CHAPTER ELEVEN.
WINTER--SLEEPING IN THE SNOW--A NIGHT ALARM.
Summer passed away, autumn passed away, and winter came. So didChristmas, and so did Jasper's marriage-day.
Now the reader must understand that there is a wonderful differencebetween the winter in that part of the North American wilderness calledRupert's land, and winter in our own happy island.
Winter out there is from six to eight months long. The snow varies fromthree to four feet deep, and in many places it drifts to fifteen ortwenty feet deep. The ice on the lakes and rivers is sometimes abovesix feet thick; and the salt sea itself, in Hudson's Bay, is frozen overto a great extent. Nothing like a thaw takes place for many months at atime, and the frost is so intense that it is a matter of difficulty toprevent one's-self from being frost-bitten. The whole country, duringthese long winter months, appears white, desolate, and silent.
Yet a good many of the birds and animals keep moving about, though mostof them do so at night, and do not often meet the eye of man. The beargoes to sleep all winter in a hole, but the wolf and the fox prowl aboutthe woods at night. Ducks, geese, and plover no longer enliven themarshes with their wild cries; but white grouse, or ptarmigan, fly aboutin immense flocks, and arctic hares make many tracks in the deep snow.Still, these are quiet creatures, and they scarcely break the deep deadsilence of the forests in winter.
At this period the Indian and the fur-trader wrap themselves in warmdresses of deer-skin, lined with the thickest flannel, and spend theirshort days in trapping and shooting. At night the Indian piles logs onhis fire to keep out the frost, and adds to the warmth of his skin-tentby heaping snow up the outside of it all round. The fur-trader putsdouble window-frames and double panes of glass in his windows, puts ondouble doors, and heats his rooms with cast-iron stoves.
But do what he will, the fur-trader cannot keep out the cold altogether.He may heat the stove red-hot if he will, yet the water in the basinsand jugs in the corner of his room will be frozen, and his breathsettles on the window-panes, and freezes there so thickly that itactually dims the light of the sun. This crust on the windows _inside_is sometimes an inch thick!
Thermometers in England are usually filled with quicksilver. InRupert's Land quicksilver would be frozen half the winter, so spirit ofwine is used instead, because that liquid will not freeze with anyordinary degree of cold. Here, the thermometer sometimes falls as lowas zero. Out there it does not rise so high as zero during the greaterpart of the winter, and it is often as low as twenty, thirty, and evenfifty degrees _below_ zero.
If the wind should blow when the cold is intense, no man dare face it--he would be certain to be frost-bitten. The parts of the body that aremost easily frozen are the ears, the chin, the cheek-bones, the nose,the heels, fingers, and toes. The freezing of any part begins with apricking sensation. When this occurs at the point of your nose, it istime to give earnest attention to that feature, else you run the risk ofhaving it shortened. The best way to recover it is to rub it well, andto keep carefully away from the fire.
The likest thing to a frost-bite is a burn. In fact, the two things arealmost the same. In both cases the skin or flesh is destroyed, andbecomes a sore. In the one case it is destroyed by fire, in the otherby frost; but in both it is painful and dangerous, according to thedepth of the frost-bite or the burn. Many a poor fellow loses joints ofhis toes and fingers--some have even lost their hands and feet by frost.Many have lost their lives. But the most common loss is the loss ofthe skin of the point of the nose, cheek-bones, and chin--a loss whichis indeed painful, but can be replaced by nature in the course of time.
Of course curious appearances are produced by such intense cold. Ongoing out into the open air, the breath settles on the breast, whiskers,and eyebrows in the shape of hoar-frost; and men who go out in themorning for a ramble with black or brown locks, return at night withwhat appears to be grey hair--sometimes with icicles hanging about theirfaces. Horses and cattle there are seldom without icicles hanging fromtheir lips and noses in winter.
Poor Mr Pemberton was much troubled in this way. He was a fat andheavy man, and apt to perspire freely. When he went out to shoot inwinter, the moisture trickled down his face and turned his whiskers intotwo little blocks of ice; and he used to be often seen, after a hardday's walk, sitting for a long time beside the stove, holding his cheeksto the fire, and gently coaxing the icy blocks to let go their hold!
But for all this, the long winter of those regions is a bright enjoyableseason. The cold is not felt so much as one would expect, because it isnot _damp_, and the weather is usually bright and sunny.
From what I have said, the reader will understand that summer in thoseregions is short and very hot; the winter long and very cold. Bothseasons have their own peculiar enjoyments, and, to healthy men, bothare extremely agreeable.
