Show 15 under N U T AMA frozen I 1 ozell ez 5 e jewsh jac Ji wah BY PUB CO SERVICE FROM THE BEGINNING at his hi fur pot post sunset kunrt hout house 1 la the canadian north jim stuart trader 1 la charge chare with his headman Irad maa omu omar rescues A arror L lokaj 1 daughter duhle duh lr of I 1 stuarts 0 rival 01 1 la he the th fur bust iron from an a tu d auw I 1 la the th ak she sh proves prove th thing charm ing and iu stuart 1 I naturally at jim superior andrw andrew christie displeased at t stuarts Sti urt trade hwing allowa allow him at t his bl qc ons oil year to calr he gl g L pradas abrib nn an au to ambush jim and omar tin 11 attempt faus ill ad ad jim toll tk th the indi to IARI mariond ond after hearing the th story lablond jakhu discharge barsdis Pars pu aall dis jim and aurora their metud lov lo 10 thigh acors 1 ratu returning to winnipeg Winn lp and jim be h planned a una trip to malce a personal appeal to the ih indiana Ind laiu who wh have persistently adu d to trade trad their fure run with him hi he finds find that paradis has bu on enlisted listed their super sti tl to discourage the ahm irom from trading with stuart paradis Pa mini men amba jim and W omar ain again but tiny they are an not h harmed L esau hall half breed partis sin of stuart leaves leave on Is a my arc jouret cure which they hope will result la in the th overthrow of Jin gwak bodian 11 dicia cla BIM la in the th pay of oi CHAPTER VII 12 in the gray dawn the canoe nosed cut t of the river through the blanket of mist masking the stilt still surface of the ojibway lake of the sturgeon here living largely on their sturgeon and whitefish white fish nets many hunters came with their families to pass the swift weeks of summer before they returned to the far valleys and muskegs muskets of their trapping country here the pipestone indians had told jim and omar JIng made his home and from here in december and june he led the hunters south couth to the trade at Le Blonds before the rising sun cleared the smoking surface of the lake juice jim and omar went ashore and hiding their canoe in tile the brush ate and slept from now on the price of 0 their safety would be eternal vigilance their escape to the south would mean that henceforth garadis would be a wanted man an outlaw for him the dog teams of 0 the police would comb a thousand miles of forest from rupert house to fort severn his appearance pe arance at a post would mean arrest arelt the very existence of 1 the nall west company would hang bang on their repudiation of his deeds in their behalf leblond might have secretly sent him to hide on the sturgeon but it if stuart returned south the master of bonne chance roust must forever wash ills his hands of ra garadis radis and this paradis himself only too well knew so in the search to learn the fate faite of old esau the men from sunset house must use the caution of the hunted creatures of the forest rut but the lake was a large one with many islands other connecting takes lakes lay beyond and the sole means of learning whether ranu had avoided and reached the sturgeon was by talking to the ojibway nho ho might have seen or met him in time some of these indians would carry the news of jims presence to paradis ls but it could not be avoided they were here now to save old esau it alive then if possible get out of the country the against the sorcerer Jin gwak had come to this a bare fight for life and neither jim nor omar thought they could win after dark the peter peterboro boro started down the lake labe with muffled paddles on the shore in the dis distance a clr fire twinkled like a star for the nights were growing cool shall we make a stub stab and see what they know suggested jim hy by daylight esau would have passed in sight of this camp ah hall dese deop are atone alone here beet might be long tarn tam before dey see oders an tell dem about us so they landed at the camp jim approached the small fire with the customary bo josl jos while omar squatted in the gloom at the bow of the canoe ills right hand which rested inside the gunwale gripped a cocked rifle bo joll jol th old indian at tile the fire rose at jimi approach stuarts roving eyes saw that he was alone the fire glow fell upon a vill of caribou hide the dool flaps of which were closed the bright abik ilke eyes of the old hunter men measured the tall figure of the white man from felt hat to moccasins but his cured face teamed seamed by the years evidenced neither excitement nor curiosity as he be said in ojibwa you come far yes jim answered in tile the same tongue we conle come far to talk with the people of the sturgeon country what have you to tell them that Jin gwak the shaman prows grows fat on the hour flour and sugar of the trader ra garadis radis jim searched the shrewd eyes of the indian for signs of the derision which the speech implied but found none still the ojibwa hild had used the identical words employed by stuart at the lie Il Ill takes lakes this was interesting ile he would draw the old man out and learn about esau handing the ojibwa a plug of tobacco he filled ills his own pipe chave 1 I have much to tell them jim answered it may be that you have much to tell me are you alone where Is your family faintly the indian postured gestured toward the she la Is sick your tour wife here