The Seaforth News, 1938-04-21, Page 6PAGE SIX.
a
THE SEAFORTH NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1938
"I wash my hands of the whole af-
tfair," declared the trader, in a state of
high indignartioia and he strode off to
his tent, I, following, with uncomfort-
able reflections troopirug into my
mind. Compunctions rankled in self-
respect, 'How near we had 'been to a
:brutal murder, to tcrime which makes
men shun the perpetrators. 'Civiliza-
tion's -veneer was rulblbing off at an
alarming rate. This thought stook, hat
for obvious reasons was not pursued.
Also 1 had learned that the worst and
best of °ethers easily justify their
„acts at the time they commit them;
'but afterwards—afterwards is a dif-
ferent matter, for the thing is past un-
doing.
I heard the trader snorting out in-
articulate disgust as he tumbled into
his tent; but I Stood above the em-
bers of the camp fire thinking. Again
I felt with a creepiness, that set all
my flesh quaking, felt, rather than
saw, those maddening, tiger eyes of
the dark foliage watching me. Look-
ing lap, I found my morose canoeman
on the other side of the fire, leaning
so close to a tree, he was barely visi-
ble in the shadows. Thinking- himself
unseen by me, he wore such an inso-
lent, amused, malicious expression, I
knew in an instant, -who the interloper
had been, atol who had carried Louis
off. 'Bc fare I realized that such an act
entails life-long, enmity with an In-
dian. I had bounded OM' the tire anti
struck hint a ith all nty strength' fall
in the face. At that. inqead af knifing
me as an Indian ordinarily IA mid, he
broke into hyera ahrielo. latighter.
He. n ho has heard that sonata need
hear it only once to have the echo ring
forever in his ears; and I have heard
it oft and know it well.
"SpySneak!" I muttered, rushing,
upon hint. Bin he sprang back into
the forest and vanished. In dodging,
me, he let fall his fowling -piece, which
went off with a bang into the fire.
"Halloo! What's wrong out there?"
bawled the trader's voice from the
tent.
"Nothing --false alarm!' I called re-
assuringly. Then there caught my
eyes what startled me out of all pres-
ence of mind, There, reflecting the
glare of the fire -light was the Indian's
fowling -piece, richly mounted in burn-
ished silver and chased in the rare de-
sign of Eric 'Hamilton's family. crest.
The morose canoeman was Le Grand
Diable.
*,
A few hours later, I was in the
thick of a confused reZentharlting. Le
Grand Diaible took a place in another
boat; and a fresh hand was assigned
to my canoe. Of that I was glad; I
could sleep sounder and he, safer. The
Bourgeois complained that too much
rum had been given out.
"Keep a stiffer hand on your men,
boy, or they'll ride over your head,"
one of the chief traders rentajked to
me.
CHAPTER VI.
To unravel a 'ball of yam, with
which kittens have been making cob-
webs, has always seemedto me a
much easier task than to unknot the
tangled skein of confused influences,
that trip up our feet at every step in
life's path. Here was I, who but a
month ago had a supreme contempt
for guile and a lofty confidence in up-
rightness a nd downrightness, trans-
formeci into a crafty trader with all
the villainous tricks of the 'bargain -
maker at my finger-tips. We had be -
fooled Louis into a betrayal of his as-
sociates; but how much reliance could
be placed on that betrayal? Had he
incriminated Diable to save himself?
Then, why had Diable rescued his be-
trayer? Where was Louis in hiding?
Was the Sioux wife with her white
slave really in the north country, or
was she near, and did that explain my
morose Irolquois' all-night vigils? We
had cheated Laplante; 'but had he in
turn cheated us? Would I be gustified
in taking Diable prisoner, and would
my com,pany consent to the demorali-
zation of their crews by auch a step?
Atit, if life were only made up of sim-
ple right and simple wrong, instead of
a 'vague sinuous movement distinctly rocky islands to ,our left stood iguard
running abreast of us among the likee a avall of sdamant 'between us 'and
ferns. For a moment, Nythen we stop- the heavy surf that Slung against the
ped, it ceased, then vriggled forward aartier. We were rapidly approaching
like beast, or serpent in the ander- the headquarter* of our company.
brush. Little Fellow .placed his fore- When south-bouud brigades; with pri-
finger on his lips, and we stood noise- soners in hand -cuffs, began to meet
less till by the ripple of the green it us, I judged we were near the habita-
seemed to scurry away. tion of man.
