river and offered an ideal place for their bivouac. Tall pines stood
all about, and there was little undergrowth to harbor mosquitoes,
although by this time, indeed, that pest of the Northland was pretty
much gone. The feeling of depression they sometimes had known in the
big mountains had now left the minds of our young travelers, and they
were disposed, since they found themselves well within reach of their
goal, to take their time and enjoy themselves.
"Moise, tell us another story," demanded Jesse, after they had
finished their evening meal.
"What kind of story you'll want?" inquired Moise.
"I think we'd rather have something about your own country, about
animals, the same as you told us back in the mountains, perhaps."
"Well," said Moise, "I'll told you the story of how the ermine he'll
got the end of his tail black."
XXV
HOW THE ERMINE GOT HIS TAIL BLACK
"Long tam 'go," said Moise, "before my onkle he'll been born, all
peoples lived in the woods, and there was no Companee here for trade.
In those day there was no tobacco an' no rifle--those was long tam
'go--I don' know how long.
"In those tam all the people he'll talk with Wiesacajac, an'
Wiesacajac he'll be friendly all tam with these peoples. All the
animal that'll live in the wood he'll do all right, too. Only one
animal he was bad animal, and those was what you call wissel (weasel).
This wissel is what you call ermine some tam. He'll be mighty smart
animal. In summer-tam, when grass an' rock is brown, he'll go aroun'
brown, sam as the rock an' the leaf. In summer-tam the wissel he'll
caught the hare an' the partridge, an' he'll live pretty good, heem.
"Now, in the winter-tam most all the animals in the wood he'll go
white. Those hare, he'll get white just same color as the snow. Those
_picheu_, those lynx, he'll get gray, almost white. The ptarmigan,
he'll get white, too, so those owl won' see heem on the snow; an' the
owl he'll get white, so nothing will see heem when he goes on the
snow. Some tam up north the wolf he'll be white all over, an' some fox
he'll also be white all same as the snow.
"But the _Cigous_, or wissel, he'll stay brown, with white streak on
his neck, same like he'll been in the summer-tam. When he'll go on the
hont, those rabbeet, she'll saw _Cigous_ come, an' he'll ron off, so
_Cigous_ he'll go hongree.
"Now, _Cigous_ he'll get this on his min', an' he'll sit down one tam
an' he'll make a pray to Kitchai-Manitou, an' also to Wiesacajac, an'
he'll pray that some tam he'll be white in the winter-tam, the same as
the snow, the same as those other animal, so he'll catch the meat an'
not go hongree.
"'Oh, Wiesacajac,' he'll pray, 'what for you'll make me dark this
a-way, when I'll been hongree? Have pity on me!'
"Well, Wiesacajac, he'll been kin' in his heart, an' he'll hear those
_Cigous_ pray, an' he'll say, 'My frien', I s'pose you'll not got any
meat, an' you'll ask me to take pity on you. The reason why I'll not
make you white like other animal is, you'll been such thief! Oh,
_Cigous_, s'pose you'll go live two week all right, an' not steal, an'
not tell any lie to me, then I'll make you white, all same like other
animals.'
"'Oh, Wiesacajac,' say _Cigous_, 'it's ver' hard to be good for two
week an' not steal, an' not tell lie. But I'll try to do this thing,
me!'
"Now, in two week all the family of _Cigous_ he'll not got anything to
eat, an' he'll almost starve, an' he'll come in out of the woods an'
sit aroun' on the village where the people live. But all the people
can see _Cigous_ an' his family because he'll all be brown, an' he'll
show on the snow, plain.
"Now, _Cigous_ he'll got very hongree, an' he'll got under the blanket
in the lodge where the people live. Bimeby he'll smell something cook
on the fire. Then he'll go out in the bush, an' he'll pray again to
Wiesacajac, an' he'll say, 'Oh, Wiesacajac, I'm almost white now, so I
can get meat. But it's ver' hard tam for me!'
"Wiesacajac, he'll tol' heem to go back in an' not lie an' not steal,
an' then see what he'll got.
"_Cigous_, he'll been happy this tam, an' he'll go back on the lodge
an' smell that cooking some more. He'll not know it, but by this tam
Wiesacajac has made heem all white, tail an' all. But _Cigous_ he'll
smell something cook in the pot, an' he'll say, 'I wonder what is cook
in that pot on the fire.'
"He'll couldn't stan' up high to reach his foots in the pot, so he
say, 'Ah, ha! My tail he's longer than my foots. I'll stick my tail in
the pot, an' see what is cook that smells so good.'
