Two on the Trail: A Story of Canada Snows Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  THE HOWL OF THE WOLF

  Presently Nell stood up and stretched, yawning a little, for she wassleepy. She looked round on her work and knew that all was completedexcept--the one thing. By a sort of instinct she stood quite stilllistening. There was no sound, but the crackle of wood in the stove andthe sighing of wind round the house. She was glad of that crackling, ithad a friendly feeling.

  Having satisfied herself that all was safe, and the big bolts shot homeinto the staples, she took down a pick that they often used for breakingthe hard ground, and then dragged back the big black bearskin spread onthe floor by the stove. Just as it was rolled up she startednervously--someone moving! She had forgotten Robin, who had followedDavid into the small room at the end, and now--perhaps hearing strangemovements on her part--came back to see what was happening. He walkedacross in a dignified manner, sat down on his haunches at the edge ofthe nearest rug, and then, turning his head slowly, gazed at the door.

  Poor Nell, rather burdened by the weight of these events, felt a glow ofaffection towards the wise dog. She had not remembered him oddly enoughfor quite a long while, except as a little horse for the sled. Now asshe looked over at him she knew she had a partner of value. The jobseemed much less formidable, and she fixed the sharp point of the pickbetween the floor boards with a much lighter heart. She knew exactlywhere the place was, her father had shown her the secret of thehiding-place, one piece fitting over another so neatly and the roughbark hiding joins. A person who did not know would have to get thewhole line up on the chance of finding one loose one.

  There was the money, tied up in packets and stowed in two bags made ofsoft deerskin. Nell took it out, and heartily wished there was less ofit! It was not heavy, of course, because it was paper. Also, from timeto time her father had changed a parcel of small bills for one largerone, so there was not nearly as much as might have been supposed torepresent so many years' savings.

  Before going to work on the hiding part of the business, the girl putback the log, knocked it firmly into place and put the bearskin over it.Then she gathered up the two bags, and stood holding them thoughtfullyas her fingers ran over the bulk and shape of the paper.

  At that moment her attention was drawn to Robin by his action. He movedslowly over to the door, and with drooping head blew sniffing breathalong the lower part of it. He made no sound, but the hackles on hisneck rose stiffly, and the snow squeezing in under the door was blownout by his breath.

  Then, from the forest came the far-off howl of a husky dog--or a wolf.

  Nell knew that the huskies in an Indian camp will howl in the night forhours. All of them together, too. The most mournful and tragic sound,though they are not unhappy. In the very coldest weather they will burythemselves in the snow--especially when they are on the Long Trail--burythemselves entirely and so sleep warm. But in the camps they willwander round about and in and out, fighting with each other and howlingin chorus as their ancestors the wolves must have done in far-away dayswhen all this great snow country was wild as the Barren Lands up in thenorth near the Circle.

  Nell listened, startled. Why should a husky dog be away out there byitself? It was so unlikely that she settled this must be a lone wolf.But why did it howl? They seldom did that unless they were in full cry,a pack of them on the track of a deer. Also wolves were not veryplentiful about this part; though, of course, they might come whendriven by hunger--ravenous, and savage.

  "Well, it doesn't matter," thought the girl, and she spoke to Robingently. "Only a wolf, old man. He won't interfere with us."

  Even as she stopped speaking, the wolf howled again. This time it wasnearer. Robin scratched at the foot of the door and snuffed againheavily, but he did not growl. That was reassuring, because Nell knewhe would have growled had it been an enemy--but why didn't he growl at awolf? That seemed odd. Wolf or husky would have been equallyobjectionable to Robin.

  These thoughts flashed through the girl's mind, the while she pushed theleather bags under the package of pelts, looked to the priming of herlittle weapon, and pulled the hood of her parka up to cover her head andface. Not only for protection from cold did she do this, but fordisguise also in a way, because, as she was dressed like a man inleather breeches with the fur inwards and leather moccasins--or leggingswith boots to them--being so tall and strong she would at once bemistaken for a man when the parka tails fell round her face.

  All this took but a couple of minutes; Nell always moved quickly. Thenshe grasped the bolt, pushing Robin aside with her foot and talking tohim in a low voice.

  "We must have a look, eh, boy?" she said. And at that instant the drearyhowl came from the back of the log house, close where the wood wasthickest and the hill rose steeply.

  "Queer," said Nell to the dog, "there's something more in this thanmeets the eye--for the matter of that, it doesn't meet the eye at all,does it, Robin? Hope it won't wake Da; he'll want to come out if hehears."

  But David slept; he was tired.

  The girl opened the door and slipped out into the snow. She held Robinby the collar till such time as it might be necessary to let him go, andtogether they went to the end of the shack.

  No one to be seen. No sound but the wind in the dry boughs above. Nelllistened intently, then she turned her head and looked back towards thedoor; after all, it was open and she did not like to go on round thehouse. Robin must go, she would stop this side.

