diff options
Diffstat (limited to '38276.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 38276.txt | 10039 |
1 files changed, 10039 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/38276.txt b/38276.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..651dec4 --- /dev/null +++ b/38276.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10039 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cruise of the Snowbird, by Gordon Stables + +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: The Cruise of the Snowbird + A Story of Arctic Adventure + +Author: Gordon Stables + +Illustrator: + +Release Date: December 11, 2011 [EBook #38276] +Last Updated: July 16, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE SNOWBIRD *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Cruise of the Snowbird +A Story of Arctic Adventure +By Gordon Stables +Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 27 Paternoster Row, London. +This edition dated 1882. + +The Cruise of the Snowbird, by Gordon Stables. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE CRUISE OF THE SNOWBIRD, BY GORDON STABLES. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE YOUNG CHIEF OF ARRANDOON--THE RISING STORM--LOST IN THE SNOW. + +It was winter. Allan McGregor stood, gun in hand, leaning against a +rock half-way down the mountain-side, and, with the exception of himself +and the stately deer-hound that lay at his feet, there was no sign of +any living thing in all the glen; and dreary and desolate in the extreme +was the landscape all around him. Glentroom in the summer time, when +the braes were all green with the feathery birches, and the hillsides +ablaze with the purple bloom of the heather, must have been both +pleasant and romantic; but the birch-trees were now leafless and bare, +the mountains were clad in snow, and the rock-bound lake, that lay far +beneath, was leaden and grey like the sky itself, except where its waves +were broken into foam by the snow-wind. That snow-wind blew from the +north, and there was a sound in its voice, as it sighed through the +withered breckans and moaned fitfully among the rocks and crags, that +told of a coming storm. + +Allan was the young laird of Arrandoon. All the glen had at one time +belonged to his ancestors--ay, and all the land that could be seen, and +all the lochs that could be counted from the peaks of Ben Lona. His +father, but two short years before the commencement of this strange +story of adventure, had died, sword in hand, at the head of his regiment +in distant Afghan, and left him--what? A few thousand sheep, a few +thousand acres of heather land on which to feed them, the title of +chief, and yonder ancient castle, where dwelt his widowed mother and his +sister. + +Although he was a good Highland mile from his home, the castle, visible +in every line and lineament from where he stood, formed quite a feature +in the landscape. A tall grey building, with many a quaint and curious +window, and many a turret chamber, it was built on the spur of the +mountain, around which swept a brown hill-stream, the third side, or +base of the triangle, being bounded by a moat now dry, and a drawbridge +never raised. Far down beneath it was the grey loch, to which the noisy +stream was hurrying. + +Every old castle has its old story, and Arrandoon was no exception. It +had been built in troublous times--built when the wild clans of the +McGregors were in their glory. There the chiefs had dwelt, thence had +they often sallied to tread the war-path or arouse the chase, and in its +ancient halls many a gay revel had been held; but peace with the +Lowlands, strange to say, had wrought the downfall of the chiefs of +Arrandoon. The country had been thrown open, Englishmen had visited the +glens, and friendships had been formed between those who once were +deadly foes. In their own Highland homes the McGregors had entertained +strangers in a regal fashion. Herein was pride--the pride that goes +before a fall. When the chieftains went south, there, too, they would +lord it, and herein lay more pride--the pride that caused the fall--for, +alas and a lack-a-day! for the want of money land must be sold. Thus +the stranger crept into the country of the Gael, and gold did for the +proud McGregors, what the sword itself could never achieve--it laid them +low. + +That was one chapter of this castle's story; the second is even a sadder +one, for it tells of the days when, bereft of their lands, the proud +chiefs of the McGregors, scorning trade, placed their claymores at the +service of the reigning monarch, and fell in many a foreign land, +fighting in a cause that was not their own, because fighting, they +thought, was honourable, and fighting gave them bread. And their wives +and their little ones were left at home to mourn. But no stranger saw +the tears they shed. + +It was towards this castle that the eyes of Allan McGregor were turned +when first we see him; it was of the mournful history of his family he +was thinking, as he stood on the hillside on this bleak, cold wintry +evening. + +"Bah!" he said to himself, "the very game seem to forsake the glen. +Just look here," he continued, addressing the dog, who looked up, +wagging his tail, "only two hares and a brace or two of birds, with a +wild cat that we shot at hazard, didn't we, Bran? And I'm sure we've +walked fully twenty miles, haven't we, Bran?" + +"Twenty miles fully," Bran seemed to say, speaking with his eyes and his +tail. + +"And really, Bran, when my English college friends come to see me--as +they will to-night, you know--I'll hardly have anything to give them to +eat, leaving sport out of the question; will I, Bran?" + +Bran looked very serious at this, for he knew every inflection of his +master's voice. + +"Ah, Bran, Bran! my dear old dog! it is very hard being a Highland +chieftain with nothing to support one's dignity on. Dignity, indeed! +Why, Bran, I have positively to put mine in the pot and boil it for +dinner. Now rouse up, Bran; I want to speak to you, because I must have +somebody to open my heart to." + +Bran sat up on his haunches, and young Allan placed his hand on his +head. + +"Yes, Bran, my heart seems strangely full of something, and I think, old +dog, that it is hope! hope for better times to come. You see our castle +home down yonder, Bran?" + +The noble hound looked in the direction indicated, and again moved his +tail. + +"Well, Bran, for many, many years there hasn't been a single wreath of +smoke seen above any of the chimneys of that bonnie old house, except +those that rise from the southern wing--the smallest wing, Bran, +remember--and all the rest of the castle is going to wreck and ruin. No +wonder you half close your eyes, Bran; it is a sad serious business, and +fine times the mice and the rats and the owls and the bats have been +having in it, I can tell you! + +"But now just listen, old fellow! All the time that you have been +snoozing among the snow there, with your nose on top of the game-bag, I +have been standing here thinking--thinking--thinking. + +"You would like to know what I have been thinking about, wouldn't you? +Well, as you're a good, faithful dog, I'll tell you. I've been thinking +about the past, and old, old times, when McGregor of Arrandoon was the +proudest chief that ever trod the heather. That is more than a hundred +years ago, Bran. The present chief of Arrandoon is a very different +sort of an individual. To tell you the truth, my friend, your master is +just as poor as peastraw, and there isn't much substance in that. But, +oh! Bran, I've been thinking that, what if I myself, by my own +exertions, could go somewhere and do something that would earn me wealth +and fame? To be sure I would like to be a soldier, but then mother says +I must not leave her for the wars, and my poor father fought and bled +for twenty long years, and there was nothing to send home but his sword. +Heigho! No, I cannot be a soldier, even if I would. But something, +Bran, I mean to do; something I mean to be, Bran. I don't know yet, +though, what that something will be, but my mother shall not die in +poverty; of that I feel quite certain. Pride caused the fall of the +chiefs of Arrandoon; pride shall raise us once again. The song says,-- + +"`Whate'er a man dares he can do.' + +"And I mean to _dare_ and I mean to _do_, even if I go off to the +gold-diggings. But, oh! Bran, only to think of getting back even a +portion of my lands, that are now turned into shooting-grounds for the +alien and stranger, to see sheep and lowing kine grazing where now only +the heather grows, and the smoke curling upwards once more, from every +chimney of our dear old home! Isn't it a glorious thought, Bran?" + +Bran jumped up at once and shook himself. Poor dog! he had no knowledge +of a world beyond the glen, and probably the words in his master's +heroic speech that he understood the best, were those about going +somewhere and doing something. + +So he shook himself, wagged his tail, looked up to the sky, down at the +castle, then all round him, and finally up into his master's face, +saying plainly enough,-- + +"By all means, master. I'm ready if you are. What is it to be--hares, +rabbits, deer, or wild cat? I'm ready." + +Young Allan laughed aloud, and again patted the rough honest head of the +faithful hound. And a very nice picture he and the dog would, just at +that moment, have made, had an artist been there to transfer it to +canvas. McGregor was poor, I grant you, but he owned something better +even than riches: he had youth and health and beauty--the beauty of +manliness, and his were a face and figure that once seen were sure to be +remembered. + +"Tall and stately, and strong as the oak, graceful as the bending +willow,"--this is something like the language that Ossian, or any other +ancient Celtic bard, might have used in describing him. I am sorry that +I am not a Celtic bard, and that I must content myself with prosaically +saying that Allan was handsome, and that the Highland garb which he +wore--perhaps the most romantic of all costumes--well became him. + +Reader, did ever you run down a mountain-side? I can tell you that it +is glorious fun. You must know your mountain well though, and be sure +no precipices are in your way. Having made certain of this, off you go, +just as Allan and his hound went now, with wild skips, and hops, and +jumps; it is not running, it is positive kangarooing, and when you do +leave the ground in a leap, you think you will never touch it again. +But no fear must dwell in your heart during this mad race. Once +commenced, nothing can stop your wild career, till you find yourself at +the foot and on level ground; and even then you have to run a goodly +distance to expend the impulse that carried you downwards, or else you +will tumble. But when you have stopped at last, and gazed upwards, "Is +it possible," you say to yourself, "that I can have descended from such +a height in so short a space of time?" + +I do not know whether Bran or his master was at the foot of the mountain +first, but I do happen to know that they both disappeared in a wreath of +snow as soon as they got there, and that _both_ of them emerged +therefrom laughing. After that, Allan McGregor sloped his gun and +walked on more sedately, as became the chief of Arrandoon. + +And now he approached the old castle, which looked ever so much higher +and more imposing as one stood beneath it. He fired both barrels of his +gun in the air, and the sound reverberated from hill and crag, rolling +far away over the loch itself in a thousand echoes, as if the fairies +were engaged at platoon-firing. Bran barked, and his bark was re-echoed +too, not only from the rocks around, but from the interior of the castle +walls. This last, I must tell you, was an Irish echo; it was no ghostly +recoil of Bran's own voice, but the genuine outcome from canine lungs; +and lo! yonder come the owners of them, pouring over the bridge, a +perfect hairy hurricane, to welcome Bran and his master home. Two +Highland collies, a lordly Saint Bernard, a whole pack of what looked +like stable brooms, but were in reality Skye terriers, and last, but not +least, Bran's old mother. + +When the hubbub and din were somewhat settled, and the greetings over, +Allan proceeded to cross the bridge, and McBain, his foster-father, +advanced with a kindly smile to meet him. + +I must introduce McBain to the reader without more ado--that is, I must +give you some idea of his appearance; as to his character, that will +develop itself as the story proceeds. He was about the middle height, +then, and clad, like Allan, in the Highland dress of McGregor tartan--or +_plaid_, as the English and Lowland Scotch erroneously call it. Though +far from old, McBain was grey in beard and furrowed in brow; yet there +are but few young men, I ween, who, had they ventured on a tussle with +that broad-shouldered, wiry Highlander, would have cared to repeat the +experiment for a week to come at least. + +This was Allan's foster-father. He had been in the family since he was +a child, and his ancestors, like himself, had been chief retainers to +the lairds of Arrandoon. He was a right faithful fellow, and a +Scotchman in everything, thinking no people so good or brave or powerful +as his own, nor any other country in the world worth living in; and from +this you will readily infer that he had never mixed very much with the +peoples of the earth. This is true; and still he had travelled when a +young man, but it was towards the desolate regions of the North Pole. +It was pride had taken him there--a cross word that his father had said +to him, and young McBain had gone to sea. Only, a few years of the +wild, rough life he had led on the icy ocean around Spitzbergen had +taught him that there was no place like home, so he returned to it and +received his father's pardon, and, later on, his blessing. + +"Aha, Allan, boy!" cried McBain; "so you've got back at last. Indeed-- +indeed we thought you were lost, and Bran and all. What sport, boy-- +what sport?" + +"There is the bag," said Allan, "and precious little you'll find in it." + +"Ah! But, boy, half a loaf is better than no bread. When I was in +Spitzbergen--" + +"There, there," said Allan, interrupting him, "never mind about +Spitzbergen now; but tell me, have Ralph and Rory come, there's a good +old foster-father." + +"Ralph and Rory come!" replied McBain, with an air of surprise. "Why, +they are English, Allan; and do you think they'd leave the hospitality +and good cheer of an Inverness hotel, to visit Glentroom in such weather +as this? It _isn't_ likely!" + +Allan was silent; he had turned away his head and was gazing skywards, +with something very like a frown on his face. + +McBain laid a kindly hand on his shoulder. "You are piqued, son," he +said; "you are angry. There is the proud, defiant look of the McGregor +chiefs on your countenance. Let it pass, Allan; let it pass. Do not +forget for a moment what the McBains have ever been to your people. +Have they not served them well, and fought and bled for them too? Were +they not ever the first at the castle walls, when the fiery cross was +sent through the glen? Do not forget that I have been a true +foster-father to you, my son? Haven't I taught you all you know? on the +hills, on the lochs, and by the river? and would you get angry with the +old man because he says your guests will hardly dare turn up to-night?" + +Allan passed his hand quickly across his brow, as if to brush away a +cloud. + +"No, no!" he replied; "I'm not angry. Only--only you don't know my +English friends; you will alter your opinion of them when you do. They +are brave and manly fellows, McBain. Ralph rowed stroke oar in his boat +at Cambridge, and Rory is the best bowler in the three royal counties." + +McBain laughed. + +"Allan! Allan!" he said; "think you for a moment they could do what I +have taught you to do? Could either of them cross Loch Kreenan in a +cobble when the waves are houses high, when their white crests cut the +face like a Highland dirk? Could they bring the eagle from the clouds +with a single bullet, or the windhover from the sky? Could they grapple +with and gralloch a wounded red deer? Nay; and even if they could, if +they were as brave and strong and fierce as the wild cat of the +mountain, it would take all their strength and all their courage to face +the storm that is brewing to-night. See, Allan, the clouds are already +settling down on the hills, the peak of Melfourvounie is buried in mist, +there is a mournful sough in the rising wind, and ere five hours are +over the boddach will be shrieking among the crags of Drontheim." + +[Boddach--A spirit, believed in by many, who takes the shape of an old +man, sometimes seen by night in the woods, but always heard shrieking +among the rocks that he haunts whenever storms are raging.] + +"All the more reason," cried Allan, talking rapidly, "that I should go +and meet them. Tell mother and sister I have gone a little way down the +glen to meet Ralph and Rory, and we'll all be back to dinner. Bran and +Oscar will go with me. But stay, don't you hear the bagpipes? It is +Peter, and very likely my friends are with him." + +The sound came nearer and nearer, and presently out from the shadows of +the dark pine-wood strode Peter--all alone. + +Both went quickly to meet him, and Peter's story was soon told. + +"The Sassenach gentlemans," he said, "had both left Inverness with him +in the morning, and fine young gentlemans they were, and might have been +Highlanders for the matter of that. But och and och! they _would_ take +the high road for sake of the scenery, bless you, and he had to take the +low; but for all that they ought to have been at the castle hours and +hours ago." + +Young Allan and his foster-father said never a word; they did but +tighten their hands, and glance for a moment in each other's eyes, yet +both understood that the simple action implied a promise on either side +to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, whatever might happen. + +Presence of mind in emergency is a gift that seems peculiar to the +Scottish Highlander. Born in a mountain land, and accustomed from his +very infancy to face every danger in hill or glen, in flood or fell or +field, his true character is never better seen than in times of danger. +McBain waited for a few minutes in the castle courtyard until Allan, who +had hurried away, should have time to communicate with his mother and +sister; then he struck a gong, and while yet its thunders were +reverberating among the hills, he was surrounded by every servant in the +place, old Janet, the cook, not excepted; then the orders that fell +calmly and yet quickly from his lips showed at once that he was master +of the situation. + +"Janet, old woman," he said, "run away to the house like a good creature +and get ready the dinner; the best that ever you made, do ye hear? +Peter, run, lad, and get a rope, the crooks, and lanterns. Here, take +the chief's gun. Yes, certainly, bring the bagpipes, and don't forget +the flask. Donald Ogg, get the pony put in the trap, with rugs and +plaids galore. Take the high road to Inverness and follow us soon. +Thank you, Peter. Now for the dogs. No, no; not a pack. Back with +them all to the kennel save Oscar, Bran, and Kooran the collie. Here we +are, Allan, boy, all ready for a start." + +And in less time than it takes me to tell it, the little expedition was +equipped and started. A few minutes more and they had disappeared in +the pine forest from which Peter had so lately emerged, and the old +Castle of Arrandoon was left to silence and the gloom of +quickly-descending night. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +SAVED--RORY AND RALPH--MCBAIN HAS AN IDEA. + +There is probably no music in the world more spirit-stirring--when heard +amongst the native hills--than that of the Highland bagpipe. How often +it has led our Scottish troops to victory, and cheered their drooping +hearts in times of trouble, let history tell. In the London streets the +sound of the pipes may be something vastly different, and then the +pipers get undue blame. + +The little party who left the Castle of Arrandoon to go in search of +Ralph and Rory did well to have Peter and his bagpipes included in their +number, for, so long as they were within hearing distance of the castle, +the music would give hope to those left behind; and when beyond that, it +would not only serve to while away the time of the searchers, but even +in the darkness it might perchance be heard by the sought. + +The road they had taken led upwards through the pine forest for more +than a mile, and even when it left the wood it still ascended, until it +at last joined the old highway to Inverness. This was quite high up +among the mountains--so high, indeed, that even the most distant peaks +were visible on the other side of the lake. + +"Surely," said McBain, "we shall meet your friends ere long." + +"I fear the very worst," said Allan, gloomily, "for, had they not left +the road for some purpose or another, they would have reached the glen +long before this time. Rory would have his sketch-book, and both of +them are fond of wild scenery." + +"Wild scenery indeed!" said McBain; "they needn't leave the road to +search for that." + +His words were surely true, for a grander scene than that around them it +would be difficult to imagine. + +It was a toilsome road they had to trace though, for the untrodden snow +lay a good foot deep on the path, and, albeit they cast many a longing +look ahead, they had but little time and little heart to look around to +admire the scenery. And the snow was dry and treacherous. It lay +lightly on the brae-sides, and on the bending heather stems, apparently +awaiting only the breath of the storm to raise it into clouds of +whirling drift, and drive it into deep and impassable wreaths. + +For more than an hour they trudged onwards without catching sight or +hearing sound of life, whether of man, or bird, or beast. The wind, +too, was beginning to rise, a few flakes of snow had begun to fall, and +night and darkness were already settling down in the hollows and glens, +and only on the hilltops did daylight remain. + +At last they came to a shepherd's hut, and McBain knocked loudly at the +door. + +"Are you in, Donald? Are you in?" he cried. + +"To be surely I'm in," said a tall, plaided Highlander, opening the +little door; "to be surely I'm in, Mr McBain, and where else is it I'd +be, I wonder, in such a night as it soon will be?" + +"Have you been abroad to-day, Donald?" asked Allan. + +"Abroad? Yes, looking after the sheepies, to be surely." + +"Have you seen or met any one?" + +"Yes, yes; two English bodies, to be surely. One would be sitting on a +stone, making a picture, and the other would be looking over his +shoulder, as it were. Och! Yes, to be surely." + +"Would you go with us, Donald?" asked Allan, "and show us the spot where +you saw them." + +"Would I go with you? Is it that you are asking me?" cried Donald; "and +what for do you ask me? Why didn't you tell us to go? Didn't my poor +brother go with your father? ay, and die by his side. Yes, Donald will +go with you to the end of the world if you'll want him. Wait till I get +my crook; to be surely I'll go." + +Donald disappeared as he spoke, but after about a minute he joined our +friends, and they journeyed on together. + +"It will be an awful night, to be surely," said Donald, "and troth, it +is more than likely the two English bodies are dead, or drowned, or +frozen by this time. An' och! it's a blessing they are only English +bodies." + +Such a speech as this did not tend to reassure young Allan. In very +truth it almost quenched the hopes that were beginning to rise in his +heart. + +Donald was now their guide, and they were not surprised to observe that +before very long he deserted the main road entirely, for a steep and +craggy path that led downwards towards the distant lake. Along this +narrow footway Donald bounded along with almost the speed of a red deer. +Nor were Allan and his trusty companions slow to follow, for all felt +how precious were the few minutes of daylight that were left to them. + +And now the shepherd stops, removes his cap, and, passing his fingers +through his hair in a puzzled kind of manner, stares around him in some +surprise. + +"Yes, yes," he says at last; "this is the place, to be surely, but I +don't see a sign of the English bodies whatsomever." + +But if _he_ does not, Allan McGregor, quicker of eye, does. He springs +lightly forward, and picks something up that lies half-buried among the +snow. + +"It is Rory's sketch-book," he says, "Alas! poor Rory." + +But what is that mournful wail that now rises up towards them, +apparently from the very bosom of the dark lake itself? + +"It's the boddach of Drontheim," falters the shepherd, trembling like an +aspen leaf. "It's the boddach, to be surely, och! and och! What will +become of us whatsomever?" + +"Silence, Donald, silence?" cries McBain, as the strange sound falls +once more on their listening ears. "Where is Oscar? Not here? Why, it +is he! Come, men! Come, Allan, for, dead or alive, your friends are +down yonder." + +They follow the footprints of the noble dog, although they are hardly +visible, but Kooran, the collie, takes up the scent and does excellent +service. So down the steep and craggy hill they rush, often stumbling, +sometimes falling, but still going bravely on, and cheering Oscar with +their voices as they run. At the foot at last, and on level ground, +they hasten forward, welcomed by the Saint Bernard to a spot where lie +two inanimate human forms, partly hidden by the lightly drifting snow. + +Dead? No, thank Heaven! they are not dead, and what joy for Allan +McGregor, when stalwart Ralph sits up, rubs his eyes, and gazes vacantly +and wildly around him. + +"Drink," says McBain, holding a flask to his lips. The young Englishman +swallows a mouthful almost mechanically, then staggers to his feet Allan +and McBain steady him by the arms till he comes a little more to +himself. + +"Ralph, old fellow," says Allan, "don't you know me?" + +"Yes, yes," he mutters, hardly yet sensible of his surroundings, "I +remember all now. Rory--the cliff--I could not raise him--sleep stole +my senses away. But we are saved, are we not, and by you, good Allan, +and by you strangers? But see to Rory, see to Rory." + +McBain was chafing Rory's hands, and rubbing his half-frozen limbs. + +"No," he said, "not saved by us. You have Providence to thank, and +yonder brave dog. Had he not found you, the sleep that had overcome you +would have been your last." + +It was a long time, and it seemed doubly long to Allan and Ralph, ere +Rory showed the slightest signs of returning life. At length, however, +the blood began to trickle slowly from a wound he had received in the +forehead in his fall over the cliff, and next moment he sighed deeply, +then opened his eyes. + +"God be praised?" said McBain, fervently; "and now, my friends, let us +carry him." + +This was very easily done, for Rory was a light weight. So with Donald +in front, and the dogs capering and barking all around them, the party +commenced the ascent, and half-an-hour afterwards they were safe at the +shepherd's hut. And none too soon, for night was now over all the land, +and the snow fell thick and fast. + +Rory was laid upon the shepherd's dais, and Allan and Donald proposed +moving it close to the fire. But McBain knew better. + +"No, no, no!" he cried, "leave him where he is. Never take a frozen man +near the fire. I learned that at Spitzbergen. He has young blood in +his veins, and will soon come round." + +But Rory, for a time, lay quiet enough. He was very white too, and but +for his regular and uninterrupted breathing, and the tinge of red in his +lips, one might have thought him dead. + +"Poor little Rory!" said Allan, smoothing his dark hair from off his +brow. "How cold his forehead is!" + +Very simple words these were, yet there was something in the very tone +in which they were uttered that would have convinced even a stranger, +that Allan McGregor bore for the youth before him quite a brother's +love. + +And who was Rory, and who was Ralph? These questions are very soon +answered. Roderick Elphinston and Ralph Leigh were, or had been, +students at the University of Cambridge. They had been "inseparables" +all through the curriculum, and firm friends from the very first day +they had met together. And yet in appearance, and indeed in character, +they were entirely different. Ralph was a great broad-shouldered, +pleasant-faced young Saxon Rory was small as to stature, but lithe and +wiry in the extreme; his face was always somewhat pale, but his eyes had +all the glitter and fire of a wild cat in them. Well, then, if you do +not like the "wild cat," I shall say "poet"--the glitter and fire of a +poet. And a poet he was, though he seldom wrote verses. Oh! it is not +always the verses one writes that prove him to be a poet. Very often it +is just the reverse. I know a young man who has written more verses +than would stretch from Reading to Hyde Park, and there is just as much +poetry in that young man's soul as there is in the flagstaff on my lawn +yonder. But Rory's soul was filled with life and imagination, a +gladsome glowing life that could not be restrained, but that burst +upwards like a fountain in the sunlight, giving joy to all around. +Everything in nature was understood and loved by Rory, and everything in +nature seemed to love him in return; the birds and beasts made a +confidant of him, and the very trees and the tenderest flowerets in +garden or field seemed to whisper to him and tell him all their secrets. +And just because he was so full of life he was also full of fun. + +When silent and thinking, this young Irishman's face was placid, and +even somewhat melancholy in expression, but it lighted up when he spoke, +and it was wonderfully quick in its changes from grave to gay, or gay to +grave. It was like a rippling summer sea with cloud-shadows chasing +each other all over it. Like most of his countrymen, Rory was brave +even to a fault. Well, then, there you have his description in a few +words, and if you will not let me call him poet, I really do not know +what else to call him. + +Ralph Leigh I must dismiss with a word. But, in a word, he was in my +opinion everything that a young English gentleman should be; he was +straightforward, bold and manly, and though very far from being as +clever as Rory, he loved Rory for possessing the qualities he himself +was deficient in. Thoroughly guileless was honest Ralph, and indeed, if +the truth must be told, he was not a little proud of his companion, and +he was never better pleased than when, along with Rory in the company of +others, the Irishman was what Ralph called "in fine form." + +At such times Ralph would not have interrupted the flow of Rory's wit +for the world, but the quiet and happy glance he would give round the +room occasionally, to see if other people were listening to and fully +appreciating his adopted brother, spoke volumes. + +McBain was right. The young blood in Rory's veins soon reasserted +itself, and after half-an-hour's rest he seemed as well as ever. His +first action on awaking was to put his hand to his brow, and his first +words were,-- + +"What is it at all, and where am I? Have I been in any trouble?" + +"Trouble, Rory?" said Allan, pressing his hand. "Well, you and Ralph +went tumbling over a cliff." + +"Only fifty feet of a fall, Rory," said Ralph. + +Rory sat bolt upright now, and opened his eyes in astonishment. + +"Och! now I remember," he said, "that we had a bit of a fall--But fifty +feet! do you tell me so? Indeed then it's a wonder there is one single +whole bone between the two of us. But where is my sketch-book?" + +"Here you are," said Allan. + +"Oh!" said Rory, opening the book, "this is worse than all; the +prettiest sketch ever I made in my life all spoiled with the snow." + +"Now, boys," continued Rory, after a pause, "I grant you this is a very +romantic situation--everything is romantic bar the smoke; but what are +we waiting for? and is this your Castle of Arrandoon, my friend?" + +"Not quite," replied Allan, laughing. "We are waiting for you to +recover, and--" + +"Well, sure enough," cried Rory, "I have recovered." + +He jumped up as he spoke, kicked out his legs, and stretched out his +arms. + +"No; never a broken bone," he said. + +Now it had been arranged between Allan and McBain that Rory should ride +in the cart, while they and Ralph should walk. + +But Rory was aghast at such a proposal. + +"What," he cried; "is it a procession you'd make of me? Would you put +me on straw in the bottom of a cart, like an old wife coming from a +fair?" + +"But," persisted Allan, "you must be weak from the loss of blood." + +"Loss of blood," laughed Rory, "don't be chaffing a poor boy. If you'd +seen the blood I lost at the last election, and all in the cause of +peace and honour, too! No, indeed; I'll walk." + +The storm was at its very worst when they once more emerged from the +pine-wood, but every now and then they could see the light glimmering +from one of the castle turrets, to guide them through the darkness. +They sent the dogs on before to give notice of their approach; then +Peter tuned up, and high above the roaring of the snow rose the scream +of the great Highland bagpipe. + +A few hours afterwards, the three friends had all but forgotten their +perilous adventure among the snow, or remembered it only to make merry +over it. It is needless to say that Allan's mother and sister welcomed +his friends, or that Ralph and Rory were charmed with the reception they +received. + +"Well," said Rory, after the ladies had retired for the night, "I fully +understand now what your poet Burns meant when he said-- + +"`In heaven itself I'll ask nae mair Than just a Highland welcome.'" + +And now they gathered round the cosy hearth, on which great logs were +blazing. McBain was relegated to an armchair in a corner, being the +oldest Rory, who still felt the effects of his fall, reclined on a couch +in front, with Ralph seated on one side and Allan on the other. Bran, +the deer-hound, thought this too good a chance to be thrown away, so he +got upon the sofa and lay with his great, honest head on Rory's knees, +while Kooran curled himself up on the hearthrug, and Oscar watched the +door. + +"Well," said Ralph, "I call this delightful; and the idea of doing the +Highlands in mid-winter is decidedly a new one, and that is saying a +great deal." + +"Yes," said Rory, laughing; "and a beautiful taste we've had of it to +begin with. I fall over a cliff in the snow and Ralph comes tumbling +after, just like Jack and Jill, and then we go to sleep like lambs, and +waken with a taste of spirits in our mouths. Indeed yes, boys, it is +romantic entirely." + +"Everything now-a-days," said Ralph, with half a yawn, "is so hackneyed, +as it were. You go up the Rhine--that is hackneyed. You go down the +Mediterranean--that is hackneyed. You go here, there, and everywhere, +and you find here, there, and everywhere hackneyed. And if you go into +a drawing-room and begin to speak of where you've been and what you've +done, you soon find that every other fellow has been to the same places, +and done precisely the same things." + +"Sure, you're right, Ralph," said Rory; "and I do believe if you were to +go to the moon and come back, some fellow would meet you on your return +and lisp out, `Oh, been to the moon, have you! awfly funny old place the +moon. Did you call on the Looneys when you were there? Jolly family +the Looneys.'" + +"There is a kind of metaphorical truth in what you say, Rory," Ralph +replied; "but I say, Allan, wouldn't it be nice to go somewhere where no +one--no white man--had ever been before, or do something never before +accomplished?" + +"It would indeed," said Allan; "and I for one always looked upon +Livingstone, and Stanley, and Gordon Cumming, and Cameron, and men like +them, as the luckiest fellows in the world." + +"Now," said Ralph, "I'm just nineteen. I've only two years more of what +I call roving life, and if I don't ride across some continent before I'm +twenty-one, or embark at one end of some unknown river and come out into +the sea at the other, I'll never have a chance again." + +"Why, how is that?" said McBain. + +"Well," replied Ralph, "Sir Walter Leigh, my father, told me straight +that we were as poor as Church mice, and that in order to retrieve our +fortunes, as soon as I came of age I must marry my grandmother." + +"Marry your grandmother!" exclaimed McBain, half rising in his chair. + +"Well, my cousin, then," said Ralph, smiling; "she is five-and-forty, so +it is all the same. But she has oceans of money, and my old father, +bless him! is very, very good and kind. He doesn't limit me in money +now; though, of course, I don't take advantage of all his generosity. +`Go and travel, my boy,' he said, `and enjoy yourself till you come of +age. Just see all you can and thus have your fling. I know I can trust +you.'" + +"Have your fling?" cried Rory; "troth now that is exactly what my Irish +tenants told me to do. `The sorra a morsel av rint have we got to give +you,' says they, `so go and have your fling, but 'deed and indeed, if we +see you here again until times are mended, we'll shoot ye as dead as a +Ballyshannon rabbit.'" + +"Well, young gentlemen," said McBain, after a pause in the conversation, +during which nothing was heard except the crackling of the blazing logs +and the mournful moaning of the wind without, "you want to do something +quite new. Well, I've got an idea." + +"Oh, do tell us what it is?" cried Ralph and Rory, both in one breath. + +"No, no; not to-night," said McBain, laughing; "besides, it wants +working out a bit, so I'm off to bed to dream about it. Good night." + +"Depend upon it," said Allan McGregor, as he parted with his friends at +their chamber door, "that whatever it is, McBain's idea is a good one, +and he'll tell us all about it to-morrow. You'll see." + +CHAPTER THREE. + +LIFE AT THE OLD CASTLE--MCBAIN EXPLAINS HIS "IDEA"--ALLAN'S DREAM. + +To say that our heroes, Ralph and Rory, were not a little impatient to +know something about the scheme McBain was to propose for the purpose of +giving them pleasure, would be equivalent to saying that they were not +boys, or that they had men's heads upon boys' shoulders. So I willingly +confess that it was the very first thing they thought about next +morning, immediately after they had drawn up the blinds, to peep out and +see what kind of a day it was going to be. + +But this peeping out to ascertain the state of the weather was not so +easily accomplished, as it would have been in the south of England. For +fairy fingers seemed to have been at work during the night, and the +panes were covered with a frost-work of ferns and leaves, more +beautifully traced, more artistically finished, than the work of any +human designer that ever lived. The whole seemed floured over with +powdered snow. It was a pity, so thought Rory, to spoil the pattern on +even one of the panes, but it had to be done, so by breathing on it for +quite half a minute, a round, clear space was obtained; and gazing +through this he could see that it was a glorious morning, that the +clouds had all fled, that the sky was bluer than ever he had seen a sky +before, that the wind was hushed, and the sun shining brightly over +hills of dazzling white. The stems of the leafless trees looked like +pillars of frosted silver, while their branches were more lovely by far +than the coral that lies beneath the blue waves of the Indian Ocean. + +"How different this is," said Rory, "from anything we ever see in +England! Ah! sure, it was a good idea our coming here in winter." + +"I wonder where McBain is this morning?" said Ralph. + +"And I know right well," said Rory, "what you're thinking about." + +"Perhaps you do," Ralph replied. + +"Ay, that I do," said Rory; "but don't be an old wife, Ralph--never +evince undue curiosity, never exhibit impatience. In other words, don't +be a squaw." + +"Oho!" cried Ralph, "now I see where the land lies. `Don't be a squaw,' +eh? You've been reading Fenimore Cooper, you old rogue, you! The +centre of a great forest in the Far West of America--midnight--a council +of war--chiefs squatting around the camp fire--smoking the calumet-- +enter Eagle-eye--scats himself in silence--everybody burning to hear +what he has to say, but no one dares ask for the world--ugh! and all +that sort of thing. Am I right, Rory?" + +"Indeed you are," said the other, laughing; "you've bowled me out, I +confess. But, after all, you know, it will be just as well not to seem +impatient, and so I move that we never speak a word to McBain about what +he said last night until he is pleased to open the conversation." + +"Right," said Ralph; "and now let us go down to breakfast." + +Both Mrs McGregor and Allan's sister Helen were very different from +what Ralph and Rory had expected to find them. They had taken their +notions of Highland ladies from the novels of Walter Scott and other +literary worthies. Before they had come to Glentroom they had pictured +to themselves Mrs McGregor as a kind of Spartan mother--tall, stately, +dark, and proud, with a most exalted idea of her own importance, with an +inexorable hatred of all the Saxon race, and an inordinate love of +spinning. Her daughter, they had thought, must also be tall, and, if +beautiful, of a kind of majestic and stately beauty, repellent more than +attractive, and one more to be feared than loved. And they felt sure +that Mrs McGregor would be almost constantly bending over her +spinning-wheel, while Helen, if ever she condescended to bend over +anything, which they had deemed a matter of doubt, would be bending over +a very ancient piece of goods in the shape of a harp. + +These were their imaginings prior to their arrival at the castle, but +these ideas were all wrong, and very delighted were the young men to +find them so. Here in Mrs McGregor was no stiff fastidious lady; she +was a very _woman_ and a very _mother_, loving her children tenderly, +and devoted to their interests, and rejoiced to hold out the hand of +welcome to her children's friends. On the sunny side of fifty, she was +slightly inclined to _embonpoint_, extremely pleasant both in voice and +manner as well as in face. Rory first, and Ralph soon afterwards, felt +as much at home in her presence and company as if they had known her all +their lives. + +As to Helen Edith, I do not think that any one would have been able to +guess her nationality had they met her in society in town. She had been +educated principally abroad, and could speak both the Italian and French +languages, not only fluently, but, if I may be allowed the expression, +mellifluently, for she possessed perfection of accent as well as +exceeding sweetness of voice. She was rather small in stature, with +pretty and shapely hands, and a nice figure. + +Was she beautiful? you may ask me. Well, had you asked her brother he +would have said, "Indeed, I never gave the matter a thought," but Rory +and Ralph would have told you that she _was_ beautiful, and they would +have added the words, "and sisterly." I do not know whether or not +Helen was a better or a worse musician than most young girls of her +age--she was just turned seventeen. She sang sweetly, though not +loudly; she never screamed, but sang with expression, as if she felt +what she sang; and she accompanied herself on the harp. But as for Mrs +McGregor's spinning-wheel, why, our young heroes cast their eyes about +in vain for it. + +The portion of the castle now occupied by the McGregors was furnished in +a far more luxurious style than probably accorded with their fallen +fortunes, but everywhere there was evidence of refinement of taste. The +old hall and the picture gallery delighted Rory most; he could fit a +romance into every rusty coat of mail, and fix a poem to every spear and +helmet. + +"What a grand thing," he said to Allan, "it is to have had ancestors! +Never one had I, that I know of--leastways, none of them ever troubled +themselves to sit for their portraits. More by token, perhaps, they +couldn't afford it." + +If Ralph enjoyed himself at the castle--and I might say that he +undoubtedly did--he did not say a very great deal about it. To give +vocal expression to his pleasure was not much in Ralph's line, but it +was in Rory's, who, by the way, although nearly as old as his companion, +was far more of a boy. + +The feelings of the young chief of the McGregors, while showing his +friends over the old castle, the ancient home of his fathers, were those +of sadness, mingled with a very little touch of pride. Every room had +its story, every chamber its tale--often one of sorrow; and these were +listened to by Ralph and Rory with rapt attention, although every now +and then some curious or quaint remark from the lips of the latter would +set the other two laughing, and often materially damage some relation of +events that bordered closely on the romantic. + +"If ever I'm rich enough," said Allan, leading the way into the ancient +banqueting-hall, "I mean to re-roof and re-furnish the whole of the +older portion of the castle." + +"But wherever has the roof gone to?" asked Rory, looking upwards at the +sky above them. + +"Fire would explain that," replied Allan; "the whole of this wing of the +building was burned by Cumberland in '45--he who was surnamed the Bloody +Duke, you know." + +"Were your people `out,' as you call it, in '45?" asked Ralph. + +Allan nodded, and bit his lips; the memory of that terrible time was not +a pleasant one to this Highland chief. + +The little turret chambers were a source of both interest and curiosity +to Allan's companions. + +"Bedrooms and watch-towers, are they?" said Ralph, viewing them +critically. "Well, you catch a beautiful glimpse of the glen, and the +hills, and woods, and lake from that little narrow window, with its +solitary iron stanchion; but I say, Allan--bedrooms, eh? Aren't you +joking, old man? Fancy a great tall lanky fellow like me in a bedroom +this size; why, I'd have to double up like a jack-knife!" + +"Oh! look, Ralph, at these dark, mysterious stains on the oaken floor," +cried Rory--"blood, of course? Do you know, Allan, my boy, what +particular deed of darkness was committed in this turret chamber?" + +"I do, precisely," replied Allan. + +"Och! tell us, then--tell us!" said Rory. + +"Ay, do," said Ralph. "I shall lean against the window here and look +out, for the view is delightful, but I'll be listening all the same." + +"Well, then," said Allan, "I made this little room my study for a few +months last summer, and I spilt some ink there." + +"Now, indeed, indeed," cried romantic Rory, "that is a shame to put us +off like that. Never mind, Ralph; _we_ know it is a blood-stain, and if +Allan won't tell us the story, then, we'll invent one. Sure, now," he +continued, "I'd like to sleep here." + +"You'd catch your death of cold from the damp," said Allan. + +Rory wheeled him right round to the light, and gazed at him funnily from +top to toe, and from toe to top. + +"You're a greater curiosity than the fine old castle itself," said Rory; +"and I don't believe there is an ounce of romance in the whole big body +of you. Now, if the place was mine, there isn't a room--why, what is +that?" + +"That's the gong," said Allan, "and it says plainly enough, `Get +r-r-r-r-ready for dinner.'" + +"Well, but," persisted Rory, "just before we go down below show us the +corridor where the ghost walks at midnight, and the door through which +it disappears." + +"A ghost!" said Allan; "indeed, I never knew there was one." + +"Ah! but," Rory continued, "you never knew there _wasn't_. Well, then, +say _probably_ there is a ghost, because you know, old fellow, in an +ancient family like yours there must be a ghost. There must be some old +fogey or another who didn't think he was very well done by in this +world, and feels bound to come back and walk about at midnight, and all +that sort of thing. Pray, Allan, don't break the spell. You're welcome +to the stains if you please, but 'deed and indeed, I mean to stick to +the ghost." + +The first few days of their stay in Glentroom were spent in what Allan +called "doing nothing," for unless he left the castle for the hill, the +river, or the lake, he did not consider he was doing anything. Within +the castle walls, however, Rory for one was not idle. There was, in his +opinion, a deal to be seen and a deal to be done: he had to make +acquaintance with every living thing about the place--ponies and dogs, +cattle and pigs, ducks, geese, fowl, and pigeons. + +Old Janet averred that she had never seen such a boy in all her born +days--that he turned the castle upside down, and kept all the "beasties" +in an uproar; but at the same time she added that he was the prettiest +boy ever she'd seen, and "Heaven bless his bonnie face," which put her +in mind of her dear dead boy Donald, and she couldn't be angry with him, +for even when he was doing mischief he made her laugh. + +The parish in which Glentroom lies is a very wide one indeed, and +contained at the time our tale opens many families of distinction. +Nearly all of these were on visiting terms with the McGregors, and many +a beautifully-fitted sledge used to drive over the drawbridge of +Arrandoon Castle during the winter months--wheels, of course, were out +of the question when the snow lay thick on the ground--so that life in +Allan's family, although it did not partake of the gaiety of the London +season, was by no means a dull one, and both Ralph and Rory thought the +evenings spent in the drawing-room were very enjoyable indeed. Ralph +was a good conversationalist and a good listener: he delighted in +hearing music, while Rory delighted to play, and, for his years, he was +a violinist of no mean order. He had never been known to go anywhere-- +not even on the shortest of holiday tours--without the long black case +that contained his pet instrument. + +Now, as none of "the resident gentry," as they were called, who visited +at the castle have anything at all to do with our story, I shall not +fatigue my readers by introducing them. + +And why, it may be asked, should I trouble myself about describing life +at the castle at all? And where is the _Snowbird_?--for doubtless you +have guessed already that it is a ship of some kind. The _Snowbird_ ere +very long will sail majestically up that Highland lake before you, and +in her, along with our heroes, you and I, reader, will embark, and +together we will journey afar over the ocean wave, to regions hitherto +but little known to man. Our adventures there will be many, wild, and +varied, and some of them, too, so far from pleasant, that while exiled +in the frozen seas of the far North, our thoughts will oftentimes turn +fondly homewards, and we will think with a joy borrowed from the past of +the quiet and peaceful days we spent in bonnie Arrandoon. + +Ralph and Rory had kept the promise they had made to each other on the +morning succeeding their arrival at Arrandoon; they left McBain to dream +over his "idea" in peace. They did not behave like squaws, and I think +it was the third or fourth evening before Allan's foster-father said +another word about it. They were then all around the fire, as they had +been before; the ladies had retired, and the dogs were making themselves +as snug and comfortable as dogs know how to whenever they get a chance. + +"Well," said McBain, after there had been a lull in the conversation for +some little time, "we've been all so happy and jolly here for the last +few days, that we haven't had time to think much or to look ahead +either; but now, if you don't mind, young gentlemen, I will tell you +what I should propose in the way of spending a few of the incoming +spring and summer months, in what I should call a very pleasant +fashion." + +"Yes," cried Rory, "do tell us, we are burning to hear about it, and if +it be anything new it is sure to be nice." + +"Very well," said McBain. "Allan there tells me he means to stick to +you both for a time--to keep you prisoners in Glentroom. He will trot +you about for all that; you'll be on parole, and roam about wherever you +like; and you can fish and shoot and sketch just as much as ever you +have a mind to. Meanwhile, buy a boat; I know where there is one to +sell that will suit us in every way--a grand, big, strong, open boat. +She belongs to Duncan Forbes, of Fort Augustus, and can be bought for an +old song. We can have her round into the loch here. I'm a bit of a +sailor, as Allan knows, and I'll show you how to deck her over, set up +rigging and mast, and make her complete, and I'll make bold to say that +before we have done with her she will be as neat and pretty a little +craft as ever hauled the wind." + +"I say, boys," said Rory, "I think the idea is a glorious one." + +"I must say, I like it immensely," said Ralph. + +"And so do I," said Allan, "if--if we can all afford it." + +"Oh! but stop a little," said McBain, "you haven't heard all my proposal +yet; the best of it is to come. Your cruising ground will be all up and +down among the Western Islands, where the wildest and finest scenery in +Europe exists. You'll get any amount of fishing and shooting too, for +wherever you three smart-looking young yachtsmen land on the coast, +people will vie with each other in offering you Highland hospitality. +And all the while you can make your pleasure pay you." + +"How--how--tell us how?" + +"Why," continued McBain, "around the rocky and rugged islands where you +will be cruising are the finest lobsters in the world. You have only to +sink a few cages every night when at anchor; you will draw them up full +in the morning, and place them in a well in your hold. As soon as you +have enough to make a paying voyage, round you will run to Greenock, +where is always a ready market and good prices." + +Here Ralph jumped up and rubbed his hands; and Rory, forgetting his +bruised shoulder and still bandaged head, hopped off the sofa to cry +"Hurrah!" and this made Kooran bark, and of course Bran chimed in for +company's sake, and McBain wagged his beard and laughed with delight at +the pleasure his suggestion seemed to afford the three young men; and, +indeed, for the time being he felt quite as youthful as either of them. + +"And I'll be the crew of the craft," said McBain. "Allan ought to be +captain, and you others naval cadets." + +"Yes," said Rory, "that will suit us excellently, and we can take +lessons from you and Allan in seamanship, and by-and-bye be just as +clever sailors as either of you." + +"Ay, that you can," said McBain. + +Allan laid his hand on Ralph's shoulder, for the latter was gazing +quietly and dreamily firewards. + +"What are you thinking about?" said Allan. + +Ralph smiled as he made reply. + +"I was thinking," he said, "that our adventures as amateur yachtsmen +will not begin and end with cruising among the Western Isles of +Scotland, pleasant and romantic enough though that may be. Listen to +me, boys. It has been the one dream of my life to be able to be master +of a beautiful yacht, and to sail away to far countries, and to see the +world in earnest. Now I know I shall have an opportunity of doing so. +My good, kind old father will baulk me in nothing that is reasonable; +and if, after a few months' cruising in this boat, I can convince him +that I have mastered the rudiments of seamanship, he will, I believe, +let me have a real yacht, capable of voyaging to any part of the world!" + +"Ah! that would indeed be glorious, boys," cried Rory, with enthusiasm. + +"If we could only arrange it," said Allan, "so as to all go together." + +"Of course," said Ralph; "there would not be half the pleasure else. +And we would sail to some country, if possible, where Englishmen had +never been, or never lived before." + +"To the countries and islands around the Pole, for example," suggested +McBain. + +"Yes," Ralph said; "from all I have read of the Sea of Ice, it seems to +me the most fascinating place in the world." + +"Ay," said McBain; "to me it possesses a strange charm; for everything +connected with the countries and seas beyond the Arctic circle is as +different from anything one sees elsewhere as though it belonged to some +other planet." + +For hours before retiring to rest they talked about Greenland; and +McBain told them of many a wild adventure in which he himself had been +the principal hero. And among other things he told them of the mammoth +caves of Alba Isle, where an untold wealth of ivory lay buried. + +For hours _after_ they had retired Allan lay awake, thinking only of +that buried treasure. Then he slept, and dreamt he had returned from +the far north a wealthy man--that Arrandoon was re-furnished and +re-roofed, that he had regained all the proud acres which his fathers +had squandered, and that his dear mother and sister were reinstated in +the rank of life they were born to adorn, and which was the right of +birth of the chiefs of Glentroom. + +Do dreams ever come true? At times. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE "FLOWER OF ARRANDOON"--OLD AP'S COTTAGE--TRIAL TRIPS AND USEFUL +LESSONS. + +I do not think that, during any period of his former life, Allan +McGregor's foster-father was much happier than he was while engaged, +with the help of his boy friends, in getting the cutter they had bought +ready for her summer cruise among the Western Islands. + +They were not quite unassisted in their labours though; no, for had they +not the advantage of possessing skilled labour? Was not Tom Ap Ewen +their right-hand man; to guide, direct, and counsel them in every +difficulty? And right useful they found him, too. + +Thomas was a Welshman, as his name indicates; he had been a boatbuilder +all his life. He lived in a little house by the lake-side, and this +house of his bore in every respect a very strong resemblance to a boat +turned upside down. All its furniture and fittings looked as though at +one time they had been down to the sea in ships, and very likely they +had. Tom's bed was a canvas cot which might have been white at one +time, but which was terribly smoke-begrimed now; Tom's cooking apparatus +was a stove, and, saving a sea-chest which served the double purpose of +dais and tool-box, all the seats in his cottage were lockers, while the +old lamp that hung from the blackened rafters gave evidence of having +seen better days, having in fact dangled from the cabin deck of some +trusty yacht. + +Tom himself was quite in keeping with his little home. A man of small +stature was Tom. I will not call him dapper, because you know that +would imply neatness and activity, and there was very little of either +about Tom. But he had plenty of breadth of beam, and so stiff was he, +apparently, that he looked as if he had been made out of an old +bowsprit, and had acted for years in the capacity of figure-head to an +old seventy-four. Seen from the front, Tom appeared, on week-days, to +be all apron from his chin to his toes; his hard wiry face was +bestubbled over in half its length with grey hairs, for Tom found the +scissors more handy and far less dangerous than a razor; and, jauntily +cocked a little on one side of his head, he wore a square paper cap over +a reddish-brown wig. Well, if to this you add a pair of short arms, a +pair of hard horny hands, and place two roguish beads of hazel eyes in +under his bushy eyebrows, you have just as complete a description of +Thomas Ap Ewen as I am capable of giving. + +This wee wee man generally went by the name of Old Ap. Of course there +were ill-natured people who sometimes, behind Tom's back, added an _e_ +to the _Ap_; but, honestly speaking, there was not a bit of the ape +about him, except, perhaps, when taking snuff. Granting that his +partiality for snuff was a fault, it was one that you could reasonably +strive to forgive, in consideration of his many other sterling +qualities. + +Well, Tom was master of the yard, so to speak, into which the purchased +cutter was hauled to be fitted, and although McBain did not take _all_ +the advice that was tendered to him, it is but fair to say that he +benefited by a good deal of it. + +It would have done the heart of any one, save a churl, good to have seen +how willingly those boys worked; axe, or saw, or hammer, plane or +spokeshave, nothing came amiss to them. Allan was undoubtedly the best +artisan; he had been used to such work before; but generally where +there's a will there's a way, and the very newness of the idea of +labouring like ordinary mechanics lent, as far as Ralph and Rory were +concerned, a charm to the whole business. + +"There is nothing hackneyed about this sort of thing, is there?" Ralph +would say, looking up from planing a deck-spar. + +"There is a deal to learn, too," Rory might answer. "Artisans mustn't +be fools, sure. But how stiff my saw goes!" + +"A bit of grease will put that to rights." Ralph's face would beam +while giving a bit of information like this, or while initiating Rory +into the mysteries of dovetailing, or explaining to him that when +driving a nail he must hit it quietly on the head, and then it would not +go doubling round his finger. + +Old Ap and McBain were both of them very learned--or they appeared to be +so--in the subject of rigging, nor did their opinions in this matter +altogether coincide. Old Ap's cottage and the yard were quite two +miles--Scotch ones--from the castle, so on the days when they were busy +our heroes would not hear of returning to lunch. + +"Isn't good bread and cheese, washed down with goat's milk, sufficient +for us?" Ralph might say. + +And Rory would reply, "Yes, my boy, indeed, it's food fit for a king." + +After luncheon was the time for a little well-earned rest. The young +men would stroll down towards the lake, by whose banks there was always +something to be seen or done for half-an-hour, if it were only skipping +flat stones across its surface; while the two elder ones would enjoy the +_dolce far niente_ and their _odium cum dignitate_ seated on a log. + +"Well," said old Ap, one day, "I suppose she is to be cutter-rigged, +though for my own part I'd prefer a yawl." + +"There is no accounting for tastes," replied McBain; "and as to me, I +don't care for two masts where one will do. She won't be over large, +you know, when all is said and done." + +"Just look you," continued Ap, "how handy a bit of mizen is." + +"It is at times, I grant you," replied McBain. + +"To be sure," said Ap, "you may sail faster with the cutter rig, but +then you don't want to race, do you, look see?" + +"Not positively to race, Mr Ewen," replied McBain, "but there will be +times when it may be necessary to get into harbour or up a loch with all +speed, and if that isn't racing, why it's the very next thing to it." + +"Yes, yes," said old Ap, "but still a yawl is easier worked, and as +you'll be a bit short-handed--" + +"What!" cried McBain, in some astonishment; "an eight-ton cutter, and +four of us. Call you that short-handed?" + +"Yes, yes, I do, look see," answered Ap, taking a big pinch of his +favourite dust, "because I'd call it only two; surely you wouldn't count +upon the Englishmen in a sea-way." + +McBain laughed. + +"Why," he said, "before a month is over I'll have those two Saxon lads +as clever cuttersmen as ever handled tiller or belayed a halyard. Just +wait until we return up the loch after our summer's cruise, and you can +criticise us as much as ever you please." + +Now these amateur yacht-builders, if so we may call them, took the +greatest of pains, not only with the decking and rigging of their +cutter, but with her painting and ornamentation as well. There were two +or three months before them, because they did not mean to start cruising +before May, so they worked away at her with the plodding steadiness of +five old beavers. In their little cabin, where it must be confessed +there was not too much head room, there was nevertheless a good deal of +comfort, and all the painting and gilding was done by Rory's five +artistic fingers. In fact, he painted her outside and in, and he named +her the _Flower of Arrandoon_, and he painted that too on her stern, +with a great many dashes and flourishes, that any one, save himself, +would have deemed quite unnecessary. + +It was only natural that they should do their best to make their pigmy +vessel look as neat and as nice as possible; but they had another object +in view in doing so, for as soon as their summer cruise was over they +meant to sell her. So that what they spent upon her would not really be +money thrown to the winds, but quite the reverse. Young Ralph knew +dozens of young men just as fond of sailing and adventure as he was, and +he thought it would be strange indeed if he himself, assisted by the +voluble Rory, could not manage to give such a glowing account of their +cruise, and of all the fun and adventures they were sure to have, as +would make the purchase of the _Flower of Arrandoon_ something to be +positively competed for. + +When she was at last finished and fitted, and lying at anchor, in the +creek of Glentroom, with the water lap-lapping under her bows, her sails +all nicely clewed, and her slender topmast bobbing and bending to the +trees, as if saluting them, why I can assure you she looked very pretty +indeed. But there was something more than mere prettiness about her; +she looked useful. Care had been taken with her ballasting, so she rode +like a duck in the water. She had, too, sufficient breadth of beam, and +yet possessed depth of keel enough to make her safe in a sea-way, and +McBain knew well--and so, for that matter, did Allan--that these were +solid advantages in the kind of waters that would form their cruising +ground. In a word, the _Flower of Arrandoon_ was a comfortable +sea-worthy boat, well proportioned and handy, and what more could any +one wish for? + +And now the snow had all fled from the hills and the glens, only on the +crevices of mountain tops was it still to be seen--ay, and would be +likely to be seen all the summer through, but softly and balmily blew +the western winds, and the mavis and blackbird returned to make joyous +music from morning's dawn till dewy eve. Half hidden in bushy dells, +canary-coloured primroses smiled over the green of their leaves, and +ferns and breckans began to unfold their brown fingers in the breeze, +while buds on the silvery-scented birches that grew on the brae-lands, +and verdant crimson-tipped tassels on the larches that courted the +haughs, told that spring had come, and summer itself was not far +distant. + +And so one fine morning says McBain, "Now, Allan, if your friends are +ready, we'll go down to the creek, get up our bit of an anchor, and be +off on a trial trip." + +Trial trips are often failures, but that of the boys' cutter certainly +was not. Everything was done under McBain's directions, Allan doing +nearly all the principal work, though assisted by old Ap; but if Ralph +and Rory did not work, they watched. Nothing escaped them, and if they +did not say much, it was because, like Paddy's parrot, they were +"rattling up the thinking." + +The day was beautiful--a blue sky with drifting cloudlets of white +overhead, and a good though not stiff breeze blowing right up the loch; +so they took advantage of this, and scudded on for ten miles to Glen +Mora. They did not run right up against the old black pier, and smash +their own bowsprit in the attempt to knock it down. No, the boat was +well steered, and the sails lowered just at the right time, the mainsail +neatly and smartly furled, and covered as neatly, and the jib stowed. +Old Ap was left as watchman, and McBain and his friends went on shore +for a walk and luncheon. + +In the evening, after they had enjoyed to the full their "bit of a +cruise on shore," as McBain called it, they returned to their boat, and +almost immediately started back for Glentroom. The wind still blew up +the loch; it was almost, though not quite, ahead of them. This our +young yachtsmen did not regret, for, as their sailing-master told them, +it would enable them to find out what the cutter could do, for, tacking +and half-tacking, they had to work to windward. + +It was gloaming ere they dropped anchor again in the creek, and McBain's +verdict on the _Flower of Arrandoon_ was a perfectly satisfactory one. + +"She'll do, gentlemen," he said, "she'll do; she is handy, and stout, +and willing. There is no extra sauciness about her, though she is on +excellent terms with herself, and although she doesn't sail _impudently_ +close to the wind, still I say she behaves herself gallantly and well." + +It wanted nothing more than this to give Allan and his friends an +appetite for the haunch of mountain mutton that awaited them on their +return to the castle. They were in bounding spirits too; it made every +one else happy just to see them happy, so that everything passed off +that night as merrily as marriage bells. + +The loch near the old Castle of Arrandoon is one of the great chain of +lakes that stretch from east to west of Scotland, and are joined +together by a broad and deep canal, which gives passage to many a +stately ship. This canal, once upon a time, was looked upon as one of +the engineering wonders of the world, leading as it does often up and +over hills so high and wild that in sober England they would be honoured +with the title of mountains. + +For a whole week or more, ere the cutter turned her bows to the +southward and west, and started away on her summer cruise, almost every +day was spent on this loch. It is big enough in all conscience for +manoeuvres of any kind, being in many places betwixt two and three miles +in width, while its length is over twenty. + +It might be said, with a good deal of truth, that Allan McGregor had +spent his life in boats upon lakes, for as soon as his little hand was +big enough to grasp a tiller he had held one. He knew all about boats +and boat-sailing, and was, on the whole, an excellent fresh-water +sailor. With Ralph and Rory it was somewhat different, good oarsman +though the former at all events was. However, they were apt pupils, +and, with good health and willingness to work, what is it a boy will not +learn? + +In old Ap's cottage were models of several well-rigged vessels of the +smaller class, the principal of them being a sloop, a cutter, and a +yawl. Ap delighted to give lectures on the peculiar merits and rigging +of these, interspersed with many a "Yes, yes, young shentlemen, and look +you see," spoken with the curious accent which Welshmen alone can give +to such simple words. These models our heroes used to copy, so that, +theoretically speaking, they knew a great deal about seamanship before +they stepped on board the cutter to take their first cruise. + +Practice alone makes perfect in any profession, and although experience +is oftentimes a hard and cruel teacher, there is no doubt she _docet +stultos_, and her lessons are given with a force there is no forgetting. +Of such was the lesson Rory got one morning; he had the tiller in his +hand, and was bowling along full before the wind. It seemed such easy +work sailing thus, and Rory was giving more of his time than he ought to +have done to conversation with his companions, and even occasionally +stealing a glance on shore to admire the scenery, when all at once, +"Flop! flop! crack! harsh!" cried the sail, and round came the boom. +The wind was not very fresh, so there was little harm done; besides, +McBain was there, and I verily believe that had that old tar gone to +sleep, he would have been dozing in dog fashion with his weather eye +open. But on this occasion poor Rory was scratching and rubbing a bare +head. + +"Crack, harsh!" he said, looking at the offending sail; "troth and +indeed it _is_ harsh you crack, I can tell you." + +"Ah!" said McBain, quietly, "sailing a bit off, you see." + +"'Deed and indeed," replied Rory, "but you're right, and by the same +token my hat's off too, and troth I thought the poor head of me was in +it." + +It will be observed that Rory had a habit of talking slightly Irish at +times, but I must do him the credit of saying that he never did so +except when excited, or simply "for the fun of the thing." + +Another useful lesson that both Ralph and Rory took some pains to learn +was to _look out for squalls_. They learned this on the loch, for there +sometimes, just as you are quietly passing some tree-clad bank or brae, +you all at once open out some beautifully romantic glen. Yes, both +beautiful and romantic enough, but down that gully sweeps the gusty +wind, with force enough often to tear the sticks off the sturdiest boat, +or lay her flat and helpless on her beam ends. But the lesson, once +learned, was taken to heart, and did them many a good turn in after +days, when sailing away over the seas of the far North in their saucy +yacht, the _Snowbird_. + +The time now drew rapidly near for them to start away to cruise in +earnest. They had spent what they termed "a jolly time of it" in +Glentroom. Time had never, never seemed to fly so quickly before. They +had had many adventures too; but one they had only a day or two before +sailing was the strangest. As, however, this adventure had so funny a +beginning, though all too near a fatal ending, I must reserve it for +another chapter. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +SHOWING HOW ROYALTY VISITED ARRANDOON, AND HOW OUR HEROES RETURNED THE +CALL. + +The windows of the double-bedded chamber occupied by Allan McGregor's +guests overlooked both lake and glen. At one corner of it was a kind of +turret recess; this had been originally used as a dressing-room, but +Allan had gone to some trouble and expense in fitting it up as an own, +own room for Rory. Ralph called it Rory's "boudoir," Rory himself +called it his "sulky." The floor of the curious little room was softly +carpeted; the walls were hung with ancient tapestry; the windows neatly +draped. There was a little bookcase in it, in which, much to his +surprise, the young man found all his favourite poets and authors. His +fiddle and music were in this turret as well; so it was all very nice +and snug indeed. + +Scarcely a day passed that Rory did not spend an hour or two in his +"sulky," generally after luncheon, when not _on_ or _at_ the lake; and +even while reclining on his lounge the view that he could catch a +glimpse of was just as romantic and beautiful as any boy poet could +wish. There was no door between this and the bedchamber, only a curtain +which could be drawn at pleasure. + +Now, as I happen to love the truth for its own simple sake, I must tell +you that neither Rory nor Ralph was very fond of early rising, +practically speaking--theory being another thing. Allan was often away +at the river hours and hours before breakfast, and the beautiful dishes +of mountain trout that lay on the table, so crisp and still, had been +frisking and gambolling only a short time before in their native +streams. But Allan's friends--well, it may have been the Highland air, +you know, which is remarkably strong and pure, but anyhow, neither of +them thought of stirring until the first gong pealed its thunders forth. +It was not that they did not get a good example set them by the sun, +for, it being now the month of May, that luminary deemed it his duty to +get up himself, and to arouse most ordinary mortals, shortly after four +o'clock. + +The list of ordinary mortals, so far as the castle was concerned, +included old Janet the cook, and most of the other servants and +retainers, and all the dogs, and all the cocks and hens, and ducks and +geese, and turkeys, to say nothing of pigs and pigeons, sheep and +cattle; and as every single mortal among them felt himself bound as soon +as his eyes were open to express his feelings audibly, and in his own +peculiar fashion, you can easily believe that the din and the hubbub +around Arrandoon at early morning were something considerable. Whether +asleep or awake, Ralph had an easy mind, nothing bothered him. I +believe he could have slept throughout general quarters at sea, with +cannon thundering overhead, if he had a mind to; but with Rory it was +somewhat different, and the cock-crowing used to fidget him in his +dreams. If there had been only one cock, and that cock had crowed till +his comb fell off, it would have been merely monotonous, and Rory would +have slumbered on in peace, but there were so many cocks of so many +strains. The game-cocks crowed boldly and bravely, and their tones +clearly proved them kings of the harem; the bantams shrieked defiance at +every other cock about the place, but no cock about the place took any +heed of them; the cowardly Shanghais kept at a safe distance from the +game-birds, and shouted themselves hoarse; and besides these there was +the half-apologetic, half-formed crow of the cockerels, who got thrashed +a dozen times everyday because they dared to mimic their betters. + +These sounds, I say, fidgeted our poetic Rory; but when half a dozen +fantail pigeons would alight outside the window, and strut about and +cry, "Coo, coo, troubled with you, troubled with you," then Rory would +become more sensible, and he would open one eye to have a look at the +clock on the mantelpiece. Mind you, he wouldn't open both eyes for the +world, lest he should awaken altogether. + +"Oh!" he would think to himself, "only five o'clock; gong won't go for +three hours yet. How jolly!" + +Then he would turn round on the other side and go to sleep again. The +cocks might go on crowing, and the pigeons might preen their feathers +and "coo-coo" as much as they pleased now. Rory heard no more until +"Ur-ur--R-Rise, Ur-ur--R-Ralph and Rory," roared the gong. + +One _particular_ morning Rory had opened his one eye just as usual, had +his look at the clock, had rejoiced that it was still early, and had +turned himself round to go off once more to the land of Nod, when, +suddenly, there arose from beneath such an inexpressible row, such an +indefinable din, as surely never before had been heard around the Castle +of Arrandoon. The horses stamped and neighed in their stables, the +cattle moaned a double bass, the pigs squeaked a shrill tenor, the fowl +all went mad. + +"Whack, whack, whack!" roared the ducks. + +"Kank, kank, kank?" cried the geese. + +"Hubbub--ub--ub--bub!" yelled the turkeys. + +Rory sat bolt upright in bed, with _both_ eyes open, more fully awake +than ever he had felt in his life before. + +"Hubbub, indeed!" says Rory; "indeed, then, I never heard such a hubbub +before in all my born days. Ralph, old man, Ralph. Sit up, my boy. I +wonder what the matter can be." + +"And so do I," replied Ralph, without, however, offering to stir; "but +surely a fellow can wonder well enough without getting out of bed to +wonder." + +"Ooh! you lazy old horse!" cried Rory; "well, then, it's myself that'll +get up." + +Suiting the action to the word, Rory sprang out of bed, and next moment +he had thrown open his "sulky" window and popped his head and shoulders +out. He speedily drew them in again and called to Ralph, and the words +he used were enough to bring even that matter-of-fact hero to his side +with all the speed he cared to expend. + +What they saw I'll try to explain to you. + +Eagles had been far more numerous this season than they had been for +years. McBain knew this well, and Allan McGregor knew it to his cost, +for in an eyrie on a distant part of his estate a pair of these kingly +birds had established themselves, and brought forth young, and, judging +from the number of lambs they had carried off, a terribly rapacious +family they were. Although five miles from the castle, Allan had +several times gone to the place at early morn for the purpose of getting +a ride-shot at these birds; but although he knew the very ledge on which +the nest was laid--there is little building about an eagle's nest--he +had always been unsuccessful, for the favourites of Jove were wary, and +could scent danger from afar. + +So day by day the lambs went on diminishing, and the shepherds went on +grumbling, but they grumbled in vain. Upwards and upwards in circling +flight the eagles would soar, as if to hide themselves in the sun's +effulgence, until they were all but invisible to the keenest eye. They +would then hover hawk-like over their innocent prey, until chance +favoured them, when there would be a swift, unerring, downward rush, and +often before the very eyes of the astonished keepers the lamb was seized +and borne in triumph to the eyrie. + +The glen, or rather gorge, which the eagles had chosen for their home, +is one of the wildest and dreariest I ever traversed; at the bottom of +it lies a brown and weird-looking loch about two miles long, one side of +which is bounded by birch-trees, through which a road runs, and if you +gaze across this loch, what think you do you see beyond? Why, a black +and beetling wall of rock rising sheerly perpendicular up out of the +water, and towering to a height of over one thousand feet. Although the +loch is five hundred yards wide, you can hardly get rid of the +impression that this immense wall of rock is bending towards you from +the top, and about to fall and crush your pigmy body to atoms. No +wonder the loch itself is still and dark and treacherous-looking, and no +wonder the natives care not to traverse the glen by day, or that they +give it a wide berth at night, for the place has an evil name, and they +say that often and often at the hour of midnight the water-kelpie's +fiendish laugh is heard at the foot of the rock, followed by the plash +and sullen plunging sound which a heavy body always emits when sinking +in very deep water. + +Remember that I do not myself believe in water-kelpies, nor any other +kelpies whatever, and I have fished for char (the _Salmo umbla_) in the +loch, and traversed the glen in the starlight, yet I never came across +anything much worse-looking than myself--so there! + +Now it was in the middle of this rocky precipice, on a ledge of stone, +that the kingly birds had made their nest of sticks and turf, with just +as little regard to the laws of avine architecture as the cushat of the +English copse evinces. It was an airy abode, yet for all that a +prettier pair of young ones than the two that lay therein, both the +father and mother eagle averred, had never yet been seen or hatched. It +is needless to say that they were very fond of their progeny, and also +very fond of each other, so that when one lovely morning the she-eagle +said to the he one,-- + +"What is for breakfast, dear?" it was only natural that the he one +should reply, "Anything you like, my love." + +"Well then," said she, "we've been having nothing but mutton, mutton, +mutton for weeks. I'm sure the children would like a change, and I know +I should." + +Then the royal eagle lowered his eyebrows, and scratched his ear with +one great toe, as if very deep in thought, and then his countenance +cleared all at once, a grim smile stole over his face, and he said,-- + +"I have it. Babies are scarce, you know, but I'll bring you a turkey." + +"Oh!" said her royal highness, "that _will_ be nice, and the feathers +will help to keep the children warm." + +So away the eagle soared, and about ten minutes afterwards he alighted +with a rush right in the middle of the poultry yard at Arrandoon Castle. +Hence the hubbub which had aroused both Ralph and Rory. + +Now had the bird of Jove not been so greedy, I feel bound to believe he +could have left the yard almost as quickly as he had entered it one +turkey the richer, and his royal helpmeet and children would not have +been disappointed in their breakfast. But no, "I may just as well be +hanged for a sheep as a lamb," he thought to himself, and so he alighted +on the back of the oldest and biggest turkey cock he could see. But he +did not find this bird so easy a prey as he could have wished; indeed +the turkey at once made up his mind to have a tussle for it; he did not +mean to accept so hasty an invitation to breakfast--in an eyrie of all +places. So by hook and by crook he managed to scramble half-way under +the wooden grain-house, eagle and all. Next moment the eagle bitterly +repented of his rashness, for every bird in the place attacked him, and +Ralph and Rory were roaring success to them from the "sulky" window. An +old turkey is usually a tough one, and do what he would the eagle could +only disengage one talon from the back of his captive, if captive he +could now be called, and with this and his beak he had to do battle. + +Now, that discretion is the better part of valour, even an eagle knows, +so when at last he did manage to disengage his other talon, although +several of his foes lay dead and dying around, the eagle had had quite +enough turkey, and prepared to soar. + +But behold! quite an unexpected combatant makes his appearance, and goes +to work at once on the eagle's breast, and this was none other than +Allan's pet Skye, a little dog of determination, for whenever he made up +his mind to lay hold of anything he did it, and stuck to it. With such +a weight attached to him in such a way, rapid flight was out of the +question; the eagle had only strength enough left to flutter out of the +yard, and fall on the ground on the other side, there to meet--pity me, +reader, for how shall I name it? Were I not writing facts this brave +but discomfited eagle should have a nobler end--there to meet _old Janet +with a broom-handle_! + +"Hold, Janet, hold?" cried our gallant English Ralph from the "sulky" +window; "fair play, Janet, fair play." + +Too late! The king of birds lies dead. + +"Ten feet from tip to tip of his wings," said McBain, as he stood over +him about an hour after. Allan, and Ralph, and Rory were all there. +"Eagle, eagle," Rory was saying,-- + + "Thou hast bowed + From thine empire o'er the cloud; + Thou that hadst ethereal birth, + Thou hast stooped too near the earth, + And the hunter's shaft hath found thee; + And the toils of Death have bound thee." + +"Hunter's shaft, indeed," laughed Ralph; "old Janet's broom-handle; but +come, boys, I know you are both of you game enough for anything, so I +propose we go and try to bag the disconsolate widow of this royal bird. +We can capture the young ones and rear them." + +"It would indeed be a pity to leave the widow to mourn," said Rory. + +"It's a sad pity my sheep must mourn," said Allan. When at the +breakfast-table that morning, Allan said, in a seemingly unconcerned +voice,-- + +"Mother, we mean to have a day among the eagles; they have commenced it, +you know." His mother knew well he was asking her consent, and she gave +it because she would not see him unhappy. But nevertheless, she +whispered to him as he left the room,-- + +"Oh, child! do take care of yourself, and take care of Rory. I had +strange dreams about you last night." + +Our three heroes, accompanied by men carrying the wooden well-windlass +with a plank or two, and plenty of length of rope, made their way over +the mountain to the top of the precipice before described. McBain with +his trusty rifle went down the glen, among the birch-trees at the other +side of the lake. He was not only eagle-slayer, but signalman to the +expedition. Keeping close to the loch, he walked onwards for fully +three-quarters of a mile, then he stopped and fired his rifle in the +air. He stood now as still as a statue, and so remained for fully +half-an-hour, until his party had fixed the windlass to the brink of the +cliff. Had this latter been flat at the top the danger would have been +but small, but the ground _sloped towards the brink_, so that a false +step or a slip meant something too awful to contemplate. Right down +beneath them is the eyrie, quite one hundred feet from the top. +Circling high in air, far, far above them, is the she-eagle. She is +watching and wondering. If any one dares descend she will rend them in +pieces. But see, something leaves the cliff-top, and goes downwards and +downwards nearer and nearer to her nest. With a scream of rage she +rushes from her hover, passes our friends swift as a thunderbolt, and is +lost to view. She is expending her anger now, she is having revenge, +and fragments of a torn garment flutter down towards the lake. McBain +has thrown himself on his face; he is no mean marksman, but he will need +all his skill and steadiness now, and this he knows right well. + +Seconds, long, long seconds of suspense--so at least they seem to those +on the cliff. Then a puff of white smoke and at the very moment that +the crack of the rifle falls on their ears, McBain is on his legs again, +and waving his gun in joy aloft. The eagle is slain, and downwards with +drooping head and outstretched pinions is falling lakewards. Then the +lure, rent in ribbons, is drawn back, and Rory, the lightest of the +three, prepares to descend. He laughs as he puts his limbs through the +bight. + +"Troth, I'll have the youngsters up in a brace of shakes," he says, "now +the ould mother of them is slain. And there isn't a taste of danger in +the whole business. Lower away." + +And they do lower away slowly and steadily. Rory disappears, and +Allan's heart sinks and seems to descend with his friend. A thousand +times rather would he have gone down himself, but Rory had opposed this +wish with the greatest determination; _he_ was the lightest weight, and +it was _his_ privilege. + +They watch the signalman; he stands with one arm aloft, and they lower +away until that arm falls suddenly by his side. Then they stop, and the +"pawl" holds the windlass fast. Rory has reached the eyrie, he grasps +the rock, and scrambles on to the projecting ledge. + +"Shut your mouths now, and be quiet with you," he says to the woolly +young eaglets; "there's neither bite nor sup shall go into the crops of +you until you're safe in Arrandoon." + +He placed the birds in the basket, tied it to the rope, signalled to +McBain, who signalled to the cliff by raising two arms, and up to the +brink went the precious burden. A few minutes afterwards and the rope +once more dangled before Rory's eyes. + +But why does poor Rory turn so pale, and why does he tremble so, and +crouch backward against the wet rock's side? + +The rope dangles before his eyes, it is true, but it dangles _a goodly +foot beyond his reach_. The top of the cliff projects farther than the +eyrie itself; in his descent the rope had oscillated with his weight, +and he had unknowingly been swung on to the ledge of rock. But who now +will swing him the empty bight of rope? + +Rory recovered himself in a few moments. "Action, action," he said +aloud, as if the sound of his own voice would help to steel his nerves. +"Action alone can save me, I _must_ leap." + +As he spoke he cleared the ledge of rock of the rotting sticks and of +the bones, for these might perchance impede his feet, and signalled to +McBain to lower the rope still farther. Then he stood erect and firm, +leaning backwards, however, against the precipice, for nearly a minute. +Rory is no coward, but see, he is kneeling down with his face to the +cliff; he is seeking strength from One more powerful than he. + +Reader, at five bells in the morning watch on board a man-o'-war, the +midshipmen are roused from their hammocks, and many of them kneel beside +their sea-chests for some minutes before they dress, and not one of +these did I ever know who was not truly brave at heart, or who failed to +do his duty in the hour of danger. + +Now Rory is erect again, his elbows and back are squared, his hands half +open, his face is set and determined, and now he--he springs. + +Has he caught it? Yes; but he cannot hold it. It is slipping through +his grasp, struggle as he may; but now, oh! joy, his foot gets in the +bight, and he is saved! + +He is soon to brink, and his comrades receive him with a joyful shout +Rory says but little; but when they reach the head of the glen he runs +forward at the top of his speed to meet McBain. + +"McBain," he says, quickly, "not one word of what you saw, to either +Ralph or Allan." + +"Give me your hand, dear boy," replied McBain, with a strange moisture +in his eyes; "I appreciate your kindly motive as much as I admire the +brave heart that prompts it." + +CHAPTER SIX. + +CRUISING ROUND THE HEBRIDES--CAUGHT IN A "PUFF"--MAN OVERBOARD--DINNER +ON THE CLIFF--BRIGHT PROSPECTS. + +Three months have passed away since the adventure at the eagle's nest. +So swiftly, too, they have fled that it seems to our heroes but +yesterday that the little cutter spread her white sails to the wind, and +headed down the loch for Fort Augustus. And all the time they have been +cruising, with varied fortunes, up and down among the Western Isles. +When I say that the time has passed swiftly, it is equivalent to telling +you that the brave crew of the _Flower of Arrandoon_ have enjoyed +themselves, and this again you will readily guess is equivalent to +saying that it had not been all plain sailing with them; had it been so, +the very monotony of such a cruise, and the lack of adventure, would +have rendered it distasteful to them. In this bright, beautiful world +of ours you may find seas in which, during the months of summer, you can +cruise in the most flimsy of yachts, among islands, too, as lovely as +dreamland, where the wind is never higher than a gentle breeze, nor the +waves than a ripple, and where danger is hardly ever to be encountered; +but such a _dolce far niente_ existence is not for youth; youth should +be no lotus-eater, and so McBain had done well in choosing for his young +pupils the cruising ground on which they now were sailing. They had had +a taste of all kinds of Highland summer weather--true it had been mostly +fine--but many a stiff breeze they had had to face nevertheless, and +they soon learned to do so cheerily, and to feel just as happy under +their glittering oilskins and sou'-westers, with half a gale tearing +through the rigging, and the spray dashing most uncomfortably in their +teeth and eyes, as they did when, with all sail set, they glided calmly +over the rippling sea, the sun shining brightly overhead, and the purple +mist of distance half hiding the rugged mountains. McBain knew exactly +what the cutter could do, and to use his own phrase, he just kept her at +it. In fact he got to love the boat, and he used to talk about her as a +living thing. And so she really appeared to be, for although she almost +invariably did all that was required of her, there were days when she +seemed to evince a will and determination of her own, and to want to +shake herself free of all control. + +"Wo, my beauty?" McBain would say when she was particularly +disobedient, talking to her as if she were a restless hunter; but he +would smile quaintly as he spoke, for the vessel's little eccentricities +only served to show off his seamanship. He said he knew how to manage +her, and so he did. So he used to play with her, as it were, while in a +sea-way or on a wind, and delighted in showing off her good qualities. +Not that he did a great deal of the manual labour himself. Was he not +master, and were not Ralph, Allan, and Rory not only his crew, but his +pupils as well? It would have been unfair to them, then, if they had +not been allowed to do all they had a mind to, and that, I assure you, +was nearly everything that was to be done. But McBain had all the +orders to give when sailing, especially if there was a bit of a blow on. + +I am rambling on with my tale now in a kind of a gossiping fashion; but +it is not without a purpose. I wish you to know as clearly as possible +what manner of man McBain was, because you will see him in several +different strange positions before he finally disappears from off the +boards. + +Well, then, when giving his orders, he never talked a bit louder nor +quicker than there was any occasion for. He knew by experience that a +command given in a sharp, loud key, was very likely to cause nervousness +and slight confusion in obeying it. Woe is me for your officers on +board big ships--and there are many of them too--who, while giving +orders, strut about the decks, and stamp and yell at their men; they do +but excite them, and cause them to give proof of the proverb, "The more +hurry the less speed." More than once have I seen a good ship's safety +jeopardised in a squall, and all through this fault in the officer +carrying on duty. But you see McBain loved the crew--he loved "his +boys," as he was fond of calling them, and he was wishful to impart to +them in a friendly way all the knowledge of boats that he himself +possessed. + +If you had called McBain a sailor, he would have replied,-- + +"No, sir, I'm not a sailor; I'm only a boatman, or a fisherman if you +like it better." + +But this was only McBain's modesty. A sailor by profession he certainly +was not, although he had, as I before told you, spent a portion of his +younger life at sea; but from his infancy he was used to rough it, not +only on the stormy lakes of the inlands, but in open or half-decked +boats all along the western shores of romantic Scotland, and that, too, +in winter as well as in summer; nor was there a loch, nor cape, nor kyle +he did not know every bearing of, from Handa Isle in the north, +southwards as far as the Ross of Mull. And that is saying a great deal, +for on that wild, indented coast, exposed as it is to the whole force of +the wide Atlantic, stormy seas are met with and sudden squalls, such as +are happily but little known on the shores of Merrie England. + +"He _is_ a good seaman, isn't he?" Rory had said one day to old Ap, +referring, of course, to McBain. + +"Is it seamanship you talk of?" old Ap replied. "Look, you see, sir; +I'd rather be in a herring boat with McBain in half a gale of wind, +although he was managing the sails by himself look, you see, and +steering with his teeth or knees, so to speak, than I'd be in a 200-ton +schooner, with a score of dandified yachtsmen; yes, yes, indeed." + +Hearing old Ap talk thus enthusiastically about quiet, non-assuming +McBain, the latter gained an ascendency in Rory's estimation that he +never after lost. + +Often, in fact as a rule, McBain smiled when he gave an order to his +boys, but his was not a stereotyped smile. His smile played not only +around his lips, but it danced around his eyes and lighted up all his +face. It was not, however, so much the smile of mirth as that of +genuine good-heartedness. + +Often, even when in a difficult position, he would allow the young men +to handle the boat according to their own judgment, but at the same time +his grave grey eyes would be cautiously watching their every movement, +and his hand would be ready at a moment's notice to grasp a sheet or +rectify a foul, and so prevent unpleasantness. I am not sure that +McBain's method of teaching was not somewhat unique in many ways, but it +was at times very effective. + +"I'm not sorry that this should have happened, my boys," was one of +McBain's favourite expressions, after any little accident or mishap. +His crew knew well that he meant that a lesson given roughly, and sent +well home, was likely to be remembered. + +One day, for example, with Rory as steersman, their course led them +pretty close to the passenger boat _Crocodile_. Perhaps they needn't +have gone near enough to have most of the wind taken out of their sails, +and their way considerably lessened; perhaps, though, Rory was just a +little proud of his pretty vessel, and of being looked at by the lady +passengers, looked at and probably admired; be this as it may, he forgot +a warning that McBain had often given him, to have an easy sheet for the +sudden rush of wind that would meet them, immediately after passing to +leeward of anything, and so, on this particular day, his pride had a +most disagreeable fall, and he himself, with the rest of his companions, +had a good wetting, for down went the _Flower of Arrandoon_ on her beam +ends as soon as they had cleared the _Crocodile_. But she was well +ballasted, the sliding hatch was on, and when sheets were eased she +righted again, though it was a considerable time before _Rory_ righted +again. + +McBain shook himself a bit, much in the same way that a Newfoundland dog +does. + +"I'm not sorry that this should have happened," he said, quietly. + +Rory was, though. Especially when Ralph laughed pointedly at, or +towards him. + +Well, but another day Rory had his revenge, and the laughing was all on +the other side. + +It happened thus: they were cracking on nicely with every inch of canvas +spread, sailing pretty close to the wind. The light breeze was on to +the land, from which they were distant about a mile and a half, and +although the sea was very far from being rough, there was a bit of a +swell rolling in. Now Ralph was tall, and stout, and strong; he was no +feather-weight therefore, but for all that the cutter did not require +him to sit upon her weather gunwale, in order to keep her from +capsizing. She could have done just as well had he kept on the seat, +and by so doing he would have been consulting his own safety. Many a +time and oft had McBain pointed this out to him, but he seemed forgetful +on this particular point, and so, on the day in question, he was lazily +occupying the forbidden quarter. One would have thought that the saucy +wee yacht had done it on purpose; be that as it may--when down in the +trough between two seas she simply gave a kind of a swing--hardly a +lurch--in the wrong direction for Ralph's stability, and over he went, +literally speaking, heels over head, into the sea, a most ungraceful and +unscientific way of taking to the water. + +Both Allan and Rory knew well that their friend could swim, and the +latter at all events seemed to treat the affair as a very pretty piece +of entertainment. + +"Man overboard?" he shouted. "Let go the life-buoy, Allan." + +Instinctively Allan did as he was told, and sent the big cork ring +flying after Ralph, but seeing the merry twinkle in Rory's eye, and +knowing there was no necessity for it, he repented having done so next +minute. + +"Lower away your dinghy," cried McBain to Allan, as he hauled the +headsails to windward and stopped the cutter's way, "it will be a bit of +practice for you." + +Allan was pulling away astern two minutes after in the little boat, +dignified by the undignified name of dinghy, for she was very tiny +indeed, but Allan could have sculled a wash-tub. + +He soon met Ralph coming ploughing and spluttering along, breasting the +billows, for he was a powerful young swimmer, with the life-buoy in +front of him, which, however, he scorned to make use of. + +"Take your little joke on board," he cried laughing. Allan picked up +the buoy and threw Ralph a rope. + +"That's better," said Ralph, and in a few minutes more they were +alongside and on board. + +Rory was singing "A life on the ocean wave," and the merry twinkle had +not left his eyes. + +When Ralph had changed his dripping clothes for dry ones, and reappeared +looking somewhat blue, Rory had his laugh out, and all hands were fain +to join. + +"I caught a crab indeed," said poor Ralph. + +"Caught a crab is it?" cried Rory. "It wasn't a crab but a turtle you +turned. Och! it was the beautifulest sight ever I saw in the world to +see the long legs of you go up. You know, Ralph, my brother tar, you +couldn't see it yourself, or it's delighted you'd have been entirely!" +and Rory laughed again till the tears came into his eyes. + +"I'm not sorry that this happened," said McBain, "after all." + +For her size I do not think there was a more comfortable little yacht +afloat than the _Flower of Arrandoon_. Small though the box was they +called by courtesy the saloon, it was fitted with every comfort, and +there was not an inch of space from stem to stern that was not well +economised for some useful purpose. One useful lesson in yacht life our +heroes were not long in learning, and that was to put everything back +again in its proper place as soon as it was done with; in other words, +the circumstances under which they were placed taught them tidiness, so +that there was no lubberliness about their little ship. And everything +in and about her was the perfection of cleanliness and neatness, for +they were not only the crew, but the cook and the cabin-boy as well. +And so, plain woodwork was as white as snow, paint-work clean, polished +wood looked as bright as the back of a boatman beetle, and brass shone +like burnished gold. Their meals they managed to serve up to time, and +cooking was performed by means of a spirits-of-wine-canteen. + +But it is not the cruise of the _Flower of Arrandoon_ I am writing, else +would I love to tell you of all the adventures our heroes had among +these islands, and how thoroughly they enjoyed themselves. No wonder +they felt well, and happy, and jolly; no wonder that Allan said to his +companions, one beautiful day early in August, "I do wonder that more +fellows don't go in for this sort of life." + +They had just been dining gipsy-fashion on shore when he made the +remark. They were reclining on the top of a high cliff on the western +coast of Skye. Far down beneath them was the sea, the blue Minch, +bounded on the distant horizon by the rugged mountains of Harris and +Lewis. To their right lay the rocks of the Cave of Gold; beyond that, +on a lofty promontory, the ruins of Duntulm Castle; then green hills; +while downwards to the left sloped the land until quite on a level with +the water; and there in a little natural harbour of rock lay the yacht, +looking, as Rory always said, as tidy and neat as nine pins, but +wonderfully diminutive as seen from the spot where Allan McGregor and +his friends were indolently lounging. + +The day was exceedingly bright and beautiful, the sun shone with +unclouded splendour, the hills were purple-painted with the heather's +bloom, and the air was laden with the perfume of the wild thyme. + +No one answered Allan's remark; perhaps everybody was thinking how +pleasant it all was, nevertheless. + +"Boys!" said Ralph, at length. + +"Hullo!" cried all hands, but nobody moved a muscle. + +"Boys!" said Ralph, in a louder key. + +"That means `attention,'" said Allan, sitting up. All hands followed +his example. + +"Och! then," cried Rory, "just look at Ralph's face. Sure now if we +could believe that the dear boy possesses such a thing as a mind, we'd +think there was something on it." + +"Well," said Ralph, smiling, "I sha'n't keep you longer in suspense; the +letter I got to-day from Uig brought me--that is, brought _us_--glorious +news." + +"And you've kept it all this time to yourself?" said Rory. "Och! you're +a rogue." + +"I confess," said Ralph, "it was wrong of me, but I thought we could +talk the matter ever so much more comfortably over after dinner, +especially in a place like this. + +"I've got the best father in the world," said Ralph, with an emphasis, +and almost an emotion, which he did not usually exhibit. + +"No one doubts it," said Allan, somewhat sadly; "I wish I had a father." + +"And I," said Rory. + +"Well, would you believe it, boys?" continued Ralph, "he now in this +letter offers me what we all so much desire a real yacht, a big, +glorious yacht, that may sail to any clime and brave the stormiest +seas. He said that though I had never even hinted my wishes, he +gathered from my letters that my heart was bent upon sailing a yacht, +and that his son should own one worthy of the family name he bore. Oh! +boys; aren't you happy? But what ails you?" + +He looked from the one to the other as he spoke. + +"What ails you? What ails you both, boys? Speak." + +"Well!" said Rory, "then the truth is this, that the same thought is +running through both our two minds at once. And there is only one way +out of the trouble. We won't go with you, there! We won't go in your +yacht, in _your_ yacht. Mind you, Ralph, dear boy, I say we won't go in +_your_ yacht." + +"That's it," said Allan, repeating Rory's words; "we won't go in _your_ +yacht." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Ralph, right heartily. Then he jumped to his +feet, and smilingly doffing his cap, "I respect your Celtic pride, +gentlemen," he said. "It shall not be _my_ yacht. It shall be _our_ +yacht, and _we'll go shares in expenses_." + +"Spoken like men, every one of you," roared McBain, no longer able to +restrain himself. "I'm proud of my boys. Indeed, indeed, old McBain is +proud of his pupils." + +And he shook hands with them all round. This is Highland fashion, you +know, reader. + +They spent fully four hours longer on that cliff-top; they had so much +to talk of now, for new prospects were opening out before them, and they +determined to try at least to turn them to good account. + +The sun was setting ere they reached their little vessel once again, and +prepared to turn in for the night. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A SUMMER'S DAY AT SEA--STRANGE SCENERY--THE SQUALL--ADVENTURE AMONG +BOTTLE-NOSED WHALES--THE "SNOWBIRD." + +The cutter yacht had been riding at anchor for two whole days and nights +in the beautiful little bay of Talisker. This bay lies on the +west-by-south side of the wonderful Isle of Wings, which we call Skye, +and forms, in fact, the mouth or entrance to one of the prettiest glens +in all the Highlands. [It is called in the Gaelic language "the winged +island," owing to its peculiar formation.] Let me try to describe it to +you then in a few words, but I shall be very clever indeed if I can give +you anything like a just conception of its beauty. Suppose you have +been standing in from the sea, and have just dropped anchor at the mouth +of the glen, which is not more than half a mile in width, you will find +on your right hand and on your left tall beetling cliffs, the tops of +which are often hidden by the clouds. You may judge of their height +when I tell you that the eagles have built their nests for ages on the +southern rock. The bay itself is perfectly crescentic, receiving in its +centre the waters of a fine salmon stream, while its waves break upon +silver sand instead of the usual shingle. The bottom of the glen is +perfectly flat, and occupied by well-tilled land; its sides descend +precipitously from the table-land above, so much so that the burns or +streamlets that form after every summer shower come roaring down over +them in white foaming cascades. The upper end of the glen is wooded, +and from above the trees peep out the white chimneys of the mansion +house of Talisker. This glen or ravine ends in a sugar-loaf mountain of +great height, the little pathway to the top of which winds round and +round, so that looking at it from below it reminds you forcibly of the +pictures of the Tower of Babel, as seen in old-fashioned illustrated +Bibles. + +Our heroes had been enjoying themselves, fishing in the stream all day, +dining with the hospitable squire in the evenings, and going off at +nights to sleep on board their little yacht. + +"Boys," said McBain, early in the morning of the third day, "rouse out +like good fellows." + +Rory and Allan were soon stirring. Ralph contented himself with simply +turning himself round in his oblong hammock, and feebly inquiring,-- + +"What's the matter?" + +"What's the matter?" said McBain, sitting down near him; "this is the +matter--the morning is far too bright to please me; there is a little +wind from the nor'ard, and it seems increasing, and the glass is +tumbling down, and we can't lie here unless we want to leave the bones +of the _Flower of Arrandoon_ to bleach on the sands." + +"Och!" cried Rory, in his richest brogue; "it's very wrong of you to +bother the poor English crayture so much. Bring him a cup of tea and +leave him alone." + +But Ralph was now fully aroused, and three minutes afterwards the three +friends were splashing and dashing in the sea, mounting the rollers, +diving and treading water, laughing and joking, and making more noise +than all the gulls and kittywakes that screamed around them. + +McBain had stopped on board to cook the breakfast, and it was all ready +by the time they were dressed--fresh salmon steaks, new-laid eggs, and +fragrant coffee. + +"Now then, my lads," cried McBain, "on deck all of you, and stand by to +get the anchor up. I've sent a message to the squire, saying we must +start, and bidding him good-bye for the present. + +"Which way are we going, captain?" asked Rory. + +"Up north, my lad," was the reply. "Portree is our destination, and +though by going south we would have a favouring wind at first, we would +never get past Loch Alsh; besides, if you look at the chart you'll find +that northwards is nearer. And now, Rory, please, no more talk; you +just untie the mainsail cover and undo the tyers, that's your work, +because you're neat." + +"Thank you," said Rory. + +"Mainsheet all right?" + +"All right, sir." + +"Well, heave away and shorten cable. + +"So--top the boom, hook on, hoist together. Up goes the gaff. Well +done, lads, and handily. Belay--why, I have hardly to speak. Well done +again. Now, if your sheets are shipshape, up with the jib and foresail. + +"Trip the anchor, and on board with it. There we are, Rory; we're going +on the starboard tack a little way; just cant her head. Now she feels +it. Belay halyards, and coil the slack. That's right and not lubberly. +Rory, you'll make the best sailor of the lot of us. No, never mind the +topsail for a bit. Presently though. Now I'll steer for a little. We +may have a puff when we clear the cliffs. Meanwhile, hoist your morsel +of ensign, and, Rory, fire that farthing gun of yours." + +"The farthing gun made a deal of noise for the price of it, anyhow," +said Rory. + +Hardly had the sound ceased reverberating from among the cliffs, when +two white puffs of smoke rose up from under the nearest tree, and then, +bang! bang! came the sound towards them. "Good-bye" it seemed to say. +It was Macallum, the keeper, with his double-barrelled gun. + +There was not much of a breeze after all, and plenty of sail being +carried, they bowled along beautifully on the starboard tack, sailing +moderately, but not _too_ close to the wind. Although every now and +then the cutter elevated her bows, and brought them down again with a +peevish thud that sent the spray flying from stem to stern, nobody +minded that a bit; the weather was warm, the water was warm, and besides +they were all encased in oilskins. + +Indeed it was one of the most enjoyable cruises they had ever had, +counting from their departure from Glen Talisker to their arrival at +Portree. McBain knew the coast well. He did not hug it, neither did he +put far out to sea; he put her about on the other tack shortly, as if he +meant to go up Loch Bacadale. Presently they were not far off Idrigail +Point, and the cutter was once more laid on the starboard tack, and +sails being trimmed, and everything working well, there was time for +conversation. + +"Shall I steer?" said Rory, who was never happier than when he was "the +man at the wheel." + +"Not just yet," said McBain; "when we're round Point Aird, very likely +I'll let you do as you please; but, boys, I've got that falling glass on +the brain, and I want to take every advantage, and fight for every +corner." + +"Look now, Ralph and Rory, you've never been so close in-shore before. +Allan, don't _you_ speak, you have. The day is bright and clear; do you +see McLeod's Table?" + +"The never a table see I," said Rory. + +"Well," continued McBain, "that lofty mountain with the flat top is so +called." + +"And a precious big feast McLeod could spread there too," said Allan. + +"And a precious big feast he did one time spread," replied McBain, "if +an old Gaelic book of mine is anything to go by." + +"Tell us," cried Rory, who was always on tiptoe to hear a tale. + +"It would seem, then, that the McLeods and the McDonalds were, in old +times, deadly foes; although at times they appeared to make it up, and +vowed eternal friendship. The chief McLeod invited the McDonalds once +to a great `foy,' and after eating and drinking on the top of that great +hill, until perhaps they had had more than enough, three hundred armed +Highlanders sprang from an ambush among the rocks and slew the McDonalds +without mercy. Their flesh was literally given to the eagles, as Walter +Scott expresses it, and their bones, which lay bleaching on the mountain +top, have long since mouldered to dust. + +"On another occasion," continued McBain, "the McLeods surprised two +hundred McDonalds at worship, in a cave, and building fires in front of +it, smothered them. The poor half-burned wretches that leapt out +through the flames speedily fell by the edge of the sword." + +"What cruel, treacherous brutes those McLeods must have been," remarked +Ralph. + +"Well," said McBain, "war is always cruel, and even in our own day +treachery towards the enemy is far from uncommon; but, mind you, the +McDonalds were not sinless in this respect either. A chief of this bold +clan once invited a chief of the McLeods to dinner in his castle of +Duntulm." + +"I wouldn't have gone a step of my toe," cried Rory. + +"But McLeod did," said McBain, "and he went unarmed." + +"Ha! ha!" laughed Allan; "it strikes me they were playing the rogue's +game of `confidence.'" + +"Something very like it, but McDonald apparently didn't know how kind to +be to his guest, and pressed him to eat and drink _galore_, as we say. +McDonald even showed McLeod to his bedroom, and, for the first time +perhaps in his lifetime, poor McLeod began to quake when he found +himself within the donjon-keep. + +"`There is your bedroom,' said the stern McDonald. `Yonder is where +your body will lie, and yonder is where your bones will repose when the +rats have done with them.' + +"McLeod would have tried to rush out, but strong arms were there to +thrust him back. No one came near the prisoner for two days, then +through the barred window food was handed him, salt-sodden flesh and a +flask of water. He ate greedily, then applied the jar to his lips to +quench his thirst. Horror! the water was seawater." + +"And he perished of thirst?" inquired Ralph. + +"So the story goes," replied McBain. + +"A chief of the McLeods," said McBain, "one of the very, _very_ oldest +of the chiefs, had a large family of grown-up daughters, and they +wouldn't always obey the old man, and one day, instead of attending upon +him--for he was blind--they went to bathe and disport themselves among +the billows, but a sea-nymph came and turned them all into stone." + +"And served them right," said Rory. + +"And there they stand; those tall black rocks, well in towards the point +yonder, with the white waves dashing among their feet. They are called +McLeod's maidens until this day." + +"Well," said Ralph, with a quiet smile, "there is no mistake about it-- +there were giants in those days." + +They were nearly at Dunvegan Head by this time, standing, in fact, well +in towards it on the port tack, for the waters are deep even close +in-shore. When they had left it on the beam they opened out broad Loch +Follart, when McBain, pointing landwards, said,-- + +"In there is a little bay, called Loch Bay, and by it a rural hamlet or +village, which is claimed as the real capital of Skye. It is called +Stein." + +"But see, see," cried Rory. "Is that a geyser rising out of the sea +between us and the shore?" + +"Why, it is very like a fountain," said Ralph. + +"It is very like a whale," said Allan, and McBain laughed. + +"It is a whale," he added. "It is the solitary, or caa'in' whale, and +the rascal is in there after the herrings. A more independent brute +doesn't swim in the sea. He ignores a boat. He looks upon mankind as +poor, miserable, puny creatures, and I don't think he would go very far +out of his way for a line-of-battle ship." + +An hour or two afterwards they came in sight of Duntulm Castle, +previously having passed the little church of Kilmuir, with its +bleak-looking stone-built manse. Near it is a graveyard, which had very +great interest for poetic Rory. + +"Poor Flora McDonald!" he almost sighed. "I always think that Prince +Charlie should have taken her away with him to sunny Italy and married +her. How beautifully the story of the ill-fated prince would have read +had it ended thus!" + +"Rory," said Ralph, "I'll leave you to dream and romance while I go and +see about the luncheon." + +"So like an Englishman," said Rory. + +"Never mind," replied Ralph; "we can't be all alike. What if I _do_ +prefer roly-poly to romance; don't the English win all their battles on +beefsteak?" + +"Yes, it is time for you to dive in," said Rory, laughing; "but there, +hand out my fiddle and I'll forgive you. If the sea-nymphs will only be +kind now," he continued, "and keep me dry, I'll play and sing you +something appropriate." + +He did, in his sweet tenor voice, accompanying himself with his +favourite instrument. He sang them the old song that begins: + + "Far over the hills and the heather so green, + And down by the corrie that sings to the sea, + The bonnie young Flora sat weeping alane, + The dew on her plaid and the tear in her e'e. + She looked at a boat with the breezes that swung, + Away on the wave like a bird of the main, + And ay as it lessened, she sigh'd and she sung, + `Fareweel to the lad I shall ne'er see