CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
GOOD NEWS AND ROMANTIC SCENERY--BEAR-HUNTING AND ITS RESULTS.
Jacques failed in his attempt to break off his engagement with thefur-traders. The gentleman in charge of Norway House, albeit agood-natured, estimable man, was one who could not easily brookdisappointment, especially in matters that involved the interests of theHudson's Bay Company; so Jacques was obliged to hold to his compact, andthe pastor had to search for another guide.
Spring came, and with it the awakening (if we may use the expression) ofthe country from the long, lethargic sleep of winter. The sun burstforth with irresistible power, and melted all before it. Ice and snowquickly dissolved, and set free the waters of swamp and river, lake andsea, to leap and sparkle in their new-found liberty. Birds renewedtheir visits to the regions of the north; frogs, at last unfrozen,opened their leathern jaws to croak and whistle in the marshes, and menbegan their preparations for a summer campaign.
At the commencement of the season an express arrived with letters fromheadquarters, which, among other matters of importance, directed thatMessrs. Somerville and Hamilton should be dispatched forthwith to theSaskatchewan district, where, on reaching Fort Pitt, they were to placethemselves at the disposal of the gentleman in charge of the district.It need scarcely be added that the young men were overjoyed on receivingthis almost unhoped-for intelligence, and that Harry expressed hissatisfaction in his usual hilarious manner, asserting somewhatprofanely, in the excess of his glee, that the governor-in-chief ofRupert's Land was a "regular brick." Hamilton agreed to all hisfriend's remarks with a quiet smile, accompanied by a slight chuckle,and a somewhat desperate attempt at a caper, which attempt, bordering asit did on a region of buffoonery into which our quiet and gentlemanlyfriend had never dared hitherto to venture, proved an awkward and utterfailure. He felt this, and blushed deeply.
It was further arranged and agreed upon that the young men shouldaccompany Jacques Caradoc in his canoe. Having become sufficientlyexpert canoemen to handle their paddles well, they scouted the idea oftaking men with them, and resolved to launch boldly forth at once as_bona-fide_ voyageurs. To this arrangement Jacques, after one or twotrials to test their skill, agreed; and very shortly after the arrivalof the express, the trio set out on their voyage, amid the cheers andadieus of the entire population of Norway House, who were assembled onthe end of the wooden wharf to witness their departure, and with whomthey had managed, during their short residence at that place, to becomespecial favourites. A month later, the pastor of the Indian village,having procured a trusty guide, embarked in his tin canoe with a crew ofsix men, and followed in their track.
In process of time spring merged into summer--a season chieflycharacterised in those climes by intense heat and innumerable clouds ofmosquitoes, whose vicious and incessant attacks render life, for thetime being, a burden. Our three voyageurs, meanwhile, ascended theSaskatchewan, penetrating deeper each day into the heart of the NorthAmerican continent. On arriving at Fort Pitt, they were graciouslypermitted to rest for three days, after which they were forwarded toanother district, where fresh efforts were being made to extend thefur-trade into lands hitherto almost unvisited. This continuation oftheir travels was quite suited to the tastes and inclinations of Harryand Hamilton, and was hailed by them as an additional reason forself-gratulation. As for Jacques, he cared little to what part of theworld he chanced to be sent. To hunt, to toil in rain and in sunshine,in heat and in cold, at the paddle or on the snow-shoe, was hisvocation, and it mattered little to the bold hunter whether he plied itupon the plains of the Saskatchewan or among the woods of Athabasca.Besides, the companions of his travels were young, active, bold,adventurous, and therefore quite suited to his taste. Redfeather, too,his best and dearest friend, had been induced to return to his tribe forthe purpose of mediating between some of the turbulent members of it andthe white men who had gone to settle among them, so that the prospect ofagain associating with his red friend was an additional element in hissatisfaction. As Charley Kennedy was also in this district, the hope ofseeing him once more was a subject of such unbounded delight to HarrySomerville, and so, sympathetically, to young Hamilton, that it was withdifficulty they could realise the full amount of their good fortune, orgive adequate expression to their feelings. It is, therefore, probablethat there never were three happier travellers than Jacques, Harry, andHamilton, as they shouldered their guns and paddles, shook hands withthe inmates of Fort Pitt, and with light steps and lighter heartslaunched their canoe, turned their bronzed faces once more to the summersun, and dipped their paddles again in the rippling waters of theSaskatchewan River.
