Imperial Valley press., 1937-04-04
BY Warwick S. Carpenter

bulked higher. Then it rose close at hand In It's
shelter the restless water smoothed out and the
canoe ran in beside shelving rock behind which
spread level forest floor, bedded with thick,
dry moss which gave under the feet like a
feather bed. 1t was the work of moment to
string the tent between two trees, guy the ropes
to one fallen behind and anchor the sod cloth
with broken limbs. Then came the dufte, piled
along the WALL with the blanket laid on the moss
beside. As the canoe came up the sloping rock,
the promise of wind was fulfilled in the tree
tops. The next second it struck the walls of the
tent with a bang and whipped them straight
out from their light restraint But still no rain.
While the tent tapped in the wind, groped
hurriedly on the shore for rocks and weighted
it down past all mschance.
The vistas of the lightning gave place to
picture by candle-light-the snug, closed walls
of the tent; pile of dunnage the warm, lnvit-
ing blanket; pail of water from the lake; some
cold broiled rice-no need of Omar's wine. And
among all these changing scenes an aural men,
ory persists-the sweeping rush of wind through
pines, shattered with crash crash of thunder;
a smaller note of water dashing constantly upon
stones. Constantly too, falls the sound of rain
en- taut-stretched silk.
X 4 X X
On Burntsides Lake the map out 1t
showed no outlet. The way was blank So the
Lone Star cruised anxiously around the shore
line and nosed expectantly into every reedy bay
and sluggish inlet. Night shut down with the
search unfinished. The abandoned poles of an
Indians teepee and splinters where he had built
a canoe made camp and supper easy. In the
morning the outlet was found, completely hid
den behind point. 1t was still and wide, like
an arm of the lake, and Jed through many turns
to falls, with portage. From here slender
river, the Clearwater Over Sands, ran down.
Long grasses lined its shores, and gray tama-
md txxiot tad md houyit itcbi
Throughout all the winding course from Burnt.
sides only dead reckoning had indicated that we
might come out at the lower end of Sturgeon
across from Maligne Portage, where the mis-
called and generally peaceful river of the same
name makes bold start. Dead reckoning was
right and the Lone Star tied up in the fading
twilight beside camp-site under dwarfed oaks
at the head of the rapids. Came day of ex-
ploration around the foot of the lake, of quiet
fishing, or loafng in little bay that held all
of the elusive spell of the wild north country
and then a start down the river and an adventure
of moment
If one thinks that it is not adventurous to
meet strange craft with two men in the wilder
ness let him cruise for a week alone She was
spoken at the beginning of the second portage
on the Maligne. Duluth she hailed FROM with
McLaren and Deighton, her owners, aboard. We
hauled out and boiled the tea pail, warmed beans
and baked biscuits, then sat on rock and talked
IL all over, with a thread on the shutter of the
camera Launching their craft they waved fare.
well and padded away in the distance
They had scarcely gone when another outfit
came over the portage It borne by two
rangers for the Ontario government Johnson
and Gibson We pitched together at the end of
the portage and turned in at disgraceful wood
land hour They had been exploring the Quetico
Preserve, discovering its unmapped lakes and
tracing its streams, and time passed quickly
stories Ialxn wit
bass and of the highways and byways of the
country They told also of an Indian village
below, on Lac La Croix, where SILENT
smoky denizens might join with the freebooting
Lone Star.
Next morning they tracked up the rapids and
for two days the Lone Star loitered down the
Maligne, before she ran into a stiff west wind
on Lac La Croix. All the late afternoon she
bucked it and gained the farther shore when
dusk brought cessation of the blow. Somewhere
among those deceitfu points was the village.
1t might be miles 1t might be around the next
point Already behind the western tree line the
last red glow had faded Far away in the dim