BLINDING THE TRAIL.
For almost a full minute nobody said a word. Indeed, the tremendous
nature of this discovery seemed to have very nearly paralyzed them, so
that one and all could only stand there and stare at the places where
they could tell their prized canoes had recently rested.
Jimmy was the first one to arouse himself, and it was hot anger that
caused him to show so much activity.
"P'raps they haven't gone far, Ned, and if we got a hustle on we might
manage to ketch up with the measly skunks. If they try to pack our boats
through the woods, they'll have a time of it, let me tell you. Are we
agoin' to give chase? Oh! I'm as fresh as a daisy right now. Seems like
I could run for hours, if I had an idea I'd overtake the canoe thieves."
Ned shook his head.
"No use, Jimmy," he told the furious scout; "because they haven't
carried our boats ashore. If you look, you'll see where they paddled out
on to the river. You remember, we hid all traces of our own passage, yet
here you can see a wide swath among the reeds, bending them back."
They saw that he spoke the truth, even Jimmy admitting the sad facts
with a groan that seemed to well up from his shoes, it was so
disconsolate.
"Five hundred miles--_five_ hundred of 'em! Gosh!" he was heard to tell
himself, as he stood there, rubbing the side of his head, as though he
felt like one in a stupor or a dream.
"And as we haven't a single boat, of course we can't pursue them,"
remarked Jack between his clinched teeth, while his eyes glittered
angrily.
"Oh! what wouldn't I have given to have come on the rascals just in the
act of getting away with our boats!" breathed Frank, as he shook his
rifle, after the manner of a scout who has thrown discretion to the
winds.
"Well, let's not whimper and cry over spilt milk, anyway," said Ned, who
could always be depended on to bring the boys to their proper senses.
"That's so," echoed Jack, quick to see the importance of keeping their
senses about them in this dilemma. "We've got to do _something_, that's
sure, and so let's get to talking it over sensibly."
"But, what can we do?" pleaded Teddy, who was not apt to prove equal to
a sudden strain like this, and must depend on others more vigorous of
mind.
"Oh! before we're done considering things," promised Ned, "you'll find
that we've got a choice of a whole lot of plans. I hope we're all made
of sterner stuff than to throw out the white flag of surrender, just
because something has gone wrong."
"Well, I should say not," declared Frank, grinding his teeth together.
"We're like the Old Guard, we can die, but never surrender."
"That's the stuff!" cried Jimmy, suddenly beginning to brighten up
again, as the stunning effect of the first rude shock passed away.
"Remember what Phil Sheridan did at Cedar Creek, when he met his army,
smashed and running away? What was it he told 'em as he galloped along
the road, headed for the battlefield? 'Face the other way, boys; face
the other way! We'll lick 'em out of their boots! We'll get back those
camps again!' All right, and it's me that says it; well get back our
boats again, by hook or crook!"
"I hope you turn out to be a true prophet, Jimmy," said Ned. "That's one
of the plans I spoke about. Another would be to make for the shore of
the big bay, and try to get in touch with some vessel passing, that
might carry us to Halifax, or some other northern port, where we could
send a message to Jack's father not to put a dollar into these fake
mines."
"Sounds good to me," Teddy remarked, sucking it all in eagerly.
"Then there's another thing we might manage to do if the worst came,"
proceeded Ned. "Up here there are lonely trading posts run by the Hudson
Bay Company, at each of which you'll find a factor in charge. If we
could only run across one of these posts, I reckon, there would be some
way found for getting us down to civilization inside of a month or so."
"That long?" observed Teddy.
"What would it matter, so that we didn't have to do the grand hike?"
Jimmy asked, afflicted with dizzy visions of five hundred miles of
tramping over rough country, supporting themselves, meanwhile, in the
most primitive fashion by shooting game, and cooking the same over fires
made with flint and steel, or the bow and stick method known to scouts
generally.