As their bark was exceedingly small, and burdened with but littlelading, they resolved to abandon the usual route, and penetrate thewilderness through a maize of lakes and small rivers well known to theirguide. By this arrangement they hoped to travel more speedily, andavoid navigating a long sweep of the river by making a number ofportages; while, at the same time, the changeful nature of the route waslikely to render it more interesting. From the fact of its being seldomtraversed, it was also more likely that they should find a supply ofgame for the journey.
Towards sunset, one fine day, about two weeks after their departure fromFort Pitt, our voyageurs paddled their canoe round a wooded point ofland that jutted out from, and partially concealed, the mouth of a largeriver, down whose stream they had dropped leisurely during the lastthree days, and swept out upon the bosom of a large lake. This was oneof those sheets of water which glitter in hundreds on the green bosom ofAmerica's forests, and are so numerous and comparatively insignificantas to be scarce distinguished by a name, unless when they lie directlyin the accustomed route of the fur-traders. But although, in comparisonwith the fresh-water oceans of the Far West, this lake was unnoticed andalmost unknown, it would by no means have been regarded in such a lighthad it been transported to the plains of England. In regard topicturesque beauty it was perhaps unsurpassed. It might be about sixmiles wide, and so long that the land at the farther end of it wasfaintly discernible on the horizon. Wooded hills, sloping gently downto the water's edge; jutting promontories, some rocky and barren, othersmore or less covered with trees; deep bays, retreating in some placesinto the dark recesses of a savage-looking gorge, in others into adistant meadow-like plain, bordered with a stripe of yellow sand;beautiful islands of various sizes, scattered along the shores as ifnestling there for security, or standing barren and solitary in thecentre of the lake, like bulwarks of the wilderness, some covered withluxuriant vegetation, others bald and grotesque in outline, and coveredwith gulls and other waterfowl,--this was the scene that broke upon theview of the travellers as they rounded the point, and, ceasing topaddle, gazed upon it long and in deep silence, their hands raised toshade their eyes from the sun's rays, which sparkled in the water, andfell, here in bright spots and broken patches, and there in yellowfloods, upon the rocks, the trees, the forest glades and plains aroundthem.
"What a glorious scene!" murmured Hamilton, almost unconsciously.
"A perfect paradise!" said Harry, with a long-drawn sigh ofsatisfaction.--"Why, Jacques, my friend, it's a matter of wonder to methat you, a free man, without relations or friends to curb you, orattract you to other parts of the world, should go boating and canoeingall over the country at the beck of the fur-traders, when you might comeand pitch your tent here for ever!"
"For ever!" echoed Jacques.
"Well, I mean as long as you live in this world."
"Ah, master," rejoined the guide, in a sad tone of voice, "it's justbecause I have neither kith nor kin nor friends to draw me to anypartic'lar spot on arth, that I don't care to settle down in this one,beautiful though it be."
"True, true," muttered Harry; "man's a gregarious animal, there's nodoubt of that."
"Anon?" exclaimed Jacques.
"I meant to say that man naturally loves company," replied Harry,smiling.
"An' yit I've seen some as didn't, master; though, to be
sure, that wasonnat'ral, and there's not many o' them, by good luck. Yes, man's fondo' seein' the face o' man."
"And woman too," interrupted Harry.--"Eh, Hamilton, what say you?
"`O woman, in our hours of ease Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou.'
"Alas, Hammy! pain and anguish and everything else may wring ourunfortunate brows here long enough before woman, `lovely woman,' willcome to our aid. What a rare sight it would be, now, to see even anordinary housemaid or cook out here! It would be good for sore eyes.It seems to me a sort of horrible untruth to say that I've not seen awoman since I left Red River; and yet it's a frightful fact, for I don'tcount the copper-coloured nondescripts one meets with hereabouts to bewomen at all. I suppose they are, but they don't look like it."
"Don't be a goose, Harry," said Hamilton.
