SUDDEN TRANSITION FROM WINTER TO SPRING--INTERESTING PHENOMENA--SAM'S
LAST GREAT RUN WITH HIS DOGS--HIS UNIQUE ADVENTURE--THE OPEN WATER--HIS
NOVEL RAFT--SUCCESSFUL CROSSING--FRANK AND ALEC'S DUCK-SHOOTING TRIP--
THE MIGHTY NELSON--A HUNTER'S PARADISE--RETURNING UNDER DIFFICULTIES--
ONE MORE SHOT AT THE WILD GEESE--FRANK AND RUMOURS--THE FAIR VISITANTS
AT SAGASTA-WEEKEE.
Very rapid indeed is the transformation from one season to another in
the high latitudes. When the long, steady winter breaks it does so with
a suddenness that is startling to a person who observes it for the first
time. The snow disappears with a marvellous rapidity. The ice, that
was like granite in hardness and several feet thick on the great lakes,
becomes dark and porous, and in spots literally seems to rot away. Then
along the great cracks, where it had burst by the power of the terrible
frost some months before, it now opens, and soon great fields of it
become floating masses on the waters. Under the action of the brilliant
rays of the sun it becomes disintegrated, and falls away in crystals
that are of various sizes and as long as the ice is thick. This
crystallisation begins early, and makes the ice very dangerous and
uncertain. The Indians call this slivering of the ice, candling.
Sam had a narrow escape from drowning on account of this rapid
transformation of the ice. He had harnessed his dogs and gone out on
the shining lake for a run. The snow had all disappeared from the land,
and so the great icy expanse was all that was left for an invigorating
run with the dogs. The frost had been keen in the night, and so
everything was firm and hard when he left in the morning. The day was
an ideal April one. The sun was full of brightness, and the south winds
were full of warmth. For miles and miles Sam recklessly dashed along
with his splendid dogs. He was sorry at the thought that he was so soon
to forever leave them behind in that North Land. Soon some pools of
water on the ice into which his dogs splashed brought him to his senses,
and he turned for the home run to Sagasta-weekee, now perhaps twenty
miles away.
"Rip Van Winkle," said Sam; "sure. I am that same old fellow, to judge
by the change since I travelled over this icy lake."
Great indeed was the transformation which the sun and south wind had
made. While there was still plenty of good ice, there were many dark,
treacherous spots all around, which had so crystallised by the sun's
rays that, although the ice there was still three or four feet thick, it
was unsafe for dogs or boy. Fortunately, dogs become very wise in this
matter, and so Spitfire carefully wended his way among these dangerous
places, cautiously keeping where the ice was firm and solid. Rapid
travelling was in some places impossible, for fear of running into a bit
of rotten ice.
Suddenly Sam was stopped by coming to a long stretch of open water. It
was a place where, during one of the coldest nights, the ice had
suddenly burst open with a report like a great cannon. The crack then
made was about twenty or thirty feet wide and some miles in length. So
intense was the cold that the ice in a few hours formed again on the
water which was in this great opening. But when these great breaks in
the thick ice occur, toward the end of the winter, the new ice that
forms is never so thick as is the rest, and so when the spring warmth
comes it is the first to disappear. It was to one of these open seams
that Sam had now come. In the early hours of the morning it had been
covered with ice sufficiently strong to hold him, but now it was full of
broken fragments that rose and fell on the water that was stirred up by
the strong south wind. As far as the eye could reach north and south
extended this open channel. Sam was perplexed, and hardly knew what to
do. To drive across was impossible, as the seam was much wider than his
cariole was long. To wait until the night frost again froze up the
water was a risk, as to judge by the warm south wind then blowing, if it
so continued there would be no freezing of any consequence. Thus Sam
was troubled and annoyed at having allowed himself to be thus caught,
especially as he and the other boys had heard Mr Ross and the Indians
refer to just such experiences. With his vexation at having thus had
his trail so suddenly broken, there flashed into his memory the stories
of how some of the Indians, when in just such dangerous places, had
escaped by making great rafts of the ice and on them floating across the
open water. No sooner had this thought come to Sam than he fairly
shouted out:
"This is my plan. Now I will have a story to tell that will sound well
in dear, darling Dublin."
