"An" could I make un now in a day?"
"If ye walk sharp an" start early."
"I thinks I"ll be startin" in th" mornin" an" campin" over there Sunday, an" Monday I"ll be there t" hunt. Can"t un come "long, John?"
"No, I"d like t" go but I got t" see my traps. I"ll have t" be leavin"
ye now," said Micmac, rising.
"Not t"-night?"
"Yes, it"s fine moonlight an" I can make it all right."
"Ye better stay th" night wi" me, John. There"ll be no difference in a day."
"No. I planned t" be goin" right back I seen ye. Good evenin"."
"Good evenin", John."
Micmac John started directly south, but when well out of sight of the tilt suddenly swung around to the eastward and, with the long half-running stride of the Indian, made a straight line for the tilt where Bob had left his silver fox. The moon was full, and the frost that clung to the trees and bushes sparkled like flakes of silver. The aurora faintly searched the northern sky. A rabbit, white and spectre-like, scurried across the half-breed"s path, but he did not notice it. Hour after hour his never tiring feet swung the wide snow-shoes in and out with a rhythmic chug-chug as he ran on.
It was nearly morning when at length he slackened his pace, and with the caution of the lifelong hunter approached the tilt as he would have stalked an animal. He made quite certain that the shack was untenanted, then entered boldly. He struck a match and found a candle, which he lighted. There was the silver fox, where Bob had left it. It was dry enough to remove from the board and he loosened it and pulled it off. He examined it critically and gloated over it.
"As black an" fine a one as I ever seen!" he exclaimed. "It"ll bring a big price at Mingen. That boy"ll never see it again, an" I"ll clean out th" rest o" th" fur too, at th" river. Old Campbell"ll be sorry when I get through with "em, he let that feller hunt th" path. He"s a fool, an" if he gives me th" slip he"ll go back an" say th" Mingen Injuns took his fur. I fixed that wi" my story all right. I"ll take th" lot t" Mingen an" get cash fer "em, an" be back t" th" Bay with open water with "nuff martens so"s they won"t suspect me."
He started a fire and slept until shortly after daylight. Then had breakfast and started down the trail towards the river at the same rapid pace that he had held before.
It was not quite dark when he glimpsed the tilt, and approached it with even more caution than he had observed above.
"He don"t know enough to lie," said he to himself, referring to Bob, "but it"s best t" take care, fer one o" th" others might be here."
When he was satisfied that the tilt was unoccupied he entered boldly and appropriated every skin of fur he found--not only all of Bob"s, but also a few martens Bill had left there. No time was lost, for any accident might send Bill or one of the others here at an unexpected moment. The pelts were packed quickly but carefully into his hunting bag and within twenty minutes after his arrival he was retreating up the trail at a half run.
Some time after dark he reached the first tilt above the river, where he spent the night. Short cuts and fast travelling brought him on Sunday night to the tilt at the end of the trail where he had left Bob. He made quite certain that the lad had really gone on his caribou hunt, and then went boldly in and made himself as comfortable as he could for the night without a stove, for Bob had taken the stove with him, to heat his tent.
"If he comes back t"-night and finds me here," he said, "I"ll just tell him I changed my mind an" came back t" go on th" deer hunt. I"ll lie t" him about what I got in my bag an" he"ll never suspicion; he don"t know enough."
Micmac John"s work was not yet finished. He had arranged a full and complete revenge. Bob"s hunt for caribou would carry him far away from the tilt and into a section where no searching party would be likely to go. The half-breed"s plan was now to follow and shoot the lad from ambush. If by chance any one ever should find the body--which seemed a quite improbable happening--Bob"s death would no doubt be laid at the door of the Nascaupee Indians.
Micmac John deposited the bag of stolen pelts in a safe place in the tilt, intending to return for them after his b.l.o.o.d.y mission was accomplished, and several hours before daylight on Monday morning started out in the ghostly moonlight to trail Bob to his death.
