and +showed a desire not only to continue but to increase its gallop—a +propensity that induced Harry to lend his aid by grasping the rein and +compelling the animal to walk. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a spirited horse, Kate,” said Charley, as they ambled +along; “have you had him long?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” replied Kate; “our father purchased him just a week +before your arrival, thinking that you would likely want a charger now and +then. I have only been on him once before.—Would he make a good +buffalo-runner, Jacques?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, miss; he would make an uncommon good runner,” answered the +hunter, as he regarded the animal with a critical glance—“at least +if he don’t shy at a gunshot.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never tried his nerves in that way,” said Kate, with a smile; +“perhaps he would shy at <i>that</i>. He has a good deal of +spirit—oh, I do dislike a lazy horse, and I do delight in a spirited +one!” Kate gave her horse a smart cut with the whip, half involuntarily, +as she spoke. In a moment it reared almost perpendicularly, and then bounded +forward; not, however, before Jacques’s quick eye had observed the +danger, and his ever-ready hand arrested its course. +</p> + +<p> +“Have a care, Miss Kate,” he said, in a warning voice, while he +gazed in the face of the excited girl with a look of undisguised admiration. +“It don’t do to wallop a skittish beast like that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never fear, Jacques,” she replied, bending forward to pat her +charger’s arching neck; “see, he is becoming quite gentle +again.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he runs away, Kate, we won’t be able to catch you again, for +he’s the best of the four, I think,” said Harry, with an uneasy +glance at the animal’s flashing eye and expanded nostrils. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, it’s as well to keep the whip off him,” said Jacques. +“I know’d a young chap once in St. Louis who lost his sweetheart by +usin’ his whip too freely.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” cried Kate, with a merry laugh, as they emerged from one +of the numerous thickets and rode out upon the open plain at a foot pace; +“how was that, Jacques? Pray tell us the story.” +</p> + +<p> +“As to that, there’s little story about it,” replied the +hunter. “You see, Tim Roughead took arter his name, an’ was always +doin’ some mischief or other, which more than once nigh cost him his +life; for the young trappers that frequent St. Louis are not fellows to stand +too much jokin’, I can tell ye. Well, Tim fell in love with a gal there +who had jilted about a dozen lads afore; an’ bein’ an oncommon +handsome, strappin’ fellow, she encouraged him a good deal. But Tim had a +suspicion that Louise was rayther sweet on a young storekeeper’s clerk +there; so, bein’ an off-hand sort o’ critter, he went right up to +the gal, and says to her, says he, ‘Come, Louise, it’s o’ no +use humbuggin’ with <i>me</i> any longer. If you like me, you like me; +and if you don’t like me, you don’t. There’s only two ways +about it. Now, jist say the word at once, an’ let’s have an end +on’t. If you agree, I’ll squat with you in whativer bit o’ +the States you like to name; if not, I’ll bid you good-bye this blessed +mornin’, an’ make tracks right away for the Rocky Mountains afore +sundown. Ay or no, lass: which is’t to be?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Poor Louise was taken all aback by this, but she knew well that Tim was +a man who never threatened in jest, an’ moreover she wasn’t quite +sure o’ the young clerk; so she agreed, an’ Tim went off to settle +with her father about the weddin’. Well, the day came, an’ Tim, +with a lot o’ his comrades, mounted their horses, and rode off to the +bride’s house, which was a mile or two up the river out of the town. Just +as they were startin’, Tim’s horse gave a plunge that well-nigh +pitched him over its head, an’ Tim came down on him with a cut o’ +his heavy whip that sounded like a pistol-shot. The beast was so mad at this +that it gave a kind o’ squeal an’ another plunge that burst the +girths. Tim brought the whip down on its flank again, which made it shoot +forward like an arrow out of a bow, leavin’ poor Tim on the ground. So +slick did it fly away that it didn’t even throw him on his back, but let +him fall sittin’-wise, saddle and all, plump on the spot where he sprang +from. Tim scratched his head an’ grinned like a half-worried rattlesnake +as his comrades almost rolled off their saddles with laughin’. But it was +no laughin’ job, for poor Tim’s leg was doubled under him, +an’ broken across at the thigh. It was long before he was able to go +about again, and when he did recover he found that Louise and the young clerk +were spliced an’ away to Kentucky.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you see what are the probable consequences, Kate, if you use your +whip so obstreperously again,” cried Charley, pressing his horse into a +canter. +</p> + +<p> +Just at that moment a rabbit sprang from under a bush and darted away before +them. In an instant Harry Somerville gave a wild shout, and set off in pursuit. +Whether it was the cry or the sudden flight of Harry’s horse, we cannot +tell, but the next instant Kate’s charger performed an indescribable +flourish with its hind legs, laid back its ears, took the bit between its +teeth, and ran away. Jacques was on its heels instantly, and a few seconds +afterwards Charley and Harry joined in the pursuit, but their utmost efforts +failed to do more than enable them to keep their ground. Kate’s horse was +making for a dense thicket, into which it became evident they must certainly +plunge. Harry and her brother trembled when they looked at it and realised her +danger; even Jacques’s face showed some symptoms of perturbation for a +moment as he glanced before him in indecision. The expression vanished, +however, in a few seconds, and his cheerful, self-possessed look returned, as +he cried out,—“Pull the left rein hard, Miss Kate; try to edge up +the slope.” +</p> + +<p> +Kate heard the advice, and exerting all her strength, succeeded in turning her +horse a little to the left, which caused him to ascend a gentle slope, at the +top of which part of the thicket lay. She was closely followed by Harry and her +brother, who urged their steeds madly forward in the hope of catching her rein, +while Jacques diverged a little to the right. By this manoeuvre the latter +hoped to gain on the runaway, as the ground along which he rode was +comparatively level, with a short but steep ascent at the end of it, while that +along which Kate flew like the wind was a regular ascent, that would prove very +trying to her horse. At the margin of the thicket grew a row of high bushes, +towards which they now galloped with frightful speed. As Kate came up to this +natural fence, she observed the trapper approaching on the other side of it. +Springing from his jaded steed, without attempting to check its pace, he leaped +over the underwood like a stag just as the young girl cleared the bushes at a +bound. Grasping the reins and checking the horse violently with one hand, he +extended the other to Kate, who leaped unhesitatingly into his arms. At the +same instant Charley cleared the bushes, and pulled sharply up; while +Harry’s horse, unable, owing to its speed, to take the leap, came +crashing through them, and dashed his rider with stunning violence to the +ground. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately no bones were broken, and a draught of clear water, brought by +Jacques from a neighbouring pond, speedily restored Harry’s shaken +faculties. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Kate,” said Charley, leading forward the horse which he had +ridden, “I have changed saddles, as you see; this horse will suit you +better, and I’ll take the shine out of your charger on the way +home.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, Charley,” said Kate, with a smile. “I’ve +quite recovered from my fright—if, indeed, it is worth calling by that +name; but I fear that Harry has—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I’m all right,” cried Harry, advancing as he spoke to +assist Kate in mounting. “I am ashamed to think that my wild cry was the +cause of all this.” +</p> + +<p> +In another minute they were again in their saddles, and turning their faces +homeward, they swept over the plain at a steady gallop, fearing lest their +accident should be the means of making Mr. Kennedy wait dinner for them. On +arriving, they found the old gentleman engaged in an animated discussion with +the cook about laying the table-cloth, which duty he had imposed on himself in +Kate’s absence. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Kate, my love,” he cried, as they entered, “come here, +lass, and mount guard. I’ve almost broke my heart in trying to convince +that thick-headed goose that he can’t set the table properly. Take it off +my hands, like a good girl.—Charley, my boy, you’ll be pleased to +hear that your old friend Redfeather is here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Redfeather, father!” exclaimed Charley, in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; he and the parson, from the other end of Lake Winnipeg, arrived an +hour ago in a tin kettle, and are now on their way to the upper fort.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is, indeed, pleasant news; but I suspect that it will give much +greater pleasure to our friend Jacques, who, I believe, would be glad to lay +down his life for him, simply to prove his affection.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” said the old gentleman, knocking the ashes out of his +pipe, and refilling it so as to be ready for an after-dinner smoke, +“Redfeather has come, and the parson’s come too; and I look upon it +as quite miraculous that they have come, considering the <i>thing</i> they came +in. What they’ve come for is more than I can tell, but I suppose +it’s connected with church affairs.—Now then, Kate, what’s +come o’ the dinner, Kate? Stir up that grampus of a cook! I half expect +that he has boiled the cat for dinner, in his wrath, for it has been badgering +him and me the whole morning.—Hollo, Harry, what’s wrong?” +</p> + +<p> +The last exclamation was in consequence of an expression of pain which crossed +Harry’s face for a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, nothing,” replied Harry. “I’ve had a fall +from my horse, and bruised my arm a little. But I’ll see to it after +dinner.” +</p> + +<p> +“That you shall not,” cried Mr Kennedy energetically, dragging his +young friend into his bedroom. “Off with your coat, lad. Let’s see +it at once. Ay, ay,” he continued, examining Harry’s left arm, +which was very much discoloured, and swelled from the elbow to the shoulder, +“that’s a severe thump, my boy. But it’s nothing to speak of; +only you’ll have to submit to a sling for a day or two.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s annoying, certainly, but I’m thankful it’s no +worse,” remarked Harry, as Mr. Kennedy dressed the arm after his own +fashion, and then returned with him to the dining-room. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Love—Old Mr. Kennedy puts his foot in it. +</p> + +<p> +One morning, about two weeks after Charley’s arrival at Red River, Harry +Somerville found himself alone in Mr. Kennedy’s parlour. The old +gentleman himself had just galloped away in the direction of the lower fort, to +visit Charley, who was now formally installed there; Kate was busy in the +kitchen giving directions about dinner; and Jacques was away with Redfeather, +visiting his numerous friends in the settlement: so that, for the first time +since his arrival, Harry found himself at the hour of ten in the morning +utterly lone, and with nothing very definite to do. Of course, the two weeks +that had elapsed were not without their signs and symptoms, their minor +accidents and incidents, in regard to the subject that filled his thoughts. +Harry had fifty times been tossed alternately from the height of hope to the +depth of despair, from the extreme of felicity to the uttermost verge of +sorrow, and he began seriously to reflect, when he remembered his desperate +resolution on the first night of his arrival, that if he did not +“do” he certainly would “die.” This was quite a +mistake, however, on Harry’s part. Nobody ever did <i>die</i> of +unrequited love. Doubtless many people have hanged, drowned, and shot +themselves because of it; but, generally speaking, if the patient can be kept +from maltreating himself long enough, time will prove to be an infallible +remedy. O youthful reader, lay this to heart: but pshaw! why do I waste ink on +so hopeless a task? <i>Every</i> one, we suppose, resolves once in a way to +<i>die</i> of love; so—die away, my young friends, only make sure that +you don’t <i>kill</i> yourselves, and I’ve no fear of the result. +</p> + +<p> +But to return. Kate, likewise, was similarly affected. She behaved like a +perfect maniac—mentally, that is—and plunged herself, +metaphorically, into such a succession of hot and cold baths, that it was quite +a marvel how her spiritual constitution could stand it. +</p> + +<p> +But we were wrong in saying that Harry was <i>alone</i> in the parlour. The +gray cat was there. On a chair before the fire it sat, looking dishevelled and +somewhat <i>blase,</i> in consequence of the ill-treatment and worry to which +it was continually subjected. After looking out of the window for a short time, +Harry rose, and sitting down on a chair beside the cat, patted its head—a +mark of attention it was evidently not averse to, but which it received, +nevertheless, with marked suspicion, and some indications of being in a +condition of armed neutrality. Just then the door opened, and Kate entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Excuse me, Harry, for leaving you alone,” she said, “but I +had to attend to several household matters. Do you feel inclined for a +walk?