CHAPTER XVI
RELEASED FROM BONDAGE
TAMMAS, Samuel, and Amos, who had spent the day caribou hunting, but had killed nothing, were gathered around the stove engaged in a heated argument as to whether a caribou would or would not charge a man when at close quarters, when Paul and Dan entered with the visitors.
“Weel! Weel!” exclaimed Tammas, rising. “If ’tis no Charley Amesbury and John Buck wi’ the laddies!”
Amesbury and Ahmik were old visitors at the post. Every one knew them and gave them a most hearty welcome. Even Chuck, who was mixing biscuit for supper, wiped his dough-debaubed right hand upon his trousers, that he might offer it to the visitors, and Jerry, who lived with his family in a little nearby cabin, and had seen them pass, came over to greet them.
Amesbury warned the lads to say nothing of their plan to the post folk. “I’ll break the news gently to Davy MacTavish when the time is ripe for it,” said he. “You fellows keep right at your work as though you were to stay here forever.” And therefore no mention was made of the arrangement to Tammas and the others.
During the days that followed Amesbury and Ahmik made some purchases at the post shop, including the provisions necessary for the return journey to their trapping grounds. They had no debt here, and therefore bartered pelts to pay for their purchases. Their trading completed, Amesbury produced two particularly fine marten skins, and laid them upon the counter. “I’ve got everything I need,” said he, “but I don’t want to carry these back with me. How much’ll you give?”
“Trade or cash?” asked MacTavish, examining them critically.
“Trade. Give me credit for ’em. I may want something more before I go.”
“Ten dollars each.”
“Not this time. They’re prime, and they’re worth forty dollars apiece in Winnipeg.”
“This isn’t Winnipeg.”
“Give them back. They’re light to pack, and I guess I’ll take them to Winnipeg.”
But MacTavish was gloating over them. They were glossy black, remarkably well furred, the flesh side clean and white.
“They are pretty fair martens,” he said finally, as though weighing the matter. “I may do a little better; say fifteen dollars.”
“I’ll take them to Winnipeg.”
“You can’t get Winnipeg prices here.”
“No, but I don’t have to sell them here. I thought if you’d give me half what they’re worth I’d let you have them. You can keep them for twenty dollars each. Not a cent less.”
“Can’t do it, but I’ll say as a special favor to you eighteen dollars.”
“Hand them back. I’m not an Indian.”
“You know I’d not give an Indian over five dollars.”
“I know that, but I don’t ask for a debt. You see I’m pretty free to do as I please. Hand ’em back.”
But the pelts were too good for MacTavish to let pass him, and after a show of hesitancy he placed them upon the shelf behind him and said reluctantly:
“They’re not worth it, but I’ll allow you twenty dollars each for them. But it’s a very special favor.”
“Needn’t if you don’t want them. I wouldn’t bankrupt the company for the world.”
“I’ll take them.”
The bargain concluded, Amesbury strolled away, humming:
“‘A diller, a dollar,
A ten o’clock scholar,
What makes you come so soon?
You used to come at ten o’clock,
But now you come at noon,’”
and MacTavish glared after him.
It was a busy week at the post. Day after day picturesque Indians came in, hauling long, narrow toboggans, pitching their tepees near by, and crowding the shop during daylight hours bartering away their early catch of pelts for necessary and unnecessary things.
Paul and Dan kept steadily at their tasks. Amesbury made no further reference to the arrangement he had made with them until New Year’s eve, when he strolled over to the woodpile toward sundown, where they were hard at work, humming, as he watched them make the last cut in a stick of wood:
“‘If I’d as much money as I could spend,
I never would cry ‘old chairs to mend,
Old chairs to mend, old chairs to mend;’
I never would cry ‘old chairs to mend.’”
When they laid down the saw to place another stick on the buck, he said:
“Never mind that. You chaps come along with me, and we’ll pay our respects to Mr. MacTavish.”
