Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1926-03-12
CHAPTER XVI

For two days the watchers of the
trail waited In their ambush but no
hunters or search party left the post.
Then, one morning, at daylight, from
the thick scrub of the shore south
Of Ogoke, two men looked long through
binoculars at the chimneys of the
blanketed cabins, and smiled
into each others wind-burned faces
when they saw that from more than
half there rose no smoke Of cooking
fires. OF the group Of tipis of bush
Indians which had dotted the clearing
in October, but two now remained
1t was the turn Of the old Oiibway
and two young Indians to stand guard
on the trail to the game country.
Michel and Steel were too far to the
south to overtake Lafiamme's men, SO
they struck straight back to camp,
confident of the outcome-for old Wa
gosh guarded the trail.
That morning, as the stars faded
and dawn broke blue and bitter over
the eastern ridges, an old man with
hate in his heart prayed for the com
Ing Of one for whom he had waited
long. With hoods pulled over frost
blackened faces from which rose the
steaming columns of their breath, Wa
gosh and his two companions shuttied
back and forth on their snoWshOeS,
beating their shoulders with mittened
hands, for the stinging cold pierced
- cir caribou capotes.
1T may not be that he will come
today" said the old Indian in
his native tongue "but If French
man, short, with legs that curve like
a bow, comes with others, they pass
and we follow, until they separate to
hunt. Then you will take the others,
while l follow him alone-for he is
mine. Wagosh, the fox, will know
what to do"
The Indians nodded. They had
heard his story.
But this morning the watchers Of
the trail had not long to wait. AS
the lifting sun filtered through the
forest, stabbing the blue shadows with
lances of light, Wagosh suddenly
stopped the whispered conversation
with:
"Bisan! shish !"
Crouched in thicket Of young fir,
their guns stripped Of their skin cases,
the three stiffened, listening. Pres
emily to their straining ears drifted
the faint click of snowshoes. Push
ing aside some low branches the Ojib-
way peered down the trail in the di-
rection Of the sound After d space
OF breathless waiting, his companions
saw his arm trelnble. Then, shivering
like man chilled to the bone, the
old Indian turned a face fierce with
passion and whispered:
Let them pass. He has Gomez
Swinging rapidly up the trail
moved the stocky figure Of Black
Baptiste followed by an Indian whose
eyes shifted furtively to right and
left as he walked. When the two had
passed from sight, three shapes, leav-
ing the trail, followed like shadows,
on muffled shoes. Two miles beyond,
where the fresh tracks Of a moose
crossed the path In the snow, and the
hunters from Ogoke separated, Wa
gosh left his friends, to pick up the
webbed imprints Of the larger shoes
of his man.
Then two still hunts started
through the soundless forest-the
stalk Of moose, and Of man. Over
the new snow, as swift and as noise
less as a wolf after ptarmigan, the
hunter of Black Bapttste closed in.
Evidently in doubt Of the direction of
the movement Of the air, the French
man stopped to test 1t with his bare
hand. Then he went on, until the
sudden lengthening Of the stride in
the snow indicated that the moose
had scented danger and started to
travel.
With curse the hunter lifted both
shoulders In gesture Of defeat. The
shifting air had betrayed him. He
turned from the trail he had fol-
lowed and struck out in a new direc-
tion. Shortly, as he stopped and
knelt on knee to tighten the thongs
of a shoe, voice Strengthened him
to his feet with jerk, nervously fing-
ering the trigger Of his gun. His
shifting eyes searched the inscrutable
spruce that walled him In. Trapped,
helpless, he flinched from the expect
ed fash Of the hidden rifle.