CHAPTER X.

THE ESKIMO.

"Now I reckon we'll need all the woodcraft we ever learned."

The sun was not yet up although it was after ten o'clock and they were once more standing in front of the cabin. The night before they had seriously considered the plan of moving all their stuff into the cabin and making it their headquarters, but Lucky had not been in favor of it, pointing out that they would have to build a fire in the stove and that the smoke would betray their presence in case the man should return. So the final vote had been against it.

It was Bob who made the above statement and both Jack and the Indian readily agreed with him.

"Which way do you think they most likely went?" Jack asked looking first at Bob and then at Lucky.

"North, I should say," Bob replied and Lucky nodded agreement. "You see, if they had gone south we would probably have run into them or at least heard from them from someone who did," he explained.

"Then I reckon we'd better hunt up that way first," Jack proposed.

Both the boys, having spent a good part of their lives in the great woods of Northern Maine, were very expert in reading the signs of the forest and, as Jack had more than once declared, the Indian forgot more about such things every night than they ever knew. But in spite of all this several hours of hard searching told them next to nothing. To be sure they found plenty of signs which told them that someone had been there not many weeks previous but, as Jack put it, there were altogether too many of them, for they found them not only to the north, but on all other sides as well, and there was absolutely nothing to indicate the direction they had taken when they quit the cabin for the last time.

"Looks like a case of heads you win and tails I lose," Jack said a bit discouragingly as they finally stopped to swallow the lunch they had brought with them.

"Don't quite see the connection," Bob told him.

"Gray matter working a bit sluggishly today?"

"Maybe."

"Well, if we stay here we're not likely to find them and if we don't we're not."

"Don't what?"

"Don't stay here."

"Oh. Well, your comparison is very poor. In fact it is not applicable to the case in hand at all."

"Which may or may not be a matter of opinion," Jack grinned good naturedly.

"Leesten."

The Indian suddenly held up his hand.

"Someone's coming," Bob declared a moment later.

"Queek, we geet out sight."

They were only a short distance from the cabin and it was but a moment's work to gather up the remains of their lunch and slip around to the other side of it.

"But they'll see our tracks," Jack said.

"Of course, but we can't help that," Bob told him.

It was but a few moments before they heard a loud voice calling on a team of dogs to stop and Lucky whispered:

"Eet Eskimo."

"Then we might as well show ourselves," Jack suggested.

They at once stepped out from behind the cabin, the Indian in the lead, and saw that he had been right in his estimate of the nationality of the stranger. He was a short fat man completely swathed in furs and was accompanied by a team of four dogs with an nearly empty sled. He was busily engaged in examining their tracks and they were within a few feet of him before he was aware of their presence.

"How," Lucky said pleasantly as the man looked up.

"Ugh."

It was a grunt, but whether meant to be pleasant or hostile the boys were unable to tell.

"Where you come?"

The Eskimo shook his head evidently not understanding the question.

The Indian repeated the question this time in French, but he again shook his head at the same time saying something in a language entirely new to the boys. But Lucky understood him for he immediately answered in the same language, and, for several minutes they carried on a spirited conversation helped along by many eloquent gestures on the part of the stranger.

"Heem say heem live three hundred mile nor' of here," Lucky told them when the man stopped for a moment.

"Ask him if he's seen the men we're after," Bob suggested.

"Injun asked an' heem say oui, heem seen 'em."

"Where?"

"'Bout hundred mile nor'."

"How long ago?" Bob asked eagerly.

"Three day. Heem say dey got leetle camp on Colville River."

"Have you ever been there?" Jack asked.

"Noo, Injun no go nor' more dan leetle way more."

"Ask him if he'll be our guest for the night," Bob directed.

"Heem say oui," Lucky announced as soon as he had given the invitation and received his answer.

"Then I reckon we might as well be getting back to camp."

"Oui, we go."

They arrived back at camp just as it was getting dark and Lucky directed the stranger to make himself at home. The Eskimo took in the location of the camp at a glance and then drove his dogs to a thicket a few yards away where he quickly located them for the night.

"Heem no dare put heem dog near ours, fear dem fight," Lucky explained.

"He seems to be a sort of a grouch," Jack declared a little later as he noted how the stranger persisted in keeping much to himself.

"Probably he's bashful," Bob smiled.

But his shyness vanished quickly as soon as supper was ready and he ate with great relish the food which Lucky heaped on his plate.

"Too bad we haven't any candles to offer him," Jack laughed.

"He seems to be doing very well as it is," Bob laughed back.

"I'd hate to have him for a steady boarder."

