The Island of Yellow Sands: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys

by Ethel C. Brill

  V

  THE GRAVE OF NANABOZHO

  The sun set clear in a sky glowing with flame-red and orange, but thewind blew harder than ever, and forced the adventurers to camp in thecove. They were tired enough to roll themselves in their blankets assoon as darkness came, for they had not taken a wink of sleep the nightbefore. Protected from the wind, they needed no overhead shelter.

  When the complaining cries of the gulls waked the lads at dawn, the windwas still strong, but from a more southerly direction. While the openlake was rough, the bay might be circled without danger, so, withoutwaiting for breakfast, the three launched the canoe. Jean, who was inthe stern, baited a hook with a piece of pork, and, fastening the lineto his paddle, let the hook, which was held down by a heavy sinker,trail through the water, the motion of the paddle keeping the linemoving.

  As they were passing a group of submerged rocks at the mouth of astream, a sudden pull on the line almost jerked the paddle out of hishands. The fish made a hard fight, but Etienne handled the canoeskilfully, giving Jean a chance to play his catch. He finally succeededin drawing it close enough so that Ronald, leaning over the side of theboat, while the Indian balanced by throwing his body the other way,managed to reach the fish with his knife. It proved to be a lake troutof about six pounds. Landing on a sandy point that ran out from thenorth shore of the bay, the boys prepared breakfast. Broiled trout was awelcome change from corn, and the three ate every particle that waseatable.

  The wind continuing to blow with force, they camped on the point, andspent the rest of the day fishing and hunting. Fishing was fairlysuccessful, but they found no game, not even a squirrel. The only tracksobserved were those of a mink at the edge of a stream. An abundance ofripe raspberries helped out their evening meal, however. The windlessened after sunset, but the lake was too rough for night travel. Sothe treasure-seekers laid their blankets on the sand for another goodnight's sleep.

  Nangotook woke at dawn and roused the boys. The sky, dappled with softwhite clouds and streaked with pink, was reflected in the absolutelystill water. So the three got away at once and, making a traverse offive or six miles across an indentation in the shore to the end ofanother point, were soon out of Batchewana Bay.

  Going on up the shore, the travelers rounded Mamainse Point, and ranamong rock islets, some of them bare, some with a tuft of trees orbushes at the summit. The islands they had passed in the southeastcorner of the lake had been flat and sandy. From Mamainse on, althoughmany of the larger islands and the margin of the shore continued low,the general appearance of the land was very different. High cliffsformed a continuous rampart a little back from the water and werecovered with trees down to the beach, the silvery stems and brightgreen of the birches and aspens standing out against the darker colorsof spruce and balsam. This was true north shore country, contrastingstrongly with most of the south shore.

  All day the wind was light, and the voyageurs made upwards of fortymiles, reaching Montreal River before dark. As the canoe turned towardsthe broad beach where the stream enters the lake, the boys ceasedpaddling, leaving Etienne to make the landing. The Indian took a longstroke, then held his paddle motionless, edge forward and blade pressedagainst the side of the boat, until the momentum slackened, made anotherstroke, held the blade still again, then a third and rested until thebow ran gently on the sand. The moment it struck, before the onwardmotion ceased, the three rose as with one movement, threw their legsover the sides, Etienne and Jean to the right, Ronald to the left, andstepped out into the water without tipping the canoe. Then the boyslifted it by the cross bars and carried it beyond the water line.

  The beach jutted out across the mouth of the river, partly closing it,while a bar, about six feet below the surface, extended clear across.Farther back were large trees, and the place was in every way asatisfactory camping ground.

  After the evening meal, the boys, hoping to secure a fish or two forbreakfast, went out in the canoe to set some lines. Trolling had beenunsuccessful that day. In the meanwhile Etienne was examining an oldtrail that led up-stream. The deep, clear, brown waters emptied intothe lake through a kind of delta, partly tree covered, but farther upthey raced down with great force through a steep-walled, rock chasm. Thetrail, which proved that Indians were in the habit of frequenting theplace, interested Nangotook for it bore signs of recent use. So hefollowed it.

