"Goldeye don"t come up the creeks, you ignorant Bird," retorted Sakwasew. "I wish they did, though; one can see their big, yellow eyes so far in the water--they"re easily caught."
"Suckers are more useful," chimed in Fisher; "when they crowd the river banks in Autumn, eating those black water-bugs, I get fat, and hardly wet a foot; I hate the water, but I do like a plump, juicy Sucker."
"Not to be compared to a Goldeye or Dore," objected Mink; "they"re too soft and flabby."
"Fish, Fish, Fish! always about Fish, or something to eat, with you Water-Rats," interrupted Carcajou, disgustedly. "Do let us get back to the subject. Do you know what the Men say of our Black King, Comrades?"
"They call him The Devil!" declared Jay.
"No they don"t," objected Carcajou; "they aver he"s Wiesahkechack, the great Indian G.o.d, who could change himself into Animals--that"s what they think. You all know Francois, the French Half-breed, who trapped at Hay River last Winter."
"He killed my First Cousin," sighed Marten.
"I lost a Son by him--poisoned," moaned Black King"s Mother, the Red Widow, who had been sitting quietly during the meeting watching with maternal pride the form of her son.
"Yes, he tried to catch me," boasted Carcajou, "but I outwitted him, and threw a Number Four Steel Trap in the river. He had a fight with a Chippewa Indian over it--blamed him for the theft. Oh, I enjoyed that.
I was hidden under a Spruce log, and watched Francois pummel the Indian until he ran away. I don"t understand much French, but the Half-breed used awful language. I wish they"d always fight amongst themselves."
"Why didn"t the Chippewa squeeze Francois till he was dead?--that"s what I should have done," growled Muskwa. "Do you remember Nichemous, the Cree Half-breed, who always keeps his hat tied on with a handkerchief?"
"I saw him once," declared Black Fox.
"Well, he tried to shoot me--crept up close to a log I was lying behind, and poked his Ironstick over it, thinking I was asleep. That was in the Winter--I think it was the Second of February: but do you know, sometimes I get my dates mixed. One year I forgot in my sleep, and came out on the First to see what the weather was like. Ha, ha! fancy that; coming out on the First and thought it was the Second."
"What has that got to do with Nichemous, old Garrulity?" squeaked Whisky-Jack.
Muskwa licked his gray nose apologetically for having wandered from the subject. "Well, as I have said, it was the Second of February; I had been lying up all Winter in a tremendously snug nest in a little coulee that runs off Pembina River. Hunger! but I was weak when I came out that day."
"I should think you would have been," sympathized the Bird, mockingly.
"I had pains, too; the hard Red-willow Berries that I always eat before I lay up were griping me horribly--they always do that--they"re my medicine, you know."
"Muskwa is getting old," interrupted Jay. "He"s garrulous--it"s his pains and aches now."
Bear took no notice of the Bird. "I was tired and cross; the sun was nice and warm, and I lay down behind a log to rest a little. Suddenly there was a sound of the crisp hide of the snow cracking, and at first I thought it was something to eat coming,--something for my hunger. I looked cautiously over the tree, and there was Nichemous trailing me; his snow-shoe had cut through the crust; but it was too late to run, for that Ironstick of his would have reached; so I lay still, pretending to be asleep. Nichemous crept up, oh, so cunningly. He didn"t want to wake poor old Muskwa, you see--not until he woke me with the bark of his Ironstick. Talk about smells, Mister Lynx. Wifh! the breath of that when it coughs is worse than the smell of Coyote--it"s fairly blue in the air, it"s so bad."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "SO I LAY STILL, PRETENDING TO BE ASLEEP."]
"Where was Nichemous all this time?" cried Jack, mockingly.
"Have patience, little s.h.a.ganappi (cheap) Bird. Nichemous saw my trail leading up to the log, but could not see it going away on the other side. I had just one eye c.o.c.ked up where I could watch his face.
Wheeze! it was a study. He"d raise one foot, shove it forward gently, put that big gut-woven shoe down slowly on the snow, and carry his body forward; then the other foot the same way, so as not to disturb me.
Good, kind Nichemous! What a queer scent he gave to the air. Have any of you ever stepped on hot coals, and burned your foot?"
"I have!" cried Blue Wolf; "I had a fight with three Train Dogs once, at Wapiscaw, when their Masters were asleep. It was all over a miserable frozen White Fish that even the Dogs wouldn"t eat. They were husky fighters. Wur-r-r! we rolled over and over, and finally I fetched up in the camp-fire."
"Then you know what your paw smelled like when the coals scorched it; and that is just the nasty scent that came down the air from Nichemous--like burnt skin. I could have nosed him a mile away had he been up wind, but he wasn"t at first. When Nichemous got to the big log, he reached his yellow face over, with the Ironstick in line with his nose, and I saw murder in his eyes, so I just took one swipe at the top of his head with my right paw and scalped him clean.
Whu-u-o-o-f-f-! but he yelled. The Ironstick barked as he went head first into the snow, and its hot breath scorched my arm--underneath where there"s little hair; but the round iron thing it spits out didn"t touch me. I gave Nichemous a squeeze, threw him down, and went away. I was mad enough to have slain him, but I"m glad I didn"t. It"s not good to kill a Man. You see I was cross," he added, apologetically, "and my head ached from living in that stuffy hole all Winter."