  As her hand loosed from his neck, the big dog bayed once, a deep note,and disappeared into the wood. Nell went back towards the door her earsalert as any wild thing of the woods. Also her eyes! In spite of thedarkness, which was thick and starless, the snow made a palerbackground. On that it seemed to Nell that she saw a moving shadowclose to the house. Not tall. Rather close to the ground. She sprangforward swiftly, but the shadow was quicker; she saw it reach the doorand slip inside.

  The girl was not frightened, but she checked speed and approached thedoor with extra caution. She could not be sure whether this weirdshadow was an animal or a human being. In the latter case the bolt mightbe shot and herself shut out with David and the treasure within! Thatwould be awkward. She was waiting for Robin, knowing that he wouldfollow that shadow with unerring certainty.

  Sure enough, as she crept up to the unclosed door from her side, theblack shape of the big dog flashed into view from the other. He hadgone round the house with his muzzle to the ground on the trail of theshadow. Straight into the doorway he went before Nell could stop him.With a spring she followed instantly.

  There was some light within, because the glow from the stove wasdiffused, and a candle--Nell made them herself out of deers' fat with acotton wick--was set on the table as she left it. By this mild radianceshe saw, standing on the bearskin before the fire, a curious figure. Atleast, it would have been curious to a town-dweller, and wild, too.

  It was an Indian boy, slim, and active as a goat, complete as one of theBraves--as the men are called--from the feathers in his parka to thebeads on his moccasins. He took no notice of Robin--it would have beenbeneath the dignity of boy or man to show trace of fear ofanything--enemy, pain, or danger. But when he saw Nell come in swiftlyafter the dog, he flung out his right hand straight before him, with thepalm towards her. Nell instantly did the same thing. This was a signalof peace and friendship from him, and accepted by her.

  Seeing it was friendliness, then, Nell shut the door, fastened it andthen turned to this strange intruder. Robin had seated himself on hishaunches in his own place and was looking gravely at the two of them asthough asking, "What next?"

  Nell knew enough of the Chippewa tongue to make herself understood, andthe boy, of course, had caught some English from the trappers, but sheknew also that it was not etiquette to ask questions of an Indian,however odd the circumstances, so she began by offering him tea andfood.

  "My brother's feet are weary," she said, "and his throat is d
ry, for hehas come a long way in the dark. Let him sit down by the fire, andthere will be peace and friendship in this lodge."

  The boy, who was perhaps a little younger than David, bore himself withthe curious reserve and caution of a full-grown man of his tribe. Hesat down on the bearskin and watched her with the bead-like eyes of asquirrel--or a musk rat. There was no malice in the eyes, only intensecuriosity, which must, of course, be hidden, by all rules and habits ofIndian "bucks."

  Women may be inquisitive, or surprised, but men must not be. Nothingmust upset their dignity.

  He ate the fried meat and drank the tea that she offered him, and Nellhad a distinct impression that he was hungry. When he had finished heset his plate on the floor by his side and spoke in his own language,and always in the rather poetical phrasing of his people.

  "The meat is good and the heart of the Lizard is now warm."

  "I am glad," said Nell, "the night is long and dark, my brother theLizard journeyed a long way."

  "That is so--but the Lizard is strong, and he has no fear in the dark,because he is the son of Oga (the Pickerel). He runs like Kee-way-din,the North Wind, to carry a message to the tall white sister with hairthat flames."

  Nell tried not to show too much anxiety, but she realised that here wassomething really important.

  "I am glad," she said, "that the heart of my brother the Lizard is righttowards me. Oga is a great chief, and one day his son will be as tallas the pine trees, and as strong as the grey bear of the RockyMountains."

  The jet black eyes of the boy glittered with approval of this sentiment.He sat up rigidly, expanding his chest with pride, then he answered:

  "The Lizard has a sister and her name is Shines-in-the-Night; when thesun was warm and the chickadee danced in the woods, the tall whitesister came to the camp of Oga. She looked upon Shines-in-the-Nightwith the eyes of kindness and gave to her a necklace of blue beads, verybeautiful and precious. From that time the heart of Shines-in-the-Nightwas warm--whichever way she looked she saw only the tall white sisterwith hair that flames."

  Nell nodded, remembering easily the Indian girl with a paler skin thanthe others, to whom she had talked when she went with her father to buysome skins the previous spring. Also she remembered the blue beadswhich she had been wearing herself at the time.

  "Shines-in-the-Night spoke to the Lizard, and said, 'Go to the lodge ofmy sister and tell her that the trapper from Abbitibbi, with little eyesthat open only half-way, has a forked tongue. His words are not true,and his heart is black.'"

  "Shines-in-the-Night is very wise," said Nell in a low voice, "I know."

  The Lizard suddenly stood up on his feet.

  "Let the tall white sister take the trail," he said, watching Nell withtwinkling eyes, "then, when Little Eyes comes to the white man's lodge,there will be none to answer. My white sister will be gone, swift asAh-tek (the caribou), and Moose-wa (the moose)."

  A sudden presentiment overwhelmed the girl.

  "When will the man with a forked tongue come from the camp of Oga?" sheasked.

  "He will come to-day--this day that is now awake."