SAGASTA-WEEKEE--A HAPPY HOME IN THE GREAT LONE LAND--THREE BOYS THERE
WELCOMED--THE SUDDEN COMING OF WINTER--VARIOUS SPORTS DISCUSSED--HURRAH
FOR THE DOGS--USEFUL ANIMALS--DOG-WHIPS--KINESASIS, THE DOG-KEEPER.
While a wintry storm was raging outside, in the month of November, three
happy, excited boys were gathered around the breakfast table in a cozy
home in a far North Land.
To those who have not read of the previous doings of these young lads we
would say that our heroes were three noble boys from across the sea.
They had come out the previous summer from Great Britain by the Hudson
Bay Company's ship and had had several months of most delightful and
exciting adventures in the wild North Land. They were the guests of Mr
Ross, a retired official in the Hudson Bay Company, who, when his long
term of active service in the fur trade had ended, had preferred
remaining in the country rather than returning to any other land.
During the many years he had traded with the Indians he had ever been on
the most friendly terms with them. He had observed so many noble traits
and characteristics in them that he and his family preferred spending
the greater portion of each year surrounded by them. Then the quiet
charm of such a life had more attraction and a greater fascination for
them than the rush and worry and demands of our so-called highest
civilisation.
Mrs Ross was a native Indian woman, but, like many other wives of
Hudson Bay officials, was a highly educated woman. The years spent in
foreign lands at the best of schools had not spoiled her. She was
beloved and honoured by all who knew her, and she was indeed a
benediction and a blessing among the poor of her own people.
The musical and expressive Indian names of Minnehaha and Wenonah had
been given to the two bright, winsome little girls in the household,
while the wee brother was called by the old Scottish name of Roderick.
Cordially had Mrs Ross, with her husband, welcomed the three boys, who
at their special request had come out to be their guests, or rather,
more correctly, to be loved members of their own household, for at least
twelve months in that land. Sagasta-weekee, the house full of sunshine,
was the beautiful Indian name given to the cozy, comfortable house which
Mr Ross had built for himself and household. It was a delightful home,
well furnished with everything essential to the enjoyment and comfort of
all its inmates.
We need not here repeat all that has been previously mentioned about the
three heroes of our story. Suffice it to say that Frank, the eldest,
was the son of an English banker; Alec was a genuine Scottish lad, while
Sam was a jolly Irish boy. They had a splendid trip across the ocean,
and had met with varied adventures while on the long journey up the
rivers and across the portages between York Factory, on the Hudson Bay,
where they had landed, and Norway House, where they had been welcomed by
Mr Ross.
The summer and autumn months had been full of wonderful and exciting
trips and adventures. Their last excursion, which had so recently
ended, had been one of great pleasure and intense excitement. It had
been made in canoes to a distant part of the country where reindeer and
other large game abounded. The boys would have been delighted to have
there remained longer, but the experienced guide and canoemen had been
quick to notice the significant actions of the wild beasts, as well as
the frightened cries and incessant flights of the wild geese and ducks
to the South Land.
Spurred on by the signs of coming winter, they had pushed on toward home
with unremitting toil and but little rest, and had fortunately managed
to land the boys safely at Sagasta-weekee the day before the wintry gale
broke upon them.
Great indeed was the amazement of our three boys at the transformation
wrought by this sudden incoming of winter.
People living in more southern latitudes, where the transition from one
season to another is so slow and almost imperceptible, can hardly
realise the suddenness with which the Frost King can set up his throne
and begin his despotic reign. There are no long premonitions of his
coming. No noisy heralds for weeks warn of his approach. The birds and
beasts seem to have some mysterious intimations that he draweth near,
and act accordingly. But man knoweth not of his approach; he heareth
not his stealthy steps.
Yesterday may have been balmy and reposeful, with only a few breezes
from the summer South Land. To-day the wild north winds may howl and
shriek, while full of frost and pinching cold is the icy, biting air.
Yesterday the waves may have been merrily rippling in the sunshine on
the beautiful lakes. To-day, after a night of storm and boreal tempest,
the ice is rapidly forming, and is binding down in strongest fetters the
highest billows.
