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diff --git a/21607.txt b/21607.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75ebca3 --- /dev/null +++ b/21607.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8734 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adrift in the Ice-Fields, by Charles W. Hall + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adrift in the Ice-Fields + +Author: Charles W. Hall + +Release Date: May 25, 2007 [EBook #21607] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADRIFT IN THE ICE-FIELDS *** + + + + +Produced by David Clarke, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: ADRIFT. Page 162.] + +ADRIFT IN THE ICE-FIELDS. + +BY + +CAPT. CHARLES W. HALL, +AUTHOR OF "THE GREAT BONANZA," ETC. + +_ILLUSTRATED._ + +BOSTON: +LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. +NEW YORK: +CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. +1877. + + + + +COPYRIGHT: +BY LEE AND SHEPHARD. +1877. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +To open to the youth of America a knowledge of some of the winter sports +of our neighbors of the maritime provinces, with their attendant +pleasures, perils, successes, and reverses, the following tale has been +written. + +It does not claim to teach any great moral lesson, or even to be a guide +to the young sportsman; but the habits of all birds and animals treated +of here have been carefully studied, and, with the mode of their +capture, have been truthfully described. + +It attempts to chronicle the adventures and misadventures of a party of +English gentlemen, during the early spring, while shooting sea-fowl on +the sea-ice by day, together with the stories with which they whiled +away the long evenings, each of which is intended to illustrate some +peculiar dialect or curious feature of the social life of our colonial +neighbors. + +Later in the season the breaking up of the ice carries four hunters into +involuntary wandering, amid the vast ice-pack which in winter fills the +great Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their perils, the shifts to which they are +driven to procure shelter, food, fire, medicine, and other necessaries, +together with their devious drift and final rescue by a sealer, are used +to give interest to what is believed to be a reliable description of the +ice-fields of the Gulf, the habits of the seal, and life on board of a +sealing steamer. + +It would seem that the world had been ransacked to provide stories of +adventure for the boys of America; but within the region between the +Straits of Canso and the shores of Hudson's Bay there still lie hundreds +of leagues of land never trodden by the white man's foot; and the +folk-lore and idiosyncrasies of the population of the Lower Provinces +are almost as unknown to us, their near neighbors. + +The descendants of emigrants from Bretagne, Picardy, Normandy, and +Poitou, still retaining much of their ancient patois, costume, habits, +and superstitions; the hardy Gael, still ignorant of any but the +language of Ossian and his burr-tongued Lowland neighbors; the people of +each of Ireland's many counties, clinging still to feud, fun, and their +ancient Erse tongue, together with representatives from every English +shire, and the remnants of Indian tribes and Esquimaux hordes,--offer an +opportunity for study of the differences of race, full of picturesque +interest, and scarcely to be met with elsewhere. + +The century which has with us almost realized the apostolic +announcement, "Old things are passed away; behold, all things have +become new," with them has witnessed little more than the birth, +existence, and death of so many generations, and the old feuds and +prejudices of race and religion, little softened by the lapse of time, +still remain with their appropriate developments, in the social life of +the scattered peoples of these northern shores. + +Regretting that the will to depict those life-pictures has not been +better seconded by more skill in word-painting, the author lays down his +pen, hoping that the pencil of the artist will atone, in some degree, +for his own "many short-comings." + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. OUR COMPANY 9 + +II. BUILDING THE ICE-HOUSES.--MATTHEW COLLINS'S +GHOST 19 + +III. THE SILVER THAW.--A FOX HUNT.--ANTHONY +WORRELL'S DOG 55 + +IV. THE GRAND FLIGHT.--A GOOD STRATAGEM.--THE +PACKET LIGHT 75 + +V. A MAD SPORTSMAN.--SNOW-BLIND.--A NIGHT OF PERIL 95 + +VI. ADDITIONS TO THE PARTY.--AN INDIAN OUTFIT.--A +CONTESTED ELECTION 110 + +VII. A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER.--BREAKING UP OF +THE ICE.--JIM MOUNTAIN'S FIGHT WITH THE DEVIL 136 + +VIII. FLOAT-SHOOTING.--A GENERAL FIELD-DAY.--CHANGES +OF THE ICE 148 + +IX. ADRIFT 158 + +X. THE COUNCIL.--PASSING THE CAPE 169 + +XI. TAKING AN INVENTORY.--SETTING UP THE STOVE 175 + +XII. DOCTORING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.--AN ANXIOUS +NIGHT.--FROZEN UP 187 + +XIII. THE CHAPEL BELL.--THE FIRST SEAL.--THE +NORTH CAPE.--A SNOW-SQUALL 199 + +XIV. THE PACK OPENS.--MYSTERIOUS MURMURS.--LOVE +SCENES AND SOUNDS 207 + +XV. A SAIL.--THE SEALING GROUNDS.--THE ESQUIMAUX +LAMP.--AN INDIAN LEGEND 220 + +XVI. THE BREEDING-GROUNDS OF THE SEAL.--A +CURIOUS SIGHT.--A SHARP ENCOUNTER.--ICE CHANGES 230 + +XVII. ENLARGING THE BOAT.--WINGED SCAVENGERS.--NOTICE +TO QUIT 244 + +XVIII. A CHANGE OF BASE.--BUILDING A SNOW-HUT.--THE +VIEW FROM THE BERG.--A STRANGE MEETING 254 + +XIX. THE RING.--THE BURIAL.--A MAUSOLEUM OF ICE 263 + +XX. A STRANGE LIFE-HISTORY.--AMONG THE RED INDIANS 271 + +XXI. NORTHWARD AGAIN.--THE STEAMER.--TAKING +TO THE BOAT 287 + +XXII. THE FORECASTLE OF THE SEALER.--A SEALER'S +STORY.--THE LAST HUNT.--ARRIVAL AT ST. JOHN'S 303 + +XXIII. THE CAPTAIN'S VISIT.--HOMEWARD BOUND.--BROTHER +AND SISTER 313 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS: + + +Adrift. + +Map of Prince Edward Island and the Northumberland Straits. + +Adrift in the Ice Fields. + +Capt. Lund headed a Party to assist their Friends + +Gie me my Guse, Mon, and dinna delay me + +Well, George, you're here at last + +And the next Second the glittering Teeth were about to close upon his +helpless Victim + +On the Top of the Berg they felt repaid for the Fatigue of their Journey +and Ascent + +Kneeling beside it, the Lad bowed his Head as if in silent Prayer + +In His Hands La Salle Waved the Banner + + +[Illustration] + + +[Illustration: (map of Prince Edward Island and the Northumberland +Straits.)] + + +[Illustration: ADRIFT IN THE ICE FIELDS.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OUR COMPANY. + + +Five hundred miles away to the north and east lies the snug little +Island of St. Jean; a beautiful land in summer, with its red cliffs of +red sandstone and ruddy clay, surmounted by green fields, which stretch +away inland to small areas of the primeval forest, which once extended +unbroken from the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the waters of +the Straits of Northumberland. + +Drear and desolate is it in winter, when the straits are filled with +ice, which, in the shape of floe, and berg, and pinnacle, pass in +ghostly procession to and fro, as the wind wafts them, or they feel the +diurnal impetus of the tides they cover, to escape in time from the +narrow limits of the pass, and lose themselves in the vast ice-barrier +that for five long months shuts out the havens of St. Jean from the open +sea. + +No ship can enter the deserted ports, over whose icy covering the +farmer carries home his year's firing, and the young gallant presses his +horse to his greatest speed to beat a rival team, or carry his fair +companion to some scene of festivity twenty miles away. Many spend the +whole winter in idleness; and to all engaged in aught but professional +duties, the time hangs heavily for want of enjoyable out-of-door +employment. It is, therefore, a season of rejoicing to the cooped-up +sportsman when the middle of March arrives, attended, as is usually the +case, by the first lasting thaws, and the advent of a few flocks of wild +geese. + +Among the wealthier sportsmen great preparations are made for a spring +campaign, which often lasts six or eight weeks. Decoys of wood, +sheet-iron, and canvas, boats for decoy-shooting and stealthy approach, +warm clothes, caps, and mittens of spotless white, powder by the keg, +caps and wads by the thousand, and shot by the bag, boots and moccasons +water and frost proof, and a vast variety of small stores for the inner +man, are among the necessaries provided, sometimes weeks in advance of +the coming of the few scattering flocks which form, as it were, the +skirmish line of the migrating hosts of the Canada goose. + +It is usual for a small party to board with some farmer, as near as +possible to the shooting grounds, or rather ice, for not infrequently +the strong-winged foragers, who press so closely on the rearguard of the +retreating frost king, find nothing in the shape of open water; but +after leaving their comrades, dead and dying, amid the fatal decoys on +the frozen channels, sweep hastily southward before cold, fatigue, +hunger, and the wiles and weapons of man, can finish the deadly work so +thoroughly begun. + +Such a party of six, in the spring of 186-, took up their quarters with +Captain Lund, a pilot, who held the larger portion of the arable land of +the little Island of St. Pierre, which lies three miles south of the +mouth of the harbor of C., and ends in two long and dangerous shoals, +known as the East and West Bars. + +The party was composed of Messrs. Risk, Davies (younger and older), +Kennedy, Creamer, and La Salle. Mr. Henry Risk was an English gentleman, +of about fifty-five years of age, handsome, portly, and genial, a keen +sportsman, and sure shot with the long, single, English ducking-gun, to +which he stuck, despite of the jeers and remonstrances of the owners of +muzzle and breech-loading double barrels. + +Davies the elder, an old friend of the foregoing, had for many years +been accustomed to leave his store and landed property to the care of +his partners and family, while, in company with Risk, he found in the +half-savage life and keen air of the ice-fields a bracing tonic, which +prepared them for the enervating cares of the rest of the year. The two +had little in common--Risk being a stanch Episcopalian, and Davies an +uncompromising Methodist. Risk, rather conservative, and his comrade a +ready liberal; but they both possessed the too rare quality of respect +for the opinions of others, and their occasional disputations never +degenerated into quarrels. + +Ben Davies, a nephew of the foregoing, and also a merchant, was an +athletic young fellow, of about five feet eight, just entering upon his +twenty-second year. A proficient in all manly exercises, and a keen +sportsman, he entered into this new sport with all the enthusiasm of +youth, and his preparations for the spring campaign were on the most +liberal scale of design and expenditure. In these matters he relied +chiefly on the skill, experience, and judgment of his right-hand man and +shooting companion, Hughie Creamer. + +Hughie was of Irish descent, and middle size, but compact, lithe, and +muscular, with a not unkindly face, which, however, showed but too +plainly the marks of habitual dissipation. A rigger by occupation, a +sailor and pilot at need, a skilful fisherman, and ready shot, with a +roving experience, which had given him a smattering of half a score of +the more common handicrafts, Hughie was an invaluable comrade on such a +quest, and as such had been hired by his young employer. It may be +added, that a more plausible liar never mixed the really interesting +facts of a changeable life with well-disguised fiction; and it may be +doubted if he always knew himself which part of some of his favorite +"yarns" were truths, and which were due, as a phrenologist would say, +"to language and imaginativeness large, insufficiently balanced by +conscientiousness." + +Kennedy was a wiry little New Brunswicker, born just across the St. +Croix, but a thorough-going Yankee by education, business habits, and +naturalization. "A Brahmin among the Brahmins," he believed in the New +York Tribune, as the purest source of all uninspired wisdom; and +bitterly regretted that the manifold avocations of Horace Greeley had +thus far prevented that truly great man from enlightening his +fellow-countrymen on the habits and proper modes of capture of the +_Anser Canadiensis_. As, despite his attenuated and dry appearance, +there was a deal of real humor in his composition, Kennedy was +considered quite an addition to our little party. + +La Salle was--Well, reader, you must judge for yourself of what he was, +by the succeeding chapters of this simple history, for he it is who +recalls from the past these faint pen-pictures of scenes and pleasures +never to be forgotten, although years have passed since their +occurrence, and the grave has already claimed two of the six,--Risk, the +robust English gentlemen, and Hughie, the cheery, ingenious adventurer. +It is not easy to draw a fair picture of one's self, even with the aid +of a mirror, and when one can readily note the ravages of time in +thinning locks and increasing wrinkles, it is hard to speak of the +robust health of youth without exaggeration. At that time, however, he +was about twenty-three, having dark hair and eyes, a medium stature, +and splendid health. Like Hughie, in a humbler sphere, he was a dabbler +in many things,--lawyer, novelist, poet, trader, inventor, what +not?--taking life easily, with no grand aspirations, and no disturbing +fears for the future. In the intervals of business he found a keen +delight in the half-savage life and wholly natural joys of the angler +and sportsman, and ever felt that to wander by river and mere, with rod +and gun, would enable him to draw from the breast of dear old Mother +Earth that rude but joyous physical strength, with the possession of +which it is a constant pleasure even to exist. + +It was late at night when, by the light of the winter moon, the boats +and decoys were unloaded from the heavy sleds, and placed in position on +the various bars and feeding-grounds. The ice that season was of unusual +thickness, and gave promise of lasting for many weeks. As under the +guidance of Black Bill, they entered the farm-yard of his master, the +elder Lund, they found the rest of the family just entering the house, +and joining them, attacked, with voracious appetites, a coarse but ample +repast of bacon, potatoes, coarse bread, sweet butter, and strong black +tea. After this guns were prepared, ammunition and lunch got ready for +the coming morning, for, with the earliest gleam of the rising sun, they +were to commence the first short day of watching for the northward +coming hosts of heaven. + +The exact manner in which the ingenious Mrs. Lund managed to accommodate +six sportsmen, besides her usual family of four girls, three boys, and a +hired man, within the limits of a low cottage of about nine small +apartments, has always been an unsolved mystery to all except members of +the household. To be sure, Risk and the elder Davies occupied a +luxurious couch of robes and blankets in the little parlor, and a huge +settle before the kitchen stove opened its alluring recesses to Ben and +his man Friday, while one of the elder sons and Black Bill shared with +Kennedy and La Salle the largest of the upper rooms. In later years, the +question of where the eight others slept, has attained a prominent place +among the unsolved mysteries of life; but at that time all were tired +enough to be content with knowing that they could sleep soundly, at all +events. + +Few have ever passed from port to port of the great Gulf, without +meeting, or at least hearing, of "Captain Tom Lund," known as the most +skilful pilot on the coast. + + "Alike to him was tide or time, + Moonless midnight or matin's prime." + +And when his skill could not make a desired haven, or tide over a +threatened danger, the mariners of the Gulf deemed the case hopeless +indeed. + +Every winter, however, the swift Princess lay in icy bonds, beside the +deserted wharves, and the veteran pilot went home to his farm, his +little house with its brood of children, his shaggy horses, Highland +cows, and long-bodied sheep, and became as earnest a farmer as if he had +never turned a vanishing furrow on the scarless bosom of the ocean. +Always pleasant, anxious to oblige, careful of the safety of his guests, +and with a seaman's love of the wonderful and marvellous, he played the +host to general satisfaction, and in the matter of charges set an +example of moderation such as is seldom imitated in this selfish and +mercenary world. + +After supper, however, on this first evening, an unwonted cloud hung +over the brow of the host, which yielded not to the benign influence of +four cups of tea, and eatables in proportion; withstood the sedative +consolations of a meerschaum of the best "Navy," and scarcely gave way +when, with the two eldest of the party, he sat down to a steaming glass +of "something hot," whose "controlling spirit" was "materialized" from a +bottle labeled "Cabinet Brandy." After a sip or two, he hemmed twice, to +attract general attention, and said, solemnly,-- + +"It is nonsense, of course, to warn you, gents, of danger, when the ice +is so thick everywhere that you couldn't get in if you tried; but mark +my words, that something out of the common is going to happen this +spring, on this here island. I went over to the Pint, just now, after +you came into the yard, to look up one of the cows, and saw two men in +white walking up the track, just below the bank. I thought it must be +some of you coming up from the East Bar, but all of a sudden the men +vanished, and I was alone; and when I came into the yard, you were all +here! Now something of the kind almost always precedes a death among us, +and I shan't feel easy until your trip is safely over, and you are all +well and comfortable at home." + +"Now, Lund," said the elder Davies, "you don't believe in any such +nonsense, do you?" + +"Nonsense!" said Lund, quietly but gravely; "little Johnnie there, my +youngest boy, will tell you that he has often seen on the East Bar the +warning glare of the Packet Light, which often warns us of the approach +of a heavy storm. It is nearly thirty years since it first glowed from +the cabin windows of the doomed mail packet, but to all who dwell upon +this island its existence is beyond doubt. Few who have sailed the Gulf +as I have, but have seen the Fireship which haunts these waters, and +more than once I have steered to avoid an approaching light, and after +changing my course nearly eight pints, found the spectre light still +dead ahead. No, gentlemen, I shan't slight the warning. If you value +life, be careful; for if we get through the breaking up of the ice +without losing two men, I shall miss my guess." + +"Come, Tom," said Risk, quickly, "don't depress the spirits of the +youngsters with such old-world superstitions. As you say, they couldn't +get through the ice now if they would, without cutting a hole; and when +the ice grows weak, will be time enough for you to worry. Take another +ruffle to your night-cap, Tom, and you youngsters had better get to bed, +and prepare to take to the ice at six o'clock, after a cup of hot coffee +and a lunch of sandwiches. Here's luck all round, gentlemen." + +The toasts were drank by the three elderly men, and re-echoed by the +younger ones, who chose not to avail themselves of the proffered +stimulant, and then all sought repose in their allotted quarters. +Fifteen minutes later the house was in utter darkness and silence, +through which the varied breathings of sixteen adults and children would +have given ample opportunities for comparison to any waking auditor, had +such there been; but no one kept awake, and to all intents and purposes +"silence reigned supreme." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BUILDING THE ICE-HOUSES.--MATTHEW COLLINS'S GHOST. + + +At daybreak the gunners arose, and without disturbing the members of the +family, took some strong, hot coffee, prepared by the indefatigable +Creamer, and ate a breakfast, or rather lunch, of cold meats and bread +and butter, after which all proceeded to don their shooting costume, +which, being unlike that worn in any other sport, is worthy of +description here. + +In ice-shooting, every color but pure white is totally inadmissible; for +the faintest shade of any other color shows black and prominent against +the spotless background of glittering ice-field and snow-covered cliffs. +Risk and his partner wore over their ordinary clothing long frocks of +white flannel, with white "havelocks" over their seal-skin caps, and +their gray, homespun pants were covered to the knee by seal-skin +Esquimaux boots--the best of all water-proof walking-gear for cold +weather. Risk carried the single ducking-piece before mentioned, but +Davies had a Blissett breech-loading double-barrel. They had chosen +their location to the north of the island, near a channel usually +opening early in the season, but now covered with ice that would have +borne the weight of an elephant. With much banter as to who should count +first blood, the party separated at the door; the younger Davies and +Creamer, with Kennedy and La Salle, plunging into the drifted fields to +the eastward, and in Indian file, trampling a track to be daily used +henceforward, until the snows should disappear forever. The two former +relied on over-frocks of strong cotton, and a kind of white night-caps, +while La Salle wore a heavy shooting-coat of white mole-skin, seal-skin +boots reaching to the knee, and armed with "crampets," or small iron +spikes, to prevent slipping, while a white cover slipped over his +Astrachan cap, completed his _outre_ costume. Kennedy, however, outshone +all others in the strangeness of his shooting apparel. Huge "arctics" +were strapped on his feet, from which seemed to spring, as from massive +roots, his small, thin form, clad in a scanty _robe de chambre_ of +cotton flannel, surmounted by a broad sou'wester, carefully covered by a +voluminous white pocket handkerchief. The general effect was that of a +gigantic mushroom carrying a heavy gun, and wearing a huge pair of blue +goggles. + +La Salle alone of the four carried a huge single gun of number six +gauge, and carrying a quarter of a pound of heavy shot to tremendous +distances. The others used heavy muzzle-loading double-barrels. A brisk +walk of fifteen minutes brought them to the extremity of the island, and +from a low promontory they saw before them the Bay, and the East Bar, +the scene of their future labors. + +Below them the Bar, marked by a low ridge, rising above the level of the +lower shallows,--for the tide was at ebb,--trended away nearly a league +into the spacious bay, covered everywhere with ice, level, smooth, and +glittering in the rising sun, save where, here and there, a huge white +hummock or lofty pinnacle, the fragments of some disintegrated berg, +drifted from Greenland or Labrador, rose along the Bar, where the early +winter gales had stranded them. Leaping down upon the ice-foot, the +party hastened to their respective stands, nearly a mile out on the +Bar--Davies being some four hundred yards from that of La Salle. + +The "stand" of the former was a water-tight box of pine, painted white, +and about six feet square by four deep, which was quickly sunk into the +snow-covered ice to about half its depth; the snow and ice removed by +the shovel, being afterwards piled against the sides, beaten hard and +smooth, and finally cemented by the use of water, which in a few moments +froze the whole into the semblance of one of the thousands of hummocks, +which marked the presence of crusted snow-drifts on the level ice. + +La Salle, however, had provided better for comfort and the vicissitudes +of sea-fowl shooting; occupying a broad, flat-bottomed boat, furnished +with steel-shod runners, and "half-decked" fore-and-aft, further +defended from the sea and spray by weather-boards, which left open a +small well, capable of seating four persons. Four movable boards, +fastened by metal hooks, raised the sides of the well to a height of +nearly three feet, and a fifth board over the top formed a complete +housing to the whole fabric. La Salle and Kennedy swung the boat until +her bow pointed due east, leaving her broadsides bearing north and +south; and then, excavating a deeper furrow in the hollow between two +hummocks, the boat was slid into her berth, and the broken masses of icy +snow piled against and over her, until nothing but her covering-board +was visible. + +A huge pile of decoys stood near, of which about two dozen were of wood, +such as the Micmac Indian whittles out with his curved _waghon_, or +single-handed draw-knife, in the long winter evenings. He has little +cash to spend for paint, and less skill in its use, but scorches the +smooth, rounded blocks to the proper shade of grayish brown, and, with a +little lampblack and white lead, using his fore-finger in lieu of a +brush, manages to imitate the dusky head and neck with its snowy ring, +and the white feathers of breast and tail. + +These rude imitations, with some more artistic ones, painted in profile +on sheet-iron shapes, of life-size, and a few cork-and-canvas +"floaters," were quickly placed in a long line heading to the wind, +which was north-west, and tailing down around the boat, the southernmost +"stools" being scarce half a gun-shot from the stands. + +By the time these arrangements were completed it was nearly midday, and +the sky, so clear in the morning, had become clouded and threatening. +The chilly north-west breeze, which had made the shelter of their boats +very desirable, had died away, and a calm, broken only by variable puffs +of wind, succeeded. + +"We shall have rain or snow to-night," remarked La Salle to Kennedy, +who, after a few moments of watching, had curled himself down in the dry +straw, and begun to peruse a copy of the Daily Tribune, his inseparable +companion. + +"Yes, I dare say. Greeley says--" + +What Greeley said was never known, for at that moment a distant sound +rung like a trumpet-call on the ear of La Salle, and amid the gathering +vapors of the leaden eastern sky, his quick eye marked the wedge-like +phalanx of the distant geese, whose leader had already marked the long +lines of decoys, which promised so much of needed rest and welcome +companionship, but concealed in their treacherous array nothing but +terror and death. + +"There they are, Kennedy! Throw your everlasting paper down, and get +your gun ready. Put your ammunition where you can get at it quick; if +you want to reload. Ah, here comes the wind in good earnest!" + +A gust of wind out of the north-east whistled across the floes, and the +next moment a thick snow-squall shut out the distant shores, the +lowering icebergs, the decoys of their friends, in fact, everything a +hundred yards away. + +"Where are the geese?" asked Kennedy, as, with their backs to the wind, +the two peered eagerly into the impenetrable _pouderie_ to leeward. + +"They were about two miles away, in line of that hummock, when the +squall set in. I'll try a call, and see if we can get an answer." + +"Huk! huk!" There was a long silence, unbroken save by the whistle of +the blasts and the metallic rattle of the sleety snow: + +"Ah-huk! ah-huk! ah--" + +"There they are to windward. Down, close; keep cool, and fire at the +head of the flock, when I say fire!" said La Salle, hurriedly, for +scarce sixty yards to windward, with outstretched necks and widespread +pinions, headed by their huge and wary leader, the weary birds, eager to +alight, but apprehensive of unseen danger, swung round to the +south-west, and then, setting their wings, with confused cries, "scaled" +slowly up against the storm to the hindmost decoy. + +"Hu-uk! hu-uk!" called La Salle, slowly and more softly. + +"Huk! hu-uk!" answered the huge leader, not a score of yards away, and +scarce ten feet from the ice. + +"Let them come until you see their eyes. Keep cool! aim at the leader! +Ready!--fire!" + +Bang! bang! roared the heavy double-barrel, as the white snow-cloud was +lit up for an instant with the crimson tongues of levin-fire, and the +huge leader, with a broken wing, fell on the limp body of his dead mate. +Bang! growled the ponderous boat-gun, as it poured a sheet of deadly +flame into the very eyes of the startled rearguard. + +A mingled and confused clamor followed, as the demoralized flock +disappeared in the direction of the next ice-house, from which, a few +seconds later, a double volley told that Davies and Creamer had been +passed, at close range, by the scattered and frightened birds. + +La Salle reloaded, and then leaped upon the ice, and gave chase to the +gander, which he soon despatched, and returning, picked up Kennedy's +other bird, with three which lay where "the Baby" had hurled her four +ounces of "treble B's." Composing the dead bodies in the attitude of +rest among the other decoys, he returned to the boat, and for the first +time perceived that the geese were not the only bipeds which had +suffered in the late bombardment. + +Leaning over the side-boards of the boat, the fastenings of which were +broken or unfastened, appeared Kennedy, apparently engaged in deep +meditation, for his head was bowed until the broad rim of his +preposterous head-covering effectually concealed his face from view. + +"Here, Kennedy, both your birds are dead, and noble ones they are." + +"I'm glad of it, for I'm nearly dead, too," came in a melancholy snuffle +from the successful shot, at whose feet La Salle for the first time +perceived a huge pool of blood. + +"Good Heavens! are you hurt? Did your gun burst?" asked La Salle, +anxiously. + +"No, I've nothin' but the nose-bleed and a broken shoulder, I reckon. +Braced my back against that board so as to get good aim, and I guess the +pesky gun was overloaded; and when she went off it felt like a horse had +kicked me in the face, and the wheel had run over my shoulder." + +"Didn't you know better than to put your shoulder between the butt of a +gun like that and a half ton of ice?" asked La Salle. "Why, you've +broken two brass hooks, and knocked down all the ice-blocks on that +side. Can't I do anything to stop that bleeding? Lay down, face upward, +on the ice. Hold an icicle to the back of your neck." + +"No, thank you; I guess it will soon stop of itself. A little while ago +I cut some directions for curing nose-bleed out of the Tribune, and I +guess they're in my pocket-book. Yes, here they are: 'Stuff the nostrils +with pulverized dried beef, or insert a small plug of cotton-wool, +moistened with brandy, and rolled in alum.' I'll carry some brandy and +alum the next time I go goose-shooting." + +"Or provide a lunch of dried beef," laughed La Salle; "but you had +better keep your shoulder free after this, and you'll have no trouble. +There, the bleeding has stopped, and you'd better load up, while I clean +away this blood, and cover the boards with clean ice." + +In a short time the marks of the disaster were removed, and the hunters +again took shelter from the increasing storm, which had set in harder +than ever. The snow, however, inconvenienced the friends but little, and +as Kennedy could not read, they talked over the cause of his little +accident. + +"I had no idea that a gun could kick with such force. I shan't dare to +fire her again, if another flock puts in an appearance," said the +disabled goose-shooter. + +"Had your shoulder been free, you would not have felt the recoil, which, +even in a heavy, well-made gun, is equal to the fall of a weight fifty +to sixty pounds from a height of one foot, and in overloaded or +defective guns, exceeds twice and even three times that. It is a wonder +that your shoulder was not broken, and a still greater wonder that you +killed your birds." + +At this moment a hail came from the direction of the other boat, which +was answered by La Salle, and in a few moments, after several halloos +and replies, two human forms were seen through the scud, and Ben and +Creamer made their appearance, gun in hand. A brace of geese, held by +the necks, dangled by the side of the latter, and showed that their +shots had not been thrown away. + +"This storm will last all night," said Davies, anxiously, "and we're +only an hour to sundown. Creamer, here, started a little while ago to +find out what you had shot. He lost his way, and was going right out to +sea past me, when I called to him, and I thought we had better try to +get ashore before it gets any darker." + +"Does any one know in just what direction the Point lies?" asked +Creamer, with that "dazed" expression peculiar to persons who have been +"lost." + +"Our boat lies nearly in a direct line east and west, and a line +intersecting her stem and stern will fall a few rods inside of the +island. We are about three quarters of a mile from the house, and by +counting thirteen hundred and twenty paces in that direction, we should +find ourselves near the shore, just below the house, if our course was +correct," said La Salle. + +"Yes," said Creamer, "but no man can keep a straight line in a storm +like this, when one hummock looks just like another, and there isn't a +star to lay one's course by." + +"I once saw in the Tribune," said Kennedy, eagerly, "a way to lay a +farm-line by poles stuck in the ground. It also recommended 'blazing' +trees in the woods for the same purpose." + +"To blazes with yer poles and blazed trees, Mr. Kennedy, saving yer +presence; all the newspapers in Boston can't teach me anything in laying +a straight line where I can have or make marks that can be seen; but +there are no poles here, and we couldn't see them if we had them." + +"Creamer, don't get so desperate. Kennedy has furnished the idea, and I +think I can get the party ashore without any trouble. Now let all get +ready to start, and I'll lay the course for the others." + +In a few moments the decoys were stacked to prevent drifting, and the +boat covered so that no snow could penetrate. A pair of small oars were +first, however, removed, which were set upright at either extremity of +the boat, and in direct line with the keel. + +"There is our proper direction," said La Salle. "Now, Creamer, take your +birds, gun, and one decoy, and align yourself with these oars when you +have counted one hundred paces. When you have done so, face about and +turn the beak of the decoy towards the boat. Now, Ben," continued he, +when this was done, "walk up within twenty yards of Creamer, and let me +align you; Kennedy will go with you, and, counting one hundred paces +beyond Creamer, will be aligned by you. You will then be relieved by me, +and placing yourself behind Kennedy, will direct Creamer to the right +position, when he has paced one hundred yards farther. At every other +hundred yards an iron decoy must be placed, pointing towards the boat." + +The plan thus conceived was carried out until thirteen hundred paces had +been counted, when La Salle, begging all to keep their places, hurried +to the front. It was now nearly dark, and nothing but driving snow was +anywhere visible. Creamer was at the lead, but disconsolate and +terrified, having utterly lost his reckoning. + +"We're astray, sir, completely," he said, hopelessly. "Mother of +Heaven!" he ejaculated, as a dim radiance shone through the scud a +little to their rear, "there's the 'Packet Light,' and we are lost men." + +Buffeted by the heavy gusts and sharp sleet which froze on the face as +it fell, La Salle felt for a moment a thrill of the superstitious fear +which had overcome the usually stout nerves of his companion; but his +cooler nature reasserted itself, although he knew that no house stood in +the direction of the mysterious light, which seemed at times almost to +disappear, and then to shine with renewed radiance. + +"There is nothing earthly about that thing, sir. Macquarrie's house is a +long piece from the shore, and Lund's is hidden by the woods. See; look +there, sir, for the love of Heaven!" and the stout sailor trembled like +a child as the light, describing a sharp curve, rose ten or twelve feet +higher into the air, where it seemed to oscillate violently for a few +seconds, and then to be at rest. + +"Let us hail it, any way," said La Salle; "perhaps we have made some +house on the opposite shore." + +"We haven't gone a mile, sir; and as for hailing _that_, sir, I'd as +soon speak the Flying Dutchman, and ask her captain aboard to dinner." + +"Well, I'll try it, anyhow.--'Halloo! Light, ahoy!'" he shouted, placing +his hands so as to aid the sound against the wind, which blew across the +line of direction between them and the mysterious light. Again and again +the hail was repeated, but no answer followed. + +"You may call until doomsday, but they who have lit that lamp will never +answer mortal hail again. They died thirty falls ago, amid frost and +falling snow, ay, and foaming breakers, on this very bar, and the men on +shore saw the light shiver, and swing, and disappear, as we saw it just +now." + +"Well, I don't believe in that kind of light, and I, for one, am going +to see what it is. Now, don't move from your place, but watch the light, +and if you hear the report, or see the flash, of my gun, answer it once +with both barrels, counting three between the first and second shots. If +I fire a second time, call all hands and come ashore." + +"Well, Master Charley, I wouldn't venture it for all on the face of the +earth; but we must do something, and the Lord be between ye and harm. +See, now," he added, in a lower tone, "you're a heretic, I know, the +Virgin pardon ye; but I'll say a Pater and two Aves, and if you never +come back--" + +"There, there, Hughie, old fellow, don't go mad with your foolish fears. +Pray for yourself and us, if you please, for it is a terrible night, and +we may well stand in need of prayer; but do your duty like a man. Stand +in your place until I summon you, and then come, if a score of ghosts +stand in the way." + +The next second Hughie stood alone, watching the tremulous radiance of +the mysterious beacon, which La Salle rapidly approached, not without +fear, it may be, but with a settled determination superior to the +weakness which he felt, for the danger, exposure, and settled fears of +his companion had almost transmitted their contagion to his own mind. As +he drew nearer, however, the apparition resolved itself into a large +reflecting lantern, suspended from a pole, in the hands of Captain Lund, +who had headed a party to assist their friends to find the shore. The +approach of our hero was not at first noticed, as he came up the bank a +little to the rear of the party. + +"I'm sure, gentlemen, I don't know what to advise; and yet we can't let +them perish on the floes. We had better get the guns, and build a +bonfire on the cape below; perhaps they may see it; but it wasn't for +nothing that I saw those men the other night. Poor La Salle laughed at +it, but if he was here now--" + +[Illustration: CAPT. LUND HEADED A PARTY TO ASSIST THEIR FRIENDS. Page +32.] + +"He is here, captain, thanks to your lantern, although Hughie, who is +out on the ice yonder, shivering with fright and fear, vowed that it was +the 'Packet Light,' and would scarcely let me come to see what it was. +But this is no time to tell long stories; so I'll give the signal at +once." + +Creamer, fearfully watching the luminous spot, saw suddenly beside a jet +of red flame, as the heavy gun roared the welcome signal that all was +well; and scarcely a half moment later a still heavier report called the +perplexed and wearied party to the shore, where they found themselves +but about ten minutes' walk from the house. + +Half an hour later, the bustling housewife summoned them to the spacious +table, which was crowded with a profusion of smoking-hot viands, among +which two huge geese, roasted to a turn, attracted the attention of all. +Mr. Risk saw the inquiring looks of the others, and "rose to explain." + +"Davies and I claim 'first blood,' as you see, having killed this pair, +which, early in the morning, flew in from the westward, and were just +lighting among our decoys, when we each dropped our bird. We came in +early, seeing the storm brewing, and, being warned by Indian Peter, we +escaped much inconvenience, if not danger, and were able to supply a +brace of hot geese for supper. We shall expect a similar contribution to +the general comfort from each party in rotation, in accordance with the +ancient usage of professors of our venerable and honorable mystery. + +"Well, Lund," he continued, "the omen is not yet verified, although the +party was nearly lost, and would have been altogether, if Hughie here +had had his way, when he took your lantern for a ghost." + +"Well, it does seem foolish, now that it is all over; but I have seen +the 'Packet Light' myself too often not to believe in it, and so I was +as simply frightened at the captain's lantern as the people of Loughrea +were at Matthew Collins's ghost." + +La Salle noted the look of annoyance which clouded the usually placid +brow of their host, and hastened to allay the threatened storm. Rising +from his seat, he begged the attention of the company. + +"As we are to spend our evenings together for some weeks, it seems to me +that it would not be a bad plan to require of each of our company, in +rotation, some tale of wonder or personal adventure. Hughie has just +referred to what must be an interesting and little known local legend of +his mother isle. I move that we adjourn to the kitchen, and pass an hour +in listening to it." + +The proposition met with general favor, and rising, the company passed +into the unplastered kitchen, through whose thin walls and poorly +seasoned sashes came occasional little puffs of the furious wind, which +whistled and howled like a demon without. The gunners seated themselves +around the huge fireplace, in which a pile of dried gnarled roots +filled the room with light and warmth, and lighting pipe or cigar, as +fancy dictated, gave a respectful attention to the promised story. + +As will be gathered from the preceding conversation, Creamer spoke +excellent English, but as is often the case when excited, he lapsed at +times into a rich brogue. This he did to a considerable degree in +relating what he was pleased to call the story of + + +MATTHEW COLLINS'S GHOST. + +"I was only a babe in arms when my father crossed the ocean to settle +down on the Fane estate as one of the number of settlers, called for by +the terms of the original grant. His father was a _warm_ houlder in +Errigle-Trough, and had my father been patient and industhrious, he +would in a few years have rinted as good an hundhred acres as there was +in that section. But the agent tould of land at a shillin' an acre, with +wood in plenty, and trees that grew sugar, and game and fish for every +one, and my father thought that he was provided for for life, when, with +his lease in his pocket and a free passage, he stepped on board the ould +ship that bore us to this little island. + +"He wasn't far wrong, for he died when I was fifteen, worn out with +clearin' woodland, and working all winter in the deep snow at lumbering, +to keep us in bread and herrin'. He was a disappointed, worn-out old man +at forty, and it was only when he told of the good old times of his +youth that I ever seen him smile at all, at all. + +"Matthew Collins was a well-to-do farmer of the neighboring parish of +Errigle-Keeran, and had a snug cottage and barn, with a good team of +plough-horses, a cow, two goats, and a pig, beside poulthry enough to +keep him in egg-milk, and even an occasional fowl or two on a birthday, +or holy feast. He married Katty Bane, one of the prettiest girls and +greatest coquettes in the whole parish. She, however, made him a good +wife and careful manager, until the events of my sthory. + +"One day, late in the fall, Matthew harnessed his horses in a +hay-riggin', and drove off to the bog, five miles away, to haul in his +winter's firin'. He wrought all day, getting the dried turfs into a +pile, and had just half loaded his team, when a stranger, decently +dressed, came up to him, and asked if his name was Matthew Collins. + +"'That, indeed, is the name that's on me,' said Matthew; 'and what might +you be wantin' of me?' + +"'I've sorrowful news for you, Mat,' said the stranger. 'Your sister +Rose, that married my poor cousin Tim Mulloy, beyant the mountains, is +dead, and I'm sint to bid ye to the berryin' to-morrow.' + +"For a few moments Matthew gave way to a natural feeling of grief at the +loss of his sister; but he soon bethought himself that he was five miles +from home, and that a circuitous road of at least twenty miles lay +between his house and the parish of his sister's husband. + +"'I can never do it, that's certain,' said he to the stranger. 'It's +five miles home, and there's changin' my clothes, and a twenty-mile +drive over a road that it's timptin' Providence to attimpt in the dark.' + +"'It's a great bother, intirely," said the stranger, reflectively. +'Musha! I have it. Take my clothes, and take the short cut across the +Devil's Nose. In three hours you'll be at the wake, and I'll dhrive the +team home and tell the good woman, and be round with a saddle-horse +before mornin'.' + +"'Faith it's yourself that's the dacent thing, any how; and I'm sorry +that I can't be at home to thrate you with a bottle of the rale poteen. +Never mind; tell Nancy it's in the thatch above the dure; and you're +welcome to it all the same as if I were there myself.' + +"'We won't part without a glass, any how,' said the stranger, +laughingly. 'I've a pint bottle of the rale stuff, and some boiled eggs, +and we'll soon have a couple of the shells emptied, in the shake of a +lamb's tail, and thin we'll change clothes and dhrink to your safe +journey.' + +"Accordingly the two exchanged clothes, and sat for half an hour, while +the stranger described the last illness of the deceased, and the respect +shown her memory by the people of her parish. + +"'Divil a whole head will be left in the parish, if they dhrink all the +whiskey; and there's stacks of pipes, and lashin's of tobacky, with tay +and cakes, and the house in a blaze with mould candles. Is the road azy +to find?' continued he. 'For I'm goin', mylone, where I never was +afore.' + +"'It's as plain as a pikestaff to the very door. Only take tent of the +bridge at the slough, two miles beyant; for there's a broken balk that +may upset ye.' + +"'I'll warrant I'll look out for that. Have one more noggin. _Here's a +safe journey and a dacint berrin' to us both._' + +"With this rather Irish toast, the two separated, Matthew seeing the +stranger safe off the moss, and then commencing his short but fatiguing +journey over the narrow mountain path which lay between him and his +destination. + +"Long before sunset, the careful Katty had had the delph teapot +simmering among the hot peat ashes; and the well-browned bacon and mealy +potatoes, carefully covered to retain the heat, only awaited the return +of 'the master' from the distant bog. They had no children; but Andy, +Katty's brother (a _gossoon_ of thirteen), eyed the simple supper +anxiously, going from time to time to the door to see if he could see +the well-known gray horses coming by the old buckthorn, where the little +lane joined the main road. + +"The sunset, the night, came on, and Katty became hungry and out of +temper. + +"'Andy, _alannah_,' said she, 'run to the hill beyant, and try can you +see aught of the masther; for I'm tired wid the day's spinnin', and +hungry, and wake.' + +"The boy went, but returned, saying that no team was in sight. + +"'Thin, Andy, jewel, we'll have our supper anyhow; for the tay'll be +black wid thrawin', and the bacon and praties spilt intirely.' + +"Accordingly the two sat down and finished their evening meal, expecting +every moment to hear the cheery voice of Matthew as he urged his +_garrons_ with their heavy load up the steep lane beside the cottage. + +"About nine o'clock, the wife became alarmed, and with Andy went to a +neighbor's. Tim O'Connell, the village blacksmith, had just fallen +asleep after a hard day's work, and woke in no very amiable frame of +mind as Katty rapped at the door. + +"'Who's there at all at this time of night?' said he, gruffly. + +"'Only meself, Katty Collins, and Andy,' said Katty, rather dolorously, +for she was now thoroughly alarmed. + +"'Alice, _colleen_, up and unbar the dure. Come in, neighbor, and tell +us what is the matther at all.' + +"'O, Tim! Matthew's been gone all day to the bog, and isn't home yet. +Could ye go wid the lad down the road, and see if anything has happened +to himself or the bastes, the craters?' + +"It was not like Tim O'Connell to refuse, and, calling his assistant in +the forge, young Larry Callaghan, he lighted a tallow candle, which he +placed in a battered tin lantern, and hastened out on his neighborly +errand, while Katty was easily persuaded by Mrs. O'Connell to 'stay by +the fire' until the men returned. + +"The party saw nothing of the team or its owner until the dangerous road +led into a narrow but deep ravine, at whose bottom an ill-made causeway +led across a dangerous slough. + +"'Holy Virgin, boys, but he's been upset! There's the cart across the +road, and one of the bastes in the wather; but where's the masther at +all? Come on, b'ys; we'll thry and save the _garrons_ any way.' + +"They found the cart upset as described, and one of the horses exhausted +with struggling under the pole. The other, saved only from drowning by +the fact that its collar had held its head against the bank, had +evidently kicked and splashed until the water was thick with the black +muck stirred up from the bottom. + +"It was only the work of a few moments to free the horse in the road, +and then the three proceeded to unloose the other, and draw him to a +less steep part of the embankment, where, making a sudden effort, with a +mighty plunge, he gained the road, and stood trembling and shaking +beside his companion. + +"'Well done, our side,' said Tim, exultingly. 'Now for the masther. +They've run away I doubt, and he's.--What's the matter with you, Andy, +at all? What do you see? Mother of Heaven! it's himself, sure enough!' + +"Tossed up from the shallows by the convulsive plunge of the steed, +whose heavy hoofs, in his first mad struggles, had beaten the head out +of all shape of humanity, in the narrow lane of light cast through the +door of the open lantern, lay the dead farmer, with his worn frieze coat +torn and blackened, and his black hair knotted with pond weeds, and +clotted with gore. + +"It was scarce an hour later that the emptied cart, slowly drawn by its +exhausted span, bore to the little cottage a dead body, amid the wails +of scores of the simple peasants, and the hysterical and passionate +grief of the bereaved wife. It was with the greatest difficulty that she +was induced to refrain from looking at the dead body; although so +terribly was it mangled that the coroner's jury performed their duties +with the greatest reluctance, and the obsequies were ordered for the +very next day. + +"The body was accordingly placed in a coffin, above which deals, +supported on trestles, and covered by white sheets, bore candles, plates +of cut tobacco, pipes, and whiskey. Although but little of the night +remained after the coroner had performed his duties, yet so quickly did +the news of the accident spread that hundreds of the neighbors came in +before morning 'to the wake of poor Matthew! God rest his sowl.' + +"The following evening, an unusually large procession followed the +remains to their last resting-place. Nothing could have been more +heart-broken than the bearing of the widow. Tears, sobs, and cries +proclaimed her anguish incessantly, notwithstanding the attempts of +friends to assuage her sorrow. + +"As they drew near the graveyard, one Lanty Casey, an old flame of +Katty's, tried to comfort her in his rough way. + +"'Katty, _avourneen_, don't cry so, _avillish_. There's may be happiness +for you yet, and there's them left that will love ye as well as him +that's gone--if they'd be let.' + +"Lanty was a noted lad at fair and pattern, but he got a box on the ear +that made his head ring until the body was safely deposited in the +grave. + +"'Who are ye that talks love to a broken-hearted woman at the very +grave? O, Matthew, Matthew, that I should live to see this day! _Ochone, +ochone!