The Young Fur Traders

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  THE CANOE--ASCENDING THE RAPIDS--THE PORTAGE--DEER-SHOOTING, AND LIFE INTHE WOODS.

  We must now beg the patient reader to take a leap with us, not onlythrough space, but also through time. We must pass over the events ofthe remainder of the journey along the shore of Lake Winnipeg.Unwilling though we are to omit anything in the history of our friendsthat would be likely to prove interesting, we think it wise not to runthe risk of being tedious, or of dwelling too minutely on the details ofscenes which recall powerfully the feelings and memories of bygone daysto the writer, but may nevertheless appear somewhat flat to the reader.

  We shall not, therefore, enlarge at present on the arrival of the boatsat Norway House, which lies at the north end of the lake, nor on whatwas said and done by our friends and by several other young comradeswhom they found there. We shall not speak of the horror of HarrySomerville, and the extreme disappointment of his friend CharleyKennedy, when the former was told that, instead of hunting grizzly bearsup the Saskatchewan, he was condemned to the desk again at York Fort,the depot on Hudson's Bay--a low, swampy place near the seashore, wherethe goods for the interior are annually landed and the furs shipped forEngland, where the greater part of the summer and much of the winter isoccupied by the clerks who may be doomed to vegetate there in making upthe accounts of what is termed the Northern Department, and where thebrigades converge from all the wide-scattered and far-distant outposts,and the _ship_ from England--that great event of the year--arrives,keeping the place in a state of constant bustle and effervescence untilautumn, when ship and brigades finally depart, leaving the residents(about thirty in number) shut up for eight long, dreary months ofwinter, with a tenantless wilderness around and behind them, and thewide, cold, frozen sea before. This was among the first of Harry'sdisappointments. He suffered many afterwards, poor fellow!

  Neither shall we accompany Charley up the south branch of theSaskatchewan, where his utmost expectations in the way of hunting weremore than realised, and where he became so accustomed to shooting ducksand geese, and bears and buffaloes, that he could not forbear smilingwhen he chanced to meet with a red-legged gull, and remembered how heand his friend Harry had comported themselves when they first met withthese birds on the shores of Lake Winnipeg! We shall pass over allthis, and the summer, autumn, and winter too, and leap at once into thespring of the following year.

  On a very bright, cheery morning of that spring, a canoe might have beenseen slowly ascending one of the numerous streams which meander througha richly-wooded, fertile country, and mingle their waters with those ofthe Athabasca River, terminating their united career in a large lake ofthe same name. The canoe was small--one of the kind used by the nativeswhile engaged in hunting, and capable of holding only two personsconveniently, with their baggage. To any one unacquainted with thenature or capabilities of a northern Indian canoe, the fragile, brightorange-coloured machine that was battling with the strong current of arapid must indeed have appeared an unsafe and insignificant craft; but amore careful study of its performances in the rapid, and of the immensequantity of miscellaneous goods and chattels which were, at a laterperiod of the day, disgorged from its interior, would have convinced thebeholder that it was in truth the most convenient and serviceable craftthat could be devised for the exigencies of such a country.

