CHAPTER SIX.
CHARACTER PARTIALLY DEVELOPED--DUCKS FOR SUPPER--A THREATENED "NIP"--BUNDLED OUT ON THE ICE.
Fortunately the wind veered round to the south-east soon after thedeparture of the canoes from Moose Fort, and although there was notenough of it to ruffle the surface of the river, it had the effect ofchecking the influx of ice from James's Bay. The tide, too, began toebb, so that the progress of the canoes was even more rapid than itappeared to be; and long before the sun set, they were past the point atthe mouth of the river, and coasting along the shores of the salt ocean.
Outside of them the sea was covered with hummocks and fields of ice,some of which ever and anon met in the cross currents caused by theriver, with a violent shock. Close to the shore, however, the thicknessof the ice caused it to strand, leaving a lane of open water, alongwhich the canoes proceeded easily, the depth of water being much morethan sufficient for them, as the largest canoe did not draw more than afoot. Sometimes, however, this space was blocked up by smallerfragments, and considerable difficulty was experienced in steering thecanoes amongst them. Had the party travelled in boats, they would haveeasily dashed through many of these checks; but with canoes it is farotherwise. Not only are their bark sides easily broken, but the seamsare covered with a kind of pitch which becomes so brittle in ice-coldwater that it chips off in large lumps with the slightest touch. Forthe sea, therefore, boats are best; but when it comes to carrying thecraft over waterfalls and up mountain sides, for days and weekstogether, canoes are more useful, owing to their lightness.
"Take care, Massan," said Mr Stanley, on approaching one of thesefloes. "Don't chip the gum off if you can help it. If we spring aleak, we shan't spend our first night on a pleasant camping-ground, forthe shore just hereabouts does not look inviting."
"No fear, sir," replied Massan. "Dick Prince is in the bow, and as longas his mouth's shut I keep my mind easy."
"You appear to have unlimited confidence in Prince," said Stanley, witha smile. "Does he never fail in anything, that you are so sure of him?"
"Fail!" exclaimed the steersman, whose paddle swept constantly in acircle round his head, while he changed it from side to side as themotions of the canoe required--"fail! ay, that does he sometimes.Mortal man must get on the wrong side o' luck now and then. I've seenDick Prince fail, but I never saw him make a mistake."
"Well, I've no doubt that he deserves your good opinion. Nevertheless,be more than ordinarily careful. If you had a wife and child in thecanoe, Massan, you would understand my anxiety better." Stanley smiledas he said this, and the worthy steersman replied in a grave tone,--"Ihave the wife and child of my bourgeois under my care."
"True, true, Massan," said Stanley, lying back on his couch andconversing with his wife in an undertone.
"'Tis curious," said he, "to observe the confidence that Massan has inPrince; and yet it would be difficult to say wherein consists thesuperiority of the one over the other."
"Perhaps it is the influence of a strong mind over a weaker," suggestedhis wife.
"It may be so. Yet Prince is an utterly uneducated man. True, heshoots a hair's-breadth better than Massan; but he is not a bettercanoe-man, neither is he more courageous, and he is certainly lesspowerful: nevertheless Massan looks up to him and speaks of him as if hewere greatly his superior. The secret of his power must lie in thatsteady, never-wavering inflexibility of purpose, that characterises ourgood bowman in everything he does."
"Papa," said Edith, who had been holding a long conversation with Chimoon the wonders of the scene around them--if we may call that aconversation where the one party does all the talking and the other allthe listening--"papa, where shall we all sleep to-night?"
The thought seemed to have struck her for the first time, and she lookedup eagerly for an answer, while Chimo gave a deep sigh of indifference,and went to sleep, or pretended to do so, where he was.
"In the woods, Eda. How do you think you will like it?"
"Oh, I'm sure I shall like it very much," replied the little one. "I'veoften wished to live in the woods altogether like the Indians, and donothing but wander about and pull berries."
"Ah, Jessie," said Stanley, "what an idle little baggage your daughteris! I fear she's a true chip of the old block!"
"Which do you consider the old block," retorted Mrs Stanley--"you orme?"
"Never mind, wife; we'll leave that an open question.--But tell me, Eda,don't you think that wandering about and pulling berries would be a veryuseless sort of life?"
"No," replied Edith, gravely. "Mamma often tells me that God wants meto be happy, and I'm quite sure that wandering about all day in thebeautiful woods would make me happy."
