THE MAGIC FOREST H Modem fa../ BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE AUTHOR OF " THE CLAIM JUMPERS," " THE WESTERNERS, " THE BLAZED TRAIL," " CONJUROR S HOUSE," "THE FOREST" NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS ^cA^ 1403 w .atas COPYRIGHT, BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE. COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up, electrotyped, and published October, 1903. Reprinted November, December, 1903; February, April, 1906; June, 1908 February, 1909. NortoooU J. 8. Cuihing It Co. - Berwick * Smith Co. . . Norwood, MM*, p. 6. A. CHAPTER I WHEN James Ferris was only five years old, he slipped from his bed, pattered bare footed through the bedroom and down the hall, and was finally reclaimed by an excited mother just as he was about to crawl through the window on to the sloping roof of the veranda. James was promptly spanked, al though he disclaimed all knowledge of the episode. About a year later he left his sleeping-car berth, and was only restrained xz 12 THE MAGIC FOREST by the porter from stepping off the moving train. At the age of seven he horrified his family by climbing down four stories of a hotel fire-escape. The third coincidence set his mother s wits to work. After a time it became fully established that Jimmy Ferris was a somnambulist, or sleep-walker. Jimmy did not know this. It was con sidered best to keep him in igno rance of the fact. The recurrence of his night prowlings was rare, and after his condition became recognized, he was never awakened. In fact, until the age of nine, at which time this story opens, he had made I * but six such excur sions. Aside from this unfor tunate tendency, he had THE MAGIC FOREST 13 never been very strong. His passion had al-_ ways been for out- of-door life, and that would have been the very best thing for him ; but his mother was too worried about him. She exer cised a general supervisory authority over such things as rubbers, flannel bands, sponge cake, and oatmeal, which convinced Jimmy that mortal man would die if his feet got wet or if his diet were in the least irregular. It is natural for a boy to pat tern his mental cast by that of his mother, and Jimmie s mother was very anxious. Indeed, about this time she imagined that Jimmie s lungs were weak, and so nothing would do but that they must all go to Monterey for the summer and Santa Bar- THE MAGIC FOREST bara for the winter. As Jimmy s great but thwarted ambition had always been to see the "big woods," he was more than de lighted. They set out by the Canadian Pacific railroad early in May. Jimmy was at the car win dow all of the daylight hours, marvelling at the Canadian country, the stretches of forest, the numerous lakes. North of Lake Superior he was surprised to see still a great deal of snow lying in the hollows, and in fact, late one afternoon, THE MAGIC FOREST the big, white flakes began to zigzag slowly through the air. Jimmy was filled with wonder. A snow-storm in May ! All the afternoon he flattened his little nose I//7 against the win- /// dow, his eye wide with the mystery of the forest. He could see into it just about ten ^ feet, but who knew what lay beyond that? His restless mind con- x jured up the hollows, the streams, the springs, the wild beasts. Up in through that country lay the Long Trail to the fur regions. At Sudbury, late in the afternoon, he had glimpsed a voyageur just from the wilds. The man had worn a fur cap with 16 THE MAGIC FOREST the tail hanging down behind ! He had been wrapped in a long blanket coat bound with a red sash, and his feet were encased in beaded moccasins ! Jimmy s mind went gal loping off on the leagues of the Long Trail and after he had gone to bed he dreamed of it. He too travelled in the Silent Places. About five o clock in the morning the train paused an instant because the driving wheels could not grip the slippery rails on the grade. The engineer promptly turned on his sand. Five minutes later he had forgotten the circumstance. But in that pause something had hap pened. Jimmy Ferris, travelling the Trail in imagination, had wandered down the aisle of the car, had stepped from the plat form at precisely the moment the engineer reached for his sand lever, and was now blundering aimlessly through the falling THE MAGIC FOREST 17 snow, over rolling bald hills, clad only in his slippers, a pair of trousers, and his night gown, firmly convinced in his own mind that he was discovering the North Pole. Two hours and a half later, which of course meant seventy or eighty miles far ther on, Mrs. Ferris discovered her son s berth empty. Then there was trouble ! Telegrams, questions, conjectures, flew. Sec tion men scurried over every inch of the track on hand-cars, thinking to find Jimmy s mutilated body. He was evidently not on the train : it seemed impossible that he could have left it while moving without receiving some injury. Nobody remembered i8 THE MAGIC FOREST that labored moment when the engine had coughed its protest of the grade. No sign nor clew could be discovered. Mrs. Ferris was prostrated; Mr. Ferris stricken to the heart; everybody else was supremely puzzled. Jimmy had simply vanished into thin air. In the meantime Jimmy went on dis covering the North Pole, and the arctic weather became more and more severe. He was just on the point of plucking the pole to take home with -^-=L. him, from which happy event he was being prevented however by the numbness of his hands, when he awoke and looked about him. THE MAGIC FOREST 19 He knew perfectly well he was no longer dreaming, but for a moment he seriously doubted whether he was alive. His last moments of consciousness had felt the yielding of a Pullman berth, had heard the regular clink- ety-clank of the car wheels, had seen the thin crack of light that swayed between his curtains. And here all at once he was out on a gray, bleak, boulder-strewn hill side, without a sign of berth, or car, or even track anywhere within sight. You must remember that he knew nothing what ever of his sleep-walking propensities. He could not summon to his bewildered brain even a wild solution of the affair. Before him stretched a mistlike forest country, indistinct in the early light, about 20 THE MAGIC FOREST whose skeleton branches lingered a faint, wraithlike fog. And all about him was a great silence. He was not frightened ; the whole thing was too unexplained for that, and, being un able to account for himself in any way, he was as yet unterrified by a feeling of re sponsibility. But he was very cold. His thin slippers, which he had instinctively as sumed before setting out to discover the North Pole, were wet through by the damp snow ; his bare shanks were goose-fleshed, and a thin, cotton nightgown and a pair of knee breeches are not precisely an early May costume in the North. Having been taught that damp feet meant pneumonia and inadequate clothing consumption, Jimmy immediately gave himself up for lost. " I must get back/* he said to himself. Get back where ? He had never seen THE MAGIC FOREST 21 this country before. That Pullman car might be on the other side of the world. For a mo ment he imagined he might be dead, but then a certain sturdy little piety of his own came to his aid. It was not that. But since the human mind must have expla nations or perish, and since Jimmy was only nine years old and more conversant with Grimm and Andersen than with medical au thorities, and since sorcery is after all much nearer to the hearts of most of us than such a stupendous metamorphosis as this, he shortly concluded that he was living a fairy tale and that this must be the Magic Forest. 