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do indeed,” replied Harry; “it is a charming day, and I am +exceedingly anxious to see the bower that you have spoken to me about once or +twice, and which Charley told me of long before I came here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I shall take you to it with pleasure,” replied Kate; “my +dear father often goes there with me to smoke. If you will wait for two minutes +I’ll put on my bonnet,” and she hastened to prepare herself for the +walk, leaving Harry to caress the cat, which he did so energetically, when he +thought of its young mistress, that it instantly declared war, and sprang from +the chair with a remonstrative yell. +</p> + +<p> +On their way down to the bower, which was situated in a picturesque, retired +spot on the river’s bank about a mile below the house, Harry and Kate +tried to converse on ordinary topics, but without success, and were at last +almost reduced to silence. One subject alone filled their minds; all others +were flat. Being sunk, as it were, in an ocean of love, they no sooner opened +their lips to speak, than the waters rushed in, as a natural consequence, and +nearly choked them. Had they but opened their mouths wide and boldly, they +would have been pleasantly drowned together; but as it was, they lacked the +requisite courage, and were fain to content themselves with an occasional +frantic struggle to the surface, where they gasped a few words of uninteresting +air, and sank again instantly. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving at the bower, however, and sitting down, Harry plucked up heart, +and, heaving a deep sigh, said— +</p> + +<p> +“Kate, there is a subject about which I have long desired to speak to +you-” +</p> + +<p> +Long as he had been desiring it, however, Kate thought it must have been +nothing compared with the time that elapsed ere he said anything else; so she +bent over a flower which she held in her hand, and said in a low voice, +“Indeed, Harry, what is it?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry was desperate now. His usually flexible tongue was stiff as stone and dry +as a bit of leather. He could no more give utterance to an intelligible idea +than he could change himself into Mr. Kennedy’s gray cat—a change +that he would not have been unwilling to make at that moment. At last he seized +his companion’s hand, and exclaimed, with a burst of emotion that quite +startled her,— +</p> + +<p> +“Kate, Kate! O dearest Kate, I love you! I <i>adore</i> you! +I—” +</p> + +<p> +At this point poor Harry’s powers of speech again failed; so being +utterly unable to express another idea, he suddenly threw his arms round her, +and pressed her fervently to his bosom. +</p> + +<p> +Kate was taken quite aback by this summary method of coming to the point. +Repulsing him energetically, she exclaimed, while she blushed crimson. “O +Harry—Mr Somerville!” and burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Harry stood before her for a moment, his head hanging down, and a deep +blush of shame on his face. +</p> + +<p> +“O Kate,” said he, in a deep tremulous voice, “forgive me; +do—do forgive me! I knew not what I said. I scarce knew what I did” +(here he seized her hand). “I know but one thing, Kate, and tell it you +<i>will,</i> if it should cost me my life. I love you, Kate, to distraction, +and I wish you to be my wife. I have been rude, very rude. Can you forgive me, +Kate?” +</p> + +<p> +Now, this latter part of Harry’s speech was particularly comical, the +comicality of it lying in this, that while he spoke, he drew Kate gradually +towards him, and at the very time when he gave utterance to the penitential +remorse for his rudeness, Kate was infolded in a much more vigorous embrace +than at the first; and what is more remarkable still, she laid her little head +quietly on his shoulder, as if she had quite changed her mind in regard to what +was and what was not rude, and rather enjoyed it than otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +While the lovers stood in this interesting position, it became apparent to +Harry’s olfactory nerves that the atmosphere was impregnated with tobacco +smoke. Looking hastily up, he beheld an apparition that tended somewhat to +increase the confusion of his faculties. +</p> + +<p> +In the opening of the bower stood Mr. Kennedy, senior, in a state of +inexpressible amazement. We say inexpressible advisedly, because the extreme +pitch of feeling which Mr. Kennedy experienced at what he beheld before him +cannot possibly be expressed by human visage. As far as the countenance of man +could do it, however, we believe the old gentleman’s came pretty near the +mark on this occasion. His hands were in his coat pockets, his body bent a +little forward, his head and neck outstretched a little beyond it, his eyes +almost starting from the sockets, and certainly the most prominent feature in +his face: his teeth firmly clinched on his beloved pipe, and his lips expelling +a multitude of little clouds so vigorously that one might have taken him for a +sort of self-acting intelligent steam-gun that had resolved utterly to +annihilate Kate and Harry at short range in the course of two minutes. +</p> + +<p> +When Kate saw her father she uttered a slight scream, covered her face with her +hands, rushed from the bower, and disappeared in the wood. +</p> + +<p> +“So, young gentleman,” began Mr. Kennedy, in a slow, deliberate +tone of voice, while he removed the pipe from his mouth, clinched his fist, and +confronted Harry, “you’ve been invited to my house as a guest, sir, +and you seize the opportunity basely to insult my daughter!” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay, stay, my dear sir,” interrupted Harry, laying his hand on +the old man’s shoulder and gazing earnestly into his face. “Oh, do +not, even for a moment, imagine that I could be so base as to trifle with the +affections of your daughter. I may have been presumptuous, hasty, foolish, mad +if you will, but not base. God forbid that I should treat her with disrespect, +even in thought! I love her, Mr. Kennedy, as I never loved before. I have asked +her to be my wife, and—she—” +</p> + +<p> +“Whew!” whistled old Mr. Kennedy, replacing his pipe between his +teeth, gazing abstractedly at the ground, and emitting clouds innumerable. +After standing thus a few seconds, he turned his back slowly upon Harry, and +smiled outrageously once or twice, winking at the same time, after his own +fashion, at the river. Turning abruptly round, he regarded Harry with a look of +affected dignity, and said, “Pray, sir, what did my daughter say to your +very peculiar proposal?” +</p> + +<p> +“She said ye—ah! that is—she didn’t exactly <i>say</i> +anything, but she—indeed I—” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated the old gentleman, deepening his frown as he +regarded his young friend through the smoke. “In short, she said nothing, +I suppose, but led you to infer, perhaps, that she would have said yes if I +hadn’t interrupted you.” +</p> + +<p> +Harry blushed, and said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, sir,” continued Mr. Kennedy, “don’t you think +that it would have been a polite piece of attention on your part to have asked +<i>my</i> permission before you addressed my daughter on such a subject, +eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Harry, “I acknowledge that I have been hasty, +but I must disclaim the charge of disrespect to you, sir. I had no intention +whatever of broaching the subject to-day, but my feelings, unhappily, carried +me away, and—and—in fact—” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, sir,” interrupted Mr. Kennedy, with a look of offended +dignity, “your feelings ought to be kept more under control. But come, +sir, to my house. I must talk further with you on this subject. I must read you +a lesson, sir—a lesson, humph! that you won’t forget in a +hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, my dear sir—” began Harry. +</p> + +<p> +“No more, sir—no more at present,” cried the old gentleman, +smoking violently as he pointed to the footpath that led to the house, +“Lead the way, sir; I’ll follow.” +</p> + +<p> +The footpath, although wide enough to allow Kate and Harry to walk, beside each +other, did not permit of two gentlemen doing so conveniently—a +circumstance which proved a great relief to Mr. Kennedy, inasmuch as it enabled +him, while walking behind his companion, to wink convulsively, smoke furiously, +and punch his own ribs severely, by way of opening a few safety-valves to his +glee, without which there is no saying what might have happened. He was nearly +caught in these eccentricities more than once, however, as Harry turned half +round with the intention of again attempting to exculpate +himself—attempts which were as often met by a sudden start, a fierce +frown, a burst of smoke, and a command to “go on.” On approaching +the house, the track became a broad road, affording Mr. Kennedy no excuse for +walking in the rear, so that he was under the necessity of laying violent +restraint on his feelings—a restraint which it was evident could not last +long. At that moment, to his great relief, his eye suddenly fell on the gray +cat, which happened to be reposing innocently on the doorstep. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>That’s</i> it! there’s the whole cause of it at +last!” cried Mr. Kennedy, in a perfect paroxysm of excitement, flinging +his pipe violently at the unoffending victim as he rushed towards it. The pipe +missed the cat, but went with a sharp crash through the parlour window, at +which Charley was seated, while his father darted through the doorway, along +the passage, and into the kitchen. Here the cat, having first capsized a +pyramid of pans and kettles in its consternation, took refuge in an absolutely +unassailable position. Seeing this, Mr. Kennedy violently discharged a pailful +of water at the spot, strode rapidly to his own apartment, and locked himself +in. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me, Harry, what’s wrong? my father seems unusually +excited,” said Charley, in some astonishment, as Harry entered the room, +and flung himself on a chair with a look of chagrin. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s difficult to say, Charley; the fact is, I’ve asked your +sister Kate to be my wife, and your father seems to have gone mad with +indignation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Asked Kate to be your wife!” cried Charley, starting up, and +regarding his friend with a look of amazement. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have,” replied Harry, with an air of offended dignity. +“I know very well that I am unworthy of her, but I see no reason why you +and your father should take such pains to make me feel it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Unworthy of her, my dear fellow!” exclaimed Charley, grasping his +hand and wringing it violently; “no doubt you are, and so is everybody, +but you shall have her for all that, my boy. But tell me, Harry, have you +spoken to Kate herself?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have.” +</p> + +<p> +“And does she agree?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I think I may say she does.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you told my father that she does?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, as to that,” said Harry, with a perplexed smile, “he +didn’t need to be told; he made <i>himself</i> pretty well aware of the +facts of the case.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I’ll soon settle <i>him</i>,” cried Charley. “Keep +your mind easy, old fellow; I’ll very soon bring him round.” With +this assurance, Charley gave his friend’s hand another shake that nearly +wrenched the arm from his shoulder, and hastened out of the room in search of +his refractory father. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The course of true love, curiously enough, runs smooth for once; and the +curtain falls. +</p> + +<p> +Time rolled on, and with it the sunbeams of summer went—the snowflakes of +winter came. Needles of ice began to shoot across the surface of Red River, and +gradually narrowed its bed. Crystalline trees formed upon the window-panes. +Icicles depended from the eaves of the houses. Snow fell in abundance on the +plains; liquid nature began rapidly to solidify, and not many weeks after the +first frost made its appearance everything was (as the settlers expressed it) +“hard and fast.