CHAPTER SIX
It is doubtful whether in the few moments that followed, any clear-cutmental argument passed through Neewa's head. It is too much to supposethat he deliberately set about assisting the half-dead and almostunconscious Miki from his precarious position. His sole ambition was toget himself where it was safe and dry, and to do this he of necessityhad to drag the pup with him. So Neewa tugged at the end of his rope,digging his sharp little claws into the driftwood, and as he advancedMiki was dragged up head foremost out of the cold and friendlessstream. It was a simple process. Neewa reached a log around which thewater was eddying, and there he flattened himself down and hung on ashe had never hung to anything else in his life. The log was entirelyhidden from shore by a dense growth of brushwood. Otherwise, tenminutes later Challoner would have seen them.
As it was, Miki had not sufficiently recovered either to smell or hearhis master when Challoner came to see if there was a possibility of hissmall comrade being alive. And Neewa only hugged the log more tightly.He had seen enough of the man-beast to last him for the remainder ofhis life. It was half an hour before Miki began to gasp, and cough, andgulp up water, and for the first time since their scrap in the canoethe cub began to take a live interest in him. In another ten minutesMiki raised his head and looked about him. At that Neewa gave a tug onthe rope, as if to advise him that it was time to get busy if they wereexpected to reach shore. And Miki, drenched and forlorn, resemblingmore a starved bone than a thing of skin and flesh, actually made aneffort to wag his tail when he saw Neewa.
He was still in a couple of inches of water, and with a hopeful eye onthe log upon which Neewa was squatted he began to work his wobbly legstoward it. It was a high log, and a dry log, and when Miki reached ithis unlucky star was with him again. Cumbrously he sprawled himselfagainst it, and as he scrambled and scraped with his four awkward legsto get up alongside Neewa he gave to the log the slight push which itneeded to set it free of the sunken driftage. Slowly at first theeddying current carried one end of the log away from its pier. Then theedge of the main current caught at it, viciously--and so suddenly thatMiki almost lost his precarious footing, the log gave a twist, righteditself, and began, to scud down stream at a speed that would have madeChalloner hug his breath had he been in their position with hisfaithful canoe.
In fact, Challoner was at this very moment portaging the rapids belowthe waterfall. To have set his canoe in them where Miki and Neewa weregloriously sailing he would have considered an inexcusable hazard, andas a matter of safety he was losing the better part of a couple ofhours by packing his outfit through the forest to a point half a milebelow. That half mile was to the cub and the pup a show which wasdestined to live in their memories for as long as they were alive.
They were facing each other about amidships of the log, Neewa flattenedtight, his sharp claws dug in like hooks, and his little brown eyeshalf starting from his head. It would have taken a crowbar to wrenchhim from the log. But with Miki it was an open question from thebeginning whether he would weather the storm. He had no claws that hecould dig into the wood, and it was impossible for him to use hisclumsy legs as Neewa used his--like two pairs of human arms. All hecould do was to balance himself, slipping this way or that as the logrolled or swerved in its course, sometimes lying across it andsometimes lengthwise, and every moment with the jaws of uncertaintyopen wide for him. Neewa's eyes never left him for an instant. Had theybeen gimlets they would have bored holes. From the acuteness of thislife-and-death stare one would have given Neewa credit forunderstanding that his own personal safety depended not so much uponhis claws and his hug as upon Miki's seamanship. If Miki went overboardthere would be left but one thing for him to do--and that would be tofollow.
The log, being larger and heavier at one end than at the other, swepton without turning broadside, and with the swiftness and appearance ofa huge torpedo. While Neewa's back was turned toward the horror offrothing water and roaring rock behind him, Miki, who was facing it,lost none of its spectacular beauty. Now and then the log shot into oneof the white masses of foam and for an instant or two would utterlydisappear; and at these intervals Miki would hold his breath and closehis eyes while Neewa dug his toes in still deeper. Once the log grazeda rock. Six inches more and they would have been without a ship. Theirtrip was not half over before both cub and pup looked like two roundballs of lather out of which their eyes peered wildly.
Swiftly the roar of the cataract was left behind; the huge rocks aroundwhich the current boiled and twisted with a ferocious snarling becamefewer; there came open spaces in which the log floated smoothly andwithout convulsions, and then, at last, the quiet and placid flow ofcalm water. Not until then did the two balls of suds make a move. Forthe first time Neewa saw the whole of the thing they had passedthrough, and Miki, looking down stream, saw the quiet shores again, thedeep forest, and the stream aglow with the warm sun. He drew in abreath that filled his whole body and let it out again with a sigh ofrelief so deep and sincere that it blew out a scatter of foam from theends of his nose and whiskers. For the first time he became consciousof his own discomfort. One of his hind legs was twisted under him, anda foreleg was under his chest. The smoothness of the water and thenearness of the shores gave him confidence, and he proceeded tostraighten himself. Unlike Neewa he was an experienced VOYAGEUR. Formore than a month he had travelled steadily with Challoner in hiscanoe, and of ordinarily decent water he was unafraid. So he perked upa little, and offered Neewa a congratulatory yip that was half a whine.
