The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  A PAIR OF DEEP DIVERS.

  The wapiti was carefully skinned, and the skin spread out to dry. Sincetheir mishap our voyageurs had been very short of clothing. The threeskins of the woodland caribou had made only a pair of jackets, insteadof full hunting-shirts, and even these were pinched fits. For beds andbed-clothes they had nothing but the hides of buffaloes, and these,although good as far as they went, were only enough for two. Lucien,the most delicate of the party, appropriated one, as the others insistedupon his so doing. Francois had the other. As for Basil and Norman,they were forced each night to lie upon the naked earth, and but for thelarge fires which they kept blazing all the night, they would havesuffered severely from cold. Indeed, they did suffer quite enough; forsome of the nights were so cold, that it was impossible to sleep by thelargest fire without one-half of their bodies feeling chilled. Theusual practice with travellers in the Far West is to lie with their feetto the fire, while the head is at the greatest distance from it. Thisis considered the best mode, for so long as the feet are warm, the restof the body will not suffer badly; but, on the contrary, if the feet areallowed to get cold, no matter what state the other parts be in, it isimpossible to sleep with comfort. Of course our young voyageursfollowed the well-known practice of the country, and lay with their feetto the fire in such a manner that, when all were placed, their bodiesformed four radii of a circle, of which the fire was the centre.Marengo usually lay beside Basil, whom he looked upon as his propermaster.

  Notwithstanding a bed of grass and leaves which they each night spreadfor themselves, they were sadly in want of blankets, and therefore theskin of the wapiti, which was a very fine one, would be a welcomeaddition to their stock of bedding. They resolved, therefore, to remainone day where they had killed it, so that the skin might be dried andreceive a partial dressing. Moreover, they intended to "jerk" some ofthe meat--although elk-venison is not considered very palatable whereother meat can be had. It is without juice, and resembles dryshort-grained beef more than venison. For this reason it is looked uponby both Indians and white hunters as inferior to buffalo, moose,caribou, or even the common deer. One peculiarity of the flesh of thisanimal is, that the fat becomes hard the moment it is taken off thefire. It freezes upon the lips like suet, and clings around the teethof a person eating it, which is not the case with that of other speciesof deer. The skin of the wapiti, however, is held in high esteem amongthe Indians. It is thinner than that of the moose, but makes a muchbetter article of leather. When dressed in the Indian fashion--that isto say, soaked in a lather composed of the brains and fat of the animalitself, and then washed, dried, scraped, and smoked--it becomes as softand pliable as a kid-glove, and will wash and dry without stiffeninglike chamois leather. That is a great advantage which it has, in theeyes of the Indians, over the skins of other species of deer, as themoose and caribou--for the leather made from these, after a wetting,becomes harsh and rigid and requires a great deal of rubbing to renderit soft again.

  Lucien knew how to dress the elk-hide, and could make leather out of itas well as any Indian squaw in the country. But travelling as theywere, there was not a good opportunity for that; so they were content togive it such a dressing as the circumstances might allow. It was spreadout on a frame of willow-poles, and set up in front of the fire, to bescraped at intervals and cleared of the fatty matter, as well as thenumerous parasites that at this season adhere to the skins of thewapiti.

  While Lucien was framing the skin, Basil and Norman occupied themselvesin cutting the choice pieces of the meat into thin slices and hangingthem up before the fire. This job being finished, all sat down to watchLucien currying his hide.

  "Ho, boys!" cried Francois, starting up as if something had occurred tohim; "what about the wolverene? It's a splendid skin--why not get ittoo?"

  "True enough," replied Norman, "we had forgotten that. But the beastsgone to the bottom--how can we get at him?"

  "Why, fish him up, to be sure," said Francois. "Let's splice one ofthese willow-poles to my ramrod, and I'll screw it into him, and drawhim to the surface in a jiffy. Come!"

  "We must get the canoe round, then," said Norman. "The bank's too steepfor us to reach him without it."

