After taking one canoe some
distance above the bend he went back for the second, and all the
remainder of the afternoon Job climbed hills of water in the
canoes.
That evening our camp was again on top of a high bank thirty feet
or more above the river. Joe and Gilbert put up the tents, while
down at our camp fire at the shore George made the bannocks and Job
skinned, dressed, and cooked the porcupine. When it grew so dark
that I could not see to write I went to help cook bannocks. It
seemed good to be near the fire too, for it was growing cold.
George and Job chatted merrily in Indian, Job evidently, as fond of
fun as George. The fun suddenly came to an end, however, when
Gilbert came down to say that the tube of my bed-pump was missing.
It was too true. The thing was not to be found anywhere. It had
been dropped when the stuff was handed down the bank in the
morning.
It seemed a quite serious matter to me, knowing as I did from past
experience that I cannot sleep on the ground long without growing
very tired, when I lose my nerve and am afraid to do anything. I
did not like to think of the possibility of either growing
desperate and wanting to turn back or breaking down under the
strain of going on. Some one would have to go back for the tube,
and time was precious now. It would be trying to lose a day.
While I sat rather disconsolate considering the situation, George
conceived the brilliant idea of having Gilbert turn himself into an
air-pump, which he did quite cheerfully, and very soon my bed was
as tight and firm as need be, and peace reigned again.
When at last we assembled for supper it was nearly 10 P.M., and the
stars were coming out over Mount Sawyer. The meal was a quiet one,
for all were tired, and well content to listen in silence to the
music of the river, as softly the night-gloom gathered unto itself
the wilderness.
CHAPTER IV
DISASTER WHICH THREATENED DEFEAT
Friday morning was warm and bright. It seemed wonderful to be
having so much fine weather in Labrador, and not a fly or mosquito
as yet. The one nuisance we had met was mice or lemmings. They
had been busy with my hat in the night, and when I came to put it
on that morning I found there was a hole eaten in the crown and a
meal or two taken out of the brim. There seemed to be thousands of
them, and they ran squealing about everywhere, great fat fellows,
some of them as big as grey squirrels. The ground was so
perforated with their holes that it reminded one of a porous
plaster.
While the outfit was being brought up I walked along the shore
watching the rapids. The men did not like to see me go near the
river at all except when in the canoe, and warned me against going
to the rapids. I promised to be careful, but not to keep away
altogether, for they grew more and more fascinating. I wanted to
be near them and watch them all the time. They were so strong, so
irresistible. They rushed on so fast, and nothing could stop them.
They would find a way over or around every obstacle that might be
placed before them. It made one wish that it were possible to join
them and share in their strength. About a mile above camp I
stepped out on a great boulder close to where they were very heavy.
The rock seemed large enough so that I could scarcely fall off if I
tried; but when the men came up George said: Mrs. Hubbard, you must
not do that."
"Why?"
"You will get dizzy and fall in."
"But I do not get dizzy."
"Maybe you think you will not. It is all right when you are
looking at the rapid, but it is when you turn that you will fall.
It is very dangerous. If you are going to do that we will just
turn round and go back to Northwest River."
That settled the matter.
The river here became impracticable, and Job went forward to hunt
out the trail. The sandhills at this point stood back a little
from the river. The low-lying land between was thickly wooded, but
up on the hills the walking was good. So the trail was cut
straight up the bank which was eighty feet high and very steep.
If any one supposes that cutting a trail means making a nice,
smooth little path through the woods, let him revise his ideas.
The hill-side was a network of new growth and windfalls. Now and
again I made the mistake of calling them deadfalls. Certainly all
women, and perhaps a few men, would think the mistake pardonable
could they see the trail which led straight over the tangled heaps
of fallen tree-trunks. I watched the men carrying the canoes and
their heavy loads over these with wonder almost equal to that with
which I had looked at Job's work in the rapids.
The outfit made about four loads each for them, and when it was all
safe on top of the hill, Joe sat down trembling like a leaf.
George looked a bit shaky, and Gilbert very hot and tired.
Joe said: "In a week George and I will be hardened up so that there
won't be any trembling."
Job said:
