START AFRESH--SUPERSTITIOUS NOTIONS--THE WHIRLPOOL--THE INTERIOR--
FISHING IN THE OLD WAY ON NEW GROUND, AND WHAT CAME OF IT--A COLD BATH--
THE RESCUE--SAVED--DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO THE WILDERNESS.
As if to make amends for its late outrageous conduct, the weather, after
the night of the great storm, continued unbrokenly serene for many days,
enabling our travellers to make rapid progress towards their
destination: It would be both tiresome and unnecessary to follow them
step by step throughout their journey, as the part of it which we have
already described was, in many respects, typical of the whole voyage
along the east coast of Hudson's Bay. Sometimes, indeed, a few
incidents of an unusual character did occur. Once they were very nearly
being crushed between masses of ice; twice the larger canoe struck on a
hummock, and had to be landed and repaired; and frequently mishaps of a
slighter nature befell them. Their beds, too, varied occasionally. At
one time they laid them down to rest on the sand of the sea-shore; at
another, on the soft turf and springy moss of the woods. Sometimes they
were compelled to content themselves with a couch of pebbles, few of
which were smaller than a man's fist; and, not unfrequently, they had to
make the best they could of a flat rock, whose unyielding surface seemed
to put the idea of anything like rest to flight, causing the thin men of
the party to growl and the fat ones to chuckle. Bryan was one of the
well-favoured, being round and fleshy; while his poor little friend La
Roche possessed a framework of bones that were so sparingly covered with
softer substance, as to render it a matter of wonder how he and the
stones could compromise the matter at all, and called forth from his
friend frequent impertinent allusions to "thridpapers, bags o' bones,
idges o' knives, half fathoms o' pump water," and such like curious
substances. But whatever the bed, it invariably turned out that the
whole party slept soundly from the time they lay down till the time of
rising, which was usually at the break of day.
Owing to the little Indian canoe having been wrecked on the sand-bank,
Frank and his men had to embark in the smaller of the large canoes; a
change which was in some respects a disadvantage to the party, as Frank
could not now so readily dash away in pursuit of game. However, this
did not much matter, as, in a few days afterwards, they arrived at the
mouth of the river by which they intended to penetrate into the interior
of the country. The name of the river is Deer River, and it flows into
Richmond Gulf, which is situated on the east shore of Hudson's Bay, in
latitude 56 degrees North. Richmond Gulf is twenty miles long, and
about the same in breadth; but the entrance to it is so narrow that the
tide pours into it like a torrent until it is full. The pent-up waters
then rush out on one side of this narrow inlet while they are running in
at the other, causing a whirlpool which would engulf a large boat and
greatly endanger even a small vessel. Of course it was out of the
question to attempt the passage of such a vortex in canoes, except at
half flood or half ebb tide, at which periods the waters became quiet.
On arriving at the mouth of the gulf, the travellers found the tide out
and the entrance to it curling and rolling in massive volumes, as if all
the evil water-spirits of the north were holding their orgies there.
Oostesimow and Ma-Istequan, being by nature and education intensely
superstitious, told Stanley--after they had landed to await the flow of
the tide--that it was absolutely necessary to perform certain ceremonies
in order to propitiate the deities of the place, otherwise they could
not expect to pass such an awful whirlpool in safety. Their leader
smiled, and told them to do as they thought fit, adding, however, that
he would not join them, as he did not believe in any deities whatever,
except the one true God, who did not require to be propitiated in any
way, and could not be moved by any other means than by prayer in the
name of Jesus Christ. The red men seemed surprised a little at this,
but, with their proverbial stoicism, refrained from any further or more
decided expression of feeling.
Nevertheless, the Indians sufficiently showed their faith in their own
doctrines by immediately setting about a series of curious and elaborate
ceremonies, which it was impossible to comprehend, and decidedly
unprofitable to describe. They appeared, however, to attach much
importance to their propitiatory offerings, the chief among which seemed
to be a few inches of tobacco, with which it was fondly hoped the
deities of the gulf would condescend to smoke the pipe of peace while
their red children ventured to trespass a little on their domain; and
hard indeed must have been the hearts of the said spirits had they
refused so valuable an offering, for tobacco is the life and marrow, the
quintessence of terrestrial felicity, the very joy and comfort of a
voyageur, and the poor Indians had but little of it to spare.