IX
LOST IN THE SNOW
The trail that Bob had made lay open and well-defined in the snow, and hour after hour the half-breed followed it, like a hound follows its prey.
Early in the morning the sky clouded heavily and towards noon snow began to fall. It was a bitterly cold day. Micmac John increased his pace for the trail would soon be hidden and he was not quite sure when he should find the camp. From the lakes the trail turned directly north and for several miles ran through a flat, wooded country. After a while there were wide open marshes, with narrow timbered strips between. An hour after noon he crossed a two mile stretch of this marsh and in a little clump of trees on the farther side of it came so suddenly upon the tent that he almost ran against it.
The snow was by this time falling thickly and a rising westerly wind was sweeping the marsh making travelling exceedingly difficult, and completely hiding the trail beyond the trees.
The tent flaps were fastened on the outside, and Bob was away, as Micmac John expected he would be, searching for caribou.
"There"s no use tryin" t" foller him in this snow," said he to himself, "I"d be sure t" miss him. But I"ll take the tent an" outfit away on his flat sled an" if he don"t have cover th" cold"ll fix him before mornin". There"ll be no livin" in it over night with th" wind blowin" a gale as it"s goin" to do with dark. My footin" "ll soon be hid an" he can"t foller me. I can shoot him easy enough if he does."
It was the work of only a few minutes to strike the tent and pack it and the other things, which included the stove, an axe, blanket and food, on the toboggan.
The half-breed was highly elated when he started off with his booty.
The storm had come at just the right time. The elements would work a slower but just as sure a revenge as his gun and at the same time cover every trace of his villainy. He laughed as he pictured to himself Bob"s look of mystification and alarm when he returned and failed to find the tent, and how the lad would think he had made a mistake in the location and the desperate search for the camp that would follow, only to end finally in the snow and cold conquering him, as they were sure to do, and the wolves perhaps scattering his bones.
"That"s a fine end t" him an" he"ll never be takin" trails away from _me_ again," he chuckled.
The whole picture as he imagined it was food for his black heart and he forgot his own uncomfortable position in the delight that he felt at the horrible death that he had so cleverly and cruelly arranged for Bob.
Micmac John retraced his steps some eight miles to the wide stretch of timber land. There he halted and pitched camp. The wind shrieked through the tree tops and swept the marshes in its untamed fury, but he was quite warm and contented in the tent. The storm was working his revenge for him, and he was quite satisfied that it would do the work well.
The men that Bob Gray had come in contact with and a.s.sociated with all his life were the honest, upright people of the Bay. He had never known a man that would dishonestly take a farthing"s worth of another"s property or that would knowingly harm a fellow being. The Bay folk were constantly helping their more needy neighbours and lived almost as intimately as brothers. When any one was in trouble the others came to offer sympathy and frequently deprived themselves of the actual necessaries of life that their neighbours might not suffer.
Sometimes they had their misunderstandings and quarrels, but these were all of a momentary character and quickly forgotten.
There was little wonder then that Bob had failed to read Micmac John"s true character, and it could hardly be expected that he would suspect the half-breed of trying to injure him. Children of these far-off, thinly populated lands in many respects develop judgment and mature in thought at a much younger age than in more thickly settled and more favoured countries. One reason for this is the constant fight for existence that is being waged and the necessity for them to take up their share of the burden of life early. Another reason is doubtless the fact that their isolated homes cut them off from the companionship of children of their own age and their a.s.sociates are almost wholly men and women grown. This was the case with Bob and in courage, thoughtfulness of the comfort of others and physical endurance he was a man, while in guile he was a mere baby. He believed that Micmac John was like every other man he knew and was a good neighbour.
When men have lived long in the wilderness without fresh meat they have a tremendous longing for it. Bob knew that neither d.i.c.k nor Ed had tasted venison since they reached their hunting grounds, for they had not been as fortunate as he, and that some of the fresh-killed meat would be a great treat to them and one they would appreciate.
