Chapter 6 – Thin Ice
"I can see the mountains!" Rose expressed with delight from her window seat aboard the Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train.
Indiana didn't look up. He had been mesmerized by the small sketch given to him a day earlier by Dr. Rutherford. David had dozed off a little after 4:00pm.The traveling trio had been fortunate enough to be the only passengers in that particular train car.
"Tongue of Ice" Indiana thought aloud as he leaned into the wall.
Indiana was force to relieve his eyes from their industrious duties as they entered the darkness of a train tunnel.
They must have used truck loads of dynamite to blast these travel routes straight through the mountains. Indiana mulled as he tilted his head back to rest on the seat.
Dynamite!, I still have a small bundle of dynamite sticks carefully concealed in the back of my pants between my belt and my waistband! Indiana grinned at his accidental cleverness.
Indiana's thoughts were interrupted by Rose's startled gasp. They had just exited the midnight tunnel and were blasted with sunlight once again. Statue-like in the aisle beside them, towered a solemn figure dressed in raw beaded leather from head to toe. His thick ebony hair was folded into two tight braids and ornamented with colorful threads. The stranger wore no expression on his face but his stance delivered the message that they should allow him to break the ice.
"Dr. Jones?" the native man finally spoke in a stern, but less intimidating, manner.
"Yes." Indiana responded in surprise as held out his hand and rose quickly from the comfort of his cushioned window seat.
The man did not reciprocate the standard greeting gesture. After a moment, Indiana withdrew his hand.
"How did you…?" David asked as his head scanned the room for entrances.
"I am here to collaborate on this crucial mission." responded the man in unexpected proper English.
"I am Omisi." The native man continued.
His name in Cree means 'This way'. Indiana consulted his recollections of the aboriginal language classes he was now thankful that he had pursued.
"I am acquainted with Dr. and Mrs. Rutherford. They have contacted me with this critical situation. I must be involved in this search." The man explained blatantly and then reverted to silence.
Each of the three adventurers, in turn, introduced themselves and acquainted Omisi with the happenings from the past several days. Omisi stood like a pillar as he listened to recounts of miners, tipples, Earls, and cricket infestations without gesturing even once. That is until Rose described their escape from Three Hills using such clever disguises. Omisi raised an impressed eyebrow unintentionally for only a second. The conversation was followed by another period of unbearable silence.
David ventured to melt the tension. "Have you ever seen the Muskwa knife and sheath?"
Indiana's eyes widened. Rose moved in closer.
Omisi blasted David with confirming glare. Then, as if he could bear the façade any longer, Omisi exhaled slowly and looked to the sprinting horizon beyond the train window.
As the train gently rocked the weary scientists, and resting teacher, Omisi began to share the authentic depiction of events leading to the disappearance of the Muskwa knife and sheath.
"The elders spoke of a particular hunting excursion many, many moons ago – before the Europeans had come to our land." Omisi continued. "A young adolescent, on his first hunt, strayed from the group of more experienced hunters to investigate what he hoped were moose tracks."
The three travelers hung on every word.
"The young hunter came across a bear in a clearing. It had seemed that there was no escape and the hunter was beginning to panic. He suddenly heard a voice, like it was coming from inside his head – walk forth for your people."
Omisi changed his intonation to create suspenseful mystery. Rose couldn't help but notice Omisi's skilled story telling abilities. This was not the expressionless man that stood before them moments earlier.
"The hunter bravely stepped forward toward the great bear. He stopped and closed his eyes in trust mere steps away. The bear opened its mammoth jaw and moaned a terrifying bawl. The hunter could feel the bear's scorching wet breath cover him entirely."
David's eyes widened.
"After what seemed to be an eternity, the hunter felt a soothing cool breeze beckoning him to awaken. Muskwa had disappeared and a gift was left at the hunter's feet."
"The knife!" Rose couldn't help but blurt.
"Yes, the hunter had proven himself."
"And the sheath?" Indiana ventured.
"The sheath came many moons later and has added a new challenge for the Cree people. There was a time when my people used the knife and sheath for protection. When the Europeans came, it was the people who needed to protect the knife."
The three audience members were visibly moved by the true meaning behind the artifact.
Omisi continued. "During the time of the fur trade, a young girl was given an important task by her moosham. The young hunter I spoke of earlier was, by this point in time, a grandfather and he knew it was time to pass the knife on. He chose his vibrant young granddaughter to honor, protect, and share the knife ."
Omisi cleared his throat and continued. "She was to make a unique sheath to protect the knife for many years to come. The young girl I speak of was my mother."
