Part 17 (1/2)

”I,” said Waring, ”have thirty cartridges for my breech-loader, and a few of the caps for them, in a box in my pocket.”

”I have nearly a pound powder, some wads, caps, and 'bout two pounds of shot left,” said Regnar.

”Spose I got half pound powder in old horn, box caps mos' full, an' tree poun' goose shot,” said Peter.

”We have, then, somewhere between one hundred and fifty and two hundred rounds of ammunition, and provisions for a week, allowing ourselves no addition to the present stock. Count the decoys, Regnie, while I look up our tools, &c.”

Regnie reported forty wooden decoys, twelve of sheet iron, eight of cork and canvas, and twelve wooden duck decoys. Besides these, there were still untouched a dozen bunches of fir and spruce twigs, like those used in covering the floor of the ice-hut. In addition to these, La Salle found one large boat, the broken smaller one, a pair of oars, a pair of rowlocks, a short boat-hook, baler, two lead-lines and leads, two shovels, and two axes.

”We are well provided for a week of such weather as this, and have only to fear a sudden change to extreme cold. I therefore think the first thing for us to do, is to finish our feather quilt, enlarge our hut, and get up a stove as soon as possible.”

A general expression of incredulity showed itself on the faces of the trio, which La Salle evidently interpreted rightly, and therefore hastened to explain himself.

”Of course we must first make our stove.”

”Why, Charley, what on earth can we make our stove of?” said Waring.

”Sheet iron, of course.”

”But where is the sheet iron to come from? We haven't any here--have we?”

”Ah, I know twelve decoys sheet-iron, only they painted.”

”Yes, Regnie, you have guessed it. Those decoys are about as good sheet iron as is made, and we can burn the paint off, I guess. Five of them will furnish a cylinder, conical stove, fifteen inches diameter, and as many high, and five more will give us about seven feet of two and a half-inch stove-pipe. Bring in the decoys and axes, and we'll get it up at once.”

”Come on, boys,” said Waring, whose spirits had risen perceptibly since breakfast. ”We'll have a hotel here yet, and supply pa.s.sengers by the mail-boat with hot dinners.”

”Sposum me have knife, I help you. Leave _waghon_ home yesterday for _h_ould woman make baskets,” said Peter, ruefully.

”I guess we shall manage with the axes, although we need a knife like your Indian draw-knife. Reach me a large decoy, and the heaviest of those cod-leads.”

La Salle had already ”laid out” with the point of his penknife the shape of one of the sections of his proposed stove upon one of the decoys from which Regnar had already removed the iron leg, which was about six inches long, sharp pointed, and intended to be driven into the ice. Each section was twenty inches long, eight and a half inches wide at the lower end, and two and a half at the upper; and luckily the outline of the goose gave very nearly this shape, with little tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, which was effected by laying the iron on the lead, applying the edge of the smaller axe as a chisel, and striking on its head with the large. The laps were then ”turned” over the edge of an axe with a billet of wood cut from the old cross-bars of Davies's shooting-box, which were young ash saplings. Then the pieces were put together, the laps solidly beaten down, and despite a little irregularity of shape, the job was not a bad one.

Five other decoys furnished as many parallelograms of seventeen by eight and a half, which made good two and three quarter inch pipe, and afforded nearly seven feet in length when affixed to the cylinder.

It was nearly four o'clock when the work was thus far completed.

”If we only had a flat stone to set it on,” said Waring.

”I should not despair of that even,” said La Salle, ”if we dared look around on some of the older floes; but we shall have to do without one for a day or two, I think.”

”Peter make glate, three, two minutes, only glate burn up every day or two;” and hastening out, he returned with a very large decoy, which, on account of its portentous size, had been made the leader of the ”set”

when arranged on the ice.

With the axe he broke off the head, and then taking six of the ten iron legs, he drove them two or three inches deep into the tough spruce log, until the spikes surrounded it like the points of a crown. La Salle had re-riveted the four others at equal distances around the base of the stove, while Regnar had removed a part of the snow on the roof, and, cutting a large aperture through the bottom of the inverted box, nailed over it the eleventh decoy, through which a roughly-cut hole gave admittance to the chimney.

The fir-branches were then removed to the yard, and covered from the still falling rain with the rubber blanket, while all hands joined in enlarging their quarters. The ice was singularly hard and clear, and contained no cracks or other sources of weakness. By sunset the lower part of the hut was enlarged from eight feet square to twelve feet diameter, a circular shape being given to the excavation, so that a continuous berth, about two feet wide and a yard high, ran completely around the floor of the hut, or rather to within about four feet of the door on either side. The fir-twigs were replaced in the berths and around the floor, leaving a bare s.p.a.ce of nearly four feet diameter in the centre. Here a slight hollow was made, to contain the novel grate, and the stove was placed in position over it.