Chapter 7

"I don't think there is that much danger, Jess," answered Rob. "But if there should be an accident, we have one boat left, and we'd not try to run her through. We'd let her down the edge of the rapids on a rope the best we could, a little at a time. That's what Alex would do now if he thought there was any real danger."

"Here they come!" shouted John. All three boys scrambled up on a high, jutting rock, where they could see the course of the boat.

The _Mary Ann_ swept around the curve gently and steadily, caught in the rapid down-set of the current. Moise was in the bow, Alex at the stern paddle, and both the men looked steadily ahead and not at either side. They saw the boat seemed to tip down at a sharp angle, but still go on steadily. Alex was following the long V which ran down in the mid-channel stream, on either side of which were heavy rocks and sharp, abrupt falls in the water. At the foot of this smooth strip they saw the bow of the boat shoot up into the air, then drop down to a more even keel. From that time on the _Mary Ann_ was swept down swiftly, jumping up and down, part of the time almost hidden out of sight, and, as they thought, swamped in the heavy seas. To their delight, however, they saw the little craft emerge at the foot of the white water after a while and, taking advantage of the back current, swing gently alongside and up the shore toward where they stood at the foot of the main cascade. Both the men were smiling at their excitement.

"Well, what do you think about that?" asked John, in wonder. "I was sure they were gone, but they don't seem to care at all."

On the contrary, Moise seemed to be very much pleased with the experience. Alex was smoking quietly. Neither said much when finally they came ashore close where the boys stood.

"That was great work," said Rob. "It was beautiful!"

"These boat she'll not tip over," said Moise calmly. "She's good boat. I s'pose could carry through maybe a hondred ton or so!"

"Well, maybe not _that_ much!" smiled Alex, "but we've proved that the channel out there is practicable. We'll go up now and bring down the other boat. First we'll put this one high up on the bank, so that no rise in the stream can take it away, because we're apt to need these boats before we get through."

Suiting the action to the word, the two _voyageurs_ now went back to the camp, and presently the boys once more saw the nodding and dipping little craft come around the bend. The _Jaybird_ came through with quite as good fortune as had the _Mary Ann_. And soon the two canoes, lightly loaded, were lying side by side on the beach below the rolling water.

"That's how we'll did done it!" said Moise. "S'pose water will be bad, go where he'll ain't be so bad. No use for get tip over. S'pose he'll be too bad, we'll take a rope an' let those boat down little bit to a time."

"Well," said John, "we don't want to show the white feather, but I suppose it's just as well that you should take the boats through a bad place, and not trust to us--we might get rattled in the wrong place out there."

"Yes," said Rob, "it's better to be too careful than not careful enough. I can see now what the boats will do, however, and I have more confidence than I have had at any time about our getting through the journey all right."

"I can't quite figure out, Mr. Rob," said Alex, "just where we are. The maps don't seem to look like the country, or the country like the maps."

"According to my reckoning," Rob answered, "we're now about where Mackenzie was on June 9th. The day before that--which will be the day after this as we run down the stream--they had sight of a high, white mountain in the evening, off to the east, and there were mountains and valleys in full sight to the south. The valley was wide. That answers pretty closely to the description of this country here. In the morning of that day--which will be later on in the day for us as we go down--they saw a high, white bank on the east. We haven't passed any such bank. They made seventeen miles of this water coming up. If we can locate that white bank, we ought to strike slacker water below there and then faster water still farther below, according to their story. On June 6th the water was so high and heavy that they had to pull up by the branches of trees, because they couldn't paddle or pole or track. As they were three days in making something like thirty miles, we ought to expect pretty fast work the next day or so below here. But of course they had high water, and we haven't."

"That seems to me good reasoning," said Alex. "We'll take it slow and easy, and if we hear a bad rapid we'll go ashore and look it out first before we run it. Not that I know even now just where that stream comes in from McLeod."