"How did the knife and sheath end up in Earl James Carnegie's hands?" Indiana quizzed, never quite believing Mr. Coulee's version.
"My moosham and my young mother went to the fur trading post to trade beaver pelts before the winter set in. As they went alone, my grandfather brought the knife and sheath to protect them on their journey back through the darkened forest."
"Those frauds never mentioned a girl." David added.
"They would not have seen her. My grandfather had her wait safely out of the bustle of trade, hidden by the river."
"My grandfather was never seen again and an explanation was never given to my ancestors. The true mystery lies in the legend of my grandfather's escape. It is believed that he was able to use the protective powers to reclaim the knife and sheath and transcend the impermeable walls of the fort in the middle of the night."
"Could someone in the fort have taken the knife? Indiana deducted.
"No one was permitted to enter or leave the fort for five days. After abandoning their interrogations within, they expanded their search outside the walls of the fort. I am certain, Dr. Jones, that the knife was nowhere near the fort then and is part of no collection now." Omisi confirmed.
"The tongue of ice?" Indiana inquired hopefully.
"That is precisely the reason that my cousin, whom you are acquainted with, sent for me. The knife and sheath was a gift from nature and must stay in nature – not a glass case or as an advantage in hunting for sport."
"Mrs. Rutherford sent you? David asked after piecing yesterday's visit to the library together his mind.
Omisi nodded staring straight ahead. "We are here."
That instant the train exhaled. The newly formed team did not detect the menacing crew of miners and their two treasure-crazed leaders departing the train ten cars behind them.
"We have made good time." Rose observed two hours later as the four bundled hikers stood at the bottom of the Bow Glacier which snaked between two mountains.
"This glacier extended to that boulder far beyond those trees, when I was a boy." Omisi explained as he guided their sight with his finger.
"The map seems to indicate that we need to find a cave on the right side, near what appears to be a basin formed in the land." Indiana was anxious.
They began the walk up the breathtakingly beautiful field of ancient ice, taking care to tread lightly. The oxygen began to fade as they increased in elevation.
"We must be careful on these glacier fields. One wrong step and we shall not return – hypothermia sets in quickly when you are jammed deep in a crevice of ice and water." David reminded his friends with almost parental concern.
"I see the cave!" Rose stopped and pointed, "It is not as big as I had imagined."
Omisi, then Indiana, Rose, and finally David cautiously entered the slender weathered opening to the shallow cave of rock and ice. On the wall before them was the original map. One very prominent difference, however, stood out. The knife had not been included in the sketch of the map but had been painted quite clearly on the wall.
"They weren't finished making the sketch!" Indiana figured aloud. "But more importantly, what stopped the geologists from finishing the sketch."
"Would there happen to be a waterfall nearby?" David asked Omisi as he pointed to the area of the cave painting, not recorded on the sketch. "I can see the knife and sheath drawn a third of the way up the waterfall.
Omisi moved to inspect the wall further.
"Until now, I had only known of the tongue of ice." Omisi stopped for a further moment of study.
"The Weeping Wall." Indiana calmly concluded.
Omisi slowly turned passed a combination of admiration and bewilderment in Indiana's direction.
"The Weeping Wall is the flat side of a nearby mountain which drains melting glacier water through cracks and crevices in its face. It gives the illusion of tears streaming down the mountain." Indian smiled.
"I read a lot." Indiana defended his find.
Excitedly, the four discoverers turned and ducked out of the cave. Indiana stopped for one last viewing of this natural exhibit.
"Dr. Jones, so glad you changed your mind." seethed a voice from a not so distant past.
"Dr. Jones!" Indiana spun around to see Omisi and David with their hands raised and Rose being held hostage by the largest of the pick axe wielding miners.
"Where to now, my meddling little expeditionist?" The Earl Richard's inquiry oozed with sarcasm.
There was a pause as though Indiana was actually contemplating guiding the treacherous thugs to the knife. And then he smiled and rushed forward, pulling his hands from behind his back.
"I hope you fellas bundled up." Indiana winked as he yanked the packaged sticks of dynamite from his lower back and shoved them into a small crack in the ice.
"See you at the bottom." Indiana spun his whip and lassoed Rose around the waist, roping her in his direction.
The thunderous explosion of the dynamite paled in comparison to the deafening rumble of the avalanche which immediately followed. Ice and water rolled and rushed down the ancient graveled slope. Arms, legs, screams were tossed with nature's debris as gravity took over. Moments later there was the hissing of mist, then silence.