"Now, _Cigous_ not know his tail is all white then. But Wiesacajac,
he'll see _Cigous_ all the tam, an' he'll turn the meat in the pot
into pitch, and make it boil strong; so _Cigous_ when he'll stick his
tail in the pot, he'll stick it in the pitch, an' when he'll pull out
the end of his tail, the end of it will be all black!
"Then _Cigous_ he'll go out on the snow, an' he'll look aroun', an'
bimeby Wiesacajac he'll seen heem an' he'll say, 'Ah, _Cigous_, what's
on your tail, because I'll see it is all black on the end?'
"_Cigous_ he'll turn aroun' an' ron aroun' an' aroun' on a reeng, but
all the tam he'll see the black spot on his tail, an' it won't come
off.
"'Now, _Cigous_,' says Wiesacajac, 'I'll been good spirit, else surely
I'll punish you plenty for stealing when you tol' me you'll be good
animal. Already I'll made you white, all but your tail. Now that the
people may always know you for a thief, you an' all your family must
have black spot on tail in the winter-tam. I would make you black all
over, _Cigous_, but I have take pity on your family, who must not
starve. Maybe so you could caught meat, but all the tam your tail will
mark you for a thief!'
"From that time," said Moise, concluding, "the ermine, _Cigous_, has
always been a good honter. But always he's brown in the summer-tam,
an' in the winter-tam he isn't not quite white. That is because he is
such thief. I know this is so, because my onkle she'll tol' me. I have
finish."
XXVI
TRAILING THE BEAR
"I'll tell you what," said John, in the morning, as they still
lingered at their pleasant camp; "we're not apt to have a much nicer
stopping place than this, so why not make a little hunt, and come back
here to-night?"
"Not a bad idea," said Alex.
"What's the best way to plan it out?" asked John. "Ought we to go by
boats down the river, and then come back here?"
"I would suggest that Moise and Rob take the dugout and go down the
river a little way," replied Alex, "and that you and I and Jess climb
to the top of the bank, taking our time, to see if we could find any
moose sign, or maybe a bear trail in the country back from the river.
In that way we could cover both the top and bottom of the valley. We
might find a grizzly higher up, although we are out of the grizzly
country here by rights."
This plan suggested by Alex was followed out, and at no very late hour
in the morning camp was deserted by our travelers, whose hunting
spirit seemed still unabated. They did not meet again until almost
dusk. Alex and his companions found no fresh game trails on the
heights above, and, in short, concluded their hunt rather early in the
afternoon and returned to camp, where they remained for some hours
before at length they saw the dugout, which the boys had christened
_The Plug_, slowly making its way up the river.
John and Jesse, themselves pretty tired from their long walk, summoned
up energy enough to go down to the beach and peer into the dugout.
They saw no sign of any game. They did not, however, ask any
questions, for they were learning the dignity of Indian hunters. Alex
looked at Moise, but asked him no question. He noticed that Moise was
whistling, and apparently not very unhappy, as after a time he went
about making his evening fire.
"So you didn't get any bear, Mr. Rob?" said Alex at last.
"No, not quite," said Rob, "but I ought to have got one--I had a
pretty fair shot, although it was rather dark where the bear was
standing."
Alex spoke a few words to Moise in the Cree language.
"Never mind," said he to Rob at length. "We'll get him to-morrow very
easily."
"So Moise said to me; but I don't see how he knows. The bear started
off as though he weren't hit at all. He came down to the edge of the
wood at a high bank and looked right at us when we were pulling the
boat up the stream. You know, the canoe is rather teetery, but I shot
as well as I could, and thought I hit him. He turned around, and I
shot at him again. But he didn't stop. Moise thought we had better
come on in because it was so late."
"Sure," said Moise, "I'll tol' those boy he'll shoot those bear two
tam, once in the front an' once in the back. With those rifle, he'll
not go far. To-morrow we'll catch heem easy."
"He was a big bear, too," said Rob, "although not as big as our
grizzly--just a black bear, that's all. I don't like to cripple any
animal and then lose it."
"I don't think we'll lose this one," said Alex, reassuringly.
The judgment of the old hunters proved to be correct, for on the next
day, when all hands dropped down the river to the point where Rob had
shot at the bear, it was not five minutes before they found the trail
where a considerable amount of blood showed that the bear had been
badly wounded. At once they began to follow this trail back into the
high country away from the river.
