CHAPTER V.
WOODCRAFT.
Nothing more was said about the ashes of the dead fire left behind bysome party that had recently been there, until the trout had beendeliciously cooked and eaten. All of them declared that they had nevertasted finer flavored fish than those big gamey fellows of that FarNorth river. It really seemed that the further they journeyed toward theArctic Circle the sweeter the trout became.
"They were pretty big fellows, too," Frank Shaw said, as they sat therefilling up with dinner.
"Never saw larger ones, only in the Lake Superior region," Nedconfessed; "and eight-pounders are common along the northern shore whereseveral small rivers empty into the lake. I saw a bunch of that size atthe Government fish hatchery at the Soo when I passed through there on asteamboat, and shot the rapids with the Indian guides. They weredandies, I tell you, boys. Think of it, genuine speckled trout weighingeight pounds, and every ounce of them fighting weight too."
Finally, when they were all ready to cry quits, having had a gloriousmeal, Ned thought of what the veteran guide had said about that deadfire.
"Now suppose you and Tamasjo take a good look at the ashes, and the layof the land around, so as to tell us what you can read there," he toldthe voyageur.
At that some of the other boys began to stare, for they had heardnothing up to then about the late presence of others on the spot. Butthey knew Ned well enough to be sure that he had some good object insaying what he did; and accordingly all of them flocked after the twoguides when they made for the nearby spot where even Jimmy had noticedthe remains of a fire.
The scouts remained quiet while Francois and the Cree got down on handsand knees the better to examine into the signs. Ned and some of hischums would themselves have been easily able to read certain things inconnection with these ashes. For instance, remembering that it hadrained most of the second day before, and there was no sign of waterabout the ashes, they would have set it down as positive that the firehad been made _afterwards_. That was an easy thing to make out; andperhaps there were others they could figure; but when in the presence ofveterans Ned was only too willing to observe all that was done, andprofit by it.
The two men did not confine themselves to sifting the ashes throughtheir fingers, and comparing notes in a jargon which the boys could notunderstand, but which they imagined must be Cree talk.
They moved further away, and looked the ground over.
"I noticed that there were plenty of hoof tracks around here," Jimmy upand declared; "but say, it never flagged me that a fellow could learn aheap from just stickin' his nose down close to such. 'Tis a safe betwe'll know everything but the names of the gossoons before Francois andhis red pal quit."
Some of the others were feeling the same way. They too had noticed thatthere were plenty of footprints around, but being more interested in thefeast then being prepared, they had not thought fit to bother aboutgiving the same more than a casual glance.
On Ned's part, he would have devoted some of his time to this businessonly for the promise of the voyageur to read the signs after they hadeaten.
After some little time had passed Francois came and stood before them.His face was almost as inscrutable as that of the Sphinx, or a CreeIndian. Whatever the character of his finding, it did not showoutwardly.
"Well, how about these men, Francois; they must have been here lastnight, you think, don't you?" Ned started to ask him.
"Eet is so, sare. Zey leave zis place just same time we be saying_bon jour_ to our own camp up ze rivaire."
"How many were they?" was Ned's next question; for Francois could nottell his story at length, but seemed to wait to have it drawn from himpiece-meal as though he might be a willing witness in the box.
"Thirteen, all men at zat."
"Hunters, trappers, miners, or prospectors?" demanded Ned.
That caused the other to give one of his suggestive shrugs.
"Nozzing like zat right now, sare," he went on to declare, so positivelythat it was evident he had found the Indian also agreed with him. "Someof zat crowd zey wear ze moccasin ze same as Tamasjo here. Ozzers haveboots wiz ze heel. But zey carry no traps along wiz zem, I tell you zat,sare."
"And if they were miners intending to work in the holdings of thesyndicate they would have carried tools along, picks, shovels and thelike?" remarked Jack.
Francois shook his head in the negative.
"Nozzing like zat, pelieve me, sare," he urged.
"Well, go on and tell us what you think they may be," Ned pursued.
