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Show THE RIVER of SKULLS by George Marsh 0 PENN PUBLISHING CO. WNU SERVICE Vffl-Continued X ,j the leader, fol- by powder, Rogue l3or sled dog, the ir trace and trail. On 2 of those keen Oc-1 Oc-1 .In the wind had the 'ft, train dogs with mi pwer- winter shut in and jthened. Farther and lice sheet reached in "j near the shore, be-.4 be-.4 that they raised their big cache was now ;rUj frozen fish. i( the river closed, they ,down to the cabin on B find all well with istherand no news from , ,t last, came the Mon-json Mon-json When the Snow a Trees," and, in the ,0ecember, Alan and .'with the dogs to search jnter lakes of the Kok- .Mrrens flanking the valuing val-uing Lakes, they trav-M trav-M northeast. But it was 4 Noel who trotted be-ajtr be-ajtr dogs over the spar- ,air go into dis coun- the lake reached to the north, like the fingers on a hand, in three separate bays. And from each of these ran an outlet. "Look, Noel," said Alan, as they stood on a low hill and followed the channels of the three streams with the binoculars. "These outlets run right Into the north through a flat valley and must Join, later. I tell you we're on Koksoak water. To the east the ridges all run north and south not a break in them. We've found it, boyl We're on the Koksoak!" The Indian nodded his head in agreement. "Now we'll follow the east shore and see if this is the main discharge. dis-charge. Some of these lakes have two. But I'm positive no water could fun to the east, from the lay of the country, it's bound to travel north." With the boys riding the toboggan, away galloped the dogs along the eastern shore. In an hour, looking across the wide expanse of ice into the southwest they could barely see the white hills from which they had discovered the great lake. In places, the hard snow, carved by the wind, rippled away for miles like white waves; in places the ice was scoured almost clean of its snow blanket, making sledding a delight. On, up the east shore, the eager I dogs took them at a gallop. But at route to the big lake, by way of a chain of ponds lying on the Height-of-Land. The object of their exploring explor-ing trip was accomplished. The Montagnais' "Great Moon" of January with its searing winds and nights when the lake ice split with th boom of muffled artillery and Ihj spruce snapped under the contraction of the frost, rode over the barrens, followed by the "Moon of the Eagle." Night after night the aurora lit the white tundra and streamers of pearly mist writhed acros the heavens beneath stars that shone through with a spectral blue. "The Spirits of the Dead at Play," the Eskimos call the dancing danc-ing lights of the polar heavens. Often fearful for the safety of the man and girl wintering on the Talk-ing. Talk-ing. Alan and Noel rode the iced river trail behind their galloping dogs. More than once during the winter, win-ter, John had crossed strange snow-shoe snow-shoe trails. Some were the bear-paw bear-paw prints of the Montagnais and some the long shape of the coast Cree. The cabin on the Talking was being watched. McQueen was biding bid-ing his time waiting to follow the canoe that would start in the spring. With May the high barrens began to wake from their winter's sleep. Shoulders of tundra thrust through their white blankets to expose lilac-green lilac-green pastures of caribou moss. "Probably the ice at the foot of the lake is out by now," replied Mc-Cord, Mc-Cord, "and a good south wind will start these big rafts up here. I wonder how close behind us McQueen Mc-Queen is." "Not far, Ml bet. But he'll never get the two Conjuror River Indians to go down the river with him. We'll only have four to handle when the time comes. What are we going go-ing to do let him dog us clear to the River of Skulls or?" "What d'you say?" interrupted the big man in the other end of the canoe. "I say I don't want to slave all summer and then fight for our dust. I'd rather fight now!" Suddenly Alan's Al-an's gray eyes softened, as he added: add-ed: "But then, there's Heather." "Yes, there's Heather. Their game is to trail us, then wipe us out to get that gold, and what would become of her?" "I've been thinking of her. I didn't want her to come. Now she's with