XXX THE FLIGHT FROM MINONG
The canoe had gone by, but the boys did not abate their caution andwatchfulness one whit, as they made their way back to the shore of thepond.
"That danger seems to be over," Hugh remarked, his voice still lowered toa whisper, as he came out of the woods near the boat. "Blaise, could youunderstand what those two said? Were you near enough to hear?"
"I was but a little way beyond you, my brother. I heard every word. Thereis bad blood between Monga and the young Iroquois. It was the Iroquoiswho wished to come up this way. They found the ashes of our fire at theend of that island out there. Monga thinks we went on across the mouth ofthis long bay. He wished to seek us in that direction, but when theIroquois found the passage between these islands, he forced Monga to comeup here first. He is sure now that we are not in here. So they go the wayMonga wishes."
"Then we are safe from those three for some hours at least, but I wish weknew where Ohrante and the others are."
"Ohrante must hold Monga, and perhaps the Iroquois, to blame for yourescape. If they take you not back, it will go hard with them. It may bethat Ohrante has sent them to seek you and himself waits at the camp, orhe may search in the other direction. Perhaps he will not come into thisBay of Manitos at all."
"Very likely he is glad of an excuse to stay out," returned Hugh with agrin. "Ohrante may be brave as a lion with other men, but I think he isnot quite so bold with spirits."
"No man is," Blaise replied simply. "I am not sure that Ohrante is verybrave. He is cruel and treacherous, but brave in the way our father was?No, I think he is not brave like that." The lad gave one of hischaracteristic French shrugs.
Hugh made no answer. He discounted his brother's opinion of Ohrantesomewhat. Blaise was half Ojibwa, of the Algonquin stock, and the ancienthatred between Algonquin and Iroquois had not died out and probably neverwould die. The boy was naturally unwilling to admit any good qualities inthe self-styled "Chief of Minong," half Mohawk by blood and wholly so bytraining. But Ohrante, thought Hugh, must have some unusual qualities,since, in spite of the ancient hate, he had attracted to his band Ojibwasas well as Iroquois.
"Yet, we know not," Blaise went on after a moment, "how near the othersmay be, or how soon Monga may return this way. We dare not venture outuntil darkness comes."
Sunset came at last and twilight. The last morsels of the maple sugar andthe soaked corn made up the evening meal. Blaise slipped through thewoods once more, and reported the outer bay and strait empty of all lifeexcept a pair of fish ducks. Then he and Hugh pushed off the bateau andcrossed the pond. No more peaceful spot could be imagined. The stillwater reflected the motionless trees and the soft colors of the sky. Fromthe woods came the clear, plaintive notes of a thrush.
Landing, the lads went directly to the old birch, and were relieved tofind no signs that anyone had been near it. Blaise climbed the tree andlet himself down into the hole. Hugh then followed him up, received thebales the younger boy handed him and lowered them to the ground.Squirrels or wood-mice had nibbled the outer wrappings, but had notpenetrated to the pelts. When all the packages were out of the tree, thetwo carried them to the shore and stowed them in the boat. Once more theypaddled across the lake and took the sail aboard. They did not set up themast, as they wished to push the boat under the fallen cedar. Beachingthe bateau close to the end of the barrier, they set to work to cut a waythrough.
They had only the one little axe, and Hugh wielded that, climbing out onthe tree to reach the limbs he wished to cut. Blaise, standing in theshallow water, trimmed off smaller branches with his stout knife. Workingwith skill and speed, they soon had the lower limbs cleared away from theunder side of the trunk. There appeared to be room enough to push thebateau through, but the water at that spot was very shallow. The boatgrounded on the rock bottom. The lads unloaded most of the furs, andsucceeded in dragging the lightened bateau over the shallows. Then theyhad to carry the bales through the woods, and reload. All this work theywere forced to do as quietly as possible. The blows of the axe could notbe muffled, but the two made no noise they could avoid. They did not darelight a torch, but the sky was clear and the northern twilight long.Darkness had settled down, however, by the time they were ready to leavetheir island of refuge.
In that sheltered place, they were unable to tell whether there wasbreeze enough to aid or hinder them, but they had made up their minds toleave the Bay of Spirits. If possible they would start for the mainland,by sail if they could, by paddle if they must. If the wind was so strongagainst them that they could not cross, they would go on in the otherdirection, and find some temporary hiding place farther from the camp ofthe Chief of Minong.