Therefore when Micmac John told him how easily caribou could be killed a day"s journey to the northward, he thought that it would make a nice Christmas surprise for his friends if he hauled a toboggan load of venison down to the river tilt with him. True they had planned a hunt, but that would take place after Christmas and he wanted to make them happy on that day.
So after Micmac John left him on Friday night he prepared for an early start to the caribou feeding grounds on Sat.u.r.day morning.
We have seen the route he took across the lakes and timbered flats and marshes to the place where he pitched his camp in the little clump of diminutive fir trees almost twenty miles from his tilt. It was evening when he reached there and up to this time, to his astonishment, he had seen no signs of caribou. A few miles beyond the marsh he saw a ridge of low hills running east and west and decided that the feeding grounds of the animals must lie the other side of them.
He banked the snow around the tent to keep out the wind, broke an abundant supply of green boughs for a bed, and cut a good stock of wood for the day of rest. Two logs were placed in a parallel position in the tent upon which to rest the stove that it might not sink in the deep snow with the heat. Then it was put up, and a fire started, and he was very comfortably settled for the night.
The unfamiliar and unusually bleak character of the country gave him a feeling of restlessness and dissatisfaction when he arose on Sunday morning and viewed his surroundings. It was quite different from anything he had ever experienced before and he had a strong desire to go out at once and look for the caribou, and if no signs of them were found to turn back on Monday to the tilt. But then he asked himself, would his mother approve of this? He decided that she would not, and, said he: ""Twould be huntin" just as much as t" go shootin" and th"
Lard would be gettin" angry wi" me too."
That kept him from going, and he spent the day in the tent drawing mind pictures of the little cabin home that he longed so much to see and the loved ones that were there. The thought of little Emily, lying helpless but still so patient, brought tears to his eyes. But all would be well in the end, he told himself, for G.o.d was good and had given him the silver fox he had prayed for that Emily might go and be cured.
What a proud and happy day it would be for him when with his greatest hopes fulfilled, the boat ground her nose again upon the beach below the cabin from which he had started so full of ambition that long ago morning in September. How his father would come down to shake his hand and say: "My stalwart lad has done bravely, an" I"m proud o" un." His mother, all smiles, would run out to meet him and take him in her arms and praise and pet him, and then he would hurry in to see dear, patient little Emily on her couch, and her face would light up at sight of him and she would hold out her hands to him in an ecstasy of delight and call: "Oh, Bob! Bob! my fine big brother has come back to me at last!" Then he would bring in his furs and proudly exhibit the silver fox and hear their praises, and perhaps he would have another silver fox by that time. After a while Douglas Campbell would come over and tell him how wonderfully well he had done. With his share of the martens he would pay his debt to the company, and he and Douglas would let the mail boat doctor sell the silver fox and other skins for them, and Emily would go to the hospital and after a little while come back her old gay little self again, to romp and play and laugh and tease him as she used to do. With fancy making for him these dreams of happiness, the day pa.s.sed after all much less tediously than he had expected.
On Monday morning, as soon as it was light enough to see, Bob started out to look for the caribou, leaving the tent as Micmac John found it.
He made the great mistake of not taking with him his axe, for an axe is often a life saver in the northern wilderness, and a hunter should never be without one. He crossed the marsh and then the ridge of low hills to the northward, finally coming out upon a large lake. It was now midday, the snow had commenced falling, and to continue the hunt further was useless.
""Tis goin" t" be nasty weather an" I"ll have t" be gettin" back t"
th" tent," said he regretfully as he realized that a severe storm was upon him.
Reluctantly he retraced his steps. In a little while his tracks were all covered, and not a landmark that he had noted on his inward journey was visible through the blinding snow. He reached the ridge in safety, however, and crossed it and then took the direction that he believed would carry him to the camp, using the wind, which had been blowing from the westward all day, as his guide. Towards dark he came to what he supposed was the clump of trees where he had left his tent in the morning, but no tent was there.
""Tis wonderful strange!" he exclaimed as he stood for a moment in uncertainty.