Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe

by George Bird Grinnell

  CHAPTER VII

  SEAMMUX IN DANGER

  They were early astir the next morning. It took but a little while toget breakfast, and to load the canoes, which were soon on their wayup the North Arm. By noon they had reached a point at the foot of thelarge island near its head, above which rose the great bare peak whichthey had seen two or three days ago, and on which lay a large bank ofsnow. Here they landed. They unloaded the canoes, and, taking themout of the water, carried them a little distance into the forest andcovered them with branches. Then the blankets and provisions were madeup into back loads, and, the Indians bearing most of the burdens, theparty set out to climb the mountain. It was a long, steep clamber, andit was not until five and a half hours later that they reached theborder of the timber, from which the unwooded summit rose still higher.

  Seammux advised making camp on the edge of the timber, declaring thata camp-fire made higher up on the mountains, where the goats rangedand fed, would be likely to frighten them; and before camp was madeand supper cooked and eaten, darkness settled down, so that there wasno opportunity that night of seeing anything in the hunting grounds.The climb had been a difficult one, and especially hard on the whitemen, whose muscles were unused to this sort of exercise. There was nodisposition for conversation, and all hands sought their blankets soonafter the meal was eaten.

  The next morning they were up by daylight; and after breakfast,leaving the timber behind them, started toward the summit, passing upa beautiful grassy swale, toward the higher land. It was absolutelystill, except for the occasional call of a gray jay in the timber orthe chatter of a flock of cross-bills.

  Just before they reached the summit a dense fog settled down over themountains and at once cut off every distant view. The air was cool,the fog heavy and wet, and, as it was useless to travel through thisobscurity, they halted and sat about waiting for the air to clear. Asthey sat there, impatiently hoping that the mist would clear away,suddenly out of the fog, and close by them flew two birds, which lookedto Jack like cedar birds, but cedar birds bigger than he had ever seenbefore.

  "Bohemian Waxwings," said Fannin, as he grasped his shot-gun. Herose to his feet to follow them, when the older Indian spoke to himwarningly, and after an exchange of a few sentences Fannin sat downagain.

  "What is it, Mr. Fannin?" asked Jack. "Are you going to try to getthem?"

  "No," said Fannin; "I wanted to, but Seammux here says if I fire ashot it will scare the goats, and we shall not see one to-day. I don'tbelieve it; but on the other hand, I don't know half as much aboutgoats as the Indian does; and as we came up here to get goats, I am notgoing to do anything that might interfere with our getting them."

  "Of course I don't know anything about goats," said Jack; "but I'veheard that they are very gentle and not easily disturbed by noise.That's what the Indians have told me, but of course we can't tell howtrue it is."

  "Yes," said Hugh, "the Blackfeet and Kutenais all say that you can firemany shots at a goat; and others, not far off, within easy ear-shot ofthe firing, will pay no attention to the noise."

  "Well," said Fannin, "we came up here to get goats, and those are whatwe must try for."

  It was nearly noon when a light breeze began to blow, and the fogseemed to grow thinner; and a little later, without the least warning,the great bank of fog which had hung over the mountains rolled away,and the sun burst forth from a cloudless sky. They could now see thatthey were on the crest of a mountain ridge that separated the valley ofthe North Arm of Burrard Inlet and Salmon River from that of SeymourCreek to the west. The divide they were on was broken and uneven, madeup of sharp ridges, deep ravines, and rounded, smooth and sometimesalmost level stretches. Everywhere on the high divide, except on thetops of the rocky ridges, the ground was covered with heather, soft andyielding under foot, yet good to walk over. As they moved along theridge, they could see at almost every step fresh signs of goats. Nonewere in sight, but this meant nothing; for although the country wasopen and the eye could cover miles of territory, in any direction, yetthe ground was so broken that goats might be anywhere close to them andstill be out of sight.

  After a little while Seammux left the party and started down the sideof the ridge toward Seymour Creek; but he had hardly gone two hundredyards when he dropped to the ground, clambered up a short distancetoward them, and made signs for them to come.

