Part 20 (2/2)
”After all,” said Frank, ”the cleverness of the Indian guides in finding their way through the pathless forests, day or night, where there was not the least vestige of a trail, sometimes for hundreds of miles, and often when blizzard storether, was toI have witnessed”
”Yes,” said Mr Ross, ”that is indeed wonderful I have been studying it all my life, and am just as much puzzled to-day as I was at first with these first-class guides They are not all thus gifted, but there are some who never blunder, or even hesitate, under the most difficult circumstances The sky et so bewildered that he does not know north frouide never hesitates for an instant, but on and on, with unerring accuracy, he pushes day after day, or even night after night”
”That is wonderful indeed,” replied Alec, ”but the cleverness hich the wolves tried to get ahead ofacross the necks of land in the river, and their other deviltries, are what I will never forget”
Here thisconversation was ended by the arrival of Paulette and Mustagan, with the word that thesnow had exposed the houses of the reat pondlike shere these animals were known to be very numerous At once it was decided that a party would be nated spot in the forest on the edge of this great swamp The distance was between twenty and thirty reater part of the route would be on the ice, it was decided not to start until the chill of the evening had hardened the snohich now nearly every day softened in the -trains in half-h to stick, is very heavy, laborious work However, as soon as the sun ceases to shi+ne upon it, at this season, it hardens up again very quickly
Arrangeular ca-sleds In addition to their guns the boys were each supplied with a long, lancelike barbed spear for effective use when securing theby Mr Ross, who remarked to the boys, when he decided to acco trip of the season with the dogs, with perhaps the exception of the one to the goose hunt, which would not be long distant
The whole party left Sagasta-weekee about sundown, and as it was a crisp, cold, beautiful ly The boys, however, could not help ree in the temperature fro at a h it were still January Through the portages and over the frozen ice expanses they hurried, and soht they reached a splendid careat roaring fire looked very attractive to all, even to the boys, as they had beco places when the heavy day's as done Kettles were quickly filled and a late supper was eaten, and then all lay down to sleep Nothing disturbed their rest except the distant mournful screeches of the wild cats and so was co, like the, after an early breakfast, the whole party set off for the great pondlike morass that extended for an pointed out to the boys not only those of soreat feet of the wolverines, as these latter anie of the shore was reached the boys were surprised to see how rapidly the snow had disappeared froe nuh a faron had driven over the surface and had here and there in e forkfuls and left theh so out the contents of his barnyard to enrich his fields”
”Just what I thought,” said Alec
”All those little hillocks of marsh hay and reeds are muskrat nests,”
explained Mr Ross ”They were made last summer on the little reatthen entirely surrounded by water, they are fairly safe fro wild animals that hunt them as their prey, as wolverines and wild cats dislike the water Then in the winter they are completely covered by the deep snow, and so are as safe as beavers' kitchens But in the early spring, when the snow melts off the ice, they are at the mercy of their foes The ice remains solid for anotherenemies travel and tear open these nests and devour those that have not deep enough burrowings in which to hide themselves away Of course, as soon as open water cohly a, lancelike spears, while the Indians had in addition to these souns At the first nest the boys found that the wild cats and wolverines had been there before theuidance of the Indians they pushed out further on the ice, they found many nests or little houses undisturbed A feith the axes knocked the house to pieces, and then there was quick work in spearing the almost helpless animals In the houses near the channel of the stream, or where there was deep water, very often the cleverfrom their little straw houses to the water These ”runs,” as they are called, serve as a line of retreat whenever their home is attacked In other places thea well-like place under their little houses While soh to save them from the wild cats or wolverines, they were not sufficient to save them from the spears of our boys and Indians It seemed at first cruel to thus stab the helpless animals, but their flesh was food for the natives, and their furs were sold to the traders for things essential to the Indians' comfort So numerous were the nests in this extensive h for the hunters for days The boys, however, soon beca the poor muskrats, and so only remained at the ith the Indians for the one forenoon After that they left their long spears at the cauns, had soes, which were fairly nu the boys were aroused very early by a couple of the Indians who had been on the watch during the night guarding the now large pile of an were too clever to let their game be stolen from them, as were some beavers earlier in the winter from other hunters, as we have described elsewhere
”Get ready soon, and get your guns and co that will please you”