"We could find out by exploring," said Rob, "but I don't think we need do that. Let's go through on our own as much as we can. We want to stop when we get down into some good bear country anyhow--as soon as Moise and John have eaten up enough pork to make room in the boat!"

"They're making such a hole in the bacon now," said Alex, "that I'm afraid we'll have to stop and hunt somewhere to-morrow."

"That'll suit us all right," boasted John. "Rob and I will stroll out and kill you almost anything you want to-morrow evening."

They all returned now to the camp, which had been left on the bar around the bend, and passed the night there.

"We'll have to be good _voyageurs_ from now on," said Alex, when they turned in for the night, "and that means getting on the trail by four o'clock in the morning."

XII

WILD COUNTRY AND WILDERNESS WAYS

By daylight of the following morning the boys were busy breaking camp and getting their luggage across the bend to the place where they had left the boats below the rapids. They found no very bad water for some little distance, although occasionally there were stretches with steep rocks where the water rippled along very noisily. Again they would meet wide bends where the paddles were useful.

They still were in a wide valley. Far to the east lay the main range of the Rockies, but the mountains were much lower than they are farther to the south. They kept a sharp outlook on both banks, trying to find some landmark which would tell them where they were, and at last, indeed, they found a high, white bank on the right-hand side, which they supposed to have been the one mentioned in the Mackenzie journal, although it was not exactly where Rob's map said it ought to be. They paused at this place for their first rest, and occupied themselves for a time figuring out, each according to his notion, a map of the country on ahead, which all admitted now was entirely strange to them.

Alex and Moise agreed pretty closely in their description of the country below the Finlay, for they had friends who had made that trip numbers of times. As to the country between this place and the mouth of the Finlay, Rob seemed to be deferred to more than any one else, because he had read carefully and mapped out the country in accordance with the Fraser and Mackenzie journals and such narratives of later travelers as he could find, surveyors, traders, and prospectors.

"Now," said he presently, "if we should run down two or three hours farther we'd make say fifteen miles, and that ought to bring us about to the spot where Mackenzie climbed the tree to look out over the country. As near as I can get at it, that was pretty near the real divide between the eastern and western waters--that is to say, not far from where the small stream leads back to McLeod Lake, and the McLeod Lake portage across to the Fraser, the way the fur-traders went later on. That's the Giscombe portage route. It's a lot easier than the one we've taken, too."

"Well, I don't see how they ever got boats up this way at all," said Jesse, looking with wonder at the swiftly moving current which passed at their feet.

"And just to think," said John, "they didn't know where they were at all, even as much as we do now; and we're pretty much lost, if it comes to that."

"Mackenzie, she'll been good man," said Moise. "Maybe so most as good man like my wife hees onkle, Pete Fraser."

"Well," said Alex, "we can drop down a way farther and if we don't meet bad water we'll get into camp early."

"'Drop down' just about describes it," said Rob. "It's like sliding downhill on a sled, almost, isn't it? I'll know more about the making of a big river than I ever did before."

None the less the boys, who had gained confidence with every hour in the care of these skilled boatmen, felt less and less fear as they passed on down the sometimes tumbling and roaring stream which now lay before them. The water was not really dangerous for some distance now, and only in two instances did Alex go ashore and line the boats down at the edge of rapids, although time and again he cautioned Moise, who was something of a daredevil in the canoe, not to undertake any run which looked in the least bad. Moise and Rob, of course, retained their position in the lead boat, the _Mary Ann_.

"I believe I'll get the hang of it after a while," said Rob, as they paused at the head of a rapid lying ahead of the two canoes. "The main thing is to map out your course before you go through, and then hang to it. You can't take any too sudden turns, and you have to be careful not to strike on a rock--that's the most dangerous thing, after all, except the big swells at the foot of a fast drop."

Sometimes, when the shore was strewn with rocks alongside a rapid which interrupted the passing down of the boats, all of the party would be as much in the water as out, wading, shoving and pulling at the boats. They were pretty well chilled when, well on into the afternoon, Alex signified that it was time to make camp for the day.

