Robert Michael Ballantyne – The Complete Collection

Chapter 9

Besides this, not having shaved any part of his face during the last three weeks, there was little of it visible except his eyes, forehead, and cheek-bones. All the rest was more or less covered with black hair.

No wonder, then, that Marie, who believed him to be two thousand miles away at that moment, did not recognise him in the increasing darkness of evening. The lover at once understood this, and he resolved to play the part of a stranger. He happened to have the power of changing his voice--a power possessed by many people--and, trusting to the increasing gloom to conceal him, and to the fact that he was the last person in the world whom Marie might expect to see there, he addressed her as follows:--

"I am indeed a stranger here; at least I have not been at the post for a very long time. I have just reached the end of a long voyage."

"Indeed," said the girl, interested by the stranger's grave manner. "May I ask where you have come from?"

"I have come all the way from Canada, young woman, and I count myself lucky in meeting with such a pleasant face at the end of my journey."

"From Canada!" exclaimed Marie, becoming still more interested in the stranger, and blushing deeply as she asked--"You have friends there, no doubt?"

"Ay, a few," said Jasper.

"And what has brought you such a long way into this wild wilderness?" asked Marie, sighing as she thought of the hundreds of miles that lay between Fort Erie and Canada.

"I have come here to get me a wife," replied Jasper.

"That is strange," said the girl, smiling, "for there are few but Indian women here. A stout hunter like you might find one nearer home, I should think."

Here Marie paused, for she felt that on such a subject she ought not to converse with a stranger. Yet she could not help adding, "But perhaps, as you say, you have been in this part of the world before, you may have some one in your mind?"

"I am engaged," said Jasper abruptly.

On hearing this Marie felt more at her ease, and, being of a very sympathetic nature, she at once courted the confidence of the stranger.

"May I venture to ask her name?" said Marie, with an arch smile.

"I may not tell," replied Jasper; "I have a comrade who is entitled to know this secret before any one else. Perhaps you may have heard of him, for he was up in these parts two years agone . His name is Jasper Derry."

The blood rushed to Marie's temples on hearing the name, and she turned her face away to conceal her agitation, while, in a low voice, she said--

"Is Jasper Derry, then, your intimate friend?"

"That is he--a very intimate friend indeed. But you appear to know him."

"Yes, I--I know him--I have seen him. I hope he is well," said Marie; and she listened with a beating heart for the answer, though she still turned her face away.

"Oh! he's well enough," said Jasper; "sickness don't often trouble him . He's going to be married."

Had a bullet struck the girl's heart she could not have turned more deadly pale than she did on hearing this. She half rose from the tree stump, and would have fallen to the ground insensible, had not Jasper caught her in his arms.

"My own Marie," said he fervently, " forgive me, dearest; forgive my folly, my wickedness, in deceiving you in this fashion. Oh, what a fool I am!" he added, as the poor girl still hung heavily in his grasp--"speak to me Marie, my own darling."

Whether it was the earnestness of his voice, or the kiss which he printed on her forehead, or the coolness of the evening air, I know not, but certain it is that Marie recovered in the course of a few minutes, and, on being convinced that Jasper really was her old lover, she resigned herself, wisely, to her fate, and held such an uncommonly long conversation with the bold hunter, that the moon was up and the stars were out before they turned their steps towards the Fort.

"Why, Jasper Derry," cried Mr Pemberton, as the hunter entered the hall of Fort Erie, "where have you been. I've been expecting you every moment for the last two hours."

"Well, you see, Mr Pemberton, I just went down the river a short bit to see an old friend and I was kep ' longer than I expected," said Jasper, with a cool, grave face, as he grasped and shook the hand which was held out to him.

"Ah! I see , you hunters are more like brothers than friends. No doubt you went to smoke a pipe with Hawkeye, or to have a chat with the Muskrat about old times," said the fur-trader, mentioning the names of two Indians who were celebrated as being the best hunters in the neighbourhood , and who had been bosom friends of Jasper when he resided there two years before.

"No, I've not yet smoked a pipe with Hawkeye, neither have I seen Muskrat, but I certainly have had a pretty long chat with one o' my old friends," answered Jasper, while a quiet smile played on his face.

"Well, come along and have a pipe and a chat with me . I hope you count me one of your friends too," said Mr Pemberton, conducting Jasper into an inner room, where he found Heywood and Arrowhead seated at a table, doing justice to a splendid supper of buffalo-tongues, venison-steaks, and marrow-bones.

"Here are your comrades, you see, hard at work. It's lucky you came to-night, Jasper, for I intend to be off to-morrow morning, by break of day, on a buffalo-hunt. If you had been a few hours later of arriving, I should have missed you. Come, will you eat or smoke?"

"I'll eat first, if you have no objection," said Jasper, "and smoke afterwards."