It did not take the to respond, and so they were soon on the trail with Mr Ross, while the two old Indians noiselessly led the way The other Indians had orders to res with them, and as quiet as possible They had not travelled more than half a mile before the boys heard the htest idea of what sort of an experience was before them Louder and louder were these sounds, as they came directly with the wind toward them When they reached a little depression in the trail they found that Mustagan and Paulette had stopped and were awaiting their arrival It was now so light in the eastern sky that the boys could see as they approached that the Indians were ns for perfect quiet So, as noiselessly as possible they, with Mr Ross, joined them Then they were informed that just over the brow of the steep hill before them a couple of wolverines had chased a couple of wild cats up into a large tree The cats had each captured aoff with the and tried to rob theetting up into this solitary large tree with their gah the wolverines can climb trees they did not like to do so to attack these fierce cats, as their being already above thee
Very distinctly now could be heard the growls of the wolverines, and then the defiant snarls of the cats With their guns loaded with ball, they all began the cautious crawl up the hillside, with the Indians in the advance Fortunately for them, the top of the hill was studded with short, stunted spruce trees By each person keeping one of these well in front of him, they were all able to crawl up to positions where they could distinctly see the tree with the wild cats ensconced on its large branches and the wolverines at the foot of it The tree was not an evergreen, and so every branch was distinctly visible For a time they watched the various manoeuvres of the animals They noticed that when the wolverines were not active in theirbits off the round, and so they would one after another et up the hard, smooth trunk How the cats had succeeded was a ood tree climbers, but they had no show at all here, for when one of the well up the almost smooth, bare trunk, a fierce blow from the unencumbered paw of one of the wild cats, securely seated on the large lowest limb, which ran out almost parallel frorip and fall helplessly to the ground Then, with apparent satisfaction, the wild cat would take another bite or two of his h on purpose, the wild cats dropped sround The taste or smell of these fairly drove the wolverines furious, and so they would desperately et at their enemies, but without success
It was fortunate for our party that the as blowing toward then, and also that the air was so thoroughly tainted with the musky smell of the muskrats Under ordinary circu ere they had reached the top of the hill So, unsuspected, they watched the strange antics of these ani out, and then up sprang both Mustagan and Paulette and dashed down to the foot of the tree, loudly calling to the rest of the party to quickly follow Following Mr Ross, the boys speedily obeyed, and when they reached the tree they found that one wolverine was dead and the other was hobbling off, as speedily as he could, on three legs The other had been broken by the ball of one of the Indians The frightened wild cats had dropped as left of the her up in the large tree, where they vainly tried to hide thee branches Quickly loading his gun again, Paulette hurried off after the wounded wolverine, that, in spite of his broken leg, was rapidlyfor the distant dense forest But vain were all his efforts, for behind hih noell up in years, was one of the fleetest runners in the tribe Soon the gun rang out and another wolverine was dead
It was decided that the boys should have the work of shooting the wild cats So close and flat did they cran on the big branches that the boys had to ood aim Sam and Alec were to fire first, and if either cat failed to drop, then Frank was to bring it down Mr Ross and Mustagan with loaded guns stood ready for any eency, for wild cats are uncertain animals, and are not to be trifled with They are very fierce, and will soer, or driven fro down into the ers When the boys had secured a good position, and each knehich wild cat he was expected to kill, Mustagan gave the signal, and together the reports of their guns rang out The cat at which Saround, stone dead The other did not rin of Alec, who could not understand how he should have an's quick eye sahat the boys did not, and so before Frank could fire he stopped hi:
”That cat is dead; do not waste another bullet on it You only more injure his skin”
And so it hen the body was at length obtained it was found that Alec's bullet had hit hih his body, of course killing him so suddenly that there was not even that enerally causes aniround This hat actually happened to the one that Saing the wolverine They were all delighted with the 's work Mr Ross and the boys hurried back to the ca- train and eame While so additional muskrats, and then after supper, as soon as the snow had frozen hard again and the glorious moon ell up in the heavens, the home trip was commenced Loaded down as they were, they did not travel as fast as they had done in the outward trip, and so it was about daybreak when they reached Sagasta-weekee
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
NISKEPESIM, THE GOOSE MOON--EXCITEMENT AMONG THE INDIANS--THE FIRST GOOSE--THEIR NORTHERN MIGRATIONS--FEEDING GROUNDS--METHODS OF HUNTING THEM--NESTS--DECOYS--OUR BOYS OFF WITH THE INDIANS--THE SHOOTING GROUNDS--THEIR CAMP--GREAT SUCCESS--FRANK'S QUEER ACCIDENT--HIT BY A DEAD GOOSE--SAM'S COMMENTS--LADEN WITH SPOILS