noon all the bay behind the yacht was one heavingmass of snow-clad pieces. It was well for the _Snowbird_ she was sturdyand strong; the grinding bergs, small though they were, tried herstability to the utmost, but the wind went down and the swell ceased;yet fearing a repetition of the rough treatment, McBain determined toseek a less exposed position farther to the west. The ice was nowloose, so as soon as there was enough wind to fill her sails progresswas commenced. It was slow hard work, but by dint of great exertion andno little skill, a _portus salutis_ was found at last fifty milesfarther west, and here the captain determined to rest until the springwas more advanced, and there was a likelihood of getting safely out tosea:
The region in which they now found themselves was even more romantic andwild than that which they had left. There was still room for more skinsin the _Snowbird_, so a big shoot was organised--quite a big shoot infact, for it would probably be the last they would enjoy in this strangecountry.
The season was now sufficiently mild to render camping out to suchweather-beaten wanderers as the people of the _Snowbird_ practicable,not to say enjoyable. So everything being got in readiness, the startwas made for up country, McBain himself taking charge of the expedition,which mustered twenty men in all, ten or more of whom carried rifles,but every one of whom was well armed. The principal tent was taken, andthe largest camping-kettle, a wonderful _multum-in-parvo_, that Sethdescribed as "a kind of invention that went by spirits-o'-wine, and waswarranted to cook for fifty hands, and wash up the crockery arterwards."
Rory did not forget his sketch-book, nor his wonderful boat, which oneman could carry--not in his waistcoat pocket, as Rory banteringlyaverred, but on his back, and three men could row in.
They followed a gorge or canon, which led them gradually upwards andinland. I call it "gorge," because I cannot call it glen or valley.The bottom of it was in width pretty uniformly about the eighth part ofa mile, almost level, though covered with boulders and scanty scrub,which rendered walking difficult. At each side rose, towering skywards,black, wet, beetling cliffs, so perpendicular that not even a shrub, norgrass itself, could find roothold on them, but on the top tall weirdpine-trees fringed the cliffs all along, and as they ascended, thisTitanic cutting so wound in and out, that on looking either back or awayahead, nothing could be seen but the bare pine-fringed wall of rocks.
Seth laughed.
"You never seed such a place before, I reckon," he said, "but I have;many's the one. You ain't likely to lose your way in a place like this,anyhow."
It was almost nightfall ere the cliffs began to get lower and lower ateach side of them, and soon after they cleared the gorge, and came outupon a broad buffalo-grass prairie, which must have been over a thousandfeet above the level of the sea.
And not far from the head of the gorge, near a clump of spruce firs, thetent was pitched and the camp fire built, and Seth set about preparing awonderfully savoury stew. Seth's dinners always had the effect ofputting the partakers thereof on the best of terms with themselves.After dinner you did not want to do much more that evening, but, wellwrapped in your furs, recline around the log fire, listen to stories andsing songs, till sleep began to take your senses away, and then you didnot know a whit more until next morning, when you sprang from your couchas fresh as a mountain trout.
If they had meant this expedition for a big shoot they were notdisappointed. The country all around was everything a sportsman couldwish. There was hill and dale, woodland, jungle, and plain, and therewas beauty in the landscape, too, and, far away over the green anddistant forest rose the grand old hills, raising their snowy headsskywards, crag over crag and peak over peak, as far as eye could reach.
A week flew by, a fortnight passed, and the pile of skins got bigger andbigger. They only now shot the more valuable furs, but skin of bear,nor deer, nor lordly elk, was to be despised, while the smaller gamewere killed for food.
Another week and it would be time to be returning, for spring comes allat once in the latitudes they were now in. There was still a portion ofthe country unexplored. Rory, from a hill-top, had caught sight of adistant lake, and was fired with the ambition to launch his fairy boaton its waters. On the very morning that Seth, Rory, and Allan set outto seek for this lake, with two of the brawniest hands of the crew tobear the boat, McBain came a little way with them.