  "There," said Fannin, "Seammux sees something; I hope it's in a placewhere we can get to it."

  "I hope so," said Jack, "and that it's not too far down the hill.Anything that we kill down there of course has got to be carried upagain."

  "Well," said Hugh, "the easiest way to find out where it is, is to godown to the Indian; but go carefully; this plant under foot is mightyslippery, and you don't want to fall down and break your gun or knockoff the sights."

  They scrambled down to the Indian, who, as they approached, made signsfor them to be cautious. When they had reached him, he pointed to thetop of the bank below him, and they advanced to look over it, supposingthat they might see goats, three or four hundred yards away, thatwould have to be carefully stalked. But instead of that, when theypeered cautiously over it, there were four of the white beasts placidlyfeeding on the hillside, within thirty yards of them. The curiousanimals stood knee-deep in the heather, and seemed to be carefullypicking out certain plants which grew here and there among it. Theirhorns were sharp, shining black, and directed a little backward; and oneach chin was a beard, reminding one of that of a buffalo, and easilyexplaining the common name "goat" given to them. The animals seemedso unsuspicious that Fannin hardly felt like firing at them; but toJack, who had never before killed a goat, no such thought occurred. Hewas anxious to secure his animal. There were four shots, for the youngIndian, Sillicum, carried a musket, though Seammux had none; and it wasbut a moment before the four goats lay stretched on the mountain side.

  "Well," said Jack, as they stood over the animals which the Indianswere now preparing to skin, "that is about the simplest piece ofhunting that I ever did. These goats don't seem to be much moresuspicious than so many buffalo."

  "No," said Hugh, "they are certainly gentle beasts, and that's justwhat I've always heard about them from the Indians."

  "Well," said Jack, "now that I have killed one goat, I don't feel as ifI cared very much to kill any more."

  "No," said Mr. Fannin, "there's not much sport in it. You must rememberthat these goats are scarcely ever disturbed, for no white men evercome here to hunt; and I don't believe the Indians come once in fiveyears. It's very possible that these goats never saw a man and neverheard a shot before to-day."

  By this time the Indians had dragged three of the goats to a levelspot, where they could work, and then went off to bring the fourth one.Seammux had just seized it by the hind leg to pull it up to this levelplace, when suddenly the goat came to life, sprang to its feet, andbegan to run down the hill, dragging Seammux after it. The Indian wasplucky and would not let go, and his companion hurried to his aid. Theground grew more and more steep, and presently the Indian and the goatfell and began to roll over. Fannin, fearing lest Seammux might get abad fall, shouted: "_Kloshe nannitch_ (Look out), Seammux." Seammuxloosened his hold of the goat, and tried to stop himself by grasping atthe grass and weeds; but his momentum was too great. The goat continuedto roll down the hill, and disappeared from sight; and Seammux, rollingafter the goat, also disappeared.

  "I am afraid he may have had a bad fall," said Fannin, as he startedrunning down the hill toward where the Indian had vanished. Sillicumhad seated himself on the ground at the top of the steep place, andwas slowly hitching himself down toward what seemed to be the edge ofa cliff. Hugh and Jack were close behind Fannin. When they reached thetop of the steep place, which was only fifteen or twenty feet high,Hugh said: "Hold on here; I'll anchor myself to this little tree, andreach my gun down; and you, Fannin, let yourself down by it as far asyou can, and reach your gun down, and Jack can get to
the edge. He'sthe lightest of the lot."

  "Will he be sure to hold on?" inquired Fannin.