22 THE MAGIC FOREST In that case he must go somewhere. He struck out sturdily, his mind quite at rest from the fears that would have assailed it had he been lost in an ordinary and com prehensible manner. Of course he set out in the wrong direc tion. Even had he known enough to follow a back track, it would have been impossi ble for him to have done so. The back track was covered by the light fall of snow. Travel was difficult enough and uncomfort able enough in any direction, but level places are easier than hills. Accordingly, Jimmy took his way down toward the wraith of vapor, and so, shortly after an hour s f stumbling through a fringe of wood, found THE MAGIC FOREST 23 himself on the banks of a brawling north- country river. By this time the sun was well over the horizon, the clouds had scat tered, and Jimmy s blood was circulating, so that, had he only known it, the danger of pneumonia or a harmful chill had passed. But Jimmy did not know it. He only knew that the repeated contact with melting snow had turned his feet positively blue, that his thin, wet garments sent a spasm of cold through his body every time a new movement brought their smooth clamminess next his skin in a fresh place, that the wood s brush had scraped and torn his skin cruelly. Once something abrupt and strange had glided away like a streak of brown from a thicket before him, startling him into a cry, which returned from the great silence to strangle in his throat. Now he stared in helpless bewilderment at the swift stream, THE MAGIC FOREST and wo n- dered what new thing he must do. It would not have surprised him to have been whisked back at any moment to his berth in the Pullman car. Above the little stone beach on which he stood, the river boiled and tumbled and whirled down a slope strewn with big and little boulders. The water was broken into foam, slid in a smooth green apron, twisted in savage eddies. The pool before him was filled with white froth. And Jimmy was a very lonesome little boy in a great, strange place. THE MAGIC FOREST 25 Suddenly at the extremity of the vista something sprang into view and came shooting down the hurried waters. It stopped abruptly, worked jerkingly side ways, to slant with terrific impetus across the smooth apron. Jimmy s bewildered vision made out a canoe, a birch-bark canoe of bright yellow with up-curved bows, of the sort he had seen ^^^-^j^^ pictures of in his L* sr^&s^ ** " "* father s ^ Parkman. It contained two men. As the canoe leaped nearer and nearer, the men came more plainly into view. Their bold, copper-colored faces were set in rigid lines of attention, their beady black eyes were fixed unwaveringly on the difficulties of the descent, their sinewy brown hands wielded long paddles whose blades were colored vermilion. 26 THE MAGIC FOREST Both wore their hair long about the napes of their necks and over their ears, and bound it in place by bands about their foreheads. Even before the boy s quick faculties had sensed these things, the craft had reached a spot where the current divided about a great boulder to tumble over a sunken ledge in a cataract. The men simultaneously rose to their knees and thrust at their paddles in one superhuman effort. The canoe quivered, jumped sideways, shot forward just to clear the boulder, and rushed on the cataract. " Ae ! hi, hi, hi-yah ! " shrieked the men in an ecstasy. The canoe quivered, . . . and rushed on the cataract." THE MAGIC FOREST 29 The craft leaped directly out in the air. A smother of spray arose. It floated peace fully in the eddy of the pool. Another canoe appeared, another, then two, all rushing down the current, all tak ing the leap. The air was full of shout ings, of laughter. Some set to work at once bailing water, others looked eagerly up-stream to watch their successors shoot the rapids. Almost instantaneously, as it seemed, the empty place was alive. And the little boy, shivering in the shadow of the wood, shivered still more with mingled terror and delight ; for now 3 THE MAGIC FOREST he saw that these were Indians, the wild Indians of the woods, of a hundred years ago, whose wigwams had given place to the New York he knew, about whom his f atner had read to him in Cooper, come back from the mys terious, romantic past to traverse the Magic Forest. He was frightened, and yet he was glad. They were Indians, and yet they looked kind. He did not know whether to flee or whether to reveal him self and ask for aid. The trouble of a de cision was saved him, however. The keen eyes of THE MAGIC FOREST 31 the savages did not long overlook him. Instantly he was surrounded by a curious group, eager to know the meaning of his appearance. The strange, handsome men in moccasins talked to one another in beautiful singing syl lables ; then an old man knelt before him. " You get los ? " he asked laboriously. Jimmy only stared. You see he really did not know himself. Where you hV ? " " New York," replied Jimmy. " New Yo k," they repeated to one another, puzzled. They thought they knew the place, for far up on the shores of the Hudson Bay * is a fur-trading post called York j| Factory. But how did this child come to be here ? 32 THE MAGIC FOREST " You go dere now ? " inquired the old Indian after a moment. He spoke swiftly to his companions. "You wan 1 go to York?" he asked. " Yes ! Yes ! " cried Jimmy. "A* right," replied the Indian. "Is it far?" asked Jimmy. "Ver far." In the mean time a little fire had been built, over which already a tin pail was bubbling. After a moment the Indian gave Jimmy a tin cup. " Drink him," said he. It was tea, coal-black, red-hot, without sugar and cream. Jimmy had never been THE MAGIC FOREST 33 allowed to drink tea at home, but he gulped this down, almost scalding his throat in the process, and at once felt better. While thus engaged, other Indians came through the woods, bearing heavy packs by means of straps passed across their foreheads. Other canoes, managed no less skilfully by women, shot the rapids. Children, half-grown youths, girls, dogs, joined the group. A soft lisp of excited conversation arose. Old Makwa, the Ind ian who had interrogated Jimmy, told them what he had learned. It was sur- IV} mised that the boy had become i possessed by homesickness and had started for York Factory on foot, igno- 34 THE MAGIC FOREST rant of the length of the journey ; or per haps that he had been lost from a party already well on its way toward that dis tant post. The band had just been in to trade its furs at Chapleau. It could not return south. Makwa cut the discussion short. There was occasion for haste. He unceremoniously bundled thinly clad little Jimmy in a robe and deposited him gently in the waist of his canoe. The boy was well with them. Later, perhaps, when they returned to Chap leau in the fall He thrust the canoe strongly into the cur rent. It shot away. Ah-kik, the bowsman, headed it down-stream. The paddles dipped. And now indeed, although he did not for a moment suspect the fact, little Jimmy Ferris was setting out on the Long Trail. CHAPTER II CHAPTER II THE rabbit skin was very light and warm and soft. Jimmy snuggled down in it, and half dreamily watched the banks of the river slip past. The tea had made him sleepy. He saw the Magic Forest through a haze, and the great trees and the little trooped by solemnly like an army with banners. Before him the lithe bowsman swung his paddle tirelessly. The whispering swish swish of the 39 THE MAGIC FOREST water lulled him. At this early moment in a strange adventure little Jimmy might have fallen sound asleep had not a diver sion aroused him. The leading canoe suddenly stopped short, worked noiselessly sideways, and came to rest against the bank. The other canoes joined it. No word was spoken, and Jimmy was warned by an expressive gesture to keep silent. After a moment Ah-kik, the bowsman, drew from a long greasy case a musket bound in brass. The canoe crept forward around the bend. THE MAGIC FOREST Not a drip of water broke the absolute stillness. Makwa, although Jimmy could not see him, was still paddling without rais ing the paddle from the water, and indeed with a barely perceptible motion of the wrists. To the little boy s imagination the craft seemed suddenly to take the character of a wind vane he had watched from his windows, turning to right, to left, swimming across the cloud-strewn ether as though guided by a will of its own. Something exciting was going on. He did not know what it was, but his eyes grew large and bright, and he held himself so still as hardly to breathe. Now it became evident that the canoe 42 THE MAGIC FOREST was quietly but steadily approaching a certain point on the shore where a little sandy beach and a grass plot interposed between the for est and the river. A broad maple tree rose just outside the edge of the woods, under which lay a deep shadow backed by the dusk of the forest. Nearer and nearer the canoe crept. And then suddenly, as though it had been evoked by the wave of a magician s wand, Jimmy saw that the deep maple shadow had a living tenant. And even then he could not realize that he looked on a deer. This had the graceful shape of the crea ture, to be sure, but it was so exactly the color of the maple shadow that it seemed to be the unsub stantial ghost of a deer, as tnough one could sei through it as through a clouded glass. THE MAGIC FOREST 43 The excitement in Jimmy s little breast was intense. His heart thumped, his breath caught in his throat, and in spite of his best efforts he trembled all over as though with a violent chill. Each moment he expected to see the deer run away. But still the canoe slipped silently forward as idly as a leaf wafted thither by the wind. Then all at once, when the prow was actually within a few feet of the bank, Jimmy was conscious of a violent trembling. Makwa had thrust his paddle down to stop the headway. Ah-kik, still unobtrusively, without abrupt motions, raised the brass-bound musket. A sudden roar broke forth, a cloud of white smoke enveloped the bow, the canoe leaped backward like a spirited horse. 