  True, it could only hold two men (it _might_ have taken three at apinch), because men, and women too, are awkward, unyielding baggage,very difficult to stow compactly; but it is otherwise with tractablegoods. The canoe is exceedingly thin, so that no space is taken up orrendered useless by its own structure, and there is no end to the amountof blankets, and furs, and coats, and paddles, and tent-covers, anddogs, and babies, that can be stowed away in its capacious interior.The canoe of which we are now writing contained two persons, whoseactive figures were thrown alternately into every graceful attitude ofmanly vigour, as with poles in hand they struggled to force their lightcraft against the boiling stream. One was a man apparently of aboutforty-five years of age. He was a square-shouldered, muscular man, andfrom the ruggedness of his general appearance, the soiled hunting-shirtthat was strapped round his waist with a parti-coloured worsted belt,the leather leggings, a good deal the worse for wear, together with thequiet, self-possessed glance of his grey eye, the compressed lip andsunburned brow, it was evident that he was a hunter, and one who hadseen rough work in his day. The expression of his face was pleasing,despite a look of habitual severity which sat upon it, and a deep scarwhich traversed his brow from the right temple to the top of his nose.It was difficult to tell to what country he belonged. His father was aCanadian, his mother a Scotchwoman. He was born in Canada, brought upin one of the Yankee settlements on the Missouri, and had, from a mereyouth, spent his life as a hunter in the wilderness. He could speakEnglish, French, or Indian with equal ease and fluency, but it wouldhave been hard for any one to say which of the three was his nativetongue. The younger man, who occupied the stern of the canoe, actingthe part of steersman, was quite a youth, apparently about seventeen,but tall and stout beyond his years, and deeply sunburned. Indeed, wereit not for this fact, the unusual quantity of hair that hung in massivecurls down his neck, and the voyageur costume, we should have recognisedour young friend Charley Kennedy again more easily. Had any doubtsremained in our mind, the shout of his merry voice would have scatteredthem at once.

  "Hold hard, Jacques!" he cried, as the canoe trembled in the current;"one moment, till I get my pole fixed behind this rock. Now then, shoveahead. Ah!" he exclaimed, with chagrin, as the pole slipped on thetreacherous bottom and the canoe whirled round.

  "Mind the rock," cried the bowsman, giving an energetic thrust with hispole, that sent the light bark into an eddy formed by a large rock whichrose above the turbulent waters. Here it rested while Jacques andCharley raised themselves on their knees (travellers in small canoesalways sit in a kneeling position) to survey the rapid.

  "It's too much for us, I fear, Mr Charles," said Jacques, shading hisbrow with his horny hand. "I've paddled up it many a time alone, butnever saw the water so big as now."

  "Humph! we shall have to make a portage, then, I presume. Could we notgive it one trial more? I think we might make a dash for the tail ofthat eddy, and then the stream above seems not quite so strong. Do youthink so, Jacques?"

  Jacques was not the man to check a daring young spirit. His mottothrough life had ever been, "Never venture, never win,"--a sentimentwhich his intercourse among fur-traders had taught him to embody in thepithy expression, "Never say die;" so that, although quite satisfiedthat the thing was impossible, he merely replied to his companion'sspeech by an assenting "Ho," and pushed out again into the stream. Anenergetic effort enabled them to gain the tail of the eddy spoken of,when Charley's pole snapped across, and falling heavily on the gunwale,he would have upset the little craft, had not Jacques, whose wits werehabitually on the _qui vive_, thrown his own weight at the same momenton the opposite side, and counterbalanced Charley's slip. The actionsaved them a ducking; but the canoe, being left to its own devices foran instant, whirled off again into the stream, and before Charley couldseize a paddle to prevent it, they were floating in the still water atthe foot of the rapids.

  "Now, isn't that a bore?" said Charley, with a comical look ofdisappointment at his companion.

  Jacques laughed.

  "It was well to _try_, master. I mind a young clerk who came into theseparts the same year as I did, and _he_ seldom _tried_ anything. Hecouldn't abide canoes. He didn't want for courage neither; but he had anat'ral dislike to them, I suppose, that he couldn't help, and neverentered one except when he was obliged to do so. Well, one day hewounded a grizzly bear on the banks o' the Saskatchewan (mind the tailo' that rapid, Mr Charles; we'll land t'other side o' yon rock). Well,the bear made after him, and he cut stick right away for the river,where there was a canoe hauled up on the bank. He didn't take time toput his rifle aboard, but dropped it on the grav
el, crammed the canoeinto the water and jumped in, almost driving his feet through its bottomas he did so, and then plumped down so suddenly, to prevent itscapsizing, that he split it right across. By this time the bear was athis heels, and took the water like a duck. The poor clerk, in hishurry, swayed from side to side tryin' to prevent the canoe goin' over.But when he went to one side, he was so unused to it that he went toofar, and had to jerk over to the other pretty sharp; and so he got worseand worse, until he heard the bear give a great snort beside him. Thenhe grabbed the paddle in desperation, but at the first dash he missedhis stroke, and over he went. The current was pretty strong at theplace, which was lucky for him, for it kept him down a bit, so that thebear didn't observe him for a little; and while it was pokin' away atthe canoe, he was carried downstream like a log and stranded on ashallow. Jumping up, he made tracks for the wood, and the bear (whichhad found out its mistake) after him; so he was obliged at last to taketo a tree, where the beast watched him for a day and a night, till hisfriends, thinking that something must be wrong, sent out to look forhim. (Steady, now, Mr Charles; a little more to the right. That'sit.) Now, if that young man had only ventured boldly into small canoeswhen he got the chance, he might have laughed at the grizzly and killedhim too."

