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Show $?A Yawned Men li iJ Ey GEORGE MARSH Ca U J THE STOrtY SO FAR: Bound lor the Chibougamau gold country, lix men lost their live on the Nottaway river. Red Malone, Garrett Finlay, brother of one of the ilx, and Blaise, half-breed guide, arrive at Nouaway posing as surveyori INSTALLMENT SIXTEEN to Investigate. Murder Is suspected. It Is thought that Isadore, rich fur man, has made a gold strike and alms to keep prospectors out. On the way to the Hudson's Bay post they visit Isadore in his palatial home, meet his wife and Use, Isadore's stepdaughter. Answering an appeal from Lise, Finlay is ambushed am-bushed and rescued by Malone and Blaise. It develops that they are Mounted Mount-ed Police officers. Blaise returned on night after a fight with some Indians. M. Jt tagnais! Just what is a Windigo, anyway?" Blaise chuckled. "Wal, de Injun fink de Windigo is beeg, w'at you call giant, who eat Injun and is ver' bad fallar. He like to holler at night and scare dem. Most bush Injun is scare of Windigo and will not go into country w'ere he live." "They certainly thought a man-eater man-eater was loose and hungry tonight," to-night," said Garry. "You had me guessing hard, Blaise, when you first opened up. Now before we get out of here I want to take Flame back into the bush and look him over with a torch." "What's happened?" demanded Red. Finlay described the dog's strange battle in the water. Then they went back where the light from an electric elec-tric torch would be masked from the lake and looked the airedale over. "He's scratched, Garry," said Red. Brassard peered closely at the surface scratches which crossed Flame's shoulders and forelegs. "No claw or toot' make dem mark," he grunted. "It was a knife, then," said Finlay. Fin-lay. "You think a Montagnais was swimming across the strait? But few of them can swim." "We put cano' in and have a look," said Blaise. At their camp they found Moise Wabistan waiting and told him the Tfr 7f T IV TT IW "They'll be moving soon, if they're over there," Finlay whispered. Suddenly the dog stiffened, the hair along his neck and back lifting as he sniffed. Finlay's hands closed on Flame's nose and throat. "Wind something? Steady, boy!" Then from the murk drifted a faint sound like a splash of water. "Ah, I hear it! They're coming!" muttered Finlay. Again Finlay strained his ears, with caught breath, for a repetition of the sound. At last he heard what resembled the wash of ripples; rip-ples; as if something was swimming slowly across the strait. What could that mean? He cut the gag and lease and the airedale tore through the alders up the shore. "It must be a swimming otter or beaver he's winded," muttered the surprised Finlay. "He'd roar at a canoe." Shortly from the gloom rose snarls, the thrashing of creatures battling in the water, then muffled gurgles. Rigid, Finlay listened, praying for the dog he loved. "Flame!" groaned the man on the shore. "What's happened to you, boy? What did you meet out there?" Had he lost his dog? Had Flame gone out there in the blackness to his death? It was no canoe. But what was it? Garry waited in suspense, sus-pense, ears still straining. Then something moved swiftly through 5f TV TT "What d'you mean by spoiling a nice afternoon nap, you old say, who tore your shirt?" demanded , 4 Malone. "Where'd you pick up all X that dirt on that handsome face of yours? What you been trying to do While we were asleep?" Blaise gazed benignly down on his startled friends. "You wake up quick w'en you hear." Flame was nuzzling at Garry's neck when the blinking eyes of the latter suddenly widened. "What in thunder you been into, Flame? You're cut and what's that damned smell on you? I've got it! Beaver castorl Red, smell of that dog! He's smeared with it! And what happened to his head, Blaise? He's been struck with a club." Solicitously Garry examined ex-amined the scratch of the knife and the swollen head of his dog. When Blaise had told his story of the missing dog, the log dead-fall set in the clearing and the fight, the three friends ate and prepared to leave the island In the early dusk. There was no doubt that their camp had been discovered. "Blaise, you and Flame are two lucky devils," said Garry, as they y hidden in the shore alders waiting wait-ing for the rose tints to fade