'STILL-HUNTING.'
From the buffalo robes of the sleigh emerged a gentleman so wrapped
in lynx-furs and bearskin, that, until his face stood revealed by
the firelight, nothing but his voice was recognisable by the Wynns.
'Argent! is it possible?'
'Most possible: didn't you remember that my regiment was quartered out
here? But I'm sure it is a very unexpected pleasure to meet you in
the bush, old fellow;' and they shook hands warmly again. 'For though
I heard from my mother that you had gone to settle in Canada, she
didn't mention the locality, and I've been inquiring about you in all
directions without success, until, as good fortune would have it, I
stopped at the odious Yankee tavern yonder this evening, and overheard a
fellow in the bar mention your name. You may imagine I seized him, and
ascertained particulars--harnessed the sleigh again, and started off up
here, to ask you for a night's lodging, which means a rug before the
fire.'
His servant had been unloading the sleigh of knapsacks, and rifles, and
other hunting gear. Captain Argent gave him a few directions, and
presently the silver-sounding bells tinkled swiftly away along the
concession road, and back to the 'Corner' again.
[Illustration: STILL-HUNTING.]
'Och sure,' quoth Andy to himself, as he witnessed from among his
shingles the reunion of the old acquaintances, 'what a house for him to
come into--not as big as the butler's bedroom at Scutcheon Castle--an'
nothin' but pork an' bear's mate to give the likes of a gran' gintleman
like him: I wish he'd sted at home, so I do. Oh, Misther Robert asthore,
if I ever thought to see the family so reduced; an' sure I was hopin'
nobody would know it but ourselves--leastways, none of the quality at
home.'
Andy's soliloquy was interrupted by a summons from his master to prepare
supper; but the under-current of his thoughts went on as he set about
his cooking.
'An' to have to be fryin' mate ondher his very nose, an' the kitchen in
the castle is a good quarther of a mile from the dinin' parlour, anyhow;
an' all our chaney is made of wood, barrin' the couple of plates; an'
our glasses is nothin' but cows' horns. An' sorra a bit of a table-cloth,
unless I spread one of the sheets. An' to sit on shtools for want of
chairs. An' to sleep on the flure like meself. Arrah, what brought him
here at all?'
The subject of these reflections had meanwhile lighted his silver-mounted
meerschaum, and was puffing contentedly in the intervals of animated
chat, apparently quite satisfied with his position and prospective
hardships, not giving a thought to the humble accommodations of his
friends' shanty; which, on the first entrance, had contracted in
Robert's vision into a mere wood-cutter's hut, devoid of every elegance
and most of the comforts of civilised life. He imagined that thus it
would be seen through Argent's eyes. But if it was so, Argent neither by
look nor manner gave token of the least thought of the sort.
He was the youngest son of a poor peer, Lord Scutcheon, living in the
neighbourhood of Dunore; and often had the Wynns ridden with him at the
same meet, and shouldered fowling-pieces in the same sporting party.
'But picking off pheasants in a preserve is tame work to the noble game
one can shoot in these forests,' said he. 'I'm bound at present on a
"still-hunting" expedition; which doesn't mean looking out for illegal
distilleries, as it might signify in Ireland, ha, ha!'
Captain Argent had very high animal spirits, and a small joke sufficed
to wake them into buoyant laughter, which was infectious by its very
abundance.
'Deer-stalking is the right word; I've done it in Scotland, but now I
mean to try my hand on the moose--grandest of American ruminants. I've
engaged an old trapper to come with me for a few days into their haunts.
Now, 'twould be a delightful party if you two would join. What do you
say, Wynn? Come, lay by your axe, and recreate yourself for a week,
man.'
Arthur looked a very decided acceptance of the proposition, but Robert
shook his head. 'Couldn't leave the place,' said he, smiling; 'too much
to be done.'
'Nonsense; the trees will stand till your return, and you can't plough
through four feet of snow.'
'If I was far enough advanced to have land fit for ploughing, nothing
could be pleasanter than to join you, Argent; but unfortunately no end
of trees have to be cut down, and logged in heaps for burning before
then. But, Arthur, wouldn't you go?'
