CHAPTER TWENTY.
HABAKKUK GABY IS HUGGED BY A GRIZZLY--A RATTLESNAKE FOLLOWS SUIT--THEROCKY MOUNTAINS--THE FRAZER RIVER--WE FORM THREE EXPLORING PARTIES--ICONSTRUCT A RAFT, AND WHAT FOLLOWED--ALL SAFE AT LAST.
We were seated round the fire discussing a hearty supper, of whichbears' flesh formed a substantial part, and Habakkuk Gaby, a Yankee,half trapper and half gold-digger, one of our new friends, who wasseated a little way back on account of the heat, had got on the point ofhis knife a huge slice, which he was eating with evident enjoyment,though in no very refined fashion. Suddenly, from behind a neighbouringtree, a huge monster, his size increased threefold in the gloom, dartedout towards us.
"_Un ourse_! a grizzly--a bear! a bear!" shouted out our party, oneafter the other; but before any of us could rise to our feet thecreature, seizing poor Mr Gaby round the waist, began to waddle offwith him at great speed.
He had got, indeed, nearly fifty yards before we well knew what hadhappened: neither, indeed, did Habakkuk himself, very clearly. He keptshouting out--
"Let me go, you brute!--let me go, I say, or I'll--"
The bear put a stop to any further remark, and he could only shriek out"Oh! oh! oh! Shoo--shoo--shoot!" Had anybody acted on his request hewould inevitably have been hit, as the bear kept him between himself andour rifles. Trevor actually lifted his gun with the intention offiring, but I drew back his arm.
"Our best chance of saving the poor fellow is to rush in and stab thebear," I said.
Fortunately, bruin's immediate object was to get hold of the luscioussteak Gaby had been eating. Putting him down, therefore, and keepinghim pinned to the ground with his hind feet, the bear seized the steakand began greedily to devour it. Poor Habakkuk thought this would be agood opportunity to make his escape. No sooner, however, did he beginto move than bruin stopped eating, and gave him a look which clearlymeant "You'd better not try that again." Gaby remained perfectly quietfor a minute, and Stalker, Garoupe, and the Indians began moving roundto either side that they might have a better chance of hitting the bearwithout killing the man. Trevor and I stood ready to fire if we had anopportunity. Again, Habakkuk thought that he could do the bear, and,springing up, made a leap forward; but bruin, who had just finished hissteak, was too quick for him, and seizing him round the waist, gave hima most fearful hug. Poor Gaby's features exhibited his very naturalterror and the agony he was enduring. Uttering horrible shrieks, heshouted out--
"Fire! fire, friends! fire! Don't mind who you hit so that you killthis infernal brute."
I felt that something must be done to prevent such another hug, or poorGaby would scarcely have a chance of escape with life; so, running up, Igot within a few yards of the bear's head, when, stopping, I took asteady aim and fired. As the monster rolled over on his back, poor Gabyfell forward in the opposite direction. While the rest of the partyquickly despatched the bear I lifted up Habakkuk, whom I expected tofind dead. However, to my great satisfaction, he slowly opened hiseyes, and when he discovered that it was not the bear but I who wasstanding over him, and that bruin was killed, he drew a deep breath, asif to get back the wind which had been squeezed out of his body, and satupright.
"Well, I guess that's more than I ever went through afore, or ever wishto go through again," he exclaimed. "It was mighty unpleasant--that itwas!"
Besides this, he said very little on the subject. As to remarking thatI had shot the bear and saved his life, that never entered his head. Onexamining the bear we found that he was wretchedly thin--all skin andbone. This was curious, as the bears we killed in the afternoon weretolerably fat. Stalker was of opinion that he had either come from adistance, and had no connection with them, or that he was an outcastbear--conquered by the gentlemen, perhaps, whom we were eating.
The night passed off without any further adventure. During the firstpart of it we cut up the bears' flesh into thin strips to dry in thesun, that we might save our pemmican and more portable food as much aspossible; and then we went to sleep with our feet to the fire, for thenights were still cold--one of the party keeping watch at a time. Thenext day we moved forward, but the ground was hard and rough, and ourway lay across forests and over fallen trees, up rocky hills and acrossswampy valleys, whilst the heat of the sun during the day was veryoppressive. So we encamped, rather earlier than usual, in a somewhatrocky place. After we had arranged our camp, and as Trevor and I werestarting with our guns to kill a deer for supper, and while the rest ofthe men were variously occupied, as I passed Mr Gaby, who was fastasleep, what was my horror to see a large rattlesnake creeping slowlyfrom his side to his bosom! I was on the point of shouting out toawaken him, but Stalker, who had come up, begged me to remain quiet, andthat perhaps the snake would merely crawl over the man's body and moveaway. The serpent, however, had no intention of doing any such thing,but quietly coiled itself under the Yankee's left shoulder. Had hemoved in his sleep the creature would, in a moment, have stung him inthe neck, and no human power could have saved his life. We looked onwith horror, not knowing what course to pursue. Immediately, however,that Garoupe saw the state of the case he hurried off to the nearestthicket, and returning with a long thin stick, told Stalker andSwiftfoot to go in front and draw the attention of the snake tothemselves. As soon as the creature saw the men in front it raised itshead, darted out its forked tongue and shook its rattles, showing thatit was highly irritated.