While this was going on, Bryan stood with his back to the fire, a
remarkably short and peculiarly black pipe in his mouth, and his head
inclined sagaciously to one side, as if he designed, by dint of a
combination of intense mental abstraction, partial closing of his eyes,
severe knitting of his brows, and slow but exceedingly voluminous
emission of smoke, to come to a conclusion in regard to the unfathomable
subject of Indian superstition. La Roche, steeped in unphilosophic
indifference on such matters, and keenly alive to the gross cravings of
hunger, busied himself in concocting a kettle of soup; while the rest of
the party rambled about the beach or among the bushes in search of eggs.
In this latter search Frank and Edith were very successful, and
returned with pockets laden with excellent eggs of the eider-duck, which
were immediately put into the kettle, and tended not a little to
increase the excellence of the soup and the impatience of the men.
Meanwhile the tide rose, the power of the current was gradually checked,
and towards noon they passed the dangerous narrows in safety. From the
view that was now obtained of the interior, it became evident that the
worst of their journey yet lay before them. On arriving at the mouth of
Deer River, the mountains were seen to rise abruptly and precipitously,
while far away inland their faint blue peaks rose into the sky. Indeed
from this point the really hard work of the voyage may be said to have
commenced; for scarcely had they proceeded a few miles up the river,
when their further progress, at least by water, was effectually
interrupted by a rapid which came leaping madly down its rocky bed, as
if the streams rejoiced to escape from the chasms and mountain gorges,
and find rest at last on the ample bosom of the great deep.
"What think ye of that, boy?" said Stanley to Frank Morton, as they
leaped from their respective canoes, and stood gazing at the rugged glen
from which the rapid issued, and the wild appearance of the hills
beyond. "It seems to me that report spoke truly when it said that the
way to Clearwater Lake was rugged. Here is no despicable portage to
begin with; and yonder cliffs, that look so soft and blue in the far
distance, will prove to be dark and hard enough when we get at them, I
warrant."
"When we get at them!" echoed Mrs Stanley, as she approached, leading
Edith by the hand. "Get at them, George! Had any one asked me if it
were possible to pass over these mountains with our canoes and cargoes,
I should have answered, `Decidedly not!'"
"And yet you were so foolish and reckless as to be the first to
volunteer for this decidedly impossible expedition!" replied Stanley.
"There you are inconsistent," said Mrs Stanley, smiling. "If reckless,
I cannot be foolish, according to your own showing; for I have heard you
give it as your opinion that recklessness is one of the most essential
elements in the leaders of a forlorn hope. But really the thing does
seem to my ignorant mind impossible.--What think you, Eda?"
Mrs Stanley bent down and looked into the face of her child, but she
received no reply. The expanded eyes, indeed, spoke volumes; and the
parted lips, on which played a fitful, exulting smile, the heightened
colour, and thick-coming breath, told eloquently of her anticipated
delight in these new regions, which seemed so utterly different from the
shores of the bay: but her tongue was mute.
And well might Mrs Stanley think the passage over these mountains
impossible; for, except to men accustomed to canoe travelling in the
American lakes and rivers, such an attempt would have appeared as
hopeless as the passage of a ship through the ice-locked polar seas in
winter.
Not so thought the men. Already several of the most active of them were
scrambling up the cliffs with heavy loads on their backs; and, while
Stanley and his wife were yet conversing, two of them approached
rapidly, bearing the large canoe on their shoulders. The exclamation
that issued from the foremost of these proved him to be Bryan.
"Now, bad luck to ye, Gaspard! can't ye go stidy? It's mysilf that'll
be down on me blissid nose av ye go staggerin' about in that fashion.
Sure it's Losh, the spalpeen, that would carry the canoe better than
you."
Gaspard made no reply. Bryan staggered on, growling as he went, and in
another minute they were hid from view among the bushes.
"What do you see, Frank?" inquired Stanley; "you stare as earnestly as
Bryan did at the white bear last week. What is't, man? Speak!"
"A fish," replied Frank. "I saw him rise in the pool, and I'm certain
he's a very large one."
"Very likely, Frank; there ought to be a fish of some sort there. I've
been told--hist! there he's again. As I live, a salmon! a salmon,
Frank! Now for your rod, my boy."
