"skoot along," as Seth called it, was notdevoid of interest and fun, but in a few days they could skoot as wellas Seth himself, and even carry their guns under their arms in the mostapproved fashion.
It was well for them that they had learned to hold their guns whilewalking with snow-shoes, for one day the trio had an adventure with someillustrious strangers, that taxed all their skill both in walking andshooting. I will introduce them to you in the next chapter.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
THE DOGS AND THE SNOW--THE SLEDGE-DOG--TRAINING CARIBOU--A DINNER-PARTYINTERRUPTED--THE RACE FOR LIFE.
"What's `agley'?" asked Rory of Allan, on the morning after the greatsnowfall.
"What is _what_?" Allan replied, looking at his friend in somesurprise.
"What's `agley'?" repeated Rory. "Sure, now, can't you speak your ownlanguage?"
"Oh yes," said Allan; "but I don't know that anything in particular isagley this morning. Is there anything agley with you?"
"Be easy with a poor boy," said Rory. "Troth, it is the meaning of theword I'd be after getting hold of."
"Ah! now I see," said Allan. "Well, `agley' means `deviation from astraight line;' `out of the plumb,' in other words."
"I thought as much," Rory remarked in a thoughtful manner, "and it isyour own darling poet that says,--
"`The best-laid schemes of mice and men Gang aft agley, And leave us nought but grief and pain For promised joy.'"
Rory finished the quotation with a bit of a sigh, that caused McBain tosay,--
"What _is_ the matter with you, boy Rory? Have you received adisappointment of any kind?"
"Indeed, and I have then," replied boy Rory, "and I suppose I mustconfess, for haven't Ap and myself been busy at it for the last threeweeks, making an ice-ship, and hadn't we got her all complete, keel andhull and sails and all? and troth, she would have gone gliding over thesurface of the ice like a thing of life. It was only the wind we werewaiting for, and then we would have given you such a surprise, butinstead of the wind the snow comes. Isn't it a pity?"
"Oho!" cried Ralph, "and so that accounts for Rory's mysteriousdisappearances; that accounts for Ap and he being closeted together foran hour or two every day for weeks back. Sly Rory!"
"Yes," said Rory; "sly if you like, but it would have been such finefun, you know; and there isn't one of the three of you that wouldn'thave followed my example and gone in for ice-yachts too. And from all Ican learn it is the rarest sport in existence. Seth knows all about it,and he says skating isn't a circumstance to it. Fancy gliding alongover the ice, on the wings of the wind, boys, at the rate of twentyknots an hour!"
"It would have been nice, I must confess," said Ralph. "Something elsewill turn up, though," McBain said. "What?" cried Rory, all excitement;"are you going to invent a new pleasure for us, captain?"
"Your ice-yacht," replied McBain, "would have been a glorious idea ifthe snow hadn't fallen, and in calm days I had meant to have got upgames of curling on the ice; and that, you know, is the most charminggame in the world."
"Without exception," said Allan, enthusiastically. "But the snow, thesnow!" sighed Rory. "The beautiful snow has fallen and spoiledeverything."
"Not quite so bad as that," said McBain, with an amused smile. "In aday or two the snow will harden; we can then go long journeys and resumeour hunting expeditions." Walking on snow-shoes soon became not onlyeasy to our heroes, but positively pleasurable, so that they were ableto enjoy their rambles over the snow-clad country very much indeed.
As for the dogs, they seemed to feel that they could not possibly getenough of the snow. The exuberance of great Oscar's joy when he wentout with his mister for a walk, the first thing every morning, washighly comical to witness. Out for a _walk_, did I say? Nay, dearreader, that word but poorly expresses the nature of Oscar's pedalprogression. It was not a walk, but a glorious compound of dance,scamper, race, run; gallop, and gambol. Had you been ever so old itwould have made you feel young again to behold him. He knew while Allanwas dressing that he meant to go out, and begin at once to exhibit signsof impatience. He would yawn and stretch himself and wriggle and shake;then he would open his mouth and endeavour to round a sentence in realverbal English, and, failing in this, fall back upon dog language pureand simple. Or he would stand as steady as a pointer, looking up atAllan with his beautiful head turned on one side, and his mouth a littleopen, just sufficiently so to show the tip of his bright pink tongue,and his brown eyes would speak to his master. "Couldn't you," the dogwould seem to ask--"couldn't you get on your coat a little--oh, _ever_so little!--faster? What can you want with a muffler? I don't wear amuffler. And now you are looking for your fur cap, and there it isright before your very eyes!"
