A LONELY CHRISTMAS
Dan had been accustomed to work and exposure all his life, and he
found his new employment, on the whole, not disagreeable. Paul’s
experiences after they had gone adrift had to some extent prepared
him, also, for the tasks he was now called upon to perform, and at the
end of a week he became fairly well reconciled to his position.
Aside from giving them a curt order now and again, Factor MacTavish
rarely spoke to either of them. He invariably treated them as ordinary
menials--as he treated the unskilled half-breed servants--useful
auxiliaries to the post life, just as the dogs were useful
auxiliaries, and save for the fact that he did not kick or beat them,
he gave them little more consideration than he gave the dogs.
In accordance with the factor’s instructions, James Benton, the chief
clerk, or “clark” as he called himself, supplied each of them with
two suits of heavy underwear; a kersey cloth adikey--an Eskimo garment
which was pulled over the head like a shirt and was supplied with a
hood--an outer adikey made like the other but of smooth cotton cloth,
to shed the snow; three pairs of duffel socks made from heavy woolen
cloth; a pair of deerskin moccasins made by an Indian woman; a pair of
moleskin leggings; and warm mittens; and each was given a pair of
bearspaw snowshoes, without which it would have been quite impossible
to have walked in the deep snow.
Each outfit, the clerk informed them, was valued at eighteen dollars,
and each boy was charged with this amount on the company’s books. They
were each to receive their board and three dollars a month wages, the
three dollars not to be paid them in money but to be credited to their
account until the debt of eighteen dollars was balanced.
Though they had arrived in mid-October, and had begun work at once,
Factor MacTavish argued that until they had become accustomed to the
duties required of them they would be of little value, and therefore
decreed that the munificent wage of three dollars a month should not
begin until November. Therefore, they were told, they were virtually
bound to the service of the company, with no freedom to leave the
post, until the following May, when, if no other purchases were made
in the meantime, their debt would be balanced and they would be free
to go where they pleased.
“Now if you want the outfit, and want to stay, you’ll have to agree to
these terms in writing,” said the clerk. “If you don’t sign a written
agreement you’ll have to leave the reservation at once.”
Thus they were forced to become the victims of a system of peonage,
for they had no choice but to sign the agreement.
The lads felt the injustice of this treatment keenly. They were well
aware that the value of their work would be many times greater than
the amount of wages allowed them, but they were wholly at the mercy of
the factor.
“It’s an outrage!” exclaimed Paul when he and Dan were alone. “We
earn a lot more than three dollars a month. Why Father used to allow
me a hundred dollars a month for spending money.”
“Yes,” said Dan, “we earns anyway ten dollars a month. He’s a
wonderful hard man. But we’ll have t’ put up with un, I’m thinkin’.”
“He’s got us here,” complained Paul, “and he knows we can’t get away,
and he’s going to make all he can out of us. The old skinflint!”
“He’s sure a hard un,” admitted Dan, “but we’ll have t’ put up with
un. Dad says that kind o’ man always gets what’s comin’ to un some
time, an’ what’s comin’ to un ain’t what they likes, neither.”
“And he pretends he’s doing us a great favor! The old pirate!”
“They’s no use thinkin’ about un. Dad says when th’ wind’s ag’in ye,
don’t get worked up about un, an’ cross. Take un cheerful, an’ be
happy anyway, an’ she’ll shift around fair after awhile.”
So they gave no hint of discontent, but went cheerfully about the
tasks assigned them, as though they really enjoyed them, though much
of the philosophy of Dan’s “Dad” had to be evoked at times when their
spirits flagged, to drive back rising discontent.
But they had enough to eat, and with their new clothing, supplemented
by the things they already had, they were warmly enough clad, even
when the short days of December came, with biting, bitter cold.
The storm which overtook them on the evening of their arrival at Fort
Reliance, continued intermittently for several days. It was the first
real storm of winter. Steadily the weather grew colder. By
mid-November the bay was frozen solidly as far as eye could reach.
The Indians, save two or three old men and women who did odd chores
around the post, had packed their belongings on toboggans in the first
lull in the storm, two days after the arrival of Paul and Dan, and the
western wilderness had swallowed them in its mysterious depths.