But Frank heard him not, for he was gone. In a few minutes he returned
with a fishing-rod, which he was busily engaged in putting up as he
hurried towards the rocks beside the pool.
Now, Frank Morton was a fisher. We do not mean to say that he was a
fisher by profession; nor do we merely affirm that he was rather fond of
the gentle art of angling, or generally inclined to take a cast when he
happened to be near a good stream. By no means. Frank was more than
that implies. He was a steady, thorough-going disciple of Izaak Walton;
one who, in the days of his boyhood, used to flee to the water-side at
all seasons, in all weathers, and despite all obstacles. Not only was
it his wont to fish when he could, or how he could, but too often was he
beguiled to fish at times and in ways that were decidedly improper;
sometimes devoting those hours which were set apart expressly for the
acquirement of Greek and Latin, to wandering by mountain stream or tarn,
rod in hand, up to the knees in water, among the braes and woodlands of
his own native country. And Frank's enthusiasm did not depend entirely
on his success. It was a standing joke among his school-fellows that
Frank would walk six miles any day for the chance of a nibble from the
ghost of a minnow. Indeed he was often taunted by his ruder comrades
with being such a keen fisher that he was quite content if he only
hooked a drowned cat during a day's excursion. But Frank was
good-natured; he smiled at their jests, and held on the even tenor of
his way, whipping the streams more pertinaciously than his master
whipped _him_ for playing truant; content alike to bear ignominy and
chastisement, so long as he was rewarded by a nibble, and overjoyed
beyond expression when he could return home with the tail of a
two-pounder hanging over the edge of his basket. Far be it from us to
hold up to ridicule the weakness of a friend, but we cannot help adding
that Master Frank made the most of his tails. His truthful and manly
nature, indeed, would not stoop to actual deception, but he had been
known on more than one occasion to offer to carry a friend's waterproof
fishing-boots in his basket, when his doing so rendered it impossible to
prevent the tails of his trout from protruding arrogantly, as if to
insinuate that there were shoals within. Another of Frank's weaknesses
was, upon the hooking of every fish, to assert, with overweening
confidence and considerable excitement, that it was a tremendously big
one. Experience had, during all his piscatorial career, contradicted
him ninety-nine times out of every hundred; but Frank's firm belief in
his last minnow being a big trout--at least until it lay gasping on the
bank at his feet--was as unshaken after long years of mistaken
calculation as when first he sallied forth to the babbling brook with a
willow branch, a fathom of twine, and a crooked pin!
Such untiring devotion, of course, could not fail to make Frank
particularly knowing in all the details and minutiae of his much-loved
sport. He knew every hole and corner of the rivers and burns within
fifteen miles of his father's house. He became mysteriously wise in
regard to the weather; knew precisely the best fly for any given day,
and, in the event of being unhappily destitute of the proper kind, could
dress one to perfection in ten minutes. As he grew older and taller,
and the muscles on his large and well-made limbs began to develop, Frank
slung a more capacious basket on his back, shouldered a heavier rod,
and, with a pair of thick shoes and a home-spun shooting suit, stretched
away over the Highland hills towards the romantic shores of the west
coast of Scotland. Here he first experienced the wild excitement of
salmon-fishing; and here the Waltonian chains, that had been twining and
thickening around him from infancy, received two or three additional
coils, and were finally riveted for ever. During his sojourn in
America, he had happened to dwell in places where the fishing, though
good, was not of a very exciting nature; and he had not seen a salmon
since the day he left home, so that it is not matter for wonder that his
stride was rapid and his eye bright while he hurried towards the pool,
as before mentioned.
He who has never left the beaten tracks of men, or trod the unknown
wilderness, can have but a faint conception of the feelings of a true
angler as he stands by the brink of a dark pool which has hitherto
reflected only the antlers of the wild deer--whose dimpling eddies and
flecks of foam have been disturbed by no fisher since the world began,
except the polar bear. Besides the pleasurable emotions of strong hope,
there is the additional charm of uncertainty as to what will rise, and
of certainty that if there be anything piscatine beneath these
fascinating ripples it undoubtedly _will_ rise--and bite too! Then
there is the peculiar satisfaction of catching now and then a drop of
spray from, and hearing the thunder of, a cataract, whose free, surging
bound is not yet shackled by the tourist's sentimental description; and
the novelty of beholding one's image reflected in a liquid mirror whose
geographical position is not yet stereotyped on the charts of man. Alas
for these maps and charts! Despite the wishes of scientific geographers
and the ignorance of unscientific explorers, we think them far too
complete already; and we can conceive few things more dreadful or
crushing to the enterprising and romantic spirits of the world than the
arrival of that time (if it ever shall arrive) when it shall be said
that _terra incognita_ exists no longer--when every one of those
fairy-like isles of the southern seas, and all the hidden wonders of the
polar regions, shall be put down, in cold blood, on black and white,
exposed profanely on the schoolroom walls, and drummed into the thick
heads of wretched little boys who don't want to learn, by the
unsympathising hands of dominies who, it may be, care but little whether
they do or not!
