Show r r L under U frozen arr georoe 0 o COP BY PUB CO 00 SERVICE CHAPTER VII 12 in the gray dawn the canoe nosed out cut of the river through the blanket of mist masking the still surface e of Nam egami the ojibway late lake of the sturgeon here living largely on their sturgeon set lInes and whitefish white fish nets many hunters came with their families to pass the swift weeks w 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 made his home and from here tn in december and june he led the hunters couth to the trade at Le Blonds before the rising sun cleared the surface of the lake jim and omar went ashore and hiding their canoe in the brush ate and slept from now on the price of their safety would be eternal vigilance vig linum their escape to the south would mean that henceforth paradis would be a wanted nan man an outlaw for him the dog teams of the police would comb a thousand miles of forest from rupert hupert house to fort severn his appearance pe arance at a post would moan mean arrest the very existence of the northwest north west company would hang on their repudiation of his big deeds in their behalf leblond might have secretly sent him to hide on the sturgeon but it if stuart returned south the master of lionne boone chance must forever wash his hands of paradis ls and this ra garadis radis ls himself elf only too well knew so in the search earch to learn the fate of old esau the men from sunset house must use the caution of the hunted creatures of the forest but the lake was a large one with many islands other connecting I 1 lakes ekes lay beyond and the sole means of learning whether esau had avoided paradas and reached the sturgeon was by talking to the who might have seen or met hire him in time some of these indians would carry tie the news of jims presence to paradas ls but it could not be avoided they were here now to save old esau it if alive then if possible get out of the country the expedition against the sorcerer c had bad come to this a bare fight tor for life and neither jim nor omar thought they could win after dark the peterboro peter boro started down the lake with muffled paddles on the shore in the distance a ore twinkled like a star for the nights night were growing cool shall we make a stab and see what they know suggested jim by daylight esau would have passed in sight of this camp ah hah dese deop are alone here act might be long tarn tam before dey see odors ders nn an tell dem about us so they landed at the camp jim approached the small fire with the customary bo jowl jos while omar squatted in the gloom of at the bow of the canoe nia ills right hand which rested inside the gunwale gripped a cocked rifle dol bo joll jol tin the old indian at the fire rose at alma approach stuarts roving eyes saw that he was alone the fire glow tell fell upon a of 0 f caribou hide the door flaps of which were closed the bright mank like eyes of the old hunter measured the tall figure of the white man from felt hat to moccasins but his weather cured face seamed by the years evidenced n neither ither excitement nor curiosity as he be said bald in ojibwa you come far yes jim answered in the same tongue we come tar far to talk with tte the people of the sturgeon country what have you to tell them that Jin gwak the shaman grows fat on the lour flour and sugar of the trader paradis jim searched the shrewd eyes of the indian for signs of the derision which the speech implied but found none still the ojibwa had bad used the identical words employed by stuart at the Pl ri lakes this ft was as interesting ne ile would draw the old man out end and learn about esau handing the ojibwa a plug of tobacco he filled his own pipe 1 I have much to tell tall them jim answered it may be that you have much to tell me are you alone where Is your family the indian gestured toward the she Is sick your our wife here was vial a stroke of tuck ituarte carried a small meal clue cine case it might be that the woman had some slight ailment that he be could aid ile he had often dressed wounds for the indians and knew the use of simple medical remedies yes she cut her hand and her arm to li large with much paw pain infected thought jim it if it gone too far I 1 can clean it up that means gratitude the friendship of these people they may be useful and theres no time to waste you tou have no son to help be I 1 you on your trap lines this winter J jim in asked the old man gabed grimly into the ore as he shook his head bead 1 I am alone I 1 had a son but he be Is a son no more ne ile left me to follow the trader para dds ond and the long snows I 1 have seen leen fall and melt to swell the rivers are many here was luckl omar come up herel jim called in english to the ren sentinel tinel at the canoe go into the tipi and look at the r sick ick squaw caone the guttural demand from the gloom beyond the firelight the wily halfbreed half breed was not to fo be d drawn rawn into a possible trap with coe cocked ked rifle he waited for proof of the ojibway story invisible he commanded the tipi and the fire 1 I have medicine and have cured many indians at the lake ot of the sand beaches jim said your wife has pol poisoned her hand the poison moves fast up the arm it will reach her neck then her heart if you would have her live T r must see her at once for a space the indian scrutinized jims frank countenance lit by the ore glow then he entered the eipl 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 if the medicine of the white man will help her she Is willing to see him lighting a torch of rolled the ojibwa led the way into the As jim followed a crouched invisible figure held a rifle lined on the lodge omar was taking no chances on a pile of skins jim found a squaw writhing in pain the hand band 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 he had guessed it was a bad case of infection but there was a chance of checking it as it had not progressed to the shoulder returning to hla his canoe he took his medicine case from a bog bag and had bad the old man heat beat a kettle of water then he said this will give her pain the wound Is full of pus butof of poison it must be cleaned out and washed with medicine does docs she understand it will hurt her the old man smiled grimly has 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 stuart opened the tha inflamed hand cleaned out the wound sterilized it with of mercury and bound it up while the drawn gray face of the old squaw wet with the sweat of her agony held to its stole immobility they went outside to the fire and the stiff features of the ojibwa softened as be said the white mans medicine Is strong she will be well again 1 I do not know replied jim considering si the situation ue he might 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 it if they were to help esau omar would