Garth and Natalie were wondering next morning with what kind of a face
Nick Grylls would greet them. He was the last to come off to the boat.
Hooliam took possession of the punt as a matter of course, to bring
him aboard; but Garth, determined not to allow the slightest act of
insolence to pass unchallenged to-day, curtly ordered it back; and the
fat trader was obliged to wade out like the breeds, and scramble over
the side of the _Loseis_--a very undignified reentrance upon the scene.
His demeanour was remarkable. All the way out from the shore he had
probably been shaping the character in which he meant to make his
bow. He threw a leg over the side of the boat, affecting all his old,
blustering heartiness; but the first sight of Natalie and Garth awaiting
him, wholly self-possessed and unconcerned--they had determined
in advance not to stoop to the pretense of any surprise at seeing
him--pricked him like a blown bladder. His eyes bolted; he nodded at
them askance; and he mumbled the words he had been intending to shout.
Catching sight of Charley directly, he attempted to carry off his
discomfiture by assuming an added boisterousness.
"Hello, Charley!" he cried. "What's the good word, boy?"
"Hello, Mr. Grylls," returned Charley with a demure grin, that was
highly creditable to his powers of dissimulation. "Where did you drop
from?"
Grylls guffawed with an overdone assumption of a man at his ease. "Oh,
I got a sudden call up to the Settlement," he said, in a tone meant
to reach Garth's ears. "Got a big deal on to sell out my posts on the
Spirit. I overtook you folks last night; and sent my canoe back. Thought
I might as well save money. Have a cigar?"
"Thanks," said Charley. The boy lighted it elaborately, and commended
the quality with the air of a connoisseur.
"You're all right, kid!" cried Nick, clapping him on the back. "I tell
you I'm blame glad to have a white man to talk to on the way up"--this
with a side glance at Garth. "What are you doing away from home at this
season?"
"Grub running low," said Charley readily. "Had to go to the Settlement
for a fresh supply."
"Well you go to Jonesy of the French outfit," bellowed Nick; "and tell
him to give you my prices!"
Nick kept the boy at his side all day, flattering and cajoling him with
an immense patronage, that, coming from the great man of the country,
was meant to turn the head of this, the youngest of its settlers. In
this Nick had a double purpose: he wished, of course, to secure the
boy's interest to himself; but he also wished Garth and Natalie to see
what a fine, generous fellow he could be when he got half a chance.
There was a great deal of the child in the self-indulgent trader; and
he had not lived among the breeds for twenty-five years without imbibing
many of their characteristics. As to the boy, Garth and Natalie felt
not a moment's uneasiness; Charley met Nick's advances with a kind of
imitative bluster, that was a source of great secret delight to Natalie.
The day's journey was uneventful. Grylls kept himself forward of the
mast, and made no attempt to address either Garth or Natalie. Indeed,
he appeared to ignore their presence on the boat altogether; which,
considering the shortness of the distance separating them, was not
without its ridiculous side. Garth, refusing to be deceived by this
apparent indifference, kept himself quietly on the alert. The breeze
continued favourable but very light; and the day waxed hotter and
hotter. By nightfall they had covered perhaps another thirty miles of
the way. There had been one "spell" on shore, during which Garth and
Natalie elected to remain on board, satisfied with a cold lunch. No
further offers were made by Hooliam to delay the journey; indeed, such
was now their apparent anxiety to complete it, it was announced late in
the afternoon that they would sail all night. They did not even wait
for their supper on shore, but brought it off from the fire in a wading
procession of frying pans, and steaming pails.
A lovely night succeeded. The velvety floor of heaven was strewn
lavishly with bright stars; and later, the moon, just past the full,
rose out of the lake astern and hung, a lovely pale globe, in the
eastern sky. The breeds fell asleep one by one; and for the first, the
jabbering, the _ki-yi-ing_ and the maddening stick-kettle were all
stilled. The _Loseis_ hovered over the lake with her gigantic wing
spread, like some great bird of the night. The only evidences that she
moved at all were the flecks of foam that drifted slowly astern under
the counter.
Charley had constructed a little niche for Natalie among the freight
astern--a bale of blankets serving for a seat, with a tall box inclined
behind it for a back to lean against. She had insisted that Charley
share it with her, and the boy had sat beside her too blissful to speak.
In the end they both fell asleep, and Natalie's head dropped on his
shoulder. In his dreams the boy smiled seraphically.
