FORT ENTERPRISE.
"Me, I work all winter at Fort Enterprise," said Poly.
"So I heard," said Peter. "You've had quite a trip."
The rosy half-breed shrugged. "It is easy. Jus' floatin' down the
Spirit River six days."
"What kind of a job did they give you at Enterprise?" asked Peter.
"I drove a team, me, haulin' logs to the saw-mill," said Poly. "There
is plentee work at Fort Enterprise."
"The Company's most profitable post," remarked Peter to Ambrose. "They
have everything their own way there." The look which accompanied this
suggested to Ambrose it would be a good place for Minot & Doane to
start a branch.
"What did you think of the place, Poly?" asked Ambrose.
The half-breed flung up his hands and dramatically rolled his eyes.
"_Wa_! _Wa_! _Towasasuak_! It is a gran' place! Jus' lak outside!
Trader him live in great big house all make of smooth boards and paint'
yellow and red lak the sun! Never I see before such a tall house, and
so many rooms inside full of fine chairs and tables so smoot' and shiny.
"He is so reech he put blankets on the floor to walk on, w'at you call
carrpitt. Every day he has a white cloth on the table, and a little
one to wipe his hands! I have seen it! And silver dishes!"
"There is style for you!" said Peter, with a whimsical roll of his eye
in Ambrose's direction.
"There is moch farming by the river at Fort Enterprise," Poly went on;
"and plaintee grain grow. There is a mill to grind flour. Steam mak'
it go lak the steamboat. They eat eggs and butter at Fort Enterprise,
and think not'ing of it. Christmas I have turkey and cranberry sauce.
I am going back, me."
"They say the trader John Gaviller is a hard man," suggested Peter.
Poly shrugged elaborately. "Maybe. He owe me not'ing. Me, I would
not farm for him nor trade my fur at his store. Those people are his
slaves. But he pay a strong man good wages. I will tak' his wages and
snap my fingers!
"But wait!" cried Poly with a sparkling eye. "The 'mos' won'erful
thing I see at Fort Enterprise--Wa!--the laktrek light! Her shine in
little bottles lak pop, but not so big. John Gaviller, him clap his
hands, so! and Wa! she shine!
"Indians, him t'ink it is magic. But I am no fool. I know John
Gaviller make the laktrek in an engine in the mill. Me, I have seen
that engine. I see blue fire inside lak falling stars.
"Gaviller send the laktrek to the store inside a wire. He send some to
his house too. They said it cook the dinner, but I think that is a
lie. If a man touch that wire they say he will jomp to the roof! Me?
I did not try it."
Peter chuckled. "Good man!" he said.
The wonders of Fort Enterprise were not new to Ambrose. Other
travelers the preceding summer had brought the same tale. With the air
that politeness demanded he only half listened, and pursued his own
thoughts.
On the other hand Peter, who delighted in his humble friends, drew out
Poly fully. The half-breed told about the bringing in of the winter's
catch of fur; of the launching of the great steamboat for the summer
season, and many other things.
"Enterprise is sure a wonderful place!" said Peter encouragingly.
"There is something else," said Poly proudly. "At Fort Enterprise
there is a white girl!"
The simple sentence had the effect of the ringing of an alarm going
inside the dreamy Ambrose. He drew a careful mask over his face, and
leaned farther into the shadow.
"So!" said Peter with a glance in the direction of his young partner.
"That is news! Who is she?"
"Colina Gaviller, the trader's daughter," said Poly.
"Is she real white?" asked Peter cautiously.
"White as raspberry flowers!" asseverated Poly with extravagant
gestures; "white as clouds in the summer! white as sugar! Her hair is
lak golden-rod; her eyes blue lak the lake when the wind blows over it
in the morning!"
Peter glanced again at his partner, but Ambrose was farthest from the
window, and there was nothing to be read in his face.
"Sure," said Peter; "but was her mother a white woman ?"
"They say so," said Poly. "Her long tam dead."
"When did the girl come?" asked Peter.
