Part 10 (1/2)
This Alec at once did Then Mustagan fastened a good solid green birch stick about four feet long and five or six inches in dia, and then said to Alec:
”No it up and lay it across the top of the tree, where it will rest fir to Pasche to tie the end let down to him about his waist, and then to hold on, he placed the rope over the strong, save the word to the men below to haul away No second order was necessary, and soon Pasche was pulled up to the top He had no difficulty in slipping down the inclined tree, weak as he was Alec also safely reached the ground
Poor Pasche was quickly placed on a dog-sled, and they all hurried back to the fire, where sory, half-frozen ht best not to trouble hiasta-weekee
The journey ho at the recovery of the poor fellow The following is his quaint story of his adventures:
”Well, you see, I was earcons--the boys--they succeed
They capture le renard--the fox--the wild cat, and other animals And still they not natives So I think it over when I milk la vache, and Sam he pushed open la porte and he show ht, and that ive, and exchange for the traps When reat woods Aller a pied--I walk--I carryLe chien--the dog--he follows, he gets in the traps Then I try again I go far away this time I set my traps, I aith tranquillity It is far in the woods I wait trois days
Then I go to see if le renard, like Sam's, is in my trap Aussitot que possible--as soon as possible--I reach my traps There is no renard
So I return hoht Then I say, A quoi bon?-- What good is it?--and stay with s about la chasse--the hunting--and so I say, I try again; and this ti in the stable, and start early, and go far in the woods, and setmade fast to the chain, and then I retourner--return--to ain in the woods It is far Il fait de la neige--it is snowing-- when I draw near I hear a great noise I draw nearer still I see the great moose bull, with his hind foot in the wolf trap He also sees ood is it? He coun--at him Still he coe in that gun
J'ai chaud--I areat ears, his long face, all his hair point toward me I turn, I run So does he run, but it is toward me Still he co is fastened to the chain, so it troubles hi, but the log slips off the chain So now he comes faster I run, I fly I see him draw near He looks diabolical I despair I see this tree like the mast broken off in the storm I learn to climb hen I sail on the shi+p I rush to the tree with the moose bull close behind h bark, I climb up just as that animal, like le diable--the devil--he rush up, and he strike his great horns against the tree where I was, but I not there, I just above, out of his reach I dare not go back So up and up I cliet to the top I find plenty of sticks there, where so, and as I could not hold on at the sides of the tree I pull myself up and try to stand on those sticks, and they break sudden and I drop, I fall, I sink down into the tree I throw out my arms to catch hold, but the tree is rotten wood inside, so I lose rip The wood it come doith me I sink into the depths, and there I was The rotten wood reat dust as down I slide It nearly choke me I cannot call out; my mouth, my eyes, my throat all full There I stay
I could not climb out, the place too small I could not work up ets very sad soon Il fait nuit--it is night I am lost Good-bye, I say, to all I weep and then I sleep, I wake up with a start, then I sleep again When I wake again, il fait clair--it is light--above and rejoice The dust is all out of h to look up and see the blue sky Then I call aloud, but there is no response I then reet at it, but I succeed I eat it, it is very good Then I find I have ain I think I hear a reply; but it is only the birds, the whisky jacks They fly across my vision at the top; they look at me, they scream, they mock me Never mind, I havein the rotten wood But the dust affects h much I can work but little I have to wait for the dust to settle The air is bad When I get to the hard outside wood I can do nothing, one It is hard to breathe when I keep still It is worse when I try to work
So I give myself up to die I call out at times, and try to think of my friends, and try to pray, and that comforts me best of all Thus passes this second day, and now I am very faint I can just easily move round in my prison, but I cannot sit down or lie down I am very tired
Still I call, and ry I have nothing for them, and so they scold, as they do at the ca To-day for a tih atTom call, and was rescued
”Je suis fache--I ao no more Sam may continue”
CHAPTER TWELVE
KINESASIS'S WONDERFUL STORY--HOW HE WOOED SHAKOONA--THEIR YOUTHFUL DAYS--MISKOODELL RESCUED FROM THE BEAR--OOSAHMEKOO WITH HIS GOLD-- KINESASIS'S SUCCESSFUL HUNT--HIS FURS STOLEN--MARRIES SHAKOONA--CONFLICT WITH THE OLD WARRIOR
The rohly characteristic Indian way in which Kinesasis had obtained his Indian as one that had very much interested Mr and Mrs Ross They had known him for many years, and had ever been pleased with the kindly, helpful way in which he had always treated his wife, whom he called Shakoona ”Shakoona” means ”the snohite one,”
and those who knew her well, and studied her quiet, gentle manner, said she ell named The terrible loss of her children had been such a shock that her once black, luxuriant tresses had beco her name more impressive than ever before
The story of how he had obtained his wife Kinesasis was induced to tell one evening at Sagasta-weekee, when fierce winds were howling around the place and at tiainst the house that they appeared like wild beasts shrieking for their prey As a general thing Kinesasis was not very co to hie of how he had obtained his wife--indeed, her mother had a little to do with its consummation--had asked hiood friends who had come over for a day or two fro fire roared in the large fireplace in the dining rooathered the expectant listeners Mrs Ross had sent over to Kinesasis's little hoht froetting up in years, yet she was the sa woman she had ever been, and yet, as will be seen, there was that latent courage in her thatout The inevitable pipe had to be produced and gravely smoked by Kinesasis, and those ould sin When this cerean:
”We had been children together in the forest Our fathers' ere not far apart With other Indian children we had played in the oods, areat lakes When large enough to help I had to go and try es and other s, as I visited my snares and traps, was the one in which I often found little Shakoona getting sticks for the fire in her father's aain
”The years rolled on, and I was now a hunter, and could use the bow and arrows of un of the white ht into the country Shakoona was non up, and was no longer a child We often met, and let it be known that we loved each other Shakoona's mother and the other ood reason to be my friends, for one summer, some years before, when Miskoodell was a little child, I saved her froather moss and dry it for the winter use She had Miskoodell strapped in hercradle, with its board at the back While the irl in her cradle standing up against a tree As the ood just around that spot the mother wandered off quite a distance to find where it was better While she was thus hard at work a large black bear ca from the opposite direction I happened to be out in the woods with ame I could find, for I was then only a boy
”Where this round is very da far behind the bear, and there the first thing I saas that big bear with that baby, cradle and all, in his forear it aardly, like a h at Kinesasis's expense; but Mrs Ross came to his rescue, and declared that the expression was correct
”For ababy--the first one, anyway,” she added, as she saw her a at her
”Go on, Kinesasis You said last that the bear was standing on his hind legs, and aardly holding the baby, as a ed by the lady whoreatly respected, he went on, and only :
”Indian men do, anyway Well, there I was, not very far behind and well hid behind the trees, and watched that bear, and think if I had been a white boy I would have laughed Strange to say, the baby did not cry, but seemed pleased to have so nose in the baby's face very gently, and it seemed to like to feel this cold nose All at once I saw by the fine bead work in the cradle that it was the child of the mother of Shakoona, whoht the mother of the child must be near, and while the bear is kind to the child, as bears of that kind always are, it will surely attack the reat love for Shakoona, to try and kill that bear It ell for me that I had some steel-pointed arrowheads, obtained at the traders' shop These I had not been using, as they were too valuable to risk losing in shooting sh So I at once removed the flints fro steel points with sinew