• "What is it, Little Fellow, a cat?" "'Bad men?" I asked Little Fellow,
I asked; but the Indian shook his ,point.
ing to the prisoners, as om
head dulbiously and turned to the open crews exchanged rousing oheers with
where the trap had been set. the Nor'4Westers now 'bound for
.Bending over the snare he uttered
an Indian word, that I did tuat ,under- Montreal.
"Non, Monsieur! 'Not all bad men,"
stand, bat ailve since heard traders ancl the Indian gave his shoulders an
use, so oonclude it was one of those expressive shrug, "Les traitres ang-
excaninations, alien races learn quick- Isis?, .
est from erne another, but which, nev- To the Frerith voyageur, .English
ertheless, are not Sound in dictionar- meant the Hudson's 'Bay people. The
ies. The trap had been rifled of game answer set me wondering to .what as
and completely smashed. things had come ibetween the two
'Wolverine!" muttered the Indian, ,grat compahies that they were ship -
half rights and half wrongs indis-
tirtguisbably mingled, we could all be
righteous! If the path to the goal af
our chosen desire, were only as
straight as it is narrow, instead of be-
ing dark, mysterious and tortuous,
bow easily could we attain 'high, ends!'
I was launched on the life for which
I had longed, but strange, shadowy
forms like the storinfiends of sailers'
lore, drunkenness, deceit and oritne,_
on whose presence I had not ,counted
—fitted about my ship's masthead.
And there was not one guiding star,
not one redeeming iafluence, except
the utter freedom to be a man. I was
learning, what I suppose everyone
learns, that there are things which
sap success of its sweets.
Such were my thoughts, as our ca-
noes sped across the northern end of
Lake Huron, heading far the Sault.
The Nor'-Westers had a wonderful
way of arousing enthusiastic loyalty
among their men. IDanger fanned this
fealty of whiteheat. In the face of
p.owerfnl opposition, the great com-
pany frequently accomplished the im-
possible. With half as large a staff in
the service as its rivals boasted, it in-
vaded the hunting -ground of the Hud-
son's Bay Company, and outrunning
all competition, extended Nr posts
trom the heart of the continent to the let go two or three shots into the
foot -hills to the Rockies, anti front the fern brake. We scrotinized the under-
brush, but there was no sign of hu-
man 'heitig, except the 'fern sterna
broken by my shots I wrenched the
stone spear -head from the tree. It was
curiously ornamented with •-;11
meltitude of intricate carvings 1 aortic!
not decipher any design, Then I dis-
covered that the medley of colors Was
produced by inlaying the flint with
small bite, of a bright stone; and the
bright stones had teen carved into a
rude likeness of some birds,
"What are these birrda, Little Fel-
low?" I asked.
He fingered them closely, and with,
bulging eyes muttered tack, "L'Aigle
L'Aigle 1"
"Eagles, are they?" I returned,
stupidly missing the poasible meaning
of his suppressed excitement '%it'd
the stone?' •
'Agate, Monaleur."
Agate! Agate! What picture did
agate call 'back to my mind? A big
squaw, with malicious eyes and gaping
upper lip and girdle of agates, Watch-
ing Louis Laplante and myaelf at the
encampment in the gorge.
"Little Fellow!" I &boated, not sup-
pressing my excitement. aWho is Le
,Grand Diable's wife?"
And the Indian answered in a low
voice, with a face that showed me he
had already penetrated my discovery,
"The daughter of L'Aigle, chief of
the Sioux."
Then I knetv for whom those mis-
siles had lbeen intended and from
wham they had come. It was a clever
piece of rascality, Had the assassin
succeeded, • punishment would 'have
fal'len on my Indians.
' CHAPTER
'Beyond the Sault, the fascinations
of the west ibeckoned like a siren.
