Two on the Trail: A Story of the Far Northwest

by Hulbert Footner

  VII

  MARY CO-QUE-WASA'S ERRAND

  At noon next day the little _Aurora Borealis_ was reclining drunkenlyon a shoal in the river at the foot of Caliper island, sixty miles abovethe Landing, and fifteen below the Warehouse. This had been the place ofCaptain Jack's gloomy forebodings all the way up. The river spread wide,shallow and swift on either side the island, and neither one channel northe other would permit their ascent. The _Aurora_ was having a littlebreathing space on the shoal, while Captain Jack and St. Paul, the bighalf-breed pilot, debated below on what to do.

  The three passengers looked on from the upper deck. Natalie and Garthtacitly ignored any change in their relation to-day; and no referencewas made to Natalie's story. They seemed, if anything, more friendlywith each other; nevertheless Constraint, like a spectre standingbetween them, intercepted all their communications.

  The third passenger was a half-breed woman nearing middle age, clad in adecent black print dress, and a black straw hat, under the brim of whichdepended a circlet of attenuated, grizzled curls. Her face, like thatof all the natives in the presence of whites, expressed a blank, in hercase a mysterious blank. She was silent and ubiquitous; whichever waythey looked, there she was. Captain Jack had mentioned to Garth thather name was Mary Co-que-wasa. The off-hand shrug that accompanied theinformation, between men, was significant. Garth resented it; and hissympathies were enlisted. He had made several efforts to talk to thewoman, only to be received with a stupid shake of the head. He thoughtshe could not speak English. Natalie, more keenly intuitive, took anactive dislike to her. "I'm sure she listens to us," she had said.

  Meanwhile, preparations were undertaken to hoist the _Aurora Borealis_by main strength up the rapids. The "skiff," as they whimsicallytermed the steamboat's great, clumsy tender--its official name of"_sturgeon-head_" was more descriptive--was brought alongside; and ahalf-mile of hawser, more or less, patiently coiled in the bottom. Theend of this rope was made fast on board the steamer, and the skiff,pushing off, was poled and tracked up the rapids with heart-breakinglabour, paying out the hawser over her stern as she went. The other endof the rope was made fast to a great tree on the shore above, and, theskiff returning, the inboard end was turned about the capstan. Steamwas then turned on, and with a great to-do of puffing and clanking, the_Aurora_ started to haul herself up hand over hand, as one might say.

  Alas! she had no sooner raised her head than the hawser parted in themiddle with a report like a small cannon, and she settled dejectedlyback on the shoal.

  Captain Jack refreshed himself with a pull at the Spring Tonic bottle;and started all over. A newer piece of hawser was produced, and theskiff despatched once more on its laborious errand. The loose end wasfinally picked up and knotted, and the capstan started again. But nobetter success followed, as soon as the full strain came upon it, therope burst asunder in a new place. After this they went around the otherside of the island and tried there. Each attempt consumed an hour ormore, but time is nothing in the North.

  At five o'clock, after the failure of the fourth attempt, Captain Jackthrew up his hands, and turned the _Aurora's_ nose down-stream. Thelittle boat, which had sulked and hung back in the rapids all day,picked up her heels, and hustled down with the current, like a wilfulchild that obtains its own way at last.

  Garth, in dismay, hastened to Captain Jack.

  "Where are we going?" he demanded.

  Captain Jack cocked an eye, and said with his air of gloomy fatalism:"The Landing's the only place for me."

  Garth became hot under the collar, as he always did in dealing with thepessimistic skipper. "But we're only fifteen miles from the Warehouse!"he cried.

  "Might as well be fifteen hundred," said Captain Jack, "for all I canget you there."

  "Is there no house anywhere near?"

  The skipper looked at him with gloomy scorn. "Say, do you think you'rein a rural neighbourhood?" he inquired.

  "I asked you a question," Garth repeated. "Is there any one living nearhere?"

  Captain Jack shrugged. "Sometimes there's breeds at Bear Portage below,"he said. "But not in the summer."

  "Is there no road?"

  "Not what _you'd_ call a road. How would you carry your outfit?"

  This was a poser, Garth could not deny. "Where are the breeds in thesummer?" he demanded.

  Captain Jack flung up his hands. "God knows!" he said. "Pitchingsomewheres about between the East and the West!"

  Garth set his jaw. "Well, there's some way of reaching the Warehouse,"he said, "and I'm going to find it. You stop at Bear Portage, as youcall it, and I'll see what I can do."