Habakkuk's danger was now greatly increased, for should the noise closeto his ear awaken him, a movement of his arm might make the snake bitehim. While all of us were in a state of dread for poor Gaby, Garoupegot behind the creature with his long stick, and, suddenly placing itunder the coiled reptile, by a dexterous movement sent it flying a dozenpaces off. A shout of satisfaction burst from our lips at Gaby'ssafety. The sound awoke him, and little dreaming of the fearful dangerhe had escaped, he looked up, and merely said--"Well, now! What's itall about? Do I look so very funny?"
He was serious enough, however, when Garoupe, who had gone after thesnake and killed it with his stick, returned and exhibited it to him.
On searching about we found a number of the reptiles in holes in therocks and under big stones. We armed ourselves with sticks and quicklydespatched them. This we had no difficulty in doing, as they can onlyspring their own length, and a smart blow on the tail at once disablesthem. The first killed was three feet three inches long, and nine yearsold, which we knew by the number of rattles in his tail. At supper, offgame which Trevor and I had shot, Gaby told us that he once formed oneof a party in Vermont which went out rattlesnake hunting, and that theyfound a vast number of rattlesnakes in holes with their tails stickingout; that they pulled them out by their tails, and flung them far on oneside, where they quickly were despatched. It is quite as well not torepeat how many hundreds he declared were killed in the course of thehunt, for Mr Gaby was not wanting in that quality so conspicuous inothers of his countrymen, of speaking without much regard to exactness--which I candidly believe to be an infirmity, rather than a desire toexaggerate, which is common enough amongst the uneducated classes allover the world.
The Rocky Mountains consist of a lofty range extending from the north ofthe continent to its southern end, at a distance from the Pacific offrom fifty to three hundred miles. The summits of the range are coveredwith perpetual snow, and, till lately, the generally received notion wasthat they formed an almost impassable barrier between the Pacific andthe interior. To the east the country is mostly level and easilytravelled over, especially the fertile belt along which we had come;while to the west, that is, between the range and the Pacific, it ismountainous in the extreme, as is also the case in British Columbia,across which we were now to force our way. There are, however, numerouspasses through which roads can be cut out without much difficulty. Thesurveyors, indeed, reported one of the passes to require only the treesto be cut down to allow waggons, if not a coach and four, to be driventhrough it. It is called the Vermilion Pass.
> We did not take it, because the distance through a mountainous and lakeregion is much greater than the pass we selected further to the north.When, however, the settlers in British Columbia cut a road across partsof the country, and place steamers on certain lakes and rivers, therewill be no difficulties to prevent ordinary travellers from passing fromLake Superior, by the way of the Red River, through the Fertile Belt andover the Rocky Mountains, to New Westminster, the capital of theprovince.
We had been journeying on through forests, and should scarcely havenoticed the ascent we were making, had it not been for the increasedrapidity of the streams in our course flowing to the east, when reachinga small lake we found that the water which flowed from it ran to thewestward, and that we were on what is called the watershed, or highestpart of the pass. Still, as we looked westward, we had range beyondrange of rocky mountains, the peaks of many covered with snow. Thisregion was a part of British Columbia, but it must be remembered thatbetween these mountains were valleys, and rivers, and lakes, andstreams, and that it was by the side of these streams and lakes weexpected to make our way across the country. I had thought, when Ifirst planned the expedition, that all we had to do was to climb up theRocky Mountains, and then to descend into well-watered plains. We foundin reality that our chief difficulties had only now begun. We hadcertainly mountains to descend, but then we had also others to ascend;we had rivers to cross and recross, either by wading or on rafts, whichwe had to construct; trees to cut down, and brushwood to clear away;recumbent trees to climb over, and rotten trees to force our waythrough. Still people had done the same thing before, and Stalker andSwiftfoot asserted that we could do it, and were ready to stake theircredit on the success of the undertaking.
We now formed fresh arrangements for crossing the country. Swiftfootand Quick-ear were to devote themselves to hunting, to supply us withfood. Stalker and Garoupe were to clear the way with their axes, whileTrevor, Peter, and I conducted the horses. From the summit of a highmountain we reached, Quick-ear pointed out the hills (he said) ofCariboo, with the Frazer flowing away towards them. That now far-famedriver has its sources in the region in which we then were. It runsnearly north-west for a hundred and fifty miles or more, and then,sweeping round the Cariboo region, flows due south for several hundredmiles, down to Port Hope, and then on west to New Westminster and thesea, there being, however, some picturesquely beautiful, but practicallyugly rapids, in its course. We made good our necessary westing, butafter cutting our way to the banks of the Frazer we found that thecountry was almost impracticable towards Cariboo, and that the riverswept so far round to the north of it that we should have to make a verylong voyage if we went that way. We therefore turned round, with ourfaces to the southward, determined to make our way down the ThompsonRiver to Port Kamloops, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company, withwhich, and the town of Lytton, then was, we knew, a constantcommunication. High snowy peaks appeared more or less near on everyside, broken hills, and rounded hills, and rocks, and precipices, anddense forests, wherever trees could find soil for their roots. Thecrossing streams and small lakes caused us considerable difficulty, butit was not so great as that we encountered when we had to cut our way,foot by foot, through the forest. The river our horses could swimacross with ease, though they had some difficulty in getting up thebanks. Our baggage was ferried over on rafts, for forming which we hadplenty of materials at hand. Gaby was no despicable backwoodsman, andwith his sharp axe he gave us efficient help in felling trees, while hewas an adept also in fastening them together. As we advanced, however,our difficulties increased, and game became scarce. We agreed toseparate for a few days Trevor was to take Swiftfoot and to ascertain ifany navigable stream ran towards Lake Quesnelle, as we believed that ifwe could once reach its waters we could easily get to Cariboo. Stalkerand Quick-ear were to continue to hunt, and to keep up a communicationbetween us, while Gaby and I, accompanied by Peter and Ready, were tomake our way to the head waters of the Thompson. A camp was to beformed in some eligible position, where pasture for the horses could befound, and here we were to leave our heavier goods and provisions, to bebrought on in the direction which might prove most promising.
After a hurried breakfast, at daybreak we started on our respectivecourses. My party of three and the dog had not got far when we came toa broad stream, which it was necessary to cross. We quickly made asmall raft, on which two persons could sit with a portion of our goods;we had a long line secured to it, so that the raft could be draggedbackwards and forwards, while the horses swam across. Gaby and Icrossed first, and I found the water deeper than I expected. Notwithout some difficulty did we reach the opposite bank in time to helpup the horses, and to keep them together till their cargoes were againready for them. Peter then drew back the raft, and embarked on it withthe remainder of our provisions. He poled on the raft tolerably welltill he got into the middle of the stream, when, by some means, thelad's foot slipped, and overboard he went, letting go his pole. He wasbut a poor swimmer, and his destruction seemed certain, unless I couldmanage to get him out. I was throwing off my clothes to plunge in tohis rescue, when I saw that the raft had swung round and that he hadhappily caught hold of it. I did not, however, at first observe thatthe rope had snapped, or got loose from its fastening, and that the raftwas drifting rapidly down the stream. After a while he got up andseated himself composedly on it, wondering apparently what next wouldhappen. It took a good deal to put him out. As soon as I discoveredthat the raft was really adrift, I ran along the bank, hoping that thecurrent would send it in either on one side or the other, but instead ofthat it kept steadily in the middle, and as I looked ahead, I saw thatprecipitous rocks formed the banks, over which it would not be possibleto scramble. Peter, too, turned round, and now, for the first time itseemed, comprehended his danger. He held out his hands imploringlytowards me, crying out, "Oh, sir, oh, sir!--pray save me, save me!" Thewater was icy-cold, from the rapidly melting snow, and I had somereasonable dread of cramp. Still I was about to run every risk to savethe poor lad, when I bethought me that Ready, who had crossed with me,would lend his aid. I told Peter to call him, and beckoned the dog togo towards the raft. After a little hesitation, and a few sharp barks,as if he was not quite certain what I wanted him to do, he plungedboldly in and swam towards the raft.
Peter had meantime hauled in the slack of the rope, and coiled it neatlydown on the raft. Ready swam quickly up to the raft. He seemed clearlyto comprehend the object of his enterprise, and opening his mouth toreceive the end of the rope, which Peter put into it, swam triumphantlyback towards the shore. I gave him an approving pat, as he landed, andtaking the rope, with Gaby's aid, I began to haul the raft towards theland. At length I got it safely to shore, where we landed the freight,and securing the raft, ready for our return, we pushed on towards thesouth. We encamped at night by the side of the river, which we believedran into the Thompson.
As we sat round our camp fire, I became better acquainted with Mr Gabyand the very high opinion which he entertained of his own talents andpowers. He informed me that he intended to settle in British Columbia,as he hoped to rise to the highest position if he did.
"I guess your Queen will be a lucky woman if she gets me as her subjectto manage her affairs out here. I'm in no wise prejudiced. I'm a freeand independent citizen of the greatest republic the world ever knew;but nevertheless I'm ready to give my services to any one who is ableand willing to pay me properly."