_ are you dead? are you dead?' + +"On her way home to her solitary hearth, Katty saw ahead of her the +hapless Lanty, and hastened to overtake him. + +"'Lanty, _avick_," said she, sweetly, 'what were you saying there +beyant, a while agone?' + +"'What I'm not likely to say again. I'm not fond of such ansthers as ye +gev me; an' if ye don't know when you're well off--' + +"'There, there, Lanty, dear; I'm sorry for that same, but what wud the +people say, an' my husband not berrid? But I mustn't be seen talkin' +more wid you. I'll be alone to-night when the _gossoon_ is asleep, and +ye can dhrap in, and tell me what ye like, av ye plaze.' + +"At about ten o'clock that night, the Rev. Patrick Mulcahy, while +talking over the funeral, and the sad events which had led to it, was +asked for by the young lad, Katty's brother. + +"'Well, Andy, lad, what's wanting now? Is your sister feeling better, +_avick_?' + +"'Yes, sir; and she sint me, your riverence, to see wud ye come down and +marry her to Lanty Casey the night.' + +"'Are your wits gone _ashaughran_, ye _gomeral_? Or is Katty run mad +altogether?' + +"'It's just as I say, your riverence; and she says she'll pay you a +pound English for that same.' + +"'And I say that if I go down there to-night, that I'll take my whip +with me to the shameless hussy. The Jezabel, and she nearly dyin' with +grief this evening.' + +"'An' you won't marry them, sir?' + +"A staggering box on the ear with a heavy slipper flung from across the +room sent the unfortunate messenger whimpering out of the door; while +the priest, honest man, stormed up and down the room until the +housekeeper entered with a waiter, on which were arrayed a decanter, +some tumblers, a lemon, and a large tumbler full of loaf sugar. + +"'Come, Peter,' said he, more calmly, 'reach the kettle from the hob, +and we'll let the jade go. Perhaps she's out of her head, poor thing! +and will forget all about what she says to-night by to-morrow morning. +What are you grinning at there?' + +"'Do you remimber the coult ye won from me whin I bet that ye couldn't +light your pipe wid the sun?' + +"'Yis, Pether. Ah, I had ye thin, sharp as you count yourself!' + +"'Well, now, I'll bet the very moral of him against himself that +Katty'll send up again--if she don't come herself.' + +"'Done! for twice as much if you will. She doesn't dare--' + +"'Good evening, your riverence,' said a woman's voice. And in the +doorway stood Lanty Casey and Katty Collins. + +"'We've come up, your riverence, to see if you'd plaze to marry us this +night. They tould us you wor angry, sur, and, indade, I don't blame you; +for you don't know all. The man who lies dead beyant was able to give me +a home, and to keep a roof over the heads of my poor father and mother, +and I gave up Lanty here for him. Now, sir, if you'll marry us, I'll +give you the pig down below--and a finer's not in the parish; and if +not--' + +"The speaker paused, and, touching the arm of her companion, who +evidently feared to speak, retreated into the kitchen to await the +decision of Father Patrick, who was almost bursting with chagrin at the +loss of his wager, and anger at the boldness of his parishioner. + +"Peter laughed, silently enjoying his brother's discomfiture, and then +suddenly broke out,-- + +"'Now, what's the use, sir, of spitin' yourself? You've lost the coult, +and the woman is bound to have her way. Sure, an' if you don't tie the +knot, all they're to do is to sind over to Father Cahill--' + +"'The hedge priest--is it? No, I'll marry them. Let them come in, Mrs. +Hartigan, but no blessin' can come on such a rite as this.' + +"Without a word of congratulation, the priest performed the service of +his church, and in silence the pair proceeded to the cottage of the +bride, where they fastened the doors and windows securely, and retired. +The rising moon lighted up the surrounding scenery, and the priest and +his brother sat later than usual over their 'night-caps' of hot Irish +whiskey. + +"'Peter,' said Father Mulcahy, 'sind young Costigan down for the pig. +Perhaps to-morrow Katty will rue her bargain, and we won't get the +crathur.' + +"Costigan (a tight little lad of fourteen), roused from the settle-bed +by the kitchen fire, soon procured a short cord and a whip, and set off +on his rather untimely errand. + +"A few moments before, a man dressed in holyday garb tried the doors +and windows of the cottage, and, finding them securely fastened, +murmured,-- + +"''Tis frighted she is, an' I away, an' tired, too, wid spinnin', I'll +be bound. Well, I'll not rise her now. There's clane sthraw in the barn, +an' I'll slape there till mornin'.' + +"The tired traveller had hardly laid himself down, with his head on a +sheaf of oats, when he saw a youth enter the barn, and, deliberately +taking a cord from his pocket, proceed to affix it to one of the hind +legs of his much-prized pig, which resented the insult with a tremendous +squealing. + +"Matthew rose quietly, and lowered himself to the floor, catching a +bridle rein, and getting between the trespasser and the wall. + +"'I don't know what thievish crew claims ye, but I'll lay they'll see +the marks of my hand-write under your shirt to-morrow,' said Matthew, +savagely; but to his surprise the lad gave a single shriek, and sank +down as if in a fit. A dash of water from the stable bucket recovered +him somewhat, although his mind seemed to wander. + +"'Holy angels be about us!--an' him dead and berrid--his very self--come +back again!' And broken sentences of similar import were hurriedly +murmured with closed eyes, as if to shut out some hideous sight; and the +angry farmer was disarmed completely by the evident terror of the boy, +who at last rose, fearfully opened his eyes, and looked around. + +"'Yes, ye little thafe of the world, I've come in time--' + +"With a meaningless yell, or rather shriek of terror, the boy rushed out +of the door, fell on the frosty roadway, tearing his clothes and cutting +through the skin of both knees; and heeding nothing but the terror +behind, sprang again to his feet, and rushed down the lane and along the +moonlit road, until, panting, bleeding, and breathless, he rushed into +the priest's dining-room. + +"'O, yer riverince, he's come back!' was all that the boy could find +breath to say for a moment; and Peter, who was rather irascible, took up +the discourse at once. + +"'It's yourself that's come back in a fine plight, you graceless, +rioting, fighting, thaving young scullion. Whose cottage have ye been +skylarkin' round now? And where's the pig ye was sint for, at all, at +all?' + +"'Peace, Pether, and let me discoorse him. Don't ye know that when I +sent ye for the dues of the church, ye was engaged in its sarvice,--in +holy ordhers, as it were? And how comes it, then, that you come back +without the pig, and looking as frighted as if Matthew Collins himself +had come back?' + +"'And so he has masther, dear,' said the poor boy. 'O, _wirra_, _wirra_, +but afther this night I'll never be out mylone again. I shall always +think that I see him forninst me, as I met him beyant, the night.' + +"'Met Matthew Collins? The gossoon's crazy,' said the priest. + +"'The young devil is lying, more likely. The dead don't come back to +frighten honest folk, who want only their own,' said Peter, scornfully. + +"'Now, Costigan, go back at wanst, and fetch the pig,' said Father +Mulcahy, firmly, but kindly. 'Ye'll be ready enough to ate him this +winther.' + +"'O, masther, don't send me again! Ate that pig? An' if the pope himself +said grace, I'd sooner starve than ate a collop of the crater. Why, +either his sperit, or the devil in his shape, kapes watch over it; and +all the money in Dublin wouldn't timpt me there agin after dark.' + +"'Well, sir,' said Peter, savagely, 'the boy's frikened at somethin', +that's certin'; and we shan't get the crather up here the night at all, +unless it's done soon. It's only a stip just, and I'll go and get the +pig, and find out what frighted the lad--a loose horse or cow, I'll be +bound.' + +"Accordingly, Peter set off on his errand, accompanied by Costigan, who +went only on condition that he should not enter the barn, and only +consented to go at all under threat of a tremendous thrashing if he +refused. + +"Scarcely an hour, therefore, had elapsed before Matthew was again +awakened from sleep by the intrusion of a second midnight visitor. + +"'Where is the baste, any way?' asked the man, in gruff, angry tones. + +"'He's right at the ind of the haggard, in the right hand corner,' +tremulously answered a boyish voice from the distance of a few rods. + +"'Faith, but the villains is intent on my pig, any how,' muttered the +perplexed but angry Matthew, as he saw the struggles of his favorite +when the robber attempted to secure a cord to her hind leg, which he +seemed to find a difficult task. + +"'The curse of Crom'll upon ye for an unaisy brute, any how, Ned! Ned +Costigan, I say, come, ye little divil, and help me tie the knot, ye +frikened _omadhaun_. There's nothing here to be afraid of, barrin' the +gray horses an' the ould cow. Come, I say.--The Vargin and St. Pather +presarve me! Are ye come back?' + +"'Yes, I've come back, and ye'll go back to whoever sint ye, with my +mark on yer shoulthers,' said Matthew, grimly, as, suiting the action to +the word, he drew a stout stick from his sleeping-place, and brought it +down with emphasis upon the head and shoulders of the priest's brother, +who, though ordinarily considered 'as good a man' as there was in the +parish, could scarcely persuade himself that he was not the victim of a +terrible dream. Although he mechanically grappled and strove with his +fearful antagonist, he felt the fierce breath of a demon, as his breast +pressed against that of the dead, and the fierce eyes of a fiend, or an +avenging ghost, glared into his, as they fought and wrestled, now in +the dark shadows, and now in the narrow lane of moonlight, which peered +through the open door. It was no wonder that even the instinct of +self-preservation failed to nerve him to meet such a foe, and that +Matthew found it a surprisingly easy matter to give him a terrible +beating. + +"Fifteen minutes later, Peter, wan and covered with cuts and bruises, +entered the priest's house, and swooned on the threshold. It was nearly +daylight before he recovered himself sufficiently to corroborate the +story of the lad, that the ghost of Matthew Collins jealously watched +over his favorite pig. + +"'An' why didn't he watch his wife too, Peter?' asked the priest, +archly. + +"'Faix! an' I dunno. But the same man set great store by that same +baste--bad scran to her! I wish you had been wid us to discoorse the +shpirit, and sind him back to _his place_.' + +"'Faith, and only that it's daylight now, an' near time for matins, I'd +just step over, and show ye the powers that are delegated to the clargy, +avick. I'd like to see if Matthew Collins would dare to face me afther +I've buried him dacently.' + +"'An' married his wife again,' said Peter, with a feeble attempt at +pleasantry. + +"'I've doubts if I did wisely there, Peter. Sure and if the +ungratefulness of those they love is enough to keep the dead from +resting quietly, Matthew Collins should be one of the first to come +back and haunt his dishonored homestead.' + +"'But if all the dead min that lave wifes aisily consoled for their +loss, were to come back, there'd be plinty of haunted houses,' said +Peter, pithily. + +"'Well, we'll watch there the night, and try to find out the mysthery,' +said the priest. 'But I'm off to matins. Be sure and see that Mrs. +Hartigan has the breakfast ready when I return.' + +"The bell calling the peasantry to their morning service awoke Matthew, +who hastened to his cottage, which he found as closely barred and bolted +as the night before. + +"'She's gone to chapel long before this. Well, I'll have a wash at the +spring, and away to church.' Saying which, he carefully picked the straw +from his coat, cleaned his dusty shoes with a wisp of dry grass, and +after a thorough washing of face and hands, he took up the worn felt hat +of the stranger, and set off down the lane. + +"As he got nearly to the main road, a group of neighbors passed along; +but instead of answering his cheerful greeting, they crossed themselves, +and hastened on with longer strides, turning from time to time, and +looking at him in a most puzzling manner. + +"'Sure, the folks are mad,' muttered poor Matthew, 'or else 'tis late we +are--that must be it. Well, we can run, any way.' And suiting the action +to the word, he began to run after his neighbors, who, terribly +frightened, strove with all their might to preserve undiminished the +distance between them. + +"'Faix, half the people is late--or is it a fire is ragin'? Well, I +dunno, but I'll be on hand any how.' And Matthew, taking a long breath, +pressed on after the flying crowd, which grew larger each moment, as +group after group of staid and devout worshipers recognized the features +of their dead neighbor, and joined the panting crowd, which, crossing +and blessing themselves, and shrieking and praying with terror, sought +the protection of the church, and having, as they deemed, found a refuge +from the apparition, sank exhausted into their seats, to thank God for a +place of safety. + +"But they had reckoned without their host, for the next moment the dead +man strode through the arched door, and deliberately glided towards his +accustomed seat. In speechless horror the people, with one accord, arose +and rushed to the altar for protection, while many rushed out through +the rear entrances, to carry the terrible news far and wide. + +"Pale, but resolute, attended by two trembling altar boys with bell and +censer, Father Mulcahy advanced in front of the astonished cause of this +unwonted disturbance. + +"'In the name of the Blessed Thrinity, I command you to retire from this +blissid an' sacred church to the place from whence you came.' + +"'An' why wud I go back, your riverince? Shure, the body's buried, an' +I've no call there now.' + +"'Why, then, can you find no rest in the grave?' + +"This last question 'broke the camel's back.' + +"'H---- to my--There, the Lord forgive me for cursin', and in this +blessed an' howly place. But are all the people mad--prastes and clarks, +payrents and childher? Or am I losin' my sinses, or enchanted by the +fairies?' + +"'Matthew,' said the priest, solemnly, 'are you alive an' well?' + +"'Yis, your riverence, if I know meself I am.' + +"'Will you go to the font an' thrink a taste of the holy wather?' + +"'Yes, your riverince, an it's plasin' to ye.' + +"It was with much doubt that Father Mulcahy awaited the result of his +test; but Matthew drank about a pint of the consecrated water, and a +short conversation made all plain to the priest, and to poor Matthew, to +whom the various events were far from being a matter of mirth. + +"Accompanied by the priest, he went home, to the unutterable horror of +the newly-married pair, which was little lessened when they found that +their unwelcome visitor was not from another world. + +"'I am dead to you, Katty,' said he, with a gentle sadness, so different +from the burst of passion which the priest had feared, that he knew that +his heart was broken. 'All the happiness I had was in your love, and +that was false. Go with your new love where I may see you no more.' + +"Matthew died years after, a soured and misanthropic man; but few +legends are better known in his native district than the story of +Matthew Collins's ghost." + + * * * * * + +As the story ended, Risk thanked the narrator in behalf of the auditory, +adding, "The storm will probably change to a thaw before morning, and if +it does we must be on hand bright and early, for it will bring the main +body of 'the first flight.'" + +As the company rose to retire, Ben approached La Salle. "Will you tell +me why you made us leave decoys at every hundred yards?" + +"To help us find the way back, should we fail to reach the shore. We +could have lived out a night like this in my ice-boat, but we should +long since have been sleeping our last sleep beneath the snow-wreaths, +had we lost our way upon the floes." + +At daybreak La Salle awoke, but turned again to his pillow, as he noted +the snow-flakes form in tiny drifts against the lower window panes; and +it was nine o'clock before the tired sportsmen completed their hasty +toilet, and seated themselves around the breakfast table. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SILVER THAW.--A FOX HUNT.--ANTHONY WORRELL'S DOG. + + +The snow at nine o'clock had ceased to fall, but had given place to a +thick hail, which rattled merrily on roof and window pane, but soon +became softer, and mingled with rain as the wind veered more to the east +and south. + +"We are in for a heavy thaw," said the elder Davies, "and to-morrow we +shall have good sport. It is hardly worth while to get wet to the skin, +however, for what few birds we shall get to-day." + +"Charley," said the younger Davies, "let us go down to the bar and look +up our decoys, for if we have a heavy thaw they may all be washed away +and lost." + +Putting on their water-proof coats, boots, and sou'westers, the young +men took their guns and started for the eastern end of the island. The +drifts were very heavy along the fences and under the steep banks which +overhung the eastern and northern shores of the island, and huge +hummocks, white, smooth, and unbroken, showed where the snow had +entombed huge bergs and fantastic pinnacles. Facing the storm with some +difficulty, they got out as far as the ice-boat of La Salle, which they +found completely covered to the depth of two or three feet. + +"We should have been smothered if we had taken refuge there last night," +said Ben, as he proceeded to search for the buried decoys. + +"I think not; for men can breathe below a great depth of snow, and I +have heard of sheep being taken alive from a heavy drift after an +entombment of twenty or thirty days." + +The decoys were soon gathered, and they proceeded to the farther stand, +where they took the same precaution against the expected flooding of the +floes, piling the decoys into the box until a pyramid of clumsy wooden +birds rose several feet above the level of the ice, which was fast +becoming soft, and covered with dirty pools of snow water and nasty +"sludge." + + +A FOX HUNT. + +"Here is the track of a fox," cried Davies, "and here is where he has +killed a goose this morning;" and La Salle, on hastening to the spot, +found a fresh trail leading from the main land, and beside the last +decoy a slight depression around which loose feathers and clots of blood +told in unmistakable terms that a single bird, and not improbably a +wounded one, had alighted amid the decoys, and trusting to the vigilance +of his supposed companions, had fallen an easy prey to his soft-footed +assailant. + +"Here comes one-armed Peter on his track," said La Salle; and in a few +moments a tall, finely-built, middle-aged Micmac came noiselessly up, +bearing in his only remaining hand, not a gun, but an axe. + +"Where's your gun, Peter?" said Ben, carelessly; "you don't expect to +kill a fox with an axe--do you?" + +The Indian's brow contracted a little, and instantly relaxed, as he +answered, "That not fox track at all; that Indian dog, I guess. Martin +Mitchell have dog; lun alound like that. No good dog that. Sposum mine, +kill um." + +"Yes, Peter, I've no doubt you'd like to kill that dog very well. See, +he finds his own living for himself. He killed a goose here last night, +I see. I s'pose your Indian dogs will eat geese raw, but mine never +would. He sat down here a moment after he had killed his bird, and left +the marks of a very bushy tail. Here's some of the hair, too. By +thunder! 'tis the hair of a black fox." + +The Indian laughed silently, with no little admiration of the close +observation of the other visible in his countenance. "Yes, that black +fox. I see his track last night; trail him two tree mile dis morning. No +use try to fool you; fool other white man over back there; you know +trail well as Indian. No use carry gun, I think; fox in wet weather get +in hollow tlee, or under big loot. I cut down tlee and knock on head +with axe. But if fox on island, I lose him; no tlee there at all big +enough." + +"Well, Peter, his trail is straight for the end of the point, and he +must be in the swamp at the other end of the island. We'll go with you +and surround the swamp while you enter it. If you fail to tree him, +we'll shoot him when he breaks cover, and we'll divide equally whether +one or two help to kill him." And La Salle, resting the butt of his +heavy gun on his boot, drew his load of loose shot, and substituted an +Eley's cartridge, containing two ounces of large "swan-drops." + +A cloud settled upon the smiling face of the Indian, and he broke forth +vehemently, "I no want you to help me. I need _all_ that money; you got +plenty. I been sick, had sick boy, sick old woman,--bery sick. I see +that fox two time. No got gun; borrow money on him to pay doctor, and +get blead. I borrow gun one day; sit all day, no get nothing; go home, +nothing to eat. Next day, man use his own gun, kill plenty. I know fox +in wet day find hollow tlee; no like to wet his tail. I say to-day I +kill him, get good gun, get cloes, get plenty blead and tee. I _know_ I +kill that fox." + +"Well, Peter, we won't trouble you. We'll go to see you kill him, and +watch out to see that he don't get clear," said Davies; and the Indian, +rather hesitatingly, assented. + +There was little woodcraft in following the "sign," for the tracks were +deeply impressed in the soft snow, and the heavy body and long neck of +his prey had left numerous impressions where the fox had rested for a +moment. In the course of half an hour the party had gained the shore, +and, passing through several fields, found themselves in a heavy growth +of beech and maple. + +The fox, however, had not halted here, but emerging into a small meadow, +had crossed into a close copse of young firs and elders, in whose midst +a huge stump, whitened and splintered, rose some twenty-five feet into +the air. + +Peter groaned audibly. "That old fox mean as debbil. Know that place no +good. No hollow tlee, only brush and thick branch. Fox get under loot, +and eat, watch twenty way at once: well, I try, any way." + +Ben and La Salle hastily passed around the woods surrounding the glade, +until they reached the opposite side of the motte to that which Peter +was now entering. Noticing that only a narrow space of open ground +intervened at one point, Davies crept noiselessly down to the very edge +of the underbrush, about sixty yards from La Salle. + +He had scarcely drawn himself up from his crouching position, when a +magnificent black fox crossed the opening almost at his very feet, +followed by the light axe of the Indian, which, thrown with astonishing +force and precision, passed just above the animal, and was buried almost +to the helve in a small tree not a yard from Davies's head. + +Flurried out of his usual good judgment, Ben drew both triggers, with +uncertain aim, and the fox, swerving a little, passed him like a shot. +La Salle, springing forward through the narrow belt of woods, saw the +frightened animal a score of rods off, making across the fields for the +Western Bar. A fence bounded the field some six score yards away, under +which the fox must pass, and whose top rail, scarce three feet above the +level, marked the necessary elevation to allow for the "drop" of the +tiny missiles used. La Salle felt that all depended on his aim, and that +his nerves were at the utmost tension of excited interest; but he forced +himself to act with deliberate promptitude at a moment when the most +feverish haste would have seemed interminable dallying. Steadily the +ponderous tube was levelled in line of the fleeing beast, until the +beaded sight rested on the top rail above him. An instant the heavy +weapon seemed absolutely without motion; then the report crashed through +the forest, and the snow-crust was dashed into impalpable powder by a +hundred riddling pellets. + +The shot was fired just as the fox sprang up the slight embankment on +which, as is usual, the line of fence was placed. For an instant he +seemed to falter, then leaped the top rail, and disappeared beyond the +enclosure. + +Peter and Davies had seen the shot, and with La Salle rushed forward to +note its effect, although neither hoped for more than a wound whose +bleeding would ultimately disable him, when patient tracking would +secure his much-prized fur. As they ran to the fence they noted the +deeply-cut scores in the icy crust which marked the first dropping shot, +and Peter became loud in his praises of the weapon. + +"I never see gun like that; at hundred yards you kill him, sure; but no +gun ever kill so far as you fire. See there, shot strike dis stump. Hah! +there spot of blood on bank. Damn! here fox dead, sure enough." + +"Hurrah! the Baby forever for a long shot. Charley, old boy, shake hands +on it. Peter, don't you wish you hadn't been so sure of killing him +without our help?" + +The thoughtless triumph of the young Englishman recalled the memory of +his obstinate refusal to accept the proffered aid of the sportsmen to +the mind of the poor Indian. Such a look of utter disappointment took +the place of his joy at the successful shot, that La Salle could +scarcely contain his sympathy. + +"So it is always. White man win, Indian lose; white man get food, Indian +starve; white man live, Indian die. Once, all this Indian land. No white +people were here, and many Indians hunt and find enough. Now, the Indian +must buy the wood which he makes into baskets. He cannot spear a salmon +in the rivers. The woods are cut down, and the many ships and guns +frighten off the game." + +He looked a moment at the dead fox, smoothed its glossy fur with a hand +that trembled with suppressed emotion, and then, with a curt "good +evening," turned to go. + +"I wish, Peter, you would come down to the house and skin this beast for +me," said La Salle. "If you will do so carefully, and stretch it for +drying in good style, I'll give you a pair of boots." + +Without a word the Indian seized the dead animal and strode ahead of +them, like one who seeks in bodily fatigue a refuge from anguish of +spirit. + +"What will you give for such a skin, Davies?" asked La Salle. + +"I will give you one hundred and fifty dollars for that one. It is the +largest, finest, and blackest that I ever saw." + +"You have another gun like your own in your store at C.--have you not?" + +"Yes, exactly like my own. I can only tell them apart by this curl in +the wood of the stock." + +"What is she worth?" + +"I will sell her to you for fifteen pounds." + +"That would be fifty dollars. Well, Ben, I'll tell you what, we must +give Peter one half of the fox. I should never forgive myself if we +didn't. I know he has been sick all summer, and his disappointment must +be very hard to bear. Are you willing to give him half?" + +"Do just as you please, Charley," said the warmhearted hunter. "I don't +claim any share, for we are all on our own hook, unless by special +agreement; but I shall be very glad if you are kind enough to share +with him, poor fellow!" + +"Well, Ben, you are to take the fox at your own price, giving Peter an +order on your partner for the gun, and credit to the amount of +twenty-five dollars more. The other seventy-five we divide. You have +only to give me credit for my moiety, as I owe you nearly that amount." + +"I'm satisfied if you are; so let us hurry up, and see Peter prepare the +skin, and send him home happy." + +"The finest skin I ever saw," said Risk. "It's worth three hundred +dollars in St. Petersburg, if it's worth a cent." + +"Who killed him?" said the elder Davies. "If you did, Ben, I'd like to +buy the skin." + +"I bought it myself of La Salle for one hundred and fifty. He killed it, +and sold it to me. I guess I can sell to good advantage." + +In the mean time Peter had drawn his _waghon_, or curved Indian knife, +from his belt, and, carefully commencing at the rear of the body, +skinned the animal without forming another aperture, removing the mask, +and ears attached, with great nicety. With equal dexterity he whittled a +piece of pine board to the proper shape, and, turning the skin inside +out, drew it tightly over the batten, fastening it in place with a few +tacks. His task completed, he handed it to La Salle, and rose to go. +The latter restrained him, saying,-- + +"Hold, Peter; you must have your pay first. Here is a pair of rubber +boots and some dry stockings. Put them on, and throw away those old +moccasons, and take these few things to your wife." + +"You very kind, brother," said Peter, simply, taking the small bundle of +tea, sugar, bread, cake, and jellies which could be spared from their +limited stock of "small stores." + +"And, Peter," continued La Salle, "Ben and I have concluded to share +with you in the matter of the fox. We have no wives yet, and therefore +think about one half the price ought to go to you. This paper will get +you that double-barrel of Ben's father to-morrow, if you feel like going +over for it; and you will also be allowed to purchase twenty-five +dollars' worth more of ammunition, food, and clothing." + +The tears came into the poor fellow's eyes. + +"Damn! I know you hite men. I know you heretic. I say I no hunt with +you. I try cheat you on the trail, and you make Peter cly like squaw. I +wish--I wish--you two, tlee, six fathom deep in river. I jump in for you +if I die." + +And, seizing the bundle and the precious order, he dashed the moisture +from his eyes, and took the road homeward. + +"He will never repay your kindness," said Lund. "Them Indians is never +grateful for anything." + +"I think he will repay it, if it is ever in his power," said Risk. +"Peter is one of the most honest and industrious of his tribe, and it is +not his fault when his children want food." + +"Well, boys," said the elder Davies, "I suppose you have done right, and +that you will receive as much gratitude as we give to our heavenly +Father; but, as men look at things, you have, indeed, 'cast your bread +upon the waters.'" + +"If it is so, Mr. Davies," said La Salle, with a solemnity unusual with +him, "our reward is sure; for the promise is, 'Thou _shalt_ find it +after many days.'" + +"But," said Lund, with a quiet twinkle in his sharp gray eye, "I'd like +to bet five shillin' that, when you are repaid, it won't be in Indian +bread." + +"Pretty good!" laughed Kennedy, who had taken the day to finish up a +large pile of "back numbers" of his favorite daily, "but I think hardly +just to the Indians. Horace Greeley has given a great deal of thought to +this Indian question, and although he would disapprove of supplying them +with arms and ammunition, yet in all other matters would indorse your +policy." + +"You don't mean to say that Greeley would disapprove of letting poor +Peter have a gun to shoot game to help support his family--do you?" +asked Ben, in astonishment. + +"Certainly I do. With that fifty dollars, he could have procured tools +and seed, and started a farm on Indian Island. Instead of that, you give +him the means of continuing a savage, instead of encouraging him to +become a farmer and a civilized being. Horace Greeley would have +tried--" + +"To attempt an impossibility," said La Salle, excitedly. "As well may +you expect to raise a draught horse from a pair of racers, or keep a +flock of eagles as you would a coop of hens. The French have been the +only people on this continent with an Indian policy founded in reason, +and a just estimate of the character and capabilities of the +aborigines." + +"And yet they were completely driven from this continent," said Kennedy. + +"True, sir; but their Indian policy made their scanty population of two +hundred thousand Europeans a dreaded foe to the nearly three million +colonists of English descent. They made of their savage allies an arm +that struck secretly, swiftly, and with terrible effect, and a defence +that kept actual hostilities a long distance from their main +settlements. I believe, sir, that the philosophers of the future will +condemn alike our policy of extermination, and the impossible attempt to +mould hunters, warriors, and absolutely free men, into peaceful, +plodding citizens of a republic." + +"What else can be done with them?" asked Kennedy, sharply. + +"It seems to me that in generations to come, it will be said of us, +'They did not try in those days to yoke the racer to the plough, nor to +chain the hound to the kennel, while they urged the mastiff on the track +of the deer; yet they failed to see that the Creator, and peculiar +conditions unchanged for centuries, had moulded the races of men to +different forms of government, modes of life, and varieties of +avocation. The Roman conqueror of the world knew better than to put in +his heavily-armed legions the flying Parthian, the light-armed horseman +of Numidia, or the slinger of the Balearic Isles. The American of the +past had at his disposal a race capable of being the skirmish line of +his march of civilization to wrest a continent from the wilderness. As +trappers, hunters, and guides; as fishermen and slayers of whale and +seal; as the light horseman, quick, brave, self-sustaining, and +self-reliant, the Indian was capable of valuable services to a people +who offered him but two alternatives--extinction, or a dull, plodding, +vegetative, unnatural existence.'" + +"Well, La Salle, if you two Yankees can let your argument rest a little, +we'll go down to the shore, to take a look at the ice, and see what +to-morrow has in store for us," said Risk; and, as it was nearly +sundown, the party hastened down to a part of the bank clear of trees, +from whence they could discern the bay and the surrounding shores. + +The rain was falling in gentle and melting showers; the south wind, +laden with penetrating warmth, borne from lands hundreds of leagues +distant, cut down drift and ice-hill with its fatal kisses; from the +rocky cliff a thousand tiny cascades wept and plashed; and over the icy +bonds of every brook and river another stream ran swiftly to the sea. +Over the icy levels of harbor and bay rippled another sheet of fresh +water, which each moment grew deeper and wider as the warm rain fell +more heavily, and the withering south wind came in increasing strength. + +"If this lasts all night, boys," said Lund, oracularly, "it will open +the spring-holes and oyster-beds, and give the geese, which are sure to +come with this wind, a certain amount of feeding-grounds which are not +likely to be frozen up this winter. Come," continued he, turning away; +"the geese will be getting cold, and we want to have time to hear a good +yarn before we go to bed." + +"It's your turn to-night, Mr. Risk," said Ben; "and we must have a story +as different as possible from the last. You know all about the old +notables of the country, who used to own thousands of acres, and keep +horses and servants as they do on large manors in the old country. Tell +us a story about some of that set, as you used to tell father and uncle +Dan, down at Morell." + +"I won't try to back out, gentlemen," said Risk, laying aside his +meerschaum; "for the sooner I tell my story the better, as you will +'have it over with,' and hear a great many good stories before it +becomes my turn to bore you again. My story is about + + +"OLD ANTHONY WORRELL AND HIS NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. + +"In my young days, a number of the immediate heirs of the original +proprietors were resident here; and among them this Major Worrell, whose +estate has since been purchased by the government. He was a little, +nervous, black-haired bachelor, who shared his chamber with a favorite +black Newfoundland retriever, named Carlo. + +"One or two domestics did the housework, and helped the farm-hands in +haying, harvest, and potato-digging; and over all presided Mrs. Sims, a +tall, stout, and resolute widow, with a heavy hand and a shrewish +temper. With a huge bunch of keys at her side, and an eye quick to +detect the smallest waste and the slightest irregularity, she kept the +household in terror, and her master (poor little man!) in almost abject +vassalage. A specimen of one of their daily breakfast dialogues may be +worthy of reproduction. + +"_She._ 'Good mornin,' sir. 'Ope you're well this morning.' + +"_He._ 'Yes--quite well. Breakfast ready, eh?' + +"_She._ 'Almost. Heggs just boiling when I came in. That Gillbear +(Gilbert, a little, French orphan) sucks heggs, hi'm sure. Hi wonder you +keep 'im hon the place.' + +"_He._ 'Well, you know, Mrs. Sims, he's an orphan, and--' + +"_She._ 'Well, hi like that. Han horphan! hand 'is father lives hup hin +has good a farm has there his hin Tracadie.' + +"_He._ 'Well, his father Gilbert died, and Lisette, his mother, married +Francois: and then Lisette, his mother, died, and Francois married his +cousin Christine; and then Francois died, and Christine married Jacques +the blacksmith; and so he hasn't any father or mother, and no home, and +I let him stay here.' + +"_She._ 'Yes, hand you'd 'ave the place heaten hup with lazy, dirty, +thieving beggars hif hit wasn't for me. Hi told your brother when 'e +sent me hover. Says 'e, 'My brother his too heasy, han' needs some un to +see that 'e hisn't himposed hupon.' Says hi, 'Wen hi'm hunable to do my +duty, hi've honly to return 'ome to Hingland. Wich hi've just 'ad a +letter from my sister; han' hif hi must slave for sich, hi'd rather give +warnin' for to-morrow come four weeks.' + +"_He_ (nervously). 'Why, my dear Mrs. Sims--' + +"_She._ 'Yes, sir; hand that dratted dog Carlo, hevery mornin', when hi +goes to hair your sheets, gives me ha start with growlin' hat me from +hunder the bed-clothes, wich 'e wraps 'isself hup hin hevery mornin', +sir, like has hif 'e were a Christian. Now, sir, hi'm ready to slave +hand wear myself hout for you, but has for slavin' for a dirty cur and a +French brat, hi've no need to, han' hi won't.' + +_He._ 'Well, well, Mrs. Sims, we'll see what can be done--what can be +done. I'll get a chain for Gilbert, and send the dog away. No, I mean +I'll--No, I'll--Confound it, madam, let's have breakfast.' + +"On the same afternoon Mr. Grahame, the nearest magistrate, called on +business, and to him Worrell related his domestic troubles. + +"'I can't do without her, for she is a splendid cook, and keeps my +clothes in first-rate order. I can't bear the thought of the cookery I +should have to eat, and the dirt and disorder I should see around me, if +she does go away. But she's a regular Tartar, and I've no authority at +all in my house.' + +"'Well, Worrell, it's a hard case; but I would chain up that dog. As to +poor little Gilbert, do what you think is right in spite of her. If she +leaves--Ah, I have it. Go into town, and propose to one of the F. +sisters. They are all good cooks and amiable women, and you'll be rid of +your Tartar.' + +"'Wich I'm much hobleeged to you for the name, an' the good advice you +give the master, stirrin' hov 'im hup against a lone, friendless widow, +wat's slaved an' worked this six years come St. Michaelmas.' + +"Mr. Grahame, of course, with the _mauvais honte_ which men too +generally display towards angry and unreasonable women, took an awkward +leave of the angry widow, and poor Worrell, whom she treated to a +lecture of half an hour, ending with a lively fit of tears and +hysterics. As the poor little man turned away, leaving her in the hands +of a servant, he caught her last broken objurgations. + +"'An hungrateful fool, marry an' turn me hoff; ugh, ugh! fix 'im, hany +'ow.' + +"The following morning Worrell rose early, and passing through the +breakfast-room, received a sulky greeting from his housekeeper, and went +out to over-look the labors of his men. Feeling a little unwell, he +returned to his room, and finding his dog in his bed, flung him into a +spare room, and getting into bed, went to sleep. Now, both dog and +master had a very unhealthy habit--that of keeping the head covered with +bed-clothes; and so it happened that when Mrs. Sims entered the room, +she saw, as she supposed, the black ears and head of the hated Carlo. + +"Revenge urged her to undue and overhasty punishment; her overcharged +feelings sought relief on some object, and a stout-handled broom was in +her grasp. At last vengeance was within her reach; should she relinquish +it? No, a thousand times no! + +"'You dirty brute!' she yelled, in fury. 'You hold rascal, I'll pay you +out! I'll murder you! I'll kill you!' + +"Such was the preface of a shower of blows, which suddenly broke the +rest of the defenceless Worrell. Half stunned, astounded, almost +paralyzed, he heard, as if in a terrible dream, the threats which +accompanied the merciless blows of the assailant. + +"'I've got you! Sleep again, will you? I'll kill you, you hold fool! +I'll murder--Good Lord! hit's my master;' and as a bruised and bloody +face, surmounting a meager figure, in remarkably scanty drapery, +vanished out of the room, Mrs. Sims drew a long breath, and fainted in +real earnest in one corner. + +"Worrell never stopped until he reached Grahame's, who rather hastily +caught up a shawl, and wrapping him in it, got him to his chamber, and +into a suit of his own clothes, only about twice too large, for Grahame +was one of the tallest men in the county. + +"When he had composed himself sufficiently, a complaint was duly entered +against Mrs. Sims for 'assault with intent to kill;' and Mrs. Sims, +despite her piteous entreaties, was arrested and brought before the +magistrate. Her appeals for mercy were heart-rending. + +"'Ho, mercy, your washup; mercy, Mr. Worrell. Wich I thinks hit were +that dratted dorg. Don't 'ang me. I never hintended--' But Worrell was +inexorable. + +"'But you said you would kill me, you would murder me, and you nearly +did murder me.' + +"'Wich I told your brother--ugh, ugh! an' I've slaved, an', ugh, ugh! +an' wich it were all a mistake--ugh, ugh! 'ave mercy, gentlemen.' + +"'But you said you would murder me, and you nearly did murder me, and--' + +"'Peace, Mr. Worrell,' said Grahame, impressively; 'the hour of your +redemption draweth nigh. Prisoner at the bar,' continued he, 'the crime +which you have committed has always been held in just aversion and +horror by the English nation. Repaying the trust and confidence of your +master with unkind persecution and a shrewish tongue, you have finished +the measure of your misdeeds by what might have proved a most brutal +murder. Your unsupported statement, that you mistook Mr. Worrell for his +dog, would have little or no weight on any unprejudiced jury. We, +however, incline to mercy; and I therefore bind you over, in the sum of +one thousand pounds, to keep the peace for six months.' + +"'Wherever can I find so much money?' asked the despairing prisoner. + +"'On condition that you will leave for England, I will find bail for +you. Understand, however, that they will give you up, should you fail to +depart at the earliest opportunity.' + +"Poor Mrs. Sims went in the next ship 'bound home;' but the story got +abroad at once, and Worrell never married. Great amusement, of course, +was created by the recital, and it became a favorite of the members of +the bar on circuit, who, however, generally expressed one regret, viz., +'that Worrell escaped alive, as the world thereby lost a most remarkable +criminal case.' + +"Well, that's all there is of it; and as it's nine o'clock, and we want +to be up early, I think I'll conclude by bidding you all 'good night, +and pleasant dreams.'" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE GRAND FLIGHT.--A GOOD STRATAGEM.--THE PACKET LIGHT. + + +At sunrise the next morning, the sportsmen hurried through their frugal +meal, and hastened to their various "ice-houses;" for a great change had +taken place in the weather, which, although the rain had ceased and the +sky had cleared somewhat, was still mild and spring-like. Even as they +lit their cigars at the door, they heard far up the cove the calls of +the wild geese, and a scattering volley which told that the Indians had +been early at their posts. Above the others arose two heavy reports, +which Davies declared could come from no other gun than Peter's +newly-acquired double-barrel. + +With hastened steps the East Bar party took the ice, La Salle drawing +behind him a long "taboggin," or Indian sled, consisting merely of a +long, wide, half-inch board, turned up at one end, and forming, in fact, +a single broad runner, which cannot upset, and will bear a heavy load +over the lightest snow without sinking too deeply. On it were placed, +besides his own gun and that of Kennedy, a heavy target rifle, a large +lunch-box, and an ample bucket containing ammunition. + +"You mean to 'lay them out' to-day, I guess, Charley," said Creamer, +good-humoredly. "You ain't apt to want ammunition, any way." + +"What will you take for to-day's bag, cash down?" asked Ben, laughing. + +"Here are our decoys," said La Salle, pointing to several dark objects +partially imbedded in the ice, but marking an almost perfect straight +line from the boat to the inner shore of the island. + +"We had a rather narrow escape," remarked Kennedy, picking up one of the +decoys; "and it was well thought of to secure a retreat to our boat, in +case we had failed to reach the shore." + +Little time, however, was lost in conversation. The "boat" and "box" +were to be cleared of the snow which had drifted inside, and concealed +by fragments of ice, in place of those which the rain had melted away. +The decoys were to be rearranged, heading to windward, and at least half +an hour was consumed in making these necessary arrangements. At last all +was ready, the guns, ammunition, &c., were placed in the boat, and La +Salle had gone to hide the sledge behind a neighboring hummock, when, +turning his head, he saw Davies and Creamer running hastily to their +box, and Kennedy frantically gesticulating and calling on him to do the +same. + +With the best speed he could make on such slippery footing, La Salle +crossed the intervening space, and threw himself down into the boat, +panting and breathless with exertion. After a moment's breathing space, +he slowly raised his head so that his eyes could just see over the edge +of the shooting-boat. To the east he heard the decoy-calls of Creamer +and Davies, and, somewhere between himself and them, the low, +questioning calls of the wished-for geese. + +"They are near us somewhere, Kennedy," he whispered, "and, I guess, +coming in to our decoys. Don't fire until I tell you. Here they come. +No, they sheer off. Yes, there's one scaling down; there's another. +They're all coming. We've got them now." + +The goose is far from being the silly fowl which popular belief supposes +him to be, even when tamed and subdued, and, in a state of nature, is +one of the most wary of birds. The flock in question, flying in from the +narrow, open channels of the Gulf, had seen the decoys, and heard the +calls of Ben and Creamer, who had not yet completed their preparations. +Swooping around the box at a safe distance, the wary leader decided that +all was not right there, and swung over the leading decoys of La Salle, +and doubtless wondering at the apathy of the strange geese which refused +to answer his calls, gave a signal which caused his flock to describe a +circle around the boat, full forty rods away. Still nothing could be +seen which could warrant a well-founded suspicion; and one or two of the +younger birds, impatient of restraint, and anxious for rest and food, +set their broad pinions, and, with outstretched wings, scaled down to +the decoys, alighting on the ice not twenty feet from the muzzles of the +concealed guns. Their apparent safety decided the rest, and in twenty +seconds as many geese, with clamorous cries, were hovering over the +heads of La Salle and his companions. + +It takes a quick eye, steady hand, and good judgment, to kill a +partridge in November, when, with a rush of wings like an embryo +whirlwind, he gets up under your feet, and brushes the dew from the +underbrush with his whizzing wings. It is not every amateur that can +kill woodcock in close cover, or well-grown snipe on a windy day; but +there are few, who can do these things, who can kill with both barrels +in their first goose-shooting. The size and number of the birds, the +wary and cautious manner of their approach, the nice modulations +necessary to "call" them successfully, and the reckless sweep with which +they seem to throw aside all fear, and rush into the very jaws of +death,--all these combine to unsettle the nerves and aim of the novice. + +All this Kennedy experienced, as he saw above him twenty outstretched +necks, with jetty heads, whose eyes he felt _must_ discern the ambush; +twenty snowy bellies, against which as many pairs of black, broad, +webbed feet showed with beautiful effect, and forty broad pinions, which +seemed to shut out the sky from view, and present a mark which no one +could fail to hit. At the word he pointed his heavy gun at the centre of +the thickest part of the flock and fired. At the first barrel a dead +bird fell almost into the boat; but the second seemed without effect. La +Salle "lined" four as they flapped their huge wings hurriedly, striving +to flee from the hidden danger, killing three and breaking the wing of a +fourth, who fluttered down to the ice, and began to run, or, rather, to +waddle rapidly away. + +Kennedy seemed about to go after the wounded bird, but La Salle laid his +hand on his arm. + +"Don't move, Kennedy, and he will get us another bird," said he, +reloading his heavy gun with a long-range shot cartridge. "We can get +that bird any time; and there is his mate flying round and round in a +circle." + +"You won't get a shot at her," said Kennedy, as she warily kept out of +ordinary range, and finally alighted near the gander, which, weak with +pain and loss of blood, had lain down on the ice about one hundred and +fifty yards distant. + +"I should not despair of killing her with 'the Baby,' charged as she now +is, even at a far greater distance; but I have a surer weapon for such a +mark in this target-rifle." + +As he spoke, he drew from under the half-deck of the boat a heavy +sporting-rifle, carrying about sixty balls to the pound, and sighted +with "globe" or "peep" sights. Taking a polished gauge which hung at his +watch-chain, he set the rear sight, and, cocking the piece, set the +hair-trigger. Noiselessly raising the muzzle above the gunwale, he ran +his eye along the sights. A whip-like crack echoed across the ice, and +the goose, pierced through the lower part of the neck, fell dead by the +side of her wounded mate, which, frightened by the report, hastened to +increase the distance between him and such a dangerous neighborhood. + +"I'll save you a half-mile run, Kennedy," said La Salle, raising "the +Baby" to his face. + +The wounded bird suddenly paused, drew himself up to his full height, +and spread his wings, or rather his uninjured pinion. The huge gun +roared. The closely-packed _mitraille_ tore the icy crust into powder, +fifty yards beyond the doomed bird, which settled, throbbing with a +mortal tremor, upon the ice, shot through the head. + +"That was a splendid shot of yours, La Salle," said Kennedy, in +amazement. + +"You are wrong in that statement, Kennedy," replied he. "The shot any +one could have made, but the reach of that gun, with Eley's cartridge, +is something tremendous. When I first had her I fired at a flock at +about four hundred yards distance. Of course I killed none, but I paced +three hundred and twenty-five yards, and found clean-cut scores, four +and five inches long, in the crust, at that distance; and I have more +than once killed brant geese out of a flock at forty rods." + +"Look, Charley! What a sight!" interrupted Kennedy. The sky had cleared, +the sun shone brightly, the wind had gone down, and the strange +stillness of a calm winter's day was unbroken. From the west high above +the reach of the heaviest gun, and almost beyond the carry of the rifle, +came the long-expected vanguard of the migrating hosts of heaven. Flock +upon flock, each in the wedge-shaped phalanx of two converging lines, +which ever characterize the flight of these birds, each headed by a +wary, powerful leader, whose clarion call came shrill and clear down +through the still ether, came in one common line of flight, hundreds and +thousands of geese. All that afternoon their passage was incessant, but +no open pool offered rest and food to that weary host, and in that fine, +still atmosphere it was useless to attempt to deceive by crude +imitations of the calls of these birds. And so, as the leaders of the +migratory host saw from their lofty altitude the earth below, for many a +league, spread out like a map, from which to choose a halting-place, the +marksmen of the icy levels had little but the interest of the unusual +spectacle for their afternoon's watching. Now and then, in answer to +their repeated calls, a single goose would detach itself from the flock +and scale down through the air, as if to alight, but nearly always would +repent in time, and with quickened pinions return to its companions. +Still, occasionally, one would determine to alight, and setting its +wings, circle around one of the stands, and finally be seen, by the +occupants of other ice-houses, to sweep close in to the