CHAPTER XII
THE FLIGHT CONTINUES
By this time it is understood what the plan was that Shines-in-the-Nightput before Nell, when the Lizard brought news of the pursuers' nearness.
It was a wonderfully complete plan, because it included the making of atrail anew from the head of the lake and down the centre to the outletof the river. The shrewd mind of the Redskin girl saw the necessity ofthis, because Stenson would not have been satisfied with a trail thatbegan at the Wolf's Tooth Rocks. He would, of course, want to know bywhat track the fugitives reached it. The way they had really come theafternoon before, close to the bank, was partly obliterated by the thawand partly defaced by the Lizard, who went back on it for some littledistance till he had destroyed the connection with the camp on the rock.
At first Nell refused to agree, but Shines-in-the-Night made it quiteplain that she and the Lizard would be in no danger.
"Great Chief Oga the Pickerel," she said impressively. "Once LittleEyes do him bad turn never forgive. Him know that. All time Oga finishLittle Eyes. Police no matter at all then."
It was true. Nell knew that the Red men never forgive an injury andnever forget a friend. If Stenson had killed the girl, no length oftime, no number of years or miles of distance would save him in the endfrom the vengeance of Oga.
That made a great deal of difference. She could not have agreed to theplan if she had believed it would endanger the girl's life.
So she and David accepted the generous offer and one curious thinghappened in connection with this.
When it was settled, she said:
"You are very good to us, Shines-in-the-Night. Your heart is very warmand kind. We have not thanks enough to give you."
"The tall white sister has given me a great gift," answered the Indian;"it lies on my heart and keeps it warm towards her. So that no deed istoo much for me."
She put her hand within the leather shirt that she wore under herblanket, and drew out, almost reverently, the Christmas card that Nellhad sent her. A hole had been made at one corner, and a deer's tendon,such as Indian women sew with, was passed through the hole, thus hangingthe card round her neck. As she brought it out, the faint, delicatescent from the sachet pervaded the air and made Robin lift his muzzlefrom his paws and wrinkle his nose with little tentative sniffs.
To Shines-in-the-Night this card was the most wonderful and beautifulthing she had ever seen. She believed it to be a miracle, too, a charmof great power, and she knew that the possession of it would give her asort of status of honour above the other girls and women of theChippewas.
Nell knew the Indians, but even she was surprised at the immensesatisfaction this card had given. Just at a critical moment she boundthis girl to her service with a bond almost unbreakable. It was astrange thing.
After that the action proceeded swiftly.
The time being little beyond midnight they had some hours before thecamp on the south shore would wake. Nell and David took a small compactbundle each, simply the sleeping bag, a billy-can, a little tea andpemmican, the object being to travel as light as possible and cover asmuch ground as they could in the shortest time. The Indians gave Nellcareful and distinct directions about her journey. She was not to touchon the lake, but to go along the north side of it through the woods andcut across the bend of the river on the land. In this way she was totravel quite ten miles of the stream, but always keeping in the woods.After that it would be safe for her to take to the course of the ice,they all thought, but it might depend on circumstances. About that time,too, she would reach the log house--the bunk house run up fortravellers, where Andrew Lindsay had made a cache. Nell was dependingrather on that for enough food to keep on with. Haste being her oneobject, it was not possible to set a wire for a chance rabbit, andconcealment being necessary, they could not fire a gun unless absolutelyforced to do so in self-defence. A shot would ring far in the silentsnow-laden woods.
So that was the plan mapped out by the two girls, and very soon afterthat they parted, Nell and David going off east through the scatteredwoods of the north shore, the Lizard and his sister going back west,also on the shore, and dragging the sled, until they arrived at a placefrom which it seemed safe to take to the lake again and come down thecentre of it as described, making the trail that was to mislead thepursuers.
All those long hours till the grey of morning began to make the treesghostlike, brother and sister went on and on with Robin. At first theyfelt the pleasure of going ahead without the drag of the sled, but aboutsix o'clock they were very tired, and Nell decreed a short rest, tea,and a feed. They made a small round fire with great care, boiled somesnow water for tea, ate their dried meat and gave Robin a bit of thedried fish they carried for him. No bacon. They must wait for thecache.
Then, rested somewhat, they went on again. They had reached the riveroutlet and were cutting across that part round which its course wound.This was about the time when Stenson was coming down the lake hot on thetrail of the Indians, who were certainly ten miles behind Nell, if notmore.
David was beginning to think it was all right again. He dependedgreatly on the Indian girl's ruse, but Nell was very anxious. She couldfeel that money at her waist every time she moved, and theresponsibility was a burden. She had taken upon herself to remove itfrom the hiding-place, and she had a feeling that she owed it to herfather now to carry her plan through, whatever it cost.
With this dread upon her she put off taking to the river as long as theycould get on by land. But it was harder, slower going--the shoes caughtin snags and roots unless they moved with greatest care, and a longswing was difficult.
