XXVI
THE BURNING WOODS
As they hastened back through the woods, the boys' one thought was toreach the canoe. They knew there was no chance of checking the fire,which apparently had a good start and would sweep the island from end toend. The wind was north, so, thinking they would be out of the worst ofthe heat and smoke on that side, they chose the northwestern or outershore, though it was unknown ground to them, for they had come aroundthe inner side at the edge of the woods. Light though the breeze was,the fire spread rapidly. The spruces flared up like torches, the flamesrunning along the limbs and leaping from tree to tree. The resinousbranches and needles made a loud crackling noise as they burned, brokenby an occasional crash, as some tree, fire-eaten at its base, toppledover and fell against its fellows or broke through and measured itslength on the ground.
The belt of almost bare rock between the lake and the woods was wider onthe outer shore than on the inner, but the rocks, rising steeply fromthe water, were extremely rough and broken. Deep cracks had to beleaped, scrambled through or followed up until they could be crossed. Ina very few minutes the trees, across the narrow open strip from theboys, were blazing. Though the lads were to the windward of the fire,the heat scorched them, and the smoke at times was almost suffocating.Either the wind was becoming variable or the heated air from the burningcaused erratic currents, for frequent puffs and gusts of flame and smokewere carried towards the refugees. They kept as near the water and asfar from the fire as they could, scrambling over rocks, jumping chasms,climbing slopes, slipping and falling sometimes, when the waves ofpungent, stinging smoke choked and blinded them.
One crack was so wide they could not jump it, so steep they could notclimb down. Going along its edge, they were led, before they reached aplace narrow enough to be jumped, almost into the burning woods, wherethe chasm became a gully, covered with trees and bushes. Confused by thesmoke, Ronald missed his leap, and would have gone to the bottom, if hishand had not grasped a little spruce growing on the brink. By the timeJean had pulled him over the edge, the bushes around them were beginningto burn. As the two boys sprang through, Jean's tunic caught fire, andhe was obliged to tear it off as he ran, and leave it behind. Not untilthey were at the very edge of the cliffs, were they clear of the blazingbushes.
As they scrambled on along the rocks, the two were in less danger, forthe fire had passed through the bordering growth. Trees, bushes and mossstill smouldered and smoked and broke out here and there in flames, butthe worst of the fire seemed to be over in that part of the island. Thesmoke was still dense, however, and the rocks so hot in spots that theyscorched the boys' feet through their moccasins. With blackened clothes,blistered skins, stinging eyes, parched throats and bodies dripping withperspiration from the heat and excitement, the two lads reached the covewhere they had landed, and made for the place where they had hidden thecanoe.
The canoe was gone! Jean and Ronald could scarcely believe their senses.The boat had not burned, for the moss and bushes around the crack whereit had been concealed were untouched by the fire. A bare space laybetween the bushes and the edge of the woods, and the fire had notleaped across. There was no way the canoe could have disappeared exceptby human agency. Some one had been on the island when they landed.Probably he had seen them come ashore, had watched them hide their boat,and, as soon as they were out of sight and hearing, had taken possessionof it and paddled away. How about the fire then? Had it been accidental,spreading from a carelessly made cooking fire, or had the man who hadstolen their canoe deliberately set it and then left them, without meansof escape, to perish in the flames, or to die of starvation afterwards?
These thoughts flashed through the heads of both boys as they stoodgazing at the empty space where the canoe had been, but a new perilsuddenly interrupted their speculations. There on the northeast end ofthe island, they had thought themselves safe from the fire, butsomething, a momentary change of the wind perhaps, caused a clump ofhalf burned trees at the edge of the woods to blaze up suddenly,sending sparks far and wide. The sparks leaped the open space, and thedry bushes and stunted evergreens around the lads were on fire almostbefore the two realized what had happened. They had no time to seek fora place of safety on land. Scrambling down the rocks, the moss andlichens smouldering and bursting into tiny flames under their feet, thetwo plunged into the water not a moment too soon. The bottom shelvedrapidly, and they lost their footing almost immediately. Just ahead ofthem a solitary rock rose a little above the surface, and a few strokesbrought them to it.
There they clung, heads turned from the smoke, noses and throats choked,eyes smarting and blinded, while the fire swept away every bush andplant that grew about the landing place. At first the cold water feltgrateful to their heated bodies and blistered skins, though no amount ofit seemed to have much effect on their parched and swollen mouths andthroats. The rock was too small and sharp pointed for them to climb upon it, and, in spite of the hot waves that swept over them from thefire, they soon began to chill.
After a little the breeze steadied and blew the smoke cloud in the otherdirection, and the boys were able to breathe again with some comfort,but not until the fire had thoroughly swept the rocks about the cove,did they dare to leave their refuge and swim the few strokes back toshore. The wildest of the fire was over, for the island was small, andthe flames had swept it very thoroughly. Smoke still rose thicklythough, and here and there parts of standing and fallen trees glowed redor burst out now and then into crackling tongues of fire. The rockswhere the fire had taken bushes and moss were still warm, and the warmthwas welcome to the lads, who had passed from extreme heat to cold,soaked as they were from their sojourn in the lake. Huddled in a crannywhere the breeze did not strike them, they wrung the water out of theirclothes, and waited for dawn. Now that the immediate peril seemed over,they found themselves so weary that they even slept a little.