“Oh, have you told him we were going? I was almost afraid you’d forgotten it!” exclaimed Paul exultantly.
“Never a word. Reserved the entertainment for an audience, and you fellows are to be the audience. Come along; he’s in his office now,” and Amesbury strode toward the office, Paul and Dan expectantly following.
MacTavish glanced up from his desk as they entered, and nodding to Amesbury, who had advanced to the center of the room, noticed Paul and Dan near the door.
“What are you fellows knocking off work at this time of day for? Get back to work, and if you want anything, come around after hours.”
“They’ve knocked off for good,” Amesbury answered for them, his eyes reflecting amusement. “They’re going trapping with me up Indian Lake way. I’m sorry to deprive you of them, but I guess I’ll have to.”
“What!” roared MacTavish, jumping to his feet. “Are you inducing those boys to desert? What does this nonsense mean?”
“Yes, they’re going. Sorry you feel so badly at losing their society, but I don’t see any way out of it.”
“Well, they’re not going.” MacTavish spoke more quietly, but with determination, glowering at Amesbury. “They have a debt here and they will stay until it is worked out. They’ve signed articles to remain here until the debt is worked out, and I will hold them under the articles. You fellows go back to your work.”
“We’re not going to work for you any more,” said Paul, his anger rising. “Mr. Amesbury has told you we’re going with him, and we are.”
“Go back to your work, I say, or I’ll have you flogged!” MacTavish was now in a rage, and he made for the lads as though to strike them, only to find the ungainly figure of Amesbury in the way.
“Tut! Tut! Big Jack Blunderbuss trying to strike the little Tiddledewinks! Fine display of courage! But not this time. No pugilistic encounters with any one but me while I’m around, and my hands have an awful itch to get busy.”
“None of your interference in the affairs of this post!” bellowed MacTavish. “You’re breeding mutiny here, and I’ve a mind to run you off the reservation.”
“Hey diddle diddle,” broke in Amesbury, who had not for a moment lost his temper, and who fairly oozed good humor. “This isn’t seemly in a man in your position, MacTavish. Now let’s be reasonable. Sit down and talk the matter over.”
“There’s nothing to talk over with you!” shouted MacTavish, who nevertheless resumed his seat.
“Well, now, we’ll see.” Amesbury drew a chair up, sat down in front of MacTavish, and leaning forward assumed a confidential attitude. “In the first place,” he began, “the lads owe a debt, you say, and you demand that it be paid.”
“They can’t leave here until it is paid! They can’t leave anyhow!” still in a loud voice.
“No, no; of course not. That’s what we’ve got to talk about. I’ll pay the debt. Now, how much is it?”
“That won’t settle it. They both signed on here for at least six months, at three dollars a month, and they’ve got to stay the six months.”
“Now you know, MacTavish, they are both minors and under the law they are not qualified to make such a contract with you. Even were they of age, there isn’t a court within the British Empire but would adjudge such a contract unconscionable, and throw it out upon the ground that it was signed under duress. You couldn’t hire Indians to do the work these lads have done under twelve dollars a month. In all justice you owe them a balance, for they’ve more than worked out their debt.”
“I’m the court here, and I’m the judge, and I’m going to keep these fellows right here.”
“Wrong in this case. There’s no law or court here except the law and the court of the strong arm. Now I’ve unanimously elected myself judge, jury and sheriff to deal with this matter. In these various capacities I’ve decided their debt is paid and they’re going with me. As their friend and your friend, however, I’ve suggested for the sake of good feeling that they pay the balance you claim is due you under the void agreement, and I offer to make settlement in full now. I believe you claim twelve dollars due from each—twenty-four dollars in all?”
It was plain that Amesbury had determined to carry out the plan detailed, with or without the factor’s consent, and finally MacTavish agreed to release Paul and Dan, and charge the twenty-four dollars which he claimed still due on their debt against the forty dollars credited to Amesbury for the two marten skins. He declared, however, that had he known Amesbury’s intention he would not have accepted a pelt from him, nor would he have sold Amesbury the provisions necessary to support him and the lads on their journey to Indian Lake.