Alex did not ask any questions, and there was little talk between him
and Moise. Moise, however, took the lead on the trail. Alex did not
even carry his rifle, but loitered along, picking berries and enjoying
himself, after his own fashion.
"Keep close up to Moise, young gentlemen," he said. "This bear,
although only a black bear, is apt to be very ugly if you find him
still alive. If he comes for you, kill him quick. I doubt, however,
very much whether he will be alive when we come up with him."
"How do you know about that, Alex?" demanded John.
"It's our business to know about such things," answered Alex, smiling.
All the boys now could see where the bear had scrambled up the bank,
and where it had gone through the bushes on its way to the forest,
leaving a plain blood trail on the ground.
"Moise will lead on the trail," said Alex. "He's more Injun than I am.
In some ways I can beat him, in others he can beat me. He is one of
the best trailers on the river."
Moise now was a different man from the talkative companion of the
camp. He was very silent, and advanced cautiously along the trail, his
eyes studying every record of the ground and cover which had been left
by the wounded animal. Once in a while he pointed silently to a broken
bush or to a drop of blood. After a while he stopped and pointed to a
tree whose bark was ripped off.
"Heem awful mad," whispered Moise. "S'pose you'll seen heem here,
he'll fight sure. He'll bite all the tree an' fight the bush."
After a while Alex showed them a deep excavation in the soft dirt.
"He'll dig hole here an' lie down," said Moise. "Plenty mad now,
sure!"
They kept on after the trail, following it deeper into the forest and
higher up the slope, minute after minute, for a time which seemed
short, but which really was over an hour and a half in extent. Moise
still remained silent and not in the least excited, and Alex still
continued to pick his berries and eat them leisurely as he followed
along in the rear. Once they lost the trail on an open hillside
covered with wintergreen plants, and the boys thought the hunt was
over. Moise however, swung around like a hound on the trail, clear to
the other side of the hill, and in the course of a few minutes picked
up the spoor again when it struck softer ground beyond. They passed on
then, moving upward deeper into the forest for some minutes, until at
length Moise turned about.
"About five minute now, we'll found heem," said he, quietly.
"How does he know, Alex?" demanded Jesse, who was farther to the rear.
"Easy enough," answered Alex. "He says the bear has lain down ten
times now, and he would not do that unless he was very weak. He would
travel as far as he could. Now he is lying down very often. I'm sorry,
but I don't think we'll get any fight out of this bear. Moise thinks
you'll find him dead."
Surely enough, they had hardly gone another hundred yards before
Moise, stepping back quietly, pointed through an opening in the
bushes. There, lying before them in a little glade, lay a vast, black
body, motionless.
Rob grounded his rifle-butt, almost in disappointment, but later
expressed his satisfaction.
"Now, boys, I got him," said he, "and I guess it's just as well he
didn't have to wait till now for us to come. But speaking of
trailing, Moise, you certainly know your business."
"Oh yes," said Moise, "every man in this country he'll mus' know how
to trail, else he'll go hongree some tam. My onkle she'll taught me
how for follow trail."
"Well," said Alex, "here's some more meat to get down to the boat, I
suppose, and we need meat badly, too. We ought not to waste it, but if
we take it all on board we'll have to hurry to get down to Peace River
Landing with it, because it is more than we can possibly eat."
The two older hunters now drew their big buffalo knives and fell to
work skinning and dismembering the carcass of the bear, the boys
helping as they could. It was plainly the intention of Alex and Moise
to make one trip with meat and hide.
In order to carry the green bear hide--always a slippery and awkward
thing to pack--Moise now showed a little device often practised, as he
said, among the Crees. He cut two sharpened sticks, each about a
couple of feet in length, and placing these down on the hide, folded
the hide around them, so that it made a sharp, four-cornered pack. He
lashed the hide tightly inside these four corners, and then lifting it
up and down, smilingly showed the boys that the green hide now would
not slip, but would remain in place, thus making a much better pack.
He slung his belt at the corners of the pack, and then motioned to
Alex to throw up on top of his pack one of the hams of the bear which
had been detached from the carcass. When Moise got his load he started
off at a trot, taking a course different from that on which they had
come.
Alex in turn used his belt and some thongs he had in making a pack of
the remainder of the meat, which, heavy as it seemed, he managed to
shoulder, leaving the boys nothing to carry except the skull of the
bear, which they had expressed a wish to retain with the robe.
"Do you suppose we'll ever get to be men as strong as that?" asked Rob
in a whisper, pointing to the solitary figure of the breed now passing
rapidly down the slope.
"I didn't know anybody was so strong," admitted Jesse. "They must be
pretty good men, I'm thinking."
