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Show MEN MAROONED STORY FROM THE START Garlh Outline, Canadian war veteran, havinK to live in the open on account of weakened lunss. Is factor of a Hudson's Bay post at Elkwan. He came back from the conilict with a permanently scarred face, which he realizes cost him the love of his fiancee. Kdith Falconer. Sir Charles Guthrie, his brother, is a millionaire war profiteer. With Etlenne Savanne.- halfbreed, his firm friend. Garth meets Doctor Quarrier, peologist, and his sister sis-ter Joan. Quarrier complains he has been robbed by a man known as "Laughing McDonaid." At Elkwan an Indian girl, Ninda, tuberculosis victim, whom Garth has befriended, is dying. Joan, trained war nurse, cares for Ninda, but the girl dies. Three of McDonald's party visit Elk-wan Elk-wan seeking to buy gun shells. From them Garth learns of evil talk among the Indians concerning concern-ing him and Ninda. With Etien-ne's Etien-ne's help Garth wins the friendship friend-ship of Saul Souci, "medicine man" of the Crees, and gets his promise to persuade the Crees. to take their furs to Elkwan Instead In-stead of to McDonald. Garth Is ambushed by Joe Mokoman, Ninda's reputed father. "Shot," Garth's alredale companion, saves him, and the Indian is taken, a prisoner, to Elkwan. Garth sends Mokoman to McDonald with a message of defiance, and the war Is on. Garth halls with Joy the freezing of the strait, which will enable Soucl's followers to bring their furs to Elkwan without difficulty. CHAPTER VII Continued 11 "Mokoman lies!" stormed the startled start-led half-breed, but the germ of a suspicion of the old conjurer's loyalty quickened in his brain. "Are there camps at the head of the river in the barrens?" he asked, keen to catch the Ojibwa and old Saul, the traitor, at their work. "Yes. you will see them before the light dies, and there are more on the north fork." "Remember," cautioned the puzzled half-breed, as he turned to his dogs, "the boat , at Seal cove is full of demons de-mons bewitched. Those who go will never look again with joy on their -wives and children." And with this parting shot, the shrewd Savanne called "Bo'-jo' !" 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, Etienne gave Guthrie the gist of his talk. "Old Saul at the schooner? It's only a lie of that Ojibwa," objected Garth, unable to reconcile the old man's simplicity and directness with this deceit. "A lie to weaken the effect of Saul's coming to the island to work for us." "Mebbe so, but I t'ink somet'ing ver' strange here. Dees camp ees ne'ar de shore wiry has Saul not come here?'' "They may have lied. He may have been here," suggested Garth. Etienne -shook his head. "No, he nevaire cum here or dey talk more 'bout heem. He es medicine man and de squaw would talk mooch eef he cum." "Well, let's see what the people above here say. Then we can compare tiie stories and judge better what to believe, and what our next move Is. If Saul has turned yellow we're surely sure-ly done." Facing the man riding behind him, Etienne nodded. "Eef Saul work for le schooner, he weel tak' de Elkwan Cree wid heem." Then the lean features fea-tures of the half-breed tightened. His small eyes closed to slits, as he viciously cracked his whip. "But dat ol' shaman weel mak', hees las' medicine," medi-cine," he rasped. The hate In the face of the dog-driver dog-driver was so Intense that Garth objected: ob-jected: "You can't slioot him up for that, you know. It would only re-ect re-ect on Marie nnfl the children, and on nie." Etlenne's mourn curled In an Inscrutable In-scrutable smile. No one but Saul Souci weel know who meet heem on de trail." "1 guess you'd be capable of ambushing am-bushing him for this, but we're not dead yet. Let's see what the hunters at the head of the river say." In the scrub rimming the shores of the first lake from which Uie tundra midulated to the skyline, the men In quest of Saul Souci found the tipls of the hunters. It was a camp of three families and smoke from the supper tires already lifted above the spruce when the arrival of the dog-team raised a general alarm from the huskies hus-kies fastened In the scrub. "Kequay! kcquay!" called Etienne, and a shock of black hair was thrust through a door flap, as a curious Cree emerged to meet the strangers. "He's not from Elkwan," dropped Guthrie disappointed, as the Indian approached to shake hands. "'Alio, Achille!" And Etienne warmly gripped the hand of the Indian, In-dian, who then greeted