A WINTER IN THE WILDERNESS
For a moment Donald stood rooted to the spot by the suddenness and
awfulness of the fate that had overtaken his enemy. Then like a flash
it came to him that, even while his attention was wholly centred on the
tragedy just enacted, he had been aware of another man ascending the
pathway who had turned and fled. Was he then to be robbed of the
fruits of his arduous journeyings? Was Edith again to be snatched from
him when almost within his reach? No, not if he, alone and unarmed,
were forced to battle for her with a score of Mahng's treacherous
followers. So thinking, he sprang down the steep trail with a reckless
disregard of everything save the necessity of gaining its further end
with all possible speed.
Less than a minute had elapsed since he first caught sight of Mahng.
In two more he reached the end of the trail beside a pool of dark water
only to find the place untenanted. Out in the river, still within
rifle-shot, but speeding down stream as though in deadly fear, was a
single canoe in which were three persons. Donald felt certain that two
of these were females. Of course one was Edith, and though yet within
sight, she was as hopelessly removed from him as though they were
separated by leagues instead of rods. His own canoe had gone over the
precipice, there was no trail through the dense forest growth that
overhung the river bank, and if there were he could hardly have kept
pace with that fleeting shadow out in the swift current. Yes, Edith
was again lost to him, and as the now distant canoe rounded a bend and
vanished from his sight, the young man threw himself on the ground,
overcome by a dumb despair.
From this state he was roused by the sound of footsteps, and of a soft
voice saying, "Donald Hester." He sprang to his feet to find Ah-mo and
Atoka standing before him. The former was thin and worn as though with
weariness and anxiety, and, though her face was now lighted by the
radiance of a transition from despair to a new hope, much of its former
beauty was wanting. She was holding out a hand and saying:--
"Donald Hester, I did not know who you were until Atoka came and told
me. But I did know that you saved my life, for so great was my misery
and despair that in another minute I should have ended both by an act
that I now shudder to recall. So I thank you, Donald Hester, who art
now become my brother, since Pontiac claims you for a son."
"I did nothing worthy of thanks, Ah-mo, my sister," answered Donald,
bitterly, "and now that Edith is again lost to me, I feel that I have
done worse than nothing. But tell me of her. Is she well? and what
treatment does she receive at the hands of Mahng's ruffians?"
"I know not," replied Ah-mo, sadly, "for it is now many weeks since we
were cruelly separated, and whither she was taken I have no knowledge."
"What?" cried Donald, "was she not with you on this very spot but a few
minutes since? and did I not see her borne despairingly away in a canoe
that is but just lost to sight?"
"No, there was none with me save Mahng and his brother and their wives.
We have travelled long and wearily since Edith was torn from my arms,
and of her fate I know nothing. I was being taken to the north that I
might marry Suggema, the son of Mahng, who believed that my father
would thus be compelled to withdraw his curse."
"And did you wish for this marriage?" asked Donald, curiously.
"Did I not say that I was on the point of throwing myself from yonder
cliff to escape the misery of such a thing?"
"Forgive me, my sister," said the young man, humbly. "I had no cause
to doubt you, nor do I. It was a thoughtless question."
With their mission thus partly fulfilled, Donald and Atoka were
confronted by the serious problem of what move to make next. The
season was nearing winter. In a short time the streams would be
frozen, and the forest trails choked with snow. They had no canoe and
it was too late in the year to peel bark with which to construct one.
Their supply of food was scanty, and very soon the game on which they
were wholly dependent would disappear from that part of the country.
Then, too, Ah-mo's strength was so nearly spent that she was in no
condition for rough travel, even had they the means to go and a
knowledge of what direction to take. So, after a long discussion, it
was reluctantly decided that they must remain where they were until the
coming of spring with its flowing sap should enable them to build
another canoe, and resume their search for Donald's sister.
The succeeding weeks were filled with busy and arduous toil. A winter
in that latitude, where the mercury often falls to 20 degrees and even
30 degrees below zero, can only be successfully encountered after
elaborate preparation, and the little company who now found themselves
stranded on the verge of that vast northern forest, had everything to
do, with but slight means and scanty time. The followers of Mahng had
abandoned many things in their hasty flight which now proved of the
utmost value, and a welcome addition to the limited outfit of Donald
and Atoka. Among these things were several blankets, an axe, and a few
rude cooking-utensils.
These they removed to the spot selected for their winter home, about a
mile from the river on the bank of a small stream that flowed into it
and near by a pond formed by an old and very large beaver dam. Here,
before night of that first day, a snug hut of bark was erected for
Ah-mo's accommodation, and from here the young men set forth the next
morning on the busiest season of hunting and trapping in which either
of them had ever engaged. Everything that wore fur or feathers and
could furnish meat to be smoked or dried for future use was eagerly
sought. Their success was phenomenal. Deer, bear, turkeys, and geese
fell before their rifles, while their traps, in the construction of
which Atoka was a past-master, yielded beaver, otter, muskrat, and
raccoons.
