as he had always called it. Mr. Henry, who had been writing at his desk, pushed himself back, and looking at Tom, a smile crept over his face.
His son was exactly as he had been at that age, and the reason of his lenient treatment of what many fathers would have given a severe punishment for was because he knew a good deal of the world, and especially how to treat a boy who had inherited a sportsman"s love of woods and guns, and was not to blame for it. Tom was bending close over the book to see whether it was a woodc.o.c.k or a quail the dog was pointing, when Mr. Henry startled him as he said with a laugh,
"My boy, did you really think you"d get a partridge? Why, Dr. Carver himself couldn"t shoot a partridge with a rifle; why didn"t you come and ask me for my gun?"
""Cause I didn"t think you"d lend it to me," said Tom, "and I was afraid you"d suspect something. I"ll come to you to-morrow," he added, as a quiet joke on his father.
But the way his father took his little joke nearly made him "have a fit," as he told Jim Vail afterwards.
"All right, Tommy," said Mr. Henry, "come to me after breakfast and I"ll fix you out."
Another restless night followed by another beautiful morning, and down across the field trudged Tom, d.i.c.k, and Harry, but it looked like a brown shooting-coat walking by itself with two setters following after it through curiosity. There went Tom with a real gun--the little sixteen-bore--a real hunting-coat, sleeves rolled up and pinned to hold them, and down below his knees, to be sure; real cartridges in his pocket, and to make it complete two real bird-dogs. He was going to be the man in the "bird book," and best of all there was no "on the sly"
about it.
Down back of the place beyond the "muck pond," where Tom had often caught live bait for his father, and had slaughtered many a fine fat frog, to say nothing of the turtles and lizards which had been the starting of a small museum of which he was sole proprietor, down beyond this pond he struck into the woods and let "Jet" the Gordon and "Bang"
the Irish setter run. He followed them closely. Soon they came to a point, and he walked towards them. But here"s where there was a difference between the picture and his position at that moment; he looked in vain for the bird; in the picture he could see it, but, try his best, he could not see it in life. The dogs worried a little, he stepped on a twig which cracked; whir! and up got Mr. Partridge from the bushes--not exactly where Tom had expected--and whirled off, Tom crouching down to see where he lit, to try him again. Time and again the same thing happened, but Tom never could seem to see the bird till he got up, and he never thought to try him flying. The dogs got tired of this kind of shooting and came in "to heel," and finally, rather discouraged and decidedly tired, Tom sat down to decide whether he would go home or not. He was sitting under a large pine-tree and thinking what his father would say, when out of the branches above his head sailed, with a quiet, subdued whir, the very bird he had been chasing so long.
It settled not more than thirty yards off on the roots of an upturned birch-tree and began a gentle cluck, spreading its fanlike tail and shaking its feathers, but only for a moment. Tom"s chance had come. A hurried and excited aim, a loud bang, and the partridge was fluttering on the ground, and Tom was stooping over it; the gun was back where he had shot from; he had gotten to the bird before the dogs. What he wanted was a partridge in his coat pocket; he did not seem so anxious to have the dogs hand it to him, as his dreams had made him.
Tell the truth, Tom ran most of the way home. He met his father on the driveway, and a sudden composure took hold of him.
"Say, Pop," he said, "it ain"t so easy as one thinks, is it?"
"I"ll bet you didn"t get anything, not even a chipper bird," said Mr.
Henry; "now did you?"
Tom braced himself, his heart was beating fast, and the shivers were again making him jump and wriggle.
"I only got one decent shot," replied Tom, beginning very coolly, "but I got him, and mamma"ll have that bird I didn"t get yesterday to-night for supper. Look at that!" he shouted the last part of his sentence, and swinging the bird in front of his father"s face, darted past to show and tell all in the house, leaving Mr. Henry in blank astonishment. What he was saying to himself was:
"I"ll get that boy the prettiest gun in the city for Christmas, that"s what I"ll do; he"ll be giving me points before long."
SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES.
BY KIRK MUNROE.
CHAPTER XXIX.
A WILDERNESS-ORPHAN.
The position in which Phil now found himself was certainly a perplexing one. By the very simple process of getting lost he had discovered Cree Jim"s cabin, but was appalled to consider what else he had found at the same time. He now knew that the remainder of their journey, its most difficult and dangerous portion, must be undertaken without a guide. Not only this, but they must be burdened with a child so young as to be practically helpless. In the mean time, what was to be done with those silent and motionless forms whose dread presence so pervaded that lonely cabin? And how was he to communicate with his friends? There was no back trail to follow, for the snow had wiped it out. He did not even know in which direction camp lay, for in the ardor of his chase the evening before he had taken no note of course nor distance.
There was the stream, though, on whose bank the cabin was perched. It must flow into the river. Yes, that was his only hope. But the river might be miles away, and the camp as much farther, if, indeed, it could still be found where he had left it. But of course it would be! So long as Serge Belcofsky and Jalap Coombs had life and strength to search for him that camp would remain a permanent fixture until he returned to it.
Phil was absolutely sure of that, and he now realized, as never before, the priceless value of a friendship whose loyalty is beyond doubt.
So the plan was formed. He would go down the stream and up the river until he found camp. Then he would bring Serge and a sledge back with him. In the mean time the child must be left where he was, for Phil doubted if he could carry him over the weary miles that he knew must lie between the cabin and camp, while for the little fellow to walk that distance was out of the question.