was a stroke of luck stuart carried a small cine case it might be that the woman had some slight ailment that he be could aid lie he had often dressed wounds for the indians and knew the use of 8 simple medical remedies yes tes she cut her hand and her arm Is large with much pain infected thought jim it if it gone too tar far I 1 can clean it up that means gratitude the friendship or of these people they may be useful and theres no time to waste you have no son to help you on your trap lines this winter jini jim assied the old man faed grimly into the fire as lie he shook his head 1 I am alone I 1 bad a son but he is a son no more lie ile left roe me to follow the trader para dig and the long snows I 1 have seen full fall and melt to swell the rivers are many 11 here was luck I 1 omar come up herel jim called in english to the sentinel at the canoe go into tile the tipi and look at the sick s ick squaw came the guttural demand from the gloom beyond the firelight the wily halfbreed half breed was not to be drawn into a possible trap with coc cocked ked rifle he waited for proof of the story invisible he com rounded the UPI and the fire 1 I have medicine and have cured many indians at the lake of tile the sand beaches Ue aches jim said your tour wife has poisoned her hand band the poison moves fast up the arm it will reach her neck then dien her heart if you would have her live I 1 must see her abonce at once 11 por for a space the indian scrutinized il jims ms frank countenance lit by the fire cre glow then lie entered the from which directly issued a muffled conversation broken by low moans that there was no treachery here jim was satisfied the indian emerged from the tent and said she Is very sick it if the medicine of the white man will help her she Is willingto see bee him lighting a torch of rolled the ojibwa lod led the way into the As jim followed a crouched invisible v figure held a rifle ride lined on the lodge omar was taking no chances on a pile of skins skills jim found a squaw writhing in pain the hand cut while cleaning fish was red and swollen the inflammation reaching to the glands of the forearm and her head was hot with fever As lie he had guessed it was a bad case of infection hut but there was a chance of checking it as it had not progressed to the lie shoulder returning to his canoe he took his medicine case from a bag and had the old man heat a kettle of water then he said this will give her pain the wound Is full of pus of poison it must be cleaned out and washed with medicine does she understand it will hurt her the old man smiled grimly lias illas she not been in pain for two sleeps she says the little knife can be no worse so in the flickering light of the birch bark barb stuart opened the inflamed hand cleaned out the wound sterilized of mercury and bound it up while the drawn gray face of the old squaw wet with the sweat of her agony held field to its stole immobility they went outside to the fire and the stiff features of the ojibwa softened as lie he said the white mans medicine Is strong slie she will be well again 1 I do not know replied jim considering si sl tile the situation ile he mi might abt pull the old woman out of her infection if he stayed and dressed the arm but that meant the risk of showing themselves to camps in the vicinity and time was precious if they were to help ksau omar would never agree to it but then there was the brave old soul in the dill who had not so much as whimpered as lie he opened the wound helpless without him film mow ilow could lie he leave her out of the murk omar suddenly appeared at the fire this Is omar my friend said jim as the two men exchanged bo los and the customary handshakes you have not told me your nareg the old mans seamed fa face L e expanded in a chuckle sly name Is jinai it was ojibwa for rattlesnake and omars black eyes snapped as he said thrusting a menacing face ace into that of the other you vou got your poison fangs ready for somebody with unblinking eyes the indian answered the strange question my fangs are waiting for the trader ra radis ls and JIn gwak the shaman 11 jim glanced sit at omars surprised face could it be that they had stumbled upon a possible ally or was waa jinai leading them on to betray the object of their search and yet he had trusted jim with his squaws squads arm why did you ask me it if I 1 had come to tell the ojibway that grows fat on the flour of paradas ls jim de d banded because the sun before the lost last rasp Jin gwak was here and said so he here heie jim was thrilled T aliis ils old id man might have news of esnil ul was lie he alone yes he was waiting tor for paradas who had been up river reveir did he be say why paradis went up ap river ile he said that paradis paradas went to drive from the country the trader who hal had been telling the indians at the lake ot of the great stones that was a false shaman I 1 told him he could prove that a lie by curing my squaw who was sick what did he do ile he said he had no time to set up his medicine lodge but would drive the devils from her arm said the old oil man with a grimace and he proved he was a wabeno fo for r tile devils stayed laughed jim the face of jinai twisted with hate that Is why the fangs of wait for him he said lias paradis returned 1 I have not seen him have