  "Sure!" said Captain Jack hopelessly. "As long as you like--But you'llnever make it!" he added with an atrabilious eye. "Never in God's world!You better take my advice and get out of the country while you can!"

  Garth turned on his heel, and Captain Jack revisited his stateroom forconsolation. Here, two shelves at the foot of his berth contained hispharmaceutical stock in ancient, torn and fly-specked wrappers. Hebought every new variety of remedy he heard of with the ardour of acollector. One of his most serious occupations was to lie in bed inthe morning, making up his mind what to begin the day on. Endless andingenious were the combinations he made.

  They tied up at Bear Portage and had supper. Afterward, three breed boyswith their scent for happenings in the bush, as unerring and mysteriousas the buzzard's scent for carrion, turned up from nowhere, and at thesame time a fourth came nosing under the bank in a crazy dugout filledwith grass. So soft was the arrival of the last that Garth was not awareof it, until he happened to catch sight of Mary Co-que-wasa deep in awhispered consultation with the paddler. Finding Garth's eyes upon her,Mary, with a hasty word to the boy, embarked, and the canoe's nose wasturned up-stream. As a possible means of transport later, Garth calledafter the boy; but he only paddled the faster. The incident caused Gartha vague uneasiness.

  In the other three he found a means, such as it was, of extricating themfrom their dilemma. He learned through St. Paul, who interpreted, thatthere was a camp of Indians engaged in cutting wild hay, seven milesoff, and that a wagon and team could be got there next morning, to carrythem and their goods to the Warehouse. At the mention of seven miles,Garth looked dubiously at Natalie, but she stoutly averred her abilityto do it twice if necessary, and since nothing better offered, Garthhired the boys to show the way and carry the baggage.

  The _Aurora Borealis_ presently backed off, and blithely kicking up thewater astern, disappeared down the river. Her going out severed theirlast bond with the world of civilization and henceforth they must fendfor themselves in the wilderness. Natalie looked around at the grim,empty woods, and at the strange, alien boys who were to conduct them;and instinctively put out her hand to Garth.

  The eldest and smartest of the breeds was a beady-eyed youth answeringto the name of Pake. When the _Aurora_ passed out of sight his demeanourchanged. It was not that he became openly insolent, but what was harderfor Garth to deal with, he was blandly and blankly indifferent to thewhites. Garth inwardly fumed, and there was a heavy weight of anxiety,too, for Natalie. Pake constructed packing harness out of rope, anddivided all their goods into five lots, of which four were of aboutequal weight, and the fifth lighter. This one Garth supposed was forNatalie, though he thought it too heavy, but to his astonishment helearned Pake intended the light pack for himself, and one of the othersfor Natalie. Upon Garth's vigorous objections, Pake coolly added thegreater part of Natalie's load to Garth's.

  Hampered as he was by his augmented pack, Garth still managed to carryhis rifle across his arm. And yet St. Paul, who interpreted for him, hadassured him these were good boys and would treat him well. St. Paul wasright, when Garth had been in the country longer he learned this wassimply the breed way. Only superior, or at least equal, numbers willimpress them, and then they are obsequious enough in good sooth.

  Whatever Natalie thought of their situation, she put on a bold air. Asthey started Indian file, under the great
trees in the gathering dusk,the three swarthy youths in advance bowed under their packs: "Look!"she cried. "Isn't it like the frontispiece to a book of adventure!"

  The breeds inherit from the red side of the house a shuffling half-trot,produced with steady shoulders and rolling hips, that is a good dealfaster than it looks. Natalie with her tiny bundle had much ado to keepup, and Garth under his, plodded doggedly behind, with breaking neck andshoulders. The breeds, careless of their fate, never once looked behind.Garth had to keep them in sight, or instantly lose the faint trail inthe darkness.

  After several miles of this, without warning, the breeds simultaneouslycast their packs on the ground, and took a rest. Every move these strangecreatures made was unexpected. Garth laboriously ridding himself of hisburden, proceeded to read them a severe lecture on the necessity ofaccommodating their pace to the lady's for the rest of the way. Itwas received with stolid, uncomprehending stares.

  Among themselves they gossiped freely enough, and from the frequentrecurrence of the word _moon-i-yas_, Garth knew that he and Natalie werethe subject of it all. The discomforting thought did not fail to suggestitself that they might be hatching a plot in the very presence of theirintended victims. Their outfit, Garth reflected, must seem a veryfortune to the ragged breeds. He watched them closely.

