The Wilderness Castaways Part 8

It was broad daylight. Remington and Ainsworth were gone. Bang! Bang!

Bang! The shots came in quick succession, and not far above the camp.

Paul was frightened for a moment, then highly excited. He disentangled himself from his sleeping bag, sprang to the front of the tent and shouted to Tom, who was unconcernedly cooking breakfast:

"What is it? What's up?"

"Bears."

He drew on his clothes as quickly as possible, grabbed his rifle and ran in the direction of the shooting. A little way up the ravine he came upon Remington, Ainsworth, Dan and Kuglutuk, surveying the carca.s.ses of two polar bears.

"h.e.l.lo, Paul, you're a little late for the fun," greeted Remington.

"Got two," said Ainsworth.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"No time for that. Dan was poking around up here and saw them coming, and we had to hustle as it was."

"It would only have taken a minute to call me."

"Yes, but that would have been a minute too long, if they had happened to get a sniff of camp, and only for the north breeze they would have anyway, and been off before Dan saw them."

"Did they put up any fight?"

"Didn't have a chance. We got them quick. Close shot and no trick at all. Nothing like your shot."

"I'm sorry I wasn't up earlier. What were they doing on land? I thought they kept to the ice."

"No, we're liable to see them anywhere on these sh.o.r.es. Guess they were going down to catch a salmon breakfast in our pool at the foot of the rapid."

They saw no more bears while encamped on Richmond Gulf, though they caught plenty of salmon and trout, and now and again took excursions back into the hills and along the streams where ptarmigans were found, or took advantage of excellent duck and goose shooting on near-by lakes. Mallards and black ducks were plentiful, great flocks of wavies flew overhead and the Canada gray goose was fairly numerous.

The sport was so good, in fact, that the week which they had originally planned to remain ash.o.r.e lengthened into two, and it was a fortnight after their arrival when reluctantly they broke camp one morning and returned to the _North Star_, carrying with them enough salmon and trout to supply both cabin and forecastle for several days.

"Glad to see you! Glad to see you!" greeted Captain Bluntt as they drew alongside the s.h.i.+p. "Good sport? Have a good time?"

"Bully!" answered Remington. "Never better. Salmon and trout hungry for flies, and we got two bears in the bargain."

"Good! Good, sir! And how did you find it, youngster?"

"Fine and dandy," answered Paul. "Best time I ever had in my life."

"Good! Good! Glad you're aboard, Mr. Remington--glad you're aboard.

Barometer falling rapidly--outlook for bad weather--northeast blow, I'm thinkin'. Bad anchorage here. We'll make for open sea. Get right away. Growing a bit nervous about it, sir--just a bit nervous."

"All right, Captain," said Remington. "We're ready to go."

Anchor was weighed, and slowly the _North Star_ felt her way out of the uncertain waters toward the wide bosom of Hudson Bay.

"Now," asked Captain Bluntt, when they had gained "elbow room," as he expressed it, "what's your pleasure, sir?"

"Well," said Remington, "we want to have a little walrus hunting, we'd like to pick up another bear or two, and I'm mighty anxious to get a crack at caribou before we leave the country. Kuglutuk says, though, that all the caribou on this side are far inland on the highlands, and out of reach. I've been thinking that we might cross to the other side somewhat south of Chesterfield Inlet, and perhaps find caribou there, then cruise back along the islands looking for bear, and stop up toward Mosquito Bay a few days for our walrus hunt before we strike for home. Kuglutuk says the Eskimos up there will help us."

"Good plan! Good plan, sir! But we must try to be through the straits by middle of September. Taking chances, sir--taking chances with ice if we're any later, sir."

"All right, Captain. That'll give us over three weeks. We won't spend much time with walrus, but we'd like to get two or three heads for trophies."

The blow that was predicted came. It began with driving rain and sleet, which swept the sea in blinding sheets, and a rising northeast wind pounded Hudson Bay into a fury of wild white-crested waves that tossed and buffeted the _North Star_. But Captain Bluntt was an able master. He kept well offsh.o.r.e, faced the storm, and lay to, using only enough power to permit him to hold his position, and making no attempt to proceed upon the voyage.

Thus a week was consumed, and September was near at hand, when at length the clouds wearied of their task, and the sun again shone out of a clear sky through a glorious, transparent atmosphere.

But the northeast gale had reaped a harvest of ice from the Arctic waters, sweeping it down into Hudson Bay, where the packs broke into fragments, and vagrant pans were distributed far and wide, steadily working their way southward. This was not bay ice such as had been encountered off the eastern coast of Labrador, but the adamantine product of the Arctic. There was little difficulty, however, in avoiding the larger and widely distributed pans, and the smaller fragments bobbing here and there in the swell were quite harmless to the strongly built little steams.h.i.+p.

"Looks bad for the straits, sir, bad," remarked Captain Bluntt, descending from the barrel in the foremast. "I'm thinkin' th' straits has plenty of ice now, plenty, sir. Bad place to meet ice, sir! Bad place! But if the weather holds calm for a week most of it'll work out."

"Are we likely to have trouble getting through the straits, Captain?"

"No! No! We'll get through all right, sir, we'll get through, with no more nor'easters or northers. A bit of a westerly breeze would clean the straits, sir, sweep the ice right out. Yes, sir, sweep it out!"

They turned northward, cruised close in along the Ottawa Islands, where Remington shot another bear, and then turned westward, where at length anchorage was made at 60 north lat.i.tude opposite Egg River and nearly a mile from its mouth.

"Not safe to run too close in," explained Captain Bluntt. "Never like to anchor too close insh.o.r.e when I've no cover, sir. Not safe, not safe. Always afraid of the rocks, sir, if a squall should strike me."

"This is near enough," said Remington. "It's a short pull to the river mouth."

"Now what's the plan, sir? Going ash.o.r.e to hunt caribou, you say?

Well, you may find them in there around the lakes, sir. Must be lakes back there. Yes, sir, and caribou."

"That's the way we figure it. This is Sunday. Tomorrow morning as soon as we can see, Ainsworth and I will start, and take Kuglutuk with us, and I'd like to have Tom if you can spare him, Captain."

"Spare him? Yes! Yes! To be sure I can spare him."

"We're not going to take Paul, for we'll have some hard tramping to do, and I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to keep the pace."

"No, no, don't take him. Too soft; couldn't stand it. 'Twould kill him in a day. Yes, sir, in a day."

"We'll take one light shelter tent, a blanket each, a couple of axes, and besides our rifles only four days' provisions. We can carry them easily, and we'll be back to the place where the boat leaves us on Thursday afternoon, no later than two o'clock. So a boat may come over for us then, and will surely find us waiting."

"All right, sir, all right. But suppose you gets your deer the first day? What then, sir?"

"Why then we'll come down to the sh.o.r.e and shoot. If you hear us shooting, why, send for us."

"Very good, sir, very good. All very good."

"I suppose Paul will set up a kick against our leaving him, but it's out of the question to take him. Can't you let Dan and him have a small boat to go ash.o.r.e every day and hunt ptarmigans, or fish in the river? Dan is perfectly reliable, isn't he?"

"Yes, yes, sir. Dan reliable? True and sure, sir. Good as a man. Good head, sir. Good head. Only a lad, sir, but good as a man. Be a skipper himself, sir, some day. Yes, yes; Dan can take the youngster over."