  SEAMMUX ALSO ROLLED AFTER THE GOAT, AND HE, TOO, DISAPPEARED--_Page 82_]

  "Yes," said Hugh. "Don't bother about Jack, he'll do it." It took buta moment for Hugh to pass his arm around the tree; and, holding hisrifle by the muzzle, he stretched it down the slope, and Fannin quicklypassed down. Grasping the rifle above the stock, he reached his gundown nearly to the edge of the slope. Jack quickly scrambled downbeside them, and, holding on by Fannin's gun, at last found himself onthe edge of the sheer cliff; and looking over, he saw, but a few feetbelow him, caught in the top of a fir tree that grew in a crevice ofthe rock, Seammux, looking anxiously up at him. Below him there was afall of a hundred feet or more, and on the rocks, at the bottom of thecliff, lay the carcase of the goat.

  "Hurrah!" said Jack. "Hold on, Seammux, we'll get you up all right!"Then he called back to Hugh and Fannin: "He's caught in a small tree,not more than ten feet below where I am, but I can't reach him. If weget a rope we'll have him out of that in two minutes."

  "All right," said Fannin, "that's easily done. Sillicum and I will goback to the camp and fetch the guys on the tent, and any other ropethat's there. It's only a little way, and we'll be back in fifteenminutes. What sort of footing have you, Jack?"

  "Perfectly good," said Jack; "there's a lot of gravel and broken stonehere, on which there is no danger of slipping. I could stay here for aweek."

  "Well," said Hugh, "make a safe place before you let go Fannin's gun;and then stop there in sight of the Indian. It will make him feeleasier, that way."

  Jack stamped out a place where he could stand and even sit, and spoke afew words to Seammux, though the latter, of course, did not understandwhat he was saying.

  Fannin called out to the Indian, in a loud voice, telling him that theywere going for a rope and would soon have him out of his trouble.Seammux shouted back. Fannin and Sillicum climbed up the steep hill;and, leaving their guns behind them, started on a trot for the camp.

  To those who were watching at the edge of the cliff, they seemed gone along time, but it was really only fifteen or twenty minutes before theycame back again, each carrying a coil of rope.

  "Good!" said Hugh. "I'm glad you've got back. It seemed a long time tous watching here, and a good deal longer to Seammux. How much rope haveyou got? Why, that's bully! There's forty feet in one of those coils,and as the rope is a little light, we'll just double it."

  He knotted one end of each coil about the little tree, to which he hadbeen holding; and, tossing the other ends to Jack, said: "Now, son,double this rope and then throw it over the Indian, and tell him to putit under his arms. How's the edge of that rock there? Is it sharp andlikely to cut the rope, or does the soil and grass overhang it?"

  Jack knotted the rope, and called back, saying: "No, there's no sharpedge to be seen; the earth and the grass run right out to the edge ofthe cliff and seem to overhang a little."

  "Very well," said Hugh. "Pass the rope to the Indian, and then tell uswhen you are ready for us to begin to pull up."

  Jack called to Seammux and made a sign that he was going to throw therope to him. Then tossing it out, it passed over the Indian's headand one shoulder, and was caught on one of his arms. Jack motioned toSeammux how to fix the rope, and he did so; and then the men above tookin all the slack, so that the rope was taut. Then Seammux slowly andcarefully began to turn around in the tough bending tree that held him,and to work in toward the face of the cliff; and the men above beganslowly to haul in on the rope. There was a moment or two of anxiety,while the rope at the edge of the cliff could be seen to swing andtwist a little; and then the hand and arm of the Indian appeared abovethe cliff, and presently the head. In a moment more he lay with hisbreast on its edge, clutching the weeds and grass with a vise-likegrasp. After a moment's rest, he wriggled on and raised himself; and,helped by the rope, in another moment he stood beside Jack, unharmed,but panting hard.

  "Now, son," said Hugh, "take hold of that rope and come up here." Jackdid so, and was immediately followed by Seammux. All climbed up to alevel place and threw themselves on the ground, Seammux still pantingfrom his exertion, and the others greatly relieved that the danger wasover.

  "Well, friend," said Fannin in Chinook, addressing the Indian, "youwanted that goat so badly, why did you go only part way with him; whydidn't you keep on to the bottom?"

  "Ha!" said Seammux. "I didn't want the goat. I thought that I couldkeep him from having a bad fall, but I held on too long. I couldn'tstop him, and when I wanted to stop myself, I couldn't do that, either."

  "Well," said Fannin, "you 're a lucky man. You must have a powerfulhelper who caused you to roll over the cliff just where that small treestuck out."

  "You speak truth," said Seammux. "I shall make a sacrifice to thatperson when I get back to my house."

  After resting a little, they climbed farther up the hill to where thethree goats lay, and the Indians began to skin them. They were thefirst goats that Jack had seen, and he was much interested in examiningthem. He wondered at the short, sharp, shiny horns, and the short,strong legs, the great hoofs with their soft pad-like cushions on thesoles; and the great dew claws, which were worn and rounded, showingthat they were of use to the animal in climbing up and down the hills.Hugh pointed out to him a curious gland close behind the base of thehorn; and when he smelled of it, as advised to do, he was almostoverpowered by the strong odor of musk that came from it.

  "Well now, son," said Hugh, "is there no animal that these goats remindyou of?"

  "There's one," said Jack, "and I thought of it when I was pulling thetrigger.

  "They remind me a good lot of the buffalo. Look at the hump on theback, the low hind quarters, the legs with the long hair down to theknees, the shaggy coat and beard. These are all things that suggestbuffalo, yet I suppose this animal here is not closely related to thebuffalo. In fact, I am sure they are not; because my uncle has told methat they were antelope; but I am sure they look more like buffalo thanthey do like the antelope we see down on the prairie."

  "You are right," said Hugh. "They look to me a good deal more likebuffalo than antelope; but then Mr. Sturgis has talked to me aboutantelope, too; and he says that this antelope that we have here on theplains, isn't a regular antelope, but is a kind of an animal by itself,that hasn't got any close relations anywhere else in the world. He saysthat the real antelopes are found mostly in Europe and Asia and Africa,and that these here goats are the only regular antelope that we've gotin America."

  "Yes," said Jack, "that's so; that's just what he has told me, and Iexpect he knows."

  "I reckon he does, son," said Hugh.

  "Yes," said Fannin, "that's all gospel, I expect. I don't know muchabout these things myself, except what I've read in books, but I haveread just that."

  By this time the Indian had skinned and cut up two of the goats, andFannin said: "Well, let's leave the Indians here and go on a little wayfarther, and see what else we can find." He picked up his shot-gunand said to Seammux: "Carry my rifle, Seammux, so that if you see anygame you may have something to shoot with." Then, Fannin carrying theshot-gun, the three began to climb toward the summit, working alongjust below the ridge.

  They had not gone very far, when close to the top of another ridge,running out from the main divide, they discovered a large billy-goatwalking along the very edge of the cliff. He was some distance fromthem, and though they were in plain sight and made no effort to concealthemselves, he paid no attention to them. When they had come withinthree or four hundred yards of him, they sat down to watch him. He wasfeeding along, walking slowly, and stopping now and then to nip someplant which he liked. Soon he turned sharply down the almost verticalcliff, and worked along slowly and without any apparent caution,farther down, about thirty or forty yards to where grew a large broadleafed plant, which, Fannin said, the Indians reported to be a favoritefood of the animal. Here he stopped and began feeding.

>   As they watched him, and commented on his slow and clumsy, yetabsolutely confident movements, a loud hoarse call, almost like thatof a raven rapidly repeated, sounded on the mountain side just abovethem. All turned their heads to look, and saw a flock of eight grousestanding with outstretched necks, gazing at them.

  "Ptarmigan!" said Fannin. "I must have these." Loading and firing inquick succession, he shot the eight birds. "I hope they are whitetails," he said. "These are the first that I have ever seen, in thispart of the country;"--and he clambered up to gather his prize.

  "Look at that goat!" cried Jack; and they turned their heads to lookat the animal, which was still feeding on the very edge of the cliffin the same unconcerned manner as before the shots had been fired. Yethe could not have failed to hear them, for the Indians, who were muchfarther off, afterward spoke of hearing the reports.

