The tall stranger who had thus suddenly presented himself bore so strong
a resemblance to the vikings of old that Paul Burns, who was familiar
with tales and legends about the ancient sea-rovers, felt stealing over
him at the first glance a sensation somewhat akin to awe, for it seemed
as if one of the sea-kings had actually risen from his grave to visit
them.
This feeling was succeeded, however, by one of intense surprise when the
stranger addressed them in the English tongue.
"I thought, years ago," he said, "that I had seen the last of white
faces!"
It immediately occurred to Oliver Trench that, as their faces were by
that time deeply embrowned by the sun, the stranger must be in a
bantering mood, but neither he nor his companions replied. They were
too much astonished to speak or even move, and waited for more.
"This is not a land where the men whose ruling ideas seem to be war and
gold are likely to find what they want," continued the stranger,
somewhat sternly. "Whence come ye? Are you alone, or only the
advance-guard of the bloodthirsty race?"
There was something so commanding as well as courtly in the tone and
bearing of this extraordinary man, that Paul half involuntarily removed
his cap as he replied:
"Forgive me, sir, if astonishment at your sudden appearance has made me
appear rude. Will you sit down beside us and share our meal, while I
answer your questions?"
With a quiet air and slight smile the stranger accepted the invitation,
and listened with profound interest to Paul as he gave a brief outline
of the wreck of the _Water Wagtail_, the landing of the crew, the
mutinous conduct of Big Swinton and his comrades, and the subsequent
adventures and wanderings of himself, Master Trench, and Oliver.
"Your voices are like the echoes of an old, old song," said the
stranger, in a low sad voice, when the narrative was concluded. "It is
many years since I heard my native tongue from English lips. I had
forgotten it ere now if I had not taken special means to keep it in
mind."
"And pray, good sir," said Paul, "may I ask how it happens that we
should find an Englishman in this almost unheard-of wilderness? To tell
you the truth, my first impression on seeing you was that you were the
ghost of an ancient sea-king."
"I am the ghost of my former self," returned the stranger, "and you are
not far wrong about the sea-kings, for I am in very truth a descendant
of those rovers who carried death and destruction round the world in
ancient times. War and gold--or what gold represents--were their gods
in those days."
"It seems to me," said Captain Trench, at last joining in the
conversation, "that if you were in Old England just now, or any other
part of Europe, you'd say that war and gold are as much worshipped
now-a-days as they ever were in the days of old."
"If you add love and wine to the catalogue," said Paul, "you have pretty
much the motive powers that have swayed the world since the fall of man.
But tell us, friend, how you came to be here all alone."
"Not now--not now," replied the stranger hurriedly, and with a sudden
gleam in his blue eyes that told of latent power and passion under his
calm exterior. "When we are better acquainted, perhaps you shall know.
At present, it is enough to say that I have been a wanderer on the face
of the earth for many years. For the last ten years my home has been in
this wilderness. My native land is one of those rugged isles which form
the advance-guard of Scotland in the Northern Ocean."
"But are you quite alone here?" asked Captain Trench, with increasing
interest.
"Not quite alone. One woman has had pity on me, and shares my solitude.
We dwell, with our children, on an island in a great lake, to which I
will conduct you if you will accept my hospitality. Red men have often
visited me there, but I had thought that the face of a white man would
never more grieve my sight."
"Is, then, the face of the white man so distasteful to you?" asked Paul.
"It _was_; but some change must have come over me, for while I hold
converse with you the old hatred seems melting away. If I had met you
eight or ten years ago, I verily believe that I would have killed you
all in cold blood, but now--"
He stopped abruptly, and gazed into the flames of the camp-fire, with a
grave, almost tender air that seemed greatly at variance with his last
murderous remark.
"However, the feeling is past and gone--it is dead," he presently
resumed, with a toss of his head which sent the yellow curls back, and
appeared at the same time to cast unpleasant memories behind him, "and I
am now glad to see and welcome you, though I cannot help grieving that
the white race has discovered my lonely island. They might have
discovered it long ago if they had only kept their ears open."
"Is it a big island, then--not a cluster of islands?" asked Trench
eagerly.
