The Young Fur Traders

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

  CHANGES--HARRY AND HAMILTON FIND THAT VARIETY IS INDEED CHARMING--THELATTER ASTONISHES THE FORMER CONSIDERABLY.

  Three months passed away, but the snow still lay deep and white andundiminished around York Fort. Winter--cold, silent, unyieldingwinter--still drew its white mantle closely round the lonely dwelling ofthe fur-traders of the Far North.

  Icicles hung, as they had done for months before, from the eaves ofevery house, from the tall black scaffold on which the great bell hung,and from the still taller erection that had been put up as an outlookfor "_the ship_" in summer. At the present time it commanded a bleakview of the frozen sea. Snow covered every housetop, and hung inponderous masses from their edges, as if it were about to fall; but itnever fell--it hung there in the same position day after day, unmelted,unchanged. Snow covered the whole land, and the frozen river, theswamps, the sea-beach, and the sea itself, as far as the eye couldreach, seemed like a pure white carpet. Snow lined the upper edge ofevery paling, filled up the key-hole of every door, embanked about halfof every window, stuck in little knobs on the top of every picket, andclung in masses on every drooping branch of the pine trees in theforest. Frost--sharp, biting frost--solidified, surrounded, andpervaded everything. Mercury was congealed by it; vapour was condensedby it; iron was cooled by it until it could scarcely be touched without(as the men expressed it) "burning" the fingers. The water-jugs inBachelors' Hall and the water-buckets were frozen by it, nearly to thebottom; though there was a good stove there, and the Hall was not_usually_ a cold place by any means. The breath of the inhabitants wascongealed by it on the window-panes, until they had become coated withice an inch thick. The breath of the men was rendered white and opaqueby it, as they panted and hurried to and fro about their ordinaryavocations; beating their gloved hands together, and stamping theirwell-wrapped-up feet on the hard-beaten snow to keep them warm. OldRobin's nose seemed to be entirely shrivelled up into his face by it, ashe drove his ox-cart to the river to fetch his daily supply of water.The only things that were not affected by it were the fires, whichcrackled and roared as if in laughter, and twisted and leaped as if inuncontrollable glee at the bare idea of John Frost acquiring, by anyartifice whatever, the smallest possible influence over _them_! Threemonths had elapsed, but frost and snow, instead of abating, had gone onincreasing and intensifying, deepening and extending its work, andriveting its chains. Winter--cold silent, unyielding winter--stillreigned at York Fort, as though it had made it a _sine qua non_ of itsexistence at all that it should reign there for ever!

  But although everything was thus wintry and cold, it was by no meanscheerless or dreary. A bright sun shone in the blue heavens with anintenseness of brilliancy that was quite dazzling to the eyes, thatelated the spirits, and caused man and beast to tread with a moreelastic step than usual. Although the sun looked down upon the scenewith an unclouded face, and found a mirror in every icicle and in everygem of hoar-frost with which the objects of nature were loaded, therewas, however, no perceptible heat in his rays. They fell on the whiteearth with all the brightness of midsummer, but they fell powerless asmoonbeams in the dead of winter.

  On the frozen river, just in front of the gate of the fort, a group ofmen and dogs were assembled. The dogs were four in number, harnessed toa small flat sledge of the slender kind used by Indians to drag theirfurs and provisions over the snow. The group of men was composed of MrRogan and the inmates of Bachelors' Hall, one or two men who happened tobe engaged there at the time in cutting a new water-hole in the ice, andan Indian, who, to judge from his carefully-adjusted costume, thesnow-shoes on his feet, and the short whip in his hand, was the driverof the sledge, and was about to start on a journey. Harry Somervilleand young Hamilton were also wrapped up more carefully than usual.

  "Good-bye, then, good-bye," said Mr Rogan, advancing towards theIndian, who stood beside the leading dog, ready to start. "Take care ofour young friends--they've not had much experience in travelling yet;and don't overdrive your dogs. Treat them well, and they'll do morework. They're like men in that respect." Mr Rogan shook the Indian bythe hand, and the latter immediately flourished the whip and gave ashout, which the dogs no sooner heard than they uttered a simultaneousyell, sprang forward with a jerk, and scampered up the river, closelyfollowed by their dark-skinned driver.

  "Now, lads, farewell," said the old gentleman, turning with a kindlysmile to our two friends, who were shaking hands for the last time withtheir comrades. "I'm sorry you're going to leave us, my boys. You'vedone your duty well while here, and I would willingly have kept you alittle longer with me, but our governor wills it otherwise. However, Itrust that you'll be happy wherever you may be sent. Don't forget towrite to me. God bless you. Farewell."