"Certainly not, my friend. If I were under the disagreeable necessityof being anything but what I am, I should rather be something that isnot in the habit of being shot," replied the other, paddling withrenewed vigour in order to get rid of some of the superabundant spiritsthat the beautiful scene and brilliant weather, acting on a young andardent nature, had called forth.
"Some of these same redskins," remarked the guide, "are not such badsort o' women, for all their ill looks. I've know'd more than one thatwas a first-rate wife an' a good mother, though it's true they hadlittle edication beyond that o' the woods."
"No doubt of it," replied Harry, laughing gaily. "How shall I keep thecanoe's head, Jacques?"
"Right away for the p'int that lies jist between you an' the sun."
"Yes; I give them all credit for being excellent wives and mothers,after a fashion," resumed Harry. "I've no wish to asperse the characterof the poor Indians; but you must know, Jacques, that they're verydifferent from the women that I allude to and of whom Scott sung. Hisheroines were of a _very_ different stamp and colour!"
"Did he sing of niggers?" inquired Jacques simply.
"Of niggers!" shouted Harry, looking over his shoulder at Hamilton, witha broad grin; "no, Jacques, not exactly of niggers--"
"Hist!" exclaimed the guide, with that peculiar, subdued energy that atonce indicates an unexpected discovery, and enjoins caution, while atthe same moment, by a deep, powerful back-stroke of his paddle, hesuddenly checked the rapid motion of the canoe.
Harry and his friend glanced quickly over their shoulders with a look ofsurprise.
"What's in the wind now?" whispered the former.
"Stop paddling, masters, and look ahead at the rock yonder, jist underthe tall cliff. There's a bear a-sittin' there, an' if we can only getto shore afore he sees us, we're sartin sure of him."
As the guide spoke he slowly edged the canoe towards the shore, whilethe young men gazed with eager looks in the direction indicated, wherethey beheld what appeared to be the decayed stump of an old tree or amass of brown rock. While they strained their eyes to see it moreclearly, the object altered its form and position.
"So it is," they exclaimed simultaneously, in a tone that was equivalentto the remark, "Now we believe, because we see it."
In a few seconds the bow of the canoe touched the land, so lightly as tobe quite inaudible, and Harry, stepping gently over the side, drew itforward a couple of feet, while his companions disembarked.
"Now, Mister Harry," said the guide, as he slung a powder-horn andshot-belt over his shoulder, "we've no need to circumvent the beast, forhe's circumvented hisself."
"How so?" inquired the other, drawing the shot from his fowling-piece,and substituting in its place a leaden bullet.
Jacques led the way through the somewhat thinly scattered underwood ashe replied, "You see, Mister Harry, the place where he's gone to sunhisself is jist at the foot o' a sheer precipice, which runs round aheadof him and juts out into the water, so that he's got three ways tochoose between. He must clamber up the precipice, which will take himsome time, I guess, if he can do it at all; or he must take to thewater, which he don't like, and won't do if he can help it; or he mustrun out the way he went in, but as we shall go to meet him by the sameroad, he'll have to break our ranks before he gains the woods, an'that'll be no easy job."
The party soon reached the narrow pass between the lake and the near endof the cliff, where they advanced with greater caution, and peeping overthe low bushes, beheld Bruin, a large brown fellow, sitting on hishaunches, and rocking himself slowly to and fro, as he gazedabstractedly at the water. He was scarcely within good shot, but thecover was sufficiently thick to admit of a nearer approach.
"Now, Hamilton," said Harry, in a low whisper, "take the first shot. Ikilled the last one, so it's your turn this time."
Hamilton hesitated, but could make no reasonable objection to this,although his unselfish nature prompted him to let his friend have thefirst chance. However, Jacques decided the matter by saying, in a tonethat savoured strongly of command, although it was accompanied with agood-humoured smile--
"Go for'ard, young man; but you may as well put in the primin' first."
Poor Hamilton hastily rectified this oversight with a deep blush, at thesame time muttering that he never _would_ make a hunter; and thenadvanced cautiously through the bushes, slowly followed at a shortdistance by his companions.