"Las' fall before the freeze-up," said Poly. "She come down the Spirit
River from the Crossing on a raf'. Michel Trudeau and his wife, they
bring her. Her fat'er he not know she comin'. Her fat'er want her
live outside and be a lady. She say 'no!' She say ladies mak' her
sick.' Michel tell me she say that.
"She want always to ride and paddle a canoe and hunt. Michel say she
is more brave as a man! John Gaviller say she got go out again this
summer. She say 'no!' She is not afraid of him. Me, I t'ink she lak
to be the only white girl in the country, lak a queen."
"How old is she?" inquired Peter.
"Twenty years, Michel say," answered Poly. "Ah! she is beautiful!" he
went on. "She walk the groun' as sof' and proud and pretty as fine
yong horse! She sit her horse like a flower on its stem. Me and her
good frens too. She say she lak me for cause I am simple. Often in
the winter she ride out wit' my team and hunt in the bush while I am
load up."
"What did Eelip say to that?" Peter inquired facetiously. Eelip was
Poly's wife.
"Eelip?" queried Poly, surprised. "Colina is the trader's daughter,"
he carefully explained. "She live in the big house. I would cut off
my hand to serve her."
"I suppose Miss Colina has plenty of suitors?" said Peter.
Ambrose hung with suspended breath on the reply.
Poly shook his curly pate. "Who is there for her?" he demanded.
"Macfarlane the policeman is too fat; the doctor is too old, his hair
is white; the parson is a little, scary man. All are afraid of her;
her proud eye mak' a man feel weak inside. There are no ot'er white
men there. She is a woman. She mus' have a master. There is no man
in the country strong enough for that!"
There was a brief silence in the cabin while Poly relighted his cigar.
Ambrose had given no sign of being affected by Poly's tale beyond a
slight quivering of the nostrils. But Peter watching him slyly, saw
him raise his lids for a moment and saw his dark eyes glowing like
coals in a pit. Peter chuckled inwardly, and said:
"Tell us some more about her."
Ambrose's heart warmed gratefully toward his partner. He thirsted for
more like a desert traveler for water, but he dared not speak for fear
of what he might betray.
"I will tell you 'ow she save Michel Trudeau's life," said Poly,
nothing loath, "I am the first to come down the river this summer or
you would hear it before. Many times Michel is tell me this story.
Never I heard such a story before. A woman to save a man!
"Wa! Every Saturday night Michel tell it at the store. And John
Gaviller give him two dollars of tobacco, the best. I guess Michel is
glad the trader's daughter save him. Old man proud, lak he is save
Michel himself!"
Poly Goussard, having smoked the cigar to within half an inch of his
lips, regretfully threw the half inch out the door. He paused, and
coughed suggestively. A second cigar being forthcoming, he took the
time to light it with tenderest care. Meanwhile, Ambrose kicked the
bale on which he sat with an impatient heel.
"It was the Tuesday after Easter," Poly finally began. "It was when
the men went out to visit their traps again after big time at the fort.
There was moch frash snow fall, and heavy going for the dogs. Colina
Gaviller she moch friends with Michel Trudeau for because he was bring
her in on his raf las' fall.
"Often she go with him lak she go with me. Michel carry her up on his
sledge, and she hunt aroun' while he visit his traps. Michel trap up
on the bench three mile from the fort. He not get much fur so near,
but live home in a warm house, and work for day's wages for John
Gaviller."
Poly paragraphed his story with luxurious puffs at the cigar and
careful attention to keep it burning evenly.
"So on Tuesday after Easter they go out toget'er. Colina Gaviller ride
on the sledge and Michel he break trail ahead. Come to the bench,
leave the dogs in a shelter Michel build in a poplar bluff. Michel go
to see his traps, and Colina walk away on her snowshoes wit' her little
gun.
"Michel not ver' good lok that day. In his first trap find fool-hen
catch herself. He is mad. Second trap is little cross-fox; third trap
nothin' 'tall!
"Come to fourth trap, wa! see somesing black on the snow! Wa! Wa!
Him heart jomp up! Think him got black fox sure! But no! It is too
big. Come close and look. What is he catch you think? It is a black
bear!
