The Lure of the Labrador Wild

untain and still industriously picking berries, heard a shout from Hubbard and George at the canoe

within talking distance. "Michikamau is there, just

ichikamau, and that we were now within easy reach of the caribou grounds and a land of plenty. It is true that from the mountain top Hubbard and George had been unable to trace out the connection, as Windbound Lake was so studded with island

d all about the great discovery, "good

a pile of ptarmigans and one small rabbit. I picked them up and counted

wilderness He'll send us manna." On similar occasions in the past Hubbard had made like remarks to this, and he continued to make them on si

our hunger was such, that while dinner was cooking, we each took the entrails of a bird, wrapped them as George told us the Indians did, on the end of a stick, broiled them over the fire and ate them greedily. And when the ptarmigans were boiled what

two two-pound namaycush, which, when we went into camp at dusk on a small island, George boiled entire, putting into the pot just enough flour to give the water a mi

direction. It was dark when we reached its base, and we went into camp preparatory to climbing to the summit in the morning. We had been somewhat delayed by wind squalls that made canoeing dange

les there. How would it be to stew them to-night, and stir in a little flour to thicken them? Wou

ge. "There ain't many of 'em her

we'll eat them for breakfast with that small tro

So he took the fish, and Hubbard and I each an entrail, and, with the last o

n farm from which these apples came! And now," he added, "I'm eat

on't you expect to get

month. Father wanted me to come to the farm and run it, as he's too old to do the work any longer; but I had other ambitions. I feel half sorry now I didn't; for after all it's hom

ad not,

ke apple butter better than anybody else. Mother used to have her come over o

always the best-and mother would have a nice pan of red hot tea biscuits, and for tea she'd serve the biscuits with cream and the hot new syrup. And sometimes we'd mix honey with the syrup; for father was a great man with bees; he kept a great many of them and had quantities of honey. He had a

ighbour. So father set out another pound comb, which the neighbour proceeded to put out of sight with a facility fully equal to that with which he demolished the first. 'Have some more,' sai

of sauce that clung to the cup, he poured it all into the kettle in which the sauce had been cooked and stirred it again that he mig

st a little," he said, "and that's

hat to any extent as yet. Hubbard was much depressed, perhaps because of his reminiscences of home and perhaps because of our despe

o hunt for a rapid we had heard roaring in the distance. Trolling by the way, we caught one two-pound namaycush. The rapid proved to be really a fall where a good-

ght. Our camp was on a rock-bound island, partially covered with stunted gnarled spruce and fir trees. The weather had cleared and the heavens were bright with stars when we drew our c

he lake; it was white with foam, and the waves, dashing against the rocks on the shore, threw the spray high in the air. Evidently there was no hope of launching the canoe that day, and assuming indifference of the driving storm that threatened to uncover us, w

that's

d?" asked Hubb

e the trout we l

Hubbard and

marten." (George always ref

one, and we looked at one another and laughed, and continued to make light of it as we ate a brea

. George did some neat work on his moccasins and clothing, and I made my trousers look quite respectable again, and ripped up one pair of woollen socks to get yarn to darn the holes in another.

our meals of the previous day-thin bacon soup. The morning we spent in reading from the Bible. Hubbard read Philemon aloud and told us the story. I read aloud

aving the island and reaching the mainland to the northeast. The wind continuing to abate, we paddled several miles in the afternoon looking in vain for the outlet. In the course of our search we caught a namaycush, and immedi

up to it and die. He also spoke of how he had heard the big northern loons cry at night farther back on the trail, which cries, he said, the Indians regarded as sure signs of coming calamity. At the same time he was cheerful and courageous, never suggesting such a thing as turning back. His state of mind was to me very interesti

George would turn in, and I, while the embers died, would sit alone for an hour or so and let my fancy form pictures in the coals or carry me back to other days. In our

se his early struggles in the university and in New York City. Undoubtedly the boy was beginning to suffer severely from homesickness-he was only a young fellow, you know, with a gentle, affectionate nature that gripped him tight to the persons and o

f it. A little of our thin soup had to serve for breakfast. Then we all slept till ten o'clock, when Hubbard and I went out to the fire and George took a stroll through

igan was a wilderness. He made a great farm of it, and it has been his home ever since. How I hate to think of them going away and leaving it to strangers who don't love it or care more for it than any other plot of ground where good crops can be raised! Daisy

t's silence,

to lose it. If we go back that way, we must try to find it. Father wanted to come with me on this trip; he wanted to take care of me. He always thinks of me as a child; he's never quite rea

-it began with stewed cranberries and ended there. The acid from the unsweetened berries ma

aving, the hunger-pangs as now. In our enforced idleness it was impossible for us to prevent our thoughts from dwelling on things to eat, and this naturally ac

cended a low ridge in the rear of the camp to look fo

u; the wind blows so they'll be mighty wild. I'll b

stol. Suddenly, bang!-and one of the birds fluttered straight up high in the air, trying desperately to sustain itself; then fell into the brush on the hillside below. At that George raised his head and gave a peculiar la

see how he went? N

and disgust gave up the search. The bird lay there dead somewhere, but we never found it,

t and huddled close to the fire. For the first time Hubbard heard George tell his stories of Indians that starved. And there we were still windbound and helpless, wit

had eighteen pounds of pea meal, a little less than a pint of rice, and a half a pound of bacon. George then told another stor

artially burned sticks into the fire and stood with his back to the blaze, apparently deep in thought. Presently, turning slowly towards the lake, he walked down through the intervening brush and stood alone on the san

of the wind and weather and dashing spray. Finally he turned about briskly, and, with quick, nervous steps, pushed through t

o you say to