Part 11 (1/2)
”You're right, Charley,” said Creamer; ”that's what my father's uncle said, when he was a mate on board the Semyramsis, in the Ingy Ocean. The s.h.i.+p was lost in a harricane, sir, and only seven was saved in the captain's gig--six able-bodied seamen and one pa.s.senger, a fat little army ossifer. So my great-uncle, who were bosin, made an observation, and says he, 'There's just ten days' provision for seven men, and we're twenty days to looard of Silly Bes (Celebes), if we only row ten miles a day. Now, we must row twenty miles a day; an' to do that, we must have full rations an' somethin' to spare. Besides, the boat ort to be lighter to row well. So, as pa.s.sengers don't count along of able-bodied seamen, I move we just get rid of the major on economical principles. All in favor say ”Ay;” and they all said ”ay” except the major, an' he just turned as white as a sheet.' An' then my great-uncle asked him if he'd got anything to say why the resolution o' that meetin' shouldn't be carried out. Well, the major just grinned kind o' uggly, an' said that 'he liked to see things done methodistically, if it were a little irregular, an' he'd give his 'pinion after the rest.' So my uncle went on, an' said, 'All contrary say, ”No.”' Well, no one said 'no;' an' then my great-uncle said, 'Well, major, nothin' remains but to carry out our resolution; so please to vacate this boat; although, seein' as it's not dinner time for some hours yet, there's no need of hurry, unless you wish to have it over with.'
”'But,' says the major, 'your action is altogether unparlymentary. You haven't heard a word from _my_ friends.'
”'Friends! there ain't any one here on your side o' the question.'
”'You're mistaken, my friend,' said the major; an' he drew from his belt a long Indian dagger that had been hid under his coat; 'there's one, any how.'
”'That ain't much account against a boat-hook,' said one of the men, as he took one with a sharp spike from beneath the gunwale.
”'Lay that down, you beggar!' cried the little red-coat; and he pulled out of each side-pocket a four-barreled pistol,--for there were no revolvers in them days,--and the man laid down the boat-hook as quick as a flash. 'Now, men,' said the little ossifer, 'you'll see that we number at least ten, and there's only six of you. Ah, here's to make us a little more ekil;' and he just fired at a noddy that was flying over, and dropped him right into the stern-sheets. 'That'll help out our rations some,' says he; 'and besides, you don't see what I'm sittin'
on;' and, sure enough, he had histed into the boat a basket of port an'
a whole case of cap'n's biscuit. 'Now,' says he, 'reconsider your vard.i.c.k.'
”An' they all voted down the first resolution, and he gave them a bottle of port to mix with their water every day, and when they were drinking the last bottle, they made Silly Bes, and got ash.o.r.e all right; but my uncle always said that his calculations was right, and that it showed great weakness on the part of the men not to carry them out.”
”Well, Hughie,” said Ben, ”you've kept us here a good half hour later than tea time, and Mrs. Lund will think we've done well to waste her time in listening to your stories.”
”Well, we can see enough to a.s.sure us that the ice won't break up on the bar to-morrow,” said Lund; ”but you may get your ice-boats ready at once, for the next thaw, with a north-easter after it, will leave all clear along the s.h.i.+p channel to the harbor's mouth.”
There was quite a pleasurable excitement among the stay-at-homes at the tea table, when the incipient breaking up of the ice was declared; for on the proximity of narrow feeding-grounds to the ice-houses depended the hopes of good sport of our adventurers. To be sure they had thus far had nothing to complain of; but the geese killed had been merely ”flight” geese, weary with long migration, thin with want of food, and seeking among the treacherous lures only a rest from their long wandering in the safe companions.h.i.+p of their own kind.
Very shortly after supper the whole household retired, but, save the accustomed prayers, which few, either Catholic or Protestant, forget in that still ”unsophisticated” land, it is to be feared that the Sabbath was to them little but a literal ”day of rest,” in its purest physical sense.
Monday morning a gla.s.sy look to the snow-crust induced the younger members of the party to use their skates in going to their stands, and as La Salle drew his from his feet to deposit them in his undisturbed stand, his eyes caught, amid the distant ice-spires, the mazy flight of what he took to be a flock of brent, headed in-sh.o.r.e.
