"Sha'n't have so good a bed as this another night," groaned Aleck.
"Can't tell—maybe better!" said the cheerful Tug.
The warmest place was set apart for Katy, and Aleck made a small screen, covered with a newspaper curtain, which separated her from the other three, who were to sleep side by side. These preparations made, the fire was heaped high with fresh wood, and then the little quartet took their ease, lounging on the springy straw before it, and indulging in a quiet talk over the busy day just finished, or what they were likely to meet on the morrow.
Aleck said something about being able to travel by compass in case they were caught in a snow-storm, which was what he dreaded the most, when Jim asked him to explain the compass to him, leaving Katy's side and going over to where his big brother was stretched out at the other corner of the fireplace. The girl, thus deserted, went to the valise in which she kept her small articles, and came back with a book.
* * *
Chapter VI.
NORSE TALES.
"What are you reading?" asked Tug, who was the last boy in the world to be interested in a book, unless it was one about animals, but who had nothing else to do just then.
"A book of old stories."
"What about?—adventures, and things of that sort?"
"Partly. Some of them are fairy stories—about queer little people, and animals that talk, and heavenly beings that help lost children, and people that have hard times."
"Why, those are the very fellows we want to see. Let's hear about 'em—mebbe we can give 'em a job."
"Well, if you would like it, I'll read you this story I've just begun," said Katy, good-naturedly.
"Much obliged. I think that would be tip-top."
So Katy read to him, as he lounged on the straw and gazed into the bright fire, an old myth-story of the North Wind. How, away in a far corner of Norway, there once lived a widow with one son. It was midwinter, and she was weak, so the lad was obliged to go to the "safe" (or cellar dug near the house, where the food was kept) to bring the materials for the morning meal. The first time he went, and the second, and again, at the third attempt, the fierce North Wind blew the food out of his hands. These three losses vexed the lad greatly, and he resolved to go to the North Wind and demand the food back. After long travelling he found the home of the giant, far towards the pole, and made his demand. The North Wind heard him, and gave him a cloth which would serve all the finest dishes in the world whenever the boy chose to spread it and call for them. On his way home he stopped at a tavern for the night, and, spreading his cloth, had a feast. The landlady was astonished, as well she might be, and thinking what a useful thing such a tablecloth would be in a hotel, she stole it while the lad was asleep, and put in its place one that looked like it, but which had no secret power.
The lad, not suspecting the change, went home, and boasted gleefully to his mother of what he had brought. But when he tried it, of course the false cloth could do nothing, and the old lady both laughed at him and scolded him. Vexed again, the lad hastened back, and accused the North Wind of fraud. So the giant gave him a ram which would coin golden ducats when commanded. Stopping at the tavern as before, the landlord exchanged this remarkable animal for one from his own common flock, and the lad found himself fooled a second time. Going back a third time, he told the story to the North Wind, who gave the angry lad a stout stick which, when it had been told to "lay on," would never cease striking till the lad bade it to stop.
At the tavern, the landlord, thinking there was some useful enchantment in the stick, tried to steal it also, but the boy was wide awake. He shouted, "Lay on," and the landlord found himself being clubbed till he was nearly dead, and gave back all that he had taken. Then the boy went home, and he and his mother lived rich and happy ever afterwards.
Tug's vigorous applause aroused the attention of the other two, who may have been listening a little, and Aleck asked what the book was.
"Dr. Dasent's 'Norse Tales,'" Katy replied.
"Who or what is 'Norse'?" Jim inquired.
This was a question Tug had been wanting to ask too, but had felt ashamed to expose his ignorance—one of the few things not really mean which a boy has a right to be ashamed of.
"The Norse people," Katy said, "are the people of Scandinavia (or the Northmen, as they were called in ancient times), and these stories are those that old people have told their children in Norway and Sweden for—oh! for hundreds of years. Many are about animals, and others—"
"Give us one about an animal," Tug interrupted.
Very well, here's one that tells why the bear has so short a tail:
One day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen.
'Whence did you get these?' asked the Bear.
'Oh, my Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing, and caught them,' said the Fox.
So the Bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade the Fox tell him how he was to set about it.
'Oh, it's an easy craft for you,' said the Fox, 'and one soon learned. You've only to go upon the ice, and cut a hole, and stick your tail down into it; and so you must go on holding it there as long as you can. You're not to mind if your tail smarts a little; that's when the fish bite. The longer you hold it, the more fish you'll get; and then, all at once, out with it, with a cross pull sideways, and with a strong pull too.'
Yes; the Bear did as the Fox said, and held his tail a long, long time down in the hole, until it was fast frozen in. Then he pulled it out with a cross pull, and it snapped short off. That's why Bruin goes about with a stumpy tail to this day.
"LAY ON!"
When this short and stirring tale of a tail had been concluded, the Captain's voice was heard.
"Now for bed!" he ordered, winding up his watch, whose golden hands pointed to nine o'clock.
Partially undressing, they tucked themselves into their quilts and blankets on the crackling straw, and silence followed. Sleep was slow to close the eyes of the younger ones, who were kept awake by their strange situation; and Rex, lying at Katy's feet, frequently raised his head as the roaring wind shrieked through the tall trees outside, or rattled a loose board in the roof with a strange noise.
