University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

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22 THE ARIEL, 1908 and contains at the end a longer dash, indeed a whole series of dashes. The elements were his chief enemies, even in sleep. In his little tent the night- horse, as he called the midnight horror, was frequently active, snorting, kicking, careening, cavorting, and, when in response to groans and cries, we would rush to the rescue, the sufferer would emerge trembling from 'fhigh black rolling waves, in which dream-canoe and man had been engulfed. It was characteristic of him that he slept with an air-pillow, to use as a life-preserver in these watery visions. Yet time has its revenges-even so short a time as a month of canoeing. VVe salts, trained to double-reef breezes, might laugh at Wfilliam, when the wind was having its way on a wide sweep of water, but in streams that were at once narrow, swift and shallow the tables were turned. Then he easily dominated the rush and whirl of things, and none of us, for a moment, disputed his mastery. Wlieii the Matabitchouan, like the overrated cataract at Lodore, came flying and flinging, writhing and wringing, eddying and whisking, spouting and frisk- ing, turning and twisting around and around,', VVilliam was in his glory. I-Iis quick paddle would guide his companion and himself safely past all dangers down into deep, smooth water, while we, in the other canoe, would be poised on a rock, or jammed side-on against a log in the middle of the rapids. Bow-oar and stern-oar would fbandy amenities: 'fLook out, old fellow, where you are steeringlu Keep her stern up-stream!l' For heaven's sake, pole, pole, don't paddle! There, we are stuck fast! In this futile word-play, Wfilliam would take no part, but would come leaping and splashing to the rescue. The jerk of a rope, the pry of a paddle, and Qhurrahlj we would be free-perfectly free to repeat the mishap a few yards further on, despite my wild strokes and Anson's ingenious theories. More distress for the unlucky wights and more work for VVilliam! Here as elsewhere his training progressed rapidly, violently. Fish, flesh and fowl were in little danger from 'William. In darkest Africa or in his Utopia of sport, far-away Pembroke, he may have been a mighty hunter 5 but he gave no proof of his lore. Cn the contrary, his sporting sugges- tions awoke in us a noble doubt, whether he had ever handled gun or rod. Advice to keep the canoe close to the sandy shore that we might perchance get a pistol-shot at partridges feeding, or to whip with a fly, greasily supplemented by a bit of pork, a broad lake for brook trout was not greeted by us very seriously. Even Anson's broken revolver, and the Hy-book that had so long ago served Harris' grandfather, the Bishop, knew better than that. Hunting was, however, barred in the Temagami Forest: so VVilliam's land- functions were only two, he was porter and he was cook. Said to us once a guide of sterner stuff and stronger frame than our master-disciple: I've done in my life a lot of low-down things I hadnft oughter. But I aint never yet asked a man to help me with my canoe at a portage. There were blots of this

