The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-10-14
8y GEORGE MARSH
CHAPTER XI-Continued
Copyright by The "enn Publishing Co.
WNU Serv. e.

miski moved out to meet the trav-
elers, soon to look upon, in the berths
of the schooner, death, in all horror of
plague-stricken men; or TO meet
treachery, as Guthrie believed, too
vile for the uses of a fighting man
= like Laughing Mcdonald. But the
canny half-breed would not be con-
WINGED, and the knife, shifted to his
capOte sash, and the uncased rife
barrel thruSting from his robe, were
sinister witnesses to his distrust of
the Cree.
The barrens of the island purpled,
then fused with the dusk. Stars gilt
tered above the moving teams. At
last in the starlight, the black masses
of the hills thanking Seal cove doomed
ahead. The Indian stopped his dogs.
''Eet ees ovair dere." He pointed to
the invisible shore.
Ordering the disarmed Cree to re-
main with his dogs, Etienne called
Garth for whispered council of war.
de schooner ees not far. We stop
an tie up de husky. Den you an Shot
go one way an TAX deeS Teller wild
de gun cen hees back an we circle
roun' de boat"
"AlI right! If either sees or hears
anything, two long whistles. Will they
hear our dogs if they yelp?"
mo, eet ees too far"
Shot, trained to silence, would be
invaluable in a fight, but the huskies
yelping would betray them, so they
were dashed to the sleds.
"Eef we dom see nOdin', max dis
Teller holIer to de ship. Den we wait.
/ tell heem he is de first cen de boat
wild de gun cen heeS ribs. He YER
Scare-somet'ing bad here" warned
Etienne.
He's afraid of the devils" suggest
ed Garth, uncasing his rifle, and re-
GREETING that his army automatic hung
neglected in its holster on the rack at
Elkwan. This stalk of the ship had
much of the color of a trench raid-a
fight in the dark. If Etienne was right
and he missed the feel of his pistol
Oh his belt, the drag on the shoulder
strap of bag of Mills bombs.
AS IllSy dICug SllpPCu
Garth's hand. 81 meet you at de
boat Keep benin de ice wen 1 max
heem holler, eef dey shoot"
The idea of stalking dead men was
Erotesque, but as Garth and Shot
made their way slowly toward the
shore, for the stars were dim, the pos
sibility that Etienne's suspicious were
not unfounded grew in the mind of
Guthrie. Suppose the Indian had seen
q dead man. There might have been
q fight aboard while the rest were
temporarily ashore after fur. True,
Mcdonald might be dead, but with
the leader gone, Breault, desperate,
sick possibly, perhaps insane, might
have evolved this scheme to lure some
of the Kapiskau people across the ice
For the Indian was bound for Kapis-
kau when they met him.
That the ruse was McDonald's,
Guthrie put aside, but strange things
had happened before among a ships
company wintering in the ice, and who
could guess what had fallen out on
The Ghost?
When, in the faint light of the stars
he made out the ice-sheathed poles of
the schooner, Garth patted his excited
dog. stand to. Shot,"
The airedale stiffened, shifting the
wind, then side by side, man and dog
cautiously made their approach. From
behind a pressure ridge, a hundred
yards from the frozen-in craft drifted
with snow to her low rails, Guthrie
stopped. There, under the dim stars.
silent, sinister, lay the ship. Was it
the sepulcher of luckless dead, or
Two whistles from the direction of
the ship started Guthrie swiftly over
the ice behind his silent dog. Circling
the stern, he found behind a mound
Etienne and the shaking Cree.
What is it?"
81 hear some SCUM on dat boat"
''Eet ees de spirit" whispered the
Cree.
1--WE go up an leesten," said
Etienne, prodding the reluctant Indian
forward
Standing with rifles leveled on the
plank-sheathed deck house, they wait
ed. Presently to the straining ears
of the men came a moaning as of a
creature in agony, to eliminate in a
crescendo Of groans.
The two men peered questioningly
into each others faces. At their side
the airedale trembled in a frenzy of
excitement. ...-....-.
Make him call to Them" muttered
Guthrie, with a nod at the panic-strick-
en- Cree.
The steel muzzIe of Savanne's rifle
found the Indians ribs.
In voice shattered by terror, the
Cree called: "Kequay! 'Allor' But
no answer from within broke the
heavy silence They waited. Again
low moaning drifted from the deck
= house.
I'm going aboard" said Guthrie,
and calling Shot, leaped the rail, fol-
lowed by Etienne. A door, behind
the sheathing, opened to his hand, and
with the dog in front. they made their
way down to the pitlike blackness of
the cabin. The odor Of spilled whisky,
food-and the stencil Of corpses struck
them like a blow In the face. Striking
a match, Etienne Lit the stub of a
candle he took from his pocket. In
its Pickering light the two gazed in
horror at the chaos around them On
the table, the floor, whisky bottles,
empty, half full, lay in a litter of
meat and biscuit tins, dishes and