  The birds were not the white-tailed ptarmigan, as had been hoped.Besides that, they were in the last stage of moult; the plumage wasworn and ragged, and they were hardly fit to skin, Fannin said. Butit was interesting to Fannin and to Jack to have found them on thesemountains.

  Leaving the goat still enjoying his meal, our friends pushed on. Theyclimbed a high peak from which the whole range was visible toward thenorth and the south, and far off to the south the two Indians were seenapparently approaching some game.

  Before either had fired a shot, a heavy fog obscured the whole scene;but through it, a little later, came the sound of shot after shot untilnine had been counted, and Hugh remarked: "Sounds like a battle downthere." They learned later that Seammux had fired nine shots at onegoat before getting it, and his expenditure of ammunition was the causeof more than one joke at his expense.

  By this time having had all the hunting of goats that they wanted, theydecided to return to the camp. Before reaching it they were joined bythe two Indians, each carrying on his shoulders a heavy load of goatskins and meat. They had almost reached the camp, and were restingon the top of the highest knoll above it, when Seammux, whose eyeswere constantly roving over the country, pointed in the direction ofSeymour Creek and said: "I think that's a bear." In the bottom of theravine, about three quarters of a mile from where they were, some darkobjects were seen, and the glasses showed these to be a bear and threegood-sized cubs. There were hills on either side of the animals,and to approach them was not difficult. Yet the very easiness of thehunting took away from its pleasure. The animals were unsuspicious; thecover good; there were three good rifles. A short stalk brought thehunters close to the bears.

  Fannin said: "Jack, you kill the old one, and we'll take the cubs.I will whistle, and when she looks up, you shoot." It all happenedaccording to schedule, and sooner than it takes to tell it the fourbears lay dead. That night there was plenty of fresh meat in camp. Aside of young bear ribs was roasted by Hugh, somewhat as they used toroast deer or buffalo ribs on the plains, and they were pronouncedexcellent by all hands. There was abundant broiled goat meat, which wasdeemed good by the Indians; but somewhat lacking in flavor by the whitemen. After the meal was over and the pipes were going, Mr. Fannin askedJack his opinion of the day's sport.

  "Well," said Jack, "there's lots of game here, it's a good huntingcountry, and it's full of interesting life, but the fault I have tofind with it is that it's too easy to get your game. A man doesn't haveto work hard enough. He's pretty sure that if he keeps his eyes openand uses ordinary precaution, he can approach close enough to thesevery gentle animals to get them every time. To my mind, half the fun ofhunting anything is the uncertainty as to whether you are going to besuccessful or not. If every time you take your rifle and start out youare sure that you are going to get some game, there is no more interestin it than there is in killing a beef for food at the ranch, or inbutchering hogs on a farm. Take away the element of uncertainty inhunting or fishing, and you have nothing left. An Indian who goes outto kill buffalo does not regard the getting of the meat as fun, but ashard work; just as you or I might feel that pitching hay or riding therange for wages was work."

  "That's so, son; you've figured it out just right," said Hugh. "It iswork. The Indian gets his pay in meat and the skins. The white man getshis pay in dollars and cents, so many of them a day or a month. Now,when the white man goes hunting, he does it with the idea that he ishaving fun, that he is doing something opposite from work; but whenthe Indian goes hunting he knows that he is working, and working hard.I suppose, maybe, it's just the difference between being a savage andbeing civilized."

  "I agree with you, Jack," said Mr. Fannin, "that there's no funwhatever in hunting such as we've had to-day. Of course, if we were offon a trip and needed meat for food, we would be glad to kill game justfor the purpose of eating it, but not for the fun of hunting. The morea man works for his game, the more difficult it is to get, the greaterhis satisfaction in his success.

  "Well, to-morrow, I think, we can perhaps get down home again; and ifwe can, we'll start on the stage for Westminster the day after, and getto Victoria the following night. Then we can make our start for theNorth."