Shelby was a close second in the matter of efficiency. He was a big chap, not handsome, but good-looking, in a dark, dignified way, and of a lithe, sinewy strength that enabled him to endure as well as to meet hardship bravely.
Not that they looked especially for hardships. Discomfort, even unpleasantness, they did antic.i.p.ate, but nothing of more importance than inclement weather or possible colds or coughs. And against the latter ills Mrs. Crane had provided both remedies and preventions to such an extent that some were discarded as excess weight.
For the necessities of their trip, including as they did, canoe, tent, blankets, tarpaulins, duffel bags, shooting irons and cooking utensils,--besides food, were of no small bulk and weight even divided among four porters.
And Blair, though possessed of will and energy quite equaling the others", was less physically fit to stand the hard going.
It was already August when they were treated to a first sight of the Labrador.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Shelby, "and Shackelton, and Peary,--yes and old Doc Cook! What an outlook! If those breaking waves were looking for a stern and rockbound coast to dash on, they missed it when they chose the New England sh.o.r.e instead of this! I"ve seen crags and cliffs, I"ve climbed the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn, but this puts it over all the earth! How do we get in, anyway?"
"Great, isn"t it?" and Peter lay back in his inadequate little deck chair and beamed at the desolation he saw.
For the coast of Labrador is nearly a thousand miles of barren bleakness and forbidding and foreboding rock wall. After buffeting untold ages of icy gales and biting storms the bare rocks seem to discourage human approach and crave only their own black solitude.
The one softening element was the fog that rode the sea, and now and then swooped down, hiding the dangerous reefs until the danger was increased tenfold by the obscurity.
"Oh, great!" mocked Shelby. "You can have mine. I"m going to stay on the boat and go back."
"Yes, you are!" grinned Peter, knowing full well how little importance to attach to that speech; "inside of a week, you"ll be crazy about it."
"I am now," said Blair, slowly. "Most weird sight I ever saw. The rocks seem like sentient giants ready to eat each other. Termagant Nature, unleashed and rampant."
"Idea all right," said Crane, lazily, "but your verbiage isn"t hand-picked, seems to me."
"You can put it more poetically, if you like, but it"s the thing itself that gets me, not the sand-papered description of it."
"n.o.body wants you to sand-paper it, but you ought to hew to the line a little more nearly----"
"Lines be bothered! Free verse is the thing for this place!"
"I want free verse and I want fresh air," bantered Peter, "and Lasca, down by the Brandywine,--or wherever it was that Friend Lasca hung out."
"You"re harking back to your school days and Friday afternoon declamation," put in Shelby, "and Lasca was down by the Rio Grande."
"Only Alaska isn"t down there at all," Blair informed them, quite seriously, and the others roared.
After delays, changes and transfers made necessary by the uncertainties of Labrador travel, they came at last to Hamilton Inlet, and the little steamer approached the trading post at Rigolet.
"Reminds me of Hamilton Harbor, Bermuda," observed Shelby, shivering as he drew his furs round him.
"Oh, how can you!" exclaimed Blair; "that heavenly Paradise of a place,--and this!"
"But you"d rather be here?" and Crane shook a warning fist at him.
"Yes,--oh, yes! This is the life!" and if Blair wasn"t quite sincere he gave a fair imitation of telling the truth.
"Will you look at the dogs!" cried Crane. "I didn"t know there were so many in the world!"
The big Eskimo dogs were prowling about, growling a little, and appearing anything but friendly. Not even to sunny-faced and kindly-voiced Peter Boots did they respond, but snarled and pawed the ground until Joshua advised Crane to let them alone.
"They"re mighty good things to keep away from," the guide informed, and his advice was taken.
"I"m glad we have a trusty canoe instead of those villainous looking creatures," Blair admitted, and when, later on, they heard tales of the brutality and treachery of the pack dogs, the others agreed.
At Rigolet final arrangements were decided on and last purchases made for the dash into the wilds.
Peter Boots, in his element, was as excited and pleased as a child with a new toy.
"Here I am, where I"ve longed to be!" he exulted; "at least, I"m on my way. Buck up, you fellows, and enjoy yourselves, or you"ll answer to me why not!"
"I"m for it," Kit Shelby cried; "I hated that d.i.n.ky little old steamer, but now we"re ash.o.r.e in this live wire of a place, I"m as excited and glad as anybody. I say, the mail from England comes every year! Think of that!"
"Once a year!" wondered Blair.
"Yep; the good ship _Pelican_ brought it yesterday, and it"s due again next summer! Up and coming, this place, I tell you!"
"It nothing means to us," said Crane, calmly; "I"m expecting no valentines from England myself, and we"ll be back home before mails from the States get around again."
"And, moreover," said Shelby, who had been acquiring information by various means, "old Captain Whiskers, forninst, says that we"re bound to get lost, strayed and stolen if we go the route we"ve planned."
"That"s our route, then!" Peter said, satisfiedly; "they always prophesy all sorts of dismal fates, and, like dreams, they go by contraries.
"Fraid, boys!"
He extricated himself from the onslaught this speech brought and then all set about getting the outfit into shape for the start.
Pounds and pounds of flour, bacon, lard, pea meal, tea, coffee, rice, tobacco and other necessaries were packed and stowed and maneuvered by the capable Joshua, before whose superior judgment Peter Boots had to bow.
Some natives were hired to help carry things that were to be cached against the return trip, and three tired but happy men went to rest for their last night beneath a real roof for many weeks.
Next morning their happiness was even greater and their spirits higher, for the day was clear and perfect, the air full of exhilarating ozone and the golden sunlight and deep blue sky seemed to promise a fair trip and a safe return.
Gayly they started off, and gayly they continued, save when the rain poured unpleasantly, or the swarms of Labrador flies attacked them or steep banks or swift rapids made portage difficult.
However as no threats or persuasions could induce Joshua to travel in the rain, there were enforced rests that helped in the long run.
Another trial was the midday heat. Though the temperature might be at the freezing point at night, by noon it would buoyantly rise to ninety degrees, and the sudden changes made for colds and coughs, that were not easily cured by Mrs. Crane"s nostrums.
"Fortunes of war," said Peter, serenely, and Shelby responded, "If that"s what they are, I"m a regular profiteer!"
Days went by, the hours filled with alternate joy and woe, but accepted philosophically by willing hearts who had already learned to love the vicissitudes of the wild.
One morning a portage route was of necessity winding and rough. Not as much as usual could be carried by any of them and two or three trips of two miles must be made by each.
Joshua arranged the loads to weigh about seventy pounds each, but these became tiresome after a time. The work took all day, and when toward sunset camp was made and the tired pleasure seekers sought rest, each was far more exhausted than he was willing to admit.