  As Jacques finished, the canoe glided into a quiet bay formed by an eddyof the rapid, where the still water was overhung by dense foliage.

  "Is the portage a long one?" asked Charley, as he stepped out on thebank, and helped to unload the canoe.

  "About half a mile," replied his companion. "We might make it shorterby poling up the last rapid; but it's stiff work, Mr Charles, and we'lldo the thing quicker and easier at one lift."

  The two travellers now proceeded to make a portage. They prepared tocarry their canoe and baggage overland, so as to avoid a succession ofrapids and waterfalls which intercepted their further progress.

  "Now, Jacques, up with it," said Charley, after the loading had beentaken out and placed on the grassy bank.

  The hunter stooped, and seizing the canoe by its centre bar, lifted itout of the water, placed it on his shoulders, and walked off with itinto the woods. This was not accomplished by the man's superiorstrength. Charley could have done it quite as well; and, indeed, thestrong hunter could have carried a canoe of twice the size with perfectease. Immediately afterwards Charley followed with as much of thelading as he could carry, leaving enough on the bank to form anotherload.

  The banks of the river were steep--in some places so much so thatJacques found it a matter of no small difficulty to climb over thebroken rocks with the unwieldy canoe on his back; the more so that thebranches interlaced overhead so thickly as to present a strong barrier,through which the canoe had to be forced, at the risk of damaging itsdelicate bark covering. On reaching the comparatively level land above,however, there was more open space, and the hunter threaded his wayamong the tree stems more rapidly, making a detour occasionally to avoida swamp or piece of broken ground; sometimes descending a deep gorgeformed by a small tributary of the stream they were ascending, andwhich, to an unpractised eye, would have appeared almost impassable,even without the encumbrance of a canoe. But the said canoe never boreJacques more gallantly or safely over the surges of lake or stream thandid he bear _it_ through the intricate mazes of the forest; now divingdown and disappearing altogether in the umbrageous foliage of a dell;anon reappearing on the other side and scrambling up the bank onall-fours, he and the canoe together looking like some frightful yellowreptile of antediluvian proportions; and then speeding rapidly forwardover a level plain until he reached a sheet of still water above therapids. Here he deposited his burden on the grass, and halting only fora few seconds to carry a few drops of the clear water to his lips,retraced his steps to bring over the remainder of the baggage. Soonafterwards Charley made his appearance on the spot where the canoe wasleft, and throwing down his load, seated himself on it and surveyed theprospect. Before him lay a reach of the stream, which spread out sowidely as to resemble a small lake, in whose clear, still bosom werereflected the overhanging foliage of graceful willows, and here andthere the bright stem of a silver birch, whose light-green leavescontrasted well with scattered groups and solitary specimens of thespruce fir. Reeds and sedges grew in the water along the banks,rendering the junction of the land and the stream uncertain andconfused. All this and a great deal more Charley noted at a glance; forthe hundreds of beautiful and interesting objects in nature that take solong to describe even partially, and are feebly set forth after all evenby the most graphic language, flash upon the _eye_ in all their forceand beauty, and are drunk in at once in a single glance.

