The Young Fur Traders Read online

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  THE WALK CONTINUED--FROZEN TOES--AN ENCAMPMENT IN THE SNOW.

  After quitting York Fort, the three friends followed the track leadingto the spot where the winter's firewood was cut. Snow was still fallingthickly, and it was with some difficulty that the accountant kept in theright direction. The night was excessively dark, while the dense firforest, through which the narrow road ran, rendered the gloom, ifpossible, more intense.

  When they had proceeded about a mile, their leader suddenly came to astand.

  "We must quit the track now," said he; "so get on your snow-shoes asfast as you can."

  Hitherto they had carried their snow-shoes under their arms, as thebeaten track along which they travelled rendered them unnecessary; butnow, having to leave the path and pursue the remainder of their journeythrough deep snow, they availed themselves of those useful machines bymeans of which the inhabitants of this part of North America are enabledto journey over many miles of trackless wilderness, with nearly as muchease as a sportsman can traverse the moors in autumn, and that over snowso deep that one hour's walk through it _without_ such aids wouldcompletely exhaust the stoutest trapper, and advance him only a mile orso on his journey. In other words, to walk without snow-shoes would beutterly impossible, while to walk with them is easy and agreeable. Theyare not used, after the manner of skates, with a _sliding_, but a_stepping_ action, and their sole use is to support the wearer on thetop of snow, into which without them he would sink up to the waist.When we say that they support the wearer on the _top_ of the snow, ofcourse we do not mean that they literally do not break the surface atall. But the depth to which they sink is comparatively trifling, andvaries according to the state of the snow and the season of the year.In the woods they sink frequently about six inches, sometimes more,sometimes less; while on frozen rivers, where the snow is packed solidby the action of the wind, they sink only two or three inches, andsometimes so little as to render it preferable to walk without themaltogether. Snow-shoes are made of a light, strong framework of wood,varying from three to six feet long by eighteen and twenty inches broad,tapering to a point before and behind, and turning up in front.Different tribes of Indians modify the form a little, but in allessential points they are the same. The framework is filled up with anetting of deer-skin threads, which unites lightness with greatstrength, and permits any snow that may chance to fall upon the nettingto pass through it like a sieve.

  On the present occasion, the snow, having recently fallen, was soft, andthe walking, consequently, what is called heavy.

  "Come on," shouted the accountant, as he came to a stand for the thirdtime within half an hour, to await the coming up of poor Hamilton, who,being rather awkward in snow-shoe walking even in daylight, found itnearly impossible in the dark.

  "Wait a little, please," replied a faint voice in the distance; "I'vegot among a quantity of willows, and find it very difficult to get on.I've been down twice al--"

  The sudden cessation of the voice, and a loud crash as of breakingbranches, proved too clearly that our friend had accomplished his thirdfall.

  "There he goes again," exclaimed Harry Somerville, who came up at themoment. "I've helped him up once already. We'll never get to NorthRiver at this rate. What _is_ to be done?"

  "Let's see what has become of him this time, however," said theaccountant, as he began to retrace his steps. "If I mistake not, hemade rather a heavy plunge that time, judging from the sound."

  At that moment the clouds overhead broke, and a moonbeam shot down intothe forest, throwing a pale light over the cold scene. A few stepsbrought Harry and the accountant to the spot whence the sound hadproceeded, and a loud, startling laugh rang through the night air, asthe latter suddenly beheld poor Hamilton struggling, with his arms,head, and shoulders stuck into the snow, his snow-shoes twisted andsticking with the heels up and awry, in a sort of rampant confusion, andhis gun buried to the locks beside him. Regaining one's perpendicularafter a fall in deep snow, when the feet are encumbered by a pair oflong snow-shoes, is by no means an easy thing to accomplish, inconsequence of the impossibility of getting hold of anything solid onwhich to rest the hands. The depth is so great that the outstretchedarms cannot find bottom, and every successive struggle only sinks theunhappy victim deeper down. Should no assistance be near, he will soonbeat the snow to a solidity that will enable him to rise, but not in avery enviable or comfortable condition.

  "Give me a hand, Harry," gasped Hamilton, as he managed to twist hishead upwards for a moment.

  "Here you are," cried Harry, holding out his hand and endeavouring tosuppress his desire to laugh; "up with you," and in another moment thepoor youth was upon his legs, with every fold and crevice about hisperson stuffed to repletion with snow.

  "Come, cheer up," cried the accountant, giving the youth a slap on theback; "there's nothing like experience--the proverb says that it eventeaches fools, so you need not despair."

  Hamilton smiled as he endeavoured to shake off some of his whitecoating.

  "We'll be all right immediately," added Harry; "I see that the countryahead is more open, so the walking will be easier."

