IX
THE HEART OF A BOY
It was a youth who presently faced them on the threshold of the hut;an apple-cheeked boy of seventeen, who bared two rows of shining whiteteeth; and whose blue eyes, at the sight of them, sparkled with thepurest enthusiasm of welcome.
"Come right in, and dry out!" he cried. "I certainly am glad to seeyou!" The haunting reed of boyhood still vibrated faintly in the manliernotes of his voice.
Here was a greeting from a stranger to warm the hearts of the wet andweary wayfarers! It presented the North in a new aspect. Natalie inespecial, beamed on their young host; he was wholly a boy after herown heart.
Looking at Natalie more particularly, the boy blushed and faltereda little. "It isn't much of a place to receive a lady in," he saidapologetically. "I haven't been on my own long enough to getanything much together."
It was a characteristically boyish abode. The furniture was limitedto the cook-stove in the centre of the room; and a home-made table anda bench. His bed was spread on straw in one corner; and another cornerwas given up to the heterogeneous assortment of his belongings and hisgrub. Apparently the cabin had long served as a casual storehouse tothe boatmen of the river; for pieces of mouldy sails were hung overthe rafters; oars and a mast crossed from beam to beam; and in a thirdcorner were a pile of chain and an anchor, slowly mouldering into rust.In wet weather, the present tenant evidently did his chopping withindoors, the floor was littered with chips and broken wood. As they camein, a yellow and white kitten, retreating to the darkest corner ofthe cabin, elevated his back and growled threateningly.
"That's my partner, Musq'oosis," explained the boy. "He'll make friendsdirectly. He plays with me by the hour; you'd laugh yourself sick to seethe comical way he carries on. He's great company when you're batchingalone!"
Natalie liked this boy more and more.
"Say, I'm having no end of company these days," he went on, with hishappy-go-lucky air. "The Bishop's outfit was here all day yesterday;they went up on the last of the east wind, this morning. The oldwoman--that's what we call Mrs. Bishop, you know; no disrespect--shebaked me a batch of her bread before she went. Real outside bread witha crackly crust to it! Oh my! Oh my!--with brown sugar! Say, we'llhave a loaf of it for supper!"
Natalie in the meantime sat on the bench; and taking off her moccasins,put her feet on the oven sill to dry. Garth sat on a box; and their hostsquatted on the floor between.
"By the way," said this youth; "I'm Charley Landrum."
Garth introduced himself and Natalie.
"Hope you'll stay a couple of days," said Charley anxiously--"or longer.There's great duck-shooting on the sloughs; and we might get a goose ora wavy around the lake shore. It would be a pleasant change of meat forthe lady."
Charley addressed all his remarks to Garth, without ever once lookingat Natalie; it was clear, nevertheless, that he was acutely consciousof her presence; for he blushed whenever she spoke; and his eyes werecontinually drawn to her, though he dared not raise them quite to herface. To Garth and Natalie the nicest thing about this boy was the wayhe took her presence for granted. Of all the males they had met in theNorth, he alone had not gaped at her in vulgar wonder; and to his honestheart there was nothing out-of-the-way in the fact that she was MissBland, and Garth Mr. Pevensey.
"We're obliged to get on as soon as we can," said Garth. "We've beenchasing the Bishop all the way from the Landing."
"How did you come up the little river?" asked Charley.
"I bought a boat from Pierre Toma."
"I know her," he said with a chuckle; "cranky as a bath-tub! Youcouldn't go up the lake in her!"
"Not while it blows like this," said Garth.
"Then I hope it hits it up for a week!" said Charley, apparentlyaddressing the hem of Natalie's skirt.
"I was told one Wall-eye Macgregor had a strong boat," Garth said.
"Nothing doing!" returned the boy. "He's got it up at the head of thelake."
"Then I must try to strengthen the bath-tub and coast around the shore,"said Garth.
"I'll help you!" said Charley. "We'll pitch in first thing to-morrow."
