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Show lniM Men g ' 1 By GICRCE MARSH WCft U 11 ;' INSTALLMENT SEVENTEEN 0Y SO rAB: Six men trv- and Blalie, ball-breed guide, poilng at nlncent borne and meet Ltse, bis itep- CkibougamiQ trail and (Is aurveyora, arrive at Nottaway to tnvea- daughter. Finlay la.Ua la love with ber. . Later they were report- tif ate. Iiadore, rich far mas. It thought Tbey learn that Isadore'i men with eal Murder it tuipected. to have made a gold itrlke and alma to Tete-Blancbe are bunting them. Several lay, brother of one of the tlx; keep proipeetora out. Later, they vlilt weeki later Lite went swimming with me, Mounted Police offlcers, Isadore, rich fur man, at bis mag- Corlnne, ber mother. ; followed Corlnne into the change into a bathing suit dered bow far she could how much Corinne really 1 addled slowly up the shore e. The nose of the boat slid sand. Dropping her blouse is In the canoe and adjust-ubber adjust-ubber cap, Lise stepped out shallow water followed by Walking out to her knees, e a long, shallow dive and ay, revelling in the refreshes! refresh-es! f the water. go so far, Lise!" called "Stay here with me! I'm go out there!" rnld back. , isn't it, after this heat?" me, stretching on the sand, s'd brought our lunch!" i thoughts of the girl were :k t hundred feet away, at of the beach. Had Finlay and left a note for her? was she to get it? aded out and plunged in trimming in a wide circle water opposite the quartz be edge of the beach and walked past it Her heart picked up its beat The 1 an oilskin wrapper was rhe letter was there! 'olned Corlnne who said: w, this morning I asked he was going to bring "And the Indians leave their canoes ca-noes at the clearing?" "Ah-hah." "So we land on the opposite side of the island, behind the tent?" "Yes." "Then Garry and I wait at the edge of the clearing to back you and Wabistan up when the trouble starts?" "You are in de bush by big Jack-pine. Jack-pine. It will be black dere. Dey will not see you but you see and hear dem." "Red." said Finlay, "this whole show is going to depend on the breaks we get. Blaise thinks it can be done. I'm not so sure, but it's worth trying. If it doesn't work, we're in a trap. We'll never get off that island. But unless something happens pretty quick we can't last much longer on this lake, anyway." "You're right chief," admitted Red. "If Blaise is wrong, God help us! But what a dog-fight it'll be there in the moonlight! "It's one of the boldest and cleverest clev-erest ideas I've ever heard of," said Garry. "We may have trouble Justifying Jus-tifying it at headquarters but we're committed now." "I'll say it's an idea. But it may lose us our jobs, chief; and you close to promotion!" "Our Jobs won't be important If thev bury us. Red. Tonieht three their agony. Demons and fiends screeched and bellowed in a mad cacophony of horror. At last a voice rose through the octaves to a wail which chilled the blood as it died over the moon-bathed forest A silence so tense that it vibrated in the ears like sound, followed. Then a sepulchral voice startled the cowed Montagnals. A spirit was speaking! "Montagnais, I come from the spirit places at the call of my brother, broth-er, Kinebik. I have traveled far from the land where the sun sleeps. My brother's heart is sick. The little lit-tle children are bewitched by the Evil Eye of the white men and die. Drive these white strangers from Waswanipl or the women will wail in the tipis of the Montagnais , through the Long Snows!" ' Suddenly the painted walls of the medicine-lodge visibly shook and swayed. The conjuror was about to invoke another spirit voice. A low cough was cut off short and the skin tlpi was again motionless. Presently, a voice so shrill, so penetrating that it tortured the ears, quavered over the clearing. It soared thinner and thinner. Then it descended to moan and roar like a March drifter on the barrens, later to drop lower until it boomed with the sudden thunder of ice split by frost Then the voice cut high and clear through the silence. "Montagnais, igainst Finlay for murder went south. Do you knovt said?" i guess." id it wouldn't be neces-i&" neces-i&" that Finlay would disap-uppose. disap-uppose. Lise, I'm afraid ere. I'm going to make ndell take me back with ant to get out of this and d,!too!" t up. Her dark face was taut and desperate. "You what Jules told me about idell?" . was rotten! And I think Itl He's as hard as stone, idell comes, you sleep with nder the pillow!" arid I'll use it!" v you would. He's vile drunk and you know how nk. He's due in a week." s planning how to get the served. At last she had She rose, took her blouse s from the canoe and re- neck band of her bathing led it around her hips. I have heard the voice of Kinebik, the Wabeno, who speaks with the split tongue of the snake. It was no spirit who talked. The voice was his own. He is a false shaman who destroys the young men with the whiskey of Tete-Blanche." There were startled murmurs of dissent The voice went on. "The white men were sent by the Fathers at Ottawa. Isadore fears them for he has broken the law and given whiskey to the Montagnais. If the white men are killed, the red coats will come and the Montagnais Mon-tagnais will be punished. The children chil-dren are no longer sick. There was no Evil Eye. It was the lie of Kinebik, Kine-bik, Isadore's servant Why dees he not answer? He is here in the tipi. He is afraid and is silent for he knows he has lied. Even now Tete-Blanche Tete-Blanche is here with whiskey to destroy de-stroy the young men!" The clearing was in a chattering uproar. In the murk Finlay apd Red waited the outcome with drawn guns. "My people, the true spirit has spoken and has gone! Why has not Kinebik answered? Have his words choked in his throat? Follow me and ire you doing?" demanded im suit's not dry. I'm go-ead go-ead it