On the morning of the 18th, before we started, our ears were greeted by the cry of that bird of ill omen, a crow—to us proclaiming glad tidings, for it was a sure indication of more open country being at hand. Our spirits were raised still more by observing during the day’s journey signs of man’s presence as recent as the preceding spring—a few branches cut with a knife, as if by some one making his way through the bushes.
A heavy thunder-storm which came on obliged us to camp very early; but the next day we struck a faint trail, which slightly improved as we advanced, and towards evening we found the tracks of horses. The path disappeared, and re-appeared again, during the next two days, and was still very dubious and faint, so that we were afraid it might be a deceptive one, after all; but on the night of the 21st we came to a marsh where horse tracks were very numerous, and found on the further side, where we camped, a large cedar felled, from which a canoe had been made. On a tree was an inscription which was not legible, although the words seemed to be English. To our intense delight, the next morning we hit upon a trail where the trees had been “blazed,” or marked with an axe a long time ago, and old marten-traps at intervals informed us that we had at last touched the extreme end of an old trapping path from the Fort. The valley began rapidly to expand, the hills became lower, the trail continued to become more and more beaten, and at noon on the 22nd we fairly shouted for joy as we emerged from the gloom in which we had so long been imprisoned, on to a beautiful little prairie, and saw before us a free, open country, diversified with rounded hills and stretches of woodland. We stopped with one accord, and lay down on the green turf, basking in the sun, whilst we allowed our horses to feed on the rich prairie grass, such as they had not tasted since leaving Edmonton.
The day was gloriously bright and fine, and the delight with which we gazed upon the beautiful landscape before us will be appreciated, if the reader will reflect that we had travelled for more than eleven weeks without cessation, and for the last month had been lost in the forest, starving, over-worked, almost hopeless of escape. Even Mr. O’B., who had resumed the study of Paley with renewed zest, looked up from his book from time to time, and ventured to express a hope that we might escape, after all, and offered his advice upon the course to be pursued in the happier time at hand.
CHAPTER XVI.
On a Trail again—The Effect on Ourselves and the Horses—The Changed Aspect of the Country—Wild Fruits—Signs of Man Increase—Our Enthusiastic Greeting—Starving Again—Mr. O’B. finds Caliban—His Affectionate Behaviour to Him—The Indians’ Camp—Information about Kamloops—Bartering for Food—Clearwater River—Cross the Thompson—The Lily-Berries—Mr. O’B. and the Assiniboine Fall Out—Mr. O’B. flees to the Woods—Accuses the Assiniboine of an Attempt to Murder Him—Trading for Potatoes—More Shushwaps—Coffee and Pipes—Curious Custom of the Tribe—Kamloops in Sight—Ho! for the Fort—Mr. O’B. takes to his Heels—Captain St. Paul—A Good Supper—Doubts as to our Reception—Our Forbidding Appearance—Our Troubles at an End—Rest.
The trail was well worn and cleared, and after we reached the little prairie we were able to proceed at a great pace; the horses as inspirited as ourselves by the pleasing change, occasionally broke into a trot, although, from their skeleton-like appearance, we almost expected the shaking would cause them to tumble to pieces. The river again became a rapid, and a dark hill, running east and west, loomed up ahead, as if closing in the valley. But the country around had assumed a Californian aspect—the colour of a lithograph—rolling swells, brown with bunch-grass, and studded with scattered yellow pines. The more sandy hills were covered with small spruce, and there, too, grew quantities of bilberries as large as English grapes, and of delicious flavour. Here and there wild cherry-trees, or thorns loaded with large black haws, supplied us with a grateful though unsatisfying food. We were up before daylight on the 23rd, eager to reach the Fort, and journeyed through as pleasant a country and along as easy a road as the day before, revelling in the broad sunlight. At noon signs of man became more numerous. We found the print of a moccasin in the sand of the river-bank, and saw an old canoe on the opposite shore. Presently we were startled by the rustling of the bushes which closed in the track before us, and, directly after, an Indian appeared, followed by a squaw having a child upon her back. These were the first human beings we had seen since leaving the Tête Jaune Cache, and the man was immensely astonished by the greeting we gave him, shaking hands with him violently, laughing, and asking questions he could not understand. He evidently knew the word Kamloops, and we concluded from his signs that we should meet more Indians shortly, and might reach Kamloops that night. We hurried forward again for another ten or twelve miles, but there was not a sign of the Fort, nor did we meet more Indians. On this evening we ate the last morsel of dried horse, but resolved to trust now to obtaining food from the Indians whom we expected to meet before long.
By mid-day on the 24th we reached another beautiful little prairie, across which paths came into the one we followed from all directions. We had just crossed a clear shallow stream, which we named Wentworth River, when we heard Mr. O’B. shouting behind us, and calling loudly for Cheadle. We stopped, and he came up, leading affectionately by the hand a most hideously repulsive-looking Indian. He wore nothing but a pair of ragged trousers, his skin was dirty, and his face perfectly diabolical—a vast expanse of visage, in the midst of which a rugged, swollen nose stood out, a mouth which yawned like the gates of Gehenna, and eyes with a most malignant squint. Behind this monster, whom we at once named “Caliban,” followed a younger fellow of more prepossessing appearance; but Mr. O’B. regarded him not, pulling Caliban along, and crying out, “Look here, my lord! look here, Doctor! I’ve been the means of saving us, after all.” He chattered to his new-found friend incessantly, patting him lovingly on the shoulder, and looking in his face with most insinuating smiles. The two men made signs to us to follow them, and we went with them to a little open space. Two squaws and some children were seated over a fire, engaged in cooking berries in an iron pot. Directly we mentioned Kamloops, they exclaimed, “Aiyou muck-a-muck, aiyou tea, aiyou tobacco, aiyou salmon, aiyou whisky, Kamloops!” from which we inferred there were abundance of good things to be found there. The Assiniboine inquired by signs how long it would take us to reach Fort Kamloops, and the younger man, in reply, imitated fast walking, and then going to sleep four times in succession; meaning thereby it would take us four days’ hard travelling to get there. They offered us a portion of the berries, which we ate very greedily, and then produced two rabbits, for one of which Mr. O’B. gave a tattered shirt, and the other we bought for some needles and small shot. Presently the old Shushwap we had encountered the previous day turned up, hot and exhausted by his efforts to overtake us. He hurried away again immediately, but returned in a few minutes with some potatoes, to sell which he had come back in such haste. Mrs. Assiniboine, to our surprise, produced a nice clean linen shirt of Mr. Assiniboine’s, which she had managed by some means to save from the general wreck, offered it to the old Indian, and the potatoes were ours. We ate some raw at once, so famished were we; and when the remainder and the rabbits were cooked, had a great feast. The Indians agreed to raise camp and go with us, the younger fellow accompanying us on foot, while Caliban took charge of the women and children in two canoes. We came to a large stream flowing into the Thompson from the west (Clearwater River), where we found Caliban awaiting us with the canoes, by which we crossed to the southern bank, and there camped for the night.
During our journey the following morning we came upon the dead bodies of two Indians—a man and woman—lying festering in the sun. They were lying side by side, covered with a blanket, and all their goods and chattels undisturbed around. We saw several more of these ghastly spectacles afterwards, and made out from our Shushwap friends that there had been a fearful mortality amongst the Indians, owing, as we subsequently learnt, to the ravages of small-pox. At mid-day we found Caliban and his ladies waiting to transfer us to the eastern bank of the Thompson, whither the trail now led. We dined with them before crossing, our fare being the fruit of a kind of lily, which tasted much like the berry of the yew tree, and was exceedingly luscious. We ate freely of it, both cooked and raw, and suffered horribly in consequence.
When we had crossed the river, Milton and Mrs. Assiniboine accepted the Indians’ invitation to go with them in the canoes, whilst the rest brought the horses along the bank. Cheadle was shortly after seized with severe pains in the stomach, accompanied by violent nausea and vomiting. He was compelled to pull up and remain behind; and after remaining some two hours, seated on a log in most woful plight, crawled after the rest with some difficulty. He came up with them at the foot of a steep, rocky bluff—to which we afterwards gave the name of Assiniboine Bluff, from an incident which occurred there—up which the trail passed by a tortuous zigzag.
Up this the others led the horses one by one, the track, a mere ledge of rock, ascending the perpendicular face of the bluff nearly to the summit, and descending as rapidly by the other side. Last of all Cheadle led his horse up the perilous path, and when he gained the top, heard a great shouting and commotion going on amongst the party who had descended before him. All was soon quiet, and by the time he got down every one had disappeared. Darkness came on rapidly, the road lay through thick wood, and Cheadle, hastening on, found The Assiniboine and his boy at a standstill, unable to distinguish the trail any longer. Although they had no provisions, there was nothing for it but to give up the idea of meeting the canoe-party, as had been agreed, and camp on the spot. Before very long it dawned upon Cheadle that Mr. O’B. was wanting, and he inquired of the Assiniboine what had become of him. The latter was evidently rather disconcerted by the question, and answered in some confusion, “Il est bête! il m’avait querellé, et puis s’est sauvé.” On cross-examination The Assiniboine confessed that he had lost his temper with “Le Vieux” about his management of the horses, and in his anger had struck him with his fist, whereupon Mr. O’B. fled in terror, and disappeared in the woods.