It was found, on their arrival at the home of Duncan McKay senior, that Duncan junior had got there before them, he having been met and brought in by one of the settlers who had gone out with his cariole to do what he could for the hunters. The two women who discovered the body of Perrin, however, had not yet arrived, and nothing was known of the murder in the Settlement.
“It iss little troubled you wass, what came over us,” remarked old Duncan angrily, on entering his house, and finding his younger son engaged with a pipe beside the kitchen fire.
“An’ how could I know where you wass; efter I had been huntin’ for nothin’ for two days?” retorted his son. “Wass I to think you would be stoppin’ in the lame2 camp till you died? Wass it not more likely that some wan3 would find you an’ bring you in—as they did?”
“No thanks to you that they did, Tuncan, whatever. Where did you leave the other boys?”
“How should I know?” returned the son sharply; “they dropped off—wan here an’ wan there—sayin’ they would try for a buffalo4 in wan place or another, or, that they would rest awhile; an’ so I wass left by myself. I found it quite enough to look efter number wan.”
“It hes always been as much, that, as ye could manitch, Tuncan, even when things wass goin’ easy,” said the old man with a sarcastic5 laugh, that induced the young man to rise and quit the room.
He went towards a small shop, or store, as such places were styled in the Nor’-West. It fell to his lot in the family arrangements to look after and manage this store. Indeed the youth’s anxiety for the ease and comfort of “number wan” had induced him to select the post as being a part of the family duties that was peculiarly suited to himself.
On reaching the store he went straight to a large roll of Canadian twist tobacco, cut off a piece, refilled his pipe, and, sitting down on a bale began or, rather, continued to smoke. He had not been seated long when the door opened, and the head of a half-breed peeped cautiously in with an uncommonly6 sly look.
“That you, Fran?ois La Certe?” said McKay rather sternly, for he knew the man well. “What iss it you will be wantin’ now?”
Fran?ois wanted many things—things almost too numerous to mention; but, first, he would pay his debts to Cloudbrow.
“Come, that’s something new,” said McKay with a cynical7 laugh. “You must have come by a fortune, or committed a robbery before ye would be so honest. How much are you goin’ to pay?”
“So, you call returning a loan paying your debts?” said Duncan.
La Certe did not quite say that, but he thought it bore some resemblance to a payment to account, and at all events was proof of his good intentions.
“And on the strength of that you’ll want plenty more credit, I hev no doubt.”
“No—not plenty,” said La Certe, with the earnest air of a man who is exposing his whole soul to inspection9, and who means to act this time with the strictest sincerity10, to say nothing of honesty. “It is only a little that I want. Not much. Just enough to keep body and soul from sayin’ good-bye.”
“But you have not paid a fraction of your old debt. How will you be expectin’ to meet the new one?”
Oh! La Certe could easily explain that. He was going off immediately to hunt and trap, and would soon return with a heavy load, for there were plenty of animals about. Then in the spring, which was near at hand, he meant to fish, or go to the plains with the hunters, and return laden11 with bags of pemmican, bales of dried meat, and buffalo-robes enough to pay off all his debts, and leave something over to enable him to spend the winter in luxurious12 idleness.
“And you expect me to believe all that nonsense?” said McKay, sternly.
La Certe was hurt. Of course he expected to be believed! His feelings were injured, but he was of a forgiving disposition13 and would say no more about it. He had expected better treatment, however, from one who had known him so long.
“A trip to the plains requires more than powder and shot,” said the store-keeper; “where will you be goin’ to get a horse an’ cart? for you can hev mine no longer.”
“Dechamp, he promise to sole me a horse, an’ Mrs Davis’n will loan me a cart,” returned the half-breed, with lofty independence.
“Hm! an’ you will be returnin’ the cart an’ payin’ for the horse when the hunt is over, I suppose?”
Yes, that was exactly the idea that was in La Certe’s brain, and which, he hoped and fully14 expected, to reduce to practice in course of time—if Duncan McKay would only assist him by making him a few advances at that present time.
“Well, what do you want?” asked McKay, getting off the bath.
The half-breed wanted a good many things. As he was going off in the course of a few days, and might not be able to return for a long time, he might as well take with him even a few things that he did not absolutely need at the moment. Of course he wanted a good supply of powder, shot, and ball. Without that little or nothing could be done. Then a new axe15, as his old one was much worn—the steel almost gone—and it was well-known that a trapper without an axe was a very helpless creature. A tin kettle was, of course, an absolute necessity; and the only one he possessed16 had a small hole in it. A few awls to enable him to mend his bark canoe when open water came, and a couple of steel traps, some gun-flints, and, O yes, he had almost forgotten a most essential thing—twine to make a net, and some fish-hooks.
“It iss a regular outfit17 you will be wanting,” remarked the store-keeper, as he handed over the various articles.
O no—not a regular one—only a very little one, considering the length of time he should be away, and the wealth with which he would return. But again he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something else.
“Well, what iss it?”
Some glover’s needles and sinews for making leather coats and moccasins. Needles and thread and scissors, for it was quite clear that people could not live without suitable clothing. A new capote, also, and—and—a yard or two of scarlet18 cloth with a few beads19.
“Come, that iss pure extravagance,” said McKay, remonstrating22.