concealed +ambush. Then would follow a puff or two of smoke, a few distant reports, +and the dead bird, held up in triumph, would convey to his distant +friends the sportsman's fortune. + +Several birds fell in this way to the lot of our friends of the East +Bar, and La Salle and Kennedy got one each; but the sport was too +tedious, and La Salle, taking a bullet-bag and powder-flask from his +box, proceeded to count out ten bullets, which he laid carefully before +him. + +"I am going to try to bring down at least one goose from those flocks +which pass over us nearly every moment. They are certainly four hundred +yards high, and I shall aim at the leader of the flock in every case, +giving him about ten feet allowance for headway." + +The first ball was without effect, although the leader swerved like a +frightened steed as the deadly missile sung past him. The second cut a +feather from the tail of the bird aimed at; and the third failed +likewise. At the fourth shot the leader swerved as before, and then kept +on his way. + +"You might as well try to kill them a mile off, as at that distance," +said Kennedy, disparagingly. + +"I hit a bird in that flock, and I think the leader, at that; for I +heard the rap of the ball as it struck. It may have been only through +his quill-feathers. No; there's the bird I hit. See, he can't keep up +with the flock." + +The huge gander last fired at had hardly gone a hundred yards, ere, +despite his endeavors, he had lowered several feet below the flock. In +the next decade, the distance was increased to sixty feet, and in the +third to as many yards. In the last hundred yards of his flight he sank +rapidly, although struggling nobly to regain the flock; and when about +fifty yards above the ice, he towered up a few feet into the air, and +fell over backward, stone dead, with a rifle-shot transfixing his body, +in the region of the heart. On weighing him he turned the scale at +fifteen pounds. + +Of the remaining six shots but one was effective--breaking the wing-tip +of a young female, which was secured for a live decoy. + +Kennedy now proposed a plan for approaching a large flock, which had +alighted about a half mile distant on the sea-ice. Taking the taboggin, +which was painted white, from its concealment, he tied to its curved +front a thin slab of snowy ice, and laying his gun behind it, approached +the flock as near as possible, under cover of the hummocks. About three +hundred yards of level ice still intervened, and lying down behind his +snow-screen, he slowly moved his ingenious stalking-horse towards the +flock. Had he understood the nature of the birds thoroughly, it is +probable that his device would have succeeded splendidly; but when he +was still about a hundred yards distant, the wary leader became +suspicious, and gave a note of alarm. In an instant the whole flock, +with outstretched necks, stood prepared for flight. Had he lain still, +it is probable that the birds would have relaxed their suspicious +watchfulness, and allowed him to get nearer; but thinking that he should +lose all if he tried a nearer approach, he fired, killing one and +wounding another, both of which were secured. + +Just before dark a slight wind sprang up, and a few flocks, flying low +about the harbor, came in among the decoys, and for a time the fire was +quite heavy, and the sport most exciting. Taken all round, this day was +the best of the season. Ben and Creamer received fifteen, La Salle and +Kennedy twelve, and Davies and Risk eighteen birds--in all, forty-five +geese. On arriving home they found a hearty supper awaiting their +attention, after a due observance had been paid to the rites of the +toilet. This observance seemed to demand much more time than ever +before, to the great amusement of Lund, who had anticipated as much all +day. + +"Are all you folks going sparkin', that you are so careful of your +complexions? Goodness! why, you've more pomatums, oils, and soaps than +any court beauty!" + +There was some truth in this latter charge, for Ben and Creamer, after +washing and a very gingerly use of the towel, anointed their flaming +visages with almond oil. Kennedy, in his turn, approached the only +mirror the house afforded, and applied to his blistered nose and +excoriated cheeks the major part of a box of Holloway's Ointment; and +even La Salle's dark face seemed to have acquired its share of burning +from the ice-reflected rays of the sun. Davies and Risk, when called to +supper, smelled strongly of rose-scented cold-cream; and Lund was +unsparing in sarcastic remarks on the extreme floridness of complexion +of the entire party. + +"Ben, don't have any powder lying round loose to-morrow, with such a +face as that. As for Creamer, he can't have any cotton sheets to-night, +for fear of a conflagration. I don't think I ever saw anybody burn as +bad as Kennedy has; and this is only the first day, too. A few days more +like this would peel him down to an 'atomy. As to La Salle, he's too +black to take any more color, but Risk and Davies won't dare to go home +for a good two weeks at least." + +In truth, the whole party had received a notable tanning, for the +winter's sun, weak as it is compared with its summer fervor, has never +such an effect upon the exposed skin, as when its rays are reflected +from the millions of tiny specula of the glistening ice-field. The free +use of soothing and cooling ointments will prevent the blistering and +tan, to a great extent; but many on their "first hunt" lose the cuticle +from the entire face; and many a seal has been lost on the floes, owing +to the rapid decomposition produced by the sun's feeble rays thus +intensified. + +Notwithstanding their "tanning", however, the party were in splendid +spirits, and ate their roast goose, potatoes, and hot bread with a gusto +which far more delicate viands at home would fail to provoke. As the +meal proceeded, and the merry jest went round, all feelings of fatigue, +pain, and discomfort were lost in the revulsion of comfort which a full +meal produces in a man of thoroughly healthy physique. How few of us in +the crowded cities know, or indeed can appreciate, the pleasures of the +hardy sportsman. To bear wet, cold, and discomfort; to exercise +patience, skill, and endurance; and to undergo the extreme point of +fatigue, was the sum of nearly every day's experience of the members of +the party; but when their heavy guns and cumbrous clothing were laid +aside, the rough chair and cushionless settle afforded luxurious rest, +the craving appetite made their coarse fare a delightsome feast, and +when, warm, full-fed, and refreshed, they invoked the dreamy solace of +the deity Nicotiana, the sense of animal pleasure and satisfaction was +complete. + +"Is your pipe filled, Creamer?" asked Lund, carelessly. + +"Yes; but you'll not get it until you give us the story you're to tell +us this night. Faith, there's not one of us can beat you at the same +trade, and it's little of fact that you'll give us, any how." + +"For shame, Hughie, to malign the credibility of an old friend in that +way, and me the father of a family. I'm almost ready to swear that you +shan't have a yarn from me for the whole spring. To accuse me of +yarning--me that--" + +"That humbugged the whole Associated Press of the United States no +longer ago than the war with the southerns. I mind myself how you told +them at Shediac, that the Alabama was down among the fishermen in the +bay, like a hawk among a flock of pigeons. Faith, you had twenty of them +taken and burned before you stopped that time, and the telegraph +operator at Point de Chene was hopping all the evening between the boat +and the office, like a pea in a hot skillet," retorted La Salle, +laughing. "Ah, Lund! you mustn't plead innocent with us, who have been +humbugged by you too many times already. But come, captain, draw on your +imagination, and give us a regular stunner--one without a word of truth +in it." + +"Well, gentlemen," answered Lund, deliberately, "I ain't got anything to +say to that young jackanapes, for nobody _that_ ever heard _him_ tell +stories will ever believe anything he says again. But I mean to have my +revenge somehow, and so I'll tell you a story that is as true as +gospel, and yet you'll hardly believe a word of it. We who live here on +this little island call it the story of + + +"THE PACKET LIGHT. + +"About thirty years ago, my wife's father, old Mr. Bridges, lived in a +snug little log house down in the next field, towards the Point. He was +a young man then, and my wife here was a little girl, unable to do more +than to drive home the cows, or help mind the younger children. The +island is uncivilized enough now, sir, but in those days, besides the +old French military road to St. Peter's, and a government mail route to +St. Eleanor's, there was nothing but bridle-paths and rough trails +through the woods. Men came to market with horses in straw harnesses, +dragging carts with block-wheels sawn from the butt of a big pine; and +often when twenty or thirty of them were drinking into old Katty +Frazer's, the beasts would get hungry, and eat each other loose. + +"It was next to an impossibility to get any money in exchange for +produce or labor, and everything was paid for in orders on the different +dealers for so many shillings' or pounds' worth of goods. In winter a +whale-boat on runners carried the mail between the Wood Islands and +Pictou, and in summer a small schooner, called the Packet, sailed with +the mail, and what few passengers presented themselves, between the +capital and the same port. + +"It was in the last of November that year that the Packet made her last +cruise. The weather was freezing cold, with a thick sky, and heavy +squalls from the south of west, when she struck on the East Bar, near +the main channel. They put down the helm, thinking to slide off; but she +only swung broadside to the waves, and as the tide was at ebb, she was +soon hard and fast, with the sea making a clean breach over her. + +"Captain Coffin, with the four other men, got into the rigging with a +flag of some kind, which they fastened at half mast, as a signal of +distress. It was about midday when they ran on the bar, and Bridges saw +them, and realized their danger at once; and their cries for help at +times rose above the roar of the ravenous seas. With the help of his +wife he launched a light boat, but long before he got into the sweep of +the heavier breakers, he saw that she could never live on the bar, and +it was with great difficulty that he regained the shore. At nightfall, +although the hull was badly shattered, no one had perished, and the tide +had so far abated that the party could easily have waded ashore; and +Captain Coffin and another man, after vainly attempting to induce the +other three to accompany them, started themselves. + +"The others charged them with cowardice in leaving the vessel, said that +the wind would go down, and they could get the craft off at flood-tide, +and so prevailed over the better judgment of the captain and his +companion that they returned to the fated vessel, and prepared, as well +as possible, for the returning tide. + +"As the tide rose, the sea came with little, if any, diminution of fury; +and until nearly midnight Bridges watched the signal lantern, which +called in vain for the aid which it was not in the power of man to +bestow. Intense cold was added to the other horrors of their situation, +and the heavy seas came each hour in lessened fury, as the water +thickened into 'sludge.' At eleven o'clock the tide was at its height; +the seas had ceased to sweep across the hogged and sunken hull, and a +sheet of thin ice reached from the shore to the vessel's side. Captain +Coffin tried the ice, and, finding that it would bear his weight, +decided to try to reach the Blockhouse Light, which shone brightly three +miles away. + +"He summoned the others; but two of the others, who had persuaded him to +remain on board, were already frozen to death; the third decided to make +the attempt, but walked feebly and with uncertain steps, and about a +mile from the vessel succumbed to the piercing cold, falling into that +fatal sleep from which few ever waken, in this life at least. Coffin's +companion, a strong, hardy sailor, reached the light-house alive, but +swooned away, and could not be resuscitated; and Coffin barely escaped +with his life. He was terribly frost-bitten, but was thawed out in a +puncheon of cold water, the right foot, however, dropping off at the +ankle; but he escaped with life, after terrible suffering. + +"The schooner sank, in the spring, at the edge of the channel, when the +moving ice forced her into deeper water; and at very low tides her +battered hull may still be seen by the passing boatman. But ever since +that fatal night, whenever a storm from that quarter is threatened, a +ball of fire is seen to emerge from the depths where lies the fated +packet, and to sway and swing above the water, as the signal lantern did +on the swaying mast of that doomed vessel. Then, if you but watch +patiently, the ball is seen to expand into a sheet of crimson light, +terribly and weirdly beautiful, until the eye can discern the shadowy +outline of a ship, or rather schooner, of fire, with hull and masts, +stays and sails; and then the apparition again assumes the shape of a +ball, which is lost in the sea. + +"At times it appears twice or thrice in the same night, and often the +herring-fisher, after setting his nets along the bar, sees behind his +boat, as he nears the shore, the apparition of the 'packet light.' Since +that night of wreck and death, no dweller on this island has passed a +year without seeing it, and it is so common that its appearance awakens +no fear; and among the fishers of Point Prime, and the farmers of the +opposite shores, there are few who will not bear witness to the truth of +my story." + + * * * * * + +"It is a little singular," said Risk, "that a ship is the only +inanimate object ever seen as an individual apparition. There are not +many of these ghostly ships on the seas, however. I do not remember to +have heard of more than one--that of the celebrated 'Flying Dutchman,' +off the Cape of Good Hope." + +"It's no wonder, sir," said Lund, warmly, "that sailors suppose ships to +be haunted, and also to be capable of becoming ghosts themselves, when +you sit down and think how differently every one views a vessel, as +compared with a house, or store, or engine. Why, there are no two ships +alike, and two were never built just alike. There are lucky and unlucky +ships, and ships that almost steer themselves, while others need a whole +watch at the tiller in a dead calm. But I think that you are mistaken as +to the 'Flying Dutchman' being the only other 'flyer,' as the sailors +call them, for they are often seen in the Pacific, in the 'Trades.'" + +"I can't swear to the truth of Mr. Lund's story, but I can affirm that +the 'fire ship' is a myth, universally recognized among the sea-going +population of our coast, from the Florida Keys to the mouth of the St. +Lawrence. Off the coral reefs, the crime-accursed slaver or pirate +haunts the scene of her terrible deeds. Amid the breakers of Block +Island, the ship wrecked, a generation ago, by the cruel avarice of men +long since dead, still revisits the fatal spot when the storm is again +on the eve of breaking forth in resistless fury. The waters of Boston +harbor, two centuries ago, presented to the wondering eyes of 'divers +sober and godly' persons, apparitions similar to those narrated by our +veracious friend, the captain. The lumberers of the St. John tell, with +bated breath, of an antique French caravel, which sails up the Carleton +Falls, where no mortal vessel or steamer can follow. And the farmers and +fishermen of Chester Bay still see the weird, unearthly beacon which +marks the spot where the privateer Teaser, chased by an overwhelming +English fleet, was hurled heavenward by the desperate act of one of her +officers, who had broken his parole. As for the Gulf, the myth exists in +a half dozen diverse forms, and all equally well authenticated by +hundreds of eye-witnesses, if you can believe the narrators." + +"Well, La Salle, I see you don't put much more faith in my story than in +the thing I saw the night you came here. Now, I hope it won't be so, for +it is borne in my mind, and I can't get over it, that I shall see some +of you vanish into mist, as I saw those men. So, gentlemen, be very +careful, for I fear that some of us are very near their fate." + + * * * * * + +There is a cord of fear in every man's heart which throbs more or less +responsively to the relation of the wonders of that "debatable land," +which, by some, is believed to lie "on the boundaries of another world." +La Salle felt impressed in spite of himself, and the whole party seemed +grave and unwilling to pursue the subject. The silence was, however, +broken by Kennedy. + +"I am going home to-morrow," said he, "and therefore am not likely to be +one of the unfortunates over whom a mysterious but melancholy fate +impends. I have never found in the Tribune anything calculated to +encourage a belief in ghosts of men, or vessels either; and what Horace +Greeley can't swallow I can't. But I shall make minutes of this little +matter, and if anything does happen, will forward a full account, in +detail, to that truly great man. Come, La Salle; it's time we were abed. +Good night, gentlemen." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A MAD SPORTSMAN.--SNOW-BLIND.--A NIGHT OF PERIL. + + +The next morning shone bright and clear, and the gunners were at their +posts in expectation of a good day's sport. They looked in vain, +however, for any indications of open water, and a hole, sunk with the +axe to the depth of eighteen inches, failed to reach salt water, +although several layers of sweet, fresh water were struck; and the +little hollow furnished them many draughts of an element nowhere more +welcome than upon the spring ice. The sun shone brightly, their faces, +still sore and feverish with yesterday's exposure, became sorer than +ever, and the neck became chafed wherever it rubbed against the coat +collar. + +Still, these were minor evils amid the excitement of their occupation, +for many flocks of wild geese were seen; and the appearance of a flock, +however remote, is always the signal for every gunner to get under cover +at once. A small flock of seven were completely destroyed that morning, +in a manner that deserves recording here. + +They were first seen striking in from the Gulf, and swinging well to +leeward,--for the wind was westerly,--scaled in to the stand occupied by +Davies and Creamer, who were lying down taking their noon lunch, and +received no warning of their approach until they saw the flock scaling +over their heads. Seizing their guns, both fired as quickly as possible, +Ben a little the first. His first barrel missed, but the second, aimed +at the same bird, brought it down. Creamer's first barrel went off in +the act of cocking, in the hurry and agitation of the surprise; and +letting the muzzle of his gun drop, he stood stupidly gazing at the +departing flock, until roused by Davies's "Give them t'other barrel, any +way." Raising his gun, he fired instantly, and killed a fine gander, +which fell dead a hundred and twelve yards from the stand. + +As if blinded by the unexpected danger, the remaining five swung just +inside of the ice-boat, where La Salle and his companion, who had seen +them from the first, picked out a brace at long but practicable range, +while the retreating birds flew up the channel towards Nine Mile Creek, +where two more fell to Risk and the elder Davies. For over an hour the +remaining bird flew with clamorous cries about the scene of his +bereavement, until a stranger, who had erected an ice-house, and placed +a few rude decoys a few hundred yards from the bar, called him down, and +fired a shot which dropped him on the ice. + +[Illustration: "GIE ME MY GUSE, MON, AND DINNA DELAY ME." Page 97.] + +He seemed to be little hurt, however; for, getting to his feet, he +walked rapidly away in the direction of the sea ice, followed by the +stranger, who did not attempt to use the long gun which he carried with +him even when the bird took wing and flew heavily between the ice-houses +on the East Bar, where a long shot from La Salle's gun brought him down +dead. La Salle brought in the bird, and while reloading his gun, the +stranger came up and claimed it as his. + +He was a tall, lean, sharp-featured man, with long, lank hair, a dark +complexion, and large lack-luster eyes, imbedded in cavernous hollows. +His gun was not loaded, nor did he wear either shot-bag or powder-horn; +and his weapon, an ancient Highland Scotch "fusee" changed to +percussion, seemed as worn out and dilapidated as the owner. + +"Gie me my guse, mon, and dinna delay me, for I hae much to do the day, +and I munna be hindered in my mission," was the strange salutation of +the original, as he leaned upon his gun at the side of the boat. + +"You are welcome to your goose, friend, although I fear that you would +have had a long chase, if the Baby there had not put in her word in the +matter. Here is your bird, sir;" and La Salle handed the body to the +unknown, who, after examining it closely, sighed heavily, and +replied,-- + +"It's a braw bird, but it's nae the king o' the geese." + +"The king of the geese, friend? What do you mean?" said Kennedy, +sharply. + +"O, naething; that is, naething to ye, sirs; but to me, O yes, to me +everything. Ah," said he, plaintively, "how mony days hae I sat through +storm, and frost, and sleet! how mony nights hae I watched in the still +moonlight, amang the reedy creeks! how mony times I hae weized a slug +through a bird a'maist amang the clouds! but I hae had a' my labor in +vain, in vain." + +"But how do you know that you have not already shot the king of the +geese?" said La Salle, anxious to investigate the peculiar monomania of +this poor lunatic; for such, indeed, he evidently was. + +"Why, mon," said he, evidently surprised at the absurdity of the +question, "by his croun, of course. The king has ae braw croun o' white +an black fedders, an' I'se reckon ye's never seen a guse like that +ava'--hae ye now?" he asked, anxiously. + +"I have never seen any such bird," said La Salle; "but why do you care +so much about shooting this rare bird?" + +"Weel, I'll tell ye, sin ye were kin' till me, an' did na keep the guse +fra' me. Ye must promise me that ye will na try to kill it wi' your ain +hands, for I must kill it mysel'." + +"We promise," said La Salle, encouragingly, while Kennedy gave a +half-pitying nod of the head. + +"Weel, when I was young I cared for naething but the gun, an' mony a +beating I got for wark negleckit, an' schule-days wasted in the woods, +or on the ice. As I grew older I cared more an' more for huntin', an' +although I killed mair than ony three in the settlement, I was never +satisfied. Ance I sat here on a could day in April; the ice had gane off +the bar, but the flats were yet covered, and I knew that until the win' +changed the ice would not be carried off. + +"Sae, as I sat an' saw the breakers roolin' in an' breakin' an' heavin' +the outer ice, I saw mony flecks pass under the lee of the Governor's +Island, an' then I grew mad like, an' swore an' cursed at my ill luck. + +"'Ay, my lad, but you're right;' an' turnin', I saw an ould man wi' dark +eyes an' a coat of black furs stannin' beside me. + +"'I've seen i' the Bible,' said I, 'that man was gi'en "dominion ower +the beasts o' the earth an' the fowls o' the air," but I canna do as I'd +wush wi' thae cursed geese ower there.' + +"'Verra richt; ye're verra richt, young man,' said he. 'What wud ye gie +to be able to kill as mony fowl as ye list, an' never miss ava?' + +"It seemed as I were mad at th' thocht. 'I'd gie my saul,' said I. + +"'Well, hae your wish, laddie,' said he; 'it's a sma' penny fee for so +dear a bargain;' and, turnin', I fand mysel' alone, an' not a saul upon +the ice, far or near. Weel, that day I killed birds until I had nae mair +pouther an' grit-shot; an' ilka day I went I had the like luck; but my +min' was ill at ease, an' I grew sad, an' dared na gae to prayers, or +the kirk; for then hell seemed to yawn under me. At last they said I was +mad, an' I went awee tae th' 'sylum yonder i' th' town, an' then I gat +some sleep; an' ane nicht I saw in a dream a woman a' in white, an' she +laid her cool, moist han' on my hot forehead, an' tauld me she would +save me yet. 'It was th' auld enemy that ye forgathered wi' on th' ice, +an' ye are his until ye can kill th' king o' th' geese; an' then ye ken +whaever carries his croun o' black an' white feathers can unnerstand th' +language o' all fowl, an', wha' is more, call them to himsel', sae that +he canna' fail to hae his wull o' them. Then, laddie, ye wull hae earned +yoursel' th' penny-fee for whilk ye hae perilled your saul. + +"'But,' said she, 'my ain bairn, when ye hae won the croun, use it na' +at all, though a' the fiends fra' hell tempted ye, but carry it to the +kirkyard at mirk midnight; an' when ye hae cannily lichted a bit bleeze, +burn the king's croun, an' say wha' I shall tell ye. "I gie back more +than I hae taken, an' I rest on Christ's smercy;" an' then shall ye be +safe an' happy if ye fail na' to be constant in gude warks.' + +"Then, sirs, the vision faded, an' I woke calmer an' happier than for +many a lang day; an' a few days after, they aye sent me hame, but the +folk say I've a bit bee in my bannet yet. But sin' that time, I hae +hunted a' I can. I get mony birds, an'," lowering his voice, "yesterday +I killed thretty-seven." + +A long whistle from the astonished Kennedy broke up the conference, and +the offended lunatic walked angrily away. + +"He hasn't had a gun until to-day, to my certain knowledge," said +Kennedy; "and I saw him yesterday afternoon taking aim at a goose that +had lighted among his decoys, along the helve of his axe." + +"Well, well! No one believed him, of course; but, for Heaven's sake, +when you express incredulity again, wait until the lie is finished, if I +am in the party!" grumbled La Salle. + +"Well, never mind; he got through with the best part of it; and the +great wonder is, how a distempered brain could imagine all that +impossible but well-connected delusion." + +"Kennedy," said La Salle, with unusual gravity, "how can we decide that +it is all a delusion? Few men, indeed, have claimed to see the devil, to +whom they sell themselves daily for trifles lighter than the hunter's +meed of unrivaled success; and who can say that the story of yonder +madman is more or less than the fruit of the idle habits and unbridled +temper which burned up happiness, and consumed his reason? There are few +who go mad who would have done so had they at the first governed and +denied themselves, and been content to enjoy in reason the benefits of +the great Giver." + +"There is much that is true in what you say, and I've got a piece in +this very Tribune which bears on that point. I'll read it to you. Hang +me if ever I saw the like! Where's Davies' ice-house? Is there a fog +coming up, or am I dizzy?" + +"O, that's nothing," said La Salle, laughing. "You're only going +blind--snow-blind, I mean. You know that Kane tells about his people +using goggles to prevent snow-blindness; and you left yours off +yesterday and to-day." + +"Well, it's a curious thing. I can barely see you now; and I know I +could not find my way home to save my life. But what shall I do? Will it +last long?" + +"If I had but a handkerchief full of clay, I could cure it in half an +hour; but lie down in the straw, and get your head under the half-deck, +where you can see neither sun nor snow, and I think you will rest +yourself enough to see pretty well by the time we want to go home." + +But Kennedy was fated to lie in impatient helplessness during the +remainder of the afternoon. Several fine flocks came in to the decoys; +and La Salle, using the double-barrel first, and firing the huge +duck-gun at long range, killed three, and sometimes four, out of each +flock, while Kennedy groaned in anguish of spirit. At last he could bear +it no longer. + +"Keep close, Kennedy; there's another flock coming, and the finest I've +seen this year. There's twenty at the least, and they're coming right +in." + +"Give me my gun, Charley. I can't see much, but I can a little, and I +can fire where I hear them call. This is my last day; for Patrick is +coming out to-night with the boys, and I go in with them. Where are the +birds now?" + +"Right dead to leeward. Ah-h-huk! ah-h-huk! Here they come, low down, +and ready to light. Ah-h-huk! ah-h-huk! Now, Kennedy, can you see them?" + +"Yes; that is, I see something like flies in a black gauze net. Are +those geese?" + +"Yes, and close to us; so up and fire." + +Bang! bang! crashed the heavy double-barrel, with both reports nearly +blended in one, and Kennedy was driven back by the recoil against the +rear top board of the boat. Nearly bursting with laughter, La Salle +"lined" the flock as they swung off, killing and wounding three. + +"Are you hurt, Kennedy?" he inquired, jumping out of the boat to catch +the wounded birds. + +"Dot buch, but by dose bleeds a little, a'd I've cut by lip. How baddy +have I killed, Charley? for I cad see dothing," inquired the victim, +anxiously. + +"One, two, three, four, FIVE, by jingo! Faith, you've beat the crowd, so +far, this spring, and when you were stone-blind, almost, at that. Well, +it's pretty dark, and we'd better be getting home now, I think." + +The geese were picked up, and, with the others,--about twenty in +all,--were loaded upon the "taboggin," which the two hunters with some +difficulty drew through the drifts to the house where, on their arrival, +they found that Pat had arrived from the city with some small stores, +papers, letters, &c., but the boys had not accompanied him. + +"They'll be out on skates wid Carlo and his slid on Monday," he said. +"Now, Misther Kennedy, whiniver you're ready, ye'll find me to the fore +in the kitchen." + +"Mr. Kennedy mustn't go until he gives us a story in his turn. Now the +moon rises to-night, at about nine o'clock, and it will be much +pleasanter and safer on the ice by moonlight. What say you, Pat?" + +"Faith, I'm agreeable, and I'd a little rather, to tell the truth; for +there's an ugly bit of road across the Pint there." + +"Well, Kennedy will have time to eat supper, and then we'll have his +story, when it will be time for us to go to bed, and just right for him +to start for town." + +"Or, in other words," said La Salle, "it will be 'time for honest folk +to be abed, and rogues on the road.'" + +All sat down to supper, including Pat, to whom a plate of roast goose +and two or three cups of strong, hot, black tea were very refreshing +after his ten-mile drive; and then, after the little preparations for +the next day's shooting, and Kennedy's little arrangements for his +departure, the little group gathered round the blazing hearth, and +Kennedy, with some little hesitation, began the story of + + +"A NIGHT OF PERIL. + +"I am but a short man, and, as my time is short, you must not complain +if my story is short, too. + +"I am not so imaginative as the captain; I haven't pestered all the old +men and women of the island to death for legends and stories, like my +friend Charley here, who will surely bore you to death when his turn +comes; I am sure I cannot make you laugh as Hughie and Mr. Risk have +done with their very interesting narratives, and I can only detail a +little adventure which I unexpectedly got into on this coast last +summer, and which I as unexpectedly got out of alive." + +"You mean your crossing the straits in a sixteen-foot boat?" said +Captain Lund. "I want to hear about that myself." + +"Well, in the early part of last August, my wife and I decided to visit +some friends, who reside a few miles up the River Jean, on the opposite +side of the straits, I suppose about twenty miles from here. We could +reach no port by steamer that was nearer our destination than Pictou, +and there remained a long, tedious stage ride when we got there. I +concluded to take a boat, and procured of Frank Stanley a little +row-boat, with a spritsail for running before the wind; for I intended +to choose my own time for crossing. We set out from C. early one +morning, and arrived in the afternoon after a very pleasant passage, and +we enjoyed our visit to that section very much. + +"After waiting a day or two for a fair wind down the river, we set sail, +but, owing to the lightness of the breeze, were nearly all the afternoon +in getting down. Still, on reaching the harbor, I determined to proceed, +as the lights on both shores could be plainly seen, and I did not like +to lose a favorable wind. + +"Accordingly I put boldly out, heading for Point Prime Light, although +my mind misgave me a little as I got clear of the lee of the land; for +the sea rose rapidly, and a tremendous breeze, each moment growing +stronger, carried us on with frightful rapidity. When we were about half +way across, the wind was blowing a gale, and it was only for a moment, +while on the crest of the waves, that I could see the light for which I +was steering. + +"The spray was breaking over us so that my wife had to bale continually +to keep our craft free, and I dared not leave the helm to lessen sail, +although I expected that each slat of the canvas, as we took the wind on +the crest of a wave, would run us under, or carry away the mast, and +leave us at the mercy of the waves. + +"On we went before the breeze, darting down into the hollow between two +seas, toiling heavily up the next wave, with death apparently close +behind on the crests of two or three pursuing breakers, and then, with a +puff which made every timber and plank quiver, the gale would almost +lift us through a breaking wall of white foam, and, with more or less of +the sea aboard, away we would go down the incline, a plaything of a +boat, with a frightened little man at the tiller, and a little woman +baling incessantly, with nerves that never gave way for a moment in our +long struggle for life. + +"I felt that if I could get that sprit down we were safe; but my wife +dared not attempt it, and she would not trust herself at the tiller. +Fortunately the boat steered 'very small,' and seizing my opportunity, I +set the tiller amidships, darted forward, cleared the end of the sprit +from its becket, and got back just in time to meet her as she began to +broach to, on the crest of a wave, which nearly half filled us with +water. + +"I felt now as if we were safe; for no longer cumbered with a press of +sail, we shipped less water, and had a better chance to lay out our +course. Keeping Point Prime Light, as I supposed, well to starboard, I +headed up the bay, seeking to make the Blockhouse Light, when suddenly I +saw the coast dead ahead, and a bar, which must have been the West Bar, +which I dared not attempt to cross. + +"I therefore bore away until I made a harbor, and running in, got aboard +a vessel, from whose captain I learned that we had mistaken the +Blockhouse Light for that on Point Prime, and had at last made Crapaud +River." + +"Leaving the boat to be brought around by the next steamer, we drove up +to town the next day, and found, to our surprise, that we had crossed +close on the heels of that hurricane, which unroofed so many buildings, +and uprooted so many trees. I consider that passage as the most stirring +incident in my short life, gentlemen, and in the language of an old +story, 'my wife thinks so, too.'" + + * * * * * + +"And you may well think so, Mr. Kennedy," said Lund. "For all the money +in the banks of C. wouldn't tempt me to run the risk, the almost +certainty, of death, I mean, that you two did. Your wife is a brave +woman, sir, and there are very few men who would have borne themselves +as she did." + +"Well, gentlemen, I see Pat is ready, and I must bid you good night. +Charley, I'll give the boys the list of things you want them to bring +out Monday. I suppose you'll get through in a couple of weeks, and come +back to civilized life. Good night." + +Followed by a dozen expressions of adieu and goodwill, the travellers +entered the sleigh, and drove merrily off on the ice. Charley stood +still a moment alone in the moonlight, listening to the last tinkle of +the bells as they died away in the distance. + +"What nonsense to stand here bareheaded, and getting cold! and yet it +seems as if something urged me to go back to the city. Yet, why should I +dread anything here? or rather, why should I fear anything with such a +prospect as I have before me?" + +He turned, and entered the house; a dainty letter from his betrothed, +brought that night from the city, lay upon his breast; but honey and +gall mingled strangely in its offerings, and many a bitter word bore +heavy on his heart. No one of all that merry party was readier for song, +or jest, or manly sport, than he; and yet he, too, had his share of that +bitter cup which mortals call sorrow. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ADDITIONS TO THE PARTY.--AN INDIAN OUTFIT.--A CONTESTED ELECTION. + + +The following day was Sunday, and was spent as most Sabbaths are spent +by similar parties in such out-of-the-way places. A few members of the +household drove off across the ice of the Western Bar to a little +country church; but the goose-shooters cared not to display their half +savage dress, and tanned and blistered faces, to the over-close +inspection of the church-going farmers and their curious "_women +folks_." + +Accordingly, Risk passed most of the day luxuriously stretched out on +the sofa, reading the Church Magazine, while Davies, on the opposite +side of the fire, in the recesses of an arm-chair covered with a buffalo +robe, devoted the larger portion of his time to the Weekly Wesleyan. +Creamer, after a cursory glance at a diminutive prayer-book, spent most +of the day in a comparison of sea-going experiences and apocryphal +adventures with Captain Lund, in much the same manner as two redoubtable +masters of fence employ their leisure in launching at each other's +impregnable defence, such blows as would prove mortal against less +skilled antagonists. + +By the middle of the afternoon Lund had related his sixth story, being +the veracious history of how one Louis McGraw, a famous fishing-skipper +of Mingan, rode out a tremendous gale on the Orphan Bank, with both +cables out, the storm-sail set, her helm lashed amidships, and the crew +fastened below as tightly as possible. It is hardly worth while to +detail how the crew were bruised and battered by the terrible rolling of +the schooner; it may be left to the imagination of the intelligent +reader when he learns that, when the storm abated, the skipper found, +besides innumerable "kinks" in the cables, and sea-weed in the rigging, +_both topmasts broken short off_, indubitable proof, to the nautical +mind, that the Rechabite had been rolled over and over again, like an +empty barrel, in that terrible sea. + +Creamer had just begun, by way of retaliation, his favorite "yarn" of +the ingenious diplomacy of one Jem Jarvis, his father's uncle, who, +being wrecked "amongst the cannibals of Rarertonger," with a baker's +dozen of his shipmates, escaped the fate of his less accomplished +comrades by his skill on the jewsharp, and an especial talent for +dancing the double-shuffle, so that they gave him a hut to himself, two +wives, and all he could eat, until he broke his jewsharp, and got fat +and lazy, and then there was nothing to do but to run for it. + +How Creamer's paternal relative extricated himself from his precarious +position will never be known, as, at this juncture, Ben and La Salle, +respectively, weary of playing a limited _repertoire_ of psalm-tunes on +the concertina, and reading the musty records of a long-forgotten +"_Sederunt_ of the quarterly Synod," as detailed in an old number of the +Presbyterian Witness, interrupted the prolonged passage at arms by an +invitation, to all so disposed, "to take a walk around the island." + +Lund, who had misgivings as to his ability to give Creamer "a Roland for +his Oliver," rose at once, and Creamer acceding more reluctantly, the +four set off, through a narrow wood-path, to a cleared field near the +western extremity of the island. + +At the verge of this field, a cliff of red sandstone, ribbed and seamed +by centuries of weather-wear and beat of sea, overlooked the ample bay +which opens into the Straits of Northumberland at their widest point. +Before them it lay covered with huge level ice-fields, broken only where +tide and storm had caused an upheaval of their edges, or a berg, +degraded and lessened of its once lordly majesty, it is true, but still +grand even in its decay, rose like a Gothic ruin amid a snow-covered and +desolate plain. + +The sun was declining in the west, but his crimson rays gave warmth to +the picture, and the still air had, as it were, a foretaste of the +balmy revivifying warmth of spring. In the woods, close at hand, were +heard the harsh cawing of the crow, the shrill scream of the blue-jay, +and the garrulous chatter of many a little family of warm-furred, +pine-cone-eating little red squirrels. + +Neither was animal life wanting elsewhere to complete the picture. On +the ice could be counted, in different directions, no less than +seventeen flocks of Canada geese, some of them apparently on the watch, +but the major part lying down, and evidently sleeping after their long +and wearisome migration. In a single diminutive water-hole below the +cliff, which probably marked the issue of one of the many subterranean +springs of the islet, a half-dozen tiny ouac-a-wees, or Moniac ducks, +swam and dove in conscious security. + +"I can't see any open water yet," said Creamer, "although it looks to me +a little like a water-belt, alongshore, inside Point Prime." + +"There's no more water-belt there," said Lund, "than there was music in +your great-uncle's jewsharp; but there's a spot off to the sou'-west +that looks to me a little like blue water." + +"Blue water, indeed!" retorted Creamer; "who ever saw blue water on +soundings! I'll lay a plug of navy tobacco there isn't open water enough +there away to float La Salle's gunning-float comfortably." + +"Well, Hughie," slowly replied the practiced pilot, who was really +little disposed to vaunt his knowledge of coast and weather, "the tide +will soon decide whether you or I, or both of us, are right. It is just +full flood now, and the ice is pressed in so against the land, that I +know there can be no openings along the Point, and but very small ones +where I think it looks like one. It seems to me that a water-vapor is +rising out there, by yonder high pinnacle just in range of the pool +below the ice-foot; but the tide will soon let us know if there are any +large leads open within a dozen miles." + +"There's a sign in your favor," cried La Salle, pointing in the +direction of the supposed 'lead.' "There's a flock of Brent geese, and +they can't live away from open water. See, Ben, they are heading right +in for the East Bar, and if we were only there we might depend upon a +shot." + +La Salle was right; the flock of birds, identified plainly by their +smaller size, their tumultuous order of flying, and especially by their +harsh, rolling call, like a pack of hounds in cry, swept in from sea, +wheeled around one of the resting flocks of Canada geese, alighted near +them, took flight again, and, sweeping in an irregular course over and +among the higher points of the icy labyrinth, disappeared behind the +eastern promontory, as if in search of the open water, which winter had +so securely locked up in icy bonds. + +As the sun sank behind the neighboring firs, his reddening light fell on +a bright blue streak, which seemed to glow like a stream of quicksilver +between two heavy bodies of "piled ice." With the ebb, the narrow, +glittering canal began to widen, piercing nearer to the islet, until, +heading towards the westward, it lay little more than four miles from +the interested spectators. The shadowy pinions of many flocks of +water-fowl were seen exploring its course, and the neighboring geese, +one by one, took flight, and, with clamorous calls, winged their way to +its borders. + +"I give it up," said Creamer. + +"Never mind, Hughie," said Ben, "I'll pay the wager; for, with open +water so close to us, the first good storm will soon sweep the bay clear +to the bar." + +"Yes, a sharp north-easter would soon do that for you; but all the heavy +winds may be northerly and westerly for three weeks to come yet," said +Lund; "I've known the ice to hold here until the first week of May." + +"Well," returned La Salle, "I'm sure I hope it won't be so late this +year, for the stock of flour on the island is very small, and many of +the poor folks can't afford to buy any, and are living on potatoes +almost altogether. They say, too, that there is much suffering among the +farmers at the North Point." + +"Yes," said Ben; "I saw a man from Lot Ten last week, and he said that +the French were eating their seed-grain, and feeding their cattle, or +such as were left alive, on birch and beech tops." + +"That has happened often, since I can remember," said Lund, "and I +suppose is likely to after I am gone; but it seems to me that those +stupids might learn something by this time." + +"It will occur to a greater or less degree, just as long as the island +is shut out from the rest of the world for nearly half the year. There +are few men who have any just estimate of the amount of provisions and +fodder necessary for the sustenance of a family and its cattle for so +long a period as a half year, and when accident, or the unwonted +backwardness of the season, increases the number of mouths, or the +length of the cold term, it is hard for the farmer to decide on +sacrificing the life of even a superannuated horse, or weakly yearling, +in time to benefit the more valuable survivors." + +"You're right, Charley," said Creamer; "that's what my father's uncle +said, when he was a mate on board the Semyramsis, in the Ingy Ocean. The +ship was lost in a harricane, sir, and only seven was saved in the +captain's gig--six able-bodied seamen and one passenger, a fat little +army ossifer. So my great-uncle, who were bosin, made an observation, +and says he, 'There's just ten days' provision for seven men, and we're +twenty days to looard of Silly Bes (Celebes), if we only row ten miles a +day. Now, we must row twenty miles a day; an' to do that, we must have +full rations an' somethin' to spare. Besides, the boat ort to be lighter +to row well. So, as passengers don't count along of able-bodied seamen, +I move we just get rid of the major on economical principles. All in +favor say "Ay;" and they all said "ay" except the major, an' he just +turned as white as a sheet.' An' then my great-uncle asked him if he'd +got anything to say why the resolution o' that meetin' shouldn't be +carried out. Well, the major just grinned kind o' uggly, an' said that +'he liked to see things done methodistically, if it were a little +irregular, an' he'd give his 'pinion after the rest.' So my uncle went +on, an' said, 'All contrary say, "No."' Well, no one said 'no;' an' then +my great-uncle said, 'Well, major, nothin' remains but to carry out our +resolution; so please to vacate this boat; although, seein' as it's not +dinner time for some hours yet, there's no need of hurry, unless you +wish to have it over with.' + +"'But,' says the major, 'your action is altogether unparlymentary. You +haven't heard a word from _my_ friends.' + +"'Friends! there ain't any one here on your side o' the question.' + +"'You're mistaken, my friend,' said the major; an' he drew from his belt +a long Indian dagger that had been hid under his coat; 'there's one, any +how.' + +"'That ain't much account against a boat-hook,' said one of the men, as +he took one with a sharp spike from beneath the gunwale. + +"'Lay that down, you beggar!' cried the little red-coat; and he pulled +out of each side-pocket a four-barreled pistol,--for there were no +revolvers in them days,--and the man laid down the boat-hook as quick as +a flash. 'Now, men,' said the little ossifer, 'you'll see that we number +at least ten, and there's only six of you. Ah, here's to make us a +little more ekil;' and he just fired at a noddy that was flying over, +and dropped him right into the stern-sheets. 'That'll help out our +rations some,' says he; 'and besides, you don't see what I'm sittin' +on;' and, sure enough, he had histed into the boat a basket of port an' +a whole case of cap'n's biscuit. 