“You can never trade another shilling’s worth at this post,” announced MacTavish as the three turned to the door, “not another shilling’s worth.”
“Now, now, MacTavish,” said Amesbury, smiling, “you know better. I’ve a credit here that I’ll come back to trade out, and I’ll have some nice pelts that you’ll be glad enough to take from me.”
“Not a shilling’s worth,” repeated the factor, whose anger was not appeased when he heard Amesbury humming, as he passed out of the door:
“‘A diller, a dollar, a ten o’clock scholar,
What made you come so soon?
You used to come at ten o’clock,
But now you come at noon.’”
It was to be expected that MacTavish would refuse them shelter for the night, but he made no reference to it, probably because in his anger he forgot to do so, and the following morning, when his wrath had cooled, he astonished Paul and Dan when he met them with, for him, a very cheery greeting.
On New Year’s morning Amesbury and Ahmik visited the Indian encampment, and with little difficulty secured from their Indian friends two light toboggans for Paul and Dan to use in the transportation of their equipment.
The day was spent in taking part in snowshoe obstacle races, rifle matches, and many contests with the Indian visitors, and the evening in final preparations for departure. In early morning, before the bell called the post folk to their daily task, they passed out of the men’s house for the last time. Tammas, Amos and Samuel were sorry to lose their young friends and assistants, but glad of their good fortune.
“I’ll be missin’ ye, laddies. God bless ye,” said Tammas.
“Aye, God bless ye,” repeated Samuel.
“Hi ’opes you’ll ’ave a pleasant trip. Tyke care of yourselves,” was Amos’s hearty farewell.
They turned their faces toward the vast dark wilderness to the westward, redolent with mystery and fresh adventure. Presently the flickering lights of the post, which a few weeks before they had hailed so joyously, were lost to view.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SNOWSHOE JOURNEY TO INDIAN LAKE
THERE was yet no hint of dawn. Moon and stars shone cold and white out of a cold, steel-blue sky. The moisture of the frozen atmosphere, shimmering particles of frost, hung suspended in space. The snow crunched and creaked under their swiftly moving snowshoes.
They traveled in single file, after the fashion of the woods. Amesbury led, then followed Ahmik, after him Paul, with Dan bringing up the rear. Each hauled a toboggan, and though Paul’s and Dan’s were much less heavily laden than Amesbury’s and Ahmik’s, the lads had difficulty in keeping pace with the long, swinging half-trot of the trapper and Indian.
Presently they entered the spruce forest of a river valley, dead and cold, haunted by weird shadows, flitting ghostlike hither and thither across ghastly white patches of moonlit snow. Now and again a sharp report, like a pistol shot, startled them. It was the action of frost upon the trees, a sure indication of extremely low temperature.
Dawn at length began to break—slowly—slowly—dispersing the grotesque and ghostlike shadows. As dawn melted into day, the real took the place of the unreal, and the frigid white wilderness that had engulfed them presented its true face to the adventurous travelers.
Scarce a word was spoken as they trudged on. Amesbury and Ahmik kept the silence born of long life in the wilderness where men exist by pitting human skill against animal instinct, and learn from the wild creatures they stalk the lesson of necessary silence and acute listening. Dan, too, in his hunting experiences with his father, had learned to some degree the same lesson, and Paul had small inclination to talk, for he needed all his breath to hold the rapid pace.
Rime had settled upon their clothing, and dawn revealed them white as the snow over which they passed. The moisture from their eyes froze upon their eyelashes, and now and again it was found necessary to pick it off, painfully, as they walked.
The sun was two hours high when Amesbury and Ahmik suddenly halted, and when Paul and Dan, who had fallen considerably in the rear, overtook them, Ahmik was cutting wood, while Amesbury, lighting a fire, was singing:
“‘Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
And let’s drink tea.’”
