Show A R F ara ata by GEORGE MARSH copyright by ronn pub co serT leel CHAPTER VII continued 13 growled omar its the familiar thumping of the hind feet of a buck snowshoe was repented repeated Wb atre you going to do hunt up old jinai in the morning and accuse him of this whispered jim as with rifles across knees they settled down to their ton long watch tor for the possible appearance of others of the paradas band ah hahl hah I 1 for he tell paradis all he know about us I 1 close hees bees moue there was no disputing the fact that the old mans knowledge of their search for esau would be a grave menace to their safety yet it was unlikely that he would leave his wife to dle die alone while he be hunted for para dia and to the white man who sat through the hours beside the implacable halfbreed half breed who had bad already pronounced sentence of death on the ingrate it was waa unthinkable that the courageous old squaw should be deserted to a slow death but in holding omars hand in giving her her chance of recovery from the infection jim realized that he was gambling with his own life and that of ills friend forgetting what he owed ill alie e girl at the lake of the sand beaches and yet he could not bring himself to do oth otherwise erwim at dawn the watchers on the shore now confident that the would be assassins had come alone started a search for their canoe which they shortly found not fir far away and drew up ap and hid in the brush then leaving their own canoe for they did not wish to be ba seen they started through the timber for the of jinai squatted by a small fire over which simmered a tea pall they found the old indian frying a pan of fish at the sound of their approach to jims surprise the ojibwa hailed them with a bo joell jo without turning his head how Is the woman asked stuart in ojibwa the deep lines of the old indians face softened as he rose and faced the hostile eyes of the white man an and d the halfbreed half breed then a look of bewilderment shap shaped L d itself on his 13 hawk awk like features as he glanced curiously curio 0 sly from one to the other sleep u has come to her he said at the fhe first light she said the pain had bad grown little in her arm the medicine of the white man Is strong old jinai stared quizzically at the wrath in the black face of omar who stepped forward and started to speak when the raised hand band of jim checked him heat some water ordered stuart 1 will wash out her b hand and rutting putting a pall of water on the fire jinai led jim into the ills ilia entrance was wag greeted from the pile of skins chins by a low nia elal I 1 ala elal I 1 you have come cornel I 1 your medicine Is strong for the pain has grown small jim placed hla him hand on the wrinkled forehead the fever had dropped then he took the bandage off the arm and washed the incision he had made in tie the hand while the squaw m mumbling um her gratitude stoically refused to voice her pain sending tor for more water jim quietly asked her was it your son eon who stopped he here the last steel bleed after I 1 put medicine on your hand the eyes of the old woman sunken with hours of agony widened at the question there Is no subterfuge here thought jim as she whimpered my son eon here the last sleep no he lies has forgotten he comes no more there was no one here As entered with the warm water stuart said we thought that you had sent gent two men to knife us in our oar sleep and we came here to nat make ike you pay 1 I saw it in your eyes said the tha indian calmly meeting jims gaze but I 1 did not know why your hearth hearts had bad turned bitter the men of paradis found you but your medicine was too strong tt rong they will stalk no more sleeping men cien jim closely studied the wrinkled mask of old jinai but in the expression there he be found only mild surprise it was then the tha moon on a wet paddle as I 1 thought you saw their canoe no after you left I 1 saw far on the lake a fla flach ii then the moon was hid bid we thought you had sent them to od us sorrow sorrowfully fIly the indian shook his nead has little to give the white trader for his hl rood good medicine I 1 but his friendship ile he gave him that the last sleep when he touched hands bonds does the trader from the house of the sunset believe now speaks with a single tongue jonguel ton guel rising jim gave the old man his big hand 1 I do we shall be friends CHAPTER VIII when esau left jim and omar and a started down the sturgeon river on his mad mission in search of Jin gwak he traveled all the first night watching the passing shores for the red embers of a dying fire for once paradis WILS was warned of the coming of the men from sunset house he be would lose no time in guarding the river road over which they must pass so the old man rode the swift