His faint opposition, because he did not like to leave his brother,
was easily overcome. Captain Argent made another attack upon Robert's
resolve. 'People always consider winter the time for amusement in
Canada. Nature gives a tolerably good hint to the same effect, by
blocking up the rivers so that ships can't sail, and snowing up the
farms, so that the ground isn't seen for months; and if that isn't a
licence for relaxation'--
'I suspect that in the earlier stages of bush-life there are no
holidays,' replied Robert: 'if you just reflect that everything in the
way of civilisation has to be done afresh from the beginning pretty much
like living on a desert island. Now I've got a house to build by summer
time, and here are all the preparations towards it as yet;' and he
pointed to the shingles.
'Why, thin, I'd like to know for what Misther Robert is dhrawin' up
the poverty of the family, an' makin' little of himself before the
captain,' thought Andy angrily, and betraying the feeling by a bang of
the frying-pan as he laid it aside. 'Can't he talk to him of sojers,
or guns, or wild bastes, or somethin' ginteel of that kind, an' not be
makin' a poor mouth, as if he hadn't a single hap'ny.' Andy was relieved
when the conversation veered round to a consideration of Canada as
military quarters.
'About the pleasantest going,' was the Hon. Captain Argent's opinion.
'Of course I can't exactly make out why we're sent here, unless
to stave off the Yankees, which it seems to me the colonists are
sufficiently inclined and sufficiently able to do themselves; neither
can I imagine why Joe Hume and his school of economists submit to such
expense without gaining anything in return, save the honour and glory of
calling Canada our colony. But leaving that matter to wiser heads than
mine, I can say for myself that I like the quarters greatly, and am
inclined to agree with Canadian eulogists, that it is the finest country
in the world--barring our own little islands.'
'I don't feel, though, as if it ever could be _home_,' observed Robert,
who had taken to his shingles again.
'Perhaps not; but we military men have an essentially homeless
profession, you know.'
'The red-coats in Montreal and Quebec seemed a visible link with mother
country, most welcome to my eyes in the new land; and so, Argent, when
you're commander-in-chief, do continue the regiments in Canada, for my
sake.'
'But, my dear fellow,' said the officer quite seriously, as he struck
the ashes from his pipe, 'it is waste of the most expensive manufactured
material on earth, the British soldier. When he's within reach of the
States, he deserts by whole pickets, ready armed and accoutred to the
Yankees' hands; I've had the pleasant job of pursuing the chaps myself,
and being baulked by the frontier. It's the garrison duty they detest;
and an unlimited licence beckons them over the border.'
'And you think,' said Robert, 'the colonists are sufficiently loyal, and
all that, to be left to themselves?'
'I don't think they would join the States, at all events. What a horrid
set those Yankees are! Canadians are too respectable to wish to sail in
the same ship with them.' This truly cogent argument was followed by
a series of profound whiffs. 'And if they did,' added Captain Argent
presently, 'we've been building the strongest fortifications in the
world, spending millions at Halifax and Quebec and other places, on
fosses and casemates, and bomb-proof towers, just for the Yankees! And
I suppose that Barrack Hill in the middle of Bytown will be made into
another Acropolis for the same end.'
'Ah,' said Robert, shaving his shingle attentively, 'so long as Canadians
look back to England as home, and speak of it as home, there's little
fear of annexation or revolt. Mother country has only to keep up the
motherly relation, and patiently loosen the leading strings, according
as her colonies grow able to run alone.'
'That sentiment might fall from the lips of a Colonial Secretary in his
place in the Commons. By the way, did you hear that my brother Percy has
been returned member for the county at home?'
'No; we have not seen a newspaper since we left, except a shabby little
Canadian print, which gives half a dozen lines to the English mail. Tell
us about it, Argent. Was there a contest?'
How intensely interesting were the particulars, and how Robert and
Arthur did devour the ill-printed provincial news-sheet issuing from
the obscure Irish country town, and burning all through with political
partisanship! Luckily Argent had the last received copy in his pocket,
which detailed all the gossip of the election, with the familiar names,
and localities of the struggle.
Looking back half a lifetime seemed to be concentrated in the months
since they had left Europe. Things widely different from all past
experience had filled their thoughts to overflowing, and drowned out
old sympathies, till this evening vivified them afresh. Yet Robert
felt, with a sort of little pain, that they must gradually die away, be
detached, and fall off from his life. His logs and shingles, his beaver
meadow and water privilege, were more to him now than all the political
movements which might shake Ireland to its centre.
