The little outskirt settlement of Partridge Bay was one of those infant
colonies which was destined to become in future years a flourishing and
thickly-peopled district of Canada. At the period of our story it was a
mere cluster of dwellings that were little better than shanties in point
of architecture and appearance. They were, however, somewhat larger
than these, and the cleared fields around them, with here and there a
little garden railed in, gave them a more homelike aspect than the
dwellings of the wood-men.
The valley in which the settlement stood was one of those magnificent
stretches of primeval forest which used to be the hunting-grounds of the
red man, and from which he had not at that time been thrust by the
"paleface," for, here and there, his wigwam might still be seen sending
its wreath of blue smoke above the tree-tops.
It was evening--a calm, sunny, glorious, spring evening--when Redding
and his man overtopped the heights that enclosed the vale, and paused as
well to gaze upon the scene as to recover breath. Far below them lay
the hamlet, a cluster of black dots on a field of pure snow. Roseate
lights on undulations, and cold blue shadows in hollows, were tamed down
in effect by the windows of the hamlet which shot forth beams of blazing
fire at the setting sun. Illimitable space seemed to stretch away to
the place where the horizon would have been if it had not lost itself in
a golden glory, and this vast reach was a varied irregular network of
dark pines and fields of snow--the pines tipped everywhere with
sparkling snow-wreaths, the fields streaked everywhere with long
shadows. Little winding lines of a grey colour which radiated from the
hamlet indicated the tracks where the settlers drove their sleighs and
wood-sledges. Many of these were seen moving along the far-off tracks
like insects, while the tinkle of the sleigh-bells floated upwards like
fairy music.
"Yes, I shall take up my abode there," murmured Redding, as he gazed in
rapt admiration on the beautiful scene.
"Monsieur?" said his companion.
"I say that I should like to dwell there," answered Redding. "It is a
splendid country, and will be better known in days to come."
"Vraiment, truly, a magnifircent kontry," returned Le Rue, "gorgeows,
magnifique! I vould giv moche, ver moche, to have leetil cottage, an
vife, an cow, an pigs dere."
As Redding had been thinking of something similar, he laughed, and
commenced the descent of the zigzag track that led to the hamlet.
They had proceeded only a few yards when, turning round a cluster of
pines, they suddenly discovered some travellers in difficulty--a man
whose horse had shied or stumbled off the narrow track and was embedded
up to the girths in the soft snow, and two females, whose furry
garments, all besprinkled with snow, showed that they had just emerged
from the sledge, which lay on its side behind the horse. The driver's
chief anxiety seemed to be to quiet and restrain his horse, which being
high-spirited, was plunging in vain and frantic efforts to extricate
himself, to the great danger of shafts and harness.
To run up and aid the man was of course the instant impulse of our
travellers.
"Ah! good luck to 'ee," exclaimed the driver, in tones that were
unmistakably Irish, "here, howld 'is head till I get the sled clear."
"All right," cried the Englishman, seizing the reins near the mouth of
the terrified animal and holding its head forcibly down, while Le Rue
assisted the owner to unharness.
In a few minutes the vehicle was righted, and the horse released.
While the driver was busy readjusting the harness, he accompanied the
operation with a running fire of grateful expressions, such as--"there
now, ain't ye in luck, Rooney? Arrah! gentleman, it's my blissin' I
bestow on yez. Och! but I'd have bin lost intirely widout ye. Well
well, it's always the way. I'm no sooner in a scrape than I'm sure to
get out of it. It's meself is a favoured man. Now thin, ladies, git
in, for we're late enough on the road."
On the two "ladies" thus addressed Redding and his man had been gazing
in silent surprise, for they were so good-looking and so blooming, that
it seemed to the two men, who had been accustomed of late to the sight
of none but the brown dames of the red skins, as if a couple of beings
from another and a purer world had dropped suddenly upon their path.
One of the two was evidently a lady, and was possessed of no common
share of beauty. Her dark hair contrasted powerfully with the fairness
of her skin and the whiteness of her teeth. Her dazzling black eyes
almost, and her red lips altogether, laughed as she observed Redding's
gaze of astonishment. Her companion, a very pretty Canadian girl, was
evidently her maid.
"We owe you many thanks, kind sirs," said the lady, "for your opportune
assistance."
"Pardon me, madam," said Redding, hastening forward in some confusion as
he recovered from his rather rude stare of surprise, "I dwell in the
wilderness and have been so unaccustomed of late to the sight of ladies
that--that--allow me to assist you into the sleigh!"
"Mademoiselle, permettez moi," said Le Rue, advancing to the
waiting-maid and politely offering his hand.