  "Oh, I wish that I had not come!" said Hamilton, sorrowfully, "because Iam only detaining you. But perhaps I shall do better as we get on. Atany rate I cannot go back now, as I could never find the way."

  "Go back! of course not," said the accountant; "in a short time we shallget into the old woodcutters' track of last year, and although it's notbeaten at all, yet it is pretty level and open, so that we shall get onfamously."

  "Go on then," sighed Hamilton.

  "Drive ahead," laughed Harry; and without further delay they resumedtheir march, which was soon rendered more cheerful as the clouds rolledaway, the snow ceased to fall, and the bright, full moon poured its raysdown upon their path.

  For a long time they proceeded in silence, the muffled sound of thesnow, as it sank beneath their regular footsteps, being the onlyinterruption to the universal stillness around. There is something verysolemnising in a scene such as we are now describing--the calmtranquillity of the arctic night, the pure whiteness of the snowycarpet, which rendered the dark firs inky black by contrast; the clear,cold, starry sky, that glimmered behind the dark clouds, whose heavymasses, now rolling across the moon, partially obscured the landscape,and anon, passing slowly away, let a flood of light down upon theforest, which, penetrating between the thick branches, scattered thesurface of the snow as it were with flakes of silver. Sleep has oftenbeen applied as a simile to nature in repose, but in this case deathseemed more appropriate. So silent, so cold, so still was the scene,that it filled the mind with an indefinable feeling of dread, as ifthere was some mysterious danger near. Once or twice during their walkthe three travellers paused to rest, but they spoke little, and insubdued voices, as if they feared to break the silence of the night.

  "It is strange," said Harry, in a low tone, as he walked besideHamilton, "that such a scene as this always makes me think more thanusual of home."

  "And yet it is natural," replied the other, "because it reminds us moreforcibly than any other that we are in a foreign land--in the lonelywilderness--far away from home."

  Both Harry and Hamilton had been trained in families where the Almightywas feared and loved, and where their minds had been early led toreflect upon the Creator when regarding the works of His hand: theirthoughts, therefore, naturally reverted to another home, compared withwhich this world is indeed a cold, lonely wilderness; but on suchsubjects they feared to converse, partly from a dread of the ridicule ofreckless companions, partly from ignorance of each other's feelings onreligious matters, and although their minds were busy their tongues weresilent.

  The ground over which the greater part of their path lay was a swamp,which, being now frozen, was a beautiful white plain, so that theiradvance was more rapid, until they approached the belt of woodland thatskirts North River. Here they again encountered the heavy snow, whichhad been such a so
urce of difficulty to Hamilton at setting out. He hadprofited by his former experience, however, and by the exercise of anexcessive degree of caution managed to scramble through the woodstolerably well, emerging at last, along with his companions, on thebleak margin of what appeared to be the frozen sea.

  North River, at this place, is several miles broad, and the oppositeshore is so low that the snow causes it to appear but a slightundulation of the frozen bed of the river. Indeed, it would not bedistinguishable at all, were it not for the willow bushes and dwarfpines, whose tops, rising above the white garb of winter, indicate that_terra firma_ lies below.

  "What a cold, desolate-looking place!" said Hamilton, as the party stoodstill to recover breath before taking their way over the plain to thespot where the accountant's traps were set. "It looks much more likethe frozen sea than a river."

  "It can scarcely be called a river at this place," remarked theaccountant, "seeing that the water hereabouts is brackish, and the tidesebb and flow a good way up. In fact, this is the extreme mouth of NorthRiver; and if you turn your eyes a little to the right, towards yonderice-hummock in the plain, you behold the frozen sea itself."

  "Where are your traps set?" inquired Harry.

  "Down in the hollow, behind yon point covered with brushwood."

  "Oh, we shall soon get to them, then; come along," cried Harry.

  Harry was mistaken, however. He had not yet learned by experience theextreme difficulty of judging of distance in the uncertain light ofnight--a difficulty that was increased by his ignorance of the locality,and by the gleams of moonshine that shot through the driving clouds, andthrew confused, fantastic shadows over the plain. The point which hehad at first supposed was covered with low bushes, and about a hundredyards off, proved to be clad in reality with large bushes and smalltrees, and lay at a distance of two miles.

  "I think you have been mistaken in supposing the point so near, Harry,"said Hamilton, as he trudged on beside his friend.

  "A fact evident to the naked eye," replied Harry. "How do your feetstand it, eh? Beginning to lose bark yet?"

  Hamilton did not feel quite sure. "I think," said he, softly, "thatthere is a blister under the big toe of my left foot. It feels verypainful."

