Canadian Crusoes

C >> Catherine Parr Traill >> Canadian Crusoes

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19

"Nonsense, cousin Louis, bears do not run about ready roasted in the
forest, like the lambs in the old nursery tale."

"Well now, Kate, this was a fact; at least, it was told as one by old
Jacob, and my father did not deny it; shall I tell you about it? After
passing several hungry days with no better food to keep them alive than the
scrapings of the inner bark of the poplars and elms, which was not very
substantial for hearty men, they encamped one night in a thick dark
swamp,--not the sort of place they would have chosen, but that they could
not help themselves, having been enticed into it by the tracks of a deer or
a moose,--and night came upon them unawares, so they set to work to kindle
up a fire with spunk, and a flint and knife; rifle they had none, or maybe
they would have had game to eat. Old Jacob fixed upon a huge hollow pine,
that lay across their path, against which he soon piled a glorious heap of
boughs and arms of trees, and whatever wood he could collect, and lighted
up a fine fire. You know what a noble hand old Jacob used to be at making
up a roaring fire; he thought, I suppose, if he could not have warmth
within, he would have plenty of it without. The wood was dry pine and cedar
and birch, and it blazed away, and crackled and burnt like a pine-torch.
By-and-by they heard a most awful growling close to them. 'That's a big
bear, as I live,' said old Jacob, looking all about, thinking to see one
come out from the thick bush; but Bruin was nearer to him than he thought,
for presently a great black bear burst out from the but-end of the great
burning log, and made towards Jacob; just then the wind blew the flame
outward, and it caught the bear's thick coat, and he was all in a blaze in
a moment. No doubt the heat of the fire had penetrated to the hollow of the
log, where he had lain himself snugly up for the winter, and wakened him;
but Jacob seeing the huge black brute all in a flame of fire, began to
think it was Satan's own self come to carry him off, and he roared with
fright, and the bear roared with pain and rage, and my father roared with
laughing to see Jacob's terror; but he did not let the bear laugh at him,
for he seized a thick pole that he had used for closing in the brands and
logs, and soon demolished the bear, who was so blinded with the fire and
smoke that he made no fight; and they feasted on roast bear's flesh for
many days, and got a capital skin to cover them beside."

"What, Louis, after the fur was all singed?" said Catharine.

"Kate, you are too particular," said Louis; "a story never loses, you
know."

Hector laughed heartily at the adventure, and enjoyed the dilemma of the
bear in his winter quarter; but Catharine was somewhat shocked at the
levity displayed by her cousin and brother, when recounting the terror of
old Jacob and the sufferings of the poor bear."

"You boys are always so unfeeling," she said, gravely.

"Indeed, Kate," said her brother, "the day may come when the sight of a
good piece of roast bear's flesh, will be no unwelcome sight. If we do not
find our way back to Cold Springs before the winter sets in, we may be
reduced to as bad a state as poor Jacob and my uncle were in the pine
swamps, on the banks of the St. John."

"Ah!" said Catharine, trembling, "that would be too bad to happen."

"Courage, ma belle, let us not despair for the morrow. Let us see what
to-morrow will do for us; meantime, we will not neglect the blessings we
still possess; see, our partridge is ready, let us eat our supper, and be
thankful; and for grace let us say, 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.'"

Long exposure to the air had sharpened their appetites--the hungry
wanderers needed no further invitation, the scanty meal, equally divided,
was soon despatched.

It is a common saying, but excellent to be remembered by any wanderers in
our forest wilds, that those who travel by the sun travel in a circle, and
usually find themselves at night in the same place from whence they started
in the morning; so it was with our wanderers. At sunset, they found
themselves once more in the ravine, beside the big stone, in which they had
rested at noon. They had imagined themselves miles and miles distant from
it; they were grievously disappointed. They had encouraged each other
with the confident hope that they were drawing near to the end of their
bewildering journey; they were as far from their home as ever, without the
slightest clue to guide them to the right path. Despair is not a feeling
which takes deep root in the youthful breast. The young are always
hopeful; so confident in their own wisdom and skill in averting or
conquering danger; so trusting; so willing to believe that there is a
peculiar Providence watching over them. Poor children! they had indeed need
of such a belief to strengthen their minds and encourage them to fresh
exertions, for new trials were at hand.