Another moment and the "ladies" were seated in the vehicle and carefully
repacked by our travellers, while their Irish driver mounted to his seat
in front and gathered up the reins.
"Thanks, gentlemen, many thanks," repeated the ladies, with bewitching
smiles.
"Good luck to 'ee both," cried the driver, as he flourished his whip and
drove away.
Redding and his man stood silently gazing for several minutes at the
turn in the road where the vision had vanished.
"Heaven for two minits, an' now--gone for evair!" said Le Rue, with a
deep sigh.
Redding echoed the sigh, and then laughed at the lugubrious expression
of his man's face.
"Oh _such_ eyes!" exclaimed Le Rue.
"Yes, she's rather good-looking," replied Redding, thinking of the lady.
"Good-looking! non--bootifool--exiquitely bootifool," cried Le Rue,
thinking of the maid.
Again Redding laughed. "Well well, Francois," said he, "whether
good-looking or beautiful matters little, for it's not likely that we
shall ever see them again, so the less you think about them the
better.--Allons! we are late enough and must not loiter."
They pushed ahead at once at a rapid pace, but although neither spoke,
each thought with somewhat similar feelings of the little incident just
described.
Lest the reader should be surprised at so small a matter affecting them
so deeply, we must remark that these fur-traders had lived for some
years in a region where they saw no females except the brown and rather
dirty squaws of the Indians who visited the Cliff Fort with furs. Their
fort was indeed only three days' journey from the little settlement of
Partridge Bay, but as the space which lay between was a particularly
rugged part of the wilderness, with only a portion of road--unworthy of
the name--here and there, and the greater part of the way only passable
on foot or by means of dog-sledges, none but an occasional red man or a
trapper went to and fro; and as the nature of the fur-trader's business
called for very little intercourse with the settlements--their furs
being sent by water to Quebec in summer--it followed that the
inhabitants of the Cliff Fort rarely visited Partridge Bay. The sudden
vision, therefore, of two pretty females of a higher type had not only
the effect on Redding and his man of novelty, but also stirred up old
memories and associations.
Such good use did they now make of their time that the settlement of
Partridge Bay was reached before dark, and our hero went off immediately
in quest of the surveyor.
Mr Gambart was a cheerful, healthy, plump little man, with a plump
little wife, and three plump little daughters. Plumpness was not only a
characteristic of the Gambarts, but also of their surroundings, for the
cottage in which they dwelt had a certain air of plumpness about it, and
the spot on which it stood was a round little knob of a hill.
Here Reginald Redding was hospitably received--we might almost say
joyfully, because visitors to the settlement were so rare that whoever
made his appearance was sure to be received as a "welcome guest" if he
only carried the credentials of honesty and ordinary good nature on his
countenance.
Redding's impatience, however, to get at the truth of the matter that
had brought him there, induced him very soon to forsake the society of
the three plump little daughters and retire to the plump little father's
work-room.
"It is my opinion," said Mr Gambart, as he carefully unfolded the plan,
"that you may find the McLeods have trespassed somewhat on your
reserves, for, if my memory serves me rightly, there is a small islet--
as you see here--just in the centre of the creek, _half_ of which
belongs to you."
"I see it," said the fur-trader, earnestly gazing on the dot which
represented the said island.
"Well," continued the surveyor, "that islet is a mere rock just above
the waterfall, and I am of opinion that it would be almost impossible
for any one to erect a mill there without encroaching to some extent on
your half of it."
"Good," replied the fur-trader, "can you let me have a copy of the plan
to-morrow?"
"To-night if you please. I have one by me."
"Then I'll be off by daybreak the day after to-morrow," said Redding,
with much decision.
"Why such haste?" asked the surveyor, "the McLeods are not likely to run
away from you. I know them well, for they dwelt long in this
settlement, and were ever regarded as men of firm purpose--quite
immovable indeed when once they had made up their minds on any point, so
you'll be sure to find them at Jenkins Creek carrying out their plans,
even though you should delay your return for a month. Come, make up
your mind to stay with us at least a few days. It will do you as well
as me good, and will send you back to banishment in a better frame of
mind."
Redding, although strongly tempted by the comforts of civilised life and
the hospitality of his host--not to mention the attractions of the plump
little daughters--sternly resolved not to swerve an inch, from the path
of what he believed to be his duty. He entertained a strong suspicion
that these McLeods had penetrated into the wilderness to the
neighbourhood of the Cliff Fort, not so much for the purpose of cutting
timber, as for secret opposition in the fur-trade, of which the company
he represented had for many years enjoyed almost a monopoly. His pride
was touched, his spirit was fired. Perhaps the peaceful and secluded
life he had led rendered this little opportunity of warfare more a
pleasure than a pain to him. At all events the thing was not to be
tolerated. The saw-mill, which the McLeods had an undoubted right to
erect on the unoccupied lands, was being planted on the very border of
the Company's reserve lands, which they had purchased, and which were
clearly laid down in plans. He would see to it that these interlopers
did not trespass by an inch--no, not by an eighth of an inch--if _he_
had power to prevent it! The fact that the McLeods were said to be
resolute men made him more determined to assert his rights. He
therefore declined Mr Gambart's invitation firmly.