I have said that Jasper's marriage-day had arrived. New Year's Day wasfixed for his union with the fair and gentle Marie. As is usual at thisfestive season of the year, it was arranged that a ball should be givenat the fort in the large hall to all the people that chanced to be thereat the time.
Old Laroche had been sent to a small hut a long day's march from thefort, where he was wont to spend his time in trapping foxes. He wasthere alone, so, three days before New Year's Day, Jasper set out withArrowhead to visit the old man, and bear him company on his march backto the fort.
There are no roads in that country. Travellers have to plod through thewilderness as they best can. It may not have occurred to my reader thatit would be a difficult thing to walk for a day through snow so deep,that, at every step, the traveller would sink the whole length of hisleg. The truth is, that travelling in Rupert's Land in winter would beimpossible but for a machine which enables men to walk on the surface ofthe snow without sinking more than a few inches. This machine is thesnowshoe. Snow-shoes vary in size and form in different parts of thecountry, but they are all used for the same purpose. Some are long andnarrow; others are nearly round. They vary in size from three to sixfeet in length, and from eight to twenty inches in breadth. They areextremely light--made of a frame-work of hard wood, and covered with anetwork of deer-skin, which, while it prevents the wearer from sinkingmore than a few inches, allows any snow that may chance to fall on thetop of the shoe to pass through the netting.
The value of this clumsy looking machine may be imagined, when I saythat men with them will easily walk twenty, thirty, and even forty milesacross a country over which they could not walk three miles without suchhelps.
It was a bright, calm, frosty morning when Jasper and his friend set outon their short journey. The sun shone brilliantly, and the hoar-frostsparkled on the trees and bushes, causing them to appear as if they hadbeen covered with millions of diamonds. The breath of the two men camefrom their mouths like clouds of steam. Arrowhead wore the roundsnow-shoes which go by the name of bear's paws--he preferred these toany others. Jasper wore the snow-shoes peculiar to the ChipewyanIndians. They were nearly as long as himself, and turned up at thepoint. Both men were dressed alike, in the yellow leathern costume ofwinter. The only difference being that Jasper wore a fur cap, whileArrowhead sported a cloth head-piece that covered his neck andshoulders, and was ornamented with a pair of horns.
All day the two men plodded steadily over the country. Sometimes theywere toiling through deep snow in wooded places, sinking six or eightinches in spite of their snow-shoes. At other times they were passingswiftly over the surface of the open plains, where the snow was beatenso hard by exposure to the sun and wind that the shoes only just brokethe crust and left their outlines behind.
Then they reached a bend of the river, where they had again to plodheavily through the woods on its banks, until they came out upon itsfrozen surface. Here the snow was so hard, that they took off theirsnow-shoes and ran briskly along without them for a long space.
Thus they travelled all day, without one halt, and made such good use oftheir time,
that they arrived at the log-hut of old Laroche early in theevening.
"Well met, son-in-law, _that_ _is_ _to_ _be_," cried the stout old manheartily, as the two hunters made their appearance before the lowdoor-way of his hut, which was surrounded by trees and almost buried insnow. "If you had been half an hour later, I would have met you in thewoods."
"How so, father-in-law, _that_ _is_ _to_ _be_," said Jasper, "were yegoin' out to your traps so late as this?"
"Nay, man, but I was startin' for the fort. It's a long way, as youknow, and my old limbs are not just so supple as yours. I thought Iwould travel to-night, and sleep in the woods, so as to be there in goodtime to-morrow. But come in, come in, and rest you. I warrant meyou'll not feel inclined for more walkin' to-night."
"Now my name is not Jasper Derry if I enter your hut this night," saidthe hunter stoutly. "If I could not turn round and walk straight backto the fort this night, I would not be worthy of your daughter, old man.So come along with you. What say you, Arrowhead; shall we go straightback?"
"Good," answered the Indian.
"Well, well," cried Laroche, laughing, "lead the way, and I will followin your footsteps. It becomes young men to beat the track, and old onesto take it easy."
The three men turned their faces towards Fort Erie, and were soon faraway from the log-hut. They walked steadily and silently along, withoutonce halting, until the night became so dark that it was difficult toavoid stumps and bushes. Then they prepared to encamp in the snow.
