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Show MEN MAKOONEL STORY FROM THE START I Oarth Guthrie, Canadian war veteran, having to live In the open on account of weakened lunys, la factor of a Hudson's Bay post at Klkwan. He came back from the conflict with a permanently scarred face, which he realizes cost him the love of his fiancee, Edith Falconer. Sir Charies Guthrie, hits brother, is a millionaire war profiteer. With Etienne Savanne, haifbreed, his firm friend, Garth meets Duct or Quarrier, geologist, and his sister sis-ter Joan. Their echouner has drifter! ashore. Quarrier complains com-plains he has been robbed by a man known as "Laughing McDonald." Mc-Donald." At Elkwan an Indian girl. Nir,da. tuberculosis victim, whom Garth has befriended. ip dying. Joan, trained war nurse, cares for Nmda. but the girl dies Charl es Guthrie writes re proach- II I In j his brother for not coming home Charles wife assures him Ethel ptf!) loves him. but Garth in his heart knows better. Three of McDonald's party visit Elkwan seeking to buy gun shells From them Garth learns of evil talk among the Indians concerning fc him and Ninda. With Etienne's help Garth wins the friendship of Saul Souci, "medicine man" of the Crees. and gets his prom-:?e prom-:?e to persuade the Crees to take their furs 10 Elkwan instead of to McDonald Garth is ambushed by Joe Mokoman, Ninria's rented rent-ed father, whom the factor haa driven from Elkwan "Shot." Garth's airedale companion on many battlefields in France, saves him. and the Indian is takc-n, a prisoner, to Elkwan Carrh sends Mokoman to McDonald Mc-Donald with a message of defiance, de-fiance, and the war is 1' ' II CHAPTER V! Continued "So you saw Jne Mnkoman. rrid you. Skene?" The bass of McDonald broke the silence with an odd. slurring ar-ticulation. ar-ticulation. due to the misshapen lips. "Yes. He says he's covered most of the camps at this end of the Island. Of course, the blizzard held him up." "And they'll corae in with their fur. Thristmas week?1 "Most of 'em will, he thinks." The older man wrinkled his bushy brows i:s he filled his pipe. "These two half-breeds half-breeds from Hevillon Freres. In that Fhark beyond P.i point, have been fifter them hard, you know. They've (riven 'em the same tall; the Hudson's Hay handed 'em about our poor stuff, find cheatin'." "Hy gar I" burst out Rreault. "1 run dese people off de island, toute tuite. Where is riere camp?" "You would, would you?" drawled McDonald. "'ou don't seem to realize that we're anchored here in this Ice until May. Do you want the French i.ad the Hudson's Bay to notify Ottawa that a iran:r of pirates are running annul; on the bay? We can't fight the povei r.mi nt, you know. We're here to take out tiie fur catch of Akimiski. not to lose the schooner, the fur. and I Mhd trial in the bargain, for God Vmrws what." Creaulfs face darkened behind his Mack beard as he muttered in feeble protest, his small eyes shifting from his chief to Skene for support of his suggestion. The sober Skene shook his head. "No! If you manhandled those French c.i'upany men. we'd be in a nasty mess, tie-r up here with two years' trade of fur. A snug nest egg for each f us for the government to confiscate. You're cra-y. F.reault." "Now what did he learn of the whereabouts of Ibis treaty chief. Souci. whom Guthrie lauded with hi:a?" . "Jne says he headed for the north ei.'t! of t he island to find his sons. He hasn't been seen since." "Well, you can bet he's out to heat H If In; can. but how can he keep Ih'ise hunters away from us this ''hristmas if the strait is oper,? The Inhans say it seldom closes until Junta; Jun-ta; rr." "He can't." agreed Skene. "They'll never wait till then lo cross the Ice to I.lkwan when they know we'll pav i;mre for the fur right here, within ras.v reach. They always have a blow-nut blow-nut New Year's, and they'll come here to have it. We'll give 'em a good one. We can afford to." "Kight-o:" M, -Donald no.Hlerr. then n'Wod : "Your hunch on this Klkwan aian seems to he borne out by his buck-i;ig buck-i;ig the ice in that York boat. Only a man with guts would tackle that strait in a till." "There ain't no doubt about his color." said Skene with