"Go to the ant."--Proverbs.
It was now the middle of September. The weather, which had continued
serene and beautiful for some time, with dewy nights and misty
mornings, began to show symptoms of the change of season usual at the
approach of the equinox. Sudden squalls of wind, with hasty showers,
would come sweeping over the lake; the nights and mornings were damp
and chilly. Already the tints of autumn were beginning to crimson the
foliage of the oaks, and where the islands were visible, the splendid
colours of the maple shone out in gorgeous contrast with the deep
verdure of the evergreens and light golden-yellow of the poplar; but
lovely as they now looked, they had not yet reached the meridian of
their beauty, which a few frosty nights at the close of the month were
destined to bring to perfection--a glow of splendour to gladden the
eye for a brief space, before the rushing winds and rains of the
following month were to sweep them away and scatter them abroad upon
the earth.
One morning, after a night of heavy rain and wind, the two boys went
down to see if the lake was calm enough for trying the raft, which
Louis had finished before the coming on of the bad weather. The water
was rough and crested with mimic waves, and they felt indisposed to
launch the raft on so stormy a surface, but stood looking out over the
lake and admiring the changing foliage, when Hector pointed out to his
cousin a dark speck dancing on the waters, between the two nearest
islands. The wind, which blew very strong still from the north-east,
brought the object nearer every minute. At first they thought it might
be a pine-branch that was floating on the surface, when as it came
bounding over the waves, they perceived that it was a birch canoe, but
impelled by no visible arm. It was a strange sight upon that lonely
lake to see a vessel of any kind afloat, and, on first deciding that
it was a canoe, the boys were inclined to hide themselves among the
bushes, for fear of the Indians; but curiosity got the better of their
fears.
"The owner of yonder little craft is either asleep or absent from her;
for I see no paddle, and it is evidently drifting without any one to
guide it," said Hector, after intently watching the progress of the
tempest-driven canoe. Assured as it approached nearer that such was
the case, they hurried to the beach just as a fresh gust had lodged
the canoe among the branches of a fallen cedar which projected out
some way into the water.
By creeping along the trunk of the tree, and trusting at times to the
projecting boughs, Louis, who was the most active and the lightest of
weight, succeeded in getting within reach of the canoe, and with some
trouble and the help of a stout branch that Hector handed to him, he
contrived to moor her in safety on the shore, taking the precaution of
hauling her well up on the shingle, lest the wind and water should set
her afloat again. "Hec, there is something in this canoe, the sight of
which will gladden your heart," cried Louis, with a joyful look. "Come
quickly, and see my treasures!"
"Treasures! You may well call them treasures," exclaimed Hector, as he
helped Louis to examine the contents of the canoe and place them on
the shore side by side.
The boys could hardly find words to express their joy and surprise at
the discovery of a large jar of parched rice, a tomahawk, an Indian
blanket almost as good as new, a large mat rolled up, with a bass-bark
rope several yards in length wound round it, and, what was more
precious than all, an iron three-legged pot in which was a quantity of
Indian corn. These articles had evidently constituted the stores of
some Indian hunter or trapper: possibly the canoe had been imperfectly
secured, and had drifted from its moorings during the gale of the
previous night, unless by some accident the owner had fallen into the
lake and been drowned. This was of course only a matter of conjecture
on which it was useless to speculate, and the boys joyfully took
possession of the good fortune that had so providentially been wafted,
as it were, to their very feet.
"It was a capital chance for us, that old cedar having been blown down
last night just where it was," said Louis; "for if the canoe had not
been drawn into the eddy, and stopped by the branches, we might have
lost it. I trembled, when I saw the wind driving it on so rapidly,
that it would founder in the deep water or go off to Long Island."
"I think we should have got it at Pine-tree Point," said Hector; "but
I am glad it was lodged so cleverly among the cedar boughs. I was half
afraid you would have fallen in once or twice when you were trying to
draw it nearer to the shore."
"Never fear for me, my friend; I can cling like a wild cat when I
climb. But what a grand pot! What delightful soups, and stews, and
boils Catharine will make! Hurrah!" and Louis tossed up the new fur
cap he had made with great skill from an entire fox-skin, and cut
sundry fantastic capers which Hector gravely condemned as unbecoming
his mature age (Louis was turned of fifteen); but with the joyous
spirit of a little child he sang and danced, and laughed and shouted,
till the lonely echoes of the islands and far-off hills returned the
unusual sounds, and even his more steady cousin caught the infection
and laughed to see Louis so elated.
Leaving Hector to guard the prize, Louis ran gaily off to fetch
Catharine to share his joy and come and admire the canoe, and the
blanket, and the tripod, and the corn, and the tomahawk. Indiana
accompanied them to the lake shore, and long and carefully she
examined the canoe and its contents, and many were the plaintive
exclamations she uttered as she surveyed the things piece by piece,
till she took notice of the broken handle of an Indian paddle which
lay at the bottom of the vessel: this seemed to afford some solution
to her of the mystery, and by broken words and signs she intimated
that the paddle had possibly broken in the hand of the Indian, and
that in endeavouring to regain the other part, he had lost his balance
and been drowned. She showed Hector a rude figure of a bird engraved
with some sharp instrument, and rubbed in with a blue colour. This she
said was the totem or crest of the chief of the tribe, and was meant
to represent a _crow_. The canoe had belonged to a chief of that name.
