WOODCRAFT.
Nothing more was said about the ashes of the dead fire left behind by
some party that had recently been there, until the trout had been
deliciously cooked and eaten. All of them declared that they had never
tasted finer flavored fish than those big gamey fellows of that Far
North river. It really seemed that the further they journeyed toward the
Arctic Circle the sweeter the trout became.
"They were pretty big fellows, too," Frank Shaw said, as they sat there
filling up with dinner.
"Never saw larger ones, only in the Lake Superior region," Ned
confessed; "and eight-pounders are common along the northern shore where
several small rivers empty into the lake. I saw a bunch of that size at
the Government fish hatchery at the Soo when I passed through there on a
steamboat, and shot the rapids with the Indian guides. They were
dandies, I tell you, boys. Think of it, genuine speckled trout weighing
eight pounds, and every ounce of them fighting weight too."
Finally, when they were all ready to cry quits, having had a glorious
meal, Ned thought of what the veteran guide had said about that dead
fire.
"Now suppose you and Tamasjo take a good look at the ashes, and the lay
of the land around, so as to tell us what you can read there," he told
the voyageur.
At that some of the other boys began to stare, for they had heard
nothing up to then about the late presence of others on the spot. But
they knew Ned well enough to be sure that he had some good object in
saying what he did; and accordingly all of them flocked after the two
guides when they made for the nearby spot where even Jimmy had noticed
the remains of a fire.
The scouts remained quiet while Francois and the Cree got down on hands
and knees the better to examine into the signs. Ned and some of his
chums would themselves have been easily able to read certain things in
connection with these ashes. For instance, remembering that it had
rained most of the second day before, and there was no sign of water
about the ashes, they would have set it down as positive that the fire
had been made _afterwards_. That was an easy thing to make out; and
perhaps there were others they could figure; but when in the presence of
veterans Ned was only too willing to observe all that was done, and
profit by it.
The two men did not confine themselves to sifting the ashes through
their fingers, and comparing notes in a jargon which the boys could not
understand, but which they imagined must be Cree talk.
They moved further away, and looked the ground over.
"I noticed that there were plenty of hoof tracks around here," Jimmy up
and declared; "but say, it never flagged me that a fellow could learn a
heap from just stickin' his nose down close to such. 'Tis a safe bet
we'll know everything but the names of the gossoons before Francois and
his red pal quit."
Some of the others were feeling the same way. They too had noticed that
there were plenty of footprints around, but being more interested in the
feast then being prepared, they had not thought fit to bother about
giving the same more than a casual glance.
On Ned's part, he would have devoted some of his time to this business
only for the promise of the voyageur to read the signs after they had
eaten.
After some little time had passed Francois came and stood before them.
His face was almost as inscrutable as that of the Sphinx, or a Cree
Indian. Whatever the character of his finding, it did not show
outwardly.
"Well, how about these men, Francois; they must have been here last
night, you think, don't you?" Ned started to ask him.
"Eet is so, sare. Zey leave zis place just same time we be saying
_bon jour_ to our own camp up ze rivaire."
"How many were they?" was Ned's next question; for Francois could not
tell his story at length, but seemed to wait to have it drawn from him
piece-meal as though he might be a willing witness in the box.
"Thirteen, all men at zat."
"Hunters, trappers, miners, or prospectors?" demanded Ned.
That caused the other to give one of his suggestive shrugs.
"Nozzing like zat right now, sare," he went on to declare, so positively
that it was evident he had found the Indian also agreed with him. "Some
of zat crowd zey wear ze moccasin ze same as Tamasjo here. Ozzers have
boots wiz ze heel. But zey carry no traps along wiz zem, I tell you zat,
sare."
"And if they were miners intending to work in the holdings of the
syndicate they would have carried tools along, picks, shovels and the
like?" remarked Jack.
Francois shook his head in the negative.
"Nozzing like zat, pelieve me, sare," he urged.
"Well, go on and tell us what you think they may be," Ned pursued.
