Adrift in the Ice-Fields | Page 3

his partners and family, while, in company with Risk, he found in the
half-savage life and keen air of the ice-fields a bracing tonic, which
prepared them for the enervating cares of the rest of the year. The two
had little in common--Risk being a stanch Episcopalian, and Davies an
uncompromising Methodist. Risk, rather conservative, and his comrade
a ready liberal; but they both possessed the too rare quality of respect
for the opinions of others, and their occasional disputations never
degenerated into quarrels.
Ben Davies, a nephew of the foregoing, and also a merchant, was an
athletic young fellow, of about five feet eight, just entering upon his
twenty-second year. A proficient in all manly exercises, and a keen
sportsman, he entered into this new sport with all the enthusiasm of
youth, and his preparations for the spring campaign were on the most
liberal scale of design and expenditure. In these matters he relied
chiefly on the skill, experience, and judgment of his right-hand man
and shooting companion, Hughie Creamer.
Hughie was of Irish descent, and middle size, but compact, lithe, and
muscular, with a not unkindly face, which, however, showed but too
plainly the marks of habitual dissipation. A rigger by occupation, a
sailor and pilot at need, a skilful fisherman, and ready shot, with a
roving experience, which had given him a smattering of half a score of
the more common handicrafts, Hughie was an invaluable comrade on
such a quest, and as such had been hired by his young employer. It may
be added, that a more plausible liar never mixed the really interesting
facts of a changeable life with well-disguised fiction; and it may be
doubted if he always knew himself which part of some of his favorite
"yarns" were truths, and which were due, as a phrenologist would say,
"to language and imaginativeness large, insufficiently balanced by

conscientiousness."
Kennedy was a wiry little New Brunswicker, born just across the St.
Croix, but a thorough-going Yankee by education, business habits, and
naturalization. "A Brahmin among the Brahmins," he believed in the
New York Tribune, as the purest source of all uninspired wisdom; and
bitterly regretted that the manifold avocations of Horace Greeley had
thus far prevented that truly great man from enlightening his
fellow-countrymen on the habits and proper modes of capture of the
Anser Canadiensis. As, despite his attenuated and dry appearance, there
was a deal of real humor in his composition, Kennedy was considered
quite an addition to our little party.
La Salle was--Well, reader, you must judge for yourself of what he was,
by the succeeding chapters of this simple history, for he it is who
recalls from the past these faint pen-pictures of scenes and pleasures
never to be forgotten, although years have passed since their occurrence,
and the grave has already claimed two of the six,--Risk, the robust
English gentlemen, and Hughie, the cheery, ingenious adventurer. It is
not easy to draw a fair picture of one's self, even with the aid of a
mirror, and when one can readily note the ravages of time in thinning
locks and increasing wrinkles, it is hard to speak of the robust health of
youth without exaggeration. At that time, however, he was about
twenty-three, having dark hair and eyes, a medium stature, and splendid
health. Like Hughie, in a humbler sphere, he was a dabbler in many
things,--lawyer, novelist, poet, trader, inventor, what not?--taking life
easily, with no grand aspirations, and no disturbing fears for the future.
In the intervals of business he found a keen delight in the half-savage
life and wholly natural joys of the angler and sportsman, and ever felt
that to wander by river and mere, with rod and gun, would enable him
to draw from the breast of dear old Mother Earth that rude but joyous
physical strength, with the possession of which it is a constant pleasure
even to exist.
It was late at night when, by the light of the winter moon, the boats and
decoys were unloaded from the heavy sleds, and placed in position on
the various bars and feeding-grounds. The ice that season was of

unusual thickness, and gave promise of lasting for many weeks. As
under the guidance of Black Bill, they entered the farm-yard of his
master, the elder Lund, they found the rest of the family just entering
the house, and joining them, attacked, with voracious appetites, a
coarse but ample repast of bacon, potatoes, coarse bread, sweet butter,
and strong black tea. After this guns were prepared, ammunition and
lunch got ready for the coming morning, for, with the earliest gleam of
the rising sun, they were to commence the first short day of watching
for the northward coming hosts of heaven.
The exact manner in which the ingenious Mrs.