THE NOVELIST. THE Maitlands of hickorg hall.

Saturday Advertiser, Issue 52, 8 July 1876, Page 3

THE NOVELIST. THE Maitlands of hickorg hall.

By W. F. KINNEAR. Chapter XI. HUNTING BY THE WAY —DOWN STREAM. “As we have lost all our game by that unfortunate fire, we must endeavour to get some more. What think you, Beaver, shall we cross the river ?” “ Best do so, young Chief ; fire drive them all over; plenty wolf, bear, deer, fox, everything.” “ Well, lads, come along.” A new camp was formed on the opposite side of the river, and the hunters started into the forest to look for fresh game. Numerous tracks were distinguishable on the leafstrewn ground', showing the hurried flight of the affrighted creatures aEter their escape from the flames. “ Moose near ! Hist! Ingun hear him,” said the Beaver, cautiously moving forward. “There he is, rubbing off old horn,” he added. “ Good chance now,” said he ; carefully sighting, the shot followed, causing the moose to swerve suddenly and dash off in headland flight, his heavy antlers spreading like a fan over his shoulders, as with head thrown up he dashed through the moose wood and yellow birch under growth. Having run for half-a-mile in this way, he pulled up on the crest of a rocky ridge, and A moment gazed adown the dale, A moment sniffed the tainted gale, A moment listened to the cry That thickened as the chase drew nigh.

Then as the foremost foe appeared, With one brave leap the copse he cleared, And stretching forward free and far, Sought the wild heaths of Ugramvar. “ Gone,” said Reginald, “ splendid fellow;

just like ‘ Scott’s Stag at Eve in. the Lady of the Lake. lam so glad he got off.” “Never mind, get another soon. Moose dodge ball in tree; just score shoulder; never mind.”

“ What have you got there, Randolph,” asked Maitland, hurrying up as he heard the report of his rifle. “Black fox, my boy ; a royal skin worth £SO. Look, what a beauty?” stroking his jetty back and silver sides. “A robe fit for Victoria, Randolph, my boy, but—” a quick detonation, followed by a shout, caused Randolph to draw his ramrod and return it to its place with a hunter’s skill. The next minuteßandolph was beside his friend, whom he found engaged in a desperate combat with an enormous bear. The brute had grappled with him after receiving his shot, and was endeavouring to crush him to death by his terrible hug. To prevent this Reginald was engaged in driving his knife into the monster’s side. Tighter and tighter became the creature’s embrace, until at length Reginald said hastily, “ Strike him, Randolph; he’s too much for me. Shoot him through the ear ; quick, my boy.” The shot came not a minute too soon, for as the pressure relaxed, Maitland fell insensible to the ground “ Ugli!” said the Chief, who just then joined the group. “ Old bar; know him. Hunt dat bar last winter; for many suns he very savage ; very old ; bad temper ; nobody like him; good ting dead. Is my young brother hurt?” asked the Chief of Reginald, who had risen to a sitting position and was rubbing his sides. “No, Chief ; only bruised a bit and all the wind knocked out of me. He was a tough morsel, Chief, and if Randolph had not been handy he would have bested me.” “ My brother done well, and reached the life; look” said he, pointing to the crimson current which still continued to well out of the bear’s side ; “ five minutes more and bar die from knife.” “ But where would I have been in that time, Chief?”

“ Best so ; no harm done. Whore young Gineral V’