Garth. "Achille I.agurrre from Kapiskau. and me. pi' fr'en-," announced the patently pleased head man to his chief. We'll learn something now, thought the factor, as the drove the dogs into the spruce, fed them their frozen vliitoli:-h, ami chained them separately to treos. As t ho December sun was iop.f down and their tout lashed under un-der tr.e t"big;an cover. Etienne a-crpu'd a-crpu'd flic hospitality of I.auerres smolje-lilled tipi. There, with eyes weeping Tom the unaccustomed si::!!;e. Giitlh ate boiled rabbit and l i'cc 'rout from the copper kettle hung By GEORGE MARSH . ; . Copyright by The Petin Publishing Co ' WNU Service. above the fire, from which the wife and numerous children of Achille gorged in common. But the appetite sharpened by the ride up the valley in the keen air was Impervious to the Informality of Cree table manners and Garth's tin cup went back to the steartiing stew and the tea pail wit"! 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 nigger-head, and pipe smoke swiftly added to the opaqueness of the tlpl air. Then Etienne, who had avoided the subject of Souci and the schooner In his gossip gos-sip with the curious and perplexed Laguerre, opened with : "You know de strait ees froze?" Achille, who spoke English, gravely grave-ly nodded. "You cum to de Island. Eet mus' be so." "Oou, mon ami. We are here. Eet ees enough. Why, Achille Laguerre," he went on, probing the small, half-shut half-shut eyes of the half-breed, "do W 4 'Mm ill " Etienne Accepted the Hospitality of Laguerre's Smoke-Filled Tipi. M'sieu' Guthrie and I, Etienne Savanne, Sa-vanne, cross de ice to mak' talk wid you?" Etienne 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 iox," he chuckled. "You are mos' smart man, ma fr'en,' but you mak' beeg meestake. We -cum to tak' de fox back to Elkwan wid de peopl' for beeg tarn at la bonne annee, New Year." "Ah-hah !" "You go to Kapiskau, Achille?" Tbe Indian slowly shook his head. "I go to de beeg boat He pay beeg price for pelt." Garth leaned eagerly forward to hear the counter stroke which Etienne was waiting to launch. "Ah-hah !" For a space, the cracking crack-ing of a spruce knot was the only sound In the tipi. Then Savanne began be-gan : "You not vei0 smart man, Achille. You leesen to dat 'Jibwa Wabeno, Mokoman. Ah-hah, you not so smart man. . . . We tak heem to dis island wid old Souci. You know why?" Etienne paused dramatically to relight his pipe. "So McDonal' put de devil Into heem." Nervously twisting her hands, the squaw of Achille stared at the speaker speak-er from awe-filled eyes. The stolid features of the half-breed reflected curiosity, doubt but no fear. "I put dat Mokoman undair de Ice up de Elkwan he mak'-troubl' for us; but we weesh to have devil put een heem by McDonal' Ha! Ha!" - "Mokoman was here," dryly countered coun-tered Achille. "Was Souci wid heem?" snapped Etienne, as a dog a bone, and Garth's pulse quickened as he waited for the reply. "Xo, Souci ees ovalr de hill, nord." "Wen you say Saul was at de schooner?" Again Guthrie ' leaned to catch Achille's return. The half-breed waited, spat Into the Are, then' said: "You hear dat?" Etienne 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 wid de devil of McDonal'." The self-possession of Achille fell from him like a leaf from a tree. "You . sen' heem dere?" he demanded excitedly. ex-citedly. Etienne was relieved. He had pierced the armor of his friend was at last making progress. Amazed and delighted at the resource re-source of his head man and wondering wonder-ing where his astounding imagination would further lead him, Garth watched the changing expression on the dark features of Achille. "Ah-hah !" casually assented Etienne. "We know dis McDonal' Ha! Ha! mak' bad medicine an' de pore Injun who go to hees boat nevaire love dere familee any more, but travel far away and leave dem to starve " "Ahuah ! ahuah !" wailed the terrified terri-fied squaw, and launched in Cree n delirious outburst of entreaty and appeal. ap-peal. Achille's attempts to sooth her hysterics hys-terics succeeded only in increasing the lamentations of the superstitious woman. At length she calmed to a low moaning, which was joined by the wailing of the awakened children. Under cover of the dusk of the tipi. sinewy fingers gripped Guthrie's stockinged stock-inged foot, With the skill of a sorcerer, sor-cerer, Etienne had planted the seeds of superstitious terror in the tipi of his friend. The work of Saul and Mokoman was rapidly being undone by the