The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-08-04
THE BIG MUSKEG
- VICTOR ROUSSEAU

7 couldn't have been built at all with
out you. Fire your Why, Ktty'd have
my life II dared suggest such a
thing"
Wilton frowned involuntarily at the
reference to the pretty young wife
whom Joe Bostock had married in
Winnipeg the year before. Joe's first
marriage had been unhappy; 1t had
been long ago, and Wilton knew there
had been separation, though Joe
was always reticent about that.
| Kitty was Ave and thirty years
younger than Joe. and she had inter
vened into fast friendship Of more
than a decade between Joe and Will
ton. 1t made difference. as 1t always
does, though Joe had sworn 1t should
not, and Kitty thought the world OF
Wilton.
| Wilton could never understand his
secret feeling about Kitty. She was
devoted to Joe. Perhaps that was
what lay beneath his latent antago-
nism toward her. He was jealous Of
| her. He was Jealous Of q womans
love for Joe.
II guess not" said Joe Bostock
again.. pressing his hand hard down
on Wilton's shoulder.
And, In that instant, Wilton heard
the crack Of q rife, and felt q violent
blow on the upper part Of the left arm,
which knocked him to the ground. As
he fell. Joe Bostock pitched forward
upon him.
Twice Joe's lips Quivered, as II he
was trying to speak. Then the lower
jaw dropped and the eyes rolled up
ward. A grayish pallor crept over the
face.
| Wilton saw that Joe's mackinaw had
q tiny tear in It, over the breast A
trickle Of blood seeped through the
cloth. He wrenched the garment open
with his right hand, pulled up the
sweater, and tore the shirt apart The
heart, 6utterinS like a wounded bird,
stopped under his hand. Joe sighed
once, but he never stirred again. The
bullet had passed clean through Joe
Bostock's heart from the back. And,
as he tried to raise Joe's body, Wilton
realized that the same bullet had
broken his left arm. which hung limp
from the shoulder.
He sprang to his feet, mad
wrath giving back to him his ebbing
strength. He glared about him, but
II was impossible to ascertain from
where the shot had come. He could
not even locate the direction within
q hundred degrees, for Joe had been In
the act Of turning. Nobody was In
sight. and the woods were silent
His believing call Of fury that went
echoing through the trees elected no
answer. He tore strips from his hand
kerchief, holding it between his teeth,
and, with his left hand on his knee,
knotted them about stick and i'm
provised tournlquet. The blood was
squirting down his sleeve In Jets, the
pain was intense, and 1t was impos-
sible tn take off the mackinawNs and
hope to replace his arms In 1t; but
he twisted with all his force until the
diminishing flow showed that he had
compressed the artery. Thrusting the
longer end of the stick beneath his
arnpit, he passed the other through
the buttonhole of the garment, and,
STOPPING, managed to get Joe's body
upon his shoulder and to hold It with
his right arm.
His impulse was to carry Joe's body
back to the camp, but he knew that 1t
would be impossible to make the dis
tance. Yet to leave It would mean
the certainty of mutilation by bears
or timber-wolves unless he could
build calrn of stones. And Of that
he was equally incapable. He set
Joe's body down, and, In the first full
realization of his loss and his predlca-
ment, he shouted curses to the sky
That murder had been intended he
did not believe; no doubt the shot had
been bullet fired at some nearer
mark, perhaps a hare, and by one Of
the half-breeds. He suspected that
the transit-bearer, following them up,
had fred the shot, and, seeing the ia
tality, had fled.
But the thought that this might be
the explanation was only fieetng
one. Joe was dead, and his body must
be cared for, Just as II he were alive
taken back to the camp and thence
out Of the woods. There was no pos
sibility Of leaving Joe's body there.
Yet 1t seemed to him that he could
not hope to reach the camp. And
now another idea came to him.
It was seven miles back to the camp,
but only FIVE to the portage over the
frozen swamp. Upon the other side
Of the portage was q trail that came
out of the prairie southwark and
wound into the unknown north.
Along this Indians brought their win
ter catches to the trading-store Of
Mcdonald. the factor Of the Hudson's
Bay company.
4 Travelling was hard along the shore
Of the great Muskeg, but II would
mean two miles less. and II was just
possible to make the store. McDon-
aid was queer, taciturn, sometimes
venomous old man, and had evinced q
1 .s-ts,- xxystx~-