"Yes, it is a large island, and there is a great continent of unknown
extent to the westward of it."
"But what do you mean, stranger, by saying that it might have been
discovered long ago if people had kept their ears open?" asked Paul.
"It is well known that only a few years ago a sea-captain named Columbus
discovered the great continent of which you speak, and that so recently
as the year 1497 the bold mariner, John Cabot, with his son Sebastian,
discovered these islands, which they have named Newfoundland."
The stranger listened with evident interest, not unmingled with
surprise, to this.
"Of Columbus and Cabot I have never heard," he replied, "having had no
intercourse with the civilised world for twenty years. I knew of this
island and dwelt on it long before the time you say that Cabot came.
But that reminds me that once, on returning from a hunting expedition
into the interior, it was reported to me by Indians that a giant canoe
had been seen off the coast. That may have been Cabot's ship. As to
Columbus, my forefathers discovered the great continent lying to the
west of this about five hundred years before he could have been born.
When I was a boy, my father, whose memory was stored with innumerable
scraps of the old viking sagas, or stories, used to tell me about the
discovery of Vinland by the Norsemen, which is just the land that seems
to have been re-discovered by Columbus and Cabot. My father used to say
that many of the written sagas were believed to exist among the
colonists of Iceland. I know not. It is long since my thoughts ceased
to be troubled by such matters, but what you tell me has opened up the
flood-gates of old memories that I had thought were dead and buried for
ever."
All that day the strange hunter accompanied them, and encamped with them
at night. Next morning he resumed with ever-increasing interest the
conversation which had been interrupted by the necessity of taking rest.
It was evident that his heart was powerfully stirred; not so much by
the news which he received, as by the old thoughts and feelings that had
been revived. He was very sociable, and, among other things, showed his
new friends how to slice and dry their venison, so as to keep it fresh
and make it convenient for carriage.
"But you won't require to carry much with you," he explained, "for the
country swarms with living creatures at all times--especially just now."
On this head he gave them so much information, particularly as to the
habits and characteristics of birds, beasts, and fishes, that Paul's
natural-historic enthusiasm was aroused; and Oliver, who had hitherto
concerned himself exclusively with the uses to which wild animals might
be applied--in the way of bone-points for arrows, twisted sinews for
bowstrings, flesh for the pot, and furs for garments--began to feel
considerable curiosity as to what the creatures did when at home, and
why they did it.
"If we could only find out what they think about," he remarked to the
hunter, "we might become quite sociable together."
What it was in this not very remarkable speech that interested their new
friend we cannot tell, but certain it is that from the time it was
uttered he took greater interest in the boy, and addressed many of his
remarks and explanations to him.
There was a species of dignity about this strange being which prevented
undue familiarity either with or by him; hence, he always addressed the
boy by his full name, and never condescended to "Olly!" The name by
which he himself chose to be called was Hendrick, but whether that was a
real or assumed name of course they had no means of knowing.
Continuing to advance through a most beautiful country, the party came
at last to a river of considerable size and depth, up the banks of which
they travelled for several days. Hendrick had by tacit agreement
assumed the leadership of the party, because, being intimately
acquainted with the land, both as to its character, form, and resources,
he was naturally fitted to be their guide.
"It seems to me," said Captain Trench, as they sat down to rest one
afternoon on a sunny bank by the river side--out of which Olly had just
pulled a magnificent trout--"that the climate of this island has been
grossly misrepresented. The report was brought to us that it was a wild
barren land, always enveloped in thick fogs; whereas, although I am
bound to say we found fogs enough on the coast we have found nothing but
beauty, sunshine, and fertility in the interior."
"Does not this arise from the tendency of mankind to found and form
opinions on insufficient knowledge?" said Hendrick. "Even the Indians
among whom I dwell are prone to this error. If your discoverer Cabot
had dwelt as many years as I have in this great island, he would have
told you that it has a splendid climate, and is admirably adapted for
the abode of man. Just look around you--the region which extends from
your feet to the horizon in all directions is watered as you see by
lakes and rivers, which swarm with fish and are alive with wildfowl; the
woods, which are largely composed of magnificent and useful trees, give
shelter to myriads of animals suitable for food to man; the soil is
excellent, and the grazing lands would maintain thousands of cattle--
what more could man desire?"