  Presently they set off again as fast as ever, whereupon Garth did as heshould have done at first, lost his temper, and swore at them roundly.Pake looked around with a gleam of awakened intelligence, and slackenedhis pace. After a brief consultation, Pake and another set off inadvance with their share of the goods, leaving the third boy to guidethe feebler steps of the two _moon-i-yas_. Garth wondered if they wouldever see Pake and the boxes again.

  It was a long seven miles; and absolute darkness clothed the loftyaisles of the pine trees long before they finished passing through;and beyond there were interminable, misty meadows of wild grass to becrossed. Garth could no longer distinguish any sign of a trail; but thebreed bent steadily ahead. Once or twice an owl whirred suddenly lowover their heads; and somewhere far off a loon guffawed insanely. Inthe end their guide, to cheer his own soul, lifted up his voice in thestrident, unearthly chant of the Crees; and it only needed this to addthe last touch of unreality to their eerie journey. They began to feellike spirits after death, hurried in the darkness they knew not whither.

  At last a bright light flared suddenly across the hay marsh; and fromtheir guide's joyful exclamation, they gathered that it marked the endof their journey. Fire was something human and known; and amazinglycheering. They covered the last lap at a brisk pace.

  Five tepees, faintly phosphorescent with interior fires, stood in a linewhere the pine trees bounded the hay marsh. Garth's mind was relieved tofind Pake waiting with the balance of the outfit intact. The fire theyhad seen was from an armful of brush lighted for a beacon to guidethem. The people were all within. The three breed boys dived into theprincipal tepee without ceremony, leaving Garth and Natalie standingrather foolishly outside. They were evidently expected to follow; forpresently a head was stuck inquiringly outside; and what they tookfor an invitation to enter was delivered in Cree.

  "Let us go in," whispered Natalie. "I'm crazy to see what it's like!"

  Without more ado, she lifted the flap which covered the entrance, andcrawled, blinking, into the light, Garth close at her heels.

  A fire was built on the ground in the centre of the tepee; and thesmoke, filling the apex, finally found itself out at the top. Aroundthe fire was grouped a motley, gipsy crew of all ages; the elders in theplace of honour above the fire; the children by the door. The firelightthrew their copper-coloured faces into strong relief; each wore anexpression of stolid expectation. Stolidity is the pet affectationof the breed; at heart he is as garrulous as an ape. Like mongrelsgenerally, their manners were bad; a grunt served for welcome, andplaces were coolly pointed out where they should sit.

  With that the guests were forthwith yielded up to discussion, while thewhole circle stared at them as if they were vegetables. In especial, thechildren sitting across the fire, transfixed them with eyes, under eachmop of raven hair, as hard, bright and unwinking as the eyes of littlebirds of prey. Young Pake sat at the right hand of the principal man--apersonage in frayed overalls and cotton shirt, with a scarlet handkerchiefabout his temples--and called attention to the points of the two_moon-i-yas_ like their showman. After all the elders had partaken oftea, somebody recollected to thrust the battered pot at Garth and Natalie,with two more than doubtful tin cups. They declined to partake.

  Garth was fuming. "Let's get out," he whispered.

  "Just a minute," Natalie begged, with bright eyes. "Never mind theirmanners. It's all so strange and different!"

  Presently the preparations for retiring, which their arrival hadprobably interrupted, were resumed. Hideously dirty and torn comforterswith protruding cotton filling, were spread on the ground; andindividuals began to roll up, feet to the fire. A woman indicated aplace for Garth and Natalie, side by side. When her meaning becameclear, they elaborately avoided each other's eyes, and Natalie beata hasty retreat outside. She never again expressed a wish to enter atepee. Garth, blushing to the roots of his hair, explained that theypreferred to sleep outside. The breeds let them go, with a shrug forthe queer ways of the _moon-i-yas_.

  Garth pitched the little tent he had for Natalie under the pine treesat a short distance, and spread her bed on balsam boughs inside, withtender hands. Natalie had suddenly half collapsed like a sleepy child.She disappeared with a murmured good night, and was heard of no moreuntil morning. Garth spread his own bed under the stars, athwart thedoor of the tent. He remembered, before turning in, that they lackedwater, and returned to the tepee to ask where it was to be procured. Ashe entered the second time, his attention was arrested by the sound ofMary Co-que-wasa's name on Pake's lips.

  "Who is Mary Co-que-wasa?" he asked, recollecting his previousuneasiness.