from sky and lake and the dusk to mask their movements. "Both of you walk Into trouble and both of you bob up smiling. But my guess is that when those two Montagnais you left bound at the clearing are found by their friends we may hear something. Queer they didn't have their guns with them when they tried to ambush am-bush you!" When dusk fell a Peterboro drifted drift-ed through the shadows like- a wraith, bound for the head of the lake. Ml story. Then the Peterboro, followed by the birchbark, passed through a patch of moonlit water before entering en-tering the bank of shadow. From the bow Finlay pointed to something floating ahead of them. "What's that?" The canoe slid up to the drifting object. Kept afloat by air bladders of moose entrails, fastened under the arms, was the half-submerged body of a man. Blaise reached down and turned the drowned body to stare into an evil, grimacing face. "W'at you t'ink?" he demanded, meeting the peering eyes of his friends. "Tetu!" "Tetu? The side-kick of Tete-Blanche!" Tete-Blanche!" gasped Red. "Ah-hah! And good t'ing, for sure!" "He was coming across to hunt for us when Flame went out and met him, nose to nose, and the best man won," said Red. "Good old Flamey!"- "Flame pull him undair and drown him before he stick a knife in him," added Blaise. "Dat smart chien. I navare saw so smart. He know more dan most man. But he get foolish w'en he smell beaver castor, eh Flame?" It was the first week of August. For days the heat, like river mist before sunrise, had hung in the windless forests of the Nottaway country. CHAPTER XVI The police party were hidden near the head of the lake waiting for the return of Moise with news from his father. The following night, in the round of the moon, it had been rumored ru-mored through the fishing camps that the spirit voices would speak to the Montagnais. During the day canoes ca-noes had passed within a half mile of the camp. It was evident that Tete-Blanche had guessed that the men he sought were at the head of the lake and that his scouts were hunting the shores for them. "Moise should be showing up if we're going to move to that hide-out tonight," said Finlay. "Moise will follow de dark of de shore," grunted Blaise. "De moon is so bright it bodder him. Dey got plenty men watchin'." "We'll need those shore shadows, too, Garry," said Red. "When the moon slides toward those ridges it'll be safer traveling." "Look!" muttered Blaise, pointing. point-ing. Hardly a mile distant the black shape of a birchbark cut across the shimmering ribbon of light banding the lake. "There's another!" exclaimed Red. "And another!" Finlay sat listening:, his arm circling the fretting dog. the water to the snore near him, shook itself and bounded to his side. "Flame, you old water rat, what did you strike out there?" Finlay hugged his dripping dog. "Are you hurt, boy?" A rapid search of the dog's head and shoulders with groping fingers seemed to reveal no wounds. Garry threw a loop of a thong around Flame's jaw and waited with arm crooked about him. Presently the silence was split by a demoniacal wail which lifted like an eagle's screaming whistle to die in thin air. The startled Finlay clung to his aroused dog, clamping clamp-ing a hand over his nose. What in the name of all the fiends in hell was that? wondered the kneeling policeman. po-liceman. The voice ceased and silence si-lence again pulsed over moon-drenched moon-drenched forest and lake. Shortly the night was tainted by the bellow of some tortured brute voicing his agony. It was followed by mad roars of rage which echoed back and forth between the forest walls of the strait. Holding his struggling dog Finlay knelt on the shore as the mystery was solved in his active brain. Shortly he heard the thud of wood on wood fading rapidly into the distance. dis-tance. He released Flame who plunged up the shore roaring his challenge to the hidden owner of the magic voice. "By the way they are beating it from that howling Windigo, those Montagnais won't stop until daylight!" day-light!" Finlay laughed until he was tired. "They're superstitious all right! Blaise, the Windigo! The giant who eats Indians! But where did he learn how to do this? What a voice! What a voice!" "That you Garry?" called Red, stumbling through the bush. "Where's that foxy Blaise? Ever hear squalling to beat