About noon, and after another rest, Nell declared she'd risk it. Theyunstrapped their snowshoes, broke a way through the undergrowth andfound the river again--wider, snow-covered for the most part, smoothgoing.
They had not come all this way without seeing a forest creature ortwo--a rabbit, a mink that was chasing it just as stoats do in England.The rabbit escaped, thanks to Robin's interference, but the mink didalso.
The climb down the bank brought them up against the land entrance of amusk-rat's nest, a big heap of sticks and rubbish that looked socareless, but was so carefully made. They knew that down away under theice was a water entrance also, and between the two entrances a nest mostbeautifully safe and dry which the mink was always trying to get at.
Nell and David knew of these things and had often seen them, but to-daywas no time to wait and watch. Once on the water--or rather on thesnow-covered ice--they strapped on their shoes and went on again at afine pace, considering the thaw, which is most certainly a drawback ifyou want to race.
They had counted on reaching the bunk house that night, but they did notreach it, and they were faced by the inevitable night in the snow withno food but the tea and dwindling pemmican. It was not quite so cold,but that was small gain when the wetness was taken into account.Dripping trees and wet snow!
They would not make a sound of complaint, either of them, though theywere dizzy with weariness and stiff in every muscle. They scraped atiny camp free of snow, made a fire with bits of stick and dead leaves,boiled their water almost mechanically, and after eating all they daredof the food remaining, crawled into their bags and were asleep in a fewseconds, the two, with the dog between them. So soundly they slept thatno stir among the wild creatures on the banks roused them, nor did thefaint ceaseless trickle of tiny streams running into the river.
The hardest part was waking in the morning to start on again in the rawchill of the thaw at dawn. No sun, of course. Grey mist, shadows, andslush!
"Never mind," said Nell, answering their thoughts, because neither hadspoken, "we _must_ reach the bunk house and the cache to-day. Then we'llhave a feast and a rest, and a fire in the stove; they always keep thefire laid--we shall have to do it for the next that comes along when wego."
David seized on Robin in a sort of paroxysm of satisfaction. Th
eyrolled about on the ground together, and presently got up very cheerful.
"Da, you're a brick," said Nell, measuring out tea. "I _say_, we areshort. That's the last. And only this to eat! Pity we can't eat Rob'sfish, but we can't; it's like wood."
They made fun of the poor meal, the slush, the stiffness, and the longmiles ahead.
"Come on," said the girl, and they had started before the sun was up.
All the morning they kept on, and then Nell began to recognise certainlandmarks her father had spoken of at different times. The first ofthese was the narrowing of the river into a sort of gorge, the sides ofwhich were steep, rocky, and wooded. David said it was a good thingthey had no sled; that was the "bright side" certainly. But they hadthemselves, and it meant a landing, a severe climb and a strugglethrough a regular maze of undergrowth. They had to use the little axe,which they had held to as a necessity and carried strapped to David'sback. Bad as it was, landing was the only way, because the river wentdown the gorge in rapids, and the strong stream had begun to force tinyrivulets over the snow.
About the middle of the afternoon, when David was very silent and Nellhad taken to describing the bunk house, which she declared was close by,Robin left them. He had become restless a little while back, followingup some trail with persistence, and now he disappeared altogether.
"Never mind," said Nell. It was rather a favourite expression of hers,always meaning really "never say die!" "He can't possibly lose us, evenif we lose him."
"I say, Nell, look at the big rocks and the jolly hiding holes upthere." David waved a hand towards a sort of fortress above them. "Ifthe bunk house turns out to be a frost we'd better come back here andhide. It would be jolly safe."
"Start housekeeping in a cave! All right, but what shall we eat?Robin? Or the foxes that live up there? We haven't even got a snare."
As they talked they came into a sort of rough track leading from theheights down to the river. The wood was less dense, and Nell suddenlychecked.
"Da! Oh, Da! See--we are all right! I'd give three cheers only we'dbetter not! _There's_ the bunk house, up on the bank above the streamin that bit of open--see!"
They both stood still, gazing their fill as it were. This meant rest,warmth, a safe night, food, and in the minds of both a feeling that theworst was over.
David made extravagant signs of joy--silent signs. Nell's face, whichhad been looking very pinched and years older than the fifteen shecounted, seemed to plump out suddenly into roundness. The eyes of thetwo met with a sort of mutual congratulation, then their attention wasdistracted by a growl, and both looked to see the meaning of the sound.
Not far from them and on higher ground among the rocks stood a blackbear. His little red eyes were fixed on them with a sort of malevolentirritation. He was very thin, a mere loose hide over bones, and the twoknew that he had waked from his winter sleep in the caves and come out,desperately hungry, to find nothing to eat, and rather a comfortlessworld. He was annoyed.