The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

  FISHING UNDER THE ICE.

  On awaking next morning, to their great surprise, they saw that the_lake was frozen over_! They had almost anticipated as much, for thenight was one of the coldest they had yet experienced--so cold that oneand all of them had slept but badly. As yet the ice was thin, but somuch the worse. It was thick enough to prevent them from using thecanoe, but too thin to bear their weight, and they now saw that theywere _prisoners upon the island_!

  It was not without some feelings of alarm that they made this discovery;but their fears were allayed by reflecting, that they could remain uponthe island until the ice either thawed away or became strong enough tobear them, and then they could cross upon it to the northern shore.

  With this consolation, therefore, they set about making their temporaryquarters upon the island as snug as circumstances would permit. Theirapprehensions, however, began to return again, when several days hadpassed over, and the ice neither grew any thinner nor any thicker, butseemed to remain at a standstill. In the early part of the morning itwas almost strong enough to bear them; but during the day the sun meltedit, until it was little better than a scum over the surface of thewater. The alarm of our voyageurs increased. Their provisions werenearly out. There was no game on the islet--not so much as a bird--forthey had beaten every bush, and found nothing. Once or twice theythought of launching their canoe and breaking a way for it through theice. But they knew that this proceeding would be one of much labour aswell as danger. The islet was full ten miles from the shore, and theywould therefore have to break the ice for ten miles. Moreover, to standup in a bark canoe, so as to get at the work, would be a difficult task.It could not be accomplished without endangering the equilibrium of thevessel, and indeed without upsetting it altogether. Even to leanforward in the bow would be a perilous experiment; and under theseconsiderations the idea of breaking a way was abandoned. But theirprovisions were at length entirely exhausted, and what was to be done?The ice was still too weak to carry them. Near the shore it might havebeen strong enough, but farther out lay the danger. There they knew itwas thinner, for it had not frozen over until a later period. It wouldhave been madness to have risked it yet. On the other hand, they werestarving, or likely to starve from hunger, by staying where they were.There was nothing eatable on the island. What was to be done? In thewater were fish--they doubted not that--but how were they to catch them?They had tried them with hook and line, letting the hook through a holein the ice; but at that late season the fish would not take a bait, andalthough they kept several continually set, and "looked" them mostregularly and assiduously, not a "tail" was taken.

  They were about to adopt the desperate expedient, now more difficultthan ever, of breaking their way through the ice, when, all at once, itoccurred to Norman, that, if they could not coax the fish to take abait, they might succeed better with a net, and capture them againsttheir will. This idea would have been plausible enough, had there beena net; but there was no net on that islet, nor perhaps within an hundredmiles of it. The absence of a net might have been an obstacle to thosewho are ever ready to despair; but such an obstacle never occurred toour courageous boys. They had two _parchment_ skins of the caribouwhich they had lately killed, and out of these Norman proposed to make anet. He would soon do it, he said, if the others would set to work andcut the deerskins into thongs fine enough for the purpose. Two of them,therefore, Basil and Lucien, took out their knives, and went briskly towork; while Francois assisted Norman in twining the thongs, andafterwards held them, while the latter wove and knotted them intomeshes. In a few hours both the skins were cut into fine strips, andworked up; and a net was produced nearly six yards in length by at leasttwo in width. It was rude enough, to be sure, but perhaps it would doits work as well as if it had been twined out of silk. At all events,it was soon to have a trial--for the moment it was finished the sinkerswere attached to it, and it was carried down to the edge of the water.

  The three "Southerners" had never seen a net set under ice--for in theircountry ice is an uncommon thing, and indeed never freezes of sufficientthickness to carry the weight of a man. They were therefore verycurious to know how the thing was to be done. They could not conceivehow the net was to be stretched under the ice, in such a manner as tocatch the fish. Norman, however, knew all about it. He had seen theIndians, and had set many a one himself. It was no new thing for him,and he set about it at once.

  He first crept out upon the ice to the distance of about twenty orthirty yards from the shore. He proceeded cautiously, as the icecreaked under him. Having arrived at the place where he intended to setthe net, he knelt down, and with his knife cut several holes in the ice,at the distance of about six feet from each other, and all in one line.He had already provided himself with a straight sapling of more than sixfeet in length, to one end of which he had attached a cord. The otherend of this cord was tied to the net, at one of its corners. He nowthrust the sapling through the first hole he had made, and then guidedit so as to pass directly under the second. At this hole he took afresh hold of the stick, and passed it along to the next, and so on tothe last, where he pulled it out again, and of course along with it thestring. The net was now drawn into the first hole, and by means of thecord already received through, was pulled out to its full length. Thesinkers, of course, fell down in the water, and drew it into a verticalposition. At both its upper corners the net was made fast above theice, and was now "set." Nothing more could be done until the fish cameinto it of their own accord, when it could be drawn out upon the ice bymeans of the cord attached; and, of course, by the same means couldeasily be returned to its place, and set again.

  All of them now went back to the fire, and with hungry looks sat aroundit, waiting the result. They had made up their minds, should no fish becaught, to get once more into the canoe and attempt breaking their wayto the shore. Summoning all their patience, therefore, they waited fornearly two hours, without examining the net. Then Norman and Basilcrawled back upon the ice, to see what fortune had done for them. Theyapproached the spot, and, with their hearts thumping against their ribs,untied the knot, and commenced hauling out.

  "It certainly feels heavy," said Basil, as he net was being drawn."Hurrah!" he shouted, "Something kicks, hurrah!" and with the second"hurrah!" a beautiful fish was pulled up through the hole, and landedupon the ice. A loud "hurrah" was uttered in response by Lucien andFrancois--who, fearing the ice might not bear so many, had remained uponthe shore. A yard or two more of the net was cleared, and a second fishstill larger than the former was greeted with a general "hurrah!" Thetwo fish were now taken out--as these were all that had been caught--andthe net was once more carefully set. Basil and Norman came back to theshore--Norman to receive quite a shower of compliments from hiscompanions. The fish--the largest of which weighed nearly five pounds--proved to be trout; and it was not long before their quality was put tothe proof. All declared they had never eaten so fine trout in theirlives; but when the condition of their appetites is taken into account,we may infer that there was, perhaps, a little exaggeration in thisstatement. If hunger really makes good sauce, our voyageurs had thebest of sauce with their fish, as each of them was as hungry as ahalf-famished wolf.

  They felt quite relieved, as far as present appetite went, but they werestill uneasy for the future. Should they not succeed in taking morefish--and it was by no means certain they should succeed--they would beno better off than ever. Their anxiety, however, was soon removed.Their second "haul" proved even more successful than the first--as fivefish, weighing together not less than twenty pounds, were pulled up.

  This supply would enable them to hold out for a long time, but they hadnot much longer to remain on the islet. Upon that very night there wasone of those severe frosts known only in high latitudes, and the iceupon the lake became nearly a foot in thickness. They had no longer anyfear of its breaking under their weight; and taking their canoe with alltheir "tra
ps," they set out to cross over upon the ice. In a few hoursthey reached the shore of the lake, near the end of the promontory,where they chose a spot, and encamped.