When it came time to turn in, Lucky, at Bob's suggestion, offered the Eskimo a place in the tepee, but he declined on the ground that it would be too warm.

"Heem say heem sleep out door, geet plenty air."

At Bob's suggestion the Indian had questioned the man further regarding the two men they were hunting, but it seemed that he knew no more than he had told them at first. He had seen them as he came by, but had stopped only to pass the time of day.

Shortly after six o'clock the following morning, Bob awoke with a strange sense of impending disaster. Had he heard someone prowling about in the night or had he only dreamed if? Careful not to disturb the others, who were still sleeping, he wiggled out of his bag and crept noiselessly outside. For a moment he stood gazing into the North where streamer after streamer sent an almost dazzling light far up into the heavens.

"I never saw such a display of the Northern Lights," he murmured as he gazed at the scene at most spellbound.

The fire was burning low only a few embers showing a dim light, but it was not dark and he could see plainly for some distance. There was no sign of their guest and he concluded that he must have slept over near his dogs. Moving quietly he made his way toward the thicket stopping every few feet to listen. He did not want the man to suspect that he was spying on him, but some inner sense told him that all was not well. And a moment later his suspicions were strengthened when he found that both man and team were gone.

"It's strange," he thought as he looked at the place where they had huddled together.

Then he turned and ran quickly over behind the tepee where their stores were packed on the sled. And now his suspicions were confirmed. He had heard someone prowling behind the tepee during the night and he was disgusted with himself that he had not awakened sufficiently to make an investigation. Their stores had been rifled and, it seemed to him, the greater part of them were gone.

"Jack! Lucky!" he yelled.

There was no answer and he yelled again this time louder, and was rewarded by a "huh" from Jack.

"Get out here and make it snappy."

"Where's the fire?" Jack asked sleepily a moment later as he poked his head out of the tepee.

"He's gone."

"Who's gone?"

"That Eskimo."

"Well, why make such a fuss over a little thing like that?" Jack was out of the tepee with the Indian close behind him.

"Take a look here and you'll know," Bob snapped.

"The--the,"

"All that and some more," Bob interrupted.

"To think that he'd steal our food," Jack gasped.

"Heem one beeg thief," Lucky added.

"But we've got to have those things back. He's taken nearly everything we had," Bob declared after he had investigated a moment.

"Injun go geet heem."

"And we'll go with you," Jack added.

"Non," Lucky shook his head. "Injun go faster heemself."

"You'll take the dogs?" Bob asked without arguing the point for he knew Lucky was right. They were no match for him when it came to speed.

"Oui. Tak' dog, bring back stuff." The Indian was already hurrying toward the dog shed and in less than five minutes he was ready to start.

"You stay here till I come bac'," he ordered as he gave the order to mush.

"How long do you expect to be gone?" Bob shouted after him.

"No can tell. Be bac' as queek as can."

"And I hope it will be soon," Bob said turning to Jack. "I'll be mighty uneasy until he returns."

"Same here. There was something about that guy that I didn't like a little bit. He had a bad eye."

"Also a bad disposition."

"Well, I hope Lucky gets him and gets the stuff back. It'll be very inconvenient for us to say the least if he doesn't."

"He'll do it if anyone could, and I don't imagine it will take him very long to catch up with him as our dogs are well rested and his must be tired."

"Not so very tired either. Remember he's been traveling light."

"That's true too. I wonder how long he's been gone."

"That's hard to say. And, by the way, it's kind of strange that none of us heard him."

"I did," Bob told him.

"You did? Well, why in the name of common sense, didn't you stop him or do something?" Jack demanded.

"Well, you see, I didn't get awake enough to really know that I had heard anything. I remember wondering if I had really heard it or had just dreamed it. It's too bad, of course, but there's no use crying over spilled milk."

"Don't think I was blaming you, old man," Jack hastened to assure him. "It wasn't your fault. But I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat if he's left us anything at all."

"Righto. You build up the fire and I'll see what I can find."

Jack had the fire going in good shape by the time Bob was back with a can of condensed milk and a small package.

"We'll have to make out with flapjacks," he announced.

"Is that all you could find?" Jack asked disappointedly.

"This is all he left us in the eating line. I don't know how he came to overlook these."

"He took all the coffee?"

"Every bit of it."

"He ought to be hanged."

"And then some."

"If he was in need of food and had taken a little I wouldn't have blamed him so much, but to strip us clean up here in this wilderness--well, it's little short of murder."

"You said it. Believe me I would like to be with Lucky when he gets him. I'm afraid he won't do the case justice."

"Leave it to him. I think he'll be equal to the occasion."