you seen an old man la in a bark canoe traveling this way no your son went with paradis ls yes said there were nine with alth him in two canoes 11 then with a glance at omar jim J 1 he le would draw the old man out and learn about esau said your four son Is not killed billed we spared him face reflected his amazement you met them ten of them and they did not stop you my medicine was too strong for them we left them lying fring on the trail but they are no not hurt for a long space shrewd eyes scrutinized the frank countenance I 1 of the white man then he said quietly you have the face of one whose heart Is a stranger to fear you should have killed them they will never let you leave this lake alive ignoring the cheerful prophesy omar broke into the conversation which had been carried on entirely la in ojibwa do all the people here believe in this wabeno Jin gwak I 1 no but many of the young men do will the old men listen ilten to us if we talk to them they will listen ll fen but paradis will find you sou with his young oung men inen and kill you omar grimaced in K face uhe the ine divine of tills this ehte alite man laulis laughs at knife miti bullet ask ak paradis what he did with hit his nine men then omars swart face hardened into a menacing mask alid the fangs of jinai seek the trader vara para dig and this wabeno they also are our enemies jinar Is old ills son has left him and he needs friends we will be his friends 1 the three filled their pipes and sat down by the fire while omar now convinced that the old indian was sincere lost no me time Is planning to make use of him in their search for esau As an earnest of their friendship omar brought from the canoe floer sugar ten tee and tobacco none of which the old man had and gave gar the sick squaw a dipper of stimulating ten tea which she gratefully swallowed then heartened by the good fortune which had led them to the of jinai the rattlesnake they paddled a rolle mile down the shore and hid bid canoe and outfit as the young moon broke through the clouds above a lake drifted with shadows while the sky cleared and here and there the mirror of the lake picked up the stars one question harassed the thoughts of the two men who had bad i been told by jinai that their canoe would never turn south up the racing sturgeon where was esau As the night deepened and the moon dipped toward the llie black buttresses of the spruce ridge flanking the western shore its beams touched two blurred shapes stretched in an open space beside a stony beach far out on the lake the funereal night wall of a loon lifted from the shadows then for a long space forest and lake slumbered until at last on the heavy silence of the timbered shore broke the deep toned hoo hoo whoop 1 of the horned owl but the shapes in the blankets lay like dead men again the hush of the tomb returned to the forest while the moon rode from sight behind a drift 0 of f cloud and murk swallowed the muffled figures on the shore for a time the patrols of the forest night gave no voice then the hunting bunting call of the feathered assassin of the Blin dows again marred the deep pence peace but the shaggy sentinel smoke no longer kept guard beside his sleeping master the sinister sin later sound was unheard the blanketed heaps did not stir time passed and the moon broke from its curtain of cloud to light the tae lake shore and touch shapes near the hidden canoe then close by like the stealthy movement of padded feet sounded a faint rustle for a long space silence s and n d the sound was repeated again a silence while the night grew older until with altti the noiselessness of a snake something left the packed gloom of the scrub and writhed into the tha moonlight near the two still shapes now lay a third again movement in the black murk of the brush the swift progress of a dark body and where two had lala lain now lay tour four heavy with silence the forest slumbered on then a moonbeam touched bright metal in the lifted bands of two kneeling g men a as s they struck at the tha huddled figures between them struck again but their knife hands did not lift for the third blow at the sleeping men for like the rush of stalking wolves the impact of two heavy bodies ground their faces into the soll soil a as 8 the skinning knives of omar boisvert Bols vert and jim stuart drove deep into their backs leaving the tricked henchmen of paradis beside the blanketed heaps which the men from sunset house had bad cunningly arranged to simulate the shapes of sleeping men jim and omar listened in the murk of the he shore willows for the sound of muffled paddles or men moving in the forest in the rear of the tha camp 1 I tole tola you de trick would work omar breathed into the ear of his chief jinai he be tool me but I 1 nave have fear jus de same lie ile tole dem we go little piece down de lak to sleep old to think he would betray us murmured jim bitter with the thought of the treachery of the indian whom he bad befriended dey see us from de lak ink wille we talk to de rattlesnake at de fire sees elees fangs weel spit no more poison wen omar squeeze siu ezze hees bees 11 and his squaw poor old ali ah hahl she ees de of wan ov dose who come to keel us een our sleep debbe you sorry for her yes I 1 am sorry for her she was so game when I 1 hurt her I 1 believe I 1 |