Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1925-11-26

But they missed you y laughed tn.
Frenrhman. ~Yesl Our Inspector
Monsieur Lascelies. IN his desire Il
get fur ignores the conditions here en-
tireiy."
At the mention Of the name Las
ceIles. Steele sensed q swift change
in Denise St Onge. His curious eyes
caught q faint color In the girls tenn
Piles as she avoided his glance IN q
moment she had control OF herself
but he wondered II this then was the
cause Of her heartache-
"Bfy position is most difficuIt. you
see" continued St. Onge. "Lafiamme
controls the upper country with his
whisky. We get considerable Little
Current and Drowning River trade,
but Michel and ] have TO meet them
with our goods over at Portage Lake.
%here are many who fear to come 10
the House Of the wiudigo. on the
Spirit rapids. as they call IT."
Strange yonr people at Albany fail
to realize thisl"
'"rhey will realize IT now-this
summer, for we have come 10 an Inn
passe. as we say In French"
How is that. sfr7"
~Why. my Indians, except Michel.
who Is hard-headed Iroquois from
the NipissIng and laughs at this devil
talk. viii not now 60 into the bush
alone. Trey are always seeing and
hearing things. Our hunter. Tete-
BOule, refuses to leave the post since
he found some pfodlelous tracks IN
the muskeg and heard screaming at
night Monsieur. our people are panic
stricken ST. tlnge graveiy shook his
head. "And now. as Won say IN Eng
lish. the climax Is capped
Steele leaned toward HIS host. keen
~ curions Of what was coming. as st.
ONCE finished dramatically:
"Our fur canoe. which left here
early In July. with four men, never
reached--AIhany! ?"
Never reached--Alhany repeated
the astonished listener. "They sent
you word. by canoe7"
"Yes. they sent q relief party up
river to- find my men who were long
overdue. They feared they had lost
their boat in the Albany rapids and
were Following the shore"
"And this search party found moth
ingY
"NothIngi" St ONCE Hfted uhouI-
ders end hands In eloquent gesture.
s'Aien. fIr. canoe; gone wiped out.
swallowed upi"
"But there must have been some
thing washed up aIongshore," vehe-
mentIy protested Steele. '.the shell Of
the canoe-smaII stuff-and q paddle
always comes ashore"
aNothingl" repeated the factor.
'HThey searched the Albany and then
the lower wailIng. for they had 10
pole and track most OF the way as
you know. Above the Devils mile
they found the first camp OF our peo-
pie. but below. not body, or paddle.
or scrap OF can0e-n0fhingl
To Steele this was Incredihle-fhis |
mysterious tragedy OF the fur canoe.
He wished he had known what had |
happened on the Walling but few
weeks before. when he and David
fought day by day fits stiff current on
the way to the post
"It's simply unbelievable. colonel
he vigorously objected. "A swamped
canoe. broken up in q big sapId. Is
bound 60 throw something on the
beach below. We noticed nothing,
but we were not on the lookout"
That there was more to this story
Steele was convinced; tut what per-
sonal bearing could It have on Denise
St 0nge7
~Yet those are the facts, monsieur.
and our people are mad with fear.
Thank Heaven Michel had a bad
ankle and was not with the boat. he
tells the Indians that the canoe and
bodies are held in the big eddy. but
/ doubt It.
Steele stared at the factor. unable
10 accept the sole inference to be
drawn from hts hosts remark. 81.
Onge was surely facetfous.
THAT leaves Us the windIgo the
Dry. colonel he laughed. but TO bis
surprise his pleasantly was met by 80
grave a face that for an instant Steele
vas IN doubt Of the mental balance Of
ne Frenchman, barassed by the mis-
fortunes or the summer The dark
syen Of Denise ST. Onge. fixed on the
window. lrere cryptic Then the fac
lor smiled InscrHtabEy as he said:
Monsieur. am q furfrader on .
'ivsr believed 20 be haunted. Il would
e 8 policy MOST Fulnous for me TO adj
nit q belief In the anpernafurai--in |
his Indian tradition. IL q not s07 Z
sui.T and the speaker glanced st his {
laughter. ~as well believe Il the /
Elndlgo; what other s0lafion is leff7
Ifen and canoe disappear lfke that r |
ind be snapped his fingers III
II was clear ahas ST. 0nge was dis
eml,ilng fer sozpe reason be yrs d
1aeA 70 give he guest tbs whole 3
sory. Buz why1 what maa there Ia 6
has aFm2esy @s Fems amd 8z@kh saaf q