  Mr Rogan shook them heartily by the hand, turned short round, andwalked slowly up to his house, with an expression of sadness on his mildface; while Harry and Hamilton, having once more waved farewell to theirfriends, marched up the river, side by side, in silence. They followedthe track left by the dog-sledge, which guided them with unerringcertainty, although their Indian leader and his team were out of sightin advance.

  A week previous to this time an Indian arrived from the interior,bearing a letter from headquarters, which directed that Messrs.Somerville and Hamilton should be forthwith dispatched on snow-shoes toNorway House. As this establishment is about three hundred miles fromthe sea-coast, the order involved a journey of nearly two weeks'duration through a country that was utterly destitute of inhabitants.On receiving a command from Mr Rogan to prepare for an early start.Harry retired precipitately to his own room, and there, after cuttingunheard-of capers, and giving vent to sudden incomprehensible shouts,all indicative of the highest state of delight, he condescended to tellhis companions of his good fortune, and set about preparations withoutdelay. Hamilton, on the contrary, gave his usual quiet smile on beinginformed of his destination, and returning somewhat pensively toBachelors' Hall, proceeded leisurely to make the necessary arrangementsfor departure. As the time drew on, however, a perpetual flush on hiscountenance, and an unusual brilliancy about his eye, showed that he wasnot quite insensible to the pleasures of a change, and relished the ideamore than he got credit for. The Indian who had brought the letter wasordered to hold himself in readiness to retrace his steps and conductthe young men through the woods to Norway House, where they were toawait further orders. A few days later the three travellers, as alreadyrelated, set out on their journey.

  After walking a mile up the river, they passed a point of land whichshut out the fort from view. Here they paused to take a last look, andthen pressed forward in silence, the thoughts of each being busy withmingled recollections of their late home and anticipations of thefuture. After an hour's sharp walking they came in sight of the guide,and slackened their pace.

  "Well, Hamilton," said Harry, throwing off his reverie with a deep sigh,"are you glad to leave York Fort, or sorry?"

  "Glad, undoubtedly," replied Hamilton, "but sorry to part from our oldcompanions there. I had no idea, Harry, that I loved them all so much.I feel as if I should be glad were the order for us to leave themcountermanded even now."

  "That's the very thought," said Harry, "that was passing through my ownbrain when I spoke to you. Yet, somehow, I think I should be uncommonlysorry after all if we were really sent back. There's a queercontradiction, Hammy: we're sorry and happy at the same time! If I werethe skipper now, I would found a philosophical argument upon it."

  "Which the skipper would carry on with untiring vigour," said Hamilton,smiling, "and afterwards make an entry of in his log. But I think,Harry, that to feel the emotion of sorrow and joy at the same time isnot such a contradiction as it at first appears."

  "Perhaps not," replied Harry, "but it seems very contradictory to _me_;and yet it's an evident fact, for I'm _very_ sorry to leave _them_, andI'm _very_ happy to have you for my companion here."

  "So am I, so am I," said the other hea
rtily. "I would rather travelwith you, Harry, than with any of our late companions, although I likethem all very much."

  The two friends had grown, almost imperceptibly, in each other's esteemduring their residence under the same roof, more than either of themwould have believed possible. The gay, reckless hilarity of the one didnot at first accord with the quiet gravity and, as his comrades styledit, _softness_ of the other. But character is frequently misjudged atfirst sight, and sometimes men who on a first acquaintance have feltrepelled from each other have, on coming to know each other better,discovered traits and good qualities that ere long formed enduring bondsof sympathy, and have learned to love those whom at first they feltdisposed to dislike or despise. Thus Harry soon came to know that whathe at first thought and, along with his companions, called softness inHamilton was in reality gentleness of disposition and thoroughgood-nature, united in one who happened to be utterly unacquainted withthe _knowing_ ways of this peculiarly sharp and clever world, while inthe course of time new qualities showed themselves in a quiet,unobtrusive way that won upon his affections and raised his esteem. Onthe other hand, Hamilton found that, although Harry was volatile, andpossessed of an irresistible tendency to fun and mischief, he never byany chance gave way to anger, or allowed malice to enter into hispractical jokes. Indeed, he often observed him restrain his naturaltendencies when they were at all likely to give pain, though Harry neverdreamed that such efforts were known to any one but himself. Besidesthis, Harry was peculiarly _unselfish_, and when a man is possessed ofthis inestimable disposition, he is not _quite_ but _very nearly_perfect!