Within a month they had collected such a quantity of meat and skins as
assured them against both hunger and cold between then and spring. Now
they turned their attention to a house, and, with only their ready axes
for tools, they had one finished two weeks later that they surveyed
with genuine pleasure and pardonable pride. It was of logs, notched
and fitted together at the corners, twelve feet square and with walls
six feet high. It was chinked with moss, had a tight floor of hewed
cedar planks, a roof of hemlock bark, a chimney and fireplace of stones
cemented with blue clay and sand, two small windows covered with
scraped and tightly stretched intestines taken from a deer, and a stout
door hung on wooden hinges.
The hut was hardly ready for occupancy before the winter storms set in
and the whole forest world was buried in snow. Still the inmates of
"Castle Beaver," as Donald named their cosy dwelling, were by no means
idle nor did an hour of time hang heavily on their hands for lack of
occupation. Ah-mo had gathered an immense supply of flags and sedge
grass, from which she not only braided enough of the matting, so
commonly used among the northern tribes, to enclose her own corner of
the hut, but to cover all the interior walls as well. The floor was
warmly spread with skins, from which their couches were also formed.
Besides always adding to the comforts of their home, they found plenty
of indoor work in the way of cutting out buckskin and fur garments
which were sewed with deer sinew, the making of snowshoes and wooden
bowls, and the braiding of mats. For recreation Donald told tales of
the great world beyond the sea, Ah-mo related incidents of her life in
Montreal, and Atoka recalled many a weird Indian legend. They also
played simple games. Atoka was taught to read and write from copies
set by Donald, while all three improved their knowledge of English,
French, and several Indian dialects. For outside work there were traps
to be visited, snow to be cleared from the path leading to the river,
the water hole through the ice to be chopped out every day, water to be
fetched, wood to be cut for the roaring fireplace, fish to be caught
through the ice in the pond, and an occasional hunt to be taken after
fresh meat.
In all this busy life Ah-mo, who had fully recovered her strength and
beauty, was ever the leading spirit. At the same time she was so
modest and intelligent, so cheerful and uncomplaining, that Donald
regarded her with ever-increasing respect and admiration.
"If Edith were only with us," he would sigh, "I think I should be
content to dwell here for the rest of my life," whereat Ah-mo would
laugh and bid him be cautious how he made such rash statements. Never
a day passed but what they talked of Edith and planned their search for
her. Donald, too, often spoke of his dear friend Christie, who, he
declared, was the one white man of his acquaintance with whom he would
be willing to share this pleasant forest life.
At length the winter came to an end. The south winds began to blow,
the snow to melt, the ice to break up, the wild geese to fly northward
in V-shaped companies, and the sap to run in the trees. While the snow
was still on the ground, they gathered sap from the rock maples and
boiled it into a plentiful supply of sugar. After that came the
building of a canoe and the fashioning of its paddles.
It was with high hopes, but at the same time with genuine regret, that,
late in May, they bade farewell to their winter home, launched a canoe,
deep-laden with their accumulated stock of furs, and started southward
on the swift waters of the Wisconsin. For weeks they floated with its
current, and on the mighty volume of the Mississippi. At the newly
established trading-post of St. Louis they exchanged their furs for
ammunition and such goods as they needed, but at such extortionate
rates as made Donald's blood boil with anger.
Here, for the first time in many months, they met white men, but none
of these suspected for a moment that Donald was aught but the Indian he
appeared, nor did he undeceive them, and after a short stay their
journey was resumed. It was still southward to the Ohio, then up that
river and the Wabash to the place where Ah-mo and Edith had been
separated. Here, with all their efforts, they could only learn that
the white girl had been taken to the eastward into the country of the
Delawares. So they patiently retraced their course down the winding
Wabash, and then continued their way up the Ohio to the Scioto and the
Muskingum, stopping to make inquiries at every Indian camp and village
through all that vast territory. Sometimes they seemed to find a clue,
but it was always quickly lost, and toward the end of the summer they
were well-nigh despairing. Only Ah-mo remained cheerfully hopeful and
ever urged the others to fresh efforts.
At length, in September, they learned the startling news that a great
English army was descending the Ohio from Fort Pitt, and that its
commander, Colonel Bouquet, had summoned all the Indians of that region
to meet him on the Muskingum. There they were to deliver to him every
white captive whom they held and sign a treaty of peace, or else he
would ravage their country with fire and bullet. From the moment he
heard of this Donald determined to attend that great gathering, and his
companions willingly consented to accompany him.