Some weeks after the breaking up of the ice, as we were standing at the
front gate of Fort Dunregan, we experienced a pleasant surprise at the
sight of an Indian canoe sweeping round the point above the fort. Two
men paddled the canoe, one in the bow and one in the stern.
It conveyed a message from headquarters directing that two of the clerks
should be sent to establish an outpost in the regions of the far north,
the very region from which Macnab's friend Big Otter had come. One of
the two canoe-men was a clerk sent to undertake, at Dunregan, the work
of those who should be selected for the expedition, and he said that
another clerk was to follow in the spring-brigade of boats.
"That's marching orders for _you_, Lumley," said Macnab, who was beside
us when the canoe arrived.
"You cannot tell that," returned Lumley. "It may be that our chief will
select Max or Spooner. Did you hear any mention of names?" he asked of
the new clerk, as we all walked up to the house.
"No, our governor does not tell us much of his intentions. Perhaps your
chief may be the man."
"He's too useful where he is," suggested Macnab. "But we shall know
when the letters are opened."
Having delivered his despatches, the new arrival returned to us in
Batchelors' Hall, where we soon began to make the most of him, and were
engaged in a brisk fire of question and reply, when a message came for
Mr Lumley to go to the mess-room.
"I've sent for you, Lumley," said our chief, "to say that you have been
appointed to fill an honourable and responsible post. It seems that the
governor, with his wonted sagacity, has perceived that it would be
advantageous to the service to have an outpost established in the lands
lying to the westward of Muskrat House, on the borders of Lake
Wichikagan. As you are aware, the Indian, Big Otter, has come from that
very place, with a request from his people that such a post should be
established, and you have been selected by the governor to conduct the
expedition."
As our chief paused, Lumley, with a modest air, expressed his sense of
the honour that the appointment conferred on him, and his willingness to
do his best for the service.
"I know you will, Lumley," returned Mr Strang, "and I must do you the
justice to say that I think the governor has shown his usual wisdom in
the selection. Without wishing to flatter you, I think you are steady
and self-reliant. You are also strong and big, qualities which are of
some value among rough men and Indians, not because they enable you to
rule with a strong hand, but because they enable you to rule without the
necessity of showing the strength of your hand. Bullies, if you should
meet with any, will recognise your ability to knock them down without
requiring proof thereof. To say truth, if you were one of those fellows
who are fond of ruling by the mere strength of their arms, I should not
think you fit for the command of an expedition like this, which will
require much tact in its leader. At the same time, a large and powerful
frame--especially if united to a peaceable spirit--is exceedingly useful
in a wild country. Without the peaceable spirit it only renders its
possessor a bully and a nuisance. I am further directed to furnish you
with the needful supplies and men. I will see to the former being
prepared, and the latter you may select--of course within certain
limits. Now go and make arrangements for a start. The lakes will soon
be sufficiently free of ice, and you are aware that you will need all
your time to reach your ground and get well established before next
winter sets in."
"Excuse me, sir," said Lumley, turning back as he was about to depart.
"Am I permitted to select the clerk who is to go with me as well as the
men?"
"Certainly."
"Then I should like to have Mr Maxby."
Our chief smiled as he replied, "I thought so. I have observed your
mutual friendship. Well, you may tell him of the prospect before him."
Need I say that I was overjoyed at this prospect? I have always felt
something of that disposition which animates, I suppose, the breast of
every explorer. To visit unknown lands has always been with me almost a
passion, and this desire has extended even to trivial localities,
insomuch that I was in the habit, while at fort Dunregan, of traversing
all the surrounding country--on snow-shoes in winter and in my hunting
canoe in summer--until I became familiar with all the out-of-the-way and
the seldom-visited nooks and corners of that neighbourhood.
To be appointed, therefore, as second in command of an expedition to
establish a new trading-post in a little-known region, was of itself a
matter of much self-gratulation; but to have my friend and chum Jack
Lumley as my chief, was a piece of good fortune so great that on hearing
of it I executed an extravagant pirouette, knocked Spooner off his chair
by accident--though he thought it was done on purpose--and spent five or
ten minutes thereafter in running round the stove to escape his wrath.
As to my fitness for this appointment, I must turn aside for a few
moments to pay a tribute of respect to my dear father, as well as to
tell the youthful reader one or two things that have made a considerable
impression on me.
"Punch," said my father to me one day--he called me Punch because in
early life I had a squeaky voice and a jerky manner--"Punch, my boy, get
into a habit of looking up, if you can, as you trot along through this
world. If you keep your head down and your eyes on the ground, you'll
see nothing of what's going on around you--consequently you'll know
nothing; moreover, you'll get a bad habit of turning your eyes inward
and always thinking only about yourself and your own affairs, which
means being selfish. Besides, you'll run a chance of growing
absent-minded, and won't see danger approaching; so that you'll tumble
over things and damage your shins, and tumble into things and damage
your clothes, and tumble off things and damage your carcase, and get run
over by wheels, and poked in the back by carriage-poles, and killed by
trains, and spiflicated in various ways--all of which evils are to be
avoided by looking up and looking round, and taking note of what you
see, as you go along the track of life--d'ye see?"
