Ungava

Ungava, by R.M. Ballantyne

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ungava, by R.M. Ballantyne This
eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Ungava
Author: R.M. Ballantyne
Release Date: June 6, 2007 [EBook #21707]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNGAVA
***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

UNGAVA, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
Introduction.
The following story is intended to illustrate one of the many phases of
the fur-trader's life in those wild regions of North America which
surround Hudson's Bay.

Most of its major incidents are facts--fiction being employed chiefly for
the purpose of weaving these facts into a readable form.
If this volume should chance to fall into the hands of any of those who
acted a part in the first settlement of Ungava, we trust that they will
forgive the liberty that has been taken with their persons and adventures,
remembering that transpositions, modifications, and transformations
are necessary in constructing a tale out of the "raw material."
We take this opportunity of expressing to the Leader of the adventurous
band our grateful acknowledgements for his kindness in placing at our
disposal the groundwork on which this story has been reared.
R.M. Ballantyne.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE FOREST, AND THE LEADERS OF THE FOLORN-HOPE--A
GOOD SHOT--A CONSULTATION--AN ICE-FLOE, AND A
NARROW CHANCE OF ESCAPE IN A SMALL WAY.
"Hallo! where are you!" shouted a voice that rang through the glades of
the forest like the blast of a silver trumpet, testifying to lungs of leather
and a throat of brass.
The ringing tones died away, and naught was heard save the rustling of
the leafy canopy overhead, as the young man, whose shout had thus
rudely disturbed the surrounding echoes, leaned on the muzzle of a
long rifle, and stood motionless as a statue, his right foot resting on the
trunk of a fallen tree, and his head bent slightly to one side, as if
listening for a reply. But no reply came. A squirrel ran down the trunk
of a neighbouring pine, and paused, with tail and ears erect, and its
little black eyes glittering as if with surprise at the temerity of him who
so recklessly dared to intrude upon and desecrate with his powerful
voice the deep solitudes of the wilderness. They stood so long thus that
it seemed as though the little animal and the man had been petrified by
the unwonted sound. If so, the spell was quickly broken. The loud
report of a fowling-piece was heard at a short distance. The squirrel

incontinently disappeared from the spot on which it stood, and almost
instantaneously reappeared on the topmost branch of a high tree; while
the young man gave a smile of satisfaction, threw the rifle over his
shoulder, and, turning round, strode rapidly away in the direction
whence the shot proceeded.
A few minutes' walk brought him to the banks of a little brook, by the
side of which, on the projecting root of a tree, sat a man, with a dead
goose at his feet and a fowling-piece by his side. He was dressed in the
garb of a hunter; and, from the number of gray hairs that shone like
threads of silver among the black curls on his temples, he was evidently
past the meridian of life--although, from the upright bearing of his tall,
muscular frame, and the quick glance of his fearless black eye, it was
equally evident that the vigour of his youth was not yet abated.
"Why, Stanley," exclaimed the young man as he approached, "I've been
shouting till my throat is cracked, for at least half an hour. I verily
began to think that you had forsaken me altogether."
"In which case, Frank," replied the other, "I should have treated you as
you deserve, for your empty game-bag proves you an unworthy
comrade in the chase."
"So, so, friend, do not boast," replied the youth with a smile; "if I
mistake not, that goose was winging its way to the far north not ten
minutes agone. Had I come up half an hour sooner, I suspect we should
have met on equal terms; but the fact is that I have not seen hair or
feather, save a tree-squirrel, since I left you in the morning."
"Well, to say truth, I was equally unfortunate until I met this luckless
goose, and fired the shot that brought him down and brought you up.
But I've had enough o' this now, and shall back to the fort again. What
say you? Will you go in my canoe