Show STORY FROU THE garth guthrie canadian war having to live in the leteran re teran on account ot weakened ian is factor ot hudson s R post at elkman he came tick the conflict with permanently scarred ace which h realizes cost him the love 0 aih fiancee edith falconer sir charles guthrie his brother Is a millionaire war profiteer with savanne halfbreed balf breed his arm friend garth meets doctor quarreler geologist and his sister joan quarreler complains he ani been robbed by a man known U laughing mcdonald at elkman an indian girl nanda tuberculosis victim garth hiis befriended Is dying joan trained war nurse cares tor ada but the girl dies three of mcdonald s party visit elk iran seeking to buy gun shells tom them garth learns of evil talk among the indians concerning him and nanda with etlen BS help garth wins the alp of saul medicine ban of the crees and gets his promise to persuade the crees to take their furs to elkman in istead of to mcdonald garth Is ambushed by joe anias reputed father shot carth s al companion saves him and the indian is taken a prisoner to elkman garth sends to mcdonald with a of defiance and the war li on garth halls with joy the freezing of the strait which will enable s followers to bring their furs to elkman without CHAPTER VII continued 11 lies 1 stormed the start fed half breed but the germ ot a ot the old conjurer s loyalty in his brain are there oinas at the head ot the river in the barrens tar rens he asked keen to catch the ojibwa and old saul the traitor at their work yes you will see them before the ht dies and there are more on the fork remember cautioned the puzzled aalf breed as he turned to bis dogs the boat at seal cove Is full of demons bewitched those who go will brer look again with joy on their rites and children and with this parting shot the shrewd savanne called bo jo 1 and joined his chief As they again took the river trail from here on ice hard from constant use by the teams of the hunters etenne gave guthrie the gist of his te old saul at the schooner its ill a lie of that ojibwa objected girth unable to reconcile the old BIDS simplicity and directness with fills deceit A lie to weaken the effect of saul s coming to the island to crork for us liebbe so but I 1 t ink comet ing ver strange here dees camp ees near de bore why has saul not come here they may have lied he may have licen here suggested garth eilenne chook his head io he nevalee cum lere or dey talk more bout heem he es medicine man and de squaw would talk mooch beef eef he cum well lets see what the people here say then we can compare the and judge better what to believe and what our next move Is has turned yellow were surely done facing the man riding behind him ettenne nodded act saul work tor is schooner he weel tak de elkman aee ald heem then the lean tea tees of the half breed tightened ills knall eyes closed to silts as he cracked his whip but dat tl shaman weel mak hees las tine he rasped the hate in the face of the dog mw was so intense that garth ob ejected YOU cant shoot him up tor it yon know it would only rent on aarle the children and OB me mourn curled in an in stable smile 0 o one but saul weel know who meet heem on te trail 1 I buess you d be capable of am him for this but were not ead cef lets see what the hunters t the head of the river say in the scrub rimming the shores of e first lake from which the tundra to the skyline the men in west of saul found the of e hunters it was a camp of three les and smoke from the supper ra already lifted above the spruce a the arrival of the dog team d a general alarm from the bus fastened in the scrub quaal called eilenne Et lenne a shock of black hair was thrust bogh a door flap as a curious cree berged to meet the strangers vs not from dropped ahrie disappointed as the indian to shake hands allo and eilenne anly gripped the hand of the in alan who then greeted garth achille Achl lle efte from Kapl skau and me ol 01 announced the patently ed head man to his chief ell learn something now thought B actor as the drove the dogs into fed them their frozen ond chained them separately eeg AS the december sun was t town and their tent lashed un e toboggan cover eilenne aw ed e hospitality of Lague th M ed pa there alth eyes 8 the unaccustomed wh glarth ate rabbit and trout aroa tha copper kettle hanff by GEORGE MARSH copyright by the penn co lc above the alre from which the wife and numerous children or achille gorged in common but the appetite sharpened by the ride ap the valley ln the n air was impervious to the informality of cree table manners and garth s tin cup went back to the steaming stew and the tea pail alf the regularity