The mutinous dogs eyed Toby's whip. They feared the whip, but no fear of
it could induce them to advance farther, in the face of the storm, upon
the unstable ice.
"What can we do now?" asked Charley in an appealing tone.
"I'm not knowin' what's ailin' the dogs," answered Toby rather
uncertainly. "I can't make un go ahead, and we can't bide here,
whatever. I'm fearin' with the way the ice heaves she's gone abroad at
the narrows. 'Tis no worse to the east'ard than 'tis here, and that's
the way the dogs wants to go. I'm thinkin' to let un go that way."
"But that will be going out to sea!" exclaimed Charley in alarm.
"Aye, but the mouth of the bay is quite a bit out past Deer Harbour, and
we're a good bit inside Deer Harbour P'int now," Toby explained. "Till
we gets beyond the mouth of the bay I'll be hopin' to get ashore. We'll
turn back before we goes too far, unless the ice floats us out."
"Let's get farther from the edge of the ice anyhow," said Charley, as a
great heave of the ice under his feet nearly threw him down.
"Aye, 'tis like to break up here any time. We'll let the dogs have their
will," agreed Toby, but not hopefully.
With that he commanded the dogs to rise, which they did readily, and
breaking the komatik loose he gave them the order to the right, and away
they went with a will, and with apparent satisfaction that they had won
their way in facing toward the eastward.
Now, with the wind nearly behind them, the animals traveled steadily,
and with no urging. It was much less trying, too, for Toby and Charley
as well as for the dogs.
"The ice has about stopped its roll," said Charley presently, and with
fresh hope. "It's a lot steadier."
"She is that," admitted Toby. "I were just thinkin' that the dogs knows
more than we does about un."
And so it proved. Following the ice that bounded the open water along
the north shore of the bay, they observed that the chasm of water
separating the ice from the land was narrowing. Presently, to their
great joy, the open water came to an abrupt end, with the ice firmly
connected with the shore.
"We're just across from the p'int outside Deer Harbour," said Toby. "We
can make un to Deer Harbour now, and bide there till the storm passes.
We'll be findin the Deer Harbour ice fast, I'm not doubtin'."
"But we'll keep close to shore!" suggested Charley cautiously.
"Aye, we'll do that," agreed Toby. "We'll be takin' no more chances with
the ice."
An hour later they again drove up to Skipper Cy Blink's trading store,
and received a hearty welcome from the Skipper.
"I'm wonderful glad to see you! Wonderful glad!" greeted the Skipper.
"I've been blamin' myself ever since you goes for lettin' you start with
the wind the way she were, and fearin' all the time you'd be gettin'
caught in a break up."
Skipper Cy Blink made much of the bear that Charley had killed with his
new rifle, and admitted that such game would surely have made him
forget, quite as readily as it had the boys, about the danger of the
ice going abroad.
"'Twere fine you knocks he over," enthused the Skipper. "I never could
have let a white bear pass without _tryin_' to knock he over, whatever.
You lads bide here in comfort till the storm passes. 'Twill be a short
un. I'm thinkin' 'twill clear in the night, and the wind'll shift
nuth'ard before to-morrow marnin', and before to-morrow evenin' the
ice'll be fast again on the bay."
And, as Skipper Cy had said, so it came to pass, and on the second
morning after their return Toby and Charley turned again toward Pinch-In
Tickle and Double Up Cove, with the ice beneath them as firm and solid
and safe as ever it was.
How glad the boys were to reach Pinch-In Tickle! There would be no more
danger of bad ice to face, and the difficult ballicaders were behind
them, a fact that was particularly appreciated by Charley.
They made a rousing fire in the stove, and fried some bear's meat to
satisfy a hunger that had been accumulating since they had left Deer
Harbour in the morning. Then a fishing net that needed repairs was made
ready to lash upon the komatik with the load in the morning, the dogs
were fed, and they settled for a cozy evening while they talked over
their adventures, and Charley's new rifle.
"'Tis the finest shootin' rifle I _ever_ sees," declared Toby, adding
wistfully: "I wishes I had one like she. Maybe with the silver fox
Dad'll be lettin' me have un."
