Silver Lake, R. M. Ballantyne [book series to read TXT] 📗
- Author: R. M. Ballantyne
Book online «Silver Lake, R. M. Ballantyne [book series to read TXT] 📗». Author R. M. Ballantyne
Winter passed away, and spring came. But little do those who dwell in England know of the enchantment of returning spring in the frozen wilderness of North America. The long, long winter, seems as though it would never pass away. The intense frost seals up all the sweet odours of the woods for so many months, that the nostrils become powerfully sensitive, and, as it were, yearn for something to smell. The skin gets so used to frost, that a balmy breeze is thought of as a thing of the past, or well-nigh forgotten.
Spring in those regions comes suddenly. It came on our wanderers with a gush. One night the temperature rose high above the freezing point; next day all the sights and sounds of Nature’s great awakening were in full play. The air fanned their cheeks like a summer breeze; the strange unwonted sound of tinkling and dropping water was heard; scents, as of green things, were met and inhaled greedily. As the thirsty Bedouin drinks from the well in the oasis, so did Roy and Nelly drink in the delicious influences of melting nature. And they thought of those words which say, that the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. The rejoicing had commenced, the blossoming would soon follow.
But warlike and wicked men were even then preparing to desecrate the beautiful land. A war-party of enemies had come down upon the tribe with whom they dwelt. Scouts had brought in the news. All was commotion and excitement in the camp. Goods and chattels were being packed up. The women and children were to be sent off with these, under an escort, to a place of greater security, while the Braves armed for the fight.
In the middle of all the confusion, Roy took Nelly aside, and, with a look of mystery, said—
“Nell, dear, I’m goin’ to run away. Stay, now, don’t stare so like an owl, but hold your sweet tongue until I have explained what I mean to do. You and I have picked up a good deal of useful knowledge of one sort or another since we came here, and I’m inclined to think we are quite fit to take to the woods and work our way back to Fort Enterprise.”
“But isn’t it an awful long way?” said Nelly.
“It is, but we have an awful long time to travel; haven’t we all our lives before us? If our lives are long, we’ll manage it; if they are short, why, we won’t want to manage it, so we need not bother our heads about that?”
“But the way home,” suggested Nelly, “do you know it?”
“Of course I know it; that is to say, I know, from that ugly thief Hawk, that it lies somewhere or other to the south-west o’ this place, some hundreds of miles off; how many hundreds does not much matter, for we have got the whole of the spring, summer, and fall before us.”
“But what if we don’t get home in the fall?”
“Then we shall spend the winter in the woods, that’s all.”
Nelly laughed, in spite of her anxieties, at the confident tone in which her brother spoke; and, being quite unable to argue the matter farther, she said that she was ready to do whatever Roy pleased, having perfect confidence in his wisdom.
“That’s right, Nell; now, you get ready to start at a moment’s notice. When the Injuns attack the camp, we’ll give ’em the slip. Put all you want to take with you on a toboggan, (see note 1) and meet me at the crooked tree when the camp moves.”
That night the camp was struck, and the women and children departed, under a strong escort. Almost at the same time the enemy came down on their prey, but they met men prepared for them. In the dark, Nelly crept to the crooked tree, dragging the toboggan after her. She was met by Roy, who took the sledge-line and her hand and led her into the dark forest, while the savages were fighting and yelling like fiends in the camp. There let us leave them to fight it out. Enough for us to know that their warfare prevented any pursuit of the young fugitives.
Weeks passed, and Roy and Nelly wandered on; all fear of pursuit soon left them. Ducks, geese, and other waterfowl, came in myriads with the spring. Roy had brought with him his gun (the one he was wont to use in hunting), and bow and quiver. They fed on the fat of the land. Summer advanced, and game became less plentiful; still, there was more than sufficient to supply them with abundance of food. Autumn approached; the wild fowl that had passed northward in spring, began to return southward, and again the wants of the young wanderers were superabundantly supplied.
The pole-star was Roy’s guide. At night he laid his course by it; and by the sun during the day, making constant allowance, of course, for the sun’s rate of travelling through the sky, and taking advantage of all prominent landmarks on the way.
Time sped on; many weary miles were travelled, but no sign of Fort Enterprise was to be seen. Day after day, week after week, month after month they wandered, and still found themselves in the heart of an unknown wilderness. Occasionally they observed signs of Indians, and carefully kept out of sight at such times, as you may easily believe.
At last there came a day when hard frost set in. It was the first touch of another winter. Roy and Nelly did not betray their feelings to each other, but their hearts sank as they thought of what lay before them. The frost was short-lived, however; towards noon the air became delightfully warm, and their spirits revived.