The first one to awake next morning was Aleck, who looked at his watch by the glimmer of the coals, and was surprised to find it after eight o'clock, though only a gray light came through the little window of the cabin. Creeping out, he raked the embers together, laid on some fresh wood, and hung the kettle on the spike. Then he called his companions, who sat up and rubbed their eyes.
"Katy, you lie still till the boys go off. We'll bring you some water, and then you can have the house to yourself for a while. Get out of this, you fellows! Jim, bring a pail of water for the cook. Tug, you and I will go and see how the boat has stood the night."
Two minutes later they were gone. After Jim had brought the fresh water (he was slow about it, because he had to rechop the well-hole) the girl sprang up to make herself neat, and was busy at breakfast when the boys pounded the door like a battering-ram with the axe-handle, "so as surely to be heard," and begged to know if they might come in.
"Good-morning!" she greeted them. "How is the weather?"
"Weather!" exclaimed Tug, spreading his hands before the fire, and working his ears out from underneath a huge red comforter just as I have seen a turtle slowly push his head beyond the folded skin of his neck. "Weather! It's the roughest day I ever saw. I don't believe old Zach himself could skate a rod against that wind."
(Zach was a six-foot-three lumberman in Monore, who was noted for his great strength.)
"Then how can we go on?" asked Katy, dropping eggshells into the coffee-pot.
"I'm afraid we can't," Aleck said, soberly; "at least, until this gale goes down. It is very, very cold, and I'm sure we are much better off here. Don't you all think so?"
"You bet!" shouted Tug.
"You bet!" Jim echoed.
"Then I must worry about dinner," said Katy,
with a pretended groan which made them all laugh.
At breakfast came the promised chops. Then, while Katy and Jim set the cabin into neat shape, the older lads went after more wood, and, having done this, walked out to the neighboring marsh and cut great armfuls of wild rice and rushes, with which to make their straw beds thicker and softer. This, and other things, took up the morning, and then all came in to help and hinder Katy while she got dinner.
When it had been set out they found half a boiled ham, potatoes, some fried onions ("arctic voyagers always need to eat onions to prevent scurvy, you know," Katy explained), and even bread and butter; but the last item represented almost the end of their only loaf.
In the afternoon the wind moderated, the clouds that had made it so dark in the morning cleared away, and the sun came out. Under the shelter of the long wharf and breakwater they walked out on the ice to the lighthouse, where they had been so often in midsummer; but now it was shut up, for there would be no use in burning a signal-light on the lake after the cold weather of the fall had put a stop to navigation, until spring recalled the idle vessels.
Supper was simple, but they had lots of fun over it, and then all set at work to help Aleck make straps of canvas to put over the shoulder and across the breast when they were hauling on the drag-rope. This contrivance saved chafing, and gave a better pull. Jim had pooh-poohed the taking of a sail-needle and some waxed twine along as unnecessary, but Aleck had persisted; and here was its service the very first day. Before the trip was through with, everybody wanted a hundred little articles they did not possess, worse than they would have missed this sail-needle had it not been brought.
* * *
Chapter VII.
THE FIRST DAY ON THE LAKE.
No howling gale disturbed their rest that night, and on the next morning, which was Friday, the third day out, breakfast had been disposed of long before the hour of rising on the previous day. What had they for breakfast? Hot and tender buckwheat cakes, with syrup made from maple sugar melted in a tin cup. The boiled ham and some crackers were put where they could be got at easily for luncheon.
The stowing of the loose goods in the boat took no longer than Katy required to get the mess kit packed after breakfast. As the day was fine, and the ice, as far as they could see to the southward, whither their course lay, was smooth and free from snow, the sled was loaded with cut wood and rushes, ready for making a fire, and Jim was appointed to drag it.
As they were leaving the cabin, after a last look to see that nothing had been forgotten, Katy spoke up:
"Why can't we take along some of this nice straw? It doesn't weigh anything to speak of."
"Oh, we can't," says Jim, crossly. "Girls are always trying to do things they know nothing about."
"May's well begin to rough it now as any time; can't expect a cabin and a straw mattress every night," was Tug's somewhat gruff remark as he went to the sledge.
"But," the girl persisted, rather piqued when she saw how her suggestion had been received, "it might be very nice to spread it on the floor of the tent. Seems to me you might take it."
She was talking to Aleck now, who, she knew by his face, opposed the plan; but he, seeing how much in earnest she was, went back, gathered up a big armful of the cleanest straw, and heaped it in the stern of the boat, while she brought a second bundle.
This matter settled, Aleck and Tug put their heads through the new harness, and were soon rushing along at a stirring pace, while Katy skated behind, holding on to the stern of the boat to steady it; Jim followed with his sled, and Rex galloped here and there as suited him.
The ice for miles together had been swept clean by the wind, and was like a vast, glaring sheet of plate-glass. Most of it was a deep, brilliant green. Here and there would be stretches of milky ice, and now and then great rounded patches would suddenly meet them, which were black or deep brown, and at first frightened them by making them believe a patch of open water suddenly yawned in their path. But, when they examined closely, they could see that this black ice was two or three feet thick, like all the rest on the open lake.
