Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay Part 18

"Let's make up our minds we're going to beat these chaps at their own game, and that'll be half the battle," Frank told them.

"But I think Ned is all right when he says, 'we ought to cut stick and get away from here as soon as we can,'" Jack gave as his opinion.

In fact, the guides were manifesting more or less impatience. They apparently understood that the enemy would be apt to turn up here again, sooner or later; and could not comprehend why the scouts should always want to compare notes, before doing anything like making a change of base. Francois and the Cree were accustomed to making most of their moves through instinct; while with the scouts those same things did not come naturally, but had to be reasoned out, which made considerable difference.

One last look did they give toward the reeds that had promised to be so friendly, only to betray the confidence the boys had placed in them; and after that the little party moved off.

"But say, won't they follow after us, Ned?" asked Jimmy, when he failed to see the guides getting busy with trying to destroy all evidences of their pa.s.sage, as he had fully expected would be the case.

Some of the other scouts showed by their expectant manner that they were also wondering what it all meant. Ned took it upon himself to enlighten them.

"If I read their meaning right," he ventured, "that is just what they want to do at first, make the men believe we've started to tramp back over all those hundreds of miles of ground. Before long, they'll do something to hide the trail so only a wolf's keen scent could find it; and then we'll turn around again, so as to face toward Hudson Bay. How, Francois?"

The old voyageur had listened to the explanation offered by Ned. He grinned and wagged his head, as though quite tickled at the idea of the boy understanding so well what the little game was.

"Zat ees so, sare," he said. "If Jimmy he be able hold out so long, mebbe we also eat supper far away from zis place."

Hearing his name mentioned, Jimmy was up in arms. He had a reserve stock of nerve for occasions like this, which could be summoned to the fore.

"Don't bother about Jimmy, please," he told them. "Sure, when it comes to a pinch, don't he always get there with the goods? My feet can ache all they want to; but, all the same, they'll do what I say. If it's a mile or six of the same, I'm good for it. But I wish I had something to gnaw on meanwhile, because I'm as hungry as a starved wolf, so I am."

Frank produced a handful of crackers from his little pack, which he willingly turned over to the other. This seemed to satisfy Jimmy; at least, he stopped groaning and telling of his aches and pains. When they could get his jaws to working in this fashion, he seldom allowed himself to enter any complaint. Jimmy could be bribed to do a good many things by the promise of a feast at the other end.

They continued on for some little time, and then it became apparent that Francois and the Cree had decided the blind trail had been carried far enough.

They were seen to confer, after which the leader stepped upon a long log that lay conveniently near by. Walking part way along this, the Indian suddenly leaped upon a bare rock, stepped its length, found another log, pa.s.sed along it and so continued, leaving not the slightest trace of a trail that could be followed, unless dogs were placed upon the scent.

"You go next, Jack," urged Ned, who wished to satisfy himself that all of the scouts were able to qualify in this round of concealing the trail; though they had practiced it many a time when in camp.

Jack had observed every move of the agile old Indian, so that once he started over the same course he made short work of it.

"Teddy, you're next!" the scout leader announced.

Possibly it was with more or less trepidation that the one singled out began to cover the ground. But then Teddy was not a tenderfoot, even if he did not know as much as some of the others about woodcraft. He walked along the log, made the jump successfully, though falling flat on his face when he gained the rock; managed to gain the second tree trunk, and conducted himself so cleverly on the whole that Ned gave him a wave of approval after he had joined the others some distance away.

Frank and Jimmy copied the actions of those who had gone before, and so far as could be seen they did not leave any trace of their pa.s.sage, though, of course, the old voyageur would look out for all that when he came to cross, and examine the ground carefully in so doing.

Ned found no difficulty in following the rest, and then they stood on a stone foundation, watching with considerable interest, while Francois scrutinized the track to make sure they had not left some sort of footprint, or disturbed any object, however small, that might catch a trained eye and betray their little game to the enemy.

As far as possible for some little time, they were instructed to take advantage of every opportunity that cropped up to advance, without leaving tell-tale imprints behind them. That is the measure of success in "blinding a trail," and if anybody ever had it down to a science, surely a Cree Indian might be expected to. Still there was no telling what might happen. Discovery was always in the air, and they must be forever on their guard against it.

Jimmy did seem to revive under the influence of his little bite, for he kept resolutely on, with set jaws and a look of grim determination written large upon his freckled and rosy face.

They were heading straight toward salt water now, all of them knew; because stars had crept into view, and these boys had long since learned to tell direction, by means of the lights in the sky, by day or night.

The Polar Star shone dimly, as always, nearly directly ahead of them.

Other stars they could see, such as are never gazed upon by people living in the temperate climes, constellations peculiar to the northern region of ice and snow.

"Eet is here we rest and eat!" announced Francois, after a long and arduous siege of this tramping and stumbling had been endured.

Jimmy wanted very much to make out that it was a matter of small importance to him whether they stopped or continued right on; but nevertheless he could not keep back the happy sigh that would well forth; and they could hear him champing his jaws, as though trying to learn whether they were still in condition for service, because that one word "eat" had told him they expected to break their fast. Shortly afterwards they were making themselves as comfortable as possible, though dest.i.tute of blankets and many other things; while the two guides started a little cooking fire in a depression where it could not be seen thirty feet away.

CHAPTER XV.

THE BRUSH SHELTER.

"After all, this isn't so bad!" Teddy was saying, after they had got the supper started, and most of them were lying around in comfortable att.i.tudes, enjoying the cheery conditions, for the air was a bit cool, and even the warmth of the small cooking fire felt good.

"It might be worse," admitted Jimmy, sniffing the fragrant air, as a war horse might the pungent powder-smoke of battle--Jimmy was always ready for the fray in the line of disposing of surplus "grub."

They did not have a very extensive meal. The conditions hardly warranted their trying to put on any "style," as Jimmy called it. So as appet.i.tes were appeased, and the food tasted good, n.o.body was apt to complain.

Indeed, these fellows had been through so much in times gone by that they knew how to make the most of a bad bargain, and adapt themselves to circ.u.mstances as they found them.

When a Boy Scout can do that he has achieved the best that any one could expect of him, for he has conquered himself, always the hardest fight of all.

Presently Francois announced that the simple bill-of-fare was ready. It consisted of hard-tack, coffee, and some caribou meat cooked in regular camp style. What mattered it if in places the venison was slightly scorched, or underdone; the wood smoke gave it a flavor all its own, and there were vigorous appet.i.tes on hand to overlook these minor faults.

Quant.i.ty appeals to boys more than quality, generally speaking, and never a single complaint was heard as they munched away.

"Getting off better than we expected, ain't we?" Jimmy observed, with his mouth so full that his words were fairly mumbled.

"Oh! this is just prime!" Frank declared. "I'm more bothered about not having my good blanket to snuggle down into than anything else."

"Please don't mention it till we've done eating, anyway," pleaded Teddy.

"Makes a cold chill run up and down my spinal column every time I think what we've got to face, with tents and blankets all gone."

"Another experience, that's all," remarked Jack, trying to look cheerful, as if these things should not bother any one worthy of calling himself a scout.

"Well, we've seen a heap of 'em, all told," was the consoling remark of Jimmy, "and we're still in the circus ring, right side up with care.

Fact is, it takes an awful lot to knock a scout out, because he's learned so many ways to dodge, just like a cat does."

"There you go, comparing us to a bunch of tomcats," chuckled Frank.

"I do hope, though," Teddy went on to say, with a sigh, as he contemplated the little blaze before him, "that later on we'll be able to have jolly camp fires every night. There is a chance of that happening, ain't there, Ned?"

"Why, I should hope so, Teddy," replied the other; "I'd hate to think that we'd have to stand for this sort of thing long. As soon as it looks like we've dropped that crowd, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't have all the fire we want, so long as we don't start the bush to burning. And as every scout knows how to get sparks from flint and steel, not to mention other ways of doing the same, why, we needn't bother ourselves about matches."

In this way they chatted in low tones, and their spirits were kept from drooping. a.s.sociation does considerable toward making boys, or men, see the bright lining to the cloud. It is like rubbing metal fragments together in a turning cylinder, with the result that every separate piece receives more or less of a l.u.s.ter from the constant friction. So difficulties brighten the minds of scouts who know enough to take advantage of their opportunities.

All sorts of suggestions were being made from time to time, looking to the betterment of their conditions. Some of these did not seem practical, and were immediately dropped. Others deserved more careful consideration, and, in these cases, the boys gave each other the benefit of their opinions.

During the course of this talk, Jack brought up the subject of bettering their sleeping quarters.

"As we don't expect to keep this little fire going through the whole night," he told them, "and so won't get the benefit of its warmth, what's to hinder out looking around to find a place where the brush is thick enough to let us stack up a woods' shelter?"

"A good idea, Jack!" was the comment of the patrol leader.