"I will stay," said he, "only one day, to look out for a house, and then
return."
"Look out for a house!" exclaimed the surveyor, in surprise, "what mean
you? Do you think of settling down here?"
"Indeed I do," replied Redding, with a smile. "I have long been
brooding over that subject. The fact is, Mr Gambart, that I am tired
of solitude. I am a sociable being, and find it hard to endure the
society of only five or six men in a place where there are no women, no
children, and no end of bears! I intend to leave the Fur Company's
service,--indeed my resignation is already sent in,--purchase a small
farm here, and get--"
"Get a wife, a horse, a dog, and a gun, and settle down to enjoy
yourself, eh?" interrupted the surveyor.
"Well, I had not gone quite so much into details," answered Redding,
with a laugh, "but you are right in so far as settling down goes. My
only fear is that it won't be easy to find a place that will at once
suit my fancy and my purse. The small sum of money left me by my father
at his death two years ago will not purchase a very extensive place,
but--"
"I know the very thing to suit you," interrupted the surveyor with
emphasis, "a splendid little cottage--quite a mansion in miniature--with
garden, fences, fields, outhouses, etcetera, all complete and going
literally for an old song. Come, we'll `go visit it by the pale
moonlight' just now, return to have tea with the ladies, and to-morrow
we'll go see it by daylight. It is close at hand, the name is Loch Dhu,
and it has only one objection."
"What may that be?" asked Redding, much amused at the abrupt little
man's energy.
"Won't tell you till you've seen it; come."
Without more ado they sallied forth and walked along the snowy track
that led to the cottage in question. A few minutes sufficed to bring
them to it, and the first glance showed the fur-trader that his friend
had not exaggerated the beauty of the place. The cottage, although
small, was so elegant in form and so tastefully planned in every respect
that it well deserved the title of a mansion in miniature. It stood on
a rising ground which was crowned with trees; and the garden in front,
the summer-house, the porch, the trellis-work fence, the creepers, the
flower-beds--everything in fact, told that it had been laid out and
planned by a refined mind.
Of course Redding had to call in the aid of his imagination a little,
for at the moment when he first beheld it, the whole scene was robed in
a mantle of snow. Close to the house, and in sight of the front
windows, was a small lake or pond, by the side of which rose an abrupt
precipice of about fifty feet in height. Beyond this, a little to the
right, lay the undulating fields of the settlement, dotted with clumps
of trees and clusters of cottages.
"Most beautiful!" exclaimed the fur-trader, "but why named Loch Dhu,
which, if I mistake not, is the Gaelic for Black Lake?"
"Because that little pond," answered the surveyor, "when freed from its
wintry coat, looks dark and deep even at mid-day, under the shadow of
that beetling cliff."
"Truly, I like it well," said Redding, as he turned again to look at the
cottage, "are you its architect?"
"I am," answered Mr Gambart, "but a greater mind than mine guided my
pencil in the process of its creation."
"Indeed! and what is the objection to it that you spoke of?"
"That," replied the surveyor, with a mysterious look, "I must, on second
thoughts, decline to tell you."
"How, then, can you expect me to buy the place?" demanded Redding, in
surprise.
"Why, because I, a disinterested friend, strongly recommend you to do
so. You believe in me. Well, I tell you that there is no objection to
the place but one, and that one won't prove to be an objection in the
long run, though it is one just now. The price is, as you know,
ridiculously small, first, because the family who owned it have been
compelled by reverses of fortune to part with it, and are in urgent need
of ready cash; and, secondly, because few people have yet found out the
beauties of this paradise, which will one day become a very important
district of Canada."
"Humph, well, I believe in your friendship, and to some extent in your
wisdom, though I doubt your capacity to prophesy," said Redding.
"However, if you won't tell me the objection, I must rest content.
To-morrow we will look at it in daylight, and if I then see no
objections to it myself, I'll buy it."
The morrow came. In the blaze of the orb of day Loch Dhu looked more
beautiful than it did by moonlight. After a thorough examination of
house and grounds, the fur-trader resolved to purchase it, and
commissioned his plump little friend to carry out the transaction.
Thereafter he and his man retraced their steps to the wilderness, still
breathing unutterable things against the entire clan of McLeod.