The Island of Yellow Sands: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys

by Ethel C. Brill

  XXIII

  MINING AND HUNTING

  When Etienne emerged from the sweating lodge, he took a swift dip in thelake, but refused to eat, and went at once to his couch of balsambranches. It was not until morning that the boys told him about thesmoke wisp Ronald had seen and the caribou on the ridge. He made nocomment and again refused food. While the lads were preparing breakfast,he went to examine his snares, and returned with two hares. Theappearance of the animals was a strong reminder that winter was not faroff, for they had begun to change their grayish-brown summer coats forthe winter white. The feet, ears, nose, front of the head and part ofthe legs of one of them were conspicuously white, though the rest of itsfur remained brown. The coats of the others did not show so much change.

  After the lads had finished their breakfast, the three launched thecanoe, putting into it a cedar shovel and three large birch buckets theIndian had made. They went ashore not far from their former place oflanding, and Nangotook led them to the foot of a ridge, where a streamflowed through a narrow, swampy valley. There they filled the buckets,and then climbed up a well defined and partly cleared trail to thesummit. Close to the edge they came upon a pit that showed plain signsof having been worked in recent years. It was without trees or bushes,though the sides were partly covered with moss and trailing plants. Onthe bottom, surrounded by leaves, sticks and earth, and standing inshallow water, which, that morning, bore a thin coating of ice, was adetached mass of rock that might have weighed two tons. Even from theedge of the hole, Jean and Ronald could see that the rock was composedlargely of copper. A primitive ladder, made of a single pole with crosspieces tied on with strips of rawhide, rested against the side of thepit. Though grayed and stained by the weather, the ladder seemedperfectly sound, and the boys scrambled down, eager to examine the rockmass.

  They found that the copper rock rested on poles, and was held away fromthe farther wall of the pit by the trunk of a tree wedged behind it.Around it, in the shallow water and leaves, were many stone hammers,most of them broken, and heaps of charred and blackened sticks. Jean,poking about in the rubbish to get out one of the round stones,uncovered a large bowl of cedar wood, that had been almost entirelyburied. Nangotook had not followed the lads down into the pit. Lookingup, they noticed that he had kindled a small fire almost on the edge,and was carefully placing something in the flames.

  "He is making a sacrifice," whispered Jean to Ronald, "that is what hebrought the fish head for."

  Nangotook had carried with him from camp a fish's head carefully wrappedin a bit of birch bark. From the odor that drifted down to them, theboys knew he had also offered up some of his precious kinni-kinnik,tobacco mixed with bearberry leaves. Standing on the edge of the pit asthe burnt offering was consumed, he gazed down at the copper rock andsaid a few words in his own language. Then, apparently satisfied thatthe required ceremonies had all been performed, he climbed down theladder and prepared to begin work.

  With the cedar shovel, he scraped off the rubbish that had accumulatedon top of the rock. The pure copper showed plainly in a number ofplaces, but it was evident that much work had been done on the mass, forall the knobs and projections had been hammered away, leaving thesurface almost smooth. There seemed to be no place where any of themetal could be broken off, and the boys wondered how Nangotook wouldmanage without steel tools. The Indian did not seem concerned, however.He examined the surface carefully, then ordered the lads to collectkindling and fuel. One side of the mass was composed of what appeared tobe a thin sheet of dark rock. On top, just where the free copper andthis dark rock came together, Nangotook made a fire, feeding it until itburned hot and clear. When he thought the surface had been heatedsufficiently, he hastily scraped off the embers, and picking up a bucketof water he had placed within reach, dashed it quickly over the hotrock. A cloud of steam arose, there was a sharp, cracking report, and athin piece of rock split off from the mass and fell into the puddlebelow. Seizing the second pail, which Ronald swung up to him, the Indianemptied it, then followed with the third. The cold water striking thehot surface had split off a part of the sheet of dark rock, but had notexposed enough of the copper to satisfy the Indian miner. Twice herepeated the process, making a hot fire, raking it off when the rock wasthoroughly heated, and throwing cold water on it. After the thirdoperation he gave a grunt of satisfaction. A ledge of copper layexposed.

  Raising one of the heavy stones, he struck it against the exposed metaland broke off a small corner. Pure copper is a comparatively soft metal,and heating and dashing with cold water anneals or softens it stillmore. With a heavy stone maul and, part of the time, with the aid of awedge-shaped piece of hard rock used as a chisel, Nangotook hammered andsplit off pieces of the metal. The boys would gladly have helped himwith his laborious mining, but he would not let them take part in theactual operations. They might carry water from the stream, gather fuelfor the fire, find and hand him another stone sledge when he splinteredthe one he was using, but the actual processes of fire making, rocksplitting and beating off copper, he would not permit them to share.Evidently by Ojibwa tradition, this peculiar mining had something of asacred or mysterious character, and, to his mind, must be performed byone of his own medicine clan, duly appointed, initiated and trained forthe work. The boys knew enough of Indian customs to understand this, sothey did not urge their help upon him, but merely obeyed orders.

