XI
NANGOTOOK RECONNOITERS
The cat-like tracks of the animal that had attacked the lads wereplainly marked in the rain-softened earth and leaf mould. They were theprints of a lynx of unusual size. It was lucky for Ronald that he hadslept in his heavy coat, or the beast's claws might have injured himseriously. As it was, they had torn through his clothes, and hadinflicted a shallow but painful scratch on his breast.
The boys cut more fuel and broiled their fish for breakfast. They werejust finishing the meal, when the bushes parted suddenly and Nangotookstood before them.
Jean rose to his feet. "Where have you been, Nangotook?" he exclaimed."We were just about to follow your trail to see if any evil hadovertaken you."
"Little brother need have no fear," Nangotook answered with moreamiability than he had shown the night before. "The Ojibwa brave cantake care of himself--with other men," he added, after a moment's pause.Perhaps he was not so sure of being able to hold his own with spirits orsupernatural beings.
Knowing that he would tell them what he had been doing when he was readyto speak, and not before, the lads forbore to question him. Instead theytold him of the beast that had fallen into the lodge. Nangotookexamined the tracks with interest. "Big lynx," he said. "We track himand find where he lives."
"'Tis hardly worth while to be doing that," objected Ronald. "His peltis not at its best now, and anyway we're not hunting for pelts. We mustexamine every yard of the shore of this island. I feel sure there's abeach beyond the lower ground, and it may be the one we're looking for."
"Yes," agreed Jean, "we must go over there at once."
The Indian made no reply, but continued to eat his fish in silence. Whenhe had finished, he rose to his feet. "Come," he said briefly. "I showyou tracks not made by lynx."
He led the boys behind the wigwam and a little way through the thickwoods. There he stopped and pointed to some marks in the soft groundunder a spruce tree.
"A man," Jean exclaimed, dropping on his knees to examine the prints.
"Two men," corrected Nangotook.
"What are they? Did you follow them?" cried Ronald. "How did you comeupon their trail?"
In the brief, abrupt manner in which he usually gave information whenaction impended, Nangotook explained that he had waked in the night withthe feeling that some strange thing or person was near by. He had lainquiet, listening. From a big cedar that overhung the lodge, he had heardthe faint rustle of foliage, the creaking of a limb. There was littlewind, and that sixth sense, by which an Indian distinguishes sounds,told the Ojibwa that the noises were made by animal or man. Somethingwarned him of danger. As he lay listening, his suspicions wereconfirmed. He heard a scraping as if some hard substance rubbed the barkof the tree. Then the branches creaked more loudly, and there came athud as of something heavy striking the ground. But that was not all.Just as the heavy thing struck the earth, the Indian's keen earsdetected a whispered exclamation, an oath in French. That sound musthave dispelled from his mind the fear, if he had felt it, that the thingin the tree might be some supernatural being. Indian manitos, spirits orfiends would not be apt to swear in French.
The full, slow breathing of the two boys indicated that they had notbeen disturbed. Lying perfectly still, Nangotook also breathed deeplyand regularly, so that any one listening might think that all threeslept soundly. He did not want the spy, whoever he was, to suspect thatany one was awake and listening. The Indian heard no more rustlings orscrapings, however. There was nothing to suggest that the man approachednearer.
For a long time Nangotook lay perfectly still. Then, feeling sure thatthe spy had taken himself off, he rose noiselessly, cast away hisblanket, and, knife in hand, stepped over Ronald and out of the lodge.It was useless to try to track the uninvited visitor in the darkness. Itwas the canoe the Ojibwa was anxious about. Making his way to the placewhere it was hidden, he found it safe and undisturbed.
On the bay, and along the edge of the woods that grew down to it, therewas more light, for day was dawning. As Nangotook started to turn backtowards camp, he caught sight of something floating on the water nearby. He crawled out on the leaning tree trunk where he and his companionshad landed two days before, reached for the thing and secured it. It wasa small piece of deerskin, such as travelers usually carried formoccasin patches. It did not belong to him or to either of the boys, andit had not been in the water long, for it was scarcely wet. To theIndian it was sure proof that the night visitor had come by water. Helooked for the place where the man's canoe had come in, and soon foundthe spot, under a thick, overhanging tangle of trees and bushes, wherehe would not have noticed signs of landing had he not been searching forthem.
Returning to his own hidden canoe, he put it in the water, shoved off,and paddled noiselessly along close to shore. He had not gone far, whenhe heard, from the direction of the camp, the sharp screech of a lynx,but he paid no heed. It was the cry of a real lynx, not a humanimitation, and the thought that the two boys might be in any danger fromthat fierce, but, as far as man is concerned, cowardly animal, neveroccurred to him. He was seeking to discover whether the stranger's canoehad come from somewhere on the bay or through the channel. The depth ofthe water enabled him to keep close in to the shore, which he eyedkeenly in the half light of the gray, gloomy dawn. He skirted thehigher land, then the low ground opposite the entrance, finding nothingto indicate that a boat had ever run in anywhere.
It was not until he had gone more than half-way around and had come torising ground again, that he observed a suspicious looking spot. Hepaused to examine it, and found a landing place, with a distinct trailleading away from it. The tracks showed that two men had come and gonethat way. Probably they had carried their canoe with them, for he didnot find it hidden anywhere, though he sought for it. The tracks hadbeen made since the rain, and there had been no attempt to obliteratethem. Nangotook followed them across to the north shore of the island,where he had not been before.
There, among the rocks, the trail ended abruptly. He searched, but couldfind no more tracks. Finally he became convinced that the men must havelowered the canoe down a cleft in the rock wall to the water.
Where had they gone? He had no way of telling. The outlying rocks werewave washed, and afforded no shelter. There was no other land visible. Ashort distance out, the morning mists lay thick on the lake. There mightbe hidden land off there somewhere, or the canoe might have gone alongshore, but which way or how far he could not guess. So he turned backthe way he had come.
He paddled across the bay, and landed at the place near the camp wherethe two men had come ashore. From there they had proceeded verycautiously, and had left little trace of their passage through thewoods. It was with considerable difficulty that the Ojibwa tracked themto the tall spruce. The spruce was at least a hundred and fifty feetfrom the hut, but the men must have climbed it and made their way, assquirrels might, from one tree to another until they reached the cedarthat overhung the shelter. The thick growth made such a feat possiblefor active men. One of them, however, had missed his hold in thedarkness, and had fallen from the cedar. A hollow in the soft leaf mouldshowed where he had struck the ground. It was then he had uttered theexclamation in French that had convinced Nangotook the spy was neitheranimal nor spirit. He had climbed the tree again, for there were noother tracks to be found, and had gone back in the same way. Perhapsonly one man had made the trip from tree to tree, the other waiting forhim at the tall spruce.
With intense interest and excitement the boys listened to the Ojibwa'sstory. The spies might be wandering Indians who had come to the islandin search of copper. It was said that many of the islands of the lakebore copper in loose pieces that could be picked up on the shores. Oneof the visitors, however, had uttered an oath in French.
"Can you make any guess who those men are?" Ronald asked, anxiously,when the Ojibwa had finished his tale.
Nangotook nodded gravely. "One Indian, Cree, I think," he said, "theother Awishtoya."
"Are
you sure? How can you tell?" cried both boys.
Nangotook pointed to the tracks. "One man lame," he said. "Walk heavierwith right foot, and foot turn out. Some places, across the bay there,tracks show it plain. Following us for something. Bad man, Awishtoya."
The Island of Yellow Sands: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys Page 11