Long after Argent's short athletic figure, crowned with fair curls, lay
fast asleep on his buffalo rugs, enjoying hunters' repose, the brothers
sat talking and musing. It was not the first time that Robert had to
reason down Arthur's restless spirit, if he could. This rencontre had
roused it again. He was not satisfied with the monotonous life of the
backwoods. He envied Argent, rather, who could make pleasure his
pursuit, if he chose.
They set off for the hunting grounds with sunrise next morning; the
experienced Ina Moose, a half-bred trapper, marching in advance of the
sledge. First, he had stored in the shanty the jingling strings of
bells, without consulting their owner; he had a constitutional antipathy
to noise of all sorts, and could see no especial good in warning the
game.
'What an erect fellow he is, and as taciturn as a mole!' quoth the
lively Argent. 'I hope we shall meet with some of his step-relations,
the Indians; I've quite a passion for savage life, that is, to look at.
Last winter's leave I made some excursions on Lake Simcoe; the islands
there are all savage territory, belonging to the Ojibbeways. Poor
fellows, they're dying out--every year becoming fewer; yet one can
discern the relics of a magnificent race. Red cunning has been no match
for white wisdom, that's certain.'
Arthur was a willing listener to many stories about his friend's
excursions; and so the time was wiled away as they drove deeper into the
recesses of the forest, even to the extreme end of all concession lines.
Here was Ina's wigwam, on the edge of a small pond, which was closely
hedged in with pines. Wasting no words, he merely stepped back to
unbuckle the shaggy pony, and at the ensuing noonday meal Arthur for the
first time tasted the wilderness preserve called 'pemmican.' It was not
unlike what housewives at home denominate 'collar,' he thought, cutting
in compact slices of interwoven fat and lean.
'How is it made, Argent?'
'I believe the dried venison is pounded between stones till the fibres
separate, and in that powdery state is mixed with hot melted buffalo's
fat, and sewed up in bags of skin. They say it is most nutritive--a
pound equal to four pounds of ordinary meat. A sort of concentrated
nourishment, you see.'
'What are those blackish things hanging up in the smoke, I wonder?'
'Beavers' tails, captured in the creeks off the lake, I suppose; capital
food, tasting like bacon, but a little gristly.'
'And does the fellow live here, all alone?' A quick and perhaps
unfriendly glance of Ina's black eyes proved that he was not deaf,
though by choice dumb.
'Well, I suppose so, this year; but he's a great rover. Was with me on
the Simcoe last year. I never met such a lover of the chase for its own
sake. His forefathers' instincts are rampant in him. Ina, have we any
chance of a moose?'
The trapper shook his grisly head. 'Only on the hard wood ridges all
winter,' he answered; 'they "yard" whar maples grows, for they live on
the tops and bark. Bariboos come down here, mostly.'
What these were, Arthur had soon an opportunity of knowing. Ina kindled
into a different being when the hunting instinct came over him. Every
sense was on the alert.
The hunters had drawn white shirts over their clothes, to disguise their
approach through the snow from the far-seeing deer which they were to
stalk. They proceeded some distance before meeting with game. What
intense and inexpressible stillness through the grand woods! Arthur
started, and almost exclaimed, when, from a pine tree close to him,
issued a report sharp as a pistol shot. It was only the violent
contraction of the wood from the severe frost, as he knew in a moment;
and the deer browsing yonder on branch tops never winced, though a
whisper or a footfall would have sent them bounding away. Presently the
crack of Argent's rifle was followed by the spring of a buck high into
the air, all four feet together, poor animal, as the death-pang pierced
his heart.
'I thought I never should get fair aim, from the way he was protected
by trees,' said the sportsman, reloading with satisfaction. 'And it's
cruel to maim a creature, you know;' whence the reader may perceive that
Captain Argent was humane.
'Holloa! what's this?' said Arthur, nearly stumbling over a pair of
antlers.
'Moose,' replied Ina laconically, as he glanced upwards to see whether
the maple twigs had been nipped short.
'He must have been a trifle lighter for the loss of these,' observed
Arthur, lifting them. 'Nearly six feet across, and half-a-hundred
weight, if an ounce. I'm curious to see the animal that can carry them
composedly.'
'The largest beast on the continent,' said Argent. But much as they
searched, the shed antlers were all they saw of moose for that day.