44 THE MAGIC FOREST Makwa dropped the paddle aboard with a clatter and stretched his arms. Ah-kik called back something in his natural voice. From around the bend streamed a flotilla of canoes. The everyday sounds after the period of strained silence and patient endeavor seemed almost profane. Jimmy leaped ashore with his companions, fully prepared to exult over a dead deer. , What was his disappoint- ment to discover only four deep, sharp ^ ev ,.. footprints where the animal had leaped. Evidently the shot had failed. But Jimmy had still a long way to go before the rudiments of his woodcraft should be complete. He did not know that Ah-kik could tell by the way the deer carried its tail whether or not the animal was THE MAGIC FOREST 45 wounded, and how badly. And so he was much surprised when two of the young men returned after some minutes carrying the venison. In the bustle of making camp Jimmy was for some time unnoticed. Certain of the men cut up dry wood. Old women swiftly built little fires of birch, touchwood, bark, and twigs. Even the little children busily collected and carried in the wood chopped by the men. The deer was quickly skinned and cut up. Pots bubbled and steamed THE MAGIC FOREST over little fires. Dogs yelped with delight as bits of offal were tossed them. Then when the first tasks were over, he was sur rounded. The younger chil dren stared at him wide-eyed, the older teased him ; but as he did not un derstand what they said, this did not worry him in the least. One handsome little fel low slightly older than himself smiled at him, and when Jimmy smiled back, he promptly drove the others away. Then he squatted on his heels at Jimmy s side. " Minne-qua-gun," said he, picking up a tin cup. And so Jimmy learned his first Indian word, THE MAGIC FOREST 47 In this was a new and delightful occupa tion. To speak real Indian words was an accomplishment Jimmy would have rev erenced in another. And here was a chance to learn for himself. He memorized tscbi- mon y the canoe ; and ab-boo-e y the paddle ; and ab-gab-quit, the axe. Then he resolved to find out something useful to himself. He hugged his arms close about his chest, shivered violently, and looked inquiringly toward his companion. " Kss ina," said the latter at once. Jimmy immediately ran to old Makwa, who was smoking a pipe on a fallen tree. " Kss ina," said he, pointing to his thin night-dress and his bare shins. " Kss ina, kss ina ! " Makwa laughed, his fine old face wrin kling in a hundred deep little lines. He called sharply. An old woman came for- 4 8 THE MAGIC FOREST ward. Makwa spoke a few words to her, whereupon she went away for some moments, only to return bearing a bundle wrapped in canvas which she laid at Makwa s feet. The bundle when opened was found to contain a variety of things. Makwa picked out a little deerskin shirt, a pair of blue leggings made of stroud, two squares of blanketlike material called duffel, and a THE MAGIC FOREST 49 pair of deerskin moccasins. The squares he wrapped about Jimmy s feet in place of socks, the leggings he bound with a pair of heavily beaded garters, the deerskin shirt he slipped on deftly, and fastened with a worsted sash. When arrayed in them, the little boy was too happy to sit still. But now the meal was cooked, Jimmy discovered that he was very hungry. He sat with a group of women and children, and accepted thankfully his share of venison, fish, and tea. A little girl sat next to him, a pretty little brown thing with big, 50 THE MAGIC FOREST soft eyes. She gazed at him solemnly during the meal. At last he nodded and smiled at her, whereupon she showed all her teeth in the prettiest fashion in the world. Jimmy, with a full stomach, began to feel very contented. The sun was warm, the people about him looked on him kindly, this open-air meal under the greenwood tree was inexpressibly thrilling to his young imagination, j That afternoon he was given a short pad dle and set to work. Nor was the paddling a matter of play merely. When his unaccus tomed little wrists and shoulders became very tired, old Makwa sternly forbade him to rest. He was com pelled to keep on, although his arms at times seemed ready to THE MAGIC FOREST 51 drop off, and his efforts could certainly have added little to the speed of the canoe. However, twice the party disembarked on the beach, drew the canoes up, unloaded all they contained, and set off through the forest, carrying packs. Here, too, Jimmy was given his share to carry, and his thin moccasins were slight protection to his feet, which speedily became bruised and wet. How ever, the life and mystery so filled Jimmy s mind that he only partly noticed these things. Of course the trees were still bare of leaves, but the spring was awakening. All sorts of noises sounded through the woods. Jimmy did not know what they were, but little by little he learned from Taw-kwo, the young boy. " Bump ! bump ! bump ! bump ! br br-r- r-r ! " boomed a hollow wooden note. 52 THE MAGIC FOREST "Penay," said Taw-kwo. Some days latter a par tridge was flushed into a tree. " Pe nay/ said Taw-kwo again, and so Jimmy knew that penay was a large bird with a fan-tail whose capture was most desirable, and who made remarkably good eating. But he did not know the English name for it. In this fashion he acquired much informa tion about the woods which he would have found quite valueless in the towns, for the simple reason that he would have been unable to tell any one about it. The hawk, the rabbit, the squirrel, the THE MAGIC FOREST 53 muskrat, the jay, and many others he learned thus. Of course he could not always re member, but Taw-kwo was patient in repeating, and Jimmy was just of the age to learn quickly by absorption. On the way back through the woods for a second load on the second carry, Jimmy saw his first live porcupine. v^Tf! The beast was scorn- fill and lordly, and dis- %* inclined to hurry in the least, after the manner of porcupines everywhere, but to Jimmy a wild animal of this size which would permit itself to be approached, was a brand-new experience. Of course he wanted to kill it. That is invariably the first instinct. But May-may]-gwan, the 54 THE MAGIC FOREST soft-eyed little girl, would not allow him to do so. Jimmy learned thus his lesson in woods moderation, for the woods Indian never kills wastefully. The rest of the afternoon the canoes floated down the river. The shores glided by silently. Jimmy many times forgot the ache of his shoulders in the excitement of a swiftly vanishing wing, the mysterious with drawal of some brown spot that, in this man ner only, proclaimed itself a forest creature. Once a mink Jt bobbed up for ^__^a moment on a ISJ^^ piece of drift- w o o d, and paused, its forefeet under its chin, to stare malevolently at them as they glided by. Often the muskrats would be seen swimming in arrow-shaped ripples. A slim, graceful animal slipped from the rock ledge ahead." THE MAGIC FOREST 57 Once a slim, graceful animal of some size slipped from a rock ledge ahead. This the Indians thought important enough to ing their canoes drifting bunch, gig, the otter, discuss, gather- into one idly For it was ni and the value of his pelt in the winter won him considera- tion as a personage. Often squirrels crossed the river, steering themselves with their bushy tails. Makwa, noting the interest of the boy, good-naturedly extended his paddle to one of the little animals, whereupon, to Jimmy s vast delight, it scrambled up the paddle to the gunwale within two feet of his hand, where it sat resting THE MAGIC FOREST for a moment, and then plunged into the water again. About the middle of the afternoon the women s canoes were permitted to go ahead for the purpose of making camp, so that by the time the sun was low the men were enabled to draw ashore for the night. A number of little birch-bark shelters were already in place, the tiny fires were wink ing bravely, the dogs were squatted in a ^-^x-^_ *d& semicircle just r/T////A -L at the edge >- of the brush await- ing their share of the meal. Jimmy thought he had never seen such funny dogs. Their noses and ears were pointed, their hair long and thick, and THE MAGIC FOREST 59 their tails as furry as a fox s brush. He tried to make friends with them, but they snarled at him so savagely that he drew back alarmed. In after days he succeeded in knowing them better, but now they were distrustful. They were more than half wolf, with the wolfs fierce in stincts. But now Taw- kwo