shrewd Savanne. Then voices outside out-side announced the coming of the hunters from the neighboring tipis. Crowding through the doorflap of the snow-banked tent, three Indians from the Kapiskau river entered and sat down. The fire was freshened and briefly Achille explained the situation which had aroused the fears of his wife. With the faces of stoics the men smoked, while the story of Etienne was repeated, but when they heard that Mokoman 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 Elkwan? It was true, they argued, the big man with the unspeakable face offered high prices for fox pelts, but If r" were In league with devils as he migtrt 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 medicine. And now that the women knew, there would be no peace. Still, Souci would know, and tell them. They would go to Souci, Uie shaman, who, camped with his sons over the big barrens to the north. So It was left; and two gratified men from Elkwan rolled into their blankets in the tipi of Achille Laguerre. CHAPTER VIII 'The stars pierced the blue dusk forerunner fore-runner of the stinging dawn when a dog-team pulled out of the black spruce and dwarf tamarack rimming the headwater ponds of the Ptarmigan Ptarmi-gan and followed a trap-line trail up into the tundra which billowed 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, Mokoman end the renegade Souci were sedtrjicg the hunters from Elkwan. And Christmas was but six days away Christmas, with teams from the three winds drifting down the valley Into Elkwan for the trade and the feast at New Year's. There was little time to be lost if they were to win the hunters of Akl-miski Akl-miski 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 of snow on the brittle heath made the work of the dogs heartbreaking. heart-breaking. While the flat toboggan slid over the frozen tundra, the huskies, husk-ies, seeking a footing, constantly broke through. Shortly, their bleeding feet forced a stop while moccasins were lashed to their legs. But at last, panting pant-ing dogs and men stood on the roof of the island. Through the glasses Garth made out the white delta of the Elkwan, 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 indication indica-tion of the break of a low valley where timber would give them shelter and a cooking fire. At noon it was evident that Etienne was worried. Never he-fore he-fore had Garth seen his head man us? the whip on his dogs as he used it that day; never in their journeys had the fur-lined hood, circled with ice and rime, turned so often while the slitlike slit-like eyes of the half-breed consulted the horizon. "Beeg blow comin'. Mooch snow, she fall soon." "It can't be far now," said Garth. "We've surely made the twenty miles. The Rabbit mcst head over that MIL" "Eef we don't' get off dees hlgb eountree before de win' blow, we nevaire ne-vaire get off," was the quiet rejoinder. rejoin-der. "It's colder, already." And Garth took in the belt of his parka. "De dog weel not travel mooch more. Dere feet are cut to pieces on di3 frozen bush." On up the next ascent the limping dogs, with breath trailing behind like ribbons of smoke, followed the trail breakers. Gaining the backbone of the ridge, the men stood with startled eyes looking north. Instead of: the wide basin of the Rabbit headwaters with its scrub-fringed lakes, they looked across a treeless barren. The grave eyes of Etienne met Garth's puzzled look. "Those Indians lied." "No," objected the half-breed. "W travel ver' slow. Eeet ees ovair.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- i ing red tongue hanging from a mouth hung with ice. "You ver' tired, Castor? Cas-tor? You mak dat ridge?" The powerful leader got to his sore feet and whined as if he understood, but the listless team lay sprawled on the trail. "It's come," announced Garth, as a curtain of snow drifted In from the northeast "We go! Cp, mes enfants ! Allons! Marche, Castor!" An hour later, five dogs sheathed in white, plodding slowly oehind 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 iu 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've got the compass direction, north, northwest," said Garth. Etienne shook his snow-crusted hood j "Keep de win' on right cheek. Pu long cheek fro.e, we head right for de i timber." lie turned to the dogs, white ' as the snow they lay on. ".Marche, Castor, mon brave!" And snapping his whip, lie tugged at the harnesses j until the reluctant brutes got to toe;; feet. . . j (TO EE CONTIXUED.l ' |