"Everybody know some tam a bear wake up too soon in winter and come out
of his hole and roll aroun' lak he was drunk. He can't find somesing
to eat nowhere, and don' know what to do!
"This bear him catch his paw in Michel's little fox trap. It was chain
to a little tree. Bear too weak to pull his paw out or break the
chain. He lie down lak dead.
"Michel him ver' mad. Him think got no lok at all after Easter. For
'cause that bear is poor as a bird out of the egg. Michel mak' a noise
to wake him up. But always he lie still lak dead. Michel think all
right.
"Bam-by he lean over with his knife. Wa! Bear jomp up lak he was burn
wit' fire! Little chain break and before Michel can tak a breath, bear
fetch him a crack with the steel trap acrost his head!
"Wa! Wa! Michel's forehead is bus' open from here to here lak that!
Michel drop his knife in the snow. Him get ver' sick. Warm blood run
all down his eyes, and he can't see not'ing no more.
"Bear grab Michel round his body and squeeze him pretty near till his
eyes jomp out. Michel say a little prayer then. Him say him awful
sorry he ain't confessed this year.
"But always he fight that bear and fight some more. Always he is try
get his hands aroun' that hairy throat. Bear tear Michel's shoulder
with his teeth. Michel feel the hot blood run down inside his shirt
and get cold.
"Michel, him always thinkin' Colina is not far, but he will not call to
her. She is only a girl him say; she can't do not'ing to a crazy bear.
Bear hurt her too, maybe, and John Gaviller is mad for that.
"So Michel he jus' fight. He is ver' tire' now. And always they
stamping and tumbling and rolling in the snow, and big red spots drop
all aroun'.
"Colina, she tell me the end of it. Colina say she is walkin' sof' in
the poplar bush looking sharp and all tam listen for game. All is ver'
quiet in the bush.
"Bam-by she hear a fonny little noise way off. Twigs crackling, and
somesing bumping and tromping in the snow. Colina think it is big game
and go quick. Some tam she stop and listen. Bam-by she hear fonny
snarling and grunting. She know there is a fight and she is a little
scare. But she go more fas'.
"Wa! Wa! What a sight she sec there! Poor Michel he pretty near
done. She can't see his face no more for blood. She think he got no
face now. Michel he see her come, and say to her loud as he can: 'Go
way! Go way! You get hurt and John Gaviller give me hell!'
"Colina say not know what to do. Them two turn around so fas' she
'fraid to shoot. She run aroun' and aroun' them always looking for a
chance. Bam-by she see the handle of Michel's knife in a hole in the
snow. She grab it up. She watch her chance. Woof! She stick that
bear between the neck and the shoulder!
"That is all!" said Poly. "Bear, him grunt and fall down. Stick his
snoot in the snow. Michel crawl away. Colina is fall down too and cry
lak a baby. For a little while all three are dead!
"Then Colina wash his wounds with clean snow, and tear up her petticoat
for to mak' bandage. She put him on his snowshoes and drag him back
where the dogs is. She bring him quick to the fort. In one week
Michel is go to his traps same as ever. That is the story!"
"By God, there's a woman!" cried Peter. Ambrose said nothing.
When Poly Goussard reembarked in his dug-out a heavy constraint fell
upon the two partners.
Ambrose dreaded to hear Peter call attention to the remarkable
coincidence of Poly's story following so close upon their own talk
together. He suspected that Peter would want to sit up and thrash the
matter to conclusions.
At the bare idea of talking about it Ambrose felt as helpless and
sullen as a convicted felon.
In this he underrated Peter's perceptions. Peter had lived in the
woods for many years. He intuitively apprehended something of the
confusion in the younger man's mind, and he was only anxious to let
Ambrose understand that it was not necessary to say anything one way or
the other.
But he overdid it a little, and when Ambrose saw that Peter was "on to
him," as he would have said, he became still more hang-dog and perverse.
They parted at the door of the store. Peter went off to his family,
while Ambrose closed the door of his own little shack behind him, with
a long breath of relief.