  It appeared they could understand English well enough when they had amind to. The women visibly bridled, as women white or red will do,when an erring ewe of the flock is mentioned in company.

  "Mary Co-que-wasa--one--bad--woman," said one, with the tonelessenunciation of a parrot.

  Another volunteered further information in Cree, in which the namesof Mary and Nick Grylls were coupled.

  "What's that?" demanded the startled Garth.

  "Mary Co-que-wasa--Nick Grylls's--woman," said his first informant.

  That was all he could get out of them. It did not conduce to the easeof his first bed in the wilderness.

  * * * * *

  In the morning Natalie issued forth radiant; and Garth marvelled afreshat the vision of urban perfection she made in the wilderness. He wasblowing the fire at the time; a typical tenderfoot's fire, all tinderand no fuel, at which the breeds grinned askance. He soon learnedbetter. The breeds haunted their camp, enjoying their struggles withthat superior, insulting grin. Natalie, rolling up her sleeves,announced her intention of cooking the breakfast, while Garth struckcamp. She who had never cooked under the best of conditions, had asad time of it balancing a frying pan on a fire of twigs, and keepingthe water in the pot long enough for it to come to a boil. They weresad-looking lumps of bacon that she offered Garth, burnt withal, andshe gravely informed him there was a small slice of her thumb cooked upwith it. The cocoa, too, which obstinately refused to dissolve in a coldelement, was watery and full of lumps; however they still had civilizedbread and butter; and Garth would have eaten Paris green with gusto, ifoffered with the same appealing smile.

  Afterward an ancient box wagon came rattling up, drawn by two champingcayuses, guided by Pake, the "wise guy" of the bush. The duffle wasthrown in; Pake and one of his brethren coolly preempted the box,allowing Garth and Natalie to dispose themselves as they chose among thefreight; and they set off at a smart pace across the gloriously sunnymeadow.

  It was rough enough in all conscience; and in spite of every effort tobrace
themselves in the body of the wagon, they were shaken about likecorn in a hopper. But in the bush it was worse; there, though their pacenecessarily slackened, what with the holes, roots, stumps and fallentrunks, they had seldom more than two wheels on the ground; and morethan once all that stood between them and a total capsize was Pake'sdexterous wrist. There were deep gullies, down which they precipitatedthemselves, almost turning the wagon over on the horses' backs at thebottom; and the climbs up the other side were heart-breaking. Pake wasoften obliged to descend and chop; and on the whole progress was soslow, Garth decided they might venture to insure their necks by walking.

  So he and Natalie strode on ahead, pausing here and there to pick thedelicious acrid mooseberries, and discussing their problems. Their talkwas chiefly of Nick Grylls. Natalie finally confessed what had happenedat the Landing.

  "You should have told me immediately," Garth said with a frown.

  Natalie looked "poor," as she called it. "I was afraid you'd send mehome," she said. "Now you can't," she added provokingly.

  Garth in turn told her what he had learned the night before.

  "Look here," said Natalie frankly; "what is the use of our hiding thesethings from each other? Let us promise to tell everything that happensafter this. You wanted me to take you for granted as if I were a man.You treat me like a man and I will."

  Garth smiled; and promised to try--just as she had done on a similaroccasion.

  "I wish I had some men's clothes," said Natalie stoutly; frowning asgirls always do, when they see themselves in that character. And inthe very act of wishing it, she forgot; and drove home her femininity.Tipping a palmful of mooseberries into her mouth, "Wouldn't I looknice!" she said with a sidewise sparkle.

  Garth, swallowing a sigh, smiled, and allowed that she would.

  They speculated on what Mary Co-que-wasa's errand might be; neither ofthem was experienced in villainy. There, in the matter-of-fact daylight,and, as Natalie said, on Sunday, August the fifth _now_, it was impossiblefor the thought of one silent old woman to cause them much uneasiness;besides, they presently expected to join forces with the Bishop's ampleparty. Nothing nearly so simple and devilish as the actual truth occurredto them; and it was brought home with the force of a blow, when theyreached the Warehouse.

  About eleven, a final descent brought them to the shore of a demurelittle river flowing softly between high banks--Musquasepi, that theywere to know so well. Off to the left it merged into the muddier watersof the "big" river. On the further shore stood the Warehouse they hadheard of so often.

  "Oh!" said Natalie. "Only another little log shack! Why I imagineda--a----"

  "Five-story stone front?" suggested Garth.

  "Well, I don't know," she said, "but not that!"

