Wrecked but not Ruined | Page 6

busy readjusting the harness, he accompanied the operation with a running fire of grateful expressions, such as--"there now, ain't ye in luck, Rooney? Arrah! gentleman, it's my blissin' I bestow on yez. Och! but I'd have bin lost intirely widout ye. Well well, it's always the way. I'm no sooner in a scrape than I'm sure to get out of it. It's meself is a favoured man. Now thin, ladies, git in, for we're late enough on the road."
On the two "ladies" thus addressed Redding and his man had been gazing in silent surprise, for they were so good-looking and so blooming, that it seemed to the two men, who had been accustomed of late to the sight of none but the brown dames of the red skins, as if a couple of beings from another and a purer world had dropped suddenly upon their path. One of the two was evidently a lady, and was possessed of no common share of beauty. Her dark hair contrasted powerfully with the fairness of her skin and the whiteness of her teeth. Her dazzling black eyes almost, and her red lips altogether, laughed as she observed Redding's gaze of astonishment. Her companion, a very pretty Canadian girl, was evidently her maid.
"We owe you many thanks, kind sirs," said the lady, "for your opportune assistance."
"Pardon me, madam," said Redding, hastening forward in some confusion as he recovered from his rather rude stare of surprise, "I dwell in the wilderness and have been so unaccustomed of late to the sight of ladies that--that--allow me to assist you into the sleigh!"
"Mademoiselle, permettez moi," said Le Rue, advancing to the waiting-maid and politely offering his hand.
Another moment and the "ladies" were seated in the vehicle and carefully repacked by our travellers, while their Irish driver mounted to his seat in front and gathered up the reins.
"Thanks, gentlemen, many thanks," repeated the ladies, with bewitching smiles.
"Good luck to 'ee both," cried the driver, as he flourished his whip and drove away.
Redding and his man stood silently gazing for several minutes at the turn in the road where the vision had vanished.
"Heaven for two minits, an' now--gone for evair!" said Le Rue, with a deep sigh.
Redding echoed the sigh, and then laughed at the lugubrious expression of his man's face.
"Oh such eyes!" exclaimed Le Rue.
"Yes, she's rather good-looking," replied Redding, thinking of the lady.
"Good-looking! non--bootifool--exiquitely bootifool," cried Le Rue, thinking of the maid.
Again Redding laughed. "Well well, Francois," said he, "whether good-looking or beautiful matters little, for it's not likely that we shall ever see them again, so the less you think about them the better.--Allons! we are late enough and must not loiter."
They pushed ahead at once at a rapid pace, but although neither spoke, each thought with somewhat similar feelings of the little incident just described.
Lest the reader should be surprised at so small a matter affecting them so deeply, we must remark that these fur-traders had lived for some years in a region where they saw no females except the brown and rather dirty squaws of the Indians who visited the Cliff Fort with furs. Their fort was indeed only three days' journey from the little settlement of Partridge Bay, but as the space which lay between was a particularly rugged part of the wilderness, with only a portion of road--unworthy of the name--here and there, and the greater part of the way only passable on foot or by means of dog-sledges, none but an occasional red man or a trapper went to and fro; and as the nature of the fur-trader's business called for very little intercourse with the settlements--their furs being sent by water to Quebec in summer--it followed that the inhabitants of the Cliff Fort rarely visited Partridge Bay. The sudden vision, therefore, of two pretty females of a higher type had not only the effect on Redding and his man of novelty, but also stirred up old memories and associations.
Such good use did they now make of their time that the settlement of Partridge Bay was reached before dark, and our hero went off immediately in quest of the surveyor.
Mr Gambart was a cheerful, healthy, plump little man, with a plump little wife, and three plump little daughters. Plumpness was not only a characteristic of the Gambarts, but also of their surroundings, for the cottage in which they dwelt had a certain air of plumpness about it, and the spot on which it stood was a round little knob of a hill.
Here Reginald Redding was hospitably received--we might almost say joyfully, because visitors to the settlement were so rare that whoever made his appearance was sure to be received as a "welcome guest" if he only carried the credentials of honesty and ordinary good nature on his countenance.
Redding's impatience, however, to