Signaling to Davies to get under cover, he sprang into his own stand, and, crouching amid the straw, hastily drew over his black fur cap his linen havelock, and looking well to the priming of his gun, sought the whereabouts of the swift-flying birds.
Unlike the slower Canada geese, these birds seldom fly high above the surface of the water or ice when seeking food; and several times he lost sight of the flock, as it darted around a berg, or swung round the circle of some secluded valley of the ice-field.
”H-r-r-r-r-huk! H-r-r-r-r-huk!” Their barbarous clamor, insufficiently rendered in the foregoing, suddenly sounded close to leeward, and close up against the light north-wester then blowing came the beautiful quarry, their small, black heads and necks showing as glossy as a raven's wing, in contrast with the asheous hue of their wings, and the pure white of other parts of their plumage. With a wild, tumultuous rush, they circled in head-on over the decoys; and it was so quickly done, that they had swept on fifty yards before La Salle could realize that the leader of the flock was heading for Davies, and had no intention of surging around to his lures again.
”It will never do to let them get the first brent,” muttered La Salle.
”She has a long-range cartridge in, and I'll try them.”
Turning on his knees, he raised the ponderous gun until it ”lined” the retreating flock, but elevated at least five feet above the birds, now nearly two hundred yards away. The heavy concussion reverberated across the ice, and the fatal cartridge tore through the distant flight, picking out two of the twelve which composed the flock; and some of the shot, as both Davies and Creamer afterwards averred, rattled smartly in among their decoys nearly four hundred yards away. The remaining birds, hurrying away from the dangers behind them, pa.s.sed within range of Davies and his companion, and left several of their number dead and dying on the ice; but the first brent of the season had fallen to La Salle's gun.
The day was mild and without wind, and as but few birds were flying, La Salle coiled himself down in the sunny corner of his stand, and drawing from his pocket the letter of which we have spoken in the last chapter, gave it a careful and deliberate perusal. As he closed, a smile, strangely expressing contempt, pity, and admiration, curled his lips, as in low but audible tones, as is often the habit of the solitary hunter or fisherman, he communed with his own heart.
”Ah, Pauline! time has brought no change to thy pa.s.sionate, impulsive, unreasoning heart; and what thy biting tongue may not say, the pen will utter, though lapse of years and the waves of the Atlantic roll between us. Is it not strange that a woman's letter to her betrothed, beginning with 'My own love,' and ending 'Until death,' can contain eight double-written pages of unreasonable blame, cruel innuendos, and despicable revenge on the innocent? Well, we are betrothed, and should have been married years ago, had not Fate or Providence stood in the way; and I suppose her life at home is far from pleasant, for her step-mother is not one to let a good marriage go by, without reminding poor Paulie of my general worthlessness; but I must say that my better financial and matrimonial prospects offer little hope of added happiness.”
His eye lit up a moment, and an expression of keen and almost cruel intent contracted his gaze; then, with a look of disdain, he seemed to throw off some evil influence, and a look of pity softened his face.
”Yes, if I were to resent these affronts--for such they are--with one half the virulence which animates them, her pride would alienate us forever, and I should be free. There are few who would blame me, and many who would scorn to do aught else. In truth I am almost decided to answer this precious _billet-doux_ in the same vein in which it was written. Ah, it was not all delusion that made yonder madman think that evil spirits haunt these icy wastes. It was not thus I felt when together we voyaged across that summer sea; and the vows we plighted then may not lightly be broken. I will answer patiently, and as becomes the past. As to the future, it will bring due reward or punishment here or hereafter.”
From these somewhat morbid self-communings, which we introduce for a purpose hereafter to be disclosed, La Salle started, seized his glittering skates, and taking his gun, glided with long, powerful strokes across the inner bay towards the ice-houses of the other party, which lay within the embouchure of Trois-Lieue Creek. The ice was almost perfectly level, save where a heavy drift had formed a small mound around which it was better to steer, although the sleety crust had frozen so hard that the broad-runnered Belgian skates would run almost anywhere. At the first ice-house he found Risk and Davies, who had done little or nothing for some days, and talked of going home at the end of the week.
”Indian Peter gets about all the geese that go through here, and there's little show for us,” said Davies.
”Where is his ice-house?” asked La Salle.