“Without more discussion the band picked up their dunnage and their guns, and set out for the lake of the unpronounceable name. It is needless to say the name became much shortened in their careless lingo. On state occasions they sometimes took pains to pronounce it ‘Peckagomic.’ For every-day use they found ‘Gomic’ quite sufficient.
“About the time the expedition was setting out from the Ryckert Camp, far away in Beardsley Settlement a very small boy was being tucked comfortably into the straw and bearskins of a roomy pung. As his grandmother kissed the round, expectant little face, she said to the driver, a slim youth of perhaps eighteen,—
“‘Do you think, now, Mart, the goin’ won’t be too bad? Be you sure the pung ain’t likely to slump down and upset? And then there’s the ice! This warm spell must have made it pretty rotten! Will it be safe crossin’ the streams? Somehow or other, I do jist hate lettin’ Arty go along this mornin’!’
“‘Don’t you be worryin’ a mite, marm,’ responded Mart Babcock, gathering up the reins. ‘Ther’ ain’t no ice to cross, seein’s ther’ ain’t no rivers in our rowt, exceptin’ the Siegus, an’ that’s got a bridge to it. I’ll look after Arty, trust me. His pa’d be powerful disapp’inted if I didn’t bring him along this time, to say nawthin’ of all the hands!’
“‘Well, well,’ said the old lady in a voice of reluctant resignation; ‘I suppose it’s all right; but take keer of him, Mart, as if he was the apple of your eye!’
“It was a soft, hazy, melting day when Mart and Arty set out on their long drive. The travelling was heavy, but the air was delicious, and our travellers were in the highest spirits. This visit to the camp was Arty’s dearest treat, and was allowed him three or four times during the winter.
“Toward noon the hazy blue of the morning sky changed to a thick gray, while the air grew almost oppressively warm, and the woods were filled on all sides with the strange, innumerable noises of the great thaw. The dull crunchings of the settling masses of snow at first thrilled the child with a vague alarm. Then, reassured by his companion, he grew interested in trying to distinguish the varied sounds. The unbending of softened twigs and saplings, the dropping of loosened bark, the stealthy tricklings of unseen rillets—all these filled the forest with a sense of mysterious activity and bustle.
“Every little while Mart stopped to give the floundering horse rest and encouragement. Jerry belonged to Steve Doyle; but being a great pet with his owner, and devoted to the child, and at the same time somewhat too old to endure without injury the hardships of winter lumbering, he had been left at home in luxury the last two winters, with nothing to do but make a weekly trip to the camp on the Little St. Francis. In all cases Jerry was treated with affectionate consideration, which he amply repaid by his intelligence and willingness.
“When our weary travellers reached the top of the hill overlooking the camp, Jerry was pretty well fagged. There was the camp, however, not half a mile away in its clearing at the end of a straight bit of road. Arty clapped his hands, and stood up to see if he could catch a glimpse of his father looking out for him; and Mart chirruped cheerfully to the horse.
“Just at this moment the rain, which had been threatening for hours, came down. It came down in sheets. The horse was urged to a run; but the travellers, ere they reached the camp, were drenched as if they had fallen in the river. Arty, moreover, was drenched in tears for a few moments on learning of his father’s absence; but soon, with the delighted pettings and caressings of the three or four woodsmen who had been left in the camp, the little fellow’s disappointment was assuaged, and he was making himself at home. The camp, however, seemed to him lonely and deserted; and when, after supper, getting the cook to wrap him up in an oilskin coat, he went out to the stable to give Jerry a big piece of camp gingerbread and bid him good-night, his disappointment welled up again, and he gave way to a few more tears on the affectionate animal’s neck.