When Roy and Nelly sat down to gaze
in admiration on Silver Lake, they little thought
how long a period they should have to spend on its
shores.
The lake was a small sheet of water
not more than half a mile broad, embosomed among low
hills, which, though not grand, were picturesque in
outline, and wooded to their tops. It occupied
the summit of an elevated region or height-of-land a
water-shed, in fact and Roy afterwards
discovered that water flowed from both the north-east
and south-west sides of the table-land, in the midst
of which it lay. These fountain-heads, separated
by little more than half a mile from each other, were
the sources of streams, which, flowing in opposite
directions through hundreds of miles of wild, beautiful,
and uncultivated wilderness, found their way, on the
one hand, into Hudson’s Bay, on the other hand,
into the Atlantic through the great rivers and lakes
of Canada.
The waters of the lake were strikingly
clear and pellucid. When the young wanderer
first came upon the scene, not a zephyr stirred the
leaves of the forest; the blue sky was studded with
towering masses of white clouds which glowed in sunshine,
and these reflected in the glassy water as
if far, far down in its unfathomable depths produced
that silvery effect which prompted Nelly to utter
the name which we have adopted.
Small though the Silver Lake was,
it boasted two islets, which like twin babes lay side
by side on their mother’s fair breast, their
reflected images stretching down into that breast
as if striving to reach and grasp its heart!
“Couldn’t we stay here
a short time?” asked Nelly, breaking the silence
in a tone that indicated anxiety, hope, and enthusiasm,
“only for a very little time,”
she added, coaxingly.
Roy looked grave and sagacious.
Boys, as well as men, like to be leant upon and trusted
by the fair sex at least in things masculine and
Nelly had such boundless faith in her brother’s
capacity to protect her and guide her through the
forest, that she unwittingly inspired him with an
exuberant amount of courage and self-reliance.
The lad was bold and fearless enough by nature.
His sister’s confidence in him had the effect
of inducing him to think himself fit for anything!
He affected, therefore, at times, a look of grave
sagacity, befitting, as he thought, so important and
responsible a character.
“I’ve just been thinking,” said
he
“Oh! don’t think, but say yes!”
interrupted Nelly.
“Well, I’m going to say
yes, but I meant to give you my reasons for sayin’
so. In the first place, my powder and shot is
gettin’ low. You see I did not bring away
very much from the Injun camp, and we’ve been
using it for so many months now that it won’t
last much longer, so I think it would not be a bad
plan to stop here awhile and fish and shoot and feed
up for you need rest, Nelly and
then start fresh with a well-loaded sledge.
I’ll save some powder by using the bow we made
the other day.”
“But you forget it’s broken.”
“So it is never mind,
we can make another there’s a tree
that will make a first-rater down in the hollow, d’ye
see it, Nell?”
“Where oh yes just
by the grassy place where the rock juts out into the
water with the sun shining on it? what a nice
place to build a hut!”
“Just so,” said Roy, smiling
at the girl’s enthusiasm, “that’s
the spot, and that’s the very thought that jumped
bang into my brain as you spoke. By the way,
does a thought jump into a man’s brain
or out of it, I wonder?”
“Out of it, of course,” cried Nelly, with
a laugh.
“I’m not so sure of that,
Nell. I send it rather slowly out through my
mouth, but I think it jumps into my brain.
I wonder how it gets in; whether by the eyes, or
ears, or mouth perhaps it goes up the nose.”
“What stuff you do talk!” cried Nelly.
“D’ye think so,”
said Roy with a grin, “well, that bein’
the case, let’s go and fix our camp, for the
sun is not given to sitting up all night in these
parts, so we must work while it shines.”
With hurried steps and eager looks,
(for Roy, despite his affected coolness, was as enthusiastic
about the new plan as his sister,) they descended
to the margin of Silver Lake, and began to make their
encampment on the sunny spot before referred to.
