CHAPTER IV
THE COBBLER NATURALIST OF BURRARD INLET
As soon as the moving object appeared Mr. James had dipped his paddleinto the water and given a hasty stroke. The Indian did not move, butin a low voice said to Mr. James in the Chinook jargon: "What is thatthere in the water?"
"The deer," said Mr. James; "paddle!"
"No," said Squawitch, "it is not the deer, it is the monster. Yes, itis a true monster. We must go to the shore at once, or we shall allbe killed." And he dipped his paddle into the water as if to turn thecanoe to the shore.
"Keep still," said Mr. James. "I tell you it is the deer." And then,the moving object having by this time turned well out into the lake,he added: "_Mam-mook_" (pull). Giving a powerful stroke with hispaddle, the canoe shot forward toward the mysterious thing. Jack waslistening to what was said, but did not understand the spoken words.He could see, however, that there was a difference of opinion betweenhis companions as to what should be done. He thought he noticed, too,that the first few strokes given by the Indian were weak and did littleto force the canoe forward; but if they were not strong they were atleast noiseless. Meantime, with all his eyes, Jack was watching themysterious object; and as the canoe advanced toward it the mysteryexplained itself in a very simple way, and the Indian's fears werecalmed. They could soon make out a fine buck swimming slowly throughthe water, and could see that about his horns were twined some longsprays of fern, which overshadowed his head, and, falling down behindthe horns, trailed through the water. The reflection cast by this massof green, and the ripple of the water behind and on each side of theswimming animal, made the object vague and indefinite, and the wholewas further blurred by the reflection of the trees near the margin ofthe lake. So, until they had come close to it, it was hard to tellwhat it was, and its mysterious appearance was, naturally enough, veryalarming to one who was prepared to see something supernatural. TheIndian believed thoroughly in the existence of the selallicum in thislake, and, seeing in the water something unlike anything that he hadever beheld before, at once concluded that the monster had appeared.
The slender canoe flew swiftly over the water and rapidly drew nearthe deer, which had not yet seen them, but was swimming quietly along,no doubt tired by its long run. Jack, not burdened with a paddle, andhaving nothing to do but hold his rifle, studied the creature as theydrew near, and saw that it bore a fine pair of horns, still in thevelvet.
The canoe was within twenty yards of the deer before the animal sawthem. When he did so, he at once turned toward the shore, and swamrapidly--almost as fast as the canoe went. Just before he reached theland, Mr. James said to Jack: "Now be ready, and kill him as he leavesthe water."
Jack rose carefully to his knees, put a cartridge in his rifle and, asthe deer bounded up the bank, fired. The shot broke the deer's neck,and it fell on the bank just at the edge of the water.
When he saw it fall Jack felt sorry that he had shot. Though there wassweet music in the bay of the hounds as they ran, interest in watchingfor the deer, hope as the cry of the dogs grew louder, anxiety lestthe quarry had turned aside and gone away as the baying grew fainter,and some excitement in paddling after the animal, yet he did not likethis method of hunting. After the deer had taken to the water and theboat had approached it, it seemed as if the animal had no chance, andJack lost pleasure in the shot, because he had too much time to thinkabout it. The struggle that the deer made to reach the shore excitedhis sympathies, and now he regretted the shot that he had fired. On theother hand, it was easy to see, as Mr. James had pointed out, that insuch a land as this still-hunting was impossible.
The deer having been secured, the task of transporting it to town wasleft to the Indian, who would drag or carry it out to the road and waitthere for the stage which would come in during the morning.
