That afternoon they killed a caribou and got much-needed fresh meat for themselves and the dogs. Unfortunately, while carrying the hind-quarters to the sled, Beresford slipped and strained a tendon in the left leg. He did not notice it much at the time, but after an hour"s travel the pain increased. He found it difficult to keep pace with the dogs.
They were traversing a ten-mile lake. Morse proposed that they camp as soon as they reached the edge of it.
"Better get on the sled and ride till then," he added.
Beresford shook his head. "No, I"ll carry on all right. Got to grin and bear it. The sled"s overloaded anyhow. You trot along and I"ll tag. Time you"ve got the fires built and all the work done, I"ll loaf into camp."
Tom made no further protest. "All right. Take it easy. I"ll unload and run back for you."
The Montanan found a good camp-site, dumped the supplies, and left Cuffy as a guard. With the other dogs he drove back and met the officer. Beresford was still limping doggedly forward. Every step sent a shoot of pain through him, but he set his teeth and kept moving.
None the less he was glad to see the empty sled. He tumbled on and let the others do the work.
At camp he sc.r.a.ped the snow away with a shoe while Morse cut spruce boughs and chopped wood for the fire.
Beresford suffered a good deal from his knee that night. He did not sleep much, and when day came it was plain he could not travel. The camp-site was a good one. There was plenty of wood, and the shape of the draw in which they were located was a protection from the cold wind. The dogs would be no worse for a day or two of rest. The travelers decided to remain here as long as might be necessary.
Tom went hunting. He brought back a bag of four ptarmigan late in the afternoon. Fried, they were delicious. The dogs stood round in a half-circle and caught the bones tossed to them. Crunch-- crunch--crunch. The bones no longer were. The dogs, heads c.o.c.ked on one side, waited expectantly for more tender tidbits.
"Saw deer tracks. To-morrow I"ll have a try for one," Morse said.
The lame man hobbled down to the lake next day, broke the ice, and fished for jack pike. He took back to camp with him all he could carry.
On the fourth day his knee was so much improved that he was able to travel slowly. They were glad to see that night the lights of Fort Desolation, as one of the Mounted had dubbed the post on account of its loneliness.
CHAPTER x.x.xIV
THE MAN-HUNTERS READ SIGN
In the white North travelers are few and far. It is impossible for one to pa.s.s through the country without leaving a record of his progress written on the terrain and in the minds of the natives. The fugitive did not attempt concealment. He had with him now an Indian guide and was pushing into the Barren Lands. There was no uncertainty about his movements. From Fort Chippewayan he had swung to the northwest in the line of the great frozen lakes, skirting Athabasca and following the Great Slave River to the lake of the same name. This he crossed at the narrowest point, about where the river empties into it, and headed for the eastern extremity of Lake La Martre.
On his heels, still far behind, trod the two pursuers, patient, dogged, and inexorable. They had left far in the rear the out-forts of the Mounted and the little settlements of the free traders. Already they were deep in the Hudson"s Bay Company trapping-grounds. Ahead of them lay the Barrens, stretching to the inlets of the Arctic Ocean.
The days were drawing out and the nights getting shorter. The untempered sun of the Northland beat down on the cold snow crystals and reflected a million sparks of light. In that white field the glare was almost unbearable. Both of them wore smoked gla.s.ses, but even with these their eyes continually smarted. They grew red and swollen. If time had not been so great an element in their journey, they would have tried to travel only after sunset. But they could not afford this. West would keep going as long and as fast as he could.
Each of them dreaded snow-blindness. They knew the sign of it--a dreadful pain, a smarting of the eyeb.a.l.l.s as though hot burning sand were being flung against them. In camp at night they bathed their swollen lids and applied a cool and healing salve.
Meanwhile the weeks slipped into months and still they held like bulldogs to the trail of the man they were after.
The silence of the wide, empty white wastes surrounded them, except for an occasional word, the whine of a dog, and the slithering crunch of the sled-runners. From unfriendly frozen deserts they pa.s.sed, through eternal stillness, into the snow wilderness that seemed to stretch forever. When they came to forests, now thinner, smaller, and less frequent, they welcomed them as they would an old friend.
"He"s headin" for Great Bear, looks like," Morse suggested one morning after an hour in which neither of them had spoken.