The broad moonlight had already flooded the recesses of the glen with
light, and all looked fresh and lovely in the dew, which glittered on
tree and leaf, on herb and flower. Catharine, who, though weary with her
fatiguing wanderings, could not sleep, left the little hut of boughs which
her companions had put up near the granite rock in the valley for her
accommodation, and ascended the western bank, where the last jutting spur
of its steep side formed a lofty clifflike promontory, at the extreme verge
of which the roots of one tall spreading oak formed a most inviting seat,
from whence the traveller looked down into a level track, which stretched
away to the edge of the lake. This flat had been the estuary of the
mountain stream, which had once rushed down between the hills, forming a
narrow gorge; but now, all was changed; the water had ceased to flow, the
granite bed was overgrown, and carpeted with deer-grass and flowers of many
hues, wild fruits and bushes, below; while majestic oaks and pines towered
above. A sea of glittering foliage lay beneath Catharine's feet; in the
distance the eye of the young girl rested on a belt of shining waters,
which girt in the shores like a silver zone; beyond, yet more remote to the
northward, stretched the illimitable forest.

Never had Catharine looked upon a scene so still or so fair to the eye; a
holy calm seemed to shed its influence over her young mind, and peaceful
tears stole down her cheeks. Not a sound was there abroad, scarcely a leaf
stirred; she could have stayed for hours there gazing on the calm beauty of
nature, and communing with her own heart, when suddenly a stirring rustling
sound caught her car; it came from a hollow channel on one side of the
promontory, which was thickly overgrown with the shrubby dogwood, wild
roses and bilberry bushes. Imagine the terror which seized the poor girl,
on perceiving a grisly beast breaking through the covert of the bushes.
With a scream and a bound, which the most deadly fear alone could have
inspired, Catharine sprung from the supporting trunk of the oak, dashed,
down the precipitous side of the ravine; now clinging to the bending sprays
of the flexile dogwood--now to some fragile birch or poplar--now trusting
to the yielding heads of the sweet-scented _ceanothus_, or filling her
hands with sharp thorns from the roses that clothed the bank; flowers,
grass, all were alike clutched at in her rapid and fearful descent. A loose
fragment of granite on which she had unwittingly placed her foot rolled
from under her; unable to regain her balance she fell forwards, and was
precipitated through the bushes into the ravine below, conscious only
of unspeakable terror and an agonising pain in one of her ancles, which
rendered her quite powerless. The noise of the stones she had dislodged in
her fall and her piteous cries, brought Louis and Hector to her side, and
they bore her in their arms to the hut of boughs and laid her down upon her
bed of leaves and grass and young pine boughs. When Catharine was able to
speak, she related to Louis and Hector the cause of her fright. She was
sure it must have been a wolf by his sharp teeth, long jaws, and grisly
coat. The last glance she had had of him had filled her with terror, he
was standing on a fallen tree with his eyes fixed upon her--she could tell
them no more that happened, she never felt the ground she was on, so great
was her fright.

Hector was half disposed to scold his sister for rambling over the hills
alone, but Louis was full of tender compassion for _la belle cousine_,
and would not suffer her to be chidden. Fortunately, no bones had been
fractured, though the sinews of her ankle were severely sprained; but the
pain was intense, and after a sleepless night, the boys found to their
grief and dismay, that Catharine was unable to put her foot to the ground.
This was an unlooked-for aggravation of their misfortunes; to pursue their
wandering was for the present impossible; rest was their only remedy,
excepting the application of such cooling medicaments as circumstances
would supply them with. Cold water constantly applied to the swollen joint,
was the first thing that was suggested; but, simple as was the lotion,
it was not easy to obtain it in sufficient quantities. They were a full
quarter of a mile from the lake shore, and the cold springs near it were
yet further off; and then the only vessel they had was the tin-pot, which
hardly contained a pint; at the same time the thirst of the fevered
sufferer was intolerable, and had also to be provided for. Poor Catharine,
what unexpected misery she now endured!

The valley and its neighbouring hills abounded in strawberries; they were
now ripening in abundance; the ground was scarlet in places with this
delicious fruit; they proved a blessed relief to the poor sufferer's
burning thirst. Hector and Louis were unwearied in supplying her with them.