touched him on the shoulder, smiling and motioning him to follow. He did so. The two boys picked their way through the brush to the mouth of a little creek flowing into the river. There Taw-kwo unrolled a fine- meshed net he was carrying, fastened one end to a staff which he braced upright in the bottom, waded across and stuck 60 THE MAGIC FOREST the other end in a similar manner, so that the mouth of the creek was entirely closed by the net. Taw-kwo did not seem to mind in the least wading in the cold water with his moccasins and leggings on. " Kee-gawns," said he, making with his hand the motion of a fish swimming. He touched his finger to his lips to enjoin caution. Stealthily he lay on his stomach and crawled to the sharp edge of the bank. Jimmy followed his example and peeped over. Below his eye ran five or six grooves through the thick water- mud which ended in a regular gallery of holes. And just as Jimmy looked, some bright-eyed, solemn, whiskered animal seemed to fade into hiding. cc She-shesk," * whispered Taw-kwo. He signed to Jimmy to remain, and returned shortly carrying 1 Muskrat. THE MAGIC FOREST 61 two steel traps. These he set at the mouths of the grooves, covering them --- ._ craftily with mud, and touch- fy ing none of the surroundings with ^fY his hands. At camp by this g/ time the even ing meal was pre- pared. Jimmy had never been so v.^ - hungry in his life. He ate and ate until he could not cram down another mouthful, and he was almost too lazy to move over to the larger fire, or to hang up before the blaze his moccasins and duffels as did the others. The flames leaped, making shadows on the Magic Forest. Over in its depths a night-bird began to moan whip- poor-will. The dogs sat on their haunches blinking their eyes. Men smoked and laughed and talked. Women conversed 62 THE MAGIC FOREST in low voices. ^^^ Little May-may- gwan sat beside him and held his hand. After a long time Taw-kwo led him to a shelter in which was spread six inches of balsam browse. The Indian boy laid out the rabbit-skin robe. The balsam smelled good to Jimmy. His eyes grew heavier and heavier. But he was not to sleep yet. Suddenly a tremendous row brought him to his feet. The dogs were clamoring, excited figures were running past the firelight. Jimmy instinctively thrust his feet into his mocca sins and followed. Down through the tangled forest the chase went pell-mell, the dogs always in the lead. Some of the Indians had snatched up THE MAGIC FOREST torches. Stumbling, shouting, clambering, breathless, the multitude streamed through the silent dark. Then it bunched at a slim tree about which the dogs were leap ing frantically. Jimmy could distinguish a fierce-eyed dark animal, about the size of a dog, crouched in the branches. The little boy was half asleep. What followed was much con fused. Some thing dis lodged the beast. It fell among the dogs mediately there w fight, in which the Indians seemed to be trying desperately to deliver a telling blow. Then it was all over. Two of the dogs . THE MAGIC FOREST were dead ; from others blood was stream ing. One of the Indians was tying a bandage around the calf of his leg. Back through the ancient forest filed the convoy with its prey. At the fireside Jimmy saw that powerful, with long wadge," replied / look of inquiry, after Jimmy of them Sportsman s the beast was blunt nosed, claws, "Swing- .( Makwa to his / Many years again saw one stuffed at the Show, and so knew that he had assisted at the killing of a carcajou, the fiercest fighting animal for its size in America. And thus closed what he always thought of afterward as his Wonderful Day. CHAPTER III CHAPTER III BUT if that was the Day of Wonder the one that followed was certainly the Day of Despair. It started out well enough. Jimmy was aroused early in the morning, when the dawn s chill was still in the air, so that for a few moments he was very mis erable, but the hot tea and food, combined with a good fire, soon put him in spirits. He and Taw-kwo visited the steel traps and took from them three fine muskrats. Then they unfastened one end of the net 69 70 THE MAGIC FOREST and hauled it in. This was most exciting. First appeared a gleam of something white under the f JJisJ water; then the gleam slowly defined itself. A breathless moment followed. How big was the fish? What kind was it ? And then with a flop it was on the bank, beating the ground to the whoops of two enthusiastic boys. Taw-kwo had even produced a short heavy bow and some blunt-headed arrows, when a sum mons called them to resume the journey. About ten o clock a few drops of rain fell. Jimmy thought, of course, the band would seek shelter. It did not. The rain grew heavier, picking the surface of the river. Water ran down Jimmy s THE MAGIC FOREST hair, speedily wetting him to the skin. He shivered and looked about with un easiness on the landscape, rapidly growing sodden. The Indians seemed to mind the downpour no more than did the dogs. But Jimmy suddenly felt very lonely. The romance of the Magic Forest had quite departed, and he began to think of his warm home and his mother and father, and to wonder whether he JL would ever see them again. After a vV little he began to cry softly to himself, the tears min gling with the raindrops running down his cheeks. But he was very still about it, for Taw-kwo was in a canoe near him, and little May-may-gwan was paddling sol emnly in the bow of another just 72 THE MAGIC FOREST behind. The raindrops were coursing down her cheeks, too. All that day Jimmy s heart grew heavier and heavier. He paddled desperately in order to keep warm and so toward night grew tired also. It was a very blue day. In the evening he stood by the fire with the Indians and steamed. To his sur prise the night was not so bad. The roofs of the shelters had been so slanted that the heat was reflected from them down upon the ground, which speedily dried. It was a little damp, but not all uncomfortable. And next morning the sun was shining brightly with true spring warmth. Thus Jimmy passed with credit through his trial THE MAGIC FOREST 73 by water. Rain and cold weather were al ways disagreeable to him, but in time he learned that one forgot all about it once it was finished. Only twice that day was the regular prog ress down river interrupted by anything exciting. Long stretches of still water were broken by swift little rapids, where Jimmy had to sit very still, and carries through the woods, where he had to work with the others. He was interested all the time. The most trivial incident was an adventure. But a little after noon, in shooting a particularly crooked and turbulent rapid, in spite of the best efforts of Makwa and Ah-kik, the canoe scraped sharply against a pointed stone. Instantly the water be gan to rush in through a jagged hole. By good fortune this was at the foot of the rapid. The Indians paddled desperately 74 THE MAGIC FOREST across the pool and grounded just in time. The goods were hastily thrown out and the canoe drawn up on the beach. Jimmy looked sadly at the rent in the bottom of the canoe. It was too bad. He supposed that now the da y s j ur - - ney would have to be given up. But Makwa disappeared in the woods while Ah-kik built a little fire. The other Indians continued on down-stream. In a moment Makwa returned with a quantity of spruce pitch on a bit of bark. This he cooked over the fire with a little grease. Then with a stick of wood he smeared the melted gum about the hole, laid over it smoothly a bit of sacking, smeared more gum completely to cover the whole affair, and seared it close with a brand from the Knee deep in the water stood a cow moose and her calf." THE MAGIC FOREST 77 fire. In ten minutes the canoe was as good as ever. About an hour later Makwa whispered " Moos-wa^ moos-wa." Jimmy had learned by now that when Makwa whispered, some thing interesting was afoot, so he looked with all his eyes. There, not two hundred yards away, knee deep in the water, stood a cow moose and her calf. The great ani mals, so awkward in cap tivity but so magnificent in their proper surround ings, stared uncertainly at the gliding canoes. The wind was the wrong way for the scent, and ^p^^ a moose is not easily alarmed by ^ mere sight. In a moment they waded rapidly ashore and disappeared with a long swinging trot, but not before Jimmy had seen well the Roman THE MAGIC FOREST nose, the big eyes, the massive shoulders of the animals. As moose to him had always seemed as remote as goblins, this new phase of the Magic Forest filled him with ecstatic rapture. And he was impressed still further by the lesson of woods moderation, for his companions had made no effort to kill the beautiful creatures. For the present there