It turned out to be most suitable
for their purpose, having a gentle slope towards the
margin of the lake, which was fringed with a beach
of pure white pebbles, and being well sheltered in
the rear by umbrageous trees. The point of rocks
close at hand formed a natural jetty, which, Roy observed,
would be useful as a landing-place when he got his
raft under way; the turf was soft, a matter of some
importance, as it was to form their couch at night,
and a small stream trickled down from one of the numerous
springs which welled up at the foot of the nearest
hill.
Solitary and remote from the usual
haunts of men as this lake was, there was no feeling
of solitude about it at the time we write of.
The entire region was alive with wild fowl of many
kinds. Wild geese trumpeted their advent as
they came from the far north, en route for the
far south, and settled on the bosom of Silver Lake
to take a night’s lodging there. Ducks,
from the same region, and bound for the same goal though
with less stately and regular flight flew
hither and thither with whistling wings, ever and
anon going swash into the water as a tempting patch
of reeds invited them to feed, or a whim of fancy induced
them to rest. Wild swans occasionally sailed
in all their majesty on its waters, while plover of
every length of limb and bill, and every species of
plaintive cry, waded round its margin, or swept in
clouds over the neighbouring swamps. Sometimes
deer would trot out of the woods and slake their thirst
on its shore, and the frequent rings that broke its
smooth surface told of life in the watery depths below.
The whole air was filled with gushing
sounds of wild melody, as though bird and beast were
uniting in a hymn of praise to the beneficent Creator
who had provided the means of, and given the capacity
for, so much enjoyment.
Having decided on a suitable spot
for their temporary resting-place, Roy’s first
care was to construct a hut. This was neither
a work of time nor difficulty. In a couple of
hours it was finished. He commenced the work
by felling about a dozen young fir-trees not much
thicker than a man’s wrist, from which he chopped
the branches, thus leaving them bare poles about nine
feet long. While he was thus employed, his sister
cleared the spot on which their dwelling was to stand,
and, having an eye to the picturesque, so arranged
that the opening of the hut should command an uninterrupted
view of the lake. On going into the “bush”
to the place where Roy was at work, she found him
cutting down his sixth tree, and the ground was strewn
with the flat branches of those already cut.
“Come along, Nelly how
hot I am carry these branches into camp,
lass, an’ go ahead, for I’ve got supper
to kill yet.”
Nelly made no direct reply, but muttered
to herself something that sounded very like, “Oh,
what fun!” as she filled her tiny arms with pine
branches, and, hugging them to her heaving breast,
staggered to the camp. When she had carried
all the branches, Roy had cut all the poles, so he
proceeded to set them up. Tying three poles together
at the top, and using the pliant roots of a tree for
the purpose, he set them up in the form of a tripod.
Against these three all the other poles were piled,
crossing each other at the top, and spreading out at
the base so as to enclose a circle of about six feet
in diameter. Being numerous, the poles were
pretty close together, thus affording good support
to the branches which were afterwards piled on them.
Pine branches are flat, spreading, and thick, so
that when laid above each other to a depth of several
inches they form a very good shelter from dew and light
rain. The hut was entirely covered with such
branches, which were kept in their places by other
poles leaning upon and pressing them down. The
floor of the hut was also covered with pine “brush.”
“Now for supper, Nelly,”
said Roy, seizing his bow, when the hut was completed,
and splicing its broken part with a strip of deerskin
cut from the lines of the sledge.
“Get a goose, Roy, and pick
out a nice fat one,” cried Nelly, laughing,
“I’ll have the fire ready when you come
back.”
“I’ll try,” said
Roy, and he did try, but tried in vain. Although
a good shot, he was not sufficiently expert with the
bow to shoot wild fowl on the wing, so he returned
to the hut empty-handed.
“We must make a new bow, Nell,”
said he, sitting down by the fire, “I can do
nothin’ wi’ this, and it won’t do
to use the gun for anythin’ but deer.
Meanwhile let’s have the remains of our dinner
for supper. Come, cheer up, old ’ooman;
we shall feast on the fat of the land to-morrow!”
The stars were shining in the sky,
and winking at their reflections down in the depths
of Silver Lake, and the lake itself lay, as black as
ink, under the shadow of the hills, when the brother
and sister spread their blanket above them that night,
and sank, almost immediately, into profound slumber.