But Neewa's education had travelled along another line, and while hisexperience in a canoe had been confined to that day he did know what alog was. He knew from more than one adventure of his own that a log inthe water is the next thing to a live thing, and that its capacity forplaying evil jokes was beyond any computation that he had ever beenable to make. That was where Miki's store of knowledge was fatallydefective. Inasmuch as the log had carried them safely through theworst stretch of water he had ever seen he regarded it in the light ofa first-class canoe--with the exception that it was unpleasantlyrounded on top. But this little defect did not worry him. To Neewa'shorror he sat up boldly, and looked about him.
Instinctively the cub hugged the log still closer, while Miki wasseized with an overwhelming desire to shake from himself the mass ofsuds in which, with the exception of the end of his tail and his eyes,he was completely swathed. He had often shaken himself in the canoe;why not here? Without either asking or answering the question he did it.
Like the trap of a gibbet suddenly sprung by the hangman, the loginstantly responded by turning half over. Without so much as a wailMiki was off like a shot, hit the water with a deep and solemn CHUG,and once more disappeared as completely as if he had been made of lead.
Finding himself completely submerged for the first time, Neewa hung ongloriously, and when the log righted itself again he was tenaciouslyhugging his old place, all the froth washed from him. He looked forMiki--but Miki was gone. And then he felt once more that choking dragon his neck! Of necessity, because his head was pulled in the directionof the rope, he saw where the rope disappeared in the water. But therewas no Miki. The pup was down too far for Neewa to see. With the draggrowing heavier and heavier--for here there was not much current tohelp Miki along--Neewa hung on like grim death. If he had let go, andhad joined Miki in the water, the good fortune which was turning theirway would have been missed. For Miki, struggling well under water, wasserving both as an anchor and a rudder; slowly the log shifted itscourse, was caught in a beach-eddy, and drifted in close to a muddybank.
With one wild leap Neewa was ashore. Feeling the earth under his feethe started to run, and the result was that Miki came up slowly throughthe mire and spread himself out like an overgrown crustacean while hegot the wind back into his lungs. Neewa, sensing the fact that for afew moments his comrade was physically unfit for travel, shook himself,and waited. Miki picked up quickly. Within five minutes he was on hisfeet shaking himself so furiously that Neewa bec
ame the centre of ashower of mud and water.
Had they remained where they were, Challoner would have found them anhour or so later, for he paddled that way, close inshore, looking fortheir bodies. It may be that the countless generations of instinct backof Neewa warned him of that possibility, for within a quarter of anhour after they had landed he was leading the way into the forest, andMiki was following. It was a new adventure for the pup.
But Neewa began to recover his good cheer. For him the forest was homeeven if his mother was missing. After his maddening experiences withMiki and the man-beast the velvety touch of the soft pine-needles underhis feet and the familiar smells of the silent places filled him with agrowing joy. He was back in his old trails. He sniffed the air andpricked up his ears, thrilled by the enlivening sensations of knowingthat he was once more the small master of his own destiny. It was a newforest, but Neewa was undisturbed by this fact. All forests were aliketo him, inasmuch as several hundred thousand square miles were includedin his domain and it was impossible for him to landmark them all.
With Miki it was different. He not only began to miss Challoner and theriver, but became more and more disturbed the farther Neewa led himinto the dark and mysterious depths of the timber. At last he decidedto set up a vigorous protest, and in line with this decision he bracedhimself so suddenly that Neewa, coming to the end of the rope, floppedover on his back with an astonished grunt. Seizing his advantage Mikiturned, and tugging with the horse-like energy of his Mackenzie fatherhe started back toward the river, dragging Neewa after him for a spaceof ten or fifteen feet before the cub succeeded in regaining his feet.
Then the battle began. With their bottoms braced and their forefeetdigging into the soft earth, they pulled on the rope in oppositedirections until their necks stretched and their eyes began to pop.Neewa's pull was steady and unexcited, while Miki, dog-like, yanked andconvulsed himself in sudden backward jerks that made Neewa give way aninch at a time. It was, after all, only a question as to whichpossessed the most enduring neck. Under Neewa's fat there was as yetlittle real physical strength. Miki had him handicapped there. Underthe pup's loose hide and his overgrown bones there was a lot of pull,and after bracing himself heroically for another dozen feet Neewa gaveup the contest and followed in the direction chosen by Miki.
