Show law LAW A C 1 W X X wi FEATHER 0 harold titus service L CHAPTER LX IX continued U the momentum of the canoe died away it hesitated hanging stationary in in the current then turning about lazily it began slipping backward with the streams flow one end raised high by the weight fallen into the other from his security in the grasses Mong azid watched the craft spun slowly end for end as it drifted into the rip of the current it was set in against the bank below him and the indian rose peering down shaws cheek was pressed to the bottom his mouth was open his eyes closed his bronze had given to a sickly pallor he did not move anade no sound A stain was spreading over the back of his shirt and blood dribbled to the canoe bottom to form a growing pool as vivid in olor color as the ripe berries on their P breary briary ary stalks overhanging him Mong azid waited until the craft lightly touching a snag wheeled itself free and went on then silently bently swiftly he plunged into the forest the canoe would be found three packs of beaver would be his two men had died at his hand now but he might live and about that time burke rick anan an landed at the point where wailing 9 went on giving the lie to the rumor or that he had been driven from his fort by the little trader somberly making inquiry about the death of flat mouths son glaring coldly at the confused basile when he came with his men who bore a newly made coffin he had no fear of shaws men pad had rickman he feared only shaw and shaw was gone following the docent cent he himself had broadcast gone to nose his way into that deadfall so adroitly arranged he had seen capes depart at dawn daum and had bitten his lips in rage suspecting that even while she warned rum him to go gently annette had known the officer would not remain longer well she had frightened him by that strategy last night but the right fright had not been without purpose it had rendered from his temper the plan which was now nearing fruition shaw would be gone his illative dative friends would not suspect him and the girl was still here the girl was still herel here even from the medicine ground he could see resh fresh smoke rising above her en camp fire he would attend her later when he had bad opportunity to let his thoughts settle a bit he would attend her capes was on his way her boatmen would be no de deterring influence for him when he felt ready now hed pull the kittens claws 1 little duck chewed the scorched deer meat as the reports of two shot dhoti 3 reached her ancient ears she sat bat blinking at the fire and in the beginning gave the sounds no heed the little trader has passed this way his gun across the canoe rails before him ready for use probably he had fired at game no matter she did not care what the little trader did she stirred and clamped her jaws mi 01 the shred of meat and jerked iva with ith both hands to tear off a chunk and her watery eyes glittered balefully they had left her behind while they attended the grand medicine it was not goor gooc to be left behind at such a time when whiskey was in prospect she mumbled through the food and stared upstream As good to put the blame on this trader as on any if she blamed her daughters they would only storm at her the harder one could blame the trader and get into a great rage at him and have no names called or suffer no blows nor be chased into the lodge or out of the lodge she stirred a great rage for him paddling up the river here and and shooting at whatever it might have been she stopped chewing after a time and sat very still ruminating but there had been two sh shots close together A man does not load his gun so quickly as that two shots there had been but only one man had gone up the river and the country was empty of people gone to the medicine she grunted it was beyond explaining pla ining the thing that troubled her and about which something could be done was wood and she dragged her laggard leg out behind the lodge and began breaking more branches from the dead top of a maple that furnished her fuel the canoe curiously up ended swung from bend to bend now and then it beached lightly and hung so eo at times for many moments then the working of its high end or the undermining action of the current on the sand beneath the bottom would effect liberation here and there overhanging brush caught and delayed it once it rested against a snag tor for many minutes the high bow weaving and bobbing as the current threatened to drive the upstream ran rail under and let i it fill shaw had not moved until then the stain of red had drenched his shirt the pool about his cheek had grown large and then lost brightness as blood ceased flowing his face was white eyes closed but the mouth was closed now too and lie he moaned m 0 a n e d lightly a bubbling sound Monga weapon had been a trade musket and the sight was coarse the canoe beneath him listed and bobbed tethered by a mere touch A splash of water ran over the rail wetting his knees sloshing slashing shing about the one wrist it was cool it laved caved the pulse the dip which let the water in liberated the craft and it floated on down the current after it passed the third bend the hand spread laxly on the bottom closed slowly as though with great effort and the man moaned again he tried to move he drew the hand up and pushed with it he stirred one knee straining to shove his hips upward then slumped back while the canoe rocked alarmingly the shift raised the one end still higher the tops of the trees were bowing to a steady breeze now lie ile was cold trembling the breeze found more purchase on the drifting craft speeding its progress shaw however did not stir again the blood stain showed bright with fresh wetting there I 1 little duck was done now she had branches enough to warm her when night came and before she crawled into her robes she stood panting resting muttering that it was not good for the old to be left alone she stared hard up the river A canoe un paddled floating in a crazy trim with someone in it two shots a canoe floasin floating g idly a man lying in the bottom she was beyond concern for others this old woman so many things had happened that she did not care much what happened further except that it was not good to be alone when rum is doled out she would not have been alone either had she a canoe but the others had taken them all she could not walk far with the withered leg or she would have followed by land but here was a canoe a gift from gitche manidok Mani dou the lodge pole though it was dry and light was a burden for her especially when she tried to extend it far but she got the large end against her and grasped it at arms length and waded into the stream and let it drop across the canoe she drew the craft in and panting grasped its rail letting the pole go she did not look closely at shaw until she had the canoe safely grounded in the shallows then she stooped and peered at him and asked what is done to you he did not answer and she leaned lower touching his cheek she began to nod the flesh was cold his shirt was punctured blood was over it and in the canoe bottom he had been shot he was dead well death does not matter she had seen much of death it had come