It were needless to detail all that was said and done during the
remainder of that night, or, rather, morning, for day began to break
soon after the happy meeting narrated in the last chapter. It would
require more space than we can afford to tell of all that was said and
done; how Robin embraced his children over and over again in the
strength of his love, and thanked God in the fervour of his gratitude;
how Roy and Nelly were eager to relate all that had befallen them since
they were carried away into captivity, in a much shorter time than such
a long story could by any possibility be told; how Walter rendered the
telling of it much more difficult by frequent interruptions with eager
questions, which induced divergencies from which the tale-tellers forgot
to return to the points where the interruptions occurred; how Larry
O'Dowd complicated matters by sometimes volunteering anecdotes of his
own, illustrative of points similar to those which were being related;
how Slugs always cut these anecdotes short with a facetious poke in the
ribs, which caused Larry to howl; how Stiff rendered confusion worse
confounded by trying to cook some breakfast, and by upsetting the whole
affair into the fire; and how the children themselves broke in on their
own discourse continually with sudden and enthusiastic questions as to
the health of their mother and the welfare of the live stock at Fort
Enterprise.
All this cannot be described, therefore we leave it to the vivid
imagination of the reader.
"Now, comrades," said Robin, after the sun had risen, after breakfast
had been and eaten, after every incident had been related at least twice
over, and after every conceivable question had been asked four or five
times--"now, comrades, it remains for us to fix what we'll do."
"To the Fort," said Larry O'Dowd abruptly.
"Ay--home!" cried Walter.
"Oh yes--home--home!" exclaimed Roy and Nelly in the same breath.
"Ditto," observed Obadiah Stiff.
Slugs and the Black Swan, being men of few words, said nothing, but
nodded approval.
"Well, it's quite plain that we're all of one mind," resumed Robin;
"nevertheless, there are one or two points to which I ax yer attention.
In the first place, it's now near the end of November. Fort Enterprise,
in a straight line, is more nor three weeks' march from hereaway. Our
provisions is low. When I left the Fort provisions was low there too,
an' if my brother Jeff ha'nt had more nor his usual luck in huntin'
they'll be lower yet before long. Now, I think it would be better to go
back to Silver Lake for a week or so, hunt an' fish there till we've got
a good supply, make noo sleds, load 'em chock full, an' then--ho! for
home. What say ye to that, comrades?"
As every one assented readily to this plan, they proceeded at once to
carry it into execution. At first, indeed, Nelly looked a little
disappointed, saying that she wanted to get to her darling mother
without delay; but, on Walter pointing out to her that it would only
delay matters a week or so, and that it would enable the whole party to
rest and recruit, and give Wapaw time to recover thoroughly from his
wounds, she became reconciled, and put on her snow-shoes to return to
Silver Lake with some degree of cheerfulness; and when, in the course of
that day's walk, she began to tell her father of all the beauties and
wonders of Silver Lake, she was not only reconciled but delighted to
return.
"O father!" said she, as they walked briskly through the forest, "you've
no notion what a beautiful place Silver Lake is. It's so clear, and
so--so--oh! I don't know how to tell you; so like the fairy places
Walter used to tell us of, with clear water and high cliffs, and the
clouds shining up at the clouds shining down, and two suns--one below
and another above. And then the hut! we made it all ourselves."
"What! made the trees and all?" said Robin, with a smile.
"No, of course not the trees; but we _cut_ the trees and piled 'em up,
and spread the brush-wood, and--and--then the fish! we caught _such_ big
ones."
"How big, Nelly?"
"Oh, ever so big!"
"How big may that be?"
"Well, some were so long," (measuring off the size on her arm,) "an'
some near as long as my leg--an' they were good to eat too--no good!
you've no notion; but you'll see and taste 'em too. Then there's the
shooskin'! Did you ever shoosk, father?"
"No, lass--leastways I don't remember, if I did."
"But you know what it is?"
"To be sure, Nelly; ha'nt I seed ye do it often on the slopes at Fort
Enterprise?"
"Well, the shooskin' here is far, _far_ better. The first time Roy did
it, he said it nearly banged all his bones to pieces--yes, he said he
felt as if his backbone was shoved up into his brain; and I sometimes
thought it would squeeze all my ribs together. Oh, it is _so_ nice!
You shall try it, father."
Robin laughed heartily at this, and remarked that he would be very glad
to try it, though he had no particular desire to have his ribs squeezed
together, or his backbone shoved up into his brain!
Then Nelly went on with great animation and volubility to tell of the
trapping of the bear, and the snaring of rabbits, and the catching of
fish, and of Roy's peculiar method of wading into the lake for ducks,
and many other things.
Roy, meanwhile, entertained Walter and Larry O'Dowd with a somewhat
similar account of their doings during the months of their residence in
that wild region; and thus the journey was beguiled, so that the time
seemed to pass on swallows' wings.