Louis, ever fertile in expedients, crushed the cooling fruit and applied
them to the sprained foot; rendering the application still more grateful by
spreading them upon the large smooth leaves of the sapling oak; these he
bound on with strips of the leathery bark of the moose-wood, [Footnote:
"_Dirca palustris_,"--Moose-wood. American mezereon, leather-wood. From the
Greek, _dirka_, a fountain or wet place, its usual place of growth.] which
he had found growing in great abundance near the entrance of the ravine.
Hector, in the meantime, was not idle. After having collected a good supply
of ripe strawberries, he climbed the hills in search of birds' eggs and
small game. About noon he returned with the good news of having discovered
a spring of fine water in an adjoining ravine, beneath a clump of bass-wood
and black cherry-trees; he had also been so fortunate as to kill a
woodchuck, having met with many of their burrows in the gravelly sides of
the hills. The woodchuck seems to be a link between the rabbit and badger;
its colour is that of a leveret; it climbs like the racoon and burrows like
the rabbit; its eyes are large, full, and dark, the lip cleft, the soles of
the feet naked, claws sharp, ears short; it feeds on grasses, grain, fruit,
and berries. The flesh is white, oily, and, in the summer, rank, but is
eaten in the fall by the Indians and woodsmen; the skin is not much valued.
They are easily killed by dogs, though, being expert climbers, they often
baffle their enemies, clinging to the bark beyond their reach; a stone or
stick well-aimed soon kills them, but they often bite sharply.

The woodchuck proved a providential supply, and Hector cheered his
companions with the assurance that they could not starve, as there were
plenty of these creatures to be found. They had seen one or two about the
Cold Springs, but they are less common in the deep forest lands than on the
drier, more open plains.

"It is a great pity we have no larger vessel to bring our water from the
spring in," said Hector, looking at the tin-pot, "one is so apt to stumble
among stones and tangled underwood. If we had only one of our old bark
dishes we could get a good supply at once."

"There is a fallen birch not far from this," said Louis; "I have here
my trusty knife; what is there to hinder us from manufacturing a vessel
capable of holding water, a gallon if you like?"

"How can you sew it together, cousin?" asked Catharine; "you have neither
deer sinews, nor war-tap." [The Indian name for the flexible roots of the
_tamarack_, or swamp larch, which they make use of in manufacturing the
birch baskets and canoes.] "I have a substitute at hand, ma belle," and
Louis pointed to the strips of leatherwood that he had collected for
binding the dressings on his cousin's foot.

When an idea once struck Louis, he never rested till he worked it out in
some way. In a few minutes he was busily employed, stripping sheets of the
ever-useful birch-bark from the trunk that had fallen at the foot of the
"Wolf's Crag," for so the children had named the memorable spot where poor
Catharine's accident had occurred.

The rough outside coatings of the bark, which are of silvery whiteness, but
are ragged from exposure to the action of the weather in the larger and
older trees, he peeled off, and then cutting the bark so that the sides
lapped well over, and the corners were secured from cracks, he proceeded
to pierce holes opposite to each other, and with some trouble managed
to stitch them tightly together, by drawing strips of the moose or
leather-wood through and through. The first attempt, of course, was but
rude and ill-shaped, but it answered the purpose, and only leaked a little
at the corners for want of a sort of flap, which he had forgotten to allow
in cutting out the bark; this flap in the Indian baskets and dishes turns
up, and keeps all tight and close. The defect he remedied in his subsequent
attempts. In spite of its deficiencies, Louis's water-jar was looked upon
with great admiration, and highly commended by Catharine, who almost forgot
her sufferings--while watching her cousin's proceedings.

Louis was elated by his own successful ingenuity, and was for running off
directly to the spring. "Catharine shall now have cold water to bathe her
poor ancle with, and to quench her thirst," he said, joyfully springing
to his feet, ready for a start up the steep bank: but Hector quietly
restrained his lively cousin, by suggesting the possibility of his not
finding the "fountain in the wilderness," as Louis termed the spring, or
losing himself altogether.

"Let us both go together, then." cried Louis. Catharine cast on her cousin
an imploring glance.

"Do not leave me, dear Louis; Hector, do not let me be left alone." Her
sorrowful appeal stayed the steps of the volatile Louis.

"Go you, Hector, as you know the way: I will not leave you, Kate, since I
was the cause of all you have suffered; I will abide by you in joy or in
sorrow till I see you once more safe in your own dear mother's arms."

Comforted by this assurance, Catharine quickly dashed away the gathering
tears from her checks, and chid her own foolish fears.