The flapjacks proved pretty dry eating without coffee to wash them down, but they managed to make out with melted snow.

"What'll we do to pass the time?" Jack asked as soon as they were finished.

"Let's go hunting," Bob suggested. "We ought to be able to get a deer; goodness knows we've seen plenty of tracks and we need the food."

"Goodness knows that too," Jack laughed as he crept into the tepee for the rifles and snow-shoes.

They struck out toward the north and had not been gone more than a quarter of an hour when they came upon the tracks of a deer. It was yet dark and not for another two hours would the sun show itself, but the moon, which was nearly full, gave sufficient light to see for a long distance.

"They look pretty fresh," Bob announced after he had carefully examined the tracks.

"Then I reckon we'd better follow them."

The tracks crossed their trail at right angles and led up the side of the mountain to their right. At this point, however, the assent was not steep and, although they plunged at once into thick woods, they found the going easier than they had expected.

"He's sinking in pretty deep," Jack said as they hurried along.

"Yes, we ought to catch up with him before long unless the tracks are older than I think."

They had been climbing for the better part of an hour when the tracks turned and lead parallel with the side of the mountain. At first they welcomed the change in direction, thinking that it would be easier but, before they had gone a hundred yards farther, they found themselves on a part of the mountain where it was much steeper and, owing to the slant, it was extremely difficult to keep their balance. But they went on as rapidly as possible, now and then falling headlong in the snow as a shoe slipped and threw them off their balance. But they each time picked themselves up with a laugh and hurried on confident that they must soon sight their quarry.

"Look over there," Bob said as he paused and pointed toward the east.

"It's beautiful," Jack declared as he watched the edge of the sun, looking like a huge ball of fire, creeping over the top of the opposite mountain. "But there's something even more beautiful just at present," he whispered a moment later as he clutched Bob's arm and pointed to a spot about a hundred feet in front.

There, on a slight rise in the ground, stood a magnificent buck facing them. The animal stood up to its knees in the snow and did not seem at all afraid.

"Isn't he a beauty?" Bob whispered.

"It's a shame to shoot him," Jack replied. "But we've got to have the meat so let's get it over with."

Raising their rifles they took careful aim and both fired at the same time. The deer fell in its tracks and never moved.

"He had an easy death at any rate," Bob said as they went toward it.

"He's too big to carry in whole so we'll have to cut him up here."

Both boys knew how to dress a deer as they had many times hunted in the Maine woods and, in the course of an hour, they had selected the choicest pieces and hung the rest well up in the branches of a tree where it would be out of the reach of the wolves.

"So far so good," Jack said as they were fixing the meat so that they could fasten it to their backs. "Now if we get back all right and find that Lucky has returned without stuff--"

"Hold on there," Bob interrupted. "Don't tempt providence too far with your ifs."

"Well, there's nothing like being optimistic as I've heard you say many a time."

"Up to a certain point."

"And I reckon you think I'd reached that point," Jack laughed.

When they were ready to start each boy had nearly fifty pounds of meat strapped to his back and the load made traveling doubly hard as they soon found. But their success had made them again light hearted and they did not mind the hard work.

"I reckon Lucky'll be some surprised when he sees us come in with all this meat," Jack said when they were about half way back to where the trail had turned.

"If he's back," Bob reminded him.

"Don't you think he'll be back by the time we get there?"

"I doubt it."

"Well, here's hoping."

It was about one o'clock when they reached the place where the trail had turned and both agreed that they had better take a rest before starting down the mountain.

"I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm all in," Jack panted as he unslung his pack.

"Same here," Bob agreed. "That was about as hard a tramp as I ever took."

They rested for a half hour and then started off again Jack taking the lead. They had taken but a few steps when Bob spoke to him and in turning his head to reply Jack carelessly tripped himself and pitched headlong into the snow. It was by no means the first time it had happened and Bob broke into a roar of laughter. But the mirth died on his lips as he heard Jack utter a loud groan.

"What's the matter?" he cried as he hurried forward.

"Afraid I've sprained or broken my ankle," he groaned.

"Maybe it's not so bad as you think," Bob encouraged as he put his hands beneath his shoulders and helped him to get to his feet.

But Jack sank down again with a low moan of pain.

"I can't do it," he groaned.

"Let me have a look at it."

Bob unfastened the thongs which held the foot to the snow-shoe and carefully unlaced the moccasin.

"Am I hurting?" he asked.

"Some, but it doesn't matter."

By the time he had drawn off the heavy sock the ankle had swollen somewhat and, as carefully as possible, he examined it. First aid to the injured had been taught them at the military college and both boys knew not a little about such injuries.

