VI DOWN THE NORTHWEST SHORE
Hugh slept on board the _Otter_ that night and helped with the unloadingnext day. His duties over, he was free to go where he would. ToBaptiste's queries, he replied that he had seen his half-brother and hadarranged to accompany him to the Grand Portage. Later he would come againto the Kaministikwia or return to the Sault by the southerly route.Having satisfied the simple fellow's curiosity, Hugh went with him tovisit the New Fort.
Baptiste had a great admiration for the Fort. Proudly he called Hugh'sattention to the strong wooden walls, flanked with bastions. He obtainedpermission to take his friend through the principal building and displayto him the big dining hall. There, later in the year, at the time of theannual meeting, partners, agents and clerks would banquet together anddiscuss matters of the highest import to the fur trade. He also showedHugh the living quarters of the permanent employees of the post, thepowder house, the jail, the kilns and forges. When the Fort should becompleted, with all its storehouses and workshops, it would be almost avillage within walls. Outside the stockade was a shipyard and a tract ofland cleared for a garden. Hugh, who had lived in the city of Montreal,was less impressed with the log structures, many of them stillunfinished, than was the voyageur who had spent most of his days in thewilds. Nevertheless the lad wondered at the size and ambitiousness ofthis undertaking and accomplishment in the wilderness. Far removed fromthe civilization of eastern Canada, the trading post was forced to be alittle city in itself, dependent upon the real cities for nothing itcould possibly make or obtain from the surrounding country.
To tell the truth, however, Hugh found more of real interest and noveltywithout the walls than within. There, Baptiste took him through the campsof Indians, voyageurs and woodsmen or coureurs de bois, where bark lodgesand tents and upturned canoes served as dwellings. In one of the wigwamsBlaise was living, awaiting the time when he and his elder brother shouldstart on their adventurous journey.
Already Blaise had provided himself with a good birch canoe, ribbed withcedar, and a few supplies, hulled corn, strips of smoked venison as hardand dry as wood, a lump of bear fat and a birch basket of maple sugar. Healso had a blanket, a gun and ammunition, an iron kettle and a small axe.Hugh had been able to bring nothing with him but a blanket, his huntingknife and an extra shirt, but, as he had worked his passage, he stillpossessed a small sum of money. Now that he was no longer a member of thecrew of the _Otter_, he had no place to sleep and wondered what he shoulddo. Blaise solved the problem by taking him about a mile up-river to thepost of the New Northwest or X Y Company, a much smaller and lesspretentious place than the New Fort, and introducing him to the clerk incharge. Blaise had already explained that he and Hugh were going to getthe elder Beaupre's furs and would bring them back to the New Company'spost. So the clerk treated Hugh in a most friendly manner, invited him toshare his own house, and even offered to give him credit for the gun,canoe paddle and other things he needed. Hugh, not knowing whether thesearch for the furs would be successful, preferred to pay cash.
From the X Y clerk the lad learned that his father, always proud andfiery of temper, had, the summer before, taken offence at one of the OldCompany's clerks. The outcome of the quarrel had been that Beaupre hadentered into a secret agreement with the New Company, promising to bringhis pelts to them. The clerk warned both boys not to let any of the OldCompany's men get wind of their undertaking. The rivalry between the twoorganizations was fierce and ruthless. Both went on the principle that"all is fair in love or war," and the relations between them were verynearly those of war. If the Old Company learned of the hidden furs, theywould either send men to seek the cache or would try to force the boys tobring the pelts to the New Fort. The X Y clerk even hinted that JeanBeaupre had probably been the victim of some of the Old Company's men whohad discovered that he was carrying his furs to the rival post. Hugh,during his winter at the Sault, had heard many tales of the wild deeds ofthe fur traders and had listened to the most bitter talk against the X Yor New Northwest company. Accordingly he was inclined to believe theremight be some foundation for the agent's suspicions. Blaise, however,took no heed of the man's hints. When Hugh mentioned his belief that hisfather had been murdered because of his change of allegiance, the youngerboy shrugged his shoulders, a habit caught from his French parent.
