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

  CHAPTER VI

  GREEN EYES IN THE DARKNESS

  So their flight continued all day, with brief rests for "changinghorses," as it were. About twelve o'clock they were very hungry, andNell decreed a short spell for dinner. They seemed to have the wholeworld to themselves. There was more brushwood and undergrowth in thewoods now, not only fir trees, but many other sorts. More hiding groundfor wild animals, too--but that was not a serious danger till the nightshould make them bold.

  Nell unstrapped the little axe and looked about for a dead sapling of abirch tree; when she found it she bent it over double and split the bendwith a sharp blow of the axe. Inside was white pith dry as powder; withthis and dead sticks they made a small, round, red-hot fire, as theIndians do, first scraping a place bare on the edge of the bank where itwas reasonably flat. Then they boiled tea in the billy-can, weak, buthot, putting a little molasses sugar into it to take off the bitterness.Some of this they gave to Robin when it was cooler--he was very fond oftea. For food they ate some pemmican and a bit of Nell's bread. Theyhad brought what they could carry--which was not much, of course--thenthey would rely chiefly on soaked beans.

  "We'll have bacon for supper," said Nell in a comforting voice. It wentto her heart, rather, to see David eating the dried meat without a wordof complaint; it was not very tempting, because, though nourishing, itwas rather tasteless.

  Robin had dried fish. That is the main food of dogs in the winter. Ofcourse, when a deer is shot, or rabbits and hares are trapped--or even afox--they get meat, but you cannot depend on it in the snow time: thesecreatures get scarce, because the hunting animals destroy them.

  Next time they camped it was late afternoon, when the dusk was beginningto shadow the silent forest. They were very tired. Not so tired as aninexperienced pair would have been, but certainly very tired andstiff--the muscles of the legs suffered from these long hours ofsnowshoe work. But neither of them said a word. David would not haveadmitted it for the world, and Nell was too thankful for the successfulday's journey to complain about aches.

  The night camp was a more serious affair than the "dinner" one. Firstthey scraped out a wide place on the bank just below a high pitch ofrock. There was a good deal of rock about in places which would meanrapids and waterfalls presently, all sorts of inconveniences to stop thepace of their journey. But in this position they were glad of it,because it seemed to wall them off from the lonely woods, also it made ashelter from the chill wind that moaned through the spaces.

  Then they gathered dead wood. At least, David did that while Nellunlashed the load and got out the sleeping bags, the bacon andfrying-pan, and big, thick stockings to change into in case their feetwere damp--which always was the case, and might mean frost-bite or, atleast, serious chill, unless attended to.

  They regularly walled themselves in from the forest. On one side wasthe rock wall, on the other the sled turned up on its side, and somaking rather a good barrier in between the snow scraped up into a highfence, while the fourth side was open to the river--their icy,snow-covered road. Not every part of the banks was convertible in thispractical way. You could go for long stretches and pass only masses ofbrushwood and rocks overhanging the course of the stream, but this placeNell's careful eye singled out as just right for a night camp.

  First, after this barricading, came the fire and collection of a fineheap of dead wood for the night. Then supper--fried bacon, bread, andtea; then the changing of foot-gear, and finally the two crawled intotheir fur-lined bags, feet foremost, and drew them up over their heads.That is the only way to keep warm, because otherwise the cold air isbound to creep in somewhere. If you cover your head as well, you mayfeel a bit stuffy, but you are not cold.

  Robin, who had no bushy tail to curl round over his nose and toes as thehusky dogs do, came and made his bed between their two bags. And thenthere was silence in the strange, lonely camp, miles away from a humanhabitation. The boughs overhead and the over-reaching rock protectedthem from falling snow, but every now and then a flake sizzled on to thefire. The light of the burning wood cast a pink glow on the snow wall oftheir barrier, and with all the loneliness and cold there was a sense ofcomfort and even security.

  Nell had arranged the pile of fresh wood close to her head so as to bewithin reach for replenishing the fire. For a time she could notsleep--in spite of the terribly long day just passed and the sleeplessnight of work before that. She could not throw off the feeling ofresponsibility, or that liveliness of mind that made her obliged to keepon following the doings of Jan Stenson in her imagination. Had theyescaped him or would he follow?

  Twice she rose on her elbow and reached out of her bag to throw handfulsof wood on the fire, both times Robin raised his head to watch herdoings, and she saw the shine of the flame light on his deep-set eyes.David was sound asleep, jerking a little and making grunts anddistressful noises, as his hardworked muscles reminded him of the day'slabour.

  Then the girl fell asleep, too, deeply asleep; and the camp was quitestill but for the faint crackle of wood as the fire died down.

  It was about midnight when Nell was roused by a low growling from thehound. It must have gone on for some time before the girl realised it,because she was aware of it in her dreams after a fashion. But she wasso deeply asleep that waking herself was like coming up out of a well,by slow stages.

