round the camp-fires.
had any one been watching the camp-fires of the banished colonists that night, the last idea that would have entered the observer’s mind would have been that of suffering or distress.
the night was brilliantly fine, and just cold enough to make the blazing fires agreeable without being necessary—except, indeed, as a means of cooking food. the light of these fires, shining through the green, yellow, and golden foliage, and illuminating the sunburnt faces of men, women, and children, gave to the scene a strain of the free, the wild, and the romantic, which harmonised well with the gypsy-like appearance of the people, and formed a ruddy contrast to the pure cold light of the innumerable stars overhead, which, with their blue-black setting, were reflected in the neighbouring lake.
over every fire pots and kettles were suspended from tripods, or rested on the half-burned logs, while impaled wild-fowl roasted in front of it. food being in great abundance, hearts were light in spite of other adverse circumstances, and men and women, forgetting to some extent the sufferings of the past and the dark prospects of the future, appeared to abandon themselves to the enjoyment of the present.
the children, of course, were full of glee, and not altogether empty of mischief; and there were fortunately no infants of age so tender as to induce a squalling protest against the discomforts of a situation which could be neither understood nor appreciated.
“it iss a pleesant night, whatever,” remarked old mckay, lighting his pipe with a brand plucked from the fire which his family and the davidsons shared in common; “an’ if it wass always like this, it iss myself that would not object to be a rud savitch.”
“i don’t know that a rud savitch is much worse than a white wan,” growled duncan junior, in an under-tone.
“what iss that you say?” demanded the old man with a look of suspicion, for his hearing was imperfect.
“surely the water must be boiling now, daddy?” said elspie, by way of checking the conversation.
“i don’t know whuther it iss boilin’ or not,” answered duncan senior, applying another brand to his pipe.
“archie, boy!” exclaimed dan davidson, “you’re letting that goose roast to a cinder.”
“no, dan, i’m not—but billie can’t a-bear meat underdone, so it’s better to blacken the outside than have the inside raw.”
“who iss that singing? wheesht, boys,” said fergus mckay, turning his head a little on one side as if to listen.
there was profound silence for a few moments as a rich manly voice was heard to swell forth from the neighbourhood of one of the camp-fires.
“it comes from the camp of the switzers, i think,” said elspie mckay.
“i know it,” said jessie davidson, who was seated on a log beside her friend. “it is fran?ois la certe. he came to our meeting-place in red river, you know, just after cuthbert grant and his men left us, and, hearing that we were starting off to jack river again, he resolved to follow. i heard him tell slowfoot to get ready to go along with us.”
“i wonder why he came?” said mrs davidson, coming out of her tent at the moment, and joining the party round the fire.
“he did not say,” answered jessie.
“he did not require to say,” remarked duncan mckay, with a sarcastic laugh. “every wan knows that wherever there iss a chance of gettin’ ammunition and plenty of victuals for nothing, there la certe iss certain to be found. he knew that we would be sure to hev plenty at this season o’ the year, an’ that we would not see him an’ his wife sterve when our kettles wass full. iss not that so, okématan? you know him best.”
thus appealed to, the indian, whose usual expression was one of intense gravity, shut his eyes, opened his mouth, displayed his superb teeth, and uttered a low chuckle, but made no further reply.
it was enough. those who understood okématan and his ways were well aware that he thought la certe uncommonly sly.
the half-breed had indeed followed the expelled colonists in the belief that they would certainly possess plenty of powder and shot—which he had not the means of purchasing. he also knew that the whole of rupert’s land swarmed with game in autumn and spring, and that the scotch were an open-handed race when approached in the right way. putting these things together, he carefully gummed his canoe, put his wife and child into it—also some of the provision which had been supplied to him by duncan mckay junior—and followed the settlers over lake winnipeg to jack river.
here, finding that a new party of immigrants had arrived, who were necessarily unacquainted with his little peculiarities, la certe attached himself to them and made himself agreeable. this he could do very well, for the switzers understood his bad french, as well as his good tuneful voice, and appreciated his capacity for telling a story.
