XXVI ELISE'S STORY
Both children were alive. When Walter and Neil tried to separate them,they aroused Max. The little fellow was stupid with cold and heavy sleep,but seemed otherwise to be all right. Walter carried Elise nearer, butnot too near, to the fire. Kneeling beside her, he rubbed her ice-coldfeet, legs, and arms to restore circulation. The rubbing brought her backto consciousness, dazed and wondering, to find her big brother--as shecalled Walter--bending over her. As soon as the daze of her firstawakening passed, she asked for her father. Assuring her that Louis waslooking after him, Walter made her stay near the fire and drink some ofthe strong, scalding tea.
Restoring Mr. Perier to consciousness was more difficult. Louis'unceasing efforts aroused him at last, but his mind seemed confused andbewildered. He struggled with Louis as if he thought the boy was tryingto do him some injury. He stared blankly at Walter and did not appear torecognize him.
Throwing off the blanket Walter had wrapped around her, Elise went to herfather and put her arms about his neck. "Father, Father, it is allright," she cried. "Walter found us, and we are all safe."
The wild look left Mr. Perier's eyes and he ceased struggling. WhenWalter brought him a cup of strong tea, he drank it obediently. The hotdrink seemed to clear his brain. After more rubbing, he was able to situp, nearer the fire. Elise and Max wrapped him in most of the blankets.Attracted by the heat, the tired dogs snuggled close to the children andadded their animal warmth.
Louis was anxious to find a less exposed spot in which to spend thenight. "Stay here and keep the fire going," he ordered his comrades. "Iwill find a better camping place."
In a few minutes he was back with word that he had found a much bettercamping ground, a dry gully protected from the bitter wind. "You and I,Neil," he said, "will go over there and prepare a place, while Walterkeeps the fire burning here. Then we will come back and move our camp."
Elise and Max were now wide awake and ready to talk, but Mr. Perierseemed inert and drowsy. After Walter had cut more wood and fed the fire,he crouched at Elise's side and began to question her.
"How did you come to be here all alone?" he asked. "Why did you leaveFort Douglas?"
"We were on the way to Pembina," she replied. "A man with a sled wastaking us. It was warm when we started. Max and I rode on the sled, butwe didn't like riding because the man abused the dogs and we were sorryfor them. Father tried to make him stop being so cruel, but he justlaughed. When Father tried to reason with him, the man grew so angry andugly that Father didn't dare say anything more. We stopped once and hadpemmican and tea, then we came on again. It was hard for Father to keepup, he had no snowshoes. He dropped behind. At sunset we stopped again,and the man made a fire. Father caught up with us, and we had some moretea.
"After that it turned cold. Max and I were very cold riding on the sled.We wanted to walk a while to warm up, but the man wouldn't let us. Hesaid we were too slow. We got so cold we were afraid we should freeze,and Father told our guide we must stop and get warm. Father had promisedhim his watch----"
"His watch?" interrupted Walter.
"Yes. We have very little money left, and the man didn't want moneyanyway. He said he would take us to Pembina for the watch."
Walter grunted wrathfully, and Elise went on. "When Father said we muststop and make a fire, we weren't far from the woods. Our guide said wecould go down to the river bank and camp, but that would delay us. Itwould take longer to reach Pembina, and he would have to have more pay.He wanted the chain as well as the watch. Father agreed and we came intothe woods and stopped. Max and I ran around and tried to get warm. Oureyes hurt and Father was almost blind. The man made Father give him thewatch and chain at once. He put them in the pouch where he carried histobacco and flint and steel. Then he whipped the dogs and jumped on thesled, and they ran away and left us."
"The miserable brute!" cried Walter.
"He ran away and left us," Elise repeated, "without any food orsnowshoes. Everything we owned, except the blankets Max and I had beenwrapped in when we were riding, was on the sled. It was a cruel way totreat us."
"Cruel? Why even the meanest Indian----" Walter's wrath choked him.
"He is an Indian. They call him a _bois brule_, but he looks just like anIndian. No one but a savage could be so cruel."
"He's worse than a savage. He must be a fiend. Why did Kolbach let youcome with such a fellow?"
"Monsieur Kolbach didn't know we were coming," Elise explained. "TheIndian said he was a friend of Monsieur Kolbach's brother."
"Fritz? That's not much of a recommendation."
"Do you know Monsieur Fritz? Has he been at Pembina? I have never seenhim."
