CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
FISHING AND ITS RESULTS--ENGINEERING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
I found on reaching Wichikagan that the fun was about to begin.Blondin, who was our chief fisherman, had let down a long seine-net,which was being drawn slowly in by a band of natives, whose interest ina process which they had never before seen was deepening intoexcitement, as they observed here and there a symptom of somethingshooting below the surface of the still water, or beheld a large fishleap frantically into the air.
At first, when the net was being prepared, those children of the foresthad merely stood by and looked on with curiosity. When Blondin and hismen rowed out from the shore, letting the net drop off the stern of ourboat as they went, they indulged in a few guesses and undertonedremarks. When the boat gradually swept round and turned shorewardagain, having left a long line of floats in its wake, they perceivedthat a large sheet of water had been enclosed, and a feeling of wonder,combined with a half guess as to what all this portended caused theirblack orbs to enlarge, and the whites thereof to glisten. But when theywere requested to lay hold of a rope attached to the other end of thenet and haul, the true state of the case burst upon their awakened mindsand proportionate excitement followed.
As the circle of the net diminished and the evidences, above referredto, of life in the water became more frequent, gleeful expectation tookthe place of wonder, and a disposition to chatter manifested itself,especially among the women and children, who by that time had eagerlylaid hold of the drag-rope.
Soon it became apparent that a mighty mass of fish had been enclosed,and the creatures seemed themselves to become suddenly alive to theirdanger, for the crowded condition of their element--which, no doubt,caused only surprise at first--became so inconvenient that with oneaccord they made a terrified rush to the right. Failing to obtainrelief they turned and rushed to the left. Discomfited again, theydashed lakeward. Each rush was followed by a howl of anxiety from thenatives; each failure was hailed with a yell of joy. Three birch-barkcanoes followed the net to send the more obstreperous of the fishshoreward. Finding that they could not escape, the finny prisonersseemed to lose their wits and took to rushing skyward, with splashingconsequences that almost drove the red-men mad!
"Hold on! not so hard! You'll break it!" shouted Lumley to the men andwomen at the rope.
"What a tremendous haul!" said I, as I joined my friend, who stood atthe outer end of our little wharf, enjoying the scene.
"I hope the net won't break," he replied. "If it does we shall losethem all, and the disappointment to the Indians might be almost too muchto bear. See, they prepare for action!"
This was very obvious. The men of the tribe, who might be described asglaring maniacs, had dropped their robes, and, almost naked, ranwaist-deep into the water in a vain attempt to catch some of the largerfish as they were slowly forced towards the beach. Even some of thewomen lost self-control and, regardless of petticoats, floundered afterthe men. As for the children, big and little, they developed into impsof darkness gone deranged.
Suddenly a very wave of fish was sent upon the shore, where, of course,they began to leap about wildly. Not less wildly did the Indians leapamong them, throttling the big ones and hurling armfuls of the lesserones high up on the sward.
By that time the net was close in shore. The whole of the enclosedspace became a sweltering mass. Treading on the fish at last, many ofboth men and boys slipped in the water, and fell down over head andears, so that the spectacle was presented of human beings bounding outof the water in apparent emulation of their prey. The excitement wasalmost too much for them. Several of the boys were seen to rush up intothe woods and dash back again, with no apparent reason except the desireto get rid of superabundant energy. One brave, in particular, so farforgot the characteristic dignity of the red-man, that he rushed up onthe bank, bent forward, clapped a hand on each knee, threw back hishead, shut his eyes, opened wide his mouth, and sought to relieve hisfeelings in one stupendous roar. But it would not do. He becamesuddenly solemn, glared again, and went at the fish more furiously thanever.
Our men in the canoes landed, and rendered assistance. Salamander wasin one of the canoes which ran alongside of the wharf. The only otheroccupant was Donald Bane, who sat in the stern and steered. Salamanderwas greatly excited. As the canoe ran up to the wharf, the bow wasthrust over the net-rope, and he gazed at the struggling creatures belowwith intense delight on his brown visage.