Mr. James and Jack started on foot for New Westminster, and when theyhad nearly reached there they overtook Hugh, who had had his walk andwas now going back to breakfast. But little was said as to the killingof the deer, beyond the fact that one had been secured; and justbefore they reached Mr. James's house the latter said to them: "Now,gentlemen, if you feel like it, let us take the stage this afternoonand go over to Burrard Inlet, where you can make Fannin's acquaintanceand see what you can do with him. I am anxious to have you meet him,for he is one of the salt of the earth. No man in the Province knowsso much about its birds and mammals as he, and no man can show you andtell you so many interesting things about them. He is an untrainednaturalist, but a most keen observer. Then, too, he is a great hunter,and one of the finest shots in the Province. I will not say that henever misses, but he misses very seldom. Now, can you be ready to starton the stage at two o'clock? It will pick us up at my house afterdinner; and it might be well for you to leave word at the hotel that wewant three seats this afternoon. It's not likely that the stage willbe crowded, but it's no trouble to order the seats in advance. We willgo over to the inlet and spend twenty-four hours there, and you will,no doubt, see a good many interesting things, and can then make up yourminds about your plans for the future." Before there was time given toreply, Mr. James asked: "Have either of you ever seen white goats?"
"Hugh has, Mr. James," replied Jack, "but I never have. I have been inthe mountains quite near them, but I have never seen one, much less hada shot."
"Well," said Mr. James, "there are plenty in the mountains of BurrardInlet, and if all goes well you may see some before you are a weekolder. You will find hunting the goats very different from paddling upto a deer in the water and killing him just as he climbs the bank toget to shore."
Hugh and Jack now left Mr. James, agreeing to be at his house aboutnoon for dinner. They had only made a few steps after saying good-byewhen Jack turned around and ran back to ask Mr. James what they shouldtake with them to Burrard Inlet: would they need their blankets? "No,"said Mr. James, "if you stop at the little settlement of Hastings whereFannin lives you will not need anything except your guns, as there isquite a good plain hotel there; but if you should go off to camp in themountains, of course it would be well to have your beds with you. Ithink perhaps I would leave word to have them strapped on to the stagewhen it starts, and then you will be safe whatever happens."
Hugh and Jack hurried back to town, but were too late to get anybreakfast at the hotel. However, they got a bite at a restaurant,and then walked about the streets to see whatever sights there wereuntil it was time to go to Mr. James's home. They ordered the seatsin the stage, and saw that their beds and bags were put aboard. Thendown at the water's edge they looked at the wharves and at the salmoncanneries, and thus whiled away the morning.
Shortly before midday they returned to Mr. James's house, where theyhad a delightful dinner, and a little while afterward took the stage.
To pass swiftly along over the level yellow road that they hadtraversed on foot in the morning was very delightful. The drive wasnot a long one, only nine miles, and the stage drew in to Hastings inthe middle of the afternoon. Here Mr. Fannin was found in the littlecobbler-shop, where he spent his bachelor existence, surrounded by oldshoes and new, rolls of leather, the tools of his trade, bear and wolfskins, stuffed birds, and a multitude of natural history specimens.Jack thought it one of the most interesting places that he had everbeen in. Mr. Fannin was kindness itself, and was much interested inthe talk of the proposed canoe trip. But before that had been longdiscussed, Jack was asking questions about the skins of many birds thathe had never before seen, but about most of which he had read and knewof by pictures. There were specimens of the beautiful little harlequinduck, whose varied plumage gives it its name; of the black oystercatcher; of several species of gulls; of guillemots; of a number ofshore birds, which were new to him, and many birds' eggs which he hadnever seen before.
Mr. Fannin was a great talker and a man with a keen sense of humor. Ifin any incident there was anything funny, his fancy was likely to seizeupon it.
As the four sat on the gr
ass on the high bank overlooking the inlet,Mr. Fannin pointed across the water to some low unpainted housesstanding among the timber and said: "There is an Indian village overthere, and I must send somebody over to get Seammux to come acrossto-morrow morning to go with us to the head of the North Arm. I wantto have you see the country up there, and it is possible that from theriver you may be able to see some white goats on top of the hills. Ifyou have never seen these animals you will see them now, for you willnever have a better chance."