"But which way are they going?" asked John. "Do you suppose they're
lost?"
"We'll follow and see," answered Rob. "They seem to know their own way
pretty well."
They now kept Alex in sight, and in the course of about fifteen or
twenty minutes came up with Moise, who was sitting down, resting his
back against the root of a tree.
"I suppose you'll know where we are now?" he asked of Rob.
Rob shook his head. "No, I don't recognize the place."
Moise pointed with a thumb to a point just back of the tree. Rob
stepped over, and gazing down, saw a deep hole in the ground.
"Why, I know!" said he. "This is one of the holes the bear dug--one of
the first ones, I should think."
"Oh, I see, you cut across-lots and didn't follow the back trail."
John was as much surprised as Rob.
"No," said Alex, "we saved perhaps half a mile by coming straight
across, for, you see, the bear was wandering all around on the
hillside as he was trying to get away. You'll find the boats are
directly below us here, and not very far away."
"This," said Rob, "seems to me pretty wonderful! You men certainly do
know how to get along in this country. I'd never have thought this was
the direct course, and if I had been in there alone I certainly would
have followed the bear's trail back--if I could have found it."
Yet it all came out quite as Alex and Moise had planned, for in less
than ten minutes more they scrambled down the steep bank to the rocky
beach where the two boats lay. The men distributed the hide and meat
between the two, covering up both with green willow boughs.
"Now," said Alex, "for a fast run down this river. We've got more meat
than we can use, and we must get to the Landing."
XXVII
THE END OF THE OLD WAR-TRAIL
It is possible to make twenty-five miles a day with pole and
tracking-line against a current even so strong as that of the Peace
River. Twice or thrice that distance down-stream is much easier, so
that no greatly difficult journey remained ahead of our travelers
between their last camp and the old Hudson Bay post known as Peace
River Landing, which perhaps Moise would have called the end of the
old war-trail from Little Slave Lake--the point near the junction of
the Peace and Smoky rivers which has in it so much strategic value,
whether in war or in peace. The two boats, pausing only for the
briefest possible encampments, now swung on down, day after day, not
pausing at the ultimate western settlements, St. John and Dunvegan,
but running on down, between high and steep banks, through a country
clean and beautiful with its covering of poplar growth. At last, well
wearied with steady paddling, they opened up a great "V" in the
valley, so that they knew they were at the junction of the Smoky and
the Peace, and hence at the end of this stage of their journey.
It was evening at the time of their arrival, and Rob was much for
finishing the journey that day, yet yielded to the wish of Moise, who
thought it would be better to camp some few miles above the town,
although almost within sight of the great ferry which here crosses the
main river from the wagon trail of the north bank.
"We'll must go in like real _voyageurs_," insisted Moise. "We'll not
look good to go in to-night--too much tire an' dirt."
In the morning Moise appeared at the breakfast table attired in his
best. He had in some way managed a clean shave, and now his long,
black hair was bound back with a gaudy handkerchief, his old shirt
replaced by a new and bright one, and his old moccasins discarded for
a pair of new and brilliantly beaded ones, so that in all he made a
brave figure of a voyageur indeed. Alex also in a quiet way had
followed the lead of Moise. The boys themselves, falling into the
spirit of this, hunted through their war-bags for such finery as they
could compass, and decked themselves out in turn with new moccasins,
new gloves, and new kerchiefs for their necks. Moise looked on them
all with the utmost approbation.
"It's the best for return like some _braves hommes_," said he. "Well,
_en avant_!"
They all bent gaily to the paddles now, and sped down the flood of the
great stream until at length they sighted the buildings of the Hudson
Bay post, just below the ferry. Here, finishing with a great spurt of
speed, they pulled alongside the landing bank, just below where there
lay at mooring the tall structure of the Hudson Bay steamboat, _Peace
River_, for the time tarrying at this point. Moise rolled his paddle
along the gunwale, making the spray fly from the blade after the old
fashion of the _voyageurs_ ending a journey, and the boys followed his
example. Many willing hands aided them to disembark. A little later
they found themselves ready for what seemed apt to be one of their
last encampments.
A tall breed woman stood at a little distance up the bank, silently
awaiting their coming. Moise pointed to her with no great emotion.
"He's my womans," said he. "He'll fix the camp for us an' take care of
those meat, yes."
[Illustration: MOISE AT HOME]
Moise and his wife met, undoubtedly glad to see each other, though
making no great show at the time. Pretty soon the breed woman came
down and lifted the bear hides and the meat from the boats.