Straight out through the quiet water of the narrower channel, shadowed bythe black, wooded masses of the islands to right and left, they paddled.Darkness and still water made the shallows treacherous, but they hadnoted the channel on their way in that morning, and made their way outagain without accident.
Suddenly Blaise in the bow gave a quick, low hiss. Hugh knew that thealarmed warning meant, not mere shallow water ahead, but some graverdanger. He obeyed the signal and steered into the deep shadow of theisland close by. The boat scraped the rocks and came to a stop. Lookingout from the protecting gloom, across the moonlit lake, Hugh caught sightof the cause of his brother's alarm. A canoe, paddled swiftly, wascrossing the open water beyond the islands, going north. Would it turn upthe bay? Hugh sat motionless, his paddle handle gripped tightly. Then hedrew a breath of relief. The canoe had not turned. It went straight onand disappeared from sight.
Hugh moved forward to speak to Blaise. "The fellows who were after us,"he whispered, "going back to camp. They have given up the chase."
"I could make out but two men," Blaise replied.
"You couldn't be certain there weren't three," Hugh argued, "unless youcan see much better at night than I can."
Blaise shook his head doubtfully. "The canoe was headed for the longpoint. They must be some of Ohrante's men."
"None of them was big enough to be Ohrante himself. We could see themwell enough to make sure of that."
The brothers waited in the shadow for several minutes, then ventured on.As they came out from the shelter of the islands, a light southeastbreeze, that barely rippled the water, struck them.
"A favorable enough wind, if we want to go direct to the Kaministikwia,"remarked Hugh, "but do we?"
"It is at the Kaministikwia where we must sell the furs."
"But how about our revenge on Ohrante? Are we to let him meet thosereinforcements at his Torture Island, and then go on capturing innocentpeople and putting them to death for his own pleasure? Ohrante is amenace to both white men and Ojibwas, Blaise."
"Yes, I know that," the younger lad replied slowly, "but what can you andI alone do against him and his band and the new braves who come to joinhim? I am as eager as you to see Ohrante destroyed. I long to avenge myfather by doing the deed with my own hands, but we must plan cautiously.If we are over rash, we shall fail."
"What would you do then, Blaise?"
"I would go quickly to the Kaministikwia, leave the furs there, and findother men to go with us to the Isle of Torture."
"That will take a long time," Hugh objected. "We may be too late."
"Then we will cross to Minong again. We know where his camp is. Oh, wecan find men eager to seek out Ohrante and his wolf pack wherever theymay be, and destroy them like the wolves they are. The X Y agent willhelp us to raise a party. Ohrante was brought into this country by theOld Company. He is a skillful hunter and took to them many pelts."
"True. The New Company will be glad to help capture the fellow no doubt,"Hugh agreed.
"But you and I, as our father's sons, will claim the right to deal withhim." There was a hard, fierce note in the lad's voice. Jean Beaupre hadnot been a mild man, yet it was not so much the hot-tempered Frenchfather that spoke now in the son, as the fierce, implacable savage.Bitt
erly as Hugh hated the giant Mohawk, he sensed something differentand alien in his half-brother's passion. Through the weeks of constantassociation with Blaise, Hugh had ceased ordinarily to think of him asIndian, but now, for the moment, he was not Blaise Beaupre, butAttekonse, Ojibwa. Yet it was the white boy who was the most impatient atthe thought of delay in dealing with Ohrante.
The wind, however, had apparently settled the question. The breeze wouldcarry the boat northwest to Thunder Bay, but would be more hindrance thanhelp in going southwest to Grand Portage. In the lee of an island, thebrothers raised their mast and ran up their sail. As they paddled outfrom shelter, the breeze caught the canvas and they were off across thelake.
Clouds had covered the moon, and it was too dark to sight Thunder Cape.The boys could do nothing but run before the wind and trust to it tocarry them somewhere near their destination. At any rate they wereleaving Minong and putting the miles between themselves and the cruel,self-appointed chief of the island. That wonderful and beautiful island,which the white men had appropriately called Royale, deserved a betterking, and the first step in the right direction was to depose the presentusurper, thought Hugh with grim humor.