The Gold Hunters / A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds

off their clothes and wrapped themselves in blankets, while the old Indian dried their outfits. It was two hours before they were dressed. No sooner were they ou

mach, Rod. It will be better than kicking. Double yourself over that, face down, pantaloons up. I'm going to lick you

nt Rod doubled him

ulated, peering up in

bi

d a yell of pain burst fr

-Swish

eat Caesa

Wabi. "Take it like

as he rose to his feet after Wabi had stop

" warned Wabi, as he fit

oison," reminded Rod,

e as hard,

irch bega

d Wabi, despite his Indian stoicism,

of chastisement Mukoki s

Wabigoon, rubbing himself gently. "That is, if

'm willing to lend a helping hand at any time you think y

fuel for the night and balsam boughs for their beds. It was dark by the time they

we did have a close shave," said Rod, after the

mace and shrugg

the bow of the canoe and when Muky saw that I was safe he watched for you. But you didn't show up. We had given you up for dead when a few bubbles came to the surface, and q

's talk of something more cheerful. Wh

' t'ous'nd candles!" agre

great desires. And the chief, surrendering his daughters, asked that he might be given a day without night, and a night without day, and his wish was granted; and his third and fourth and fifth desires were that the land might always be filled with fish and game, the forests remain for ever green, and fire be given to his people. His sixth desire was that a fuel be given to him

warrio

Spirit and the seven beautif

e and left

that all white people laugh at it. He could tell you many wonderful stories of the creation of these forests and mou

t Rod was up

he called.

lowly. The white youth met him half-w

glorious forests, and that glorious moon up there, and the mountains and lakes and rivers! I Want to know more about hi

, his grim visage relaxed, as if he were weighi

arth, the sky and the sea and all the things in them in six days, and on the seventh He rested. And that seventh day we call Sunday, Mukoki. And He made our forests for us, as your Great Spirit made them fo

knew that he had touched the heartstrings of his red comrade. They returned to the fire, and Wabi

ading it out so that the others could see. "Somehow I

" aske

ed what he had said. "It's a mighty curious map, is

and we know from the knife wounds in those skeletons, and the weapons near them, that the two men fought and

's fingers and held it up

e rest of

the three looked

he original it had been draw

top of the map, where were written

skeletons, and here they have marked the chasm in which I shot the silver fox, and down which we must go to find the gol

y simple-by the m

were a number of lines

, do hereby agree to joint partnership in the same, and do pledge ourselves to forget

NRI LANGLOIS,

lmost destroyed the letters, and at the end of this line, in brackets, was

ea

was in one hand, with the exception of the signatures of Langlois and Plante, and you could hardly decipher the letters in those signatures if you did not already know their names. From the

cabin, came out a little later for supplies, and brought the buckskin bag full of gold with them. They had come as far as the cabin at the head of the chasm when they quarreled over poss

, whistli

the third

a man of education, and he drew the map according to some sort of scale. The second fall is only half as far from the first fall as the t

, that the third fall was about two hundred and fifty miles from our old

ed with excitement. "From the head of the chasm

ilence, and now joined in the

unted, giving his shoulders a hu

d the map to

limbing mountains before we come to them.

t. River run lak twen

bika is a raging t

d. After that the streams run northward, to Hudson Bay, and when we reach them we'll hold our bre

morrow-hard work," said Rod. "An

i was as regular as clockwork in his rising, and an hour before dawn he was up and preparing breakfast. When his young comrades aroused themselves they found the du

plained Mukoki in response

, as usual," exclaimed

e'll deserve anot

Rod. Another he handed to Wabigoon, and with a third in his own hands he

g!" cried Rod, poising his savor

ck caught his first glimpse of the Ombabika in the growing light of day he gave a cry of astonishment. When he had gone up the stream the preceding winter it was scarce more than a dozen gun lengths in width. Now it was a veritable Amazon, its black, ugly wa

ten observed in a pot of simmering oatmeal. There was something uncanny about it, something terribly suggestive of giant hands under the surface, waiting to pull them down. He knew, without questioning, that there was more deadly power in that creeping flood

emselves as he looked at his companions. Mukoki

aid the Indian youth dubiously.

the old warrior, without stoppi

ards of the bank, and to Rod's mind they slipped up-stream with amazing speed and ease. Now and then one of the upheavings of the currents would catch the canoe, and from the way in which it was pitched either to one side or the other Rod easily imagined what perils the middle of the stream would have held for them. Quick action on the part of Mukoki and Wabigoon was always

were constantly near them. Floating logs and masses of brush and other debris swept down with the flood, and Wabi's warning cries of "right," "left," and "back" came with such frequency that Rod's arms ached with the mighty efforts which he made with his paddle in response to them. Again the stream would boil with such fury ahead of them that Mukoki would p

with greater velocity. Several times the frail canoe was saved from destruction only by the quick and united action of the three. They worked now like a well-regulated machine, engineered by Wabigoon, whose sharp eyes we

of the canoe touched shore when Wabi gave an excited exclamation, caught up his rifle, and fir

elled. "Quick, Mukoki, shove her in! There's

anded Rod. "

flash, and the two excited youths sped in the direction of the bear, leaving their companion to care for himself and the heavily-laden birch. A short, swift run

tream!" cried Wab

," whispered

ive hundred yards below them, was the bear. Even at

onster!"

ndred yards if it's a foot! Aim for the

His first and second shots produced no effect. At his third the running animal paused for a moment and looked down at them, and the young Hunter seized

etting off on a dead run betwe

swift running Wabigoon would have another fair shot before the animal got out of range. If that shot were a miss they would

scanning the rock-strewn ridge. He made no attempt to suppress the exclamation of joy that came to his lips when, fully eight hundred yards away, he discerned the bear coming down the side of the mountain, and in his direction. Crouching behind a huge boulder Rod waited. Seven hundred yards, six hundred, five hun

ds, more than a

k. It would kill easily at that distance. But would he fail? He was confident that his first shot went high. His second had no effect. To his th

instant after he had fired a wild shout burst from his throat, and was answered by Wab

in silence upon the huge beast at their feet. That he had made a remarkable kill Rod could see by the look of wonder in his companion's face. They were still mutel

r!" he e

ning in his words, and R

Wabi, "and he stands four fee

!" grinne

ly around the bear. "He'll make you a rug over eight fee

low the right ear, causing almost instantaneous death. On this same side, which had been exposed to Rod's fire, was a body wound, undoubtedly made by the shot on the mountain side. When the animal was rolled over by th

long time ago! Old

ound in his quarry, and especially in the vast solitudes of the North, where hunters are few and widely scattered. It brings with it a vivid picture of what happened long ago, the excitement of some other chase, the well-directed shot, and at last the escape

ing object, smooth, a

Mukoki. "Never know lead

peeled off a thin

ee

es. In the sun they gle

thed, scarcely above a whisper. "No