was meat enough. That evening after supper Jimmy made friends. He was not so sleepy as the first even ing nor so uncomfortable as the second, so he wandered here and there trying his new Ind ian words. Especially did the cradles for the Indian babies interest him. Everywhere he THE MAGIC FOREST 79 was smiled upon by the kindly people. Some even made him little presents of ornaments. Taw-kwo s father gave him a in sheath-knife on a acquainted with and joined in their gravely cross-legged ing his turn at the with the rest. Even days he had ac- fair vocabulary, and stood vaguely than he could The next of sixteen wwp l d him hunting in the woods. \y Jimmy was awkward but tried hard, and after a number of futile stalks the two succeeded in getting within sight of one of the drumming partridges. The bird was strutting up and down a belt. He became the other children games, sitting in a circle, tak- knuckle bones the three quired a he under- much more remember, morning a 80 THE MAGIC FOREST smooth log, puffed out like a turkey-cock, and beating his wings rapidly to produce the hollow wooden drumming Jimmy had been hearing for three days. The Indian lad drew the blunt head of his arrow to the bow. Rap I it struck a tree just beyond the partridge s head. The bird flew away. But now for the first time Jimmy felt the joy of the chase. Here was something to work for. He borrowed the bow and the blunt arrows, and at every pause rap -rap -rapped the trees with his practice shots. By dint of imitation he succeeded after a little in acquiring a fair accuracy, though of course THE MAGIC FOREST 81 he could not beat his Indian friends. Then he set to work to stalk a partridge. Dozens and dozens he frightened away by a clumsy approach. Four times his arrow went wide. But then at last the bird, alarmed by the twang of the bow, raised its head directly into the flying arrow. Jimmy cast his weapon from him, and fell upon the game with shrieks of delight. Asadi, the older lad, taught him how to spread a horse-hair loop across a rabbit trail, bending down a sapling in such a manner that it would spring straight when disturbed, thus jerking the rabbit into the air. At the foot of some of the waterfalls great fish ing was to be 82 THE MAGIC FOREST had with the hook and line. A morsel of meat, a bright-colored feather, even a metal button so attached as to whirl was bait enough. There was no waiting. The instant the hook touched the water a dozen swirling fish were after it. Through the long evenings the big fellows could be seen jumping, shooting straight out into the air to fall back with a heavy splash. Once Jimmy hool one j* these, and had not Asadi help him, he would have >oard. And when at last liding the monster on to THE MAGIC FOREST 83 a flat rock, how beautiful he was with his iridescent eyes and the bright spots of his body. Not the least interesting of the many wood s puzzles were the nu merous footprints to be seen on the wet sand of the beach. Asadi or Taw-kwo or even little Oginik, who was much younger than any of them, could tell him their names, but only long experience taught him what the animals might be like. "Makwa" they described broad heavy prints. " Me-en-gan" said they when shown others smaller and rounder and not so flat. " Bisiw, " they replied when he asked about certain padlike signs. But he did not know from that. However, one day as the canoes were 84 THE MAGIC FOREST paddling down a long narrow lake, Ah-kik called his attention to something white a long distance down the shore. The speck of white was moving slowly toward them. In a little while it defined itself as an animal. Everybody sat quite still. The beast was not in a hurry. Sometimes it trotted, some times it walked, sometimes it stopped to investigate something on the shore. In the canoes the dogs backs were all bristling. Soon Jimmy could see that the animal was not white but gray, and that it looked a great deal like the Indian dogs except that it was larger and that it sloped from heavy shoulders to lighter haunches. When just opposite the waiting line of canoes, the Ind ians raised a mighty yell. Startled, the animal scuddled along the beach like the wind. Point after point it passed, still run ning, until at last, again as a white speck, it THE MAGIC FOREST bobbed out of sight. The Indians laughed consumedly. "Me-en-gan," explained Ah-kik. But Jimmy knew also the English name now, for he had often watched the wolves in Bronx Park cages. Makwa he learned in a man ner still more exciting. He and Taw-kwo came on a little open space in the woods one morning. The grass was almost knee high. Suddenly out of it, not ten feet away, a great black bear rose to his hind legs and said woof I Now if a human being in a civilized room says woof to you suddenly, you are startled ; but when it is a big ani mal in a wild x - place, you beat all ^ records on the back 86 THE MAGIC FOREST jump. At least, that is what Jimmy did, and he started to run away, but Taw-kwo jumped up and down and waved his arms frantically and shouted, until the bear, who was a peaceful beast, dropped to his four feet and ambled away. " Makwa," said Taw-kwo, when he had got his breath. But the third was the most exciting of all. That particular afternoon the Indians had gone into camp early, and now the whole band, with the exception of Jimmy and the very youngest children, were off in the woods. Jimmy was trying to make himself an arrow, and was absorbed in the work. Suddenly he heard a strange squeak ing noise near at hand, and looked up to discover two large gray kittens tumbling about not three feet away. And then, com pelled by some strange hypnotic influence, his glance raised until it rested with a start THE MAGIC FOREST 87 of alarm on the pine shadow at the edge of the woods. A pair of fierce yellow eyes looked into his own. T- i u r i u Little by little, he made out a lithe form, pad- like paws, wide whisk ers, tasselled ears. And all at once he realized that the beast was angry. At that moment one of the smaller chil dren discovered the kittens, and immedi ately toddled forward to investigate such new playmates. A low, rumbling growl broke from the shadow. Like a streak of light the animal sprang. The mere weight of its body knocked the child from its feet. All the others cried out. The beast hesi tated, one paw on the pappoose s chest, un decided what to do. Jimmy was frightened, but he remem bered seeing Makwa s gun standing against 88 THE MAGIC FOREST him. a log behind At his first movement the am- mal growled again and opened and shut its claws restlessly. Jimmy moved as cautiously as he could. The little Indian lay quite still. Finally, the long trade gun was in the white boy s hands. He had to rest the but on the ground and use both hands to cock it, and even then it was so heavy that he could just lift it to his eyes. The first movement of the muzzle caused the beast to utter a perfect thunder-storm of snarls. Jimmy knew that he had but a moment. He pointed the waver ing barrel as well as he could, and pulled the trigger. That was all he knew about it. His next THE MAGIC FOREST ^9 sensation was of water in the face, followed by an increasing ache in the region of his shoulder. The trade gun, unskilfully held, had kicked him about ten feet. But there was the baby, sound and well ; and there was the animal, minus half its head ; and there were the kittens, unfortu nately killed by the returning dogs ; and there was Jimmy with a brand new bit of information, that bisiw, 1 with the broad, padlike prints, was a huge cat. And so the days went by. Sometimes they floated all day ; sometimes they struggled through woods ; sometimes they toiled painfully through swamps. They endured rain, wind, cold. Always the spring advanced and the freshet waters receded. Young ducks began to be seen. The trees of the forest grew smaller. 