But to return. While Frank stood on the rocks, attaching to the line a
salmon-fly which he had selected with much consideration from his book,
he raised his eyes once or twice to take a rapid glance at his position
and the capabilities of the place. About fifty yards further up the
river the stream curled round the base of a large rock, and gushed into
a pool which was encircled on all sides by an overhanging wall, except
where the waters issued forth in a burst of foam. Their force, however,
was materially broken by another curve, round which they had to sweep
ere they reached this exit, so that when they rushed into the larger
pool below they calmed down at once, and on reaching the point where
Frank stood, assumed that oily, gurgling surface, dimpled all over with
laughing eddies, that suggests irresistibly the idea of fish not only
being there, as a matter of course, but being there expressly and solely
for the purpose of being caught! A little further down, the river took
a slight bend, and immediately after, recurring to its straight course,
it dashed down, for a distance of fifty yards, in a tumultuous rapid,
which swept into sudden placidity a few hundred yards below. Having
taken all this in at a glance, Frank dropped the fly into the water and
raised his rod to make a cast. In this act he almost broke the rod, to
his amazement; for, instead of whipping the fly lightly out of the
water, he dragged a trout of a pound weight violently up on the bank.
"Bravo!" cried Stanley, laughing heartily at his friend's stare of
mingled wonder and amazement,--"bravo, Frank! I'm no fisher myself, but
I've always understood that fish required a little play before being
landed. However, you have convinced me of my ignorance. I see that the
proper way is to toss them over your head! A salmon must be rather
troublesome to toss, but no doubt, with your strong arms, you'll manage
it easily, hey?"
"Why, what an appetite they must have!" replied Frank, answering his
friend's badinage with a smile. "If the little fellows begin thus, what
will not the big ones do?"
As he spoke, he disengaged the fish and threw it down, and made the next
cast so rapidly, that if another trout was waiting to play him a similar
trick, it must have been grievously disappointed. The line swept
lightly through the air, and the fly fell gently on the stream, where it
had not quivered more than two seconds when the water gurgled around it.
The next moment Frank's rod bent like a hoop, and the line flew through
the rings with whirring rapidity, filling these lonely solitudes for the
first time with the pleasant "music of the reel." Almost before Frank
had time to take a step in a downward direction, fifty yards were run
out, the waters were suddenly cleft, and a salmon sprang like a bar of
burnished silver twice its own height into the air. With a sounding
splash it returned to its native element; but scarcely had its fins
touched the water, when it darted towards the bank. Being brought up
suddenly here, it turned at a tangent, and flashed across the pool
again, causing the reel to spin with renewed velocity. Here the fish
paused for a second, as if to collect its thoughts, and then coming,
apparently, to a summary determination as to what it meant to do, it
began steadily to ascend the stream, not, indeed, so rapidly as it had
descended, but sufficiently so to give Frank some trouble, by means of
rapidly winding up, to keep the line tight. Having bored doggedly
towards the head of the rapid, the fish stopped and began to shake its
head passionately, as if indignant at being foiled in its energetic
attempts to escape. After a little time, it lay sulkily down at the
bottom of the pool, where it defied its persecutor to move it an inch.
"What's to be done now?" asked Stanley, who stood ready to gaff the fish
when brought near to the bank.
"We must rouse him up," said Frank, as he slowly wound up the line.
"Just take up a stone and throw it at him."