finality, exhaling exhal-ing a cloud of smoke. "He's due to ive us t fight, as he wrote you just how dc n't see. hut I've seen enough fightin' men In the last five years to kan'.y the look of Vm . He's one." "lie nuts' scare you. my fr'en', livile hit. w'en you meet heem on de tc.M h." bantered I'reault. The heavy brows of Skene lifted in a loo!;, close to contempt, which be past at the speaker. "I'reault. I've hren in places that would havB turned that black hair of yours gray. Scare ire' This Bl.wiin man was civil, and I vas civil. I was after some shells. Put don't forget the message he sent you. lie said if that black Frenchman ever show. d up at his place again, he'.r , t a knife stuck Into him. And I'm betting he told the truth from the eg;,- I,.-!; ft a half-breed he had v.'iih 'i'ip. Wl.(-! tiie strait freezes why don't you go and find out?" lo'cantt Ji.uche.l derisively. "I onee koos de souaw." es." n e: McDonald. "Oct this 1.. your thick head. lou By GEORGE MARSH Copyright by The Penn Publishing Co. WNU Service. I keep away from the scpiaws this win ter. here. We're after fur not women." wom-en." Angered. Rreault sneered viciously. ""You don' have to worry 'bout de women." In scarlet patches blood smearen- the maimed face of the man on the box The deep blue of his eyes blackened then flamed. Slowly, he straightened his long body until his russet head touched the deck above. A huge fist trembled In the bearded face of the man whose small eyes shifted In secret fear. "Y'ou drop another word like that to me. you slacker, and I'll hammer ham-mer you Into jelly." Stiff In his seat. Skene stoically puffed at his pipe.' watching through the corners of half-closed eyes the groping rigid hanrr of the Frenchman The master of the Ghost swallowed hard choked. His eyes wavered then fell before the flaming mask, grotesque, gro-tesque, terrible in Its fury, of the man who bent toward him. The moving hand of Rreault stopped limp. Slowly McDonald regained his seat, the sweat standing In beads on his wide, bronzed forehead. Refilling his pipe, he lighted It and. Ignoring the rebuked Rreault. tnrned to Skene. "Where were we? Oh. yes! Now, when does Joe start for the other end of the Island? I'm curious to learn what that old Souci Is np to." "Now that he's got a dog-team, he Intends to start " The voices of men on deck, evidently evident-ly hailing some one on the Ice, cut off Skene. McDonald called, "what's the fuss about on deck ?" "Dog-team on the Ice," came the reply. The three men got Into Eskimo parkas and went on deck. Halfway from the shore a dog-team was making mak-ing Its way over the lumpy Ice of the cove. "Who Is It? Recognize him?" asked Skene of the east coast Cree Interpre- ' ter, who was wintering on the Ghost. "It's not Joe?" The Indian shook his head. Presently the hooded driver of the approaching huskies oalletf: "Kequny !" and shortly reached the rail of the schooner, watched by the curious knot of men on deck. Making his dogs fast, the stranger clambered aboard, and with a grave "Kequny," shook the hand of each of the group then spoke in Cree to the Interpreter. "Who Is he?" asked McDonald. "He's got a cut to his jib that's different differ-ent from most of these Crees. Shrewd looking old party." "He says he's Souci, Treaty Chief of the F.lkwan Crees." replied the interpreter. in-terpreter. "He cum to mak' talk with McDonald Ha! Ha !" Skene ard McDonald exchanged sur prised looks. "What's this?" said the latter In an undertone. "Why, it's the bird Guthrie put ashore with Joe to work against us." "Here's our chance to put one over on Mr. Hudson's Ray." chuckled Skene. "He must have a proposition to make, or he would have kept away from us. He's got nerve. I'll say. Joe told me he'd shoot him if he met him on the island." Shortly the old Indian, the fur hood of his caribou capote pushed back from a shock of raven hair, sat In the warm cabin with McDonald and Skene. His story, told through the interpreter, interpre-ter, for he said he spoke no English, was brief. Yes. as they hart been told, he was Treaty Chief of the Elkwan Crees. and had been sent by Guthrie to attempt to hold the trade until the strait closed. Rut the Hudson's Hay