Vast waterways, where a dozen Eu-
ropean kingdoms .could :be dropped
into one lake without raising a -sand-
bar, seemed to sweep on 'forever and
caR wifh the voice of enchantress to.
the very ends of the earth. With the
purple recesses of the shore on one
side and 'the •ocean -expanse of Lake
Saperior on the Other,. all the charms
of clean, fresh 'freedom were unveiling
themselves to me and my blood began
to .quicken with that, fevered .delighti
which old lands are pleased to call
western enthusiasm. Lake Huron,
with its greeniahablue, shallow, placid
waters and calm, sloping shores, seem-
ed 'typical of the even, easy life I had
left in the east. RCM those choppy,
blustering, little waves reserruhlett the
jealousies and bickerings and ibargain-
ings of the east; but when ,one came
to Lake Superior, with its great ocean
billows and slumbering, giant rooks
and cold, dark fathomless depths,
there was a new life in a hard, tugged,
noonty, new world. We bugged close
to the north .coast; and the ,nurnerous
making a sweep' of his dagger 'blade ping ,each other's traders Igratuitously
at an imaginary foe. s'INo wolverinel out of the country. I 'recalled he talk
Bad Indians!" at the Quebec 'Club about 'Governor
Scarcely bad he spoken when La McDonell of the lindson's Bay try -
Robe Noire leaped into the air like a Mg to expel Nota-Westers and con -
wounded rabbit. An aanrow whizzed chided our people sould play their
past my lace and 'glanced within a Own game against the comma.nder of
hair's-breadth of the Indian's Ittad• Red IRiver. .
Both men .were dumb with amaze- we arrived in Port William at
meat. Such treachery 'would have Ibsen sundown, and a flag was .flying above
surprising among the 'barbarous tribes the courtyard.
of the Athabasca. The ISault was the .16 thatin our honor?" I asked a
dividing line between Canada and the clerk of the party.
Wilderness, between the east and "Not much it is," .he laughed. "We
west; and there were n0 hostiles with- understrappers aren't oppressed- with
in a thousand miles of us. Little Fel- honors 1 It warns' the Indians there's
low would have ,dragged inc pell-thell no trade one day out of aeven."
beak to the beach, but I needed no .Ia this Sunday?"
peeseasion. La Rohe INoire tote ahead 1 anddenly recollected as far as we
with the springs ,of it hunted lynx. were concerned the past month had
Little 'Fellow loyally kept 'between been entirely composed of week -clays.
me and a possible ,pursuer, and we set "Out :of your reckoning already?"
off at a 'hard run. That createre, I
asked the clerk with ,surprise. "Won -
fancied, was again coursing along be- der how you'll 'feel when you've had
newth the undergrowth; for the foli- ten yew's of it."
age bent and rose as we ran, Whether Situated on the river ibank, near the
it were man or beast, we were three site Of an old French 'post, Tort Wil -
against mite, and could drive it out 01 liam was a typical traders' stronghold.
hiding. Wooden palisa.des twenty feet high
"See there, Little IFellow;" I cried, ran round the whole fort and the in'
Le't's hunt that thing out!" and I net court enclosed at least two ham -
wheeled about so sharply the chunky dred square yards. Heavily ,built
little man crashed forward, knocking block -houses with guns poking
me tiff my feet and sending me a through window Mita gave a military
man's length farther an. ' air to the trading post. The block -
That fall saved my life. A flat spear hoeses were apparently to repel at -
point hissed through the air above Illy tack from the rear and the face of
head and stuck fast in the .hark of an the fort commanded the river. Stores,
elm tree. Scrambling up, 1 Prcm1PtlY halls, warehouses and lieing apart -
international .houndary to the Arctic
Circle. I had thought no crews could
make quicker progress than ours from
Lachine to Point a la Croix; 'but the
short delay dariltg the storm occa-
,ioned faster .work. 'More voyageurs
were engaged Nona the Nipissangne
tribes. As sooa as one lot fagged fresh
..hifts came to the relief. Paddles allot
out at the rate of modern piston rods,
and the waters, whirled back like
wave -wash in thewake of a dipper.
Except for briefest stoppages, speed
was not relaxed across the whale nor-
thern end of those inland seas called
the Great Lakes. With ample space
on the lakes, the brigades could spread
out aad the canoes separated, not halt -
hag long enough to come together
again till we reached the Sault. Here,
orders were issued for the mainten-
ance of rigid discipline. We camped
at a distance from the lodges of local
tribes. No grog was given out. Camp-
fire 'conviviality was forbidden, and
each man kept with his own crew, We
remained in camp but One night; and
though I searched every tent, I could
not find Le Grand Diable, This wor-
ried and puzzled me. All 'night, I lay
awake, stretching conscience with
doubtful plans to entrap the knave.