1 Canadian lynx. 9 o THE MAGIC FOREST Caribou took the place of deer, jimmy could talk with his friends now, and, by dint of much lis tening, could under stand most of what was said. At last, after coursing for many miles down a broad swift stream without rapids, they came to where another river joined theirs, and on the point formed by the junc tion they went ashore and established a per manent camp. First the women pitched the conical teepees with the many poles. Then they built fire- holes and hung kettles. Then they cut quantities THE MAGIC FOREST 91 of balsam for the floors and to scatter on the thresholds. And finally they began the construction of a long rectangular lodge of poles and branches and decorated skins. In the meantime the men were all off hunting, and the boys were conducting an industrious fishery. The spoils were sliced thin, and jerked, or smoked. Then they were laid on scaffolds out of reach of the dogs. In a week the camp was bountifully supplied. And finally the packs were undone and all the gorgeous beaded and ornamented finery brought out, brushed and aired, after which the entire band settled into what seemed to Jimmy to be an anxious waiting. He asked them about it, and they replied, but the words were of those he had not learned. He only knew that around the lower bend a sentinel always stood. And 92 THE MAGIC FOREST one morning early that sentinel fired a shot. Instantly the camp swarmed into view. The men, seizing their guns, ran eagerly to the point. Jimmy followed in breathless excitement. CHAPTER IV JIMMY ran as hard as he could in the direction of the firing. When he arrived out of breath at the point, he saw in the middle distance a flotilla of canoes working its way slowly against the current. His own friends were busily reloading, and as he watched, another volley rang out, which was immediately answered by the approaching strangers. The disappointing part, however, was that the muskets were all pointed skyward. And in a few minutes, when the new canoes has reached the point, their occupants H 97 98 THE MAGIC FOREST stepped ashore and were greeted solemnly with much hand-shaking. The band consisted of fifty or sixty grown people and a sprinkling of children. They were shorter and broader faced than Jimmy s friends, and, as he soon discovered, talked a different lan guage. The men were immediately con ducted to the clearing, while the women began unloading the canoes. In a few hours another camp had been established a hundred feet or so from the old one, and then began an interchange of stately visits between the men, of giggling gossipy meetings by the women, of fights and final reconciliations among the dogs. With the children it was very much the same. At first they circled warily about one THE MAGIC FOREST 99 another, then they quarrelled, then they became fast friends. The Ojibways gave the Crees food from the stores they had accumulated ; the Crees in return presented vari- side luxuries, such geese and dried fish. Jimmy lighted to re- a little Cree ofstiffmoc- out of seal- fur on the able to give ous sea- as smoked salt-water was de ceive from boy a pair casins made skin, with the inside ; and to be in return two blunt- headed ar- *^ rows of maple a wood unknown so far north. Then followed the long lazy days of the permanent camp. Jimmy and his compan ions found the pools where there was no current, and there they spent nearly half of 100 THE MAGIC FOREST every day in and out of the water. Jimmy was tanned almost to the color of his Indian friends by the hot, north-country sun. They fished in the riffles. They explored the woods roundabout until they knew every inch of it for five miles, and by an infinite patience and many trials, they man aged to kill a respectable number of the cock partridges, the spruce-grouse, and the brown ptarmigan. They set their traps for musk- rats, and looked with longing eyes on the trails of mink and a certain beaver colony, but the elders sternly forbade them to dis turb the fur-bearing animals at this time of THE MAGIC FOREST 101 year. But best fun of all was the game of War Party, Asadi and one of the Cree boys would choose sides. Each boy would be armed with two or three blunt arrows whose points had been padded with moss, bound securely with buckskin. One party would disappear in the woods, and after an interval the other would follow. Then were ambushes, sur prises, crafty retreats. The children glided through the forest with all the stealth of the wild animals them selves. They lurked behind logs, watching with keen bright eyes. They tracked the enemy, or cov ered their own trails in order that they might not be tracked in turn. And at any moment you were likely to be startled by the sharp twang! of a bow and bruised 102 THE MAGIC FOREST severely by the heavy blow of an arrow. For although the missiles were padded to prevent actual injury, they hurt enough to make it a real object not to be "killed"; for when you were killed, you had to return to camp and play with the little girls. Of course, Jimmy had neither the inher ited nor the acquired skill, so much of his time he spent in camp. But he improved rapidly, and the certainty of being black and blue in a fresh place added ex citement to the game. And, oh, glorious thought! twice he "killed" members of the oppos ing party. Besides which he liked the little girls. When they were not helping their mothers they were very kind to him, and showed him their rag dolls and taught him divers interesting, j The children glided through the forest." THE MAGIC FOREST 105 quiet camp games. Some of them he liked very much. And in the camp life itself there was always much to attract his attention. The women were making buckskin, were orna menting with beads various articles of cloth ing, and the men were conducting, inside the big lodge made of poles and branches, some mysterious and noisy ceremony. Jimmy never got a glimpse of what was going on inside, but he was content to sit by the hour in the hot sun, listening to the modulated rise and fall of weird minor songs, the clatter of bones, the boom of drums, the shuffle of io6 THE MAGIC FOREST hands and feet. Every once in a while one of the men would appear for a moment at the door way, his gaze exalted, his fea tures painted in brilliant stripes or dots, his form dressed all in fringed buckskin lavishly ornamented with beads. And it was a pure delight at last, when the conjuring was over, to see the strangely clad men come forth into the gathering dusk and file silently to their teepees. Jimmy s little heart always sensed THE MAGIC FOREST 107 a thrill at what he somehow dimly felt to be a reincarnation of a glorious past. Now the days were very long. The sun did not set until nearly nine o clock. And at night Jimmy was astonished and filled with awe by the brilliant aurora that shot its many-colored flames far over the zenith. Among the older men of the Cree band Jimmy made no friends. This was natural, for a brave had little time for a child. But of course his presence was remarked by them, and received much discussion. Now it happened that in the Cree band was a French half- breed, Antoine Lavio- lette, who in winter was a post-keeper for the Hudson Bay Company, but who in summer preferred io8 THE MAGIC FOREST if to travel with his savage kinsmen. One evening Jimmy was vastly astonished to be addressed by this man. It was the first English the little boy had heard since old Makwa had questioned him. " Ullo ! " he said ; " how you do ? " " Hullo ! " replied Jimmy. In ten minutes they were chatting to gether familiarly. And from that time on, Jimmy had a new interest in the long twi lights after the evening meal had been eaten. For Antoine Laviolette was in clined by race to talk, and by nature to talk well, and he liked an appreciative audience. " Jeemy ! " he would call. " Com here ! You evaire hear bout dose salt water, how she is come to be no good for drink ? " And then Jimmy, wide-eyed, would hear of the Animal Council and its plottings THE MAGIC FOREST 109 against Si-kak, the great skunk, and how the carcajou helped to -jsg kill him, but was defiled with the oil, and how the carcajou in washing himself tainted the sea-water so that it is unfit to drink. Or he learned why the great Manitou twisted some of the trees so their wood does not split straight, or why the ermine s fur changes from red to white in winter. Or he heard all about Hiawatha, just as you can read about him in Longfellow to no THE MAGIC FOREST this day, the same legends with the same names. It was all very wonderful to him, and it brought very close to him the ani mals of the woods. He came to look on them as the Indian does, not as inferior to himself, but merely as different; or, to put it the other way, he grew to consider himself and his companions as animals of another sort, speaking a different language, and living a different life, but not essentially of different race. So he understood why when a beaver was killed for the Moon Feast, a fillet braided of worsted and doeskin thongs was tied around the animal s tail, and why Ta-wap, the hunter, dressed in his best clothes before going out to kill a bear, and why the cleaned skulls of some beasts were placed on stakes near running water. For though it was necessary that these THE MAGIC FOREST in creatures die, the Ind ians did such honors to their spirits. And now in the Berry Moon\ a sad event - sobered the camp. For little Si-gwan ate of a poisonous mush room, and in spite of the conjuring and the herbs and the charms, she grew sicker and weaker until she