“How are you standing it, fellows?” he asked, looking up.
“Not bad, sir,” answered Dan.
“I’m about tuckered out, and as empty as a drum!” exclaimed Paul.
“Pretty hard pull for raw recruits,” said Amesbury, laughing. “But wait till tomorrow! Cheer up! The worst is yet to come.”
“I hope it won’t be any harder than this,” and Paul sat wearily down upon his toboggan.
“No,” encouraged Amesbury, “better snowshoeing, if anything. But there’s the wear and tear. You’ll have a hint of it tonight, and know all about it tomorrow.”
“I finds th’ snowshoein’ not so bad today,” said Dan, “but I’m thinkin’ now I knows what you means. I had un bad last year when I goes out wi’ Dad. ’T were wonderful bad, too. I were findin’ it wonderful hard t’ walk with th’ stiffness all over me when I first starts in th’ mornin’, but th’ stiffness wears off after a bit, an’ I’m not mindin’ un after.”
“That’s it. You’re on,” laughed Amesbury, as he chipped some ice from a frozen brook to fill the kettle for tea.
“Very hard, you find him,” broke in Ahmik, joining in Amesbury’s laugh. “You get use to him quick. Walk easy like Mr. Amesbury and me soon. No hard when use to him.”
Ahmik was growing more talkative upon acquaintance, and drawing out of the natural reticence of his race with strangers, as is the way of Indians when they learn to know and like one.
It was a hard afternoon for Paul, and he had to summon all his grit and fortitude to keep going without complaint until the night halt was finally made, but he did his share of the camp work, nevertheless, with a will, and when the tent was pitched and wood cut he sat down more weary than he had ever been in his life.
Amesbury and Ahmik traveled in true Indian fashion when Indians make flying trips without their families. They had neither tent nor tent stove to protect them. The experienced woodsman can protect himself, even in sub-Arctic regions, from the severest storm and cold, so long as he has an axe. Sometimes he resorts to temporary shelters, with fires, sometimes to burrows in snowdrifts, or to such other methods as the particular conditions which he has to face suggest or demand.
Paul and Dan, however, had their tent, tent stove and other paraphernalia. The tent they pitched upon the snow, stretching it, by means of the ridge rope, between two convenient trees. When it was finally in place Dan banked snow well up upon all sides save the opening used for an entrance.
While Dan was thus engaged Paul broke spruce boughs for a floor covering and bed, Ahmik cut wood for the stove, and Amesbury unpacked the outfit and set the stove in place upon two green log butts three feet long and six inches thick. This he did that the stove might not sink into the snow when a fire was lighted and the snow under the stove began to melt.
The telescope pipe in place, Amesbury put a handful of birch bark in the stove, broke some small, dry twigs upon it, lighted the bark, as it blazed filled the stove with some of Ahmik’s neatly split wood, and in five minutes the interior of the tent was comfortably warm.
Paul spread the tarpaulin upon the boughs which he had arranged, stowed their camp things neatly around the edge of the interior, and night camp was ready. Though rather crowded, the tent offered sufficient accommodation for the four.
A candle was lighted, and Amesbury installed himself as cook. A kettle of ice was placed upon the stove to melt and boil for tea. A frying pan filled with thick slices of salt pork was presently sizzling on the stove. Then he added some salt and baking powder to a pan of flour, mixed them thoroughly, and poured enough water from the kettle of melting ice to make a dough.
The pork, which had now cooked sufficiently, was taken from the pan and placed upon a tin dish, and the dough, stretched into thin cakes large enough to fill the circumference of the pan, was fried, one at a time, in the bubbling pork grease that remained. In the meantime tea had been made.
“All ready. Fall to,” announced Amesbury.
“I feels I’m ready for un,” said Dan.
“I can eat two meals,” declared Paul.
“I’m interested to see what the day’s work did for you chaps. Now if you can’t eat, Ahmik and I will feel that we didn’t walk you fast enough today, and we’ll have to do better tomorrow, eh, Ahmik?” Amesbury’s eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Ugh! Big walk tomorrow. Very far. Very fast,” and Ahmik grinned.
