The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-09-09

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up here waiting for that schooner on
her return. Run 'em off the island?
Good / only wish he'd try that with
u.s. / wouldn't mind meeting up with
Monsieur Breault OF st. Johns
Etienne drew q long skinning knife
from his inside sash. 81 would lax to
cut dem whiskeer wild dis--ver' short,
cen de neck"
I'm bet you would, you old knife
fghter! Like the job you did on One
Eyed Louis. up at Gods lake."
Etienne squinted along the edge of
the knife--then ran thumb over 1t.
"Breault insult ma femme" he said
quietly, and returned the knife to its
sheath.
In the blue dawn the dog-team
pulled out of camp bound down river
to the west fork, which would take
them north through a cash In the bar
rens to the watershed of the Canoe
The norther had left much drifted
snow and the stiff legs of the huskies
cut the pace to walk. Shot, exuber-
ant after his two days of enforced
idleness, ranged to the front and
TANKS in search of ptarmigan, rabbit
and mouse. Along the river, the
broken-out drift in the old trail
marked the hunters on their way to
the rendezvous on the Canoe 1t was
evident that the Cree trappers in the
north of the island were bound for the
medicine lodge of the old shaman.
Twenty to thirty hunters with a catch
of at least one hundred foxes would
gather to witness the necrOmancy Of
the conjurer On the power of the old
mans magic would depend the des-
tination of twenty thousand dollars
worth of fox pelts. Whether Elkwan
or the schooner at Seal cove was to
enjoy rich Christmas trade would be
determined by the ability of Saul and
his spirit coadjutors to nullify the
superstitious fears aroused by the sim
lister rumors of the crafty Etienne. 1t
would be a battle worth watching,
thought Garth, keen for the meeting in
the lonely valley of the Canoe be-
tween the grasping Cree who had be-
trayed him and the resourceful Sa-
vanne. But one condition he had i'm
posed on the half-breed-that there
should be no bloodshed. They had
come to Akimiski to save the trade,
Of the future, as well as the present,
and under no circumstances was the
head man to abuse or threaten either
Saul or his sons. He, Guthrie, would
have something to say concerning the
long arm of the company in its future
dealings with the man who had de-
serted to the enemy; but the COM
mand was-no fighting
''W'at you do with dat Mokoman"
had demanded Etienne with grimace.
eff he shows up at the pow-wow,
and interferes, II leave him to you"
II TAX good care of heem," grunted
the other
At the fork they left the main river
trail to follow the branch leading
north.
''Dey all go to Souci's party"
laughed Etienne. "Four, five team
pass here dis morning.
AS the tender-footed huskies drew
the sled at walk or slow tFot, Shot
reveled in the game sign of the scrub
along shore. On foray into the tim
Der, the trail of the snowshoe-rabbit,
which had first lured him, was crossed
by that of more enticing fox. Keen
with the lust for the hunt, Shot fol-
lowed the trail back through the scrub
and out into the open barren on the
shoulders of the valley. There, far
from the river, he stopped. Before
him the webbed imprint of snowshoes
cut the fox tracks he followed. The
dog shifted curiously, but it was
vague, unfamiliar scent that the fresh
trail carried. Slowly at first, then at
a lope, he followed it down through
the timber. As he neared the river
the voices Of Garth and Etienne drift
ed family in from the ice. The dog
was puzzled. From his rigid war
training he had learned silence when
business was afoot. And this seemed
business. BY the hour he had watched
shell holes-from trenches-had pa
trolled forest, as at present, in abso-
lutte silence. In some occult way the
keen-witted dog seemed that again,
there in the white north far from
Flemish battle fields, he was at his
old trade, guarding with quivering
nostrils, eyes and ears tense, the
safety Of the man out there on the ice.
On he went, weaving in and out of
the thick scrub, relentless as wolf.
Suddenly the airedale stiffened, hair
rising like brush bristles along his
spine. Near the shore in the thicket
ahead was something dark, motfonless.
The war dog froze, stiff as the
spruce above him, one paw suspended
in air. A vague scent reached his
working nostrils. Then, like lynx
through the dusk, the airedale drifted
up the trail.
Out on the river ice the voice of
Garth called, "Here, Shot," But the
head Of the dog did not turn. His
small, terrier eyes never left the
shape on the snow. He knew that the
lean. brown barrel thrust before the
dark body was rifle-a maker Of fire
and death.
Three-four steps nearer, then gath
ering beneath him the steel springs
which were the muscles of his legs,
the airedale leaped. AS Shots fangs
ripped into the shoulder of the Indi-
ans capote, the rifle exploded. A bullet
ricocheted from the frozen sled cover
and whined away over the river. Two
men dropped behind the sled, as the