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Garth suspected another excuse; but he was very reluctant to interfere with the real business of the North; and since it was almost time to spell for another meal, he decided to make no objections. With true half-breed impetuosity they chose the worst place in miles on which to beach the Loseis.
Garth swallowed a sob of relief for the diversion. The storm might be playing right into Nick Grylls's hand; but one could face the bustle and uproar with renewed courage. The sail was brought clattering to the deck; a couple of sweeps were hastily run out; and the Loseis was pulled for the nearest point of the shore.
The four of them slipped into the harness; and digging their moccasined toes into the beach, painfully straightened their legs under the pull. When the Loseis, answering, began to move inch by inch along the shore, Garth put the remaining men on board one at a time, where, armed with their poles, and braced almost horizontally, they held her off the stones.
Bela pulled up short in the middle of her passionate outburst, stared at her mother with fallen jaw. "You twenty year old," went on Loseis. "Nineteen year I marry Charley. I have another husband before that." "Why you never tell me?" murmured Bela, amazed. "So long ago!" Loseis replied with a shrug. "What's the use?" Bela's tears were effectually called in.
He thought of Natalie on board the shelterless Loseis in a rainstorm; and finally announced his wish to remain where they were for the night. Hooliam smirked demurely, in ill-concealed satisfaction. All returned to the Loseis for what was needed during the night. The preparations to secure the York boat against the threatening storm were highly characteristic of her hit-or-miss crew.
He expressed a willingness to start immediately; but deprecatingly pointed out that a storm threatened; and apologized for the unseaworthy condition of the Loseis. This time he had reason on his side; for angry clouds were heaped about the setting sun; and the orb itself was peering luridly between parted curtains of crimson rain. Garth, still suspecting him, was yet taken at a disadvantage.
Garth and Charley set the example, and the ten backs were braced under the lee gunwale of the Loseis, measuring their sinews against the crashing blows of the waves on the other side. They budged her inch by inch, often thrown back again; but at last she floated, and there they managed to hold her for a moment, rising and falling.
Willy-nilly, Hooliam was compelled to hold the Loseis to her course; and by four o'clock, the wind holding light and steady, they had covered about thirty miles of their journey. About this time the mast of another boat was discovered sticking above the bank of a creek on shore. The usual excited discussion arose this time as to the identity of the craft.
For a while, unable to realize they had rounded the point, they continued to struggle; then the Loseis gently beached herself. The tracking crew scrambled aboard, and all hands dropped where they stood for a breathing spell. Soon after the storm showed signs of abating.
"Go through the ice with his team." "Under the water my father," murmured Bela. She turned on her mother accusingly. "You have good white husband, and you take Charley after!" "My mother make me," Loseis said with sad stolidity. Bela pondered on these matters, filled with a deep excitement. Her mother kneaded the dough.