  But Charley noted several objects floating on the water which we havenot yet mentioned. These were five grey geese feeding among the reedsat a considerable distance off, and all unconscious of the presence of ahuman foe in their remote domains. The travellers had trusted very muchto their guns and nets for food, having only a small quantity ofpemmican in reserve, lest these should fail--an event which was not atall likely, as the country through which they passed was teeming withwild-fowl of all kinds, besides deer. These latter, however, were onlyshot when they came inadvertently within rifle-range, as our voyageurshad a definite object in view, and could not afford to devote much oftheir time to the chase.

  During the day previous to that on which we have introduced them to ourreaders, Charley and his companion had been so much occupied innavigating their frail bark among a succession of rapids, that they hadnot attended to the replenishing of their larder, so that the geesewhich now showed themselves were looked upon by Charley with a longingeye. Unfortunately they were feeding on the opposite side of the river,and out of shot. But Charley was a hunter now, and knew how to overcomeslight difficulties. He first cut down a pretty large and leafy branchof a tree, and placed it in the bow of the canoe in such a way as tohang down before it and form a perfect screen, through the intersticesof which he could see the geese, while they could only see, what was tothem no novelty, the branch of a tree floating down the stream. Havinggently launched the canoe, Charley was soon close to the unsuspectingbirds, from among which he selected one that appeared to be unusuallycomplacent and self-satisfied, concluding at once, with an amount ofwisdom that bespoke him a true philosopher, that such _must_ as a matterof course be the fattest.

  "Bang" went the gun, and immediately the sleek goose turned round uponits back and stretched out its feet towards the sky, waving them once ortwice as if bidding adieu to its friend. The others thereupon took toflight, with such a deal of sputter and noise as made it quite apparentthat their astonishment was unfeigned. Bang went the gun again, anddown fell a second goose.

  "Ha!" exclaimed Jacques, throwing down the remainder of the cargo asCharley landed with his booty, "that's well. I was just thinking as Icomed across that we should have to take to pemmican to-night."

  "Well, Jacques, and if we had, I'm sure an old hunter like you, who haveroughed it so often, need not complain," said Charley, smiling.

  "As to that, master," replied Jacques, "I've roughed it often enough;and when it does come to a clear fix, I can eat my shoes withoutgrumblin' as well as any man. But, you see, fresh meat is better thandried meat when it's to be had; and so I'm glad to see that you've beenlucky, Mr Charles."

  "To say truth, so am I; and these fellows are delightfully plump. Butyou spoke of eating your shoes, Jacques; when were you reduced to thatdireful extremity?"

  Jacques finished reloading the canoe while they conversed, and the twowere seated in their places, and quietly but swiftly ascending thestream again, ere the hunter replied.

  "You've heerd of Sir John Franklin, I s'pose?" he inquired, after aminute's consideration.

  "Yes, often."

  "An' p'r'aps you've heerd tell of his first trip of discovery along theshores of the Polar Sea?"

  "Do you refer to the time when he was nearly starved to death, and whenpoor Hood was shot by the Indian?"

  "The sa
me," said Jacques.

  "Oh yes; I know all about that. Were you with them?" inquired Charley,in great surprise.

  "Why, no--not exactly _on_ the trip; but I was sent in winter withprovisions to them--and much need they had of them, poor fellows! Ifound them tearing away at some old parchment skins that had lain underthe snow all winter, and that an Injin's dog would ha' turned up hisnose at--and they don't turn up their snouts at many things, I can tellye. Well, after we had left all our provisions with them, we startedfor the fort again, just keepin' as much as would drive off starvation;for, you see, we thought that surely we would git something on the road.But neither hoof nor feather did we see all the way (I was travellin'with an Injin), and our grub was soon done, though we saved it up, andonly took a mouthful or two the last three days. At last it was done,and we was pretty well used up, and the fort two days ahead of us. _So_says I to my comrade--who had been looking at me for some time as if hethought that a cut off my shoulder wouldn't be a bad thing--says I,`Nipitabo, I'm afeard the shoes must go for it now;' so with that Ipulls out a pair o' deerskin moccasins. `They looks tender,' said I,trying to be cheerful. `Wah!' said the Injin; and then I held them overthe fire till they was done black, and Nipitabo ate one, and I ate thetother, with a lump o' snow to wash it down!"

