Snowflakes and Sunbeams Part 33

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.

"Now, Mister Harry," said the guide, as he slung a powder-horn and shot-belt over his shoulder, "we've no need to circ.u.mvent the beast, for he's circ.u.mvented himself."

"How so?" inquired the other, drawing the shot from his fowling-piece, and subst.i.tuting in its place a leaden bullet.

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'

_that_'ll be no easy job."

The party soon reached the narrow pa.s.s 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.

"Now, Hamilton," said Harry, in a low whisper, "take the first shot. I killed the last one, so it's your turn this time."

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,--

"Go for'ard, young man; but you may as well put in the primin' first."

Poor Hamilton hastily rectified this oversight with a deep blush, at the same time muttering that he never _would_ make a hunter; and then advanced cautiously through the bushes, slowly followed at a short distance by his companions.

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-c.o.c.k, 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 _missed._ Harry a.s.serted 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.

"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.

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 pa.s.sed 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 sh.o.r.e.

"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."

"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.

"Most true, O sagacious diver! But the sooner we get a fire made the better; so come along."

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 carca.s.s, 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.

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.

CHAPTER XXVI.

An unexpected meeting, and an unexpected deer-hunt--Arrival at the outpost--Disagreement with the natives--An enemy discovered, and a murder.

Next morning they rose with the sun, and therefore also with the birds and beasts.

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-sh.e.l.l craft as an Indian canoe.

"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 _burns_, and in America _creeks_; "it's like that your appet.i.te 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."

"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.

"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."

"And pray, how far do you think we may now be from that place?"

inquired Harry.

"Forty miles, more or less."

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 ash.o.r.e. 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 ma.s.s of fair hair that encircled it, proved that as Harry paradoxically expressed it, its owner was a _white_ 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 _white_ man beyond a doubt.

"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?"

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,--

"Do my eyes deceive me? Is Charley Kennedy before me--or his ghost?"

"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 e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 antic.i.p.ated 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.

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 _will_ 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 circ.u.mstances, they reverted again to the past, and by a peculiar train of conversation--to retrace which were utterly impossible--they invariably arrived at _old_ 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 _melange_ in the morning.

"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 a.s.sembled round the fire to breakfast.

"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 fis.h.i.+ng-station about twenty miles below the new fort, and believing (very justly) that my talents lay a good deal in the way of fis.h.i.+ng 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."

"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?"

"Can't say. One of you, at any rate, will be kept at the creek, to a.s.sist Mr. Whyte; the other may, perhaps, be appointed to relieve me at the fis.h.i.+ng for a time, while _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."

"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."

"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?"

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.

The establishment of which our friend Charley p.r.o.nounced 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 fas.h.i.+on, 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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.

"Pleasant little kingdom that of yours, Charley," remarked Harry Somerville, as they pa.s.sed the station.

"Very," was the laconic reply.

They had scarcely pa.s.sed the place above a mile, when a canoe, containing a solitary Indian, was observed to shoot out from the sh.o.r.e and paddle hastily towards them. From this man they learned that a herd of deer was pa.s.sing 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 sh.o.r.e 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.