"I think I have seen him, and I have heard about him. He and his brotheraren't very friendly, are they?" Walter questioned. "I have been toldthat they weren't."
Elise shook her head. "I know nothing about that. Monsieur Kolbach hasnever said. He is not a man who talks much anyway. Monsieur Fritz hasbeen away from Fort Douglas most of the winter. He has been trading withthe Indians."
A sudden thought struck Walter, an unpleasant thought that made himshudder. "What was that fellow's name, the one who deserted you?" hedemanded.
"He has an English name," Elise replied. "I'm not sure I understood itright. Mauray or something like that."
"Murray? Elise, he is the very man I wrote you about, the one who wassteersman of our boat when we came from Fort York. It was the BlackMurray himself, the fiend! If ever I----"
The voice of little Max interrupted. "I'm cold," he complained.
Walter had forgotten the fire. He sprang up to replenish it. He found Mr.Perier dozing, roused him, and warned him against dropping off to sleep.Then he heaped on fuel until the blaze was so hot the others were forcedto move back from it. As for Walter himself, he was so boiling with angeragainst the inhuman Murray that he gave no heed to cold. He wielded theax savagely, and sent the chips flying far and wide.
In a surprisingly short time Louis returned to guide the rest of theparty to the camping place. Mr. Perier was unable to walk, so he wasplaced on the sled, warmly wrapped. The dogs protested piteously at beingaroused and harnessed. Even Askime refused to pull until Louis took holdalso. Elise and Max bravely asserted that they were able to walk, andWalter knew it would be better for them to do so if they could. He gavehis snowshoes to Elise,--she had learned during the winter to usesnowshoes,--and helped Max when the little fellow broke through thecrust.
The gully was only a short distance away. They soon reached the campingplace, to find Neil tending a blazing fire. Between the fire and a steep,bare, clay slope that reflected the heat, beds were made with bales ofpelts, blankets, and robes. The toboggan, turned on its side, furnishedadditional shelter. There the Periers could sleep safely and comfortably.The boys had no intention of sleeping at all. Their task was to keep thefire going until daylight, which was not far away.
There was a little tea left, but no food. At dawn Neil went down to theriver, chopped a hole in the ice, and with a hook baited with a bit ofrawhide, caught two small fish. The little fish made a scanty breakfastfor Elise and Max. Mr. Perier and the boys refused to touch them. Theirmeal consisted of tea alone, and they used the last of that.
Both of Mr. Perier's feet had been badly frozen and were swollen and verypainful. He was placed on the sled again, and Elise and Max took turnsriding with him. To make room for the passengers, part of the furs weretaken off and made into packs, which the boys carried on their backs.Even then, the load on the sled was a heavy one for two tired, hungrydogs. One, and sometimes two, of the boys had to help pull.
By way of the gully they left the river bank and went up to the prairie.There they found and followed a well defined trail, the usual routebetween Pembina and Fort Douglas. More than one dog train had traveledthat way since the last fall of snow. The morning was cold and the crustfirm, but the party had to make the best possible speed before the sunsoften
ed the surface. With one or the other of the children walking, itwas not possible to go very fast. Cold though the wind was, even thebeaten track grew soft under the direct rays of the sun, as the dayadvanced.
With soaked moccasins, and red, swollen eyes, the tired, half-starvedtravelers reached Pembina some time after noon. Mr. Perier was the onlyone with dry feet. He was not suffering so much from snow blindnesseither as the others, for he had been able to keep his eyes covered. Buthis feet and right hand and arm were paining him severely.
The arrival caused much excitement in the little settlement, but the boysdid not linger to explain how it happened that they returned from theirhunting trip bringing three strangers. They went at once to Louis' home.His mother received the Periers with almost as warm a welcome as she gaveher own son. The little cabin would be crowded indeed, but that did notdisturb her in the least. There was always room for travelers indistress, and Elise and Max, cold, weary, hungry, and motherless,appealed to her motherly heart.
Mrs. Brabant and her younger children were thin, much thinner than whenWalter had seen them last. Food had been scarce in Pembina for weeks, butthey did not hesitate to share what little they had with the newcomers.Kinder, more generous people never lived, thought the Swiss boy, as heremembered all they had done for him and saw how eager they were to sharetheir last bite with his friends. He could never do enough to repay theirkindness. That they neither expected nor wanted repayment, he knew well.Their hospitality was a matter of course with them.