  "It must have been rather dry eating," said Charley, laughing.

  "Rayther; but it was better than the Injin's leather breeches, which wetook in hand next day. They was _uncommon_ tough, and very dirty,havin' been worn about a year and a half. Hows'ever, they kept us up;an' as we only ate the legs, he had the benefit o' the stump to arrivewith at the fort next day."

  "What's yon ahead?" exclaimed Charley, pausing as he spoke, and shadinghis eyes with his hand.

  "It's uncommon like trees," said Jacques. "It's likely a tree that'sbeen tumbled across the river; and from its appearance, I think we'llhave to cut through it."

  "Cut through it!" exclaimed Charley; "if my sight is worth a gun-flint,we'll have to cut through a dozen trees."

  Charley was right. The river ahead of them became rapidly narrower;and, either from the looseness of the surrounding soil or the passing ofa whirlwind, dozens of trees had been upset, and lay right across thenarrow stream in terrible confusion. What made the thing worse was thatthe banks on either side, which were low and flat, were covered withsuch a dense thicket down to the water's edge, that the idea of making aportage to overcome the barrier seemed altogether hopeless.

  "Here's a pretty business, to be sure!" cried Charley, in great disgust.

  "Never say die, Mister Charles," replied Jacques, taking up the axe fromthe bottom of the canoe; "it's quite clear that cuttin' through thetrees is easier than cuttin' through the bushes, so here goes."

  For fully three hours the travellers were engaged in cutting their wayup the encumbered stream, during which time they did not advance threemiles; and it was evening ere they broke down the last barrier andpaddled out into a sheet of clear water again.

  "That'll prepare us for the geese, Jacques," said Charley, as he wipedthe perspiration from his brow; "there's nothing like warm work forwhetting the appetite and making one sleep soundly."

  "That's true," replied the hunter, resuming his paddle. "I often wonderhow them white-faced fellows in the settlements manage to keep body andsoul together--a-sittin', as they do, all day in the house, and a-lyin'all night in a feather bed. For my part, rather than live as they do, Iwould cut my way up streams like them we've just passed every day andall day, and sleep on top of a flat rock o' nights, under the blue sky,all my life through."

  With this decided expression of his sentiments, the stout hunter steeredthe canoe up alongside of a huge, flat rock, as if he were bent ongiving a practical illustration of the latter part of his speech thenand there.

  "We'd better camp now, Mister Charles; there's a portage o' two mileshere, and it'll take us till sundown to get the canoe and things over."

  "Be it so," said Charley, landing. "Is there a good place at the otherend to camp on?"

  "First-rate. It's smooth as a blanket on the turf, and a clear springbubbling at the root of a wide tree that would keep off the rain if itwas to come down like waterspouts."

  The spot on which the travellers encamped that evening overlooked one ofthose scenes in which vast extent, and rich, soft variety of naturalobjects, were united with much that was grand and savage. It filled themind with the calm satisfaction that is experienced when one gazes onthe wide lawns studded with noble trees; the spreading fields of wavinggrain that mingle with stream and copse, rock and dell, vineyard andgarden, of the cultivated lands of civilised men: while it produced thatexulting throb of freedom which stirs man's heart to its centre, when hecasts a first glance over miles and miles of broad lands that are yetunowned, unclaimed; that yet lie in the unmutilated beauty with whichthe beneficent Creator originally clothed them--far away from thewell-known scenes of man's chequered history; entirely devoid of thoseancient monuments of man's power and skill that carry the mind back withfeelings of awe to bygone ages, yet stamped with evidences of anantiquity more ancient still, in the wild primeval forests, and thenoble trees that have sprouted, and spread, and towered in theirstrength for centuries--trees that have fallen at their posts, whileothers took their place, and rose and fell as they did, like long-livedsentinels whose duty it was to keep perpetual guard over the vastsolitudes of the great American Wilderness.