“did you never,” he said to andré morel, after his song was finished, “hear of how my old mother saved her whole tribe from death one time in the rocky mountains?”
“never,” morel replied with a somewhat sceptical but good-natured smile.
“no! i wonder much, for every one in this land heard about it, an’ i thought the news must have spread over europe and—and, perhaps africa. well, i will tell you. where is my baccy-bag?”
“never mind, fill your pipe from mine,” said morel, tossing him a little bag of the coveted weed.
“thank you. well, you must know that my mother had a beautiful voice—o! much more beautiful than mine. indeed, i do not joke, so you need not laugh. it was so sweet that men were always forced to listen till she was done. they could not help it.”
“did they ever want to help it?” asked morel quietly.
“o yes—as you shall hear. well, one day my mother was living with all our tribe—i say our tribe because my mother was an indian—with all our tribe, in a great dark gorge of the rocky mountains. the braves had gone out to hunt that day, but my mother stayed behind with the women and children. i was a little foolish child at that time—too young to hunt or fight. my father—a french canadian—he was dead.
“we knew—my mother and i—that the braves would be home soon. we expected them every minute. while we were waiting for them, my mother went into the bush to pick berries. there she discovered a war-party of our enemies. they were preparing to attack our village, for they knew the men were away, and they wanted the scalps of the women and children. but they did not know the exact spot where our wigwams were pitched, and were just going, after a feed, to look for it.
“my mother ran home with the news, and immediately roused the camp, and made them get ready to fly to meet the returning men.
“‘but, my daughter,’ said an old chief, who had stayed in camp, ‘our enemies are young and active; they will quickly overtake us before we meet our men.’
“‘no,’ said my mother, ‘i will stop them. get ready, and set off quickly.’
“she then ran back on her trail—my mother was a tremendous runner—superb! she came to a narrow place where our enemies would have to pass. a very thick tree grew there. she climbed it, and hid among the branches. it projected beyond a precipice and overhung a stream. soon after that she saw the enemy advancing, step by step, slowly, cautiously, like men who dread an ambush, and with glances quick and solemn from side to side, like men who see a foe in every stump and stone.”
la certe paused at this point. he was an adept at story-telling. his voice had slowed by degrees and become increasingly deep and solemn as he proceeded.
“now,” continued he, in a higher tone, “my mother did not fear that they would see her if they looked up when they passed the tree. she was too well hidden for that; but she was not sure what the effect of her voice would be, for she had never tried it in that way before. however, she was full of courage. she resembled me in that—bold as a lion! she began to sing. low and soft at the beginning, like a dream of song.
“at the first note the indians halted—every man; each in the position in which he was fixed. if a foot was up he kept it up. if both feet were down he left them down. the feet that were up came slowly to the ground when the indians got tired, but no one took another step. my mother’s voice was a weird voice. it sounded as if the place from which it came was nowhere—or anywhere—or everywhere! slowly the painted heads turned from side to side as far as they could go, and the glaring eyes turned a little further. a creeping fear came over them. they trembled. they turned pale. that could be easily seen through the paint. my mother saw it! she became more courageous and sang out in her most pathetic strain. the indians wept. that was quite visible. my mother saw it. her great object was to delay the attack until our men had time to arrive. she tried a war-song, but that was not so successful. it was too commonplace. besides, in her energy she shook the branches, and that drew attention to the tree. my mother thought that she was in danger then; but fortune favoured her. it always favours the brave. i know this from experience.
“she had just come to a terrific whoop in the war-song when she slipped off her branch and the whoop increased to a death-yell as she went crashing headlong through the branches and down into the stream at the foot of the precipice.
“water! water!” exclaimed la certe at this point, holding out both hands. “i can never pass this part of my story without burning thirst!”
a mug of water was handed him.
“poor fellow—have some brandy in it,” said a sympathetic hearer, hastily getting out his bottle.
la certe held out his mug impatiently for the brandy, drained the mug, and cleared his voice.
“was—was your mother killed?” asked the sympathiser, earnestly.
“killed? no. impossible! my mother could not be killed because her destiny was not yet fulfilled. no: there was a deep pool right under the tree. she fell into that with a plunge that echoed from cliff to cliff. the indians were profoundly superstitious. all indians are not so, but these indians were. they waited not for more. they turned and fled as if all the evil spirits in the rocky mountains were chasing them. they reached their wigwams breathless, and told their squaws that one of the spirits of a mountain stream had sat among the branches of a tree and sung to them. it had told them that the right time for attacking their foes had not yet come. then it sang them a war-song descriptive of their final victory, and, just after uttering a tremendous war-whoop, it had dived back into its native stream.”
“well done!” exclaimed an enthusiastic canadian.
“but what became of your mother?” asked morel.
“oh! she swam ashore. my mother was a splendid swimmer. i know it, for she taught me.”
“was it a long swim?” asked a sceptical sailor, who was one of the emigrants.
“how?—what mean you?” demanded la certe, sternly.
“i only want to know if she took long to swim ashore out o’ that pool,” said the sceptic, simply.
la certe cast on him a glance of suspicion, and replied that his mother had found no difficulty in getting out of the pool.
“is the old lady alive yet?” asked the pertinacious sceptic.
“of course not. she died long long ago—thirty years ago.”
“what! before you was born? that’s strange, isn’t it?”
“no, but you not understand. i suppose my speech is not plain to you. i said three years ago.”
“ah! that’s more like it. i only missed what you said,” returned the sceptic, whose name was fred jenkins, “for i’ve lived a while in france, and understand your lingo pretty well. pass that goose, morel, if you have left anything on it. this air o’ the wilderness beats the air o’ the sea itself for givin’ a fellow a twist.”
the remarks of jenkins, while they did not absolutely destroy the confidence of the swiss party, shook it enough to show the wily half-breed that he must do something if possible to re-establish his credit. he therefore volunteered another song, which was gladly accepted and highly appreciated; for, as we have said, la certe possessed a really good and tuneful voice, and these immigrants were a musical people.
while this was going on at the swiss camp-fires an incident occurred at the fire round which the mckay-davidson party was assembled, which deserves particular notice.
old mckay was giving some directions to fergus; duncan junior was seated opposite dan davidson, smoking his pipe, and elspie had gone into her tent, when slowfoot, the spouse of la certe, drew near.
“come along, old girl,” exclaimed mckay senior. “it iss some baccy you will be wantin’, i’ll wager.”
slowfoot did not reply in words, but the smile upon her face was eloquent.
“come away, then,” continued the hospitable highlander. “you shall hev a pipe of it, whatever.”
he handed her a large plug of tobacco, and the woman, sitting down close to young duncan, produced her pipe, and drew out a knife for the purpose of cutting up the tobacco.
“hallo!” exclaimed duncan, “where did you get hold o’ my knife?”
he stopped abruptly—a little confused in spite of himself. for the moment he had quite forgotten that the knife had been left in the camp where he had slain perrin, and the sudden sight of it had thrown him off his guard. it was now too late to unsay the words, but not too late to mislead his hearers.
“i got it from marie blanc,” said slowfoot with a look of surprise. “does the knife belong to cloudbrow?”
“i think it does. i’m almost sure it iss mine. let me see it,” returned duncan, taking the knife from the woman’s hand, and examining it with cool and critical deliberation.
“no,” continued he, “it iss not mine, but very like one that i lost—so like that i felt sure at first it wass mine.”
men who lie, usually overact their part. duncan glanced suspiciously at dan to see how he took the explanation as he returned the knife to slowfoot, and dan observed the glance, as being uncalled for—unnatural—in the circumstances.
dan was by no means of a suspicious nature, nevertheless the glance haunted him for many a day after that. suspicion once aroused is a ghost which is not easily laid. he tried to shake it off, and he carefully, loyally, kept it confined in his own breast; but, do what he would, he could not banish entirely from his mind that duncan mckay—the brother of his elspie—had some sort of guilty knowledge of the murder of poor henri perrin.