again.'" + +"'Deed, indeed," said Rory, in his richest brogue, and with a moisture +in his eye, "it is very pretty, and would be romantic entirely if the +frizzle, _frizzle, frizzle_ of that Saxon's frying-pan wouldn't join in +the chorus." + +"Ham and eggs, boys; ham and eggs?" cried Ralph. "Away with +melancholy." + +Not far from Duntulm Castle was a house, of which our friends bore the +kindliest of recollections, for here they had been most hospitably +entertained. + +"I wonder," said Ralph and Rory, almost in the same breath, "if they'll +see us and know us." + +"Fire your gun again, anyhow, Rory," said McBain. + +The gun was run in, loaded and fired, and they had the satisfaction of +seeing their friends in the garden waving welcome to them with a +Highland plaid. Then the ensign was dipped, the headsails hauled to +leeward again, and away they went. + +But see, it is getting wonderfully dark ahead, and a misty cloud seems +rapidly nearing them, with a long white line right under it. + +"Stand by the jib-sheet," cried McBain. "Ease away; now luff, my lady." + +The cutter was laid nearly lee-rail under, but she bore it wonderfully +well. Then sail was taken in, for, said McBain, "We'll have more of +these gentry." And so they had, and it was more than an hour ere they +doubled Ru-Hunish Point, and bore away for the Aird. Once round here +the danger was over, and they were no longer on a lee shore. + +I myself never could see the good of a squall, either white or black, +and either of them are dangerous enough in all conscience when they take +you unawares, but it is said there is good in all things. Be this as it +may, the squalls the cutter had gone through seemed to clear the summer +air in a remarkable manner, for even the glass began to rise, and with +it the spirits of those on board. + +It was a fair wind now all the way to Portree, and they made the best of +it, Rory being once more in his favourite seat with tiller in hand. +Past that mysterious mountain called Quiraing, onwards and past the +tartan rock, over the precipitous sides of which a cataract was pouring +into the sea, so that you might have sailed a boat between the water and +the cliff; past the bay of Steinscholl, past the point of Braddan, past +the strange weird rocks of Storr, with Rona Isle and Raasay on the +weather beam, and the wild white hills of Cuchullin in full view in the +far distance, and past Prince Charlie's cave itself, and now they keep +her in more towards the shore, for they are not far from the loch of +Portree. Just past the cave they sail through a fleet of fishing boats. +The men on board seem greatly excited. They have hauled in their oars, +and stand by with great stones in their hands--part of the boat's +ballast--as if watching for a coming foe. But where is this foe? Why, +look ahead, the whole sea for half a mile is darkened with an immense +shoal of porpoises, driving straight towards the cutter and the boats, +turning neither to right nor left, leaping from the water, splashing and +dashing, and apparently wild with glee. Small respect have these "sea +pigs," as they are termed in the native language, for the poor +fishermen's nets; if the nets happen to come in their way, through they +go, and there is an end of it. How the men shout and scream, to be +sure! The bottle-noses take not the slightest heed of them; they are in +their own element, so on they come and on they go, the wild shouts of +the fishermen are nothing to them, and the stones thrown glide +harmlessly off their greasy backs; but they are gone at last, gone like +a whirlwind, and the boatmen are left lamenting over their bad luck and +their broken nets. + +Three hours after this the storm came on in earnest, but the little +yacht lay snug at her moorings, and her owners were sipping their coffee +after a good dinner in peace. + +It was quite late that night before they retired. It mattered little in +one way at what time they turned in, for there was small likelihood that +the storm now raging across the island would abate before twelve hours +at least. And what do you think they talked about? Why, the sea, the +sea, and nothing but the sea, and wild adventures here and there in many +lands. Again and again they plied McBain with questions about that +strange country up in the frozen north, where it was said the mammoth +caves lay. And McBain told them all he knew, and all he had ever heard +concerning them. It was determined that northwards they should sail and +nowhere else. + +"What shall we call our coming queen?" said Rory. "What shall we name +the yacht?" + +"Oh! wait till we see her first," said Allan. + +"Ridiculous!" cried the impetuous Rory. "No, let us call her the +_Snowbird_." + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +ROLLING HOME--A ROUGH PASSAGE--THE WELCOME BACK--THE WAY A SAILOR +SLEEPS. + +When the royal eagle, the bird of Jove, paid a visit to the Castle of +Arrandoon, and dropped so daringly into the poultry yard, intent only on +turkey, it will be remembered that his presence created no little +commotion, but I question if the din of even that memorable morning +equalled the hubbub that arose when Allan and his friends returned from +their four months' cruise in the cutter. + +A letter from Oban had reached Mrs McGregor three days beforehand, so +that they were quite expected, and even the probable hour of their +arrival in the creek in Glentroom was known. + +The voyage from Portree to Oban had been an uneventful one. The wind +was favourable all the way, but strong enough to make a glorious passage +with a close-reefed mainsail and storm-jib, so they bowled along, +impatient now to get back to bonnie Arrandoon. But they did not mind +the roughness of the passage; they did not mind the tumbling and the +tossing they got; they despised even the danger of being pooped. They +made heavy weather just off Ardnamurchan Point. McBain stuck to the +tiller, and for a whole hour, or more, perhaps, there was not a word +spoken by any one. They are fearful cliffs, those around the wild +highlands of Ardnamurchan, black and wet and fearful; the largest ship +that ever floated would be dashed to pieces in a few minutes if it had +the misfortune to run amongst them. Perhaps our heroes were thinking +how little chance their cockle-shell of a cutter would have, if she got +carried where near them, but they kept their thoughts to themselves, and +meanwhile the yacht was behaving like the beauty she was. Indeed she +seemed positively to enjoy rolling homewards over these great, green, +foam-crested seas; for she bobbed and she bowed to the waves; she +curtseyed to them and she coquetted with them as if she were indeed a +nymph of the sea and a flirt as well. Sometimes she would dip her +bowsprit into a wave, as if she meant to go down bows first, but in a +moment she had lifted her head again, and tossed the water saucily off, +ere ever it had time to reach the well; next she would flood the +lee-rail, and make the waves believe they could board her there, then +righting again in an instant, after a nod or two to the seas ahead, as +much as to say, "Please to observe what I shall do now," she would sink +herself right down by the stern, with the foam surging around her like a +boiling cauldron, but never admitted a drop. There were times though, +when she sank so far down in the trough of the sea that her sails began +to shiver, yet for all that she was uphill again in a second or two, and +scudding onwards as merrily as ever. + +The seas were shorter in Loch Sunart, they were choppy in the Sound of +Mull, and seemed to get bigger and rougher every other mile of the +journey; the crew were not sorry, therefore, when the anchor was let go, +and the mainsail clewed, in the Bay of Oban. + +"_Why_," said Ralph, after dinner that day, "we haven't had such a +tossing all the cruise. I declare to you, boys, that every bone of my +body aches from top to toe." McBain laughed. + +"You ought to go out," he said, "for a few nights with the herring +boats." + +"Is it rougher," queried Ralph, "than what we have already gone +through?" + +"Ten times," replied McBain. + +"Then, if you please," said Ralph, "don't send me. I'd rather be +excused, Captain McBain, I do assure you." + +"And so our summer cruise is ended," said Allan, with something very +like a sigh. + +"And haven't we enjoyed it too!" said Rory, who was lying on the sofa +locker, book in hand. "Troth, boys," he added, "I didn't notice, till +this very minute, that my book was upside down. It is dreaming I was +entirely. Oh! those, beautiful mountains of the Cuchullin, raising +their diamond tops into the summer air, with the purple haze beneath +them, and the blue sea flecked with white-winged birds! Scenery like +this I'll never get out of my head, and what is more I never wish to, +and if ever it does attempt to slip away, sure I've only to shut my eyes +and play that sweetest of old reveries, `Tha mi tinn leis a ghoal,' (The +Languor of Love), and it will all, all come back again." + +"And we've had the very best of eating and drinking all the time, you +know," Ralph said. + +"And it hasn't cost us much," added Allan. + +Rory looked first at one and then at the other of his friends, +apparently more in sorrow than in anger; then he resumed his book, this +time with the right side up. + +"I've been keeping tally," continued Allan, addressing himself more +particularly to McBain, "of all that our voyage has cost us, and taking +everything into consideration, I find that we couldn't have travelled +half so cheaply on shore, nor could we have lived as cheaply even at +home. We did not pay much for the cutter and all her fittings, and if +we had cared to do a little more fishing, and sent more boxes of +lobsters down with the southern steamers, I think we would positively +have made a good deal of profit." + +"You are thoroughly practical," said Ralph; "I like you for that." + +"Well, but," said Allan, half apologetically, "neither of us, you know, +is extra rich, and I think it is some satisfaction to look back to a +time spent most pleasantly and enjoyably, without either extra +expenditure, or--or--what shall I say?" + +"Prodigality," suggested Ralph. + +"That word will do," said Allan; "but I do declare I'm nearly half +asleep." + +"I expect," said McBain, trying to repress a yawn, "that we will all +sleep to-night without rocking." + +Two hours afterwards they _were_ all asleep, and the yacht rose and fell +gently on the rippling water, the moon shone over the mountains, making +the houses in the little town all look as if their walls were marble and +their slated roofs were burnished gold. + +They would have gone right up Loch Linnhe, instead of calling at Oban, +only Rory wished to do a little extra varnishing and gilding before +their return, so they stopped here for two days. + +Yes, there is no mistake about it, there was a commotion in and around +the old castle. As Allan and his friends came filing up the glen, +headed by Peter, who had gone to meet them with the bagpipes, in true +Highland fashion, I think the dogs were the first to hear the wild +joyous notes of the pibroch. Every one of them found his way out into +the courtyard; the inner gate of the drawbridge was closed, so Oscar and +Bran stood and barked at it, just as if that would open it; the smaller +dogs yapped at their heels, for whatsoever Bran and Oscar did, the +collie and Skyes followed suit; every feathered biped about the place +joined in the chorus, and then, for just a moment, there was a slight +lull, and Allan's favourite pony was heard laughing loud and shrill to +himself in the stables. + +"Och! and och!" cried old Janet, rushing out to open the gate for the +dogs, "it's the happy day for old Yonish (Janet) and it's the happy day +for the whole of us. Go doggies, go craytures, and meet the dear +master!" + +The dogs needed no pressing. Headed by Bran, with Oscar in the rear-- +for these dogs always kept up a certain decorum in presence of the +others--out they rushed, and next moment Allan was in the midst of them. + +He would not check them in their glee for all the world, but, with Bran +on one side of him, and Collie on the other, and all the Skyes dancing +round his feet, it must be confessed that for fully five minutes he had +rather a rough time of it. Oscar, after kissing his master on the ear, +picked off his hat, and trotted away back with it to the castle. + +So Allan returned bareheaded, but laughing, to receive the affectionate +greetings of his mother and sister. But who is that tall, handsome, +elderly gentleman in company with the latter? You would have required +no answer to that question had you but seen the rich blood mantling in +Ralph's cheeks the moment he saw him, or marked the glad glitter in his +eyes. He seemed to clear the drawbridge at a couple of bounds. + +"Father! father!" + +"Ralph, boy!" + +"Your runaway son," said Ralph, laughing. + +"My sailor boy!" said his father, smiling in his turn. + +Those last words made Ralph's heart bound with joy. He knew his father +well, and he knew when he said "my sailor boy" that he did not mean to +repent his promise anent the yacht. + +Allan was talking to his mother and sister, Helen McGregor hanging on +his arm, and looking fondly up in his face. + +But poor Irish Rory stood shyly by himself, close by the drawbridge +gate. At present there was nobody to speak to him; for the time being, +at all events, there was no one to bid him welcome back. + +"Och!" he said to himself, with a sigh, "the never a father nor mother +have I. Sure I never remember feeling before that I was an orphan +entirely." + +A big cold nose was thrust into his hand. Then a great dog rubbed its +shoulder with rough but genuine kindness against his legs. It was +Bran's mother, and her behaviour affected him so that he was almost +letting fall a tear on her honest head, when he suddenly spied old +Janet, and off went the cloud from his brow in a moment--and off went +he, to pump-shake the old lady by the hand, and vow to her that this was +the happiest day in his life. + +And old Janet must needs wipe her eyes with her apron as she called him, +much to his amusement, "mo chree" and "mo ghoal" (love), and "the bonnie +boy that he was," and a hundred other flattering and endearing epithets, +that made Rory laugh and pump-shake her hand again, and feel on the +whole as merry as a cricket. But when Helen herself came running +towards him, and placed both her hands in his and welcomed him "home," +then his cup of joy was about full, and he entirely forgot he was an +orphan. Then she dragged him over to her mother, and the first +greetings over-- + +"Isn't he sunburnt?" said Helen; "but do, mamma, look at Allan and his +friend." + +"Well," said Allan, "what colour are we?" + +"Oh, just like flower-pots," said Helen, laughing. + +That same afternoon Allan was sitting talking to Rory in his "sulky," +when in burst Ralph. He had just returned from a long walk with his +father, and he was looking all over joyous. + +"Why, what do you think, boys?" he cried, rubbing his hands, and then +making believe to punch Allan in the ribs; "what do you think, old man?" +he added. + +"Something very nice, I'll be bound," said Allan, "or staid steady Ralph +would not be so far off his balance." + +"It is pleasant in the extreme," said Ralph, taking a seat in front of +them, "and so very unexpected too. + +"Now guess what it is." + +"Oh; but we can't, we never could," said his friends. + +"Out with it, Ralph," cried Allan, "don't keep us in `tig-tire.'" + +"Yes, don't be provoking, Ralph," added Rory. + +"Well, then," said Ralph, speaking very slowly, just a word at a time, +"father--has--been--down--to Cowes--and--bought--" + +"The yacht!" cried Allan, interrupting him. "Hurrah!" + +"Just one moment, my boys," cried Rory. "I must blow off steam or I'll +burst." So saying, he seized his violin and commenced playing one of +the wildest, maddest Irish melodies ever they had listened to. You +might have called the air a jig, but there was a certain sadness in it, +as there is in even the merriest of Ireland's melodies; tenderness +breathed through every bar of it. You might have imagined while Rory +played that you saw his countrymen dancing at a wake, and heard even +their wild "Hooch!" but at the same time you could not help fancying you +saw the mourners crooning over the coffin, and heard the broken-hearted +wail of the coronach. + +Both Allan and Ralph were pretty well used to all Rory's queer, +passionate, and impulsive ways, and so they always gave him what sailors +call "plenty of rope," and landsmen call "latitude." + +When he had finished and quieted down, then did Ralph explain to his +friends all about the purchase of the yacht. + +"Not a toy, mind you," he said, "a really first-rate seagoing +schooner-yacht, A1 at Lloyd's, and all that sort of thing. New only +three years ago, copper fastenings, wire rigging, and everything +complete." + +"And what is her size?" said Allan. + +"Oh?" said Ralph, "there is plenty of room to swing a cat in her, I can +assure you; she is nearly two hundred tons." + +"Two hundred tons! why she'll take some managing, won't she?" + +"Father says she will be as easily sailed with the crew we will have, +and with ordinary caution, as our little cutter yacht." + +"Of course," said Rory, "we will have trial trips and all that sort of +thing." + +"Ay, ay, lad," said Ralph; "but don't you imagine that my father will +trust this fine yacht in such juvenile hands as ours, without an +experienced sailing-master being on board." + +"And I wonder who that will be," said Rory, "for you know we wouldn't +take to every stranger." + +"Boys," said Allan, "I don't think we will have a stranger over us as +sailing-master. I can tell you a bit of a secret; or perhaps, Ralph, +you can guess it, if I ask you a question or two. Well, then, what do +you think McBain has been studying his Rosser so earnestly for these +last many months?" + +"I have it," cried Rory, "sure he's going to take out a Board of Trade +certificate as master." + +"You're right," said Allan, "and I think he could take one now even, for +he is well up in navigation. He is well up in logarithms, and a capital +arithmetician, I won't say mathematician, though he knows something of +mathematics as well. He can take his latitude and longitude, and can +lay the place of a vessel on the chart. He knows how to use his sextant +well, and can adjust it by the sun; he can take lunars and find his +latitude by a star, and he knows everything about compasses and +chronometers, and mind you that is saying a good deal. And he can +observe azimuths too, and he knows many things more that I can't tell +you about; he says himself he can work a day's work well, and I for one +wouldn't mind sailing anywhere with him; but he doesn't mean going up +yet for three months. McBain may be slow, but he is sure." + +"And we know," said Rory, "he can pass in seamanship." + +"I should think he could," said Allan; "in that respect I'm proud of my +foster-father; he can make sail and take it in, and work a ship in the +stormiest weather; he can secure a mast, or cut one adrift, and he can +rig a jury, and I needn't tell you he knows all about the lead and the +log-line. Oh yes, he is a thorough seaman, and he is well up in +something else too, which I don't think the Board of Trade ever think of +examining people on. He is a good weather prognosticator; he knows the +signs of the clouds, and from which direction the wind is likely to +blow, and by looking at the sea he can tell you the wind's force, and +whether the sea is going down or rising, and also the rate the ship is +going at. Nor is the barometer a mere toy with him, it is a friend in +need, and positively seems to speak to him. Well, boys, what else would +you have? He is a sailor every inch, and dearly loves the sea; he tells +me, too, he can sleep like a sailor." + +"How should a sailor sleep?" asked Ralph. + +"Why, with one eye open, figuratively speaking," replied Allan. "He +ought to be able to sleep soundly through all natural and legitimate +noises. He ought to know the position of the ship before he lies down, +how her head is, what sail she carries, how the wind is, and how it is +likely to be, and whether the glass is rising, falling, or steady. With +this knowledge, commending himself to the kind God who rules and governs +all things, his slumbers will be deeper and sweeter, I do verily +believe, than any that ever a landsman knows. Rocked in the cradle of +the deep, the creaking of the ship's rudder will not awake him, nor the +labouring of her timbers, nor the dull thud of striking seas, nor the +howling of the wind itself; but let anything go wrong, let a sail carry +away, ay, or a rope itself, or let her ship more water than she ought to +with a good man at the wheel, then your sailor awakes, and very likely +his head will appear above the companion hatch about five seconds +afterwards." + +"Allan," said Rory, "you're quite eloquent. Troth, it strikes me you're +a sailor yourself, every inch of you." + +"I should like to be," said Allan, earnestly. + +"And so should we all," said Rory; "but, Ralph, dear boy," he added, +"where is this yacht? Where is the _Snowbird_?" + +"She is called the _Sappho_ at present," replied Ralph, "and she is +safely in dock at Dundee." + +"Dundee?" exclaimed Rory, in some amazement. + +"Yes, Dundee," repeated Ralph; "that is the place to fit out ships for +the far north. You see, she'll want an extra skin on her to withstand +the ice, and she must be fortified, strongly fortified in the bows, +inside with wood and outside with iron. Father told me all about it. +Father is very clever." + +"And I know he is very, very good," said Rory; "but did you tell him +where we purposed cruising?" + +"I did, of course," replied Ralph; "that was the reason he sent the +yacht to be fortified. In my very last letter I explained all our hopes +and wishes to him." + +"And what does he say?" + +"Why, that an English gentleman, with youth on his side, ought to be +able to go anywhere and do anything." + +"Bravely spoken," cried Allan. + +"Bravely indeed," said Ralph; "but father added that in this great +cruise of ours we must not be rash." + +"We will look upon that wish of your father's," said Allan, "as a sacred +command, never to be broken." + +"That will we," said Rory, enthusiastically. + +"And he advised us, when thoroughly fitted and ready for sea, not to go +right up icewards all at once, but to take Shetland on our way." + +"That would indeed be nice," said Rory. "I'll warrant we'll find many +things well worth seeing in both places." + +"Yes," said Ralph, "and he says we should then bear up for Baffin's Bay, +and not attempt the far northern ice till we have done some exploring +there, and got acclimatised, and well versed in the knowledge and nature +of the ice. `Working a ship,' he says, `among ice is very different +from ordinary seamanship.' But look, there is father down in the +courtyard, playing with the dogs. Let us all go down and join him." + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE "SNOWBIRD" AT ANCHOR--PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE--FAREWELL TO THE +LAND OF THE ROCK AND THE WILD WOOD. + +The _Snowbird_ lay at anchor in the lake, not far from the creek where +the cutter used to swing, and just beneath the birch-clad braes of +Arrandoon. A steady breeze was blowing from the west-sou'-west, a +breeze that made the landsman's heart glad. It was a balmy wind and a +drying wind--a wind that chased away the winter from the glens, that +breathed encouragement to the green and tender corn peeping shyly up +from the brown earth; a wind that went sighing through the woods, and +whispered to the trees that spring had come; ay, and a breeze that +rejoiced the heart of the sailor; a breeze he liked to stand against, +and feel, and wave his arms in, as he gazed skywards, and longed to be +"up anchor and away." + +And the saucy _Snowbird_ never felt a bit more saucy than she did that +morning. She felt impatient, and she showed it, too, in many little +ways. She pulled and "titted," as Ap phrased it, at her anchor; she +bent forwards and she bent sternwards; then she would roll, perhaps once +to port and twice to starboard, or _vice versa_, as the thought struck +her; then she would positively stop steady for a few moments, as if +listening for an order. + +"What can the captain be thinking about?" she seemed to say. "Why don't +they hoist the Blue Peter? Oh! shouldn't I like to spread my wings in +this beautiful wind and be off!" + +But we must leave the _Snowbird_ to herself for a little while, +impatient though she be, and pay a visit to the castle, from the higher +windows of which the yacht could be seen, both masts and hull. Had we +come here about two weeks ago, we would have found a great deal of +bustle and stir going on, especially among the female portion of the +establishment, for Mrs McGregor and her gentle daughter Helen had, with +the help of their maids, undertaken the superintendence not only of the +upholstering and decoration of the cabins and staterooms of the +_Snowbird_, but of all the purely domestic arrangements therein. This +had cost them months of work, and entailed besides a great many +journeys, not only to Inverness, but to Glasgow itself. The duties they +had undertaken had been instigated by love, and they were not without +good results to the performers. They had kept them from thinking. An +only son and an only brother, Allan had never been very for away from +home as yet, and it is needless to say that he was very dearly loved +indeed. But now that he was to leave his home and leave his country, +and to journey far over the sea, to lands unknown, where dangers were to +be encountered, the nature of which could hardly be guessed at, or even +dreamt of, it is no wonder that his mother and sister felt sad and +sorrowful as the time drew near for parting. + +Ah! these partings, reader! Surely one of the joys of heaven will be to +think we never again will have to breathe the painful word "Farewell." + +And the _Snowbird_ was now ready for sea; all was done to her, inside +and out, that could be done. Even the crew were on board, and, as soon +as Ralph should return with his father from the south, they would weigh +anchor, and the cruise would be begun in earnest. If I were to analyse +the feelings uppermost in Mrs McGregor's mind at this time, I should +find sorrow without doubt, but no regrets at granting her boy permission +to roam over sea and land for a year or two. Why, she reasoned, should +not she suffer bereavement for a little while as well as many other +mothers, when it would be for Allan's advantage and good? So her +sadness never found vent in tears--at least nobody ever saw them. She +went about as cheerfully, to all appearance, as before, only--and this +Allan felt and knew--she tried now to have her boy near her as often as +she could. Helen was less brave. Helen was but a girl, little more +than a child, and if the truth must be told, she very often cried +herself to sleep of nights. Her mother used to find the pillow wet in +the morning, and well knew the cause. + +But there was one thing they both could do--they could pray. And what a +comfort that was! Oh! what a weary, dreary wilderness this world of +ours would be if this power of praying were denied us, if we could not +appeal in times of grief or danger to our kind Friend, who is nigh us +everywhere, whether we are at peace and at home, or amidst the din and +strife of battle, or far away at sea, fighting for life 'mid billows and +tempest. I myself have travelled much and far, and I have oftentimes +had reason to thank Him who gave me a mother who taught me to pray. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Rat, tat, tat! at the red parlour door, where the McGregor family and +Rory are enjoying quiet conversation. Rat, tat, tat! and enter Peter, +as Rory more than once lately remarked, not looking like the same Peter +at all, at all; in fact, he was now a blue Peter, for he was rigged out +from top to toe in a suit of bran new pilot, cut shipshape and sailor +fashion, and very gay and sprightly Peter looked. + +"Well, Peter," said Allan, "what is it? You look as if you had seen a +ghost." + +"And I'm not so sure I haven't; but pray, sir, come to the window in the +staircase, and look for yourself." + +Rory and Allan both followed Peter. + +"What call you that?" cried the latter, pointing to a white sail that +came skimming like a sea-bird across the dark bosom of the lake. + +"Why, that is the cutter?" said Allan, in amazement. + +"Or her ghost," said Peter, with a long face. + +"Come on, Rory, to the creek," cried Allan, "and we'll meet her." + +And they were just in time to see Ralph and his father land. + +"Glad to see you both at last," said Allan; "but tell us what is the +meaning of this? You went away to sell the _Flower_, and behold you +come back in her." + +"My father," Ralph replied, "wouldn't part with her; he has bought her." + +"Yes," said the knight smiling; "she is far too good to part with. When +you sail, I will accompany you a few miles on your voyage. And, please +God, when you return, I will be the first to welcome you in that same +boy's yacht." + +Even my youngest readers know how quickly time flies when one wishes it +to linger, and the few days that intervened betwixt Ralph's return and +the sailing of the _Snowbird_ passed on eagle's wings. Helen McGregor, +with a tiny bottle of wine that might have been sent from Elfinland for +the occasion, named the beautiful yacht. Then there was a dinner on +board, at which every one tried to seem gay, but failed for all that. + +Next day the wind was fair, and no time was lost in getting the anchor +up and setting sail for Inverness. The ladies accompanied the +expedition so far in the _Snowbird_, then farewells were said, blessings +murmured, and once again the good yacht's foresails were filled, and she +bore bravely away up the Moray Firth, the little cutter keeping her +company until right off Fort George, when waving them once more a fond +adieu, the _Flower of Arrandoon_ was put about, and very soon the point +of land hid her from their view. + +The cruise of the _Snowbird_ had begun in earnest. + +The breeze was light, but well aft, so all sail was clapped on her, and +with her head north and by east, she glided slowly onwards as if loth to +leave the land. We will take this opportunity of having a look over the +goodly yacht, that is destined to be the home of our heroes for many a +day to come. + +The _Snowbird_ then was a schooner-yacht of nearly two hundred tons, as +well fitted and found for cruising in the northern seas as ingenuity +could make her. Rising and falling, rocking and nodding on the waves, +with her white canvas spread out to the breeze, she looked a very pretty +craft indeed. She had just enough free-board and enough breadth of beam +to make her safe and comfortable in a sea-way. Her hull was painted +black, her ports only being picked out with vermilion; her masts were +rakish, but not too much so; her jibboom had the graceful bend that +sailors love to see, and every bit of her rigging, fore and aft, running +and standing, was as taut and trim as hands could make it, or eyes wish +to gaze upon. + +Her deck was flush both fore and aft, with never a cabin or house +thereon, for the seas they would probably ship, in the wild ocean they +were about to traverse, would be little likely to brook obstruction. +Her decks were as white as snow, her brass-work shone like burnished +gold, her binnacle would have been an ornament even in a drawing-room, +every rope-end was neatly coiled, and not a bar nor a marling-spike was +out of its place. + +Light and graceful though the _Snowbird_ appeared, she was nevertheless +well fortified and strong. Hers was a double skin, one that would be +likely to resist the dread embrace of the ice king, while her bows were +of triple strength, and shod with bars of steel. Her ballast was water +in unshiftable iron tanks. Her boats were three in number, but of these +I may speak again, merely saying here that they were unique of the kind. + +Let us go between decks and have a look at the living-rooms. Entering +by the after companion, then, we find ourselves in the passage that +leads to the dining-saloon. Here are the cabins of Ralph and Rory, and, +as the door of each stands invitingly open, we take a peep in. They are +large and roomy; the sofas are covered with crimson velvet, the curtains +on the berths are of the same colour, and the pillows and counterpanes +therein are white as the driven snow. There is a bookshelf in each, +filled with the owner's favourite authors, a little swing table, and a +silver spring-candlestick hung in gymbals, and the nattiest of marble +basin-stands; there is every comfort and luxury in these cabins, and the +bulkheads are adorned with pictures, and, wonderful to say, these cabins +do not even smell of varnish--no, but of sweet spring flowers, and I +need not tell you who placed the vases there. Passing forward we enter +the saloon (_see plan_). Here is a comfortable table, luxurious +ottoman, side-board, cushioned lockers, chairs, and stove, and +everywhere around us taste and luxury are displayed. It was the hand of +an artist that painted those panels, that devised and positioned the +mirrors, and that hung those polished circular swing-tables, radiant as +the rainbow with sparkling coloured glass--there are three of these in +all, and so cunningly are they devised that they look like bouquets of +beautiful flowers pendent from stems of sterling silver. The hanging +lamps, ay, and even the stoves and coal-vases in this saloon and in the +drawing-room, were works of art, but space warns me that I must enlarge +no more on the fittings of the rooms; in a word, then, comfort and +refinement reigned supreme in the between decks of the _Snowbird_. + +The third mate and old Ap, with the second officer of the ship, had a +mess-place to themselves, and very snug it was. The men messed forward, +and here, in the forecastle, a few hammocks were hung at night, but the +bulk of the crew slept under, where was plenty of room for bunks, and +plenty of warmth, with no lack of ventilation. The cooking-range, or +galley-fire, was abaft the foremast, adjoining Ap's room and that of the +steward and third mate; and at sea, around this same galley-fire, both +men and second officers would find a snug retreat in many a long, long +winter's night in the stormy regions of the north; for here, when the +ship was snug, they would gather together and spin many a yarn about +their own adventurous lives, and their homes far away in Scotland. + +But, so far as our heroes were concerned, the snuggest corner of the +ship was the drawing-room right aft. Here was the library, and here the +piano, and a stove in the centre of the room, that all could sit around +and make themselves happy and generally jolly. + +Captain McBain's room was next in size to the saloons, as befitted his +position. + +The crew were twenty hands all told. Ap was boatswain and carpenter; +our friend Peter was steward. In addition to his duties as captain or +master of the yacht, McBain had been duly elected supercargo. He had +seen to the victualling department, and the catering for all hands, both +fore and aft. Rory got hold of his list one morning, and from the +extracts he read therefrom to his companions, it was evident that +Captain McBain had done his work right well. + +"Why," said Rory, "I wouldn't mind a bit living forward among the crew, +for, in addition to preserved meats, and biscuits and butter, and +barley, and bacon and beans, they have pork and potatoes, and pepper, +and pickles, and peas, and raisins for pudding, and suet for dumplings, +and oatmeal and sugar, and coffee and tea. But oh! boys! aren't _we_ +going to live like fighting-cocks! We have all the good things they've +got forward, and lots of cabin luxuries besides--potted milk and potted +meats, and potted fish of every name, and almonds and arrowroot, and +curries and capers, and all kinds of fruit, and jellies and jams galore. +But what is this? I can understand the dried herbs and celery seed, +but Birmingham wares! Old guns and beads!" + +It was McBain's turn to laugh, as poor Rory, with a puzzled countenance, +looked beseechingly at him for an explanation. + +"Indeed," was his reply, "it is those same old guns and those beads +we'll maybe have to eat when our stock of fresh provisions wears down." + +"Oh! I see," said Rory, a light suddenly breaking in on him. "You mean +we'll barter them with the natives for food." + +"Just so." + +"Just so; and here is an item that proves how good an officer you are, +Captain McBain. You are like a king, indeed, who is mindful of the +welfare and necessities of even his meanest subjects. The item speaks +for itself: Dog biscuits, ten sacks." + +Yes, reader, for independent of the crew all told there were on board +two passengers of the race canine--namely, honest Oscar, the Saint +Bernard, and Spunkie, the wildest and weirdest-looking Skye terrier that +ever barked in the kennels at Arrandoon. These two dogs lived in the +forecastle, and very useful they ultimately proved, as the sequel will +show. + +Two days more and our heroes had gathered on the quarter-deck, to have +the last look they would have for a long time on their native land. + +Most of them gazed in silence at the rugged and wild scene to windward. +Their hearts were rather full to speak; but Rory, leaning on the +taffrail--he were nothing unless he were romantic, so he must needs say, +or sigh, or sing, I do not know which it was,-- + + "`Farewell to the land of the rock and the wild wood, + The hill and the forest, and proud swelling wave, + To the land where bliss smiled on the days of our childhood,-- + Farewell to dear Scotland, the land of the brave.'" + +Then the breeze freshened, and the sails flapped as she leaned steadily +over to it. + +"Keep her away," cried McBain, waving his hand to the helmsman. + +And when they came on deck again, after dinner that evening, great seas +were rolling in from the Pentland Firth, from which came the glorious +wind. Nor was there any land visible in the west, where the sun was +dipping down into the waves like a great vermilion shield, his beams +making a bright red pathway betwixt them and the horizon. Long grey +clouds were floating in the sky above, clouds of a dark and bluish grey, +and yet every cloud was bound with a fringe of silver and gold. + +Ere darkling some sails were taken in, and a couple of reefs in the +mainsail, but shortened even thus the good yacht seemed to fly over the +waves, bounding along like a thing of life, as if she positively loved +the sea and felt made for it, but in all her glee she behaved herself +well, and hardly shipped a drop of water. + +Next morning there was a terrible noise and row on deck, and a dire +rattling of chains, and a shouting of words of command, and when Rory +ran up to see what was the matter he found that the anchor had just been +let go, and that they were lying in Bressay Sound, right abreast of the +strangely picturesque little town of Lerwick. + +"As soon," said Captain McBain, "as we've had breakfast we'll go on +shore. You can make the best of your time, and enjoy yourselves all you +can. There is lots to see, and ponies to ride that I reckon will tax +all your equestrian powers, but mind you're off by three o'clock. There +is nothing to keep us here, and we'll weigh again this afternoon." + +"But aren't you going to be with us?" asked Rory. + +"Nay, boy, nay," replied McBain. "I go to pick up another passenger; +and one, too, whose presence on board is bound to affect for evil or for +good our voyage to the far north." + +"Dear me!" said Rory, "a bit of mystery, is it? Well, that makes it all +the more romantic; but get ready, boys, get ready. I, for one, mean to +make a regular forenoon of it. I want to see the pony I can't ride, +that's all." + +CHAPTER TEN. + +ONSHORE IN SHETLAND--A FAMILY OF GUIDES--A WILD RIDE AND A PRIMITIVE +LUNCH--WESTWARD HO!--RACING A WHALE. + +"What shall we do and where shall we go?" These were the questions +which naturally presented themselves for solution to our three heroes, +on first stepping out of their boat on Lerwick beach. + +"We'll take a turn up the town," suggested Allan, "and see the place." + +"And then go and have lunch somewhere," said Ralph. + +"To be sure," said Rory. "An Englishman will never be long without +thinking about eating. But let us take pot-luck for the lunch. We'll +just get a quarter of a dozen of Shetland ponies, that'll be one to +every one of the three of us, and ride away over the island. We'll fall +on our feet, never fear." + +"More likely," said Allan, with a laugh, "to fall on our heads and break +our necks; but never mind, I'm ready." + +There were many listeners to this conversation. The town "loafers" of +Lerwick are not a whit more polite than town "loafers" anywhere else, +and seeing three smartly-dressed young yachtsmen, evidently the owners +of the beautiful vessel that lay at anchor in the harbour, they gathered +around them, crowded them in fact, and were profuse in their offers of +their services as guides to either town or country. But for the present +our friends declined their assistance, and set off on a brisk walk away +up the curious straggling narrow street. Here were few shops worth a +second look; the houses stand end on to the pavements, not in a straight +row, but simply anyhow, and seem to shoulder the passengers into the +middle of the road in the most unceremonious fashion. The street itself +was muddy and fishy, and they were not a bit sorry when they found +themselves out in the open country, quite at the other end of it. By +this time they had shaken themselves clear of the crowd, or almost, for +they still had four satellites. One of these was quite a giant of a +fellow, with a pipe in his mouth and a tree in his right hand by way of +a walking-stick, and looking altogether so rough and unkempt that he +might have been taken for the presiding genius of this wild island. In +striking contrast with this fellow there stood near him a pretty and +interesting-looking young girl, with a little peat-creel on her back, +and knitting materials in her hand, which betokened industry. She had +yellow hair floating, over her shoulders, and eyes as blue as summer +seas. + +"My daughter, gentlemen," said the giant, "and here is my son." + +Our heroes could not refrain from laughing when they looked at the +latter. Such a mite he was, such a Hop-o'-my-thumb, such a mop of a +head, the hair of which defied confinement by the old Tam o' Shanter +stuck on the top of it! This young urchin was rich in rags but wreathed +in smiles. + +This interesting family were engaged forthwith as guides. + +They would all three go, not one would be left behind: the father and +son would run, the daughter would ride, and the price of their services +would be half-a-crown each, including the use of the ponies. + +Oh! these ponies, I do so wish I could describe them to you. They were +so small, to begin with, that Ralph and Allan looked quite ridiculous on +their backs, for their feet almost touched the ground. Rory looked +better on his charger. The ponies' tails swept the heather, their coats +were like the coats of Skye terriers, and their morsels of heads were +buried in hair, all save the nose. Cobby as to body were these +diminutive horses, and cunning as to eye--that is, whenever an eye could +be seen it displayed cunning and mischief. + +Rory mounted and rode like a Centaur, the young lady guide sat like a +Shetland-queen. But woe is me for Ralph and Allan,--they were hardly on +when they were off again. It must be said for them, however, that they +stuck to their bridles if they couldn't stick to the saddles, and again +and again they mounted their fiery steeds with the same ignominious +results. Two legs seemed enough for those ponies to walk upon, and it +did not matter for the time being whether they were, hind legs or fore +legs. They could stand, on their heads too, turn somersaults, and roll +over on their backs, and do all sorts of pretty tricks. + +"It's only their fun," cried Rory, "they'll shake down presently." + +"Shake down!" said Ralph, rubbing his leg with a wry face. "_I'm_ +pretty well shaken down. Why, I don't believe there is a whole bone in +my body.--Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" + +But when the ponies had gone through their performances to their own +entire satisfaction, and done quite enough to maintain their name and +fame as wild Shetland ponies, they suffered their riders to keep their +seats, but tossed their manes in the air, as if to clear their eyesight +for the run they were now determined to have. + +Then off started the cavalcade, rushing like a hairy hurricane along the +mountain road. Swiftly as they went, however, lo! and behold, at every +turn of the road the giant and his little boy were visible, the former +vaulting along on his pole, the latter running with the speed of a wild +deer. + +It was early summer in Shetland; the top of lonely Mount Bressay was +still shrouded in snow, but all the moorlands were green with grass and +heather, and gay with wild hyacinth and crimson-belled bilberry bushes; +the light breeze that blew over the islands and across the blue sea was +balmy and yet bracing--it was a breeze that raised the spirits; yes, and +it did something else, it appealed to the inner man, as Ralph expressed, +and so, when after a ride of over a dozen miles a well-known roadside +hostelry hove in sight, our heroes positively hailed it with a cheer. +What mattered it that the little parlour into which they were shown was +destitute of a carpet and possessed of chairs of deal? It was clean and +quiet, the tablecloth was spotless as the snows of Ben Rona, the cakes +were crisp, the bread was white, the butter was redolent of the fragrant +herbage that the cows had browsed, and the rich milk was purer and +better far than any wine that could have been placed before them; and +when hot and steaming smoked haddocks were added to the fare, why they +would not have changed places with a king in his banqueting-hall. + +All confessed they had never spent a more enjoyable forenoon. The ride +back was especially delightful. Before they left their guides to return +on board, little Norna, the giant's lovely daughter, produced from the +mysterious depths of her peat-creel quite a wonderful assortment of +gauzy mits and gauntlets, and tiny little shawls, and queer +old-fashioned head-dresses, all knitted by her own fair fingers. Of +course they bought some of each as souvenirs of their visit to the +sea-girdled mainland of Shetland, and they paid for them so liberally +too, that the tears stood in the girl's blue eyes as they bade her +good-bye. Norna had never been so rich in her life before. + +Captain McBain was in his cabin poring over a chart when our heroes +returned. + +"Bravo! boys," he said, heartily; "you're up to time, and now, as the +breeze is from the south with a point or two of east in it, I think we'd +better make sail without delay. We'll work her quietly through the +sound. We'll keep to the south of Yell, but once past Fiedland Point, +good-bye to the British Islands for many a day. What more can we wish, +boys, than a fair wind and a clear sea, light hearts, and a ship that +can go?" + +"What more indeed?" said Rory. + +"Are we going to touch at Faroe and Iceland?" asked Ralph. + +"That," said McBain, "is, of course, as you wish. I'm at and _in_ your +service." + +"Yes, yes," said Ralph; "but we don't forget you are our adviser as +well, and our sea-father." + +"Well," replied McBain, "I've taken the liberty of writing to your real +father to say that we thought it better to leave Faroe out of the chart, +for the voyage out, at all events. We don't know what may be before us, +boys, nor how precious time may be." + +That evening about sunset old Ap's boatswain's pipe was heard high above +the whistling wind; the breeze had freshened, and sail was being taken +in, and the starboard courses were hauled farther aft. They passed very +close to some of the numerous outlying islands, the last land their eyes +would rest upon for some time. The tops of these isles were smooth and +green, their sides were beetling cliffs and rocks of brown, with the +waves breaking into foam at the foot, and white-winged gulls wheeling +high around them. Little sandy alcoves there were too, where dun seals +lay basking in the evening sunshine, some of whom lazily lifted their +heads and gazed after the yacht, wondering probably whether she were not +some gigantic gannet or cormorant. And the _Snowbird_ sailed on and +left them to wonder. The sun sank red behind the waves, the stars shone +brightly down from a cloudless sky, and the moon's pale crescent +glimmered faintly in the west, while the wind kept steady to a point, +the yacht rising and falling on the waves with a motion so uniform, that +even Ralph--who, as regards walking, was the worst sailor of the three-- +felt sure he had his sea-legs, and could walk as well as any Jack Tar +that ever went afloat. The night was so fine that no one cared to go +below until it was quite late. + +They needed their pea-jackets on all the same. + +When morning broke there was not a bit of land to be seen, not even a +distant mountain top for the eye to rest upon. + +"Well, boys," said McBain, when they all met together on the +quarter-deck, "how did you enjoy your first night on blue water? How +did you sleep?" + +"I slept like a top," said Rory. + +"I believe," said Allan, looking at Ralph, "we slept like three tops." + +"Like three tops, yes," assented Ralph. + +"Oh! I'm sure you didn't, Ralph," said Rory; "I wakened about seven +bells in the morning watch, just for a moment, you know, and you were +snoring like a grampus. And tops don't snore, do they?" + +"And how do you know a grampus does?" asked McBain, smiling. + +"Troth," said Rory, "it's a figure of speech entirely." + +"But isn't Rory getting nautical?" said Ralph; "didn't you observe he +said `seven bells' instead of half-past three, or three-thirty?" + +"Three-thirty indeed!" cried Rory, in affected disdain. "Ha! ha! ha! I +can't help laughing at all at all; 3:30! just fancy a fellow talking +like an old Bradshaw, while standing on the white deck of a fine yacht +like this, with a jolly breeze blowing and all sail set alow and aloft. + +"Poor little Ralph!" continued Rory, patting his friend on the shoulder, +and looking quizzingly up into his face, "and didn't he get any letters +this morning! Do run down below, Allan, my boy, and see if the postman +has brought the morning paper." + +"Hurrah?" shouted Allan, so loudly and so suddenly that every one stared +at him in astonishment. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted again, this time flinging his cap in true Highland +fashion half-way up to the maintop. + +"Gentlemen," he continued, in mock heroic tones, "the last mail is about +to leave--the ship, bound for the distant Castle of Arrandoon." + +And away he rushed below, leaving Ralph and Rory looking so comically +puzzled that McBain burst out laughing. + +"Is it leave of his seven senses," said Rory, seriously, "that poor +Allan is after taking? And can you really laugh at such an accident, +Captain McBain? it's myself that is astonished _at_ you?" + +"Ah! but lad," said McBain, "I'm in the secret." + +Allan was on deck again in a minute. + +He was waving a basket aloft. + +"Helen's pigeon, boys! Helen's pigeon!" he was crying, with the tears +actually in his eyes. "I'd forgotten Peter had it till now." + +Ten minutes afterwards the tiny missive, beginning "At sea" and ending +"All's well," was written, and attached to the strong bird's leg. It +was examined carefully, and carefully and cautiously fed, then a message +was whispered to it by Rory--a message such as a poet might send; a kiss +was pressed upon its bonnie back, and then it was thrown up, and almost +immediately it began to soar. + +"The bravest bird that ever cleaved the air," said Allan, with +enthusiasm. "I've flown it four hundred miles and over." + +In silence they watched it in its circling flight, and to their joy they +saw it, ere lost to view, heading away for the distant mainland of +Scotland. Then they resumed walking and talking on deck. + +That was about the only incident of their first day at sea. Towards +evening a little stranger came on board, and glad he seemed to be to +reach the deck of the _Snowbird_, for he must have been very tired with +his long flight. + +Only a yellowhammer--the most persecuted bird in all the British +Islands--that was what the little stranger was. McBain had caught him +and brought him below with him to the tea-table, much to the wonderment +of his messmates. + +"It is a common thing," said McBain, "for land birds to follow ships, or +rather to be blown out to sea, and take refuge on a vessel." A cage was +constructed for the bird, and it was hung up in the snuggery, or +after-saloon. + +"That'll be the sweet little cherub," said Rory, "that will sit up aloft +and look after the life of poor Jack." + +Westwards and northwards went the _Snowbird_, the breeze never failing +nor varying for three whole days. By this time the seagulls that had +followed the ship since they left the isles, picking up the crumbs that +were cast overboard from the galley, had all gone back home. They +probably had wives and little fledgling families to look after, and so +could not go any farther, good though the living was. + +"When I see the last gull flying far away astern," said McBain, "then I +think myself fairly at sea. But isn't it glorious weather we are +having, boys? I like to begin a voyage like this, and not with a gale." + +"Why?" said Rory, "we're all sea fast now, we wouldn't mind it much." + +"Why?" repeated McBain, "everything shakes itself into shape thus, ay, +and every man of the crew gets shaken into shape, and when it does come +on to blow--and we cannot always expect fine weather--there won't be +half the rolling nor half the confusion there would otherwise be." + +"Give me your glass," cried Rory, somewhat excitedly; "I see something." + +"What is it?" said Allan, looking in the same direction; "the great +sea-serpent?" + +"Indeed, no," replied Rory, "it's a whale, and he is going in the same +direction too." + +"It's my whale, you know," continued Rory, when everybody had had a good +peep at him, "because I saw him first." + +"Very well," said McBain, "we are not going to dispute the +proprietorship. We wish you luck with your whale; he won't want to come +on board, I dare say, and he won't cost much to keep out there, at any +rate." + +All that day Rory's whale kept up with the ship; they could see his dark +head and back, as he rose and sank on the waves; he was seldom +three-quarters of a mile off, and very often much nearer. + +Next day at breakfast, "How is your whale, Rory?" said Ralph. + +"Oh!" said Rory, "he is in fine form this morning; I'm not sure he isn't +going to give us the slip; he is right away on the weather bow." + +"Give us the slip!" said McBain; "no, that she won't, unless she alters +her course. Steward, tell Mr Stevenson I want him." + +Stevenson was the mate, and a fine stalwart sailor he was, with dark +hair and whiskers and a face as red as a brick. + +"Do you think," said McBain, "you can take another knot or two out of +her without carrying anything away?" + +"I think we can, sir." + +"Very well, Mr Stevenson, shake a few reefs out." + +Ap's pipe was now heard on deck, then the trampling of feet, and a few +minutes afterwards there was a saucy lurch to leeward, and, although the +fiddles were across the table, Rory received the contents of a cup of +hot coffee in his lap. + +"Now the beauty feels it," said McBain, with a smile of satisfaction. + +"So do I," said Rory, jumping up and shaking himself; "and its parboiled +that my poor legs are entirely." + +"Let us go on deck," said Allan, "and see the whale." + +Before the end of the forenoon watch they had their strange companion +once more on the weather quarter. + +"It is evident," said McBain, "we could beat her." + +Racing a whale, reader, seems idle work, but sailors, when far away at +sea, do idler things than that. They were leaning over the bulwarks +after dinner that day gazing it this lonely monster of the deep, and +guessing and speculating about its movements. + +"I wonder," said Ralph, "if he knows where he is going?" + +"I've no doubt he does," said Allan; "the same kind Hand directs his +movements that makes the wind to blow and the needle to point to the +north." + +"But," said Ralph, "isn't there something very solemn about the great +beast, ploughing on and on in silence like that, and all alone too--no +companion near?" + +"He has left his wife in Greenland, perhaps," said Rory, "and is going, +like ourselves, to seek his fortune in the far west." + +"I wonder if he'll find her when he returns." + +"Yes, I wonder that; for she can't remain in the same place all the +time, can she?" + +"Now, boys," said Allan, "you see what a wide, wide world of water is +all around us--we must be nearly a thousand miles from land. How, if a +Great Power did not guide them, could mighty fishes like that find their +way about?" + +"Suppose that whale had a wife," said Ralph, "as Rory imagines, and they +were journeying across this great ocean together, and supposing they +lost sight of each other for a few minutes only, does it not seem +probable they might swim about for forty or fifty years yet never meet +again?" + +"Oh, how vast the ocean is!" said Rory, almost solemnly. "I never felt +it so before." + +"And yet," said Allan, "there is One who can hold it in the hollow of +His hand?" + +"Watch, shorten sail." + +McBain had come on deck and given the order. + +"The glass is going down," he said to Allan, "and I don't half like the +look of the sea nor the whistle of the wind. We'll have a dirty night, +depend upon it." + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +THE STORM--A FEARFUL NIGHT--THE PIRATES--A FIGHT AT SEA. + +"All hands shorten sail." + +The glass had not gone "tumbling down," as sailors term it, which would +have indicated a storm or hurricane in violence equal perhaps to the +typhoons of lower latitudes, but it went down in a slow determined +manner, as if it did not mean to rise again in a hurry, so McBain +resolved to be prepared for a spell of nasty weather. The wind was now +about south-west by south, but it did not blow steadily; it was gusty, +not to say squally, and heavy seas began to roll in, the tops of which +were cut off by the breeze, and dashed in foam and spray over the +rigging and decks of the _Snowbird_. + +It increased in force as the sun went down to something over half a +gale, and now more sail was taken in and the storm-jib set. McBain was +a cautious sailor, and left no more canvas on her than she could carry +with comparative safety. + +The _Snowbird_ began to grow exceedingly lively. She seemed on good +terms with herself, as the captain expressed it. All hands, fore and +aft, had found the necessity of rigging out in oilskins and +sou'-westers; the latter were bought at Lerwick, and were just the right +sort for facing heavy weather in these seas. They were capacious +enough, and had flannel-lined side-pieces, which came down over the ears +and cheeks. + +"I think I've made her pretty snug for the night," said McBain, coming +aft to where Allan and Rory stood on the weather side of the +quarter-deck, holding on to the bulwarks to prevent themselves from +falling. "How do you like it, boys? and where is Ralph?" + +"Oh, _we_ like it well enough," said Rory, "but Ralph has gone below, +and is now asleep on the sofa." + +"Sleepy is he?" said McBain, smiling; "well, that is just the nearest +approach to sea-sickness. We won't disturb him, and he'll be all right +and merry again to-morrow." + +"What do you think of the weather, captain?" asked Allan. + +McBain gave one glance round at sea and sky, and a look aloft as if to +see that everything was still right there, ere he replied,-- + +"The wind is fair, Allan, that's all I can say, but we'll have enough of +it before morning; the only danger is meeting ice; it is often as far +south as this, at this time of the year." + +The night began to fall even as he spoke, for great grey clouds had +rolled up and hidden the sinking sun; sky and sea seemed to meet, and +the horizon was everywhere close aboard of them. The motion of the +_Snowbird_ was an unpleasant jerky one; she pitched sharply into the +hollows and as quickly rose again; she took little water on board, but +what little she did ship, made decks and rigging wet and slippery. +Presently both Allan and Rory were advised to go below for the night, +and feeling the same strange sleepiness stealing over them that had +overcome Ralph, they made a bolt for the companion. Allan succeeded in +fetching it at once, and when half-way down he stopped to laugh at Rory, +who was rolling porpoise-fashion in the lee scuppers. But Rory was more +successful in his next attempt. In the saloon they found Ralph sound +enough and snoring, and Peter, the steward, staggering in through the +doorway with the supper. The lamp was lighted, and both that and the +swing-tables were apparently trying to jump out of their gymbals, and go +tumbling down upon Ralph's prostrate form. In fact everything seemed +awry, and the table and chairs were jerking about anyhow, and, as Rory +said, "making as much creaking as fifty pairs of new boots." + +"Ah! Peter, you're a jewel," cried Rory, as the steward placed on the +table, between the fiddle bars, a delicious lobster salad and two cups +of fragrant coffee. "Yes, Peter," continued Rory, "it's a jewel you are +entirely; there isn't a man that ever I knew, Peter, could beat ye at +making a salad. And it isn't blarney either that I'm trying to put upon +you." + +With supper the sleepy feeling passed away, and Rory said he felt like a +giant refreshed, only not quite so tall. + +"Bring my dear old fiddle, Peter," he cried, "like a good soul. This is +just the night for music." + +_He_ played and Allan read for two hours at least, both steadying +themselves as best they could at the weather side of the table; then +they wakened Ralph, and all three turned in for the night and were soon +fast asleep. + +It was early summer, and Ralph, so he thought in his dream, was +reclining, book in hand, on a sweet wild-thyme-scented green bank in +Glentroom. A blue sky was reflected from the broad bosom of the lake, +the green was on the birch, the milk-white flowers on the thorn, and the +feathery larch-trees were tasselled with crimson; bees went droning from +wild flower to wild flower, and the woodlands resounded with the music +of a thousand joyous birds. + +Ding-dong, ding-dong! + +"It is the first dinner-bell from the Castle of Arrandoon," said Ralph +to himself; "Allan and his sister will be waiting, I must hurry home." + +Ding-dong, ding-dong-ding! + +Ralph was wide awake now, and sitting up in his little bed. It was all +dark; it must be midnight, he thought, or long past. + +Ding-dong, ding-dong-ding again, followed by a terrible rush of water +and a quivering of the vessel, the like of which he had never known +before. + +Ding, ding, ding! It was the seas breaking over the _Snowbird_ and +ringing her bell. + +"What an awakening!" thought poor Ralph, and he shivered as he listened, +partly with cold and partly, it must be confessed, with an undefinable +feeling of alarm. And no wonder! + +It was, indeed, a fearful night! + +The gale had burst upon them in all its fury, and, well prepared though +she was aloft to contend with it, it would require all the vessel's +powers of endurance and all the skill of the manly hearts on board of +her, to bring her safely through it. Every time a sea struck her it +sounded below like a dull, heavy thud; it stopped her way for a moment +or two. It was then she quivered from stem to stern, like some creature +in agony, and Ralph could hear the water washing about the decks +overhead and pouring down below. The seas, striking the ship, gave him +the idea of blows from something soft but terribly strong, and, +ridiculous though it may seem, for the life of him Ralph could not help +thinking of the bolster fights of the days of his boyhood. What other +sounds did he hear? The constant and incessant creaking of the yacht's +timbers, the rattle of the rudder chains, and, high over all, the roar +of the tempest in the rigging aloft. In the lull of the gale every now +and then, he could hear the trampling of feet and voices--voices giving +and voices answering words of command. + +"Starboard a little! Steady?" + +"Starboard it is, sir. Steady!" + +"Hard down!" + +"Hurrsh-sh!" A terrible sea seemed here to have struck her; the din +below was increased to a fearful extent by the smashing of crockery and +rattling of furniture and fittings. + +"Another man to the wheel! Steady as you go. Steady." + +Then there was a sound like a dreadful explosion, with a kind of grating +noise, followed by a rattling as if a thousand men were volley-firing +overhead; meanwhile the good ship heeled over as if she never would +right again. It was a sail rent into ribbons! + +"I can't stand this!" said Ralph, aloud. "Up I must get, and see if +Allan and Rory be awake. They must be." + +Getting out of bed he discovered was a very simple proceeding, for he +had no sooner begun the operation than he found himself sprawling on the +deck. The floor was flooded, and everything was chaos. Feeling for his +clothes, he could distinguish books by the dozen, a drawer, a +camp-stool, and a broken glass. At last he managed to find a +dressing-gown, and also his way along to the saloon. Here a lamp was +burning, and here were Allan and Rory both, and the steward as well. + +All three were somewhat pale. They were simply waiting--but waiting for +what? They themselves could hardly have told you, but at that time +something told everyone in the saloon the danger was very great indeed. + +On deck McBain and his men were fighting the seas; two hands were at the +wheel, and it needed all their strength at times to keep the vessel's +head in the right direction, and save her from broaching-to. In the +pale glimmer of the sheet lightning every rope and block and stay could +at one moment be seen, and the wet, shining decks, and the men +clustering in twos and threes, lashed to masts or clinging to ropes to +save themselves from destruction. Next moment the decks would be one +mass of seething foam. It was by the lightning's flash, however, or the +pale gleam of the breaking waves, and by these alone, that McBain could +guide his vessel safely through this awful tempest. + +So speedily had the gale increased to almost a hurricane, that there was +no time to batten down; but with the first glimpse of dawn the wind +seemed to abate, and no time was lost in getting tarpaulins nailed down, +and only the fore companion was left partially unprotected for +communication between decks. + +Soon after the captain came below, looking, in his wet and shining +oilskins, like some curious sea-monster, for there was hardly a bit of +his face to be seen. "What!" he cried, "you boys all up?" + +"Indeed," said Rory, who was nearly always the first to speak, "we +thought it was _down_ we soon would all be instead of up?" + +The captain laughed, and applied himself with rare zest to the coffee +and sandwiches the steward placed before him. "Don't give us cups at +breakfast to-morrow, Peter," he said, "but the tin mugs; we're going to +have some days of this weather. And now, boys, I'm going to have a +caulk for an hour. You had better follow my example; you will be drier +in bed, and, I believe, warmer too." + +Breakfast next day was far from a comfortable meal. The gale still +continued, though to a far less extent, and the fire in the galley had +been drowned out the night before, and was not yet re-lit. But every +one was cheerful. + +"Better," said McBain, "is a cold sardine and a bit of ship biscuit +where love is, than roast beef and--" + +"Roast beef and botheration!" said Rory, helping him out. + +"That's it! Thank ye," said McBain. "And now, who is going on deck to +have a look at the sea?" + +"Ha! what a scene is here!" said Allan, looking around him, as he clung +to the weather rail. + +Well might he quote Walter Scott. The green seas were higher than the +maintop, their foaming, curling tops threatening to engulf the yacht +every minute. + +"I may tell you, my boys," said McBain, grasping a stay and swaying to +and fro like a drunken man, "that if the _Snowbird_ weren't the best +little ship that ever floated, she couldn't have stood the storm of last +night. And look yonder, that is all the damage." + +From near her bows, aft as far as the mizen-mast, the bulwarks were +smashed and torn by the force of the waves. + +"We have two men hurt, but not severely, and the pump's at work, but +only to clear her of the drop of water she shipped; and we'll soon mend +the bulwarks." + +All that day and all the next night the gale continued to blow, and it +was anything but comfortable or pleasant below; but the morning of the +third day broke brightly enough, albeit the wind had forged round and +was now coming from the west; but McBain did not mind that. + +"We made such a roaring spin during the gale," he said, "although +scudding under nearly bare poles, that we can afford to slacken speed a +little now." + +The sea was still angry and choppy, but all things considered the +_Snowbird_ made goodly way. + +The forenoon was spent in making good repairs and in getting up the +crow's-nest, a barrel of large dimensions, which in all Greenland-going +ships is hoisted and made fast, as high as high can be, namely, +alongside the main truck. A comfortable place enough is this +crow's-nest when you get there, but you need a sailor's head to reach +it, for at the main-top-gallant crosstrees the rattlins leave you, and +you have a nasty corner to turn, round to a Jacob's-ladder, up which you +must scramble, spider fashion, and enter the nest from under. You need +a sailor's head to reach it and a sailor's heart to remain there, for if +there is any sea on at all, the swinging and swaying about is enough to +turn any landsman sick and giddy. + +Hardly was the crow's-nest in position when the look-out man hailed the +deck below. + +"A vessel in sight, sir." + +Here was some excitement, anyhow. + +"Where away?" bawled the captain. + +"On the weather quarter, sir; I can just raise her topmasts; she is +holding the same course as ourselves." + +Shortly after, Mr Stevenson, who had gone aloft, came below to report. + +"She is no whaler, sir, whatever she is," he said. + +"But what else can she be?" said Captain McBain. "She might have been +blown out of her course, to be sure, but with this wind she could make +up her leeway. Keep our yacht a bit nearer the wind, Mr Stevenson, +we'll give her a chance of showing her bunting anyhow." + +Dinner-hour in the saloon was one o'clock, and it was barely over when +Mr Stevenson entered, and with him a being that made our heroes start +and stare in astonishment. What or who was he? They had never seen him +before, and knew not he was on board--a very little, thin, wiry, +weazened old man, all grey hairs, parchment skin, and wrinkles. Was he +the little old man of the sea? + +McBain saw their bewilderment and hastened to explain. + +"My worthy friend Magnus Green," he said, "the passenger I took on board +at Lerwick." + +"There is precious little green about him," thought Rory. + +"The ship is not far off, she is flying a flag of distress, but Magnus +says he knows her, and bids us keep clear of her." + +"Well, Magnus, what do you know about her?" asked McBain. + +The little old man talked fast, almost wildly,--it was a way he had,-- +and gesticulated much. + +"What do I know?" he cried; "why, this,--she is a Spaniard, and a thief. +She came into Lerwick two weeks before you, took stores on board, +sailed in the night, and paid nobody. She is armed to the teeth, and in +my opinion is after you. Keep away from her, keep away, keep away." + +"But how could she be after us?" asked McBain, incredulous. + +"How? ha! ha!" laughed Magnus; "you speak like a child. She herself +sailed from Inverness to Lerwick: she'd heard of you, a gentleman's +yacht, with everything good on board. She couldn't tackle you near +shore, but out here on the high sea, ha! ha! the case in different." + +"There is something in what Magnus says," said McBain. "Let us go on +deck. Hoist the flag, Mr Stevenson." + +Up went the roll of bunting, one touch to the lanyard, and out on the +breeze floated the red ensign of England. + +[The white ensign is flown by the Royal Navy only, the blue by the Naval +Reserve, the red by merchantmen and others.] + +The Spaniard was hardly a mile to windward, a long, low, rakish craft, +as black as a Mother Carey's chicken. She had ports as if for guns; and +though there was no answering signal, she was seen to alter her course +and bear down on the _Snowbird_. + +"She's too like a hawk to be honest," said McBain, "and too big for us +to fight. We'll try how she can sail; keep her away, Stevenson." + +The _Snowbird_ began to pay off, but not before a white puff of smoke +was seen rising from the stranger's bows. Next moment down the wind +came a cannon's roar, and a shot ricocheted past the bows of the yacht. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" shrieked little Magnus, "yon's the answering signal--ha! +ha! ha!" + +At the same moment down went the flag of distress, and up went the black +flag that pirates like to display when they really mean mischief. +Something else went up at the same time, namely, Captain McBain's +Highland blood. This is no figure of speech; you could have seen pride +and anger mantling in his cheek and glancing like fire from his eye. + +"The black flag, indeed!" he growled; "only cowards hoist it; they think +it startles their would-be prey, like the hiss a cat or a goose emits, +or the images and figures idiot savages carry in their battle-van. They +will not frighten us. Stevenson, load the six-pounder Armstrong. Lucky +we took that little tool with us. Tell Ap to see to the small arms. +We'll show them the metal we're made of ere we surrender the _Snowbird_. +Stand by tacks and sheets, we'll put her before the wind. A stern +chase is a long chase; we may give her the slip after nightfall." + +There was a cheeriness in McBain's voice as he spoke, that communicated +itself to all hands fore and aft. There was no bombast about the +captain, mind you, no vulgar jingoism. He merely meant to hold his own, +even if he had to fight for it. + +All sail was set that the _Snowbird_ could carry, both below and aloft, +an example that was speedily followed by the pirate, for pirate she +seemed, from her bunting, to even brag in being, and so the chase began +in earnest. The stranger fired once or twice only, but the shots +falling short she gave it up, and concentrated all her attention in +endeavouring to get within reach. + +For the next hour there was silence on board the _Snowbird_, except for +some brief words of command given in quiet quick tones, and just as +speedily obeyed. Rory, Ralph, and Allan were clustered astern, watching +the pirate. This was a kind of danger to which they had never dreamed +they would be exposed; yet still the confidence they had in brave, cool +McBain banished all fear from their hearts. + +But the captain's anxiety was extreme, and his eyes roved incessantly +from the _Snowbird_ to the vessel in chase, not without many a glance at +the fast-declining sun. + +"Are we quite prepared?" he asked Stevenson. + +"All ready, sir," was the reply, with an uneasy glance astern, "but I +think she is coming up, sir, hand over hand and now she is actually +setting stunsails." + +"Then God help us, Stevenson, for that chap is bound to win the battle +if he can only win the race." + +The stunsails set by the stranger, however, were no sooner set than they +were blown away, booms and all. + +"Hullo?" cried the captain, "that is providential. Now Stevenson, get +the Armstrong aft." + +This was soon accomplished. + +"Here, Magnus Green," cried McBain, "come on you're the best shot in the +ship. Many a harpoon gun I've seen you fire. Pepper away at that +pirate till you're tired. Cripple her if you can. It's our only +chance." + +The fire was briskly returned from the bows of the pirate, and it was +soon evident that she was getting nearer and nearer to them, for the +shots went over the _Snowbird_, and some even pierced the sails, proof +positive that it was not her intention to sink but to capture the +beautiful yacht. + +The captain whistled low to himself. + +"This is awkward," he muttered, gloomily. He was gazing aloft, +wondering if he could do nothing else to keep clear of the pirate until +nightfall, when a shout behind him, followed by a ringing cheer from all +hands, made him turn hastily round. Old man Magnus was capering around +the quarter-deck wild with glee, rushing hither and thither, only +returning every moment to pat the little Armstrong, as though it were a +living thing. + +"He! he! he!" he cried, "I've done it, I've done it." + +He had indeed done it. The stranger's foremast had gone by the board, +mast and sails and rigging lay about her forepart in dire confusion, +burying guns and gunners. + +"Glorious old Magnus!" shouted McBain, rubbing his hands with glee. +"Now, Stevenson, ready about." + +The yacht came round like a bird, and sailing wonderfully close to the +wind, began rapidly to near the smitten pirate. Presently it was "ready +about" again on the other tack, and all the while never a shot came from +the foe, but the dastardly flag still floated sullenly aloft. + +Ten men were stationed in the weather bow of the _Snowbird_ with rifles, +their orders being to fire wherever they saw a head. + +"Now then, Magnus," cried McBain, "fifty guineas are yours if you'll +splinter the enemy's mainmast. I want to let her have two jury masts to +rig instead of one." McBain carried the _Snowbird_ cruelly near to the +pirate, dangerously near too, for presently there was an answering fire +of small arms, and two men fell wounded. + +Crang! went the Armstrong. Faithfully and well had Magnus done his +work, and down went the pirate's other mast. + +"We'll leave her the mizen," said McBain; "down with the helm." + +His voice was almost drowned in that deafening shout of victory. Even +Oscar the Saint Bernard and the wiry wee Skye felt bound to join it, and +Peter the steward rushed below for his bagpipes. + +And when the moon rose that night and shone quietly down on the waters, +the _Snowbird_ was bravely holding on her course, and the discomfited +pirate was far away. + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +CONTAINING A STRANGE, STRANGE STORY, TOLD BY THE SNUGGERY FIRE. + +"It never rains but it pours," said McBain, entering the saloon rubbing +his hands, and smiling as he seated himself at the breakfast-table. +"Steward, I hope it is beefsteak this morning, with boiled eggs to +follow, for I declare to you honestly I don't think I ever felt half so +hungry in my born days before! Bravo, steward! bravo, Peter! Be +thankful, boys, for all His mercies, and fall to?" + +"One would think, captain," said Ralph, "that you had got good news this +morning." + +"Why, it makes one laugh just to look at you," said Rory. + +"Laugh away, lad?" said McBain; "laugh and grow fat, but eat as well, +boys! And why haven't you been on deck, eh?" + +"Overslept ourselves," observed Allan; "Well, no wonder! You're young, +and the excitement of the past few days has been great: even I have felt +it. But to-day, my boys, there isn't a pirate in sight; the wind has +gone back to the south-east, and in five more days, if it holds we'll be +on shore shooting the denizens of the scented pine forests of the +farthest north lands of America." + +Our heroes were soon on deck, the _Snowbird_ was bounding along before a +beautiful breeze, with all her fair-weather sails set and nicely +trimmed. Every one on board seemed joyful; the laugh and the joke were +heard from the second officer's cabin, and the men in the forecastle +were trolling a song. + +That same evening a very happy group were assembled around a bright fire +in the cosy snuggery. They were our heroes three, squatted or reclining +on mats before the stove, not sitting on chairs--certainly not, they +knew a trick worth two of that. The captain occupied a rocking-chair, +as became his dignity; Oscar the Saint Bernard's nose was turned +stovewards; and Rory was making a pillow of him. Oscar was eyeing the +cheerful blaze, but every other eye was directed upon wee weazen-faced +Magnus Green, the mysterious little stranger that McBain had picked up +in Lerwick, and who had done them such noble service in crippling the +pirate. He was seated on a camp-stool in the corner. + +"Now, Magnus!" cried McBain, "we're all waiting for your yarn." + +"Jan Jansen, then," said Magnus, after a moment's pause or two--"Jan +Jansen, gentlemen, was first mate of a merchant brig, as neat and tight +a little craft as ever sailed the seas. He had been in her, man and +boy, for nearly twenty years--in the same ship and with the same +captain. This captain was a Dane, but he hailed and he sailed from a +little town in Shetland. And dearly did this sailor captain love his +profession; he was never really at home except when afloat on the +billowy ocean, when he was as happy as the sea-birds. + +"Many a long and prosperous voyage he had made to distant lands, and +never as yet had misfortune--apart from the usual ups and downs of a +sailor's life--befallen him. He had a wife--ay, and a family. Before +the latter had increased the skipper's wife had used to sail with her +husband, but latterly she had stayed at home. And now that she could no +longer share his perils, all she could do--and that wasn't little, +either--was to pray for him, and teach his dear children to do so +likewise. But she thought that if her house were only close to the sea +it would seem like living nearer to the loved one. So the captain built +a house on the slope of a hill, and planted pine-trees thereon to +shelter it from the cutting winds, that in winter and spring swept +downwards from the north and north-east. And the windows of the house +looked away over the broad Atlantic. In his outward voyages the +captain's ship, after leaving the port of embarkation, passed within two +miles of his cottage door, and his wife and children used to watch the +trim-built brig as she glided away from the land, lessening and +lessening, until she looked but like a bird on the horizon, and finally +disappeared. On stormy nights, when the wind howled around the cottage, +and the angry waves lashed themselves into foam against the dark cliffs +that bounded the sea-beach, the little lonely family would assemble in +the parlour to pray for poor father, far at sea, to Him who can quiet +the raging of the winds, and say to the troubled ocean, `Peace, be +still!' + +"But the Danish captain was not only a fortunate sailor but a very +ambitious man as well, and ever after each successful voyage his wife +would entreat him to remain on shore now for the rest of his life. +Several times indeed the husband had acceded to her wishes, and settled +down on shore. But only for a time, for woe is me! the heart of a true +sailor is often as restless as the great sea itself. + +"The pet of the captain's household was his only daughter, a +bright-faced, lovely girl of sweet seventeen. With her fair flowing +hair, her laughing blue eyes, her cheerful voice, and her winsome ways, +no wonder Nanette was a favourite. But why did she so love to roam down +by the rocks where the seagulls screamed, and why, when her father was +abroad, did her eyes so often fill with tears as she gazed across the +sea? She was her father's darling, it is true; but she was something +else--she was brave Jan Jansen's promised bride. And his thoughts were +always on shore with Nanette, and hers were on the little barque with +Jan. When he was at sea the months seemed to her like long gloomy +years, and the few weeks he was at home like bright short hours of +sunshine and joy. + +"And they were going to be married after the very next voyage; then Jan +was to have a ship of his own, and take her away with him to the sunny +lands he was so fond of describing to her, and about which she so loved +to hear, as they walked arm in arm on the breezy cliff-tops. + +"If previous voyages had seemed long to Nanette, this last appeared an +age in itself. But one summer's morning when Nanette, awoke and opened +her window to admit the sweet sea air and the song of the lark, oh! joy, +there was the dear old brig with her sea-washed sides, standing close in +towards the land, and she was sure--yes, there was no mistake about it-- +those were her father and Jan waving their handkerchiefs to attract her +attention. How quickly did Nanette dress that morning and hurry out; +and how speedily did she bend on and hoist the red flag on the garden +staff, to tell her anxious father and lover that all was well at home! + +"Then away stood the brig on the starboard tack, and next day Nanette +had beside her all that she loved on earth--father, mother, her +brothers, and Jan. + +"There seemed to be a cloud on the captain's brow, which his wife was +not slow to notice, and even honest Jan appeared to be possessed of some +gloomy secret, that sat but uneasily on his mind. Yet each when asked +had only replied,-- + +"`'Tis nothing, you will hear it all in good time.' + +"But that evening, after supper was cleared away, and Jan with the +captain sat beside the fire in the cosy parlour,-- + +"`Wife,' said the mariner, `I have news for you that is both good and +bad. Tell them, Jan, I can't.' + +"Jan dared not meet the loving eyes of poor Nanette, but gazed dreamily +into the fire as he told them the news that some shipwrecked sailors had +brought to the port of Katrinesand, from which they had last sailed, of +wealth immeasurable to be made on an island far away in the frozen +ocean, and of mines of ivory to be had for the gathering, and of the +captain's resolve to make one last--certainly the last--Jan little knew +how prophetically he spoke--voyage in the brig, and that this voyage was +to be to the Arctic regions; and that neither he nor the captain doubted +that this single voyage would make wealthy men of them both. + +"The wife was the first to reply, for poor Nanette was sobbing as if her +heart would break. + +"`Oh!' cried the captain's wife, `it is ever, ever thus. Do not go, I +beseech you, oh! my husband. Do not rashly brave the terrors of that +dreadful sea of ice. There has been a cloud on my heart for weeks that +I could not understand till now, and both Nanette and myself have +dreamed dreams that bode no good to us or ours. Husband, husband, stay +at home!' + +"But a determined man will have his way, and the captain's mind was so +bent on the new project that nothing would induce him to give it up. +What his wife must suffer, but Nanette even more, for wherever her +father went Jan was bound to follow, and the danger would be the same to +both! + +"On the twenty-first day of April, in seventeen hundred and ninety-six, +there sailed away from Shetland the sturdy brig _Danish Queen_, well +manned, mated, found and commanded, and with it went the hearts of the +gentle Nanette and her mother. + +"The day was mild and balmy. A soft south wind blew over the sea and +filled the sails, and wafted the brig--oh! how fast she seemed to fly-- +away and away and away, till she disappeared on the northern horizon, +and the poor bereaved ones, clasped in each other's arms, wept in +silence now, for neither could find a word of comfort for the other; +hope itself had fled from their hearts. + +"And the _Danish Queen_ returned again no more to Shetland shores. + +"Two years and a half had barely passed since she sailed away, and the +autumn leaves were mingling with the long green grass in the little +churchyard of Dergen, when two new-made graves might have been seen +there, side by side. One was that of little Nanette, the other the +grave of her heartbroken mother. + +"And the time flew by, and the _Danish Queen_ was soon forgotten, and +people had ceased to speak of her, and the friends of her brave sailors +had doffed the garb of mourning for five long years. + +"But one day there arrived in Shetland the whaling barque _Clotho_, +direct from the Greenland Ocean, and one passenger, the sole survivor, +by his own account, of the ill-fated _Danish Queen_. If it were indeed +as he said, there must be some strange mystery about his existence for +so many years on the sea of ice, which even Jan Jansen himself--for it +was he--could not, or rather would not, then explain. He was found +dressed in bear-skins, a young man, but with snow-white hair and beard, +wandering purposelessly on the ice, and taken on board. All that he +would tell was that his unfortunate vessel had been dashed to pieces +against the ice just three months after he had left Shetland, and that +he alone of all on board had been saved from a watery grave. + +"Jan Jansen never shed a tear when he heard of the death of the two +beings he had loved far better than any one else on earth, but he never +smiled again. He built himself a small cottage and tilled a little farm +quite close to the graveyard of Dergen, and in sight of the sea. Years +softened the poor man's grief, and to many an earnest child-listener, +not a few of whom have long ago gone grey and passed away from earth, he +used to tell the tale of his strange adventures in the far-off sea of +ice. + +"It was on winter evenings, when the snow was sifting in beneath Jan +Jansen's cottage door, and the roar of the wind mingling with the dash +of the waves on the cliffs beneath, that Jan would draw closer to the +fire, and rake the blazing peat together till the shadows danced and +flickered on the walls: then his little friends felt sure that he was +going to repeat to them his strange, strange story. + +"`But I never told you, did I,' old Jan would say, `of the lonely island +of Alba, in the frozen ocean?' + +"He had told them scores of times, but the tale never palled upon them. + +"`Yes, yes, Father Jan,' they would cry, `but we have quite forgotten a +great deal that you told us. Do tell us once again of that wonderful +island, and all the strange things you saw there.' + +"And Jan would begin, keeping his eyes on the fire, as if the curling +smoke and the blazing peat aided his recollections. + +"`It was almost summer when the good brig _Danish Queen_ left Shetland. +A favouring breeze filled our sails, and in less than fourteen days we +made the ice, and the ripple left the water, but still the wind blew +fair. Onward we ploughed our way in the sturdy brig, now through fields +of floating slush and snow, now through streams of small bergs, but +little larger than sheep or swans. Farther north still, and the bergs +grew as large as oxen, then as big as elephants, then bigger than +houses, then bigger than churches; and as they rose and fell on the +smooth dark billows they threatened us every moment with destruction. +Then we knew we had at last reached the sea of perpetual ice; 'twas the +season of the year when the sun never sets, but goes on day and night, +round and round in the cold blue sky, where never a cloud is seen. We +saw strange birds and beasts in the water and on the ice, beasts that +glared at us with a stony fearless stare, and birds that floated so +close we could have captured them by hand. The beautiful snowbird, with +plumage more white than the lily's petal, with eyes and legs of crimson, +and bill of jet; the wild pilot bird, and a hundred curious gulls, and +little sparrow-like birds that fluttered from berg to berg in the +breeze, as if it were very much against their will they were there at +all; and flocks of curious blackbirds with white mottled breasts, that +laughed in the air as they flew around us, with a sound like the voices +of little children just let loose from school. We saw the lonely +narwhal, the unicorn of the sea, with his one long ivory horn appearing +and disappearing in the black waters as he pursued his prey. Seals in +thousands popped their heads above the water to stare at us with their +beautiful eyes; sea cows basked on the snowy bergs; whales played their +gigantic fountains on every side of us; and the great Greenland bear, +king of these regions of ice, stalked majestically around on many a +floe, waiting a chance to pounce on some unwary seal. + +"`Northwards still, and now we sailed into an open sea, where no +icebergs were anywhere visible--nothing but water, water, wherever we +looked, except on the northern horizon, where was one small snowy cone, +no bigger it would seem than a sugar-loaf. Taller and taller and +broader and broader it grew, as we sailed towards it, till it formed +itself into a lofty table-land, and we found ourselves under the +ice-bound cliffs of the Isle of Alba. + +"`Imagine if you can a large and mountainous island covered with the +snows of ages, with one gigantic cone, the shaft of an extinct volcano, +towering upwards until lost in the heavens; imagine all around an ocean +of inky blackness, a sky above of cloudless blue, with a sun like a +rayless disc of molten silver; imagine neither sight nor sound of life, +saving the mournful cry of the wheeling sea-bird, or the sullen plunge +of the narwhal and whale; and imagine if you can the feeling of being +all alone in such a place, where foot of mortal man had never been +planted before. + +"`But for all this, little recked the brave crew of the _Danish Queen_, +for we found the ivory we had braved every danger to seek. + +"`Caves full of it! + +"`Mines of it! + +"`For days and weeks our boats did nothing but ply between ship and +shore, laden to the gunwale with our pearly treasure. We had but room +for one more ton. It was ready packed on shore, and I was left to +watch. Alas and alas! that same night it came on to blow great guns +from off the ocean. I could not see our brig for the foam and spray +that dashed over the cliffs. But, ah me! I soon heard a mournful and +piercing shriek, rising high over wail of wind and wash of wave, and I +knew then she had gone down and all on board had perished. Shuddering +with cold and horror, I sheltered myself in the inner recesses of a +cave, careless even of falling a victim to a bear. I wandered in, and I +wandered on and on, till I could no longer hear the surging of the +storm-lashed waves, and the light behind me was swallowed up in +obscurity. And now I could distinctly perceive a glimmering light and a +rising mist far away ahead, while at the same time the air around me +waxed sensibly warmer; still a spirit of curiosity seemed to impel me +forward, until I found myself standing in front of a vast waterfall, +which disappeared in the bowels of the earth beneath my feet, while +floating in the vapoury mist above me were beings the most lovely I had +ever imagined, in gauzy garments of pink and green. + +"`With their strange eyes bent pityingly on me, those water-spirits +floated nearer and nearer. Then I felt lifted off my feet and borne +gently but swiftly upwards through the luminous haze, upwards and into +day once more; and what a blissful day! + +"`In this lovely land, where I dwelt so long, there was no alloy of +sorrow, and the strange, bright beings that inhabited it were as happy +and joyous as the birds that sang on every bough, or the flowers that +wooed the wind and the sunshine. + +"`Five years passed away like one long and happy dream; then one day my +spirit-friends came towards me with downcast looks and tear-bedimmed +eyes. They came to tell me that, as with joy they had found me, so in +sorrow they must now part with me--that no mortal must stay longer in +their land than my allotted time. Then they clad me in skins and +conveyed me up the mountain-side, even to the top of the highest cone. +Looking down from this height, I could behold all the sea of ice spread +out like a map before me, with sealers at work on the southern floes. + +"`"Yonder are your countrymen," said the beautiful spirits; then sadly +they bade me farewell. + +"`It must have been days afterwards when I was picked up by the +_Clotho's_ men, who had gone to look for fresh-water ice.' + +"The old man," continued Magnus Green, "used to sigh as he finished his +story, and we--for I, gentlemen, was one of his child-listeners--just +whispering adieu, would steal away homewards through the winter's night, +seeing as we went spirits in every curling snowdrift, and hearing voices +in every blast." + +"And what do you now think," asked McBain, after a pause, "of this old +man's strange story?" + +"Of the spirit portion of it," said Magnus, "I cannot give an opinion, +but that a sea of open water _does_ lie to the far north, my experience +as sealer and whaler has long since convinced me. The Isle of Alba is +known to many Norwegian narwhal and walrus-hunters, and I know the +mammoth caves of ivory to be not only probable, but a fact." + +"And you think," continued McBain, "you could guide us and pilot us to +these strange regions?" + +"Yes, yes?" cried Magnus, producing from his bosom an old and much +stained parchment chart, and tapping it with his skinny hand as he +spoke, "it is all here, even if my memory failed me. Yes, yes; I can +guide you, if the hearts of your crew do not fail them before the +dangers to be encountered." + +"I could answer for the hearts of my crew," said McBain, smiling; "they +are hearts of oak, my Magnus! You will know that before you are long +with us. As to the mammoth caves Magnus, if we ever attempt to reach +them, I promise you that you shall be our pilot." + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +WAS IT AN OLD MAN'S DREAM?--SUNDAY ON MID-OCEAN--LAND HO!--A STRANGE +ADVENTURE--LOST IN THE GREAT FOREST. + +Captain McBain and our heroes stayed up for hours that night after old +man Magnus left, talking and musing upon the strange story they had just +been listening to. + +"Think you," said Ralph, "there is much in it, or is it merely an old +man's dream?" + +"An old man's dream!" said McBain. "No, I do not; old men do not dream +such dreams as those, but, like Magnus himself, I put little faith in +the spirit part of the story." + +"The question then to be answered," said Allan, "is, where did Jan +Jansen stay during the four or five years of his sojourn in the polar +seas?" + +"Well," said McBain, "I have thought that over too, and I think it +admits of a feasible enough answer, without having recourse to the +spirit theory. There is a mystery altogether about the regions of the +Pole that has never been revealed." + +"In fact," said Rory, "nobody has ever been there to reveal it." + +"That is just it," contained McBain; "our knowledge of the country is +terribly meagre, and merely what we have gleaned from sealers or +whalers--men, by the way, who are generally too busy, looking after the +interests of their owners, to bother their heads about exploration--or +from the tales of travellers who have attempted--merely attempted, mind +you--to penetrate as far north as they could." + +"True," said Ralph. + +"England," continued McBain, "has not all the credit to herself, brave +though her sailors be, of telling us all we know about the Pole and the +country--lands and seas--around it. Why, I myself have heard tales from +Norwegian walrus-hunters, the most daring fellows that ever sailed the +seas, that prove to my facile satisfaction that there is an open ocean +near the North Pole, that there are islands in it--the Isle of Alba if +you like--and that these islands are inhabited. You may tell me it is +too cold for human beings to live there; you may ask me where they came +from. To your first assertion I would reply that the inhabitants may +depend to a great extent for heat on the volcanic nature of the islands +themselves, just as they depend in winter for light on the glorious +aurora, or the radiant light of stars and moon. When you ask me where +they came from, I have but to remind you that Spitsbergen and the +islands around it were, before their glacial period, covered with +vegetation of the most luxuriant kind, that mighty trees grew on their +hills and in their dales, and that giants of the lower animal kingdom +roamed through the forests, the wilder beasts preying on the flocks and +herds that came down at mid-day to quench their thirst in the streams +and in the lakes; Man himself must have lived there too, and if he still +exists in the regions of the Pole, he is but the descendant of a former +race. + +"With some of these tribes Jan Jansen no doubt lived: they were good to +him, perhaps so good that he got lazy and wouldn't work, and so they +were glad to get rid of him." + +"And what about the mammoth caves--do you believe in them too?" said +Allan. + +"Ah! ha!" cried Ralph, laughing; "our brother Allan has an eye to the +main chance, you see; he wants to `malt' money." + +"I want to see all I can see on this cruise," said Allan, reddening a +little as he spoke, "and I want if possible to make the voyage pay. +Well, bother take you, Ralph, call it `makin' money' if you like." + +"The gigantic mammoth," continued McBain, "used inhabit the far northern +regions, where they existed in millions. Now human nature is the same +all over the world, and, I suppose, always has been. Man is a +collecting animal; the North American Indians collect scalps--" + +"Misers collect money," said Rory, "and little boys stamps." + +"In some parts of the world," McBain went on, "the natives make giant +pyramids of the antlers of deer; the King of Dahomey prefers human +skulls, and if there be caves filled with mammoth tusks, as the +traditions of the Norwegians would lead us to believe, they were +doubtless collected by the natives as trophies of the hunt, and stowed +away in caves. The mammoth you know was the largest kind of elephant--" + +"Och!" cried Rory, interrupting McBain; "what an iconoclast you are to +be sure; what a breaker of images?" + +"Explain, my boy," said McBain, smiling, for he could spy fun in Rory's +eye. + +"You say the mam-_moth_ was an elephant," said Rory. "Och! sure it was +myself was thinking all the time it was a kind of a butterfly." + +"Indeed, indeed, Rory," said Ralph, "I think it is time little boys like +you were in bed." + +"Well, boys," said McBain, rising, "maybe it is time we all turned in, +and thankful we have to be for a quiet night, for a fair wind, and a +clear sea. Dream about your `butterfly,' Rory, my son, for depend upon +it we'll see him yet." + +Next day was Sunday. How inexpressibly calm and delightful, when +weather is fine and wind is fair, is a Sunday at sea. It is then indeed +a Sabbath, a day of quiet rest. + +On this particular morning, saving a few fleecy cloudlets that lay along +the southern horizon, there was no cloud to be seen in all the blue sky, +and the sun shone warmly down on the snowy canvas and white decks of the +_Snowbird_, as she coquetted over the rippling sea. The men, dressed in +their neatest suits, were assembled aft on the quarter-deck, near the +binnacle, so that even the man at the wheel could join in the beautiful +Form of Prayer to be used at Sea, read by McBain in rich and manly +tones. Had you climbed into the maintop of that yacht, that white speck +on the ocean's blue, and gazed around you on every side, you would have +scanned the horizon in vain for a sight of a single living thing. They +were indeed alone on the wide ocean. Alone, yet not alone, for One was +with them to whom they were now appealing. "One terrible in all His +works of wonder, at whose command the winds do blow, and who stilleth +the raging of the tempest." + +Prayers over, Ap pipes down, the men move forward to read or to talk, +and by-and-bye it will be the dinner-hour; this is "plum-dough" day, +and, mind you, sailors are just like schoolboys, they _think_ about this +sort of thing. Oscar, the Saint. Bernard, has mounted on top of the +skylight--his favourite resting-place in fine weather--and laid himself +down to sleep in dog fashion, with one eye a little open, and one ear on +half-cock to catch the faintest unusual sound. + +"Do you know," said Ralph, looking over the bulwarks and down at the +gliding water, "I think I should like to live at sea." + +"Ay, ay," said Rory, "if it was always like this, O! thou fair-weather +sailor, but when we're lying-to in a gale of wind, Ralph, that is the +time I like to see you, fast in your armchair, with the long legs of you +against the bulkheads to steady yourself, and trying in vain to swallow +a cup of tea. Oh! then is the time you look so pleasant." + +Ralph looked at this teasing shipmate of his for a moment or two with a +kind of amused smile on his handsome face, then he pulled his ear for +him and walked away aft. + +About five days after this Rory came on deck; he had been talking to +Captain McBain in his cabin. The captain was working out the reckoning, +during which I don't think Rory helped him very much. + +"Well, Rory," said Allan, "you've been plaguing the life out of poor +McBain, I know. But tell us the news--where are we?" + +"Indeed," said Rory, with pretended gravity, "we're in a queer place +altogether, and I don't know that ever we'll get out of it." + +"Out of what?" cried Ralph; "speak out, man--anything gone wrong?" + +"Indeed then," replied Rory, "there has been a collision." + +"A collision?" + +"Yes, a collision between the latitude and the longitude, and they're +both standing stock still at 60." + +"I'll explain," said McBain, who had just joined them. "The good ship +_Snowbird_, latitude 60 degrees North, longitude 60 degrees West." + +"Now do you see, Mr Obtuse?" said Rory. + +"I do," said Ralph, "but no thanks to you." + +Next morning land was in sight on the lee bow, and by noon they had cast +anchor and clewed sails in a small bay near a creek. + +"Not a very hospitable-looking shore, is it?" said McBain; "but never +mind, here are birds in plenty, and no doubt we'll find fur as well as +feather. So be ready by to-morrow for a big shoot." + +"_I'm_ ready now," said Rory, "just for a small `explore,' you know, and +we'll come back by sunset and report." + +"And I'll go with him," said Allan. + +"Mind you don't get lost," cried McBain; "and we don't expect a big bag, +you know." + +Rory carried his rifle, Allan his gun; they were armed for anything, and +felt big enough to tackle a bear for that matter. They pulled straight +in-shore and up the creek, and to their joy they found at the head of it +a nice stream; not a river by any means, but still navigable enough for +more than a mile for their little craft. They soon came to a rapid, +almost a waterfall, indeed, and not thinking it expedient to carry their +boat, or to proceed farther on water, they landed, made her fast to the +stump of an old tree, and trudged on in quest of adventure, with their +guns over their shoulders. + +"Now," said Rory, pausing to gaze around him, after they had walked on +in silence over a wild and scraggy heath for more than an hour, "if we +had merely come in quest of the beautiful and the picturesque, and if I +had brought my sketch-book with me, it strikes me we would have been +rewarded, but as for shooting, why, we would have done well to have +stopped on the seashore and kept potting away at the gulls." + +The scenery about them was indeed lovely, with a loveliness peculiarly +its own. It was summer in this wild northern land; everywhere the +moorlands and plains were carpeted with the greenest of grass, or +bedecked with mosses and lichens of every hue imaginable, from the +sombrest brown to the brightest scarlet. Of wild flowers there were but +few, but heaths, still green, there were in abundance, and many curious +wild shrubs they had never seen before; but they knew the juniper-plant +and the sweet-scented wild myrtle. Why, it was the same that adorned +the braes of Arrandoon! Then there were fruit-trees of various kinds, +and trees that bore large pink and white flowers. It seemed odd to our +heroes to see big flowers growing on tree-tops, but this, and indeed +everything else around them, only served to remind them that they were +in a foreign land. What they missed the most were the wild flowers and +the song of birds. Birds there were, but they were silent: they would +rush out from a bush, or flutter down from a tree, to gaze curiously at +them, then be off again. The horizon was bounded by rugged hills, +surrounded by a forest of pine-trees. + +"I think," said Rory, "we should climb that sugar-loaf hill. What a +grand view we would get. Let us walk towards the wood; we are sure to +find game there." + +"Do you know in what direction our ship lies?" said Allan. + +"That I don't," said Rory; "but if we follow the stream we are sure to +find the boat." + +"But we have left the stream. Do you think you know in what direction +that lies?" + +"Pooh! no!" cried Rory. "Oh, look, Allan! look at that lovely blue and +crimson bird! Fire, boy, fire!" + +Allan fired and Rory bagged the beauty. + +Then on they went, firing now at some strange bird and now at a weasel +or polecat, taking little heed of where they were going, just as +heedless as youth so often is. + +There was a ravine between them and the forest, which the purple haze of +distance had hidden from their view, but, as they were bent on reaching +the pines by hook or by crook, they descended. The grass grew greener +at the bottom of this dale, and here they found a stream of pure water, +with a bottom of golden sand and boulders. This was a temptation not to +be resisted, so they threw themselves down on the bank after quenching +their thirsty and proceeded, in a languid and dreamy kind of manner, to +watch the movements of the shoals of speckled trout that gambolled in +the stream, chasing each other round the stones, and poking each other +in the ribs with their round slimy noses. + +"Don't they look happy?" said Rory, "and wouldn't they eat nicely?" + +"Which reminds me," said Allan, "that I've something good in my bag." + +"And ain't I hungry just!" Rory said; and his eyes sparkled as Allan +produced, all neatly begirt with a towel of sparkling whiteness, a dish +containing a pie of such delicious flavour that when it was finished, +and washed down with what Rory, mimicking the rich brogue of his +countrymen, called "a taste of the stramelet," they both thought they +had never dined so well before. + +Half-a-dozen wood-pigeons flew hurriedly over them. Rory seized Allan's +gun and fired, and one dropped dead within a dozen yards of them. Such +a beauty, so plump and so large. + +"That is our game," cried Rory; "let us on to the wood. We'll get such +bags as will make Ralph chew his tongue with regret that he wasn't with +us." + +"Hoo-hoo-hooo-o!" resounded from the spruce thickets as they neared the +woods. + +"Here, at them?" cried Allan, excitedly. "Now for it, my boy!" + +"Yes," said Rory; "it's all very well, but I can't pot them so well with +the rifle." + +"Then in all brotherly love and fairness we'll exchange guns every +twenty minutes." + +As it was arranged so it was carried out. They crept along under the +trees. + +"Hoo-hoo-hooo-o!" cried the great blue-grey birds, rising in the air on +flapping wings. Bang, bang, bang! Down they came thick and fast. The +sportsmen had many little mishaps, and tore their clothes considerably, +but the fun was so "fine" they did not mind that much. + +After about three hours of this,-- + +"I say," says Rory, "isn't it getting duskish!" + +"Bless me!" cried Allan, looking at his watch, "I declare it is long +past seven o'clock. Let us start for the brook at once and find our +boat." + +"You mustn't shout," said Rory, "till you're out of the wood." + +"We came this way, I know," said Allan. + +They went that way, but only seemed to get deeper and deeper into the +forest. They tried another direction with the same result; another and +another, but all to no purpose. Then they looked at each other in +consternation. + +"We're lost!" cried Allan. "How could we have been so mad?" + +"We can gain nothing, though," said Rory, "by crying about it;" and down +_he_ sat. + +"I see nothing for it but to follow your example," said Allan, +dolefully; and down he sat also. + +"What a pretty little pair of babes in the wood we make, don't we?" +continued Allan, after a pause. + +"What a pity we ate all Peter's pie, though," says Rory; "but we won't +let down our hearts. The moon will be up ere long, but sleep here +to-night we'll have to. If we tried now to find our way we'd only be +going round and round, with no more chance of finding our way than a dog +has of catching his tail." + +Presently there was a whirring noise, and a great black bird, apparently +as big as a Newfoundland, alighted on an adjoining tree. + +"It is an eagle," said Rory. "Down with him." + +"It's a wild turkey," said Allan, coming back with the spoil. + +He had hardly laid it down when an immense, great, gaunt, and +hungry-looking wolf seemed to start from the very earth in front of +them. Rory fired, but missed. + +"In case," said Allan, "we have a visit from any more of these gentry, +let us light a fire." + +This was soon done, and the blaze from the burning wood caused the gloom +of the forest to close around them like a thick black pall, and, lit up +by the glare of the fire, their faces and figures stood out in bold +relief. It was like a picture of Rembrandt's. + +"In the morning, you know," Allan remarked, "we will find our way out of +the wood by blazing the trees." + +"What, would you set fire to the forest?" laughed Rory. + +"No, Mr Greenhorn," said Allan, "only chip a bit of bark here and there +off the trees' stems to prevent us from going round in a circle." + +"Well," said Rory, "you know how the thing is done, I don't." + +The night wore on; it was very quiet in that gloomy pine-wood. The moon +rose slowly over the horizon, but her beams could hardly penetrate the +thick branches of the spruce firs. The fire burnt low, only starting +occasionally into a fitful blaze; the two friends from talking fell to +nodding, then their weary heads dropped on their arms, and they slept. + +But is this forest quite so deserted as the two friends imagined? No; +for behold that dark figure gliding swiftly from tree to tree through +the chequered moonlight; and now the branches are pushed aside, and he +stands erect before them. Tall he is, gaunt and ungainly, dressed from +the crown of the head to his moccasined feet in skins, and armed with +gun, dagger, and revolver. He stands for a moment in silence, then +quite aloud, and with a strong Yankee nasal twang,-- + +"Well, I'm skivered!" he says. + +Rory rose on his feet first, and had his rifle at the stranger's neck in +the twinkling of an eye. + +"Who are you?" he cries. "Speak quick, or I fire!" + +"Seth," was the reply. "Now put aside that tool, or see if I don't put +a pill through you." + +"What seek you here?" + +"Well!" said Seth, "I _do_ like cheek when it is properly carried out. +Here you two chaps have been a-prowling round my premises all day, and +a-potting at my pigeons; you've been and shot my pet turkey, and you've +fired at my mastiff, and now you ask me what I want on my own property. +I've heard of cheek before, but this licks all." + +"Well, well, well!" cried Allan, laughing, "I declare we thought the +land uninhabited." + +"So it is," said the Yankee; "there ain't a soul within three days' +journey o' here, bar old trapper Seth that you see before you." + +"And we took your mastiff for a wolf," said Rory, "and your turkey for a +gaberlunzie. Troth, it's too bad entirely." + +[Gaberlunzie, _Scottice_ for an old beggar man. Rory no doubt meant to +say capercailzie, the wild turkey of the Scottish woods.] + +"You see there are no game laws in this land, and no trespass laws +either," said Seth, "else I'd take you prisoners; but if you'll come and +help old Seth to eat his supper, it'll be more of a favour than anything +else, that's all." + +"That we will, with pleasure," said Rory and Allan, both in one breath. + +Seth's cottage was about as wild and uncouth as himself or his mastiff. +No wonder, by the way, they took the latter for a wolf, but the trapper +made them right welcome. The venison steaks were delicious, and +although they had to "fist" them, knives and forks being unknown in +Seth's log hut, they enjoyed them none the less. After supper this +solitary trapper, who felt civilised life far too crowded for him, +entertained them with tales of his adventures till long past midnight; +then he spread them couches of skins, and their slumbers thereon were +certainly sweeter than they would have been in the centre of the cold +forest. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +OSCAR FINDS THE TRUANTS--BREAKFAST FOR SEVEN--SETH SPINS A YARN--THE +WALRUS-HUNTERS--THE INDIANS--BEAUTIFUL SCENERY--A WEEK'S GOOD SPORT. + +Rap--rap--rap! Rat--tat--tat--tat! + +"What, ho! within there." Rat--tat--tat! + +Bow--wow--wow. + +Old Seth had been up hours ago, and far away in the forest, but sleep +still sealed the eyelids of both Allan and Rory, although it must have +been pretty nearly eight bells, in the morning watch. + +Rat--tat--tat! "Hi! hi! any one within?" + +After a considerable deal of the silly sort of dreaming that heavy +sleepers persist in conducting on such occasions, when you are trying +your very best to awake them, Rory first, then Allan heard the sound, +became sensible at once, and sprang from their couches of skins. + +"Why," cried Rory, "it is McBain's voice as sure as a gun is a gun." + +"That it is," said the gentleman referred to, entering the wigwam, +accompanied by Ralph and Oscar, "and if I had known the door was only +latched, it is in I would have been to shake you. Pretty pair of +truants you are." + +"Indeed," said Ralph, "we had almost given you up for lost, and a weary +night of suspense we have had." + +You may be sure Oscar the Saint Bernard was not slow in expressing his +delight at this reunion. Some large dogs are not demonstrative, but +Oscar was an exception; he was not even content with simply leaping on +Allan's shoulders and half smothering him with caresses. No, this would +not satisfy a dog of his stamp; he must let off the steam somehow, so he +seized Allan's hat, and next moment he was careering round and round +among the forest trees, in a circle with a radius of about fifty yards, +and at the rate of twenty knots an hour. Having thus relieved himself +of his extra excitement, he returned to the hut, gave up the hat, and +lay quietly down to look at his master. + +"Yes," said McBain, "but there was no good starting a search expedition +last night, you know, so we left the yacht at daybreak and here we are." + +"And here we wouldn't be," added Ralph, "but for that honest dog." + +While they were talking, Seth returned with dog and gun, bearing on his +shoulders a young doe, its eyes not yet glazed, so recently had it been +shot. + +"Well, gentlemen," he said, throwing down his burden at the door, while +Oscar ran out to say "How d'ye do?" to the mastiff, "I'm skivered. A +kind o' right down skivered." + +"Well," said McBain smiling, "I trust it is a pleasant sensation." + +"Sensation?" said Seth, "here's where the sensation lies. I go out to +shoot a doe for breakfast, and when I come back, if I don't find three +more on ye. Seven of us and only one doe! But never mind, the old +trapper'll do his level utmost. But I say, though, seven of us to one +doe. Well, I _am_ skivered!" + +When men of the world meet in foreign lands, especially in wild foreign +forests, they can dispense with a deal of ceremony, and the old trapper +was soon talking away as free-and-easily, and as merrily, with our +travellers as if he had known them all his life. + +But it would have done your heart good to have seen Seth preparing +breakfast. He built a log fire outside the hut and placed an immense +tripod over it; on this he hung an immense pot, all in gipsy-fashion. +This was what Seth called the "dirty work." That finished, this curious +old trapper at once set about transforming himself into _chef_, first +and foremost placing a basin and spoon handy for each of his visitors, +not forgetting the dogs, and the former were surprised to see everything +scrupulously clean. Seth retired for a few minutes with the deer, and +in a surprisingly short time reappeared with a large wooden tray, +containing evidently everything that would be required for the morning's +meal, and old Seth had divested himself of his coat and skin cap, and +now wore an immense leathern apron, with a clean linen cap, while his +sleeves were rolled up above the elbows. + +Our heroes lay on the grass talking and laughing and looking lazily on, +but enjoying the sight nevertheless. It was evidently a curry on a +grand scale that Seth was going to give them, and he soon had about a +dozen sliced onions simmering in fat; when they were enough done the +doe's flesh was added, and then Seth set about compounding his curry +out of freshly-grated turmeric and many curious herbs. His pestle and +mortar were rude but efficient. This was the longest part of the +operation, and he had to pause often to take off the lid and stir up the +flesh, and every time he did this the two dogs, who had sworn eternal +friendship when first they met, must needs walk round to the lee side of +the old trapper, and hold their heads high in the air to sniff the +fragrant steam. + +And now Seth added the goat's milk, then the curry, and lastly the +flour; after this he left the mess to simmer while he busied himself in +preparations for dishing up. Our heroes were intensely hungry, but they +were also intensely happy, and when hunger and happiness both go +together, it is a sure sign that a man is in health. + +"Well, I do declare," said Ralph, passing his dish for the third if not +the fourth time, "I don't think I ever enjoyed a breakfast more in my +life." + +"Nor I either; and fancy getting freshly-baked bread," said Allan. + +"And the drink," said McBain, lifting a foaming mug to his lips, "what a +glad surprise!" + +Simple heather ale it was, reader, made from the heath-tops and +sweetened with wild honey. + +"And you tell us," said McBain, "that you've been alone in this forest +for twelve long years?" + +"Not alone," said Seth, pointing with his foot to the mastiff. "I had +he, and his father and mother before him." + +"And you're your own baker and brewer?" + +"Blame me," replied Seth, "if I ain't my own everything, and bar a +couple of journeys a year of a hundred odd miles to sell my furs, and +buy powder and an old newspaper, I never sees a soul save the Yack +Injuns. A little civilisation goes a long way with Seth." + +"I dare say," says Rory, "you built your house yourself?" + +"Shouldn't wonder if I did," said Seth. "And I cleared all the space +you see around; I knocked the forest about a bit, I can tell you, +gentlemen; the spruce pines that grow to the north and east of the +wigwam are left on purpose for shelter, for in winter it does blow a bit +here--ay, and snow a bit as well, and there is sometimes a week and more +that old Seth can't put his nose over the threshold. And that's just +the time, gentlemen, that I receives visitors, skiver 'em!" + +"What, Indians?" asked Rory. + +"Oh! no, sirree," said the Yankee trapper; "'tain't likely any Injun +could live in a storm that Seth couldn't stand. No, b'ars, sir, b'ars." + +"Ah! bears! yes, I see, and I suppose you give them a warm reception?" + +Seth chuckled to himself as he replied, "Whatever I gives 'em, +gentlemen, I serves it up hot. Then their skins come in handy for +blankets and such, you see." + +"And the Indians--when do they pay you a visit?" + +"After the first fall of snow," said Seth--"soon as they can chivey +along in their caribou sledges." + +"It must be grand fun," said Allan, "that chiveying along, as you call +it, in a caribou sledge." + +"It is," said Seth, "when once you get used to it, and you have a deer +you can trust. I remember the time when the Yacks knew nothing at all +about training deer for the work. A party of Norwegians, in a tub of a +walrus brig, got stranded round north here some years ago. Well, sir, +the Injuns were going to kill every man Jack of them." + +"Savage are they, then?" said McBain. "Not a bit of it!" replied Seth; +"they were going to kill them for fun, that was all!" + +"Troth?" says Rory, "they must have a drop of the rale ould Oirish blood +in them, these same Yacks?" + +"They ain't Yacks quite, though," says Seth, "though I calls 'em so; +they ain't so indolent as a Yack; they are bigger, too, and a deal more +treacherous." + +"Did they kill the poor fellows?" asked McBain. "Not a bit of it!" +Seth replied. "Nary a one o' them. Seth interceded. Though I say it," +continued the trapper, "as mebbe shouldn't say it, and wouldn't say it +if there was anybody else to say it for me, Seth had some little +influence with these wily blueskins--it ain't red that they be, mind +you, but blue. They'll never forget the first taste of my temper they +had. Plunket's mother were livin' then, and a fine dog she was, and so +was Plunket himself, although not much more'n a year old. The old lady +was left to keep the house one day, and Plunket and I went to look for +caribou. When we returns in the evening I could tell at a glance the +Injuns had been on to us. Everything was upside down; everything was +taken away they could carry, and poor Ino was lying wounded and bleeding +in a corner; the scoundrels had tomahawked her. You should have seen +the way Plunket set his back up and ran round and round the place. But +his turn didn't come then for a bit. We just kept quiet for a few +weeks, and nursed Ino back to life. We knew they'd return, and they +did. Lying awake I was one morning, when I hears Plunket give a low +growl. I knew something was up, so I kept the dogs still and waited to +see what the next move would be. Half-an-hour and more passed, then a +great brown bare arm stole in through the hole in the door-top; in the +hand was a knife, which was moved across the leathern hinges. +Gentlemen, Plunket had a mouthful of that arm ere ever you'd say `axe'! +`Hold on, Plunket!' I cried, and the good dog didn't need two biddings, +I can tell you; he stuck to his prisoner like grim Death to a dead +nigger, until, with a bar and a rope, I had made sure the arm couldn't +be withdrawn. Well, you should have heard the yell that blueskin gave. +But a louder yell than his rang all around the hut next minute, and I +knew then, gentlemen, it was to be war to the knife-hilt. My windows +are small, but the walls are strong, and I was safe enough for a bit. I +fired through each shutter as a kind of warning to 'em; then I crept +upstairs to the little garret and prepared to give them pepper! Fifteen +I could count in all, armed with tomahawks and spears; fifteen, and +Plunket's prisoner. Sixteen in all, and only three of us! No use their +trying to get in in an ordinary way, they soon gave up that game, and +drew off and held a council. I didn't want to begin the game of +killing, gentlemen, or now I could have had three with one bullet. The +conclusion they came to was to burn this old trapper out. But you see, +gentlemen, this old trapper didn't mean to be burnt out if he could help +it. Shame on the wretches! they didn't mind even burning the poor Injun +who was fast to the door. Well, when they began to make the faggots, I +just let them have it as hot as ever I could. It was my six-shooting +rifle, and it didn't seem a moment ere three had bit the dust, and a +fourth, wounded, jumped over the ravine yonder. Well, after this it +'peared to me the fight just began in real earnest. They tried to scale +the hut, and they tried to scale the trees. From both positions they +came down faster than they went up. They threw their hatchets and they +threw their spears, but, worse than all, they fired and threw their +faggots. In that case, thinks I, it's time I brought out my reserves, +so, giving them one other rattling volley, I got down as quick as feet +would take me. `Come, good dogs!' I cried; `now to give them fits!' +Gentlemen, I was about as "mad" [a Yankeeism signifying angry] as ever I +was in my life, and the dogs were madder, and the way I laid around me +with my club when I got out must have been fine to see; but the way that +mastiff went for them blueskins was finer. The field was all our own in +five minutes; the garrison was unscathed, the enemy had six killed, and +it must have taken the others weeks to mend their dog-holes." + +"What about Plunket's prisoner?" asked Rory. + +"Plunket's prisoner," said Seth, "came in very handy. It was spring, +you see, and there were potatoes to plant and maize and onions to sow, +and what not I tied the creature to Plunket for safety. He had plenty +of rope, and when he saw I didn't mean to kill him he started and worked +away like a New Hollander. When everything was in the ground--and that +took us three weeks--I started him off with a message to Quimo, his +chief, and I can tell you, gentlemen, no Yack Injun has ever drawn knife +on old Seth since." + +"But," said Rory, "weren't you going to tell us about the Norwegian +walrus-hunters?" + +"Oh!" said Seth, "it was like this. I heard of the shipwreck, and I +went right away over with Plunket to see if I could be of any service. +And it was well for those hunters I did. I found fires alight to +torture them, and irons heating to make them skip and jump. The +blueskin chief was in high glee; he was expecting rare fun, he told me, +`Well, Quimo,' says I to him, `you always was about the peskiest old +idgit ever I came across.' `How now,' says he, `great and mighty +hunter?' `You're an almighty squaw,' says I; `why don't you wear a +"neenak" and carry an "awwee"? Come now, Quimo, let me be master of +ceremonies, I'll show you better fun than you could make.' `My white +brother,' said Quimo, `is very wise.' `And you're an old fool,' says I. +This wasn't flattery, gentlemen, I own, but old Seth knows the Indian +character well." + +[Neenak: the short apron of sealskin the women of some tribes of Yack +Indians wear.] + +[Awwee: baby or young one, applied to animals as well as human beings.] + +"I goes straight to where the Norwegians were lying bound, and cuts +their cords. `Now,' says I to them, `you've got to dance and sing and +do all you can to please these Injuns; and, mind, you're doing it for +dear life!' Gentlemen, I laugh to myself sometimes even yet when I +think of the capers them four poor chaps cut. Old Quimo roared again, +and laughed till the tears rolled down his dirty cheeks; then he vowed +by the sun (the god of the Yack), that the hatchet should be buried for +ever between him and the white man. + +"But these Norwegians stopped and settled down among the tribe, and they +have taught them caribou sleighing and hunting the walrus with iron-shod +spears, instead of the old caribou-horn toasting-forks they used to use. +But come, gentlemen, old Seth would keep you talking here all day. Let +us get up and be doing, for I reckon you came ashore for a bit of a +shoot." + +"That we did!" said McBain, "and if you'll be our guide, you shall have +as much tobacco as will last you for a year." + +The tears seemed to stand in Seth's eyes with delight at the prospect. +"I guess," he said, "this old trapper knows where the best caribou are +to be had, and so does Plunket too." + +With Seth, to make up his mind was to act, and in five minutes he had +rehabilitated himself in his skins, slung on his shot-belt, and +shouldered his rifle. Rory was now bemoaning his fate in not having +brought _his_ rifle instead of a fowling-piece, but Seth soon got him +over that difficulty. He strode into the wigwam, and presently +reappeared with a very presentable weapon indeed, and soon after, in +true Indian file, they were threading their way through the forest, the +mastiff first and Oscar second, seeming determined to follow the lead +and do whatever the other dog did. The road--or rather, I should say, +their way, for path there was none--led upwards and inland, and after a +walk of fully an hour they came out into a broad open plain. This they +crossed, and then wound round some hills--high enough to have been +called mountains in England--when suddenly, on rounding a spur of one of +these, a scene was opened out before them that my pen is powerless to +describe. They stood at the mouth of a beautiful glen, or ravine, the +whole bottom of which was a sheet of water that reflected the sky's blue +and the cloudlets that floated like foam flakes above, while the lofty +and rugged cliffs that surrounded the lake were green-fringed with +trees, the silvery birch and the white-flowered mountain ash showing +charmingly out against the more sombre hues of pine and firs; and above +all were the everlasting hills, their jagged peaks white-tipped with +snow, on which the sun shone with silver radiance. Patches of colour +here and there relieved the green of the trees, for yonder was a bold +bluff, covered with scarlet lichens, and closer to the water were +patches of crimson and white foxglove. Cascades, too, formed by the +melting snows, could be descried here and there, and the noise they made +as they joined the lake fell upon the ear like the hum that arises from +a distant city. + +They stood entranced, and Rory was thinking he would rather be armed +with sketch-book than rifle, when-- + +"Hist!" cried Seth. + +They followed his eye. On a rock right above them stood boldly out +against the sky a tall stag; you might have counted every branch in his +antlers. + +"Don't fire!" cried Seth. + +It was too late. Bang went Rory's rifle, and the echoes reverberated +from rock to rock, fainter and more faint, till they were lost in the +distance. Down rolled the stag. + +"I guess that has spoiled our day's sport," said Seth, quietly. +"Listen." + +What is it they hear? The whole earth seems to tremble, and there is a +sound comes from the woods like that of far-off thunder? + +"They're off," said Seth; "that was a general stampede. In half-an-hour +more we'd have had some fine skirmishing. They had been down to drink +and were resting afterwards." + +Rory had to pay for his experience anyhow in a three hours' manoeuvring +march. They did outflank the deer at last, but they were somewhat wild, +and the sport was only fair. + +It was nightfall ere they reached Seth's wigwam once more, and they were +thoroughly tired, and glad to rest while Seth cooked the supper in a way +that only Seth could. + +That night they spent in the wigwam; next day they went on board, and +Seth went with them, their object being to organise a little expedition +against the caribou. McBain meant to make a week's stay here to +replenish his larder fore and aft, ere they tripped anchor and made sail +for wilder regions to the westward and north. + +You may be sure Rory did not forget his sketch-book, nor a light canoe +he had which one man could carry on his back. + +They had a week of such glorious sport, both in fishing and shooting, +that when the last evening came round both Ralph and Rory averred that +they would like to stay among these wooded hills for ever. + +"I guess," said Seth, "you'd get tired of it." + +"_Do_ you ever tire of it?" asked McBain, and he asked the question with +a purpose. + +"There are times," said Seth, looking into the log fire around which +they sat, and giving a kind of sigh, "when I think that a little change +would do myself and Plunket a power of good." + +"You shall have it," cried McBain, jumping up and catching the old man +by the hand, "you and Plunket too. Come with us in the _Snowbird_, +we'll make you as comfortable and happy as the day is long." + +"If I thought I'd be of any use--" began Seth. + +"Of use, man," cried McBain; "you're the handiest fellow ever I met in +my life." + +"And that you'd bring me home again." + +"If we don't we'll never return more ourselves," said McBain. + +"Then, gentlemen," said the trapper, "I'll accept your offer. There!" + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +THE OLD TRAPPER BURIES HIS VALUABLES--THE "SNOWBIRD" GOES ON HER +VOYAGE--ICE--A WHALE IN SIGHT--A FALL! A FALL!--IN AT THE DEATH--THE +"TREFOIL" ON FIRE. + +Old Seth the trapper had a deal to do before he could accompany our +heroes on board the _Snowbird_. "For ye see, gentlemen," he explained +to them, "as soon's they find out that the Old Bear, as they somewhat +irreverently nominate this child, has left his wigwam, I guess the +Yacks'll pretty quickly come skooting around here, to pick up whatever +they're likely to lay their dirty hands on, so I reckon I'll just bury +my valuables." + +A very practical individual was Seth, and when once he made up his mind +to do a thing he just did it straight away; so, as soon as they had +eaten their last breakfast at his wigwam, assisted by one or two of the +yachtsmen, the burial of the valuables commenced. A large hole was dug +not far from the door of the hut, and this was carefully lined with hay, +and on the hay were piled Seth's household goods, in the shape of pots +and pans, and plates and dishes, and every variety of cooking and +kitchen utensil, with the greater portion of the old man's armoury +_plus_ his wardrobe. Not the best portion of the latter, however; no, +only some of his skin suits, for shortly before these were deposited in +their temporary grave, Seth had retired for a space to the privacy of +his garret. + +"I reckon," he said to himself, with a smile, as he began to undress, +"that old Seth'll kinder astonish the weak nerves of these English +sailors." Don't suppose they'd guess the old trapper was in possession +of anything decent to put on. He reckoned upon astonishing our +travellers, and he certainly was not far out of his reckoning, for when +he again appeared in their midst, arrayed in a long blue coat with brass +buttons, shoes with silver buckles, silk stockings, and knee-breeches, +white collar up to his eyes, and crowned with a beaver hat of immense +longitude, and with a face as serious and long as your own, reader, when +you look into the bowl of a silver spoon, Rory, whose risibility was +never under the most perfect control, simply rolled on the grass and +screamed. Allan was the next to go off, and then Ralph exploded, and +finally McBain. Even Oscar joined the chorus in a round of bow-bows, +and the only two of the whole party that contained themselves were Seth +and his mastiff. + +"Guess," said Seth, quietly recommencing the burial of his valuables, +"you're kinder 'stonished to find Seth can be civilised when he likes." + +Well, as soon as more hay had been placed in the grave, and the earth +packed down over all. + +"P'r'aps," said Seth, "you gentlemen think the funeral's over now." + +"It's finished now, isn't it?" asked McBain. + +"Nary a bit of it," said the old man; "I know the Yacks too well to +leave the grave like that. They'd spot it at once, and have 'em up +before you'd say bullet." + +The trapper's wisdom was well shown in his next move. This was to heap +a quantity of brushwood and logs on the top of all, and set fire to +them. + +He watched the progress of the fire until it was well alight, and the +biggest logs began to crackle. + +That same forenoon the first and second mates of the _Snowbird_ were +leaning over the bulwarks, looking at the shore, when the sound of oars +fell upon their ears, and next minute the yacht's cutter hove in sight +round the point. + +"Why," said Stevenson, "who on earth have they got on board?" + +"Old John Brown, I should think," said the second mate. + +"Well," continued Stevenson, "I do wonder how many queer old customers +the captain will pick up before the end of the cruise. Ap ain't a +chicken, and Magnus isn't a youth, but this new old one beats all. +Shouldn't wonder if it ain't Methuselah himself. Anyhow, Mitchell, if +we do happen to want to rig a jury mast one of these days, this +venerable old bit o' timber in the long hat will be just the thing." + +When the anchor was up once more, sail set, and the _Snowbird_ again +holding on her voyage, bowling along under a ten-knot breeze, Stevenson +approached to where Seth stood against the capstan. + +"I say," says Stevenson. + +"Sir to you," says Seth. + +"You're a friend o' the captain's, ain't you?" + +"That's so," from Seth. + +"Well, that makes you a friend of mine," from Stevenson. "Shake hands." + +Seth did shake hands, and Stevenson winced as he pulled his hand away. + +"What an iron-fisted old sinner you are!" + +"I reckon," said Seth, quietly, "I can hold pretty tight for an old +'un." + +"Now," continued Stevenson, "let me give you a piece of advice." + +"Spit it out," said Seth. + +"Well then, it is this: get rid of these antediluvian togs o' yours. I +won't say you look a guy, but the suit ain't shipshape, I assure you, +and it makes you look--well, just a little remarkable; and mind you, if +it comes on to blow only just a little bit, that venerable tile o' +yours'll go overboard--sharp, and your wig too, if you wear one." + +"Look here, young man," said Seth, "you talk pretty straight, you do; +but as far as the wig is concerned, I wear my own hair as yet; as +regards the togs, as you call 'em, I hain't got nothing else to put on +but skins. Skins wouldn't suit a civilised ship. So unless you can fix +me up decent and different, don't talk, that's all." + +"That's fair, that's right, Methus--I mean, Mr Seth." + +"Bother your misters," said the old trapper; "I'm Seth, simply Seth." + +"Well, Seth," said Stevenson, "see here, I can fix you in a brace of +shakes; you ain't much more'n a yard taller than me. Come below, +Methus--ahem! Seth. Mind your hat. It would be a pity to crush that, +you know." + +When Seth appeared on deck again, rigged out in a suit of Stevenson's, +albeit his legs stuck rather far through their covering, and his long +bony wrists were nicely displayed, it must be confessed that he _did_ +look a little less remarkable. + +Where was Seth to sleep at night? Was he to be a cabin passenger? Nay, +Seth himself decided the matter by simply taking the big mastiff in his +arms, and lying down on a skin in front of the galley-fire. + +As for the dog himself, he began to improve in condition from the very +day he came on board, and before he was a week at sea he was positively +getting fat. But the Yankee trapper remained as lanky as ever. Do not +think, however, that honest Seth was of no service on board; old as he +was, he proved a very useful fellow. He assisted the cook, the cooper, +and the sailmaker all in turns; and when he was not assisting them he +was squatting on deck, making and mending fishing-tackle, and busking +fishhooks with feathers, to make them represent flies. + +The _Snowbird_ had now got so far into the northern and western bays +that, summer although it was, the weather was far from warm, but it +continued fine. Immense snow-clad pieces of ice were to be seen daily, +sometimes even hourly, and the yacht often sailed so closely to them +that the very blood and marrow of the onlookers felt as if suddenly +frozen into ice itself. + +One morning a berg was reached larger than any they had yet seen, and +the vessel had to alter her course considerably in order to avoid it. +To all appearance it was an island in the midst of the dark sea, and +quite an hour elapsed ere it was rounded, and the ship could again be +kept away on the right tack. Hardly had she been put so, when,-- + +"A sail!" was the shout from the crow's-nest--"a sail on the weather +bow." + +Captain McBain went aloft himself to have a look at her, the yacht in +the meantime being kept close to the wind. When he came down Rory and +Allan went eagerly to meet him. + +"What is she?" said the former. "Our old friend the pirate?" + +"Nay," said McBain, "not this time; it's a whaler, right enough; all her +boats are hanging handy, and she is evidently on the outlook for +blubber. Peter!" he cried, speaking down the main hatch, "have lunch +ready in a couple of hours. I think," he continued, addressing our +heroes, "we'll board her. Would any of you like to go?" + +Of course they would, every one of the three of them. + +While they were discussing luncheon Stevenson came below. + +"We're nearly close abreast of her," he said, "and I've been signalling. +She's an English barque--the _Trefoil_, from Hull." + +"Been whaling, I suppose?" said McBain. + +"Yes, sir," said Stevenson; "she's been wintered, and is now engaged at +the summer fishing. She's dodging now; and I've had the foreyard hauled +aback." + +"Thank you, Mr Stevenson. Call away the gig if the men have dined. +Let them dress in their smartest. We'll be up in a few minutes." + +It was a lovely day; a gentle swell was on, broken into myriads of +rippling wavelets by a southern wind, and on it the tall-masted barque +rocked gently to and fro. The gig was soon lowered and manned, and, +with Rory as coxswain, they left the _Snowbird's_ side. How pretty she +looked! This thought must have been in every one's mind as they gazed +on her beautiful lines, and thence at the large but cumbersome vessel +they were rapidly approaching. Hard weather and hard usage she must +have experienced since leaving England. The paint was planed and +ploughed off her bows and sides in all directions, and the woodwork +itself deeply furrowed and indented. + +"It is evident enough she has been in the nips," said McBain, "pretty +often, too." + +A Jacob's-ladder was thrown overboard as they approached, and a rope, +when up they sprang, and next moment stood on the deck of the +Greenlandman, lifting their hats with true sailor courtesy as soon as +they touched her timbers. + +Rough and unkempt both the seamen and officers looked beside our smart, +gaily-dressed yachtsmen, but they accorded them a kindly welcome +nevertheless. They were invited down below, and found themselves in a +little octagon-shaped saloon, with a stove on one side, and doors +opening off every other. So small was this crib, as one might call it, +that, with the captain and the mate, our friends quite filled it. + +The captain was a tall, stout, blustering fellow of about forty years of +age, who welcomed them in, roughly but not unkindly, and showered upon +them about a dozen questions without waiting for an answer to either. +What was the latest from England? Were we at war? Was Hool (Hull) +still in the same place? Had they brought newspapers? What would they +drink? Ending up with-- + +"Steward, bring the bottles--confound you! what are you standing +grinning there at, like a vixen fox? Sharp's the word, quick's the +motion." + +There were many words in this sailor's vocabulary that I do not think it +right to repeat, as they were not fit for ears polite. + +"What!" he cried, when McBain assured him they neither of them cared to +drink--"what, a teetotal ship! Why, how the humpty-dumpty do you manage +to keep the cold out, then?" + +"Coffee," was the laconic reply. + +"Well, well, well!" said the Greenland captain, filling himself up half +a tumblerful of rum, and drinking it off at one gulp. "But sit down all +the same, and give us all the news." + +That they would, and that they did, and they answered all his questions +with extreme politeness, and were just on the eve of asking him some in +return anent his own adventures, when that cry, so musical and exciting +to the ear of the Greenland whaler, was shouted from the mast-head, and +taken up by those below, and resounded all over the ship from stem to +stern, and back again--"A fall! a fall! a fall!" + +The captain sprang to his feet, almost capsizing the bottles in his +excitement. + +"Hurrah, men! hurrah!" he roared, as he sprang up the companion, "luck's +going to turn after all. Hurrah, men! a fall!--yes, a fall in good +earnest! Away, boats! Tumble in, lads! tumble in!" + +Our friends were left in the _Trefoil's_ saloon, all staring in blank +astonishment save McBain. "Listen!" said the latter. + +They did, and could hear every now and then three blows struck on the +deck, as if by a sledge-hammer, followed immediately by a sentence +bellowed from stentorian lungs, but of which they could only distinguish +the first word and the last. These were "Away!" and "Ahoy!" + +"Whatever is up?" cried Rory at last; "is the ship going down, or has +everybody taken sudden leave of his senses?" + +"There's a whale in sight; that's it!" McBain replied. + +"But what is the knocking?" continued Rory. + +"Oh, that is to awaken the sleepers," explained McBain; "they have no +boatswain's pipe in these ships, so they knock with their booted feet. +But come, let us go on deck and see the fun." + +The captain met them at the top of the companion. + +"We're off, you see!" he cried, hurriedly. "Come on board and dine with +me. I'm going to spear that fish myself; I haven't a harpooner worth a +dump. Keep in the rear of my boat if you're going to follow, and you'll +see the fun and be in at the death?" + +_In at the death_! Strangely prophetic were the captain's words; our +heroes remembered them afterwards for many a long day. + +"A fall! a fall! Yonder she rips! yonder she spouts! A fall! a fall!" + +The men were tumbling up the hatches--pouring up. You could hardly have +believed so many men had been below. They ran along the decks and +trundled into the hanging boats like so many monkeys; the tackles are +let go, blocks creak, and one by one they disappear beneath the bulwarks +and reach the water, with a flop and a plash that tell of speed and +excitement. And now they are off. The men bend well to their oars, +and, encouraged by the shouts of the coxswain and harpooner, they fly +over the water--together first, but soon in a line, for it is a race, +and the first harpooner that strikes the fish will be well rewarded. + +But where is the whale? Why, yonder; two goodly miles to leeward. You +can only see three parts of it--black dots above the water; the skull, +the back, and the tail tip. + +McBain and his boys were left almost alone, for here were hardly men +enough to work the ship, and the silence that had succeeded the noise +and shouting was intense in its gloominess. + +"Come, lads!" cried McBain, "we mustn't stop here; let us see the fun; +let us follow the hunt, and be in at the death!" + +The _Snowbird's_ gig was speedily alongside, and in a few minutes more +was bounding over the rippling waters to where the other boats were. It +needed not McBain's "Give way, my lads! give way with a will!" to make +the men do their utmost. They too were wild with excitement. + +But see, the boats are spreading out; they are no longer together; the +whale has dived, and there is no saying where she may come up. Ten, +fifteen, twenty minutes of suspense creep slowly away; the crew of the +gig have been lying on their oars. But look! there she is again! her +huge bulk appears in the very midst of the boats. Let her go either +way, or any way, she is sure of a shot. She makes a dash for it. Bang, +bang, bang! from the bows of three of the boats. She is struck--twice +struck--but she but increases her speed, the line goes spinning over the +bows; there is blood in her wake, and the men bend now to their oars +with the fury of maniacs. She is badly hurt; she is confused; she stops +for a moment to lash the water madly with her tail, then dives once +more. But she cannot sulk long, breathe she must. And the boats still +go tearing on, and the lines are being coiled in again. The other boats +move on ahead, too; they want to surround "the fish." One of these is +the captain's boat; they can see his burly form in the bow. Mindful of +his words, the gig keeps on in her wake. + +"Back astern, men!" cries McBain, as the giant whale rises almost under +their very bows. "Back, back for your lives!" + +To say that our heroes were astonished at the size and strength of the +angry monster, would but poorly express the amount of their surprise. +Their hearts seemed to stand still with awe. They were thunderstruck. +Ah! and here was thunder too, those awful blows! The sound may be heard +miles and miles away on a still day. I know, reader, of nothing in +nature that gives one a greater idea of vastness, of strength and power, +than a whale's body raised high in air and curved round in the attitude +of striking; the skin seems tightened over, it glitters like a gigantic +piston-rod, and it seems trebly powerful. But oh! to be under that +dreadful tail. + +When, awestruck and half-drowned with spray, our heroes managed to look +around them, the thunder had ceased, the whale was gone; there were +blood and foam in front of them, beyond that the wreck of the captain's +boat. She was so smashed up that she hadn't even sunk; her timbers lay +all about, and clinging to them the drowning and maimed wretches that +had not been killed outright. The gig and two other boats made haste to +assist. In at the death! They were indeed in at the death. The +captain was among the slain. His body was found floating, strange to +say, at some considerable distance from the wreck. He seemed in a deep +quiet sleep. Alas! it was a sleep from which he would awake no more in +this world. + +And the whale had gone. She had made direct for the island of ice and +dived beneath it, and there the lines were cut. + +But hark! adown the wind comes the sound of a signal-gun; a minute goes +by, then there is another. All eyes are turned towards the _Trefoil_, +and now smoke can be distinctly seen rolling slowly up from her decks, +near the bows. + +Once again the signal-gun. + +The _Trefoil_ is on fire! + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +OLD SETH BECOMES SURGEON--A TERRIBLE DANGER--RALPH FLOODS THE MAGAZINE-- +FIGHTING THE FIRE--WRECK OF THE "TREFOIL"--BURIED AT SEA--"LAND HO!" + +The second mate had been left in charge of the _Trefoil_ when the boats +left the vessel to go in pursuit of the whale. How sadly that pursuit +ended the reader has already been told. Besides this officer, when the +fire broke out there were only on board the cook, the steward, and three +or four ordinary seamen. Smoke was first seen issuing from the fore +hold, and, whether for good or for bad, the mate at once ordered the +hatches to be battened down, then he hoisted the boat's recall, and +commenced firing minute-guns as a signal of distress. + +It had been a race for wealth with the _Trefoil's_ boats when leaving +her. As they sped back again to their burning ship it was a race for +life itself, or at all events for all they held dear in life. Yonder, +with the smoke hanging like a dark and ominous cloud over her +forecastle, and rolling slowly upwards hiding yards and shrouds, was +their home upon the waters, the good ship in which they had sailed from +England more than a year ago. If anything were to happen to her, how +were they ever to reach their native shores, where wives and children, +fathers, mothers, and sisters, were even now pining for the return of +the absent sailors? + +The bold, straightforward character of McBain was never so well seen as +in times of emergency and danger, and then, too, the goodness of the +man's heart shone forth. Our heroes' boat was among the first, if not +_the_ first, to render assistance, after the terrible wreck of the +captain's whale-boat, as described in the last chapter; and as soon as +it was discovered that the _Trefoil_ was on fire, McBain had an +interview with the mate. + +"A burning ship," he said, "is no place, sir, to convey wounded men to, +nor dead either. Place them in my boat, they will receive every +attention on board our little craft. Meanwhile, you speed away to your +ship, and presently we will follow you, bringing to your assistance all +the men we can spare from the _Snowbird_." + +"God bless you, sir!" said the mate, much affected. "What a blessing +that your vessel was here! It shows me that He has not altogether +deserted us, bad though our fortunes have been." + +Out of the crew of the lost whale-boat, numbering eight in all, +including the harpooner, the captain himself, and the coxswain, only +three escaped intact, while three were killed outright, and the +remaining two badly hurt, one having both bones of a leg broken, the +other sustaining a grievous wound in the forearm. In solemn silence, +and with all due respect, the captain and his two brave fellows who had +lost their lives were laid side by side on the quarter-deck, and their +bodies covered over with the Union Jack--the sailors' pall, for surely +it is meet and proper that the flag a man sails or fights under while +alive shall cover his poor body when life has fled, and ere yet it is +committed to the cold, dark, fathomless ocean. + +The wounded men were carried below, and placed in comfortable cots +between decks. + +"I daresay," said McBain, "my duty for a time will keep me here by these +two poor fellows, though I would like to be hastening away to the +assistance of that unhappy ship." + +"Nary a duty, sir," said trapper Seth. + +McBain looked up. Here was this tall, ungainly Yankee, with the lantern +jaws and the iron fists, standing forth in quite a new light, namely, +that of surgeon. He had stripped off coat and waistcoat and rolled up +his sleeves. Beside him stood little Magnus, holding in his two hands a +basin of warm water, in which a sponge floated, holding under his arm a +bundle of hastily-manufactured bandages. + +"Nary a duty!" repeated Seth. "I guess you'd better leave the wounded +to the care of the two old 'uns here. Seth has done up more cuts and +skivers in his time, than there are days in leap year. As for the +broken leg, we'll soon cooper that, won't we, Magnus?" + +"That will we!" Magnus replied, cheerfully. + +Nothing loth to be relieved of a somewhat unpleasant duty, McBain at +once called for volunteers, and was considerably surprised to be almost +immediately surrounded by every man in the ship except the man at the +wheel. + +"I didn't pipe all hands," he said, with a quiet smile. + +However, he picked out twelve of the sturdiest of his fellows, and with +these in the cutter--he himself holding the tiller--he was soon +alongside the _Trefoil_. + +The pumps had been already manned and the hoses rigged, and two lines of +men were ranged along the decks, drawing water in buckets from the +starboard and port sides. The smoke was spewing up the forehatch, the +decks were wet and slippery, and the men, stripped to the waist with the +exception of their guernseys, were working away with such a will that +the perspiration stood in beads on their arms, and trickled down their +smoke-begrimed faces. + +Something like a cheer arose when our heroes and their volunteers sprang +on deck, and at once set about preparations for work. McBain beckoned +the mate aft, and a consultation was held, at which Rory, Ralph, and +Allan were present. + +Very much to his surprise, the captain of the _Snowbird_ speedily +discovered that the mate of the _Trefoil_ had completely lost his head, +as the saying is. + +"This is a bad business, sir," McBain began. "Oh, it is dreadful--it is +fearful!" cried the mate; "it is--it is--whatever shall we do?" + +"We'll keep cool to begin with," said McBain; "nothing is to be gained +by hurry or excitement. Tell me this: How did the fire originate?" + +The mate gave him a strange glance. "It is not for me to guess even," +he said. "There is one, perhaps, on board who could tell you." + +"Then where did it originate?" + +"Ah! that I can tell you," said the mate. "Among the coals--under the +galley in the hold. The fire is confined to that place now; but look +you, sir! smashed up among those coals are the bodies of six pigs that +we took out with us. For warmth on the voyage out they buried +themselves among the coals, and were killed by the roll of the ship. +Their bodies are, we know, cut into piecemeal and intimately mixed with +the coals. No wonder they burn!" + +"But you are simply pouring water into the 'tween decks," said McBain; +"you're not even sure if it be reaching the fire." + +"I didn't think of that," said the poor confused mate. "But," he +continued, "there is worse to tell you!" + +"Go on, and quickly!" cried McBain. "What is the worse?" + +The mate's reply was gasped out rather than spoken, and he turned as +pale as death as he uttered the words. + +"The magazine is not flooded, and it is close to where the fire is +raging!" + +The blood sprang to McBain's cheek, the fire seemed to flash from his +eye, as he brought his fist down with a ringing crash upon the hatchway, +near which he stood. + +"What sinful folly!" he cried. "Call for volunteers at once. Call for +volunteers, I say, and flood your magazine, man!" + +"Stay!" said the mate, now fully aroused, and regaining a little common +sense--"stay! You little know my men; they are not picked Englishmen +like yours, they are principally stevedores and fishermen. Did they +know the magazine was not flooded it would be _sauve qui peut_. They'd +take to the boats and leave the _Trefoil_ to her fate. I have myself +been down below, and had to be dragged up through the smoke, fainting. +Besides, it needs two hands, and I've no one to trust." + +"But the danger is imminent; we may all be blown to pieces without a +moment's warning," said McBain. + +"See here, mate!" + +It was Ralph who spoke--brave, quiet, English Ralph--and bravely and +quietly did he speak, while his comrades looked on astonished. +Courageous they all knew he was, in a fine old lazy Saxon fashion; but +to see him stand forth in the hour of need, six feet and over of brawny +stalwart heroism, ready and willing to lead a forlorn hope, took his +friends aback. + +"See here, mate. I'll go with you to flood the magazine. If it's only +the smoke you fear, I know how to steer clear of that. I was at the +burning of Castle Bryn Mawr, and gained an experience there that will +last me a lifetime. Come below with me quickly. Now get me towels and +a basin of water. Thanks! now watch what I do. Your handkerchief, +Rory; yours, Allan. See here now--with this tiny pair of scissors I +first cut two small eyeholes in the towel. Then I wet it in the water. +Now I tear a handkerchief in two, and wet the parts and fold them into +pads. Sit down, mate, sit down. One little pad I place at each side of +the nose, the towel I bind firmly round the head and fasten behind. +Now, mate, you can only breathe through the wet towel, and no smoke can +harm you. Now, boys, here is the other wet towel and the pads, do the +same by me." + +In less time than it has taken me to describe them, these simple +operations were completed, and next minute Ralph was stepping manfully +forward to the forehatch, followed by the mate. + +The latter seized the hose with his left hand, and took Ralph's left +hand in his own right. He could thus guide him, for the mate knew where +the magazine lay, but Ralph could not. Then they disappeared. + +The bucket-men had, at the mate's orders, ceased to work for a time, and +took their turn at the pumps to relieve the others. They stood quietly +with their backs to the bulwarks and with folded arms. Something they +knew was being done below--something connected with the safety of the +ship, and they were content. + +Minutes, long minutes of terrible suspense to McBain and his two boys, +went slowly, slowly by. Rory, who was passionately fond of Ralph, +thought the time would never end, and all kinds of horrible fancies kept +creeping into his mind. But look--they come at last; the heroes come. +They stagger to where their friends are standing, and Rory notices that +Ralph's hands are sadly blackened, and that his finger-nails drip blood. +It had been trying work. The magazine lid had fouled, and it took them +fully five minutes to wrench it off, and five minutes more to flood the +compartment. But it is done at last, and safety, for a time at least, +is insured. + +And now to fight the fire, to flood the hold, without admitting too much +air to feed the flames. + +McBain's proposal was carried unanimously. It was to scuttle the lower +deck, and fasten into the hole so made, the end of the long copper +ventilator which stood between the fore and the main masts, and was used +for giving access to air into the men's living and sleeping rooms. + +Ralph determined to go down again, and could not be restrained from +doing so. His work, he averred, was but half finished; the mate and he +between them could scuttle the deck with adzes and axes, and fix the +funnel-shaped ventilator, in a quarter of an hour. They were too +anxious to stop long for refreshment. Only a draught of water, and +seizing their implements, down they went once more. + +So perfect were the simple face-guards they wore, that they might have +stopped below until the work was completed, had it not been necessary to +come on deck to have them removed and re-rinsed in clean water. Happily +the fire was not raging immediately beneath the spot where they cut the +hole, or the flames might have defied all their efforts to fix the +copper funnel. It was no easy task to do so as it was, for the smoke +rolled up in blinding volumes, and the heat was intense. But they +finished the work nevertheless, and finished it well, carefully +surrounding the end of the ventilator with wet swabs. + +With pumps and with buckets the water was now poured down the +communication thus effected with the hold, and surely men never worked +harder for dear life itself than did the crew of the _Trefoil_ and the +_Snowbird_ volunteers, to save that burning ship. The danger was very +urgent, for if the water were not constantly kept pouring down in +volumes the heat must soon melt the end of the ventilator, and the fire +gain access to the 'tween decks. + +At first volumes of sparks flew upwards, and it was feared this might +fire the sails. Hands were told off, therefore, to clew them. Then +came volumes of dense smoke only, and this for a whole hour without +abatement; but gradually the smoke grew less and the steam more. + +Gradually the 'tween decks cleared of smoke; and ere long steam alone, +and but little of that, came up the ventilator. Then they knew the fire +was mastered, that the danger was past. + +McBain parted that evening from the mate, now master of the _Trefoil_, +with the promise that the _Snowbird_ would keep near his barque for a +day or two at least, until the chance of the fire once more breaking out +was no longer to be dreaded. Although the sun sets every night, even at +midsummer time, in the latitude in which the yacht was now sailing, +there is very little darkness, only just a few hours of what might be +called a deepened twilight, then day again. + +The breeze had freshened. Just before turning in for good, our heroes +noticed they were approaching a stream of somewhat heavy ice. They were +but little alarmed at this, however; they were used to the sight of ice +by this time, and could sleep through the din of "boring" through fields +of it. + +"I'm glad the wind keeps strong, Stevenson," McBain said, previously to +going below. "Keep her stem-on to the big pieces, and don't bump her +amidships, if possible. Call me if anything unusual occurs." + +It was precisely three bells in the middle watch when the mate entered +Captain McBain's room. + +"Well, Stevenson," said McBain, sitting up in bed, for he was a light +sleeper; "we're clear of the ice, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir," said Stevenson. "We're in open water. We're dodging, sir. +I've hauled the foreyard aback, to wait for the _Trefoil_." + +"She's in sight, then, of course?" asked McBain. + +"No, sir, that is the curious part of it. I can't see a sign of her; +not a vestige, even from the crow's-nest." + +"What?" cried McBain. + +"It is true, sir," continued the mate. "We were both working through +the ice-stream just before darkling. I was too busy to look much about +me till we got outside; then I missed her. There are two or three large +bergs among the smaller. She may be hidden by one of these. If she +isn't I greatly fear, sir, something has happened to her." + +The captain was on deck in a few minutes, and found the mate's words +were sadly true. + +He tacked up and down for hours, so as to see both sides of every large +berg in the stream, but no _Trefoil_ was there. She was gone. Never +more would this goodly barque sail the northern seas. + +Towards noon that day one solitary boat was seen to emerge from the +bergs of the ice-stream, and begin advancing towards the _Snowbird_. +One boat--eleven men and the first mate--were all the survivors of the +ill-fated ship. She had been struck amidships. A three-cornered piece +of ice had gone half-way through her, then receded, and in three +minutes' time she had filled and gone down, the mate and the watch on +deck having barely time to cut a boat away. + +[The same fate befell the _Innuit_, of Peterhead, some fifteen years +ago; she went down in the short darkling of a summer's night, a very few +minutes after being struck. She had been lying beset, with my own ship +and several others, in an ice-pack, to the south-west of Jan Mayen. The +hands, however, were saved.--_The Author_.] + +That day, after dinner, the mate told the short but sad history of the +_Trefoil's_ cruise. + +"The same captain was in her," he said, "for three years, and never yet +succeeded in getting a paying voyage. His owners weren't pleased, you +may be well sure. Unscrupulous men they are, every one of them. They +told him, and they told me and our second mate, before we left England +last, that if we were a clean ship this voyage they would rather _never +see the `Trefoil' again_! We knew what that meant. We knew the +_Trefoil_ was heavily insured. But the captain was a gentleman; he +would have died sooner than harm a timber of the dear old _Trefoil_. +But the second mate--ah! it is wrong, I know, to speak ill of the dead, +but I have reasons, strong reasons, for believing that it was he who +fired the ship. + +"We had bad luck last summer; we never struck a fish. Then we got beset +among such terrible ice as I had never seen before, and there we had to +winter. There was another ship not far off in the same predicament, +though she lay on an evener keel. + +"It was because our poor captain was so unhappy that, during the winter, +he began to acquire sadly intemperate habits. We could not see him +dying by inches before our faces; we loved the man, and tried to save +him. We mutinied--ay! it was mutiny, but if ever mutiny was excusable +it was in this case. We marched aft and seized the keys of the room +where the grog was stored, and, with the exception of a few gallons, +which we kept for the spring fishing, we poured every drop down the +ice-hole. Two weeks after that the captain sent for me and thanked me +before the men for what I had done. You know the rest of our story, +gentlemen." + +Next morning it had fallen calm again; the sky was of a deeply azure +blue, the sea a sea of glass, with one or two beautiful Arctic birds +floating lazily on its surface. And thus lazily floated the good yacht +_Snowbird_, rising and falling on the gentle swell. All hands were aft +at an early hour listening to the solemn words of the Burial Service. +The bodies had been sewn in hammocks and weighted with portions of iron, +and at the words, "Earth to earth, dust to dust," the flag was quietly +withdrawn, the grating on which they lay was tilted, and, one by one, +they were allowed to drop into the depths of that dark mysterious ocean, +where shall repose the bodies of so many of England's bravest sons, till +the sea gives up its dead. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +By noon the glassy surface of the water was touched here and there by +what sailors term "cat's-paws." Half-an-hour later the sea was all of a +ripple; then the _Snowbird's_ sails filled again, and she bore away to +the west. And so west and west she went for several weeks, only +altering her course at times to avoid the heavier ice, or when compelled +to do so by a change of wind. Then for days and days they kept nearly +south and by west, till one morning there was a shout from the mast-head +that thrilled every heart with joy,-- + +"Land ho!" + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +ON SHORE FOR A RUN--NOONTIDE ON THE SEASHORE--A NATURAL HARBOUR--THE +LAND OF ADVENTURE AND SPORT--AFTER THE ANTELOPE--FACE TO FACE WITH A +GRIZZLY. + +Yes, yonder lay the land. A mere cloud-land as yet, though; a long +streak of darkish blue, higher at some places than at others, and +running all along one half of the southern horizon. There was much +speculation on board as to what the country they were approaching would +turn out to be, whether or not they would find inhabitants in it, and +what their reception would be, what their adventures, and what their +chance of sport. Judging from his latitude and longitude McBain put it +down as some portion of the northern shores of British America, and old +Seth "guessed" and "calculated" that if there were any inhabitants they +would be "blueskin Injuns," and they would have to make a welcome for +themselves if they wanted one. + +Before many hours were over, however, they had sailed near enough to +scan the coast with their glasses. The foreshore was low and rocky; +beyond that was a wilderness of wood and forest as far as the eye could +reach, but no signs of smoke, no signs of human life. Everything seemed +as peaceful and still as though it were a world newly evolved from the +hands of its Creator. + +"I'm very much mistaken," said McBain, "if this isn't just the kind of +country you boys wished to find." + +"The land of our dreams," said Rory. + +"The land," said Ralph, "on which the ubiquitous Englishman has never +yet set foot. There is nothing hackneyed about this country, I'll +wager." + +"Well, then," said Rory, who was always the first to suggest something +new, "if Captain McBain will call away a boat, Allan and I will go on +shore for a walk, and if we do find anything hackneyed we'll come on +board and let you know, Ralph." + +McBain laughed. + +"I don't mind," he said. "We came out from England bent on enjoying +ourselves, so off you go, but mind you don't get lost this time. You +won't find a trapper Seth everywhere to look after you. I'll give you +four hours, and expect you to bring something fresh and nice for +dinner." + +Allan and Rory were delighted to find themselves once more in their own +little boat, and bounding away shore-wards over the blue and rippling +sea. It was a gladsome and joyous day, and its joy seemed to instil +itself into their hearts, and cause them to feel in unison with all +nature. + +When near the shore they pulled in their oars, and allowed the boat to +drift or float as she pleased, for, on rounding a point of land they +came upon a scene of animation that, although I have gazed on many like +it, I never could find words in which to describe. It was noontide on +that peaceful seashore, and both beasts and birds were enjoying +themselves to the full, each in his own fashion. Although they must +have wondered what species of animal Rory and Allan were, and where they +had dropped from all of a sudden, of fear they evinced not the slightest +vestige. Here, in the foreground, a pair of young seals gazed at them +with their marvellous eyes, but seemed hardly to care to move. + +"They are curious-looking creatures, I admit," one seal seemed to be +whispering to the other; "but they are just as tame as we are, and I'm +sure they won't harm us." + +Malleys and gulls came floating around them, nearer and nearer, tack and +half tack, so close at last that they could have stretched out their +hands and touched them on their beautiful breasts. Fulmars trotted +about, nodding their heads and looking for the little fishes the tide +had left in the pools. Looms, love-making on stone tops, stared at them +with a kind of sleepy surprise. Great auks and penguins, that lined the +shore in rows, flapped their apologies for wings, but never dreamed of +making their escape. High in air, too, circled their friend and +namesake the snowbird; and not far off the restless allan and the +jet-black boatswain bird; while on the land itself were dozens of +strange fowl that they could not even name. + +The very tameness of all these creatures seemed proof, that they had +never before been disturbed in their haunts by the presence of man. + +Allan and Rory rowed into a beautifully-wooded bay, and inland along a +quiet, broad-bosomed river. They landed on many parts of its banks, but +remembering McBain's words, they did not venture too far into the +forest, but nevertheless they found track of deer, and trace, too, of +heavier and wilder game. They did not make much of a bag, only a few +birds and a hare or two [probably the _Lepus Americanus_, or Jack +Rabbit], but they were quite satisfied with their four hours on shore, +and were off to time, much to McBain's joy and satisfaction. + +In the saloon that day, while the _Snowbird_ lay quietly at anchor +in-shore, there was a dinner-party, at which were present not only the +two mates belonging to the yacht, but the mate of the unfortunate +_Trefoil_. + +"Farther to the west," McBain observed, "the land gets much more wild +and hilly, and with the glass I can from the crow's-nest see rugged +mountains covered with snow. To the west, then, I purpose going; but I +have not forgotten,"--this to the mate of the _Trefoil_--"that you, Mr +Hill, and your men, are passengers. I would fain send you home, but how +can I do so?" + +"You can't, that is evident," said Mr Hill, "and both myself and my men +have made up our minds to stop in your ship as long as you'll let us-- +all the voyage, indeed, and return with you to England." + +"Well, I'm glad of that," McBain said, "it relieves me of all anxiety." + +So it was arranged that both Mr Hill and the rest of the shipwrecked +mariners should sign articles, and become part and parcel of the crew of +the _Snowbird_. It must be remembered that she was a roomy yacht, and +that the addition of twelve or thirteen new hands could hardly crowd +her. + +Ralph's father was right when he advised our heroes to seek for +adventures in the far west before journeying onwards to the more +desolate and mysterious regions of the far north. He was a man of +experience, and as such knew well that the sportsman, unlike the poet, +is not _born_ but _made_. But the wild land in which the travellers +found themselves a day or two after their little dinner-party in the +saloon, was just the place to brace the nerves and steel the muscles, +for here was game of every kind, and it only wanted a certain amount of +daring to bring it to bag. + +The _Snowbird_ was brought to anchor in a land-locked arm of the sea, a +natural harbour large enough for the combined fleets of the whole world +to ride with safety in. As there would be barely three months before +the onset of the severe Arctic winter, McBain lost no time in preparing +for the rigours they would doubtless have to encounter, before spring +would once more return and release them from their self-chosen +imprisonment. The vessel was anchored as close to the shore as was +compatible with her safety. Here she could ride and here she could +swing, until King Frost descended from the distant mountains and locked +her in his icy embrace. + +About half a mile from where she lay there fell into the sea a broad and +placid river. They found this navigable, even to the cutter, for many +miles inland, and the scenes that lay before them, as reach after reach +and bend after bend of it was opened out, was romantic and beautiful in +the extreme. The stream ran through the centre of a lovely glen or +gorge, "o'erhung," as the poet says, "by wild woods thickening green." +Here was every variety of foliage--trees, and shrubs, and flowers. At +times it would be a dense forest all around them, but in the very next +reach perhaps, the banks would be green-carpeted with moss and grass, +with rocks rising upwards here and there be-draped with wild vines. On +the higher lands commenced a forest of pines; far beyond these +weird-looking trees the snow-clad peaks of rugged mountains could be +seen. In exploring this river they were much struck at the multitude of +tributaries it had, little streamlets that stole down through bosky +ravines, following the course of any of which brought the travellers to +the table-land above. Here was the forest, and here too were broad +tracks of a kind of prairie land covered with a carpet of buffalo-grass. + +In a country like this it would be patent to any one that there existed +unlimited scope for sport of all kinds, for while the woods and jungles +and plains abounded in game of every sort, from the strange little rock +rabbit to the lordly elk and bison, the rivers they soon found out +teemed with fish. They were not long, however, in making a discovery of +not quite so pleasing a character. This was due to Seth's sagacity. + +"I guess," he said one evening, "we've got some of my old friends here." + +"What! not Indians?" asked Rory, opening wide his eyes. + +"I don't allude to them 'xactly," said Seth; "but I does allude to the +grizzlies." + +"Oh! I should like to have an adventure with one of these chaps, +shouldn't you, Ralph?" + +"I don't know," replied Ralph, with a quiet smile; "I think I should +rather run from one than fight him, if all stories I've heard about them +be true." + +"What is your opinion of their character?" asked McBain of Seth. + +"They're the all-firedest fellows to fight, when they do fight," said +Seth, "in creation! I've had a bit of fun in my time with pumas and +panthers both, down south, but I'd rather fight a dozen o' either than +one grizzly after he turns rusty." + +"Do you mean rusty in coat?" asked Rory. + +"No, sir," said the Yankee, "I guess I means rusty in temper. But then +it ain't often that that occurs, for he'll run like a deer if he gets a +chance; but just wound him, then is the time to see him with his birse +on end, I can tell you! But I don't like 'em. Down in Texas a +companion o' mine, when out shooting, ran right agin one o' these +gentry; a great she one it was, with two cubs alongside of her. That +was what made her so touchy, I reckon. Howsomever, she didn't give my +poor friend Obadiah Johnson much time to prepare. I never seed such a +sight in my life! She was on to him, and downed him before you'd say +`bullet.' One great claw had gone right over his shoulder and ripped +his side clean open. With the two hind claws of her she just about tore +his legs into piecemeal. I fired right down her throat. Then she was +on to me, and my knife was into her. But she didn't seem to have a +kill. I don't remember very much more o' that fight--kind o' fainted, I +reckon. Anyhow, we were all found in a heap, maybe an hour afterwards. +Obadiah was dead, and so were the b'ar, and trapper Seth had only as +much life in his body as saved him from being buried. 