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Show THERIVERof SKULLS 'mW h George Marsh yi? t C PENN PUBLISHING CO. 1 WNV SERVICB from this winter, we'll own the world, I tell you, lad! We'll own the world!" "Own the world?" Alan's dark brows lifted. "When we have a good talk, you'll understand," assured McCord. "Heather, Alan and I are going to set the net at the island. We need fish for the dogs." The girl's fine brows drew together togeth-er as she looked her disappointment. disappoint-ment. "Why can't I go, too, dad? You'll take Alan away and stay till supper." "You'll have plenty of chance to see him later. We've got some plans to talk over now." Alan followed McCord down to the canoe wondering if the story he was about to hear would shake his faith in the man he had promised to accompany into the blue tundra that rolled away into the north. But what did it matter? He was in the same pass as John McCord. By tricking and deserting the police, he, also, had become a hunted man an outlaw. They paddled up to the island and set the gill-net in the thoroughfare on the side of the nearest shore, where the fish traveled at night! Then, lighting their pipes the two sat down on two small boulders facing fac-ing each other. "First I want to know about the police and Noel and how you got away with the dogs," said McCord. "I told them we had met you in the headwater lakes of the Mad River. Riv-er. So Noel and I took them there. We always camped with water between be-tween us to keep the dogs apart. Four nights back, Noel started for "The name was strange. She's "s: ed fveral. It was her knowing S" fellow- McQueen. Alan, those birds are not police!" Cameron's jaw dropped as he stared at the other,g grinnl f Not police?" "No. and she's got nothing to do with the government!" "But I don't understand! They had regular government papers-signed papers-signed in Quebec, identifying them and ordering all fur-posts to give them assistance. I made McQueen show me his badge. They must be McCord threw back his head and blew a great cloud of smoke from his mouth. "Those papers were forged! These men are looking for me, all right. Alan, my lad, and she's their partner, but they're not police." "And you're not wanted by the government?" McCord slowly shook his blond head. Then he asked: "Did this Mrs. Hanbury look like a murdered woman to you?" "A murdered woman? What d'you mean?" "You heard I was wanted for the murder of my wife." "Yes." McCord gazed across the river up to the shoulders of the tundra above the forest as he said bitterly: "Mrs. Hanbury is my wife." "Your wi Heather's mother?" A heavy load suddenly lifted from Alan's Al-an's shoulders as he realized what this startling revelation of John McCord Mc-Cord meant. John not an outlaw a wanted man! He, Alan Cameron, SYNOPSIS . vounK trapper, Noel, his '.'nd Roush. husky Ungava :'fi vain for the Montagnata ;okn in the desolate Big River 'fCrb Canada. Their sup-wolverines, sup-wolverines, they are 'til on wolf meat until Sed a substantial log Ferness of Talking River, 'Tt ee"d by a big blond '. ,un Introducing himself J hunter, the big man asks i go with him next year If Skulls beyond the Sinking l man Is said to have , Heather McCord. the '!iiad come w ith him to the ' the immediate devotion 0 he eve of Alan's de-. de-. rort Georite. McCord aud-,Jnto aud-,Jnto brinK him back some Tkeen his mouth shut to L cives !!" boy money, "sot to show It at Fort i promises to explain all ned to Fort George. Alan n and Slade. Provincial I Arsene Rivard. clerk, and ' tor Berthe Dessane, with in love. The two police are , euide to the Big River wll-cidentally wll-cidentally Alan drops one of f i, and when questioned. In-i"ot In-i"ot it from Neil Campbell, fe had saved at Whale River .-(ore. He realizes he must ins lie by Suing north and tell before anyone else has ioe to talk to him. Berthes i Alan the police are after a I lor murder, and have hired -eck Alan s story at Whale - beats the police to Whale 0 ,M to Richmond to get his I returns to Fort George. An-nment An-nment acent, a seductive ry arrives bv plane, tries to h' him to tell her the where-cCord where-cCord and his daughter. The e is Berthe's Jealousy. Mis-Berthe's Mis-Berthe's coolness, Alan sus-d sus-d of poisoning her mind. ,e?n asks Alan when they Alan agrees saying they s soon as they can be pre-1 pre-1 says good -by to Berthe. oel, McQueen, Slade, Tru-jtyette Tru-jtyette make the long journey 1 Forks. Junction of the Mad, ird Talking Rivers, all of I