United States or Haiti ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Whoever had been there had passed since he shot the fox, for the imprints of the animal's feet were buried under those of the snow-shoes. Who was the other person in the chasm? Was it Wabi? Had Mukoki or he come to join him? Or He looked again at the snow-shoe trail. It was a peculiar trail, unlike the one made by his own shoes. The imprints were a foot longer than his own, and narrower.
Carefully, almost tenderly, he took one of these relics of a past age in his hands. It was of ancient pattern, almost as long as he was tall. "Hudson Bay gun the kind they had before my father was born!" said Wabi. With bated breath and eagerly beating heart Rod pursued his search.
Both Wabi and Rod gradually recovered from their nervous excitement. The thought of gold gradually faded from their minds; the joy and exhilaration of the "hunt life" filled them more and more. Mukoki set to work cutting fresh cedars for the floor; the two boys scoured every log with water from the lake and afterward gathered several bushels of moss for refilling the chinks.
"Man who shoot bear heem no dead," replied the old pathfinder. "Same gun, same gold, same " "Same what?" A strange gleam came for an instant into Mukoki's eyes, and without finishing he turned and pointed across the narrow plain that lay between them and the mysterious chasm which they were to follow in their search for treasure. "Cry went there!" he said shortly. "To the chasm!" said Wabi.
It was therefore decided that the young hunters should start within a week, accompanied by Mukoki, the old Indian, a cousin of the slain Wabigoon, whom Wabi had given the nickname of Muky and who had been a faithful comrade to him from his earliest childhood.
Wabi gave a terrific lunge with his paddle and the cone of a black rock hissed past half a canoe length away. "It's as black as a dungeon ahead, and I can hear rocks!" he shouted. "Bring her in if you can, Muky, bring her in!" There came the sudden sharp crack of snapping wood and a low exclamation of alarm fell from Mukoki. His paddle had broken at the shaft.
Mukoki was waiting for them when they landed. "This is big un!" he greeted. "Mak' much noise, much swift water!" "Hurrah!" yelled Rod for the twentieth time, jumping up and down in his excitement. "Hurrah!" cried Wabi. And Mukoki chuckled, and grinned, and rubbed his leathery hands together in high glee.
He found himself repeating the question again and again as he watched Wabi slowly returning to life, and, so quickly that it had passed in a minute or two, there flashed through his mind a vision of all that had happened the last few months.
Standing there beside his first big game, dripping and shivering, he looked down upon the two who were pulling their canoe ashore and gave, a series of triumphant whoops that could have been heard half a mile away. "It's camp and a fire for you," laughed Wabi, hurrying up to him. "This is better luck than I thought you'd have, Rod.
"That's more than you've said in the last half-hour, and it's a good idea!" exclaimed Wabi. "Let's get our stuff down here and chop this stub into firewood! When he comes back and finds his ladder gone he'll give a screech or two, I'll wager, and then it will be our chance to do something with him. Here goes!" He started to climb the stub, and a minute or two later stood safely on the rock above.
Word Of The Day