It wont do, said Mr Grant, in an earnest voice, to his friend, as they walked towards the horsesit wont do to check him too abruptly, my dear sir.
It was evident that they were recurring to the subject of conversation of the previous day, and it was also evident that the fathers wrath was in that very uncertain state when a word or a look can throw it into violent agitation.
Just permit me, continued Mr Grant, to get him sent to the Saskatchewan or Athabasca for a couple of years. By that time hell have had enough of a rough life, and be only too glad to get a berth at headquarters. If you thwart him now, I feel convinced that hell break through all restraint.
Humph! ejaculated Mr Kennedy, with a frown.Come here, Charley, he said, as the boy approached with a disappointed look to tell of his failure in getting a horse; Ive been talking with Mr Grant again about this business, and he says he can easily get you into the counting-room here for a year, so youll make arrangements
The old gentleman paused. He was going to have followed his wonted course by commanding instantaneous obedience; but as his eye fell upon the honest, open, though disappointed face of his son, a gush of tenderness filled his heart. Laying his hand upon Charleys head, he said, in a kind but abrupt tone, There now, Charley, my boy, make up your mind to give in with a good grace. Itll only be hard work for a year or two, and then plain sailing after that, Charley!
Charleys clear blue eyes filled with tears as the accents of kindness fell upon his ear.
It is strange that men should frequently be so blind to the potent influence of kindness. Independently of the Divine authority, which assures us that a soft answer turneth away wrath, and that love is the fulfilling of the law, who has not, in the course of his experience, felt the overwhelming power of a truly affectionate word; not a word which possesses merely an affectionate signification, but a word spoken with a gush of tenderness, where love rolls in the tone, and beams in the eye, and revels in every wrinkle of the face? And how much more powerfully does such a word or look or tone strike home to the heart if uttered by one whose lips are not much accustomed to the formation of honeyed words or sweet sentences! Had Mr Kennedy, senior, known more of this power, and put it more frequently to the proof, we venture to affirm that Mr Kennedy, junior, would have allowed his flint to be fixed (as his father pithily expressed it) long ago.
Ere Charley could reply to the question, Mr Grants voice, pitched in an elevated key, interrupted them.
Eh! what? said that gentleman to Tom Whyte. No horse for Charley! Hows that?
No, sir, said Tom.
Wheres the brown pony? said Mr Grant, abruptly.
Cut is fetlock, sir, said Tom slowly.
And the new horse?
Taint alf broke yet, sir.
Ah! thats bad.It wouldnt do to take an unbroken charger, Charley; for although you are a pretty good rider, you couldnt manage him, I fear. Let me see.
Please, sir, said the groom, touching his hat, Ive borrowed the millers pony for im, and es sure to be ere in alf a hour at farthest.
Oh, thatll do, said Mr Grant; you can soon overtake us. We shall ride slowly out, straight into the prairie, and Harry will remain behind to keep you company.
So saying, Mr Grant mounted his horse and rode out at the back gate, followed by the whole cavalcade.
Now this is too bad! said Charley, looking with a very perplexed air at his companion. Whats to be done?
Harry evidently did not know what was to be done, and made no difficulty of saying so in a very sympathising tone. Moreover, he begged Charley very earnestly to take his pony, but this the other would not hear of; so they came to the conclusion that there was nothing for it but to wait as patiently as possible for the arrival of the expected horse. In the meantime Harry proposed a saunter in the field adjoining the fort. Charley assented, and the two friends walked away, leading the gray pony along with them.
To the right of Fort Garry was a small enclosure, at the extreme end of which commences a growth of willows and underwood, which gradually increases in size till it becomes a pretty thick belt of woodland, skirting up the river for many miles. Here stood the stable belonging to the establishment; and as the boys passed it, Charley suddenly conceived a strong desire to see the renowned noo oss, which Tom had said was only alf broke; so he turned the key, opened the door, and went in.
There was nothing very peculiar about this horse, excepting that his legs seemed rather long for his body, and upon a closer examination, there was a noticeable breadth of nostril and a latent fire in his eye, indicating a good deal of spirit, which, like Charleys own, required taming.
Oh, said Charley, what a splendid fellow! I say, Harry, Ill go out with him.
Youd better not.
Why not?
Why? just because if you do Mr Grant will be down upon you, and your father wont be very well pleased.
Nonsense, cried Charley. Father didnt say I wasnt to take him. I dont think hed care much. Hes not afraid of my breaking my neck. And then, Mr Grant seemed to be only afraid of my being run off withnot of his horse being hurt. Here goes for it! In another moment Charley had him saddled and bridled, and led him out into the yard.
