Part 8 (2/2)

Strange to say, in this crisis I felt no fear. I suppose I had not time or power to think at all, and I have since that day thought that G.o.d perhaps thus mercifully sends relief to His creatures in their direst extremity--just as He sends relief to poor human beings, when suffering intolerable pain, by causing stupor.

The outburst was as short-lived as it was furious. Suddenly the wind ceased; the floods of rain changed to slight droppings, and finally stopped altogether, while the thunder growled itself into sullen repose in the far distance.

But what a scene of wreck was left behind! We could not of course, see the full extent of the mischief, for the night still remained intensely dark, but enough was revealed in the numerous uprooted trees which lay all round us within the light of our rekindled camp-fire. From most of these we had been protected by the great pine, under which we had taken shelter, though one or two had fallen perilously near to us--in one case falling on and slightly damaging our baggage.

Our first anxiety, of course, was our boat, towards which we ran as if by one impulse, the instant the wind had subsided.

To our horror it was gone!

Only those who know what it is to traverse hundreds of leagues of an almost tenantless wilderness, and have tried to push a few miles through roadless forests that have grown and fallen age after age in undisturbed entanglement since the morning of creation, can imagine the state of our minds at this discovery.

”Search towards the woods, men,” said Lumley, who, whatever he might have felt, was the only one amongst us who seemed unexcited. We could trace no sign of anxiety in the deep tones of his steady voice.

It was this quality--I may remark in pa.s.sing--this calm, equable flow of self-possession in all circ.u.mstances, no matter how trying, that rendered our young leader so fit for the work, with which he had been entrusted, and which caused us all to rely on him with unquestioning confidence. He never seemed uncertain how to act even in the most desperate circ.u.mstances, and he never gave way to discontent or depression. A gentle, good-humoured expression usually played on his countenance, yet he could look stern enough at times, and even fierce, as we all knew.

While we were stumbling in the dark in the direction indicated, we heard the voice of Salamander shouting:--

”Here it am! De bot--busted on de bank!”

And ”busted” it certainly was, as we could feel, for it was too dark to see.

”Fetch a blazing stick, one of you,” cried Lumley.

A light revealed the fact that our boat, in being rolled bodily up the bank by the gale, had got several of her planks damaged and two of her ribs broken.

”Let's be thankful,” I said, on further examination, ”that no damage has been done to keel or gun'le.”

”Nor to stem or stern-post,” added Lumley. ”Come, we shan't be delayed more than a day after all.”

He was right. The whole of the day that followed the storm we spent in repairing the boat, and drying such portions of the goods as had got wet, as well as our own garments. The weather turned out to be bright and warm, so that when we lay down to rest, everything was ready for a start at the earliest gleam of dawn.

”Lumley,” said I, next day, as we rested after a good spell at the oars, ”what would have become of us if our boat had been smashed to pieces, or bodily blown away?”

”Nothing very serious would have become of us, I think,” he replied with an amused look.

”But consider,” I said; ”we are now hundreds of miles away from Muskrat House--our nearest neighbour--with a dense wilderness and no roads between. Without a boat we could neither advance nor retreat. We might, of course, try to crawl along river banks and lake sh.o.r.es, which would involve the wading or swimming of hundreds of rivulets and rivers, with provisions and blankets on our backs, and even then winter would be down on us, and we should all be frozen to death before the end of the journey. Besides, even if we were to escape, how could we ever show face after leaving all our supply of goods and stores to rot in the wilderness?”

”Truly,” replied my friend with a short laugh, ”the picture you paint is not a lively one, but it is I who ought to ask _you_ to consider. There are many ways in which we might overcome our supposed difficulties. I will explain; and let me begin by pointing out that your first error lies in conceiving an improbability and an impossibility. In the first place it is improbable that our boat should get `smashed to pieces.'

Such an event seldom occurs in river navigation, except in the case of going over something like Niagara. In the second place it is impossible that a boat should be blown bodily away. But let us suppose that, for the sake of argument, something of the kind had happened, and that our boat was damaged beyond repair, or lost; could we not, think you, fabricate a couple of birch-bark canoes in a country where such splendid birch-trees grow, and with these proceed to our destination?”

”Very true,” said I, ”that did not occur to me; but,” I continued, waxing argumentative, ”what if there had been no birch-trees in this part of the country?”

”Why then, Max, there would be nothing to prevent our placing most of our goods _en cache_, construct a small portable raft for crossing streams, and start off each man with a small load for Big Otter's home, at which we should arrive in a week or two, and there set about the erection of huts to shelter us, begin a fishery, and remain until winter should set fast the lakes and rivers, cover the land with snow, and thus enable us to go back for our goods, and bring them forward on sledges, with aid, perhaps, from the red-men.”

”True, true, Lumley, that might be done.”

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