



Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.









THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS.




UNIFORM WITH THIS BOOK.

_THE CORAL ISLAND. MARTIN RATTLER. UNCAVA._



[Illustration: Pierre was standing over the great kettle. "_The Young
Fur Traders_]" Frontispiece



SNOWFLAKES AND SUNBEAMS; OR, THE YOUNG FUR-TRADERS

A Tale of the Far North.


BY ROBERT MICHAEL BALLANTYNE




PEEFACE.

In writing this book my desire has been to draw an exact copy of the
picture which is indelibly stamped on my own memory. I have carefully
avoided exaggeration in everything of importance. All the chief, and
most of the minor incidents are facts. In regard to unimportant
matters, I have taken the liberty of a novelist--not to colour too
highly, or to invent improbabilities, but--to transpose time, place,
and circumstance at pleasure; while, at the same time, I have
endeavoured to convey to the reader's mind a truthful impression of the
_general effect_--to use a painter's language--of the life and country
of the Fur Trader.

EDINBURGH, 1856.






CHAPTER I Plunges the reader into the middle of an arctic winter;
conveys him into the heart of the wildernesses of North America; and
introduces him to some of the principal personages of our tale

CHAPTER II The old fur-trader endeavours to "fix" his son's "flint,"
and finds the thing more difficult to do than he expected

CHAPTER III The counting-room

CHAPTER IV. A wolf-hunt in the prairies; Charley astonishes his father,
and breaks in the "noo'oss" effectually

CHAPTER V Peter Mactavish becomes an amateur doctor; Charley
promulgates his views of things in general to Kate; and Kate waxes
sagacious

CHAPTER VI Spring and the voyageurs

CHAPTER VII. The store

CHAPTER VIII. Farewell to Kate; departure of the brigade; Charley
becomes a voyageur

CHAPTER IX. The voyage; the encampment; a surprise

CHAPTER X. Varieties, vexations, and vicissitudes

CHAPTER XI. Charley and Harry begin their sporting career without much
success; Whisky-John catching

CHAPTER XII. The storm

CHAPTER XIII. The canoe; ascending the rapids; the portage;
deer-shooting and life in the woods

CHAPTER XIV. The Indian camp; the new outpost; Charley sent on a
mission to the Indians

CHAPTER XV. The feast; Charley makes his first speech in public; meets
with an old friend; an evening in the grass

CHAPTER XVI The return; narrow escape; a murderous attempt, which
fails; and a discovery

CHAPTER XVII The scene changes; Bachelors' Hall; a practical joke and
its consequences; a snow-shoe walk at night in the forest

CHAPTER XVIII The walk continued; frozen toes; an encampment in the snow

CHAPTER XIX Shows how the accountant and Harry set their traps, and
what came of it

CHAPTER XX The accountant's story

CHAPTER XXI Ptarmigan-hunting; Hamilton's shooting powers severely
tested; a snow-storm

CHAPTER XXII The winter packet; Harry hears from old friends, and
wishes that he was with them CHAPTER XXIII Changes; Harry and Hamilton
find that variety is indeed, charming; the latter astonishes the former
considerably

CHAPTER XXIV Hopes and fears; an unexpected meeting; philosophical talk
between the hunter and the parson

CHAPTER XXV Good news and romantic scenery; bear-hunting and its results

CHAPTER XXVI An unexpected meeting, and an unexpected deer-hunt;
arrival at the outpost; disagreement with the natives; an enemy
discovered, and a murder

CHAPTER XXVII The chase; the fight; retribution; low spirits and good
news

CHAPTER XXVIII Old friends and scenes; coming events cast their shadows
before

CHAPTER XXIX The first day at home; a gallop in the prairie, and its
consequences

CHAPTER XXX Love; old Mr. Kennedy puts his foot in it

CHAPTER XXXI The course of true love, curiously enough, runs smooth for
once; and the curtain falls






CHAPTER I.

Plunges the reader into the middle of an Arctic winter; conveys him
into the heart of the wildernesses of North America; and introduces him
to some of the principal personages of our tale.


Snowflakes and sunbeams, heat and cold, winter and summer, alternated
with their wonted regularity for fifteen years in the wild regions of
the Far North. During this space of time the hero of our tale sprouted
from babyhood to boyhood, passed through the usual amount of accidents,
ailments, and vicissitudes incidental to those periods of life, and
finally entered upon that ambiguous condition that precedes early
manhood.

It was a clear, cold winter's day. The sunbeams of summer were long
past