"Yes, father."
"And this," continued my father, "is the only mode that I know of
getting near to that most blessed state of human felicity,
self-oblivion. You won't be able to manage that altogether, Punch, but
you'll come nearest to it by looking up. Of course there are times when
it is good for a man to look inside and take stock--self-examination,
you know--but looking _out_ and _up_ is more difficult, to my mind. And
there is a kind of looking up, too, for guidance and blessing, which is
the most important of all, but I'm not talking to you on that subject
just now. I'm trying to warn you against that habit which so many
people have of staring at the ground, and seeing and knowing nothing as
they go along through life. I've suffered from it myself, Punch, more
than I care to tell, and that's why I speak feelingly, and wish to warn
you in time, my boy.
"Now, there's another thing," continued my father. "You're fond of
rambling, Punch, and of reading books of travel and adventure, and I
have no doubt you think it would be a grand thing to go some day and try
to discover the North Pole, or the South Pole, or to explore the unknown
interior of Australia."
"Yes, father," I replied, in a tone which made him laugh.
"Well, then, Punch, I won't discourage you. Go and discover these
places by all means, if you can; but mark me, you'll never discover them
if you get into the habit of keeping your eyes on the ground, and
thinking about yourself and your own affairs. And I would further
advise you to brush up your mathematics, and study navigation, and learn
well how to take an observation for longitude and latitude, for if you
don't know how to find out exactly where you are in unknown regions,
you'll never be a discoverer. Also, Punch, get into a habit of taking
notes, and learn to write a good hand, for editors and publishers won't
care to be bothered with you if you don't, and maybe the time will come
when you won't be able to make out your own writing. I've known men of
that stamp, whose penmanship suggested the idea that a drunk fly had
dipped its legs in the ink-pud an' straggled across his paper."
These weighty words of my dear father I laid to heart at the time, and,
as a consequence I believe, have been selected on more than one occasion
to accompany exploring parties in various parts of the world. One very
important accomplishment which my father did not think of, but which,
nevertheless, I have been so fortunate as to acquire, is, sketching from
Nature, and marking the course of rivers and trend of coasts. I have
thus been able not only to make accurate maps of the wild regions I have
visited, but have brought home many sketches of interesting scenes of
adventure, which words alone could not have sufficed to pourtray.
But to return from this long digression. I set about my preparations
without delay, and was soon ready with a small but very select amount of
baggage. You may be sure also that Lumley was active in his
preparations, and the result was that, on a fine afternoon in the early
spring, we--that is, Lumley, Macnab, Big Otter, and I--set out on our
expedition in a strong new boat which was manned by two Indians, two
Scotchmen, and a number of Canadian half-breeds--all picked men.
I must not however, drag my readers through the details of our arduous
voyage, not because those details are devoid of interest or romance, far
from it, but because I have other matters more interesting and romantic
to relate. I will, therefore, pass them over in silence, and at once
proceed to the remote region where our lot at that time was to be cast.
One beautiful evening we encamped on the margin of one of those
innumerable lakelets which gleam like diamonds on the breast of the
great wilderness, through which for many weeks we had been voyaging.
The vast solitudes into which we had penetrated, although nearly
destitute of human inhabitants, were by no means devoid of life, for
aquatic birds of varied form and voice made sweet music in the air, as
they swept over their grand domains on whirring wing, or chattered
happily in their rich feeding-grounds.
Those pleasant sounds were augmented by the axes of our men as they
busied themselves in cutting firewood, and preparing our encampment.
The spot chosen was a piece of level sward overhung by trees and
surrounded by bushes, except on the side next the little lake where an
opening permitted us to see the sheet of water gleaming like fire as the
sun sank behind the opposite trees. By that time we had traversed
hundreds of miles of wilderness, stemming many rivers and rivulets;
crossing or skirting hundreds of lakes which varied from two hundred
miles to two hundred yards in length; dragging our boat and carrying our
baggage over innumerable portages, and making our beds each night, in
fair weather and foul, under the trees of the primeval forest, until we
had at last plunged into regions almost unknown--where, probably, the
foot of a white man had never before rested. On the way we had passed
Muskrat House. There, with feelings of profound regret, we parted from
our genial Highlander, promising, however, to send him an unusually long
account of all our doings by the packet, which we purposed sending to
headquarters sometime during the winter.
The particular duty which Lumley and I undertook on the evening in
question was the lighting of the fire, and putting on of the kettles for
supper. We were aided by our guide, Big Otter, who cut down and cut up
the nearest dead trees, and by Salamander, who carried them to the camp.
"Three days more, and we shall reach the scene of our operations," said
Lumley to me, as we watched the slowly-rising flame which had just been
kindled; "is it not so?" he asked of Big Otter, who came up at the
moment with a stupendous log on his shoulders and flung it down.
"Waugh?" said the Indian, interrogatively.
