Three Boys in the Wild North Land by Egerton Ryerson Young (year 7 reading list txt) 📖

rocks to sleep.

During the night the strong south wind veered around to the north-east, and the alert Indians in charge were quick to observe the change. Soon the cry of "Meyoo nootin!" ("Fair wind!") was heard, and, in a time so brief that it would have seemed almost incredible to persons who have not witnessed it, the boats were afloat, the masts stepped, the sails hoisted, and the journey, so long delayed, was gladly resumed. In the earliest dawn the last of the sails were seen by Mr Ross and our friends to be sinking below the horizon as they sped along toward the mouth of the great Saskatchewan. For the rest of the day they were quite lonesome after the departure of the brigade, and, as the wind was in a bad quarter for them, they decided to rest during the day and then go out spearing fish during the coming night. The Indians were set to work preparing the inflammable torches which would be necessary for their success. These were made of various things. The best were of the fine resinous strips of spruce or balsam, taken from those parts that are saturated with the resinous gum. They were secured in handles which prevented the hot melted pitch from running down and burning the hands of those who held them. Other torches were made of strips or rolls of birch-bark saturated in the balsam gum, which is gathered by the Indians and used so generally in keeping watertight their canoes.

The three-pronged barbed spears were fastened in long light handles, and every other preparation was made for having a successful expedition.

On account of the long evening twilight they had to wait for some hours after supper ere it was dark enough for them to hope for any measure of success. However, the experienced Indians knew when it was best to start, and so, after the inevitable cup of tea and the additional pipe for the smokers, the three canoes were carried down and carefully placed in the water. In each canoe was one of our boys, and they were of course excited at the prospect of this nightly adventure. It seemed so weird to thus embark in this ghostly way and to leave the bright camp fire on the rocks, with the few watchers who remained, Mr Ross being one of them, and to embark in their canoes and go paddling out in the gloom.

Their destination was in the western part of Playgreen lake, where they expected to find abundance of fish of the varieties that afford excellent sport when caught in this way. After several miles of careful paddling in the darkness, where rocks abounded and rapids were many, they reached a place that seemed familiar to the Indians. They easily found a sheltered cove, where they went ashore, and, groping around in the darkness, they soon gathered some dry wood and kindled a fire. Fortunately the wind had nearly died away, and so they anticipated a successful night's sport.

The inflammable torches were carefully arranged, and a couple of them for each boat were ignited. Then all again took their assigned positions in their canoes, and noiselessly paddled to the places where the fish were supposed to be abundant.

At first all the boys could see were dark, shadowlike objects in the water that, after remaining under the glare of the lights, suddenly dashed away in the gloom.

For fear of accident it was decided that the experienced Indians should do the spearing, while the boys looked on and aided with the paddles or helped to hold the torches. The Indian spearmen stood up in the canoe, and, gazing intently into the water where it was brilliantly lit up by the blazing torches, were able to see the fish at a depth of several feet beneath the surface. Some varieties of fish are not attracted by the light, and so are not to be caught in this way. Other kinds, however, seem quite fascinated by the bright light, and will remain perfectly still in its glare, as though under some power they cannot withstand.

The experienced spearmen, with a vigorous thrust, are generally very successful in securing large numbers of them. Still, in spite of all their skill, many escape. Apart from the excitement about this method of fishing, it is not to be compared with the ordinary way of capturing them with gill nets as regards the quantities obtained. The spear cruelly wounds many that escape, and so even the Indians only adopt this plan for the sake of its exciting sport, and for the capture of some varieties of fish that are not easily obtained in any other way.

After the boys had watched the successful operations of the Indians for some time they made their first attempt. For a time they could not understand how it was that when they made a vigorous thrust with their spear at a great big, quiet fish it seemed to strike some place a couple of feet or so away from the fish. So they found that the law of refraction had to be considered, and after a few experiments they did better. Each was successful in securing some fine fish. Some, indeed, were so large that, after the boys had plunged their spears into them, they required the help of the Indians to get them into the canoe.

When the torches burned down others were lighted, and thus the sport continued until the boats began to feel the additional weight of the fish thus secured. The boys were loath to think of stopping, and no wonder, for everything was so strange and weird.