company had a cold heart. It always had given the hunters little for their fur, and now when others came to trade, and threatened to take the fur from the old company, its heart was still cold, and It offered less than the new traders. He. Souci. a chief, had been promised reward if he saved part of the trade and brought It to Elkwan; Elk-wan; hut what reward? It was the pay of a squaw. "His two sons already al-ready had three black fox pelts and eight . silvers worth double what the factor at Elkwan had promised for his winter's work. Now, he had great Influence In-fluence with the Cree hunters was a shaman, and many of them would wait until the strait closed and go to Elkwan. What would McDonald 'Ha I Ha ! offer for the services of Souci. Chief of the Elkwan Crees. to bring the northern hunters to the schooner at Christmas?" "Well ! I'll say he's a cool one," laughed McDonald. "He conies right Inside our wire to our trenches and wants to bargain. The Hudson's Bay probably haven't offered him much. Rut he's trying to sell us what we'll get anyway." "Wljat's his price?" demanded Skene. The Interpreter talked rapidly with Souci, then replied with a grin : "He say he wan' free rifle, free goose-gun, and trade-good' for ten prime black fox. Hees own fur he trade, al so." "T,.n hlnnl- . U ........ .1 lurs In trade-goods? Nonsense!" McDonald Mc-Donald scowled fiercely into the bony face of the ohf shaman with its leather-like skin, mapped with lines. The beady eyes of Souci, unwavering, gave look for look. For a space the cold blue eyes probed the black Inscrutability In-scrutability of the Cree's stare. Slowly Slow-ly the caliber of Saul Souci rose In appraisal of the white man. Here was an Indian of parts nerve, brains, power. As a medicine man. of use. If his service were needed. Rut his price was ridiculous his help not necessary. neces-sary. They had Joe Mokoman. It was enough. "Suppose, by chance, the strait should close this year?'1 threw out Skene. "It never has, so early." McDonald thought a space, then turned to the interpreter. "Offer him the guns and the value of five black fox." The face of old Souci darkened as the interpreter communicated the offer. He shook his heart in anger. "Well, that's our limit." said McDonald, Mc-Donald, rising. "Tell him we don't need him. but we'll pay him a go.nl price for his fur if he'll bring it in at once." Silent In his disappointment. Souci went on deck, followed by the others. Freeing his impatient dogs, the old chief turned to the men watching from the rail and said quietly in English: "Ro'-jo'l Tomorrow I tal;' de fox to Klkwan." "Goin' to fly or swim?" laughed Skene, joined loudly by the group on deck. The lean face of the dog-cn-iver framed in its fur hood was wooden la its placidity, as he coolly said: "I e strait freeze hard two sleeps hack ." And cracking his long whip, he leaped on the tail of his toboggan and wns off. "What! The strait is closed!" gasped McDonald, seizing Skene lathe la-the shoulder. "Frozen solid, he said! Hallo, there. Souci !" cried the excited trader to the fast-traveling (fog-team. "You. I'ierre! Get after hiin and bring him hack. Tell him we'll give him his pr'ce. Strait frozen! II I, Skene! Now we've got to fight for that fur!" Skene was over the rail with the shrieking interpreter and running toward to-ward the sled, which had come lo a stop. Slowly the old man turned his dogs toward the schooner. S "The clever hegrrar!" exclaimec! McDonald in adaiiration. "I'la.ved us like a salmon. Waited to spring his trump card, and got his own price without a haggle I Knew he wag shrewd nervy ! Speaks English, too! The old wizanr! He's the chap we , need now. Our little job Is to stop a stampede across that Ice for the Christmas feast that Guthrie has promised the Crees at Elkwan." Skene swung over the rail and an nounced to his chief: "Souci says he'll start north at once and agrees to hold his relations and most of the rest on the terms he offered. He wants to hind the bargain with you, personally." person-ally." "Good!" And McDonald vaulted over the schooner's rail, followed by Skene and BreaulL "The strait was closed two sleeps back? Where?" he demanded of the Indian. "Ovalr