Post life was exceedingly quiet and humdrum, although it possessed
something of spice and novelty for the lads, particularly Paul. The
dogs always interested him when they were harnessed to the sledge by
Jerry, the half-breed Eskimo servant, and he was always glad to be
detailed to accompany Jerry and the team when they were engaged in
hauling firewood from the near-by forest. The impetuosity and dash of
the dogs upon leaving home, and Jerry’s management of them and the
sledge, filled Paul with admiration. But Paul was especially
fascinated by Jerry’s dexterity in handling the long walrus hide whip,
full thirty feet in length. With it Jerry could reach any lagging dog
in the team with unerring aim. He could flick a spot no bigger than a
dime with the tip of the lash, and he could crack the whip at will
with reports like pistol shots.
Under Jerry’s instruction Paul practiced the manipulation of the whip
himself, at every opportunity, and he considered it quite an
accomplishment when he was able to bring the lash forward and lay it
out at full length in front of him. In his early attempts to do this
he generally wrapped it around his legs, and occasionally gave himself
a stinging blow with the tip end in the back of his neck. But with
patient practice he at length found that he could not only strike an
object aimed at with considerable skill, but could crack the whip at
nearly every attempt.
Jerry was always good natured and indulgent. He taught Paul the knack
of managing the dogs and sledge, and at length permitted him to drive
the team upon level, easy stretches of trail. On steep down grades,
however, where the dogs dashed at top speed and the loaded sledge in
its mad rush seemed ever on the point of turning over or smashing
against a stump or rock, he had no desire to try his skill and
strength.
But these excursions with the dogs were practically the only
adventures that came to the boys. Generally they were kept busy at the
woodpile, one at either end of a cross-cut saw, cutting the long wood
into stove lengths, and splitting it into proper size; or, when the
weather was too stormy for out-of-door employment, Paul assisted
Tammas in the blacksmith shop while Dan was kept from idleness by
Amos in the cooperage.
Paul was always glad to be with Tammas, who had in a sense adopted
both lads, and assumed a fatherly interest in their welfare. He was
kindness itself, though he never failed to correct them when he deemed
it necessary. Under his instruction Paul soon learned a great deal
about the handling of tools and the working of iron. The greatest
drudgery, it seemed to the boys, that fell to their lot was the weekly
duty of cleaning the offices and scrubbing the unpainted furniture and
floors to a whiteness satisfactory to the factor.
The day before Christmas dawned bitterly cold. The snow creaked under
foot. Everything was covered with frost rime. The atmospheric moisture
hung suspended in the air in minute frozen particles. When the sun
reluctantly rose, it shone faintly through the gauzy veil of rime, and
gave forth no warmth to the starved and frozen earth.
Paul and Dan were assigned to the woodpile for the day. All forenoon
they sawed and split, working for the most part in silence, for they
were filled with thoughts of other Christmas eves, and the loved ones
at home.
“I wonder if we’ll have to work tomorrow?” asked Paul, when they
returned to the saw after dinner.
“I’m thinkin’ not,” answered Dan. “Amos were sayin’ they keeps
Christmas as a holiday.”
“If we don’t have to, I want to get out in the bush, away from here,
anywhere. I’ll be homesick if I spend Christmas in this place. Can’t
we go for a hunt back in the timber, and have a camp fire and a good
time?”
“’Twould be fine!” agreed Dan. “Now I were thinkin’ of just that
myself. I’m wantin’ t’ get off somewheres wonderful bad. I’ve been a
bit lonesome all day, thinkin’ of home an what they’s doin’ there,
an’ whether they misses me.”
Dan’s voice choked, and for the first time since their acquaintance
began Paul saw tears in his eyes. Dan hastily brushed them away with
his mittened hand, ashamed of giving way to his feelings, and
continued more cheerfully:
“Mother’s like t’ worry a bit, but Dad won’t let she. Dad’ll be
tellin’ she we’re all right. Dad’ll not be fearin’ I can’t take care
of myself.”
“I’ve been thinking about my father and mother too--and what they’re
doing, and whether they miss me much. We always have such a jolly time
on Christmas. Mother gave me this watch last Christmas,” and Paul took
his fine gold watch from his pocket, caressed it and returned it to
its place again. “It’s a nifty one,” he continued. “Father gave me my
pony--the black pony I told you about--‘Pluto’ I call him. But Mother
was always afraid he’d hurt me, and never let me go riding alone. Old
John--he’s the groom--went with me, and he just kept me to a walk.
