Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-10-22


shall not be baptize by missioner He
has not comet"
A few minutes later Cummins came
in. One Of his hands was torn and
bleeding.
Those Eskimo dogs are demons!'
he growled. "If they knew how to
stand on their legs they'd eat our hus-
kies alive. Will you help me with
thisY
Jan was at work in an instant ban
daging the wounded hand.
ut ees not Deep" be said, and then,
without looking up, he added, 1.-THE
missioner did not GOMEZ
mo-" said Cummins shortly. "Nei-
ther has the mail. He is with that"
He did not notice the sudden trem-
BILE Of JAMS fingers, nor did be see
the startled look that shot into the
boys down turned eyes. Jan finished
his bandaging without betraying his
emotion and went back with Cummins
to the company's store.
The next morning two Chippewayans
trailed in with team Of mongrel ours
from the south. Thereafter Cummins
found but little time to devote to Me-
lisse The snow was softening rapid
ly, and the daily increasing warmth of
the sun FASTENED the movement of the
trappers. Mukee's people from the
western Barren lands arrived first,
bringing with them great loads of
musk OK and caribou skins and an
army of big footed, long legged Mac.
kenzie hounds that pulled like horses
and walled like whipped puppies when
the huSkies and Eskimo dogs set upon
them.
From east and west and south all
trails now led to the post. By the end
of the third day after the arrival of
the company's supplies a babel of
fighting, yelling, ceaselessly moving
discord had driven forth the peace and
quiet in which Cummins' wife had
died. The fighting and discord were
! among the dogs, and the yelling was a
! necessary human accompaniment Half
a hundred packs, almost as wild and
as savage as the wolves from whom
half of them possessed a strong inheri-
lance of blood, were thrown suddenly
into warning confusion.
There was no cessation In the battle
OF the fangs. Half a dozen battles
were fought to the death each day
and night. Those that died were chief
ly the south bred curs-mixtures of
mastiff, Great Dane and sheep dogs
and the fatally slow Mackenzie hounds.
! Yet beyond all this discord and
bloody strife there was a great, throb-
bling human happiness-a beating of
honest hearts filed to overfo wing
with the joys Of the moment, a weld
ing of new friendships, a renewal of
old ones, a closer union of the broth
erhood that holds together all things
under the cold gray of the northern
skies. There were no chickering's among
the hunters.
| These were days of unprecedented
prosperity and triumph for the baby.
as they were for the company. The
cabin was half filed with strange
things, for all went to look upon the
little Melissa and gave something to
her. There were polar bears teeth,
brought down by the little black men
who in turn had got them from the
coast people; strange gods carved from
wood, bits Of fur, bushy foxtails, lynx
paws, dried fruits, candy bought at
fabulous prices in the store and musk
always and necessarily musk-from
Mukee's people Of the West Barrens
/ Jan had not played upon his violin
since the coming of Jean de Gravois,
but one evening he tuned his strings
and said to Melissa:
'"They have been good to you, my
Melissa. | will give them re museek
of re violon."
1t was the big night at the post-the
night that is known from Athabasca to
Hudson bay as the night of the carl
! bOu roast. A week had passed, and
| there were no more furs to be disposed
Of. In the company's ledger each man
had received his credit, and in the CON-
pany's store the furs were piled high
and safe. Three caribou had been kill
ed by Perez and his hunters, and on
this night, when Jan took down his
! violin from its peg on the wall, huge
fire blazed in the open. and on spits six
Inches in diameter the caribou were
roasting.
The air was filed with the sound and
+, Odor of the carnival Above the fight
ing and snarling Of dogs the forest
people lifted their voices in wild cele-
bration, forgetting in this one holiday
of the year the silence that they would
carry back into the solitudes with
them. Shrill voices rose in meaning
less cries above the roaring of the fire.
Caribou whips snapped fiercely. Chip
| pewayans, Crees, Eskimos and breeds
crowded in the red glare The factors
men shouted and sang like mad, for
this was the company's annual good
time"-the show that would lure many
of these same men back again at the
end of another trapping season.
Huge boxes of white bread were
placed near to the fire. A tub Of real