Evening star., 1937-05-02
g g 0||0 D |k C. GY(EE 6 6


- mackinaw, he weighed two hundred and
fifteen pounds. Every ounce of that was hard
as nails, bone and sinew and iron nerves, and
the red blood ran in him with swirl and
flourish.
He was arrogant and handsome, as such
man was bound to be, and he staggered over
a thousand miles of snowbound wilderness by
dog-tea and snowshoe, trapping on the Sas-
katchewan trading his furs at Pryde's above
the Line when he felt particularly rambunc
tious, or at some lesser post when he did not
There was life at Pryde' of a vast and var
led sort, and things went on there which the
Mounties would have given several right
hands among them to be sure of. But Pryde,
fat ard smooth and seemingly slow of glance,
proud of his half-breed wife and of his promi-
nence, was never caught asleep, nor even off
guard. Therefore anything might happen at
his huge establishment of rough pine logs and
roaring potbellied stoves, of canvas gaming
tables and hand worn bar with its brass foot
rail That rail had come from England, around
the Horn in the early Forties and had drlfted
up from the West Coast mining camps.
Many wanted feet had pressed it, some in
their last hour, some to slide away into that
vastness which was the great fur country to
the north, and never again be heard of.
So Pryde's was place to draw man like
Jules 1hebau, and he came there sometimes
maybe to sell his winter catch, maybe to hell
around for week or two when he should have
been at work upon his, trap lines. But Thebau
had no obligations, no one to tell HIM what to
do or when to come and go. No one, that is
but Smoke Eyes.
Smoke Eyes was the great Siberian husky
bitch who was her masters shadow. The dog
was known wherever men spoke of proves
and size and courage, and only man like
Thebau should have owned her - could have
owned her. for ownership with Smoke Eyes
was a matter of her own choice. That had
been proved two years back when she was
ganglng pup, all bones and thick gray fur,
and this man had hove on her horizon.
She had belonged to swashbuckling bully
from the Pot Hole country who beat her daily
to put fear into her.
"Sure, m sieu," he said to the look in The
bau's eyes, watching this performance, "a
mans dog, she mus crawl on her belly wen
dat man speak, or even look at her
"So?" Thebau had said. Il theenk, by gar,
dat you are one damn fool"
And with sweep of his great hand he
brushed the other aside.
LA baupre,' he said softly to the big pup
shivering on the snow - not from fear as he
was soon to find out, but from rage. He held
down his hand and Smoke Eyes licked it,
looking up with the mysteriously blue and
dusky orbs which had earned her the soubrl-
quet. He rubbed her ears, beautifully short
and pointed in the great ruff of her coat, and
smiled at her Now, Thebau's smile was some
thing to make female hearts run to water, be
they human or canine; it was so sweet, so
bright with sparkling teeth, so warm, so Prom
Using. When he moved away the young dog
rose and followed him, close at his heels.
The trapper, angered beyond words, rushed
after and caught her by the collar, raising the
club he held He did not strike this time he
could not - for Smoke Eyes rose and took
him just below the apple of his throat and,
Young as she was, she would have killed him
in three minutes if Thebau had not intervened.
1t was the first time the animal had revolted,
and TheDau could not know it was because of
something in the look that had passed between
them, something in his smile.
"By garv' he said again, wonderingly. Dat
I Jl,,< <oLo for