It was well for him that an axe and ice chisel, which he had been using
in cutting a hole in the ice the day before, were still lying in his
cariole. With these in his possession there came a feeling of elation
in his heart, and he fairly shouted with delight at the position in
which he found himself. With great zeal he set to work, and having
placed his dogs in what he imagined was a safe position, he first
carefully marked out around them a line to indicate where he was to
chop. Industriously he set to work. But, O dear!--well, it was hard
work. Soon off came his outer coat, then he threw down his mittens, and
his fur cap followed next. Bravely he toiled, until his hands were
about blistered and his back sore. To his great disgust he found out
that not one tenth part of the task was accomplished, and yet he was
about tired out. He had selected the firmest ice he could find, in
order that his raft might be perfectly safe. While this was a wise
thing to do, and would have been all right if there had been sufficient
strength available to cut it out, it was a mistake on the part of Sam,
and so he realised when he had toiled until weary. But he was not
disheartened, and so resolved to try and find a place where the sun's
rays could be utilised. Straightening out his dogs, he drove along the
ice for a mile or so before he reached a place that seemed to suit him.
When he had found what he thought would do he set to work at once, for
the day was now advancing.
The spot selected was a solid-looking piece of ice not much longer or
wider each way than his dogs and cariole. It projected somewhat into
the water, and on the icy side were several dark places where the ice
was rotten, on account of its crystallisation by the sun's rays. Here
Sam with renewed vigour set to work. He made rapid progress, and found
that all he had to do was to cut the firm ice that lay between these
different dark spots where the ice had lost all of its cohesive power
Sam found ere he had finished that his dogs were getting strangely
nervous, and to keep them from rushing off he had to turn the train
around and tie them to the cariole. While doing this he discovered the
cause of their fear, and was also thankful that he was with them in the
middle of his now floating raft. The strong wind blowing directly up
the channel, narrow though it was, had so agitated the water that there
was a good deal of force in it, and so now, even before Sam had
completely severed the ice from the main body, the water had begun to
cause it to slightly move. Dogs are more sensitive than human beings,
and so they had noticed it before Sam had, and while he was trying to
quiet them the whole thing broke loose and began slowly to move north.
As this novel raft broke loose it was quite unsteady for a few minutes,
and Sam saw with disgust his axe slide into the water and disappear.
However, he still had the ice chisel, with its strong handle, which was
about eight feet in length. At first he had all he could do to quiet
his excited dogs. They acted as though they would plunge into the water
in spite of all his efforts. Some soothing words, and also some
vigorous kicks, quieted those of different temperaments, and they
settled down at last and seemed to say: "Well, if our master can stand
this, surely we ought to be able to." Not until Sam felt that he had
his dogs well under control did he make any effort to get his novel raft
across the channel. But when they all lay still and quiet he took up
his ice chisel and was ready for work. He vigorously pushed against the
icy shore from which he had broken loose, but his strength did not at
first seem to make much impression, as the wind was somewhat against
him, and so his raft at times ground roughly against the side from which
he had broken away. However, he was slowly working north, and he was
not discouraged. Sam was always an observant lad. When on shipboard he
had been interested in watching the sailors shift the sails to catch the
changing winds. So now an idea came to him, and he resolved to see what
could be done with an improvised sail, even if it were only made out of
a large buffalo robe. Lashing one side of the robe to the pole of his
ice chisel, he then firmly fastened one end of it to the head of his
cariole. Cutting two holes in the outer corners of the robe, he there
tied a couple of strong deerskin strings. Then, taking his place in his
cariole, he pulled his sail up against the wind and awaited the result.
He was not very sure just how to manage to get across the channel, but
he had no anxiety about getting further off, as that was an
impossibility, as he was now jammed up against the ice. So he pulled in
his sail and then let it out, until at length he found the right angle
for the brisk wind to cause him to gradually draw away from the side he
had been on. When in the middle of the channel so pleased was he with
his novel craft that he let out his sail, and for a time sped along
north between the two icy shores. Then, observing an indenture in the
ice to the east sufficiently large to serve for a harbour for his queer
vessel, he steered for it and safely ran in, but struck the icy landing
place with such a crash that his raft was split in the middle under him.
However, all he had to do was to hang on to his cariole and straighten
out his dogs by the calls they well understood. In an instant they
sprang ashore, and easily dragged Sam and the cariole after them.