"Pretty sore, eh?"

"Some."

"I'm pretty sure it's not broken, but it looks like a pretty bad sprain and that's almost as bad," he announced as he started to draw on the sock.

"What'll we do?"

"Get back as soon as possible."

"But--but I can't walk."

"Of. course you can't, but I reckon I can carry you."

"Not down this mountain you can't."

"I'm going to anyhow."

Seeing that his brother was determined Jack made no further objection and, as soon as Bob had cached the two packs of meat in the branches of a nearby tree, he set about getting ready for the start.

"You'll never make it."

"Don't you believe it."

It was hard work getting the injured boy onto his back without hurting him, but finally it was accomplished and, as Jack declared, without hurting a bit.

"Now you take it easy," he cautioned as Bob took the first step.

Even he had not fully realized how hard it would be. The extra weight caused his snow-shoes to sink much deeper in the snow and going down hill made each shoe push itself forward into the snow thus rendering it very difficult to lift it up for the next step. But he knew that it had to be done. With the temperature nearly thirty degrees below zero and getting lower all the time as he thought, he knew it would be death to leave him for any length of time.

"Rest awhile," Jack begged after they had covered a few rods.

"I'm all right for a bit yet."

"Better do as I say."

"In a minute."

It was not much over the stated time when he was obliged to put him down.

"Jack, heem heap heavy, as Lucky would say," he panted as he carefully lowered him to the trunk of a fallen tree.

"I thought you'd find you'd bit off a bit more'n you could chew."

"Not a bit of it and that's three bits in two sentences. I didn't say I could carry you all the way in one jump."

"Well, take as many as you like."

"Does the foot hurt?"

"Not much: kind of a dull ache, but I'm afraid it's swelling some."

"No doubt of it and it'll continue to swell for some time yet."

He made the foot of the mountain in the next spell but was obliged to rest again before going farther.

"It'll be a lot easier now we're on level ground," he panted.

"If only I was one of those skinny fellows now it wouldn't be so hard on you."

"You're all right just as you are, that is all but your ankle."

Bob was resolved to make camp without stopping again, knowing that the sooner he got Jack where he could treat the injured ankle with hot water the better it would be. So he took as short a rest as he dared and, despite Jack's protests, he was soon on the go again. As he had said it was easier now, but it seemed as though every muscle in his body was at the breaking point when finally he carefully lowered him onto the boughs in the tepee.

"Now I'll get a fire going and heat some water as soon as I can," he assured him. "Is it hurting much?"

"Not bad."

"I'll bet it is just the same," Bob muttered under his breath as he hurried out of the tepee.

He had a fire going in a few minutes, but it took considerable time before the water was boiling hot.

"Now then," he said cheerfully as he re-entered the tepee with a kettle of the steaming water.

"Didn't take you long."

"It seemed a long time to me. I thought the water would never come to a boil," Bob told him as he began to unlace the moccasin. "Yell if I hurt you."

"Don't be afraid. I'll yell all right."

When he had removed the sock he found that the ankle had swelled to an alarming extent and he could not repress a sigh.

"Rather bad isn't it?" Jack asked.

"It's not so good and that's a fact."

"I thought it was swelling pretty fast."

Wringing out a towel in the water he bound it as tightly as Jack could stand about the ankle.

"You got it hot all right," Jack grinned.

"The hotter the better just so it doesn't burn."

"Guess I can stand it."

For an hour he continued the treatment changing the towel as soon as it became cool and putting on a hot one and, at the end of that time, had the great satisfaction of knowing that the swelling had subsided considerably.

"There, I reckon we'll have to let nature take its course," he said as he finished.

"Isn't it about time Lucky's getting back?" Jack asked.

"Great Scott, I haven't given him a thought since we got back. Let's see, it's just one o'clock and I hardly expect him before dark. Now, I'll get us a bite of flapjacks and then I must go back and bring in that meat."

"Won't it be safe till morning?"

"Maybe, but a venison steak will go pretty good for supper tonight, don't you think?"

"I reckon, but you're too tired to go way back there."

"Tired your grandmother. I'll be back almost before you know I'm gone. It isn't far."

By a quarter of two they had eaten of the scanty fare and Bob was ready to start.

"I'll leave your rifle right here by your side," he said. "Now don't you move that foot while I'm gone and I'll be back just as soon as I can make it."

"Don't kill yourself. I'll be all right."

"Good bye, then." Bob bent and kissed his brother's cheek.

"You're the best in the world," Jack told him as he shook his hand.