Outwitting the Enemy
Among his neighbours at Seal Cove, 'Duke Radford counted one very
pronounced enemy, and that was Oily Dave, master of one of the
sealing boats, and keeper of the only whisky saloon within twenty
or thirty miles of Roaring Water Portage. The cause of the enmity
was now nearly two years old, but like a good many other things it
had gained strength with age. Oily Dave had been supplying the red
man with liquor, and this in defiance of the law which forbade such
sales; 'Duke Radford reported him, and Oily Dave was mulcted in a
fine so heavy that it consumed all the profits from his Indian
traffic, and a good many other and more legitimate profits also.
Since then Oily Dave had hated the storekeeper with a zest and
energy which bade fair to become the ruling passion of his life;
but except for a few minor disagreeables, that could hardly be said
to count, his ill will had thus far not gone beyond sneer and
invective.
Katherine was always afraid of him, and of what he might do to her
father if he had the chance; for his nature was small and mean, so
small and so mean that, though he might not risk a reprisal which
would bring him within the reach of the law, he would not hesitate
at any small, mean act of spite which might injure his victim, yet
would not reflect on himself. Since knowing of her father's
trouble, she had been more afraid of Oily Dave than ever, for there
was a sinister look about the man, and she feared she knew not what.
When the dogs, with their master in the sledge, and Katherine
following close behind, dashed up to the door of the store that
evening, Oily Dave was the first person to step forward to lend a
helping hand in getting 'Duke Radford housed and his hurts
examined. There were six or seven men loafing about the store that
evening, and they all helped; so Katherine, when she had kicked off
her snowshoes, was able to dart indoors to warn Mrs. Burton about
what had happened.
"He ought to be put to bed at once, Nellie. Night school must go
for to-night, and if he has to keep his bed to-morrow, why, I must
teach in here, or even in the store," she said hurriedly, deciding
everything on the spot as was her wont, because Mrs. Burton always
found it so difficult to make up her mind on any subject.
"Do you think that would be best, or shall we give him our
bedroom?--though that would be frightfully inconvenient, and I
should be so worried to be obliged to put the children to bed in
that other room at night, so far away from us, after the store is
closed," sighed Mrs. Burton, who stood still in the middle of the
room, clasping and unclasping her hands in nervous distress, while
Katherine dragged off her encumbering wraps, tossing them in a heap
on the floor.
"Come and help me to make the bed, Nellie," she said, turning away
and leaving Mrs. Burton's plaintive questions unanswered.
The elder sister at once did as the younger requested, sighing a
little as she went, yet relieved all the same because the matter
had been settled for her. By this time some of the men had brought
'Duke Radford into the store, and, sitting him on the bench by the
stove, were peeling off his outer wraps. Some of the others had
unharnessed the dogs, while Phil carried out their supper. Miles,
meanwhile, was looking sharply after the store; for, although these
neighbours were so kind and helpful, some of them were not to be
trusted farther than they could be seen, and would have helped
themselves to sugar, beans, tobacco, or anything else which took
their fancy if the opportunity had been given them for doing so.
Whilst two of the men took 'Duke Radford's clothes off, and got him
safely into bed, another man approached Miles and asked for a
particular kind of tobacco. The boy sought for it in the place
where it was usually kept, but, failing to find it, turned to
Katherine, who stood in impatient misery by the stove, waiting to
go to her father when the men had done with him.
"Katherine, where is the Black Crow tobacco kept now? It always
used to be on the shelf below the tea packets."
"We are out of it," she replied. "But we shall have plenty
to-morrow. I had to cache most of the stores we were bringing; but
they are safe enough, for I turned the little sledge upside down on
the top of them, so I guess neither wolf nor wolverine will be able
to get at them to tear the packets to pieces."
"You won't be able to get them either, for with all this snow you
will never be able to find them," said the man in a disappointed
tone, for he was a great smoker who cared for only one sort of
tobacco.
"Oh! make your mind quite easy on that score," replied Katherine.
"I hung Father's broken snowshoe in a branch of the tree, to mark
the place, and I shall go over quite early to-morrow to bring the
goods home."
Directly she had spoken she repented her words; for she saw,
without appearing to see, a look full of meaning which passed
between Oily Dave and the customer who had been disappointed. It
was only a glance, and might stand for nothing, but she had seen it
and was angry with herself for the indiscretion which had made her
utter words which had better not have been spoken. The men came
out of the bedroom then, so she and Nellie were able to go in.
'Duke Radford was considerably battered. He had a broken collar
bone; one shoulder was bruised so badly that it looked as if it had
been beaten with a hammer; and one side of his face had a deep
flesh wound. Mrs. Burton was a capital nurse: she and Katherine
between them soon had the sufferer as comfortable as it was
possible to make him; then they fed him with strong hot broth,
after which Mrs. Burton remembered that Katherine had had no
supper, and hustled her off to the other room in search of food.
