XXVIII CONFUSING THE TRAIL
Looking around for a tall tree, Blaise found a tapering spruce, growingin a pocket of deeper soil and towering above its fellows. The stubs ofthe lower branches, that, deprived of light by adjacent trees, had diedand fallen off, formed a ladder, up which he climbed, Hugh not farbehind. Reaching the live limbs, they pushed their way among the thickmasses of dark green needles. The smaller lad went on until the slenderspire bent threateningly under his weight.
The moon had come out from behind the clouds, and the paling sky foretoldthe dawn. From his perch above the surrounding trees, Blaise could seethe water, and, across it, the narrow black line of the low point. On theother side, directly below him, he could make out from the growth thatthe ground dipped down. Beyond the slight dip, the rising ranks of treesbetrayed the steepness of the ascent. A little to his right and far up,his keen eyes detected a bare stretch of rock between the masses offoliage above and below. He took a long look in every direction, thenstarted to climb down.
Hugh, learning from the movement of the branches above him that Blaisewas descending, also moved farther down. There, resting on a stout limb,he waited for his brother.
"What did you make out?" he asked eagerly. "I could see that we are partway up the ridges. Have we kept a straight course?"
"Yes, we have come straighter than I feared, but we are scarce more thanhalf-way up, and we must go farther to the left. You remember that barecliff?"
"The wall, like a fortification, that we saw from across the bay?"
"The same. We cannot climb that place. We must go to the left to avoidit. Come, we must make haste."
Darkness still lay deep in the woods, as the two plunged down the shortslope into a narrow and shallow gully. Through the thicker growth at thebottom, they threaded their way to the left a hundred yards or more, thenbegan to ascend again. The rapidly rising ground, interrupted by shallowdepressions only, served as a guide. Where the slope was regular and nottoo steep and there was soil enough to anchor them, trees grew thick, butabrupt bare places, masses of tumbled rocks and almost vertical wallsmade up much of the way. The northwestern side of the long point was farmore abrupt than the southeastern, but the increasing light made itpossible for the boys to choose their path. They were no longer compelledto proceed by sense of feeling only. Sound of wind, active of limb, andgoaded on by the signs of breaking day, they climbed swiftly and withoutpause.
Crossing a narrow shelf of broken rock debris, that had crumbled intosoil deep enough to bear trees, they came to the last rise. By goingfarther to the left, they had thought to avoid the bare, pillared, rockramparts, and had indeed escaped the steepest and highest stretch.Nevertheless the cliff before them was almost vertical, and clothed withonly an occasional sturdy, dwarfed mass of cedar or trailing juniper, alittle seedling tree, stunted bush or tiny plant, growing in crevice orhollow, and the ever present, tight clinging moss and lichens. Had theancient rock not been ribbed and blocked and weathered, it would havebeen unclimbable. The splitting off of blocks and scaling away of flakes,which had crumbled into debris at the foot of the cliff, had left shelvesand crannies affording some foothold and finger-hold to the activeclimber.
It was a bad place to go up but not an impossible one. The fugitivespaused only long enough to select what appeared to be a possible route upa sort of flue, caused by the falling out of one of the pillars. Blaisewent first, and Hugh would have followed close behind, had not thehalf-breed boy bade him, somewhat sharply, wait below. If Blaise lost hishold and slipped back, it would not advantage him any to take his elderbrother down with him. The lad was nearing the top when he let his weightrest too heavily on an insecure ledge. The rock flaked off, and he wasleft hanging, one hand thrust into a crack, the other clinging to a cedarstem. Down below, Hugh held his breath in suspense. For the interval ofan instant, while the agile climber drew up his left foot and thrust histoes into a cranny, the cedar held. Then its roots pulled loose. ButBlaise managed to keep his balance, and quickly hooked his strong fingersaround the rim of the hole where the cedar clump had been growing. In afew moments he was over the top, and it was Hugh's turn to make theascent.
The scaling away of the piece of rock that had formed the narrow ledgemade it necessary for Hugh to take a slightly different route up theflue. He was heavier than Blaise and for him the climb was even moreperilous. Profiting by his younger brother's experience, Hugh trusted tocrannies and cracks into which he could thrust his fingers and toes,rather than to the more treacherous projections. Climbing cautiously, hereached the summit without accident.