"I was wondering when you"d chirp up, Tom," Beresford grinned cheerfully. "Sometimes I think I"m fed up for life on the hissing of snowshoe runners. The human voice sure sounds good up here. Yes, Great Bear Lake. And after that, where?"
"Up the lake, across to the Mackenzie, and down it to the ocean, I"d say. He"s makin" for the whaling waters. Herschel Island maybe. He"s hoping to b.u.mp into a whaler and get down on it to "Frisco."
"Your guess is just as good as any," the Canadian admitted. "He"s cut out a man-sized job for himself. I"ll say that for him. It"s a five-to-one bet he never gets through alive, even if we don"t nab him."
"What else can he do? He"s got to keep going or be dragged back to be hanged. I"d travel too if I were in his place."
"So would I. He"s certainly hitting her up. Wish he"d break his leg for a week or two," the constable said airily.
They swung into a dense spruce swamp and jumped up a half-grown bear.
He was so close to them that Tom, who was breaking trail, could see his little shining eyes. Morse was carrying his rifle, in the hope that he might see a lynx or a moose. The bear turned to scamper away, but the intention never became a fact. A bullet crashed through the head and brought the animal down.
An hour later they reached an Indian camp on the edge of a lake. On stages, built well up from the ground, drying fish were hanging out of reach of the dogs. These animals came charging toward the travelers as usual, lean, bristling, wolfish creatures that never had been half-tamed.
Beresford lashed them back with the whip. Indians came out from the huts, matted hair hanging over their eyes. After the usual greetings and small presents had been made, the man-hunters asked questions.
"Great Bear Lake--wah-he-o-che (how far)?"
The head man opened his eyes. n.o.body in his right mind went to the great water at this time of year. It was maybe fifteen, maybe twenty days" travel. Who could tell? Were all the fair skins mad? Only three days since another dog-train had pa.s.sed through driven by a big s.h.a.ggy man who had left them no presents after he had bought fish. Three whites in as many days, and before that none but voyageur half-breeds in twice that number of years.
The trooper let out a boyish whoop. "Gaining fast. Only three days behind him, Tom. If our luck stands up, he"ll never reach the Great Bear."
There was reason back of Beresford"s exultant shout. At least one of West"s dogs had bleeding feet. This the stained snow on the trail told them. Either the big man had no shoes for the animals or was too careless to use them when needed, the constable had suggested to his friend.
"It"s not carelessness," Morse said. "It"s his bullying nature. Likely he"s got the shoes, only he won"t put "em on. He"ll beat the poor brute over the head instead and curse his luck when he breaks down.
He"s too bull-headed to be a good driver."
On the fourth day after this they came upon one of the minor tragedies of sub-Arctic travel. The skeleton of a dog lay beside the trail. Its bones had been picked clean by its ravenous cannibal companions.
"Three left," Beresford commented. "He"ll be figuring on picking up another when he meets any Indians or Eskimos."
"If he does it won"t be any good to work with his train. I believe we"ve got him. He isn"t twenty-five miles ahead of us right now."
"I"d put it at twenty. In about three days now the fireworks will begin."
It was the second day after this that they began to notice something peculiar about the trail they were following. Hitherto it had taken a straight line, except when the bad terrain had made a detour advisable. Now it swayed uncertainly, much as a drunken man staggers down a street.
"What"s wrong with him? It can"t be liquor. Yet if he"s not drunk, what"s got into him?" the soldier asked aloud, expecting no answer that explained this phenomenon.
Tom shook his head. "See. The Indian"s drivin" now. He follows a straight enough line. You can tell he"s at the tail line by the shape of the webs. And West"s still lurchin" along in a crazy way. He fell down here. Is he sick, d" you reckon?"
"Give it up. Anyhow, he"s in trouble. We"ll know soon enough what it is. Before night now we"ll maybe see them."
Before they had gone another mile, the trail in the snow showed another peculiarity. It made a wide half-circle and was heading south again.
"He"s given up. What"s that mean? Out of grub, d" you think?"
Beresford asked.
"No. If they had been, he"d have made camp and gone hunting. We crossed musk-ox sign to-day, you know."
"Righto. Can"t be that. He must be sick."