of his smoke tanned host and hostess until his belt warned of surfeit he passed to each of the crees a twist of company head and pipe smoke swiftly added to the opaqueness of the air then who had avoided the subject of and the schooner in his gos sip with the curious and perplexed laguerre La gnerre opened with you know de strait ees froze achille Achl lle who spoke english gravely nodded you cum to de island beet mus be so aou mon ami we are here beet ees enough why achille laguerre he went on probing the small bait shut eyes of the half breed do eilenne accepted the hospitality of Lague filled tipi maleu and I 1 eilenne ssi vanne cross de ice to mak talk ald you eilenne paused and blew a cloud of smoke along the stem of his pipe which his teeth gripped achille grinned widely you cum to mak fight for de fox he chuckled you are mos smart man ma fr en but you mak beeg mee stake we cum to tak de fox back to elkman ald de tor beeg tarn at la bonne annee bew year ah hah 1 you go to Kapl skau achille Achl lle the indian slowly shook bis head 1 I go to de beeg boat he pay beeg price for pelt garth leaned eagerly forward to hear the counter stroke which eilenne was waiting to launch ah hah 1 for a space the crack ing of a spruce knot was the only sound in the then savanne began you not ver smart man achille Achl lle yon leesen to dat wabeno ah hah you not so smart man we tak beem to als island ald old you know why eilenne paused dramatically to relight his pipe so mcdonal put de devil into nervously twisting her bands the squaw of achille stared at the speak er from awe filled eyes the stolid features of the halt breed reflected curiosity doubt but no fear 1 I put dat de ice up de elkman be mak for us but we to have devil put een heam by mcdonal ha hal Mo koman was here dryly countered achille was ald heem snapped as a dog a bone and barths pulse quickened as he waited for the reply 0 o ees ovier de hill nord wen you say saul was at de schooner again guthorle leaned to catch achilles return the half breed waited spat into the fire then said you hear dat eilenne nodded now he would learn the truth from a friend who in the old days of their comradeship had never lied but in his extremity he himself launched brazenly into outrageous fabrication we sen old saul to de schooner to talk ald de devil of mcdonal the self possession of achille fell from him like a leaf from a tree you sen heem dere be demanded ex eilenne was relieved he had pierced the armor of his friend was at last making progress amazed and delighted at the resource of his head man and wonder ing where his astounding imagination would further lead him garth watched the changing expression on the dark features of achille ah hah 1 casually assented we know als mcdonal hal hal mak bad medicine an de pore injun who go to hees boat nevalee love dere familee any more but travel tar away and leave dem to starve walled the herrl fled squaw and launched in cree n delirious outburst of entreaty and ap peal achilles attempts to sooth her hys succeeded only in increasing the lamentations of the superstitious woman at length she calmed to a low moaning which was joined by the walling of the awakened children under cover of the dusk of the sinewy fingers gripped guthries Guth rles stock hinged foot with the skill of a sor cerer eilenne had planted the seeds of superstitious terror in the of his friend the work of saul and was rapidly being undone by the shrewd savanne then voices out side announced the coming of the hunters from the neighboring crowding through the door flap of the snow banked tent three indians from the Kapl skau river entered and sat down the fire was freshened and briefly explained the situation which hid aroused the fears of his wife with the faces of stoics the men smoked while the story of eilenne was repeated but when they heard that had been brought to the island with saul because of the witchcraft of mcdonald they too lost their gravity and their calm for that this mutilated stranger should be the intimate and crony of the spirits of darkness was not beyond the credulity of the impressionable cree and did not achille vouch for this savanne his old comrade from elkman it was true they argued the big man with the unspeakable face offered high prices tor fox pelts but it were in league with devils as he be with that leer which never died of what use would be the trade goods he bartered to those who left the ship mad with the and now that the women knew there would be no peace still would know and tell them they would go to the shaman who camped with his sons over the big barrens to the north so it was left and two gratified men from