  Such mining was slow work. The rock had to be heated and cooled severaltimes, and the wielding of the stone maul was heavy labor, but at lastNangotook obtained copper enough for his immediate purpose. As they werereturning down the cove, he told the boys that the pit where they hadbeen working was the same he and his companions had taken metal from onhis previous visit to the island, and the only one he knew of that hadbeen worked in recent years. Jean had picked up a stone hammer with agroove around it, and he showed it to the Indian and asked him what thegroove was for. Nangotook answered that a handle of some sort had beenattached to the boulder. One of the party he had come to the island withhad used such a hammer, he remembered, with a withe twisted about it tohold it by, but he had broken the stone and had thrown it aside.Nangotook thought this might be the very stone. It was not customary touse handles, he said, but he did not know why. Ronald asked how thecopper mass came to be in the bottom of the pit. Had it been split offfrom the side, or was it found by digging down? Nangotook could notanswer the question. The rock had been in the same place when he wasthere before, though then it was well covered with moss and earth, as ifit had not been disturbed for a number of years. The tree trunk wedgedbehind it had been there too, but he and his companions had made theladder.

  No wisp of smoke, was to be seen where Ronald had noticed it the daybefore, but caribou were again discovered feeding on the ridge, near thespot where the lads had caught a glimpse of them.

  The rest of the day and evening were spent in bow and arrow making.Laying a piece of copper on a hard, smooth stone, Nangotook hammered itout with another stone, heating the metal and plunging it in water fromtime to time, to keep it soft enough to be worked without cracking. Whenit was hammered out thin at the edge, he could cut it with a knife.After an arrowhead had been properly shaped, he went over it carefullywith light, quick blows, to harden it as much as possible withoutgetting it out of shape. Even at the best, copper heads were somewhatsoft, but they did not split and warp like bone tips. Their mainadvantage over stone ones was that they could be made in much less time.Moreover flints suitable for arrowheads were difficult to find.Nangotook made a few sharp pointed bone tips in addition to the copperones. The latter were attached to shafts of serviceberry wood in thesame way as the flint and bone heads, and the shafts were straightenedby being pulled through the hole in the piece of bone the Indian hadused in his former arrow making. A gull, which Jean caught in a snare,baited with a piece of fish and set on the rocks, furnished feathers forthe arrows. Hawk or eagle feathers would have been better, Nangotookinsisted, but he had no way of obtaining either without ammunition o
rfinished arrows. He also made another bow, using hare sinew well twistedand braided.

  The weather next day was favorable for continuing the journey, but thelads were eager for a caribou hunt, not only for the sake of the sport,but because they sorely needed the nourishing meat. So departure waspostponed. When the three reached the place where the animals had beenseen the day before, they found distinct trails running in twodirections. As they had guessed, the rocky ridge, where the reindeerlichen grew in abundance, was a favorite caribou resort. The huntersdecided to separate, Nangotook following one trail and the boys theother. They had only two bows, so Ronald was without a weapon.

  Along the top of the ridge, the lads followed the trail, going quietlyand cautiously not to disturb the game, if it should happen to be nearby. As Jean, who was in advance with the bow, rounded a thicket ofleafless bushes, he came upon a place where fire, kindled perhaps bylightning striking a tree, had swept the ridge summit. Small birches,alders and low bushes had grown up among the fallen and standingskeletons of the evergreens, and, scratching about among the underbrushand fallen leaves, were a flock of birds. With a backward gesture, Jeanmotioned to Ronald, who was just behind him, to stand still. Creepingforward a little to get within range, he fitted an arrow to the string,drew it back and let fly. So swiftly and noiselessly did the arrowpierce the bird, that the rest of the flock did not take fright, andJean had a chance to make a second shot. That time the whistling of theshaft alarmed the birds. Some of them ran off into the brush, whilethree rose with a loud whirring noise and a swift direct flight thatcarried them out of range in a moment. However, Jean had secured twoplump, full grown, sharp-tailed grouse. The hunting expedition hadbegun well.

  Not far beyond the spot where Jean killed the grouse, the boys came to afresh caribou trail, made that morning they were sure, which crossed theolder one. They followed the new track, going more cautiously than ever,for the beast might be just ahead. The trail led them down the side ofthe ridge, and across a bog covered with sphagnum moss stiff with thefrost of the night before. There the animal had stopped several times tofeed. After a somewhat winding course through the bog, it had climbedanother hill beyond.

  Jean had a feeling that, when he came to the top of that hill, he wouldfind his game sunning itself in the open. So he bade Ronald keep back,and went very carefully. Through a leafless bush he caught sight ofspreading antlers. Cautiously he crept around the bush. He could see theanimal's head and horns above a clump of tiny balsams, but the littletrees hid the body. Moreover the range was too great for Jean's skilland strength. Etienne might have sent a shaft from that distance with astrong enough pull to pierce his game, but Jean felt sure that he couldnot do so. He must go nearer. Fortunately the wind was blowing towardsthe hunter, and the beast was wholly unaware of the danger threatening.It lowered its head to graze, and Jean crept forward towards the clumpof balsams. He reached them safely, without betraying himself by so muchas a snapped twig or the rustle of a dry leaf. Crouching behind thelittle trees, he peeped around them.

  The caribou's body was plainly exposed, and so close that the boy felthe could not miss. Straightening himself suddenly but noiselessly, hedrew back his bowstring and let fly. He struck the beast squarely, butthough he had aimed for the heart, his arrow evidently did not piercethat vital spot. The caribou felt the sting of the wound, sprang intothe air and was off at a great pace. After it sped Jean, his moccasinedfeet scarcely seeming to touch the rocks, moss and intervening lowbushes, as he cleared them.