“Goodness!” exclaimed Paul. “If we have to walk any farther or faster tomorrow than we did today, I’ll just collapse. I’m so stiff now I can hardly move.”
“That’s always the case for a day or two when a fellow starts out for the first time on snowshoes and does a full day’s work. It won’t last long, but we’ll take it a little slower tomorrow, to let you get hardened to it,” Amesbury consoled.
When they stopped to boil the kettle the following day Paul was scarcely able to lift his feet from the snow. Sharp pains in the calves of his legs and in his hips and groins were excruciating, and he sat down upon his toboggan very thankful for the opportunity to rest.
“How is it? Pretty tired?” asked Amesbury, good-naturedly.
“A little stiff—and tired,” answered Paul, whose pride would not permit him to admit how hard it was for him to keep up.
“We’ll take a little easier gait this afternoon. I didn’t realize we were hitting it off so hard as we were this morning.”
“Thank you.” Paul wished to say “Don’t go slow on my account,” but he realized how utterly impossible it would be for him to keep the more rapid pace.
When luncheon was disposed of and they again fell into line, the pain was so intense that he could scarcely restrain from crying out. But he kept going, and saying to himself:
“I won’t be a quitter. I won’t be a quitter.” He began to lag wofully, however, in spite of his determination and grit, and the slower pace which Amesbury had set. Thus they traveled silently on for nearly an hour, when all at once Amesbury stopped, held up his hand as a signal to the others to halt and remain quiet. Dropping his toboggan rope he stole stealthily forward and was quickly lost to view.
Presently a rifle shot rang out, and immediately another. A moment later Amesbury strode back for his toboggan, where the others were awaiting him, humming as he came:
“‘His body will make a nice little stew,
And his giblets will make me a little pie, too.’”
“Come along, fellows,” he called. “Two caribou the reward of vigilance. We’ll skin ’em.”
Just within the woods, at the edge of an open, wind-swept marsh, they left their toboggans, and a hundred yards beyond lay the carcasses of the two caribou Amesbury had killed.
“There was a band of a dozen,” he explained, as they walked out to the game. “I thought we could use about two of them very nicely.”
“Good!” remarked Ahmik, drawing his knife to begin the process of skinning at once.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Amesbury, “unless you chaps would like to help here, suppose you pitch the tent. We’ll not go any farther today.”
“That’s bully!” exclaimed Paul, who had been at the point of declaring his inability to walk another mile.
“Everything’s bully,” declared Amesbury, “and fresh meat just now is the bulliest thing could have come our way. All right, fellows; you get camp going. You’d find skinning pretty hard work in this weather, but Ahmik and I don’t mind it.”
“My, but I’m glad we don’t have to go any farther today,” said Paul when he and Dan returned to make camp. “I’m just done for. I can hardly move my feet.”
“Does un pain much?” asked Dan, sympathetically.
“You bet it does,” and Paul winced.
“Where is un hurtin’ most now?”
“Here, and here,” indicating his hips, groins and calves.
“Lift un feet—higher.”
“Oh! Ouch!”
“Why weren’t you sayin’ so, now? ’Tis sure th’ snowshoe ailment, an’ not just stiffness. Mr. Amesbury’d not be goin’ on, an’ you havin’ that.”
“I thought it was just stiffness, and would wear off if I kept going. Besides, I didn’t want to be a baby and complain.”
“’Tis no stiffness. ’Tis th’ snowshoe ailment, an’ ’twould get worse, an’ no better, with travelin’. ’Tis wonderful troublesome sometimes. Dad says if you gets un, stop an’ camp where you is, an’ bide there till she gets better. ’Tis th’ only way there is, Dad says, t’ cure un.”
“I never heard of it before.”
“Now I’ll be pitchin’ th’ tent, an’ you sits on th’ flat-sled an’ keeps still.”