died. Then in the teepee of her people was the sound of wailing. The women let loose their hair and scat tered ashes on their heads and raised their voices in lamentations, while Au- mick, the little girl s father, painted his face to represent mourning. ii2 THE MAGIC FOREST The burial services took place in the evening between two great fires. The Indians squatted soberly cross-legged in a circle, all dressed in their finest garments. In the centre was a raised platform of boughs on which lay a birch- bark coffin. Below it sat the bereaved family, their hair and garments in disorder, their eyes downcast. Jimmy huddled near his friend, Antoine Laviolette. In the stillness, the awe of dark and of firelight and of dancing shadows and of a grave, silent people overflowed his little heart. After a long interval old Makwa advanced to the centre of the circle. " Oh, Wabisi, my little sister," said he, addressing the mother, " it is not well that Old Mak\va advanced to the centre of the circle. THE MAGIC FOREST you grieve. For if our daughter had grown, she would many times have been hungry and cold and weary. But now where she has gone there is no hunger nor cold, and there is no weariness. Therefore you should be glad." He stooped and slashed his knife twice through the birch bark of the coffin. " Oh, Kitche manito ! " he cried, "these places do I cut that our daughter s spirit may come and go as she wills it, that she may visit us sometimes, that she may see our little sister, Wabisi, when she is very sad." Again he turned to the mother. " Our daughter is gone, oh, my little sister," he continued, "but on the day when Pau-guk 1 takes 1 The Death Spirit. n6 THE MAGIC FOREST you, then you shall see her again. But she will be all changed, and you will not know her, but when you enter that Land of the Hereafter, then you must sing always this little song, and so she shall know you." In a surprisingly clear and true tenor old Makwa chanted a weird minor air with tearful falling cadences. "And when she hears that song," he went on, "then she will answer it with this." He sang through another little song. The long-drawn plaintive chords gripped Jimmy s throat so that he sobbed aloud. "And in that way you shall know one another." The young men bore the coffin to a grave that had already been dug a short distance away in the pine groves. After the earth had been filled in, three of the women knelt and deftly put together THE MAGIC FOREST 117 a miniature wigwam of birch bark, com plete in every detail. Then old Makwa began again to speak, addressing the grave in a low tone of confidence. " Oh, Si-gwan, our little daughter," said he, " I place this bow ^ and these ft Ik n arrows in your lodge that ^jf you may be armed on the Long Journey. "Oh, Si-gwan, our little daugh ter, I place this knife in your lodge that you may be armed on the Long Journey. " Oh, Si-gwan, our little daughter, I place these snow-shoes in your lodge that you may be fleet on the Long Journey." And in like manner he deposited in the little wigwam extra moccasins, a model n8 THE MAGIC FOREST canoe and paddle, food, and a miniature robe. Then quietly they all returned to camp, all but Wabisi, the bereaved mother. She huddled on the ground by the grave, her blanket over her head. Jimmy dreamed that night of the silent, motionless figure of . desolation. For three \\ whole days and nights the Indian woman mourned her child, then arose and went about her ordinary duties with unmoved countenance. And the little grave was left to the sun and snow and rain and the mercy of an all-explaining, all-forgetting Nature. THE MAGIC FOREST 119 And now the time had come, at the latter end of the Berry Moon and just before the Many-Caribou-in-the- Woods Moon, to break up the permanent camp. The Crees had to return to Moose Factory at the Hudson Bay, thence to set out for their winter trapping grounds ; the Ojibways were now to retrace their steps to Chap- leau for the purpose of receiving their treaty money from the Canadian govern ment. Jimmy was not aware of the mean ing of this, nor that when once the canoes should breast the current, he would be 120 THE MAGIC FOREST headed toward the railroad again. He only knew that a move was imminent, and was glad of it. The home camp was fun, but the adventures of travelling were better. He * never knew how close he came to being j| taken by the Crees many, many miles farther north to his supposed home at York Factory on the shores of the Hud son Bay. Antoine Laviolette was the lucky element in that. He it was who told the headmen that the child was not a saganash? as they had supposed, but a kitch-mokamen? who lived far south of the Ojibway country. So when the time came to part, Jimmy remained with his old friends. The Ojibways broke camp first, as they had the longer journey to go. When the 1 Englishman. 2 Big knife, i.e. American. THE MAGIC FOREST 121 canoes were all loaded, the Crees came down to wish them a good journey. And then, after the little craft were actually afloat, a dozen young boys dashed into the water for the purpose of dropping presents of fish, game, and ornamented work into the boats of the departing tribe. They waited thus until the latest possible moment in order that the recipi ents of the gifts might not feel called on to return something of equal value. A volley of musketry was answered by another from the canoes. The flotilla moved slowly forward against the current. v. " < CHAPTER V CHAPTER V DAY after day the Magic Forest slipped by. The going was often very difficult against the current, and sometimes Jimmy, with the others, had to step out in the shallow water of a riffle for the purpose of helping along the canoe. Or again the Indians had to push for many miles with poles, or they even had to turn themselves into tow horses and pull while one of their number steered. The banks of the river were stony and sometimes abrupt ; or swampy with deep entangling grasses. When Jimmy had to walk, which was frequently, he found it very hard to keep up, and by night he was com pletely tired out. 127 128 THE MAGIC FOREST But as compensation, the waters swarmed with young ducks, full grown but as yet unable to fly ; and the woods teemed with young partridges which would sit still in trees while he shot arrow after arrow. And every once in a while, where the trees had been blown flat by some old-time storm or burned out by fire, the chil dren would come upon a patch of the delicious wild raspberries, hanging in clusters ready to be stripped into the hands. Then they would stuff themselves and fill bark mokoks l to carry to the canoes. The big black bears were often to be encountered 1 A sort of Indian box. Jimmy learned that a bear with cubs is not to be trifled with. THE MAGIC FOREST 131 in these berry patches. At first Jimmy used to be frightened, but after a little he imitated his companions, who merely raised a shout to scare the beasts away. Once, however, they did not attempt this, but dropped below the cover of the bushes and sneaked cautiously out of range. And Jimmy learned that a bear with cubs is not to be trifled with. Jimmy by now was thoroughly accustomed to his new life. He spoke the Ojibway fluently, if not always with absolute correct ness in the flexible verb forms, and under stood all that was said to him. He liked the other children, and was accepted by them as one of themselves. If occasionally he felt slightly homesick, some new incident of the rapidly changing life drove the feeling almost immediately from his heart. He was not selfish, or without affection, but 132 THE MAGIC FOREST was simply a natural, fe healthy boy, keenly ////// alive to everything about him, and en tirely happy as long as the novelty and the wonder lasted. Now the stream narrowed and became more often broken. One day the band did nine separate portages. The next it glided out into a series of long narrow lakes connected by threads of water that were hardly more than good-sized brooks. Finally, it arrived at a foam -flecked pool at the r^^^-^ 3 ^ foot of a rapid. "Here is s&^ where we found you," Makwa told him. Jimmy looked. It all came back to him THE MAGIC FOREST 133 vividly the cold, the awakening to boulder hills and wraith forest, the struggle through the woods, the Indian canoes leap ing down the rapid. And then his mind followed the natural sequence still farther. He felt the sway and rattle of the train, the good-night kiss on his lips, his mother s caressing voice. "Is it far to New York?" he asked Makwa again. And Makwa, who had been told some things, though vaguely, by Antoine Lavio- lette, answered him as before, "Very far." But beyond that he said nothing, for he knew that now the little boy must leave