The Long Portage Part 43

There are two ways of getting over the difficulty--by reducing the weight, or by increasing the number of packers; and the latter are useful only when each man can transport more than will satisfy his personal requirements. I think that's clear?"

They a.s.sented with some curiosity mixed with a slight uneasiness.

"Then," he proceeded, "I'll exercise my authority by asking you to lay out in front of each tent everything you have brought with you."

"Including our clothes?" Bella asked.

"a.s.suredly," said Crestwick. "You can put them in a heap; it's the quant.i.ty and not the cut that counts."

It was evident that the leader's first instructions were received with little favor. Millicent looked dubious and Miss Hume alarmed; but the orders were carried out, and Lisle accompanied by Crestwick made a tour of inspection. Stopping in front of Bella's and Carew's tent, he pointed to their rather imposing pile of baggage.

"Two-thirds of this will have to be left behind, though we'll try to pick it up again. You can make your selection." He went on to Millicent's and Miss Hume's collection. "We can't take more than half of this," he informed them. Then he addressed the company in general. "The three ladies must occupy Miss Gladwyne's tent, and the men Carew's; Nasmyth's must be abandoned. Each man's outfit must be cut down to one change of clothes and his blanket."

The announcement was received with open murmurs. They had all been accustomed to every comfort with which a high civilization could provide them; they had already cut down their belongings to the lowest limit at which, in their estimation, life could be made endurable; and many of the articles they were told must be left behind were costly and artistic. It was a severe test of obedience and even Nasmyth, who knew the wilderness, desiring to safeguard the women, was not inclined to yield. Lisle had only Crestwick to support him until Bella touched his arm.

"Stand fast," she urged, somewhat to his surprise. "If you give way an inch now, you'll be sorry."

Lisle smiled and then raised his voice.

"I'm afraid I must insist. Since you object, Carew, are you willing to carry forty pounds upon your back while you break a trail through thick timber, where we find it needful to leave the water?"

"Certainly not," said Carew decidedly.

"Then," Lisle advised dryly, "you had better leave as much as possible of the weight behind; there's no likelihood of our getting more packers. You have to choose between a camp-chair or a suitcase, for example, and your daily dinner."

For a moment or two they hesitated. Lisle had, straining his new authority to the utmost, asked them a very hard thing, for in their regard some degree of luxury was less an accidental favor than a prescriptive right. Then Bella took up a long garment and with a little resolute gesture flung it from her.

"That," she laughed, "is the first sacrifice to the stern guardians of the wilds. It ought to satisfy them, considering who made it and what it cost." She seized a small valise and hurled it after the dress. "There's the next; I'm thankful my complexion will stand the weather."

Millicent looked up at Lisle, indicating a small easel, a bulky sketch-book, and a box of water-colors.

"Are these to go?" she asked with indignant eyes.

"No," he answered gravely; "they're the reason for the whole expedition, and their transport is provided for. But you'll have to jettison something else."

The selections were made and Lisle summoned one of the packers.

"Roll these things up in Mr. Nasmyth's tent, Pete," he bade him. "You'll have to make a cache of them."

"Like burying money, isn't it?" remarked the man, regarding the pile of sundries with a grin. "Guess they won't be worth much when they're dug up again."

Half an hour later, three deeply-laden canoes left the beach; and all day the party paddled up the gleaming lake and crept with poles going up a slow, green river. Sunset was near when they landed and ate supper among a clump of cedars; and after the meal most of them, cramped with the canoe journey, climbed the steep hill-bench or strolled away along the shingle. Lisle was lying, smoking, beside the fire when Millicent sauntered toward him and sat down upon a neighboring stone.

"You were right, of course," she apologized. "Am I forgiven? It was only a momentary revolt."

He smiled, though his bronzed coloring deepened, for there was an unusual gentleness in her voice.

"It was very natural," he replied. "I had expected more determined opposition; but I didn't go farther than was necessary."

"No; I think the others realize that now."

"They'll be more convinced of it later," he responded with a trace of grimness.

"I don't think they'll give you any trouble; but since you got rid of Nasmyth's tent, where will you and Crestwick sleep?"

"Jim and I can make a shelter of some kind; we're used to the bush."

"What have you done to the lad?" Millicent asked. "I can hardly realize the change in him; he's a different being."

"I've merely given him a chance he would hardly have had in England. The country has done the rest. You can ask him how much advice or admonishment he got."

"Oh," she explained, "I shouldn't expect you to give him advice; it's cheap!"

He made no reply, and her eyes rested with quiet approval on his rather embarra.s.sed face. She had no doubt that close contact with this man had had more to do with the change in Crestwick than the influence of the country; and then she recollected that the lad's degeneration had been marked and rapid while he had taken Clarence for a model. It was a troublesome thought and she banished it with an effort.

"You didn't get here without difficulty; and our journey will keep you away from your business for some time," she observed.

"As to that, I've earned a little leisure; and I've been looking forward to this trip ever since I left England. Now it's almost like being back there again, only that in some ways it's even better."

So far as their surroundings might explain his satisfaction, Millicent could frankly agree with him. The black spires of the cedars, towering far above them, cut in rigid tracery against the splendors of the sunset sky; one stretch of the river still shone with a saffron light; the rest, which had grown dim, flowed through deepening shadow. Filmy mist trails streaked the rugged hills and the hoa.r.s.e clamor of a rapid quivered in the cool air. Behind it all, there was something that set the lonely scene apart from any other that the girl had looked upon--one could realize that this was as yet an untamed and unsullied region. But her companion was accustomed to the wilderness, so there must be, she thought, another cause for his content.

"I am glad you do not grudge the time you may have to spend with us," she said.

"Grudge it!" he exclaimed; and then, restraining himself, he broke into a soft laugh. "You may accuse me of that feeling when you hear me grumble."

The ring in his voice had its meaning and it left her thoughtful. The revelation was not altogether new; she had guessed his regard for her, but she imagined that she could hold him at arm's length if it were necessary. It was with him as it was with Nasmyth, and they were alike in their self-restraint. Nasmyth had quietly accepted his dismissal when she had shown him that it was irrevocable; and the Canadian would not trouble her with futile complaints. She wondered if out of three suitors she had not chosen the least desirable in some respects; but this could not be admitted and she resolutely thrust the idea aside.

"There's a point I'd better mention," Lisle resumed in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm not going to follow the route of the first expedition from the beginning. I've thought of a shorter and easier one; we'll strike the other by the big portage and then follow it down."

"Are you afraid of wearing out your untried followers?"

"Well," he admitted, "I'm taking no risks that can be avoided this journey."

She smilingly commended his caution, though she was conscious of a desire, which must be held in check, to see what he would do if he could be shaken out of his self-control. She approved of his restraint, because only while it was exerted could she meet him on friendly terms; but, as had happened on his last afternoon in England, it piqued her. She wondered how much it cost him.

"After all," she said with a forced laugh, "it's better to keep carefully clear of danger."

"Yes," he agreed; "but there's now and then a temptation to face the hazard. One feels that it's worth while."

"Never mind that. I think I'd rather enjoy the wildness of this scene than to philosophize. Tell me about the bear and deer we are likely to come across."

He discoursed at length, and she sat listening while the light faded and the cedars grew blacker. Then the others approached and they went back to camp.

"Breakfast will be at seven prompt," he informed them. "The packers will strike tents while you eat, so have everything ready. There are two awkward portages to be tackled to-morrow."

They started in a clammy mist which clung about them until they reached the foot of the first wild rapid, where the green and white flood came roaring over ledges and between huge boulders, with wisps of spray tossing over it. This was Millicent's first sight of the river in anger, and she watched, at first almost appalled and then thrilled with strong excitement, when Lisle and one packer took the leading canoe up the lowest rush. They stood upright in the unloaded, unstable craft, long pole in hand, guiding her with what seemed wonderful skill across madly-whirling eddies and through tumbling foam, while Nasmyth and another man, floundering deep in water, a.s.sisted them at intervals with the tracking-line. Once Nasmyth's companion lost his footing and disappeared, but he rose and Millicent saw that instead of clinging to the line for safety he loosed it, and swimming down a wild white tumult, came dripping ash.o.r.e. This, she thought, was bracing work that made for more than physical vigor; but she could not imagine Clarence indulging in it. It was too elemental, too barbarous for him. He was fond of exertion in the form of sport, but he required somebody to saddle and lead out his horse and to load his second gun. There was a difference between him and those who delighted to grapple at first hand with nature.

She was astonished to see Crestwick get a heavy flour bag upon his back and move away with it over very rough stones, and she joined in Bella's laugh when Carew attempted to shoulder another and dropped it.