Stanley looked surprised, for he imagined that such a proceeding would
frighten the fish and cause it to snap the line; but seeing that Frank
was in earnest, he did as he was directed. No sooner had the stone sunk
than the startled fish once more dashed across the river; then taking a
downward course, it sped like an arrow to the brink of the rough water
below. To have allowed the salmon to go down the rapid would have been
to lose it, so Frank arrested the spinning of his reel and held on. For
a second or two the rod bent almost in a circle, and the line became
fearfully rigid.
"You'll break it, Frank," cried Stanley, in some anxiety.
"It can't be helped," said Frank, compressing his lips; "he must not go
down there. The tackle is new; I think it will hold him."
Fortunately the tackle proved to be very good. The fish was arrested,
and after one or two short runs, which showed that its vigour was
abated, it was drawn carefully towards the rocks. As it drew near it
rolled over on its side once or twice--an evident sign of being much
exhausted.
"Now, Stanley, be careful," said Frank, as his friend stepped cautiously
towards the fish and extended the gaff. "I've seen many a fine salmon
escape owing to careless gaffing. Don't be in a hurry. Be sure of your
distance before you strike, and do it quickly. Now, then--there--give
it him! Hurrah!" he shouted, as Stanley passed the iron hook neatly
into the side of the fish, and lifted it high and dry on the rocks.
The cheer to which Frank gave vent, on this successful termination to
the struggle, was re-echoed heartily by several of the men, who, on
passing the spot with their loads, had paused and become deeply
interested spectators of the sport.
"Powerful big fish, sir," said Bryan, throwing down his pack and taking
up the salmon by the gills. "Twinty pounds at laste, av it's an ounce."
"Scarcely that, Bryan," said Stanley; "but it's not much less, I
believe."
"Ah! oui, 'tis ver' pritty. Ver' superb for supper," remarked La Roche.
The little Frenchman was right in saying that it was pretty. Unlike the
ordinary salmon, it was marked with spots like a trout, its head was
small and its shoulders plump, while its silvery purity was exceedingly
dazzling and beautiful.
"'Tis a Hearne-salmon," said Massan, approaching the group. "I've seed
lots o' them on the coast to the south'ard o' this, an' I've no doubt
we'll find plenty o' them at Ungava."
While the men were discussing the merits of the fish, Frank had hooked
another, which, although quite as large, gave him much less trouble to
land; and before the men had finished carrying the canoes and goods over
the portage, he had taken three fish out of the same pool. Wishing,
however, to try for a larger one nearer the sea, he proceeded to take a
cast below the rapid.
Meanwhile, La Roche, whose activity had enabled him to carry over his
portion of the cargo long before his comrades, came to the pool which
Frank had just left, and seating himself on a large stone, drew forth
his tobacco-pouch. With a comical leer at the water which had so
recently been deprived of its denizens, he proceeded leisurely to fill a
pipe.
It is impossible to foresee, and difficult to account for, the actions
of an impulsive human being. La Roche sat down to smoke his pipe, but
instead of smoking it, he started to his feet and whirled it into the
river. This apparently insane action was followed by several others,
which, as they were successively performed, gradually unfolded the drift
of his intentions. Drawing the knife which hung at his girdle, he went
into the bushes, whence he quickly returned, dragging after him a large
branch. From this he stripped the leaves and twigs. Fumbling in his
pocket for some time, he drew forth a piece of stout cord, about four
yards long, with a cod-hook attached to the end of it. This line had
been constructed some weeks before when the canoes were wind-bound at a
part of the coast where La Roche, desirous of replenishing the kettle,
had made an unsuccessful attempt at sea-fishing. Fastening this line to
the end of his extemporised rod, La Roche proceeded to dress his hook.
This he accomplished by means of the feather of a duck which Frank shot
the day before, and a tag from his scarlet worsted belt; and, when
finished, it had more the appearance of some hideous reptile than a gay
fly. However, La Roche surveyed it for a moment or two with an
expression of deep satisfaction, and then, hurrying to the brink of the
water, made a violent heave.
"Oh! cent milles tonnerres!" he exclaimed angrily, as the enormous hook
caught in the leg of his trousers. The large and clumsy barb was deeply
imbedded, so there was no help for it but to use the knife. The second
throw was more successful, and the hook alighted in the water with a
splash that ought to have sent all the fish in the pool away in
consternation. Instead of this, however, no sooner did the reptile
trail upon the stream than a trout dashed at it in such violent haste
that it nearly missed it altogether. As it was, it hooked itself very
slightly, and the excitable Frenchman settled the matter by giving the
line a violent tug, in his anxiety to land the fish, that pulled the
hook entirely out of its mouth.