"Better get out dry socks and moccasins, young gentlemen," said he. "You're not quite as tough as Moise yonder."

Moise, happy and care-free, had not as yet started to make a fire, but was sitting on a rock playing earnestly at a jews'-harp which he carried in his pocket.

Jesse, idly prowling around in the "possible bag" in which Moise carried his personal belongings, tipped out on the ground what looked to be a small chopping-bowl, or wooden dish. "What's that, Moise?" said he, "and what are all these sticks tied up in a bundle here?"

"I suppose you'll not know what's those," said Moise.

Jesse shook his head.

"That's what Injun calls his game," said Moise, laughing.

"His game--what's that?"

"Those game she'll been call platter game. All tam in winter Injun will play those game in hees house--he'll play it here hondred year, two hondred year, I s'pose maybe."

"I know!" broke in Rob, eagerly. "Mackenzie tells about that very thing. He says that two of his Indians got to fighting over a game of platter at the fort down below here. I wonder if that's the same thing!"

"It is," said Alex, "precisely the same. The Crees all play this, although so far as I know it isn't known east of Lake Superior. Show him how to play, Moise."

Moise now spread down one of the blankets on the ground and took his seat cross-legged at the side of it, motioning to the boys to sit opposite. He now untied the greasy rag which wrapped up the bundle of sticks, and produced from it eight little pieces of copper, disks, red on one side and tinned or galvanized on the other. These he put in the pan or platter, and shaking them together, tossed them into the air, catching them again in the bowl, which he thumped on the blanket just as they fell.

"S'pose four white an' four red'll come out," said he, "an' I'm play' with Alex. He'll give me eight stick now, for I'll win. So. Try heem again."

This time the little disks fell irregularly, and Moise expressed his disgust.

"Five one kin', three other kin'; no good!" said he. "She'll have to come up two, four, seex, eight--the hard way for heem to come is all tam the way he'll win. You see?" he continued on shaking and thumping the bowl and catching the little disks, and as he won or lost, Alex gravely handed him the little sticks, or counters, or received them back from him as the case might be.

This ancient gambling device of the Indians was very simple and the game was soon learned, but the knack of catching the disks in the pan proved quite difficult. John undertook it, with the result that he spilled every one of them out when they fell in the shallow bowl, much to the amusement of Moise.

"You'll not been Injun," said Moise. "If any of those pieces he'll fly out of pan, then you have to give up the pan to the next man. You'll make a loss that tam. All tam Injun he'll play those platter game in the house at night," continued Moise. "Two, four man, she'll sit on blanket an' play many hour. His woman she'll cook meat on the fire. Another man he'll sit an' poun' the drum. You'll see my drum, I s'pose."

He now fished out from under his bed one of the singular Cree drums, a shallow, one-sided circle of bent wood covered with tightly stretched moose skin. He showed them how the Indian drummer held this, straining it tight with thongs stretched from finger to thumb, and making the music by drumming with the fingers of the other hand.

"Injun he'll use those drum sometime to pass tam," said Moise. "Sometam he'll use heem for pray. S'pose I'll want ver' much for get moose--I'll play on heem an' seeng. S'pose I want for get grizzly ver' much--then I seeng _ver_' hard for get grizzly. S'pose you'll seeng an' play, always you'll get those game, sure."

"I don't see what we'd do without you, Moise," said John, who was continually rummaging around in Moise's ditty-bag. "For instance, what's this funny-looking knife you have here?"

"That's worth noticing," said Alex. "You young gentlemen ought to get you one of those knives each before you leave the country. That's what we call a crooked knife--you see, the end of the blade is turned up."

"How do you use that sort of thing?" asked John, curiously.

"As any native Injun always uses a knife," rejoined Alex. "You see how the handle is put on--well, an Injun never whittles away from him, but always pulls the knife toward him. You'll see, too, that he never sharpens a blade on both sides, but puts all the bevel on one side--look at my big hunting-knife here--it's only sharpened on one side, and the other is perfectly flat."