On reaching the summit of an eminence, up which they had toiled for several hours, they beheld a small lake, in which the silvery clouds were clearly reflected. The day was calm; the sun unusually brilliant; the autumnal foliage most gorgeous in colour. It was like a scene in fairy-land!
“Splendid!” exclaimed Roy, sitting down beside his sister on the trunk of a fallen tree.
“Oh! how beautiful,” cried Nelly.
“It’s so like silver,” said Roy.
“Silver Lake,” murmured Nelly.
Roy seemed to think the name appropriate, for he echoed the words, “Yes, Silver Lake.” And there brother and sister sat, for a long time, on the fallen tree, in silent admiration of the scene.
Note 1. A small Indian sledge, dragged on the snow, either by hand or by dog with loops at the sides for lashing the loading of the sledge upon it.
When Roy and Nelly sat down to gaze in admiration on Silver Lake, they little thought how long a period they should have to spend on its shores.
The lake was a small sheet of water not more than half a mile broad, embosomed among low hills, which, though not grand, were picturesque in outline, and wooded to their tops. It occupied the summit of an elevated region or height-of-land—a water-shed, in fact—and Roy afterwards discovered that water flowed from both the north-east and south-west sides of the table-land, in the midst of which it lay. These fountain-heads, separated by little more than half a mile from each other, were the sources of streams, which, flowing in opposite directions through hundreds of miles of wild, beautiful, and uncultivated wilderness, found their way, on the one hand, into Hudson’s Bay, on the other hand, into the Atlantic through the great rivers and lakes of Canada.
The waters of the lake were strikingly clear and pellucid. When the young wanderer first came upon the scene, not a zephyr stirred the leaves of the forest; the blue sky was studded with towering masses of white clouds which glowed in sunshine, and these reflected in the glassy water—as if far, far down in its unfathomable depths—produced that silvery effect which prompted Nelly to utter the name which we have adopted.
Small though the Silver Lake was, it boasted two islets, which like twin babes lay side by side on their mother’s fair breast, their reflected images stretching down into that breast as if striving to reach and grasp its heart!
“Couldn’t we stay here a short time?” asked Nelly, breaking the silence in a tone that indicated anxiety, hope, and enthusiasm, “only for a very little time,” she added, coaxingly.
Roy looked grave and sagacious. Boys as well as men like to be leant upon and trusted by the fair sex—at least in things masculine—and Nelly had such boundless faith in her brother’s capacity to protect her and guide her through the forest, that she unwittingly inspired him with an exuberant amount of courage and self-reliance. The lad was bold and fearless enough by nature. His sister’s confidence in him had the effect of inducing him to think himself fit for anything! He affected, therefore, at times, a look of grave sagacity, befitting, as he thought, so important and responsible a character.
“I’ve just been thinking,” said he—
“Oh! don’t think, but say yes!” interrupted Nelly.
“Well, I’m going to say yes, but I meant to give you my reasons for sayin’ so. In the first place, my powder and shot is gettin’ low. You see I did not bring away very much from the Injun camp, and we’ve been using it for so many months now that it won’t last much longer, so I think it would not be a bad plan to stop here awhile and fish and shoot and feed up—for you need rest, Nelly—and then start fresh with a well-loaded sledge. I’ll save some powder by using the bow we made the other day.”
“But you forget it’s broken.”
“So it is—never mind, we can make another—there’s a tree that will make a first-rater down in the hollow, d’ye see it, Nell?”
“Where—oh yes—just by the grassy place where the rock juts out into the water with the sun shining on it? what a nice place to build a hut!”
“Just so,” said Roy, smiling at the girl’s enthusiasm, “that’s the spot, and that’s the very thought that jumped bang into my brain as you spoke. By the way, does a thought jump into a man’s brain or out of it, I wonder?”
“Out of it, of course,” cried Nelly, with a laugh.
“I’m not so sure of that, Nell. I send it rather slowly out through my mouth, but I think it jumps into my brain. I wonder how it gets in; whether by the eyes, or ears, or mouth—perhaps it goes up the nose.”
“What stuff you do talk!” cried Nelly.
“D’ye think so,” said Roy with a grin, “well, that bein’ the case, let’s go and fix our camp, for the sun is not given to sitting up all night in these parts, so we must work while it shines.”
With hurried steps and eager looks, (for Roy, despite his affected coolness, was as enthusiastic about the new plan as his sister,) they descended to the margin of Silver Lake, and began to make their encampment on the sunny spot before referred to.
It turned out to be most suitable for their purpose, having a gentle slope towards the margin of the lake, which
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