"That may be," he replied, "but it is not in that direction _I_ shalllook for the murderer." And that was the only comment he would make.
To avoid curiosity and to keep their departure secret if possible, theboys decided not to go down the north branch of the Kaministikwia pastthe New Fort, but upstream to the dividing point, then descend the loweror southern channel. Early the third morning after Hugh's arrival, theyset out from the New Northwest post. Up the river against the currentthey paddled between wooded shores veiled by the white, frosty mist.Without meeting another craft or seeing a lodge or tent or even the smokeof a fire, they passed the spot where the middle channel branched off,went on to the southern one, down that, aided by the current now, and outupon the fog-shrouded waters of the great bay. Hugh could not have foundhis way among islands and around points and reefs, but his half-brotherhad come this route less than two weeks before. With the retentive memoryand excellent sense of direction of the Indian, he steered unhesitatinglyaround and among the dim shapes. When the sun, breaking through the fog,showed him the shore line clearly, he gave a little grunt ofsatisfaction. He had kept his course and was just where he had believedhimself to be.
This feat of finding his way in the fog gave the elder brother somerespect for the younger. Before the day was over, that respect hadconsiderably increased. As the older boy was also the heavier, he hadtaken his place in the stern, kneeling on his folded blanket. Wielding apaddle was not a new exercise to Hugh. He thought that Blaise set tooeasy a pace, and, anxious to prove that he was no green hand, hequickened his own stroke. Blaise took the hint and timed his paddling tohis brother's. Hugh was sturdy, well knit and proud of his muscularstrength. For a couple of hours he kept up the pace he had set. Then hisstroke grew slower and he put less force into it. After a time Blaisesuggested a few minutes' rest. With the stern blade idle and the bow onedipped only now and then to keep the course, they floated for ten orfifteen minutes.
Refreshed by this brief respite and ashamed of tiring so soon, Hughresumed work with a more vigorous stroke, but it was Blaise who set thepace now. In a clear, boyish voice, which gave evidence in only anoccasional note of beginning to break and roughen, he started an oldFrench song, learned from his father, and kept time with his paddle.
"Je n'ai pas trouve personne Que le rossignol chantant la belle rose, La belle rose du rosier blanc!"
Roughly translated:
"Never yet have I found anyone But the nightingale, to sing of the lovely rose, The lovely rose of the white rose tree!"
At first Hugh, though his voice broke and quavered, attempted to join in,but singing took breath and strength. He soon fell silent, content to dipand raise his blade in time to the younger lad's tune. An easy enoughpace it seemed, but the half-breed boy kept it up hour after hour, withonly brief periods of rest.
Hugh began to feel the strain sorely. His arms and back ached, his breathcame wearily, and the lower part of his body was cramped and numb fromhis kneeling position. He had eaten breakfast at dawn and, as the sunclimbed the sky and started down again, he began to wonder when and wherehis Indian brother intended to stop for the noon meal. Did Blaise purposeto travel all day without food, Hugh wondered. He opened his lips to ask,then, through pride, closed them again. Blaise, just fourteen, was nearlythree years younger than Hugh. What Blaise could endure, the elder ladfelt he must endure also. He did not intend to admit hunger or weariness,so long as his companion appeared untouched by either. With empty stomachand aching muscles, the white boy plied his paddle steadily and doggedlyin time to the voyageur songs and the droning, monotonous Indian chants,the constantly repeate
d syllables of which had no meaning for him.
