XXV THE TRAVELERS WITHOUT SNOWSHOES
After the wolverine was killed trapping had improved for a time. Then thecatches began to dwindle, growing smaller and smaller. Louis and Neilagreed that they must either change their hunting grounds or go back toPembina. They had promised to return early in March. Now March had come,with a thaw that suggested an early spring. The ducks and geese wouldsoon be flying north, spring fishing would begin, and food be plentifulagain in the settlement. And perhaps both boys were a bit homesick.
"We go back with less food than we came away with," said Louis, "but wehave not been forced to eat wolf yet. Not once have we been nearstarving, and we have a good catch of pelts. We will make the rounds ofour traps once more, spend the night in the hut near _Tete de Boeuf_, andstart from there."
The morning was fine and the sun already high, when the boys left theovernight shelter in the rolling hills below Buffalo Head. Neil wentahead to break trail. The two dogs, fresh and eager, pulled willingly.The sled was well loaded with a good store of skins: rabbit, squirrel,raccoon, red fox, and mink, a few otter and beaver, two wildcats, threewolves, a couple of marten, the elk hide, and a fine and valuable silverfox pelt.
The weather was springlike, too springlike for good traveling. The soft,sticky snow clung in sodden masses to the snowshoes, making them heavyand unwieldy. It formed wet balls on the dogs' feet. Moccasins, warm andcomfortable in colder weather, became soaked. The sun glare, reflectedfrom the white expanse, was almost unbearable. Before noon, Walter'seyes, squinted and screwed nearly shut to keep out the excess of light,were smarting painfully. Neil's were even worse. He was so snow blindthat he dropped behind, following his comrades by hearing instead of bysight. Louis, less troubled by the glare, had to do all the trailbreaking.
They had hoped to reach the Red River by night, but the usual four milesan hour were impossible in the sodden, soft snow. Having made a laterstart than they intended, they permitted themselves no stop at noon. Atsundown they made a perilous crossing of a prairie stream onwater-covered, spongy ice, that threatened at every step to go down underthem, and reached a clump of willows.
"We stop here and have a cup of tea and dry our moccasins," Louisannounced.
The others, tired, hungry, with chilled feet, aching legs, and smarting,swollen eyes, were only too glad of a halt. A fire was soon burning andthe kettle steaming over it. The boys, seated on bales of furs, took offtheir moccasins and held their feet to the blaze. The tired dogs lay inthe snow near by, tongues hanging out and eager eyes watching the supperpreparations.
The meal was a scanty one. For the boys there was tea and a very smallchunk of pemmican, saved for the return trip. One little fish eachremained for the dogs. Yet everyone felt better for the food, so muchbetter that Louis proposed going on.
"It will be easier by night," he asserted. "The snow will freeze over thetop."
"I'm for keeping on," Neil agreed, "if I can see to find the way." Hisreddened eyelids were swollen almost shut. "How about you, Walter?"
When Walter had sunk down on the furs before the fire, he had not dreamedof traveling farther that day. If the question had been put to him thenhe would have answered no. But now that his feet were warm and he wasfortified with food and hot tea, going on did not seem so impossible. Hefelt strangely anxious to reach Pembina. His thoughts, ever sincemorning, had been turning to the Periers. It was more than two monthssince he had heard from them. How had things been going with them? Surelythere were letters awaiting him at the settlement. "Let's go on by allmeans," he replied to Neil's question, "as far as we can. It won't be sobad when the snow hardens and there isn't any sun glare."
Louis nodded. "We will rest till darkness comes. The wind has changed. Itwill soon be much colder, I think."
There was no doubt that the weather was turning colder. Thawing hadceased with the setting of the sun, and the wind came from the northwest.By the time the journey was resumed, a crust had formed on the snow. Thegoing was much easier, but the dogs were tired and footsore. Gray Wolfshowed strong disinclination to pull. Askime, however, did his best, anddragged his reluctant comrade along. The average half-breed driver wouldhave lashed and beaten the weary beasts, but Louis used the whipsparingly. He pulled with them or encouraged them by running ahead.