“Oh, I’d freeze if I sat down. I’d rather help.”
They had just got the tent up and a roaring fire in the stove when Amesbury and Ahmik came for toboggans upon which to haul the meat to camp.
“I’m thinkin’,” said Dan, “we’ll have t’ be bidin’ here a bit. Paul’s havin’ th’ snowshoe ailment bad.”
“What’s the trouble, Paul?” asked Amesbury.
Paul explained.
“Why, you’re suffering from mal de raquet. Dan’s right; we must stay here till you’re better—a day or two will fix that. Mustn’t try to travel with mal de raquet. It’s a mighty uncomfortable companion.”
At the end of two days, however, Paul was in fairly good condition again, and the journey was resumed without further interruption, save twice they were compelled by storms to remain a day in camp.
Two weeks had elapsed since leaving the post when finally, late one afternoon, Amesbury shouted back to the lads:
“Come along, fellows. We’re here at last.”
Ahmik had stopped and was shoveling snow with one of his snowshoes from the door of a low log cabin, half covered with drifts. It was situated in the center of a small clearing among the fir trees which looked out upon the white frozen expanse of South Indian Lake.
“This is our castle,” Amesbury announced as Paul and Dan joined him. “Here we’re to live in luxurious comfort. That’s the southern extremity of Indian Lake. What do you think of it?”
“’Tis a wonderful fine place t’ live in if th’ trappin’s good,” said Dan.
“It looks mighty good to me. What a dandy place it must be in summer!” Paul exclaimed.
Ahmik now had the door cleared and they entered. The cabin contained a single square room. At one side was a flat-topped sheet-iron stove, similar in design to the tent stove commonly in use in the north, but of considerably larger proportions and heavier material. Near it was a rough table, in the end opposite the door stood a rough-hewn bedstead, the bed neatly made up with white spread and pillow cases. A shelf of well-thumbed books—the Bible, Shakespeare, Thomas à Kempis, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Wordsworth’s Poems, Robinson Crusoe, Mother Goose’s Melodies, Aesop’s Fables, David Copperfield, and some random novels and volumes of travel and adventure. On one end of a second table, evidently used as a writing desk, were neatly piled old magazines and newspapers, on the other end lay some sheet music and a violin, and in the center were writing materials.
The chairs, like all of the furniture, were doubtless the handiwork of Amesbury himself. Everything in the room was spotlessly clean and in order. The setting sun sent a shaft of sunlight through a window, giving the room an air of brightness, and enhancing its atmosphere of homely comfort.
When the fire which Amesbury lighted in the stove began to crackle, he asked:
“Well, fellows, how do you like my den? Think you can be comfortable here for three or four months?”
“’Tis grand, sir,” said Dan.
“Mr. Amesbury, it’s splendid!” declared Paul.
Both lads had been long enough from home, and had endured sufficient buffeting of the wilderness to measure by contrast with their recent experiences the attractions of Amesbury’s cabin, and it appealed to them as little short of luxurious.
“Not splendid, but good enough for a trapper. Hang up your things; you’ll find pegs. Make yourselves at home now. Sit down and rest up. Ahmik will take care of the stuff outside,” and as Amesbury went about the preparation of supper he sang:
“‘There was an old woman, and what do you think?
She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink:
Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet;
This tiresome old woman could never be quiet.’”
Luscious caribou steaks were soon frying, biscuits were baking, and presently the delicious odor of coffee filled the room.
“I always keep coffee here,” explained Amesbury. “Rather have it than tea, but it’s too bulky to carry when I’m hitting the trail.”
“It’s the first smell of coffee I’ve had since we left the ship, and oh, but it smells bully to me!” said Paul.
Candles were lighted, a snowy white cloth spread on the table. When at length they sat down to eat, Amesbury, with bowed head, asked grace.
“’Tis good,” remarked Dan, accepting a liberal piece of caribou meat, “t’ hear un say grace. Dad always says un.”
