“If my uncle can spare me, I will assist you,” I said; “for I doubt very much whether you will be able to carry it all the way.”
Reuben, however, had made up his mind to fulfil his promise. I saw a twinkle in the old man’s eyes when he trudged off trying to look as if he did not feel the weight. My uncle told me I might go too, so we set off. Kepenau and Samson led the way, talking together. Reuben, as I expected, dropped alongside Ashatea; and I followed. The other Indians brought up the rear, carrying Kepenau’s packs.
Before long, I saw that Reuben was walking with difficulty, and putting his hands behind his back to try and lift the pack off his shoulders. I ranged up to him.
“You had better let me carry that a little way for you,” I said. “Or suppose we sling it on our sticks! we shall then get along more easily, and neither of us will feel the weight too much.”
Still Reuben declared that he could carry it.
Ashatea looked at him, evidently understanding the matter as well as I did. “You better let your friend do as he says,” she observed.
At length Reuben, who was getting very hot, and had stumbled more than once, said, “Well, I do think it will be the best way. I am much obliged to you, Roger.”
We soon had the pack slung to the sticks, and poor Reuben stepped along much more easily than before.
We soon reached Uncle Stephen’s house, when the old trapper turned round to Reuben. “You are a brave lad,” he said; “I like your pluck. In a few years, when you get more muscle in your limbs, you will laugh at a pack twice the weight of that.”
Lily was delighted to see Ashatea, and we left them together while we went on to Mr Claxton’s, where old Samson intended to stay. He had arranged with Kepenau to sell his peltries, and the next day they were all disposed of at a price which greatly astonished and delighted our Indian friend. He made an arrangement with Uncle Stephen to sell all the produce of the chase which he might bring, and to purchase for him such articles as he required.