The boys had been too much interested in the distant prospect to notice the rock on which they stood. Now as they glanced down, Jean uttered an exclamation, “Look, Ronald, this is copper rock indeed.” Scattered here and there were streaks and flecks of free metal.
Ronald bent to examine it “Truly it is copper,” he said, “but in bits too small to be of any value. Had we time we might prospect and come upon larger veins. ’Tis like enough that this whole ridge is rich with it. But we’ve no time to make a search. We’re seeking a far more precious metal, where it may be gathered easily without the labor of digging and blasting.” And he started to lead the way back over their trail.
The trip down the ridge and to the shore was made much more quickly than the upward journey. The explorers had not taken the trouble to blaze their way, though Nangotook had sliced off a branch here and there with his ax. In the woods the signs of their passage were clear enough for an experienced woodsman to follow almost without conscious thought, while the downward slope of the ground most of the way to the stream, and the Indian habit of taking swift but sure note of surroundings furnished them with more than sufficient guidance everywhere. Nangotook led again and went swiftly and unhesitatingly, scarcely appearing to look about him.
During the whole trip up and back they saw no caribou tracks, but they came upon many traces of hares and lynxes, squirrels scolded at them from the trees, and, as they reached the stream, a mink, that had been fishing, glided swiftly up the opposite bank. Ronald inquired if the Indians ever trapped on Minong, but Etienne answered that he had never heard of any one wintering there. “Too far from mainland,” he said. “Too hard to get across when wind blows and storm comes.”
They found the canoe safe, their camping place undisturbed, and the package of caribou meat untouched. The wind was now directly in the north, and the harbor or strait was well enough protected by its northwest shore to make traveling along it safe. Delaying only for a meal of caribou meat, the three embarked again, with the intention of going as far as possible before darkness came.
[XIX]
LE FORGERON TORDU AGAIN
The stretch of water proved to be a long bay, with continuous shore on its northwest side, and a chain of wooded islands sheltering it from the southeast. The gold-seekers paddled steadily until nightfall compelled them to make a landing in a little cove beyond a point. Navigation through unknown waters, where reefs and shoals might be encountered, was perilous in the darkness. Though sharp and cold, the night was clear, so the three did not crawl under the canoe, but lay down in the open with their feet to the fire. When they woke at dawn, the fire had gone out, and ground and trees around them were silvered with white frost. The boys were stiff and chilled, but the exercise of cutting wood, and a breakfast of hot caribou broth, made from the dried meat boiled in the birch bark basket, soon warmed them.
Paddling out from the cove, their blades keeping time to
“L’on, ton, laridon, danée,