Some trappers mark their traps; some do not bother. Rolf had marked all of theirs with a file, cutting notches on the iron. Two, one, three, was their mark, and it was a wise plan, as it turned out.
On going around the west beaver pond they found that all six traps had disappeared. In some, there was no evidence of the thief; in some, the tracks showed clearly that they were taken by the same interloper that had bothered them all along, and on a jagged branch was a short blue yarn.
"Now will I take up his trail and kill him," said the Indian.
Rolf had opposed extreme measures, and again he remonstrated. To his surprise, the Indian turned fiercely and said: "You know it is white man. If he was Indian would you be patient? No!"
"There is plenty of country south of the lake; maybe he was here first."
"You know he was not. You should eat many pekan hearts. I have sought peace, now I fight."
He shouldered his pack, grasped his gun, and his snowshoes went "tssape, tssape, tssape," over the snow.
Skook.u.m was sitting by Rolf. He rose to resume the march, and trotted a few steps on Quonab"s trail. Rolf did not move; he was dazed by the sudden and painful situation. Mutiny is always worse than war. Skook.u.m looked back, trotted on, still Rolf sat staring. Quonab"s figure was lost in the distance; the dog"s was nearly so. Rolf moved not. All the events of the last year were rushing through his mind; the refuge he had found with the Indian; the incident of the buck fight and the tender nurse the red man proved. He wavered. Then he saw Skook.u.m coming back on the trail. The dog trotted up to the boy and dropped a glove, one of Quonab"s. Undoubtedly the Indian had lost it; Skook.u.m had found it on the trail and mechanically brought it to the nearest of his masters.
Without that glove Quonab"s hand would freeze. Rolf rose and sped along the other"s trail. Having taken the step, he found it easy to send a long halloo, then another and another, till an answer came. In a few minutes Rolf came up. The Indian was sitting on a log, waiting. The glove was handed over in silence, and received with a grunt.
After a minute or two, Rolf said "Let"s get on," and started on the dim trail of the robber.
For an hour or two they strode in silence. Then their course rose as they reached a rocky range. Among its bare, wind-swept ridges all sign was lost, but the Indian kept on till they were over and on the other side. A far cast in the thick, windless woods revealed the trail again, surely the same, for the snowshoe was two fingers wider on every side, and a hand-breadth longer than Quonab"s; besides the right frame had been broken and the binding of rawhide was faintly seen in the snow mark. It was a mark they had seen all winter, and now it was headed as before for the west.
When night came down, they camped in a hollow. They were used to snow camps. In the morning they went on, but wind and snow had hidden their tell-tale guide.
What was the next move? Rolf did not ask, but wondered.
Quonab evidently was puzzled.
At length Rolf ventured: "He surely lives by some river--that way--and within a day"s journey. This track is gone, but we may strike a fresh one. We"ll know it when we see it."
The friendly look came back to the Indian"s face. "You are Nibowaka."
They had not gone half a mile before they found a fresh track--their old acquaintance. Even Skook.u.m showed his hostile recognition. And in a few minutes it led them to a shanty. They slipped off their snowshoes, and hung them in a tree. Quonab opened the door without knocking. They entered, and in a moment were face to face with a lanky, ill-favoured white man that all three, including Skook.u.m, recognized as Hoag, the man they had met at the trader"s.
That worthy made a quick reach for his rifle, but Quonab covered him and said in tones that brooked no discussion, "Sit down!"
Hoag did so, sullenly, then growled: "All right; my partners will be here in ten minutes."
Rolf was startled. Quonab and Skook.u.m were not.
"We settled your partners up in the hills," said the former, knowing that one bluff was as good as another. Skook.u.m growled and sniffed at the enemy"s legs. The prisoner made a quick move with his foot.
"You kick that dog again and it"s your last kick," said the Indian.
"Who"s kicked yer dog, and what do you mean coming here with yer cutthroat ways? You"ll find there"s law in this country before yer through," was the answer.
"That"s what we"re looking for, you trap robber, you thief. We"re here first to find our traps; second to tell you this: the next time you come on our line there"ll be meat for the ravens. Do you suppose I don"t know them?" and the Indian pointed to a large pair of snowshoes with long heels and a repair lashing on the right frame. "See that blue yarn," and the Indian matched it with a blue sash hanging to a peg.
"Yes, them belongs to Bill Hawkins; he"ll be "round in five minutes now."