"Nothing more," answered Paul, "save the opportunity to utilise it all,
and the blessing of God upon his efforts."
"The opportunity to utilise it won't be long of coming, now that the
facts about it are known, or soon to be made known, by us," remarked
Trench.
"I'm not so sure about that" said Paul. "It is wonderful how slow men
are to believe, and still more wonderful how slow they are to act."
That the captain's hopes were not well founded, and that Paul's doubts
were justified, is amply proved by the history of Newfoundland. At
first its character was misunderstood; then, when its unparalleled
cod-fishing banks were discovered, attention was entirely confined to
its rugged shores. After that the trade fell into the hands of selfish
and unprincipled monopolists, who wilfully misrepresented the nature of
this island, and prevailed on the British Government to enact repressive
laws, which effectually prevented colonisation. Then prejudice,
privileges, and error perpetuated the evil state of things, so that the
true character of the land was not known until the present century; its
grand interior was not systematically explored till only a few years
ago, and thus it comes to pass that even at the present day one of the
finest islands belonging to the British Crown--as regards vast portions
of its interior--still remains a beautiful wilderness unused by man.
But with this we have nothing at present to do. Our business is, in
spirit, to follow Hendrick and his friends through that wilderness, as
it was at the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Deer-tracks, as we have said, were innumerable, and along one of those
tracks a herd of deer were seen trotting one day about two bow-shots
from the party. With characteristic eagerness Oliver Trench hastily let
fly an arrow at them. He might as well have let it fly at the
pole-star. The only effect it had was to startle the deer and send them
galloping into the shelter of the woods.
"_What_ a pity!" exclaimed Oliver.
"Not so, my boy," remarked his father. "Experience, they say, teaches
fools; and if experience has now taught you that it is foolish to shoot
at game out of range, you are no fool, which is not a pity, but matter
for congratulation."
"But what about practice, daddy? Did you not say only last night that
there is nothing like practice to make perfect?"
"True, lad, but I did not recommend practising at deer beyond range.
Besides, you can practise at stumps and stones."
"But stumps and stones don't afford _running_ shots," objected Olly.
"Yes they do, boy. You can run past the stumps while you shoot, and as
to stones, you can roll them down hill and let fly at them as they roll.
Now clap the hatches on your mouth; you're too fond of argument."
"I'm only a chip of the ancient tree, father," retorted the boy, with a
quiet laugh.
How much further this little skirmish might have proceeded we cannot
tell, for it was brought to an abrupt close by the sudden appearance of
a black bear. It was on turning a cliff which bordered the edge of a
stream that they came upon the monster--so close to it that they had
barely time to get ready their weapons when it rose on its hind legs to
attack them.
"Look out!" yelled Oliver, who, being in advance, was the first to see
the bear.
A stone from his sling was well though hastily aimed, for it hit the
animal fairly on the nose, thereby rendering it particularly angry.
Almost at the same moment a bolt and an arrow flew from the weapons of
Paul and Trench; but they flew wide of the mark, and there is no saying
what the result might have been had not Hendrick bent his short but
powerful bow, and sent an arrow to the feather into the creature's
breast.
The modern bullet is no doubt more deadly than the ancient arrow,
nevertheless the latter had some advantages over the former. One of
these was that, as it transfixed several muscles, it tended to hamper
the movements of the victim shot. It also drew attention in some degree
from the assailant. Thus, on the present occasion the bear, with a
savage growl, seized the head of the arrow which projected from the
wound and wrenched it off. This, although little more than a momentary
act, gave the hunter time to fit and discharge a second arrow, which
entered the animal's throat, causing it to fall writhing on the ground,
while Oliver, who had gone almost mad with excitement, grasped his axe,
bounded forward, and brought it down on bruin's skull.
Well was it for the reckless boy that Hendrick's arrows had done their
work, for, although his young arm was stout and the axe sharp, little
impression was made on the hard-headed creature by the blow. Hendrick's
knife, however, completed the work and despatched the bear. Then they
all sat down to rest while the hunter set to work to skin the animal.