"But you know, dear cousin," she said, "I am so helpless, and then the
dread of that horrible wolf makes a coward of me."

After some little time had elapsed, Hector returned; the bark vessel had
done its duty to admiration, it only wanted a very little improvement to
make it complete. The water was cold and pure. Hector had spent a little
time in deepening the mouth of the spring, and placing some stones about
it. He described the ravine as being much deeper and wider, and more
gloomy than the one they occupied. The sides and bottom were clothed with
magnificent oaks. It was a grand sight, he said, to stand on the jutting
spurs of this great ravine, and look down upon the tops of the trees that
lay below, tossing their rounded heads like the waves of a big sea. There
were many lovely flowers, vetches of several kinds, blue, white, and
pencilled, twining among the grass. A beautiful white-belled flower, that
was like the "Morning glory," (_Convolvulus major,_) and scarlet-cups
[Footnote: _Erichroma,_ or painted cup] in abundance, with roses in
profusion. The bottom of this ravine was strewed in places with huge blocks
of black granite, cushioned with thick green moss; it opened out into a
wide flat, similar to the one at the mouth of the valley of the Big Stone.
[Footnote: The mouth of this ravine is now under the plough, and waving
fields of golden grain and verdant pastures have taken place of the wild
shrubs and flowers that formerly adorned it. The lot belongs to G. Ley,
Esq.]

These children were not insensible to the beauties of nature, and both
Hector and his sister had insensibly imbibed a love of the grand and the
picturesque, by listening with untiring interest to their father's
animated and enthusiastic descriptions of his Highland home, and the wild
mountainous scenery that surrounded it. Though brought up in solitude and
uneducated, yet there was nothing vulgar or rude in the minds or manners of
these young people. Simple and untaught they were, but they were guileless,
earnest, and unsophisticated; and if they lacked the knowledge that is
learned from books, they possessed much that was useful and practical,
which had been taught by experience and observation in the school of
necessity.

For several days the pain and fever arising from her sprain rendered
any attempt at removing Catharine from the valley of the "Big Stone"
impracticable. The ripe fruit began to grow less abundant in their
immediate vicinity, and neither woodchuck, partridge, nor squirrel had been
killed; and our poor wanderers now endured the agonising pains of hunger.
Continual exposure to the air by night and by day contributed not a little
to increase the desire for food. It is true, there was the yet untried
lake, "bright, boundless, and free," gleaming in silvery splendour, but in
practice they knew nothing of the fisher's craft, though, as a matter of
report, they were well acquainted with all the mysteries of it, and had
often listened with delight to the feats performed by their respective
fathers in the art of angling, spearing and netting.

"I have heard my father say, that so bold and numerous were the fish in the
lakes and rivers he was used to fish in, that they could be taken by the
hand, with a crooked pin and coarse thread, or wooden spear; but that was
in the lower province; and oh, what glorious tales I have heard him tell of
spearing fish by torchlight!"

"The fish may be wiser or not so numerous in this lake," said Hector;
"however, if Kate can bear to be moved, we will go down to the shore and
try our luck; but what can we do? we have neither hook nor line provided."

Louis nodded his head, and sitting down on a projecting root of a scrub
oak, produced from the depths of his capacious pocket a bit of tin, which
he carefully selected from among a miscellaneous hoard of treasures.
"Here." said he, holding it up to the view as he spoke; "here is the slide
of an old powder-flask, which I picked up from among some rubbish that my
sister had thrown out the other day."

"I fear you will make nothing of that," said Hector. "a bit of bone would
be better. If you had a file now you might do something."

"Stay a moment, Monsieur Hec., what do you call this?" and Louis
triumphantly handed out of his pocket the very instrument in question, a
few inches of a broken, rusty file; very rusty, indeed, it was, but still
it might be made to answer in such ingenious hands as those of our young
French Canadian. "I well remember, Katty, how you and Mathilde laughed
at me for treasuring up this old thing months ago. Ah, Louis. Louis, you
little knew the use it was to be put to then," he added thoughtfully,
apostrophising himself; "how little do we know what is to befall us in our
young days!" "God knows it all," said Hector, gravely, "we are under His
good guidance."

"You are right, Hec., let us trust in His mercy and He will take good care
of us. Come, let us go to the lake," Catharine added, and sprung to her
feet, but as quickly sunk down upon the grass, and regarded her companions
with a piteous look, saying, "I cannot walk one step; alas, alas! what is
to become of me; I am only a useless burden to you. If you leave me here, I
shall fall a prey to some savage beast, and you cannot carry me with you in
your search for food."

