He proceeded to lay two of the long boat oars parallel upon the snow, and about eighteen inches apart. The blade end of the oars he connected with half a dozen sticks, the end of the sticks lashed firmly to the oars. The handle end of the oars he connected with a piece of rope, drawn taut, and securely tied to the handles.
"Now stand betwixt the handles, Charley, and lift un up so"s the rope"ll be against your chest," Toby directed.
Charley complied, and Toby tied another piece of rope to the end of one of the oars, and where the chest rope was tied to it. Then pa.s.sing the rope up and in front of the shoulder, then behind the neck and down in front of the other shoulder, he secured the loose end to the other oar.
"There, now," said Toby, surveying his work, "she"ll ride on the ice and she"s right for easy haulin". The rope up around the back o" your neck holds she so you won"t have to be holdin" she up with your hands, and you can have un free, and the rope across your chest fixes un so"s you can haul by just walkin"."
"Am I going to haul this rig?" asked Charley.
"We"ll be takin" turns at she and the seal," said Toby. "You"ll be haulin" the one you likes to haul best, and I"ll be haulin" the other.
But I thinks this un"ll be easier to haul than the seal. She"ll be slippin" over the ice wonderful easy. We"ll be lashin" the outfit on the sticks across the oar blades on the other end. "Twill be light. We hasn"t much of un to take. We"ll cache the other pair of oars here for Dad to pick up next year when he"s comin" up with the boat."
"All right," agreed Charley. "This rig will be dead easy to walk with on the ice, and I think I"ll take it and let you drag the seal, if you don"t mind."
"I"ll be goin" ahead with the seal, if you likes the rig," planned Toby, "and I"ll take a stick to try the ice, so we"ll be keepin" abroad from any bad ice."
"You"re wonderful, Toby!" exclaimed Charley admiringly. "I never would have thought of fixing up a rig like this."
""Twill be easier"n packin" the outfit on our backs," remarked Toby.
Under ordinary conditions Charley would have found the fishy flavour of the seal"s liver, and the still more highly flavoured flippers objectionable, if not offensive, to his taste. But now he p.r.o.nounced them delectable, and his revived appet.i.te found no grounds for complaint or criticism. During the day they consumed the liver, and for the evening meal a pair of flippers.
With the skin still in place that it might protect the meat and carca.s.s of the seal in dragging it over the ice, Toby cut some liberal slices of meat in preparation for the frying pan in the morning, that there might be no delay. He also prepared an extra portion for the next day"s luncheon, which he said they could eat cold.
Before they retired to their sleeping bags, Toby again led the way to the ice, and tried it with his ax. It was fully two inches thick.
"She"s fine and tough, and she"s makin" for thickness fast," Toby announced delightedly. "She"ll be twice as thick by marnin", whatever!
She"d hold us now! Salt water ice is a wonderful sight tougher"n fresh water ice."
[Ill.u.s.tration: SKIPPER ZEB"S OAR BROKE, AND THE BOAT WAS DRIVEN UPON A ROCK.]
That night, snug in his sleeping bag, Charley recalled the many adventures that had befallen him since his arrival at Pinch-In Tickle nearly a month before. One peril after another had beset him, and now, the worst of all, threatened starvation upon this desolate island, was about to end, and he thanked G.o.d silently for his deliverance.
To the dwellers in that far, silent land adventures are an incident in the game of life, and their existence is truly a man"s game fashioned for the st.u.r.dy of soul and strong of heart. Everywhere in that bleak country adventure lurks, ever ready to spring upon the unwary. In the mysterious and dark depths of the broad forests, in the open wastes of the bleak barrens, in the breath of the sea winds it is met suddenly and unexpectedly. And soon enough Charley was to meet it again in a struggle for his very life, as we shall see.
XV
LOST IN THE BARRENS
Winter, the monarch of the North, had returned to his throne to rule his kingdom with relentless hand. Never had Charley experienced such cold as that which met him when he and Toby left their sleeping bags the next morning. The air was marvelously clear and transparent. The stars shone with unusual brilliancy, and seemed very near the earth. Frost prisms on the snow sparkled and glinted in the starlight.
"Our skin boots"ll be freezin" stiff as sticks," remarked Toby. ""Tis time for deerskin moccasins, for the snow"ll not be softenin" again.
They"ll be steady freezin" all day, and _I_ thinks steady freezin" now till the end o" winter."
"Oh, boy, but it"s cold!" shivered Charley, as he hurriedly drew on his duffle socks and skin boots.
"Wonderful frosty!" said Toby, as he lighted the fire. "There"s no doubtin" the ice"ll be stout enough to hold us now, whatever, and she"ll be makin" thicker all day."
In a few minutes the fire was crackling and snapping cheerily, and the boys drew close to its genial warmth. A kettle of ice was put over to melt for water, and some slices of seal meat to fry in the pan.