“I neglect it when I’m on the trail,” said Amesbury. “My father was a preacher. He always said grace at home, and it’s second nature to me to do it when I sit at a table. Part of eating. We mustn’t forget, you know, that we owe what we have to a higher Power, and we shouldn’t forget to give thanks.”
“That’s what Dad would be sayin’, now.” Dan had admired Amesbury before, but this comparison of him with his father was the highest compliment he could have paid him, and indicated the highest regard for his friend.
“I’ll tell you, chaps, my theory of the way the Lord gives us our blessings. He gives us eyes and hands and feet, and best of all He gives us brains with which to reason things out. Then He provides the land with all its products, the birds and animals and forests. He gives us the sea with its products, too. He intends that we use our brains in devising methods of applying the products of earth and sea to our needs, and to use our hands and feet and eyes to carry out what our brain tells us how to do. If I hadn’t used my eyes and hands and feet the Lord never would have put this venison on the table.”
“That’s just what Dad says,” agreed Dan. “He says they ain’t no use prayin’ for things when they’s a way t’ get un yourself.”
“Your dad’s right. If you chaps had just spent your time praying when you went adrift on that ice pan, you’d be at the bottom of Hudson Bay now. Yes, your dad’s right. Thank the Lord for the things that come your way, but get up and hustle first, or they won’t come your way. Use your brains and your hands. That’s the thing to do.”
Supper finished, Amesbury and Ahmik cut tobacco from black plugs, filled their pipes; Amesbury whittled some long shavings from a stick of dry wood, lighted an end of a shaving by pushing it through the stove vent, and applied it to his pipe; Ahmik followed his example, and then turned his attention to washing dishes.
Puffing contentedly at his pipe, Amesbury lifted the violin from its case, settled himself before the stove and began tuning the instrument.
“I likes t’ hear fiddlin’ wonderful well,” remarked Dan.
“That’s good, for I’m going to fiddle. Do you like it, too, Densmore?”
“I’m very fond of music.”
“Then, no one objecting, I’ll begin.”
Amesbury began playing very softly. Dan sat in open-mouthed wonder, eyes wide, and scarcely breathing. Paul was enthralled. It was a master hand that held the bow. The player himself seemed quite unconscious of his listeners and surroundings. The wrinkles smoothed out of the corners of his eyes, the alert twinkle left the eyes and a soft, dreamy expression came into them, as though they beheld some beautiful vision. He seemed transfigured as Paul looked at him. Another being had taken the place of the ungainly, rough-clad trapper.
For a full hour he played. Then laying his violin across his knees sat silent for a little. The music had cast a spell upon them. Even Ahmik, who had seated himself near the table, had let his pipe die out.
All at once the humorous wrinkles came again into the corners of Amesbury’s eyes, and the eyes began to sparkle and laugh. He arose and returned the violin to its case, humming as he did so:
“‘Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle.’
“I always like a little music after supper,” he remarked, resuming his seat.
“Oh, ’twere more than music!” exclaimed Dan. “’T were—’t were—I’m thinkin’—’t were like in heaven. ’T weren’t fiddlin’, sir. ’T were music of angels in th’ fiddle, sir.”
“That’s the best compliment I ever received,” laughed Amesbury.
“Mr. Amesbury,” asked Paul, “where did you ever learn to play like that? I heard Madagowski, the great Polish violinist that every one raved over last year. I thought it was great then, but after hearing you it seems just common.”
“You chaps will make me vain if you keep this up,” and Amesbury laughed again.
“But where did you learn?” insisted Paul. “And what ever made you turn trapper?”
Amesbury’s face grew suddenly grave, almost agonized.
“Oh, Mr. Amesbury!” Paul exclaimed, feeling instinctively that he had made a mistake in urging the question. “If I shouldn’t ask, don’t tell me! I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Paul,” said Amesbury, quietly. “I’ll tell you the story. It may be well for you to hear it.”