As they sat there Jack saw, not far off and up the Arm, a fish-hawkdropping through the air to seize a fish. He touched Mr. Fannin andpointed. They both watched the beautiful bird until it struck the waterwith a splash that sent the spray high in the air about it.
"Now watch," said Mr. Fannin, "and you may see an eagle rob thatosprey. That's a common sight here; it is always a beautiful one; butperhaps you have seen it in other places?"
"No," said Jack, "I never have, although I have read about it often. ByJove," he added, "there is the eagle now!" and they saw a white-headedeagle flying low and swiftly up the inlet. The osprey had already risento a considerable height with his fish, and had started to fly off withit over the woods. But as soon as he caught sight of the eagle he beganto rise in spiral flight higher and higher, while the eagle followedhim in wider circles. Soon it was seen that the eagle was rapidlygaining upon the fish-hawk, and at last had risen above it and had madeone or two darts at it. The fish-hawk seemed to avoid these attackseasily, but perhaps they made it nervous, and presently it dropped itsprey. Shining like a bar of silver, the fish fell, and was carried offby the wind diagonally to one side in a long slant. But as soon as itfell the eagle half closed its wings, fell after it, overtook it beforeit had fallen half way to the water, grasped the fish in its own greattalons, and, spreading its wings, bore the prey off to a tall tree onthe mountain side.
"That was a wonderful sight," said Jack. "I would not have missed itfor anything. I feel as if I should remember that for a very long time."
"Yes," said Mr. Fannin, "I believe you will; it is something worthremembering."
"So it is," said Hugh; "it's one of the finest sights I ever saw. Whowould have thought that that eagle could drop as fast as the fishdid, that he could direct himself so as to catch his prey, and that,after falling like that, he could stop. There's a whole lot of mightywonderful things to be seen out here. It beats my time altogether."
"Is there any chance of our getting a shot at anything to-morrowmorning, when we go up the North Arm, Mr. Fannin?" asked Jack.
"Of course I can't tell about that," said he, "but I should certainlytake my gun along, if I were you. I always take mine whenever I go out.On the islands up there in the inlet there are plenty of deer; and it'spossible that you might get a shot at a deer any time, while there's abare chance that a goat might come down to the valley and you might geta shot at him. Have you shot much with the rifle?"
"Well," said Jack, "I have shot a little. I have killed the prairiegame back on the plains, and a few mountain sheep; and I have runbuffalo and killed two or three bears."
"Then you've had quite a little experience, and I suppose you're apretty good shot."
"No," said Jack, "I don't think I am much of a shot, but I am prettypatient about waiting around and trying to get the shot I want."
"Ha!" said Mr. Fannin, "that sounds as if you had learned to hunt withthe Indians, or at all events with some good hunter."
"Well," said Jack, "I have hunted some with Indians; but the man whotaught me whatever I know about hunting is sitting with us now--andthat is Hugh."
"Well," said Hugh, "you took to it mighty natural, son. There are lotsof people that have had a heap more experience than you have and can'tcome near you for a hunter."
"Well," said Fannin, "I crossed the plains from Canada in 1861, andof course I did some hunting on the way; but ever since that timeI've lived here in the Province, where there's plenty of rough, thicktimber, and where much of the hunting is done at short range. There'sa great deal of game here, though not of many sorts,--mostly deer andbear, and, high up in the mountains, goats. Farther inland there aresheep, and still beyond that, elk; and then there are elk on VancouverIsland, but I have never seen any of them.
"The bears are plenty, and they make themselves very much at home. It'sonly a few days since that one of them came out of the woods just backof the hotel and went to the hog-pen and took a pig and walked off withit into the forest. The bear got his pig and nobody ever got him.