Pity for Heather, and the fact that we had pledged each other our friendship," he said. "I knew what you were when I first looked into your pinched face, Alan. I knew you'd stand by. You have. Now I want you to hear my story." And so, there, on the shore of the Talking, John McCord told Alan why he had come into the heart of Labrador, bringing a girl of seventeen seven-teen on a strange quest. The years preceding the World war had found him living in a small town in Ontario with a young wife and a little girl. Occupied as a timber superintendent for a pulp and lumber company, he had been compelled to spend much of his time away from home on va-ious timber limits of his emplrrrers. Pleasure-loving, his wife chafed at his absences, at his limited means. Rumors reached him of her actions in his absence, but he brushed them aside. By the time the war broke out she had left him and Heather. She loved life in the cities and went and found it. Leaving the child with his mother, he enlisted and went over seas. For two years he served in the same battalion with a man who had been a prospector and had talked much of his wanderings from the Yukon to Labrador. After Messines Ridge, where he got the ugly gash on his forehead, McCord found himself in the same hospital with his friend, Aleck Drummond. In Montreal, before the war, Drummond had met a Hudson's Bay man who had once been stationed sta-tioned at Fort Chimo, at the mouth of the great Koksoak River which rises somewhere In the heart of Labrador and flows north into Un-gava Un-gava Bay. "I see, now, why you asked me to talk to Dessane about the Koksoak Kok-soak and the River of Skulls," interrupted in-terrupted Alan. "Wait a minute and you'll understand," under-stand," replied McCord, continuing his narrative. The fur man had been told by some wild Naskapi, who once came to the post, of a branch of the Koksoak Kok-soak called the River of Skulls, because be-cause of a battle between Koksoak Eskimos and Naskapi, in which they had wiped each other completely complete-ly out. Later, then Indians found the bodies, they were afraid to bury them because of the moaning of the spirits of the dead in the gorge above. So the skulls and bones lay strewn along the shore and flats. After this the Indians called it the River of Skulls, and the gorge, The Gorge of the Spirits, Manitou Gorge. "That's exactly the same story Dessane told me!" observed Alan. "Yes, but listen to this," returned McCord, and went on with his tale. One year some Naskapi, more daring than the rest, were camped on the sand flats that reach a long way below this gorge, spearing caribou, cari-bou, for the deer were crossing here and the Indians overcame their fear of the spirits to get the deer. They had built a fire against the roots, full of clay and gravel, of a spruce that had come downstream and grounded on the shore. The heat of the fire softened the blue clay stuck to the roots and one of the Indians noticed some small stones, as he thought, in the clay. He was fooling with them when he realized that the small particles were much too heavy for stones. He scraped off I the clay, and pounding them found them malleable and dull yellow in color. These he brought to Chimo and showed to the Hudson's Bay people. They were nuggets of pure gold. But none of the company men could get away to hunt gold in the interior. It was a long chance, anyway. any-way. This story the Hudson's Bay man told to Drummond. (TU BE COmiMED) "Did you believe their stories that I killed my wife?" .?en Intends to cover in his pen he decides on the Mad ipretends that its headwaters (Lord hideout, and plots with rad McQueen and Slade, and I to Talking Kiver to warn (creding, Alan is warmly wel-eCord wel-eCord and Heather, but tells ty of the search for him for 'TER Vl-Continued -9- i'.ed as his friend paced i deep in thought. This le way a man would act teen suddenly told that I wanted him for crime. IcCord seemed mystified, 1 Noel?" McCord sudden-jEi, sudden-jEi, stopping his pacing, fcim with the police in Iter country of the Mad islipped them and trav-nd trav-nd with the dogs." fcord scowled into Alan's le. "The police came with lr?" dei Then, drawing Mc- j I beyond earshot of the Mtly related what had k his trip to Fort George. H the face of the older ) changed from a picture inazement to one of stark I begin, I want to ask you f' said McCord, swallow-U swallow-U he fought for self-pid self-pid you believe their stopped sto-pped my wife?" ks not the question 6u killed