They were never at any time more than a mile or so from the edge of the great marshes which bordered the low margin of the lake, and at noon they knew they had skated twelve miles, by reaching a certain island standing just in front of the reedy shallows.
Thither they gladly turned for luncheon; skates were unbuckled, a big fire was built, the snow was cleared away, and the spare canvas spread down to sit upon, while Katy prepared to warm up the extra supply of coffee she had made in the morning for this purpose.
Not much talking had been done on the march; breath was too badly needed to be wasted in that way; but now "tongues were loosed," and a rattling conversation kept time with the crackle of the dead sticks on the fire.
"Captain," said Tug, "have you noticed how that ridge in the ice bends just ahead, and seems to stand across our course?"
"Yes, I have, and I fear it will be troublesome to cross. Jimkin, you're nimble; climb that cottonwood, and tell us what you can see."
"All right," said Jim, and was quickly in the tree-top.
"It looks like a rough, broken ridge, stretching clear to shore. I guess we'll have to climb over it. I can't see any break."
"Where do you think is the easiest place?"
"About straight ahead, where you see that highest point. Right beside it is a kind o' low spot, I think."
"Well, then," said the Captain, "we'll aim for that. Hurry up your lunch, Katy, and let's be off."
Half an hour later they arrived at the bad place.
"It must be a hummock," said Katy, "such as I have read about in Dr. Kane's book—only not so large, I suppose. He says that the ice-sheet, or floe, gets cracked and separated a little; then the two floes will come together again with such force that they lap over one another, or else grind together, and burst up edgewise along the seam."
"That's just the way this is; but, hummock or no hummock, it must be crossed," said Aleck.
"Mebbe I could find a better place," suggested Jim, "if I should go along a little way."
"Well, try it, Youngster. And, Tug, suppose you take a scout in the other direction."
Tug went off, but soon returned, reporting a worse instead of better appearance, and Aleck, who had climbed over, came back to say that the ridge was about twenty-five yards wide.
"How does it look?" asked Katy.
"Why, it looks as though a lot of big cakes of ice had been piled up on edge, and then frozen into that rough shape, or lack of shape. I should say the ridge is ten feet high in the middle, and on the other side it is a straight jump down for about six feet. But it's worse everywhere else. We must take our skates off the first thing."
This done, they stood up, ready to drag the boat as near to the hummock as possible. But it was hard pulling, for the slope was pretty steep and rough.
"Where's that Jim, I wonder?" cried Aleck. "I'll teach The Youngster not to run off the minute any work is to be done. Jim!"
But no boy answered the call, nor several others. Tug stood up on the boat, and Katy climbed to a high point of ice, but neither could see anything. Then they all became alarmed, fearing he might have fallen into one of those holes that here and there are found in the thickest ice, and always stay open. It is an easy matter to skate into one, but a very hard one to get out again. It was the thought of this that made Katy run in the direction whither Jim had started, but her brother called her back.
"Wait, Katy. We'll put on our skates. Probably The Youngster's hiding, and I'll box his ears when I catch him. This is no time for fooling."
With quick, nervous fingers they fastened their straps, and then rushed down along the foot of the hummock as though on a race, Tug carrying one of the drag-ropes. The tracks could be followed easily enough until they left the good ice and turned in towards the hummock, where they came to an end, which looked as though Jim might have taken off his skates. Here the boys hallooed, then climbed to the top
of a great, upturned table of blue ice, and called again. But the most complete silence followed their words—such a silence as can never be known on land among the creaking trees or rustling grass; an absolute, painful stillness. Not even an echo came back.
At this they were puzzled and frightened, and Katy wanted to cry, but fought back her tears. They descended, and went slowly onward, now and then getting upon elevated points, and calling. At last they stopped, utterly at their wits' end where or how to search next, and Katy's tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked.
"Cheer up, Sis," said Aleck, and took her hand in his as they skated slowly onward; "cheer up! we'll try again on that big block ahead."
This block overlooked a broader part of the hummock, and wasn't far from land. They struggled over the jagged border, and hoisted Katy upon it to see what she could see.
"Nothing," was her report; "nothing but ice, and ice, and ice, and a gray edge of marsh. Oh, Jim! Jim! where are you?"
"Here—help me out."
Each looked at the other in amazement, for the voice, though faint, seemed right beside them.
"Here, down between the cakes—help me out."
The words came distinctly, and gave them a clew. Katy peeped over the farther edge of the block, and there she saw the little fellow's face peering up at her out of the greenish light of a sort of pit into which he had fallen. Two great cakes of ice had been thrown up side by side, leaving a space about two feet wide and ten feet deep between them. The blowing snow that filled most of the crevices of the hummock had here formed a bridge, which had let Jim through when he stepped upon it, never suspecting the chasm it concealed.
"Hurt?" asked Tug.
"Not a bit, but pretty well scared. I thought you fellows were never coming. I've been in here two hours."
"Two hours! Oho, that's good! Twenty minutes would about fill the bill. You ain't tired so quick of a warm, snug place like that, are you?"
The Ice Queen Page 3