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Kennedy, senior, was in his parlour, with his back to a blazing wood-fire +that seemed large enough to roast an ox whole. He was standing, moreover, in a +semi-picturesque attitude, with his right hand in his breeches pocket and his +left arm round Kate’s waist. Kate was dressed in a gown that rivalled the +snow itself in whiteness. One little gold clasp shone in her bosom; it was the +only ornament she wore. Mr. Kennedy, too, had somewhat altered his style of +costume. He wore a sky-blue, swallow-tailed coat, whose maker had flourished in +London half-a-century before. It had a velvet collar about five inches deep, +fitted uncommonly tight to the figure, and had a pair of bright brass buttons, +very close together, situated half-a-foot above the wearer’s natural +waist. Besides this, he had on a canary-coloured vest, and a pair of white duck +trousers, in the fob of which <i>evidently</i> reposed an immense gold watch of +the olden time, with a bunch of seals that would have served very well as an +anchor for a small boat. Although the dress was, on the whole, slightly +comical, its owner, with his full, fat, broad figure, looked remarkably well in +it, nevertheless. +</p> + +<p> +It was Kate’s marriage-day, or rather marriage-evening; for the sun had +set two hours ago, and the moon was now sailing in the frosty sky, its pale +rays causing the whole country to shine with a clear, cold, silvery whiteness. +</p> + +<p> +The old gentleman had been for some time gazing in silent admiration on the +fair brow and clustering ringlets of his daughter, when it suddenly occurred to +him that the company would arrive in half-an-hour, and there were several +things still to be attended to. +</p> + +<p> +“Hello, Kate!” he exclaimed, with a start, “we’re +forgetting ourselves. The candles are yet to light, and lots of other things to +do.” Saying this, he began to bustle about the room in a state of +considerable agitation. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t worry yourself, dear father!” cried Kate, running +after him and catching him by the hand. “Miss Cookumwell and good Mrs. +Taddipopple are arranging everything about tea and supper in the kitchen, and +Tom Whyte has been kindly sent to us by Mr. Grant, with orders to make himself +generally useful, so <i>he</i> can light the candles in a few minutes, and +you’ve nothing to do but to kiss me and receive the company.” Kate +pulled her father gently towards the fire again, and replaced his arm round her +waist. +</p> + +<p> +“Receive company! Ah, Kate, my love, that’s just what I know +nothing about. If they’d let me receive them in my own way, I’d do +it well enough; but that abominable Mrs. Taddi-what’s her name-has quite +addled my brains and driven me distracted with trying to get me to understand +what she calls <i>etiquette</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Kate laughed, and said she didn’t care <i>how</i> he received them, as +she was quite sure that, whichever way he did it, he would do it pleasantly and +well. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the door opened, and Tom Whyte entered. He was thinner, if +possible, than he used to be, and considerably stiffer, and more upright. +</p> + +<p> +“Please, sir,” said he, with a motion that made you expect to hear +his back creak (it was intended for a bow)—“please, sir, can I do +hanythink for yer?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Tom, you can,” replied Mr. Kennedy. “Light these +candles, my man, and then go to the stable and see that everything there is +arranged for putting up the horses. It will be pretty full to-night, Tom, and +will require some management. Then, let me see—ah yes, bring me my pipe, +Tom, my big meerschaum.—I’ll sport that to-night in honour of you, +Kate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Please, sir,” began Tom, with a slightly disconcerted air, +“I’m afeared, sir, that—um—” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Tom, what would you say? Go on.” +</p> + +<p> +“The pipe, sir,” said Tom, growing still more +disconcerted—“says I to cook, says I, ‘Cook, wot’s been +an’ done it, d’ye think?’ ‘Dun know, Tom,’ says +he, ‘but it’s smashed, that’s sartin. I think the gray +cat—’” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” cried the old trader, in a voice of thunder, while a frown +of the most portentous ferocity darkened his brow for an instant. It was only +for an instant, however. Clearing his brow quickly, he said with a smile, +“But it’s your wedding-day, Kate, my darling. It won’t do to +blow up anybody to-day, not even the cat.—There, be off, Tom, and see to +things. Look sharp! I hear sleigh-bells already.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke Tom vanished perpendicularly, Kate hastened to her room, and the +old gentleman himself went to the front door to receive his guests. +</p> + +<p> +The night was of that intensely calm and still character that invariably +accompanies intense frost, so that the merry jingle of the sleigh-bells that +struck on Mr. Kennedy’s listening ear continued to sound, and grow louder +as they drew near, for a considerable time ere the visitors arrived. Presently +the dull, soft tramp of horses’ hoofs was heard in the snow, and a +well-known voice shouted out lustily, “Now then, Mactavish, keep to the +left. Doesn’t the road take a turn there? Mind the gap in the fence. +That’s old Kennedy’s only fault. He’d rather risk breaking +his friends’ necks than mend his fences!” +</p> + +<p> +“All right, here we are,” cried Mactavish, as the next instant two +sleighs emerged out of the avenue into the moonlit space in front of the house, +and dashed up to the door amid an immense noise and clatter of bells, harness, +hoofs, snorting, and salutations. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Grant, my dear fellow!” cried Mr. Kennedy, springing to the +sleigh and seizing his friend by the hand as he dragged him out. “This is +kind of you to come early. And Mrs. Grant, too. Take care, my dear madam, step +clear of the haps; now, then—cleverly done” (as Mrs. Grant tumbled +into his arms in a confused heap). “Come along now; there’s a +capital fire in here.