  "If you feel at all _uncertain_ about it, you may rest assured thatthere _is_ a blister. These things don't give much pain at first. I'msorry to tell you, my dear fellow, that you'll be painfully aware of thefact to-morrow. However, don't distress yourself; it's a part of theexperience that every one goes through in this country. Besides," saidHarry, smiling, "we can send to the fort for medical advice."

  "Don't bother the poor fellow, and hold your tongue, Harry," said theaccountant, who now began to tread more cautiously as he approached theplace where the traps were set.

  "How many traps have you?" inquired Harry, in a low tone.

  "Three," replied the accountant.

  "Do you know I have a very strange feeling about my heels--or rather awant of feeling," said Hamilton, smiling dubiously.

  "A want of feeling! what do you mean?" cried the accountant, stoppingsuddenly and confronting his young friend.

  "Oh, I daresay it's nothing," he exclaimed, looking as if ashamed ofhaving spoken of it; "only I feel exactly as if both my heels were cutoff, and I were walking on tiptoe!"

  "Say you so? then right about wheel. Your heels are frozen, man, andyou'll lose them if you don't look sharp."

  "Frozen!" cried Hamilton, with a look of incredulity.

  "Ay, frozen; and it's lucky you told me. I've a place up in the woodshere, which I call my winter camp, where we can get you put to rights.But step out; the longer we are about it the worse for you."

  Harry Somerville was at first disposed to think that the accountantjested, but seeing that he turned his back towards his traps, and madefor the nearest point of the thick woods with a stride that betokenedthorough sincerity, he became anxious too, and followed as fast aspossible.

  The place to which the accountant led his young friends was a group offir trees which grew on a little knoll, that rose a few feet above thesurrounding level country. At the foot of this hillock a small rivuletor burn ran in summer, but the only evidence of its presence now was theabsence of willow bushes all along its covered narrow bed. A leveltract was thus formed by nature, free from all underwood, and runninginland about the distance of a mile, where it was lost in the swampwhence the stream issued. The wooded knoll or hillock lay at the mouthof this brook, and being the only elevated spot in the neighbourhood,besides having the largest trees growing on it, had been selected by theaccountant as a convenient place for "camping out" on, when he visitedhis traps in winter, and happened to be either too late or disinclinedto return home. Moreover, the spreading fir branches afforded anexcellent shelter alike from wind and snow in the centre of the clump,while from the margin was obtained a partial view of the river and thesea beyond. Indeed, from this look-out there was a very fine prospecton clear winter nights of the white landscape, enlivened occasionally bygroups of arctic foxes, which might be seen scampering about in sport,and gambolling among the hummocks of ice like young kittens.

  "Now we shall turn up here," said the accountant, as he walked a shortway up the brook before mentioned, and halted in front of what appearedto be an impenetrable mass of bushes.

  "We shall have to cut our way, then," said Harry, looking to the rightand left, in the vain hope of discovering a place where, the bushesbeing less dense, they might effect an entrance into the knoll or grove.

  "Not so. I have taken care to make a passage into my winter camp,although it was only a whim, after all, to make a concealed entrance,seeing that no one ever passes this way except wolves and foxes, whosenoses render the use of their eyes in most cases unnecessary."

  So saying, the accountant turned aside a thick branch, and disclosed anarrow track, into which he entered, followed by his two companions.

  A few minutes brought them to the centre of the knoll. Here they founda clear space of about twenty feet in diameter, around which the treescircled so thickly that in daylight nothing could be seen but tree-stemsas far as the eye could penetrate, while overhead the broad, flatbranches of the firs, with their evergreen verdure, spread out andinterlaced so thickly that very little light penetrated into the spacebelow. Of course at night, even in moonlight, the place was pitch dark.Into this retreat the accountant led his companions, and bidding themstand still for a minute lest they should tumble into the fireplace, heproceeded to strike a light.

  Those who have never travelled in the wild parts of this world can formbut a faint conception of the extraordinary and sudden change that isproduced, not only in the scene, but in the mind of the beholder, when ablazing fire is lighted in a dark night. Before the fire is kindled,and you stand, perhaps (as Harry and his friend did on the presentoccasion) shivering in the cold, the heart sinks, and sad, gloomythoughts arise, while your eye endeavours to pierce the thick darkness,which, if it succeed in doing so, only adds to the effect by disclosingthe pallid snow, the cold, chilling beams of the moon, the white vistasof savage scenery, the awe-inspiring solitudes that tell of yourisolated condition, or stir up sad memories of other and far-distantscenes. But the moment the first spark of fire sends a fitful gleam oflight upwards, these thoughts and feelings take wing and vanish. Theindistinct scenery is rendered utterly invisible by the red light, whichattracts and rivets the eye as if by a species of fascination. The deepshadows of the woods immediately around you grow deeper and blacker asthe flames leap and sparkle upwards, causing the stems of thesurrounding trees, and the foliage of the overhanging branches, to standout in bold relief, bathed in a ruddy glow, which converts the forestchamber into a snug, _home-like_ place, and fills the mind withagreeable, _home-like_ feelings and meditations. It seems as if thespirit, in the one case, were set loose and etherealised to enable it tospread itself over the plains of cold, cheerless, illimitable space, andleft to dwell upon objects too wide to grasp, too indi
stinct tocomprehend; while, in the other, it is recalled and concentrated uponmatters circumscribed and congenial, things of which it has long beencognisant, and which it can appreciate and enjoy without the effort of athought.

