No elaborate dissertation1 is needed to prove that we are ignorant of what the morrow may bring forth2, and that the best-laid plans of men are at all times subject to dislocation. It is sufficient here to state that immediately after parting from the Indians, Paul Burns and Captain Trench3 had their plans and hopes, in regard to exploration, overturned in a sudden and effective though exceedingly simple manner.
On the evening of the day on which their travels were resumed they halted sooner than usual in order to have time to form their camp with some care, for the weather had suddenly become cold, and that night seemed particularly threatening.
Accordingly they selected a spot surrounded by dense4 bushes, canopied5 by the branches of a wide-spreading fir-tree, and backed by a precipitous cliff, which afforded complete shelter from a sharp nor’-west gale6 that was blowing at the time. In this calm retreat they erected7 a rough-and-ready wall of birch-bark and branches, which enclosed them on all sides except one, where a glorious fire was kindled—a fire that would have roasted anything from a tom-tit to an ox, and the roaring flames of which had to be occasionally subdued8 lest they should roast the whole encampment.
There, saturated9, so to speak, with ruddy light and warmth, they revelled10 in the enjoyment11 of a hearty12 meal and social intercourse13 until the claims of tired Nature subdued Captain Trench and Oliver, leaving Paul and Hendrick to resume their eager and sometimes argumentative perusal14 of the Gospel according to John.
At last, they also succumbed15 to the irresistible16 influences of Nature, and lay down beside their fellows. Then it was that Nature—as if she had only waited for the opportunity—began to unfold her “little game” for overturning the sleepers’ plans. She quietly opened her storehouse of northern clouds, and silently dropped upon them a heavy shower of snow.
It was early in the season for such a shower, consequently the flakes17 were large. Had the cold been excessive the flakes would have been small. As it was, they covered the landscape by imperceptible but rapid degrees until everything turned from ghostly grey to ghastly white, which had the effect of lighting18, somehow, the darkness of the night.
But in the midst of the effective though silent transformation19 the camp of our explorers remained unchanged; and the dying embers of the slowly sinking fire continued to cast their dull red glow on the recumbent forms which were thoroughly20 protected by the spreading fir-tree.
By degrees the morning light began to flow over the dreary21 scene, and at length it had the effect of rousing Oliver Trench from slumber22. With the innate23 laziness of youth the lad turned on his other side, and was about to settle down to a further spell of sleep when he chanced to wink24. That wink sufficed to reveal something that induced another wink, then a stare, then a start into a sitting posture25, a rubbing of the eyes, an opening of the mouth, and a succession of exclamations26, of which “Oh! hallo! I say!” and “Hi-i-i-i!” were among the least impressive.
Of course every one started up and made a sudden grasp at weapons, for the memory of the recent fight was still fresh.
“Winter!” exclaimed Paul and the captain, in the same breath.
“Not quite so bad as that,” remarked Hendrick, as he stepped out into the snow and began to look round him with an anxious expression; “but it may, nevertheless, put an end to your explorations if the snow continues.”
“Never a bit on’t, man!” exclaimed the captain promptly27. “What! d’ye think we are to be frightened by a sprinkling of snow?”
To this Hendrick replied only with a gentle smile, as he returned and set about blowing up the embers of the fire which were still smouldering.
“There is more than a sprinkling, Master Trench,” observed Paul, as he began to overhaul28 the remnants of last night’s supper; “but I confess it would be greatly against the grain were we to be beaten at this point in our travels. Let us hope that the storm won’t last.”
“Anyhow we can go on till we can’t, daddy,” said Oliver, with a tremendous yawn and stretch.
“Well said, my son; as you once truly remarked, you are a chip of the ancient log.”
“There, you young rascal30, I leave you the lion’s share,” returned the captain, throwing the bone in question to his son. “But now, Hendrick, what d’ye really think o’ this state of things? Shall we be forced to give in an’ ’bout ship?”