  "Of course," assented Francois, at the same time going towards thewillows; "get you the canoe into the water, while I cut the sapling."

  "Stay!" cried Basil, "I'll show you a shorter method. Marengo!"

  As Basil said this, he rose to his feet, and walked down to the bluffwhere they had shot the wolverene. All of them followed him as well asMarengo, who bounded triumphantly from side to side, knowing he waswanted for some important enterprise.

  "Do you expect the dog to fetch him out?" inquired Norman.

  "No," replied Basil; "only to help."

  "How?"

  "Wait a moment--you shall see."

  Basil flung down his 'coon-skin cap, and stripped off his cariboujacket, then his striped cotton shirt, then his under-shirt of fawnskin, and, lastly, his trousers, leggings, and mocassins. He was now asnaked as Adam.

  "I'll show you, cousin," said he, addressing himself to Norman, "how wetake the water down there on the Mississippi."

  So saying, he stepped forward to the edge of the bluff; and havingcarefully noted the spot where the wolverene had gone down, turned tothe dog, and simply said--

  "Ho! Marengo! _Chez moi_!" The dog answered with a whimper, and alook of intelligence which showed that he understood his master's wish.

  Basil again pointed to the lake, raised his arms over his head, placinghis palms close together, launched himself out into the air, and shotdown head-foremost into the water.

  Marengo, uttering a loud bay, sprang after so quickly that the plungeswere almost simultaneous, and both master and dog were for some timehidden from view. The latter rose first, but it was a long time beforeBasil came to the surface--so long that Norman and the others werebeginning to feel uneasy, and to regard the water with some anxiety. Atlength, however, a spot was seen to bubble, several yards from where hehad gone down, and the black head of Basil appeared above the surface.It was seen that he held something in his teeth, and was pushing a heavybody before him, which they saw was the wolverene.

  Marengo, who swam near, now seized hold of the object, and pulled itaway from his master, who, calling to the dog to follow, struck outtowards a point where the bank was low and shelving. In a few minutesBasil reached a landing-place, and shortly after Marengo arrived towingthe wolverene, which was speedily pulled out upon the bank, and carried,or rather dragged, by Norman and Francois to the camp. Lucien broughtBasil's clothes, and all four once more assembled around the blazingfire.

