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The view presented there was indeed a pleasant and inspiring one, though it was scarcely entitled to the appellation "magneeficent," which MacSweenie applied to it. The river at that place made a wide sweep on the right, round a low cliff which was crowned with luxuriant foliage.
An absolute calm prevailed, so that the lake-like expanse in front of the fort formed a perfect mirror in which the cliffs and brilliant foliage of the opposite banks were clearly reflected. "We will go down to the bend o' the ruver," said MacSweenie, as they launched their canoe, "an' hide in the bushes there.
Springing up the bank, he shook a shower from his sides and bounded into the bushes, with the certain knowledge, no doubt, that he had reached home at last, and that his faithful nose would not fail to guide him to the tent of Isquay. "O ye rascal!" growled MacSweenie, "you've let the cat out o' the bag for I make no doubt that every man an' wummin o' the tribe knows you by sight."
"Let them do whatever you think best, Tonal'," replied MacSweenie, with a sigh, as he rose and re-entered his house, where he busied himself by planning and making elaborate designs for the new "fort," or outpost, which he had been instructed to establish on the Ukon River. Afterwards he solaced himself with another pipe and another dip into the well-worn pages of the Penny Magazine.
The distance was closed by ground varied in form as well as in character, indicating that a stream of considerable size joined the Ukon at that point. But that which interested the beholders most of all was a number of Indian wigwams, which were pitched on the grassy plateau above referred to. "Yonder are our frunds, I make no doubt," said MacSweenie in high glee.
It was a sort of event, a mild excitement, a pink if not a red letter day, when our Indians arrived at that lonely outpost, and MacSweenie, who was in the prime of life and the depths of ennui, gave the strangers a hearty and warm reception.
"I can't say that I have," answered the interpreter, with a matter-of-fact frown at the ground, "but I have noticed that the pit-saw they was usin' yesterday has been allowed to saw into the holdin'-irons and damaged half o' " "Hoots, man! never mind the pit-saw!" exclaimed MacSweenie, with a touch of asperity.
It was in charge of a Scotchman we had almost said of course; for it would seem as if these hardy dwellers in the north of our island have a special gift for penetrating into and inhabiting the wildest and most unlikely parts of the world. His name was MacSweenie, and he had a few Orkney-men and half-castes to keep him company while vegetating there.
"In that respect the guide shows himself to be a wise man," returned MacSweenie sententiously. "It iss only geese that blab out all they think to everybody that asks them questions." "Ay, that is true," rejoined Mowat, with a cynical smile, "an' some geese manage, by sayin' nothin' at all to anybody, and lookin' like owls, to pass themselves off as wise men for a time."
Frequent slices of the mottled cannon-ball, however, and unlimited mugs of highly-sugared tea, had the effect of thawing them down a little, but nothing could induce them to dance. Next morning they were up by daybreak and ready to start for the farther north. "Now mind," said MacSweenie, through his interpreter, "don't you be fechtin' wi' the Eskimos. Dance wi' them if ye will, but don't fecht.
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