"I zink they pe a pad crowd," answered the guide. "Zis tells ze tale,"and he held up some greasy cards which he must have gathered in thebushes behind the rocks near which the dead ashes lay.
Tamasjo also stooped and lifted something that glittered in thesunlight. When the scouts saw that it was a suspicious looking blackbottle, they could guess as to what the nature of its recent contentshad been. Nevertheless, it was passed around and every fellow had achance to take a sniff at it.
"Deadly stuff, sure as you're born!" Jimmy pronounced, making a wryface.
"Whisky or old rye or something like that," Frank declared; and it spokewell for those five boys that no one was positively able to identify theodor, though well knowing its general character as an aid todrunkenness.
"That seems to settle it, so far as the tough kind of men they were,"Ned continued; "and now we want to try and find out if they were lookingfor us to come down the river; and also, try and guess where they'vegone to. They had boats, of course, Francois?"
The guide held up two fingers.
"Batteau, plenty room in same for all. Tamasjo and me, we tink zey hafgone down stream. Pig bay lie only half-day's journey zat way. Eef we goon, mebbe so we arrive zere by night. Better hold up, and make ze lastpart of ze trip in ze dark, so zat zey no see us."
"I understand what you mean, Francois," the patrol leader hastened tosay; "and it sounds good to me, I admit. When we do go down to the saltwater we will take advantage of your advice."
"What's that, Ned," broke in Jack; "you don't mean to say there's anydoubt about our going down, sooner or later, do you?"
"Oh! no, we're bound to see the famous Hudson Bay before we leave thissection," the other assured him; "but I've been thinking things over,and come to a certain conclusion."
"Let's hear what it is, won't you, Ned?" Jimmy besought him.
"Yes, that is if Francois is through telling us about these parties."
"How about that, Francois?" Ned asked, turning to the voyageur.
"Eet is about all zat is worth knowing, sare. Of course, we haf learnzat zis man who is captaine to ze bunch, he is mooch pig, a giant, andzere is sooch a man I know whose name eet is Sol. Greggs; heem it mightbe who is conducting zis gang. He is a pad man, a thief who robbedtraps many times, and so he gif me zis scar on ze cheek when we fighteet out."
"That sounds just like the kind of a rascal the syndicate would send uphere to run things, if they were trying to work a tremendous swindle andexpected to keep curious people from investigating," Jack boldlydeclared.
"But how about you telling what your plans are, Ned?" queried Frank.
"It's only fair you should know," replied the other; "so listen to whatmy idea is. In the first place, according to the map we have of thecountry up here, we believe that this supposed-to-be-wonderful mine mustlie somewhere to the left of the mouth of this very river. Now it struckme that perhaps we might carry out our plans better if we hid our boatssomewhere near by, and took a scout off in that direction."
"That does sound mighty sensible, Ned!" admitted Jack Bosworth, afterconsidering the suggestion for a brief time.
"Suppose we try it," Frank added.
"One thing I like about the plan," Jimmy spoke up, "is that it will giveus a chance to stretch our legs some. To tell you the truth, I'm gettingtired of squatting there like a squaw in the tepee, with little ornothing to do. I like to carry out my share of the work; but you somehowseem afraid to let me paddl
e, just as if a reformed joker like me wouldbe careless, or actually _try_ to upset the old canoe. So I put my votein as wanting to look for the mine over land."
Each of the other scouts quickly let it be known that they were in fullsympathy with Ned's suddenly sprung plan. Of course, this would makesome changes in their arrangements; but the more they looked it over,the better they all liked the idea.
"I'm chuckling to think how that bunch will keep on waiting for us tocome down-stream," Frank observed, as they prepared to again enter theboats, since Ned did not mean to abandon the river craft until they hadgone some distance further.
"There's only thing I hope won't happen," remarked Jack.
"And what might it be, if you don't mind telling?" Jimmy asked.
"We must be sure to hide our boats, so that there will be small chanceof their being discovered by anybody," Jack continued, seriously. "Thinkwhat a dickens of a scrape we'd be in if we had to go back all the wayafoot. It would take us many weeks, and chances are we'd be overtaken bywinter before we got to civilization."