La Certe could not, dare not, face his wife without these articles. He pleaded earnestly. “Slowfoot is so clever wi’ the needle,” he said. “See! she send you a pair of moccasins.”
The wily man here drew from the breast of his capote a pair of beautifully made moccasins, soft as chamois leather, and richly ornamented23 with dyed quills24 of the porcupine25.
McKay laughed; nevertheless he swallowed the bait and was pleased. He finally handed the goods to La Certe, who, when he had obtained all that he could possibly squeeze out of the store-keeper, bundled up the whole, made many solemn protestations of gratitude26 and honest intentions, and went off to cheer Slowfoot with the news of his success.
It chanced that Antoine Dechamp, the very man about whom he had been talking to Duncan McKay, had dropped in to see him and his spouse27, and was sitting beside the fire smoking when he entered. Displaying his possessions with much pride, he assured Dechamp that he had paid for the whole outfit, and meant to return in the spring a rich man with means enough to buy a horse and cart, and start with the buffalo-hunters for the plains.
“You have a horse to sell—they say?” he remarked to his friend in a careless way.
“Yes—and a good one too,” answered Dechamp.
“Well, if you will loan him to me in the spring, I will pay for him when I come back. It takes all I have to fit me out to start, you see.”
Dechamp did not quite see his way to that—but there was plenty of time to think over it!
“Have you heard,” said Dechamp, willing to change the subject, “there is some talk that Perrin has been killed? George McDermid was out, like many others, huntin’ about for the starvin’ people, an’ he came across the wives of Blanc and Pierre—poor things! they’re widows now, for Blanc and Pierre are both dead. Well, the women had well-nigh given in. I had dropped down, they were so tired, and were crawlin’ on their hands and knees when McDermid found them. I didn’t hear all the outs and ins of it, but there is no doubt that poor Perrin has been murdered, for he was shot right through the breast.”
“Perhaps he shot hisself,” suggested La Certe.
“No—that could not be, for the women have brought his coat, which shows that the ball went in at the breast and came straight out at the back. If he had shot himself he must have pulled the trigger with his toe, an’ then the ball would have slanted28 up from his breast to somewhere about his shoulders.”
“It was a Saulteaux, may be,” said Slowfoot, who had been listening with all the eagerness of a gossip.
“There were no marks of Redskins’ snow-shoes about,” returned Dechamp, “an’ the tracks were too confused to make them out. A knife was found, but there were no marks about it to tell who owned it—only it was a settler’s knife, but there are lots of them about, an’ many have changed hands since the settlers came.”
At the time we write of, the colony of Red River of the north was in a very unhappy and disorganised condition. There were laws indeed, but there was no authority or force sufficiently29 strong to apply the laws, and discord reigned30 because of the two great fur companies—the Hudson’s Bay, and the Nor’-West—which opposed each other with extreme bitterness, carrying fire-water, dissension, and disaster all over the wilderness31 of Rupert’s Land. Happily the two companies coalesced32 in the year 1821, and from that date, onward33, comparative peace has reigned under the mild sway of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
But at the period which we describe the coalition34 had not taken place, and many of the functionaries35 of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Red River, from the Governor downward, seem to have been entirely36 demoralised, if we are to believe the reports of contemporary historians.
Some time previous to this, the Earl of Selkirk—chiefly from philanthropic views, it is said—resolved to send a colony to Red River. At different times bands of Scotch37, Swiss, Danes, and others, made their appearance in the Settlement. They had been sent out by the agents of the Earl, but there was a great deal of mismanagement and misunderstanding, both as to the motives38 and intentions of the Earl. The result was that the half-breeds of Red River—influenced, it is said, by the Nor’-West Company—received the newcomers with suspicion and ill-will. The Indians followed the lead of the half-breeds, to whom they were allied39. Not only was every sort of obstruction40 thrown in the way of the unfortunate immigrants, but more than once during those first years they were driven from the colony, and their homesteads were burned to the ground.
There must have been more than the usual spirit of indomitable resolution in those people, however, for notwithstanding all the opposition41 and hardship they had to endure, they returned again and again to their farms, rebuilt their dwellings42, cultivated their fields, and, so to speak, compelled prosperity to smile on them—and that, too, although several times the powers of Nature, in the shape of grass hoppers and disastrous43 floods, seemed to league with men in seeking their destruction.
Perhaps the Scottish element among the immigrants had much to do with this resolute44 perseverance45. Possibly the religious element in the Scotch had more to do with it still.
The disastrous winter which we have slightly sketched46 was one of the many troubles with which not only the newcomers, but all parties in the colony, were at this time afflicted47.
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1
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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2
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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3
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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4
buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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5
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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6
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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7
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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8
sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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9
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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10
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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11
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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12
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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13
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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15
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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16
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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17
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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18
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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19
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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20
insinuatingly
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21
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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22
remonstrating
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的现在分词 )；告诫 | |
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23
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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25
porcupine
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| n.豪猪， 箭猪 | |
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26
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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27
spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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28
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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29
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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30
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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31
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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32
coalesced
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| v.联合，合并( coalesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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34
coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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35
functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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36
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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37
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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38
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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39
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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40
obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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41
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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42
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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43
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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44
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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45
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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46
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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47
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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