"Didn"t it hurt your paw?" queried Jack. "I should have thought your fingers would have been tender from sucking them so much while you were sleeping in the nest."
"That"s what saved Nichemous"s life," answered Muskwa. "My fist was swollen up like a moss-bag, else the blow would have crushed his skull.
But I knocked the fur all off the top; and his wife, who is a great medicine woman, couldn"t make it grow again; though she patched the skin up some way or other. That is why you"ll see Nichemous"s hat tied on with a red handkerchief always."
"I also know of this Man," wheezed Otter. "Nichemous stepped on my slide once when he was poaching my preserve--I had it all nice and smooth, and slippery, and the silly creature, without a claw to his foot, tried to walk on it."
"What happened, Long-Back?" asked Jack, eagerly.
"Well, he went down the slide faster than ever I did, head first; but, would you believe it, on his back."
"Into the water?" queried Muskrat. "That wouldn"t hurt him."
"He was nearly drowned," laughed Nekik. "The current carried him under some logs, but he got out, I"m sorry to say. That"s the worst of it, we never manage to kill these Men."
"I killed one once," proclaimed Mooswa--"stamped him with my front feet, and his friends never found him; but I wouldn"t do it again, the look in his eyes was awful--no, I"ll never do it again."
"They"ll kill you some day, Marrow-Bones," declared Jay, blithely.
"That"s what this Man tried to do."
"Tell us about it, Comrade," cried Carcajou, "for I like to hear of the tables being turned once in a while. Why, Mistress Carcajou frightens the babies to sleep by telling them that Francois, or Nichemous, or some other Trapper will catch them if they don"t close their eyes and stop crying--it"s just awful to live in continual dread of Man."
"He was an Indian named Gra.s.shead," began Mooswa, lying down to tell the little tale comfortably. "I had just crossed the Athabasca on the ice; he"d been watching, no doubt, and as I went up the bank his Firestick coughed, and the ball struck me in the neck. Of course I cleared off into the woods at a great rate."
"Didn"t stop to thank the Man, eh, old Pretty Legs?" questioned Jack, ironically.
"There was a treacherous crust on the snow; sometimes it would bear me up, and sometimes I would go through up to my chest, for it was deep.
Gra.s.shead wore those big shoes that Muskwa speaks of, and glided along the top; but my feet are small and hard, you know, and cut the crust."
"See!" piped Jay, "there"s where pride comes in. All of you horned creatures are so proud of your little feet, and unless the ground is hard you soon get done up."
"Well," continued Mooswa, "sometimes I"d draw away many miles from the Indian. Once I circled wide, went back close to my trail, laid down in a thicket, and watched for him. He pa.s.sed quite close, trailing along easily on top of the snow, chewing a piece of dried moose-meat--think of that, Brothers! stuck in his loose shirt was dried-meat, cut from the bodies of some of my relatives; even the shirt itself was made from one of their hides. His little eyes were vicious and cruel; and several times I heard him give the call of our wives, which is, "Wh-e-a-u-h-h-h!" That was that I might come back, thinking it was one of my tribe calling. All day he trailed me that way, and twice I rested as I speak of. Then Gra.s.shead got cunning. He travelled wide of my trail, off to one side, meaning to come upon me lying down or circling.
The second day of his pursuit I was very tired, and the Indian was always coming closer and closer.
"Getting desperate, I laid a trap for him. It was the Firestick I feared really; for without that he was no match for me. With our natural strength, he with his arms and teeth, and I with my hoofs and horns, I could kill him easily. Why, once I slew three Wolves, nearly as large as Rof; they were murderous chaps who tackled me in the night. It wouldn"t do to fight Gra.s.shead where the crust was bad on the deep snow, so I made for a Jack-pine bluff."
"I know," interrupted Black Fox, nodding his head; "nice open ground with no underbrush to bother--just the place for a rush when you"ve marked down your Bird. Many a Partridge I"ve pinned in one of those bluffs."
"Yes," went on Mooswa, "the pine needles kill out everything but the silver-green moss. The snow wasn"t very deep there; it was an ideal place for a charge--nothing to catch one"s horns, or trip a fellow. As Gra.s.shead came up he saw me leaning wearily against a tree, and thought I was ready to drop. I was tired, but not quite that badly used up.
You all know, Comrades, how careful an Indian is not to waste the breath of his Ironstick; he will creep, and creep, and sneak, just like--"
"Lynx," suggested Whisky-Jack.
"Well, Gra.s.shead, seeing that I couldn"t get away, as he thought, came cautiously to within about five lengths, meaning to make sure of my death, you know, Brothers; and just as he raised his Ironstick I charged. He didn"t expect that--it frightened him. The ball struck me in the shoulder, and made me furious with rage. The Indian turned to run; but I cut him down, and trampled him to death--I ground him into the frozen earth with my antlers. He gave the queer Man-cry that is of fear and pain--it"s awful! I wish he hadn"t followed me--I wish I hadn"t killed him."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE BALL STRUCK ME IN THE SHOULDER, AND MADE ME FURIOUS WITH RAGE."]
"You were justified, Mooswa," said Black King; "there is no blame--that is the Law of the Forest:--