us, I've turned Indian." "You mean?" The cold eyes glittered glit-tered beneath the livid scar on Mc-Cord's Mc-Cord's forehead. "I mean when I think of Heather in their hands, I forget all law. It's a finish fight, John, and no quarter. They're going to make it their lives or ours!" McCord's big knuckled hands closed convulsively on his paddle. "A finish fight and no quarter, partner!" part-ner!" he repeated, huskily. "All law's off on the Koksoakl I know McQueen. He'd wipe us out without with-out a qualm. Then they'd murder Heather, later, before they reached the coast leave no witnesses, no evidence against them. And they'd have our gold." "There's another thing, John the Naskapi. Drummond got by without with-out meeting them. But we're bound to run into them somewhere on the Koksoak. We're passing through their country. We'll need luck when we do." The giant nodded. "Let's hope McQueen Mc-Queen meets up with them first." At last the south wind and the high June sun cleared the lake of its rotting raft-ice and the big Peter-boro, Peter-boro, in which they were to make the voyage, reached the hidden cache at the outlets. There the precious bags of flour, beans and pemmican which they were to leave with the extra canoe, were wrapped in tarpaulin and stored on the high platform. While the freshet water following the ice thundered down the three outlets into the flat valley to the north, the supplies for the summer were carefully overhauled and packed in bags. Spruce setting poles were cut and shod with irons McCord had brought from Rupert. Every ounce of superfluous equipment equip-ment was stored on the cache, for they could not guess what long portages port-ages awaited them on this unknown river that flowed hundreds of miles north to the sea; what churning white-waters, around which they would have to pack canoe and supplies. sup-plies. Only the Naskapi and the caribou in their migrations had looked upon the upper Koksoak. The water dropped rapidly and Alan and Noel returned one night from an inspection of the central outlet, which they were to follow, with the news that the river was now passable for a canoe. Following Follow-ing their daily custom, when the boys had eaten, they climbed to the nearest high ground to sweep the lake with their glasses. Miles to the south, Alan's glasses picked up something of interest. "W'at you see?" demanded Noel. He handed the binoculars to Noel and waited for the Indian's verdict. (TO BE COSTIXUED) Riding the brown snow water, after aft-er the ice left the Talking, came Alan and Noel in the canoe they had taken to the Sinking Lakes on the sled. When John and Heather returned from the barren with bags filled with cranberries, they planned their start. "It will be June before the ice leaves the big lake," said Alan, "but we can take our stuff in the two canoes to the head of it and be ready to start when it does." "Yes," agreed McCord, "we've got no time to lose." On the last day, as they sealed doors and windows of the cabin against the sure attacks of bear and wolverine, Heather turned wistfully to Alan: "Remember, Alan, that day last winter when I came back to find you and Noel with Dad?" "Do I remember?" he laughed. "Your eyes were like saucers and your mouth opened like that." He indicated the extent of the opening with hands held wide apart. "You wondered what kind of animals had drifted in out of the bush." "I know now," she said, "that two good friends drifted in." Alan gazed curiously in the girl's sober face. "Brace up. Heather!" he said, with a laugh. "Just think, girl, what a great time we're going to have!" Her fine brows contracted as she returned his gaze. "Do you think, Alan, we're ever coming back?" she asked. "I've dreamed such terrible things, this winter. McQueen will surely ambush am-bush us when we start back with the gold if we find it." Its honey-combed ice flooded with pools of water, and entirely open in wide areas, from which rose clouds of vapor, the great lake reached, under the June sun, to the hills dim on the eastern horizon. For days the big Peterboro had waited while three men and a girl watched its frozen shell soften and break up. "A few more days and we'll be able to start for the cache at the outlet," observed Alan, as he and McCord removed the gray koko-mesh koko-mesh and silvery white-fish from their gill-net and returned to the hungry dogs who stood, breast-deep in the icy water clamoring to be fed. sue back," he reminded stood on a high bar-jad bar-jad over the undulating a to the north and east, iJjme as the sun slant's slant-'s limitless expanse, said Alan, dropping his to his neck by a thong iihe rime from his face -i hand, "someone always 1st, eh, Rough?" n they traveled north of J the Sinking Lakes but, .tction, beyond the dim ay had often seen from .