Towards evening the party approached the spot where Silver Lake had
first burst upon the enraptured gaze of the wandering pair. As they
drew near, Roy and Nelly hurried on in advance, and, mounting the fallen
tree on which they had formerly rested, waved to the others to come on,
and shouted for glee. And well might they shout, for the evening
happened to be brighter and calmer, if possible, than the one on which
they first saw the lake. The rolling clouds were whiter, too, and the
waters looked more silvery than ever.
The exclamations of delight, and the looks of admiration with which the
glorious scene was greeted by the hunters when they came up, gratified
the hearts of Roy and Nelly very much.
"Oh, _how_ I wish mother was here to see it!" cried Nelly.
"Ain't _that_ a place for a king to live in, daddy?" said Roy,
enthusiastically.
"So 'tis, lad, so 'tis--leastwise it's a goodish spot for a hunter. How
say you, Slugs?"
Slugs smiled grimly, and nodded his head.
"Would the red man like to pitch his wigwam there?" said Robin,
addressing the Black Swan.
"He has pitched his wigwam here before," replied the Black Swan softly.
"When he first took the White Swan home to be his mate, he came to hunt
here."
"Och! is it the honeymoon ye spint here?" broke in Larry. "Faix, it's a
purty spot for courtin', and no mistake. Is that a beehive over there?"
he added, pointing across the lake.
"Why that's our hut--our _palace_," cried Nell, with gleeful look.
"Then the sooner we get down to it, and have supper, the better,"
observed Walter, "for we'll have to work hard to-morrow."
"Come along, then," cried Robin, "an' go you ahead, Roy; beat the track,
and show us the way."
Roy accepted the position of honour. Nelly followed him, and the whole
band marched off in single file along the shores of Silver Lake. They
soon reached the hut, and here again Nelly found many interesting points
to dilate upon. She poured her words into willing and sympathetic ears,
so that she monopolised nearly all the talk during the time that Larry
O'Dowd was preparing supper.
When that meal was being eaten the conversation became more general.
Plans were discussed as to the intended procedure on the morrow, and
various courses of action fixed. After that, as a matter of course, the
pipes came out, and while these were being smoked, only the talkative
members of the party kept up the conversation at intervals. Roy and
Nelly having exhausted all they had to say, began to feel desperately
sleepy, and the latter, having laid her head on her father's knee, fell
sound asleep in that position. Soon the pipes were smoked out, the fire
was replenished, the blankets unrolled; and in a very brief period of
time the whole party was in a state of happy unconsciousness, with the
exception of poor Wapaw, whose wounds made him rather restless, and the
Black Swan, whose duty it was to take the first watch; for it was,
deemed right to set a watch, lest by any chance the Indians should have
followed the hunters' tracks, though this was not probable.
Next morning Robin aroused the sleepers somewhat abruptly by shooting a
grey hen with his rifle from the tent door.
"There's breakfast for you and me, Nelly, at any rate," remarked the
hunter, as he went down to the lake to secure his bird.
"An' won't there be the bones and feathers for the rest of us?" observed
Larry, yawning, "so we won't starve this day, anyhow."
In a few minutes every man was actively engaged in work of some sort or
other. Robin and Walter prepared fishing-lines from some pieces of
buckskin parchment; Black Swan and Slugs went out to cut wood for making
sledges; Stiff repaired the snow-shoes of the party, or rather assisted
Nelly in this operation; and Larry attended to the preparation of
breakfast. Wapaw was the only one who lay still, it being thought
better to make him rest, and get strong for the approaching journey.
During the course of the day the lines were tried, and a good number of
fish caught. Slugs also went off in search of deer, and returned in the
evening with a large stag on his broad shoulders. This raised the
spirits of the party greatly, and they feasted that night, with much
rejoicing, on venison, marrowbones, and broiled fish!
Thus they spent their time for several days. One party went regularly
every morning to fish in the ice-holes; another party roamed the woods,
and returned with grouse, or rabbits, and sometimes with deer; while
some remained, part of the day at least, in the hut, mending snow-shoes
and moccasins, and making other preparations.
In the midst of all this busy labour, the shoosking was not forgotten.
One day Robin said to his little daughter, at breakfast, that as they
had got nearly enough of provisions for the journey they would take a
holiday and go and have a shoosk. The proposal was hailed with delight,
and the whole party went off with the new sledges, and spent the
forenoon in sliding and tumbling down the hills like very children.
At last everything was ready for a start. The provisions were tightly
fastened on the sledges, which were to be drawn by each of the men in
turn. Snow-shoes were put on, guns and bows looked to and shouldered,
and on a bright, frosty December morning the hunters left the hut,
struck into the woods, and set out for Fort Enterprise.
At the top of the slope, beside the fallen tree, they stopped with one
consent and gazed back; and there Nelly took her last sad look at Silver
Lake, and sorrowfully said her last farewell.