The growth on the ridge top prevented the boys from seeing to the east,but the sky was now so light they knew sunrise could not be far away.Hurrying across the summit, they came out upon the southeastern slope.From there they could see the rose pink flush of day.
The southeastern side of the high ridge was far less abrupt than thenorthwestern. Except for occasional open rock stretches, it was, however,thickly forested. In spite of the rough going, the fugitives made goodspeed on the down grade. Nimbly the light-footed Blaise threaded his wayamong trees and undergrowth, and sprang down the open slopes. Hugh, towhose feet the very thought of the cruel Iroquois seemed to give wings,kept close behind. In a shorter time than they would have believedpossible, they were at the edge of the water.
Blaise glanced towards the woods across the channel. "That is not theisland where the little lake is," he said. "We are too far down. Thebateau is over that way." Without waiting for Hugh to reply, the ladturned to the right and began to make his way along shore.
A moment later, Hugh, following closely, said anxiously, "We are leavinga plain trail here. The ground is damp and there is much undergrowth."
"We cannot help that. If we must leave a trail, we will use it to leadour enemies astray, Step as lightly as you can, and in a little while Iwill show you a trick." Hugh had been possessed with the fear that someof Ohrante's men might have discovered the boat and taken it away. He wasgreatly relieved to find it tied to the overhanging tree where he hadleft it.
"Take the bateau," the younger boy ordered, "and paddle down to the placewhere we came out of the woods. I will join you there."
"What are you going to do?"
"Lead our enemies astray. If they find my tracks near their camp andfollow them, they may also find the trail down to this place. They mustnot think that we crossed the water from here. I shall make tracks, plaintracks, from here down towards the mouth of the bay, beyond the placewhere you and I came out of the woods a little while ago."
"But in our old trail from here to the ridge top the footprints point up,not down."
"Yes, and we have not time to go back and make new. I hope they willthink we travelled both ways on that trail. I will go back a little wayand make a few prints leading down."
While Hugh was untying and pushing off the bateau, Blaise, goingcarefully and lightly, followed for a little way the route he had takenwhen he went in search of his white brother. Then, turning, he came back,leaving here and there clear impressions to show direction. Twenty orthirty feet from the shore, he branched off to the left, making tracksleading to the alongshore trail, but avoiding the spot where the bateaulay. He then went on towards the mouth of the bay, carefully obliteratingall toe marks that pointed up the channel, and making sure to leave somepointing down.
In the meantime Hugh had pushed off the bateau. He noticed that the boathad left no clear traces, except where the rope had rubbed the bark fromthe limb around which it had been tied. That scar might easily have beenmade by the claws of some animal climbing out over the water. To makesuch an origin seem more likely, he scratched the scar lengthwise severaltimes with his thumb nail. As he paddled along close to shore, he cameupon the tree Blaise had crossed on, and pushed it out into mid channel.
About a hundred feet below the place where they had come out of thewoods, Hugh joined Blaise. Here they took pains to leave distinct si
gnsthat a boat had been pulled up on shore. They wished their pursuers tosee that they had taken to the water at this spot. Their intention was tolead Ohrante, should he find their trail, away from the island where thefurs were hidden.
"Wouldn't it be possible, Blaise," Hugh questioned, "to load the furs andstart across the lake at once? If the wind is right, I am willing to riskOhrante's seeing us and giving chase. With a good breeze we canoutdistance his canoes."
Blaise shook his head. "We could not run away from him in this wind. Lastnight it was nearly northeast, but now it is northwest. Surely younoticed that when we were on the ridge top. We cannot make speed withthis heavy bateau against the wind. Yet it is not too strong for canoesto go against it, if the men at the paddles have skill. No, we must waittill the wind changes or till darkness comes again. Now we will carry ourfalse trail farther."
Blaise steered the boat straight across the channel to the outer end ofthe opposite island. Between steep, high, bare masses of detached rockand the small island itself, a reef extended, the inner end rising out ofthe water to form a beach of boulders and pebbles. The boys ran thebateau on the pebbles and jumped out. They could see off across the openwater to the east, where the sun was already above the horizon.
"Here," said Blaise, "we will leave the ashes of a fire, as if we hadstopped to cook a meal. Make haste and get wood."
Hugh did not need to be warned to make haste. A small fire was soonkindled on the pebbles where it could not spread, then partly stamped outand left smouldering. As the boys embarked again, Hugh glanced back tosatisfy himself that the wind was not carrying any sparks towards thewoods. Heretofore he had always drenched his cooking fire before leavingcamp, but to have poured water on this one would have defeated hisyounger brother's purpose. Blaise wanted the recent kindling of the fireto be in plain evidence.