Mr and Mrs Ross were much pleased and amused at the genuine excitement
of the lads as they realised the wondrous transformation wrought by this
first wintry storm, and the possibilities it opened up to them for other
kinds of sport, than those in which, for some time past, they had been
so deeply interested. Eager and excited as they were, they had as yet
no definite plan of action for their winter amusement. So sudden had
been the transition, there had been no time to think. However, with
boyish candour and joyous anticipation, they were all ready with their
suggestions.
"Skates!" shouted Alec, as he caught a glimpse of an icy expanse that
glittered in the distance as a ray of sunshine shot out through the
parting clouds and for a moment rested upon it.
"Toboggans!" cried Sam, as he saw a steep hillside one mass of beautiful
snow.
"Let us make an ice boat," said Frank. Although he had never seen one,
yet he had eagerly read much about them, and at the sight of the frozen
lake was wild to set about the manufacture of one of these dainty craft,
that he might enjoy the exhilarating sport he had so long anticipated.
"Capital suggestions are all of these," said Mr Ross. "Still, as the
ice is not yet twenty-four hours old, and therefore not very safe for
skating, and the snow has not yet fallen in sufficient quantity upon the
hills to make them smooth enough for tobogganing, and the carpenter will
require some time to make an ice boat, and we will have six good months
of winter in which to enjoy these and other sports, my suggestion is
that we get ready to-day to start, as soon as the ice will be safe, for
the island fisheries and bring home the dogs."
"The dogs! the dogs! yes, hurrah for the dogs!" cried all the boys in
unison.
So everything was for the moment forgotten, or postponed, in their eager
anticipation to become intimately acquainted with the dogs, about which
they had heard so much. During the summer months the dogs were away to
a distant island, where they were cared for by Kinesasis, a careful old
Indian, who with a few nets easily caught all the fish they required for
food. This island was quite out of the route of travel, and so our
young friends had seen but little of Mr Ross's dogs, about which many
interesting stories had been told them. Now at the prospect of soon
seeing them they were greatly delighted.
Although so much can be done with dogs in winter in those high
latitudes, there is practically no use for them in summer. It is true
that some enterprising missionaries had used them for ploughing up their
little potato fields and gardens, and yet it was slow work and not long
continued. But through the long winter the dog is practically the only
draft animal that can be utilised by the inhabitants of those regions.
From the far-off forest the wood for fuel is dragged home by the dogs.
The frozen fish, which are caught and piled up on stages beyond the
reach of wolves or other wild beasts, are drawn home to the villages
from the distant fisheries by the well-trained dogs.
When a Christian decides to exchange his old wigwam for a house, all the
squared timber and logs required in its construction are dragged, if not
floated by water in the summer time, it may be several miles, by the
dogs. Christian hunters use them to drag home the moose and reindeer or
other heavy game they may shoot. Formerly their wives and mothers had
to do this heavy work, but now Christianity has relegated this and many
other heavy duties to the dogs.
However, the greatest and most arduous work to which the dogs are put is
that of drawing the canoles and dog-sleds of travellers and tourists or
fur traders for long distances through various parts of that great
northern land. Without the dogs, travelling in that country would be
practically impossible in the winter months. So full of lakes and
rivers is the country that it is possible to go almost anywhere in a
birch canoe in summer by making occasional portages. But when the
severe cold freezes up those water stretches and the snow lies thick,
and there is not the least vestige of a road or trail, then the value
and sagacity of the dogs are seen and the power and endurance of the
guides and drivers are put to the severest test.
Mr Ross still prided himself on his splendid dogs. In his younger days
he had the reputation of being one of the most active and energetic of
the young officers in the service of the Hudson Bay Company. His
father, who was for many years one of the chief factors in the Company's
service, was proud of his son's endurance and skill, as well as of his
tact and ability in managing strange Indians and thus opening up new
trading posts among them. So constantly employed had he been in thus
advancing the interests of this fur-trading corporation that some
winters he travelled thousands of miles with his own dog-train and
guides. In his wanderings he had met with some strange adventures, and
had passed through some trying ordeals. Later on we may hear from his
own lips the recital of some of these stirring events.
Now, however, that he had retired from active service he had left these
long and dangerous journeys to be taken by younger men. Still, the love
for the dogs was so ingrained within him, and he had so much work for
them to do, that he was the possessor of some very valuable trains,
which every winter did his work and gave him as much pleasure as ever a
man derived from the possession of a fine carriage and a splendid span
of horses.
Knowing well the habits of the old Indian who had charge of his dogs,
Mr Ross said to the boys:
"It is very likely that Kinesasis will come in to-day with some of the
dogs. If he does we will harness them up to-morrow, and if the ice is
strong enough to be safe we will return with them for the others. I
understand he has a number of fine young dogs; doubtless there will be
enough to make a good train for each of you, after they are broken in.
So there will be plenty of work for all to-day, to get ready for the
first day's outing with dog-trains."
Soon everybody was at work. Indian women, under Mrs Ross's direction,
were busily employed in making large mooseskin moccasins and mittens.
Beautiful white blanket overcoats, with warm capotes or hoods, had
already been made for each of the boys. They were to be worn over the
deerskin suits when they stopped to rest in the heavy trail, and also
while the boys were riding over the long stretches of icy roads where it
was possible for the dogs to easily draw them.
While the Indian women were thus busily engaged in fitting out the warm
apparel necessary for travelling in such a cold land the boys were
making themselves useful, under Mr Ross's guidance, in overhauling
carioles, dog-sleds, harness, robes, snowshoes, and other things
essential for the trip on the morrow. While almost everything was novel
and strange to them, they were most interested in the heavy dog-whips,
and, boylike, must try their hands in wielding them. These whips
differed very much from anything they had ever seen in civilisation.
While the handles were only eighteen inches in length, the lashes, which
were loaded with shot, were over fifteen feet long. To skilfully handle
one requires much care and practice. An inexperienced person is apt to
get into trouble when he first attempts to use one.
Sam was the first of the boys to attempt to display his skill, but he
soon found that a heavily loaded dog-whip was a different weapon from an
Irish shillalah. He had admired the skill and dexterity with which Mr
Ross, at the boy's request, had used one, and, foolishly thinking that
he could successfully imitate him, had with any amount of assurance made
the attempt. To his surprise and chagrin the cracker of the whip,
instead of exploding with a pistol-shot-like report at a spot about
fifteen feet away, as it had done for Mr Ross, had by some remarkable
movement, entirely unexpected, squarely landed with stinging effect upon
his nose!
Alec was the next to try his skill. He was a little more successful
than Sam, in that he escaped inflicting any injury upon himself, but he
succeeded in striking Frank upon his ear, although he stood fully six
feet away from the spot at which Alec had aimed. Frank, with his ear
hot and stinging from the effects of the blow so unexpected and so
unintentionally given, wisely decided that he would postpone his first
attempt with a weapon that seemed to be as uncertain as a boomerang.
To the great delight of the boys, as Mr Ross had predicted, toward
evening in came Kinesasis with about a dozen dogs at his heels. The
splendid animals were delighted to get home again after their long
summer's outing, and joyously they greeted Mr Ross and the other
inmates of the household. To our three boys, who had arrived since
their departure, they were somewhat distant and unsociable. It is a
well-known fact that the native dogs are much more hostile to white
people than to the natives. This offishness and even hostility on the
part of the dogs did not much disturb the boys. They, boylike, had all
confidence in themselves that by tact and kindness they would soon
become warm friends, and in this they were not disappointed. After
Kinesasis had seen the dogs well fed and put into their kennels he was
taken into the kitchen and given a hearty meal. A pipe of tobacco was
then put in his hands, and shortly after he had begun to smoke he made
his report of his summer's doings to Mr Ross.
To the great delight of Frank, Alec, and Sam, Mr Ross was able to
inform them that the number of young dogs of the right age to break into
work was so large that he would be able to furnish each of them with a
capital train, which they should have charge of and call their own as
long as they remained in the country.
The few short hours of sunshine of that November day sped away all too
soon for the completion of the work to be done, and so by lamplight
willing hands toiled on until everything was ready for the journey. So
rapidly did the temperature fall, and so intense became the cold, that
Mr Ross decided that with careful, experienced Kinesasis as their guide
the ice would be quite strong enough to bear them on the morrow, and so
if the storm was not too severe they would be off as soon as there was
sufficient light, as it was too risky to travel in the dark over such
thin ice.
Cozy were the beds and warm were the blankets into which three happy,
excited boys tumbled that night, and if in their pleasant dreams there
were sounds of cracking whips and jingling, musical dog-bells--well, we
will not envy them, still we wish we were there.