Rising with .first dawn -streak, I was
surprised to find Little Fellow and La
Rabe Noire, two of my :camel -nen, set-
ting off for the woods. They had laid
a snare—so they explained—and were
going to examine it. Of late I had
grown distrustful of all natives. I sus-
pected these two might be planning
desertion; so I went with them. The
way led through a dense thicket of
ferns hall the height of it man. Only
dim light penetrated the maze of foli-
age; and I might easily have lost my-
self, or been decoyed—thou,gh these
possibilities did not oocur to me till
we were at least a mile from the
beach. Little Fellow was trotting
ahead, La Robe Naire jogging the:hind,
and both glided through the brake
without disturbing a fern branch,
while I—after the manner of my ,rate
--crunched flags underfoot and stamp-
ed clown stalks enough to he tracked
by keen -eyed Tatham for a ,week af-
terwards, Twice I saw Little iFellow
pull up abruptly and 'look warily
through the cedars on one side. Once
he stooped down and peered among
She fern stem,s. Then he silently sig-
naled back to La IRothe .Noire, pointed
through the 'undergrowth and ran
ahead again without explanation. At
first I could see nothing and regret-
ted being led so far into the woods. I
was about to order 'both Indians hack
to the tent, when Little Fellow, with
face' ,pricked 'forward and foof raised,
as if he feared to set it ,down—afor the
founth time came lib a dead stand.
Now, I, too, heard a rustle, 'and saw
melds for tut army of clerks, were
banked aa'ainst the walls, and the
mein bilhli vith it, spacious as-
sembly -room Mood conspicuous in the
centre of the encloque. As are ent-
ered the courtyard, one of the chief
traders was perehed on 11 mortar in
the gate. The little magnate conde-
scended never a smile of welcome till
the Botirgeoia came up. Then he
fawned loudly over the chiefs aml
conducted them with noisy ostenta-
tion to the main hall. Indians and
half-breed voyageurs quickly diapers -
ed among the wigwams outaide the
pickets, while clerks and _traders hur-
ried to the broad-raftered dining -hall.
:Fatigued from, the trip, I took little
notice ,of the •vociferous interchange
of news in passage -way and over
dor-steps. I remember, after supper
was 'strolling about the ootirtyartl,
surveying the buildings, when at the
dOor of a sort of barrackwhere resi-
dents of the fart lived, I caught sight
of tite most .grateful •object my eye
had lighted upon since leaving Que-
bec. It was a tin basin with a large
bar of soap—actual soap. There must
still have 'been some vestige of civili-
zation in my. nature, for after a de-
lightful .half-hour's intimate acquaint-
ance with that soap, I came round to
the groups of men rehabilitated in
self-respect.
-Athabasca, 'Rocky Mountain and
Saskatchewan brigades here to -mor -
mw," remanked a boyish looking Nor'
Wester, with a mannish beard en his
face. Involuntarily I put my hand to
my chin and found a 'bristling growth
there. That was along where young
men could become suddenly very, old;
and mana trader has ',discov-
ered other signs of age than a beard
on his, 'face when he .first looked at a
mirror after life in the • Pay5
Haut. . •
."I say," 'blurted out another young
clerk. "There's 'a man here from .Red
River, one of the Selkirk settlers.
He's tame with word if we'll itipply
the .boats, lots of the colonists are
ready bo dig out General Assentbly's
going to consider that to-rnotrow."
'Oh! Hang the..old 'Assembly if it
ships that man out! He's ,aot a pretty
daUghter, Perfect beauty, ansi she's
here With himl" exclaimed the lad
with the mannish beard. '
"Go to, thou light -head!" declared
the other youth, with the air of an
elder in Israel. "Go tel You paraded
beneath her window am an, hour to-
day and :she never oncelaid eyes on
5,0,21 , •
All the men laughed.'
"Hang it!" said the :first speaker.
"We don't display'Our ,little amours--"
"No," broke in the other, "tme, just
display our little ' contours' and get
snubbed, eh?"
The .b.earded youth 'flushed at the
sally of laughter.
',Hang it!" he answered, pulling
fiercely at his moustache. "She is a
bit of statuary, so .sbe is, as cold as
marble. But there is no law against
looking at a pretty bit •'of statuary,
when it frames itself in a window, in
this wilderness."
To which, every man of the crowd
,said a 'heatty amen; and I 'walked off
to 'stretch myself 'full length on a
bench, resolving to have mita mirror
.1mm my 'pelting ,case 'atei get. rid .of
those 'bristles that .offended my chin.,
The Men began to disperse to their
ters. The tardy twilight • ,o'f the
IS sae' surrimer evenings, peculiar to the
far north, was 'gathering in the court-
yard, As the night-wiad sighed past,
I felt the velvet caress of warm June
air on any face .and memory reverted
to the innocent lboyhood ,days of
Laval. ;How far away those days
seemed! Yet it was not so long ago.