In spite of weariness the travelers made good progress. After midnightthey paused in a willow clump for another cup of hot tea, and then wenton again. The night had turned bitterly cold, and there was no shelteredspot nearer than the banks of the Red River. The river was now only a fewmiles away, so they forced themselves and the reluctant dogs forward.There was no lack of light, for the moon was at the full in a clear sky.The surface of the snow was frozen so hard that no obscuring drift wascarried before the wind. The waves of the prairie were motionless. Thethree boys and two dogs might have been at the north pole so alone werethey. Except for their own voices and the slight noises of sled andsnowshoes, as they sped forward over the crust, there was not a sound ofliving creature in a world of star-strewn sky and endless snow.
A brisk pace was necessary for warmth, and, in spite of their weariness,they kept it up. Reaching the woods bordering the river, they made theirway among scattering, bare-limbed trees, creaking and clashing in thewind. In search of a sheltered camping ground, they descended a stretchof open slope to an almost level terrace about a third of the way down tothe stream. And there they came upon the trail of human beings.
Stooping to examine the tracks, Louis gave a low whistle of amazement."_Ma foi_, but this is strange! Those men had no snowshoes. Why shouldanyone travel without them at this time of year?"
"Do you see any sled marks?" queried Neil. His own eyes were hardly incondition to distinguish faint traces by moonlight.
"I find none. Even on the crust a _tabagane_ would leave some marks.Those men without snowshoes broke through the crust."
"Perhaps it is nothing but an animal trail," Walter suggested.
"No, no. Men without snowshoes came this way." Louis followed the tracksa little distance, then returned to his companions and the dogs, who hadstopped for a rest. "There were three people," he said positively, "twomen; or a man and a boy,--and a woman."
"How can you tell it was a woman?" demanded Neil sceptically.
"Where she broke through into soft snow there are the marks of herskirt."
"Maybe it was a man wrapped in a blanket. They were probably Indians,"the Scotch boy suggested.
Louis shook his head. "Why should Indians travel without snowshoes?"
"Well, it's no affair of ours how they traveled or why. What we want is acamping place. The wind strikes us here."
"Yes," Louis agreed, "we will go on and look for a better place."
Along the terrace the dogs needed no guidance. Nose lowered, Askimefollowed the human tracks. Where the terrace dipped down a little, thehusky paused, raised his head, and howled. Louis ran forward and almoststumbled over something lying in the snow in the shadow of the slope. Heuttered a sharp exclamation.
"What's the matter?" called Neil.
"Have you found a good place?" asked Walter.
"I have found a man," came the surprising reply.
"A man? Frozen?"
Neil hurried to join Louis, who was on his knees trying to unroll theblanket that wrapped the motionless form lying in the snow. Neil stoopedto help.
"His heart beats. He still breathes," Louis exclaimed. "But he is cold,cold as ice. Make a fire, you and Walter. I will rub him and try to keepthe life in."
Neil snatched the ax from the sled. Walter kicked off his snowshoes andset to work digging and scraping away the snow. As soon as he had kindledsome fine shavings and added larger wood to make a good blaze, he helpedLouis to carry the unconscious man nearer the fire. As they laid him downwhere the firelight shone on his face, Walter gave a cry of surprise andhorror.
"Monsieur Perier! It is Monsieur Perier, Louis!"
He recalled Louis' certa
inty that the tracks were those of a man, a boy,and a woman. "Where are the others?" he cried. "Where are Elise and Max?"
Without waiting for an answer, he sprang up and began to search. In ahollow in the snow in the lee of a leafless bush, completely hidden indeep shadow, he found another huddled heap wrapped in blankets; Elise andMax clasped in each other's arms. Between them and the place where theirfather had lain were the ashes of a dead fire.
South from Hudson Bay: An Adventure and Mystery Story for Boys Page 26