While they were dividing the contents of the canoe among them to be
carried to the shanty, Indiana, taking up the bass-rope and the
blanket, bundled up the most of the things, and adjusting the broad
thick part of the rope to the front of her head, she bore off the
burden with as great apparent ease as a London or an Edinburgh porter
would his trunks and packages, turning round with a merry glance and
repeating some Indian words with a lively air as she climbed the steep
bank, and soon distanced her companions, to her great delight. That
night Indiana cooked some of the parched rice, Indian fashion, with
venison, and they enjoyed the novelty very much; it made an excellent
substitute for bread, of which they had been so long deprived.
Indiana gave them to understand that the rice harvest would soon be
ready on the lake, and that now they had got a canoe, they would go
out and gather it, and so lay by a store to last them for many months.
This little incident furnished the inhabitants of the shanty with
frequent themes for discussion. Hector declared that the Indian corn
was the most valuable of their acquisitions. "It will insure us a crop
and bread and seed-corn for many years," he said. He also highly
valued the tomahawk, as his axe was worn and blunt. Louis was divided
between the iron pot and the canoe. Hector seemed to think the raft
might have formed a substitute for the latter, besides, Indiana had
signified her intention of helping him to make a canoe. Catharine
declared in favour of the blanket, as it would make, after thorough
ablutions, warm petticoats with tight bodices for herself and Indiana.
With deer-skin leggings and a fur jacket, they should be comfortably
clad. Indiana thought the canoe the most precious, and was charmed
with the good jar and the store of rice; nor did she despise the
packing-rope, which she soon showed was of use in carrying burdens
from place to place, Indian fashion. By placing a pad of soft fur in
front of the head, she could carry heavy loads with great ease. The
mat, she said, would be useful for drying the rice she meant to store.
The next day after this adventure, the two girls set to work, and with
the help of Louis's large knife, which was called into requisition as
a substitute for scissors, they cut out the blanket dresses, and in a
short time made two comfortable and not very unsightly garments. The
full, short, plaited skirts reached a little below the knees; light
vests, bordered with fur, completed the upper part; and leggings,
terminated at the ankles by knotted fringes of doeskin, with moccasins
turned over with a band of squirrel fur, completed the novel costume;
and many a glance of innocent satisfaction did our young damsels cast
upon each other, when they walked forth in the pride of girlish vanity
to display their dresses to Hector and Louis, who, for their part,
regarded them as most skilful dressmakers, and were never tired of
admiring and commending their ingenuity in the making and fitting,
considering what rude implements they were obliged to use in the
cutting out and sewing of the garments.
The extensive rice-beds on the lake had now begun to assume a golden
tinge, which contrasted very delightfully with the deep-blue waters,
looking, when lighted up by the sunbeams, like islands of
golden-coloured sand. The ears, heavy laden with the ripe grain,
drooped towards; the water. The time of the rice-harvest was at hand,
and with light and joyous hearts our young adventurers launched the
canoe, and, guided in their movements by the little squaw, paddled to
the extensive aquatic fields to gather it in, leaving Catharine and
Wolfe to watch their proceedings from the raft, which Louis had
fastened to a young tree that projected out over the lake, and which
made a good landing-place, likewise a wharf where they could stand and
fish very comfortably. As the canoe could not be overloaded on account
of the rice-gathering, Catharine very readily consented to employ
herself with fishing from the raft till their return.
The manner of procuring the rice was very simple. One person steered
the canoe with the aid of the paddle along the edge of the rice-beds,
and another with a stick in one hand, and a curved sharp-edged paddle
in the other, struck the heads off as they bent them over the edge of
the stick; the chief art was in letting the heads fall into the canoe,
which a little practice soon enabled them to do as expertly as the
mower lets the grass fall in ridges beneath his scythe.
Many bushels of wild rice were thus collected. Nothing could be more
delightful than this sort of work to our young people, and merrily
they worked, and laughed and sang as they came home each day with
their light bark laden with a store of grain which they knew would
preserve them from starving through the long, dreary winter that was
coming on.
The canoe was a source of great comfort and pleasure to them. They
were now able to paddle out into the deep water and fish for
masquinonje and black bass, which they caught in great numbers.
Indiana seemed quite another creature when, armed with a paddle of her
own carving, she knelt at the head of the canoe and sent it flying
over the water; then her dark eyes, often so vacant and glassy,
sparkled with delight, and her teeth gleamed with ivory whiteness as
her face broke into smiles and dimples.
It was delightful then to watch this child of nature, and see how
innocently happy she could be when rejoicing in the excitement of
healthy exercise, and elated by a consciousness of the power she
possessed of excelling her companions in feats of strength and skill
which they had yet to acquire by imitating her.