Why, I declare hes quite quiet; just like a lamb, said Harry, in surprise.
So he is, replied Charley. Hes a capital charger; and even if he does bolt, he cant run five hundred miles at a stretch. If I turn his head to the prairies, the Rocky Mountains are the first things that will bring him up. So let him run if he likes, I dont care a fig. And springing lightly into the saddle, he cantered out of the yard, followed by his friend.
The young horse was a well-formed, showy animal, with a good deal of boneperhaps too much for elegance. He was of a beautiful dark brown, and carried a high head and tail, with a high-stepping gait, that gave him a noble appearance. As Charley cantered along at a steady pace, he could discover no symptoms of the refractory spirit which had been ascribed to him.
Let us strike out straight for the horizon now, said Harry, after they had galloped half a mile or so along the beaten track. See, here are the tracks of our friends. Turning sharp round as he spoke, he leaped his pony over the heap that lined the road, and galloped away through the soft snow.
At this point the young horse began to show his evil spirit. Instead of following the other, he suddenly halted and began to back.
Hollo, Harry! exclaimed Charley; hold on a bit. Heres this monster begun his tricks.
Hit him a crack with the whip, shouted Harry.
Charley acted upon the advice, which had the effect of making the horse shake his head with a sharp snort, and back more vigorously than ever.
There, my fine fellow, quiet now, said Charley in a soothing tone, patting the horses neck. Its a comfort to know you cant go far in that direction, anyhow! he added, as he glanced over his shoulder, and saw an immense drift behind.
He was right. In a few minutes the horse backed into the snow-drift. Finding his hind-quarters imprisoned by a power that was too much even for his obstinacy to overcome, he gave another snort and a heavy plunge, which almost unseated his young rider.
There, my fine fellow, quiet now, said Charley in a soothing tone, patting the horses neck. Its a comfort to know you cant go far in that direction, anyhow! he added, as he glanced over his shoulder, and saw an immense drift behind.
He was right. In a few minutes the horse backed into the snow-drift. Finding his hind-quarters imprisoned by a power that was too much even for his obstinacy to overcome, he gave another snort and a heavy plunge, which almost unseated his young rider.
Hold on fast, cried Harry, who had now come up.
No fear, cried Charley, as he clinched his teeth and gathered the reins more firmly.Now for it, you young villain! and raising his whip, he brought it down with a heavy slash on the horses flank.
Had the snow-drift been a cannon, and the horse a bombshell, he could scarcely have sprung from it with greater velocity. One bound landed him on the road; another cleared it; and in a second more he stretched out at full speedhis ears flat on his neck, mane and tail flying in the wind, and the bit tight between his teeth.
Well done, cried Harry, as he passed. Youre off now, old fellow; good-bye.
Hurrah! shouted Charley, in reply, leaving his cap in the snow as a parting souvenir; while, seeing that it was useless to endeavour to check his steed, he became quite wild with excitement; gave him the rein; flourished his whip; and flew over the white plains, casting up the snow in clouds behind him like a hurricane.
While this little escapade was being enacted by the boys, the hunters were riding leisurely out upon the snowy sea in search of a wolf.
Words cannot convey to you, dear reader, an adequate conception of the peculiar fascination, the exhilarating splendour of the scene by which our hunters were surrounded. Its beauty lay not in variety of feature in the landscape, for there was none. One vast sheet of white alone met the view, bounded all round by the blue circle of the sky, and broken in one or two places by a patch or two of willows, which, rising on the plain, appeared like little islands in a frozen sea. It was the glittering sparkle of the snow in the bright sunshine; the dreamy haziness of the atmosphere, mingling earth and sky as in a halo of gold; the first taste, the first smell of spring after a long winter, bursting suddenly upon the senses, like the unexpected visit of a long-absent, much-loved, and almost forgotten friend; the soft, warm feeling of the south wind, bearing on its wings the balmy influences of sunny climes, and recalling vividly the scenes, the pleasures, the bustling occupations of summer. It was this that caused the hunters hearts to leap within them as they rode alongthat induced old Mr Kennedy to forget his years, and shout as he had been wont to do in days gone by, when he used to follow the track of the elk or hunt the wild buffalo; and it was this that made the otherwise monotonous prairies on this particular day so charming.
The party had wandered about, without discovering anything that bore the smallest resemblance to a wolf, for upwards of an hour; Fort Garry had fallen astern (to use a nautical phrase) until it had become a mere speck on the horizon, and vanished altogether; Peter Mactavish had twice given a false alarm in the eagerness of his spirit, and had three times plunged his horse up to the girths in a snow-drift; the senior clerk was waxing impatient, and the horses restive, when a sudden Hollo! from Mr Grant brought the whole cavalcade to a stand.
The object which drew his attention, and to which he directed the anxious eyes of his friends, was a small speck, rather triangular in form, which overtopped a little willow bush not more than five or six hundred yards distant.
There he is! exclaimed Mr Grant. Thats a fact, cried Mr Kennedy; and both gentlemen, instantaneously giving a shout, bounded towards the object; not, however, before the senior clerk, who was mounted on a fleet and strong horse, had taken the lead by six yards. A moment afterwards the speck rose up and discovered itself to be a veritable wolf. Moreover, he condescended to show his teeth, and then, conceiving it probable that his enemies were too numerous for him, he suddenly turned round and fled away. For ten minutes or so the chase was kept up at full speed, and as the snow happened to be shallow at the starting-point, the wolf kept well ahead of its pursuersindeed, distanced them a little. But soon the snow became deeper, and the wolf plunged heavily, and the horses gained considerably. Although to the eye the prairie seemed to be a uniform level, there were numerous slight undulations, in which drifts of some depth had collected. Into one of these the wolf now plunged and laboured slowly through it. But so deep was the snow that the horses almost stuck fast. A few minutes, however, brought them out, and Mr Grant and Mr Kennedy, who had kept close to each other during the run, pulled up for a moment on the summit of a ridge to breathe their panting steeds.
What can that be? exclaimed the former, pointing with his whip to a distant object which was moving rapidly over the plain.
Eh! whatwhere? said Mr Kennedy, shading his eyes with his hand, and peering in the direction indicated. Why, thats another wolf, isnt it? No; it runs too fast for that.
Strange, said his friend; what can it be?
If I hadnt seen every beast in the country, remarked Mr Kennedy, and didnt know that there are no such animals north of the equator, I should say it was a mad dromedary mounted by a ring-tailed roarer.
It cant be, surelynot possible! exclaimed Mr Grant. Its not Charley on the new horse!
Mr Grant said this with an air of vexation, that annoyed his friend a little. He would not have much minded Charleys taking a horse without leave, no matter how wild it might be; but he did not at all relish the idea of making an apology for his sons misconduct, and for the moment did not exactly know what to say. As usual in such a dilemma, the old man took refuge in a towering passion, gave his steed a sharp cut with the whip, and galloped forward to meet the delinquent.
We are not acquainted with the general appearance of a ring-tailed roarer; in fact, we have grave doubts as to whether such an animal exists at all; but if it does, and is particularly wild, dishevelled, and fierce in deportment, there is no doubt whatever that when Mr Kennedy applied the name to his hopeful son, the application was singularly powerful and appropriate.
Charley had had a long run since we last saw him. After describing a wide curve, in which his charger displayed a surprising aptitude for picking out the ground that was least covered with snow, he headed straight for the fort again at the same pace at which he had started. At first Charley tried every possible method to check him, but in vain; so he gave it up, resolving to enjoy the race, since he could not prevent it. The young horse seemed to be made of lightning, with bones and muscles of brass, for he bounded untiringly forward for miles, tossing his head and snorting in his wild career. But Charley was a good horseman, and did not mind that much, being quite satisfied that the horse was a horse, and not a spirit, and that therefore he could not run for ever. At last he approached the party, in search of which he had originally set out. His eyes dilated and his colour heightened as he beheld the wolf running directly towards him. Fumbling hastily for the pistol which he had borrowed from his friend Harry, he drew it from his pocket, and prepared to give the animal a shot in passing. Just at that moment the wolf caught sight of this new enemy in advance, and diverged suddenly to the left, plunging into a drift in his confusion, and so enabling the senior clerk to overtake him, and send an ounce of heavy shot into his side, which turned him over quite dead. The shot, however, had a double effect. At that instant Charley swept past; and his mettlesome steed swerved as it heard the loud report of the gun, thereby almost unhorsing his rider, and causing him unintentionally to discharge the conglomerate of bullets and swan-shot into the flank of Peter Mactavishs horsefortunately at a distance which rendered the shot equivalent to a dozen very sharp and particularly stinging blows. On receiving this unexpected salute, the astonished charger reared convulsively, and fell back upon his rider, who was thereby buried deep in the snow, not a vestige of him being left, no more than if he had never existed at all. Indeed, for a moment it seemed to be doubtful whether poor Peter did exist or not, until a sudden upheaving of the snow took place, and his dishevelled head appeared, with the eyes and mouth wide open, bearing on them an expression of mingled horror and amazement. Meanwhile the second shot acted like a spur on the young horse, which flew past Mr Kennedy like a whirlwind.