—Don’t mind the horses, Mactavish—follow +us, my lad; Tom Whyte will attend to them.” +</p> + +<p> +Uttering such disjointed remarks, Mr. Kennedy led Mrs. Grant into the house, +and made her over to Mrs. Taddipopple, who hurried her away to an inner +apartment, while Mr. Kennedy conducted her spouse, along with Mactavish and our +friend the head clerk at Fort Garry, into the parlour. +</p> + +<p> +“Harry, my dear fellow, I wish you joy,” cried Mr. Grant, as the +former grasped his hand. “Lucky dog you are. Where’s Kate, eh? Not +visible yet, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, not till the parson comes,” interrupted Mr. Kennedy, +convulsing his left cheek.—“Hollo, Charley, where are you? Ah! +bring the cigars, Charley.—Sit down, gentlemen; make yourselves at +home—I say, Mrs. Taddi—Taddi—oh, botheration—popple! +that’s it—your name, madam, is a puzzler-but-we’ll need more +chairs, I think. Fetch one or two, like a dear!” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the jingle of bells was heard outside, and Mr. Kennedy rushed to +the door again. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-evening, Mr. Addison,” said he, taking that gentleman warmly +by the hand as he resigned the reins to Tom Whyte. “I am delighted to see +you, sir (Look after the minister’s mare, Tom), glad to see you, my dear +sir. Some of my friends have come already. This way, Mr. Addison.” +</p> + +<p> +The worthy clergyman responded to Mr. Kennedy’s greeting in his own +hearty manner, and followed him into the parlour, where the guests now began to +assemble rapidly. +</p> + +<p> +“Father,” cried Charley, catching his sire by the arm, +“I’ve been looking for you everywhere, but you dance about like a +will-o’-the-wisp. Do you know I’ve invited my friends Jacques and +Redfeather to come to-night, and also Louis Peltier, the guide with whom I made +my first trip. You recollect him, father?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, that do I, lad, and happy shall I be to see three such worthy men +under my roof as guests on this night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, I know that, father; but I don’t see them here. Have +they come yet?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say, boy. By the way, Pastor Conway is also coming, so +we’ll have a meeting between an Episcopalian and a Wesleyan. I sincerely +trust that they won’t fight!” As he said this the old gentleman +grinned and threw his cheek into convulsions—an expression which was +suddenly changed into one of confusion when he observed that Mr. Addison was +standing close beside him, and had heard the remark. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t blush, my dear sir,” said Mr. Addison, with a quiet +smile, as he patted his friend on the shoulder. “You have too much +reason, I am sorry to say, for expecting that clergymen of different +denominations should look coldly on each other. There is far too much of this +indifference and distrust among those who labour in different parts of the +Lord’s vineyard. But I trust you will find that my sympathies extend a +little beyond the circle of my own particular body. Indeed, Mr. Conway is a +particular friend of mine; so I assure you we won’t fight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right, right” cried Mr. Kennedy, giving the clergy man an +energetic grasp of the hand; “I like to hear you speak that way. I must +confess that I’ve been a good deal surprised to observe, by what one +reads in the old-country newspapers, as well as by what one sees even hereaway +in the backwood settlements, how little interest clergymen show in the doings +of those who don’t happen to belong to their own particular sect; just as +if a soul saved through the means of an Episcopalian was not of as much value +as one saved by a Wesleyan, or a Presbyterian, or a Dissenter. Why, sir, it +seems to me just as mean-spirited and selfish as if one of our chief factors +was so entirely taken up with the doings and success of his own particular +district that he didn’t care a gun-flint for any other district in the +Company’s service.” +</p> + +<p> +There was at least one man listening to these remarks whose naturally logical +and liberal mind fully agreed with them. This was Jacques Caradoc, who had +entered the room a few minutes before, in company with his friend Redfeather +and Louis Peltier. +</p> + +<p> +“Right, sir! That’s fact, straight up and down,” said he, in +an approving tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! Jacques, my good fellow, is that you?—Redfeather, my friend, +how are you?” said Mr. Kennedy, turning round and grasping a hand of +each.—“Sit down there, Louis, beside Mrs. +Taddi—eh?—ah!—popple.—Mr. Addison, this is Jacques +Caradoc, the best and stoutest hunter between Hudson’s Bay and +Oregon.” +</p> + +<p> +Jacques smiled and bowed modestly as Mr. Addison shook his hand. The worthy +hunter did indeed at that moment look as if he fully merited Mr. +Kennedy’s eulogium. Instead of endeavouring to ape the gentleman, as many +men in his rank of life would have been likely to do on an occasion like this, +Jacques had not altered his costume a hair-breadth from what it usually was, +excepting that some parts of it were quite new, and all of it faultlessly +clean. He wore the usual capote, but it was his best one, and had been washed +for the occasion. The scarlet belt and blue leggings were also as bright in +colour as if they had been put on for the first time; and the moccasins, which +fitted closely to his well-formed feet, were of the cleanest and brightest +yellow leather, ornamented, as usual, in front. The collar of his blue-striped +shirt was folded back a little more carefully than usual, exposing his +sun-burned and muscular throat. In fact, he wanted nothing, save the +hunting-knife, the rifle, and the powder-horn, to constitute him a perfect +specimen of a thorough backwoodsman. +</p> + +<p> +Redfeather and Louis were similarly costumed, and a noble trio they looked as +they sat modestly in a corner, talking to each other in whispers, and +endeavouring, as much as possible, to curtail their colossal proportions. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Harry,” said Mr. Kennedy, in a hoarse whisper, at the same +time winking vehemently, “we’re about ready, lad. Where’s +Kate, eh? shall we send for her?” +</p> + +<p> +Harry blushed, and stammered out something that was wholly unintelligible, but +which, nevertheless, seemed to afford infinite delight to the old gentleman, +who chuckled and winked tremendously, gave his son-in-law a facetious poke in +the ribs, and turning abruptly to Miss Cookumwell, said to that lady, +“Now, Miss Cookumpopple, we’re all ready. They seem to have had +enough tea and trash; you’d better be looking after Kate, I think.