Phil Bradley's Snow-shoe Trail Part 6

"That is reckoned the best time for hunting," Phil explained; "though it doesn't seem hardly fair to the caribou or the moose. You see, with their weight and their sharp hoofs they break through the crust at every jump, and flounder more or less in the drifts; while the hunter on his broad snow-shoes glides swiftly along, and can easily overtake the strongest of them."

"How about those moose yards I've read about?" asked Ethan, who though a descendant of a New England family knew much less about big-game hunting than did Phil.

"Oh! they are found in New Brunswick, and parts of Canada as well," the other explained. "When the snow gets very deep, so that the moose find it hard to move around in the woods, they make their way to some place previously selected, where they can feed on the tender shoots of certain trees. There they stay, trampling the snow down constantly, until the place looks like an enclosure surrounded by walls of snow."

"Then that's how it came to be called a moose yard, I suppose?" ventured Lub, who was listening to all of this talk, even though he did not profess to be very fond of hunting.

"Yes," Phil continued; "and there are some hunters so low down in the scale as real sportsmen that if they ran upon one of these yards they would take advantage of the opportunity to slaughter every one of the moose in it, no matter if they numbered ten or a dozen."

"But good gracious! isn't there a law limiting the number of moose any one person can shoot in a year?" asked Lub.

"Of course there is, and it's generally a single specimen, because moose are getting more and more scarce every season," said Phil; "but what does the game law signify to these hogs? So long as they can feel pretty sure of not being found out there's nothing too mean for them to do."

"What a shame they can't all be arrested, and sent up for a term of years," Lub remarked, indignantly.

"And don't think for a minute," Ethan broke in with, "that it's the guides who do things like that. They know better than to kill the goose that lays the golden egg for them. On the contrary, as a rule it is some reckless so-called sportsman who allows his primal pa.s.sion to have full play when he finds himself up against such a golden opportunity. And I suppose he even makes his boasts of what great feats he performed when he finds himself back home with other fellows about the same build as himself."

The snow was by this time falling heavily. If it kept up at that rate, by morning it would certainly be measured by a dozen inches. X-Ray was so tickled he could hardly think of taking his snow-shoes off, but sat there a long time admiring the bent wood and stretched gut contrivances which men have used for so many years as a means for getting over the drifts of these cold countries.

"Looks like you meant to sit up all night, admiring yourself, X-Ray!"

suggested Ethan finally, with a little touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Better put a chain on him, and make sure he doesn't scoot out in the night!" Lub sang out.

"That word scoot makes me think of the motorboat we had down there on old Currituck Sound a while back," chuckled X-Ray, not at all bothered it seemed by these remarks on the part of his chums; "you remember it was called the _Skoot_, though for that matter it belied its name, for it never could go fast."

Soon afterward, however, X-Ray relieved Lub's anxious mind by removing the snow-shoes, and saying as he did so:

"Guess I can wait till to-morrow for my run; and, Phil, remember, you gave me your solemn promise to keep me company the first chance that came along?"

"We'll see," was all Phil would admit.

"Lucky we got our bully little shack all done before this started in, eh, boys?" remarked Ethan.

"It held off for us, which was a mighty fine thing for the weather to do," Lub told them, as he changed around in order to get his back warm, for he was now thinking of turning in.

They had arranged it so that the shack could be closed against the weather in time of stress. Phil made sure they had an abundance of fuel handy, for he said they would need it right along. The fire was to be kept up through the night; for a certain amount of heat might be expected to enter the lean-to through the opening where the canvas ap.r.o.n was drawn aside.

The fresh meat was hung from a limb, and high enough from the ground to prevent any wandering wolf from jumping up and carrying it off. Lub had been very solicitous about that part of the program, instructing the others to make sure by actual tests that it was a sufficient distance from the ground.

"Bear meat is too hard to get," he said, with considerable pride, "to want to feed it to the sneaking wolves."

Of course the others indulged in another pantomime laugh, as though they quite enjoyed hearing the peace-loving Lub talk in that strain. It did them no harm, and seemed to afford Lub more or less pleasure, so none of them attempted to shatter his dream of conquest by rude remarks.

Although X-Ray Tyson was the one most interested in the snowfall he never aroused himself enough at any time during the night to crawl out and take an observation as to the state of the weather.

Phil and Ethan looked after the fire; though on several occasions when one of them reentered the shack after performing this duty a sleepy voice would inquire after the weather conditions, and on hearing that the snow was still falling heavily X-Ray would grunt his usual phrase:

"That's hunky-dory; let her come!"

With the arrival of morning there could no longer be any doubt that winter had set in for good. A foot of snow on the level, with many drifts that were several times that deep, told how busy the old man plucking geese aloft had been while the Mountain Boys slept.

X-Ray was wild with delight.

"At last my day has come around!" he kept repeating over and over; "the day I've been waiting for so long. When shall we make a start, Phil?"

"Certainly not till after we've had a good hot breakfast, for one thing," a.s.serted the other; "and if it keeps on falling like it does now nothing would tempt me to start out for a snow-shoe tramp."

"But it looks to me like the clouds were ready to break over there in the northwest," urged the eager one.

"Let her break, then," Phil told him; "time enough to talk about going when we see the sun peeping out. I understand it's no soft snap to get twisted up in this same Canadian bush, with a blizzard blowing the snow down, and the cold getting away below zero point."

"Whoo! excuse me if you please," spoke up Lub; "I'll take mine out alongside this cheery blaze. Somebody has got to eat the drumsticks, my mother always says; and even in camp there must be a cook."

"And a jolly good one we happen to have along with us!" remarked X-Ray, generously.

"No taffy, please," warned Lub. "I may take a notion to strike, one of these days, and then the rest of you would have to throw up heads or tails to see who takes my place."

"We hope that day will be a long way off," declared the wily Ethan, "because the chances are we'd have to come to eating that _erbswurst_ just as it is, because no one could do justice to the culinary department after being spoiled the way we have."

Of course Lub was not so green as to think they meant all they said; yet at the same time it must have been pleasant for him to know his valiant efforts over the fire were appreciated by his chums. He worked harder than ever, and the satisfied smile that spread over his rosy face told that his thoughts were happy.

After all X-Ray was right about those clouds, although he did not claim to be a weather prophet, as he had once done. Even as they sat there and made away with the fine breakfast that had been prepared a bright ray of sunlight fell aslant the party; and looking out they could see that the snow had a dazzling appearance.

"Bully for that!" cried X-Ray; "if I didn't have my breakfast in my lap I'd feel like jumping up and dancing a hornpipe for joy. That means we'll soon be starting forth on our snow-shoes, eh, Phil?"

"I suppose you'll never give me a minute's peace until I do go out with you," the other declared, with a laugh; "though it's pretty hard work paddling around on snow-shoes when there isn't a trace of crust on top of the fall to hold you up. You see, every step you have to drag a shoe after you, and when the stuff is soft it means real work."

"Well, you never were known to go back on your word, rain or shine,"

said the other, in a satisfied sort of way, as though he did not mean to let it worry him in the least.

Half an hour later they were getting in readiness for the start.

"We'll carry our guns of course," said Phil, "for we might run across a caribou, and just now a little venison in camp wouldn't come in bad. And make sure to take plenty of ammunition along, for while we may not need it you never can tell. Likewise some matches besides your usual supply.

I'll put up a snack for our lunch; and besides we can carry some of that pemmican from the six pound can. Nothing to equal it as a life-saver in a pinch."

"Whew! to hear you talk," said the astonished Lub, "one would think you really _expected_ to get lost, and roam through the bush for days before you struck our own camp again; but of course you don't, Phil?"

"If I did think so I'd hesitate about going out," the other told him.

"In doing what I am, Lub, I'm only taking out an insurance policy. No man expects a fire is really going to come and eat up his house; it's the last thing he looks for; and yet all the same he wants his mind to be at ease. If it should hit him he is in a condition to rebuild again.

Well, chances are ten to one we'll bring this condensed food back with us; but in case we _do_ need it we'll be mighty glad we have it along.

And that's the right kind of policy to follow when you're off in the bush; for it is often the unexpected that happens."

Presently they had looked after every minute detail that could be thought of; and as X-Ray was very impatient to be off Phil did not have the heart to delay any longer.

"Here we go to hit the snow-shoe trail!" sang out the exultant X-Ray; and then he found it necessary to go through some violent contortions of the body in order to keep himself from tripping over his own feet, enc.u.mbered as they were with such unaccustomed appendages.

Phil had given him a staff, however, which he was expected to use in case of any need; and this prevented him from falling.