Show I II I I i. i FLASH The e Lead Dog I B U George Marsh s Cow It b br Ji i THE PENN PUBLISHING CO r. r SERVICE SER 7 ff i CHAPTER 1 I 11 1 1 What the Go Goose Hunters Sa Saw that Gaspard ofT off shore there The black eyes of Gaspard shifted from the Incoming flock dock of oft Y t 4 snowy geese out to the gray water of James bay beyond the marshes where the boys lay laj in a 0 hi hide de Schooner I 1 tInk muttered the e half breed watching the distant obJect ob sect for a space through e eyes es nar oar rowe 1 to slits 1 What In ID thunders thunder's a n schooner r doIng do do- als Cis Is In demanded demanded de de- demanded Ing lug on coast Sept September Brock McCain Something g queer here herel lAb l J Ab hah Ah hah Eel ces ees queer Must Most Jost be free flee traders 1 I They cant can't get Hudsons Hudson's straits now they've they got to winter on the bay 1 I wIs' wIs my father knew about this regretted regretted re he the white boy but ts Its too tat late to turn back now Eef ws wa w going to trap de tie Yellow Leg bead ater dis long snow we got gal no tam tarn to lose Right you are old partner 1 J But ut t Id I'd like to know what tl thi se se people veople e t o- o are doing on this coast const You dont don't ee suppose well we'll run into them on th the e Yellow Leg 1 The swart face of or Gaspard Lecroix t went darker The small e eyes es glit gilt glittered glittered as he said My Iy fader die o on de Yellow Leg I 1 I I i dese hunt hum t dat countree last dey dey- dey r But that was two hundred miles mile s I Inland Gaspard objected Brock These people would not leave th the e f r coast Ah hah not not si the flip half breed saddened b by the thought b br r of at the father be had bad lost r Over t Ute the te marsh which reached from tram f the black spruce guarding the muskeg V l inland o o 0 the wet wot flats where myriad V shore birds fed fed behind the ebbing tide 1 the flock of which the boys were watching drifted lazily IL lr from r the sea Then In quick sU succession cession two shots t roared beneath nth theca the and before the beating pinions of at the bewildered geese lifted and swept them out of off f range again two tWe guns exploded In Inthe r the hide Falling Failing vertically two birds struck the grass flats stone dead two angled down from the retreating w Wigs moving mechanically mechanical ly Iy to tilt hit t te e marsh with a 8 thud a n hundred yard 1 from the alders Four more said Brock rising to stretch bis his stiff legs That Thai makes maker Jils morning Gaspard Ga pard It We Ve eat all we can nn an ry ry 1 I wish we bad boat Oh well rell tind find c on the Yet Yel low-Leg low and if we make die he lakes in time well we'll net plent plenty of ot whitefish and trout I dont don't see why you worry worry warry wor war ry about grub demurred Brock Hrock Gaspard shook his head nil good good ns at the optimism of at his bis friend De caribou ees here today tomorrow tomor row gone Wo WP must musi get or we have bard hard tarn tam to feed teed de dog log In dewinter de dewInter dewinter winter hp replied We got wan month to de freeze up Brock Urock We must most hurry burry Then each with a 8 back load toad of ot birds suspended by a leather tump tamp I line passing over the head the boys started for their camp a 8 mile across the marsh At the camp a chorus of at busky husky yelps hailed them t Hello Flash old pup I called Brock tossing his geese to the plat pint platform form cac cache e high above e the reach of ol the dogs As his master went to the stake where he be was tied the big Eskimo Es kimo puppy wriggled in ecstacy alternately alternately al growling and yelping his delight de der light At neighboring stakes three grown dogs fretted and yelped Jealously demanding de demanding manding recognition Brock left his puppy and with a pat on th the head bead and pull at tb the ears spoke to each ench Well Roan Kona old girl 1 l be he said to a 8 snow snow- white snow temple female who greeted hl him t no less e eagerly gerly than thun the sIn gray te- te grav gray and white Flash Hello Slit Silt Ear Ear y you yeti ur u- u r rascal l I be to a n black and white dog with an ear which had been ripped by the razor razor like clo claws ws of ot a lynx The fourth a hulking bulking yellow and white husky the red lower lids of whose oblique amber colored eyes mar mar-ke marked J anear B a near strain of f the wolf crouched at athis athis his stal stake e. e Yellow Eye Yellow Eyel J Youve You've been chewing at it that wire a again aln I JIt And the youth seized the the- gaping lower tower Jaw of the dog and looked Into the tawny eyes eye raised