Even Louis was obliged to confess that the young savage knew more of
the management of a canoe, and the use of the bow and arrow and the
fishing-line, than either himself or his cousin. Hector was lost in
admiration of her skill in all these things, and Indiana rose highly
in his estimation, the more he saw of her usefulness.
"Every one to his craft," said Louis, laughing. "The little squaw has
been brought up in the knowledge and practice of such matters from her
babyhood; perhaps if we were to set her to knitting and spinning,
milking cows, and house-work, and learning to read, I doubt if she
would prove half as quick as Catharine or Mathilde."
"I wonder if she knows anything of God or our Saviour," said Hector
thoughtfully.
"Who should have taught her? for the Indians are all heathens,"
replied Louis.
"I have heard my dear mother say the missionaries have taken great
pains to teach the Indian children about Quebec and Montreal, and that
so far from being stupid, they learn very readily," said Catharine.
"We must try and make Indiana learn to say her prayers. She sits quite
still, and seems to take no notice of what we are doing when we kneel
down before we go to bed," observed Hector.
"She cannot understand what we say," said Catharine; "for she knows so
little of our language yet, that of course she cannot comprehend the
prayers, which are in other sort of words than what we use in speaking
of hunting, and fishing, and cooking, and such matters."
"Well, when she knows more of our way of speaking, then we must teach
her. It is a sad thing for Christian children to live with an untaught
pagan," said Louis, who, being rather bigoted in his creed, felt a
sort of uneasiness in his own mind at the poor girl's total want of
the rites of his church; but Hector and Catharine regarded her
ignorance with feelings of compassionate interest, and lost no
opportunity of trying to enlighten her darkened mind on the subject of
belief in the God who made and the Lord who saved them. Simply and
earnestly they entered into the task as a labour of love; and though
for a long time Indiana seemed to pay little attention to what they
said, by slow degrees the good seed took root and brought forth fruit
worthy of Him whose Spirit poured the beams of spiritual light into
her heart. But my young readers must not imagine these things were the
work of a day: the process was slow, and so were the results, but they
were good in the end.
Catharine was glad when, after many months of patient teaching, the
Indian girl asked permission to kneel down with her white friend and
pray to the Great Spirit and his Son in the same words that Christ
Jesus gave to his disciples; and if the full meaning of that holy
prayer, so full of humility and love and moral justice, was not fully
understood by her whose lips repeated it, yet even the act of worship
and the desire to do that which she had been told was right were,
doubtless, sacrifices better than the pagan rites which that young
girl had witnessed among her father's people, who, blindly following
the natural impulse of man in his depraved nature, regarded bloodshed
and cruelty as among the highest of human virtues, and gloried in
those deeds of vengeance at which the Christian mind revolts with
horror.
Indiana took upon herself the management of the rice, drying, husking,
and storing it, the two lads working under her direction. She caused
several forked stakes to be cut, sharpened, and driven into the
ground. On these were laid four poles, so as to form a frame. Over it
she stretched the bass-mat, which she secured by means of forked pegs
to the frame. On the mat she then spread out the rice thinly, and
lighted a fire beneath, taking good care not to let the flame set fire
to the mat, the object being rather to keep up a strong, slow heat by
means of the red embers. She next directed the boys to supply her with
pine or cedar boughs, which she stuck in close together, so as to
enclose the fire within the area of the stakes. This was done to
concentrate the heat and cause it to bear upwards with more power, the
rice being frequently stirred with a sort of long-handled, flat
shovel. After the rice was sufficiently dried, the next thing to be
done was separating it from the husk. This was effected by putting it,
in small quantities, into the iron pot, and with a sort of wooden
pestle or beetle rubbing it round and round against the sides.
[Footnote: The Indians often make use of a very rude, primitive sort
of mortar, by hollowing out a bass-wood stump, and rubbing the rice
with a wooden pounder.] If they had not had the iron pot, a wooden
trough must have been substituted in its stead.
When the rice was husked, the loose chaff was winnowed from it in a
flat basket like a sieve; and it was then put by in coarse birch
baskets, roughly sewed with leather-wood bark, or bags made of matting
woven by the little squaw from the cedar-bark. A portion was also
parched, which was simply done by putting the rice dry into the iron
pot, and setting it on hot embers, stirring the grain till it burst;
it was then stored by for use. Rice thus prepared is eaten dry, as a
substitute for bread, by the Indians.
The lake was now swarming with wild-fowl of various kinds: crowds of
ducks were winging their way across it from morning till night,
floating in vast flocks upon its surface, or rising in noisy groups if
an eagle or fish-hawk appeared sailing with slow, majestic circles
above them, then settling down with noisy splash upon the calm water.
The shores, too, were covered with these birds, feeding on the fallen
acorns which fell ripe and brown with every passing breeze.
The berries of the dogwood also furnished them with food; but the wild
rice seemed the great attraction, and small shell-fish and the larvae
of many insects that had been dropped into the waters, there to come
to perfection in due season, or to form a provision for myriads of
wild-fowl that had come from the far north-west to feed upon them,
guided by that instinct which has so beautifully been termed by one of
our modern poetesses,--
"God's gift to the weak." [Footnote: Mrs. Southey.]