"How long have you been in the country, Mr. Landrum?" asked Nataliesoftly.
The boy blushed for pure pleasure; and his voice deepened as he replied:"Two years next March, Miss. I came in over the ice with a freighter. Iran away from school. What was the use?--I got a head like a hickorynut; and I couldn't keep out of trouble. They gave me a bad name; andeverything that happened was put on me. So I cleared out and cameNorth."
Gradually the whole naive, boyish tale came out.
"I had a lot of fool ideas about the country then; but they were soonknocked out of me. All the kids that run away soon come sneaking homeand have to eat their brags; and I wasn't going to do that. So I stuckit out. At first I admit I pretty near caved in with homesickness; butI'm hardened now. The first year I worked for a trader up at Ostachegancreek; and this spring I bought this cabin on credit. Frank Shefford upat Nine-Mile-Point is going to lend me his team and mower when his hayis put up; and I'll put up hay myself."
The boy's eyes glowed, as he announced his brave plans for the future.
"Next winter I'm going to keep a stopping-house for freighters. I'vegot a good location here, and stable room already for eight teams. I'llbuild to it later. There's money in that; and it's a pleasant life for aman--plenty of company. And when I get a little money ahead, I'll trade;there's good chances for a free trader that knows the ropes; and in afew years I'll branch out and have a whole string of trading posts,like Nick Grylls. There's a smart one! They say he could sell outfor a hundred thousand any day!"
Garth was reminded of his own hopeful, spouting youth.
"I hope you won't be like Nick Grylls," said Natalie gently.
"Don't you like him?" asked Charley in concern. "I always thought he wasa pretty smart one. No!" he added suddenly. "I don't like him either.He's coarse!"
Supper was an affair of joint contributions; Garth's jam for Charley'sbread. In the meantime Charley had surreptitiously swept up the chips;and had then slipped away to the river bank, for a wash and a tidy-up.He reappeared with his hair well "slicked," his tip-tilted nose as pinkas his shiny cheeks, and a smile that extended to the furthest confinesof his face. But he was distressed that he had no white collar to honourthe board; and his gratitude was silent and boundless, when Garthproduced one for him from his duffle-bag.
It was a jovial meal that followed; the spirit of youth presided; andwisdom and grave speech were thrust under the table. Charley recoveredof his bashfulness so far that he could occasionally nerve himself tolook at Natalie. For all the boy's giddy jollity, his blue eyes had akind of stricken look when they rested on her face. But his appetite didnot suffer appreciably; and it did Garth's and Natalie's hearts good tosee the bread and jam disappear between Charley's business-like jaws.Jam, they agreed, had surely never before been so successful in ticklingthe human palate. "Just do without it for a couple of years and see foryourself," Charley rejoined.
Afterward the cabin was further swept and garnished for Natalie's use;and a heap of fragrant hay brought from the stable on which to spreadher blankets. The house was to be yielded up to her for the night. Garthand Charley shared the little tent outside. Garth, with his simplicity,and his air of quiet understanding, was above all one to win a boy'sconfidence; and by bedtime they were as friendly as brothers--or perhapsmore like a very young father and his oldest son.
When they rolled up side by side in their blankets Charley seemed toput off several years. He hunched closer to his bedfellow; and pressedhis shoulder warmly against Garth's.
"Are you sleepy?" he asked diffidently.
Garth's heart warmed to the act and the speech. "Why, no!" he said."Believe I'll have another smoke before dropping off. Fire away, oldboy!"
"Say, it's simply great to have somebody young to talk to," said poorCharley. "Somebody that understands; and that you can let yourself gowith, and say
whatever comes into your head to. Say, I never had sucha good time in all my life as to-night. All the fellows up here--they'rea good sort all right--but they're a rough, cursing lot. And of course,a fellow has to curse too; and talk big just to keep his end up--chucka bluff, you know, or they'll think you're a molly. And I just love tolaugh, and act foolish; and I always have to hold myself in. SometimesI near bust!"
"I get like that myself," said Garth encouragingly.