"She'll fix up the hides for you, all right," said Alex, quietly. "As
we don't need the meat, and as I don't live here, but a hundred miles
below on Little Slave, I think we had better give Moise all of the
meat for himself and his people--he probably has fifty or more
'uncles' and 'cousins' in this village. Meantime, I think it might be
well for us to make a little camp over here in the cottonwoods just
back of the lodges."
They saw now on the flat between the river and the Company post quite
a little village of Indian conical tepees, from which now came many
Indians and half-breeds, and a multitude of yelping dogs.
The boys, aided by one or two taciturn but kindly natives, who seemed
to know who they were, and so lent a hand without any request, soon
had their simple little camp well under way. At about this time they
were approached by a stalwart man wearing the cap of the Hudson Bay
Company's river service.
"I'm Saunders, of the Hudson Bay Company," said he, "and I suppose
you're the nephews of Mr. Wilcox, an engineer, who has gone down the
river?"
"Yes, sir," said Rob; "we have just come down, and we expected to meet
him below here."
"I have a letter for you," said Captain Saunders. "Mr. Wilcox came up
from Little Slave awhile back, and went down to Fort Vermilion with us
on our last trip--I'm the captain of the boat over yonder. He asked me
to bring you down to Vermilion on our next run. I suppose the letter
explains it all."
"Yes, sir," said Rob, after reading it and handing it to the others.
"That's about the size of it. We thought our trip was ended here, but
he asks us to come on down and meet him at Fort Vermilion! It seems a
long way; but we're very glad to meet you, Captain Saunders."
They all shook hands, and the grizzled veteran smiled at them
quizzically.
"Well, young gentlemen," said he, "I hardly know what to think about
your trip, but if you really made it, you're lucky to get through in
as good shape as you have."
"We had a perfectly bully time, sir," said Rob. "We lost one of our
boats west of the canyon, but we got another this side, and we're all
safe and sound, with every ounce of our property along."
"You have the best of me, I must admit," said the Hudson Bay man, "for
I have never been west of St. John myself, although we make the
Dunvegan run regularly all the time, of course. They tell me it is
pretty wild back there in the mountains."
"Yes, sir," said Rob. "The water's pretty fast sometimes; but, you
see, we had two good men with us, and we were very careful."
"You had pretty fair men with _you_, too, didn't you, Alex?" smiled
Saunders, as the tall half-breed came up at that time.
"None better," said Alex, quietly. "We caught a grizzly and a black
bear, not to mention a caribou and a couple of sheep. They seem to me
natural hunters. I'm quite proud of them--so proud that we gave them a
'lob-stick,' Captain."
"And quite right, too," nodded Saunders.
"Oh, well, of course we couldn't have done any of those things without
you and Moise," said Rob. "Anybody can shoot a rifle a little bit, but
not every one could bring the boats out of such water as we have had."
"Well, now, what do you want to do?" resumed Saunders, after a little.
"Here's the _Peace River_ steamer, and you can get a room and a bath
and a meal there whenever you like. Or you can stay here in your tent
and eat with the factor up at the post beyond. I would suggest that
you take in our city before you do much else."
"When were you planning to leave for Vermilion, Captain Saunders?"
inquired Rob.
"Some time to-morrow morning, as soon as we get plenty of wood from
the yard across the river. It's about three hundred and fifty miles to
Vermilion down-stream--that is to say, north of here--but we run it in
two or three days with luck. Coming up it's a little slower, of
course."
"If you don't mind, sir," said Rob at length, "I think we'd rather
sleep in our tent as long as we can--the steamboat would be very nice,
but it looks too much like a house."
Saunders laughed, and, turning, led the way through the Indian
villages and up toward the single little street which made the village
of Peace River Landing, ancient post of the Hudson Bay. Here he
introduced the young travelers, who at once became the sensation of
the hour for all the inhabitants, who now thronged the streets about
them, but who all stood silent and respectful at a distance.
They found the Hudson Bay post, as Jesse had said, more like a country
store than the fur-trading post which they had pictured for
themselves. They saw piled up on the shelves and counters all sorts of
the products of civilization--hardware of every kind, groceries,
tinned goods, calicoes, clothes, hats, caps, guns, ammunition--indeed,
almost anything one could require.
John was looking behind the counters with wistful eye, for the time
ceasing his investigation of the piles of bright new moccasins.
"I don't see any, Alex," said he, at last.
"Any what, Mr. John?"
"Well, you said there'd be toffy."