“Do you know where Oliver is, Randolph ?” “No; I have not seen him since we lost the moose. Where’s Strong ? he went on the Stag’s trail. Then Oliver is gone too. Come Beaver” —but the Indian was gone. “ Come on Randolph.” In the meantime, Oliver had followed up Strong for some miles, when he suddenly came upon a half-dozen Caraboo deer. One of these he had the luck to secure, and feeling tired and hungry, he set to work skinning and cutting up his game. Then, lighting a fire, he stuck up enough steaks for the whole party, and waited patiently for their advent. “My brother has done well,” said the Beaver, seating himself beside Oliver. “ Hallo, Chief, where did you drop from ?” I did not hear you coming. Where are the others ?” “ Come soon. Shoot black fox, an old hermit; very old bar, old as Toney’s grandmother, an’ very ugly.” The chief, who was calmly smoking, as he uttered the preceding words, paused, and taking the pipe from his mouth, listened intently for a moment; then rising swiftly to his feet he uttered a peculiar cry, which was answered a moment afterwards by a similar one, and after a pause of a few minutes a tall and handsome young Indian bounded into the glade, and moving with graceful step forward, he saluted the Beaver in the single word “ Sachem.” “ The young warrior is welcome,” said the Chief, in English. “ How is the great Chief, thy father ?” “He is near. We were hunting yonder, when the stag, with a bounding dog, came whirling by us. The Chief, my father, turned in chase, but the bounding dog was too fast for him, for he held the moose by the throat, when my father, the Chief, came up and killed him.” The bounding dog then came this way, and my father, the Chief, say, Let the * Lightning Flash ’ follow him to the white hunters, and say “ Golden Cloud,” the Sachem of the Hurons, will come to their camp fire.” “ How is my brother, the ‘ Lightning Flash,’” asked Reginald, who, with Randolph, hadjust come up.” His proffered hand was readily grasped by the young Indian, who was an old hunting friend of Reginald’s. “ My brother, the £ Eagle Eye,’ makes my heart glad, for he left us many moons ago. He has since crossed the great waters, and I thought never to see him more. Will my brother come with me to the Great Lakes once more ? Where is my brother, the ‘ Lightning Flash,’ and his father, the * Golden Cloud, 5 going ?” “ To the Lodge of the Bearer, the Sachem of the Milicetes, who lives by the waters of the Madawaska.”

“ Has my brother found plenty of game on the way p” “ Plenty. The fire Spirit drove the bear and the deer into our path, and we are full.” “ Ugh !” broke from the lips of the Beaver, as out from the long and leafy forest aisles came five stalwart Indian braves, laden with the spoils of the chase. The foremost was a middle-aged man of sinewy frame and commanding aspect, while the others were evidently chosen followers. The two Chiefs saluted each other after

i - KSt. VS ~ iv... i».-« "3 Is.i.-i: V. VV - vv ;. the stately Indian custom, and sitting down, the pipe was passed from mouth to mouth. “My brother, the ‘Golden Cloud,’ who comes from [the Great Lakes, is welcome ; the Lightning Flash is welcome ; j the young men are welcome. These are my white brothers, who have come from the Madawaska to hunt the deer in the domains of the Milicetes.”

A grunt of approval followed his word, “ Will my brothers eat ?” said Reginald ; “the day is waning, and the camp by the river is a long way off P sl The meal was soon discussed, after which the party took the back trail, and arrived at the camp at a late hour. Waskaand Toney were waiting anxiously for them, the latter having provided a roaring fire and hot supper for the hungry hunters, but he was very much nonplussed by the Indian addition tothe party. The young Chief, “Lightning Flash,” advanced to Waska’s side, and spoke to her in the musical language of his nation. Waska answered him from time to time, watching with furtive glances of admiration the expressive features and manly form of the speaker, while the Beaver and “ Golden Cloud” talked together on a subject which seemed to be of mutual interest. Thus the night waned, till slumber claimed redskin and white—until the morning star glimmered through the pine boughs, and roused the hardy sons of the forest to life and labour. From the recesses of a huge wind-fall twocanoes were brought to light and placed in the water. The followers of * ‘ Golden Cloud” then stepped on board and shot the light craft up stream. “ This is the last day’s hunt, Beaver; wo must meet my father to morrow at the rapids, and I hope we will be able to give a good report of our hunt. The * Golden Cloud ’ has sent his young men up stream to gain contributions for that object, while my brother and his friends will follow the hunting trail with us. ” The hunters were very fortunate, and returned laden with spoil, and the following morning the camp was broken up and thecanoes headed down stream.

“We are nearing the rapids, Beaver. Do you see a smoke P” “No, not yet.” “ I say, Maitland, there goes a shot! The Squire’s there, and I see the flutter of a dress ! I wonder what they will think of our flotilla.”