The Indian made a gesture of scorn; then turning to Rolf said: "look "round for our traps." Rolf made a thorough search in and about the shanty and the adjoining shed. He found some traps but none with his mark; none of a familiar make even.
"Better hunt for a squaw and papoose," sneered Hoag, who was utterly puzzled by the fact that now Rolf was obviously a white lad.
But all the search was vain. Either Hoag had not stolen the traps or had hidden them elsewhere. The only large traps they found were two of the largest size for taking bear.
Hoag"s torrent of bad language had been quickly checked by the threat of turning Skook.u.m loose on his legs, and he looked such a grovelling beast that presently the visitors decided to leave him with a warning.
The Indian took the trapper"s gun, fired it off out of doors, not in the least perturbed by the possibility of its being heard by Hoag"s partners. He knew they were imaginary. Then changing his plan, he said "Ugh! You find your gun in half a mile on our trail. But don"t come farther and don"t let me see the snowshoe trail on the divide again.
Them ravens is awful hungry."
Skook.u.m, to his disappointment, was called off and, talking the trapper"s gun for a time, they left it in a bush and made for their own country.
Chapter 42. Skook.u.m"s Panther
"Why are there so few deer tracks now?"
"Deer yarded for winter," replied the Indian; "no travel in deep snow."
"We"ll soon need another," said Rolf, which unfortunately was true. They could have killed many deer in early winter, when the venison was in fine condition, but they had no place to store it. Now they must get it as they could, and of course it was thinner and poorer every week.
They were on a high hill some days later. There was a clear view and they noticed several ravens circling and swooping.
"Maybe dead deer; maybe deer yard," said the Indian.
It was over a thick, sheltered, and extensive cedar swamp near the woods where last year they had seen so many deer, and they were not surprised to find deer tracks in numbers, as soon as they got into its dense thicket.
A deer yard is commonly supposed to be a place in which the deer have a daily "bee" at road work all winter long and deliberately keep the snow hammered down so they can run on a hard surface everywhere within its limits. The fact is, the deer gather in a place where there is plenty of food and good shelter. The snow does not drift here, so the deer, by continually moving about, soon make a network of tracks in all directions, extending them as they must to seek more food. They may, of course, leave the yard at any time, but at once they encounter the dreaded obstacle of deep, soft snow in which they are helpless.
Once they reached the well-worn trails, the hunters took off their snowshoes and went gently on these deer paths. They saw one or two disappearing forms, which taught them the thick cover was hiding many more. They made for the sound of the ravens, and found that the feast of the sable birds was not a deer but the bodies of three, quite recently killed.
Quonab made a hasty study of the signs and said, "Panther."
Yes, a panther, cougar, or mountain lion also had found the deer yard; and here he was living, like a rat in a grocer shop with nothing to do but help himself whenever he felt like feasting.
Pleasant for the panther, but hard on the deer; for the killer is wasteful and will often kill for the joy of murder.
Not a quarter of the carca.s.ses lying here did he eat; he was feeding at least a score of ravens, and maybe foxes, martens, and lynxes as well.
Before killing a deer, Quonab thought it well to take a quiet prowl around in hopes of seeing the panther. Skook.u.m was turned loose and encouraged to display his talents.
Proud as a general with an ample and obedient following, he dashed ahead, carrying fresh dismay among the deer, if one might judge from the noise. Then he found some new smell of excitement, and voiced the new thrill in a new sound, one not unmixed with fear. At length his barking was far away to the west in a rocky part of the woods. Whatever the prey, it was treed, for the voice kept one place.
The hunters followed quickly and found the dog yapping furiously under a thick cedar. The first thought was of porcupine; but a nearer view showed the game to be a huge panther on the ground, not greatly excited, disdaining to climb, and taking little notice of the dog, except to curl his nose and utter a hissing kind of snarl when the latter came too near.
But the arrival of the hunters gave a new colour to the picture. The panther raised his head, then sprang up a large tree and ensconced himself on a fork, while the valorous Skook.u.m reared against the trunk, threatening loudly to come up and tear him to pieces.
This was a rare find and a n.o.ble chance to conserve their stock of deer, so the hunters went around the tree seeking for a fair shot. But every point of view had some serious obstacle. It seemed as though the branches had been told off to guard the panther"s vitals, for a big one always stood in the bullet"s way.