Duncan McKay senior was dreaming of, and gloating over, the flesh-pots
of Red River, and his amiable daughter was rambling over the green
carpet of the summer prairies, when the sun arose and shone upon the
bushes which surrounded their winter camp--Starvation Camp, as the old
man had styled it.
There is no saying how long Duncan would have gloated, and the fair
Elspie wandered, if a hair of the buffalo robe on which the former lay
had not entered his nostril, and caused him to sneeze.
Old McKay's sneeze was something to be remembered when once heard.
Indeed it was something that could not be forgotten! From the
profoundest depths of his person it seemed to burst, and how his nose
sustained the strain without splitting has remained one of the mysteries
of the Nor'-West unto this day. It acted like an electric shock on
Elspie, who sat bolt upright at once with a scared look that was quite
in keeping with her tousled hair.
"Oh! daddy, what a fright you gave me!" Elspie said, remonstratively.
"It iss goot seventeen years an' more that you hev had to get used to
it, whatever," growled the old man. "I suppose we've got nothin' for
breakfast?"
He raised himself slowly, and gazed at Elspie with a disconsolate
expression.
"Nothing," returned the girl with a look of profound woe.
It is said that when things are at the worst they are sure to mend. It
may be so: the sayings of man are sometimes true. Whether or not the
circumstances of Elspie and old McKay were at the worst is an open
question; but there can be no doubt that they began to mend just about
that time, for the girl had not quite got rid of her disconsolate
feelings when the faint but merry tinkle of sleigh-bells was heard in
the frosty air.
The startled look of sudden surprise and profound attention is
interesting to behold, whether in old or young. It is a condition of
being that utterly blots out self for a brief moment in the person
affected, and allows the mind and frame for once to have free
unconscious play.
Elspie said, "Sh!--" and gazed aside with wide and lustrous eyes, head a
little on one side, a hand and forefinger slightly raised, as if to
enforce silence, and her graceful figure bent forward--a petrifaction of
intensely attentive loveliness.
Old McKay said "Ho!" and, with both hands resting on the ground to prop
him up, eyes and mouth wide open, and breath restrained, presented the
very personification of petrified stupidity.
Another moment, and the sound became too distinct to admit of a doubt.
"Here they are at long last!" exclaimed the old man, rising with
unwonted alacrity for his years.
"Thank God!" ejaculated Elspie, springing up and drawing a shawl round
her shoulders, at the same time making some hasty and futile attempts to
reduce the confusion of her hair.
It need scarcely be said that this was the arrival of the rescue-party
of which Daniel Davidson was in command. Before the starving pair had
time to get fairly on their legs, Daniel strode into the camp and seized
Elspie in his arms.
We need not repeat what he said, for it was not meant to be made public,
but no such reticence need trouble us in regard to old Duncan.
"Hoot! Taniel," said he, somewhat peevishly, "keep your coortin' till
efter breakfast, man! It iss a wolf that will be livin' inside o' me
for the last few tays--a hungry wolf too--an' nothin' for him to eat.
That's right, Okematan, on wi' the kettle; it iss yourself that knows
what it iss to starve. Blow up the fire, Peter Tavidson. You're a
cliver boy for your age, an' hes goot lungs, I make no doubt."
"That I have, Mr McKay, else I should not be here," said the lad,
laughing, as he knelt before the embers of the fire, and blew them into
a blaze.
"Wow! Dan, hev ye not a pit pemmican handy?" asked McKay. "It iss
little I care for cookin' just now."
"Here you are," said Dan, taking a lump of the desired article from his
wallet and handing it to the impatient man; at the same time giving a
morsel to Elspie. "I knew you would want it in a hurry, and kept it
handy. Where is Duncan? I thought he was with you."
"So he wass, Taniel, when you left us to go to Rud Ruver, but my son
Tuncan was never fond o' stickin' to his father. He left us, an' no wan
knows where he iss now. Starvin', maybe, like the rest of us."
"I hope not," said Elspie, while her sire continued his breakfast with
manifest satisfaction. "He went off to search for buffalo with Perrin
and several others. They said they would return to us if they found
anything. But, as they have not come back, we suppose they must have
been unsuccessful. Did you meet any of the poor people on the way out,
Dan?"
"Ay, we met some of them," replied the hunter, in a sad tone. "All
struggling to make their way back to the Settlement, and all more or
less starving. We helped them what we could, but some were past help;
and we came upon two or three that had fallen in their tracks and died
in the snow. But we have roused the Settlement, and there are many
rescue-parties out in all directions now, scouring the plains."
"You hev stirred it enough, Okematan," said old McKay, referring to the
kettle of food which was being prepared. "Here, fill my pannikin: I can
wait no longer."
"Whenever you have finished breakfast we must start off home," said
Davidson, helping Elspie to some of the much-needed and not yet warmed
soup, which was quickly made by mixing pemmican with flour and water.
"I have brought two sleds, so that you and your father may ride, and we
will carry the provisions. We never know when the gale may break out
again."
"Or when heavy snow may come on," added Peter, who was by that time busy
with his own breakfast.
Okematan occupied himself in stirring the contents of the large kettle,
and occasionally devouring a mouthful of pemmican uncooked.
An hour later, and they were making for home almost as fast as the
rescue-party had travelled out--the provisions transferred to the strong
backs of their rescuers--old McKay and Elspie carefully wrapped up in
furs, reposing on the two sledges.