“Why, there .are two ladies there; it must be Bertha as well as Etta. There’s Fred on the point and Bob Randolph, as I live!” said his brother. “ They’re going to give us a salvo as we shoot the rapids. Here we go. Hurrah!” The eanoes had entered the head of the falls where the tide boiled and foamed over sunken ledges of rocks. It was a dangerous pass, but the Beaver and Golden Cloud had shot worse falls. A man stood in the bow and stern of each of the canoes, guiding them with consummate skill past the black points of rock which projected above the rushing flood. Now they quiver and tremble a moment in the tumbling surges above the falls, and now with the speed of light rush forward, and cleaving the rainbow spray which. arched over the crest of the falling waters, shot far out with a graceful sweep into theeddying pool below. “A Royal salute, Oliver; eh? Why, if there is not old Corporal M‘Duff in command of the battery,” said Maitland, pointing to the weather-beaten old man, whostood on a projecting point of rock above the stream, his white locks waving in the breeze, and crowned with the bonny blue bonnet of the Border. He wore the tartans of his native hills ; while pealing through the summer air, mingling with the rush and murmur of the waters, echoing far off in the “ arches of the forest,” came the wild music of the bagpipe, whose martial cadence awakened a thousand half-forgotten memories of the past. “ ’Tis the gathering of the clans, Reginald. The old man thinks he is on the field. There goes the ‘garb of old Gaul;’ look at him,”' said Oliver, “as he marches down to meet us. He’s a grand old soldier ! But what is this,” said he, pointing to the canoe in which Lightning Flash and his father were; “ something must' be wrong. Oh, I- see : Waska’s canoe has not come down yet. What can be the reason ? Let me on shore. Shove the canoe in. Ha! there’s the canoe, bottom up.” Lightning Flash, however, was before them, and bounded up the rocks. A moment and his lithe form was seen on a projecting ledge; then a fleeting gleam and the body of the young Chief clove the dark waters above the falls, and was lost to sight. “ There they go ; he has her. Look at the gallant fellow. Did you see that escape? Look! look! he’s floating now, and Waska is doing so too, under his direction. Bravo ! Gallantly done,” and as Reginald spoke the young Chief shot over the falls, and, supporting Waska on his arm, reached the shore. Her companion, a young brave of Golden Cloud’s, fell under the displeasure of the Lightning Flash, who saw in his seeming carelessness an excuse to presume to the hand of W^aska, his destined bride. “ Well, Corporal, how are you?” said the young men in a breath. “You gave us a treat as we came down the rapids.” “ Eh, sirs, the skirl o’ the pipes is aye a braw welcome, an’ gladdens my auld heart, for it minds me o’ the guid old times that will never come mair. But, sirs, the auld Squire and young leddies are ayont a-waiting

ye at the fort, sae I'll blawup the pipes to a slogan 6’ triumph,” and stepping to the front the old man led the party, laden with their spoils, up the rocky shore to the encampment, which M'Duff had christened the fort. Congratulations overwhelmed the hunters on every hand, from the happy old Squire, the merry girls, and boisterous boys. Good things followed, after which fishing-rods were spliced, casts of flies arranged, and soon a gay troop of fishers lined the shore and points of the Madawaska. “ There, Etta, between the eddy and the tide ; let your flies adrift. So, now ; steady darling. Now,” and as he spoke a swift motion of the wrist had hooked a beautiful salmon trout, who darted away into the pool below the falls, taking with him yard upon yard of the silken line. . “It slacks,” and the young girl s nimble finders reeled up the loose cast until the fish, feeling the strain, rose with a desperate rush to the surface, leaping clear into the air and diving again, carried off the line to the last yard. “ Now comes the tug of war, Etta, be cool. Flatten your rod, so; he’s coming hack again to your victorious feet.” “ Toney ? the gaff; —no, the landing net. Now’s your time,” and Toney dexterously enclosed the winded game and brought him to the shore. “ A pretty fish, darling ! “ A bonny trout, Miss Etta !” “ Golly, what a whopper ! See dem red specks on him side. Dis nigger know de salmon trout. Cat fish weigh ten pounds, he do. Look out, Squire, for your cast; de salmon am a jumping; dar he go.” And Toney, carried away by his excitement, caught up the Squire’s rod, which was lying on the rocks, and cleverly sent the cast across the salmon’s wake. “ Hurrah! Toney, my black beauty, well struck,” quoth Etta. Papa, do let him catch him; he won’t break anything. “But he’ll be in as sure as he lives. There, I told you so, darling,” as Toney, with eyes protruding and mouth open from ear to ear, suddenly swayed a moment, and slid like a stone into the pool. A few seconds afterwards nis black head came to the surface, and a solitary Golly! mixed with water, spluttered forth; while the Squire, extending the gaff to him, pulled him to the shore. “ Where’s my rod, you black son of Nep-