  The fire was lighted, and the canoe turned bottom up in front of it,under the branches of a spreading tree that stood on an eminence, whencewas obtained a bird's-eye view of the noble scene. It was a flatvalley, on either side of which rose two ranges of hills, which wereclothed to the top with trees of various kinds, the plain of the valleyitself being dotted with clumps of wood, among which the fresh greenfoliage of the plane tree and the silver-stemmed birch were conspicuous,giving an airy lightness to the scene and enhancing the picturesqueeffect of the dark pines. A small stream could be traced winding outand in among clumps of willows, reflecting their drooping boughs and themore sombre branches of the spruce fir and the straight larch, withwhich in many places its banks were shaded. Here and there werestretches of clearer ground, where the green herbage of spring gave toit a lawn-like appearance, and the whole magnificent scene was boundedby blue hills that became fainter as they receded from the eye andmingled at last with the horizon. The sun had just set, and a rich glowof red bathed the whole scene, which was further enlivened by flocks ofwild-fowls and herds of reindeer.

  These last soon drew Charley's attention from the contemplation of thescenery, and observing a deer feeding in an open space, towards which hecould approach without coming between it and the wind, he ran for hisgun and hurried into the woods, while Jacques busied himself inarranging their blankets under the upturned canoe, and in preparingsupper.

  Charley discovered, soon after starting, what all hunters discoversooner or later--namely, that appearances are deceitful; for he nosooner reached the foot of the hill than he found, between him and thelawn-like country, an almost impenetrable thicket of underwood. Ouryoung hero, however, was of that disposition which sticks at nothing,and instead of taking time to search for an opening, he took a race andsprang into the middle of it, in hopes of forcing his way through. Hishopes were not disappointed. He got through--quite through--andalighted up to the armpits in a swamp, to the infinite consternation ofa flock of teal ducks that were slumbering peacefully there with theirheads under their wings, and had evidently gone to bed for the night.Fortunately he held his gun above the water and kept his balance, sothat he was able to proceed with a dry charge, though with an uncommonlywet skin. Half an hour brought Charley within range, and watchingpatiently until the animal presented his side towards the place of hisconcealment, he fired and shot it through the heart.

  "Well done, Mister Charles," exclaimed Jacques, as the former staggeredinto camp with the reindeer on his shoulders. "A fat doe, too."

  "Ay," said Charley
; "but she has cost me a wet skin. So pray, Jacques,rouse up the fire, and let's have supper as soon as you can."

  Jacques speedily skinned the deer, cut a couple of steaks from itsflank, and placing them on wooden spikes, stuck them up to roast, whilehis young friend put on a dry shirt, and hung his coat before the blaze.The goose which had been shot earlier in the day was also plucked,split open, impaled in the same manner as the steaks, and set up toroast. By this time the shadows of night had deepened, and ere long allwas shrouded in gloom, except the circle of ruddy light around the campfire, in the centre of which Jacques and Charley sat, with the canoe attheir backs, knives in their hands, and the two spits, on the top ofwhich smoked their ample supper, planted in the ground before them.

  One by one the stars went out, until none were visible except thebright, beautiful morning star, as it rose higher and higher in theeastern sky. One by one the owls and the wolves, ill-omened birds andbeasts of night, retired to rest in the dark recesses of the forest.Little by little the grey dawn overspread the sky, and paled the lustreof the morning star, until it faded away altogether; and then Jacquesawoke with a start, and throwing out his arm, brought it accidentallyinto violent contact with Charley's nose.

  This caused Charley to awake, not only with a start, but also with aroar, which brought them both suddenly into a sitting posture, in whichthey continued for some time in a state between sleeping and waking,their faces meanwhile expressive of mingled imbecility and extremesurprise. Bursting into a simultaneous laugh, which degenerated into aloud yawn, they sprang up, launched and reloaded their canoe, andresumed their journey.