On reaching a bush within seventy yards of the bear, Hamilton pushed thetwigs aside with the muzzle of his gun; his eye flashed and his couragemounted as he gazed at the truly formidable animal before him, and hefelt more of the hunter's spirit within him at that moment than he wouldhave believed possible a few minutes before. Unfortunately, a hunter'sspirit does not necessarily imply a hunter's eye or hand. Having, withmuch care and long time, brought his piece to bear exactly where hesupposed the brute's heart should be, he observed that the gun was onhalf-cock, by nearly breaking the trigger in his convulsive efforts tofire. By the time that this error was rectified, Bruin, who seemed tofeel intuitively that some imminent danger threatened him, rose, andbegan to move about uneasily, which so alarmed the young hunter lest heshould lose his shot that he took a hasty aim, fired, and _missed_.Harry asserted afterwards that he even missed the cliff! On hearing theloud report, which rolled in echoes along the precipice, Bruin started,and looking round with an undecided air, saw Harry step quietly from thebushes, and fire, sending a ball into his flank. This decided him.With a fierce growl of pain, he scampered towards the water; thenchanging his mind, he wheeled round, and dashed at the cliff, up whichhe scrambled with wonderful speed.
"Come, Mister Hamilton, load again; quick. I'll have to do the jobmyself, I fear," said Jacques, as he leaned quietly on his long gun, andwith a half-pitying smile watched the young man, who madly essayed torecharge his piece more rapidly than it was possible for mortal man todo. Meanwhile, Harry had reloaded and fired again; but owing to theperturbation of his young spirits, and the frantic efforts of the bearto escape, he missed. Another moment, and the animal would actuallyhave reached the top, when Jacques hastily fired, and brought ittumbling down the precipice. Owing to the position of the animal at thetime he fired, the wound was not mortal; and foreseeing that Bruin wouldnow become the aggressor, the hunter began rapidly to reload, at thesame time retreating with his companions, who in their excitement hadforgotten to recharge their pieces. On reaching level ground, Bruinrose, shook himself, gave a yell of anger on beholding his enemies, andrushed at them.
It was a fine sight to behold the bearing of Jacques at this criticaljuncture. Accustomed to bear-hunting from his youth, and utterlyindifferent to consequences when danger became imminent, he saw at aglance the probabilities of the case. He knew exactly how long it wouldtake him to load his gun, and regulated his pace so as not to interferewith that operation. His features wore their usual calm expression.Every motion of his hands was quick and sudden, yet not hurried, butperformed in a way that led the beholder irresistibly to imagine that hecould have done it even more rapidly if necessary. On reaching a ledgeof r
ock that overhung the lake a few feet, he paused and wheeled about;click went the doghead, just as the bear rose to grapple with him;another moment, and a bullet passed through the brute's heart, while thebold hunter sprang lightly on one side, to avoid the dash of the fallinganimal. As he did so, young Hamilton, who had stood a little behind himwith an uplifted axe, ready to finish the work should Jacques's fireprove ineffective, received Bruin in his arms, and tumbled along withhim over the rock headlong into the water, from which, however, hespeedily arose unhurt, sputtering and coughing, and dragging the deadbear to the shore.
"Well done, Hammy," shouted Harry, indulging in a prolonged peal oflaughter when he ascertained that his friend's adventure had cost himnothing more than a ducking; "that was the most amicable, loving plungeI ever saw."
"Better a cold bath in the arms of a dead bear than an embrace on dryland with a live one," retorted Hamilton, as he wrung the water out ofhis dripping garments.
"Most true, O sagacious diver! But the sooner we get a fire made thebetter; so come along."
While the two friends hastened up to the woods to kindle a fire, Jacquesdrew his hunting-knife, and, with doffed coat and upturned sleeves, wassoon busily employed in divesting the bear of his natural garment. Thecarcass, being valueless in a country where game of a more palatablekind was plentiful, they left behind as a feast to the wolves. Afterthis was accomplished and the clothes dried, they re-embarked, andresumed their journey, plying the paddles energetically in silence, astheir adventure had occasioned a considerable loss of time.
It was late, and the stars had looked down for a full hour into theprofound depths of the now dark lake ere the party reached the ground atthe other side of the point, on which Jacques had resolved to encamp.Being somewhat wearied, they spent but little time in discussing supper,and partook of that meal with a degree of energy that implied a sense ofduty as well as of pleasure. Shortly after, they were buried in repose,under the scanty shelter of their canoe.