“No one can tell,” answered the hunter. “If the snow stops and the weather gets warm, all will be well. If not, it will be useless to continue our journeying till winter fairly sets in, and the snow becomes deep, and the rivers and lakes are frozen. In which case you must come and stay with me in my island home.”
“You are very good, Hendrick; but don’t let us talk of givin’ up till the masts go by the board. We will carry all sail till then,” said the captain, rather gloomily, for he felt that the hunter knew best.
This first snowfall occurred about the middle of October; there was, therefore, some reasonable prospect31 that it might melt under an improved state of the weather, and there was also the possibility of the fall ceasing, and still permitting them to advance.
Under the impulse of hope derived32 from these considerations, they set forth once more to the westward33.
The prospect in that direction, however, was not cheering. Mountain succeeded mountain in irregular succession, rugged34 and bleak—the dark precipices35 and sombre pine-woods looking blacker by contrast with the newly-fallen snow. Some of the hills were wooded to their summits; others, bristling36 and castellated in outline, afforded no hold to the roots of trees, and stood out in naked sterility37. Everywhere the land seemed to have put on its winter garb38, and all day, as they advanced, snow continued to fall at intervals39, so that wading40 through it became an exhausting labour, and Oliver’s immature41 frame began to suffer, though his brave spirit forbade him to complain.
That night there came another heavy fall, and when they awoke next morning it was found that the country was buried under a carpet of snow full three feet deep.
“Do you admit now, Master Trench, that the masts have gone by the board,” asked Paul, “and that it is impossible to carry sail any longer?”
“I admit nothing,” returned the captain grumpily.
“That’s right, daddy, never give in!” cried Oliver; “but what has Master Hendrick got to say to it?”
“We must turn in our tracks!” said the hunter gravely, “and make for home.”
“Home, indeed!” murmured the captain, whose mind naturally flew back to old England. “If we are to get to any sort of home at all, the sooner we set about making sail for it the better.”
There was something in the captain’s remark, as well as in his tone, which caused a slight flush on Hendrick’s brow, but he let no expression of feeling escape him. He only said—
“You are right, Captain Trench. We must set off with the least possible delay. Will you and your son start off in advance to get something fresh for breakfast while Master Paul and I remain to pack up and bring on our camp equipage? Hunters, you know, should travel light—we will do the heavy work for you.”
The captain was surprised, but replied at once—
“Most gladly, Master Hendrick, will I do your bidding; but as we don’t know what course to steer42, won’t we be apt to go astray?”
“Where away, Master Hendrick? D’ye mean the one lyin’ to wind’ard o’ that cliff shaped like the side of a Dutch galliot?”
“The same. It is not more than a quarter of a mile off—make straight for that. You’ll be sure to fall in with game of some sort between this and that. Wait there till we come up, for we shall breakfast there. You can keep yourself warm by cutting wood and kindling44 a fire.”
Rather pleased than otherwise with this little bit of pioneer work that had been given him to do, Trench stepped boldly into the snow, carrying his cross-bow in one hand, and the hatchet45 over his shoulder with the other. He was surprised, indeed, to find that at the first step beyond the encampment he sank considerably46 above the knees, but, being wonderfully strong, he dashed the snow aside and was soon hid from view by intervening bushes. Oliver, bearing his bow and bludgeon, followed smartly in his track.
When they were gone Paul turned a look of inquiry47 on his companion. Hendrick returned the look with profound gravity, but there was a faint twinkle in his eyes which induced Paul to laugh.
“What mean you by this?” he asked.
“I mean that Master Trench will be the better of a lesson from experience. He will soon return—sooner, perhaps, than you expect.”
“Why so—how? I don’t understand.”
“Because,” returned the hunter, “it is next to impossible to travel over such ground in deep snow without snow-shoes. We must make these, whether we advance or retreat. Meanwhile you had better blow up the fire, and I will prepare breakfast.”
“Did you not tell the captain we were to breakfast on the bluff?”
“I did; but the captain will never reach the bluff. Methinks I hear him returning even now!”
