The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  A SWAN-HUNT BY TORCHLIGHT.

  A few days brought our travellers to the settlement of Red River, wherethey made but a very short stay; and, having procured a few articleswhich they stood in need of, they resumed their journey, and floated ontowards Lake Winnipeg. The swans were seen in greater numbers thanever. They were not less shy however, and Francois, as before, in vaintried to get a shot at one. He was very desirous of bringing down oneof these noble birds, partly because the taste he had had of their fleshhad given him a liking for it; and partly because their shyness hadgreatly tantalised him. One is always more eager to kill shy game, bothon account of the rarity of the thing, and the credit one gets for hisexpertness. But the voyageurs had now got within less than twenty milesof Lake Winnipeg, and Francois had not as yet shot a single swan. Itwas not at all likely the eagles would help him to another. So therewould be no more roast swan for supper.

  Norman, seeing how eager Francois was to shoot one of these birds,resolved to aid him by his advice.

  "Cousin Frank," said he, one evening as they floated along, "you wishvery much to get a shot at the swans?"

  "I do," replied Francois,--"I do; and if you can tell me how toaccomplish that business, I'll make you a present of this knife." HereFrancois held up a very handsome clasp-knife that he carried in hispouch.

  A knife in the fur countries is no insignificant affair. With a knifeyou may sometimes buy a horse, or a tent, or a whole carcass of beef,or, what is stranger still, a wife! To the hunter in these wildregions--perhaps a thousand miles from where knives are sold--such athing is of very great value indeed; but the knife which Francoisoffered to his cousin was a particularly fine one, and the latter hadonce expressed a wish to become the owner of it. He was not slow,therefore, in accepting the conditions.

  "Well," rejoined he, "you must consent to travel a few miles by night,and I think I can promise you a shot at the trumpeters--perhapsseveral."

  "What say you, brothers?" asked Francois, appealing to Basil and Lucien;"shall we have the sport? Say yes."

  "Oh! I have no objection," said Lucien.

  "Nor I," added Basil. "On the contrary, I should like it above allthings. I wish very much to know what plan our cousin shall adopt. Inever heard of any mode of approaching these birds."

  "Very well, then," answered Norman, "I shall have the pleasure ofinstructing you in a way that is in use in these parts among theIndians, who hunt the swan for its skin and quills, which they trade tous at the post. We can manage it to-night, I think," continued he,looking up at the sky: "there is no moon, and the sky is thick. Yes, itwill be dark enough."

  "Is it necessary the night should be a dark one?" asked Francois.

  "The darker the better," replied Norman. "To-night, if I am notmistaken, will be as black as pitch. But we need to make somepreparations. It is near sundown, and we shall have just time to getready for the business. Let us get ashore, then, as quickly aspossible."

  "Oh! certainly--let us land," replied all three at once.

  The canoe was now turned to the shore; and when it had arrived within afew feet of the land it was brought to a stop. Its keel was not allowedto touch the bottom of the river, as that would have injured the littlecraft. The greatest precaution is always observed both in landing andembarking these vessels. The voyageurs first get out and wade to theshore, one or two remaining to hold the canoe in its place. The cargo,whatever it be, is then taken out and landed; and after that the canoeitself is lifted out of the water, and carried ashore, where it is set,bottom upward, to dry. The birch-bark canoe is so frail a structure,that, were it brought rudely in contact either with the bottom or thebank, it would be very much damaged, or might go to pieces altogether.Hence the care with which it is handled. It is dangerous, also, tostand upright in it, as it is so "crank" that it would easily turn over,and spill both canoemen and cargo into the water. The voyageurs,therefore, when once they have got in, remain seated during the wholepassage, shifting about as little as they can help. When landed for thenight, the canoe is always taken out of the water as described. Thebark is of a somewhat spongy nature; and if left in the water for alength of time, would become soaked and heavy, and would not run sowell. When kept all night, bottom upward, it drips and becomes dryerand lighter. In the morning, at the commencement of the day's journey,it sits higher upon the water than in the afternoon and evening, and isat that time more easily paddled along.

  Our voyageurs, having got on shore, first kindled a fire to cook theirsupper. This they intended to despatch earlier than usual, so as togive them the early part of the night for their swan-hunt, which theyexpected to finish before midnight. Lucien did the cooking, whileNorman, assisted by Basil and Francois, made his preparations for thehunt. Francois, who was more interested in the result than any of them,watched every movement of his cousin. Nothing escaped him.

  Norman proceeded as follows:--

  He walked off into the woods, accompanied by Francois. After goingabout an hundred yards or so, he stopped at the foot of a certain tree.The tree was a birch--easily distinguished by its smooth, silvery bark.By means of his sharp hunting-knife he "girdled" this tree near theground, and then higher up, so that the length between the two"girdlings," or circular cuttings, was about four feet. He then made alongitudinal incision by drawing the point of his knife from one circleto the other. This done he inserted the blade under the bark, andpeeled it off, as he would have taken the skin from a buffalo. The treewas a foot in diameter, consequently the bark, when stripped off andspread flat, was about three feet in width; for you must remember thatthe circumference of a circle or a cylinder is always about three timesthe length of its diameter, and therefore a tree is three times as much"_round_" as it is "_through_."

  They now returned to the camp-fire, taking along with them the piece ofbark that had been cut off. This was spread out, though not quite flat,still leaving it somewhat curved. The convex side, that which had laintowards the tree, was now blackened with pulverised charcoal, whichNorman had directed Basil to prepare for the purpose; and to the bark atone end was fastened a stake or shaft. Nothing more remained but to fixthis stake in the canoe, in an upright position near the bow, and insuch a way that the bottom of the piece of bark would be upon a levelwith the seats, with its hollow side looking forward. It would thusform a screen, and prevent those in the canoe from being seen by anycreature that might be ahead.

  When all this had been arranged, Norman shouldered the axe, and againwalked off into the woods. This time his object was to obtain aquantity of "knots" of the pitch-pine (_Pinus rigida_), which he knewwould most likely be found in such a situation. The tree was soondiscovered, and pointed out to Francois, who accompanied him as before.Francois saw that it was a tree of about fifty feet in height, and afoot in diameter at its base. Its bark was thick, very dark in thecolour, and full of cracks or fissures. Its leaves, or "needles," wereabout three inches long, and grew in threes, each three forming a littlebunch, bound together at its base by a brownish sheath. These bunches,in botanical language, are termed "fasciles." The cones were somewhatshorter than the leaves, nearly of the shape of eggs, and clusteredtogether in threes and fours. Francois noticed that the tree wasthickly branched, and therefore there are many knots in the wood. Forthis reason it is not of much use as timber; but on account of the resinwhich it contains, it is the best species for firewood; and for thatpurpose it is used in all parts of the United States, where it grows.Most of the _pine-wood_ sold for fuel in the large cities of America isthe wood of this species.

  Francois supposed that his companion was about to fell one of the trees.He was mistaken, however; Norman had no such intention; he had onlystopped before one to examine it, and make sure that it was the specieshe was in search of. He was soon satisfied of this, and moved on,directing his eyes along the ground. Again he stopped; but this time itwas by a tree that had already fallen--blown down, perhaps, by the wind.It was
half decayed; but Francois could see that it was one of the samespecies--the pitch-pine.

  This was the very thing Norman wanted, and plying his axe, he soonknocked out a large quantity of the resinous knots. These he at lengthcollected, and putting them into a bag, returned with Francois to thefire. He then announced that he had no further preparations to make.

  All four now sat down to supper, which consisted of dry meat, withbiscuits and coffee; and, as their appetites were sharpened by theirwater journey, they made a hearty meal of it.

  As soon as they had finished eating, the canoe was launched and gotready. The screen of birch-bark was set up, by lashing its shaft to thebottom timbers, and also to one of the seats. Immediately in front ofthis, and out upon the bow, was placed the frying-pan; and this havingbeen secured by being tied at the handle, was filled with drypine-knots, ready to be kindled at a moment's notice. Thesearrangements being made, the hunters only awaited the darkness to setforth.

  In the progress of their hunt they would be carried still fartherdown-stream; but as that was the direction in which they weretravelling, they would only be progressing on their journey, and thus"killing two birds with one stone." This was altogether a very pleasantconsideration; and, having stowed everything snugly in the canoe, theysat chatting agreeably and waiting for the arrival of night.

  Night came at length, and, as Norman had predicted, it was as "dark aspitch." Stepping gently into the canoe, and seating themselves in theirrespective places, they pushed out and commenced floating down-stream.Norman sat near the bow, in order to attend to his torch of pine-knots.Francois was next to him, holding his double-barrel, loaded withbuck-shot, which is the same size as that used for swans, and in Englandis even known as "swan-shot."

  Next came Basil with his rifle. He sat near Francois, just by themiddle of the little vessel. Lucien, who was altogether a man of peaceprinciples, and but little of a shot compared with either of hisbrothers, handled the oar--not to propel the canoe, but merely to guideit. In this way the party floated on in silence.

