Read Online Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat - Free Book Online Page A

free hand, found a rock, and with one heavy blow ended the fight. Then he dragged his prize up on the bank.
    It was worth looking at. Four feet long, it would have tipped the scales at more than forty pounds. Its gleaming flanks were heavily speckled with crimson and gold. Its huge mouth was as big as a Husky dog’s, and set with hundreds of sharp teeth.
    Happily Awasin shouldered the big trout and carried it to camp. He was so pleased by his victory that all thoughts of danger had momentarily vanished from his mind and he did not even remark on the fire that Jamie had built—after an hour of trying.
    Jamie stared incredulously at the giant fish, then snatching his knife began slicing off thick steaks of the pink, salmonlike meat. In a few minutes the morning air was heavy with the smell of roasting fish, and the boys began to stuff themselves.
    When they were completely full they found that they had hardly made an impression on the pile of steaks Jamie had cut off.
    â€œWe must not waste it,” Awasin said. “It may be a while before we have a catch like this again. We’ll smoke and dry the rest of it.”
    Setting a number of flat stones on edge around the fire, the boys hung strips of trout over them. Then they piled wet moss on the coals, heedless of the smoke that rose straight into the pale sky. The heavy smoke curled around the fillets, and they began to darken and to dry.
    As the boys sat watching, the words that neither one had wished to speak came unbidden to Jamie’s lips.
    â€œWe’d better face it,” he said quietly. “We’re in a mess right to our necks. And through my fault. Telie-kwazie and Etzanni will never find us now—and we’ll never find them either.”

 

    CHAPTER 10
    The Great Stone House
    T HOUGH THE BOYS KNEW THAT NO Chipeweyans would dare come up the river while the Eskimos were about, the situation was not yet hopeless. Jamie’s leg was better. The weather was still good, and it would be possible to travel across the plains on foot for another two or three weeks without serious difficulty. But which direction should they go?
    The Killing Place would certainly be deserted by the time they could get through. And to attempt on foot thelong journey all the way south to the forests was out of the question. There was only one alternative.
    There was a strong probability that Denikazi was still in the vicinity of Idthen-seth for, even if he had met the deer, he would need several days to make his hunt and to dry the meat for transportation home. From the ridge by the Great Stone House the boys could clearly see the mountain called Idthen-seth, and they estimated it was not more than thirty miles away.
    Sitting by the fire in gloomy silence, both Awasin and Jamie separately came to the conclusion that their only hope lay in traveling west to intercept Denikazi.
    â€œThings may not be so bad,” Awasin said. “I think we stand a chance of meeting Denikazi if we can get across to Frozen Lake River. It’s high ground all the way, so we wouldn’t have trouble crossing streams and muskegs as we would going south.”
    â€œIt’s the only thing we can do, I suppose,” Jamie replied. “But if we get there too late…” He left the sentence unfinished.
    â€œWe won’t!” Awasin reassured him. “Anyway, we can’t wait here.”
    They discussed the plan in detail and decided that they would have to move as soon as they could, and at top speed. However, there was no use starting until Jamie’s leg was a little better. In the meantime Awasin undertook to catch more trout so they would be sure of having food once they left the river.
    Left alone at camp, Jamie limped about gathering twigs and moss for use in drying the fish. On one trip from the fireplace he came under the shadow of the stone structure on the ridge, and stopped to glance up at it.
    His curiosity about the Great Stone House had