"Ah! c'est dommage, ver' great; mais try it encore, my boy," exclaimed
the mortified angler. The next throw, although well accomplished,
produced nothing; but at the third attempt, ere the reptile had settled
on the water for a second, it was engulfed by a salmon fully six pounds
weight, and La Roche's rod was almost drawn out of his grasp.
"Hilloa, Losh! what have ye got there?" exclaimed Bryan, as, with
several of the men, he approached to where the Frenchman and the salmon
strove in uncertain conflict.
"By the mortial, he's hucked a whale! Out with it, boy, afore it pulls
ye in!" said the Irishman, running to the rescue.
Just then the salmon gave a pull of more than ordinary vigour, at the
same moment La Roche slipped his foot, and, ere Bryan could lay hold of
him, fell headlong into the water and disappeared. Bryan's hands hung
helplessly down, his jaw dropped, and his eyes opened wide, as he gazed
in mute wonderment at the spot where his friend's toes had vanished.
Suddenly he wrenched off his cap and flung it down, and proceeded to
tear off his coat, preparatory to leaping into the river to the rescue,
when his arms were pinioned to his sides by the powerful grip of Massan.
"Come, Bryan," said he, "you know very well that you can't swim; you'd
only make things worse."
"Och! murder! _he_ can't swim neither. Let me go, ye black villain.
Thunder an' turf! will ye see the poor lad drownded forenint yer two
eyes?" cried the poor Irishman, as he made violent but unavailing
struggles to get free. But Massan knew that to allow him to escape
would only add to the number requiring to be saved, and as he himself
could not swim, he saw at once that the only service he could render
under the circumstances would be to hold the Irishman down. Clasping
him, therefore, as in a vice, he raised his head and gave a shout for
help that rolled in deep echoes among the overhanging cliffs. Another
shout was uttered at the same instant. Edith, who happened to come up
just as La Roche's head emerged from the water gasping for breath,
uttered a wild shriek that made more than one heart among the absentees
leap as they flew to the rescue.
Meanwhile La Roche rose and sank several times in the surges of the
pool. His face on these occasions exhibited a mingled expression of
terror and mischievous wildness; for although he could not swim a
stroke, the very buoyancy of his mercurial temperament seemed partially
to support him, and a feeling of desperate determination induced him to
retain a death-like gripe of the rod, at the end of which the salmon
still struggled. But his strength was fast going, and he sank for the
fourth time with a bubbling cry, when a step was heard crashing through
the adjacent bushes, and Dick Prince sprang down the slope like a deer.
He did not pause when the scene burst upon his view, but a smile of
satisfaction played upon his usually grave face when he saw Edith safe
on the banks of the stream. Another spring and an agile bound sent him
headlong into the pool about a yard from the spot where La Roche had
last sunk. Scarcely had he disappeared when the dog Chimo bounded
towards the scene of action, and, with what intent no one could tell,
leaped also into the water. By this time Frank, Stanley, and nearly all
the party had assembled on the bank of the river, ready to render
assistance. In a few seconds they had the satisfaction of seeing Dick
Prince rise, holding poor La Roche by the collar of his capote with his
left hand, while he swam vigorously towards the shore with his right.
But during the various struggles which had taken place they had been
gradually sucked into the stream that flowed towards the lower rapid,
and it now became apparent to Prince that his only chance of safety was
in catching hold of the point of rock that formed the first obstruction
to the rush of water. Abandoning all effort, therefore, to gain the
bank beside him, he swam with the current, but edged towards the shore
as he floated down.
"Hallo! La Roche!" he exclaimed loudly. "Do you hear? do you
understand me?"
"Ah! oui, vraiment. I not dead yit."
"Then let go that rod and seize my collar, and mind, sink deep in the
water. Show only enough o' your face to breathe with, or I'll drown
ye."
The Frenchman obeyed to the extent of seizing Dick's collar and sinking
deep in the water, so as not to overburden his friend; but nothing could
induce him to quit the rod to which he had clung so long and so
resolutely. Prince's arms being now free, one or two powerful strokes
placed him beyond the influence of the strong current, and as he passed
the rocks before mentioned, he seized an overhanging branch of a small
shrub, by which he endeavoured to drag himself ashore. This, however,
he found to be impossible, partly owing to the steepness of the shelving
rock, and partly to the fact that Chimo, in his ill-directed attempts to
share in the dangers of his friends, had seized La Roche by the skirts
of the coat in order to prevent himself from going down the stream.
