A Countess from Canada Part 26

But the boy was half-asleep, and had to be well shaken up by Miles before they could bring him to a full understanding of what was required of him. Then he asked drowsily: "If we went to live anywhere else should I have to go to school in summer as well as in winter?"

"Of course you would," retorted Mrs. Burton promptly; adding, with a touch of quite unusual severity: "and it would be a very good thing for you, because in that case you would have no time to play such monkey tricks as that which you indulged in to-day."

"Then I'd rather stop here. School in winter is quite tiring enough, but school all the year round would about wear me out. Store work is just play compared with the f.a.g of simple equations and that sort of thing."

Katherine and Miles laughed merrily, while even Mrs. Burton had to smile. Phil's att.i.tude towards book-learning had always been one of utter distaste, although in other things he was a good, hard-working boy, never disposed to shirk nor to waste his time, even if the matter in hand was not entirely to his mind.

"Now you have all said what you think and feel about it," said Katherine, "I can have my say on the matter, and I might begin by putting the most conclusive argument first, which is that I am quite certain we have no legal or moral right to lay a finger on Father's business affairs at present; I mean, in the way of upsetting them. If things were different, and the business was not prospering, we might have some excuse for meddling and changing; as it is, we have none."

"Then what did you make all this bother about?" demanded Phil, who had been roused from his sleepiness by having a wet dishcloth tucked firmly round his neck by Miles.

"Because it is a privilege we all share equally to do our very best for our father, and no one of us ought to decide anything momentous concerning him without taking counsel with the others," Katherine answered, leaning forward and catching the dishcloth, which Phil had aimed at Miles.

"It is all very well for Mr. Selincourt to offer us a fancy price for our land, but if there is a fortune in every acre why shouldn't we have it? I shouldn't in the least mind being a millionaire," said Miles.

"Of course you would not; neither should I: but the secret of the whole matter turns, according to Mr. Selincourt, on first of all having a fortune to put into the ground before we can get out the one that is there waiting for us," laughed Katherine.

"Very well, we'll stick at the store until we have made our pile, then we can do as we like about throwing it away in order to get another. Meanwhile we will keep the land, while Mr. Selincourt amuses himself by digging holes and flinging away money on the other side of the river," said Miles, getting up from his chair and yawning widely.

"Hear, hear!" echoed Phil, clapping his hands.

"Nellie, dear, it is the majority that decides, and you have lost," Katherine said, as she hustled the boys off to bed, and prepared to retire herself.

"For my own part, as I said before, I'm not sorry to lose, and I do feel as you do, that we have no right to dispose of Father's property," Mrs. Burton said. Then she went on, her voice shaken by real feeling: "But, Katherine, the life you have to lead just about breaks my heart. You are the brightest and cleverest of us all, and should have the best chance, instead of which you just have no chance at all. Take to-day, for instance; we have all been out enjoying ourselves, whilst you have been grubbing at home at work."

"It had to be either Miles or me," Katherine reminded her gently; "and think how he enjoyed it. There are so many pleasures which come my way that would not interest him at all, and that makes me so thankful for a chance of giving him a treat like that of to-day."

"I don't mind going out with Miles, because his manners are decent, and he is so quiet," said Mrs. Burton, "but I did not know where to put my head for very shame when Phil threw that pail of water on to Nick Jones."

"It was very foolish and silly, of course, and I expect Phil will have to pay pretty dearly for his mischief. If only Nick will pay him back in a manly fashion, without being cruel, I shan't care. Boys learn wisdom quicker through having to bear the consequences of their own actions, and it does not do for them to be too much shielded. Did you have a pleasant time?"

"Yes; it was lovely. The captain and the officers were so polite and nice, and the tea was very prettily done. Mary was there, of course, and Mr. Ferrars. I heard a good bit of talk about them too," Mrs. Burton said, with a happy little wag of her head. Her own hope and joy in life having become so much a thing of the past, made her much more interested in the concerns of others.

"What sort of talk?" asked Katherine. Of course she knew very well what the answer would be, and that it would make her heart ache worse than ever; but the situation had got to be faced, so the sooner she became hardened to the pain the better for her peace of mind.

"Oh, the usual things! Mrs. M'Kree said she thought they would make a lovely pair: for though Mary isn't pretty, she is very distinguished; and Mr. Ferrars has a way of carrying himself which makes me think he must come from a very good family indeed. I noticed that Mary's manner was very different to him to-day, and from the way he treated her it looked almost as if they had come to an understanding." Mrs. Burton's air was one of beaming satisfaction now, for she liked Jervis Ferrars quite well enough to be glad there was a chance of his marrying a rich wife, and so being lifted out of the fierce struggle with narrow means.

Katherine's heart felt sick and cold within her. She remembered what Mary had said about the boon asked by Jervis, which had been denied, and the denial regretted ever since. Probably that rescue from the tidehole had given Jervis the courage and the right to ask his boon again, and this time Mary would know her own heart too well to refuse happiness, even though it came to her at the hands of a poor man.

She was glad to turn out early next morning and go with Phil to do the "back-ache" portage, because it took her away from any likelihood of an encounter with Mary, who would probably be br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with happiness.

"It is quite natural that she should feel like that, and I am very glad for her," Katherine announced to herself in a defiant tone, as she loaded packages of groceries and bundles of dry goods on to the dogs in the morning, for them to carry over the portage to the boathouse above the falls.

It never once occurred to her that she could have made a mistake, or that she had jumped to wrong conclusions in the matter. She was so used to making up her mind on all sorts of subjects without any waste of time, that naturally she decided she was right in this thing also. The dogs trotted up the portage path with a hearty goodwill, for they had the sense to know that the journey was not a long one and that their work would soon be over. There were only three of them this morning, for Hero was at the house over the river.

Katherine and Phil followed the dogs. They also carried burdens, and, as the portage path was steep, they were glad not to waste their breath in talking while they toiled up the hill. The last dog, which walked just in front of Katherine, carried two wooden boxes, filled with marmalade for Mrs. M'Kree, and it was funny to see how careful the creature was to keep right in the middle of the path, so that its burden did not b.u.mp against the rocks which projected on either side of the narrow trail.

"Good dog! You shall have a smear of marmalade on your biscuit for supper to-night, if I don't forget it," Katherine said, when the boathouse was reached without any danger to the consignment of marmalade.

"Pity to waste good stuff like that on a creature which can't appreciate it. Now, I am very gone on marmalade," remarked Phil, as he put the two boxes into the boat.

"You shall have some for supper too; but you must not begrudge the poor dog just a little taste," Katherine said, as with a brief word of command she sent two of the dogs hurrying back to the store for some bundles of meal and flannel that had been left behind for a second journey.

While the dogs were gone, she and Phil stowed into the boat all the goods which had been brought over, then they sat down to wait for the remainder of the load, and Phil's tongue began to be busy on the events of yesterday.

"I'm downright glad we've got to do the backache portage to-day, because, as we can't be in two places at once, I shan't be found at the store if anyone comes to see me special," he said, winking up at a bluebird which sat on a bough above his head. The bird gave a little chirp, whisked its tail, and then stayed motionless, as if much interested in the talk.

"Who would be likely to make a special visit to you to-day?" asked Katherine, momentarily forgetting Phil's prank of yesterday.

"Nick Jones, of course. I guess if I had been minding store to-day, and had seen him coming in at the door, my heart would have about gone down into my boots," admitted Phil, with great candour.

"But he may come to-morrow, you know," suggested Katherine.

"No, he won't, for a lot of them start the next morning in the Mary for a week's fishing off the Twins; and Mr. Ferrars is going too, I know, because I heard him say so," replied Phil.

"The Twins are those two islands east of Akimiski, are they not?" asked Katherine.

"I suppose so; they are out in the Bay somewhere, I know, and they are very dangerous, because there are such strong currents all round them and no end of hidden rocks," Phil said in a cheerful tone, as if he were rather pleased than otherwise that his enemy had to face so much danger in the near future.

"That must be the place where a boat was wrecked two years ago and all the people were drowned. I wonder they are taking the Mary," said Katherine, for that was the biggest and best of the new boats, built by Astor M'Kree in the previous winter.

"They are taking her because she is such a good boat; no use having a leaky old tub for such work. Here come the dogs!" and Phil jumped up in such a hurry that the bluebird flew away in alarm.

The dogs were unloaded, the things they had brought being packed into the boat; then Katherine and Phil took their up-river way, and the dogs went back to the store to spend the morning as they thought fit.

Phil's news, had puzzled Katherine a great deal. It seemed so strange to her that Jervis Ferrars should go off to the rough, dangerous work of fishing off the sh.o.r.es of the inhospitable Twins if he were really engaged to Mary. His absence from Seal Cove would mean that someone would have to do his work there, as the boats coming in had to have their cargoes totalled and entered, while the drying, sorting, and packing needed constant supervision. Perhaps some little ghost of a hope crept into her heart that morning; at any rate, the pull up river seemed easier, and it was not such hard work as usual doing the second portage, even though she had to carry the wooden boxes, with the jars of marmalade for Mrs. M'Kree, swung across her own shoulders, a heavy, uncomfortable burden to be carried through the hot sunshine.

Backwards and forwards they went along the portage path, but they did not have to carry the boat, fortunately, as a birchbark belonging to Astor M'Kree was always available for their use on the long portage-a great convenience this, as Katherine and Phil would hardly have managed the burden of the boat between them. Mrs. M'Kree as usual received Katherine literally with open arms, and pressed her to remain on her way back for tea. This invitation Katherine would have promptly refused, but for an appealing look from Phil, whose courage regarding a meeting with his enemy was fast evaporating.

"You are very kind. We ought to be back about four o'clock, then perhaps we can stay for an hour," Katherine said, accepting on Phil's behalf, although her own desires were solely and entirely for getting home as fast as she could.

"A regular brick you are, Katherine!" exclaimed Phil, as they settled themselves in the birchbark for the journey up to the long portage. "I just wish to be as late home as possible this evening, and then most likely I shall be tired enough to want to go to bed directly I get there."

"It strikes me that it is not your strength which is likely to give out, but your nerve," Katherine answered with a laugh; then went on in a graver tone: "I don't scold you when you play monkey tricks, as you did yesterday, but it is hard work not to despise you when I see you trying to escape the consequences of what you have done by sneaking off to bed, pretending you are tired, when in reality you are only afraid."

Phil reddened, looked dreadfully ashamed of himself for about two minutes, then said in a cheerful tone: "It is rather nice of me to be willing to play round with those sticky M'Kree babies, as if I were a kid myself."

"I suppose it is; yet down underneath I dare say you rather like the playing round, as you call it," laughed Katherine, and then she worked on in silence up the solitary reaches of the river, with the glaring sunshine on her unsheltered back, and swarms of flies tormenting her unprotected face and neck. These last became such an intolerable nuisance after a time, that she was forced to swathe herself in a hot and c.u.mbering veil.

The "back-ache" portage was worthy of its name that day, and it was considerably past noon before they arrived at the Indian village to which they were bound. At first they could not find anyone at home, the whole community being away in the forest peeling bark from the birch trees for the making of canoes. But the same kind of thing had happened before, so Katherine was not at a loss. Picking up a tin pan, she commenced beating a military tattoo upon it with a thick stick; while Phil, with a trumpet improvised from a roll of birchbark, produced an ear-splitting din which must have carried far through the quiet woods. It was not long before their customers arrived on the scene, and then the business of barter began. A very long business it proved to-day, for, the weather being warm and comfortable, the red men and women seemed to thoroughly enjoy sitting round at their ease and taking time to consider whether they wished to be purchasers or not.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bartering with the Indians]

But Katherine was patient and tactful too. After all, the training of a teacher is not lost in the buying and selling of a backwoods store. The same gifts of persuasion are needful in both cases, and the same gentle firmness is useful in settling the bargain which has come to completion. It was four o'clock before Katherine was able to turn her back on the Indian village, but by then she had sold every article which had been brought up river, and was laden with a currency of valuable furs and some specimens of narwhal ivory, very beautiful, but apparently of great age. The same kind of thing had happened before, and she could never quite make out where it had come from, for the narwhal was so rarely met with in the Hudson Bay waters now, and was a creature so fierce, that it was puzzling to know how people in birchbark canoes, armed only with spears, could ever manage to secure it. A theory held by her father in his days of health was, that in places along those little-known sh.o.r.es the tusks of narwhals dead centuries before might be found by the Indians buried in the sands, and it was finds of this sort which they dug up and offered for sale.

Their stay at Mrs. M'Kree's house was very short after all, though Katherine was thankful indeed for the cup of tea awaiting her there, and much too grateful for the kindness to be fastidious about its overdrawn condition. As a matter of fact, the tea had been gently on the boil for more than two hours, but this was a minor detail in the comfort of people who had an outdoor life and worked hard from dawn to dark.

It was pleasant to slip down on the swift current of the river when the cool of the evening came on. Katherine was almost sorry when the home portage was reached, for it was like taking up the burden of life again, and she was tired enough to feel that rest was a luxury indeed. The dogs were soon over at the boathouse to help with the parcels, and then Katherine and Phil, both heavily laden, pa.s.sed up the portage path, and night came down.