"But, my darling," said Stanley, smiling at the simplicity of thisplausible argument in favour of an idle life, "don't you know that weought to try to make others happy too, as well as ourselves?"
"Oh yes," replied Eda, with a bright smile, "I know that, papa; and Iwould try to make everybody happy by going with them and showing themwhere the finest flowers and berries were to be found; and so we wouldall be happy together, and that's what God wants, is it not?"
Mr Stanley glanced towards his wife with an arch smile. "There,Jessie, what think you of that?"
"Nay, husband, what think you?"
"I think," he replied in an undertone, "that your sagacious teachingagainst idleness, and in favour of diligence and attention to duty, andso forth, has not taken very deep root yet."
"And _I_ think," said Mrs Stanley, "that however wise you men may be insome things, you are all most incomprehensibly stupid in regard to thedevelopment of young minds."
"Take care now, Jessie; you're verging upon metaphysics. But you haveonly given me your opinion of men as yet; you have still to say what youthink of Eda's acknowledged predilection for idleness."
"Well," replied Mrs Stanley, "I think that my sagacious teaching, asyou are pleased to call it, has taken pretty firm root already, and thatEda's speech is one of the first bright, beautiful blossoms, from whichwe may look for much fruit hereafter; for to make one's self and one'sfellow-creatures happy, _because such is the will of God_, seems to me asimple and comprehensive way of stating the whole duty of man."
Stanley's eyes opened a little at this definition. "Hum! _multum inparvo_; it may be so," he said; and casting down his eyes, he was soonlost in a profound reverie, while the canoe continued to progressforward by little impulsive bounds, under the rapid stroke of thepaddles. Eda rested her fair cheek on the shaggy brow of Chimo, andaccompanied him to the land of nod, until the sun began to sink behindthe icebergs on the seaward horizon, where a dark line indicated anapproaching breeze.
Massan cast an uneasy glance at this from time to time. At length hecalled to his friend in the bow, "Hello, Prince! will it come stiff;think ye?"
"No," replied Prince, rising and shading his eyes with his hand; "it'llbe only a puff; but that's enough to drive the ice down on us, an' shutup the open water."
"It's my 'pinion," said Massan, "that we should hold away for the p'intyonder, an' camp there."
Dick Prince nodded assent, and resumed his paddle.
As he did so the report of a gun came sharply over the water.
"Ha!" exclaimed Stanley, looking out ahead; "what's that?"
"Only Mr Frank," said Massan; "he's dowsed two birds. I see'd themsplash into the water."
"That's right," said Stanley; "we shall have something fresh for thekettle to-night. And, by the way, we'll need all we can kill, for wehaven't much provision to depend on, and part of it must be reserved incase of accidents, so that if Frank does not do his duty, we shall haveto live on birch bark, Massan."
"That would be rayther tough. I'm afeerd," replied the steersman,laughing. "I've tried the tail o' a deer-skin coat afore now, an' itwasn't much to boast of; but I niver tried a birch-bark steak. I doubtit would need a power o' chewin?"
By this time the two large canoes had drawn gradually nearer to thelea
ding one. As they approached, Frank ordered his men to ceasepaddling.
"Well, Frank, what success?" said Stanley, as they came up.
"There's our supper," cried Frank, tossing a large duck into the canoe;"and there's a bite for the men," he added, sending a huge gray gooseinto the midst of them. "I saw a herd of reindeer on the other side ofthe point; but the ice closed up the passage, and prevented me fromgetting within range. It will stop our further progress for to-nighttoo; so I waited to advise you to camp here."
"There it comes!" cried Dick Prince. "Jump out on the ice, lads, andunload as fast as you can."
As Dick spoke he sprang on to a field of ice which was attached to theshore, and drawing the canoe alongside, began hastily to remove thecargo. His example was instantly followed by the men, who sprang overthe gunwales like cats; and in less than five minutes the cargoes werescattered over the ice. Meanwhile, the breeze which Massan had observedcontinued to freshen, and the seaward ice bore rapidly down on theshore, gradually narrowing and filling up the lanes of water among whichthe travellers had been hitherto wending their way. Dick Prince'ssudden action was caused by his observing a large, solid field, whichbore down on them with considerable rapidity. His warning was just intime, for the goods were scarcely landed and the three canoes lifted outof the water, when the ice closed in with a crash that would have groundthe frail barks to pieces, and the passage was closed up. So completelywas every trace of water obliterated, that it seemed as though therenever had been any there before.