They began to think there was witchcraft in it.
The wind had changed; and puffy, white clouds came rolling up from
the west, passing beneath the serene and silky streamers of the upper
air. Gradually the invaders thickened and spread over the field; their
underbodies took on a grayish tint; and the blue openings narrowed.
Finally a sharp shower descended; and the voyageurs sought shelter under
a bush, where they hung, watching the millions of drops plopping roundly
into the surface of the river; each drop with its attendant sprite
leaping at its approach. One shower followed another, with intervals
of hot and sticky sunshine between. It was more uncomfortable under
the steamy, dripping bushes than in the thick of it; and they finally
decided to paddle ahead, let it rain as it would. Luncheon, consisting
of soaked bannock and cold cocoa, was a sorry affair.
Garth was glum. He had long apprehended that bad weather would treble
their difficulties. "How can I keep her warm and dry throughout the
night?" was his ever-present thought. Natalie, on the other hand, was as
happy as a lark; and she made a very attractive picture in the rain. Her
dress had altered little by little during the last few days; and now
comprised a blue sweater, short skirt and moccasins. The hat with the
green wings was safely wrapped in the duffle-bag; and hitherto she had
gone bareheaded on the river. When it began to rain she pulled a man's
cap close over her head to keep her hair dry. As she industriously plied
her paddle in the bow, ever and anon turning a rosy, streaming face to
him, with a joke on her lips, in her rough get-up poor Garth thought her
lovelier than ever. He was continually having to call himself down, as
he would have said, for presuming to think he had measured the extent
of her charm.
"Isn't it bully, Garth!" once she cried. "Ever since I was a baby I have
longed to be allowed to play in the rain for just once, and get as wet
as I possibly could--just to see how it felt! And now I shall! Isn't it
funny just to sit and let it come down, without running anywhere? Women
are babies, anyway. I mean never to put up an umbrella again as long as
I live. The rain feels good in my face!"
Nevertheless, Garth, occupied as he was with the problems of how to find
a dry place to put up the tent, and how to build a fire in a downpour,
was anxious. Little by little the showers merged into each other; and
before the end of the afternoon, it had settled down to rain steadily
all night.
He learned in the end never to trust the distances given in an
unmeasured land. Rounding one of the endless bends toward five o'clock,
they became aware of a new, indefinable, fresher smell on the air; and
they increased their pace with an eager sense of a discovery awaiting
them in the next vista. The next point proved to be the last; looking
around it, the wind buffeted their faces fresh and cool; the river
stretched away for half a mile, straight as a canal and there, away
beyond, leapt the waves of Caribou Lake on the bar.
Natalie cheered. "Hooray for the crew of the _Flat-iron_!" she cried.
"We've actually done it!" She reached back. "Shake, partner!"
Near the head of the river, in the wild waste of sand on the lake shore,
squatted a weather-beaten little log cabin, almost eave-deep behind the
dunes. Smoke arose from the chimney.
"Good!" cried Garth in high satisfaction. "You can dry your clothes
here, anyway."
A glance up and down the shore of the river revealed no trace of the
canoes or the outfit of the expedition they were in pursuit of.
"We've missed him again," said Garth grimly.
They landed, dripping and stiff; and plodded through the sand to the
tiny door. The outlook was desolate in the extreme; there was no sign
of life anywhere, save only the wisp of smoke from the chimney. At their
left hand, the lake spread bleakly to the horizon, torn and white under
the west wind, and with great billows tumbling on the beach.
"The _Flat-iron_ could never negotiate that," remarked Garth.
He knocked on the little door.
"Come in!" rang instantly from within.
They looked at each other in astonishment.
"An English voice!" she whispered.
"A white man! Thank God!" said he.