"Take care of the boys, Seth," he said, with a strange, melancholy smileplaying over his face. "I had a queer dream last night. Be backto-morrow, mind, before nightfall." The little party had theircompasses, and therefore struck a bee-line through the forest in thedirection in which they fancied the lake lay. On and on they went formiles upon miles, and at last reached the banks of a broad river, andhere they encamped for lunch. Feeling refreshed, and hearing the roarof a cataract, apparently some way down the stream, they took their roadalong the banks to view it. They had not gone very far when they stood,thunderstruck, by the brink of a tremendous subterranean cavern. Thencecame the roar of the cataract. The whole river disappeared suddenlyinto the bowels of the earth [a phenomenon not unknown to travellers inthe wilds of America].
Marvelling much, they started off up-stream now, to seek for the lake.
After an hour's walking, the forest all at once receded a good mile fromthe river, and the banks were no longer green, but banks of bouldersmixed with silver sand and patches of snow. Here and there a bridge ofsolid snow spanned the river to great banks and hills of snow on theother side. As they climbed higher and higher, the river by their rightmet them with nearly all the speed of a cataract. But they can see thetop of the hill at last, and yonder is the half-yellow, half-transparentstream leaping downwards as if over a weir.
And now they are up and the mystery is solved; the river is burstingover the lip of a great lake, which stretches out before them for manymiles--forest on one side, hills beyond, and on the right a giganticridge of snow. They call the lake the Great Snow Lake.
They took their way to the left along its banks, going on through thewoods that grew on its brink, until they came at last to an open glade,green and moss-covered. Here they encamped for rest, and soon afterembarked on the strange lake, leaving the men to look after thepreparation of dinner against the time of their return.
Rory was charmed with his boat; he sat in the bows sketching. Allanrowed, and Seth was busy fishing--no, _trying_ to fish; but he soon gaveup the attempt in despair, and almost at the same time Rory closed hissketch-book. Silence, and a strange indefinable gloom, seemed to settledown on the three. But there is silence everywhere around. Not aripple is on the leaden lake, not a breath sighs through the forest.But, hark! a sullen plash in the water just round the point, and soonanother and another.
"There is some water-monster bathing round yonder," said Rory; "andindeed I believe it's the land of enchantment we're in altogether."
They rounded the point, and found themselves in a bay surrounded by highbanks of sand and gravel, portions of the sides of which, loosened bythe thaw, were every now and then falling with a melancholy boom intothe deep black water beneath. Sad, and more silent than ever, with agloom on their hearts which they could not account for, they rowed awayback to the spot where they had left their men.
There was no smoke to welcome them, and when they pushed aside thebranches and rushed into the open, their hearts seemed to stand stillwith dread at the sight that met their eyes. Only the embers of asmouldering fire, and near it and beside it the two poor fellows theyhad left happy and well--dead and _scalped_!
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They say that some of the Highlanders of Scotland possess the strangegift, second sight. I know not, but McBain began to feel uneasy thevery moment his party had gone, and as the day wore on he became moreso.
"Ralph, boy," he said at last, "let us break up camp at once and followthe boys."
"I'm ready now!" cried Ralph, alarmed at his captain's manner.
A meal was hastily served out,
and in ten minutes more the start wascommenced.
The men marched in silence, partaking in a measure of the gloom of theirleader. There was no thought of shooting the game that crossed theirpathway. But the trail was easy. They reached the Great Snow Lake, andbore round to the right, and soon entered the dark forest. Here in thegloom the trail was more difficult to follow, and they soon lost it.While they were waiting and doubting, the stillness of the forest wasbroken by a yell, that not only startled the listeners, but chilled themto the very marrow. Again and again it was repeated, mingled withshouting and the sharp ring of rifles. It was a dread sound; it wasas--
"Though men fought upon the earth, And fiends in upper air."
"On, men, on!" cried McBain; "our boys are yonder; they are being foullymassacred!"
As he spoke he dashed forward in the direction whence the soundproceeded, followed
The Cruise of the Snowbird: A Story of Arctic Adventure Page 49