There was something else on Charley's mind; but for a long time histongue sheered off at every approach to it. Finally, rolling over, hehid a hot cheek on Garth's shoulder; and it came out with a rush.
"Say! I think she's the prettiest girl I ever laid eyes on!"
Garth's arm tightened about the boy's shoulders "She's the first whitegirl I've seen in nearly two years," he floundered on; "and girls meantnothing to me then. But I know darned well she's no ordinary white girl.Isn't it wonderful, the different ways she looks; and all that her voiceseems to mean besides the words she says; and the way she walks and sitsdown; and the way she lifts her arm? Isn't it a pretty arm? And thefinest thing about her is, she deals plain with you like a fellow;no silly fuss and make-believe, and hanging-back about her!"
If Garth liked the boy before, he was prepared to love him for this.
"Did you mark how she called me Mr. Landrum?" continued Charley eagerly."She just did that to please me, I know. Didn't it sound funny? My chestexpanded two inches, I swear it did! Wasn't she kind to me? She hadno call to be so kind to me. It just makes me want to do somethingterrific! Oh, if I could only do something for her!--wouldn't Ijust be glad of the chance!"
He was silent for a while, tossing uneasily in his blanket. "Say,there's something I want to tell you," he blurted out at last. "I'mcertainly good and ashamed of myself! There's a girl down the shore, hername is Julia; she's not a bad-looker for a breed. She came around mycabin sometimes. I was kind of lonesome, you see; and she was young,like me--"
Garth let him see that he understood--and he did understand, both thepitiful little tale, and the boy's reason for wishing to tell him.
"And to think of _her_ asleep in there now!" he continued remorsefully."It makes me sick and disgusted with myself. I'd give anything if ithadn't happened! You bet I'll have no truck with them in future!"
"Every man makes mistakes, old boy," said Garth.
Charley, his mind relieved by confession, in the midst of furtherrhapsodies, suddenly fell asleep.
In the morning he awoke all of a piece, as boys do, and rolling over,said instantly:
"Natalie is sure the prettiest name there is!"
* * * * *
Later in the day in the middle of their somewhat hopeless deliberationsupon the repairing of the half-submerged _Flat-iron_--her flimsily hungplanks had been started even by her gentle journey on the river--therewas a hail from down-stream. Looking, they saw four swart figuresbending one after another in a tracking-harness, crawling around theedge of the cut-bank below. Presently a sharp prow nosed around thebend; and a long, low, double-ended galley swung into view, floatinglazily on the current like a gigantic duck.
"A York boat!" cried Charley in surprise. "Didn't know any was due!Here's your chance to cross the lake!"
"Hm!" said Garth doubtfully. "We'll find out, first, what news shebrings from below."
At the sight of the open water ahead, the breeds redoubled theirshouting, and hit up their pace. It was interesting to see how, oncehaving got her under way, they could allow nothing to stop them; butneeds must crash through obstructions regardless; slipping scrambling,literally clawing their way along. Whenever the rope caught, it wasthe part of the fourth man to slip out of his collar, and disengage it,without stopping the others. It was racking work on the frame of a man;but the feather-headed breeds ceaselessly chattered and shouted, likeboys out of school; roaring with laughter when any one of the four camedown. In the stern stood the helmsman, pulling her head around, with amighty sweep, extending astern; and the other four of the crew, restingfrom their spell of tracking, fended her off the bank with poles. TheYork boat, pointed bow and stern, low amidships, and undecked, remindedGarth of the pictures he had seen of ancient Norse galleys.
Arriving opposite the cabin, they all leaped aboard; and poling across,landed in front of where Garth and Charley stood. Natalie, not caring torun the gauntlet of another battery of stupid stares, had retired to thecabin. On the prow of the boat, which had a dingy, weather-beaten look,very different from the smart green and white craft of the "Company," wascrookedly painted the name _Loseis_. Making her fast, the breeds, withfurtive stares at Garth, threw themselves on the ground like tired dogs.It was not long, however, before a "stick-kettle," the invariable tom-tom,was produced, the ear-splitting chant raised, and a game of _met-o-wan_,a sort of Cree equivalent for Billy-Billy-who's-got-the-button, startedon the shore.