"Where we have gone from here our enemies cannot tell," he explained."They will find no tracks or signs on this little island except aroundthe fire. Then they will be sure we have gone by boat, but which way theywill not know."
"Which way shall we go?" Hugh questioned.
"Back to our camp in the little inland lake, but not down the channelnext the point. We will steer around these big rocks and up the otherside of this island."
The two paddled the bateau around the rocks and up along the southeasternside of the small island. High in the center and heavily wooded, it hidthem completely. Their route led them into the open end of the narrowstrait that cut into the other island where the furs were hidden. Theypassed the gap with its two tiny islets, where heretofore they had gonein and out, and were soon back in the little pond.
"I don't know whether we are wise to stay here," Hugh said thoughtfully,as they drew the boat up on the narrow beach. "We have tried to confuseour trail, yet if Ohrante tracks us across the high ridge and down to thewater, he will surely search all these islands. This is almost tooperfect a hiding place. If those Indians are familiar with this 'Bay ofSpirits' they will think of this place at once. Then we shall be caughtlike rats in a trap."
"You are right to call this the 'Bay of Spirits,'" Blaise replied. "Bythat name Monga and Red Band spoke of it. But I think they have neverbeen here but that one time. From what they said I think they have alwaysmade their camps on the part of Minong that lies the other side of thehigh ridge. And now both Monga and Red Band have great fear of this bay."
Hugh chuckled. "So has the mighty chief Ohrante. I saw his fear in hisface when I spoke of hearing strange noises. I am wondering, though, ifhe should track us here, if he will not suspect a trick."
"Something more than the voices has frightened them," Blaise went on."The second time I listened to those two, Monga told Red Band of hugegiants at the end of the point."
"Giants? Did he mean those pillars of rock?"
"No, the giants were alive and moved."
"Some old superstition, Blaise."
"Monga said he saw the giants, Hugh, he and others of the band."
"We spent nearly a day on that point and we saw no giants. If Monga sawanything there it must have been you and me. I don't understand how thosefellows in that canoe could have missed seeing us. Blaise,"--a suddenlight of understanding dawned in Hugh's face,--"Blaise, do you rememberhow hot and still it was, and how the haze shimmered on the water? And doyou recall the day we crossed to the Isle Royale, the very same sort ofday? We saw the mirage, high mountains towering up where later we foundthere were no real mountains. Do you remember too when we left the Bay ofthe Beaver, how we saw coming towards us through the morning mist, whatwe thought was a ship, so tall it looked, but when it drew nearer itshrank to a mere sailboat?"
"I remember those things." Blaise was staring at Hugh's excited face.
"Don't you understand then? Don't you see how it was that Monga and thoseothers in that canoe saw giants on the end of the point? On that hot,still day, as they came across the water and looked through the shimmerof the heat haze, they saw us there on the open rocks. We ourselves sawthat island far out greater than it really was and distorted. Do youremember how it shrank afterwards? To those men in that canoe we too weredistorted and loomed up huge and tall like giants. That was whatfrightened them. That explains their hasty flight. We were the giants onthe end of the point!"
Blaise was still staring, but his look of puzzlement had given way to onealmost of awe. "It may be as you say," he replied slowly. "Monga thoughtit was Kepoochikan and Nanibozho. I cannot understand it at all, thatenchantment you call mirage that makes men see mountains that are notthere and turns bateaus into ships and men into giants."
"I don't understand it either," Hugh admitted, "and neither did thecaptain of the _Athabasca_. He said it was just one of the secrets ofnature that we don't understand yet. Surely the mirage is nothing tofear. It has stood us in good stead by frightening away Ohrante's men andcausing them to stand in terror of this bay. No wonder we scared themaway with the echoes. They must have been frightened when they came inhere. If only their fear is strong enough to keep them away now, we aresafe. But we dare not trust too much to that. We must hide ourselves aswell as we can. The entrance to this little lake is narrow and I think Isee a way to block it so it will look as if no boat could have gonethrough. First, though, let us eat something if there is anything left."
"There is a little corn, if no animal has stolen it," Blaise replied. "Itoo am sore hungry, for I have eaten nothing but a few green bearberriessince I set out in search of you."