"Our ammunition wouldn't hold out that long," broke in Jimmy, visiblydisturbed at the thought "and glory be, whatever would we do for grubto eat? It may be true that the rivers are full of fine trout, but mestomach would go back on me if so be I had to eat them every solitaryday, week in and out."
"Oh! what would be the use of our being scouts if we didn't know how totrap animals and birds," Ned told him, reprovingly. "In fact, while, ofcourse, I wouldn't say I'd like to have the experience, there's no doubtin my mind but that it would be a great education to the lot of us. Andif we pulled through we'd feel as if we were fitted to go anywhere,under any conditions."
"Huh! after all we've experienced on our little trips," said Frank,"seems to me as if that would be only a walkover. For one, it doesn'tfaze me a whit. If Ned gave the word I'd start out with him to walkaround the world, and with never a single cent in our pockets to beginwith. Chances are we'd land back in New York inside of two yearsmillionaires. That would be just like it. All the same I think we oughtto cover our canoes, and keep them from falling into the hands ofenemies. It is a pretty husky tramp from here to Montreal, and overtough country at that, with rivers to cross, and bogs miles around toavoid."
"Excuse me, if you please," muttered Jimmy, whose desire for a chance tostretch his legs did not contemplate such an extended trip as walkingall the way to the metropolis on the St. Lawrence.
They were soon speeding down-stream again. Other small rapids they cameupon, but none of the same dimensions as the cataract lately passed.
Jimmy was presently observed making gestures, and having drawn theattention of those in the nearby canoes to himself, he called out:
"Sure it's a connecting link with home!"
"What is?" demanded Jack.
"Be after dipping your hand over the side, and tastin' the water!"replied the scout who was in the boat with Tamasjo and Frank.
Upon doing so, Ned, who had quickly guessed what Jimmy meant, found thatthere was indeed a brackish taste to the water, as though the influenceof the great tides of Hudson Bay might be felt this far up the stream;it would have gone much further only for the numerous rifts that told ofa descent of several feet in the drop of the river.
Ned concluded that they had gone quite far enough for the present. Uponasking the voyageur, he learned that they could reach the mouth of theriver inside of a couple of hours, if they chose to use their paddles inaddition to the set of the now sluggish current of the widening stream.
"Keep on the watch for a suitable hiding place for the boats," he toldthe others, "and remember, it must be on the larboard side, becausethat's the way we expect to tramp in search of the wonderful coppermine."
Every one after that kept on the alert for such a place as would besuitable for the purpose to which they intended to put it. Of all thefive scouts, it seemed the irony of fate that Jimmy should actually bethe one to first make a discovery.
"I'm only a dub at this business, I know," he said after a while, with agrin on his freckled face, that was almost as red as his hair, thanks tothe action of the summer sun and the winds they had encountered; "yes,only a tyro, so to speak; but d'ye know it strikes me that over yonderamongst the canes the canoes would lie so snug and unbeknown thatnothin'd bring harm to the same, while we chanct to be awanderin'around."
Ned being close by gave one look and then laughed.
"Jimmy, I want to tell you right now," he remarked, "that if you'd onlydevote more of your time to scout lore you'd be a wonder. That growth ofthick reeds is just a dandy place to do the business, and on the properside of the river at that. We can push in, each following exactly in thewake of the preceding boat. Jack and myself will bring up the rear, andcarefully fix the reeds again, so that no one on the river ten feetaway would dream that boats had made a passage there. Head in, fellows,and pick out your way carefully, making only one track or channel."
This, those in the foremost canoe did, and close behind them came thesecond boat, the paddler using his blade with extreme caution, so as notto disturb the reeds more than was absolutely necessary. Finally, Jackand Ned wound up the procession, the latter kneeling in the stern of thecanoe, where he could use his hands dextrously and swiftly cause thebent-over canes to resume their former position. In this fashion thenthey finally came to the land, still surrounded by the little wildernessof reeds, out of which they could emerge as soon as the boats weresecurely fastened.