"Well, what makes Indians do that way?" asked John, wonderingly.

"I don't know," said Alex, "except that they always have done so. You see, they use files rather than whetstones to sharpen their tools. Maybe they find it easier to put on an edge in this way. Anyhow, if an Injun is making a canoe or a pair of snowshoes, or doing any other whittling work, you will see him use one of these crooked knives, and he'll always whittle toward him, with his thumb out at the end of the handle. I don't know who first invented these crooked knives," continued Alex, musingly, "but they've always been that way since my father can remember. As to this big buffalo knife, I suppose the Northwest Company or the Hudson Bay people invented that. They've been selling them in the trade for a hundred and fifty years or so."

"I suppose each country has its own tools and its own ways," ventured Rob.

"Precisely."

"I've been told," Rob went on, "that that's the way the Chinese use a knife or a saw--they pull it to them instead of pushing it away."

"Well," said Alex, smiling, "some people say that all of us Injuns came across the narrow salt water far to the northwest. You know, too, don't you, that the Crees call themselves the First People?"

"They certainly were first in here," assented Rob; "and, as we've said before, it's hardly fair to call any white man a real discoverer--all this country was known long before a white man ever set foot in it."

XIII

THE CARIBOU HUNT

The supply of mountain mutton had lessened with alarming rapidity in this open-air work, which tends to give any man or boy a strong appetite. Moise looked rather ruefully at the few pieces which he still had hanging on his meat line near the camp.

"I'll tol' you this sheep she's getting mighty scarce now pretty soon before long," said he.

"Why not make a hunt, Alex?" asked Rob. "It looks like fairly good country, and you might be able to get something."

"We might get a bear," said Alex, "or possibly a moose. For all I know, the buffalo used to come this far back in from the east. It doesn't look like sheep country just in here, however, because we have to go too far to get to the mountains."

"How about caribou?"

Alex shook his head. "You mustn't ask me," said he. "This isn't my country, and I've never been here before, nor seen any man who has been here. I know there are caribou in British Columbia, far to the north."

"Mackenzie talks about seeing reindeer in here."

"Yes, I suppose he meant the black-faced caribou of the mountains, and not the regular barren-ground animal which goes in the big herds. It's odd, but those early men didn't seem to know all the animals on which they depended so much. Without doubt Mackenzie called the musk-ox some sort of buffalo, and he called these mountain caribou the reindeer. But we might get one for all of that. How would you like to go with me across the river, Mr. Rob, and make a little hunt?"

"Fine!" assented Rob, eagerly. "But how about the others?"

"I'll tell you, Rob," said John, who, to tell the truth, was just a little tired from the hard work of the day before; "you and Alex go across, and after a while Moise will take Jess and me out on this side a little way back. We'll all meet here this evening."

This plan was agreed to, and in the course of a few moments Alex and Rob were pushing across the river in the _Mary Ann_, equipped lightly for their first hunt after some game which Rob was eager to meet because it was new to him.

Once more they pushed through heavy undergrowth close to the river, traveled up a rather lofty bank, and found themselves in flatter country, beyond which at some distance rose some mountains.

"I'll bet you," said Rob, "that this is just about where Mackenzie climbed the tree to look around--you can't see much from the river down there, and his men were complaining about the hard work, and he didn't know where he was. So he climbed a tree to have a look."

"Well, Mr. Rob," said Alex, "if you don't mind, I'll let you do the climbing, while I sit here and smoke. I'm not quite as light as I once was."

"All right," said Rob. And, divesting himself of his cartridge-belt and jacket, a little later he began to make his way up to the topmost branches of the tall spruce, breaking off the dead limbs as he slowly advanced upward.

Rob remained aloft for some moments, but at last descended and rejoined Alex.

"Now, what did you see, Mr. Rob?" inquired the old hunter.