  There is not a more hideous-looking animal in America than thewolverene. His thick body and short stout legs, his shaggy coat andbushy tail, but, above all, his long curving claws and doglike jaws,give him a formidable appearance. His gait is low and skulking, and hislook bold and vicious. He walks somewhat like a bear, and his tracksare often mistaken for those of that animal. Indians and hunters,however, know the difference well. His hind-feet are plantigrade, thatis, they rest upon the ground from heel to toe; and his back curves likethe segment of a circle. He is fierce and extremely voracious--quite asmuch so as the "glutton," of which he is the American representative.No animal is more destructive to the small game, and he will also attackand devour the larger kinds when he can get hold of them; but as he issomewhat slow, he can only seize most of them by stratagem. It is acommon belief that he lies in wait upon trees and rocks to seize thedeer passing beneath. It has been also asserted that he places moss,such as these animals feed upon, under his perch, in order to enticethem within reach; and it has been still further asserted, that thearctic foxes assist him in his plans, by hunting the deer towards thespot where he lies in wait, thus acting as his jackals. Theseassertions have been made more particularly about his European cousin,the "glutton," about whom other stories are told equally strange
--one ofthem, that he eats until scarce able to walk, and then draws his bodythrough a narrow space between two trees, in order to relieve himselfand get ready for a fresh meal. Buffon and others have given credenceto these tales upon the authority of one "Olaus Magnus," whose name,from the circumstance, might be translated "great fibber." There is nodoubt, however, that the glutton is one of the most sagacious ofanimals, and so, too, is the wolverene. The latter gives proof of thisby many of his habits; one in particular fully illustrates his cunning.It is this. The marten-trappers of the Hudson Bay territory set theirtraps in the snow, often extending over a line of fifty miles. Thesetraps are constructed out of pieces of wood found near the spot, and arebaited with the heads of partridges, or pieces of venison, of which themarten (_Mustela martes_) is very fond. As soon as the marten seizesthe bait, a trigger is touched, and a heavy piece of wood falling uponthe animal, crushes or holds it fast. Now the wolverene _enters thetrap from behind_, tears the back out of it before touching the bait,and thus avoids the falling log! Moreover, he will follow the tracks ofthe trapper from one to another, until he has destroyed the whole line.Should a marten happen to have been before him, and got caught in thetrap, he rarely ever eats it, as he is not fond of its flesh. But he isnot satisfied to leave it as he finds it. He usually digs it from underthe log, tears it to pieces, and then buries it under the snow. Thefoxes, who are well aware of this habit, and who themselves greedily eatthe marten, are frequently seen following him upon such excursions.They are not strong enough to take the log from off the trapped animal,but from their keen scent can soon find it where the other has buried itin the snow. In this way, instead of their being providers for thewolverene, the reverse is the true story. Notwithstanding, thewolverene will eat _them_ too, whenever he can get his claws upon them;but as they are much swifter than he, this seldom happens. The foxes,however, are themselves taken in traps, or more commonly shot by gunsset for the purpose, with the bait attached by a string to the trigger.Often the wolverene, finding the foxes dead or wounded, makes a meal ofthem before the hunter comes along to examine his traps and guns. Thewolverene kills many of the foxes while young, and sometimes on findingtheir burrow, widens it with his strong claws, and eats the whole familyin their nests. Even young wolves sometimes become his prey. He lives,in fact, on very bad terms with both foxes and wolves, and often robsthe latter of a fat deer which they may have just killed, and arepreparing to dine upon. The beaver, however, is his favourite food, andbut that these creatures can escape him by taking to the water--in whichelement he is not at all at home--he would soon exterminate their wholerace. His great strength and acute scent enable him to overcome almostevery wild creature of the forest or prairie. He is even said to be afull match for either the panther or the black bear.

  The wolverene lives in clefts of rock, or in hollow trees, where suchare to be found; but he is equally an inhabitant of the forest and theprairie. He is found in fertile districts, as well as in the mostremote deserts. His range is extensive, but he is properly a denizen ofthe cold and snowy regions. In the southern parts of the United Stateshe is no longer known, though it is certain that he once lived therewhen those countries were inhabited by the beaver. North of latitude 40degrees he ranges perhaps to the pole itself, as traces of him have beenfound as far as man has yet penetrated. He is a solitary creature, and,like most predatory animals, a nocturnal prowler. The female bringsforth two, sometimes three and four, at a birth. The cubs are of acream colour, and only when full-grown acquire that dark-brown hue,which in the extreme of winter often passes into black. The fur is notunlike that of the bear, but is shorter-haired, and of less value than abear-skin. Notwithstanding, it is an article of trade with the Hudson'sBay Company, who procure many thousands of the skins annually.

  The Canadian voyageurs call the wolverene "carcajou;" while among theOrkney and Scotch servants of the Hudson's Bay Company he is oftenerknown as the "quickhatch." It is supposed that both these names arecorruptions of the Cree word _okee-coo-haw-gew_ (the name of thewolverene among the Indians of that tribe). Many words from the samelanguage have been adopted by both voyageurs and traders.

  Those points in the natural history of the wolverene, that might becalled _scientific_, were imparted by Lucien, while Norman furnished theinformation about its habits. Norman knew the animal as one of the mostcommon in the "trade"; and in addition to what we have recorded, alsorelated many adventures and stories current among the voyageurs, inwhich this creature figures in quite as fanciful a manner, as he does inthe works either of Olaus Magnus, or Count de Buffon.