There wasn’t much fun in that and I soon got tired poking along and
didn’t go out much. When I get home again, though, I’m going to have
fun with Pluto, and Old John can stay at home.”
“Your father must be wonderful rich. I never did be a-horseback, but I
has one o’ the smartest punts in Ragged Cove. Dad made un an’ gives
un t’ me. I’m thinkin’ I likes a punt better ’n a horse.”
And so they talked on as they worked, until darkness came, and they
left the woodpile to fill in the time until the bell called them to
supper, giving Tammas and Amos a hand, Paul in the blacksmith shop,
Dan in the cooperage.
When at length the clanging bell called them from work, and they sat
down to supper, Tammas announced:
“Weel, laddies, ye’ve earned the holiday ye’ll have tomorrow. I’m not
given to praisin’ mair than is a just due, but I may say fairly ye’ve
weel earned the holiday.”
“We’ll have the holiday, then?” asked Paul eagerly. “Can we do as we
want to?”
“Aye, lad, ye may do as ye wishes. There’s t’ be na work on Christmas
day.”
“Dan and I were wondering about it. We’ll go hunting, I guess.”
“We’ll be startin’ with daybreak,” said Dan.
“Ye must na be missin’ the plum duff at dinner, laddies.”
“We want to get away. It is too bad to have to miss plum duff, but I
guess we’ll have to let it slide, unless Chuck saves some for us.”
“Have na fear o’ that. I’ll see he saves ye a full share. Go huntin’
if ye’ve set your hearts on goin’, laddies.”
They were away at daybreak. The air was still and piercing cold,
driving them to a smart trot to keep their blood in circulation. Dan
was an old hand on snowshoes and Paul had already become so adept in
their use that he jogged along and kept the pace set by Dan with
little difficulty.
They took with them their frying pan, their teakettle (a light
aluminum pail) and two cups. Their provisions consisted of a small
piece of fat pork, some bread, tea, salt and a bottle of black
molasses--for here molasses was used to sweeten tea instead of
sugar--which Chuck gave them for their dinner. Each carried a share of
the equipment slung upon his back in one of their camp bags.
Paul took his shotgun, Dan the axe and Paul’s rifle, for the
cartridges for his own rifle were nearly gone. They had no intention
of making an extended hunting trip. Their chief object was a pleasant
bivouac in the forest, where they could enjoy an open fire and freedom
from post restraints.
First they made for the willows that lined the river bank two miles
above the post. Tammas had told them they were certain to find large
flocks of ptarmigans there, feeding upon the tender tops of the
bushes. This proved to be the case, and without difficulty Paul
secured a half dozen of the birds with his shotgun.
Not far beyond they halted among the thick spruce trees, and made a
rousing camp-fire. Then Dan with the axe built a lean-to facing the
fire, while Paul broke spruce boughs with which to thatch it, and for
their seat.
These preparations completed, and the ptarmigans plucked, they lounged
back upon the boughs under the shelter of the lean-to, to chat about
their homes, their plans, and their home-going, until time to cook
dinner.
Two of the ptarmigans were fried with pork, and the bread was toasted,
for variety, and it is safe to say that nowhere in the wide world was
a banquet eaten that Christmas day with keener relish or greater
enjoyment than this simple meal in that far-away spruce-clad
wilderness.
Dinner eaten and dishes washed, Dan piled fresh wood upon the fire,
and the boys spread themselves luxuriously upon the boughs to bask in
the warmth. Paul lay gazing into the blaze, quite lost in thought,
while Dan played his harmonica.
One of Dan’s favorite tunes was “Over the Hills and Far Away.”
Presently he struck up the air, and immediately a melodious tenor
voice, singing to the accompaniment of Dan’s music, began:
“Tom he was a piper’s son,
He learned to play when he was young;
But all the tune that he could play,
Was ‘Over the hills and far away.’”
The boys were startled. They had heard no one approach, and they
sprang to their feet.
Standing by the fire opposite them was a tall, lank man of middle age.
In the hollow of his left arm a rifle rested. He was dressed as a
trapper--a fur cap, buckskin capote, buckskin leggins, and moccasins.
Beside him stood an Indian, similarly dressed and nearly as tall and
lank as himself.
[Illustration: The boys were startled. They had heard no one
approach]