They were eager to gain release from their island prison, and when their meal was eaten Toby hurriedly lashed their few belongings, including the boat sail, which had served so well as a shelter, upon the improvised travois, for Charley to drag behind him. A rope had been attached to the now hard-frozen seal the evening before. Snow was thrown upon the fire to put it out, that there might be no danger of a breeze scattering the embers among the trees, which covered the center of the island with a scant growth, and burning them. Then, with cheerful hearts and eager feet they turned down upon the ice and set forth on their way to Double Up Cove at last.
Toby, carrying a staff with which to try the ice ahead, and with the seal in tow, took the lead, while Charley, with the travois followed.
How good it was to be away! How glorious the ice and the starlit morning!
The surface of the bay, smooth and firm, proved much more solidly frozen than Toby had expected to find it, and in a little while, when they had pa.s.sed the center of ice lying between the island and the mainland, he discarded his staff as an unnecessary burden.
"She don"t bend anywhere," he said delightedly. "We"ll not be needin" to try she now. Past the middle "tis sure to be tough and thick. We"ll be headin" now for sh.o.r.e, and be keepin" clost insh.o.r.e where there"ll sure be no bad ice whatever."
"Isn"t it glorious!" Charley exploded in exuberance. "I feel like dancing a jig! Whoopla! Toby, let"s yell!"
And together the boys gave a yell that made the forest on the near-by sh.o.r.e echo.
"Oh, but it"s great!" exclaimed Charley a little later. "I"m glad there"s no snow on the ice. This rig I"m harnessed in wouldn"t drag half so easily if there was snow. I don"t mind it a little bit. I hardly feel the difference, it slides so well. How long will it take us?"
"With the early start, we"ll be getting there a bit after dinner, and we may make un by dinner. We were startin" two hours before daylight, whatever."
The travois continued to prove no appreciable burden to Charley, as Toby had feared it would. The clear frosty air was an inspiration to fast walking, and indeed it was necessary for the boys to walk fast in order that they might keep the blood in circulation and comfortably warm. His experience on the trail with Skipper Zeb had toughened Charley"s muscles, and improved his powers of endurance greatly, and he had no difficulty in keeping the quite rapid pace that Toby made.
They had been a full two hours on the trail when daylight came, and presently the sun peeped over the eastern horizon. In the flood of glorious sunshine that suddenly bathed the world, every shrub and bush that lined the sh.o.r.e, thickly coated with h.o.a.rfrost and rime, sparkled and glinted as though encrusted with burnished silver set with countless diamonds.
"How wonderful!" exclaimed Charley. "Isn"t it great, Toby! I never saw anything like it!"
"Aye, "tis wonderful fine," said Toby.
Even in the full rays of sunshine the snow along sh.o.r.e did not soften, and the ice kept dry. Charley declared that it was no warmer at midday than it had been in the early morning.
It was nearly one o"clock when they rounded the point above Double Up Cove, and the cabin fell into view. Smoke was curling upward from the stovepipe which protruded above the roof. How cozy and hospitable it looked! Both boys gave exclamations of pleasure, and with one accord broke into a trot.
Mrs. Twig and Violet saw them coming, and putting on the kettle hurried outside to greet them, and what a welcome they received!
"Set down now, lads, by the stove whilst I gets you something to eat, and sets a pot o" tea to brew," admonished Mrs. Twig. "You must be rare hungry, and "tis wonderful frosty."
While the boys ate a hastily prepared luncheon of bread and mola.s.ses and drank hot tea they related their experiences, interrupted by Mrs. Twig, who was cooking a substantial dinner of stewed rabbit, with frequent exclamations of concern or sympathy.
"Vi"let and I were worryin" and worryin" about you lads, when the storm comes," confessed Mrs. Twig. "We were fearin" you"d be comin" in the boat. I"m wonderful thankful you gets home safe!"
The borrowed garments that Charley had been wearing were now discarded for new, and sealskin boots were now replaced by buckskin moccasins and moleskin leggings.
During their absence Mrs. Twig had made for Charley an adikey of white woolen kersey, and another to wear over it of white moleskin cloth, the hood of the latter trimmed with lynx fur. The former was for warmth, and the latter to break the wind and to shed snow readily. She had also made him moleskin trousers and leggings, and a fur cap for each of the boys.
The caps were made from the pelt of the lynx that they had shot on that memorable evening when they first set their rabbit snares. There were new buckskin moccasins for Charley, with socks of heavy blanket duffle to wear inside the moccasins; and buckskin mittens, with inner mittens of duffle that would keep the hands comfortable on the coldest day.
The novelty of the new life, flavoured with his many adventures, had long since stilled completely the pangs of homesickness that had insisted upon a.s.serting themselves during Charley"s first days at Double Up Cove, and he was quite as contented as though he had always lived in a cabin in the wilderness. Home and the old life had melted into what seemed like a far distant past to him, though his father and mother were still very real and dear, and he often imagined them as near at hand, as they were, indeed, in a spiritual sense.