  Then she put her nose cautiously out of her furry nest and gazed round.It was dark, except for the faint paleness of the snow, for of coursethe rock barricade made a blackness, and the trees were fairly thickabove. Of the fire remained only a scatter of red sparks and whiteashes.

  Nell raised herself to a sitting posture, bag and all, and stayedabsolutely quiet, looking about to realise what the trouble was, if any.She did not attempt to put wood on the fire even. She hardly breathed.

  From somewhere close, but not on the ground, came a very slight crack,the crack of dead wood. This was nothing, because the weight of snowwould break a twig any time, apart from the movings of grey squirrels,chipmunks or other furry things that made shelters in the hollows oftrunks. She was not afraid. Indeed, she firmly believed that there wasonly one event that could shake her peace of mind seriously, and thatwas the knowledge that the trapper was really on their trail.

  She was just going to lie down again when something made her look up atthe top of the rock that shielded them on the side they had made theirbeds. It might have been ten or twelve feet--hardly more--andperpendicular, but a broken surface mostly grown over with the coarsegrey tinted moss that deer eat in winter.

  At the top, directly above the sleeping-place, shone two pale greenlights. They were close together, and terribly bright and evil. Theyglared out of pitch darkness on the rock top, and Nell felt a shock asshe met fully the utter malevolence of the stare. Like the eyes in apicture that seem to follow the person who looks at them, these eyesappeared to meet Nell's horrified gaze, but a moment after she realisedthat they were most likely watching something else. Then she saw thesomething else, and that startled her almost as much as the eyes.

  Attracted perhaps by the smell of food and the warmth of the glowingembers, another creature of the forest was peering cautiously round theend of the upturned sled. Probably it had been creeping about thesilent camp for some time, and hearing no sound ventured to inspectfarther.

  When Nell had moved to sit up, she had done so with the ease and swiftsilence of any other woodland dweller. Now she remained as still assleeping David, except that she shifted one hand very, very gently on toRobin's head--as a check; by the twitch of his forehead she _felt_ hiseyes watching. So they stayed, frozen as it were, while the searchercame round the end of the sled and stood still.

  It looked very big against the snow, but the girl knew how to allow forthe dimness and the uncertain jumps of light from the wood sparks. Shewas not sure if it was an opossum, a fox, or a big wild cat. Either ofthe two last would be likely to be hunting at nig
ht. Then she saw as itdrew nearer that it was carrying some animal in its jaws. It had beenhunting in the river bank close by and caught a rabbit, or perhaps amusk-rat, and the warmth had attracted it into the circle of the littlecamp. It was a cat. A wild cat, of course, one of the great strongspecimens that the trappers called catamounts, and quite possibly mateto the one that had bitten Andrew Lindsay. It carried its prey withhead held rather high, as a household cat carries a mouse, and itstepped with the same wonderfully cautious delicacy, the big bushy taildrooping. Body close to the ground it crawled forward, and presentlycrouched, growling over its catch, as a cat growls.

  Robin's growl had ceased when Nell touched him. He simply watched insilence, having no desire at all to tackle a wild cat in fair fight!Unless he disabled the enemy at the first onslaught he would get theworst of the battle most likely, and in any case might lose his sightand be torn in rags. He knew all about wild cats and left them, and afew other unpleasant forest people, severely alone.

  The girl was not afraid, for she had always heard that a wild cat willnever attack first unless it is shut into a confined space or is caughtin a trap. Out in the woods it will run--as a rule.

  Crouching down, it began to eat the rabbit, stopping every second andstaring round with ferocious menace for any enemy. Then it saw thegreen eyes on the top of the rock, and shrank into itself with a sort ofspitting shriek. Robin shifted his position and pressed close to hismistress--the shriek was horrible, undoubtedly.

  Nell became uneasy. She did not like those terrible eyes on the rocktop, but reasoned in her own mind that the other animal--whatever itwas--was interested in the catamount, and neither would interfere withher. Nevertheless, her hand stole to her pistol pocket and she got outthe weapon, to be ready.

  Now the beast on the rock was hungry, as forest creatures mostly are inthe winter. It had been attracted to the camp by the smell of bacon,and probably been sitting up there for hours with the intent patience ofa wild thing. The appearance of the cat had changed the attraction.Here was a rabbit, in plain view, and the sight of the other beasteating was too great a provocation.

  The pale green eyes seemed to send out flames of rage, and a snarl camefrom the rock top that was every bit as fiendish as the cat's shriek.

  Nell knew pretty well that she had only to throw a handful of sticks onto the smouldering embers to drive both wild beasts into hiding. Butwith curiosity was mixed a good deal of excitement. She wanted to seewhat they would do. They were taken up with one another, anyhow, andwhen you live in the woods, the doings of the creatures become asinteresting as very exciting books. Never had it come her way to see acatamount defend its supper--or early breakfast--from a lynx; she fullybelieved the watcher on the rock top to be that, most savage, perhaps,of all the cat tribe.