your wife," re-"You re-"You had saved my Nre here with Heather, jrted by your Indians. I fou my promise to come 1 was enough." (blue eyes lit with satis-m satis-m were going to keep whether it was with a ff not, eh?" ft think about it. There aong with you, need-jjw need-jjw had saved my life. ive me your hand." lmen gripped hands as Unwaveringly met. u 1 knew a man when I ontlnued McCord quiet-fe quiet-fe Proved your mettle." f1' to keep this from ie ca.n." Alan's gray L -'ant's face as he um she know-about-S What brought the a free man at Fort George. This McQueen "Yes Heather's mother," repeated repeat-ed McCord, in a strained voice. Inarticulate from the shock of his surprise, Alan allowed his pipe to slip through his fingers to the pebbles peb-bles of the beach. The nightmare through which he had lived had proved, after all, only an ugly dream. "It's wonderful, John, wonderful to know you're not a wanted man!" he cried. "I'm as dazed as a bear in a dead-fall! I can't believe be-lieve it! It's too good to be true! McQueen Slade, putting it over on Fort George that way! Oh, what a joke on them all! What a joke on Noel and me racing them through the ice to reach Neil Campbell!" Alan laughed until he was breathless. breath-less. Then he suddenly sobered, as a look of such bitterness crept over McCord's desolate face that Alan quickly shifted his eyes to the river riv-er while his friend battled with the painful memories. For a long space they sat in silence while they smoked. Then McCord drew a deep breath and turned to his friend. "Not knowing what I was murderer, mur-derer, crook, hunted by the police, you stuck by me through gratitude, the forks with the canoe and, at daylight, I struck straight south cross-country with the dogs to warn you. And here I ami" McCord's eyes lit -with approval. "Here you are and you've walked with a heavy pack to get here." "No, I had to circle some lakes and swamp country, but I had little trouble making it. Tomorrow we must drop downstream to help Noel up river with that canoe load." McCord nodded. "You left them, you say, where they couldn't find their way back to the main stream without a guide, in weeks?" Alan laughed. "That country's a network of lakes and muskeg. They're likely to get into Whale water and be on their way to Lake Bienville before they find out their mistake. They'll be lucky if they don't strike the freeze-up before they get out." "Good boy! You did a good job on them, Alan. Now let's get back to Fort George. This Sergeant McQueen, Mc-Queen, as he calls himself, would be about five feet, ten. He's thickset thick-set and rugged, carries his head a little forward and what you'd notice about his face, except a mean mouth, are his eyes too close together to-gether and a faded blue." Alan's jaw dropped in amazement. amaze-ment. "Why! You you must know him?" McCord exhaled a cloud or tobacco to-bacco smoke as his eyes wrinkled in an amused look. "I ought to know him," he said drily. "I had to look at that face for two years or more." "And Slade you know him, too?" Jjwth hands on hips. knottcd inascowl h.s head. -No, she ;w. Poor kid. she w Then he took the You're hungry, so 80 , and eat Laler J..nve; UP to the island , r"ur big dogs ' TlK'n I'll tell you a ap?ie,rl wh" seated-, seated-, atpes f the two hun- an, b"u ribs' c"fn Mc Alan toW of tk' T ln search of on Giurge he spoke J' J-hn. getting f north w n b6tter will , Wo ve eot a liorir. thousand Jr J8. on ,he crust... hie . einnt- Waning smoldering flame o bW '". "with gtt u" with, a year "Let's see, Sanford. well, you know him as Slade, would go a little over six feet, medium build, sandy hair and blue eyes. But the thing you'd notice about him are his hands and feet. They're too large and. somehow, you always notice them. Alan nodded. "That's right! You do! That's Slade all right!" "So much for these officers of the law," sneered McCord. "Now for this Hanbury woman who came in by sea-plane; you had a chance to look her over that night when she came to your place. Did you hap pen to notice a trick she had, when she laughed, of throwing her head back and looking at you through half-closed eyes? She's pretty handy with her eyes. Notice that, Alan. 'You've met her?" Alan demanded, demand-ed, recalling only too clearly the hazel eyes of Mrs. Hanbury, hall masked by the long-lashed lids. "Yes, I've seen her before-used to know her fairly well, in fact." "I know, but how did you guess she was the woman I told you about, unless it was the name. |