At the first sign of day, they were up and out of their crack in therock. What was to be done next? They had no canoe and nothing to eat. Intheir wild trip around the island, Jean had kept hold of his bow andarrows, but when he had plunged into the lake, he had been obliged todrop the bow on the shore. It had fallen on a bed of moss, where theyfound the blackened remains of the frame. If any animals had survivedthe fire, by taking to the water or burying themselves in holes, theboys had nothing to shoot them with, though they might make snares ofthe fishing lines they carried in their pockets. From their firstlanding, however, the only sign of life they had seen was the owl thathad flown down over Ronald's head.
As soon as the light was strong enough so they could see to find theirway about, they set out to explore the burned woods, in the hope offinding a few sound trees for a raft. Luckily neither of them had lostthe knife or small ax he carried attached to his belt. The central partof the island, though rough with broken rocks, had been green withspruces, balsams, junipers and moss. Now it was a scene of desolation.Most of the trees were still standing, but charred and blackened frombase to summit. Enough trunks and branches, many of them crumbling intocharcoal dust and ashes when stepped on, had fallen, however, to makewalking through the burned woods difficult. Thinking they would standthe best chance of finding sound trees along the edge of the burning onthe north shore of the island, the boys decided to go that way first.The results of their search were not encouraging, although they markedwith their axes a few standing trunks they thought they could use.
The sun had not yet risen when they reached the opposite end of theisland. Looking off across the water, Ronald was surprised to seesomething moving through the light mist. He called Jean, and the twosoon made out a canoe with one man.
"Perhaps that's the man who was on the island last night," Ronaldexclaimed, "and our canoe."
"It may be," Jean replied, "but that is not the man we saw here amongthe trees, or, if it is, he has taken off his red toque." There was nobright color to be seen about the figure in the canoe. "That's not ourcanoe either," Jean added. "It is smaller and not so high in
the bow."Then as the boat drew nearer, he cried out, "It is Etienne!"
Ronald shook his head. "He is too far away. You can't tell in the mist.Besides, it's impossible. How could Etienne have come here,--in acanoe?"
"It is _Etienne_. I am sure of it," Jean repeated. "But he is not makingfor this place. He intends to pass between this island and the shore."
"We must hail him, whoever he is," cried Ronald. "He'll not refuse totake us off, unless he is Le Forgeron's Indian, and in that case," theboy's face hardened, "we're two to one."
He opened his mouth to shout, but Jean stopped him and seized his halfraised arm. "We will soon find out if it is Etienne," he said. Then outacross the water, he sent a peculiar, long drawn, wavering cry, not veryloud but high pitched and penetrating. The man in the canoe turned hishead, held himself motionless a moment, his paddle suspended, then sentback an answering cry, the same except for a falling cadence at theclose, while Jean's call had ended with a rising one.
"It _is_ Etienne," the lad cried, and he sprang down the rocks, wavinghis arms, and uttering the queer cry a second time.
Again the man in the canoe answered, then turned and paddled towards theisland. A few strokes and he was near enough so that even Ronald madesure that it was really the Ojibwa.
If the Indian was surprised to find his two companions on the burnedover island, he gave no expression to the feeling. He came in close tothe shore, but did not get out of the canoe, holding it off from therocks with his paddle. "Canoe burned?" he asked briefly.
"Not burned, stolen," Jean replied, and, without explaining how he andRonald came to be on the island, he told how they had found the placewhere they had hidden their boat, empty, though the fire had not reachedit.
The Indian cut short the boy's explanations by motioning both lads intothe canoe. When they were settled, he said sharply, "Paddle now. Getback to camp. Talk then."
After a quick look across the water in the direction he had come, hesuited his action to his words, paddling with quick, strong strokes.Seizing the other blade that lay in the boat, Ronald joined in, and theymade good speed over the almost still water. Now and then Nangotooklooked back over his shoulder. It was evident that he feared pursuit.
They reached the camp just as the sun was rising. Nangotook landedfirst, and the boys, as they were carrying up the canoe, heard him givea grunt, when he rounded a bush and came in view of the lodge. Only itsframework was standing. The bark covering had been stripped off. TheIndian stooped to examine the ground. In the ashes, where the fire hadbeen, was the print of a moccasined foot, a large foot that turned outand pressed more heavily on the inner side than on the outer."Awishtoya," he growled, and when the boys saw the track they too feltsure that it had been made by the lame Frenchman. They had not leftanything of value in the wigwam, except a pile of hare skins, which haddisappeared of course. Alarmed for the safety of the dried meat, thelads ran to the tree where they had hung it. The birch bark package wasgone. No animal would or could have carried it off in its entirety. Thecaribou hide, which had been stretched out to cure, had disappearedalso.
"It was Le Forgeron's red toque we saw on that island," said Jean withconviction. "He was hiding somewhere when we landed. He set the woods onfire to destroy us. Then he took our canoe, came here and stole ourmeat."
"There can be no doubt of it," Ronald agreed.
Nangotook nodded. He was to add his confirmation to Jean's surmiseslater. All he said at the time was, "Tell me, my brothers, all that hashappened since we parted. Then we can take council together."
So the boys related how they had searched for him without result, howthey had been led to visit the island, and what had happened to themthere. When they had finished, Nangotook told his story.
The Island of Yellow Sands: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys Page 26