on that hot rock." iped the suit to her knees, it, got into her slacks and e bjouse. Then she took the rock and spread it to in 'Corinne rose, turning and went to the canoe, tied under the rock and irrapped note inside her lich was tucked into her vay back to the post Lise the wrapped note inside with every stroke of her t comforted her. Hurry-room, Hurry-room, she opened it and "What are yoir doing?" demanded Corinne. more may be snuffed out on the Chibougamau Trail." The Waswanipi wilderness dozed under the spell of the full August moon. One by one, dark shapes of canoes ca-noes crossed a shimmering ribbon of moonlight bound for the island of the Medicine-Stone. Long since Wabistan and his son had left. Garry and Red stood on the shore, silent. Finlay was wondering won-dering if the plane from the south was anchored to the buoys in front of Isadore's wondering if he would ever again look into Lise Demarais' dark eyes, when Blaise touched him we shall learn!" The old man strode boldly to the medicine-lodge. Crawling into it from the rear he re-appeared, dragging drag-ging a limp shape. Wabistan rolled the body on its back. The moonlight moon-light shone full on the glazed eyes and the swollen face with protruding protrud-ing tongue of Kinebik. The chief turned to those who had had courage to follow. "Look, Montagnais, the lies of Kinebik have choked him! The spirit has punished him for speaking with a split tongue!" Two men pushed through the circle cir-cle of gaping Indians and bent over the conjuror. One of them, with white hair and features knotted with rage, turned to the group and cried in Montagnais: 3irl: back but they've been , so hard that we haven't iaylight. At least twenty e been combingtheshores r'us. We move only at an't write what I want to "note might be found. I ?ou where I am or meet Next week "look for in-Pack in-Pack a bag with clothes the word. Courage! All out if you are brave and re. I'm still living those rrts on your beach. 1 love Ipemarais! If Blondell Ore you hear from me, "end always carry your 0 be patient and wait for ;e. It will be soon. Cour- feart! I love you! "Garry." . herself on her bed and tieer joy. He hadn't for-Jloved for-Jloved her. 1 H AFTER XVII I w orange ot a moon that the indigo ridges be-nipi be-nipi was full. The mo-arrived. mo-arrived. Wabistan had the medicine-lodge was front of the .great Medi-n Medi-n a clearing on a certain was one of the many fe the old sorcerers had I spirits. 1 tent close to de scrub," fined, "so he go in and f not see him." the mob will all be in rt hear the tent?" -asked y ate their supper in I camp. ;nt but he will not let Bear," said Blaise. "De ly and will not talk if are close," he added iace. I s on the shoulder. "All right!. We go!" The three men left their rifles in the Peterboro beached at the foot of a steep bank and worked across the small island. "What a mob!" whispered Red. "Must be fifty or sixty! . Where's Wabistan?" "I don't see him, but he's there somewhere with his friends. .He'll talk when the time comes!" Near the Medicine-Stone stood the conjuror's tent. "There's the medicine-lodge!" muttered Red. "Small, isn't it!" "Red, I think I see Batoche the bird with the hat pulled over his eyes!" "The Isadore mob's all there, backing up Kinebik!" "We've got to get closer," whispered whis-pered Garry. "If anything starts we're too far away." Inch by inch the two worked nearer near-er to the clearing drenched with light. "Look!" Red nudged the man beside be-side him. "They're passing a bottle!" bot-tle!" Suddenly, silence dropped like a blanket over the clearing. The faces of the Montagnais were turned toward to-ward the medicine-lodg$. "Kinebik's in the tipi. Red! See it shake?" Shortly there rose the muffled beating of the conjuror's caribou-hide caribou-hide drum accompanied by a low sing-song. The shell-rattle joined in and the beat quickened. The listeners lis-teners in the clearing strained forward for-ward where they sat Louder crooned the voice of the shaman in a rhythmic chant. The sorcerer was a superb mimic. His voice ran the gamut of the voices of the night. The voice again ceased, and the audience sat in awed wonder. Then from the tent drifted maniacal sobbing. sob-bing. Creatures in torment shrieked "Montagnais, you are fools! Kinebik Kine-bik was strangled! It was the plot of the white men!. They are here on the island! Hunt the men who killed Kinebik!" "No!" shouted Wabistan. "It was the good spirit that choked the lies in Kinebik's throat!" Instantly a milling mass of Indians surrounded Kinebik's body. There were cries of, "Kill the white men!" answered by shouts: "It was the work of the spirit! Kinebik was a false shaman!" In the gloom at the edge of the clearing two men with cocked pistols pis-tols listened. "Wabistan is safe!" said Finlay. "He doesn't need us now! Tete-Blanche will soon start to hunt us! We'd better meet Blaise at the canoe!" They moved swiftly across the Island Is-land but Blaise was not at the canoe under the steep shore. Finlay was cold with apprehension. "What could have happened. Red? He should be here!" "He's in trouble," said Malone. "They'll follow the shore path soon, nosing for our canoe!" muttered mut-tered Garry. "If they reach us. don't fire unless we're cornered. It will only draw the rest and we've got to get Blaise. God bless his foxy old bones! It was magnificent! He snuffed thnt shaman out without a sound!" "Listen! They're moving this way now. along the shore!" "You're right. Red! Stand by this path and we'll club 'em with our guns! Don't fire unless they come too thick! We must get Blaise!" Brush snapped up the shore. The hunt had started. A dry stick broke directly behind Finlay and he whirled with raised gun. There was a low "Shish!" A hand touched his shoulder. shoul-der. "We move quick!" whispered Blaise. "Dey are cose behin' rHel' (TO DE COMTIM ED) |