There were but few squaws to be seen. “Dey no arriver encore,” Jules muttered. The voyageurs nodded to him in a friendly way; the Indians seemed not to notice his presence, and Le Pendu scowled openly. Verbaux approached one of the fires where French-Canadians breakfasted, and they made room for him to sit. One of them offered Jules his pannikin and plate and motioned toward the food—a caribou-stew that simmered in an iron pot and gave off appetising vapours. Verbaux ate silently; no one spoke to him, and he did not feel the necessity of speech. His meal finished, he went to the factor’s house and asked for orders; and as he stood listening to what the factor said, his eyes wandered longingly through the forest tops, and focused themselves on a white strip of barren that was the horizon, many miles beyond the trees.
“I’ll gie ye dogs, sledge, food, an’ blankit to start wi’; ye’ll sattle wi’ yere fierst lot o’ skin!”
The old prison tepee was given him as his home; five mangy brutes were turned over to his care as his team; a medium-light sledge, two thin blankets, some tea and pemmican completed his indebtedness to the Hudson Bay Company. He smiled a trifle bitterly when the factor concluded his orders by “Do yere worrk weel, mon, an’ ye’ll be recht; eef ye don’t I’ll make ye that feine ye canna be sweeped!” and the throb for freedom and Her came over him hard, but he answered quietly enough, “Oui, M’sieu’ le Facteur,” then turned away, leading the scrawny dogs and dragging the sledge and outfit.
All day he worked steadily, patching up the rotten skins of his tepee, and bringing boughs for his bed. He made his own fire, ate alone, and lived apart from the other inhabitants of the post. When night came again his home was comfortable and warm, and he slept with the prayer for Marie on his lips.
Long before any one was awake the next morning he started off, taking all his food and his blankets. He travelled as fast as his dogs could go until evening, then built a temporary camp at the edge of the open country. He fastened the team after supper, put on his snow-shoes, and crossed out from under the black timber to the barrens. A light breeze was blowing and Jules inhaled great lungsful of its strength. The cold stars glittered above him, and the crust crackled sharply under his weight. In the centre of the space he stopped. Behind and beyond showed the skirts of the woods, like black cords drawn about a white sheet. Shooting comets trailed and flashed athwart the studded heavens, and he wondered whence they came and whither they went. There was no sound but that of the icy myriads as they moved along over the crust, impelled by the breeze.
“Eef Ah onlee could go an’ loook! Eef Ah could go—have liberté vonce h’aga’n!” and Jules sighed. “Dat no possible; somme taime Ah get ’way, tell le facteur dat Ah go, an’ den go queeck—somme taime, mabbe!” He retraced his way slowly, lingering over each step that took him toward the things that belonged to the Company. The dark line heightened as he went, and when he reached the woods again he could see the shifting reflection of his fire. He came to the bough camp, wrapped himself in his blankets, and passed into the unconsciousness of sleep while the darkness hung on, then little by little gave way to the irresistible power of another sun.
This day Jules set forty traps, and in four days had twenty marten, nineteen sable, three fox (one gray), six wolverine, five lynx, and a beaver (that he killed on a neighbouring pond).
The fifth day he set out for the post again. A strong northerly storm was on, and the sleet dashed against him with dizzying strength as he slowly forced his way against it. He broke the trail, and the dogs followed on his heels, whining and shivering, their long hair clustered with white and their tails dragging heavily. The wind sang riotously in Jules’s ears, and their inner rims were covered with the blowing drift; the hair in his nose froze solid, and prickled as he breathed; and the gusts found their way inside the thick muffler and chilled his body. But he loved it, and fought his way steadily to Reliance.
A few trappers were in the open when Verbaux entered the yard, and they grunted surprisedly as they saw the tall, gaunt figure leading the team and sledge.
“’ave success?” asked one.