The Coolidge examiner., 1938-11-10
CHAPTER X-COntinued
-15-

ASLl.
Hes comingl Look at the dogs!"
cried Heather. Powder, Shot and
Rogue had suddenly risen to face
the timber, ears pricked, their black
nostrils eagerly testing the air.
Then, with yelp, Powder plunged
into the scrub, followed by his broth
ers. From somewhere back in the
spruce came the familiar yelp of
the lead dog.
Heather's brown face dimpled in
a smile of relief. She glanced
down at her torn whipcords and
heavy woolen stockings. Bending
over she smoothed the stockings,
then went to her tent and ran a
comb through her short hair. AS
she came out, Noel was watching
her. She smiled. The Indian re-
turned the smile. Heather liked
Noel and knew that he shared her
secret
We'll. what in the devils hap
pened to you two?" demanded Nc
Cord, as the frisking puppies fol-
lowed by the badly limping Rough.
and Alan with his back load of deer
meat, came out of the scrub.
Alan waved his hand, walked to
the beach and dropped his pack.
His eyes were swollen almost shut
and his head, neck and hands
smeared with blood from insect
stings. From his forehead rose a
great rcd welt, where the flesh had
been broken. One side of his face
was smudged with a powder burn
and his shirt around the bullet hole
peppered with powder.
'Alani AlanI" Heather choked,
running to the tired hunter who
stood grinning at his startled
friends. ALAN Cameron, you've
been hurt! Your head! It's all swol-
len and bloody and your eyes are al
most Shut You've been bitten to
death by mosquitoes and black flies!
Oh, Alan, what's happened to your"
Good lord, you're a sight, mani"
cried McCord. "And look at Rough!
Did you two run into bear?"
-Four BEARS" said Alan. with
grimace.
Noel squinted at Cameron's tat
tered shirt.
''Ah-hah! You get shot at close to,
.dere," he exclaimed, pointing at the
bullet hole and powder stains.
''Shot att" cried McCord. "You
met the Naskapi?"
Alan nodded. The last of the
migration is passing to the eastI l
got two. On my way back with the
meat, they cracked me on the head
-ambushed me-were going to
burn me. but Rough chewed his
leash and found us in time"
Burn you'll" McCord exclaimed.
God. that's awful"
Burn you'll" gasped Heather,
then with a sob. cried, II knew
something was wrong today! knew
it! I'll heat some water for your
head, and get soda for your poor
face. And oh. see Rough's shoul-
der!"
While he and his hungry dog
ate, and Heather and Noel bathed
their wounds, Alan told the story.
The following morning, with
Rough in the boat because of his
stiff shoulder, the Peterboro contin-
ued down the desolate river valley.
Packing with infinite toll around i'm
passable reaches of rapids and
white falls leaping headlong over
towering ledges to plunge into wide
basins beneath; passing cliffs that
lifted sheer thousand feet of gran
ite wall above the timbered floor of
the valley, where golden eagles
scared above inviolate nests and
gyrfalcons flashed through the air
like winged arrows, they pushed
on toward the goal that beckoned
their paddles.
Then, one day the rocky ramparts
of the valley began to fall away.
The country fattened out and they
entered long lake filed with is
lands.
How far have we come, John?"
asked Alan as the canoe nosed a
wide ripple across the MINDLESS sur
face of the lake.
According to my record" said
McCord, we've made good time, on
IA days, and been held up on port
ages, or rested, on six. We must
have come over 300 miles. Aleck
claimed he travelled 200 miles up
stream. l believe we're not far
from the River of Skulls. All day
the valleys been changing and back
there a ways, before we hit the
lake, / saw lot of cliff faces that
were reddish, due to the oxide of
iron in the rock. This is what the
geologists call Cambrian strata.
We've left the granite and entered
a region Of shale and limestone"
That's where you find quartz
veins and gold, eh?"
Sometimes you do-if you're
lucky. According to Drummond, the
River of Skulls cuts through granite
and limestone to make that gorge.
See? IT'S the quartz veins in the
granite that carry pyrites and ga
lena, from which the river. onca