Katherine noticed as she went back through the store that Oily Dave
had gone, also the man who had wanted to buy the Black Crow tobacco.
"Miles, can you leave Phil to look after things, and come with me
for five minutes?" she said, with a thrill of anxiety in her tone.
She was faint and spent with hunger and fatigue, the prospect
before her seemed too dreadful to be faced, yet deep down in her
heart was the stern determination not to be outwitted if she could
help it. But she must first of all get rid of this stupid
trembling, which made her feel as if her limbs were not strong
enough to bear the weight of her body; so sitting down at the table
she prepared to get a good square meal as the first step towards
the successful accomplishment of what was to come after. Miles was
a minute later in coming, because he had been attending to a
customer. "What is the matter; is Father very bad?" he asked, with
a quaver of fear in his tone. Accidents, or sickness of any kind,
always seemed so much worse in winter, and then death and disaster
had already worked havoc in the family.
"Poor Father is bad enough, but I dare say he will do very well
with care, and Nellie is a famous one for looking after sick
folks," Katherine answered, as cheerfully as she could, quick to
understand what was in the mind of Miles, and feeling genuinely
sorry for him. Then she said briskly: "But I have gone and done a
fearfully stupid thing to-night, and I want to know if you feel
brave enough to help me out of a very big muddle?"
Miles bristled up in an offended fashion. "I suppose I've got as
much pluck as most people; anyhow I'm not quite a coward."
"Of course you are not, or I should not have dreamed of asking you
to help me to-night," Katherine said, with a nervous laugh; then in
a jerky tone she went on: "I want you to get the store shut up as
soon as possible, then, directly the people have cleared off, we
have got to go and bring those stores home that I had to cache."
"But we can't go at night, and in a snowstorm!" expostulated Miles;
but his eyes glowed and his nostrils dilated, as if the very
thought of such an expedition sent thrills of delight all through
him.
"It is not snowing so badly now, and luckily the moon will help us.
Moreover, if we don't go tonight it will not be of much use to go
at all; for if we wait until the morning I fancy we shall find that
most of the stores have disappeared, especially the Black Crow
tobacco," Katherine replied, then told him of the look she had seen
pass between the man who wanted the tobacco and Oily Dave, after
she had been so foolishly frank in explaining where the stores were
to be found.
"I'll go and shut up sharp, then we'll start as soon as possible,"
Miles said, with a jump of irrepressible joyfulness, for nothing
appealed to him like adventure.
"Don't let anyone even guess what we are going to do!" cried
Katherine, who felt that enough indiscretion had been committed
that night to last them for a long time to come.
"Trust me for that!" replied Miles. "I shall pull a face as long as
a fiddle, and yawn my head half off while I'm clearing up. Oh, it
will be rich to out-wit that precious pair! I had been wondering
why Stee Jenkin should go off so quiet and early with Oily Dave,
but I should never have guessed at the reason. I shall be through
with the shutting-up in about twenty minutes, and I've had my
supper, so there won't be anything to wait for."
Katherine felt better when she had eaten her supper; the thought of
what was before her was less of an ordeal, and she was more than
ever determined that Oily Dave and the other man must be outwitted,
cost what it might. There was to be no night school that night, so,
directly the door of the store was shut and barred, Miles and
Katherine were able to set out. The twins were in bed, and fast
asleep. Mrs. Burton was still busy in her father's room, so there
was only Phil to look after things.
"Tell Nellie when she comes out of Father's room that Miles and I
have got some work to do outside which may take us an hour or
more," Katherine said to her youngest brother. "Meanwhile you must
just make yourself as useful as possible--clear away supper, wash
the cups and plates, take care of the fire, and look after things
generally. You will have a school holiday to-morrow, so no lessons
need be learned to-night. We shall have to do the store work while
Father is ill, so you and Miles will have to be satisfied with
night school with the men instead of having lessons in the day."
"Hooray!" chirruped Phil, who had no love of learning, but always
yearned for action. Then he asked anxiously: "Couldn't you stay in
and look after things to-night, while I go and help Miles with the
outside work?"
Katherine laughed and shook her head. "No, no, the outside work
would be too heavy for you to-night; you might even get your nose
frozen. But you must stay up until we come back, because Nellie
may need you to help her."
"I'll stay," replied the boy, but he manifested so much curiosity
about the nature of the outside work that had to be done that
Katherine had finally to command him to stay inside the house.
Neither she nor Miles wished anyone to know what they were going to
do: there were so many reasons for keeping their errand secret.