  Suddenly, as he rounded a clump of birches, he saw two men comingtowards him. Luckily they were both looking in the other direction atthe moment when the Ojibwa caught sight of them. Before they could turntheir heads, he was out of view, squatted in the dark shadow behind analder bush. Though he had but a glimpse of them, he recognized one, awhite man with twisted nose and a scar on his chin. The other was anIndian, a stranger to him. As soon as the two men had passed, Nangotookrose and followed them cautiously, making his way among trees and bushesat the edge of the trail. The long twilight was deepening to darkness,and it was not difficult to keep hidden. The men went on along the trailfor a way, then turned from it and struck off into the woods. Nangotookdid not pursue them farther. Satisfied that they were not headed for thecamp on the beach, he went on rapidly and joined the boys at the fire.In a few words he told them of the encounter.

  The lads were amazed. At first they could scarcely believe it was reallyLe Forgeron Tordu Etienne had seen. The Blacksmith had left the Saultwith his brigade for Montreal nearly two weeks before. He must havedeserted below the Sault, have returned past the post and come on tothe northeast shore. Desertion from the fleet was a serious matter, forthe canoemen were under strict contract, and the guilty man was liableto heavy punishment. Le Forgeron had been a steersman too, and that madehis offense worse. It was scarcely possible that he could have beendischarged voluntarily, but if he had taken the risk of desertion, itmust have been for some very important or desperate purpose.

  The knowledge that the evil Frenchman was so near made the lads uneasy.Remembering the look of bitter hatred the Blacksmith had given him, andBig Benoit's warning to look to himself, Ronald felt, for the first timein his life, the chill dread that comes to one who is followed by arelentless enemy. He pulled himself together in a moment, however. If LeForgeron was following them, it could not be merely to obtain vengeancefor the blow the lad had given him. That cause seemed altogether tooslight to account for desertion and the long trip back to Superior. Itwas probable that he had heard more of their plans that night at theGrande Portage than they had believed he could have heard, and was benton securing the gold for himself.

  While Ronald was pondering these things, Jean was telling Nangotook oftheir suspicions that Le Forgeron had overheard them, of his treatmentof the squaw, of Ronald's attack on him and of Big Benoit's fortunateappearance. Nangotook listened silently, and nodded gravely when the boyhad finished his tale, but the two could not read in his impassive facewhether he shared their fears or not.

  From a tree overhead a screech owl uttered its eerie cry, the long drawnclosing tremolo on one note sounding like a threat of disaster. Perhapsthe Indian took the sinister sound for a warning, for he rose from thelog where he was sitting and went down to the water's edge. When hereturned, he said decisively, "Sleep now little while. Then go on indark."

  The boys concluded he was as anxious as they to get away from theneighborhood of Le Forgeron.

  Ronald could not sleep much that night, and when he did drop off for afew moments, the slightest sound was enough to arouse him. By midnightthe water was still, and, at Nangotook's command, the boys launched thecanoe. The Indian in the bow, the three paddled noiselessly away fromtheir camping ground, going slowly at first for fear of striking a baror reef. Though they scanned the shore, they could see no sign of LeForgeron's camp-fire. Had he gone on ahead of them, they wondered.

  All the rest of the night they traveled steadily, and did not make alanding until the sun had been up for more than an hour. Then theystopped long enough to boil the kettle and eat their breakfast of cornand pork.

  The wind had
come up with the sun, and before they had gone far from thelittle island where they had breakfasted, the gale threatened to dashthe canoe on the shore, where breakers were rolling. The travelers weredriven to seek refuge behind a sand-bar at the mouth of a small stream.Then the wind began to shift about from one point to another. Rainclouds appeared, and a succession of squalls and showers kept theimpatient gold-seekers on shore until the following morning.