that? They were waiting at the island to come across but he scared them stiff. Those paddles were hitting the lake sixty a minute. Our Blaise, the big voice the ventriloquist!" "How you like dat song?" With Flame at his heels Blaise moved down the beach and joined his friends. "Wabistan tell me dose Montagnais have fear of Windigo. So I seeng dem de Windigo song." "Blaise, you're some prima-don-na! You always claimed you could sing. Now I know it." said Red. "A swell idea to scare those Mon- "Are you game for a swim, Lise? I'm stifled with this heat. There's an urge in me to mingle my curves with some nice,, cool lake water," yawned Corinne Isadore. . "I'm crazy to but since that day at the beach I've been ordered to keep away from there," replied Lise. "I fixed that with Jules this morning. morn-ing. The king says we can go. Have you noticed him since he returned from that trip? He's worried, Lise. He mumbles and raves in his sleep One night he kept saying: 'What's their game? What's their game? We've got to get 'em, quick! If they see that plane and get back to Montreal, Mon-treal, it's all over! ' " Lise stiffened in her hammock. Had Tete-Blanche got them already? al-ready? "What could he have meant, Corinne?" she asked with seeming artlessness, wondering just how much the other knew. "It sounds as if they were hunting hunt-ing for Garry Finlay and that darling dar-ling Malone boy, doesn't it as if they were going to put them out of the way? Lise, I'm terribly frightened." fright-ened." "I am, too. You saw the Indians who stopped here, yesterday?" "Yes." "There were twenty of them. They were hunting for the survey party.'' "How do you know?" "I heard Tete-Blanche talking to them. They acted drunk. Corinne, Jules is giving the Montagnais liquor liq-uor and it's against the law." "Jules swears that Finlay's a spy sent from Montreal to jump his gold strike on the river. I suppose that's the reason for it all." "Has Jules ever talked to you of his gold strike?" "No. He treats me like a baby ! But I'm sure he's secretly shipped a ! lot of gold south. He's roade much money." 1 "Yes, he's made money. Money's his god." , "But what's going to come of all this? It makes me shiver to think of it. Three men have been shot What will the police do when they learn of it?" Corinne's great eyes were wide with ppprehension "Where's it going to end? If Finlay slays here and tries to find Jules gold strike. Tete-Blanche'll kill him It's horrible! " (T" DE COM IMED) "What do you make of it, Blaise?" asked Finlay. "Think they've got a hunch that we're in these islands?" Brassard scratched his iron chin. 'Hard to tell!" "This island's not a hundred yards long," said Red. "If they land here we've got a tough fight on our hands. It'll be a case of wolf eat wolf." "That's the trouble," regretted Finlay. "We want no trouble tonight. to-night. It'll kill Wabistan's plans spoil the whole show." "T'ree cano'!" grunted Blaise. "Dat look bad to me. We watch de shore. Dey may land on us. Dere was ten in dose boat." "All right!" said Finlay. "This island is-land is three cornered. Each man take a shore. That ought to cover any landing in the dark." "Fill your pockets with shells. I'll keep Flame gagged and hitched to my belt. I won't cut the gag and turn him loose until I'm sure they know we're here and are going to land. So don't count on his getting their wind and sounding off." "In case anyone fires," asked Red, "do we leave our posts and back him up?" "Yes. If they land we've got to get together." Hitching Flame's leash to his belt jt Garry crossed the little island and took up a position with his uneasy dog. So long as the airedale felt his master's hand he would not make any noise with the gag in his mouth. But the instant he caught a strange scent his shaggy body would vibrate with excitement. Less than a hundred yards from where Finlay and his dog waited lay the black bulk of shadow of the mainland. The water between was washed by moonlight But, past midnight, as the moon arched into the west, the murk reached out toward to-ward the shore where Finlay waited. wait-ed. Shortly the strait between the islands would be smothered in blackness. black-ness. Then, if the Montagnais had discovered the police hide-out, they would cross. With his rifle on his knees. Finlay sat listening, his arm circling the fretting dog |