"When I get home I'll have my Dad send you one, Toby," Charley promised
impulsively. "Don't say a thing to your father about it and I'll send
you one and him one too. I'd let you have mine, only it's the first one
I ever owned, and I shot the bear with it."
"Charley, you're wonderful kind!" and Toby's face beamed with pleasure.
"But," he added seriously, "'twould be too much, Charley. You mustn't
send un."
"No it won't be too much," insisted Charley. "I want to do it. It will
make me feel happy."
It was late the following afternoon when they reached Double Up Cove.
The komatik was laden much more heavily than on the outward journey, and
the dogs, perforce, traveled much more slowly.
When they had unloaded the komatik, and carried the meat and other
cargo into the cabin, they brought in the komatik box, but before they
unpacked it Mrs. Twig and Violet must needs see Charley's new rifle, and
he exhibited it with due pride to be admired with real appreciation.
The komatik box was then opened, and Charley drew forth the shawl and
presented it to Mrs. Twig.
"Oh, Charley, lad!" she exclaimed, holding it up. "I been wantin' a
shawl all my life and never has un, and this un is a _rare fine_ shawl.
'Twere wonderful kind o' you to think o' me and get un!"
Violet was standing wistfully by, and she hugged her mother to show how
deeply she shared her mother's pleasure.
In the meantime Charley was delving into the depths of the komatik box,
and now he brought forth another package, which he presented to Violet,
remarking:
"There's something for you, Violet. I hope you'll like it."
Skipper Blink had packed the doll most carefully in a box, that its
dainty dress might not be soiled. In great eagerness of anticipation
Violet removed the wrappings one by one. When at last the doll was
disclosed, she gasped for a moment, then caught her breath, and then in
a spasm of joy hugged it to her breast with eyes brimming with tears.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! How _pretty!_ How _wonder_ful pretty!" she cried in
ecstasy. "I _loves_ un! I _loves_ un! Oh, _Charley!_" and with one arm
hugging the doll, she flung the other arm around Charley's neck in
unrestrained joy, and kissed his cheek. "Charley, you brings me the
first doll I _ever_ has in my life!"
It was the most sincere exhibition of appreciation and pleasure Charley
had ever witnessed, and the pathos of it made him wink hard to keep back
the tears that threatened to come into his own eyes.
In the kindlier land from which he came, where dolls and other toys are
lavished upon the children, and they accept them as a matter of course,
and soon cast the old ones aside for the new, no such joy as that which
Violet experienced is possible. She was at that moment certainly the
happiest little girl in all The Labrador, and perhaps in all the world.
And for many years to come that doll was to be her most precious
possession. No other could ever take its place. She talked to it and
loved it as though it were human, and alive, and to her it was indeed a
living thing. She told it all her joys, and went to it for comfort in
all her sorrows.
What exclamations of appreciation there were when Toby produced the
ancient "sweets" that he had purchased from Skipper Blink! They were as
hard and ordinary and stale as ever candies could be, and at home
Charley could not have been tempted to taste them. But here even he
pronounced them excellent, and to the others they were indeed a rare
treat.
Just as Mrs. Twig announced supper one evening a week after the boys had
returned from their trip to Deer Harbour and their adventure with the
bear and on the ice, the door unexpectedly opened and there stood
Skipper Zeb in the lamplight, laughing heartily at the fine surprise he
had given them.
Violet ran to him and threw her arms around him, and every one gathered
about him in joyful welcome, while he picked ice from his eyelashes and
his beard, and chuckled contentedly:
"Well, now! Here we be, safe and sound and snug! Everybody well and
happy! 'Tis wonderful fine to be back."
"'Tis wonderful fine to have you back!" Mrs. Twig declared, and
everybody echoed the sentiment.
When he had taken his things off, and properly greeted every one, and
Toby and Charley had unpacked his toboggan and carried into the house
his winter's catch of pelts and his traveling equipment, he turned to
Charley.
"Well, now!" said he. "You looks like a Labradorman! And how does you
like livin' at Double Up Cove? 'Twere a proper way to get out of that
fix you gets in when the mail boat leaves you, I'm thinkin', from the
way you looks! Rugged and well! And everybody happy!"
