CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER--RABBITS AND BEARS APPEAR.
"Hi! Hallo! I say, Nelly, what's all this?" There was good cause forthe tone of surprise in which Roy uttered these words when he awoke, forthe fireplace and the lower half of his own, as well as his sister's,blanket were covered with at least half a foot of snow. It had foundits way in at the hole in the roof of the hut, and the wind had blown agreat deal through the crevices of the doorway, so that a snow-wreathmore than a foot high lay close to Nelly's elbow.
This was bad enough, but what made it worse was that a perfect hurricanewas blowing outside. Fortunately the hut was sheltered by the woods,and by a high cliff on the windward side; but this cliff, although itbroke the force of the gale, occasioned an eddy which sent fearful gustsand thick clouds of snow ever and anon full against the doorway.
"O Roy! what shall we do?" said Nelly, in an anxious tone.
"Don't know," said Roy, jumping up and tightening his belt; "you nevercan know what's got to be done till you've took an observation o' what'sgoin' on, as daddy used to say. Hallo! hold on. I say, if it goes onlike this it'll blow the hut down. Come, Nelly, don't whimper; it'sonly a puff, after all, an' if it did capsize us, it wouldn't be thefirst time we had a tumble in the snow. Seems to me that we're goin' tohave a stormy Sabbath, though. Rouse up, lass, and while you'reclearin' off the snow, I'll go get a bundle o' sticks, and light thefire."
Roy stooped to pass under the low doorway, or, rather, hole of the hut,and bending his head to the blast passed out; while Nelly, whose heartwas cheered by her brother's confident tone more than by his words, setabout shovelling away the snow-drift with great activity.
Presently Roy returned, staggering under a heavy load of firewood.
"Ho! Nell," he cried, flinging down the wood with a clatter, "just youcome an' see Silver Lake. Such a sight it is you never saw; but comeslick off--never mind your belt; just roll your blanket round you, overhead and ears--there," said he, assisting to fasten the rough garment,and seizing his sister's hand, "hold on tight by me."
"Oh, _what_ a storm!" gasped the little girl, as she staggered out andcame within the full force of the gale.
It was indeed a storm, such as would have appalled the hearts ofyoungsters less accustomed to the woods than were our hero and heroine.But Roy and Nelly had been born and bred in the midst of stormybackwoods' elements, and were not easily alarmed, chiefly because theyhad become accustomed to estimate correctly the extent of most of thedangers that menaced them from time to time. A gale of the fiercestkind was blowing. In its passage it bent the trees until they groanedand creaked again; it tore off the smaller twigs and whisked them upinto the air; it lifted the snow in masses out of the open spots in thewoods, and hurled them in cloud-like volumes everywhere; and it roaredand shrieked through the valleys and round the mountain tops as if athousand evil spirits were let loose upon the scene.
Silver Lake was still silvery in its aspect, for the white drift wasflying across it like the waves of a raging sea; but here, beingexposed, the turmoil was so tremendous that there was no distinguishingbetween earth, lake, and sky. "Confusion, worse confounded" reignedevery where, or rather, appeared to reign; for, in point of fact, _thereis no confusion whatever_ in the works and ways of God. Common sense,if unfallen, would tell us that. The Word reveals it, and science oflate years has added its testimony thereto.
Roy and Nelly very naturally came to the conclusion that things were ina very disordered state indeed on that Sabbath morning, so they returnedto their hut, to spend the day as best they might.
Their first care was to kindle the fire and prepare breakfast. WhileNelly was engaged in this, Roy went out and cut several small trees,with which he propped the hut all round to prevent it from being blowndown. But it was discovered, first, that the fire would hardly kindle,and, second, that when it was kindled it filled the whole place withsmoke. By dint of perseverance, however, breakfast was cooked anddevoured, after which the fire was allowed to go out, as the smoke hadalmost blinded them.
"Never mind, Nell, cheer up," said Roy, on concluding breakfast; "we'llrig up a tent to keep the snow off us."
The snow, be it understood, had been falling into the fire, and, more orless, upon themselves, through the hole in the roof; so they made a tentinside the hut, by erecting two posts with a ridge-pole at a height ofthree feet from the ground, over which they spread one of theirblankets. Under this tent they reclined with the other blankets spreadover them, and chatted comfortably during the greater part of that day.
Of course their talk was chiefly of home, and of the mother who had beenthe sun and the joy of their existence up to that sad day when they werelost in the snow, and naturally they conversed of the Bible, and thehymns which their mother had made the chief objects of theircontemplation on the Sabbaths they had spent at Fort Enterprise.
Monday was as bad as Sunday in regard to weather, but Tuesday dawnedbright and calm, so that our wanderers were enabled to resume theiravocations. The snow-shoes were put in order, the sled was overhauledand mended, and more fish were caught and hung up to dry. In theevening Roy loaded his gun with ball, put on his snow-shoes, and salliedforth alone to search for deer. He carried with him several smallpieces of line wherewith to make rabbit snares; for, the moment the snowfell, innumerable tracks revealed the fact that there were thousands ofrabbits in that region. Nelly, meanwhile, busied herself in putting thehut in order, and in repairing the mocassins which would be required forthe journey home.
Lest any reader should wonder where our heroine found materials for allthe mending and repairing referred to, we may remark that the Indians inthe wilderness were, and still are, supplied with needles, beads, cloth,powder and shot, guns, axes, etcetera, etcetera, by the adventurousfur-traders, who penetrate deep and far into the wilderness of NorthAmerica; and when Nelly and Roy ran away from their captors they tookcare to carry with them an ample supply of such things as they mightrequire in their flight.
About half a mile from the hut Roy set several snares. He had oftenhelped his father in such work, and knew exactly how to do it.Selecting a rabbit-track at a spot where it passed between two bushes,he set his snare so that it presented a loop in the centre of the path.This loop was fastened to the bough of a tree bent downwards, and soarranged that it held fast to a root in the ground; when a rabbit shouldendeavour to leap or force through it, he would necessarily pull awaythe fastening that held it down, and the bough would spring up and liftthe hapless creature by the neck off the ground.
Having set half-a-dozen such snares, Roy continued his march in searchof deer-tracks. He was unsuccessful, but to his surprise he camesuddenly on the huge track of a bear! Being early in the season thisparticular bruin had not yet settled himself into his winter quarters,so Roy determined to make a trap for him. He had not much hope ofcatching him, but resolved to try, and not to tell Nelly of hisdiscovery until he should see the result.
Against the face of a cliff he raised several huge stones so as to forma sort of box, or cave, or hole, the front of which was open, the sidesbeing the stones referred to, and the back the cliff. Then he felled atree as thick as his waist, which stood close by, and so managed that itfell near to his trap. By great exertions, and with the aid of a woodenlever prepared on the spot, he rolled this tree--when denuded of itsbranches--close to the mouth of the trap. Next he cut three smallpieces of stick in such a form that they made a trigger--something likethe figure 4--on which the tree might rest. On the top of this triggerhe raised the tree-stem, and on the end of the trigger, which projectedinto the trap, he stuck a piece of dried fish, so that when the bearshould creep under the stem and touch the bait, it would disarrange thetrigger, set it off, and the heavy stem would fall on bruin's back. Ashe knew, however, that bears were very strong, he cut several otherthick stems, and piled them on the first to give it additional weight.
All being ready, and the evening far advanced, he returned
to the hut tosupper.