Show file adventurers ti ea A CLUB mane man E eating dogs by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H TT ERES a yarn from a country that has produced produce amany many an adaven 1 I turca and many a rip snorting good adventure the scene is laid on the bleak coast of labrador one of the coldest spots of northern canada and the episode I 1 am now about to relate from the life of richard mercer is one of the most terrifying tales that ever came out of that stormy territory it was back in october 1902 and dick mercer was wag a lad of 14 ile he was working on a boat that lay at anchor off the sandy islands and he ran into int his bis lires lifes biggest adventure while doing nothing more spectacular than going down to get the mall mail getting mall in labrador though the simple process it Is in more I 1 civilized localities the mail boat out there only stopped at headlands along the coast i left the mail there for the people in the interior and the those se up in the tha bays to come and get it it dick had a comparatively easy trip compared to some of them it nas as only three miles by land from where villere his boat was anchored to the settlement where the mall was left adventures in labrador happen almost anytime but it was over a rough trail through deserted country and you can find a dozen adventures on three miles of a labrador trail dick started out right after breakfast armed with nothing but a short stick to help him over the rough spots of the trail he had covered about three quarters of a mile when suddenly from a patch of underbrush two huskies or Es eskimo kimo dogs came out to meet him up in that country says dick they have a lot of those dogs mean vicious animals quite capable of killing a man their owners put them out on the islands in the summer carry boatloads boat loads of lish fish over to teed feed them then in the fall brought back to the mainland not any too well fed and very dan dangerous crous those two dogs came out of the underbrush snapping and snarling dick chased them off with his stick and continued on his way he gone more than another half mile when he heard a yelping and barking behind him and turned to see a whole pack of dogs swarming up the trail after him right bight there says dick is where I 1 got the scare of my life and brother that sort of a scare makes tile the old thinking apparatus work mighty fast the brain plays tricks at a time like this 1 I could picture someone finding a skeleton and wondering who it belonged to remembered tales of other days of men writing notes telling the finder A W 1 I went after them swinging the stick from side to side that these same animals were even then tearing through the weak root roof of the tha shack aback they were in with frenzied efforts to pet get at them 1 I even have a shack to protect me long enough to write a note I 1 wished then that I 1 had brought a rifle along it might not have done any good but at least I 1 could have shot down a few of them b before they got me on they came up the trail dick racked his brain for some plan of meeting the emergency should he run that would be worse than an useless they would be tearing him to the ground before he got 50 feet throw stones at them dick looked around for some but there any lo in sight there seem to be anything else to do so he took a stand and raised his slender stick to fight it out as best he could the dogs says dick came up to within eight or ten feet of me stopped suddenly and started to pile up on top of one another adoth er snarling and foaming at the mouth my spine felt like a cake of ice and the muscles of my face twitched with fear my body seemed to be paralyzed but I 1 had to do something and do it quick 1 I noticed that while they stayed a little distance away from me they kept cirell circling ng trying to get around behind me that I 1 knew happen I 1 remembered too hearing bearing of the dog drivers handling their dogs by making their long whips whistle through the air and figured that it if they were afraid of a whip they might be afraid of a stick too so I 1 went after them swinging the stick from side to side dick battles exhaustion as well as dogs they gave ground but as soon as I 1 turned to go they came on worse than ever I 1 retreat from them that was just what they were waiting for so I 1 I 1 did the only other thing I 1 could I 1 I 1 maneuvered around them until I 1 got them between me and the place for which I 1 was heading and began driving them on before me dick was almost exhausted now from a combination of fright and exertion but he pushed on after the dogs striking at them with his hi stick when they lagged driving them on toward the settlement the dogs retreated before him until he lad had almost reached his destination and then theyron the they yran ran off up a trail leading in another direction dick told the story when lie got the mall and the men there told him bin ht be was lucky to get out of it alive the back but he made abe tn they gave him bin a gun for protection on way return trip without seeing eben eien a sign of a dog g bervice |