Surely it is ticnowledge, :not time, that
ages one; knowledge, that takes
away 'the trusting innocence resulting
from ignorance and gives in its place
the ,distrustful innocence resulting
from wisdom. I thought of the temp-
tations that had some to me in the
Sew short 'weeks I had been adrift,
and how feebly I had resisted them.
I asked myself if there were not in
the ntoral compass of men, .who wan-
der by lan.d, some !guiding star, as
there is for those who wander over
,sea. I gazed high above the sloping
roofs for sortie sign of moon, or star.
The Sky was darkling and otiertaSt;
but in lowering my eyes from +heaven
to earth, I saw what I had missed
before—'a fair, white face framed in: a
window above the stoop directly op-
posite my bench. The face seemed to
have a'background of ;gold; for a
wonderful mass of wavy hair clust-
ered' down from the iblue-veined brow
to the tit of white threat visible,
where a gauzy piece ef neck wear had
been looaened. Evid.ently, this was the
statuary described by the whis'kered
youth. Bait the statuary breathed. A
bloom of living apple -blossoms was
00 the cheeks. The brows were black
and arched, The'very pose of the
bead :was arch, and in the lips was a
saggeation, of archery, too, --Cupid's
archery, though the upper lip was
drawn almost too tight for the bow
'beneath to discharge the little god's
shaft. Na'hy did I ,do it? I do 001
kuow. Ask the young Nor' -Wester,
who had worn a path beueath the self-
same window .that very day, or the
hosts of young men, who are till
wearing paths beneath windows to
this very day. I coughed and sat bolt
upright an the bench with unnecessar-
ily loud intimationa of my presence.
The fringe of 'black lasbes did not
even lift. I rose mid with great shoe
of indifference paraded solemnly five
times past that window; but, in spite
of my pompous indifference, by a sort
of side -signalling, I learned that the
owaer of the heavy lashes was una-
ware 'of my exiatence. Thereupon,
sat down again. It was a bit of statu-
ary and a very prettyabit of statuary.
As the youth said, there 'was no law
against looking at i bit of statuary in
this wilderness, and as the statuary
did not know I was looking at it, I
sat tack to take my fill of that vision
framed in the open window. The sta-
tuary, unknown to itself, bad fall
meed of revenge; .for it presently
brought such a good of longing to my
heart, longings, not for this face, but
for what this face represented --the in-
nocence and love and purity of home,
that I :bowed dejectedly forward
with moist eyes gazing at the ground.
"Hullo!" whispered a .deep voice in
my ear. 'Me you mooning after the
Little Statue already?"
When I Soaked. up, the man had
passed, but the head in the window
was leaning out and a pair of swim;
ming, lustrous; gray eyes were gaz-
ing forward in a way that made me
dizzy. "Ah," they said in a language
that needed no speaking, "thefe are
two of us, very, very homesick.",
"'The guiding star for my moral
compass," said I, ander my breath.
. Then_ the statue in a live fashion
suddenly drew back into. the daak
room. The window -shutter lung to,
with a bang, and my vision was gone
,left 'the bench, mada shake -down
on one of 'the store counters, and knew
nothing more till the noise of ,brigades
from the .fara north aroused the. fort
at an early hoar Mon.day morning.
The arrival of the Athabasca traders
was the signal Or tremendous activ-
ity. An army returning from victory
could not have been received with
greater acclaim. Bourgeoisaand clerks
tumbled promiscuously front every
nook in the fort and rushing half-
dressed towards the gates .shouted
.welcome to the men, who had ,come
from the outposts of the known
world., They ,were a shaggy, ragged -
'coking rallable, those traders from
mountain fastnesses and the Arctic
circle. With long white hair, 'hatless.
some of them, with .beards like orient-
al patriarchs, and .dressed entirely in
skins of the chase, from fringed coats
to gorgeous ,moccasins, the :unkempt
monarchs of northern realms ha.d the
imperious bearing of princes.
'IS it 'you, ,really you, looking AS
PROFESSIONAL CARDS
Medical '
DR. E. A. McMIASII1ER—Gradatate
of the Faculty of Medicine, Univers-
ity of Toronto, and of the New York
Post Graduar?e 1School and Hospital.