current through the shadows his eyes straining for the glow of a campfire campf lre on the foliage of the shore before dawn the roar of white wa ter drifted to his ears and he landed for he would need the light to inspect the strange rapids and decide whether he could run them or would have to carry around so esau hid bid his canoe went went deep into the forest boiled his tea over 0 ver a diminutive fire masked from the river by thick timber ate and slept later in the morning he walked downstream to the lend head of the rapids across the tha river was the cleared space at the end of a portage trail the whitewater white water was impassable the indians carried around it cut but the veteran who had passed his life on the wild rivers of western Ki wedin did not return to his canoe and drop down to the portage along the opposite shore he be followed the rock scarred whitewater white water as it foamed and churned and thundered through a half mlle mile of clamoring chaos then he returned to his canoe and started downstream for the head of the portage for not even the trained eyes of esau kotchig who to in his youth had run the chutes of death on the and the long sault of the mad river had found a way through for his canoe the old indian was crossing the river a quarter mile above the rapids w when hen to fo his consternation two men appeared on the portage with a lunge of his paddle esau swung the nose or of the canoe to the opposite shore was it paradis on hla his way up river or traveling ojibway who would pay him slight attention ne ile had paddled but a few strokes when he saw a canoe carried from the forest and slid into the water leaping into the boat the two packers started straight across the head of tho the rapids they were trying to cut him boffl it was furiously esau drove his paddle angling across the current for the opposite shore as hla his keen brain grappled with the situation which confronted him ne ite could land find and take to the bush ambush the two men in the canoe if they dared follow him up but there were others behind them on the portage that meant losing canoe and outfit defeat without these he could not reach Jin gwak then at the head of the carry a third man appeared there was a puff of smoke a faint explosion of a rifle above the drumming of the rapids and a bullet whined past esaus face AS the two canoes swiftly approached pro ached each other the old ojibwa m made ade his decision life meant little to him now there was one chance la in ten of his bis coming through but he would make the great gamble tor for that one chance for jim and the memory of jims dead father the trail to aln wak led through the half mile of white fury ahead lie ile stopped paddling reached for his rifle and fired at tn the bowman in the boat cutting across his course nit the slumped back into the canoe close to the suck of the first drop the seized his pole and fought to check the drifting canoe as a second shot passed over esaus head then at the head of the portage the old man saw another canoe leaving the beach as again an indian fired at him from the shore ah hahl hah 1 he cried his furrowed face glowing with the exaltation of his mad purpose so you catch old esau wal come on catch liceri esau sighted his rifle and fired at the battling with his pole to free the canoe from the fierce suction auction on the up lip of the flume splintered by the bullet the bending pole snapped in the ojibway hands he lunged head first into the racing current and followed by his yawing canoe was swept into the rapids shifting his load forward to make the canoe bow heavy esau rose with wibb his setting pole As his boat slid desperate he look his hia rifle from where it lay at his hl feet in the water and boldly drifted down on the waiting canoe toward the dip of the long chute the old man waved his hand at the pursuing canoe and the men on shore bhore as ills his cry of defiance de flance come and get met mel was drowned in the drumbeat drum beat of the rapids no rifle shots followed the doomed figure standing with setting pole in the stern of the birch bark eta as it leaped forward in awe the men of paradis watched the mad n deliberately steer his craft into the maw of death down into the maelstrom of broken water plunged the canoe guided by the spruce pole of the gallant old ojibwa in the stern following the black water channels past boulders mounded with foam and knife edged rocks thrusting through the spume checking with his pole when the way was blind then on grazing calamity by a paddles breadth as he rode the roaring reaches went the dauntless old voyageur voyage ur drenched with spray his leaking canoe scarred with wounds from a hundred rocks he fought his way until suddenly the river widened into an unbroken barrier of