BLINDING THE TRAIL.
For almost a full minute nobody said a word. Indeed, the tremendous nature of this discovery seemed to have very nearly paralyzed them, so that one and all could only stand there and stare at the places where they could tell their prized canoes had recently rested.
Jimmy was the first one to arouse himself, and it was hot anger that caused him to show so much activity.
"P'raps they haven't gone far, Ned, and if we got a hustle on we might manage to ketch up with the measly skunks. If they try to pack our boats through the woods, they'll have a time of it, let me tell you. Are we agoin' to give chase? Oh! I'm as fresh as a daisy right now. Seems like I could run for hours, if I had an idea I'd overtake the canoe thieves."
Ned shook his head.
"No use, Jimmy," he told the furious scout; "because they haven't carried our boats ashore. If you look, you'll see where they paddled out on to the river. You remember, we hid all traces of our own passage, yet here you can see a wide swath among the reeds, bending them back."
They saw that he spoke the truth, even Jimmy admitting the sad facts with a groan that seemed to well up from his shoes, it was so disconsolate.
"Five hundred miles—five hundred of 'em! Gosh!" he was heard to tell himself, as he stood there, rubbing the side of his head, as though he felt like one in a stupor or a dream.
"And as we haven't a single boat, of course we can't pursue them," remarked Jack between his clinched teeth, while his eyes glittered angrily.
"Oh! what wouldn't I have given to have come on the rascals just in the act of getting away with our boats!" breathed Frank, as he shook his rifle, after the manner of a scout who has thrown discretion to the winds.
"Well, let's not whimper and cry over spilt milk, anyway," said Ned, who could always be depended on to bring the boys to their proper senses.
"That's so," echoed Jack, quick to see the importance of keeping their senses about them in this dilemma. "We've got to do something, that's sure, and so let's get to talking it over sensibly."
"But, what can we do?" pleaded Teddy, who was not apt to prove equal to a sudden strain like this, and must depend on others more vigorous of mind.
"Oh! before we're done considering things," promised Ned, "you'll find that we've got a choice of a whole lot of plans. I hope we're all made of sterner stuff than to throw out the white flag of surrender, just because something has gone wrong."
"Well, I should say not," declared Frank, grinding his teeth together. "We're like the Old Guard, we can die, but never surrender."
"That's the stuff!" cried Jimmy, suddenly beginning to brighten up again, as the stunning effect of the first rude shock passed away. "Remember what Phil Sheridan did at Cedar Creek, when he met his army, smashed and running away? What was it he told 'em as he galloped along the road, headed for the battlefield? 'Face the other way, boys; face the other way! We'll lick 'em out of their boots! We'll get back those camps again!' All right, and it's me that says it; well get back our boats again, by hook or crook!"
"I hope you turn out to be a true prophet, Jimmy," said Ned. "That's one of the plans I spoke about. Another would be to make for the shore of the big bay, and try to get in touch with some vessel passing, that might carry us to Halifax, or some other northern port, where we could send a message to Jack's father not to put a dollar into these fake mines."
"Sounds good to me," Teddy remarked, sucking it all in eagerly.
"Then there's another thing we might manage to do if the worst came," proceeded Ned. "Up here there are lonely trading posts run by the Hudson Bay Company, at each of which you'll find a factor in charge. If we could only run across one of these posts, I reckon, there would be some way found for getting us down to civilization inside of a month or so."
"That long?" observed Teddy.
"What would it matter, so that we didn't have to do the grand hike?" Jimmy asked, afflicted with dizzy visions of five hundred miles of tramping over rough country, supporting themselves, meanwhile, in the most primitive fashion by shooting game, and cooking the same over fires made with flint and steel, or the bow and stick method known to scouts generally.
"Of course," added Frank, somewhat satirically, "Teddy would like to have one of those Zeppelin airships come along and give us a lift. I guess all of us would be glad if that happened; but the chances are so small, we don't want to consider 'em, do we, Ned? So here we are, facing a puzzle that's going to give us no end of trouble and work. If it was hard to get in, it's going to be a much bigger job to get out again."
"It's getting late, as it is," remarked Jack, as he looked toward the west where the sun was hovering over the horizon, and ready to take the final plunge, though, of course, it would not be dark for a long time afterwards, thanks to the length of the Northern twilight in midsummer.
"First, let's get where we can look up and down the river, principally down," was Ned's advice, "though there's a mighty slim chance that we'll see anything of our stolen canoes."
This proved to be the case, for when they had found an elevated position, where it was possible to see far down the stream, there was not a thing in sight, save a mother duck teaching her little brood to swim and find food.
"No use, seems like; they've gone a long time back," said Jimmy.
"I wonder if that was what they told the fellows over at the mine, when they mentioned a trap?" observed Frank, seriously, glancing hastily around him at the same time, as though half expecting to see a dozen ugly-faced men appear from the bushes and rocks.
"Not while Tamasjo was reading the smoke signs," Ned assured him, "or he would have learned enough to tell us what to expect when we got here. But, first of all, we ought to move off."
"You think they'll come here later on, when they learn how we got out of the old mine and headed across country—is that it, Ned?" Jack queried.
"I expect it is about like this," the patrol leader replied; "one or two men must have found our boats. For the life of me, I don't understand how it happened, except that they were paddling along on the river, and wanting to go ashore took exactly the same notion we did—that the reeds would make a good hiding place for their craft. And, as luck would have it, they ran on our canoes."
"No signs here to tell Francois or the Cree about how long back this thing happened, I reckon?" Frank put in just then.