never agree to it but then there was the brave old soul in the tipi who had not so go much as whimpered as he opened the wound helpless without him how could he leaveter lea out of the murk omar suddenly appeared at the tire fira this thill I 1 Is s omar my friend said jim as the tw two 0 men bo jos and the customary handshakes you have not told me your na fate the old mans seamed face expanded in a chuckle ily name Is jinai it was ojibwa for rattlesnake and omars omara black eyes snapped as he said significantly thrusting a menacing face ace into that of the other you yon got your poison fangs ready for or some bom body with unblinking eyes the tha indian answered the strange question my fangs are walting waiting for the tha trader trade r paradis Pa and the shaman jim glanced at omars omara surprised face could it be that they had stumbled upon a possible ally or was jinai leading them on to betray the object of their search and yet he ha had trusted jim with his squads squaws arm ann why did you ask me it if I 1 had come to tell the ojibway that grows grow fat on the flour of Par paradis aills jim demanded because the sun before the last sleep was here and said so lie ile was here bore jim was thrilled this old man might have news new of esau was he alone 1 yes ties he was waiting for paradas who had been up river did he say gay why paradis went up river he said that paradis went to drive from the country the trader who had bad been telling the indians at the lake of the great stones that wan wai a false shaman I 1 told him he could prove that a lie ile by curing my squaw who was sick what did he do dor lie ile said he had bad no time to set up his medicine lodge but would drive the devils from her arm said the old man with a grimace and he proved he was a wabeno for the devils stayed laughed jim the face of jinai twisted with hate that Is why the fangs of jinai wait for him he be said has paradis return returned edT 1 I have not seen him have you seen an old man in a bark canoe traveling this way no your son went with paradis yes tes said there were nine with him in two canom canoes then with a glance at omar jim a I 1 he would draw the tha old man out and learn about esau said your tour son Is not killed we wd spared him face reflected his amazement you tou met them ten of them and they did not stop you my medicine was too str strong ong for then them we left them wrig lying on the trail but they are not hurt 11 for a long space shrewd eyes scrutinized the frank countenance of the white man then he said quietly you have the face of one whose heart la 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 in ojibwa do all the people here believe in this wabeno no but many of the young men do will the old men listen to us it if we talk to them they will listen but Par paradis aills will find you with his young men and kill you omar grimaced in grave face the medicine of this white man laughs at knife and bullet ask paradis what he did with his nine men then omars swart fitce face hardened into a menacing mask the fangs of jinai seek the trader paradie and this wabeno they also are our en enemies emles jinai Is old his son has left him and he needs friends we will be his big friends the three filled their pipes and sat down by the fire while omar now convinced that the old indian was sincere gln cere lost me BO time to la planning to make use of him in their a search arch for tha esau beau As an earnest of their friendship omar brought from the canoe flour sugar tea and tobacco none of w which the old man had and ga v 0 the sick squaw a dipper of stimulating stimulation s tea lea which she gratefully swallowed then heartened by the good food fortune fortun which had led them to the UPI of jinai the rattlesnake they paddled a mile down the shore and hid canoe and outfit as the young moon broke through the clouds above a lake drift el ed 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 been told by jinai that their canoe would never turn south up the racing sturgeon where was wag esau As the night deepened and the moon dipped toward the fhe 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 boo hoo whoop whoop I 1 of the horned owl but the shapes in the blankets lay like dead men again the hush bush of the tomb returned to the forest while the moon rode from sight eight behind a drift of cloud find 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 shadows again marred the deep peace but the shaggy sentinel smoke no longer kept guard beside his sleeping master the sinister sound was unheard the blanketed heaps did not stir time passed and the moon broke from its curtain of cloud to light the lake shore and touch the wrapped shapes near the hidden canoe then close by like the stealthy movement of padded feet sounded bounded a faint rustle for a long lone space silence and the sound was wag repeated again silence while the night grew older until with the of a snake something left the packed gloom of oie me scrub and writhed into the 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 bad lain now lay four neavy heavy with silence the forest slumbered on then a moonbeam touched bright m metal etal I 1 in n the lifted hands of two kneeling men as they struck at the huddled figures between them struck ag again a in but their knife hands did not alf lift t fo for r the th third I 1 rd blow at the sleeping men men for like the rush of stalking wolves the impact of two heavy bodies ground their faces into the soli soil as ai the skinning knives of omar boisvert Bols vert and jim stuart drove deep into their backs leaving the tricked henchmen of paradis stiffening beside the blanketed heaps which the men from sunset house had cunningly arranged to simulate the shapes of sleeping Ble men jim and omar listened in the murk of the shore willows for the sound of muffled paddles or men moving in the forest in the rear of the camp 1 I tole you yon de trick would work omar breathed into the ear of hla his chief he be fool me but I 1 have fear jus de same ile he tole dem we go little piece down de lak to sleep old 1 to think he be would betray murmured jim bitter with the thought of the treachery of the indian whom he had bad befriended dey see us from de late lak vile we talk to de rattlesnake at de fire hoes hees fangs weel spit no more poison wen omar squeeze hees bees and his squaw poor old soult soul ah hah bah I 1 she ees de of wan oy ov dose who come to keel us een our sleep debbe you sorry for her yes tes I 1 am sorry for her she was so game when I 1 hurt her I 1 believe I 1 could have saved her too now shell dle die if you put jinai out of the way shish P the steel hard fingers of omar closed on jims arm as the straining cars of the two waited for the repetition of a sound back in the forest shortly it came TO CONTINUED |