'Now,' says he, 'reconsider your +vardick.' + +"An' they all voted down the first resolution, and he gave them a bottle +of port to mix with their water every day, and when they were drinking +the last bottle, they made Silly Bes, and got ashore all right; but my +uncle always said that his calculations was right, and that it showed +great weakness on the part of the men not to carry them out." + +"Well, Hughie," said Ben, "you've kept us here a good half hour later +than tea time, and Mrs. Lund will think we've done well to waste her +time in listening to your stories." + +"Well, we can see enough to assure us that the ice won't break up on the +bar to-morrow," said Lund; "but you may get your ice-boats ready at +once, for the next thaw, with a north-easter after it, will leave all +clear along the ship channel to the harbor's mouth." + +There was quite a pleasurable excitement among the stay-at-homes at the +tea table, when the incipient breaking up of the ice was declared; for +on the proximity of narrow feeding-grounds to the ice-houses depended +the hopes of good sport of our adventurers. To be sure they had thus far +had nothing to complain of; but the geese killed had been merely +"flight" geese, weary with long migration, thin with want of food, and +seeking among the treacherous lures only a rest from their long +wandering in the safe companionship of their own kind. + +Very shortly after supper the whole household retired, but, save the +accustomed prayers, which few, either Catholic or Protestant, forget in +that still "unsophisticated" land, it is to be feared that the Sabbath +was to them little but a literal "day of rest," in its purest physical +sense. + +Monday morning a glassy look to the snow-crust induced the younger +members of the party to use their skates in going to their stands, and +as La Salle drew his from his feet to deposit them in his undisturbed +stand, his eyes caught, amid the distant ice-spires, the mazy flight of +what he took to be a flock of brent, headed in-shore. + +Signaling to Davies to get under cover, he sprang into his own stand, +and, crouching amid the straw, hastily drew over his black fur cap his +linen havelock, and looking well to the priming of his gun, sought the +whereabouts of the swift-flying birds. + +Unlike the slower Canada geese, these birds seldom fly high above the +surface of the water or ice when seeking food; and several times he lost +sight of the flock, as it darted around a berg, or swung round the +circle of some secluded valley of the ice-field. + +"H-r-r-r-r-huk! H-r-r-r-r-huk!" Their barbarous clamor, insufficiently +rendered in the foregoing, suddenly sounded close to leeward, and close +up against the light north-wester then blowing came the beautiful +quarry, their small, black heads and necks showing as glossy as a +raven's wing, in contrast with the asheous hue of their wings, and the +pure white of other parts of their plumage. With a wild, tumultuous +rush, they circled in head-on over the decoys; and it was so quickly +done, that they had swept on fifty yards before La Salle could realize +that the leader of the flock was heading for Davies, and had no +intention of surging around to his lures again. + +"It will never do to let them get the first brent," muttered La Salle. +"She has a long-range cartridge in, and I'll try them." + +Turning on his knees, he raised the ponderous gun until it "lined" the +retreating flock, but elevated at least five feet above the birds, now +nearly two hundred yards away. The heavy concussion reverberated across +the ice, and the fatal cartridge tore through the distant flight, +picking out two of the twelve which composed the flock; and some of the +shot, as both Davies and Creamer afterwards averred, rattled smartly in +among their decoys nearly four hundred yards away. The remaining birds, +hurrying away from the dangers behind them, passed within range of +Davies and his companion, and left several of their number dead and +dying on the ice; but the first brent of the season had fallen to La +Salle's gun. + +The day was mild and without wind, and as but few birds were flying, La +Salle coiled himself down in the sunny corner of his stand, and drawing +from his pocket the letter of which we have spoken in the last chapter, +gave it a careful and deliberate perusal. As he closed, a smile, +strangely expressing contempt, pity, and admiration, curled his lips, as +in low but audible tones, as is often the habit of the solitary hunter +or fisherman, he communed with his own heart. + +"Ah, Pauline! time has brought no change to thy passionate, impulsive, +unreasoning heart; and what thy biting tongue may not say, the pen will +utter, though lapse of years and the waves of the Atlantic roll between +us. Is it not strange that a woman's letter to her betrothed, beginning +with 'My own love,' and ending 'Until death,' can contain eight +double-written pages of unreasonable blame, cruel innuendos, and +despicable revenge on the innocent? Well, we are betrothed, and should +have been married years ago, had not Fate or Providence stood in the +way; and I suppose her life at home is far from pleasant, for her +step-mother is not one to let a good marriage go by, without reminding +poor Paulie of my general worthlessness; but I must say that my better +financial and matrimonial prospects offer little hope of added +happiness." + +His eye lit up a moment, and an expression of keen and almost cruel +intent contracted his gaze; then, with a look of disdain, he seemed to +throw off some evil influence, and a look of pity softened his face. + +"Yes, if I were to resent these affronts--for such they are--with one +half the virulence which animates them, her pride would alienate us +forever, and I should be free. There are few who would blame me, and +many who would scorn to do aught else. In truth I am almost decided to +answer this precious _billet-doux_ in the same vein in which it was +written. Ah, it was not all delusion that made yonder madman think that +evil spirits haunt these icy wastes. It was not thus I felt when +together we voyaged across that summer sea; and the vows we plighted +then may not lightly be broken. I will answer patiently, and as becomes +the past. As to the future, it will bring due reward or punishment here +or hereafter." + +From these somewhat morbid self-communings, which we introduce for a +purpose hereafter to be disclosed, La Salle started, seized his +glittering skates, and taking his gun, glided with long, powerful +strokes across the inner bay towards the ice-houses of the other party, +which lay within the embouchure of Trois-Lieue Creek. The ice was +almost perfectly level, save where a heavy drift had formed a small +mound around which it was better to steer, although the sleety crust had +frozen so hard that the broad-runnered Belgian skates would run almost +anywhere. At the first ice-house he found Risk and Davies, who had done +little or nothing for some days, and talked of going home at the end of +the week. + +"Indian Peter gets about all the geese that go through here, and there's +little show for us," said Davies. + +"Where is his ice-house?" asked La Salle. + +"Just up the cove--the nearest of those two," answered Risk. + +"I guess I'll have a look at his outfit, and then go and meet the boys +at the block-house, for they have never been here before, and the track +can't be very plain now." So saying, La Salle skated up to the Indian +stand, almost half a mile distant. + +"One-armed Peter," as he was commonly called among his tribesmen, had +neither the means nor the inclination to deviate much from the +traditionary usages of his tribe, and was found kneeling, or, rather, +"sitting man-fashion," as the vernacular Micmac hath it, although we +call it "tailor-fashion," within a circular, fort-like enclosure, some +twelve feet in circumference, and with walls about three feet high. + +The latter were composed of thick slabs of ice placed on edge, and +cemented together by frozen water, while tiny apertures, cut here and +there, enabled the crouching hunters to note every foot of the approach +of their wary game. A few of the decoys were of pine wood, rudely carved +out and _burnt_ to something like the natural coloring of the bird they +were intended to represent; but a large proportion of them were +"sea-weed" or "spruce" decoys; that is, bunches of the weather-bound +sea-wrack, or bundles of evergreen twigs, made about the shape and size +of the body of a goose. + +These were elevated on blocks of snow-ice, which strikingly imitated, at +a little distance, the hue of the under feathers, and a fire-blackened +stake set in the ice, at one end, with a collar of white birch bark at +its junction, completed the rude but effective imitation. Such are the +appliances which a hundred years ago brought the geese in thousands +under the arrows of all the many tribes which range between the Straits +of Canso and the most northern inhabited regions about Hudson's Bay. + +Within the enclosure a few armfuls of fir branches--laid upon the hard +ice, and kept carefully clear of snow, formed a soft floor, on which now +sat three hunters, Peter, and Jacob, and Louis Snake, much younger men +than he of the one arm. Each sat enveloped in the folds of a dingy +blanket, and their guns rested against the icy walls--two of them +rickety, long-barreled flint-locks; but Peter's new acquisition, a true +"stub-twist," Hollis's double, was as good a fowling-piece as any +sportsman needs. + +True to their customs, the Indians were taciturn enough, although Peter +thanked La Salle rather warmly for his new weapon. + +"I find 'em good gun; not miss since I got 'em. Give t'other gun my +nethew." And he pointed to the worst looking of the two antiquated +weapons, as Cleopatra may have surveyed her rather costly +drink-offering, with visible misgiving as to such reckless liberality. + +"You were very kind, Peter. I suppose he has no family," said La Salle, +smiling. + +"Yes, me _berry_ kind my peeple," suavely responded the chief, a just +pride beaming in his eyes. "That young man no family yet--only squaw +now." + +"It is evident that the average Indian doesn't understand a joke," +muttered La Salle, as he said "Good by" to the motley trio, and darted +off to meet a distant group, which he rightly judged to be the expected +boys. + +Twenty minutes later he had joined the little party, who were proceeding +at a slow dog-trot around the shores, instead of taking the direct +course across the ice, which, being deemed unsafe by them, had wisely +been avoided; for no one can be too cautious on ice of which they know +nothing. + +George Waring, the only son of La Salle's employer, skated ahead of his +companion, who was evidently of other than Caucasian origin, in part at +least. The skater was a tall, fresh-complexioned, slender youth, of +about seventeen, bold, active, and graceful in his movements, but having +the appearance of one whose growth had been a little too rapid for an +equal development of health and strength; and indeed it was only on +condition that he should submit carefully to the directions of La Salle +that his father had consented to the present expedition. + +His companion was, perhaps, a year older, but rather short and +thick-set, with features in which the high cheek-bones and coppery hue +of the American showed very prominently. La Salle had fallen in with him +at the Seven Islands, on the Labrador coast, the year before, and +employed him as a pilot to the Straits of Belle Isle. He called himself +Regnar Orloff, was of tremendous strength for one of his years, and +although apparently lazy, and somewhat fleshy, could move quickly +enough, and to purpose, in time of need. + +Now, however, he rested one knee on the only unoccupied portion of a +large, light sled, drawn by the third member of the party, a powerful +dog of the Newfoundland species, which he was evidently training into +some little excellence as a sledge-dog. It was only an added virtue, +even if complete; for noble old Carlo had already excellences enough to +canonize a dozen individual canines. He was strong, sagacious, peaceably +inclined, but a terrible foe when aroused; could eat anything, carry a +man in the water, watch any place, team, or article, hold a horse, beat +for snipe or woodcock, lie motionless anywhere you might designate, +retrieve anywhere on land, water, or ice, and loved a gun as well as his +young master, La Salle. + +[Illustration: "WELL, GEORGE, YOU'RE HERE AT LAST."--Page 127.] + +"Well, George, you're here at last," cried La Salle, as he came up. "How +is everything in town, and what's the news?" + +"O, nothing out of the common. All are well. The governor gave a ball +Wednesday, and the House dissolves next week. We've had plenty of geese +to eat, but we wanted to kill some; and so here we are." + +"How are you, Regnie? Getting tired of civilization, and wanting to get +back to the ice?" + +"Ha, ha, ha! Yes, master, just so. After I see Paris and Copenhagen, I +do very well, keep quite satisfied. But when I shut up in large city +like C., I think it too much. I feel lonesome, want to get back to the +wild'ness." + +"And how does Carlo learn sleighing?" + +"O, he does well enough. He can't be taught right, for it would be too +bad to use Greenland whip; but I make this little one, and can drive +very well;" and as he spoke, he held up a wand of supple whalebone, +tipped with a slender "snapper" of plaited leather, and lightly touching +the noble animal with the harmless implement, the dog gave a playful +bark, and started off on an easy trot. + +"We strike off here for those black specks yonder," said La Salle; "but +what is coming behind us, George?" + +"O, that is Dolland, Venner, and that set; and I guess they'll have 'a +high old time,' and no mistake." + +"Well, let's take an observation, boys, and then we'll set off." + +And, stopping, the party turned to survey a spectacle truly annoying to +any true sportsman, whatever may be his views on the temperance +question. + +Advancing in their rear came a truck-sled, loaded with what, although +evidently a miscellaneous freight, was largely composed of liquor; for a +goodly ale-keg formed the driver's seat, a bottle-hamper the pinnacle of +the load, and a half dozen young men, who were perched wherever a seat +presented itself, filled the air with loud, and oft-repeated shouts and +roaring songs, whose inspiration could plainly be traced to certain +bottles, jugs, and flasks, with which each in turn "took an observation" +of the heavens, at about every other hundred yards. An expression of +disgust on La Salle's deeply-tanned face gradually gave way to +resignation, and then a well-founded hope irradiated his features; a new +movement of the crowd attracted his attention. + +"Well, boys," he exclaimed, "you're in luck to have such a gang to come +out with, and you may count on having little or no sport to-day and +to-morrow; but they'll have to go in, in three days at farthest." + +"Why so?" asked the boys, in a breath. + +"Because their rum won't last them more than forty-eight hours, +especially with the amateur aid they'll get from the driver; and twelve +hours after that event takes place, they'll be in town again. But come, +they are getting near us, and are loading their guns; so let's leave +before the vicinage is dangerous." + +"Why, Charley," said Waring, in astonishment, "there's no danger. Those +fellows wouldn't shoot at us. I know them." + +"And so do I, my dear fellow; and that's just the reason I want to get +out of the way. If I didn't know what drunken men will do in the way of +'sporting casualties,' or felt certain that their object was to shoot +us, I should feel perfectly easy on the subject;" and setting off at +full speed, followed by Waring and the sledge, La Salle led the way to +the ice-houses, which they reached about an hour before sunset. + +Drawing up by the boat, La Salle examined the load of the day, and from +it took a little case made of a candle-box with stout hinges and a +padlock. He opened it, and found, as he had ordered, a "Crimean +cooking-lantern," with spring candlestick and a pound of candles, a +small tin canister of coffee, another of sugar, some pilot bread, and +several boxes of sardines. Taking all but two of the latter from the +box, he relocked it, and carefully removing the matted straw in the +stern of his boat, placed the box under the decking, and replacing the +compressed straw, effectually hid it from sight. + +"We can now have a lunch, with a hot cup of coffee, whenever we please, +and you will find some weather even yet when it will be very welcome. +Come, let us go home to-night, and get ready for to-morrow's +_charivari_, for noise will not be wanting, although game may;" and +adding his brent to the load, La Salle covered his boat, and, joined by +Davies and Creamer, who greeted the boys warmly, all went up to their +welcome, if somewhat narrow, quarters. + +After tea, which boasted of fried bacon and eggs, the usual circle was +formed, and Mr. Davies, being called upon to entertain the company, said +that he was "not much of a story-teller, but had learned some facts +relating to a terrible political tumult, which took place years ago, but +was still spoken of everywhere on the island as the great 'Belfast +Riot.' I shall term it, unless some one offers a better name, the most +lively specimen we ever had of + + +"A CONTESTED ELECTION. + +"It need hardly be said, in this company, that an election among us is a +far more exciting occasion than among our less-favored American +neighbors, who ignore the superior advantages of voting _viva voce_, and +adopt the less manly and unobtrusive medium of the ballot. + +"Why, gentlemen, I venture to say, that our little capital town of C., +with its thousand votes, presents more stir, makes more noise, drinks +more whiskey, and is the arena of more fistic science and club play, +during an ordinary election, than any city in New England, of four times +the population, during a presidential struggle. The open polling-booths +in the heart of the city surrounded by crowds of intelligent (and +highly-excited) voters; the narrow gangways crowded, rain or shine, by +those immediately claiming the right of suffrage; the narrow precincts +of the sheriff's court, the sublime majesty of that important officer; +the ineffable serenity of the city clerk; the various bearings of the +candidates or their representatives; the frantic efforts of a few +uniformed police to keep order; the evident and good-natured +determination of the crowd that the aforesaid officials shall 'have +their hands full;' the loud voices and sharp questions of the +challengers and their victim; the dainty bits of family history made +public property; the overbearing insolence of the old lawyers, and the +overweening impudence of the young ones; the open taverns; the rival +carriages for the accommodation of doubtful, drunken, and lazy voters, +together with the lively little incidents which diversify the picture as +the culminating glory of these various provocative elements,--form a +picture which it hath not entered into the heart of the average American +citizen to conceive of. + +"But, however lively the picture, an election in these degenerate later +days is but a tame affair compared with those which took place during +my first years of labor in political matters. As all know, the island +was given away on one day to certain individuals, on conditions of which +nothing more may be said here than that one was, that a certain number +of settlers were to be placed on each estate within a given number of +years. Accordingly, from almost every section of the British Isles, the +proprietors sought out such emigrants as could most easily be procured. + +"The result was, that we still have settlements in close proximity to +each other, whose peoples use different languages in daily conversation, +who vary radically in religious belief, have few natural traits in +common, and are almost, if not altogether, 'natural enemies' each to +each. Thus we have a settlement of Protestant Highland Scotch close by a +large estate peopled with Monaghan or Kilkenny Irish Catholics; and +perhaps a little farther on is a hamlet of Low-landers, or a village of +thrifty English folk. + +"But in those days these distinctions were yet more marked, and the +feuds of Orange and Ribbon-man, Scotch and Irish, Englishman and French +Acadian, had not then given way before the softening and concealing hand +of 'Time, the great leveler;' and so some twenty years ago, during a +close contest between the then rising liberal party and the +conservatives, a riot took place near the polling-booth in the Highland +Scotch settlement of Belfast. All the combined strength of both parties +was present; the canvassing had been of the most thorough nature, and +all the antipathies of race and religion appealed to for electioneering +purposes. + +"It is said that the Catholics went there expecting a fight, each armed +with a well-balanced, tough _shillelagh_, and that they made a general +attack on the Scotch. At all events, it is certain that the larger +number of the latter had to betake themselves to the nearest available +weapon, and that many were cut and bruised by the skilfully-handled +weapons of the active Irish cudgel-players. One Scotchman, however (a +fellow of unusual stature), seized a fence-rail, and, by his single arm, +stayed the tide of flight in his part of the fray. Almost frantic with +apprehension, rage, and the desire for revenge, he wielded his ponderous +weapon as if it were an ordinary club, striking such tremendous blows +that tradition has it that not one of a half-score of the best and +bravest of the Irish leaders survived the effects of those terrible and +crushing blows. Profiting by his prowess, the Scotch procured the heavy +stakes of their sleds, tough poles, pieces of firewood, and similar +ponderous weapons, and, headed by the hero of the day, made a charge, +returning with terrible severity the comparatively slight damage +inflicted by the light cudgels of the Irish. + +"The details of that day of blood--how the fray began, and between whom; +the varying records of its progress as victory inclined first to one +side, and then to the other; the number of the killed and wounded, and +the names of the fallen--have never been generally known, and probably +never will be; for many of the principal actors in that savage drama +have passed away 'into the dread unknown.' + +"But it is still commonly believed, and so reported, that over a score +of the Irish were killed on the field, or died of their wounds; that no +Scotchman perished; that the field where the deadliest part of the work +was done became accursed, and has lain barren to this day; and that the +leader of the Scotch became insane with the memory of his own terrible +prowess. + +"Among those who have reason to remember that dreadful affair, however, +may be numbered C." (Here the narrator named an influential and wealthy +business man.) "He was travelling in that section, and being ignorant of +what had taken place, stopped at a country town to bait his horse, and +warm and refresh himself. Entering, he found the reception-room filled +with Irish, whose harsh features were inflamed with varied passions, +while the persons of many bore marks of recent injury. No one replied to +his friendly greeting, and their whole conversation was carried on in +Erse, although every intonation and gesture was replete with passion. +Suddenly he saw the landlady beckoning him out of the room, and, rising, +he approached her as if to give directions about his horse. + +"Trembling with agitation, she addressed him:-- + +"'O, Mr. C., for the love of Heaven, run to your sleigh, and leave at +once, or your life isn't worth an hour's purchase!' + +"Then, in a few words, she gave him some idea of the day's events, and +taking the measure of oats provided, Mr. C. passed on through his +enemies to the shed, where, beside a number of rude country sledges, +stood his own fleet horse and light cutter. Taking the bells off his +horse, he backed him out of the shed, and was ready for flight. On the +nearest sledge was bound a long, oblong parcel, covered with a rug. +Curiosity proved stronger than fear, and lifting a loose corner of the +scanty covering, Mr. C. found himself face to face with a corpse! + +[Illustration] + +"Springing into his sleigh, he put his horse to his utmost speed, and +when day dawned was a score of miles from the scene of his unexpected +danger and appalling night adventure." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER.--BREAKING UP OF THE ICE.--JIM MOUNTAIN'S FIGHT +WITH THE DEVIL. + + +The boys awoke somewhat disappointed the next morning, for the heavy +rain was falling, and the wind blew hard from the south-east, so that no +one in his senses would think of facing such discomfort for the sake of +sport. + +"Don't look blue, George," said La Salle; "we've enough to do to prepare +for the open water, which this gale will probably lead up to the outer +edge of the bar, at least. There's the float to be painted and fitted, +and the floating decoys to be put in order; and while I use the white +paint, you and Regnie must rope and repair the decoys." + +Accordingly the four sought the barn, whither Ben and Creamer had +preceded them on a similar errand. La Salle's boat was a flat-bottomed +"sculling-float," twelve feet long by three feet beam, and ten inches +deep, with a hole through the stern-board, through which, with a short, +crooked oar, a man could silently propel himself within shot of a flock +of fowl. Davies's boat aimed at the same end in another way, being a +large side-wheel paddle-boat, propelled by cranks, for two persons. Both +boats were painted white, so as to be indistinguishable from the +floating ice at a little distance. Besides these two, there were a +double boat with centre paddle-wheel, and a side-wheel worked by the +feet on the velocipede principle, belonging on the island. + +The forenoon was spent as proposed, and as the bad weather still held, a +target was set up for practice with the rifle, and many excellent shots +were made from the great door of the barn. At last, however, the +impatience of the party overcame all fears of exposure, and, donning +their water-proof clothing, all went down to the East Bar to watch its +effect on the ice. + +The huge floe had given way at last, and broken into many floating +islets of varied size, had become a scene of life and animation, in +striking contrast to its late icy desolation. In every direction geese, +singly and in flocks, fed along the edges of the still immovable inner +ice-fields; swam placidly among the narrow leads, or in huge bodies +blackened the open pools or the projecting points of ice. Among them, +too, wheeled many flocks of clamorous brent, while, from time to time, +the desolate cry of the Moniac duck, or the shrill, monotonous, strident +flight of the "Whistler" warned the sportsmen that new visitants were +about to greet their vision. + +"You will have to change your location, Risk," said Lund, who had +accompanied them; "for you must shoot on the water-line, now the ice has +opened." + +"Davies and I go home to-morrow," answered he. "I regret to leave with +such a prospect before us, but business presses; and besides, there are +new dangers now which I care not to face." + +"Ay, ay! you're right, Mr. Risk," said Lund; "and although I am glad to +have you around me, I shall be glad this year when I see the last of you +safely across the Western Bar." + +"There, there, Lund," said Risk; "they're young, smart, have good boats, +and, what is more, know well how to use them; and if I were less clumsy +and old, I would no more fear any danger here than I would at home. +Don't frighten the young lads with your nonsense, but let us get home to +supper, and, as it is our last night together, have a cosy evening in +the kitchen, and a good story from Ben and Charley here." + +The proposition was acceded to, and after supper, Ben, with little +urging, commenced a legend of the North Shore, even now related by the +farmers around the winter's hearth with full faith in its veracity. He +termed it by its local name + + +"JIM MOUNTAIN'S FIGHT WITH THE DEVIL." + +"Fifty years ago Jim Mountain, of Goose Creek, was as stout and jovial a +young farmer of twenty-five, as there was in his section. No ship-launch +frame-raising, logging-bee, or dance, was considered complete without +him, and while his strength was almost equal to that of any two of his +companions, his merry laugh was so infectious that even envy couldn't +resist joining in, when public opinion pronounced him 'the best man in +the county.' + +"He soon married the daughter of a well-to-do farmer, and then, for the +first time, it appeared that his love of 'divershin' and whiskey, had +grown by what it fed on, and poor Mary dreaded the approach of +market-day, as he seldom returned from the shire town altogether sober, +and often not until late into the next day. + +"It was in vain that his blooming Mary entreated, coaxed, cried, and +threatened; he never lost his temper; often, indeed, promised amendment, +but did in the end about the same as usual. At last the merchant with +whom he traded, a man of some little medical knowledge, finished their +business interview with the following bit of advice:-- + +"'Jim, it's none of my business, but you are ruining your health and +breaking your wife's heart. You are not one of the kind that show how +much they do drink; but no man in your district can match you, and when +you do get sick, I shan't expect to see you alive.' + +"'An' do ye think so, then, Mr. B.?' + +"'I am almost sure of it, for Long Tom Cunningham, the big ship +carpenter that you've heard your father tell of, was just such a man, +and the first touch of "the horrors" carried him off.' + +"'Well, sir, I'm much obliged for your good will, any how, and after my +cousin Johnny McGrath has his bit of a spree, I'll try and leave it off +for a while, any way.' + +"Johnny McGrath's 'spree,' a fulling-frolic, came off one Saturday +night, about a fortnight after this; and while the web of strong, coarse +homespun cloth, which was to furnish Mac and his boys with their year's +stock of outer clothing, was being duly lifted, rubbed, banged on a +bench, and twisted by the strong hands of about thirty men and women, +Jim led the roaring choruses, and manipulated his end of the cloth with +a vigor which at once delighted and alarmed the fair weaver thereof. + +"In the dancing and whiskey-drinking which followed, Jim was in his +element; and it was nearly midnight before the party broke up, and he +was left alone with the rest of his relative's household. + +"'Well, Johnny,' said he, 'you've done the decent thing this time, and +I'm glad my last spree has been at your place, for I'm going to quit +grog for a while. Give me a coal for my pipe, Jane, for it's late, and +I've a good five miles' of beach atween me an' home.' + +"'Is the man mad?' said Jane, good-naturedly. 'Surely, John, you'll not +let him out of the house to-night.' + +"'No, no, Jim,' said McGrath, getting between him and the door; 'out of +this you don't stir to-night; so sit down, have another drop, and tak' a +quiet night's rest.' + +"'Come, John, don't anger or hinder me, for I feel strangely to-night, +and I must go home.' + +"'Faith, that's all the more reason I have to keep you here. Come, sit +down, you obstinate fellow, and don't be waking the wife up just before +daybreak, only to let in a man that must be out walking all night. +Confound it, would you hit me, Jim? Sure, now, you're not angered--are +you?' + +"'No, I'm not angry; but I'll not be treated like a child, nor lectered, +neither. Let me go, I tell you, or there'll be ill blood between us. +Home I'll go, I tell you!' shouted the excited man. 'Home I'm going, +_although the devil tried to stop me_;' and flinging his cousin aside as +if he were a child, he rushed out of the house, and took a narrow path +which led down to the moonlit sea-beach. + +"About an hour after, a despairing cry at the door awakened McGrath and +his wearied household, and, opening it, they found a bruised, bloody, +and literally naked man, lying senseless on the threshold. With some +difficulty they recognized the features of Mountain, and it was broad +daylight before he came to himself. His story was short, but strange. + +"'I took the path down to the beach, thinking to wade the narrow run at +Eel Pond, and so save a mile or two of road. It was light as day, and I +went along well enough, though I felt sad-like, an' as if somethin' were +about to happen me. + +"'It's an unchancy place there, near the pond, where the great san'-hill +blew over the birch grove an' killed the trees; and last night, as I +went through them, the tall, white, broken trunks seemed almost alive. +Why, man, I'd have sworn that some of them had a dozen faces grinnin' +and laughin', and I felt all the while as if I was a fool; for, whenever +I stopped an' looked close, there was nought but knots, an' bark, an' +gnarly limbs. Still, although I'd been through them a thousan' times, I +felt afraid, for it seemed to me as if there was somebody near me _that +I couldn't see_. + +"'Well, at last I got through the dead grove, an' came to the san'-plain +wher' the ribs of the old ship are stannin', an' I got to thinkin' what +she might hev' bin, fer none o' us know how many years she lay in the +san' before the great gale swept the san' off of her white bones. I +looked at her close as I passed, an' although I saw nauthin' but her +ribs, she made me think o' a 'natomy; an' I looked all around, but saw +no one, an' went down into the water, hevin' first ta'en off my shoes. + +"'The cool water did feel nice; an' as I stepped ashore, I whistled up +"The Devil's Dream," an' struck out across the beach, when, looking +back, I saw, between me an' the stream, a man who made at me with +terrible ferceness. I can tell you nauthin' about him, 'cept that his +clothes were black an' strange, his face dark an' savage, an' his eyes +almost like fire. I had no doubt that he meant me harm, an' as he cam' +up, I struck out wi' all my strenth. Ye mind when I hit big Jack Ready, +an' thought I should have to flee the country. Well, I hit _him_ twicet +as hard, an' he never stopped, but came in an' clinched. My God! I'm +breathless now wi' the squeezin' I got there. I'm afraid of no man +standin' within twenty mile, at ayther Ingin hug, collar an' ilbow, or +side-hold, but I was like a child in its grip. + +"'Still I fought on, though the san' flew into the air; an' through it, +like a fog, I saw the old wrack an' the dead grove, an' the fiery eyes +that glared into mine, an' I felt the grasp of a han' that seemed to +burn into my hip; an' then I knew I couldn't fight fair wi' _that_. I +drew my knife an' opened it, an' three times I thrust it to the hilt +into the side o' the black man, or devil, an' he only glared at me +fercer, an' took a stronger hold on my hip. Just at this moment I felt +the cool water at my feet, an' wi' one tremendous effort, I whirled +myself into the stream to fight it out there. A moment I lay on my back +in the shallow stream, an' then I rose to my feet. I was alone wi' +nauthin' o' what had happened, save the open knife in my han', the +trampled beach, an' my torn an' ruined clawthin'. + +"'Then I remembered that old McGregor used to say that nauthin' bad +could pass runnin' water, an' I thought I'd get back to ye if I could. I +remember somethin' of tearin' through the lonely beach an' blasted +woods, of seein' more faces in the trees, an' hearin' quick footsteps on +my track, but I remember nauthin' more. Look at my hip, will you, wi' +the cannle there? It hurts me awfully.' + +"The candle fell from Jane's shaking hands, but was caught by her +husband before it was extinguished. + +"'As God lives, ye have spoken the truth, for there is the mark o' the +devil's grip;' and greatly to the terror of all, there appeared on the +hip of the exhausted man the black imprint of a thumb and four fingers. + +"My informant told me that, fifty years later, after Mountain had raised +a large family of children, and passed a life subsequently innocent of +his youthful excesses, the same indelible marks were left to tell of the +terrible conflict of that memorable night; and none of his neighbors +ever doubted the literal truth of his strange story, save one. + +"That man was B., who never undeceived Mountain, or tried to do so; but +in detailing the story to my father, closed the recital thus: 'I have +always thought that he had an attack of delirium tremens, and that he +fancied the assault of the goblin; for I forgot to tell you that next +morning they followed his track, finding his shoes and fragments of his +attire on the opposite side of the run, which was torn up, with the +marks of a terrible struggle and many feet. Probably he tore off his own +clothes in the fancied fight, drew his knife, struck at "an air-born +fantasy," and was finally partially restored by falling into the water, +after which he completed his exhaustion by running back to the house.' + +"'Have you seen the marks?' asked my father. + +"'Yes; I saw them at the time,' slowly answered Mr. B. + +"'Were they as described?' + +"'Very like the grip of a hand; one dark impression on the back of the +left hip, and four smaller ones in a row on the front,' said B. + +"'And how do you account for those?' asked my father. + +"Mr. B. hesitated, and then answered candidly, 'I don't know what to +think of that myself. I have sometimes thought that a fall among the +many roots and fallen trunks of trees, which then strewed that desolate +place, may have caused such injuries; but why did they remain apparent +long after discolorations of such a nature should have disappeared? +Perhaps imagination may have had its effect, and made the impressions +indelible. But if there _is_ any truth in old-world stories, few places +fitter for such horrors can be found than was that drear waste of sand, +destitute of all signs of man's proximity, bounded on one side by a +blackened forest, on the other by the sailless sea, and containing only +the whitened ribs of a long-forgotten wreck. None of the folk around +here, sir, join in my doubts as to the reality of Mountain's fight with +the devil.'" + + * * * * * + +As Ben closed, a sound of sleigh-bells came up the road, and Lund opened +the door, at which appeared a light sleigh driven by one of Risk's sons. + +"You and uncle are wanted in town at once. L. has sent you this letter, +and says--" And he whispered a few words in his father's ear. + +"I came out to-night, for the ice is getting very bad, and a horse was +lost crossing the North River at Duckendorff's to-day. It is freezing +to-night, but the moon shows at times through the clouds, and we can get +home before one o'clock." + +An hour later, Risk and the elder Davies bade a regretful farewell to +their young companions. "I am sorry," said the former, "that as yet we +have had no story from you, La Salle; but I hope to see you at my house +in C., and hear it there when your trip is over. Take care of yourself, +and make Lund out a false prophet. Good night, captain, you old +croaker;" and the sleigh disappeared in the shadows of the +forest-covered lane which led to the beach. + +"Well, boys," said La Salle, "the best of our evenings are over, and we +must look to boat and gun for our best sport." + +"We must have your story, though," said Ben. + +"O, of course; but not to-night, for we have much to do to-morrow, to +get our boats down for the open-water shooting." + +With this no one disagreed; and half an hour later, all were fast +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FLOAT-SHOOTING.--A GENERAL FIELD-DAY.--CHANGES OF THE ICE. + + +The next morning, the boats, which were all provided with runners, were +drawn to the bar, and Carlo's sled carried, besides the lunch and +ammunition of the party, a dozen wooden duck decoys, weighted and roped, +for open water. + +Davies and Creamer gave up their box and outfit to one-armed Peter, as +they were about to try their new paddle-boat. She was duly launched, and +Ben placed himself forward, between the paddle-boxes, ready to do the +steering and shooting, while Creamer acted as the motive power, +transmitted by a belt and pulleys. Although somewhat high out of water, +she moved off easily, and made little noise when running slowly; and +taking the first of the ebb, the pair moved eastward into the opening +ice. + +George and Ben Lund, in their new-fashioned centre-wheel, made poorer +progress, but hurried out "to get ahead of the skimmin'-dish," as they +styled La Salle's light, shallow craft. He let them go, and stationing +George and Regnar in the ice-boat, put out his floating decoys in the +nearest waters, and, cutting slabs of ice, built a high wall around his +own boat, which he drew up on the ice. Carlo incontinently plunged into +the straw under the half-deck of the larger boat, and soon all was ready +for the expected birds. + +Meanwhile, upon the stranded berg which lay immovable off the southern +face of the island, gathered the new comers, whose Bacchanal approach +has of late been chronicled. Had they had any outfit of decoys, and +known how to use them, they could not but have had good sport; and even +as it was, so many birds passed and repassed them, that a good shot +could not have failed to secure at least a few ducks. But, however +unfortunate in securing any trophies, they failed not in the weight or +constancy of their fire. + +Not a flock passed within a quarter of a mile but received a volley; not +a loon that showed his distant head above water but went down under the +fire of a platoon; and not a frightened duck darted overhead but heard +the air behind him torn with whistling shot enough to have exterminated +his whole tribe. + +From time to time a lull in the storm would occur, and then peals of +laughter would come across the intervening waters; and looking up, the +irritated sportsmen generally beheld a tableau of inverted +pocket-flasks, and feats of strength with a rapidly lightening ale-keg. +But, although our friends bore the proximity of these city gunners with +great patience for a while, an event soon occurred which brought matters +to a focus. + +A flock of geese were seen approaching from the eastward, and La Salle, +cautioning the boys, crouched down in his boat and "called." Peter +followed suit, and so did the party on the bergs. The flock swung within +a hundred yards of Peter, who held his fire, and then, seeing the +floating decoys, swung round to leeward of them, and setting their +wings, scaled slowly in, passing within about two hundred and fifty +yards of the party on the berg. + +Of course they opened fire at once, with shot of all sorts and sizes, +doing no execution but sending a bullet from one of their guns straight +over the heads of La Salle and his friends. A flock or two of ducks and +brent made similar attempts to alight, but every shot was spoiled in the +same way. + +La Salle was indignant, and the boys were at a white heat, when, without +any birds being between them, the report of a heavily charged gun was +heard, and a few heavy shot struck the ice near the boats, while the +drunken crowd yelled in triumph as the water, by its ripples, showed the +great distance attained by the shot. + +"I'll shoot, too, the next chance, and so may you, boys. Elevate well, +and fire when the birds are between us and the berg," said La Salle. + +It was not long before three geese attempted to scale in as the others +had done, and were fired at as before, the bullet this time striking the +water in line of the boat, and whistling a few feet above it. The birds, +somewhat frightened, got within a hundred yards before swinging off, and +all three discharged their large shot simultaneously. A single goose +fell with a broken wing, and Carlo, springing out of the boat, plunged +into the water. Charley watched the effect of his shot on the party on +the berg. One stood just then in bold relief against the distant +horizon, displaying the broader part of his physique to view while +taking an observation with a brandy-bottle. Suddenly a faint yell was +heard, the bottle dropped on the berg, the hands that had held it +frantically clutched at the coat-tails of the victim, and an agonized +_pas seul_ told that the "Baby" had well avenged the wrongs of her +owner. + +Half an hour later, the party had evacuated their position, bag and +baggage, "carrying their wounded," who, from the stern-sheets of their +boat, shook his fist in savage pantomime at the innocent La Salle and +his amused companions. Some weeks later he learned that a single large +shot had, without piercing the cloth, raised a contusion about the size +of a pigeon's egg, on muscles whose comfort, for a fortnight after, +emphatically tabooed the use of chairs, and made a feather bed an +indispensable adjunct to repose. + +After a long chase Carlo secured his bird, and swimming to the nearest +shore, ran around the edge of the ice, in a way which showed his +appreciation of the difference between running, and swimming against a +five-knot tide. Securing the bird, he was allowed to shake himself, and +was then called into the boat, from which a good lookout was kept, as +there now existed some chance for good management and skilful shooting. + +The first victims were a flock of black ducks, which with the usual +readiness to decoy of these birds, had flown in and lit among the decoys +before La Salle could warn his boys, who had their backs turned at the +time. They managed, however, to hear him, and poured in a sharp volley, +killing four in the water, while La Salle picked a brace out on the +wing. + +Regnar, who had a breech-loader, got ready in time to kill a brace of +Moniac duck out of a flock which swept past uttering their singularly +desolate call of "Ouac-a-wee, ouac-a-wee!" and by the time these birds +were retrieved, several faint reports to the eastward were heard, and a +vast cloud of geese of both kinds rose just above the floating ice, and +swept up towards the bar. Most of these settled down among the floes; +but one large flock of brent swept over Peter, in answer to his almost +perfect calling. The leaders of the flock were in the very act of +alighting when he fired, and a dozen, at least, lay dead when the white +smoke of his volley cleared away. + +"I must have one turn with my float," said La Salle, after the three had +taken lunch and had their share of a pint of hot, strong coffee +prepared in the Crimean lantern. "The tide will soon turn, and I shall +work out into the ice and come up with it. You, boys, must look out for +the flying birds, and take in the floating decoys before they are +crushed or lost." + +Launching the light boat, he fitted his rowlocks, and with a light pair +of sculls rowed for an hour out into the Gulf, taking care to keep well +to the eastward. At the end of that time he unshipped his sculls, took +in his rowlocks, fitted his sculling-oar into its muffled aperture, and +getting himself comfortably settled, grasped his oar with his left hand, +and with his eyes just peering over the gunwale, let the light boat +drift with the returning tide, and its fantastic burden of water-worn +congelations. + +He had not floated two hundred yards, before a change of the ice +revealed a small flock of seven geese, quietly feeding along the border +of a low piece of field ice. Cocking his gun and laying it ready to +hand, La Salle drifted nearer and nearer, keeping barely enough headway +to steer her, bow on. The gander, a noble bird, suddenly raised his head +to gaze at the advancing boat. All the rest instantly raised theirs +ready for immediate flight. The anxious sportsman lay motionless, +ceasing the play of his scull, and the birds, gradually relaxing their +necks, turned and swam rapidly away. + +Still, La Salle tried not to pursue, and the gander, finding that the +boat did not get any nearer, stopped, looked, started, stopped, and +went to feeding again, followed in all things, of course, by his +companions. Then the delicate oar began its noiseless sweep, and +gradually the sharp prow crept nearer, passing, one by one, sluggish +floes and fantastic pinnacles, until again the wary leader raised his +head as if in perplexity and doubt. There, to be sure, was the bit of +ice he had taken fright at before, nearer than ever; but it floated as +harmlessly as the cake just beside it, from whose edges he had gleaned +rootlets of young and tender eel-grass not half an hour ago. So the poor +overmatched bird doubtless argued; and ashamed of his fears, which were +but too well founded, and doubtful of his instincts, which he should +have trusted, the gander turned again to the little eddy of sea-wrack +amid which, with soft guttural love-calls, he summoned his harem to many +a dainty morsel. + +Triumphantly shone the deadly eye which glittered beneath the snowy cap; +noiselessly swung the ashen oar, and as unerringly set as Destiny, and +remorseless as Death, the knife-like bow slid through the black waters. +One hundred, ninety, eighty, seventy, fifty, forty yards only, divide +the doomed birds from the boat, and the white gunwale is hidden from +their view by the interposition of the very floe along whose edge they +are feeding. Steadily La Salle drives the prow gently against the ice, +then drops his oar, and grasps his heavy gun. He hazards a glance: the +birds, scarce thirty yards away, are unsuspectingly feeding in a close +body; he rises to a sitting posture, raises his gun, and whistles +shrilly and long. Instantly the birds raise their heads, gathering +around their leader. Bang! The thunder-roll of the report, reverberating +amid the ice, is the death-sentence of the flock. Not one escaped; the +distance was too short, the aim too sure, the charge of _mitraille_ too +close and heavy. + +[Illustration] + +A flying shot at a flock of eider duck added a male, with snowy crest, +and three plump, brown females; and a successful approach to a small +flock of brent made up fifteen birds under the half-deck of the little +craft. It was almost dark when, with little time to spare, La Salle came +flying through the fast-coming ice, and dashed across the narrow lane of +water, between the immovable covering of the bar, and the advancing, +tide-borne ice-islands. + +The boys had just drawn in their decoys, and loaded their sled with the +birds taken from the boat, besides three geese and a brent, which they +had shot during his absence. The other boats had already landed, and +been drawn in far up on the ice. Regnar did not know if the centre-wheel +had got anything, but Davies and Creamer had four geese, five brent, and +a black duck. Peter had gone home with a sled-load of fowl, and, in +short, the day had been generally satisfactory all round. + +That night, however, all were tired, wet, and half blind with the +ceaseless glare of the each-day-warmer sun; nor did any care to spend in +listening to idle tales, the hours which might better be given to sleep. +Such, for more than a week longer, was their experience, varied only by +a few brief frosts, during which, however, the hot coffee made in their +lantern-stove was unanimously voted "just the thing." + +"Snow-blindness" set in, and Ben had once or twice to leave the ice; +while George Waring experienced several attacks, and had a linen cloth +full of pulverized clay--the best application known--kept in the boat +for emergencies. + +By the middle of the next week, a narrow channel had opened up to the +city; and Creamer and Davies, piling their decoys beside their deserted +box, and leaving Lund to haul them to the shelter of his woods, took the +first flood, and paddled briskly homeward, leaving Indian Peter and La +Salle in the latter's stand; while Regnar, who had become a proficient +with the small boat, struck out for the broken ice lying to the east. + +"Good by, Charley; when shall I tell them to expect you?" said Ben, as +he started his wheels, and the boat, heavily laden with fowl, moved +northward. + +"O, at the end of the week, at farthest. Much obliged to you for taking +those birds. I'll have a load Saturday. Good by." + +"Good by," said Hughie and Ben, once more; and then they bent to their +task, churning into foam the rippleless surface, which bore them on its +swift but unnoticeable tide towards home, leaving behind their comrade, +his savage companion, and their boyish associates, to experience +adventures without parallel in all the strange hunting-lore of those +northern seas. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ADRIFT. + + +About midday, Captain Lund drove down on the ice to draw up the boat +owned by his sons; after which he was to return a second time for the +decoys and shooting-box of the homeward-bound sportsmen. The floe was +fast wasting under the April sun, and his horses' iron-shod hoofs sank +deep into the snow-ice, which the night-frosts had left at morn as hard +as flint. + +He drove with his habitual caution, sounding more than one suspicious +place with the axe, and at last came to a long tide-crack, through which +the open water showed clear, and which seemed to divide the floe as far +as the eye could reach. + +"I come none too soon," said the deliberate pilot; "and I must warn La +Salle not to trust his boat here another night." + +"Well, captain, what think you of the weather?" asked La Salle, as the +shaggy pony and rough sled halted near the boat. + +"It looks a little cloudy, but I guess nothing more than a fog may be +expected to-night. You had better have your boat ready to get ashore +right away; for the ice, though heavy enough, is full of cracks, and +will go off with the first northerly gale which comes with the ebb." + +"Well, I'll be getting the boat clear of the ice, and you may come for +us the last of all." + +And Lund, driving down the bar to his own boat, left La Salle busily at +work, with axe and shovel, clearing away the well-packed ice which had +for the last three weeks concealed the sides of the goose-boat. + +By the time that Lund had hooked on to his own boat and driven up again, +a large heap of ice and snow had been thrown out; but the runners were +evidently frozen down, and the boat was immovable. + +"I shan't have her clear until you get through with Davies's outfit; but +I guess we shall be ready for you then." + +Lund drove on, dragging the heavy boat up to the beach, and then +concluded to haul it up the bank, above the reach of the increasing +tides, and the danger of being crushed by the ice. As he cast off her +rope, he felt a snow-flake on the back of his hand. Before he reached +the ice, they were falling thick and noiselessly. + +"I must hurry; for there's no time to lose. The tide is just at its +turn; and if the wind comes from the north, the boys will be adrift. +Come; get up, Lightfoot. G'lang! Whoop! Go it!" + +Already the rising wind began to whirl the thick-falling flakes in +smothering wreaths, and Lund groaned in spirit as, following the tracks +of his last trip, the stanch little horse galloped down the ice. + +"I am afraid this is the end of my vision; for the ice won't be long in +breaking up now, and those boys are out in that d--n little craft." + +And Lund in his perturbation swore and cursed after the manner of +"sailor-men" generally; that is, when they most need to pray. + +Suddenly the little horse hesitated, relaxed into a trot, snorted, +reared, and stopped, wheeling half around, with the sleigh-runners +diagonally across the half-effaced track, which came to an unexpected +stop. Lund saw at once that another rod would have plunged horse and man +into the Gulf; the ice-fields had parted, and the boats and their +occupants were floating away at the mercy of the winds and waves. + +"Let's see," said Lund; "the wind is nor'-east, and the tide will set +them in some, too. So, if the gale does not shift, that'll carry them +past McQuarrie's Point, and I'll hail them then, and let them know where +they are. God grant that they've got the boat clear; for once away from +the lee of the island, their craft would never find land in such a +squall as this. Come, Lightfoot," he added, as he sprang upon the sled, +and brought his leathern reins smartly across the animal's back, +"there's four lives on our speed; so go your fastest, poor fellow! and +God help that we may not be too late." + +Meanwhile La Salle and Peter had viewed with no little anxiety the +sudden overclouding of the sky, or rather the heavy curtain of vapor +which seemed to descend mysteriously from the zenith, rather than to +gather from beyond the horizon. + +"I no like snow; wind no good this time; tide too high. Spose Lund come, +must get boat across crack yonder any way." + +And the one-armed hunter plied the light axe with a haste which showed +no small amount of anxiety. + +The boat was soon clear, but the snow was falling so fast that they +could scarcely see to windward at all, and no part of the land was +visible. Again the Indian spoke, and a new cause of anxiety was stated. + +"Where sposum boys this time? See boat little hile ago. No see any now. +They no see hice. Spose shootum big gun call them hin?" + +La Salle took the heavy piece, and was about to discharge it to leeward, +when, from the very air above their heads, a voice seemed to call on +them by name, "La Salle, Charley, Peter, ahoy!" + +La Salle dropped the butt of his gun, and listened. Again the voice +sounded apparently nearer than before. "Charley, Peter, ahoy!" + +"That voice ole man Lund. I know it; but what for sposum voice there? +Then track go that way. Ole man lose way, spose." + +"Perhaps he has fallen in, Peter. Come, let's go." + +And catching a rope near him, and forgetting to lay down the cumbrous +gun, Charley ran towards the incessant and evidently-agonized cries, +Peter following with an axe and a light fish-spear. + +Scarcely had the runners gone a hundred yards before they stopped in +dismay. At their feet the ice-field ended abruptly, and scarce a hundred +yards away rose a wall of red sandstone, on whose summit stood Lund, +peering down into the whirl of snow-flakes. His quick eye espied them, +and he shouted his last advice. + +"Launch your boat at once; don't wait. Keep under the lee. Don't try to +save anything but your lives. Keep the wind at your backs in rowing, and +mind the set of the tide eastward." + +"Ay, ay! I understand. We're waiting for the boys!" shouted La Salle. + +"I can't hear a word," called out Lund across the rapidly-increasing +space. + +"Give me that spear, Peter," said La Salle. + +And snapping off the tiny barbs, he drew from his pocket a pencil, and +wrote as follows on the slender rod of white maple:-- + + "We know our danger, but have no oars; for the boys have not + returned. Unless they do so soon, shall stick to the ice until the + weather clears. Look for us along the coast if the storm lasts. + + "Love to all. LA SALLE." + +Holding up the rod to be seen by Lund, he placed it in the muzzle of his +piece, and motioned to the captain to watch its flight. The pilot +stepped behind a tree, and La Salle aimed at the face of a large +snow-drift near him. The report echoed amid the broken ledges, the long +white arrow sped through the air, and stuck in the snow close to the +tree. Lund picked it up, and bent over it a moment; then bowed his head, +as if assuring them of his approval of its contents. + +Already the floe had moved into rough water, and the short waves raised +by the increasing gale began to throw their spray far up on the ice. The +snow-squall gathered fury, and La Salle, waving his hand, pointed +heavenward, while Peter, knowing but too well the danger of their +position, sank on his knees, and began the simple prayers of his faith. +Lund saw them fade from view into the sleety veil that hid the waste of +waters, and groaning in spirit, turned homeward. + +"In half an hour no boat on the island can reach them, even if men could +be found to face certain death in a snow-storm out on the open Gulf." + +Peter rose to his feet, apparently almost hopeless. + +"Good by, Saint Peter's! Good by, Trois Lieues' Creek! Good by, Lund! +Poor Peter no more shootum wild goose here." + +"Come, Peter, don't give it up so," said La Salle. "We must find the +boys and get their oars and boat, and then well try and see what we can +do to get ashore." + +Peter's eyes brightened a little, and walking around the edge of the +floe, they came, in the course of twenty minutes, to the boys, snugly +seated under their inverted boat, in a hollow of a large berg, which, +until that day, had never floated with the tide. + +"Come, boys, this won't do. We're adrift, and getting well out into the +Gulf. Turn over your boat, put everything into her, and let's try what +we can do with the big boat." + +In desperate haste the four took down the light craft, threw in the oars +and guns, and dashed across the quarter of a mile which lay between them +and the windward side of the ice. In about five minutes they reached the +large boat; but all saw at a glance that little less than a miracle was +needed to carry them safe ashore. + +The snow was falling thick and fast, the wind driving it in eddying +clouds, and amid it could be seen at times the white caps of the +increasing surges as they broke on the edge of the floe. It was evident +that it would be madness to attempt to leave their present position; yet +all stood silent a moment, as if unwilling to be the first to confess +the painful truth. + +At last La Salle broke the silence. "It's no use, boys; we must stay +here all night. And first, let's get both boats down to the berg, for +this floe may go to pieces any time; but that is all of twenty feet +thick, and will stand a good deal yet. Come, pile in the decoys and +tools, and let's get under cover as soon as we can." + +The decoys of iron and wood, and even those of fir-twigs, of which they +had added some three dozen, were piled into the boats, and taking hold +at the painter of the largest, they soon trundled the heavy load to the +thickest part of the field. + +"Sposum we get Davies's box and 'coys too. Then we makum camp, have +plenty wood too. Spose field break up, loosem sartin," said Peter. + +"You're right. Come, boys. We don't know how long we may be on this +ice-field, and we shall need all the shelter we can get, and fuel too." + +It was nearly an hour before they found the box and its pile of decoys, +but the box had been furnished with rude runners, and being already +clear of the ice, there was no delay in what was evidently becoming a +dangerous proximity to the sea; for that edge of the ice was already +breaking up, as the rollers broke over it, bearing it down with the +weight of water. Sunset must have been close at hand when the party +arrived, wet, weary, and almost despairing, at the berg. + +"Now, boys," said La Salle, "we must build our house at once, for no one +can tell how long this storm may last. Luckily we have two shovels and +two axes. Peter and I will cut away the ice, and you two will pile up +fragments, and clear away the snow and rubbish." + +Choosing a crater-like depression on the summit of the berg, La Salle +laid out a parallelogram about eight feet square, and motioning to +Peter, proceeded to sink a square shaft into the solid ice, which, at +first a little spongy, rapidly became hard and flinty. Aided by the +natural shape of the berg, in the course of an hour a cavity had been +cleared out to the depth of about six feet. Over this was inverted the +box belonging to Davies, and this was kept in place by fragments of ice +piled around and over it, after which the interstices were filled with +wet snow, and the whole patted into a firm, impermeable mound. + +On the leeward side the wall had been purposely left thin, and through +this a narrow door, about three feet high, was cut into the excavation. +Lighting his lantern, La Salle stepped inside, finding himself in a +gloomy but warm room, about nine feet high in the walls, and eight feet +square. Taking the dryest of the fir decoys, he cut the cords which +bound them together, and laying the icy branches of their outer covering +on the bare ice, soon formed a non-conducting carpet of fir-twigs, of +which the upper layers were nearly dry. + +The whole party then entered, carefully brushing from their clothes and +boots as much of the snow as possible, and, seating themselves, for the +first time rested from incessant exertion amid the furious peltings of a +driving north-east snow-storm. + +La Salle motioned to the rest to place their guns in a nook near the +door, and taking the boiler of the lantern, filled it with snow, and +placed it above the flame. Regnar, noticing this, went out and brought +in the rude chest containing the remnants of their little stock of +coffee, and the basket with what was left of the day's lunch. + +In the former were found a few matches, about a half pound of coffee, +perhaps a pound of sugar, a box and a half of sardines, and two or three +dozen ship's hard-bread. In the basket were left several slices of +bread, a junk of corned beef weighing about two pounds, and some apples +and doughnuts. + +In a short time the tiny boiler, which held about a pint, was full of +boiling water, to which La Salle added some coffee, and soon each had a +small but refreshing draught, which helped wonderfully to restore their +usual warmth and vigor of circulation. From the lunch-basket, whose +contents had remained untouched all day, a slight meal was taken, and +then the remainder of the provisions put carefully away, although a +second cup of coffee was left preparing in the lantern for possible +contingencies. + +La Salle looked at his watch--it was nearly eight o'clock. + +"We are now well down off Point Prime, and are probably under the lee of +other ice, as we no longer feel the tossing of the sea. The boats are +all ready for use, but it is not likely we shall need them to-night, +unless, indeed--Let us hold a council of war, and decide at once on our +course of action." + +[Illustration: ] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE COUNCIL.--PASSING THE CAPE. + + +Drawing his coat tightly around him, La Salle first drew aside the +rubber blanket which had been hung up for a door, and crawled out into +the storm. The snow still fell heavily, but although the wind blew very +hard, few drifts were formed, owing to the wet and heavy nature of the +large, soft flakes, although at times a flurry of sharp, stinging hail +rattled against the boats and the roof of the ice-chamber. + +As nearly as he could judge, the wind was north-east, or perhaps a point +or two south of that, for at times there came warmer gusts, as if the +wind veered to a milder quarter. The roar of the sea could be plainly +heard, but evidently far up to windward, and there was little doubt that +they need have no apprehensions from that source at present. + +Re-entering he found his friends anxiously awaiting his report on the +aspect of things outside, and he plunged at once into the gist of the +matter before them. + +"I see no reason to expect any change in our situation until the tide +turns, which will be in about an hour. I can notice no change in the +wind, nor do I think we have shifted our relative position to its +course. Should the storm decrease towards morning, we shall probably +find ourselves up the straits, in the vicinity of the capes. Only one +danger can possibly assail us, and that is being ground to pieces on the +New Brunswick shore. We must keep a watch to-night, commencing at about +twelve o'clock. Regnar, will you keep the first watch of an hour and a +half, and then call me?" + +"Yes, sir; all right. I wake any time, and I know what 'nip' means. We +must not get caught napping if that happens." + +"Can't we get ashore and off of this horrid floe, if we strike on the +other shore?" asked Waring, a little dolorously. + +"I'm afraid not, my dear George. The straits here, nearly thirty miles +wide, converge to about twelve at the capes; and this terrible gale, +although we feel it scarcely at all in the heart of this berg, will +drive us with the rising ebb, at a velocity little less than ten miles +an hour, through that narrow, choked pass, bordered by the ice-cliffs +which form, on the shallows every winter, to the height of from ten to +twenty feet above the water." + +"Should this berg be driven against the verge of these immovable cliffs, +our only resource will be to take to our boats and retreat farther off +on the floes; for a single mishap in crossing the terrible chasm which +borders the irresistible course of this great ice-stream, would consign +us all to irremediable destruction. I propose that we thank God for his +mercies thus far, and implore his aid in the future. Then we may lie +down secure in His protection, and gather new strength for whatever may +be before us." + +Thus saying, La Salle knelt, and in solemn but unfaltering tones +repeated the short but inimitable prayer which embodies the needs of +every petitioner. Peter crossed himself at the close, and broke out,-- + +"I feel 'fraid, all time till now. I hear Lund see ghost. I think we +never get back. Now I feel sure all go right, and I worry like woman no +more." + +"Thank you, Peter. I shall depend on good service from you; and I may +say that I have little doubt of landing somewhere to-morrow, if the +weather clears so that we can see. Come, Regnie, get the rest of those +dry decoys out of the boat, and we'll turn in for two or three hours, +when you must take the first watch." + +Regnar brought in about twenty bundles more of fir-twigs, which were +piled against the wall so as to form a kind of slanting pillow, against +which the party might rest their backs and heads in a half-sitting +posture, without being chilled by the ice-wall of their narrow +dormitory. Waring drew his seal-skin cap over his ears, turned up his +wide coat-collar of the same costly fur, and placed himself next to +Peter, who, as the worst clad of the party, wrapped himself in his dingy +blanket, and seated himself at the back of the hut. Regnar, in his +Canadian capote, was next, and La Salle with difficulty found room +between himself and the door for his faithful dog, whose natural warmth +had already dried his long fur, and made him a very welcome bed-fellow +under such circumstances. Thus disposed, it was not long before they all +fell asleep; and at twelve o'clock, La Salle, only half awake, gave +Regnar his watch, and saw the resolute boy go out into the storm to +commence his lonely vigil. + +Scarcely feeling that he had more than got fairly to sleep again, he was +again awakened by Regnar, who said in a low voice, "'Tis two o'clock, +master; but I would not waken you if I did not think that the floe has +shifted sides, for we are no longer under a lee. I hear too, at times, +cracking and grinding of the ice, and I think we are not far from +shore." + +La Salle hurriedly went out. The wind blew into his very teeth, as he +emerged from the narrow door; but it seemed no warmer or colder, and the +snow fell much the same as before. Near them, through the storm, another +berg of equal height with their own seemed to appear at times, and the +crash of falling and breaking ice arose on all sides. Still, for an hour +nothing could be seen, until between three and four the snow gave place +to a sleety rain, and the watchers saw that they were passing with +frightful rapidity a line of jagged ice-cliffs, not two hundred yards +away. La Salle called his companions, and they watched for nearly an +hour in constant expectation of having to take to their boat. + +The pressure was tremendous, and on every side floes heaped up their +debris on each other, and pinnacles forced into collision were ground +into common ruin. Now shut out from view in darkness and storm, and now +close at hand in the multitudinous shiftings of the ice, the immovable +and gigantic buttresses of the ice-pool ground into powder acres of +level floe, and bergs containing hundreds of thousands of tons of ice. +Along that terrible line of impact rolled and heaved a chaos of mealy +sludge and gigantic fragments, while from time to time a mass of many +tons would be thrown, like a child's plaything, high up amid the debris +already heaped along the inaccessible shore. Half a dozen times the +startled voyagers seized their boat to drag her down from the berg, as +the shore-ice gnawed into the sides of their narrowing ice-field. + +At last a move appeared inevitable. The distance between their refuge +and the shore was less than fifty yards, and in the gray of the morning +they saw castle after castle crushed off by this fearful attrition, +while high above their heads rose the ruin-strewed and inhospitable +ice-foot. + +"Stand by, lads, to move the boats, when I give the word. Look, Regnar! +What is that above the cliff?" + +"That a light-house, I think. Guess that on Cape Torment. No light there +in winter; not many vessels here then." + +"Yes, we are passing the capes, and not a mile distant is the hostelry +of Tom Allan. Well, we can't land, that's certain; and as we can't, I +hope we shall soon get into a wider channel. How the trees fly past! Ah, +here the pressure lessens; we shall soon be above the narrows, and if +the tide only serves--Good Heaven! what is that?" + +An eddy seemed to catch the floe as he spoke, and whirling like a top, +it brought between it and the shore a fantastically-shaped berg, at +least twenty-five feet high. The "nip" was but momentary; but the lofty +shaft and its floating base cracked like a mirror, the huge fabric fell +into ruins, and one of its pieces, striking the smaller boat, crushed it +into utter uselessness. + +La Salle viewed the wreck of his little bark ruefully a moment. + +"Well, the worst is over, and we are fortunate in losing so little, for +it might have struck the larger boat, and that would have been indeed a +loss. Come, boys, we have passed Cape Torment; let us pick some of those +birds and get breakfast, for we shan't land this day, with an easterly +gale hurrying the ice-pack thus to the north-west." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TAKING AN INVENTORY.--SETTING UP THE STOVE. + + +Peter was already picking a dead goose, and Regnar and Waring were about +to follow his example, when La Salle interposed. + +"Let us skin the birds, for it may be that we shall be unable to land +for several days, and if so, we shall need all the covering we can get, +for this thaw is sure to be followed by a severe frost or two." + +"Sposum tide turn, ice lun down to capes, then get ashore," said Peter, +confidently. + +La Salle drew out his watch. + +"It was high tide at four o'clock, and it is now nearly seven. Peter, +just climb to the top of the berg, and see how we drift." + +Peter dropped his half-picked bird, ascended with eager agility, lined +another projection of the floe with some object on the New Brunswick +shore, seemed puzzled, looked more carefully, and then slowly descended, +apparently sad and disheartened. + +"Well, Peter, how is it?" said La Salle, cheerfully. + +"No good; ice lun north-west, against tide; no get ashore to-day," was +the reluctant answer. + +Regnar seemed little surprised, but Waring turned almost white with +anxiety and disappointment. + +"I thought as much," said La Salle, quietly. "With such a gale as this, +the tide, whose rise and fall does not average four feet on this coast, +often seems to run in one direction, and even to remain at flood for a +day or two; but even if it did fall, this floe carries sail enough with +this wind to make from two to three miles an hour against it. We shall +probably have easterly and southerly winds until to-morrow, and must now +be well up to Cape Bauld, and about mid-channel, say twelve miles from +shore." + +"Why not try land, then, with the boat? We four could surely make twelve +mile in the course of the day," asked Regnar, somewhat impatiently for +him. + +"How deep is the snow and slush now, Regnie?" asked the leader of the +little party, calmly. + +"'Bout knee-deep on level ice," said the boy. + +"Come up here, all of you," said La Salle, ascending the lookout. + +The three followed, and found themselves scarcely able to stand at +times, when a fiercer blast than usual swept up the strait, howling +through the tortuous and intricate ravines and valleys of the +ice-fields. + +"Can we cross such a place as that?" asked La Salle, pointing to where +an edge of a large ice-field, suddenly lifted by the wedge-like brink of +another, began a majestic and resistless encroachment, with the +incalculable power communicated by the vast weight pressing behind it. + +A body of ice, at least a yard in thickness, ran up a steep ascent of +five or six feet, broke with its own weight, pressed on again up the +steeper incline, broke again, and so continued to ascend and break off +until a ridge a score of feet high, crested with glittering fragments of +broken ice, interrupted the passage between the two floes. + +Regnar was silent, and then said, resolutely,-- + +"We can try, at least." + +"Well said, Regnie," cried La Salle; "but look again yonder." He pointed +to a small lead of open water bounded with abrupt shores, which were +surrounded with rounded balls and water-worn fragments of ice. A berg, +losing its balance, fell with a loud splash, sank, and came to the +surface with a bound, covering the water with wet snow and the ruins of +the shattered pinnacles. "Can we also pass the heavy drags of the +drifted snow, the baffling resistance of floating sludge, and such +dangers as that?" + +Turning, he descended under the lee of the shelter, where he was soon +followed by the rest. + +"What spose we do, then?" asked Peter. "We stay this place to die of +cold and hunger?" + +"Peter, I'm ashamed of you," said La Salle. "Die, do you say, when we +have food, shelter, fire, and covering? We must, indeed, stay here until +the winds and sea give us a better chance to escape to the shore. +Meanwhile let us try to make ourselves comfortable." + +Accordingly the birds--six geese and eight brent--were divested of their +skins, which furnished patches of warm covering, of from two to four +square feet. The sinews of the legs were divided into threads, and, +using a small sail-needle which he carried to clean the tube of his gun, +La Salle proceeded to show Waring how to make a large robe, placing the +larger skins in the middle, and forming a border of the smaller ones. + +Meanwhile Regnar had cleared the snow from a space about twelve feet +square in front of the door, and, with fragments of ice, cemented with +wet snow, formed a walled enclosure which kept off the wind; and Peter, +splitting two or three of the wooden decoys, soon built a fire, over +which a pair of geese, spitted on sticks, were narrowly watched and +sedulously turned, while La Salle made a cup of his carefully-treasured +coffee. + +As they sat eating their rude meal, Regnar broke the silence; for it may +well be believed that no great hilarity pervaded the little party. + +"As we not know how long we may be adrift, I think we better take +'count stock. See how much wood, provisions, powder, shot, everyting." + +"You are right, Regnie; we will set to work at once. I can tell how much +food we have now. We have a little bread, coffee, sugar, and a tin of +sardines, which I think we had better reserve for possible emergencies, +also six candles, which we must not waste. I have a pound canister of +powder untouched, and nearly half a pound more in my flask, with about +five pounds of shot, and three dozen shot-cartridges of different sizes, +say sixty charges in all. Besides that, my rifle lies in the boat, +loaded, with a small bag of bullets, and a quarter-pound flask of rifle +powder." + +"I," said Waring, "have thirty cartridges for my breech-loader, and a +few of the caps for them, in a box in my pocket." + +"I have nearly a pound powder, some wads, caps, and 'bout two pounds of +shot left," said Regnar. + +"Spose I got half pound powder in old horn, box caps mos' full, an' tree +poun' goose shot," said Peter. + +"We have, then, somewhere between one hundred and fifty and two hundred +rounds of ammunition, and provisions for a week, allowing ourselves no +addition to the present stock. Count the decoys, Regnie, while I look up +our tools, &c." + +Regnie reported forty wooden decoys, twelve of sheet iron, eight of cork +and canvas, and twelve wooden duck decoys. Besides these, there were +still untouched a dozen bunches of fir and spruce twigs, like those used +in covering the floor of the ice-hut. In addition to these, La Salle +found one large boat, the broken smaller one, a pair of oars, a pair of +rowlocks, a short boat-hook, baler, two lead-lines and leads, two +shovels, and two axes. + +"We are well provided for a week of such weather as this, and have only +to fear a sudden change to extreme cold. I therefore think the first +thing for us to do, is to finish our feather quilt, enlarge our hut, and +get up a stove as soon as possible." + +A general expression of incredulity showed itself on the faces of the +trio, which La Salle evidently interpreted rightly, and therefore +hastened to explain himself. + +"Of course we must first make our stove." + +"Why, Charley, what on earth can we make our stove of?" said Waring. + +"Sheet iron, of course." + +"But where is the sheet iron to come from? We haven't any here--have +we?" + +"Ah, I know twelve decoys sheet-iron, only they painted." + +"Yes, Regnie, you have guessed it. Those decoys are about as good sheet +iron as is made, and we can burn the paint off, I guess. Five of them +will furnish a cylinder, conical stove, fifteen inches diameter, and as +many high, and five more will give us about seven feet of two and a +half-inch stove-pipe. Bring in the decoys and axes, and we'll get it up +at once." + +"Come on, boys," said Waring, whose spirits had risen perceptibly since +breakfast. "We'll have a hotel here yet, and supply passengers by the +mail-boat with hot dinners." + +"Sposum me have knife, I help you. Leave _waghon_ home yesterday for +_h_ould woman make baskets," said Peter, ruefully. + +"I guess we shall manage with the axes, although we need a knife like +your Indian draw-knife. Reach me a large decoy, and the heaviest of +those cod-leads." + +La Salle had already "laid out" with the point of his penknife the shape +of one of the sections of his proposed stove upon one of the decoys from +which Regnar had already removed the iron leg, which was about six +inches long, sharp pointed, and intended to be driven into the ice. Each +section was twenty inches long, eight and a half inches wide at the +lower end, and two and a half at the upper; and luckily the outline of +the goose gave very nearly this shape, with little trimming, which was +effected by laying the iron on the lead, applying the edge of the +smaller axe as a chisel, and striking on its head with the large. The +laps were then "turned" over the edge of an axe with a billet of wood +cut from the old cross-bars of Davies's shooting-box, which were young +ash saplings. Then the pieces were put together, the laps solidly +beaten down, and despite a little irregularity of shape, the job was +not a bad one. + +Five other decoys furnished as many parallelograms of seventeen by eight +and a half, which made good two and three quarter inch pipe, and +afforded nearly seven feet in length when affixed to the cylinder. + +It was nearly four o'clock when the work was thus far completed. + +"If we only had a flat stone to set it on," said Waring. + +"I should not despair of that even," said La Salle, "if we dared look +around on some of the older floes; but we shall have to do without one +for a day or two, I think." + +"Peter make glate, three, two minutes, only glate burn up every day or +two;" and hastening out, he returned with a very large decoy, which, on +account of its portentous size, had been made the leader of the "set" +when arranged on the ice. + +With the axe he broke off the head, and then taking six of the ten iron +legs, he drove them two or three inches deep into the tough spruce log, +until the spikes surrounded it like the points of a crown. La Salle had +re-riveted the four others at equal distances around the base of the +stove, while Regnar had removed a part of the snow on the roof, and, +cutting a large aperture through the bottom of the inverted box, nailed +over it the eleventh decoy, through which a roughly-cut hole gave +admittance to the chimney. + +The fir-branches were then removed to the yard, and covered from the +still falling rain with the rubber blanket, while all hands joined in +enlarging their quarters. The ice was singularly hard and clear, and +contained no cracks or other sources of weakness. By sunset the lower +part of the hut was enlarged from eight feet square to twelve feet +diameter, a circular shape being given to the excavation, so that a +continuous berth, about two feet wide and a yard high, ran completely +around the floor of the hut, or rather to within about four feet of the +door on either side. The fir-twigs were replaced in the berths and +around the floor, leaving a bare space of nearly four feet diameter in +the centre. Here a slight hollow was made, to contain the novel grate, +and the stove was placed in position over it. + +Waring brought in a shovelful of embers from the dying fire outside, +under whose ashes a goose, swathed in sea-weed, was preparing for +supper, and Peter followed him with some small chunks of wood. The stove +"drew" beautifully, and but one drawback could be discovered--it made +the atmosphere within too warm for comfort, at the then temperature. "No +matter that," said Peter, prophetically; "we glad see plenty fire here +to-morrow night." + +It was nearly midnight when the four ate supper and gave the fragments +to their faithful dog. Before sleeping, La Salle stepped outside the +hut. The wind had lessened greatly, but still blew mildly warm from a +southerly direction. "We must now be somewhere off Shediac, but I see no +open water, and the pack is as close as ever. We shan't get down to the +capes with this wind, and to-morrow at this time, if the wind holds, we +shall be up to Point Escumenac. I don't care to think what next; but if, +as Peter says, we are to have cold, westerly weather, we must move off +into the open Gulf and then--Well, we shall endure what it pleases God +to send us." + +Notwithstanding their fatigue, all were awake at daylight the next +morning, and immediately the whole party ascended their lookout. The +wind still blew in very nearly the same direction, but with little +force, and at noon, as the party sat down to their first meal for the +day, no land could be plainly determined, and for an hour the utmost +calm prevailed, with an unclouded sun. The pack was still closed, +however, with the exception of two or three small openings, in which +were seen a seal and several flocks of moniac ducks, known on the +Atlantic coast as "South-Southerlies." The former could not be +approached, but Peter got two shots at the ducks as they gyrated over +the berg, and killed three at one time and four at another, which were +duly skinned, and the bodies consigned to the "meat-safe," a hole in the +ice near the door. + +This meal tasted a little better than the former ones, the birds being +seasoned with salt procured from sea-water by boiling--a slow process, +which La Salle promised to make easier when the next frost set in. The +bird-skins had been carefully cleaned from fat, and sewed into two +blankets about seven feet by five each, and stretched on the ice with +the flesh side uppermost, were rubbed with salt and ashes, and then +exposed to the sun, receiving considerable benefit thereby. + +For supper, a soup of fowls thickened with grated biscuit was eaten with +hearty relish by all but Waring, who claimed to have eaten too much at +dinnertime, although La Salle fancied that he looked flushed and pale by +turns. + +"Do you feel sick, George?" said La Salle, anxiously, when the others +were temporarily absent from the hut. + +"O, no, Charley; don't fuss about me. I'm all right, only I've eaten a +little too much of that fat meat, and taken scarcely any exercise," was +the reply. + +"Well, George, don't fail to let me know at once if you do feel sick, +for my stock of medicines is limited, and I must do my doctoring during +the first stages of the disease," said La Salle, gravely. + +"Yes, I should judge so, doctor," laughed Waring; and, turning to the +fire, he placed another stick under the cylinder, as if suffering from a +chill. + +At an hour before sunset they saw on their left hand, and, as nearly as +they could judge, about twelve miles away, the high headland of +Escumenac. The pack opened a little, for the wind had now been blowing +for about three hours from the west, the air was very perceptibly +colder, and the standing pools on the ice began to freeze. Under Le +Salle's direction, Regnar cut a hole in the ice, which would hold about +four pailsful of salt water, and filled it to overflowing, while Peter +cut up a dozen of the decoys into junks three inches square, and piled +them near the door. + +As they entered the hut, they found Waring shivering over the fire. "I +am afraid, Charley," stammered he, "that I am going to be very sick, for +I can't keep warm to save my life." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +DOCTORING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.--AN ANXIOUS NIGHT.--FROZEN UP. + + +La Salle examined the condition of his patient, and found his tongue +furred, his pulse quick and feverish, his tonsils badly inflamed, and +the chills alternating with flushes of fever heat. The mind of the +patient, too, was anxious; for at the close of the brief examination he +said, "I hope I shan't be sick, for there isn't much show for me out +here on the ice." + +"And why not, George? Although I hope you will have nothing more than a +bad cold, yet I think I could cure a pretty sick man out here." + +"But we have no medicines, or beds, or food, or anything, scarcely." + +"What nonsense! We are far more comfortably housed than the poor +Esquimaux, and even Peter there lives no warmer than we do--do you, +Peter?" + +"_Womegun_ hetter than this; but this place very comforble. _I_ no fraid +freeze here." + +"Well, George, I must turn doctor now, and try to stop this cold; for +as yet it is no worse. Peter, make a fire outside, and heat the iron +bailer full of salt water. Regnie, reach me my powder-horn and the +little tin cup of the lantern." + +Pouring four drachms of gunpowder into the cup, he filled it about half +full of water, and setting it near the hot coals under the red hot +cylinder, soon dissolved the explosive, forming an inky fluid. From the +ammunition bucket he drew a small phial, which had been filled with +olive oil, and pouring some hot water and a little shot into it, he soon +cleaned it for the reception of the fluid, which he filtered through +several thicknesses of his woolen gun-cover. About a fluid ounce of a +rather dirty-looking solution of saltpeter resulted, to which a little +sugar was added. + +"Here we have," said the man of drugs, "some three drachms of saltpeter +in solution, of which, by and by, you may take about one sixth, letting +it gargle your throat going down. Peter, is the water hot?" + +"Yes, broder, water boilin' hover. What do with him now?" + +"I want to soak his feet; but what shall we do it in? I can fill my +seal-skin boots, but they would be awkward." + +"There's the ammunition bucket," suggested Regnie. + +"That was made to hold peas and such like, and leaks like a sieve." + +"Put the rubber blanket around it," interposed the patient. + +"That's the idea," said La Salle. And hanging up one of the bird-skin +rugs in its place, the "mackintosh" was drawn and carefully knotted +around the rim of the shaky receptacle. Into this the hot water was +poured, and being duly tempered to a safe degree of heat, Waring removed +his boots and stockings, and, seated on a couple of decoys, bathed his +feet and ankles for about fifteen minutes. + +In the mean time, the portion of the sleeping-room farthest from the +door, was carefully fitted with dry twigs and one of the bird-skin +coverlets, and the lad's stockings were thoroughly dried at the stove +until they felt warm and comfortable. Taking one of the discarded +cotton-flannel shooting-gowns, duly warmed at the fire, La Salle and +Regnar carefully and energetically dried and rubbed Waring's +extremities, now warmed and suffused with blood drawn from the overtaxed +blood-vessels of the head and body, after which his warmed and dried +foot-gear were replaced, and he was tucked away in his berth. + +"Does your chest pain you at all, George?" asked his attendant, as he +drew the thick feather covering over the sick boy. + +"No; but my throat does a little. It feels much better, though, than it +did." + +La Salle thought a moment, then drew from a little cavity in the wall +near the door a small junk of bird-fat, which he melted in the tin cup. +"I will rub your throat with goose-grease. It is a great favorite of the +old women, and will keep the air from your tender skin, if it doesn't +relieve the soreness of the inflamed membranes." So saying, he rubbed in +the warm, soft fat with his hands, covering the skin above the bronchial +tubes and the soft parts of the throat with the penetrating unguent, +then fastening a turn of his list gun-cover around his throat, he +replaced the covering, and taking his cap, went out into the night air, +and seeking the lookout, glanced eagerly out over the waste of ice. + +The night was clear and cold, with only an occasional puff of wind from +the westward; but the temperature was falling fast, and the snow-crust +broke under the foot with a sound ominous of biting cold. All around was +ice, and even if the light-houses along that coast were lighted in +winter, it is doubtful if the party were near enough to land to see any +except that of Point Escumenac, which at noon bore north-west and about +fifteen miles away. Since that time, the drift of the pack, at nightfall +evidently making eastward, or rather north-east, had probably increased +the distance to nearly forty miles. + +La Salle surveyed the wild scene around him--the pillars hewn from vast +masses of eternal ice by the shock of fearful collision, the slow action +of the sun, the corrosion of the waves, and the melting kisses of the +rain, and thus fashioned into fantastic mockeries of fane, monument, +tower, and spire, even by daylight were strangely wonderful, but under +the mystic night and the weird light of the stars, seemed like icy +statues, in whose chill bosoms were incarnated the genii of desolation +and death. + +"Ay! thus we move, helpless, lost, and beyond the aid of man, convoyed +by a fleet of fantasies into a sailless sea, and to an unknown fate. +Well I know that by to-morrow, myriads of eyes will watch for signs of +our presence from Canseau to Gaspe, and on both shores of St. Jean; but +they will look in vain. A week hence they will hear of our disappearance +in Baltimore, and Paulie will know her own heart at last. I may not +regret this if I escape with life, for well I know we are like to come +back as men from the dead." + +"Why do you speak of death, La Salle?" said a voice in good and even +polished French; and La Salle, turning, found that Regnar stood beside +him. An air of education which he had never noticed before seemed to +pervade this youth, who spoke English almost execrably, and had shown +little more than a passable knowledge of the coast of Labrador, and a +keen insight into all the varied craft of hunter and fisherman. + +"I was only thinking," said La Salle, evasively, speaking in the same +language. "But how is it that you, who know French and German, speak +English so badly?" + +"You will know some time, but not to-night; although I may tell you +this--that I shall receive from you the greatest good that man will ever +confer, or at least the realization of some long-cherished desire. God +grant that it may end my long search for him, although my life end with +it." + +"Of whom do you speak?" asked La Salle, impressed with his manner. + +"Regnar don't care talk now. Nights getting cold; so come in and look at +sick boy. Ha, ha, ha! You've been tinman, tailor, cook, navigator, and +now you're doctor. Come on!" And La Salle almost doubted his own sanity +as he followed the old Regnie of his Labrador voyage down the side of +the mound, where a moment ago an unsuspected, hidden fire had revealed +itself. + +Just as they were about to enter the little outer enclosure, La Salle +laid his hand on the arm of his companion. "Regnie, don't for your life +let the others know that I have doubt of our safety; and keep up poor +Waring's spirits if you can." + +Cheerfully and firmly the answer came back in good Parisian, "I will not +fail you. I have no fear now, and the life of the ice is nothing new to +me. When the winds have done their work, and we no longer look for the +loom of the cliffs, or the hazy purple of the distant forests, I will +take my turn in your place." And grasping La Salle's hand, Orloff +stepped into the chamber. + +"How you do, George? Here's the doctor again," and La Salle, with no +little anxiety, approached his patient. + +"I have no chills now, but my throat is still quite sore, and I have +some fever, I think." + +La Salle laid his hand on the boy's forehead. It was parched with fever, +but a close search failed to discover any signs of dangerous throat +symptoms. He looked at his watch. + +"It is now ten o'clock. You may take another dose of the nitre, and +gargle your throat well with a little of it. Are you warm enough?" + +"Yes, thank you. I guess I can sleep now, and you had better go to bed +too. Good night!" + +"Good night, George. You'll be better to-morrow." + +And placing a few billets in the cylinder, La Salle rolled himself up in +his heavy coat, drew off his long moccason boots, and placing his +stockinged feet where the heat of the fire would dry the insensible +perspiration they had gathered during the day, he prepared for a short +nap. + +"Regnie, keep up the fire for a couple of hours, and then call me, for +it grows cold, and we must not let George get chilled again, on any +account." + +About one, La Salle awoke to find Regnie still awake, and keeping up a +good fire, although he used the wood but sparingly. The cold had +evidently increased, and La Salle drew on his boots, which had improved +much in drying. As Regnar turned to his berth, he said,-- + +"It cold to-night, colder to-morrow, and warm to-morrow night. Then we +be in the open Gulf, and the warm winds will come again." + +George slept but restlessly; and once more during the night a small dose +of the sirup was administered. About three o'clock, Peter awoke, and +said,-- + +"Why no let Peter watch? No doctor, but keep good fire and let you +sleep." + +"Well, Peter," said La Salle, "I shall be glad to rest; but you must be +careful of the wood, and put in as little as will keep up a blaze, for +we have not a great deal, and that not of a very good kind." + +"Me know no woods here, and Peter will not waste any, you better +b'lieve." + +Laying his hand on George's head, he felt a slight moisture; and +covering him still more closely, he lay down with a hopeful heart, and, +wearied in mind and body, slept until nearly nine the next morning. + +Regnar was broiling the dismembered body of a goose at the rude grate, +and at that moment was arranging on a slender spit alternate portions of +the heart, liver, and fat of the bird. After being seasoned with salt, +this was rapidly rotated in front of the fire by Peter, who watched with +much interest the preparation of three similar sticks. + +La Salle sprang to his feet, and first hastened to Waring, who professed +himself cured, and wanted to get up. + +"No, George; you must lie abed to-day, and accept a cup of _very_ weak +coffee and some bread. I shall let you eat nothing. You see," he +continued, as the boy broke into a fit of coughing, "that the cold has +not left you yet, and I have no doubt you feel some pain in your chest +now." + +"Yes, it has gone into my lungs a little, but will wear off soon, I +guess. It always does at home." + +"Well, we can't risk anything here; so I'll get your coffee, and after +breakfast, if Peter will get me a little pitch off the branches, I'll +make something for your cough." + +The birds were well cooked and quite appetizing; and as he rose Peter +handed La Salle a small handful of Canada balsam, which in the shape of +small tears clung to many of the larger branches on the floor. + +"That enough? If not, Peter get more." + +"That will do--thank you, Peter." + +But the eye of the speaker caught a look directed by Regnar at the roof +of the hut, from whence exuded a few drops of a blacker resin. + +"Yes, I see Stockholm tar; that will help the cure much." + +Placing the two in an iron spoon, rudely made from a fragment of the +decoys, they were gently melted, and a small quantity of sugar added, +with enough powdered biscuit to enable the mass to be rolled into little +balls. + +"You must chew these and swallow the tar-water thus formed, and finally +the resins themselves, and you will find your cough much loosened by +to-morrow." + +"Sposum you no want boat-hook, me make draw-knife of him. He steel, I +s'pose." + +"Yes, Peter. The spike is very fine steel, I believe, as I told the +blacksmith I wanted it light and sharp. If you want it you can have it; +that is, if you feel sure you can make a knife." + +"Mos' all Ingin make own knife. You never see Ingin knife in store. In +old time old men say Ingin make work-knife, war-knife, arrow-head, axe, +all ting he want when can't buy. Me make best knife in tribe 'fore me +lose arm. Some one must strike for me, an' I turn iron now." + +Going out, he brought in several fragments of hard wood, and the spike +or head of the boat-hook. Making a hot fire, he placed the spike +therein, and sinking the edge of an axe in one of the decoys, got Regnar +to strike for him. + +"Now no strike hard--strike quick and heasy, right that place every +time;" and taking the glowing iron from the fire, he laid it on the +light anvil. + +It was wonderful to see how, like one who uses a trip-hammer, he drew +the iron under the rapidly-plied axe, until the round spike was a +narrow, thin blade about six inches in length. Then shifting the angle +of the iron a little, he directed Regnar how to beat down one side to an +edge, and lastly how to curve the flat of the blade a little at the +point, or rather end. Then, producing several small pieces of lime and +sandstone, found among the earth kept in the boats, for the use of +snow-blind gunners, he proceeded to rub down the edge to something like +fitness for use. + +After this he carefully tempered the blade, and with a penknife cut out +a handle, in which he inserted it, lashing the two firmly together with +twine made from one of the cod-lines. Long and patient labor with his +few pebbles, and the leather of his cowhide boots, brought the _waghon_ +at length to a keen, smooth edge; and great was Peter's joy when he +again carried at his belt a tool so indispensable to the Indian hunter +and workman. + +That day, the fourth of their drift, brought little change in their +position--the icebergs frozen together, were drifting, if at all, in one +vast body. Towards night a north-west wind sprang up, and the +thermometer, had the party possessed such an instrument, would probably +have registered at least -10 deg.. A watch was kept all night to keep the +fire replenished, and all the appliances used to keep out the cold air, +and economize heat, scarcely kept the temperature up as high as +32 deg., +the freezing point of water. + +Waring was kept carefully covered up, and professed to suffer nothing +from cold, having all the extra clothing of the party. It was luckily +the last cold snap of the season, and with the sunrise of the next day, +Sunday, the fifth day of their voyaging, the wind had given place to a +calm, although cold, clear, bracing atmosphere. + +After the usual ablutions, which were never neglected by the party, +followed by breakfast, the ice being closely frozen together, a walk to +a high berg at the distance of a quarter of a mile was proposed, as it +was thought that the course of the ice should bring them in sight at +least, of the North Cape of St. Jean. This was generally acceded to by +all but Waring, who preferred to remain and keep up the fire. + +Taking their weapons, an ice-axe, and a light coil of rope, the three +soon arrived, without misadventure, at the foot of an irregular mound of +ice, at least fifty feet in height. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE CHAPEL BELL.--THE FIRST SEAL.--THE NORTH CAPE.--A SNOW-SQUALL. + + +The way was rough, and not without its dangers, for more than once +Peter, who led the file, sprang just in time to save himself, as the +treacherous crust above some yawning chasm between two heavy "Pans" +crumbled under his feet; and once he fell headlong, clutching at a +friendly spur, just in time to escape tumbling among a lot of jagged and +flinty shards of young "crushed ice." + +The wind was light at times, coming in puffs and squalls; and although +the day was bright, a mist here, snowy white, there crimson with +sunbeams, again darkening into purplish blue, and elsewhere of a heavy +and leaden obscurity, hung over the greater part of the sky, and made it +a doubtful task to prognosticate, with any degree of certainty, the +state of the weather for even an hour in advance. + +As they proceeded, a strangely solemn, though faint and distant, sound +broke the oppressive silence. The three halted and listened intently. +Again, low as the moan of the dying surges on a distant bar, the sound +came thrilling over the icy sea to the southward, and each face flushed +with a new hope of speedy release from their wild prison-house. + +"Hark!" said Orloff, raising his hand. "I hear the sound of a church +bell. We must be near the land." + +"It must be from the tower of the Tignish Chapel, then," said La Salle, +"for no other land save the North Cape lies in our course." + +Again a blast came whistling among the defiles, and again a calm +succeeded. All listened in breathless silence, and again the wished-for +sound which spoke of the proximity of human society and Christian +worship, came pealing across the desolate wastes, deserted of everything +having life, and impressing the fancy of the beholder as does the +desolation of long-forgotten cities, or the shattered marbles of the +unremembered dead. + +"I know that place. That bell Tignish Chapel. Two year ago I camp on +Tignish Lun. Make basket, catch trout, shoot flover. Go hevery Sunday to +mass,--that same place,--take squaw, papoose, boy, girl, all folks. Know +that bell, sure. To-day Sunday, and folks going into chapel." + +"He must be right," said La Salle, "but we are now near the berg, and +from its top we shall see if we are indeed near the North Cape. Make +haste, Peter; perhaps we may get near enough to-day to make our way to +the shore." + +A broad, level floe was all that intervened between the party and the +berg which they sought. Running across it; although with some little +difficulty, for the ice was covered with slush concealed by a crust +insufficient to bear the weight of a man, they soon reached the berg. It +was evidently of Arctic origin, for it was much larger than any of the +many "pinnacles" in sight. It was composed of ice, which, wherever the +snow had failed to lodge, appeared hard, transparent, and prismatic in +the rays of the sun. Its sides were steep and precipitous, and at first +the members of the party began to fear that they should be unable to +mount the steep escarpment of eight or ten feet high, which formed its +base, which was further defended by a moat of mingled sludge and rounded +fragments, cemented by young ice. + +Had the opposite bank been attainable, any of the party would have +readily leaped across, trusting to their speed to save themselves from +immersion among the rolling fragments; but no one cared to risk the +treacherous footing beneath that inaccessible wall. + +"I'm afraid we shall have to go back to our own lookout, and trust to a +shift of the ice," said La Salle. "Can you think of any way of climbing +that pinnacle, Peter?" + +"No way do that, unless cut a way into that hice, and then no safe +place to stan' on, sartain, this time," answered the Indian. + +"Let me have that rope," said Regnar, quietly. + +Taking the light Manilla painter, he proceeded to form a large loop, and +grasping it near the running knot, laid half a dozen turns across his +hand. Then swinging the coil around his head, he launched the rope at a +group of jagged points, which projected just above the edge of the +lowest part of the cliff. Again and again the noose came back unreeved, +and again and again the patient boy, with rare strength and skill, flung +the ample noose over the slippery spires of ice. At last, however, +success rewarded his efforts, and a strong pull, with the united weight +of all three, failed to start the closely-drawn bowline. Taking the axe +and bearing the most of his weight on the cord, Regnar crossed the +bending surface and shifting fragments, and finding a precarious footing +on the berg, wound the rope around his left arm, and with the right cut +steps into the brittle ice-wall. + +In a few moments he ascended the cliff, and the others, leaving their +guns behind them, found little difficulty in following him. Leaving the +rope still fast, the three ascended the berg, which rose high above the +surrounding ice. Their first look was to the southward. For a moment the +distance and the ever-present snow deceived them; but the sun came from +behind a cloud, and they saw, afar off, the red sandstone face of the +snow-covered cliffs of the North Cape. + +"They are now about twelve miles distant, and, as I judge, there can be +but little open water between us and the shore. Let us hasten back and +get the boat ready, for if this wind only holds, and no snow or rain +comes on, we shall soon be able to reach the shore." + +At that moment something fell with a splash into a small, partially open +pool, on the farther side of the berg, and all saw a huge form disappear +under the surface. Each started, felt mechanically for his weapons, and +in brief monosyllables of Esquimaux, Micmac, and English, ejaculated the +name of the animal whose presence none had even suspected. + +"_Ussuk!