Garth watched them kindly and very enviously; and for the moment wished
that he, too, were a boy, whom she need not take seriously. There was
no sleep for him. He sat on the narrow seat encircling the stern, with
his back against the gunwale, where, on the one hand he could watch the
steersman elevated on his little platform, while on the other side he
was prepared for any demonstration from the bow. The steersman was
Natalie's humorous breed; his name was Aleck. Nick Grylls and Hooliam
were together somewhere forward of the mast; in the darkness Garth
could not place them.
Garth's rifle lay across his knees--he would have given it, with much to
boot, for the quicker and handier revolver. He was painfully aware that
nothing would suit Nick Grylls's purpose so well as to knock him swiftly
on the head, and heave his body overboard. He shrewdly suspected that
some such intention was the reason for this night sail. It is easy to
seek danger, to ride at it with a shout, the pulses leaping--but to
_wait_ for it, to wait motionless in the still dark for an attack that
may be delivered one knows not when nor from whence--that is the great
ordeal. Garth clenched the stem of his pipe hard between his teeth; and
with a resolute effort of his will, put down the hysteria that will at
such a time constrict the stoutest throat.
The first interruption of the awful stillness came, not from man, but
from the elements. All around the western horizon clouds mounted so
swiftly and imperceptibly that neither Garth nor the helmsman was aware
of what was preparing, until they had reached the zenith. Caribou Lake
is known for its swift and terrible summer storms. A sharp crack of
thunder was their first warning. Aleck shouted; and dark forms arose
here and there from their resting places. Garth swallowed a sob of
relief for the diversion. The storm might be playing right into Nick
Grylls's hand; but one could face the bustle and uproar with renewed
courage.
The sail was brought clattering to the deck; a couple of sweeps were
hastily run out; and the _Loseis_ was pulled for the nearest point of
the shore. With true breed seamanship she was beached on a steep and
stony incline on the lee side of a point. Garth tried his best to
make their folly clear to them; but none of the crew, and least of all
Hooliam, retained presence of mind to comprehend. With united strength
the breeds dragged her up as far as they could, which was but little,
and went through the same business of driving stakes into the bottom of
the lake, and lashing the sternpost between. Garth threw up his hands in
helpless exasperation. Tarpaulins and sails were spread over the cargo
and lashed down. Charley made Natalie snug with a tarpaulin roof over
her seat. Garth commanded him, no matter what might happen, not to
leave her side.
The storm came roaring down the lake like a vast animate being; and
there, in their exposed position, smote them hip and thigh. Each crash
of thunder fell forth right upon the echo of the last; and the lightning
played like wicked laughter on the face of the destroying heavens. Then
came the rain, with pitiless, whistling whips that lashed the water, and
bit cruelly into exposed flesh. Every man on board, save one, instantly
dived under the sail-cloths; and Hooliam was the first to seek shelter.
Only Garth dared not relax his watch in the open. He maintained his
place with his back against the stern, a piece of tarpaulin across his
knees to keep his gun dry, and his eyes bent forward in the boat whence
any move must be made on him. So sure was he that Grylls would attack
him, he was scarcely conscious of the tumult that roared about his ears.
The wind tore his hat off; and the cold rain drenched him to the skin.
Before him, the lightning luridly showed up the trees on the shore,
writhing horridly; and the wet mast and the guy ropes were often wreathed
in faint, bluish flames. The _Loseis_ forward, with her irregularly piled
cargo, and the crouching forms under the sail-cloths, presented a thousand
shifting, fantastic shapes in the playing flashes; and Garth had a score
of false alarms. In the end, his enemy crept almost upon him undiscovered.
By the light of a great blaze, which held all the earth and the heavens
suspended in flames for a moment, Garth suddenly saw revealed a crouching
figure, and a hideous, distorted face no more than six feet from his own.
In the blinding glare it was outlined with a horrid clearness; in its
grossness and bestial hatred, less human than demoniacal.
Garth, snatching up his rifle, sprang to his feet, but before he could
point it, Grylls had flung himself upon him, and his mighty arms were
squeezing Garth's ribs into his lungs. The useless weapon dropped to the
deck. Grylls, trusting to his enormous strength, was unarmed; he wished to
crush his adversary without leaving obvious traces of violence. No word
was spoken by either.