tune?” , “ Why, hyer sar; I put him on my leg, and hyer it be on my foot, with de salmon on the odder end ob the line. You try, sar# ” The Squire soon landed the fish, leaving Toney to angle with worms for stream trout, in which he succeeded wonderfully. “We must stay here to-night, father, said Reginald. , . ~ , “ I see you have prepared for it. What a capital camp you have made for us. “ Fort M'Duff, we will call it. “ Right, my boy; he is the engineer ; he made us pallisade it, and cut a ditch as you see; while the ramparts are armed with ‘ Quakers ” of heavy metal, to resist the attacks of the enemy, as the corporal quaintly remarked. He had the loft put up for the young ladies, and the closet for commisarygeneral Toney, to stow away the larder. But the idea, in truth, is to give the place to the Beaver and Waska ; as I have been told that the main tribe of the Milicetes are coming here to reside; and as the Beaver is their Sachem, he will require a Government House. I have brought an entire kit of domestic material to furnish it with, and intend to surprise him. Waska is to bebetrothed to Lightning Flash when the tribes meet the day after to-morrow, and after the ceremony we will present the chief with his new residence See the golden cloud. Beaver, the young chief, and his braves, are already at work clearing the scrub for the Tillage. You will see a flotilla of canoes from both tribes to-morrow. Look at the Corporal; he is suggesting military tactics to the Beaver. Let us draw near and hear what they say. The two Chiefs had suspended their work to hear what the Corporal had to say, and were gravely listening to the old man. «I tell ye, Beaver, you re too far off the fort. Ye sud clear the scrub all round it an’its half cleared already—there s a little glade just down behind it, which will mak a bonny spot for the auld men an women an children. Come away, mon, an see yer am S6 The Chiefs agreed on the change, and the work of clearing went steadily on. . Uy e k en) Squire, the Beaver kenned it a the time; but he just didna care to come too near the fort. Let us gang awa aboon the rapids, an’ sud the skirmishers of ? the tribe be coming, I’ll g ie them a skirl wi the pipes that’ll mak’ them whoop like hungry W< “ Here comes Lightning Flash, Corporal.” “ Aye, he’s a braw lad, unco like bis grandfather. Mony a time I’ve fought shouder to shouder wi’ him, and a braver comrade or more gentle an’ loving frien man never had. Aye, Rising Sun was a braw mon; and Lightning Flash is his very sel. “My father is a great chief, said the young Indian, as he strode up ; my father s head is white with the snows of many winters, hut his form is like the oak tree of the forest which has stood the storms of ages. The branches may be torn, and leaves no more grace with their verdure the warrior s brow; but the scathed trunk still stands,

while the weak ones fall, who hare not lived half the time. ”

“ Aye, Chief ! Ye're young, hut ay© like yer grandfather ; hissel a’ over. I wad gie muckle to see ye gang wi’ the young laird to the wars by and Dye,” said he, laying his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “ Wad ye gang sud he ask it P But hoo can ye, when ye’re going to wed the Beaver’s sister'?” ‘ J

“My father’s wishes shall be mine,” said the young chief proudly. “lam a warrior, a son of chiefs and sachems by the right of ages. Should the Laird require my aid, my braves and my rifle are at his command, and the spirit of the Rising Sun shall not grieve for his father’s son.”

