FullReads

I

At the head of a stretch of swiftly running water the river widened into a broad and deep pool. From the western bank a huge ledge of rock sloped downward and outward into the water. On it stood the trapper, John Norton, with a look of both expectation and anxiety on his face. For a moment he lifted his troubled eyes and gazed steadily through the tree-tops; and as his eyes fell to the level of the river, while the look of anxiety deepened on his countenance, he said:

“Yis, the wind has changed and the fire be comin’ this way; and ef it gits into the balsam thickets this side of the mountain and the wind holds where it is, a buck in full jump could hardly outrun it. Yis, the smoke thickens; ef I didn’t know that the boy would act with jedgment, and that he’s onusually sarcumspect, I would sartinly feel worried about him. I hope he won’t do anything resky for the sake of the pups. Ef he can’t git ’em, he can’t; and I trust he won’t resk the life of a man for a couple of dogs.”

With these words the trapper relapsed into silence. But every minute added to his anxiety, for the smoke thickened in the air and even a few cinders began to pass him as they were blown onward with the smoke by the wind.

“The fire is comin’ down the river,” he said, “and the boy has it behind him. Lord-a-massy! hear it roar! I know the boy is comin’, for I never knowed him to do a foolish thing in the woods; and it would be downright madness for him to stay in the shanty, or even go to the shanty, ef the fire had struck the balsam thicket afore he made the landin’. Lord, ef an oar-blade should break,–but it won’t break. The Lord of marcy won’t let an oar that the boy is handlin’ break, when the fire is racin’ behind him, and he’s comin’ back from an arrand of marcy. I never seed a man desarted in a time like”–

A report of a rifle rang out quick and sharp through the smoke.

“God be praised!” said the trapper, “it’s the boy’s own piece, and he let it off as he shot the rift the fourth bend above. Yis, the boy knows his danger and he took the vantage of the rift to signal me with his piece, for oars couldn’t help him in the rift and the missin’ of a single stroke wouldn’t count. I trust the boy got the pups, arter all,” added the old trapper, his mind instantly reverting to his loved companions the moment it was relieved from anxiety touching his comrade.

It couldn’t have been over five minutes after the report of a rifle had sounded, before a boat swept suddenly around the bend above the rock and shot like an arrow through the haze toward the trapper. Herbert was at the oars and the two hounds were sitting on their haunches at the stern. The stroke the oarsman was pulling was such as a man pulls when, in answer to some emergency, he is putting forth his whole strength. But though the stroke was an earnest one, there was no apparent hurry in it; for it was long and evenly pulled, from dip to finish, and the recovery seemed a trifle leisurely done. The face of the trapper fairly shone with delight as he saw the boat and the occupants. Indeed, his happiness was too great to be enjoyed silently, and, in accordance with his habit when greatly interested, he broke into speech.

“Look at that now!” he exclaimed, as if speaking to some one at his side; “look at that now! There’s a stroke that’s worth notin’, and is a kind of edication in itself. Ye might almost think that there wasn’t quite enough snap in it; but the boy knows that he’s pullin’ for his life and the life of another man somewhere below him–not to speak of the pups–and he knows it’s good seven miles to the rapids, and he’s pullin’ every ounce that’s in him to pull, and keep his stroke. Now, he’s come five miles, ef he’s come a rod, and I warrant he hasn’t missed a stroke, save when in shootin’ the rift he let off his piece. And he knows he’s got seven miles more to pull and he’s set himself a twelve-mile stroke; and there aint many men that could do it, with the roar of the fire a leetle way behind him. Yis, the boy has acted with jedgment and is sartinly comin’ along like a buck in full jump. I guess I’d better let him know where I be.”