The steersman, pausing only to put on a gold-embroidered waistcoat,approached Garth with a disposition to be friendly--too friendly byhalf, Garth thought. He was an undersized man of not more than thirty,but already somewhat withered; a specimen of the unwholesome, weedybreed of the settlements.
"Well, Charley," he said affably.
They shook hands with the touch of impressiveness that always marks thisceremony in the North; and then Hooliam, with a shifty glance, extendedhis hand to Garth. At the same time he said something in Cree.
"He says: 'You want to go up the lake,'" translated Charley.
"How does he know that?" asked Garth quickly.
Hooliam answered in Cree without waiting for Charley to translate.Evidently, like most of the breeds, he understood more English than hecared to confess.
"He says that Pierre Toma told him," said Charley.
"Ask him how it is he comes up with such a small load," suggested Garth.
Charley repeated the question in Cree. Hooliam's answer was prompt andglib. "He says that the water was too low to bring a full load,"translated Charley.
"Ask him when he means to go on," said Garth.
Hooliam gave a glance at the still tossing lake. "As soon as the winddies or changes. This wind would blow him right back on the shore," suchthe gist of his answer by way of Charley.
"Tell him to let me know before he starts; and I'll tell him if we wishto go along," said Garth coolly.
"I want to have a talk with you," he added in a lower tone for Charley'sbenefit.
They sat down apart on the sand.
"What do you think of this outfit, Charley?" asked Garth.
The boy was surprised at the question. "Well," he said, "it does looka bit queer, their coming all this way with half a load. But you nevercan tell about these crazy niggers; they may have dumped out half theirstuff on the bank somewhere, and left it to rot. A French range for theinspector has been lying on the point across the river for two months."
"Who is this Hooliam?" Garth asked.
"He boats back and forth pretty regular. He's a footless kind ofbreed--but straight, as far as I know. What do you care?" the boy askedcuriously. "If he takes you on board, he's got to put you across."
Garth looked at Charley estimatingly. But there could be no doubt of theboy's straight-eyed, whole-souled devotion to Natalie; and he quicklymade up his mind. He told him briefly what had occurred on the way in.
Charley whistled in astonishment. "So that's the kind Nick Grylls is!"he exclaimed. "He sure must have gone clean daft!"
"This Hooliam," Garth continued, "is too anxious, judging by others ofhis kind, to get us on board. I suspect Nick Grylls has a share in thisoutfit. On the other hand we have less than a week's grub left. Whathave you got, Charley?"
"Nothing but sow-bosom and beans," said the boy disconsolately; "anddamn little of that! It isn't good enough for _her_!"
"Any chance of another boat?" asked Garth.
Charley shook his head. "No Company boat due for three weeks," he said.
Garth set his jaw. "Then there's no help
for it," he said firmly. "We'llhave to go with Hooliam. I'll make him take our little boat along, so wewon't be entirely at his mercy; and I'll watch him close."
Charley leaned toward Garth. The boy unconsciously clenched his hands;and in the intensity of his eagerness, his eyes actually filled. "I say,Garth, take me along with you," he pleaded.
Garth, looking at him gratefully, thought none but a boy could be sogenerous. "But I can't take you away from your own work," he objected.
Charley brushed it impatiently out of sight. "What does that matter!"he exclaimed. "It can wait." He redoubled his pleadings. "This was whatI wanted so badly, Garth! To be a little use to her! I could help--youthink I'm just a crazy kid, and maybe I am, but I could think like aman, and plan like a man for her! You and I could stand watch and watch.Say, after what you've told me, I'd go near out of my head to see youtwo sail away, and me left behind, not knowing what was happening!"
Garth was more moved than he cared to show. "You're true blue, Charley,"he said in a low tone. "You come along!"