Mrs. Burton would have wept and wailed at the mere thought of such
a journey at night, while Phil simply could not keep a secret.
The dogs were tired and sleepy, very unwilling to be turned out and
harnessed again, but directly they were fairly out of their shed
the cold seemed to rouse them, and they set off at a great pace.
Katherine and Miles were riding in the empty sledge now, with their
snowshoes tucked in beside them. The snow-storm had spent itself;
the moon shone out of a cloudless sky, while myriads of stars lent
their aid to the illumination of the night. Even the cold was less
noticeable than in the afternoon, when the damp wind blew off the
water and the snow was falling so fast.
"It was worth while your being indiscreet for once, seeing that it
has brought us out on a night like this," Miles said, as he
crouched low in the sledge, holding on with both thickly mittened
hands, for Katherine was driving, and the dogs were going with
leaps and bounds, which made the sledge bounce and sway in a very
erratic fashion.
"You won't say the indiscretion was worth while if it turns out
that we are the second arrivals and not the first," Katherine
answered. But her tone was buoyant and hopeful; for she had little
doubt about getting to the scene of her father's accident before
Oily Dave and Stee Jenkin had succeeded in locating the spot.
"Wolves! listen to them!" exclaimed Miles, as a hideous yapping and
howling sounded across the snowy waste.
"They are a good way off though, and I brought a pair of Father's
revolvers in case of accident," Katherine replied, her heart
beating a little quicker, although in reality she would much rather
have met two or three wolves just then than have encountered Oily
Dave and the man who had wanted to buy the Black Crow tobacco.
"I'm glad you thought to bring them," said Miles. "Nick Jones told
me the wolves are uncommonly hungry for so early in the year, and
they are in great numbers too. He trapped twenty last week."
"That means twenty less to bother us to-night, which is a great
comfort," she answered, laughing nervously, for the yapping and
howling seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. Then, recognizing a
landmark, she cried out joyfully: "Oh, here is the place, and there
hangs the broken snowshoe!"
"What is that?" cried Miles sharply, as a shadowy something slid
away out of sight among the trees, a something that was so much
like its surroundings as to be hardly distinct from them.
"A wolf. Look at the dogs. Mind what you are about, Miles, or
they'll bolt!" she called quickly. They were both on the ground
now, and the boy was trying to hold in the dogs, which were
barking, raging, howling, and whining, making a violent uproar, and
all striving to get free in order to rush at that something which
had slid out of sight among the trees a minute before.
"We must tie them up. I can't hold the brutes. They pull as if
they were mad," said Miles breathlessly, while the dogs struggled
and fought, nearly dragging him off his feet, as he tried to keep
them from dashing away in pursuit of what they deemed a legitimate
quarry.
Katherine swung a rope with a running noose over the head and
shoulders of the leader, a huge white dog with a black patch on its
back like a saddle.
"There, my fine fellow; now perhaps you will understand that this
is not playtime, but a working day extending into the night," she
said, as she patted the great beast in an affectionate manner to
show that it was repression, not punishment, which was intended by
the tightening of the rope.
The dog whined, licking her mitten, but left off struggling, as if
it realized the uselessness of such a course. The other dogs were
fastened in like manner, for they had all been trained to hunt
wolves, and might bolt at an unexpected moment, wrecking the sledge
and scattering the things which were loaded upon it. Then came ten
minutes of hard work clearing away the snow and getting at the
packages which Katherine had been obliged to cache a few hours
before. One package had been torn open, and its contents
scattered, which showed that the wolf had already started thieving
operations; so that even if Oily Dave and his companion had
contemplated no raid on the cache, there would not have been much
left later which was worth carrying away.
"I don't like you having to draw that sledge. Suppose it overruns
you, and you get hurt, like Father did this afternoon," Miles said
in a troubled tone, as Katherine prepared to go forward with the
hand sledge, while he followed behind with the dogs.
"I don't intend to let it overrun me, so there is no need to worry.
In fact there is much more danger for you if the dogs hear the
wolves and try to bolt. But let us get along as fast as we can, or
Nellie will be in a fine state of anxiety about us," Katherine
replied. Then, gathering the lines of the sledge round her arms,
as her father had taught her, she set out at a good pace, followed
by Miles and the dogs.
For a time little was to be heard save the creaking of the babiche
lacing of the snowshoes, for the dogs were running silently, and
Miles, saving his breath for the work of getting along, was
controlling them merely by dumb show, flourishing the whip to hold
them back when they took on a spurt, or beckoning them along when
they showed signs of lagging. They were less than a mile from
home, and going well, when suddenly a hideous uproar broke out near
at hand--the long-drawn howling of wolves, human shouts and cries,
and the crack of a revolver.