The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-02-09


HME deprived II them. He has
tHlxIE no conception Of the subtle
IMzSMi atmosphere eXhaled by the
sey feminine 50 long as he batheS in
n. but let it be Withdrawn, and an
eyer-growing void begins to manifest
itself in his existence. and he becomes
hungry. ia a vague sort of way, for a
something so indefinite that he cannot
characterize it. If his comrades have
no more experience than himself, they
will s.ahe their heads obviously and
dose I'm with strong physic. But the
hur-e- VIII continue and become ,
stronrar: he Will lose interest III the |
tbi,g~ If his everyday life and wax |
morh.I: and one day. when the enpti- !
ness ugy become uubo"rable, u reyela-
ton viii dawn upon him.
In The Yukon country, when this /
corlcs To pass, thg man usually pro-
visions L polling boat, If it be summer,
ma II winter harnesses lii dogs. and
heads ror the Southland. A few
months later. suppnsing him 10 rs pos
sn~~,I VIC 4 faith in the country. Nc
rp1rrl, with wife to share with him
n fiat faith and incidentally III hi1
hard~nir~. This but serves 70 show
thn i,nara SelfShne@s Of man. It also
brir-~ us to the trouble Of "Scruif
Nag,rr tic. which occurred in the old
dav@ before the country was stamped
cd and staked by a tidal wave of che
rha-ouas. and when the klondike's
on,y claim to notice was its salmon
fisheries.
Scruff Mackenzie bore the earmarkS
of a frontier birth and frontier lie.
His face was stamped with twenty-five
wears Of incessant struggle with ma
turp in her widest moods, the last
two the widest and hardest or all
having been spent in cropping for the
gold which lies in the shadow OF the
Arctic Circle. When the yearnlnG
sickness came upon him ne was hol
SURPRISED. for he was practlcal man
and had seen other men thus stricken.
Rut he showed no sign of his maiadE'
save that he worked harder. All sum
mer he fought mosquitoes ana "aSne''
the sure-thing bars Of the Stuart river
for double grub-stake. linen ~
Aoo+rd raft of house-logs down the
Yukon TO Forty Nile, and put together
rs comfortable a cabin as any lhe
camn could boast of. In fact, II sllo"eN
such COW promise that many meH
oIoc+od IA he his partner and TO come
and live with him. But ne cFuSh,D
their aspirations with rouSh spetC"
,,ocnliar for its strength and breVltE
ond bought a double supply OF Srul
from the trading-poSt.
He was a sturdy traveller, ana III
1voIf-docs could work harder ana lraN
81 forther on less grub than any o'he
,oon, in the Yukon. Three weeks la.e
ne strobe into a hunting camp VI 'H
Timer Tanana Sticks. Ihey mar
,.a1ad NJ his tpmerity; for they hau
h,d name and had been known to hll
u.bi+a mon for as trifiing a thlllg u
-t,r, AZ ar a broken rifle. But Il
won't among them single-handed' III
hearing being delicious composite
hrmiIitv familiarity, sang-frold' an
insolence. It required lelt l"iiu -,
dozen knowledge Of the barDaric lhlii
cfrectually to handle such uiNel
weapons; but he was past iiin' :.
:, tho off knowing when to conclila'
r-bon +o threaten with Jove-lh
wrath. chit
un first made obeisance to the Cnl'
Tblinq.Tinneh. presenting him WIN
couple of pounds of BLACK Tea "nu
bacco and thereby winning ms M
cordial regard. Then he minsieu VIZ
tho men and maidens, and that nis'
,,o,e a notlacb. The snow was Deale
down in the form of an oblong' pc
hans a hundred feet in length al q,
quarter as many across Do"n -
confer long fire was built, VIII
either side was carpeted with spru
boughs. The lodges were ior sum
and the fivescore or SO meihoeis
the tribe gave tongue TO their ~
chants in honor of their guests'
ScruY Mackenzle's two years ~
+ouobt him the not many NJ
dred words OF their vocaOula'
and he had likewise conquer
tbo,r deep gutturals, their "a
anese idioms. CONSTRUCTIONS anu "
-orific and aggiutlhati'e pa
he made Grafton after their n'ann n
satisfying their instructive poe -
with crude flights of eloquence q,
mctapkorical contoruons' :,
Thfnc-Tinneh and the Shaiiiah "a,
RESPONDED in kind, he mace YIN, ~
nresepts to the menfolk, joined IN In
singing. and proved an expert III III
ffty-two-stick gambling game.
If was slow work and sun gan
hut Scruff Mackenzie maneuV.'
cunningly. with an unconcern WI
served to puzzle the Sticks ne :. =,
great care to impress the men =
he was a sure shot and mighty hu
or. and the camp rang with his pl"u'
when he brought down moose Ut
hundred yards. OF a night he WIS.,
fn Chief Thing Tinneh,s ioaEe
moose and cariboo skins, talking
and dispensing tobacco with NV
hand. Nor did he fail to like"
hcnor the Shaman; for he realized