"And," the dog would add, "I dare say we are out at last," and he wouldhardly give his mister time to open the companion door for him.
But once over the side, "Hurrah!" he would seen to cry, then away hewould bound, and away, and away, and away, straight ahead as crow couldfly, through the snow and through the snow, which rose around him infeathery clouds, till he appeared but a little dark speck in thedistance. This race straight ahead was meant to get rid of hissuper-extra steam. Having expended this, back he would come with a rushand a run, make pretence to jump his master down, but dive past him atthe very last moment. Then he would gambol in front of his master insuch a daft and comical fashion that made Allan laugh aloud; and, seeinghis master laughing, Oscar would laugh too, showing such a doubleregiment of white, flashing, pearly teeth, that, with the quickness ofthe dog's motions, they seemed to begin at his lips and go right awaydown both sides of him as far as the tail.
Hurroosh! hurroosh! Each exclamation, reader, is meant to represent akind of a double-somersault, which I verily believe Oscar inventedhimself. He performed it by leaping off the ground, bending sideways,and going right round like a top, without touching the snow, with aspring like that of a five-year-old salmon getting over a weir.
Hurroosh! hurroosh!
Then Allan would make a grab at his tail.
"Oh, that's your game!" Oscar would say; "then down _you_ go!"
And down Allan would roll, half-buried in the powdery snow, and not beable to get up again for laughing; then away Oscar would rush, wildlyround and round in a complete circle, having a radius of some fiftyyards, with Allan McGregor on his broad back for a centre.
After half-an-hour of such furious fun, is it any wonder that Allan andOscar returned to breakfast with appetites like hunters?
The Skye terrier enjoyed the snow quite as much in his own little way asOscar did, and, indeed, he used to live in under it a goodly part of histime every day. He in a manner buried himself alive. Plunket, themastiff, on the other hand, was always in the habit of taking hispleasures in a quiet and dignified manner.
"Now, gentlemen," said old Seth one day, "I guess I can a kind o' proveto you that my dog Plunket is useful, if he ain't ornamental."
And so the trapper set himself to manufacture a light sledge, and whenhe had done so, and harnessed the great dog thereto, and seated himselfamong the skins, it seemed about the most natural thing in the world forthat dog to draw the sledge, and Seth had never seemed so much at homebefore as he did sitting behind him.
Oscar took very great interest in the yoking of the sledge-dog, asPlunket soon came to be called, so much so that the happy thoughtoccurred to Rory to try him in harness too, and this was accordinglydone. He was made tracer to Plunket, and although he managed sometimesto capsize the sledge in the snow, he soon became less rash, and settledquietly down to the work.
A larger and very lightly-constructed sledge was then made, and in thisboth Allan and Rory could travel over the snow with great ease, draggedalong by the two faithful dogs.
"What a glorious thing it would be," said Allan one day, "if we couldtame and harness a real caribou!"
"We can if we try, I think," said McBain. "Love and kindness will tamealmost any animal."
"First catc
h your hare," said Ralph.
But through Seth's skill a week had not passed before they were inpossession of not only one, but a pair of deer. A rude kind of a stablewas built for them on shore, and the taming commenced, and with suchgood results that in little over three weeks they were both broken toharness. Sledging now became quite a pastime, and great fun they foundit.
Although, owing to the rugged nature of the ground, it was impracticableto venture far inland with the deer-sledge, they were able to take quitelong journeys along the seashore, and here many strange birds and beastsfell