de shoal at Beeg point." "Y'ou saw it?" "I cross to de Elkwan." "What? You've crossed the Ice to the post?" The Indian nodded, his stone-hard features an enigma to the men who sought to read them. "What did you learn?" "Dis Guthrie know de Ice set, and all de Cree cum to Elkwan. He say he geve me nofing to work for heem." Saul Souci grinned Into the gaping faces surrouuding him. "Onlee Suu Souci get you all dat fox from d-e nnrrf now " McDonald thrust out a red. mitless hand. "It's a bargain ! You bring that trade here and you get three rilles. three shotguns, and the . value of ten prime black fox in trade." Dropping his rabbit-skin mitten on Its neck thong, Souci took the extended extend-ed hand of the trader. "Kiyam ap-powiya, ap-powiya, it ees good." he said, solemnly. solemn-ly. Thrusting his hand Into the hanging hang-ing mitten, he cracked the whip of plaited caribou thongs over his lead dog's ears, anrr again started for the shore, leaving behind him on the Ice an arguing group of mystified and excited ex-cited men. CHAPTER VII The morning subsequent to the nights of withering frost which clinched the grip of the Ice on the west coast. Garth and Etienne, muffled in blanket capotes aud fur robes, drove their five-dog team, hitched to a runner run-ner sled for ice-work, out of the closed delta of the Elkwan and down the coast Inland, the wide marshes reached the ripples of drift, like a white sea, to the outguards of the space, or lay, parti-colored, patches of dead grass brushed of snow, splashing splash-ing the white levels with ochre and dun. Splitting the frozen shell of the strait broken by pressure ridges and heaps of shattered ice. a streak of black to the east marked the still open channel. Beyond, the hidden sun, breaking from the bay, rimmed the barrens of Akimiski with fire. But' it was to the south, where the great point of the island pushed Its bulk Into the strait that Garth hoped to find that the abnormal December cold had built a bridge of ice to Akimiski. Aki-miski. Over the easy going of wind-hammered wind-hammered snow anrr shove ice, the dogs romped past the frozen benches. At a sandspit strewn with boulders Garth stopped. With a hand from Etienne. he "reached the top of a large rock and taking his binoculars from their case, studied the miles of Ice-sheathed Ice-sheathed shoals which followed the thrust of Big point toward the mainland. main-land. As he looked, his lips moved In a muttered note of surprise. Could It be that luck harr come to Elkwan to Garth Guthrie, in the shape of a road of ice from Akimiski before Christmas? Christ-mas? "Conic up here, quick!" he called to the man at the sled. The half breed scranvlilrd tn tb.c (on of ft., boulder. "I can't make out open watei over there." said Garth, exultantly "You take a look. It was a mile with the day before the blow." Propping his mittens. Etienne tool the proffered glasses, (mil his hand; reddened with cold, he stood as i; hewn from the boulder. Then, when the column of his frosted breath misted mist-ed the lenses, he handed the glasses to Garth, his eyes snapping with excitement. ex-citement. "De ice set ovair dem bar; we cross today and hunt old Souci!" he cried, sliding from the boulder and running to the impatient dogs. "We'll take rations for a week," said Guthrie, "round up the Elkwan hunters Saul is sure of. and chase them over the ice. McDonald may not know for days that the strait is closet) here, lie's thirty miles away." Tiie willing huskies, urged by the crack of Etienne's whip, took the hack trail to the post on the run. The success suc-cess of the undertaking hung largely on speed, and while Marie lou. fly he-wailed he-wailed the rashness of the crossing, seconded by the vehement protests of old Anne, tent, rol.es and provisions I were hurriedly stowed and lashed. ! When Ar.ne opened the gate, with : a leap Shot reached Guthrie, busy ' with a sled lashing, and nafn and dog rolled in the snow. Shielding his fa.-e with a mittene.T hand from the attacks of a hot tongue. Garth finally calmed the delirious nr.;, while Et'.eiii.. ' checked the yelping- huskies, kern to : punish such familiarity with the factor i of Elkwan. j (TO B CONTINUED j |