  Norman soon kindled his torch, which now cast its red glare over thesurface of the river, extending its fiery radii even to the banks onboth sides of the stream. The trees that overhung the water seemedtinged with vermilion, and the rippling wave sparkled like liquid gold.The light only extended over a semicircle. From the manner in which thetorch was placed, its light did not fall upon the other half of thecircle, and this, by contrast, appeared even darker than it wouldotherwise have done.

  The advantage of the plan which Norman had adopted was at once apparentto all. Ahead of the canoe the whole river was plainly seen for adistance of several hundred yards. No object larger than a cork couldhave floated on its surface, without being visible to those in thevessel--much less the great white body of a trumpeter swan. Astern ofthe canoe, on the other hand, all was pitchy darkness, and any onelooking at the vessel from a position ahead could have seen nothing butthe bright torch and the black uniform surface behind it. As I havealready stated, the concave side of the bark was towards the blaze, andthe pan containing the torch being placed close in to the screen, noneof the light could possibly fall upon the forms of those within thecanoe. They were therefore invisible to any creature from the front,while they themselves could see everything before them.

  Two questions yet remained unanswered. First,--would our hunters findany swans on the river? Second,--if they should, would these birdsallow themselves to be approached near enough to be shot at? The firstquestion Norman, of course, could not answer. That was a matter beyondhis knowledge or control. The swans might or might not appear, but itwas to be hoped they would. It was likely enough. Many had been seenon the preceding day, and why not then? To the second question, theyoung Canadian gave a definite reply. He assured his cousins that, ifmet with, the birds would be easily approached in this manner; he hadoften hunted them so. They would either keep their place, and remainuntil the light came very near them, or they would move towards it (ashe had many times known them to do), attracted by curiosity and thenovelty of the spectacle. He had hunted deer in the same manner; he hadshot, he said, hundreds of these animals upon the banks of rivers, wherethey had come down to the water to drink, and stood gazing at the light.

  His cousins could well credit his statements. They themselves hadhunted deer by torchlight in the woods of Louisiana, where it is termed"fire-hunting." They had killed several in this way. The creatures, asif held by some fascination, would stand with head erect looking at thetorch carried by one of the party, while the other took sight betweentheir glancing eyes and fired the deadly bullet. Remembering this, theycould easily believe that the swans might act in a similar manner.

  It was not long until they were convinced of it by actual experience.As the canoe rounded a bend in the river, three large white objectsappeared in the "reach" before them. A single glance satisfied all thatthey were swans, though, in the deceptive glare of the torch, theyappeared even larger than swans. Their long upright necks, however,convinced the party they could be nothing else, and the canoe was headeddirectly for them.

  As our hunters approached, one of the birds was heard to utter hisstrange trumpet-note, and this he repeated at intervals as they drewnearer.

  "I have heard that they sing before death," muttered Francois to Basil,who sat nearest him. "If so, I hope that's the song itself;" andFrancois laughed quietly at the joke he had perpetrated.

  Basil also laughed; and Lucien, who had overheard the remark, could notrestrain himself from joining in the laughter.

  "I fear not," rejoined Basil; "there is hardly enough music in the noteto call it a song. They may live to `blow their own trumpet' a longwhile yet."

  This remark called forth a fresh chorus of laughter, in which all tookpart; but it was a very silent kind of laughter, that could not havebeen heard ten yards off: it might have been termed "laughing in awhisper."

  It soon ended, however, as matters now became serious: they were alreadywithin less than two hundred yards of the game, and the greatest cautionhad to be observed. The gunners had arranged the order of fire: Basilwas to shoot first, taking steady aim with his rifle at any one of thebirds; while Francois should fire as soon as he heard the report of hisbrother's gun, taking the remaining swans upon the wing, with one orboth barrels, as he best might.

  At length Basil deemed himself near enough, and, levelling his piece,fired. The bird threw out its wings, and flattened down upon the water,almost without a struggle. The other two were rising into the air, when"crack! crack!" went the two barrels of Francois' piece, and one of theswans fell back with a broken wing, and fluttered over the surface ofthe stream. Basil's had been shot dead, and was taken up easily; butthe wounded bird was only captured after a long chase with the canoe;and when overtaken, it struck so fiercely with its remaining wing, thatone of the blows inflicted a painful wound on the wrist of Francois.Both, however, were at length got safely aboard, and proved to be a maleand female of the largest dimensions.