Charlevoix county herald., 1914-07-25

them with his hands.
Then he started home, with near
ly a hundred miles by the river and
many more along he banks between
himself and the hope of life.
By this time his empty stomach
was crying for food He went down
the bed of the river where there was
plenty of gravel. Loose small stones
are rare among the MOSES and rocks
and deep black loans of the forest,
and now, like hungry savage of
primeval times, he must go forth and
kill.
He picked up a pocketful of round
pebbles and followed the beach
downstream, knowing that, once in
the deep woods, he would be COM
PEELED to fight his way through des-
perate tangles.
1t was then that the third incident
occurred which accounts for the fact
that his bones are not now bleaching
in the woods, torn asunder and scat
tered by bears, foxes and wolver-
ines.
In the shallow water near the
beach his eyes fell upon what looked
like three round rocks, lying above
the water.
Something unusual about their
shape attracted his attention. A
closer look revealed his pack and the
flour-bag still tied together with his
tump-line, which the flood had rolled
along the bottom until they had
brought up against lump of gran
tie and stopped.
With hoarse cry of joy he leaped
into the shallow water and pulled
the things ashore. Again his over
wrought nerves caused his hands to
shake as he loosed the line to look
over his precious find.
The f1our-bag was the more impor-
tant of the two. But for the leak he
had discovered on the previous day,
it would have been all lost. The wa
terproof bag in which he had placed
it had only allowed a little water to
penetrate through.
He ran into the woods and got a
great sheet of birch bark, on which
he emptied the flour. About ten
pounds on the outside were wet and
sodden, but from the interior he OBJ
tanned about twenty-five pounds that
were dry.
He lighted another fire and care
fully dried the interior of the bag, in
which he replaced the dry -four. Then
he made rough, round dough-balls of
that which was wet and placed them
before the fire. He filled his mouth
with the tasteless stuff and ate il
hungrily, though it chung to his
teeth.
Then he investigated his own pack
hurriedly, yet with an eXulting sense
of happiness. He knew now that he
Lo1 Hnhtinn ab ona a.
strong man\might grasp and win. He
must hasten and use every hour of
daylight. The flour must be hus-
banded carefully.
He well knew the desperate length
of every mile in an untrodden coun-
try where there were no blazed trap
ping lines to follow, in which he
would sink in quagmires and be COM
PEELED to climb rocky lodges and push
through thick alder swamps, always
keeping in sight of the river, or, at
any rate, very near its course, be-
cause if he travelled any distance
from it he would certainly get lost.
In places where there were port
ages, or in others where the men had
been accustomed to lineup their ca
noes against the stream, dragging
them with ropes from the shore, he
would be able to make better time.
But he knew that the valleys through
which rivers flow always afford the
worst going, and that he would not
dare very often to seek the more
open country afforded by the ridges
and the woods of the higher land.
For the time being the most i'm
portant point was to reduce his load
to the least possible weight.
lone pound" he told himself, sis
supposed to handicap horse eight
yards in a one-mile race. What must
it mean to weary man over hun
dred and fifty miles ?"
His blanket was wet, and he dried
it carefully at the fire. He found he
had a pair of extra moccasins, and
discarded those he was wearing. He
also threw away flannel shirt, some
socks, an old coat, pair of camp
slippers, and two boxes of rifle cart
ridges, as the gun had remained with
Mashkaugan. He sorted out the
things until he had kept nothing that
was not strictly indispensable.
During his search he found in the
bottom Of his bag a small white sack
which he remembered seeing Ameou
preparing. He had hitherto neg.
lected to look into it, but now he
opened it to see whether it also con-
tanned anything which he might dis
card. He found little folded piece
of white paper. For a moment his
eyes were dimmed as he saw the
childish writing the girl had devel.
,, oped under his tuition. Then he
read:
Dere Heart Yellow Hair:
Just bit writin to carry my
love with you on travel. Hurry
soon home. Maybe little man
: Yellow Hair waiting for you
come back.
With love like blk mountains,
AMEOU.
e For a moment he sat by the fir,
r on the beach. Its thin, white smok,
t was travelling toward the southwest
where the woman so dear to him wa!
' waiting, and where, perhaps, a littl,
= man, Yellow Hair" as she ha,
! quantity called him, was lying on tn,
: breast that held such love.
= r Al