_" whispered Regnar. + +"_Nashquan_," murmured Peter. + +"A seal," said La Salle. + +Orloff slid down the berg, caught the firmly fastened cord, swung +himself over the ice-foot, skipped lightly over the yielding fragments, +seized his gun, and returned in almost less time than it takes to +describe his movements. The seal, a huge male, had come to the surface +among the floating fragments at the farther side of the pool, some fifty +yards away, and now lay with his round head, protruding eyes, and stiff +bristles, strikingly expressing anger, fear, and curiosity--the last +predominating. Regnar threw his gun to his shoulder. + +"What size shot have you?" said La Salle, laying his hand on his +shoulder. + +"Two buckshot cartridge,--heavy enough for him. If he were old 'hood' +now! Look! I show you something." + +The lad took deliberate aim, and then, with the full force of his +capacious lungs, gave a sharp, shrill whistle, which almost deafened his +companions, and was re-echoed from the icy walls on the farther side of +the pool, in piercing reverberations. + +Surprised and affrighted by the unusual sound, the huge ussuk rose half +his length above the water, and looked around him. The icy cliffs echoed +the crashing volley, as both barrels poured forth their deadly hail +almost in unison, and the huge animal settled down amid incarnadined +waters and ice crimsoned with his life-blood, shot to death through the +brain so skilfully that scarce a struggle or a tremor bore witness that +the principle of life had departed. + +Descending the berg, a small fragment of ice capable of bearing a man +was found, and Regnar, taking the end of his line, stepped upon it, and +with his gunstock paddled off to the dead seal, and affixing the line to +one of its flippers, pulled himself ashore, and joined the others in +towing the game to the berg. Landing it on a little shelf, La Salle and +Peter began to speculate as to how the huge carcass, which must have +weighed five hundred pounds, could be hauled over the berg, and safely +landed. Regnar laughed at the idea. + +"We want not the meat--only the skin, blubber, and liver. Why not skin +here? Save much work for nothin'. Here, Peter, give me knife." + +Peter drew the long blade from his belt, and Regnar making a single +incision from chin to tail, the body seemed fairly to roll out of the +thick, soft blubber coat which adhered to the skin. In less than two +minutes Regnar had finished what La Salle had no doubt would take at +least a good half hour. With equal deftness the liver was extracted, and +a few pounds of meat taken from the flanks. + +Fastening the whole to the line, it was drawn to the top of the berg, +and thence down the slope to the rude stairs. As the weight was nearly +half that of a man, Regnar merely placed the bight of the rope around +the object on which it had caught. Its shape excited curiosity, and a +few strokes of the axe cleared off its covering of ice. + +"This ice from Greenland," said Regnar. "Here is the stone the Inuit +uses for pots--what you call soapstone." + +"Well, I hope we shall not need it," said La Salle, "for the North Cape +is now only ten miles away, and it is not yet noon. I want the blubber +for fuel, or I would not waste time with this skin even." + +"We shall have all we want to get back to George. See how the clouds +close in. Plenty snow right away now. Come, Peter, get across quick." + +La Salle groaned in spirit, as, from the berg which he had reascended, +he saw the distant red ledges shut out from view, and marked the first +scattering flakes fall silently through the now calm atmosphere. Looking +down, he saw that Peter and Regnar had got safely across the chasm, and +almost despairing of the fate of his party, he followed down the rude +steps, and across the treacherous bridge. + +Letting the line slacken a little, Regnar gave a deft whirl, which cast +off the bight from the rock, and the party, dragging behind them their +prize, retraced their path amid what soon became a blinding snow-squall. +Luckily their track had been through deep snow, and therefore not easily +covered up; for when they reached their own island of refuge, they could +see scarce a rod in any direction. + +Regnar dragged his prize to the little enclosure, and, pointing to the +snow-flake, said,-- + +"Soon they grow larger, softer, then turn to rain. Then this skin and +our boat must cover us, for the snow-water will spoil our house." + +At that moment a flaw from the westward bore on its wings a repetition +of the sounds they had heard in the morning, but nearer and more +distinct than before. Heavily, measured, and mournfully, came the tones +of the great bell, as the storm-vapors shut down closer, and the west +wind blew fiercer across the icebound sea. + +"They toll for the dead," said Regnar. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE PACK OPENS.--MYSTERIOUS MURMURS.--LOVE SCENES AND SOUNDS. + + +All day long the snow fell heavily, and although the wind blew with no +great violence, it was evidently increasing their drift eastward into +the open Gulf. At night the temperature was perceptibly higher, and as +they gathered around the light of the rude brazier in the centre of +their ice-cave, each for the first time opened his heavy outer clothing, +and felt the cool zephyrs that, from time to time, found their way +through the door curtain, to be a welcome visitant. + +The fire had melted a deep hollow in the centre, which was naturally the +lowest part of the floor, and Peter quietly arose, and bringing in the +axe, cut a narrow but deep gutter out through the doorway. Reverently +that night the little group bowed their heads as Waring, with his sweet +voice, led the singing of one of the old familiar hymns, dear alike to +Churchman and Dissenter, and La Salle prayed that the hand of the +Father might be with them in their coming trials. + +For already the boat had received her scanty store of food and fuel, +their weapons stood close at hand, a pile of cooked meats was cooling +near the door, and all knew that a few hours might again find them +seeking a new shelter, among perils compared to which those already +passed, were "trifles light as air." + +Heretofore they had been exposed to no wide sweep of seas, and had never +felt the solid ice beneath them rolling and plunging through mountainous +surges, or dashed in terrible collision against its companions of the +dismembered ice-pack. Now every mile which they drifted increased the +sweep of the sea, and in the centre of the wide Gulf, the southerly +winds would scarcely fail to open, at least, the outer sections of the +floes. + +As they concluded their brief Sabbath exercises, La Salle drew from his +vest pocket a stump of lead pencil, and seemed at a loss for something +on which to write. + +"Have any of you a piece of paper?" he asked. + +All answered in the negative; but a thought seemed to strike him, and +drawing from an inner pocket a much crumpled letter, he opened it, and +seemed to consider. The envelope was worn out, but had preserved the +closely-written note paper within; and taking a single page, he spread +it on his gunstock, and, in broad-lined, coarsely-made letters, drew up +the following record of their present position and prospects:-- + + "OFF CAPE NORTH, SUNDAY, April 15, 186--. + + "TO WHOEVER MAY FIND THIS: This morning the undersigned, with George + Waring, Peter Mitchell, and Regnar Orloff, all well, were twelve + miles north-east of Cape North, but a snow storm prevented an attempt + to land. Knowing that, with the presently impending southerly storm, + we may have to leave our present refuge, I hereby assure those who + may find this of our present safety, and desire them to forward this + to the office of the Controller of Customs at Halifax, or St. John. + + (Signed) "CHARLES LA SALLE." + +"Regnie, please write this in French on the other side--will you?" said +the writer, as he finished. + +Orloff took the page, and turning it over, did as requested; but as he +finished signing his own name, he let the pencil drop from his fingers, +and for a moment found himself incapable of movement or expression. +Controlling himself with an effort, he folded the note neatly, and +returned it, with the pencil, to La Salle. + +"Who is your fair correspondent, M. La Salle?" said he, in French. + +La Salle, with flushed face and eyes lighted up with due resentment of +the other's curiosity, answered,-- + +"You seem to have read for yourself." + +Orloff's manner changed at once. + +"A thousand pardons, monsieur, but I have a good reason for asking the +lady's name." + +"Pauline H. Randall, as you may see for yourself," was the quiet reply. + +"One more question, sir. Do you know her middle name?" + +"I did, but cannot exactly recall it, as she never uses it in full, and +I have forgotten whether it is Hobel or Hubel; that it is one of the +two, I am pretty certain." + +A glance of mingled expression shot from the eyes of Orloff, but he +restrained himself with a visible effort, and he became again the +somewhat phlegmatic pilot of the Gulf shore. + +"Thank you, M. La Salle. You shall know more at a fitting season." + +Taking one of Waring's cartridge cases, La Salle forced the record into +its narrow chamber, and selecting a small strip of pine,--a part of the +thin side of his crushed float,--he stopped the cartridge with a +tightly-fitting wad, and fastened it to the board with a piece of stout +cord. On the white board he printed, in large letters, "Read the +contents of the case;" and going out, he placed it firmly upright on the +summit of the berg. + +At twelve that night the rain fell fast, the wind blew steadily from the +southward, and the undulations of the ice, from time to time, told that, +although safe in the very heart of the pack, yet still the field had +already resolved itself into its component parts. Towards midnight all +fell asleep, being satisfied that no immediate danger threatened them; +but at about half an hour before daybreak, Waring awoke, and placed a +few blocks on the smoldering embers. As he waited for them to burst into +a flame, he heard the air filled with confused murmurings, unlike any +sounds that he had previously experienced. Gradually they appeared to +draw nearer, to sound from all sides, to fill the air overhead, and even +at last to ascend from the depths below. Strangely sweet, yet sadly +plaintive, they at once charmed and terrified the poor boy, weak from +his recent illness, and worn with the anxieties of his situation. + +At last Regnar awoke, and to him Waring applied for an explanation of +the strange sounds. Orloff listened attentively, and answered with +paling cheeks,-- + +"Such are the melodies which my people say that the sad Necker sings by +the lonely river, when he bemoans his lot, in that Christ died not for +him. Doubtless the sea has its water spirits, and they now surround our +island of ice." + +Waring, unskilled in the folk-lore of Dane, Swede, and German, +answered,-- + +"It can't be that. It must be that some vessel is near us, or there is a +crew of wrecked sealers around us on the ice. Ah, Peter, are you +thinking of getting up. Listen to those sounds, and tell us what they +are--will you?" + +Peter listened gravely and attentively. + +"I not know that noise, brother. I know nearly all the cries of bird and +beast, and often I sleep all 'lone in the woods; hear howl, hear fox, +hear frog, hear everyting. Sometime I tink I know that noise; then I +tink I not know him at all. Get La Salle awake; ask him--he know." + +La Salle slept but lightly whenever there was need of vigil, and the +last words had fallen on his awakening ears. + +"What's the matter, Peter?" said he. + +"We hear many strange noise. I not know, George not know, Regnie not +know, none of us know. There it come again. What you call that?" + +La Salle listened a moment, went to the door, and then beckoned to his +companions to follow. The rain fell heavily, but the wind came warm and +gently from the balmy south, and no rude blast shrieked and sighed amid +the ice-peaks. The strange sounds were sweeter, louder, and apparently +nearer than before. Soft and sad as the strains of the disconsolate +Necker, plaintive as the mournings of men without hope, wild as the +cries of the midnight forest, and the sighings of wind-tossed branches. +La Salle laughed a low, glad laugh. + +"You may sleep soundly," said he; "the coots and ducks have come +northward, and the spring is here at last. To-morrow will bring us +sport to repletion, for the sounds you hear are the love-songs of the +sea-birds, whose voices, however harsh, grow sweet when the sun brings +back again the season of love and flowers." + +When the morn came, unheralded by sunbeams, and shrouded by leaden +rain-clouds, a veil of mist covered the vast ice-field, of which no two +masses retained their former proximity. A network of narrow channels +opened and closed continually among the dripping bergs, from whose sides +flashed the frequent cascade, and glimmered the shimmering avalanche of +dislodged snow. Amid this ever-shifting panorama, giving it life and +beauty, covering pool and channel with merry, restless knots of diving, +feeding, coquetting, quarreling swimmers, relieving the colorless ice +with groups of jetty velvet and scoter ducks, gray and white-winged +coots, crested mergansers in their gorgeous spring plumage, and fat, +lazy black ducks, with Lilliputian blue and green winged teal, filling +the air with the whirr of swift pinions, and the ceaseless murmur of the +mating myriads, rested from their long northward journey, a host such as +mortal eye hath seldom beheld, and which it hath fallen to the lot of +few sportsmen to witness and enjoy. + +"I kill many birds on _h_ice, in _quetan_, among sedge out on the bay, +but I never see such sight. I never think so many birds in the world +before," said Peter, as he loaded his double-barrel. + +"I been up Ivuctoke Inlet, on Greenland coast; down Disco saw great many +bird, but nothing like this," muttered Regnar. + +"It is almost too bad to kill any of these lovely creatures," said +George, whose loving nature drank in the full beauty of the scene; +"can't we do without them?" + +"We have only six birds, and some seal fat, meat, and liver. If it +closes the ice again we shall soon be short of food. So we'll get out +our floating decoys to leeward, and see what we can do to replenish our +larder." + +La Salle's plan was duly carried out. A couple of flocks of floating +decoys were anchored to a protruding spur of ice, and for an hour or so +the four had their fill of slaughter. Each was limited to three +cartridges apiece, and no one would fire except at an unusually large +flock. Peter brought down a goose with each barrel, and six brent with +his third shot; Regnar killed nine black duck with one barrel, five +velvet ducks with another, and six teal with the third. Waring +unexpectedly had a shot at a flock of Phalapores, and secured twelve of +these curious birds; but his third shot at a solitary goose failed, +owing to a defective cap. La Salle, after a single shot which killed a +brace of brent, was about to reload, and had just poured in a charge of +powder, when he suddenly crouched behind a hummock, and motioned to the +others to follow his example; then, pointing to a small lead just +opening between two bergs about two hundred yards away, he called the +attention of his companions to an enormous seal, even larger than their +victim of the day before. + +The new-comer was a prodigious "hooded" seal, and the loose skin which +enveloped his head was distended with air, and gave forth a hollow, +barrel-like sound, whenever, raising himself above the waves, he came +down with a heavy splash upon the surface. His aspect was savage and +ferocious, and he seemed looking for some object on which to wreak his +rancor; for from time to time he sent forth a savage cry, far hoarser +and prolonged than the whining bark which these animals usually utter. + +[Illustration:] + +"He's an ole male. He dreadful angry, and I s'pect some other one near +here. Yes, there he comes;" and Regnar pointed to another opening +between two massive floes, from whence, sounding a valorous defiance to +his challenger, emerged a second seal, even larger than the first. With +mutual animosity they darted towards each other, and the next moment +were engaged in a terrific combat. + +So quick were their evolutions as they fought, now above and now below +the surface of the water, that the eye could scarcely distinguish which, +for the moment, had a temporary advantage, although one was much darker +in hue, and more beautifully marked than the other. They sprang into the +air, they dived beneath the surface, they threw their heavy bodies +against each other, they tore each other with teeth and claws, and the +water was covered with bloody foam. + +La Salle watched the fray with divided interest. It was a new and +interesting lesson in natural history, and he wanted the huge skins and +blubber of the combatants, who fought on unconscious of their hidden +audience, and the deep interest taken in their movements. Half a dozen +times La Salle had raised his huge gun to fire, and lowered it again, +unable to get a sure aim, so sudden were the changes of the conflict. At +last, wearied but unconquered, both lay almost motionless upon the +water, tearing at each other's throats like bull-dogs who have fought to +mutual exhaustion. + +As his heavy weapon settled into deadly aim, Regnar touched La Salle's +shoulder. "No shot heavy enough for those fellows; must have bullet. +That hood turn anything but rifle-ball." + +By the side of the hummock lay a short piece of pine board, once the +movable thwart of the float. La Salle beckoned to Peter. "Make me out of +this a stout, sharp-headed arrow, with a heavy shaft." Peter doubtfully +drew his _waghon_ and split off a piece, which in about a minute was +whittled into a short, stout arrow, headed only with a wooden point, the +largest diameter of which fitted pretty accurately to the bore of the +heavy piece. La Salle, meanwhile, had drawn his shot, and motioning to +Peter to load a barrel of his own gun in like manner, turned to watch +the waning conflict, which, notwithstanding the exhaustion of the +combatants, had evidently produced little more damage than a few savage +flesh wounds. + +In another moment Peter had fitted another arrow to his own gun, and +awaited the word. Regnar whistled sharp and shrill, the combatants +suddenly separated, and each, rising until his flippers showed above the +surface, looked on all sides for the source of this sudden interruption. +At once both guns roared in unison, a distance of scarce twenty yards +intervening between the marksmen and their prey. Peter's mark, the +largest and most beautiful of the two, fell dead, with its head +transfixed with the arrow, which waved feebly above the crimsoned +surface, as the huge body trembled with the throes of dissolution. La +Salle's aim was less sure, and the novel missile tore through the neck, +just below the ear. A fountain of blood sprang ten feet into the air as +the dying animal fell back, spurning the bloody pool with tail and +flippers; but the mighty heart sent forth its wasted life-tide, until +its current was exhausted and the powerful "old hood" was like his +whilom rival--a lifeless mass of inert flesh. + +"Well, I never see such ting shoot before. I use duck shot, goose shot, +sometime nails, and sometime little stones, and once in woods I kill +gleat bear with junk of lead: but I never shoot arrow before." Thus said +Peter, wondering at his own achievement. + +Waring had noted with great curiosity the effect of the new missile. +"Where did you learn that, Charley? To think that a piece of soft wood +should kill such huge animals!" + +La Salle had hastened to launch the boat, but stopped to answer a +question in which all seemed to take an interest. "About three hundred +years ago, Captain John Hawkins, a stout skipper of Devon, and one of +those old sea-dogs who helped to conquer the great Spanish Armada, had +these arrows, which he called 'sprights,' to distinguish them from those +still used with the English longbow, made in large quantities, to be +used in the muskets of his men. He claimed that they passed through and +through the bulwarks of the Spanish ships, and highly commended them to +his contemporaries. I should prefer bullets myself, but have no doubt +that they attain a great range, and have, before this, driven a piece of +soft pine nearly five inches into a hard spruce post. I should feel +perfectly safe in meeting a bear or wolf with no other missile in my +gun." + +Regnar jumped into the boat, and the two pushed off and secured the +seals, both of which were very fat, but covered with blood, and much cut +about the head and neck. Securing them with a rope, they returned to the +shore, and with some difficulty hauled them out upon the berg, where +Peter and Regnar hastened to skin them, and preserve such portions of +the meat as they required. The heads were also split to procure the +brains, and the large sinews extracted, after which the bodies were +consigned to the sea, and at once sank down until they were lost from +sight in the depths of the Gulf. + +The three skins were then carefully stripped of blubber and membrane, +and Peter, taking the brains, mixed them with water into a soft paste, +which was spread over the inner side of each skin. Each was then folded +once, and then formed into a compact roll, tightly bound with the +sinews, after which the three skins were suspended at the top of the hut +above the stove, to await the softening action of the brain-paste. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A SAIL.--THE SEALING GROUNDS.--THE ESQUIMAUX LAMP.--AN INDIAN LEGEND. + + +About a hundred pounds of blubber lay upon the ice, and Carlo was +luxuriating on a whole hind quarter, which was given up to his especial +use, to make up for the rather short commons he had of late been reduced +to. About fifty birds lay behind the hummock, and Peter, who was anxious +to secure a bird-skin coverlet for his own use, set himself down to skin +the finest ones. Waring joined him in the task. + +"There's the big berg where we killed ussuk yesterday. Less go and look +around. Perhaps we see land," said Regnar. + +"No, Regnie; we are fifty miles from any land now, and I think about one +third of the way across to the Magdalen Islands. Still, I should like to +take an observation, and see where we are; and we may not have such a +calm spell again for two or three days." + +Pulling off to the berg, they found the shelf on which lay the dead +seal, and climbing the ice-cliff, they saw spread out before them a +strange and pleasing spectacle. The fog had lifted, for it was now +nearly noon, and although some rain still fell, the eye could see the +broken ice-pack seamed with channels, and scarred with pools of varying +size, for at least eight miles in any direction. Regnar started, turned +to his companion, and seizing his shoulder with convulsive energy, +pointed to the east. A long ribbon of black vapor hung over the ice, low +down on the horizon, and beneath it towered the topsail of a brigantine, +going free before the wind. + +[Illustration] + +"It is a sealing steamer, boring out of the pack," said Regnar. + +La Salle's first impulse was to rush to the boat, and rejoin his +comrades, to set signals, burn bonfires--anything which might possibly +call the attention of those on board. Then he considered the futility of +such endeavors, and he turned to his comrade,-- + +"We can't signal her now, Regnar, and we won't excite in our friends +hopes which cannot fail to be disappointed. We shall see her again +soon." + +Regnar looked around them, cast glances of admiration on the abundance +of animal life presented to their view, gave a look of approval to his +friend, and answered in his Esquimaux-English,-- + +"It is good. I fear not. That steamer sail away to-day, for wind fair. +If wind east to-morrow, she sail this way. If wind north, she go south; +but she no leave this place till she beats the pack, like a hound. Look +there--see that floe. Plenty seal there to load one vessel." + +The view was indeed charming, for ice and water were alive with birds, +and among them moved in every direction the bullet heads of many seals. + +About three miles to the eastward lay a large pan, and around it the +water was dark with the older amphibia, while from it came, in the +occasional calm intervals, the unceasing whine, which the baby seal +never foregos for a moment, except when asleep or feeding. + +"We want more skins, master," said the boy. "We could soon fill our +boat--we two." + +A cold puff came from the westward, and a slight break showed itself in +the north-west. + +"We shall have clear weather and a westerly breeze after sunset," said +La Salle. "We will get ready to-night, and to-morrow we will have a +battle among the seals." + +Retracing their steps, they entered their boats, and returned to their +friends, to whom they imparted the news of the proximity of the +sealing-grounds. + +"We need about ten large skins, and some smaller ones. So let us get +ready to-night, and if the weather is favorable, visit the 'nursery' +to-morrow." + +So saying, La Salle took one of the large floating decoys made of cork +and canvas, and painted black, and drawing a nail from the broken boat, +fastened it to the end of a strip from the bottom--in fact, one of the +runners. This was planted beside the strip, sustaining the record +contained in the copper case, and formed a beacon, easily distinguished +against the lighter ice. + +Guns were cleaned, knives and axes sharpened, for the soapstone boulder +had been brought from the berg, and afforded quite a good whetstone, to +patient labor; and Peter, with his knife, finished, in the course of the +evening, a number of wooden bolts for himself, La Salle, and Regnar; and +even Waring fitted a couple into two of the brass shells of his +breech-loader. + +Regnar took the remains of the steel boat-hook, and succeeded in +straightening the hook, which he drew down into the shape of a rude +chisel. Peter tempered it for him, and then, with this rude tool and an +axe, he split the boulder of soapstone into halves, making two +bowl-shaped pieces, about fifteen inches across, in the line of +cleavage. One of these he proceeded to hollow out into an Esquimaux +lamp, for the stock of wood had been largely drawn upon during the cold +spell just over, and only about twenty decoys remained unburnt. Waring +sat next him, unraveling one of the old cotton-flannel over-shirts, and +twisting the fibres into large wicks; while La Salle made a cover of the +last remaining sheet-iron decoy, with holes for six wicks. As they sat +around the fire, Waring suddenly broke the silence. + +"Charley," said he, "you have never told your story, although all the +rest of the club took their turn. We are not making much noise with our +work. Can't you give us your story now, to while away the evening?" + +La Salle was at first disposed to comply, but his eye fell on the dark +features of Peter, opposite him. + +"Peter," said he, "tell us one of the tales your old people tell around +the winter fire in the long, cold evenings. Tell us of Teahm or +Kit-pus-e-ag-a-now." + +"How you know them?" asked the Indian, surprised out of his usual +self-possession. "You speak Micmac too?" + +"O, no, Peter; but I have heard many of these old tales, and I know the +lads would like to hear them too." + +"Yes, yes, Peter," added Waring, "let us have one, by all means." + +Peter laid aside his pipe, for he still retained a little of his +treasured tobacco, and in a slow, sententious tone repeated one of those +tribal legends which are all that keep alive the fire of patriotism and +national pride, in the breasts of a people who find themselves +strangers, outcasts, and without a country in the land of their birth, +once theirs alone. + + +PETER'S STORY. + +"The old people were camped long, long ago, near the Oolastook, where +now stands St. John. All this lan' Indian then. No 'hite man live here +that time, and the hunter always find game plenty--plenty moose, plenty +bear, plenty fish, plenty everyting. + +"Then Indians not so wicked as now, and God had not sent 'hite men to +punish them for their sins. But even then they fought each other; and +between my people and the Quedetchque--that my name; you call 'em +Mohawk, I b'lieve--there was war, all time war. + +"The Quedetchque come down every fall, follow down banks of river, wait +alound village until all my people asleep; make warwhoop, fire arrows, +set fire to _womegun_, lun off with prisoner, and plenty scalp. One time +all my people away, only squaw and children in town; Quedetchque +war-party come, burn an' kill; get plenty scalp of women and boy, and +chief take away Coquan, what you call 'Lainbow,' wife of great chief +'Tamegun,' the tomahawk. + +"They hurry home fas', but the snow fall thick, an' soon Tamegun an' one +other man come home, fin' wigwam burnt, an' dead people all alound. They +tighten belts, take bow, knife, an' axe, and follow on track. + +"One night they find tracks in snow, and soon come up to the camp. Many +warriors in that camp--make long camp, and door at each end, and fire at +door. All Quedetchque inside take off moccason and bathe sore feet in +big birch-bark tub near door; then wait until Coquan mend moccasons. All +this Tamegun see, and he find out where his squaw sit in lodge. + +"Then he creep up like wildcat, and peep through bark so close he could +almos' touch her; but he only lift edge of bark, and slide in wampum +belt. Coquan work war-belt for him, and know who it is at once. Then she +go out, an' they talk together, far from the camp. + +"Then Coquan go back into camp, and take all the moccasons outside, and +set the tubs of dirty water outside each door. Then she see Tamegun an' +his friend tie rope across door, jus' above ground, and the Lainbow slip +out again. Then Micmacs catch up tubs and throw water on the fires; all +out in a minute. + +"Both cly the warwhoop many times at the door, an' the woman shoot +arrows through the bark. All the Quedetchque jump up, take knife an' +axe, think Micmacs got into the tent. All is dark; see nothing; think +everybody enemy. They stab with knife, cly war-cly, strike with axe, +kill each other. Some lun out doors, tumble over cord. Micmacs kill +every one. At last all dead but two boys, and Tamegun tie these to +trees. + +"Then Tamegun get scalp, skin, beads, knife, spear, everyting he want. +Make three taboggin; load all they can carry; then set fire to camp and +burn all up. Then, when all ready, Tamegun draw his knife, an' cut +prisoners loose. + +"'Go back to Quedetchque,' he say. 'They are squaws an' cowards. Tell +them come no more into Meegum-Ahgee,--in Micmac land,--for two Micmac +men an' a squaw have kill all your people. Go! You are too young to die. +Your flesh is soft. Come back when your scalps are fit for a Micmac's +belt.' + +"So Tamegun got home all light, an' Quedetchque come no more for many +years. But my people no more fight. Many die in battle long ago. Many +die of small-pox an' fever, and now we are few. So it will be until He +comes for whom all Indians wait. The story is ended." + + * * * * * + +Thus in rude English, Peter related one of the many tales, which still +serve to keep alive a people's pride in the glories of bygone days, so +unlike their present degradation, that to the general observer the +civilized Indian _seems_ to know nothing of the past, to be scarcely +conscious of his ignoble surroundings and circumstances, and to have no +care or hope for a brighter future. La Salle knew well the wild legend +of the Deliverer, in whom, in spite of his Catholic faith, the Indian +everywhere has an inherent trust, as the slowly but surely-coming +protector and restorer, of his ancient happiness. + +"Thank you, Peter," said he, kindly. "Your people were a brave race, and +true as steel to your _Wenooch_ (i.e., French). They fought as long as +their allies dared to strive; and it was long after the last French +fortress surrendered that the warriors met at Bay Verte, to become true +subjects to the king they had fought against for years." + +"Yes," said Peter, sadly. "My people once strong and brave; now they +waste away like the snow. I know many families almost gone, an' but few +pure Indian live this end of island. We see it, if 'hite people think +not, but we do not care to let them see our tears." + +There was a simple pathos in the broken words of this unlearned man--for +he was no savage--which went to the hearts of his hearers; and La Salle +felt more strongly than ever, the cruel cowardice of that popular +outcry, which denies a whole people all share of innate nobility and +virtue, and visits on a deceived and wronged race, both their own sins +and the short-comings of those who should be their natural protectors. + +The party finished their various undertakings, carefully removing their +litter. La Salle and Regnar went outside to take a last look at the sea +and sky. The stars were visible here and there, through the dispersing +clouds, and the drip of melting ice was no longer heard, for the +temperature had again fallen below the freezing point. + +"We are drifting south of east," said Regnar, quietly, "and unless +picked up will probably clear the south point of the Magdalen Islands." + +"How can you tell that?" asked La Salle. + +"Easily enough," said the lad, talking still in French. "The wind is +westerly, and the current runs from north to south." + +"But how can you decide on the points of the compass?" persisted La +Salle. + +For the first time the boy seemed to wonder at the question, and to +doubt the wisdom of his friend. + +"Who can fail to know?" said he, quietly, "when he can see in the +heavens above him, the steady light of the Polar Star?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE BREEDING-GROUNDS OF THE SEAL.--A CURIOUS SIGHT.--A SHARP +ENCOUNTER.--ICE CHANGES. + + +Early the next morning the breakfast was hurried over, and a survey of +the ice disclosed little change from the conditions of the day before, +except that the natural attraction of floating bodies for each other was +evidently slowly closing the pools and intervening channels. + +Leaving Carlo to guard their dwelling, and tying the black "McIntosh" +blanket to the signal-staff, the four stepped into the somewhat narrow +quarters of their clumsy boat, and using the oars as paddles, set off +through a channel which led, as nearly as they could judge, in the +direction of the field of seals seen the day before, and whose constant +whining still gave evidence of their close proximity. + +Scarcely two miles of tortuous winding through channels of perfectly +calm water, led them into a pool in which hundreds of large seals were +disporting themselves, but which, on seeing the boat, scattered in all +directions, after a moment of stupidly curious exposure to the fire of +the intruders. + +"How lucky it is that these animals don't know their own power!" said +Waring. "If they chose they could soon upset the boat, and tear us in +pieces." + +"Not without losing at least half a dozen of their leaders, and that is +generally sufficient to deter hundreds of men, whose reasoning powers +are much superior to these amphibia," said La Salle. + +Passing into a narrow channel, in which at every turn they came close +upon swimming and sleeping seals, they suddenly swept up to the verge of +a vast and heavy field, on which thousands of the young of these animals +lay in helpless inability to move. Most of these were what are called +"white-coats,"--fat little things, covered with a thick coat of woolly +fur,--but a few had attained their third week of existence, and wore +their close-laid fur, whose silvery, sword-like fibres, when wet, lie +flat and smooth as glass. + +Among the smaller fry were many adult animals, both male and female--the +latter being generally engaged in suckling their young. + +The landing of the hunters was the signal for a general stampede, and +the monotonous whining of the "white-coats" was almost lost in the deep +barking of the mothers, and the hoarse roars of the large males. + +The floe on which the young seals lay was a thick field of ice, whose +clear, greenish sides showed that it was the product of some Greenland +glacier. Years ago, when first detached from the ice-river of some +tortuous fiord, it had perhaps measured its depth in hundreds of yards; +and even now, judging from its height above the surface of the +sea,--about eight feet on the average,--it must have drawn nearly eight +fathoms of water. + +The party had landed on a kind of sloping beach, probably worn by the +action of the sun, and what is even more destructive, the wash of the +sea-waves, and ascending found that the floe was nearly level for an +area of at least half a square mile, forming a kind of ice-meadow, +surrounded on three sides by sloping hills twenty feet higher. In the +sheltered valley thus formed lay at least a thousand seals, old and +young, of several species, and all ages. + +There were, here and there, pairs of the small Greenland seal (_Phoca +Vitulina_), weighing from forty to sixty pounds, and marked on the back +with beautiful mottlings of black, shaded down to the silvery white of +its spotless breast. These, when disturbed near the edge of the floe, +slid noiselessly into the water, going down tail foremost into the +depths. Most plentiful of all were the "springing seals," (_Phoca +Hispida_),--known sometimes from its markings as "the harp,"--less +beautiful in form, and with hair of a dusky yellow on the under side. +These, when near the slope, sprang headlong into the water, and, diving +with a splash, came up in shoals, darting forward with a springing +motion, and emerging and disappearing much like a shoal of porpoises. + +Larger, coarser, and with crested heads, long bristles, and harsher +hair, the "bearded seal" (_Phoca Barbata_),--the noblest quarry of the +Newfoundland sealer, who always speaks of him as "the old hood +sile,"--crawled with uncouth but rapid shuffling motions to the brink, +and with splashings that threw the spray high in air, dived at once, +only emerging when almost beyond rifle range, where rolling, and +splashing like whales, the uncouth monsters would turn to inspect the +strange intruder. + +"Come, Charley," said Waring, "let us shoot. See, they will all be in +the water before we begin." + +"No hurry," said Regnar, phlegmatically. "Steamer almos' load here." + +"There is no heed of haste," said La Salle, pointing to the upper end of +the ice-valley. "We have the seals in a _cul-de-sac_, and can take our +pick, as they pass by us to the water. We want ten of the largest hoods +at first, and we have about that number of bolts with us. After we get +them, each can kill what small seals he needs for boots and clothing. +Now for the old hoods. Fire at close range, and don't miss. Come, let us +begin the battle, for they are coming down upon us." + +By this time the alarm had become general, and finding their retreat cut +off, about five hundred seals, leaving behind their helpless young, came +in a disordered but solid body down towards the hunters, the smaller +Greenland and "harp" seals on the wings, and evidently wishing only to +escape; but in the centre a small band of the more savage "bearded +seal," their coarse bristles quivering with rage, the loose skin of +their heads distended with air, and the white teeth of their yawning +jaws threatening wounds and death to the invaders, came on with hoarse +roarings, which rose above the weaker cries of the uncouth host like the +thunder of artillery over the rattle of musketry in battle. + +The usually impassive Indian now seemed in his element. His sullen eyes +lit up with a true hunter's love of the chase, when the danger is not +all on one side, and only the confidence of greater skill and superior +weapons overcomes the sense of personal peril. Leaping forward, he led +the attack, running for some forty yards towards the advancing monsters, +followed by the others, who came close on his tracks, but quite unable +to charge in line. + +Raising his gun, he suddenly halted scarce ten paces from the front of +the sea-wolves, and, without hesitation, two of the largest shuffled +ahead of their comrades, knitting their brows, and roaring with a fury +which might well try the nerves of any man exposed to such an attack. +One fell a little behind as Peter brought his gun to his shoulder. The +first rushed forward, but as he lowered his huge head to attack, the +arrow-point, hardened in the fire, shot forth in a sheet of flame, and +buried itself to the feather in the brain, passing through the thin +walls of the top of the skull. + +At the unwonted sound, reverberated again and again from the cliff, even +the forlorn hope retreated a little; but not so with the second seal. +Throwing back his head until his yawning jaws almost hid the rest of his +body, he came straight at the destroyer of his mate, roaring with +redoubled fury. The heavy gun again poured forth its contents, but to +the horror of the advancing friends of the Micmac, the huge animal, +vomiting torrents of blood, was seen, amid the smoke, to strike down the +Indian, who was at once lost to view under the ponderous animal, which +instantly rolled over dead. + +In a second La Salle and Orloff were on the spot, but their aid was +needless. Bruised and sore with the fall and compression, but not +otherwise injured, Peter sprang to his feet, and placing his gun between +his knees, proceeded to reload. + +"_H_old seal die hard. Spose me miss 'em at first. Arrow hit all light. +Me plenty wet blood though." + +He was, in truth, a fearful spectacle, being covered with gore; but a +glance at the dead beast revealed the cause. The arrow had passed into +the mouth, transfixing the large arteries and the base of the brain, and +the blood was still deluging the ice in a crimson tide, from which the +hot vapors and sickening odor rose, maddening the remaining "hoods" to +another charge. + +Quite a number of the smaller seals on the flanks had got by, and as the +pressure lessened, the array of the centre partook more of the "open +order" of advance. To a party as well armed as the four friends, this +change assured a bloodless victory. Each missile, fired point-blank, did +its work, and the huge monsters, unable to seize the agile hunters, as +they eluded their ponderous charge, received the fatal shot at such +close range that the fur around the wound was often scorched by the +burning powder. + +Every barrel had been discharged, nine hooded seals had fallen, and the +survivors had already reached the open water; but frightened by the +unwonted sights and sounds, many of the smaller seals still remained at +the upper end of the valley, or with awkward speed were climbing the +sloping ice-hills which sheltered it. Drawing an axe from his belt, +Regnar started forward in pursuit. Peter and Waring, with clubs of hard +wood, followed, and La Salle, reloading his ponderous weapon, brought up +the rear. + +A massacre of helpless and beautiful animals followed, for the next few +moments, for Regnar, with a single tap on the nose, killed two Greenland +seals; and following his example, Peter and Waring disposed of as many +more. Suddenly a loud cry from the latter broke the silent butchery. + +[Illustration: "AND THE NEXT SECOND THE GLITTERING TEETH WERE ABOUT TO +CLOSE UPON HIS HELPLESS VICTIM." Page 237.] + +"Look! Stop that old hood! That makes ten. My goodness! I never see such +seal! That's right, Peter, head him off. Hit him again, Waring! Take +that, you old bladder-nose!" + +The seal, a monstrous one, a veteran male, had attempted to scale the +higher mounds, but surrounded by his more agile enemies, halted and +showed fight. In vain Waring and Peter showered tremendous blows upon +his head with their beechen clubs, and even the heavy axe of Orloff fell +upon his natural helmet of air-distended skin, with a violence whose +only effect was to increase the anger of the enraged amphibia, and fill +the scene of the strife with hollow sounds, like the hoarse booming of a +big drum. + +At last Waring missed his aim, and his club, which was slung at his +wrist by a kind of sword knot, was seized in the jaws of the seal, and +his succeeding rush jerked the frightened lad from his footing beneath +the fore-flippers of the animal. It was only the work of an instant for +those terrible jaws to grind the club into splinters, and the next +second the glittering teeth were about to close upon his helpless +victim. At that juncture a huge rusty tube was thrust past Regnar's head +into the very face of the seal; a tremendous concussion threw him upon +the ice, stunned and deafened; and the monster, rearing into the air, +seemed to be fairly dashed to the ice, shivering with the tremor of +death. + +"Are you hurt, George?" asked La Salle, breathless with haste and +restrained emotion. + +"No, Charley; I am safe, thanks to you." + +And the lad, still weak with his previous illness, fear, and excitement, +rose, threw his arms around his preserver's neck, and burst into a +passion of tears. + +"Better look, Regnar. Guess blow him head off too," grumbled Peter, with +a strange mixture of vexation, pleasure, and humor in his tone, for he +loved Regnar, disliked to see men or boys cry, and knew that Regnar's +misadventure was more unpleasant than dangerous. + +In a moment or so Regnar arose, holding his head with both hands, and an +evident feeling of uncertainty as to his whereabouts. + +"Well, you call that gun Baby! I don't want her crying anywhere near me, +after this. I say, La Salle, you _sure_ my head all right on shoulders?" + +La Salle hastened to assure him that all was correct, but Regnar gave a +grim smile, and continued:-- + +"It no use; I can't hear, not if it thunder. I've no doubt you say +you're sorry, but I no hear your 'pology, and I don't think I ever shall +again. Well, never mind. No time then to say, 'By your leave, sir,' and +I glad George got clear all right." + +Drawing their knives the party commenced the less pleasant and exciting +task of flaying and butchering their victims. The ten "hoods" were +enormous fellows, averaging eight feet in length, and nearly six in +circumference, and weighing from five to six hundred weight each. Only +two were eviscerated for the sake of the heart and membranous vessels; +but the heads of all were struck off for the sake of the brains, and the +large sinews were extracted for "sewing thread." It was noon when the +first load was sent off, under the care of Regnar and La Salle, to the +home berg, and, two hours later, when they returned to the floe, they +found, with pleasure, that the distance between the two points had +materially lessened. + +[Illustration] + +Climbing the highest point of the floe, La Salle looked down upon a +strange spectacle. Reaching away a mile or two to windward was a +succession of floes, similar to the one on which he stood. Upon them all +the seals were gathered in hundreds, and beyond the last of the chain a +huge iceberg--a perfect mountain of congealed water--rose nearly a +hundred feet into the air. From its sides, resplendent with prismatic +colors and reflected light, flashed more than one cascade of pure fresh +water, and the light breeze, as it blew against its vertical walls, or +perhaps some currents deep down below the surface, was impelling the +huge mass, and the line of floes pushed before it, down the lane of open +water, which led to the floating home of the wanderers. + +"We shall have but a short distance to row this load," said La Salle, as +he descended to the party; and indeed at that very moment the discolored +mound, surmounted by its dusky banner, appeared in sight, and before +long only about a quarter of a mile separated the two. At this point the +undetermined cause which had produced this change ceased, and the party +rowed homeward with their last load, just in time as the pack closed in, +and the channel through which they had rowed, in the morning, over a +glassy expanse of nearly a mile in width, narrowed, until, with a shock +which was wholly unexpected, so gradual and gentle seemed the motion, +the opposing borders were again united, and the waves of the sea were no +longer accessible. + +That evening the party supped off fried seal liver and heart, and found +them fully up to the standard of excellence expressed by Regnar, who +said,-- + +"Reindeer steak good beef, ptarmigan good beef, brent good beef, seal +liver best beef of all." + +Before going to bed La Salle cut into the ice-hole, which had been +filled some days before with salt water. After much cutting, he came to +about two quarts of water, which seemed thick and heavy. Baling this, +with a rude spoon, into their only iron utensil, it was placed amid the +embers, and left to boil away for the evening, while the adventurers, +gathering around their fire took counsel as to what step was to be taken +next. + +"Let us make a tent," said Waring. "First thing we know this old floe +will split in two in a storm, and we shall have no house." + +"Spose 'em lose house, we want clo'es. Need good boots too," said Peter, +who was indeed but poorly provided in this respect, compared with the +rest of the four adventurers. + +"If we have a good boat, we have shelter on land or water," said Regnar, +sententiously. + +"Regnar is right, and we must enlarge the capacity of our boat. She has +too little standing room, and we four should have little chance in her +in a heavy storm at sea. To-morrow we will make her into a life-boat at +once, for this pleasant weather cannot last long." + +All agreed with La Salle in this decision, and accordingly the evening +was spent in preparing the seal-sinews, and in cutting thongs of +seal-hide from one of the largest skins. These, when soaked in water, +were capable of considerable extension, but in drying contracted, making +a lashing of the hardness and nearly the strength of iron. + +The sinews were, many of them, a yard in length, and at least the +diameter of a large goose-quill. These split readily into threads of any +required firmness, and before the party retired, quite a bundle of large +and small thread was prepared. For the first time they worked by the +glare of their Esquimaux lamp, which, besides its shallow bowl of +soapstone, consisted of a top of thin sheet-iron pierced for six wicks, +each of which was flat, about one sixteenth of an inch thick, and an +inch wide. That evening all six were lighted--five of them being of +cotton thread, and the sixth cut from the brim of an old white felt +summer hat, used by Waring instead of his fur cap, when the sun shone +too warmly at noon. The top was made loose, so as to rest on the +blubber, and the heat tried out the oil as fast as it was wanted. + +The heat produced was quite sufficient for this narrow room, and the +soft light afforded by the seal-oil, lit up the hut with a mild yellow +radiance, far more cheerful than the red glare of the wood-fire, and the +old stove suspended above the flame carried off the smoke, and refracted +the heat more perfectly into the lower part of the hut. + +The day's hunt had afforded all the blubber which they could burn in a +month; and their stock of meat, "cached" in another hillock of their +berg, was nearly sufficient food for the same period. But long before +that time should elapse the young leader knew that relief must come, or +that in some grand convulsion of the warring elements, amid the crash of +colliding ice-fields and the sweep of resistless surges, the unequal +conflict between human weakness and the tireless forces of nature must +end, and to him and his comrades "life's fitful dream" would be over. + +Therefore, as he made the seventh brief entry in his pocket diary, he +watched jealously the faces of his companions, lest they should read in +his face the reflection of his misgivings, as he traced these lines,-- + +"A week has elapsed since we left St. Pierre's; and as yet we have been +safe in the centre of the pack. It is scarcely possible that another +week will be as favorable to us as this has been, and no risk must +prevent us from reaching the first sail in sight." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +ENLARGING THE BOAT.--WINGED SCAVENGERS.--NOTICE TO QUIT. + + +Orloff's final observation, at about ten o'clock on the night of the +19th, judging by the position of the North Star, gave the wind as about +west-south-west, blowing pretty sharply, and closing the scattered pack +well together. The following morning the wind still remained in the same +quarter, and it was generally agreed that they must be somewhere in +latitude 48 deg.