rolled into their blankets in the of achille laguerre CHAPTER VIII the stars pierced the blue dusk forerunner of the stinging dawn when a dog team pulled out of the black spruce and dwarf tamarack rimming the headwater head nater ponds 0 the gan and followed a trap line trail up into the tundra which allowed away to the wind whipped backbone of the island on they hurried the team and the wide ranging shot for somewhere in the valleys of the rabbit or the canoe end the renegade were the hunters from elkman And Christmas was but six days away christmas with teams from the three winds down the valley into elkman for the trade and the feast at bew years there was little time to be lost if they were to win the hunters of AU and lead them across the strait so the five dogs took the uphill work at a trot while the men trailed the sled in the middle of the morning the men left the trap line and breaking trail ahead of the dogs slowly climbed the last rise of the barrens in places the lack 0 snow on the brittle heath made the work of the dogs heart breaking while the flat toboggan slid over the frozen tundra the husk les seeking a footing constantly broke through shortly their bleeding feet forced a stop while moccasins were lashed to their legs but at last pint ing dogs and men stood on the root of the island through the glasses garth made out the white delta of the elkman and his thoughts drifted to two women who had once shared his quarters there two women who did not shrink at scars but it was bitter cold on the open ridge and the dog team turned down seeking the valley of the rabbit masked by intervening hills over the tundra the snowshoes packed the trail for the sliding toboggan while the dogs ran where the hard snow on the heath gave them footing and slaved where they broke through the low bushes of the brushed barren when they threw their weight into their collars As the day advanced the frost strengthened A veil of haze slowly curtained the low swinging sun and the dog team hurried on for the night would fall in early afternoon and to be caught on the high tundra by a wind meant swift freezing still before them the endless hill lifted to the horizon with no indica alon of the break of a low valley where timber would give them shelter and a cooking fire at noon it was evident that eilenne was worried esever be fore had garth seen his head man use the whip on his dogs as be aed it that day never in their journeys had the fur lined hood circled with ice and rime turned so often while the silt like eyes of the halt breed consulted the horizon beeg blow colln mooch snow she fall soon it can t be far now said garth we ve surely made the twenty miles the rabbit mst head oyer that hill beef eef we don i get off dees high countree before de win blow we ne valre get off was the quiet rejoin der its colder already and garth took in the belt of bis parka de dog weel not travel mooch more dere feet are cut to pieces on als frozen bush on up the next ascent the limping dogs with breath trailing behind like ribbons of smoke followed the trail breakers gaining the bad bone of the ridge the men stood with startled eyes looking north instead of the wide basin of the babbit headwaters with its scrub fringed lakes they looked across a treeless barren the grave eyes of eilenne met garth s puzzled look those indians lied 0 o objected the half breed W travel ver slow beet ees ovala dere and he pointed to the far ridge it will be dark when we hit it one hour more light and de win rise muttered savanne as he patted castor who lay at his feet his steam ing red tongue banging from a mouth hung with ice you ver tired cas tor you mak dat ridge the powerful leader got to his sora feet and whined as it he understood but the listless team lay sprawled on the trail its come announced garth as a curtain of enow drifted in from the northeast we go I 1 up mes entrants I 1 aliens 1 SI arche castor I 1 an hour later he dogs sheathed in white plodding slowly two ghostlike shapes reached the rim of the basin of the rabbit headwaters dimly below them through the pall of snow and gathering dusk the men traced the scrub edging the lakes with shadow As they stood in the rising wind as the dogs rested night shut down wiping from their eyes the goal they sought as a sponge wipes clean a slate I 1 ve got the compass direction north northwest said garth shook his snow crusted hood keep de win on right cheek so long cheek froze we head right for de timber lie turned to the dogs walto as the snow they lay on marche castor mon brai e 1 and snapping his whip he tugged at the harnesses until the reluctant brutes got to tava feet TO BB CONTINUED vii |