"You had petter take care," said Donald Bane, as he grasped the edge ofthe wharf, and cautiously rose up, "for canoes are easily overturned."But Salamander was too much engrossed to hear or reply. The Highlander,who had not forgotten the trick formerly played on him and hiscountryman by the interpreter, stepped carefully out on the wharf. Ashe did so, he gave the canoe a little tilt with his foot, and Salamanderwent head-foremost down among the fish!
A simulated cry of consternation broke from Donald Bane.
"Wow--wow!" he exclaimed, as Salamander's head appeared with a number oflittle fish struggling in his hair, and a pike or jack-fish holding onto the lobe of his left ear, "the poor cratur! Tak a grup o' my hand,man. Here! wow! but it seems a fery frundly jack-fush that--whatever."
Amid much spluttering, Salamander was hauled out, and, regardless of hismishap, both he and Donald immediately joined the others in securingtheir prey.
"It wass a grand haul, man, Tonald," said Dougall that night at supper.
"Oo ay, Shames. It was no that paad," replied Donald.
And, truly, it _was_ a grand haul; for, not only did we obtain enough ofevery species of fish that swarmed in Lake Wichikagan, to provide aright royal feast to ourselves and our red friends, but a good many wereleft over and above to form the commencement of a store for the future.
By that time we had fairly commenced the fishery with a view to a wintersupply. The weather was still delicious, and had begun to grow cool atnights, but as there was yet no frost, all the fish we took had to behung up by the tail, and thus partially dried. Afterwards, when thefrost fairly set in, this hanging process was dispensed with, for fish,once frozen in those regions, remain perfectly fresh during the entirewinter, so that those eaten in spring are quite as good as thoseconsumed in autumn.
Lumley now set me to superintend the digging and constructing of anice-house, which should be ready to receive in spring the ice that wouldbe required to keep our provisions fresh during the following summer.It consisted merely of a shallow square pit or hole in the ground, overwhich a log hut was constructed. The pit we intended to floor withsolid cubes of ice measuring about a yard on each side. This lowestfoundation, in those northern ice-houses, never melts, but a freshstratum is laid above it which is cleared out and renewed every spring,and it is amongst this that the meat or fish to be preserved is laid insummer.
Another piece of work that Lumley gave me to superintend at this timewas the construction of a water-wheel and dam to drive our pit-saw. Yousee, I had a turn for mechanics, and was under the impression that mypowers in that way were greater than they afterwards turned out to be.We were sitting at tea alone in our hall at the time the subject wasmooted.
"Where have you sent the carpenter?" I asked, as I pushed in mypannikin for more of the refreshing beverage.
I must interrupt the thread of my narrative here for a moment to saythat we took no crockery with us on that expedition. Our cups were tinpannikins, our plates were made of tin; our pots and kettles were eithertin or copper. We had no sugar basins, or butter-dishes, ortable-cloths, or any of the other amenities of civilised life. Buteverything we had was strong and serviceable, and the same may be saidof the things we constructed. The deal tables and chairs made for us byCoppet were very strong if not elegant, and the plank walls and ceilingof our rooms were cheerful, though neither papered nor whitewashed. Ithas often struck me, while sojourning in the great Nor'-west, thatcivilised man surrounds himself with a great many needless luxurieswhich do not by any means ad
d to his comfort, though the removal of themmight add considerably to his distress.
But to return.
"Coppet is off," said Lumley in reply to my question, "to get sometimber for oars, as well as birch-bark to make a canoe or two; we mustalso set about making a new boat some day or other."
"Lumley," said I, "it has often occurred to me that it takes a terribledeal of time to cut trees into planks with our pit-saws, and occupiesfar too much of the time of two men who might be much more profitablyemployed."
"True, Max--what then?"
"Why then," said I, "what would you say if I were to construct asaw-mill!"