"Well, I don't know," said Rob; "it's hard to figure out exactly, of course. But Mackenzie talks about high mountains off to the northwest, and a parallel range of mountains running to the south, with a narrow valley between. That, of course, must be this river, and as near as I can tell, it must have been about here that he and Mackay and the Indian hunters took to the shore to spy out the way."

"And jolly well got lost, too, eh?"

"They certainly did--got lost from their boat for an entire day! I can imagine how they felt when they didn't know whether the boat was above them or below them. Mackenzie says the mosquitoes about ate them up. They sent branches down the river to let the boatmen know they were above them. It wasn't until night that finally they found the boat was far below them. I'll warrant they were glad when they got together again. The truth is, the men were almost ready to turn back and leave Mackenzie where he was."

"They'd have done that a dozen times but for his courage," said Alex. "Well, now, what would you do, Mr. Rob, if you should get lost in the woods or mountains any time?"

"I'd try to keep cool," said Rob, "but I'm not sure that I could. It's a mighty bad feeling--I know what it is myself. What would you do, Alex, if you ever got lost in a storm, or anything of that kind?"

"Sit down and build a fire," answered Alex. "Go to sleep, take it easy, and wait till my mind got cool. Then when you're rested and all ready to go on, you nearly always know which is the right direction. You see, an Injun is a good deal like a dog, as Moise would say. But now suppose I should get separated from you in here--how would you get back to camp?"

"Well, you see," said Rob, "there is that high mountain on this side of the river, and there is one right opposite, far off on the east side. I know our camp is on the line between those two peaks. Of course I'd know the river was downhill, unless I wandered off over some other little divide. I'd just simply go downhill as straight as I could until I hit the river. Of course I couldn't tell, maybe, whether I was just above or below the camp. But I'd wait to see smoke, and I'd fire off my rifle, hoping that some one would hear me. Then I think I would not go very far from that place. I'd sit down and build a smoke, and wait."

"That would be the best way to do," Alex assented. "But do you know, simple as that seems, lots of grown men couldn't do it--they'd lose their heads and be just as apt to go west as east! Many a man has been lost in the wilderness simply because he got excited and scared and didn't take it easy. Always remember that whenever you are in a wild country it isn't as dangerous as it seems to be.

"But come, now," he resumed, "I suppose we must get over in that flat country and see if we can find any sign of game."

"How do you hunt caribou, Alex? I don't know anything about it."

"That's hard to answer," rejoined the old hunter. "Of course you can take a trail if you can find it, and if it seems fresh. An Injun hunts moose by following the trail. But either a moose or a caribou has very keen scent, and if you follow straight on after them, and don't circle once in a while and pick up the trail again, you're not apt to come up with either one or the other. A caribou, however, is a strange animal--it isn't nearly as wild as a moose or a bighorn. A grizzly bear has very keen scent but very bad eyes, and I don't suppose a grizzly can see you half a mile at best. Now, a caribou has good eyes, ears, and nose, but he hasn't got any head. Sometimes he is very shy, and sometimes he'll stand and look at you, and let you keep on shooting. He seems to be full of curiosity, and wants to know what you're doing.

"We'll work on over a little at a time," he continued, "and maybe if we skirt around some open meadows or glades we may see some tracks. Sometimes they come out in places like that to feed or stand around. A water-hole or little lake, too, is good for game usually. When an Injun knows he's in a country where game is moving or feeding he keeps pretty quiet and lets the game come to him rather than going to it."

The theories laid down by the old hunter seemed soon to work out fairly well, because they had not gone up more than a mile farther until they got into a country which showed considerable sign of moose and caribou, the latter in rather a fresh trail. As this led them to a sort of open, grassy glade, where other sign was abundant, Alex paused for a time in the hope that something might show from the heavy cover in which they had been traveling.

At last he quietly laid a hand on Rob's arm, and without making any sudden movement, pointed across the glade, which at that place was several hundred yards wide.

"Oh, I see them!" said Rob, in an excited whisper. "What funny-looking things they are--five of them!"

"Two stags, three cows," said Alex, quietly. "Too far to shoot. Wait awhile."