'Twere two months +ere I got over that skivering, and I guess I'll bear the marks to my +grave unless I loses both arms and legs afore I goes there." + +Little thought Ralph when frankly confessing that he would rather run +from than fight a grizzly, and listening to the story of old Seth's +adventure, that not two days thereafter he himself would be the subject +of an attack by one of these terrible monsters. But so it turned out, +and well was it for him that assistance was at hand, or one of my heroes +would have dropped out of the tale. + +They had enjoyed an unusually fine day's sport, principally among the +antelope, away up among the plains. I allude, of course, to the North +American antelope, that saucy little fellow, so sprightly and graceful, +yet so curiously impudent withal as to sometimes bring himself +needlessly into trouble. With the exception of the saddle-back seal of +the Greenland seas, I know of no wild animal that evinces a larger +degree of inquisitiveness. Perhaps it was this very trait of antelope +character that led to the size of our heroes' bag on the day in +question. They had found the animals principally in spruce and cedar +thickets, and here one or two fell to their guns, while others escaped +into the open, across which there was nothing in the world except their +inquisitiveness to prevent their having got clear away, but they must +needs stop to have a look at their hunters. + +"I reckon they hav'n't been shot at all their little lives before," said +Seth. "Now you just creep round behind while I keep their 'ttention +occupied." + +One way or another, Seth had managed to "keep their 'ttention occupied," +and so venison had been the result, and plenty of it too. + +It was near evening, the men had already shouldered their game and had +begun the homeward march; McBain himself, with Allan and Rory, had also +had enough of hunting for one day, and were preparing to follow. Ralph +and Seth were invisible, so was their little companion the Skye terrier. +No dog, I daresay, ever enjoyed sport more than did this little morsel +of canine flesh and fury. Even before the adventure I am going to +relate it had been the custom to take him out with the shooting party +_almost_ constantly, but after the adventure it was _constantly_, +without any almost. + +While they were yet wondering where Ralph and his companions were, bang +went a rifle from the wooded gorge beneath them. + +"They've got another of some kind," said McBain. + +"I expect," said Allan, "it is a black tail, for if it were antelopes +some of them would be already seeking the open, and Seth tells me the +black tails prefer hiding when in danger." + +[The black-tailed or "mule" deer is one of the largest and most +gracefully beautiful animals to be found in the hunting-grounds of the +far west.] + +A few minutes afterwards there came up out of that gorge a sound that +made our heroes start, and stand to their rifles, while their hearts +almost stood still with the dread of some terrible danger. It was not +for themselves but for Ralph they feared. It was a deep, appalling, +coughing roar, or bellow--the bellow of some mighty beast that has +started up in anger. A minute more, and Ralph, breathless and +bareheaded, with trailing rifle, rushed into the open, closely followed +by an immense grizzly bear. He was on his hind legs, and in the very +act of striking Ralph down with his terrible paw. + +The danger was painfully imminent, and for either of his friends to fire +was out of the question, so close together were bear and man. But lo! +at that very moment, when it seemed as if no power on earth could save +Ralph, the grizzly emitted a harsh and angry cry, and turned hastily +round to face another assailant. This was no other than Spunkie, the +Skye terrier, who had seized on Bruin by the heel. Oh! no mean +assailant did the bear find him either. But do not imagine, pray, that +this little dog meant to allow himself to be caught by the powerful +brute he had tackled. No; and as soon as he had bitten Bruin he drew +off far enough away to save his own tiny life. You see, in his very +insignificance lay his strength. A dog of Oscar's size would have been +at once grappled and torn in pieces. Feint after feint did the terrier +make of again rushing at the grizzly, but meanwhile Ralph had made good +his escape, and next minute bullets rained on the grizzly, for Seth's +rang out from the thicket, and McBain's and Rory's and Allan's from the +open, so he sank to rise no more. + +Ralph determined to learn a lesson from this little adventure; he made +up his mind that he would never follow a wounded deer into a thick +jungle without, at all events, previously reloading his rifle. + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +RORY POET, DREAMER, AND MERCHANT-MINSTREL--WHO SAYS SHORE?--ALL AMONG +THE BUFFALO--"A BIG SHOOT"--PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. + +"Would you believe it, boys," said McBain one morning, "that we have +been here just two months to-morrow?" + +They were seated at breakfast, and had you cast your eye over that +table, reader, and seen the dainties and delicious dishes "seated" +thereon, as Rory called it, you would hardly have believed you were in a +far-off foreign land. Here were cold joints of venison, and pasties of +game, and pies of pigeon, and the most delicious fish that ever smoked +on a board, to say nothing of eggs of wild fowl and sea-birds, the very +colours of which were so charming it seemed a sin to crack the shell. +But how Seth basted those broiled fish, or what those fish were, only +Seth himself knew. But Seth would be out in a boat in blue water, just +as the first breakfast bugle went--and that was Peter and the pipes +playing a pibroch--and in five minutes more he was back with the fish-- +Arctic salmon, our heroes called them, for want of a better name. The +life was barely out of them ere they were split down the back, and +nailed to a large hard wood board and done before the fire, but Seth +himself served them ready to eat. It was a magic performance, and when +amber tears from a slice of lemon were shed over it, lo! a dish fit for +a king. + +"How speedily time wings its flight!" said Ralph, looking wise; "and it +never flies more quickly than when people are happy." + +"Not that there is anything very original in your remark, my grave old +Ralph," said Rory, smiling mischievously. + +Ralph pinched Rory's ear, and told him he was always the same--saucy. + +"Steward," continued Ralph, "send to Seth for another hot fish; but be +sure to say it's for the captain." + +"That's right, Ralph," said Irish Rory; "salmon and sentiment go well +together." + +"You're wonderfully bright this morning, Rory," Allan put in. + +"And it's myself that's glad I look it then, for I feel bright," quoth +Rory. "I feel it all over me, and sure if I'd wings I'd fly." + +"You didn't want any wings to help you along," remarked McBain, with his +eyes bent on his plate, "last week when that Cinnamon bear went for +you." + +"Be easy now," says Rory; "bother the bear! Sure I feel all of a quiver +when I think of him. He was Ralph's grizzly's father, I believe. I +ought to have had my fiddle with me. You remember what Shakespeare +says: + + "`Music hath charms to soothe the savage _beast_, + A hungry Scotchman or a butcher's dog.'" + +"It wasn't Shakespeare at all," said Ralph. + +"Och! no more it was. I remember now. It was the fellow who makes the +matches; what's his name?" + +"Lucifer?" suggested Allan. + +"No," cried Rory; "I have it. It was Congreve. But sure I shot the +beast right enough, and it was only his fun chasing me after he was +dead." + +Poor Rory could laugh and make light of his adventure now, but it had +been a narrow escape for him. There is no animal in the world more +fierce than that dweller among rocks, the Cinnamon bear [Ursus ferox], +but there is no heart more brave than an Irishman's, and our +light-hearted boy had followed one up and fired. Then, though +desperately wounded, the monster gave chase. He had struck Rory down +without wounding him. They were both found together, and both seemingly +dead. Rory soon came round, and the bear's skin was a beauty. + +"What are you going to do with that skin, boy Rory?" asked McBain. + +"Indeed, then," replied boy Rory, "it's a mat I'll be after making of it +for Bran's mother." + +"Ah! you haven't forgotten the poor old hound, then?" said Allan. + +"I never forget a dog," said Rory; "but won't the old lady look famous +lying on it before the fire of a winter's evening!" + +"We'll have quite a cargo of furs," said Allan. + +"_Yes_," McBain said, "and a priceless one too. They will more than pay +for our trip north." + +"What a valuable old fellow that Seth is, to be sure!" Ralph remarked; +"I really don't know what we would have done without him." + +There was a pause, during which neither the captain nor Ralph, nor Allan +was idle, as the music of their knives and forks could testify; but +poetic Rory was leaning his chin upon his hand, and evidently his +thoughts were far away. + +"I say, boys," he said, at last, "if I had lived in the days of yore-- +some hundreds of years ago, you know--do you know what I should have +liked to have been?" + +"No," said Ralph; "something very bright, I'll wager my gun. More +coffee, steward." + +"I'd have been," continued Rory, "a wandering merchant-minstrel." + +"A what!" cried Ralph, looking up from his plate. + +"He means a packman," said Allan. + +"No," said Ralph; "he means a hawker." + +"Oh! bother your hawkers and your packmen!" cried Rory; "sure, you send +all the romance out of the soul of me! You serve me as the colleens +served the piper, who was playing so neat and so pretty, till-- + + "A lass cut a hole in the bag + And the music flew up to the moon, + With a fa la la lay." + +"Well," persisted Allan, "but tell us about your merchant-minstrel. If +it isn't a pack-merchant selling German concertinas, I don't know what +he can be." + +"Well, then, I'll tell you; but, troth," said Rory, "neither of you +deserve it for chaffing a poor boy as you chaff me. Listen, then. It +is two hundred years ago and more, and a calm summer gloaming. In the +great tartan parlour of Arrandoon Castle, whose windows overlook all the +wild wide glen, are seated the wife of the chief McGregor of that golden +age, and her lovely daughter Helen. The young girl is bending over her +harp, playing one of the sweet sad airs of Scotland, while her mother +sits before a tall frame quietly embroidering tapestry. And now the +music ceases, and with a gentle sigh the fair musician moves to the +window. There is the blue sky above, and the green waving birches on +the braes, with distant glimpses of the bonnie loch, and there are sheep +browsing among the purple. The wail of Peter's pipes comes sounding up +the glen--the Peter of two hundred years ago, you know--but no living +soul is to be seen. Oh, yes! some one issues even now from the pine +forest, and comes slowly up the winding road towards the castle. +`Mother, mother!' cries the girl, clapping her hands with joy, `here +comes that dear old merchant-minstrel.' And her mother puts away her +work, and presently the Janet of a bygone age ushers _me_ in, and I +place my bundle of wares on the floor." + +"Your pack," said Allan. + +"My bundle of wares," continued Rory, "and kneel beside it as I undo it. +How eagerly they watch me, and how Helen's bright eyes sparkle, as I +spread my silks and my furs before her, and my glittering jewels rare! +And how rejoiced I feel as I watch their happy faces; and sure I let +them have everything they want, cheaper than anybody else would in all +the wide world, because of their beautiful eyes. And then I tell them +all the news of the outer world, and then--yes, then I take my fiddle, +and for an hour and more I hold them enthralled." + +"What a romancist you'd make?" said Allan. "But stay!" cried Rory, +waving his hand, "the two hundred years have rolled away, but I'm still +the wandering merchant-minstrel. The _Snowbird_ is lying once more, +with sails all furled, in the old place in the loch; we're home again, +boys--home again, and I've had that big, big box that you've seen Ap +making for me brought up to the castle; and your dear mother and sweet +sister, Allan boy, are bending over me as I open it; and don't their +eyes sparkle as I spread before them the _curios_ I've been collecting +for months--my best skins and my stuffed birds, my ferns and my mosses, +my collection of eggs and my ivory and precious stones!" + +"So ho!" said Allan, "and that is what that mighty box is for, is it?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Rory; "but don't you like my picture?" + +"Will you try this potted tongue?" said Ralph; "it's delicious." + +"So are you, bedad," quoth Rory, "with your chaff and your chaff." + +"Boys," cried McBain, "it _is_ sweet to dream of home sometimes; it is +one of the greatest pleasures of a traveller's life. But we've many +more wild adventures to come through yet, ere the _Snowbird_ sails up +the loch. Who says shore?" + +Shore! That was indeed a magic word. Allan and Rory jumped up at once. +Ralph had some marmalade to finish, but he soon followed them. He +found Seth fully equipped, and the bear-hound, as they called the Skye +terrier, all alive and full of fun. The men, too, were ready. They +were going off for a three days' hunt on the rocky plains, miles and +miles beyond the forest. + +It was only one of many such they had enjoyed; and there is, in my +opinion, no life in the world to compare for genuine enjoyment with that +of the wild hunter, especially if he be lucky enough to find pastures +new, as did our heroes. For the first few days of roughing it in forest +and plain one feels a little strange, and often weary; but the free +fresh air, the constant exercise, and the excitement, soon banish such +feelings as these, and before you are a week out your muscles get hard, +your skin gets brown, and your nerves are cords of steel; if on +horseback, you fear not to ride anywhere; if on foot you will follow the +lion to his lair, or the panther to his cave in the rocky hillside, and +never think once of danger. It is a glorious life. + +On hunting expeditions like that on which we find our friends starting +to-day, they went out with no intention of sticking to any one kind of +game. They made what they called "harlequin bags;" they were armed, +prepared for anything, everything, fur or feather, fish or snake. They +had fowling-pieces for the smaller game, express rifles for bigger, and +bone-smashers for the wild buffalo of the plains. These latter they +shot for their skins. The sport was at all times exciting, and, as our +heroes were on foot, sometimes even dangerous, as when one day +Stevenson, who had fired at and only wounded a sturdy bull, was chased +by the infuriated animal and narrowly escaped with his life. Do these +animals think the flashing and cracking of the rifles some kind of a +thunderstorm, I wonder? I do not know, but certain it is that often, on +a herd being fired into, it will take closer rank and stand in stupid +bewilderment, instead of dashing away at once; and thus hundreds may be +killed in an hour or two. + +As an experienced trapper, old Seth had the whole management of these +hunting expeditions. + +He often made our heroes wonder at the amount of tact and wisdom he +displayed, as a plainsman and wild hunter. + +"I guess we'll have moosie to-night," he said, one evening. It was the +first day they had fallen among buffalo. + +"What kind, Seth?" asked McBain. They were seated round the camp fire, +having just finished dinner. + +"Wolves," said Seth. + +"Have you seen their tracks?" inquired McBain. + +"Nary a track," answered Seth. "They don't make much, but they'll come +a hundred miles to feast off dead buffalo. They'll be at the crangs +[skinned carcasses] afore two hours more is over." + +And Seth was right; and night was made musical by their howling and +growling, fighting and snarling. + +On this particular day they had very fine sport indeed; bears +principally--not grizzlies--and a few bison. This latter is usually a +wild and wary animal, with ten times more sense under his horns than +that "bucolic lout" the buffalo; but never having seen man before, they +were, as Seth said, "a kind o' off their guard." About a dozen wolves +followed them at a respectable distance whenever they got trail of a +bison. When the hunters advanced the wolves advanced, when the hunters +stopped they stopped, generally in a row, and licked their chops and +yawned, and tried all they possibly could to look quite unconcerned. + +"Never mind us," they seemed to say. "Take your time; you'll find the +bison by-and-bye, and then we'll have a bit, but don't hurry on our +account." + +Once or twice Ralph or Allan would take a pot-shot at one of them. This +Seth declared was a waste of good powder and lead. + +"'Cause," he added, "their skins aren't any mortal use for nothin'." + +Towards afternoon they approached a woody ravine, in which the stream +they had been following lost itself in a world of green. In here went +Master Spunkie first, and came quickly back, mad with excitement and +joy. He wagged his tail so quickly you could hardly see it; then his +tail seemed to wag him, and he quivered all over like a heather besom +bewitched. + +"I guess it's b'ars," said Seth, and in went Seth next, and then there +was a most appalling roaring, that seemed to shake the hills. + +"Hough-oa-ah-h!" They might roar as they liked, but Seth's rifle was +telling tales. Crack, crack, went both barrels, and soon after crack, +crack, again. This was the signal for our heroes to file in. It was +dark, and even cold among the pines--dark, ay, and dangerous. They +found that the whole of the little glen, which was of no very great +extent, formed the residence of a colony of black bears. They had not +gone far before one sprang from under a spruce-tree full tilt at McBain. +The brute seemed to repent of the action in the very act of springing, +and well for the captain he did. He swerved aside, and was shot not two +rifle lengths away. This little incident taught our heroes caution, and +the great danger of rushing into spruce thickets, where a wild beast has +all the odds against the hunter, being used to the dim light under the +cool green boughs. The Skye was in his glory. He had become quite a +little adept at leg-biting, and here was a splendid field for the +display of his skill, and he certainly made the best of it, for over +twenty skins were bagged in less than three hours. + +The days were getting short, and even cold, so they had to go early to +camp. The skins of the day would be stretched and cleaned, and well +rubbed with a composition made by Seth's own hands. Then they would, at +the end of the big shoot, be taken on board and undergo further +treatment before being carefully put away in the hold. + +The camp-kettle was an invention of McBain's. It was, indeed, a _multum +in parvo_, for in it could be stored not only the saucepans and a +frying-pan, but the plates, and knives and forks, and spoons, and even +the saucers and salt. Seth was cook, and when I have told you that, it +is a waste of ink to say that about dinner-time a wolf or two would +generally drop round. They would not come too near, but would stand +well down to leeward, sniffing all the fragrance they could, smacking +their lips and licking their chops in the most comical way imaginable. +This was what Rory called "dining on the cheap." After dinner it was +very pleasant, rolled in Highland plaids, to lounge around the camp fire +for an hour or two before turning in. What wonderful stories of a +trapper's life Seth used to tell them, and with what rapt attention Rory +used to listen to them. + + "Wherein he spake of most disastrous chances, + Of moving accidents by flood and field, + Of hair-breadth 'scapes, + On rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven." + +Perhaps the greatest charm about these yarns of Seth's was their +truthfulness. They were as far above your ordinary traveller's tales as +the moon in the sky is from the moon in the mill-dam--as substance from +shadow. + +When gloaming deepened into night, when the call of the wild drake +resounded far beneath them, and the cry of the white owl fell on the +ear, when the north star looked down on them with its bright, clear, +kindly eye, then, spreading their blankets under the tents, and wrapping +their plaids more closely around them, they committed themselves to +Heaven's protection, and sweetest dreamless slumber. + +The few days succeeding a "big shoot" were nearly always spent in +fishing. Strange to say, the fish in the river, of which there were +abundance, could not be got to look at the flies our heroes had brought +with them from home, so Seth came to the front again. He busked great +gaudy flies, that the daintiest trout hadn't the heart to resist. + +It was autumn now, the leaves in the forest had first turned a dingier +green, then the sunset of life stole over them. Rory had never seen +such tinting before. You may be sure our dreamy boy couldn't resist a +temptation like this. He was painter as well as poet, and so he forgot +to fish, forgot to shoot, forgot everything in his wanderings except the +gorgeous scenery around him. He sketched and sketched, and stored his +portfolio. + +"How delighted _she_ will be!" he often caught himself thinking, if not +saying, when he succeeded with some happier effect than usual. + +Autumn waned apace. + +They went less often now to the distant shooting-grounds, but they went +to the forest, McBain and all his merry men--at least, all that could be +spared. They went to fell the trees and bring them home, for the +captain had an idea, and this idea became a plan, and the plan was to +build a house close to the shore near which lay the _Snowbird_--not a +living-house, but a hall in which the men could take exercise, during +the short and stormy days of the long Arctic winter that would very soon +surround them. So every morning now a party went to the woods, with axe +and adze, to fell and trim the pine-trees. The portion of the forest +which was chosen stood high over a little green and bosky glen, adown +which a streamlet ran, joining the great river about a mile below. One +by one the trees were hurled down the steep sides of the glen, and +dragged to the rivulet; they were then floated on to the river, and here +formed into a raft, which could be guided seawards with long poles; the +rest of the journey was easily accomplished by help of the cutter and +gig. And so the work went cheerily on. + +Old Ap was in his element now; _his_ turn seemed to have come for +enjoyment. He had rehabilitated himself in that wonderful old +head-to-feet apron and his paper cap, and bustled about as lively as a +superannuated cricket from "morning's sun till dine," giving orders here +and orders there, and always humming a song, and never without his +snuff-box. + +The days grew shorter and shorter, winds moaned through the woods and +brown leaves fell, and soon they sighed through leafless trees; then the +birds of migration were found to have fled, even the buffaloes and the +bisons went southwards after the sun, and the bears were no longer seen +in the woods. But the building of the new hall went steadily on, and +soon the roof was up and the flooring laid; and a fine strong structure +it looked, though, as far as shape and architecture went, a stranger +would have been puzzled to know what it was--whether church or market, +mill or smithy. Never mind, there it was, and inside, at one end, there +was a large fireplace built, big enough to accommodate a bull bison if +he wanted roasting whole. + +Ap was proud of his work, I can assure you, and after he had built a few +forms for seats, he waxed still more ambitious, and commenced making +chairs. + +I am sorry to say a death occurred on board about this time: it was that +of the yellowhammer, that had flown aboard after they had left Shetland. +It was universally lamented, for though not much of a singer, it did +what it could, and its little humble song could at any time recall to +memory broomy braes and moorlands clad in golden-scented gorse. + +The mornings were cold and sharp now, and in the long fore-nights the +big lamp was lit in the snuggery, and a roaring fire in the stove was +quite a treat. + +On coming on deck one evening about sunset, this is what they saw on +looking skywards. All around the horizon, for two spear-lengths high, +was a slate-coloured haze; above this the mist was of a yellow hue, +gradually merging into the blue of the open sky; and the sun was going +down, looking like a great molten gong, his upper two-thirds a deep +blood-red, the lower a lurid purple. The sea was waveless, yellow and +glassy. A change was coming. + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +WINTER COMES APACE--NEW VISITORS FROM THE NORTH--A "PERWISION O' +NATUR'"--A MAD BUT MERRY SCENE--THE DOWNFALL OF SNOW-STARS--AN +ADVENTURE, BUT WHERE WILL IT END? + +In the far north--up in the high latitudes, as sailors are wont to call +them--winter often comes on with startling rapidity. Nobody +unaccustomed to these regions would believe that there could be so short +an interval between the beautiful Indian summer, and the stern and +rigorous Arctic winter. A few bright and almost balmy windless days, +perhaps, herald its approach--days when there is a deep-abiding silence +on mountain, plain, and sea, and silence in the great forests +themselves, where all nature seems to be breathless, expectant, waiting +for something to happen, something to come. The softer-leaved trees, +the willows and water-ashes, the planes and the mountain mahoganies, +that erst clad the glens in a cloud-land of green, are now stripped and +bare, and the few brown leaves that cling here and there on some of the +branches, tremble in the uncertain air, just as if the trees were things +of life and were nervous, and were whispering to each other and saying, +"Oh! we all know what is coming; would that we could be up and be off +like the beasts and the birds of the forest that have all fled south! +But we cannot, and our branches will be rent, our limbs will be torn and +severed by the stormy breath of swift-advancing winter!" But those +giants of the woodlands and hilltops, the cedars and tamaracs, the +spruces and pines, stood forth bold and stately as in summer. No +nervousness about them, their roots were fixed in the rocks themselves, +and their sturdy limbs, still clothed in black and green, could bid +defiance to every blast that could blow. + +The beasts had not all gone away, though; there were bears in the woods, +and wolves, and many kinds of smaller game, still left to afford sport +for our wanderers; and there were gulls and guillemots, and innumerable +wild fowl as well: and lo! here were several new visitors from the +regions of the Pole itself; an Arctic fox or two might sometimes be seen +skipping hither and thither, and in the water four or five different +kinds of seals often came up to stare and marvel at the _Snowbird_, A +whale, with her calf, was seen ploughing through the still waters of the +bay, probably going still farther south for the winter months. A +narwhal came quite a mile out of his lonely way to gaze at the yacht. +He did not like her; he tossed his ivory spear angrily in the air, and +plunged sullenly down into the depths again; and giant walruses would +suddenly pop their terrible tusked and bearded heads, high out of the +water to have a look at the intruder. But there were many more signs +and wonders that told our heroes, in language that could not be +mistaken, that King Winter would soon sweep down from his icy caves in +the frozen north, and claim all the land and the sea round them as his +own. Many of the denizens of the forest, for instance, got greyer in +colour, and some even white, while every bird and every beast became +sensibly larger. + +"You see, young gentlemen," said Seth, explainingly, to Allan and Rory, +"here is how it be: soon's they sniffs the change in the air they kinder +knows winter is coming, so they just begins to tuck in and tuck in, and +the more they tucks in the fatter they grows; and the fatter they grows, +the longer and softer the fur or the feather grows. It's a sort of a +perwision o' Natur', ye see, to help them to stand the cold." + +"But," said Rory, "this development of fat and fur or feather isn't +confined to wild animals and birds; just look at our dogs!" + +The great Saint Bernard was coming trotting along the deck as Rory +spoke, and all eyes were immediately bent upon him. Oscar seemed +intensely pleased about something, but he really had got fat, and the +coat which he had developed--all in one week, apparently--was simply +marvellous to behold. And now Seth's wolf, as he was called, came aft, +and Oscar seemed actually to laugh all over, so did everybody else when +they saw him; Plunket was no longer a wolf, all gaunt and lean and grim, +there was not a rib to be seen in him, his skin was soft and sheeny, his +gait no longer an ambling shamble, but a stately "pedal progression." +No wonder Oscar laughed; but when Spunkie joined the group, the Saint +Bernard could not contain himself, and he must needs roll the terrier +into the lee scuppers. "Just look at him!" Oscar seemed to cry; "why, +he's all coat together; no eyes, no tail, no nothing! Who's for a game +at football? Hurrah!" At this moment Ralph came on deck, and joined +the group to see what all the fun was about. He had been down below +having a bit of lunch. His presence seemed at once to bring the +merriment to a sudden climax, for there was no mistake about it, Ralph +had been getting stouter of late, though it had never struck anybody +before. But now the moment they glanced at him both his friends went +into fits. Allan laughed till the tears ran out of his eyes, and he had +to lean against the bulwarks and hold his sides. Rory was worse; he was +bent double like a jack-knife, and had to raise his right leg and slap +his knee a dozen times before he was anything like composed. Meanwhile, +poor quiet Ralph's face, as he gazed wonderingly first at one and then +at the other, was a perfect study. + +"Have you _both_ gone out of your minds?" he inquired at last. + +"No, no?" cried Rory, "we're laughing at you; you've got so fa--fa--fat! +Ha! ha! ha!" + +"You're perfectly obese?" laughed Allan. + +"He's perfectly podgy, bedad!" cried Rory, turning Ralph round and round +to examine him. + +Seth looked on at the fun, chewing the end of a capstan bar, and Oscar +kept on rolling Spunkie in the scuppers, but when McBain joined the +group order was somewhat restored. + +"Boys," said McBain, smiling, "I declare to you I see a change in you +all; one needn't laugh at the other. Oh, don't look at me! I know I'm +adding inches to my waist, and so is Allan. And as for you, boy Rory--" + +"Yes," said Rory, "as for me?" + +"You're rotund already," said McBain. + +"No more shape than a sun-fish," added Ralph, revengefully. + +Of course, after so daring a remark Ralph had to run for it, and so away +he went, scampering along the deck with Rory in hot pursuit, but he had +to save himself by making a back, over which Rory vaulted, and placed +himself in position a few yards beyond. + +"Oh?" cried Allan, "if it's leapfrog, I'm in too." + +And off he went, bounding like a deer over Ralph, and over Rory. + +"Keep the pot a-boiling!" cried Ralph. + +And so, with many a shout and many a joke, round and round the +_Snowbird's_ deck vaulted and ran our merry boy-heroes; but when it came +to shoulders high, then their increase in bulk--the "perwision o' +Natur'," as Seth termed it--told a tale. Ralph cleared Rory, but +floundered over Allan, then Rory jumped on top of them both, and the +whole three went rolling over on the deck, and Oscar and the wolf and +the little Skye, who had been making bears of them, and legging them, +all got mixed. + +They extricated themselves at last, and then settled seriously to work. +Off went their jackets. + +"No more high leaps," cried Ralph. + +But behold, the fun gets infectious. McBain has joined the group, then +Stevenson and Mitchell, and the mate of the _Trefoil_, and in less time +than I take to tell it, there was a complete circle round the deck of +the _Snowbird_. Every man Jack was there; it was pleasure without end; +it was wonderful. But to see the performance of old Ap! In his flight +around the charmed circle he leaped all in a piece, as it were, but he +seemed positively to rebound like a cricket-ball; to ricochet like as +shot upon water. Even Seth, with his long legs, who went about the game +as if it were a matter of life and death, confessed afterwards that +neither kids nor kangaroos were a circumstance to Ap. + +And so on they went for half-an-hour and over; and had you gazed on that +mad, merry scene, you would have declared that all hands had taken leave +of their senses. No, you wouldn't, though, for you would have joined +the fun yourself. + +"I reckon," said Seth, after the ship had resumed its wonted calm, "that +although we are going to be soldered up up here all winter, we ain't +going to let down our hearts about it." + +Now although the new hall was complete, and Ap had almost finished the +last chair in it, it must not be supposed that the officers and crew of +the _Snowbird_ were idle. By no means; every day was now precious. +They were as busy laying up stores as the Alpine hare. Stores of wood +to burn, and stores of fresh provisions in case of emergency. The deer +they shot, and one or two of the younger and smaller bison, were cut up +with great precision and exactness by the old trapper, and the carcasses +afterwards lashed against the masts in the fore and main tops to be +frozen, and thus to remain fresh throughout the coming winter. + +One morning, just after such a sunset as I tried to describe in last +chapter, when Rory and Allan went on deck for their matutinal run before +breakfast, they found, to their astonishment, that the shore and the +trees, ay, and the ship itself, were clad in dazzling white. Not snow, +though, but hoar-frost; only it was a hoar-frost such as it had never +entered into their minds to imagine the like of. The sky seemed +overcast with a strange purplish haze that hid the distant hills, and +only revealed the scenery in the immediate neighbourhood. There wasn't +a breath of wind. There was silence everywhere shoreward, broken only +now and then by the sullen splash of some giant sea mammal diving into +the dark waters. And the hoar-frost kept falling, falling, falling. + +It was a downfall of snow-stars and their spiculae; but these alighted +on everything--on the sheets and shrouds and every horizontal spar, +making them look five times their usual thickness; and the whole ship +appeared as if enchanted; the men's caps were white, their clothes were +white, and their beards and hair, so that they looked like old, old men. + +A great silvery-haired animal crept softly along the deck. Was it a +polar bear? No, it was Oscar. He looked up in their faces with his +plaintive brown eyes, as if beseeching them to tell him what it all +meant. + +But when, about an hour afterwards, they came on deck again and looked +about them, they found that the purple mist had all cleared off, and +that the sun was shining in a bright blue sky, towering high into which +were the dazzling hills. The scene was extraordinary; it was magical, +glorious. No snow that ever fell could have changed the landscape as +those falling snow-stars had; for every twiglet, stem, and branch was +white and silvery, and radiant as the sun itself, and the pines and +soft-leaved trees were clad in a foliage more beautiful than that of +summer itself. + +It was a scene such as few men ever behold, and which but once to see is +to remember for ever and ay. + +It faded at last, though, as everything lovely does fade in this world, +and before twelve of the clock the hoar-frost had melted and fallen from +the branches, like showers of radiant diamonds. + +Away through the dripping woodlands went Rory, Ralph, and Allan, in +pursuit of game. Seth was to spend the day in fishing, for ere long the +waters would be frozen over, and but few fish to be had, so all those +that had been taken during the past week had been carefully salted, +dried in smoke, and stored away. + +With our three heroes this afternoon went a party of men with a +rudely-constructed sledge, to bring back a load of logs for the general +store. + +"Who is the laziest of us three, I wonder?" said Ralph, as soon as they +had got to the high ground, and the men had commenced to wood. + +"Oh, I am, I think," said Allan. "That leapfrog business is too much +for a fat old fellow like me." + +"Very well," said Ralph, "for once in a way we'll grant that you are +right, so you just stop and keep the `b'ars' from the working party, and +Rory and I will go down to the creek and see if we can't find a duck or +two." + +"All right," said Allan; and down he sat on a fallen tree, and pulling a +book from his pocket he began to read. So Allan sat there reading, and +some fifty or sixty yards beneath him the men worked, singing and +laughing as they plied the axe and saw. A whole half-hour was thus +passed. + +"This is slow work," he thought at last, placing the book in his pocket. +"I'll creep quietly over to that bit of jungle--I'm sure to get a shot +at something." + +If there was anything to shoot in the jungle the wind was all in his +favour. He was down to leeward. + +When he neared the thicket he threw himself on his hands and knees, and +approaching, entered with caution. + +There is no sport in the world a Scottish Highlander loves so much as +that of deer-stalking. Is it any wonder, then, that when he found +himself within fifty yards of a tall an tiered red deer his heart jumped +for joy? + +"One hundred and fifty pounds," he said to himself, "if he weighs an +ounce." + +He was just about to raise his rifle, when a dead branch snapped under +him, and next moment the quarry had glided silently away. + +"Anyhow," thought Allan, "I'll follow him up a little way. I've done a +bit of this work at home, and he is a wary scamp, indeed, if he escapes +me." + +He searched all through the piece of jungle first. This led him a +goodly mile along the ravine, and into the forest, and he was about to +give up the quest when he caught a glimpse of the animal's white flag +about a hundred yards away, but quickly getting farther off, though +seeming in no great hurry. Keeping well under cover, Allan went on and +on, determined if possible not to go back without a lordly haunch of +venison on his shoulder. Before very long he found himself on the brink +of a ravine. This puzzled him not a little. It was _a_ ravine, but was +it _the_ ravine at the end of which he was sure to find his comrades? +He did not care whether it was or not; he would cross and risk it, for +yonder, on the opposite "brae," were antlers; not one pair but many +pairs. + +So down he went, and, to his joy, found the stream was fordable. + +Upwards now, with all the caution imaginable, crept this enthusiastic +sportsman, upwards to where the all-unconscious herd were browsing. He +was near them now, and was pushing the boughs aside to obtain a view, +when, as ill luck would have it, a twig caught the trigger, the rifle +went off, the deer stampeded, and poor Allan was left to mourn. + +"Back homewards now, Allan," a voice seemed to whisper to him. "Back, +back; it isn't the first time a deer has brought misfortune to the house +of Arrandoon." + +Allan was a good mountaineer, and an excellent walker; he felt sure he +could regain his party in an hour at most, but would daylight hold out +as long? He feared it would not, and he knew it would get dark much +sooner under the pine-trees, so he determined to follow the course of +the stream. If it flowed at the bottom of the _right_ ravine he was +bound soon to rejoin his party. "Oh, of course it is the _right_ +ravine!" He found himself making this remark to himself a dozen times +in a minute, as he commenced hurrying along the banks of the rivulet. + +But now the shades of night began to fall, great black clouds rolled up +and obscured the sky's blue; there would neither be moon nor stars to +guide him, so he increased his pace to as nearly a run as the rough +nature of the ground would permit. But presently the trees got thicker +and darker overhead, and he could no longer see the stream, and to +advance farther were but madness. + +He pauses now, and the dread of some coming evil falls like a shadow +over his heart. In vain he shouts. There is no answer from the hills +above; no answer from the dark woods. He fires his rifle again, it +reverberates from rock to rock as if a volley had been fired. But the +echo is the only response. + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +ALONE IN THE BEAST-HAUNTED WILDERNESS--THE SEARCH PARTY--AGONY OF +THOUGHT--A MIDNIGHT VISITOR--THE FOREST ON FIRE. + +The feeling of consternation on the minds of Ralph and Rory, when they +returned to the working party and found that Allan was missing, may be +better imagined than described. Mitchell was in command of the +woodcutters, and not only he, but every one of the men, was interrogated +as to what they knew or could tell of the sudden disappearance. They +had all the self-same story to relate. They simply missed him, all at +once as it were, from his seat. They had not noticed which way he had +gone. They certainly did not hear the crack of his rifle; he had +disappeared as quietly and suddenly as if he had been spirited away, and +they very naturally imagined that he had got tired of waiting, and had +gone along down to the river and creek to meet his friends. + +Any search for a trail was altogether a waste of time. Had Seth himself +been there, hardly could he have picked it up, for the gloom of night +was fast settling down over mountain, and forest, and sea. + +One thing, however, they could and did do. Coming speedily to the +conclusion that Allan had gone more inland, probably after big game of +some kind, they took a middle course, 'twixt east and south, and in a +body marched upon a high bluff of barren ground, that rose up like an +island in the centre of the spruce pines. Once on the top they could +hear from all directions, if anything were to be heard. But alas! there +was no answering shout to theirs, and the only reply to their firing was +the faint echo of the rifles among the distant hills. Then a hopeless +kind of sorrow seemed to settle down on every heart. + +Neither Ralph nor Rory dared to express their thoughts in words. Allan +their beloved companion was gone. The chances of their ever seeing him +alive again were few, for what might not have happened to him already, +or what might not happen to him during the night, all alone in this +beast-haunted wilderness! + +Was there any comfort to be had from the thought that he was simply +lost? None. For how could they forget the many stories trapper Seth +had told them of men lost on the prairies, on the plains, or in the +woods and jungles; of how some suddenly lose all hope and heart, throw +themselves on the ground, fall into a stupor, shiver and die; of how +others lose all control over themselves, and rush hither and thither +like wild beasts in confinement, and others who, instead of keeping cool +and waiting for friendly help, become the victims of a restless mania? + +It is strange how two people in an emergency like the present may be, at +precisely the same moment of time, thinking of exactly the same thing, +so that almost without the aid of words they may read each other's soul. +I have seen many instances of this, but am not psychologist enough to +be able to account for it; but here now we have Ralph turning suddenly +round to his companion, and looking for a brief moment inquiringly into +his face, and Rory replying, "No, he left his compass in his cabin this +morning, with his watch and chain." + +This was an answer to the very question Ralph was about to ask. + +"Heaven help him, then!" said Ralph, with one brief glance skywards. +Perhaps, reader, Heaven even then helped the utterer of that little +prayer himself, and granted him presence of mind. + +Anyhow, he at once began to give orders. Ralph had what might be called +a larger and more grasping mind than Rory; the latter was as brave as +brave could be, but Ralph was ever the better man in an emergency. + +"Mitchell," said our English hero, "there is no time to be lost. Take a +few men with you, and go on board at once, and report this sad business +to Captain McBain. He will know what to do as soon as it is daylight." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said Mitchell, and choosing three men he ran quickly down +the side of the hill, and the spruce forest swallowed them up. + +"Now, lads," continued Ralph, "go to work and collect wood, there is +plenty about; we'll build a fire on the hill here, and trust the rest to +Providence." + +The men were glad to set to work, it revived hope in their hearts. + +From the deck of the _Snowbird_, the eminence which Ralph and Rory +occupied could be seen by daylight, so the fire could be seen burning +steadily all the livelong night. Just after midnight McBain threw +himself wearily on his cot to snatch a few hours' rest. He was up again +before daybreak, the fire was burning brightly then. + +Trapper Seth was on deck even before McBain. He was quite ready to go +over the side as soon as the order was given, so were the dogs. The +mastiff would go with his master as a matter of course, who on this +particular occasion had resumed his former useful, if not picturesque, +costume of skins. + +Had one of even those few individuals in this world who neither care for +nor admire man's true friend, the dog, been on the _Snowbird's_ deck and +witnessed the quiet, eager anxious looks of great Oscar, as he took his +seat in the boat along with McBain, he could not have begrudged a word +of pity for the poor fellow. + +Meanwhile, how fared it with Allan in the solitude of the forest? Brave +as he was, he could not help experiencing a feeling of awe as night +deepened around him. He determined, however, to make the most of his +position, and selecting a spot close under a rock, he collected wood and +lit a fire; there was some comfort in that, and its fitful light, +although it seemed to deepen the darkness all around him, made him feel +more cheerful. He rolled himself in his Highland plaid, and placing his +rifle handy, lay down to watch the blazing logs, without, however, any +very serious intention of going to sleep. He felt more sorry for his +companions than for himself, for when daylight returned he never doubted +for a moment that he would be able to find his way, but he would have +given a good deal to be able to relieve their anxiety. It was some +consolation to him in his loneliness to have the companionship of a +book. But reading by the firelight made him drowsy, and it was not very +long ere the book dropped from his powerless grasp, and he fell fast +asleep. When he awoke it was broad daylight, the fire had gone out, and +he felt very cold and stiff and tired. But he was sure now he would +soon regain the creek. + +But the mistake he fell into was a very terrible one. He had forgotten +that he had crossed the stream, or rather that he had not re-crossed it. +When he left the ravine, therefore, and commenced walking in a direct +line north-west as he imagined, he was in reality going quite the +opposite way. He hurried along, too, at a very rapid rate, sometimes +even running, so that by the time McBain and Seth reached the hill-top, +where Rory and Ralph were, and the search was begun in earnest, there +must have been a distance of at least fifteen miles between himself and +his anxious companions. + +It was probably an hour longer before Seth found the trail and Oscar +took it up. Both dogs started off on the same scent apparently, but +they had not followed it for a mile ere they seemed to disagree, the +mastiff going up to the higher ground, the Saint Bernard keeping far +lower down. Both animals were right, only the former was on the track +of deer, following the bent he had been trained to; the latter was on +his master's trail. This put Seth out, however; he naturally had more +faith in the wisdom of his own dog, so Oscar was called away, and it was +not until deer were seen that the mistake was discovered, and steps had +to be retraced in order to seek once again for the right trail, and thus +much valuable time was lost. + +When, about five hours after this, Allan found himself once again at the +top of a ravine, adown which a stream meandered, "I declare," he said to +himself, "this is provoking; I've been going round in a circle, and here +I am very near the spot where I started from." + +Now this was not the case. He had been walking almost in a bee-line, +and had struck quite another river. + +The probability that this might be the case did cross his mind, but, he +reasoned with himself, this stream must reach the sea, and if I follow +it I am bound to come upon the beach; then, if I am not in sight of the +_Snowbird_, I have only to walk along until I do see her. But little +did he know then that the course of this river was a very winding one +indeed, and that it fell into the sea after running among a ridge of +high mountains, twenty good leagues to the eastward of the bay in which +lay the yacht. To make a resolve, however, was with Allan to keep it, +so he recommenced his journey and hurried onwards as before. He walked +all day, and as the shades of evening began to fall he found himself +very tired and weary, having eaten nothing for over four-and-twenty +hours. He had the good fortune, however, to find food in the shape of a +jack rabbit. This, after being cleaned, he rolled in clay and cooked +gipsy-fashion in the fire he had built. Then, once again rolling +himself in his plaid, he lay down to rest and to think. It must be +confessed that his position was far from an enviable one, and his +thoughts anything but pleasant. He began to fear he had made some +strange mistake, for why, if he were indeed going in the right +direction, were there no signs that his friends were seeking for him, as +he knew they must be? Should he start to-morrow and walk again +up-stream, or should he leave this river that seemed endless and plunge +once again into forest and hill? Or should he remain stationary? This +last was precisely what one in his situation ought to have done, but +already the spirit of unrest had taken possession of his mind, and he +longed for the night and the darkness to wear away, that he might resume +his toilsome march, albeit the probability dawned upon his mind that he +might wander in this wilderness until he died. Would this be the end of +all his ambitions? Would he never again sail up his own lovely lake in +the Scottish Highlands, and receive the tender greetings of his mother +and sister? He asked himself such questions over and over again till +they almost maddened him, and he was obliged at last to start up and +pace rapidly up and down in front of the fire. He walked thus for +hours, until ready to drop, then he heaped more logs on the burning +pile, and again sat down. The sounds that issued from the forest were +far from reassuring. There was a whisper of wind through the branches +of the pine-trees, there was the mournful cry of some night bird, or the +scream of some frightened bird trying in vain to escape the clutches of +the owl, and there was the barking yelp of the great grey wolf. + +Again and again poor Allan threw himself down in front of the fire, and +attempted to compose himself to sleep, but all in vain. He tried to +read, but there was no connection between the author's words and his own +thoughts, so he threw the book aside at last, and pressed his palm to +his burning brow. His head ached and his eyes felt like balls of fire. +Was he going mad? The very thought that he might be caused him such +agony, that the sweat stood in on beads his forehead. He found his way +to the river side and bathed his face and head in the cool water; this +soothed him; then his troubled mind found solace in prayer, and laying +himself down once more, just like a tired child, he began to repeat to +himself psalm after psalm, and hymn after hymn, that he had learned at +school. And so gradually his eyes began to droop, and troubled dreams +took the place of waking thoughts. + +And the night wore on, and on, and on. + +But it still wanted many hours of morning. + +So light were Allan's slumbers that the snapping of a twig or branch, +some distance away in the thicket, caused him to spring up at last and +seize his rifle. He listened, but there was no unusual sound to alarm +him. The forest he knew was filled with wolves, but he also knew from +experience that the courage of the brutes is of no very high standing, +and unless they came in numbers they would hardly dare to attack him. + +He heaped branches of wood and logs on the fire nevertheless. While so +engaged there fell upon his startled ear the sounds of hurried breathing +close behind him, and next moment, even before he had time to raise his +rifle to defend himself, an animal bigger and more powerful than a +buffalo-wolf had sprung upon and rolled him to the ground. + +And this animal, reader, was none other than his own great honest Oscar. +When McBain and his party, still on Allan's trail, had encamped for the +night, this good dog had stolen away and left them. Night and darkness +were nothing to him, nor did he fear bears or wolves, or anything else +that makes a forest dangerous to traverse after sundown. He was +instigated by the love he bore for his master, and guided by scent +alone. + +But what a change his presence made on Allan's mind! + +He felt no longer gloomy and hopeless, and as he hugged the giant Saint +Bernard, he could not help dropping tears upon his broad brow. Only +they were tears of joy, and tears that relieved his pent-up feelings and +cooled his burning brain. + +If the dog could only have spoken, a most animated conversation would +have ensued forthwith. + +But as soon as Oscar had relieved his feelings by a series of wild +gambols and quixotic performances that are simply indescribable, Allan +plied him with a hundred questions, and talked to him just as if the +poor animal knew every word he uttered. + +"And how did you find me, dear old boy? What a blessing you are, to be +sure! But do you know I took you for a great wolf, and it is a wonder I +didn't shoot you? Oh! think what a thing it would have been if I had +killed my dear kind Oscar. It won't bear thinking about. And where did +you leave our friends? They are coming to seek for me, I know; but you, +you impatient boy! you must give them the slip and come paddling along +through the dark dreary forest to look for your beloved master. Heigho! +but I am so glad you're here. I am so happy, and I am so hungry too. +And, by the way, that reminds me I roasted a rabbit last night, Oscar, +and could hardly touch it. But we'll have it now. What have you got in +the little barrel at your collar? Coffee, I declare! Well, well, +well!" + +Talking thus, Allan shared his supper with his friend, and then laid +himself down by his side, using the dog as his pillow, just as he had +often done when resting at home, among the blooming heather on the braes +of Arrandoon. That was the sweetest and most refreshing hour's slumber +ever he remembered having enjoyed. + +He awoke at last like the proverbial giant refreshed, and found his +pillow sitting up alongside of him, and gazing down at him with loving +hazel eyes. + +"Hullo, Oscar!" he said: "day is breaking yonder in the east; it is +almost time we were moving." + +The dog shook himself as much as to say,-- + +"I'm ready at a moment's notice to guide you safely home." + +There was a broad belt of red light in the distant horizon and towards +this Oscar attempted to lead his master, with many a bound and many a +bark. + +But Allan wouldn't budge. + +"Not in that direction, Oscar, old boy," he said; "our road lies towards +the _setting_, not the rising sun." + +"Bow, wow!" barked Oscar, as if reasoning with him, "_bow, wow, wow, +wow_!" + +There was something in the dog's demeanour that set Allan a-thinking. +Could the animal really be right and he wrong? He examined the belt of +red light more carefully now. Was that the east? Was that indeed the +crimson clad vanguard that heralds the coming day? Nay, it could not +be, the red was a more lurid red, the light was a fitful light, and as +he gazed he could distinctly make out a confused rolling of great clouds +over it. Then all at once the truth flashed across his mind. + +_The forest was on fire_! + +How this happened the reader may at once be told: sparks from McBain's +camp fire had towards morning ignited the withered needles that had +fallen from the pine-trees, the brushwood had caught, and next the +underwood of the spruce-trees, and at the very moment that Allan was +gazing skywards his friends were rushing headlong through the woods, +pursued by the devouring element. + +Would they ever meet Allan again? + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +NARROW ESCAPE--A TERRIBLE SCENE--ALLAN AND OSCAR--A GLOOMY EVENING-- +REUNION--SETH'S ADVENTURE--A WELCOME BACK. + +For a minute or more escape from the terrible fire seemed to our heroes +an utter impossibility. The smoke that curled and swirled around them +was blinding, the roar of the flames was deafening. No wonder they +hesitated what to do or which way to flee. Their camp fire had been lit +not far from the river's brink, but the stream at this part ran deep, +and dark, and sullen; to plunge into it was only to court death in a +different form. But all at once the wind seemed to increase to almost a +gale; it blew in their faces cold and fierce, the smoke lifted off, and +suddenly their senses and presence of mind were restored; and while +behind them the flames mounted higher and higher, and seemed to rage +more fiercely every moment, they dashed off and away against that wind. +It was terribly strong now; they felt as if they were breasting the +waves against the tide, but it was their only chance. Farther down the +stream they would doubtless find a ford, and once across the river they +were safe. + +It was indeed a race for life, and for fully half-an-hour it was +doubtful if they would win it. The withered heath and grass, and the +stunted shrubs which grew next to the banks of the stream, caught fire +even against the wind, and this communicated with the forest, so that +the flames seemed to chase them, and to keep alongside of them, at one +and the same time. But at last they reach a spot where the river widens +out, and they know by the ripple on it that it cannot be deep, so in +they plunge and begin to ford, and they have not gone ten yards ere the +fire has taken possession of the bank they left. There can be no going +back now, but the current is strong, and deeper in some places than +their waists, yet they stem it manfully, holding their rifles high, and +supporting each other whenever a slip is made. They reach the opposite +bank at