to his bis V Youre oure king king dog dog of this team now old boy buy nut but some sume day that pup make your old boues crack By the time they bad had finished their dinner of boiled balled goose corn curn bread and wild cranberries the rt returning tide had backed d up the water in the stream to a depth sufficient to float the loaded landed canoe out through the than chan nel net Ther their freight of geese flour and provisions traps trap and camp outfit on top lop of ot which was lashed a toboggan sled they started for the mouth of at the unknown and 1 mysterious torts forty miles mUes up I the coast Following Follot along shore hore tails up and In full rull cry ns os they reveled rev elect In their freedom after days 8 of tethered Idleness s the dogs drove frIghtened Mocks Clucks of shore durk duck and onel geese Into the air as ns they traveled true trav eleo Youre n a big able uble lad ltd Brock tor for your age Angus JI US McCain factor of or hungry Hungry Hou House P p on I tut- tut In- In Starving river ricer hull hud replied In July lo to the pleading of or his sop to be he allowed to winter III fer on the Yellow Leg with Go pard hut but you youre you're re too roo young oung to trap strange country Somewhere far to the north Dorth In III the unexplored Inke lake country of the In Interior in- in tenor from which tI flowed ed the fhe great grent k and the the Yellow Yellow- Leg Jeg was liS thought to have e It Its sources But no Indian trading nt at Hungry House Bouse had eH ever er r ascended the river ricer ll rII Ui U tta hay bay und mid of at the hunters who wintered In river the Starving conn loun try hat but one had the hardihood to fo cross the llie diw Me dI Ide and enter tho tIR unknown anti therefore mysterious land to the rhe north h hand and and he had not returned That runt ma man n 11 was s Pierre Lecroix father ol of nn With his do dog team lie he had started d don on the March crust to explore thI tit the I nameless valleys s 's beyond the fhe last blue hille hills for signs sign of fur anti and until the trails went soft In the fhe April thaws thanes Gaspard rd n and his brat brother her hn had cJ followed J r 1 ltd r n t So Early September Found the Boy Boya on Their Way to the Yellow his fathers father's trap lines confident of ot his safe return But when the days das of ot sled travel had passed the they knew f that somewhere be beyond ond the grim brim hills to the north tragedy had overtaken O the best hest bushman and hunter on the that Starving Starving that a fate mysterious m had stricken the veteran wio who would not starve where caribou roamed the muskegs But Pierre was alone objected Brook Brock Th That t was the trouble I 1 be e He got sick or hurt burt and c couldn't bunt hunt But dot doat forget lad Ind that one win winter winter ter twenty years ago the rabbit plague and the disappearance of the caribou i pave gate this river its name Many of the C ees ees starved star out so the Com Com- Company Company pany men sent to build this post the tile next summer called it Hungry House Hoose You rou might get et caught In a n norther norther- aloie on your our trap trap lines lines And get lost you yon think broke broken i In n Brock Brad the blood showing In his brown face are U us tie nis his frank eyes met his fathers father's doubtful look Yes end and get lost snowed lost snowed up ep In Ina Ina Ina a big blow far from your camp with without without without out grub answered Angus McCain Mclain dryly Many a good man older stronger and wiser than you yon my lad ho has starved star out after otter a big Ig snow- snow lost For a 8 space Brock rock frowned down at nt his moccasins then his pride sl spurred him to answer Of Ot course Ive I've got plenty to learn from Gas pard Hes He's part Cree and its it's uncanny uncanny ny all he knows about the bush Hed He'd be boss on this trip and were we're like brot brothers ers Its It's time too I made something something some some- thing for tor m myself father tather Slowly the gre grey e eyes es of ot the elder elde McCain soft softened ned as his bis son be begged ged gedor for or the chance to Fo risk his life ID In the hinterlands of ot the Yellow Leg At last he said reluctantly If It you'll promise to take the dogs and make for tor or the coat coast and home lorne when wilen your grub f. f f-ets f ts to low Ion Instead ol of trying to tit tk k k It H out Ill I'll consent Good old dad J 1 Brock Impulsively wrung his fathers father's hand band So It w ws s that early earls September found the two buys 1108 on their way to I the wilderness of the Y Yellow lIow TO gro BE CONTINUED I |