  After another pause, during which the party had left the open river anddirected their course through the woods, where the depth of the snowobliged them to tread in each other's footsteps, Harry resumed theconversation.

  "You have not yet told me, by-the-bye, what old Mr Rogan said to youjust before we started. Did he give you any hint as to where you mightbe sent to after reaching Norway House?"

  "No; he merely said he knew that clerks were wanted both for MackenzieRiver and the Saskatchewan districts, but he did not know which I wasdestined for."

  "Hum! exactly what he said to me, with the slight addition that hestrongly suspected that Mackenzie River would be my doom. Are youaware, Hammy, my boy, that the Saskatchewan district is a sort ofterrestrial paradise, and Mackenzie River equivalent to Botany Bay?"

  "I have heard as much during our conversations in Bachelors' Hall, but--Stop a bit, Harry; these snow-shoe lines of mine have got loosened withtearing through this deep snow and these shockingly thick bushes.There--they are right now; go on. I was going to say that I don't--oh!"

  This last exclamation was elicited from Hamilton by a sharp blow causedby a branch which, catching on part of Harry's dress as he plodded on infront, suddenly rebounded and struck him across the face. This is ofcommon occurrence in travelling through the woods, especially to thosewho from inexperience walk too closely on the heels of their companions.

  "What's wrong now, Hammy?" inquired his friend, looking over hisshoulder.

  "Oh, nothing worth mentioning--rather a sharp blow from a branch, that'sall."

  "Well, proceed; you've interrupted yourself twice in what you were goingto say. Perhaps it'll come out if you try it a third time."

  "I was merely going to say that I don't much care where I am sent to, solong as it is not to an outpost where I shall be all alone."

  "All very well, my friend; but seeing that outposts are, in comparisonwith principal forts, about a hundred to one, your chance of avoidingthem is rather slight. However, our youth and want of experience is inour favour, as they like to send men who have seen some service tooutposts. But I fear that, with such brilliant characters as you and I,Hammy, youth will only be an additional recommendation, and inexperiencewon't last long.--Hollo! what's going on yonder?"

  Harry pointed as he spoke to an open spot in the woods about a quarterof a mile in advance, where a dark object was seen lying on the snow,writhing about, now coiling into a lump, and anon extending itself likea huge snake in agony.

  As the two friends looked, a prolonged howl floated towards them.

  "Something wrong with the dogs, I declare!" cried Harry.

  "No doubt of it," replied his friend, hurrying forward, as they sawtheir Indian guide rise from the ground and flourish his whipenergetically, while the howls rapidly increased.

  A few minutes brought them to the scene of action, where they found thedogs engaged in a fight among themselves, and the driver, in a state ofvehement passion, alternately belabouring and trying to separate them.Dogs in these regions, like the dogs of all other regions, we suppose,are very much addicted to fighting--a propensity which becomes extremelyunpleasant if indulged while the animals are in harness, as they thenbecome peculiarly savage, probably from their being unable, like anill-assorted pair in wedlock, to cut or break the ties that bind them.Moreover, they twist the traces into such an ingeniously complicatedmass that it renders disentanglement almost impossible, even afterexhaustion has reduced them to obedience. Besides this, they are soabsorbed in worrying each other that for the time they are utterlyregardless of their driver's lash or voice. This naturally makes thedriver angry, and sometimes irascible men practise shameful cruelties onthe poor dogs. When the two friends came up they found the Indianglaring at the animals, as they fought and writhed in the snow, withevery lineament of his swarthy face distorted with passion, and pantingfrom his late exertions. Suddenly he threw himself on the dogs again,and lashed them furiously with the whip. Finding that this had noeffect, he twined the lash round his hand, and struck them violentlyover their heads and snouts with the handle; then falling down on hisknees, he caught the most savage of the animals by the throat, andseizing its nose between his teeth almost bit it off. The appallingyell that followed this cruel act seemed to subdue the dogs, for theyceased to fight, and crouched, whining, in the snow.

  With a bound like a tiger young Hamilton sprang upon the guide, andseizing him by the throat, hurled him violently to the ground."Scoundrel!" he cried, standing over the crestfallen Indian with flushedface and flashing eyes, "how dare you thus treat the creatures of God?"