+ and longitude 63 deg.+, or say about forty miles north-west of +Amherst Island, the largest of the Magdalen group. + +After a breakfast of stewed phalaropes, whose tender, plover-like flesh +was a pleasing change from the hitherto almost unvaried roast sea-fowl +diet of the last week, the boat was drawn out upon the level platform +near the hut, and removing her side and covering boards, the party held +a survey of their only resource in case of a breaking up of the ice. +After being measured by Peter, who claimed that the upper joint of his +thumb was just an inch in length, the following measurements were found +to be nearly correct: Length over all, sixteen feet; extreme breadth of +beam, four feet; length of well, eight feet; breadth of well, three +feet; depth of boat, fifteen inches. + +About eight feet, it will be seen, was decked, and a space of only eight +feet by three was all that was available for the reception of four men +and the working of the boat. It was decided to remove three feet of the +rear half-deck, increasing the open space to eleven feet. This was +easily done, leaving the strong cross-timbers untouched, and also six +inches of weather-board on each side. + +The after part of the combing of the old well was removed and set up +farther aft, and that of the sides was continued until the whole of the +open section of the boat was thus protected from the wash of the sea. +The smaller seals had been skinned, as a stocking is turned off of the +foot, leaving but one aperture, that of the diameter of the neck. It was +a work of some trouble, but was at last accomplished, and these skins, +after being deprived of their inner coating of blubber, were easily +formed into air-tight bags, and provided with narrow tube-like nozzles +by carefully removing the bones from one of the flippers. These were +duly inflated with air, and securely lashed on the inner side of the +boat under the weather-boarding. Six of these were thus placed, two on +each side, forward and aft, and two cross-ways under the thwarts, thus +forming a very fair life-boat. + +In addition to these the bows and stern were raised about six inches by +strips of the sides of the broken float nailed to the gunwale, and +strengthened by cross-pieces of planking from the bottom. These were +given considerable shear, so as to be lifted by a sea, instead of +cutting into it. Besides these, rue-raddies, or shoulder-belts of hide, +with a strap attached to the sides of the boat, were adapted to the +height of each man, and each of the party was assigned a position in the +craft, from which there was to be no deviation. + +Thus La Salle steered while Waring sat next on the port side. Peter, +with his single strong arm, took the other starboard berth, and Regnar +was bow oar, or, rather, paddle, while Carlo's place was under the +half-deck forward. + +The three seal-skins first procured were already about half tanned, and +were formed into tarpaulins, being split in two lengthwise, sewed +together at the ends, and again sewed to the edges of the combings with +seal-sinews, forming a cover for the guns, and also by means of a +gathering cord of fishing-line looped through their edges, capable of +being drawn up and fastened at about the height of the waist of a man +when kneeling, thus forming an additional protection against a breaking +sea. + +The oars, with one exception, were cut down into paddles by Peter, for +the paddle, in ice navigation, is incomparably superior to the oar, +which requires open water for effectual use. One oar, however, was left +of its original length for a support to the McIntosh, which, being about +eight feet square, and furnished with brass eyelets, was easily fitted +as a sail; and owing to its black hue, was especially suitable for a +signal of distress among the ice-islands of the Gulf. + +It was nearly six o'clock when these repairs were completed, and the +party sat down to dinner, for, except a lunch of cold roast duck, they +had eaten nothing since morning. The salt water, concentrated by +freezing in the Russian manner, and left to boil down the night before, +had produced about two pounds of good salt; and Peter, taking his knife, +soon made a neat tub, like a miniature butter firkin, in which to +preserve it. + +After dinner it was proposed that a short walk over the intervening ice +to the sealing-grounds should be undertaken, and headed by Peter, with +an axe to try any suspicious ice, the adventurers reached the floe in +about fifteen minutes' walk. Climbing the higher shore of the berg, they +advanced noiselessly, and without being observed by the seals, gazed +down upon the scene of yesterday's battle. None of the seals seemed to +have deserted the floe, but the ice was crowded with the young "calves" +and the adult parents. Everywhere the mothers might be seen suckling +their helpless young, while the males lazily basked in the rays of the +setting sun, or occasionally indulged in a battle with some rival, which +was not always a bloodless encounter. + +Among the living lay the mangled corpses of yesterday's hunt, and over +each fought and feasted a host of gannets, sea-gulls, and cormorants. +The bodies were hidden from view by the birds, which tore with beak and +weak palmated talons, at the greasy, bloody carcasses, and above these +wheeled and fluttered a cloud of competitors for a share of the spoils. +Occasionally a bird bolder than the rest would swoop at an unprotected +baby-seal, whose mother was absent, or had possibly perished the day +before; but at once the older amphibia would roar in hideous concert, +and charge the birds, who seemed to understand that they must give up +the living prey, and confine themselves to their legitimate duties, as +scavengers of this grand camping-ground of the genus _Phocae_. + +Returning rather hastily, the party reached their quarters just at dusk, +and lighting their lamp, made some weak, but very hot, coffee, the +greatest treat which their limited variety of comestibles afforded. +Peter busied himself with cleaning and inflating a number of the larger +entrails and membranous viscera of the hooded seal. These were for +life-preservers, and vessels for the preservation of water and oil in +their anticipated boat-voyage. Regnar cut out no less than three pairs +of moccason-boots, choosing the thickest skins, and then prepared them +with the brain-paste for curing in the mild warmth of the air around the +chimney. Waring cleansed the cooking utensils, and made up some bundles +of fir-twigs to cover the bottom of the boat, and La Salle wrote up his +diary, sharpened an axe, fitted a strip of pine board for a sprit to the +blanket sail, and as bedtime drew near, went out to take a last look at +the weather. + +It was quite cold, and the wind, although light, was from the +north-west, as near as could be judged without a compass. As Peter had +noted a change of wind about midday, the pack had probably again changed +its course of drift from east to south-east, or, perhaps, a point +farther south, as the general course of the current in that part of the +Gulf ran from south-south-east to south. + +Returning to his companions, he communicated these details, closing by +saying,-- + +"As I think, we are now about due west of the Magdalen group; and if +this wind holds, we shall probably pass Amherst Island during the next +twenty-four hours. If in sight, we must try to push through the ice to +land, for the whole shore is inhabited. As many sealers should now be in +this part of the Gulf, we should always be upon the watch for them." + +"I think," said Waring, "that we ought to keep one man as a lookout on +the highest ice in the vicinity." + +"Pity the great iceberg so far off," added Regnar. + +"Sposum wind hold north-west, and ice keep packed, why not go down +to-morrow and look alound?" asked Peter, quietly. + +"If these westerly winds hold, there will be no danger in so doing, if, +as I guess, the pack extends from here to the shore of the Magdalens. If +so, we are not likely to find any sealers to the eastward, unless they +have got jammed in the pack; and probably that steamer we saw the other +day has passed to the south, and will make to westward before another +southerly gale comes to open the ice." + +"You right, master," said Regnar. "We go to-morrow to berg; see great +ways from there, if we can get up. 'Nother thing we ought to do--move +off this floe before next gale, else get house broken, and lose many +things." + +"Pooh!" said Waring, carelessly; "this berg would last a month yet." + +"I risk this _h_ice, more'n twenty, tirty feet tick. Sea no break this +up." + +Orloff's eyes flashed, and he seemed about to make some angry reply, but +with a visible effort to restrain himself, signed to La Salle to follow +him, and went out of the hut. La Salle found him on the summit of the +lookout, gazing out over the star-lit sea. + +"I was angry, and came near forgetting the part I play," said he, +bitterly, in French; "but they know nothing of ice-lore, and I should +not be angry at them for believing that this heavy bit of ice, although +not as large as those around us, is equally as safe." + +"And why is it not?" asked La Salle. + +"Because," answered the lad, "this floe is of snow-ice, probably pierced +by dozens of hidden cavities. I fancied the other night that I heard a +ripple of water beneath me, as I have heard it in winter when seeking +the hidden streams beneath the glaciers, but I did not hear it again, +and may have been mistaken." + +"Well, we are safe, I suppose, as long as we lie deep in the pack." + +Regnar smiled pityingly. + +"Do you see the kind of ice which surrounds us now--those heavy floes, +hard, flinty, and widespread, and that berg, gigantic, and almost as +hard as glass? Well, if we have a heavy blow from the north-west, we +shall be jammed between the ice now resting on the Magdalens and those +Greenland monsters yonder, and if there is a weak spot in our berg--" + +"Well, what then, Regnie?" + +"We shall be ground to powder, or, at least, our berg will; and in such +a break-up, we shall have little chance to save anything except our +lives." + +"What, then, ought we to do?" + +"We must be ready to move as soon as we crush in through this thin ice," +said Regnar, pointing to the new ice and broken fragments over which +they had crossed at dark. "Let us put our guns and food in the boat, and +have her already for use; by morning we shall have a heavy nip, or a +shift of wind, and in either case we ought to change our quarters." + +As they turned to descend the hummock, a crack was heard, and a large +part of the berg fell with a terrible crash. Peter and Waring rushed +from the hut with cries of terror, and Carlo, whining with fear, bounded +up the slope, as if to seek protection from his master. Regnar was the +first to recover his coolness. + +"Let us see what damage is done now," said he; and descending, he seized +an oar and a rope, and went to the verge of the chasm. La Salle rushed +into the hut, lighted his lantern, and joined Regnar, who was fastening +the rope around his waist. "I don't think there is much danger, but if I +get in, haul me out," said he, giving the coil into La Salle's keeping; +and seizing the lantern, he leaped down upon the severed portion. + +Fearlessly moving along the face of the berg, he surveyed it as +thoroughly as possible by the light of his lantern, and at last, +approaching the lowest part of the wall, called to them to pull sharply +on the rope, and with its help ascended the berg. + +"You are all right just now," said he, "but when a strain does come upon +us, the cleavage will be right through our hut. We had better get our +tools into the boat, and keep watch during the night, for, with the +first nip, or heavy sea, we shall no longer have a house to cover us." + +It may well be believed but few of the party slept much that night, and +that the first dawn was hailed as a welcome visitant. Regnar alone, who +had been the first to give the alarm, was the only one who could sleep +soundly through the hours not occupied on the watch, and he alone awoke +refreshed and vigorous when the welcome sunrise flooded the east with +rosy beams, and cast a magical flood of reflected light over every berg +and pinnacle. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +A CHANGE OF BASE.--BUILDING A SNOW-HUT.--THE VIEW FROM THE BERG.--A +STRANGE MEETING. + + +Breakfast over, all decided to remove at once to the higher ice of the +vast floe occupied by the seals. There were a number of reasons why this +place was chosen, but the principal ones were, that it would be likely +to be sought by sealers, would supply them for a long time with food and +fire, and would stand almost any pressure and a heavy sea, without +"breaking up." + +The boat was accordingly loaded with the weapons, tools, and bedding, +and run over the intervening ice with very little difficulty, although +it took a good half hour to ascend the ice-slopes, which were steep and +slippery. Returning, the party took each a seal-skin, with the hair side +down, and loading them with the remaining decoys, fragments of wood, the +Esquimaux lamp and its chimney, and a part of the fir boughs, returned +again to their new location. + +Some convulsion of the ice, had strewed the shores of this field with +piles of young field-ice about a foot thick, and with this material +Regnar at once commenced operations. While Peter rapidly split off cakes +about a foot wide and two or three long, La Salle and Waring slid them +along the ice to Orloff, who, furnished with the other axe and a pail of +water, rapidly built them into walls a foot thick and eight feet square. +A dash of water soon froze the blocks together, and as the material was +near at hand, in the course of the forenoon walls five feet in height, +with a single narrow entrance, had been raised. At this height the +blocks were ordered to be made two feet square, and of but half the +thickness. + +These were laid flatways, with their edges not quite plumb with the +outside edge of the wall, and being frozen into place, left an uncovered +space about five feet six inches square. Returning to the old berg, the +party took down the shooting-box from the top of the cave, and filling +it with the remaining boughs, and a part of the seal-skins, blubber, +&c., regained the floe, and unloading the box, placed it as a roof on +the new dwelling. A single layer of "ice-bricks," as Waring termed them, +was placed around its edge, and being thoroughly wetted, formed a strong +and weather-proof joining; and shoveling the _debris_ from the interior, +the lamp was set up and lighted, the twigs spread thickly over the icy +floor, and bringing in their few household goods, the party, tired and +hungry, sat down to a lunch of hard bread and weak coffee. + +A final trip of all hands brought over the remainder of their birds, +blubber, and skins, much being drawn back on the bottom of the float, +which, although lessened in width nearly a foot, still retained both its +runners, and made quite a decent sledge. + +The wind still blew from the north-west, and the pack began to show +evidences of the pressure of the large body of ice to windward; but La +Salle and Orloff, although much fatigued, still thought it best to try +to get a survey of the scene from the great berg a little over a mile +away. Keeping on the leeward side of the floes, they reached its base +without difficulty, and without delay sought a place to ascend. +Fortunately a large stream of fresh water from above, had worn a deep +gulch in the huge wall, and up this our adventurers managed to climb, +although more than once each had to use his axe to cut steps in the +glassy ice. + +Once on the top of the berg, however, they felt repaid for the +additional fatigue of their journey and ascent. Below them to the east, +the floes were like those they had traversed, covered with seals, and +about twenty miles away the highlands of Amherst Island showed plainly +in the crimson light of the declining sun. + +[Illustration: ON THE TOP OF THE BERG THEY FELT REPAID FOR THE FATIGUE +OF THEIR JOURNEY AND ASCENT. Page 256.] + +To the north and west all was ice, and in neither direction could either +see any signs of the presence of man. To the southward the pack seemed +more open, and as they watched, they saw the leads grow wider, and the +pools becoming more frequent. + +"We are passing the islands fast," said Regnar, "and by to-morrow will +be well to the south-east of Deadman's Island. Let us descend, for it +grows colder every moment." + +Turning, they sought the gulch, only pausing a moment to view the pond +which fed the streams, which poured continuously from the sides of this +great ice-island. It occupied a large depression in the centre of the +berg, and was estimated by Regnar to occupy an area of at least six +acres. + +As they turned to go, Regnar's eye caught sight of a floe at the foot of +the berg. + +"Are not those dead seals yonder?" said he. "It seems to me that I see +piles of dead bodies, and skins hung on the pinnacles, and then--yes, +there is a flag on a pole." + +Hastily descending, the two friends ran at full speed to the floe. It +proved to be as Regnar had said. There were hundreds of slaughtered +seals, and it was evident that, as far as the eye could reach, the work +of death had been complete. + +Still something had occurred to prevent the hunters from securing their +rich booty, for huge piles of skins, with their adhering blubber, were +scattered over the ice, and near one was planted firmly in the floe a +boat-hook, with a small flag at the top. Regnar drew it from the ice, +and looked searchingly at flag and shaft; the pennon was of crimson, +without lettering or private signal, but on the pole was scorched in +deep, black characters, the legend "Str. Mercedes." + +"Here has been a good day's work, probably by that steamer whose smoke +we saw the other day," said La Salle; "doubtless she was afraid of being +nipped by this ice in the last southerly gale, and made off in time to +avoid it. If so, she will be back again after her cargo, when the ice +gets south of the islands." + +"Is that a seal, Charley?" + +The words were simple, but the tone was so unlike the usual voice of the +speaker, so tinged with awe and doubt, that La Salle felt a chill +traverse his frame as he turned to see what had provoked the question. + +Regnar stood on the brink of the only pool of open water in sight, +gazing earnestly at a floating object in the centre, which appeared at +first sight like a dead seal, but a second glance at the shape and size +of the body revealed the corpse of a man clad in a seal-skin coat, and +floating on its face. + +"It is some poor fellow who has been drowned in passing from one cake to +another," said La Salle, gravely. "Let us examine the body; perhaps +there are papers or valuables on it, which will identify it, or be of +value to its friends. At all events, we can give it a more Christian +sepulture to-morrow." + +Regnar gave no answer, but stood motionless as if turned into stone. + +"Come, Regnar! wake up, man! Surely you are not afraid of a poor +lifeless body. Bear a hand with that boat-hook, or, if you don't care to +touch it, hand it to me." + +[Illustration:] + +Starting as if from a trance, Regnar extended the long boat-hook and +gently drew the body to the shore, where La Salle, making a loop of the +rope they carried, dropped it over the head and shoulders, and drawing +it tightly under the arm-pits, gave one end to Regnar. + +"His pockets are turned inside out," said La Salle. + +"The man has been murdered," almost whispered the lad. "See what a +terrible wound there is in the skull." + +"Let us land him, any way, Regnar. We will get him upon the ice, and +to-morrow we can come down here and look into the matter. Gently, now; +that's right. Great Heavens! Regnie, lad, are you mad?" + +As the body was landed, turning slowly over on its back, exposing a face +handsome even in death, Regnar started, glanced curiously at the +features, and dropping the line, raised the boat-hook, and with every +muscle and feature alive with rage and fury, seemed about to transfix +the senseless body of the dead. Then a change came over him; he lowered +his arm, dropped the useless weapon, and burst into tears. + +"Come, Regnie, you are worn out, and it is growing late; let us hasten +back to our new hut. To-morrow we can return and look after this poor +stranger." + +"Stranger! He is no stranger to me. For two years I have sought him in +both hemispheres, urged on by the love of my only relative whom he +betrayed, and hatred of him which could end but with his life or mine. +My fondest hope was to find him, my dearest wish to lay him dead at my +feet; and thus we meet at last." + +"This, then, is the man you have sought, and for this you have hidden +your true character from all men. Is this the gift by which you were to +gain, and I to lose?" said La Salle. + +"Ask me no more to-night," said the boy, whose powers of self-control, +were only less marvellous than the innate force of his intense nature. +"We have none too much light for our homeward way, and to-morrow's sun +may help us to learn more of the cause of his death, and our own duty in +the premises. We will say nothing to our friends of this dreadful +matter, and at early dawn we will set off alone to return here;" and +taking the boat-hook and his weapons, Orloff set off with his usual firm +step and tireless energy. + +It was nearly dusk when they reached the floe, and saw at some hundreds +of feet distant the moving lantern that told that Peter and Waring were +anxious about the safety of their friends. La Salle hardly dared trust +his voice, but Orloff uttered his well-known halloo; and of the four who +were gathered in that dwelling of ice, the most cheerful and kindly, was +he whose dead enemy lay gazing with stony eyeballs at the wintry skies, +amid a golgotha of animal butchery, with the dark impress of a +rifle-bullet in the centre of his forehead. + +That night the cold north-wester died away, and a gentle breeze began to +blow from the south. The tired Indian and the delicately-nurtured +merchant's son slept side by side on their leaf-strewn floor, and even +La Salle, excited and surprised as he had been, at last fell into a +broken slumber. But when all were asleep, and no human eye could pry +into his secret sorrows, Regnar seated himself by the flaring lamp, and +drawing from his breast a locket, took from it a small folded paper, and +a closely-curled ringlet of yellow hair, such as St. Olave, the warrior +saint of Norway, laid in the lap of the fair Geyra, princess of +Vendland. + +With many a kiss, passionate and sorrowful, he greeted the hidden +love-treasures, and many a falling tear dimmed the bold eyes, and wet +the ruddy cheeks of the youthful watcher, as late into the night he sat +gazing into the flaring flame of that element, in which many a sorrowful +heart, in its agony, seems to find a parallel of the torture it endures, +and to find a saddened pleasure in the contemplation. But at last the +watcher turned to his rude couch, and only the radiance of the lamp, +diffused through the opaline walls of the hut, gave evidence of the +presence of human beings in that desolate, wave-borne, wind-driven, +desert of ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE RING.--THE BURIAL.--A MAUSOLEUM OF ICE. + + +In the early dawn La Salle started from sleep, as he felt a chill touch +upon his forehead, and saw Regnar standing above him, booted and +equipped for travel. In one hand he held a cup of hot coffee, and in the +other the breast of a roast goose, which he offered to La Salle in +silence. Fearful of awaking their companions, nothing was said by +either, until, armed and equipped, they issued from the hut, and +hastened towards the scene of last night's strange adventure. + +It was the nineteenth of the month, and the ninth day of their +involuntary voyage, and La Salle, as usual, gave a sweeping glance at +ice and sky, to determine as nearly as possible the direction of their +drift, and the probable state of the weather for the next twelve hours. + +"We shall know all that at sunrise," said Regnar; and avoiding the +haunts of the seals, they hurried through the gray light along the +devious windings of the ice-foot, until they reached the murdered +sealer. The body lay as it had been landed on the edge of a pool, and +was that of a singularly handsome man, about forty-five years of age. No +beard, save a well-kept mustache, covered the sharply-moulded features; +and even the death-wound--the work of a small-sized bullet--had left but +a tiny livid discoloration on the marble forehead. + +Turning the body over,--a work of some time and difficulty, for the wet +clothes had frozen,--an expression of surprise escaped the lips of +Regnar, for the rear of the skull, from which the missile had issued, +was almost blown into pieces. + +"How could a bullet have done this?" asked the youth, gravely. + +"There is but one kind of missile which produces such a terrible +wound--the percussion rifle-shell, perfected years ago by an army +officer in India, and since then introduced into every part of the +globe. Into the point of a cylindro-conical slug is inserted a thin +copper cartridge, loaded with powder, and primed with fulminate of +mercury. This bullet enters the flesh, but explodes when it strikes a +bone, and a huge mass of bone and muscle is usually driven out in front +of the issuing projectile. Such a bullet has destroyed this man." + +A curious ring on the little finger of the right hand attracted the +notice of Regnar, who with a glad cry seized the stiffened hand and +tried to remove it, but the swollen flesh baffled his efforts. + +"I must have that ring, La Salle," said he, ceasing his futile efforts. +"I cannot leave that with his body." And taking up his axe, he severed +the finger at the joint, and removed the circlet. + +La Salle started back in horror at what he could but consider a +senseless and unwarranted profanation; but Orloff, drawing his knife, +made a close search of the clothing worn by the deceased, ripping open +every seam and fold which seemed capable of concealing the slightest +scrap of paper, while his companion, lost in astonishment and disgust, +scorned to question, and awaited an explanation of his conduct. + +Beyond the ring, however, little was found, for the larger pockets of +the deceased were turned inside out, the vest had been opened, and a +sharp knife had evidently cut through the heavy under-garments of +knitted woolens. No mark of the knife was to be seen on the exposed +flesh; and Regnar, breaking the oppressive silence, said,-- + +"Why was this done, La Salle?" + +"Perhaps he had a money-belt around his waist. Many people carry their +money and valuables thus," said La Salle, coldly. + +Regnar continued the search, finding in a narrow pocket, like that used +by carpenters for their rules, but opening on the inside of the right +pantaloon pocket, a long, slender dagger, with double cutting edges. +The handle was curiously carved, of walrus ivory, and represented an +ancient Danish warrior, in his mail-shirt, and armed with battle-axe and +sword. The sheath, slender and flexible, was evidently of more modern +make, formed of rough shark-skin, with richly chased mountings of +silver. + +"That is all," said Regnar. "Let us find him a grave." + +"We must hide the body surely," said La Salle, "for if the vessel +returns to get her load, and it is found, we may be charged with +mutilating the body, and perhaps with murder. Let us consign it to the +sea." + +"We have nothing with which to sink it, and the waters have already +given up their trust. There, if I mistake not, we shall find a tomb +worthy of a better man than this." + +A ledge of the iceberg, some forty feet above the wave-worn base, had +received a tiny branch of the fresh-water stream, at some time long +previous, and its course could still be traced by the immense icicle +formation, which, in fantastical imagery of a lofty cascade, seemed +still to fall from base to summit. Between the ledge and the water were +formed huge irregular pillars and buttresses of opaline ice whose +semi-transparency seemed to indicate the presence of a cave beneath. + +Axe in hand, Regnar led the way to the base of the berg, and carefully +examined every nook and cranny, evidently seeking a concealed opening. +A narrow aperture was at last found, some twenty feet above the +ice-pool; and at the call of his companion, La Salle ascended with the +coil of rope, one end of which he fastened firmly to a projection of the +berg. + +"Come down here; there is no danger," said the lad; and descending, La +Salle found himself in a cave of large size and almost fairy-like +beauty. + +Over their heads the ledge projected some twenty feet above a floor, +levelled by the earlier flow of the cascade, which, by some sudden +removal of obstructing ice or snow, had been projected beyond the little +pool, whose surface had frozen into a level floor of crystal. Over this, +as upon the roof and back of the cave, had gathered groups of those +beautiful congelations to be found only on newly-formed ice, and in +seasons of intense cold. Among them were to be noticed many minute +patterns of the most delicate star-crystals, and the surface of the +floor was nearly covered with congelations of the purest white, +resembling in shape, size, and beauty the leaf of the moss-rose. A +fantastic conglomeration of irregular, round, and convoluted pillars, +running into each other in indescribable ramifications, formed the outer +wall, whose semi-translucent crystal, like opal glass, allowed the rays +of the rising sun to shower a mild and silvery radiance upon the hidden +wonders of the spacious grotto. + +"Here he will sleep, after a life of crime and treachery, in a tomb +such as few monarchs can boast of, until in some terrible gale, amid +tremendous and overwhelming seas, this vast fabric shall strew the ocean +with its ruins, and give his icy form to the monsters of the summer +seas." + +"Let us then to our task, Regnar," said La Salle, "for our friends may +follow on our track, and I fear we shall have need of the closest +secrecy concerning the fate of this unhappy man, at least until we are +safely landed on civilized shores." + +Carefully descending the slippery way which led up to the aperture, they +descended to the level ice, and seeking the floe, enveloped the body in +one of the many seal-skins surrounding them, swathing it closely, and +binding the hairy covering with strong lashings of raw hide, leaving +loops at each extremity. Gently drawing it to the ice below the +aperture, they ran the cord through the loops, knotting each firmly, so +that nearly half the rope projected from each end. + +Taking one end, and setting the shrouded form upright against the smooth +slope, the companions ascended to the aperture, and with some difficulty +managed to haul up their unwonted burden. + +"We can find no footing here," said Regnar, who no longer affected his +partial ignorance of English. "You, I think, had better descend again, +and take a turn of your end around that pinnacle. I will go down into +the grotto and guide its descent." + +[Illustration: KNEELING BESIDE IT, THE LAD BOWED HIS HEAD AS IF IN +SILENT PRAYER. Page 269.] + +By this means the closely-swathed body was gently lowered into its +last resting-place, and gathering up the axes and his rifle, La Salle +followed to assist in in the final rites of sepulture. Regnar pointed to +the centre of the floor. + +"That will furnish a pedestal which would befit the sarcophagus of a +king." + +Among the irregular mounds formed by the dripping of water from the roof +above, was an ice stalagmite, about five feet high, and seven feet in +length, broad at the base, but rapidly narrowing to a sharp point. +Attacking this with his axe, Regnar soon split off the point, and +commenced hewing the stalagmite down to a uniform height of about two +feet. La Salle assisted, and in the course of twenty minutes they had +formed a snowy pedestal, whose irregular outline bore no small +resemblance to that of the burden it was to sustain. Regnar cleared away +the ice-chips, hurling the larger shards to an obscure corner, and +carrying the smaller ones in his reversed fur cap. + +At last the work was completed to his satisfaction; and motioning to La +Salle, he cast off the lashings, and raising the body, they placed it on +the pedestal of ice. Drawing the long, slender dagger from its sheath, +Regnar pierced several holes through the corners of the pedestal, and +with the tough cords of raw hide lashed the body firmly to its spotless +support; then kneeling beside it, the lad bowed his head as if in silent +prayer. La Salle followed his example. + +For a moment or two he heard nothing but the ripple and plash of the +ice-brook descending the side of the berg fifty yards away; but with the +burial of his enemy, the lad's self-control had deserted him, and he +burst into a passionate outbreak of sobs and tears. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A STRANGE LIFE-HISTORY.--AMONG THE RED INDIANS. + + +La Salle had been, as we have said, displeased and disgusted, as well as +puzzled, by much which had occurred; but his heart melted when he +realized the sorrow and suffering, which, in spite of unusual +self-restraint, was thus laid bare before him. He threw one arm around +the boy's neck, and gently pressed his hand. + +"Forgive me, Regnar, if I have been unkind. I will be your friend if you +desire it. Confide in me, and I will try to assist you, if you need aid +or counsel." + +"You are kind, very kind, Charley; and perhaps I have been wrong in not +trusting more in you heretofore. There is no time, however, like the +present, and no more secret and fitting place than this burial-grot of +the cause of all my sorrow." + + +REGNAR'S HISTORY. + +"My father was a Danish youth of good parentage, whose strange and +roving predilections sent him early in manhood to an outlying station +in the north of Greenland, where, between his books and the wild life of +that savage coast, he passed several years, until his unpleasant +relations with the Danish officials made a change desirable, and he +sought the Moravian settlements on the Labrador coast. + +"He had plenty of money, and soon became well known along the coast, +which he searched thoroughly in his trading schooner, doing a brisk +business in furs, seal-oil, and skins, and at the same time making +frequent metallurgical discoveries and adventurous exploring +expeditions. It was said that no man on the coast knew so much of the +topography of Labrador, between Hamilton Inlet and the Gulf of St. +Lawrence, and a strange adventure opened to him new and startling +experiences in the northern central portion of Newfoundland, then, as +now, almost a _terra incognita_. + +"Twenty years ago he made his last voyage down the coast, attended by +the man who lies yonder, an American, named Perry, a native of +Baltimore, who, it afterwards transpired, fled from that city, having +killed an opponent in a political quarrel. + +"Albert Perry was well educated, bold, and politic, and he formed a +friendship with my father which ended only with life, and, as I believe, +served him but too faithfully through good and ill, until death broke +the bond between two men who were not fitted to lead the comparatively +calm, eventless life which the laws of society, and the wants of the +many prescribe to all; under penalty of social ostracism to the few who +scorn to be fettered by a multitude of social conventionalities. + +"With this man as mate, and a crew of four Esquimaux, my father found +himself, in July, in one of the little harbors, on the Newfoundland +shore, of the Straits of Belle Isle. The night was dark, but calm, and +at about ten he retired, to be awakened an hour later by Perry. + +"'Come on deck, captain; there's something going on up in the mountains +yonder that I cannot make out.' + +"My father, already half dressed, was soon upon deck, and found the +whole crew on the after-deck, gazing eagerly at the hills, which, +covered with forest, surrounded the low land at the head of the bay. +Near the summit of the highest, a fire of large size had been kindled, +and lit up the dark sky above it, and the tops of the surrounding trees, +with a deep crimson glow, while from time to time unearthly and savage +cries were borne on the night air to the ears of the wondering voyagers. + +"'Have you any idea what that means, captain?' asked the American. + +"'What do you say, Krasippe?' said my father, addressing a +huge-shouldered Esquimaux, grizzled and scarred, who had followed his +fortunes from Greenland, and knew all the lore of his wandering +brethren of the Labrador coast. + +"'Me tink it red Injin. Have dance; deer now come north. Marcus +Jungsten, down at Hopedale, tell me he see such ting five year ago.' + +"'But the red Indians are all dead, captain,' said Perry, who had spent +a year or two on the coast, and heard many stories of the unconquerable +ferocity and final extinction of that strange race--the aborigines of +Newfoundland. + +"'Such, indeed, is _said_ to be the case, but I have met several who +have seen and heard similar things, such as we hear and see to-night, +and they refer them to the presence of remnants of that savage and +solitary race. I shall soon know, however. Krasippe, will you get your +rifle, and go with me? + +"'I'll go with you, Hubel,' said Perry, eagerly. + +"But my father stopped, and said, gravely,-- + +"'There is too much of danger in this adventure for us both to risk our +lives at once. Krasippe belongs to me. I have saved his life half a +score of times, but I have no claim on you; and, besides, the vessel +must be taken back to Hopedale, and you must stay to do it;' and so +saying, he retired to his cabin. + +"When he returned, he carried in his hand a light rifle and a number of +glittering wands, while a row of bright medals shone against the thick +pile of a close-fitting robe of black velvet, and upon his head a cap +of the same material, encircled by a strip of ermine, bore a single red +feather, with an agraffe of diamonds. + +"'I have done wonders with this dress, amid the fire-rocks of the +Nasquapees. Krasippe, old fellow, are you ready?' + +"Krasippe, grinning from ear to ear, nodded assent, and launching the +captain's boat,--a light wherry for two pairs of sculls,--they pushed +off from the vessel's side. + +"'Watch that spot,' said Hubel, 'and if you see the stars of this Roman +candle, launch your boat, and come to the shore at once. Vasa there,' +pointing to a huge Danish hound, 'will find me for you, if need be.' + +"An hour or two later, Perry saw the stars of green and crimson shooting +through the lurid cloud into the midnight sky. A rifle-shot echoed +through the valley and across the bay, and the fire was instantly +extinguished. Perry, who had prepared everything for such an emergency, +pushed off in his boat at once, taking his three men, all well armed, +and Vasa, the great hound. Pulling at full speed, they struck in for the +shore, and at last found the captain's boat hauled upon the beach. +Taking the leash of the hound in his left hand, Perry sprang ashore, +ordered his men to secure the boat, and lighting a dark lantern secured +to his belt, he gave the word to Vasa, who set off, with an eager whine, +at such a pace that it was hard to keep up with him. + +"In about half an hour they emerged into a large glade, and the hound +stopped with a low howl over a prostrate body. It was that of Krasippe. +He was lying on his face, with a deep gash on the shoulder, and a bruise +on the top of the skull, but still breathed, although insensible. Perry, +who doubted not that Hubel would be found near the body of his faithful +follower, let slip the chain from Vasa's collar, and he at once darted +off into the darkness, while Perry, drawing the slide of his bull's-eye, +and pistol in hand, carefully examined the glade. + +"He found the remains of a large fire, some ten feet in circumference, +still steaming with the water used to quench it, a few fragments of +venison, as well as a hatchet-head of white quartz, broken from its +helve, not far from where Krasippe had received his wound; but they +looked in vain for their captain. + +"Morning had just dawned when Vasa reappeared, and wagging his tail, +came up to Perry. Around his neck was looped a piece of birch bark, on +opening which Perry found the following note:-- + + "'AMONG THE INDIANS--MIDNIGHT. + + "'I take my pencil to send you what may be my final directions, for + as yet I am doubtful as to what may be my fate. Poor Vasa was about + to be killed, as they dare keep no dogs; but I take advantage of his + old tricks to send him to you. Take the vessel to Hopedale, and use + her as if you were managing her for me, and next year at this time + await me here. I have such an opportunity as no other man has had to + learn the truth about these savages, and I risk my life willingly on + the chance. + + (Signed) "'PAUL HUBEL.'" + +"Perry seized Vasa's collar and knotted the leash, then, turning to his +men, ordered them to take up Krasippe and carry him down to the shore, +where, launching the boat, they returned to the vessel. The next day +they made sail, but it was several days before Krasippe recovered +sufficiently to detail his portion of the adventure, which ran somewhat +as follows:-- + +"'Me land with capten. We go up hill trough de hood. We see ten, twelve, +Injin almos' naked, eatin', drinkin', dancin', an' yell like debbil. +Capten say, "Stay here, Krasippe; I get hind bush." Capten creep trough +bush, light cannle, an' bust out trough circle to middle of fire. I see +fifty Injin fright dat way. Dose Injin not frighten much. I see one man +jump on capten, trow him down, raise hatchet to kill him. Then one girl +catch at his arm, an' I fire my rifle. Then I see no more until I wake +up.'" + +"'Well, Krasippe, the captain is alive, and we are to meet him here in a +year from now. In the mean time we'll try to navigate the Thyri, and +make as much money for the skipper as we can;' and well he kept his +word." + +"A year later the Thyri crept again into the rock-bound haven, and for a +week Perry and his crew watched by night and day for his friend. At +last, one evening they saw a fire on the shore opposite the vessel, and +rowing ashore, a strange figure rushed to meet Perry, saying, 'I am here +at last.'" + +"It was Hubel, but he was clad in tanned deerskins, ornamented with the +dyed quills of the porcupine, and his face and naked breast were painted +with a mixture of deer-suet and ocher, while from his hair, long, +unshorn, and gathered into a knot, waved a plume of the war-eagle. His +story I give in a few words." + +"'I advanced cautiously, intending to surprise and awe the Indians, as I +have before done with the heathen savages, who still hunt beyond the +head waters of the Mistassini, in the Labrador peninsula. As Krasippe +told you, I failed; but the strange garb that I wore, and the +interposition of a woman, saved my life for the time being, and the +wonders of my magic wands added to the first impression, and gave me an +importance I could have acquired in no other way. The riches and weapons +of the whites have no charms for them, and the memory of their massacred +and hunted relatives will never die until the last of the race sleep +amid the islands of the great lakes of the interior; but when they saw +me shake coals of fire at will from a wand filled with pyrophoric lead, +they felt at once that I must be of another race than their +persecutors.'" + +"'So they took me with them to the south, along the trail of the +migrating reindeer; they gave me the best of their simple food and +raiment, and the girl who saved my life came to my lodge, and served me +with a love that I can never forget. She died in childbirth two months +ago, and when I left the tribe to return to my own people, her father +wanted to keep the infant, and at last I consented that he should remain +with him a year longer. "Give me a token," said I, "and when, a year +from now, you follow the deer northward, seek the bay, and if a vessel +lies there at anchor, look each day in the glade for the signet of our +bond. When you find it, leave the babe beside it, and I will take him +across the ocean, and teach him to be wise and brave; then he shall come +back to his tribe, and help them to become again a happy and powerful +people.'" + +"The Thyri went northward, and Hubel was received as one who returns +from the dead; but none save his mate knew the whole story of his +wanderings." + +"'I have sworn to tell no one,' he said, in reply to all questionings, +'and should I break my oath, it would, in all human probability, cost +the lives of the few remaining warriors of that unfortunate race. The +people of Newfoundland can never blot out the memory of their past +cruelties, and any party who strives to penetrate to their wilderness +fastnesses, must either kill or be killed.'" + +"Before the next year elapsed, Hubel was summoned back to Denmark, +having succeeded to his father's property; but before leaving Hopedale, +he had a final interview with his chief officer." + +"'I give you, Perry, the Thyri and all her outfit, as well as the goods +I have here, on one condition. You must keep the tryst I cannot keep, +and bring the child you know of to the settlement at Hopedale. I have +spoken to brother Hans, who will see after him until I send or come for +him.'" + +"'I will do your bidding, Paul; but I shall not stay upon this coast +after that job is over. There will be nothing to keep me in this +desolate land after you leave it;' and tears glistened in the eyes of +that cool, cynical, worldly-minded adventurer, for he really loved my +father." + +"'When your work is done here, Albert, come to me in Denmark. There is +enough for us both, and we have been so long together, that we shall +never be happy apart. Will you come?'" + +"Perry said nothing, but pressing the hand of his friend with painful +energy, he rushed up the beach, and seeking the hill behind the little +settlement, watched the ship as she sailed out of the firth and +disappeared in the gathering twilight. The next summer he sought the +appointed spot, and left this talisman tied to the top of a bush, which +stood alone almost in the centre of the glade." + +La Salle curiously examined the ring, whose gold circlet of European +manufacture held securely an oval bit of jasper, on whose polished +surface was cut the rude outline of a beaver wounded with an arrow. + +"The next day he went again: the stone had disappeared; but two arrows, +headed with flint, lay beside the bush, one pointed to the interior, the +other to the shore. 'I suppose that means "I go, I return," said he; and +I shall find the child here to-morrow night.'" + +"He was right in his conjectures, for on going to the spot the next +night, he found beneath the bush a little boy clad in a strange +_melange_ of Indian finery, and the bizarre attire worn by Paul Hubel +when he set out on his strange adventure. That child was myself." + +La Salle had listened to the strange story with amazement, which +increased as it progressed. + +"You tell me, Regnie, though, only of good deeds and faithful services +rendered by the dead. You say that he loved your father, and served him +faithfully as long as he lived." + +Regnar took up the word in bitter wrath, strangely mingled with regret. + +"As long as he _lived_--yes! But listen only until the end, and you +shall judge for yourself of my justice to the memory of the dead. + +"On the breast of the babe lay the talisman, and a facsimile, pierced +and suspended by a cord round the child's neck, lay beneath its +clothing. See, I wear it still, and shall wear it until I meet again +with my mother's people. + +"I must hasten to end my story. I was taken to Hopedale, where I +remained ten years, at the end of which time Perry was sent from Europe +to take me to my father, who had taken to his home a daughter born of an +earlier marriage, whose mother, unable to understand the caprices of my +father, had returned, almost broken-hearted, to her father's house, and +died during his voluntary exile in Greenland. + +"I spent four years in Europe, studying most of the time at Bonn; and +then my father sent for me, and I lived another year on his estate, +learning all that I could of the various handicrafts and avocations, +especially the best modes of agriculture. At the end of the fifth year, +he called me into the library, and spoke to me as follows:-- + +"'You are now sixteen years of age, and you know that I have given you +opportunities such as are seldom lavished on young men of your age. I +would like to keep you with me longer, but I have told you of your +mother, and the sufferings of her people. It is my wish that you should +visit them within two years, and I have imparted to you much knowledge +of their mode of life and government. Spend one year at Hopedale, and +learn the lore of the fisherman and the craft of the hunter; and when I +shall send you this ancient weapon, you will find within its hilt all +that I dare not commit to paper, or the lips of my messenger.' + +"The week after, I sailed for Hopedale; but before the year of my stay +had elapsed, I learned from a friend's letter of the sudden death of my +father. 'I suppose that your father's friend and your sister have joined +you in America, and that you will be consoled somewhat for your loss by +their affection, and your changed fortunes.' + +"Thus ran the letter; but it was not until the arrival of the fall ship +that I learned that my father was indeed no longer living, and that +fully six months had elapsed since my sister, accompanied by the man who +lies yonder, had set out to join her half brother, whom she had never +seen, and to share with him the personal fortune of their common father; +for the hereditary acres could not, by the laws of Denmark, fall to my +lot, but went to the next nearest male relative. + +"Since that time I have sought everywhere for tidings of my sister's +fate, or news of the whereabouts of that man. I heard of him once as a +slaver, and a year ago I learned of his having been seen on this coast. +I have but one more explanation to make, and that is of the strange +statement I made to you, when we stood alone looking across the moonlit +waste of the drifting pack. + +"About a month before you hired me at the trading post, I met Krasippe, +now a very old man, and claiming some power as a prophet, or 'angekok,' +among his people; for, although Christianized, they have not thrown off +many of their old superstitions. He took me in his arms and wept over +me, and growled a bitter curse on the treachery of his old associate. +Then he appeared lost in deep thought, which seemed to absorb every +sense, and his countenance became almost terrible in its fixed +expression. At last, as if by no volition of his own, he uttered, in +low, stern tones, the following rhapsody:-- + +"'You will meet in the desert of ice the man who will lead you to your +heart's dearest wish. He shall lose, and you will gain.'" + +La Salle's face was pale, and his lips firmly set, as he listened to the +ending of this strange recital; but he took up the broken chain of +evidence, with the firm intention of finding the missing links. + +"Did you read my letter because you thought that Miss Randall might +prove to be your sister?" + +"Yes, Charley, I did. Her name was Pauline Hubel. She was named after +our father, Paul Hubel. My name is Regnar Orloff Hubel." + +"Well, Regnie, all I can tell you now is, that the young lady's English +is not the best in the world, and that she is an orphan child. Of the +whereabouts of her adopted father she knows nothing, but in a book which +I took up there one day, I found written, 'A. P. Randall;' and Mrs. +Randall said--" + +"What?" asked Regnar, hoarsely. + +"That it belonged to her brother. Now, Regnie," said La Salle, kindly, +"you know all that I can tell you. Perhaps you may find in the hilt of +yonder antique weapon the clew to much more. But we have other duties to +perform; and first, how shall we seal up this cave so that no one can +possibly suspect our having entered this place. That Peter has the eyes +of a lynx, and should he follow us, would not fail to discover all." + +"In an hour hence," said Regnar, "no human being can stand where we are +now, and you can walk the stanchest hound over the ledge, without his +dreaming of what lies beneath. Come up to the top of the berg." + +Taking their equipments, they left the grotto, and issued through the +narrow entrance. Regnar pointed to a shelving path, like a shallow +groove in the face of the cliff. + +"Can we climb there?" said he. + +"I should think so," answered La Salle; and taking an axe and the end of +the rope, he began to ascend the cliff along the shelving pathway. As he +ascended, he heard behind him the blows of an axe, and, turning, saw +Regnar cut a narrow cleft from the entrance of the cove to the level of +the way to the top of the berg. "Are you mad," asked La Salle, "that you +scatter your chips about the berg like that, and into the very +pathway?" + +Regnar gave a finishing stroke to his work, and came lightly up the +path. + +"I shall finish my work above," said he; and in a moment more they stood +upon the summit. + +The brink of the pool lay near the edge of the cliff, and without +stopping to look around him, Regnar commenced cutting a deep, narrow +gutter from the pathway to the huge reservoir. As he struck the blows +which shattered the thin wall of ice between the pool and its new +outlet, the water poured in a stream a foot deep through the little +canal, and down the slanting ledge into the cavern below. + +"I understand it now," said La Salle, "and I now know why you lashed the +body to its support." + +"Yes," answered the boy, coolly, "should any try to break into yonder +tomb to-morrow, they would do so at the risk of their lives; but if we +have a week of frost, the cove will be full to its outlet of solid ice." + +"But, Regnar, let us think of something else. Where are the islands we +saw last evening? We ought now to be near the southern shore of the +group." + +"We have been wedged off to sea by stranded ice, I should judge; for +there, about fifteen miles to the northward, lies Amherst Island." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +NORTHWARD AGAIN.--THE STEAMER.--TAKING TO THE BOAT. + + +"Yes, Regnar, we are now on the outer side of the pack, and the wind has +shifted to the southward again. Look to the eastward, Regnie. Has not +the pack broken up there?" + +"Yes, the tide sets to the eastward, and the wind blows the heavy ice +northward as soon as it clears the eastern shoals. See that berg going +to pieces on Doyle's Reef!" + +As he spoke, the berg, a small one, worn by sun and rain into a +multitude of fantastic pinnacles, swung off from its easterly drift, +and, wafted by the wind, rapidly floated towards the concealed reef, +whose sharp and hidden rocks can only be suspected during the prevalence +of the heaviest storms. With a moderate rate of speed, not much +exceeding two knots an hour, the massive base of the ice-island suddenly +rose, as the shelving rocks received the irresistible impact. Then a few +glittering pieces dimpled the surface of the unruffled water. It was +the signal of impending dissolution. Crash upon crash, like the roar of +artillery, echoed and re-echoed among the floes, and rent from base to +pinnacle, the majestic frost-castle fell into utter ruin, torturing the +sea into foam, while the billows raised by the rocking of the huge +fragments swept up the narrow walls, sweeping right across many of the +lower floes, and even raising a slight ripple around the base of the +great berg itself. + +"We must return, Regnie. The clouds are darkening fast, and fog or a +thick scud is sweeping up from the southward. Let us have one more look +for the steamers, and then we must away to our friends." + +"There is a steamer on the outer edge of the pack, I think. You will see +her smoke in line with the East Point yonder." + +"Yes, Regnie, that is a steamer, sure enough, and she will make her way +to the centre of the pack. Let us hasten to the floe and take to the +boats. We can perhaps reach her by rowing through the narrow leads +before the gale rises." + +Hastening down the side of the watercourse they descended the berg, and +set off along its base, in the direction of the hut. As they passed they +gave a last glance at the sealer's tomb. Down the path they had +ascended, dashed an overflowing torrent, which disappeared with a whirl +and hollow gurgle into the yawning aperture, while the whole front of +the wall which they had ascended, dripped with water and glittered with +spray. + +"The keenest eye among the hunters of the Mistassini could not uncover +that trail; and known to God and us alone is the bloody mystery of the +Deadman's Berg." + +"Don't talk of that again, Regnie. Let the dead rest. Perhaps it may yet +transpire that he was penitent at the last, and you may have good reason +to rejoice that you knelt beside his last bed, in a tomb so wondrously +beautiful." + +"We must hasten faster, Charley, for the fog _is_ coming, and we may +find the floes separated. Remember our friends know nothing of all we +have seen and heard, and to them I am still Regnar Orloff, half +educated, and a simple pilot of the Labrador." + +With increased speed the pair pressed forward, crossing with difficulty +the gulf, which had opened between the berg and the first heavy floe. +Pole in hand, with one end of the rope attached to his belt, and his gun +slung at his back, Orloff led the way, while La Salle followed at the +other end, carrying an axe in his belt, and another in his hand. Luckily +many large fragments lay floating in the first lead, and prevented from +slipping by their sharp "crampets," they leaped from cake to cake, and +safely reached the second floe. + +The mist clung damp to their faces as they attained the end of the +second floe, where a lead of water some twenty yards in width, and +clear of ice, intervened between them and the next. The quick eye of +Regnar caught sight of a small ice-cake floating by the windward side of +their floe, and leaping upon it, with pole and hands they shoved it +along the steep walls of ice, and with their united force gave it a +final impetus in the desired direction. The fragment whirled and bent +beneath them, until the water stood above their ankles; but just as they +began to fear a complete submersion, Orloff caught a projection of the +field with his boat-hook, and the two landed in safety. + +As they hurried across the last floe, the rain fell, and the wind blew +heavily, dashing huge cakes against the windward side with a ceaseless +crashing of broken ice. Before they could reach the end of the field, +they saw their own turn as if on a pivot, and grind slowly past the +leeward point of the one across which they pressed at full speed. Their +efforts were in vain, for before they could reach the verge their refuge +was twenty feet distant; but Regnar was equal to the emergency. + +"Cast loose your rope, Charley," said he; and in five seconds he had +coiled and whirled it twenty feet across the intervening chasm, to +Peter, who seized and retained it. "Now, La Salle, follow me," he cried; +and springing upon a floating fragment, he balanced himself with his +pole until he reached a more stable support farther from the berg. + +The impetus, however, carried him too far away, and La Salle had to +choose between committing himself to a fragment without rope or pole, to +be tossed about by the rising sea, or to wait until Regnar should reach +the floe, and return for him in the boat. He chose the latter, but soon +had the pleasure of seeing Regnar safely landed on the floe, from +whence, in almost less time than it takes to tell it, the three launched +their boat and paddled up to the place where La Salle awaited their +arrival, intently watching the performance of their improvised +life-boat. + +He noted with pleasure that she drew little water, and that the light +paddles drove her through the short, toppling sea with considerable +speed, while her weather-boards prevented the shipping of any water. +Leaping aboard, they soon crossed the narrow lead, and running under the +lee of the ice-hills, drew their boat to the hut. + +"If you have anything you want to be sure to keep, stow it in the boat," +was La Salle's first order, as he saw the sea begin to dash across the +windward end of the floe, while, whining with fear, the young seals were +shoved and pushed, by the flippers of their dams, farther and farther up +on the higher ice, until, tamed by fear, they surrounded the little +hollow containing the hut. + +Food, weapons, clothes, and ammunition were all deposited in the boat, +as well as her mast, sail, and paddles, while her painter, attached to +her sharp-pronged grapnel, lay coiled on her half-deck forward. All +that afternoon the wind and sea arose, until, amid the drenching rain, +they could hear around them the clamor of the terrified seals, the +continual crash of breaking ice, and the sough of the heavy sea, whose +spray drove over them in constantly increasing showers. + +At last an occasional wave came into the lower part of the little +hollow, and all thought that the end was near. + +"We must take to the boat," said Regnar. + +But La Salle pointed to the ghostly crests of the surrounding seas; and +bowing his head upon his breast, Orloff signified to his friend that he +acknowledged the hopelessness of that resource. Just then a darker +blackness seemed to gather to windward, as a shriller blast whistled by +them; and as all awaited the increased fury of the elements which were +to end the unequal struggle, the wind seemed to abate, and the waves +sullenly retired from the surface of the floe. The rain still swept +fiercely upon the drenched wanderers, and on their lee they could still +note the crash of ice-islands, amid the sweep of the angry waves. + +But above them, huge, unbending, and majestic, towered a lofty pile, +shrouded in darkness, through which at times gleamed the weird white +outline of some snow-encrusted ledge. + +"Are we under the lee of Amherst Island?" asked Regnar, in a voice which +all could hear. + +La Salle's answer came below his breath, and only Regnar heard, or could +comprehend its meaning:-- + +"The dead are the defence of the living, and we are under the lee of +Deadman's Berg." + +Safe from the rage of the elements, but cold, wet, and hungry, the +adventurers sought the shelter of their hut, which still stood unhurt; +but the fir branches of the floor were soaked with water, for a wave or +two had risen above the ledge of the door. After much difficulty, with +the aid of a candle, the Esquimaux lamp was lighted, and after much +sputtering, the six wicks diffused their cheering light and grateful +warmth through the hut. Then Peter, with his axe, cut a gutter through +the doorway, letting off the standing water, and in the course of an +hour the boughs were comparatively dry. + +Taking from the boats the dry skins and coverlets, the party lay down to +rest, leaving Peter to keep watch lest they should again drift from +their haven, and be exposed to the pitiless seas. All took their spell +of duty; but the cheerless night passed without further incident, and +the day found them still under the shadow of the great berg. As the day +advanced, the storm swept the pack northward, and the party, ascending +the berg, saw, one by one, the isolated crags of the island chain of the +Magdalens loom at times through the driving scud, as they drove +northward. Six or eight miles away they saw the masts of a vessel deep +in the heart of the floe. + +"When the storm is over and the pack opens, we must take our boat and +reach that sealer," said La Salle; and taking the range of her position, +the four sought their hut, and building a huge fire of all their +remaining wood, prepared all the cooked meat which they could carry, +filled the seal-membranes with oil, and awaited the lull of the storm +and the opening of the pack. + +At sunset the storm had broken, the clouds began to disappear, and +through their rifts the stars glimmered, and the new moon shone palely +beautiful. + +"We shall not pass the North Cape much before morning," said La Salle, +"and until then the pack will not open. When it does we are ready; so +sleep, and I will watch." + +His tired comrades flung themselves down, and were almost instantly +asleep. As the dawn approached the wind lessened, and as the day broke, +he called Regnar, and again ascended the berg. + +On the right hand towered the rock-bound coast of the northern islands +and the isolated crags of Bryon. And as they looked northward they saw +the pack opening again: as it issued from under the lee, a black cloud +of smoke rose from the sealer's funnel, but instead of steering east or +west, she was evidently heading for the great berg. + +"Shall we await them here, or take our boat and try to reach them, +Regnar?" asked La Salle. + +"Wait a little longer, and then, when the ice opens, push a little more +to the eastward, and work down to meet the vessel," said the lad, who +proceeded to examine the dagger so strangely returned to his keeping. +The blade unscrewed at the cross-piece of the hilt, which was hollow, +and contained many papers closely compressed into a single roll. Regnar +ran his eye over the contents, and selecting one, returned the rest to +their odd receptacle. "This paper, Charley, contains an inventory of the +property confided to Perry, to be equally divided between my half-sister +and myself." And he proceeded to translate the items of the inventory. +"It is hardly worth while to give this paper in full; suffice it to say +that besides various pictures, books, arrows, weapons, sets of plate, +jewels, and other heirlooms, 'stored in care of Nicholas Orloff, my +mother's brother,' there appeared a schedule of moneys and bonds +amounting to nearly one hundred thousand dollars. 'These funds have been +committed,' the paper went on to say, 'to my faithful friend Albert +Perry, whom I commend to your good offices and implicit trust.'" + +As he ceased reading, the boy's face was turned to the ice-cliff, where +the plashing water flowed in a huge sheet, like a falling veil, over the +face of the berg, shutting out from sight the twining pillars and narrow +entrance of the sealer's tomb. + +"I have rendered him the last 'good office,'" said he. "It only remains +to seek yonder vessel, and find out who spoiled the spoiler, and, if +possible, recover the valuables and papers taken from Perry's body." + +"There is the steamer heading this way," said La Salle, "and the leads +are fast opening. Let us descend to the floe, and by the time we have +breakfasted, we shall find ample room between the fields to let us pass +in safety." + +Descending, they found their comrades already at breakfast, and by the +time the meal was disposed of, their floe lay surrounded by one of the +leads of open water, which showed scarce a vestige of the heavy seas of +the late gale. For the last time they packed their few valuables into +the boat, and stowing Carlo away under deck, took their allotted places, +dipped their paddles into the open water, and with rapid strokes +threaded the narrow channels, scaring the timid seals from their path, +and noting on every hand scenes of life and beauty, for amid the opening +pack the varied life of the Bird islands around them met their view. +Screaming gannets wheeled in clouds over their heads, and portly murres +started up heavily from the frequent pools, into which they broke with +flashing paddles, and laughter, such as they had never before indulged +in since their first misadventure. + +[Illustration: "IN HIS HANDS LA SALLE WAVED THE BANNER." +Page 297.] + +Guided by the pillar of black smoke, which, winding this way and that, +ever drew nearer and nearer, they came at last to an open pool, nearly +a quarter of a mile or more in length. On the opposite side, above a +small floe, they saw the prow of the advancing vessel. Evidently she had +met with a check, for as they gazed they heard the tinkle of the engine +bell, and saw her iron-sheathed bow recede behind the fantastic outlines +of the pinnacle. + +"Will she leave us?" asked Waring, with trembling lips. + +"They only back to run down that floe. See now." + +The next moment Regnar's prediction was verified. A blacker cloud of +smoke, shot with sparks, poured from the funnel; the huge hull rapidly +advanced, her raking prow, with its iron armor, piercing the waves like +the blade of the sword-fish. There was a crash, a momentary glimpse of +falling ice and splitting walls, and the next moment the noble steamer +came at half speed across the open water, just as the little boat shot +out of the sheltering lead. + +In his hands La Salle waved the banner attached to the boat-hook, which +had marked the deserted heaps of seal-skins. But it needed not: the +pilot rang his bell, and the sealer became motionless in the centre of +the pool. As they came alongside, a stout, full-bearded man, in a +Guernsey frock, threw them a rope, and hailed the strange little +craft:-- + +"What, do'ee want, friends, and where do'ee hail from?" + +"We are sportsmen, carried off, by the ice, in the straits, eleven days +ago. We want food, and a passage home, for which we will pay." + +"Well, if ivir I heerd of de like of dat! Come aboord, my men. De +captain's sick, but dere's plinty to ate here, and ye won't mind close +quarters, after your vige on de ice." + +"No, indeed, sir!" said La Salle. "Tumble up, my men. Take your guns and +your coats with you. Here, Nep; up that ladder, sir. That's right. Can +you take our boat aboard?" + +"Come right up, sur; dere's no fear of her. I'll have her aboord in tin +minutes. Here comes de mate. What's your name, sur? La Salle? Yis, sur! +Mister Blake, sur; Mister La Salle, sur." + +"Happy to see you, Mr. La Salle. I've learnt enough about you to know +that you have been adrift nearly two weeks, and as dinner's ready we +must have you into the cabin. I am sorry that but one berth is vacant, +and your friends will have to take their chance in the forecastle." + +"If you please, I had rather have you extend your courtesy to Mr. George +Waring, a son of Mr. Albert Waring, of C., who does a large business +with your St. John's fishing firms. He has been the only one of us who +has been sick, and--" + +"There, Mr. Blake," interposed Waring, "don't listen to him; take him +with you. Why, I am as strong as an ox now, and you'll find him far +better company than I am." + +Passing aft through gangways crowded with brawny, hardy-looking sealers, +La Salle followed his conductor to the cabin, where he found six or +eight men gathered around a table plentifully supplied with the usual +provisions found on board ships in the merchant service. After being +introduced to all present, who greeted him with a rude civility, Mr. +Blake invited him to "fall to and help himself." + +It is needless to say that he required no pressing in this direction. +"Hard tack" and "salt horse," with potatoes, soft bread, and chicory +coffee sweetened with molasses, seemed food fit for the gods, after the +greasy meat-diet of the last eleven days; and his companions +considerately refrained from questioning him until his hunger was +satisfied. At last he drew back his chair, lit a cigar offered him by +one of the officers, and turning to the mate said, laughingly,-- + +"Fire away, gentlemen--I'm ready." + +After narrating the principal events of their voyage so far as he deemed +prudent, he concluded as follows:-- + +"Two or three days ago we fell in with large sealing-floes, and among +them one where a sealer had killed several hundred seals. A boat-hook, +which you will find in our boat, bore this signal. Am I right in +supposing that this is the name of your vessel?" and so saying he drew +from his pocket the tiny pennon. + +"It is ours, and we have been trying for a week to recover our skins, as +well as the body of Captain Randall, whom we lost eight days ago." + +Not a muscle of La Salle's face betrayed any emotion save that of +interest, as he asked,-- + +"Lost your captain! And how, pray?" + +At that moment a noise was heard in the inner cabin, as if several men +were struggling; all at once the door flew open, and, with difficulty +restrained by the utmost efforts of two powerful men, a pale, unshorn +face, surmounting a wild and scantily-dressed figure, appeared to the +party, none of whom started save La Salle, who almost fancied that the +dead man, sealed up in the caverns of the ice, had come back again to +his quarters on board the Mercedes. Crying out, "I couldn't save him! I +couldn't save him!" the intruder was dragged, struggling and raving, +back to his berth. + +"Poor George! he takes the death of his brother sadly to heart. He was +mate, and the other day they left the floe together, to ascend a large +berg at some distance from our whaling-ground. We saw them on the top, +after which they disappeared, going to the opposite side by which they +had ascended. Shortly after we heard several rifle shots fired in quick +succession, and then George came running towards us, shouting that his +brother had fallen between the floes, and was drowning. + +"We ran to the spot, and found a place between two floes where the ice +was much broken up, as if some one had tried to catch something with a +boat-hook; and Randall told us that his brother had fallen through and +been carried under the ice before he could get to him. We broke the ice +all around, but to no purpose; and then our lookouts discovered that we +were in danger of getting nipped on the other side of the Magdalens. So +we returned to the ship with George, sadly enough." + +"Why were the rifle-shots fired? to call for assistance?" asked La +Salle. + +"Yes. None of our men have the rifle, although many are supplied with +the old sealing-gun. We therefore agreed among the officers that three +shots, fired in rapid succession, should call assistance in case of +danger, or trouble with the men. Our rifles are all breech-loading +carbines, and we can fire with great rapidity." + +"Do you find them of service among the seals?" + +"Yes, especially with the 'old hoods;' and poor Captain Randall, who +spent some years in Europe, had his ammunition fitted so that the +bullets explode on striking a bone. They tear a terrible hole in a seal, +I assure you." + +"Indeed! I never saw one of them, although it seems to me that I have +read of the invention. Have you any of the bullets here? for I suppose +the rifle was lost at the same time." + +The sailing-master, or rather pilot, a short, thick-set Newfoundlander, +took up the conversation. + +"Dere's de rifle now, hangin' over your head. De captain was ailin', an' +his brother, who fancied de little piece, carried it. Dere's one of de +cartridges in it yet." + +So saying, he took down a short carbine of the Spencer pattern, and +unlocking the slide, took out a cartridge and handed it to La Salle. It +displayed at the end of the ball the copper capsule of a rifle-shell. + +"Let us go on deck," said Blake, rising; but as they passed again +through the narrow passage, they heard the struggles of the delirious +captain, and his oft-repeated cry, "I couldn't save him! I couldn't save +him!" + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE FORECASTLE OF THE SEALER.--A SEALER'S STORY.--THE LAST +HUNT.--ARRIVAL AT ST. JOHN'S. + + +In the quarters of the men forward, between the lofty and wedge-like +bows, the rest of the party met with a warm reception; and although +grease was everywhere a prominent feature of the surroundings, still the +sense of comfort, warmth, and security, made it a paradise to men who +had passed so many days of discomfort and anxiety. + +Huge kids of beef, potatoes, and bread, with hot pannikins of strong +black tea, formed their dinner, which most of the men preferred to eat +on deck; but the boatswain, or rather captain of the forecastle, with, +perhaps, a dozen others, seated themselves at the long hanging shelf +which formed the table, and listened intently to the story of their +varied wanderings and adventures. + +As Regnar concluded, a grizzly-haired sealer from Kitty Vitty seized him +by the hand. + + +A SEALER'S STORY. + +"Ye've ben lucky, sur; de Lord be praised for't, for dere's many a +better man nor you dat's died wid hunger an' cold on de ice. I mind once +myself dat I sailed out o' Conception in March, an' tree weeks after dat +we were up off Hamilton Inlet. Dere was a big fleet of us boys, for dat +was in de ould times when dere were no steamers, but only brigantines +mostly. + +"Well, dere was ould Ned Shea in de Li'n, an' Jim Daygle in de Ringdove, +an' Bill 'Hearne in de Swiler's Bride, an ourselves in de Truelove, all +in company; an' dat night at dusk we made de Greenland ice. Well, de +wind was west-nor'-west, an' we put de studdin'-sils onto her, an' away +we went flamin' mad through der slob. + +"Well, de ice giv us many a heavy thump dat night, but de ould Truelove +was well fastened, an' at daylight next mornin', we heard de watch cry, +'Swiles! Swiles! On deck, below dere!' You may be sure we wasn't long in +gettin' on deck wid our guns an' gaffs, an', sure enough, dere dey was, +ould an' young, _atin' de shaydn_ (sheathing) _off her_. + +"Den we launched de boats an' took to de ice; an' when we landed, de +capten said, 'Trow your guns in de boats, an' at dem wid de gaff;' an' +such a massacree I never saw since. De first I killed was a 'harp;' an' +den I killed a 'hood' wid de first lick; an' den a 'jenny' an' tree +'white coats;' but I took my toe to dem, an' all of 'em in a bit of a +hollow not bigger den dis fo'c's'le, an' I sculped dem an' put dere +sculps on a pinnacle; an' so it was all day an' de next. + +"But on de t'ird day we were hard at it a good way from de vessil, an' I +tought I saw some swiles under a hummock, an' I ran up swingin' my club; +but dey didn't stir, an' den I saw dat dey wasn't swiles. Dey was +Huskies, two of 'em, dead an' frozen stiff. Dere lines an' lances lay +beside 'em, an' knives of hoop-iron, wid bone hannles, were in dere +boots; but dere was no sign of anythin' to ate, an' dey looked wasted to +'natomies. + +"I called de odders, an' de capten come up an' looked at dem a minute +sorrowful-like, an' den said, 'Poor fellows! dey've been carried off'n +de ice, an' starved till dey froze to death;' an' he tould us to bury +dem daycently, an' we closed dem up in a pinnacle. + +"But it was lucky we was near loaded, for dat put a chill on our min', +an' de tought of dose dead Huskies lost us many a fine swile, for de +boys wouldn't scatter over de ice as dey used to. + +"It wasn't long after dat de capten tould us dat we were full enough, +an' away we sailed to de sou'-east." + +"Dat was de time de Li'n was lost--wasn't it?" inquired another +islesman. + +"Yes; on de way down we had an awful gale, an' de Li'n put into de pack +an' got 'nipped,' so dat she went down; but her crew was all saved in de +boats. We put off to say, an' for two days an' nights I tought we should +never say land. Why, we lay to as long as we dared, an' until our deck +was full of water, an' de capten said we mus' do somethin' else, or we +should founder. + +"I stood in de fore-riggin' an' watched de big says as dey come down +upon us; an' I'll tell you one thing you'll do well to remember. +Whenever a big wave come dat I knew would sink us, if it broke upon us, +_I made de sign of de holy cross, an' de wave broke before it reached +us_." + +"I've done de same ting often myself, an' nivir knew it to fail," said +the younger man, who, it appeared, was the son of the veteran sealer. + +"But how did you get clear finally?" asked Regnar. + +"De ould capten dat was drownded de oder day was mate den. He was a wild +young chap, but smart an' able. He tould de capten to rig one of de +pumps, and pump some of de oily water out of de hold. So de brakes was +rigged, but he an' de capten had to man dem at first, for all de rest +were afeard, an' I was in de fore-riggin' watchin' de says. + +"Well, dey pumped a while, an' de oil an' water went overboard, an' as +we went driftin' away to leeward, I saw de slick of de ile spreadin' +over de waves. We kept a couple of men at de pumps till night, an' dere +wasn't another say broke over us." + + * * * * * + +"Swiles! Swiles! On deck, dere below!" cried some one on deck; and a +general rush up the steep ladder leading to the deck took place. + +Following the others, our three friends soon found their companion, La +Salle, who had pressed through the crowded gangways to his party. + +Again they lay below the Deadman's Berg, and around them were the floes, +crowded with living seals, as well as the one over which the ravenous +sea-birds fluttered, holding high carnival over the multitude of frozen +bodies. The crew, armed with guns and clubs, were lowering their light +boats, and the party dragging their own boat to the side, awaited the +lowering of a boat to use its falls for their own. Blake approached +them, and said, kindly,-- + +"I wouldn't land; you must be tired, and need rest. Just turn in, all of +you, in the cabin, for we shall be ashore all day." + +"We would rather hunt with you, for we shall never probably have another +chance to see how a Newfoundland sealer kills his game. Only, if you +please, let us have some sheath-knives, and four of your clubs." + +Merely saying, "We shall be very glad of your help, for we have to leave +two of our best men with the captain," Blake spoke to an under-officer, +who soon produced four sharp sheath-knives, and as many oaken clubs +about six feet long, ringed at the top with iron, and furnished with a +sharp hook, or gaff; and lowering their little craft, the four paddled +stoutly after the fleet of boats, whose wild crews tore the water into +foam with their oars, as each strove to reach the floes, and to "win the +first blood." + +Sixty men, besides La Salle's party, swept across the pool, almost flung +their light boats upon the safe ice, and prevented from slipping by +their spiked crampets, charged at full speed upon the frightened seals, +who filled the air with their clamorous roars and whining. Crick, crack! +fell the heavy clubs on every side, and seldom was the stroke repeated; +but sometimes an "ould hood" would elevate his inflated helmet, and the +heavy club would fall upon it, producing a hollow sound, that boomed +high above the noise of the conflict. Then the officer in charge of that +gang would step up, present his carbine, and the brave seal, shot +through the brain, would fall back dead, as the report rattled among the +ice-peaks. + +Having disposed of the adults, a regular butchery took place among the +young seals, who were easily despatched by a blow on the nose, or a kick +with the heavy heel of a sealer's boot on the spinal vertebrae. Then +followed the "sculping," or skinning, which was despatched with +marvellous rapidity. At its close the men, covered with blood and oil, +gathered to their boats, and leaving the floe crimsoned with gore, and +horrible with bloody and skinless carcasses, hastened to another field +to continue the work of death. + +Such for two days were the scenes presented to the eyes of the +companions, who received many commendations for their assistance, but +who rejoiced beyond measure when the word was passed through the ship +that she was "full," and that they were to sail at once for St. John's. + +[Illustration] + +Once more the black funnel poured forth its cloud of smoke, and casting +off the lines which attached her to the surrounding ice, the Mercedes +pressed boldly into the pack, and soon our adventurers gazed for the +last time on the fading outlines of the Deadman's Berg. + +Two days later, as the steamer rounded Cape Race, the captain, worn and +weak, but evidently in his right mind, appeared at the table. On being +introduced to La Salle, he seemed somewhat agitated, but soon assumed an +overbearing and despotic demeanor. To Mr. Blake he was particularly +insulting. + +"I'll have you know, sir, that I am captain now; ay, and owner, too, +sir, for my poor brother left neither chick nor child in the world but +me. Damn me, sir! what right have you to invite everybody to my table +and cabin? ay, and put a stranger into my brother's very state-room?" + +Blake looked confounded, and the other officers sat with bowed heads and +lowering brows at this insult to a man they all loved and respected; but +La Salle unconcernedly turned to the newly-fledged commander, and +said,-- + +"I regret, captain--really, I forget your name; but let that pass; but +when I came on board, I told this gentleman that I would sleep forward +with the men. I have not cared to speak about it before, but I can +assure you that I have the worst dreams in that state-room that I ever +had in my life. I shall try to recompense you for the passage of my +companions and myself when we arrive at St. John's;" and rising, he +bowed haughtily, and withdrew to the deck. + +Ten minutes later he was joined by Blake. + +"The captain has apologized to us, and begs that you will come to his +room, as he is too weak to leave the cabin." + +La Salle attended the good-hearted sailor to the inner cabin, where a +mattress lay upon the table, and many appliances, among them a couple of +broad bandages of stout canvas, bore witness to the severity of the +captain's late illness. The sick man attempted to rise from his chair as +he entered, but was evidently very weak, and La Salle interposed,-- + +"Don't rise, captain, I beg of you. I see you are very weak, and perhaps +I was too ready to take offence. We should not always notice--" + +"The disagreeable acts of a sick and almost heart-broken man," +interposed Randall, with a smooth, deceitful softness of tone, that +instantly reawakened La Salle's antipathies. "I beg you, however," he +continued, "to excuse me, and to make yourself at home in your old +quarters. I should like to talk with you about your strange cruise, but +at St. John's we may have a better opportunity over a bottle of wine." + +"I shall be glad to meet you with my friends as soon as I can see Smith +& Co., and get some notes changed, so that I can buy suitable clothes +for myself and friends;" and bowing, La Salle withdrew. + +That night La Salle looked well to the fastenings of his door, lashing +the knob of the lock to a corner of his berth, where a knot had dropped +out of the deal. Several times he felt the thin partition tremble, and +heard the noise of some one tampering with the lock; but at last morning +came, and three hours later the steamer lay at anchor off the city of +St. John's. + +The party had funds enough to secure a change of apparel and respectable +quarters, until they should hear from Waring's father, to whom he had +telegraphed their safe arrival, and want of money. A telegram to the +wife of the new captain of the Mercedes, conveyed to Baltimore the news +of the death of her brother-in-law. + +Of course the party received much attention, and for a few days they +were the lions of the city, although tales of adventure on the ice are +of too frequent occurrence in St. John's, to awaken any lasting +interest; for scarcely a winter elapses without the arrival of one or +more crews who have seen their vessel disappear beneath the resistless +pressure of colliding icebergs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE CAPTAIN'S VISIT.--HOMEWARD BOUND.--BROTHER AND SISTER. + + +At last the expected draft arrived, and the party were to leave for +Halifax the next day in the Cunard steamer. La Salle had invited Captain +Randall to spend the evening in a private parlor of the hotel, and at +eight o'clock he was ushered in, and found no other guest save his first +mate, Mr. Blake, who was still first officer of the Mercedes. + +The table was well spread with delicacies, and although some constraint +existed, the wine did its work, and soon Blake and Randall were laughing +and joking, as if no cause for ill-feeling existed between them. At +Randall's request La Salle gave a summary of their adventures, +concluding the recital as follows:-- + +"Thus passed the long days of our anxious drift, until your vessel +steamed back to her old sealing-ground, and we left forever behind us +our ice-built hut and the Deadman's Berg." + +The effect was magical. The smiles faded from the faces of the guests. +Randall's lips were drawn and thin, his eyes fixed and glittering, and +one hand stole stealthily to his hip. Regnar, too, was pale, but not +with fear, and his hand grasped the hilt of the antique dagger. + +"Let me help you to some of this, captain," said La Salle; and rising, +he uncovered a small dish before him, and taking from thence a pair of +Derringers, presented them at the head of his astounded guest. "Up with +your hands, murderer," he said, sternly, "or you die on the instant!" At +the same time Blake and Regnar seized him by the arms. + +"What is the meaning of all this?" asked Waring, trembling and appalled. + +"Dis no good, La Salle. No Injin hurt man in his wigwam, or strike when +he give 'em food," shouted Peter, angry at what he considered a breach +of hospitality; but both were unheeded. + +"Why am I treated thus?" faltered the prisoner, whose trembling knees +could scarcely support him. + +"Captain Randall, I have here a man with whom you have an account to +settle. He has been known among us as Regnar Orloff. His real name is +Regnar Orloff Hubel. Where is the money and other valuables which your +brother, Albert Randall, stole from two orphans, and was murdered for by +you, that you in turn might become the thief?" + +"Mr. Blake here knows the story, for we have told him how we found the +corpse of his commander, with the skull pierced with one of your +murderous shells. We buried him in the berg; if you doubt it, behold the +tokens." + +Regnar raised his hand: on one finger glittered the golden setting of +the native talisman; on the table he laid the sheathed dagger. + +"Are you satisfied, George Randall?" said he. + +The wretch glared around as if he would have destroyed all who +surrounded him; then he seemed to realize the futility of his rage, and +catching his breath with a fierce sob, he asked, hoarsely,-- + +"What will you have me do?" + +Regnar stepped forward, and answered for himself. + +"Give up the secret money-belt which you took from the person of your +victim, with its contents untouched, and secure to me compensation for +the sums taken by your brother. Your life I do not want, but if you +hesitate I will have both." + +"What security have I for your silence?" asked Randall, more boldly; for +even his craven fears were unable to repress his naturally cold and +grasping disposition. + +"Only our oaths, and the remembrance that my half-sister has slept +beneath your roof, and has borne your name, although it shall no longer +be a reproach to her." + +"It is hers no longer. She married last week, after losing her first +beau somewhere at sea: but never mind; I must take your offer and your +word, I suppose. Let go of my arms. You may take my pistols from my hip, +if you are afraid of me." With these words he proceeded to unfasten his +vest, and from beneath it drew a water-proof bag of thin rubber, which +was tightly fastened with twine, and enclosed in a money-belt of +chamois-skins. "It is all there but ten thousand dollars, and that he +had a right to take," said he. + +"What do you mean?" asked Regnar, with a softened look and glistening +eyes. + +"Open and read for yourself," said Randall, moodily. + +Unfastening the belt, Hubel untied the inner bag, and poured the +contents upon the table. A roll of bank bills fell upon it. There were +within twenty bills of the denomination of one thousand pounds each, on +the Bank of England, and a folded paper, which, on being opened, proved +to be a copy of the last will and testament of Paul Hubel. By its +provisions a sum amounting to about ten thousand dollars was given "to +my old and tried friend, Albert Perry." + +"Al, put that ten thousand into this vessel last year, and I persuaded +him to put thirty thousand of your money in, too. We made money last +spring, and I kept trying to get him to buy all of her. He took a +dislike to your sister, and said he would hold on to the money until he +found you. Last summer he secured a passage on a vessel bound to the +Labrador, and only that he got sick, I believe he would have seen you +then. + +"This last winter we had several quarrels about the money, but I never +meant to injure him until the day it happened. We were having splendid +luck, when he proposed that we should climb the berg, as he feared being +caught between the pack and the islands. We had to ascend on the +opposite side, and when we got to the top, we saw the storm brewing to +windward, and started to return. + +"As we came along the ice-foot, I said, 'You're making money this trip +fast. Isn't that better than giving up everything to that sullen girl +and a half-breed boy?' Then he seemed sad, and said, 'George, you've +made a rascal of me; but, thank God, I've made up my mind to be true to +my old comrade at last.' + +"'What do you mean?' said I. + +"'I mean,' said he, turning to me, 'that I've sold out the shares I +bought with that thirty thousand, and I've got their money safe here in +this belt.' + +"'But you don't mean to be such a fool as to give it up--do you?' said +I; for I was angry to think that, instead of the four shares I had +counted on all along, we should have but one in the division of the +profits. + +"And then I taunted him with a fatal quarrel long ago, and he--well, he +taunted me with a crime that I thought no one knew. Says he,-- + +"'I'm not afraid of you. If the rope is ready for my neck, you could +scarcely live out the time, between the sentence and the gallows, if the +people of San Francisco once listened to your trial.' + +"So one word brought on another, and at last he shook his gaff at me, +and made one step; and my blood was on fire, and I fired the carbine. He +never spoke. + +"I don't believe I ever should have enjoyed the money, although at times +I felt as if I could hug myself when I counted it over; and I laid out +to go back to Baltimore, and go into business there. What am I to do +with the share in the vessel, and his money in the bank?" he asked, +suddenly. + +Regnar rose, with his eyes red with weeping; but a sad smile wreathed +his lips, as he asked,-- + +"He was your only brother, and unmarried--was he not?" + +Randall answered, hoarsely,-- + +"It is true, God help me! it is true." + +"To all that is his, then, you are sole heir. I lay no claim to interest +or forfeit, and I wish that thrice the sum would restore him to life, +since even at the last he was not wholly unworthy of my father's +confidence and his children's love. Come," said he, turning to those +present, and taking from his breast a Bible, "repeat after me the oath +of silence and secrecy:-- + +"'We, who alone know of the circumstances attending the decease of +Captain Albert Randall, and the suspicions attaching to the part acted +therein by his brother George Randall, do solemnly swear that, except +under the seal of confession, or as compelled by the power of the law, +we will never divulge our knowledge or suspicions until after the +decease of the brother of the dead.'" + +The oath was taken with due solemnity, and Randall rose to depart. +Blake, filled with anger and desire of vengeance, had preceded him. La +Salle coldly did as common politeness required, but Regnar saw that +sickness and mental torture had overcome the strong man, whose knees +trembled beneath him, as, with the curse of Cain upon him, he turned to +depart, without friends, far from home, and weary of life. + +"It is not right, La Salle," said the boy. "I was unjust to _him_ +although it is better for all that no eyes but our own saw him laid in +the Deadman's Berg. Let us give this man human sympathy; he is weak and +sick; let us see that he does not despair of the mercy and love of God." + +La Salle could not but acknowledge the righteousness of this appeal, +and, followed by Regnar, hastened into the hall. + +"Captain," said he, "forgive us if we have failed to treat you with +Christian forbearance, and believe that our hearts will retain your +memory, with sympathy for your heavy burden of remorse, if not with the +esteem that might have existed between us. The night is dark and cold; +let us help you to find a conveyance." + +"I thank you," said he, feebly; "you are very kind--far kinder than I +deserve. No man can measure the remorse that burns within me, and yet +the world would say that you have let me off too easily." + +La Salle rang the bell sharply, and a waiter hastened up from the lower +landing. + +"Did you ring, sir?" + +"Yes. Call a cab at once. Regnar, get my coat and yours. Mr. Randall, we +must see you safely home. Where do you board?" + +"At the Albion; but you need not take that trouble. Ah, sir, I know your +fears; but my head is clear, and you need not be afraid that I shall do +anything rash. I shall not despair of the pardon of God, since I have +found some merciful pity in man." + +The carriage was announced; the tall form was again erect, and the +voice, though husky with emotion, came strangely sweet and clear, as he +turned to go. + +"I would that we might be friends, but I know it cannot be. My blessing +men would shrink from, if they knew what you do; but may God bless you +for your kindness to me." And standing motionless in the dusky passage, +they heard the footsteps die away in the empty corridors, and the rattle +of the wheels of the vehicle which bore him away forever. + +The next day they took the steamer for Halifax, and arriving there, the +party separated, Peter and Waring going to St. Jean, and La Salle to the +home of his father in Baltimore, where Regnar also was bound, in search +of his half-sister. The parting was not pleasant, for the mutual trials +and dangers of the few days spent amid the ice had done more to cement a +strong and lasting friendship between the four, than years of ordinary +companionship would have done. + +"Look out, Peter, when you get on board the Princess, for Lund has +secured such a story to tell, that he may pitch you two overboard to +keep you from spoiling it by your return." + +"All light," answered Peter; "Capten Lund good man; see spirit, too, +sure enough. He see two men; he look 'gain, no men dere. He see you an' +me on _h_ice. Snow fall t'ick, an' he see us no more. What hurt we come +back? Much better we come back for all han's; you come back soon, I +s'pose, too." + +"Yes, Peter," answered La Salle, kindly, "we shall come back soon, and I +hope next fall to be spending the moonlight nights with you on +Shepherd's Creek, and the duck-haunted reed-ponds of Battery Marsh. Good +by;" and going on board, the two friends went rather disconsolately to +their state-room. + +Regnar still seemed ill at ease, as if he wanted to inquire about +something; and at last he said, abruptly,-- + +"Charley, what shall I say to my sister?" + +"Say to her, Regnie? Why, that you are delighted to see her, of course. +You may add that you come to make her wealthy; that is not likely to +hurt your reception," said La Salle, philosophically. + +"Yes, of course I know that; but--but about you, Charley. You know what +Randall said about--about her--" + +"About her being married, do you mean? Why, my dear boy, say nothing. I +am resigned, and, I may say, almost glad that it is so. Neither was it +altogether an unexpected announcement, for I felt long ago that my first +impressions upon her susceptible heart had faded with lapse of time and +a low state of the exchequer. No, no, boy! be kind and loving to her, +for she has not your firmness of soul or depth of affection. I carry you +to her as my marriage gift. Is it agreed?" + +"It is, Charley; and you will not let the caprice of a girl separate me +from my friend--will you, La Salle?" + +"Regnie," answered the other, not without a touch of tenderness in his +tone, "the bonds which connect us are not the ties of passion, or the +calm preferences of the selfish world. We met amid a gathering of savage +and half-civilized men, and our acquaintance has ripened into friendship +amid many dangers and strange experiences. A doubtful and dangerous +quest still lies before you. I hope that you will not undertake it +without me to accompany you." + +"You, of all men, are the one I should choose, and we will set out this +very summer to carry out my father's wishes;" and during the rest of +their journey little was talked of but their future expedition into the +interior of Newfoundland. + +At Baltimore La Salle and his friend went to the home of the former, and +were received as men from the dead. Of course the papers were full of +sketches of their strange adventure, and wood-cuts of icebergs and seals +covered the paper-stands for a week; and then a horrible murder, and a +delicious bit of scandal in high life, closed the brief notoriety of the +friends. + +Two visits were paid during the first week of their return. Both called +on the day of their arrival at Mrs. Randall's, and La Salle sent up his +card. After waiting a while, that lady, who was not without misgivings +as to what might be said about her matchmaking proclivities, sailed into +the room very richly dressed, and rather red in the face. + +"I am happy to see you, Mr. La Salle, and to know that you were not +really lost, after all. Do you make a long stay in the city?" + +"Don't waste unnecessary effort to appear cool and freezingly polite, +Mrs. Randall," said La Salle, calmly. "I am here on a matter of +business. I want Pauline's present address, as it is highly important +that I should see her at once." + +"Dear Pauline resides at No.--Crescent Avenue, and is now, as you are, +of course, aware, the wife of Mr. Reginald Ashley, who is, as you know, +closely connected with some of our first families." + +"Yes, I know he is first cousin to Green, the rich broker, who sometimes +invites him to dinners and parties, and makes it twice as hard for poor +Ashley to make his small salary at the custom-house pay his way." + +"Well, I dare say Pauline has done as well, and even better than she +might have done, had not the poor girl had some one to advise her, who +knew the world and--" + +"Threw away an heiress worth fifty thousand dollars on a clerk with +eighteen hundred dollars a year," interrupted La Salle, with a smile. "I +beg leave, Mrs. Randall, to introduce to you Regnar Hubel, her +half-brother, who comes to return to her her moiety of the fortune left +by her father. I did not come here," continued he, more gravely, "to +bandy bitter words, for you will ere long hear news from Newfoundland, +which, I hope, will teach you that hidden sin is never safe from +discovery, and that all injustice meets with its meed of punishment. +Adieu, madam." + +Later in the day they called at the hotel, where the young couple were +passing the honeymoon. Slipping a _douceur_ into the hands of the +waiter, he introduced them into the suite without the usual presentation +of visiting cards. As the young bride swept into the boudoir in her +reception dress, La Salle stepped forward; for he knew that she had +already heard of his arrival. + +"Charley--Mr. La Salle! Why--that is, how do you do? I was glad to +hear--" + +La Salle interrupted the fair speaker, for the awkwardness and pain of +the interview were but too apparent. + +"I did not come, Mrs. Ashley, to give you pain, or annoy you by my +presence. I come to fulfill a prophecy." + +"To fulfill a prophecy? You speak in riddles, and I have never delighted +much in anything of that kind since I was a child." + +"I may say, then, that I come to offer my congratulations, and to bring +you my bridal gift." + +"A gift? and from you? Surely you do not mean to offer, and I cannot +accept it." + +Regnar arose, and addressing the agitated girl, ended the painful +interview. + +"You were the daughter of Paul Hubel, of Schleswig--were you not?" + +"Yes, sir. I was adopted by the brother of Mr. Randall, who was the +friend of my father." + +"Then, I assure you that my friend speaks truth. He has fulfilled a +prediction, and gives you a fortune, and the brother who shares it with +you." + +The next few moments were spent in mutual explanations, and the young +girl, deprived of a mother's love in early life, sent away to learn +life's duties of strangers, and yearning during all her brief existence +for the affection she had never known, received the brother she had +never seen with an outburst of welcome which revealed what she might +have been, had her life been spent under happier auspices. + +At last La Salle interrupted their mutual joy. + +"I have finished my task, and the prophecy of Krasippe is accomplished." + +"Yes," said Regnar, "last summer I met with an old Esquimaux who served +our father well for many years, and who now claims some power of insight +into the future. He heard the story of my futile efforts to find you, +but uttered this prophecy which we to-day accomplish. He said, 'You will +meet in a desert of ice the man who will lead you to your heart's +dearest wish. He will lose, and you will gain.'" + +"And yet, Regnie, although the coincidence of events may bring me within +the purview of the Esquimaux oracle, I have a misgiving that we have, +perhaps, overlooked the claims of one whom we met but once in a desert +of ice, and who still voyages, in silence unbroken, ADRIFT IN THE +ICE-FIELDS." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adrift in the Ice-Fields, by Charles W. 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