Facing toward the distant home, the dogs required no special urging, and
so rapidly, yet carefully watching against the treacherous places, they
hurried on, and about sundown home was reached.
Mr and Mrs Ross had begun to feel anxious about him, and so were not
only relieved by his return, but very much amused by the characteristic
account he gave of his adventure on the ice raft.
In the meantime, although it was not quite dark, there was no word as
yet from Frank and Alec, who with some Indians had gone off early in the
morning on a duck-shooting excursion.
Following the geese, the hunting of which has been so fully described in
a previous chapter, came the ducks in great flocks. They could be seen
in great multitudes during every hour of the day, and the whistling
sounds that accompany their rapid flights could be heard every hour of
the night. They seemed to be of about every known variety, from the
great grey ducks down to the smallest teals. The Indians were after
them incessantly, and killed great numbers of them. They resorted to no
such elaborate preparations in hunting them as they did at the goose
huntings, but shot them at the various points along which they seemed to
crowd, and in the many pieces of open water on the marshy shores, where
they tried to find some favourite food. The boys were out almost every
day, either with Mr Ross or some trusted Indians, and had some capital
sport.
The morning that Sam had prepared to have a good long final run with his
dogs, Frank and Alec had gone to what was called the Old Fort, where the
mighty Nelson, gathering in Lake Winnipeg the waters of many rivers,
begins in its full strength its fierce, rapid, onward career, that ends
only when it reaches the Hudson Bay. This has been for generations a
favourite shooting ground of the Indians, and here for the day the two
lads and their Indian attendants came. They had made the journey very
early in the morning, and so their dogs had had no trouble with the ice,
which in the night frost had quickly become firm and hard. In the
friendly shelter of some trees they had secured their dog-trains. Here
building a fire, their Indian cook had a second breakfast soon ready for
them. While eating it they could hear the cries of many wild birds,
that the now strong south wind was bringing over them. Flocks of wild
geese, principally the waveys, a very much smaller variety than the
great grey geese, were quite numerous, as well as an occasional one of
the larger kinds. Swans flew by in straight lines with such rapidity
that many a shot was lost in trying to shoot them. Pelicans were also
there in great numbers, and the boys were intensely interested in their
awkward, and at times comical, movements. As they are not good for
food, only one or two were shot, as curiosities. Cranes stalked along
on their long, slender legs in the marshy places, while snipe and many
similar birds ran rapidly along the sandy shores. The ducks were
everywhere, and so the shooting was everything that our enthusiastic
hunters could desire.
The Indians, toward noon, began to get uneasy about the return trip, on
account of the effects of the sun's rays and the south winds on the ice.
They suggested an early start, but so fascinated had the boys become in
the shooting that they kept putting it off from hour to hour. However,
the return trip was at length begun, and then the boys saw the wisdom of
the Indians' suggestion for an earlier start, and heartily wished they
had agreed to it. Playgreen Lake, which in the morning seemed still one
great mass of glittering ice, now appeared half broken up. Wherever the
ice had burst in the winter, and there frozen up again, now there were
long channels of open water. Suspicious-looking pools of water were on
the ice in many places, and so the outlook for the return trip was
anything but pleasant. Frank's train was the first to come to grief.
His heavy dogs in passing over a dark-looking patch of ice broke
through, and were with much difficulty pulled out. What amazed him and
Alec was that the ice was still over two feet thick where the accident
occurred, but under the effects of the rays of the sun it had simply
disintegrated into long icy crystals that had no cohesiveness, and so
when they were trodden upon they afforded little more support than so
much water.
The dripping dogs were no sooner hauled out, and once more started, than
the appearance of a flock of geese, in one of the open stretches of
water, was too great a temptation to be resisted. The trains were
halted, and Frank and Alec took their guns, and crept round to an icy
hillock, from which they would be able to get a capital shot. In a few
minutes the guns rang out their reports, and up rose the great flocks of
geese, as well as many ducks and other birds. Frank and Alec had both
been successful, and so speedily they dashed over the ice to attempt to
secure their geese, which seemed to be only badly wounded. As the
Indians, who were in charge of the dogs, saw them thus recklessly
dashing straight for the open water they instantly started the dog-
trains toward them. They were none too soon, for the boys, apparently
seeing only their splendid game struggling in the narrow channel,
noticed not the dangerous black spots on the ice. Poor Frank, who was a
little in advance, almost suddenly disappeared. Down he went, and that
so quickly that he had not time even to throw from him his gun, which
speedily sank.