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Cookumwell smiled, rose, and left the room to obey; Mrs. Taddipopple +followed to help, and soon returned with Kate, whom they delivered up to her +father at the door. Mr. Kennedy led her to the upper end of the room; Harry +Somerville stood by her side, as if by magic; Mr. Addison dropped opportunely +before them, as if from the clouds; there was an extraordinary and abrupt pause +in the hum of conversation, and ere Kate was well aware of what was about to +happen, she felt herself suddenly embraced by her husband, from whom she was +thereafter violently torn and all but smothered by her sympathising friends. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Kate! she had gone through the ceremony almost +mechanically—recklessly, we might be justified in saying; for not having +raised her eyes off the floor from its commencement to its close, the man whom +she accepted for better or for worse might have been Jacques or Redfeather for +all that she knew. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately after this there was heard the sound of a fiddle, and an old +Canadian was led to the upper end of the room, placed on a chair, and hoisted, +by the powerful arms of Jacques and Louis, upon a table. In this conspicuous +position the old man seemed to be quite at his ease. He spent a few minutes in +bringing his instrument into perfect tune; then looking round with a mild, +patronising glance to see that the dancers were ready, he suddenly struck up a +Scotch reel with an amount of energy, precision, and spirit that might have +shot a pang of jealousy through the heart of Neil Gow himself. The noise that +instantly commenced, and was kept up from that moment, with but few intervals, +during the whole evening, was of a kind that is never heard in fashionable +drawing-rooms. Dancing in the backwood settlements <i>is</i> dancing. It is not +walking; it is not sailing; it is not undulating; it is not sliding; no, it is +<i>bona-fide</i> dancing! It is the performance of intricate evolutions with +the feet and legs that make one wink to look at; performed in good time too, +and by people who look upon <i>all</i> their muscles as being useful machines, +not merely things of which a select few, that cannot be dispensed with, are +brought into daily operation. Consequently the thing was done with an amount of +vigour that was conducive to the health of performers, and productive of +satisfaction to the eyes of beholders. When the evening wore on apace, however, +and Jacques’s modesty was so far overcome as to induce him to engage in a +reel, along with his friend Louis Peltier, and two bouncing young ladies whose +father had driven them twenty miles over the plains that day in order to attend +the wedding of their dear friend and former playmate, Kate—when these +four stood up, we say, and the fiddler played more energetically than ever, and +the stout backwoodsmen began to warm and grow vigorous, until, in the midst of +their tremendous leaps and rapid but well-timed motions, they looked like very +giants amid their brethren, then it was that Harry, as he felt Kate’s +little hand pressing his arm, and observed her sparkling eyes gazing at the +dancers in genuine admiration, began at last firmly to believe that the whole +thing was a dream; and then it was that old Mr. Kennedy rejoiced to think that +the house had been built under his own special directions, and he knew that it +could not by any possibility be shaken to pieces. +</p> + +<p> +And well might Harry imagine that he dreamed; for besides the bewildering +tendency of the almost too-good-to-be-true fact that Kate was really Mrs. Harry +Somerville, the scene before him was a particularly odd and perplexing mixture +of widely different elements, suggestive of new and old associations. The +company was miscellaneous. There were retired old traders, whose lives from +boyhood had been spent in danger, solitude, wild scenes and adventures, to +which those of Robinson Crusoe are mere child’s play. There were young +girls, the daughters of these men, who had received good educations in the Red +River academy, and a certain degree of polish which education always gives; a +very <i>different</i> polish, indeed, from that which the conventionalities and +refinements of the Old World bestow, but not the less agreeable on that +account—nay, we might even venture to say, all the <i>more</i> agreeable +on that account. There were Red Indians and clergymen; there were one or two +ladies of a doubtful age, who had come out from the old country to live there, +having found it no easy matter, poor things, to live at home; there were +matrons whose absolute silence on every subject save “yes” or +“no” showed that they had not been subjected to the refining +influences of the academy, but whose hearty smiles and laughs of genuine +good-nature proved that the storing of the brain has, after all, <i>very</i> +little to do with the best and deepest feelings of the heart. There were the +tones of Scotch reels sounding—tones that brought Scotland vividly before +the very eyes; and there were Canadian hunters and half-breed voyageurs, whose +moccasins were more accustomed to the turf of the woods than the boards of a +drawing-room, and whose speech and accents made Scotland vanish away altogether +from the memory. There were old people and young folk; there were fat and lean, +short and long. There were songs too—ballads of England, pathetic songs +of Scotland, alternating with the French ditties of Canada, and the sweet, +inexpressibly plaintive canoe-songs of the voyageur. There were strong +contrasts in dress also: some wore the home-spun trousers of the settlement, a +few the ornamented leggings of the hunter. Capotes were there—loose, +flowing, and picturesque; and broad-cloth tail-coats were there, of the last +century, tight-fitting, angular—in a word, detestable; verifying the +truth of the proverb that extremes meet, by showing that the <i>cut</i> which +all the wisdom of tailors and scientific fops, after centuries of study, had +laboriously wrought out and foisted upon the poor civilised world as perfectly +sublime, appeared in the eyes of backwoodsmen and Indians utterly ridiculous. +No wonder that Harry, under the circumstances, became quietly insane, and went +about committing <i>nothing</i> but mistakes the whole evening. No wonder that +he emulated his father-in-law in abusing the gray cat, when he found it +surreptitiously devouring part of the supper in an adjoining room; and no +wonder that, when he rushed about vainly in search of Mrs. Taddipopple, to +acquaint her with the cat’s wickedness, he, at last, in desperation, laid +violent hands