"Ask him," said Lumley to Salamander, who was interpreter to the
expedition, "if we are far now from the lodges of his people."
"Three times," replied the red-man, pointing to the sun, "will the great
light go down, and then the smoke of Big Otter's wigwam shall be seen
rising above the trees."
"Good; I shall be glad when I see it," returned Lumley, arranging a
rustic tripod over the fire, "for I long to begin the building of our
house, and getting a supply of fish and meat for winter use. Now then,
Salamander, fetch the big kettle."
"Yis, sar," replied our little servant, with gleeful activity (he was
only sixteen and an enthusiast) as he ran down to the lake for water.
"Cut the pemmican up small, Max. I've a notion it mixes better, though
some fellows laugh at the idea and say that hungry men are not
particular."
"That is true," said I, attacking the pemmican with a small hatchet;
"yet have I seen these same scoffers at careful cookery doing ample and
appreciative justice to the mess when cooked."
"Just so. I have observed the same thing--but, I say, what is Big Otter
looking so earnestly at over there?"
"Perhaps he sees a bear," said I; "or a moose-deer."
"No, he never pays so much attention to the lower animals, except when
he wants to shoot them. He shakes his head, too. Let's go see. Come,
Salamander, and interpret."
"Big Otter sees something," said Lumley through Salamander as we
approached.
"Yes, Big Otter sees signs," was the reply.
"And what may the signs be?"
"Signs of wind and rain and thunder."
"Well, I suppose you know best but no such signs are visible to me. Ask
him, Salamander, if we may expect the storm soon."
To this the Indian replied that he could not tell, but advised that
preparation should be made for the worst.
It may be well here to remark that although Lumley and I, as well as
some of our men, had acquired a smattering of the Indian tongue, our
chief deemed it expedient to give us a regular interpreter whose
knowledge of both languages was sufficiently extensive. Such an
interpreter had been found in the youth whom we had styled Salamander,
and whose real name I have now forgotten. This lad's knowledge of
Indian was perfect. He also understood French well, and spoke it badly,
while his comprehension of English was quite equal to any emergency,
though his power of speaking it was exceedingly limited. What he spoke
could scarcely be styled a broken tongue; it was rather what we may call
thoroughly smashed-up English! Such as it was, however, it served our
purpose well enough, and as the lad was a willing, cheery, somewhat
humorous fellow, he was justly deemed an acquisition to our party.
While on this subject I may add that Blondin, who brought the winter
packet to Dunregan, was one of our number--also, that both our Scotsmen
were Highlanders, one being named Donald Bane, the other James Dougall.
Why the first called the second Shames Tougall, and the second styled
the first Tonal' Pane is a circumstance which I cannot explain.
Among the French-Canadian half-breeds our blacksmith, Marcelle Dumont
and our carpenter, Henri Coppet, were the most noteworthy; the first
being a short but herculean man with a jovial temperament, the latter a
thin, lanky, lugubrious fellow, with a grave disposition. Both were
first-rate workmen, but indeed the same may be said of nearly all our
men, who had been chosen very much because of their readiness and
ability to turn their hands to anything.
Soon the kettles boiled. In one we infused tea. In another we prepared
that thick soup so familiar to the Nor'-wester, composed of pemmican and
flour, which is known by the name of _robbiboo_. From a frying-pan the
same substances, much thicker, sent up a savoury steam under the name of
_richeau_.
There was not much conversation among us at the commencement of the
meal, as we sat round the camp-fire, but when appetite was appeased
muttered remarks were interchanged, and when tobacco-pipes came out, our
tongues, set free from food, began to wag apace.
"Dere is noting like a good _souper_," remarked Marcelle Dumont, the
blacksmith, extending his burly form on the grass the more thoroughly to
enjoy his pipe.
"Shames Tougall," said Donald Bane, in an undertone, and with the
deliberate slowness of his race, "what does he mean by soopy?"
"Tonal'," replied Dougall with equal deliberation, "ye'd petter ask his
nainsel'."
"It be de French for _supper_," said Salamander, who overheard the
question.
"Humph!" ejaculated Dougall and Bane in unison; but they vouchsafed no
further indication of the state of their minds.
"You're a true prophet, Big Otter," said Lumley, as a low rumbling of
distant thunder broke the silence of the night, which would have been
profound but for our voices, the crackling of the fire, and the tinkle
of a neighbouring rill.
Soon afterwards we observed a faint flash of lightning, which was
followed by another and deeper rumble of heaven's artillery. Looking up
through the branches we perceived that the sky had become overcast with
heavy clouds.
Suddenly there came a blinding flash of lightning, as if the sun in
noonday strength had burst through the black sky. It was followed
instantly by thick, almost palpable darkness, and by a crash so
tremendous that I sprang up with a sort of idea that the end of the
world had come. The crash was prolonged in a series of rolling, bumping
thunders, as though giants were playing bowls with worlds on the floor
of heaven. Gradually the echoing peals subsided into sullen mutterings
and finally died away.