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THE ARIEL, 1908 21 portage into Lady Evelyn Lake. Nowhere in Canada, he wailed, was there such another carry. He shuddered in telling of the mighty cliffs, up which one sobbingly struggled even under the lightest pack, of the sharp rocks that pierced the toughest leather and of the fallen trees that beset the way in scores. It was known as The Giants Portage, and its mastery was a day's work for ordinary men. As it would be madness to attack this monster, jaded as we were by a days paddling in the rain, we must go into camp early and win, by many hours of rest, fresh strength for the morning assault, On the morrow, with icy tremors of apprehension coursing through our bones, we drew near to the spot of horror. Long was the agony deferred, until all on a sudden it flashed upon us that we were beholdiug the scene of a miracle. In the fashion of those cloud-capped towers of Prospero, the Giant .Portage had dissolved and like this insubstantial pageant faded left not a rack behind. And with its magical crumbling fell also to pieces the prestige of Wfilliam. At one blow he was unkinged from head to heel. Henceforth he might prate at will of lions in the way: ears were deaf, and eyes were fixed upon maps. The pupils now took their seat in the masters chair. As men of the coast bred on beaches with salt always in our nostrils, we had, I fear, but an imperfect sympathy with W'illiam's hatred of high wind and broad water. Like all of his kind he was totally ignorant of swimming: and, as a not unnatural consequence, erred from excess of caution. Despite our angry protests he would cling to a breaker-beaten shore rather than cross a lake in a breezeg and his fears at such times would furnish apprehensions enough to serve during a stormy ocean-voyage. The climax of his woes was reached one boisterous day, when we were fighting a head wind on the widest stretch of Temagami. The blast -became to him a savage personal enemy whom he loaded with reproaches, with bitter irony urging' the eternally condemned creature to blow, blow, blow. Through the centuries, Boreas has doubtless become pretty well accustomed to fervid exhortationsz- Blow, northern wind Send thou me my sweeting! Blow, northern wind, blow, blow, blow! But never since old Neptune's angry dressing down of the winds in the Aeneid passage, familiar to our school-days, had the poor fellows suffered such an uncomfortable quarter of an hour. And do you presume upon your birth? Dare you, winds, without my sovereign leave to embroil heaven and earth, and raise such mountains? Wfhom Il That is Mr. Bohn's reading of Vii-gil's lines: VVil1iam's version, while far more spirited, is less suited to ears polite

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THE ARIEL, 1908 23 sort on VVilliam's scutcheon, but they were not very large nor black. Aid in tossing up or in putting down his -boat he often asked and always eagerly wel- comed, but once the burden was on his shoulders, he bore it readily enough- not, however, always placidly. There was that mile-long portage out of the Bass Lakes into the Matabitchouan-in all Ontario there is probably no steeper nor more slippery carry than that. I had just arisen mournfully from an ignominious tumble, which had sent lantern, axe and maple-sugar tin far into the bushes, and which had rolled my packs wildly over the sloping rocks, when I saw, a few rods ahead, VVilliam and his birch-bark plunge heavily downwards. I-Iow he extricated himself I have no idea, but, when I reached the spot, he was executing the war-dance and emitting the tribal yells of his Indian ancestors, and now and again punctuating his song of frenzy by sundry savage kicks aimed at the boat, the innocent and sensitive cause of his downfall. The chief object- lesson in our Summer School that morning was founded on the adapted text: He whose spirit is without restraint is like a CCIIZOU that is broken down and hath no bark. To the Cook whom the Canterbury Pilgrims Uhadde with hem for the nonesi' and who coude roste and sethe and broille and frye, 'William bore only a very distant relation. And what I tell of him might, I suppose, be narrated with a changed name of every guide in Ontario, who deigns to handle pots and pans. To me as self-appointed director of our culinary department fell the duty of discovering VVilliamls limitations, and they were certainly not very far to seek. Of three things he had no more conception than a child-quantity, quality and order. Porridge would be served for eight, coffee for four, bacon for two. VVhether the larder was well stocked or almost bare, Wfilliam never knew, and not knowing would vaunt riches or bemoan needs that had nothing in common with our real possessions or wants. VVe have no bread -investiga- tion would disclose five loaves. Plenty of sugar! -that with only a cupful in reserve. As with amount, so with kind. In some strange fashion all labels were early washed from the tinsg and comic was the dazed uncertainty with which he fumbled, as in a grab-bag, among his sealed provisions. It was the merest toss-up whether his can-opener would reveal peas or corn, tongue or' beef, condensed milk or evaporated cream. Passing strange, too, was the se- quence of his preparations: the boiling of coffee always preceded the frying of bacon and the cooking of potatoes, with disastrous consequences to the warmth of food and drink. Qnce, in an insane moment, he essayed the making of bread, but the attempt was received with such hoary banter and antiquated jeer and gibe that he fortunately never repeated this. And yet such a sauce is the appetite of the bush, that even here in a land of plenty I should be willing to barter many delicacies with high-sounding Gallic names for the products of VVilliam's camp- fire. A bit of his smoked bacon now would have more than the reminiscent flavor of Thackeray's bouillabaisse.