"Of course," added Frank, somewhat satirically, "Teddy would like to
have one of those Zeppelin airships come along and give us a lift. I
guess all of us would be glad if that happened; but the chances are so
small, we don't want to consider 'em, do we, Ned? So here we are, facing
a puzzle that's going to give us no end of trouble and work. If it was
hard to get in, it's going to be a much bigger job to get out again."
"It's getting late, as it is," remarked Jack, as he looked toward the
west where the sun was hovering over the horizon, and ready to take the
final plunge, though, of course, it would not be dark for a long time
afterwards, thanks to the length of the Northern twilight in midsummer.
"First, let's get where we can look up and down the river, principally
down," was Ned's advice, "though there's a mighty slim chance that we'll
see anything of our stolen canoes."
This proved to be the case, for when they had found an elevated
position, where it was possible to see far down the stream, there was
not a thing in sight, save a mother duck teaching her little brood to
swim and find food.
"No use, seems like; they've gone a long time back," said Jimmy.
"I wonder if that was what they told the fellows over at the mine, when
they mentioned a trap?" observed Frank, seriously, glancing hastily
around him at the same time, as though half expecting to see a dozen
ugly-faced men appear from the bushes and rocks.
"Not while Tamasjo was reading the smoke signs," Ned assured him, "or he
would have learned enough to tell us what to expect when we got here.
But, first of all, we ought to move off."
"You think they'll come here later on, when they learn how we got out of
the old mine and headed across country--is that it, Ned?" Jack queried.
"I expect it is about like this," the patrol leader replied; "one or two
men must have found our boats. For the life of me, I don't understand
how it happened, except that they were paddling along on the river, and
wanting to go ashore took exactly the same notion we did--that the reeds
would make a good hiding place for their craft. And, as luck would have
it, they ran on our canoes."
"No signs here to tell Francois or the Cree about how long back this
thing happened, I reckon?" Frank put in just then.
"That's where we get a hard knock," Ned continued, with a tinge of
regret in his voice; "because, as you all know, water leaves no trace.
When men are fleeing from enemies, the first thing they think of is to
get into a creek, and throw their pursuers, dogs and all, off the scent.
So, even as clever a trailer as Tamasjo couldn't tell any better than
Jimmy here whether this robbery occurred an hour ago or three of the
same."
"We're sure enough up against it this time, boys," Teddy affirmed.
"And have been on other occasions, remember, when things came out all
right, and we won in the end." Jack reminded the doubter.
"Let's make up our minds we're going to beat these chaps at their own
game, and that'll be half the battle," Frank told them.
"But I think Ned is all right when he says, 'we ought to cut stick and
get away from here as soon as we can,'" Jack gave as his opinion.
In fact, the guides were manifesting more or less impatience. They
apparently understood that the enemy would be apt to turn up here again,
sooner or later; and could not comprehend why the scouts should always
want to compare notes, before doing anything like making a change of
base. Francois and the Cree were accustomed to making most of their
moves through instinct; while with the scouts those same things did not
come naturally, but had to be reasoned out, which made considerable
difference.
One last look did they give toward the reeds that had promised to be so
friendly, only to betray the confidence the boys had placed in them; and
after that the little party moved off.
"But say, won't they follow after us, Ned?" asked Jimmy, when he failed
to see the guides getting busy with trying to destroy all evidences of
their passage, as he had fully expected would be the case.
Some of the other scouts showed by their expectant manner that they were
also wondering what it all meant. Ned took it upon himself to enlighten
them.
"If I read their meaning right," he ventured, "that is just what they
want to do at first, make the men believe we've started to tramp back
over all those hundreds of miles of ground. Before long, they'll do
something to hide the trail so only a wolf's keen scent could find it;
and then we'll turn around again, so as to face toward Hudson Bay. How,
Francois?"
The old voyageur had listened to the explanation offered by Ned. He
grinned and wagged his head, as though quite tickled at the idea of the
boy understanding so well what the little game was.
"Zat ees so, sare," he said. "If Jimmy he be able hold out so long,
mebbe we also eat supper far away from zis place."
Hearing his name mentioned, Jimmy was up in arms. He had a reserve stock
of nerve for occasions like this, which could be summoned to the fore.
"Don't bother about Jimmy, please," he told them. "Sure, when it comes
to a pinch, don't he always get there with the goods? My feet can ache
all they want to; but, all the same, they'll do what I say. If it's a
mile or six of the same, I'm good for it. But I wish I had something to
gnaw on meanwhile, because I'm as hungry as a starved wolf, so I am."
Frank produced a handful of crackers from his little pack, which he
willingly turned over to the other. This seemed to satisfy Jimmy; at
least, he stopped groaning and telling of his aches and pains. When they
could get his jaws to working in this fashion, he seldom allowed himself
to enter any complaint. Jimmy could be bribed to do a good many things
by the promise of a feast at the other end.
They continued on for some little time, and then it became apparent that
Francois and the Cree had decided the blind trail had been carried far
enough.
They were seen to confer, after which the leader stepped upon a long log
that lay conveniently near by. Walking part way along this, the Indian
suddenly leaped upon a bare rock, stepped its length, found another log,
passed along it and so continued, leaving not the slightest trace of a
trail that could be followed, unless dogs were placed upon the scent.
"You go next, Jack," urged Ned, who wished to satisfy himself that all
of the scouts were able to qualify in this round of concealing the
trail; though they had practiced it many a time when in camp.
Jack had observed every move of the agile old Indian, so that once he
started over the same course he made short work of it.
"Teddy, you're next!" the scout leader announced.
Possibly it was with more or less trepidation that the one singled out
began to cover the ground. But then Teddy was not a tenderfoot, even if
he did not know as much as some of the others about woodcraft. He walked
along the log, made the jump successfully, though falling flat on his
face when he gained the rock; managed to gain the second tree trunk, and
conducted himself so cleverly on the whole that Ned gave him a wave of
approval after he had joined the others some distance away.
Frank and Jimmy copied the actions of those who had gone before, and so
far as could be seen they did not leave any trace of their passage,
though, of course, the old voyageur would look out for all that when he
came to cross, and examine the ground carefully in so doing.
Ned found no difficulty in following the rest, and then they stood on a
stone foundation, watching with considerable interest, while Francois
scrutinized the track to make sure they had not left some sort of
footprint, or disturbed any object, however small, that might catch a
trained eye and betray their little game to the enemy.
As far as possible for some little time, they were instructed to take
advantage of every opportunity that cropped up to advance, without
leaving tell-tale imprints behind them. That is the measure of success
in "blinding a trail," and if anybody ever had it down to a science,
surely a Cree Indian might be expected to. Still there was no telling
what might happen. Discovery was always in the air, and they must be
forever on their guard against it.
Jimmy did seem to revive under the influence of his little bite, for he
kept resolutely on, with set jaws and a look of grim determination
written large upon his freckled and rosy face.
They were heading straight toward salt water now, all of them knew;
because stars had crept into view, and these boys had long since learned
to tell direction, by means of the lights in the sky, by day or night.
The Polar Star shone dimly, as always, nearly directly ahead of them.
Other stars they could see, such as are never gazed upon by people
living in the temperate climes, constellations peculiar to the northern
region of ice and snow.
"Eet is here we rest and eat!" announced Francois, after a long and
arduous siege of this tramping and stumbling had been endured.
Jimmy wanted very much to make out that it was a matter of small
importance to him whether they stopped or continued right on; but
nevertheless he could not keep back the happy sigh that would well
forth; and they could hear him champing his jaws, as though trying to
learn whether they were still in condition for service, because that one
word "eat" had told him they expected to break their fast. Shortly
afterwards they were making themselves as comfortable as possible,
though destitute of blankets and many other things; while the two guides
started a little cooking fire in a depression where it could not be seen
thirty feet away.