last, and Seth is the first to clamber out and to help the +others up. They climb to the top of the ravine, ere ever they pause to +gaze behind them. + +The scene they looked upon was awful in its sublimity. + +The flames were doing their work with fearful speed. The fire had +rolled backwards and appeared embracing all the wooded country. The +spruce thickets seemed to suffer the worst; from them the flames rose +the highest, shooting hundreds of feet into the air in great gleaming +tongues of fire, that fed upon and licked up the very clouds of smoke +themselves. The air, for miles to leeward, was filled with sparks as +dense as snowflakes. But strangest sight of all was to see the tall +alpine pines. Other trees tottered and crashed and fell as the fierce +heat attacked them; not so they, they seemed to defy the flames, and as +the fire rolled back seeking for more pliant material on which to vent +its fury, and the wind blew round their stems, their bark caught fire +and they stood forth against the blackness like trees of molten gold. + +There were here and there in the forest bold rocky bluffs, rising +hundreds of feet above the trees. These were lighted up as the fire +swept past them, as with the brightness of the noontide sun, and on +their summits our heroes could distinctly perceive flocks of tall +antlered deer, and near them frightened cowering wolves and even bears; +all alike had taken refuge on these heights from the fury of the flames +that held sway beneath them. + +For a short time only the scene held the little party spellbound. Ralph +was the first to speak. + +"Alas! poor Oscar!" he said in a mournful tone, "he must have perished +in the flames." + +It was only natural they should come to this conclusion, but at that +moment Oscar and Allan too were safe enough, and journeying onwards in +hopes of finding them. + +Allan could now understand perfectly and clearly every phase of the +situation. His friends if alive were some miles, many miles in all +probability, up-stream, the dog had escaped from their camp fire, the +fire had originated at their camp, and to escape destruction they must +have crossed the stream. Allan had never seen a forest on fire before, +but he had seen the heather, and he knew something about the dangerous +rapidity with which flames can spread along in the open. As soon, +therefore, as there was a glimmering of daylight, he stripped at the +river's brink, tied his clothes into a bundle with his plaid, and swam +to the other side, the dog following as if he understood the move +entirely and quite approved of it. + +It was well he had done so, for another hour's journey along that +winding river's banks brought him face to face with the raging fire. +But wind as it might, Allan determined not to lose sight of it again; he +made all speed nevertheless. He knew his friends must wait now until +the charred and blackened ground cooled down before they re-crossed the +river and recommenced the search. + +Yet, reader, we who know that Allan is safe cannot fully sympathise with +his friends in the gloom and anxiety that settled down on their hearts. +When the excitement caused by the fire and their narrow escape from +destruction wore off, it left behind it an utter hopelessness and +despair, which it is difficult to describe. When they had lain down to +sleep on the previous evening, they were full of confidence that they +would soon come up with Allan. Seth had pronounced the trail a fresh +one, and assured them he would find the lost boy before another sunset. +Rory was full of fun, even pronouncing Allan a "rogue of a runaway," and +saying that "sure the search for him was only a wild-goose chase after +all said and done, and Allan the goose." + +But now where was that confidence? Where was hope? Dead. Dead, just +as they had not a single doubt Allan and his poor dog were at that +moment. And oh! to think that it was their own carelessness that had +caused that dreadful fire, which they felt sure must have cost Allan his +precious life. They would, however, so they determined, resume the +search; but what an aimless one it would be now, with track and trail +gone for ever! + +Seth lit a fire; he even cooked food, but no one cared to speak, much +less to eat! and so the day wore gloomily away. The wind, which had +gone down at noon, began to rise again and moan mournfully among the +swaying branches, and a few drops of rain fell. There would be neither +moon nor stars to-night. The sky was overcast with grey and leaden +cumulus drifting before the restless wind, and night was coming on a +good hour before its time. + +They crept closer together. They gathered more closely to the log fire. + +"Boys," said McBain, and he spoke with some difficulty, as if his heart +were very full indeed--"boys, the shieling [Highland cot] where I lived +when a child on the braes of Arrandoon was a very humble one indeed; my +father was a poor man, but a brave and pious one; not that I mean to +boast of that, but there wasn't a morning passed without a prayer being +said, and a song being sung in praise of Him we children were all taught +to fear, and reverence, and trust. He taught us to say those beloved +words, `Thy will be done.' Oh! boys, it is easy to breathe that prayer +when everything is going well with us, but in gloom and trouble like the +present, it is true courage and true worship if we can speak the words +not with lips but with hearts." + +After a pause,-- + +"I think," McBain continued, "if anything has happened to poor Allan, it +will be our duty to get back as speedily as may be to Scotland, and +forego our voyage farther north." + +Now, at that very moment Allan and his dog were within sight of the camp +fire; he was holding Oscar by the collar, and meditating what would be +the best and least startling way to make known his presence. + +Should he fire his rifle in the air? That would be better than suddenly +appearing like a ghost among them. + +But Oscar settled the difficulty in a way of his own. He bounded away +from his master's grasp with a joyful bark, and next moment was +careering like a mad thing round and round the group at the fire. + +This way of breaking the intelligence of Allan's safety was very abrupt, +but it was very satisfactory. + +When the surprised greetings with which Allan was hailed had in some +measure subsided--when he had explained the part that Oscar had played, +and told them that but for the great fire he never would have believed +that he had been going eastwards instead of west--then McBain said, in +his old quiet manner,-- + +"You see, boys, there is a Providence in all things, and, on the whole, +I'm not sorry that this should have happened." + +But twenty years at the very least seemed to have fallen off the load of +the trapper's age. + +Seth knew what men were, and so he heaped more wood on the fire, and set +about at once getting supper ready. + +Sapper would never have suggested itself to anybody if Allan had not +returned. + +The journey "home," as the good yacht was always called, was commenced +the very next morning, and accomplished in eight-and-forty hours. + +A red deer fell to Allan's gun by the way. + +"I do believe," said Allan, "it is the self-same rascal that led me such +a dance." + +"We'll have a haunch off him, then," said McBain, "to roast when we go +back, and so celebrate your return." + +"The chief's return," said Ralph, laughing. + +"The prodigal son's bedad," said Rory; "but I'm going to have that +stag's head. Isn't he a lordly fellow, with his kingly antlers! I'll +stuff it, an oh! sure, if we ever do get back to Arrandoon, it's myself +will hang it in the hall in commemoration of the great wild-goose +chase." + +By means of their compasses and trapper Seth's skill they were able to +march in almost a bee-line upon what they termed their own ravine. But +not during any portion of the journey was Seth idle. He was scanning +every yard of the ground around him, studying every feature of the +landscape, and making so many strange marks upon the trees, that at last +Rory asked him,-- + +"Whatever are you about, friend Seth? Is it a button off your coat +you've lost, or what is the meaning of your strange earnestness?" + +Seth smiled grimly. + +"I guess," he replied, "we may have to make tracks across this bit of +country once or twice after the snow is on the ground. Shouldn't like +to be lost, should you?" + +Rory shrugged his shoulders. + +When they were having their mid-day meal Rory returned to the charge. + +"Were ever you lost in the snow?" he said to Seth. + +"More'n once," replied Seth. + +"Tell us." + +"Once in partikler," said Seth, "three of us were movin' around in a +wild bit o' country. It were skootin' after the b'ars we were, with our +snow-shoes on, for the snow were plaguey deep. I was a bit younger +then, and I calculate that accounted for a deal of my headlong +stupidity. Anyhow, we lost our way, and when we got our bearings again, +night was beginning to fall, and as we didn't fancy passing it away from +the log fire, we just made about all the haste we knew how to. I knew +every tree, even with snow on 'em, but I hadn't taken correct note of +the rocks and gullies and such. And presently, blame me, gentlemen, if +I didn't miss my footing and go tumbling down to the bottom of a pit, +twenty feet deep if it were an inch. I didn't go quite alone, though. +No, I just drops my gun and clutches Jager by the hand, and down we goes +together in the most affectionate manner ever you could wish to see. + +"Nat Weekley was a-comin' sliding up some ways in the rear. He was +lookin' at his toes like, and didn't see us disappear, but he told us +afterwards he kind o' missed us all of a suddint, you see, and guessed +we'd gone somewheres down into the bowels o' the earth. He was an +amoosin kind of a 'possum, was old Nat. Presently he discovered our +hole, and laying himself cautiously down on the lower side of it, so's +he shouldn't fall, he peers over the brink. He couldn't see us for a +bit, with the blinding snow-powder we'd raised. But Nat wasn't going to +be done. + +"`Anybody down there?' says Nat, quite unconcernedly. + +"`To be sure there is,' says we; `didn't you see us go in?' + +"`No,' said Nat; `what did you go in for?' + +"`Don't know,' said I, sulkily. + +"`How are you going to get out?' says Nat. + +"`Nary a bit o' me knows,' I says; `we came down so plaguey fast we +didn't take time to consider.' + +"`Went to look for summut, I reckon?' + +"`Oh!' cries Jager, `cease your banter, Nat.' + +"`A pretty pair o' babes in the wood you'll make, won't you! Do you +know it'll soon be dark?' + +"`Poor consolation that,' I says. + +"`Pitch dark,' roars Nat, `and nary a morsel o' fire you'll be able to +light. And I reckon too it's in a b'ar's hole you are, and presently +the b'ar will be coming home, and then there'll be the piper to pay. +There'll be five minutes of a rough house down there, I can tell ye.' + +"We felt kind o' riled now, and didn't reply, and so Nat went on: + +"`I kind o' sees ye now,' he says. `I can just dimly descry ye, you +looks about as frisky as a pair o' bull buffaloes. Ha! ha! ha! You'll +be precious cold before long, though,' Nat continues. `Now don't say +Nat's a bad old sort. He's going to throw ye down his flask; maybe ye +can't catch it, so behold, Nat puts it in the pocket of his big skin +coat, and pitches it down into your hole. Don't think it's the b'ar, +cause he won't come home till it's just a trifle darker, and then--ha! +ha! ha!--I thinks I sees the dust he'll raise. Good-bye, my sylvan +beauties. Good night, babies. Take care of your little selves; don't +catch cold whatever ye do.' + +"But all this was only Nat's fun, ye see. He carried a right good heart +within him, I can tell you, and he wasn't above five hours gone when +back he comes with two more of our friends carrying a big lantern, a +long rope, and an axe, and in about ten minutes more Jager and I were +both on the brink; but I can tell ye, gentlemen, it was about the +coldest five hours ever trapper Seth spent in his little existence." + +The anxiety on board the yacht for the past few days had been very deep +indeed, but as our heroes drew once more near to their home, and +Stevenson made sure they were all there, dogs and all. + +"Hurrah, boys!" he cried to his men; "man the rigging!" + +Ay, and they did too, and it would have done your heart good to have +heard that ringing cheer, and it wasn't one cheer either, but three +times three, and one more to keep them whole. + +McBain and his little party made noble response, you may be well sure; +and meanwhile Peter, with his bagpipes, had mounted into the foretop and +played them Highland welcome as they once more jumped on board of the +saucy _Snowbird_. + +What a delightful evening they spent afterwards in the snuggery! They +were often in the habit of inviting one of the mates aft, or even weird +little Magnus, with his budget of wonderful tales, but to-night they +must needs have it all to themselves, and it was quite one bell in the +middle watch ere they thought of retiring, and even after that they must +all go on deck to have a look around. + +Not a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky, and stars as big as +saucers. + +"Jack Frost has come while we've been talking," said McBain. "Look +here, boys." + +He threw a bit of wood overboard as he spoke; it rang as it alighted on +the surface of the ice. + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +FROST AND NO SKATES!--RORY DISCONSOLATE--MCBAIN TO THE RESCUE--A ROARING +DAY AND A MERRY NIGHT--A MYSTERIOUS POOL. + +King Frost _had_ come--and come, too, with a will, for when Rory went on +deck next morning the ice was all around the yacht, hard and smooth and +black. + +"It is frozen in we are," said Rory--"frozen in entirely, and never a +vestige of a skate in the ship. Just look, Allan, that ice is bearing +already! What could have possessed us to leave Scotland without +skates?" + +"It is provoking," remarked Allan, looking at the ice with a rueful +countenance. + +"Well, we can't go back home for them, that is certain sure. D'ye +think, now, that old Ap could manufacture us a few pairs?" + +"He is very handy," Allan said; "but I question if he could manufacture +skates." + +"However," said Rory, "the ice is bearing; we can slide if we can't +skate. So I, for one, am going over the side presently." + +"Not to-day, Rory boy," said a quiet voice behind him, while at the same +time a hand was laid gently on his shoulder--"not to-day, Rory, it +wouldn't be safe," said McBain. "I know you would risk it, but I love +you too well to allow it." + +"And sure, isn't your word law, then?" replied Rory. + +McBain smiled, and no more was said on the subject; but for all that +Rory had the ice on his mind all day, and that accounted for his having +been seen in close confab with old Ap for a whole hour, during which +pieces of wood and bits of iron were critically looked at, and many +strange tools examined and designs drawn on paper by Rory's deft +artistic fingers. But the result of all this may be summed up in the +little word _nil_. Ap had taken much snuff during this consultation, +but, "No, no; look, you see," he said, at last, "if it were a box now, +or a barrel, or a boat, I could manage it; but skates, look you, is more +science than art." + +So Rory had rather a long face when he came aft again, which was +something most unusual for Rory. But his was the nature that is easily +cast down, and just as easily elevated again. His spirits were about +zero before dinner; they rose somewhat during that meal, and fell once +more when the cloth was removed. + +"Do you think," asked Ralph of McBain, "that the frost will hold?" + +"Oh," cried Rory, "don't talk of the frost! sure it is the provokingest +thing that ever was, that the three of us should have forgotten our +skates. I'm going to get my fiddle." + +"Wait a moment," said McBain. + +"Steward," he continued, "serve out warm clothing to-morrow for these +young gentlemen, and remind them to put on their pea-jackets; we are +going to have such a frost as you never even dreamt of in Scotland. +Don't forget to put them on, boys; and Peter, `dubbing' for the boots +mind, no more paste blacking." + +"Ay, ay, sir!" said Peter. + +"And don't forget the paper blankets." + +"That I won't, sir!" from Peter. + +Now while McBain was speaking Rory's face was a study; the clouds were +fast disappearing from his brow, his eye was getting brighter every +moment. At last, up he jumped, all glee and excitement. + +"Hurrah!" he cried, seizing the captain by the hand. "It is true, isn't +it? Oh! you know what I'd be saying. The skates, you know! Never +expect me to believe that the man who thought beforehand about warm +clothes for his boys, and dubbing and paper blankets, was unmindful of +their pleasures as well." + +"Peter, bring the box," said McBain, quietly laughing. + +Peter brought the box, and a large one it was too. + +Three dozen pairs of the best skates that ever glided over the glassy +surface of pond or lake. + +Rory looked at them for a moment, then admiringly at McBain. + +"I was going to get my fiddle," says Rory, "and it would be a pity to +spoil a good intention; but troth, boys, it isn't a lament I'll be +playing now, at all, at all." + +Nor was it. Rory's fiddle spoke--it laughed, it screamed; it told of +all the joyousness of the boy's heart, and it put everybody in the same +humour that he himself and his fiddle were in. + +Next morning broke bright and clear; Rory and Allan were both up even +before the stars had faded, and by the time they had enjoyed the luxury +of the morning tub--for that they meant to keep up all the year round, +being quite convinced of the good of it--and dressed themselves, +laughing and joking all the time, Peter had the breakfast laid and +ready. + +The ice was hard and solid as steel, and glittered like crystal in the +rays of the morning sun, and you may be sure our heroes made the best of +it, and not they alone, but one half at least of the yacht's officers +and crew. The whole day was given up to the enchanting amusement of +skating, and to frolic and fun. Wonderful to say, old Ap proved himself +quite an adept in the art, and the figures this little figure-head of a +man cut, and the antics he performed, astonished every one. + +But Seth, alas! was but a poor show; he never had had skates on his feet +before, so his attempts to keep upright were ridiculous in the extreme. +But Seth did not mind that a bit, and his pluck was of a very exalted +order, for, much as his anatomy must have been damaged by the +innumerable falls he got, he was no sooner down than he was up again. +Allan and Ralph took pity on him at last, and taking each a hand of the +old man, glided away down the ice with him crowing with delight. + +"But, sure, then," cried Rory, "and it's myself will have a partner +too." + +And so he linked up with old Ap, old Ap in paper cap and immensity of +apron, Rory in pilot coat and Tam o' Shanter. What a comical couple +they looked! Yes, I grant you they looked comical, but what of that? +Their skating far eclipsed anything in the field, and there really was +no such thing as tiring either Ap or Rory. + +And hadn't they appetites for dinner that day! Allan's haunch of +venison smoked on the board; and Stevenson, Mitchell, and the mate of +the _Trefoil_ had been invited to partake, as there was plenty for +everybody, and some to send forward afterwards. + +"Now," said McBain, after the cloth had been removed, and cups of +fragrant coffee had been duly discussed, "what say you, gentlemen, if we +leave the _Snowbird_ to herself for an hour or two, pipe all hands over +the side, and go on shore and open the new hall?" + +"A grand idea!" cried Ralph and Allan in a breath. "Capital!" said +Rory. + +And in less than an hour, reader, everything was prepared: a great fire +of logs and coals was cracking and blazing on the ample hearth of the +hall, a fire that warmed the place from end to end, a fire at which an +ox might have been roasted. The piano had been transported on shore; at +this instrument Ralph presided, and near him stood Rory, fiddle in hand. +McBain was duly elected chairman, and the impromptu concert had +commenced. The officers occupied the front seats, the men sat +respectfully on forms in the rear. Had you been there you would have +observed, too, that the crew had paid some little attention to their +toilet before coming on shore; they had doffed their work-a-day +clothing, and donned their best. Even Ap had laid aside his immensity +of apron, and came out in navy blue, and Seth was once again encased in +that brass-buttoned coat of his, and looked, as Rory said, "all smiles, +from top to toe." + +McBain felt himself in duty bound to make a kind of formal speech before +the music began. He could be pithy and to the point if he couldn't be +eloquent. + +"Officers and men," he said, "of the British yacht, _Snowbird_,--We are +met here to-night to try,--despite the fact, which nobody minds, that we +are far from our native land,--if we can't spend a pleasant evening. We +have been together now for many months, together in sunshine and storm, +together in our dangers, together in our pleasures, and I don't think +there has ever been an unpleasant word spoken fore or aft, nor has a +grumbler ever lifted up his voice. But we have a long dreary winter +before us, and perils perhaps to pass through which we little wot of. +But as we've stood together hitherto, so will we to the end, let it be +sweet or let it be bitter. And it is our duty to help keep up each +other's hearts. I purpose having many such meetings here as the +present, and let us just make up our minds to amuse and be amused. +Everybody can do something if he tries; he who cannot sing can tell a +story, and if there be any one single mother's son amongst us who is too +diffident to do anything, why just let him keep a merry face on his +figure-head, and, there, we'll forgive him! That's all." + +McBain sat down amidst a chorus of cheers, and the music began. Ralph +played a battle piece. That suited his touch to a "t," Rory told him, +and led an encore as soon as it was finished. Then Rory himself had to +come to the front with his fiddle, and he played a selection of Irish +airs, arranged by himself. Then there was a duet between Allan and +Ralph; then McBain himself strode on the stage with a stirring old +Highland song, that brought his hearers back to stirring old Highland +times in the feudal days of old, when men flew fiercely to sword and +claymore, as the fiery cross was borne swiftly through the glen, and +wrong had to be righted in the brave old fashion. Stevenson followed +suit with a sea song; he had a deep bass voice, and his rendering of +"Tom Bowling" was most effective. + +It was Rory's turn once more. He brought out a real Irish shillalah +from somewhere, stuck his hat, with an old clay pipe in it, on one side +of his head, and gave the company a song so comical, with a brogue so +rich, that he quite brought down the house. It was not one encore, but +two he got; in fact, he became the hero of the evening. Both Mitchell +and the mate of the _Trefoil_ found something to sing, and Ap and Magnus +something to say if they couldn't sing. Magnus's story was as weird and +wild as he looked himself while telling it; Ap's was a simple relation +of a daring deed done at sea during the herring-fishery season. After +this Seth spun one of his trapper yarns, and the music began again. A +sailor's hornpipe this time--a rattling nerve-jogging tune that set the +men all on a fidget. They beat time with their fingers, they tapped a +tattoo with their toes; and when they couldn't stand it a moment longer, +why they simply started up in a bold and manly British fashion, cleared +the floor, and gave vent to their feelings through their legs and their +feet. + +The dancing became fast and furious after that, and when Ralph and Rory +were tired of playing they came to the floor, and Peter took their place +with his bagpipes. But the longest time has an end, and at last Ap's +shrill pipe summoned all hands on board. + +There was little need of sleeping-draughts for any one on board the +_Snowbird_ that night. + +The frost held, our heroes could tell that before they left their beds, +so intensely cold was it. Glad were they now of the addition of the +paper blankets served out by Peter; eider-down quilts could hardly have +made them feel more comfortable. + +The frost held, they could tell that when they went to their tubs. +Peter had placed the water in each bath only an hour before, but the ice +was already so hard that instead of getting in at once Rory squatted +down to look at it, and he did not like the looks of it either. The +sponge was as hard as a sledge-hammer, so he took that to break the ice +with. Then he tried one foot in, and quickly drew it out again and +shook it. The water felt like molten lead. + +"I wonder now," he said to himself, "if brother Ralph will venture on a +cold plunge on such a morning as this." + +And, wondering thus, he rolled his shoulders up in his door-curtain, +and, poking his head into the passage, hailed Ralph. + +"Hullo, there!" he cried; "Ralph! Porpy!" + +"Hullo!" cried Ralph; "I'll Porpy you if I come into your den!" + +"Well, but tell me this, old man," said Rory; "I want to know if you're +going to do a flounder this morning?" + +"To be sure!" said Ralph. "Listen!" + +Rory listened, and could hear him plashing. + +McBain passed along at the moment, and, hearing the conversation, he +took part in it to this extent,-- + +"Boys that don't have their baths don't have their breakfasts." + +"In that case," said Rory, "I'm in too!" And next moment he was +plashing away like a live dolphin. But hardly was he dressed than there +came all over him such a glorious warm glow, that he would have gone +through the same ordeal again had there been any occasion. At the same +time he felt so exhilarated in spirits that nothing would serve him but +he must burst into song. + +The frost held, they could tell that when they met in the saloon and +glanced at the windows; the tracery thereon was so beautiful, that even +at the risk of letting his breakfast get cold, Rory must needs run for +his sketch-book and make two pictures at least. Meanwhile, Ralph had +settled down to serious eating. You see, there was very little poetry +about honest Ralph, he was more solid than imaginative. + +After breakfast our trio took to the ice again. They soon had evidence +that some one had been there before them, for about a mile along the +shore, and a little way out to sea, they saw that several poles had been +planted, and on each pole fluttered a red flag. They looked inquiringly +at McBain. + +"You wonder what the meaning of that is?" said McBain; "and I myself +cannot altogether explain it." + +"But you had the flags placed there?" + +"True," said McBain; "and they are placed around a pool of open water." + +"Open water!" exclaimed Rory, "and the sea frozen everywhere all +around!" + +"Ah, yes!" replied McBain; "that is the mystery. But we are in the land +of mysteries. This pool of open water may be situated over a warm +spring, or it may be there is some kind of a whirlpool there which +prevents the formation of the ice, only there it is, sure enough, and +howsoever hard the frost should become, or howsoever long it may last, I +think that that pool will never, never close and freeze. + +"The ice," he continued, "was thin at the edge, but I have had it broken +off, and will try to keep it so, and thus you will be enabled to go +quite close to the water's edge; and if my experience is anything to go +by, you'll see many a startling apparition there before the winter is +past and gone." + +"You astonish _me_," said Rory. + +"And _me_," said Allan. + +"But what," persisted Rory, "will the apparitions be like?" + +"Nothing that can harm us, I think," said McBain. "But as the ice +extends farther seaward, sea-monsters will come to the pool to breathe +and to disport themselves in the sunshine." + +"Perhaps the sea-serpent, for instance?" said Rory. + +"Perhaps," said McBain. + +"Och! sure then," cried Rory, losing all his seriousness at once, "we'll +have a shot at the old boy, that's all?" + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +THE GREAT BLACK FROST--FUNNY JACK FROST--THE COLD HALF-HOUR--A TERRIBLE +APPARITION UNDER THE ICE--BLOWING SOAP-BUBBLES--STRANGE EFFECT--SNOW AND +SNOW-SHOES. + +For week after week the great black frost continued, seeming only to wax +more and more intense as the time went on. With the exception of the +mysterious pool, mentioned in last chapter, and the small hole kept open +alongside the yacht, there was no water to be met with anywhere. The +sea, as far as the eye could reach, was a smooth unbroken sheet of +glass, two feet in thickness if a single inch. If there was any ripple +or swell in the now far-off blue water, it did not affect the ice for +miles around the _Snowbird_ in the slightest. There was never a crack +and never a flaw in it. It was hard, solid, and black, adamantine one +might almost say in its extreme hardness. The chips broken off from the +edge of the ice-hole looked like pieces of greenish rock crystal. The +ice-hole itself required to be broken every time a bucket was dipped in +it. + +Meanwhile the days grew shorter and shorter, but there was never a +breath of wind, and never a cloud in the sky. And the sun looked cold +and rayless, yet at night the stars shone out with extraordinary +brilliancy. + +Breakfast was now a meal to be partaken of by lamplight, and so too was +dinner, but they both passed off none the less pleasantly for that. + +"It seems to me," said Allan one morning, "that one of these days the +sun won't trouble to get up at all." + +"We are just in the latitude," remarked McBain, "where even at midsummer +there is a little night, and at mid-winter a little day." + +"But we will never be positively in the dark, I should think, while the +stars are so brilliant?" Allan asked. + +"We'll have the glorious aurora borealis by-and-bye," said McBain, "to +say nothing of long spells of moonlight; but we are, as I said before, +in the very centre of a land of wonders, and there will doubtless be +nights when the storm spirit will be abroad in all his might and +majesty, clothed in clouds and darkness, a darkness more intense and +terrible than any we have ever experienced in our own country." + +"It is a good thing," said Rory, "that you thought of taking such an +array of beautiful lamps." + +Yes, Rory was right, it was a beautiful array. As Ralph remarked, "the +_Snowbird_ was strong in lamps." + +They hung in the passage, they hung in the snuggery, and four of them +lit up the saloon, with a brightness almost equal to that of day itself. + +And those lamps gave heat as well as light, but large fires were kept +constantly roaring in the stoves. The stove that stood in the snuggery +was a very large one, and to make the place all the more comfortable the +deck was almost buried in skins--trophies of the prowess of our heroes +in the hunting-field. And yet with all this it must be confessed that +at times the cold was felt to be very severe; indeed, the thermometer +kept steadily down many degrees below zero. There was one way of +defying it during the day, however, and that way lay in action. + +"Keep moving is my motto," said Rory one day on the ice. + +"Indeed, Rory boy," said McBain, "you act well up to it; if I were asked +to define you now, do you know the words I would use?" + +"No," said Rory. + +"Perpetual motion personified," said McBain. + +"Thank you," Rory said, lifting his cap. + +There was an excellent way of keeping out the cold after dinner, and +that was to make a circle round the snuggery stove, reclining on the +skins with cups of warm fragrant coffee, and engaging in pleasant +conversation. There was another way of keeping out the cold in the long +evenings, and that was to retire to the new hall and give a dance. This +was the favourite plan with the crew at all events, and McBain, well +knowing the value of healthful happy exercise, was always delighted when +Rory professed himself ready and willing to discourse sweet music to the +men tripping it on the light fantastic toe. + +But the time of all others when our heroes really did feel the effects +of the excessively low temperature, was the cold half-hour immediately +after turning into bed. Of course the curtains would be carefully and +closely drawn, ay, and heads carefully covered with bedclothes, but for +all that, shiver they must for the cold half-hour. But gradually the +feeling wore away, warmth stole over them, then noses could be protruded +over the quilts, and by-and-by sleep sealed up their senses. + +When they awoke in the morning, lo and behold they were lying in caves +of snow! Top and bottom of the bed, back and roof, were covered with +snow to the depth of half an inch; and so were the curtains, and so were +the quilts. Where in the name of mystery had the snow come from? The +explanation is easy enough. The snow was nothing more nor less than +their frozen breath. + +I do not think a single day passed that Rory did not, during this black +frost, make a sketch from a frozen pane of glass. The frost effects on +the frozen glass were simply magical, and it was very curious to notice +that some of the panes had been but lightly touched with the frost; they +were unfinished sketches, so to speak, while others represented whole +landscapes, mountain and forest and sky as well. + +"Look at this pane," said Rory, one morning. "Now I wonder what Jack +Frost meant to have filled that picture in with?" + +"Jack seems to have been having a frolic," said Allan. "Why, there is +only one long white thread down the centre of the pane, and this is all +hung over with battle-axes and crosses. Jack's a funny fellow." + +"Jack _is_," said Rory. + +"Poor Seth!" he continued; "d'ye know the trick he played him +yesterday?" + +"No," said Allan. + +"Oh! then," said Rory, "what should John Frost, woe worth him! do but go +and freeze the poor man's nose, and sure enough to-day it is as big as +the teapot; there is no looking at him without laughing." + +"Poor fellow!" Allan remarked. + +Frost-biting was far from a rare accident now, and when on the ice it +was found necessary for both men and officers to keep a sharp look-out +on each other's faces; a white spot represented a sudden frost-bite, +unfelt by the person most interested, and only visible to his companion. +But it had at once to be rubbed with ice to gradually restore the +circulation, else the part, after the lapse of some hours, would +mortify. + +Here is a strange thing. For the first day or two of frost, while the +ice was still comparatively thin, by lying flat down and gazing beneath, +they were in a short time able to perceive fishes and other denizens of +the deep close underneath them. Even sharks, and creatures with shapes +still more dreadful, at times appeared. There was a strange fascination +in this to Rory, these dark, turning, twisting shapes close under him, +that stared at him with their terrible eyes, or mouthed at the ice as if +they would fain swallow him, appearing and disappearing in the dark +water; it was fascinating, yet fearful. + +When coming from the shore on the evening of the second day, "Let us +skate for a mile or two in the starlight," said Rory. + +"Agreed!" said Allan, and off they went. + +They skated quite a mile from the shore. + +"Now," said Rory, "let us have a peep through the ice." + +"We can't see anything in the dark," replied Allan. + +But Rory was of a different opinion, and no sooner had he lain down +than, "Oh, Allan, Allan! look, look!" he cried. + +Allan saw it too--a terrible shape, seemingly made of fire, wriggling up +from the dark depths and approaching the spot where they lay, until they +could see it easily. A gigantic snake apparently, as big as the stem of +the tallest oak, all quivering and phosphorescent, with crimson eyes and +a mouth of awful teeth! The boys felt fear now if they never felt it +before. They were spellbound, too; they could not remove their gaze +from the apparition, and a kind of nightmare dread took possession of +their hearts. + +But the thing disappeared at last; it vanished as it had come, leaving +only the blackness of darkness. The spell was broken, and they skated +back again towards the yacht in silence, but wondering greatly at what +they had seen. + +The country around them, with its hills and its forests, looked dismal +enough now at times. There was no cloud scenery, and consequently no +lovely sunrises or sunsets, but just in the gloaming hour, soon after +the sun had gone down, the lower part of the sky all round, between the +immediate horizon and the upper vault of blue, used to assume a strange +sea-green hue, in which the bright stars sparkled and shone like +diamonds of the purest water. + +"Hallo!" said Rory, one day, "I've got an idea." + +The day was one of intensest frost--probably the coldest they had ever +yet experienced. + +"Yes, an idea," he continued--"and that is more than ever you had, you +know, Ralph." + +"Well, then, tell us," said Ralph; "but I should think it will get +frozen hard if you attempt to put it into words." + +"But I won't," said Rory; "I mean to put it into action." + +Rory dived down below, and his two companions remained on deck, +wondering what he was going to be up to. + +But presently Rory returned, bearing long clay pipes and a basin of +soapsuds. "The idea is a very ridiculous one," he said, "but a funny +one. Fancy, old sailors like ourselves, and mighty hunters, blowing +soap-bubbles like so many babies! But here, boys, take your pipes and +heave round." + +Next moment both Ralph and Allan entered into the business with spirit, +and everybody looked on astonished, for, strange to say, the beautiful +soap-bubbles were no sooner blown than they were frozen, and instead of +floating away and fading shortly, they remained in existence. The boys +blew them by the score and by the hundred, until the deck of the yacht +and the top of the companion, and even the bulwarks, were laden with +them. + +"Now then," cried Rory, in ecstasy; "what d'ye think of that, captain? +Troth! there is a beautiful cargo for you." + +"It's a very fragile one," said McBain. + +"Ah! but," said Rory, "it is poetic in the extreme, and entirely new, +and I'm sure nobody ever saw such a sight before." + +"Nobody but yourself," said McBain, "could have conceived so very +strange an idea." + +"Truly," said Rory, "Jack Frost is a funny fellow." + +"Jack Frost and you are a pair then, Rory; but I've got news for you." + +"What is it?" + +"The glass is going down, and I think we'll soon have a change." McBain +was right. That same day, shortly before sundown, a strange mist or fog +gathered in the sky all around them, but not close aboard of them; the +country was nowhere obscured, only the sky itself; and through this mist +the great sun glared ruddy and angry-like. + +"It is the snow-mist," said McBain. + +But still there was no wind; all nature was hushed, as if she held her +breath and waited expectant. + +The powdery snow began to fall as soon as the sun went down, and ere +nightfall it lay inches deep on the decks, and on all the sea of ice +beside them. It soon changed in its character--from being powdery it +now came down in huge flakes; and when the morning broke, so deep was +the fall, that there was little to be seen of the yacht save her tall +and tapering masts. She was now, indeed, a _Snowbird_! + +The fall had seemingly stopped, however, but the clouds with which the +sky was now overcast were dark and threatening. + +It was now "all hands on deck to clear the ship of snow," and in less +than an hour the yacht looked quite herself again, only all around her +was the white waste of snow. There would be no more skating for a time, +at least. A look of disappointment crept over Rory's face, and he +sighed as he saw Peter restoring the now useless skates to their box and +putting them away. He had to fly to his fiddle for relief. That, at +all events, was a never-failing source of comfort to this +strangely-tempered Irish boy. + +The men were very busy now for a few days. A road had to be dug through +the deep snow to the shore, and a clearance made all around the new +hall, as well as around the ice-hole. Had Rory had his will, he would +have set the men to work on the ice itself, to clear roads all over it, +so that he might still enjoy his favourite pastime, skating. + +The snow was soft and powdery, and when he got over the side and +attempted to walk on it, he almost disappeared entirely, but there was a +remedy for even this evil. + +From his store-room McBain produced half-a-dozen pairs of snow-shoes, +and old Ap and his assistant were invited aft to study their +construction, with the intention of imitating them, and making many more +pairs, for all hands must be furnished with these curious "garments," as +Rory called them. + +Our heroes felt very awkward in them at first, especially Ralph, but +Seth came to the rescue and volunteered a few lessons. + +"I guess," he said to Rory, "you imagines you've got a pair of +dancing-pumps on, and you wants to do a hornpipe. It ain't a mortal bit +of use trying that. You mustn't lift your feet so high; you must just +skoot along as I do, so, and--so." + +"Why, I wish I could skoot along like you," said Rory, picking himself +up the best way he could, for in trying to imitate the old trapper he +had gone over and almost disappeared, shoes and all. "Troth, Seth, my +bright young boy, these pedal appliances don't suit me at all. Och! my +poor ankles. I do believe the whole lot of the two of them is fairly +out of joint. But one can't learn anything useful without trying, so +here goes again. Come along, Porpy. Cheerily does it. Hullo! Where +_is_ Porpy?" + +There was at that present moment nothing of Porpy, as Rory often +facetiously called his companion Ralph, to be seen except a pair of legs +with snow-shoes at the end of them, and these were waggling most +expressively. + +But Ralph soon got up and alongside again, and then Rory did not call +him Porpy any longer, because he did not like to have his ears pulled. + +"I say, Ralph," he said, slyly, "you've no idea what a pair of elegant +legs you have." + +"Indeed!" said Ralph. + +"Yes," continued his tormentor, "and eloquent as well as elegant. They +are a speaking pair. Had you only seen yourself two minutes ago, when +there was nothing of you visible at all, at all, but just them same pair +of beautiful limbs, you'd--" + +But Rory never finished his sentence. He had stuck the toe of one of +his snow-shoes into the snow, and away he went next. + +Well, you see this learning to "skoot along," as Seth called it, was not +devoid of interest and fun, but in a few days they could skoot as well +as Seth himself, and even carry their guns under their arms in the most +approved fashion. + +It was well for them that they had learned to hold their guns while +walking with snow-shoes, for one day the trio had an adventure with some +illustrious strangers, that taxed all their skill both in walking and +shooting. I will introduce them to you in the next chapter. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +THE DOGS AND THE SNOW--THE SLEDGE-DOG--TRAINING CARIBOU--A DINNER-PARTY +INTERRUPTED--THE RACE FOR LIFE. + +"What's `agley'?" asked Rory of Allan, on the morning after the great +snowfall. + +"What is _what_?" Allan replied, looking at his friend in some +surprise. + +"What's `agley'?" repeated Rory. "Sure, now, can't you speak your own +language?" + +"Oh yes," said Allan; "but I don't know that anything in particular is +agley this morning. Is there anything agley with you?" + +"Be easy with a poor boy," said Rory. "Troth, it is the meaning of the +word I'd be after getting hold of." + +"Ah! now I see," said Allan. "Well, `agley' means `deviation from a +straight line;' `out of the plumb,' in other words." + +"I thought as much," Rory remarked in a thoughtful manner, "and it is +your own darling poet that says,-- + + "`The best-laid schemes of mice and men + Gang aft agley, + And leave us nought but grief and pain + For promised joy.'" + +Rory finished the quotation with a bit of a sigh, that caused McBain to +say,-- + +"What _is_ the matter with you, boy Rory? Have you received a +disappointment of any kind?" + +"Indeed, and I have then," replied boy Rory, "and I suppose I must +confess, for haven't Ap and myself been busy at it for the last three +weeks, making an ice-ship, and hadn't we got her all complete, keel and +hull and sails and all? and troth, she would have gone gliding over the +surface of the ice like a thing of life. It was only the wind we were +waiting for, and then we would have given you such a surprise, but +instead of the wind the snow comes. Isn't it a pity?" + +"Oho!" cried Ralph, "and so that accounts for Rory's mysterious +disappearances; that accounts for Ap and he being closeted together for +an hour or two every day for weeks back. Sly Rory!" + +"Yes," said Rory; "sly if you like, but it would have been such fine +fun, you know; and there isn't one of the three of you that wouldn't +have followed my example and gone in for ice-yachts too. And from all I +can learn it is the rarest sport in existence. Seth knows all about it, +and he says skating isn't a circumstance to it. Fancy gliding along +over the ice, on the wings of the wind, boys, at the rate of twenty +knots an hour!" + +"It would have been nice, I must confess," said Ralph. "Something else +will turn up, though," McBain said. "What?" cried Rory, all excitement; +"are you going to invent a new pleasure for us, captain?" + +"Your ice-yacht," replied McBain, "would have been a glorious idea if +the snow hadn't fallen, and in calm days I had meant to have got up +games of curling on the ice; and that, you know, is the most charming +game in the world." + +"Without exception," said Allan, enthusiastically. "But the snow, the +snow!" sighed Rory. "The beautiful snow has fallen and spoiled +everything." + +"Not quite so bad as that," said McBain, with an amused smile. "In a +day or two the snow will harden; we can then go long journeys and resume +our hunting expeditions." Walking on snow-shoes soon became not only +easy to our heroes, but positively pleasurable, so that they were able +to enjoy their rambles over the snow-clad country very much indeed. + +As for the dogs, they seemed to feel that they could not possibly get +enough of the snow. The exuberance of great Oscar's joy when he went +out with his mister for a walk, the first thing every morning, was +highly comical to witness. Out for a _walk_, did I say? Nay, dear +reader, that word but poorly expresses the nature of Oscar's pedal +progression. It was not a walk, but a glorious compound of dance, +scamper, race, run; gallop, and gambol. Had you been ever so old it +would have made you feel young again to behold him. He knew while Allan +was dressing that he meant to go out, and begin at once to exhibit signs +of impatience. He would yawn and stretch himself and wriggle and shake; +then he would open his mouth and endeavour to round a sentence in real +verbal English, and, failing in this, fall back upon dog language pure +and simple. Or he would stand as steady as a pointer, looking up at +Allan with his beautiful head turned on one side, and his mouth a little +open, just sufficiently so to show the tip of his bright pink tongue, +and his brown eyes would speak to his master. "Couldn't you," the dog +would seem to ask--"couldn't you get on your coat a little--oh, _ever_ +so little!--faster? What can you want with a muffler? I don't wear a +muffler. And now you are looking for your fur cap, and there it is +right before your very eyes!" + +"And," the dog would add, "I dare say we are out at last," and he would +hardly give his mister time to open the companion door for him. + +But once over the side, "Hurrah!" he would seen to cry, then away he +would bound, and away, and away, and away, straight ahead as crow could +fly, through the snow and through the snow, which rose around him in +feathery clouds, till he appeared but a little dark speck in the +distance. This race straight ahead was meant to get rid of his +super-extra steam. Having expended this, back he would come with a rush +and a run, make pretence to jump his master down, but dive past him at +the very last moment. Then he would gambol in front of his master in +such a daft and comical fashion that made Allan laugh aloud; and, seeing +his master laughing, Oscar would laugh too, showing such a double +regiment of white, flashing, pearly teeth, that, with the quickness of +the dog's motions, they seemed to begin at his lips and go right away +down both sides of him as far as the tail. + +Hurroosh! hurroosh! Each exclamation, reader, is meant to represent a +kind of a double-somersault, which I verily believe Oscar invented +himself. He performed it by leaping off the ground, bending sideways, +and going right round like a top, without touching the snow, with a +spring like that of a five-year-old salmon getting over a weir. + +Hurroosh! hurroosh! + +Then Allan would make a grab at his tail. + +"Oh, that's your game!" Oscar would say; "then down _you_ go!" + +And down Allan would roll, half-buried in the powdery snow, and not be +able to get up again for laughing; then away Oscar would rush, wildly +round and round in a complete circle, having a radius of some fifty +yards, with Allan McGregor on his broad back for a centre. + +After half-an-hour of such furious fun, is it any wonder that Allan and +Oscar returned to breakfast with appetites like hunters? + +The Skye terrier enjoyed the snow quite as much in his own little way as +Oscar did, and, indeed, he used to live in under it a goodly part of his +time every day. He in a manner buried himself alive. Plunket, the +mastiff, on the other hand, was always in the habit of taking his +pleasures in a quiet and dignified manner. + +"Now, gentlemen," said old Seth one day, "I guess I can a kind o' prove +to you that my dog Plunket is useful, if he ain't ornamental." + +And so the trapper set himself to manufacture a light sledge, and when +he had done so, and harnessed the great dog thereto, and seated himself +among the skins, it seemed about the most natural thing in the world for +that dog to draw the sledge, and Seth had never seemed so much at home +before as he did sitting behind him. + +Oscar took very great interest in the yoking of the sledge-dog, as +Plunket soon came to be called, so much so that the happy thought +occurred to Rory to try him in harness too, and this was accordingly +done. He was made tracer to Plunket, and although he managed sometimes +to capsize the sledge in the snow, he soon became less rash, and settled +quietly down to the work. + +A larger and very lightly-constructed sledge was then made, and in this +both Allan and Rory could travel over the snow with great ease, dragged +along by the two faithful dogs. + +"What a glorious thing it would be," said Allan one day, "if we could +tame and harness a real caribou!" + +"We can if we try, I think," said McBain. "Love and kindness will tame +almost any animal." + +"First catch your hare," said Ralph. + +But through Seth's skill a week had not passed before they were in +possession of not only one, but a pair of deer. A rude kind of a stable +was built for them on shore, and the taming commenced, and with such +good results that in little over three weeks they were both broken to +harness. Sledging now became quite a pastime, and great fun they found +it. + +Although, owing to the rugged nature of the ground, it was impracticable +to venture far inland with the deer-sledge, they were able to take quite +long journeys along the seashore, and here many strange birds and beasts +fell to their guns, and they met with many adventures. + +It is doubtful whether there is any animal in the world, that, for +strength and ferocity combined can be compared, to the polar bear, the +king of the sea of ice. I do not say that he is the bravest animal ever +I have met, but he is nevertheless daring enough in all conscience. +Daring and cunning too. A bear will attack one man, and even come out +of his way a long distance to do so, but I have never known an instance +of a single bear attacking a party of even two, unless he were chased, +and had to stand at bay. + +Hitherto our heroes had not met, nor ever seen, this gigantic monster. +But the time came. + +Allan and Rory were one morning very early astir, for in the company of +trapper Seth they were to make a long journey in pursuit of game, the +game in question being a smaller kind of seal, to be found in abundance +some distance along the coast to the east. So sledges were got out and +harnessed, a long time before the stars paled before the light of the +short Arctic winter day. The deer had been well fed, and were +consequently in fine form; they tossed their tall antlers in the air, +and seemed to spurn the very ground on which they trod. + +It was a glorious morning for a sledge-drive; the snow was hard, and +just sufficiently packed to make an easy path. They skirted a great +forest that at times grew almost close to the edge of the sea, and long +before the sun gleamed up from the north-east, to sink again in the +north-west in little over an hour, they had put twenty goodly miles +between them and the _Snowbird_. + +They were now at the scene of action--their shooting-ground--and, much +to their joy, they found the creatures they had come so far to seek. +The seals had come up out of the water to bask in the sun, and therefore +lay close, so that in little over an hour they had possessed themselves +of as many skins as they could conveniently carry, and were on the eve +of returning to the wood, where they had tied up their deer and left +their sledges. + +"I wonder," said Rory, "what is at the other side of that far-off point +of land yonder, and what we would see if we rounded it." + +"What a fellow you are for wondering, Rory!" said Allan. "Suppose now, +instead of wondering, we go and have a look?" + +"Agreed," said Rory; and off they set, Seth preferring to stay behind +and get the skins packed. + +It was a long road and a rough one; the snow was deeper than they could +have believed, but they had donned their snow-shoes, and so they reached +the point at last, just as the setting sun was tipping the far-off hills +with gold. + +The scene beyond the point was indeed a strange one; as far as the eye +could reach it was a sea of ice, but ice entirely different from the +smooth unbroken snow-clad plain that lay around the _Snowbird_. For +here the ice, exposed to the whole force of the heaving billows, had +been broken up into a chaos of pieces of every conceivable size and +shape. Nor was this ice quite untenanted. On the contrary, Allan and +Rory had arrived in time to be witnesses of a very busy scene indeed, +and one that they would be unlikely ever to forget. Half-a-dozen +enormous bears were feasting on the body of an immense whale, not fifty +yards from where Rory and Allan now stood. + +"Down, Rory!" cried Allan, throwing himself on his face; "here is a +chance for a bag, the like of which we never even dreamt of." + +It was evident that the bears had not become aware of their presence, +either by sight, or scent, or sound; they kept on with their ghastly +feast. + +Not quietly, though, but with much snarling and growling. + +"Just hear them," whispered Rory. "Wouldn't you think they'd be content +with a whole whale? But, big and all as they are, it will be many a day +before they finish their dinner." + +"They never will finish it," said Allan, "unless I have lost the art of +holding my rifle straight. Are you ready, Rory? Well, you take the +nearest Mr Bruin; aim straight for the skull. I mean to give that +centre gourmand a pill to aid his digestion." + +They both fired at once, and with this result--the centre bear sprang +into the air, then fell dead on the snow; the near bear was only +wounded, he sprang on one of his fellows, and a most desperate combat +ensued. Another volley from behind the rock put a different complexion +on the matter, and one more bear dropped never to rise. + +"Hand me a cartridge," said Rory, "I've just fired my last." + +"In that case," cried Allan, in some alarm, "let us be off, for I have +only two more cartridges; and look you, we have irritated these +monsters, they are making directly for us." + +This was true. A polar bear is at no time an animal of a very sweet +temper, but only just interrupt him at his dinner, and he will have +revenge if he possibly can. + +"Shall we fire again?" said Rory. + +"No, Rory, no. Come on quick, boy, there isn't a moment to lose." + +Even as he spoke the foremost bear had gained the shore, and as soon as +he spied our heroes he uttered a growl of rage that seemed to awaken +every echo in the rocks, and with head down he came ferociously and +quickly on to the attack. + +It was to be a race for life, that was evident from the first. On level +ground I think the advantage would have been all on the side of the men, +but here on the snow, and encumbered with their snow-shoes, the odds +were all on the side of the pursuers. Before they had run a hundred +yards this was evident. The bears were gaining, and there was fully a +mile to be covered. + +"Come on quicker if you can," said Allan, who was the better runner. + +"Couldn't we stop and drop the foremost?" said Rory. + +"No, no; that would be madness. The others would have all the more time +to come up." + +Presently Allan had recourse to a ruse which he had read of, but never +thought he would have to put in practice in order to save his life. He +took off his jacket and threw it upon the snow. The bears stopped to +sniff at it, and the temptation was now strong to fire, but he resisted +it. They had only two cartridges between them and death, so to speak, +and they did well to reserve them. + +When old Seth had quietly stowed away the skins, he sat down to rest +himself on the edge of one of the sledges, and so, dreaming and musing, +a whole half-hour passed away. Then he began to get uneasy at the +non-appearance of the boys. + +"And it's getting late, too," he said, as he shouldered his rifle. +"Seth will even go and seek them. Why," he added, after he had gone +some distance, "if yonder isn't both on 'em coming runnin'. And what is +that behind them? Why, may I be skivered if it ain't b'ars! Hurrah! +Seth to the rescue!" + +And, so saying, the old trapper increased his walk to a run, and the +distance between him and the boys was rapidly lessened. + +And dire need too, for both Allan and Rory were well-nigh exhausted, and +the foremost bear was barely forty yards behind them. + +But Allan's time had come for decisive action. He threw himself on his +face, the better to make sure of his aim, and almost immediately after +the foremost bear came tumbling down. And now Seth came up, and another +Bruin speedily followed his companion into the land of darkness. The +others escaped into the forest. + +It had been a very narrow escape, but McBain told Allan that very +evening that he was not sorry for it, as the adventure would surely +teach him caution. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +THE DEAD LEVIATHAN--THE MATE OF THE "TREFOIL" MAKES A PROPOSAL--A RICH +HARVEST--CHRISTMAS CHEER--SOMETHING LIKE A DINNER. + +The mate of the _Trefoil_ was a quiet and sober-minded man, as old +travellers in the Arctic regions are sometimes wont to be, but when +Allan McGregor told him the story of the bears and the dead whale +stranded in the frozen bay, he evinced a considerable deal of genuine +excitement. He sought out the captain. + +"I would fain see the fish, captain." + +[Greenland sailors always call a whale a "fish," although, as must be +well-known, it is a gigantic mammal.] + +"Well, my dear sir," said McBain, "that is a desire that can very easily +be gratified. We can start for the bay to-morrow early." + +"I shall be so pleased," said the mate. + +This expedition consisted of three guns--McBain himself, Allan, and the +mate of the _Trefoil_. + +There were still one or two bears prowling around the spot where the +dead leviathan lay, but they seemed to scent danger from afar, and made +off as soon as the expedition hove in sight. Probably they remembered +the events of yesterday, and cared not to renew so unequal a combat. + +The mate was evidently a man of business, for no sooner had they got on +to the ice alongside the whale, than he proceeded to open a small parcel +he carried, and to extract therefrom a pair of spiked sandals. + +"I'm going on board of her," he said to McBain, with a quiet smile. + +Next moment, pole in hand, he was walking about on top of the dead +leviathan, probing here and probing there with as much coolness as +though he had been a fanner taking stock in a patch of potatoes. + +He smiled as he jumped on shore again. + +"That is what doctors would call a post-mortem examination," said +McBain, smiling too. "Now, sir, can you tell us the cause of death?" + +"Oh! bother the cause of death," said the mate, laughing, as he stooped +down to undo his sandals. "Do you think I came all this way to +ascertain the cause of death in a dead fish? But if you really want to +know, I'll tell you. You see from the state of the ice there has been a +heavy swell on here, and the ice has been knocked about anyhow; that +shows there has been a gale away out at sea. Well then, the fish,"-- +here the mate poked his stick at the whale's ribs in a manner that, had +the monster been alive, must have tickled him immensely--"this fish, +look _you_, came nearer land to avoid the broken water, and ran ashore +in the dark; he hadn't got any steam, you know, to help him to back +astern, and he couldn't hoist sail, so he had to be content to lie on +his little stomach until--" + +"Until death relieved him of his sufferings," put in McBain. + +The conversation concerning the whale was renewed after dinner that +evening, the mate and Mr Stevenson having been, as was usual when +anything extra was on the _tapis_, invited to partake of that meal. + +Since they left the bay the mate had been unusually silent; he had been +thinking, and now his thoughts took the form of speech. He spoke +slowly, and with many a pause, as one speaks who well weighs his words, +toying with his coffee as he did so, and often changing the position of +the cup. Indeed, it was the cup he seemed to be addressing when he did +speak. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "as man and boy, as harpooner, second officer, or +mate, I have been back and fore to Greenland for little less than twenty +years. I've been shipwrecked a time or two, you may easily guess, and +I've come through many a strange danger in the wild, mysterious regions +around the Pole. But it is not of these things I would now speak, it is +about the last sad affair--my poor dear ship _Trefoil_, whose charred +ribs lie deep in the Arctic Ocean. Oh, gentlemen! oh, men! that was a +sad blow to me. Had we been a full ship we would have been home ere +now, and I would have been wedded to one of the sweetest girls in all +England. Now she is mourning for me as for one dead. But blessed be +our great Protector that sent the _Snowbird_ to our assistance in our +dire extremity! Where, now, would we--the survivors of the _Trefoil_-- +have been else? Our fate would have been more terrible, than the fate +of those that went down in that doomed ship. + +"I can assure you, my dear friends," he continued, "I have felt very +grateful, and have longed for some way of showing that gratitude. I can +never prove it sufficiently. But I have a suggestion to make." + +"Well, we are willing to hear it," said McBain; "but really, sir, you +owe us no gratitude, we only did our duty." + +"That `fish,'" said the mate--"what do you reckon its value to be?" + +"I know," said McBain, smiling, "that if we could tow it along to London +it would fetch a long price; but if we could tow an iceberg there about +ten millions of people would come to see it?" + +"How romantic that would be?" said Rory; "and fancy the Union Jack +floating proudly from the top of it!" + +"Charge them a shilling a head," said Allan, "and land 500,000 pounds!" + +"And spoil the romance!" said our boy-bard. + +"Oh, bother the romance!" said Ralph, "think of the cash!" + +"Well, but," said McBain, laughing, "we can no more tow the whale than +we can the iceberg." + +"That fish," said the mate, "myself and my men can flensh, cut up, and +refine. The produce will be worth three thousand pounds in the English +market; and beside, it will be work for the men for the winter months." + +"But you and your men must accept a share," said McBain. + +"If," replied the mate of the _Trefoil_, "you but hint at such a thing +again, that fish may lie there till doomsday. No, captain, it is but a +poor way of showing our gratitude." + +Once convinced of the feasibility of the mate's proposal, McBain lost no +time in setting about carrying the plan into execution. It would be a +sin, he argued, to leave so much wealth to waste, when they had ample +room for carrying it. Even romantic Rory came to the same conclusion at +last. + +"Had it been base blubber now," he said, "you'd have had to excuse me, +Captain McBain, from sailing in the same ship with it I'd have asked you +to have built me a cot in these beautiful wilds, and here I'd have +stopped, sketching and shooting, until you returned with a clean ship to +take me back to bonnie Scotland. But refined oil, sweet and pure,-- +indeed I agree with you, it would be a sin entirely to leave it to the +bears." + +A busy time now ensued for the officers and men of the _Snowbird_; they +had to be up early and to work late. Nor was the work free from +hardship. Had the bay where lay the monster leviathan--which the mate +of the _Trefoil_ averred was one of the largest "fishes" he had ever +seen--lain anywhere near them, the task would have been mere play to +what it was. First and foremost, sledges had to be built--large, light, +but useful sledges. The building of these occupied many days, but they +were finished at last, and then the working party started on its long +journey to Bear Point, as our heroes had named the place--Bear Point and +Good Luck Bay. + +As during the flenshing and the landing of the cakes of blubber, the men +would have to remain all night near their work, every precaution was +taken to protect them from cold in the camping-ground. Rory, Allan, and +Ralph must needs make three of the party, with Seth to guide them in the +woods, where they meant to spend the short day shooting. + +By good fortune, the weather all the time remained settled and +beautiful, and the four guns managed easily enough to keep the camp well +supplied with game of various kinds. The cold at night time, however, +was intense, and the roaring fires kept up in the hastily-constructed +huts, could scarcely keep the men warm. This was the only time during +the whole cruise of the _Snowbird_ that McBain deemed it necessary to +serve out to his men a rum ration. The time at which it was partaken +may seem to some of my readers an odd one, but it was, nevertheless, +rational, and it was suggested by the men in camp themselves. It was +served at night, just at that hour when Arctic cold becomes almost +insupportable. They did not require it by day, they could have hot +coffee whenever they cared to partake of it, but at half-past two in the +morning all hands seemed to awake suddenly. This was the coldest time, +and the fires, too, had died low, and the men's spirits, like the +thermometer, were below zero. But when more logs were heaped upon the +fires, and the coffee urn heated, and the ration mixed with a smoking +bowl of it and handed round, then the life-blood seemed to return to +their hearts, and re-wrapping themselves in their skins, they dropped +off to sleep, and by seven o'clock were once more astir. + +Several days were spent in the work of landing the treasure-trove, then +the tedious and toilsome labour of conveying it to the _Snowbird_ +commenced. There was in all nearly thirty tons of it to be dragged in +the sledges over a rough and difficult country, yet at last this was +safely accomplished, and the mate of the _Trefoil_ had the satisfaction +of seeing it stored in one immense bin, where it could await the process +of boiling down and refining, previously to being conveyed into the +tanks of the yacht. + +"I feel happier now," said Mr Hill, as he quietly contemplated the +result of their labours. "It is a goodly pile, thirty tons there if +there is an ounce; it will take us two good months' hard work to refine +it." + +"Meanwhile," said McBain, "we must not forget one thing." + +"What is that?" said Mr Hill. + +"Why," replied the captain, "that to-morrow is Christmas. You must rest +from your labours for a few days at least, there is plenty of time +before us. It will be well on to the middle of May ere the ice lifts +sufficiently to permit us to bear up for the east once more." + +"Well," said the mate, "the truth is, I had forgotten the season was so +far advanced." + +"You have been thinking about nothing but your `fish,'" said McBain, +laughing. + +"I have been full of that fish," replied the mate; "full of it, and that +is a curious way to speak. Why, that fish is a fortune in itself. And +I do think, captain, it is a sad thing to go home in a half-empty ship." + +"Ah!" McBain added, "thanks to you, and thanks to our own good guns, we +won't do that." + +"Talking about fortunes," said Allan, who had just come on deck, "we +ought to have a small fortune in skins alone." + +"In fur and feather," said Rory. + +"There is more of that to come," quoth McBain. "As soon as the days +begin to lengthen out we will have some glorious hunting expeditions, +and the animals our good Seth will lead us against, are never in better +condition than they are during the early spring months." + +Christmas Day came. McBain resolved it should be spent as much as +possible in the same way as if they were at home. There was service in +the morning on shore in the hall. Was there one soul in that rough log +hut, who did not feel gratitude to Him who had brought them through so +many dangers? I do not think there was. + +After service preparations for dinner were commenced. It was to be a +banquet. There was to be no sitting below the salt at this meal; all +should be welcome, all should be equal. I am afraid my powers of +description would utterly fail me if I attempted to give the reader an +idea of the decorations of the new hall. Almost every lamp in the +_Snowbird_ was pressed into the service. The hall was a galaxy of light +then, it was a galaxy of evergreens too, and everywhere on the walls +were hung trophies of the chase, and the part of the room in which the +table stood was bedded with skins. But how Peter, the steward, managed +to get the tablecloth up to such a pitch of snowy whiteness, or how he +succeeded in getting the crystal to sparkle and the silver to shine in +the marvellous manner they did, is more than I can tell you. And if you +asked me to describe the viands, or the glorious juiciness of the giant +joints, or the supreme immensity of the lofty pudding, I should simply +beg to be excused. Why that pudding took two men to carry it in and to +place it on the table, and when it was there it quite hid the smiling +face of Captain McBain, whose duty it was to confront it. If you had +been sitting at the other end of the table you couldn't have seen him. +Ah! but McBain was quite equal to the occasion, and I can assure you +that the hearty way he attacked that pudding soon brought him into view +again. + +Well, everybody seemed, and I'm sure _felt_, as happy as happy could be. +Old man Magnus looked twenty years younger, old Ap's face was wreathed +in smiles, and Seth looked as bright as the silver. I can't say more. +Rory was in fine form, his merry sallies kept the table in roars, his +droll sayings were side-splitting; and Ralph and Allan kept him at it, +you may be sure. Yes, that was something like a dinner. And after the +more serious part of the business was over, mirth and music became the +order of the evening; songs were sung and stories told, songs that +brought them back once more in heart and mind to old Scotland, where +they knew that at that very time round many a fireside dear friends were +thinking of them and wondering how they fared. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +HOCKEY WITH SNOW-SHOES ON--THE ICE BREAKS UP--CHANGE OF QUARTERS--GOING +ON A BIG SHOOT--THE GREAT SNOW LAKE--INDIANS--THE FIGHT IN THE FOREST. + +Winter wore away. Did our people in the _Snowbird_ think it long and +dreary? They certainly did not. To begin with, every one on board was +as healthy as a summer's day is long. It was mindful and provident of +McBain to have laid in a good supply of medicines, and these were about +the only stores in the ship that had never been as yet applied to. + +The captain was a good and a wise disciplinarian, however. He well knew +the value of exercise in keeping illness far away, so he kept his men at +work. On dry days they would be sent in parties to the forest, to cut +down and drag home wood to keep up roaring fires in the ship and in the +hall as well. When snow was falling, which was less often than might be +imagined, he had them under cover in the hall, where there was room +enough for games of many kinds, and these were varied by regular +exercise with clubs in lieu of dumb-bells. In open weather games were +not forgotten out of doors, you may be quite sure. Rory proposed lawn +tennis. + +"We could easily get it up, you know," he said. + +"Nothing would be more simple," was McBain's reply, "but it is far too +slow with the thermometer at zero. There isn't chase enough in it." + +"I have it," cried Allan, joyously. + +"What?" asked Rory, eagerly. + +"Why, _hockey_, to be sure; what we in Scotland call shinty, or shinny." + +"It is shinny enough at times," added McBain, laughing; "but how would +you set about it? You'd need a large ball, a small one would get lost +in the snow." + +"Yes," said Allan, "a large cork ball as big as a football, covered with +laced twine. Ap can make the balls, I know." + +"And we can go off to the woods and cut our hockey sticks," said Rory; +"it will be capital fun." + +There was no mistake about it, it was capital fun, Hockey is at all +times a glorious game, but hockey on the snow with snow-shoes on! Why +it beggars description. No wonder all hands entered into it with a +will. The amusement and excitement were intense, the fun and the frolic +immense, the tumbling and the scrimmaging and scrambling were something +to see, and having seen, to go to sleep and dream about and awake +laughing, and long to go to sleep and dream about it all over again. +The game ended at the goal in a mad _melee_, a medley of laughter and +shouting, a mixture of legs in the air, arms in the air, snow-shoes and +hockey clubs in the air, and heads and bodies anywhere. No wonder the +short winter's day wore to a close before they knew where they were. No +wonder that at the end of the games Allan McGregor, the inventor, was +dubbed the hero of the day, that he was cheered until the welkin rang, +that he was mounted shoulder high, and borne triumphantly back to the +_Snowbird_, Rory marching on in front with brandished hockey club, +leading a chorus which he had composed _on_ the spot and _for_ the +occasion. + +But it must not be supposed that their life was all play; no, for +independent of long hours spent in the forest in quest of game, Rory, +Ralph, and Allan set themselves with a will to clean, dress, and arrange +the many hundreds of beautiful and valuable skins they had possessed +themselves of. This was a labour of love. These skins were part of the +cargo with which they hoped to reach their native land once more in +safety. Some of the smallest and prettiest of them Rory took extra +pains with, and when he had got them as soft and pliable as silk, he +perfumed them and stowed them in the big box Ap had made for him, and +where his sketch-book--well-filled by this time--lay, and a host of +curious nameless pebbles and crystals, polished horns, strange moths, +butterflies and beetles, beautifully-stuffed birds and rare eggs. It +was a splendid collection, and Rory's eyes used to sparkle as he gazed +upon them, and thought of the time when in the old castle he would show +all these things to Helen McGregor and her mother. + +"Just look at him," Ralph would say at times like these; "he hasn't got +the pack-merchant idea out of his head yet." + +Winter wore away. It was nearly three months since they had all sat +down together to their Christmas dinner in the hall. The mate of the +_Trefoil_, and the men more immediately under his command, hadn't been +idle all this time. They had been busy refining the oil, and a grand +lot they made of it, and it was now carefully stowed away in the +_Snowbird's_ tanks. The mate had not been disappointed in the size of +his fish, it had turned out even better than he expected, and would +greatly add to the wealth of the cargo of the lucky yacht. The water +had to be pumped from the tanks to make room for it, but that was no +loss, for fresh-water ice was procurable in any quantity. It lay on the +decks of the _Snowbird_ abaft the foremast in gigantic pieces, and a +very pretty sight it looked when the sun shone on it. + +Fresh food and game of various kinds were now to be had in abundance. +Ay, and fish as well. Old Seth still continued to act as fisherman. He +caught them in that mysterious pool, which all the winter long had never +shown a single sign of freezing. + +When all was quiet of a night, probably in the moonlight or under the +light from the splendid aurora, our heroes used to take a walk sometimes +towards the strange pool. They took their guns with them, but only to +protect themselves from prowling bears. Awful-looking heads used to +appear over the surface of the pool. In daylight these creatures never +showed--only when all was still at night. What they were they could not +tell; nor can I. Probably they were merely gigantic specimens of +bearded seals or sea-lions come up to breathe, and looked larger and +more dreadful in the uncertain light of moon or aurora. + +Many though our heroes' adventures were, and thoroughly though they +enjoyed themselves, when the days began to get longer, when the snow +began to melt, and whistling winds blew softer through the forest trees, +and everything told them spring was on ahead, the thoughts that ere long +the _Snowbird_ would burst her icy bounds, that they would be once more +free, once more at sea, were very far from unpleasant to them. + +On days now when there was but little frost in the air, and a breeze of +wind with sunlight, the _Snowbird's_ sails would be unstowed, bent, and +partially unfurled, to air them. Even this made the saucy yacht look +quite coquettish again. "Ho! ho!" she seemed to say to herself, "so +there _is_ a possibility, is there, that some of these days I may once +more sport my beauty in waters blue? Oh! then, blow, breezes, blow, and +melt the ice and snow, for indeed I'm heartily tired of it." + +It would almost seem that the country around where the _Snowbird_ lay +was chosen as a winter residence _par excellence_ for the great Polar +bear. Perhaps the winter in the faraway and desolate regions around the +Pole is too rigorous for even his constitution; be this as it may, here +they were by the score, and all in all, well-nigh a hundred fleeces were +bagged in little over two months. + +These snow-bears got more chary at last, however, and when the March +winds blew they entirely disappeared. + +One day the beginning of the end of the ice came; a wind blew strong +from the east, and by noon all the bay behind the yacht was one heaving +mass of snow-clad pieces. It was well for the _Snowbird_ she was sturdy +and strong; the grinding bergs, small though they were, tried her +stability to the utmost, but the wind went down and the swell ceased; +yet fearing a repetition of the rough treatment, McBain determined to +seek a less exposed position farther to the west. The ice was now +loose, so as soon as there was enough wind to fill her sails progress +was commenced. It was slow hard work, but by dint of great exertion and +no little skill, a _portus salutis_ was found at last fifty miles +farther west, and here the captain determined to rest until the spring +was more advanced, and there was a likelihood of getting safely out to +sea: + +The region in which they now found themselves was even more romantic and +wild than that which they had left. There was still room for more skins +in the _Snowbird_, so a big shoot was organised--quite a big shoot in +fact, for it would probably be the last they would enjoy in this strange +country. + +The season was now sufficiently mild to render camping out to such +weather-beaten wanderers as the people of the _Snowbird_ practicable, +not to say enjoyable. So everything being got in readiness, the start +was made for up country, McBain himself taking charge of the expedition, +which mustered twenty men in all, ten or more of whom carried rifles, +but every one of whom was well armed. The principal tent was taken, and +the largest camping-kettle, a wonderful _multum-in-parvo_, that Seth +described as "a kind of invention that went by spirits-o'-wine, and was +warranted to cook for fifty hands, and wash up the crockery arterwards." + +Rory did not forget his sketch-book, nor his wonderful boat, which one +man could carry--not in his waistcoat pocket, as Rory banteringly +averred, but on his back, and three men could row in. + +They followed a gorge or canon, which led them gradually upwards and +inland. I call it "gorge," because I cannot call it glen or valley. +The bottom of it was in width pretty uniformly about the eighth part of +a mile, almost level, though covered with boulders and scanty scrub, +which rendered walking difficult. At each side rose, towering skywards, +black, wet, beetling cliffs, so perpendicular that not even a shrub, nor +grass itself, could find roothold on them, but on the top tall weird +pine-trees fringed the cliffs all along, and as they ascended, this +Titanic cutting so wound in and out, that on looking either back or away +ahead, nothing could be seen but the bare pine-fringed wall of rocks. + +Seth laughed. + +"You never seed such a place before, I reckon," he said, "but I have; +many's the one. You ain't likely to lose your way in a place like this, +anyhow." + +It was almost nightfall ere the cliffs began to get lower and lower at +each side of them, and soon after they cleared the gorge, and came out +upon a broad buffalo-grass prairie, which must have been over a thousand +feet above the level of the sea. + +And not far from the head of the gorge, near a clump of spruce firs, the +tent was pitched and the camp fire built, and Seth set about preparing a +wonderfully savoury stew. Seth's dinners always had the effect of +putting the partakers thereof on the best of terms with themselves. +After dinner you did not want to do much more that evening, but, well +wrapped in your furs, recline around the log fire, listen to stories and +sing songs, till sleep began to take your senses away, and then you did +not know a whit more until next morning, when you sprang from your couch +as fresh as a mountain trout. + +If they had meant this expedition for a big shoot they were not +disappointed. The country all around was everything a sportsman could +wish. There was hill and dale, woodland, jungle, and plain, and there +was beauty in the landscape, too, and, far away over the green and +distant forest rose the grand old hills, raising their snowy heads +skywards, crag over crag and peak over peak, as far as eye could reach. + +A week flew by, a fortnight passed, and the pile of skins got bigger and +bigger. They only now shot the more valuable furs, but skin of bear, +nor deer, nor lordly elk, was to be despised, while the smaller game +were killed for food. + +Another week and it would be time to be returning, for spring comes all +at once in the latitudes they were now in. There was still a portion of +the country unexplored. Rory, from a hill-top, had caught sight of a +distant lake, and was fired with the ambition to launch his fairy boat +on its waters. On the very morning that Seth, Rory, and Allan set out +to seek for this lake, with two of the brawniest hands of the crew to +bear the boat, McBain came a little way with them. + +"Take care of the boys, Seth," he said, with a strange, melancholy smile +playing over his face. "I had a queer dream last night. Be back +to-morrow, mind, before nightfall." The little party had their +compasses, and therefore struck a bee-line through the forest in the +direction in which they fancied the lake lay. On and on they went for +miles upon miles, and at last reached the banks of a broad river, and +here they encamped for lunch. Feeling refreshed, and hearing the roar +of a cataract, apparently some way down the stream, they took their road +along the banks to view it. They had not gone very far when they stood, +thunderstruck, by the brink of a tremendous subterranean cavern. Thence +came the roar of the cataract. The whole river disappeared suddenly +into the bowels of the earth [a phenomenon not unknown to travellers in +the wilds of America]. + +Marvelling much, they started off up-stream now, to seek for the lake. + +After an hour's walking, the forest all at once receded a good mile from +the river, and the banks were no longer green, but banks of boulders +mixed with silver sand and patches of snow. Here and there a bridge of +solid snow spanned the river to great banks and hills of snow on the +other side. As they climbed higher and higher, the river by their right +met them with nearly all the speed of a cataract. But they can see the +top of the hill at last, and yonder is the half-yellow, half-transparent +stream leaping downwards as if over a weir. + +And now they are up and the mystery is solved; the river is bursting +over the lip of a great lake, which stretches out before them for many +miles--forest on one side, hills beyond, and on the right a gigantic +ridge of snow. They call the lake the Great Snow Lake. + +They took their way to the left along its banks, going on through the +woods that grew on its brink, until they came at last to an open glade, +green and moss-covered. Here they encamped for rest, and soon after +embarked on the strange lake, leaving the men to look after the +preparation of dinner against the time of their return. + +Rory was charmed with his boat; he sat in the bows sketching. Allan +rowed, and Seth was busy fishing--no, _trying_ to fish; but he soon gave +up the attempt in despair, and almost at the same time Rory closed his +sketch-book. Silence, and a strange indefinable gloom, seemed to settle +down on the three. But there is silence everywhere around. Not a +ripple is on the leaden lake, not a breath sighs through the forest. +But, hark! a sullen plash in the water just round the point, and soon +another and another. + +"There is some water-monster bathing round yonder," said Rory; "and +indeed I believe it's the land of enchantment we're in altogether." + +They rounded the point, and found themselves in a bay surrounded by high +banks of sand and gravel, portions of the sides of which, loosened by +the thaw, were every now and then falling with a melancholy boom into +the deep black water beneath. Sad, and more silent than ever, with a +gloom on their hearts which they could not account for, they rowed away +back to the spot where they had left their men. + +There was no smoke to welcome them, and when they pushed aside the +branches and rushed into the open, their hearts seemed to stand still +with dread at the sight that met their eyes. Only the embers of a +smouldering fire, and near it and beside it the two poor fellows they +had left happy and well--dead and _scalped_! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They say that some of the Highlanders of Scotland possess the strange +gift, second sight. I know not, but McBain began to feel uneasy the +very moment his party had gone, and as the day wore on he became more +so. + +"Ralph, boy," he said at last, "let us break up camp at once and follow +the boys." + +"I'm ready now!" cried Ralph, alarmed at his captain's manner. + +A meal was hastily served out, and in ten minutes more the start was +commenced. + +The men marched in silence, partaking in a measure of the gloom of their +leader. There was no thought of shooting the game that crossed their +pathway. But the trail was easy. They reached the Great Snow Lake, and +bore round to the right, and soon entered the dark forest. Here in the +gloom the trail was more difficult to follow, and they soon lost it. +While they were waiting and doubting, the stillness of the forest was +broken by a yell, that not only startled the listeners, but chilled them +to the very marrow. Again and again it was repeated, mingled with +shouting and the sharp ring of rifles. It was a dread sound; it was +as-- + + "Though men fought upon the earth, + And fiends in upper air." + +"On, men, on!" cried McBain; "our boys are yonder; they are being foully +massacred!" + +As he spoke he dashed forward in the direction whence the sound +proceeded, followed by his brave fellows, and in a few minutes more had +cleared the forest and gained the glade where the unequal strife was +proceeding. And none too soon. Here were brave young Allan and stately +Seth, their backs against a tree, defending themselves, with rifles +clubbed, against a cloud of skin-clad savages armed with bows and +arrows, but brandishing only spear and tomahawk. + +High o'er the din of the strife rang our people's British cheer. One +well-aimed volley, then McBain charged the very centre of the crowd, and +blows fell and men fell like wintry rain. + +So quick and unexpected had been the onslaught that the savages were +beaten back in less time almost than it takes me to describe it--beaten +back into the forest and pursued as far as their own encampment. Here +they made a stand, and the battle raged for a whole hour; but when did +ever savages hold their own very long against the white man? + +Let us draw a curtain on the scene that followed--the rout and the +pursuit, and the return to the glade where the fight commenced. +Stillness once more prevailed as our people re-entered it. + +McBain glanced hastily and anxiously around. Where was Rory? Alas! he +had not far to look. Yonder he lay, where the fight had raged the +fiercest, on his back, quiet and still, with purple upturned face. + +It was a painful scene, and down from the sky looked the round rising +moon, while daylight slowly faded into gloaming. + +As the giant oak is bent before the gale, so bowed was McBain in his +grief. He knelt him down beside poor Rory and covered his face with his +hands. "My boy! my poor boy!" was all he could say. + +Seth had taken but one glance at Rory's dark swollen face and another at +the rising moon. "I guess," he muttered, "there has been pizened arrows +flying around." + +Then he disappeared in the forest. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +THE SEARCH FOR AN ANTIDOTE--CAN RORY BE DEAD?--SETH TO THE RESCUE--SETH +AS DOCTOR AND NURSE. + +"I reckon," said Seth to himself, "that there'll be just about light +enough to find 'em. Good thing now that the moon is full, for they do +say that gathered under the full moon their virtue is increased +fourfold, and what is more, old Seth believes it. Hullo! it strikes me +Rory is in luck. Here they grow as large as life, and twice as +natural." + +They were a deal bigger than Seth at all events. Tall and graceful +stems with an immensity of leaf, probably a plant belonging to the +_Solanaceae_ family. + +"I won't spare you," continued this curious Yankee trapper. + +Nor did he. He quite filled his arms with both stems and leaves, and +hastened back to the glade where lay poor Rory, to all appearance dead, +and surrounded by his sorrowing friends. + +"Clear the course," cried Seth, "for once in a way, gentlemen; Seth will +save the boy if there be a save in him. Carry him along to the lake. +Gently with him." + +There was little need of the latter precaution. McBain, hoping against +hope, took him up in his arms as tenderly as if he had been a child, and +apparently with as much ease, and carried him after Seth to the Great +Snow Lake. Here he was laid softly down, and the trapper proceeded in +the most masterly manner to bathe and rinse Rory's terrible wounds. The +white milky juice from the fleshy stem of the curious plant was then +dropped into them, and they were carefully covered over with bruised +leaves. + +"There is little else we can do now," said Seth, "but set us down to +watch." + +"And pray," murmured McBain. Then he said aloud, "I do not doubt your +skill, friend Seth, but here I fear there is more to contend with than +mortal power can hope to cope with. The poor boy is dead." + +For well-nigh an hour they sat beside him; gloaming had deepened into +night, and a fire had been lighted which brought forth Rembrandtine +shadows from the woods, and cast its beams far over the broad lake, +until they were swallowed up in the darkness. An hour, and yet no signs +of returning life--a whole hour, and they still seemed to look on poor +Rory as on the face of the dead. + +But see! can they be mistaken? Did not his lips move? They did, and +now they move again. A sigh is breathed, and presently one faint word +is ejaculated. + +The word was "Water." + +"He'll live," cried Seth; "he'll live! This is the proudest day for the +old trapper in the whole course of his born existence." + +And the cry of Rory for water was indeed the first sign of returning +life. A few drops of the juice of that wonderful plant were squeezed +into the wounded boy's mouth, and, ten minutes after, the colour had +returned to his face, and he was sleeping as sweetly and soundly as ever +he had slept in his life. + +McBain squeezed the hand of the honest trapper. In silence he pressed +the trapper's hand. Perhaps he could not have spoken at that moment had +he wished to do so, for there was a moisture in his eyes that he had no +need to be ashamed of. + +While Rory sleeps calmly by the rude log fire, there is other and sadly +mournful work to be attended to, for three of the _Snowbird's_ brave +crew lie stark and stiff. So the dead had to be laid out, and the +graves dug, where, as soon as sunrise, they would lie side by side with +those who had so lately been their foes. + +Two more men were wounded, but none so severely as Rory. + +There was little sleep for any one in the camp that night, for they were +constantly in dread of a renewed attack by the savages. Even the luxury +of a fire was a danger, and yet upon this depended Rory's very +existence; but patrols were kept constantly moving through the forest +near to prevent surprises. + +"Yet I don't think," said Seth, "that them bothering blueskins will come +around again. We've given them such a taste of our steel and our +shooting-irons that it ain't likely they'll have an appetite for more +for some days to come." + +"Shall you hunt them up in the morning," asked Allan, "and have +revenge?" + +"No," said McBain; "no, Allan. The principle is a bad one. People +should fight in defence of their homesteads, fight for life and honour, +but never to simply show their superiority or for mere revenge." + +Very simple was the service conducted by McBain by the graves of the +fallen men. Very simple, and yet, methinks, none the less impressive. +A psalm from the metrical version of Israel's sweetest singer, and a +prayer--that was all; then the graves were covered in and left, and +there they lie by the side of that Great Snow Lake, with never a stone +to mark the spot. Oh! but those three poor fellows will live for many a +day and many a year in the memory of their messmates. + +The march back to the _Snowbird_ was a mournful one. The skins they had +collected did not seem to have the same value now. McBain would not +leave them behind, however. Duty must not be neglected, even in the +midst of grief. + +And Rory? Would he live? Would the blood ever bound again through his +veins as of yore? Would he ever again be the bright-smiling, +sunny-faced lad he had been? For weeks this was doubted. He lay on his +bed, so pallid and worn that every one save Seth thought he was wearing +away to the land o' the leal. Seth would not give him up, though, and +many a herb and balsam he gathered for him in the forest, and many a +strange fish, cooked by Seth himself, was brought to tempt his appetite. + +Seth came on board one day rejoicing. + +"I have it now," he cried; "the old trapper has done it at last. Now, +boy Rory, as everybody calls you, you have nothing earthly to do in this +wide world but get well. And you'll eat what I brings, and nice you'll +find them, too." And Seth proceeded to open a handkerchief and display +to the astonished gaze of our heroes a lovely collection of large +truffles. + +"Why, truffles, I do declare!" exclaimed McBain. "I never imagined, +friend Seth, that the geographical disposition of the truffle extended +to these wild regions." + +"The trapper don't speak a word o' Greek," said Seth, looking at McBain +amusedly; "but them's the truffles, right enough, and they are bound to +send the last remnant o' that vile blueskin's pisen out o' boy Rory's +blood." + +It was a magical stew that Seth concocted that day with those truffles. +It even made Rory smile. Something of the old good-humour and happiness +began to settle down on the hearts of the people of the _Snowbird_ from +that very hour, and when, a day or two after, Rory joined his mess mates +at dinner, reclining on a sofa, all doubts for his safety were +completely dispelled. Dr Seth, as he insisted upon calling the +trapper, was invited to join the party, and not only he, but the three +mates, and a pleasant evening, if not a merry one, was passed. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +ONE LAST DAY ON SHORE--BEARING UP FOR THE EAST AND NORTH--FAREWELL, OLD +SETH; FAREWELL, PLUNKET. + +When at last Rory was so far recovered that he could go on deck with +safety, he gazed around him with delight. And well he might, for a more +wildly beautiful scene it has been the lot of very few travellers to +feast their eyes upon. + +"Why," he cried, with the old glad smile in his eyes, "summer has come +again while I have been ill. Oh! such beauty! such grandeur! All the +trees in leaf and the flowers in bloom, and not a bit of ice to be seen +in the bay. Shouldn't I like to go on shore once more before we start, +to cull a flower, or make a sketch." + +"Well, Rory," said McBain, smiling at his enthusiasm, "that is a wish we +can easily gratify if you really think you are strong enough." + +"Strong!" said Rory, "why, I'm strong enough to fell an ox. You've no +idea how strong I feel; nor how happy at being strong again." + +"Happy and thankful at the same time, I trust," said McBain. + +"Ay," put in Allan, "and you've no idea, Rory, how delighted we all are +to have you on deck again, and really with us, you know." + +Rory smiled with pleasure. He felt the genuineness of the words spoken. + +They spent that day on shore quietly, and very pleasurably. They sought +for no wild adventures, they sought but to saunter about and enjoy the +beauties of the landscape; it would be the last ever they would spend in +that lovely land, and they meant to leave it in peace. They would +neither draw a bead upon a bird, nor fire at a bear, nor lure a fish +from the river. + +It was not without a certain feeling of sadness they embarked at last, +when the day was far spent; and the same feeling stole over them when, +next day, they got the anchor up and slowly sailed away a-down the bay +with the jibboom pointing east and by north. By mid-day they were +opposite the spot where they had anchored all the winter. The new hall +which Ap had been so proud of constructing still stood there in all its +pristine beauty and pride. + +"It does seem a pity," said Ap, "to leave it to the Indians." + +"Ah! but," said McBain, who had overheard him, "it would be a greater +pity to land and burn it, wouldn't it, Ap?" + +"Yes, look, you see," was Ap's reply, his eyes still fondly resting on +the building, "I wouldn't think of that for a moment. Better the +Indians than that. Yes, yes." + +When the sun set that day the land was far away on the lee quarter; by +morning it had entirely disappeared, and all the adventures they had +enjoyed on shore seemed to our heroes like one long wild romantic dream. +Ere the second day had come to a close every one on board had quite +settled down again to the old yachting roving life, at once so jolly and +so free. Watches were kept as before, the dinner-hour was changed to an +earlier one, as it usually is at sea and a regular lookout was kept at +the bows, as well as a man at the mast-head in the crow's-nest. + +There was need for this, too, for the ice they soon found themselves +among was both heavy and dangerous. On this account the _Snowbird's_ +head was changed a few points nearer to the west, and very soon +afterwards the sea became more open and clear. + +A goodly ten-knot breeze blew steadily for days from the east, and +carried them well over to the land that bounds the opposite shores of +the Hudson Bay, and the course had once more to be changed for a +northerly one, to seek for the straits, and the icebergs again towered +around, mountains high, great gomerils of snow, that at times took the +wind quite out of their sails. This passage through the straits was at +once exciting and dangerous, and for three whole days and nights McBain +never slept, and very seldom did he sit more than a few minutes at +table. + +But open water came at last, and they would probably see no more of the +ice until they rounded Cape Farewell, and neared the shores of Iceland. +But something had to be done long before then. It must not be forgotten +that on the far northern coast of Labrador, in a wild and mountainous +lonely land, was the home of honest but eccentric old trapper Seth. +McBain had promised to take him back, and a sailor's promise is, or +ought to be at all events, a sacred thing. McBain's was. + +"But, for all that," said McBain, addressing Seth, "we shall be +unfeignedly sorry to part with you; we would far rather you came home +with us, and took up your abode at Arrandoon. We'd find you something +to do, something to shoot at times, though nothing to compare with the +glorious sport we've enjoyed in your society." + +"And, thanking you a thousand times," replied Seth, "but I guess and +calculate that at his time of life, civilisation would kind o' go +against the grain of old Seth." + +"And yet," persisted McBain, "it does seem sad for you to go away back +again to that lone wilderness into voluntary exile. What will you do +when you fall ill? We all must die, you know." + +"Bless you, sir," said Seth, "we old trappers don't mind dying a bit. +We're just like the deer of the forest. We seldom sicken for more than +about an hour. We simply falls quietly asleep and wakes no more under +the moon." + +So no more was said to Seth in order to dissuade him from his intention +of going home, as he called it. But when Seth's cape was sighted at +last, it was quite evident that our heroes had no intention of +permitting him to go away empty-handed. They could not pay him for his +services in coin. That would have been of little avail for a man in his +position. + +But a boat-load of stores of every kind was sent on shore with him, and +Seth found himself richer by far than ever he had expected to be in his +life. + +"Hurrah!" cried Seth, when he had reached his clearing and found his cot +still standing, "hurrah! the blueskins have been here, I can see their +trails all about. What a blessing I buried my waliables. They hain't +been near the place." + +The crew of the _Snowbird_ helped the old man to dig up "his waliables," +and he pronounced them all intact and untouched. They also did all they +could to reinstate him in comfort in his cottage. + +Then, with three ringing cheers, and many a hearty good-bye and +hand-shake, away they went to their yacht, and left poor Seth and +Plunket to their loneliness. + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +THE CONSULTATION--BEARING UP FOR HOME--THE WANDERERS' RETURN. + +On the twentieth day of July, eighteen hundred and ever so much, but +just one month from the day they had landed the Yankee trapper in the +wild country in which he was monarch of all he surveyed, the brave yacht +_Snowbird_, after many never-to-be-forgotten dangers and trials, had +reached the latitude of 81 degrees north, and was far to the east of +Spitzbergen. It is a month since we have seen her, and how she is +lying-to in front of a tremendous bar of ice, through which she has +tried, but tried in vain, to force a passage. All that men could do has +been done to penetrate farther towards the mysterious regions around the +Pole, and now a group of anxious men are assembled deep in consultation +in the saloon. The centre figures of this group are McBain and weird +old Magnus. The former is standing, with arms folded and lowered brow, +gazing calmly down on the table, where is spread out an old and tattered +chart,--an old and tattered chart, tapped fiercely by the thin skinny +fingers of Magnus, as leaning over the table he gazes up almost wildly +at the deep, thoughtful countenance of his commander. + +Allan and Ralph are leaning over the backs of chairs, and Rory is +leaning on the shoulder of Ralph, but every eye is fixed upon the +captain. + +Stevenson and the mate of the _Trefoil_ form a portion of the group; +they are seated a little way from the others, but are none the less +earnest in looks and appearance. + +"Behold what we have already borne!" Magnus was saying excitedly, in +fierce, fast words. "See what we have already come through in our good +yacht; storms have howled around us; tempests have raged; the sea has +been churned into foam, blown into whitest smoke, like the surf of the +wild Atlantic when the storm spirit shrieks among the crags of Unst, but +has she not come bravely through it all? Mighty bergs have tried to +clutch her, but she has eluded their slippery grasp, and now, though her +planks are scraped by their sides, till, fore and aft, she is as white +as the _Snowbird_ you call her, is she not as strong and as dauntless as +ever? What is there to come through, that we have not already come +through? What is it the yacht has to dare, that she has not already +dared? You sent for old Magnus to ask his advice; he gives it. Here in +that spot lies the Isle of Alba in a sea of open water. And wealth +untold lies there! Eastward--I say eastward still--and eastward, for +only by going eastward as heretofore, can you get north. Magnus has +spoken." + +"I will weigh all you have said, my good friend Magnus," was McBain's +reply. He spoke quietly and distinctly, with head a little on one side; +"but, before coming to a conclusion of any kind, I should like to hear +the opinions of our shipmates. The mate of the unfortunate _Trefoil_ +there has had longer experience of these regions than any of us, bar +yourself, bold Magnus. What says he? Does he think there is a sea of +open water around the Pole?" + +"It is my humble belief there is," said the mate; "and, leaving aside +all selfish reasons, I am with you, heart and soul, if you attempt to +reach it this season." + +"Spoken like a man," said McBain; "but do you think that, with ice +before us, like what you see, there is a possibility of reaching it in a +sailing-ship?" + +"You ask me a straightforward question," said the mate, "and in the same +fashion I answer you. I do not believe there is the slightest chance of +our doing so. Brave hearts can do a great deal in this world, but, +unaided by science, they cannot do everything. Hannibal, when he +crossed the Alps, did _not_ melt the rocks with vinegar. Science alone +can aid us in reaching the Pole. Sledges we need, balloons are needed, +and last, but not least, a ship with _steam_." + +"I entirely concur with you," said McBain. "What say you, boys?" + +"I think the mate of the _Trefoil_ is right," said Ralph and Allan. + +"'Tis not in mortals to command success," said Rory; "but I think we've +done rather more--we've deserved it." + +"Well said," cried Allan. + +"Yes, well said," added McBain; "and, after all, who shall say that we +may not return to these seas again. None of us are very old, and +wonders never cease. Why, I do declare that bold Magnus here looks +fully ten years younger with the good the cruise has done him?" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the weird old man, gathering up that chart that +seemed so sacred a thing in his eyes; "and if ever you do, and old man +Magnus is still alive, and has one leg left to hop upon, if it's only a +wooden one, he'll trust to sail with you for the land he loves so well." + +"The land we all love so well," said McBain; "the seas to which no one +ever yet sailed without wishing to revisit them." + +There was a faint double knock at the saloon door as the captain ceased +speaking, and Mitchell entered. + +"Well, Mr Mitchell, come in, but not so doubtingly; we have done +talking, and have come to the unanimous conclusion that the time has +arrived for us to bear up." + +"Hurrah! to that," said Mitchell, striking his left palm with his right +fist in a very solid manner indeed. + +"And now, sir," continued Mitchell, "I come to tell you that quite a +wall of mist is rolling down upon us from the nor'-east. It is as close +and black as factory smoke, and it is now close aboard of us." + +"Any wind?" + +"Not much, sir, but what little there is is coming down along with the +mist." + +"Then fill the foreyard, Mr Mitchell. Set every stitch she'll bear, +studding-sails if you like, so long as it isn't too dark and close, and +the bergs are anything like visible. I'll be on deck myself presently." + +"Well, Rory," said Captain McBain, entering the snuggery that same +night, rubbing his hands and beaming with smiles, "so we have borne up +at last; how do you like the idea of returning to your native land after +all your long journeyings and wild adventures?" + +"Indeed, I like it immensely," replied Rory, "barring the difference +that it isn't my native land I'll be going to after all, but the land o' +the mountain and the flood. Oh! won't I be happy to meet Allan's dear +mother and sister again! And even Janet, the dear old soul!" + +"Well," said McBain, taking up Rory's fiddle and thoughtfully bringing +some very discordant notes out of it, "I sincerely hope they will be all +alive to meet us: if the meeting be all right I don't fear for the +greeting." Then brightening up and putting down the instrument, he +continued, "I've been leaning over the bows for the last hour, and +thinking, and I've come to the conclusion that we haven't done so badly +by our cruise after all." + +"We haven't filled up with ivory from the mammoth caves though," said +Ralph, with a sigh. + +"Why that plaintive sigh, poor soul?" asked Rory. + +"Ah! because, you know," replied Ralph, pinching Rory's ear, "we haven't +made wealth untold, and I'll have to marry my grandmother after all." + +"Oh!" cried McBain, "your somewhat antiquated cousin; I had forgotten +all about her." + +"I hadn't," said Ralph. + +"Never mind," said Rory, "something may turn up, and even if the worst +comes to the worst, I'll be at the wedding, and play the Dead March in +Saul." + +"Ah!" said Ralph, "it is just as well for you that you moved out of my +reach, you saucy boy?" + +"There are two thousand pounds to a share," continued McBain, "if we +sell our furs and oils only indifferently well." + +"And sure," said Rory, "even that is better than a stone behind the ear. +And look at all the fun we have had, and all the adventures; troth, +we'll have stories to tell all our lives, if we never go to sea any +more, and live till we're as old as the big hill o' Howth." + +"But I think, you know, boys," McBain went on, "we have gained a deal +more than the simple pecuniary value of what lies in our tanks and +lockers. Increased health and strength, for instance." + +"Ah?" added Allan, "strength of mind as well as body, for, positively, +before I left Glentroom, I did little else but mope--now, I think I +won't do anything of the kind again. With the little capital I have +obtained, I will begin and cultivate my glen--it is worth more than +rabbits' food." + +"Yes," said McBain, "there is gold in the glen." + +"Speaking figuratively, yes." + +"It only needs perseverance to make it yield it. What a grand thing +that perseverance is! I think, boys, we've learned a little of its +virtue, even in this cruise of ours, though we haven't done everything +we had hoped. But perseverance builds names and fortunes--it builds +cities too." + +"It builds continents," said Rory, looking very wise--for him; "just +look what a midge of a creature the coral zoophyte is, but look at the +work it is doing every day, the worlds it is throwing up almost, for +future millions to inhabit." + +Thus continued our heroes talking till long past midnight; and even +after they had retired, one at least did not fall all at once asleep. +That one was Allan. He began to believe that his dreams of restoring +his dear old roof-tree, Arrandoon Castle, would yet be realised. That a +time would soon come when his mother and sister would sit in halls as +noble as any his forefathers had occupied, and mingle among a peasantry +as happy and content as they were in the good old years of long, long +ago. Perseverance would do it; and, happy thought, he would adopt a new +badge, and it would neither be a flower, nor a fern, nor a feather, but +simply a piece of coral. Then presently he found himself deep down in +the green translucent waters of the Indian Ocean, in a cave, in a coral +isle, conversing with a mermaid as freely as if it were the most natural +thing in all the world; then he awoke, and behold it was broad daylight. + +At least it was just as broad daylight as it was likely to be, while the +good yacht was still enveloped in the bosom of that dense mist. + +The _Snowbird_ evidently did not think herself the best used yacht in +the world. They would not give her sail enough to let her fly along as +she wanted to, and, more than that, she was constantly being checked by +the pieces of ice that struck and hammered at her on both bow and +quarter. Sometimes she seemed to lose her temper and stop almost dead +still, as much as to say, "I do think such treatment most ungrateful +after all I've gone through, and, if it continues, I declare I won't go +another step of my toe towards home." + +Ah! but when a week passed away, and when all at once the yacht sailed +out from this dark and pitiless mist, and found herself in a blue +rippling sea, with a blue and cloudless sky overhead, and never a bit of +ice to be seen, then she _did_ regain her temper. + +"Well," she said, "this _is_ nice, this is perfectly jolly; now for a +trifle more sail, and won't I go rolling home!" + +Sunlight seemed to bring joy to every heart. Our heroes walked the deck +arrayed in their best, walked erect with springy steps and smiling +faces. They had laid aside their winter and donned their summer +clothing, and summer was in their hearts as well. + +But the _Snowbird_, the once beautiful _Snowbird_, now all scraped with +ice and bare, should she have holiday attire likewise? She was not +forgotten, I do assure you. For days and days men were slung in ropes +overboard, on all sides of her, scraping, and painting, and polishing; +men were hung like herrings aloft, scraping and varnishing there; and +soon the decks were scrubbed to a snowy whiteness, and every bit of +brass about her shone like burnished gold. She seemed a spick-and-span +new _Snowbird_, and, what is more, she seemed to feel it too, and give +herself all the additional airs and graces she could think of. + +At long last the seagulls came sailing to meet her, and a day or two +thereafter,-- + +"Land, ho!" was the glad cry from the outlook aloft. Only a long blue +mist on the distant horizon, developing itself soon however, into a +black line capped with green. Presently the dark line grew bigger, and +then it became fringed beneath with a line of snowy white. + +Shetland once again; and when it opened out more, and began to fall off +to the bow, the primitive cottages could be descried, and the diminutive +cattle and the sheep that browsed on its braes. + +Even great Oscar, the Saint Bernard, must needs put his paws on the +bulwarks, and gaze with a longing sniff towards the land, then jumping +on deck go bounding along, barking for very joy; and as the little Skye +looked so miserable because he could only have a sniff through the lee +scuppers, Rory lifted him on to the capstan, and pointed out the land to +him. + +Then rough sea-dogs of men pulled off from a little village to greet +them, dressed in jackets like the coats of bears. Rough though they +looked, the foreyard was hauled aback all the same. + +"No," they said, "they didn't think the country was at war." That was +all they could say; but they gave the captain a week-old newspaper and +fish for all hands, in return for a few cakes of tobacco. + +Then away they pulled, and the _Snowbird_ sailed on. Lerwick was +reached in good time, and here they cast anchor for five hours; here +weird old Magnus bade them all an affectionate adieu, and here our +heroes landed to telegraph to their friends. + +How anxiously the replies were waited for, and with what trembling hands +and beating hearts they opened them when they did arrive, only those can +know who have been years absent from their native shores, without +hearing from those they hold dear. + +The gist of the despatches was as follows:--Number 1 to Allan from +Arrandoon. "All alive and well." Number 2 to Ralph. "Father alive and +well, will meet you at Oban. Your cousin, alas! no more. Fortune falls +to you." + +"Hurrah!" cried Ralph, "my cousin is dead!" + +McBain could not restrain a smile. + +"What a strange equivocal way of expressing your grief!" he said. + +"Och!" said Rory, "excuse the poor boy; he won't have to marry his +grandmother nevermore." + +Rory's own telegram was the least satisfactory. It was from his agents. +It was all about rents, and they didn't advise him to return to Ireland +"just yet." + +"I'm right glad of that," said Allan; "you shall stop with me till `just +yet' blows over." + +There was nothing to keep them much longer at Shetland. Yet the moors +were all purple with heather. Allan suggested gathering a garland to +hang at the _Snowbird's_ main truck, where the crow's-nest had been +through all the Arctic winter. + +"So romantic a proposal," said Rory, "deserves seconding, though 'deed +and in troth, when you spoke, Allan, of gathering heather, I fancied it +would be a broom you'd be after making. There _is_ a spice of poetry in +you after all." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Two days after this, on a lovely balmy August afternoon, with just wind +enough to fill the sails, the _Snowbird_, looking as white in canvas as +her namesake, looking as clean and as taut and as trim as though she had +never left the Scottish shores, rounded the point of Ardnamurchan, and +stood in towards Loch Sunart. Hardly had they opened out the broad blue +lake when McBain exclaimed, with joyous excitement in his every tone,-- + +"Boys, come here, quick!" + +The boys came bounding. + +"Look yonder, what is that?" As she spoke he pointed towards a tidy +little cutter yacht that came rushing towards them over the water as if +she couldn't come quickly enough. + +"The _Flower of Arrandoon_!" every one said in a breath. And so it was. +Too impatient to remain any longer at Oban, our heroes' friends had set +sail to meet them. In fifteen minutes more they were all together on +board the _Snowbird_. + +I would much rather leave it to the reader's imagination than tell of +the joyous greetings that followed, of the pleasant passage up the canal +and through the lake, till once more anchored in sight of the dear old +castle, surrounded with its hills of glorious purple heather; of the +return to Arrandoon, and the wildness of the dogs, and the ecstasies of +poor old Janet, for as the chain rattles over the bows and the anchor +drops in the waters of the lake--_the Cruise of the "Snowbird" ends_. + +It remains only for me, the author, to briefly breathe that little word, +which never yet was spoken without some degree of tender sorrow, and say +Adieu. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Snowbird, by Gordon Stables + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE SNOWBIRD *** + +***** This file should be named 38276.txt or 38276.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/7/38276/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |