The Wilderness Castaways Part 18

The boys were in position to live very well now. They had no bread, for scarcely enough flour remained for one meal, and this little flour and a small bit of bacon were all that was left, save tea and salt, of the provisions they had brought from the ship.

The morning after the goose hunt two rabbits were found in Paul's snares and he was greatly elated at his success, and on the same day several ptarmigans and a black duck were killed by Dan, materially increasing their stock of provisions.

Then came a night of rain, and another morning found the land washed clear of snow. The sky had cleared, and a strong, steady breeze sprang up from the westward, as Dan had prophesied it would. Gradually under this influence the ice pack began to loosen and move seaward.

The boys returned early from their hunting trips on succeeding days that Dan might devote the afternoons to repairs on the boat, that it might be made as seaworthy as possible. The repairs completed, he fitted a mast forward, and with the light tarpaulin improvised a sail.

He also provided a long stiff oar, which he fashioned with the axe, explaining to Paul that it was to be used in the stern to propel and steer the boat at times when the wind failed them, just as he had used the small oar when they went ash.o.r.e from the ice pan.

Gradually Paul had learned to cook their simple meals of game. He a.s.sumed this responsibility, provided fuel and attended to the general camp duties, not only that Dan might be free during daylight hours to devote his undivided attention to preparations for departure, but because he wished to feel that he, too, was doing his full share of the work.

The weather had settled. By day the sun shone brilliantly, by night the stars and aurora lighted the heavens. The ice continued to move.

The bight was soon quite free from it, and at length the sea itself was so little obstructed that one day Dan announced it quite safe to begin their voyage of exploration to the southward.

Preparations for departure had curtailed their hunting hours, but nevertheless they had four full days' provisions when they broke camp and set sail in their frail craft. The wind was fair, and it was a beautiful, perfect morning. Their hearts were full of hope and expectancy, though they knew much less of the surrounding sea and dismal coast than did Henry Hudson, the great explorer, when he was set adrift upon the same waters by a mutinous crew nearly three hundred years before.

CHAPTER X

A NARROW ESCAPE

"Hurrah!" shouted Paul, as Dan trimmed the sail and it filled with wind. "Hurrah! We're off!"

"I'm hopin' th' wind'll breeze up a bit; an' she does, we'll be makin'

fine time," remarked Dan, pointing the boat for the open sea. "She's a rare good sailin' craft."

"Let me take the tiller, Dan. I can handle it, and I want to do something. You manage the sail."

"An' you wants," said Dan, surrendering the tiller and settling comfortably amidships. "Head her just outside that p'int o' land," he directed.

"Isn't it fine to be moving!" exclaimed Paul. "But the old camping place grew to seem homelike to me. Wasn't it cozy when we first landed there from the ice, after we got our tent up and a fire started?"

"Yes, 'twere wonderful snug an' fine, but I finds it a rare sight better afloat, an' s'uthard bound."

"Do you know, Dan, it gives me a sort of scarey feeling to think we're out here alone in this little boat when there's not another boat in sight, and likely there isn't another within hundreds of miles of us, unless it's the _North Star_; and we know that no one lives on the land. It's a queer sort of feeling--nothing but a great big wilderness everywhere, and just us in it. But I'm glad to be here. I wonder what there is below that point and over the hill?"

"'Tis a wonderful bleak country, I'm thinkin', an' I'm wishin' we were knowin' where th' fur traders is, an' where we're goin'." Dan produced his harmonica as he spoke, drew it across his sleeve, and putting it to his lips blew a chord or two.

"It's because we don't know, I guess, and the uncertainty about it, that makes it interesting to me. I feel like an explorer. It's simply great to sail along and wonder all the time what we'll see next, and no way of finding out till we get there. That makes it exciting and romantic."

"I don't know as 'tis very exciting," said Dan, removing the harmonica from his lips, "but 'tis a wonderful sight better 'n stayin' around camp, with winter nigh, an' 't would be better yet if th' ship came cruisin' along t' pick us up--which she won't, as th' ice sure drove she out."

With this, and as if to dismiss the subject, he struck up one of his favorite tunes, playing softly, and ceasing only long enough to say to Paul: "A bit t' port. That's it, steady."

The morning air was crisp and frosty. The sun illumined the eastern heavens in a blaze of wondrous colors, and presently raised his face above the glistening sea. Even the bleak coast, austere and rugged, possessed a unique grandeur and compelling beauty. The wind sprang up with the rising sun, and the little boat bowled along at a good speed, upon a gentle swell. Now and again Dan would trim the sail, and give an instruction to Paul, "Port lee a bit," or "Starb'rd a bit," and return to his music.

Paul was thinking of home, of his mother and father, and his homecoming--some time. He had no doubt that he and Dan would extricate themselves from the wilderness, for he had grown to have unbounded faith in Dan's resourcefulness and ingenuity. He wondered what his parents would say, when Mr. Remington returned without him, if Dan's a.s.surance that the ship could never have remained in the face of the ice were correct.

While he realized and regretted the anxiety his absence would cause his parents, it did not occur to him that any one would believe that he and Dan were drowned. He believed that his father would send a vessel for them when the ice pa.s.sed out of Hudson Bay the following summer, and that in the meantime he and Dan would be quite comfortable at some trading post which they should presently find.

He was thrilled with the delights of adventure, now that any real danger seemed past, and he made for himself pleasant pictures of his return to school and the role of hero he would fill in the eyes of the other fellows.

Presently Dan ceased playing, and they chatted intermittently. Once a great sea creature raised its back directly in front of them.

"What's that?" asked Paul.

"A white whale," answered Dan, as the thing sank, to appear again much farther out to sea.

At another time they pa.s.sed several seals, and Paul wished to shoot at them, but Dan advised:

"'Tis rare hard t' hit un, an' if you did hit one an' kill un, she'd sink before we could get un. An' we'll be needin' all th' cartridges,"

so Paul did not shoot.

The sun was close to the western horizon when, ravenously hungry, for they had eaten nothing since breakfast, they ran into a little cove, unloaded their belongings, hauled the boat to a safe position, and made camp. They had kept steadily going all day, for Dan had been unwilling to lose advantage of the fair wind, and had they gone ash.o.r.e to cook dinner it would have consumed at least an hour of valuable time.

"Th' days is growin' wonderful short," said Dan, "an' we'll have t' be usin' all of the daylight when th' wind's fair an' good. 'Twill save grub, too, if we eats only twice a day."

During the four succeeding days they made indifferent progress. The weather was glorious, but the wind for hours at a stretch died to a dead calm, the sail hung slack, and to keep in motion they were compelled to work at their stern oar, and progress by this means was slow and tedious.

They were very sparing of their provisions. A couple of geese were killed and added to their store, but nothing else. Then came another day with a good breeze, but when they went into camp that night they had only a gull to divide between them for supper. It was an unpromising sh.o.r.e for game, and Dan expressed himself of the belief that it would be quite fruitless to hunt.

"If we sees any place tomorrow that looks like a river, or a likely place for huntin', we'll land an' try un," he commented as, very hungry, they settled for the night.

There was not a sc.r.a.p to eat for breakfast. Paul declared he could eat his shoes, and Dan facetiously advised that he fill up on water, the one thing that was abundant. They set sail as the first light of dawn appeared in the east. Paul shivered in the frosty atmosphere, and both of the young voyagers sat despondently quiet, until the sun pushed his big glowing face above the eastern waters, and seemed to laugh at them.

"Dad says, 'Keep a stiff upper lip, do th' best un can, an' she'll work out all right,'" encouraged Dan, at length, breaking the silence.

"They ain't nothin' we can do but keep goin' an' watch out for game.

Th' Lord's been watchin' out for us right along, an' He's got His eye on us now, I'm thinkin'. We ain't been lookin' much for grub. We been thinkin' too much about gettin' on. An' we looks out, we'll be gettin'

grub before night. They's been chances t' kill grub every day, but we been goin' right on an' not takin' un."

"We'll have to get something pretty soon or we'll starve to death,"

said Paul. "I wonder how long people can live without eating?"

"I'm not knowin' just how long. Dad's been a week more 'n once without eatin', an' he says 't were just makin' he a bit weak, but not hurtin' he none."

"I'm sure I never could stand it for a week."

"Oh, yes, un could. Dad says 't is bad when folks gives up, an' thinks they's goin' t' die after fastin' for a bit."

"But we can't live unless we eat," insisted Paul.

"No, but we can go a wonderful time without eatin' before we dies, if we only thinks we can."

The wind was rising. White caps were appearing upon the surface of the sea, and presently the boat began now and again to ship water.

"We'll have t' make sh.o.r.e th' first promisin' place," suggested Dan.