Ungava

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

  SUCCESSES AND ENCOURAGEMENT--BRYAN LOST AND FOUND.

  It was evening before the tide began to fall and uncover the stake-nets,which were eagerly and earnestly watched by those who had remained inthe camp. Mrs Stanley and Edith were seated on an empty box by themargin of the sandy bay; Mr Stanley sat on a nail-keg beside them; LaRoche and the Indian were still working at the small canoe a few yardsfrom the tent; and Gaspard, with folded arms, and an unusual smile ofgood humour playing on his countenance, stood close behind Stanley.

  None of the hunting and exploring parties had returned, although the sunhad long since disappeared behind the mountains, and the mellow light ofevening was deepening over the bay.

  "There's a tail, sir," said Gaspard, as he hurried towards the net.

  "So it is!" cried Stanley, leaping up. "Come along, Eda, and take thefirst fish."

  Edith needed no second invitation, but bounded towards the edge of thewater, which was now gradually leaving the nets. Gaspard had alreadydisengaged a white fish from the mesh, and wading to the beach, gave itto the little girl, who ran with it joyously to her mother. Meanwhile,another and another fish was left by the tide, and Stanley soon afterbrought up a splendid salmon of about twenty-five pounds weight, andlaid it at Edith's feet.

  "Oh, how very beautiful!" cried the child, as she gazed in delight atthe silvery scales of the fish.

  "My mind is much relieved by this, Jessie," said Stanley, reseatinghimself on the keg, while Oostesimow and La Roche carried the fishashore as Gaspard freed them from the nets. "I now see that there areplenty of fish in the river, and if the hunters bring in a good reportto-night, our anxiety on the score of food will be quite removed."

  Although none of the party had ever set a net on stakes before, they hadfrequently heard of this manner of fishing, and their first attemptproved eminently successful. At low tide stakes had been driven intothe sand, extending from the edge of the water towards high-water mark.On these the nets had been spread, and thus the misfortune which hadattended the setting of the nets with floats and sinkers was avoided.The quantity of fish taken gave promise of an ample supply for thefuture. There were two Hearne-salmon (that is, spotted like trout), andone large common salmon, besides thirty white-fish, averaging betweentwo to six pounds weight each, all of which were in excellent condition.The white-fish is of the salmon species, but white in the flesh, andbeing less rich than the salmon, is much preferred by those who have touse it constantly as an article of food.

  "This is a most fortunate supply," remarked Stanley, "and will preventthe necessity of putting the men on short allowance."

  "Short allowance!" exclaimed his wife; "I thought we had more thanenough of food to last us till the arrival of the ship."

  "Ay, so we have. But until now I did not feel at liberty to use it; forif through any accident the ship does not come, and if there had chancedto be no fish in the river, the only course open to us would be toretrace our steps, and as that would be a long and slow process, wewould require to economise our food. In fact, I had resolved to beginoperations by putting the men on short allowance; but this haul of fishshows me that we shall have more than enough.

  "But who comes here?" he added, on observing the figure of a manapproaching the camp. "He seems to carry a burden on his back, as faras I can make out in the uncertain light."

  "Did any of the men go out alone?" inquired Mrs Stanley.

  "No; but I suppose that this one must have separated from his comrade.--Hallo! who goes there?"

  The man tossed the bundle from his shoulders, and hastening forwardrevealed the flushed countenance of Frank Morton.

  "What! Frank! why, man, you seem to have had a hard day of it, if I mayjudge by your looks."

  "Not so hard but that a good supper will put its effects to flight,"replied Frank, as he rested his gun against a rock and seated himself onthe keg from which Stanley had risen. "The fact is, I have slain anoble buck, and being desirous that the men should have as much of it aspossible, I loaded myself rather heavily. The ground, too, is horriblybad; but pray send Gaspard for the bundle. I should have been heresooner but for the time required to dissect the animal."

  "Where is Bryan, Frank?" inquired Mrs Stanley. "You went awaytogether."

  "Bryan! I know not. He and I parted in the mountains some hours ago;and as he failed to keep his appointment with me, I concluded that hemust have become foot-sore and returned to camp."

  "He has not returned," said Stanley; "but I have no fear for the honestblacksmith. He's too old a nor'wester to lose himself, and he's tootough to kill. But come, Frank, let us to our tent. I see that LaRoche has already prepared our salmon for the kettle, and so--"

  "Salmon!" interrupted Frank.