"Dry your tears, sweet cousin, you shall go with us. Do you think that
Hector or Louis would abandon you in your helpless state, to die of hunger
or thirst, or to be torn by wolves or bears? We will carry you by turns;
the distance to the lake is nothing, and you are not so very heavy, ma
belle cousine; see, I could dance with you in my arms, you are so light a
burden,"--and Louis gaily caught the suffering girl up in his arms, and
with rapid steps struck into the deer path that wound through the ravine
towards the lake, but when they reached a pretty rounded knoll, (where Wolf
Tower [Footnote: See account of the "Wolf Tower," in the Appendix.] now
stands,) Louis was fain to place his cousin on a flat stone beneath a big
oak that grew beside the bank, and fling himself on the flowery ground at
her feet, while he drew a long breath, and gathered the fruit that grew
among the long grass to refresh himself after his fatigue; and then, while
resting on the "Elfin Knowe," as Catharine called the hill, he employed
himself with manufacturing a rude sort of fish-hook with the aid of
his knife, the bit of tin, and the rusty file; a bit of twine was next
produced,--boys have always a bit of string in their pockets, and Louis, as
I have before hinted, was a provident hoarder of such small matters. The
string was soon attached to the hook, and Hector was not long in cutting a
sapling that answered well the purpose of a fishing-rod, and thus equipped
they proceeded to the lake shore, Hector and Louis carrying the crippled
Catharine by turns. When there, they selected a sheltered spot beneath a
grove of over-hanging cedars and birches, festooned with wild vines, which,
closely woven, formed a natural bower, quite impervious to the rays of
the sun. A clear spring flowing from the upper part of the bank among the
hanging network of loose fibres and twisted roots, fell tinkling over a
mossy log at her feet, and quietly spread itself among the round shingly
pebbles that formed the beach of the lake. Beneath this pleasant bower
Catharine could repose, and watch her companions at their novel employment,
or bathe her feet and infirm ancle in the cool streamlet that rippled in
tiny wavelets over its stony bed.

If the amusement of fishing prove pleasant and exciting when pursued for
pastime only, it may readily be conceived that its interest must be greatly
heightened when its object is satisfying a craving degree of hunger. Among
the sunny spots on the shore, innumerable swarms of the flying grasshopper
or field crickets were sporting, and one of these proved an attractive
bait. The line was no sooner cast into the water, than the hook was seized,
and many were the brilliant specimens of sun-fish that our eager fishermen
cast at Catharine's feet, all gleaming with gold and azure scales. Nor was
there any lack of perch, or that delicate fish commonly known in these
waters as the pink roach.

Tired at last with their easy sport, the hungry boys next proceeded to the
grateful task of scaling and dressing their fish, and this they did very
expeditiously, as soon as the more difficult part, that of kindling up a
fire on the beach, had been accomplished with the help of the flint, knife,
and dried rushes. The fish were then suspended, Indian fashion, on forked
sticks stuck in the ground and inclined at a suitable angle towards the
glowing embers,--a few minutes sufficed to cook them.

"Truly," said Catharine, when the plentiful repast was set before her, "God
hath, indeed, spread a table for us here in the wilderness;" so miraculous
did this ample supply of delicious food seem in the eyes of this simple
child of nature.

They had often heard tell of the facility with which the fish could be
caught, but they had known nothing of it from their own experience, as the
streams and creeks about Cold Springs afforded them but little opportunity
for exercising their skill as anglers; so that, with the rude implements
with which they were furnished, the result of their morning success seemed
little short of divine interference in their behalf. Happy and contented
in the belief that they were not forgotten by their heavenly Father, these
poor "children in the wood" looked up with gratitude to that beneficent
Being who suffereth not even a sparrow to fall unheeded.

Upon Catharine, in particular, these things made a deep impression, and
there as she sat in the green shade, soothed by the lulling sound of the
flowing waters, and the soft murmuring of the many-coloured insects that
hovered among the fragrant leaves which thatched her sylvan bower, her
young heart was raised in humble and holy aspirations to the great Creator
of all things living. A peaceful calm diffused itself over her mind, as
with hands meekly folded across her breast, the young girl prayed with the
guileless fervour of a trusting and faithful heart.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19