Member of the College of •Physicians
and Surgeons of $Ontario. Office cm
Migh street. Phone 27, .0/fice (fully
equip,ped for x-ray cliagnoals and raor
ultra Short wave electric treatment,
ultra violet sun lamp treatment and
infra sect .electric treatment. Nurse in
attendance.
• DR. IGILBERT C. JARROW —
Graduate of 'Faculty of Medicine, Un-
iversity of 'VVestern. Ontario. M,emiber
of 'College of Physicians andSnageons
of Ontario. 'Office 43 Goderich street
west. Phone 317. ,HOuns 2-4.30 pont.,
7.30-9 p.m. ‘Other hours by appoint-
ment. Successor to Dr. Ohas. Mackay,
DR. H. HUGH ROSS, Physician
and ,Surgeon Late of London Hos-
pital, London, 'England. Spedial at-
tention to diseases Of the eye, ear,
nose and throat. Office and asesidence
behind Dominion Bank. Office Phone
No. 5; Residence Phone 104.
• DR. F. J. BURR,OWS, .Seaforth.
Office and residence, Goderich street,
east of the United, Church. Coroner
for the County of Huron. Telephone
No. 46.
. .
DR. F. J, R. FORSTER—Eye
Ear, Nose and Throat. ,Gractuate in
Medicine, University c+f Toronto 11297.
Late Assistant New York Ophthal-
mic and Aural Institute, Moorefield's
Eye, and 'Golden Square throat hospi-
tals, London. At Commercial Hotel,
Sealorth, third Wednesday in each
month from 1.30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
D. W. C. SPROAT
Physician - Surgeon
Phone 90-W. Office John St. Seaforth
Auctioneer.
GEORGE ELLIOTT, Licensed
Auctioneer for the County of Huron.
Arrangements can be made aor Sale
Date at The .Seaforth News. Charges
moderate and satisfaction guaranteed.
F. W. AH'RENS, Licensed Auction-
eer for Perth and Huron Counties.
Sales Solicited. Terms on Application.
Farm Stock, chattels and real estate
property. R. R. No. 4, Mitchell,
Phone 634 r 6, Apply at this office.
WATSON & REID
REAL ESTATE
AND INSURANCE AGENCY
(Successors to James Watson)
MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT./
All kinds of Insurance risks effect-
ed at ioweet rates in ,First -Class
Companies.
THE McKILLOP
Mutual Fire Insurance Co
READ 'OFFICE--SEAFORTH, Ont.
OFFICERS
President, Thomas' Moylan, Sea -
forth; Vice President, William Knox,
Londesboro; Secretary Treasurer, M.
A. Reid, Seaforth.
• AGENTS
F. MOKercher, RAU, Dublin; John
E. pepper, R.IS.1, Baucefield; E. R. G.
Yarmouth, Brodbagen; James Watt,
Blyth; 'C.- F. Hewitt, Kincardine;
Nrn. yeo, Hohnesville.
DIIRECTORS
Alex. Broadfoot, Seaforth No. 3;
James Sholdite, Walton; Wm. Knox,
Londesboro; George Leonhardt,
Bornholm No. 1; Frank 'IvloGregor,
Clinton No, S; James Connolly, God-
erich; Alex MeSwing, Myth No. 1;
Thomas Moylan, Seaforth No. 5;
Wm. R. Archibald, Sealforth No. 4.
Parties desirous to effect insurance
or transact other 'business, .will be
promptly attended to by applications
to any of the above named officers
addressed to their respective post -
offices. •.
old as your great grandfather? Ry
Gad! SO it is," came from one quon-
dam :friend.
, "Rawer& above!" ejaculated ,another
onlooker, "See that old Father .Abra-
ham! Ws Tait! As you live, it's Tait!
And beionly ,went to the !Athabasca
ten years ago. He was thirty then,
and now 'he's a hundred!" ,
"That's +Wilson," says another.
"Looks thin, doesn't he? ,Sliin fare!
He's 'the only m.an froth Great Slave
Lake that escaped being a meal for
the Crees,—year of the famine; and
they hadn't time to pick his 'bones!"
(To be continued)
Rastas was bemoaning his wife's
laziness to his friend. "She's 'so
he ,said, "dat she done thtit popcorn
in de pancakes .so flop over by
demselves.." .
4,