Silver Lake

Silver Lake, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: Silver Lake
Author: R.M. Ballantyne
Release Date: June 6, 2007 [EBook #21703]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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LAKE ***

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SILVER LAKE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE HUNTERS.
It was on a cold winter morning long ago, that Robin Gore, a bold

hunter of the backwoods of America, entered his parlour and sat him
down to breakfast.
Robin's parlour was also his dining-room, and his drawing-room,
besides being his bedroom and his kitchen. In fact, it was the only room
in his wooden hut, except a small apartment, opening off it, which was
a workshop and lumber-room.
Robin's family consisted of himself, and his wife, and his son Roy, who
was twelve years of age--and his daughter Nelly, who was eight, or
thereabout. In addition to these, his household comprised a nephew,
Walter and an Irishman, Larry O'Dowd. The former was tall, strong,
fearless, and twenty. The latter was stout, short, powerful, and forty.
The personal history of Robin Gore, to the point at which we take it up,
runs briefly thus:--
He had been born in a backwood's settlement, had grown up and
married in the little hamlet in which he had been born, and hunted
around it contentedly until he was forty years of age. But, as population
increased, he became restive. He disliked restraint; resolved to take his
wife and family into the wilderness and, after getting his nephew and
an Irish adventurer to agree to accompany him, carried his resolution
into effect.
He travelled several hundreds of miles into the woods--beyond the
most remote settlement--built three wooden huts, surrounded them with
a tall stockade, set up a flagstaff in the centre thereof, and styled the
whole affair, "Fort Enterprise."
"I'm sorry to bring you to such a lonesome spot, Molly, my dear," said
Robin, as he sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, on the afternoon of the day
on which he arrived at the scene of his future home; "it'll be rayther
tryin' at first, but you'll soon get used to it, and we won't be bothered
hereaway wi' all the new-fangled notions o' settlement folk. We'll dwell
in the free wilderness, where there are no tyrannical laws to hamper a
man, an' no nonsensical customs to fix the fashion of his coat an'
leggins. Besides, you'll have Roy an' Nelly an' Walter an' Larry to keep

you company, lass, not to mention our neighbours to look in upon now
and again."
"Very true, Robin," replied the wife, "I have no doubt it will be quite
cheery and homelike in course of time."
She looked out upon the broad bosom of the lake which lay before the
site of their forest home, and sighed. It was evident that Mrs Gore had a
strong partiality for the laws and customs which her husband abhorred.
The "neighbours" to whom Robin referred lived in a leather tent twenty
miles distant from the Fort. They were an Indian, named "The Black
Swan," his wife, named "The White Swan," and a half-caste trapper,
whose proper name was unknown to all save himself. His cognomen in
the wilderness was "Slugs," a name which originated in his frequent
use of clipped pieces of lead instead of shot in the loading of his gun.
But to return to the point from which we started:--
It was on a cold winter morning that Robin Gore entered his parlour
and sat him down to breakfast.
It was not only cold--very cold; colder than ever was experienced in
our favoured British isles--but it was also very dark. Robin had risen
before daybreak in order to visit his traps, and shoot some game as
early in the day as possible. The larder chanced to be nearly empty that
day, a fact which was all the more to be regretted that it was New
Year's day, and, as Robin remarked, "that day didn't occur more than
once in the year." This statement Larry O'Dowd disputed, affirming
that it occurred "at laste twice ivery year--wance at the beginnin' an'
wance at the end of it!"
"Come along, lad," said Robin, trimming the candle as his nephew
Walter entered, "we'll ha' to make the most of our time to-day, for we
dine at sharp five p.m., an' our dinner--leastwise the most of it--is at
this moment alive an' kickin', if it's not