Now it may seem to many people a very disagreeable idea, that ofsleeping out in snow, but one who has tried it can assure them that itis not so bad as it seems. No doubt, when Jasper halted in the colddark woods, and said, "I think this will be a pretty good place tosleep," any one unacquainted with the customs of that country would havethought the man was jesting or mad; for, besides being very dismal, inconsequence of its being pitch dark, it was excessively cold, and snowwas falling steadily and softly on the ground. But Jasper knew what hewas about, and so did the others. Without saying a word, the three menflung down their bundles of provisions, and each set to work to make theencampment. Of course they had to work in darkness so thick that eventhe white snow could scarcely be seen.
First of all they selected a tree, the branches of which were so thickand spreading as to form a good shelter from the falling snow. HereJasper and Laroche used their snow-shoes as shovels, while Arrowheadplied his axe and soon cut enough of firewood for the night. He alsocut a large bundle of small branches for bedding. A space of abouttwelve feet long, by six broad, was cleared at the foot of the tree inhalf an hour. But the snow was so deep that they had to dig down fourfeet before they reached the turf. As the snow taken out of the holewas thrown up all round it, the walls rose to nearly seven feet.
Arrowhead next lighted a roaring fire at one end of this cleared space,the others strewed the branches over the space in front of it, andspread their blankets on the top, after which the kettle was put on toboil, buffalo steaks were stuck up before the fire to roast, and the menthen lay down to rest and smoke, while supper was preparing. Theintense cold prevented the fire from melting the snowy walls of thisencampment, which shone and sparkled in the red blaze like pink marblestudded all over with diamonds, while the spreading branches formed aruddy-looking ceiling. When they had finished supper, the heat of thefire and the heat of their food made the travellers feel quite warm andcomfortable, in spite of John Frost; and when they at last wrapped theirblankets round them and laid their heads together on the branches, theyfell into a sleep more sound and refreshing than they would have enjoyedhad they gone to rest in a warm house upon the best bed in England.
But when the fire went out, about the middle of the night, the coldbecame so intense that they were awakened by it, so Jasper rose and blewup the fire, and the other two sat up and filled their pipes, whiletheir teeth chattered in their heads. Soon the blaze and the smokewarmed them, and again they lay down to sleep comfortably till morning.
Before daybreak, however, Arrowhead--who never slept so soundly but thathe could be wakened by the slightest unusual noise--slowly raised hishead and touched Jasper on the shoulder. The hunter was toowell-trained to the dangers of the wilderness to start up or speak. Heuttered no word, but took up his gun softly, and looked in the directionin which the Indian's eyes gazed. A small red spot in the ashes servedto reveal a pair of glaring eye-balls among the bushes.
"A wolf," whispered Jasper, cocking his gun. "No; a man," saidArrowhead.
At the sound of the click of the lock the object in the bushes moved.Jasper leaped up in an instant, pointed his gun, and shouted sternly--
"Stand fast and speak, or I fire!"
At the same moment Arrowhead kicked the logs of the fire, and a brightflame leapt up, showing that the owner of the pair of eyes was anIndian. Seeing that he was discovered, and that if he turned to run hewould certainly be shot, the savage came forward sulkily and sat downbeside the fire. Jasper asked him why he came there in that stealthymanner like a sly fox. The Indian said he was merely travelling bynight, and had come on the camp unexpectedly. Not knowing who wasthere, he had come forward with caution.
Jasper was not satisfied with this reply. He did not like the look ofthe man, and he felt sure that he had seen him somewhere before, but hisface was disfigured with war paint, and he could not feel certain onthat point until he remembered the scene in the trading store atJasper's House.
"What--Darkeye!" cried he, "can it be you?"
"Darkeye!" shouted Laroche, suddenly rising from his reclining positionand staring the Indian in the face with a dark scowl. "Why, Jasper,this is the villain who insulted my daughter, and to whom I taught thelesson that an old man could knock him down."
The surprise and indignation of Jasper on hearing this was great, butremembering that the savage had already been punished for his offence,and that it would be mean to take advantage of him when there were threeto one, he merely said--
"Well, well, I won't bear a grudge against a man who is coward enough toinsult a woman. I would kick you out o' the camp, Darkeye, but as youmight use your gun when you got into the bushes, I won't give you thatchance. At the same time, we can't afford to lose the rest of our napfor you, so Arrowhead will keep you safe here and watch you, whileLaroche and I sleep. We will let you go at daybreak."
Saying this Jasper lay down beside his father-in-law, and they were bothasleep in a few minutes, leaving the two Indians to sit and scowl ateach other beside the fire.
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