The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-08-05


thought of the November journey over
the thin ice of the Elkwan.
For week, with his two best
huskies, Castor and Pollux, and Shot,
following opposite banks of the river
to avoid fighting, Garth and Etienne
poled and padded and tracked past
black spruce and poplar grown shores
! from the latter of which the frost had
| stripped the leaves.
At the mouth of the Little Elkwan
| the winter suddenly shut DOWN, lock-
ing lakes and deadwaters with shell
too thick for their battering poles to
break a channel through for their
canoe, and the men in search of Saul
| Souci were prisoners. Somewhere up
| the little Elkwan ran the trap-lines
| of the man, to reach whom they had
| shaved for days with ice-crusted poles
| and paddles, and freezing hands,
while their hot breaths rose in col
umnS on the keen air; but until a fall
of snow, or some bitter nights to
bridge the river trail, they could not
move. However, there were five hun
cry mouths to feet, so they hunted
| back in the muskeg for caribou. AT
! last, when severe frost had sealed the
slower flowing reaches of the river
with three-inch ice, they hitched the
| huskies, and started. Shot, who the
winter previous had learned to draw
| Garth's trapping sled, refusing to
| team with the larger dogs, ran loose
The second day out they learned
from an Indian that Souci's main
camp was two sleeps up the river.
And thanks to the trained eyes of
Etienne, the sled avoided the traps
of shell ice over the swift water and
the second night turned in to a winter
camp.
At the challenge of his dogs, Saul
Souci, Treaty Chief of the Elkwan
Crees, lean, grizzled, taciturn, with
bOny features, over which leather
like skin lined with wrinkles was
tightly drawn, pushed through the
flap of his tipi.
'Kequay!" he said, showing no sur
prise at the strange appearance of the
Elkwan people one hundred and fifty
miles inland at time when no sane
Indian travelled the river. The three
shook hands and, first feeding and
claiming the dogs to trees, entered
the smoky tent where Sauls wife and
two sons were eating from a copper
kettle.
Not until his guests had been
served with caribou stew and tea did
Souci question them as to the purpose
of their coming Then he said in
Cree, which Etienne interpreted to
Garth: "You take a hard moon to
travel up the Elkwan."
I'VE could not wait, so started in
the canoe" replied Etienne in the
same language.
You did not break through the
ice"
"No."
"The geese have passed: it will not
be long now until the big snow"
vouchsafed the hunter, lighting his
pipe.
How are the game signs since the
snow?"
"There are plenty of mink and
otter, but the lynx and fox seem to
have left the valley"
Etiennes eyes frightened at the
remark.
"There is much fox sign on Aki-
miski." This was hearsay over a
month old, but the half-breed knew he
would need every possible argument
to gain Souci's ear to his proposition.
"My sons will be glad. Three of
them are there"
1--WE have come to talk to you about
the island"
SOuci's bony face cloudeG as he met
the frowning look Of his wife.
Il told you at the spring trade I
would not GO"
But there is much news since
them" replied Etienne in the same
cOlOrless tones as the other.
News? What has happenedT
Then the astute Savanna displayed
his knowledge of the Indian tempera-
ment. Slowly, without emotion, he
described the coming Of Mcdonald,
the free-trader, to the west coast,
with a ship full of cheap trade goods,
and inferior flour, tea and sugar. 1t
was sudden wealth he was after, and
to get it he would bride the hunters,
receive them with what looked like
better prices in trade for their fox
skins. But in year-two years-he
would be through-would not return,
and they would come to the company
again, begging for a debt" But the
company, who had taken care of their
fathers and grandfathers through
many lean years, would remember
who had gone to the free-trader.
There would he no advance" for
these in the years to come, and their
women and children would whimper
through the long SHOWS.
He, Saul SOuci, man held in
great esteem by the company, could
save these hunters from the cheap
guns and trade goods of Mcdonald,
who cared nothing for the Crees. The
company, whose goods were honest,
as he knew. whose sugar was not
sanded, whose powder never failed,
and whose tea soothed the stomachs
| of the Crees, was as ancient as the
hills, and as permanent. 1t would al
ways remain on the bay to trade with
the Indians with goods that never
changed. He, Saul Souci, his father
and his fathers father had been the
friend of the Hudson's Bay-had new
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