close to her many times but one does not wail for a trader who measures his liquor by the drop one thinks only of the rum and that here is a canoe she moved around the end of the craft to be outside and began lifting at it little duck rocked the canoe many times but could not turn it over she dragged it afloat moved it a short short distance downstream and tried again the bottom now rested 01 a log which made rocking easier the log was close to shore not an arms length away she rocked and rocked rolling the he canoe in wider arcs and finally all her strength into putting one heave end she had it on its beams great the trader rolled out all in a heap with his feet across the e rail head and shoulders in the grass she let the canoe down again and his feet fell with a heavy splash into the river he lay there face to the sun eyes closed he looked dead tickled her lips with her tongue her eyes were bright as she took hold of the withered leg with one hand and lifted the foot after many grunts inside she fell into the canoe after the foot and it rocked violently but did not tip her out she got onto the middle cross piece and picked up the paddle her breath was quick I 1 and her eyes bright as traders bu buttons she had a canoe and a fair wind wind down the lake they had left her behind but she had a canoe bowl the trader was dead but that did not matter she had a canoe and whiskey was down there at the medicine lodge an odd sort of consciousness came from that buzzing void out yonder to rodney shaw it was a throbbing coming and going recognition of heat and cold and pain surging forward swinging backward coming again a rhythm of agony he le moaned from the torment of the sun in his hatt half closed eyes he could not bring the lids together the glaring light beat into his brain to stir agonies and mingle them with other agonies already there he rallied all his strength and will in an attempt to shut those eyes wholly and failed he knew then that he must turn his head tremendous task I 1 he tried to think steadily about it but could not the buzzing all about got in the way of thought he braced himself finally and tried the effort made him pant and moan but he achieved the sun no longer beat into his brain instead of torturing him it was comforting with its warmth his back his shoulder one whole half of his torso burned a and n d throbbed and stung his throat was dry and clogged his head seemed pressed about with a metal meta I 1 band drawn tight against the skull and his feet ached with cold in truth they did not feel like his feet at all they seemed to be nothing another end of existence the pole of cold as against the pole of heat A realization that half of him lay in water beat its way through the confused roaring that had been only a buzz he tried to shove himself to a sitting posture and could not nol he coughed and moaned from the coughing he felt his breast with one hand worked it through the front of his shirt and started to tear the leather away from where it stuck to the flesh but that was such exquisite agony that the fingers went limp as did the rest of him quickly consciousness faded the sun was lowered when sense returned in that surging retreating rhythm he was cold trembling he rolled his eyes to see all that was possible A lodge a clearing in birches he gasped remembering mem bering the old woman zhe but his voice failed he tried to concern himself with wonder as to what had happened why he was here but it was difficult to concentrate on wonder what had happened did not matter so much anyhow nothing mattered much except cold and pain if he had a fire now he might he got himself over to his belly and after an age of struggle to his hands and knees dry brush was there by the ashes of a fire probably the ashes covered coals it if he could blow them up and get blaze licking into that fuel but he crashed down like a wounded bear and lay shuddering while the ability to know about surroundings and try to help himself went drifting away into a vague noisy dis tance which came close and presse pressed d about him the burial of a chiefs son swung into its full ceremony the rough coffin which basile had constructed was daubed vermilion and on either cither side done crudely in black was a figure of a crane the flat mouth totem the youths body lay in its finest clothing soft yellow do eskins embroidered broi dered with beads and quills about the throat was a necklace of bear claws and the head rested on his medicine sack beside him reposed gun powder and shot and new flints eagle feathers had been placed upon his breast and at his feet were six beaver traps wailing was unbroken even while old men made talks many had spoken high praise for the departed hunter and now a young man a friend of flat mouth stood beside the bier and recounted the virtues of the dead and slashed his own breast with his knife to make known how deep was his grief and so in the midst of all this interest centering about the painted box none noticed the canoe that came down the lake bearing a single slight figure who paddled first on this side then on that risking disaster in the growing seas but keeping on eyes avid and mouth open in expectation the ceremony was down wind little duck could not hear the wailing but she could see a crowd and went the faster as she drew near however it was with amazement that she limped up the beach leaving th the canoe broadside to the breaking seas and saw what she saw where is rum she asked a man who passed her flat fiat mouths son is dead was his response L little ittle duck stood a long moment and the fire of avidity died in her ey eyes es no whiskey too late her lips moved as she mumbled she hitched the draggled dragg led blanket close about her withered neck with an angered flip of one arm no whis whiskey keyl 1 she had come this way for whiskey her old voice lifted in one tri imprecation on the evil manidok which had not let the trader be slain sooner and then eyes bright with a new fire turned to the trampled beach she bent over and with scrawny hands raked up a mound of mud she lifted it smeared her head with it rubbed her palms on a charred stick and daubed her face with black then tearing it at the strands of her stringy hair hobbling hastily chin held high as she began her wailing she joined the circle whiskey was gone but mourning was to be donel an hour afterward it was that her eldest daughter confronted little duck who brought you she demanded sharply 1 I come old I 1 may be m many any winters old but my hands can still wield the paddle come I 1 will show you the canoe that I 1 paddled my seul self I 1 others were listening and looking and proudly living at last another moment as a center of attention little duck led them to the beach chattering and pointing to the canoe her daughters husband grunted whose blood she did not reply she gabbled babbled more shrilly the man who had questioned little duck nodded ile he grasped his cifes mother by the arm and wrenched her about cutting off her cackling make your tongue silent tl he said severely how flow comes blood in in the little traders trader s c canoe a noe W where 11 ere is is the little trader the old woman glared at him TO BE CONTINUED |