"I zink they pe a pad crowd," answered the guide. "Zis tells ze tale,"
and he held up some greasy cards which he must have gathered in the
bushes behind the rocks near which the dead ashes lay.
Tamasjo also stooped and lifted something that glittered in the
sunlight. When the scouts saw that it was a suspicious looking black
bottle, they could guess as to what the nature of its recent contents
had been. Nevertheless, it was passed around and every fellow had a
chance to take a sniff at it.
"Deadly stuff, sure as you're born!" Jimmy pronounced, making a wry
face.
"Whisky or old rye or something like that," Frank declared; and it spoke
well for those five boys that no one was positively able to identify the
odor, though well knowing its general character as an aid to
drunkenness.
"That seems to settle it, so far as the tough kind of men they were,"
Ned continued; "and now we want to try and find out if they were looking
for us to come down the river; and also, try and guess where they've
gone to. They had boats, of course, Francois?"
The guide held up two fingers.
"Batteau, plenty room in same for all. Tamasjo and me, we tink zey haf
gone down stream. Pig bay lie only half-day's journey zat way. Eef we go
on, mebbe so we arrive zere by night. Better hold up, and make ze last
part of ze trip in ze dark, so zat zey no see us."
"I understand what you mean, Francois," the patrol leader hastened to
say; "and it sounds good to me, I admit. When we do go down to the salt
water we will take advantage of your advice."
"What's that, Ned," broke in Jack; "you don't mean to say there's any
doubt about our going down, sooner or later, do you?"
"Oh! no, we're bound to see the famous Hudson Bay before we leave this
section," the other assured him; "but I've been thinking things over,
and come to a certain conclusion."
"Let's hear what it is, won't you, Ned?" Jimmy besought him.
"Yes, that is if Francois is through telling us about these parties."
"How about that, Francois?" Ned asked, turning to the voyageur.
"Eet is about all zat is worth knowing, sare. Of course, we haf learn
zat zis man who is captaine to ze bunch, he is mooch pig, a giant, and
zere is sooch a man I know whose name eet is Sol. Greggs; heem it might
be who is conducting zis gang. He is a pad man, a thief who robbed
traps many times, and so he gif me zis scar on ze cheek when we fight
eet out."
"That sounds just like the kind of a rascal the syndicate would send up
here to run things, if they were trying to work a tremendous swindle and
expected to keep curious people from investigating," Jack boldly
declared.
"But how about you telling what your plans are, Ned?" queried Frank.
"It's only fair you should know," replied the other; "so listen to what
my idea is. In the first place, according to the map we have of the
country up here, we believe that this supposed-to-be-wonderful mine must
lie somewhere to the left of the mouth of this very river. Now it struck
me that perhaps we might carry out our plans better if we hid our boats
somewhere near by, and took a scout off in that direction."
"That does sound mighty sensible, Ned!" admitted Jack Bosworth, after
considering the suggestion for a brief time.
"Suppose we try it," Frank added.
"One thing I like about the plan," Jimmy spoke up, "is that it will give
us a chance to stretch our legs some. To tell you the truth, I'm getting
tired of squatting there like a squaw in the tepee, with little or
nothing to do. I like to carry out my share of the work; but you somehow
seem afraid to let me paddle, just as if a reformed joker like me would
be careless, or actually _try_ to upset the old canoe. So I put my vote
in as wanting to look for the mine over land."
Each of the other scouts quickly let it be known that they were in full
sympathy with Ned's suddenly sprung plan. Of course, this would make
some changes in their arrangements; but the more they looked it over,
the better they all liked the idea.
"I'm chuckling to think how that bunch will keep on waiting for us to
come down-stream," Frank observed, as they prepared to again enter the
boats, since Ned did not mean to abandon the river craft until they had
gone some distance further.
"There's only thing I hope won't happen," remarked Jack.
"And what might it be, if you don't mind telling?" Jimmy asked.
"We must be sure to hide our boats, so that there will be small chance
of their being discovered by anybody," Jack continued, seriously. "Think
what a dickens of a scrape we'd be in if we had to go back all the way
afoot. It would take us many weeks, and chances are we'd be overtaken by
winter before we got to civilization."
"Our ammunition wouldn't hold out that long," broke in Jimmy, visibly
disturbed at the thought "and glory be, whatever would we do for grub
to eat? It may be true that the rivers are full of fine trout, but me
stomach would go back on me if so be I had to eat them every solitary
day, week in and out."
"Oh! what would be the use of our being scouts if we didn't know how to
trap animals and birds," Ned told him, reprovingly. "In fact, while, of
course, I wouldn't say I'd like to have the experience, there's no doubt
in my mind but that it would be a great education to the lot of us. And
if we pulled through we'd feel as if we were fitted to go anywhere,
under any conditions."
"Huh! after all we've experienced on our little trips," said Frank,
"seems to me as if that would be only a walkover. For one, it doesn't
faze me a whit. If Ned gave the word I'd start out with him to walk
around the world, and with never a single cent in our pockets to begin
with. Chances are we'd land back in New York inside of two years
millionaires. That would be just like it. All the same I think we ought
to cover our canoes, and keep them from falling into the hands of
enemies. It is a pretty husky tramp from here to Montreal, and over
tough country at that, with rivers to cross, and bogs miles around to
avoid."
"Excuse me, if you please," muttered Jimmy, whose desire for a chance to
stretch his legs did not contemplate such an extended trip as walking
all the way to the metropolis on the St. Lawrence.
They were soon speeding down-stream again. Other small rapids they came
upon, but none of the same dimensions as the cataract lately passed.
Jimmy was presently observed making gestures, and having drawn the
attention of those in the nearby canoes to himself, he called out:
"Sure it's a connecting link with home!"
"What is?" demanded Jack.
"Be after dipping your hand over the side, and tastin' the water!"
replied the scout who was in the boat with Tamasjo and Frank.
Upon doing so, Ned, who had quickly guessed what Jimmy meant, found that
there was indeed a brackish taste to the water, as though the influence
of the great tides of Hudson Bay might be felt this far up the stream;
it would have gone much further only for the numerous rifts that told of
a descent of several feet in the drop of the river.
Ned concluded that they had gone quite far enough for the present. Upon
asking the voyageur, he learned that they could reach the mouth of the
river inside of a couple of hours, if they chose to use their paddles in
addition to the set of the now sluggish current of the widening stream.
"Keep on the watch for a suitable hiding place for the boats," he told
the others, "and remember, it must be on the larboard side, because
that's the way we expect to tramp in search of the wonderful copper
mine."
Every one after that kept on the alert for such a place as would be
suitable for the purpose to which they intended to put it. Of all the
five scouts, it seemed the irony of fate that Jimmy should actually be
the one to first make a discovery.
"I'm only a dub at this business, I know," he said after a while, with a
grin on his freckled face, that was almost as red as his hair, thanks to
the action of the summer sun and the winds they had encountered; "yes,
only a tyro, so to speak; but d'ye know it strikes me that over yonder
amongst the canes the canoes would lie so snug and unbeknown that
nothin'd bring harm to the same, while we chanct to be awanderin'
around."
Ned being close by gave one look and then laughed.
"Jimmy, I want to tell you right now," he remarked, "that if you'd only
devote more of your time to scout lore you'd be a wonder. That growth of
thick reeds is just a dandy place to do the business, and on the proper
side of the river at that. We can push in, each following exactly in the
wake of the preceding boat. Jack and myself will bring up the rear, and
carefully fix the reeds again, so that no one on the river ten feet
away would dream that boats had made a passage there. Head in, fellows,
and pick out your way carefully, making only one track or channel."
This, those in the foremost canoe did, and close behind them came the
second boat, the paddler using his blade with extreme caution, so as not
to disturb the reeds more than was absolutely necessary. Finally, Jack
and Ned wound up the procession, the latter kneeling in the stern of the
canoe, where he could use his hands dextrously and swiftly cause the
bent-over canes to resume their former position. In this fashion then
they finally came to the land, still surrounded by the little wilderness
of reeds, out of which they could emerge as soon as the boats were
securely fastened.