  "Ay, lad, salmon! a twenty-five pounder too! But come, change yourfoot-gear, and then we shall have our supper, in the course of which weshall exchange news."

  As they proceeded towards the camp the voices of some of the men wereheard in the distance; it was now too dark to see them. In a fewminutes Francois, followed by Augustus and Ma-istequan, strode into thecircle of light around the fire, and laying aside their guns proceededto light their pipes, while they replied to the questions of Frank andStanley.

  "You do not come empty-handed," remarked the latter, as Francois and hiscomrades threw down several fat ducks and a few grouse, which, after thefashion of hunters, they had carried pendent by the necks from theirbelts.

  "We only shot a few, monsieur," replied Francois, "to put in the kettlefor supper. We might have loaded a canoe had we chosen."

  "That is well," said Stanley; "but the kettle is full already, andsupper prepared. See, Frank has shot a deer, so that we shall fare wellto-night.--Ah, Prince! come along. What! more game?" he added, as Dickand Massan entered the halo of light, and threw down the choice morselsof a fat deer which they had killed among the mountains.

  "Ah! oui, monsieur," said Massan, chuckling as he laid aside his axe andgun; "we might ha' killed three o' them if we had been so minded; but wecouldn't ha' brought them into camp, an', as Dick said, 'tis a pity tokill deer to feed the wolves with."

  "Right!" exclaimed Frank; "but did any of you see Bryan? He gave me theslip in the mountains, and, I fear, has lost himself."

  To this the men replied in the negative, and some of them smiled at theidea of the blacksmith being lost.

  "No fear, vraiment! He no lost," cried La Roche with a laugh, as helifted the huge kettle from the fire and placed it in the midst of themen, having previously abstracted the best portions for the specialbenefit of his master. "No fear of Bryan, certainment; he like one badshilling--he come up toujours. Ah! mauvais chien, him give me all detrouble ov get supper ready mylone."

  "I trust it may be so," said Stanley. "We are all here except him andOolibuck, whom I have sent to the coast for a few days to watch for theship. But let us have supper, La Roche, and spread ours nearer the fireto-night--it is rather cold; besides, I want to hear the reports of themen."

  In compliance with this order, the lively Frenchman spread the supperfor his master's family close beside that of the men, and in a fewminutes more a most vigorous attack was made on the viands, during thefirst part of which the hungry travellers maintained unbroken silence.But as the cravings of nature began to be satisfied, their tongues foundtime to remark on the excellence of the fare. The salmon was superb.Even Edith, who seldom talked about what she ate, pronounced it verygood. The white-fish were better than any of the party had ever eatenin their lives, although most of them had travelled over the length andbreadth of the North American wilderness. The ducks were perfect. Eventhe ptarmigan were declared passable; and the venison, with an inch offat on the haunches--words were not found sufficiently expressive todescribe it. Those who are philosophically inclined may suspect thatsome of this super-excellence lay in the keen appetites of the men.Well, perhaps it did.

  While the travellers were in the midst of this, and ere
yet theirtongues were fairly loosened, a loud unearthly shout rang with appallingreverberations among the surrounding cliffs, causing the entire party tostart up and rush for their arms. Again the cry was heard.

  "Ah! bad skran to ye, Losh!--Hould on, Moses, ye fat villain. Lave mewan mouthful, jist wan, to kape me from givin' up the ghost intirely."

  A shout of laughter greeted the advent of Bryan's voice, but it wasnothing to the peals that burst forth on the appearance of thatindividual in _propria persona_. To say that he was totally dishevelledwould convey but half the truth. Besides being covered and clotted withmud, he was saturated with water from head to foot, his clothes rent ina most distressing manner, and his features quite undistinguishable.

  "Why, Bryan, what ails you? Where have you been?" inquired Stanley, ina tone of sympathy.

  "Bin, is it? Sorra wan o' me knows where I've bin. It's mysilf is gladto be sartin I'm here, anyhow."

  "I'm glad you're certain of it," said Frank, "for if it were not for thesound of your voice, I should doubt it."

  "Ah monsieur," said La Roche, "make your mind easy on dat. No von butBryan ever regard de kettle dat way."