“ Weel I kenned it, my brave lad ; but it may not be wanted, Bony’s deed, and the army’s no what it was.” “Do you expect any canoes to-night, Chief ?” asked the Squire. “ Yes ; twenty of the canoes of the Hurons, with a hundred of the tribe, are coming down the river. Aye, here they come,” as far up the reach black specks were seen floating on the bosom of the rushing tide, nearer and nearer, until a whoop from the young Chief brought the remainder of the party to the ledge where they stood. “ Will they shoot the falls, Beaver P” “ Yes; Ingun no think about them ; fine sport.” The canoes came down in the form of a crescent, until the foremost point of the arc on the west side of the river reached the head of the channel; then in perfect order the crescent fell into line, and one after the other shot the falls, and landed at the shore below. Here a salute of guns of all sorts greeted them, while the old Corporal blew the wild “Macgregor’s Gathering,” to the no small astonishment and delight of the Hurons. One old Indian, bent with years and privations, hobbled up to the Corporal, and, laying his hand on his shoulder, said, “ Does my brother remember tho “ Short Rifle ?”

“Eh ! mon, I ken ye weel; hut I thocht ye were deed lang syne.” “ My brother is strong,” returned the Indian. “He is like the oak of the forest; the lightning’s flash may sear the trunk, but it still stands.”

“ Aye, man; but it ’ll no be for lang. Before mony moons you an’ I, Short Rifle, will be in the happy hunting grounds where our fathers are waiting for us. But come awa’, man, an’ see the auld General’s son. He’s as like his grandfather as the Lightning Flash is like the Rising Sun.” “ Master Harry, here is an auld warrior wha served wi’ the General and mysel the wars lang syne. He wad speak to ye.” “My young brother is like-the eagle, that soars above the great falls, where the waters of my father’s home pass on their way to the sea. ” “ But the eagle may fall before the long bullet of the foe.” “ True; but the eagle is the king of birds. His pinions are strong, bis flight is swift, and his stroke is sure; who can stand before himP Not tbe false bird of the double head. Before the swooping eagle of the Madawaska, the eagle of two heads, who is fierce and false, shall fly.” The old Indian had forgotten bis age, and stood erect, as if pointing into the far future with his withered hand, while his gloaming eye seemed to road the secrets of undeveloped time. “ Here,” said he, “ comes another, who will conquer. My young _ brother, Come hither !” he cried to Reginald, who was passing the group with Randolph. “ When the battle cloud covers tbe face of tbe sun, shall my young brother’s hand take the life of the foe. AVhere he goes, the braves of tbe enemy will fly, because they know that the lion of the forest is upon them. And this one is like his fathers, who for ages gone by have been tbe foremost and the truest iu tbe cause of truth and freedom. The Great Mother, whose sceptre rules over the red and white man alike, has a warrior of an ancient line in thee. Ye are brothers in peace, ye shall be brothers in war, and tbe eagle, the lion, and the whirlwind shall be as one.” Awe gathered on tbe faces of tbe Indian braves, who had assembled to hear the great Medicine of their nation speak ; while Medeokoke, or the Short Rifle, touching the Corporal’s retired into the shades of the forest “ That’s a strange old fellow, Maitland ; he seems to know all about the history of my family, from the days of Bruce and Douglas to the present time. I shouldn’t wonder if Corporal Macduff had stuffed him with all the old traditions of Scotland, and the outburst we have just heard is the consequence of it.” __ , “ Likely enough, Randolph. No doubt Macduff has related the “ Tales of a Grandfather ” to him, where your ancestors scurried the Border, and fought the valiant Pierce-eye at Chevy Chase ; with what zest h© would tell of the fatal field of Flodden, or the equally disastrous one of Culloden.” “No doubt about it,” said Oliver. “ I have listened to stories without end, in which both of your names found places, Randolph s particularly. But Mbdeokoke says that you will go to the wars with us. Are you going into the army P” “ As the Indian prophet says so, I suppose I must. It would be a pity to spoil his reputation ; and the more so, as I come of a fire-eating race.”

“ When do you intend to go to the military college in France ?” “ After the next two sessions.”

“Well, I shall join you, andwewill go into the service together, for the express purpose of learning the truth of the seer’s foreknowledge. What did he mean by the double-headed eagle, I wonder.” “ That is the arms of Russia, Randolph; are we to fight them ?” “ And did he not speak of a conflict with tigers of the desert, who would destroy thousands of the pale faces, with their squaws and papouses. This last is a mystery which time alone can solve. Let us go to the fort.”

{To be continued.)