  Some such thoughts and feelings passed rapidly through the minds ofHarry and Hamilton while the accountant struck a light and kindled aroaring fire of logs, which he had cut and arranged there on a previousoccasion. In the middle of the space thus brilliantly illuminated, thesnow had been cleared away till the moss was uncovered, thus leaving ahole of about ten feet in diameter. As the snow was quite four feetdeep, the hole was surrounded with a pure white wall, whose height wasfurther increased by the masses thrown out in the process of digging tonearly six feet. At one end of this space was the large fire which hadjust been kindled, and which, owing to the intense cold, only melted avery little of the snow in its immediate neighbourhood. At the otherend lay a mass of flat pine branches, which were piled up so thickly asto form a pleasant elastic couch, the upper end being slightly raised soas to form a kind of bolster, while the lower extended almost into thefire. Indeed, the branches at the extremity were burnt quite brown, andsome of them charred. Beside the bolster lay a small wooden box, around tin kettle, an iron tea-kettle, two tin mugs, a hatchet, and alarge bundle tied up in a green blanket. There were thus, as it were,two apartments, one within the other--namely, the outer one, whose wallswere formed of tree-stems and thick darkness, and the ceiling of greenboughs; and then the inner one, with walls of snow, that sparkled in thefirelight as if set with precious stones, and a carpet of evergreenbranches.

  Within this latter our three friends were soon actively employed. PoorHamilton's moccasins were speedily removed, and his friends, going downon their knees, began to rub his feet with a degree of energy thatinduced him to beg for mercy.

  "Mercy!" exclaimed the accountant, without pausing for an instant;"faith, it's little mercy there would be in stopping just now.--Rubaway, Harry. Don't give in. They're coming right at last."

  After a very severe rubbing, the heels began to show symptoms ofreturning vitality. They were then wrapped up in the folds of a thickblanket, and held sufficiently near to the fire to prevent any chance ofthe frost getting at them again.

  "Now, my boy," said the accountant, as he sat down to enjoy a pipe andrest himself on a blanket, which, along with the one wrapped roundHamilton's feet, had been extracted from the green bundle beforementioned--"now, my boy, you'll have to enjoy yourself here as you bestcan for an hour or two, while Harry and I visit the traps. Would youlike supper before we go, or shall we have it on our return?"

  "Oh, I'll wait for it, by all means, till you return. I don't feel abit hungry just now, and it will be much more cheerful to have it afterall your work is over. Besides, I feel my feet too painful to enjoy itjust now."

  "My poor fellow," said Harry, whose heart smote him for having beendisposed at first to treat the thing lightly, "I'm really sorry for you.Would you not like me to stay with you?"

  "By no means," replied Hamilton quickly. "You can do nothing more forme, Harry; and I should be very sorry if you missed seeing the traps."

  "Oh, never mind the traps. I've seen traps, and set them too, fiftytimes before now. I'll stop with you, old boy, I will," said Harrydoggedly, while he made arrangements to settle down for the evening.

  "Well, if _you_ won't go, I will," said Hamilton coolly, as he unwoundthe blanket from his feet and began to pull on his socks.

  "Bravo, my lad!" exclaimed the accountant, patting him approvingly onthe back; "I didn't think you had half so much pluck in you. But itwon't do, old fellow. You're in _my_ castle just now, and must obeyorders. You couldn't walk half a mile for your life; so just be pleasedto pull off your socks again. Besides, I want Harry to help me to carryup my foxes, if there are any;--so get ready, sirrah!"

  "Ay, ay, captain," cried Harry with a laugh, while he sprang up and puton his snow-shoes.

  "You needn't bring your gun," said the accountant, shaking the ashesfrom his pipe as he prepared to depart, "but you may as well shove thataxe into your belt; you may want it--Now, mind, don't roast your feet,"he added, turning to Hamilton.

  "Adieu!" cried Harry, with a nod and a smile, as he turned to go. "Takecare the bears don't find you out."

  "No fear. Good-bye, Harry," replied Hamilton, as his two friendsdisappeared in the wood and left him to his solitary meditations.