While the instincts of Neewa's breed would have taken him back to theriver as straight as a die, Miki's intentions were better than was hissense of orientation. Neewa followed in a sweeter temper when he foundthat his companion was making an unreasonable circle which was takingthem a little more slowly, but just as surely, away from thedanger-ridden stream. At the end of another quarter of an hour Miki wasutterly lost; he sat down on his rump, looked at Neewa, and confessedas much--with a low whine. Neewa did not move. His sharp little eyeswere fixed suddenly on an object that hung to a low bush half a dozenpaces from them. Before the man-beast's appearance the cub had spentthree quarters of his time in eating, but since yesterday morning hehad not swallowed so much as a bug. He was completely empty, and theobject he saw hanging to the bush set every salivary gland in his mouthworking. It was a wasp's nest. Many times in his young life he had seenNoozak, his mother, go up to nests like that, tear them down, crushthem under her big paw, and then invite him to the feast of dead waspswithin. For at least a month wasps had been included in his daily fare,and they were as good as anything he knew of. He approached the nest;Miki followed. When they were within three feet of it Miki began totake notice of a very distinct and peculiarly disquieting buzzingsound. Neewa was not at all alarmed; judging the distance of the nestfrom the ground, he rose on his hind feet, raised his arms, and gave ita fatal tug.
Instantly the drone which Miki had heard changed into the angry buzzingof a saw. Quick as a flash Neewa's mother would have had the nest underher paws and the life crushed out of it, while Neewa's tug had onlyserved partly to dislodge the home of Ahmoo and his dangerous tribe.And it happened that Ahmoo was at home with three quarters of hiswarriors. Before Neewa could give the nest a second tug they werepiling out of it in a cloud and suddenly a wild yell of agony rose outof Miki. Ahmoo himself had landed on the end of the dog's nose. Neewamade no sound, but stood for a moment swiping at his face with bothpaws, while Miki, still yelling, ran the end of his crucified nose intothe ground. In another moment every fighter in Ahmoo's army was busy.Suddenly setting up a bawling on his own account Neewa turned tail tothe nest and ran. Miki was not a hair behind him. In every square inchof his tender hide he felt the red-hot thrust of a needle. It was Neewathat made the most noise. His voice was one continuous bawl, and tothis bass Miki's soprano wailing added the touch which would haveconvinced any passing Indian that the loup-garou devils were having adance.
Now that their foes were in disorderly flight the wasps, who are rathera chivalrous enemy, would have returned to their upset fortress had notMiki, in his mad flight, chosen one side of a small sapling and Neewathe other--a misadventure that stopped them with a force almostsufficient to break their necks. Thereupon a few dozen of Ahmoo's rearguard started in afresh. With his fighting blood at last aroused, Neewaswung out and caught Miki where there was almost no hair on his rump.Already half blinded, and so wrought up with pain and terror that hehad lost all sense of judgment or understanding, Miki believed that thesharp dig of Neewa's razor-like claws was a deeper thrust than usual ofthe buzzing horrors that overwhelmed him, and with a final shriek heproceeded to throw a fit.
It was the fit that saved them. In his maniacal contortions he swungaround to Neewa's side of the sapling, when, with their halter oncemore free from impediment, Neewa bolted for safety. Miki followed,yelping at every jump. No longer did Neewa feel a horror of the river.The instinct of his kind told him that he wanted water, and wanted itbadly. As straight as Challoner might have set his course by a compasshe headed for the stream, but he had proceeded only a few hundred feetwhen they came upon a tiny creek across which either of them could havejumped. Neewa jumped into the water, which was four or five inchesdeep, and for the first time in his life Miki voluntarily took aplunge. For a long time they lay in the cooling rill.
The light of day was dim and hazy before Miki's eyes, and he wasbeginning to swell from the tip of his nose to the end of his bonytail. Neewa, being so much fat, suffered less. He could still see, and,as the painful hours passed, a number of things were adjustingthemselves in his brain. All this had begun with the man-beast. It wasthe man-beast who had taken his mother from him. It was the man-beastwho had chucked him into the dark sack, and it was the man-beast whohad FASTENED THE ROPE AROUND HIS NECK. Slowly the fact was beginning toimpinge itself upon him that the rope was to blame for everything.
After a long time they dragged themselves out of the rivulet and founda soft, dry hollow at the foot of a big tree. Even to Neewa, who hadthe use of his eyes, it was growing dark in the deep forest. The sunwas far in the west. And the air was growing chilly. Flat on his belly,with his swollen head between his fore paws, Miki whined plaintively.
Again and again Neewa's eyes went to the rope as the big thoughtdeveloped itself in his head. He whined. It was partly a yearning forhis mother, partly a response to Miki. He drew closer to the pup,filled with the irresistible desire for comradeship. After all, it wasnot Miki who was to blame. It was the man-beast--and THE ROPE!
The gloom of evening settled more darkly about them, and snugglinghimself still closer to the pup Neewa drew the rope between his forepaws. With a little snarl he set his teeth in it. And then, steadily,he began to chew. Now and then he growled, and in the growl there was apeculiarly communicative note, as if he wished to say to Miki:
"Don't you see?--I'm chewing this thing in two. I'll have it done bymorning. Cheer up! There's surely a better day coming."