whitewater with a groan esau read his bis doom written in the burled buried boulders boulder which barred his path he had made mad the fight taken the long chance for jim and now it was over overl I 1 but esau kotchig would go down figh fighting 1 into the chaus chaos of foaming boulders boulder dropped the oie canoe snubbed by alie th e bending pole the bottom grounded on a rock was lifted off by the pole the boat was caught and swung into another by baffling crosscurrent cross current but still the old man fought unconquered in the face of certain disaster at last the unleashed river caught the th shattered canoe like a straw and dropped it on a huge boulder over which the water mounded pivoting on the rock the canoe rolled and started to fill it was the end I 1 with a desperate leap esau was in the water his feet braced on the tub merged rock A heave and he treed freed the rapidly filling boat boa swung her with the current and fell gasping on his knees inside clat clutching ching his pole shortly he be was clear of the shallows then on down through the riot of plunging river the bent figure in the stern steered his boat the glitter of victory in his bis black eyes he had bad hung for a space on the lip of death but he had won then his bis heart sank as he saw caw a canoe below him desperate he took his rifle from where it lay at his feet in the water and boldly drifted down on the waiting canoe As he neared the craft the faces of the occupants watched him with awe are you a Man manitou itou a spirit gasped an ojibwa that you pass alive through the rapids of the windigo esau put down his gun 1 I am a great shaman in the land where the sun goes to sleep I 1 fear no rapids here was an opportunity to impress the indians of the sturgeon country and the keen witted old man swiftly made the most of it the spirits are your friends for or the windigo allows no man to pass his rapids esau esan gravely nodded anh anh yes the spirits are my friends the indian exchanged frightened looks 0 w with ith the awed squaw who cowered in his canoe Jin gwak the shaman tears fears to pass pasa these rapids la in his canoe your tour medicine Is stronger than his A look of contempt crystallized on the face of the old man Jin gwak Is a wabeno who deceives the to get their fur for the trader Pa fis the tha spirits do not know him you ton go to the lake of the sturgeon yes tell the people there that you yon saw the shaman from the land of the setting sun who comes to talk to them pass unhurt from the rapids rapid of the windigo I 1 have traveled many sleeps to find Jin gwak the false shaman who speaks with a double tongue t to 0 the ojibway and drive him from the country with a sweep of ills his paddle esau left the spellbound hunter bunter and his squaw and continued down the river going ashore behind the first bend he rested then carried the canoe into the thick bush built a fire bra to dry ids his outfit and with pitch and spruce roots started the necessary repairs As he worked over the rock scarred crafts craft the wrinkled face of the old man lit with smiles of satisfaction lie he had beaten garadis and lived through whitewater white water that no canoe had passed to start on its way the story of his charmed life and miraculous powers which would travel swiftly from to up and down the lake for a time he would hide while his mysterious appearance swayed the talk around the supper fires for be knew his people then he would strike for three days jim and omar camped near jinai while the th infection in the arm of the old squaw rapidly cleared under stuarts stuart care then when she could travel the tha grateful indian started down the great lake to endeavor to learn the fate of esau two nights later the canoe from sunset house waited at the rendezvous the rattlesnake had set in a deep cove near the fo foot 0 t of ta the e lake restless from days of doubt an and d forced inaction in which the abs absent ent esau might have so BO sorely needed their aid jim and omar gat sa t beside their hidden bidden canoe dere ees announced announce omar dOma r as a black shadow slid in toward the he shore esau esan Is here on the lake began the old man who spoke no english 1 I have talked to the hunters at many camps A strange story has passed down the lake seven sleeps ago an indian and hla his woman saw a canoe pass out of tho the rapids of the windigo in it was a great shaman who told them his name was kotchig and he sought the sorcerer 11 ile he ran those ra rapids I 1 jim pearel triumphantly into omars startled face I 1 by garl grunted the surprised halfbreed half halt breed illow how he do dot dat no canoe haq hn ever before passed the rapids oi he ae windigo added jinai the woman who saw it says the boat had wings find and never rod the water TO US bill |