"I'd say you were a clever fellow," replied my friend, with one of hisknowing looks.
"But what say you to my making the attempt?"
"Do so, by all means, my boy--only don't use up too many pit-saws in theattempt!"
I saw that he did not believe in my powers, and became all the moredetermined to succeed.
Accordingly, I went next day with Coppet and Dumont, on whom of course Idepended for the carrying out of my designs, to examine the ground wherethe mill-dam was to be made.
"You see," I explained, "we have a superabundance of water in therivulet at the back of the fort, and by collecting it we may get anyamount of power we please, which is of importance, because it willenable us to simplify the machinery."
"Oui, oui, monsieur," said Coppet, who either was, or wished to appear,very knowing on such matters.
"Now," continued I, "here is a natural basin formed by rocks, which onlywants a small dam at its lower end to enable us to collect water enoughto drive the biggest mill in the world. By making our opening at thevery bottom of the basin, the pressure of water, when it is full, willbe so great that a very small water-wheel, without any multiplying gear,will suffice to drive our saw--don't you see?"
"Oui, monsieur, oui," answered Dumont, whose knitted brows showed thatthe worthy blacksmith was at least doing his best to understand me.
"Well, then," I continued, "you see that we shall have no difficulty asto the dam. Then, as to the wheel, it will be a simple one of not morethan four feet diameter, presented vertically to what I may term thewater-spout, so that its axle, which will have a crank in it, will workthe saw direct; thus, avoiding toothed wheels and cogs, we shall avoidfriction, and, if need be, increase the speed easily, d'you see?"
"Bon, monsieur--good, good," exclaimed Coppet, becoming quiteenthusiastic in his appreciation of my plans.
"Of course," I continued, "the saw can easily be fitted to a frame, anda very simple contrivance can be made to drive along the larger framethat will carry the logs to be sawn; but these are trifling matters ofdetail which you and I will work out at our leisure, Dumont."
"Oui, monsieur, oui," replied the blacksmith, with tighter knittedbrows, and with a readiness of assent which I do believe the good fellowwould have accorded if I had proposed to fit a new axis to the world.
"There is only one thing that troubles me," said I: "how are we to gaugeor estimate the force of our water-spout so as to regulate our mill whenmade? Do you understand such matters--the measurement of force--Coppet?"
The carpenter shook his head.
"That's unfortunate. Do you, Dumont?"
"Non, Monsieur."
"H'm! I'm sadly ignorant on the point myself," I continued. "Of courseI know that so many cubic feet of water will exert a certain pressure,but then I don't know what that certain pressure is, nor how to find outhow many cubic feet our somewhat irregular dam will contain. Nor do Iknow precisely the strength of the material required in the dam toresist the water."
Dumont humbly suggested here that we could at all events act on theprinciple that guided Adam and Eve in the formation of their firstwater-mill, and find out by experiment. And Coppet said that we couldget over the difficulty about the strength of materials by makingeverything ten times stronger than was required.
"You are right lads," said I, much amused with the earnest manner inwhich they gave the advice. "Now let us go at it without delay, so thatwe may get into working order before the frost stops us."
We set to with enthusiasm, and progressed with our labour much fasterthan I had expected. The natural basin, to which I have referred, layjust below a ledge of rock over which the rivulet flowed into it,forming a pretty deep pool about ten feet in diameter. Flowing out ofthis pool, it ran about twelve feet further through a narrow gorge,where it dropped over another ledge. Now, all that we had to do was toshut up the outlet of the narrow gorge with a strong dam, and so causethe pool to swell and rise into a small but very deep pond.
Our first step was to divert the channel of the brook so as to leave usfree to construct the dam. The nature of the ground rendered this easyenough. Then, before going further, we made the trough which was toconduct the water out of the dam. It was made of four strong planksabout ten feet long and eight inches wide, forming, so to speak, asquare pipe. This we laid firmly in the bottom of the basin with itsend projecting over the lower ledge. To the inner end we attached aperpendicular piece of wooden piping which rose several feet from theground. This was meant to prevent mud and stones from getting into, andchoking, the pipe.
This done, we laid some very large timbers over the pipe and across theopening of the gorge, above and between which we put heavy stones andlarge quantities of gravel--also turf and twigs, and all sorts ofrubbish. Thus was the dam begun, and we continued the process until weraised it to a height of some twenty feet or so.
"What a magnificent pool it will be to dive in!" said Lumley, one day,when he came to see us at work.
"Won't it," said I; "especially in winter!"
"Whatever happens to your works, the dam, I think, will never give way,"continued Lumley; "it seems to me unnecessarily strong."
Not to try the reader's patience, I may say at once that we advancedwith our labour without a hitch until it was nearly finished. To theopening in the pipe or spout we attached a powerful sluice, by which tostop the flow desired, and, all being ready, broke down the dyke thathad turned aside our stream, and let the water in. Of course we hadconstructed an overflow part of the basin, by which to conduct thesurplus water back to its proper channel below our works.
It was a trying moment when we first let the water in. Would it leak?--would it break down?--was in everyone's mind. I had no fear as to thelatter point, but felt uncertain as to the former. We had much longerto wait, however, for the filling than I had expected; but when at lastit was full up to the brim, and the trees around were reflected on itssurface, and no leak appeared anywhere, I could not resist giving acheer, which was heartily taken up and echoed by our whole party--for wehad all assembled to watch the result.
"Now, Coppet, lend a hand at the winch. We'll open the sluice andobserve the force."
After a few turns our winch refused to move, and only a small part ofthe opening had been uncovered, from which the water was squirtingfuriously.
"Something wrong," said I, looking down at the men below. "Just take alook, Salamander, and see what it is."
Our lively interpreter went down on hands and knees and made an earnestexamination, despite the squirting water.
"Oh! I sees. All right now," he shouted, "heave away!"
"Get out of the way, then," we cried, as we once more applied all ourforce to the winch. It turned with unexpected suddenness, the sluiceflew up, and out came a straight column of water with extreme violence.It hit Salamander full in the stomach, lifted him off his legs, andswept him right down the gully, pitching him headlong over anotherledge, where he fell with such force that his mortal career hadcertainly been ended then and there but for a thick juniper bush, whichfortunately broke his fall. As it was, he was little the worse of hisadventure, but he had learned a lesson of prompt obedience to orderswhich he did not soon forget.
I now planned a sort of movable buffer by which the force of thewater-spout could be diminished or even turned aside altogether. Itacted very well, a
nd, under its protection, we set up the saw andstarted it. We were all assembled again, of course, at the firststarting of the saw, along with a good many of our red friends, whosecuriosity in our various proceedings knew no bounds.
Opening the sluice slowly, and fixing the buffer so as to turn at leastthree-quarters of the furious water-spout aside, I had the extremesatisfaction of seeing the saw begin to rip up a large log. It went onsplendidly, though still with somewhat greater force than I desired.But, alas! my want of critical knowledge of engineering told heavilyagainst us, for, all of a sudden, the sluice broke. The buffer stillacted, however, and being needlessly strong, was, I thought, safe, butthe hinges of the thing were far too weak. They gave way. The violentspout thus set free dashed against the wheel with its full force,turning it round with a whirr-r-r! that sent the saw up and down so fastas to render it almost invisible.
We stood aghast! What fearful termination to the machine impended wecould not guess. A moment later and the crank broke, entangled itselfwith the wheel and stopped it. As if maddened by this additionalresistance, the water-spout then swept the whole concern away, afterwhich, like a wild-horse set free, it took a leap of full thirty feet--astraight column of solid water--before it burst itself on the ground,and rushed wildly down to the lake! It was a humiliating termination--and showed how terrible it is to create a power which one cannotcontrol.
I draw a veil over the story here. My feelings forbid me to write more!