  On the hither side was a solitary cabin; and in the doorway stood abreed, outwardly of a different pattern from any they had seen--butafter all not so different. He was clad in decent Sunday blacks minusthe coat; and wore heavy-rimmed spectacles which he took off when hereally wished to see. On the table within was ostentatiously spread anopen Bible--the sharp-eyed Natalie took note that it was upside down.This young man had a heavy expression of conscious responsibility,before which the insouciant Pake visibly quailed. Pake indicated toGarth that Ancose Mackey stood before him.

  "Where is the Bishop?" Garth demanded impatiently.

  Ancose blandly ignored the question for the present. "How-do-you-do,sir," he said, like a mechanical doll, at the same time politelyextending his hand.

  Garth, shaking it hastily, repeated his question--but the young man wasnot to be hurried over any of his self-pleasing formalities.

  "How-do-you-do, sir," he repeated to Natalie in precisely the same tone,gravely shaking hands with her.

  Then they must needs come in and sit down, while their host made aremark on the weather, and informed them, with an air, that he wasa very good reader. He wrapped his Bible in an end of comforter, andpulling a doll's trunk from under the bed, put it away. Natalie had aglimpse of the contents of the trunk; she said afterward, it was likethe inside of his head; beside the Bible, there were sundry piecesof dried moose meat, a gaudy silk handkerchief, tobacco and a brasswatch-chain of the size of a small cable. He took out the latterand put it on.

  Finally he appeared to hear Garth's question. "Bishop gone up littleriver. Four days," he said.

  "Some one was to meet me here," said Garth confidently.

  An expression of genuine concern appeared under Ancose Mackey's solemnmugging. "You Garth Pevensey?" he asked.

  Garth nodded.

  Ancose's English was not equal to the situation. He turned quickly toPake, squatting in the doorway, and exploded in Cree. Pake answered inkind. It takes a roundabout course to say anything of an abstract naturein Cree. Finally Garth heard the ominous name of Mary Co-que-wasa enterinto their discourse.

  "What is it?" he demanded impatiently.

  Ancose turned a long face to him. "Bad medicine here," he said. "Bishopsend ol' Pierre Toma down from head of rapids with him team to get you,"he went on, struggling manfully with his English. "Ol' Pierre stay to methree days of waiting. Las' night come boy up big river in canoe. Boysay to ol' Pierre, Cap'n Jack stuck at Caliper Island. Boy say, Cap'nJack want tell to Bishop, Garth Pevensey no can come. Garth Pevensey himgone back outside."

  Garth and Natalie looked at each other in dismay.

  "Mary Co-que-wasa do this," added Ancose. "Him no speak never true."

  "Of course!" said Natalie. "She knew they wouldn't believe her, so shesent the boy up, while she waited below."

  "Where's the boy?" Garth demanded.

  Ancose shrugged. "Gone down," he said. "No can catch now."

  "When did Pierre Toma go back?"

  "Early," said Ancose. "Five hours. Him horses fresh."

  "Maybe we can catch them yet!" cried Garth. "How much to the head of therapids, Pake?"

  Pake had ample English to make a good bargain. However, it was finallystruck; and cutting Ancose Mackey's elaborate adieus very short, theytook to the road again.

  They had twenty-five miles to cover. This part of the trail isconsiderably used in freighting goods around the rapids, and in theNorth it is considered a good road, though the travellers' bones boretestimony to the contrary for several succeeding days. Pake, with theprospect of a substantial bonus before him, did not spare his horses;but the grass-fed beasts had already lost their enthusiasm for thejourney, and they made but indifferent progress. They were presentlycompelled to stop a good hour and a half to let them rest and feed.

  Garth, though he strove to hide it, was now very anxious. They had laidin only two weeks' provisions at the Landing; the trails seemed to benarrowing both before and behind; and the North closing in. Moreover, hesuspected Nick Grylls was not the man to stoop to mere mischief-making;and he wondered apprehensively what next move he contemplated. Lookingat his charming Natalie, he could conceive of a man stooping to anyvillainy to possess her. However, he strove to keep her spirits up--andhis own--with the oft-expressed belief that the Bishop would not leavePierre Toma's until the next morning.

  Six o'clock had passed before they turned into the rough little clearingon the river bank. The horses were done up. They had passed no othersign of habitation the whole way.

  A bent old man with a snowy thatch came hobbling out of the cabin.

  His look of surprise, and the quietness of the place, answered Garth'squestion before he put it.

  "Where is the Bishop?"

  The old man spread out his hands. "Gone. Four hours," he said.