They swayed on the narrow seat encircling the stern; and all sound of
the little human struggle was swallowed up in the dreadful uproar of the
elements. Natalie and Charley, but three yards away, heard nothing. Grylls
was the stronger; Garth contented himself with a dogged resistance,
trusting to his better wind to serve him in the end. Meanwhile the
_Loseis_ was continually heaved under their feet, and dropped heavily
on the stones by the mounting breakers; and they maintained a footing
with difficulty. Nick ceaselessly strained to force Garth to his knees.
Failing, he lifted him clear of the deck. At the same instant the boat
lurched drunkenly; and they pitched overboard together.
Somehow, they gained their feet, and stood, still locked together,
while the tumbling waves boiled around their waists, and sucked at their
knees. But Garth had struck his head on the gunwale in falling; his
senses were slipping away, and nausea overcame him. He tried to cry out;
but the feeble sound was lost at his lips. Nick forced him slowly down
until the water broke over his head. Garth was dimly conscious of
hearing him laugh--no one knew; and the explanation next day would be
so simple! But the wholesome chill of the water rolling over his head
revived the swooning Garth. He collected his forces for a last effort;
and, suddenly wrenching his shoulders from under the hands that pressed
them down, he gained his feet, and his hands seized upon Grylls's
throat.
It was the big man's vulnerable point; and a subtle sweetness flooded
Garth's breast as he felt him begin to fail. Foul living was telling in
the end. Grylls struggled for his breath in loud, strangling sobs; and
Garth could hear his bursting heart knock at his ribs. The smith's arms
of him little by little softened of their steely strength; he strove in
vain now to lift Garth off his feet. Garth, cool and strong again, and
always waiting, let him tire himself. He disdained to call for help
now; he even relaxed his grip on the thick throat a little. It was
not necessary to strangle the man; for he had done for himself.
Meanwhile the waves broke with ever-increasing violence on the frail
bulwark the two bodies offered to their impetuous course, and it was
only a question of moments when they would both be beaten down. Grylls's
knees weakening under him first, down they went, Garth uppermost; and,
the water seizing them, still gripped together, they were rolled over
and over, and finally flung up on the stones.
Stunned, bruised and breathless as he was, Garth was still able to free
himself from the automatic grip of the other man's arms; but Grylls lay
motionless.
Briefly satisfying himself that the man still lived, Garth dragged him
out of reach of the waves, and letting him lie in the driving rain,
turned his attention to the boat.
The _Loseis_ was in a bad way. The waves under her stern had lifted
the driven stakes as easily as pins are drawn from a cushion. She had
immediately swung broadside on the beach; and the waves, crashing under
her counter, were driving over her in clouds of spray while her bottom
heaved, and gave, and pounded sickeningly on the stones. No one on board
required to be told that a very little of this would separate every
plank of her from her aged ribs. The breed boys appeared one by one
from under the coverings; and standing about, dazed and careless of the
downpour, waited to be told what to do. There was no sign of Hooliam.
Garth climbed painfully on board. Searching for the degenerate captain,
he stepped on something soft, and a hollow groan issued from beneath the
sail-cloth. He threw it back, and dislodged the palpitating Hooliam with
a vigorous foot. The breed struggled to his knees, supporting himself by
a guy rope. Just then there was a blinding flash, and the mast and the
wet ropes were wreathed again for an instant in bluish flame. Partly
shocked, but more from abject fear, Hooliam collapsed with a brutish
moan.
"Throw this carrion ashore!" Garth commanded with strong disgust.
The breeds, understanding his gestures, instinctively obeyed; and
Hooliam was dragged over the side, and dropped on the beach, not very
far from the body of his unconscious employer.
"We'll have to save her ourselves!" shouted Garth to Charley. "Translate
my orders!"
The storm had a revolving tendency; and the wind had now hauled to the
south, whence it came shrieking across the lake with unabated fury. A
little way ahead, around the shallow crescent of the exposed bay in
which they lay, they could see by the light of the frequent flashes a
point on which the waves were beating wildly; and beyond there was a
promise of smooth water and safety. It was only a little way, scarcely
an eighth of a mile; but the way was beset with heart-breaking
difficulties.
"All hands ashore to push her off!" cried Garth.
The breed boys, welcoming a voice of authority in that bewildering
chaos, sprang to do his bidding. Garth and Charley set the example,
and the ten backs were braced under the lee gunwale of the _Loseis_,
measuring their sinews against the crashing blows of the waves on the
other side. They budged her inch by inch, often thrown back again; but
at last she floated, and there they managed to hold her for a moment,
rising and falling. Only one who has measured the strength of the surf
against the smallest craft, may comprehend the magnitude of their
labour.