The three canoes with their picturesque occupants, lit up by the blazing torches, the waters so transparent under the light, and phosphorescent- like on every wave, made a picture never to be forgotten. Then so close around was the dense deep darkness of the solitudes that stretched away and away for miles in all directions.

No wonder the hearts of the lads were beating loudly, and in the suppressed excitement of such surroundings no thoughts of sleep there troubled them.

"O, if our friends could only see us here," said Frank, "wouldn't they be pleased with the sight?"

"Ay," said Alec, "and what would not the boys of the old school give to be here for a few hours with us?"

"Hush! What is that?" said Sam, as he pointed his finger to a spot in the dense dark forest of trees that hung down low to the water's edge, not many yards from where they were slowly floating along on the stream.

That there was something was very evident, for there were to be seen two great shining eyes that, owing to the dense darkness around them, seemed to be strangely large and brilliant.

"Will-o'-the-wisp," said Frank.

"Jack-o'-lantern," said Alec.

"A banshee," said Sam.

"A big deer," said Mustagan. "Keep still, and we will soon shoot him."

Quietly and quickly was a gun lifted up, and with a word to the men, to steady, with their paddles, the canoe in which Mustagan was seated, he fired, and the report was followed by the plunge of the body of a great deer, as he fell headlong in the water not thirty yards away. The sound of the gun broke the deathlike solitudes and aroused a chorus; and for a long time the cry of the bittern and the loon mingled with the quacking of ducks and the wakeful calls of the sentinel wild goose.

More torches were lit, and the body of the deer was secured with a rope; and, as the night was far spent, it was decided to go ashore, if they could find a safe place, and there rest until morning, as it was utterly impossible with the heavy load of fish to think of returning through the darkness with the additional weight of this splendid deer.

As closely as possible the three canoes had kept together. This made it more sociable in the gloom, and was much enjoyed by the boys, as they could thus freely chat with each other and watch each other's success or failure.

As the locality was known to some of the Indians, a sheltered little sandy beach was soon discovered, and here the now tired party drew up and landed. A fire was speedily built, and a kettle of tea and a lunch were prepared and enjoyed by the hungry ones. Then they quickly rolled themselves up in their blankets, and were soon away in the land of dreams. Nothing softer had they under them than the rocks, and no roof over them but the starry heavens, yet they slept in a way that thousands of excited, weary, restless ones, tossing about in comfortable beds, might well envy, but could not command.

Very early were the boys aroused for the home trip, but, early as they were up, the Indians had already skinned and cut up the deer, and divided it among the boats. Part of the fish were given to some Indian women and children who were encamped on some of the islands, near which they passed on the route back to the camp.

Mr Ross was much pleased with the glowing accounts which the boys gave of the night's adventures. Much praise was given to Sam for having seen the great luminous eyes of the deer, even before any of the Indians had observed them.

Mr Ross, in answer to the boys' inquiries, explained how some deer, like fish, seemed to be fascinated by a bright light, and will allow the hunters to get very near, especially if they are on the water, ere they will try to get away.

The weather proving favourable, the camp was struck, the canoes loaded, and they all proceeded on the way to Montreal Point once more. They only stopped for an hour or so at Spider Islands to melt some pitch, and mend a crack which had opened in the bottom of one of the canoes.

The boys, who in their own land had seen the great iron ships being prepared in the dry docks, were quite amused and interested at the primitive way in which these Indians made watertight their light canoes. When this was done they were all soon under way again, and, not long after, the shores of the mainland began to loom up plainly before them.

They all remembered the last visit, and the battle with the wolves. So they were naturally on the lookout for a herd of deer or the sound of ravening wolves. But not even a "whisky jack" was seen or heard. The desolate land seemed to be much more so by the apparent entire absence of life.

Selecting a favourable spot, they all landed, and then, while some of the Indians made a fire and prepared the supper, Mr Ross, with Frank, Alec, Sam, and Mustagan, visited the scene of the great fight. They took the precaution to carry their guns with them, for who could tell where the rest of those wolves might be, or what other game might not suddenly appear in sight, even if the Indians had reported that the wolves had all disappeared.

Sam and Frank took special pride in pointing out to Alec and Mr Ross where they had stood when, under Mustagan's directions, they brought down the two leading wolves in that memorable and exciting battle, and then where they fought in the terrible