Those on shore, on seeing Prince make for the rock, ran towards the
spot; but having to make a slight detour round the bend of the river,
they did not reach it until he seized the branch, and when Frank, who
was the first, sprang down, the slope to the rescue, he found them
streaming out and waving to and fro in the current, like some monstrous
reptile--Dick holding on to the branch with both hands, La Roche holding
on to Dick, Chimo holding on by his teeth to La Roche, and the
unfortunate salmon holding on to the line which its half-drowned captor
scorned to let go.
A few seconds sufficed to drag them dripping from the stream; and the
energetic little Frenchman no sooner found his feet on solid ground than
he hauled out his fish and landed it triumphantly with his own hand.
"'Tis a pretty fish, La Roche," said Frank, laughing, as he busied
himself in taking down his rod, while several of the men assisted Dick
Prince to wring the water out of his clothes, and others crowded round
La Roche to congratulate him on his escape--"'tis a pretty fish, but it
cost you some trouble to catch it."
"Throuble, indeed!" echoed Bryan, as he sat on a rock smoking his pipe;
"troth it's more nor him came to throuble by that same fish: it guve me
the throuble o' bein' more nor half choked by Massan."
"Half choked, Bryan! what mean you?" asked Frank.
"Mane? I just mane what I say; an' the raison why's best known to
himself."
A loud peal of laughter greeted Massan's graphic explanation of the
forcible manner in which he had prevented the Irishman from throwing
himself into the river.
The party now turned earnestly to the more serious duties of the
journey. Already too much time had been lost in this "playing
themselves with fish," as Stanley expressed it, and it behoved them to
embark as speedily as possible. About a mile above the pool which had
nearly proved fatal to La Roche was the head of a series of
insurmountable rapids, which extended all the way down to the waterfall.
Beyond this was a pretty long reach of calm water, up which they
proceeded easily; but as they advanced the current became so strong that
no headway could be made with the paddles, and it was found necessary to
send a party of the men ashore with a long line, by means of which the
canoes were slowly dragged against the current. At length they came to
shallow water, which necessitated another portage; and as it was about
sunset when they reached it, Stanley ordered the tent to be pitched for
the night, and the fire lighted, under the shadow of a stupendous
mountain, the rocky sides of which were sprinkled with dwarf pine trees,
and partially covered with brush and herbage. Here Edith and her mother
discovered multitudes of berries, the most numerous being cloud and crow
berries; both of which were found to be good, especially the former, and
a fragrant dish of these graced the towel that evening at supper.
Thus, day by day, our adventurous travellers penetrated deeper and
deeper into the heart of the wilderness, which became more savage and
mountainous as they left the coast. Stanley drew forth his quadrant and
compass, wherewith he guided the party towards their future home. At
night, after the labour of the day was over, he and Frank would spread
their charts in the blaze of the camp fire, and study the positions of
the land so far as it was laid down; while Edith sat beside her mother,
helping her to repair the torn and way-worn habiliments of her husband
and Frank, or listening with breathless interest to the men, as they
recounted their experiences of life in the different regions through
which they had travelled. Many of these tales were more or less
coloured by the fancy of the narrators, but most of them were founded on
fact, and proved an unfailing source of deep interest to the little
child. Frank's fishing-rod was frequently in requisition, and often
supplied the party with more than enough of excellent fish; and at every
new bend and turn of the innumerable lakes and rivers through which they
passed, reindeer were seen bounding on the mountain-sides, or trotting
down the ravines to quench their thirst and cool their sides in the
waters; so that food was abundant, and their slender stock of provisions
had not to be trenched upon, while the berries that grew luxuriantly
everywhere proved a grateful addition to their store. Thus, day by day,
they slowly retreated farther and farther from the world of mankind--
living in safety under the protection of the Almighty, and receiving the
daily supply of all their necessities from His fatherly and bountiful
hand; thus, day by day, they rose with the sun, and lay down at night to
rest upon the mountain's side or by the river's bank; and thus, day by
day, they penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of the unknown
wilderness.