  "Taizy voo, ye petit varmint," said Bryan, approaching the said kettle,and smiling rapturously through the mud that encrusted his face onbeholding its contents. Without waiting to change his garments thehungry blacksmith began supper, having first, however, directedattention to the bag which he had brought in. From this bag La Rochenow extracted about a dozen trout, some of which were of great size--especially one, whose bulk exceeded that of the large salmon.

  "There's plinty more where thim comed from," said Bryan, through amouthful of venison; "but I'll tell ye ov it afther supper."

  "Ah, true! don't let us interrupt him just now," said Stanley. "In themeantime, Francois, since you seem to be about done, tell us what youhave seen, and let us hear what you have to say of the country."

  Francois having lighted his pipe, cleared his throat and began:--

  "Well, monsieur, after we had paddled a short bit beyond the point belowthe last rapid in Caniapuscaw River, we shoved the canoe ashore, andlanded Prince and Massan, who set off to look for game, leavin'Augustus, Ma-istequan, and me to paddle up the river as well as wecould. But we soon found that three men in a big canoe could not makemuch way agin the strong current of the river, so we put ashore againand took to our legs.

  "After making a long tramp up the banks o' the river, we fell in withsome good-sized pines; but although they are big for this part of thecountry, they are not big enough for building. Then we pushed into thegullies, which are sheltered from the cold winds off the bay, and herewe found the trees a good deal bigger. There are pines and larch inabundance, and some of the larch are even bigger than we require."

  "Are they far inland?" inquired Stanley.

  "No, monsieur, they are only a few hundred yards from the banks of theriver, and growin' on the edge of a small creek, which I noticed is deepenough to float them down."

  "Good, very good," said Stanley, filling his pipe with a fresh charge oftobacco; "that is most fortunate, for it will save time, and take fewermen to bring them here. Go on, Francois."

  "Bien, monsieur. Then I felled one or two o' the trees, to see whatlike they are; and I found that they are very tough and good. The pinesare firmer and tougher than any I ever saw in the Indian country, owing,I suppose, to their stunted growth. While I was thus employed, Augustusshot the grouse we brought home, and we saw a great many coveys of them.In fact, we might have shot many more; but as we did not know how farwe should have to walk, we thought it best not to burden ourselves toomuch. We also saw a great many ducks, and shot a few, as you see."

  "Did you see goose?" inquired La Roche, whose mind had a naturaltendency to culinary matters.

  "No," replied Francois, "I saw no geese; but I did not go out of my wayto look for them. I was more taken up with the timber than replenishingthe kettle."

  "Ah! that ver' great pity. Oui, grand dommage. De kittle toujours demost importance t'ing on de voyage. If you forget him, you goot fornot'ing. Mais, Francois, did you look into the deep clear pool at defoot of de rapid?"

  Francois emitted a cloud of smoke with a negative in the middle of it.

  "An!" said La Roche with a sigh, "I thought not; mais it was pity. Yousee one goose for certain, if you have look straight down into datpool."

  "Bien," continued Francois, turning to Stanley. "I then went into oneor two more gullies, and saw some more sticks fit for building; butafter all it is only in the gullies they grow, and there are not verymany. The trees on the banks of the river are chiefly pines, and onlyfit for firewood."

  "And an important item is firewood, as we shall find ere long," remarkedStanley. "Your account of the timber is very satisfactory, Francois.Did you see traces of Indians or Esquimaux?"

  "No; I saw none."

  "Perhaps you did, Prince," continued Stanley, turning to that worthy,who was stretched, along with Massan, at full length before the blaze,and had been listening attentively to the conversation while he solacedhimself with his pipe.

  "Yes, sir, we seed the marks they left behind them," answered Prince,while he glanced towards Massan, as if to invite him to give the desiredinformation.