"That's where we get a hard knock," Ned continued, with a tinge of regret in his voice; "because, as you all know, water leaves no trace. When men are fleeing from enemies, the first thing they think of is to get into a creek, and throw their pursuers, dogs and all, off the scent. So, even as clever a trailer as Tamasjo couldn't tell any better than Jimmy here whether this robbery occurred an hour ago or three of the same."
"We're sure enough up against it this time, boys," Teddy affirmed.
"And have been on other occasions, remember, when things came out all right, and we won in the end." Jack reminded the doubter.
"Let's make up our minds we're going to beat these chaps at their own game, and that'll be half the battle," Frank told them.
"But I think Ned is all right when he says, 'we ought to cut stick and get away from here as soon as we can,'" Jack gave as his opinion.
In fact, the guides were manifesting more or less impatience. They apparently understood that the enemy would be apt to turn up here again, sooner or later; and could not comprehend why the scouts should always want to compare notes, before doing anything like making a change of base. Francois and the Cree were accustomed to making most of their moves through instinct; while with the scouts those same things did not come naturally, but had to be reasoned out, which made considerable difference.
One last look did they give toward the reeds that had promised to be so friendly, only to betray the confidence the boys had placed in them; and after that the little party moved off.
"But say, won't they follow after us, Ned?" asked Jimmy, when he failed to see the guides getting busy with trying to destroy all evidences of their passage, as he had fully expected would be the case.
Some of the other scouts showed by their expectant manner that they were also wondering what it all meant. Ned took it upon himself to enlighten them.
"If I read their meaning right," he ventured, "that is just what they want to do at first, make the men believe we've started to tramp back over all those hundreds of miles of ground. Before long, they'll do something to hide the trail so only a wolf's keen scent could find it; and then we'll turn around again, so as to face toward Hudson Bay. How, Francois?"
The old voyageur had listened to the explanation offered by Ned. He grinned and wagged his head, as though quite tickled at the idea of the boy understanding so well what the little game was.
"Zat ees so, sare," he said. "If Jimmy he be able hold out so long, mebbe we also eat supper far away from zis place."
Hearing his name mentioned, Jimmy was up in arms. He had a reserve stock of nerve for occasions like this, which could be summoned to the fore.
"Don't bother about Jimmy, please," he told them. "Sure, when it comes to a pinch, don't he always get there with the goods? My feet can ache all they want to; but, all the same, they'll do what I say. If it's a mile or six of the same, I'm good for it. But I wish I had something to gnaw on meanwhile, because I'm as hungry as a starved wolf, so I am."
Frank produced a handful of crackers from his little pack, which he willingly turned over to the other. This seemed to satisfy Jimmy; at least, he stopped groaning and telling of his aches and pains. When they could get his jaws to working in this fashion, he seldom allowed himself to enter any complaint. Jimmy could be bribed to do a good many things by the promise of a feast at the other end.
They continued on for some little time, and then it became apparent that Francois and the Cree had decided the blind trail had been carried far enough.
They were seen to confer, after which the leader stepped upon a long log that lay conveniently near by. Walking part way along this, the Indian suddenly leaped upon a bare rock, stepped its length, found another log, passed along it and so continued, leaving not the slightest trace of a trail that could be followed, unless dogs were placed upon the scent.
"You go next, Jack," urged Ned, who wished to satisfy himself that all of the scouts were able to qualify in this round of concealing the trail; though they had practiced it many a time when in camp.
Jack had observed every move of the agile old Indian, so that once he started over the same course he made short work of it.
"Teddy, you're next!" the scout leader announced.
Possibly it was with more or less trepidation that the one singled out began to cover the ground. But then Teddy was not a tenderfoot, even if he did not know as much as some of the others about woodcraft. He walked along the log, made the jump successfully, though falling flat on his face when he gained the rock; managed to gain the second tree trunk, and conducted himself so cleverly on the whole that Ned gave him a wave of approval after he had joined the others some distance away.
Frank and Jimmy copied the actions of those who had gone before, and so far as could be seen they did not leave any trace of their passage, though, of course, the old voyageur would look out for all that when he came to cross, and examine the ground carefully in so doing.
Ned found no difficulty in following the rest, and then they stood on a stone foundation, watching with considerable interest, while Francois scrutinized the track to make sure they had not left some sort of footprint, or disturbed any object, however small, that might catch a trained eye and betray their little game to the enemy.
As far as possible for some little time, they were instructed to take advantage of every opportunity that cropped up to advance, without leaving tell-tale imprints behind them. That is the measure of success in "blinding a trail," and if anybody ever had it down to a science, surely a Cree Indian might be expected to. Still there was no telling what might happen. Discovery was always in the air, and they must be forever on their guard against it.
Jimmy did seem to revive under the influence of his little bite, for he kept resolutely on, with set jaws and a look of grim determination written large upon his freckled and rosy face.
They were heading straight toward salt water now, all of them knew; because stars had crept into view, and these boys had long since learned to tell direction, by means of the lights in the sky, by day or night. The Polar Star shone dimly, as always, nearly directly ahead of them. Other stars they could see, such as are never gazed upon by people living in the temperate climes, constellations peculiar to the northern region of ice and snow.
"Eet is here we rest and eat!" announced Francois, after a long and arduous siege of this tramping and stumbling had been endured.
Jimmy wanted very much to make out that it was a matter of small importance to him whether they stopped or continued right on; but nevertheless he could not keep back the happy sigh that would well forth; and they could hear him champing his jaws, as though trying to learn whether they were still in condition for service, because that one word "eat" had told him they expected to break their fast. Shortly afterwards they were making themselves as comfortable as possible, though destitute of blankets and many other things; while the two guides started a little cooking fire in a depression where it could not be seen thirty feet away.