CHAPTER XXIII PLANNING THE LONG DRIVE
The message that was holding Patsy's attention was one from the CanadianGovernment. It was a bonafide offer from that Government to purchase thefirst herd of from four to six hundred reindeer that should reach FortJarvis.
When Patsy had imparted the exciting news to her, Marian sat long insilent thought. Fort Jarvis, as she well knew, lay some five hundredmiles away over hills and tundra. She had just returned from one suchwearisome journey. Should she start again? And would this second greatendeavor prove more successful than the first? Of all the herds inAlaska, two were closest to Fort Jarvis; Scarberry's and her own. She hadnot the slightest doubt that Scarberry would start driving a section ofhis herd toward that goal. It would be a race; a race that would be wonby the bravest, strongest and most skillful. Marian believed in herherders. She believed in herself and Patsy. She believed as strongly inher herd, her sled-deer and her dogs. It was the grand opportunity; theway out of all troubles. That the band of begging natives would notfollow, she knew right well. Nor would the mysterious persons of thepurple flame camp; at least, she hoped not. As for their little herdrange, if they sold their deer, Scarberry might have it, and welcome; ifthey did not sell, they could doubtless find pasture in some far awayCanadian valley.
"Yes," she said in a tone of decision, "we will go. We will waken theherders at once. Come on, let's go."
As they burst breathlessly into the cabin of their Eskimo herders, theyreceived something of a shock. Since all the work of the day had longsince been done, they had expected to find the entire group of fourassembled in the cabin, or asleep in their bunks. But here was only oldTerogloona and Attatak.
"Where's Oatinna? Where's Azazruk?" demanded Marian.
"Gone," said Terogloona solemnly.
"Where? Go call them, quick!"
Terogloona did not move. He merely shrugged his shoulders and mumbled:
"No good. Gone long way. Bill Scarberry's camp. No come back, say thatone."
"What!" exclaimed Marian in consternation. "Gone? Deserted us?"
"_Eh-eh_," Terogloona nodded his head. "Say Bill Scarberry pay moremoney; more deer; say that one Oatinna, that one Azazruk. No good, thatone Bill Scarberry, me think." He shook his head solemnly. "Not listenthat one Oatinna, that one Azazruk. Say wanna go. Go, that's all."
"Then we can't start the herd," murmured Marian, sinking down upon arolled up sleeping-bag. "Yes, we will!" she exclaimed resolutely."Terogloona, where are the rifles?"
"Gone," he repeated like a parrot. "Mebby you forget. That one rifleb'long herder boys."
"And your rifle?" questioned Marian, "where is your rifle?"
"Broke-tuk. Hammer not want come down hard. Not want shoot, that onerifle, mine."
Marian was stunned with surprise and chagrin. She and Patsy returnedsilently to their igloo.
"Oh, that treacherous Bill Scarberry!" she exploded. "He has known thiswas coming. He knew our herders were energetic and capable. He thought ifthey remained with us, we might beat him to the prize; so he sent somespy over here to buy them away from us with promises of more pay."
"And now?" asked Patsy.
"Now he will drive his herd to Fort Jarvis and sell it, and our grandchance is gone forever."
"No!" exclaimed Patsy, "He won't! He shall not! We will beat him yet. Weare strong. Terogloona and Attatak are faithful. We have our threecollies. We can do it. We will beat him yet. Our herd is better than his.It will travel faster. Oh, Marian! Somehow, _somehow_ we must do it. It'syour chance! Your one big, wonderful opportunity."
"Yes," exclaimed Marian, suddenly fired by her cousin's hot bloodedsouthern enthusiasm, "we will do it or perish in the attempt. It's to bea race," she exclaimed, "a race for a wonderful prize, a race between twolarge herds of reindeer over five hundred miles of hills, tundra andforest. There may be wolves in the forests. In Alaska dangers lurk atevery turn; rivers too rapid to freeze over and blizzards and wildbeasts. We will be terribly handicapped from the very start. But forfather's sake we must try it."
"For your father's and for your own sake," murmured Patsy. "And, Marian,I have always believed that our great Creator was on the side of thosewho are kind and just. Bill Scarberry played us a mean trick. Perhaps Godwill somehow even the score."