  "Ay, we saw their marks, no doubt," said the guide, knocking the ashesout of his pipe, and raising himself from his reclining posture to thatof a tailor, the more conveniently to recharge that beloved implement."Ay, we saw their marks, and they was by no means pleasant to look on.After we had landed above the p'int, as Francois told ye, Dick Princeand me went up one o' the gullies, an' then gettin' on one o' them flatplaces that run along the face of all the mountains hereabouts, wepushed straight up the river. We had not gone far when, on turnin' ap'int, we both clapped eyes at the same moment on the most ill-lookin'blackguard of a wolf I ever saw. Up went both our guns at once, and Ibelieve we were very near puttin' a bullet in each of his eyes, when wenoticed that these same eyes were not bookin' at us, but starin', mostawful earnest like, up a gully in the mountains; so we looked up, an',sure enough, there we saw a deer on the mountain-top, tossin' its headand snuffin' round to see that the coast was clear before it came downto the water. We noticed that a regular beaten deer-track passed downthis gully, and master wolf, who knowed the walk very well, was on thelookout for his dinner; so we waited quiet till the deer came down, an'Dick put a bullet in its heart, an' I put one into the wolf's head, sothey both tumbled down the cliffs together. The shot made another deer,that we had not seen, start off into the river; but before it got a fewyards from the shore, Dick loaded again and put a bullet into its headtoo, an' it was washed ashore at the p'int below us.

  "Havin' fixed them off comfortably, we cut up the deer, and put all wecould carry on our shoulders, for we knowed that if we left them we'dfind nothin' but the bones when we came back. About an hour after thiswe came upon a deserted camp of Indians. It was so fresh that we thinkthey must have passed but a few weeks ago. The whole camp was strewedwith bones of deer, as if the red varmints had been havin' a feast. An'sure enough, a little farther on we came upon the dead carcasses ofninety-three deer! The rascals had taken nothin' but the tongues an'tit-bits, leavin' the rest for the wolves."

  "Ay, they're a reckless, improvident set," remarked Stanley. "I've beentold that the Esquimaux are quite different in this respect. They neverkill what they don't require; but the redskins slaughter the deer bydozens for the sake of their tongues."

  "We also found the broken head of an Esquimau seal-spear, and thislittle bit of sealskin." Massan handed these as he spoke to Stanley.

  "I fear," said Frank, "this looks as if they had made an attack on theEsquimaux very recently."

  "I fear it much," said Stanley, examining the little shred of sealskin,which had beautifully glossy hair on one side, and on the other, whichwas dressed, there were sundry curious marks, one of which bore a ruderesemblance to an Indian wigwam, with an arrow pointing towards it.
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  "I found the bit o' sealskin hanging on a bush a little apart from theplace where they camped, an' from what I've seen o' the ways o'redskins, it's my 'pinion that it was put there for some purpose orother."

  "Very likely.--Take care of it, Jessie," said Stanley, throwing it tohis wife; "it may be explained some day.--Well, Massan, did you see anyother animals?"

  "Yes, sir, lots o' them. We saw deer on the hill-tops, and might ha'shot more o' them if we could have brought them into camp. An' we sawporcupines in all the pine bluffs. An' we saw fish in the lakes amongthe mountains. There are lots o' them lakes--small things some o'them--in all the gullies, and fish in most o' them; but we had neitherlines nor hooks, so we catched none."

  "Faix, if ye catched none, yer betters catched plinty," said Bryan, who,having concluded supper and changed his garments, was now luxuriating ina smoke. The blacksmith pointed as he spoke to the bag of splendidtrout which lay at a short distance from the fire. "'Tis mysilf's theboy to catch them. I would have brought ye two times as much, if itwasn't that I lost my hook and line. I think it must have bin afresh-water whale, the last wan, bad luck to it! for it pulled me intothe wather three times, an' wint off at last with two fathom o' cod-linetrailin' behind it."

  "So then, Bryan," said Frank, "it must have been the yells with whichyou accompanied your fishing that frightened the deer I was after andcaused me to lose him. However, as I got another soon afterwards whichmust have been frightened towards me by the same halloos, I forgiveyou."

  Frank now gave the party an account of what he had seen, but as hisexperience merely corroborated that of Dick Prince and Massan, we willnot trouble the reader with the details. The evidence of the variousexploring parties, when summed up, was undoubtedly most satisfactory,and while it relieved the mind of the leaders of the band, it raised andcheered the spirits of the men. Timber, although not plentiful or verylarge, was to be had close to the spot where they proposed to erecttheir fort; game of all kinds swarmed in the mountains in abundance; andthe lakes and rivers were well stocked with excellent fish: so that,upon the whole, they considered that they had made an auspiciouscommencement to their sojourn in the land of the Esquimaux.