"A year or two ago something of that kind happened, and with it oneof the funniest things I ever saw. A bear came out and took a pig andwent off with it, and an Irishman, working on the place, saw it go. Hepicked up an axe and ran down to call me. I grabbed my rifle and weboth started running into the timber where the bear had disappeared. Wecould still hear the squealing of the pig. We hadn't got far into thewoods before we came upon an immense tree-trunk lying on the ground,which we had to climb over. It was six or eight feet high, and theIrishman got there a little bit ahead of me. Having nothing to carrybut his axe, he climbed over first and jumped down on the other side. Iwas slower in getting up, and when I got on top of the trunk and wasjust about to jump down, I saw in front of me and walking toward me onits hind legs a big bear. The Irishman was standing under me, backedup against the tree trunk, his hands at his sides and his axe lyingat his feet, while the bear was stepping up to him as if he wanted toshake hands. The Irishman was too frightened to yell or do anything.He just backed up against the tree hard. Of course I saw all this at aglance, and I began to laugh so that I could hardly get my gun to myshoulder. But, by the time that the bear was within five or six stepsof the Irishman, I realized that something had to be done; and I firedand killed the bear.
"It took that Irishman about an hour to recover from his scare, and itseemed to me that he didn't get his color back for three or four days."
After a little while the party went into the hotel and had their supperand then returned to Fannin's shop. Here, before it grew dark, they sawapproaching a tall, oldish, stoop-shouldered man, who walked with aslight halt in his gait. Said Fannin: "Oh! here comes old Meigs. I amglad you are going to meet him. He is an American, an old prospector,who has spent all of his life mining down in Arizona. He got a slightstroke of paralysis three or four years ago. He came up here and isliving in a little cabin just below. He is a good fellow and hasseen a great deal of western life." As Meigs joined the group Fanninintroduced the strangers, and they were soon all talking together.
"I am glad Meigs came," said Fannin, "because he reminds me ofsomething that happened last year that I want to tell you about. Twoyears ago a man who lived about here thought that he would raise somesheep. He didn't have money enough to get many, but he got half adozen ewes and a ram, and turned them out to pick up their livingalong the shore and in the timber. They did very well for a while. Butpresently, when the man started to look them up, he found that therewas one missing, and then another, and then the old ram disappeared.We never knew just what got them, but we suspected bears and wolves;and one day, going through the timber, I found the skeleton of a sheep,and another day the skeleton of another. About a year ago I took myrifle and went out for a little walk in the timber. I went a mile ortwo and didn't see anything, and then came back nearly to the roadhere. I climbed up on a stump and sat there for a while, listening tothe birds and watching them. Presently, in a trail that passed closeto that stump, I saw the three sheep going along towards the road. Ipaid no particular attention to them, but after they had passed I gotdown from the stump, walked out to the trail, and started for the roadmyself. I could see the sheep not very far ahead of me, and, as theywere feeding along and I was walking briskly, I got pretty close tothem before they reached the road. They had almost got to it, and I wasnot far behind them, when suddenly a bear charged out of the timber,into the trail, and tried to grab one of the sheep. They rushed arounda little crook in the trail, and the bear after them, before I could
cock my rifle and put it to my shoulder. I started after them as hardas I could go, thinking that if the bear followed the sheep into theroad I would surely get a good shot at him and would probably kill him.I rushed out into the road, and almost into the arms of Meigs here,who had been walking away from the inlet; but the sheep and the bearhad disappeared. I said to Meigs: 'Hello, Meigs! What are you doinghere?' He raised his hand to keep me from speaking, took a step or twoforward, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked up the trail bywhich I had just come out from the timber. I could not understand whatwas the matter with him, and presently I said in a low voice: 'What isthe matter with you; what do you see?'
"'I am just trying to see' he answered, 'what in thunder is the nextthing that will come along that trail.'
"He had been taking a little walk along the road and got just oppositethe trail, you see, when suddenly the sheep rushed out, and then thebear, and then I came--all going as hard as we could go. It must havebeen a funny sight."
"It was," said Meigs, "and for a minute I thought I was crazy andseeing things that did not exist."
"Tell them about the morning that the wolf chased you," said Fannin.