  The young man would have spoken more, but his indignation was so fiercethat it could not find vent in words. For a moment he raised his fist,as if he meditated dashing the Indian again to the ground as he slowlyarose; then, as if changing his mind, he seized him by the back of theneck, thrust him towards the panting dogs, and stood in silence over himwith the whip grasped firmly in his hand, while he disentangled thetraces.

  This accomplished, Hamilton ordered him in a voice of suppressed angerto "go forward"--an order which the cowed guide promptly obeyed, and ina few minutes more the two friends were again alone.

  "Hamilton, my boy," exclaimed Harry, who up to this moment seemed tohave been petrified, "you have perfectly amazed me! I'm utterlybewildered."

  "Indeed, I fear that I have been very violent," said Hamilton, blushingdeeply.

  "Violent!" exclaimed his friend. "Why, man, I've completely mistakenyour character. I--I--"

  "I hope not, Harry," said Hamilton, in a subdued tone; "I hope not.Believe me, I am not naturally violent. I should be very sorry were youto think so. Indeed, I never felt thus before, and now that it is overI am amazed at myself; but surely you'll admit that there was greatprovocation. Such terrible cruelty to--"

  "My dear fellow, you quite misunderstand me. I'm amazed at your pluck,your energy. _Soft_, indeed! we have been most egregiously mistaken.Provocation! I just think you had; my only sorrow is that you didn'tgive him a little more."

  "Come, come, Harry; I see you would be as cruel to him as he was to thepoor dog. But let us press forward; it is already growing dark, and wemust not let the fellow out of sight ahead of us."

  "_Allons, donc_," cried Harry; and hastening their steps, they travelledsilently and rapidly among the stems of the trees, while the shades ofnight gathered slowly rou
nd them.

  That night the three travellers encamped in the snow under the shelterof a spreading pine. The encampment was formed almost exactly in asimilar manner to that in which they had slept on the night of theirexploits at North River. They talked less, however, than on thatoccasion, and slept more soundly. Before retiring to rest, and whileHarry was extended, half asleep and half awake, on his green blanket,enjoying the delightful repose that follows a hard day's march and agood supper, Hamilton drew near to the Indian, who sat sullenly smokinga little apart from the young men. Sitting down beside him, headministered a long rebuke in a low, grave tone of voice. Like rebukesgenerally, it had the effect of making the visage of the Indian stillmore sullen. But the young man did not appear to notice this; he stillcontinued to talk. As he went on, the look grew less and less sullen,until it faded entirely away, and was succeeded by the grave, quiet,respectful expression peculiar to the face of the North American Indian.

  Day succeeded day, night followed night, and still found them ploddinglaboriously through the weary waste of snow, or encamping under thetrees of the forest. The two friends went through all the varied stagesof experience which are included in what is called "becoming used to thework," which is sometimes a modified meaning of the expression "usedup." They started with a degree of vigour that one would have thoughtno amount of hard work could possibly abate. They became aware of themelancholy fact that fatigue unstrings the youngest and toughest sinews.They pressed on, however, from stern necessity, and found, to theirdelight, that young muscles recover their elasticity even in the midstof severe exertion. They still pressed on, and discovered, to theirdismay, that this recovery was only temporary, and that the second stateof exhaustion was infinitely worse than the first. Still they pressedon, and raised blisters on their feet and toes that caused them to limpwoefully; then they learned that blisters break and take a long time toheal, and are much worse to walk upon during the healing process thanthey are at the commencement--at which time they innocently fancied thatnothing could be more dreadful. Still they pressed on day after day,and found to their satisfaction that such things can be endured andovercome; that feet and toes can become hard like leather, that musclescan grow tough as india-rubber, and that spirits and energy can attainto a pitch of endurance which nothing within the compass of a day'smarch can by any possibility overcome. They found also, fromexperience, that their conversation changed, both in manner and subject,as they progressed on their journey. At first they conversed frequentlyand on various topics, chiefly on the probability of their being sent topleasant places or the reverse. Then they spoke less frequently, andgrowled occasionally, as they advanced in the painful process oftraining. After that, as they began to get hardy, they talked of thetrees, the snow, the ice, the tracks of wild animals they happened tocross, and the objects of nature generally that came under theirobservation. Then as their muscles hardened and their sinews grewtough, and the day's march at length became first a matter ofindifference, and ultimately an absolute pleasure, they chatted cheerilyon any and every subject, or sang occasionally, when the sun shone outand cast an _appearance_ of warmth across their path. Thus onward theypressed, without halt or stay, day after day, through wood and brake,over river and lake, on ice and on snow, for miles and miles together,through the great, uninhabited, frozen wilderness.