Part 11 (1/2)
We started off rapidly, Baptiste and the three other voyageurs leading the ith the canoe on their shoulders The paddles and a part of the load were inside, and Gue and I carried the rest The women had no burdens, and could easily keep pace with us
”Have you passed this way before?” asked Gue
”Only once,” I replied, ”and that was soo”
”The place reminds me of the enchanted forests one reads of in old fairy tales,” said Mrs Gue
”I ere out of it,” exclai influence onin her voice made me turn and look at her, and she quickly averted her eyes
”What's that?” cried Gue, an instant later ”Don't you see? There it lies, shi+ning”
I darted past him to the left of the path and at the base of a tree I picked up a hunting knife sheathed in a case of tanned buckskin We all stopped, and Lavigne, one of the voyageurs, left the canoe to his comrades and took the weapon frorave interest
”It is just such a knife as the men of the Northwest Coht,” assented Gureed with hiround in the vicinity, creeping here and there on all-fours Then he rose to his feet with the air of one who has made an unpleasant discovery
”Indians have passed this ithin a few hours,” he announced, ”and a white man ith thee and I were fairly good at woodcraft, but the rass baffled us Yet we did not dreane's assertion, for he was known to be a skilled and expert tracker Redskins and a Northwest ether! It was a coood I remembered Moralle's tale of the swimmer, and I felt a sudden uneasiness
”We hborhood for an ahtened face I saw she was thinking of the sa that was in my own mind
”Do you suppose he is near us, Denzil?” she asked, stepping close to my side
”Impossible,” I replied ”Cuthbert Mackenzie is hundreds of er, and the river is not far off”
Butwords were from the lips only At heart I felt that Mackenzie was just the sort ofhe could easily have done by land in this tih for different reasons, and he approved the precautions I suggested
So e started off again, our order of e and I went ahead single file, with, our muskets ready for immediate use The woe into it, and the voyageurs did not grumble at the extra load
Less than a mile remained to be covered, and I was alert for attack with every foot of the way But no Indian yells or musket-shots broke the stillness of the forest, and I was heartily glad e eed on the bank of the Churchill Only twenty er troubled us Swiftly we e blue tide
After the first five rew ht and left, and a strip of dense forest fringed the banks on either hand A dull roar in the distance warned us that ere approaching well-known and dangerous falls, where it would be necessary to land and h the woods
Closer and closer ept, and louder and louder rang the thunder of the rapids The voyageurs began to make in a little toward the left shore, and just then a musket cracked shrilly from the forest on that side Gardapie, as immediately in front of me, dropped his paddle, and leaped convulsively to his feet He clutched at his bleeding throat, gave a gurgling cry of agony, and pitched head first out of the canoe, nearly upsetting it as he slid off the gunwale
CHAPTER XIII
THE AMBUSCADE