"Well, monsieur, after we had paddled a short bit beyond the point below
the last rapid in Caniapuscaw River, we shoved the canoe ashore, and
landed Prince and Massan, who set off to look for game, leavin'
Augustus, Ma-istequan, and me to paddle up the river as well as we
could. But we soon found that three men in a big canoe could not make
much way agin the strong current of the river, so we put ashore again
and took to our legs.
"After making a long tramp up the banks o' the river, we fell in with
some good-sized pines; but although they are big for this part of the
country, they are not big enough for building. Then we pushed into the
gullies, which are sheltered from the cold winds off the bay, and here
we found the trees a good deal bigger. There are pines and larch in
abundance, and some of the larch are even bigger than we require."
"Are they far inland?" inquired Stanley.
"No, monsieur, they are only a few hundred yards from the banks of the
river, and growin' on the edge of a small creek, which I noticed is deep
enough to float them down."
"Good, very good," said Stanley, filling his pipe with a fresh charge of
tobacco; "that is most fortunate, for it will save time, and take fewer
men to bring them here. Go on, Francois."
"Bien, monsieur. Then I felled one or two o' the trees, to see what
like they are; and I found that they are very tough and good. The pines
are firmer and tougher than any I ever saw in the Indian country, owing,
I suppose, to their stunted growth. While I was thus employed, Augustus
shot the grouse we brought home, and we saw a great many coveys of them.
In fact, we might have shot many more; but as we did not know how far
we should have to walk, we thought it best not to burden ourselves too
much. We also saw a great many ducks, and shot a few, as you see."
"Did you see goose?" inquired La Roche, whose mind had a natural
tendency to culinary matters.
"No," replied Francois, "I saw no geese; but I did not go out of my way
to look for them. I was more taken up with the timber than replenishing
the kettle."
"Ah! that ver' great pity. Oui, grand dommage. De kittle toujours de
most importance t'ing on de voyage. If you forget him, you goot for
not'ing. Mais, Francois, did you look into the deep clear pool at de
foot of de rapid?"
Francois emitted a cloud of smoke with a negative in the middle of it.
"An!" said La Roche with a sigh, "I thought not; mais it was pity. You
see one goose for certain, if you have look straight down into dat
pool."
"Bien," continued Francois, turning to Stanley. "I then went into one
or two more gullies, and saw some more sticks fit for building; but
after all it is only in the gullies they grow, and there are not very
many. The trees on the banks of the river are chiefly pines, and only
fit for firewood."
"And an important item is firewood, as we shall find ere long," remarked
Stanley. "Your account of the timber is very satisfactory, Francois.
Did you see traces of Indians or Esquimaux?"
"No; I saw none."
"Perhaps you did, Prince," continued Stanley, turning to that worthy,
who was stretched, along with Massan, at full length before the blaze,
and had been listening attentively to the conversation while he solaced
himself with his pipe.
"Yes, sir, we seed the marks they left behind them," answered Prince,
while he glanced towards Massan, as if to invite him to give the desired
information.
"Ay, we saw their marks, no doubt," said the guide, knocking the ashes
out of his pipe, and raising himself from his reclining posture to that
of a tailor, the more conveniently to recharge that beloved implement.
"Ay, we saw their marks, and they was by no means pleasant to look on.
After we had landed above the p'int, as Francois told ye, Dick Prince
and me went up one o' the gullies, an' then gettin' on one o' them flat
places that run along the face of all the mountains hereabouts, we
pushed straight up the river. We had not gone far when, on turnin' a
p'int, we both clapped eyes at the same moment on the most ill-lookin'
blackguard of a wolf I ever saw. Up went both our guns at once, and I
believe we were very near puttin' a bullet in each of his eyes, when we
noticed that these same eyes were not bookin' at us, but starin', most
awful earnest like, up a gully in the mountains; so we looked up, an',
sure enough, there we saw a deer on the mountain-top, tossin' its head
and snuffin' round to see that the coast was clear before it came down
to the water. We noticed that a regular beaten deer-track passed down
this gully, and master wolf, who knowed the walk very well, was on the
lookout for his dinner; so we waited quiet till the deer came down, an'
Dick put a bullet in its heart, an' I put one into the wolf's head, so
they both tumbled down the cliffs together. The shot made another deer,
that we had not seen, start off into the river; but before it got a few
yards from the shore, Dick loaded again and put a bullet into its head
too, an' it was washed ashore at the p'int below us.
"Havin' fixed them off comfortably, we cut up the deer, and put all we
could carry on our shoulders, for we knowed that if we left them we'd
find nothin' but the bones when we came back. About an hour after this
we came upon a deserted camp of Indians. It was so fresh that we think
they must have passed but a few weeks ago. The whole camp was strewed
with bones of deer, as if the red varmints had been havin' a feast. An'
sure enough, a little farther on we came upon the dead carcasses of
ninety-three deer! The rascals had taken nothin' but the tongues an'
tit-bits, leavin' the rest for the wolves."
"Ay, they're a reckless, improvident set," remarked Stanley. "I've been
told that the Esquimaux are quite different in this respect. They never
kill what they don't require; but the redskins slaughter the deer by
dozens for the sake of their tongues."
"We also found the broken head of an Esquimau seal-spear, and this
little bit of sealskin." Massan handed these as he spoke to Stanley.
"I fear," said Frank, "this looks as if they had made an attack on the
Esquimaux very recently."
"I fear it much," said Stanley, examining the little shred of sealskin,
which had beautifully glossy hair on one side, and on the other, which
was dressed, there were sundry curious marks, one of which bore a rude
resemblance to an Indian wigwam, with an arrow pointing towards it.
"I found the bit o' sealskin hanging on a bush a little apart from the
place where they camped, an' from what I've seen o' the ways o'
redskins, it's my 'pinion that it was put there for some purpose or
other."
"Very likely.--Take care of it, Jessie," said Stanley, throwing it to
his wife; "it may be explained some day.--Well, Massan, did you see any
other animals?"
"Yes, sir, lots o' them. We saw deer on the hill-tops, and might ha'
shot more o' them if we could have brought them into camp. An' we saw
porcupines in all the pine bluffs. An' we saw fish in the lakes among
the mountains. There are lots o' them lakes--small things some o'
them--in all the gullies, and fish in most o' them; but we had neither
lines nor hooks, so we catched none."
"Faix, if ye catched none, yer betters catched plinty," said Bryan, who,
having concluded supper and changed his garments, was now luxuriating in
a smoke. The blacksmith pointed as he spoke to the bag of splendid
trout which lay at a short distance from the fire. "'Tis mysilf's the
boy to catch them. I would have brought ye two times as much, if it
wasn't that I lost my hook and line. I think it must have bin a
fresh-water whale, the last wan, bad luck to it! for it pulled me into
the wather three times, an' wint off at last with two fathom o' cod-line
trailin' behind it."
"So then, Bryan," said Frank, "it must have been the yells with which
you accompanied your fishing that frightened the deer I was after and
caused me to lose him. However, as I got another soon afterwards which
must have been frightened towards me by the same halloos, I forgive
you."
Frank now gave the party an account of what he had seen, but as his
experience merely corroborated that of Dick Prince and Massan, we will
not trouble the reader with the details. The evidence of the various
exploring parties, when summed up, was undoubtedly most satisfactory,
and while it relieved the mind of the leaders of the band, it raised and
cheered the spirits of the men. Timber, although not plentiful or very
large, was to be had close to the spot where they proposed to erect
their fort; game of all kinds swarmed in the mountains in abundance; and
the lakes and rivers were well stocked with excellent fish: so that,
upon the whole, they considered that they had made an auspicious
commencement to their sojourn in the land of the Esquimaux.