"Well," said Meigs, as he pushed down the tobacco in his pipe andpulled on it two or three times, to get it going well, "that was quitea scare for me. Of course I knew that the wolves were not dangerousin the country I came from, but I didn't know about them here. Winterbefore last a wolf came down to the inlet and stopped right near here.We used to hear him howling often, and I always believed that he killedthat old ram that Fannin has been talking about. I set a trap for himtwo or three times, but he would not go near it. One morning, just atdaylight, I heard him howling close above the cabin. I jumped out ofmy blankets, grabbed my gun, and stepped out to see if I could get ashot. I could not see him from the door, and I hurried up the trail,about thirty steps from the door of the cabin, to where the trail madea little bend. My rifle was an old-fashioned Spencer carbine. I don'tknow whether any of you men ever saw one?" and he looked around thecircle inquiringly.
"Go ahead," said Hugh, "I know them. They miss fire half the time, andthe other half they are just as likely to shoot around the corner asthey are to shoot straight ahead."
"Yes," said Meigs, "you have used one, I guess."
"Well," he continued, "when I got to the bend in that trail and lookedaround, there was the wolf a short hundred yards off, with his forefeet on a log, and his head toward me, just beginning to howl. Idropped down on one knee and drew a bead on his breast and pulled thetrigger. The cartridge exploded, and if you'll believe me, when thesmoke drifted away I could see that ball from that old Spencer carbinecorkscrewing toward the wolf as though it was never going to get there.In the meantime the wolf had jumped from the log on which it wasstanding and started toward me. I turned round and ran for the cabin.When I was ten or fifteen feet from the door the string of my drawersbroke, and they fell down around my ankles and shackled me, so that Icouldn't run. I had to come down on my hands and knees and scramble therest of the way on all fours. When I got inside the cabin and slammedthe door and looked back through a crack, of course the wolf was out ofsight.
"Fannin thinks that this is a pretty good joke on me, and maybe it is."
When Hugh and Jack had finished laughing over Meigs's adventure, Jackbegan to ask Fannin about the Indians that lived along the inlet.
"Like most of the Siwashes about here," said Fannin, "they arefish-eating people; though, of course, they kill a good many deer andsome few white goats. Their main dependence, however, is the salmon,of which, at the proper season of the year, they catch and dry greatnumbers."
"I suppose," said Jack, "that they have lost a good many of theirprimitive ways, have they not?"
"Yes," said Fannin, "they are changing rapidly, yet within a shorttime I have seen them use the fire-sticks to kindle a fire. That doesnot look as if they were changing rapidly, does it?"
"No," said Jack, "I should say not. I should think they would usematches, or if not matches, at least flint and steel."
"So they do," said Fannin, "for many purposes, but for some othersthey use the fire-sticks. And that reminds me," he continued, "of DickGriffin's joke about fire-sticks. He had been chopping logs at quite adistance from camp, and one day had to leave his job to come down tothe main camp to get some grub. He started rather late, and when he hadgot half way it came on to rain and blow and get dark. He landed andspent the night in the timber, with nothing to eat, and with no fire,for he had left his matches behind, or they got wet or something. Itwas still raining when he got to the camp the next morning, and twoor three men were standing around the fire. Dick paddled in, took hiscanoe out of the water, walked up to the fire, and after the men hadexchanged a few words with him, he said abruptly: 'Boys, have you everseen the Indians make a fire by rubbing two sticks together?' They allsaid 'Yes.' 'Well,' said Dick, 'I would like to know how long it takesthem to do it. I know it can't be done in one night, for I spent alllast night in trying to make a fire in just that way.'"
The rest of the evening was spent in pleasant conversation, and many astory was told. Before they parted for the night Fannin said that hehad arranged to have a little steamer take them up the inlet the nextmorning to the mouth of the river flowing into the North Arm, fromwhich they would have a good view of the surrounding mountains.
Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe Page 6