Phil sat on a stool before the fire while doing all this thinking. As he rose to carry out his plan, Nel-te, who was becoming terrified at his mother"s silence in spite of his efforts to attract her attention, slipped from the bed, ran to his new friend, and thrusting a cold little hand into one of his, looked up with a smile of such perfect trust that Phil s.n.a.t.c.hed him in his arms and kissed him, at the same time giving him a great hug.
Then he said: "Now, Nel-te, brother Phil is going away for a little while to get some doggies for you to play with, and you must stay here like a good boy, and not open the door until he comes back. Do you understand?"
"Yes; me go get doggies. Nel-te like doggies. Good doggies." And almost before Phil knew what the child was about he had slipped from his arms, run to the door, and was putting on the tiny snow-shoes that had been left outside. Then with an engaging smile, he called, cheerily: "Come.
Nel-te say come. Get doggies."
"All right, little chap. I expect your plan is as good as mine, after all," replied Phil, into whose mind had just flashed the promise made to that dead mother, never to desert her baby. "And here I was, about to begin by doing that very thing," he reflected as he glanced at the marble face overspread by an expression of perfect content that his promise had brought.
Moved by a sudden impulse he picked up the boy, and, bringing him back, held him so that he might kiss the peaceful face. This the child did with a soft cooing that served to convey both love and pity. Then he ran to the stalwart figure that still lay on the floor, and, patting its swarthy cheek, said something in the Cree tongue that Phil did not understand.
After that Phil carefully closed the door to prevent the intrusion of wild beasts, and the two, whose fortunes had become so strangely interwoven, set forth together down the white surface of the forest-bordered stream, on whose bank Nel-te had been born and pa.s.sed his few years of life. He was happily but unconsciously venturing on his first "little journey into the world," while his companion was filled with a sense of manliness and responsibility from the experiences through which he had just pa.s.sed that the mere adding of years could never have brought.
Phil wondered at the ease with which the little fellow managed his snow-shoes, until he reflected that the child had probably been taught to use them from the day of taking his first step. So the two fur-clad figures, ridiculously contrasted in size, trudged along side by side down the winding stream, the one thoughtfully silent and the other chattering of "doggies," until he began to lag behind and give signs that the pace was telling on his slender strength.
"Poor little chap," said Phil. "But I had been expecting it, and now we will try another scheme." So, slinging the tiny snow-shoes across the child"s back, he picked him up and set him astride his own broad shoulders; when Nel-te clutched his head, and shouted with glee at this delightful mode of travel.
After they had gone a mile or so in this fashion they rounded a sharp bend, and came so suddenly upon poor Serge, who was making his way up the stream in search of some trace of his friend, that for a moment he stood motionless and speechless with amazement. He could make nothing of the approaching apparition until Phil shouted, cheerily:
"Hurrah, old man! Here we are, safe and sound, and awfully glad to see you."
"Oh, Phil!" cried Serge, while tears actually stood in his honest blue eyes, "I can hardly believe it! It seems almost too good to be true. Are you sure you are not wounded nor frozen nor hurt in any way? Haven"t you suffered terribly? If you haven"t, we have. I don"t believe Mr. Coombs slept a wink last night, and I know I didn"t. But I am happy enough at this minute to make up for it all, a hundred times over. Oh, Phil!"
"I have suffered a little from anxiety, and been a trifle hungry, and had some sad experiences, but I haven"t suffered half so much as I deserved for my carelessness in getting lost. I found Cree Jim, though; but--"
"And brought him with you?" interrupted Serge, smiling for the first time in many hours, as he glanced at the quaint little figure perched on Phil"s shoulders.
"Not exactly," replied the other, soberly. "You see this little chap is his son, and I"ve adopted him for a sort of a brother, and he is going with us."
"You"ve done what?" cried Serge.
"Adopted him. That is, you see I promised my aunt Ruth to bring her something from Alaska that was unique in the way of a curio, and it seems to me that Nel-te here will please her about as well as anything.
Don"t you think so?"
"Perhaps so," a.s.sented Serge, doubtfully. "But was his father willing that you should have him?"
"Oh yes, perfectly. That is, you know he is dead, and so is the mother; but I promised her to take care of the little chap, and as there wasn"t anything else to be done, why, here we are."
"Of course it"s all right if you say so," agreed Serge, "and I don"t care, so long as you are safe, if you carry a whole tribe back to your aunt Ruth; but now don"t you think we"d better be getting along to camp?
It was all I could do to persuade Mr. Coombs to stay behind and look out for things; he is so anxious. The only way I could induce him to was by suggesting that you might come in tired and hungry, and would feel awfully if no one was there to welcome you. But he is liable to set out on a hunt for you at any moment."
"Certainly, we must get there as quickly as possible," replied Phil.
"How far is it?"
"Not more than one mile up the river from the mouth of this creek, which is only a few rods below here. But oh, Phil, to think that I have found you! When I had almost given up all hope of ever again seeing you alive too. I have been down as far as our first camp on the river this morning, and this creek was my last hope. I wouldn"t have left the country without you, though, or at any rate without knowing what had become of you. Neither would Mr. Coombs. We settled that last night while we talked over what had best be done."
"I was sure you wouldn"t, old fellow," replied Phil, with something like a choke in his voice.
At the camp they were hailed by Jalap Coombs, who almost hugged Phil in his revulsion of feeling and unaffected joy at the lad"s return.