them, and his heart was sad. An Indian, or indeed any north-country voyageur, for that matter, does not like to arrive at his journey s end late in the after noon. It takes away from the impressive- 134 THE MAGIC FOREST ness of the occasion. Often he prefers to go to camp within fifteen minutes of his destination rather than miss the pomp of an observed entry into town. So in the present instance. Makwa and his people pitched camp just within the fringe of the woods beyond which lay Chapleau and the Canadian Pacific Rail road. But to Jimmy the place looked no different, no nearer civilization than had the point at the junction of the two rivers some hundreds of miles farther north. But that night, after he had rolled him self in his rabbit-skin robe, contrary to his usual custom he did not at once fall asleep. The fire danced with the shadows. Jimmy stared at them wistfully. The thoughts evoked by Makwa s simple words THE MAGIC FOREST would not be downed. For the first time his heart turned with all its power toward the home he had so mysteriously left. One after another the details of it rose before his mind the soft bed, the dainty room, the toys, the quiet servants, the warmed apartments, and above all his beautiful young mother who loved him so deeply. Jimmy swallowed hard. He would like to see them all again. Out in the Magic Forest a little owl was blowing its tin trumpet, ko-ko-ko-oh ! it cried. The shad ows danced, growing huger and more fantastic before the boy s blurred vision. By and by they faded. Jimmy had fallen asleep. But, 136 THE MAGIC FOREST just as four months before, he left con sciousness bearing a great longing in his heart. Then it had been the vision of the Long Trail, bodied by wistful musings through a snow-stained window; now it was a dream of home. A little after two o clock Jimmy threw aside the cover and sat up. Swiftly, yet with movements precise in their certainty, he dressed himself in his day garments. With equal precision he took his way out of the sleeping camp. A voice hailed him. He answered with per fect coherence. In a moment he had gained the clearing, and in a moment more was trudg ing down the broad, dusty street of the little frontier town. Straight ahead he walked, THE MAGIC FOREST 137 his eyes fixed, between the rows of houses. At the foot of the street he turned sharply to the left, mounted accurately a little wooden platform, and turned in the direc tion of a flaring train just bearing down on the primitive station. A sleepy agent spoke to him. Again he answered, but his reply was lost in the roar of the train. In the confusion Jimmy clambered aboard, turned to the right, went directly to Lower 7, parted the curtains, and fell back on the empty berth with a sigh of relief. When the train pulled out a moment later, Jimmy was curled up in a comfortable little ball, his arm tucked under the pillow, and his eyes fast shut. He was finally awakened by a shaft of sunlight that struck him squarely in the face. His first impression was that he had 138 THE MAGIC FOREST been allowed to sleep very late, for it had been the custom of his Indian friends to turn out before the sun had risen above the forest trees. Then his consciousness brought to him a regular clinkety-chnk, clinkety-chnk. In very terror he shut his eyes tight again. After a few moments he ventured to peep. Above him was a dull, polished sur face in which dimly he made out his own figure. To the right were two darkened squares about whose edges streamed the sun. To the left swayed in irregular mo tion the folds of curtains. And the mattress on which he lay swayed, too, in time to the metallic noises of a train s motion. Gradually Jimmy took it all in. He was aided in this experience by that of the morning so long ago when he had as mys teriously found himself on the boulder- THE MAGIC FOREST 139 strewn hillside. The wand of enchantment had waved again. He was back in the train. Of course his father and mother must be near. He parted the curtains and looked out directly into the face of the negro porter. The latter stared. "Wat you a-doin yere ? " he demanded. Then Jimmy swung to the floor, so that not only his head but his buckskin-clad body came into view. " Foh de Lo d ! " ejaculated the porter. Jimmy knew exactly what he wanted to say, but the unaccustomed English words stuck in his throat. At last he managed to stammer. "Where! Mamma?" 140 THE MAGIC FOREST The negro porter was still in a collapse of surprise, but the sleeping-car conductor, who had been approaching, took in the situation at a glance. The whole line had been looking for the lost boy during the last five months. " Is your name Ferris ? " asked the con ductor, sharply. Jimmy nodded. And then there was excitement, you may be sure. Telegrams flew again, but this time they were telegrams of joy. Jimmy s father and mother boarded a west-bound train. All the railroad men and the passengers made much of the little boy. They petted him and gave him things to eat and drink and bought him things to wear. But they could not get him to talk. " Where have you been all this time ? " asked the big conductor. THE MAGIC FOREST 141 " In fairy land/ replied Jimmy, gravely. A shiny commercial traveller laughed long and loud at this reply and at the boy s serious face. After that Jimmy kept silence. They would not believe, so what was the use in telling them ? And late one afternoon two people jumped eagerly aboard the train, and gathered Jimmy up in a great hug composed of laughter and of tears, and so his little heart overflowed, and he realized that in spite of the excitement of the Magic Forest, he had wanted his mother all along. So thereafter he journeyed home with his own people. I 4 2 THE MAGIC FOREST But here too he was forced to silence. " Now tell me all about where you have been," said his mother, after they had all calmed down a little. So Jimmy began to tell them, in fairy-story language, just as Grimm or Andersen would have told of the Ugly Duckling, or some such matter. Mr. and Mrs. Ferris could make neither head nor tail of it. " But, darling," expostulated Mrs. Ferris, " it couldn t have been that way ! When and how did you leave the train ? " " I was trans-ported with a mag-ic wand," explained Jimmy, "and then in the Magic Forest I met Makwa, you see." However, in spite of his ef forts to make every- THE MAGIC FOREST 143 thing plain, they insisted on returning again and again to the same point. Jimmy quickly came to his old conclusion, that grown-ups are stupid. Soon he gave it up altogether. They did not believe. What was the use ? So he locked up the story of the Magic Forest in his little heart along with his firm beliefs in genii and water-babies and brownies and such folk. Try as they might, the grown-ups could never induce him to say another word as to his mysterious five months experience. To all questions he replied vaguely. The only clews they had were the garments he had worn, and the strange syllables he sometimes used, acciden- 144 THE MAGIC FOREST tally in conversation or in naming animals at the zoological parko Mr. Ferris caused diligent inquiry to be made, but learned nothing. Makwa and his band had received their annual bounty, and were now far away in the wilds. And sometimes now, in the twilight, before Morris, the - butler, has come in to light the lamps, little Jimmy tucks his legs under him in the big leather library chair THE MAGIC FOREST *45 and dreams of the enchanted months. He sees once more the dark fringe of the forest, the swirl and glitter of the stream, the colors of the Indian encampment; he hears the dash of the rapids, the cries of beasts, the soft lisping chatter of the Ojibway language; he smells the freshness of balsam, the pun gent wood smoke, the fragrance of new buckskin. One after another the events of the enchanted months rise before his eyes. He sees them all plainly, but without regret, for he is firmly convinced that they are in the hands of the Magician, and so he does not long for them as we long for past pleas- 146 THE MAGIC FOREST ures that might possibly be repeated. But when it is quite dark, and the shadows jump strangely against the black bookcases just as in old times they did against the black forest, visionary things become real, and little Jimmy, staring into the fire, wonders whether he will ever see old Makwa, or Taw-kwo, or Asadi, or pretty little, brown little May-may-gwan again. XJJULB JBWJk JL0 JSUJ1 UJN XAJD UA0X STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE, THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. MAY 31 1946 y/6 -i "C, KM CEC DLD APBT U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES III UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY