THE FOREST, AND THE LEADERS OF THE FOLORN-HOPE--A GOOD SHOT--A
CONSULTATION--AN ICE-FLOE, AND A NARROW CHANCE OF ESCAPE IN A SMALL WAY.
"Hallo! where are you!" shouted a voice that rang through the glades of
the forest like the blast of a silver trumpet, testifying to lungs of
leather and a throat of brass.
The ringing tones died away, and naught was heard save the rustling of
the leafy canopy overhead, as the young man, whose shout had thus rudely
disturbed the surrounding echoes, leaned on the muzzle of a long rifle,
and stood motionless as a statue, his right foot resting on the trunk of
a fallen tree, and his head bent slightly to one side, as if listening
for a reply. But no reply came. A squirrel ran down the trunk of a
neighbouring pine, and paused, with tail and ears erect, and its little
black eyes glittering as if with surprise at the temerity of him who so
recklessly dared to intrude upon and desecrate with his powerful voice
the deep solitudes of the wilderness. They stood so long thus that it
seemed as though the little animal and the man had been petrified by the
unwonted sound. If so, the spell was quickly broken. The loud report
of a fowling-piece was heard at a short distance. The squirrel
incontinently disappeared from the spot on which it stood, and almost
instantaneously reappeared on the topmost branch of a high tree; while
the young man gave a smile of satisfaction, threw the rifle over his
shoulder, and, turning round, strode rapidly away in the direction
whence the shot proceeded.
A few minutes' walk brought him to the banks of a little brook, by the
side of which, on the projecting root of a tree, sat a man, with a dead
goose at his feet and a fowling-piece by his side. He was dressed in
the garb of a hunter; and, from the number of gray hairs that shone like
threads of silver among the black curls on his temples, he was evidently
past the meridian of life--although, from the upright bearing of his
tall, muscular frame, and the quick glance of his fearless black eye, it
was equally evident that the vigour of his youth was not yet abated.
"Why, Stanley," exclaimed the young man as he approached, "I've been
shouting till my throat is cracked, for at least half an hour. I verily
began to think that you had forsaken me altogether."
"In which case, Frank," replied the other, "I should have treated you as
you deserve, for your empty game-bag proves you an unworthy comrade in
the chase."
"So, so, friend, do not boast," replied the youth with a smile; "if I
mistake not, that goose was winging its way to the far north not ten
minutes agone. Had I come up half an hour sooner, I suspect we should
have met on equal terms; but the fact is that I have not seen hair or
feather, save a tree-squirrel, since I left you in the morning."
"Well, to say truth, I was equally unfortunate until I met this luckless
goose, and fired the shot that brought him down and brought you up. But
I've had enough o' this now, and shall back to the fort again. What say
you? Will you go in my canoe or walk?"
The young man was silent for a few seconds; then, without replying to
his companion's question, he said,--"By-the-bye, is it not to-night that
you mean to make another attempt to induce the men to volunteer for the
expedition!"
"It is," replied Stanley, with a alight frown. "And what if they still
persist in refusing to go?"
"I'll try once more to shame them out of their cowardice. But if they
won't agree, I'll compel them to go by means of more powerful arguments
than words."
"'Tis not cowardice; you do the men injustice," said Frank, shaking his
head.
"Well, well, I believe I do, lad; you're right," replied Stanley, while
a smile smoothed out the firm lines that had gathered round his lips for
a few seconds. "No doubt they care as little for the anticipated
dangers of the expedition as any men living, and they hesitate to go
simply because they know that the life before them will be a lonely one
at such an out-o'-the-way place as Ungava. But we can't help that,
Frank; the interests of the Company must be attended to, and so go they
_must_, willing or not willing. But I'm annoyed at this unexpected
difficulty, for there's a mighty difference between men who volunteer to
go and men who go merely because they must and can't help it."
The young man slowly rubbed the stock of his rifle with the sleeve of
his coat, and looked as if he understood and sympathised with his
friend's chagrin.
"If Prince were only here just now," said he, looking up, "there would
be no difficulty in the matter. These fellows only want a bold, hearty
comrade to step forward and show them the way, and they will follow to
the North Pole if need be. They look upon our willingness to go as a
mere matter of course, though I don't see why we should be expected to
like banishment more than themselves. But if Prince were--"
"Well, well, Prince is _not_ here, so we must do the best we can without
him," said Stanley.
As he spoke, the trumpet note of a goose was heard in the distance.
"There he goes!--down with you!" exclaimed Frank, darting suddenly
behind the stump of the tree, while his companion crouched beside him,
and both began to shout at the top of their voices in imitation of the
goose. The bird was foolish enough to accept the invitation
immediately, although, had it been other than a goose, it would have
easily recognised the sound as a wretched counterfeit of the goose
language. It flew directly towards them, as geese always do in spring
when thus enticed, but passed at such a distance that the elder
sportsman was induced to lower his piece.
"Ah! he's too far off. You'd better give him a shot with the rifle,
Frank; but you're sure to miss."
"To hit, you mean," cried his companion, flushing with momentary
indignation at this disparaging remark. At the same moment he took a
rapid aim and fired. For a few yards the goose continued its forward
flight as if unhurt; then it wavered once or twice, and fell heavily to
the ground.
"Bravo, boy!" cried Stanley. "There, don't look nettled; I only jested
with you, knowing your weakness on the score of rifle-shooting. Now,
pick up your bird, and throw it into the canoe, for I must away."
Frank finished reloading his piece as his friend spoke, and went to pick
up the goose; while the other walked down to the edge of the rivulet,
and disengaged a light birch-bark canoe from the long grass and sedges
that almost hid it from view.
"Make haste, Frank!" he shouted; "there's the ice coming up with the
flood-tide, and bearing down on the creek here."
At a short distance from the spot where the sportsmen stood, the
streamlet already alluded to mingled its waters with a broad river,
which, a few miles farther down, flows into James's Bay. As every one
knows, this bay lies to the south of Hudson's Bay, in North America.
Here the river is about two miles wide; and the shores on either side
being low, it has all the appearance of an extensive lake. In spring,
after the disruption of the ice, its waters are loaded with large floes
and fields of ice; and later in the season, after it has become quite
free from this wintry encumbrance, numerous detached masses come up with
every flood-tide. It was the approach of one of these floes that called
forth Stanley's remark.
The young man replied to it by springing towards the canoe, in which his
companion was already seated. Throwing the dead bird into it, he
stooped, and gave the light bark a powerful shove into the stream,
exclaiming, as he did so, "There, strike out, you've no time to lose,
and I'll go round by the woods."
There was indeed no time to lose. The huge mass of ice was closing
rapidly into the mouth of the creek, and narrowing the only passage
through which the canoe could escape into the open water of the river
beyond. Stanley might, indeed, drag his canoe up the bank, if so
disposed, and reach home by a circuitous walk through the woods; but by
doing so he would lose much time, and be under the necessity of carrying
his gun, blanket, tin kettle, and the goose, on his back. His broad
shoulders were admirably adapted for such a burden, but he preferred the
canoe to the woods on the present occasion. Besides, the only risk he
ran was that of getting his canoe crushed to pieces. So, plunging his
paddle vigorously in the water, he shot through the lessening channel
like an arrow, and swept out on the bosom of the broad river just as the
ice closed with a crash upon the shore and ground itself to powder on
the rocks.
"Well done!" shouted Frank, with a wave of his cap, as he witnessed the
success of his friend's exploit.
"All right," replied Stanley, glancing over his shoulder.
In another moment the canoe disappeared behind a group of willows that
grew on the point at the river's mouth, and the young man was left
alone. For a few minutes he stood contemplating the point behind which
his companion had disappeared; then giving a hasty glance at the priming
of his rifle, he threw it across his shoulder, and striding rapidly up
the bank, was soon lost to view amid the luxuriant undergrowth of the
forest.