"Very good. Sit down, then, and get to work. Meanwhile I'll go and look after the horses that we intend to take with us to-morrow. Of course you'll accompany us, Jasper?"

"I'll be very glad, and so will Arrowhead, there. There's nothing he likes so much as a chase after a buffalo, unless, it may be, the eating of him. But as for my friend and comrade Mr Heywood, he must speak for himself."

"I will be delighted to go," answered the artist, "nothing will give me more pleasure; but I fear my steed is too much exhausted to--"

"Oh! make your mind easy on that score," said the fur-trader, interrupting him. "I have plenty of capital horses, and can mount the whole of you, so that's settled. And now, friends, do justice to your supper, I shall be back before you have done."

So saying, Mr Pemberton left the room, and our three friends, being unusually hungry, fell vigorously to work on the good cheer of Fort Erie.

CHAPTER TEN.

BUFFALO-HUNTING ON THE PRAIRIES.

Next day most of the men of Fort Erie, headed by Mr Pemberton, rode away into the prairies on a buffalo-hunt. Jasper would willingly have remained with Marie at the fort, but, having promised to go, he would not now draw back.

The band of horsemen rode for three hours, at a quick pace, over the grassy plains, without seeing anything. Jasper kept close beside his friend, old Laroche , while Heywood rode and conversed chiefly with Mr Pemberton. There were about twenty men altogether, armed with guns, and mounted on their best buffalo-runners, as they styled the horses which were trained to hunt the buffalo. Many of these steeds had been wild horses, caught by the Indians, broken-in, and sold by them to the fur-traders.

"I have seldom ridden so long without meeting buffaloes," observed Mr Pemberton, as the party galloped to the top of a ridge of land, from which they could see the plains far and wide around them.

"There they are at last," said Heywood eagerly, pointing to a certain spot on the far-off horizon where living creatures of some sort were seen moving.

"That must be a band o' red-skins," said Jasper, who trotted up at this moment with the rest of the party.

"They are Sauteaux ," [This word is pronounced Sotoes in the plural; Sotoe in the singular] observed Arrowhead quietly.

"You must have good eyes, friend," said Pemberton, applying a small pocket-telescope to his eye; "they are indeed Sauteaux , I see by their dress, and they have observed us, for they are coming straight this way, like the wind."

"Will they come as enemies or friends?" inquired Heywood.

"As friends, I have no doubt," replied the fur-trader. "Come, lads, we will ride forward to meet them."

In a short time the two parties of horsemen met. They approached almost at full speed, as if each meant to ride the other down, and did not rein up until they were so close that it seemed impossible to avoid a shock.

"Have you seen the buffaloes lately?" inquired Pemberton, after the first salutation had passed.

"Yes, there are large bands not an hour's ride from this. Some of our young warriors have remained to hunt. We are going to the fort to trade."

"Good; you will find tobacco enough there to keep you smoking till I return with fresh meat," said Pemberton, in the native tongue, which he could speak like an Indian. "I'll not be long away. Farewell."

No more words were wasted. The traders galloped away over the prairie, and the Indians, of whom there were about fifteen, dashed off in the direction of the fort.

These Indians were a very different set of men from those whom I have already introduced to the reader in a former chapter. There are many tribes of Indians in the wilderness of Rupert's Land, and some of the tribes are at constant war with each other. But in order to avoid confusing the reader, it may be as well to divide the Indian race into two great classes--namely, those who inhabit the woods, and those who roam over the plains or prairies. As a general rule, the thick wood Indians are a more peaceful set of men than the prairie Indians. They are few in number, and live in a land full of game, where there is far more than enough of room for all of them. Their mode of travelling in canoes, and on foot, is slow, so that the different tribes do not often meet, and they have no occasion to quarrel. They are, for the most part, a quiet and harmless race of savages, and being very dependent on the fur-traders for the necessaries of life, they are on their good behaviour , and seldom do much mischief.

It is very different with the plain Indians. These savages have numbers of fine horses, and live in a splendid open country, which is well-stocked with deer and buffaloes, besides other game. They are bold riders, and scour over the country in all directions, consequently the different tribes often come across each other when out hunting. Quarrels and fights are the results, so that these savages are naturally a fierce and warlike race. They are independent too; for although they get their guns and ammunition and other necessaries from the traders, they can manage to live without these things if need be. They can clothe themselves in the skins of wild animals, and when they lose their guns, or wet their powder, they can kill game easily with their own bows and arrows.

It was a band of these fellows that now went galloping towards Fort Erie, with the long manes and tails of the half-wild horses and the scalp-locks on their dresses and their own long black hair streaming in the wind.

Pemberton and his party soon came up with the young Indians who had remained to chase the buffaloes. He found them sheltered behind a little mound, making preparations for an immediate attack on the animals, which, however, were not yet visible to the men from the fort.