The hunter was right. A quarter of an hour had barely elapsed when our sturdy mariner48 re-entered the encampment, blowing like a grampus and perspiring49 at every pore! Oliver was close at his heels, but not nearly so much exhausted50, for he had not been obliged to “beat the track.”
“Master Hendrick,” gasped51 the captain, when he had recovered breath, “it’s my opinion that we have only come here to lay down our bones and give up the ghost—ay, and it’s no laughing business; Master Paul, as you’ll find when you try to haul your long legs out of a hole three futt deep at every step.”
“Three futt deep!” echoed Oliver, “why, it’s four futt if it’s an inch—look at me. I’ve been wadin’ up to the waist all the time!”
It need scarcely be said that their minds were much relieved when they were made acquainted with the true state of matters, and that by means of shoes that could be made by Hendrick, they would be enabled to traverse with comparative ease the snow-clad wilderness—which else were impassable.
But this work involved several days’ delay in camp. Hendrick fashioned the large though light wooden framework of the shoes—five feet long by eighteen inches broad—and Oliver cut several deerskins into fine threads, with which, and deer sinews, Paul and the captain, under direction, filled in the net-work of the frames when ready.
“Can you go after deer on such things?” asked the captain one night while they were all busy over this work.
“Ay, we can walk thirty or forty miles a day over deep snow with these shoes,” answered Hendrick.
“Where do the deer all come from?” asked Oliver, pausing in his work to sharpen his knife on a stone.
“If you mean where did the reindeer52 come from at first, I cannot tell,” said Hendrick. “Perhaps they came from the great unknown lands lying to the westward. But those in this island have settled down here for life, apparently53 like myself. I have hunted them in every part of the island, and know their habits well. Their movements are as regular as the seasons. The winter months they pass in the south, where the snow is not so deep as to prevent their scraping it away and getting at the lichens54 on which they feed. In spring—about March—they turn their faces northward55, for then the snow begins to be softened56 by the increased power of the sun, so that they can get at the herbage beneath. They migrate to the north-west of the island in innumerable herds57 of from twenty to two hundred each—the animals following one another in single file, and each herd58 being led by a noble stag. Thus they move in thousands towards the hills of the west and nor’-west, where they arrive in April. Here, on the plains and mountains, they browse59 on their favourite mossy food and mountain herbage; and here they bring forth their young in May or June. In October, when the frosty nights set in, they again turn southward and march back to winter-quarters over the same tracks, with which, as you have seen, the whole country is seamed. Thus they proceed from year to year. They move over the land in parallel lines, save where mountain passes oblige them to converge60, and at these points, I regret to say, my kinsmen61! the Bethuck Indians, lie in wait and slaughter62 them in great numbers, merely for the sake of their tongues and other tit-bits.”
“There is no call for regret, Master Hendrick,” said Captain Trench. “Surely where the deer are in such numbers, the killing63 of a few more or less don’t matter much.”
“I think it wrong, captain, to slay64 God’s creatures wantonly,” returned the hunter. “Besides, if it is continued, I fear that the descendants of the present race of men will suffer from scarcity65 of food.”
That Hendrick’s fears were not groundless has been proved in many regions of the earth, where wanton destruction of game in former days has resulted in great scarcity or extinction66 at the present time.
In a few days a pair of snowshoes for each traveller was completed, and the party was prepared to set out with renewed vigour67 on their return to the hunter’s home.
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1
dissertation
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| n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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canopied
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| adj. 遮有天篷的 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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18
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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32
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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sterility
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| n.不生育，不结果，贫瘠，消毒，无菌 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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42
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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43
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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44
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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45
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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46
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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47
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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48
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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49
perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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50
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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51
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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52
reindeer
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| n.驯鹿 | |
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53
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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54
lichens
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| n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
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55
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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56
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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57
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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browse
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| vi.随意翻阅，浏览；(牛、羊等)吃草 | |
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converge
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| vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近 | |
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kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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62
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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63
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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64
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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65
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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66
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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67
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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