The Buffalo Runners | Page 2

the limit
of their exceptional powers, but each was animated by a stronger
motive than self. Fergus had left his old father in an almost dying state
on the snow-clad plains, and Davidson had left his affianced bride.
The buffalo-hunt had failed that year; winter had set in with unwonted
severity and earlier than usual. The hunters, with the women and
children who followed them in carts to help and to reap the benefit of
the hunt, were starving. Their horses died or were frozen to death; carts
were snowed up; and the starving hunters had been scattered in making
the best of their way back to the Settlement of Red River from which
they had started.
When old McKay broke down, and his only daughter Elspie had firmly
asserted her determination to remain and die with him, Fergus McKay
and Daniel Davidson felt themselves to be put upon their mettle--called
on to face a difficulty of the most appalling nature. To remain on the
snow-clad prairie without food or shelter would be death to all, for
there was no living creature there to be shot or trapped. On the other
hand, to travel a hundred miles or so on foot--and without food, seemed
an impossibility. Love, however, ignores the impossible! The two
young men resolved on the attempt. They were pretty well aware of the
extent of their physical powers. They would put them fairly to the test
for once--even though for the last time! They prepared for the old man
and his daughter a shelter in the heart of a clump of willows, near to
which spot they had found a group of the hapless hunters already dead
and frozen.
Here, as far from the frozen group as possible, they made an
encampment by digging down through the snow till the ground was
reached. As much dried wood as could be found was collected, and a

fire made. The young men left their blankets behind, and, of the small
quantity of provisions that remained, they took just sufficient to sustain
life. Then, with cheery words of encouragement, they said good-bye,
and set out on their journey to the Settlement for help.
The object at which they aimed was almost gained at the point when
we introduce them to the reader.
"Taniel!" said Fergus, coming to a sudden halt.
"Well?" exclaimed the other.
"It iss sleepy that I am. Maybe if I wass to lie down--"
He ceased to speak. Davidson looked anxiously into his face, and saw
that he had already begun to give way to irresistible drowsiness.
Without a moment's hesitation he seized the Highlander by the throat,
and shook him as if he had been a mere baby.
"Iss it for fightin' ye are?" said Fergus, whose good-nature was not
proof against such rough and unexpected treatment.
"Yes, my boy, that's just what I am for, and I think you'll get the worst
of it too."
"What iss that you say? Ay, ay! You will hev to bend your back then,
Taniel, for it iss not every wan that can give Fergus McKay the worst
of it!"
Davidson made no reply, but gave his comrade a shake so violent that it
put to flight the last vestige of his good-humour and induced him to
struggle so fiercely that in a few minutes the drowsiness was also, and
effectually, driven away.
"You'll do now," said Davidson, relaxing his grip and panting
somewhat.
"Ay, Taniel, I will be doin' now. An' you're a frund in need whatever,"
returned the restored Highlander with a smile of appreciation.

About an hour later the travellers again stopped. This time it was
Davidson who called a halt.
"Fergus," he said, "we have been successful so far, thank God. But we
must part here. Half-an-hour will take me to my father's house, and I
want you to go down to the hut of Francois La Certe; it is nearer than
our house, you know--and get him to help you."
"Surely, Tan, that will be wasted time," objected the Highlander. "Of
all the lazy useless scamps in Rud Ruver, Francois La Certe iss the
laziest an' most useless."
"Useful enough for our purpose, however," returned Davidson. "Send
him up to Fort Garry with a message, while you lie down and rest. If
you don't rest, you will yourself be useless in a short time. La Certe is
not such a bad fellow as people think him, specially when his feelings
are touched."
"That may be as you say, Tan. I will try--whatever."
So saying, the two men parted and hurried on their several ways.
CHAPTER TWO.
A LAZY COUPLE DESCRIBED--AND ROUSED.
Francois La Certe was seated on the floor of his hut smoking a long
clay pipe beside an open wood fire when Fergus McKay approached.