Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-03-11
/ To.Day's Short Story (:
What Happened Inside
A TRUE CANADIAN STORY

Seventy miles or more north Of
Nipissing, beyond the Highlands Of
Ontario" where the moose and rein
deer roam, where the summers are
short and the twilights long. Lake
Temagami lies limpid beneath the
northern sky. Upon the salient shore,
where the mirrored figures Of the for
est-folk can be seen from your canoe.
walking upside down, there is a lonely
grove, and in it two Indians are sleep
ing side by side and above their bier
a woman is weeping and this is the
tale OF her woe:-
In the unwritten law of the forest
the Indians have and hold certain
dimly defined rights to hunt and fish
in favored sections and silent places.
and these rights they guard jealousy.
Perhaps the Amerinds have nursed
this notion from the old Hudson Bay
factors who have lorded IL over the
land for centuries, and whose post at
White Bear Lake has been the trading
ground for all the scattered Temagami
tribes for more than two hundred
years. The governorship OF these
lreigning monarchs of the North has
been especially merciful and fair, at
this particular post, through genera
tons Of men.
1t was two years ago last summer that
a lone Algonquin came and camped on
the peaceful shores of Temagami.
The stranger, who was young and tall
and not bad to look upon, was sick
OF a fever, and, when the aged Indian
who claimed that particular hunting
ground came to complain OF the pres
ence OF the newcomer, the latter as
sured him that he had no desire to
hunt, but sought only resting place.
He had pitched his poor tent there so
that when Death, who was now very
near, should come to him, he might
not die utterly alone.
At first the old Indian seemed to ac-
cept this simple statement, but
few days later, he flew into a great
passion and ordered the Algonquin out
Of the country. But by this time the
Indian was too i'll to travel, and so
lay back upon his bed of boughs and
listened to the lisping waves that lap
ped the messy rocks that trimmed the
lake. Unto the dying man the maiden
ministered. mercifully, and as they
grew to love each other her fathers
hatred grew. The old man began to
sulk in his tent and brood over his
grievance.
Finally, one twilight, when the Sep
TENDER sun was sinking. the light of
the young Algonquins life went out,
leaving the lone woman rocking to
and fro, his head in her lap.
For him the maiden did not weep
openly, or cry aloud, but to his silent
sleeping place she stole when the moon
was low, and DER his cold clay shed
bitter tears. Her father found her
weeping there, and that day his in
sanity veered. He declared that he
had killed the Algonquin. He fancied
Gitche Manitou had gone against him.
He wanted to die. He brooded gloom
lily and implored his people to take his
life. His unhappy daughter, whose
lover had died, refused to favor him.
He asked his wife and then his son.
but they would not. His natural anti
pathy for water probably kept him
from the lake and river, but he was
sincere. Finally he said that, II they
would not end his miserable life, he
would bottle them up. No one would
be allowed to hunt. II his son set a
trap he would render the same useless
He would starve, and the others with
him.
Now, starving is all very well for one
The family endured ii as long as they
could, and much longer than white
people would endure, but the time
came when they surrendered.
Always the old man made answer,