"Aleck's crew ahead with the tracking-line," shouted Garth.
The line is always kept coiled and ready, hanging on the bow. Aleck
seized it, and followed by three others, ran ahead along the beach,
paying it out. The four of them slipped into the harness; and digging
their moccasined toes into the beach, painfully straightened their legs
under the pull. When the _Loseis_, answering, began to move inch by inch
along the shore, Garth put the remaining men on board one at a time,
where, armed with their poles, and braced almost horizontally, they held
her off the stones.
Natalie had long since deserted her sheltered nook, and, heedless of the
drenching downpour, watched them with eager eyes. Garth, his bruises
forgotten, seemed everywhere at once; he had even time to shout a word
of encouragement to her, and she longed mightily to do something to
help. Looking around, she saw her chance. The steersman's long sweep lay
along the deck; running it aft through its ring in the sternpost, and
pushing with all her strength against the stones astern, she added her
mite to keep the boat headed off. Garth observing, shouted his approval;
and Natalie's heart waxed big in her breast.
Inch by inch, then foot by foot, they won their painful way along the
lee shore. Over and over in spite of the six poles, she was thrown back
on the stones, whereupon they all leaped overboard and put their backs
under her lee. There was once when, Garth's pole snapping short, he
pitched headlong overboard. He climbed back with blood colouring the
rain in his face, and found another pole. Again, approaching the point,
the four men on the end of the tracking-line crawling slowly around the
edge of a steepish bank, were by a sudden heave of the _Loseis_ all four
jerked into the water. Instantly picking themselves up, they scrambled
ahead with their line through the breakers. Garth's heart warmed over
the half-fed, half-clad boys. Not one of the eight faltered for an
instant, and in the midst of their superhuman labours they could still
be shouting at each other.
A reef ran out beyond the point; and how they ever got over this, or
how long it took, none could have told. By that time they were merely
insensate machines striving automatically against a mighty inhuman
adversary. The _Loseis's_ ribs yielded and trembled under the renewed
blows on the stones. Dizzy and blind with fatigue they struggled ahead;
but they would never have made it, had not the wind hauled still further
around. Finally a wave greater than any preceding lifted them clear of
the stones, and dropped them in smooth water inside. For a while, unable
to realize they had rounded the point, they continued to struggle; then
the _Loseis_ gently beached herself. The tracking crew scrambled aboard,
and all hands dropped where they stood for a breathing spell.
Soon after the storm showed signs of abating. In the end it ceased
almost as abruptly as it had begun; and the moon looked wanly forth, as
if ashamed for the recent disturbances aloft. Garth, thinking of Grylls
and Hooliam lying on the beach around the point, consulted with Charley
what had better be done. It took them about three seconds to arrive at a
decision.
"It is between eight and ten miles to the head of the lake," Charley
said.
"Let them walk it then," said Garth coolly.
Presently the same breeze resumed its gentle course up the lake as if
there had been no such thing as a storm. Tired as they were, it was too
good to lose; and with hoisted sail, the _Loseis_ forged through the
rapidly subsiding waters, with Charley at the helm. The breed boys asked
no questions. Having raised the sail, they promptly fell asleep. Hooliam
they had little regard for anyway; and Grylls they may have supposed was
still somewhere under the sail-cloths. In three hours they had reached
Grier's point, the navigable head of the lake; and all hands slept until
long after sunrise.
Garth and Natalie, meeting in the daylight, exclaimed each at the
appearance of the other; Natalie, with remorseful sympathy, that she
had not sooner learnt the extent of Garth's bruises; and Garth with
delighted wonder at the freshness of her. Natalie was like the lake
in the early sunshine; neither showed the slightest trace of a storm
overnight.
While they were at their breakfast on the shore, a deplorable figure,
ashen-cheeked and shamed, came shuffling out of the bush. The eight
breeds, as one, instantly set up a merciless, derisive jeering. It was
Hooliam. He bore in his hands a little bottle and a bank-bill. Wretched
as he was, his eyes glinted with satisfaction at the sight of the boat
safe and sound on the shore. He went to Garth.
"Nick Grylls in the bush," he said, dully pointing back. "Him sick bad.
Maybe him die. Him give five dollar for drink of whiskey."
Garth filled the bottle from his flask. "Put up your money," he said
curtly.