  The sky was still cloudy and threatening, but the water was notdangerously rough, when they put out from the shelter of the sand-bar. Ahead wind made progress slow, as they went on up the shore and aroundthe great cape which some early explorer had named Gargantua, because ofa fancied resemblance to the giant whose adventures were told byRabelais, a French writer of the first half of the sixteenth century.

  A short distance east of the Cape, Nangotook directed the canoe towardsa small rock island, one of a group. "Land there," he said laconically.

  "Why should we be landing on that barren rock?" questioned Ronald insurprise.

  "Grave of great manito, Nanabozho," the Indian answered seriously.

  Ronald opened his mouth to speak again, but Jean punched him with hispaddle as a warning to ask no further questions. Nangotook ran the canoealongside a ledge of rock only slightly above the water. There hestepped out. The others followed and lifted the boat up on the ledge.Without waiting for them, Nangotook climbed swiftly over the rocks.Ronald would have followed him, but Jean took the Scotch boy by the arm.

  "He goes to make an offering to the manito," the French lad said, "andto ask him to send us fair weather and favorable winds for our voyage."

  "But Nangotook says he's a Christian," the other replied. "Why is hemaking sacrifices to heathen gods then?"

  Jean shrugged his shoulders. "A savage does not so easily forget thegods of his people," he said. "I have heard of this place before. Let uslook around a bit while he is offering his sacrifices."

  The island proved to be a mere rock, barren of everything but moss,lichens, a few trailing evergreens, and here and there such scattering,stunted plants as will grow with almost no soil. Part of the rock lookedas if it had been artificially cut off close to the water line, whilethe rest ran up steeply to a height of thirty or forty feet. At severalspots the two lads found the remains of offerings made by passingIndians, strands of sun-dried or decaying tobacco, broken guns, rustykettles and knives, bits of scarlet cloth, beads and trinkets. Evidentlythe savages reverenced the place deeply and believed that the spirit ofthe great manito made it his abode.

  What interested the boys more than Indian offerings was several clearlydefined veins of metal running through the rock. Here and there in theveins were holes indicating that some one, white man or Indian, had madean attempt to mine. Moss and stunted bushes growing in the holes provedthat the prospecting must have been done a number of years before.Ronald, who knew a little of geology, said there was certainly copper inthe rock, and he thought there might be lead, and perhaps silver, which,he explained, was sometimes found in conjunction with copper.

  "The man I was telling you about," Ronald concluded, "old AlexanderHenry, who looked for the Island of Yellow Sands, but who went to thewrong place Etienne says, did some mining along this east and northshore. Perhaps he opened these veins, but if he did, it must have beentwenty or thirty years ago."

  The three did not remain long on the island. Around Cape Gargantua theshore had become more abrupt and more broken, with sheer cliffs, deepchasms, ragged points and islands. The rocks were painted with a varietyof tints, caused by the weathering of metallic substances and by lichensthat ranged in color from gray-green to bright orange. It was slow workpaddling in the rough water, but before night the travelers reached agood camping ground, among birch trees, above a steep, terraced beach inthe shadow of the high cliffs of Cape Choyye.

  Near their landing place the boys came upon a broad sheet of redsandstone sloping gradually into the water. The rock was scored withshallow, winding channels and peppered with smooth holes, some of themthree or four feet deep. Many of the cavities were nearly round, but onewas in the shape of a cloven hoof. When the Indian saw the place helooked awed and muttered, "Manito been here." Jean, too, was muchimpressed, and hastened to make the sign of the cross over the clovenfootprint, but Ronald laughed at him. The holes were perfectly natural,he said. He pointed out in many of them loose stones of a much harderrock, and suggested that, at some previous period when the lake levelmust have been much higher, the friction of such stones and bouldersagainst the softer sandstone, as they were washed and churned about bythe waves, might have ground out the cavities. The shallow channels wereprobably chiseled by the grating of sand and small pebbles. Nangotookpaid no attention whatever to Ronald's explanation, and even Jean didnot seem entirely convinced. He shook his head doubtfully over thecloven hole.