-they found no water :mt north; no headwater ringthey headed into the It the sparsely wooded ssow-white arctic hares, ears tipped with black, a willow thickets to race le coming of the dop-a, dop-a, it a distance, thre le foxes danced gro-c gro-c Ihe snow, inspecting the i the team, until the ex-letting ex-letting their scent, set ad yelping which drove ! over the tundra, like '::!( smoke. i the wood, the boys :inasmall valley, where : -tried, to boil their ket- eating, they continued tame out of the fold In -flier country. As Alan, sling the team, reached i valley and looked far t he raised his hands at cried. "Look at that "e! We've found it!" him and the two gazed :t across the tundra, i away to the east, be- 1 hills of the foreground, :ilvel, white shell of an until it was lost in 'lie distance. 1 M big as Lake Bien- Great Whale, Noel!" excitedly. "This : ; f the lakes in the "hod In awe gazing peaches of the distant 10 e north and south : shimmering floor of scoured ice, and into A merged with the ;Wbeeg lak'," he said, "wout of dis." iMrnust be a head-Koksoak!" head-Koksoak!" cned Alan. 'Height-of-Land. The rth. here! We've "' We ve found it!" ;4e boys camped on the lake in the wind J of black SpruCe. 2 curled in the : JJ and Noel talked e'i ight arnund this I d!he OU,let- Noel. ," a way t0 get noei from the lak' not flow ito de 4 ibvver-or of W: 5 got t0 be, Ct" Ad In th !opt bes'de ! J LVer lhe wind 'Ce eCdh0f outlet. ::r?thuh-the :"o.S ,hadJ f,,u"d Cx, 9nd the ereat 7'ng they 58 the Sh bc a lon8 and "y found that "Noel!" he cried. "We've found it." noon the sun in the south was gradually gradu-ally smothered in haze. To the north banks of lead-colored clouds piled above the white hills. "Snow comin'," announced Noel, as they stopped to give the dogs a breather. "Sure enough!" agreed Alan. "What do you say to crossing the lake to the camp we had two nights back in that thick timber? It may be an old drifter and last for days. With the hills running as they do, there's no outlet from this side. After the blow we'll make sure." "Eet ees far across there. We have to hurry." "But we've got the dogs to make it. Haven't we, Rough, old boy!" Alan went to the great dog sprawled on the wind-hammered snow, and rubbed his ears as he looked into the slant eyes. "You take the team across this lake before that snow comes, Roughy?" Rough answered with a red laugh as his breath rose like smoke on tlie biting air. CHAPTER IX Back in their windbreak of black spruce, the boys holed in for the storm. For three days the "drifter" "drift-er" pounded the barrens, driving every living thing, furred or feathered, feath-ered, to the sanctuary of the spruce or to snug burrows in the snow. The morning of the fourth day when the sun, flanked by two brass balls of sun-dogs or false suns, lifted above the horizon while the skies to the north and west were still a dense blue-black, the wind had died. With the stinging air shot with glittering glit-tering snow crystals, their frozen breaths trailing behind them like smoke, men and dogs started for the head of the lake. Along the shores the wind had heaped huge drifts but much of the lake ice had been scoured of snow. Camping at the head of the lake, the following day, they started over the young snow for the shoulders of the nearest near-est hill to search for a spring water route from the Sinking Lakes. Here in the timber the boys broke trail on snowshoes ahead of the team for there was three feet of new snow and, without firm footing, the dogs wallowed to their shoulders. shoul-ders. Everywhere, the night before, be-fore, the wild creatures had traveled trav-eled in search of food after the storm. At last Alan discovered a water |
