Silver Lake

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

  AT SILVER LAKE ONCE MORE.

  It were needless to detail all that was said and done during theremainder of that night, or, rather, morning, for day began to breaksoon after the happy meeting narrated in the last chapter. It wouldrequire more space than we can afford to tell of all that was said anddone; how Robin embraced his children over and over again in thestrength of his love, and thanked God in the fervour of his gratitude;how Roy and Nelly were eager to relate all that had befallen them sincethey were carried away into captivity, in a much shorter time than sucha long story could by any possibility be told; how Walter rendered thetelling of it much more difficult by frequent interruptions with eagerquestions, which induced divergencies from which the tale-tellers forgotto return to the points where the interruptions occurred; how LarryO'Dowd complicated matters by sometimes volunteering anecdotes of hisown, illustrative of points similar to those which were being related;how Slugs always cut these anecdotes short with a facetious poke in theribs, which caused Larry to howl; how Stiff rendered confusion worseconfounded by trying to cook some breakfast, and by upsetting the wholeaffair into the fire; and how the children themselves broke in on theirown discourse continually with sudden and enthusiastic questions as tothe health of their mother and the welfare of the live stock at FortEnterprise.

  All this cannot be described, therefore we leave it to the vividimagination of the reader.

  "Now, comrades," said Robin, after the sun had risen, after breakfasthad been and eaten, after every incident had been related at least twiceover, and after every conceivable question had been asked four or fivetimes--"now, comrades, it remains for us to fix what we'll do."

  "To the Fort," said Larry O'Dowd abruptly.

  "Ay--home!" cried Walter.

  "Oh yes--home--home!" exclaimed Roy and Nelly in the same breath.

  "Ditto," observed Obadiah Stiff.

  Slugs and the Black Swan, being men of few words, said nothing, butnodded approval.

  "Well, it's quite plain that we're all of one mind," resumed Robin;"nevertheless, there are one or two points to which I ax yer attention.In the first place, it's now near the end of November. Fort Enterprise,in a straight line, is more nor three weeks' march from hereaway. Ourprovisions is low. When I left the Fort provisions was low there too,an' if my brother Jeff ha'nt had more nor his usual luck in huntin'they'll be lower yet before long. Now, I think it would be better to goback to Silver Lake for a week or so, hunt an' fish there till we've gota good supply, make noo sleds, load 'em chock full, an' then--ho! forhome. What say ye to that, comrades?"

  As every one assented readily to this plan, they proceeded at once tocarry it into execution. At first, indeed, Nelly looked a littledisappointed, saying that she wanted to get to her darling motherwithout delay; but, on Walter pointing out to her that it would onlydelay matters a week or so, and that it would enable the whole party torest and recruit, and give Wapaw time to recover thoroughly from hiswounds, she became reconciled, and put on her snow-shoes to return toSilver Lake with some degree of cheerfulness; and when, in the course ofthat day's walk, she began to tell her father of all the beauties andwonders of Silver Lake, she was not only reconciled but delighted toreturn.

  "O father!" said she, as they walked briskly through the forest, "you'veno notion what a beautiful place Silver Lake is. It's so clear, andso--so--oh! I don't know how to tell you; so like the fairy placesWalter used to tell us of, with clear water and high cliffs, and theclouds shining up at the clouds shining down, and two suns--one belowand another above. And then the hut! we made it all ourselves."

  "What! made the trees and all?" said Robin, with a smile.

  "No, of course not the trees; but we _cut_ the trees and piled 'em up,and spread the brush-wood, and--and--then the fish! we caught _such_ bigones."

  "How big, Nelly?"

  "Oh, ever so big!"

  "How big may that be?"

  "Well, some were so long," (measuring off the size on her arm,) "an'some near as long as my leg--an' they were good to eat too--no good!you've no notion; but you'll see and taste 'em too. Then there's theshooskin'! Did you ever shoosk, father?"

  "No, lass--leastways I don't remember, if I did."

  "But you know what it is?"

  "To be sure, Nelly; ha'nt I seed ye do it often on the slopes at FortEnterprise?"

  "Well, the shooskin' here is far, _far_ better. The first time Roy didit, he said it nearly banged all his bones to pieces--yes, he said hefelt as if his backbone was shoved up into his brain; and I sometimesthought it would squeeze all my ribs together. Oh, it is _so_ nice!You shall try it, father."

  Robin laughed heartily at this, and remarked that he would be very gladto try it, though he had no particular desire to have his ribs squeezedtogether, or his backbone shoved up into his brain!

  Then Nelly went on with great animation and volubility to tell of thetrapping of the bear, and the snaring of rabbits, and the catching offish, and of Roy's peculiar method of wading into the lake for ducks,and many other things.

  Roy, meanwhile, entertained Walter and Larry O'Dowd with a somewhatsimilar account of their doings during the months of their residence inthat wild region; and thus the journey was beguiled, so that the timeseemed to pass on swallows' wings.

  Towards evening the party approached the spot where Silver Lake hadfirst burst upon the enraptured gaze of the wandering pair. As theydrew near, Roy and Nelly hurried on in advance, and, mounting the fallentree on which they had formerly rested, waved to the others to come on,and shouted for glee. And well might they shout, for the eveninghappened to be brighter and calmer, if possible, than the one on whichthey first saw the lake. The rolling clouds were whiter, too, and thewaters looked more silvery than ever.

  The exclamations of delight, and the looks of admiration with which theglorious scene was greeted by the hunters when they came up, gratifiedthe hearts of Roy and Nelly very much.

  "Oh, _how_ I wish mother was here to see it!" cried Nelly.

  "Ain't _that_ a place for a king to live in, daddy?" said Roy,enthusiastically.

  "So 'tis, lad, so 'tis--leastwise it's a goodish spot for a hunter. Howsay you, Slugs?"

  Slugs smiled grimly, and nodded his head.

  "Would the red man like to pitch his wigwam there?" said Robin,addressing the Black Swan.

  "He has pitched his wigwam here before," replied the Black Swan softly."When he first took the White Swan home to be his mate, he came to hunthere."

  "Och! is it the honeymoon ye spint here?" broke in Larry. "Faix, it's apurty spot for courtin', and no mistake. Is that a beehive over there?"he added, pointing across the lake.

  "Why that's our hut--our _palace_," cried Nell, with gleeful look.

  "Then the sooner we get down to it, and have supper, the better,"observed Walter, "for we'll have to work hard to-morrow."

  "Come along, then," cried Robin, "an' go you ahead, Roy; beat the track,and show us the way."

  Roy accepted the position of honour. Nelly followed him, and the wholeband marched off in single file along the shores of Silver Lake. Theysoon reached the hut, and here again Nelly found many interesting pointsto dilate upon. She poured her words into willing and sympathetic ears,so that she monopolised nearly all the talk during the time that LarryO'Dowd was preparing supper.

  When that meal was being eaten the conversation became more general.Plans were discussed as to the intended procedure on the morrow, andvarious courses of action fixed. After that, as a matter of course, thepipes came out, and while these were being smoked, only the talkativemembers of the party kept up the conversation at intervals. Roy andNelly having exhausted all they had to say, began to feel desperatelysleepy, and the latter, having laid her head on her father's knee, fellsound asleep in that position. Soon the pipes were smoked out, the firewas replenished, the blankets unrolled; and in a very brief period oftime the whole party was in a state of happy unconsciousness, with theexception of
poor Wapaw, whose wounds made him rather restless, and theBlack Swan, whose duty it was to take the first watch; for it was,deemed right to set a watch, lest by any chance the Indians should havefollowed the hunters' tracks, though this was not probable.

  Next morning Robin aroused the sleepers somewhat abruptly by shooting agrey hen with his rifle from the tent door.

  "There's breakfast for you and me, Nelly, at any rate," remarked thehunter, as he went down to the lake to secure his bird.

  "An' won't there be the bones and feathers for the rest of us?" observedLarry, yawning, "so we won't starve this day, anyhow."

  In a few minutes every man was actively engaged in work of some sort orother. Robin and Walter prepared fishing-lines from some pieces ofbuckskin parchment; Black Swan and Slugs went out to cut wood for makingsledges; Stiff repaired the snow-shoes of the party, or rather assistedNelly in this operation; and Larry attended to the preparation ofbreakfast. Wapaw was the only one who lay still, it being thoughtbetter to make him rest, and get strong for the approaching journey.

  During the course of the day the lines were tried, and a good number offish caught. Slugs also went off in search of deer, and returned in theevening with a large stag on his broad shoulders. This raised thespirits of the party greatly, and they feasted that night, with muchrejoicing, on venison, marrowbones, and broiled fish!

  Thus they spent their time for several days. One party went regularlyevery morning to fish in the ice-holes; another party roamed the woods,and returned with grouse, or rabbits, and sometimes with deer; whilesome remained, part of the day at least, in the hut, mending snow-shoesand moccasins, and making other preparations.

  In the midst of all this busy labour, the shoosking was not forgotten.One day Robin said to his little daughter, at breakfast, that as theyhad got nearly enough of provisions for the journey they would take aholiday and go and have a shoosk. The proposal was hailed with delight,and the whole party went off with the new sledges, and spent theforenoon in sliding and tumbling down the hills like very children.

  At last everything was ready for a start. The provisions were tightlyfastened on the sledges, which were to be drawn by each of the men inturn. Snow-shoes were put on, guns and bows looked to and shouldered,and on a bright, frosty December morning the hunters left the hut,struck into the woods, and set out for Fort Enterprise.

  At the top of the slope, beside the fallen tree, they stopped with oneconsent and gazed back; and there Nelly took her last sad look at SilverLake, and sorrowfully said her last farewell.