"I've had the best time this winter I ever had in my life," Charley
declared.
"Well, now! That's the way to talk! That's the way to make the best of a
bad job! 'Twere lookin' like a wonderful bad job you makes of un, and a
wonderful bad fix you gets in, when the mail boat goes and leaves you.
But you gets out of the fix and makes the best of what you finds and
turns trouble into a good time! That's what I calls risin' above
trouble," and Skipper Zeb slapped Charley upon the shoulder in hearty
approval. "Now we'll set in and eat. I'm as hungry as a bear, and I
could eat a bear if I had un to eat."
"'Twill be bear's meat you'll eat," smiled Mrs. Twig, placing a dish of
meat on the table.
"Charley knocks un over, and 'twere a white bear," Toby announced. "And
Charley fights a wolf pack, and knocks one of un over with an ax."
As they ate Skipper Zeb heard from Toby the stories of Charley's fight
with the wolves and of the shooting of the bear, interrupting the
narrative with many delighted exclamations.
"Now I wants wonderful bad to hear how you lads were makin' out to get
back to Double Up Cove after you leaves the Black River tilt," said
Skipper Zeb. "The wind comes to blow a gale before you has time to get
to Swile Island, and I wonders and wonders about un, and I fears you
gets in a wonderful bad fix. But they's no way I can be helpin', so I
says, ''Tis no use to worry. To-day's to-day and to-morrow's to-morrow,
and so I'll trust the Lard and the good sense o' the two lads to get un
out o' any fix they gets in.'"
"Were you findin' the oars we caches on Swile Island?" asked Toby.
"Aye, I finds un, but I'm not findin' the boat," nodded Skipper Zeb, a
puzzled look on his face. "I'm not knowin' what to think o' that. When I
finds the oars this marnin' I says, 'The lads gets to Swile Island,
whatever.' But when I'm not findin' fin or feather o' the boat, I'm not
knowin' what to think about un. I figgers that they's no chanst to get
away from Swile Island with the boat, whatever, with the storm and the
high seas that's runnin' for a week or ten days, and I knows you'll be
gettin' out o' grub."
Then Toby told him of his own and Charley's experiences, and while he
listened admiringly he asked many questions.
"Well, now! With good sense and the Lard's help you pulls out of a
wonderful bad fix. You does all you knows how, and then prays the Lard.
That's the way! 'Tis no use wastin' time prayin' till you does your best
first," and Skipper Zeb nodded his head approvingly. "Well, now!" and
leaning back his head he looked at Charley approvingly. "When you shoots
a deer I'll be namin' you a Labradorman! 'Tis the proudest name I'm
thinkin' of, and _that_ you'll be! There's a fine chance to knock over
some deer right handy. I sees fine footin' this evenin'. A big band of
deer's workin' down this way, and they're like to come out any time.
'Tis a wonderful big band. Some years they comes and some years they
don't. This year they comes."
Skipper Zeb explained to Charley that at this season of the year the
snow became so deep in the wooded interior that the caribou, or wild
reindeer, had a great deal of digging to do with their hoofs to reach
the thick beds of moss which covered the ground beneath the snow, and
upon which the animals chiefly fed.
He also explained that each fall the caribou gathered in great bands or
herds, and when food became hard to get, they would move or migrate to
barren places, where the wind, its force unobstructed by trees, swept
the greater part of the snow from the moss covered ground, and thus it
was much easier for the animals to reach food. Such a barren was that
where the wolf fight had taken place, and where Toby had caught his fox.
"This band, I'm thinkin', is on the barrens to the nuth'ard of the mesh,
where you fights the wolves," said Skipper Zeb. "The footin' goes that
way. We'll have a look in the marnin'."
Not a sign of caribou had Toby or Charley seen the whole winter, and
Skipper Zeb's statement that a large herd was so near was exciting news.
All winter they had been living upon rabbits, partridges and an
occasional porcupine. Caribou venison would be a great treat, and the
boys were keen for the hunt.
The great event of the evening was reserved until after they had eaten.