He had all he could do to save himself as he sank in the icy crystals
that sounded around him like the smashing of scores of panes of glass.
Alec, alarmed at Frank's sad plight, madly rushed to his rescue, but ere
he had gone a dozen yards he too found himself, as he afterward
expressed it, like a person dropping into a well. Fortunately, he was
holding his gun crossways to his body, and as the hole of rotten ice
into which he so speedily dropped was but a small one the gun struck
solid ice each side, and as he had held on securely to it he did not
fall in as completely as did poor Frank. His plight was, however, a
very awkward one, as the hole was so small and the firm, jagged ice so
gripped him that unaided he would have had some difficulty in
extricating himself.
Well was it that the Indians had been on the alert, and so it was but a
few minutes ere they were on the spot, and at once set about the work of
rescue. Alec was the first reached and was speedily pulled out,
although it required some effort to do so on account of his being so
wedged in so small a hole with the sharp, jagged ice. His ribs were
sore for many days. In the meantime Frank's position was much more
dangerous. The speed with which he was running, when he so suddenly
tumbled in, caused him to go completely under the ice. He was, however,
a good swimmer, and had presence of mind enough to know that for his own
safety he must come up in the same place where he had gone down, as all
around was solid ice. He was sorry to have to drop his gun, but there
was no hope for it if life was to be saved. He found the sensation of
trying to swim up through a mass of ice crystals that seemed to be two
or three feet long, and no larger in size than pencils, a unique
experience. As he bravely struggled through them they broke in
thousands of pieces, some of them cutting his face like glass. When he
was able to get his head above them he found that only a few strokes
were necessary to take him to the strong ice, as this bad spot, in which
he had fallen, was not more than twenty feet across. Getting out of
such a hole on the slippery ice is no easy matter, and so, as he could
see that help was near, after a few efforts he was content to wait until
strong arms came to his assistance and rescue.
Speedily were some of the outer garments of the boys pulled off, and as
much of the water as could be rubbed off from those remaining on them.
Two of the Indians pulled off their dry coats, and, with these on, the
boys were well wrapped up in their carioles, out of which many ducks
were thrown, and then at once, with the swiftest and yet most cautious
Indian on ahead as a guide for the safe places, the rapid race to
Sagasta-weekee began. It was no easy matter for the Indian in front
when darkness began to hide the dangerous places. More than once the
rotten, treacherous ice gave way under him, and only by a sudden
throwing of himself forward did he escape going through into the water.
The distant lights in the windows of Sagasta-weekee, well called the
house full of sunshine, were indeed welcome sights. Mr and Mrs Ross
and Sam had been long on the lookout for them, and were shocked and
frightened at the sad plight of the two boys. Frank and Alec, however,
tried to make light of it, but neither had the slightest objection to
offer to the hot baths at once prepared, and then their suppers, taken
that night in bed. They were both badly shaken up. Frank felt worse in
his mind, because he had lost such a valuable gun, while Alec's ribs
were the spots that were for some days his tenderest places.
All sorts of rumours went out in reference to the accident. The story
had so enlarged that when it reached the mission house it was that the
boys had been rescued in a dying condition and were still very low, and
so there was great sorrow over there, even so much that it was said that
two sweet young ladies refused to be comforted. When Mrs Ross heard
this her motherly heart was touched, and so, as the wind had changed and
the cold north wind had again made the ice safe for experienced Indian
drivers, two carioles were dispatched to the mission for the aforesaid
young ladies to come and spend a week or two at Sagasta-weekee. The
missionary, with his dog-train in charge of an experienced driver, also
came over at the same time as did his daughters. Ere they arrived the
boys were up and dressed in moccasins and dressing gowns, and so were
able to receive their very welcome visitors. Mr Hurlburt only remained
to a very early tea, and then after an earnest prayer, in which there
was a great deal of thanksgiving for their deliverance, he, with Martin
Papanekis, the driver, returned to his home.
Of that happy week that followed we confess our inability to write.
That it was a very delightful one was evident to all. The only sorrow
that tinged its brightness and bliss was the fact that soon the ice
would be all gone, the boats would be arriving, and then the home trip
of these three boys would begin.