on Miss Cookumwell, and addressed that excellent lady by the name +of Mrs. Poppletaddy. +</p> + +<p> +Were we courageous enough to make the attempt, we would endeavour to describe +that joyful evening from beginning to end. We would tell you how the +company’s spirits rose higher and higher, as each individual became more +and more anxious to lend his or her aid in adding to the general hilarity; how +old Mr. Kennedy nearly killed himself in his fruitless efforts to be +everywhere, speak to everybody, and do everything at once, how Charley danced +till he could scarcely speak, and then talked till he could hardly dance; and +how the fiddler, instead of growing wearied, became gradually and continuously +more powerful, until it seemed as if fifty fiddles were playing at one and the +same time. We would tell you how Mr. Addison drew more than ever to Mr. Conway, +and how the latter gentleman agreed to correspond regularly with the former +thenceforth, in order that their interest in the great work each had in hand +for the <i>same</i> Master might be increased and kept up; how, in a spirit of +recklessness (afterwards deeply repented of), a bashful young man was induced +to sing a song which in the present mirthful state of the company ought to have +been a humorous song, or a patriotic song, or a good, loud, inspiriting song, +or <i>anything</i>, in short, but what it was—a slow, dull, sentimental +song, about wasting gradually away in a sort of melancholy decay, on account of +disappointed love, or some such trash, which was a false sentiment in itself, +and certainly did not derive any additional tinge of truthfulness from a thin, +weak voice, that was afflicted with chronic flatness, and <i>edged</i> all its +notes. Were we courageous enough to go on, we would further relate to you how +during supper Mr. Kennedy senior, tried to make a speech, and broke down amid +uproarious applause; how Mr. Kennedy, junior, got up thereafter—being +urged thereto by his father, who said, with a convulsion of the cheek, +“Get me out of the scrape, Charley, my boy”—and delivered an +oration which did not display much power of concise elucidation, but was +replete, nevertheless, with consummate impudence; how during this point in the +proceedings the gray cat made a last desperate effort to purloin a cold +chicken, which it had watched anxiously the whole evening, and was caught in +the very act, nearly strangled, and flung out of the window, where it alighted +in safety on the snow, and fled, a wiser, and, we trust, a better cat. We would +recount all this to you, reader, and a great deal more besides; but we fear to +try your patience, and we tremble violently, much more so, indeed, than you +will believe, at the bare idea of waxing prosy. +</p> + +<p> +Suffice it to say that the party separated at an early hour—a good, +sober, reasonable hour for such an occasion—somewhere before midnight. +The horses were harnessed; the ladies were packed in the sleighs with furs so +thick and plentiful as to defy the cold; the gentlemen seized their reins and +cracked their whips; the horses snorted, plunged, and dashed away over the +white plains in different directions, while the merry sleigh-bells sounded +fainter and fainter in the frosty air. In half-an-hour the stars twinkled down +on the still, cold scene, and threw a pale light on the now silent dwelling of +the old fur-trader. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Ere dropping the curtain over a picture in which we have sought faithfully to +portray the prominent features of those wild regions that lie to the north of +the Canadas, and in which we have endeavoured to describe some of the +peculiarities of a class of men whose histories seldom meet the public eye, we +feel tempted to add a few more touches to the sketch; we would fain trace a +little farther the fortunes of one or two of the chief factors in our book. But +this is not to be. +</p> + +<p> +Snowflakes and sunbeams came and went as in days gone by. Time rolled on, +working many changes in its course, and among others consigning Harry +Somerville to an important post in Red River colony, to the unutterable joy of +Mr. Kennedy, senior, and of Kate. After much consideration and frequent +consultation with Mr. Addison, Mr. Conway resolved to make another journey to +preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to those Indian tribes that inhabit the +regions beyond Athabasca; and being a man of great energy, he determined not to +await the opening of the river navigation, but to undertake the first part of +his expedition on snow-shoes. Jacques agreed to go with him as guide and +hunter, Redfeather as interpreter. It was a bright, cold morning when he set +out, accompanied part of the way by Charley Kennedy and Harry Somerville, whose +hearts were heavy at the prospect of parting with the two men who had guided +and protected them during their earliest experience of a voyageur’s life, +when, with hearts full to overflowing with romantic anticipations, they first +dashed joyously into the almost untrodden wilderness. +</p> + +<p> +During their career in the woods together, the young men and the two hunters +had become warmly attached to each other; and now that they were about to +part—it might be for years, perhaps for ever—a feeling of sadness +crept over them which they could not shake off, and which the promise given by +Mr. Conway to revisit Red River on the following spring served but slightly to +dispel. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving at the spot where they intended to bid their friends a last +farewell, the two young men held out their hands in silence. Jacques grasped +them warmly. +</p> + +<p> +“Mister Charles, Mister Harry,” said he, in a deep, earnest voice, +“the Almighty has guided us in safety for many a day when we travelled +the woods together; for which praised be His Holy Name! May He guide and bless +you still, and bring us together in this world again, if in His wisdom He see +fit.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no answer save a deeply-murmured “Amen.” In another +moment the travellers resumed their march. On reaching the summit of a slight +eminence, where the prairies terminated and the woods began, they paused to +wave a last adieu; then Jacques, putting himself at the head of the little +party, plunged into the forest, and led them away towards the snowy regions of +the Far North. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE END. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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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