Feeling as he did, it was torture to be obliged to support the gaze of
another's eye, however kindly. So urgent was his need to be alone that
he even turned his back on his dog. For a long time the poor beast
softly scratched and whined at the closed door unheeded.
Ambrose was busy inside. As it began to grow dark he lit his lamp and
carefully pinned a heavy shirt inside his window in lieu of a blind.
Since Peter and his family went to bed with the sun it would be hard to
say whom he feared might spy on him. One listening at the door might
well have wondered what the activity inside portended.
Later Ambrose opened the door and, putting the dog in, proceeded
cautiously to the store. Satisfying himself from the sounds that
issued through the connecting door that Peter and his family slept
deeply, he lit a candle and quietly robbed the stock of what he
required. Then he wrote a note and pinned it beside the store door.
Carrying the bundles back to his cabin, he packed a grub-box and bore
it down to the water.
His preparations completed, he went to his shack to bid good-by to his
four-footed pal. Job, instantly, comprehending that he was to be left
behind, whimpered and nozzled so piteously that Ambrose's heart began
to fail.
"I can't take you, old fel'!" he explained. "You're such a
common-looking mutt. Of course, I know you're white clear through--but
a lady would laugh at you until she knew you!"
Even as he said it his heart accused him of disloyalty. He suddenly
changed his mind.
"Come on!" he whispered gruffly. "We'll chance our luck together. If
you open your head I'll brain you! Wait here a minute."
Job understood perfectly. He crept down to the lake shore at his
master's feet as quiet as a ghost. Seeing the loaded boat he hopped
delightedly into his accustomed place in the bow.
During June it never becomes wholly dark in the latitude of Lake
Miwasa. An exquisite dim twilight brooded over the wide water and the
pine-walled shore. The stars sparkled faintly in an oxidized silver
sea. There was no wind now, but the pines breathed like warm-blooded
creatures.
Ambrose's breast hummed like a violin to the bow of night. The poetic
feeling was there, though the expression was prosaic.
"By George, this is fine!" he murmured.
Job's curly tail thumped the gunwale in answer.
"I'm glad I brought you, old fel'," said Ambrose. "I expect I'd go
clean off my head if didn't have any one to talk to!"
Job beat a tattoo on the side of the boat and wriggled and whined in
his anxiety to reach his master.
"Steady there!" said Ambrose.
Presently he went on: "Three hundred miles! Six days for Poly to come
with the current; nine days to go back! Fifteen days at the best!
Anything might happen in that time. . . . Poly said no danger from any
of the men there. But some one might come down the river! . . . If
wishing could bring an aeroplane up north!"
After a silence: "I wish I could get my best suit pressed! . . . It's
two years old, anyway. And she's just come in; she knows the
styles. . . . Lord, I'll look like a regular roughneck!"
Next morning when Peter Minot threw open the door of the store he found
the note pinned to the door-frame. It was brief and to the point:
DEAR PETE:
You said I ought to go by myself till I felt better. So I'm off.
Don't expect me till you see me. Charge me with 50 lbs. flour, 18 lbs.
bacon, 20 lbs. rice, 10 lbs. sugar, 5 lbs. prunes, 1/2 lb. tea, 1/2
lb. baking powder, and bag of salt. Please take care of my dog. So
long! A. D.
P. S.--I'm taking the dog.
Peter, like all men slow to anger, lost his temper with startling
effect. Tearing the note off the door and grinding it under foot, he
cursed the runaway from a full heart.
Eva, hearing, hastily called the children indoors, and thrusting them
behind her peeped into the store. Peter, purple in the face, was
wildly brandishing his arms.
Eva closed the door very softly and gave the children bread and
molasses to keep them quiet. Meanwhile the storm continued to rage.
"The young fool! To run off without a word! I'd have let him go
gladly if he'd said anything--and given him a good man! But to go
alone! He'll break an arm and die in the bush! And to leave me like
this with the year's outfit due next week!
"I'll not see him again until cold weather--if I ever see him! Fifty
pounds of flour--with his appetite! He'll starve to death if he
doesn't drown himself first! He'll never get to Enterprise! Oh, the
consummate young ass! Damn Poly Goussard and his romantic stories!"