It was the weather that came to Hugh's rescue at last. After the liftingof the chill, frosty, morning fog, the day was bright. The waters ofThunder Bay were smooth at first, then rippled by a light north breeze.As the day wore on, the breeze came up to a brisk blow. Partly protectedby the islands and points of the irregular shore, the two lads kept ontheir way. The wind increased. It roughened every stretch of open waterto waves that broke foaming on the beaches or dashed in spray against thegray-brown rocks. Paddling became more and more difficult. Blaise ceasedhis songs. As they rounded a low point edged with gravel and sand, andsaw before them a stretch of green-blue water swept by the full force ofthe wind into white-tipped waves, the half-breed boy told Hugh to steerfor the beach. A few moments later he gave his elder brother a quickorder to cease paddling.
Realizing that Blaise wished to take the canoe in alone, Hugh, breathinga sigh of relief, laid down his paddle. The muscles of his back andshoulders were strained, it seemed to him, almost to the breaking point,and he felt that, in spite of his pride, he must soon have asked forrest. Without disturbing the balance of the wobbly craft, he tried to rubhis cramped leg muscles. He feared that in trying to rise and step out,he might overturn the boat, to the mirth and disgust of his Indianbrother.
With a few strong and skillful strokes, Blaise shot the canoe into theshallow water off the point. When the bow struck the sand, with a sharpcommand to Hugh, he rose and stepped out. As quickly as he could, Hughgot to his feet, and managed to step over the opposite side withoutstumbling or upsetting the canoe. Raising the light bark craft, the twocarried it up the shelving shore, to the bushes that edged the woods,well beyond the reach of the waves.
The canoe carefully deposited in a safe spot, Hugh turned to Blaise."Shall we be delayed long, do you think?" he asked.
Blaise gave his French shrug. "It may be that the wind will go down withthe sun."
"Then, if we are to stay here so long, a little food wouldn't comeamiss."
The younger boy nodded and began to unlash the packages which, todistribute the weight evenly, were securely tied to two poles lying alongthe bottom of the canoe. Hugh sought dry wood, kindled it with sparksfrom his flint and steel, and soon had a small fire on the pebbles. Froma tripod of sticks the iron kettle was swung over the blaze, and when thewater boiled, Blaise put in corn, a little of the dried venison, which hehad pounded to a powder on a flat stone, and a portion of fat. He hadmade no mention of hunger, but when the stew was ready, Hugh noticed thathe ate heartily. Meanwhile the elder boy, tired and sore muscled, watchedfor some sign of weariness in his companion. If Blaise was weary he hadtoo much Indian pride to admit the fact to his new-found white brother.
The open lake was now rich blue, flecked with foamy whitecaps, the air soclear that the deep color of the water formed a sharp cut line againstthe paler tint of the sky at the horizon. The May wind was bitterly cold,so the lads rigged a shelter with the poles of the canoe and a blanket.The ground was so hard the poles could not be driven in. Three or fourinches down, it was either frozen or composed of solid rock. The boyswere obliged to brace each pole with stones and boulders. The blanket,stretched between the supports, kept off the worst of the wind, andbetween the screen and the fire, the two rested in comfort. Hugh soonfell asleep, and when he woke he was pleased to find that Blaise haddropped off also. Perhaps the latter was wearier than he had chosen toadmit.
The wind did not go down with the sun, and the adventurers made camp forthe night. Both blankets would be needed for bedding, so the screen wastaken down and the canoe propped up on one side. Then a supply of woodwas gathered and balsam branches cut for a bed. After a supper of cornporridge and maple sugar, the two turned in. Blaise went to sleep as soonas he was rolled in his blanket, but Hugh was wakeful. He lay there onhis fragrant balsam bed in the shelter of the canoe, watching theflickering light of the camp fire and the stars coming out in the darksky. Listening to the rushing of the wind in the trees and the wavesbreaking on the pebbles and thundering on a bit of rock shore near athand, surrounded on every side by the strange wilderness of woods andwaters, the boy could not sleep for a time. He kept thinking of hisroving, half-wild father, and of the strange legacy he had left his sons.Twice Hugh rose to replenish the fire, when it began to die down, beforehe grew drowsy and drifted away into the land of dreams.