Then Toby, with much dignity, opened a chest and brought forth the otter
and marten skins, and, as a climax, the silver fox pelt. Skipper Zeb was
quite overcome. His praise of the boys was unstinted.
"I makes a fine winter's hunt myself," said he, "but nary a silver has I
ever caught. I has a rare fine catch of martens and minks, and one cross
fox, three reds and seven whites, but I never catches a silver. 'Tis
worth all the fox skins I gets three times over!"
"And now we'll be havin' a wonderful lot o' things we needs," Mrs. Twig
smiled happily.
"Aye, _that_ we will!" Skipper Zeb boomed heartily. "We can afford un
now without stintin'. We'll have un! We'll have nigh to anything we're
minded to buy!"
Breakfast the following morning was an exciting meal. The boys could
scarce restrain their eagerness to be away to the barrens to look for
caribou, and they could talk of nothing else.
"I'm thinkin'," suggested Skipper Zeb, "that if you lads had done a bit
of huntin' back over the barrens after you sees the wolves that you'd
have found some scatterin' deer there then. Wolves follows deer and
kills un to eat, and there's not like to be wolves when there's no deer
about."
As soon as breakfast was finished the dogs were harnessed, and day was
just breaking when Skipper Zeb and Toby and Charley set forth on their
caribou hunt. They had scarcely reached the marsh below the barrens when
the dogs began to sniff the air, and to show much eagerness to go
forward.
"See un sniff! See un sniff, now!" and Skipper Zeb grinned. "The wind's
down from the barrens, and the dogs smells the caribou. We'll find un
feedin' there, and there'll be aplenty of un."
At the edge of the barrens the komatik was stopped, and the dogs were
secured that they might not interfere with the hunting. Then the three
proceeded cautiously, with their rifles ready, over the slope of a
knoll, Skipper Zeb in advance. On the summit of the knoll Skipper Zeb
halted, and pointed to a moving mass nearly a mile away.
"See un?" said he. "There's hundreds of un! There's not much danger
we'll startle they, with the wind nuth'ard. When deer are in big bands
they don't startle easy. We'll get all we wants of un."
Gently rising knolls punctuated the barren plateau. Skipper Zeb, leading
the way, set forward at an easy but rapid pace. As they approached the
feeding herd, he practiced some caution, until at length he stopped,
crouching behind a rock, until the boys joined him.
For some time, following depressions between the knolls, the caribou had
been hidden from view. Now, peering over the rock, they saw the great
herd directly before them. Hundreds upon hundreds of the sleek, graceful
animals, spreading over the hills and knolls beyond, were pawing away
the hard snow and eating the thick growth of moss that lay beneath it,
with some old bucks strolling among them as sentinels.
"We're in fine shootin' range, and we'll be gettin' all we wants of un,"
said Skipper Zeb. "Go at un now!"
Charley was so excited that he could hardly hold his rifle, but he aimed
and fired. Skipper Zeb and Toby fired at the same time, and the three
continued to shoot into the herd until fourteen of the fine antlered
beasts lay stretched upon the snow.
"That's enough of un!" directed Skipper Zeb. "'Twill be all we wants,
and there'll be enough for Long Tom Ham, too. We'll knock down no more
than we can use handy."
With the report of the rifles the animals had begun to move restlessly
about. Some of the bucks were snorting, but because the wind was blowing
down from the herd toward the hunters, no smell of their enemies reached
the caribou. The sound of shooting and even the view of the hunter will
often fail to startle a herd, unless they get the smell. But something
had happened to some of their number, and the sentinels were on the
alert.
Skipper Zeb, with Toby and Charley, stepped out from cover and
approached their victims. Suddenly panic seized the herd. It is
probable that in their sudden terror the animals did not see or realize
that these were the enemies that had attacked them, but with one accord
they started forward. Slowly at first the great herd moved, and then, in
an instant, were in a wild stampede.
The three hunters stood directly in the pathway of the fear-blinded
animals. On they came, the thousands of hoofs beating upon the frozen
snow with an ominous roar like that of a great wind, and smashing
everything before them.
"Run! Run! They'll trample us down!" yelled Skipper Zeb.
They turned and ran, but they could not run with half the speed of
deer.