An hour was spent in consultation with old Terogloona. His face becamevery sober at the situation, but in the end, with the blood of youthcoursing eternally in his veins, he sprang to his feet and exclaimed:
"_Eh-eh!_" (Yes-yes) "We will go. Before it is day we will be away. Yougo sleep. You must be very strong. In the morning Terogloona will havereindeer and sleds ready. We will call to the dogs. We will be awaybefore the sun. We will shout '_Kul-le-a-muck, Kul-le-a-muck_' (Hurry!Hurry!) to dogs and reindeer. We will beat that one Bill yet.
"You know what?" he exclaimed, his face darkening like a thundercloud,"You know that mean man, that one Bill Scarberry. Want my boy, So-queena,work for him. Want pay him reindeer. Give him bad rifle, very bad rifle.Want shoot, my boy So-queena. Shot at carabou, So-queena. Rifle go flash.Crooch! Just like that. Shoot back powder, that rifle. Came inSo-queena's eyes, that powder. Can't see, that one. Almost lost tofreeze, that one, So-queena. Bye'm bye find camp. Stay camp mebby fivedays. Can see, not very good. Bill, he say: 'Go herd reindeer,'So-queena, he say: 'Can't see. Mebby get lost. Mebby freeze'.
"He say Bill very mad. 'Get out! No good, you! Go freeze. Who cares?'
"So-queena come my house--long way. Plenty starve. Plenty freeze. No givereindeer that one So-queena, that one Bill. Bad one, that Bill. So methink; beat Bill. Sell reindeer herd white man. Think very good. Workhard. Mebby beat that one Bill Scarberry."
There came a look of determination to Patsy's face such as Marian hadnever seen there.
"If that's the kind of man he is; if he would send an Eskimo boy,half-blinded by his own worthless rifle, out into the snow and the cold,then we must beat him. We must! We must!" said Patsy vehemently.
"That's exactly the kind of man he is," said Marian soberly. "We mustbeat him if we can. But it will be a long, hard journey."
They had hardly crept between their deerskins when Patsy was fast asleep.Not so Marian. The full responsibility of this perilous journey restedupon her shoulders. She knew too well the hardships and dangers they mustface. They must pass through broad stretches of forest where food for thedeer was scarce, and where lurking wolves, worn down to mere skeletons bythe scarcity of food, might attack and scatter their herd beyondrecovery.
They must cross high hills, from whose summits the snow at times pouredlike smoke from volcanoes in circling sweeps hundreds of feet in extent.Here there would be danger of losing their deer in some wild blizzard, orhaving them buried beneath the snows of some thundering avalanche.
"It's not for myself alone that I'm afraid," she told herself. "It's forPatsy, Patsy from Kentucky. Who would have thought a girl from the sunnysouth could be so brave, such a good sport."
As she thought of the courageous, carefree manner in which Patsy hadinsisted on the journey, a lump rose in her throat, and she brushed ahand hastily over her eyes.
"And yet," she asked herself, "ought I to allow her to do it? She'syounger than I, and not so strong. Can she stand the strain?"
Again her mind took up the thought of the perils they must face.
There were wandering tribes of Indians in the territory they must cross;the skulking and oft-times treacherous Indians of the Little Sticks. Whatif they were to cross the path of these? What if a great band of cariboushould come pouring down some mountain pass and, having swallowed uptheir little herd, go sweeping on, leaving them in the midst of a greatwilderness with only their sled-deer to stand between them andstarvation.
As if dreaming of Marian's thoughts, Patsy suddenly turned over with alittle sobbing cry, and wound her arms about Marian.
"What is it?" Marian whispered.
Patsy did not answer. She was stil
l asleep. The dream soon passed, hermuscles relaxed, and with a deep sigh she sank back into her place.
This little drama left Marian in an exceedingly troubled state of mind.
"We ought not to go," she told herself. "We will not." Then, from sheerexhaustion, she too, fell asleep.
Three hours before the tardy Arctic sunrise, she heard Terogloonapounding at their door. She found that sleep had banished fear, and thatevery muscle in her body and every cell of her brain was ready foraction, eager to be away.
As for Patsy, she could not dress half fast enough, so great was herdesire for the wonderful adventure.